Doctor Sleep (2019)
77% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 57 reviews)
Runtime: 152 minutes
Directed by: Mike Flanagan
Starring: Ewen McGregor, Rebecca Ferguson, Kyleigh Curran, Cliff Curtis, Carl Lumbly
From: Warner Bros.
At least I saw something worthwhile the day before Halloween:
This is different in style and tone to The Shining. That is the important caveat to mention for those that have to wait until next weekend to check out the movie. Last week I went on Fandango to see what was playing where-I have the luxury of living by literally a few dozen cineplexes in the Central Florida area. Imagine my surprise when I saw that last night would be a Fandango Early Access screening of this movie, available to anyone. I could not turn down that opportunity, especially considering this time of year. Of course the screening was pretty full and thank heavens this was a much better audience than the nightmare that was the Joker screening from a little more than a week ago.
I have never read the King novel so aside from the trailers (which I wish would not have revealed certain things) the general plot was unknown to me. To state things generally: Danny Torrance is now an adult and he's had his personal demons... understandable considering the circumstances. He discovers a magical child called Abra (no, really; real subtle from King there) who also has The Shining and she is in trouble as a cult known as True Knot literally feeds off of such powers. While this movie definitely has a different style from Kubrick's classic, that does not mean there are moments that could pejoratively be called “fan service” and the original was clearly copied at points, or could be said “for long stretches”.
Because of this I do understand why not everyone is going to be a fan and some will feel let down by what this is. For me, the movie-mostly-works for what it is... something that expands the mythology and does so in a different way. Admittedly this is not terrifying and scary throughout like The Shining is (and I get why some will take issue with that) although there are some horrifying moments. This is more a thrill ride than anything else; big assets is that the movie is well-directed, has a creepy score and the cast is quality throughout. Naturally, Ewen McGregor and Rebecca Ferguson are memorable in their big roles, but I definitely have to give credit to Kyleigh Curran also, as she played Abra and while having success on Broadway, this is the first big film she's done and she is great in such a critical role.
The crowd I was with seemed to enjoy the movie; there was no applause yet there was plenty of discussion and happy reactions afterwards, along with things I overheard and noticed during the screening. Not surprisingly, it was either the unexpected moments or the references. Hopefully everyone will find the story as compelling as I did. While this Halloween season did not turn out as expected, at least I can talk about something worthwhile on the day itself.
Thursday, October 31, 2019
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
Hide And Go Shriek
Hide and Go Shriek (1988)
Runtime: 90 minutes
Directed by: Skip Schoolnik
Starring: BUNKY JONES and a bunch of other people you have never heard of
From: New Star Entertainment
My plans changed from even 24 hours ago; I explain why below:
Before I start off this review I have to elaborate on why I haven't been seeing as many movies as of late. For a variety of reasons (none of which will be discussed in public... just note that nothing serious is going on) I just have not felt right for a good portion of this month, and that includes not having the time or feeling like seeing any motion pictures. Last night I was planning on viewing more than one movie but as I was just finishing up this obscure slasher from the late 80's which I found out about because of Letterboxd... the power went out.
The same thing happened on that atrocious day when I finally saw Joker and almost got into a fight with a family of A-holes (which is likely as close to actual violence happening during Joker screenings as the media fearmongered and promised would happen due to the alleged incendiary nature of the movie) but that was not as bad as I was not planning on viewing anything that night and it only lasted for four hours. Well, last night completely screwed up my plans and note that the power was out for over EIGHT HOURS. This happening twice in a week... honestly, I have given up on viewing anything else appropriate for this Halloween season and the next time I'll post anything here is Thursday evening; a black cloud is over my head so I am expecting more calamities to happen but the plan is to view an early screening of something-which I do have a ticket for already-and it is something I hope to rate highly. When things will return to normal and I can get back to viewing something most every night... who knows for certain.
All that out of the way, this is a low budget slasher set and filmed in Los Angeles where 4 teen boys and 4 teen girls spend a night in a furniture store, as the store is owned by the dad of one of the boys. Naturally in this genre, all are horny, all drink beer, three of the girls are shown topless and all at least try to have sex. Unbeknownst to them, also there is a hulking creepy guy who is an ex-con and actually lives in the basement, because of reasons. Much of this slasher is unremarkable, as too much time is spent with not a lot happening. They actually do play hide and seek at one point, because why not. The kills are not that memorable and what got me through those stretches were the unintentional humor... the hair and fashion was amazingly 80's, and one guy always wore sunglasses, even indoors and in the dark. Plus, I will presume the homoerotic relationship between two of the guys was not supposed to be a thing, because they otherwise acted straight.
I knew beforehand from looking at a few reviews-which thankfully spoiled nothing, and I'll extend the same luxury to everyone reading this-that the movie does turn around in the final act and things become quite unique. Well, I can confirm this is true and why the killings take place (along with identity of the person or persons responsible) are definitely not expected, and it is an interesting topic for such a random 80's horror flick. If done today certain aspects would be handled differently... that said, thankfully it never got too tasteless, which for certain could have happened. If you really want to know, there are some spoilered reviews on Letterboxd... and heck, if you look at some of the tags on its IMDb page, you'll form some sort of idea as to the big reveal. That final act made the experience worth it in the end and I can say this was fine overall.
The cast is full of unknowns and hilariously, one actress billed herself as BUNKY JONES. I also have to bring up Jeff Levine; he eventually became friends w/ Nicolas Cage and even produced several of his movies, such as 8MM, Bringing Out the Dead and even Face/Off. Discovering this was quite the surprise.
Runtime: 90 minutes
Directed by: Skip Schoolnik
Starring: BUNKY JONES and a bunch of other people you have never heard of
From: New Star Entertainment
My plans changed from even 24 hours ago; I explain why below:
Before I start off this review I have to elaborate on why I haven't been seeing as many movies as of late. For a variety of reasons (none of which will be discussed in public... just note that nothing serious is going on) I just have not felt right for a good portion of this month, and that includes not having the time or feeling like seeing any motion pictures. Last night I was planning on viewing more than one movie but as I was just finishing up this obscure slasher from the late 80's which I found out about because of Letterboxd... the power went out.
The same thing happened on that atrocious day when I finally saw Joker and almost got into a fight with a family of A-holes (which is likely as close to actual violence happening during Joker screenings as the media fearmongered and promised would happen due to the alleged incendiary nature of the movie) but that was not as bad as I was not planning on viewing anything that night and it only lasted for four hours. Well, last night completely screwed up my plans and note that the power was out for over EIGHT HOURS. This happening twice in a week... honestly, I have given up on viewing anything else appropriate for this Halloween season and the next time I'll post anything here is Thursday evening; a black cloud is over my head so I am expecting more calamities to happen but the plan is to view an early screening of something-which I do have a ticket for already-and it is something I hope to rate highly. When things will return to normal and I can get back to viewing something most every night... who knows for certain.
All that out of the way, this is a low budget slasher set and filmed in Los Angeles where 4 teen boys and 4 teen girls spend a night in a furniture store, as the store is owned by the dad of one of the boys. Naturally in this genre, all are horny, all drink beer, three of the girls are shown topless and all at least try to have sex. Unbeknownst to them, also there is a hulking creepy guy who is an ex-con and actually lives in the basement, because of reasons. Much of this slasher is unremarkable, as too much time is spent with not a lot happening. They actually do play hide and seek at one point, because why not. The kills are not that memorable and what got me through those stretches were the unintentional humor... the hair and fashion was amazingly 80's, and one guy always wore sunglasses, even indoors and in the dark. Plus, I will presume the homoerotic relationship between two of the guys was not supposed to be a thing, because they otherwise acted straight.
I knew beforehand from looking at a few reviews-which thankfully spoiled nothing, and I'll extend the same luxury to everyone reading this-that the movie does turn around in the final act and things become quite unique. Well, I can confirm this is true and why the killings take place (along with identity of the person or persons responsible) are definitely not expected, and it is an interesting topic for such a random 80's horror flick. If done today certain aspects would be handled differently... that said, thankfully it never got too tasteless, which for certain could have happened. If you really want to know, there are some spoilered reviews on Letterboxd... and heck, if you look at some of the tags on its IMDb page, you'll form some sort of idea as to the big reveal. That final act made the experience worth it in the end and I can say this was fine overall.
The cast is full of unknowns and hilariously, one actress billed herself as BUNKY JONES. I also have to bring up Jeff Levine; he eventually became friends w/ Nicolas Cage and even produced several of his movies, such as 8MM, Bringing Out the Dead and even Face/Off. Discovering this was quite the surprise.
Monday, October 28, 2019
A Pumpkin Spiced Update
Unfortunately, as of late I haven't felt like watching much in the way of motion pictures, for reasons I won't get into; it's nothing serious, I'll just leave it at that. However, I am now more back in the swing of things and later tonight I will post a review of an obscure yet interesting 80's slasher.
Thursday, October 24, 2019
I Talk The Curse Of The Screaming Dead
Or: The Curse of the Confederate Cannibals; the latter is what Troma called it. Note that they just released it instead of make it:
Filmed in the Maryland woods but please don't confuse it with The Blair Witch Project.
Here's a movie I've seen before, many moons ago. I suddenly got the inspiration to finally give it a second spin and talk about why it is pretty terrible... although this is a remake of director Anthony Malanowski's film Night of Horror... and if you think THIS is bad, you never want to view Night of Horror. I may see that next month and maybe longer, but Horror has to be among the worst pictures I've ever seen.
Enough about Night as I am not talking about that now; Troma released this as Curse of the Cannibal Confederates and apparently Lloyd Kaufman says this is among the worst things that Troma ever put out... what a horrifying thought that is. The plot: three hunters and their girlfriends go on a hunting trip (I know, Vegan Alert... although all the girls are against hunting, so I guess that is Vegan Points) and they travel there in a sweet 70's RV. They all bicker with each other constantly and believe it or not, that got tiresome rather quickly. So did the long sequences of characters just walking around, or standing around smoking cigarettes, or long stretches of zombie Confederate soldiers resurrecting. The poor filmmaking did garner some laughs, admittedly. Dialogue is about as badly dubbed as it is in Birdemic! I mean, a few lines are so obvious... it sounded distant and a whirring like an old air conditioner is in the background! The editing also reminded me at times of Birdemic, and there is something you never want to be compared to.
