GuessWhatTotallyBadAssThingIJustFoundOnInstantWatch.com

Your street is ugly... bitch.

noreply@blogger.com (Mooney) — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 00:35:00 +0000

This film is actually a sequel to L'Auberge Espagnole, but I saw Russian Dolls first. They're both brilliant films. Not sure what more to say about them besides they're remarkably enjoyable. Both are mostly French-language films but have a lot of Spanish, English, and Russian thrown in too. These two are a good stepping off point if you haven't seen a lot of contemporary foreign films.

I am Iron Man... WahNahNahNahNaNaNa Nah Nah Nah!

noreply@blogger.com (Mooney) — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 19:12:00 +0000

This one expires in a few days, so check it out. I don't know about the 2nd installment of this, but Robert Downey Jr. pretty much totally killed it in Iron Man.

Jon Favreau at his best, too. Frankly, I'm a little worried about Cowboys and Aliens

Rock me, Amadeus

noreply@blogger.com (Mooney) — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 15:05:00 +0000

Milos Forman's 1984 film Amadeus won the 1985 Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor (F. Murray Abraham). It also won for Costume Design, Makeup, Sound, Writing (Adapted Screenplay), and Art Direction. It was also nominated for Best Cinematography and Editing and Tom Hulce was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his extremely memorable role as the great Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Now, I hate on the academy awards as much as anybody, but it's rare that a film can clean up like that if it doesn't legitimately kick ass. Amadeus does not disappoint. The story of the prodigious and irreverant young musician and composer is told through the last confession of inferior composer Antonio Salieri, his greatest enemy and the perpetrator of Herr Mozart's early demise. This film is incredibly enjoyable for anyone, but for lovers of opera, it is truly marvelous.

You know, for kids.

noreply@blogger.com (Mooney) — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 17:09:00 +0000

I figured I'd follow up the horror-movie run with a comedy. The Hudsucker Proxy is one of the lesser known Cohen Brothers comedies. With an obvious tip of the hat to Preston Sturges and Frank Capra, they tell the tale of Norville Barnes (Tim Robbins) a dim-witted small-town boy in the big city, who is set up to be a patsy C.E.O. by corporate big-wigs at the Hudsucker corporation. It features stellar performances from Jennifer Jason-Leigh and the venerable Paul Newman.

Oh and there's this doozy of a scene.

I kinda worked in a funny order.

noreply@blogger.com (Mooney) — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 02:45:00 +0000

I started with the best ones and kinda worked down to some not as good ones. Session 9 is one you either love or hate. It was actually shot in a real abandoned State Mental Institution here in Massachusetts. It's kind of a fun place to walk around. The setting is key to the scary here. David Caruso (whom you'd recognize from CSI Miami, even if you'd only watched it once) is key to the cheesy. There's one particular shot where Caruso's character drops an expletive accompanied by the sweetest camera move ever. It's a completely ridiculous moment, but forgivable on account of these were more or less first-time filmmakers working on a small budget.

Seriously though, there's some real scare factor in this movie and it's a pretty applaudable effort all around. Hurray for indie filmmaking!

By way of a heads-up, tomorrow we're back to the normal, not scary movies waiting on instant watch, and there's a lot of badass stuff I've had backed up while doing this all-horror pre-halloween instant watch party. Hope you enjoyed it though and took in at least a scare flick or two along the way.

Viva Bruce Campbell

noreply@blogger.com (Mooney) — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 09:22:00 +0000

Let's use Bruce Campbell's brilliant Bubba Ho-Tep as a jumping off point to show you all the gloriously awful B-Movie Horror waiting for you on Instant Watch. The Netflix servers are literally teeming with hundreds if not thousands of hours of truly bad filmmaking, with it's fair share of gore, bad special effects and gratuitous nudity... If that's what you're into. If you're a B-movie horror fan, let's just say you hit the jackpot.

In Bubba Ho-Tep, Bruce Campbell plays the now elderly, invalid Elvis Presley. If you believe his character's story, Elvis... dying to live a more conventional existence, encounters an Elvis impersonator who really does look and sound exactly like him. In a Prince and Pauper scenario, Elvis hires his doppelganger to swap lives with him. The real Elvis lives in quiet, happy anonymity and makes a living pretending to be himself, until he suffers a hip injury, which becomes infected and slips him into a coma. When he awakens, he learns that the impersonator died of an overdose in '77.

