Recent viewings

[Jack]

But I think Jack would appreciate them anyway!

Might have to check that one out 

[Jack]

The Land That Time Forgot (2009) - a group of people on a boat get swept into some weird supernatural phenomenon and end up on an island populated by dinosaurs. After meeting a couple of other people who disappeared in the Bermuda triangle, they come across a German U-boat and its crew. And shoot a torpedo at a T-Rex    Kind of a typical Asylum movie, not to be taken too seriously but it's a fun little romp. Decent characters and a nice cheesy plot.  3.75/5.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Hamburger: The Motion Picture" (1986)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUpWMN9Rm5Q

My favorite bad '80s no-budget low brow comedy. Perennial academic washout Russell needs a college degree in order to receive his inheritance, so he signs up for a last ditch attempt at Buster Burger University to learn the ins and outs of the fast food business. Mayhem, bad acting, cheap jokes, endless burger puns, and much gratuitious nudity ensues.

Make no mistake, this movie is awful, but I love it.

[Venomx73]

The Three Stooges Meet Hercules (1962)

[Rev. Powell]

CHAFED ELBOWS (1966): A chronicle of Walter Dinsomore's "annual breakdown," 1966: he gives birth to ten dollar bills, shoots a policeman, marries his mother and goes on welfare. This ultra-low budget underground comedy is told mostly through (cleverly manipulated) stills with only three actors supplying dozens of voices: it's almost like an illustrated radio play utilizing lots of leftover Marx Brothers jokes ("I've never been so insulted!" "You're young still.") The incest, police corruption and murder is too silly to really count as "transgressive." An interesting experiment from the intriguing Robert Downey, Sr. 2.5/5.

[fulci420]

American Movie-Watched this documentary on youtube for free. We follow amateur filmmaker Mark as he attempts to finish his short horror film. This film is at times humorous and at other times heartbreaking. It's tempting to dismiss these people as losers but I think any creative person will see part of themselves in these characters. An entertaining documentary this is as much about the movie making process as it is about the human condition. 5/5

[JaseSF]

Fury of the Wolfman (1972): The Waldemar Danisky (Paul Naschy)  werewolf saga continues. Here he ends up tangling with an evil female scientist (Perla Cristal) conducting mind control experiments.

This one is pretty dull for the most part but perks up a tad during the werewolf segments especially during the finale. The big problem with this movie is it just doesn't have enough Paul Naschy in the Waldemar Danisky not yet transformed into a werewolf role and for large chunks of time, he's either dead or incapacitated. The rest of the cast just aren't really talented enough to keep your interest with the material they're given to work with here. The cops are almost laughably slow and those playing them don't even seem like actors. For Naschy completists only. ** out of ***** stars.

The Lucifer Complex (1978): In the future, a man living on an island recounts the rise and fall of man. Eventually his focus turns towards a special government agent named Glenn Manning (Robert Vaughn) and his efforts to uncover and stop an underground Nazi plot to create a Fourth Reich using clones to replace world leaders.

This movie is horrendously awful and also tremendously boring. Still it's one of those bad movies that has to be seen to be believed (and viewing it should probably be some right of passage around these parts). The first half hour or so of the film is made up of stock footage from World War I, World War II, The Vietnam War, Woodstock and more. Then we get treated to this ridiculous Robert Vaughn fighting Nazis story that throws some women in prison into the mix as well who naturally enough eventually aid Vaughn in his battle with the Nazis, who of course are laughably incompetent. But as interesting as that all sounds, this film is dreadfully boring and only the truly brave will be able to outlast and withstand its horribleness. *1/2 out of ***** stars.

Dummy (2002): A fed-up with his life office worker named Steven (Adrien Brody) finally decides to quit his job and follow his dream of becoming a ventriloquist. Along the way, he meets a possible love interest in his unemployment counselor Lorena (Vera Farmiga) but perhaps standing in the way of him achieving his goals is the bickering family he still lives at home with and a female friend/would-be punk rocker named Fangora (Milla Jovovich) who gives him the absolute worst advice with it comes to dealing with women.

This was a very enjoyable little slice of life/coming of age movie. It's quirky, funny and different. I like that it's pretty far afield of politically correct. It's basically all about how one shouldn't give up on one's dreams and how with work and effort, sometimes perhaps they might just come true and without following them, so many of us remain unhappy. This film actually feels a bit like real life on some levels, much closer than many similar films and the ventriloquism stuff may be awful in terms of performance but it's nevertheless very funny and very expressive about the real life picture one finds in one's life. Illeana Douglas also gives a good performance in this one as Steven's unhappy sister Heidi. ***1/2 out of ***** stars.

[Jack]

The Devil's Wedding Night (1973) - a guy goes to Transylvania to search for some ancient talisman, but he soon runs into lady Dracula, who's intent on sacrificing virgins and marrying this guy, who ol' Drac' will then posses; or something like that. The guy's identical twin brother shows up out of the blue as well. I've got no idea where he came from, but of course they play the usual switcheroo shenanigans to add a bit of misdirection to the plot. This started out pretty good, very Gothic just like I like. But it soon descended into some swirling psychedelic mess. Sorry, I wasn't trippin' on acid while watching it so it really didn't appeal to me. Plenty of nudity though  The plot was somewhat interesting and there were a few scenes that were quite nice visually. Theme music was at times preposterously inappropriate and left me wondering if they were trying to be funny. I watched this on an Elvira's Movie Macabre set, and the print they used must have been found in a dumpster or something. Terrible, terrible condition. 2.5/5.

