Saturday, February 28, 2009

Movie 11 of 2009: Dirty Dancing



Movie Description:

Dirty Dancing is a 1987 romance film. Written by Eleanor Bergstein and directed by Emile Ardolino, the film features Jennifer Grey, Patrick Swayze, Cynthia Rhodes, and Jerry Orbach. The story details the moment of time that a teenaged girl crosses over into womanhood both physically and emotionally, through a relationship with a dance instructor during a family summer vacation. Around a third of the movie involves dancing scenes choreographed by Kenny Ortega (later famous for High School Musical), and the finale has been described as "the most goosebump-inducing dance scene in movie history".

Movie Trailer:



My Opinion:

This is probably the bazillionith time I have watched this movie, but it never gets old an I ALWAYS cry at the same spot in the movie (during the song "She's Like The Wind" when Johnny is leaving). I watch this movie a lot when I'm upset, which was the case this time as well. It is kind of a "comfort" movie for me... kind of like spaghetti is a comfort food for me. There are just certain things a girl needs I guess. Some girls go for chocolate... I go for DIRTY DANCING.

Movie 10 of 2009: Autumn In New York



Movie Description:

A May-December romance. He's 48, on the cover of New York magazine, an upscale restaurateur, and a womanizer who rejects ideas of love. She's 22, living with her grandmother, artistic, facing a tumor that's life-threatening, which she tells him about the morning after their first night, when he tells her not to expect permanence from him. Will finds Charlotte unprecedented and unpredictable, and experiences feelings of love, but she packs him off when he's casually unfaithful. He's stung, and he's also flummoxed by the appearance of a young woman from his past. Can he convince Charlotte to take him back, and can he help her through her illness and change his irresponsible ways?

Movie Trailer:



My Opinion:

Sweet movie, but not quite what I was expecting. Glad I finally watched this as I enjoy most movies that star Winona Ryder and this one was enjoyable... but not one of her best. I doubt I'd watch this one again anytime soon, but it was a bit sad and I found myself crying near the end, though that was only partially due to the movie and partially due to the fact I was having a really bad day.

Friday, February 27, 2009

Movie 9 of 2009: Vacancy



Movie Description:

When David (Luke Wilson) and Amy Fox's (Kate Beckinsale) car breaks down in the middle of nowhere, they are forced to spend the night at the only motel around, with only the TV to entertain them... until they discover that the low-budget slasher movies they're watching were all filmed in the very room they're sitting in. With hidden cameras now aimed at them... trapping them in rooms, crawlspaces, underground tunnels... and filming their every move, David and Amy must struggle to get out alive before whomever is watching them can finish their latest masterpiece.

Movie Trailer:



My Opinion:

I was sitting on the edge of my seat through most of this wondering if David & Amy were going to make it out alive of not. I can't imagine anyone actually being sick enough to make "snuff films" like the jerk-offs in this film, but I'm sure there are some people like this somewhere out there in the world... or have been in the past anyway. This is one intense film and I highly recommend it to fans of horror and thriller movies.

Friday, February 20, 2009

Movie 8 of 2009: A Virgin Among the Living Dead



Movie Description:

Pretty Christina (Christina von Blanc) encounters ghostly apparitions when she travels to a mansion in Honduras for the reading of her father's will. Thinking that she is going mad, Christina investigates further and discovers some horrible family secrets which could consume her. This witty erotic horror effort from cult director Jesus Franco is a perfect example of the re-editing and butchering of European films, which became common practice in the 1970s. At least 10 different versions exist, some with completely different plots than others. A 1974 re-release contained softcore sexual inserts featuring Marie-France Broquet, Waldemar Wohlfaart, and other performers not present in the original version. In the 1980s, French director Jean Rollin was hired by the Eurocine studio (by far the most common offender in the area of "cut-and-paste filmmaking") to shoot additional scenes. Rollin's footage consists of approximately 15 minutes of gory, uninspired zombie attacks, meant to capitalize on a then-popular subgenre initiated by Lucio Fulci's Zombi 2. Yet another version contained scenes from a Rollin-directed vampire film and was advertised with a picture of Vincent Price, who does not appear in any known version of this film. Further complicating matters is the fact that most of these alternate versions exist in varying lengths, reducing a rather interesting film to an incomprehensible mess. Britt Nichols, Paul Muller, Howard Vernon, and Anne Libert co-star, and Franco appears in a cameo role excised from some prints.

Movie Trailer:

Not Available!

