I didn’t have the time to watch any movie the past few days so I’m doing a quick one of these instead. I’ll mention a movie I did see on DVD last week, then…
I watched a movie I was interested in as I heard some good things, which was Insidious. It had its ups and downs. There are scary moments that worked and the violin score worked with the film and it creeped you out too. However, I thought it took awhile to get going, there were some dumb moments, and what I presumed to be unintentional humor was funnier than the stuff that they wanted to be funny (i.e. those two ghostbusters who helped out Lin Shaye’s character); still, despite that and the final 20 or so minutes showing the limitations of the low budget, it wasn’t a bad film and it was nice that an original horror movie did well-enough at the box office.
Wednesday night, I’ll be going to a screening of Scarface; it’s a one-night only thing at various locations across the country. It’s a movie I wanted to see on the big screen for a long while now. I fear what the crowd for the screening will be as I know the type of audience that loves Scarface the most but I think I’ll be fine. It’s not like I need to bring a shiv or brass knucks or mace or anything of that sort. I’ll review the movie and the whole experience Thursday night.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Attack The Block
Attack the Block (2011)
89% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 110 reviews)
Runtime: 88 minutes
Directed by: Joe Cornish
Starring: Jodie Whitaker, John Boyega, Alex Esmail, Leeon Jones, Nick Frost
From: Studio Canal
Now, here is a foreign horror movie that is more to my liking. This import from England appeared in Orlando for a week after playing at various spots across the United States. I heard it was good but I mainly remained in the dark as to what it was really about. Once I made the long drive to the east part of Orlando to check it out with a small crowd, I was quite happy with my decision to check it out.
I’ll try not to spoil things myself but I’ll give a few details. The movie starts off with a quintet of young hoods in South London robbing a young lady, Sam (Whitaker). Something suddenly crashes into a car. The end result is that alien creatures appear, and what wacky creatures they are… in a good way. They’re described as “alien wolf space mother*******”, to paraphrase a little bit. They also happen to have glowing teeth, as if they’re from the Tron universe. They’re actually effective monsters and not silly. It’s all in how they’re presented. They manage to work even if they sound silly as described. So, those young hoods actually do battle with those creatures, and that young lady also gets involved. To reveal more would ruin things, but one character has a Biblical name, and I don’t think that was by happenstance.
So, this movie works extremely well. It has a low budget (an estimated 13 million bucks) but it looks pretty good and there was only a time or two where I thought the low budget hurt things. The monsters look great and never look silly. The pulsating soundtrack is by house music duo Basement Jaxx-yes, the guys who did Where’s Your Head At and Red Alert way back when; I was shocked they were still around-and it fits the movie like a glove and gives thing a constant energy, which is aided by the movie just being well-paced, never allowing you to be bored with it. It has a unique setting, which is a city block in South London, in and out of an apartment building. It has a light tone to it and it’s often pretty funny. After all, some of the characters you see are pot dealers and you do see the ganja get smoked. Also, there’s enough funny dialogue mixed in with the serious stuff to keep it lively. Sure, there's some British slang that is hard to make out to my Yankee ears, but that's no big deal.
The main thing is that this just feels fresh and different from the usual alien invasion film and it’s just a blast to watch. I haven’t seen the similar Super 8 yet but some of the negative things I’ve heard about that makes me think I would prefer this to movie named after the hotel chain (OK, so not really, but I can’t help but think that) anyhow. I am glad I got the chance to see this on the big screen. If only if it would have been in front of a rowdy crowd. Alas, though. I know that this will rank very high on the list of the best movies I’ve seen this year.
I’ll be back Monday night with a new review.
89% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 110 reviews)
Runtime: 88 minutes
Directed by: Joe Cornish
Starring: Jodie Whitaker, John Boyega, Alex Esmail, Leeon Jones, Nick Frost
From: Studio Canal
Now, here is a foreign horror movie that is more to my liking. This import from England appeared in Orlando for a week after playing at various spots across the United States. I heard it was good but I mainly remained in the dark as to what it was really about. Once I made the long drive to the east part of Orlando to check it out with a small crowd, I was quite happy with my decision to check it out.
