Recent viewings

[JaseSF]

A Father's Revenge (1988): Paul Hobart (Brian Dennehy), the desperate father of a young stewardess abducted and held for ransom along with the rest of her flight crew by a German terrorist sect who want the release of two of their colleagues currently held prisoner, hires a group of mercenaries to rescue his daughter before the terrorists' deadline runs out and they execute the prisoners.

The good here is the performance of Dennehy in the lead, the German setting and location, and the apparent inaction of the government all rings true.The bad is this TV movie is rather slow-moving and lacking in action focused more on the moral implications involved, having Dennehy's character  join the mercenaries and play such a huge part in the rescue attempt and questionable methods they ply to retrieve information from those close to the terrorists seems unrealistic and far-fetched although I'm sure a parent in such a situation would like to dream they could pull off such. A mixed bag, entertaining enough TV movie for a one-time watch which was probably what it was intended to be, but really the ending moves this more in the realm of revenge fantasy and takes away from some of the realism of the situation portrayed. **1/2 out of ***** stars.

[Trevor]

I was hoping to add Killing Kennedy (2013) here but FNC messed up so badly that we got to see two National Geographic documentaries instead of this one. 

[claws]

The Objective (2008)

November 2001: a special forces U.S. military team investigates possible radioactive activity in the deserts of Afghanistan. As they approach their destination strange things start to happen: they pick up creepy radio messages, and they hear helicopters flying by but don't see any real helicopters. At some point they are under attack by unknown predators. All this takes a toll on their sanity while they learn the real reason for their mission.
Blair Witch Project co-director Daniel Myrick unleashes ancient supernatural forces emerging from a Bermuda Triangle-like hot spot located in the desert. Decent sci-fi thriller/horror, but not great. 3.5/5

[Rev. Powell]

THE CONFORMIST (1970): An ambitious Italian Fascist is assigned a mission while he's on his honeymoon: assassinate a former professor. Subtle and intelligent, if drawn-out, drama, with great cinematography and a then-racy lesbian subtext. 4.5/5.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Deathdream" (aka "Dead of Night," 1972)
Deathdream - Movie Trailer - Blue Underground[/url]

After her son is killed in action in Vietnam, a grieving mother wishes that he would "come back to her" - but when he does, he's some sort of personality-free, undead blood sucking something-or-other. Yeeeeaah, I hate when that happens too.
This slow burning horror flick by Bob Clark of future "Black Christmas"/"Porky's"/"A Christmas Story" fame takes a while to get going but it's got creepy atmosphere to spare. Weird as hell, but worth a look.

[Jack]

Forget Me Not (2009) - a group of friends see their numbers dwindling as a mysterious ghost creature kills them off. Weird thing is, only one of them remembers that their friends even existed once they're gone - the rest act as if they've never heard of the person. Could it have something to do with a little orphan girl they all played a prank on years earlier? Interesting plot but I found it really hard to care about any of these characters; douchebags and sluts one and all. Well the main girl was okay but that's about it. The ghost was your typical jerky spaz movement critter with the big CGI teeth as seen in countless other movies I remember liking this the first time I saw it (liked it enough to buy the DVD), but it didn't do anything for me this time. 2.5/5.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Fahrenheit 451" (1966)
Fahrenheit 451 1966

Artsy adaptation of Ray Bradbury's dystopian sci-fi classic, set in a future world where literature is outlawed. When a "fireman" whose job is burning books takes an sudden interest in reading them instead, he instantly becomes Public Enemy #1. A bit on the stuffy/pretentious side but the performances are good and Julie Christie (who plays two different roles) was quite the babe back in the day.

This flick was the first (and only) English language film by French director Francois Truffaut.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Space Station 76" (2014)

SPACE STATION 76 Trailer 09 2014

The arrival of an attractive new crew member (Liv Tyler) causes a shake up among the dysfunctional residents of space station in this parody of 70s style sci-fi flicks. The movie captures the '70s "look" perfectly but never finds the right tone...not much happens, and it can't seem to decide whether it's a dark comedy or a drama.  Skip it.

[Jack]

Dumplings (2004) - Hong Kong movie (does that make it a Chinese movie?) about a rich woman who's husband is cheating on her. She finds some other woman in a rundown neighborhood who makes dumplings which are supposed to make you look and feel younger. So she eats the dumplings. Then she goes back and has some more. And some more. That's like the first hour of the movie. Eventually complications arise with her husband. Pretty darned dull and the ending wasn't nearly as dramatic as it seemed to think it was. I guess the whole point was the gross-out factor of what the dumplings were made of. The dumpling lady was a bit of a character, but that was about the only entertainment I got out of this. 2/5.

