Take Me Home Tonight, Wild Cherry, My Girlfriend's Boyfriend

So instead of trying to write three reviews I'm gonna take a stab at all three at once. Why? mostly because I've been watching so many movies lately that I've overwhelmed myself with reviews I would like to write.  I didn't want to put off any more reviews so I figured I'd do all of these romantically inclined movies together.

Fortunately, my impressions of the first two were similar. They made me laugh at points but overall seemed to fall rather flat. Take Me Home had some amusing scenes.  I think I laughed out loud a few times. The movie is supposed take place in the 80's. Why? I'm not sure. I thinks the idea was to go for the nostalgia hook. I think they were hoping that that hook was going to get people to watch. I admit, that's one reason I wanted to see it. I think they did that to try and separate it out from all the other teen comedies we've seen for year. In that aspect, it worked. When people talk about this movie they describe it as an 80's comedy. Unfortunately, the only thing I can remember that set it in the 80's was the music. If you took out the music and replaced it with modern music, it would be a mediocre modern day teen comedy. One problem with the movie was that they actors weren't used to their full potential. Topher Grace, Anna Ferris and Dan Fogler are all hugely talented comedic actors that, with the exception of Dan Fogler, seemed restrained or at times uninterested in their characters. If that was the case, it was because the characters themselves weren't all that interesting or unique. I wouldn't say this was a bad movie. I enjoyed parts of it but it certainly wasn't the most entertaining movie. I ended up picking up the laptop and surfing about half way through, if that tells you anything. I admit, I did stop surfing to soak in the scene with the always gorgeous Angie Everhart...

Which brings me to Wild Cherry. This movie was supposed to be an "American Pie from a more female perspective." Was it? Eh. Not really. Yes, the lead characters were girls. Was raunchy? Eh... there were a couple scenes, more like one that could be considered raunchy. Was it fun? A little. This one suffered from a similar problem as Take Me Home did. It was rather flat. The charachters were pretty one dimensional and not very fun. I didn't really end up laughing a whole lot or caring about how it was gonna play out for them. I will say that Rob Schneider did a great job playing a nervous dad and Tia Carrere's short "Power of the pussy" scene was rather entertaining. I would have to say though that I liked this one slightly more than Take Me Home.

Lastly we have My Girlfriend's Boyfriend. This wasn't so much a comedy as more of a straight somewhat light hearted romance. I ended up liking this one the most. It went in a different direction then I thought it would which was disappointing and rewarding at the same time. I could watch Alyssa Milano any day all day, but that aside, the rest of the acting was good too. I enjoyed all the characters. I loved that Tom Lenk who played Jonathan in Buff the Vampire Slayer was in it. He's got a great comedic charm to him. Very entertaining. It was in a way kind of hokey with how upbeat the majority of the film was. I loved the music in it also. Even though there only seems to be about four songs.Well It was funny I was brainstorming once on what a cool hacker name would be if I were one (i'm not smart enough though lol) and Said SCSImatrix sounds cool. I hate that my brain has prolonged this review too long for me to get into specifics because specifics don't stick long with me. I'm gonna end this with I really liked this movie. It was charming the characters were engaging and I had fun all around watching it. Now that being said I'm not even gonna do a final proof of this or I won't publish it. So please excuse any bits of poor grammar, run on sentences, half thoughts, total fallacies or devil worship that may have crept in over time. 

Mother's Day

Oh Troma how do I love thee? Let me count the ways...
Toxic Avenger, Sgt Kabukiman, Surf Nazi's Must Die, Terror Firmer, Poultrygeist, Class of Nuke Em High...

So much fun to be had by Troma. Although, even though they have some really fun (ie so bad they are great) movies, they do have a huuuuge pile of turds in the mix also. I think Mother's Day fit somewhere above the middle of the pack.
There were parts of this that were a bit slow but overall, for a pre-Toxie film, I thought it was rather fun. The blood and gore was rather tame for a Troma flick but it's an early one and they obviously haven't grown into their now notorious skin yet.
The acting was surprisingly well done for an old C list movie. The bad guys/woman were crazy enough to be entertaining but not so over the top to be ridiculous. The female leads were were better than your average schlock actresses.

