#88 / Repo Man (B+)

What a bizarre-ass movie.  Honestly, that was really weird.  There was a plot, but really it was nonsensical however something definitely worth seeing to find out what happens next.  It was a movie full of ambition that went nowhere, but on purpose.  Normally right up my alley and I suppose even though I couldn't quite figure this one out, I still have to admit that liked it a lot.  I appreciated that most of the scenes were in day light.  I appreciated the dialog as the random and motley repo crew drove around together discussing life.  I appreciated the acting and also the effects, which were good considering the age of the movie....all around, pretty darn solid.

I'm surprised so many people talk about this movie as if it were super popular - as in, a must see for an entire generation - I say that because this is something I find hard to believe.  It's a cult classic, I'd have to agree with that, yet I feel like the normal human wouldn't love this piece so I'm perplexed on why it's so notorious.

Emilio did a really good job as well.  I miss him.

The top review on Netflix (c) said something I can't say, something beyond my simple words and it made me laugh (read: I don't speak poetic like this guy does.  It almost reads as a critic's one line review on a magazine cover) "80's Reagan America viewed through LSD and alienation.  A feast for the sick mind!"

#87 Zero Effect (C+)

Bill Pullman is magical.  Ha!  Sorry I'm cynical at times on these reviews, I really don't mean to be mean.  I'm willing to admit however that I'm aware I get this way - and also very critical of a movie's plot/vibe or an actor's performance.  I guess I'm hard to please.  At times I do believe that Pullman looks like Duchovny.

Question: who's better at acting?  Bill Pullman or Cary Elwes?  Please post the answer in the response section.

On to the movie.  It's about a guy that dubs himself as the ultimate observer and gets paid big bucks to solve mysteries.  Mostly he does it out of his office, but occasionally he comes out of his office to go on site to solve items.  This guy is Bill Pullman, actor extraordinaire.  He tries really hard to look eccentric and disheveled, but it actually makes me laugh.  He wears long-johns with a robe and his hair is all over the place, think "the Dude" from Big L.  Kind of like that, but worse.  His sidekick/assistant is Ben Stiller, who plays a serious role in the movie so that's funny too.  He's not bad at being serious and is not a bad actor in my book, but he's definitely better at being goofy so it's hard to see him playing this role.  It took about 35 minutes for me to get interested because prior to that time I was laughing in my head at the Stiller seriousness and the Pullman eccentricness.  AKA "plot building".  The movie was okay in the end, worth watching I guess on a Saturday afternoon on the couch.  Nothing too great and nothing too horrible.  Lots of "girl with the dragon tattoo" random sleuth-work from Pullman.  I guess he's a bit of a savant?  Anyway, there was enough to keep me interested in watching I suppose so I suppose I recommend to folks.  Good day.

#86 Funny Farm / (B-)

I noted something pretty funny while watching the first few minutes of this movie - during Chevy Chase driving scenes he always has the same expression on his face.  Meaning, in all of his movies where he's being that funny dad driving somewhere.  You should know the expression...a forced grin, chin up...unfazed by the world around him.  Goofy almost.  That had me chuckling fo sure.  I enjoyed the movie too.  I've said this before, but good old time comedies sure are hard to come by.  There are only so many actors that can pull acting off like this, the great ones.  This makes me want to see Spies Like Us and others that I've never yet seen...perhaps Canadian Bacon??  Maybe that's too far of a stretch.  Also Stripes...I might have seen a scene or two from that one but never have seen the whole thing.  I miss old time Bill Murray and Chevy Chase, not the cranky guys who are now almost "too good for hollywood" etc.  Too bad.  I sort of get annoyed with them in the modern times, although Bill was funny in that Zombie movie with Woody Harleson.  Anyway, this isn't about that.  Funny Farm was a good movie.

Is that leading lady Mary Steenburgen?  Good night.

85: Hall Pass (A-)

I just larghed my arse off.  This was definitely written by a male.  Seriously, when you see the sharting/sneezing scene in the bathroom, please send me a text so we can laugh together.  Hilarious!!  Might be one of the best scenes ever in a comedy.  Owen Wilson was definitely better in this compared to The Big Year.  Good day.

84 / Hell Night (C-)

This movie is some sort of pledge movie, on "hell night" (I guess halloween), but the pledges are both male and female - I'm not sure I really get that part.  Perhaps a combined frat/sorority thing?  Anyway, it's apparently a cult classic, so I gave it a chance.  Also, Linda Blair is in it...

So the basic premise is 4 newbies have to spend one night in a haunted castle/house in order to get into the club.  I just love how these crazy, HUGE, houses randomly exist near college towns...completely fixed up with about 1,000 candles, already lit of course.  And the place is completely empty, no one lives there.  Here's the super tricky 1981 movie twist, the frat boys and sorority girls are pulling pranks on the 4 newbies while they spend their night in the castle...woah!  Good plot.  Ha!  Anyway, guess what?  There's an actual killa there too....so jokes on the entire lot of them.  I need to ask, is the killa a wolfman?  He's sure relentless.  I think he "came back" about 6 times after you thought he was already dead.  I guess that's why it's a cult classic??  My overall view, it wasn't the worst, yet wasn't the best.  I wouldn't waste my time if I were you even if you like old 80's classics, just not worth it.

Note, about 4 times throughout this epic wonderment, there is a vulture or red tailed hawk cry - in the middle of the night no doubt.  It sounds like something you'd hear in a movie that takes place in a desert.  Otherwise the movie had good music, a la Goblin.

The Next Three Days - #83 (C)

Every scene with Elizabeth Banks - totally couldn't hear.  Volume up over 44.  Ridic.  Good thing she spends 90% of the movie in prison.  I hope that doesn't ruin it for anyone, it basically happens within the first 10 minutes.

This movie could have used a few cut scenes.  1 hour less would have been just about right.  They easily could have shaved that off, seriously.  At 1 hour and 44 minutes in, it started getting semi good.  I don't really know even what to say.  They took so much time building the beginning of the plot, which was Russell Crowe trying to plan out stuff, I ended up becoming bored.  At 44 minutes, they should have been getting to the good part I mentioned above which happened at the 1 hour and 44 minute mark.  Regardless, don't waste your time, that's my opinion anyway.

Liam Nielsen was in this, for 4 seconds.  I wonder why?  Same with Olivia Wilde....about 10 minutes total.  Finally however...I can happily state that I saw Brian Dennehy!!  For real this time!

Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog / 82 (A-)

superb.  very hilarious.  crazy-random happenstance of a flick.

There is some talk about this being an eventual series, on TV I guess...totally agree they should do that.  Neil Patrick Harris and company are non-stop funny.  I love a musical as well...so it makes it better for me.  Especially when the songs are about "ass-kicking".  Might need the score for my iPod.  LOL, but seriously.  Marc, check this one out (read: musical) (also read: it's not better than the 'Wickerman' circa 1973, not sure yet if it's better than 'Repo! The Genetic Opera' because I haven't finished that movie in full yet).

My only issue is...does this qualify as a movie?  I feel like I just watched a show only, a quick 40 minute show.  It's okay, I'm behind in my quota and to get to 200 I need to kick some serious ass for the rest of this month and keep my 16-19 or so per month average to get where I need to be by next July.

Nathan Fillion reminds me of someone.  He might sleep with the same girl for the 2nd time to do the weird stuff...ha!

#81 Edison Force (D)

Question, would I rather watch Edison Force or Ghost Dog.  Probably Edison Force....

Is this movie really just a quick payday for these actors?  I mean...come on, is this for real?  Has anyone ever heard of it before?  Did it even play in the theatres?  Can someone look that up?  Or was it straight to DVD?  I think I have it figured out....Spacey, LL, Timberlake, Morgan Freeman, Dylan McDermont, Piper Posey, John Heard, Cary Elwes...heck even Rachel Spector - all agreed to do a quick 'one-take' movie, where they barely have to try at acting, and then they put in their contract that they will force it to go directly to DVD and no one will promote it or ever see it.  And then they all laugh their way to the bank, somehow.  I guess that doesn't make any sense.  I don't know, it just doesn't seem like they did this movie with passion or even took it seriously.  Actually, it wasn't the worst, but it was pretty clunky.

When you look this up on IMDB, it comes up as 'Edison' only, not 'Edison Force'.  Wonder why that is?

