Housepets!

Another massive update of movies that I have seen.

I saw the uncut version of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 "classic" film "ZAAT" (also known as "Hydra", "Blood Waters of Dr. Z", "Attack of the Swamp Creature" and "Legend of the Zaat Monster". The film is about a scientist that turns himself into a human/catfish hybrid in order to get revenge on his former colleagues and take over the world with an army of hybrids. Its low budget B-movie filmmaking at its best. Although the film has never looked this good now that it is remastered and widescreen. It is also a unintentional commentary on the social climate in the South in the early 1970s.

"Graduation Day" is another Troma film Vinegar Syndrome worked wonders with restoring. It is a slasher film about members of a track and field team being stalked by a killer after one of their team dies of a blood clot during a competition.

Another Troma release they restored is "Frightmare" (also known as "The Horror Star"). The film is about a Christopher Lee-like film actor who practiced black magic. Upon his death, a group of film students who were his fans decide to steal his body from his crypt and throw a party in his honor at an old mansion where he films some of his movies. The actor resurrects himself and starts to kill the students in various ways from using psychic powers to using his bare hands. It reminded me a lot of "One Dark Night".

"Prison" is the first American produced film by Finnish director Renny Harlin. It is a very clever twist on the haunted house genre. Some critics complain about haunted house films that the characters should just "get out of the house". But in this case, the characters are inmates in a haunted penitentiary. Reopened after 20 years due to overcrowding at other prisons, Creedmore prison is haunted by the ghost of an inmate who was executed for a murder committed by the head guard, who is the reopened prison's new warden. The vengeful ghost takes its anger out on the staff and the inmates.

I got a copy of Wes Craven's "Swamp Thing". One of the best comic book adaptation films from the 1980s. Although some people think of it as just a rubber suit monster movie, it is a beautiful film with a good beauty and the beast theme. Its not Jean Cocteau "La Belle et la Bête" or "King Kong" but it works.

Finally I have two remastered, widescreen films that have languished in the public domain on terrible looking and sounding prints, "Horror Express" and "Silent Night, Bloody Night". Being public domain and thus not copyright protected, anyone and everyone with access to a print could put these films out, so the quality varies greatly. "Horror Express" is a Spanish-British co-production set in Tsarist Russia in 1905. Christopher Lee plays an anthropologist who discovers the 2 million year old remains of an ape-like creature frozen in a cave in Manchuria. He has it shipped back to the UK on the Trans-Siberian railroad. It thaws out, comes to life and begins to kill the passengers and absorbs their memories. The creature is actually possessed by an energy based alien life form that has been trapped on Earth for since life began. It is looking for a way to escape the planet and it is will to kill to ensure that as it jumps from body to body. This film is an imitation of the novella "Who Goes There" by John W. Campbell, Jr, the same novella that was the basis for "The Thing", and considered by some to make this film and unofficial adaptation. "Silent Night, Bloody Night" (Also called "Deathouse") is a "proto-slasher" film from the early 1970s. The films centers on a young man who comes to a strange town to claim his inheritance, the Butler Mansion, the home of his oddball grandfather and at one time in its history it was an insane asylum and the cite of a massacre when the inmates rebelled.

Saw Civil War, Jungle Book, and Zootopia - 3 movies in a row! Woo! *takes ibuprofen*

Civil War and Jungle Book were awesome, and Zootopia was just as good a third time as the first two. Civil War was very well done - presenting both sides really well. Jungle Book holds a little closer to the original book than the original Disney movie, so it's a little bit darker - but some elements of the old movie were still there.

I don't know what to say about the Jungle Book movie. It was good, but compared to the original, it didn't have the same impact for me. However, i liked the changes at the same time.

I just get confused pondering what these revivals are trying to get us to think from Disney's perspective. They added some stuff, but tried keeping the cartoon songs. This movie was definitely more mature than the cartoon, which i liked, but it seems like anytime Disney tries going live action, it had to be more mature.

