Recently watched movies!

[Dr Kain]

Not a recently watched movie, not sure where to put this though, but my Alamo Drafthouse is showing the 3D version of Creature from the Black Lagoon on Oct 11th, so we just bought tickets. Not only that, but Julia Adams is going to be there.

EDIT:

Child's Play - This movie was not really what I expected. It had a good build up, there was not too much of Chucky shown, and when he was, they did a good job of it, and they kept the body count to a bare minimum. I'm actually really impressed as I expected it to just be a standard horror kill fest. The acting was pretty bad though, which is ultimately the movie's weakest point. Overall, I give it a 7/10 stars, but I fear it will go down hill from here.

[lhb412]

Werewolf of London

Not bad, but I can see why The Wolf Man eclipsed it in every way. It's just Jekyll and Hyde dressed up slightly differently.

[jellydonut25]

[Dr Kain]

The Fog - Great movie with a lot of build up and atmosphere. My only complaint remains that Jamie Lee Curtis was entirely pointless and had no reason to be in this thing. 8/10 stars.

[lhb412]

Horror of Dracula

My sister (who's my movie buddy) tells me she's never seen an actual, honest-to-god Dracula movie. I decide to lead with a surefire winner, because this movie is so awesome. I'm happy to say she enjoyed it, as should all right thinking people.

[Dr Kain]

Horror of Dracula is pretty good, but it is probably my least favorite incarnation of Bram's story of the ones I have seen.

[lhb412]

The Invisible Man Returns

I've never seen any of the Invisible Man sequels. I enjoyed this quite a bit, actually. Not quite a hidden jem, but a solid 'guy gets invisible' sort of thing. After Claude Rains in the first film Vincent Price's character is positively subdued in comparison, though he is rather young here and maybe wasn't doing the histrionically out-there characters he was known for later. I quite liked Cecil Kellaway's policeman character, who is rather ingenious and thorough in his methods from the moment he realizes he's tracking down an Invisible Man (which he figures out almost instantly).

If there's one thing I've learned from Universal Monster sequels it's that there are always previously unknown family members out there ready to carry on the mad sciencing traditions of their relatives who died in the last movie.

[Dr Kain]

The Invisible Man sequels get worse with every movie.

The Box Trolls - This movie was not terrible, it has some funny moments, but it really isn't all that great. If you liked Coraline and Paranorman, it is worth checking out, but don't go into expecting too much out of it. The story is lackluster and there really aren't any truly likable characters for the first hour of the movie, which also drags it down quite a bit. The animation was great and there is a scene during the credits that is cool, but other than that, there really isn't all that much to write home about. Overall, I give it a 6/10 stars as it could have been worse, but it should have been MUCH better.

[hanshotfirst1138]

Fast and Furious 6- More good-natured nonsense from Jusin Lin. Lightweight popcorn fare that isn't likely to age well, but does its job handily for the 130 minutes in the theater. Lots of things go boom with hilarious panache and gleeful disregard for any physics or logic. Lots of musclebound guys and hot girls beat each other up and make cars go really fast, causing as much destruction as possible everywhere. Still not a very good villain, but a post-credits stinger with Jason Statham indicates that the next installment might finally fulfill the quota. I'm never, ever forgiving Justin Lin for wasting the opportunity to have Gina Carano and Joe Taslim have a fight scene. I was robbed of an epic martial arts fan's dream. I wish Carano could come back for the sequel, but alas, this installment renders that impossible.

Jack Reacher- Screenwriter Chistopher McQuarrie (of many good Bryan Singer screenplays) takes another shot at directing with this pulpy Tom Cruise yarns about an ex-Army MP who get tangled in a spree killing that isn't what it appears to be. McQuarrie streamlines a bit of Lee Child's complicated plot from his novel One Shot, and as a write himself, he takes more delight in the pulpy tone and chewy dialogue and acting than the setting (changed from Indiana to Pittsburgh) or any particular visual aesthetics. A decent but unmemorable nuts-and-bolts thriller, Werner Herzog has fun as a deliciously evil villain who chewed off his own fingers in a Russian Gulag. Vat iz zis?

