Movie Monday - now with more freaks, mutants and bog monsters!

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Carny (2009)

[Lou Diamond Phillips, Alan C. Peterson, Simone-Elise Girard]

Okay, first off, I went in hoping for the best with this movie. Horror? Good. Carnival/sideshow 'freaks'? Good. This movie? Not so good.

This film centers around a carnival that comes to a small town, bringing with it the freakiest freak of them all. When it breaks free, freakin' chaos ensues.

The plot is pretty much that, and it is weak. The characters are either bland or stereotypes and the carnival atmosphere and denizens are, other than their 'look', unrealistic. Just blah, blah, blah.

I must be masochistic. I see these movies on SciFi and always dive in, eager to find a new guilty pleasure. Sometimes, I come across something great like "Splinter". Most times, I find something like "Carny". And yet, when they kept airing ads for an upcoming flick, "Bottom Feeder", I was intrigued. You would think the name was ironic, and it may be, but it doesn't deter me. Off to check the channel guide...

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Blowup (1966)

[David Hemmings, Vanessa Redgrave, Sarah Miles]

A photographer in 60s England takes some spur of the moment shots of a couple in a park. But the woman soon wants the negatives back, desperately. What he sees when he blows up the photos surprises him.

This is definitely a movie from it's time. Slowly paced, it is very laid back, a groovy mystery of sorts. Not something I really enjoyed, but I guess it is good if you take it as a metaphor for perception and that what we think we see or know may not be what is. I guess. Maybe.

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X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)

[Hugh Jackman. Liev Schreiber, Danny Huston, Lynn Collins]

Saw this film with two of my kids (ages 13 and 11) and a friend and his son (age 15). We all enjoyed it for what it is, a comic book action flick.

Hugh Jackman is great as Wolverine, as usual. This movie starts from when he was a boy and ends in his pre-X-Men days. The story is pretty much his struggle to live with his "inner animal". Not bad, like I said, for what it is.

The 15- and 13-year-olds really loved it, but my 11-year-old wasn't as thrilled. Then again, Wolverine isn't a favorite of his.

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MST3K: Boggy Creek II: And the Legend Continues (1999);
original film (1985)

[Charles B. Pierce, Chuck Pierce, Cindy Butler, Serene Hedin]

Wow, this movie is bad. Really, really bad. I mean, was anyone really eagerly anticipating a follow-up to the first "Boggy Creek" movie? And if they were, they were sadly disappointed in this. But I guess they were disappointed in the FIRST "Boggy Creek 2" flick, since they call this one "part 2", too. My head hurts.

Charles B. Pierce pulls an Ed Wood here, writing, directing and producing. And he could have used a lot of help. The plot is thin and boring and I can't imagine watching this MST3K-free.

And that, in turn, makes it a wonderful flick for the folks at MST3K. Very funny commentary, as they suffered along with us. Some of the skits in-between are weak, Pearl being less funny for me that Dr. Forrester was. But good enough.

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