charlenelv Reviews

The Astral Factor (1978)

The quality was as bad as the quantity!

[3/10 · 18 February 2007]

I don't understand how you can take some fairly decent actors and make a film that a film student would be ashamed of doing. It had lines through it, as perhaps it was taken from someone's shelf, turned into a DVD with no clean up, and sold. Luckily my copy was with a 6 disc box of "Blood Chillers". Apparently they forgot to preview it before they added it to the collection. Who knows? Perhaps someone's relative was in it!! They story line itself was promising, but Robert Foxworth spent the entire movie overacting, Mark Slade was typecast as the "college boy" with no police skills AND who chewed gum even while eating his hot dog. What kind of Lieutenant on the police force has a hot dog?

That sums up this film...Foxworth being the severely overacted hot dog.

Airport 1975 (1974)

Yuck in the sky!

[1/10 · 22 January 2006]

I am very generous to most movies. Hey, if I can get one good laugh or have only a moment of hesitation about the "climax" its okay by me. This movie, however, I actually was wishing Karen Black, who had the title female role, would blow out of the hole. And the nun Helen Reddy played, why in the world would she allow them to put a nun's habit on her which had a headpiece which continually was slipped down her forehead like a BAD Halloween costume! Even George Kennedy as the ever there, Joe Patrino, this time as the newly promoted head of some vague company, couldn't even get a decent "concerned" look on his face.

Of the four Airport franchise movies, I find this one as the big stinker. It is no wonder it is the one least shown on TV. Not even one handsome passenger to look at in this one! Even old Chuck Heston, in his bright yellow turtleneck, was all but a joke in this role.

How could so many talented people, well...a couple of talented people, even agree to be in this movie!

Nightwing (1979)

Love it!!

[10/10 · 11 January 2006]

I liked this movie so much that it prompted me to take a trip to New Mexico and to eventually move there!! Unfortunately, due to medical problems, I was forced to come back to Kansas, but I will never regret moving to the Southwest.

Okay, so Nick Mancuso, who played Duran, sounded like he was from the Bronx occasionally and the tribes were renamed, but I purchased the VHS tape many years ago and check out every DVD web site hoping to find it there. It is probably the only reason I still have a VCR.++++++

The book was written by Martin Cruz Smith, an accomplished author, it was directed by Arthur Hiller, and the musical score done by Henry Mancini. Just how bad could it be?? If it is a horror movie you are looking for, this is not going to satisfy you. But a movie about the hardships and superstitions that still persist on the Navajo and Hopi reservations is as relevant as it was when Nightwing was made back in the 70s. I think that if the movie had not been billed as a "horror" flick, it would have gained much more of a following. I find it quite amusing that although it has never been made as a DVD, it is still found almost every other month on one of the pay movie channels. So I guess I'm not the only one who thinks that Nightwing is worth watching!

Fangs (2002)

Certainly not a 3!!

[9/10 · 8 January 2006]

Alright, so this isn't the scariest movie I've ever watched, and the acting isn't anything that would win an Oscar, but it was enjoyable, fun, and a good wholesome family movie. The violence was minimal, no sex, no foul language, and no blood and gore.

Corbin Bernstein played his role perfectly - by overacting, just what the role demanded. I enjoyed this movie so much, watching it every time it came on TV, that I finally purchased the DVD. I don't think that a movie has to have violence, or sex, or gore just to be a 10.

It is nice to have a movie that I can comfortably watch with my 12 year old granddaughter, that both of us enjoy. Tracy Nelson & Whip Hubley had great chemistry. This is certainly one DVD which won't get dusty from being watched once and put away.

Godmonster of Indian Flats (1973)

If you think the movie is bad, how about those extras??

[5/10 · 10 December 2005]

You just can't rate it as "awful" because it is even labeled on the DVD as "Something Weird Video". Now about those extras...the one about the controlling of rat population on farms is perhaps the most bizarre thing I have EVER watched. YUCK! But you know, somehow you just, or I did anyway, keep on watchin'. There are over 70 minutes of extra films, some of which show nudity! I never thought I'd see Bigfoot "raping" a woman, of course, it did look like ol' Bigfoot may have had shoes on, couldn't quite tell. Then when the girl's boyfriend tried to pick her up and almost dropped her...well, that alone was worth the price of the DVD.

