Cinema - Comments / Reviews by Twistin

Cinema - Comments / Reviews by Twistin

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Member	Item		Review/Comment
Twistin 13th Nov 2022		Cinema Sex And Romance (1951) (1951)	Yeah, I use that sometimes too...the clipboard is my friend! My video player of choice is MPC-BE (Media Player Classic: Black Edition), which is the most versatile I have found on the PC (after bailing on VLC...) Capturing screens is easy, but with discs from those three aforementioned studios, the OS will recognize the disc, but when trying to launch them in the player, that process gets (intentionally) bypassed and nothing happens. Probably a simple line of forbid code...which is probably what AnyDVD is able to disable before it executes.
Twistin 12th Nov 2022		Cinema Sex And Romance (1951) (1951)	Thanks for the tip. I used that app many years ago, and it performed very well. Following that link, the site displayed a USA flag in the upper-right corner, yet only listed prices in Euros. But I can tell it is indeed pricey. Most movies have allowed me to cap screens, but nothing from Kino Lorber, Mill Creek or Echo Bridge. On titles from those labels, I can often manage to get title screens anyway, but sometimes not.
Twistin 11th Nov 2022		Cinema Sex And Romance (1951) (1951)	Thank you, Quad5point1. That title screen is a lot cleaner than the one I have on Blu-ray (apparently the disc is locked from loading on a PC, so I was unable to capture it, as well) Cheers, my friend!
Twistin 9th Nov 2022		Cinema Sex And Romance (1951) (1951)	If someone wants to grab the title screen from this YT video and add it to this page, please do...I cannot get Google to allow me into my YouTube account, and recovering that account is more trouble than it's worth.
Twistin 6th Nov 2022		Cinema Playing Dangerous 2 (1996) (1996)	Rated 6/10 A terrible era for film begets a film that is so bad it's...well, laughably bad. Or, as the producers might say, Laughable Bad 2. (they don't know an adjective from an adverb, do they?) Enough time has passed to where we can start embracing...erm, rather, enduring the grade-z mush that filled the VHS shelves at the end of its cycle. Welcome to a world where a 6-star rating is equal to a 1-star rating. It depends on your tolerance for camp. Recommendation: life is short, watch something else. 2 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Twistin 6th Nov 2022		Cinema Sex And Romance (1951) (1951)	[YouTube Video]
Twistin 5th Nov 2022		Cinema The Legend Of Dog Lady Island (Werewolf Island) (2020) (2020)	The only trace of a werewolf in this film is on this title screen. I understand why they dumped the dreadful original title, but why not Zombie Island? Or Chainsaw Island? Or Lucifer Island?
Twistin 8th Oct 2022		Cinema Machuca (2004) (2004)	Rated 8/10 Very emotional dramatization of Chile's own 9/11 in 1973. A valid demonstration of political extremes from both sides destroying innocent people, as seen through the eyes of children, to illustrate the point. Throughout most of the film, the story is told effectively, although near the end Gonzalo returns home and stares at the renovation going on in his home - which conveniently provides a broad contrast to the horrors he just witnessed by Pinochet's military. I didn't feel it was necessary to make such an obvious conclusion about the social class division, particularly at such a crucial part of the film. That critique aside, Machuca is a moving story that takes place during a tragic episode of Chilean history, putting the spotlight on an event that is rarely addressed (and was actually more horrific than the film reveals.) 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Twistin 8th Oct 2022		Cinema Dinosaurus! (1960) (1960)	Rated 7/10 I imagine this was an effective thriller in 1960 for drive-in audiences, as well as the kids on Saturday afternoon matinées. Two dinosaurs and a caveman are awoken from a sleep state in the Caribbean Sea by construction workers on an island. One dinosaur is kid-friendly, the other a bloodthirsty Tyrannosaurus Rex, while our Neanderthal is mostly played for laughs. The dinosaurs are fairly effective on their own -- much more convincing than Godzilla several years prior - but when those dinosaurs have to appear onscreen with humans, the difference in film stock make the rear-screen projection look ridiculous. Not that there's any shortage of absurdity in the screenplay, like little Julio's conversations with the endearing Brontosaurus, or love interest Betty singing to our hapless troglodyte, or the clumsy lighting that casts massive shadows in all the night scenes. Yet for all its faults, Dinosaurus! still manages to entertain. It isn't so poor that you can't turn off your brain and just go with it. 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Twistin 20th Sep 2022		Cinema The Stupids (1996) (1996)	Sadly, I'm guessing a renewal of interest in the film is remote, and may NEVER happen. There's no explaining the general public's uncultured palate. :-)
Twistin 19th Sep 2022		Cinema The Stupids (1996) (1996)	Interesting. I searched Blu-ray.com's thorough database and while in USA mode, I found three vendors offering it streaming in HD (!), others in SD, plus two DVDs still in print. But after changing my search flag to UK, I went to the film's overview page and found no link to "Releases" like was on the USA page. So it seems to be unavailable in the UK. Hmm, it must have done bad business there and Warner didn't bother. (Of course, it did bad business here, as well!) Good time to have a region-free player? It will probably never get a 4k release, but I sure wish they'd use those HD masters to at least offer a Blu-ray while physical media is still hanging on. Warner rarely licenses their titles to boutique labels, which would be this film's best bet.