The characters are three hairy dudes (one of whom looks like Eddie Rabbitt and another who has to be a kleptomaniac), two Japanese sisters and a bitchy blonde who is a feminist so she is portrayed as dumb and a bitch (hey, that's what the movie did, not me!) and note that one of them is blind... this is helpfully noted in the opening credits as they refer to her as BLIND KIYOMI. Unfortunately, everyone else treats her like crap because she's blind and sometimes needs assistance. This has zero budget so the “action” is rather pitiful and the most impressive moments-involving fireworks-was absolutely confounding as shown. The exploding bullets were more straightforward; one character brought them along “because it'd be cool” and at least another notes the futility of trying to hunt deer with such bullets.
For those that like gore, much of the movie has none of it... before things go from 0-100 and cheap fake guts are eaten. Finally, we see why Troma changed the title. Overall, this does deserve its bad reputation, although like I said it could be much worse... at least it is not Night of Horror. By the way, I am amused that Troma's print both had the end title card it created and the original one, which of course stated the original name of the movie. Anyhow, if you want to see a motion picture involving Confederates returning from the dead to gain revenge on Yankees and unleash bloody carnage, please stick with Two Thousand Maniacs!
Here's a movie I've seen before, many moons ago. I suddenly got the inspiration to finally give it a second spin and talk about why it is pretty terrible... although this is a remake of director Anthony Malanowski's film Night of Horror... and if you think THIS is bad, you never want to view Night of Horror. I may see that next month and maybe longer, but Horror has to be among the worst pictures I've ever seen.
Enough about Night as I am not talking about that now; Troma released this as Curse of the Cannibal Confederates and apparently Lloyd Kaufman says this is among the worst things that Troma ever put out... what a horrifying thought that is. The plot: three hunters and their girlfriends go on a hunting trip (I know, Vegan Alert... although all the girls are against hunting, so I guess that is Vegan Points) and they travel there in a sweet 70's RV. They all bicker with each other constantly and believe it or not, that got tiresome rather quickly. So did the long sequences of characters just walking around, or standing around smoking cigarettes, or long stretches of zombie Confederate soldiers resurrecting. The poor filmmaking did garner some laughs, admittedly. Dialogue is about as badly dubbed as it is in Birdemic! I mean, a few lines are so obvious... it sounded distant and a whirring like an old air conditioner is in the background! The editing also reminded me at times of Birdemic, and there is something you never want to be compared to.
The characters are three hairy dudes (one of whom looks like Eddie Rabbitt and another who has to be a kleptomaniac), two Japanese sisters and a bitchy blonde who is a feminist so she is portrayed as dumb and a bitch (hey, that's what the movie did, not me!) and note that one of them is blind... this is helpfully noted in the opening credits as they refer to her as BLIND KIYOMI. Unfortunately, everyone else treats her like crap because she's blind and sometimes needs assistance. This has zero budget so the “action” is rather pitiful and the most impressive moments-involving fireworks-was absolutely confounding as shown. The exploding bullets were more straightforward; one character brought them along “because it'd be cool” and at least another notes the futility of trying to hunt deer with such bullets.
For those that like gore, much of the movie has none of it... before things go from 0-100 and cheap fake guts are eaten. Finally, we see why Troma changed the title. Overall, this does deserve its bad reputation, although like I said it could be much worse... at least it is not Night of Horror. By the way, I am amused that Troma's print both had the end title card it created and the original one, which of course stated the original name of the movie. Anyhow, if you want to see a motion picture involving Confederates returning from the dead to gain revenge on Yankees and unleash bloody carnage, please stick with Two Thousand Maniacs!
I Have Hot Takes About Joker
Note that this is a review filled with SPOILERS:
Featuring a mental breakdown (mine!) more believable than anything in the movie.
This will be a long spoiler-filled review but I have to explain first what happened during the screening and how it was the worst one I've ever been at. I understand how people will think that my low rating is because of what happened and if I had a better crowd, my opinion would be high like it is with most film fans. Everyone will just have to accept my word that I was not enjoying the movie even before I snapped and lost my cool, as this happened deep in the third act. A group of A-holes left even before the movie was finished... why, I have no idea. They were jerks during the screening so I was not crestfallen that they left... actually, they did not leave the auditorium: rather, they were LOUDLY taking in the hallway of the auditorium; why they did not go out completely is a mystery to me, but of course everyone in the auditorium could hear them and as no one was doing anything about it... I flipped out and confronted them!
No one here knows me personally but again, you will have to accept my notion that this is extremely uncharacteristic of me as I am normally not a confrontational person at all. I yelled at them for being so rude and stated, “Don't you even care that everyone else can hear you taking?” Their response was “hurr... durr...” and they mouthed off to me. As great as it would have been for me to bow up to them and make them all leave or rally other people there to join my side and make them leave or shut the F up... that would be like Arthur Fleck's delusions of having a romantic relationship with Zazie Beets... and by the way, OF COURSE that was a figment of his imagination... at least with me, I figured that out right away long before the reveal. Anyhow, I did have to back down as no one was there to support me and those cretins looked like the type that would eventually resort to physical violence, so I regrettably had no other choice... of course it took them a few more minutes to finally leave, because they were stupid Troglodytes and if I could, I would place a death curse upon all of them!
Finally, I can discuss Joker and like I said, even before “the incident” I was already unhappy with the movie. As I always have to note during comic book movies, most of them just aren't for me so that is why I don't view most of them. I agree with Scorsese and Coppola (to a degree), in other words. I also do not have a preference between Marvel and DC, which I understand is still a big deal to many. Viewing this was not because it featured a famous character I've seen on TV and movies several times before. I just viewed it as a standard movie OBVIOUSLY indebted to Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy which looked at a lonely man's mental breakdown before he snaps and the setting was an obvious substitute for the crappy New York City of old: like in Taxi Driver there is trash all over due to a sanitation strike, only Taxi did not make that explicit and it was happenstance because in real life NYC was experiencing a sanitation strike.
This started off fine as we get to know Arthur Fleck, his life, his mental health issues and how others treat him for being “different”. His compulsive laughter thing was a little dopey, but alright... as this went along, the movie started to lose me and I realized this movie was just a pastiche of all those dark 70's character drama pieces. Joaquim Phoenix did the best he could with the material but making Thomas Wayne a rich jerk was an odd decision, and all the obvious comic book moments just took me out as I just did not care. The longer the movie went on-and the more and more Arthur awkwardly danced for no real good reason-the worse and more preposterous it got. I was fed up with its incredibly muddled messages and what it was trying to say was the point of the film long before we see Bruce Wayne's parents get murdered AGAIN. I was fed up with how over the top miserable they made Fleck's childhood and that was long before the befuddling final scene that took place months later and wasn't necessary at all.
What ultimately made me hate this was realizing how the story makes no logical sense. I realize this is an unfortunate trend in modern Hollywood and even most film fans seem to be fine with that and love things I ended up hating (I am looking at you, The Last Jedi and Gone Girl). Like I said, I realized Arthur did not actually develop a relationship with Sophie, the young lady who lives in the same squalor and awfulness of that dingy apartment complex. Likewise, it seemed obvious to me that everything revolving around Arthur appearing on the national late night talk show hosted by Murray Franklin; of course we already saw him fantasize about being in the crowd then being brought onstage so the unbelievable story of how he actually appears on the show then murdered him on national television had to be the figment of the imagination of someone losing his grip with reality... right? Apparently not!
Just who exactly was in that random 1981-the cinema marquee advertising Blow Out and seeing posters for the likes of Wolfen and Excalibur prove this-comedy club filming Fleck delivering an incredibly awkward and not good comedy routine? How did Franklin get that footage... and why was he such a dick that he played it on air without Fleck's permission or prior knowledge, making him a national laughingstock? How could I believe any of this was actually happening? I for certain did not accept that Fleck was actually on Franklin's show as a guest because the audience loved Fleck awkward act; I mean, Arthur was able to bring a gun on set, went on that long diatribe and admitted to a triple murder without the show immediately going into commercial break... and apparently, Murray being executed by Fleck was also shown?! For that matter, this national talk show has no security in the building, let alone on set? All of this was utterly illogical to me and I can not accept that it actually occurred.
Most other people loving this is fine; in fact, it'd be easier for me if I could agree with the masses and note how much of a masterpiece it is. Unfortunately, I thought this was awful and yesterday as a whole was pretty bad; I won't get into why as I don't want to write a Doctoral thesis here; just note that the cherry on top of that s*** sundae was the power going out at home... for FOUR hours. I suppose I should not have expected greatness from the director of The Hangover movies and Road Trip, yet I did go into this with an open mind. Like I want to forget all about that day, if I could mind-erase this entire theatrical experience and how ham-fisted and obvious Joker was when it should have been ambiguous and subtle instead... I would do such a thing.
This will be a long spoiler-filled review but I have to explain first what happened during the screening and how it was the worst one I've ever been at. I understand how people will think that my low rating is because of what happened and if I had a better crowd, my opinion would be high like it is with most film fans. Everyone will just have to accept my word that I was not enjoying the movie even before I snapped and lost my cool, as this happened deep in the third act. A group of A-holes left even before the movie was finished... why, I have no idea. They were jerks during the screening so I was not crestfallen that they left... actually, they did not leave the auditorium: rather, they were LOUDLY taking in the hallway of the auditorium; why they did not go out completely is a mystery to me, but of course everyone in the auditorium could hear them and as no one was doing anything about it... I flipped out and confronted them!
No one here knows me personally but again, you will have to accept my notion that this is extremely uncharacteristic of me as I am normally not a confrontational person at all. I yelled at them for being so rude and stated, “Don't you even care that everyone else can hear you taking?” Their response was “hurr... durr...” and they mouthed off to me. As great as it would have been for me to bow up to them and make them all leave or rally other people there to join my side and make them leave or shut the F up... that would be like Arthur Fleck's delusions of having a romantic relationship with Zazie Beets... and by the way, OF COURSE that was a figment of his imagination... at least with me, I figured that out right away long before the reveal. Anyhow, I did have to back down as no one was there to support me and those cretins looked like the type that would eventually resort to physical violence, so I regrettably had no other choice... of course it took them a few more minutes to finally leave, because they were stupid Troglodytes and if I could, I would place a death curse upon all of them!
Finally, I can discuss Joker and like I said, even before “the incident” I was already unhappy with the movie. As I always have to note during comic book movies, most of them just aren't for me so that is why I don't view most of them. I agree with Scorsese and Coppola (to a degree), in other words. I also do not have a preference between Marvel and DC, which I understand is still a big deal to many. Viewing this was not because it featured a famous character I've seen on TV and movies several times before. I just viewed it as a standard movie OBVIOUSLY indebted to Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy which looked at a lonely man's mental breakdown before he snaps and the setting was an obvious substitute for the crappy New York City of old: like in Taxi Driver there is trash all over due to a sanitation strike, only Taxi did not make that explicit and it was happenstance because in real life NYC was experiencing a sanitation strike.
