Recent viewings

[lester1/2jr]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k37-pi8zTnE&feature=related

My Boyfriend's Back (1993) -

This is pretty random and far from essential but it's kind of fun in it's own way. It's kinda half 80's half 90's. It's seldom laugh out loud funny but it's guffaw ish here and there. The plot is at once cliche and ridiculous but hey I'm game.

A nerd has been in love with the beautiful popular girl at school his whole life. He wants to take her to the prom but his competition is ...the most popular GUY in school. So he gives up and asks a more appropriate girl. No, he and his sidekick guy forumulate a plan to make it look like he saves her from being robbed at a convenience store she works at, but then oops he gets killed in the process.

All is not lost though because he's now, somehow, a zombie! He tries to win her heart while battling the corrosive effets of death. like "lets go over there...oh no my foot fell off!". another running gag is his zombie-ness is played as like he is a minority,  " you don't want to be seen with me... it's because I'm dead isn't it?" If it sounds like a kind of middling SNL sketch, that's pretty much what it is.

It's campy but not exactly outragous and over the top the way camp usually is. It has kind of a canadian feel. Casting wise the strongest aspect is probably the hot girl played by Tracey Lind. She is very cute and likeable. She is regrettably fully clothed but there is a vanilla fast times-esque  shirt removal in a dream sequence. The weak link and the reason this isn't better known is probably the lead actor. He does the job ably enough but the role is more for a Johhny Depp ish "loner who is much better looking than everyone else at the school". The actor Andrew Lowery , who sounds like you've heard of him but you haven't, isn't very charismatic. He is more like a scummy lawyer from a Michael Douglas movie who beats up asians girls in his huge apartment .

I'ts better than alot of comedies that look kind of like this but not quite as good as others. It has a decent budget and a fair amount of effort appears to have been put into it.
worth checking out

3.75 /5

[JaseSF]

Jake "The Snake" Roberts: Pick Your Poison (2005): Fascinating WWE documentary looking at the life and times of Jake "The Snake" Roberts, a wrestler with fantastic natural charisma in and out of the ring but who throughout his career was haunted and kept back by his own personal demons.

This was really good. A surprisingly honest and direct look into what made/makes Jake Roberts tick and what makes him the man he was/is. Roberts doesn't hold back but reveals an awful lot of his inner self, detailing his horrifically sad childhood, how he came to resent his father and the women in his family in his life and how he ended up getting involved in pro wrestling determined to do better and be more than his father had. Roberts was a clever man who knew crowd psychology so well it almost seemed to come like second nature to him. He was without any doubt one of the very best talkers in wrestling history and still can outtalk the best of them today. We hear about his finding success but also the ease that success allowed for too much drinking, partying and recreational drugs which took a serious toll on his life and ultimately cost him pretty much everything he ever valued. This hopefully will help others see the fallacy in such behaviour if nothing else. Engrossing, very personal tale, it's just sad it couldn't have ended a bit differently but if nothing else, Roberts is a survivor. ****1/2 out of ***** stars

[claws]

The Newlydeads (1987)

Transvestite returns from the dead to kill her murderer at a honeymoon lodge. SOV F13 rip-off that gives a new meaning to the word cheap. There are a few inventive kills and a certain amount of wicked tranny charm but the trash factor is too overwhelming. 2.75/5

[lester1/2jr]

Tomorrow's Children (1934) - artless but interesting short (52 min) film about the practice of forced sterilization in America. A woman's family are sort of like the local "Whites of west virgina" type undesirables. A helpful doctor guy decides they need the states help, so the state comes and decides they shuold be spayed or neutered! thanks alot doc! It's the type of thing Alpha video has 10,000 of and is better than many but not as good as like "gambling with souls", which was the gambling reefer madness. They do a good job of creating suspense toward the end, the lead actress is good, and the message that the practice is disgusting and evil is presented well. 3/5

[lester1/2jr]

11 Harrowhouse- This was okay but not as good as "the Hot Rock" as far as heist films are concerned. It stars Charles grodin and Candice bergen. Bergen is good but Grodin alternates between okay and kind of annoying. he is too sarastic and aloof to be this guy. He's occasionally funny though. It's okay, not great, not bad. I think the tv thing gave it two stars. it is a little better than that but not much depending on your curve there. They did a good job of keeping up the suspense in the heist and the chases and so forth.