I watched the bodyguard starring Sonny Chiba and it was actually kinda underwhelming minus a few good fights and being the film tarentino borrowed Sam Jackson's speech in pulp fiction from.

And I really want to see green room this weekend it looks amazing I'm so hype.

See Civil War today. Is awesome. :3

I honestly think these super hero movies are tending to be overly dramatic, though. But as long as they keep the solid humor during all of these drama scenes, i'll keep coming back for them.

Ok so I went and saw green room and oh man it was so amazing. Definite edge of your seat thrill ride material. It was so brutal and just did so many little things right with it's characters and screenplay. Just a lot to love about that movie.

ALso I rewatched legally blonde and am reminded as to why I argue that bruiser woods is the greatest movie dog of all time.

Finally saw Captain America: Civil War! It was REALLY REALLY good.
Sadly I was too late to catch Zootopia in theaters

Finally sat down and watched Zootopia.

GORGEOUS animation, intriguing narrative (although message felt slightly didactic), loveable characters.
Excellent film.

Is it out on DVD already?

Finally got to see Captain America: Civil War, and it was great!

I've reached all of the Tremors movies..If you haven't heard of tremors, that here is a quick summary Giant Friggin' Underground Man Eating Worm-things Attack Small Town In Nevada. (Also another state, Mexico, Argentina, And now South Afrika!)

SuperStar wrote:Is it out on DVD already?

It comes out on the 6th in the US.

deepskycyan wrote:Finally sat down and watched Zootopia.

GORGEOUS animation, intriguing narrative (although message felt slightly didactic), loveable characters.
Excellent film.

How'd you see it? Is it still in theaters somewhere?

It's still in theaters here. Wow, I've never seen a movie stay in theaters until its video release date before.

Darn it. It was out of theaters here in Thailand within a month...

Yeah, today movies don't last long here. Still need to watch that movie but it won't be on cinemas because they took out that movie too early

So, it wasn't the silver screen, but I finally saw Zootopia. I enjoyed it a lot, though I feel some scenes could've used better writing.

Saw the Warcraft movie today. It was awesome :3

No spoilers, but what i loved about the movie was the detailed resemblances from game to movie and all the great details to the character art and battles and tidbits Blizzard fans would like, but the story itself would be lost to people that don't know what the movies are about. However, the entertaining parts of the movie that are lost with people will want to bring them in to know more about the games as well. It's worth the watch, indeed.

Would you recommend the Warcraft movie to someone whose only knowledge of the world is from hearthstone?

I'm interested in watching it but the tough critic reviews are kinda off putting. General audience reviews seem to be favourable though.

I'd recommend the movie to anyone interested in any sort of medievil fantasy stuff. :3

Even if the in-depth story is lost to non-warcraft fans, the main story isn't lost and could even attract non-blizzard fans.

So i watched godzilla final wars and despite the fact its kind of all over the place there are some really cool things going on in it and it had so many cool monsters making appearances in it.

Seth wrote:So i watched godzilla final wars and despite the fact its kind of all over the place there are some really cool things going on in it and it had so many cool monsters making appearances in it.

That's one of my favorite Godzilla films. They managed to pack so many monsters into one film.

Since the last time I posted here, I have seen or obtained copies of:

Venom
Intruder
Ivan's Childhood
Repo Man
Lifeforce
The House on Sorority Row
Dragonslayer
Frostbitten
The Alien Factor
The Wraith
Green Room
Blue Ruin
The Substitute
Orca
Carnival of Souls
City of the Lost Children
Chronos
28 Days Later

Just to name the ones off the top of my head. There are others.

Movie related I am finally framing my movie poster collection to hang up in my house. I have framed my original one-sheet posters for "The Burning" and "Lifeforce", two of my all-time favorite films. I can't find my original of "Bram Stoker's Dracula", but that is probably for the best because even though it is a beautiful film it is somewhat ruined by the casting of Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder as Jonathan and Mina. They were out of their league and even a country bumpkin like me knows that their British accents are suspect at best.

