Time After Time

Another missed classic The Time Machine (1960) is such a wonderful film I'm sad I didn't see it as a child. It's the type that I would have loved immensely esp. since I used to have several adaptations that I would read over and over. Quality sci-fi flick. Almost erases that awful remake from 2002. 7.7 / 10

• June New: 63
• June Re-watch: 4
• June '11 MTD: 67
• June '10 MTD: 64
• 2011 YTD: 383
  

Rich, Sweet Gaming

The Richest Girl in the World (1934) was a TCM capture on my DVR. Entertaining little ditty about a super wealthy woman that uses a substitute as a stand-in. Love Fay Wray. 6.5/10

The Neveldine/Taylor joint Gamer (2009) is hella more excellent than I ever imagined based on the reviews and WOM. I'm sorry I paid them any attention and missed this on the big screen. Damn fun and easily re-watchable. 7/10

Never Take Sweets from a Stranger (1960) is a real-life horror story from Hammer films involving a pedophile and prejudice. This film will make you incensed with people. 7.5/10

• March New: 9
• March Re-watch: 1
• March '11 Total: 10
• March '10 Total: 75
• 2011 TOTAL: 171
  

Seven Iron

Paid my first visit to Big Cinemas (in the old Niles Golf Showcase space). Film I decided to see was 7 Khoon Maaf a.k.a. Seven Murders Forgiven (2011). Decent mystery with a few exceptional moments and borderline silly moments. Decent. 7/10

Erased another blindspot with The Apartment (1960) with an amusing Jack Lemmon. Shirley MacLaine is adorable. Wasn't crazy about this but still a good watch. Hard to accept Fred MacMurray in a villain role. 7.5/10

Iron Warrior (1987) is one of the Ator flicks but not directed by Fred Olen Ray. Not particularly good but does feature Miles O'Keeffe in the lead. Savina Gersak is pretty hot as the princess but other than Ator's chrome skull brother, not much happens. Give me a 1/6 scale figure of him! 5.5/10

• February New: 47
• February Re-watch: 5
• February '11 Total: 52
• February '10 Total: 61
• 2011 TOTAL: 143
  

Night Monsters

Eyes in the Night (1942) is really just a brilliant film featuring a blind private dick with a super cool german shepherd. Love this film! 7.4/10

M (1931) is another one of those that keep alluding me (ok, fine. I have it on DVD). Some chatter on twitter (and it being on NWI) got me to finally watch it. Creepy and great as everyone says. 7.7/10

The Cape Canaveral Monsters (1960) on NWI is not really a very good film but enjoyable for me because of its old-school 50s/60s sci-fi charm. Plus it has a brutal car crash in which the aliens possess the bodies of the dead corpses that decay during the course of the movie. 5.5/10

• February New: 30
• February Re-watch: 0
• February '11 Total: 30
• February '10 Total: 61
• 2011 TOTAL: 121
  

Bloody Murder

The Kennel Murder Case (1933) is on my William Powell 4-movie set. Powell is great as Philo Vance. Definitely a good buy for the price. Good flick and worth revisiting. 7/10

Neon Maniacs (1986) has been high on my radar since GGTMC covered it. So glad it lives up to the crazy and the hype. Would be a fun one to watch at Music Box Massacre. 6.5/10

Roger Vadim's Blood and Roses (1960) is on NWI and much better than expected. Pretty good vampire possession flick. 7/10

• February New: 27
• February Re-watch: 0
• February '11 Total: 27
• February '10 Total: 61
• 2011 TOTAL: 118
  

Fantastic Fest Day Four

Today was an early rise day thanks to my hotel mates heading over at 8am to get in line for boarding passes. Glad to have met Adam, Brad & Brian and it's a shame they leave Austin tomorrow. Not a bad day for getting the screenings I wanted. Started my day with Beat Takeshi's Outrage (2010), which is a return to form for him based on his recent output. It's a rather simple yakuza double-cross that escalates. Serious yet very much a black comedy w/plenty of great kills. High on my list of FF films.


My next slot I wanted the retro screening of Kim Ki-young's The Housemaid (1960) a.k.a. Hanyo. This restored print was quite awesome and truly showcases that great South Korean cinema isn't a current phenomenon. It's a simple tale of how one woman entering the lives of a family can cause so much pain and grief. The print isn't perfect which is unfortunate but hopefully it finds a good distributor. Definitely belongs to a Criterion or Kino Lorber home. Hoping I can catch the remake but unlikely according to my schedule.

Wasn't planning on going to Adam Green's Hatchet 2 (2010) premiere but with all the buzz swarming the festival (including an extra screen added) I jumped for it. Plus I figure it'll be easier to just watch this unrated film here then attempt to catch it at 1 of the only 2 theaters in Chicago screening it next weekend. Overall the film is as expected and I think I may like it better than the first Hatchet. Altho that could've been the atmosphere (both Danielle Harris & Kane Hodder were sitting in my screening). Fun kills and in-jokes. Great Q&A afterwards w/Green & the cast moderated by Scott Weinberg. Met Mr. Hodder. Win.

