Well kids, it’s sequel time again! And guess what? I give up. I have to. There is nothing left these last few years that really makes me feel that the action genre has anything going for it anymore, and I’m extremely sad about that. I mean it’s always been a larger ratio of crap to anything actually good, but now the numbers have just gotten worse. Right off the bat I’m going to have to say this, I know this review is going to get me a lot of negative feed back, but facts are facts people and the fact is that I never really cared for “The Boondock Saints”. I didn’t hate it, I just didn’t find it that interesting, well more I didn’t find it good or interesting after a second viewing. A lot of the jokes fell flat even the first time, the action sequences were mostly ripped off and dull, and really, the whole movie was just mediocre, but I did get some enjoyment out of it. It had Willem Defoe and that alone usually makes things a lot of fun with some nicely over the top moments. I seem to be a little bit in a minority on this one however. A lot of people loves this movie like it’s “Pulp Fiction” or “Reservoir Dogs” but I really just found it forgettable. Yet it was still popular enough that 10 years later, we got a sequel, from the same writer and director, who hasn’t done anything else in the meantime, at all.
And what do we get for our 10 year wait? Is it a new, totally different story that fleshes out the characters and adds new drama? Nope, it’s the same movie. It really gets me worried when a man that has only directed one movie, comes back with a sequel that is the same movie again with only the slightest of differences. It really just emphasizes the fact that this guy only has one story in him, and it is really reflected in the script for this movie. The plot is the Saints have to return to American after hiding out in Ireland, to avenge a priest that is murdered by a hit man hired by the son of the gangster that they executed at the end of the first movie (sorry for the spoiler, but it was unavoidable). The rest is the exact same situations as the first film! Any of the writing gripes I had with the first movie, I could usually forgive, it was Troy Duffy’s first movie and in my opinion, when it’s your first movie you can get some leeway. Here is just a pure example of absolutely no effort at all. The dialogue is trying way too hard to be like early Quentin Tarantino, the big plot points happen at exactly the same time in this as they do in the original, and to top it all there is a character that was killed off in the original that is just replaced here. I’m not even kidding. They just get a guy, played by a different actor, to do exactly the same part from the first movie. Words really escape me here. I’ve complained about sequels just being carbon copies like the “Final Destination” sequels, but at least they tried a whole new cast when they re-did those movies, here it just brings more attention to the fact that they had no new ideas.
That and the performances are just ridiculous. The returning cast has no real endearing factors to me really. The Saints, Norman Reedus and Sean Patrick Flannery respectively, are just annoying and really, in this movie they are quite unsympathetic. In the first film, I will admit that I felt all their actions were pretty much justified. They legitimately took down bad people. In this movie, really no one they kill is seen doing anything that is plainly cruel or evil, other than wanting to kill them for killing someone else. So it just feels like the Saints are just killing people that are just marginally associated with the gangsters, mostly because that’s all they kill until the end where they actually do what they should have done the whole movie instead of getting drunk. Plus, did I mention they were annoying? They get drunk and make fun of people for like two thirds of the movie! Fine, I’ll buy that, I’ll get past that. What grinds my nerves is when they just seem to do that more than hunt down criminals, which they are constantly saying is their whole mission and purpose. Seriously, if you want a story about Anti-heroes you can’t just have them do nothing and then have them kill people and expect the audience to be rooting for them, they have to be killing people that are pretty much filth.
The Saint aren’t my biggest bone to pick with this movie though, that dubious honor goes to none other than “Dexter” leading lady Julie Benz, who plays the replacement Willem Dafoe here, and is just so grating that I can’t adequately find words to describe it. She is so balls achingly irritating that I had to stop the movie a couple times to do something other than watch her keep going. The odd thing? I love her on that show! Seriously she is so much better than this part! I’m sure she did it for career purposes or she was a fan of the original, but that honestly doesn’t excuse it. She is just a clone of the same exact part, she’s just trying to do the same character from the first movie. Right down to the re-enactments and banter with the local cops, it’s the same goddamn person! And I haven’t even started with the clone of the Mexican guy. I don’t even feel like giving him much mention, mostly because I think the actor that plays him is just going through the motions because he’s clearly aware that his part only exists to replace the guy from the first movie. All these people are just fucking pointless!
Then there are the action sequences, oh god if you could only call them that. This movie’s idea of action is mostly just guns going off. That’s all you really see. There’s no actually movement, or anything else to give the scene depth or excitement, not even shaky cam and god did I never think I’d actually wish for that. Troy Duffy just seems to think a gun going off is enough. You know what? I could almost buy this, the idea that something as simple as pulling a trigger on a gun and being able to actually end someone’s life is very intimidating. The problem is the rest of the movie seems to celebrate the idea of killing people with the cover of the Saints’ actions being “noble”, and the slight over the top nature of the violence just totally ruins any chance of that idea. Which is huge shame because they actually try to build that idea up through out, mostly in useless flashbacks from the father character, I guess feeling remorseful about the fact he’s killed so many people. But in the next scene we see the Saints killing people and it’s supposed to be cool and the message is just destroyed. The hypocrisy and constant shifts between timelines, slow and fast motion, ultimately makes these scenes just boring.
And that’s basically this movie in a nut shell, it’s just boring. It goes nowhere, it takes way too long to get there, and on top of that, it’s been done before. Basically I should have just watched the first movie again, maybe really drunk or high and I probably would have liked it more than seeing this “new” movie. It’s a dull, run of the mill sequel that really should never have been made, and it pains me to know that I wasted two hours of my life just sitting through it.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Friday, April 2, 2010
Repo! The Genetic Opera
Ok, I’ve been asked a few times what I think about musicals, here’s what I have to say: I love them when they’re good, and I despise them when they are bad. I have no middle ground for these kinds of films really. I can’t call them ok, they are either great or they suck on massive levels. However, there is in fact one sub genre of them that I just love, I have yet to find one that I didn’t like and that is the rock opera. From “Tommy” to “Pink Floyd The Wall” to…. Well that’s all I can honestly say I’ve seen or for that matter remember off the top of my head. But, there is in fact one more that I’ve seen, and it is hands down my favorite of this sub genre: “Repo! The Genetic Opera”. This is going to be a bit of a rarity in that this is one of the few movies that I’ve seen several times before reviewing it.
