Scary Santa Legend

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010)
Dir - Jalmari Helander

My second time watching this new genre Christmas classic. A great Finnish film that takes a different country's perception of the Santa legend and twists it a bit. I absolutely adore this film and can't wait to watch this come every December for many, many years to come.

Toothbrush Attack!

B-Robo Kabutack: The Epic Christmas Battle (1997)
Dir - ???
Xmas Insanity 2011

Our first move of XI was an epic kid's show from Japan and their hourlong "holiday themed" episode. I put that in quotes because there's very little to do with Christmas. It kind of seems like an afterthought. The joy of this Power Rangers-esque show is the shark robot named, appropriately enough, Sharkler. His weapon of choice is a giant toothbrush. How cool is that?!

A weird show with crazy Japanese antics you would expect and a female Santa who rides around on a flying surfboard.

I. Must. Find. This series.

It's All Squishy

Super (2010)
Dir - James Gunn

A bit late to the party on this one but at least I enjoyed myself. I can see why some don't like this film but it worked for me. There are some pretty crazy connections to Kick Ass, including the color schemes of the two main characters, but I'll take Gunn at his word that he planned this before ever knowing about that other property. This also reminds me how adorable I find Ellen Page. I would like to keep her on a shelf.

Zack's Zombies

Dawn of the Dead (2004)
Dir - Zack Snyder

When I saw this on opening night I was ready to hate. Still, I let my mind open and enjoyed what I saw. Romero's original is my favorite zombie film and one of my all time favs so it could never live up to this. Snyder's version, written by James Gunn, is way more action than horror and the only real connection to the original is that it's set in a mall. It is fun to see Modern Family's Phil Dunphy (Ty Burrell) as a dirty, sex obsessed asshole.

I'm not even going to get into the whole fast vs slow zombie debate. Because the winner is obviously slow.

Running Out of Time

In Time (2011)
Dir - Andrew Niccol

I was sold on this from the first trailer I saw. Yes, it's basically Logan's Run and Robin Hood mixed together with a lot of action but it's still interesting. The film does not disappoint. Plenty fun, the world is very interesting and Seyfried is, of course, cute as hell. There are plenty of problems, logistically, but I wasn't expected to be blown away and I got everything I wanted.

Will definitely watch again.

It Can't Rain All the Time

The Crow (1994)
Dir - Alex Proyas

I love this movie so much! It's been years since I actually watched it but the new Blu was a great excuse. Back in high school, when it came out, I had t-shirts, the graphic novel, hats, posters and even a ring (!) all based around this movie/character. I couldn't get enough. Still holds up really well and made me smile all the way through.

Karate and Stuff

Kill and Kill Again (1981)
Dir - Ivan Hall
Weird Wednesday

Interesting karate action film that's a sequel to another movie I really need to see. There is a lot of great fighting and a fun hypnotizing baddie.

Into the Blue

The Return of Captain Invincible (1984)
Dir - Philippe Mora

Since we had technical difficulties with our Weird Wednesday selection Micah suggested this early 80s superhero comedy starring Alan Arkin and Christopher Lee. It was quite fun, funny in parts and turned out to also be a musical! Some of the songs sounded very Shock Treatment-esque and when the credits roll it's because Richard O'Brien and Richard Hartely, the guys behind ST and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, did a few of them. Actually the best songs were theirs. I must find a soundtrack somewhere... or I'll just make one myself.

A Wee Bit Chilly

Arctic Blast (2010)
Dir - Brian Trenchard-Smith

BTS' latest was recently added to Netflix Instant so I thought I'd give it a go. It's... OK. Some of the FX work is pretty lame and I have a real problem with some of the logistics behind the way this icy fog kills some but not others. Still, I'm a sucker for a disaster film so I was entertained the whole time. Surely this will become a favorite of SyFy Original Movie fans everywhere.

You've Got 5 Minutes

Drive (2011)
Dir - Nicolas Winding Refn

All of the good word I was hearing about this film is rightly justified. Stylish, intriguing, and surprisingly (at least to me) violent. Gosling is fantastic in the lead and his performance really helped bring a some of the few lesser parts of the film, or more predictable moments.

Dinos Attack!

