Recent viewings

[Rev. Powell]

WHO SAW HER DIE (1972): A sculptor tracks his daughter's killer in Venice. Slightly more stylish than the usual second-string giallo, but mainly a snooze. 2/5.

[alandhopewell]

Loved Killer Joe, not the kind of movie that gets award recognition though even though it deserves it. Unfortunately I watched...

Sssssss(1973)-Decided to put this on tonight when I had some friends over thinking it would be some b movie fun. We all agreed it was the worst movie we had seen in a long long time. The only good part of the movie is when the snake drinks booze. Everything else was pure horrible. It's up in full on youtube but I would suggest nobody ever watch it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnasfM3UtDc

     In 1973, I plunked down a buck and a quarter to see this, along with....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rnIKjedO3w

[alandhopewell]

     THE EXPENDABLES 2

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

    This one practically reviews itself....

    SLY!
    AUH-NULD!
    CHUCK!
    DOLPH!    
    BRUCE!
    JET!
    JEAN-CLAUDE!
    OTHER BADASSES!
    SMOKIN' HOT ASS KICKIN' ASIAN CHICK!
    STUFF BLOWING UP!
   83,795, 037 EXPENDED ROUNDS!
   MORE STUFF BLOWING UP!

    Saturday matinee for grown-up little boys; I LOVE this country!    

[JaseSF]

Finally watched The Avengers (2012). Really well done film. Pretty much as well realized as they could possibly have done given all the characters involved. Some great stuff here and some classic Marvel demolition style clashes. The casting was right and each character more or less has his/her great moment or two to shine. The plot did feel a tad similar to the pilot for the animated Justice League series pilot movie though.  Exciting stuff although one kind of misses the lack of key characters like Hank Pym, the Wasp, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver not to mention the Vision with the Avengers. Still can't complain too much. This does deliver the goods with a pretty close to original Avengers cast. I'll give it ****1/2 out of ***** stars.

Also watched the classic comedy Caddyshack (1980): The zany golf club parody spoof film has its hilarious moments best of which come from in my opinion the interplay between Rodney Dangerfield and Ted Knight. Also on hand but not the main focus are Chevy Chase and Bill Murray in memorable bit roles. The real star of the film is "teenage" lead Michael O'Keefe as a reluctant caddy named Danny Noonan who has dreams of success but who manages to stumble into one embarrassing scenario after another. Also playing a prominent role is an on the loose gopher wrecking havoc on the golf course. Rewatching this again, it seems funnier than when I caught it in my youth. Could be that I understand the jokes a lot better now that when I saw it the last time back when I was around 10-11 years old. Surprisingly funny, solid albeit somewhat goofy little comedy. I'll give this a solid ***1/2 out of ***** stars.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1978)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTSR6bu0Nq0

In the first of several remakes of the '50s creeping paranoid sci-fi classic, Earth is invaded by alien spores that hatch emotionless clones of sleeping humans from plant-like "pods." A San Francisco health inspector (Donald Sutherland) and his scientist girlfriend (Brooke Adams) have to stop the aliens before they can spread their, ahem, "seed" around the world.

The flick is a little on the long side but it has its share of cool, creepy moments...scariest of all being the awesome curly white-man Afro that Donald Sutherland was rockin' in the late 70s.

TERRIFYING!!!!

[Jack]

Bloody Pit of Horror (1965) - some models go to a castle for a photo shoot, but it's not long before the owner of the place gets possessed by the spirit of the Crimson Executioner and starts talking about himself in the third-person. And he tortures and kills the unfortunate girls. Lots of really fake fights that drag on far too long, laughable dialogue, some cheesy non-nude exploitation in the torture scenes. Dumb and slightly fun. 3.25/5

Skeeter (1993) - giant mosquitoes are attacking the townsfolk in a small rural area, and it's up to the sheriff's deputy and his girlfriend to save the day. Pretty standard plot but it throws in a bit of humor here and there which was actually quite funny. The characters were very likable, the mosquitoes were very fake; a moderately fun time. 3.5/5.

[tracy]

1964-Cold war tensions are heightened after an accidental thermonuclear first strike is launched against Moscow. A technical error sendsa an errant "go code" to a group of US bombers when an unidentified object is found to be just an off course airliner.Pressure mounts as the President and the Soviet Chairman try to prevent the approaching destruction of Moscow. The ending must be seen to be believed. This is an excellent and very disturbing movie,especially with Walter Matthau's character thinking during the crisis that we should take advantage of this to get rid of Communism for good. Starring a wonderful set of actors including Matthau,Henry Fonda as one of the most unenviable Presidents I've ever seen on screen,Larry Hagman,Dan O'Herlihy and Frank Overton. Also had Dom De Luise in an early,dramatic role.

[tracy]

Bloody Pit of Horror (1965) - some models go to a castle for a photo shoot, but it's not long before the owner of the place gets possessed by the spirit of the Crimson Executioner and starts talking about himself in the third-person. And he tortures and kills the unfortunate girls. Lots of really fake fights that drag on far too long, laughable dialogue, some cheesy non-nude exploitation in the torture scenes. Dumb and slightly fun. 3.25/5

Yes! I love this silly movie!

[FatFreddysCat]

"Mimic 2" (2001)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjMyZ7Ahbj4

Cheap lookin' direct-to-video sequel to Guillermo Del Toro's killer-bug movie, with those pesky human-sized, face eating "Judas Breed" insects setting up a new colony in and around a run down South Bronx school. Fortunately, the school science teacher happens to be a fomer government entomologist who knows how to handle a giant bug invasion.