I’ll try not to spoil things myself but I’ll give a few details. The movie starts off with a quintet of young hoods in South London robbing a young lady, Sam (Whitaker). Something suddenly crashes into a car. The end result is that alien creatures appear, and what wacky creatures they are… in a good way. They’re described as “alien wolf space mother*******”, to paraphrase a little bit. They also happen to have glowing teeth, as if they’re from the Tron universe. They’re actually effective monsters and not silly. It’s all in how they’re presented. They manage to work even if they sound silly as described. So, those young hoods actually do battle with those creatures, and that young lady also gets involved. To reveal more would ruin things, but one character has a Biblical name, and I don’t think that was by happenstance.
So, this movie works extremely well. It has a low budget (an estimated 13 million bucks) but it looks pretty good and there was only a time or two where I thought the low budget hurt things. The monsters look great and never look silly. The pulsating soundtrack is by house music duo Basement Jaxx-yes, the guys who did Where’s Your Head At and Red Alert way back when; I was shocked they were still around-and it fits the movie like a glove and gives thing a constant energy, which is aided by the movie just being well-paced, never allowing you to be bored with it. It has a unique setting, which is a city block in South London, in and out of an apartment building. It has a light tone to it and it’s often pretty funny. After all, some of the characters you see are pot dealers and you do see the ganja get smoked. Also, there’s enough funny dialogue mixed in with the serious stuff to keep it lively. Sure, there's some British slang that is hard to make out to my Yankee ears, but that's no big deal.
The main thing is that this just feels fresh and different from the usual alien invasion film and it’s just a blast to watch. I haven’t seen the similar Super 8 yet but some of the negative things I’ve heard about that makes me think I would prefer this to movie named after the hotel chain (OK, so not really, but I can’t help but think that) anyhow. I am glad I got the chance to see this on the big screen. If only if it would have been in front of a rowdy crowd. Alas, though. I know that this will rank very high on the list of the best movies I’ve seen this year.
I’ll be back Monday night with a new review.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Atrocious
Atrocious (2010)
Runtime: 75 minutes
Directed by: Fernando Barreda Luna
Starring: Cristian Valencia, Clara Moraelda, Jose Masegosa, Chus Pereiro
From: Nabu Films
Sometimes, the jokes really do write themselves… the movie is not SO bad that the title proves to be a one word review of the movie’s quality, but it makes me wonder why this Spanish/Mexican movie got the release it did. It was part of something that started a few months ago with AMC Theatres and the Bloody Disgusting website. As described here, they have midnight screenings two times a week for a short amount of time for some low-budget horror flick. The first few movies they put out weren’t interesting to me but this movie, yet another found footage flick, sounded like it could be worth something and plus, the title just made me laugh, even for the wrong reasons.
The plot isn’t too extensive; a pair of teenage siblings (Valencia, Moraelda) have to spend Easter vacation at a house that their family owns that’s out by the woods, which are supposedly haunted. As fans of “urban legends”, they decide to use their video cameras to investigate the woods and see if the legend is actually true. They soon discover that it is, due to… well, you don’t actually SEE or HEAR too much at all. It’s not like Paranormal Activity where you hear some things and you see a lot of spooky stuff, or even The Blair Witch Project* where you mainly hear spooky stuff and your imagination does a lot of work as to what’s causing all the hullabaloo. Instead, here you have some odd things happen but it’s presented in a way that will make you go “meh” and “eh, whatever”, such as something getting broken in their kitchen or the dog vanishing but you only see the aftermath and not the dog getting yanked away or what have you.
• I haven’t seen that movie in years but I should revisit it one of these days to see what I think of it in modern times. At the time, I wasn’t so hot on the movie, as the characters were rather annoying.
I don’t know why I’ve read some decent to even good reviews of this movie, as I thought not enough happened here at all. Then again, maybe things were seen but it was impossible to make out as there was too much shaky-cam going on where you couldn’t make out what was happening. I swear, there was what seemed like a 5 minute segment where the male teenager was running in the dark in a labyrinth* and all you could see in night-vision was a bunch of shakiness and once or twice he reacted as if he saw something, but hell if you could make out WHAT he may have seen, and with that and his heavy breathing… not good.
• The movie couldn’t even make their setting of a labyrinth right by their house interesting. Now, if they would have had long blonde-haired David Bowie as Jareth The Goblin King playing the villain, then you’d have something.