[claws]

Streetwise (1984)

Documentary about street kids in Seattle, Washington. Teens that ran away from home, or didn't see another alternative. There's 14 year old Tiny working as a prostitute because her mom is an alcoholic (her mom believes Tiny is only going through a phase). Tiny is in love with "Rat" - a young runaway (wearing roller skates occasionally) who lives together with an older pot head in an abandoned building. Then there's an older lesbian teen who sort of keeps an eye out on everyone. They hustle, deal and do drugs, beg or steal for a living. Some of the kids remain optimistic looking forward to a better future, some commit suicide because of the hopelessness of it all, and some get murdered (one girl became a victim of the Green River Killer).
Interesting time capsule (boom box playing popular break dance music) with a very sad ending. I had wet eyes  Recommended viewing, but not available on DVD so, happy hunting 5/5

[fulci420]

Been going through my Vietnam films and comparing the different directors approaches. Today I watched Full Metal Jacket for the first time and found it to be the weakest of the films I have viewed so far (the others were Stone's Platoon and De Palma's Casualties of War). I did think the first half was great with Lee Emery's and Vincent Donofrio's performance's being exceptional. However the second half seemed unfocused and largely pointless. Lacking the emotional resonance of the first half it left me feeling unsatisfied. Then again Kubrick has left me cold in the past (I appreciate Clockwork Orange and The Shining but have no desire to see them ever again).
Gonna have to split this movie in two for rating
Boot Camp Section-4.5 out of 5
Vietnam Section-2.5 out of 5 

[Rev. Powell]

MST3K: PROJECT MOONBASE: This is a middle of the road Season 1 episode from the series: they're starting to get into a groove with the jokes and the premise, but there are still lots of misfires. This is another episode with 2 painful Commando Cody serial episodes; they're getting better at mocking them but the serial wore out its welcome long ago. The feature is a dull and dated sci-fi epic (co-scripted by Robert Heinlein!) It's forgettable except for its bizarre mixture of feminism and chauvinism: the mission commander is female, but her superior officer threatens to discipline her buy spanking!

By the way, star Donna Martell is a hottie, and thankfully spaceship uniforms in the future are tight shirts and short shorts.

[alandhopewell]

     Another good film from an 8-pack....



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZpB2F0r-YA

     I like movies with twisty-bendy plots, and CYPHER  certainly has one. Jeremy Northam plays an accountant who is recruited for industrial espionage, but finds out (DING!) all is not what it seems.

     The ever - watchable Lucy Liu plays the mysterious woman who puts him hip, not to mention putting a certain glide in his stride....right on, Lucy!

     Ol' Frosty says, give it a whirl.

[JaseSF]

The Thing (2011): Prequel to the events of the 1982 film focuses on the efforts of a scientific research team made up of Norwegians and Americans to recover an astounding find: an alien and its nearby spacecraft. However unbeknowst to them, the alien inside the frozen ice is still alive and yeah, it's the thing!

This was much better than I expected. Initially it feels closer to the 1951 film but then veers much closer towards the 1982 film. It doesn't offer up much that's really new but it is a pretty inventive little prequel than does manage to connect the dots to the 82 film. Leads Mary Elizabeth Winstead and John Edgerton really help keep things interesting and I also liked Jørgen Langhelle as Lars. In many ways the cast feels a bit closer to the 1951 film with Ulrich Thomsen's Dr. Sander Halvorson actions helping to trigger events here and his character sometimes feels like a more toned down version of Robert Cornthwaite's Dr. Arthur Carrington and this film like the 1951 one has a more predominant female character albeit here much more involved than in the 51 film. With all that said, this film still pales next to the 1982 film because it cannot come close to matching the thrilling, chilling FX and the level of suspense and suspicion although it comes closer in the latter regard. Nevertheless I enjoyed this one so I'll give it ***1/2 out of ***** stars.

Hobo With A Shotgun (2011): Thoroughly fed up with the corruption and twisted evil he sees all around him, a hobo (Rutger Hauer) picks up a shotgun and sets out to deliver vigilante justice in a seemingly lawless town. His main targets soon become the town's main crime boss The Drake (Brian Downey) and his sadistic maniac sons Slick (Gregory Smith) and Ivan (Nick Bateman) as well as the rest of the town's scum.

This movie is filled with completely over the top violence and gore and one's tolerance for it probably depends on one's tolerance for that. In many ways it kind of reminds one of 80s action films if they had been taken to ridiculous extremes. Honestly this movie is a bit too much for my personal taste but I'm sure many with a taste for this stuff will delight in it. There's just nothing but ugliness in this film from beginning to end and I just didn't find it as fun as say the similar Planet Terror. The Plague did provide an interesting and slightly different bright spot adding a bit of a sci-fi style twinge to the story. Maybe it's just that it's more action-oriented and not so much in the realm of horror and sci-fi that I didn't care as much for it. I'll give it **1/2 out of ***** stars.

[FatFreddysCat]

"It Came From Beneath the Sea" (1955)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ue7ImjBIJ04

A giant octopus, disturbed by undersea H-Bomb testing, rises from the depths and attacks San Francisco. Fortunately the U.S. Navy is prepared with giant nets and explosive torpedoes!!

Charming '50s cheapie fun featuring cool stop motion creature effects by the great Ray Harryhausen.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Phantoms" (1998)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlbsHAmPxR0

Fun, schlocky sci-fi/horror based on the Dean Koontz novel, in which a pair of sisters and a sheriff battle some kinda huge ancient Lovecraftian evil thing that's taken up residence under their small Colorado town.