Twistin 19th Sep 2022		Cinema The Stupids (1996) (1996)	Rated 9/10 I never thought Tom Arnold was very funny. I gave all of his stuff a chance, but not until True Lies did I ever see his shtick work. Despite that, I expected "The Stupids" to be what most people think it is anyway: stupid. I was dragged to the cinema to see it by a couple of friends. One of them thought it was just OK, the other thought it was the worst film he'd ever seen. The latter friend, however, still laughed because during the movie, one man in the back of the room laughed hysterically at every joke, every gag. It was a great, infectious laugh and forced you to laugh along with him. Oh, there was only one other person in the theater...yes, it completely tanked at the boxoffice. Me, I thought the whole affair was brilliantly...stupid. That's kinda the whole point, which goes over most people's heads. My tastes rarely align with the folks who listen to bland pop music, watch reality shows, read People magazine, or wear the latest fashions. If you're one of the Joneses, don't expect to get much from this under-appreciated John Landis satire. If you color outside the lines, however, you might wanna give this one another try, if only for "I'm My Own Grandpa". 2 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Twistin 18th Aug 2022		Cinema Nope (2022) (2022)	The "new master of horror"?!? For one film? Which, IMHO, was a screed in wolf's clothing. And it's why I wouldn't see this even if you paid me.
Twistin 4th Aug 2022		Cinema Airport 1975 (1974) (1974)	Rated 7/10 Certainly one of the most inane thrillers of our time. Still, I can't get enough of films this bad, especially when the incompetent filmmakers appear to have had no idea what a turd they were creating. Some of the most embarrassing acting to ever disgrace the screen from folks like Charlton Heston, Karen Black, Sid Caesar, Myrna Loy, Erik Estrada, Gloria Swanson, Susan Clark, and even F-Troop's Larry Storch! Some performers manage to save some face (Efrem Zimbalist, Dana Andrews, Roy Thinnes - all wasted). The best line in the whole film -- and there's a lot of competition -- is delivered by Linda Blair, who plays a sick teenager en route to receive a kidney transplant. As her mother tries to convince her to get some rest, she explains how difficult that task is because "People are so interesting!" And don't even get me started on Helen Reddy's singing nun... 2 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Twistin 19th Jun 2022		Cinema Crack In The Mirror (1960) (1960)	Surely this is not any kind of title screen -- certainly not for a 20th Century Fox major release. Or is this just an image file knocked-up in some Photoshop variant that has no bearing on the film itself?
Twistin 15th Jun 2022		Cinema Greaser's Palace (1972) (1972)	Rated 7/10 Yet another offbeat film journey from the warped mind of Robert Downey, Sr. (an acquired taste, indeed.) Allan Arbus (possibly the only normal person in Downey's Putney Swope) is the Christ-like Jessy, who walks on water and performs miracles casually on his journey to audition his song-and-dance routine in Jerusalem. He ultimately gets his big audition at the saloon owned by badass outlaw/killer, Seaweedhead Greaser (who kills his own son several times in the film...) I read an apt summary once on a blog that described Greaser's Palace as a cross between "El Topo" and "The Life of Brian", although this was released years before Monty Python went there. If you're just looking for something different, this is it. If you love offbeat, quirky cult films, you'll probably love it. 2 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Twistin 27th May 2022		Cinema Martin's Day (1985) (1985)	Rated 5/10 Most of the name cast looks like they invested 1-2 days to shoot their parts, with the majority of the screen time occupied by Richard Harris and Justin Henry. Both are annoying, truth be told, so by their occupying most of the film puts it at a disadvantage from the starting gate. Very often, Canada-isms get shoved to the forefront, but on the flip side, the locations do look pretty nice and remind me of my one and only trip there. And I always appreciate watching Lindsay Wagner. The storyline seems to be a mere excuse to trumpet a handful of social issues (ie, teen incarceration creates innocent criminals, parental issues, environmental concerns, etc.) Most of those are served up with music so thick in melodrama that it has the opposite of the intended effect. There's no real reason to seek this one out, but if you have insomnia and it's on the late, late show, it's not a total loss. 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Twistin 21st May 2022		Cinema Jump Out Boys (Lords Of The Street) (2013) (2013)	Rated 1/10 Incredulously terrible. Nothing about the film merits sitting through it, but the acting is particularly poor. The support players are all nobodies because none of them have any talent. The two "stars", Kris Kristofferson and DMX, amateurishly attempt to create some semblance of the buddy motif that has been beaten over moviegoers heads ever since the success of the first Lethal Weapon film. Kristofferson is such an old codger at this stage, and he attempts to replicate the witty repartee Nick Nolte enjoyed with Eddie Murphy in 48 HRS by babbling on about Willie Nelson. We're supposed to be amused by this and the incoherent, mumbled responses by rapper DMX, but since the latter star has the same talent as the no-namers, the only word that can even be understood is "fuck". Waste an hour and a half of your life at your own peril. 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Twistin 6th May 2022		Cinema Beware: Children At Play (1989) (1989)	I agree with all of those choices, Alex, except "The Children", (which I saw in the theatre and again later on home video, expecting to like it better the second time around), but it was just amateur-hour for me, my fresh view a rubber stamp of my first impression. "Mikey" was great, I thought, as well as the noted damned films. Another worthwhile effort, of course, is The Brood. I would also recommend, Bloody Birthday, which is from 1981 (and wearing a lot of that year's stylistic affectations), but it's not contrived and features some nice, creepy performances. Also. the cult classic, Devil Times Five is a low-budget, exploitation treat. Then there's the 2006 kid-zombie film, Wicked Little Things, which I have yet to see.