There’s also a twist ending that’s confused and doesn’t make too much sense. So, what a disappointment this was. The crowd I saw it with didn’t help out matters, but even if they would have been good, my opinion likely wouldn’t be different. I sure as heck hope the other movies in the series are better than this one.
Wednesday night I'll be back with the sort of movie that they SHOULD have released but it got picked up by someone else. I'll tell you now to check out Attack The Block as it's a great twist on the standard alien invasion film.
Runtime: 75 minutes
Directed by: Fernando Barreda Luna
Starring: Cristian Valencia, Clara Moraelda, Jose Masegosa, Chus Pereiro
From: Nabu Films
Sometimes, the jokes really do write themselves… the movie is not SO bad that the title proves to be a one word review of the movie’s quality, but it makes me wonder why this Spanish/Mexican movie got the release it did. It was part of something that started a few months ago with AMC Theatres and the Bloody Disgusting website. As described here, they have midnight screenings two times a week for a short amount of time for some low-budget horror flick. The first few movies they put out weren’t interesting to me but this movie, yet another found footage flick, sounded like it could be worth something and plus, the title just made me laugh, even for the wrong reasons.
The plot isn’t too extensive; a pair of teenage siblings (Valencia, Moraelda) have to spend Easter vacation at a house that their family owns that’s out by the woods, which are supposedly haunted. As fans of “urban legends”, they decide to use their video cameras to investigate the woods and see if the legend is actually true. They soon discover that it is, due to… well, you don’t actually SEE or HEAR too much at all. It’s not like Paranormal Activity where you hear some things and you see a lot of spooky stuff, or even The Blair Witch Project* where you mainly hear spooky stuff and your imagination does a lot of work as to what’s causing all the hullabaloo. Instead, here you have some odd things happen but it’s presented in a way that will make you go “meh” and “eh, whatever”, such as something getting broken in their kitchen or the dog vanishing but you only see the aftermath and not the dog getting yanked away or what have you.
• I haven’t seen that movie in years but I should revisit it one of these days to see what I think of it in modern times. At the time, I wasn’t so hot on the movie, as the characters were rather annoying.
I don’t know why I’ve read some decent to even good reviews of this movie, as I thought not enough happened here at all. Then again, maybe things were seen but it was impossible to make out as there was too much shaky-cam going on where you couldn’t make out what was happening. I swear, there was what seemed like a 5 minute segment where the male teenager was running in the dark in a labyrinth* and all you could see in night-vision was a bunch of shakiness and once or twice he reacted as if he saw something, but hell if you could make out WHAT he may have seen, and with that and his heavy breathing… not good.
• The movie couldn’t even make their setting of a labyrinth right by their house interesting. Now, if they would have had long blonde-haired David Bowie as Jareth The Goblin King playing the villain, then you’d have something.
There’s also a twist ending that’s confused and doesn’t make too much sense. So, what a disappointment this was. The crowd I saw it with didn’t help out matters, but even if they would have been good, my opinion likely wouldn’t be different. I sure as heck hope the other movies in the series are better than this one.
Wednesday night I'll be back with the sort of movie that they SHOULD have released but it got picked up by someone else. I'll tell you now to check out Attack The Block as it's a great twist on the standard alien invasion film.
Friday, August 19, 2011
The Devil's Double
The Devil’s Double (2011)
56% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 85 reviews)
Runtime: 109 minutes
Directed by: Lee Tamahori
Starring: Dominic Cooper, Ludivine Sagnier, Raad Rawi, Philip Quast
From: Corsan
Here’s a movie in limited release that I’ve seen on the big screen (the first one I’ve seen on the big screen that wasn’t a one-off screening since The Hangover Part II; yes, it’s been that long for me, as not much this summer has interested a strange character like me; I plan on seeing more films on the big screen the rest of 2011) that also happens to be a foreign one, from Belgium of all places.