Random thought while watching:
The "half the size of your face" 70's style glasses kill me.

These kinds of movies have to be watched on a different scale of likability that other movies. When going in, you know there is going to be cheesy dialog, bad acting, bad/way over the top blood and gore, sex, t&a, violence and some WTF type moments. I think when you're in the mindset for this type of movie you end up being pleasantly surprised when you finish and find yourself not ready to make a deal with the devil to get that hour and a half back. If any of the elements listed above are actually tolerable, it's a win. If you get more than one of these elements working together then you have a good Troma flick.
I didn't put this on the top of my list because it didn't have that fun factor that movies like Poultrygeist and Toxic Avenger have. I think this is due partly because of the fact that the characters weren't completely over the top. It was more on the horror/suspense end than the crazy twisted humor end. Don't get me wrong, there were plenty of things that had me laughing and I would in no way put it in the classification of a horror movie. I think that's why I can't put it up on top of the list. Although it was probably one of the more well rounded Troma films out there that's exactly what kept it from being a great movie for me. When I watch Troma, I want crazy. I want head splats. I want people being boiled in a fryolator. I want t&a. I want to go through the whole movie asking myself, "What the hell?!" I want to mutter, "Geezus!" I WANT MAYHEM!
Er... uh... excuse me. Where was I... Oh yeah. I would say that if you're in a Troma state of mind and you're looking for something you haven't seen and you've seen all the Troma greats, I don't think you'd be disappointed with Mother's Day.

Just Go With It

Adam Sandler cracks me up. I like, or at least had many a chuckle from, nearly all of his movies (Except Little Nicky. I don't know what it was about that movie but I couldn't stand it). I also mentioned in my little review about Priceless, that I tend to like romantic comedies. Aaaand, being a guy, adding the fact that Brooklyn Decker, Jennifer Aniston and Nicole Kidman are in it, I was pretty much sold on enjoying some of it at least.
This movie had me laughing from beginning to end. The whole cast seemed to have fun with the characters. Nick Swardson was absolutely hysterical and I have a feeling 10 year old Bailee Madison is going to be absolutely huge in Hollywood in the not too distant future. On topof that, Dave Matthews was friggin great too. Who'd have guessed he'd be a funny bastard on film?
With this type of movie, I usually don't expect there to be too much in the way of plot twists or deep story elements. You know how the movie is gonna end by looking at the cover art. It's not about about whether or not they end up together, it's what happens to them that gets them together and if it makes you laugh and pull at some heart strings along the way.
I think the one thing that really makes or breaks this type of film is the on screen chemistry. Adam Sandler and his crew seem to almost always hit the mark or at least super close to it.
I was talking about this movie to a friend of mine and he said his wife saw the movie and usually she likes Adam Sandler's movies but she didn't like this one. My roommate and I were in stitches through most of the movie. Now being that I'm a guy, I had the added bonus of watching the three lovely ladies I mentioned at the beginning. Obviously this isn't going to be a plus in the eyes of most of the women out there. That got me thinking... Adam Sandler has proven he can pull off romantic comedies that women love. He also has the 5th grade humor that guys like me enjoy. Is it possible that he created a romantic comedy for guys? In thinking back, I did realize that this movie pulled off the romantic comedy story without any huge tension scenes or heartbreaking occurrences. As far as I know, that's part of what women enjoy in this type of movie. I could be wrong (surprise, surprise, women baffle me so I most likely am). This is also the part that makes most guys cringe.Well there ya go.
As Mike Meyers' Linda Richmond character would say...
Here's a topic faw ya: Did Adam Sandler make a RomGuyCom?
Tawk amongst yawselves.