Twistin 22nd Apr 2022		Cinema Hotel (2001)	I agree, what a waste of some talented people on this Dogme 95 experimental rubbish. Apparently it was mostly improvised, as well. I'd have hated to be the one funding this mess.
Twistin 19th Apr 2022		Cinema Naked Moonshine (1964) (1964)	An early take on the "three girls and a cup" sensation of the 2000s?
Twistin 28th Mar 2022		Cinema Billy Jack Goes To Washington (1977) (1977)	Rated 2/10 It looks like a corny TV-movie -- and it's still perched up on its self-righteous high horse, but nowhere near as heavy-handed as the previous Billy Jack flick. Laughlin claims the Nixon White House had this film blocked from release because the public couldn't handle the political realities herein. If you have the misfortune to see it, you'll know that is just stupid. Even in 1977, this film was bound for the shelf because word of mouth would kill any remaining interest in the series. The fact remains that after the sermonizing final choruses of "Give Peace a Chance" filled up the final reel of The Trial of Billy Jack, audiences were done with Billy. The reason for the success of the first two BJ movies (The Born Losers and Billy Jack) was that they were exploitation films that had sex, violence, and over-the-top bad guys. The Laughlins believed it was because the of their political subtext. Wrong. The good news? This is where the story ends. 2 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Twistin 28th Mar 2022		Cinema Trucker (2008) (2008)	Rated 5/10 Yet another flawed indie movie, dragged down by an over-emphasized performance from Michelle Monaghan, who appears to be posing for promo shots in every scene. Like so much modern product from the "new independent cinema", every seemingly normal convention is turned around in an attempt to show gritty reality, and like standard Hollywood cinema, it's so riddled with clichés that it's no more believable. The camera shots, music selections, language -- all meticulously staged and artificial. Benjamin Bratt and Jimmy Bennett deliver good performances in spite of the lousy material. 2 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Twistin 20th Oct 2021		Cinema Thank God It's Friday (1978) (1978)	Rated 7/10 It was poorly made, badly acted, and pure exploitation of the lamest music genre ever. But dammit, it was fun. Sure, Jeff Goldblum's early performance is an embarrassment, but teenage Terri Nunn is a total hoot. The late disco diva, Paul Jabara, is also a campy treat. Then there's Donna Summer, the Commodores, and a truckload of Casablanca Records disco music. The dopiest scene is perhaps the roadie for the Commodores trying to prove to a cop that he's with the band, completely stupid. Or the dancing Hispanic, Marv the Leatherman, who proclaims, "I love to dance...everything else is boolshit!" Still, I liked the movie, all of it. 7 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Twistin 16th Oct 2021		Cinema Terror In A Texas Town (1958) (1958)	Rated 7/10 This is the one that started the whole whale harpoon vs. pistol showdown craze. The opening sequence is a trailer for the ending, which was a very strange device in a film not afraid of strange devices. Sebastian Cabot is particularly impressive. Other than the obvious twist, this was a rather generic, if offbeat, western. 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Twistin 16th Oct 2021		Cinema Jimmy, The Boy Wonder (1966) (1966)	Rated 5/10 What a difficult film to rate. For the average viewer, it's an easy 1-star and probably the worst film you will ever see. But for the cult movie fan, how far is too far? Over the years, I have seen this film name-dropped in various psychotronic zines, but I have always turned away and pretended to see nothing. As a fan of H.G. Lewis from way back, it just didn't seem conceivable that he could have a kiddie matinée in his filmography, not the guy who gave us gouged-out tongues, feasts made of internal organs, wacky fun-loving psychotic redneck ghosts, and the first horror film to delve into the wig fetish thing. The only saving grace is the fact that Lewis was at least a competent film maker, albeit in a grindhouse world. Certainly not in the realm of trash like "Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny"! WRONG. It is the first day of school and little Jimmy wishes time would stop, so in true unexplainable fashion, a magical (and portly) woman named Aurora appears, which leads the two on a journey to the world's end to restart time, while a ridiculous adversary, a wizard named Mr. Fig, does everything to hinder their quest. Along the way, the world gets tinted red and then blue (and then red and blue!), they get redirected to a land of slow-motion, stumble upon a fountain of laughing syrup, and inexplicably encounter