Recent viewings

Rev. Powell · January 07, 2015, 10:21:21 AM

BRITANNIA HOSPITAL (1982): The kitchen staff is striking, mobs outside the gates are protesting the presence of cannibalistic dictator, an investigative reporter is sneaking around posing as a window cleaner, and Dr. Millar is continuing his experiments into Things Man Was Not Meant to Know, all on the day Her Royal Highness is scheduled to grace Britannia Hospital with her presence. This is undoubtedly the weakest of Lindsay Allen and Malcolm McDowell's "Mick Travis" trilogy, but there is more than enough going on in this absurd satire about scorched earth class warfare to keep you busy. 3.5/5.

lester1/2jr · January 07, 2015, 09:36:22 PM

The Omen - I hadn't seen this in a really long time and didn't remember most of it. Man, talk about a great movie. Maybe not quite on the level of The Exorcist or Rosemary's Baby but it's like a cool refreshing Satanic breeze relative to most of the teen oriented ghosts n goblins stuff I've seen lately. I would say the biggest shortcoming is visually there's not an awful lot going on. They try, and certainly the scene at the birthday party with the maid on the roof is pretty memorable but it's pretty dank looking most of the time.

The story is based on The Book of Revelation. While it is explained in detail many of us probably have some degree of familiarity with that tale by now. Rather than the Left Behind aspect its the antichrist part. Damian, the kid, is the antichrist, at least according to a minister who follows his father played by Gregory Peck around. or is that guy just crazy? and if Damian really is the antichrist what is his father supposed to do? There's quite a bit of tension along those lines. While modern viewers may scoff at the "plot holes" they are pretty small by 70's standards and the infrequent gore is quite choice.

loved it. watched it with my Mom haha 5/5

JaseSF · January 08, 2015, 12:11:32 AM

The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (2006): Santa Claus Scott Calvin (Tim Allen) finds himself facing multiple challenges. Not only does he and his wife Carol (Elizabeth Mitchell) have a baby on the way but the in-laws are visiting. Even worse for him, Jack Frost (Martin Short) is plotting to steal his job as Santa Claus.

I actually enjoyed this third entry more than the second. I liked the time travel tie-in and enjoyed Martin Short`s villainous performance, even if it was slightly a bit over the top. This also seemed to have more suspense and did not play out quite as predictably as its predecessor. Perhaps a little sweet and syrupy at times but enjoyable nevertheless. ***1/4 out of ***** stars

Jack · January 08, 2015, 07:46:04 AM

Alien 3000 (2004) - watched this again. An invisible monster is killing people out in the woods so a group of idiots er..."mercenaries" is sent to kill it. It's just so damn stupid and cheesy I can't help but like it. Lorenzo Lamas appears first in the credits but he's barely in it. The special effects are utterly comical. 3.5/5.

Jack · January 08, 2015, 10:37:04 PM

Don't Blink (2014) - a group of people go to a resort way out in the woods, and are surprised to find it abandoned - no staff, no guests, not even any animals in the woods. Before long our characters start disappearing as well. What the heck's going on?!?! I enjoyed this quite a bit. The characters were witty and relatable and the plot really kept me interested. It's not so much a movie that poses a riddle that you get an answer to, it's really more something to be experienced; an exploration of a human fear. Nice and creepy and kind of gets under your skin. 4/5.

alandhopewell · January 09, 2015, 02:50:05 PM

THE FAMILIAR (2009)

Really good supernatural film from that Echo Bridge 10-pack I mentioned....

The Familiar - Movie Trailer

Very story and character-driven, not relying on gore or nudity to keep viewer interest.

lester1/2jr · January 09, 2015, 03:55:07 PM

Jack- have you seen Bodyrock? Lamas really gets "fresh" in that one!

The Omen 2 - This one starts off kind of clunky and unlike the first one it can't fairly be mentioned in the same breath as The Exorcist or Rosemarys baby, but it eventually picks up a decent head of steam and gets the job done.

Damien is a tween now and goes to military school. With the help of horrible Satanic people placed in his life somehow he is headed to his destiny of being the antichrist. This has a lot of memorable scenes but not the same depth and presence as the first one. There are more deaths and they are similarly spectacular though. At the same time, unless Damien wants to have a number of people he's directly connected to die every week it's hard to fathom how he is going to pull the whole thing off.

I guess in retrospect it was kind of weak but when I was watching it I was into it because I'm not that smart. 3.75/5

Jack · January 10, 2015, 08:03:01 AM

Quote from: lester1/2jr on January 09, 2015, 03:55:07 PM
Jack- have you seen Bodyrock? Lamas really gets "fresh" in that one!