“Repo!” is the first movie that director Darren Lynn Bousman made outside of the “Saw” series, and damn is it good, well I think it is anyway. I said in my “Book of Eli” review that it was a movie that would probably be either loved or hated and really I think “Repo!” is very much the same way. It’s down to your taste in movies and music really. It’s plot will probably show you why, in the future, there is an epidemic of organ failures. Out of the need for new organs comes the company Geneco, an organization that will save the lives of those needing new organs…. For a price, and those that can’t pay, a repo man is sent to harvest their credited organs. I’ve described this film as something Tim Burton and Trent Reznor would come up with after tripping shooms, and I stand by that. It’s got Tim Burton-esque style yet the music isn’t the typical Danny Elfman, “Nightmare Before Christmas” type stuff, it’s more hard rock industrial like, well, Nine Inch Nails.
But that’s not a bad thing, I actually like this mix a lot. The songs are catchy and fun to sing a long with, hum later and all that stuff. On top of that though, they actually feel like opera numbers, all the dialogue is sung actually. It’s a very bold choice, always has been. I think that’s why I have a lot of love for rock operas, they take what makes an opera, but choose to use modern style music. It’s a bold artistic risk, and I have to say damn I’m glad there are musicians that take those kinds of chances, because when they do, it’s usually something they work very hard on and the effort shines though in the music.
However, there is a couple of problems when it came to the casting, though it’s not something that pisses me off or anything, it’s just that Bill Mosley (“The Devil’s Rejects”) and Paul Sorvino (“Goodfellas”) can’t really sing. Mostly they just speak their lyrics in something that resembles rhythm, a bit unfortunate yet I don’t mind. The performances actually add a lot the songs, from all the actors and that includes Paris Hilton. Yes, I said it. Paris Hilton acted in a movie and didn’t piss me off. She actually does have a descent voice and well, her character is a spoiled heiress, it’s not like she really needs to act that much. But the show stealers are hands down Alexa Vega who has come a very long way from her days as a Spy Kid, and who’d have guessed, but she really knows how to sing. Here she’s a troubled, sheltered teen that has been confined to her home due to a blood disease, and she longs to see the world and meet her hero, Blind Mag, the voice of Geneco and the other performance that steals the show. Played by famous soprano singer Sarah Brightman, Mag is a character that I think has the least amount of screen time of anyone that plays a big part in the story, but she has such a great voice, and really her character is a turning point for several people involved. She’s Vega’s hero, her father’s (the repo man) latest assignment, and she’s planning on leaving Geneco, a major plot point. And yet I think she has maybe 10 minutes of screen time tops in this movie. The rest of the cast does a nice job, just isn’t quite as memorable. Well, except maybe Ogre as Pavi Largo, but I think that’s more to do with the design of the character.
The film’s design is also amazing. The photography is just great, I love its vivid colors and kinetic energy really set the mood the film is trying to create. Plus I love how the sets do the best they can with a clearly small budget, it actually feels like this is just being filmed on a very elaborate theater set, giving it an other worldly feel. Very little choreography, but what little there is makes a great impression. I really feel that this is what Darren Lynn Bousman can do well. The images are surreal and it was something that he had put in his installments of the “Saw” franchise, but here it gets to come full circle. I like getting to see this director finally break away from that tiresome franchise, here we really get to see what he’s capable of, and he shows a lot of promise.
Overall, this is a pretty damn good movie. It’s got great music, an interesting story (sadly ripped off for that stupid action movie with Jude Law.), and it’s just well made. It’s just sad how many people don’t know about this movie, and I think that’s sadly due to the fact that it seems if you’re doing a musical these days, you better be doing something like “Chicago”, because if you’re not some big successful jazz based musical, no one really seems to care. And that’s a damn shame if you ask me, because this is a fine example that something other than jazz can make a good musical, and I’d like to see more of them.
“Repo!” is the first movie that director Darren Lynn Bousman made outside of the “Saw” series, and damn is it good, well I think it is anyway. I said in my “Book of Eli” review that it was a movie that would probably be either loved or hated and really I think “Repo!” is very much the same way. It’s down to your taste in movies and music really. It’s plot will probably show you why, in the future, there is an epidemic of organ failures. Out of the need for new organs comes the company Geneco, an organization that will save the lives of those needing new organs…. For a price, and those that can’t pay, a repo man is sent to harvest their credited organs. I’ve described this film as something Tim Burton and Trent Reznor would come up with after tripping shooms, and I stand by that. It’s got Tim Burton-esque style yet the music isn’t the typical Danny Elfman, “Nightmare Before Christmas” type stuff, it’s more hard rock industrial like, well, Nine Inch Nails.
But that’s not a bad thing, I actually like this mix a lot. The songs are catchy and fun to sing a long with, hum later and all that stuff. On top of that though, they actually feel like opera numbers, all the dialogue is sung actually. It’s a very bold choice, always has been. I think that’s why I have a lot of love for rock operas, they take what makes an opera, but choose to use modern style music. It’s a bold artistic risk, and I have to say damn I’m glad there are musicians that take those kinds of chances, because when they do, it’s usually something they work very hard on and the effort shines though in the music.
However, there is a couple of problems when it came to the casting, though it’s not something that pisses me off or anything, it’s just that Bill Mosley (“The Devil’s Rejects”) and Paul Sorvino (“Goodfellas”) can’t really sing. Mostly they just speak their lyrics in something that resembles rhythm, a bit unfortunate yet I don’t mind. The performances actually add a lot the songs, from all the actors and that includes Paris Hilton. Yes, I said it. Paris Hilton acted in a movie and didn’t piss me off. She actually does have a descent voice and well, her character is a spoiled heiress, it’s not like she really needs to act that much. But the show stealers are hands down Alexa Vega who has come a very long way from her days as a Spy Kid, and who’d have guessed, but she really knows how to sing. Here she’s a troubled, sheltered teen that has been confined to her home due to a blood disease, and she longs to see the world and meet her hero, Blind Mag, the voice of Geneco and the other performance that steals the show. Played by famous soprano singer Sarah Brightman, Mag is a character that I think has the least amount of screen time of anyone that plays a big part in the story, but she has such a great voice, and really her character is a turning point for several people involved. She’s Vega’s hero, her father’s (the repo man) latest assignment, and she’s planning on leaving Geneco, a major plot point. And yet I think she has maybe 10 minutes of screen time tops in this movie. The rest of the cast does a nice job, just isn’t quite as memorable. Well, except maybe Ogre as Pavi Largo, but I think that’s more to do with the design of the character.
The film’s design is also amazing. The photography is just great, I love its vivid colors and kinetic energy really set the mood the film is trying to create. Plus I love how the sets do the best they can with a clearly small budget, it actually feels like this is just being filmed on a very elaborate theater set, giving it an other worldly feel. Very little choreography, but what little there is makes a great impression. I really feel that this is what Darren Lynn Bousman can do well. The images are surreal and it was something that he had put in his installments of the “Saw” franchise, but here it gets to come full circle. I like getting to see this director finally break away from that tiresome franchise, here we really get to see what he’s capable of, and he shows a lot of promise.
