This is a ridiculously underrated film that is one of the most inspirational films I've ever seen and is now one of my favorites. The film is about Roary a man who is crippled (he has a bum leg) from a failed suicide attempt and how he finds meaning in his life through meeting other "cripples" at the local bar, a veteran with no hands (played by academy award winning real life veteran Harold Russell), a blind man, a man in a wheelchair, a woman who is a druggie and prostitute, and his bestfriend Jerry (emmy nominated actor David Morse) who also has a leg problem and dreams of becoming a professional basketball player. If you are depressed this film is a great cure for it, this film is a great reminder that no matter who you are not only could things always be worse, but dreams can and do come true with hope and hard work and perseverance. The movie is so much more than what I'm saying here, but you'll just have to watch it for yourself to find out. The film was directed by Richard Donner (Superman II, The Goonies, The Omen, Lethal Weapons 1-4) and he said this is probably the film he holds most dear. The musical score is wonderful and understated most of the time, the music was composed by legendary five time Oscar winning composer John Barry (most known for Out of Africa, Born Free and the James Bond theme). There aren't any big name stars but the entire cast is terrific, one of the actresses was nominated for an Oscar (Diana Scarwid) but this whole film should have been nominated for a bunch of oscars. I give it a most definite 5/5;
Terence Malick has only directed six movies in the last 40 years, and Badlands (1973) was his first film. The film is based on a real life murder spree committed by the young couple of Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate while travelling across the US in the 1950s. All of Terence Malick's films are critically acclaimed with very little to no negative reviews and I won't break the chain. Martin Sheen (father of Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez) and Sissy Spacek (the Original Carrie) are great in their respective roles: Sheen as a mentally delusional trigger happy emotionless anton Shugar (No Country For Old Men)-like character, who is simultaneously a James Dean lookalike/wannabe and mixed up youth, and Spacek as the mixed up naive 15 year old Sheen takes along on his ride. The film is beautiful visually, shot in the Badlands of South Dakota, and in telling it's story: the murders and murderers are not glorified, rather we see how delusional sheen's character is and the rise and fall of his relationship with Spacek as she realizes how crazy he really is. Think Bonnie & Clyde with Bonnie being a whole lot less involved. The film is now part of the Criterion Collection. I give it a 5/5. You can view the trailer below I recommend stopping around 2:02 though, because the rest of the trailer is pretty revealing of the rest of the movie:
Not much to say about this one, it was ok but I don't see why it had 3 sequels. Special effects were good but there are better 80s creature horror comedies out there like Gremlins (1984). I give it a 3-3.5/5 (trivia: Leonardo Dicaprio's first movie was Critters 3). Trailer is below:
For the holidays this year I watched a Christmas horror movie last night, Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010) It was pretty good, the movie is in Finnish and English, and the premise is some people dig up the REAL santa claus from all the scary old German fairy tales where he actually ate kids, and it's up to a kid and three adults to take him down. It has really good special effects, was funny at times and was overall very enjoyable. I give it a 4.5/5: The film is available for instant streaming on Netflix. Trailer below:
This one was really good, the story is very compelling and I can see why the novel was successful, as well as why both a remake and TV series (of the same name, lasted from 2002-06) were successful based off of this story. Everyone says it's one of Christopher Walken's best roles and I have to agree, plus I love movies/TV shows about psychics or psychic powers and connecting to "the other side" or predicting/altering the future. It's also nice to see Cronenberg direct a movie that doesn't have to be SO violent (unlike his other films), although it does have one very violent moment. I give the film a 4.75/5, (my ratings also take into consideration the genre of the film, so while the Funhouse I gave a 5/5 that's because it'a a perfect horror film to me, The Dead Zone is more of a mix of genres but overall a drama I'd have to say and not deserving of the highest ranked of dramas, even though it's still good, IMO). This film (along with several others I've reviewed) is on the list of Bravo's 100 Scariest Moments, as well as featured in the book Horror! by Kim Newman. Trailer below:
