#1994movies

[adamwatchesmovies]

Watchers 3 (1994)

I have to apologize to the fans of the Watchers series. I didn't see the first two before viewing Watchers 3. I acquired this film along with a bunch of other random sci-fi VHS tapes some time ago and thought "Why not? Let’s not wait for the first two masterpieces to find themselves on my doorstep; let’s just dig in!"

From my research, I pieced together that the first and second pictures deal with regular people encountering a couple of escaped top-secret experiments. Einstein is a super-intelligent golden retriever constantly pursued by a hideous bipedal creature known as OXCOM (Outside Experimental Combat Mammal). The monster is never actually after the dog, but rather anyone it touches. You befriend an adorable canine and next thing you know, your guts are strewn all over the place!

The film begins with the OXCOM (or as it’s known in this movie, “The Outsider”) being unleashed by the evil corporation that spawned it in a South American Jungle. Commander Ferguson (Wings Hauser, reprising his role from the second movie) and his team of commandos (including Gregory Scott Cummins, Daryl Keith Roach, John Linton, Lolita Ronalds) are sent to investigate. They don't know the mission is little more than a field test for the creature and Einstein!

Some time ago I watched DNA, a crappy knock-off of Predator and I had a good laugh at its expense. That film looks like the most original piece of fiction ever conceived next to Watchers 3. It’s got the bipedal monster that sees through bizarre heat vision and sneaks up on a team of soldiers, kills without mercy, and takes trophies from them, the action is set in a South American jungle, the team befriends a local who serves as their guide, we get a sequence where everyone panics and begins blasting at the jungle hoping to kill their stalker, then we get it again. We even have a climax where the hero has to build make-shift traps to take down the much stronger opponent… complete with the swinging log and the explosive arrows! If you host double-feature movie nights for our friends, you’ve got to track a VHS or DVD of this film and show it back-to-back with Predator, you’ll have a blast.

This is a bad film, but it's enjoyable. Seeing Ferguson have several conversations with a super-intelligent golden retriever that can write (if he holds a stick in his mouth), read, and pass our hero his gun when he drops it is hilarious. I just wish there were two or three dogs instead of just the one so I could call it “Predator Buddies”. Ain’t no rule a dog can’t be in a Schwarzenegger ripoff!

Aside from the uncanny resemblance to the 1987 action classic, you’ll be amused by several other aspects of the story. A kid sidekick accompanies the commandos. He’s completely useless, has no lines, and could have been dropped entirely to no detriment at all, but then we wouldn’t have had the pleasure of being “introduced to” Ider Cifuentes Martin, who as far as I can tell has never acted again. Another noteworthy aspect is the monster. It looks awful. It’s like a cross between Charlene Sinclair and beef jerky. That doesn’t stop it from tearing people limb from limb though! Quite the feat considering it’s got some of the worst monster vision I’ve ever seen.

I don’t even understand the name of this movie. Who are The Watchers? I assumed it was the monster and the dog, but that doesn’t make any sense. Maybe I’ll find out because to this direct-to-video picture’s credit, I enjoyed - probably not the way it was meant to - but enough to check out the first two movies. At barely an hour and 20 minutes long (excluding the credits), it's a fun bad movie. (On VHS, November 16, 2015)

[pulpygurly06]

Fall Out Boy - Uma Thurman [LYRICS]

[aidene]

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

" There's not a day goes by I don't feel regret. Not because I'm in here, because you think I should. I look back on the way I was then: a young, stupid kid who committed that terrible crime. I want to talk to him. I want to try to talk some sense to him, tell him the way things are. But I can't. That kid's long gone, and this old man is all that's left. I got to live with that."

Set in the 1940s, the movie follows the story of Andy Dufresne. Andy is sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison for the murders of his wife and her lover. Although Andy knows he didn’t commit the crime, he must learn to live inside Maine's Shawshank prison. He must try and bear the brutality of prison life and hope for his freedom. Andy isn’t ready to give up on life, so he forms friendships and tries to earn the respect of his fellow inmates.Life isn’t easy especially when you are forced to live it inside prison bars.

