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Ted Raimi is the best thing about Wishmaster.

It’s a pretty solid B-Movie. The series suffers from rapidly diminishing returns of course, but the first remains a not-so-guilty-pleasure of mine.

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
Three Thousand Years of Longing

Idris Elba and Tilda Swansen as a Djinn and a literature professor, as he tries to get her to make 3 wishes and she points out how that never ends well.

Doesn't quite stick the landing but some amazing visuals and fun history.

Something that really bugged me...

Oooh! Beetlejuice 2 officially announced!

Feast (2006)

This is an incredibly funny, campy, and downright self-aware monster flick. The opening is agonizingly slow and gimmicky and runs for way to long, but once 'Hero' shows up things just take off to the races and this is everything you want in a good fun B-Movie.

Finally got around to Cronos (1993), Guillermo Del Toro's feature debut. It is his take on a vampire story and like much of his work is a mix of dark and sentimental. It reminded me of those old Steven Spielburg's Amazing Stories from back in the day, just a bit longer, though it goes by at a brisk pace. Watched the trailer for it afterward and it makes it seem like this big grand story with sweltering, operatic music but the film is actually very quiet and personal. It is a very nice little story and worth watching if you are a fan of del Toro and want to see some of his earlier work.

You'll never believe this but Ron Pearlman is in the movie.

FWIW Apple TV resurrected Amazing Stories and it's pretty good. Doesn't seem to have progressed past 1 season, although it also hasn't been officially cancelled.

Still, it's a handful of quality episodes that obviously all stand alone thanks to the format.

Babylon A.D.

This is a Vin Diesel vehicle that pre-dates the F&F films. It also has Michelle Yeoh in it.

There is a plot and a story about a magical girl macguffin. The setting is mostly in Russia and former Soviet Republics as the main characters try to get across into America. Honestly, the movie barely holds together and makes very little sense, but the setting is kind of interesting if you are into Zona Alfa.

This is a Vin Diesel vehicle that pre-dates the F&F films. It also has Michelle Yeoh in it.

The first F+F movie is 2001, this was 2008.

Wow, my memory fools me again!

I’m half cut, and watching Gladiator

This is still a really really good film.

 Easy E wrote:
Wow, my memory fools me again!

The franchise is a mess, Diesel left for several films and the naming conventions are FUBAR, it's very easy to lose track.

Sisu (in theaters now)

Finnish John Wick kills Nazis, with a heavy dollop of Tarantino. Worth seeing with an audience for the kill reactions.

Kids Vs Aliens

Found this on Shudder.

It’s another “Are You Afraid Of The Dark” with bells on youth fright fest. And the Wikipedia shows it to be a spin off/elaboration on a V/H/S/ short film. Like Hobo with a Shotgun first debuted on one of the Grindhouse movies as a faux trailer.

It’s…OK, I guess. The young cast are pretty impressive, and it’s not one for kids due to some gore, body horror and a lot of swearing.

Actually, I’m going to upgrade the “OK, I guess” to “surprisingly good fun”. It’s not reinventing a genre or pushing boundaries, but I’ve been hooked throughout.

Our heroes are solid, the villain could compete with 90’s Dudebro Douches, the douchiest of all Dudebro Douches in cinema history.

Importantly? All practical effects. Not necessarily good practical effects, but plenty good enough to convince with just a mild suspension of disbelief.

If like me you grew up with Are You Afraid Of The Dark and Goosebumps, I think you’ll get a kick out of this, as it has their feel without having to pull any punches.

Evil Dead Rises.

Minor complaints noting huge. Wasn't a fan of the kids or even any of the characters at all for the most part. Teens, yuck.

However, I enjoyed that the Deadites have rules as in how they are written and behave. The Deadites were the best part of this movie along with the swimming pool worth of blood.
I didn't like how the Necronomicon was found in their sub basement, which had been a bank vault at one point. But you do have to put the elements for the movie in the movie so it is what it is. I prefer the reboot to this new one if I were to put them in order but that's still 4th and 5th place for my list. Honestly what ever keeps these movies coming is fine so long as I get to see them.
You might enjoy it.
It was ok.

 warhead01 wrote:
along with the swimming pool worth of blood.

They used so much fake blood it was about a quarter of a million dollars of the films budget.

 warhead01 wrote:
didn't like how the Necronomicon was found in their sub basement, which had been a bank vault at one point.

Apparently the filmmakers are going with the approach that the part in Army of Darkness when Ash finds the three different Necronomicons wasn't just two decoys and the real one but three separate versions with this one being one of those other two; it is a different copy and not the one from the other films. Of course the director also said that with Bruce Campbell doing the voice on the record he liked to think that was Ash when he was still bouncing around time, which isn't canon so who knows?

That's amazing. A quarter of the budget! Cool!

I didn't consider that. Not sure what's cannon and what's not any more. But it was just a small gripe really, the story needed a Necronomicon to get that party started after all. Hadn't considered the other two either.

I will be buying it on DVD for sure to go with the others. I think the end was wild, the characters were so bloody.
More blood than a GWAR concert!

Tombstone

A well done Wild West shoot-em-up with an absolutely all star cast. The movie gives the main protagonists a lot of character while at the same time making them somewhat unsympathetic.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
Tombstone

I'm your huckleberry.

The Doc Holliday lines in this film are enough for a perpetual meme machine.

Skinamarink

Somehow, a college project seems to have been accidentally released as a commercial film.

While I applaud any attempt to try something new, I felt this fell flat on its face. The off kilter camera angles and muffled dialogue, coupled with the grainy effect on the footage just seem to get in the way.

Weirdly, after around 20 minutes, where I already had my doubts, the power cut out.

Once everything was back up, I googled some other reviews to see if things picked up. The consensus was a resounding "not really," so I left it there.