Sucker Punch

I was really excited, like many other people, for Sucker Punch to come out. I try to stay away from trailers and promotions to a movie and go into films with as little info as possible. I ended up seeing a clip or two from this before I watched it and that was enough to suck(er) me in. I added the (er) because I was duped into thinking it was going to be an awesome movie.
I love the new Dawn of the Dead. As much as I rail on this awful "reboot" trend, I liked that remake. I also liked 300. So when I heard and saw that director Zack Snyder had a new, really fun looking movie coming out I thought I was going to enjoy it. I was wrong. I had heard many-a-bad review of this movie before I finally rented it from Redbox and I was hoping that my quirky sense of movie admiration would save it for me. It didn't.
I will say this for the movie, it looked pretty as hell. I loved the style of the movie. Unfortunately, this didn't even come close to saving it. The war/fight scenes where amazing in their imaginativeness, these scenes were so gorgeous and fantastic that you can't help but enjoy them... although somehow you could. They totally fell flat. Why? I'm not sure. For action scenes with lots of shooting and fighting, they felt lumbering and tedious. The problem is now you have two more layers of stories above this to wade through. Yes, without giving too much away, this movie has many layers and unlike Shrek these layers don't lead to a soft and likeable inside.
There was so much potential in this story and somehow it all fell flat on its face. It had beautiful, kick ass women. Gorgeous Baby Doll in pig tails fighting all sorts of fantastical warriors and soldiers. It had steampunk Nazi's. It had stylish cinematography. It had so many great ideas that there should have been no way for this movie to be anything less han fun to watch. And yet... it wasn't that fun to watch. I would really have to watch it again to try and figure out what I think went wrong with it but it's not worth that kind of effort.
I would suggest putting this movie on in the background of a noisy house party. That way people could catch the fight scenes while drunk and not really paying attention. That or just watch the trailer.

Black Swan

Black Swan... hmmm. I guess I'll start off with what I knew about it before watching. I knew that Darren Aronofsky directed it. I knew that I love his films. I knew that two ladies I enjoy watching, Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis, were in it. I knew that it was about ballet. I knew I know nothing about ballet. On top of all that I knew that many people proclaimed WTF after watching it and that usually means I'll like it.
I can say that I'm not typically a fan of dramas. There are some here and there that catch my interest but this one unfortunately wasn't one of them.
I didn't think the movie was bad by any means, I just couldn't get into it. I just kept waiting for it to get WTF weird. I think part of the reason was that I have no connection to professional dancing. I don't understand how a person can be extremely technical and not get the same reaction from the audience as someone who "looses themself" in the part. Does emotion really transfer that much through someone dancing on a stage? I can understand it being important in film or TV or even music where the audience is up close an personal with the performers but not in ballet on stage. It's kind of weird that I can understand it in one art form but not another. Although I guess if the dancers didn't immerse themselves in their parts then every production would seem like an elementary school play. This disconnect lent to me not really being able to attach to the characters motives. I also have no idea what it's like to obsess about anything so much that it would drive me crazy. I'm too scatterbrained for that. If something I'm working starts making me crazy, I usually drop it and find a new interest. I never stick to one thing for very long. The other thing that I had a problem with was more with the hype than the film itself. I think if I had seen it cold, without any knowledge of the film, I would have probably liked it more. I wouldn't have been waiting the whole time for it to get weird. Pretty much the whole time I just kept thinking about what was gonna happen that freaked everyone out so much. Then when the end came, I was like, "That's it? Ummmm. OK I admit it was a bit strange but it wasn't THAT crazy." Of course, with the amount of insane films I have watched in my life so far, I'm not too surprised that I was a little let down. But these are my issues, not the movies. If you want to see a portrayal of insanity, watch π, Requiem for a Dream, or go to David Lynch's Eraserhead. Or even better, Slaughtered Vomit Dolls. This is an unbelievably vile and disturbing movie that the director claimed was a representation of "the insanity just before death." If you can make it through while not be completely revolted and feel as though you've gone insane yourself... you're probably already wearing a straight jacket. This is the type of film I compare "strange" movies to.
Overall, I think Black Swan was done well. I think the characters were well acted but many seemed rather flat, storywise (Maybe the script itself was too technical and could have used more human touches to the characters... hmmm). To Natalie Portman's credit, her character was supposed to be rather 2D. Vincent Cassel really flew off the screen and was in your face. And one thing I had taken note of while watching was that Barbara Hershey had my eyes wide in a "wow that was creepy" look at a few points.
The strangeness that went on in the movie helped convey the feeling of someone really cracking under pressure, which I believe is the whole point of the movie. I think if I didn't have my hangups, I would have been more into the flick. Now I want to go and watch π and Requiem for a dream.