The first "Mimic" flick was pretty bad-ass; this one's pretty weak. Think "SyFy Channel Original." Skip it and watch the original again instead.

[FatFreddysCat]

With the young'ins this evening:

"Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted" (2012)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlkWVkpP59U

Stranded in Europe, Alex, Marty and the gang join a run-down traveling circus in the hopes of making it back to New York. Unfortunately they're being pursued by a VERY determined French animal control agent as they cross the continent. Cartoon chaos naturally ensues.

Fun stuff for the kiddies and their parents too, as long as you can keep that "da-da-da-da-da, Afro, Circus!" song from getting stuck in your head....

[lester1/2jr]

Warlock (1991)- I feel like some people around here have probably seen this even though it's not very popular and has no nudity or anything. It's one of those movies where you can see why it's been ignored but at the same time it's actually more entertaining than a lot of big deal movies you're supposed to like.

A witchhunter guy from 1691 chases a witch played by Julian Sands the future. He ends up having the back and forth / violence with the guy while in the company of a very skinny sort of budgrt Julia Roberts woman who is charismatic enough if not particularly sexy despite a very short skirt. it could use a little zazz but I liked it in general. 3.85

[FatFreddysCat]

"The Land That Time Forgot" (1975)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0K97czqecQ

British shipwreck survivors overpower the crew of a German U-Boat, and together the group discovers a "lost continent" in the South Seas that's populated by cavemen and dinosaurs. Our square-jawed manly-man American hero (Doug McClure) does his best to protect his womanly woman companion (Lisa Penhaligon) from the constant threats of the island and the treacherous Germans alike.

The awesomely cheesy dinosaur effects (think "Godzilla") are the main reason for watching this schlocky '70s fun from the revered Amicus Studios ("Tales From the Crypt," "Vault Of Horror").Based on the novel by "Tarzan" creator Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Worth a look if ya like vintage drive-in cheez.

[claws]

The first "Mimic" flick was pretty bad-ass; this one's pretty weak. Think "SyFy Channel Original." Skip it and watch the original again instead.

I thought the sequel was decent enough for a DTV production. And kudos to Alix Koromzay playing the lead. Underrated actress, but sadly she hasn't made a new movie since 2006.

[fulci420]

Watched a few movies over the weekend

Psycho 2 (1983)-Perkin's returns in the surprisingly excellent follow up to Hitchcock's classic. Starting off with Norman Bates getting released back home after 20 years of psychiatric care. We see Bates as someone trying to leave the past behind until he starts to believe his old mother is still around and people start getting killed.

This could have been just another horror cash in but this is actually an excellently crafted and rather intricate sequel. Helping matters greatly is a fantastic score from Jerry Goldsmith that thankfully doesn't just reprise the original iconic score and instead takes on a more melancholy feel. Performance's are uniformly strong with Perkin's actually making us feel sympathy for Bates and Dennis Franz putting in a entertaining turn as the sleazy motel attendant who Bates fires early on.

Zero Dark Thirty (2012)-I had mixed feelings about this film which depicts the hunt and eventual killing of Osama Bin Laden. Right off the bat we are presented with real 9/11 phone calls followed by a card saying that the event's in this film really happened. Right after this we get the torture scenes that are creating so much controversy. These scenes are extremely disturbing and while it certainly does not glorify torture, it does show one tortured person revealing extremely important information which the CIA itself is now claiming never happened.

Directing wise this was really annoying. Making the decision to shoot this "documentary" style I don't know if there's a single shot in here that uses a tripod. I think handheld can be very effective for action scenes as in the Bourne series but here in a movie consisting mostly of indoor conversation it adds little and actually took me out of the movie several times. Performance wise this is pretty flat and Chastain getting a nomination is perplexing as her character had the depth of a puddle. At one point she tells a CIA director that "she's the motherf**ker that found this place", which is just a horribly written and delivered line that took me out of the film completely. On the bright side this movie had one of the best scores I have heard in along time and for such a long film the editing/pacing was strong.

This movie is creating a lot of controversy and I think it deserves it. It glosses over the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq as if they had nothing to do with this hunt. While it doesn't glorify torture it's characters never questions any of the morality of what they do. In fact it is explicitly suggested that unless Obama banned the practice they would just keep on doing it indefinitely. Whenever someone cautions someone against use torture the reason is always you don't want to get in trouble for doing it rather than you shouldn't do it because its barbaric.

As for the much anticipated raid scene it is certainly the best shot part of the film. How exciting it is depends on whether you think shooting an unarmed man is "brave". It is never questioned whether they might be able to gain crucial info from an alive Bin Laden, or whether he should be given a trial to prove his guilt. Bigelow makes political films that seem to lack any moral opinion on it's characters actions. By limited our portrayal of the victims of this war to innocent Americans it creates a biased view of the sequence of events. I am no supporter of Osama and have no problem that he was killed, but I can't help but see this as being a well crafted bit of propaganda from a deeply overrated filmmaker.

[FatFreddysCat]

I thought the sequel was decent enough for a DTV production. And kudos to Alix Koromzay playing the lead. Underrated actress, but sadly she hasn't made a new movie since 2006.

Yeah, she was OK, but oddly enough I didn't even realize that she had also been in the first "Mimic" till I read it later on IMDb. So I guess she didn't make much of an impression in that one. Or maybe I was too busy crushin' on Mira Sorvino to notice her. :D