Main

03. Night Train Murders (1975, Italy) Aldo Lado -

worth seeing

06. Highway Patrolman (1992, USA/Mexico) Alex Cox -

a must see

08. The Defilers (1965, USA) Lee Frost -

worthless

11. Torso (1973, Italy) Sergio Martino -

worth seeing

13. The Cloud-capped Star (1960, India) Ritwik Ghatak -

Masterpiece

14. Mondo Cane 2 (1963, Italy) Gualtiero Jacopetti & Franco Prosperi -

worth seeing

16. The Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion (1970, Italy) Luciano Ercoli -

a must see

18. Thundercrack! (1975, USA) Curt McDowell - DNF on account of a bad DVD. Anyone have a copy?

19. Tremors (1990, USA) Ron Underwood [3rd? viewing; no change in rating ***]

20. The Black Belly of the Tarantula (1971, Italy) Paolo Cavara -

worth seeing

23. Forbidden Planet (1956, USA) Fred M. Wilcox [2nd viewing; no change in rating ***]

24. The Deadly Spawn (1983, USA) Douglas McKeown -

a must see

25. Whisky (2004, Uraguay) Juan Pablo Rebella & Pablo Stoll -

a must see

26. Ellie Parker (2005, USA) Scott Coffey -

a must see

31. Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985, Australia) George Miller & George Ogilvie -

worthless

34. It (1927, USA) Clarence G. Badger -

Excellent

35. Safety Last! (1923, USA) Fred C. Newmeyer & Sam Taylor -

Masterpiece

36. Lady in a Cage (1964, USA) Walter Grauman -

a must see

37. Girl Shy (1924, USA) Fred C. Newmeyer & Sam Taylor -

a must see

38. The Street with No Name (1948, USA) William Keighley -

a must see

39. Earth vs. the Spider (1958, USA) Bert I. Gordon -

worth seeing - for sheer camp value

42. Crime of Passion (1957, USA) Gerd Oswald -

a must see

43. All the Colors of the Dark (1972, Italy) Sergio Martino -

a must see

44. Babe: Pig in the City (1998, Australia) George Miller -

a must see

45. Silent Hill (2006, USA) Christophe Gans -

worthless

46. American Dreamz (2006, USA) Paul Weitz -

has redeeming facet

47. Anna: the Pleasure, the Torment aka Secrets of a Call Girl (1973, Italy) Giuliano Carnimeo -

has redeeming facet

48. 3:10 to Yuma (1957, USA) Delmer Daves -

a must see

Jagged surveillance style direction, complete with ticking clock suspense, is put forth with a nauseating intensity in this soggy thriller. Clearly the raison d'etre of this picture is to lure in fans of FOX’s “24” series, and it doesn’t hurt to have that show’s star appearing alongside a screen presence like Michael Douglas to try and pull it off. Unfortunately it fails, and even though there are some genuinely gripping moments in the middle, the television style direction and rushed story transpose to the big screen rather poorly. Eva Langoria enters the film via a shot of her ass, and given the caliber of her performance and the complexity of her character, it’s her ass that should’ve been given the screen credit.

This is pretty solid as far as teen-comedies are concerned. Writer-director Jessica Bendinger, who penned the script for Peyton Reed’s successful Bring it On, has a ball re-inventing teen lingo and displays a great deal of wit and comedic talent. Many people have mentioned Busby Berkeley when discussing this film’s approach to the elaborate filming of the gymnastics, but Berkeley did it for real and Bendinger uses CGI and trick photography to fill the frame with multiple bodies. In this sense, the film is a true MTV-hybrid, and although it has value outside of its teen pop-culture context, for the most part it falls victim to not fully embracing its genre status, and the film stumbles when it tries to make larger statements about youth, parents, and the nature of the sport.