Recent viewings

[Jack]

BloodRayne: The Third Reich (2010) - During WWII, some Germans are fighting the Russian resistance, and there's also this goth chick running around lol. She's half human / half vampire, and she bites a German soldier and of course he figures out that he can then bite other German soldiers and create some sort of invincible army. So it's up to goth chick to save the world. I don't know how she got this part, she's horribly miscast and all the modern-day phrases in the dialogue doesn't help either. The main character though is probably the German doctor who's studying vampirism and doing his best imitation of Boris Badenov from The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show. The plot doesn't make much sense and the big climactic battle at the end left me saying "That's it?!?!" Oh well, the lead actress takes her top off a couple of times which is by far the best thing this movie has to offer. Thank you Mr. Boll     2.5/5.

Gog (1954) - In an underground research facility, America's top scientists are working on designing a space station. Unfortunately a mysterious killer is taking them out one after another, so a secret agent is called in to investigate. Usually these '50s sci-fi thing are pretty slow moving, but this one actually maintained a good pace with lots of interesting murders. The characters were entertaining and had some personality. Plot was somewhat interesting. Pretty good ol' sci-fi - 4/5.

[FatFreddysCat]

"The Spy Who Loved Me" (1977)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qgh-SAuT7hs
When nuclear submarines from both British and Russian fleets suddenly start disappearing without a trace, the governments form an uneasy truce and pair 007 with a lovely Russian counterpart (Barbara Bach) to get to the bottom of it. Their investigation takes them from Cairo to the bottom of the ocean, where they meet a madman who wants to destroy the surface world and "start over" in his own private Atlantis.

My fave of the Roger Moore Bond films, plenty of action and eye candy!

[Rev. Powell]

SHIVER OF THE VAMPIRES (1971): A honeymooning couple stop at a creepy castle to visit the bride's distant cousins, but they've been turned to vampires.  Director Jean Rollin's formula is beautiful visuals, thick Gothic atmosphere, a thin but dreamlike plot that's pared down to the bare essentials of the vampire genre, and ample nudity and eroticism.  It works here.  3.5/5.

[JaseSF]

My Best Friend's Wedding (1997): 27 year old and single food critic writer Julianne Porter (Julia Roberts) sets out to try and wreck her best friend Michael O'Neil (Dermot Mulroney)'s wedding plans with young and perky 20 year old Kimberly Wallace (Cameron Diaz) because she secretly has designs on him herself.

This was actually pretty decent for a romantic comedy flick. There's some good comedy here particularly from Roberts herself whose character here seems a bit of a klutz and seems to have problems keeping her plans from going awry. She also gets some good support from Rupert Everett as her good friend/editor George Downes whom she gets to pose as her fiancee despite the fact he's gay. I was surprised it took a few deviations from the expected as these films usually seem to stick pretty close to formula but this element actually rises this one a notch or two above others of its type and makes it all feel more believable on some level. ***1/2 out of *****

Man on Wire (2008): British made award-winning documentary about Philippe Petit's 1974 daring high-wire walk between the Twin Towers (New York's World Trade Center). This was certainly interesting and intriguing as we get a glimpse into the mind of the high-wire artist who sets out to achieve what many no doubt thought impossible, creating what would be called "the artistic crime of the century" as what Petit and those co-conspirators who helped him did was certainly illegal but the mere fact was it seemed to be a dream that would not be denied. This documentary gives pretty much a blow by blow account of how Petit and his friends pulled this off as well as providing footage/photographs from other daring Petit high wire walks including the Notre Dame Cathedral and the Sydney Bridge. There's also lot of beautiful footage of the Twin Towers themselves from their construction to Petit's eventual high-wire act, some really startling scenic footage of the old New York City skyline. This footage makes the film itself worth watching but Petit's story is also intriguing to watch to just to discover how he managed to pull off something so daring. Watching the aftermath proves less exhilarating than the rest as we learn that the fame really went to Petit's head but I guess that's reality now isn't it? Solid, consistentally entertaining documentary that for me personally re-watching is most appealing for the photographs and scenery involved. ***1/2 out of ***** stars.

[Jack]

The Raiders of Atlantis (1983) - some people are trying to secretly raise a sunken Russian nuclear sub from the sea floor. Something, I dunno...the radiation from the reactor? Causes Atlantis to rise to the surface. This creates a big tsunami and our characters are lucky to escape with their lives, finally making it to a nearby island (not Atlantis). Here they find that some rejects from a Mad Max movie have taken the place over, and lots and lots of gunfights follow. Yeah, it's Italian in case you hadn't already guessed. Our heroes eventually go to Atlantis for the big (weird) showdown. This was really stupid but at least somewhat entertainingly so. A bit of a chore to make it to the end.  2.5/5.