My Opinion:

This was a bit better than the last Franco film I watched, Female Vampire, but I still wasn't overly impressed. Definitely more plot to this one however, so more enjoyable in that sense. Franco does have a way of picking attractive females for his movies, I'll give him that at least. Beyond that... I'm not sure how impressed I am overall with his moving making. I'd give him a few more tries I guess, but I really don't know if he'll improve or not.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Movie 7 of 2009: Twilight



Movie Description:

Isabella Swan moves to gloomy Forks to live with her father. As she
starts her junior year in high school she becomes fascinated by Edward
Cullen who holds a dark secret which is only known by his family.
Edward falls in love with Bella as well but knows the further they
progress in their relationship the more he is putting Bella and those
close to her at risk. Edward warns Bella that she should leave him but
she refuses to listen and to understand why he is saying this. Bella
learns his secret. He is a vampire, however she is not afraid of his
blood-thirsty needs and the fact he could kill her at any moment. Bella
is afraid of losing him, the love of her life. The thrill begins when a
new vampire finds it a challenge to hunt Bella down for her
irresistible blood. The game is on and James will not stop until she is
killed.

Movie Trailer:



My Opinion:

I had VERY low expectations of this movie going into it as I had heard that if you had read the book that the movie really sucked. And typically I hate movies once I've read the book. I read the book a couple of months ago so I figured this wouldn't be an exception to that rule, but I promised my niece I'd take her to see it and I was curious to see just how bad it was. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I didn't hate it. I actually quite enjoyed it. It followed along with the book a lot better than I thought. Granted, maybe it helped that I didn't LOVE the book. I enjoyed the book, but wasn't overly impressed with it so maybe that made all the difference. I am curious to see what happens next in the series so I will carry on with both reading the rest of the books and watching the movies and after having watched the movie I will probably bump the books up sooner than I had originally intended. I guess I need to continue with my rule of not listening to what others say about movies 'cause in most instances, I don't agree with a lot of people on what they do or don't like. I just need to form my own opinion.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Movie 6 of 2009: Female Vampire aka The Bare Breasted Countess



Movie Description:

Female Vampire or The Bare Breasted Countess is a 1973 French erotic horror film by Jesus Franco. The plot revolves around Countess Irina von Karstein (played by Lina Romay), a mute woman who needs sex like a vampire needs blood in order to stay alive forever. She sucks the life essence out of her (both male & female) victims while performing oral sex on them.

The movie's shooting title was La comtesse noire (The Dark Countess), but it has been released under several different titles, including Bare Breasted Countess, Erotikill, Female Vampire and Les Avaleuses ("The Swallowers") with running times ranging from just over 70 to over 100 minutes. Some versions focus on the horror aspect while some focus on the erotic aspect, some even including hardcore pornographic inserts.

Movie Trailer:

Not available

My Opinion:

Okay, so I'm not sure if there was truly a plot to this movie, but... I still enjoyed it in some ways. It was another good movie to make fun of and it was definitely an arty movie in some senses. Lots of nudity (depending on which version you pick up). You could definitely tell the girl was Italian from the fact that she was a bit... ummm... furry. The whole basis of the movie was the Countess killing people while giving them oral sex and there was no blood involved, which is obviously weird for a vampire. But... like I said... there was truly no plot involved. So... basically just a lot of nudity and oral sex. It was enjoyable, but not if you wanted a plot. And no... this is definitely not a porno for those reading and think of it as such. It is a European horror flick with quite a bit of skin and bad acting. LOL!

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Movie 5 of 2009: Candy Stripers



Movie Description:

A group of small town college students find themselves trapped in a
hospital overrun by beautiful candy stripers whose bodies have been
taken over by aliens hell-bent on breeding & leaving a bloody trail
of carnage.

Movie Trailer:



My Opinion:

Please take my advice and do NOT watch this movie! Oh my god this was horrible!!! I enjoyed making fun of it, but that was about the only enjoyment I got out of this movie. There was never an explanation of what kind of "alien" or whatever had infected the candy stripers and the "solution" of how to kill them was the STUPIDEST things I ever heard of as I really argued the reasoning behind it! DUMB... DUMB... DUMB MOVIE!!! I'm sure glad I got this one for only like $2-3 'cause if I'd spent anymore than that I'd be REALLY pissed! Hell... THAT was more than it was worth!