This classic movie, is worthily loved through the years. This is why it tells a story that never gets old. The story of right and wrong, of freedom and imprisonment. I have watched this many times now but it thrilles me every single time. The information that we get is unfortunately tough, brutal and utterly real. One of the best things about this movie is seeing what a man can actually do to earn his freedom and what he can do when he hasn’t gave up on life. When you find yourself in that situation you can choose between two things “get busy living or get busy dying”. And this is exactly what we learn here, through multiple examples. It also contains some of the most emotional scenes I have ever seen and great performances by Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman. One of a kind!!

Genre: Drama

Directed by : Frank Darabont

Written by: Frank Darabont

Based on: Τhe 1982 Stephen King novella “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption” 

[askwaterwitch-perbear]

/Dunno why ~buuut I can see Peridot singing this song with the idea of being the leader of the crystal gems. may or may not make a video because I can and I’m a creative soul./  

[jenniferneyhart]

Favorite Movies of 1994: 1. The Lion King 2. The Shawshank Redemption 3. Stargate 4. Forrest Gump . See the rest at www.jenniferneyhart.com (Link in profile!) . #thelionking #lionking #theshawshankredemption #shawshankredemption #forrestgump #stargate #tomhanks #movies #favoritemovie #favoritemovies #1994 #1994movie #1994movies #90smovies #90smovie #film #films #MovieBuff #FilmBuff #MovieNerd #MovieGeek #FilmGeek #MovieAddict #FilmNerd #MovieJunkie #MovieFanatic #MovieFan #MovieLover #ILoveMovies #iLoveFilm

[pedroemmanuelgoes]

Trilogia do Apocalipse - John Carpenter

#johncarpenter #thething #princeofdarkness #inthemouthofmadness #1982movies #1994movies #1987movies

[michael-myers1978-non-nocere]

#IQ #1994movie tested #MyIQ. song #EineKleineNachtmusik sounded to me like #1976 #BadNewsBears song. #iWasWrong. is #TheToreadorSong. but apparently #WalterMatthau only rides in #Convertibles #LesToreadors

[adamwatchesmovies]

The Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley: The Case of Thorn Mansion (1994)

Even for someone that finds some way to remain entertained during even the very worst pictures, The Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley: The Case of Thorn Mansion stretches the limits. Worse than the horrendous performances, cheap production, sloppy filmmaking, and amateur script is the lie. Though the VHS cover may make it look like a movie, it isn't.

The first in a series of eleven musical mystery videos starring actresses Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, the twins play super sleuths whose motto is “We’ll solve any crime by dinnertime”. In this episode, they travel to Transylvania (good luck getting back before dinner with that one) to investigate a ghostly figure spotted inside the abandoned Thorn Mansion.

Unless your last name is “Olsen”, you've got no business watching this. The production is so shoddy it actually looks like a home movie that someone edited with Windows Movie Maker. Think I’m exaggerating? Any scene where the twins’ pet dog Clue is supposed to be dancing, or doing anything is almost always - and obviously - footage that's been reversed. It’s supposed to create the illusion that he’s paying attention to the action instead of being bored out of his doggie mind. At one point, a stagehand can be seen prompting the twins to walk up the stairs to the Thorn Mansion. Even something as easy as a trip via map looks bad. Continuity errors throughout and repeated invitations to join the Olsen Twins’ fan club make it obvious artistry was not a priority.

All of these issues pale in comparison to the acting and writing. I know this movie is made for kids, but when your mystery can be solved the second it’s introduced and the “ghost” being investigated is so obviously not a ghost, something’s wrong. I’ve seen episodes of Scooby-Doo that had more genuine mystery and suspense. And in those, everyone knows it’s always some old man in a mask! As for the twins themselves, they do not display an ounce of acting talent while delivering this terrible script filled with the most obvious and clichéd jokes. I never watched Full House but based on the skills they showcase here, I imagine the show must've been unintentionally hilarious every time they were on-screen.

