Movie Log: Alphabetical

Early thriller by Lucio Fulci. Moves along pretty well , but the story is predictable with some laughably misplaced... more

I wasn’t exactly sold on this movie. Most of it comes across as a sophomore art project with cheap... more

Mario Bava at his absolute worst. There is so much lost in translation and editing that this is barely... more

I have finally gotten around to watching Dario Argento’s most recent movie’his 3-D take on the Dracula story. Everything... more

As a horror director, Sam Raimi is best known for the oft quoted but overrated Army of Darkness and the much... more

Looking back over the string of martial arts films that I have viewed over the past few months, I’d... more

Like The Flying Guillotine, the title here refers to a deadly decapitation weapon. The dragon missile is two boomerang swords that... more

There are hints of The Terminator (the first one) and Robocop in this but it doesn’t quite rise to... more

Nowhere near as good as the sequel.

The only reason I knew that this movie existed was a YouTube review of the soundtrack by Sean Rowley. The music is... more

Slow but true to the book, which, admit it, wasn’t the most exciting of reads—those first 100 pages are... more

This Tom Cruise action film is basically Groundhog’s Day meets Starship Troopers. Since Groundhog’s Day there must have been half-a-dozen rip-offs on various TV... more

A horror-comedy that takes aim at lampooning Italian giallo and horror films. It never quite nails the comedy part... more

Very good ghost story from the producers of Pan’s Labyrynth.

Mildly Entertaining Disney faire

I’m sorry to report, but the Neil Hamburger movie isn’t that good. It’s not a movie about the Neil... more

Another gaping hole from my 80s cinema to-do list. The premise is extremely cheesy and the execution isn’t much... more

A no-budget Italian ripoff of Escape from New York. Apparently, this is the sequel to Bronx Warriors so maybe... more

Epic Biblical story which was partially directed by Mario Bava. Joan Collins is a bride to be who is... more

An alcoholic archeologist (aren’t they all?) is at the center of this murder mystery that jumps from scene to... more

I was really excited to see this movie and so my viewing suffered from raised expectations. I liked it... more

This was a movie that did not need to be made. That said, it’s reasonably entertaining but not at... more

Japanese horror that draws almost note for note from Italian gore-maestro Lucio Fulci–synthy score, gratuitous eye gag, sound f/x... more

Fresh off of just seeing the new Blade Runner here’s another film dealing with the artificial intelligence. Only, this one is... more

I’m not quite sure why this movie was so popular when it came out. I remember hearing that they... more

A roving band of vigilantes are killing criminals left and right while the police try to track down a... more

A Shaolin monk on the run vows to avenge the death of a friend and, over the course of... more

Mediocre ghost story in which bursts of sped-up film and of quick cuts are a lame substitute for real... more

Umberto Lenzi directs this post-Baker giallo about a group of tourists in Barcelona who are killed off one-by-one by... more

This has all the markings of a standard Itallian poliziotteschi, but the first third of the movie plays as... more

Limited budget and bad acting. Not as funny as it should have been and not very scary at all.

I guess fantastical prison movies have been a thing in Japan since long before Story of Ricky. This one is... more

A huge drop in quality for this the third Scorpion movie. Much of the visual flair is gone and... more

The final installment in the Scorpion series is much more straightforward than the previous movies. From what I can... more

The second film in this series has the same visual flair of the first. This entry is a pretty... more

The two big positives of this giallo are: a creepy, abstract Morricone score and lots of wonderfully composed shots... more

Stephen Chow could not save this tone deaf action/comedy. Made in the late eighties, there are maybe two or... more

Dario Argento’s political farce. Has many funny moments, but is very confusing if you don’t know the history of... more

Master is worried that his five former students are too powerful and may do evil so he sends his... more

A Bava play on the And then There Were None theme.

A rather brutal kung-fu flick centered around competing schools in the lead up to a fighting competition. Lot of... more

Dario Argento wrote this boring Italian Western. Featuring a non-exciting action sequence of a man running for five minutes... more

I just bought another Shaw Brothers box set and am watching the films in chronological order. This one has... more

Lame third act really ruins this otherwise tight thriller.

A musical with no memorable musical numbers. There are a couple of nice dreamy dance moments. I think the... more

So-so animated feature from Ardmann. Much of the humor falls flat.

A reasonably good martial arts movie that borrows a lot of its plot structure directly from The One-Armed Swordsman. The... more

The head severing basket on a chain is back and is as ridiculous as ever. When we last left off, our... more

Had not seen this one before. John Carpenter certainly knew his stuff. There’s barely a movie here but it... more

Incredibly bad movie that has to be seen to be believed. Has plenty of dull moments but it more... more

Italian thriller from the early 70s. Beautiful colors and photography and an excellent Morricone score. Not the most complicated... more

An excellent and worthy sequel to the original series of films. It’s probably better than Return of the Jedi or at... more

I probably would have like this better if the sound was in tact. The story and mystery is obvious,... more

Not all Shaw Brothers martial arts movies take place in ancient China. Four Riders is set in Seoul during the weeks... more

Strange Bava sex comedy based on Rashomon.

