Flashback Friday Movie Review: Gumball Rally 1976 5 out of 10

Gumball Rally 1976    5 out of 10

A group of drivers take part in an illegal cross country road race.

The movie was inspired by an actual race called Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea- Memorial Trophy Dash.  This race inspired several films including Cannonball also 1976 , Cannonball Run 1981 and it's sequel.  The official tagline heads  " It's a hilarious coast to coast, 180 mile an hour,  go -for- broke, outrageous road race with the world's most  expensive cars. And it's all just for the glory and a gumball machine"    The problem for me is that I found the film neither hilarious or outrageous at any time.  As a cross country road race type film it may have been one of the first.....But definitely for me doesn't stand out as one of the best.  It was a decent film--but was really missing the humor that the poster suggests and that later similar films pulled off.  And other than a section where a couple cars raced down the water channel....the racing wasn't all that interesting either.

If you are a fan of this style of film it may be a rental---but I'd watch of the other funnier road race films first.

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Girl in Woods 2016 3 out of 10

Girl in Woods 2016 3 out of  10

Girl in Woods is a psychological horror film about a girl named Grace that ends up lost and alone in the mountains after a tragic accident where her finance accidentally shots himself......or does he?  Grace's struggle is not only in being lost in the forest, but also mentally in dealing with demons from past tramatic events.    Much like the movie Oculus (which I recently watched) this film is a journey into madness.   The movie flips around between present and past events and the viewer is left with no idea of what is real and what isn't.  It could have been a more interesting movie- but instead it becomes dull after ahwile.  Not only is the main character of the story lost in the woods- but unfortunately the viewer is lost as well.  

What is real?  What is just her imagination?   It is all blurred to the point that by the end I just didn't care.  Unlike Oculus which had an interesting premise that made you want to know more, this movie just made me want it to end.  The acting itself was good --but the plot was just underwhelming at best.

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Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit 2014 7 out of 10

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit  2014  7 out of 10

This was basically a reboot of the Jack Ryan character from the Tom Clancy novels that is the first movie not based on a Tom Clancy novel.  You know that I general hate Reboots.  It was a decent movie --but other than the name recognition, why even use the Jack Ryan name if it is basically a completely rebooted and new character not based on any book.  It didn't feel like the same character which left many fans of the books and films disappointed and even lead Chris Pine to appologize.

The original Jack Ryan book turned into a movie was the classic flick The Hunt for Red October starring Alec Baldwin as the Jack Ryan.  The Hunt for Red October was a great flick--but was just as much about Sean Connery's character as the defecting Russian Submarine Captain.   Then came Harrison Ford in two Jack Ryan  films The Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger.  Harrison owned the role and both of this films were great as well.  Years later they tried to bring the character back starring  Ben Affleck which was also a decent film and Ben did a decent job in the role.

That being said this film was a decent thriller.  It features Chris Pine in the lead role being brought into the CIA by a character played by Kevin Costner.   The character ends up thwarting a Russian plot to attack the U.S. and crash the U.S. economy.   The movie is thrilling and has some good action scenes and some good tense spy thriller type moments.   It just  didn't feel like a Jack Ryan movie.   They should have created a new character rather than using the Jack Ryan name, especially since it wasn't based on a Tom Clancy book.   If you like thrillers this movie is worth a rental.  If you like Jack Ryan just pretend it is a different character and you may style enjoy the film.

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Hello Ladies 2013 9 out of 10 (TV Show Review)

Hello Ladies 2013  9 out of 10

Hello Ladies was a short lived, but excellent HBO Series.  It was created by and stars Steven Merchant.   The series is about 8 episodes and then concludes with a direct to HBO movie.  Steven Merchant plays Stuart Pritchard a socially awkward, tall and lanky Brit living in Hollywood.  Stephen Merchant was a co-writer and director of the original BBC version of the office and it shows.  The Character of Stuart is like a gawky awkward version of Ricky Gervais's  David Brent.    The main character is basically a selfish bastard that only cares about trying to hook up with models at which he is an absolute walking disaster at.  Stephen Merchant is brilliant and hilarious as this awkward wanna be ladies man.   His attempts to pick up girls is hard to watch in a funny way.  At times you feel bad for him--back at other times you realize he gets exactly what he deserves because of how he treats the people around him.   I wish this series had lasted longer--but like many great British treasures it didn't.   If you love the BBC version of The Office absolutely check this series out on Netflix.

Here is a sample of a great scene from the show where he takes a girl on a date to a fancy restaurant that is a little out of his price range.  This scene pretty much sums up the series.

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The Battle Wizard 1977 6 out of 10 (Kung Fu Movie #1)

The Battle Wizard  1977  6 out of 10

I've seen quite a few Kung Fu movies from back in the day with there bad American dubbing --but this one has to be one of the stranger ones.  Think basically a Kung Fu movie from 1977 that is like a low budget Clash of the Titans.   This was definitely a strange movie.

