Recent viewings

[lester1/2jr]

Jack-  my dismissing of Star Slammer is, for some reason,  my most recomended review on netflix by wide margin.  I kind of feel bad about it, but I gave it the same score you did and genuninly didn't like it.


3mn-  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sRGi4UFqj8  when  I say "edgy" I mean .. watch out!

[Rev. Powell]

Grace~ A pregnant woman gets in a car accident and is told that her baby is dead, she decides to carry it anyway and its stillborn but somehow comes back to life with a taste for human blood.     So many things wrong this movie.*spoilers*

... its weird and made me extremely uncomfortable.

...After it was over all i could say is WTF was that! 

I've been mildly interested in this.  It got mixed reviews.  I know your review was intended to be negative but it makes me want to see it more!  The more WTF the better!

[Rev. Powell]

Do or Die (1985)- Circus Circus might well be attracted to Donna Spier and some of the other awesomely 80's chicks in this movie but I cannot fairly say that I really am.  This is a bit of a misfire from Mssr Sidaris.  It's got the pattented Bombs, babes and bottles or whatever it is but it's not up to the standards of "Hard ticket to hawaii", the greatest movie ever made or even "Picasso Trigger".  Still, if you are going to watch a clunker, let it be an Andy Sidaris one as there are plenty of gun fights, silicon enhanced nudity and if you act now, Pat Morita and Erik Estrada. 3/5

Glad to see another Sidaris fan.  I think HARD TICKET TO HAWAII was his best too (because it was his worst).  The movies got slick and formulaic as the series went on, I suspect partially because Cinemax picked them up.  DO OR DIE was actually 1991, and I think it's the movie where Sidaris starts running out of new ideas and just begins recycling the old stuff.

[lester1/2jr]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOBbmdJTLdE 

[Rev. Powell]

Catching up on this thread:

ARMY OF DARKNESS (1993): Following the events of EVIL DEAD II, Ash finds himself flung backwards in time into a medieval land, where his failure to retrieve the Book of the Dead enables evil forces to muster a massive army of stop-motion animated skeletons. Raimi tried to take the elements he thought worked best from EVIL DEAD III---the ghoulish slapstick and Bruce Campbell's campy action-hero parody---and hammer them relentlessly, resulting in a movie that feels a bit forced but is still a wacky good time.  3.5/5.

STALKER (1979): A "Stalker" has the skill to lead the curious past armed guards and mystifying traps into a mysterious area known as The Zone, inside which there is rumored to be a room that will grant the visitor's innermost wish. Typically slow and impenetrably obscure movie by Tarkovsky, which almost lulls you to sleep with long stretches where nothing happens, then suddenly shocks you with an unforgettable image of haunting beauty. 4/5.

DR. CALIGARI (1989): The granddaughter of Dr. Caligari performs neurological experiments on her asylum patients in this surreal and sexy low-budget R-rated oddity by a director better know for avant-garde hardcore porn films like CAFE FLESH and NIGHTDREAMS. The sets and costumes are cheap but very inventive, but the amateurish acting and joyless villain hold it back from being much more than an intriguing curio. 3/5.

SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW (2004): "Sky Captain" Jude Law and gal reporter Gwyneth Paltrow pursue a mad scientist in this sprawling adventure set in an anachronistic 1930s where zeppelins exists side-by-side with ray guns and giant robots. The mix of Art Deco and CGI is stunning, but one wishes the creators had paid as much attention to the ridiculous and confusing script as they did the visuals, and cast a more inspiring hero than laid-back Law (who is constantly and embarrassingly overshadowed by Paltrow). This could have been great---but it wasn't.  3/5.

[Ometiklan]

Watched The Monolith Monsters. Last night!
I forgot how good this one was.
Hey! Why not A remake!

[SkullBat308]

Critters 1,2,3,4

[lester1/2jr]

Palestine Blues - like alot of documentaries about this whole issue,  Palestine blues is long on intensety and despair and short on context and budget.  I liked this.  The story of a man whose farm is destroyed to make way for israels security wall is compelling and the use , however infrequent, of american blues music overlapped with images of the occupied territores is original but ...I already know this story.   The director and director of films like it are preaching to the converted here.  Take your story to the people, particularly Americans whose tax dollars are in large part funding this insanity.  3/5

[lester1/2jr]

Elevator MOvie (2004)- This is the kind of movie where if it were a thing I would be cynical about it but because it's so obscure I think it's the greatest thing ever! I'm full of s**t , in other words.  If you've seen the Breakfast Club, Steambath, or Waiting For Godot you know the drill:  strangers are stuck and get to know each other,  in this case it's two strangers, one a relatively normal and attractive young woman and the other an asocial nose picking freakoid 26 year old virgin with notebooks and video tapes full of all sorts of filth.  They get stuck in an elevator for several months.  How do they eat and sleep and other sicence facts? It's just a movie you should really just relax.  Seriously though, it's a comedy and an absurd one.  But it has dark implications for men and women and says alot about relationships or seems to, maybe that's what they call PROJECTION on my part.  in black and white,  5/5 highest possible recommendation

[Rev. Powell]

Elevator MOvie (2004)- This is the kind of movie where if it were a thing I would be cynical about it but because it's so obscure I think it's the greatest thing ever! I'm full of s**t , in other words.  If you've seen the Breakfast Club, Steambath, or Waiting For Godot you know the drill:  strangers are stuck and get to know each other,  in this case it's two strangers, one a relatively normal and attractive young woman and the other an asocial nose picking freakoid 26 year old virgin with notebooks and video tapes full of all sorts of filth.  They get stuck in an elevator for several months.  How do they eat and sleep and other sicence facts? It's just a movie you should really just relax.  Seriously though, it's a comedy and an absurd one.  But it has dark implications for men and women and says alot about relationships or seems to, maybe that's what they call PROJECTION on my part.  in black and white,  5/5 highest possible recommendation

Dang, Lester, another one probably only you and I have seen.  I didn't like it nearly as much, although I thought it had a great premise and good script.  The problem was the acting, which is very amateur and glaringly obvious in a movie that only has two characters.  You also should warn people that it's weird as hell---definitely in the mold of ERASERHEAD.  I gave it 3/5 in my initial review (here if you're interested), but I have promised to return to it and re-evaluate it.  I think I could grant it an extra 1/2 star for the script and concept.   

[lester1/2jr]

I saw the directors other movie waiting for nesara which is completely different, it's a documentary about some UFO sort of quasi scientology people in Utah.

I actually haven't seen eraserhead in 10,000 years but I honestly didn't think Elevator movie was weird at all.  I thought the abstract sort of stuff was funny and just sort of film festival movie type "out there" in a wink wink sort of way.  

I didn't notice the acting. I mean, most people in life aren't very good actors.  These people seemed no more or less contrived than most of the people I know.  

I bought into the philosophical thing of the elevator.  that interested me so the rest of the stuff just wasn't important.  budget, acting, whatever.


I have no concept of actual film criticism and normal criteria for evaluation

[Rev. Powell]

I saw the directors other movie waiting for nesara which is completely different, it's a documentary about some UFO sort of quasi scientology people in Utah.

I actually haven't seen eraserhead in 10,000 years but I honestly didn't think Elevator movie was weird at all.  I thought the abstract sort of stuff was funny and just sort of film festival movie type "out there" in a wink wink sort of way.  

I didn't notice the acting. I mean, most people in life aren't very good actors.  These people seemed no more or less contrived than most of the people I know.  

I bought into the philosophical thing of the elevator.  that interested me so the rest of the stuff just wasn't important.  budget, acting, whatever.


I have no concept of actual film criticism and normal criteria for evaluation

Fair enough.  But I think you watch so much weird stuff you may no longer realize its weird.     I thought the acting was distractingly bad, but good for you if you can look past it.

[Eyesore]

I have no concept of actual film criticism and normal criteria for evaluation

This is absolutely the most perfect line that I have read on this forum, and it encapsulates my feelings as well! Karma to you Lester, you are truly a visionary.

[Jack]

Dead Birds (2004) - Back in the Civil War era, a group of outlaws robs a bank, then hides out at an abandoned plantation house.  Unfortunately the house is haunted.  I have to admit, the first time I started watching this I turned it off after 20 minutes.  There's a long stretch after the robbery where nothing happens.  A couple nights ago I decided to give it another try, and I'm glad I did!  The last hour or so kept me on the edge of my seat    The house is spooky as all get-out, and considering the time period, and everything being lit with a few kerosene lanterns, it's extremely atmospheric.  The characters aren't very developed, but they are realistic and fairly interesting.  The scares are mostly boo scares, very much in the tradition of movies like The Grudge, but the sheer number of them keeps it suspenseful.  Awesome soundtrack too, they use the rear surrounds and side surrounds to create narrow or wide surround sound effects.  5/5.  Best horror movie I've seen in quite some time.

[lester1/2jr]

eyesore- thank you. I sing the song of myself!