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Cicman69
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Phase IV (1974)
Enjoyed both versions--MST and regular
I first saw this movie as a young child on TV back in the mid-to late 70s. I distinctly remember enjoying it. Of course, due to my age (about 6 years), I didn't understand everything but I did enjoy the story, especially the part where they program a computer to communicate with the ants.
I didn't see this movie again until I acquired most of the KTMA Mystery Science Theater episodes, which was about the year 2005. Once I realized that Phase IV was included in the set, almost immediately my 70s nostalgia went into overdrive. And so, instead of watching the episodes in order, I popped in Phase IV, which if memory serves is episode number 9. MST's version of this movie is one of the funniest from the KTMA era of the show. But despite the riffing, I did find myself paying attention to the movie and enjoying it much as I did as a child.
So, all said, this is a decent, rather cerebral, sci-fi movie and I heartily recommend you watch either version-MST or original.
Agent for H.A.R.M. (1966)
It had potential
I've only seen this MSTied. As far as I know it's impossible to get this otherwise. The MSTK version is hilarious and I've seen it several times. During those viewings I did realize the film had some potential but any chance it had was shot down by several illogical story elements: 1) OK, we have this defected scientist who is aware of a plan by the Soviet Union to dust our crops with a deadly spore, yet upon making his way to America he says nothing of the danger because he's working on a antidote. What?? So what if your antidote isn't successful, doctor? What if they strike before it's ready? Maybe you should tell somebody, hmmm? 2) Well, our trusty agent from H.A.R.M. comes to pay our good doctor a visit. Upon learning of the Commie plan, our agent informs his obviously drunk boss. But instead of informing the President, or State Department, or somebody with diplomatic pull, they go on with their spy game. Hey maybe if the president gives the Soviets a call telling them they know about the spore and the plan to use them, the Soviets would call it off, after all they're risking all out nuclear war with the U.S. But noooo....
3) The Soviet henchman Malko, shows his hand way too early--like near the beginning of the film. He kills the doctor's assistant with a spore gun which obviously would tip of the doctor that the Soviets are on to him. Malko is taking an absurd risk--the good defected scientist might tell somebody. However, the Soviets aren't worried. The good doctor keeps this to himself.
So the continuing parade of illogic shoots down any potential this clunker had. So if somehow you find a copy of this unMSTied, Gerd your Oswald, because you're in for a tough one.
Grizzly Man (2005)
Not what I expected
I saw this with no prior expectations except maybe I expected to see a serious scientist studying bears. Not so. What I saw was at best an enthusiastic amateur who didn't really study bears like a scientist, but merely observed them and basically wished to be one of them. It wasn't made clear to me if he actually did anything of value with the film he took.
But putting that aside, Tim Treadwell was a deeply disturbed and haunted man who had a very sentimental view of nature. Everybody with a modicum of common sense knows that nature is neither good nor evil, that she simply is. She can seem horribly cruel sometimes and Tim was unable to comprehend that in nature, life can be short and meaningless by our standards. And his idiotic rant sprinkled with various expletives that "animals rule!" towards the end of the film doesn't even merit further comment.
However, I did find it interesting that Tim did manage to forge unlikely relationships with these wild animals.
And finally, Tim's constant use of the F-word indicated to me a lack of education and vocabulary that was quite distracting from the film at times. If you want me to take you seriously, you must at least use a level of vocabulary that indicates you graduated high school.
3/10 rating.
Catching Trouble (1936)
I love this short
We all saw this short movie via the vehicle of "MST3K" pure and simple. Their treatment of it was funny for the most part but consider that in 50 years, the prized liberal philosophy of "political correctness", (which I despise) will be mocked mercilessly by future generations of MST3K-like programs. And to be fair to Ross Allen, he was not a mindless animal hater, but a product of his time and in fact did scientific work which was recognized. Most of MST3K's work with shorts is very funny but you must also remember the era from which they came and in many cases the ideas presented were good ones, they were just taken to a crazy extreme.
War of the Worlds (2005)
Not bad, but read the book, it's 100 times better
I just saw this movie this past Thursday night. Upon the rolling of the ending credits, my friends and I were not sure how we felt about this movie. The movie is relatively faithful to the novel in many ways, which is a good thing for fans of Wells' science fiction such as myself. My biggest problem with the movie lies with how the aliens die.
As in the novel, the aliens catch earth viruses and die. Now my problem lies here: In 1898, when Wells wrote the novel, science was just touching the surface of the nature of viruses and bacteria. So Wells having the aliens die from infection was a brilliant stroke of realism. However, in the present day, we have infinitely greater knowledge of viruses and bacteria than in 1898. We know the dangers of being exposed to unknown viruses and bacteria. So thus the Aliens in the movie should have also known the dangers. Hell, they should have sent a probe (just like the probe we sent to Mars) to test the planet for dangerous microbes.