Insidious

So my Saturday night started with Paranormal Activity 2 then moved on to Insidious. One scare flick after another. Right off the bat I would have to say I liked Paranormal Activity 2 better.
Did I dislike Insidious?  No. I enjoyed it but not as much as Paranormal Activity 2. I liked how Paranormal Activity 2 knew what it was and didn't veer. Insidious suffered from a personality disorder. It changed it's feel halfway through, then again towards the end.
The beginning of Insidious was quite like Paranormal Activity 2 with it's scare tactics. Then it changed to a Ghostbusters feel with the introduction of the geeky paranormal techies. They were quite the refreshing blast of comedic air. Without feeling hokey, they managed to make me laugh whole heartedly and I immediately attached to these characters. Then it changed from a "realistic" ghost story to a sort of monster flick feel. While watching this, I was reminded of Drag Me To Hell for some reason. Check out my next blog post about that movie because I ended up throwing that in right after this one.
Was it fun? Yes. Was it great? No. I found my mind wandering near the end. It definitely had a few good "jolt you outta you seat" moments and some laughs but I would have to say Paranormal Activity 1 or even 2 was better as far as a ghost story is concerned.

Paranormal Activity 2

So, I finally got around to watching this. I remember the buzz around the first movie and having to search out a theater that was actually playing it around here. I was super excited to see it. Most of the time, that's a kiss of death for a movie because they almost never live up to the hype. I was glad that part one didn't disappoint. I'm usually the type of person who gets annoyed at the Hitchcock theory of it's better to leave stuff up to the imagination of the viewer. I agree that in many cases a movie can be better if the audience doesn't have the whole story shoved down their eye holes. I also think some films really need to show as much as they can. If I am watching a slasher film or cult flick, I want to be shown everything. These types of movies are made to shock and I think in those cases it's more shocking and disturbing to actually see what's going on. With movies like Paranormal 1 & 2 this philosophy probably would have cheapened them. Movies don't spook me easily anymore. It really takes some work to get the hairs on my neck to stand up an both of these films did that for me. When I got home after watching the first one, I actually found myself asking if I really wanted to turn off the lights before going to bed!
Then... a short time after part one was out... the dread news spread around that part two was in the works and, I admit, I groaned. Thinking back to Blair Witch 2. I assumed this sequel would go in the same direction. Why? Because I believe that movies on shoestring budgets actually draw out more creativity. Once Hollywood money gets poured into the likes of Paranormal Activity, it usually goes sour pretty fast. Suddenly it's about special effects and "let's see how we can mold it into a clone of whatever the hot movie was last year." I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised at how true to the first film this sequel stayed. Actually it was so true that it was almost an exact clone of the first one.
The scares were your classic startle moments... it's quiet... there's a noise... BLAM! Just like the first. I'd have to say that this didn't detract from my enjoyment. The one thing that did distract me was the feeling that this story didn't fit in with the first. By the end, it did seem to fit and I assumed it was my bad memory that caused the rift.
Overall, I enjoyed the flick. Even though it wasn't as good as the first one, it wasn't as bad as your typical Hollywood sequel. I am definitely looking forward to seeing the third in this series in the hopes that it doesn't strive any farther than trying to copy part one.