Overall, this is a pretty damn good movie. It’s got great music, an interesting story (sadly ripped off for that stupid action movie with Jude Law.), and it’s just well made. It’s just sad how many people don’t know about this movie, and I think that’s sadly due to the fact that it seems if you’re doing a musical these days, you better be doing something like “Chicago”, because if you’re not some big successful jazz based musical, no one really seems to care. And that’s a damn shame if you ask me, because this is a fine example that something other than jazz can make a good musical, and I’d like to see more of them.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Where the Wild Things Are
Ah, finally! I get to actually review something big. Something with a ton of back story to me. Something that I have such a personal connection to, that I was extremely critical of anything that could have come of it. Yes I like many many people, grew up with the gloriousness that was Maurice Sendak’s classic children’s book “Where the Wild Things Are”. It was a fun little story with creative monsters. I loved book and read it all the time, well into middle school in fact. Back the fuck off if you want to judge that I read a kid’s book that long, it was just good. To be honest though children’s media, when well done, really holds up when you’re an adult too. I love going back to look at things like “The Sandlot”, or “The Never-ending Story” and the almighty “E. T. The Extra Terrestrial” and “The Goonies” because of one big reason that I’m sure you already know, THEY’RE GOOD!!!
Thus I come to the film version of this story. I was as skeptical as you probably are if you haven’t seen this movie. The original story was very short. Here’s the brief summary of the book. Max is a rowdy kid. He gets in trouble with his mom one night, and she sends him to bed with no dinner. While in his room, Max goes in to an imagery world that he navigates through in a boat and comes to the titular Wild Things. They are a bunch of big monster looking things and Max becomes their king. However, Max gets bored after awhile and heads home much to the dismay of the Wild Things. When he finally gets home he finds that his mother has left him dinner in his room, and it’s still warm. It’s a sweet and charming story, meaning making a good movie out of it is near impossible.
So, how is such a feat to be achieved? Well, you simply need to watch this movie and you have your answer. It’s a great film that keeps the heart and story of the original material but adds a lot great things! Things that most movies these days lack like: character and plot and great design.
The story is mostly the same, but they add some changes. Max is not so much rowdy as troubled. He’s at the point where he’s feeling alone, his sister is off with her friends all the time, his mother still loves and cares for him, but she has her own life too. It comes to a head when he gets the feeling that his mother doesn’t really seem to want to pay attention to him when he’s feeling lonely and so he puts on his wolf costume (another nod to the source material) and throws a fit that ends in him biting her and running away to the woods. There he finds a boat and goes to the land of the Wild Things. He becomes their king and tries to rule in such away that everyone is happy and always having fun. Slowly though, he realizes that his selfishness is actually hurting the Wild Things, and ultimately decides that he has to go back home.
Now, really this is one of those things that may sound silly to some, but really this is a movie that is based on a picture book, if you have shit design you have fucked the movie, plan and simple. Thankfully it’s like I said, the design is just perfect. Most of the Wild Things look like they walked out of the book, mainly because, well, they’re actually in front of the camera. I said in my “Sorority Row” review that I’m not too hot on 100% CGI, mostly this comes from the fact that many CGI movies just look fake. I mean, they look cool, but I can tell I’m looking at an effect and it really detracts from the movies most of time unless we’re talking about things “King Kong ‘05”, or the “Pirates of The Caribbean” films. Thankfully, this movie chose to make the Wild Things with the help of the studio that is God when it comes to suits and puppets, The Jim Henson Work Shop. Before anyone points out the CG in the movie, I’m aware, the facial movements are CG. I don’t care because the rest of the creature is actually there. The CG is there to add fluidity that can’t be achieved by animatronics, THAT’S HOW IT’S SUPPOSED TO FUCKING WORK! On top of this, the sets look amazing and really give you a sense of being in another world. It really feels like you’re there.
On top of that, the acting talent is just stunning. Max Records is just amazing as Max here. He just perfectly gathers all the anguish, anger, happiness and well nearly every other emotion I can think of for this character, and he’s only 12! People made a big deal about Haley Joel Osment in “The Sixth Sense” or Keisha Castle-Hughes in “Whale Rider”, and they did very well in those roles, but really I didn’t see anything worthy of the Oscar nominations they received. With Records, I saw a child performance that was seriously over looked. Catherine Keener does great as the mother, being supportive but having her limits and getting frustrated by her son’s behavior. Honestly, what steals the show is the Wild Things themselves, not just because of the design, but seriously the voices are what seal the deal for me. All the talent from Catherine O’ Hara to Chris Cooper to Tony Soprano himself James Gandolfini creates their own characters beautifully. They all have their own personality traits and quirks. It’s different from what you thought would come from the story because all these character are poignant, well rounded and oh so likable.
You know what, I could give this movie a verbal blow job for fucking hours and still not come close to truly describing how good it is. It’s hard to describe so here’s what happens now: You are going to close this window. You will then go to a torrent site or your video store of choice. You will rent or download the movie. And most importantly of all, FUCKING WATCH IT!
Thus I come to the film version of this story. I was as skeptical as you probably are if you haven’t seen this movie. The original story was very short. Here’s the brief summary of the book. Max is a rowdy kid. He gets in trouble with his mom one night, and she sends him to bed with no dinner. While in his room, Max goes in to an imagery world that he navigates through in a boat and comes to the titular Wild Things. They are a bunch of big monster looking things and Max becomes their king. However, Max gets bored after awhile and heads home much to the dismay of the Wild Things. When he finally gets home he finds that his mother has left him dinner in his room, and it’s still warm. It’s a sweet and charming story, meaning making a good movie out of it is near impossible.
So, how is such a feat to be achieved? Well, you simply need to watch this movie and you have your answer. It’s a great film that keeps the heart and story of the original material but adds a lot great things! Things that most movies these days lack like: character and plot and great design.
The story is mostly the same, but they add some changes. Max is not so much rowdy as troubled. He’s at the point where he’s feeling alone, his sister is off with her friends all the time, his mother still loves and cares for him, but she has her own life too. It comes to a head when he gets the feeling that his mother doesn’t really seem to want to pay attention to him when he’s feeling lonely and so he puts on his wolf costume (another nod to the source material) and throws a fit that ends in him biting her and running away to the woods. There he finds a boat and goes to the land of the Wild Things. He becomes their king and tries to rule in such away that everyone is happy and always having fun. Slowly though, he realizes that his selfishness is actually hurting the Wild Things, and ultimately decides that he has to go back home.
