SEPT(augenarians rem)EMBER WATCHING THREAD(s of life in) '11

[Steve T Power]

Rubber - I saw the trailer on my 13 Assassins DVD, and it's about a possessed TIRE that kills people with psychic powers. Since that's an idea that's so impressively stupid that it would take a genius to think it up, I was immediately attracted to it and found it on Netflix streaming. I got a big surprise because this turned out to be completely pretentious. Attempted philosophising, having a subplot about the audience, really full of itself. I guess they were as impressed with their killer tire idea as I was. I was looking for a Hobo With A Shotgun-type laugh at a crazy idea.

Yup, the opening sequence alone completely destroyed any goodwill I had toward the film. It was garbage.

[Mach6]

Warrior: I was really surprised at the quality of the story & acting. I heard all the hype about Nick Nolte’s performance but he really delivered with a very soulful performance. Nolte really raised Warrior above the usual sports underdog movie. He deserves at least some type of nomination. Tom Hardy also proved he’s going to kick some serious ass as Bane in Dark Knight Rises. Hardy was convincing with his “I don’t give a f***”, no-nonsense attitude. As a once big time WWE fan, I got a kick out of “Mr. USA” the Olympic gold champion Kurt Angle portraying a Fedor-like ultimate Russian MMA fighting machine. Too bad he didn’t get to talk because I would’ve loved to hear Kurt’s Russian accent. I do have a slight problem with the actual matches since there were more takedowns, german suplexs, & powerbombs in those matches than in the entire history of UFC. Don’t get me wrong, the fights were entertaining & filmed for maximum impact, but they sometimes looked more like Rocky boxing matches where every punch hit its mark than actual MMA fights. 8/10

Hanna: I agree mostly with what Future Man & HGervais wrote. I actually thought the story tale references added to it & made it more unique. I just want to ask one thing. Is Cate Blanchett’s Marissa Wiegler the first to represent the Evil Middle Aged White Woman Cabal? 8/10

[J.M. Vargas]

Rewatched François Truffaut's THE 400 BLOWS on Blu-ray in anticipation of me diving into the entire Antoine Doinel film series. Loved hearing in the Robert Lachenay commentary the many similarities between the on-screen characters and Truffaut/Lachenay's real-life misadventures, and Jean Constantin's soundtrack is as timeless and relatable as the humanity seeping through every scene in Truffaut's masterpiece.

WANDA (1971) on TCM-HD for the first time. A very bleak but enjoyable and atmospheric low-budget drama (shot almost documentary style with a skeleton crew on 16mm) directed by and starring Barbara Loden (Mrs. Elia Kazan) as a single woman struggling to eek a living in the Pennsylvania rust belt. Michael Higgins is both pathetic and creepy as heck in the role of a petty criminal that ends up shacking up and teaming with Wanda. The cast of mostly unknown non-actors are well utilized and, despite some rough edges, "Wanda" succeeds where movies like "The Honeymoon Killers" fail at marrying the survival plight of rural Americans with a noir-ish crime plot.

MST3K #1008: FINAL JUSTICE (1999/1985) on DVD. This might be the most censured-for-broadcast movie MST3K ever showed (tons of curse words silenced, plus on-screen blurring of strippers dancing and slow-motion-to-hide-violence shootouts), which is the only remarkable thing about this dull experiment besides featuring the return of everybody's-favorite-punching-bag-in-"Mitchell" Joe Don Baker. Like Joe Don himself circa 1984 "Final Justice" is slow, bloated and nowhere near as good as the loner-antihero-in-a-foreign-land flicks it tries to emulate. Mike and the bots' riffing, like the movie's poorly-staged action scenes, achieve a perfectly-mediocre flatline that never rises or lowers beyond amusing chuckles. You know it's slim pickings for laugh enthusiasts when the highlights in "Final Justice" are a guest-appearance by Malta's beloved Goosio, 'Carl's toll bridge' running gag and Mike's re-enactment of Joel's exit from the SOL back in '93.