Visible Secret (2001) - another Hong Kong movie, this one about a young guy who meets a pretty girl. She claims she can see ghosts, but she's hot so the guy doesn't care. But then strange things start happening to him and it's apparently because of the girl...or is it? Well probably. This has quite a few comedic elements that don't translate at all via subtitles - you miss the entire delivery when you're just reading it. It threw in the requisite number of Asian plot twists; I think I've seen enough Asian horror that I've gotten into that mode of viewing where I assume every little hint of something is a major plot point and that sort of ruins the surprise. Characters were decent enough. 3/5.

[claws]

Dumplings (2004) - Hong Kong movie (does that make it a Chinese movie?) about a rich woman who's husband is cheating on her. She finds some other woman in a rundown neighborhood who makes dumplings which are supposed to make you look and feel younger. So she eats the dumplings. Then she goes back and has some more. And some more. That's like the first hour of the movie. Eventually complications arise with her husband. Pretty darned dull and the ending wasn't nearly as dramatic as it seemed to think it was. I guess the whole point was the gross-out factor of what the dumplings were made of. The dumpling lady was a bit of a character, but that was about the only entertainment I got out of this. 2/5.

The edited version included in the anthology Three Extremes moves at a faster pace. Anyhoo, the "Dumplings" segment appears to be highly regarded, though its always refreshing to see you take a dump on genre favorites 

[ChaosTheory]

Dumplings (2004) - Hong Kong movie (does that make it a Chinese movie?) about a rich woman who's husband is cheating on her. She finds some other woman in a rundown neighborhood who makes dumplings which are supposed to make you look and feel younger. So she eats the dumplings. Then she goes back and has some more. And some more. That's like the first hour of the movie. Eventually complications arise with her husband. Pretty darned dull and the ending wasn't nearly as dramatic as it seemed to think it was. I guess the whole point was the gross-out factor of what the dumplings were made of. The dumpling lady was a bit of a character, but that was about the only entertainment I got out of this. 2/5.

The edited version included in the anthology Three Extremes moves at a faster pace. Anyhoo, the "Dumplings" segment appears to be highly regarded, though its always refreshing to see you take a dump on genre favorites 

I was gonna say, I don't remember that lasting an hour. But I saw the 3 EXTREMES version; didn't even realize there was another edit. 3 EXTREMES was kind of overhyped, I thought, but "Dumplings" was okay.

[FatFreddysCat]

"The Amazing Spider-Man 2" (2014)
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - Trailer 1

Andrew Garfield is back for a second go-round as the friendly neighborhood web-slinger, and this time he romances Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) while tangling with Electro (Jamie Foxx) and the Green Goblin (Dane DeHaan), as well as digging deeper into the mystery of his parents' disappearance.

This flick apparently didn't go over too well with the fanboys, but I enjoyed it, despite its over-reliance on CGI effects, particularly in the second half. It's a cool popcorn flick, nothing more, nothing less.

[Jack]

Dumplings (2004) - Hong Kong movie (does that make it a Chinese movie?) about a rich woman who's husband is cheating on her. She finds some other woman in a rundown neighborhood who makes dumplings which are supposed to make you look and feel younger. So she eats the dumplings. Then she goes back and has some more. And some more. That's like the first hour of the movie. Eventually complications arise with her husband. Pretty darned dull and the ending wasn't nearly as dramatic as it seemed to think it was. I guess the whole point was the gross-out factor of what the dumplings were made of. The dumpling lady was a bit of a character, but that was about the only entertainment I got out of this. 2/5.

The edited version included in the anthology Three Extremes moves at a faster pace. Anyhoo, the "Dumplings" segment appears to be highly regarded, though its always refreshing to see you take a dump on genre favorites  

I was gonna say, I don't remember that lasting an hour. But I saw the 3 EXTREMES version; didn't even realize there was another edit. 3 EXTREMES was kind of overhyped, I thought, but "Dumplings" was okay.

They took the Dumplings segment of 3 Extremes and made it into its own feature length film, which is what I watched.

I can see it being a very good 30 minute segment of an anthology film.  Wish I would have watched that instead  

[Trevor]

I Am Number Four: this was a big surprise as I enjoyed it - Music by my homeboy Trevor Rabin and with Judith Hoag in a role: great. 

[Jack]

Snowbeast (1977) - an old favorite of mine, a made-for-TV movie about an abominable snowman attacking the guests at a ski resort. Plenty of '70s melodrama, likable characters, and some pretty good suspense towards the end. 4/5.