Now, really this is one of those things that may sound silly to some, but really this is a movie that is based on a picture book, if you have shit design you have fucked the movie, plan and simple. Thankfully it’s like I said, the design is just perfect. Most of the Wild Things look like they walked out of the book, mainly because, well, they’re actually in front of the camera. I said in my “Sorority Row” review that I’m not too hot on 100% CGI, mostly this comes from the fact that many CGI movies just look fake. I mean, they look cool, but I can tell I’m looking at an effect and it really detracts from the movies most of time unless we’re talking about things “King Kong ‘05”, or the “Pirates of The Caribbean” films. Thankfully, this movie chose to make the Wild Things with the help of the studio that is God when it comes to suits and puppets, The Jim Henson Work Shop. Before anyone points out the CG in the movie, I’m aware, the facial movements are CG. I don’t care because the rest of the creature is actually there. The CG is there to add fluidity that can’t be achieved by animatronics, THAT’S HOW IT’S SUPPOSED TO FUCKING WORK! On top of this, the sets look amazing and really give you a sense of being in another world. It really feels like you’re there.
On top of that, the acting talent is just stunning. Max Records is just amazing as Max here. He just perfectly gathers all the anguish, anger, happiness and well nearly every other emotion I can think of for this character, and he’s only 12! People made a big deal about Haley Joel Osment in “The Sixth Sense” or Keisha Castle-Hughes in “Whale Rider”, and they did very well in those roles, but really I didn’t see anything worthy of the Oscar nominations they received. With Records, I saw a child performance that was seriously over looked. Catherine Keener does great as the mother, being supportive but having her limits and getting frustrated by her son’s behavior. Honestly, what steals the show is the Wild Things themselves, not just because of the design, but seriously the voices are what seal the deal for me. All the talent from Catherine O’ Hara to Chris Cooper to Tony Soprano himself James Gandolfini creates their own characters beautifully. They all have their own personality traits and quirks. It’s different from what you thought would come from the story because all these character are poignant, well rounded and oh so likable.
You know what, I could give this movie a verbal blow job for fucking hours and still not come close to truly describing how good it is. It’s hard to describe so here’s what happens now: You are going to close this window. You will then go to a torrent site or your video store of choice. You will rent or download the movie. And most importantly of all, FUCKING WATCH IT!
Friday, March 12, 2010
Sorority Row
Hey there my faithful followers! The Cinema Lunatic is back and I apologize for my long absence. But enough of that, let’s talk about one of my favorite guilty pleasures, the slasher movie. God these were great in the 80’s. They had some nice kill scenes, usually had some very pretty girls, and a ridiculous enough plot that I actually laugh yet secretly admire how they take something so stupid and make you want to see it to the end.
But sadly we have entered the Dark Age, and boy am I sad. Basically in the 80’s there were a bunch of pretty interesting entries to the genre like “The Burning” or “Happy Birthday to Me”, and even things like “April Fool’s Day” or the original “Prom Night”, then sadly due to gross over saturation it became a bit of a joke and “Scream” came out, and it was basically a slasher that made fun of the clichés that had been created and then, well, that was it. All the slashers that have come out since then have been jokes, really bad jokes. Either we get shitty remakes of classics, like “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” or the up coming remake of “A Nightmare on Elm Street”(seriously even with Jackie Earle Haley as Freddy, it ain’t gonna hold a candle and you know it!), or things that hardly try like “I Know What You Did Last Summer” and its sequels. Some decent ones have come out on video like “American Nightmare” but we have yet to see a really good one come main stream to theaters in a long time. That is until last summer, which I regretfully admit I missed out on until it came to DVD.
Yes, a movie called “Sorority Row” is actually something that I found whole heartedly to be one of the most well done of the genre since “Scream” started the trend of just saying its all been done and we should just poke fun at it. It’s a bit jarring because I actually did specifically rent this to make fun of and bash on it, but the more I watched it, the more I started to like it. The film encompasses all that I dig about slashers and yet it doesn’t really seem to care about the clichés, it knows what it is and because of that just focuses on being a lot of fun to watch which has always been the point of the genre to me.
The plot is a rip off of, well almost every slasher movie, ever. A prank goes wrong and some one gets killed, so the main characters try to cover it up and then later it comes back to bite them in the ass and they get killed in increasing elaborate ways. That’s all you really need for a slasher. Nothing overly deep or insightful, just good gory fun. In this case it has to do with a sorority and the main characters are sisters of said. It does start off as a joke, but it doesn’t try to be too serious about it’s self and that is a nice change of pace to the slashers out there that still want to try and be. The plot has a bunch of holes, but it’s so much fun to watch that it doesn’t bother me, and shouldn’t bother you. Plus, for once a slasher actually had a well executed twist. It’s not great, you could either see it coming if you really think about it, or just think it was out of place, but it’s so well done that it actually does get props from me, mostly because it’s like “The Prowler” or original (yes original, there was one) “My Bloody Valentine”. They had twists that really didn’t make a ton of sense, but damn they were jarring and here it is equally so.
I have to say that the cast knew that this was just fun. They play frat boys and sorority girls so well it’s kind of admirable. They back stab and bitch and moan so much that it grates your nerves, yet I found always find some endearing quality in most of them. The majority of them know that what they did was wrong so they lament, but are afraid that the consequences would cause massive rifts in there lives, it’s selfish but at the same time I can’t think of anyone that wouldn’t think the same, even if only for a second. The director like I’ve said already, knew what he was making and decided that he would just try to make the best slasher in a long time. So while they have unlikeable traits, a lot of them, you never hate them enough to actually want them to see them die. So in that way a bit of suspense is achieved and a nice amount of fun can be had with if not really scary a couple of jumps can happen.
Then there is the make up effects, and I’m going to come out and say it: God I’m glad most of the gore effects in this movie were practical! I’m sorry for those who love the hell out of CGI, I have moments where I have to admit there was no other way, but it was so nice to see a horror movie that actually wanted to try and show really things like a girl getting a wine bottle shoved down her throat. In these movies, if it isn’t actually happening in front of the camera, what’s the fucking point? I’ll admit they do spice them up with some arterial spray here and there that is clearly CG, but the actually effect is still enough to get me excited to see that there are still people out there that are trying to practice the tried and true techniques of Tom Savini and Dick Smith, and that make me a happy reviewer.
