What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

[Markgway]

Island of Lost Souls (1932-USA) **½
Effective, if stilted adaptation of H.G. Wells' The Island of Dr. Moreau. The story is patently absurd, but there's plenty atmosphere (almost unique to early 30s horrors) and an enjoyable performance from Charles Laughton - walking the wire between sinister and camp. Most sympathetic character is the little known Kathleen Burke's alluring Panther Woman, whilst a hairy Bela Lugosi gets the most famous line: "Are we not men?".

[saltysam]

Dracula Has Risen From The Grave 2.5/5 Atmospheric Hammer entry in the long running series.Great James Bernard score ,Christopher Lee & Michael Ripper.what's not to like?

Taste The Blood Of Dracula 2/5 Dracula seeks revenge against the 3 men who bumped off his servant.good cast but takes a while to get going.

[Markgway]

Fright Night part 2 1988- The best part of the movie is when the ending credits roll

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984-USA) *½
As wacky as its title would suggest... but this fantasy is messy and incoherent and wastes quite a cast roster. Has the inevitable cult following, but I guess it's one where you had to have been there at the time. In tribute to Mo -- best part is the unusual end credits sequence.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MqJ3iGBdOo

[Markgway]

The Car (1977-USA) *½
Ludicrous TV movie-like thriller in which a small town is terrorized by a driverless car. Worse than it sounds and poorly acted to boot.

[Markgway]

The Hard Way (1991-USA) **½
Fun formula action comedy with pampered movie star Michael J. Fox and hardened cop James Woods as the mismatched not-so-buddies on the trail of Stephen Lang's off-his-tits serial killer.

Hollow Man (2000-USA-Germany) **½
Slick modernisation of The Invisible Man with contemporary levels of gore and state-of-the-art F/X.
Not Verhoeven at his best, but still better than average and Kevin Bacon gives 100% as the maniacal subject.

[Masterofoneinchpunch]

Erin Brockovich- ... So from on I think I'm gonna say that You Me and Dupree is my favorite movie. What do you think? Help me be funny

I still need to see Erin Brockovich. I did not mind You Me and Dupree. While very much a rom com with annoying man in the middle (see Ted) I found it decent enough.

Hmmm, maybe you should say Arthur 2 is your now favorite film.

[saltysam]

Erin Brokovich belongs on Hallmark. tv movie standard masquerading as a big imortant movie shite

[Markgway]

Ruthless People (1986-USA) **½
Clever, moderately funny black comedy about kidnap and blackmail.

[Markgway]

Demons (1985-Italy) **
Dario Argento produced this cheesy gorefest in which demons (natch) munch their way thru a cinema audience. Lamberto Bava directs with a rock video aesthetic, but a pinch of irony (a blind man's eyes are poked out) raises it a notch above that level. The criminal gang (who snort cocaine out of a Coke can) are a needless digression and don't ask where that helicopter comes from...

Demons 2 (1986-Italy) *½
Dario Argento produced this cheesy gorefest in which demons (natch) munch their way thru the inhabitants of a tower block. Hokey retread is less graphic than before... but even more illogical and quite often dull.

[HungFist]

John Wick (USA, 2014) [DCP] - 4/5
Keanu Reeves is finally starting to have some charisma. A very slick action film with some awesome ideas (a hotel catered for hitmen, with a doctor available 24/7 to fix your wounds) and many enjoyable clichés. Brisk pace, and plenty of enjoyable action, nearly always filmed with pretty steady hands and presented in relatively long takes. Some of the blood seemed like CGI, but it's barely noticeable as the film isn't all that bloody. I may have rated this a notch higher than it deserves as it's still never quite brilliant, but it's a rare threat to see a medium-budget action film as solid as this these days.

[Markgway]

House of Usher (1960-USA) ***
First of AIP's Corman/Poe adaptations; literate, ambiguous, and nightmarishly effective with Vincent Price (with creepy blonde dye-job) terrific as the paranoid(?) Roderick Usher.

[Markgway]

Foxy Brown (1974-USA) **½
Popular Blaxploitation romp with sexy Pam Grier out for revenge against those pesky smack dealers. Unlikely to top anyone's greatest movies list, but campy dialogue and requisite doses of nudity and violence make this one of the better examples of its genre.

[saltysam]

Blood:The Last Vampire 1.5/5 live action version of the anime is a watchable 84 minutes but nothing special.

Assassination 2/5 Flat,Routine Cannon thriller about a secret service agent protecting the first lady is boosted by Charles Bronson's natural charisma. Jill Ireland as the First Lady is extreely annoying.

[Masterofoneinchpunch]

John Wick (USA, 2014) [DCP] - 4/5
Keanu Reeves is finally starting to have some charisma. A very slick action film with some awesome ideas (a hotel catered for hitmen, with a doctor available 24/7 to fix your wounds) and many enjoyable clichés. Brisk pace, and plenty of enjoyable action, nearly always filmed with pretty steady hands and presented in relatively long takes. Some of the blood seemed like CGI, but it's barely noticeable as the film isn't all that bloody. I may have rated this a notch higher than it deserves as it's still never quite brilliant, but it's a rare threat to see a medium-budget action film as solid as this these days.

