filmbuff1974

Episode 2: Legacy and Dave Filoni made clear on the down low that he only considers the first six films as Star Wars and not Kathleen Kennedy's abominations. The novice directors had enough sense to keep quiet and listen to a master storyteller break down George Lucas's legacy.

I accidentally discovered "Dead Rising" on YouTube where there are these edited together game footage "movies" that are quite impressive. I don't know if these editors are connected with the game company that owns "Dead Rising" but if they aren't they should be hired because they did a far better job than the people behind this live action "Dead Rising" movie put out by Crackle.

The whole "Dead Rising: Watchtower" movie was an endurance test. Really a bad movie and what I don't understand is why these film makers don't watch source material like George Romero's movies and all of the Italian zombie rip-offs made during the eighties for ideas. It's like they just watched The Walking Dead and tried to guess what made that show successful and came out with this generic paint-by-the-numbers lame zombie movie.

This movie failed not only the "Dead Rising" game fans but "The Walking Dead" fans who will surely be watching this movie to get their zombie apocalypse fix during the season hiatus of "The Walking Dead".

This movie was a waste of my time.

The cover of the DVD box looked so promising. There is Tera Patrick in some kind of body armor with her generous cleavage showing. She carries a mystical looking sword and in the background a dragon is spitting out flames making the hilt of the sword look like a flaming torch.

On the back cover of the DVD package are various scenes with her in costume and different shots of castles and dragons. "Forbidden Tales" looks like Heavy Metal Magazine married with pornography. But when we actually pop in the DVD and watch the video we are subjected to Tera Patrick as some kind of android with a metallic hand and forearm who is telling some CGI created character who is apparently an invalid stories with a fantasy bent.

The concept was great but the execution was lacking. The stories were pretty much brief set ups for different erotic encounters with Tera Patrick in almost all the scenes. I also found myself wondering who the audience for this was supposed to be. Certainly not male viewers who like to see men with a variety of women and not one woman with a variety of men. Especially pretty boys. At best "Forbidden Tales" would have a "couples appeal" which really means that it is pretty lame pornography that is tamed down for the female sensibility of the couple.

I also thought that Tera Patrick, despite her astonishing beauty, is pretty lame as a sex performer.

I have not seen her in anything else but if this particular video demonstrates her talent I'd have to say she is pretty over rated.

Sorry.

First I should say that I'm delighted that there are these fan made productions determined to closely follow the retro look and feel of the original Star Trek series. I was really impressed with the first episode of Star Trek Continues and was expecting the same level on this second episode "Lolani".

I have to confess that I was somewhat disappointed with this particular episode. The main issue being some of the casting decisions and the acting.

My main issue is Todd Haberkorn as Mr. Spock. I do not know what his ethnic heritage is but it does not come across right with that of a Vulcan. Leonard Nimoy has a certain look and so far the PHASE II and the JJ Abrams reboot series has done a casting decision that works for Mr. Spock.

The second issue that I really noticed in this particular episode is how irritating I found the character of Dr. Elise McKenna and the acting style of the actress who plays her Michelle Specht.

The character of Dr. Elise McKenna and most of her dialogue really should have been the dialogue of Dr. McCoy. In fact more so in this episode because of the regional Earth origin of Dr. McCoy's ancestors. A real opportunity was lost there with him not contributing any comment to the situation Lolani was in.

I'd also add that Uhura, with her African heritage not given any input into Lolani was even more of a lost opportunity.

Other than the casting and acting decisions the retro look and sound of the episode was spot on and worked quite well.

I applaud the efforts made here and hope the series will improve with each new episode. Actually I'm confident it will.

I remember during the nineties there was an alternative B-movie film scene and all these shot on video productions were being released on VHS with some pretty impressive package design. NIGHTFALL apparently was one of them.

Truth be told, this was not a bad movie. A detective loses his partner to a vampire and teams up with another detective team to find the head vampire responsible. Pretty standard plot and okay acting.