Priceless

So had a complete reversal of film genre after Joy of Torture. Went for a French dramedy. Honestly, the main reason I chose to watch it is because of Audrey Tautou. Ever since seeing Amelie I've been enamoured with her. Course that's not to surprising because that happens with many many actresses I watch. The other reason is that I actually enjoy watching romantic comedies. Go ahead and make your jokes... I'll wait.......... are ya done? No? I'll wait longer..........OK so on to my thoughts on the movie.
The route that this little love story takes isn't one that I expected. Of course, being that it wasn't made in Hollywood, this isn't surprising that it wasn't formulaic. I was hoping for more comedy than it ended up having. The movie itself was light and enjoyable for the most part and there were a few laughs in it but mostly it just pulled out a bunch of smiles from me. This however didn't keep me from getting a little bored about half way through. It wasn't that I disliked the story, it just felt like it meandered way too much. I liked the two main characters but didn't really care about much else in the film.
I will say that I was completely captivated by Tautou throught the whole movie. I found that I couldn't keep my eyes off her. That being said if you are a fan of hers, this definitely movie is worth a watch. Her co-star Gad Elmaleh played a great bumbling charmer but he wouldn't have been able to hold the movie on his own. The two of them seemed to fit well together and you can't help but enjoy most of their interactions.
So overall, would I recommend it? Sure if you are a big fan of Tautou or are just a big sap for romance flicks. If you're looking for a romantic comedy, there are better ones out there but you could certainly do way worse.

BTW if you haven't seen Amelie DO IT NOW! Or at least soon!

Shogun's Joy of Torture

Hello again world of blogging. I've strayed away from this blog for a while and I'm trying to get myself posting again. I have Blogger on my HTC Evo so hopefully that will give me more of an incentive to post here.
Okay so where to start on this movie... I found this flick on one of two sites I ran across that sell OOP (Out of print) cult movies. This one was found on www.cinema-de-bizarre.com. I also bumped into www.twistedanger.com from which I bought Ilsa: Shewolf of the SS. Both companies have a great product. The one from Cinema de Bizarre came in an amaray case with cover art and a simple title printed on the disc. Twisted Anger came in a CD case with a good amount of detail printed right on the disc. Both companies have some lead time on shipment (about 2 to 3 weeks) but the product is definitely with the wait in my opinion.
On to the actual movie. What's there to say about this? Honestly, not a whole lot. I got distracted by the internet part of the way through, so I was only half paying attention to it. That being the case, it still seemed like a long movie. Basically the movie consists of a few vignettes set in Feudal Japan which end in women being tortured for various reasons and men being murdered to mix it up. None of the stories are very compelling but on the same token they aren't the worst stories.
The special effects are not horrible for the time period (released in '68). Nothing tremendously graphic or overly believable. Pretty tame in light of some movies I've seen in my lifetime.
So what's so special about this flick? Not too sure. I think the fact that it was done in the late 60's means it's one of the earlier exploition flicks from Japan but I haven't done any research to confirm that.
Would I recommend Joy of Torture? Not really. There certainly have been better and more insane movies to come out of Japan since this movie, for example the Guinea Pig series. But I guess you have to start somewhere.

Dead Snow

Dead Snow... I knew I wanted to see this movie from the first few shots in the trailer. A movie that almost immediately mentions Evil Dead 1 and 2 and has a guy wearing a Brain Dead (Dead Alive) movie T-shirt has my attention immediately. Also... Come on, how can you pass up frozen Nazi zombies!

I thoroughly enjoyed myself with this movie. I will be buying it ASAP (I watched it on Netflix streaming). If you enjoy kind of goofy yet over-top-gory flicks, then this is perfect for you. BTW for you whiners out there about subtitles, it is subtitled when you watch it on Netflix. I prefer that to dubbed any day, but I know some people are sensitive about having to read while watching a movie.

Dead Snow is rather typical in many aspects for this type of homage horror film. A few examples are:
References to other horror movies to establish that the makers of this flick love horror films.
The expositional character that knows the evil history of the area so that viewers can't say the film lacks some sort of a plot.
Visual "reenactments" of scenes of horror films that pushed the filmmakers to make their own horror film.