Carnosaur 3: Primal Species (1996)
Dir - Jonathan Winfrey

Watched this for a new series of reviews we'll be doing over at Horror's Not Dead in October. Full review will be up on the site then.

Hey Mon, It's a Shark

Jaws: The Revenge (1987)
Dir - Joseph Sargent

Thought I had seen this, but evidently not. I was enjoying it and wondering why people thought this was such shit and then things started to make sense. A roaring shark, island man Mario Van Peebles, psychic connections between a shark and a particular human family... wow.

Lake Shark Attack

Shark Night 3D (2011)
Dir - David R. Ellis

About what I expected. Nothing too great, but I'm a sucker for killer shark movies. The 3D was pretty good as were the animatronic sharks but the CGI was mostly bad. The most annoying thing about this is that it was PG-13. If they would have gone as balls out as they did with Piranha it would have been even better. Little complaints

Ready, Fight

Undisputed III (2010)
Dir - Isaac Florentine

This has some damn fine action! The fight scenes are awesome and the story's not too bad either. I wish people would stop doing the 300 thing of slowing down the action all the time. It gets damn annoying.

Go Speed Racer

Hot Rods to Hell (1967)
Dir - John Brahm

This evidently sat on the shelf for about ten years and if they would have left it there for another ten there may have been a great 70s exploitation flick to be had. Instead we get a film about hot rodding teens in the 60s that feels rooted in the 50s. There are some really interesting moments, some things that could be kind of scary, but they are ruined by the overacting and cheesy elements of the script. It does have Mimsy Farmer though, and that's a big win.

Run Logan, Run

Logan's Run (1976)
Dir - Michael Anderson

First time watch for me and overall I really enjoyed this. There are some cheesy FX, which are to be expected, but some really great ideas. I have some problems with parts of the story and logical things therein but I guess that's to be expected. After watching I went to a used bookstore and bought a copy of the source novel to read soon. I hear there are some pretty big differences.

Maurice Rules!

Rise of the Planet of he Apes (2011)
Dir - Rupert Wyatt

I really had no interest in seeing this. If I've seen any of the original series, aside from the famous ending on the beach, then I was too young to remember it. I did see Burton's version but don't remember anything about it other than I wasn't too impressed. Then when I started to see the FX work I decided would go eventually before it left theaters, but the rave reviews I was hearing about during opening weekend bumped it up high on my list.

I'm so glad I saw this movie!

I loved everything about this, even the few cheesy parts like "Draco's" throwback line. All of the apes are so wonderfully crafted by the Visual FX team and acted to perfection by Serkis and company that I fell in love with all of them. Caesar is fantastic but my favorite is still Maurice the circus orangutan.

I've already watched a brief YouTube video about the FX but I can't wait for the Blu-Ray to, hopefully, see a lengthy making-of doc.

Slick Streets and Prehistoric Creatures

Ice Road Terror (2011)
Dir - Terry Ingram
SyFy Original Movie

Another of my shitty movie weaknesses. Nothing too great about this, but Brea Grant is rather easy on the eyes. The creature was interesting but badly CGi'd, no surprise there. The funny thing is that its scale seemed to change depending on the scene. Maybe I was just tired.

Palance Poliziottesco

Mr. Scarface (1976) aka I padroni della citta'
Dir - Fernando Di Leo
Weird Wednesday

This week's WW pick took us to the world of Italian crime films. In this one Jack Palance is a dirty boss who our main characters are trying to rob to retire to Brazil. I know this because Tony wears a Brazil shirt, his apartment is covered in posters from the country and he mentions it repeatedly. I thought his cohort, played by Al Cliver, looked really familiar and when I checked him on IMDb it's because he was  in tons of Fulci's films. Can't believe I didn't recognize him. While parts of the film get a tad slow the end shoot-out and chase scenes more than make up for it all.

Fallen Very Far

Fallen Angels (1995)
Dir - Kar Wai Wong
AFFD

Here is one of the repertory films I saw that people praised. I don't get it. There are some great moments in this film and I can appreciate some of what Wong did but it just didn't really do it for me. There was some quality, something very mid-90s indie, that just rubbed me the wrong way. Maybe I wasn't in the mood for this type of film at that point in the day. I'll give it a shot some other time and see if my opinion changes.