Regensburg, May 2018
Saturday, May 5, 2018
A Little Trip to Heaven (2005)
A husband and wife tangle with an investigator over her dead brother's million-dollar insurance policy.
Highly construed crime drama with a nice touch of noir and watchable for its atmosphere and good performances.
Doom (2005)
Space Marines are sent to investigate strange events at a research facility on Mars but find themselves at the mercy of genetically enhanced killing machines.
Another movie adapted from a game; the synopsis is enough to know what it is, nothing more.
On rewatching: unexciting action without much plot - and photographed in constant darkness.
On rewatching: unexciting action without much plot - and photographed in constant darkness.
Maltin
BOMB: "Brainless, high-testerone sci-fi-horror drivel...Unimaginative
ALIEN clone is all special effects, gore, and noise; a dumb script and
leaden pacing don't help."
Toys From My Childhood
Barrel of Monkeys is a toy game released by Lakeside Toys in 1965. It was created by Leonard Marks and Milton Dinhofer in 1961, and in 1964, Herman Kesler partnered to sell it to Lakeside Toys. Lakeside Toys released it in 1965 and today it is produced by the Milton Bradley Company within the Hasbro corporation. Milton Bradley's editions consist of a toy barrel in either blue, yellow, red, purple, orange, gray or green. The barrel contains 12 monkeys but can hold 24, their color usually corresponding to the barrel's color. The instructions state, "Dump monkeys onto table. Pick up one monkey by an arm. Hook other arm through a second monkey's arm. Continue making a chain. Your turn is over when a monkey is dropped." In addition to these basic instructions, the barrel also contains instructions for playing alone or with two or more players.
Time magazine ranked Barrel of Monkeys at #53 on their 2011 All-Time 100 Greatest Toys list.
Friday, May 4, 2018
First Lines: Octavia E. Butler - Wild Seed
Doro discovered the woman by accident when he went to see what was left of one of his seed villages.
Masters of the Universe (1987)
The heroic warrior He-Man battles against lord Skeletor and his armies of darkness for control of Castle Grayskull.
Risibly silly live action version of a TV cartoon series is fun to watch how bad it is.
Halliwell (no star): "Live action version of the TV cartoons of the toys of the comic strip. Pretty weak stuff, even for five-year-olds."
Maltin**: "Elaborate comic book nonsense (which has had another life in kiddie animation) is dumb but inoffensive."
Michael Weldon/Psychotronic: "Conan meets Star Wars. This whole movie is based on a line of Mattel toys. Despite that fact, it's not bad as mindless, PG-rated entertainment...A big laser battle in a used-record store is my favorite scene."
Renoir (2012)
On the French Riviera in the summer of 1915, Jean Renoir -- son of the Impressionist painter, Pierre-Auguste -- returns home to convalesce after being wounded in World War I; at his side is Andrée, a young woman who rejuvenates, enchants, and inspires both father and son.
Nicely staged and well cast, but somnambulant and stolid period piece that doesn't really reveal much about art, cinema or romance.
Maltin**1/2: "If accurate cosmetics were all, this film would totally hit the mark, but the effects is too stately to rate more than a mild nice-try curtsy. Lovers of either artist may still want to give this a shot."
Thursday, May 3, 2018
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