Saturday, August 17, 2019

Hercules Against the Mongols 1963 5 out of 10







Hercules Against the Mongols  1963  5 out of 10
This Italian film features Hercules (played by Mark Forest) battling against the sons of Genghis Khan that have over run a city and taken the princess captive.  The film features some decent action sequences --but the plot feels at times like a poorly constructed Kung Fu movie. Hercules displays his legendary strength at several points in the film --like in his first battle with the Mongols where he wields a giant tree to swat away his enemies.  But when he battles in hand to hand combat he seems to struggle against his foes.  These inconsistencies in his strength pretty much sum up the fell of the entire film which at times is good and at other times feels sloppy in its storytelling.

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Spook Chasers 1957 6 out of 10 (The Bowery Boys #2)


Spook Chasers 1957   6 out of 10

This film was the 45th out of  48 films featuring these characters. The Bowery Boys.  By this time in the series one of the main characters Leo Gorcey had left the franchise which puts Huntz Hall as Sach front and center.

Spook Chasers finds the gang helping cafe owner Mike Clancy fix up a mountain house (that used to belong to a gangster) that he just bought from a crooked real estate agent.  The gang finds some money hidden in the run down house and then must contend with some gangsters and the  shady real estate agent.  They basically find themselves in Scooby Doo episode where the real estate agent dresses up as a ghost to scare them away.  The house has trick doors and secret revolving doors which leads to fun and some good slapstick moments.  45 films in the gags of this troupe are pretty refined.  I like this film better than the Spook Busters which the group did over 10 years earlier.


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Saturday, June 29, 2019

I Am Mother 2019 5 out of 10


I Am Mother  2019  5 out of 10

The trailer for this Netflix film looked incredible.  The idea for the movie was really solid.  Unfortunately the film itself was a little slow and dull at times and didn't live up to the potential of the trailer.

The film takes place after an extinction event and follows the story of a robot that is bringing up and raising a human child.  The only contact the human has ever had is the robot which it calls Mother.  Then another person shows up outside of the airlock of their human.   The rest of the movie is a battle for the main character between who to believe the human or the robot that raised her.   Who is telling her the truth?   

The premise of the film is cool, although it feels like it borrowed from the recent Lost in Space as little.  Although the concept was good it just didn't grab my attention as much as I thought it would.  I also felt that the main character too easily put her trust in a random stranger over the robot that had raised her.  That just didn't ring true to me.  



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Monday, June 17, 2019

Murder Mystery 2019 7+ out of 10 (Netflix Movie)


Murder Mystery 2019 7+ out of 10

I have grown to really love the movie Just Go With It starring Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler -so when I first saw the trailer for this direct to Netflix movie--I was excited.   

Murder Mystery re-teams Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston as married couple that decides to finally go on their honeymoon after 15 years of marriage.  Adam Sandler’s character is a New York cop that wants to be a detective and Aniston plays his wife who likes to read Mystery novels.  

On the flight to Europe they get invited on a rich Englishman’s yacht.  This leads to a “Someone in this room is a murderer” plot.  The owner of the yacht gets killed when the lights go off while he is about to change his will. 

The murder mystery itself is just okay, but the dialogue and comic chemistry of Sandler and Aniston as a bickering couple is what makes the film good.  Their characters end up being suspected on the murder and must try and solve the murder themselves as the list of other suspects start dying off.   It’s kind of had the feel of movies like The Out of Towners.  I don’t want to say too much about the plot itself –for fear of giving away any of the mystery –but I would definite recommend it a good Comedy/Mystery film with some decent laughs.  I especially loved how the end of the film set itself up so well for a possible sequel (Mystery Movie fans will definitely catch the reference).

Sandler movies can be so hit and miss—but when he has been teamed up with Aniston and Drew Barrymore those films have worked quite well.   