The Crater Lake Monster (1977) - a meteorite crashes into a lake, and the heat from it causes some dinosaur eggs to hatch. Next thing you know there's a sea monster running around killing random folks. This wasn't too bad. The characters were entertaining, the plot moved along at an acceptable pace. There were two comic relief guys, just drunken losers who were actually kind of funny. Special effects were cheesy but fit right in for this sort of movie.  3/5.

[JaseSF]

The War Game (1965): Originally a TV docudrama about what the results of a thermonuclear war would look like if Britain were to be hit by nuclear missiles, this was quickly considered too extreme for British TV and was basically banished from TV for about twenty years but it did receive a theatrical release despite its running time being less than 50 minutes.

This is a very intense and powerful film that plays pretty much like a documentary for the most part. It shows the stark reality of a place devastated by a nuclear attack which would result in the living envying the dead for life would rapidly become unbearable for those few who would survive. This doesn't hold back and doesn't pull any punches and is all the more effective due to it. In many ways this feels like a forerunner to The Day After and even moreso Threads. It also gives us a glimpse of how little the ordinary folk at the time really knew about the potential fallout from a nuclear attack. Fascinating and terrifying but also at times a bit hard to watch because it's all still possible. It does show just why there should never be a nuclear strike made against any country by any other country on Earth.  ****1/2 out of ***** stars.

[FatFreddysCat]

"The Man With the Golden Gun" (1974)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xzt6zAj7XUM&feature=player_embedded
When a golden bullet is sent to MI6 with 007's number engraved upon it, the authorities think it means he's been targeted by the famed assassin "Scaramanga" (Hammer Horror legend Christopher Lee), but when Bond heads to the Far East to investigate, he finds out there's much more going on.

Decent Bond romp, not one of Moore's better turns as 007 but it does have some cool chop-socky kung fu moments (a nod to the then-current Bruce Lee/karate film craze, no doubt) and some quality eye candy in the forms of Britt Ekland (as the ditsy "Agent Goodnight" who nearly causes Doomsday with her bikini-clad butt) and Maud Adams as Scaramanga's lady in waiting.

The flick also features random violence against the annoying midget Herve "De plane! De plane!" Villechaize, which was fine by me. :D

[lester1/2jr]

Sleeping with the Enemy - Julia Roberts is a meek woman who is married to a horrible succesful man with a mustache. WHy did they get married? Who knows. They don't seem cut out for each other at all. They are like complete opposities. He's an American Pyscho type business bastard and she is a humble christian woman from another planet. . So she escapes from him and tries to start a new life but meanwhile he's busy finding her and closing in like Jaws.

Despite all the foolishness as described it was good. Roberts is charismatic and the devil guy is appropriatly repulsive. 4/5

I accidentally domed your son- This cheap all black cast comedy doesn't live up to it's brilliant title but it tries. What I've found with this genre is that there is often some funny stuff but the pacing stinks and it just never really builds up into something i can recomend. It's about as good as Slumber Party, Nerd harold or whatever it was called. I've seen a bunch of them. They generally get trashed on netflix. One scene I liked was when one guy blows another guys brains out and the other guy is doing this comic dialogue with blood and brains all over his shirt. It's full of cliches like "this joint isn't any normal joint it's weird!!" and they are all super high. or just typical scenerios.  They've still got a way to go these guys. 

feeling charitable 3/5

[Jack]

Future Women (1969) - some guy goes to Rio de Janeiro to rescue some woman who's been captured by a group of female warriors - they dress in sexy "futuristic" costumes that could only have come out of the year 1969 LOL. He eventually teams up with some mobsters to battle the femme fatales. Oh jeez, total cheese-fest, pretty boring and very stupid but the babes in their revealing warrior outfits are the whole point of the thing. And...I can't say I'm opposed to that     3/5.

