Recent viewings

[lester1/2jr]

Steambath-  there was a generally positive thread about this one recently and I'd concurr.

                      If you are like most Americans the only plays you've ever seen are high school productions of Arthur Miller works like Death Of  Salesman or the Crucible, so if anything this is likely to be something different for you.  and it's really good.  Yes, it's a play, the dialogue isn't naturalistic,  it's themes are cerebral and generally left of center, and there aren't vast stretches of "Crouching tiger Hidden Dragon" style lush scenery,  but it's also profound.  pre Hulk Bill Bixby stars as a man who realizes the steambath he is sitting in is actually some early limbo-like stage of the afterlife : he/ they are all dead.  The steambath attendent is God, or he appears to be.  Only our main character seems to have a PROBLEM with the fact that he is now dead and is faily well perturbed about it throughout the story.  a hot girl, two gay guys and two old guys round out the cast.  Along with "the lathe of Heaven" this is definately a public television must see.

[Hammock Rider]

THE CRYPT - five bosomy female thieves and their ex-con boyfriend decide to rob some graves in an underground crypty where wealthy folks back during the Depression buried their jewelry with their dead, only to be terrorized and killed one by one by the walking ghosts that live in the catacombs - goofy, totally implausible plotline, but the ghosts are fairly scary and the girls are cute enough.  Worth a rental after it drops to be bargains shelves, but probably not as a new release.

You had me at bosomy female thieves.

[Hammock Rider]

The Great Outdoors-John Candy is a laid-back, traditonal kind of family man and Dan Aykroyd is his hard charging, type A stock trader brother -in-law. Both men and their familes have to share a vacation cabin in the North Woods. It's definitely a lesser  Candy, John Hughes seems to have written the script around a couple of big gag scenes and there's a forced teen romance, but still a family friendly and mellow comedy. 

[metalmonster]

THE GIANT CLAW

A Giant Turkey From Outer Space Comes To Terrorize Earth

[3mnkids]

The Chumscrubber~ Im not sure how to describe this one.     A chaotic look at suburbia? It was somewhat entertaining but it felt like i'd seen it all before.  I dont know.. I wouldnt watch it again.

[SkullBat308]

Akira  TETTTSSSSUUUOOOOO!!!!

[indianasmith]

I just finished a rather dreadful film called WINDCROFT.   An ad exec takes his young wife out to the farm where he grew up with his abusive dad after his ma hung herself.  They share an idyllic weekend, and he introduces her to his old flame, the girl next door.  But then Monday rolls around, and the story he has painted of his early years washes away like a sidewalk painting in the rain, revealing the ugliness beneath. 


And everybody dies.

[lester1/2jr]

godzilla vs Hedorah-  yeah this isn't the greatest Godzilla movie but I still enjoyed it.  The monster Hedorah  isn't that great, the fights aren't that great and the colorful non action things, mainlythe little cartoons and science lessons, aren't as good as , say, the "please give us back the egg" twins from Mothra.  "Please give us back the egg" hahaha.  3/5 next

[3mnkids]

Dead man's shoes~ A soldier returns home to get even with the people who hurt his brother... eh, its an alright revenge movie. Paddy Considine is really good as the angry brother and the rest of the cast do an adequate job but its slow moving, disjointed and i absolutely hated the music      It really pulled me out of the movie it was so distracting.

[lester1/2jr]

PLagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea - like most documentaries that make it to major distribution,  this is both fascinating and unbelievably depressing.  Salton Sea is a man made lake 50 miles north of Palm Springs that was once a lot of fun but due to  how salty the water is and some other stuff all the fish died and this killed the birds and this and that and now it's a like a disaster area but people still live there, mainly people who can't afford to leave.  Narrarated by John Waters,  the first half is mostly talking about the difference between the glory days and today and the second half talks about the various stilted attempts to save the sea, most notably by marginally talented singer turned politician Sonny Bono.  many interviews with the locals, including allusions to some racial tensions and good music by something called Friends of Dean martinez permeate it's 70 or so minute running time.  5/5

[3mnkids]

Train~ A group of Americans(dumb ones BTW) are in Europe for a wrestling match and they get on the wrong train. A train filled with backwood, inbred psychos intent on killing them for their organs.

Its like hostel on a train but with more gore. Its a pretty typical gore porn movie worth a one time watch if you like those types of movies if you dont, avoid at all cost. 

[Jack]

Perfect Creature (2006) - In an alternate reality (think 1940's), humans and vampires live in harmony.  Except for one bad vampire, he likes to drink blood the old fashioned way, and there's some subplot about the vampires conducting genetic experiments.  So a female cop and a male vampire team up to track down the bad guy.  This started out pretty interesting, with the alternate reality being rather unique and the female cop seeming as if she might be a well developed character.  You know when it stopped?  When they had the cop go to her apartment and spend a few minutes gazing longinly at a photo of her dead daughter.  After that she really didn't say much, and wasn't interesting at all, and the vampire guy was just uber-cool and didn't have a personality to start with.  So we're left with nothing but the plot, and I really didn't give a damn if the bad guy infected the whole human race or not.  3/5.

[Doggett]

It's been a while and I'm sure you've seen most of them:

Se7en
5/5

A Night at the Roxbury
3/5

Batman
4/5

Batman Returns
5/5

Elvira's Haunted Hills
4/5 (well, I'm a little biased)

Star Trek: Generations
3.5/5

The Notorious Bettie Page
4/5

[lester1/2jr]

The Forest (1982)-  If you are a fan of low budget horror and all that entails this is a must see, but more mainstream cinephiles, ones that maybe want to be scared by an alleged horror movie or lose themselves in one of those story things, will definately be dissapointed.  The best parts are the cute blonde and the beautiful sequoia national forest.  attempted supoernatural element is colorful but too ridiculous to be effective.  stars famous LA news personality Ron Burgandy

[Jack]

THE CRYPT - five bosomy female thieves and their ex-con boyfriend

Wait a minute:  One ex-con was the boyfriend to FIVE bosomy females?   Gawd, did I ever choose the wrong career