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Movie 4 of 2009: My Bloody Valentine 3-D




Movie Description:

Tom returns to his hometown on the tenth anniversary of the Valentine's
night massacre that claimed the lives of 22 people. Instead of a
homecoming, however, Tom finds himself suspected of committing the
murders, and it seems like his old flame is the only one will believes
he's innocent.

Movie Trailer:



My Opinion:

Very cool movie! Definitely needs to be seen in 3-D though so go see it in the theater while it's still there. I haven't seen the original movie of this one and I know a lot of people say that remakes sucks, but... I had nothing to compare it to. I thought it was a great movie, despite the sucky FX in the first huge murder scene. After that the FX picked up and it didn't look like health class dummies lying around. LOL!!! The movie kept twisting around and had me confused as to who the actual killer was up until the end so they did a really good job with the storyline. I will probably pick this one up on DVD when it comes out, even though I still think it is much better in 3-D than it will be in regular format.

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Movie 3 of 2009: The Orphanage



Movie Description:

The former orphan Laura raises her adopted son Simón with her husband
Carlos in an old house and former orphanage where she was raised. Simón
is HIV positive and tells Laura that he has five invisible friends, and
she believes they are fruit of his imagination. Laura decides to reopen
an orphanage for handicapped children in the location and during the
opening party, Simón calls her to show the little cabin of his friend
Tomás. The busy Laura does not gives much attention to her son; then
she sees a mysterious masked boy and Simón vanishes. Laura feels the
presence of other persons in the house and months later, the desperate
Laura invites a team of parapsychologists to try to unravel the mystery.

Movie Trailer:



My Opinion:

I really, really liked this movie!!! I didn't really find it scary, but it definitly was extremely intense and deep. I could see where some people could find some creep factors to it though and some people that don't handle horror movies well might find it scary as well. I highly recommend this movie though. It is in Spanish so you have to read subtitles throughout, but definitely not a huge deal IMO. Check it out!

Friday, January 30, 2009

Movie 2 of 2009: Doomsday



Movie Description:

A lethal virus spreads throughout the British isles,infecting millions
and killing hundreds of thousands. To contain the threat, acting
authorities brutally quarantine the country as it succumbs to fear and
chaos. The quarantine is successful. Three decades later, the Reaper
virus violently resurfaces in a major city. An elite group of
specialists, including Eden Sinclair, is urgently dispatched into the
still-quarantined country to retrieve a cure by any means necessary.
Shut off from the rest of the world, the unit must battle through a
landscape that has become a waking nightmare.

Movie Trailer:



My Opinion:

This wasn't really my kind of movie, yet I still enjoyed it. There were some cool action scenes and a couple fun chase scenes, especially the one towards the end. I think the best parts of the movie, IMO, were the ones when the punks were in the movie. The rest seemed a bit more slow to me. Worth checking out if you enjoy action flicks for sure.

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Movie 1 of 2009: The Strangers



Movie Description:

The horrifying events that took place in
the Hoyt family's vacation home at 1801 Clark Road on February 11,
2005, are still not entirely known. Champagne. Rose petals.
Candlelight. It was supposed to be a night of celebration for Kristen
McKay (Liv Tyler) and James Hoyt (Scott Speedman). But after leaving a
friend's wedding reception and returning to the house, everything had
collapsed for the happy couple. Then came a 4 a.m. knock on the door
and a haunting voice.



Is Tamara here?



Writer/director Bryan Bertino explores our most universal fears in The
Strangers, a terrifying suspense thriller about a couple whose remote
getaway becomes a place of terror when masked strangers invade. The
confrontation forces Kristen and James to go far beyond what they
thought themselves capable of if they hope to survive.


Movie Trailer:



My Opinion:

Overall this was a really good movie. It kept me tense through a lot of it waiting to see where the bad guys were going to pop up next. The whole movie had a "creepy" feel to it and the strange compilation of music throughout the movie was disturbing at times.

I did laugh at a few things about the movie though and cracked some jokes throughout so it could've been taken light-hearted at times... or it could just be the fact that these movies never seem to scare me. (despite the fact I think I jumped 3 times throughout the movie... LOL!!!)

There was one thing that really bugged me about the movie. Early on the lead female put on a dress/nightgown type outfit... then she changed into jeans and a shirt a while later, but at the end... somehow she magically was back into the dress/nightgown again. I guess it was a bit of a goof-up when the movie was made, but it seemed like a rather large mistake.

All in all I do recommend this movie to others as it did keep me interested throughout and there were a few mildly scary moments (hence me jumping!).