Overall, I have nothing much left to say about this movie. I highly recommend it if you like horror films, especially slashers. It’s fun, dark, and if you’re like me, a nice thing to see. It goes back to what I said about “Zombieland” this a movie that knew what it was, didn’t try to be anything else, and just had fun with it. And to me, that’s truly what makes movies of this kind enjoyable. Is it good? No, not in the least. Is it scary? Not really, unless blood scares you. No this is just the perfect movie for a night of pizza, beer and friends on a Saturday. A highly recommended rental to say the least in my opinion. Come on, it has Carrie Fisher (You know, Princess Leia) swearing, drinking like a fish and packing a fucking shot gun! That alone deserves to be watched!
But sadly we have entered the Dark Age, and boy am I sad. Basically in the 80’s there were a bunch of pretty interesting entries to the genre like “The Burning” or “Happy Birthday to Me”, and even things like “April Fool’s Day” or the original “Prom Night”, then sadly due to gross over saturation it became a bit of a joke and “Scream” came out, and it was basically a slasher that made fun of the clichés that had been created and then, well, that was it. All the slashers that have come out since then have been jokes, really bad jokes. Either we get shitty remakes of classics, like “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” or the up coming remake of “A Nightmare on Elm Street”(seriously even with Jackie Earle Haley as Freddy, it ain’t gonna hold a candle and you know it!), or things that hardly try like “I Know What You Did Last Summer” and its sequels. Some decent ones have come out on video like “American Nightmare” but we have yet to see a really good one come main stream to theaters in a long time. That is until last summer, which I regretfully admit I missed out on until it came to DVD.
Yes, a movie called “Sorority Row” is actually something that I found whole heartedly to be one of the most well done of the genre since “Scream” started the trend of just saying its all been done and we should just poke fun at it. It’s a bit jarring because I actually did specifically rent this to make fun of and bash on it, but the more I watched it, the more I started to like it. The film encompasses all that I dig about slashers and yet it doesn’t really seem to care about the clichés, it knows what it is and because of that just focuses on being a lot of fun to watch which has always been the point of the genre to me.
The plot is a rip off of, well almost every slasher movie, ever. A prank goes wrong and some one gets killed, so the main characters try to cover it up and then later it comes back to bite them in the ass and they get killed in increasing elaborate ways. That’s all you really need for a slasher. Nothing overly deep or insightful, just good gory fun. In this case it has to do with a sorority and the main characters are sisters of said. It does start off as a joke, but it doesn’t try to be too serious about it’s self and that is a nice change of pace to the slashers out there that still want to try and be. The plot has a bunch of holes, but it’s so much fun to watch that it doesn’t bother me, and shouldn’t bother you. Plus, for once a slasher actually had a well executed twist. It’s not great, you could either see it coming if you really think about it, or just think it was out of place, but it’s so well done that it actually does get props from me, mostly because it’s like “The Prowler” or original (yes original, there was one) “My Bloody Valentine”. They had twists that really didn’t make a ton of sense, but damn they were jarring and here it is equally so.
I have to say that the cast knew that this was just fun. They play frat boys and sorority girls so well it’s kind of admirable. They back stab and bitch and moan so much that it grates your nerves, yet I found always find some endearing quality in most of them. The majority of them know that what they did was wrong so they lament, but are afraid that the consequences would cause massive rifts in there lives, it’s selfish but at the same time I can’t think of anyone that wouldn’t think the same, even if only for a second. The director like I’ve said already, knew what he was making and decided that he would just try to make the best slasher in a long time. So while they have unlikeable traits, a lot of them, you never hate them enough to actually want them to see them die. So in that way a bit of suspense is achieved and a nice amount of fun can be had with if not really scary a couple of jumps can happen.
Then there is the make up effects, and I’m going to come out and say it: God I’m glad most of the gore effects in this movie were practical! I’m sorry for those who love the hell out of CGI, I have moments where I have to admit there was no other way, but it was so nice to see a horror movie that actually wanted to try and show really things like a girl getting a wine bottle shoved down her throat. In these movies, if it isn’t actually happening in front of the camera, what’s the fucking point? I’ll admit they do spice them up with some arterial spray here and there that is clearly CG, but the actually effect is still enough to get me excited to see that there are still people out there that are trying to practice the tried and true techniques of Tom Savini and Dick Smith, and that make me a happy reviewer.
Overall, I have nothing much left to say about this movie. I highly recommend it if you like horror films, especially slashers. It’s fun, dark, and if you’re like me, a nice thing to see. It goes back to what I said about “Zombieland” this a movie that knew what it was, didn’t try to be anything else, and just had fun with it. And to me, that’s truly what makes movies of this kind enjoyable. Is it good? No, not in the least. Is it scary? Not really, unless blood scares you. No this is just the perfect movie for a night of pizza, beer and friends on a Saturday. A highly recommended rental to say the least in my opinion. Come on, it has Carrie Fisher (You know, Princess Leia) swearing, drinking like a fish and packing a fucking shot gun! That alone deserves to be watched!
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Gamer
Ok, I have no witty hook for this review. This movie is shit! It's the lowest of the low! From now on when ever I need an example of exactly how to make a movie into a giant piece of shit, I can refer to fucking "Gamer". Seriously, as pissed as I got about things like "The Final Destination" or "Pandorum", "Gamer" completely eclipses both of them even if they were able to fuck and have a grotesquely deformed shitty movie of a child.
Where do you start with this short bus of a movie? How about the action sequences, seeing as it's supposed to be a action movie. This movie is a perfect example of the kind of the stuff that makes action movies not fun at all these days, and it comes from two things: Shaky camera, and mega choppy editing. I don't mean choppy like there's a cut every few seconds, I mean that nearly every second of footage has a cut. This combined with the shaky camera work, which I'm able to normally forgive because the frenzy of an action scene, makes these actions scenes unwatchable. Don't believe me? While watching this movie I never had any idea who was getting shot or shot at, who was dying, or why the fuck I should even care. Maybe I just don't have the massive attention span or brain power needed to understand this, but I still think if you can take something that's normally as cool as a gun battle and make it dull and uninteresting you have failed!
The special effects are just lazy and make all the bright images and race tracks from "Speed Racer" look reserved by comparison. That's all I'm going to say because trying to think back on some of these effects with the shitty editing throughout this movie, I go into an epileptic fit and pass out.
