An excellent performance by Alix Elias highlights an otherwise mis-directed and confused pile of dreck. I have seen this movie, perhaps 12 times, and with each run through, I find less and less pleasure. Why are Munchies so lustful? Is that ever explained? Are they a reflection of our wanton, boorish 'animal selves?' If they are, why not make it more obvious? Why not peal back just a touch of the subtlety that plagues this movie, and make that connection explicit? Another part of this movie that bothers me to no end - motorcycles. The jacket the little monster wears on the front cover seems to suggest 'street-wise' traveler. The sun glasses say 'pretty cool dude.' With all this I'm ready for Easy Rider meets the Muppets. All I get is Munchies (1987). What gives? Stick to the Gremlins series if you're a fan of diminutive, wise-cracking, reptile puppets - it'll give you the treatment you deserve.
Reviews
7 Reviews
Munchie Strikes Back
(1994)
Not for kids, never for infants
27 January 2007
I saw this movie, and at times, I was unnerved believing this movie 'saw me.' Munchie sullies the 'farce' for years to come. Re-watch Star Wars, Don't-watch Munchie.
As a responsible parent (I'm speaking to those who are parents now), I (you) would not let my (your) child ever partake of this video festival of the pseudo-occult. To insinuate Munchie is satanic, to a co-viewer, is likely to illicit a chilled 'duh.' He is fiendish, alien, rodential, and wholly malevolent - like the Bogey man made flesh, invisible to adults, tempting children with lifestyles they could never afford (without the income made possible by years of self denial and prudent stewardship). He is a peddler of easy answers, and false ideals. He is everything the morally conscious viewer is not. He is the devil's own Ron Popeil.
I pray (I mean this literally and figuratively, with an emphasis on the former) that this movie has not made the format jump to DVD. It is my hope that this type of 'yellow film making' died an un-mourned death in the cold nights of 1994.
Munchie also loves pizza. I forgot to mention that. It comes up a lot.
As a responsible parent (I'm speaking to those who are parents now), I (you) would not let my (your) child ever partake of this video festival of the pseudo-occult. To insinuate Munchie is satanic, to a co-viewer, is likely to illicit a chilled 'duh.' He is fiendish, alien, rodential, and wholly malevolent - like the Bogey man made flesh, invisible to adults, tempting children with lifestyles they could never afford (without the income made possible by years of self denial and prudent stewardship). He is a peddler of easy answers, and false ideals. He is everything the morally conscious viewer is not. He is the devil's own Ron Popeil.
I pray (I mean this literally and figuratively, with an emphasis on the former) that this movie has not made the format jump to DVD. It is my hope that this type of 'yellow film making' died an un-mourned death in the cold nights of 1994.
Munchie also loves pizza. I forgot to mention that. It comes up a lot.
Munchie
(1992)
Hard to understand, but rewarding with multiple viewings
27 January 2007
While the film Munchie is on it's surface a below average practical effects driven family comedy and allegory for acceptance and overcoming the challenges of puberty, below one veil lies a heart of darkness, and an interesting dissertation on the esoteric. Trying to stab at this moving target with one pithy summation is difficult, but as a reviewer, it is my duty. Essentially the bizarre and repulsive "Munchie" shows us the true meaning of 'monstrous.' Rather than recognize his freakishness and retreat in to some dark faery land of seclusion, Munchie parades himself about, attempting to use a thin layer of humor as a social lubricant. More grotesquely still, Munchie seeks the company of children.
How sinister this practice is lies in the viewpoint of the err... viewer. My personal take, is that highlighting how 'ugly' society is using his own ugliness is Munchie's attempt at destroying the juvenile leads' innocence. This psychic affront disturbs me more than any banal, physical transgressions that are / were to occur, being that we are all blinded gray whales crashing about in the pitch seas of the cosmos.
Munchie really likes pizza. ;-)
How sinister this practice is lies in the viewpoint of the err... viewer. My personal take, is that highlighting how 'ugly' society is using his own ugliness is Munchie's attempt at destroying the juvenile leads' innocence. This psychic affront disturbs me more than any banal, physical transgressions that are / were to occur, being that we are all blinded gray whales crashing about in the pitch seas of the cosmos.
Munchie really likes pizza. ;-)
Black Mask 2: City of Masks
(2002)
A Horifffic Omen of Things to Come
11 January 2003
Black Mask 2 is not a kung fu movie, it's glitzy, over-budgeted, loathsome piece of garbage. I would rather eat bad meat then see it again.
As I watched I did not wonder why Jet Li refused to reprise his role, I wondered whether they even bothered sending him the script. The director of this movie should have been put on Ritalin. Camera shots are never held for more than a second (it's like watching MTV on fast forward), making you disoriented, and never quite able to discern what's going on. The mind melting quickness of the shots are only equaled by their p*** poor selection. The camera stares straight into lights, moves through actors, and moves around so fast you think you're on a flight simulator. To sweeten the pot, Black Mask 2 features a script so convoluted, unlikely, and out of touch, that it makes you feel like handing the screen writers behind Vin Diesel movies an Oscar.
The Kung Fu choreography reminds you of the way a director would have Tom Hanks fight; actual, impressive maneuver are completely replaced by fights confined to camera pans and zooms. Special effects are frequent, superfluous, and downright stupid. Everything that was wrong with Blade 2 can be found here multiplied to the tenth power. This movie is devoid of watchable content.
This movie will make you wish you were DEAD. I suggest it whole heartedly to my enemies.
