Recent viewings

[fulci420]

Criterion rereleased Carnival of Souls, Nightmare Alley, and Ace in the Hole just of the top of my head

I've watched Ace in the Hole and Carnival of Souls before but would like to check out the special features at least. As of now I currently have these criterion's on order.

The X of Outer Space, The Island of Lost Souls, Breathless, Days of Heaven, Cronos, Yojimbo, The Leopard, Scenes from a Marriage, Naked, Secret Honor, Insignificance.

[lester1/2jr]

The first hour of the Leopard is slow but it picks up when the female lead shows up.

[Jack]

Witch Academy (1995) - some mean girls run a sorority house and invite a nice but homely girl over so they can haze her. But Satan (Robert Vaughn) lives in their basement and turns the homely girl into a beauty, after which she turns into a monster and kills somebody. Repeat that a few times and there's your movie. Fred Olen Ray silliness, kind of boring and the characters were just jokes, but it certainly had plenty of boobies. 3/5.

[fulci420]

Continuing my foray into the world of Criterion I watched "The Virgin Spring".

The Virgin Spring (1960)-This is the second film from Bergman that I have watched (the first being Persona) and its one that due to being a horror fan I have been aware of for quite some time. Famously Last House on The Left is a remake of this and every rape revenge film owes something to this film.

The plot is one we've heard many times since, innocent young girl is raped and killed and her parents get revenge on the culprits. What makes this so interesting is the unwillingness to potray anyone as strictly evil or good. The "innocent" young girl is spoiled, naive and all too willing to fall into the arms of men. The rapists travel with a young boy, he is no villain simply trying to survive with the help of the only people who will. And as for the revenge it's miles away from the gleeful vengeance of your typical exploitation fare.

This is among the most gorgeous black and white films I have seen and would be noteworthy just for its cinematography. Add to that the marvelous acting, atmosphere and themes and its no surprise that this is considered a true classic.

[claws]

The Sheriff and the Satellite Kid (1979)

When a humanoid alien child is stranded in a small town, he is taken care off by a local sheriff. Soon enough the military gets a whiff of the extraterrestrial visitor, and the sheriff must protect the child until it can return "home".
Filmed in the U.S. during the height of UFO sightings in Italy according to director Michele Lupo. In reality this was "inspired" by Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
The Sheriff and the Satellite Kid is one of many beat-em-up comedies starring Bud Spencer, who was quite popular and had a huge following in the 1970s and early 1980s.
The main focus lies on the bonding "father & son" kind of relationship between the sheriff and the kid, including cheesy sentimental moments and silly special effects. 3.5/5

[Mofo Rising]

Continuing my foray into the world of Criterion I watched "The Virgin Spring".

The Virgin Spring (1960)-This is the second film from Bergman that I have watched (the first being Persona) and its one that due to being a horror fan I have been aware of for quite some time. Famously Last House on The Left is a remake of this and every rape revenge film owes something to this film.

The plot is one we've heard many times since, innocent young girl is raped and killed and her parents get revenge on the culprits. What makes this so interesting is the unwillingness to potray anyone as strictly evil or good. The "innocent" young girl is spoiled, naive and all too willing to fall into the arms of men. The rapists travel with a young boy, he is no villain simply trying to survive with the help of the only people who will. And as for the revenge it's miles away from the gleeful vengeance of your typical exploitation fare.

This is among the most gorgeous black and white films I have seen and would be noteworthy just for its cinematography. Add to that the marvelous acting, atmosphere and themes and its no surprise that this is considered a true classic.

This movie played at the Loft in Tucson fairly recently. A friend of mine tweeted "Off to see 'The Virgin Spring' by Bergman, or as I like to call it, 'Three Men and a Little Lady.'"

Despicable, and hilarious to boot.

[Mofo Rising]

Hold Your Breath (2012)

The only reason I watched this movie is because Katrina Bowden is in it. She's better known as the hot intern on "30 Rock", and the cute girl in the hilarous Tucker and Dale vs. Evil.

It's also an Asylum movie.

It's not good, but it's watchable. The central idea is built upon the premise that you need to hold your breath when you drive past a graveyard, otherwise you may be possessed by the evil dead. I was watching the movie, and when that came across I voiced, "Wait, that's the plot point?"

This isn't a good movie. It is serviceable. The idea of a killer spirit possessing bodies to kill, and those people don't remember, it's kind of good. There's also a lot of gratuitous nudity. No, it doesn't involve Katrina Bowden, but it's there.