I was surprised how much I liked this film. I've wrote about it a few times on here, mostly glowing. Nice to see better choreography, lots of pistol head shot action and a weird world with a Jean Pierre-Melville influence (not in pace though; notice the Red Circle reference.)

[Markgway]

Hell Comes to Frogtown (1987-USA) *½
In a post-apocalyptic wasteland, super fertile "Rowdy" Roddy Piper is "FORCED" by the government to repopulate. This means copping off with umpteen hot, horny women (lucky sod!). Oh, and there are mutant reptiles, too -- but only one of those tries to have sex with Rowdy Rod. Imagine Fury Road remade by Fred Olen Ray. Dire.

[Markgway]

Spectre (2015-UK-USA) ***½
I needn't have worried... Bond is back and better than ever in an action epic that's superior to Skyfall in every way. The humour and lightness of touch absent from that film makes a welcome return and the story is considerably stronger, too - to my mind the plotting made sense this time without sacrificing character drama and darker moments (the depth praised in Skyfall is still here, this isn't a goofy, empty cartoon spectacle). Mendes' direction is stylish and confident (the opening "one-take" hit brings something new to a series always looking to refresh itself), the villains memorably sinister and brutal (on several occasions Bond is closer to death than we've seen him before), the set-pieces explosive and kinetic in the best blockbuster tradition. I'll need to see it again on BLU to make a more measured judgement, but upon first viewing it gets a high recommendation from me. Only caveats -- it IS very long and the theme song is abysmal.

Look forward to hearing other opinions.

[HungFist]

Rocky IV (USA, 1985) [DVD] - 3.5/5
Like Rocky III, this has a bit weak opening half, but the film improves considerably once the training begins. And Rocky running all the way to the top of a bloody mountain? It's an amazing scene, but seriously, what the hell was Stallone thinking?!

[Masterofoneinchpunch]

The Princess and the Pirate (1944): I am a Bob Hope fan. But then if you have read my mini-reviews in the past you know this. His quips are usually quite good and he works well with dialog. He created a unique personality that was one of the biggest comedic stars for a good period of time. Of course it also helps when he has a strong supporting cast. When you have Walter Brennan as a slightly insane pirate and Victor McLaglen as a bloodthirsty leader of seafaring bastards (who plays the role straight and vicious and makes a good pirate) then you know you are in good company (well not in the film). Hope's films from the 40s are among my favorites with his filmography, but I like his comedy through the 1950s as well.

Hope plays Sylvester the Great, a not-so-good actor “My act is known all over Europe; that's why I'm going to America” who is not particularly brave either. He gets kidnapped along with runaway princess (Virginia Mayo: White Heat) by the bloodthirsty pirate Captain “The Hook” Barrett (Victor McLaglen: watch him in The Informer) and his ravenous and depraved crew. Most of the film is him trying to stay alive regardless of the circumstances which forces him to dress up as an old hag, get saved as a wench for Walter Brennan, visit a pirate island, survive even more kidnappings and not get impaled by “The Hook.”

Is there any inside joke that is done more than the Bob Hope/Bing Crosby connections in either of their films throughout the years. The more films you watch with them post-Road To Singapore (1940) that amount of references between the two is huge. Of course the film mentioned above has one (one of the best that I have seen), but it is crazy how many I've seen now. They make fun of each other, they appear in uncredited roles, even later they put in old footage like in The Private Navy of Sgt. O’Farrell (1968). They were going to make one more Road movie together but unfortunately Crosby died of a heart attack before it could happen.

[grim_tales]

When did they start to plan that? This must have been a long time after the Road movies, Crosby passed away in the 70's (I think)

[Masterofoneinchpunch]

When did they start to plan that? This must have been a long time after the Road movies, Crosby passed away in the 70's (I think)

It was in 1977. It was to be titles "Road to the Fountain of Youth". Remember Crosby was healthy and no signs of problems in 77. The script was finished (or close to finished) and they were pretty close to shooting. He died of a heart attack after a golf game in Madrid.

[grim_tales]

Aw what a shame, I didnt know that

[saltysam]

Aw what a shame, I didnt know that

Neither did i. i'll do my best to stay strong,be positive and try and move on from the harrowing reality that Bing & Bob had further adventures planned.it won't be easy but i need to be strong and stoic at this point in my life.

[Markgway]

Hellgate (1989-USA-South Africa) *
What is hell? Hell is sitting thru drivel like this. Seriously, what were Arrow thinking putting out this barrel-scraper?

[saltysam]

Hellgate (1989-USA-South Africa) *
Seriously, what were Arrow thinking putting out this barrel-scraper?

Released a 1000 copies, sold the lot.they are a business.

[grim_tales]

Aw what a shame, I didnt know that

Neither did i. i'll do my best to stay strong,be positive and try and move on from the harrowing reality that Bing & Bob had further adventures planned.it won't be easy but i need to be strong and stoic at this point in my life.

I meant the fact he died (and the manner) when he was seemingly healthy was a shame