Oliver Stone's WORLD TRADE CENTER (2006) on HD-DVD for the first time. Caught between the good intentions of everyone involved to be respectful and the fact no Hollywood re-enactment can ever match the real-life drama of what happened on 9/11/01 (proven by the 'Common Sacrifice' documentary included as a bonus feature) it's hard to either like or loath "World Trade Center." While technically well-done and acted (Nicolas Cage gives perhaps his last great performance as everyman cop John McLoughlin, a role from which he drew inspiration for his "Kick-Ass" character) the predictability of events/reactions of family members, fellow officers and extras looking horrified robs the cinematic experience of any tension or drama. "WTC's" only provocative moment (a vision of a glowing Jesus bringing a trapped police officer water bottles) isn't a Stone cinematic touch but an actual memory of the rescued person, Will Jimeno, whose commentary track alongside his real-life rescuers is a must-listen. Saw this on the 10th anniversary of the attacks and, sad to say, the movie was just as dull and boring as the real-life coverage of the 9/11 anniversary I was trying to avoid.

MST3K: ORIGINS AND BEYOND AT CONVERGENCE 2009 and TOM SERVO vs. TOM SERVO PANEL AT DRAGON*CON 2010, both on DVD for the first time. A couple of bonus features in previous "MST3K" Box Sets (Volumes XIX and XX) that, despite rehashing told and retold stories about a show whose fan base is knowledgeable about its history, still manage to inform but most of all amuse. Despite only having three participants (instead of the entire cast that showed up in the 20th Anniversary set) the 2009 'Origins and Beyond' convention allows Joel Hodgson, Frank Conniff and Mary Jo Pehl ample room to both be funny (by having a group of fans go across the street to get them snacks from Dairy Queen) and informative (the cost of ea. S1 episode of "MST3K" back in '89, AKA $35K times 13). The 'Servo vs. Servo' panel isn't as interesting as advertised. Unlike Crow (whose two handlers gave it similar-but-unique personality traits) Kevin Murphy became the iconic voice of Servo for most of the show's life, leaving J. Elvis Weinstein in the awkward position to talk about a time which is seldom seen or talked about (the KTMA era) even among diehard MiSTie enthusiasts. Fans of "Cinematic Titanic" with a growing appreciation of J. Elvis' talent will get a kick of hearing the war stories from pre-Tom Servo days, and Kevin is game-enough to bring early fan letters/memorabilia to entertain the crowd.

MOGULS AND MOVIE STARS: A HISTORY OF HOLLYWOOD (2010) on TCM-HD for the first time. An informative and well-researched seven-part documentary series that chronicles the rise and fall of both movie studio moguls and different movie actors/directors/producers from the start of the moving picture business (1889) 'till the mogul's eventual surrender of all their acquired power (1969). Since there are fewer Hollywood moguls than movie stars the parade of celebrities rolls on, but the cast of familiar (Meyer, Warner, Goldwyn, Thalberg, etc.) and barely-remembered Hollywood moguls (Zucker, Laemmle, etc.) is much smaller, thus their arc and breadth of accomplishments/failures much easier to follow. It's basically the prequel to 2003's "Easy Riders, Raging Bulls" but with Christopher Plummer's soothing narration (along with a handful of talking heads and tons of B&W pictures/movie clips) filling you in on the state of Hollywood before Scorsese, Spielberg, Lucas, Coppola and their ilk took over in the 1970's. While some topics have to be rushed and barely-touched upon (like the making of "Citizen Kane" or how Columbia Pictures emerged from Poverty Row status to become one of the big boy) a few 'I've never heard of that' topics (like the career of low-budget independent black filmmaker Oscar Micheaux) are given surprisingly lengthy discussion. This TCM documentary is definitely worth seeing, IMHO.

[Attrage]

Say Anything… - Cameron “Almost Famous” Crowe’s directorial debut from 1989 still holds up well more than 20 years after it’s release. As usual, Crowe’s ability to pick fairly timeless tunes has ensured that even the late 80’s soundtrack has stood the test of time. I like this film a lot, as I’ve liked every other Crowe film I have seen (Jerry Maguire, Almost Famous, Vanilla Sky). There’s nothing groundbreaking about it’s boy-meets-girl, boy-loses-girl, boy-gets-girl-in-the-end story, but the likeability of it’s characters and the clever dialogue mean it kind of does what it does extremely well. And I can only speak for myself here, but John Cusack’s iconic scene standing under Ione Skye’s window with a boombox held high blaring Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes” still makes this tough guy go a little soft inside.

