Frost/Nixon (2008)

Director: Ron Howard

Writer: Peter Morgan

Composer: Hans Zimmer

Starring: Frank Langella, Michael Sheen, Sam Rockwell, Kevin Bacon, Matthew Macfadyen, Oliver Playy, Rebecca Hall, Toby Jones, Andy Milder, Kate Jennings Grant, Clint Howard, Rance Howard

More info: IMDb

Tagline: 400 million people were waiting for the truth.

Plot: A dramatic retelling of the post-Watergate television interviews between British talk-show host David Frost and former president Richard Nixon.

My rating: 8/10

Will I watch it again? Probably not.

What an interesting film. Having been a kid when the actual events were going on, I was oblivious to them, I never saw the Frost broadcasts and I never knew how they ended so this film had some surprises in store for me.  If you don't know how it ends then refrain from learning about it until after you see the film.  It goes a long way into helping build the suspense.  I don't know how accurate this picture is but everyone involved did a fine job in crafting a very suspenseful and entertaining flick.  The two titular leads reprised their stage roles and they both do a magnificent job.  The final broadcast, as depicted in the movie, is interesting as hell and I was hooked.  I watched the making of featurette (23 minutes) after I was done with the film which made it that much more intriguing.  The other extras on the Universal DVD include a commentary with Howard, some deleted scenes (23 minutes worth), 7 minutes of excerpts from the real interview and a 6 minute piece on the Nixon Presidential Library Museum.  The extras are good and they certainly whetted my appetite to watch the original interview in its entirety.  It's just one more facet of an incredibly dark time in American presidential history.

Pretty Dead Things (2006)

Director: Richard Griffin

Writers: Richard Griffin, Sandeep Parikh

Composer: Daniel Hildreth

Starring: Patrick Pitu, William DeCoff, Danielle Lozeau, Ashley Eaton, Ross Kelly, Salvatore Marchese, Jason Witter, V. Orion Delwaterman, Jennifer Scharf, Caleb Emerson, Donald Foley, Robin L. Watkins

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Death Never Looked This Good

Plot: Film star Jennifer Bond has everything a girl could want: looks, power, a dangerously sexy boyfriend - and an eternity in which to enjoy them. But as her 50th birthday draws near, Jennifer and her undead companions forge a trail mayhem to her hometown in search of the love of her life, unaware a recent victim is plotting a bloody revenge.

My rating: 4.5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

If you've seen any of Griffin's other films then you might recognize a few faces in this one.  As per usual the acting is all over the place but most of the cast seem to be having a good time with it regardless of how annoying some of them are.  The opening credit sequence has that great 60s/70s James Bond credits vibe. It's a shame they didn't have a fun, cheesy vocal tune to match it.  I better slow down.  It's beginning to sound like I dug it.  I didn't on a whole but it has its moments like with the porn parody stuff and the over the top porn guru, Moe Blu.  Even though I don't hold these independent low budget flicks to the same standard as full blown big budget pictures, I do want to be entertained and this one barely qualifies.  It looks and feels cheap.  If you want to see the greatness Griffin is capable of, just check out NUN OF THAT (2009) and you'll see why I was so inspired to track down and watch every one of his flicks.  The Camp Motion Pictures double feature set (with another Griffin picture, BEYOND THE DUNWICH HORROR (2008)) has this film presented in anamorphic widescreen and the only extras are a director's commentary and 16 VERY low budget horror movie trailers either in fullscreen or anamorphic widescreen formats.  Some have some entertainment value and some are just plain bad.  As with even the worst of Griffin's films, I'm holding onto the DVDs so I can someday listen to his comentaries.  I'd like to think they're informative, better and funnier than the films they accompany.

Puppet Master 4 (1993)

Director: Jeff Burr

Writers: Todd Henschell, Steven E. Carr, Jo Duffy, Douglas Aarniokoski, Keith S. Payson

Composer: Richard Band

Starring: Gordon Currie, Chandra West, Ash Adams, Teresa Hill, Guy Rolfe, Felton Perry, Stacie Randall, Michael Shamus Wiles, Dan Zukovic, Jake McKinnon

More info: IMDb

Tagline: When Bad Puppets turn Good

Plot: A young scientist working on an artificial intelligence project is the target of strange gremlin-like creatures, who are out to kill him and thus terminate his research. By coincidence, in one of the rooms he uses, there's a mysterious case containing the puppets of the "puppet master". When the puppets are brought to life, they help destroy the creatures.

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again? No.

