Vampire Carmilla & Game of Pleasure Review

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(More customer reviews)Two independent films on this disk. They share a measure of erotic horror as well as low budgets, bad scripts, non-existent acting and failed film techniques. While indies usually have small budgets, these other factors are not requirements.
Vampire Carmilla is vaguely based on the classic Sheridan Le Fanu story. The story is set in modern times in a small town. We have a woman looking into the life of an estranged sister. We suspect she did not know about the sister previously.
Some stupid plot devices (like finding a jewelry box and assuming it must contain a diary) are added to endless camera pans across trees and town streets. I can only guess that the film maker though it added a level of art to the film. It doesn't. There is even a car that keeps running even though it is out of gas.
Game of Pleasure is about a cutting edge virtual reality program, a computer virus, and some hackers. The game simulates sexual situations but a virus causes death in those that use it. The company is using a hit man to recollect the beta copies.
The program exists on CD-ROM but most of the computer equipment is ancient (programers are using 5 1/4" floppies). In one scene the hackers are in a warehouse with their contacts. They are using a very old terminal to hack into someone's system. While the customers watch. Either the director knows nothing of computers or they expect the audience to know nothing.
Of the two films, Game is the better solely because it does not stop for endless pans after every scene (the scrip is actually long enough for the film). As a measure of how bad these are I fell asleep during Carmilla at least nine times and Game at least four.

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VAMPIRE CARMILLA - (aka J. Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla) Loosely based on J. Sheridan LeFanu's classic novella, this updated tale focuses on a young lady who arrives at an isolated town in search for answers to the mysterious death of her estranged sister, Monique. After discovering Monique's diary, she soon learns of her sister's dark affair with Carmilla, a mysterious beauty who seduced her sister to the life of the vampire. GAME OF PLEASURE - The largest computer gaming firm in the country, "The Center", has just finished the greatest virtual reality game, "Pleasure".Any thought, any sensation, any experience, will be magnified into a surreal adventure beyond anything known today. However, the original programmer has encrypted a deadly virus within the experiment, causing the CEO of The Center to hire an assassin to "erase" all of the beta samples from existence.Michael, an amateur hacker and gaming nut, receives one of the samples. Michael will soon explore passions beyond his wildest dreams which may just cost himhis life!

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Mrs. Henderson Presents (Full Screen Edition) (2006) Review

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(More customer reviews)MRS. HENDERSON PRESENTS is easily one of the best films of 2005. That it didn't garner an Oscar for Judi Dench is amazing as this is one of her finest roles (in a long line of superb films!). Director Stephen Frears (Dangerous Liaisons, Dirty Pretty Things, The Grifters, Liam etc) has put together a film that is at once nostalgic, sophisticated, intelligent, witty, sad, and thoroughly entertaining. This little film is a winner.
London, 1937, and Laura Henderson, having lost her only son in WW I is discovered at the graveside of her recently departed husband. Not wanting to be stuck with the British widow stance, she decides on a hobby to occupy her time: she buys, renovates and readies a theater in the West End of London, hires Vivian Van Damm (Bob Hoskins) to be her impresario and the two successfully begin a music hall type of entertainment. Their efforts are soon so imitated that their income falters, giving Mrs. Henderson a new concept: she will introduce full nudity into her theater to replace the French postcard surrogates the soldiers carry. Mrs. Henderson is indefatigable, has a laceratingly funny relationship with Van Damm, and even manages to cajole the politicians to go along with her 'new concept'. By now WW II is at it s peak and despite the London blitzkriegs the theater manages to survive, but not without some sacrifices and some self-revelations between Mrs. Henderson and Van Damm. There are many little subplots involving the company of performers, but they all blend nicely into the poignant story.
Judi Dench is absolutely radiant in this role, a role that allows her to cover a wide gamut of moods, each of which she handles expertly. Likewise, Bob Hoskins gives the performance of his rich career and the other cast members in this ensemble piece could not be better. The music and staged numbers are delightful and the atmosphere of London under siege is very realistic. In every way this is a successful movie, one that deserves a wide audience and one of those DVDs worthy of placing in your film library. A hearty Bravo! to all concerned! Grady Harp, April 06

