Topic: The little known movie review depot

[Jimmy]

But they are more sophisticated than us, they don't really need that to watch a movie
It's a thing that will get them interested, but not something essential for her watching enjoyment...

Anyway Jon would notice Shari Eubank in this scene most than Charles Pitts' organ

[Jimmy]

MOVIE / DVD INFO:

Title: Up! (1976)

Genre: Comedy
Director: Russ Meyer
Rating: 18 (British dvd)
Length: 1h21
Video: Full Frame
Audio: English
Subtitles: None

Stars:
Raven De La Croix
Robert McLane
Janet Wood
Monty Bane
Bob Schott

Plot:
Russ Meyer's "tried and true" formula is on target again...outrageously buxom women and dumb, muscular men laying their sexually aggressive prowess on the line. Yes, it's all here in Russ Meyer's Up! Two timers, cops, robbers, joints, and mind-boggling bra-busting women. Sweet L'il Alice...Fast, foxy, and fertile. The Headperson (Candy Samples, aka Mary Gavin)...awesome abundance, Pocahontas...cantilevered, protuberant, the chesty young thing...conical, unrestrained, limehouse...pneumatic bliss - oriental style. The Greek chorus (Kitten Natividad)...the biggest and the best, and the "smothering" Margo Winchester...assault with a deadly bosom. Plus the usual assortment of good-lookin', virile, awesomely hung, klutzy men.

My Thoughts:

Time for a thriller, but it's sure ain't Hitchcock and thank god (not that I don't like his film, but it's a Russ Meyer's film). Our story starts with the murder of Adolph Schwartz by a mysterious masked killer and we will have to find who had done it.


He sure looks familliar

The story is quite confusing by time, in fact it took me some time to understand what this movie was about, but when a film start with a guy who look like someone we know in a dungeon dominated by 2 women and a man this isn't that evident
By chance we have Kitten Natividad who came to help us to understand the focus of the story...

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Not that it's easy to focus on what she say

So not long after we will encounter the principal character of our story : Margo Winchester


The gorgeous Raven De La Croix

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After that our story move in a restaurant for quite a while and we will forget about the murder untill the end when the murderer will be revealed (but if you have guess it the first time you are way better than me). So who is the killer?

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or is it one of the guy? No spoiler this time


Leonard Box?

Homer Johnson?

Paul?

Rafe?
     
Martin Borman?

or Russ Meyer Himself?


To resume : another fun movie ride

Next time I won't post that many images and before I receive the critic : the men cast isn't hide behind spoiler tag because they aren't nude in the movie and not because I didn't want to post picture.  
 
Rating :

[Achim]

Some of the girls in Up! seem to have less than the usual chest colume required for being in a Russ Meyer film

[Jimmy]

Yes, but none of the girls have a big role in the film since it's a two women show¹ with Raven De La Croix and Janet Wood (she plays Sweet Li'l Alice). Sometimes when he like a girl he make an exception, Lori Williams and Erica Gavin (my second favorite of all the Meyer's girl) are good exemple of this.

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Lori Williams

and just because I'm in love with her

My favorite Meyer's actress Alaina Capri and no she had nothing to do with this discussion

1. We see Kitten Natividad a lot but she isn't a part of the story

[Jimmy]

MOVIE / DVD INFO:

Title: Hot Target (1985)

Genre: Borefest
Director: Denis Lewiston
Rating: R
Length: 1h33
Video: Full Frame
Audio: English
Subtitles: None

Stars:
Simone Griffeth
Steve Marachuk
Bryan Marshall
Peter McCauley
Elizabeth Hawthorne

Plot:
At first glance, Christine Webber (Simone Griffeth) would seem to be a woman who has everything. A wife of a successful NZ businessman, she is beautiful, sophisticated, stylish - the perfect wife and mother. But scratch the surface and see that Christine is also a Woman trapped by the very "perfection" of her life.

My Thoughts:

To be honest I haven't watch this completly, something that was unable to do with The Sorority. Seriously this is suppose to be a thriller but nothing happen and I've watched 45 minutes of it. It's just a crappy "Life channel film of the week" look alike movie except for the nudity and it wasn't enough to kept me interested... Richard Simmons was on The Bonnie Hunt Show while I watch this and it was more interesting for god sakes...

Doesn't really worth a review, but it was so dull that I've no choice to warn you to not watch it...
 
Rating :

[Achim]

Genre: Borefest

Thanks for the warning, Jimmy

"You watched it so we don't have to."

