The following are basically my favorite movie sites. As you
can tell, I'm partial to bad movie review sites, largely because reviews
of bad movies tend to be more entertaining that reviews of good
movies. The top ten is not set in stone, and I review it on
occasion.
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1.
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Stomp Tokyo is by far my favorite movie-related destination on
the web. The writing is witty, and the Scott and Chris have a
wonderfully eclectic taste in movies. The site started off with a
heavy focus on Japanese monster movies, but over time it has developed
into one of the best resources on the web for discussion of foreign pop
movies. Unlike mainstream critics who only focus on foreign films
with "artistic" pretensions, Stomp Tokyo provides a
glimpse into the international equivalent of U.S. b-movies, albeit mostly from Asia. In addition, the Stomp Tokyo guys host a
large, and growing, collection of other b-movie sites, including a few
on this list. |
2.
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Jabootu's Bad Movie Dimension, the brainchild of Ken Begg, is
a must see for bad movie fans. Ken's reputation was
built on his massive, 10,000+ word reviews of such stinkers as Commando
Girls and The Giant Claw, but the site now feature monthly
"nuggets" -- short (by Ken's standards) reviews of several
movies and unquestionably the most vibrant and interesting discussion
board of any bad movie site. Ken's tastes tend to run toward
classic 1950s b-movies, although he also strays into the realm of
big-budget stinkers and exploitation fare. |
3.
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Cold Fusion Video Reviews is the product of Nathan Shumate,
formerly of the B-Movie Mailing List. Like Stomp Tokyo, Cold
Fusion hosts a number of sister sites, but the main reason for
visiting is Nathan's witty takes on mostly modern direct-to-video
crap. He has a thing about Charles Band. Also, check out the
cryptic comments at the end of the each review from the Hieratic Head of Ezra Pound. |
4.
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I don't know why I like the Charter Terminal so much... but I
do. Most of the reviews are written by the eponymous Charter,
although several other contributors also provide takes on movies.
Charter focuses largely on recent movies, including many current
theatrical releases. The site tends to focus on bad movies,
although positive reviews sometimes appear as well. The reviews
are witty and funny and, most importantly, unique in tone and style. |
5.
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Badmovies.org is run by Andrew Borntreger and deserves high marks as
the best designed of the bad movie sites I've found on the web. I
can't even imagine how much time he puts into the site, but it sets the
standard. The movie reviews are brief, but each includes screen
caps, and audio and video clips. Andrew's taste is movies is
eclectic, but he stays largely in the 1980s and 1990s for his
selections. |
6.
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Dante's Inferno and All-Night Video Store, now part of the
Stomp Tokyo family through their Bad Movie Planet spin-off site,
is a great stop for bad movie fans. The Inferno reviews mostly
recent movies, many of them DtV. Though the reviews are brief,
they often offer great laugh-out-loud insights. The Inferno is
prolific, often posting 3 new reviews on a weekly basis. |
7.
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I have sort of mixed feeling about the Internet Movie Database.
Part of it is nostalgia: IMDb was one of the first sites I regularly
visited on the web, back in those pre-graphics days when I'd browse from
my university UNIX account using Lynx. Back then, if you were a
frequent visitor, you were encouraged to download the whole database and
set up a mirror. It was really a collaborative effort,
and contributors would compete for the most additions to the
database. It has since been bought by Amazon.com, and is more
slickly professional now. IMDb is the most comprehensive movie
resource online, but I'm a little disappointed that it doesn't do a
better job filling in the gaps on older, more obscure movies.
It'll tell you the names of the 27 gaffers who worked on Independence
Day, but basic cast info on lesser known movies is often spotty and
sometimes downright wrong. |
8.
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Bruce Edward's Bad Cinema Diary is just what it sounds like, a
series of short entries about the multitude of bad movies Bruce has seen
in the previous month. Bruce's tastes are varied, and the Bad
Cinema Diary is a good place to start for anyone interested in
getting recommendations for bad movies to watch. |
9.
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The Unknown Movies Page is real treasure. The webmaster,
Greywizard has an encyclopedic knowledge of films, and his reviews are
uniformly entertaining. Greywizard's tastes run to the obscure, but
otherwise is varied across genres. The Unknown Movies Page is now
part of the Stomp Tokyo family. |
10.