0 out of any conceivable number of stars
As I watched I did not wonder why Jet Li refused to reprise his role, I wondered whether they even bothered sending him the script. The director of this movie should have been put on Ritalin. Camera shots are never held for more than a second (it's like watching MTV on fast forward), making you disoriented, and never quite able to discern what's going on. The mind melting quickness of the shots are only equaled by their p*** poor selection. The camera stares straight into lights, moves through actors, and moves around so fast you think you're on a flight simulator. To sweeten the pot, Black Mask 2 features a script so convoluted, unlikely, and out of touch, that it makes you feel like handing the screen writers behind Vin Diesel movies an Oscar.
The Kung Fu choreography reminds you of the way a director would have Tom Hanks fight; actual, impressive maneuver are completely replaced by fights confined to camera pans and zooms. Special effects are frequent, superfluous, and downright stupid. Everything that was wrong with Blade 2 can be found here multiplied to the tenth power. This movie is devoid of watchable content.
This movie will make you wish you were DEAD. I suggest it whole heartedly to my enemies.
0 out of any conceivable number of stars
Sledgehammer
(1983 Video)
A fine piece of cinematography
3 January 2003
I rented the movie Billy Jack, but was pleasantly surprised to find that the woman at the counter had mistakenly given me a movie entitled SledgeHammer. Rather than correcting her, I gave it a try, and boy o' boy, did I make the right call! This movie had everything and much more! Okay, maybe not MUCH more, but this was indeed the singlemost innovative horror of the 80's, a true underground hit. The beautiful outside photography and still close-ups of key symbols throughout the entire movie would make this an art house hit, but the dynamic cast and contemporary dialogue creates a demand from the mainstream. The scenes where the band of friends sit for breakfast allows the viewer to connect with cast, almost as if they were sitting next to them and not watching.
One of the characters was so awesome that I based a Dungeons and Dragon character on them! My friends and I also based an ENTIRE CAMPAIGN ON THIS MOVIE called: "The Fantastical Sledgehammer Wars of 1997"!!!
One of the characters was so awesome that I based a Dungeons and Dragon character on them! My friends and I also based an ENTIRE CAMPAIGN ON THIS MOVIE called: "The Fantastical Sledgehammer Wars of 1997"!!!
Shriek of the Mutilated
(1974)
A movie I'd like to watch in the bathroom
3 January 2003
Like strong drink, or hot hot peppers, this movie will put hair on your chest. If you want a real fright fest, check it out, but don't do it ALONE!
It goes down like this, four run of the mill teenagers check out an abandoned pottery barn, only to discover, none of the are wearing pants! To their mutual dismay, they find out they've been locked inside... with a YETI, who it turns out at the end.... is a CANNIBAL... but there aren't any other yeti's there... so he eats the PEOPLE! Man, I should have stayed sober for this one, that way, I wouldn't have made such a mess. My mom was ticked.
Quick Joke: What do you call an Abominable Snowman who has gone through training to master the light side of the force? A YODI! get it! no? maybe I should have stayed quiet with this one... its just, I want to be liked, and I find it so hard to communicate with other people who aren't anonymously reading a message board comment on an overly obscure horror movie that they'll probably never see.
Save me from this living hell I've created for myself!
It goes down like this, four run of the mill teenagers check out an abandoned pottery barn, only to discover, none of the are wearing pants! To their mutual dismay, they find out they've been locked inside... with a YETI, who it turns out at the end.... is a CANNIBAL... but there aren't any other yeti's there... so he eats the PEOPLE! Man, I should have stayed sober for this one, that way, I wouldn't have made such a mess. My mom was ticked.
Quick Joke: What do you call an Abominable Snowman who has gone through training to master the light side of the force? A YODI! get it! no? maybe I should have stayed quiet with this one... its just, I want to be liked, and I find it so hard to communicate with other people who aren't anonymously reading a message board comment on an overly obscure horror movie that they'll probably never see.
Save me from this living hell I've created for myself!
Bad Ronald
(1974 TV Movie)
A film that came to define a generation.
10 February 2001
The film Bad Ronald I think is really a commentary on what it is like to be an introvert, rather than just the story of an individual. The underlying message of this film speaks so much more than the surface one. A shy person, someone unsure of him or herself can feel like a shut in. Like they too are trapped within a confined space. The flaws in their personality imprison them in their home, not the death of their mother as in Ronald's case, but the situation is the same. Such introverts can never be comfortable with the way they live, just as Ronald isn't, because they are surrounded and flaunted by people who do not suffer the same affliction as they.
Ronald was forced to observe these people in the form of the people that move into the house he is trapped in, real life introverts seem them in the form of atheletes, socialites, quote end quote players, the rich, the beautiful, etc. Also attempts to fight back against these people or join their society seem futile to outsiders, exactly like Bad Ronald's attempt to date a popular girl far to good for him and romance one of the girls that comes into his house of habitation. A fantasy world, like Ronald's Entarantia (a movie parallel to geeks who live in the Star Wars universe), are their only way to stay sane. Bad Ronald carries alot of weight to it. Also it kicks ass.
Ronald was forced to observe these people in the form of the people that move into the house he is trapped in, real life introverts seem them in the form of atheletes, socialites, quote end quote players, the rich, the beautiful, etc. Also attempts to fight back against these people or join their society seem futile to outsiders, exactly like Bad Ronald's attempt to date a popular girl far to good for him and romance one of the girls that comes into his house of habitation. A fantasy world, like Ronald's Entarantia (a movie parallel to geeks who live in the Star Wars universe), are their only way to stay sane. Bad Ronald carries alot of weight to it. Also it kicks ass.
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