Pom Pom Girls (1976, Joseph Ruben)

Pom Pom Girls is a film that really surprised me. Ever see a movie that wasn't at all what you were hoping for, but ended up being something way better...profound even? Yes, I am talking about a film called Pom Pom Girls. When I was a teenager, I loved horny teenage movies about the stuff in high school that I was too shy to experience first hand. Living vicariously through these wild and crazy teenagers was the next best thing. I first rented Pom Pom Girls when I was around 16, in hopes of another silly teen comedy. What I got was something more. Much more.

Pom Pom Girls takes place at Rosedale High. Summer has just ended and it's the Senior year for Jesse (Michael Mullins) and Johnnie (Robert Carradine). They are both trouble making, football players who like to drink and mess around with girls. They both have feelings for Sally (Lisa Reeves), who is going out with the (wannabe) tough guy of the school, Duane (Bill Adler). At the same time though, Jesse starts falling for nice girl Laurie (Jennifer Ashley). On top of their girl troubles, local Hardin High begins a rivalry with the Rosedale football players which starts to get messy.

In what seems to be a straight forward teen comedy, Pom Pom Girls ends up being one of the most realistic teen movies I have ever seen. Though I wasn't a football player or a ladies man in High School, when I saw this film back in my teens, I connected with the characters and the situations they faced. I envied what these guys were going through with girls and just teenage life in general. I wanted to be these guys. I wanted to be at their high school. Despite the fact this film came out 20 years before I was in high school, I could still relate to what was going on. It had been over 20 years since the last time I watched this film, but after seeing it again, I would still say that Pom Pom Girls is the best film about teen life ever made.

RATING: 10/10

Anthropophagus: The Grim Reaper (1981, Joe D'Amato)

Anthro-po....Anthropo....What? Took me a long time of studying and saying different possibilities out loud before I could finally say Anthropophagus. Anthropophagy is the consumption of human flesh, so that pretty much let's you in on what the film is all about. Not that you'd really expect much else after seeing any of the movie posters/home video boxes.

A group of friends on vacation are asked by a young woman named Carol (Tisa Farrow) to tag along with them as they visit some tropical islands. She is babysitting a rich couple's kid while on vacation, which in turn means she gets a free vacation. When they stop at the island, they notice no one is around but soon find out something isn't right. The radio equipment is smashed and they soon start locating mutilated corpses. The girl Carol is to babysit, who we find out is blind, shows up in hysterics, claiming that there is a monster out there who smells of blood. Before long, they realize she is right and they must face their worst nightmare - a cannibal monster - Anthropophagus.

Anthropophagus was, above all else, a creepy movie. It just felt dirty and grimy and out of the ordinary. I also knew with Joe D'Amato and Italian B movie star George Eastman, that this film could be hit or miss, probably a miss. For the most part, Anthropophagus is actually a success, with a script by Eastman and D'Amato (under their real names). The only real drawback I noticed was the slowness of the script. Though these scenes were actually meant (and they were largely successful) to create tension, allowing the creature to pop out of nowhere and eat someone. Eastman does a great job as the monster and the rest of the cast are mediocre but serve their purpose. The real payoff for the film are a couple of really nasty scenes that add a lot to the creepiness factor. There are a few scenes where stuff/the monster pop out and are successful in startling you. Overall, a sick, twisted, gross and quite enjoyable horror film.

RATING: 7/10

Movies Watched 10/1/09 - 12/31/09

2009, where did you go? Very interesting year in many ways. It's hard to believe it's over. The past decade as a whole was pretty crazy. Though this is the first year I've actually kept a record of all the movies I've watched, it's a safe bet that I watched more this year than any year in the past. 2010 will promise to be a very hectic, exciting and scary year based on what I already have planned out so I'm sure the movie watching will be a little more erratic, but I'll try to keep the blog going as long as I can. You've probably noticed a lull in the blog for the past month or two, but stick with me and I'll do what I can to put up reviews as frequently as possible.

Anyhoo, Happy New Year!

Here's what I watched in the 4th Quarter. Feel free to comment about any of the movies or send me a message or whatever. I love hearing from you all:

10/1
Island of the Fishmen

10/2
Exorcism (Paul Naschy)

10/3
The Antichrist
Lisa and the Devil

10/4
House of Exorcism
Exorcist 2: The Heretic

10/5
Exorcist III: Legion

10/6
Trick 'r Treat

10/8
Hills Run Red

10/9
Paranormal Activity

10/10
Saw
Saw 2

10/11
Saw 3
Rec

10/12
Saw 4

10/13
Martyrs
Zombieland

10/14
Saw 5

10/15
Happy Birthday to Me

10/16
At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul
Tourist Trap

10/17
Roadgames
Pit and the Pendulum (Vincent Price)

10/18
He Knows You're Alone
Funhouse

10/19
Night of the Creeps

10/20
Fade to Black

10/21
Halloween III: Season of the Witch

10/22
House of 1000 Corpses

10/23
Saw 6

10/24
Creepshow

10/25
Halloween H20: 20 Years Later

10/27
Sleepy Hollow
Hell Night

10/28
Re-Animator

10/31
Dawn of the Dead

11/2
Little Children

11/5
Love at First Bite

11/9
God Told Me To

11/12
Maniac Cop

11/14
Maniac Cop 2

11/15
Maniac Cop 3

11/17
The Thing Called Love

11/21
Rome Armed to the Teeth

11/23
Where the Day Takes You

11/24
High Crime

11/25
Brainstorm

11/27
Dreamscape

12/1
8 1/2

12/2
The Gate

12/4
The Orphan

12/5
Funny People

12/7
Three Musketeers (1993)
Revolutionary Road

12/8
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

12/9
Bone

12/10
Superfly

12/11
Darjeeling Ltd.