[Jimmy]

MOVIE / DVD INFO:

Title: The Young Graduates (1971)

Genre: Drive-in
Director: Robert Anderson
Rating: PG
Length: 1h39
Video: Widescreen
Audio: English
Subtitles: None

Stars:
Patricia Wymer
Tom Stewart
Gary Rist
Bruno Kirby
Marly Holiday

Plot:
Reflecting the humor and problems of the "love generation," this is the story of high-school graduates, who, eager to grow up and experience life, find themselves involved in adventures they'd rather live without. Starring Patricia Wymer (The Babysitter), Dennis Christopher (Breaking Away) and Bruno Kirby (City Slickers).

My Thoughts:

I've decided to watch some of the movies stuck in my unwatch case for quite some time. This film is from the vol #4 of the BCI Drive-in cult classic that I got in february last year and is now OOP since BCI doesn't exist anymore. I can't say it's the best film ever made or the acting is great (but Bruno Kirby for his first film is quite good), but this film had some charm. It's a drive-in free for all... You got the girl just turned 18 who had an adventure with her teacher, the hippies talk (to be honest sometimes I had no idea what they were talking about), the pool fight, the graduation party, the biker gang, a little bit of innocent nudity, a great theme song and it's a cautionnary tales (hitchiking is dangerous).

This film alone worth the price of the set and it's a good news after all the bad one included in the After Dark thriller set. The restoration job is surprisingly good for a budget release, in fact it's more than good since the print had no defect at all...
 
Rating :

[Jimmy]

MOVIE / DVD INFO:

Title: Tromeo & Juliet (1997)

Genre: Comedy
Director: Lloyd Kaufman & James Gunn
Rating: Unrated
Length: 1h47
Video: Full Frame
Audio: English
Subtitles: None

Stars:
Jane Jensen
Will Keenan
Valentine Miele
Maximillian Shaun
Steve Gibbons

Plot:
All the body-piercing, kinky sex, and car crashes that Shakespeare wanted but never had! Join Tromeo (Will Keenan) Juliet (Jane Jensen), and Lemmy of Motorhead as they travel through Manhattan's underground in search of climatic love, violence, and the American Way. Tromeo & Juliet is thrust forward with hyperkinetic performances and a cutting-edge soundtrack. This DVD Director's Cut of Tromeo & Juliet has been lovingly digitally mastered by director LIoyd Kaufman and the Troma Team and contains extra footage you can't see anywhere else.

My Thoughts:

Evidently don't expect Julie Taymor's Titus you will be deceive a lot, since it's good Trauma fun. So you know what you are in for : juvenile humor, basic special effect (I don't mean bad by that), so-so acting and gratuitious nudity. Did I like it? Yes I had... I like the movie directed by Kaufman because you see that he like what he does. Anyway how you can't like a movie where Lemmy of Motorhead is the narator reciting Shakespeare lines (being an eighties metal fan I was please to see him). It's cartoon violence just like the first Toxic Avenger was, filled with dark humor (the juvenile humor isn't the majority of it).

Of course it isn't for everyone taste, but for me it's was a laugh riot. It's just too bad Trauma doesn't make film like that anymore.



I feel almost bad for the dvd I gave to you in exchange for this film Pete...

Rating :

[Jimmy]

MOVIE / DVD INFO:

Title: Bonnie's Kids (1973)

Genre: Crime Story
Director: Arthur Marks (Perry Mason – TV series)          
Rating: R
Length: 1h45
Video: Fullscreen
Audio: English
Subtitles: No subtitles

Stars:
Tiffany Bolling (The Candy Snatchers)
Steve Sandor (Hell's Angels '69)
Robin Mattson (Candy Stripe Nurses)
Scott Brady (The China Syndrome)    
Alex Rocco (Wild Riders)

Plot:
Sisters Myra and Ellie have finally had enough of their miserable, dead-end lives. When their step-father Charley (The Bonnie from the title being long dead) tried to rape Myra, Ellie ventilates him with a shotgun, and the pair run off to their wealthy uncle's mansion in El Paso. From that point on, the two undergo a transformation in their personalities, and start to enjoy living their lives on the wild side.

My Thoughts:

Quite often when my friends or relatives see what genre of movie I've in my collection I got those questions : What are those movies? And Why do you like them? Hard questions to answer (like asking to someone why he likes Star Wars), so usually the best way to respond is to show them one movie. And this one is a good example of why I like sixties and seventies movies more than anything else.

This is a good old story of criminal on the run who is more center on the Tiffany Bolling subplot. The script is well done, but a little bit too long : almost 2 hours is very long for a drive-in pictures (many details could have been cut to help the movie pace). But, don't see that as a big critic that's not a real problem for me it's just that some good idea appears but are not really build up.

The acting in this is pretty good. Tiffany Bolling is better in this than in Candy Snatcher (she's exellent in this), Timothy Brown and Alex Rocco are perfect in the role of the 2 bad guys chasing Sandor and Bolling (Rocco was in Goodfather so there some chances that his face look familliar) and for a first real role Mattson is not so bad (she overact sometimes, but not that much).