I think this film did a great job of combining horror, homage and comedy. There were some great scenes that made me cringe then laugh out loud. This type of film walks a fine line. It's kind of like tight rope walking. Think of the comedy and horror as being the tight rope walkers balancing stick. Comedy is on his right and horror is on his left. The farther out you go comedy-wise, the more over the top the horror needs to be. If you don't balance that out, the movie is too lopsided and it falls on it's face. I believe that's why this film works well.

The acting was good enough that I didn't even think once about it until just now while writing this blog entry. Guess that is a good way to judge that. I also loved the crazy gore juxtaposed to the sometimes slapstick comedy. I really love the whole Nazi zombie idea also. They could have easily just made a normal zombie flick, but instead added the Nazi aspect which just made this that much more bizarre.

This is one of those gems that I believe will become a cult classic. It has definitely been added to my list of favorites along side with the likes of the Evil Deads, Re-Animator and Dead Alive. In fact, writing about it a day later makes me want to see it again, right now. Maybe I will.

Terminator Salvation

I had put off watching this movie because I had heard mixed reviews on it. I also know that it didn't do nearly as well as it was expected to in the theaters. It made 125 million worldwide and cost over 200 million to make. But I don't usually take those kinds of things into consideration when choosing a film to watch because there is a huge amount of "crap" movies that I love. That being said. I'm not sure why I didn't see this movie right away.

I ended up enjoying this flick. Multiple times the little critic voice in the back of my head would start to creep up and I would have to distract him and smack him over the head with a 2 by 4 to continue enjoying the movie. There were no glaring plot holes that I noticed. Some of the stuff was very minor. One example, and this doesn't ruin plot at all, is when a motorcycle terminator is taken down and then "overridden" so the person can ride it. My question is... if these are machines made by machines, why are there manual controls? By the way, yes I said a motorcycle terminator. There are many types of terminators in this flick. Large ones, small ones, flying ones, swimming ones, you name it. After reading about McG's (the man behind the Charlie's Angels movies and the short-lived Fastlane TV series) idea about this film, it proved that his vision fit the final product. He said this is a war movie at heart. That it is. Between his high energy action sequences and Danny Elfman's (who scored nearly every Tim Burton film and many, many more) music I knew I would enjoy the film.

I was right. I had fun watching it and can't wait to buy it on Blu-ray to watch it again.

Miss March

Ace Ventura imitation done not so charismatically and set in a somewhat raunchy teen movie. It think that sums it up.

This is a movie that had some original laugh out loud moments, but somewhat annoyed me. Trevor Moore playing Tucker Cleigh was way too much like a bad Ace Ventura (down to the unbuttoned Hawaiian t-shirt) to get past and enjoy. It was one of those things where it seemed to forced and over the top. The movie itself is crazy enough and adding all the nuances of  Tucker Cleigh to it was a bit much. I think it would have played better if the character was just eccentric not a wide-eyed, nearly insane, person.

Besides that, there were a good amount of times where I burst out loud laughing. Some of the things that drew some laughs:
The crazy firemen (all firemen are crazy cuz they breath toxic fumes)
Watching the atrophied Eugene Bell played by Zach Cregger pumping gas had me in stitches.
Then there's the fun with epilepsy and strobe lights.
Poop. That's all I will say.

If any of that sounds like it could be funny to you, then you'll get some good laughs out of this movie. Will you want to see it again? Probably not. Will the laughs be worth sitting through the whole movie... Close call. It depends on your expectations (Hint, keep them loooow.) and how far in the gutter you mind is.

Surrogates

I remember being in and around LA last year and seeing billboards everywhere for this movie. I had never heard of it before that and didn't hear much after either. Only things I heard before I watched it was that it was about robots, Bruce Willis was in it, it wasn't the smartest movie and that it was an action flick. So naturally, I wanted to see it.

I love Bruce Willis' movies. Even Hudson Hawk! I enjoyed almost all of the The Die Hard series (Except 2. That was awful!) The series is completely ridiculous now, yet at the same time is totally entertaining. But besides that... I was talking Surrogates.