This started off fine as we get to know Arthur Fleck, his life, his mental health issues and how others treat him for being “different”. His compulsive laughter thing was a little dopey, but alright... as this went along, the movie started to lose me and I realized this movie was just a pastiche of all those dark 70's character drama pieces. Joaquim Phoenix did the best he could with the material but making Thomas Wayne a rich jerk was an odd decision, and all the obvious comic book moments just took me out as I just did not care. The longer the movie went on-and the more and more Arthur awkwardly danced for no real good reason-the worse and more preposterous it got. I was fed up with its incredibly muddled messages and what it was trying to say was the point of the film long before we see Bruce Wayne's parents get murdered AGAIN. I was fed up with how over the top miserable they made Fleck's childhood and that was long before the befuddling final scene that took place months later and wasn't necessary at all.
What ultimately made me hate this was realizing how the story makes no logical sense. I realize this is an unfortunate trend in modern Hollywood and even most film fans seem to be fine with that and love things I ended up hating (I am looking at you, The Last Jedi and Gone Girl). Like I said, I realized Arthur did not actually develop a relationship with Sophie, the young lady who lives in the same squalor and awfulness of that dingy apartment complex. Likewise, it seemed obvious to me that everything revolving around Arthur appearing on the national late night talk show hosted by Murray Franklin; of course we already saw him fantasize about being in the crowd then being brought onstage so the unbelievable story of how he actually appears on the show then murdered him on national television had to be the figment of the imagination of someone losing his grip with reality... right? Apparently not!
Just who exactly was in that random 1981-the cinema marquee advertising Blow Out and seeing posters for the likes of Wolfen and Excalibur prove this-comedy club filming Fleck delivering an incredibly awkward and not good comedy routine? How did Franklin get that footage... and why was he such a dick that he played it on air without Fleck's permission or prior knowledge, making him a national laughingstock? How could I believe any of this was actually happening? I for certain did not accept that Fleck was actually on Franklin's show as a guest because the audience loved Fleck awkward act; I mean, Arthur was able to bring a gun on set, went on that long diatribe and admitted to a triple murder without the show immediately going into commercial break... and apparently, Murray being executed by Fleck was also shown?! For that matter, this national talk show has no security in the building, let alone on set? All of this was utterly illogical to me and I can not accept that it actually occurred.
Most other people loving this is fine; in fact, it'd be easier for me if I could agree with the masses and note how much of a masterpiece it is. Unfortunately, I thought this was awful and yesterday as a whole was pretty bad; I won't get into why as I don't want to write a Doctoral thesis here; just note that the cherry on top of that s*** sundae was the power going out at home... for FOUR hours. I suppose I should not have expected greatness from the director of The Hangover movies and Road Trip, yet I did go into this with an open mind. Like I want to forget all about that day, if I could mind-erase this entire theatrical experience and how ham-fisted and obvious Joker was when it should have been ambiguous and subtle instead... I would do such a thing.
Terrified
Runtime: 87 minutes
Directed by: Demian Rugna
Starring: Norberto
Golzalo, Maximilliano Ghione, Elvira Onetto, George L. Lewis, Julieta
Vallina
From: Several Argentinian
companies
Here is the first of three posts I'll be making in a few minutes. This is a recent horror film worth checking out for genre fans:
Not to be confused with the killer clown movie Terrifier. In the
discourse I've seen surrounding Terrified, the film that has a similar
title and came out around the same time has been brought up. I haven't
viewed the killer clown movie but Terrified is more than just something
which has a title that may confuse some horror fans that don't live and
breathe the scene.
This is from Argentina and revolves around spooky events happening in a suburban Buenos Aires neighborhood; this includes the scary humanoid figure which has been spotlighted in the film's advertisements. Investigating are a quartet of older people... two police officers (one of whom is a paranormal fan) and two paranormal investigators; one of the four is somewhere in his 40's and the others are senior citizen types w/ gray hair. For me it was refreshing to see a modern genre movie centered around characters in that age bracket.
I will not give any surprises away as a big factor in me liking this as much as I did was its surprises and it zigging when I was expecting a zagging. This is not “subverting expectations” in a stupid way that breaks the story and makes the characters seem extremely stupid (I won't even bring up the popular 2017 film that does this as most people here seem to love it for those reasons and I'll never not be baffled and bumfuzzled by that). Rather, the movie has its unpredictable moments and at least for me, that kept me on edge throughout. So did the scary moments that occurred-it does live up to its title and great sound design.
There is some CG not up to snuff and a final shot that is a cliché; otherwise, this is well worth giving a shot to if you are an active member of Shudder. Terrified has some very haunting sequences and at least for me, I really enjoyed hanging out with Funes, Jano, Dr. Albreck and Rosentook.
This is from Argentina and revolves around spooky events happening in a suburban Buenos Aires neighborhood; this includes the scary humanoid figure which has been spotlighted in the film's advertisements. Investigating are a quartet of older people... two police officers (one of whom is a paranormal fan) and two paranormal investigators; one of the four is somewhere in his 40's and the others are senior citizen types w/ gray hair. For me it was refreshing to see a modern genre movie centered around characters in that age bracket.
I will not give any surprises away as a big factor in me liking this as much as I did was its surprises and it zigging when I was expecting a zagging. This is not “subverting expectations” in a stupid way that breaks the story and makes the characters seem extremely stupid (I won't even bring up the popular 2017 film that does this as most people here seem to love it for those reasons and I'll never not be baffled and bumfuzzled by that). Rather, the movie has its unpredictable moments and at least for me, that kept me on edge throughout. So did the scary moments that occurred-it does live up to its title and great sound design.
There is some CG not up to snuff and a final shot that is a cliché; otherwise, this is well worth giving a shot to if you are an active member of Shudder. Terrified has some very haunting sequences and at least for me, I really enjoyed hanging out with Funes, Jano, Dr. Albreck and Rosentook.
Wednesday, October 23, 2019
On Second Thought...
Tuesday was such a bad thing that it ended with the power going out where I live... for FOUR hours. I did not get much sleep last night so I'll be posting multiple things on Thursday, I promise.
Tuesday, October 22, 2019
An Update
Tomorrow I'll be posting a pair of reviews. I'd normally do the first one now but honestly, today has been the worst day in a long while... which I'll get into why tomorrow. Just note that a few days ago I revisited Wrong Turn, a competent slasher which at least now has a better review on Letterboxd than the one I had up before.
Sunday, October 20, 2019
Godzilla vs. Hedorah
Runtime: 86 minutes
Directed by: Yoshimitsu
Banno
Starring: Akira Yamauchi,
Toshie Kimura, Hiroyuki Kawase, Toshio Shiba, Keiko Mari
From: Toho
Last night this played on Turner Classic Movies and I am not surprised that this has always gotten a mixed reception at best from even franchise fans. It being on “Worst Movies of all Times” list was never fair (even in its American Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster version) and the condescending intro and outro that Ben Mankiewicz delivered last night was really not necessary; while incredibly blunt, this movie actually has a message and lamentably, is more relevant now than it was back then.
Due to pollution (and also because it's an alien... I guess) Hedorah is formed, and shape-shifting is the name of the game here. Realism is not the movie's strong suit, despite its serious overarching theme .
Anyhow, Godzilla doesn't like pollution either-this is his planet too, after all-so he tries to do battle but smog and other toxic chemicals affect him too. The movie is rather dark, especially for this coming during the era where the franchise was centered towards kids and the previous entry was the silly All Monsters Attack. As I've heard it, director Yoshimitsu Banno made this while Toho's president while in the hospital; once he got out and saw the final product, he wanted to put Banno into the hospital. The rest of his life Banno attempted unsuccessfully to make a sequel; while he passed away two years ago, he was one of the people responsible for Hollywood making Godzilla pictures again.
The most memorable aspect of this movie... it is very strange. You get the idea right away when you hear the opening credits song... whether it's the English Save the Earth or the original Return! The Sun, it's an upbeat ditty about the poor shape the Earth is in. From there, random animated sequences happen, along with acid rock, psychedelic images, weird editing, youths having an end of the world party at Mt. Fuji, and a little boy having a telepathic connection with Gojira, as why the hell not?
Various aspects can be nitpicked (for example, some of the kaiji action consists of the creatures standing around, not doing much) but overall I appreciate how this was different from the usual and this felt fresh compared to a standard Godzilla flick. Plus, the kaiji action was still fun, w/ some rather unexpected moments; furthermore, it had a message that I wish humanity would have listened to-especially those giant corporations-as if what is being said about the environment now is true... perhaps I need to buy a ticket to Japan and have an end of the world party at Mt. Fuji.
Friday, October 18, 2019
I Talk Another Spooky Cartoon
Last night I was going to view something but to be frank, I was just too tired to do so. Thus, for now I'll talk about a spooky cartoon I viewed a few days ago: 1937's Spooky Frolics, which is in essence a remake of something I saw earlier this season:
This cartoon from Ub Iwerks is in essence a remake of his 1929 The Skeleton Dance, only this is in Technicolor and it was made for Columbia. Like with Dance, the creepy setting is a cemetery graveyard on a cold, blustery windy Fall night, and the skeletons come out to use their skulls as weapons, dance, and more in a setting that looked great with all the colors that were used and how they were used.
Frolics also contained various imagery associated with this time of year (bats, black cats, pumpkins, etc.) and there is the bonus of a literal skeleton symphonic orchestra so IMO both this and The Skeleton Dance are perfect viewing for the Halloween season.
This cartoon from Ub Iwerks is in essence a remake of his 1929 The Skeleton Dance, only this is in Technicolor and it was made for Columbia. Like with Dance, the creepy setting is a cemetery graveyard on a cold, blustery windy Fall night, and the skeletons come out to use their skulls as weapons, dance, and more in a setting that looked great with all the colors that were used and how they were used.
Frolics also contained various imagery associated with this time of year (bats, black cats, pumpkins, etc.) and there is the bonus of a literal skeleton symphonic orchestra so IMO both this and The Skeleton Dance are perfect viewing for the Halloween season.
Thursday, October 17, 2019
I Talk The Horror Noire Documentary
It came out earlier this year and Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror is exclusively on Shudder:
The plan as of last night is to see at least a few movies on Shudder
the rest of this month, as what better time to do so? Who knows how many
I'll actually view; as I am a dumb white guy I realized this would be a
very educational to watch. In addition, the fact that many have given
this praise also assisted in my decision-making here.
