Frazzle22

So be it: Crawlspace (1986) is a subpar, unfocused horror/thriller centered around mysterious and hinky landlord, Dr. Karl Gunther (Klaus Kiniski).

Kinski plays the part well, but the movie is a bit lame and boring due to the script's lack of depth. A sleuthing, private-investigator type, and the Kinski character's attractive, female tenants go up against a mixed bag of potential fear-inducing, horror movie elements. These secondary characters are underdeveloped; therefore, as an audience member, it's hard to feel any emotions for them when they face Nazi fueled psychosis, booby traps, and rats with glowing red eyes.

Crawlspace is not a terrible movie however, and a highlight of the film is music by Pino Donaggio.

Man, this show is garbage. Television can't get much worse than "Ridiculousness." I suppose MTV is trying to produce the cheapest possible programming to fill time slots and sell advertising. You'd have to be an imbecile or to have eaten paint chips as a kid to enjoy this crap.

The show's clips aren't the slightest bit funny and, the host, a grown man, dressed and behaving like a 14 year old boy is pathetic. The cackling woman, endearing at first, quickly becomes annoying after about two minutes of viewing.

Television would be well rid of MTV, as they hasn't produced any decent, original programming since the "Beavis and Butthead" days.

It's absurd that "Problem Child" is marketed as family entertainment. The main character, Junior (Michael Oliver), is seven years old, and a budding sociopath. His cruel treatment of people and animals is played for laughs, but there's nothing funny about tormenting cats. Parents would be wise to not expose their children to this young character's antisocial behaviour. If the filmmakers wanted to make a movie about an odious "Dennis the Menace," they should have geared Problem Child toward an adult audience.

Moreover, John Ritter does well with the part of adoptive father, Ben Healy, and Jack Warden is mildly amusing as grandfather, Big-Ben Healy. Michael Richards, of subsequent "Seinfeld" fame, is stodgy in his role as (bow tie killer) Martin Beck.

Problem Child is an abysmal, unfunny film, and the injection of political messaging is petty and unnecessary. A must miss!

"When the Wind Blows" (WTWB) is an animated full length feature that depicts the grim outcome of a nuclear strike against western society by the Soviet Union during the cold-war Era.

The film is centered around English pensioner couple, Hilda and Jim who, naively try to save their lives and countryside home by following the government's futile emergency preparedness plan.

While the main characters remain sanguine throughout, WTWB has a melancholy vibe. The film is heavy in dialogue, and voice actors Peggy Ashcroft (Hilda) and John Mills (Jim) turn in brilliant performances. Furthermore, the hand-drawn characters are cool, and some interesting CGI effects are used.

When the Wind Blows is not a film for children; although, I fully recommend it for teens and adults who enjoy animated movies containing serious subject matter.

While it's more of a comedy than it is a true slasher-thriller, "Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland" is surprisingly good. This third film sees a mid-twenties Angela Baker (Pamela Springsteen) posing as a teenage camper motivated not by tenting and swimming, but rather maliciousness and blood-lust.

Part three plays like a satire, and the characters are based on egregious racial stereotypes that are further categorized by social class. The camp leaders are a middle aged white couple: a dumb woman and her perverted, philandering husband. Additionally, a police officer is on the "Camp New Horizons" staff (so we know the kids will be safe).

Inner-city street kids and affluent kids of the suburbs make up the group of teen campers. While I feel this movie is a satire designed to lampoon the first two films, the stereotyping of the youths is brutal, and the characters' use of racial slurs is shocking. For example, one of the inner-city teens is a boom-box carrying, foul mouthed black male who is depicted as being lazy. The prejudice is not limited to characters of colour, however, as the privileged white teen girls are portrayed as promiscuous, ignorant racists.

Sleepaway Camp III isn't suspenseful or thrilling, but the blatant ridiculous stereotypes, shocking language, and absurd kill-scenes made me chuckle. Also, in one particularly amusing scene, Angela spits a rap verse to share in the interest of her fellow aforementioned camp-mate.

Field of Dreams (FOD) is like eating the first half of a hot dog without mustard and onions. While I enjoy FOD, the film is slow to gain momentum. It doesn't help that Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) is as dull as dishwater. Amy Madigan provides some much needed energy as Costner's wife, Annie Kinsella. While Madigan's acting is good, her character suffers at the hands of FOD's writers. In one ill-advised scene, the writers have Annie showing irreverence for the holocaust by calling a woman a "nazi cow." The scene in question takes place at the Kinsella's daughter's school.

Hereafter, the film picks up and begins to get interesting when Terrance Mann (James Earl Jones) enters the fold. Now, the Ball Park Frank has its missing ingredients! Jones is excellent, and he steals the scenes that he shares with Costner. Furthermore, in a minor role, Timothy Busfield is very good as Annie's jerky but well meaning brother, Mark.

Ray Liotta and Burt Lancaster turn in adequate performances, but Field of Dreams would have been bland without James Earl Jones.

I give this one 6 stars, mostly for Jones' brilliant acting.

Viewers who enjoyed the original run of Cold Case files may be disappointed with the reboot. This new series lacks the prominent narrational presence of Bill Kurtis.

While Kurtis does add narration to this show, he is sparsely heard. His inclusion feels like a token gesture that only serves as a throwback to the original series. Additionally, the original Cold Case files theme that once gave audiences the heebie-jeebies has been altered; it's not nearly as ominous as it once was.

At the risk of sounding callous, I must add that this new version of Cold Case files focuses too much on victims' personal lives and not enough on actual investigations. Rather than being a program about forensics and detective work, Cold Case files(2017-) plays more like a biography of murdered individuals. It's not interesting, and it's not entertaining.

