The Gong Show Movie (1980)

Director: Chuck Barris

Writers: Chuck Barris, Robert Downey Sr.

Composer: Milton Delugg

Starring: Chuck Barris, Robin Altman, Mabel King, Harvey Lembeck, Jamie Farr, Murray Langston, Vincent Schiavelli, Rip Taylor, Jaye P. Morgan, Roosevelt Grier, Tony Randall, Phil Hartman, Danny DeVito, Kitten Natividad, Taylor Negron

More info: IMDb

Tagline: All the stuff Chuck Barris had to keep under his hat until now!

Plot: A week in the life of "The Gong Show" host and creator Chuck Barris who lives through a series of outrageous competitors, stressful situations, a nervous breakdown and other comical characters involved in his life and work on the TV show.

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again?  Yeah.

As a kid in the 70s I loved watching THE GONG SHOW (1976).  It was silly, wacky, stupid, zany and really fucking funny.  It played right to my 7 year old self.  A few years later I watched this movie on HBO and I about pissed myself when Jaye P. Morgan (who I adored on the show) showed her tits.  NICE! I would've been about 12 at that time.  Cut to 35 years later and I finally watched it again.  It's still a funny flick.  It's kooky like the show but that's the point.  Barris has reluctant charisma.  He comes off a little shy but he's a blast to watch.  He's naturally funny but he has something about him that seems like he's a little uncomfortable being in front of the camera.  I love this guy.  The film does such a great job of giving you a look into what his life must've been like at the height of TGS's success.  So much so that I believe it.  It's exaggerated a little but not by much (my opinion).  Barris is just too likable not to enjoy and his chemistry with Robin Altman (who plays Barris' girlfriend, Red) is so natural and fun.  It's not so surprising to find out that they married the year this came out.  I really like this film and it's hard to discern how much of it is due to nostalgia.  Not all of the gags work but there are so many of them that there are still more laughs than your average comedy.  Nearly every scene has someone that you'll recognize but won't know their names. Oh, and this is for that 12 year old back in 1981...

Just for Laughs Stand Up vol. 2: On the Edge (2002)

Director: Ron Meraska

Starring: Mitch Hedberg, Dave Attell, Dane Cook, Lewis Black, Greg Girldo, Maria Bamford, Harland Williams, Jim Breuer, Sean Cullen, Mitch Fatel

More info :IMDb

Tagline: Warning: Dangerously Funny!

Plot: Stand up comedians do their stand up thing.

My rating: 7.5/10

Will I watch it again?  Nah.

This 86 minute DVD features all of the above stand up comedians performing 1-2 short bursts (about 5-6 minutes each time) of their routines.  If you're fans of any then you'll at least dig them.  I liked most of them although it was weird watching Dave Attell (one of my favorites) kill in one set and die in the other.  Because they are so many comedians and they don't get much time, if you don't like one then wait 5 minutes for the next.  That's all fine, I suppose, but I'd rather watch an hour of each of my favorites instead.  The Image DVD is presented in fullscreen with a few brief extras including backstage footage (5 minutes), 2005 interviews with Harland Williams (3 minutes) and Lewis Black (less than 2 minutes) and a look at the Montreal Just for Laughs Festival (7 minutes).

Brass Target (1978)

Director: John Hough

Writers: Frederick Nolan, Alvin Boretz

Composer: Laurence Rosenthal

Starring: Sophia Loren, John Cassavetes, George Kennedy, Robert Vaughn, Patrick McGoohan, Bruce Davison, Edward Herrmann, Max von Sydow, Ed Bishop, Lee Montague, Alan Tilvern, Hal Galili, Bernard Horsfall, John Junkin, Brad Harris

More info: IMDb

Tagline:  The Germans hid it. The Russians want it. The Americans stole it. General George S. Patton may die for it.