(tie)
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The Bad Movie Report is also part of the Stomp Tokyo
family of sites. Good stuff, clever and funny. The
webmaster, Dr. Freex, has a unique take on movies, having himself played
a major role in the creation of Forever Evil (1987). Dr.
Freex and Greywizard vie for the title of most knowledgeable b-movie
webmaster. |
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And You Call Yourself a Scientist! focuses largely on bad
science fiction. Liz, the webmistress, delights in skewering bad
science as it is prominently portrayed in b-movies. She also likes
to take an occasional hack at sexist themes to slip past those
oh-so-careful screenwriters. The reviews are dense and literate,
and the site is well worth visiting regularly. |
Other Links
Besides the top ten, there are a number of other sites deserving of
mention.
B-Movie/Bad Movie Sites
- B-Notes
-- User's Guide to Dubious Movies
- Now a Jabootu acolyte site, B-Note has some reviews, and provides
very useful updates on the b-movie scene.
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- Cavalcade
of Schlock
- Cool site with over 500 short reviews of a wide variety of movies. Funny and insightful when it comes to spotting
clichés and plot holes. Good stuff!
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- Chainsaw Fodder
- Quirky little site. Good mini-reviews, and nice monthly (or so) features on actors
and directors in the horror/sci-fi/b-movie genre. Great name for a site.
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- Movies and more movies! ShadowCulture's Mr. Cranky Rates the
Movies
- Mr. Cranky gives biting, nasty reviews of everything. Do you think he really hates
all the movies he reviews as much as he says?
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- Doc Tangent's 3-D House of
Mad Science! Monster movies, comics, and Science Gone Awry.
- Check out this intriguing cross between a literary journal and a
b-movie site. Well written and a pleasure to explore.
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- Opposable
Thumbs Films
- Yet another great site in the Stomp
Tokyo family. Featuring an eclectic mix of reviews and the patented Hoff-O-Meter,
this site should definitely be on your short list.
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- The Stinkers - The Ultimate Bad Movie Awards
- Bad movie awards with lots of nominations and categories. Fun to browse.
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- The Z Review
- From the webmaster himself: "Ours is a humorous Movie site that
pokes fun at some of the really bad mainstream Movies that have been
released over the years." I couldn't have said it better
myself, although I probably wouldn't have capitalized the word
"movie" twice. Must be a British thing.
Serious Critics
ReelViews: James Berardinelli's Movie
Reviews
- Simply the best serious web critic. In fact, probably one of the top five movie
critics in the country right now. He recently named Prison Flicks
a site of the week, so you know he has a sense of humor too.
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- Roger Ebert on Movies
- Da man! A lot of people think that Ebert has grown soft in his
old age, giving out too many three star ratings. I think he's just
willing to judge movies on their own terms, and as a result is willing
to give a filmmaker the benefit of the doubt. He also has a thing
for Drew Barrymore, so I cut him a little extra slack.
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- The Flick Filosopher
- The flick chick writes great reviews of current movies, and often
makes connections to older movies as well. Well-written and
exceptionally insightful, this self-styled "girl movie
critic" is alright.
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- The O.F.C.S.
- Homepage of the Online Film Critics Society. Links to member
reviews.
Women in Prison
- The Encyclopedia of
Women in Prison Films
- Huge list of women in prison movies with capsule reviews.
Especially useful for distinguishing between movies with multiple
names. A great resource.
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- Mike's
VHS Collection
- Mike Hoover has a huge collection of VHS and DVD movies, and he has a
large number of short reviews on his site. His collection of WiP
movies is significant, and his comments interesting.
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- She Magazine Online
- There is a great essay about WiP movies on this site... although I am
not quite sure what this site is. Can anyone explain it to me?
General Resources
- Celebrity Nudity Database
- Just what it sounds like. A great resource for parents who
want to monitor potential nudity in movies their kids might see... Oh
hell, who am I kidding? It's for horny guys who want to figure
out which movie to rent to get the best view of Jennifer Connelly's
boobs (hint: The Hot Spot (1990)).
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- The Losman's Lair of Horror
- I don't know how often Losman's is updated. Not that often as far as I can tell.
But some great stuff there, especially for anyone interested in really wild stuff.
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- ROTTEN TOMATOES: Movie Reviews & News
- Compilation of movie reviews.
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