Recent viewings

[FatFreddysCat]

"Forced Vengeance" (1982)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDpwLQ4OsPg

Old school chop-socky cheez with Chuck Norris as the head of security at what must be the only honest casino in Hong Kong. When the local "syndicate" decides that they want a piece of their action and ultimately kill his beloved employer, The Mighty Chuck deals out mucho butt kicking payback.

The Hong Kong locations lend a slightly exotic feel to this otherwise pedestrian action/adventure flick with atrocious dialogue and hilariously wooden acting from everyone involved, especially Norris himself. Chuck was never a great actor, of course, but he practically sleepwalks through this one (unless he's roundhouse kicking someone in the face).

[VenomX73]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aWFAhiOmKY

It's more of a 'who done it' then horror...

I really liked it until the ending.

[JaseSF]

Iron Man: Rise of Technovore (2013): A new and powerful adversary uses some new type of advanced bio-techonology in an attempt to take over Tony Stark's latest satellite. Iron Man tries to stop this but is this technology even beyond Iron Man's capabilities to stop?

This direct to video animated feature feels like some kind of odd mixture of a serious science fiction style anime blended with an Americanized Saturday morning cartoon. Naturally it doesn't work quite as well as one would like. That said, the story is actually surprisingly well written and thoughtful but is probably going to fly over the heads of most of its intended target audience. There is some weird and arguably inappropriate more adult style anime stuff (freaky monster transformations that arguably could symbolize sexual transformations) going on here that no doubt is considered more the norm in Japan than it will be in the U.S. I did like what they did with the Punisher who briefly appears in this one and wish that had went on a bit longer. While I did enjoy this one on some levels, it just feels more like some type of Japanese mecha-style anime film than a movie based on an American comic book character which makes it seem somehow kind of inappropriate. ***1/2 out of ***** stars.

Ghostbusters (1984): An eccentric trio of scientists living in New York who dabble in studying the supernatural, after being kicked off an university campus, decide to set up a spectral elimination service for the general public and become the one and only Ghostbusters.

This classic remains as much fun and as entertaining as ever. It's such a great film to pick as a representative of the 80s and mixes a little bit of everything - scares, comedy, fun, 80s music, heroism, great quirky characters - into such a terrific little package that still remains as entertaining to me now as it did so many years ago watching it as a kid/teenager. ****1/2 out of ***** stars.

Ghostbusters II (1989): Five years after their first mega-adventure, the Ghostbusters are called back into action to face a new mega-paranormal challenge that involves an ancient evil Carpathian named Vigo whose bent on being reborn in a new body and a river of moody pink slime flowing under New York City.

I really find I want to love this one more than I actually should. The ending here proves very problematic and downright unbelievable (not that the first wasn't to some extent as well yet there it somehow all works and fits together, here it just does not) to the point it takes away from one's previous enjoyment of other moments in the film. That said, it's still enjoyable to see all our favourite Ghostbusters characters brought back to life again and this film does prove pretty fun and suspenseful until it approaches the end where it goes off track stretching it out way too long. It also doesn't help there are so many plot similarities to the first film. I'm giving this one just *** out of ***** stars.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Back to the Future Part III" (1990)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAOypL96dRw

Returning to 1985 after his last adventure in the time-tripping DeLorean, Marty McFly discovers that his old pal Doc Brown was killed in the Old West, so he races off to the frontier era to save him. Third and final installment in the "BttF" series is fun and action packed (as usual) with a lot of laughs.

[Jack]

Zeta One (1969) - a secret agent comes home to find a girl from his office who wants to know all the details of the mission he just finished. So after some strip poker and sex, he relates the tale of how he met these women, from another planet or another dimension (don't know for sure), who were kidnapping earth girls and making them wear bright orange mini skirts. For some...purpose. Anyhow, fun little bit of nonsense. I especially liked Yutte Stensgaard who played the girl from his office. Blu ray looked really nice considering the age and obscurity of this movie. 4/5.

[Rev. Powell]

FUR: AN IMAGINARY PORTRAIT OF DIANE ARBUS (2006): Diane Arbus (Nicole Kidman) is an artistically repressed housewife whose creativity is awakened when a circus freak (Robert Downy Jr.) moves upstairs. An interesting imaginary premise, but the movie gets trapped in unconvincing and disappointingly conventional romance, ending with a not-too-deep or inspiring message (sometimes abandoning your children is just the price you pay for great photography). 2.5

[JaseSF]

Career Opportunities (1991): Slacker and perpetual town "liar" Jim Dodge (Frank Whaley), a young man who lacks ambition and just cannot seem to keep a job finds himself suddenly thrust into the position of "night cleanup boy" at Target. While there, he makes an unexpected discovery in the form of Josie (Jennifer Connelly), the town's young hottie and daughter of the wealthiest man in the town unexpectedly hiding out in his store.

This film is a surprisingly enjoyable escapist romp as two lost young people search for answers  and perhaps a little understanding while living out a little fantasy of sorts within a Target store after hours. Sure, there's elements here that seriously stretch credibility and the choice of music doesn't always work as well as one would like but for the most part, I feel this film works quite well and is in fact delving into areas much deeper than just what is on the surface. Jennifer Connelly has never looked hotter or more beautiful than she does in this film and watching her riding a coin-operated pony in a white tank top is somewhat mesmerizing. **** out of ***** stars.

Captain America (1979): Perennial Z-grade movie star Reb Brown stars as Steve Rogers/Captain America in this late 1970s adaptation based on the comic book character. It feels very much like the pilot for a potential TV series and that might have in fact been its purpose. Here Rogers is the son of a former special agent nicknamed "Captain America", the man who created a special super steroid serum named F.L.A.G. which gives one the capability of using untapped latent human abilities. Eventually a friend of Steve's is targeted due to having information about a special new neutron bomb which also leads to Steve himself becoming a target of enemies of America.