I also have reproduction posters for "Ed Wood", "Suspira" and a few others. But framing them is a plan for a later time.

After resisting the urge so as to not look like a hipster, I have added a little to my surviving VHS collection. Two different editions of "Lifeforce".

"Lifeforce" is one of my all time favorite films. It failed upon its initial release at the US box office, but that is only because the studio meddled with the film, arbitrarily removing 15 minutes (most of it from the beginning) and partially re-scoring it. The film just did not work. The rest of the world got Tobe Hooper's director's cut. I was lucky in that the first time I saw it I saw this Director's Cut/International Cut. It is an amazing film.

So far I have an original theatrical one-sheet poster, and copies of the film on DVD, Blu-ray/DVD combo pack, Laserdisc, and VHS. I also have the sound track on Vinyl and CD.

Its that good of a movie.

A couple days ago, I watched Twice Upon a Time, and I really enjoyed it.

My friend Will was in town and since he was visiting and it was his girlfriend's birthday, I treated them to a showing of "Suicide Squad".

I didn't think it was as bad as most of the critics say. It is suffering from the same thing that plagued "Batman vs Superman", it all felt so rushed. I was as if they barely took the time to cut the film together right and just wanted to rush something into theaters. It would no surprise me if a longer director's cut of the film will be released in home formats that is significantly longer.

It is a little harder to set up this film than "Batman vs Superman" because it has such an ensemble cast. The only characters that had real introduction were Harley, Deadshot, Flagg and Enchantress. The rest were done through some short flashbacks and some expository dialogue. They had to get these characters introduced, assembled and into action within a 2 hour time span. This with the constant flashbacks gives the film that disjointed feeling that most critics attack it for.

The action scene were filmed a little close. I mean that the camera was right on top of the action to where it was over filling the frame. And I felt the lighting was a little too dark. I also made the mistake of watching it in 3D. It does not benefit from that presentation.

And let's face it. Jared Leto's portrayal of The Joker could never stand up to those of Jack Nicholson or Heath Ledger. He does bring a real creepiness to the role. Between the negative critical and public reaction, as well as the horror stories his fellow cast members have had to say about him personally, it is unlikely that he will portray The Joker in any future films.

Overall, it is a very flawed movie, but it was still entertaining. It had an "Escape from New York" feel to it. Margot Robbie and Will Smith give standout performances and it has some good action and humor. It is just too bad that Warner Brothers/DC rushed this film out before it was ready in some feeble attempt to keep pace with Disney/Marvel.

You might want to wait until this one is out on DVD before you see it.

I've actually liked The Man of Steel, Bat Vs Super, and Suicide Squad.

DC is trying their best to make good comic book movies that aren't just Marvel lookalikes. I think people look at the Marvel universe movies and automatically go "that's what a superhero movie should be," regardless of what else comes out now because Marvel just happened to figure out a formula that works and now they're established as the standard to reach.

The Marvel movies are fun. The DC movies are not. The DC movies show a lot more of the human element behind the heroes, instead of just making them all fun characters to love/hate/lovetohate like Marvel.

I am not saying that DC's movies have all been shining diamonds without problems, but it seems to me that people can't just enjoy these movies for being what they are, instead of hating on them for not being Marvel movies. No, they aren't as fun to watch, but personally, I find them MUCH more interesting.

Just came back from seeing Sausage Party, and it was so messed up....... And yet so funny at the same time.

Seen Sausage Party as well. best part was, we went in thinking there was going to be some good, adult humor, but we had some good laughs with the story. Had good laughs at the end of the movie.

also: lots of dirty food jokes.

Another big update for me. Here are the really good ones.

"The Conformist" by Bernardo Bertolucci. It is the story of a man who thinks that he can be "normal" if he conforms to the norms of Fascist Italy. Including being sent on a mission to Paris to assassinate his former teacher and mentor. It is an excellent political thriller and character study of a man who thinks that conformity is the means to be normal.