Parker- Taylor Hackford tries to make Donald E. Westlake's ruthlessly amoral criminal into a vehicle for Jason Statham. Westlake probably wouldn't have appreciated some of the more sentimental aspect added to the character, but the ruthless unrepentant "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!" from the novels is unlikely to ever show up in mainstream Hollywood films. Statham does what he can and brings his usual tough guy charisma. Efficient and a decent way to pass a rainy afternoon, but no more than that.

Mr. Nice Guy- 90s Jackie Chan Kong-Sang American vehicle directed by the great Sammo Hung Kam-Bo. One of those internationally flavored movies, it has almost zero personality and jumbled nonsensical plot revolving around a VHS tape Macguffin, but some breathtaking set pieces, including a full-scale excavation loader destroying a real building. Chan never throws down with villain Richard Norton, almost as egregious an affront as the one above. Chan's usual charisma goes a long way in salvaging the film.

[Dr Kain]

Bram Stoker's Dracula - And thus kicks off our Horror Fest as we are now watching nothing but horror movies through Halloween. As with every year, we start it on this movie and this is by far my favorite adaptation of the Dracula story. It just has such incredible cinematography, music, and the use of colors. Gary Oldman is just simply magnificent as Dracula has he manages to pull off both the demonic side of the character and the gentlemanly prince side of his character. The movie isn't perfect, as some of the casting could have been done better, but other than that little nit pick, there is nothing I have to complain here. I love this movie to death. I give it a 9/10 stars.

[XvGojira]

[Dr Kain]

[jellydonut25]

Nightmare 2 is a bizarre movie. I can't say I hate it, because it's got a sort of bizarre power over me...the last 20 minutes or so are just so insane that I can't help but stare at the screen in complete fascination.

[XvGojira]

[lhb412]

[XvGojira]

[lhb412]

Godzilla (2014)

A strong, but somewhat flawed throwback to '50s and '60s monster-on-the-loose films that's very cleverly shot (especially the monster scenes). The last 30 minutes are so are pretty much kaiju perfection as the human and monster action is spectacularly intertwined.

[Dr Kain]

Psycho - What can I say about this movie that hasn't been said in the past? This is easily one of Hitchcock's best movies of all time, if not THE best. Easily a 10/10.

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

ABCs of Death- I thought it was interesting and has a cool concept, the concept is that directors from around the world are given a letter of the alphabet then they pick a word and do a short based on that word. They're also given I think $5000 to director their short. Some of the shorts are really well done while others are just plain weird like the very final segement. That being said I recommend checking it out as it's on Netflix. Looking forward to seeing the sequel.

[lhb412]

The Mummy's Ghost

How'd this small town get such a nice history museum?

[Dr Kain]

[jellydonut25]

[lhb412]

Frankenstein (1931)

"Oh, in the name of God! Now I know what it feels like to be God!"

I love this movie.

[Dr Kain]

Annabelle - We got to see an advanced screening of this movie tonight and it was pretty forgettable. There were a few good moments to be had, but overall, it was predictable, cliche, and boring. The main actress overacted quite a bit and the movie seemed to contradict a lot of what had been established in "The Conjuring," On the other hand, I do commend them for showing less of the monster (as it were), but even that could not help this movie's tediousness that was going through the motions just to tell a story nobody asked for. If you really need to see a killer doll movie, go watch "Child's Play" instead, as that at least has some creativity to it. Or go watch the Twilight Zone episode "Living Doll." Overall, I give Annabelle a 6/10 stars. It could have been a lot better, and a lot more interesting had it actually broken from the cliches, but instead, it is just cashing in on the success of THe Conjuring.

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

Kain good thing you didn't make it to the end of the film then. If you thought F for Fart was messed up you would have been incredibly shocked by the very last letter which was also Japanese, I agree Jelly the movie was uneven in places but still had it's good moments. I'll check out the sequel when it hits Netflix or something.

Airheads- I hadn't seen this comedy for awhile so I decided to watch it. Still pretty good after all these years.