[Future Man]

Hanna: I agree mostly with what Future Man & HGervais wrote. I actually thought the story tale references added to it & made it more unique. I just want to ask one thing. Is Cate Blanchett’s Marissa Wiegler the first to represent the Evil Middle Aged White Woman Cabal? 8/10

Meryl Streep's character in the remake of The Manchurian Candidate does come to mind.

[molly1216]

i got a head start on my halloween viewing..

Abbott & Costello Meet the Mummy
Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein
Werewolf of London
American Werewolf in London

I have too many Favorites to wait for October..i never finish them all by Halloween

[Dunnyman]

i got a head start on my halloween viewing..

Abbott & Costello Meet the Mummy
Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein
Werewolf of London
American Werewolf in London

I have too many Favorites to wait for October..i never finish them all by Halloween

Here's an obscure little Halloween flick for ya, Red Victoria. I think you'll dig the macabre concept of the movie.

[azul017]

I've caught some reruns of Degrassi: The Next Generation on TeenNick, and I'm hooked. Much more addictive and realistic than what I thought it was. And now I have to watch the Kevin Smith episodes.

Also caught the Castle marathon on TNT last night. The one with Laura Prepon shadowing Beckett is great fun.

[the5thghostbuster]

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (1973) - a darn solid, creepy little film with feminist overtones. Well worth watching.

[Future Man]

Drive
For the first 2/3 I was totally enthralled by the stylishness and surehandedness of it all, but unfortunately the rest is marred by truly over the top extreme violence, cruelty and gore of the kind you might see in a 1980s slasher movie. What in the world were they thinking?

[Polynikes]

Rules of Engagement (2000). I can't recommend this. Run-of-the-mill military courtroom drama, with little thought seeming to have gone into the screenplay. SPOILERS. You can guess from early on in the film how it is going to go and what the outcome will be. What is surprising is how flimsy the evidence is on which Tommy Lee Jones secures Samuel Jackson's acquittal. Actually, non-existent rather than flimsy, which makes the acquittal absurd. There are too many hackneyed plot devices to list. Whoever wrote the screenplay must have been on autopilot, and simply did not bother to concoct a decent plot, which is a pity when you assemble a decent cast.

[Attrage]

United 93 – The harrowing true story of the one hijacked flight that did not reach its target on September 11, 2001 due to the intervention of several passengers.

This is a bold and very effective film. I use the term bold because director Paul Greengrass begins the film with the morning routines of the four terrorists before they head to the airport, in particular focusing on their prayers. While this does not idealise them, nor encourage us to sympathise with them, it does portray them as human beings, not faceless psychos in turbans about to be mown down by a machine gun-toting Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The documentary style of the film is the reason I use the term effective. Greengrass and his actors (many of the air traffic controllers are played by the actual people themselves) perfectly capture the initial disbelief “we haven’t had a hijacking in 40 years!”, as it gradually gives way to confusion, chaos and panic “shut the entire country down!”. As an onlooker and passive media consumer on September 11, 2001, I never realised the absolute panic that must have gripped air traffic control as they realised there were thousands of aircraft in the skies above the United States that day, and any one of them could begin plunging towards a major city at a moment’s notice. The word “terror” is, in this context, very apt.

Paul Greengrass’ choice during the last ten minutes to not cut back to the air traffic controllers but to focus entirely on the people aboard United 93, was a brilliant one. Not only was it very respectful to the people who carried out this extraordinary act of courage, but it also makes the final ten minutes of this film the most agonisingly tense minutes I’ve ever experienced as a film goer.

This is not an easy film to watch. It took me three years from when I first saw it, to be able to watch it again just two days ago. It fills me with sadness yet also with a profound sense of respect for those poor people aboard that plane. Their realisation as the film progresses that this will very probably be the last day of their lives is overwhelming, their desperate last phone calls to family and friends almost unbearably sad. I am very keen to listen to the director’s commentary on the dvd, but I already know it will be another long while before I am able to watch this film again.

[Andrew Forbes]

The Ward. This would be a creepy, effective little ghost story if it weren't for the agonizingly trite twist ending (the specter of which hangs over the whole production, dulling one's investment in the story). Carpenter shoots the f**k out of this, though. Initially, it feels impersonal, but as it progresses, the old Carpenter flavor seeps in, so it's not a total loss. And could this be the first depiction of non-abusive male guards in a womens' facility in movie history?