Man, part 3 was great and my favorite of the franchise so far.  This fourth picture feels more like the second film.  It's got a handful of attractive twenty-somethings at the same giant old ass hotel and the puppets are loose to do some damage.  One big difference between this one and the previous films is the introduction to some underworld creature, Sutek, who sends his minions to the topside to stop anyone else from getting the 'secret formula' that makes the puppets come alive.  Now they killer puppets get their orders from a voice from the past to help destroy these little demons and save some of the kids from death. In the end the torch has been passed from the previous Puppet Master to the next one now that Sutek has failed.  It's OK.  Fortunately it's about 78 minutes long.  There was still room to cut but fans of the series shouldn't hate this one.  Sadly there's very little stop motion animation with more and more reliance on much cheaper (in dollars and aesthetics) methods of moving the little guys.  It has its share of slow spots but there's enough puppet action in the second half to keep the picture from grinding to a prolonged, screeching halt.  It's probably only worth watching if you're plugging through the series from start to finish.  Still, it's not that bad of a series when it comes to low budget horror franchises.  There are no extras on the disc.  This is from the Full Moon 12 movie collection that has the first 9 PUPPET MASTER films and the first three KILLJOY pictures. 

Three Days of the Condor (1975)

Director: Sydney Pollack

Writers: James Grady, Lorenzo Semple Jr., David Rayfiel

Composer: Dave Grusin

Starring: Robert Redford, Faye Dunaway, Cliff Robertson, Max von Sydow, John Houseman, Addison Powell, Walter McGin, Tina Chen, Michael Kane, Don McHenry, Patrick Gorman

More info: IMDb

Tagline: The CIA knows him as Condor. What he knows about them has just made him an Endangered Species.

Plot: A bookish CIA researcher finds all his co-workers dead, and must outwit those responsible until he figures out who he can really trust.

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again?  No.  Twice is fine.

I remember really liking this when I last saw it 30 years ago.  Now, not so much.  This time when it was over I was left scratching my head.  The film isn't all that hard to follow.  The ending with Joe (Redford) and Joubert (von Sydow) is great and the big picture is revealed.  The trouble is with what happens in the 60 minutes prior.  The setup is great.   Joe on the run and trying to survive is also well done.  Throwing a romance between Joe and his pseudo captive, Kathy (Dunaway), at times feels like a pipe wrench was tossed into the works.  Is this the fault of the film makers or of James Grady who wrote the novel it's based on?  Beats me.  I've never read the book.  The burgeoning romance ruins what is otherwise a good political thriller and to the point that I won't bother watching it again.  It's standard pulp Hollywood bullshit injected to sell more tickets to women.  That is unless that aspect plays that large of a role in the novel which was called Six Days of the Condor.  Maybe the romance was played down and there was a lot more non-love story intrigue in those extra three days.   I suspect it's somewhere in between ending with Hollywood sexing up the picture for gals.  I'm a big fan of the actors, director and so on.  It's not a bad film but it's not as meaty and satisfying as it could have and should have been.  The Paramount DVD hasn't a single extra and the widescreen print is non-anamorphic.  I'm sure they fixed that for the Blu-ray release. 

Chump Change (2000)

Director: Stephen Burrows

Writer: Stephen Burrows

Composer: Matt Cartsonis

Starring: Stephen Burrows, Tim Matheson, Traci Lords, A.J. Benza, Fred Willard, Clancy Brown, McNally Sagal, Jon Chardiet, Willie Etra, Abe Vigoda, Roger Clinton, Stefane Zamorano, Theo Greenly, Mandy Levin, Jerry Stiller, Anne Meara

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Fame, Fortune, Cheese, and Beer.

Plot: A failed Hollywood actor returns to his home town in Wisconsin and reminisces about his life in L.A. to a potential new girlfriend about his faults, auditions, misadventures, and confrontations with the evils of Hollywood.

VIEW TRAILER

My rating: 8/10

Will I watch it again? Yes.

OMFG where has this movie been?  I laughed my fucking ass off.  It's a semi-autobiographical of writer/director/star Stephen Burrows' adventures in the movie industry.  The script is funny, smart and very good.  The actors he surrounds himself with are outstanding and I'm not just talking about the faces you know like Matheson, Willard, Brown and so on.  Lords is fantastic (and funny) and she's perfectly cast opposite of Burrows.  They've got great chemistry.  Part of that's the dialogue and the other is just how well these two actors get along.  Burrows is great and hilarious.  It's his show all the way but he gives everyone else their moments to shine. The comedy troupe he puts together with McNally Sagal (I LOVE her in this) and (I think) M.C. (Jon Chardiet) has a montage of a bunch of bits that will slay you.  The Transvestite Leave It To Beaver about killed me with laughter.  The Hollywood types (agent, publicist, studio head and so on) are made to be over the top but I can't help but think that there's a lot of truth in those scenes and performances.  I'm sure they can be that fucking stupid and ass-kissy.  Check out the Wiki or IMDb pages for Burrows and get some great background info on what this guy's done.  The Mirimax DVD has a nice anamorphic widescreen print and the extras include 7 deleted scenes (with optional commentary by Burrows), 4 outtakes (with optional commentary by Burrows), Burrows reading outrageous focus group comments for three hilarious minutes which goes to show how dumb focus groups can be, a director's commentary, a director's commentary on the director's commentary, a non-anamorphic widescreen trailer and a 12 minute interview with Traci Lords by Burrows.  It's currently on Netflix streaming.  This needs to better known.  Not only is it hilarious but it's sweet and it's got heart and not in that cheesy, forced way.  Highly recommended. 

