Cars | 1947 Ford Panel Truck | WANT BADLY

Gorgeous!

Movie | The Pirates! Band of Misfits | PASS

Absolutely marvelous, every which way. Best Aardman movie in a while, too. And any soundtrack that features a Flight of the Conchords song is an automatic winner (plus, the rest is fantastic too!). So good, I watched it twice and a must see.

Movie | Corridors of Blood | Pass

This is not a horror movie. Instead, it's the story of a doctor who, while trying to invent "painless surgery" through anesthetic, gets hooked on the huff. There's a side story about some bad guys who kill the homeless so they can sell them to the local hospital for experiments. As usual, Boris Karloff make the whole thing worth watching.

Movie | The Cabin in the Woods | Pass

Joss Whedon mixes and matches his favorite slasher movies in this entertaining, bloody and creative homage.

Movie | Rise of the Planet of the Apes | Fail

An unworthy addition to the fantastic franchise, this one featured extremely poor animation (fantastic motion capture does not make for believable creatures - there has to be superior modeling these days) and seemed focused more on animal abuse than anything else.

The whole point the original concept was the reversal of dominance between the humans and the apes. I don't care about the humans being the dominant ones. I can see that every day! I know the apes go...ape, in the end and Caesar leads a rebellion, but I just didn't care by the time I got there. And I don't want to see a prequel. Bleh.

The only thing good was John Lithgow. The rest of the acting was really bad, surprisingly. Maybe it was the dialogue...

What a terrible title, too. Sort of a "Son of the Revenge of the Part 6, The Return". Double bleh.

Movie | The Black Room | Pass

Poe-ish, not terribly exciting film that was fun only because of Boris Karloff and the camera trickery to make him into twins. The movie was further proof that dogs are smarter than humans, hands down.

Movie | Devil | Pass

I was really, really looking forward to this, hoping that Shyamalan would redeem himself after his last two disasters. And he does, thankfully! Though he doesn't direct, he did practically everything else (Kraft services?).

The rather straight-forward scenes were tremendously enjoyable (go Philly!). The obligatory twist at the end was ho-hum, the only let down. Too predictable, from a mile away. I really liked that they skipped the big name stars - the cast was wonderful.

Rated a bloody (but not particularly graphic) PG-13.

A must see for fans of simplistic scenario horror thrillers similar to movies like Cube (which I do, very much) and soooo very close to a PASS. As it was, it's an enthusiastic Pass!

Movie | Troll | Pass

In no way are any of the Troll movies going to be considered good. Yet, there's a place for them in the list of great bad movies. This one is the original in the series and has the most coherent plot. The budget was much larger than the sequel and it shows in every aspect, including a cast with plenty of recognizable faces.

Two scenes really make this movie - Sonny Bono as a swinger and Julia Louis-Dreyfus (in her first film!) prancing around as a wood nymph giggling maniacally.

This one is more fantasy oriented, while the two sequels are more horror. Dare I see Troll 3? I'm not sure I have the patience. Apparently, it's so bad that they changed the name of it to Creepers. The reviews say that there are NO critters in that one and that it's dreadfully boring. Think I'll pass.

Awful and yet it must be seen!

Cars | 10 Wimpiest Muscle Cars | PASS

The stunning(ly bad) Monza Mirage

A great article on the ten wimpiest muscle cars! Can you think of any others? BTW, the tenth car is the Maserati/Chrysler TC (which is listed on the Popular Mechanics website).

http://autos.yahoo.com/news/10-wimpiest-muscle-cars-ever.html

TV | Ashes to Ashes | Pass

Interesting crime drama with a slight scifi twist, all 80s themed. Three seasons of great music and a super cool Quattro! This is the followup to Life On Mars, which I haven't seen (I didn't like the US remake, so I probably won't).

Movie | Troll 2 | Pass (Surprise!)

Would I have enjoyed this as much as I did without having seen the utterly delightful documentary Best Worst Movie? Probably not. But I did and I'd argue that it's actually far, far from being the worst movie of all time. Why? Because it's never, ever boring. Really! Sure, it's horrifically bad (mainly because of the poorly written dialogue and direction). But I was never left wishing that something - anything - would happen. And I'm sure I've seen plenty of movies that fit that description! This was most certainly not one.

