Recent viewings

[Jack]

Shapeshifter (2005) - a guy who can shapeshift into a monster is put in jail and chases the inmates and their hot guard (Jennifer Lee Wiggins) around for 90 minutes. Kind of a minor favorite of mine, the characters were fun and the action moved along okay. 4/5.

[JaseSF]

Crash of the Moons (1954): Rocky Jones (Richard Crane) and his ally/sidekick Winky (Scotty Beckett), along with friends Professor Newton (Maurice Cass), Vena (Sally Mansfield), and young Bobby (Robert Lyden), must try and convince the inhabitants of two worlds doomed by a collision course with one another to both evacuate before it's too late. This will prove most difficult however as on Ophecious, the world ruled by the all-controlling Queen Cleolanta (Patsy Parsons), other planets are generally ignored and Cleolanta doesn't plan on allowing her world to be destroyed if there's any means, diabolical or otherwise, to stop it.

I found this quite enjoyable for a 1950s kids sci-fi adventure show the episodes of which make up this film. The United Worlds concept is similar to and proceeds Star Trek's United Federation of Planets by many years. The plot is quite thoughtful and the machinations of Cleolanta and others on Ophecious makes for some interesting viewing especially when Rocky Jones must try and stop Cleolanta's plot to destroy the moon Placida, which is on a collision course with Ophecious before it can even be evacuated. However, this does arguably lack a bit in terms of on-screen action and features a bit more talking and thoughtful discourse than one expects from a kids TV show. The inhabitants of Placida which is led by the benevolent and likable Bavarro (John Banner of later Hogan's Heroes fame) and their fate actually rather reminded me of Superman, Jal-El, and Krypton on some levels. The young prince bawling throughout the story does become a bit irritable after a time though and there are a lot of unlikely plot contrivances. Still for the most part, I enjoyed this 1950s kids show space adventure. Definitely helps that Sally Mansfield and Patsy Parsons, both quite lovely in their time, are on board. ***1/2 out of ***** stars.

Mole Men Against the Son of Hercules (1961): Powerful Maciste (Mark Forest) and his new friend Bangor (Paul Wynter) are captured by the Mole Men who have been terrorizing local tribes. The Mole Men take them underground to work as their slaves but really it's all a ploy by Maciste so he can attempt to rescue all those kidnapped [including young Princess Salirah (Raffaella Carrà)] and forced into slavery by the evil Mole Men and their Queen Halis Majob (Moira Orfei). Aside from Queen Halis Mojab, the Mole Men are seemingly led and controlled by Kahab, the High Priest (Enrico Glori) and his son Kathar (Gianni Garko) who has designs on winning the Queen's hand in marriage. The Mole Men, while having great numbers and cunning leaders, do have one major weakness - sunlight kills them!

Queen Halis Mojab soon gets hot for Maciste upon witnessing him in action and wants him for herself but isn't afraid to put him and others to the test in daring feats of strength sure to kill a normal man. This film's best moments features Maciste performing said feats of strength. The best and most interesting character in the film by far is Queen Halis Mojab played by the then smoking hot Moira Orfei who seems both corrupted by power yet secretly wishes to escape her underworld domain. I was disappointed with the ending with regards to her as she largely made the movie as interesting as it was. Lots of beefcake (with Forest and Wynter) and cheesecake (with Orfei and numerous other beauties) on display here. Overall, this was a surprisingly zany hoot when it wasn't dull which it is in stretches. Still, I enjoyed this more than I didn't so I'll be generous and give it ***1/2 out of ***** stars too.

[Josso]

Mall (2014)
Not sure if important issues about sexuality raised or just stupid. 5/10

[lester1/2jr]

Dean - no I meant Cannibal Holocaust!

[Jack]

Star Odyssey (1979) - some aliens have sold Earth to the highest bidder and they're coming here to collect people to sell them as slaves on their home worlds. It's up to some super-scientist to round up some folks to defeat the aliens. '70s Italian sci-fi schlock, pretty entertaining for its ridiculousness. One of the female scientists dresses up in a bat girl outfit while working in the lab lol. Then you've got all kinds of irrelevant subplots to kill time and push the nonsense level through the roof. 3/5.

[lester1/2jr]

Pusher (1996) - for 1996 this feels pretty contemporary. In Denmark or maybe Finland, I thought it was Russia for the entire thing, a drug dealer lives his life going around selling heroin and so forth. He gets into it with a big gang guy and has to run around trying to scare up money to pay him back.

This was great and again very forward thinking. I'd guess it was influenced by HK action movies and Tarantino. The stripper girlfriend was tragic and interesting.
5/5

[Rev. Powell]

UNKNOWN WORLD (1951): A team of scientists explore underneath the Earth's crust and discover no mole people or other points of interest. Boring, cheap, and pointless. This "adventure" film is from producer Robert Lippert, which means lots of rock climbing. 0.5/5.

[Jack]

Night Fright (1968) - a rocket crashes near a small town and next thing ya know there's a guy in an oversize gorilla suit killing the local kids who are making out in their cars. Kind of a bit of '60s Americana in a way, well perhaps that's stretching it. Super cheesy through and through with WAY more than enough dark and nearly unintelligible footage of people running through the woods as gorilla man chases them. And man do these kids listen to some awful music - like Lawrence Welk was attempting to play rock and roll or something. Ah well it was amusing and I didn't fall asleep during it - 3/5.

[Newt]

Ah well it was amusing and I didn't fall asleep during it - 3/5.

They do say insomnia is common in old age.   

[Trevor]

Ah well it was amusing and I didn't fall asleep during it - 3/5.

They do say insomnia is common in old age.   

[Rev. Powell]

Night Fright (1968) - a rocket crashes near a small town and next thing ya know there's a guy in an oversize gorilla suit killing the local kids who are making out in their cars. Kind of a bit of '60s Americana in a way, well perhaps that's stretching it. Super cheesy through and through with WAY more than enough dark and nearly unintelligible footage of people running through the woods as gorilla man chases them. And man do these kids listen to some awful music - like Lawrence Welk was attempting to play rock and roll or something. Ah well it was amusing and I didn't fall asleep during it - 3/5.

I reviewed NIGHT FRIGHT here a few weeks ago.

"A UFO lands in Texas. Most of the plot this embarrassing cheapie consists of police combing the woods, desperately searching for shreds of entertainment. 0.5/5"

I always recognize it when people have the same Mill Creek packs I do. 

[FatFreddysCat]

"World War Z" (2013) Brad Pitt is a globe trotting U.N. investigator trying to determine the cause of a worldwide zombie outbreak in this fast paced end-of-the-world adventure. Better than I expected.

[claws]

0.5/5

That about nails my rating for that movie as well. I admire Jack's ability to find entertainment in Night Fright 

[FatFreddysCat]

"Jedi Junkies" (2010) entertaining low budget doc about diehard "Star Wars" fans, profiling an odd assortment of obsessed memorabilia collectors, cosplayers and fan-film makers. As you might expect, some interviews will make you think "hey, that's pretty cool," while others will make you grateful that they don't live next door to you.

[Jack]

0.5/5

That about nails my rating for that movie as well. I admire Jack's ability to find entertainment in Night Fright 

Well it's partially because of the quaint '60s atmosphere, partly because it's just so stupid it's funny, but mostly because I'm a little...strange