the M's Talk

Horror of Dracula

I still say that F.W. Murnau and Max Schreck did it before and did it better in "Nosferatu", but I can say that "Horror of Dracula". runs a very close second

After watching this film again, I have no doubts why Christopher Lee is so well remembered for his portrayal of Count Dracula and not just because he happened to put in the most screen appearances as said anti-hero to date. The black cloak clad over his well-over six foot frame lends an aura of menace and intimidation that no other version since Max Schreck has held with such ease. The initial scenes of him showing his charming side are, in my opinion, sorely missed later when he seems to have been reduced to the level of stereotypical vampire on the loose, but I'm willing to overlook this as I descended through the Dracula film series. Forget Lugosi; Lee is the definitive version of the Count.

Peter Cushing, meanwhile, takes center stage as Dracula's driven, calculating adversary, Professor Van Helsing. Here, the script uses an old trick of literature by using the phonograph recording scene to subconsciously ask the viewer that if a man as intelligent and sophisticated as Van Helsing can believe in vampires, than why not the audience? As determined as a bloodhound on the scent of his prey, Van Helsing is not unsympathetic to the suffering of the Count's victims and their loved ones. But, by necessity, he must remain hardnosed and decisive on what needs to be done and not being afraid to tell the parties responsible for carrying out his wishs that this must be so.

The ending suggests the influence of "Nosferatu" (the first instance in cinema were a vampire could be killed by sunlight), but I must admit that it stands, head and shoulders, above what Murnau's film wrought and, indeed, what Stoker's original novel had. Oddly enough, I feel no victory in Dracula's death. Rather, I feel that the world has lost something irreplacable, no matter how brutal that something was. It almost makes me kind of glad that the Count would rise again in several other Hammer sequels...

Still a great film and well worth checking out.

Lady Snowblood (Lady Snowblood: Blizzard from the Netherworld) (Shurayukihime)

Whatever you think of Tarantino's Kill Bill, its success meant that some of the little known(in the west at least) films that inspired that film have had some dvd releases, and Lady Snowblood is among the best of them. The films plot is fairly simple. a woman gives birth in prison and dies. Before she passes away she tells the other locked-up women that her daughter has only one reason in life: revenge. We then find out what has happened to cause this situation. the woman's husband was murdered and she was beaten and raped by a group of five. After managing to kill one of this gang herself, she was sent to prison. In the prison she whores herself out to any man available so that eventually ends up pregnant with the aim that the child will revenge her dead husband and her own sad demise. The film follows this daughters training and eventual attempt to revenge her parents.Of course, it all gets a bit messy.

For such an old film Lady Snowblood doesn't seem very old fashioned. It's a tale of revenge which is very bloody chopped limbs and gushes of blood and if the story seems tired, it's actually told in a fairly original way. Told in chapters (like Kill Bill) these story moves at a slow pace but you know each small part will have its own climax so theres never to long to
wait before a new development. The film also incorporates an extended scene where the story is told via illustrations (the story is based on a bestselling manga, and this is a technique which is also "borrowed" by Kill Bill, albeit in an animated style) and its with this mixture of
storytelling techniques that the film seems quicker and more lively than it actually is. Which is of course a good thing. The lovely Kaji Meiko plays Yuki, otherwise known as Lady Snowblood, otherwise known as the crazy bitch out for revenge. For the most part Yuki's un-expressive face manages to reflect all kinds of anger as well as a real sadness. Watching her facial expressions really translates this sense of untrust. The film looks amazing, contrasting all sorts of wide camera shots with close-ups, incorporating the landscape as well as close-ups of faces and with the added use of the weather (she isn?t called Snowblood for nothing), Lady Snowblood pulls you into its narrative.

Again, Tarantino nicked some of the framing ideas and compositions of shots, and you can hardly blame him because they're so effective. For an example of this, simply see the scene
where the group are looking down on Yuki's mother - laughing and smirking at her - and you get a sense of the way this film works on a back to basics level. Lady Snowblood seems to reduce themes, character and camera shots to a primitive level, it's only flourishes are the way the story is told. The action is also handled very well, swords swing leaving gushing blood and all sorts of detached limbs, while maintaining an ironic beauty. Blood on snow (like her name) is quite beautiful, but disturbing. Despite its b-movie plot, this is a film which is full of style.

