Zone Troopers (1985) Review

Zone Troopers is a 1985 "sci-fi" movie set in jolly old World War II. It follows a bunch of American soldiers serving in Italy trying to fight off the Nazis in the area. While two of them are captured they encounter an alien that the Nazis have also caught and help it escape with them. the alien and her fellow bretheren then help the soldiers fight off the Nazis and return home to their planet. Yeah it's a very simple film with a very light tone that is arguable comedic but I didn't find much to be funny here, in fact I found the whole movie to be kind of boring.
I just really didn't connect to it all,the main alien looks pretty good but he brethren are literally just green men, since she's the only female among them(which of course is a joke in the film). The film is only 85 minutes long but the plot is so basic that it's stretched out in a rather dull way, there is alot of shooting in the movie, but there's no blood or effects here, so it's just a bunch of people fake dying to the ground and it's all a bit pants.
I feel like the movie would have worked way better if it was more hard edged with lots of blood and gore every way, instead what we get is a rather limp movie that does have an odd charm about it, but nothing much else going for it all. oh Well. **

Invaders from Mars (1986)

Tobe Hooper's remake of 1953 film of the same name, is a rather simple but fun movie. It has a basic plot involving Martians invading earth and taking over peoples bodies, with the main character being a young boy who enlists the help of the army to stop them.
The acting an dialogue isn't all that great but the film's main highlight are the special effects which are awesome and the most enjoyable aspect of the movie. Both the martians and spaceship look really cool and there's even some very minor body horror thrown into the mix.
The film does have a bit of a cop-out ending that I thought was kinda bullshit, but aside from that this is a bit fun that doesn't have much going for it, but has enough there to keep you entertained. If you want much more than just flashy visual effects, then this film is certainly not for you. ***

Dr. Lamb (1992) Review

Dr. Lamb is a an early 90's Cat III Hong Kong horror thriller that is based on real life serial Killer Lam Kor-wan. It's a very simple movie where the killer is caught in the beginning and then through some persuasion confesses his murders which we see in graphic detail.
The film has the usual mismatched tone that alot of these kinds of Cat III films have, a mix of silly humour and serious stuff.
Simon Yam plays the killer and though he certainly hams it up, he does a good job of showing the character's progression of going crazier as the film goes by.
There's also fair amount of gore and some quite good cinematography too.
Overall I found it to be quite a fun watch, nothing outstanding but certainly enjoyable enough.
***

Extreme Dinosaurs: Episode 1 - Out of Time (1997) Review

EXTREME, EXTREME, EXTREME DINOSAURS!

Ah the Extreme Dinosaurs, a cartoon series that definitely screams 90's. A spin-off of previous show Street Sharks, Extreme Dinosaurs had everything Anthropomorphic dinosaurs battling it out, Aliens, Roswell, a rad theme song, words like Carnifcate and Jurrassicate' and names like T-Bone, Stegs and Bad Rap.There was a lot in it to love as a kid and I thought it was super cool myself, I even got a birthday cake one time with a Marzipan Spittor(one of the evil Raptors) on it, though I don't think I ever had any toys surprisingly, still I enjoyed the show nonetheless.

So the first episode gives us the origin story and sets the foundation for the rest of the series. Basically an alien(Argor Zardok) who is a transdimensional criminal, transports to earth from another dimension during the period of the dinosaurs. He's fascinated that the world is solid and that Dinosaurs still exist. He decides to transforms a group of dinosaurs into super warriors who will do his bidding, however these dinosaurs now have independent thinking and refuse to work for him, so he ejects them from the ship and finds some Raptors that he transforms instead who are more loyal thanks to him adjusting the settings.
the Transdimensional police show up, a battle occurs between the dinosaurs and one of the Raptors has a super powerful alien weapon which causes a massive natural disaster which is guess it what killed the dinosaurs.
the Raptors and extreme dinosaurs survive this by all going into cryogenic chambers in the police ship, including Chedra who is one of the law officers.

