Insomniac Movie Theater

Before I go into this week’s entry, I need to admit something that may alienate people right away, or at the very least, make my case a lot harder to establish — I hated “Donnie Darko.” Okay, “hate” is a strong word. Probably too strong, but I think the movie is a bunch of loosely […]

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Usually the goal of Insomniac Movie Theater is to highlight an established cult classic or classic train wreck through the lens of exhaustion and all of the fun side effects that come with it (halucinations, iritability, etc.), but this week’s entry is a little different. Rather than write about an established failure or a little-known, […]

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Oh boy. This week’s entry tackles Frank Miller’s hastily released and quickly forgotten take on Will Eisner’s pulp comic book “The Spirit.” Even in the fog of a late night, sleep-deprived viewing, it’s hard to see the litany of problems and the movie’s fast and loose style as interesting or likable. Hot off of the […]

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This week’s girl-powered entry suffers the same fate as any other music movie that attempted to capitalize on the popularity of its subjects –– it was dated by the time it was released. But even if “Spice World” had been released at the height of the Spice Girls’ popularity rather than in its decline, it […]

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Tonight’s Insomniac entry was 15 years in the making. When I was in junior high I loved S.E. Hinton’s “The Outsiders” and went out of my way to read everything I could by the lady. I’d seen the movie adaption, but always thought that “Rumble Fish” would have made a better movie, as it dealt […]

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After a two-week, semi-accidental sabbatical, I return with Peter Berg’s darkest, funniest and best movie, “Very Bad Things.” And it’s perfect for the 3 a.m. treatment because under regular viewing conditions, you’d likely kill yourself. Standing in stark contrast to Berg’s more cineplex friendly recent work, “Very Bad Things” is a pitch-black comedy that moves […]

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When it came out last fall, “Gamer” was quickly dismissed and almost as quickly left theaters, leaving in its wake a handful of dedicated fans and critics that either hailed it for its technical wizardry or panned it for its rapid-fire editing, fevered pace, and outrageous plot. In short, it had cult classic written all […]

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Tonight’s entry comes at the behest of my Mr. Eric Melin, who assured me that 1994’s “Clifford”, directed by Paul Flaherty, would be the kind of cult romp practically made for Insomniac Movie Theater. And boy, is it ever. “Clifford” features the dynamite comedy duo of Martin Short and Charles Grodin, the former enjoying the […]

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As keeping with horror remake month and the rules set out by the Insomniac Movie Theater blog that all movies must be on Netflix Instant, late-night television, or from my personal collection, I got to rewatch one of the all-time great horror movies on a technicality. Less of a remake and more of a total […]

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The second installment in our month of bad horror remakes is the 2005 Paris Hilton/Elisha Cuthbert vehicle “House of Wax.” Like last week’s disaster “The Wicker Man,” “House of Wax” commits the cardinal sin of a bad horror movies: It takes itself painfully, painfully seriously. Music video director Jaume, who’s other major movie was 2009’s […]

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It’s October and with it comes Halloween, autumn, and the first theme month at Insomniac Movie Theater. In honor of Halloween, it’s bad horror remake month on Insomniac Movie Theater and there’s no better movie to kick it off than 2006’s Nick Cage catastrophe “The Wicker Man.” Written and directed by one-time University of Kansas […]

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I try not to go to the Arnold Schwarzenegger well too often. After all, the man’s entire career has a place on this blog. Ever since he made is debut as Hercules in “Hercules In New York,” his acting career has been a virtual litany of bad action movies or just plain bad movies meant […]

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As anyone who’s seen it can attest, 1987’s “Over The Top” is without a doubt the worst movie in Sylvester Stallone’s career–a career, mind you, that includes “Stop Or My Mom Will Shoot” and “Judge Dredd.” After the surprising success and critical acclaim of “Rocky” and the decision to turn the seemingly one-off story into […]

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Today’s entry has the dubious honor of being the first movie I had to watch in two parts and in the process of doing so, I learned what element of a bad movie topples my threshold. I have seen worse movies during my run on Insomniac Movie Theater, but none of them so far were […]

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On paper, this week’s entry should be a total failure. It features a former child actor, a hackneyed kung fu plot, and some special effects that are economical at best. Add to that some vague Chinese mythology as the backdrop and a soundtrack that was composed by the director and his editor and it should […]

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