Am I a bully for picking on a couple of (at the time) 9-year-old kids? Maybe a bit. Let me redirect my frustration. The real blame lies in the snake-oil salesmen who produced this VHS tape. It’s a shameless cash-grab to get impressionable little girls to fork over their money for the “Mary-Kate and Ashley Fun (Fan) Club”. This was quickly written, with as little effort and budget possibly invested into a machine that would turn two little girls into mad money makers.

The fact that I made it through this entire thing is a testament to my willpower/stubbornness. The only good thing I can say about it is that there is one song out of the six that shows tiny inklings of a creative spark. It’s not much and the singing isn't worth the napkin it was written on, but when your movie is essentially a swirling, sinking whirlpool that drains the willpower out of any adult watching, those few sweet minutes feel like the soft caress of milk and honey down your throat after 40 years of wandering in the desert.

I doubt even Mary-Kate and Ashley’s loving parents would be able to sit through this mystery because it’s just so cheap, so badly written and so poorly acted. The real mystery in The Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley: The Case of Thorn Mansion is “why did I sit through this?” (On VHS, September 21, 2015)

[adamwatchesmovies]

Speechless (1994)

Speechless would’ve been better if it was worse. While it offers a few laughs, there aren't enough for you to call the movie good. There’s nothing memorable about this film because it takes no chances.

Julia (Geena Davis) and Kevin (Michael Keaton) are speechwriters that meet at a hotel and quickly fall for each other. When they realize she is working for the Democratic candidate and him for the Republican, a rivalry develops. They may be attracted to each other but their careers, politics, and Julia’s ex-fiancé “Bagdad Bob” Freed (Christopher Reeve) get in the way.

None of the performances are bad and I'll admit to laughing more than once. There's a recurring joke about this bear trapped in a hole that the media is paying so much attention to while something as important as politics gets no time in the spotlight. I thought it was funny. The premise is solid. Can these two set aside their political views and fall in love? We all know someone who is way too attached to their votes. Love triumphing above the madness of politics is intriguing. If only the film were actually interested in its own premise. Julia and Kevin could’ve been employed by rival flower shops and you wouldn’t have had to change the story at all. That’s why I say Speechless would’ve been better if it was worse. I wish it was poorly acted or ridiculous. Instead, it’s bland.

For the person out there who's working on the remake of Speechless (it could happen), here's my advice:

Have some bite. What this film needed was a voice. The picture’s not interested in politics. You can’t tell the Republican candidate from the Democrat. Even at the very end when we learn something nefarious about the candidates, it doesn’t matter because they are indistinguishable. While it might’ve alienated certain audiences, picking a side would've been bold. If you’re afraid of losing ticket sales, go with a Clue-like, alternate ending depending on the showtime.

Go for satire. Consider a scenario in which Kevin manages to rewrite the Democratic candidates speech and inserts a whole bunch of vitriol about how he’s going to build a wall to prevent Mexicans from entering the country or how black youths are superpredators… and then have the crowd roar in applause. Make the writers try to one-up each other by sabotaging their opponents. Instead of a light-as-air romantic comedy, make it dark. If you want romance, have them get turned on by the depravity they manage to come up with. That's twisted and memorable.

Really dive into your premise. If you don’t want to explores how nuts people can get when you have an “It’s us or them” mentality, how about exploring the ideas behind the politics? Real-life friendships and relationships can fall apart because of the way people vote. What if Julia and Kevin were already in love until realizing that they feel very differently about a serious issue? It could be quite romantic, even inspiring, and moving to see two people separated by a real-life issue - instead of a stupid misunderstanding - make their relationship work.

I’m no writer, but I know you'd much rather stand out than fade away. It’s a good thing I’m writing a review for Speechless now. Ask me about it in a few weeks and I won’t remember anything about it. (On VHS, September 23, 2016)

[adamwatchesmovies]

The Crow (1994)

The Crow is a flawed movie but after the dust has settled, something about it resonates with me. It’s got a terrific visual style, the music/score is memorable, the atmosphere generated stands out, and the way it handles its premise will make it a favorite for many.

Starring Brandon Lee, whose life was tragically cut short during the shooting of the film, it's the story of a rocker named Eric Draven. After he and his fiancé are murdered by vicious criminals, a supernatural force brings him back to life in order to get his revenge.