This is one of those instances where just even skimming reviewers would have helped. Every bit I'd read about Skinamarink pretty much stated that it was an art house film made on a shoestring budget and would absolutely not be for everyone, or probably even most. It is more of an experiment than a conventional story.

I understood it wasn't "conventional" going in, and had no issue with that.

But it's beyond arthouse, it's more like somebody tried to make a film from the bits that they swept off the editing room floor of another movie.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
It belongs in a film festival, not being presented on a streaming service as entertainment.

Calling that movie arthouse is (to be generous) licking someone's bum.

I watched it all the way through out of sheer morbid curiosity, and in its case 'arthouse' is code for 'lazy.' Shoestring budget yes, but it's like they didn't have budget for anything but a camera and some marketing.

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
Three Thousand Years of Longing

Idris Elba and Tilda Swansen as a Djinn and a literature professor, as he tries to get her to make 3 wishes and she points out how that never ends well.

Doesn't quite stick the landing but some amazing visuals and fun history.

Oh, that sounds rather good.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
Tombstone

A well done Wild West shoot-em-up with an absolutely all star cast. The movie gives the main protagonists a lot of character while at the same time making them somewhat unsympathetic.

Aye, I happened to catch that one again some night on TV a few months ago. As I had read stuff on Johnny Ringo late last year that added to the enjoyment. They seem to have taken their research seriously.

Blackhawk Down

I'm not one to sit around reading credits or following the comings and goings of Hollywood actors, so I'm quite often faced with the recognition of "Wait, isn't that...?" Newly noticed on this viewing are Tom Hardy and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.

 LordofHats wrote:
Calling that movie arthouse is (to be generous) licking someone's bum.

I watched it all the way through out of sheer morbid curiosity, and in its case 'arthouse' is code for 'lazy.' Shoestring budget yes, but it's like they didn't have budget for anything but a camera and some marketing.

I never said it was good. Still for as much as you both vehemently disliked it I've seen others who thought it was interesting in how it created mood and atmosphere with so little. Again, I'm not saying I agree with that but the one constant on the film is how polarizing it is, with the vast majority not taking to it. It is certainly an oddity and in the end will just be a footnote at best not some lost hidden gem. It has been a bit funny that reviewers have consistently pointed out that most people will not like it, including themselves, and yet people watch it and say "man I really didn't like that". It is like I said "this milk has soured" so you grabbed the glass, took a drink and recoiled saying "omg that milk has gone bad". Yeah, no kidding.

Edit: I had been trying to figure out why it did get even a limited release and the best I can come up with is that it was cheap and the hope was it might be another Paranormal Activity or Blair Witch Project that bizarrely went from tiny to huge, ensuring big returns.

Plus, there are literally no other movies out in the last week or two.

 Ahtman wrote:

 LordofHats wrote:
Calling that movie arthouse is (to be generous) licking someone's bum.

I watched it all the way through out of sheer morbid curiosity, and in its case 'arthouse' is code for 'lazy.' Shoestring budget yes, but it's like they didn't have budget for anything but a camera and some marketing.

I never said it was good. Still for as much as you both vehemently disliked it I've seen others who thought it was interesting in how it created mood and atmosphere with so little. Again, I'm not saying I agree with that but the one constant on the film is how polarizing it is, with the vast majority not taking to it. It is certainly an oddity and in the end will just be a footnote at best not some lost hidden gem. It has been a bit funny that reviewers have consistently pointed out that most people will not like it, including themselves, and yet people watch it and say "man I really didn't like that". It is like I said "this milk has soured" so you grabbed the glass, took a drink and recoiled saying "omg that milk has gone bad". Yeah, no kidding.

Edit: I had been trying to figure out why it did get even a limited release and the best I can come up with is that it was cheap and the hope was it might be another Paranormal Activity or Blair Witch Project that bizarrely went from tiny to huge, ensuring big returns.

Thing is, as a horror fan, "this won't be for everyone" is a constant refrain. Certainly when you plumb the depths and bring titles like The Human Centipede or A Serbian Film into the conversation it basically goes without saying.

By and large (A Serbian Film was my personal line in the sand) I've always been happy to watch and make my mind up.

What sets Skinamarink apart from those is that "it's not for everyone" in this context means "not for people who wouldn't sit and watch the menu animations on a DVD for an hour and a half, or aren't high." It lacks the very bones a movie needs to be a coherent creation. I get it, I can see what the point of the experiment is, to try and create a pervasive mood rather than tell a story, but that experiment fails IMO.

 aku-chan wrote:
Batman:- The Doom that came to Gotham

An unusual and interesting take on the whole Batman thing, and probably one of the best of these little animated films they've done in a while. A big part of that is probably down to them using an older animation style (I just can't get used to the style they use on the newer stuff), but it's also a genuinely decent movie that doesn't really have the usual run-time issues.

Definitely want to see this now...

 Azreal13 wrote:
Thing is, as a horror fan, "this won't be for everyone" is a constant refrain. Certainly when you plumb the depths and bring titles like The Human Centipede or A Serbian Film into the conversation it basically goes without saying.

By and large (A Serbian Film was my personal line in the sand) I've always been happy to watch and make my mind up.

What sets Skinamarink apart from those is that "it's not for everyone" in this context means "not for people who wouldn't sit and watch the menu animations on a DVD for an hour and a half, or aren't high." It lacks the very bones a movie needs to be a coherent creation. I get it, I can see what the point of the experiment is, to try and create a pervasive mood rather than tell a story, but that experiment fails IMO.

That's great but absolutely changes nothing I said though I'm sure you feel better harping on a movie that really isn't worth it over and over just to let everyone know how little you think of it. We'll put a note on you're bio that you were a horror fan and yet somehow really, really didn't like a movie.