So the opening scene has LL Cool J with mustard spilled all over his face and shoulder all while shooting up a burglary, the blood in this scene looked like small packets of red exploding, and the bullets hitting the taxis looked like those fake grey stickers the people who are cool put on the back of their Aerostar (c) mini-vans.  Flash forward a few scenes...and Morgan Freeman is dancing, for like a minute on screen.  Flash forward again, about 40 minutes elapsed (you barely missed anything during this time)...and Dylan McDermont is dancing and talking about how he's got soul.  The rest of the plot is about a reporter and his quest to publish the story of corrupt cops.  There, now you don't need to see it.

Here's the IMDB breakdown on the cost and the non-USA profit.  Unless I'm looking at this wrong, seems like a loss, eh?

Box Office

Budget:

 $25,150,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

 RUR 3,120,181 (Russia) (9 October 2005)

Gross:

 $4,143,414 (non-USA) (28 October 2007)

80: John Carpenter's Halloween (A)

Damn surround sound and damn the fact that I decided to start the dishwasher prior to starting this movie. Yes, that's also correct...I'm a horror movie snob who watches 4 out of 5 within the genre, and I've never seen the original Halloween.  It's true.  Let's quickly discuss what I know about this movie and the legend surrounding it.  I know for sure that Jamie Lee Curtis lives, at least through the first few movies.  I know that Michael Myers can walk ultra-fast.  I've seen the Rob Zombie take on it - and liked that.  Lastly I know the song.  So, I've pushed play and here we go...

1. I never would have suspected THE Michael Myers to drive around (as above, isn't his thing that he's far away and then he gets over to you super fast?), much less in a woody-wagon!  Classic!
2. Have to give props to the now you see me/now you don't part of the movie - which was occurring in broad daylight for a good portion of the beginning.  Love that stuff - especially when it's creepy + in the daylight hours.
3. The scene in the car/garage reminded me a bit of 'Maniac!' (1980)
4. "Death has come to your little town sheriff, you can either ignore it or you can help me to stop it."
5. Is that cop/dad Brian Dennehey?  Apparently not.  But from the side, he looks like it for sure.
6. I thought Donald Pleasance was going to be Donald Sutherland and am upset that it wasn't, although this other guy was good.
7. Could someone please explain the gravestone to me?  Seriously?  I guess that was his sister from the beginning of the film when he was a younger lad?
8. I didn't expect that ending.  Loved that he wasn't there when they looked again.  Nice!

As they say, this movie has lots of slow creepiness to it, very sparse on the actual horror scenes (which is totally okay), and has the feel of great old-school horror slasher scenes (where you don't actually see much, again...that's okay).  The whole thing wasn't very long, I'm surprised.  It basically only takes place on one night in one small part of the neighborhood.  From an "I'm scared" stand-point, I really wasn't too scared.  The opening part with the loonies in the field wondering around was a bit scary, but this one was more visually cool with Michael lurking around slowly, showing up in odd places then vanishing, and waiting for his moment.  The mask left no expression, so that was a cool effect.

Gotta give this one an A.  I'm mad at myself for not having seen it prior to tonight.

Update: here is a picture I was finally able to upload of Michael being awesome:

79: Risky Business (B)

Great line: "he's got such nice friends, clean, polite....quick"

I'll be honest, I thought this was going to be the standard 80's movie - a comedy actually - like Pretty in Pink or 16 Candles.  But this is more of a drama/thriller sort of, a lesson learner of kinds.  I never would have guessed this was what Risky Business was about.  Especially with the "classic" scene, which is/was unfortunately stuck in my head, of Cruise sliding across the floor.  Definitely from that 'splendid' vision I thought the plot would be just another silly knee-slapper full of crazy stunts from crazy kids, instead, they curse a bunch and get into a world of 80's style trouble...all while wearing loafers.  Who knew?  Probably most of the world actually...

At the end of the flick I felt bad for ol' Tom, actually a few times I felt bad for him.  They kept taking his stuff and he almost got in trouble by his parents.  Shoot, he was even in school trying to do the right thing, meanwhile his house was getting looted.  Not cool whores.  Not cool.

I was sure happy to see Balki Bartokomous and Dudley (Booger) Dawson in their epic supporting roles.  Booger wasn't actually even Booger yet...crazy.  He became Booger the next year.  I think that guy (the loser brother) with curly hair from Parenthood is a mix between Booger and Steve Guttenberg.  Booger is still alive - I just looked him up to confirm.  Also, while looking up how to spell Guttenberg correctly, I found the following interesting link about epic 80's legends IMDB list of 80's epic legends ...apparently Guttenberg is #2, with #1 going to none other than Cobra-Kai's main man Johnny.  "Yeah!  Okay, here's your first lesson, how to take a FALL!"  Apparently Balki wasn't even Balki yet when this one graced the screen...damn, pretty crazy.  For Tommy, it was pre-Legend, pre-Top Gun, pre-Color of Money, and pre-Cocktail.

#78 Double Whammy (D+)

I really like Steve Buscemi and I mostly like Dennis Leary.  I'm not against Elizabeth Hurley.  But quite honestly, they are all best when they are cast as supporting actors.  Please note, this movie was lacking overall but had a few funny moments.  I think they were striving to make something excellent like 2 Days in the Valley, but it didn't work.  There was a filmed-on-a-soap-opera-set feel to the movie.  They threw in that guy from Scrubs...Donald Faison...and that pretty much sums up the movie.  As in, if a supporting actor from Scrubs is a main actor in this movie, it's destined to be a clunker.  I did laugh, so perhaps I should have rated this a C-, but didn't laugh enough for this to be considered up there with other C- movies I've watched, like Videodromme, Twilight, Only Human, or Lake Mungo.

FYI, Luis Guzman is awesome!

Lastly, what is Chris Noth attempting to achieve with this IMDB photo?  click here to see Chris Noth trying to be a psycho

Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl / #77 (B-)

A-hahahahaha!!  Wow, they really make bad movies very good nowadays.  If you have instant stream and are okay with oddness, I dare you to watch the first 5 minutes of this movie.

HOLY HELL!  What the hell is that!? (I'm talking about the scene in the school room)  Oh God!!  Seriously! There it/she is again....

Thanks for the tip on watching this one bro....I can say, that the acting is not great and the forced English over-dub is sort of annoying, but the craziness is worth checking out for sure.  The custodian is crazy.    The scenes with the feet flying (both helicopter and in the basement), ARE ZANY....reminiscent of the soon to be watched 'House' movie.  

Seriously, is this a Troma (c) movie??  For an odd-on-purpose movie with lots of random parts (literally), I give it a B- and recommend to anyone who likes movies like The Machine Girl or Ichi the Killa.

Update: here's two pictures I was finally able to upload:

Nosferatu: The Gothic Industrial Mix / #76 (C)

1922 version directed by F.W. Murnau:

Joke is on me.  I thought silent film meant no sound, not even music.  Also, I didn't expect sub-titles.  I sort of feel like that is cheating.  All these years, I thought people just guessed what they were saying by their acting skills.  Oh, haha.  Just read that the "Gothic Industrial Mix" is the version with music added in the background to make it more eerie.

I wonder if centuries prior to film, people acted out bits such as this?  It's pretty creepy to see what the minds of folks in the early 1900's thought.  I sure would love to see a Paleolithic-man stage play.

Count Orlok is very broad shouldered, with crazy skinny legs and pointy shoes.

Best non-spoken line, "Is this your wife?  What a lovely throat."

Watching this movie was pretty tough.  I gave it a try, but unless Count Orlok was on the screen there was no need to view this film.  I really liked the scene where he was carrying the coffin around, especially when he went across the screen in a sped up motion.  That was the coolest.  There were some other spooky shots, but quite honestly I could have done without seeing this.  I guess this is where it all started though, so I must give it some props.  However, it's just boring.  There is barely any action.

Rumble Fish / 75 (A-)

I counted, just like we used to do with Mike Jones songs.  I believe they said "Rusty James" 16 times in the first 4 minutes of the movie.  Pretty darn annoying and I wish they edited a bunch of them out.  With that aside...holy crap, awesome cast!  M. Dillon, N. Cage, Chris Penn, Hopper, Diane Lane, Fishburne, T. Waits, Rourke - man!  Why didn't anyone ever mention this movie to me before??  They all look so young.  The cast reminds me of something similar to that 'stay gold Ponyboy, stay gold' movie.  I had to stare at Nick Cage four times to verify if it was him, then I had to actually look him up on the internet just to be sure.  I also had to look up Diane Lane.  Thought she looked like Kate Hudson but knew that couldn't be the case since it's from 1983...then I thought maybe Ashley Judd.  There, now you know some of my thought processes mid-movie.

