Recent viewings

FatFreddysCat · February 20, 2018, 07:45:38 AM

"Zombieland" (2009)
"NUT UP OR SHUT UP!"
A nervous nerd, a redneck tough guy and two con-artist sisters make their way across a zombie-ravaged USA in this cult classic horror comedy, on their way to a fabled undead-free zone in California . I've seen this one a bunch of times now and it never gets old.

FatFreddysCat · February 21, 2018, 06:48:50 AM

"Deep Red" (1975)
A British musician living in Rome witnesses the brutal murder of a psychic, then teams up with a lady reporter to uncover the killer's identity and stop the string of deaths that follow.
Dario Argento's mix of European arthouse visuals and American grindhouse gore is nice to look at but as usual, the story becomes a confused muddle pretty quickly. That may be due to the fact that the version I watched was the U.S. "theatrical" cut (1 hr, 40 minutes); I'm told that Argento's original Italian release (which runs 20 minutes longer) is easier to follow. Either way, this was an entertainingly weird, gory murder mystery.

Rev. Powell · February 21, 2018, 01:02:59 PM

A FIELD IN ENGLAND (2013): Four deserters from the English Civil War are fed hallucinogenic mushrooms and are forced to dig up buried treasure by a rogue alchemist. This violent collision of an arty historical drama with a trippy psychedelic experiment is the quintessential definition of a "not for everyone" film, but daring cinemanauts will want to take the trip to this FIELD. 3.5/5.

FatFreddysCat · February 22, 2018, 11:05:20 AM

"Inside Metal: The L.A. Metal Scene Explodes" (2016)

Part 1 of a 2-part documentary about the early '80s metal boom in Los Angeles. Past and present members of Dokken, Stryper, Quiet Riot, Metallica, Armored Saint, W.A.S.P. and many more tell some funny stories and reminisce about the good ol' days, interspersed with lotsa vintage concert posters, photos and video clips. I didn't really learn anything new from this doc, but it was a fun trip down memory lane.

Rev. Powell · February 23, 2018, 10:13:44 AM

CATCH-22 (1970): Captain Yossarian, a WWII bombardier, has a problem: he wants to be grounded because he's demonstrably crazy, but the military insists that only a crazy man would want to fly dangerous missions, so asking to be grounded is the act of a sane man, which means he has to fly more missions. That's some catch. Mike Nicholls delivers an underappreciated adaptation of Joseph Heller's dark satirical novel of inverted logic and inverted morality, with an excellent ensemble cast highlighted by funny cameos from Bob Newhart and Orson Welles. 4/5.

indianasmith · February 24, 2018, 04:45:04 PM

HABIT (1995) A rather homely, snaggle-toothed New Yorker named Sam, having broken up with his GF and lost his father within a week or two of each other, meets an attractive vampire at a party and enters into a passionate but ultimately parasitic romance with her. Maybe I'm just too much of a corn-fed country boy to appreciate the innate New York-ness of this film, but honestly I found it very boring and hard to follow. Some of that may have to do with the fact that I watched it at 4:30 AM, too. At any rate, the vampire chick was kinda cute, and overall the movie was better than some low budget vampire flicks. IMDB watchers liked it better than I did. 2.5/5

FatFreddysCat · February 24, 2018, 06:33:53 PM

"Spider-Man: Homecoming" (2017)
The third time is the charm for the friendly neighborhood Web-head, who's been rebooted (yet again) back to his roots as a dorky teenage science genius. This "new" Spidey juggles trying to fit in at his high school and tangling with a gang of crooks led by The Vulture (Michael Keaton) who use stolen alien tech to create super weapons. Cameos by Iron Man, Captain America, and of course Stan "The Man" Lee add to the fun. This 21st century update is a little different from the Spidey I grew up with, but it was more entertaining than the last several Spider-Man movies combined. Color me pleasantly surprised.

lester1/2jr · February 25, 2018, 11:22:42 AM

Arachnid (2001) - I occasionally get these syfy movies thinking they will be campy and outrageous but they rarely are. This isn't the worst one I've seen but I was glad when it was over. The highlight of the whole thing was a grandmilf who I just researched she's some Spanish actress who has since gotten a lot of plastic surgery. yay

It's on an island and they get chased by spiders. the lead actress is charismatic enough.