This interpretation of Detroit is unique; a place that's perpetually dark, wet, and dirty. Crime is rampant. Even the best police officers have lost hope. It's significantly reminiscent of Tim Burton's Batman, where the mood does so much it becomes part of the narrative. We don’t learn why Eric is brought back to life to enact his vengeance, it just sort of happens. In this world, mysticism like this makes perfect sense. You’re on the same ride as Eric, hoping that whatever powers he's been given don’t run out before he can chop down every slime-sucking thug. This film oozes the 90’s, in a good way. The music, the Crow’s costume, the story itself transports you back to that era where superhero movies were just starting to be a thing, but not quite yet. 4 years after The Crow we got Blade.

What prevents this piece by Alex Proyas from being great instead of good is a few details throughout. The villains, for example, are weak. I’ll defend Michael Wincott as Top Dollar. He’s nothing more than a sadistic, cruel, occult worshipping anarchist, but he fits in this world. You feel as though he's been overcompensating for his lack of genuine mystical powers his whole life by buying every so-called mystical ritual blade and finally, this obsession has “paid off”. When he confronts our hero and he’s somewhat prepared to face off with him. The other villains could've used more development. They’re nothing a bunch of chumps to be knocked over one by one like bowling pins. You compare them to the side characters like Ernie Hudson as Sgt. Albrecht or young Rochelle Davis as Sarah and you’re disappointed that not everyone is as well written as they are.

The script could've used some foreshadowing to make a revelation during the final act feel less like it comes out of nowhere. I get that there’s a certain romantic idea at work here. A man whose love for his wife is so powerful it's resurrected him. He comes back with amnesia and gradually pieces together the love he's lost. When the whole truth is finally revealed, the pain is as intense, maybe even more intense than the first time around. With this newfound rage, he becomes nigh-unstoppable, which is sort of another flaw as well. It robs the film of much potential tension.

Even if you can't ignore the flaws, it's easy to see what The Crow did to capture the world's attention. The look, the music, and the story itself all have something special to offer. There’s something else too. The fact that this film has a real-life tragic element to it with the death of Brandon Lee just eight days before the last day of shooting makes the ending doubly powerful. If you’ve seen this movie once and weren’t impressed, give it another look. Upon a second viewing, I better recognized what the big deal was. (On DVD, May 20, 2016)

[adamwatchesmovies]

Biohazard II: The Alien Force (1994)

Do you like Alien? Does the idea of a genetically engineered human mutant monster roaming the streets excite you? Do you hate yourself? If you’ve answered “YES!” to all three questions, then have I got a movie for you. It’s a brainless, poorly assembled, shoddily acted bowel movement of a sci-fi horror film called Biohazard II: The Alien Force.

The evil Triton company’s latest experiment has escaped. While attempting to create a new superhuman capable of surviving the next apocalypse, they’ve also created a killing machine. Desperate to tie up loose ends, they send ruthless Quint (Tom Ferguson) to kill anyone associated with the experiment. Meanwhile, former head of Triton security Mike Reardon (Steve Zurk) and newspaper reporter Nick Carstairs (Susan Fronsoe) attempt to blow the lid on this crime against nature.

Sometimes, I’m in the mood for a bad movie. It’s a way to remind you of what "good" means, or to get some laughs - if you're lucky. There isn’t a thing that’s good about Biohazard II. Even if you stretch the definition of “good” to its limits, nothing it contains would fit that criterion.

What we’ve essentially got is a generic monster-on-the-loose Alien knock-off, without the space station, the scares, or the quality. Our monster is hunting down the people who've contributed to its DNA. It’ll suck up your spinal fluid... unless you’re a woman. In that case, it wants to mate with you. Fortunately, none of the actresses are desperate enough to shoot a scene in which they are raped by a hideous reptilian beast but that doesn’t make it any less sleazy. I never thought I’d look back at Species 2 and think “At least that film had some class”.