Nah, I think I've seen enough break dancing to last me my whole lifetime lol.

FatFreddysCat · January 11, 2015, 03:35:50 PM

"Guardians of the Galaxy" (2014)
Guardians of the Galaxy extended trailer UK - Marvel | HD

A wise-ass space pirate (Chris Pratt) teams up with a crew of intergalactic losers to help save the universe from destruction in 2014's biggest surprise hit. Tons of fun in the "Star Wars" vein. Rocket Raccoon is my new favorite action hero!

lester1/2jr · January 11, 2015, 06:47:16 PM

Womb (2010) If you liked Another Earth or Under the Skin you MIGHT want to check this out but be warned it's a little on the revolting side. I mean Happiness/ the Baby type psychological revulsion not gore.

A young girl and boy begin to become attracted to each other, but then she moves away. She comes back and unfortunately he dies so she does what any grieving girlfriend would do: she has him cloned. Well, now what's she going to do? Wait around for him to get older so she can resume their relationship? and what about the community how are they going to feel about having a cloned person around?

The movie takes place on some sort of British sea coast. There are really nice shots of the shore and the ocean. The acting and the photography are quite good and it's a nice movie to watch on a Sunday afternoon EXCEPT for how ultimately bizarre and taboo it is.

It was really good on some level and a part of this burgeoning female sci fi thing but I had to ff through one scene the implications were just too weird

3.75 /5 probably deserves higher but ...ewwww

JaseSF · January 11, 2015, 07:43:10 PM

F for Fake (1973): This was a quasi-documentary about lies, fakers, and fraud. Orson Welles narrates his film which is focused on notorious art forger Elmyr de Hory and Elymr's biographer Clifford Irving, who also is credited for writing a fraudulent Howard Hughes biography while also touching on Hughes and Welles' careers while also mentioning a bit of fakery on the part of Welles himself before Welles goes on to tell us an even more elaborate falsehood in the end. A beautiful woman men like to stare at named Oja Kodar also plays an important part here.

This made for fascinating viewing. It's amazing how sometimes fakes, fakers, lies, and yarns can be far more interesting than the real deal. And truth be told, who doesn't fake something or another at one point in their lives, if not many? There are a few little digs here at critics who are supposed to be experts but yet cannot tell a fraud from the real deal. Your enjoyment of this probably depends on one's patience to sit and listen to others talk and spin yarns about themselves. If you enjoy this, you'll probably have a good time with this. It does feel a bit arty though and it's subject matter is largely about the art world. If you're also fascinated with film, well this is Welles so there's some discussion of that here as well. **** out of ***** stars.

Shake Hands With Danger (1980): A cautionary training short film directed primarily at those who work in the field of heavy equipment. This was well done and certainly cleverly gets its message across about the importance of safety in the workplace in some cringe-inducing scenes and sequences where workers foolishly took shortcuts or didn't pay proper attention to their work which lead to dire and sometimes deadly consequences for either themselves or others. The use of the song "Three-Fingered Joe" makes for a catchy intro and closing to the short and also proves quite relevant. ***1/2 out of ***** stars.

Sin Takes a Holiday (1930): Secretary Sylvia Brenner (Constance Bennett) reluctantly accepts the marriage proposal of her boss, lawyer Gaylord Stanton (Kenneth MacKenna), upon whom she secretly has a crush. However this is all a marriage of convenience as Stanton wants to ward off the marriage advances of another woman, the soon to be divorced Grace Lawrence (Rita La Roy). Shortly after, Sylvia goes on a vacation trip to Paris, France and soon finds herself getting romantic attention from Stanton's friend Reggie Durant (Basil Rathbone) who also helps transform Sylvia into a more elegant lady but Stanton seeing pictures of her from France begins to wonder at just what he's missing out on.

This early 1930s romcom actually feels somewhat akin to many of today's mostly fluff pieces. I will say I found it generally funnier and to have better actors, especially Bennett and Rathbone, though. All in all though, it's surprisingly enjoyable and proves interesting to see characters often act seemingly with low or little morals in that time and setting as there's a lot of married characters here who seem to like hanging around with unmarried romantic interests. Best scene involves the kiss in the mirror and Mrs. Lawrence's reaction to it. ***1/2 out of ***** stars.

Earthquake (1974): We witness how several characters react and deal with the aftermath of a devastating earthquake which shakes and destroys much of Los Angeles.

