Fireman, 2009 - ★★★

Fireman, 2009 - ★★★

REVIEWED

"Now hes back to burn the bastards to the ground...with FIRE-EEERRRR"

Cheesy trailer voice over narrator

Mock grindhouse styled trailer from Astron-6. Red Coleman was a fireman killed on duty. Only hes returned to seek revenge on the pyromaniacs responsible... and possibly have incestuous sex with his daughter.

Fun 2 minute mock trailer short, from the team responsible for fantastic feature 'Fathers Day'.

[PRFR: Personal Reasons For Remembering]

The HOT-HOT-HOT lurid sexual & violent tone.

Originally taken from Letterboxd

Cool Guys, 2010 - ★★½

Cool Guys, 2010 - ★★½

REVIEWED

"But you can't get pregnant from expired milk"

Suzie

Another short from Canadian masters of b-grade mirth Astron-6. This one pays homage to 80's comedies like 'Weekend At Bernies', and in particular teen holiday sex ones like 'Revenge of the Nerds'. Three unlucky in love guys hit the beach for a summer break, only the lone girl they managed to get back to their room turns up dead.

Mildly amusing, early teeth cutting short. Showcases their potential, scenes like the hand amputation hint at their more twisted style, that they'd later develop for features like Fathers Day'. Gotta love the amusing use of an 'Alan Smithee' alias director gag. If nothing else it proves these guys know their movie shit.

[PRFR: Personal Reasons For Remembering]

Captured the period detail well, including the cheesy MTV-styled music video number.

Originally taken from Letterboxd

Lazer Ghosts 2: Return to Laser Cove, 2008 - ★★★½

Lazer Ghosts 2: Return to Laser Cove, 2008 - ★★★½

REVIEWED

"With great laser, comes great responsibility... ohh and don't forget cancer"

Jason

10 minute masterclass in dumb. Lazer Ghosts 2: Return to Laser Cove mocks 90's video cassette era z-grade science fiction/action trailers for all their worth. A team of ghost basher's try to stop a ghostly resurrected Einstein and his evil minions.

Amusing short from the Canadian 'EH' micro budget team Astron-6, who deleviered Troma their best movie in years with 'Fathers Day'. I desperately need to watch 'Manborg' and their other shorts.

[PRFR: Personal Reasons For Remembering]

The cheesy visual fx and costumes, and the hilariously bad one liners.

Originally taken from Letterboxd

Joysticks, 1983 - ★★★

Joysticks, 1983 - ★★★

REVIEWED

"Kids play with their joysticks day in day out. Jerking it back and fourth... sweating on them, they don't even clean them off when they're through... Joysticks are an hotbed of germs, germMMSSSS"

Nurse Tubitt (Justine Lenore)

Jefferson is in charge of his families arcade, only a local do-gooder is out to close the steaming cesspool of teenage debauchery. In order to keep it open they arange a video game-off but can Jefferson raise his game and put his dark back-story of none gaming behind him.

Basically its the old 'Footloose'/'Dodgeball' like format of having to fight the man to keep their hobbies alive. Age hasn't been so kind to 'Joysticks, the recent 30th anniversary DVD makes the film look shoddy. While its gags fail to create any genuine belly laughs, not in the same way as that era's National Lampoon movies do. But on its original release back in the early 80's 'Joysticks' was a real blast, and one of the few movies of the period to really capture the thrills of video gaming. Guess pure arcade nostalgia played the biggest part in my enjoyment of re-watching it again all these years later. Was sorta heartwarming seeing games like Pac Man & Space Invaders again, being played in cabinets like intended.

[PRFR: Personal Reasons For Remembering]

Standout moments come from Jonathan Gries as the mini biking punk gamer King Videot, and his sprite-like female groupies the Videots. And the arcade heaven & hell courtroom dream sequences, complete with mud wrestling titties.

Originally taken from Letterboxd

Warm Bodies, 2013 - ★★★½

Warm Bodies, 2013 - ★★★½

REVIEWED

"Theres a lot of ways to get to know a person, eating her dead boyfriends brains is one of the less orthodox methods."

R (Nicholas Hoult)

Pleasantly entertaining 'past its sell by' DATE movie. When angst ridden teen zombie r-r-r-'R' eats Julies boyfriends brains, hes flooded with the guys old thoughts. These past-on memories change R and he becomes infatuated with Julie. Only winning her and her father over could be the death of him.

I skipped this when it was released theatrically back on Valentines day, I was under the impression it was going to do for zombie movies what 'Twilight' did to vampire ones. How wrong I was, because its a real gem of a zomcom (or zomedy if you prefer). Visually its great, it managed to walk that fine line between real fx and CG very well. The soundtrack was flawless, it ranged from old classics by Dylan & Springsteen through to more modern treats by the likes of Bon Iver & M83. They even fit the music into the plot a few times like a gag with Roy Orbisons Pretty Woman. In fact its packed with loads of amusing zombie stereotype gags, plus the actings above par for a dead movie. Don't be put off like I was, its well worth seeing, hell its worth owning.