This picture is exhausting. No amount of jokes you make can relieve you from the infinite boredom you will feel as our idiotic characters move from one scene of bloodshed to the next, thanking their lucky stars that the creature kills its victims alphabetically while cursing their inability to call 911 and reach the 2 police officers living in this world. No one gives a good performance, but I’m going to single out Catherine Walsh, who enunciates so dramatically she looks like she’s trying to literally chew the scenery. The monster looks ok I guess, but every other special effect, be it pyrotechnics or explosions is about as convincing as your average episode of Ancient Aliens.

I don’t even understand the internal logic of this film. Why would Triton Corporation create a monster like this one? To what end? They say it’s to ensure humanity's survival if some plague is unleashed or nuclear war begins, but this creature they’ve developed isn’t human. It grows at an accelerated rate so it’ll die within a month, can’t speak or reason, and survives on human spinal fluid. It shows how dismal the writing is. I guess Triton is a subdivision of the Umbrella Corporation, and they toy with human DNA to create monsters for kicks, blow up buildings full of equipment willy-nilly, delight in murdering their own employees, and don’t care what the consequences will be as long as it’s building its way towards more EEEEEVIL!

Biohazard: The Alien Force contains no aliens. I could just stop with that but I'll add that it's neither original, well made, or enjoyable in any way. There isn't any cool gore and while there's abundant nudity, you’ll struggle to stay awake. This is the kind of garbage that you would rent at the video store once, watch for five minutes, give up on and return while trying to explain to the clerk why you deserve to get your money back. I'd be shocked if this ever released any kind of modern-day video release unless it was in a package that included nine other equally crappy films - thank goodness for that. Even for bad movie connoisseurs, there’s not enough time in the world to waste on a flick this awful. (On VHS, February 14, 2016)

[adamwatchesmovies]

The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure (1994)

While The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure has a nice message and a sweet tone, it’s a significant step down from the original movie. It’s an animated direct-to-video musical adventure. I lowered my expectations accordingly. Even so, I can’t see any adult watching this picture and not wishing they had simply re-visited its 1988 predecessor instead.

Little Foot (Scott McAfee), Cera (Candace Hutson), Ducky (Heather Hogan), Petrie (Jeff Bennett), and Spike (mostly silent, but voiced by Rob Paulsen) are living peacefully in the Great Valley, but unhappy with their parents' attitude towards them. Wanting to grow up and show that they can be taken seriously, they confront a pair of egg nappers and mistakenly bring back an egg to the Great Valley. Before they know it, a new friend hatches!

The biggest disappointment is the drastic shift of tone and style. The Land Before Time is kind of a tough movie. Littlefoot sees his mother die and falls into a deep depression. Death isn't sugarcoated. It features no scenes of singing and dancing dinosaurs. The lessons learned are subtle. Its happy ending glosses over the incoming extinction but you feel that the era we saw is ending. Obviously, certain changes were required for this to grow into a franchise but did it HAVE to be a musical? The songs are badly written and the performers are not good. At all. There are three original songs, two performed by the cast of child and young actors - rather than singers. They’re not in-synch with each other, making you wish separate voices for these numbers had been hired.

It’s got some colourful new characters, dinosaurs frolicking in the wilderness and a simple story for children, that's enough for indiscriminating viewers. The lesson about the importance of staying a child? That's been done before, and better. The animation is alright, I’d say slightly better than your average children’s animated show from the ’90s. What will prevent adults from enjoying The Great Valley Adventure are the story and the songs. There’s not much to the story at all. The new antagonists introduced are bumbling dinosaurs that interesting. The story is not creative. This feels like an elongated episode of a television series. Those could've still been brushed away but not the songs. Parents want movies their kids can watch over and over. I suspect many adults will be driven to the loony bin from hearing You’re One of Us Now over and over.

Am I being too harsh? Maybe but this picture is little more than a cash grab and everyone involved knew it. Even the people buying this movie are likely to know they're in-store for an inferior story. That's no reason to cut it some slack. Still, I can't pretend I wasn't entertained by The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure when I saw it as a child. As an adult, however, I suggest you go out and do some yard work when the kids pop this one into the machine. (On VHS, March 15, 2015)