[mavrach]

Sahara - The blockbuster that wasn't. Watching it, I can't tell why this wasn't one of the biggest movies of its year, a crowdpleaser to weeks of sold-out shows. It hit every beat right on the nose. Maybe the title wasn't catchy enough?? I did enjoy it, but I can't see myself watching it again. And if it did become a huge franchise, I can't help but think we'd all be criticizing it along with the other big ones out there at this point.

I do wish Matthew McConaughey would do more of these and less romantic comedies where he's leaning on somebody on the poster, but he always seems to get punished when he tries that cough-cough-Reign of Fire-cough-cough

[Attrage]

Sahara - The blockbuster that wasn't. Watching it, I can't tell why this wasn't one of the biggest movies of its year, a crowdpleaser to weeks of sold-out shows. It hit every beat right on the nose. Maybe the title wasn't catchy enough?? I did enjoy it, but I can't see myself watching it again. And if it did become a huge franchise, I can't help but think we'd all be criticizing it along with the other big ones out there at this point.

I do wish Matthew McConaughey would do more of these and less romantic comedies where he's leaning on somebody on the poster, but he always seems to get punished when he tries that cough-cough-Reign of Fire-cough-cough

I enjoy Sahara a lot. It’s a great “leave brain at door” popcorn flick. It has well staged (and fun) action and the comedy between McConaughey and Steve Zahn is great. I enjoyed the cigar-chomping William H Macy too.

I haven’t really seen many of McConaughey’s rom coms, besides How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days which wasn’t too bad. He doesn’t have fantastic range as an actor but Sahara and EdTV both show he has more range than simply being that guy that takes his shirt off in every movie. I’d like to see him do more Sahara-type films as age inevitably robs him of those perfect abs.

[Steve T Power]

Sahara - The blockbuster that wasn't. Watching it, I can't tell why this wasn't one of the biggest movies of its year, a crowdpleaser to weeks of sold-out shows. It hit every beat right on the nose. Maybe the title wasn't catchy enough?? I did enjoy it, but I can't see myself watching it again. And if it did become a huge franchise, I can't help but think we'd all be criticizing it along with the other big ones out there at this point.

I do wish Matthew McConaughey would do more of these and less romantic comedies where he's leaning on somebody on the poster, but he always seems to get punished when he tries that cough-cough-Reign of Fire-cough-cough

I enjoy Sahara a lot. It’s a great “leave brain at door” popcorn flick. It has well staged (and fun) action and the comedy between McConaughey and Steve Zahn is great. I enjoyed the cigar-chomping William H Macy too.

I haven’t really seen many of McConaughey’s rom coms, besides How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days which wasn’t too bad. He doesn’t have fantastic range as an actor but Sahara and EdTV both show he has more range than simply being that guy that takes his shirt off in every movie. I’d like to see him do more Sahara-type films as age inevitably robs him of those perfect abs.

I thought it was a fantastic and lean adaptation of a pulp novel that was at times implausible and stupid and other times wonderfully fun. The flick took everything Cussler did right, and jettisoned all the side-roads and ancillary bullshit of the novel. McConaughey acted the crap out of it too, you could tell he was heavily invested in Pitt as a character, and there were some subtle nuances in the performances that said to me that these guys (Zahn, Macey and Matt in particular) were taking the characters very seriously, while still having a ton of fun (check out the scene where Rudy pulls the sensor buoy out of the water). I love the flick, every goddamn minute of it, and if Cussler wasn't such a bastard about protecting the integrity of his dimestore schlock, we'd probably be on our third or fourth Dirk Pitt adventure by now. No justice.

[OperaGal]

i got a head start on my halloween viewing..

Abbott & Costello Meet the Mummy
Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein
Werewolf of London
American Werewolf in London

I have too many Favorites to wait for October..i never finish them all by Halloween

Me too! So many movies I've not seen yet...(Werewolf of London is on my list)

Dracula (1931) - Kinda new to Lugosi movies and was impressed with him in this one. The movie overall was okay.

Dracula's Daughter - I liked this one much better. Not sure why - perhaps the acting, tone, etc...Anyhoo, watched it twice.

Dead Ringer - Can't believe that I'd not seen this one before, especially being a Bette Davis movie. Really liked it!
Some good plot twists and turns, not too predictable either. Unless I was too tired to piece it together, do enjoy not figuring out a whole film within the first few minutes.
Very interesting how dog bites produce more blood than gunshots...hmm...