The surprise was the resources available. Production design, costumes, make up effects and such were surprisingly decent compared with other films from this alternative B-movie scene. A few thousand dollars more toward filming on actually film and this might have gotten a larger audience .

I see this movie and many others like them have been picked up by Troma and released on their DVD label. While not up to the production value of Troma's in house production, NIGHTFALL is a worthy addition.

The second episode I've seen. I understand it is a cult favorite and I respect that. Here is my take: This series appears to be very feminine influenced and not in a good way. There is a point where "character driven" and "relationship focused" goes too far over the line and becomes a "soap opera". I don't like soap operas, I like horror television series.

I don't understand how a genre started by George Romero and fine tuned by Lucio Fulci suddenly transformed into Judith Krantz and Danielle Steele with walking dead people as window dressing , but I suspect it has much to do with a greedy network grabbing for a female demographic and throwing the male demographic under the bus.

I seriously doubt most of the males watching this have much patience with all the soap opera-ish talking head dialog going on and on, with an occasional zombie thrown in to create the illusion that this is a horror television series and not a chick show.

Two decaying dead thumbs down!

Production Design was really impressive! In fact, in some ways superior than those used in "Star Wars: A New Hope".

My only real issue was the really bad acting by the lead actress. It was just too apparent that she knew she was in front of a camera and was basically posing.

Actually, there didn't seem to be much of a story here and so I found myself dozing off, a really bad sign that the movie didn't have much to offer.

I also want to be fair and say that I saw this right after watching "Star Wars: Episode VI- Return of the Jedi" and so it was probably unfairly contrasted with the official canon.

Just saw this episode after a period of years. It concerns an immortal who has taken it upon herself to kill any potential dictator before they come to power . She does this to redeem herself for failing to kill Adolf Hitler when she had had a chance to do so. Duncan MacLeod attempts to stop her.

Okay, my initial thoughts while watching this episode was how badly it has dated. I can't exactly put my finder on it, but I think the culprit is the television format itself. There just is no time to develop these characters and bond with any of them.

Another thing, in light of the vicious be headings by Arab Terrorists of innocent civilians and seeing this streamed from obscure Internet websites, I just can not look at the obligatory sword fight at the end of each "Highlander" episode the same way anymore. Duncan MacLeod, and the other immortals, are serial murderers. There is just no way around it!

I had seen "The Supernaturals" the year it was released as part of a triple feature at a Times Square grind house and thought for a top billing movie it was pretty bad.

I've been pointedly watching a lot of eighties movies that I missed and ones that I saw and decided to watch again. For the most part, I had been pleasantly surprised to discover many of the awful eighties movies I'd re-watched were better than I had recalled them. "The Supernaturals" is not one of these.

Avoid this turkey and save your time with something else. This movie is just badly done and not at all in a "so bad, it's good" way. You've been warned!

Hollywood is a culture of extreme narcissism. A film exploring the Hollywood culture of extreme narcissism is going to produce a movie about characters who are extremely narcissistic. Now, hopefully this was done deliberately, in which case "What Just Happened" is a work of genius and honesty. If the filmmakers are not aware that most of America do not like characters like the ones in this movie, then it is just another demonstration of Hollywood's culture of narcissism.

I was trying to figure out why I felt so defensive watching this movie and it was more than just the self-absorbed characters. "What Just Happened" is a movie about Hollywood insiders made for the enjoyment of Hollywood insiders. No effort at all was made to let outsiders in on the joke. At a dinner party this would be rather rude! One could get much of the humor, but only if they scoured the industry media such as "Variety" and "The Hollywood Reporter ". Other than that, the average viewer is completely out of the loop! I could not bring myself to like one single character in this movie.

The worst part is that movies like this, at the least, usually show Los Angeles as one of the characters and the director failed at that because the camera was too busy focusing on all these annoying self-absorbed characters. Unless you're a Hollywood insider or are ambitious to make it into Hollywood film industry circles and want to know how Hollywood ticks, avoid this movie. It is just not entertaining.

