My Movie Journal
As I get older I find myself forgetting if I'd seen a movie or read a book. Since 2005 I have been keeping track of everything I watch, read and sometimes listen too or play.
| Title | Rating | |
|---|---|---|
| I Vampiri | 7/10 |
The English title of this one is Lust if the Vampire. Thankfully, these are just titles and there are no vampires... Read More... |
| Kill List | 8/10 |
Kill List starts off as a relationship drama then soon morphs into a British gangster film following the antics of... Read More... |
| The House of Clocks | 4/10 |
Aside from the laugh-out-loud "twist" finale involving a cat, a bag and a car driving down a winding road, this was, overall... Read More... |
| Don't Look Now | 4/10 |
Don't Look Now is known mostly for Donald Sutherland's naked gyrations. I was more impressed with his hobbity mop... Read More... |
| All the Colors of the Dark | 7/10 |
This was a strange, dreamy giallo that reminded me a lot of Bava's Lisa and the Devil. At any moment you don't know... Read More... |
| The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh | 7/10 |
This was a beautifully shot Sergio Martino giallo. We soon find out what Mrs. Wardh's (no that's not a typo) vice is and... Read More... |
| Maniac | 7/10 |
Movie number four from the excellent Icons of Suspense Collection: Hammer Films DVD package. Despite having a... Read More... |
| King Kong (Deluxe Extended Edition) | 7/10 |
Buying this DVD was worth it for the extras (besides, I got it for less than five bucks). The movie itself was alright. As... Read More... |
| The Muppets | 8/10 |
Generation X'ers like myself tend to have a bit too much nostalgia towards The Muppet Show and the first couple... Read More... |
| Title | Rating | |
|---|---|---|
| The Psychic | 7/10 |
Fulci! Certainly not the greatest Italian director, but he has his moments. This film, also known as Sette Note in Nero... Read More... |
| Tension | 7/10 |
I thought this was a pretty good film noir. There are some truly silly plot points, like a character going incognito by not... Read More... |
| Captain America: The First Avenger | 5/10 |
I didn't really mind the first third of the movie when The Cap'n is all weak and weirdly CGI looking, but the rest of the... Read More... |
| The Changeling | 8/10 |
The film opens with George C. Scott witnessing a horrible car accident. The story then shifts to four months later with... Read More... |
| The Killer Must Kill Again | 8/10 |
Who would have thought that the director of such legendary cheese-fests as Starcrash and Hercules... Read More... |
| Let Sleeping Corpses Lie | 7/10 |
This film is a pre Dawn of the Dead zombie flick that takes place in the idyllic English countryside. The first... Read More... |
| The Decent: Part 2 | 5/10 |
A completely unnecessary sequel that really has to defy all logic in order to get the cast members from the first film a... Read More... |
| Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 | 6/10 |
Quite possibly the weakest of the Potter movies. Nothing seems to happen and it feels overly long (and there is still... Read More... |
| Special When Lit | 7/10 |
I do love pinball and this documentary is about a bunch of people who also love their pinball too. It was entertaining but... Read More... |
| Ponyo | 7/10 |
This is another Miyazaki film to watch strictly for the visuals. The story is pretty inane, but, as far as kids movies go,... Read More... |
| The Snorkel | 9/10 |
The third movie in the six film DVD set Icons of Suspense: Hammer Films is, so far, the best. The story takes the... Read More... |
| Martyrs | 8/10 |
This is a French horror film that often gets lumped into the sub-genre of torture porn along with Hostel and ... Read More... |
| Cash on Demand | 8/10 |
Another great thriller from the Icons of Suspense: Hammer Films DVD six-pack. This one pits Grand Moff Tarkington... Read More... |
| Stop Me Before I Kill! | 8/10 |
This is a good film noir from the six movie Icons of Suspense Collection: Hammer Films DVD set. There is plenty of... Read More... |
| Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed | 6/10 |
After a gruesome and exciting start, this film loses steam fast. Peter Cushing never comes off as creepy and evil as I think... Read More... |
| The Adventures of Hercules | 6/10 |
This movie is part of a DVD double feature with the amazing Hercules. See my... Read More... |
| Greenberg | 7/10 |
Sure there are a few laughs, but, for the most part, Greenberg is a drifting, plotless character study of a really... Read More... |
| Rec 2 | 7/10 |
The first Rec was both a very good as "zombie" movie and for being a "found footage" film. You never thought that... Read More... |
| Hercules | 9/10 |
There are about three hundred movies named Hercules (usually with "vs. <insert name here>" after the name).... Read More... |
| Blow Up | 8/10 |
Blow Up is a movie that I have often heard referenced in relation to other movie's I love, most notably Deep... Read More... |
| House of the Devil | 7/10 |
I went into this film not knowing anything about it and ended up liking it despite the slow, SLOW build-up. The retro, early... Read More... |
| Barbarella | 6/10 |
After having read the comic a few months back I thought it would be a good time to finally watch this old TBS staple (along... Read More... |
| Pulse | 3/10 |
Woah! Joey Lawrence fights a sentient electricity monster. This is a lame made-for-TV quality film that takes forever to get... Read More... |
| Tron Legacy | 6/10 |
A lot of nerds were really excited by the prospect of a Tron sequel. What they all seemed to fail to take in to... Read More... |
| The Green Slime | 6/10 |
This is a late sixties Japanese monster movie but it stars mostly Western actors. The rubber-suit monsters, space ships and... Read More... |
| Title | Rating | |
|---|---|---|
| Black Mama White Mama | 7/10 |
And here we go again with what I thought was going to be another sleazy women in prison movie. To my surprise, the prison... Read More... |
| Women in Cages | 6/10 |
This was another grind house era women in prison movie. I suppose the twist here is that Pam Grier is the bad guy in this... Read More... |
| All the Boys Love Mandy Lane | 5/10 |
This was a slight twist on a typical teen slasher movie. A very, very slight twist which you will see coming from a million... Read More... |
| Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus | 5/10 |
This film was next in line in my recent rash of bad movies: Troll 2... Birdemic. Unlike those Legendary crap fests, this... Read More... |
| Whip and the Body | 8/10 |
I finally got around to watching this highly regarded Mario Bava film and it is definitely one of his better efforts. I am... Read More... |
| Megamind | 6/10 |
A typical post-Shrek CGI animated feature. This was the first modern 3-D movie I have seen in the theater. 3-D doesn't add... Read More... |
| Hercules Against the Barbarians | 5/10 |
How's this for a novel concept: the reason Poles were able to defend their realm against the invading armies of Genghis Khan... Read More... |
| 9th Company | 7/10 |
This is nothing you haven't seen a hundred times before in war movies. The Russian perspective of Afganistan is a bit of a... Read More... |
| Dario Argento's Phantom of the Opera | 4/10 |
After watching this, I think I am pretty close to having seen all of Argento's films. I held off on this one for so long... Read More... |
| Best Worst Movie | 8/10 |
I've written about Troll 2 here... Read More... |
| Friday Foster | 4/10 |
You know you are in trouble when the most convincing performance in your film is by Isaac from The Love Boat.... Read More... |
| The Incredible Hulk | 6/10 |
Yet another superhero movie to bore me. I admit, this one was more watchable than Ironman. I guess I am more attracted... Read More... |
| Anthropophagus | 5/10 |
For a movie that is so imfamous for its gore, there certainly isn't much to see here. The shock moments aren't really that... Read More... |
| Ironman | 5/10 |
