ghekster Reviews

Dune: Part Two (2024)

Let's do the Sand Walk again!

[8/10 · 27 March 2024]

Went to see Dune part duex....more light hearted than part one and things seemed to gel better.... I was thinking there may be a part 3, but not soon...I thought all the future seeing/prophecy aspects were done pretty well with the struggle to make the best choice....some periods in life you know a thing or two and have a difficult time connecting the gaps for the whole picture...Following the John Carter movie quote "The Princess is not the prize, Barsoom is the Prize" The Emperor's daughter, the Princess , gets little screen time and with some forward and back history to explain her full situation....but I wanted more from the ultimate trophy wife in this universe. Some interesting things were fun like the Dune Compass which compensates for Lunar bodies with a magnetic field for example, Baron Harkonnen's "light show" of aerial liquid splashes was probably because the atmosphere is so saturated with bio-carbons it might catch fire...there was some slow penetration of force fields but mostly that tech wasn't shown much...many years ago I read at least 25 Dune novels by various authors and some were really good. The sandworms were great for not only a joke or two, but seeing them in a huge formation was really impressive. Many family secrets were revealed as plans for controlling human space were hinted at.... Paul, the Duke's son, comes into his own and uses some of his family's strength to good advantage. I am up for a 3rd movie.

Mythica: Stormbound (2024)

It's Mythica so of course there is trouble...and perhaps some heroes.

[8/10 · 18 February 2024]

Got the special Kickstarter Blueray Edition signed by six actors/others with my name in the kickstarter credits on 2/15/2024 and have now watched it on 2/17/2024. So much has changed with the style and surroundings that it will take 2 watches to get used to it...as it is more personal story, driven with everyone having a past as they relate things they know sometimes at swords point. They gather on a dark and stormy night at dwarf Gib's Road Inn at Desolation's End. One of the best quotes "Witches don't ride horses.....they ride the wind"....many locals have not survived the last few days so it's a bit like Clue the game...some in the Inn will be carried out.....There is quite a bit about slave rules during the current time period and some of it is light hearted. Some slaves are like family...but life is rough all around as dark magic reasserts itself.

WarGames: The Dead Code (2008 Video)

It was good to see the WOPR back in action...Just as it was.

[7/10 · 4 August 2023]

I have been thinking of watching it again. I thought that the WOPR's retirement job was a neat idea. I started programming computers in the mid-70s at college and then did some coding for the government up to the early 80's. This included working on a program for radar survivability estimates during nuclear war. Something that would be part part of the code that the WOPR was using in theory. (Later, I worked on monitoring code for a nuke power plant and had a radiation badge. Now I monitor state computer financial processing.) So at a basic level I was fine with the WOPR, then the AI aspect of it was a good way to make it interesting for a movie...better than someone altering the code or taking control, which is more the reality today. Now in "The Dead Code", with Star Gate's "Claudia Black" being the voice of RIPLEY enticing and challenging hacker types to high stake games as a way to locate bad actors brings it to a new level blurring the line between accident and intent. Then it's time to see if the teacher can learn...So many movies of this sort take place in Montreal and Quebec pretending to to be New York and Washington DC. This time it actually was often claiming to be in Canada and it was! Well Done! The actors had a lot of synergy as well.

Videoclub (2013)

Finally your world is perfect, and then....zombies!

[7/10 · 23 March 2023]

It's 1992 in Ñuñoa/Santiago, Chile and eighteen year old Miguel Jiménez (Pedro Campos) has the perfect job working at Video Club as he loves movies and tries his hand at making horror films with his sister Tati (Francisca Díaz) including a shower scene which gets him in trouble with his parents...also his boss says she wants him to not play just horror films on the monitors...Then Daniela Estévez (Luciana Echeverría) comes in looking for Andrei Tarkovski's "Stalker" and he has a new goal in life to focus on...at least til people become infected and start acting like zombies. He and his friends hole up at the Video Club. "Get ready, nobody said the end of the world would be easy!" (indie film, not actually available yet but I have listened to the soundtrack a few times and enjoyed it.) Update: 10/15/2022 A few months ago I finally found a way to watch Videoclub: The government seems confused in how to combat the zombie outbreak...they want to collect blood samples and deliver test medicine to try but Miguel and his friends eventually break out of the video store and flee to an upstream area where the movie ends......it's not an especially nice ending...but the sound track is great!

Curse of Crom: The Legend of Halloween (2022)

A good movie for kids and up, bringing Halloween to a personal level!

[8/10 · 12 March 2023]

Kickstarter: 293 backers pledged $21,000 to help bring this project to life. Last updated March 2, 2023. The project was to go beyond the done streaming and produce blueray/dvd disks (and a very few VHS - I got one! ) I watched my signed blueray last night and was very pleased with the movie. It's a good movie for kids and adults with a very low on screen body count. The age old question, why is this happening to me....now? Well, being of Irish decent is not always fun (fortunately I am also a Scot which is always fun)...kids grow up, ask questions.... Mary (Chelsea Jurkiewicz) is having to save money for college so she is working as a delivery (mostly food) person and gets together with her friends when she can....the subject of tips and tipping becomes important to her future...(I also notice she leaves the door of the car open so it is lighted when she does comes back, nice safety touch.)....as Halloween approaches things take a darker turn, it's time to grow up...Enjoy.

The Creeps (1997)

Pushing a library cart with an unconcious librarian draped over it...(priceless!)

[7/10 · 3 March 2023]

Deformed Monsters (org "The Creeps" 1997 - "Undersized, Undead, And Angry") Directed by Charles Band (Full Moon Video, Wizard Video, etc) it's almost Disney like except for a long topless "ravishing" scene ("nude" "virgin" "sacrafice") and a short "tryst" with a "Jane Erye" book...it's a comedy, rating low on the action, horror and gore...but it rates well on the library, videostore, annoying babe and mad scientist catagories.

