War Between the Planets (1966) – Never mind the terrible
dubbing or the fact that it’s got more visible wires than a marionette show;
what separates this film from the scores of other glaringly low-budget B-movies
of the sixties is its abject failure in every aspect of storytelling: the
characters are saddled with interest-crushing amounts of inane bickering and
technobabble, dumping all responsibility for explaining the otherwise
incoherent story on the narrator. 2
Friday, May 30, 2014
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
The Man Who Could Work Miracles
The Man Who Could Work Miracles (1936) – No doubt a special
effects blockbuster 80 years ago, this is an amusing but meandering commentary
on human nature, purpose, society, and power; it’s got some clumsy dialogue and
the last ten minutes are super preachy, but Roland Young carries things along impressively
well and Ralph Richardson is a scene bandit. 6
Friday, May 23, 2014
The Gamers
The Gamers (2002) – It’s sometimes dumb, and the director
loves to hold a shot too long, but it’s genuinely funny—at times very much
so—and on the whole, it’s pretty impressive considering that it has no budget
and no acting; I’m not so sure about that weird meta thing at the end, though.
6
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Knights of Badassdom
Knights of Badassdom (2013) – While it’s relatively kind to
LARPing in general, it’s just the same unfunny gag over and over, and as
horror, it’s equally tiresome; in short, this is a thin, sloppy film (everyone
can read Enochian characters, but they can’t bother to learn correct archaic
English grammar?) that’s likely to be uninteresting even to people with an inclination
toward this sort of thing; I'm all for overcoming evil with the power of metal, but this is just poor (word on the street is the director’s cut is
significantly better—hey, it’s gotta be). 4
Friday, May 16, 2014
Last Action Hero
Last Action Hero (1993) – They don’t come any more
self-aware than this woefully under-appreciated gem; yes, the kid and the cheesy
old man are nigh-insufferable, but this is a glorious send-up—and celebration—of
the cliché; the cast is great, the action is high-tier, and it’s a pretty funny
movie on top of all that. 7
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
TV: Robot Chicken – DC Comics Special
Robot Chicken: DC Comics Special (2012) – In just 22
minutes, it manages to be laugh-out-loud funny several times, and it does
enough hand-holding (in a sufficiently amusing way) that even those who aren’t
super familiar with the broader DC universe ought to enjoy it. 7
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