I must admit, I haven't laughed out loud at many movies, even comedies. But the entire DVD of Godmonster.. was just a hoot! Now come on, how many folks have watched a featurette entitled "You Cannot Fart Around With Love"?? And most of it is in the nude! They even call it an "oddball" short subject. These great old 70s drive-in movies are a classic! I can't wait to show, well part of it anyway, to my grandkids! They'll never believe with today's special effects, the sheep monster, which looks about as much as a sheep as I do. Sometimes a good laugh at a truly bad movie is well worth it, as long as you're just paying a few bucks for a DVD.

Murder Ordained (1987 TV Movie)

Pretty close to fact!

[9/10 · 4 December 2005]

I spent ten years working at the correctional facility where both Tom Bird and Lorna Anderson did their time. Lorna was transferred when the female inmates were all sent to Topeka, but Tom Bird remained at Lansing Correctional Facility for his entire incarceration. The resemblance between the real Tom Bird and the actor was amazing. However, the children, especially the youngest girl could have been related. I remember one time feeling especially bad when the children flew in from another state to visit their father, I was working the visiting room at the time, and saw that the movie was playing on a local channel about the time the kids probably got to their motel. They would visit their father for 5 days in a row since they were so far away. The actors that played Tom Bird's parents were uncanny in their looks and actions as well. I suppose this did much to explain my high marks for the movie. I have seen many docu-dramas depend on sensationalism, but this one played it close to the vest, and really did get the point across about the relationship between the two. Unfortunately the movie was made before Lorna Anderson was convicted of her husband's death or before Tom Bird re-married. He was paroled just last year. I am hopeful there will be no cause to make a sequel about the murder of yet another Sandra Bird. Keith Carradine and Kathy Bates were excellent as well in the movie. Their performance was every bit as good as a huge production rather than a made for TV movie. They should all be commended for such good work. It is just sad that no studio will release this excellent work on DVD and the only way to see it is to catch it on late night TV.

The Cold Heart of a Killer (1996 TV Movie)

Pretty good for a made for TV movie!

[7/10 · 16 October 2005]

I truly enjoyed this movie from start to finish. I thought the plot was interesting, the acting better than average, beautiful scenery and the bad guy remaining a mystery until the end.

Kate Jackson and Corbin Bernstein always help even a movie with some weaknesses, and this is true in this one. They make a very likable couple and I admit I was happy to find that for once Corbin Bernstein wasn't the handsome killer in disguise. The fact that a law enforcement office would just happen to enter the Iditarod was a bit of a stretch, but easily overlooked by the acting of the duo.

Of course a made for TV movie has a hard time competing with the huge budget movies we all enjoy, but I am always happy to see this movie on the list of offerings for the month. My biggest problem is identifying the movie by its name. With neither Alaska or the Iditarod as part of the title, I normally just come upon it by mistake. It is always a welcome surprise.

Fighting the Odds: The Marilyn Gambrell Story (2005 TV Movie)

Excellent and inspiring movie

[10/10 · 3 September 2005]

My granddaughter introduced me to this movie. We watched it together and were moved by the dedication of Marlyn Gambrell and her associate. Jami Gertz did a good job portraying Ms. Gambrell and acted the role with much conviction. I kept seeing her as the whiney and clinging fiancée she played in "Twister" however, and found it hard to not judge her character in the same manner. Ernie Hudson was at his very best. He was, I think, more believable in her role than Jami Gertz was in hers.

As a retired correctional counselor I often would have three generations of the same family on my caseload. Whenever I was asked by a visiting group on tour of the prison, as to what the answer was to lower the crime rate, my answer was the same as Marilyn Gambrell. It must start with the children. Perhaps this movie will inspire more professionals to follow in her footsteps and begin similar programs thought the states.