The plot is the only thing that has potential in this movie, it fucks it up of course, but all the same I have to give credit where credit is due. It's about a Dystopian future where gamers have gotten so tired of playing characters that are made of ones and zeros and want to fuck around with real people. They do so by way of nano bots being implanted into the brains of the "in game" characters and the people playing them can control them I guess through some kind of motion capture thing, it's never really that well explained. They play these people via two kinds of games, one is basically a jab at things like "Second Life" and "The Sims" called "Society" and the other is "Slayers", the "HALO" rip off. The concept of "Slayers" is that all the controllable people are death row inmates and if they live through 30 battles, they get a full pardon. Of course the developer is evil and wants to use the nano technology to rule the world and the most popular "character" of "Slayers" has dirt on him that can screw the pooch on the whole deal. and that's really where it stops being comprehend-able. The rest is about the character's wife and child and it ends up that evil guy has his daughter somehow. There are plot holes out the ass in this concept and while I won't torture you with all of them, I will point out two of the more glaring ones. First, the concept of a gladiator game using death row inmates is not really that plausible. Think about it, the death penalty is one of the biggest hot button issues out there and I doubt that even in a Dystopian future that look like it has a government very similar to present day you'll be able to get someone to sign off on basically making the prisoners dance like monkeys before they blow each other away with big guns. Second, the control the nano stuff has on people varies as the plot sees fit so when they say that the players have full control in one scene, in another they show that if the "character" wills it or is pissed enough they can fight against it. On top of that, this movie is basically saying that there are people willing to submit to mind control! It makes no sense and makes one angry.
The performances suck. They just suck. Gerard Butler is barely audible half the time and I spent so much time during the movie just trying to hear what he's say before just giving up and shouting "This. Is. SPARTA!!!!" to make myself happy again. His wife is meh, under used and poorly acted. The kid that plays his controller is as annoyingly painful as having Jigsaw tie you down and rub a cheese grater on your face and pouring rubbing alcohol on it for good measure. There are little cameos from John Leguizamo and John De Lancie, they have very little screen time and can walk away with their dignity. They also seem to be the only ones that actually try to make this seem realistic. But the biggest cock slap is this movie got Micheal C. Hall from "Dexter" to play the villain, and it turns him into a more over the top than a cartoon kind of bond villain reject type that seem to plague the action genre these days! It doesn't even seem like Hall is really trying, but I'm just going to think that it's more he just saw a good pay check and went through the motions because he's definitely a much better actor than this.
But I have to say I think the thing that pissed me off most about this movie is how utterly fucking childish it is. The final battle with the villain start with, and I'm not kidding here, the villain controlling a bunch of thugs in a rendition of some knock off of "West Side Story". I'm sorry, how is that menacing? I mean I know there there are villains that do silly things, but usually it's related to the character's personal interest and it's usually a lot more threatening! This is just stupid! However the thing that pissed me off more than anything, the ultimate statement that the directors and writers of this piece of shit have the intellect of fucking 12 year olds are the segments that show off "Society". It's, I think, supposed to be some "deep" message about how in games like "The Sims" the players are just sadistic and perverted and treat the in game avatars like shit. So in them we have moments of people being controlled to run into walls and crash skate boards. Then you have all the nudity. I'm going to say even as a heterosexual 23 year old male that enjoys the occasional shot of bare breasts in a movie, this movie had far too many tits in it. I'm serious, in the space of about a minute there are about 5 different pairs exposed on screen and it's really annoying, plus, really with the internet it's a bit of a wasted effort. It's like the movie is going "I know I suck, but the guys gotta like me because I have lots of boobs!". They can't hide behind the poor argument that it's supposed to be people going drunk with the power of controlling someone else because they always put them right in the middle of the frame! Clearly they are trying to bring attention to it!
This is without doubt one of the absolute worst fucking pieces of horse shit claiming to be a movie that I've seen in a long time. I rented this for about $2 plus tax and I feel dirty and want my money back as well as the hour and a half of my life that was wasted! It's horrible and I cannot stress enough that people should not see it.
Where do you start with this short bus of a movie? How about the action sequences, seeing as it's supposed to be a action movie. This movie is a perfect example of the kind of the stuff that makes action movies not fun at all these days, and it comes from two things: Shaky camera, and mega choppy editing. I don't mean choppy like there's a cut every few seconds, I mean that nearly every second of footage has a cut. This combined with the shaky camera work, which I'm able to normally forgive because the frenzy of an action scene, makes these actions scenes unwatchable. Don't believe me? While watching this movie I never had any idea who was getting shot or shot at, who was dying, or why the fuck I should even care. Maybe I just don't have the massive attention span or brain power needed to understand this, but I still think if you can take something that's normally as cool as a gun battle and make it dull and uninteresting you have failed!
The special effects are just lazy and make all the bright images and race tracks from "Speed Racer" look reserved by comparison. That's all I'm going to say because trying to think back on some of these effects with the shitty editing throughout this movie, I go into an epileptic fit and pass out.
The plot is the only thing that has potential in this movie, it fucks it up of course, but all the same I have to give credit where credit is due. It's about a Dystopian future where gamers have gotten so tired of playing characters that are made of ones and zeros and want to fuck around with real people. They do so by way of nano bots being implanted into the brains of the "in game" characters and the people playing them can control them I guess through some kind of motion capture thing, it's never really that well explained. They play these people via two kinds of games, one is basically a jab at things like "Second Life" and "The Sims" called "Society" and the other is "Slayers", the "HALO" rip off. The concept of "Slayers" is that all the controllable people are death row inmates and if they live through 30 battles, they get a full pardon. Of course the developer is evil and wants to use the nano technology to rule the world and the most popular "character" of "Slayers" has dirt on him that can screw the pooch on the whole deal. and that's really where it stops being comprehend-able. The rest is about the character's wife and child and it ends up that evil guy has his daughter somehow. There are plot holes out the ass in this concept and while I won't torture you with all of them, I will point out two of the more glaring ones. First, the concept of a gladiator game using death row inmates is not really that plausible. Think about it, the death penalty is one of the biggest hot button issues out there and I doubt that even in a Dystopian future that look like it has a government very similar to present day you'll be able to get someone to sign off on basically making the prisoners dance like monkeys before they blow each other away with big guns. Second, the control the nano stuff has on people varies as the plot sees fit so when they say that the players have full control in one scene, in another they show that if the "character" wills it or is pissed enough they can fight against it. On top of that, this movie is basically saying that there are people willing to submit to mind control! It makes no sense and makes one angry.
