Prince of Darkness [HD]

Underrated Masterpiece!
An ancient evil has awakened, and it is in liquid form! Father Loomis (Donald Pleasance) receives a key from another, now deceased, priest, and with this key opens himself up to a whole new realm of knowledge that the Roman Catholic church has kept secret for quite some time now. Father Loomis enlists the aid of a brilliant physicist, Prof. Howard Birack (Victor Wong), and some of his graduate students to help him unravel this archaic mystery. Without knowing exactly what they are getting themselves into, several experts in the fields of chemistry, biology, and ancient texts set out to investigate the undisclosed enigma.

Deep within the sanctuary of a run down church lies a dirty little secret few know about. The Prince of Darkness, son of the devil himself, is being held captive in liquid form, and is guarded by only a few lucky priests and nuns. However, the time has come for the Prince to awaken and bring forth his father to wreak havoc. As the Prince, and thus his father,...

Q: Is Evil Animal, Vegetable, or Mineral? A: Liquid!
John Carpenter's "Prince of Darkness" is vintage Carpenter and one of the Master's greatest and most underrated outings, serving up a masterfully ghoulish, take-no-prisoners, heavy on the red sauce and liquefied pure green Evil little howler of a horror movie.

Consider "Prince of Darkness" as a fine Carpenterian wine (a merlot, of course---a deep *red* merlot), well aged---after all, 1987 was a good year, and this film is a fine vintage. The bouquet? Rich and heady, a fine distillation of "Assault on Precinct 13" and "The Thing." With that in mind, let's pop the cork on "Prince of Darkness".

When the last, venerable priest of an ancient and mysterious Catholic order dies, Father Loomis (played with aplomb by the great Donald Pleasence---possibly playing the brother of Mike Myer's shrink?), sent to gather the priest's effects and secure his crumbling parish church, discovers something green, liquid and nasty bottled up in the church basement, and it's not detergent.

Father...

Scary as Hell
One of John Carpenter's last truly great movies, made before he lost his touch and began cranking out dreck like "In the Mouth of Madness" and "Vampires."

Not surprisingly this film tanked at the box office when released way back in 1987. It's script, a heady mix of quantum physics, religious doctrine, and questions about the origins of Christ and Satan, challenges everything viewers think they know about God, the Devil, and Man. But true horror film fans will appreciate it's intelligent script about Satan's return to earth and his attempts to bring along something even worse than him.

What could possibly be worse than Satan? Buy the movie and find out. You won't be dissappointed.

At its core, "Prince" is an old-fashioned horror film. A group of people, in this case, college grad students, their professor, and an emotionally shattered priest, are trapped in an old spooky place(a church) with something horrible. But the script's deft...

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Charley Varrick [HD]

Thanks for nothing, Universal
Charley Varrick is a great movie. Walter Matthau is excellent, and Don Siegel is a great director.

Why oh why did Universal decide to release this in a cropped version? This DVD is a 1.33:1 transfer of a film that was shot in 1.85:1.

When the same thing happened with Sydney Pollack's under-rated gem "Castle Keep", mavericks like Martin Scorsese lobbied to have a widescreen version of the film released on DVD, and they were triumphant. Hopefully that will happen with this equally-worthy film.

Five Star Movie, Stellar Cast, Disgraceful release format
I totally subscribe to the views expressed by many reviewers. This is a travesty of a release. Charley Varrick is a superb film with a cult status only because it has never been adequately presented or marketed. I bought this in advance of its release on the bizarrely timed date at the end of december 2004 (Have the marketing department never heard of Christmas?) and I was thoroughly disappointed. The print looks like a bad 70's piece of television and the ratio is the same. This film was shot and screened in the cinemas as a panavision 1:85 or wider ratio. Who wants to look at something that doesn't reflect its true worth? Don't buy this even though it is a great film. Wait until someone wakes up and does a proper job!

A "fool screen" version? May it burn.
I've waited a few years for "Varrick" to come out on DVD.

And now that it did come out, I will not buy it.

That is because I do not enjoy watching 60% of a film. When the studio halfwits realize that only brain damaged in-duh-viduals want to see the cut, blurred by panning-and-scanning full screen version, and when they decide to release "Varrick" in a proper, widescreen version instead - *then* I will purchase a copy. As for this one, I would not want it for free.