[Andrew Forbes]

Drive
For the first 2/3 I was totally enthralled by the stylishness and surehandedness of it all, but unfortunately the rest is marred by truly over the top extreme violence, cruelty and gore of the kind you might see in a 1980s slasher movie. What in the world were they thinking?

They were probably thinking that, in the criminal underworld, people suffer horrific violence. Possibly the best movie of the past two years. The audience I saw it with hated it. "There was hardly any talking!" Fu....

[Dan Mancini]

X-Men: First Class. Finally. So, the lesson here, I guess is that X-Men: The Last Stand would've been bearable if Michael Fassbender had brought his awesomeness to the party. Because, minus Fassbender, First Class is just the same ol' broke-down X-Men crap: under-developed characters, heavy-handed allegory, weak SFX, and predictable storytelling.

[Attrage]

Octopussy - Not my favourite Roger Moore 007 film by a long shot, but has enough going for it that it’s far from my least favourite either. The plot is as far fetched as you’d expect from the Moore Bonds: there’s smuggling, counterfeiting, circus clowns, and a mad Communist general bent on vaporising the West with extreme prejudice.

General Orlov’s mad, arm-waving rant to the other bad guys in the conference room (let’s call it the Lenin Room) always makes me chuckle. The way he sort of shouts it, as if there’s exclamation points after! every! word! is fantastically hammy. I love a good insane general talking about wiping out enemies in one fell swoop. And the fact that he’s played by the bad guy from Beverly Hills Cop is just icing on the cake.

The stunts are good (even if this late in his career Roger Moore’s stunt doubles are more than obviously filling in for our hero). The low-flying jet vs missile chase in the pre-credits is pretty spectacular. The fight on a moving train is pretty heart-thumping, and the climactic fight while hanging out of a plane is also great fun. Of course to balance this out we also get the extremely silly taxi chase through the streets of New Delhi (the tennis references are not quite as silly as the double-taking pigeon in Moonraker, but come pretty close). And the less said about the Tarzan yell, and the clown disguise, the better.

Well it seems to have gone by pretty fast, next week I am onto the last Roger Moore 007 film, A View to a Kill.

[Dan Mancini]

Well it seems to have gone by pretty fast, next week I am onto the last Roger Moore 007 film, A View to a Kill.

Beware intrusive Beach Boys tunes.

[Steve T Power]

Well it seems to have gone by pretty fast, next week I am onto the last Roger Moore 007 film, A View to a Kill.

Beware intrusive Beach Boys tunes.

And perpetually rolling sticks of dynamite with overlong fuses.

[the5thghostbuster]

Out podcast hits ten episodes! This week it is The Phantom (1996) http://24panelspersecond.blogspot.com/2011/09/episode-10-phantom-1996.html And yeah, I am the one who botched up pronouncing the word "hyperbole," even though I do know better. Gah!

Also watched the following:

The Searchers
Doctor Who: Day of the Daleks
Alfred Hitchcock Presents, the first four episodes (GREAT stuff).
Amazing Stories "Ghost Train" (aka everything wrong with Spielberg boiled down into one crapy 24 minute show).

[HGervais]

Doctor Who: Day of the Daleks

I really, really like the special edition version of that and more importantly, so did my 8 year old nephew. It's strange, my niece love Nu-Who but can't get into the classic stuff where as my nephew really likes the classic stuff but can't get into current Who. I put on the Hartnell story "The Aztecs" for him the other way and his first words were, "this is black & white?" and then he proceeded to watch the whole thing without a word and with a pillow held firmly to his chest. It was kind of cool.

[the5thghostbuster]

Doctor Who: Day of the Daleks

I really, really like the special edition version of that and more importantly, so did my 8 year old nephew. It's strange, my niece love Nu-Who but can't get into the classic stuff where as my nephew really likes the classic stuff but can't get into current Who. I put on the Hartnell story "The Aztecs" for him the other way and his first words were, "this is black & white?" and then he proceeded to watch the whole thing without a word and with a pillow held firmly to his chest. It was kind of cool.

While it is a shame he can't get into nu-who, getting into classic Who is very cool Getting into black and white Who, even better! Though I have to ask: if he likes classic but not new, what does he make of the TV Movie?

EDIT: Have yet to watch the special edition version as of yet, which I hope to correct soon. As long as it is more in line with the Curse of Fenric special edition and less the Davision special editions, than I expect this is an edition that will be a great improvement upon the original.

