DEAD SNOW -- Tommy Wirkola, dir

©2009
studio: MPI HOME VIDEO
production company: Euforia Film, Barentsfilm AS, Miho Film
director: Tommy Wirkola
cast: Vegar Hoel, Stig Frode Henriksen, Charlotte Frogner, Lasse Valdal, Evy Kasseth Røsten, Jeppe Laursen, Jenny Skavlan, Ane Dahl Torp, Bjørn Sundquist, Ørjan Gamst
screenplay: written by Stig Frode Henriksen and written by Tommy Wirkola
Foreign Film (subtitled) -- Norway

A ski vacation turns horrific for a group of medical students, as they find themselves confronted by an unimaginable menace: Nazi zombies.

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I'm not really into the horror/zombie films but I ran across this film on the IFC Films web site and thought it sounded like a hoot.  Think two words: Nazi Zombies.

Only those crazy Norwegians could come up with something this bizarre (okay, that's not true) and entertaining.  What's scarier than Nazis?  Nazis that can't die!

The filming locations are truly awesome.  What beautiful country!  The acting is on par with what one would expect from this sort of film, and I chuckled at the bravado and surprises from some of the characters.

I had some disappointment in the ending (I won't reveal it here), and I don't really need the gore of seeing people's heads ripped in half or all the limbs being torn off a body, though none of it grossed me out as I might normally expect.

If you like zombie movies, then this is a must.  If you like foreign films, this is something to consider.  Otherwise, it's typical fare for the genre.

3 of 5 stars.

ENTER THE VOID -- Gaspar Noé, dir

©2009
studio: MPI HOME VIDEO
production company: Fidélité Films, Wild Bunch, BUF
director: Gaspar Noé
cast: Nathaniel Brown, Paz de la Huerta, Cyril Roy, Olly Alexander, Masato Tanno, Ed Spear, Emily Alyn Lind, Jesse Kuhn
screenplay: Gaspar Noé, Lucile Hadzihalilovic

A drug-dealing teen is killed in Japan, after which he reappears as a ghost to watch over his sister.

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This film is a real head trip.  Psychedelic colors and morphing photography really add to the weirdness of this film.

It took me awhile to get into this film (which maybe runs a bit too long) and at times the colors become too much on the eyes, but once I caught on to the concept of the film, I was really intrigued.

The photography is fantastic and, to me, unique.  The repetition of scenes seems appropriate for the story and builds on itself just enough.

There still managed to be some boredom, and I didn't really care for the characters (although seeing them as children and the incident that sent them to where they were helped soften my feelings toward them), which makes it hard to enjoy a film.  And at times, the flashing colors were incredibly distracting.

Still...it was unique and interesting enough to keep me watching.

I rate it a 3 of 5.

NUDE ON THE MOON -- Raymond Phelan & Doris Wishman, dirs

©1961
studio: Image Entertainment
production company:
director: Raymond Phelan, Doris Wishman
cast: Marietta, William Mayer, Lester Brown, Ira Magee, Lacey Kelly, Shelby Livingston, Robert W. Kyorimee, Joyce M. Geary, Charles Allen, Evelyn Burke, Joyce Brooks, Hugh Brooks, Mary Lassey, R.C. Lassey, Robert B. Lassey
screenplay: Raymond Phelan, Doris Wishman

Astronauts discover a nudist camp on the moon! A brilliant young rocket scientist and his professor friend decide to build a spaceship and blast off to the moon. Donning idiotic pajama-like space suits, they land on the lunar surface and discover a nudist camp populated by shapely telepathic moon gals with antennae on their heads! After first being rendered helpless by a moon doll's magic wand, the men are eventually allowed to wander about and witness the naked marvels of life in outer space. [amazon.com]

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I decided to rent this after reading a short review from one of my favorite sci-fi authors, John Varley. It's pure camp, with lots of bare female breasts. And the purpose of it is... I think I just said...lots of bare female breasts. What more do you want in a campy film?

There's no plot, just an excuse to get a couple of guys in among the naked girls. What strikes me as amusing is that the guys don't seem to really care much that these women are shapely and naked. All they care about is documenting it for scientific research (such as it is).

Being a very low budget skin flick, one would expect lots of gaffs and errors, and there are plenty if you're bored watching the breasts and butt cracks. My favorite mistake is the fact that the earth is rotating in the wrong direction!

