Uncle Scoopy's Fun House

(All comments by Johnny Moronic)

Listening

2014

Listening is a sci-fi thriller where two broke grad students David and Ryan (Thomas Stroppel and Artie Ahr) are stealing more computer gear for their project, a mind reading device. It is going along slowly and with no money, even slower. David is also having issues with his wife Melanie (Christine Haeberman), as he's spending more time on the project than with her and their daughter. Ryan spies Jordan (Amber Marie Bollinger) at the university and they hit it off instantly as he introduces the project to her, much to David's chagrin. But, Jordan adds fresh eyes to the project and this helps the project go from being on the right track, to the next level as now a person can read the mind of who they are connected too. After the death of his grandmother, Ryan doesn't even have enough money for a proper burial, so he decides to sell the project to the prospective buyer, which he does, but it alerts the very people they didn't want to, the government and David and Ryan are arrested and Melanie takes their daughter and leaves David. But, this is the best thing that could've happened to them as the CIA decides to recruit them to make their technology viable for their own nefarious means. This troubles David and he goes about finding a way to stop the CIA from using technology.

Very interesting moral conundrum thriller that isn't perfect, but has a great idea and just runs with it. The type of movie that big budget Hollywood used to make regularly, but not so much now. Definitely worth a look.

Amber Marie Bollinger 1080hd film clip (collages below)

Hangman

2015

Hangman is a home invasion thriller where an unknown assailant has moved into the attic of Aaron and Beth (Jeremy Sisto and Kate Ashfield) and family while they go on holiday. The assailant has set up an expansive set of cameras across the house to watch what's happening below. When the family come back from their holiday, their house looks like it's been ransacked, but nothing is taken. As the family go about their daily business, the assailant watches from the attic, occasionally coming down to eat or get a closer look. When a handyman discovers a camera in the wall, the assailant murders him. He seems fixated on Beth and occasionally her teenage daughter Marley (Ryan Simpkins) and her son Max (Ty Simpkins) believes he is having dreams where a man is telling him things. But what is it that the assailant wants or will he get discovered?

Another found footage movie and this one generally strains credibility, but has some disturbing moments, but I remember the Spanish movie Mientras Duermes did a similar story better. The whole thing about the son is ridiculous and how not one of the at least a dozen cameras was found by the family seems silly. I'm still not sure what the assailant absolutely wanted with the family because the ending makes it seem like he doesn't really know either. Disappointing, but then home invasion thriller do tend to be.

Kate Ashfield 1080hd film clips (samples below)

Alleluia

2014

Alléluia is a Belgian thriller where Gloria (Spanish actress Lola Dueñas) is looking for love again after her husband left her and hasn't been seen since. Her sister introduces her to Michel (Laurent Lucas), a loner but with a gift for picking up ladies and has a foot fetish. They hit it off immediately, but then he doesn't get back to her and seems to have disappear. Gloria tracks him down but he's onto his next conquest and when she confronts him, he gets a splitting migraine and she looks after him. One thing leads to another and Gloria has skipped town with Michel, leaving her daughter to her sister. Gloria and Michel come to an arrangement where he shacks up with other women and she tags along posing as his sister, although they continue their affair. First stop is Marguerite (Édith Le Merdy) and she is very amorous towards him and this sets off Gloria, who kills Marguerite in a fit of rage. This horrifies Michel, but he also accepts it. After disposing of the body, they move onto the next woman, Gabriella (Anne-Marie Loop) under the guise of raising money for charity. But, Michel can't help himself and he seduces her and again Gloria becomes enraged and kills Gabriella. They move onto next woman, Solange (Héléna Noguerra), who has a daughter who abhors Gloria. Michel placates Gloria by drugging her drink before he romances Solange, but before long Gloria's jealousy is going to get the better of her and both Solange and her daughter are in danger.

It's from the director of Vinyan and Calvaire, both very stylish movies. Alléluia continues in that vain, possibly going overboard with the style in this one as their is a lot of fast moving close up shots that are hard to follow. The story itself is very rudimentary and both leads a very frustrating characters, particularly Gloria as she has very base emotions including a child-like wanting of her way which is very disconcerting, particularly when Gloria becomes violent and her abandonment of her daughter for a pig of a man is troubling to say the least. Dueñas (Volver, Yo, También) is a very good actress, but this is a tough sell and is hard to warm to here. Alléluia is a tough sell, one part very disturbing, one part intriguing, one part reprehensible and one part unwatchable. Beware...

Lola Duenas and Edith LeMerdy 1080hd film clips (samples below)

Duenas