However, I did enjoy seeing the tripods of Wells' novel brought to life. But you should probably read the book before seeing this movie or the 1953 version.
Super Size Me (2004)
Who cares?
You're a complete idiot if you don't know fast food (and smoking) are bad for you and frankly I don't care if you get sick. Nobody puts a gun (another story) to your head making you buy these products. And don't give me the liberal song and dance about deceptive advertising.
Use your head. This a a free market (thank god) you must exercise a little common sense. We've known for years the dangers of fast and processed food. Idiots such as Michael Moore (who's First Amendment rights I support 110%) have made this kind of "documentuary" fashionable. 1/10 stars. You certainly can find something better to watch.
The Grudge (2004)
A decent movie, but wait for the DVD
I just saw "The Grudge" this past weekend. I basically enjoyed it. The concept of a physical place being haunted because of the emotions generated by a person or things' death is not new. Many ghost researchers think that hauntings might be explained in part because shards of emotions get physically recorded in a place, like sound on magnetic tape, and then the haunting occurs when you "play back" the emotions, usually by remodeling the house. So to me, "The Grudge" has a high believability rating.
Throughout the entire movie is a feeling of dread and fear. It never lets up. In fact, it becomes quite tiring by the end of the movie. The ending however, is very flawed and predictable. The musical score also gives away each little fright. I don't think it's worth your time to pay to see it in the theater, but if must go to the theater, go during a matinée. I only paid $5.00 to see it in the afternoon.
Clash of the Titans (1981)
Excellent Fantasy Movie
I love this movie. I remember when it made it's debut in 1981. Sure the stop motion special effects used in the movie were just about at their end by that time, but that does not detract one iota from the story. Special effects DO NOT make a movie. Good acting and story do, period.
The movie of course is based on the Greek myth of Perseus. It follows the original myth rather well but of course there was some artistic license taken. A few of my favorite scenes were the encounter with the three blind witches, the crossing of the River Styx and of course the showdown with Medusa.
I fully recommend you see the movie and remember, don't pay the ferryman until he gets you to the other side.
The Fog (1980)
Beautifully atmospheric
I'm a child of the 80s. I was not quite 11 years old in 1980 when "The Fog" premiered. I didn't get to see it in the theater but I did get to see it on HBO or some such channel in 1981. I loved it. In those days John Carpenter was the undisputed horror master and all of us kids made every effort to see his movies despite the "R" ratings. Fortunately, movie theaters back then were a lot less picky regarding who they sold tickets to, but that's another story.
The film still stands the the test of time. **Possible spoilers ** Its plot is a simple revenge tale. Similar stories have been done countless times in previous movies. But John Carptenter's take on the revenge tale was somehow different. Perhaps it's the mixture of sea faring folklore combined with a brilliantly creepy musical score. Perhaps it's something else. All I know is this movie is genuinely frightening and entertaining. The supernatural elements of the film are believable. In fact, you even sympathize a little with the killers in this movie because they were indeed wronged.
I strongly suggest renting this if you haven't seen it before. And if you have seen it and it's been a while, why not rediscover a classic horror movie from the golden age of the 1980s?
The Village (2004)
A good movie, but very over rated
Here we have a seemingly picturesque nineteenth century village in rural Pennsylvania. But of course, things are not as they seem.
Possible spoilers after this point.
I won't comment on the "surprise ending" which was no surprise to me since I guessed it half-way through the movie. What I really want to know is why did these elders who founded the colony think living in a nineteenth century village would make the perfect utopia? What's wrong with electricity? Or modern clothes? Or indoor plumbing? Why use mid 19th century speech patterns? Do any of these things have any real intrinsic value in regards to a society? I don't think so.
I know the whole idea was a retreat to innocence. But I fail to see why living in a relatively primitive society would enhance innocence. Sure, you may have simplified your life on the surface, but in ANY society with two or more human beings, there WILL complications. Mankind can't exist in a state of pure innocence. It's simply human nature. And to delude yourself that living a Amish-like existence will heal all your wounds is very sad. You can't run from your pain. You deal with it. But these elders did no such thing. They ran from their problems and founded a doomed utoptia. And of course all utopias are doomed from the start. Of course I also realize that the use of the 19th century by the writers was simply to throw the viewer off for the "surprise" ending.
Now in regards to the love story, I felt this was tastefully and realistically done. Normally I don't like hollywood love stories because they are so trite..ie "Titantic", but not so here. There was also some decent suspense and the acting was good throughout. I rated this 6/10. It's worth a look, but wait 'till the DVD comes out.
A Date with Your Family (1950)
Obviously funny but...
Ok, we all saw this short via the medium of "Mystery Science Theater". I love MST3k, it is perhaps the best tv comedy show in history. Ok, putting that aside, seeing Joel and the bots riff this old 50s educational short is funny but one has to consider something: the basic idea behind this short is GOOD!