Originally had considered skipping my next slot to go out to dinner with my hotel mates but they decided to stick around. So I went to my scheduled screening of the S.Korean Bedevilled (2010) and I'm soooooooo glad I did. This Fantastic Fest discovery is my favorite film of the fest! First time director Jang Cheol-Su was on hand to introduce the film then provide a heartfelt Q&A afterwards. He was surprised that the audience cheered and laughed during the film, which he took to mean they didn't like it. Quite the contrary, as it was explained to him! The audience LOVED the film. The first two thirds of the film are slow but the final third act is amazing and cathartic. Another film I look forward seeing again. Actress Seo Yeong-Hie is brilliant in this. One of my favorite singular moments of the festival came after this screening when I was able to discuss the film at length with Harry Knowles who shared many of the same feelings.


In my final midnight movie slot I caught up with Gallants (2010), which received good buzz from its first screening at FF. This Hong Kong action comedy is a whimsical throwback film that reminds me of Stephen Chow's work. Very enjoyable flick that managed to entertain and keep me awake! That's really all I could ask for after this long, great day. Festival 50% completed. 19 films seen (counting that TV series as a film).

Next: Fantastic Fest Day Five

Previous: Fantastic Fest Day Three

• September New: 63
• September Re-watch: 0
• September Total: 63
• 2010 TOTAL: 570
  

Eat, Eat Me Alive

Thanks to Netflix Watch Instantly I was able to view yet another Reg Park Hercules flick in Hercules and the Captive Women (1961). You'd think with a title like that and Fay Spain as the Queen of Atlantis the film would be at least a little provocative. No, not really. Isn't all that bad but hardly the best of Reg Park films. I may have seen this one before because the creepy blonde clones are familiar but it's a blur. Do really admire the crazy set pieces... seriously, the underground chariot the race is amazing. 5.5/10

Went to Muvico for the midnight screening for Alexandre Aja's Piranha 3D (2010)!! Was a little worried w/the packed crowd of younger-than-me peoples but they settled down and really got into it. Fun film to see on the big screen w/a good crowd but damn do I ever hate 3D. Even the few gimmicks really didn't work. But as a throwback film, it's a damn load of fun. Look forward to the eventual movie night screening in 2D. 7/10


Venturing into another Italian swords & sandals flick on Instant Watch, Son of Samson (1960) doesn't play quite as well as the Hercules films from the same period but again I admire the set pieces and the scale. And at least the women are very attractive! Plus the poster art for these films is terrific! 5/10

• August New: 34
• August Re-watch: 7
• August Total: 41
• 2010 TOTAL: 482
  

Smut Sells

I'd seen enough clips from Street Trash (1987) that it seemed as though I'd seen the entire film. But this is truly the first time I have seen this cinematic wonder. I can only imagine what it would be like to witness this 80s b-movie treasure at the Drafthouse as it really is the perfect movie night flick. Someday I hope I can catch this one on the big screen w/an audience. It would be a blast, I'm sure.

Dipped back into my DVR storage for College Confidential (1960) featuring Steve Allen in the main role of a Sociology professor who finds himself embroiled in controversy for allegedly exposing his students to indecent subject matter during a "lifestyle" survey. Despite the lousy imdb ranking (4.3!), I found this to be a very watchable film. Granted it's far from being great but it does convey the sensationalism of a media blow-up fairly well. And all the woman are stunning in particular Cathy Crosby and her reveal during the trial. She's gorgeous! Plus another Elisha Cook Jr. sighting!

• June New: 44
• June Re-watch: 6
• June Total: 50
• 2010 TOTAL: 373
  

Dino-Lightning!

April Re-Watch Film: Enemy Gold (1993). Another Sidaris flick I saw a lot of on cable/skinemax back in the day.

Courtesy of TCM: watched Burt Reynolds in White Lightning (1973). Fairly solid flick but think I enjoy the sequel better. Appreciate that Reynolds seemed to gravitate towards car chase flicks during his heyday.


More kudos to NWI for having the OOP Dinosaurus! (1960) available. Two dinosaurs discovered underwater brought to life by... lightning! A little sad that of the two remaining dinosaurs the humans let one kill the other then proceed to kill the last dinosaur while allowing the last living caveman to also be killed. Sad! Fun watch tho.

Another gem on NWI The Alligator People (1959) features Lon Chaney Jr. in a supporting role in a nice, old school horror flick w/some fun creature effects. I'm kinda fond of any flick involving reptile people.

• April New: 23
• April Re-watch: 12
• April Total: 35
• 2010 TOTAL: 222
  

Jesus Cristo

Dug the hell out of The Count of Monte Cristo (2002). Liked Caviezel playing hero but don't like Pearce as the bad guy. Prefer him in more honorable roles. But still quite entertaining. Damn Richard Harris is just cool.

Now fired up Toby Tyler (1960) featuring little Kevin Corcoran in a film I watched a lot when I was a child but remember so little of it now. Just the chimp & circus story (made me want to run away and join the circus like all kids of my time).