This is a true story (well, it actually happened in real life; how true the storyteller was and how much of his story made it to the screen will be less than 100%; how much so, who knows) about how Uday Hussein found a near-identical person, Latif, (both played by Cooper; he does a great job of making the two characters vastly different) and forced him to be his “double”, meaning that he impersonated Uday during dangerous situations where Uday thought he could be a target for assassination. Otherwise, he claimed that Latif was his brother. As Uday was a drug-crazed maniac who did things like snatch underaged schoolgirls from the street and rape them, Latif did not enjoy this arrangement too much, understandably. Meanwhile, he and Uday’s lady, Sarrab (Sagnier) begin to fall for each other…
While I can understand why some critics would be turned off by how trashy and violent this movie ended up being, I managed to enjoy it for those aspects (except for the more extreme stuff, like the whippings and torture you see) and as I didn’t know anything about the true story I was genuinely interested in how it turned out and how Latif could escape such a horrible situation. As I’ve heard elsewhere, this seemed to be modeled on the 80’s Scarface in how Uday acted like a madman out of control-him sniffing large amounts of coke was not the only clue that led people to think this-but his actions also reminded people of Caligula, and as someone who’s seen that wacked-out movie before, that’s an understandable comparison, especially with one scene in both movies involving a new bride. In fact, I’m liable to think that director Tamahori took some aspects from both movies and added them here as a homage; at least I’ll say “homage” instead of “rip-off”. I mean, I’m pretty sure that there aren’t too many trannies in Baghdad and he added them to the story due to the director’s own issues with transsexuality, which I’m sure also explains why he’s making movies in Belgium instead of Hollywood.
By the way, I don’t know if the discotheques of Baghdad had people mainly dress in the same 80’s clothes that most of the club-goers at U.S. digs did while You Spin Me Round (Like A Record) and Relax blasted through the sound systems, but indeed in this movie you had two scenes involving those songs and those tunes worked well for the scenes, even if it was total BS from Tamahori when it comes to historical accuracy. But anyway, this story makes Saddam (Quast) almost look good in comparison!
If you don’t care too much about 100% historical accuracy and you want to watch a gaudy yet still interesting story concerning some loathsome subjects, then you should check out this tale.
I’ll be back Monday night.
56% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 85 reviews)
Runtime: 109 minutes
Directed by: Lee Tamahori
Starring: Dominic Cooper, Ludivine Sagnier, Raad Rawi, Philip Quast
From: Corsan
Here’s a movie in limited release that I’ve seen on the big screen (the first one I’ve seen on the big screen that wasn’t a one-off screening since The Hangover Part II; yes, it’s been that long for me, as not much this summer has interested a strange character like me; I plan on seeing more films on the big screen the rest of 2011) that also happens to be a foreign one, from Belgium of all places.
This is a true story (well, it actually happened in real life; how true the storyteller was and how much of his story made it to the screen will be less than 100%; how much so, who knows) about how Uday Hussein found a near-identical person, Latif, (both played by Cooper; he does a great job of making the two characters vastly different) and forced him to be his “double”, meaning that he impersonated Uday during dangerous situations where Uday thought he could be a target for assassination. Otherwise, he claimed that Latif was his brother. As Uday was a drug-crazed maniac who did things like snatch underaged schoolgirls from the street and rape them, Latif did not enjoy this arrangement too much, understandably. Meanwhile, he and Uday’s lady, Sarrab (Sagnier) begin to fall for each other…
While I can understand why some critics would be turned off by how trashy and violent this movie ended up being, I managed to enjoy it for those aspects (except for the more extreme stuff, like the whippings and torture you see) and as I didn’t know anything about the true story I was genuinely interested in how it turned out and how Latif could escape such a horrible situation. As I’ve heard elsewhere, this seemed to be modeled on the 80’s Scarface in how Uday acted like a madman out of control-him sniffing large amounts of coke was not the only clue that led people to think this-but his actions also reminded people of Caligula, and as someone who’s seen that wacked-out movie before, that’s an understandable comparison, especially with one scene in both movies involving a new bride. In fact, I’m liable to think that director Tamahori took some aspects from both movies and added them here as a homage; at least I’ll say “homage” instead of “rip-off”. I mean, I’m pretty sure that there aren’t too many trannies in Baghdad and he added them to the story due to the director’s own issues with transsexuality, which I’m sure also explains why he’s making movies in Belgium instead of Hollywood.
By the way, I don’t know if the discotheques of Baghdad had people mainly dress in the same 80’s clothes that most of the club-goers at U.S. digs did while You Spin Me Round (Like A Record) and Relax blasted through the sound systems, but indeed in this movie you had two scenes involving those songs and those tunes worked well for the scenes, even if it was total BS from Tamahori when it comes to historical accuracy. But anyway, this story makes Saddam (Quast) almost look good in comparison!
