Recent viewings

[FatFreddysCat]

"Original Gangstas" (1996)

Old school blaxploitation meets the new-jack '90s head on in this entertaining shoot'em up from Larry "It's Alive" Cohen.
When Fred "The Hammer" Williamson returns to his old neighborhood and learns that it's now in the grip of a murderous street gang, he calls in some of his old friends from back in the day - including Pam "Foxy Brown" Grier, "Gentleman" Jim Brown, and Richard "Shaft" Roundtree - to help him clean up the streets. A fun slice of low budget action junk.
A decade after this movie, Sly Stallone borrowed the formula for his "Expendables" flicks.

[claws]

Lost River (2014)

A single mother is struggling with finances in order to keep her house in a rundown district of Detroit. A shady banker offers help by getting her a second job in a strange night club. Meanwhile the mother's son salvages abandoned houses and crosses path with an evil wannabe crime lord.

Actor Ryan Gosling's first directing job is quite impressive. Lost River is a dark fantasy drama thriller, kind of like a mix between The Neon Demon (2016) and Blue Velvet (1986). Imaginative with a good soundtrack, quirky characters and just the right amount of disturbing perversion and violence. 4/5

[claws]

Biohazard (1985)

In some secret desert underground laboratory the military are witnessing experiments by a woman who can manifest objects when only thinking about them. For some reason her thoughts are projected into outer space, bringing back an alien creature that goes on a bloody rampage of destruction. It's up to the psychic lady and some security guy to track down and to destroy the beast.

One of Fred Olen Ray's "better looking" productions, but it's still awful and painful to watch. The leading lady is wearing a cheap wig, dialogue is corny and awkward, pacing  slow as a snail. The creature is played by a small person (a child?) wearing a rubber/plastic costume but the bloody f/x are well done.

I'm not sure if I have seen this before, but if I did I probably forgot all about it. If anything, it looks pretty good on blu-ray and it's a keeper despise my low rating 0.5/5

[javakoala]

Biohazard (1985)

In some secret desert underground laboratory the military are witnessing experiments by a woman who can manifest objects when only thinking about them. For some reason her thoughts are projected into outer space, bringing back an alien creature that goes on a bloody rampage of destruction. It's up to the psychic lady and some security guy to track down and to destroy the beast.

One of Fred Olen Ray's "better looking" productions, but it's still awful and painful to watch. The leading lady is wearing a cheap wig, dialogue is corny and awkward, pacing  slow as a snail. The creature is played by a small person (a child?) wearing a rubber/plastic costume but the bloody f/x are well done.

I'm not sure if I have seen this before, but if I did I probably forgot all about it. If anything, it looks pretty good on blu-ray and it's a keeper despise my low rating 0.5/5

That was Fred's own young son playing the monster. Nice to know the man keeps crappy cinema up as a family affair.

[Rev. Powell]

WOOL 100% (2006): Two elderly spinster sisters collect junk and shun strangers; one day, they are delighted to come across a box full of red wool, but soon after find that a woman has invaded their sanctum, knitting a garment only to scream and start over when she completes it. Flashbacks to the sisters past provide hints of a possible explanation for these fantastic events, but the film remains an enigma. 3/5.

[lester1/2jr]

the Narrow corner (1933) - one of those nights when I needed to watch some TCM. This only got like 2 and a half stars but it was pretty entertaining. Douglas Fairbanks jr still desperately trying to make a movie as awesome as his Dad's Mystery of the Leaping fish gives it his all as a wimpy but likeable ship ...guy on a ship with the grizzled captain played by some guy. They are in the South Seas and bump into other white people out there while being served by black natives who also do all the work on the ship.  One guy has a private opium dispensing Chinese guy on board! not exactly Star Trek in terms of equality but pretty diverse for 1933.

The s**t hits the fan when Fairbanks is introduced to a hot (and of course caucasian) island girl. here they are on his crappy boat in a huge storm



It's an hour and 15 minutes long. I liked all the high seas adventure, however racist , and going around the world in the 1930's drinking and almost dying on boats. A funny side thing is the ship's captain meeting an older captain and they sit around trying to outdo each other with captain stories. Any movies with opium are good. whatever happened to that stuff? they need to bring it back

4/5

[Rev. Powell]

THE LOST CITY OF Z (2017): A British explorer takes three expeditions to the Amazon searching for a lost city in the jungle. Based on a true story. When it remembers to be an adventure movie, it's good, but it embarrasses itself when it makes earnest "natives are people too!" speeches. 3.5/5.