This is honestly one of the best film made in the seventies, the fact that this features is almost unknown is something that I can't understand when so manny boring one made at the same times are see as classic (no, I will not name any movie. I don't want to offend anybody).

But I've some good news about this one : finally this year it will be release officially on DVD by Dark Sky Films (july is the probable release target, that the last information I've got from the label). It will be release as a part of the Arthur Marks Collection with those others movies : The Centerfold Girls, The Roommates, Linda Lovelace for President and A Woman for All Men.

If you want to see something else while we have to wait the release, I recommand that you watch « The Candy Snatchers » to see how talented Tiffany Bolling was. By the way this a very good crime story too.    

Rating :  

Got you it isn't a new review
But I just want to let you know that after a long wait this film will be finally released in june this year
So if you want to see one of the best film ever made you know what to do

Pre-order at Amazon

edit :
The film specifications are evidently for the bootleg I reviewed 2 years ago and not for the new release wich I'm sure will be in widescreen (in its original ratio), with english subtitle, a better sound and of course some nice extras since it's a Dark Sky Films released

[Jimmy]

MOVIE / DVD INFO:

Title: Death Machines (1976)

Genre: Action
Director: Paul Kyriazi
Rating: R
Length: 1h33
Video: Full Frame
Audio: English
Subtitles: None

Stars:
Ronald L. Marchini
Michael Chong
Joshua Johnson
Mari Honjo
Ron Ackerman

Plot:
A gangster doses the three martial artists with a mind-control drug and forces them to do his evil bidding. Deadly, quiet and invincible, the threesome is assigned them to wipe out a martial arts school, but one man survives the attack and swears to avenge the deaths.

My Thoughts:

The theatrical poster is great, but it had nothing to do with anything in the movie (ok the opening credit show this triangle machine). Where to begins? With the evidence of course... This movie is the most retarded thing I've seen in my life. It's a gangster movie, at least the trio seems to have been created for that but I'm not sure since at the beginning they kill some crappy gunmen from what seems to be another criminal organization (they even kill one of them on the top of a building with a bazooka for god sakes). A one point the trio attack a karate school and kill all the students and the professor, ok one survive but they cut his arm with a sword (even if it seems to grow a new one later). By the way I think that this guy is the movie hero, but I' not sure. At least he survives and grow a new hand while he is at the hospital. Talking of the hospital, the trio goes there to kill him but they fail and one of them is captured even if he is shooted in the head this guy is able to escape a police station making quite a mess while doing it (those guys are tougher than any zombies). Really this movie is stupid, impossible to follow, doesn't had one single lovable character and is incredibly overact... but for 1$ it's a good way to pass the time just for the hundred of "what the hell" moments...  
 


Rating :

[Jimmy]

MOVIE / DVD INFO:

Title: Les 7 jours du talion (2010)

Genre: Drama
Director: Daniel Grou
Rating: 16+
Length: 1h51
Video: Widescreen
Audio: French Canadian
Subtitles: French & English

Stars:
Claude Legault
Rémy Girard
Martin Dubreuil
Fanny Mallette
Rose-Marie Coallier

Plot:
Bruno Hamel is a 38-year-old surgeon who lives in Drummondville with his wife, Sylvie, and their eight-year-old daughter Jasmine. Like many happy people, Bruno leads an uneventful life until a beautiful fall afternoon, when his daughter is raped and murdered. Fron then on, the world of the Hamel familly collapses. When the alleged murderer is arrested, a terrible plan forms in Bruno's darkened mind: he plans to capture the "monster" and make him pay for his crime.

My Thoughts:

Once again a french canadian's movie who doesn't disappoint me and succeed to make the viewer think while he watch. The premise isn't complicated since it's a case of taking the justice in our own hand (something understandable when we consider that our criminal justice is a joke). Contrary to what we would think the movie isn't brutal (what I mean is not over the top violent like an american film would have been) and rest more on the shoulders of the two principal actors than on the special effects (who are well done by the way, you feel that what you see on the screen is true). Claude Legault that we know more for his works on television give the performance of his career (I think he is one of our actors we don't see enough compare to others way less talented) and he is the film. One think I've really appreciated is the fact that no music is use at all in the film and we don't need that at all to feel the emotions.

