What was the last movie you've seen?

[Luke]

is this all sarcasm? Because you didn't note otherwise.

YES!

^Not sarcasm.

[Ack]

Nightmare at Noon, AKA Death Street USA

Holy shit, this was exactly the kind of thing I wanted to see! Bo Hopkins and Wings Hauser are very different guys just passing through a small town in Utah when all of a sudden everything goes to hell: all motor vehicles die at the edge of town, all outside communication has been cutoff, and the townspeople begin turning into psychotic raging zombies that bleed green and rival the worst PCP binge you've ever seen. So it's up to Bo, Wings, Wings' wife Kimberly Beck, sheriff George Kennedy, and the sheriff's daughter/deputy, Kimberly Ross, to defeat albino Brion James and save the town from his evil government experiment. And in the process, they all learn a thing or two about friendship.

Yes, it's absurd, in a Night of the Comet or Night of the Creeps kind of way. This is the kind of 1980s film that I love: ridiculous, colorful, violent, with a wonderful mix of scifi and horror along with a glorious amount of tongue-in-cheek humor. There is also a preoccupation with Westerns, and this movie wears its cowboy heart on its sleeve, from references to the OK Corral to a shootout at a drive-in theater that was supposed to be playing High Noon. The last half hour turns into gunfights while tracking men on horseback, followed by a helicopter chase that is surprisingly well done considering what the budget probably looked liked.

If it's not lawyer Wings ranting about his rock star clients and complaining, or Bo cracking wise and staying cool, it's the over-the-top performance of Brion and the wonderfully psychotic performances of all the townspeople screaming and raving as they chase after each other with kitchen knives or run one another down in their exploding cars. Sign me up for more of this!

[Ack]

Cyber Tracker

Don "The Dragon" Wilson is a secret service agent in a future world where a corrupt CEO has successfully implemented robotics into the Department of Justice, completely circumventing the need for the judicial system. Unfortunately for Don, the senator he is protecting is completely corrupt and backs the Cybercore corporation to the point he is willing to commit murder. When Don finds out, he goes on the run, and Cybercore sends their robot killing machine, The Tracker, after him. Soon Don finds himself working alongside a small rebel terrorist group trying to bring down Cybercore. Will they be successful? Will Don clear his name? Will The Dragon get to take his shirt off and fight a guy in soft blue lighting?

You know it!

Actually, I will give this movie credit for having a good reason for Don to lose his shirt; he uses it to help staunch another person's bullet wound and then gets interrupted immediately afterward. And Wilson looks like he knows what to do in a fight, even if the guys taking the beatings don't always seem to. But the acting in this movie is bad, the script and dialogue silly, and the budget obviously tiny. Apparently Trackers are made of some super material that occasionally lets physical objects pass through them, but seems to do so randomly, thus allowing Don to stick a bomb inside of one during a climactic final battle. It has shades of Terminator 2, but it never appears consistent, and the reasoning behind it is explained as thus:

Random dude: "Science words."

The Dragon: "What?"

Random dude: "I don't understand it either."

And then boom, back to people shooting at each other.

I feel there are much better cyberpunk B-movies out there(hello, Albert Pyun), but if you are a fan of Don "The Dragon" Wilson, or you want a cheap Terminator 2 knockoff that has all the acting chops of a wet noodle, well, here you go.

Still better than R.O.T.O.R.

[Cronozilla]

I generally avoid seeing Michael Bay flicks for as long as I can, usually something makes me want to watch them, and I'm usually pissed at myself for doing so.

Tonight I sat down and watched Pain & Gain. And for the first time, ever, I can honestly say I think Michael Bay made an excellent movie. I really enjoyed it. I didn't think the movie was hilarious or anything like I've heard people describe it in the past. I mean, these were horrible human beings doing atrociously awful things. But I think the situation was portrayed in the correct light for you to be able to enjoy their exploits. The movie doesn't necessarily pull that curtain back until everything starts falling apart for the characters, and I think, overall, it was really well done.

I think there's a couple Bay movies that are decent enough to watch, but I would never say anything he's ever made was "good". Even the Rock has the same problems I think all Bay flicks have. But here, this is a good movie, and everything in it is playing to everyone's strengths, no one feels like a one dimensional character, or like they're there for a punchline. It's almost like the movie pulls you down into this world of insanity, and then reminds you, yeah these people were pieces of shit.

So, overall, I really liked it. I would recommend it to anyone, really. Michael Bay made a good movie, I'm late to it, but I'm astonished.

Still not comfortable with him handling a movie about Benghazi. Especially considering the trailer released thus far.