Plenty of folks have also said that it makes no sense whatsoever. Again, it made perfect sense to me. Wacky and goofy? Yes! But the logic was there for all to see. There have been plenty of other movies that made less sense (What Dreams May Come and Zardoz, anyone?).

The popcorn scene alone is worth the price of admission.

This is a must see for fans of campy cheese. Make it a double with The Gate. Onward to the original - Troll!

Movie | Humans vs Zombies | Fail

Horrible acting and a dreadfully boring script ruins a somewhat interesting premise. Weirdly, there are some gorgeous shots (maybe they were stock footage), but most of it looks like it was shot cheaply, probably on video. But, really, it's the painfully bad acting and boredom that ruined it for me.

Movie | Best Worst Movie | PASS

Absolutely wonderful documentary about the cast, crew and filming of Troll 2, considered by many to be the worst movie ever made, 20 years later. Never having seen that film, I didn't know what to expect here. What I got was a delightful way to pass an hour and a half and a desire to see the subject of all the ruckus! Hmm...I wonder what I will be watching very soon....

"Hospitality!"

Movie | The Hunter | PASS

From the poster, I thought this movie starred Treat Williams. So I ignored it. BIG mistake. Not that Williams is a bad actor, but when was the last time anybody got excited about one of his movies?

This actually stars the great Willem Dafoe as a hunter sent to kill and retrieve a Tasmanian Tiger.

Everything about this quiet epic is top notch, just stunning and a must see. But, it's depressing so make it a double with Last of the Dogmen.

Movie | Frankenstein Meets The Spacemonster | Pass+Fail

Despite the presence of a Mercury just like I used to have and James Karen (Return of the Living Dead), this is a ridiculously bad film - which could be a good thing! Frankenstein is really a military cyborg named...Frank!. For bad movie fans, this is a keeper (and maybe even a must see). For everybody else, it's a fail.

Movie | Dynamite Warrior | Pass

Thai Robin Hood done wuxia style. Silly fun with plenty of wire work. Paper thin storyline and good martial arts. Thanks for the loan, DubS!

Movie | God Bless America | PASS

Ever wonder what ever happened to Bobcat Goldthwait? Well, here is what he's up to lately - a dark comedy that literally takes potshots at the state of our society today. Quite accurately, too. While I didn't find this a ha ha, roll on the floor kind of comedy (it's just as sad and depressing, actually), it was flat-out brilliant and is really a very, very good movie. The cast is fantastic, as well as the "indie" production. As the lead, Joel Murray, is superb and reminds me of Patton Oswalt in Big Fan. The movie theater shooting scene was painful to watch.

A must see if you loved Kick-Ass, Super (but this is not a superhero movie), Falling Down and Taxi Driver.

Movie | Exporting Raymond | PASS

Interesting, entertaining and hilarious documentary following creator Philip Rosenthal's journey to Russia to help them make their version of the television show Everybody Love Raymond. Rosenthal is so funny and hopefully we'll see more of him in the future.

TV | Friday Night Dinner | Fail

Not funny, though it's great to see Tamsin Greig (Black Books) again. Might give this another whirl at another time.

TV | Phoneshop | Fail

Not funny, though it's great to see Emma Fryer (Ideal) again.

Movie | Exiled | PASS

A recommendation (and loan) from DubS (thanks!), this is a great, modern blast 'em up from China, a la John Woo (here, it's Johnnie To, who also did The Election). Cool music, cinematography (expect a LOT of slo-mo) and the cast is outstanding. The script has some great humor and some surprising plot twists. An absolute MUST SEE for all action fans!

Movie | The Mighty Macs | Pass-ish

No depth, yet surprisingly still entertaining. The real star here is Immaculata University. If you want a light-hearted sport feel-gooder with plenty of religious overtones, then you could certainly do worse.

TV | Bullet In The Face | Pass-ish

Imagine a bunch of talented goth kids are given a big budget to make a cable mini-series. That's what you get with this - violent, black humor and style galore mixed in with a notable cast. But, like the similar Sin City, it ends up being less than engaging.

Billed as "the most violent comedy in television history", this is by the same creator as the far superior Sledgehammer. Still, there was clearly a lot of effort expended here and they deserve props for trying to bring something edgy to TV. It just didn't work very well, unfortunately.