Consider how dysfunctional today's families are. I bet more than one family would prefer the family portrayed in this short (with all of the repression and gender stereotyping) to their own. Why? Because we've thrown the baby out with the bath water. It is a good idea to respect your parents, help out with siblings, eat dinner together as a family, etc, etc. The short obviously took these things to the 50s extreme but they were not bad ideas!
Mystery Science Theater 3000 (1988)
The best-still winning fans 5 years after cancelation
I've started to notice some negative comments about this utterly brilliant show. These critics are free to express their opinion but so am I. Some of you lament "The show used lame puppets". The props of the show were supposed to be lame--they're making fun of some of the lamest excuses for movies ever made. They went out of their way to make cheap looking props and cheesy skits.
Others mention that making obscure pop culture and historical references only stoke the viewer's ego and are not funny. Hmmm. When I see two puppet robots and a man observe that the hero has a "A-ha" haircut or when any given character hides behind a curtain and gets called "Polonius", I find it funny not because I grew up on the 80s and listened to "A-ha" or love reading Shakespeare. I find it funny that by sheer chance some movie maker created an unwitting connection between things that were never meant to be connected-at least until this brilliant show came along.
From Here to Eternity (1953)
You really need to read the book
Don't get me wrong, this is a good move. I gave it a 7 out of 10. But the book is so far superior to the movie that words would fail me if I were to try and compare the two. The book is a rare glimpse behind the scenes of the peacetime army before World War II. It is NOT a love story or a war story for that matter. It is both and at the same time neither. An examination of the nature of humanity better suits it.
I always have to stifle a giggle when people start talking about the "greatest generation", as if the subsequent generations just don't measure up. And before you start whining, what the W.W. II generation did was nothing short but save the world--literally and I am eternally grateful to them for that. But they are no better than the Baby Boomers or Gen X. James Jones in his brilliant book proves it.
In vivid detail he describes the daily life of not only the average "dog face" soilder, but the officers too. You'll learn about the whore houses of Hawaii, the gambling sheds, the heavy drinking--things I'm sure your grandfather never told you about.
Read the book, then see the movie.
Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922)
Modern Dracula fans-it's worth a look
I am a huge fan of Stoker's novel "Dracula". I try and read it a least once every year. Naturally I am also interested in movies based on the novel and vampire movies in general. "Nosferatu" is worthy of it's legendary status. While not perfect by any means, the atmosphere is indeed frightening. The plot of the movie itself is a simplified version of the novel. I was a little perturbed because of the plot changes made from the novel, but they are not fatal to the film. If you are capable of turning off your modern movie expectations and watch this silent gem from another era, you will not be disappointed.
King of the Zombies (1941)
A new favorite of mine
I just saw this for the first time yesterday. I loved it! The fact that it laughs in the face of political correctness absolutely cracks me up.
Sure the portrayal of the black character is racist by our current standards. Who cares! You can't judge a movie made in 1941 by our current standards.
As for the story, it's a bit hokey, but again who cares? The plot moves along at a brisk pace and the comedy of the black character(forget his name-too lazy to look up) will keep you in stitches.
I think I'll watch it again tonight!
The Passion of the Christ (2004)
The ONLY movie I've ever attended where people clapped at the end
This is a great movie. It is no matter if you're Christian or not, the movie has served a noble purpose. People are discussing the current state of morality (or lack thereof) like I've never heard before. In fact, today at work, people from my office were discussing this movie and relating it to the current sad state of humanity.
The leftist media hates this movie. That's why you see so many poor reviews from the mainstream media. They are scared to death of such movies. It challenges their (ironically) narrow view of the world. It has been my experience that so called Liberals are the most narrow-minded people I've ever encountered. I've encountered far more bigoted "liberals" than I ever did of conservatives.
As for the content of the movie itself, it is extremely faithful to the four gospels. The usage of the Aramaic and Latin was an excellent touch. However, I did hear one Aramaic expert who claimed that they made mistakes in the language. I can not speak to that effect, as I do not know Aramaic or Latin-I do know a little New Testament Greek however.
Final analysis:See the movie.
Planet of the Apes (1968)
An almost perfect movie
I remember in the early 70s when "Plant Of The Apes" was a huge cultural phenomenon. I was a very young child at the time, but even I had a "Planet Of The Apes" kite!
I first really got into this movie in the mid 80s. I've seen this movie at least a dozen times. Every time it never fails to provide thoughtful entertainment. And of course, the ending is one of the most shocking in movie history period! It doesen't matter how many times I've seen the movie, the ending gives me chills. The portrayal of science versus religion, racism, war mongering, etc are utterly brilliant.
This movie is required viewing for anyone-even if you don't like science fiction.
The Giant Gila Monster (1959)
Aww come on guys...