The 35 summers conversation was awesome.  Made me think about stuff. I might go and get this conversation tattooed on my back.  Here it is: 'Time is a funny thing. Time is a very peculiar item. You see when you're young, you're a kid, you got time, you got nothing but time. Throw away a couple of years, a couple of years there... it doesn't matter. You know. The older you get you say, "Jesus, how much I got? I got thirty-five summers left." Think about it. Thirty-five summers.' - Great lines, true dat.

Normally Matt Dillon annoys me and I don't love watching him act, yet I still respect him as he is not totally awful.  He's just someone I'd just rather not watch and he reminds me of my old neighbor.  But in this movie he was really good.  Rourke was awesome as well.  I gotta say it - watching a movie with a young version of Mickey Rourke is so weird.  So very weird.

My thoughts on the plot is that it was very well done.  There is a purpose to this artsy movie, to show a relationship not only between a brother and an older, cooler brother, but to show the relationship and hierarchy between a family of hooligans running their corner of the city.  A dreary feel, good acting, interesting color...hella movie.  Francis Ford Coppola does a good piece of work.  It's kind of beautiful in a way, in a very slow, very specific and on purpose kind of way.   Glad I saw it on it's last day available on instant stream.

I estimate they ended up saying "Rusty James" 47 more times as the movie went on yet I barely know the other characters names.  I think one was Smokey.  I looked this fact up on IMDB (c) and they said it was mentioned over 50 times, at least once every two minutes.  Should have been cut in half.

Waxwork / 74 (C)

Cool idea, but the movie lacked in luster and wow-factor.  Basically a random wax museum found on the middle of a standard street hosts a bunch of wax scenes.  When unsuspecting victims get too close they fall (or get pushed by Lurch) into a portal and the scene comes alive with them in it.  At that point basically they are sorry they fell into the scene because they then get to be a permanent fixture in the scene.  There is some sort of connection with having 6 people engulfed by these wax scenes to do something, I'm not sure (I found out, it means they all become alive...the wax bad guys).  One clever piece of this movie is that each of the "scenes" is a different story.  So the director basically has a bunch of little mini-movies within a movie.  One is medieval, one is about a werewolf, one is about vampires, one about mummies, etc.  Sort of a cheap way out of a movie actually.  It's like Bill and Ted but in a waxwork horror movie.  Also for some reason I feel a bit of Hellraiser in this one, but I can't figure out why.  Scratch that...I just watched the last 20 minutes, this movie reminds me of a 'horror-movie-Night-at-the-Museum'.  At the end, everything comes alive and craziness ensues.  Not enough craziness to watch though.  I'd stay away it's not that good.  I see there are others too per the recommendations from Netflix.  I bet Waxwork II is really good.  Ha!  I do have a question though, is Paris Hilton's epic "House of Wax" a remake of this?  I actually bet a remake could be done well and be worth watching.

The Lazarus Project / 73 (D+)

My boy Shawn Hatosy wasn't in this movie long.  He pulled a Steven Seagal from Executive Desicion.  Funny, I just looked up the trivia on IMDB for Executive Decision and found out the following interesting fact:

Originally, Travis was to die due to low cabin pressure causing his head to explode.  Steven Seagal refused to shoot this scene for fear his fans would not like it. Director Stuart Baird insisted he must do it as scripted, though Seagal held up filming for a few days and argued that the scene was not realistic. Finally after threat of contractual breach, Seagal agreed to return to filming and a new death scene was scripted.


So on to the movie.  It's basically about a dude named Ben, played by Paul Walker, who everyone knows I personally love.  But I think (actually I know) I love him better as Brian O'Conner in the F&F franchise.  In this movie he was more like Bobby Z or the character he played in Running Scared.  Essentially a couple of clunker movies.  In this epic action/thriller, Walker plays a guy who was previously in jail but got out and turned his life around.  He had a kid, a wife as well as a job, everything he could want - only to get thrown back into jail and also be up for the death penalty, I think, but they only briefly hit on this.  Sort of odd.  Anyway, instead they erase his memory or something, perhaps inject him with something - I think a snake is involved??  Again, kind of odd.  They flash back to it over and over and over again, tirelessly throughout the movie.  Whatever happened, he is removed from his old life and is not allowed to go back to it, but he is still alive.  Then for about an hour, a long hour, he's in a facility with other people like him...given another chance and all removed from their old lives.  People are constantly watching and no one is allowed to leave.  Also, I particularly loved how they are watching his every move until he starts to figure things out, then somehow he's able to do a bunch of sleuth work without anyone seeing.  Anyway I won't ruin the end even though I know you won't watch it....but just know there are a few twists.

Thelma from that Scooby Doo movie was pretty cute with long hair and without the Thelma look.  That is an FYI only.  Good day.

Don't Torture A Duckling / 72 (F)

Lucio Fulci fail.  This movie was so dumb.  I don't think I understood any of it.  And the characters were so hard to follow.  Honestly, I just wasted 1 hour and 41 minutes of life.  Good day.  That's all I got.  I think this is my first F by the way.

Rabbit-Proof Fence / 71 (B+)

Certainly not my "style" of movie by a long shot, but really well done and a good story to be told.  Based on a true story, this film shows three aborigine sisters being taken from their homes in Australia by what I suppose is a government group  This group can claim/take "half-caste" children, which are basically children that are half white and half aborigine.  The girls get taken basically immediately at the beginning of the film and then they are taken to a house to be raised by teachers and other such folk.  The rest of the movie is about their escape, which lasts about 9 weeks (and at one point they mention it's well over 800 miles) as they trek back home.  The entire time they are trying to avoid a 'tracker' from the school as well as officials/police who are trying to catch them and bring them back.

Very gripping and well done, worth a watch although a bit depressing and long.  I'm glad I saw this film.  I bet it won awards.  At the end they show two of the girls who are alive to this day.  They still live with their families in Australia and were never sent back to the Moore River School.

Twilight #70 (C-)

While flipping through the channels tonight a buddy of mine and I found Twilight on FX, so we thought we'd watch.  Strangely, I was attracted to this movie.  However, it was still mostly cheese.  The baseball scene with the 1910 hats was laughable...and really up until that point, there wasn't much going on with the plot except for Edward trying to get Bella to trust him.  That was over an hour into the film.

After watching for a while, I started to note that there was a funny noise Kristen Stewart was doing, almost a grunting.  She does it three times when talking to her mom on the phone in the one scene.  Once I mentioned it, it was all we could focus on and made the movie quite laughable.  It's half a shame too, because I went into this movie with two thoughts on my mind and they were opposite thoughts.  One was it might be cool if this ends up actually semi-good.  The other was I sort of want to make fun of this movie.  I think after the movie was over I was leaning towards camp funny, versus camp good.  It honestly felt made for TV.   I didn't know that wolf guy was even in this movie.  I guess jokes on me.  He must get more involved in the future movies once he goes and works out 24-7.  The family of vampires related to Edward were not good.  They should have cast those roles better for sure.  I guess the one guy is now married to a girl from 90210?  We also kept wondering why he (Edward) didn't just bite her and make her part of his clan?  That was odd.  Perhaps in the next movie?  Which, I might watch....??

I do think now however that I'm very inclined to go back and watch Taintlight, a wonder of a movie by none other than Chris Seaver.  But, I heard the book is much better.  I bet it's really funny now that I've seen Twilight.  Edward specifically I bet is funny.  Watching him act is pretty painful, although of his entire family he's really the only one that looks the part.  I kept laughing when he was driving and would lean forward a bit to yell or talk to Kristen Stewart in a stern vampire voice....like when he said, "just let me get you out of here" after the baseball scene.

I was very tempted to give this a D+ but I was somewhat intrigued and would watch the 2nd movie for sure.

The Burning # 69 (B-)

I took 30 minutes the other day to look up articles/lists on-line for the "best unknown horror movies" out there.  The Burning was recommended on the following list for slasher flicks: top ten   The oddest part is the main killer's name in the movie is Cropsy.  I guess that's where they got the name for the urban legend from Staten Island?  Perhaps not, I just looked it up on Wikipedia and they said the name goes way back. So I guess they took it from the legend as a whole.

Here's what Wikipedia says: 

Cropsey Origins

The name “Cropsey”,[2] has nebulous origins. According to folklore experts,[who?] there were several urban legends in the late 19th century that dealt with a person named Cropsey.