"Samaritan: The Mitch Snyder Story" was decent enough. I think if I saw this during the eighties, I'd have appreciated it more. I do remember seeing a lot of homeless in my city and the consensus was that Ronald Reagan had much to do with it. It's amazing that President Reagan's name or likeness wasn't seen or spoken once in the entire television movie! But the real issue was how none of the very real sanitary problems of the homeless wasn't addressed at all. Not everyone is insensitive to the homeless blight, but when the stench of lack of showers or toiletries makes any kind of affinity extremely difficult, how can one blame the public? I wanted to like this movie, but it struck me as just a little too hokey for my tastes. (7 out of 10)

I have watched and enjoyed Albert Pyun's movies for years. In fact the films he directed for Full Moon Entertainment are personal favorites ("Dollman", "Arcade") of mine. So when I saw his latest film advertised on his new website, I was intrigued enough to purchase a three day streaming pass and see "Bulletface". I must admit that when I first saw this film I did not like it. I thought Albert Pyun had hit a low point in his career with "Bulletface".

If his name hadn't been attached to this feature, I would have assumed a porno director had decided to make a mainstream film and used his usual porn talent to do so. Not that "Bulletface" uses excessive soft porn or anything. It's just that HD is equated with porn features and the above average in looks actors and actresses look like they came out of the porn industry. Actually there are some soft core flashback scenes that do use porn actresses.

But on repeated viewings, I saw Albert Pyun's genius seep through and changed my initial impression.

I won't go into a plot rehash, just a brief description. "Bulletface" is a Film Noir with a female lead who after serving two years in a Mexican prison is looking for her brother's murderers. The action moves along at a good pace. The reason it gets better with multiple viewings is because the film is structured in such a way that one misses pertinent info because everything is thrown out there at a pretty quick clip.

I would suggest seeing it twice, at the least. A third time for Albert Pyun fans who want to appreciate his genius at making so much with so little to work with.

"King David" is a entertaining Biblical Epic that stays pretty close to the source story of how a young Hebrew named David ascends to the throne as Israel's second King.

I remember reading Rex Reed's review of the film and how much disdain he had for Richard Gere's performance. He said he looked like he was checking behind the camera to make sure no one stole his motorcycle. At the time I thought the raking over the coals was amusing and I had decided not to see the film. I'm sure many other readers of Rex Reed made the same decision as well.

Well, on hindsight, Rex Reed and many other " movie reviewers" have done this movie a great disservice. I just saw this "King David" for the first time this year and I thought it was definitely one of the better Biblical Epics to come out of the Hollywood film industry.

Fortunately with VHS and DVD, "King David" the movie, has the opportunity to find the audience it should have had twenty five years ago. This movie will find it's audience and as for the words of Rex Reed...

I just can not put my finger on why this documentary annoyed me so much. I found all three featured writers in this film to be really annoying and I don't think it's their fault because they are a product of the system they are working within.

Seeing these three reminded me of watching victim protagonists in an eighties horror film. The characters in these horror movies seem to be willfully dense as they all act counter-intuitively in an extremely dangerous situation and you keep getting frustrated that they refuse to use common sense and get out of the predicament. And of course you know what happens...

Well, these three writers seemed to act the same way as these willfully dense characters in those eighties horror movies. And of course you know what happens...

"Ellie Parker" is a fascinating look at the life of an aspiring actress in Hollywood. It's more of a drama than comedy in that what she goes through is anything but funny. The movie, shot on digital, looks like an extended YouTube blog and I mean that in a good way. It gives the film a very intimate quality as we follow Ellie Parker through her various stops in her everyday life as an actress trying to make her break. We, the viewer get to see much of Los Angeles through her journey. It's a really engaging experience.

