Tag Archives: movies

Mega Python vs. Gatoroid

(edited because this post was intended for next week, so by “tomorrow” I meant January 29th, not January 22nd).

Don’t forget to record Mega Python vs. Gatoroid tomorrow next Saturday night. It’s going to be awesome.

It’s okay to use the word “awesome” in this context because this movie has very special co-stars. I know, I know, you’re saying to yourself, “Duh, of course it does – MegaPython and her arch-nemesis Gatoroid!” You’re only half-right. MegaPython versus Gatoroid has two other co-stars: Tiffany (Mega Piranha!) and Debbie Gibson (Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus!)

Awe-some.

The Manolo reviews The Tourist

Have you had to endure one of the tortuous & ham-fisted trailers for The Tourist yet? The Manolo has actually gone to see the entire movie.

Watching The Tourist was the disappointing experience, much in the way that setting out for the hairdressers, but somehow winding up at the dentist’s office, where two teeth are extracted, is the disappointing experience, but only if the procedure were done without the benefit of anesthesia.

That is to say, it was the sort of nightmare.

Then the Manalo gets really harsh. And yet, from what I’ve heard about the Tourist, not harsh enough.

Legend of Hell House

Our Tivo, OverLord II, recorded Legend of Hell House for us. We thought we’d seen it, but when we started it we realized we were quite mistaken. To be honest, we haven’t finished it. Although it’s not dull, I was finding it slightly ponderous compared to the other viewing options for the evening so we set it aside. I looked it up and read how it ends and I might still finish it at some point.

It’s got everything: rather good good acting, excellent sets and atmosphere that practically drips off the screen, respectable writing, the occasional episode of over-wrought acting, a good cast, a possessed cat, an interesting score, an old dark house, and Roddy McDowell in enormous 70s glasses.

The film is based on the novel Hell House, and both book and movie were written by Richard Matheson, author of I Am Legend and other spooky stories.

I recommend the movie, although I don’t have much else to say because we haven’t seen the end yet. I can tell you that the ghost is played by an uncredited Michael Gough, who went on to play Alfred in 4 Batman movies (starting with Tim Burton’s 1989 version) and most recently was the voice of the Dodo in Burton’s Alice in Wonderland.

The Shining

I watched Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining again. I’ve seen this movie a fair number of times but this is the first time I’ve seen a really good HD transfer of it. The richness of the colors was astonishing and the sound in 5.1? Way, way creepier than the terrible mixes I’ve heard in the past. I’ve always found the cinematography and the sound design impressive, but the vibrancy of the movie is stunning and you really should watch it on Blu-ray.

While I was watching the movie in my dimly-lit living room, I thought I saw something move in my peripheral vision. This is when I discovered that our television is now at exactly the right angle to reflect off of the glass doors of the bookcases that line the wall behind the couch. This discovery took several years off my life.

I backed up the movie and managed to get a fairly accurate photo of what I saw when i looked across the room. The demarcation of the television screen wasn’t as sharp in reality as it is in the picture so the effect was much creepier. You’ll just have to take my word for it.