Recent viewings

[FatFreddysCat]

"Smokey and the Bandit 3" (1983)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tu4Ht2opvqY

Even Burt Reynolds knew to stay far away from this who-asked-for-it second sequel to his 70s car-crash hit (he only appears in a brief cameo at the end). Instead, the focus this time is on Jackie Gleason's recently-retired Buford T. Justice, who is offered $250,000 to drive from Florida to Texas in 24 hours, with a new "Bandit" (Jerry Reed) dogging him the entire way. Mucho redneck humor (and lots of automotive destruction) ensues, as usual, but everybody's obviously just goin' thru the motions for the paycheck. Any time Gleason's not on screen, this thing stops dead.

Oddly enough, the original version of the film supposedly had Gleason playing dual roles as both "Smokey" and the "Bandit" characters, but poor test screenings prompted massive re-shoots that resulted in Reed being shoe-horned into the movie as a replacement "Bandit" at the last minute.

This movie flopped and is considered to be one of the worst sequels of the 80s. if not of all time ... and it's easy to see why.

[Jack]

Hold Your Breath (2012) - back in the '50s a serial killer was executed, and in the present day a group of kids drive past the cemetery where he was buried. Of course his spirit enters the body of one of the kids and turns him into a killer. The usual stuff ensues. This wasn't all that bad for a low budget slasher. The CGI was cheap and laughable but the big CGI climax was over-the-top in a sort of entertaining way. And the killer liked to gouge people's eyes out, after which they were in considerably less agony than I would have expected. But the characters were a decent bunch, likable and with some personality. I'll give it a slightly above average 3.5/5.

[alandhopewell]

     THE WOMAN IN BLACK (2012)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1hun4jaY5g

EXCELLENT English ghost period piece, based on a novel. Daniel Radcliffe gives a stellar performance, and the film manages the difficult task of being haunting, rather than throwing shocks on the screen.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Woman_in_Black_(2012_film)

[claws]

Birdemic: Shock and Terror (2010)

Perfect. 5/5

[lester1/2jr]

Spellbound - two ridiculously good looking people fall in love with the backdrop of a virtually impossible to fathom scenerio. I guess that's the movies for you! The stuff with dream interpretation is very iffy but it allows for some colorful (for a black and white movie) dream sequence thingies courtesy of Salvador Dali, whose work I 'm not a big fan of but it's the right artist for this subject matter for sure.  4/5

[Rev. Powell]

I want to see SPELLBOUND again for sure.

COSMOPOLIS (2012): A young financial genius is intent on taking his limo across Manhattan to get a haircut from his father's old barber, despite the fact that the streets are gridlocked due to a Presidential visit, "occupy Wall Street"-type protestors are rioting, and there is a credible death threat against his life. It's a talky, symbolic and obliquely philosophical movie, for sure, and it will turn most viewers off; but, in its confused way it does reflect our current psychology of income gap anger and financial apocalypse anxiety. 3/5

[lester1/2jr]

I remember almost buying the book Cosmopolis. Don Delillo?

[Rev. Powell]

I remember almost buying the book Cosmopolis. Don Delillo?

Yes. The book didn't get great reviews. People were surprised Cronenberg wanted to adapt it.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Ted" (2012)
http://www.youtube.com/v/9fbo_pQvU7M
8 year old John Bennett makes a Christmas wish that his new talking teddy bear will be his "best friend forever"... a quarter century later, John's all grown up (and played by Mark Wahlberg), and "Ted" is a foul mouthed, bong-hitting, sex crazed party animal who is messing up John's last chance at happiness with his long suffering girlfriend (Mila Kunis) in this fantasy/comedy from Seth "Family Guy" MacFarlane. It's funny as hell, it's raunchy as hell, yet it still somehow manages to have a sweet heartwarming side!!

