American Horror House 2012 5 out of 10

American Horror House....2012   5 out of 10

Starring Alessandra Torresani  (Zoe from Caprica)  I knew I recognized her from something .... and Morgan Fairchild

(still looking good). 

The movies title is a cheap attempt at tricking someone into thinking it has something to do with the tv show American Horror Story......It should be called  Just Another Sorority House of Death.

The movie was a typical sorority house with a dark secret.   I could  have sworn that this is a remake of another haunted sorority movie that I saw a couple of years ago.   It had some slight differences , but was mainly the same film.  The sorority girls are pledging of course---a halloween party happens and a bunch of people die.  Some cheesy effects including ghost lighting and a mystical border that surrounds the house and a bunch of bad death scenes are the norm in this so so horror flick. 

Below is a list of Sorority horror movies that AMC has collected....The movie that this seems a rip-off of wasn't on this list

http://movies.amctv.com/movie-guide/sorority-house-horror-movies.php

Haunted High (AKA Ghostquake) 2012 7 out of 10 (so bad it's good)

Haunted High...aka Ghostquake 2012  SO bad its good.

Starring Danny Trejo (well sort of) and featuring Charisma Carpenter....(for about 1 minute).  I decided to watch this movie for Charisma Carpenter since she was one of my favorites from her days on Buffy and Angel and even her guest spots on Veronica Mars.  Well she was only actually in the movie for one scene which didn't end well for her character.  The movie by Active Entertainment was horrible....I mean really bad ---the dialogue was bad....the story was bad.....the acting was terrible especially the super sweaty fat guy with the bowl haircut.   A really cheesy bad horror movie about a demonic ex headmaster of this school gets unleashed from a demonic coin and terrorizes the school with corny lines and silly death scenes.  Still upset over being fooled by Charisma Carpenter's actually not really being a part of the movie....I quickly went to commenting about how bad the film was....then it turned the corner ......The magical corner where a film becomes so bad that it is enjoyable....The scene that crossed the mystical border into SO bad it is good....The dead dissected frog attack.   "What the hell was that?"   "Franken Frogs".... and from there the cheese continued to please.....The music teacher has a cheesy battle with a suit of armor and is crushed by the bleachers...His music student that has the hots for him is tricked by a ghost of him taking a shower and wandering into her death after a cheesy line.   The acting in this movie is Troll 2 level...not sure if that was on purpose or whether this movie was just that bad.

Tower Heist 2012 6 out of 10 (Not enough Heisting)

Tower Heist 2012   6 out of 10

Basically it took too long to get to the Heist.  I love the concept  which is to take the Ocean's Eleven Heist movie and cast a bunch of comedy stars in it.  The only problem is the Ocean's Eleven type movies usually have enough comedy in them that in order to pull this off, I think they needed to go much bigger.  The film took too damn long to get to the Heist portion of the movie and Eddie Murphy wasn't on screen as much as he should have been.  At moments he showed glimpses of his brilliance in scenes that were throwbacks to Trading Spaces or 48 hours and even Beverly Hills Cop.  I wanted to see more of this Eddie and felt like a great opportunity was wasted.  Ben Stiller (great in many comedies) and Matthew Brodrick didn't seem to add much to the film which was a waste of their talents.  I guess I may be being too harsh on the film--but when I think a movie concept doesn't live up to the potential of its own concept I often left wanting to see the film that it could have been.  They really should have taken advantage of the movies plot and written a better and funnier script, or let the actors improv and play off each other more.  I'm thinking about a better comedy dream team Heist movie in my head write now.

For the Love of Scooby Doo: Part 2 Big Top Scooby Doo 2012 7 out 10

Big Top Scooby Doo  2012  7 out of 10

A typical Scooby Doo direct to DVD movie. Which usually means an enjoyable Scooby Doo adventure.  This time Scooby and the gang do undercover with a circus to foil a werewolf mystery.   At this point Scooby Doo has become quite repetitive and yet I find myself always coming back for more of Scooby and the gang.  I mean  how many different episodes have they faced off with werewolves or been to the circus???  Quite a few times I'm sure,  There is just something about  this  "Bunch of meddling kids and their dog"  that I love.  The coolest Great Dane ever!.   So even though there is nothing new about this Scooby case...It was still fun and action packed getting there.  

One thing I find weird is that they continue to make direct to DVD Scooby movies with the gang in one style of animation while at the same time producing the fun new version of the gang in the cool Mystery Inc. TV show.  I try not to worry about the 2 separate incarnations running at the same time and just enjoy Scooby and the gangs mystery solving abilities, but it is strange that they would basically have 2 different versions at the same time.

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Animated Movies # 3: The Lorax 2012 5 out of 10

The Lorax  2012  5 out of 10

I really enjoyed the last Dr Seuss CGI adaptation which was   Horton Hears and Who,   so I had high hopes for this movie.  The Lorax however let me down and the reason was the musical numbers.   I can't say I liked them ... No Not at all.   Not a single bit... They were painful to my ears....Like someone with no musical training playing a Zim Twit.    I didn't like the song about Tweeds and who really needs one to do various deeds.   I especially didn't like the rock song they played while cutting down trees.  In the book this scene is sad and it makes one feel quite bad....while this upbeat rock song just completely took away the feelings that the book gave me.  It should have been the strongest scene in the movie--but lost its strength by being buried behind bad music.    The songs in the movie just seemed ill advised and not only didn't add to the film, but took away from it.   It was still visually interesting after all all the colors and angles of a Seuss book were brought to life....Trying to make a short and sweet message book into a feature length movie just didn't work for me.  I felt the same way about some of the Live Action Grinch movie.  All the scenes that weren't in the book or animated short just felt like filler.  And in the case of The Lorax the filler was some really bad musical numbers.  

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Shutter Island 2010 6 out of 10

Shutter Island  2010   6 out of 10

Shutter Island had a really interesting plot.  A movie that was a homage to Hitchcock and some Twilight Zone episodes or horror movies like Carnival of Souls.   Leonardo DiCaprio was great in the film as the main character trying to solve a mystery on an Island for the insane.  His acting was top notch as usual.   The movie itself  just fell a little flat for me.   I figured it out a little too early  in the film  and as a result the movie seemed a little slow to me,  waiting for what I knew was true to be revealed.  It was still a good film --just not as good and it was nice to see  Martin Scorese do something a little different for a change.    I'm sure the movie would have been a little more interesting if the twists weren't too obvious.  I love movies with twists like those revealed in  sci-fi movie  Dark City or The Spanish Prisioner.  Shutter Island just was  too easy to figure out I guess.

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All through the Night 1942 8+ out of 10

All Through the Night  1942   8+ 0ut of 10

A great 1940's movie about a NY Gambler who gets involved in and uncovers a deadly web of spies  as a result of his favorite cheesecake baker getting killed.   (His character supposedly had cheesecake for several meals a day....The cheesecake diet and yet isn't fat ---go figure....but the story isn't really about cheesecake.) 

  The film is Humphrey Bogart at his best in a fast paced, action packed and comedy infused murder/spy adventure.   There are numerous gun battles and chases and even when the film takes a minute for a bit of dialogue the dialogue is well written and interesting and moves the movies along.   The cast is littered with talent --that includes the always interesting Peter Lorre and many other great actors of the time period.    I had honestly never even heard of this movie before I recorded in on TCM one day.  I found it a much better Nazi spy movie than Bogart's own overly talked about Casablanca---which is overated in my book.

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