If you don’t care too much about 100% historical accuracy and you want to watch a gaudy yet still interesting story concerning some loathsome subjects, then you should check out this tale.
I’ll be back Monday night.
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Snake Eater
Snake Eater (1989)
Runtime: 91 minutes
Directed by: George Erschbamer
Starring: Lorenzo Lamas, Josie Scott, Ronnie Hawkins, Larry Csonka, Ron Palillo (yes, Horshack from Welcome Back Kotter)
From: Carota
Before last night I really had no clue what I was going to watch and review next. Then, I took a spin around the dial to see what was on the pay cable channels. I then noticed this film playing; I quickly got a VHS tape; I know, I know… I then taped it and watched it this afternoon. This was something I saw a long time ago when I was young. I didn’t remember too much about it besides one dude sort of resembling 80’s wrestler Jimmy Jam Garvin and of course, the presence of a decent amount of nudity.
So, after watching this Canadian movie, I can tell you that it’s definitely low-budget and boy, is it not good, and yet I was able to laugh at it and have a good time. By the way, I don't know if "Snake Eaters" is a real term to describe a certain segment of the Marines as this movie says. If Metal Gear Solid took the name of one of its sequels from this movie... wow.
Basically, Lorenzo Lamas (i.e. "Soldier"; that's all that he's called, even by his sister) is on the hunt for the Rob Zombie redneck characters who kidnapped his sister and murdered their parents. Here's the "highlights":
The movie starts off with a drug bust, and former pro football star Larry Csonka and another dude are listening in via wire. Soldier gets a chick to strip, and we get to see her jugs. They look nice, but the chick had a big scar in the middle of her chest. Did she have open heart surgery? Anyway, two bad guys come in and they end up getting nailed (literally) by nails that shoot up through the wooden floor. Oh, and Csonka pisses in a styrofoam cup filled with coffee and hands it to a bum walking by.
An old guy on a pier flies off it on his bike... and this serves as a distraction for Soldier, which he needs in a fist-fight. That's right, the distraction an old guy comes up with to help his pal is to ride his bike into a river.
Soldier's own bike gets turned into a hybrid with a jet ski. Don't ask. Really, just don't ask.
One of the bad guys dresses up like a bear to kill people. Again...
Another bad guy looks like a buffed version of either King Kong Bundy or Curly from The Three Stooges. I can't decide which is the best description.
The sister in the redneck family looks like an even worse version of Sandra Bernhardt.
Everything about it is so low-rent and rinky-dink, and yet I can't help but enjoy it for those reasons. It's not boring, I'll give you that. It's just crappy, that's all. You don't need to know that he meets up with those Rob Zombie characters and gets his revenge, do you?
The movie actually ends with another sting that isn't related to the main story. It's just to show off that Soldier hasn't changed. It features Horshack from Welcome Back Kotter as an arsonist nicknamed Torchy! What a movie this was.
I'll be back Friday night with a new review.
Runtime: 91 minutes
Directed by: George Erschbamer
Starring: Lorenzo Lamas, Josie Scott, Ronnie Hawkins, Larry Csonka, Ron Palillo (yes, Horshack from Welcome Back Kotter)
From: Carota
Before last night I really had no clue what I was going to watch and review next. Then, I took a spin around the dial to see what was on the pay cable channels. I then noticed this film playing; I quickly got a VHS tape; I know, I know… I then taped it and watched it this afternoon. This was something I saw a long time ago when I was young. I didn’t remember too much about it besides one dude sort of resembling 80’s wrestler Jimmy Jam Garvin and of course, the presence of a decent amount of nudity.
So, after watching this Canadian movie, I can tell you that it’s definitely low-budget and boy, is it not good, and yet I was able to laugh at it and have a good time. By the way, I don't know if "Snake Eaters" is a real term to describe a certain segment of the Marines as this movie says. If Metal Gear Solid took the name of one of its sequels from this movie... wow.
Basically, Lorenzo Lamas (i.e. "Soldier"; that's all that he's called, even by his sister) is on the hunt for the Rob Zombie redneck characters who kidnapped his sister and murdered their parents. Here's the "highlights":
The movie starts off with a drug bust, and former pro football star Larry Csonka and another dude are listening in via wire. Soldier gets a chick to strip, and we get to see her jugs. They look nice, but the chick had a big scar in the middle of her chest. Did she have open heart surgery? Anyway, two bad guys come in and they end up getting nailed (literally) by nails that shoot up through the wooden floor. Oh, and Csonka pisses in a styrofoam cup filled with coffee and hands it to a bum walking by.