This incredibly cheesy piece of 1970s style TV is fun from a sort of nostalgia position and the story seems pretty representative of the type of stuff that was popular during that time period. That said, this is also pretty dull, dry stuff for the majority of viewers, especially nowadays. More for those of us who grew up watching this type of stuff that's for sure.  Heather Menzies, who has a supporting role here, though sure does look smoking hot in a bikini in this one. Has a surprisingly good DVD release from Shout Factory. **1/2 out of ***** stars.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Age of Dinosaurs" (2013)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udQ1e-XUybE

In this zero-budget "Jurassic Park" variant from that wacky gang at The Asylum, a geneticist (Ronny Cox of "RoboCop") has developed a way to clone dinosaurs. Of course, something goes horribly wrong at the creatures' big unveiling to the public and media, and soon giant lizards are rampaging through Los Angeles. Treat Williams is an L.A. firefighter who just wants to keep his daughter safe from the chaos.

As usual with Asylum flicks, things start out promising (the CGI on the dinosaurs looks almost competent for a while!) but quickly descend into utter silliness.

[Rev. Powell]

CLEAN, SHAVEN (1993): Hallucinating the whole time, a man recently released from a mental institution tracks down his long-lost daughter, while being pursued by a detective who believes he's responsible for the murder of a young girl. Subjective and disorienting, CLEAN, SHAVEN is one of the most harrowing portraits of paranoid schizophrenia ever filmed; ranks just below PSYCHO and REPULSION in the pantheon of horrifying studies of mental illness. 4/5.

[claws]

Random stuff watched the last 10 days:

Manta - The Film (1991)

Young guy trying to impress his love interest by joining her Volkswagen Golf Car Club causes drama when he actually wins a Opel Manta Car.

In order to understand the simple plot one should know a bit about German culture in the late 1980s / early 1990s. Around that time Opel Manta Car jokes were quite popular in Germany resulting in two motion pictures about Opel Manta Cars. Manta - The Film was one of them. So there's a bit of a love story, rivalry between two car clubs and regional slang/jokes that influenced German pop culture. Nothing really groundbreaking or lasting like Valley Girl (1983) for example, with no international appeal whatsoever. Not really a great film and if you take away all the jokes there's not much left except for early 90s fashion and European dance music. 3/5

[Jack]

Maniac Mansion (1972) - due to heavy fog various travelers end up stranded at a remote mansion. Some of them are after an inheritance...or something. That's kind of why it's a murder mansion. Spanish / Italian co-production. I liked this quite a bit. Very slow moving of course, but it's got good atmosphere and the characters were interesting. 4/5.

Creepers (1985) - one of those Dario Argento things. Sigh...where to start. An American girl goes to a Swiss school and there's a killer on the loose. The girl sleepwalks and we see visions or something, which might have been spooky were it not for the high-impact aerobics workout music that plays during these scenes. Then we forget all about the sleepwalking stuff and now she can communicate with insects. They lead her to a house where the murder in the prologue took place. But the killer isn't home. So we forget all about the communicating with insects thing. Then she decides she wants to go back to America, etc. During one scene which should be sad we get a heavy metal song by Motörhead. During another which should be suspenseful, we get an Iron Maiden song. I mean, it's like a Troma movie or something 2/5.

[claws]

Creepers (1985) - one of those Dario Argento things. Sigh...where to start. An American girl goes to a Swiss school and there's a killer on the loose. The girl sleepwalks and we see visions or something, which might have been spooky were it not for the high-impact aerobics workout music that plays during these scenes. Then we forget all about the sleepwalking stuff and now she can communicate with insects. They lead her to a house where the murder in the prologue took place. But the killer isn't home. So we forget all about the communicating with insects thing. Then she decides she wants to go back to America, etc. During one scene which should be sad we get a heavy metal song by Motörhead. During another which should be suspenseful, we get an Iron Maiden song. I mean, it's like a Troma movie or something 2/5.

Ouch! 

I assume you watched the heavily censored U.S. Version of Phenomena retitled Creepers on some cheap multi pack set. Phenomena is my second favorite Dario Argento movie (after Suspiria). Love the almost surreal weirdness, its just one hell of a crazy movie.

[FatFreddysCat]

Ouch! 

I assume you watched the heavily censored U.S. Version of Phenomena retitled Creepers on some cheap multi pack set. Phenomena is my second favorite Dario Argento movie (after Suspiria). Love the almost surreal weirdness, its just one hell of a crazy movie.

I've only ever seen the "Creepers" version of the film, too. I like it well enough but every time I watch it, I remind myself that I need to see it in its uncut form one of these damn days. I still haven't gotten round to it, though, even after all these years. 

[claws]

You definitely should. It's Argento's most personal movie. To me its on the same level as Fulci's The Beyond (1981). One of those rare occasions where cheese, genuine thrills & kills, fake looking and well made gore and euro awkwardness blend together perfectly.

[Jack]

Trauma (1978) - a girl at a prestigious school is raped and murdered and a police detective investigates. And investigates. Over the course of an hour he finds out who the girl's friends were, talks to them, and they tell him nothing. It's kind of funny because at the beginning his boss tells him that there have been 27 rapes in the city over the previous year and 22 of them are still unsolved. I'm like "And this is the guy who didn't solve them." In the end somebody just confesses. Talk about unsatisfying - I might as well have just turned the movie off and gone over to the IMDb and read how it ended if I wanted the whole thing wrapped up in three or four sentences. I don't know, it kept me oddly interested for the first hour but really started to drag once I realized nothing was every going to happen. 2.5/5.