Anyway, the movie is campy (literally, it takes place at a camp) and a B-rated slasher, but done pretty well. They don't show Crospy too much which is a shame. A lot of black boot and ankle shots from him. It starts off where kids play a prank on a guy and he ends up getting burned very badly.  5 years later he is out for revenge.  Jason Alexander is one of the main actors, which is funny. I also recognized Mark 'Rat' Ratner from Fast Times at Ridgemont High...his real name is Brian Backer.  He was also in Police Academy 4 and Meatballs.  I bet a lot of people would recognize him.  Per IMDB he was born in 1956! That is crazy!!  He seemed so young in The Burning, but I guess it was from 1981. Apparently Holly Hunter was in this too, but I didn't see her at all.  If I ever find myself watching again, I'll look for her.  Overall don't expect much more from this than a standard 80's slasher film, but if you like that kind of thing then give it a shot.  I enjoyed watching for sure.  Reminded me a lot of a Friday the 13th type of movie.

The Vanishing (1993 version) / #68 (A)

Awesome movie!  Very well done.  I've only made it part of the way through the 1988 foreign flick, but I think that George Sluizer does a fantastic job directing the 1993 version.  It's surprising to me, especially with all the talk about the foreign one being "better", that the director of both versions is Sluizer.  He redirected his own work, that's funny and nice.  Sort of like the upcoming Wicker Tree by Robin Hardy (which actually was released in the UK last year I think....what is wrong with here?  Why can't we get that film??).

The guy from Arlington Road was fantastic, aka 'The Dude'.  I guess when I look back on it, he's one of my favorite actors.  He did a bang up job with his supporting role in Ironman...I didn't full out love True Grit (one of the only parts I liked was his acting) and the Men Who Stare At Goats, and I don't think I've seen the other 34+ movies he's done....but I've liked enough of his work to know that he's pretty legit.  And when all is said and done, he falls closer to the top.

Basically the movie is slow and gritty - like a good Coen Bros. movie.  But holy heck is it suspensful!  Thriller of the year!  Just kidding.  Watch it.  Plot in 15 words or less: guy practices to kidnap people and finally kidnaps Sandra Bullock.  Keifer Sutherland gets mad and tries to get her back for 3 years.  There was a Nancy Travis sighting in here too, a good surprise, I remember when she was good.

The Midnight Meat Train #67 (B)

Well well well, this movie was quite a surprise.  Quite an interesting and entertaining 2nd "half" if you will.  The first half was awesome as well, but more of a horror gore fest with some stand-up-and-clap type scenes.  Still very nice for horror fans.  Then the 2nd half and the end take some nice turns.  I'm not saying this is a modern day Shining or anything, just saying for a recent horror movie, this one is good and worth a recommendation.  Staring Vinnie Jones, Bradley Cooper, Leslie Bibb, and Brooke Shields.

For the record, I watched half of this and then left to see Tower Heist, then returned and finished the movie.

There is a plot spoiler below that you have to highlight to see.  So if you don't want to have the plot ruined, stop reading and go on to #68.

I can't friggin' believe that Bradley Cooper ate Leslie Bibb's heart, literally, and THEY WERE DATING!!  Crazy twisted ending.

66 / The Tower Heist (B+)

Funny movie. Great cast. I didn’t realize that Casey Affleck was also in this movie. I actually laughed out-loud about 4 times and had a smile internally for most of the movie. The scene towards the end, the one involving the off the edge of the building stuff, actually had me feeling queasy however. Being scared of heights and watching on the theatre screen was likely why I felt that way. Basically, I couldn’t watch. I can’t say what is happening in this scene because it will give away the plot. I’m pretty sure that the Precious actress was in this movie. I’ll have to check IMDB and find out. Yep, it was her. She was good. 

This one is recommended to all actually. One of the better comedies I’ve seen in a while. Definitely better than ‘The Big Year’.

Hesher #65 (B-)

Man. Damn. I’m pretty sure I hated this movie. It brought out feelings I don’t like. The intensity was so crazy the entire movie, but not in a good way. Bullies suck, this movie and the feelings it brought upon me, sucked. I don’t want to feel this way. Perhaps it did its job then, but it was so depressing. I felt so mad at Joseph Gordon-Levitt-Hewitt the entire movie. I just wanted him to go away. I don’t want my kids to experience one scene like this movie in real life situations ever. Shit. Awful emotions overwhelmed me. Back to discussing the movie "doing its job", I think that the movie was supposed to be this way. So honestly the feeling was likely warranted. Thusly, being the case, I suppose I’ll give it a B-. People should see this but go in knowing that it is a depressing slap in the face. A few comedy scenes, sort of, are thrown in there. I never need to see this again. Good day.

64: Red State (B+)

Geeeeeeeeeeeez.  How and why do I keep watching these movies that make me feel bad for watching them?  Bad because it is about a relevant/taboo topic from today's society.  Actually, thinking more about it, more of a bad feeling because I end up liking the movie.  But I guess the director did what he aimed to do then if I ended up enjoying the flick.  Director's must by default think to make movies about current topics now-a-days; and if it's a movie out there - I suppose I shouldn't beat myself up for watching it or liking it.  But like 'Rampage' and 'Buried', I feel odd thinking they did a good job.  And while it's pretty low budget (like 'Brotherhood: Are You In or Out?'), and more of a straight to DVD type of movie, it was done really well.

The plot is basically about three kids that are going to meet a lady caller.  Turns out it's a lure, because they are sinners of course.  From there, the entire movie is about them being stuck inside one of those compound-walled cities with a group of crazy religious folk.  They are being used as an 'example' to the citizens of the compound.

Special kudos to Keven Pollack for his Steven Seagal like performance!  Solid work homey!  Also a note to Stephen Root - bro, I don't think you can do any role where I don't picture you as Milton.  Too bad too.

Lastly I don't like when IMDB decides to put the cast in order of appearance, versus order of dominant role.  I've been searching for the actor that played the main cult leader and I honestly can't find it.  Totally annoying.  Why do I need to know the name of the guy on the road or believer #1?  Anyway it ended up being a guy named Michael Parks - it was not Kris Kristofferson.  Oh and John Goodman was solid.  He should be in more.  Good day.

Dead and Buried - #63 (B-)

Pretty good wickerman-eske movie, with some decent special effects.  I found it on the following link: here is the link - which is a top 10 underrated or unknown horror films list.  I can't really say much about the plot because it will immediately go into a spoiler alert, but basically a small town falls under a bad streak and the constable tries to make things right.  I do recommend this one to Mike.

62 / From Paris With Love (D+)

only good thing about this movie was the non-stop action.  Would I rather see Crank?  Probably.  At one point Travolta said "Royale with Cheese" -  Wow!!  Did he really say that?  C'mon.  Basically this movie is about Travolta running around at full octane and all of his decisions are FULLY based on assumptions (a la 'Girl With the Dragon Tattoo')...while his partner, who I recognize but I'm not sure why, basically just tags along and does nothing.  There is non-stop action but not like in Rambo.  Disappointing...which is what I had heard about it.  Oh well.

It was Jonathan Rhys Meyers who I recognize from 'Bend It Like Beckham'.

Also forgot to add, why the scarf John?  Why?

I added some updates to this post on 11-12.

61 - Dead Calm (B)

Someone once told me this movie wasn't worth watching.  I enjoyed it.  Watching this a second time however, won't be necessary.

The Lawnmower Man did a good job.  Creepy performance for sure.  He kept smiling at Nicole Kidman despite various evil scenarios.  Would truly be a scary situation to live through.  I'm glad Sam Neill is good enough to get the creepy man's boat moving and get back to his wife to save the day.  Spoiler alert.  Oops.

The very last scene was out of control however??  What the heck was that?  Perfect shot Sam, perfect shot.  I'm glad part of that was in slow motion.  Yikes.

60 The Expendables (B-)

Seems like forever to get to #60.  Now apparently I have to go backwards 1 because buddy thinks because I've seen Martyrs before I'm cheating...I didn't use roids to get ahead, so I feel I'm legit still.

I like Stratham...but the guy gotz to speak up.  When he does his tough guy whisper talk, I can barely hear.  I end up moving the volume around based on which of the bad asses are doing their whisper talk at the time.

Arnold's little cameo was funny.  His acting is the worst...he's definitely lost a step, and seems like he can barely walk.  Anyway, I love him as an actor so I'll shut up...sorry Arny....but honestly, the "have dinner in 1,000 years" joke was bad - yet, surprisingly the "what's his problem?" - "He wants to be president" joke had me laugh out loud.