I got new copies of "Red State", "Black Lightning", "Scream and Scream Again", "The Abominable Dr. Phibes", "The Oblong Box" and "War Horse".

" '71" is a great movie! It is a war drama about a British soldier who is separated from his unit and lost in Belfast during a riot in the time of "The Troubles" when Northern Ireland was a war zone for about 30 years. He is hunted by the IRA and the Ulstermen death squads.

"Shock Waves" is a horror film from 1977 about a group of tourist stranded on a Caribbean island where a former nazi scientist is living in exile with his creations, invincible zombie soldiers.

"Bio Zombie" is a horror comedy from Hong Kong about a couple of slackers who get trapped in a mall with zombies they created by accidentally releasing a biological weapon that turns its victims into zombies.

I watched a documentary about George Romero and two about Dario Argento.

And after all that excellent cinema... I watched the polar opposite...

Out of morbid curiosity I decided to watch "Food Fight". This is literally the worst movie I have ever seen. It not even bad enough to be entertainingly bad. For a movie that is supposed to have cost between $40 and $60 million dollars to make. I am pretty sure that money was embezzled.

It sucks. It is cheap and ugly to look at. It is unfunny. At times it is inappropriate for its target audience. On top of taking product placement to its insane extreme, making you feel degraded, insulted and cheapened.

This movie is so bad it could have been shown to Malcolm McDowell in "A Clockwork Orange" to break his mind. How did this film get made?

Got about halfway through the new ghostbusters movie...Favorite scene is Bill Murray cameo number 57 getting a bit of Wile E. Coyote esc.

Just came back from seeing Kubo and the Two Strings, and it was great!

Don't know how many people watch Netflix, but Stranger Things is an awesome series on there right now.

It's a homage to paranormal movies where it sets it's place in 1983. (Hey, i was born that year!) The series starts with a unseen assailant attacking a lab scientist. Shortly afterwards, a group of coincidential events start to occur after a group of nerdy D&D kids make a bad dice roll during one of their D&D games and one of the group members dies to the final boss in the game. Of course, it's just a game. nothing serious...

But this is where the dice starts to roll and alot of strange events start to occur all over town. What is causing all of these mysterious problems going on around town? How is it doing these things? And how is it able to steal people without notice?

Today, Herschell Gordon Lewis died. He was a pioneer in exploitation cinema. In 1963 he created "Blood Feast", the world first gore film. He help lead a trend in independent filmmaking that saved the film industry even as the giants of Hollywood decried it.

So, on my next day off, I am going to marathon his films, "Blood Feast", "2000 Maniacs" and "The Wizard of Gore" in remembrance of a man whose films brought me so my joy.

on a lighter note, "Shin Godzilla" (aka "Godzilla: Resurgence") will be playing a limited showing at my local theater. I can't wait to go see it.

So, I saw the teaser trailer for the Power Rangers movie coming out next year, and honestly, I'm not disappointed. I've previously brought up my issues with the concept in the Chat Thread, but I'm still kind of optimistic, even if those reservations are still there. At least one of the first things that the trailer showed was that this wasn't the Angel Grove we remember. I'm hoping that it will at least stand well as its own thing.

Modern Magnificent Seven Remake....My god, I have never liked a movie this much since I saw The Wrong Rev Room scene in the first Tremors movie! For most of its all star cast, it's actually pretty great instead of the usual schtick that comes up when you put more than two celebrates into A movie together. It's got the action, the cheesyness of original westerns, and the pure awesome destructive power of the classic handcranked Gatling Gun! You can't go wrong with Gatling guns as The Last Samurai has showed us, no matter who's side it's being used by.

Just came back from seeing Doctor Strange, and it was great!

Seen it as well. lovely movie. really liked it. the ending was awesome. <3

Saw Moana today. It was pretty awesome.

Saw Moana as well, and it was great!

Saw Moana. I enjoyed the movie, but the soundtrack was great. I just relistened to all the songs.