[Pilgermann]

Collection of short films from Kenneth Anger (aka Magick Lantern Cycle) - Anger's work is very strange, and very interesting.  I don't want to mention every film but I'll point out a few:

Fireworks (1947) - Anger's first notable film which is basically a homoerotic beating/gang-rape fantasy/nightmare.  It's got some interesting visuals and in spite of it's reputaion I think Anger's amateurity shows through.  The content is pretty daring for the time period I suppose.

Rabbit's Moon (shot in 1950-released 1971) - This is my favorite of all of Anger's work, and one of the best surprises I've seen in a while.  It's a beautifully shot little film featuring mimes among an enchanting fairytale forest setting.  Pierrot is grasping for the moon in vain, and Harlequin appears to bother him.  He projects an image of Columbine using a magic lantern.  The "plot" really isn't that important, but the film creates a wonderful mood using popular doo-wop songs and gamelan music (the combination sounds weird but it works!), and the blue-tinted photography is lovely.  There's a later shorter version of this film with a different soundtrack but it's nowhere near as good.

Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (1954) - Kenneth Anger uses occult imagery in most of his films, and this one is like watching some hallucinogenic ritual on film.  It lasts too long but it's got some amazing and strange images.

Invocation of my Demon Brother (1969) - This one features a "soundtrack" by Mick Jagger consisting of random noise made on a Moog and the films is just really freakin' weird.

I'd recommend Anger's films to anyone interested in experimental cinema.  You can view some of these online but I recently got a Blu-ray collection and watching these on a big screen makes them more powerful.  There's a nice DVD set from Fantoma available as well.

[JaseSF]

The Self-Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior (2005): Controversial WWE documentary that is for the most part a scathing attack on the character of the man who portrayed the Ultimate Warrior in the WWF in the late 80s, early 1990s. It features commentary from those who personally dealt with Warrior at the time including Hulk Hogan, Vince McMahon, Steve Lombardi and Bobby Heenan. Those who dealt with him a bit less but did have some interaction also add their two cents including Eric Bischoff, Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross. Also we get some commentary from wrestlers who were actually young fans of the Warrior in their youth including Christian, Chris Jericho and Edge. Apparently Warrior was asked to participate in this DVD and refused leading to this DVD that basically became a personal attack on a man who was never well-liked behind the scenes largely due to putting himself ahead of others, putting money ahead of others and never really showing any true love for the wrestling business. The DVD hurts for his lack of involvement although you have to wonder if he'd agreed if this DVD would have even been such an out and out attack on the guy (I doubt it would have been). Still it is fascinating to get insights behind the scenes with regards to Warrior who apparently was very much a loner in the wrestling business for himself and making himself money which he did, saved it up and left wrestling behind. Some could certainly argue the guy was actually really smart to do just that. Of course, Warrior since has become a controversial political public speaker who sometimes seems arguably as crazy as his old Warrior promos used to be. Honestly Ultimate Warrior's promos are amongst the most entertaining thing here, not that they're any good...just they are so very bizarre it's hard to take one's eyes off of them. He seems like some type of metalhead superhero spouting gibberish to rally his supporters/brethren. Jericho and Lombardi were really the only people who had much nice to say crediting Warrior for his intensity, high energy and smarts which lead him to the heights of success.The rest if mostly criticism of Warrior for being selfish, careless in the ring and puttin the money over all and greatly overestimating himself (his in-ring skills were very limited) and his value to wrestling. Entertaining but a bit unfair I felt. *** out of ***** stars.

[claws]

April Fools (2007)

Homeboys and babygirls did something awful last April and somebody still knows. Poorly done digital slasher saved by funny urban cheese: hip-hop dancing galore and lil' flip live performance. Weak kills, strong attitudes. 3/5 Cheese

Never Cry Werewolf (2008)

I'm surprised the makers got away with it. Never Cry Werewolf is probably the most blatant rip-off in cinema history. The movie they copied 1:1? Fright Night.
Still had its entertaining moments and enough funny cheese to give it 3/5.

