Recent Viewings, Part 2

[Rev. Powell]

THE MYSTERIOUS CASTLE IN THE CARPATHIANS (1981): In 1987, a count (who is also an opera singer) investigates a mysterious castle, where an evil baron lives with his mad scientist assistant. Based on a Jules Verne story. This Czech fantasy/comedy from the underrated Oldrich Lipský features lavish sets and costumes and bizarre futuristic inventions (including a set of ears on a stick and early rocket launches); the fast pacing and slapstick comedy easily translates to present day tastes. 4/5.

[HappyGilmore]

Terror Firmer- it's a Troma film. Begins with a lady having a baby ripped out of her belly. Cameos from the South Park guys and Lenny of Motorhead

[lester1/2jr]

Be My Cat: A Film for Anne (2015) - Another day, another found footage dollar. This is a splashy one, seemingly designed to stand out from the FF pack, which is a good goal I'd say. I wouldn't watch it again and it won't make me forget Digging up the Marrow and other classics of the genre, but it works and is less geeky and more accessible than a lot of these things.

A guy in Romania becomes obsessed with actress Anne Hathaway after seeing her dressed like a cat in a Batman movie (he loves cats ). He comes up with a film concept about a guy who stalks an actress and sets out to film it with local talent with the goal of eventually bringing it to Hollywood/ Hathaway. He's arrogant and all too believable as the stalker, but there's not a lot going on in Romania, so the actresses he hired go along with the whole sordid thing.

Be My Cat is good, but doesn't quite have that magical quality that would open the door to greatness. You get more than enough of the guy and his face and Borat like accent that's for sure. I also enjoyed seeing a bit of Romania.

4.30 / 5

[M.10rda]

Lester, I watched it about 5 years ago and agree it's not a classic and that the lead is VERY irritating. However it did deliver the creeps, imho... perhaps because the Eastern European setting makes the stalking/abuse plot seem entirely too plausible and convincing. The actresses are also highly persuasive....... either they're very gifted performers or they were legitimately freaked out by the scenarios they are thrust into. Yech! It made an impression, anyway.

[lester1/2jr]

M.10rda  - if he was not actually from Romania and it was shot in some lot in LA somewhere it would be a 5/5

the actresses were all super hot

[M.10rda]

     I mean yeah, iirc they were very attractive. As of course is Anne Hathaway. In retrospect I was preoccupied by thinking about how uncomfortable or even truly terrified they looked. Has the director done anything else since or is he in a Romanian dungeon right now.......?

[lester1/2jr]

hopefully he is

[Rev. Powell]

"The Mads Are Back: A Night of Shorts 15": The Mads take on mostly kid-oriented shorts from the 40s and 50s about uncommon holidays (like St. Patrick's Day), child development, rules, and safety. They are quite funny, no classics, but one of their better collections. The Q&A guest was an old-timey radio expert, kind of a specialized topic I have little knowledge of or interest in. 3/5.

[Dr. Whom]

Chronicle (2012)

Three high school boys find a mysterious object which gives them superpowers. One of them is an emotionally disturbed teen who is bullied. This goes about as well as can be expected.

This is a found footage movie. This is made vaguely plausible, by making the main character socially awkward which motivates the compulsive filming. Also by having him telekinetically manipulate the camera, he can take 3rd person shots. Even so, some scenes are quite gimmicky, even with the addition of other footage, such as security cameras, newscasts etc. This format also makes it difficult to see what is going on in the climax (which may be intentional)

The main disappointment is that it is completely by the numbers. It follows the 'bullied nerd getting superpowers and going berserk' trope pretty closely. Not exactly bad, but without surprises.

For our South African friends, this was apparently mainly filmed in South Africa

[M.10rda]

FAULTS (2015):
Mostly focused on a single location and two central characters, FAULTS could easily have been adapted from (or to) the theatre... which is a cinematic sub-genre that can excel or go awry in my book. FAULTS kind of does both.

Executive producer Mary Elizabeth Winstead (also married to writer-director Riley Stearns) is abducted and confined to a small hotel room, where cult deprogrammer Leland Orser promises he will release her after five days, if only she will hear him out. Naturally, Orser has got his own issues to grapple with, and perhaps predictably, Winstead is not quite the victim she initially appears to be........ wisely, the film makes a series of detours outside of the motel and incorporates an array of well-cast supporting players, including the instantly recognizable (and lamentedly late) Lance Reddick as exactly the sort of character he was known for; and Jon(athan) Gries, best known as Napoleon Dynamite's Uncle Rico and completely unrecognizable here as the sort of character you'd expect to find haunting a Coen Bros thriller.