Lady Snowblood Blizzard From The Netherworld is an excellent revenge-flick and all-too an obvious influence on some contemporary cinema. Its not the most subtle film, but it has a huge amount of character and is still a step above the average hack-and-slash revenge story. Its one of those films that surprises you at how good it is and almost begs for a repeat viewing. If this review seems to compare the film to Kill Bill too much, then watch this film and you'll see why Lady Snowblood is superior in many ways.

Max Payne

It was decidedly PG-13 so it couldn't get anywhere near the darkness of the game. However, it's one of the least embarrassin game movies out there - but the forumers were right, Mila Kunis was grossly miscast. The bullet time element wasn't so good.

Street Kings

I've read some reviews here and there about this movie because they claim the plot is incoherent and makes no sense. Well I have to totally disagree with that for starters, and can only assume that those reviewers must have tuned out on the movie pretty early into it.

The film follows a few days in the life of Keanu's character- an old school cop who ruthlessly takes out the bad guys and lies through his teeth to get the job done. In that sense he is a corrupt cop, but he's not on the take, and as the movie unfolds he discovers his ex partner is grassing him up to Internal Affairs and he must get to the bottom of a cop killing incident that increasingly stinks of blackmail, dirty money and cops betraying cops. I think that's as much as I can say without giving anything away.

My main criticism of this film is that for me, the plot and the twists were far too obvious. So if your one of those people like me who sees twists coming a mile off, but hates it when that happens, you may be disappointed. So I recommend either switching off your brain or giving yourself a congratulatory pat on the back when your guesses are gradually confirmed as the movie unfolds.

There's plenty of shoot outs, some decent action, and an interesting slant on the Internal Affairs scenario. Admittedly many of the characters are clichés but what cop thriller isn't riddled with them? And besides, clichés are clichés because they are often spot on to reality. The great Hugh Laurie has a small but significant role as a Internal Affairs officer, I for one wish his part was bigger.One other thing I was annoyed by was the ending, in that certain faceless and unknown corrupt officials appear to end up being protected and not pay for their crimes, but on reflection I realise that had this story been a true one, then that would have been exactly what would have happened.

All in all a good effort, Its not as good as some films of its type like Dark Blue or tv series like The Shield but is worth checking out

Night of the Living Dead

A young woman and her brother are attacked in a cemetery by a strange shambling figure, and she flees to a remote house where a motley crew of survivors are holing up against a horde of flesh eating zombies. George Romero's Night of the Living Dead is the seminal zombie film that spawned an entire genre, and is an abject lesson that strong ideas can make a brilliant film without a big budget to back it up. Duane Jones is great as the pragmatic hero who keeps a cool head and sets about survival as a job of work, and Romero's choice of a black actor to play the hero was clearly a conscious one. It's a story of the whole fabric of society unraveling; a black man taking centre stage and ordering middle class whites around, the system is shown to be ineffectual and run by bickering bureaucrats, one of our "heroes" is a coward despised even by his own wife, and the dysfunction of the family dynamic is to the point where family members butcher and chow down on each other! The stark black and white photography still looks good, as do the effects which actually hold up better than many later films and it has an edginess of style that has more in common with the likes of Psycho than a splatter flick. Ruthlessly uncompromising through to the shocking conclusion, and one of the most influential horror films ever made. A classic.

Ghost Busters (Ghostbusters)

There is a reason why "Ghostbusters," the supernatural comedy hit from 1984 that was directed by Ivan Reitman, is a classic today: "Ghostbusters" is a film that easily worked its way into cinema and pop culture, spawning a 1989 sequel, a spin-off animated series, merchandise, songs (by Ray Parker, Jr.), and Slimer!!! It has a top-notch cast, including Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Harold Ramis as three parapsychologists who go into business eliminating poltergeists in New York City.