Frankly I am astonished at the low rating this film has gotten. My guess is that there are probably too many aspiring filmmakers and actors/actresses looking at this film with very jaded eyes. For someone not living in Los Angeles or actively pursuing an acting career, "Ellie Parker" is sure to be an eye-opening. Well worth a look!

I loved the first re-make of "The Ring". Seeing that in the movie theater sent chills up my spine. I had never been so pleased to actually be moved by a horror film, as I had become very jaded by the horror genre and thought there was nothing that could move me to actually being scared. I also enjoyed the Japanese originals as well. Not as scary as the remake, but I appreciated the source material. Then we come to "The Ring Two" and I have to say...

It was a let down. Very contrived and self absorb ant relationship between the mother and child. The sequel might have been better if they explored what had happened up to the point where the movie actually began, I'm referring to the viral nature of that VHS cassette being passed among all those teenagers. I know there had been a short down but it could have been expanded. Instead, we got this dull, plodding mess!

I remember seeing the posters for this movie in the subway stations. I am a huge fan of the series and for the decade of the eighties in general and so I was looking forward to a movie that would bring back this very eighties iconic television series. Now, I knew that the movie would probably re-invent some of the elements in the series to make it more of a "feature" than small screen, but not like this!

Let's just say I felt an overwhelming sense that Michael Mann went too far in re-envisioning the original series. I have never been so depressed after a movie viewing than in Miami Vice. The whole movie was so dark (literally and figuratively) that I found myself depressed. The original series had a dark atmosphere, but there was light at the end of the tunnel. I have never been to Miami and after watching this film, I'll likely avoid it, but when it came to the series, I never finished watching an episode of the original feeling that way about Miami. I would definitely say that Miami Vice is the darkest Film Noir I have ever seen committed to celluloid!

"The River: Legend of La Llorona" sets up the story in a opening prologue by telling the tragic legend and source of the curse that has plagued this small Latino community. The community has been terrorized by a female ghost who is killing off everyone while searching for her children whom she had drowned years before in retaliation to her estranged husband.

"The River: Legend of La Llorona" is part of the "Decrepit Crypt of Nightmares" DVD collection of low budget alternative cinema b-movies. The quality of this collection leaves much to be desired and so I tend to lower my expectations. For the most part the films I've seen so far have been passable with one exception. I thought "The River: Legend of La Llorona" would be one of the worse inputs and was pleasantly surprised at how effective this feature was. It's a really creepy film that works really well despite the obvious low budget. Worth a look!

"Nightmare Asylum" is part of a DVD collection called "Decrepit Crypt of Nightmares". I purchased the set with my eyes wide open, I knew the films in the collection were made by a group of East coast filmmakers who were trying to create an alternative b-movie industry and with limited resources. Most of these films are actually not bad. "Nightmare Asylum" on the other hand...

Yes, it was pretty bad. I only endured the whole thing because I don't like not finishing something. I started to watch it and was determined to view it to the very end. Strangely enough, once I had accepted that this was a badly made film with horrendous acting, I actually found myself enjoying it somewhat.

"A Candle in the Dark" is a short movie about predatory vampires on a college campus killing off students. This movie is part of the "Decrepit Crypt of Nightmares" movie pack. The whole collection is filled with these alternative b-movie cinema productions that started in the nineties and apparently continues until today.

I must say that I really enjoyed this short movie. There is much Hollywood product that I would not have invested the time. The key to enjoying these films is to keep in mind that the makers have a minute fraction of the resources of a Hollywood production. I gave it a 7 out of 10, which is better than I would have given many Hollywood produced movies!

I just finished watching this movie on DVD. I am a fan of the Resident Evil franchise and had been delighted with it's quirky take on the horror niche zombie genre. I won't bore the reader with a recap of the plot line. If your reading the comments here, you have an idea of what the franchise is about and where this film is probably going. So, I'll just cut to the chase. Resident Evil: Extinction is a disappointing third film in the Resident Evil franchise. I won't say trilogy, because there is an opening for another installment. So I would say watch this film so that you are up to speed in the inevitable fourth film. Just don't expect the fun of the first Resident Evil.