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Academy Award winner1 Judi Dench (Shakespeare in Love) received her fifth Oscar® nomination for her saucy, hilarious performance in Mrs. Henderson Presents. Laura Henderson (Dench) may be a widow in London but she is certainly not going to spend the rest of her days playing bridge. In a time when England is brought to its knees by war, she brings a nation to its feet in applause-with a live show featuring nude girls!Dench and Academy Award nominee2 Bob Hoskins have won critics' hearts in this stylish gem that Joe Morgenstern from The Wall Street Journal calls "one of the wittiest comedies to come our way in a very long time!" "Judi Dench in the performance of her life." - Rex Reed, The New York Observer

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The Starlite Drive-In Theater: Pom Pom Girls/The Van (1977) Review

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(More customer reviews)"The Pom-Pom Girls" can be summed up simply: Plenty of cute girls, not enough 'pom-poms', if you get my drift.
I could identify with 'The Van' a little better, since, growing up in the 70's, I clearly remember the van craze. It never caught on here on the east coast as much as it did in California, but I still recall lots of guys going full tilt into "van-o-mania".
If you're looking for 70's vintage T&A, you've got the wrong films with this 2-pack. There are only 3 scenes of nudity in "The Pom-Pom Girls" and they're very tame. The story line, although lame, gets us from begining to end, and that's about the best that can be said for it. It was quite interesting to see Robert Carradine, who later came into his own in "Revenge of the Nerds", in what had to be one of his very first roles.
"The Van" is a little better. At least the story is somewhat more believable, and the film's featured hottie, Connie Lisa Marie as 'Sally', gets a couple of nice extended scenes to show off her charms. First, while washing her car in a soaking wet tank top, then later when she hooks up with the movie's hero, a hapless red-headed dork named Bobby. That was one of the problems with "The Van"....the lead character Bobby, played by Stan Getz (aka Stuart Goetz), is a bit of a goofball and just not someone you could sympathize with or root for.

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Rendez-Vous Review

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(More customer reviews)Notice how the jackets of just about every video, especially the French ones, SHOUT how SEXY the movie is. In Krzysztof Kieslowski's "Blue," par example, Juliette Binoche and the film are touted as being so, so sexy. But it wasn't, and neither was she. However in "Rendez-Vous" you will see a Juliette Binoche with enough sexual power to awaken a dead man-not to say that this movie is as good as Kieslowski's "Blue." It isn't, but it's not bad.
Binoche is full of energy as a provincial French girl with a flair for the stage new to the lights of gay Paree. She plays fast and loose (and natural) with the men she meets, and dodges some serious trouble before working it out with the man she really wants. Characteristically, Director André Téchiné leads us close to the dark side of sex without really offending our sensibilities.
Jean-Louis Trintignant appears in a small role that anticipates his triumphant creation as the admiring older man in Kieslowski's "Trois Couleurs: Rouge" nine years later.

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In her first major screen role, Academy Award®-winner Juliette Binoche (The English Patient) gives a raw and electrifying performance as sexual free-spirit Nina, who moves to Paris to become an actress. She has a profound impact on three men. Paulot (Wadeck Stanczak) is a timid real estate clerk infatuated with her. His roommate, Quentin (Lambert Wilson), is an emotionally scarred actor who performs in live sex shows. Scrutzler (screen legend Jean-Louis Trintignant) is a stage director who casts Nina in his production of Romeo and Juliet. Co-written by Olivier Assayas (Irma Vep), Rendez-vous is a mesmerizing study of love, loss, and redemption that earned director Andre Techine (Wild Reeds) Best Director honors at the Cannes Film Festival.

