The Whisperer in Darkness 2011 8+ out of 10 (H.P. Lovecraft)

The Whisperer in Darkness 2011   8 out of 10

The Whisperer in Darkness was a surprisingly good movie that I had never even heard of .   Flipping through channels one day I noticed this movie was based on an H.P. Lovecraft story so recorded it too watch later.   The film makes great use of it's limited budget to create a film that feels like it is straight out of the 1930's or 40's.   Presented in black and white with a great combination of  great audio and cool shots it creates and sets a mood straight out of one of H.P. Lovecraft's works.   The film is simple and yet effective.   It follows the story of a folklore professor that is a lot more Scully than Mulder that through investigation of some odd letters from a farmer finds himself  in the middle of some folklore that is not fiction at all.   Definitely worth a view for any Sci-fi/ horror fans or H.P. Lovecraft books.  I would love to see more of Lovecraft's work brought to the screen in this form.

Rock of Ages 3 out of 10 2012

Rock of Ages   3 out of 10   2012

Rock of Ages was a totally mess.   The movie is set in the late 80's and is basically just a nostalgic musical journey to the music of that time.  The movie itself is a plot less, pointless, cheesy excuse for a movie with the best performance coming from a baboon named Hey Man.   If I wanted to just listen to some 1980's music any hour of old school MTV  would have been more enjoyable.    I'd much rather hear the actual songs  than this cast doing covers of those songs in a story that seemed to be written as an after thought.   

Julianne Hough was the only bright spot in the cast as the sterotypical midwestern girl heading to LA for fame and fortune. Tom Cruise as the Axel Rose like singer was just an odd  casting choice.  Russell Brand confirmed the fact that he isn't an actor and instead just plays a version of himself on screen.   Paul Giamatti's talents are wasted in this movie in a role that may have well been straight out of an Alvin and the Chipmunks movie.   There are a few okay jokes here and there amongst the paper thin plot---but basically this movie  (if it can be called a movie)  just hopes that you will be caught up in songs that you used to love that you will ignore the lack of any substance in the film.    The songs are good, but none of them are favorites of mine from that era that I lived in.   You are better off heading down to a local bar and catching an 80's cover band than sitting through this so called movie or popping in an old VHS tape of an hour of MTV  than sitting through this movie.   I would definitely not sit through this film a second time and I like some cheesy movies.

"These are not the flying monkeys you are looking for"

Flying Monkeys  2013   5 out of 10

Who doesn't want to see a movie with this description 
"A teenager's pet monkey becomes an evil shape-shifter."

This is the latest Syfy channel movie that comes out just in time for a big budget movie with similar theme in order to cash in.    With  Oz the Great in Powerful landing in theaters the same weekend---what better time for a cheesy horror movie about killer flying monkeys.     The movie follows the adventures of what looks like the monkey that was on Friends as he turns into an evil  Gremlin- like   Flesh eating flying monkey at night.     Oh what a sweet little man eating monkey!   You see he isn't really just a monkey,   he is actually a demon that disguises himself as a sweet little monkey by day.   Of course if you try and kill the monkey with modern non-blessed weapons it will split and form two evil monkeys.   Of course no one knows this until the demon monkey hunters show up and by then there are at least dozens of these menacing  digital beasts.   This movie could have been good if they had tried to go the Gremlins route and add some humor to the story instead it is played straight and is just and average horror movie as a result.   Nothing exciting about these flying monkeys.