Back in the day Kung Fu movies could be found on random obscure local TV channels.  Now the El Rey Network on cable is a go to spot for old school Kung Fu.  The Battle Wizard follows a heroes journey of a young man who is searching for knowledge and more interested in books and has no interest in Kung Fu (How dare he).   He goes in search of the mythical Red Python which can grant him powers.    Along his journey he encounters a women who fights with Kung Fu snakes.  Some guy that looks like Mel Brooks Yoda from Spaceballs if he had a lobster claw hand and bad dental work and a mysterious veiled woman that can shoot lasers out of a prop bone.   The special effects are laughable.  The Kung Fu action so-so at best.   But if you were looking for a Kung Fu movie where the hero fights and battles a giant rubber snake like a scene out of an Ed Wood movie this is the Kung Fu movie for you.   If you want to see the hero thrown into an underground tunnel and forced to fight a guy in a store bought gorilla costume in a kung fu battle ----this again is your Kung Fu movie.

The movie was poorly edited as scenes seem to just jump to other scenes with little or no connection -but again it has a Kung Fu Gorilla.

If you like strange and bizarre Kung Fu movies---this one is short enough to give a try just don't expect amazing fight sequences and enjoy the cheap laser effects and KUNG FU Gorilla.

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Oculus 2013 7+ out of 10

Oculus 2014  7+ out of 10

Oculus is a supernatural psychological horror movie.  It stars Karen Gillian (Nebula in Guardians of the Galaxy)  and Katee Sackoff (Battlestar).    The film centers around an old and mysterious mirror that apparently brings death to everyone that owns it.   The film is just creepy.  It brings back the uneasy feeling I had the first time I watched Prince of Darkness by John Carpenter with that weird message.  The film focuses on two kids that have grown up trying to keep a promise to destroy the mirror after an incident when they were younger that lead to their parents death.   The daughter played by Karen Gillian has researched the mirror and found a trail of unexplained death and mystery around it.   She sets up a test with video cameras to see what the mirror will do.  From here things slowly start to ramp up as we see flashbacks to what happened to their parents and strange things that start to happen to them.  

The movie does a great job of flipping back and forth between when they were kids and their parents played by Katee Sackoff and Rory Cochrane were effected by the mirror.  The intersecting of the two story lines can be both a little confusing and yet enjoyable at the same time.   The power of the mirror creates a situation where both the characters and the audience can't trust what is and isn't real.  The movie is a descent into madness.  I didn't know how I felt about the film at first --but the fact that I wanted to know more about the mirror made me realize it was more effective than I first thought.  

The movie is based on a low budget short film that called Oculus: Chapter 3- The Man with the Plan...that the director of the film did previously that I know want to check out as well.

If you are looking for creepy and weird give this film a viewing. 

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Here is a trailer for the original short film

Gone Girl 2014 5 out of 10 (Spoiler filled)

(Spoiler filled)

I was expecting a lot more from Gone Girl as a movie. 
This movie had a lot of hype and the book it is based on was a best seller.  The film stars Rosamund Pike (who was excellent) and Ben Affleck (who was just okay) in the lead roles.   The film started off good.  The husband reports his wife missing and the police start an investigation.   The main character played by Ben Affleck slowing starts to seem more and more like a suspect and the film gives us interesting glimpses into the couple’s past.  I was starting to get the vibe that this could end up being along the lines of the great movie Presumed Innocent with Harrison Ford, but then the twist comes.

The twist of the movie is supposed to make the movie more interesting, but for me it kind of derailed this film.  As the news coverage around the case spirals into a media circus the main character starts to look into his wife’s past and finds some odd things.   And then the viewer finds out that she isn’t dead and has faked her death to set up her husband.  She has totally planned out in great detail so many points in her plot –yet makes some really stupid mistakes that someone as calculated as her wouldn’t make.   She basically does a half ass job of dying her hair and holds up in a cheap motel.  Apparently her plain actually includes killing herself at one point, but she stupidly befriends some white trash chick at the motel and gets robbed of all her money.

So she turns to one of her ex’s that she had manipulated in the past (played by Neil Patrick Harris) who helps to hide her in his mountain mansion.   Meanwhile the media storm around her husband still swirls.

The ending then just falls apart.   She decides to murder the ex and make it look like she was his captive all along, which contradicts all the evidence she had laid out against the husband.     She then returns home.   After everything she did to set up her husband as the murderer—is somehow overlooked (other than a few unaswered questions by the local sheriff).    She blackmails the husband into staying with her which is so ridiculous.  There is no way he would spend another minute in that house knowing what she is capable of.    The movie turned out not to be a good film like Presumed Innocent ---or even a fun campy mystery with twists like Wild Things.   It just ended up a complete letdown.

Don't believe the hype.

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