Movies you saw in December

don't remember who put me onto it but watched Bubba Ho-Tep  (2002) and it's a VERY "weird funny" horror-comedy about a bunch of old geezer in nursing home being stalked by an Egyptian mummy that dresses like an East Texas "Billy Bob". Bruce Campbell as Sebastian Haff, an old Elvis impersonator who swears he is the real Elvis Presley, and Ossie Davis as another patient that thinks he is John F. "Jack" Kennedy are really hilarious.

well worth watching IF you want a good laugh and fairly short @ 92 minutes. it is on Starz-Cinema again Monday Dec 9th @ 9:05 am pacific time   

the scifi-horror movie Splice (2009) is playing on IFC Tuesday Dec 3rd @ 7:15 & 11:15  pm pacific time. definitely one of the most disturbing movies I have seen in decades. gets into all the moral questions about cloning. I'm usually pretty "thick skinned" but this thing gave me nightmares. Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley play two genetic engineers that develop a human hybrid creature "Dren" (Abigail Chu as the child and the VERY sexy French actress Delphine Chanéac as the adult)

found myself having great sympathy for "Dren", esp as a child, throughout the film for the way she is exploited as some sort of "invention" with NO regard for her human side. like I said, VERY disturbing movie and pretty violent in spots. I am probably NOT they guy to rate it because parts of it scared the shite out of me.

I saw Splice.  It kept me interested.  I put it in the category of a better than average movie that I will probably not see again. 

Splice sucked

well THERE is a rating

Just watched Blackfish. Good documentary on the Killer Whales at Sea World.

watched last month. WAS good. OSHA now NOT allowing trainers in the water during Sea World Orca shows

Splice is a one time watch.  Passes 90 minutes, not good not bad ehhh.

I saw the portion about the trainer in the small Canadian park that was killed during a live show.

It sounded like the what was hellbent on revenge. It nabbed her leg and was pulling her under water for progressively longer periods of time. All in front of a live audience mind you.........

They said they were storing the whales in crates at night so they were asking for them to go crazy. The normal tanks are cruel enough.

Killing Them Softly (2012) watched this attempt to make an American version of a Guy Richie movie = FAIL. big disappointment considering the cast of Brad Pitt, Ray Liotta, Sam Shepard and the late James Gandolfini in one of his last "gangster" rolls. movie just kinda "dragged". had some pretty  graphic murders scenes but was in NO way funny when it tried to be. writer/director Andrew Dominik is for sure NO Guy Richie. 

it's on Showtime channels again Tuesday Dec 10th @ 12:05 am, 3:05 am & 6:00 pm and Thursday Dec 12th @ 9:15 pm pacific IF you want to fool with it. definite "just killing time"

Rat,  You know I'm a month behind everyone else but managed to sit through "McCabe and Miss Miller" by Altman.   Trust me, not the best by any of the before mentioned. It gets a "OUCH"  rating from me.

watched the 1954 religious themed epic The Egyptian last night on the Fox Movie network. not as well known and very under-rated compared to other 1950's "epic" movies like The Robe, The Ten Commandments and Ben-Hur but had a compelling story and was VERY well acted by Edmund Purdom, Victor Mature, Jean Simmons, Peter Ustinov and Michael Wilding. definitely worth viewing IF you like those old religious themed epics  

Thor - the second one - and I actually liked it

I didn't like the first Thor and didn't think I would watch the second one but every person I talked to about it said it was good.  Maybe I'll try it.

have not really watched that many movies this month, 165yrd. DID watch this doc on last night on Indieplex. Chasing Madoff  (2011) about how forensic accountant Harry Markopolos tried to get the SEC to investigate Bernie Madoff 10 years before his ponzi scheme finally blew up. was kind of a "dry re-hash" of the events BUT would probably have made a good "drama" with the right screen writer. the man and his family were probably in danger investigating a Wall Street billionaire with ties to "who knows"? overall a pretty good doc   

Out for Justice (1991) Steven Seagal, William Forsythe, Gina Gershon. 

This is one of those movies that if I was in my 20's I would be like yeah kick some butt.  But now that I am older I laughed thru most of it.  William Forsythe is the bad guy who is on drugs and goes around killing folks for fun.  And of course, Steven Seagal is that bad behind cop that takes him down. 

My Uncle gave me a bunch of these Seagal movies to watch so I will review some more.  I would have to imagine this is one of the worst of the bunch.  I hope so anyway. 

HOW can you determine WHICH Steven Seagal movie would be "the worst of the bunch?"

Criminal Law (1988) Gary Oldman, Kevin Bacon, Tess Harper

Gary Oldman is a defense attorney who gets a psycho off on a murder charge.  But the pyscho keeps killing and wants Gary Oldman to defend him.  Oldman agrees but this time he is trying to find information that will cause his client to be guilty. 

Kept me interested throughout.  I would give it around 2 1/2 dogbones.  Good to see Joe Don Baker.  He plays a detective.  I love that movie Walking Tall where Joe Don goes around kickin some butt. 

Watched Man of Steel last night. Pass for me but most guys will like it. All action and great CG.

Criminal Law (1988) Gary Oldman, Kevin Bacon, Tess Harper

sound similar to Matthew McConaughey's "The Lincoln Lawyer"

I saw Blood Simple a long time ago and remember liking it. 

A Soldier's Story (1984) excellent mystery-drama with a just about all black cast about the murder of a hated sergeant at a WWII Louisiana Army Post. Oscar nominations for Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor (Adolph Caesar as Sgt. Waters). early work by Denzel Washington, David Alan Grier and Howard E. Rollins, Jr. well worth watching. it is on Movieplex again Sunday Dec 15th @ 3:35 am & 3:15 pm. also on Encore-Black Tuesday Dec 12th @ 10:50 am and again Wednesday Dec 18th @ 5:00 am. repeats on Movieplex again Friday Dec 20th @ 5:30 am & 1:35 pm. definite   

PAIN AND GAIN.

I liked it. Wahlberg, Mackie, and the rock were all funny. They hideously twisted a horrible true story into a bit of a black comedy, but reading the real story after the movie, it was pretty dead on. I usually avoid Bay movies as I'm not huge on summer blockbuster action type flicks(unless its comic book movies), but I really liked this one.

IRON MAN 3.

Heard a lot of chatter from the geeks about it being weak, but I thought it was hands down the best iron man movie and the best of the recent Marvel movies. Early in the movie, Tony kinda gets sent on the run(trying to be spoiler free), and he's in hicktown USA with no money, no powers, no suits, etc. That chunk of the movie had an old school 80s feel for me and I really enjoyed it. There's a twist with the villain about an hour in and I understand why people were turned off as I really liked the bad guy, and......lets just say he wasnt what u would expect when there was a confrontation. But overall, I really liked this movie.

Looking forward to American Hustle and Wolfs of Wall Street next couple weeks. Although I'm a little worried about both. American looks silly and the media is hyping it up a lil too much for my tastes. Seems like every review I peeked at(I try to get the gist of movies without any spoilers) seemed to knock it for different reasons, yet it was all 4 and 5 star reviews. I think its just because its a Russell movie. Wall Street I hear its like 2 hours and 59 minutes. TOO LONG!! But its Marty so the editors back away and let him put out a bloated work.

saw Even Money (2006) a while back and thought it was a well acted gambling-crime drama with a somewhat "twisting" plot. excellent cast with Danny DeVito, Forest Whitaker, Kim Basinger, Ray Liotta and Tim Roth. it's on The Movie Channel-East (their one HD channel) Thursday Dec 19th @ 10:00 am pacific. also on their "skinny-scope" channels a few other times including Saturday Dec 14th