Movies you saw in October

47 Ronin (2013) Japanese themed action movie based on the 18th century true story of samurai who's "daimyo" (feudal lord) Asano Naganori was compelled to commit seppuku (ritual suicide) for assaulting a court official named Kira Yoshinaka.  after waiting and planning for a year, the ronin avenged their master's honor by killing Kira BUT were compelled to commit seppuku themselves for the murder. the story is the best known example of the samurai code of honor, bushido, and is Japans's "national legend". stars Keanu Reeves and numerous Japenese actors. and has pretty much non-stop "kung-fu" style fighting and sword play with excellent CGI. good movie IF you like this type story BUT it sure isn't Akira Kurosawa directing Toshiro Mifune. plays again on Cinemax channels Thursday October 2nd, Friday October 3rd and Sunday October 5th. rate it

Hitchcock (2012) excellent biographical drama about the making of Alfred Hitchcock's classic suspense-horror movie "Psycho" staring Anthony Hopkins as "Hitch", Helen Mirren as his wife and business partner Alma Reville and Scarlett Johansson as Janet Leigh with James D'Arcy as Anthony Perkins. VERY well acted by all involved it is a movie I can watch over and over. although not a pure comedy it has some good laughs throughout. plays again on the Cinemax "More Max" channel again Monday October 6th @ 2:40 pm pacific time. rate it

Dude, so you already watched like 4-5 hours of movies today?! Do you not work?

NO I am retired

you don't care about the reviews, do NOT bother reading them

LeRinkRat I like your reviews.  I could care less if you work 70 hours a week or 1 hour.  So keep posting. 

I think I posted this before but I watched The Grey (Liam Neeson, Frank Grillo) last night again.  It's a depressing film but it's all about survival in the wilderness after a plane crash.  What's left of the crew tries to make it back to civilization but a pack of wolves have them on their radar.  Seems like every time I go back and watch this movie I appreciate it more.  A lot of people didn't like the ending, but I thought it basically kept with the theme of the movie.  Neeson and Grillo are outstanding actors. 

I tried watching 47 Ronin but tapped out after half an hour.  Let's call a spade a spade, Reeves can't act a lick.

I tried watching 47 Ronin but tapped out after half an hour.

THAT is why I made the "BUT it sure isn't Akira Kurosawa directing Toshiro Mifune" comment. good story BUT the usual "wooden" acting by Keanu Reeves

A Walk Among The Tombstones

watched Out of Sight (1998) on the HD Net Movies channel the other night. not a bad crime comedy with George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez with Ving Rhames, Don Cheadle, the late Dennis Farina and Albert Brooks. somewhat interesting plot with the "sparks fly between good girl and bad boy" with Clooney and Lopez and has decent action and suspense in spots. hopefully will replay soon. I guess the "chick flick" aspect earned it it's 92% RottenTomatoes rating. I rate it only

The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day (2009) followup to the 1999 The Boondock Saints and has similar "oodles of ordnance" and pretty much non-stop action. stars Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus as the Irish McManus brothers out for revenge for the murder of their priest in Boston with Billy Connolly as their father, Clifton Collins Jr. as Romeo a Mexican fighter who joins up with the Saints and Julie Benz as an FBI agent actually helping them. Director Troy Duffy must have studied Guy Richie because it has a lot of elements of his movies (but NO Jason Stratam). Rotten Tomatoes hates it at only 23% BUT think action fans will enjoy. plays again on Starz-Edge Sunday October 5th @ 1:50am pacific. rate it

Running Scared (1986) "cop buddies" crime-comedy drama staring Billy Crystal and the late Gregory Hines with Jimmy Smits as the bad guy coke dealer and Darlanne Fluegel Crystals ex-wife who he still loves and wants back. had pretty good action and some really funny lines. was easy to watch BUT think the Rotten Tomatoes 60% was a bit generous. plays on Cinemax-Action again Tuesday October 7th @ 5:30 am pacific. I rate it

The Breakfast Club (1985) teen "coming of age" comedy-drama follows the interaction between five high school students all serving detention on a Saturday. very well acted by Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, John Kapelos, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy with Paul Gleason as the jerk of an assistant principal supervising them. IF you remember high school you will  recognise the jock, brainy "geek", "miss popular", lonely girl introvert and "bad boy" every school had. every time I see this I wonder IF the kids committed some offense to get detention, WHAT did the jerk of an assistant principal do to have to waste his Saturday baby sitting them? I think it is a classic of the 1980's. plays again on IFC movie channel again Saturday October 11th. recommend you record because that channel is over-run with commercials. I rate it

Hard to believe that the Breakfast Club is almost 30 years old. 

rinkrat..watch the movie running scared with paul walker

'Carrie' reboot.

Been years since I saw the original..The original seems creepier in my memory..This new one was a'ight.

Graveyard Shift (1990) David Andrews, Brad Dourif.  A rat infested textile mill has a horrifying secret.  Andrews is a drifter who needs a job and gets the graveyard shift at the mill running the cotton picker.  Management is told that the mill will be shutdown unless it cleans the place up.  They get a clean up crew to get the place in order but run into a monster.  Now they are just trying to get out alive.  Dourif is great as the rat exterminator.  Not one of Stephen Kings best adaptations but worth a watch during Halloween month. 

Running Scared is a classic!! There are some very funny lines in that movie.

