Recent viewings

[lester1/2jr]

I need to revisit Our Gang / Little Rascals sometime

[indianasmith]

DARK MOON RISING - OK,  I taught a night class this evening and had no business trying to watch a movie afterwards, but I did anyway.  This was a lame, poorly filmed, badly written werewolf movie with a few promising moments that wound up never delivering.  To be perfectly honest, it did such a lousy job of explaining the plot I'm still not entirely sure what was going on.  I'll give it a 2/5 just because the three lead female actresses were kinda cute.

[Rev. Powell]

"Masterworks of American Avant-garde Experimental Film 1920-1970": First, these are not all masterworks. "Meshes of the Afternoon" is the only film here I'd say is definitely a masterpiece, although many of them are interesting and/or important works. Many of them are also incredibly boring. Some of the best ones are the totally abstract films that are just colored lights flashing across the screen in various patterns. These are also too rich to take in a bunch of them in one sitting; it's probably best to just sample one or two a night, accompanied by your beverage of choice. Not for everyone but it feels like something that should be on my bookshelf. 4.5/5.

[lester1/2jr]

Poltergeist (1982) - I hadn't seen this since it came out. Not surprisingly it was not quite as scary as I recall but it was pretty entertaining if a little dated. It's a Speilberg production and some of the special effects are so ostentatious it seems like part of the Universal Studios tour or something. I think it's PG 13 and kids that age can probably handle it, though the idea of a family friendly horror movie is a bit of an oxymoron.

SPOILERS !

two questions

1. why did they stay in the house another night after getting the girl out of the tv

2. Isn't it kind of a  rip off of that Twilight zone episode with the girl stuck in the wall?

end spoilers


It's colorful and fun and though nearly 2 hours long it moves well. eye candy includes the wife in her underwear having gravity issues (inspiration for that scene with Tori Spelling in Scary Movie?) and the cute teen daughter who was tragically killed soon after the film came out by a guy who served like 3 years and was then released for some reason. Not quite great because it doesn't really have any sort of theme tying it together, pretty much just an excuse for Speilberg and Hooper to show off their respective skills a bit and make a blockbuster.

4/5

[Rev. Powell]

HORSE MONEY (2014): An aging man in Portugal, a bricklayer from Cape Verde with a military past, wanders through rooms and corridors in some kind of institution, taking visits from people from his past and mixing up flashbacks with present day reality. HORSE MONEY has a high level of technical artistry, but it's too vague, insular and shadowy; unless you're an expatriate Cape Verdean intellectual, there's not much to latch on to. 2.5/5.

[VenomX73]

Night of the Demons (1988) - again, for the 100th time... I think



I watched it last night as I carved my pumpkin...

[lester1/2jr]

We Are The Night (Germany 2010)  - If a movie is really good (Contact) or a crazy b movie (Rage with Gary Daniels) or new and interesting enough to squeak by (Lucy, Kung fu Basketball)  I'll often mention it on my twitter. This one doesn't make the cut in any respect. It's competent enough, but theres not enough of any particular quality to recommend it to anyone other than people who need to see every vampire movie or movies with "kick ass"  female characters. As is the trend nowadays there is 10 times as much innuendo as there used to be and 1/10 the nudity. (actually theres none here, which is too bad because it could certainly use it)

Three vampire women, one okay looking older blonde, one fairly pretty if a little dull brunette and one annoying one pursue a new girl who is the only one who looks like she could actually model in something besides Hustler. They don't need men so they steal cars and go dancing in stupid clubs and act all kick ass 24-7. Unfortunately for them the new one isn't so into it because she's in love with a cop, the same one who is pursuing them though they are virtually indestructible. Why not just walk underwater to another country or something? shoot yourself out of a cannon

I guess in its best moments it has a very very cheap Charlies Angels sort of quality some might like but very little in the way of charm and I can't think of anything that reflected an interesting or expressive creative choice. solid enough but really not my thing

2.5 /5

[FatFreddysCat]

A Halloween night double header; two different movies with similar titles....

"Trick or Treat" (1986)
http://youtu.be/NHttc38S6kM
If Freddy Krueger were a member of Motley Crue you'd have this movie. A high school headbanger (Marc "Skippy from Family Ties" Price) learns that he can communicate with his favorite dead rock star by playing his record backwards, which leads to major chaos at the Halloween dance in this delightfully cheesy '80s cult classic. Features cameos by Ozzy and Gene Simmons and a soundtrack by Fastway. A Halloween season perennial 'round my house.

"Trick 'r Treat" (2007)
http://youtu.be/wUqsXvBAqRY
A variety of interlocking tales of terror all centered around a small town's Halloween celebration, including a psycho principal, a pack of werewolves with big boobs, and a school bus driver whose terrible past comes back to haunt him. Features a great cast, loads of atmosphere and a delightfully sick sense of humor. This is the best horror anthology film since the original "Creepshow," hands down.

[Rev. Powell]

My Halloween double feature:

WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS, which I mentioned here before. It's a highly recommended mockumentary about four vampires sharing a flat in New Zealand, sort of SPINAL TAP with vampires. 4/5.

My new viewing was MISS MEADOWS (2014): A prim, proper substitute school teacher moonlights as a vigilante; it's described (rather ambitiously) in-movie as MARRY POPPINS meets PULP FICTION. Katie Holmes is perfectly cast, but if this wanted to be the cult film it aims to be, the meek script should have taken off the white kid gloves, treated Meadows a bit rougher (she could handle it), and made this into a more cutting satire. 2.5/5.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Inside Metal: Pioneers of L.A. Hard Rock and Metal II"
http://youtu.be/XlzWl795u0E

2nd volume of what appears to be a very thorough documentary series (I have not seen part I) examines the years 1975-1981 and covers the rise of Van Halen, Quiet Riot and the Crue through the L.A. clubs and the ripple effect those bands had on the rest of the scene. Lots of interviews with well known names like Brian Slagel, Don Dokken, Joey Vera, Jack Russell, Lizzy Borden, and Lars Ulrich as well as also-rans like London, A La Carte, Snow, Greg Leon, and more. Some good stories are told but overall it's a little on the dry side. Still, I'd like to see more from this series.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Pixels" (2015)
http://youtu.be/XAHprLW48no

Alien invaders declare war on Earth in the form of characters from classic video games, so the President (Kevin James) gets his old gang of arcade-champion buddies (Adam Sandler, Josh Gad and Peter Dinklage) back together to help save the planet. We rented this very silly but entertaining blend of "Wreck it Ralph" and "Ghostbusters" for my 8 year old, who loved it, and it was fairly painless for us grown-ups as well. If you're an '80s kid you should get a kick out of it.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Kingsman: The Secret Service" (2014)
http://youtu.be/R5aWvnS0e_M
A young British slacker becomes the latest candidate to join an ultra-secret spy organization and helps them battle supervillain Samuel L. Jackson, who plays a lisping billionaire who has some rather lethal ideas about how to end global warming.  Ultra-violent and over the top, this is a very entertaining send up of 007 style spy thrillers rom the director of "Kick Ass."

[dean]

shoot yourself out of a cannon

Where the hell does one find a human sized cannon these days?

[lester1/2jr]

Transylvania

[dean]

Just re-watched Adams Family Values. Great not quite black comedy. Could have amped up the satire a bit but really overall it was a pretty fun ride. Wednesday Adams is the clear star here with a killer performance by Christina Ricci