3 stars.

While it's not as good as other mature-audience oriented animated films, "The Secret of NIMH" (TSON) is still pretty good.

It's superior to the majority of Disney produced full length features. I find most Disney films to be saccharine. In TSON, the Disney defectors have dialed it back on the syrupy scenes and made a smarter, darker film that doesn't rely on cutesy musical numbers.

In addition, most of the voice-acting work is exceptional. Elizabeth Hartman shines as protagonist, Mrs. Brisby, and Dom DeLuise is comically effective as Jeremy (the love-seeking crow).

I give this one 6 stars, as TSON could have been better if the backstory had been fleshed out.

If the female lead characters in "Set it off" were replaced with men, we'd have just another typical '90s hood movie, here. The use of female characters allows the makers of Set it off to weave a romance into this tale of four downtrodden young women who commit a series of brazen bank robberies.

Aside from a romantic subplot involving Stony (Jada Pinkett), Set it off contains the standard hood-movie themes. Not to mention, the characters are hardened and indignant, of course.

Save for a few good car chases, most scenes in Set it off are comically cringe-worthy. In an ill-conceived "Godfather" parody, we watch the four women seated at a large table, speaking in irksome Italian accents (is the audience supposed to find them cute?). Then, later on, the four get into an argument at their hideout. After having a gun held to her neck, the five-foot, one-inch Stony character conveniently picks up a hydraulic pump from a nearby lowrider to threaten the aggressor. Give me a break: the posturing in this film is ridiculous! In addition, the haphazard way in which the foursome carry out the bank jobs is preposterous.

4 stars for the action and car chase scenes.

"Killer's Delight," is not a terrible film. It is however, a reasonably well written, run of the mill thriller that is lacking in thrills.

I found most of the acting to be uninspired, save for a few scenes where James Luisi turns up the dial while giving his performance as police sergeant, Vince.

Aside from some early shots of the Bay Bridge, the majority of the cinematography is dull. Most scenes are boring, and they lack any real feelings of danger or excitement. However, there is one captivating scene where the killer is stalking his victims at a public swimming pool. Here, viewers are treated to some quasi, point-of-view like camera work. The director and his director of photography would have been wise to continue using a point-of-view styled technique to document the killer's movements, as this would have given the film some much needed suspense.

I give it 4 stars for the writing. While the gratuitous nudity may have boosted this film's rating back in 1978, it doesn't do so today. (I'm pretty sure they aren't even real.)

The fact that "Scarface" is the favourite film of every low life, wannabe criminal-thug you'll ever meet is reason enough not to watch it.

I've enjoyed some of DePalma's other work (Eg. Blow Out), but Scarface is kilogram after kilogram of machismo posturing, misogyny, violence, and drug use (hence the reference).

I'll admit, the first third of the film is interesting. In the beginning, we're introduced to the main characters; we learn of their plight, and we get a feel for '80s life in Miami. It's the final two thirds of the movie that become unwatchable. There, the viewer is subjected to 100 minutes of conceited pride, foolish bravado, and more glorified, grandiose violence and drug use.

This film might have been decent if the characters had any respectable, redeeming qualities; alas, they do not! The characters in Scarface are as despicable and predictable as the losers who consider this film to be an all time great.

I give it 3 stars, only for its capture of Miami vibes and '80s excess.

Catchfire (1990) is an ambitious and unique endeavor. Dennis Hopper, the film's director, takes a multidimensional script and, attempts to fuse multiple genres into one, complete and satisfying production.

Catchfire, also known as "Backtrack," would not be out of place in either Comedy, Thriller, or Action categories; it's a real mish-mash of a story.

The film begins strongly with scenes centered on artist, Anne Benton, a character played by the talented Jodie Foster. In an early and exciting catalyst, Anne finds herself in the wrong place at the wrong time, stumbling upon a meeting of Mafioso who, later seek to eliminate her as a witness to their crimes.

Later on, at its midpoint, the film begins to suffer, as it morphs from a promising crime thriller into some sort of bizarre, romantic-comedy that is peppered with additional action sequences.

Much of the acting in Catchfire is questionable. In particular, the chemistry between Dennis Hopper and Jodie Foster is horrendous; their on screen romantic-relationship is contrived and feels very unbelievable.

John Turturro's performance is the strongest of the film. He outshines fellow cast members with his portrayal of a puerile mafia henchman named, Pinella. In addition, Bob Dylan makes a fun, brief appearance as a bumbling, mixed media artist.

Due to the poor chemistry between Hopper and Foster, and the failed transition from crime-thriller to romantic-action-comedy, Catchfire falls short of the mark. For its eccentric ambition alone, I give this flic 5 stars.

For a made for TV film, "Cry in the Wild: The Taking of Peggy Ann" is very good.

The script is functionally well written, and it transitions rather seamlessly through the vital plot points.

David Morse plays a character named Bill, and he gives a solid performance as the deranged and misunderstood loner the townsfolk have derisively nicknamed, Bicycle Pete. Title character, Peggy Ann (Megan Follows), leaves viewers asking for more. She portrays the abducted held captive very impassively. As this film is based on a true story, perhaps the real-life Peggy Ann survived the harrowing incident by taking on a reticent disposition.

Jack Kehler sells the part of Peggy Ann's distressed father quite well. The film lags a little at it's midpoint, but it quickly returned to form, holding my attention until the end.

Overall, this is a great movie where most scenes are carried by Morse's strong acting. In addition, the cinematography is quite good; viewers are treated to some nice shots of a rugged, wild landscape.