[PRFR: Personal Reasons For Remembering]

I loved the unique concept of zombies needing to feed on brains due to giving them a brief feeling of being alive again.

Originally taken from Letterboxd

Identity Thief, 2013 - ★½

Identity Thief, 2013 - ★½

REVIEWED

"I cant have sex with her, due to my cock and balls getting shot off..."

The Real Sandy Patterson® (Jason Bateman)

Sandy Patterson gets his identity taken by a lonely female con artist. In order to prove hes not drawn up huge debts and to save his career he decides to confront the woman and bring her to justice, only she proves harder to pin down than he'd bargained for.

Painfully unfunny and dated feeling road trip styled comedy, that was as low on charm as it was gags, I honestly can't remember laughing once. Yeah I know I'm being extremely nasty but they should have sold the script as a Muppets movie... and had Jason Bateman & Melissa McCarthy's characters played by Kermit & Miss Piggy, and heaven fucking knows what kinda acting lessons Amanda Peet ever did, because its like shes gurning in every scene. Needless to say I hated every minute, so its only recommended to those easily amused.

[PRFR: Personal Reasons For Remembering]

NOTHING... I watched it last night and I hardly remember anything this morning. Guess the hire car being smashed up was my highlight.

Originally taken from Letterboxd

Beware the Docs of March Marathon #2

Beware the Docs of March Marathon #2

REVIEWED

The bigger, badder and more bizarre bastard son of my original Beware the Docs of March Marathon 1 list.

This is a huge work in progress list of WANTED TO SEE docus, or ones I've not logged here at Letterboxd or my own little blog cultdb. Some I'll no doubt view before the next set of 31 films are picked, plus many I'll never see.

Thanks to the usual IRC suspects for their kind help in suggestions, the list is based on the following sources (while I make no lies about stealing from massively).

True Films 200 Documentaries To See Before You Die pdf

(just ask if anyone wants a pdf of this great list by Kevin Kelly)

Jewbo's Weird Weirder and Weirdest Documentaries List

Ivo's Doc You Sucka List

Colin's 100 Documentaries Worthy of A Watch

Colin's Documentary Watchlist

Adam's Underrated Documentary List

PENCILED IN usually due to no imdb or tmbd listing (usually these make the best choices) :-

5 Films about Christo (1973) Albert Maysles, 1900 House (1999), Amazing Grace (1989) Bill Moyers, A Few Machines (2004) Arthur Gansen, Bizarre Sex (1999) no imdb, Bounce: Behind the Velvet Rope (2000) Steven Cantor, China: Beyond the Clouds (1994) Phil Agland, China A Century of Revolution (2000) Judith Vecchione, Civilization (1969) Michael Gill, C'mon Geese (1989) Bill Lishman, The Columbine Cause, Colonial House (2004) Nick Brown, Cosmos (1980) Carl Sagan, Den Grimme Dreng aka Naughty Boy (1996) tt0187101, Downside Up (2002) Nancy Kelly, The Farm: Life Inside An Angola Prison (1998) Jonathan Stack, Fighting Black Kings (1976) tt0186105, The Films of Charles and Ray Eames (2000), Fire Within: Cirque du Soleil (2004) Christopher Dyson, Future is Wild (2003) Victoria Couled, Gratian The Real life Romanian Werewolf (1995) no imdb, Gotham Fish Tales (200?) Robert Maass, HAARP - Angels Still Don't Play This Harp, Honeymoon (2006) tt1512161, How Art Made the World (2005) Robin Dashwood, The Human Face (2001), In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great (1998) David Wallace, Joined for Life: Abby and Brittany Turn 16 (2006), Jockeys (2004), Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth (1988) Bill Moyers, Junkyard Wars (1995) Chaz Gray, Jupiters Wife (1995) Michel Negroponte, Kintaro Walks Japan (2005) Tyler MacNiven, Lewis and Clark(1997) Ken Burns, Lumiere & Co. (1995) David Lynch, The Man Who Wanted To Classify The World (2002) Francoise Levie, Mein Krieg (1991) Harriet Eder, My Sex Robot (2010) no imdb, The Natural History of the Chicken (2001) Mark Lewis, The Navigators (1983) Sanford Low, Project Greenlight (2001), Ring of Fire: An Indonesian Odyssey (1999) Lorne Blair, Shape of the Moon (2005) Leonard Retel Helmrich, Short Cut to Nirvana (2004) Maurizio Benazzo, Silk Road (1990), Sketches of Frank Gehry (2005) Sydney Pollack, Speedo (2003), Survival Research Laboratories: Ten Years of Robotic Mayhem (2004) Johnathan Reiss, Survivorman (2007) Les Stroud, The Wild World of Hasil Adkins (1993) tt0410907

• 10 MPH


• 42 Up


• 49 Up


• 9/11: The Filmmakers' Commemorative Edition


• Air Guitar Nation


• Aliens of the Deep


• American Movie


• American Splendor


• The Atomic Cafe


• Baka: The People of the Rainforest

...plus 452 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Originally taken from Letterboxd