Plot: During the latter days of World War II, a shipment of gold is stolen. General Patton vows to find it. But it turns out that American officers are involved and they try to stop him before he gets to them. They hire an assassin to take care of him. At the same time an American intelligence officer who is investigating the robbery, learns of the plot and tries to find the assassin before he gets Patton.

My rating:  6/10

Will I watch it again?  Nope.

Great cast.  It looks great, too.  It's got an interesting story with lovely locations (Germany and Switzerland).  It's a shame then that it's not as good as it could have been.  I'm guessing that most of the fault is in the script.  While the story is interesting, there's simply too much going on and the lack of tension building keeps the climax from having any bite.  It's not a bad picture but it is lackluster in that regard, despite the big name cast with most of the actors giving it an admirable try.  Cassavetes seems a bit miscast.  He seems tired.  Maybe a Cassavetes from 10 years prior would've been more appropriate.  Loren's character is mostly there for window dressing and, while she's not in the film much despite her top billing, she doesn't play much of an important role.  Yeah, she does have something to contribute in the end but it's hardly something that couldn't be easily fixed by being absorbed by other characters.  There's one more thing, Rosenthal's score.  It lacked weight and meat.  Jerry Goldsmith would've beefed it up enough.  What Rosenthal (and he's done some great work) provided would be more at home in a TV miniseries. 

Six Ways to Sunday (1997)

Director: Adam Bernstein

Writers: Adam Bernstein, Marc Gerald, Charles Perry

Composer: Theodore Shapiro

Starring: Norman Reedus, Debbie Harry, Adrien Brody, Paul D'Amato, Holter Graham, Peter Appel, Kathy Lee Hart, Paul Lazar, Eugene Leong, Clark Gregg, Isaac Hayes, Jerry Adler, Anna Levine, Vincent Pastore

More info: IMDb

Tagline: love is a mother.

Plot: Eighteen-year-old mothers' son Harry (he lives with his overprotective mother Kate) shows his cruel side at one occasion and is hired as hitman/enforcer by the Jewish mob.

My rating:  7/10

Will I watch it again?  Probably not.

I watched this last year and I had to re-watch it just now to remember anything.  Usually that's a bad sign.  Tonally, this picture's all over the place and it goes to really fucked up places.  It's got some black humor but that's countered with really dark, psychological stuff.  The last fifteen minutes gets dark.  The ending is so, so weak.  It should've stopped in the car with a bang.  Roll credits.  But, no.  They just had to go out happy.  You'll probably dig it if you like odd films, crime flicks with something different to say or just for the sake of a cast full of familiar faces. 

Buried Alive (1990)

Director: Frank Darabont

Writers: David A. Davies, Mark Patrick Carducci

Composer: Michel Colombier

Starring: Tim Matheson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, William Atherton, Hoyt Axton, Jay Gerber, Wayne Grace, Donald Hotton, Brian Libby, Peg Shirley, David Youse

More info: IMDb

Tagline: She planned on her husband's death. But not on his coming back for revenge.

Plot: Clint is an every day working man whose wife Joanna is having an affair with a doctor. They plot to kill him and get the insurance money. Only trouble the drug overdose they give him doesn't kill him. Lucky for Clint he's buried in a cheap wooden box and he unburies himself. Just remember, Hell hath no fury like a man buried alive!

My rating: 8/10

Will I watch it again?  Yes.

I friggin' love this movie.  It was made for cable and I remember seeing it when it first came out.  LOVED it then and love it now (it's been that long between viewings).  The story is very simple but the superb cast and crew (and with Frank Darabont helming the picture) elevate it to being an excellent thriller/horror.  Everyone plays it straight and serious (although there are moments with dark humor).  The ending is perfect.  I can't recommend this flick enough.  Do yourself a favor and watch it.