If you have an hour and a half to kill, watch a better movie. But if you're going to watch this one, it isn't as bad as it could have been.

Two stars out of five.

[fulci420]

Another day another criterion
Cronos (1993) Guillermo Del Toro catapulted his career with this low budget monster film in mexico. It's a new twist on the vampire mythos with an old antique store owner discovering an object called the cronos which prolongs life but causes the user to crave human blood. A wealthy eccentric also desires the device and sends his disgruntled nephew (Ron Pearlman) to go retrieve it.

For a limited budget first feature Del Toro showcases some absolutely elegant camera work and set design. It's no surprise that hollywood would come calling when they saw this one. As a horror movie though its kind of a failure despite a lot of nice touches. At just over 90 minutes the pace is far to slow for a movie of this type, and it never develops any tension. The comedic moments coming mostly from Ron Pearlman's character are strong as is the relationship between our protagonist and his young daughter. This is one where all the individual elements are great but together they amount to curiously mediocre film. The Criterion dvd is packed and in one of the interviews Del Toro states that everything he does "he does with mad fat man fury!" which is so awesome that I'm going to end the review right here.

[indianasmith]

Thursday Rachel and I watched MISCHIEF NIGHT, a pretty interesting suspense film that I'd seen the trailer for several times.
A blind girl is stalked by mysterious intruders while her Dad is out for an evening date.
Likable characters, good plot development, sinister and creepy villains whose motives are never fully explained, and a nice
cathartic ending - this was not great, but it was solid and enjoyable and definitely worth renting.
3.5/5

[lester1/2jr]

Chai Lai Angels (2006) I enjoyed this dumb, cheap, poorly scripted Charlies Angels knock off from Thailand. I watched with subtitles but there's dubbed too. I think the only dubbed movies I like are old kung fu ones.



5 instead of 3 girls of varying attractiveness are on a mission to get some kidnapped guy who has the key to this magical pearl. The bad guys feature a transexual with an army of goons. They also have one cross eyed villain who shoots the wrong people and does everything wrong which leads to some comic relief. it's hard to get all that invested in the plot because they don't do much of a job of choreographing the tension and the action scenes are all predictable, cheap and not very impressive unless you've never seen a HK action movie in your entire life. The girls look pretty good though and as the movie goes on they start to wear less and less and the movie gets better and better. Only pg 13 though.

It has a charming "we know this sucks" vibe and cheap wirework but it's still fun and there's some funny stuff I'd say check it out 4/5

[Jack]

Mutant Girls Squad (2010) - Japanese movie about a schoolgirl who discovers on her sixteenth birthday that she's actually a mutant - she grows a Freddy Kreuger hand and all the normal people try to kill her because she's a freak. She's taken in by other mutants and they make plans to take over the world and kill all the humans who want to destroy them. This pretty much had everything: boob swords, butt chainsaws, plenty of perverted stuff, really cute girls, and it was funny as hell too. My wife even dubbed it "the stupidest movie I've ever seen". She meant that in a good way...I think. 4.5/5.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Piranha II: The Spawning" (1981) - Italian made sequel to the cult killer fish flick ups the ante by giving the toothy suckers the ability to fly (the result of some ill advised government gene splicing)  and turns them loose on vacationers at a Caribbean resort. Cheap gory fun -- the "flying fish" look like leather handbags with wings!! - marked the directorial debut of James Cameron, who doesn't consider it "his" movie because he was fired during the editing process.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Vigilante" (1983) Wiliam "Maniac Cop" Lustig directed this entertaining variant on the "Death Wish" formula, with Robert Forster as a working class New Yorket who joins a neighborhood revenge squad (led by blaxploitation great Fred Williamson) after his wife and son are victimized by street punks.  Lots of gritty NYC locations make this one a real time capsule.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Skyscraper" (1996) - a hilariously cheap  "Die Hard" ripoff with the late, great Anna Nicole Smith in the Bruce Willis role (yes, **seriously!**) as an L.A. chopper pilot who inadvertently lands atop a high rise full of terrorists. I swear I am not making this up. Bullets fly, stuff blows up, and Anna Nicole may not be able to act her way out of a paper bag, she does get her bigger-than-yer-head boobs out several times, so I was entertained.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Cyclone" (1987) cheap n' cheesy action flick with Heather Thomas of TV's "The Fall Guy" as a biker chick protecting her late inventor boyfriend's pet project - a high tech, heavily armed motorcycle - from an assortment of spies and arms smugglers. If it weren't for the occasional F bomb and the female eye candy, this could pass for a rerun of "Knight Rider."