JEAN COCTEAU: AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF AN UNKNOWN (1983): Documentary about the amazing surrealist poet/painter/director, pal of Picasso, Eric Satie, and others, made with Cocteau's direct involvement (he wrote the poetic narration). Much better and more alive than similar portraits, although you have to love the subject already to get the most out of it. An extra on the Criterion Collection's ORPHEUS disc. 3.5/5 for general audiences, 5/5 for Cocteau scholars.

[BoyScoutKevin]

THE LOST CITY OF Z (2017): A British explorer takes three expeditions to the Amazon searching for a lost city in the jungle. Based on a true story. When it remembers to be an adventure movie, it's good, but it embarrasses itself when it makes earnest "natives are people too!" speeches. 3.5/5.

I agree with the above. Though, it does make me want to track down the book by David Grann, "The Lost City of Z : a Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon," upon which the film is based. If only to see whether the book delves into "natives are people, too," as much as the film does.

[indianasmith]

UNSPEAKABLE (2000 Troma Release)

More like unspeakably bad!  A father is bringing his drunk, obnoxious slut of a wife home from a party, and for some inexplicable reason, their fifteen year old daughter is asleep in the back seat.  They get in a wreck, daughter is killed, and the wife is left as a mute vegetable with a disfigured face and bowel control issues.  Dad goes around the bend and starts seeing his daughter, begging him to free her from the prison God has her in.  So he goes on a killing spree, convinced that if he can punish enough sinners, God will let him go.  Meanwhile, the physical therapist/male nurse taking care of his wife has the hots for facially disfigured vegetables with Trevor-like underwear, so he's having sex with her every time hubby goes out to slit another hooker's throat.
In short, this film strives to be offensive on almost every level, and succeeds.  Some of the hookers that get killed are kinda cute, but other than that, really not much to make up for an hour and twenty minutes of wasted time. 2/5

[Rev. Powell]

23RD PSALM BRANCH (1967): Abstract compositions alternating with footage of death camps, fascists, and the Vietnam War, contrasting artistic creation with man's drive to destroy himself. A challenging and complicated non-narrative film with moments of beauty and off-beat staccato editing. I'm beginning to appreciate Stan Brakhage more, but his experimental films live in a different universe; they're alien things to be examined more than loved. 3.5/5.

[lester1/2jr]

Seance (2001) - This is one of those low budget movies that tries to compensate with good writing and that sort of stuff instead of cheap special effects and nudity. It's okay but a little on the subtle/ uneventful side.

A lady is one of those police psychics but she actually can see spirits and stuff. Through a series of events her and her husband end up in the possesion of a kidnapped kid! Instead of going right to the police they "decide what to do" and you can guess everything goes wrong.

The people seem way too nice to be involved with this kind of thing. There is some good tension, but the writing isn't quite strong enough to make up for the near total lack of any sort of action or just having a pulse above comatose. watcheable though

3.5 /5

[Rev. Powell]

TAMPOPO (1985): A stranger rides into town and helps a struggling widow to master the art of Ramen preparation. Originally billed as a "noodle western," it's an endearingly silly foodie feast that frequently digresses into culinary comedy skits and fourth-wall breaking, and even peppers in some tastefully shocking moments for extra flavor. 3.5/5.

[Chainsawmidget]

Neon Maniacs

An odd slasher with the supernatural killers attacking in group.  There's no explanation for who they are or where they come from or even why water is their weakness.  It is a charming sort of movie though and featured an "adorable kid" character who actually is adorable.   

[indianasmith]

THE DISAPPOINTMENTS ROOM was a pretty predictable, by-the-numbers ghost story - a couple from NY, grieving the death of their infant daughter, move into a 19th century house in the country with a sinister past.  They discover it is haunted by the ghost of a deformed child and the evil father who murdered her for being a "disappointment."  Moderately entertaining.  3.5/5

THE FANGLYS was a low-budget horror film about an evil witch and her retarded son who kill people every Halloween in this small Texas town.  Other than being filmed entirely on location in Justin, TX, this one left a lot to be desired - it falls in that middle ground of "not quite so bad it's good" but not "It's so bad it's just bad."   3/5

[Trevor]

THE DISAPPOINTMENTS ROOM was a pretty predictable, by-the-numbers ghost story - a couple from NY, grieving the death of their infant daughter, move into a 19th century house in the country with a sinister past.  They discover it is haunted by the ghost of a deformed child and the evil father who murdered her for being a "disappointment."  Moderately entertaining.  3.5/5

So I gather the film was a disappointment?