As usual it's a french canadian film that didn't get the success it deserve (unless for the stupid comedy none of our films make their money, wich is sad), but must be watch to understand why our cinema is so special. One moment in the film was so powerfull to me that I was unable to not cry (something that happen very rarely with me when I watch a movie). I really recommand this one that is probably hard to find except here, but you can find it at Amazon.ca


 
Rating :

[Jimmy]

MOVIE / DVD INFO:

Title: The Girl in Blue (1973)

Genre: Drama
Director: George Kaczender
Rating: R
Length: 1h39
Video: Widescreen
Audio: English
Subtitles: None

Stars:
David Selby
Maud Adams
Gay Rowan
William Osler
Diane Dewey

Plot:
Scott (David Selby - DARK SHADOWS, FALCON CREST, RAISE THE TITANIC) has it all - he's a well paid corporate attorney and lives in a nice apartment with a girlfriend who would do anything for him. But David is troubled. He has a vision of a beautiful blonde woman whom he saw four years earlier, but never knew. One morning, without telling anyone, David climbs in his car and sets out to look for "The Girl in Blue" (Maud Adams - OCTOPUSSY, TATTOO, ROLLERBALL, THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN). His search is romantic, exciting, funny and passionate.

This is a story of love and desire - of dreams and memories. It is unguarded ardor, both emotionally and sensual smoldering in the wake of the moment. THE GIRL IN BLUE is a love story of one man's search for the perfect woman and the perfect love. Scorpion Releasing presents this film's first official DVD release, in gorgeous widescreen and approved by the director!

My Thoughts:

It's been awhile since I did my last review, I know I'm very lazy this year on this aspect. For my return as a reviewer I decided to talk about a genre of film I usually don't watch : a love story...

The reason I bought it in the first place is the fact it's a canadian movie made in the seventies and in those years our industry was a good one. The film action happen at Montreal and Burritt's Rapids in Ontario (what a beautifull little town), so they don't try to make believe it's in the USA (for me it's the big reason why the english cinema industry is almost dead in the country now). It's a story about what could have been if...

Scott is a lawyer with a perfect life with his girlfriend (Gay Rowan), but a woman (Maud Adams) he saw very briefly 4 years before taking a ferry continue to haunt his mind. Is it possible that she could have been the woman of his life? This is what he will try to find in this film by researching this woman with the little info he had, but by doing so his actual union will be in jeopardy. Will he find her? Will his couple survive? Sorry I will not give the answers

Like I said this isn't my typical genre of cinema, but I was pleasantly surprise by this film. The story isn't too sugary for a love story and I was able to easilly identify myself with the protagonist and his quest (dreaming about a person briefly seen is something that happen to everybody). The chemistry between the actors (Selby and Rowan) playing the couple is excellent and Maud Adams give also a good performance (even if her part is short). The film location is also well choose (this little ontarian island town is really beautifull or was since this film was made 38 years ago). Good performance also by many character actors that we have seen often in our cinema but always forget their name (except for a young Aubert Pallascio who play the ferry driver).

Not a movie that I can recommand to everybody here, but certainly a film that Kathy or Marie could appreciate.
 


Rating :

Unrelated but the dvd also had a trailer for another love drama that looks really good : Fools a 1970 movie with Jason Robards and Katherine Ross that I will probably buy also

[Jimmy]

MOVIE / DVD INFO:

Title: The Crater Lake Monster (1977)

Genre: Horror
Director: William R. Stromberg
Rating: PG
Length: 1h24
Video: Widescreen
Audio: English
Subtitles: None

Stars:
Richard Cardella
Glen Roberts
Mark Siegel
Bob Hyman
Richard Garrison

Plot:
Crater Lake, Oregon is the site of a meteor landing that causes a long-buried dinosaur egg to hatch. The creature quietly stalks the countryside and finds the locals as a good food source. The mysterious deaths confound the authorities until the dinosaur finally reveals his presence to the townspeople.

My Thoughts:

This is certainly not the best dinosaur on the loose movie I've seen in my life, but considering the low budget it's understandable. To be honest the story doesn't make a lot of sense and the characters sure don't react normally. By the exemple the scientist who doesn't understand it's a dinausor even if they have found the cavern's painting, have drawing of the dinausor and know dinausors were in the lake while the indians were there. The two boat renting rednecks comic relief are more annoying than anything else and are sure overused. One side plot with a thief sure doesn't make a lot of sense (at least it doesn't to me). Also it isn't that hard to use a black filter on the camera when you want to simulate the night, seriously by time this is quite funny.

But I must say that some of the camera works is pretty good, by exemple when the scientists run to escape the cavern collapsing in the beginning. The stop motion for the dinausor (supervised by Dave Allen) and the miniature effects done by Tom Scherman (he is the guy who did transform his appartement like the submarine from 20000 miles under the sea).

Not a great film, but the special effects are ok and since it's the primary reason to watch this type of film this is perfectly fine with me.



Rating :

Maybe I'm crazy but I was sure that Pete did a review for this one and I can't find it at all

[addicted2dvd]

Nope... I don't have that one. Or is it in one of those sets that we bought?

[Jimmy]

Not in one of those 50 films set, the movie is part of this one