The performances suck. They just suck. Gerard Butler is barely audible half the time and I spent so much time during the movie just trying to hear what he's say before just giving up and shouting "This. Is. SPARTA!!!!" to make myself happy again. His wife is meh, under used and poorly acted. The kid that plays his controller is as annoyingly painful as having Jigsaw tie you down and rub a cheese grater on your face and pouring rubbing alcohol on it for good measure. There are little cameos from John Leguizamo and John De Lancie, they have very little screen time and can walk away with their dignity. They also seem to be the only ones that actually try to make this seem realistic. But the biggest cock slap is this movie got Micheal C. Hall from "Dexter" to play the villain, and it turns him into a more over the top than a cartoon kind of bond villain reject type that seem to plague the action genre these days! It doesn't even seem like Hall is really trying, but I'm just going to think that it's more he just saw a good pay check and went through the motions because he's definitely a much better actor than this.
But I have to say I think the thing that pissed me off most about this movie is how utterly fucking childish it is. The final battle with the villain start with, and I'm not kidding here, the villain controlling a bunch of thugs in a rendition of some knock off of "West Side Story". I'm sorry, how is that menacing? I mean I know there there are villains that do silly things, but usually it's related to the character's personal interest and it's usually a lot more threatening! This is just stupid! However the thing that pissed me off more than anything, the ultimate statement that the directors and writers of this piece of shit have the intellect of fucking 12 year olds are the segments that show off "Society". It's, I think, supposed to be some "deep" message about how in games like "The Sims" the players are just sadistic and perverted and treat the in game avatars like shit. So in them we have moments of people being controlled to run into walls and crash skate boards. Then you have all the nudity. I'm going to say even as a heterosexual 23 year old male that enjoys the occasional shot of bare breasts in a movie, this movie had far too many tits in it. I'm serious, in the space of about a minute there are about 5 different pairs exposed on screen and it's really annoying, plus, really with the internet it's a bit of a wasted effort. It's like the movie is going "I know I suck, but the guys gotta like me because I have lots of boobs!". They can't hide behind the poor argument that it's supposed to be people going drunk with the power of controlling someone else because they always put them right in the middle of the frame! Clearly they are trying to bring attention to it!
This is without doubt one of the absolute worst fucking pieces of horse shit claiming to be a movie that I've seen in a long time. I rented this for about $2 plus tax and I feel dirty and want my money back as well as the hour and a half of my life that was wasted! It's horrible and I cannot stress enough that people should not see it.
From Paris With Love
Is there a guy on earth that doesn't get a kick out of action movies? I mean they're fun and have lots of cool things like explosions and car chases and other manly things. However I must admit that this particular genre has fallen into the trap of, well, sucking pretty hard in the last few years with only a few gems like “Live Free or Die Hard” and some of the Marvel adaptations being reminders of why this genre is popular in the first place, especially if they are actually trying to have a coherent story. Yes, it seems that I have to put on my movie geek hat and say that more is being done in foreign venues than here in the states, but I can’t help what’s true. It’s partially why I’ve been fond of French made action films, since usually they have more interesting locations, better style, interesting action and fun characters. Though, there are exceptions to that particular idea.
And so we come to “From Paris with Love”, a buddy action film from the French film makers that gave us “Taken”, which despite a couple plot holes that were fairly glaring, I felt was fairly well crafted for a good little action/revenge flick, and though I had little knowledge of “with Love” before I saw it, I was at least hoping for something entertaining, if not entirely good. Did I get what I asked for? No.
To be fair the film has one redeeming factor to it, and that’s John Travolta playing the main bad ass of the movie Charlie Wax. He is so delightfully quirky and over the top in his part that it was the only thing that made me keep watching the rest of the flick to see what he’d do next. He was cool and methodical, but could have his berserk-er moments of flat out ass kicking and there’s even a bit of fan service in the form of a Royale with cheese he munches on at one point. Too bad all the other performances suck the big one. Jonathan Rhys Meyer’s character was very forgettable even though I have to admit he is able to get the job done by playing a good straight man type trying to cope with Travolta’s volatile nature, I still found him bland and uninteresting.
That was another thing that kind of put me off, most buddy films, especially buddy action flicks like this, rely on pretty precise chemistry between the two actors. It's a give and take thing because, when it comes down to it, there's one by the books neat and tidy type, and then there's the lose cannon with poor hygiene, they hate each other at first but something has to keep them together and then they grow to be a powerhouse team, but you have to have the reason they stay together make sense. While Travolta and Meyers play fairly well off each other, there is enough of a lack to break any connection the characters may have, and the audience is left wondering why Meyers wants to continue to put up with Travolta’s behavior much longer than the first couple of scenes, the only reason we get is that he wants to be an agent and this is the only thing he can do to achieve that... So you're telling me the NSA makes all people that want to be agents deal with a crazy bald guy that's trying to kick some serious terrorist ass, while basically putting your life in danger because he needs a guy to basically be used as bait? Seems like it's be easier to just keep being the nerdy ambassador's aide!
I haven’t even started on the stupidly vague and changing plot. At first it’s mentioned that Travolta, an NSA agent, is there to bring down a huge drug cartel. Ok, this is good action movie fodder, many others have had a lot of success with this concept. Then out of nowhere he tells Meyers that it was never about the drugs, despite the fact he is very adamant that it’s drugs for about 10 minutes of the movie, and it’s suddenly all about stopping a terrorist attack. This is still a good action plot, but it’s undermined by the fact that they already had another cliché that was being set up already and then threw it out with a vague line to relate them in that the terrorists are being funded by the drugs... It still hurts my brain to try and figure out a better way to say that.
I digress, when it comes to an action movie, it’s all about the action sequences, are they good, or bad? Here, the answer is bad. There’s way too much shaky camera work, the editing is choppy and they use slow motion shots to cover up the fact that Travolta can’t really do hardcore fight choreography anymore, which was upsetting because I felt his fight with Christian Slater in “Broken Arrow” was one of the best of the ‘90s and seeing him turned into someone that needs slow motion to beat people up, it was depressing to say the least. The only good sequence is in the end of the film where there is a pretty well done car chase, but it’s most definitely too little too late. I was just so unenthusiastic with these sequences that I found myself looking at my watch to see how much longer I had to sit through this monotonous pile of shit.
Overall, this is an action film that really just tries way, way too hard to be a drama. Something like that can work in a film like “Taken”, where the motivation is more personal. Here, they try and put in a very bad twist to make it more dramatic, but overall, the action is dull, the characters don’t really work together, the plot does more 180’s than I think is appropriate and it all boils down to a fairly mediocre experience that I wouldn’t even recommend as a rental.
And so we come to “From Paris with Love”, a buddy action film from the French film makers that gave us “Taken”, which despite a couple plot holes that were fairly glaring, I felt was fairly well crafted for a good little action/revenge flick, and though I had little knowledge of “with Love” before I saw it, I was at least hoping for something entertaining, if not entirely good. Did I get what I asked for? No.
