31 December 2009

OLR: Office Space (1999)

Not the uproarious comedy the Internet lead me to believe, but funny enough (Mary's very first movie, though she ate and slept through it and can't focus far enough away to see the screen anyway). (7/10)

d. Mike Judge

[198 movies watched in 2009]

25 December 2009

OLR: Up (2009)

Unfair or not, I have to say I prefer toys, robots, fish, superheroes and rats to old men. (7/10)

d. Pete Docter & Bob Peterson

23 December 2009

OLR: A Christmas Carol (1999)

In this version, I particularly liked the idea that Scrooge was rusty at being nice and having fun at the end of the story. (8/10)

d. David Hugh Jones

[Having watched 10 versions of this story during the holiday season, I'd rank them like this:

  1. 1984 - George C. Scott
  2. 1999 - Patrick Stewart
  3. 1951 - Alastair Sim
  4. 1988 - Bill Murray
  5. 1938 - Reginald Owen
  6. 1983 - Scrooge McDuck
  7. 1992 - Michael Caine
  8. 1971 - Albert Finney
  9. 1935 - Seymour Hicks
  10. 1979 - Yosemite Sam
]

OLR: The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)

Lacks a certain energy I'd expect from a Muppet movie. (6/10)

d. Brian Henson

22 December 2009

OLR: Scrooged (1988)

What I really want to see is that Christmas Carol in the movie starring Buddy Hackett, Jamie Farr and Mary Lou Retton. (8/10)

d. Richard Donner

21 December 2009

OLR: A Christmas Carol (1984)

Possibly it's nostalgia talking, but George C. Scott will always be my Scrooge. (8/10)

d. Clive Donner

19 December 2009

OLR: Jack Frost (1996)

This may sound silly for such a movie, but I think my main problem was that the killer snowman's dialogue was just a wee too cheezy (apropos of absolutely nothing: "Don't eat the yellow snow!"), making me wince when I should be enjoying the good-badness of the whole thing. (6/10)

d. Michael Cooney

18 December 2009

OLR: Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008)

If a Sandman movie has to be made, I now want del Toro to direct it. (8/10)

d. Guillermo del Toro

15 December 2009

OLR: Black Christmas (2006)

Props to the cinematographer for the colorful scenes that happily distracted me from the boring, poorly-achieved slasher plot. (5/10)

d. Glen Morgan

13 December 2009

OLR: Scrooge (1971)

Lavish production design can't rescue the miscasting and annoying singing. (6/10)

d. Ronald Neame

12 December 2009

OLR: El día de la bestia (1995)

A better Antichrist movie than The Omen if only because it features a priest rocking out to satanic heavy metal. (7/10)

d. Álex de la Iglesia

OLR: Santa's Slay (2005)

Fun stuff, but it needed more Bill Goldberg kicking butt. (6/10)

d. David Steiman

OLR: Scrooge (1951)

I love Alastair Sim's subtle performance as evil Scrooge in the beginning of the film and Michael Hordern's waling Marley is perhaps the best ever. (8/10)

d. Brian Desmond Hurst

11 December 2009

OLR: Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2

Could'a been a good-bad movie -- the hammy Eric "Garbage Day" Freeman is awesome -- had we not been forced to re-watch a half hour of the first flick before getting to anything new. (5/10)

d. Lee Harry

10 December 2009

Guest OLR: Redacted (2007)

Casualties of War in Iraq with non-proffesionals. (4/10)

d. Brian de Palma

Guest OLR: The Black Dahlia (2006)

An expensive-looking production dedicated to an unfocused script and de Palma's usual sloppiness. (5/10)

d. Brian de Palma

09 December 2009

OLR: A Christmas Carol (1938)

Possibly the happiest version of this story I've ever seen, though I still liked Reginald Owen's performance despite his too-early transformation during the second spirit's visit. (7/10)

d. Edwin L. Marin

05 December 2009

OLR: Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)

A good ole '80s slasher flick wrapped up in Christmas cheer (I got an extra kick out of seeing the Christmas toys from when I was 7 on the shelves of the toy store). (7/10)

d. Charles E. Sellier Jr.

OLR: Don't Open Till Christmas (1984)

Some of the Santa kills were well done and the manner in which the killer was dispatched at the end was unexpected, but the film is kind of a mess otherwise. (6/10)

d. Edmund Purdom & Derek Ford & Ray Selfe

04 December 2009

OLR: You Better Watch Out (1980)

Good direction and a great performance from Brandon Maggart save what would otherwise be a relatively lifeless Christmas horror movie. (7/10)

d. Lewis Jackson

01 December 2009

Guest OLR: Femme Fatale (2002)

Many half-baked ideas converging at a location far from terrible, somehow. (6/10)

d. Brian de Palma

Guest OLR: Mission to Mars (2000)

Okay, well, he can confidently film something in space, at least. (3/10)

d. Brian de Palma