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Waking the Dead [HD]

Superb performances, direction in this haunting love story
Keith Gordon has again bowled me over with a magnificent piece of filmmaking. "Waking the Dead" shares many of the same elements as his "A Midnight Clear" (still in my view the best WWII drama of modern times) -- a skillful adaptation of a powerful novel, intense performances from the entire cast, and careful attention to the rhythm and pacing of his story. And two other things that are especially rare in today's mainstream movies: the deliberate ambiguity of the ending and nuanced characters that are neither black nor white but multiple shades of grey. Hollywood must hate this, and it must baffle many moviegoers. The general public is force-fed so many lifeless, undemanding, predictable movies with cardboard characters that they probably didn't reward this gem at the box office (Gordon's commentary track implies that this movie was a semi-flop, commercially, which is tragic -- and probably makes it only harder for him to continue to shoot quality films). One hopes "Waking the...

Love doesn't end...
I won't be writing anything like a movie critic. But I know one thing that this movie is created and I believe the scenario is written by someone who knows what it is to really fall in love and really lose someone you love at such a young age and so unexpectedly.
As someone who has lost my beloved at age 29 due to random murder on street. The way the actor plays out grief process is just real. I BELIEVE THIS IS A GREAT MOVIE W

The Fourth Kind [HD]

Caught Me Completely Off Guard
Nome, Alaska, October 2000: Dr. Abigail Tyler (Milla Jovovich) is a psychologist ministering to the citizens of Nome, a secluded Alaskan town which is only accessible by air. Still mourning the recent death of her husband, Tyler spends her days dealing with an apparent epidemic of insomnia amongst the town's citizens - but as Tyler delves deeper into the nature of her patient's sleep-related maladies, she begins to notice a disturbing number of similarities and correlations between their stories. Why are they all waking at 3:33am? And why are they all seeing owls outside their windows? As time draws on, she enlists the aid of colleague Dr. Abel Compos (Elias Koteas) and slowly begins piecing together fragments of information which suggest a nightmarish truth.

I'll admit it, "The Fourth Kind" caught me completely off guard; I rented it expecting a mildly entertaining mid-budget thriller fashioned after the likes of...

3 1/2 stars for scaring the crap outta me
I love scary movies but as I get older, I have a harder time with them. Aliens in general are really what freak me out. I can't watch scary movies after a certain time of day, because they give me nightmares. Unfortunately for me, I watched this movie too late because I had low expectations and didn't expect it to scare me. The good news: no nightmares. The bad news: I was awake staring at the door in fear until the sun came up.

While I was pretty sure from the start that the claims of real life footage being in the movie were bogus, it still scared the crap outta me. But the promise of "archival footage" even though it really wasn't annoyed me, so I deducted some points for that.

It starts a little slow but once it gets going it's definitely a good scary movie in my opinion. For me, horror movies aren't about cinematic integrity, but how much they entertain and horrify you. This one fit the bill. Worth a watch(not a purchase), but don't watch it at night. Just a...

In the end what you believe is yours to decide
I will not go into plot/ storyline, you can read the other reviews with the plot layed out.

This is just my own opinion/ thoughts and review of the film.

What do I believe? The ending left more questions than answers in my opinion. I believe this movie was a very clever rouse by the filmmakers, in the vain of Blair Witch, Paranormal Activity, Exorcism of Emily Rose, Fire in the Sky, The Mothman Prophecies making something that is said to be based on true events be not true at all or taking slightly the most sliver of truths and building a fictitious story around it, seen it done hundreds of times in books and movies. We do get Milla Jovovich in the beginning of the film stating that what we are about to see are reenactments of events mixed with "real" archival footage of interviews/ hypnosis sessions/ of real people all experiencing some kind of UFO phenomena happening around Nome Alaska in Fall of 2000. Milla Jovovich portrays the Dr in the reenactments then...

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Couples Retreat [HD]

Not the Chick-flick You're expecting
This movie was not only funny, it was sweet and a visual treat with a good moral. That in itself is reason enough to watch it, in this day of selfishness and disrespect for marriage. It was a fun ride. Some near nudity, a man's butt was exposed for a moment but that's all. Nudity is implied at that point but it's for a funny reason and shows nothing else. No sexual implications at that time either.

Four couples take a trip to help one of the couples get some help for what they believe is their failing marriage. The other couples are just along for the ride but the tables are turned on them when they are told there is no free ride at this retreat. You either work on your relationship or you go home. Thinking they can just skate into and out of each "session" and then get back to the fun because their relationships don't need any work, the other three couples say surprising things to "fill in the time" and make it appear that they're living up to their end of the...