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Sunday, May 12, 2019

Sharknado 6 2018 ?? out of 10


Sharknado 6 2018  ?? out of 10

Honestly I don’t even know what to rate this last entry in the Sharknado saga.  It defies a rating on a scale of 1-10.  It was mostly a terrible mess of time travel nonsense. It should have been called The Ludacris Shark Movie.  


In the middle of a time vortex Finn makes out with Tara’s Reid’s robot head that is stitching out of a flying Robot Shark from the Future.  So over the top silly and stupid that it borders on being just terrible.... or So Bad it is Good???  I honestly don’t know yet.   If  didn't see Sharknado 1-5  then this movie would be totally confusing.  Well it was probably confusing anyway.   Sharknado 6 was basically a Time Travel movie that just happened to have Sharknados everywhere the characters went. 

The film opens with Finn leaping into the age of the Dinosaurs where he meets up with characters that have died in previous films.  Time travel is strange is the explaination.  They leap from time to time hoping that the next leap will be the leap back home....(wait that is a different show).   The film is filled with terrible CGI as they fly around on Dinosaurs, before leaping to the time of King Arthur (or a leftover set from Xena Warrior Princess).  Terrible "Celebrity cameos"  including some Transgender Morgana that used modern day annoying catchphrases.  So many bad lines of dialogue.   This mess is what happens when you give low budget film makers whose original movie took off by accident more money.   The film making itself doesn't get any better --but the bad CGI flying shark budget is bigger.  Of course the bad CGI sharks may be the best part of this strange flick.

For some reason I find myself at a complete loss as to how to rank this odd movie.  It is so bad that it is at times entertaining --but not in the way that the original was--because the self awareness of what they are doing is involved.    Sharknado 6 just is.    If you sat through the other 5 Sharknados then you have to see how it ends.   If not --like most of the Bad Shark movies that I torture myself with ...on it's own it is just that ---A Bad Shark Movie.   


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Saturday, May 11, 2019

(Animated movie # 16) Hotel Translyvania 3 2018 8 out of 10


Hotel Transylvania 3 2018 8 out of 10

I've surprisingly found myself really enjoying this series of animated movies.  The first one was a pleasant surprise and they have been able to make the sequels entertaining as well.  With each film the series has done a good job at expanding the world building of the franchise in the process.   

Hotel Transylvania 3 has a very predictable plot -yet still entertains despite the transparency of what is going to happen during the story.  It is like a pitcher telling you what pitch he is going to throw and still striking you out.  Adam Sandler is so perfect in the role of Drac who this time around falls in love on a family cruise.  The visual jokes were effective  the Blob character steals many scenes. -The monsters that inhabit this cartoon world remain interesting and entertaining even 3 films into the franchise.   There is an animated series based on this franchise which suffers from the lack of the Drac character.  His character really is the heart and soul of the franchise.    I would definitely recommend this film if you are a fan of the first two in the series .  




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Spook Busters 1946 5 out of 10 (The Bowery Boys #!)


Spook Busters 1946   5 out of 10

When I recorded this film onthe DVR to come back to later I had no idea that this was one of 48 films featuring these characters. . The characters in question are The Bowery Boys. They were featured in movies made from 1946 to 1958.  That is quite an output of movies.   They were a New York comedy group that come off as a little bit Three Stooges mixed with a little Abbott and Costello.   

This particular film features the gang as exterminators taking a job at an old mansion.  At first they think it is haunted --but quickly discover that it is actually just a mad scientist that wants to scare them away.  He captures a couple of the gang and wants to use one the dim witted gang for a brain transfer with an ape.   I've come across the mad scientist haunted house with an ape theme many times in movies from this era for some reason.   I guess gorilla suits were cheaper to rent than creating monster suits. 

The film is okay with some decent comic moments --but nothing the rivals Abbott and Costello level of humor.   I guess it is a good thing that I didn't fall in love with the film since then --I would have 47 more films to seek out.  I have a couple more of their flicks on the DVR --but some other stuff ahead of that on the need to watch list.


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