12/13
Royal Tenenbaums

12/14
L'argent de poche (Small Change)

12/15
The Hangover

12/16
Ladri di biciclette (Bicycle Thieves)

12/19
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance

12/20
Zack and Miri Make a Porno

12/21
What We Do is Secret

12/22
District 9

12/23
It Might Get Loud

12/24
Spun

12/27
Fat City

12/28
Beach Boys: Live at Knebworth 1980

12/29
The One and Only

12/30
Helter Skelter (1976)

12/31
Baby Mama

The One and Only (1978, Carl Reiner)

What's the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the name Henry Winkler? The Fonz, of course. To me however, the name Henry Winkler means Genius. The star of two of my favorite movies of all time (Heroes and Night Shift), Winkler broke out of his stereotyped role of a tough guy and became more of a pathetic type of loser that audiences couldn't help but love. After looking for more films from this "classic" era of Winkler, I stumbled upon The One and Only and had to watch it.

Andy Schmidt (Henry Winkler) is a man who wants an audience. Any audience. He'll do anything, anywhere to get people to watch him. From the time he was little he knew he wanted to be on stage performing. He loved and needed the adulation of a crowd there for him to perform to. After winning over his reluctant college sweetheart Mary (Kim Darby), they get married and move to New York to follow Andy's dreams of acting. With no luck in his job hunt, Andy has a chance meeting with Milton, a midget actor who has been wrestling to make ends meet. Could Andy himself try this route as a substitution for his dream of being an actor?

The One and Only is simply one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. Winkler hits a grand slam as the attention-hungry schlep you can't help but root for. Winkler definitely steals the show and each of his silly outbursts are funnier than the last. The supporting cast is also great, with Kim Darby as Winkler's normal wife, Herve Villechaize as Milton and Gene Saks as Wrestling Promoter Sidney Seltzer, whose constant need to use the bathroom and reminders of his son's sexuality are, though crude and inappropriate, quite hilarious.

RATING: 9/10

Bicycle Thieves (1948, Vittorio De Sica)

Starmummy is back from a short dormancy to bring you a true cinema classic. I must have checked this film out of the library at least 5 times previously but never got around to watching it, until now. If you know anything about film, you've heard of this particular movie. It has been called one of the greatest films ever made and popularized the neo-realism movement, which employed actors with no training.

Bicycle Thieves (or Ladri di biciclette as it was known in its native Italy and The Bicycle Thief in the U.S.) is the story of Antonio Ricci (Lamberto Maggiorani), an unemployed husband and father of two. He finally gets a job hanging up posters but is told that he needs a bicycle or else the job will go to someone else. He explains his dilemma to his wife Maria (Lianella Carell) who then sells their bedsheets to get Antonio a bike. However, on his first day on the job, his bike is stolen. Antonio and his young son Bruno (Enzo Staiola) search through the streets of Rome to find the bike napper, which brings them to several different locations, including a fortune teller, a church and a restaurant.

Bicycle Thieves is by all accounts a brilliant film. The untrained cast pull off their performances marvelously and with absolute realism, especially Maggiorani as a desperate father and 7 year old Staiola, one of the most memorable child performances I've ever seen in a film. The father and son's quest is full of many high and low events which really make the audience feel for the characters. I highly recommend picking up Criterion's release of this film, which comes with 2 discs and a 75 page book with interviews and articles about the film.

RATING: 10/10

The Orphan (2009, Jaume Collet-Serra)

When I first saw a trailer for this film, I (as did many other folks) instantly thought it looked like a ripoff of the Macaulay Culkin movie from the 90's The Good Son. I liked the Good Son and was a little perturbed that they would try to make some crappy rehash. Sure the girl playing the orphan looks pretty creepy and pretty damn crazy, but c'mon - what could top lovable Macaulay Culkin, star of such family friendly movies as Home Alone and Uncle Buck play a psychopathic kid?

The Orphan is about a married couple whose third child dies during childbirth. After some time passes, they are ready to adopt and go to a local orphanage where they find Esther. She is intelligent, lovable and caring. But soon after coming to live with her new family, "accidents" start happening to those around Esther. Her new mother Kate (Vera Farmiga) eventually realizes that Esther isn't the innocent child that her husband John (Peter Sarsgaard) thinks she is.

Despite some obvious similarities to The Good Son, The Orphan was actually a fine film. Much better and more original than I was expecting. Isabelle Fuhrman is excellent as the devious Esther, far more mature and talented than most her age. There were some genuinely scary scenes and the ending was very unexpected and shocking. Though I still have a fondness for The Good Son, The Orphan is a worthy adversary to good ol' Mac.

RATING: 7/10

Paul Naschy - RIP

Adios Amigo.