An old guy on a pier flies off it on his bike... and this serves as a distraction for Soldier, which he needs in a fist-fight. That's right, the distraction an old guy comes up with to help his pal is to ride his bike into a river.
Soldier's own bike gets turned into a hybrid with a jet ski. Don't ask. Really, just don't ask.
One of the bad guys dresses up like a bear to kill people. Again...
Another bad guy looks like a buffed version of either King Kong Bundy or Curly from The Three Stooges. I can't decide which is the best description.
The sister in the redneck family looks like an even worse version of Sandra Bernhardt.
Everything about it is so low-rent and rinky-dink, and yet I can't help but enjoy it for those reasons. It's not boring, I'll give you that. It's just crappy, that's all. You don't need to know that he meets up with those Rob Zombie characters and gets his revenge, do you?
The movie actually ends with another sting that isn't related to the main story. It's just to show off that Soldier hasn't changed. It features Horshack from Welcome Back Kotter as an arsonist nicknamed Torchy! What a movie this was.
I'll be back Friday night with a new review.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Scarface (The Original)
Scarface (1932)
Runtime: 93 minutes
Directed by: Howard Hawks
Starring: Paul Muni, Ann Dvorak, Karen Morley, George Raft, Boris Karloff
From: United Artists
Yes, this is the original Scarface, not the greatly entertaining-but lengthy-version from the 80’s with Tony Montana and all those coked-up excesses. Instead, this one (the earliest movie I have reviewed so far) I’ve seen before and I caught it again earlier tonight when Turner Classic Movies showed it. It turns out that I enjoy watching those sorts of gangster movies from the 30’s… I just haven’t seen too many of them yet in my life.
Once seeing it again, I realize I did not remember much from my first viewing. Also, the 80’s version takes quite a bit from this. Here, the story concerns Tony Camonte (Muni), an Italian who moves to Chicago and with his big mind and brash attitude, he takes over the Chicago gangland and the bootlegging business-back in the horrible days when alcohol was illegal in the United States-but a lot of elements will seem familiar with those who have seen the 80’s movie plenty of times.
For example, Tony has a scar on his face too… it wasn’t from eating “pineapple” but rather it came from some lady in a speakeasy, or so a character stated. Tony battles with the boss who hired him… including his lady (Morley); Tony has a sister who he’s overprotective of (Dvorak) for creepy reasons, Tony’s pal is fond of the sister… and that’s not all, but I won’t reveal more, except that there's even a "The World Is Yours" reference. So, I say that if you enjoy Tony Montana and his adventures, then you just might enjoy this too. After all, some moments in the script were taken from Al Capone’s life.
There’s your fair share of violence, usually either heard and not shown or done in shadows, but there’s still a lot of it and while some things were definitely dated (such as the odd humor at a few points or the hammy acting or the oh so stereotypical Italian accents) it overall is an entertaining and fun yarn to watch. As it was in the “pre-Code” era, it meant there was no censorship so that’s why you had a lot of shootings with Tommy Guns and a brother with an unhealthy relationship with his sister.
I'll be back Saturday night with a new review.
Runtime: 93 minutes
Directed by: Howard Hawks
Starring: Paul Muni, Ann Dvorak, Karen Morley, George Raft, Boris Karloff
From: United Artists
Yes, this is the original Scarface, not the greatly entertaining-but lengthy-version from the 80’s with Tony Montana and all those coked-up excesses. Instead, this one (the earliest movie I have reviewed so far) I’ve seen before and I caught it again earlier tonight when Turner Classic Movies showed it. It turns out that I enjoy watching those sorts of gangster movies from the 30’s… I just haven’t seen too many of them yet in my life.
Once seeing it again, I realize I did not remember much from my first viewing. Also, the 80’s version takes quite a bit from this. Here, the story concerns Tony Camonte (Muni), an Italian who moves to Chicago and with his big mind and brash attitude, he takes over the Chicago gangland and the bootlegging business-back in the horrible days when alcohol was illegal in the United States-but a lot of elements will seem familiar with those who have seen the 80’s movie plenty of times.