The concept of the film is very interesting and some could say plausible with the way technology is growing in the fields of human control over virtual worlds and robotics. The movie definitely didn't delve too deep into the subject, but I think it jumped in enough to be somewhat interesting. The characters are a bit empty. You don't really have an opportunity to get attached to many of the characters.. The action was entertaining, but the CGI was pretty bad at times. Right at the start, as they are doing their setup montage, there's an awful digitally imposed monkey controlling a robotic arm that made me cringe. It kinda sets up the quality of some of the special effects, so at least they were consistent.

All together, I would say that Surrogates is a decent, but hollow, action flick. I wouldn't go out of my way to watch it again, but I wouldn't necessarily turn down watching it if the opportunity arose.

National Lampoon's: Robodoc

National Lampoon's Robodoc... Hmm Let's start by saying this string of names... Parker Lewis, Bud Bundy, Sgt. Larvelle Jones, Bug Pollone, Dr. Jason Seaver. Add to that blatant imitations of characters such as Data and Ben Jabituya. Then of course you can't forget about the characters like hot nurse Fonda, Fonda Johnsons, with a bell jingle when she adjusts her boobs and Dr. Sosume (Yes it's pronounced So-sue-me). To top it off, in the first few minutes of the movie I believe I also heard "Paging Dr. Howard, Dr. Fine, Dr. Howard."

Any of this sound funny or familiar to you? If you answer yes to most of these, they you maaaaay like watching this flick on a Friday night when you're bored and sittin on your couch scratchin your ass and seeing how many boogers you can flick into the garbage. Although this was my Tuesday because I filled my Friday night drooling on myself in a bored, near comatose, state then watching a couple of the "Teenape" movies. Yeah I rock. I sat and watched two movies in a row where the main character is played by a guy wearing a cheesy gorilla mask and gorilla gloves. I was gonna write something on those movies, but all I have to say about them is that if you can get through the first 10-15 minutes, you'll laugh a couple times throughout the rest of the flicks. If you can't stomach the first couple minutes, then you'll want to gouge parts of your brain out with a bums toenail by the end. Okay... Wait... What was I talking about again? Oh yeah, sorry I trailed off on talking about Data the android doctor, Uh, I mean Robodoc... kinda like how my mind trailed off while watching the movie.

I wouldn't say it was bad in the sense that it was poorly done. I would say it was bad in the stupid-Airplane/Naked-Gun-sense-of-humor kinda way. Don't get me wrong, I loooove those types of movies and it gave me a couple quick chuckles but ultimately this one only came close to being almost worth watching. Somehow it felt hollow. It wasn't for lack of trying, though. Part of me wonders if the problem was in the fact that half these actors were popular at one point. Maybe now they are depressed that they have to work on a crappy National Lampoon straight to video flick. I think if it wasn't for all of them being in this film, I would have to hate it.

Basically, I've seen better and I've seen way worse. Watch it mostly for a bit of nostalgia for funny TV actors of yore.

Flash Point

Well Just finished watching Flash Point and wanted to write a few thoughts about it. When I watch a flick like this, I usually know what I'm in for, thin plot and (hopefully) good action. I think that's part of their charm. If I see great action, I'm always satisfied. One thing that's nice about not expecting too much from them story-wise is that every once in a while you hit a gem that surprises you with great action AND a great story. This is not one of them...

This is a part "I do what I need to to bust a guy" and "We got a guy deep undercover" cop movie. Basically it's like half the movies out of Hong Kong. So that being said, plot... yawn, lets mention the action!

The fight scenes in this movie were few and far between. There's a nice short one in the beginning then a couple long, pretty fantastic ones in about the last third of the movie. The final fight scene is nice and long. I would almost rather prefer a movie to be like this. Instead of placing many short scenes here and there, save it all up for the end!