I actually thought this 2013 sequel was better acted than the 1976 original with had Sissy Spacek in the title role and Piper Laurie as her nutty mother. Chloe Grace Moretz and esp Julianne Moore were even more spooky in those roles AND the special effects of Carrie wrecking the dance were much better

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014) pretty good acton-suspense spy movie staring Chris "Captian Kirk" Pine, Kevin Costner, Keira Knightley and Kenneth Branagh who also directed with the luscious Gemma Chan as high tech CIA spy Amy Chang aka "control". pretty much non-stop action with some crazy "plot twists" to keep your on your toes. plays again on EPIX movie channels again Thursday October 9th, Saturday October 11th and Sunday October 12th. I really enjoyed it and rate it

Shadow of the Vampire (2000) really well acted horror film about the German director F W Murnau, played by John Malkovich, making his silent classic vampire movie Nosferatu in 1921. to get around the Bram Stoker estates refusal to license Dracula he simply changes the name of the vampire to Count Orlok who is played by Willem Dafoe as Max Schreck. the "hook" is that Schreck, which means fear or terror in German, really IS a vampire. also stars Eddie Izzard and Catherine McCormack. short 90 minute film that is an interesting "twist" on the standard Dracula plot. Dafoe received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination. I usually can not pass up watching when it plays I think it is that well acted by all involved. plays again on EPIX movie channel again Sunday October 12th @ 12:35 am pacific time. rate it

Men of Honor (2000) serious drama based on the true life story of master chief petty officer Carl Brashear, the first African American master diver in the United States Navy. very "never give up" inspirational movie with Cuba Gooding, Jr as Brashear and Robert De Niro as master chief diver William "Billy" Sunday who at first is opposed to a black man training as a diver BUT later becomes Brashear's mentor and friend. I enjoy movies like this and Something the Lord Made (2004) with Mos Def and Alan Rickman which I would recommend even more. plays again on HBO-Signature Saturday October 11th @ 9:50 pm pacific time. I rate it

watched the James Caan classic The Gambler (1974) on EPIX. one of the great cautionary dramas about being an out of control "degenerate" gambler and sports bettor. also stars Lauren Hutton and Paul Sorvino with early in their careers bit parts by Burt Young as a bookie's "collector", M. Emmet Walsh as a Las Vegas sports bettor and James Woods as a jerk of a bank officer. GREAT "must see" movie that hopefully will play on EPIX or some other movie channel again soon. it is a "must see" for gamblers and I obviously rate it

the original 1956 Invasion of the Body Snatchers played on HD Net Movies last night. an early SciFi classic it is typical 1950's rather woody "ham acting" BUT worth watching for the plot which has been repeated in numerous films in one form or another over the years. I remember my mother and I watching this late one night back in the late 1950's and neither one of us could get to sleep for days it scared us so much. it is included in most Top Horror and Top SciFi lists by various movie rating organizations and is preserved by the Library of Congress as a historic film. plays again on HD Movies net Wednesday October 15th @ 1:35am pacific time IF you want to record. I rate it    for it's historical significance.

Just before Dawn (1981) Gregg Henry, George Kennedy.  Five campers arrive in the mountains to examine some property they have bought, but are warned by a forest ranger that a huge machete wielding maniac has been terrorizing the area. Ignoring the warnings, they set up camp, and start disappearing one by one.  Decent slasher film.  The music is what gets to you more than anything. 

Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) Tom Atkins, Dan O'Herlihy.  A large Halloween mask-making company has plans to kill millions of children with something sinister hidden in Halloween masks.  I remember when this movie came out people were like where is Jamie Lee Curtis and Michael Myers.  Not sure why John Carpenter threw this in the Halloween mix, but I have to admit every time I watch it I enjoy it.  This movie is more creepy than scary.  Dan O'Herlihy plays Cochran who is the mastermind behind the mask-making factory.  He, in my opinion, is what makes the movie watchable.  Talking about a creepy dude.  Tom Atkins plays a Doctor who gets involved with the daughter of a man who was killed by Cochran's people.  A lot different than the Michael Myers movies but not bad. 

Olympus Has Fallen. Netflix.

Pretty entertaining, ya just have to let your imigination sail a little on this one.

My recent one this month is The Grand Budapest Hotel and many of the Miyazaki movies in a row on weekends or on a tired day after work. 

I remember being all like wtf? when this movie came out. No reason whatsoever to name it Halloween 3.

Olympus has fallen and white house down were good movies practically the same

I watched The Grand Budapest Hotel this weekend on DVD.I can't remember the last time I went to a commercial Movie-plex BUT if you enjoy Wes Anderson and his sutle style this movie is the motherlode of Wes Anderson movies.All the usual players and he wrote this movie with certain actors in mind. I'm not going to give a plot rundown but just envision the main charactor as a PeterSellers /PinkPanther  in an Hitchcock E.European 1930's mystry. I laughed several times aloud and I never do that.

A lot of people were pissed when they went to the theatre and there was no Michael Myers or Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween III.  Tom Atkins who starred in Halloween III said they should have called it something else.  Maybe just Season of the Witch.  He said a lot of people didn't give the movie a chance at that time because they thought they were fooled into going to the theatre to see something else.  Many years later the movie is actually being given some props for it's originality.  The studio told John Carpenter that he would be allowed to make one different type of Halloween movie and that would be it.  If it didn't include Michael Myers then there would be no more.  Too much money involved.