Recent viewings

[Chainsawmidget]

Last night I went to the theater to see Ghostbusters.  The original ghostbusters.  I've never seen it in theaters before.  I did see Ghostbusters II in a drive thugh when I was young though. 

I just love this movie so much. 

[Rev. Powell]

SHAME (1968): A marriage between two musicians is strained when war arrives on the shores of their island home, eventually turning them into homeless refugees. Ingmar Bergman's campaign against the absurdity of war, with sorties into existentialism, domestic turmoil, and the torment of the artist. 4.5/5.

[lester1/2jr]

Odd Man Out (1947) - film noir set in Northern Ireland. I liked the setting because it reminded me of my old neighborhood the south End in Boston and also it's a good movie.

James Mason is the head of the IRA type organization and is on the lam from the law. There's infighting in the organization and it's all about how the community reacts like whether if they see him they should turn him in or help him. passive support would be a good way to describe it, sometimes very passive like dude get outta here. other people want to exploit seeing him like one guy is a painter and wants to paint him so he can capture his expression and so forth. People are selfish and human in other words.

Between being a film noir and being British it had no choice but to be released by the Criterion collection. It doesn't have any of the classic unforgettable shots of like the third man or Night mare Alley but its quite good
4.5 /5

[indianasmith]

DEAD 7 (2016)
   This movie was bad in a way that only an Asylum film made especially for the SyFY Channel can be.
Starring Nick Carter of The Backstreet Boys, this post-zombie apocalypse Western follows a group of ultra-cliched gunslingers and badasses as they try to save a small town from a plague of zombie controlled by an evil priestess named Apocalypta - played by Debra Wilson, she is probably the most redeeming feature in this whole mess. Downright scary, she adds a sinister flair to the role that outshines every other performances.

That being said, as awful and hackneyed as this movie was, by the end you do care a bit about the characters, and the final showdown is well done.  Once more, The Asylum manages, in its own cheap way, to be entertaining.  3.5/5

[indianasmith]

Last night I watched THE FUNHOUSE MASSACRE, which was everything a B-rated horror/comedy should be.  Shallow characters, invincible serial killers, bloody mayhem, boobs, Robert Englund, a spookhouse with real killers inside, and dumb-as-dirt customers who can't tell a real murder from a fake one when it happens right in front of them.  HIGHLY recommended for slasher fans!!  4.5/5

[FatFreddysCat]

"Chuck Norris vs. Communism" (2015)
http://youtu.be/WhZY0gjjRkc

Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu forbade all forms of Western media in his country, but when VCRs became available in the mid-1980s, a clandestine network of smugglers and translators brought thousands of Hollywood movies into the country on illegally bootlegged video cassettes.

Underground "video parties" in private homes gave many Romanians their first glimpses at the outside world via Chuck Norris, Rambo, Eddie Murphy or "Top Gun" -- and some say it may have helped spark the 1989 revolution that overthrew the country's government.

This intriguing doc made me grateful as a film buff that I've never had to go to the potentially-dangerous lengths that these people did just to see a movie!

[Rev. Powell]

PIERROT LE FOU (1965): A bourgeois man leaves his wife and runs off with his babysitter, who's involved with gun runners, to live life on the lam. Witty and absurd, Jean-Paul Belmondo and Anna Karina's chemistry helps make this is one of the better deconstructed adventures from Jean-Luc Godard's early period; even with the fourth wall breaks, it comes dangerously close to being accessible. 4/5.

[Chainsawmidget]

The Houses October Build

It was a (sort of) found fottage tape (that was apparently edited in places and not others and strung together from several different cameras that were filming) about a group of friends that decide to go to several haunted house attractions near Halloween looking for the most EXTREME frighting one that can find (as well as going to a strip club where the girls were monster masks).  Eventually the stumble upon a legendary underground traveling haunt show and things go really bad for them. 

There's not much of a plot to this and the ending doesn't really work.  The real reason to see this is that they actually filmed in real House of Horror attractions.  Some of them were actually pretty cool.   