This film didn't seem to do well in the theatre, I don't think.  But I enjoyed the crap out of it.  Plenty of good action, plenty of fights with famous actor bad guys versus famous actor good guys.  Plenty of shit blowing up.  And the last 30 minutes remind me of Commando but with like 7 guys doing the damage.  It's one I'll watch again and a good one for watching with my peeps while having a Pabst.  Super glad in the end that Arny and B. Willis were only quick cameos.  Their roles were insignificant and dumb.  I guess to a point, so was that Wrestler dude, what's his name, that dude with the fake face now.  He only tattooed people and hung with them when they were back at the knife throwing hang-out.  Not Nick Nolte, was it Mickey Rourke?  I am now officially anxiously awaiting Expendables part II with Chuck N. and JCVD.  Bring it....

59 Martyrs (A)

Warning: this movie is not for the squeamish, actually it isn't for too many people.  Gotta be pretty brave to try this one and I sort of feel odd saying I liked it.  I think I actually injured the brain of the guy I watched this with tonight...he might be deeply scared forever.

I think this was the third time I've seen this epic.  After the first time, I was completely blown away and ran out and bought it.  You know, to show that I was that cool horror movie guy who owns only the best.  Well this one definitely proudly sits on my shelf, although, it's super demented so only a few will be able to view it...

This movie is actually sick, beyond sick.  And just goes to show why French horror is some of the best.  When you think it's over, or you believe you got the plot down pat...you are totally wrong.  There is turn after turn, twist after twist, and it goes deeper and deeper, then after that - it goes beyond deep.  Watching for the third time still had me on the edge of my seat.  Very whack...still have some chills actually.

It's funny, after the movie we looked at the case.  They show two girls on the front kind of hugging each other and on the back they showed about 4 scenes of them screaming and running and such.  This movie is soooooo not about that.  Watch and see for yourself.  And remember, I'm only recommending to those rare few out there that can handle it.  It's a turning feeling in my belly about whether I like it or it totally freaks me out.  I remember reading an article once about why we like horror, why we like to be scared and see craziness.  Can't remember specifically, but this movie has all of that.  For sure.  And lastly, the only reason I didn't give it an A+ is because I don't want to seem too demented to those that end up seeing it, who in turn will be scared.  Woot, good flick.

Bigger, Stronger, Faster / 58 (C+)

Documentary - pretty good.  I was hooked and had fun watching.  Basically a story of three brothers, one decides to make a documentary about roids.  He and his brothers have all tried it in the past, and his two brothers are actually hooked to this day, but the main guy only did it a few times and never again.  Growing up, they were always watching Hogan and Rambo, these guys ended up being their idols.  They thought that eating vitamins, working out, and saying their prayers was all they needed to do to succeed...but they then realized their idols cheated, and one by one they used roids.  The two brothers seem to regret it, but won't go off them.  They ditched on Arnold a lot, Barry Bonds, etc.  There were definitely some Michael Moore moments as well.  Regarding watching again?  I'd rather watch the parking lot movie again before this one, but I'd recommend for an evening of watching and learning a little.

Escape from New York / 57 (B-)

"I'm ready to kick your ass out of the world" - awesome line!  I am actually very surprised that this movie started the way it did, with the NY scene and the president's ***** cra**ing into that ********.  Sorry, still don't think it's right to type this stuff.  This was made in 1981 and had that scene.  Wild.

The movie was fast, the end snuck up on me.  But it was action packed.  K. Russell was pretty bad ass.  There were some other good characters (see below) and supporting cast.  This guy below should have been a main focus because he was straight awesome.  He reminded me of something out of the Warriors or Return of the Living Dead.  I also liked how it was Snake and his few boys against the entire island.  The music was 80's and awesome throughout the movie.

Quick synopsis - bad guy is "hired" to go onto an island (Manhattan) filled with prison-type to get the president who was accidentally captured.  He gets him out, there is some action.

56 / Buried (B-)

I reluctantly give this movie a B-.  At first I was totally annoyed and the random items he had in his possession in the coffin/box were ridiculous to me (flashlights, glow sticks, a cell phone, etc.).  But I suppose as the movie went forward I realized why he had these things.  As Ryan Reynolds' frustration grew in his 6 foot box, my frustration grew as well.  Thus, his acting worked and I suppose he did a good job.

I also noted, that in 1 hour and 35 minutes they didn't once stray from the coffin.  The camera angles changed, but there was no sunlight, no shots of the outside, no nothing but Ryan Reynolds rolling around in a box making cell phone calls.

When he needed to turn around and face the other way, and thusly had to get himself all scrunched up in that small space to wedge his body in the other direction, I myself was squirming in my chair.

The scene with the snake I could have done without.

I couldn't picture Blake and Ryan watching this on the big screen together.  I bet it becomes quite awkward to watch yourself on film for that long, with no other person on the shot, ever.  This movie might have cost $170,000...with Ryan Reynolds making $100,000 for the acting.  Green Lantern - LOL!

Parenthood - 55 (B+)

They don't make movies like this anymore.  Seriously.  The comedies now a days are so over the top or so stupid that it's not even worth watching.  Great cast, great pace, and great topics.  This is a beautifully done hilarious movie.  Once you are a parent, it's even better to watch and relate.  

Being that this was my 2nd Steve Martin flick in a few days, I can confirm with 1,000,000 percent certainty that he was super hilarious back in the day, yet now he is under sub-par.  I need to look again, but I think his current eyebrows are grey, and that might be why he's not as funny now versus then.  

The coaching baseball scenes hit home the most with me.

The scene(s) that I could have done without was the curly haired son who had "Cool" and his gambling issues.  Remove that, and the movie is still good.  I think he and Steve Guttenburg might be brothers though.

54 - Bliss (C)

Huh?

I think I might need to watch this a 2nd and 3rd time.  Seems like it could be really really really good, but I just wasn't paying close enough attention apparently because I'm completely confused.

Only Human / 53 (C-)

I really want to rate this lower.  The movie was slow and barely held my attention.  Add sub-titles to that and it becomes a clunker.  Perhaps a handful of funny situations were mixed in, but nothing really worth a future recommendation to a friend or for me to ever want to see it again.  The two guys I saw it with seemed to like it however, not sure if they were really being true with themselves though?!  :)  But I really did not like it.  The best part of the night for me was we all then sat through the first 20 minutes of Taxadermia after Only Human was done...that was interesting for sure.  We had some good laughs and a few "WTF" moments.  

The Big Year was WAY better than this movie...laugh out loud.

If I were going to suggest a foreign comedy, I'd start with recommending East is East.  A purely funny flick worth a repeat watch.  Good day.

#52 - The Big Year (C+)

Well - I think you need to be an amateur birder to enjoy this??  I definitely appreciated this movie, as in 100% understand and love what they were trying to portray...but sadly I'm not sure anyone else in the theatre tonight enjoyed it.  For if you aren't a birder, or don't know a birder, I have a feeling you won't dig this movie.  The bird part was really close to home for me and honestly going into the flick, I didn't realize this was what it was going to be about.  

I did note a few mistakes....Jack Black's first sighting of birds, his #1 on his big year, was him looking at gulls and a few other smaller shore birds (aka, like 3 birds) and he only counted 1.  So, mistake!

Anyway, this cast was huge - Owen Wilson, Jackus Blackus, and Steve Martin (as well as Kevin Pollack, Anjelica Houston, etc.) - but the movie wasn't funny.  That is my big take home message.  So if it's not funny, and it's about birds, I have a feeling this movie is going to fail pretty badly.  Sad too...because the topic is so cool to me and close to my heart.  It wouldn't have taken much for them to make it funny to be honest.

I wish Rashida Jones was in this movie more as well.

There were times (mostly on the Auklet, which my mom told me was a play on Debbie Shearwater) where they were naming off birds so fast and so muddled that I couldn't even hear what they were saying nor understand the bird they were calling.

Non movie side note: on 10/3 of this year I went birding in Boerne, TX and saw 5 new life birds (Great Tailed Grackle, Tennessee Warbler, Lincoln's Sparrow, Black Crested Titmouse, and Olive-Sided Flycatcher).  Also this past weekend I saw 1 more life bird in my back yard - in the woods near my house (Yellow-Bellied Flycatcher).   My total is now 240.  A good couple of days.  If I play my cards right, I might be able to add two owl species as well.  My wife said she heard a Barred Owl the other day off our deck and I've heard the Eastern Screech.  Went hunting for them the other day and will continue to do so as the leaves fall....

