02-16 ...Films seen in February 2016

TV movie an anthology along the lines of Tales From The Crypt

3 stories covering a showdown in the West, street racing and cowardice in the trenches in WW1

Nice to see differing backgrounds for the stories and the cast list is impressive Kirk Douglas, Bard Pitt, Dan Aykroyd

The only problem I had with it was the stories lacked...punch. They are okay but not great

A mix of fantasy and bio about Stanley Milgram and his experiments about the nature of authority

interesting stuff...an its always amazing at how so many people will blindly follow orders and that Milgram seemed to have started the 6 degrees of separation idea

A man and his daughter move to a new house after the death of her mother. The daughter believes the new house is dangerous and discovers a bad history

This wasnt too bad but it just didnt really offer anythiing new.The first 2 acts are a nice build up but the last just loses it

Lead actress Miranda Cosgrove is almost painfully pretty

a rare move for me as this is an American re-make of of a quirky time spanning gentle Asian romantic light comedy Il Mare and thats a film I consider one of the best movies made

Usually I avoid remakes and sequels but this got the better of me. So how does it stand up to the original?...

well its not bad and I can easily imagine if you have not seen the original this would be considered very good but, I prefer the originals tone and cuteness...there is something a bit hard and forced about this some elements which keep at good and not great...the original had better imagery and just is simply one of the best feelgood movies made which is important as the tragedy near the ned is far greater hitting

If you can , see the original otherwise this is a worthwhile movie good but not great as its missing something magical

average comedy action thriller, well I say comedy as this intended to be funny but I failed to find anything amusing - the action is ok and the kill with the frying pan is a standout moment and deserves to be seen...other than that is as average as can be

A cowboy headed to see his wife meets a bounty hunter in the desert and to pass the night they exchange short weird and scary stories of life in the west...

A nice new angle on the standard horror anthology sub-genre but the tales just seemed to cut off with no real resolution and the framing story was lame

Fake documentary about a dog show from some of the people involved in making Spinal Tap

This starts dryly and is a bit of a non-comedy for the first act which introduces the characters but onc eit gets to the actual show the laughs start to come. Its nowhere as funny as Spinal Tap and for some reason it lacks relatable characters

Worth a watch but dont expect any big LOLs though there are laughs that mainly come from the out of place sports commentator at the show

I have seen this film a few times over the years and recently re-watched it

the jokes are silly and scattergun but in the main it holds up very well despite being over 25 years old

This small bit always makes me laugh

[as the plane prepares to take off]
Hanging Lady: Nervous?
Ted Striker: Yes.
Hanging Lady: First time?
Ted Striker: No, I've been nervous lots of times.

Asian animation which is a light fantasy involving a woman who discovers her husband is a werewolf and gives birth to 2 children and the story follows them surviving out in the countryside when the father dies

this is light stuff and mainly feelgood but doesnt really do much to be honest - good but not great

In a future America society has achieved peace through artificially handicapping intelligent and other talented people. When Harrison is experiencing problems of being average he visits an illegal club for intellectual pursuits and is enlisted into the elite controlling the world

A rather neat adaptation of Kurt Vonneguts short story which makes you think...also the look and feel is a little like Terry Gilliams Brazil

Nice moments of satire and surreal-ness but it does drag a bit

modern horror anthology which doesnt seem to work and is an almost type of film...almost scary, almost good...too much use of horror cliches like the wraparound world where a person tries to escape a place only to find themselves back at the same place...the child leading a person to danger...nothing really memorable about this to be honest

slow overblown sci fi - in the near future after Earth has been nearly destroyed a pilot protects drones and a machine that siphons off water to help humanity

the production values are excellent and some of the battle scenes are enjoyable ...but there is like 30 minutes of plot here spread far too thin

what starts out a little like Romper Stomper another film about racist skinheads this mutates into a more bizarre story with the main character being a conflicted Jew who believes in Facism and Nazis

An interesting and compelling film though it did drag a bit near the end

Enjoyable for the most part modern horror with a twist on the teens getting killed after sex cliche

The bad points - mainly sonically the industrial music the soundtrack and the over use of increased volume is at odds with this almost abstract surreal-ish horror. Also it was a little hard to care for the characters and a little to fake deep with the supposed references to literature. None of the jumpscares worked at all for me

the plus points - its a fresh angle for horror and has moments of creepiness

Overall worth a watch for the ideas and occasional moments of good creepy atmosphere...lacking in any genuine scares though. A nice idea erratically executed

A film made by Amazon I believe

A computer programmer is hired to sort out code by a programmer who committed suicide after killing other members of staff. He quickly discovers th code has a life of its own...

Well it was quite interesting but mainly suffered through low budget and a poor final act

Surprisingly it used webcam and security camera footage well - usually these things become tiresome pretty quick - in some way this reminded me of the cheap horror film The Collingswood Story

not bad

Mid 80s horror anthology "hosted" by horror stalwart Vincent Price

6 short stories which are bit different, silly and stupid in some ways but a good attempt at creating a vibe or atmosphere
A shame that the soundtrack is some standard 80s pop rock

Probably the most enjoyable sequence is Whos There - stupid with poor effects but kind of fun

lifted from IMDB -- Emily Burns is being held captive in a room with no idea as to why or how she got there. Determined to escape and return to her daughter and husband, Emily discovers clues within the room that help explain what she's doing there. They even provide clues about who she is...but will they help her escape?

Not bad low budget thriller/mindfuck/puzzle type of film a little like Cube

A bit repetitive but nice sort of off kilter atmosphere though the ending is kind of dopey

okay horror about a girl who is forced to start a new school within a woods which holds a secret

A small role for horror stalwart Bruce Campbell doesnt lift this much above average and this simply reminds me of a kids show about witchcraft with a bit more gore

apart from the period setting -its in the mid 60s this simply did not have any wow factor at all