Recent viewings

[FatFreddysCat]

"Florence Foster Jenkins" (2016)
Comedic period piece set in 1940s New York, about a high-society matron and music lover (Meryl Streep) who was determined to fulfill her lifelong dream of singing opera at Carnegie Hall... in spite of a near total lack of vocal talent. Great performances all around, especially by Streep, who really can sing, but who manages to sound like a tone-deaf Miss Piggy here. An entertaining profile of a unique real-life character.

[Rev. Powell]

THE EVIL WITHIN (2017): A demon who appears in a mirror tries to turn a mentally handicapped man into a serial killer by threatening him with nightmares. Raw and dark, but ultimately it's a unique blend of NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, HENRY PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER, and RAINMAN. The director, the grandson of J. Paul Getty, self-financed the project, spending an estimated $5 million of his inheritance, but died before it was released. 3.5/5, maybe even 4/5.

[javakoala]

I, Madman (1989)

Well, if IMDb.com's general take on this film is true of most who have seen this film, then I am, once again, on the opposite side.

Character from a couple of 30-year-old books comes to life and starts killing people the main character knows because -- it's in the script. Didn't buy this one at all. The characters were uniformly annoying with a main character whose baby-doll voice made me want to kill her myself. The pacing is clunky. Story is a bit of a retread, plus it doesn't stand up well to any level of logical thought.

Okay, it sucked.

On the up side, the retro outfits looked nice but awkward. And, with the exception of lighting in a few scenes, fairly well photographed.

Stupid ending.

1.5/5

[FatFreddysCat]

"Lady In Cement" (1968)
Private-eye flick starring Frank Sinatra as two fisted Miami detective Tony Rome, who discovers a woman's concrete-clad body at the bottom of the ocean during a scuba-diving outing. His investigation into the gal's murder leads to a local mob boss and an heiress (Raquel Welch) who may know more about the crime than she lets on.
Ol' Blue Eyes could do the hard-boiled tough guy thing in his sleep and Raquel is, of course, so hot it's stoooopid, but aside from the eye candy this sequel to "Tony Rome" was pretty dull.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Critters" (1985)
A horde of ravenous, tiny space aliens escape from an intergalactic prison and crash-land on a Kansas family farm, where they proceed to eat everything in sight until a pair of Space Bounty Hunters arrive to clean up the mess.  Hilarity ensues.
This tongue-in-cheek "Gremlins" variant hasn't aged very well but it's still a load of goofy fun with cool creature FX. Followed by three sequels.

[lester1/2jr]

Whisper (2007) It's amazing how many 3/ 5 level okay movies there are isn't it? shouldn't there be more really good and or really bad movies? Thats why I appreciate stuff like this so much. It's not a classic, but it's really good and the dang director took the time to make it work and put a modicum of care into it so that it wouldn't just be another damn movie out there.

kidnappers kidnap (as they tend to do) a little kid who turns out to be a Damien type demon kid who quickly turns the tables on them. Yeah its hard to imagine this kid wouldn't just take over the whole world which he could easily do but who cares? Its not a historical epic or something

5/5

Last House on the Left - outside of the gratuitous animal abuse I really liked Cannibal Holocaust, I spit on your Grave was almost a religious experience, this one comes in a distant third I'd have to say. the first half is a decent Something Weird esque nasty exploitation movie with better acting and less nudity while the second half gets really sloppy and almost falls apart. "Why wouldn't they call the f**king police?" esque issues aside it has some good 70's scumbag guys. The girls aren't all the alluring but they're there and it was generally logical and solid enough plot wise. The light hearted/ comic plot interludes were a little perplexing but gave the film a unique if demented character

3.75 /5

[Rev. Powell]

BRAIN DAMAGE (1988): A well-spoken phallic parasite (the Ayler) hooks up with a young man; he supplies him with blissful hallucinations via a needle that pokes directly into the boys brain, with the stipulation that the host must supply him with fresh human brains or face intolerable withdrawals. This obvious metaphor for drug addiction only works because the Ayler (voiced by none other than TV horror host Zacherly, the Cool Ghoul) is so smugly seductive. If fentanyl could talk, this is how it would sound. You can go 4/5 for this one.

[FatFreddysCat]

"A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors" (1987)

Is this movie really thirty years old? *gulp* I saw it twice during its theatrical run!

The last of the Elm Street children, still plagued by dreams of Freddy Krueger, are locked away in a psychiatric facility, which makes them easy pickin's for the razor-fingered maniac. Fortunately, Nancy Thompson returns from the original to help the new kids learn to fight the dream world demon and put him away once and for all.
"Dream Warriors" is still the best of the "Elm Street" series; the special effects are a vast improvement over the first two installments and Freddy was still somewhat scary - they hadn't turned him into a second-rate stand-up comedian quite yet. Plus, theme song by Dokken for the win.

[Trevor]

I saw Congo (1995) for the first time ever last night: made me go 

[Rev. Powell]

AUDITION (1999): A widower decides it is time to remarry, and a film producer friend arranges a fake audition so he can screen dozens of young women; the one he picks turns out to be the worst choice possible. Takashi Miike's greatest achievement, a movie that starts out as a straightforward, almost comic drama, but keeps going deeper and deeper into darkness...  5/5.

[Rev. Powell]

THE DOOM GENERATION (1995): Three punks---an idiot, a slut, and a psycho---have sex and go on a killing spree until the movie ends. I think it's supposed to be a comedy. Never a good sign when your movie includes three main protagonists and the audience is rooting for all of them to die. 1/5.

[BoyScoutKevin]

I saw Congo (1995) for the first time ever last night: made me go 

I saw this, when it was 1st released to theaters, because I had read and enjoyed the Michael Crichton novel upon which the film was based. The book was better (IMHO)

[dean]

Raw (2016):

! No longer available

French horror/drama about a girl who goes to Vet school, begins as a vegetarian and eventually gets a taste for stranger meat. This one was an interesting watch. Pretty engaging for the most part, the rumour mill says at screenings it would make people vomit, though after watching it I didn't really feel much. Maybe I'm just desensitized/too used to Cronenberg. Plays in similar waters to, though is much more understated (not counting the cannibalism) and "European", than the hyper stylized Neon Demon. Some scenes are somewhat disjointed or more an assembly of 'moments' rather than flowing smoothly, but it runs as a pretty easily digestible 100 minute movie. That said if your imagination is on the more powerful side this one may get to you quickly.

The basic summary: Young woman 'finds herself' and what that is, is certainly not normal. Also hazing rituals must really suck: this school looks pretty rundown which contributes to the wild unhinged vibe of it, and all the hazing seems to have the permission of staff (bloodied up students doing a test for example).

I enjoyed it but the rave reviews maybe let me down a little after watching it. Solid 3/5 film.

[AoTFan]

Raw (2016):

! No longer available

French horror/drama about a girl who goes to Vet school, begins as a vegetarian and eventually gets a taste for stranger meat.

...but it runs as a pretty easily digestible 100 minute movie.

I see what you did there.

[Rev. Powell]

METROPOLIS (2001): A Japanese detective and his nephew search for a criminal scientist in the city of Metropolis, and discover instead a naive robot intended for use as a weapon of mass destruction. One of the best looking animes of all time---Fritz Lang's city remade glorious shades of neon---although the plot understandably lacks its inspiration's big themes, and ends up instead as an AKIRA retread. 4/5.