That plot outline sounds pretty simple, doesn't it? Well, OK, it is. "Ghostbusters" has one of those "novelty plots" (trademark), where a seemingly simple, maybe even random idea snowballs and becomes something truly unique altogether. That is what "Ghostbusters" is, and that is what its plot has. I still don't think Reitman, Aykroyd, and Ramis had too many brainstorming sessions where they just sat in a room and tossed around random ideas for three hours.

No. In "Ghostbusters," three unemployed parapsychologists, Dr. Peter Venkman (Murray), Dr. Raymond Stantz (Aykroyd) and Dr. Egon Spengler (Ramis), are thrown out of the university because their studies into the paranormal have failed to yield any positive results. So they get the idea to put their heads together and go into the ghost-busting business. Of course, things are slow at first and people have difficulty taking their ads seriously (save for the opening sequence where a librarian has a creepy encounter with the specter haunting the library).

They then get a break when Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver) discovers that a monstrous dog-thing has taken up residence in her refrigerator. (If you think that's bad, just watch out for those eggs that start frying themselves on the kitchen counter.) Oddly enough, none of her neighbors have complained to the super of any supernatural activity in the building, not even her loser neighbor Louis Tulley (Rick Moranis), who I think, obviously, secretly has a crush on her.

So the boys go about investigating Dana's claim, while Venkman initiates some poorly timed moves on her. More calls of ghostly encounters continue, and soon the general public has no choice but to let the Ghostbusters believe them. Cool. Venkman, Stantz and Spengler are eventually joined by a fourth, an Everyman named Winston Zeddmore (Ernie Hudson), who proves to probably be the emotional and spiritual anchor the other three need as they find themselves going up against an otherworldly threat that is far bigger than anything any of them ever expected.

"Ghostbusters" is just as imaginative as it is funny and timeless. The cast members know their roles and fill them out with equal pizazz, including William Atherton as slimy EPA agent Walter Peck and Annie Potts as cynical secretary Janine Melnitz. The real spectacle of course, are the inventive special effects. Of course, it's pretty easy to computer generate ghosts and goblins and film them interacting with live actors. Back in 1984, the filmmakers still had to use lighting and other camera trickery to make such things possible and in my eyes it makes things seem alot more real.

And lastly, who can forget Mr. Stay Puft's classic rampage down through lower Manhattan?

One of my all time favorite movies. For the few who haven't seen it. Check it out.

Kabluey

A hidden gem - delightfully surprisin! Cleverly timed and thought out. I'll watch any Prendergast movie after this one.

Wild Orchid

Some Minor Spoilers Here****************************

This movie, underrated and panned by most is to me one of the most enduring erotic films of all time. judged as a fantasy, it doesn't have to go by the rules that govern normal film criticism. flawed by those standards, it will still be shown for a long time.

Carre Otis doesn't have to be a stereotypical, international lawyer. it doesn't have to have continuity or a rich script they are the characters they portray at the fantasy level, with scenes of sexual tension, unexpected happenings and the intense, colorful noisy, bizarre and sexy backdrop of Rio

Also much of the story is in subtext and symbolism.

The silent boy character, for example, who clearly represents Wheeler( Mickey Rourke) as a child. When Wheeler decides to stop playing games, he sends the boy as his messenger to deliver the message. He has had to face a few things and get in touch with his past in order to move beyond his emotional issues.

Yes, there are some examples of bad acting and cheesy lines here and there as is the case with most movies. Yes the plot is improbable. But don't dismiss this film as just another excuse for soft-pornography. The story here is in the characters. And it is backed up well by exotic atmosphere and beautiful photography. Not to mention a great soundtrack. Recommended

V for Vendetta

After a disappointing attempt in making The Matrix into a totally forgettable trilogy, the Wachowski brothers write a new film tackling the issues of terrorism and corruption between the bureaucratic governments in this futuristic look of Britain.Now this film is based on a graphic novel which I love and changes were made as with most books adapted to the big screen but with everyone involved in this movie it goes without saying I would have only high expectations for this film. The directorJames McTeigue, who served as an assistant director on the Matrix series, really impressed me with the outcome of this film.