a group of what we are supposed to believe are hostile Indians who look like frat boys with New England accents, that are ultimately consoled when Aurora creates a shower of beans. The injuns, Aurora, and Jimmy all eat uncooked beans from a cauldron while singing a terrible song detailing the sheer wonderfulness of this tasty snack. Oh, there are other songs, too, all sung barely in-sync and with the same animated gestures you might expect from a play performed by second graders. Like all of the very worst children's films of all time, the origin is yet again, Florida. Why is that? Every time a news story comes on about a horrible crime against children, kids buried alive, tortured by parents, etc. ...it always ends up happening in Florida. And it seems every time an atrocity from the kiddie matinée galaxy is unearthed from someone's basement, the filming location is Florida. I used to like that state when I was a kid and it was all about St. Petersburg, Tampa, Miami Beach, Busch Gardens, and that whole beautiful parrot thing. But now, it's a children's torture dungeon. Like the previously mentioned Santa film, in the middle of the action, we get whisked into another film (presumably because Lewis ran low on 8mm film stock), which turns out to be an imported cartoon. It teaches a lesson to Jimmy only because of H.G.'s clever dubbing skills, but even that lesson is highly suspect: Jimmy complains that he's only eight and a half years old, just a kid, tired and wants to go back home...he's famished from all of this action, but Aurora lies to him and tells him the story of another boy who never gave up. I guess she's pro child labor, I dunno, but the real labor pains are on the screen. It should go without saying that the acting is godawful. How they came to choose young Dennis Jones to star in the title role of a theatrical feature film is mind-numbing. He possesses no charisma, no speaking (or singing) talent, is visually as generic as a faceless window mannequin, and brings nothing to the role that might possibly involve a young viewer to identify or sympathize with him. Oh, like they were gonna hire an actor! My guess is that Lewis cast the son of the guy who owned the cheapo amusement park where they filmed this as a trade-out. I've seen stalks of celery give stronger performances. This doesn't look or feel like what you would expect an H.G. Lewis family film to look or feel like. More like John Waters. If you seek more convincing, heart-warming, feel-good family fare, you'd be better off surfing over to YouTube and searching for old Cracker Jack commercials. In conclusion, this may well be one of the best films ever made. 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Twistin 30th Sep 2021		Cinema Jubilee (1978) (1978)	Regarding bad punk films, I think Suburbia also missed the mark. Times Square is so highly praised and it was, IMO, the worst of the lot with not a convincing moment in the entire film. Never heard of Jubilee until now, but I want to see it, warts and all.
Twistin 24th Sep 2021		Cinema That'll Be The Day (1973) (1973)	Yeah, that full date is added for this film, but for some reason, the site chooses to only display the year. Maybe it's only there for sorting on filmographies or something, but having to click "Add Missing Info" to see the full date always struck me as odd.
Twistin 22nd Sep 2021		Cinema C'mon, Let's Live A Little (1967) (1967)	Many studios do that and it still happens (I have many a DVD with a copyright date for the DVD itself listed on back, yet it was released early the following year.) That is because they copyright their product well before its actual release date. Usually only happens within the window of end-of-year > early-in-year, although sometimes a film will get shelved for various reasons and released later. (ie, "Billy Jack" was a completed product by 1969, yet never hit the screens until 1971 because it was being passed back and forth between American International, 20th Century Fox, and ultimately, Warner Brothers...no date is seen in the actual film.) The copyright date is actually NOT intended for the first publication, it is for the date the copyright is issued. Otherwise, that intellectual property would not be protected until it's release date. That would be a field day for data thieves.
Twistin 21st Sep 2021		Cinema C'mon, Let's Live A Little (1967) (1967)	You're confusing the copyright date, which is what you see in the film (1966), with the release date, which is what determines the date of a film, its first public exhibition. That was (according to IMDb) March 3, 1967. Unless you have information contradicting that date, it should stand as a 1967 release date. Thanks for the Internet Archive tip, btw!

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