Recent Viewings, Part 2

[FatFreddysCat]

"Real Genius" (1985)
A high school whiz kid is accepted into a prestigious university science program, where he joins a team of students (headed by a young Val Kilmer) working on an experimental laser project. They soon learn that their shady professor (William Atherton from "Ghostbusters") is using their work to develop a weapon for the CIA. Wacky hi links ensue as Kilmer and his misfit crew put a stop to it.
This cult 80s campus comedy is smarter and less raunchy than many of its contemporaries, and as a result it's aged pretty well. I hadn't seen this since it first hit cable when I was in high school, and it was fun revisiting it all these years later.

[Rev. Powell]

EBONY & IVORY (2024): Perpetually angry Stevie arrives by rowboat in Scotland to stay with fellow musical legend Paul at his SCOTTISH COTTAGE; they go swimming, look at sheep, and have hot chocies and foot strokies, but never actually get around to composing the title song. With only two characters mostly just conversing, it's less textured than THE GREASY STRANGLER, and so you  really have to be keyed into Jim Hosking's particular sense of anti-humor, which relies on repetition of non-funny phrases so many times that they (hopefully) become funny, and absolute, unflinching absurdity for its effect. 2.5/5.

[lester1/2jr]

Freddy- I keep almost watching that. Maybe, I'll finally take the plunge.

Blood Lake: Attack of the Killer Lamprays (2014) - Science lesson every 15 minutes type syfy movie from The Asylum.

"We need to get to the aqueduct. The lamprays are gonna spread to Lake Michigan!" 

"I thought Lampreys couldn't live in salt water?"

"These aren't ordinary lampreys...they're evil!" 

"It's okay, honey..." 

(note: Lake Michigan is freshwater and lampreys can live in both, but you get the idea.)

Shannen Doherty resembles late/ hardcore junkie era Nico of Velvet Underground fame. She (Doherty) eventually died of breast cancer, not sure if she was suffering from it here, but she seems a bit lethargic. She plays the Mom and doesn't really radiate motherly warmth nor do her kids look even slightly like her. I loved her on 90210 though, so it was a colorful enough casting choice.

The CGI lampreys are everywhere and of course some people stand there and are like "No!" instead of doing anything, but the daughter does a good job of fighting back. Weedwackers and even a curling iron are employed in this pursuit, along with a big sciencey plan to like reverse electricity in the world or something.

I'm not remotely as schooled in this stuff as many on here, but I did enjoy Blood Lake more than other ones of this kind of thing. My favorite part was when the forest ranger main guy went on tv and was like " You should take your vacation someplace else, these lampreys are out of control" and the Jaws type mayor was like "Noooooooo!"

4/5

[FatFreddysCat]

"RoboCop: Prime Directives - Meltdown" (2001)
In part two of the "Prime Directives" series of TV movies, Robo has been accused of murder, and OCP creates a new and improved RoboCop model from the corpse of Alex Murphy's former partner. As you might expect, a lot of bullets fly and things get broken when the two Robos finally meet.
This series has been cheesy fun so far, and I'm looking forward to seeing the next chapter soon.