51 / Brotherhood: Are You In or Out? (B)

well, I'll be straight honest homey - this low budget flick was damn good.  The intensity never stops and I do believe it starts within minute 2 of the movie start.  That's pretty good for a movie to start intensely and never stop.  These guys basically get themselves in a world of trouble and it keeps getting worse.  Will the golden boy stand up and do the right thing with his morals?  Of course, but honestly it doesn't matter - just watch this.  It reminds me a bit of Alpha Dog, Bully, or London to Brighton.  It's a good movie totally worth the 80 minutes that just consumed my life.

I was going to give this a B- so it's the bottom of the listing of B-rated movies on this awesome web-site, but instead I went the extra mile and gave it a B.  Good job low budget movie.  You definitely worked your magic on me!  Would I watch it again?  Probably.

#50 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (C+)

MOST OF WHAT FOLLOWS IS TRUE.  -  I like that intro

I seriously could have done without the bike scene.  That was odd.

For those that believe 100% in classics and get pissed off when I say bad stuff about "good" things that everyone loves, please close your eyes as you read this.  Here goes...frankly, this was pretty slow.  I suppose I can see where the luster is, and I get that the acting is pretty good, but some of these older movies just don't have enough action or a gripping plot that keeps you wanting more.  Call me spoiled, but I like a bit more of both, heck, I don't need the action if the plot is clutch.   But for this movie, I feel like these guys are running from 7 guys on horses for what seems like an hour and a half, then they go to Bolivia, then they die.  I think I'd rather watch Boxcar Bertha.  I definitely would rather watch The Bridge on the River Kwai, Diabolique, Papillon, or Sorcerer.  Or what was that Clint Eastwood movie with the monkey and the brother that fought people?  That movie was good.  

I will also say this, I don't know what was better - this movie or Easy Rider.  Both were pretty drawn out - and both are the best as the movie is ending (although Easy Rider's end was a bit depressing).

Again, I'm sorry.  It's normally not a crowd pleaser to thrash a classic.  I am happy I saw it though.

49 Hatchet (C-)

Not that good, BlackHoleMovies recommendation fail.  It was similar to a movie staring that big ork thing from Goonies where the plot is him attacking people on a swamp tour.  Quick cameo for Robert Englund and Tony Todd however.  Few good off'ing scenes, but otherwise this was pretty much crap.  Lots of screaming and grunting.

Arena / 48 (C+)

Pretty awesome I guess.  However, it was pretty slow.  They put a lot of effort into the uniforms and monster suits etc., but I guess overall the movie was what should be expected of a movie about a short order cook that becomes the next human intergalactic UFC (c) champion.

It's all about the handicapping for sure.

good quote: "...As long as there are Steve Armstrong's out there in the universe, there will always be contenders."

Now that this piece is over, I don't think I ever need to see it again - but I do have an itching to watch Star Crash on VHS.  I wonder if he ever gave that back to me?

Troll 2 / movie #47 (A+)

Right off the bat I get a similar feeling as the scene where Fred Savage was being told a story by Peter Falk in Princess Bride...directly followed by eating green goo like in Bad Taste!  Beauty beginning!!  So, I'm going to do a semi-play by play on this one, instead of the end of movie recap...I will try not to give away the awesome plot as I go along.

Mmmmmm....green icing!  This little kid, who looks 17, has been freaking out for the first 19 minutes of the movie so far, and he gets a warning in the form of a death threat on a softball (written in green icing no doubt) and he tosses it aside like it was nothing.

I think I just found my favorite line of the movie..."you can't piss on hospitality...I WON'T ALLOW IT".   Holy crap, that was AWESOME!

Is that the church from In the Mouth of Madness?  Also, what is up with the one Troll that doesn't have black sunken in eyes, instead, the eyes are totally sticking out and very fake looking?  I don't like that one, it's much creepier to have the eyes be dark and sunken.  I'll write the director and let him know about this.

"I can't move, why?"...."Why can't I move, there must be a logical reason"....."OH MY GOOOOOOOD!!!!!"  Totally classic!!

Immediate cut to girl doing flashdance while wearing Garfield shirt.  Huh?

Another fancy item to note, they call the beasts "Goblins" throughout the movie - yet the movie itself is called "Troll 2".  Must be on purpose.

Another good line, "There's no coffee here in Nilbog, that's the devil's drink!"

Great out of mirror, hack off hand, back through mirror scene!

Cop says, "There's sandwiches for tonight in here.  It would go easier if you eat 'em.  You'll make our work easier, otherwise we'd be forced to kill you VIOLENTLY!"

baloney sandwich, another softball...The End.  Totally worth watching if you like campy B-rated movies.  I would recommend this for that reason.

Just corrected this rating.  My bad.

46 Contagion (B-)

This movie bounced around a lot.  There were a lot of main actors and main scenes.  I did like it, and it's scary to think about an infection hitting the world that is bigger than what we've had before.  I can say I was happy that it started right off and didn't have a bunch of building characters time.  They actually pulled it off that the character building occurred after the action started, which worked.

Saw this flick with 3 others and didn't get much feedback from them afterwards.  I think we all liked it enough.  It is worth seeing, but perhaps not necessary on the big screen, just rent it with Qwickster.  LOL.

P.S. Are Jude Law's teeth always like that, or did they do this just for the movie to make him look more like an everyday person?  There are some intense zoom in scenes on those bad boys during the 2nd half of this movie.  He should get braces.  Just saying...trying not to hate, just never noticed this before.

Gamer / 45 (D)

Finally hit #45, on a long route to 200. I hope I make it.

This flick, with constant back and forth and mind effing, was straight awful.  Leguizamo (sp?) again was putrid.   I couldn't even hear him when he was speaking. Good job John. I hope you have a The Happening poster in your bedroom.

Like Death Race, this movie has the right idea for a plot of the 2010s.  However, wasn't good.  

Stone / 44 (D)

This had a good cast and I'm always impressed with Edward Norton's ability to act and transform, but this was booooooooooooring.   I just couldn't get into it - at all, at least at 74% in....I have 28 minutes left and I don't know if I can finish.  Ugh.  The plot is just so slow.

I watched the last % of the plot and this movie was no where near good.  What even happened at the end there? I don't recommend this movie to ANYONE.

Birdemic: Shock and Terror - movie 43 (A)

The Room II?  Possibly!  Holy crap.  When I first saw one of the parrot type CGI effects I couldn't stop laughing.  Greatness...greatness AND a simply beautiful love story!  The editing of this piece is fantastic, purposefully leaving the scene running even when the lines are over.  Pretty damn straight awesome.

Quick assessment midway though, I have an incredible urge to see the main actors get eaten....and SOOOOON!!  Man oh man, this is definitely the Room part 2.  TOTALLY on purpose.  Where did they get those crazy guns??  So hilarious!

Might I add, great music score.  During the motivational speech by the manager in the office board room (pre-attack), they paused the music and then started it again with such great epic timing...

And the little girl saying, "I'm hungry, I've been under the car for a long time."  Good line.

I honestly think my favorite part of the movie are the way too long science lessons by the tv announcer, old man on bridge, and Tom Hill the hippie living among the trees.

Definitely a must watch for those who know who they are.  For people who liked Transformers part 2 (and by liked, I mean actually even took the time to watch it), this movie will not be for you.  Thanks for the recommendation and persistence dude.  Well worth it.

Leviathan / 42 (C)

• Atlantic Ocean - 16,000 feet deep.
• Tri Oceanic Mining Corperation
• Mission: Extraction of Silver and Other Precious Metals
• Classification of Mission: Extremely Hazardous
• LOL

Damn sunken vessel under the sea!  Why'd we have to stumble upon you?

This movie was okay only.  Pretty good cast full of back-up type actors I suppose.  I can't believe Robocop (Peter Weller) was in this movie.  My favorite line from the dude from Hand that Rocks the Cradle, "Hey, I ain't never gonna be able to sleep again, in light, EVER!"...classic!  There was a good transformation scene from human to monster where the dudes hand turned into a mouth with crazy sharp teeth.  Those crazy guns they ran around with, that have the fire pilot on the end, were totally rad.  More movies should use those!  And I call BS on the ending - it just becomes laughable.  The final 3 minutes were ridiculous.

Which came first, this or Aliens?