For example, Tony has a scar on his face too… it wasn’t from eating “pineapple” but rather it came from some lady in a speakeasy, or so a character stated. Tony battles with the boss who hired him… including his lady (Morley); Tony has a sister who he’s overprotective of (Dvorak) for creepy reasons, Tony’s pal is fond of the sister… and that’s not all, but I won’t reveal more, except that there's even a "The World Is Yours" reference. So, I say that if you enjoy Tony Montana and his adventures, then you just might enjoy this too. After all, some moments in the script were taken from Al Capone’s life.
There’s your fair share of violence, usually either heard and not shown or done in shadows, but there’s still a lot of it and while some things were definitely dated (such as the odd humor at a few points or the hammy acting or the oh so stereotypical Italian accents) it overall is an entertaining and fun yarn to watch. As it was in the “pre-Code” era, it meant there was no censorship so that’s why you had a lot of shootings with Tommy Guns and a brother with an unhealthy relationship with his sister.
I'll be back Saturday night with a new review.
Friday, August 5, 2011
Tales from the Hood
Tales from the Hood (1995)
Runtime: 98 minutes
Directed by: Rusty Cundieff
Starring: Wings Hauser, David Alan Grier, Corbin Bernsen, Clarence Williams III
From: Savoy Pictures
Here’s another movie I saw in my childhood but I hadn’t watched since then, meaning many years. It’s not only a horror anthology-something you don’t see nearly enough-but it’s African-American centered, which is also something you don’t see often enough… at least done well. Last October I reviewed basically a student horror flick involving African-Americans, and that is one of the worst movies you’ll ever see. Thankfully, this movie (produced by Spike Lee; I’m someone who usually isn’t a fan of him or how he acts, but…) is not bad and in fact is an entertaining motion picture.
The story is that some gangbangers end up in the funeral home of a real spooky guy (Williams III) for a drug shipment and he tells them a quartet of stories: some racist cops end up getting their comeuppance in a memorable way, a teacher helps his boy student deal with a “monster” who in real life attacks him, a little doll comes to life, and some “behavior modifications” take place. I don’t want to give away more than that as there are some surprises in the stories. There’s even a shocker at the very end.
This isn’t what you’d call hardcore horror a la Texas Chain Saw Massacre or The Exorcist and you don’t have blood and guts all over the place (although what carnage you get to see is fine-enough); rather, it’s 4 entertaining tales that never become boring and happen to feature real-life themes important to African-Americans, such as racism, various sorts of abuse-including drugs-and black on black crime. It's interesting, and you can be any creed/color and enjoy it. There's some black humor, too (pun not intended), which livens up things. The script is entertaining and the performances are fine all around. It's especially interesting seeing Grier in a rare non-comedic role.
So, even though this at times does scream "90's", if you enjoy horror films and especially if you saw this around the time it came out, it's worth watching it again.
I'll be back to make a rare Tuesday night posting.
Runtime: 98 minutes
Directed by: Rusty Cundieff
Starring: Wings Hauser, David Alan Grier, Corbin Bernsen, Clarence Williams III
From: Savoy Pictures
Here’s another movie I saw in my childhood but I hadn’t watched since then, meaning many years. It’s not only a horror anthology-something you don’t see nearly enough-but it’s African-American centered, which is also something you don’t see often enough… at least done well. Last October I reviewed basically a student horror flick involving African-Americans, and that is one of the worst movies you’ll ever see. Thankfully, this movie (produced by Spike Lee; I’m someone who usually isn’t a fan of him or how he acts, but…) is not bad and in fact is an entertaining motion picture.
The story is that some gangbangers end up in the funeral home of a real spooky guy (Williams III) for a drug shipment and he tells them a quartet of stories: some racist cops end up getting their comeuppance in a memorable way, a teacher helps his boy student deal with a “monster” who in real life attacks him, a little doll comes to life, and some “behavior modifications” take place. I don’t want to give away more than that as there are some surprises in the stories. There’s even a shocker at the very end.
This isn’t what you’d call hardcore horror a la Texas Chain Saw Massacre or The Exorcist and you don’t have blood and guts all over the place (although what carnage you get to see is fine-enough); rather, it’s 4 entertaining tales that never become boring and happen to feature real-life themes important to African-Americans, such as racism, various sorts of abuse-including drugs-and black on black crime. It's interesting, and you can be any creed/color and enjoy it. There's some black humor, too (pun not intended), which livens up things. The script is entertaining and the performances are fine all around. It's especially interesting seeing Grier in a rare non-comedic role.