We all know with a title of "The Giant Gila Monster" that we're not talking about Shakespeare. But I can't help but like this movie. Of course I first saw this on MST3K years ago during the Joel Years. That particular episode was hilarious but at the same time I had to admit I liked the movie. When I encountered a copy of this movie at my local Suncoast store a few years back, I just had to buy it.
The acting in this movie for the most part is decent. The Sheriff and Chase Winstead characters were very well done for such a low budget movie. The dialogue is also decent for the most part. Then we have the much maligned singing in this movie. Don Sulivan(Chase) had a good singing voice but the songs were cheesy and easy targets for Joel and the bots.
On the whole, while I loved the MST3K version, I also enjoyed the regular version.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)
Uh, I thought this was supposed to be scary
Back in 1985, I rented the original TCM while on vacation at the beach. As a kid, we had heard all sorts of rumors concerning TCM and I could not wait to see it. I was blown away. Never had I seen a movie do so much with so little (and so little gore!) After viewing, I was left with a sense of dread and revulsion that would not leave me for days.
Now, let's jump ahead to 2003. In October 2003, my girlfriend and myself, after re-viewing the original TCM, went to see this mess. First off, this is supposed to be set in 1974, but none of the kids appear as 70s kids. I half expected one of them to whip out a cell phone. 70s retro clothes made in the 21st century are not the same as the original 70s clothes I remember quite well. Ok, I can overlook that.
Possible spoiler- But to expose Leatherface without his human mask takes away all of his menace, all of his mystery. And to make it worse, we learn from mama Leatherface that her poor boy is just another VICTIM because everybody made fun of him in school because he had a skin condition on his face. We seem to have this obsession in our society that everybody is a victim and not responsible for their actions. The movie loses mega points for that nonsensical left-wing propaganda.
My final analysis-You kiddies, i.e. Gen Y, go rent the original TCM. And for the record kiddies, this is not a real story as some of the dumb tenny boppers were insisting to each other behind my seat in the theater. Is is LOOSELY based on the crimes of Ed Gein, who also inspired Psycho, Silence Of The lambs, TCM, etc....
Starship Troopers (1997)
Can someone explain something to me?
I saw this movie back in 1997. I haven't seen it since and the details are certainly going stale in my mind. Even though I love to read, I haven't read the novel either because the author just isn't my cup of tea...but in any case, why was it necessary to send troopers Physicaly to the planet's surface? Why not just nuke the planet from space? Maybe this was explained and I simply missed it because I wasn't paying that close attention--this is a very bad movie, did I mention that? So can any of you tell me why people had to fight the bugs?
Just wondering....
Donnie Darko (2001)
Interesting but flawed
Possible spoilers
I just saw this film Saturday night. For the most part I enjoyed it's take on the nature of reality and God. The movie loses big points with me because of the left-wing propaganda of the character Jim Cunningham. Cunningham is portrayed as a advocate of not just his "Fear/Love" program, but of traditional values. But it turns out he's into kiddie porn. The underlying message is that anyone who holds conservative values is suspect. Hollywood constantly tries to hide it's agenda in the seeminly benign medium of film, but I always catch them red handed.
If you're into pyschological horror, rent it, just beware of the propaganda.
28 Days Later... (2002)
Don't waste your time like I did
Possible Spoilers
Oh man...what a bad movie. This is supposed to be the scariest movie since the "Exorcist"?!!!! I wonder if that critic was watching the same movie as me. This "movie" hardly has any zombies at all. We're forced to watch our heroes make their way to a military depot, where of course things are not as they seem. It's not the zombies we have to fear, but ourselves. Oh Puleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze. What a lame, left-wing message that has been done to death. I won't even get into the numerous plot holes. I would rather watch "Manos:The Hands Of Fate" unMSTied than see this drivel again in any form.
Mitchell (1975)
In Defense Of Mitchell
Ok, like most people, I was introduced to "Mitchell" via the comedy genius of Mystery Science Theater. It's one of my favorite episodes of the Joel era. However, I have recently seen the original un-MSTied verison of "Mitchell" and I can saw, it's really not all that bad. It's not good mind you, but it's no "Manos". The problem is they squeezed about an hour's worth of material into a 97 minute movie. And let's not forget, Mitchell is supposed to be unlikable. He's an anti-hero, something not often seen in American movies. Joe Don Baker did a decent job in this given the limitations of the material.
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
This is a good movie but...
...It has a major flaw. Why would you only have two guards and no closed-circuit TV when Lector was moved to the court house for temporary keeping? Think about it, you have the most intelligent and resourceful serial killer in history and you have two guards???
Other than that, the movie is excellent.
Bowling for Columbine (2002)
Left-wing garbage
Need I say more? Ok, how about Trash? Not good enough? Dung. But hey it's a free country (thanks to guns) so if this floats your boat, so be it.
Praise God and pass the ammo!