Zombie A-Hole (2012)

Director: Dustin Mills

Writer: Dustin Mills

Composer: Jared Kaelber

Starring: Elizabeth Aweiker, Melissa Blair, Jessica Daniels, Josh Eal, Fuckin' Betty Fhite, Eugene Flynn, Elysia S. Gipson, Melissa Miels, Dustin Mills, Brandon Salkil, Harper St. Clare, Lindsey Vesperry

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Unstoppable... Unrelenting... Undead

Plot: This is the story of a religious cowboy, a lost soul, and a beautiful one-eyed grease monkey fixing to exact bloody vengeance on the same undead S.O.B. He's a low-down, dirty, disgusting, depraved, sadistic, psychotic, hell-bent, grade F, Zombie A-Hole who preys on naked twin girls. He ain't gonna know what hit him!

My rating: 5.5/10

Will I watch it again? Nah.

Right out of the box we've got a naked broad being chased by a maniac in the woods.  Great start.  But then you check the time and the movie's nearly two hours long.  That's a sign of trouble for a low budget horror movie.  Low budget brings with it acting that's all over the place but that's expected.  The puppetry is neat and so is the small snippet of animation.  I wish the guy who played the lead, Josh Eal as Frank, had more charisma.  For what this is, he's got moments where he's got some good line delivery but he's often monotone and that's not good.  More on the plus side, there's some gratuitous nudity (yay!) and the picture doesn't feel like it's almost two hours long.  Something must've gone right.  The ending didn't make up for much.  The filmmakers clearly want you to think of this as a grindhouse picture by the total use of dirty-ing up the film (which probably helps in places).  The title is great and the poster is fantastic but they add to the grindhouse nature of not delivering what they promise (I guess you could say the zombie is an asshole but aren't all of them?)  It probably sounds like I'm lambasting the flick but it's got some neat things in it and it's better than a lot of low budget horror flicks.  And I've seen some real stinkers.  Considering this is only the second film from writer/director Mills, his first being the very fun THE PUPPET MONSTER MASSACRE (2010), I'll continue to check out his work and see if things get better.

Manson (1973)

Directors: Robert Hendrickson, Laurence Merrick

Writers: Joan Huntington, Laurence Merrick

Composers: Brooks Poston, Paul Watkins

Starring: Jesse Pearson, Mary Brunner, Vincent Bugliosi, Bruce Davis, Lynette Fromme, Sandra Good, Steve Grogan, Ronnie Howard, Charles Manson, Phil Phillips, Nancy Pitman, Brooks Poston, Catherine Share, George Spahn, Paul Watkins

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Meet ONE MAN'S FAMILY REVEALED FOR THE FIRST TIME outside the courtroom - the staggering details of the most hideously bizarre murders in the annals of crime SURPRESSED UNTIL NOW and NOT PERMITTED on TV, Radio or Family Newspapers!

Plot: Documentary on Charles Manson and his family. Has a number of insightful interviews with many family members most notably Squeaky and Sandy (Blue and Red). There is also a history of Manson from his birth to the family formation to the Tate/La Bianca murders. Plenty of footage of the family playing at Spahn Ranch.

My rating: 8/10

Will I watch it again? Yes.

Simply outstanding!  Seriously.  It's brilliantly composed.  You've got Manson Family home movies, interviews with most of the main players (including Manson), interviews with the main players' cell mates (including Manson's cell mate prior to the infamous murders), split screen (which is very nicely used) and then some.  The two cats that did the score and songs were former members of The Family.  What's more?  The music is fantastic.  All of these things combined make for a really trippy and psychedelic documentary on a subject that now feels done to death.  But this was made over fifty years ago which gives in even more of an authentic feel.  To see these men and women tell their stories is something else.  One girl talks about a couple having sex at the Spahn Ranch and the guy commits suicide with a gun to the head as he climaxed inside her.  There's some really fucked up shit in this picture and it's a great look into the then-recent psychedelic late-60s in California.  Alright Mr. Hendrickson, where's the damn DVD?  I need this in my library.  This VHS rip has to go and I've got money in my hand.