Now the occupant of an East-Texas nursing home, the real Elvis is contemplating his age, frailty, loss of dignity, impotence, and the "growth on [his] pecker". His only friend is a black man named Jack who insists he is President John F. Kennedy, claiming to have been dyed black after the assassination attempt, and abandoned in a nursing home.

The two join forces to face off against an ancient, accursed Egyptian mummy who preys on the slow, vulnerable elderly occupants of the nursing home (and dresses like a cowboy). It's pretty entertaining, if obviously a little nuts.

Oceans of Time

noreply@blogger.com (Mooney) — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 03:39:00 +0000

Bram Stoker's Dracula
is a 1992 adaptation by Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola. It stars Gary Oldman as the Count, in one of his finest screen performances. Like Branagh's Frankenstein, this adaptation is pretty true to the original text, and is better for it. At the end of the day it's what entertains you, but to make vampire movies without a respect for the thematic potential inherent in vampire literature seems, to me, like a waste.

Oh, and you should read "The Strain" too.

noreply@blogger.com (Mooney) — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 02:23:00 +0000

Pan's Labyrinth director, Guillermo del Toro's The Devil's Backbone is a brilliant horror film. When Peter Jackson named Del Toro as the director on the The Hobbit films, he joked that his only concern was that Guillermo might make the films too scary for anybody to see. This is I'm sure, partially what Jackson had in mind when he said that. I don't know how much more I can say than this... You must watch this movie. Really.

Bruce Campbell is awesome in bad movies.

noreply@blogger.com (Mooney) — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 02:19:00 +0000

It's often said that the first installment of Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead trilogy was trying to be serious. The others are just trying to be awesome... and they succeed marvelously thanks to Mr. B-List himself, Bruce Campbell.

Instead of a clip from The Evil Dead, I give you a clip from High-Fidelity (It'll make sense after).

Ok, now from The Evil Dead. Warning, it's fantastically gory...

It's alive!

noreply@blogger.com (Mooney) — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 05:58:00 +0000

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is directed by Kenneth Branagh, who seems to have a passion for making films that are truer to the classic literature which inspired them. Shelley's novel is public domain (free) and is an enjoyable read for anyone... You don't have to like the monster genre to appreciate it. This movie manages to frighten quite readily, but it also preserves the theme of the original book. Something Hollywood could use a little more of.

Now watch King Henry scream as DeNiro rips the heart out of Johnny Depp's wife, gets a morality lesson from Mozart, decapitates then reanimates Johnny Depp's wife.

If you think American horror films are wussy...

noreply@blogger.com (Mooney) — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 04:28:00 +0000

Japanese Horror strives not only to scare you, but disturb the hell out of you. Takashi "Freaky" Miike's (Pronounced My-Eekie) Audition is no exception.

Chances are if you watch this movie, you won't go looking for more, but if you end up a lover of Japanese Horror, you're in luck.
Ichi the Killer, 3 Extremes, Gozu, Tokyo Gore Police, Machine Girl, Kaidan, Premonition, Retribution, Noriko's Dinner Table (You should see Suicide Club first), and Pulse are all available on instant watch.

If that's not freaky enough, the Korean's give the Japanese a run for their money. Start with Oldboy.

I'll spare you a clip.

Hate Twilight? Wanna see a good vampire movie?

noreply@blogger.com (Mooney) — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 09:31:00 +0000

Let the Right One In is awesome. Not only is the vampire "lore" way more consistent with tradition, this movie will actually scare you good. And the story is fantastically entertaining.

Like many of my favorite films, it's in Swedish.

For God's sake, get out!

noreply@blogger.com (Mooney) — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 04:24:00 +0000

The Amityville Horror is a seminal haunted-house flick. Good horror movies are timeless. Outdated special effects? Sure, but it succeeds admirably at what it's trying to do. Watch it in the dark with sound up. Really good sound design for a lower budget production in this era.

Thriller Night.

noreply@blogger.com (Mooney) — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 01:46:00 +0000

An American Werewolf in London is one of the better werewolf films. That doesn't seem to be saying much, since most werewolf movies are stupid (I'm looking at you Teen Wolf.). But really this is a pretty enjoyable flick.

John Landis, who directed "American Werewolf", also directed the video for Michael Jackson's Thriller.

Somethin' Supernatural

noreply@blogger.com (Mooney) — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 04:10:00 +0000

Paranormal Activity is a newer film, and you might have remembered some hub-ub about it. Whether it scares you or not, it's scared enough people to be remembered among the great scare films... The marketing of this film has been much discussed.