So, even though this at times does scream "90's", if you enjoy horror films and especially if you saw this around the time it came out, it's worth watching it again.
I'll be back to make a rare Tuesday night posting.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Rapid Fire
Rapid Fire (1992)
Runtime: 95 minutes
Directed by: Dwight H. Little
Starring: Brandon Lee, Powers Boothe, Nick Mancuso, Tzi Ma, Kate Hodge
From: 20th Century Fox
Here is a review that won’t be too lengthy, but I wanted to say a few things about this motion picture. I taped it a long while ago on VHS from a Fox Movie Channel broadcast and I watched it shortly thereafter, then I decided to watch it one more time before I taped something else over it.
This is a low-budget action film and you should keep your expectations in check; that said, it’s still pretty entertaining for what it is. The plot is about a half-Chinese dude (Lee) who manages to witness a shooting at a party; as it involves drug dealers and the Mob in Chicago, he ends up in hot water and he meets up with a cop on the edge (Boothe) and his cute colleague (Hodge). Along the way there’s double-crosses and swerves and surprises on the way as they deal with quite a few unsavory characters and you have shootouts and Lee has to use his martial arts skills on more than one or two occasions.
In this movie, you have everything from a scene at a nude modeling class to a subplot involving Tiananmen Square, a hideout at an old bowling alley, Chinese stick fighting, and more. There’s also the required love scene, yet to a greatly cheesy early 90’s rock ballad. It’s fast-moving so you don’t want to think about things too much. If you are able to shut your brain off, you should enjoy the martial arts, shootouts, and other forms of action. Some of it is prop-filled a la a fight scene with Jackie Chan, which was a nice change of pace. Would Brandon Lee have become as popular as Chan-or heck, even his own dad-if not for the accident that claimed his life while filming The Crow? Who knows for certain, but it’s a shame such a freak and fluke thing happened to both father and son there.
Anyhow, if you want yet another time-waster that you should enjoy watching if you like low-budget action movies and you have an hour and a half with nothing else to do, give this a shot… wait, REALLY bad choice of words there. I mean, give this a try.
I’ll be back Friday night with something that will give me more to write about.
Runtime: 95 minutes
Directed by: Dwight H. Little
Starring: Brandon Lee, Powers Boothe, Nick Mancuso, Tzi Ma, Kate Hodge
From: 20th Century Fox
Here is a review that won’t be too lengthy, but I wanted to say a few things about this motion picture. I taped it a long while ago on VHS from a Fox Movie Channel broadcast and I watched it shortly thereafter, then I decided to watch it one more time before I taped something else over it.
This is a low-budget action film and you should keep your expectations in check; that said, it’s still pretty entertaining for what it is. The plot is about a half-Chinese dude (Lee) who manages to witness a shooting at a party; as it involves drug dealers and the Mob in Chicago, he ends up in hot water and he meets up with a cop on the edge (Boothe) and his cute colleague (Hodge). Along the way there’s double-crosses and swerves and surprises on the way as they deal with quite a few unsavory characters and you have shootouts and Lee has to use his martial arts skills on more than one or two occasions.
In this movie, you have everything from a scene at a nude modeling class to a subplot involving Tiananmen Square, a hideout at an old bowling alley, Chinese stick fighting, and more. There’s also the required love scene, yet to a greatly cheesy early 90’s rock ballad. It’s fast-moving so you don’t want to think about things too much. If you are able to shut your brain off, you should enjoy the martial arts, shootouts, and other forms of action. Some of it is prop-filled a la a fight scene with Jackie Chan, which was a nice change of pace. Would Brandon Lee have become as popular as Chan-or heck, even his own dad-if not for the accident that claimed his life while filming The Crow? Who knows for certain, but it’s a shame such a freak and fluke thing happened to both father and son there.
Anyhow, if you want yet another time-waster that you should enjoy watching if you like low-budget action movies and you have an hour and a half with nothing else to do, give this a shot… wait, REALLY bad choice of words there. I mean, give this a try.
I’ll be back Friday night with something that will give me more to write about.
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