If you like watching the occassional 'B' movie, this is a classic. It's maybe more a "C" movie.

TRANSFORMERS -- Michael Bay, dir

©2007
studio: Dreamworks Video
production company: DreamWorks SKG, Hasbro (in association with) Di Bonaventura Pictures, Paramount Pictures, SprocketHeads, thinkfilm (Washington DC scenes)
director: Michael bay
cast: Shia Labeouf, Megan Fox, Jon Voight, Hugo Weaving, Josh Duhamel
screenplay: Roberto Orci (screenplay) & Alex Kurtzman (screenplay); John Rogers (story) and Roberto Orci (story) & Alex Kurtzman (story)

An ancient struggle re-erupts on Earth between two extraterrestrial clans, the heroic Autobots and the evil Decepticons, with a clue to the ultimate power held by a young teenager.

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I'm not quite sure why I watched this except that it's been sitting around and I just wanted to get it over with.

I'm a tad too old to have enjoyed the Transformers series in animation or any of the comic books, but I thought I'd give it a try. Mostly I found this to be an annoying film, difficult to follow the action sequences. Which Transformer is which? A couple of them were easy to identify, due to their colring, but not all of them.

This seems to be mostly a film about watching the cool effects of electronic gadgets and cars transforming into something else. In fact, this might make a great college drinking game -- down a beer everytime there's an on-screen transformation!

The only positive thing about this film was Megan Fox. Not her acting...just her being there.

PICKIN' AND TRIMMIN' -- Matt Morris, dir

Miller Auditorium
FROZEN RIVER FILM FESTIVAL
23 minutes

A short documentary about a small town barbershop where the back room serves as an oasis of bluegrass jamming, open to any and all.

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I really enjoyed hearing the great bluegrass sounds, but there was not enough of a story here for me. Even a documentary needs a focus, and this didn't have one. Or it tried too hard to have two (small town barbershop trying to make it and bluegrass jamming is going strong).

I'd watch it again, but mostly for the music.

SPIDERS ON DRUGS -- Andrew Struthers, dir

Miller Auditorium
FROZEN RIVER FILM FESTIVAL
2 minute film

A brief documentary on the effects of different drugs on spiders.

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Hard to say much about this great, short film. One needs to watch it to really get the full effect. Fortunately, it is available on YouTube. Check it out.

IRON MAN -- Jon Favreau, dir

© 2008
studio: Paramount
production company: Paramount Pictures (present),Marvel Enterprises (present) (as Marvel Entertainment),Marvel Studios (producer), Fairview Entertainment (in association with), Dark Blades Films, Road Rebel
director: Jon Favreau
cast: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges, Leslie Bibb
screenplay: Mark Fergus (screenplay) & Hawk Ostby (screenplay) and Art Marcum (screenplay) & Matt Holloway (screenplay), Stan Lee (characters) & Don Heck (characters) & Larry Lieber (characters) & Jack Kirby (characters)

When wealthy industrialist Tony Stark is forced to build an armored suit after a life-threatening incident, he ultimately decides to use its technology to fight against evil.

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Marvel Comics does their movies pretty well. First, the Spiderman movies, which were quite good, and now Iron Man.

Robert Downey, Jr. is tremendous as wealthy Tony Stark who has a change of heart. Jeff Bridges does well as the man behind the Stark enterprises operation, with a little surprise. And Gwyneth Paltrow is believable as Stark's assistant.

Plenty of action keep this film moving, even though it needs to set up the back story of how Iron Man is created.

My only real complaint...why does Marvel see the need to have their masked superheroes unmask themselves? Spiderman seems to get revealed to just about anybody he meets; Daredevil is known by his arch foe, Kingpin,; and now Iron Man reveals his true identity. What's the purpose of this?!

A good superhero movie.

FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE -- Terence Young, dir

©1963
studio: MGM
production company: Eon Productions
director: Terence Young
cast: Sean Connery, Daniela Bianchi, Pedro Armendáriz, Lotte Lenya, Robert Shaw
screenplay: Johanna Harwood from Ian Fleming novel

James Bond willingly falls into an assassination ploy involving a naive Russian beauty in order to retrieve a Soviet encryption device that was stolen by SPECTRE.

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Amazing how slow these early Bond movies are compared with today's action flicks. These movies atually involved a plot-line that one needed to follow!

This film was a bit more adventurous than Connery's first outing and a fun film to watch.