Recent viewings

[Murtlap]

Prestige (2006)

The film is never less than engaging, though considering that the title The Prestige refers to the moment in a magic act that gives it its "wow" factor, it's kind of a shame that the ultimate "reveal" in the movie is a little too tricky for its own good.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Slaughter's Big Rip-Off" (1973)

Sequel to "Slaughter," starring former NFL footballer "Gentleman" Jim Brown as the title tough guy and all around bad-ass. In the first film Slaughter broke up the Mexican Mob, this time it's the Southern California syndicate that wants him dead. (In a bizarre bit of casting against type, the vicious Mob boss is played by ... perennial TV second banana Ed McMahon!) There isn't much plot in this blaxploitation action flick, but a whole lot of honky heads get busted and some fine lookin' ladies take their clothes off so I was suitably entertained. As Slaughter himself might say, "Outasite, baby."

[lester1/2jr]

Pacman - interesting. Yeah having real animals fighting would be too insane.

[Pacman000]

Pacman - interesting. Yeah having real animals fighting would be too insane.

Other movies did have real animal fights, most notably One Million B.C.  I've not seen that movie, but I've seen others. Can be a bit disturbing.

There's a monitor lizard fight in The Land Unknown.  Lizard A is latched onto lizard B's neck; the lizard B writhes trying to get free.  This goes on for several minutes, til lizard B stops.  You can't tell if it's breathing or not, and they never show more than one monitor lizard for the rest of the movie. 

[FatFreddysCat]

"Zootopia" (2016)
Disney's animated mega-hit about an ambitious country bunny who moves to the Big City of Zootopia and becomes its first-ever rabbit police officer. Her first assignment looks like a standard missing-mammals investigation at first, but soon she and her unwilling sidekick, a con-artist fox, discover that there's something more sinister going on behind the scenes.
It's Disney, so of course this is lushly animated, fast paced, frequently funny, and enjoyable for all ages. The near-constant "everyone is equal, chase your dreams, you can be whatever you want to be" rah-rah inspirational message might feel a bit heavy-handed to the grown ups, but the kids won't notice or care.

[javakoala]

Almost Human (1974)

In spite of the title, this isn't a horror film (though it was marketed as one at some point). It's another Umberto Lenzi Eurocrime film, and, man, is it a rough one! Tomas Milian plays a sniveling, trigger-happy scumbag who comes up with a plan to get rich by kidnapping a rich businessman's daughter. Lots of people die in this film, and most of them are killed by Milian's character. The twisted highlight of the film is the slaughter of a household of five people, three of which are strung up on a chandelier before being gunned down. Henry Silva, a last minute replacement when the original actor (Richard Conte) died just before filming began, plays the hard-nosed cop who tries to stop all the bloodshed.

3.5/5

Here's the poster that tried to sell this as a horror film:

[lester1/2jr]

The Toast of New York (1937) - This is mostly of interest to people interested in post civil War gilded age sort of history, specifically the first Black Friday when speculators drove up the price of gold, destroying the US economy. This was during a brief period when gold was not the official US currency backing but it was still implied that it was. A guy named Jim Fisk attempted to and for a while did "corner" the gold market. Eventually the government countered this by releasing it's own gold reserves and then returned the country to a gold standard which mean the gold price would always be stable, ending the possibility for schemes like Fisk's.

Not exactly King Kong here and it's no surprise this movie is largely forgotten despite the presence of stars like Cary grant and Frances farmer.

Valuable as a teaching tool and there probably were people in 1936 who had lived though this era and were interested in it.  Not likely to eclipse Casablanca or Citizen Kane as a TCM staple though. I am glad I got to see it
2.5 /5

[FatFreddysCat]

"Gunn" (1967)
! No longer available

Blake "Pink Panther" Edwards directed this "mod" movie update of the late '50s/early '60s "Peter Gunn" TV series, with Craig Stevens reprising his role as the smooth talking, smooth-with-the-ladies private eye. Gunn is hired to determine who murdered a notorious Mob boss, but some hit men sent by the ambitious wanna-be replacement Don want to make sure the crime remains unsolved.
Gunn seems like a cool cat, but this flick was pretty dry and talky, it didn't really get into gear till the last quarter. Interesting in a retro time-capsule sort of way, but not essential viewing by any means.