They are discovered and awoken by an archeologists and they all do battle again and until Roswell agents show up and capture the heroes, who when escaping the facility fight off a bunch of robots.
they then have a poignant moment on the ship as they found out all the dinosaurs have been extinct.and question how they fit in to the world now.
They end up in at a dinosaur museum that's owned by an old country fella, who isn't bothered by talking dinosaurs cause he's seen all kind of shit living near Roswell and he helps them build giant cars using scrap.
They battle with the Raptors again and destroy the weapon that caused chaos at the start. The Roswell agents show up and everyone runs away, though the dinosaurs do capture two of the raptors bury them in an avalanche of snow.
On their way home they proclaim themselves the Extreme Dinosaurs cause they are Dinosaurs that are extreme enough to take on the raptors.

This show gives you everything in it's first episode and is still a barrel of fun to watch today, very enjoyable stuff. ***1/2

The Wise Little Hen (1934)

The Wise little Hen is a1934 Disney Silly Symphonies Cartoon that features the debut of Donald Duck which showcases him as an absolute dickhead. The cartoon follows a mother hen who asks both Donald and Peter Pig to help her plant her corn but both makeup the same excuse of them having a stomach ache. They then hide behind something and wink at the audience to show that they are sly bastards. Instead they decided to have a dance about with an accordion and so the poor Mother hen is forced to plant the corn herself along with her children.
She then asks Donald and Peter to help farm her corn but again pretend that they have a stomach ache, they go into their Idle Hour clubhouse and the wall of it comes down so the Hen sees these two numpty's shaking hands smiling.
So the Hen and her Chicks farm the corn and she proceeds to bake it all for a big Corn based banquet which the singing narrators hype the shit out of, she then goes to ask Pete and Donald if they want help eat her corn, before she even asks they are pretending they go a belly ache and then she asks and of course they chomp at the bit, to eat some of that corn goodness. But Mother hen trolls the shit out of them and hands them a basket which after they fight over it a little discover that inside is just oil to cure their stomach aches trolololol.
So at the end they are stuck in envy as they watch the hen gobble up that corn baked goodness while they take turns kicking each other in the butt. Lazy bastards, gotta work for that food. Donald really wasn't so loveable back then.
Fun stuff. ***

Cruel Intentions (1999)

Cruel Intentions is the kind of film that starts out with promise, it had a nice dynamic between characters(even if the acting is so good) an openness about sexuality and a general charm about it but quickly falls down into a rusty bucket of tired romantic cliche's that lead to a rather baffling and disappointing end.
The film is actually based off the 'Les Liaisons dangereuses'(Dangerous Liasons) a french novel written in 1782, but sets it among wealthy teenagers in modern New York. The attempt to put it in such a setting is rather intriguing it's just a shame it executed in the wrong kind of way, I feel like a more farcical unrestrained approach might have worked better and like I said the first half seemed to take things in the right kind of direction, but then in just turns into something more bland and sappy and loses it's potential to be something quite good. Shame really.**

The World Of Kanako (2014) Review

Been wanting to see this since it first came out but patiently waited for the long delayed UK DVD release. So it finally came out over here and I really liked it, it's dark, harsh and pretty darn superb. It's directed by Tetsuya Nakashima whose most known for the films 'Memories of Matsuko' and 'Confessions'. He's a director who I'm very fond of and always really enjoy and this film is no different. It features a disjointed editing style that Nakashima has used in his previous films with lots of cutting between past and present events and a use of montage with a rather stylish flair.
Its definitely the bleakest film Nakashima has done, one that is unrelenting and has very little hope or positivity which is sure to put alot of people off, so its not an easy watch by any means. It is a very intriguing film though one that takes quite a few twists and turns and is full of solid acting from a great cast of actors including some that have been in Nakashima's previous films including leading man Koji Yakusho, Miki Nakatani and Ai Hashimoto.
Overall I really liked this and think it's another great addition to Nakashima's consistently awesome filmography. ****