Last movie you watched

[beckmen]

Did an outdoor screening tonight, with BBQ and whatnot...

Hobo with a Shotgun: Fun, tasteless stuff. Has lost a bit of its shine for me, I guess. I still enjoy it, but it's not a classic methinks.

Black Dynamite: Has lost none of its shine for me. Still hilarious, genius, awesome. A joy to watch, especially with people.

Planet Terror: See pretty much above, I think I feel more or less the same about this one.

For the next such screening (I am calling them 'Grill and Thrill') I am showing Videodrome, Altered States and The Fly (1986). Body horror galore.

[SiL]

Must just be different with certain people then. Norris definitely didn't know. If he was faking chest pain he was doing it without any witnesses to see his acting.

Wouldn't need to fake it. Perfect imitation, dodgy heart and all.

[SM]

Doesn't Mac say it imitates them using the word "perfectly"?

Layman speculation, but there you go.

[Hubbs]

House (1986)

Judging by the quite gruesome movie poster would you think this film was scary, its not. That was the problem with many old 80's 'video nasties', there box art was much scarier and intimidating than the actual film.

Anyway this franchise is classic 80's stuff with the kind of now cheesy rubber masked effects you come to expect and have seen in various other similar films. Again the idea does seem to stem from 'The Twilight Zone' or 'Tales from the Darkside' or even 'Tales from the Crypt'. Not an anthology of shorts but the plot behind the film could well be seen as an extended short from any of those films.

The whole concept is the legendary haunted house idea which does work well if done correctly. In this film William Katt must fight the spirit and zombiefied remains of his former comrade who he unintentionally left to be tortured in Nam. Its basic, predictable, silly, hammy, crude and completely not scary haha everything you want from an 80's horror.

The great thing about this film and others of the era is the hands on special effects which are always such a riot. Full length rubber suits and prosthetics which do look great on the zombie 'Big Ben', large drooling cupboard monsters, winged skeleton demons in stop motion, gremlins, alternate otherworlds behind the bathroom mirror etc...its all fantastic stuff which your never sure is real or imaginary.

If you like films like 'Night of the Creeps' 'Return of the Living Dead' 'Fright Night' etc...then I'm sure you'll get a kick outta this.



House II: The Second Story (1987)

Like the first film this remains inside the haunted house theme with two young males battling all manner of ghouls and monsters but heads down the horror comedy route.

If you think along the lines of 'Army of Darkness' then you get an idea what I mean. The only difference here is its not an adult horror comedy but much lighter. But contrary to what you might think this film is actually better than the first in my opinion.

The old mansion appears to be an ancient Mayan temple with gateways to other dimensions that is somehow protected or kept in line by a crystal skull. Said skull is supposedly buried with one of the boys great great grandfather sooooo off they go to dig him up. Long story short 'Gramps' the zombie befriends them and helps them defend the skull from the forces of evil, oh and they gotta save the girlfriend who gets kidnapped of course.

It all sounds like a kids cartoon but trust me its really quite good fun. The boys end up going into some prehistoric world with dinosaurs to get the skull after its pinched, they battle Mayan tribesmen, save a Mayan Princess, adopt a baby pterodactyl and a weird caterpillar dog thing plus there's the evil cowboy zombie gunslinger also after the skull.

It all sounds surreal but like other 80's fluff it looks great with some nice hokey effects that make you smile. There is also some pretty good makeup and prosthetics again with 'Gramps' the zombie and 'Slim Razor' the zombie plus some great kooky sets that look like something out of the 'Addams Family' TV show.

I also really liked the cast in this too. Johnathan Stark is great as the lippy wise ass best friend of Arye Gross. Both guys really click together and make a formidable 80's duo just like Makepeace and Rusler in 'Vamp'. Stark actually reminds me of an early Jim Carrey with his haircut and looks, Arye is a regular face for this era as was Bill Maher. Kudos to John Ratzenberger who has easily one of the best parts I've seen for some time, he is the 'Electrician and Adventurer', always ready to battle alternate dimensions at the drop of a hat. I loved the way he Coolly remarks that he deals with this kind of stuff all the time and always ready with his sword (kept hidden in his toolbox).

Yep its utterly off the wall but its a great light hearted horror comedy with some really good Indy type adventure with monsters and zombies...albeit in a very cheesy tacky way.

[deezelboy]

If the Thing imitates people perfectly, dodgy heart and all, doesn't that mean that there's a perfect imitation of Palmer's brain running the Palmer-Thing's perfect imitation of Palmer's CNS?

So how or why would a perfect imitation of Palmer look like he's about to be busted, or even be able to know that he's a Thing?

[Tryfan915]

School holiday time again and my daughter's choice was The Amazing Spider-Man and I quite enjoyed it, the build up rather than the swinging between tall buildings (thank God we went 2D). Having never seen any one the previous 3 all the way through I can't compare it to them but a 6.5 or a 7 for me.

My son had already been to see it with one of his friends so we'll be going to see TDKR later in the hols.

[Hudson]

So how or why would a perfect imitation of Palmer look like he's about to be busted, or even be able to know that he's a Thing?

It's also only everyone's assumption that he's making that face for that reason. He could be making it because he thinks it's a waste of time just like the first two or three tests that McReady did, which only proved the subjects were human from one person's point of view.

[deezelboy]

Or he might very well suspect that he's the Thing, but not know it?

[Hudson]

Or he might very well suspect that he's the Thing, but not know it?

I guess he could be thinking "wouldn't it be just my luck."

[SM]

So how or why would a perfect imitation of Palmer look like he's about to be busted, or even be able to know that he's a Thing?

Assuming he IS looking like he's about to be busted.  I had a look at the scene on Youtube, and the look he gives is ambiguous for mine.  Plus the whole thing uses misdirection brilliantly by having Macready facing off against Garry as he tests Palmer.

[Company Man]

Why would he worry about it then as he would know there is another on the lam.

[SM]

Would he have known about Blair?

Been too long since I watched that flick.

[deezelboy]

Wouldn't matter. The blood test shows that each Thing is only concerned about it's own survival.

[SiL]

Magic Mike

It was my friend's turn to pick the movie (I chose Spider-Man last time) and she chose this.

Something has gone terribly, terribly wrong when the best movie I've seen all year is the one about the male strippers. Batman, space monsters, Spider-Man -- nah, the movie where Channing Tatum does a strip to dubstep is apparently the place to go for an engaging plot, likeable characters, a script that doesn't leave me asking a thousand questions and good acting.

... also Olivia Munn's titties.

... that may have been a factor.

[Limited Vertigo]

I've become addicted to seeing TDKR in IMAX (seeing it for the fifth time with another group of friends tonight).

I recently watched God Bless America, I have to admit after the Aurora killings I was a little uncomfortable during certain portions of the movie but it has some great writing and does an incredible job of showcasing what's wrong with society in general.