Illimitable dominion over all

noreply@blogger.com (Mooney) — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 03:52:00 +0000

Edgar Allen Poe's Gothic fantasy helmed by Roger Corman utilizing the timeless Vincent Price in the role of Prospero. The Masque of the Red Death is widely considered one of Golden Hollywood's best horror films and one of the great triumphs of color cinematography. Price can be a bit of a ham, but he's a loveable ham.

Misses Blaylock is a bad nanny.

noreply@blogger.com (Mooney) — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 04:23:00 +0000

The Omen has a pretty basic premise... Gregory Peck and Lee Remick unwittingly raise the Anti-Christ. Fun for the whole family.

A Bloodthirsty Lust For Human Flesh

noreply@blogger.com (Mooney) — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 04:38:00 +0000

Night of the Living Dead is the film that made George A. Romero, the king of the zombie film...

Ok, also Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, Land of the Dead, Diary of the Dead, and Survival of the Dead. Also the 1990 remake of Night of the Living Dead... Whatever.

This is where it all started. Like all zombie movies, it should be remembered there's a lot of gore in this, but interestingly, this was one of the first major release films of the era to feature a "hero" who was African American.

Ever play skin the cat?

noreply@blogger.com (Mooney) — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 04:15:00 +0000

The first of the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, and still its best installment. Wes Craven takes the slasher flick to a whole new place, your dreams.

Of course, now we know from Inception that if you die in your dreams, you just wake up. Oh, whatever. It's a lot funner if you just go with it. But don't go with Freddy. And whatever you do, don't fall asleep.

Most horror fans like a little campy humor thrown in, and there's plenty of that from the punchline-loving villain.

Silent But Deadly

noreply@blogger.com (Mooney) — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 18:09:00 +0000

German silent director Robert Wiene's classic, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is not only one of the earliest horror films, it is still one of the creepiest things ever committed to celluloid. The performances of Wener Krauss and Conrad Veidt are timeless. Methods of lighting and cinematography developed in this film are still used in horror-craft today.

Mama can see your dirty pillows...

noreply@blogger.com (Mooney) — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 22:59:00 +0000

You know that girl, Carrie, you pick on in school cause she's weird?

Well, you probably shouldn't douse her with pigs blood, because she can also move things with her mind and set things on fire spontaneously... And now you're all gonna die a slow, painful death at the Prom.

Why? Because the power of Christ compells you... That's why.

noreply@blogger.com (Mooney) — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 05:28:00 +0000

In honor of the approach of Halloween, I'm gonna spend the next couple weeks hooking you up with the all the really classic horror available on instant watch.

We start with The Exorcist.

The public's subdued fascination with demonic possession became unsubdued once and for all with this classic horror film that's so gripping (thanks to the riveting Max Von Siddow) you can't stop watching, and yet so disturbing, you're dying to.

Is this Darkness in you?

noreply@blogger.com (Mooney) — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 06:09:00 +0000

The Thin Red Line is possibly the finest cinematic treatment ever made about World War II... and you don't have to be a film student to know there are some serious contenders in that category.

It is undoubtedly the best movie ever made about the War in the Pacific. Based on the phenomenal book by James Jones, this movie was conceived and helmed by the incomparable Terrence Malick. Here's all you need to know about this director: In his nearly 40 year career, he's made only 4 feature films. They are all considered cinematic masterpieces (even the one with Collin Farrell). The other thing you need to know, is that he's completing and releasing his 5th film in 2011. So basically, you shouldn't even consider missing it.

From the first paragraph on Wikipedia...

Did you catch all those names that missed the cut?

Aunt Irma has come to visit.

noreply@blogger.com (Mooney) — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 04:56:00 +0000

My friend Maryella introduced me to the hilarity that is The IT Crowd. A British comedy taking place in an IT department. Kinda brilliant. All 3 seasons on instant watch.

One of the first great Boston movies.

noreply@blogger.com (Mooney) — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 07:23:00 +0000

I saw The Town this past weekend and it was totally awesome. It is the hope of some of us Boston folks, that this is the hallmark of a new generation of great movies based in Beantown. One of the first great Boston movies I remember was Boondock Saints. Although not in at all the same way as The Town.

Now it's a little cheesy, and very violent (albeit stylized violence) and features a crazy performance by Willem Defoe as the eccentric homosexual genius federale.

The sequel (All Saints Day) is a lousy rehash with the same formula. It's poorly written and acted with a dumbass soundtrack and the detective character is Nicole Kidman with the crummiest Southern accent you've ever heard. Stick to the original.

Here's some of the over the top Dafoe magic.