Thanks - have a good day.

Nightmares in Red. White and Blue (documentary) #41 (B+)

I know this doesn't really count as it's a documentary, but I watched it and I'm going to blog about it. It's a look back at mostly US horror as a genre, but it does stretch out to other countries at the end, acknowledging that there are many greats out there to be found. Interesting, they allude at one point that it was a precidence set that all monsters must die by the end of a film, as if it were a rule back in the beginning of horror. Pretty cool/interesting.

What is going on with this one dude's Freddy/Reagan reference? I don't see the need for that at all.

Well, this was a good documentary. Not like that one that focuses on Wolfmen or Frankensteins only - the one that Christopher Lee hosted. It definitely got really good half way through. I really want to give a try to some of the oldies with Bela or Lon, but honestly modern movies are best for me.

I realized a few movies I need to see again like Scream and Hostel, and the newer TCMs (even though I've seen them many times). Also there are movies I would like to check out like The Last House on the Left (1972), The Stepford Wives (1975), and It's Alive (1974). That was definitely a bonus as they showed clips, they threw the name of the movie in the bottom corner.

Lastly I feel the need to apologize again for liking this genre. I'm sorry. But I really do like it. I've noted with this "project" that I watch about 5 horror for every 1 normal comedy or drama. I do keep noting this and realize that it might just be that I'm an uber-fan. I love the strange, oddness, and I like to be scared (although it barely ever works). :) This really was a good documentary in the end. I'm happy I saw it.

Lake Mungo #40 (C-)

Well, 22% of the way through this movie I sort of freaked myself out and turned it off. I think it might be some noises I heard in my house on the first night, but I definitely chickened out mid-way through and had to return another day.

One issue, the sound on this film SUCKS. When the people are being interviewed, I can barely hear them...I turn it up, and then the interviewees are super loud. The noise really is deterring me from enjoying this. Sorry to all of a sudden take a negative slant, however so far I'm enjoying this movie, but they just threw a twist into the middle of the movie that is really dumb. I wish they didn't just do that. Honestly I hope it makes sense by the time this ends.

Ok, I just jumped for real. Got goose bumps and literally jumped, skin and all. Keep getting better movie, I'm waiting and I dare you - Don't let me down. It certainly helps from a scare standpoint when I'm alone and the freaking cats are looking around the room like they hear something.

Finally done. Dumb dumb dumb. Not worth it. I did like the first 20 or so minutes, and the one time I jumped, but totally not worth watching. Sorry to those I told about this and potentially got your hopes up. It was just okay, it was definitely a mix between Blair Witch and Paranormal Activity, but I still give it a C-.

Paul #39 (B+)

This film was funny. It started slow, but gained fun as it went. I was initially upset with Pegg and Frost as they seemed "off" compared to Hot Fuzz or Shawn of the Dead. Watch the beginning on a decent flat-screen and you will see what I mean. The acting and the "clarity" were not good for well over 30 minutes. But, it/they got better. I suppose what I'm saying is the first 30 or so minutes seemed pretty shite-ass, but they turned it around. I loved when the girl character turned her "mood". For me that's when the movie got going. I also sort of wish I didn't know that Paul's voice was that dude from Undeclared. It sort of ruined it for me, I constantly imagined him. After writing this up, seems like I hated it but really I didn't, just being critical.

Anyway, I would watch this again and would own it...it gained fun as I said above. Totally worth watching. Don't let your kids watch it, unless they are 16+. There is a lot of language.

Good day.

movie #38 Nightbeast (B-)

Holy crap Mike, 1982 in it's glory - watch this flick. The "thing" just blasted a guy with a greedo type gun and a light beam literally came out of it, and the guy he blasted turned into a silhouette with lighting around the edges and then he disappeared. This is classic B-rated-awful-yet-great-80's action!!! This movie reminds me of a mix between Star Crash and Pumpkinhead. So so great. Action starts at minute 1 and doesn't give up. Acting is superb and even full mustaches - excellent!

Mike, we could make this movie...perhaps a sequel or remake!

Holy crap, a station wagon just got blasted into a silhouette and disappeared! There goes a volvo via light blast! And a dude just disintegrated like Pacman after getting hit by a ghost...he turned into fireworks/sparkler effects!!!!!!!! Holy Damn!

Man, I need to rent "the Stuff" again soon.

(oh man, the poison gas announcement by that Jason Lee look-alike was so funny!)

Eyes Without A Face (D) / #37

Yikes. I'm glad I was born when I was. I can't even get into older movies, the plots are just so slow moving. There was surely some taboo things for the time, but this movie just was not my style. Dude, you were right, what's wrong with me trying out something from 1959. I guess I even feel bad busting on movies from back then, but I just haven't liked one much yet. Eraserhead was good, but I bet that was from the 80's wasn't, just filmed in 50's style. Ugh, I don't know...I'm just happy times have changed. I also wonder what is wrong with the Netflix (c) viewers who rated this movie as a must see.

Here's a creepy picture from the movie:

36 / The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (C+)

Well, I guess this was pretty good, kind of. I think the random connection with the girl and the guy was a bit much, I mean, I know it wasn't really "random", but c'mon. And then another item that bothered me where the mystery clues that they were able to decipher. That was pretty far fetched. However, overall I suppose it was pretty okay. Basically nothing to write home about. Would I ever want to see this movie again? Probably not. I suppose my desire to see the next two in the trilogy is currently much less.

I had such high expectations of this film. Critics and Netflix (c) reviewers had so much good to say about it. It wasn't horrible, but it also wasn't something that I care to pass along to someone as a "must see". Again, I wanted it to be better. And the plot was NOTHING like I thought it would be. I guess due to the title and the cover of the movie, I didn't realize it would be about a hacker girl with crazy skills teaming up with a prison bound journalist while they research a 40 year old murder/missing persons case.

I just officially listed this as 3 out of 5 stars on Netflix (c) and dropped it from a B- to a C+. Perhaps if the "clues" weren't so random and cryptic, and thus more believable that they could figure them out, I might have been a bit more on-board with the movie.

#35 The Debt (A)

I saw this film with two of my buddies. First, I'd like to note that the previews for Ides of March, Haywire, and Dream House look good - although, is Dream House really a carbon copy of Shutter Island's story?

I absolutely loved this movie. Really, one of the best ones I've seen in a long time. High quality. One of the guys I went with was displeased with how the Islamic special forces were portrayed, as in, they should have been more on-point with less mistakes if any. The other guy wanted more action scenes. Me, I was on the seat of my chair and really enjoyed every moment. Even the tense scenes got more tense.

One of my favorite lines was when Helen Mirren told Tom Wilkensen, "God didn't make car b*mbs" and then he told her he wasn't referring to himself in a wheelchair. This doesn't make sense unless you see the movie, but in a movie that wasn't a comedy, I burst out laughing at these two lines.

Anyway, go see it.

34: The Host (A-)

The CGI scenes throughout the Host were quite phenomenal. I was very very impressed with the first time the beast was encountered. I was also happy that the beast wasn't really the focal point of the movie.

The cover of the movie made me think I was about to embark on a journey much like Anaconda or Rodan, glad that wasn't really the case.

Not sure this really qualities as a horror movie, but it is definitely good. The story more revolves around an action/adventure plot, rather than anything horror. Still I don't advise watching it with your wife.

Bravo for the one aspect of the ending, which I won't say. Not many movies go there and I applaud the director/writer for having the balls to do it.

#33: Mars Needs Moms (B+)

Well, I almost cried...almost. They threw that scene in the end and I almost lost it. Also, my kids were watching with their jaws open wide so it made it more surreal. I can tell you that after the movie, my boys wanted to hug their mom.

The movie was a good adventure. Good stuff for a kids movie. I would like to see this again sometime. There was some good metaphors (if that is the right word) in there about what "cave men" aliens would be like if left without guidance and training/knowledge, as well as some nice references to their "cave drawings". I enjoyed this flick. I was initially scared that it would be too hardcore for the 6 year olds but it was okay.

One of the coolest parts of this movie was how we watched it. We projected it onto a garage and watched it outside, with some bowls of popcorn and drinks.

32: Harpoon: Whale Watching Massacre (A-)

With so many movie selections and recommendations of late to choose from, I chose 'Harpoon: Whale Watching Massacre'. The title doesn't leave much to desire, almost made me believe it would be a comedy or campy horror film. But, it was not, and I can say you certainly were right dude. This movie was fantastic!! Definitely the 'Funny Games' of Icelandic boat missions. I'm pretty sure everyone wins by watching this flick.