In a state of government that is controlled by a tyrant and is in a state of civil war, there's nowhere safe for anyone that is a possible suspect of terrorism. With corrupt leaders and crooked officers, there is only one thing that is suspected of this and that is the right to rebel against the government. Evey Hammond (Natalie Portman) becomes cornered in a dark alley by several government officers who have only one thing on their mind. Luckily she is saved from the power hungry officers by a man in black that wears the a Guy-Fawkes mask and whose weapon of choice is the dozen of daggers that he carries around. She's intrigued by the man in black, who has no second thought of using violence as a mean of expression for his rebellious ideas, who latter has been labeled as the terrorist of the new generation and given the name "V". With her curiosity, Evey is kidnapped by V and learns of his lifestyles that he carries on. Meanwhile, Inspector Eric Finch, (Stephen Rea) is questioning the authority of the nations dictator Creedy, whose face is blown up on a large movie screen as he dictates his committee, displaying his ego and attempt to be intimidating to his council. All I can picture is that this guy is probably 5'1'', drives cars that are large and fast, and makes sure to be yelling and/or frowning at the same time. As the film continues, you begin to learn the reasoning for V's acts of terrorism involving explosions of national monuments and the mentality that violence is the only way to rebel.

The pace of the film isn't what you would expect from the trailer that you can see online but that doesn't change anything, the film shows the stylistic traits of the graphic novel that seems to be the new wave of interpretation as seen through most recent films such as The History of Violence and Sin City. There are several high class references in V's humble layer, underneath the rocky ledge near the coast of some river, being that there are rare paintings on the wall, operatic music playing in the background and other nick-nacks that show the intellect that V truly is, giving him the approval rating for his actions. Even though he seemed to be justifying the rights of all mankind in this totalitarian government, it seems like I've heard or seen this story before at least a half a dozen times, I don't seem to mind. The ending is what ties everyone together and the effect that V had on society is what is special about the film and shows the overpowering force of the people against a tyrant. To sum it up John Locke would approve with the idea, disapprove of the actions, while Machiavelli would be frustrated beyond belief. A great look at the rise and fall of power in a time were the nation is trying to understand how there future might evolve. Check this one out

La Maschera del demonio (Black Sunday) (House of Fright) (Mask of the Demon)

Mario Bava's "La Maschera Del Demonio" aka. "Black Sunday"/"The Mask Of Satan" of 1960 starring Barbara Steele is, without exaggeration, one of the most brilliant horror milestones in motion picture history, one of the most atmospheric masterpieces ever brought to screen, and an absolute must-see for any lover of film.

Any true horror fan will agree that Mario Bava is one of the greatest cinematic geniuses of all-time. Bava's knew to combine terror and beauty and create a haunting, mesmerizing atmosphere like no other, and his other masterpieces, such as "The Whip And The Body", "Kill Baby... Kill!" or "Lisa And The Devil", just to name three, all stick out as the brilliant work of a cinematic genius. His feature-length debut as a director, "La Maschera Del Demonio" is arguably the greatest film by this brilliant director, and without doubt one of the most important horror films ever brought to screen.Not only is this the debut of the arguably greatest Horror director of all-time, it rose the Italian Horror to international fame. The movie furthermore brought Horror's greatest female icon, Barbara Steele, to fame. The incomparable Barbara Steele, who has a unique ability of combining stunning beauty and eeriness, is one of my favorite actresses of all-time, and this film is one of the main reasons for my admiration of her.

In Moldavia of 1630, Princess Asa Vajda (Barbara Steele) and her lover Javutic (Artuto Dominici) are sentenced to death for witchcraft. Before an iron mask, the 'Mask Of Satan' is nailed to her face on her execution site, Asa vows revenge and curses her brother, the prince and inquisitor who has sentenced her to death and his descendants. Two centuries later the Vajda family is still living in the castle near the tomb where Asa was buried, and the young princess Katja (also Steele) is Asa's living image...