[lester1/2jr]

American Mary (2012) - gotta say I really liked this one. A hot looking med student, played by some woman who looks like Dakota Johnson, starts doing weird surgeries in a strip club basement to earn extra money. She soon finds her services are in demand across the world of freaky body modification people. Another "I hate it when that happens" scenerio. I mean who hasn't had that happen, right?

Things very much escalate and while the new gig is profitable it seems to be taking a toll on the girls soul. Thats really an understatement. Her reputation becomes such that strippers in the perpetually empty strip cub run and hide when they see her. One hard to fathom character is the strip club owner who is her quasi love interest. He's a personable, sensitive guy who seems like someone who wouldn't even go to a strip cub much less own one, as well as torturing people on the side.

The story feels like the kind of amateurish but refreshingly politically incorrect and bottom line based thing you'd find on Amazon in the self published books sort of area. Whoever made it knows what they like and isn't going to water it down for anyone. I'm not part of the body modification/ tribal community but this caters to/ is an expression of them and if you want to watch it go ahead. If not, oh well. that kind of vibe

5/5 far from perfect but it really won me over

[FatFreddysCat]

"Foxy Brown" (1974)
http://youtu.be/csVrkPQgXdc

"That's my sister, baby... and she's a whooooooole lotta woman!"

This blaxploitation classic stars Pam Grier (at her peak of mid '70s hottie perfection) as a tough-as-nails ghetto gal who goes vigilante against the drug dealers who killed her undercover-cop boyfriend. Funky, sleazy, and violent-as-hell, tons of retro fun. 

[FatFreddysCat]

"Monsters University" (2013)
http://youtu.be/xBzPioph8CI

Prequel to Disney/Pixar's "Monsters Inc." tells the story of how Mike Wazowski and Sully first met back in college, where they become unlikely fraternity brothers and begin their training to become "scarers." As usual, it's beautifully animated, fast moving, funny stuff with great voice work.

[Rev. Powell]

BLACK COBRA 2 (1989): After shooting a man with a hostage, maverick cop Malone is reassigned to the Philippines, where he immediately becomes ensnared in a terrorist plot, The original BLACK COBRA had a goofy B-movie charm, but this cliched, predictable, action-light sequel tries to skate by on nothing but Fred Williamson's fading charisma. 1/5.

[Rev. Powell]

THE PASSION OF ANNA (1969): A hermit takes up with a woman who survived an accident that killed her husband and child. An overrated experimental drama from Ingmar Bergman, who stretches out the already too-slow drama with scenes of the actors reflecting on the characters and unused footage from SHAME refashioned as a dream sequence. It's like DVD extra features had been spliced into the middle of the film. 2.5/5.

[FatFreddysCat]

"The Messenger" (1986)
http://youtu.be/ACd0C8av0qI

Former NFL footballer and blaxploitation bad-ass Fred "The Hammer" Williamson directs and stars in this terrible Italian-produced revenge saga. He's a former Green Beret who travels from Rome to Chicago, New York and Vegas to wipe out the drug smuggling cartel that killed his wife. The story is a hopeless muddle, the dialogue is screamingly awkward, the Italian accents are thicker than Ragu, and the soundtrack is intrusive and irritating. Amidst all the gun play and terrible acting, we also get treated to frequent product placement for King Cobra malt liquor - Fred was their commercial spokesman at the time. I had a bunch of beers in me while watching this so I enjoyed it, even though it was for all the wrong reasons. Hilariously bad!

[claws]

Howl (2015)

Passengers on a night train encounter full moon terror when their train breaks down in the middle of nowhere. It's up to a young but somewhat shy rail conductor to overlook the situation and keep things under control.

This British production started out promising with its atmospheric trapped & confined setting, cool werewolf design and somewhat fun characters. However, the director doesn't seem to have a clue at what to do with the story or at creating suspense. It didn't suck but in the end Howl is a mixed bag of things that could have been better.  3/5