Now I have to see where it falls on the movie list and tell all my friends who like horror flicks to watch this ASAP. I wonder why Netflix (c) doesn't have it rated higher for viewers like me? I just found out why. Reading the reviews - people hated it. I can't believe it, the movie was so entertaining. One guy called it "stupid, stupid, stupid...and a waste of time." Man, I could watch this movie over and over! It was a delight :) Definitely a must own. This movie kicks movies like Piranha or Frozen's asses.

I've also realized I need to get off the horror movie kick I'm on. Perhaps a comedy or something.

Thankskilling #31 (B+)

girl, middle of the field/camp site says to herself, "there's no such thing as an evil turkey." Flash to the evil turkey, and he repeats her words, "there's no such thing as an evil turkey." Can't get much more classic than that.

another classic line: "I'm going to drink your blood like cranberry sauce, meany"

2 Jon B. jokes??? Unnecessary! Ooops, 3 of them. Damn...not right.

Quite campy. On purpose obviously. It's no The Auteur, but it's damn funny

Dunwich Horror #30 (C)

something seems to make me think I might like this one after a 2nd view. Not sure. It was okay. A lot of typical 70's movies etc. I don't have much more to say. Did I need to view this in my life? Probably not. By the way, nice 'stache.

#29 Werckmeister Harmonies (D+)

Man. This was supposed to be great. I was really looking forward to this film. Per Metacritic.com (c), this was #1 out of the decade of the 2000's for top foriegn horror films. http://www.metacritic.com/feature/best-foreign-horror-films-since-2000 What? There is nothing horror about this film. I read the comments from the people who critiqued the metacritic list and knew that this was one of the complaints (that it wasn't horror and no one understood why it was on the list) but I was okay with it anyway, and remained pumped. I emailed my buddies, texted a few, and talked to a few in person about my anticipation for this film. So what happened, why am I spending this time talking about something that isn't the film itself? Because it was so awful. I'm not sure about artsy films, I'm willing to try, but this was just so not good. I just went onto Netflix (c) and read some reviews. The first page and a half was all 5 stars saying that this film was "exhilarating" and "wonderful" and that even though they didn't know really what was going on, that it wasn't about the plot per se but it was about the "poetry" of Tarr (the director). Piss. Then I decided to read some reviews which were 2 stars. That's more where I'm aligned. Those guys are my homies! Come on over for dinner buds, because your reviews are where it's at.

So the movie...uh, basically black and white and lots of continues filming of shots, often 10+ minutes of the same shot. Okay, that's cool. The filming angles and continuousness was worth something. And really, that's the only reason I put the "+" onto the D up there. Otherwise, a guy walks around - he's got an uncle - there's a whale in the town - people get beat up - there's some old dude naked in a tub - they stop beating people up...I don't know, and honestly that kind of makes it sound cool. But add in 130 minutes of boring to that mix and it doesn't work for me. Just not good at all. A real let down. I wish this movie was a 30 minute short film instead of 2 stinking hours. They could have cut MOST of the movie out as I see no point to it. In fact, I'd rather watch Stalker. Bye.

#28: City of the Living Dead (A-)

Starts with the word "Dunwich". Is this the same as Dunwich Horror?

First 2 scenes make me think this is going to be a classic! Another Lucio Fulci. Man, why am I giving him so much play? Also, I'm impressed with the intro music - I wouldn't be at all surprised if this was Goblin on the mic. That opening scene had awesome music! Even the sound effects are good so far!

Here are some awesome things to look for:

• Dancing/disappearing fire, 2x (??).
• Automatic blowup doll followed directly by small, veiny, crazy, wormy, half-moving corpse (yes, I like horror flicks - sorry if this description disgusts you, it's just a movie. Hoping those horror fans jump on).
• Cat scene.
• Worms, worms, and more worms. Worm sandwich!
• Holy crap! Eye blood??? What is she puking? What the hell? Worms? no, maybe organs? Eels? Huh? Totally classic! Oooooooooooooh!!!
• HOLY DRILL!! This is up there with the top scenes!
• That's not snow!!

This is definitely a 70's acting movie, made (or released) in 1980. Highly enjoyed. Recommended for those who like classic horror....! Plot leaves a bit to the wings, but the crazy horror scenes make up for it. Good job Fulci! (it was not Goblin)

#27: Planet 51 (B)

This movie is entertaining and throws in some good references to the paranormal. Of course, my kids liked the cork in the butt reference the best. Great. Ugh. I do however wish they put a bit more thought into scenes that reference other movies or paranormal stuff, like the E.T. scene was funny. Those guys with the funny noses, perhaps it's hair like a mustasche, they make me laugh.

The Howling #26 (B)

About an hour in I didn't get what all the hub-ub was about. Then the last half an hour started and I realized why it's a "classic". Honestly, I was ready to give this a C- or lower and bash it to high heaven, but this jazz got cool and it made it worth the wait. The werewolf transitions were very good, esp. considering the time period this was made. The last werewolf was funny however because it looked like a wookie. Or perhaps a pomeranian. I proudly agree this is good and rate it a B.

Ferris Bueller's Day Off / #25 (A)

When I watch a classic like this it reminds me just how special certain movies are and that many newer comedies just can't get it right. This one has perfect casting and perfect flow.  I do believe I will need to bump it up on the overall movie listing.

Guy, first time reader.  Hone in son.  This sentence is for you 0 I'm going to say that if you comment on something from 17 years ago, and this is you reading this in the current present, while it's still alive and kicking....I will reply back to you.  If you decide, "you know what?  Perhaps I want to go and see Brotherhood of the Wolf, and verify it....I'll hit you back.  

The Church #24 (D)

I just took a screen shot of a rolling body-free head being trampled by a horse. This movie is odd, seems like something I would love as an older kid when I was into more make-believe stuff. It reminds me of something odd like Dune, at least in the first 10 minutes. This starts off in olden times and then jumps to modern, yet during the olden times it says "present" on the screen? I'm confused.

He wants someone to get a coffee with him....twice.

Then there is a parchment. He's very worried about it. Then they make love. Oops, sorry, they just kissed a bit. My bad. NOPE, they made love! I guess they just stopped mid-way to look at some sort of relic/parchment, but I don't think it was "THE" parchment.

Woah, was that an invisible horse attack? What the hell is up with this movies plot. So far, this makes a GREAT DEAL OF SARCASTIC SENSE!

Yes, I'm half-giving a play by play color announcer approach to this movie - right now there hasn't been talking for about 6 minutes. I'm not sure what he's digging around at?

WOAH, he just didn't have a face!! I think this might be one of the worst best movies that never existed. I just rewound to get a screen shot of his no face, and he did have a face. Sorry. This movie sucks so far FYI only.

WOAH again, randomness! Some sort of scary hands just grabbed the dude who was digging. Still not talking. Been like 7.5 minutes now. I will give this movie credit for one thing, it doesn't seem like it's been 42 minutes of wonderfulness thus far. Time sure is racing with this EPIC PIECE! (side note, never watch this movie).

Someone just talked, been about 10 minutes. Ok, take my advice and stop watching this masterpiece. If you are following along with this mystery theatre 3000 play by play, I hope you laughed at me once, but honestly, go watch Good Will Hunting or something.

Holy crap, seriously, there was just a "hole" scene like Videodrome, followed by some crazy race car scene. This movie so far defies what it might be like to be on crack.

What the hell is up with this movie?? Perhaps this might be one of the best? It's so odd, and random.

Holy jackhammer holy shit. What the hell!!?

This is completely random, but I was thinking I wish I had the balls that cats have when they jump from high places and basically partially run down the side of a wall until they hit ground. The size of them versus the size of the world and their guts to jump, it amazes me.

The Basketball Diaries #23 (B)

Marky Mark still says, "Don't ever say anything about my mother" the same way he said it in this movie. Rappaport sighting! I can't believe I've never seen this movie.

Reggie almost to the rescue.

Christ, that was depressing.

Videodrome #22 (C-)

WTH was up with this movie? I can't tell if it was good or bad. I guess it was a mix between the two, mostly due to the age of the film. There were odd items, starting with the stomach pouch bizarreness:

If I had a gripe to make, I would tell them to stop saying "videodrome" over and over and over again throughout the plot. I don't know what to say about this movie, other than I think I'd rather watch the Stuff, From Beyond, Trailer Park Boys, or Mars Attacks. Good night.