2.5 /5

FatFreddysCat · February 25, 2018, 06:47:15 PM

Rainy Sunday double feature:

"Happy Death Day" (2017)
A self-obsessed sorority girl is murdered on her birthday... and then wakes up at the start of the same day, so she has to re-live it all over again, unless she can figure out who the masked slasher is and stop the cycle. An entertaining hybrid of "Scream" and "Groundhog Day," with some good one liners and a plot that keeps you guessing. I wasn't expecting much from this one but was pleasantly surprised.

And then for something completely different...
"A Dog's Purpose" (2017)
Warm, fuzzy (in both senses of the word) family film about a dog whose spirit is constantly "reborn" into new bodies and lives numerous lives over the decades until he's finally re-united with the now-grown-up boy who was his best friend. If you don't tear up at least once during this one, you have no soul. Two paws up.

lester1/2jr · February 26, 2018, 10:36:42 AM

Fraulein (2006) - quality foreign film about a Serbian woman who goes to Switzerland where everyone seems to speak German? I don't know much about Europe despite seeing a boatload of their movies. mildly decadent if not wildly exciting...slice of life ish...you know. It's good, the main girl is likeable and the depressing cafeteria where they all work is believably drab seeming.

4/5

Rev. Powell · February 26, 2018, 07:59:04 PM

Quote from: lester1/2jr on February 26, 2018, 10:36:42 AM
Fraulein (2006) - quality foreign film about a Serbian woman who goes to Switzerland where everyone seems to speak German? I don't know much about Europe despite seeing a boatload of their movies.

4/5

Yeah, most Swiss people speak German.

lester1/2jr · February 28, 2018, 11:17:55 AM

Well they should STOP

Dolores Clairborne - uhhh...no this wasn't good. Kathy Bates has 75 percent of the dialogue with her bad New England accent. The alkie husband does a much better job. Its easy to mess up our accents so I did give them some leeway but it's still not good.

Europeans are much better at this sort of dark drama stuff. I should know I've seen a quadrillion of their movies. The story itself is pretty mediocre , it doesn't have the sort of touch it needs from the director, and it's not the type of thing that could be saved by more or less editing either. Its the whole approach. Kathy bates and the great Jennifer Jason Leigh do their best but it just feels like a horror movie with out the horror (or the overt horror, horrible things do happen).

If you're a King complete ist you have to at some point see it and there is some decent stuff. If you have Stephen King and A list acting talents involved, you are going to get some decent stretches but thumbs down from me in the end. 2 hours long too

2/5

lester1/2jr · February 28, 2018, 11:23:58 PM

nightfall (1957) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049552/ above average film noir that would have been cooler if it was 15 years earlier and less chatty. plot, acting, dialogue solid but missing the magic to get the last star

4/5

lester1/2jr · March 02, 2018, 11:58:23 AM

Darkness (2002) - starts off strong with a good creepy vibe and a good star in perky Anna Paquin who I'd never seen before (the movie could just as easily be called " b/ bordering on c cup going up and down the stairs" as Darkness) but you quickly start to ask yourself: what's the point? the story around the creepy house is really really phoned in and none of it rises to the occasion in any sort of way. A good indication a story is, as I say, "phoned in" is when you pause the movie during it's big finale to go do something else.

it does have that good creepy vibe and whats her name is cute

3.5 /5

Rev. Powell · March 03, 2018, 02:23:28 PM

THE FALLS (1980): Absurdist mockumentary: 92 short biographies of victims of the Violent Unexplained Event (which has something to do with birds, and maybe a dude called Tulse Lupper)... At almost 4 hours long, Peter Greenaway's oft-witty prank of a feature-length debut wears out its welcome, but it is hard not to be impressed by its intertextual obsessiveness. 3.5/5.

MST3K: ESCAPE 2000: The feature film is a post-apocalypsish tale of an evil corporation trying to forcibly remove all of the residents of the Bronx; a few honorable crooks refuse to go quietly. In Deep 13, Dr. Forrester has decided to put his mother in a home (which turns out to be a children's playhouse). Season 7 never really got going due to a an abbreviated schedule and lack of chemistry between Dr. Forrester and Pearl, but while this isn't a great episode, the movie is tolerable. 3/5.