Almost a decade ago I'd heard a lot of praise for FAULTS, even among horror websites and podcasts. I was a little skeptical, and alas both the praise and the skepticism are appropriate. Classifying it as "horror" is a stretch, though there is a lot of tension (as well as awkward humor) and eventually the plot takes some even darker turns. Stearns demonstrates that he is a solid handler of mood w/ a good sense for framing actors. He's significantly less steady as a screenwriter... good enough to hold the viewer's interest while he establishes the plot and introduces the players, but less rigorous in his discretion when it comes to maintaining engagement and escalating the action. He tends to repeat obvious information and carry scenes on way too long past the point where the audience gets it and is ready to move on. And, critically, he couldn't convince me of several hard-to-swallow late-film revelations. Winstead deserves credit for consistently being involved in interesting and off-beat projects, and perhaps for stooping to marry and work with a weak screenwriter who (judging from pictures) is also a goofy-looking bald guy below her station. Although her work here is competent, Winstead isn't strong enough in FAULTS to sell the implausible material, which probably required a legitimately nutso performance from Adjani or Huppert or at least Fairuza Balk or Toni Collette to put over.

However, FAULTS does have one ace up its sleeve, and that's Leland Orser, an actor I don't recall seeing in anything since the late 90s. Dressed in one increasingly distressed brown suit and sporting a cheesy moustache and cheap haircut, I couldn't help often thinking how much Orser looks like Gary Oldman. By the end of FAULTS, I wasn't sure that even Oldman would've been more convincing in and committed to this role than Orser is. Lots of actors have won Oscars for lesser performances than the one Orser gives here. In a 2.5 star film, he delivers a 4.5 star performance. So, per that math:

3.5/5

[lester1/2jr]

The Conspiracy (2012) - quasi- found footage take on conspiracy theories. This one is based on a fictional Bildeburg Group type organization that worships Mithras and controls the world. That's because our god Mirthras is so great.... oh whoops...I let it slip that I'm in the cult. Merry Mithras! and I have all your money haha

It's basically a film school project. decent budget and acting and generally solid but not the mid blowing experience it would like to be. The biggest selling point is probably that's on some level an actual movie, not two guys picking their nose in the woods for 90 mins. 

3.85/ 5

[FatFreddysCat]

"Beerfest" (2006)
To avenge their family's honor, two American brothers form an all-star drinking team to compete in "Beerfest," a secret drinking competition held in Munich during Oktoberfest.
A very raunchy but extremely funny comedy from the Broken Lizard troupe that will make you feel very thirsty.

"Malibu's Most Wanted" (2003)
"B-Rad," a dorky white wanna-be rapper (Jamie Kennedy) from a wealthy Malibu family is an embarrassment to his father, who's running for governor of California. Dad's campaign team comes up with a unique plan to "scare the black out of him" by dropping him in South Central to meet real gangstas, but things don't turn out as planned. A dumb but likeable comedy that squeezes the maximum out of its one-joke premise.

[Trevor]

Chronicle (2012)

Three high school boys find a mysterious object which gives them superpowers. One of them is an emotionally disturbed teen who is bullied. This goes about as well as can be expected.

This is a found footage movie. This is made vaguely plausible, by making the main character socially awkward which motivates the compulsive filming. Also by having him telekinetically manipulate the camera, he can take 3rd person shots. Even so, some scenes are quite gimmicky, even with the addition of other footage, such as security cameras, newscasts etc. This format also makes it difficult to see what is going on in the climax (which may be intentional)

The main disappointment is that it is completely by the numbers. It follows the 'bullied nerd getting superpowers and going berserk' trope pretty closely. Not exactly bad, but without surprises.

For our South African friends, this was apparently mainly filmed in South Africa

Indeed it was filmed here 😁😁😎🇿🇦

[Jim H]

Hundreds of Beavers - A quasi silent semi animated black and white madcap comedy film.  Pretty bonkers, genuinely funny, very creative, lots of good running gags.  Totally worth a watch. 

[FatFreddysCat]

"Back to School" (1986)
In an attempt to re-connect with his estranged son (Keith Gordon of "Christine"), a well meaning but uncouth businessman (Rodney Dangerfield) enrolls at the same college his kid attends, and turns everyone's campus life upside down. A fun college comedy that fits Rodney's "slobs versus snobs" persona perfectly. Watch for the late great Sam Kinison in a small role as a crazed professor ("SAYYYY IIIIIIIT!") and a young Robert Downey Jr. as Gordon's new-wave roommate.

"Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man" (1976)
Two Italian cops (Ray Lovelock and Marc Porel) are part of a secret "special force" within the city's police dept. which allows them to fight crime using as much force as they want. Their quest to stop a powerful crime lord leads to much gunplay, car chases and crashes, and beat downs. The English dialog is pure gibberish, so the whole thing doesn't make much sense, but the action scenes and stunt work are top notch. Basically it's like a feature length, ultra violent episode of "Starsky and Hutch."