Good movie
This is a funny movie about four couples going on a retreat. One couple went to fix their marriage. The other three couples were tricked into going. They thought it was going to be a lot of free fun. But after their first day they found out they had to fallow the program to fixing their marriage in order to stay. Fixing a marriage that they didn't know needed fixing. There is a lot of fun and laughs in this movie. But I just think the ending could have been better. It kind of sucked.

One of our favorite movies of all time
Great comedy. And oh, the beautiful, beautiful Bora Bora. A classic romantic comedy. We watch this regularly. Highly recommend owning a copy!

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Milk [HD]

The Gay Struggle Personified
Gus Van Sant has always been an excellent if somewhat eclectic director. Although I have enjoyed his previous efforts, I was somewhat apprehensive when I heard he was undertaking a film biography of Harvey Milk. A gay figure of this importance, I thought, should be handled by someone a little more mainstream. Like many gay people, I am weary of gay-themed films that reach no one beyond a gay audience, and the message I would want to emerge from a film about Harvey Milk should be heard by everyone.

As if reading my mind, Mr. Van Sant has fashioned a film that is accessible to all, while approaching his subject with sharp focus and a singleness of purpose that is at once definitive and topical. A stunning achievement, MILK manages to make its point without ever being preachy or trite, while remaining as true to the facts as any film bio could ever hope to be.

The film opens with snippets of gay history that many young gay people, let alone a straight audience,...

A story that will teach tolerance
The movie portrays a brave man.The movie "Milk" showed that any man who stands by his principles, will always leave a lesson to be learned.

The advances that the Gay communities of California have made in the past 30 years started with the Harvey Milk story.I have been a San Francisco Police officer for 24 years.I am proud to have known a few very brave S.F.P.D. officers who happen to have been gay.

In this state,the advances made for gay people for their civil rights and equal rights,begin with the Milk story.

I was in the movie and I played a real police officer at a homicide scene.The murder of Robert Hillsbough. The hates crimes committed against gays in this city back in the 1970's were over the top.
I was honored to have, done my simple scene with Sean Penn.

I was honored to have been a member of that cast.Check out the cast on the web [...]

I know the damages that Dan White caused our city,and my Department.
It...

Excellent
Allow me to agree with at least one other reviewer that everyone should see this, especially those who think being gay is so far out of the mainstream that, as my father in law once said, "The Lord allowed AIDS to happen."

Harvey Milk. A man of whom I know little. I lived on the other side of the world when he died, in a city in which it was not unusual to run into eunuchs. I'd heard of him since, in reference to gayness, but never associated any importance to him. Then I saw that Sean Penn was playing Milk, so I told my spouse that we need to see it.

Milk, it seemed, lived a pretty conventional lifestyle, working for an insurance company in New York. According to the script, anyway, in 1970 he met a flame and they headed to the west coast. Despite local resistance, they set up shop in the Castro district of San Francisco (after "The Haight" had become riddled with crime, homelessness and the like). Milk then decided it was time to get politically active...

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Wild Child [HD]

LIGHTHEARTED TEEN FLICK THAT WORKS
This film is full of cheesy goodness. If you are looking for a young chick flick with with a dash of romance, this one is a great choice.

This movie has been done before... A LOT. What sets this film apart is the stellar cast. It is the last movie made by Natasha Richardson and casting Alex Pettyfer as the love interest doesn't hurt. The lead is played by Emma Roberts (the daughter of actor Eric Roberts and Julia Robert's niece), who obviously has taken some pointers from family members. She shines in this role as a snotty rich kid who transforms into the young woman she was meant to be. She got caught up in the fast lane of California living after her mother passed and when her dad has had enough, she gets carted off to her mom's old boarding school - in England! There is an obvious clash of cultures as she has to find her way in a foreign school with it's own caste system. Enter the mean girls and a handsome son of a headmistress and there's your plot. You know...

Hilarious Fun
I first rented this movie to see what it was all about and right after I watched it I knew that I had to own it. It is entertaining from the very first scene!

Great Movie!
I saw this movie when I was in Britain last summer. Emma's character wasn't as wild as the title may suggest but there were a lot unexpected twists in this movie that made it more than your regular romcom. I highly recommend this movie and I will definitely buy this.

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