[HGervais]

While it is a shame he can't get into nu-who, getting into classic Who is very cool Getting into black and white Who, even better! Though I have to ask: if he likes classic but not new, what does he make of the TV Movie?

He will sit down and watch Nu Who but he isn't into it the way he is with the classic series. So far I've shown him 1st, 3rd & 4th Doctor adventures. No TV movie yet.

[HGervais]

The Guard....a movie I totally adored. Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle make a great duo and the film just sings with well observed character beats and comedy. It even manages to stage a pretty good action sequence for its climax. If it is playing near you, give it a shot.

[Attrage]

Well it seems to have gone by pretty fast, next week I am onto the last Roger Moore 007 film, A View to a Kill.

Beware intrusive Beach Boys tunes.

And perpetually rolling sticks of dynamite with overlong fuses.

I will steel myself for what is to come.

[mavrach]

Million Dollar Baby - First time seeing this one. I think they "Morgan Freeman'd" the movie to death with way too much narration. At one point you see an ambulance and he says "we rode in an ambulance." They show her bed sores, and Freeman explains what bed sores are. Thanks, I could've figured that out. The movie was perfectly subtle otherwise, I think they just went overboard in post-production. I'd avoided this previously mainly because of the ending giveaway, but it ended up being much different from what I expected. It's a very personal story and down to earth. I think Clint Eastwood is the only filmmaker that successful that can still make movies grounded so low.

The Host - [SPOILERS] Remember how we were complaining how blockbusters were all the same and never went for any risks? Here's a perfect example of how that could work out. This ended in a way that no US studio would ever allow. Killing the girl whose rescue was the focus of the entire movie is a bold move and helps seperate this from the rest of the monster flicks. And it's done so well that it's still a happy ending nonetheless! The main character finds himself and grows as a result of the experience and has a new son. Also of note is how funny they were able to make a scene about the family mourning the apparrent death of the girl.

[Attrage]

Million Dollar Baby - First time seeing this one. I think they "Morgan Freeman'd" the movie to death with way too much narration.

You just gave me a terrific idea for a reality tv show. Pick someone at random and have Morgan Freeman follow them around narrating their lives…it would be called “Morgan Freeman’d”

[J.M. Vargas]

Rewatched Fritz Lang's THE COMPLETE METROPOLIS (1927) on Blu-ray. Brigitte Helm's kooky facial expressions and "sinful" dancing at the Yoshiwara as "Evil" Maria (and the reaction of the men toward her) never fail to bring a dorky cinephile smile to my face. The more times I see "Metropolis" the more I realize what a bad-ass Rotwang (Rudolf Klein-Rogge) is for not only holding to a grudge against Joh Fredersen, but to implement a plan that will bring down an entire city and kill millions (using Joh's own idea) because Rotwag's still butt-hurt for losing the love of his life to his rival. From Gargamel to Megatron and from Cobra Commander to the Wicked Witch in "Wizard of Oz" along with every Bond villain ever conceived, compared to all of them Rotwang is the s***. Plus the fact I live in a time when I can watch a 96% complete version of "Metropolis" in 1080p high-def (most of it looking pretty freaking sharp and vibrant) still kind-of boggles my fragile little mind.

Noribumi Suzuki's SCHOOL OF THE HOLY BEAST (1974) at Landmark Sunshine's Midnight Cinema for the first time. Essentially a women's prison movie set inside a convent (i.e. nunsploitation), "School of the Holy Beast" could easily be mistaken as 70's exploitation fodder because of its scenes of nude torture, rape, lesbian sex, incest and assorted weirdness (a lot of them unintentionally funny). But amidst all the required titillating sex and nude shots Suzuki-chan weaves a deliriously OTT narrative of revenge, purification of the soul and hypocrisy (personified by a Rasputin-like priest) that elevates this closer to art house fare than grindhouse, or a healthy combination of both. The excellent anamorphic cinematography, dreamy Masao Yagi score and solid lead performance by Yumi Takigawa make "School of the Holy Beast" a nunsploitation classic worth seeing.