Alien Prey (1978) - A space vampire comes to earth, kills some people, and takes on the identity of one of his victims (space vampires can do that you know). Then he meets up with a lesbian couple who live in a lovely mansion out in the countryside. He's new to the planet, so he's quite confused about everything and pretty dim. But his presence causes all sorts of romantic problems between the girls - one of whom takes quite a shine to him, and the other who hates men with a passion. I don't know if I was in a weird mood or what, but this was really good. The girls were complex and well developed, with the dominant man-hating one slowly revealing herself to be a bit of a psycho as the movie progressed. The relationship between them and the guy was very well done as well. Of course that darned space vampire thing was bound to rear its ugly head at the end. Definitely the highest quality movie I've yet seen on this Mill Creek "Sci-Fi Invasion" 50 pack. 4.25/5.

[indianasmith]

I saw this one when it came out in the 1980's!  Great film!

[Rev. Powell]

MST3K: DEVIL FISH: The movie is a late (1984) JAWS ripoff by none other than Lamberto Bava. It's badly edited, confusing, has weak action, and looks ugly, but it is the first movie I can think of to come up with the idea of combining a shark and an octopus.  Riffs revolve around the fact that everyone in the movie is an Italian pretending to be a Floridian, and the fact that they drink a LOT of Budweiser.  At Castle Forrester Pearl is entertaining a couple who think it's a cruise ship; on the Satellite of Love Mike and the bots prank call some dolphins and it turns out badly for them.  A segment where Pearl uses a filter to transform the boys into Italian stereotypes is pretty funny, especially when she accidentally goes too far (WARNING: ETHNIC SLUR pops up on screen).  Overall it's a middle of the road episode. 3/5.

[indianasmith]

Last night my wife and I watched Jackie Chan's historical epic, 1911.  I really wanted to like it, and it was obviously a labor of love on Chan's part.  But the events of the revolution which toppled China's last emperor are little known in the West, and the movie does little to explain them.  Also, while the dialogue subtitles were clear and readable, the movie's subtitles that provided the names of places, characters, and summarized events were so tiny that I had to do the 3X zoom in order to be able to read them at all.  And, in addition, the glowing tribute to China's communist government tacked on at the end was a bit nauseating.  However, the movie was made in China for a Chinese audience and under the approval of the Chinese government, so I understand why it was added.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Cowboys & Aliens" (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqbUVMjndx4

Mostly-fun mashup of the Western & sci-fi genres, in which a stranger wanders into a small frontier town with a strange electronic gauntlet on his wrist... and no memory of who he is, where he came from or how he got the gizmo. Cattle mutilations and alien abductions soon follow and the townsfolk must band together to save their stolen "kin" from becoming alien chow.

Could've used a bit more humor but Daniel Craig is good as the mysterious hero and Harrison Ford is great as a scuzzy cattle baron.

[Rev. Powell]

LA GRANDE BOUFFE (1973): Four men (including a mater chef) check into a villa and resolve to eat themselves to death. It's THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL meets LEAVING LAS VEGAS. Grotesque but oddly compelling, thanks to a dream cast including Marcello Mastroianni, Michel Picolli and Philippe Noiret. 4/5.

[JaseSF]

The Perfect Man (2005): Tired of her mother Jean (Heather Locklear)'s constant running away following troubled relationships, teenager Holly (Hilary Duff) decides to try and encourage her mother to stay put in their new home in Brooklyn, New York by creating a secret admirer for her, "the perfect man" only the lie starts to spin more and more out of control...

This feels like a Disneyesque style romantic comedy. All in all, it's fairly predictable fare but relatively harmless escapist entertainment too. The characters in it do prove fairly likeable although everything seems a little too PG perfect a lot of the time which takes away from credibility. Personally I actually did find it a bit funny on some occasions mainly for some of its goofier characters and there's is of course the expected message/moral lesson driven home by the end. This is fluff sure but for fluff, it's not so bad. *** out of ***** stars.

The Wedding Planner (2001): Romantic comedy starring Jennifer Lopez as wedding planner Mary Fiore, who cannot seem to get a date, finally discovering romance with one Dr. Steve Edison (Matthew McConaughey) who unfortunately for her turns out to be the prospective groom in a very important upcoming wedding she's been assigned.

Honestly I found this one to be tougher slugging. It's largely dull and overlong with a predictable premise that feels stretched out to fill in the running time. Also McConaughey's romantic lead character in this one just tends to strike me as an arrogant, selfish jerk for the most part who also happens to be totally full of himself. Lopez's character proves likable enough as does her friends especially her father and his Scrabble buddies but that isn't enough to overcome the general dullness of this one and the fact it's relatively unfunny and practically impossible to believe Lopez having trouble finding  a man. **1/2