This features an all-star cast with some notable stars making appearances here even in bit roles. Keep an eye out for Walter Matthau, George Murdock, Donald Moffat, former wrestler Hard Boiled Haggerty amongst others. Key players here are Charlton Heston as the heroic Stuart Graff who goes out his way to save others here but the back story of his affair shows a more human side, George Kennedy as a cool, take no guff or nonsense cop named Lew Slade, Ava Gardner as Graff's jilted wife, Geneviève Bujold as Graff's lover Denise, Lorne Greene's as Graff's boss and father in-law Sam Royce who tries his best to look after his workers following the disaster, Richard Roundtree as stuntman Miles who also proves heroic here, Victoria Principal as the lovely Rosa who becomes the obsession of a suddenly crazed with power Jody (Marjoe Gortner) who is a military volunteer assigned to deal with looters. The real star here though was the special effects which for the time were pretty impressive IMO. Honestly, I find the presentation here far more believable than similar CGI created disaster flicks. Aside from that, it's pretty much the heroics of unlikely heroes Heston, Kennedy, and Roundtree with Kennedy being arguably the best, most likable and most interesting character in the whole film with him pretty much stealing every scene in which he appears. Heston is good too IMO. Some may dislike the lack of depth with many of the characters and the film's disaster of the week feel given disaster films were quite common in the 1970s. ***1/2 out of ***** stars.

Born to Love (1931): An American nurse named Doris Kendall (Constance Bennett) meets and falls in love with Barry Craig (Joel McCrea), an American soldier on leave in London. She also finds herself getting attention from a wealthy English soldier named Sir Wilfred Drake (Paul Cavanagh). Following a whirlwind romance with Craig, Kendall is devastated when she reads that he's supposedly been killed in action. Eventually she decides to move on with her life and marries Drake. However Craig eventually returns revealing he wasn't killed at all, only sick. This forces Doris to decide who she truly wants to spend her life with and now she has a child which also factors in the plot in a key way.

This early 1930s melodrama is fascinating to watch unfold. It was tackling controversial issues for its time such as premarital sex, child custody rights, divorce, and the horror of loss during wartime. Sure some of this does feel very dark and depressing at times, at other times some plot contrivances feel predictable and contrived and there's a certain soap opera feel to the stuff that goes down here, only its conclusion feels much darker. In the end, will true love win out? ***1/2 out of ***** stars.

indianasmith · January 11, 2015, 08:02:25 PM

We have a freeview weekend on DirecTV, and I have caught fragments of a dozen movies over the last two days. I did watch just about all of NATIONAL TREASURE, though. It's still a pretty fun movie.

Jack · January 12, 2015, 06:58:07 AM

The Haunted Sea (1997) - some people on a ship discover another ship, seemingly abandoned, and go aboard in hopes salvaging it. The salvage seems good too as they discover some ancient Aztec relics made of solid gold. Unfortunately the relics are cursed and turn one guy into a dinosaur type critter that makes the stuff in those Carnosaur movies look realistic in comparison. This was pretty slow moving with lots of long scenes of people cautiously walking down corridors. Two hot babes in it though; ya know that hot waitress named "Tuffy" from Feast? She gets topless about 5 times in this. The other actress went on to appear in Virus with Jamie Lee Curtis, which is virtually the same movie except with robots and about 100 times the budget. It was an okay waste of 90 minutes I guess. 3/5.

The Intruder Within (1981) - some folks on an offshore oil rig drill up some eggs or something and eventually they hatch and they've got a monster problem on their hands. I think this was a made-for-TV thing, it stars Chad Everett and has plenty of '70s style melodrama with the characters, which was kind of charming...slightly. I dunno, Chad Everett is Mr. All Business and his love interest, Jennifer Warren, comes off as cold and unlikable. I kind of nodded off towards the end but woke up for the big cheesy climax. I'll be generous and give it a 3/5.

Trevor · January 12, 2015, 07:52:41 AM

Real Steel: I liked the effects and the movie generally but while I like kids, the one in this movie was really annoying and whiny. I wanted to tear him another one.

Rev. Powell · January 12, 2015, 09:43:50 AM

"Charleston Parade" (1927): In 2028, an explorer from Africa visits a devastated Europe in his futuristic aircraft, where a scantily-clad flapper with a monkey pet teaches him how to do the native dance---the Charleston. If you can get past the unfortunate blackface, this short by Jean Renoir is pleasantly insane nonsense fluff, with advanced effects for the time. 17 min. 4/5.