[Rev. Powell]

CITY OF WOMEN (1980): A man (Marcello Mastroianni) follows an enticing woman off of a train, who leads him through a forest to a hotel taken over by a feminist convention, which he eventually escapes only to find the local province is ruled entirely by women who dominate the local men. This late Fellini film is one of his most surreal; it starts off as an obvious and shrill parody of radical feminism, but soon deepens into a more personal examination of Fellini's love/guilt relationship with the opposite sex, like a feature-length version of 8 1/2's harem scene. 3.5/5.

[lester1/2jr]

The Dead Zone - I had never seen this, I think because the name is so similar to many others I didn't really notice it. Well, if you've seen it which everyone but me probably has, you know I was being pretty stupid there. It's not a Misery or Carrie level extravaganza but it's pretty darn good and I watched it in one sitting. Granted, I kind of had to because I was taping something else but I WANTED to anyway. so everything was fine!

Christopher Walken gets into a car accident, is comatose for 5 years, and wakes up with psychic powers. This enables him to see all kinds of stuff that form the plot of this movie. Martin Sheen seemingly channels his wayward son Charlie as a trump-esque populist politician with delusions of grandeur and maybe worse.

4.75/ 5 this Steven King guy seems like an okay writer I think I'll check out some of his other stuff

[dean]

The Dead Zone - I had never seen this, I think because the name is so similar to many others I didn't really notice it. Well, if you've seen it which everyone but me probably has, you know I was being pretty stupid there. It's not a Misery or Carrie level extravaganza but it's pretty darn good and I watched it in one sitting. Granted, I kind of had to because I was taping something else but I WANTED to anyway. so everything was fine!

Christopher Walken gets into a car accident, is comatose for 5 years, and wakes up with psychic powers. This enables him to see all kinds of stuff that form the plot of this movie. Martin Sheen seemingly channels his wayward son Charlie as a trump-esque populist politician with delusions of grandeur and maybe worse.

4.75/ 5 this Steven King guy seems like an okay writer I think I'll check out some of his other stuff

Didn't that become a TV series? Something about seeing the future when he touches people or something?

[indianasmith]

It was a TV series, in the 1990's I think.  Not as good as the book or the movie.

[Rev. Powell]

HACKSAW RIDGE (2016): A pacifist Seventh-Day Adventist volunteers as a medic during WWII, undergoing persecution from his fellow soldiers who consider him a coward until he saves 75 lives during the battle for Okinawa. The battle scenes are excellent---Mel Gibson DOES love his brutality---although the rest of the movie is a mix of war-movie cliches and "principled man against the ignorant system" cliches. 3/5.

[indianasmith]

FOREST OF THE LIVING DEAD (2014)

   Judging by the lurid cover, I expected this to be an attempt to work zombies into the legends surrounding Japan's "Suicide Forest."  However, it turned out to be a well-done, chilling little ghost story in which the Forest did not figure until about halfway through.  Short synopsis:  A well-known fashion photographer is canoodling with one of his favorite models when a noise downstairs sends him off to investigate.  While he is gone, the girl is seemingly attacked, her face clawed open by an assailant who is gone when the photographer finally forces the door of the bedroom open. The police suspect him, since there was no evidence of anyone else entering or leaving the penthouse suite.  But then, when all the other girls surrounding him begin to drop dead, suspicion falls on the vengeful ghost of his girlfriend, who disappeared in the suicide forest several months before.
   Overall, a well done movie with some genuine scares and excellent plot twists.  Went a little slow at first.  4/5

[FatFreddysCat]

"Roger Corman's Death Race 2050" (2017)

Start your engines! It's time for the annual cross-country road rally, where colorfully costumed drivers score points based on how many pedestrians they can kill along the way. Reigning champion "Frankenstein" is back, facing off against a new crew of drivers looking to dethrone him. Mucho tongue-in-cheek carnage ensues.
This long overdue sequel/reboot (whatever you want to call it) to the classic 1975 dystopian black comedy is a ton of sick fun, it maintains the vibe of the '75 flick while giving it a 21st century update. Fans of the big-budget and far more serious Jason Statham "reboot" (and its two sequels) probably won't dig it, but if you liked the original you should get a few retro chuckles out of this one as well.