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Painted Lady (2009) Review

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(More customer reviews)"Painted Lady" is 100% unpredictable. This one is impossible to get to the root of (solve) the mystery till the very end, so don't cheat yourself and skip immediately to the last scene selection. The facts behind who-dun-it and the ever changing mystery of why, are what makes this movie. That is why the Chicago Tribune labeled it "Deliciously Complex." That it is. For 190 minutes of its 198 minute length, you'll constantly wonder who or why.
Helen Mirren, is wonderful, in and out of her clothing. Her character, ex-singer Maggie Sheridan, seems to make friends with many, but it is the murder of Sir Charles, whom Maggie considered "like a father", that sets her on the hunt for the killer. And a search for a lost painting. The mystery becomes a tapestry of clues related to drugs, homosexual activity, murder, art trade (legal and illegal), and robbery. Maggie uses anyone and everyone in her quest. All she seems to find are more questions. She uses anyone, legal or illegal, man or woman, crook or cop, enemies and family, in her search for answers. She uses her own created alias of an art-loving rich countess. Her sister helps her learn a bit of art history, but just enough to get herself into many fixes.
The movie does get a little graphic in places, so it's not for the squeamish or the kiddies. Nothing like an attackers brains being blown across her pretty face to wake up Maggie to more danger. In Maggie's effort to help Sir Charles' son with his financial woes, he gets strung up clad only in his briefs, then used for crossbow target practice. Well, get the picture? This British mystery, unrated, is NOT G. The cover includes a splat and run of blood in the upper right corner--there's a reason for that.
Extras include subtitles although even though most of the activity takes place in England, it is easy to understand, not strong accent. Helen Mirren also has a written bio to read and a huge list of credits to her career.
Painted Lady is more than just a robbery gone bad ending in a murder. It is about the mysterious discoveries of a half dozen or more characters involved with the mishap. Each new discovery leads to who? what? when? where? and why?
Well, I tried to leave you a warning for those needing it related to nudity, blood, and sexual situations. But, also I'd encourage mystery fans. Bet you won't solve it any faster than Maggie did.

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As seen on Masterpiece Theatre
Semi-retired, with wine glass in one hand and cigarette in the other, former '60s rock singer Maggie Sheridan (Helen Mirren, Prime Suspect, The Queen) seems resigned to life on a crumbling country estate, ruminating about her past. But everything changes when a botched robbery leaves her friend Sir Charles Stafford dead and one of his prized paintings missing. Determined to retrieve the masterpiece and find the killer, Maggie plunges into the murky underworld of the art trade. Posing as a wealthy Polish countess, she sets off on a treacherous path from Ireland to London to New York and back again. Meanwhile, Sir Charles's troubled son, Sebastian, embarks on his own path of discovery. Where the two trails meet, life begins to imitate art to deadly effect.
Oscar®-winner Helen Mirren delivers a tour-de-force performance with strong supporting turns by Iain Glen (Adam Bede), Lesley Manville (All or Nothing), Michael Maloney (Truly Madly Deeply), and Franco Nero (Camelot).
DVD FEATURE INCLUDES biography of Helen Mirren.
Nudity and sexual situations

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Starlite Drive-In Theater: Hustler Squad/Wild Riders (1976) Review

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(More customer reviews)I don't know about the movie Wild Riders because I wasn't interested, but here is my review on Hustler Squad:
The cover REALLY FOOLED ME!!! I feel like a sucker! I thought this movie was about five female soldiers that shoot up millions of ememies like in the movie Commando, Rambo 2 or The Losers. BUT NOOOO!!!! The girls didn't do ANYTHING!!! They just shot a couple of bad guys and left the rest of the enemies for the male soldiers! Of course, the action scenes were so-so, the graphics were blurred, and the story was stupid.
Another thing, the movie has only 3 action scenes: one at the begining, the second in the middle, and the third one at the end. The first and the third one were the longest but they were set at midnight, so you won't see the action so clear.
The only positive thing, is that the dvd has a cool intro with commercials, cartoons and movie previews before the movie starts. The rest is garbage.
Adios.


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