Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 21st, 2005
When comic book movies started becoming popular in the 90's with Batman, The Punisher, Dick Tracy and the like, directors weren't really sure how to handle the subject. The most popular methods involved making the film look like a comic, to help to tie the narratives together. Unfortunately, audiences soon discovered that the result of this mash-up of styles was a heavy-handed, overblown color explosion that just looked hokey (Batman Forever, anyone?) Finally, in recent years, it has been ...iscovered that the best way to tell these stories is to make them look just like normal films. If you focus on the story first and foremost, and real emotions, the supernatural aspects will be readily accepted by the viewer. As a result, audiences have now been treated to such fine films as Spiderman, Hellboy and X-Men.
Now that movies based on old TV shows have come into popularity, it seems this is a lesson that has to be learned all over again. The Mod Squad, Starsky and Hutch and The Dukes of Hazard have all been miserable failures, with the first Charlie's Angels being the only possible exception to this trend. All of these films tried way too hard to cram in all of the elements from the original TV show, instead of focusing on creating an excellent story first and foremost. Sure, it is pop candy to hear that clever narrator trick in Dukes, or the "fade to commercial" music cue in Angels, but the cleverness easily wears off over two hours, and in the end, it is a strong story that matters the most to the film.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 20th, 2005
Synopsis
A group of young folk on their way to the “biggest college football game of the year” (you would do an overnight trip for THAT?) take an unfortunate detour. In groups of two, they are lured into a town run by two madmen, where the only other inhabitants are the was-coated effigies of their victims. What follows is the expected gory slaughter, and some of the deaths are gruesomely imaginative. There is, however, no terror. What does it say when practically the most likeable character in a fil... is played by Paris Hilton? It says that you can’t wait for these people to die. Even the more amiable heroine behaves in ways that are colossally stupid even by slasher movie standards. And the twist at the end is so trivial and meaningless, so utterly irrelevant to the plot, that it is the narrative equivalent of bicycles for fish.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 19th, 2005
Synopsis and Comments
Apparently “Land of the Dead” was created for an audience that the producers of the movie (and writer Romero) consider to be no more intelligent than the zombies that populate Romero’s world. We shuffle into the theatre, clutching out-sized drinks like totems from the outside world, moaning piteously that they cost us five bucks to get. Unnnghhhhhh. Mooooovie. RRRrrrrgghhh.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 16th, 2005
Synopsis
One year after Ronald De Feo slaughtered his family, the Lutzes move into the creepy house. George (Ryan Reynolds) soon feels cold and starts acting cranky, and before you know it is looking like he might dish out some violence of his own. Meanwhile the youngest child is developing a troubling relationship with the ghost of a little girl. A frantic Kathy (Melissa George) is desperate to find out what is wrong with the house before it all ends in blood and tears.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 15th, 2005
Synopsis
Two friends – Marie and Alexia– head out to the country home of the latter’s parents. In the middle of the night, a killer breaks in, slaughters the family, and makes Alexia his prisoner. Marie is locked in a battle to save her friend and not become a victim herself.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 14th, 2005
Synopsis
At a gathering of all the gangs of New York City, the messianic leader proposing a unification of all the organizations is gunned down, and the Warriors are unjustly accused. They must make their way from the Bronx to Coney Island with every gang in the city out for their blood.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 11th, 2005
Synopsis
Two years after one of their number has committed suicide, a group of friends are still very much into playing Hellworld, an internet game based on the Hellraiser mythology. They score invitations to the big Hellworld party, where they meet host Lance Henriksen, and then they start being killed off one by one.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 8th, 2005
Synopsis
Not being too familiar of the work done by Japanese animators or anyone associated with Studio Ghibli, it was hard to know what to expect when I started watching My Neighbors the Yamadas, but as it turns out, it’s a fairly successful cartoon series from Japan. Created by Isao Takahata (Grave of the Fireflies), the cartoon focuses on a family of four and a grandmother in their day to day lives and experiences.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 8th, 2005
Let's face it; Harrison Ford is not a particularly great actor. He is not capable of playing diversity in his roles, and he has never faded into a character. When you go to see a Harrison Ford movie, the result is always something like “Harrison Ford as the President of the United States”, or “Harrison Ford is wrongly accused of a crime he didn't commit.” Never once have I seen one of his films and came away saying “it is about this professor that goes on a quest to find the holy grail. Harrison Ford played the profe...sor.”
Having said this, I like Harrison Ford. He happens to be one of those personalities, much like William H. Macy, that is comfortable and pleasant to watch on screen. He always handles each role with care, and is never content to let a role slip by without putting effort into the feelings and intentions of the character. He is much like the great Gregory Peck in this regard, as some of Harrison the man always comes through in the characters he plays. He is always genuine, always true to himself.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 7th, 2005
Synopsis
The wife of a policeman shows up at the mansion of one Elizabeth Caine (or is she Erzsebet Bathory) for a lesbian tryst, but has her neck punctured by her host. Ray, the cop, investigates his wife’s disappearance, and very quickly suspects Bathory, but has difficulty assembling proof. To make matters worse, bodies of young women start piling up, and the evidence points more and more damningly toward Ray. He is in a race to prove his innocence and stop Bathory before she kills again.