Based on a book by Robin R. Means Coleman (who appears), the history of black people in horror is covered, from The Birth of a Nation all the way to Get Out. Unfortunately, much of the time they are either stereotyped, are minor insignificant characters or are not present at all... which mirrors what happened in all the other major genres and many of the minor ones too. The documentary is only 83 minutes long so I wouldn't have minded each section to have more content.. naturally, the book it is based on would have much more information, but a search online reveals said book costs a pretty penny. Maybe one day the price will come down.
The movie does have the benefit of many different black voices, whether they are in the industry or are scholars of it; both male and female voices are present. Furthermore, many of those voices are separated into pairs and talk in an otherwise empty auditorium; for example, Miguel A. Nunez Jr. (from the 5th Friday the 13th) chats with Kelly Jo Minter of the 5th Nightmare on Elm Street; directors Rusty Cundieff and Ernest Dickerson getting to shoot the gab was a delight, but so was the titanic team-up of Ken Foree and Keith David.
Horror Noire is quite honest and notes the problematic moments in blaxploitation movies and even something like Candyman that is genuinely liked and otherwise praised in this documentary. Finally, in the 21st century black people have more of a voice and we have films made by them and many can be enjoyed by anyone; Attack the Block gets a shout-out and that is a tremendous motion picture I can't praise enough. Fortunately, they were able to get Jordan Peele to talk about Get Out and the topic in general; he had nice thoughts, but then again everyone gave interesting or eye-opening insights. This should be viewed by any horror fan no matter your skin color or whatever prior knowledge you may have of black horror.
Based on a book by Robin R. Means Coleman (who appears), the history of black people in horror is covered, from The Birth of a Nation all the way to Get Out. Unfortunately, much of the time they are either stereotyped, are minor insignificant characters or are not present at all... which mirrors what happened in all the other major genres and many of the minor ones too. The documentary is only 83 minutes long so I wouldn't have minded each section to have more content.. naturally, the book it is based on would have much more information, but a search online reveals said book costs a pretty penny. Maybe one day the price will come down.
The movie does have the benefit of many different black voices, whether they are in the industry or are scholars of it; both male and female voices are present. Furthermore, many of those voices are separated into pairs and talk in an otherwise empty auditorium; for example, Miguel A. Nunez Jr. (from the 5th Friday the 13th) chats with Kelly Jo Minter of the 5th Nightmare on Elm Street; directors Rusty Cundieff and Ernest Dickerson getting to shoot the gab was a delight, but so was the titanic team-up of Ken Foree and Keith David.
Horror Noire is quite honest and notes the problematic moments in blaxploitation movies and even something like Candyman that is genuinely liked and otherwise praised in this documentary. Finally, in the 21st century black people have more of a voice and we have films made by them and many can be enjoyed by anyone; Attack the Block gets a shout-out and that is a tremendous motion picture I can't praise enough. Fortunately, they were able to get Jordan Peele to talk about Get Out and the topic in general; he had nice thoughts, but then again everyone gave interesting or eye-opening insights. This should be viewed by any horror fan no matter your skin color or whatever prior knowledge you may have of black horror.
Wednesday, October 16, 2019
New Nightmare
Runtime: 112 minutes
Directed by: Wes Craven
Starring: The people
involved in the original NOES, along with the likes of Miko Hughes,
David Newsome, and Tracy Middendorf
From: New Line Cinema
Meta, but not insufferably so.
This movie was on my shortlist for viewing during this Halloween season anyhow, but discovering that Monday was the 25th anniversary of its release meant that talking about the movie sometime this week was only the logical thing to do. Henceforth, last night I saw Wes Craven doing the meta thing even before Scream.
The movie is set in “the real world” and bad things happen to Heather Langenkamp and her (fictional) family as Craven wishes to return to the NOES series, but not to help New Line Cinema resurrect a once-popular series of slashers. Turns out, horror stories serve an important purpose in real life and Freddy Krueger being killed off in Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare has serious consequences.
Throughout the movie there are many nods & allusions to the original film and franchise fans will love that. So will Freddy once again a menacing and scary threat rather than a wisecracking comedian who became such a pop culture figure that children loved him. Krueger had a new appearance and well... I am not sure if it was entirely successful. The effects sometimes look good and other times-especially the 90's CG that clearly wasn't from ILM-have not aged so well. Yet overall this was a refreshing different take on the franchise.
Krueger wasn't seen all that often but that was not to the movie's detriment. While I wouldn't have minded to see such things as Englund interacting with Freddy, the movie is still smart and it was nice to see the lives of Craven, Sara Risher (a producer on all those films) and New Line Cinema founder Bob Shaye on screen. The cast does a nice job, especially Heather in the lead role, as she has much of the screentime. Little Miko Hughes once again did well as a little kid in a scary picture. Definitely a different aspect is the scares mostly come from real life horrors, such as Heather's young son being a target and bad/inexplicable things happening to him. Also, Langenkamp was unfortunately a victim of stalking in the past... and not from a NOES fan; rather, it was someone who loved her in the cheesy 80's TV series Just the Ten of Us.
New Nightmare had the misfortune on being released the same day as Pulp Fiction; no surprise this was not a box office hit between that and it being wildly different from the rest of the franchise. At least it later found popularity, especially in the ensuing years where meta fiction has become far more common and accepted.
This movie was on my shortlist for viewing during this Halloween season anyhow, but discovering that Monday was the 25th anniversary of its release meant that talking about the movie sometime this week was only the logical thing to do. Henceforth, last night I saw Wes Craven doing the meta thing even before Scream.
The movie is set in “the real world” and bad things happen to Heather Langenkamp and her (fictional) family as Craven wishes to return to the NOES series, but not to help New Line Cinema resurrect a once-popular series of slashers. Turns out, horror stories serve an important purpose in real life and Freddy Krueger being killed off in Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare has serious consequences.
Throughout the movie there are many nods & allusions to the original film and franchise fans will love that. So will Freddy once again a menacing and scary threat rather than a wisecracking comedian who became such a pop culture figure that children loved him. Krueger had a new appearance and well... I am not sure if it was entirely successful. The effects sometimes look good and other times-especially the 90's CG that clearly wasn't from ILM-have not aged so well. Yet overall this was a refreshing different take on the franchise.
Krueger wasn't seen all that often but that was not to the movie's detriment. While I wouldn't have minded to see such things as Englund interacting with Freddy, the movie is still smart and it was nice to see the lives of Craven, Sara Risher (a producer on all those films) and New Line Cinema founder Bob Shaye on screen. The cast does a nice job, especially Heather in the lead role, as she has much of the screentime. Little Miko Hughes once again did well as a little kid in a scary picture. Definitely a different aspect is the scares mostly come from real life horrors, such as Heather's young son being a target and bad/inexplicable things happening to him. Also, Langenkamp was unfortunately a victim of stalking in the past... and not from a NOES fan; rather, it was someone who loved her in the cheesy 80's TV series Just the Ten of Us.
New Nightmare had the misfortune on being released the same day as Pulp Fiction; no surprise this was not a box office hit between that and it being wildly different from the rest of the franchise. At least it later found popularity, especially in the ensuing years where meta fiction has become far more common and accepted.
Monday, October 14, 2019
Haunted Gold
Runtime: 57 minutes
Directed by: Mack V.
Wright
Starring: John Wayne,
Sheila Tracy, Harry Woods, Blue Washington, Duke (Wayne's horse
receives a credit)
From: Leon Schlesinger
Studios
John Wayne in a B-movie horror/western? Why not? Admittedly, it's
more western than horror but as we never got Wayne in an straight-up
horror film and this played on Turner Classic movies this afternoon...
As expected in a low budget 30's oater (which Old John did plenty of before he became a star for good with Stagecoach), this wasn't even an hour long and the plot is not what you'd call convoluted. Wayne was John Mason, owner of a ranch who discovers he inherited a gold mine... a young blonde also inherited this mine and naturally, a mustached man and his henchmen wish to reap those rewards instead. Oh, and there's also a mysterious figure only known as The Phantom and various spooky imagery is seen, such as a bat in the opening titles, a cemetery, an ancient house, shadowy figures, etc.
Is it a spoiler to say that the supernatural hints are not at all what they seem? There are some fine stunts but overall this is average in every way. Also, Mason is accompanied by a ranch hand, Clarence... who is black. As this is 1932, of course he speaks in a certain dialect and is a complete ineffectual idiot; I don't even want to repeat some of the things said to and about Clarence. Wayne's horse (named Duke!) is shown to be a better and more intelligent sidekick. As long as you can get past the overt racism, this was OK.
As expected in a low budget 30's oater (which Old John did plenty of before he became a star for good with Stagecoach), this wasn't even an hour long and the plot is not what you'd call convoluted. Wayne was John Mason, owner of a ranch who discovers he inherited a gold mine... a young blonde also inherited this mine and naturally, a mustached man and his henchmen wish to reap those rewards instead. Oh, and there's also a mysterious figure only known as The Phantom and various spooky imagery is seen, such as a bat in the opening titles, a cemetery, an ancient house, shadowy figures, etc.
Is it a spoiler to say that the supernatural hints are not at all what they seem? There are some fine stunts but overall this is average in every way. Also, Mason is accompanied by a ranch hand, Clarence... who is black. As this is 1932, of course he speaks in a certain dialect and is a complete ineffectual idiot; I don't even want to repeat some of the things said to and about Clarence. Wayne's horse (named Duke!) is shown to be a better and more intelligent sidekick. As long as you can get past the overt racism, this was OK.
Alligator
Runtime: 87 minutes
Directed by: Lewis Teague
Starring: Robert Forster
(RIP), Robin Riker, Michael V. Gazzo, Dean Jagger, Henry Silva
From: Group 1
International Distribution
RIP Robert Forster
Naturally I had to see something by him after he just passed away, and why not a horror movie during October? I have seen some of his more famous roles anyhow; I was happy to have the opportunity during 2018's Florida Film Festival to see Pam Grier in person as Jackie Brown was shown. Not only do I appreciate the movie far more than I did back in the day, but both her and Forster were great in their roles. From what I've seen other celebrities say, he seemed like a quality human being too and at least late in life, he would hand out letter openers as gifts to all the co-stars he would work with on a production. A shame that this happened.
Alligator was not only yet another motion picture “inspired” by Jaws, but it also included the idea of pollution, nuclear waste or scientists experimenting with various chemicals causing an animal to mutate and become enormous. Via contrivances an alligator is flushed down the toilet in a Midwestern city and ends up in a sewer (now there is an old wives' tale). Forster is the troubled cop who is investigating a series of brutal killings and realizes it's the title creature. As like with Piranha this was written by John Sayles and the two have a pretty similar tone, meaning that it doesn't take itself entirely seriously but it's not a parody or an outright comedy. Amongst the targets that the movie takes potshots at: politicians, the media, and rich sons of bitches, to state it bluntly.
This is a silly B movie yet a fun one which I'd compare to one of those awful SyFy Channel creature features... if I would have seen one of them back when they used to show them. In any case, I am sure this is much more pleasurable and interesting than any of those. Considering this is a low budget production from 40 years ago, I can't complain about the effects, which were either a real gator or a giant animatronic. Forster did a nice job as the lead but this has a solid B-movie cast: Robin Riker, Michael V. Gazzo, Dean Jagger, Sydney Lassick, Perry Lang and in the role that entertained me the most, Henry Silva as a wacky big game hunter who not only uses “the youth on the street” for assistance, but acquires their help in a rather memorable fashion.
For those that like gore, there are some bloody moments; overall if you liked the original Piranha... two more things before I go: For some, I'll give a giant vegan alert to the fact that a pet shop owner is an A-hole who finds strays on the street and brings them into a pharmaceutical company so they could be used for animal testing. That is the catalyst for the title critter being what it is. Also, there is a minor character killed off-screen named EDWARD NORTON. It now makes me want the real Edward Norton to star in a giant alligator picture.
Naturally I had to see something by him after he just passed away, and why not a horror movie during October? I have seen some of his more famous roles anyhow; I was happy to have the opportunity during 2018's Florida Film Festival to see Pam Grier in person as Jackie Brown was shown. Not only do I appreciate the movie far more than I did back in the day, but both her and Forster were great in their roles. From what I've seen other celebrities say, he seemed like a quality human being too and at least late in life, he would hand out letter openers as gifts to all the co-stars he would work with on a production. A shame that this happened.
Alligator was not only yet another motion picture “inspired” by Jaws, but it also included the idea of pollution, nuclear waste or scientists experimenting with various chemicals causing an animal to mutate and become enormous. Via contrivances an alligator is flushed down the toilet in a Midwestern city and ends up in a sewer (now there is an old wives' tale). Forster is the troubled cop who is investigating a series of brutal killings and realizes it's the title creature. As like with Piranha this was written by John Sayles and the two have a pretty similar tone, meaning that it doesn't take itself entirely seriously but it's not a parody or an outright comedy. Amongst the targets that the movie takes potshots at: politicians, the media, and rich sons of bitches, to state it bluntly.
This is a silly B movie yet a fun one which I'd compare to one of those awful SyFy Channel creature features... if I would have seen one of them back when they used to show them. In any case, I am sure this is much more pleasurable and interesting than any of those. Considering this is a low budget production from 40 years ago, I can't complain about the effects, which were either a real gator or a giant animatronic. Forster did a nice job as the lead but this has a solid B-movie cast: Robin Riker, Michael V. Gazzo, Dean Jagger, Sydney Lassick, Perry Lang and in the role that entertained me the most, Henry Silva as a wacky big game hunter who not only uses “the youth on the street” for assistance, but acquires their help in a rather memorable fashion.
For those that like gore, there are some bloody moments; overall if you liked the original Piranha... two more things before I go: For some, I'll give a giant vegan alert to the fact that a pet shop owner is an A-hole who finds strays on the street and brings them into a pharmaceutical company so they could be used for animal testing. That is the catalyst for the title critter being what it is. Also, there is a minor character killed off-screen named EDWARD NORTON. It now makes me want the real Edward Norton to star in a giant alligator picture.
Saturday, October 12, 2019
Ebirah, Horror Of The Deep
Runtime: 87 minutes
Directed by: Jun Fukuda
Starring: Akira Takareda,
Kumi Mizuno, Chotaro Togin, Hideo Sunazuka, Toru Ibuki
From: Toho
Godzilla playing volleyball w/ a giant crustacean was not something I knew I needed.
Real
soon I'll get back to horror movies; last night I saw something with
Horror in its title, playing on TCM. That's right, Godzilla movies have
played on Turner Classic Movies every Friday this October, and this will
result in the amazing moments later this month of All Monsters Attack,
Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster and Godzilla vs. Megalon playing prime
time on TCM. Anyway, this movie was new to me, although I've heard for
awhile now that it was different from the norm, probably because the
star was originally going to be King Kong instead of Gojira. This was
true, although thankfully the movie ended up being refreshing for those
reasons.
The movie features such elements as teen males (albeit looking rather old for alleged teenagers), a master thief, Infant Island, a SPECTRE-esque organization who is using the residents of Infant Island to create nuclear weapons... and surf music. At least the movie was interesting during the long stretches where there is no kaiju action; said kaiju action was at least rather entertaining. Besides Gojira there is Ebirah, a giant lobster... along with Mothra-it is more of a cameo-and Giant Condor, which is... a giant condor. Whether it be The Big G and Ebirah batting a giant rock to each other as if it was a volleyball or Godzilla knocking down fighter jets while a groovy tune is playing, this is what I meant when I complimented the action.
As this was lighter in tone yet did not totally morph into something that was mainly made for children, I have to give this a better score than expected.
The movie features such elements as teen males (albeit looking rather old for alleged teenagers), a master thief, Infant Island, a SPECTRE-esque organization who is using the residents of Infant Island to create nuclear weapons... and surf music. At least the movie was interesting during the long stretches where there is no kaiju action; said kaiju action was at least rather entertaining. Besides Gojira there is Ebirah, a giant lobster... along with Mothra-it is more of a cameo-and Giant Condor, which is... a giant condor. Whether it be The Big G and Ebirah batting a giant rock to each other as if it was a volleyball or Godzilla knocking down fighter jets while a groovy tune is playing, this is what I meant when I complimented the action.
As this was lighter in tone yet did not totally morph into something that was mainly made for children, I have to give this a better score than expected.
Friday, October 11, 2019
Gemini Man
Gemini Man (2019)
27% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 191 reviews)
Runtime: 117 minutes
Directed by: Ang Lee
Starring: Will Smith, a digital creation that's 90's Will Smith, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Clive Owen, Benedict Wong
From: Paramount
27% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 191 reviews)
Runtime: 117 minutes
Directed by: Ang Lee
Starring: Will Smith, a digital creation that's 90's Will Smith, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Clive Owen, Benedict Wong
From: Paramount
NOTE: This rating (I rated it high on Letterboxd) is only is applicable to the HFR 3D+ version of the film.
My review of Gemini Man will spend much more time discussing the tech behind it than the qualities of the movie itself, as judging on basic tenants such as plot, story, acting, or the action scenes, this is not a must-see... what made the experience great was its presentation. Now, I had never seen anything on the big screen projected in high frame rate. I haven't seen any of The Hobbit movies period as I just did not care to; I know that not everyone I personally knew who did and saw it at 48fps were fans of that presentation. For some it just did not look right and never did. I understand it perhaps wasn't the best movie to be filmed at that speed but one day I did hope to see something at HFR... even if on my TV's I always turn off motion smoothing-or whatever other name a particular manufacturer refers to it as-because that just looks terrible.
Thankfully Paramount is supportive of this new-fangled technology and at least in the United States it is not that difficult-at least if you live around a large city-to see Gemini Man in HFR and 3D. I had the added bonus of viewing this HFR 3D+ print on a Dolby Cinema at the AMC located on Walt Disney World property. To clarify, for some reason if you look online it does not specify that is in a Dolby Cinema; rather, it just notes HFR 3D+ and the presentation was also in Dolby 3D, meaning you get those fancy Space Glasses, as I like to call them. I imagine it's also due to the director being Ang Lee and the star being Will Smith (along with the popularity of the AMC A-List app, which I've used since July of last year and never had a problem with) but those screenings of this movie have been popular since last night, and my particular screening was sold out.
As only a few places in the entire world could show this movie at the 120fps it was shot at, seeing it 60fps on a giant screen w/ dual laser projection is just about the best way possible to experience Gemini Man... unless you live in the countries where it is shown HFR 3D+ in IMAX. Personally, my jaw dropped at the picture quality and how tremendous the 3D looked. Yeah, the way people and other objects move did look different but I was not bothered by that. Between that and the Dolby Atmos sound, if you can view it that way, it is a must. Now, to steal a point, because of the film's appearance being that of a modern videogame, at times the action is done as if it was a first person shooter; makes sense. The action is not revolutionary (except perhaps for using those crotch rocket motorcycles as a weapon) yet it was still fun to watch and as I known was done deliberately due to some publicity material I read last month, wounds are visible from damage taken during a fight or accident and those wounds stay on a character's face or body for a few scenes afterwards.
To clear a common misconception-even among critics-Young Will Smith is not just a de-aged Will Smith; rather, it is an entirely motion capture-created character, and overall that doesn't quite look right... although I suppose the effect will come across different in 24fps and as the character is a clone, that can be explained away anyhow. I don't think the technology is quite there yet as typically Young Will Smith is shot in low light or darkness or part of his face is obscured. The one time you see it out and about on a bright sunny day: YIKES. It literally appeared to be an older version of the creation and it accidentally wasn't improved upon before release. It was so drastic I am surprised I didn't yell “WTF?” out loud.
All that said, if you see this in 24fps and 2D, I will presume the picture's flaws will be much more readily apparent, from how generic the story really is to some of the rancid dialogue... whether it be cheesy first draft stuff or how things are over-explained when they really shouldn't be. This script has been around for over 20 years and there have been at least 8 credited writers by the time it was brought to screen. For an Ang Lee picture, you would have hoped the story would have been at least as halfway revolutionary as how this was filmed, but alas... it is no surprise that most critics have lambasted the movie.
As I have made readily apparent by now, the way this movie is seen will affect how you felt about it overall. Thankfully I was over the moon for how Gemini Man looked, the nice job the main cast did with the material given to them and how some scenes were either in Colombia or Budapest, Hungary... locations that are not played out to me. I am fascinated to see how HFR will be used in the future; I already know James Cameron is supposed to film the Avatar sequels that way, whenever the hell those finally come out. If you do decide to see Gemini Man, no matter its format you should not expect something masterful like Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
My review of Gemini Man will spend much more time discussing the tech behind it than the qualities of the movie itself, as judging on basic tenants such as plot, story, acting, or the action scenes, this is not a must-see... what made the experience great was its presentation. Now, I had never seen anything on the big screen projected in high frame rate. I haven't seen any of The Hobbit movies period as I just did not care to; I know that not everyone I personally knew who did and saw it at 48fps were fans of that presentation. For some it just did not look right and never did. I understand it perhaps wasn't the best movie to be filmed at that speed but one day I did hope to see something at HFR... even if on my TV's I always turn off motion smoothing-or whatever other name a particular manufacturer refers to it as-because that just looks terrible.
Thankfully Paramount is supportive of this new-fangled technology and at least in the United States it is not that difficult-at least if you live around a large city-to see Gemini Man in HFR and 3D. I had the added bonus of viewing this HFR 3D+ print on a Dolby Cinema at the AMC located on Walt Disney World property. To clarify, for some reason if you look online it does not specify that is in a Dolby Cinema; rather, it just notes HFR 3D+ and the presentation was also in Dolby 3D, meaning you get those fancy Space Glasses, as I like to call them. I imagine it's also due to the director being Ang Lee and the star being Will Smith (along with the popularity of the AMC A-List app, which I've used since July of last year and never had a problem with) but those screenings of this movie have been popular since last night, and my particular screening was sold out.
As only a few places in the entire world could show this movie at the 120fps it was shot at, seeing it 60fps on a giant screen w/ dual laser projection is just about the best way possible to experience Gemini Man... unless you live in the countries where it is shown HFR 3D+ in IMAX. Personally, my jaw dropped at the picture quality and how tremendous the 3D looked. Yeah, the way people and other objects move did look different but I was not bothered by that. Between that and the Dolby Atmos sound, if you can view it that way, it is a must. Now, to steal a point, because of the film's appearance being that of a modern videogame, at times the action is done as if it was a first person shooter; makes sense. The action is not revolutionary (except perhaps for using those crotch rocket motorcycles as a weapon) yet it was still fun to watch and as I known was done deliberately due to some publicity material I read last month, wounds are visible from damage taken during a fight or accident and those wounds stay on a character's face or body for a few scenes afterwards.
To clear a common misconception-even among critics-Young Will Smith is not just a de-aged Will Smith; rather, it is an entirely motion capture-created character, and overall that doesn't quite look right... although I suppose the effect will come across different in 24fps and as the character is a clone, that can be explained away anyhow. I don't think the technology is quite there yet as typically Young Will Smith is shot in low light or darkness or part of his face is obscured. The one time you see it out and about on a bright sunny day: YIKES. It literally appeared to be an older version of the creation and it accidentally wasn't improved upon before release. It was so drastic I am surprised I didn't yell “WTF?” out loud.
All that said, if you see this in 24fps and 2D, I will presume the picture's flaws will be much more readily apparent, from how generic the story really is to some of the rancid dialogue... whether it be cheesy first draft stuff or how things are over-explained when they really shouldn't be. This script has been around for over 20 years and there have been at least 8 credited writers by the time it was brought to screen. For an Ang Lee picture, you would have hoped the story would have been at least as halfway revolutionary as how this was filmed, but alas... it is no surprise that most critics have lambasted the movie.
As I have made readily apparent by now, the way this movie is seen will affect how you felt about it overall. Thankfully I was over the moon for how Gemini Man looked, the nice job the main cast did with the material given to them and how some scenes were either in Colombia or Budapest, Hungary... locations that are not played out to me. I am fascinated to see how HFR will be used in the future; I already know James Cameron is supposed to film the Avatar sequels that way, whenever the hell those finally come out. If you do decide to see Gemini Man, no matter its format you should not expect something masterful like Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
War
Runtime: 154 minutes
Directed by: Siddharth
Anand
Starring: Hrithrik Roshan,
Tiger Shroff, Vaani Kapoor, Ashutosh Rana, Anupriya Goenka
From: Yash Raj Films
There are no Low Riders in this movie, but this Indian product is as zany as I predicted:
Homoeroticism has found its way into Indian cinema.
I have only
viewed little in the way of the output of action movies from India, yet
I already knew-no matter if the language is Hindi, Telugu, Tamil or
something else-what to expect going in:
* Little in the way of subtlety or restraint
* A long runtime... actually, that's for all Indian movies irregardless of genre
* At least one musical number
That is exactly what I got here from this Hindi movie (there are two musical numbers, which were incredibly bombastic yet still well-done) and War (what is it good for?) is incredibly indebted to many Hollywood movies of the past; I won't give specific examples but I can mention a few franchises that were obvious inspiration: James Bond, Mission: Impossible and the Fast & Furious films. This is rather far-fetched even for modern big budget action but I was still gleefully entertained.
The plot is rather simple when you look at a bare bones synopsis: Kabir (Hrithik Roshan) is a great Indian agent who suddenly has gone rogue; Khalid (Tiger Shroff) was trained by Kabir and is tasked with trying to stop the madness he has created. Of course, things aren't as they seem... which actually also applies to the War movie that Jason Statham and Jet Li did years ago, but this is MUCH better than that. I don't lightly bring up the accusation that this is amazingly homoerotic, almost to the point of being A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge... yet I have to because it is. The way the two stars are filmed separately, then together... they seem to be more than friends & colleagues. No exaggeration, when Khalid first meets Kabir, Khalid stares and reacts as if he is sexually aroused!
While the plot is ludicrous, overall this was rather enjoyable for what it was. There are plenty of action scenes and all were filmed in an interesting way, were in settings that were unique to me, had beats that were different than usual, and/or otherwise not filmed badly. There is martial arts, fistfights, shootouts, explosions, automobile chases, & more. Another element that was present and not a shock to me: melodrama. There is some, although not to the degree that I've seen in other movies.
Personally, I do appreciate that for how cheesy and goofy this can get, it at least feels different from the typical modern Hollywood big budget blockbuster action movie; I've complained before how due to studio interference, focus groups and the like, they all seem too much alike or are not bold enough. I am glad I got to see this theatrically, even if the auditorium was freezing cold. Among the locations you get to see in this movie are Morocco, Portugal (this is what I meant when I said there were locations that were uncommon to see on film), Australia... and a setting full of snow & bitter cold, so during those parts of the film it was like a 4D experience.
Oh, and director Siddharth Anand & star Shroff are teaming up again to create... RAMBO, which is not based on any specific movie from the franchise but I know will have plenty of insanity and probably be a gas to watch.
* Little in the way of subtlety or restraint
* A long runtime... actually, that's for all Indian movies irregardless of genre
* At least one musical number
That is exactly what I got here from this Hindi movie (there are two musical numbers, which were incredibly bombastic yet still well-done) and War (what is it good for?) is incredibly indebted to many Hollywood movies of the past; I won't give specific examples but I can mention a few franchises that were obvious inspiration: James Bond, Mission: Impossible and the Fast & Furious films. This is rather far-fetched even for modern big budget action but I was still gleefully entertained.
The plot is rather simple when you look at a bare bones synopsis: Kabir (Hrithik Roshan) is a great Indian agent who suddenly has gone rogue; Khalid (Tiger Shroff) was trained by Kabir and is tasked with trying to stop the madness he has created. Of course, things aren't as they seem... which actually also applies to the War movie that Jason Statham and Jet Li did years ago, but this is MUCH better than that. I don't lightly bring up the accusation that this is amazingly homoerotic, almost to the point of being A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge... yet I have to because it is. The way the two stars are filmed separately, then together... they seem to be more than friends & colleagues. No exaggeration, when Khalid first meets Kabir, Khalid stares and reacts as if he is sexually aroused!
While the plot is ludicrous, overall this was rather enjoyable for what it was. There are plenty of action scenes and all were filmed in an interesting way, were in settings that were unique to me, had beats that were different than usual, and/or otherwise not filmed badly. There is martial arts, fistfights, shootouts, explosions, automobile chases, & more. Another element that was present and not a shock to me: melodrama. There is some, although not to the degree that I've seen in other movies.
Personally, I do appreciate that for how cheesy and goofy this can get, it at least feels different from the typical modern Hollywood big budget blockbuster action movie; I've complained before how due to studio interference, focus groups and the like, they all seem too much alike or are not bold enough. I am glad I got to see this theatrically, even if the auditorium was freezing cold. Among the locations you get to see in this movie are Morocco, Portugal (this is what I meant when I said there were locations that were uncommon to see on film), Australia... and a setting full of snow & bitter cold, so during those parts of the film it was like a 4D experience.
Oh, and director Siddharth Anand & star Shroff are teaming up again to create... RAMBO, which is not based on any specific movie from the franchise but I know will have plenty of insanity and probably be a gas to watch.
Thursday, October 10, 2019
The Crazies (The Remake)
Runtime: 101 minutes
Directed by: Breck Eisner
Starring: Timothy
Olyphant, Radha Mitchell, Joe Anderson, Danielle Panabaker, Christie
Lynn Smith
From: Overture/Participant
Probably the only movie where characters WANT to reach Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
August, I watched then reviewed the original The Crazies, the 1973 low-budget outing from George A. Romero. While obviously made on a budget and having local actors which were not always up to snuff, it was still good overall as it was quite bleak and showed what happened to the residents of a bucolic little town in Pennsylvania after a horrible government-made biological weapon is accidentally unleashed... along with the incompetent, bureaucratic federal government attempting to contain and create a cure, which was nigh impossible due to the quagmire of controls and protocol that were needlessly set up.
As the original movie isn't seen by most people to be a classic but rather an enjoyable lark, I was not offended that this was remade as something different could be done with the idea and/or there would be benefits to having more experienced actors and a higher budget. Well, this motion picture did just that and I do rate it the same as the original-it was not something I regretted viewing, in other words. This time, the focus is only on a few people trying to survive (chiefly, the sheriff of a rural town in Iowa and his wife) and the point of view of the government is never shown. The action is ramped up, along with the horror elements.
While there was a “wait a minute now” moment or two, otherwise this is a worthwhile remake which isn't an insult to the original and while much of the social commentary is gone, one aspect that this has over the original is the ability to connect more to the leads due to all the time spent with them, and that quartet ( Timothy Olyphant, Radha Mitchell, Joe Anderson, Danielle Panabaker) all do a nice job; as others have noted, Olyphant just looks and comes across as a B movie hero. There are fine horror/thriller setpieces throughout and I was glad that this was an R-rated film which was not only bloody and had some nasty deaths, but that the tone was not drastically different from what Romero did in the early 70's. Thus, a genre remake that isn't a waste of time... which too many do fit in that category, regrettably.
August, I watched then reviewed the original The Crazies, the 1973 low-budget outing from George A. Romero. While obviously made on a budget and having local actors which were not always up to snuff, it was still good overall as it was quite bleak and showed what happened to the residents of a bucolic little town in Pennsylvania after a horrible government-made biological weapon is accidentally unleashed... along with the incompetent, bureaucratic federal government attempting to contain and create a cure, which was nigh impossible due to the quagmire of controls and protocol that were needlessly set up.
As the original movie isn't seen by most people to be a classic but rather an enjoyable lark, I was not offended that this was remade as something different could be done with the idea and/or there would be benefits to having more experienced actors and a higher budget. Well, this motion picture did just that and I do rate it the same as the original-it was not something I regretted viewing, in other words. This time, the focus is only on a few people trying to survive (chiefly, the sheriff of a rural town in Iowa and his wife) and the point of view of the government is never shown. The action is ramped up, along with the horror elements.
While there was a “wait a minute now” moment or two, otherwise this is a worthwhile remake which isn't an insult to the original and while much of the social commentary is gone, one aspect that this has over the original is the ability to connect more to the leads due to all the time spent with them, and that quartet ( Timothy Olyphant, Radha Mitchell, Joe Anderson, Danielle Panabaker) all do a nice job; as others have noted, Olyphant just looks and comes across as a B movie hero. There are fine horror/thriller setpieces throughout and I was glad that this was an R-rated film which was not only bloody and had some nasty deaths, but that the tone was not drastically different from what Romero did in the early 70's. Thus, a genre remake that isn't a waste of time... which too many do fit in that category, regrettably.
Tuesday, October 8, 2019
I Talk The Thing, And More
Monday night I got to see the John
Carpenter classic theatrically for the first time, and it was a
transcendent experience; the movie is my favorite from him (no small
feat) and it drew a nice crowd. I am glad that the Cinemark location
at CityWalk on Universal Studios grounds is showing that and other
retro horror during this spooky season; furthermore, there was no
problem with the big audience, much to my relief.
Who you gonna call... Mickey, Donald, and Goofy?
The past week or so has been more hectic than expected for me so some days I haven't felt like or had the time for full movies, so a cartoon less than 10 minutes long is what I have to fall back on. But, after tonight things should return to normal and in fact, there may be a day or two where I can post multiple reviews. For now, a cartoon I did not even know the existence of until a few days ago.
The plot is simple: several ghosts are bored in a haunted house because no one explores their domain any longer. They decided to ring up ghostbusters-or as this short calls them, Ghost Exterminators-Mickey, Donald, and Goofy (!) and invite them over. As none of them have proton packs, the ghosts successfully troll the trio in a variety of ways, from making loud noises to tricking them. This is done in a house that looks to have been abandoned ages ago and as this was pretty funny & has lovely animation throughout, it was nice to see this during October.
To end this w/ a random aside, when I was a kid, “Bustin' makes me feel good!” from the Ghostbusters theme song did not leave an impression on me but as I became a little older and realized what it meant... much mirth and hilarity was had. If I said it still doesn't make me giggle a little, then I would be lyin' to all of you.
Now, let me discuss the 1937 Disney
cartoon Lonesome Ghosts:
Who you gonna call... Mickey, Donald, and Goofy?
The past week or so has been more hectic than expected for me so some days I haven't felt like or had the time for full movies, so a cartoon less than 10 minutes long is what I have to fall back on. But, after tonight things should return to normal and in fact, there may be a day or two where I can post multiple reviews. For now, a cartoon I did not even know the existence of until a few days ago.
The plot is simple: several ghosts are bored in a haunted house because no one explores their domain any longer. They decided to ring up ghostbusters-or as this short calls them, Ghost Exterminators-Mickey, Donald, and Goofy (!) and invite them over. As none of them have proton packs, the ghosts successfully troll the trio in a variety of ways, from making loud noises to tricking them. This is done in a house that looks to have been abandoned ages ago and as this was pretty funny & has lovely animation throughout, it was nice to see this during October.
To end this w/ a random aside, when I was a kid, “Bustin' makes me feel good!” from the Ghostbusters theme song did not leave an impression on me but as I became a little older and realized what it meant... much mirth and hilarity was had. If I said it still doesn't make me giggle a little, then I would be lyin' to all of you.
Sunday, October 6, 2019
Skatetown, U.S.A.
Runtime: 94 wacky, wacky
minutes
Directed by: William A.
Levey
Starring: Scott Baio!
There is also the likes of Flip Wilson, Billy Barty, Maureen
McCormick, Ron Palillo, and... the film debut of Patrick Swayze!
From: Columbia/Rastar
My schedule is now more back to normal, thank goodness. In the next few days I'll talk about another cartoon here but for now, an incredible time capsule:
A.K.A. COCAINE: THE MOTION PICTURE
For a few years now I've known of this movie; unfortunately it never received any sort of official release so the one copy that was on YouTube was from who knows what source and the picture quality was decidedly not good so I was pleasantly surprised when I saw a few months ago that Sony would be releasing this from their own catalog. The disc is so bare bones that there's no trailer, but it looks far better than before and I am glad they paid all the money to have all the songs that are in this... and there are plenty of songs, many of which are famous and that had to be the hangup that prevented any prior releases.
The plot is simple: Scott Baio and friend are at the title business, the visual marvel that is a bright and colorful roller disco rink that even has an arcade area. It looks like an incredible place I wish I could visit in real life. His friend Stan is a great skater but they have never been to this joint before, so it will be a tough challenge to try and topple Ace, the head of a roller skating gang (?!) and played by PATRICK SWAYZE in this acting debut. A lot of other things go on in this insane movie, from a totally random cast (Ruth Buzzi, Flip Wilson, Billy Barty, Maureen McCormick, a bearded Ron Palillo somehow being second in command in the gang, Murray Langston, etc.) to random side characters and running gags... believe me, too much of the humor is not that funny or just plain bad. There's also The Unknown Comic, who does get some laughs. Incidentally, Wilson owns Skatetown and in a few scenes he also dresses in drag although it's not his famous Geraldine character.
I have no idea how to rate this so I guess I'll say it is pretty good as no matter the illogic of the script or how there are some pretty obvious moments of bad editing or the goofiness or the issues with the humor... the movie moves very fast as like with Thank God It's Friday it covers one night at a disco and it is never dull. You'll know right away as this starts in an astounding way: after the opening credits of people skating in Santa Monica to quite an earworm of an opening credits song (from Dave Mason, who also appears in the movie has himself and performs two songs), we enter the nightclub and we see the DJ rise up to the stage wearing an incredible sparkly outfits AND cape and we then notice he is a middle-aged mustached dude known as THE WIZARD who wears a fake bright white giant afro and... can shoot lightning out of his fingertips.
That is one of the reasons why I referenced drugs in the beginning: one of the 75 or so plots that this has deals with drugs being slipped into the place's mozzarella cheese that then went into their pizza (long story), drug use is synonymous with the disco scene and I think this movie is best appreciated if you are high! It would explain a lot, including the ending that is a blatant ripoff of a famous moment from a 50's classic. The tremendous soundtrack can be enjoyed by anyone, as long as you dig the disco music. It has Boogie Wonderland, Born to be Alive, Boogie Nights, Ain't No Stopping Us Now and other bona fide classics in the genre (mad props for the movie using the disco version of Shake Your Body Down to the Ground), John Sebastian singing about a Roller Girl he loves, and even some rock tunes from the likes of Eddie Money (RIP) and Cheap Trick.
What an amazing night it would be if you saw this, Roller Boogie, Thank God It's Friday and Xanadu in an epic marathon.
For a few years now I've known of this movie; unfortunately it never received any sort of official release so the one copy that was on YouTube was from who knows what source and the picture quality was decidedly not good so I was pleasantly surprised when I saw a few months ago that Sony would be releasing this from their own catalog. The disc is so bare bones that there's no trailer, but it looks far better than before and I am glad they paid all the money to have all the songs that are in this... and there are plenty of songs, many of which are famous and that had to be the hangup that prevented any prior releases.
The plot is simple: Scott Baio and friend are at the title business, the visual marvel that is a bright and colorful roller disco rink that even has an arcade area. It looks like an incredible place I wish I could visit in real life. His friend Stan is a great skater but they have never been to this joint before, so it will be a tough challenge to try and topple Ace, the head of a roller skating gang (?!) and played by PATRICK SWAYZE in this acting debut. A lot of other things go on in this insane movie, from a totally random cast (Ruth Buzzi, Flip Wilson, Billy Barty, Maureen McCormick, a bearded Ron Palillo somehow being second in command in the gang, Murray Langston, etc.) to random side characters and running gags... believe me, too much of the humor is not that funny or just plain bad. There's also The Unknown Comic, who does get some laughs. Incidentally, Wilson owns Skatetown and in a few scenes he also dresses in drag although it's not his famous Geraldine character.
I have no idea how to rate this so I guess I'll say it is pretty good as no matter the illogic of the script or how there are some pretty obvious moments of bad editing or the goofiness or the issues with the humor... the movie moves very fast as like with Thank God It's Friday it covers one night at a disco and it is never dull. You'll know right away as this starts in an astounding way: after the opening credits of people skating in Santa Monica to quite an earworm of an opening credits song (from Dave Mason, who also appears in the movie has himself and performs two songs), we enter the nightclub and we see the DJ rise up to the stage wearing an incredible sparkly outfits AND cape and we then notice he is a middle-aged mustached dude known as THE WIZARD who wears a fake bright white giant afro and... can shoot lightning out of his fingertips.
That is one of the reasons why I referenced drugs in the beginning: one of the 75 or so plots that this has deals with drugs being slipped into the place's mozzarella cheese that then went into their pizza (long story), drug use is synonymous with the disco scene and I think this movie is best appreciated if you are high! It would explain a lot, including the ending that is a blatant ripoff of a famous moment from a 50's classic. The tremendous soundtrack can be enjoyed by anyone, as long as you dig the disco music. It has Boogie Wonderland, Born to be Alive, Boogie Nights, Ain't No Stopping Us Now and other bona fide classics in the genre (mad props for the movie using the disco version of Shake Your Body Down to the Ground), John Sebastian singing about a Roller Girl he loves, and even some rock tunes from the likes of Eddie Money (RIP) and Cheap Trick.
What an amazing night it would be if you saw this, Roller Boogie, Thank God It's Friday and Xanadu in an epic marathon.
Thursday, October 3, 2019
The Fanatic
Runtime: 88 minutes
Directed by: Fred Durst!
Starring: John Travolta,
Devon Sawa, someone who was in one of those Degrassi shows, and a
bunch of random actors
From: Many production
companies, and probably all of them were embarrassed by how this
turned out
Google gave me a 99 cent rental deal recently, and this was how I chose to spend it.
A few weeks ago the online movie community went gaga over this movie, and I did hear some detailed reviews so I wasn't really surprised by what I witnessed. Curiosity got the best of me and Lord is this ever a failed effort... except in providing unintentional laughs.
I mean, it starts right away with superfluous narration that is sometimes heard in the movie... it is always unnecessary and the narrator is a supporting character. Then there is a moment (which is seen a few times after) that reminded me of the Leonard, Part 6 opening credits! THERE is a movie you want to be compared to. And of course, there is how the titular fanatic is Moose, played by John Travolta... rather quickly, you realize that while it's never addressed in the movie, Moose is obviously somewhere on the autism spectrum. I realize that Travolta's late son Jett was on the spectrum, but this is NOT a nuanced, subtle portrayal of how someone who has difficulties w/ social situations suffers a mental breakdown after his favorite actor Hunter Dunbar (Devon Sawa, and it's been ages since I've seen him in anything) turns out to be an A-hole, and the audience would feel sympathy for Moose due to his different way of interacting with the world.
Instead, if you don't laugh, you'll cringe... or be offended. Subtle it is not; “over the top” is a better descriptor as Moose ends up stalking Dunbar, then goes way above even that so it's hard to root or even have an affinity for the lead. Dunbar is such a rude p**** that it's impossible to like him. I do not know what sort of messages this movie was trying to express, but it lead to an experience where laughter was the best way to make it through this movie, as a lot of fun can be had at The Fanatic's expense. Travolta's haircut, the Hawaiian shirt, shorts, high socks and backpack combo... not to mention the goofy plot that does not always make sense and minor characters that are also awful people.
For years now I've known that Fred Durst is now a director-this isn't his first feature film-and after this, I plan on skipping the previous pictures he's done, along with all future ones. I mean, he was one of the people that wrote the script. Also, not very smooth having a Limp Bizkit song play at one point and Dunbar remarks how “great” the band was... to be frank, I was never a fan of that act (or any nu metal in general) and I am glad that was the case.
If the entire movie wasn't preposterous and absurd enough, the final act occurs and talk about being divorced from reality. Besides it suddenly becoming graphically violent out of nowhere, how everything is resolved makes zero sense. I've never seen Gotti, although I understand that is bad AND incoherent, especially if you don't know much about Gotti the person. This can be enjoyed by any and all bad movie fans (as long as you are not disgusted by how The Fanatic treats autism) as it missed the mark so badly it was sort of spectacular how much of a disaster this was.
Wednesday, October 2, 2019
I Talk Old Spooky Cartoons
The past few days (when I haven't had the chance for movies) I viewed a pair of old 1929 cartoons made for Disney by legendary animator Ub Iwerks: The Skeleton Dance and The Haunted House. The two are below, in different fonts. SD will be first, then Haunted House:
Ub Iwerks is quite a name; so is his birth name: Ubbe Ert Iwwerks.
What a weekend... and not in a good way. It was not all bad but there were too many bad things so I'd rather forget about it. That includes the computer issues I had earlier today and I think are fixed (after a few hours of work) yet that is uncertain. If I peace out for the next few days-or heck, if it happens at any point in the future-you will know why.
Anyhow, at least I did have time to revisit this classic cartoon, and why not include cartoons in my annual Halloween season list? Sometime in October I'll talk about Skeleton Frolic, which was also directed by Ub Iwerks and was in essence an expanded color remake of this, the first of the Silly Symphonies done by Disney. In only 5 minutes, you can almost feel the chill of an autumn night (such as in Illinois, where I grew up) as various iconography connected to the Halloween season-black cats, spiders, owls, etc.-are seen in a cemetery graveyard, and a quartet of skeletons come out of the ground to dance and engage in creative sight gags as a jaunty tune plays in the background.
The animation and music are nice, so this is a short that is still effective 90 years later. In hindsight, I wish I would have viewed this and Skeleton Frolic around this time of year in autumns past as it sets the proper mood for the spooky season, and how can I not laugh at a skeleton using its own skull as a projectile, or another's backbone being used as a xylophone?
That Al Jolson reference has aged rather badly, I'll say...
I had little time last night and today so I could only squeeze in another Ub Iwerks cartoon but that is OK as it's in essence a remake of Iwerks' Skeleton Dance, recently discussed by me. This time, Micky Mouse is walking on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere when suddenly there are hurricane force winds so he seeks shelter in the haunted house, where skeletons force him to play his organ... er, I mean they force him to play a tune on an organ and some accompany him as a jaunty tune is played and there is more skeleton dancing.
As in the previous cartoon, various creatures tied into the spooky season (bats, spiders, etc.) appear and set the mood. I do prefer Dance but this is still an amusing and worthwhile cartoon. Note that I am not penalizing this for a brief gag which people wouldn't know unless they were familiar with Al Jolson. That alone wouldn't be controversial... except that it referenced Jolson in blackface. Times were different back then, yet it's no big deal as I've viewed entire musical numbers in blackface, which were much more awkward than this brief moment.
Ub Iwerks is quite a name; so is his birth name: Ubbe Ert Iwwerks.
What a weekend... and not in a good way. It was not all bad but there were too many bad things so I'd rather forget about it. That includes the computer issues I had earlier today and I think are fixed (after a few hours of work) yet that is uncertain. If I peace out for the next few days-or heck, if it happens at any point in the future-you will know why.
Anyhow, at least I did have time to revisit this classic cartoon, and why not include cartoons in my annual Halloween season list? Sometime in October I'll talk about Skeleton Frolic, which was also directed by Ub Iwerks and was in essence an expanded color remake of this, the first of the Silly Symphonies done by Disney. In only 5 minutes, you can almost feel the chill of an autumn night (such as in Illinois, where I grew up) as various iconography connected to the Halloween season-black cats, spiders, owls, etc.-are seen in a cemetery graveyard, and a quartet of skeletons come out of the ground to dance and engage in creative sight gags as a jaunty tune plays in the background.
The animation and music are nice, so this is a short that is still effective 90 years later. In hindsight, I wish I would have viewed this and Skeleton Frolic around this time of year in autumns past as it sets the proper mood for the spooky season, and how can I not laugh at a skeleton using its own skull as a projectile, or another's backbone being used as a xylophone?
That Al Jolson reference has aged rather badly, I'll say...
I had little time last night and today so I could only squeeze in another Ub Iwerks cartoon but that is OK as it's in essence a remake of Iwerks' Skeleton Dance, recently discussed by me. This time, Micky Mouse is walking on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere when suddenly there are hurricane force winds so he seeks shelter in the haunted house, where skeletons force him to play his organ... er, I mean they force him to play a tune on an organ and some accompany him as a jaunty tune is played and there is more skeleton dancing.
As in the previous cartoon, various creatures tied into the spooky season (bats, spiders, etc.) appear and set the mood. I do prefer Dance but this is still an amusing and worthwhile cartoon. Note that I am not penalizing this for a brief gag which people wouldn't know unless they were familiar with Al Jolson. That alone wouldn't be controversial... except that it referenced Jolson in blackface. Times were different back then, yet it's no big deal as I've viewed entire musical numbers in blackface, which were much more awkward than this brief moment.
Tuesday, October 1, 2019
Torture Garden
Torture Garden (1967)
Runtime: 101 minutes
Directed by: Freddie Francis
Starring: Jack Palance, Burgess Meredith, Beverly Adams, Peter Cushing, Maurice Denham
From: Amicus
A few years ago I randomly purchased the Mill Creek Blu-ray set Psycho Circus, which had this film, The Brotherhood of Satan and The Creeping Flesh; the main reason was its low cost... and currently, it can be purchased dirt cheap from Amazon. As I am me, it was only last night that I finally watched the disc; as it is Mill Creek, it was a budget release where the picture and sound are not spectacular, and all three movies are on one disc. The only things that these three have in common is genre and Sony owning the rights to them in the United States.
This being an Amicus anthology directed by Freddie Francis and written by Robert Bloch piqued my interest; so did a cast comprised of the likes of Jack Palance, Burgess Meredith, and Peter Cushing. I discovered this was an interesting anthology which had more complex stories than you'd expect and a wraparound story that featured the likes of a sideshow run at a fairgrounds hosted by Dr. Diabolo (Meredith) and the shears of Atropos, a Greek goddess that cut through the strands of time. If that wasn't odd enough, another figure from Greek mythology shows up in the segment that has the most outlandish premise.
All the stories are interesting-not to mention chilling-with their various twists and turns, no matter how improbable they may get. They are all ghoulishly delightful and contain such things as satirical barbs against Hollywood & its stars and one tale is a love letter to Edgar Allan Poe. The other stories involve a greedy man's attempt to get an inheritance and a woman falling in love with a famous concert pianist.The movie was filmed well in lavish locations and whether or not I recognized the cast, all were at least fine. For those that love these old anthologies... however, I do have to give the warning that if you do purchase this Blu-ray in the future, do NOT read the plot synopsis on the back of the case: this is because it literally gives away the entire plot!
Runtime: 101 minutes
Directed by: Freddie Francis
Starring: Jack Palance, Burgess Meredith, Beverly Adams, Peter Cushing, Maurice Denham
From: Amicus
A few years ago I randomly purchased the Mill Creek Blu-ray set Psycho Circus, which had this film, The Brotherhood of Satan and The Creeping Flesh; the main reason was its low cost... and currently, it can be purchased dirt cheap from Amazon. As I am me, it was only last night that I finally watched the disc; as it is Mill Creek, it was a budget release where the picture and sound are not spectacular, and all three movies are on one disc. The only things that these three have in common is genre and Sony owning the rights to them in the United States.
This being an Amicus anthology directed by Freddie Francis and written by Robert Bloch piqued my interest; so did a cast comprised of the likes of Jack Palance, Burgess Meredith, and Peter Cushing. I discovered this was an interesting anthology which had more complex stories than you'd expect and a wraparound story that featured the likes of a sideshow run at a fairgrounds hosted by Dr. Diabolo (Meredith) and the shears of Atropos, a Greek goddess that cut through the strands of time. If that wasn't odd enough, another figure from Greek mythology shows up in the segment that has the most outlandish premise.
All the stories are interesting-not to mention chilling-with their various twists and turns, no matter how improbable they may get. They are all ghoulishly delightful and contain such things as satirical barbs against Hollywood & its stars and one tale is a love letter to Edgar Allan Poe. The other stories involve a greedy man's attempt to get an inheritance and a woman falling in love with a famous concert pianist.The movie was filmed well in lavish locations and whether or not I recognized the cast, all were at least fine. For those that love these old anthologies... however, I do have to give the warning that if you do purchase this Blu-ray in the future, do NOT read the plot synopsis on the back of the case: this is because it literally gives away the entire plot!
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