I am sick of superhero movies. Robert Downey Jr. gives a lively performance as Tony Stark, but, other than that, this is a... Read More... |
| Get Lamp | 8/10 |
Get Lamp is a documentary about text adventure games from Jason Scott, the director of BBS: The Documentary... Read More... |
| Despicable Me | 8/10 |
I went in to this film ready to hate it but it wasn't that bad. It follows the same themes as Up with a cranky old... Read More... |
| Up | 6/10 |
If they cut this film off at about 15 minutes it would have been a near-perfect short film. Unfortunately, once the main... Read More... |
| Birdemic: Shock and Terror | 8/10 |
Incredibly bad film. Horrible acting, dialog and effects. The net result is an incredibly fun, so-bad-it's-good movie that... Read More... |
| Survival of the Dead | 6/10 |
Another modern zombie movie that doesn't even attempt to be scary. I guess the Hatfields vs. McCoy setup could have been... Read More... |
| Lucio Fulci's Conquest | 6/10 |
The Spanish/Mexican/Italian answer to Conan or Clash of the Titans. This one feels more like the latter... Read More... |
| Resident Evil | 7/10 |
Another movie that has no reason for being enjoyable, and yet I thought it was pretty good. This could have turned into a 00... Read More... |
| Paul Blart: Mall Cop | 7/10 |
This should be an awful movie. The fact that it is producted by Adam Sandler should be enough of a deterrant. But it turns... Read More... |
| Battle Royale | 8/10 |
Another Japanese movie. This one is about a future where the only way to keep those rotten kids under control is to pick a... Read More... |
| Uzumaki | 6/10 |
Japanese horror movie about a town in which the inhabitants slowly become mesmerized by uzumaki. Uzumaki ... Read More... |
| Perversion Story | 6/10 |
A pre-gore Lucio Fulci giallo that, like most of Fulci's films, looks great with plenty of wonderful close ups and weird... Read More... |
| Spider Baby | 7/10 |
This is a cult classic from what I hear. I thought it was pretty good but not great-a little too heavy handed in its... Read More... |
| The Twelve Chairs | 6/10 |
Mel Brooks's second feature doesn't do much to differentiate itself from every other late 60's era comedy. I found it rather... Read More... |
| How to Train Your Dragon | 8/10 |
Hackneyed story benefits from some amazing computer animation. Basically, it's yet another retelling of E.T. where kid finds... Read More... |
| Zombieland | 8/10 |
This was a somewhat refreshing take on the zombie genre with funny, Zombie Survival Guide inspired narration. The... Read More... |
| Split Second | 3/10 |
A terrible sci-fi monster movie where the action exists mainly in the form of Rutger Hauer grabbing other characters by the... Read More... |
| You Don't Mess With The Zohan | 4/10 |
A heavy handed attempt at goofball comedy that fails at least 95% of the time. The makers of this film don't seem to grasp... Read More... |
| Gamer | 5/10 |
I can't believe this is not a SciFi Channel movie. It's okay, I guess, but the film tries too hard to be a Paul Verhoeven... Read More... |
| Moon | 9/10 |
Finally a sci-fi movie that isn't all about special effects (although there are plenty subtle effects to be seen here). The... Read More... |
| The Maltese Falcon | 9/10 |
Although the plot seems to bounce around from time to time, this is about as hardboiled as hardboiled detective films get.... Read More... |
| District 9 | 8/10 |
A good well-paced sci-fi action movie. Didn't quite live up to the the hype and is mostly noteworthy because of the South... Read More... |
| Troll 2 | 5/10 |
Yes, it's as bad as you've heard. Definately falls under the "so bad it's good" category. I would recommend watching this,... Read More... |
| Black Dynamite | 8/10 |
This is not so much a parody as a straight-up recreation of a low budget 70s black exploitation film. The humor comes from... Read More... |
| Zonbi Jieitai | 4/10 |
No-budget Japanese zombie movie with a dumb story a few good gore shots and lots of horrible iMovie-quality digital effects... Read More... |
| Giallo | 8/10 |