The Funhouse (1981) directed by Tobe Hooper (original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Salem's Lot, and Poltergeist) probably up there in my top ten favorite horror movies now, and if you know me that's saying something. The movie is on the same caliber as the original Halloween pretty much. It's the perfect creepy carnival movie. If the midways of carnivals or State Fairs kind of creep you out or their workers do, or clowns, or funhouses, this one's for you. Not only is it set in a funhouse but the actual film is a funhouse in itself, it's dark and has some good scares and TONS of random junk to look at it, it's a veritable I-Spy book at times. The only flaw I could find was that the bad guy's mask started to look fake the longer the shots stayed on it, but for the most part the camera did a good job of hiding the fakey-ness of the mask by not showing it head on for long or at all in many scenes, plus the movie has creepy hobos and a perfect storm and the funhouse gets a curse put on it too, I give it a 5/5. P.S. Don't too much research on this one, the biggest scare of the movie is revealed in lots of pictures if you do a google image search, so just read some reviews and watch the trailer:
This is classic 80s cinema at its best. If you like the best 80s movies like Back to The Future, Top Gun etc., this is for you, great humor (always straight-faced even with ridiculous dialogue), cheap but effective effects, great 80s soundtrack and more. The main character is a martial arts studying brain surgeon, physicist, all around genius and leader of his very own rock band and star of video games comic books and more in his universe. This is the type of movie every six year old boy dreams of making.This movie helped launch the careers of Jeff Goldblum (as Buckaroo's cowboy brain surgeon sidekick lol), Peter Weller (Robocop), Jon Lithgow (3rd rock from the sun, Shrek), Christopher Lloyd (Back to the Future, The Pagemaster), Ellen Barkin (Diner, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas), Billy Vera (of Billy Vera & the Beaters, an 80s one hit wonder band with the song "At This Moment"), and Clancey Brown (the bad guard from Shawshank Redemption and the frickin voice of Mr. Krabs from Spongebob). This movie was tailor made for tons of spinoffs merchandise and sequels, but it never got ANY and I will never understand why, My only dissappointment with the film was the characters never went to outer space, or at least never showed it for lack of a bigger budget, even though the film deals strongly with aliens and stuff. Definitely quotable and a no brainer as far as why it has a cult following. I will give it 4.5/5 and say no more, cept watch the end scene of the movie SO good:
Terence Malick has only directed six movies in the last 40 years, and Badlands (1973) was his first film. The film is based on a real life murder spree committed by the young couple of Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate while travelling across the US in the 1950s. All of Terence Malick's films are critically acclaimed with very little to no negative reviews and I won't break the chain. Martin Sheen (father of Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez) and Sissy Spacek (the Original Carrie) are great in their respective roles: Sheen as a mentally delusional trigger happy emotionless anton Shugar (No Country For Old Men)-like character, who is simultaneously a James Dean lookalike/wannabe and mixed up youth, and Spacek as the mixed up naive 15 year old Sheen takes along on his ride. The film is beautiful visually, shot in the Badlands of South Dakota, and in telling it's story: the murders and murderers are not glorified, rather we see how delusional sheen's character is and the rise and fall of his relationship with Spacek as she realizes how crazy he really is. Think Bonnie & Clyde with Bonnie being a whole lot less involved. The film is now part of the Criterion Collection. I give it a 5/5. You can view the trailer below I recommend stopping around 2:02 though, because the rest of the trailer is pretty revealing of the rest of the movie: 
This is classic 80s cinema at its best. If you like the best 80s movies like Back to The Future, Top Gun etc., this is for you, great humor (always straight-faced even with ridiculous dialogue), cheap but effective effects, great 80s soundtrack and more. The main character is a martial arts studying brain surgeon, physicist, all around genius and leader of his very own rock band and star of video games comic books and more in his universe. This is the type of movie every six year old boy dreams of making.This movie helped launch the careers of Jeff Goldblum (as Buckaroo's cowboy brain surgeon sidekick lol), Peter Weller (Robocop), Jon Lithgow (3rd rock from the sun, Shrek), Christopher Lloyd (Back to the Future, The Pagemaster), Ellen Barkin (Diner, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas), Billy Vera (of Billy Vera & the Beaters, an 80s one hit wonder band with the song "At This Moment"), and Clancey Brown (the bad guard from Shawshank Redemption and the frickin voice of Mr. Krabs from Spongebob). This movie was tailor made for tons of spinoffs merchandise and sequels, but it never got ANY and I will never understand why, My only dissappointment with the film was the characters never went to outer space, or at least never showed it for lack of a bigger budget, even though the film deals strongly with aliens and stuff. Definitely quotable and a no brainer as far as why it has a cult following. I will give it 4.5/5 and say no more, cept watch the end scene of the movie SO good: