Movie Monday - With a Bonus Film to Watch Now!

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Carver (2008)

[Natasha Malinsky, Erik Fones, Matt Carmody, Neil Kubath]

Well, I did it again. I saw the write-up for this movie on the cable guide and set the DVR immediately. Mistake.

This film, about some young friends who wander too close to some homicidal maniac, is just not good. The acting is so-so, the story is just a retread we have seen done better before, and the directing and editing is even worse. Some of the scenes are just disgusting, and not in a good horror way, just in a repulsive way. Ugh.

Avoid it. You won't be missing anything. In fact, you'll be better off.

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Ghost Town (2008)

[Ricky Gervais, Greg Kinnear, Tea Leoni]

A fun comedy with a heart, this movie was just great.

Gervais plays a dentist who is a jerk, keeping everyone in his life at arm's length. A routine medical procedure ends up giving him the ability to see and hear the dead, and they want his help to finish things with the living.

Soon, he finds himself caught up with one certain ghost, a man who was cheating on his wife and is determined to stop her from marrying the wrong man.

Gervais makes this film great, bringing depth to his character and making him more than just the lonely loser, instead showing us a real man who has just lost his way with life. Great actor.

Highly recommended!

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Agatha Christie: Poirot "Mrs. McGinty's Dead" (2008)

[David Suchet, Zoe Wanamaker, Paul Rhys]

Another great outing with Suchet as Poirot, this episode find him agreeing to look into the murder of a char-woman, even though a man has already been found guilty of the crime and sentenced to hang for it.

When Poirot goes to the small town where the murder occurred, he finds plenty of suspects. But clues from the past both muddy and clear the waters for his keen mind.

Just wonderful, as usual. The mystery novelist Ariadne Oliver is featured here, and it is great fun to listen to her complain about her annoying, yet popular, character Sven Hjerson. Christie used Oliver as a way to deal with her own frustrations with the difficult charter of Poirot.

Definitely recommended!

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Tower of Evil (aka Beyond the Fog) (1972)

[Bryant Haliday, Jill Haworth, Mark Edwards, Anna Palk]

The summary for this film on the cable guide was something like "cadavers, an old lighthouse and archaeologists searching for a Phoenician treasure". So, I was expecting some kind of eerie murder-mystery.

What it was is a sort of pre-slasher horror film, with ample doses of blood (too shiny and fake, though), death, sex and nudity. And this was on Turner Classic Movies! Although, to be fair, it aired in their TCM Underground slot, which is post-midnight on Friday nights.

After some Americans are murdered while hanging out on the creepy Snape Island, British detectives uses hypnosis to try and get the full story from the sole survivor. Soon, the archaeologists are going to the island to figure things out, and look for the lost treasure. What they find is weirder and more deadly than they are prepared for.

Not a great film, it is chock full of some horror cliches and some pretty horrible dialogue. But if you watch it remembering the time it was made, it can be more palatable.

Recommended if you are a fan of older horror, otherwise not so much.

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Prey Alone (2004)

[Ger Carey, Andy Moore, Kurt Savage]

I had never heard of this short film before. According to what I have read, except for the actual actors and the sets they are in, the rest of the 15-minute film was made using computer graphics. Pretty cool.

The plot at first seems just run-of-the-mill action. But watch it to the end. Good, I think.

Recommended, and hey, it's only 15 minutes long!

Prey Alone

Atom.com: Funny Videos | Other | Funny Animations

Click for a pop out version of the film. And here for the official site.

Thanks to Neatorama for the heads up on this one.

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