This is the first film I am watching in my Pam Grier film fest and it’s a good one.... more

After a gruesome and exciting start, this film loses steam fast. Peter Cushing never comes off as creepy and... more

This was a movie that I really wanted to see. It’s directed by Ben Wheatley, who made the gangster-hybrid... more

Mediocre giallo from Dick Randall and Mondo Macabro. UPDATE: This one really grows on you when you realize how... more

Hitchcock does giallo! Nice character development and twisted humor.

You know you are in trouble when the most convincing performance in your film is by Isaac from The Love... more

A cartoon drama from Studio Ghibli about a teenage girl who misses her dead father and raises signal flags for... more

This is an animated movie about an ice princess who occasionally sings Broadway numbers. The overall message here is... more

Vietnamese martial arts picture about a female kung-fu loan collector whose daughter is kidnapped and taken to Shanghai. There... more

I can’t believe this is not a SciFi Channel movie. It’s okay, I guess, but the film tries too... more

Another passable giant monster movie from Japan. The its predecessor there is absolutely nothing interesting about the human characters... more

The third Gamera reboot film is the best of the three. It actually takes some time to establish some... more

I wanted to watch a somewhat “modern” take on a Japanese giant monster movie. This was okay. The effects... more

I appreciated the 19th Century art direction, especially the hats, but it was way too long for such a... more

Slow moving sci-fi ala Brave New World. The DNA distopia idea isn’t very interesting, but a decent formula mystery.

Still not sure what I think of this. A brutal character study of an anti-hero with a confusing plot.

Get Lamp is a documentary about text adventure games from Jason Scott, the director of BBS: The Documentary. Both of these... more

The third film in the Blind Dead series features the return of the terrifying cheap skeleton hand prop. A couple of models... more

Giallo isn’t quite the return to form I wanted from Dario Argento, but it’s a much better movie than the... more

The Amazon prime version of this movie looks like crap. I watched it anyways as part of my Mario... more

This Dick Randall produced giallo is, as one would expect, a complete mess. The plot seems to unfold randomly... more

Lighthearted giallo with great B&W photography.

Stephen Chow is an arrogant T.V. chef who is dethroned and must cook his way back to the top.... more

Well, like everyone else who saw this movie, I think the first quarter is very good, mostly because Brian... more

Of all the films in this DVD set, this one features the best fight choreography. I guess it’s a... more

My Halloween movie this year was The Gorgon from the Icons of Horror: Hammer Films DVD. I think I am coming to the... more

So far, this is the wildest Krimi film I’ve seen. Despite the title, there isn’t as much gorilla crime... more

Grand Slam is a reasonably amusing heist film with the usual tropes of assembling of the team, a complicated heist,... more

This classic Studio Ghibli cartoon is about the horrors of war. But it’s really more about the horrors of... more

Graveyard Disturbance is a silly, made-for-TV quality horror film from Lamberto Bava, and it’s surprisingly bloodless considering the director. At... more

Although I was entertained for the most part, it’s hard not to see that this movie desperately wants to... more

What at first glance seems like a rather derivative spaghetti western (except for the unusual snowy setting), reveals itself... more

The first fifteen minutes of this movie are noteworthy for accurately depicting what it’s like to be a touring... more

This is a late sixties Japanese monster movie but it stars mostly Western actors. The rubber-suit monsters, space ships... more

Sure there are a few laughs, but, for the most part, Greenberg is a drifting, plotless character study of a really... more

Shallow and stupid, but I guess that’s the point. Nonetheless, always entertaining. Tarantino’s section is mediocre but the fake... more

Probably my favorite of the recent Marvel to film movie productions. It helps that it wasn’t an idiotic superhero... more

The Guardians films remain the best of the Marvel movies. This is mostly due to their disconnect from Earthly... more

We watched this movie because my kid was in a local production of the musical version and I wanted... more

Bad acting and a cheesy premise.

Quite possibly the weakest of the Potter movies. Nothing seems to happen and it feels overly long (and there... more

An adequate conclusion to the Potter movies. If part one was all just brooding, this one was all just... more

Not as good as #3, but the ending is worth all the cheesy dragon fighting.

The series chugs along. Number three is still the best movie of the series, but this one performs as... more

This entry into the series suffers from long stretches not much of anything happening. I suppose you could argue... more