[lester1/2jr]

 I watched the Jake the snake movie Jase reviewed. It was interesting but I didn't like it as much as the Von Erich family one. Mainly because I was a much bigger fan of them than Jake the Snake. When I watched WWF I thought he was kind of boring really. Also did not appreciate the WWE logo on the screen the entire time. Roberts was honest though and the old clips and stories were cool 3.75/5

[Rev. Powell]

WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS: A MAN WITHIN (2010): Documentary on the famous literary outlaw, the cadaverous junkie novelist who beat the censors for good and accidentally killed his wife playing "William Tell."  Topics include early life, the Beat Generation, homosexuality, drug use, loneliness, and even a little bit of literature; adulatory interviewees include John Waters, Iggy Pop, Gus Van Sant, and Patti Smith.  Very well put together, if not exactly penetrating, with some appropriate avant-garde visual bits stuck between the talking heads. 3.5/5. 

[Flick James]

I watched Inception last night as the first Blu-Ray on my first HD tv. I saw it in the theatres, but seeing it in HD at home was a treat. It looked quite gorgeous and you could see that the film was made with HD in mind, unlike earlier films that have HD versions before it became a standard, where you can see more of the actors' faces than you care to.

I have not become a convert to CGI-fests, and probably never will, but I liked this one. Plus, it had some very well done conventional effects like the shifting gravity and weightlessness effects. Those were first-rate. However, this film, in my opinion, is a shining example of how the type of effects used are never a substitute for just good filmmaking. The characters were compelling enough, and the story itself was very compelling, and the performances were well-delivered. Without those elements, this would have been a CGI crap-fest. As it was, it was quite impressive and will be viewed a few more times to make sure I've registered all the complexities.

Not a 5, but anybody who knows me knows how rarely I dish out 5's.

4.8/5

[Jack]

The Reeds (2009) - some people rent a yacht for a weekend of partying.  Oddly enough, they take it into a big swamp full of, you guessed it, reeds.  Then creepy stuff starts happening.  This started out promising enough, with decent characters and a suitable atmosphere for a horror movie.  Then it just went downhill.  I dunno, too predictable, too uninteresting, too much like it was written by someone who didn't have an idea in his head not put there by other horror movies.  Took me three nights to finally finish it even though the credits start rolling after about 70 minutes.  2.5/5. 

[Rev. Powell]

TOTO THE HERO (1991):  Under the delusion that he was switched at birth with the kid who ends up being his next door neighbor, Thomas spends his life plotting revenge.  He also falls in love with his sister.  Strange little Belgian dramedy that jumps around in time and in reality (there are flashbacks inside of flashbacks, dream sequences, and so on) but ends up painting a poignant portrait of lifelong envy.  4.5/5.

THE HOLY MOUNTAIN (1973): After wordless adventures with a legless and armless companion, including some time spent at a carnival where bullfrogs are dressed as conquistadors, a Christlike figure rides up on a moon-shaped hook to a tower where an ascended master prepares him and eight others to ascend the Holy Mountain by shaving his head and burning his feces.  Then things get strange.  Alejandro Jodoworsky decided that EL TOPO was too tame and conventional and he wanted to do something weird and outlandish this time; the results must be seen to be believed.  Set designs, with live animals wandering through them, are incredible, and several illusions (like the birds that fly out of bullet holes in corpses) are unforgettable.  The first 30 minutes or so are unparalleled in modern surrealism, though things take a dip in the middle portion when Jodorowsky tries out some tone-damaging social satire. 5/5.     

[claws]

Wild at Heart (1990) Blu-ray (Region B)

Cool-twisted soap opera with lots of violence, death, sex, romance, drama, Elvis and Wizard of Oz references. And yeah, Diane Ladd is giving Mommie Dearest a run for the money. Brilliant stuff. 5/5

[Jack]

The Alien Factor (1978) - An alien spaceship crash lands on earth.  They just happened to be transporting some other dangerous aliens back to their planet for study, and of course they get loose and start killing people.  This is a Don Dohler film, so it's more Z-grade than B.  Plenty of funny stuff here, from an alien wearing blue jeans to another one in a '70s style jogging suit.  When someone is killed, they're not transported via ambulance to a hospital - instead a couple dudes pick up the body in a station wagon and take it to the house where Aunt Ruth lives.  A good third of the movie is spent with the sheriff who refuses to believe that aliens are killing people in his town.  Why is this in the movie at all?  A couple of guys are going up into the woods to look for the monster, but several people warn them that there's a lot of snow up there, so it will be dangerous.  The Sheriff even comments that the snow will probably kill them.  And yes, there is an inch of snow on the ground, but our intrepid monster hunters seem to survive it okay.  And on and on and on.  The only thing it was missing was someone to do some ridiculous overacting.  3/5.