Barbara Steele was the perfect choice to star as the innocent Katja and the vengeful witch Asa. No other actress could have fit in this double role even nearly as greatly as Steele, the stunning beauty who is yet so capable of being eerie. Arturo Dominici is also very, very creepy in his role. The performances are all very good Andrea Checchi and Ivo Garrani are great in their roles and John Richardson makes a good hero. It is definitely Barbara Steele, whose brilliant performance gives this film immortality. Mario Bava was an exceptionally brilliant director, and the atmosphere in "La Maschera Del Demonio" is unique. The impressive black and white photography is as essential for the haunting atmosphere of this masterpiece as the brilliant, mesmerizing and incomparably eerie score.At the time of its release, this movie was controversial for its macabre topic and its morbidity and the graphic depiction of violence. The violence is very graphic for 1960, and the reason that it may seem tame for today standards is mainly the fact that the film is shot in black and white, which also makes morbid and gruesome scenes very elegant.

I can not find enough words to praise Mario Bava as a director, Barbara Steele as an actress, and "La Maschera Del Demonio" in particular appropriately, but I assure any true lover of film that this is a movie that must be seen. This mesmerizing gothic masterpiece is a unique experience that no lover of horror and film fan in general can afford to miss, and if I was to make a list of my favorite movies of all-time, "La Maschera Del Demonio" would be one of the films to rank at the very top. All said, this is a movie that is pure gothic perfection, and, in one word, Essential.

Thinner

This creepy, unsettling thriller is one of the more under-rated movies that have been adapted from Stephen King's stories (Lord knows there have been plenty of absolutely horrid ones). There are some gruesome scenes, but credit director Tom Holland (who also wrote and helmed the classic horror-comedy "Fright Night") for lending what could have been hoary B-Movie material a heaping helping of style....there are moments where what is suggested is far more dreadful than what could have been shown. And I appreciate Holland's fight to keep the book's bleak ending after the studio supposedly tried to bully him into shooting a happier, more upbeat one. Robert John Burke is very good as the afflicted man, but Joe Mantegna almost steals the film as a gangster (once successfully defended in court by Burke's lawyer character) who tries to repay the favor by helping Burke get payback from the gypsies who cursed him.

Like the book, the movie has scenes which will stay with you long after it's all over. Recommended

Oldboy

Daesu Oh is a drunk and a philanderer, but otherwise a fairly typical husband and father. That is until one day he is kidnapped and imprisoned in a cell for 15 years with only a TV set for company and no word of explanation. One day he wakes up on the outside with only a wallet and a phone, and he sets out on a single-minded quest to find out why he was imprisoned and extract bloody vengeance on those responsible. The second part of the Vengeance Trilogy by Chan-wook Park, Oldboy is a bizarre and brilliant film. It constantly wrong foots you and messes with your perceptions, and contains the kind of revelation that makes the kind of so-called plot "twists" of most films look gimmicky and inane. This is the kind of film that blows you away and makes you realise you've been watching the WHOLE THING from the wrong standpoint. As for Min-sik Choi's performance, astonishing is the only word for it...the way such intense emotions and motivations are constantly shifting without ever feeling contrived or forced is just spellbinding. It combines art and extreme violence in a way that reminded me of A Clockwork Orange, but BETTER. It's also stylistically on the same level as Fight Club and is absolutely riveting from beginning to end. A totally flawless modern masterpiece.

X2

Now this is MUCH more like it! After a shaky opening that was all clumsy exposition and no plot, the story centres far more around Wolverine, who was always the most interesting X-Man. The clever plot makes use of the political back drop of mutant witch hunts set up in the first film and introduces William Stryker, a military scientist with a fascistic agenda to rid the world of the mutant "problem", citing a phantom terrorist threat as a justification for his Draconian methods (sound familiar?!) It intelligently introduces Mastermind and Nightcrawler and Logan finds a match for himself in the gorgeous and enigmatic shape of Kelly Hu. The opening scene alone is more exciting than every action sequence in the first film put together, and the characters and their relationships are far more fleshed out, providing much more of the grey moral areas that made the X-Men comics so good. It also subtly seeds some of the most interesting plot themes from the comic book stories (which were all unfortunately completely wasted in the dire Last Stand...) Add extremely stylish visuals, super cool characters and loads of memorable scenes (the pick of which is probably Magneto's escape from his plastic prison) and you have one of the best superhero movies ever made. Pity the third one was such a pile of crap...