Saturday, Feb 24 through Friday, March 2, 2007

Saturday, February 24, 2007
Night of the Dead - 2006

German doctor trying to extend life creates zombies! Huh. We've NEVER seen a movie with that premise before <---sarcasm. Actually, it's a fair movie. There's plenty of gore and blood. And the acting isn't terrible for a movie with only a $250K budget. There's no subtitles, but there is a commentary, featuring Bob Bayliss, Eric Forsberg, & Charles Schneider. Not a bad commentary, not great, but not bad.

Other extras include a Making of/Behind the scenes featurette that was duller than dishwater, and "It Takes Guts", a short by the director when he was a kid.

Sunday, February 25, 2007
The Prestige - 2006

7 minutes in, and I'm lost already. Too much jumping around in time. I can't tell what's happening, and what happened. Guess I'm just not observant enough. But within a half an hour, I'm now on board.

Well, it was far more complicated than I expected. And, as it turns out, truly excellent. I expected it to be good. I didn't expect it to be this good. And the ending is really cool (and that's all I'm gonna say, no spoilers here!). It *IS* disappointing that that there's no commentary. But at least there were subtitles. Monday,

February 26, 2007
Gymkata - 1985

Kurt Thomas (for those of you not old enough to remember the 1978 Olympics, read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Thomas_(gymnast)) as an action hero. Hey, it could happen. At least he's naturally in shape, and probably "enhancement drug" free. Directed by Robert Clouse, who seems to have only ever done martial arts movies (21) including Enter the Dragon.

I can sum up this move in one word - Silly. Still, I remember seeing it on cable back in the day, so I was curious if it really was what I remembered. It is. A gymnast is sent to a country to compete in a deadly contest because he's a great gymnast. Riiiight. 'Cause being agile and good on the parallel bars means you can kick ass.

Tuesday, February 27, 2007
It Lives Again - 1978

Rick Baker did the special effects, and Larry Cohen wrote, directed and producted. The first thing that hits you while watching this flick will be "Man, do the clothes and the house furnishings scream 70's". Not as moody as the first, or as bloody. But at least it has subtitles.

The Commentary features Larry by himself, but he does a fair job. Nice and technical with some history. An interesting note is that he claims that a lot of this was shot in the rain, and boy can you NOT tell. And I like the homage to Val Lewton, very nice.

Wednesday, February 28, 2007
It's Alive 3 - Island of the Alive - 1987

Michael Moriarity and Karen Black. What more could you want? And it's MUCH gorier than the first two. I like this one better than 2, but not as much as one. And like the other two discs, there's subtitles, and a commentary by Larry Cohen.

The commentary seems to cut out during the trial scene for about 10 minutes, but then starts back up again. Don't give up, as you will miss the greatest story in a commentary. The Rubber Chicken story. You owe it to yourself to listen and watch just for that alone. All three commentaries have been really good, which is pretty impressive for a solo effort.

Thursday, March 1, 2007
Mindcandy 2 - Amiga Demos - 2004

Holy crap! Three hours of classic Amiga demos from the early 90's (when the phenomena started) all the way to the present (which is impressive, since they haven't made an Amiga in at least a decade). For those of you who weren't into the Amiga in the late 80's and early 90's (and let me assure you that I was, even attending developer conferences!), the demo scene was a friendly competition between "hacker" groups of who could make the Amiga (a multimedia monster WAY more powerful than the PCs of the day, featuring dedicated graphics and sound chips back when IBM clones had 4 clones and beeped) stand up and sing. And that without dedicated programs to create them. They were written usually in machine code, written directly to the hardware. They are amazing.

There's a commentary, but I can't watch a 3.5 hour movie a second time. Sorry. Maybe someday later.

Friday, March 2, 2007
Secret Society Double Feature from SWV
Babette in Return of the Secret Society - 1968

Bad signs, nothing but narration & music for a soundtrack. And it takes 10 minutes to get to the first nude scene. Only other movie directed by Peter Woodcock was Dominique, Daughters of Lesbos, also available from SWV.

Hmmmm, dull, dreary, and the nudity isn't anything to get excited about. SWV still hasn't put out a great title this year.

Monique, My love - 1967???

Now this is weird. Same music, (I mean exact same music, not similar, the very same score) same cast, and the credits are copied from Babette. Yet this movie isn't listed in IMDB. AND, although it says it's directed by the same guy, it's not listed in his filmography either. Judging by the dialogue, and what happens in this movie, I'd say this one actually comes BEFORE Babette (which would help explain the 'Return" in the title).

This one is no better than Babette, so this disc is less than satisfying.

But there is an unusual extra. It's a collection of Bra and Girdle commercials from the 60's. At least that's different and new.