Giallo isn't quite the return to form I wanted from Dario Argento, but it's a much better movie than the majority... Read More... |
| Une vieille maîtresse | 6/10 |
A somewhat miscast French costume drama based on a 19th Century erotic novel. The male lead is played by a creepy man-boy /... Read More... |
| Terminator Salvation | 6/10 |
For the first 20 minutes or so I couldn't see why this film got such bad reviews. I was really enjoying it. And then they... Read More... |
| Title | Rating | |
|---|---|---|
| Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince | 8/10 |
The series chugs along. Number three is still the best movie of the series, but this one performs as expected. The kids in... Read More... |
| The Devil Rides Out | 6/10 |
This is another film that just begs for more creepy atmosphere. As it is, it feels too much like a stage play with sparse... Read More... |
| The House with the Laughing Windows | 5/10 |
I think I have a bias against films where the protagonist has a beard, unless said film contains magic and elves. Seriously... Read More... |
| Rec | 8/10 |
Another shaky handheld camera horror movie ala Blair Witch Project or Cloverfield. This style is getting a... Read More... |
| Conan the Barbarian | 7/10 |
Back when I was a kid I had seen Conan the Barbarian sequel Conan the Destroyer at least half-a-dozen... Read More... |
| The Big Doll House | 5/10 |
The Big Doll House is a 70s women-in-prison film which featured Pam Grier in more of a supporting role. The film is... Read More... |
| Coffy | 7/10 |
Another Pam Grier blaxploitation film cut from the same cloth as Foxy Brown. This one is not as well paced or... Read More... |
| Foxy Brown | 8/10 |
This is the first film I am watching in my Pam Grier film fest and it's a good one. There plenty of over-the-top violence... Read More... |
| Meatball Machine | 4/10 |
After seeing The Machine Girl I was itching for more Japanese splatter, but it turns out most of these movies suck... Read More... |
| Supercop | 8/10 |
Pretty good Jackie Chan faire. Not his best, but plenty of good action here. Read More... |
| Oira sukeban | 5/10 |
An excuse to have a lot of topless women fight in poorly choreographed battles, while the camera zooms in to their private... Read More... |
| Quantum of Solace | 7/10 |
While still better than the majority of post-Connery Bond films, this one lacks the intrigue and story of Casino Royale... Read More... |
| Max Payne | 8/10 |
A lot of people hated this movie, but I thought it was pretty darn good. Okay, the demons were a bit much and there's... Read More... |
| Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story | 7/10 |
Well, someone finally found a film genre that hadn't been parodied—the rock bio pic. They pull it off relatively well... Read More... |
| My Name Is Bruce | 6/10 |
Bruce Campbell's self-depricating monster movie. Somewhat of a big in-joke, but I found myself laughing a few times. Read More... |
| Chocolate | 8/10 |
Well done Kung-Fu flick about a retarded girl who knows how to fight. Read More... |
| Tokyo Gore Police | 6/10 |
Japanese splatter. Despite the gore, it gets boring pretty quickly. Read More... |
| The French Sex Murders | 5/10 |
Mediocre giallo from Dick Randall and Mondo Macabro Read More... |
| The Dark Knight | 9/10 |
Even better than Batman Begins. Read More... |
| Sabata | 8/10 |
A better-than-most Spaghetti Western with high-flying acrobatics. Read More... |
| Sukiaki Western Django | 9/10 |
Super stylish Japanese tribute to Spaghetti Westerns. Only hindered by the thick Japanese accents. Read More... |
| Wall-E | 8/10 |
A fun movie but it felt shallow in the the end to me. Read More... |
| El Orfanato (The Orphanage) | 8/10 |
Very good ghost story from the producers of Pan's Labyrynth. Read More... |
| The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things | 6/10 |
Dark story of child abuse and drugs. Read More... |
| Get Carter | 7/10 |
Still not sure what I think of this. A brutal character study of an anti-hero with a confusing plot. Read More... |