I would say that if I were to judge this flick by how many times I exclaimed things like:
"Whoa!"
"Geez!"
"Oh man!"
"Oh crap!"
"Damn!"
"Whoahaha!"
"Nice!"
"Niiiiice!"
"Wow!"
I would give it an A!

Is it the best I've seen? No. Am I glad I watched it? Yes. Would I recommend it? Yes, if you are up for just chillin and watching some great fight scenes. Thanks for stoppin by.

Scrapbook

Well. I'm about three quarters of the way through this movie and I can say one thing... These actors are really dedicated to making this work. They put their all into it. Unfortunately, it doesn't make it a good movie. It makes it pretty creepy and disturbing, but not good. It is extremely low budget, which I don't fault any of these kinds of movies for. Not everyone can have the budget of James Cameron. I like watching films with no budget, because they are doing it because they are trying to make films, not necessarily money. I also believe that with movies like this, they are more effective with a grainy, low-quality look to them. If they were bluray sharp, they would feel extremely fake (well, more than it already does).

Some of the gore effects are as bad as mannequins done up with makeup. Other effects are quite nasty. This is a movie that is way longer than it should be, it's about 2 hours. It's kind of amazing with a movie like this would be this long. Most movies of this sort are lucky to even come in at an hour and fifteen. It's also amazing that they held out that long with only three actors in the entire film. This is a pretty brutal movie. There are some rape scenes that are really cringe worthy. In fact, I think my face was scrunched up in a disgusted scowl for nearly half of it.

As I said before, I give the crew props for putting all they had into it, but it still falls a bit short. Would I recommend this movie? Only if you are a cult cinema buff and you are running out of movies to watch or you are looking to be rather disgusted with yourself afterwords. That being said, I think I'm gonna go take a shower to wash this movie off me.

Surveillance

I finally was able to sit down and watch Surveillance from the beginning again. I don't like reviews that talk about plot and have spoilers in them. If I'm reading a review, all I need to know is what you thought and what you liked/didn't like. So there will be no spoilers or rehashing of the film here.

I enjoyed this movie quite a bit.  I liked the tone of the film, very "off kilter" for lack of a better description. I also really enjoyed the acting. Bill Pullman plays a great socially awkward character and French Stewart does a great job showing he can portray the polar opposite of his Harry character in 3rd Rock From the Sun. Man I miss that show... Anyway, I think that all the characters are completely believable and almost all of them have enough awkwardness or craziness to keep you a bit edgy while watching. It's gory enough than a typical suspense flick, but not enough to be considered gory or shocking. I may be a liiiitle biased on that last statement seeing as I have watched many whoppers of gore films, but I'm sure it wouldn't be considered gory by many people.

Lastly, I'd like to say that the story isn't a shocker. It's somewhat standard fare for movies now-a-days, but it's not boring or unoriginal.(*Cough*Avatar*Cough*) =)

I look forward to seeing more from her in the future. I went and purchased it on bluray and the bought the DVD for Boxing Helena. I remember really liking Boxing Helena. I wonder what took her so long to make another movie? Boxing Helena was made in 1993...

All-in-all I'd say this movie has just enough of everything to make it completely worth watching. It isn't the best movie ever, but I completely recommend watching. So if you're in the mood to be wide-eyed and kinda creeped out, this  movie is definitely up your alley.

Surveillance: First impressions

I hate stopping a movie and coming back to it later, but I'm going to have to do that tonight. Doing so always takes away from the state of mind that the movie sets you in. It's especially frustrating to do with a movie that is as eerie and quirky as Surveillance. I got caught up in setting up this blog and lost track of the time. Now it's almost 11 and I'm less than halfway through. So far, Jennifer Lynch has created an off-kilter and dark setting. I'm really enjoying everything from the ominous, tense music to the cringe-worthy characters. Bill Pullman plays such a wonderfully socially awkward FBI agent and French Stewart so far has played an amazing sociopath/dirty cop. Very sad to leave this setting, but to finish it, would mean less sleep, which means longer week, which means more and more complaining from yours truly. Well off to try and sleep and looking forward to finishing this movie. G'night.