MST3K #604: ZOMBIE NIGHTMARE (1994/1986) on DVD for the first time. "Alien from L.A.," "Hobgoblins," "Final Justice"... pure, unadulterated 80's cinematic pain of the worst kind. For every "Cave Dwellers" or "Master Ninja" there were twice as many schlocky 80's flicks that not even Joel/Mike and the Bots could salvage with their rapid-fire quips. So imagine my surprise when, as much as I was off-put by its 80's Canadian cheesiness (and Shawn Levy's punk character getting the unwarranted courtesy of an off-screen death by the show's edit), "Zombie Nightmare" turned out to be an OK experiment. Most of the credit goes to Adam West. Halfway through the so-dark-you-can't-see "I Know What You Did Last Summer"-like flick, when the fumes of murdered-then-resurrected-teenager Tony (rocker Jon Mikl Thor) going about his vengeance against those that killed him start to wear off, Adam shows up as a burned and bitter cop. Between the million and one "Batman" jokes M&TB's throw out (almost all of them hilarious) and West's doing-it-for-the-paycheck performance "Zombie Nightmare" ends on a delirious high of impossible coincidence, surreal nonsense and a forensics guy that talks like he's in a 40's movie (or The Penguin). Don't think I can watch this again anytime soon (too painful!) but glad this Season 6 experiment didn't turn out to be as painful as anticipated.

Nicolas Winding Refn's DRIVE (2011) in theaters for the first time. My first Refn movie, one that now makes me wish I had seen the "Pusher" trilogy or "Valhalla Rising" beforehand. While this stunt-man-moonlighting-as-criminal-wheelman-that-falls-in-love-with-neighbor revenge crime noir isn't original (shades of Alain Delon's character in Melville's "Le Samouraï" plus "The Stunt Man" and every Walter Hill and Michael Mann 80's movie ever made) "Drive" embraces its derivative pieces and assembles them into an arthouse-meets-mainstream mesh that won't please everybody (my midnight theater crowd got restless with the pace of conversation scenes) but feels solid and confident throughout. Ryan Gosling gives so much of his character away by doing so little (especially movement) it's remarkable; the Driver's Kubriesque manners are a perfect 'ying' to the supporting peformance 'yangs' from Albert Brooks (cast against type), Ron Perlman, Bryan Cranston and (looking an awful lot like Larisa Oleynik) Carey Mulligan. Like a time warp back to the 80's (pink font titles, Kavinsky's 'Nightcall' in the background, etc.) the elevator scene where Driver and Irene connect right before he's forced to violently reveal his true self is a self-contained world onto itself.

MONEYBALL (2011) in theaters for the first time. The considerable talents of Philip Seymour Hoffman and Jonah Hill are wasted (the former's a lot more than the latter's comic relief schtick) in this otherwise-excellent Brad Pitt vehicle that takes subjects I don't know squat about (baseball statistics and MLB financial deals) and boils them down to human terms and situations we can all relate to as often-hilarious everyday human/sports dramas. The need for the movie's narrative to highlight Billy Beane's single-minded vision comes at the expense of the real-life behind-the-scenes group effort that made the '02 Oakland A's team memorable (thus my beef with how P.S. Hoffman's portrayal of manager Art Howe borders on ridiculous), but that's Steven Zaillian/Aaron Sorkin screenwriting for you. Brad's acting has never been better than in scenes where Billy's apparent disregard for the sport he works for hide a deeper attachment for what baseball means to him than even he acknowledges. Director Bennett Miller (replacing Steven Soderbergh when "Moneyball" fell apart a few years back) lets the narrative do the talking with few signature shots/visuals, but the fact the movie holds together (despite my beef with the portrayal of Art Howe) speaks well for Miller's directorial skills.

And, last and certainly least, CINEMATIC TITANIC LIVE: EAST MEETS WATTS (2011/1974) at the Best Buy Theater in NYC for the first time. Saw this on DVD recently not worried about ruining the upcoming live performance by the Titans because they've earned a reputation (like the Rifftrax guys) for refreshing/changing jokes to keep the live performances fresh and different from the DVD versions. Well, either I was lied to or Joel/Trace/Mary Jo/Frank/Josh took the night off because the live version of "East Meets Watts" they did last Saturday night in Times Square was 95% identical to the one on the DVD, right down to the synchronized spit takes and scripted flubs. Even the pre-show bits were recycled gags from what the guys did in April of 2010 when their "Danger at Tiki Island" show went like gangbusters to a sold-out crowd. With the house half-full and laughing politely but less enthusiastically at jokes we already knew, I left the theater disappointed that I'd spent Broadway ticket prices for Off-Broadway quality work from people I like and admire but that clearly this time decided to phone in their work.