[Luke]

Time to discuss BLACK MASS yet?

This was one of my first Summers where I didn't basically reside near my laptop or in the theater watching movies, constantly. Caught most of the "blockbusters", but I certainly missed a lot from the past few months, so feel free to chime in on the best movie of the Summer of 2015.


Concerning BLACK MASS, no spoilers, just a general thought, but...

What I'd really love to know from viewers of this film is if they think the film vilifies Depp's Whitey, or praises him. I don't care about THE DEPARTED, don't care about the pacing, the writing, the direction,or the performances. For me it's clear that this a very well made movie, that is not made for everyone. It's not exactly polarizing as people with either give this a "meh" or an "it's awesome" and I don't see people hating the film.

But I have been butting heads with a few guys as if this movie glorifies gangster violence or not (think SCARFACE). If you've seen the trailer, you already know the movie is violent. The only real spoiler here is that the film is very violent. Close to "look away from the screen violent", but at times it seems the movie makes you want to root for a killer with a blank stare and nearly zero emotion.

BLACK MASS is based on true events that are stranger than fiction, and may have worked better as fiction. There is a quick mention that Depp's character was able to leave prison as he volunteered to tests with LSD. Kind of wish the majority of the movie was him on a bad trip.

[Ack]

Nightmare City, AKA City of the Walking Dead

Note: City of the Walking Dead, not Fulci's City of the Living Dead

In the wake of George Romero's Living Dead series, Italy's exploitation community went more than a little nuts with zombie films, leading to Zombi/Zombie/Zombie Flesh Eaters series, depending on the region. Most of the films that appear in these disparate series are not actually related in any way, but titles were changed or added to make them seem like continuations or sequels of earlier, popular films or knock-offs. One of these movies is Nightmare City, which saw release at least once as Zombi 3 despite there being an actual Zombi 3 directed at least in part by Lucio Fulci along with Bruno Mattei.

Now here's where it gets weird: Nightmare City isn't really a zombie film. It has many of the elements of a zombie film but comes from a weird little micro-genre of such films where the monsters are infected with a disease or virus that makes them zombie-like without actually killing them. Think 28 Days Later. Instead of the living dead, Nightmare City's monsters are actually irradiated nuclear mutants that must feed on blood to survive because they are no longer capable of producing new blood cells within their own bodies. But just because they're hungry doesn't make them dumb: they wield weapons and firearms, drive cars, operate and destroy machinery, attack in ambush, target and hunt specific people out of a mob, and understand the importance of stealth. They also run; in fact, Nightmare City is noted as being the first zombie film where the monsters are capable of running. Before this, they all did the slow shuffle.

But the nuclear mutants here do not speak, and their ability to think still seems a bit muddled. They also have a thing for attractive women and getting them topless before or right after killing them, which leads to the film becoming blatantly exploitative. Which makes sense, considering Umberto Lenzi is the director. Lenzi started out directing Italian medieval fantasy films but then moved into B-spy thrillers, comic book movies, and into the Giallo genre around the same time that folks like Mario Bava and Dario Argento were in it. There are many genre films to his credit(including at least one La Casa film, the slasher Nightmare Beach, Cannibal Ferox, many Poliziotteschi films, and the actual Demoni 3), but one of the most important is Man From Deep River, which kicked off the Italian jungle cannibal craze 8 years before the likes of Cannibal Holocaust. Lenzi was no stranger to exploitative cinema by the time he got to Nightmare City, and it shows.

Unfortunately the film hasn't aged particularly well; the makeup effects are pretty pitiful, the story doesn't make much sense, and it's obvious everyone is stabbing and hacking for the squibs. There is even some knockoff eye-gouging in the style of a Fulci flick. But its influence is obvious when watching films like the Dawn of the Dead remake or Planet Terror, and its strong anti-nuclear weapons message remains completely clear.

There is also a reboot in the works! I know, I know, I was scared when I first heard that too. Then I found out this guy was directing it:



Now I'm not so worried.

[TSTR]

hell yeah love Nightmare City

[prfsnl_gmr]

On a somewhat related topic...When are we going to start the month of horror thread?

It is one of my very favorite topics.

[noiseredux]

On a somewhat related topic...When are we going to start the month of horror thread?

It is one of my very favorite topics.

I PM'd Dave about it a few days ago, but he hasn't responded. My wife and I already started working on our "October pile" last weekend. We watched Nightmare On Elm Street 3 and The Hills Run Red. We just tend to have more movies planned for the Halloween season than we can get thru in one month.

[Pulsar_t]

My second viewing after a whole decade. Ultimately disappointing, and the quoting is overhanded to the point of exasperation.