cinedude Reviews

Suing the Devil (2011)

Holy C**p!!!

[1/10 · 27 December 2011]

An abysmal piece of garbage aimed at the born-again loser crowd. Badly written, acted... it's terrible on so many levels. Creatively and technically bereft of ability and embarrassing beyond belief; the technical qualities and aesthetic aspirations are so far below par, calling it "childish" is giving it far too much credit.

It's a classic example of Christian "film-making"; folks at the helm with no understanding of screen writing or film-making, trapped in the banalities of preaching to the converted. What's most appalling, as with most of these "Christploitation" films, is that they do not aim to appeal beyond the "believers"; in essence, the makers exploit the faith for money -- it's aimed at parting the bucks from the wallets of believers via ticket sales, DVD sales or whatever. Don't you guys and gals (believers) get a little tired of throwing endless dollars into buckets at the various places of worship? To sum up, Suing The Devil is terrible, terrible, terrible!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is without any redeeming factors!

The Partners (1971–1972)

Indeed times were changing, but...

[10/10 · 1 January 2008]

"The Partners" was a hoot! When it was good, it was great, when it was bad, it was about as mediocre as a mediocre episode of "Get Smart". As another person commented, times were changing and shows like "All In The Family" started to appear -- they were more realist, whereas shows like "The Partners" were much less so. In any case, I have a few episodes recorded on tape from repeats in the early 80s... and I still watch them from time to time for a laugh. Don Adams was a comedy genius (RIP).

...And the music from the series was awesome. The main title was superb... I think it was by Lalo Schifrin, a composer I adore, who was at the top of his game in the early 70s (e.g. "Dirty Harry" and, especially, "Magnum Force").

I would dearly love to own this one season wonder on DVD (or better yet Blu-Ray/HD-DVD)

Possessed (1983)

Awesome! Overlooked Hong Kong flick!

[10/10 · 5 January 2006]

I saw it about eight times in my city's Chinatown.

It has everything one expects from 80s HK movies... I can't figure out why it is so forgotten. the one thing better than this movie was its sequel which is absolutely freaking brilliant...

Make no mistake, these films are pure HK cinema... which means they borrow left, right and center from anything and everything of the era... these movies have bits copied from the Schrader version of "Cat People", "Poltergeist" and 80s werewolf movies, amongst others... add a liberal amount of hilarious subtitling and you've got the perfect beer, bong and pizza movie.

I cannot recommend these movies, especially the sequel, more highly.

Wish I could find a decent copy.

***UPDATED*** January 15th 2006 -- it's out now on DVD -- Region 3 via Fortune Star: a 2 disc set that contains its sequel! Picture is good considering the negative was probably stored in a rubbish bin. No remixed sound or anything. Just a stills gallery and trailer as extras. Sadly, the subtitling is new and better... I do miss the English subtitling from the theatrical prints as it was so hilarious.

After twenty years, this holds up as entertainment, but don't don't ask me what it was about! Go with the flow and enjoy the crazy set-pieces! Bear in mind, the sequel is far more entertaining and contains the no-holds barred borrowing of ideas from other movies.

Survive! (1976)

It's a wonderful example of cash-in exploitainment

[10/10 · 3 October 2001]

I saw this flick on the big screen as a kid and loved it -- cheeziness and all. Recently, I found a copy on video and checked it out again. Badly made, sure... schlocky fun, most definitely. It still packs an entertaining punch. It's much more fun than the dull Disney version ("Alive"). The only thing "Alive" did better were the special effects. If you're a lover of B-movies, I highly recommend "Survive", not to mention all the other Rene Cardona Jnr movies... and the Mexican wrestling flicks made by his father (Rene Cardona Snr). "Survive" is long overdue for DVD special edition treatment. Are you listening, all you kind folk, at Anchor Bay...?