To be fair the film has one redeeming factor to it, and that’s John Travolta playing the main bad ass of the movie Charlie Wax. He is so delightfully quirky and over the top in his part that it was the only thing that made me keep watching the rest of the flick to see what he’d do next. He was cool and methodical, but could have his berserk-er moments of flat out ass kicking and there’s even a bit of fan service in the form of a Royale with cheese he munches on at one point. Too bad all the other performances suck the big one. Jonathan Rhys Meyer’s character was very forgettable even though I have to admit he is able to get the job done by playing a good straight man type trying to cope with Travolta’s volatile nature, I still found him bland and uninteresting.
That was another thing that kind of put me off, most buddy films, especially buddy action flicks like this, rely on pretty precise chemistry between the two actors. It's a give and take thing because, when it comes down to it, there's one by the books neat and tidy type, and then there's the lose cannon with poor hygiene, they hate each other at first but something has to keep them together and then they grow to be a powerhouse team, but you have to have the reason they stay together make sense. While Travolta and Meyers play fairly well off each other, there is enough of a lack to break any connection the characters may have, and the audience is left wondering why Meyers wants to continue to put up with Travolta’s behavior much longer than the first couple of scenes, the only reason we get is that he wants to be an agent and this is the only thing he can do to achieve that... So you're telling me the NSA makes all people that want to be agents deal with a crazy bald guy that's trying to kick some serious terrorist ass, while basically putting your life in danger because he needs a guy to basically be used as bait? Seems like it's be easier to just keep being the nerdy ambassador's aide!
I haven’t even started on the stupidly vague and changing plot. At first it’s mentioned that Travolta, an NSA agent, is there to bring down a huge drug cartel. Ok, this is good action movie fodder, many others have had a lot of success with this concept. Then out of nowhere he tells Meyers that it was never about the drugs, despite the fact he is very adamant that it’s drugs for about 10 minutes of the movie, and it’s suddenly all about stopping a terrorist attack. This is still a good action plot, but it’s undermined by the fact that they already had another cliché that was being set up already and then threw it out with a vague line to relate them in that the terrorists are being funded by the drugs... It still hurts my brain to try and figure out a better way to say that.
I digress, when it comes to an action movie, it’s all about the action sequences, are they good, or bad? Here, the answer is bad. There’s way too much shaky camera work, the editing is choppy and they use slow motion shots to cover up the fact that Travolta can’t really do hardcore fight choreography anymore, which was upsetting because I felt his fight with Christian Slater in “Broken Arrow” was one of the best of the ‘90s and seeing him turned into someone that needs slow motion to beat people up, it was depressing to say the least. The only good sequence is in the end of the film where there is a pretty well done car chase, but it’s most definitely too little too late. I was just so unenthusiastic with these sequences that I found myself looking at my watch to see how much longer I had to sit through this monotonous pile of shit.
Overall, this is an action film that really just tries way, way too hard to be a drama. Something like that can work in a film like “Taken”, where the motivation is more personal. Here, they try and put in a very bad twist to make it more dramatic, but overall, the action is dull, the characters don’t really work together, the plot does more 180’s than I think is appropriate and it all boils down to a fairly mediocre experience that I wouldn’t even recommend as a rental.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Zombieland
If there was one movie I regret not going to in 2009, it was fucking “Zombieland”! Come on, a zombie fan like me missing a movie called “Zombieland”? it’s a sin I tell ya!
Well, have no fear, I have done my time. And here’s a real non shocker: “ZOMBIELAND” IS FUCKING AWESOME!!!
I really can’t find another way to describe it. It’s a movie with guns, humor, zombies, good acting, and it opens with one of the best opening credit sequences ever! You really can’t top a slow motion credits sequence of people being chased by zombies with Metallica’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls” in the background. It really puts you in the right mood for the rest of the film and you know you’re in for something epic.
What I have always said makes a really good zombie movie is good characters. “Shaun Of the Dead” was the perfect example of this and it could make the funny scenes funnier and the horror scenes that much more horrifying because you’ve gotten to like the characters. “Zombieland” is another perfect example of this. It’s got an ensemble cast that has some of the best onscreen chemistry. The performances from Woody Harrelson and company are just spot on with just the right amount of those fun little quirks that make you like them.
Not to mention the writing is top notch. I mean I thought this movie was going to be really silly, yet fun, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that this movie actually has a lot of love and effort behind it. The jokes and just general sense of humor are all surprisingly well thought out and not just low brow.
And as if this movie really gets something just right in spades, it's action and horror elements are just so well done, the action is actually exciting and the horror elements are actually pretty suspenseful. It may seem weird to think that is a big deal for an action horror comedy, but it really is when you look at some of the movies that are coming out and it's nice to see one that actually is exciting, funny and nail biting all at the same time.
It’s hard to find something that I don’t like about this movie. It’s just one of those perfect fun little movies. I highly recommend it to anyone that wants to have a good time watching a movie. Not just a highly recommended rental, but a highly recommended purchase.
Well, have no fear, I have done my time. And here’s a real non shocker: “ZOMBIELAND” IS FUCKING AWESOME!!!
I really can’t find another way to describe it. It’s a movie with guns, humor, zombies, good acting, and it opens with one of the best opening credit sequences ever! You really can’t top a slow motion credits sequence of people being chased by zombies with Metallica’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls” in the background. It really puts you in the right mood for the rest of the film and you know you’re in for something epic.
What I have always said makes a really good zombie movie is good characters. “Shaun Of the Dead” was the perfect example of this and it could make the funny scenes funnier and the horror scenes that much more horrifying because you’ve gotten to like the characters. “Zombieland” is another perfect example of this. It’s got an ensemble cast that has some of the best onscreen chemistry. The performances from Woody Harrelson and company are just spot on with just the right amount of those fun little quirks that make you like them.
Not to mention the writing is top notch. I mean I thought this movie was going to be really silly, yet fun, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that this movie actually has a lot of love and effort behind it. The jokes and just general sense of humor are all surprisingly well thought out and not just low brow.
And as if this movie really gets something just right in spades, it's action and horror elements are just so well done, the action is actually exciting and the horror elements are actually pretty suspenseful. It may seem weird to think that is a big deal for an action horror comedy, but it really is when you look at some of the movies that are coming out and it's nice to see one that actually is exciting, funny and nail biting all at the same time.
It’s hard to find something that I don’t like about this movie. It’s just one of those perfect fun little movies. I highly recommend it to anyone that wants to have a good time watching a movie. Not just a highly recommended rental, but a highly recommended purchase.
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