Locations: Located Anna's near "Selma Ave" house at 1533 N Fairfax Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90046 , videostore, haven't found it yet, but looking at pictures online I figured out that the Rare Book Annex and at least part if not all of the mad scientist lair were filmed at DC Stages & Sets 1360 E 6th St Los Angeles, CA...making use of the two story Law Library and City Hall/rotunda hallway sets, also an outside door to the parking lot on the SE corner of the main building when they enter/escape from the lair...nobody else seems to know this...a multiset, two day shooting schedule there cost about $12,000 in 2014...it also looks like the video store back office could have been filmed in one of the office room sets.

I Spit on Your Grave (2010)

Sometimes Death is an escape...

[7/10 · 12 February 2023]

I picked this up in walmart for $5 thinking it was the original that I had never seen, then I figured out it was a remake....it's not bad, or rather not bad enough in an extreme way...which was ok for me as I am not a horror fan...I will watch the occasional horror comedy or horror scifi....mostly, as it went, I was curious as to the what the fate of the other "victim" would be...based on this I won't be watching the original as I get the idea....my complaint is that the title isn't justified.....misleading.... I appreciated the acting of the main actors, this isn't easy material to work with. I would be willing to see more of their work sometime.

Last Action Hero (1993)

It's amazing where a magic ticket will take you.

[9/10 · 21 February 2022]

Given ten minutes to prove that he is inside a movie, Danny Madigan (Austin O'Brien), takes Jack Slater (Arnold Schwarzenegger) to an ACME VIDEO store (Blockbuster-> Wells Fargo 23705 West Malibu Road, Malibu, California 90265) where all women are beautiful like the interested blonde customer (Bobbie Brown 555-3812) or the redhead video clerk (Angie Everhart) and Terminator II stars Sylvester Stallone...who Jack admires greatly and phone numbers are 555-xxxx...It's two bad they list the wrong location for the video store, they list the Ralphs Grocery store address, but it's all wrong for the curve of the arches, etc and parking lot configuration which has not changed.

Acceleration (2019)

You don't always get what you want, but....

[8/10 · 15 September 2020]

After learning the secret....I had to go back and watch it again, it was so much more fun the second time.....I found most of the characters interesting, sure, they are all bad guys, but with a certain flair as each has their own rules like a John Wick movie but on a lesser scale. A little more backstory, or extras on the BD would have been nice....and I would have loved to see the gag reel on this one!

Treasure Guards (2011 TV Movie)

Our world is shrinking but the shifting sands still hold secrets....

[8/10 · 13 July 2019]

"You are still living in a Jeep, I presume?" It's a fun movie not meant to be taken seriously, but enjoyed as a "practical" excursion into archaeology issues (money, history, relegion, God) with hints of Highlander (only I will think so), IndiANNA Jones and the Librarian. With a clever, "silent", non-lethal, dartgun battle in a place of antiquities that reminds one of Lazer Tag battles, I don't even ask where Victoria (Anna Friel) aquired a dress...the balance of new and ancient technology blends well with this paladin, princess, thief adventure ...which makes one think it could be a test pilot for a tv or movie series.

I Hate the Color Red (2015)

It ain't easy being Awesome

[9/10 · 4 November 2016]

I don't know if her parents said "Someday all this will be yours" or not, but Sophie Mendoza (Kristine Gerolaga) and her younger brother Junior (Jose Angeles) had it happen to them after her parents died in auto accident...life goes on and in this case "Awesome Video", a video rental store, full of "her" movies, is her life. All the great motion pictures she grew up with made her decide that she wanted to make movies, like many before her who worked in the treasure vaults of film...in this day and age of convenience her dreams are crashing on the rocky shores of faded glory...many things are making her see RED...Netflix, REDBOX, and other things...but she is a creature of joy, humor and love...one day she knows its all up to her to decide what to do.

The story is fun with excellent acting, music and camera work. For other movies of video store life check out "Be Kind Rewind", "A Real Job" or "Drop Box"...

Film Locations - considered spoilers for this film:

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Opening sequence, a lonely REDBOX in the night... (1189 Admiral Callaghan Ln, Vallejo, CA)

Awesome Video - "345 Main Street, Vallejo, CA" (movie filmed at 5000 Freeport Blvd, Sacramento, CA which then moved to 4524 Freeport Blvd, Sacramento, CA)

Empress Theater (330 Virginia St, Vallejo, CA)

Redbox: Vallejo security cam footage:

Sonoma Blvd (11 SerraVista Square at 411 Gellert Blvd, DalyCity, CA)

Georgia St (137 W Manor Dr, Pacifica, CA)

Spring Rd (293 87th St, Daly City, CA)

Marin St (137 W Manor Dr, Pacifica, CA used twice!, different angle)

Trancers: City of Lost Angels (1988)

Jack Deth loving the 80's

[7/10 · 27 April 2014]

Watched it on DVD, quickie review....Trancers 1.5 City of Lost Angels....spoilers...

it had funny lines and not a trancer in sight...Leena (Helen Hunt) wants to break up with Jack Deth as he just sits around his detective agency and enjoys the 1980's (he is from the future)...an assassin has broken out of prison and has come "down the line" (of ancestors) to kill Jack..."dry hair is for squids!"...His boss Mcnaulty as a 13 years old girl was loads of fun... about thirty minutes of episode and more than that in extras...(trailers, message from "Jack", behind the scenes Trancers 2 (Jack, Leena, Megan Ward), comments from the 1.5 screening and history of the missing episode)

As of July 31, 2014, the new Trancers (1) Bluray includes "City of Lost Angels" as an extra.