[Dunnyman]

Million Dollar Baby - First time seeing this one. I think they "Morgan Freeman'd" the movie to death with way too much narration.

You just gave me a terrific idea for a reality tv show. Pick someone at random and have Morgan Freeman follow them around narrating their lives…it would be called “Morgan Freeman’d”

I'd actually watch that.

[Attrage]

A View to a Kill – I avoided seeing this movie again for a long time because as a kid, Grace Jones scared the beejesus out of me. Having just watched it last night, I can safely say she still does.

Okay, so I mentioned in my last Bond post that Octopussy wasn’t my least favourite Roger Moore Bond film. Sadly, that honor goes to this one. And it’s not because Roger Moore was getting way too old to play James Bond, because I think despite pushing 60 he did an admirable job playing a character that’s supposed to be much younger. It’s because I found AVTAK, in a word, boring. As usual for a Bond film, the stunts are top notch, but everything else just seemed a bit tired and lacklustre. Even the fantastic Christopher Walken was such a bland villain (surprising, considering he went on to play so many interesting villains). I mean, c’mon writers, your villain mows his employees down with an uzi while cackling like a loon…where’s the panache?

And Tanya Roberts, despite being quite easy on the eyes, is such a woeful actress I think if I were to rank the Bond girls (which I am juuuuuuust not geeky enough to do…just – I’m like a hair’s breadth away) she would be swimming down there at the bottom with Denise Richards).

But, gripes aside, AVTAK certainly had some things going for it. The usual Bond stuff, really. Great locations (the Zorin estate where they have the horse auction – nice), first rate stuntwork (that car leaping off a ramp, driving over the roof of a bus and coming down the other side…freakin wow), some decent humor (the “I’m Jenny Flex….”Of course you are,” always makes me laugh – and the look on Moore’s face as he says it is priceless).

But aside from a few saving graces I can’t really recommend this one…I think Roger Moore probably should have gone with his gut instinct and not returned for another Bond, For Your Eyes Only was definitely where his Bond films peaked…Octopussy and AVTAK were the slide down the other side.

Well…it’s been so much fun revisiting the Roger Moore 007 films that I’ve decided that next week I’m just gonna keep on truckin with the first Timothy Dalton Bond, The Living Daylights.

[Bryan Pope]

^Great Duran Duran song, though.

[mavrach]

Sadly A View To a Kill was my first Bond movie so I have a soft spot for it. That probably explains why I enjoy Moore's cheesiness. But it's definitely a bad movie. How about Roger Moore's hand-to-hand combat skills that consist of unskilled karate chops? Did you catch the Dolph Lundren cameo as one of the KGB agents sent after Zoran?


I also saw Basket Case for the first time last night. I'd only heard of this one recently, but it keeps popping up on people's lists of top horror films so I have to take that as a recommendation. It's one of those horror movies that's terribly made, yet comes off as being a blast anyway because of its utter insane plot. Belial is a hoot of a monster to watch, and I was laughing my ass of any time he was onscreen. I only wish I could've gone in without knowing the synopsis, as the story isn't revealed until halfway through.

[HGervais]

Oh please don't get me started on Moore's Grandpa 007 cycle. A View To a Kill has three redeeming features, the Duran Duran song Bryan mentioned, one of John Barry's prettiest Bond scores and Christopher Walken as the bat-shit craziest ever Bond bad guy. By this point in the series, Roger Moore was at least a decade past his expiration date in the role and Tanya Roberts still holds the crown of worst all time Bond girl....and when that list includes Denise Richards, well, that is saying something.

[mavrach]

Orgazmo - Nothing special, mostly attempted poop jokes. I'd say it's only worthwhile for South Park completists. Made prior to the series, this is closer to the shock gags of the earlier seasons, as opposed to the sharp satire that South Park grew into. Parker & Stone made a few movies around that time, and I'd love to see them try for another movie at this point now that they've evolved so much over the past decade.

Being rated NC-17, I was also pretty surprised to see very little nudity. There's no good reason to have that rating. That's a rant in itself though...

[molly1216]

Hesher i kinda agree with Ebert's take it's 5 characters in search of a plot.
everyone is terrific...but they don't have much to do bout mope around and emote.
i'd have liked Joe's character to have been much more reason for being.