North Dallas Forty (1979)

Director: Ted Kotcheff

Writers: Peter Gent, Frank Yablans, Ted Kotcheff, Nancy Dowd, Rich Eustis

Composer: John Scott

Starring: Nick Nolte, Mac Davis, Charles Durning, Dayle Haddon, Bo Svenson, John Matuszak, Steve Forrest, G.D. Spradlin, Dabney Coleman, Savannah Smith Boucher

More info: IMDb

Tagline: "Wait till you see the weird part."

Plot: A semi-fictional account of life as a professional Football (American-style) player. Loosely based on the Dallas Cowboys team of the early 1970s.

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

Be warned, this is not the comedy the trailer promises.  There are some light moments but you're probably not going to laugh. It's more of a sports drama than anything else.  The actors are likable and the film feels like it's going to be fun from the first few minutes.  The thing is I kept waiting for the story to start developing and moving in some sort of direction.  Take out the romance between Charlotte (Haddon) and Phillip (Nolte) and not much happens except for some behind the scenes NFL team hijinks at parties and the like.  Then, FINALLY, in the last 15 minutes, of the almost two hour picture, something happens.  Phillip is in a meeting with the team's owner, manager and so on.  This is where the awesome Dabney Coleman shows up for more than a couple of seconds and gets to stretch his acting legs.  There's a very heated discussion that takes place and this one scene says more than everything that came before it.  It's a fantastic scene and one I would gladly watch again.  The acting from everyone involved is fantastic.  But for the film, it's too late.  There wasn't much substance for the first hour and forty five minutes to justify the final fifteen.  Don't get me wrong, that last scene is a powerhouse of acting and writing and it's worth watching the film just to get to it but you'll probably feel like you ate a mediocre dinner with desert only to get the steak after everything else had been digested.  It's a great steak, though.  The Paramount DVD has no extras and the print of the film is non-anamorphic widescreen.

Interstellar (2014)

Director: Christopher Nolan

Writers: Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan

Composer: Hans Zimmer

Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Mackenzie Foy, Ellen Burstyn, John Lithgow, Timothee Chalamet, Bill Irwin, Anne Hathaway, William Devane, Michael Caine, Casey Affleck, Topher Grace, Matt Damon

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Mankind was born on Earth. It was never meant to die here.

Plot: A team of explorers travel through a wormhole in an attempt to ensure humanity's survival.

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again? Probably.

I watched this a few weeks back in the theater so I'm likely to leave something out.  Alright.  I was not blown away like it seems everyone else was.  I really wanted to.  The big reveal at the end was mind expansive and I dug that but there was so much else that bothered me.  Cooper (McConaughey) clearly loved his daughter to the point of neglecting his son but that bit was sidelined to tell the story.  I thought Cooper was a benevolent asshole when it came to his relationship with his son and Cooper had not problems flaunting his love for Murph (Foy).  I'm not going to make this a bashing session at all and this will be brief but having had lots of time to reflect on the film since I saw it, lots of questions and irritating plot points have come to mind.  It seems like the more I think about it the more it reminds me of PROMETHEUS (2012) with how idiotic some of the dialogue and character actions were.  When Brand (Hathaway,  SCIENTIST!!!) says, "Love is the one thing we're capable of perceiving that transcends time and space." I about lost it.  That might have been the moment where I started to enjoy the picture less.  Then other things started piling on.  I REALLY liked the big 'fuck you' that one of the leads ultimately revealed.  The effects were insanely convincing but it's the story that, while aiming for the Moon with its ideals, helped take the air out of the sails from what should have been a much more cerebral science fiction masterpiece.  Do you think it helps to have kids to enjoy this more?  On that note, I liked the robot and Bill Irwin's voicing.  His interplay with Cooper added some much needed fun.  I could have done without the typical Hollywood action business on that planet where you know who shows up.  It's almost three hours long and it felt it.  I will give it another chance someday.  Maybe my questions will be answered after that or maybe I'll realize that this really isn't as good as it should have been.