[indianasmith]

This week I watched RITES OF SPRING, a pretty cool IFC horror flick that featured two intersecting story arcs: one was the tale of two pretty, thirtysomething women who were kidnapped by a creepy old farmer as they left a bar, where they were discussing how one girl had let a co-worker take the fall for her mistake, which cost the company big bucks, and watched him get fired for it.  She is feeling guilty, but next thing you know her and her bestie are trussed up in a barn, waiting to be fed to some bizarre zombie like monster that somehow makes the rains and harvests come in abundance each year as long as he is fed.
  The other story arc involves a recently fired worker who decided to get even with his millionaire boss by kidnapping the man's ten year old daughter.  Being a novice, he makes the mistake of bringing a ruthless career criminal in on the caper, and they wind up with the little girl, holed up in an abandoned school, with her father pursuing them.
  Of course when one girl escapes the sacrificial barn of death, where does she flee to? The abandoned school where the kidnap drama is playing out.  And guess who follows her?  The maggot-faced monstrosity that has already taken her best friend's head!
  This is a suspenseful, gory, fun horror ride that I really enjoyed!

   Tonight I watched THE CALL with Hallie Berry.  What an incredible film!  Yes, the ending defies all reality, but it was still a strong performance with some heart-churning action sequences.  Great movie!

[Rev. Powell]

PHANTOM FROM SPACE (1953): Scientists track down an invisible alien who's crash landed on Earth. Trite and talky. A generous 1/5.

[Doggett]

Standing Ovation.

I wanted to watch something bad on Netflix and I achieved that goal.
Now, it could be unfair to go after a kids film. But no. All bets are off.


It isnt FRED bad, I didnt want to self harm or anything. But its so sugary sweet with bad, bad performances, bad writing, horrid choreography. Its like the Asylum wanting to make kids films*. There's nothing worse than kids thinking they're all that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yW0BCzM35vg

This is the first bad film Ive seen in a while. And I watched b***h Slap today. I feel like it's all coming back to me. 




*And then ironically ending up in an asylum due to the mental stresses it caused.

[FatFreddysCat]

With my sons this afternoon:

"Astro Boy" (2009)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AhqOHom9BY

Big budget CGI animated version of the cult Japanese cartoon, in which a scientist creates a robot duplicate of his late son that goes on to defend his city against various mechanical monsters and other evil doers. The animation's nice enough but the movie never quite finds its "tone," as it goes back and forth between slapstick action comedy and emotional drama. My kids enjoyed it and I got a few chuckles from it but nothing here would merit repeated viewings.

[Jack]

Pieces (1982) - old "favorite" of mine. A chainsaw killer is loose on a college campus. There are some moderately suspenseful scenes but mostly it's just ridiculous - like when the killer gets into an elevator with his next intended victim and she doesn't notice the chainsaw he's carrying 4/5.

I Am Omega (2007) - Asylum knockoff of some Hollywood movie that probably released at the same time. Post-zombie apocalypse a guy is living alone and doing okay for himself. He receives a message - via the internet - from a girl who wants him to come and rescue her. So he goes to the city and fights a bunch of zombies, as well as a couple of ex-military guys who also want the girl. This is watchable. Jennifer Lee Wiggins is really cute as the girl. The action is good for a chuckle or two. The guy gets shot in both shoulders and the leg but other than suffering a severe lack of energy, he seems otherwise okay. He's ex-military and knows martial arts you see; that can make you pretty much immune to gunshot wounds. 2.5/5.

The City of the Dead (1960) - a college girl goes to a remote New England town to do some research on witchcraft. Turns out there's plenty to research. Too much in fact - next thing you know she's disappeared and her brother and boyfriend go there to look for her. I've seen this before and it's still pretty good. Fairly Gothic, with enough fog for three movies. Characters are decent, plot is actually quite intriguing and Christopher Lee is fairly creepy as a college professor who probably knows more than he's letting on. 4/5.

[major jay]

SH! THE OCTOPUS (1937)

Detectives trapped in a deserted lighthouse with a group of strangers who are being terrorized by a killer octopus AND a mysterious crime figure.

This was very silly, but i enjoyed it very much, as it turns out it was all a drug induced hallucination. 4/5