I have to say watching the increasing regression in quality of this franchise has been a disappointment.

I remember seeing Mila Jovovich and Paul W.S. Anderson at a Fangoria convention plugging the first Resident Evil to a very bored and jaded audience who had long ago gotten tired of every filmmaker insisting their project was a totally new type of horror film. When I finally got to see the movie in the theater I was pleasantly surprised to see that Resident Evil was indeed a breath of fresh air in the horror genre.

What I think went wrong with the franchise is that once the studio executives discovered they had lightening in a bottle with the first Resident Evil, everyone now put their grubby fingers in the creative process and mucked the whole works up. Resident Evil: Extinction probably is the victim of too many film executives trying to put their stamp on this film and here is the result.

I saw this documentary on Hulu. I am not a Harry Potter fan and found the first book and movie to be passable entertainment. I saw a few of the other movie adaptations and thought they were passable. I happen to be a Trekker and so understand obsession with a particular entertainment with wide culture changing appeal. So , going into this documentary I was keeping an open mind because I didn't want to be unfair to the subject.

With all that said, I have to give this film a lukewarm rating. There was so much this documentary could have covered beside the mediocre musical performances from rock star wannabes and badly recited monologues from frustrated actors. For example, the school I used to work in had teachers who loved the Harry Potter books, do you think the director could have gone into the school system and perhaps secured an interview with a teacher and gotten some insight there? Or how about members of the Neo-Pagan community, and seeing what they felt about Harry Potter books and maybe reveal to us how they have used the books to enhance their craft? The documentary just falls way short of what could have been explored here.

Adam Sandler is actually a talented actor as we all saw in that movie "Reign Over Me". For some strange reason, most of his film projects are just bad films. This one is just the worse. In fact, it's actually abusive in it's awfulness.The fact that Going Overboard actually secured a distributor and was released into movie theaters is an astonishment. Think about it, people actually paid hard earned money going to see this movie and be entertained and instead found themselves watching this. It's almost a criminal offense it's so very, very bad! And make no mistake, I do not mean so bad that it's actually good. I mean this film is just not an engaging entertainment.

DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME WITH THIS MOVIE!!!There, I have warned you! By the way,I don't know why Adam Sandler is now a multi millionaire making film after film and that are all so lukewarm.

I remember reading about Tim Kincaid in Fangoria Magazine years ago. It was a feature on-the-set reporting of the making of Robot Holocaust and Breeders. Apparently they were using many of the same sets. I have seen Breeders and thought it was pretty cheesy , but enjoyable. I finally got a chance to watch Robot Holocaust on Hulu DOT com and have to say it was entertaining enough. Tim Kincaid also did a film called Necropolis which also was pretty good. Tim Kincaid is like a modern era Edward D. Wood, Jr.. Mark my words, Tim Kincaid will be appreciated for the genius that he is.

Admittedly,in Robot Holocaust, the acting was pretty bad, but if you watch it with lowered expectations , this film is actually entertaining enough. The eighties had many of these low budget knock offs and they went straight to VHS cassette after a limited release. Just watch it for what it is and enjoy it!

I have not seen the original Adam-12 and so won't compare them. What I do know is that this series by itself is a nice , passable television series that doesn't fail to entertain.

I remember watching these episodes during it's original release in 1990 and 1991. They were grouped into two episodes and shown on Saturday mornings. Each episode had two or three story lines and were resolved by the end of the episode. It surprises me now when I watched them that so much was crunched into a half hour format. Many of the episodes could have easily have been developed into hour length episodes and today probably would have been stretched out over several episodes. I enjoyed them then and I still enjoyed them now. The stories were rather tame and the acting was decent enough. The real strength of the series was all the great Los Angeles location shots. It's too bad there were not more seasons made.