| Movie | Rating | Review | Date | Your Rating | Match | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iron Man - PG-13 |
Alright so everyone already agrees that RDJ is tha bomb in this, and I wholeheartedly concur. I could take or leave Gwyneth and Terrence Howard, bur unlike most other reviewers, I liked Jeff Bridges' performance. The story is annoyingly laced with patriotism and an attempt at modernity, but what else does one expect from America's largest "propaganda for the youths" machine? The movie whips by with a good action pacing, though it is devoid of any significant plot development. The suit is awesome and corresponding action scenes SEEM to fit in this movie's imagined world of physics. The end was a genuine fanboy heart-pumper: the (best) bumper (eva) left me fully excited (AVENGERS!!!!), especially after that awesome ending with Black Sabbath's anthem capping it. I can't compare this to the comic book, as I always found Iron Man to be boring (and the movie fits that). I do hope Terrence Howard gets dropped from the War Machine role, and that RDJ meets the studio's physical standards for the next installment, as he is a great Tony Stark and funny to see someone so talented and revered as an actor slipped into a cookie cutter superhero role because he makes something otherwise dull, interesting. |
October 22, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Zombieland - R | Damn awesome, especially visually, but I didn't connect with the characters and humor on any level comparable to how I do with zombedy classics Shaun of the Dead or Return of the Living Dead. I hope they hire me to pen the followup. | October 21, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Deadgirl - R |
This is a well executed serious take on the outrageous b horror-exploitation flicks this writer usually makes. This is effective as a "make you think about fucked up shit" movie, not a jumpscare thriller or a gore showcase. As such, it has to make some characters that matter, and it does. These characters have dimension and their actions correspond to what we can expect of them. I watched it twice. Would serve as a nice boys' version companion piece to Teeth in the category of modern (super fucking weird) sexual development horror. |
October 21, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Trick 'r Treat - R |
Working as a multiplot that ebbs and flows back into itself, balancing scares and giggles all the way, Trick r Treat is one of the best American horror films of the decade and is a new classic. I really have to watch it again to see if there is anything really wrong with this film (I just hesitate to give 5 stars after only one screening). Probably the only wrong thing is that this didn't receive the gigantic release that it deserved, but got caught in (to the horror blogosphere) a ridiculous distribution shuffle that landed it a mere DVD release with minimal press support. THIS SHOULD BE AT THE BOX OFFICE FOR HALLOWEEN NOT ANOTHER SHITTY INSTALLMENT OF A SHITTY GORE PORN THAT HAS AN AD NEXT TO THIS VERY BOX WHERE I TYPE THIS REVIEW. Anyways, enough about Saw VI sucking and American horror being mostly devoid of talent and then very stupid about using it when they find it. Trick r Treat is amazing and a must see. |
October 21, 2009 | N/A | |||
| The Vanguard - Unrated |
I am not sure if these Biosyn infected people qualify as zombies, but that broaches the whole "Do infected rage people who break some traditional zombie rules still count as zombies?" And I say yes, because they are addressing the same issues of apocalypse, human vs. altered human, survival, etc. And let us not forget that the "modern zombie" (the Romero zombie) is quite a departure from the pre-existing Voudon zombie, so it is only fair that the infection zombie make some big departures from the undead cannibal or modern zombie. Still, these things are not strictly zombies and sorry to cut into a brief genre analysis, but that is what the person I was watching this with posed to me so I carry over this awareness into this review. In terms of visuals, the cinematography is much better than expected for a low budget; in fact, it has some very beautiful highlights that definitely registers above average. Some little CGI bullets and bullet flash are annoying,but the CGI "throbbing/pulsating infection spots" look incredibly cool. The story is cool but not totally innovative (synopsized) for the apocalyptic genre, offering more of a mashing of many elements we have seen and read before. It is executed nicely with rapid plot turns to keep one engaged. The acting is a bit on the poor side, which is the only big problem with this film. The Biosyn-zombie creatures also walk very funny (they run hunch-backed) so it is tough to take them seriously. The rest of the plot focuses on corporation soldiers and "resistance" soldiers and other fringe survivors, which is more interesting and is obviously all about revealing what the whole Biosyn thing is and why it is. |
October 21, 2009 | N/A | |||
| The Aggressives - PG |
This is a good modern companion piece to the classic Paris is Burning, only this time around the subjects are on the lesbian wavelength. The director did an excellent job at selecting truly compelling people and edits it all (6 years of footage) to make a beautiful and comprehensible timeline of events in these people's lives. This is a "microscope" doc, like Paris is Burning and Gendernauts, and focuses on people within one small community. Still the things they deal with are universal and the issues of gender and sexuality addressed can benefit anyone in terms of broadening your perspective. The director is very minimally invasive, almost invisible, and the subjects are utterly open and comfortable with the camera. Can't recommend it enough. |
October 21, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Mister Frost - R | Jeff Goldblum plays the devil. Quite awesome when I was still actively watching it; got a little too bombed to finish it. But I'll probably watch this again because this is a movie that for me is fun enough to watch a few times. | October 21, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Where the Wild Things Are - PG | Visually beautiful (ground breaking from my perspective), but pushes the post-modern story styling too far. Part of the problem is that some characterizations (especially Carol) are not made full enough to believe and understand the flow of the story. Even posing Carol as a simple looking glass character for Max, it is still tough to genuinely feel that things happening even make sense to the characters (because it doesn't make sense to me). Perhaps I just need to watch it again. Highly recommend though I think this is better for angsty teenagers and middle schoolers than young kids in terms of potential minor audiences; as a film for adults, this is quite suited to be viewed as a serious film. | October 21, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Hack! - R | October 2, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Chemical Wedding - Unrated | This is SO terrible that it is invaluable to film students and admirers of the cinema of mediocre melodramatic over-reaching. Not to be missed if you appreciate how a film shouldn't be. This movie is like being raped and enjoying it, so fine the line it treads between aspiring greatness that laughably comes within reach and utter failure in film language of the "this must be intentional" sort. I may eventually add more ways of describing how this film tries to be a good work and the ensuing hilarity when it fails. | September 24, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Fukkatsu no hi (Day of Resurrection) (The End) (Virus) - PG | September 22, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| The Quiet Earth - R | September 22, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Spalovac Mrtvol (The Cremator) - Unrated | read TheQueenShilling's review to remind self why this is a MUST SEE | September 22, 2009 | N/A | |||
| In the Mouth of Madness - R |
As a huge Lovecraft reader, I think the best film versions of his work are movies like these where the script is essentially fantastic fanfic. This film is hypnotically creepy and I loved every second of it. Mind you, in addition to my Lovecraft love, I am also fascinated with films about novel authors and love the possibilities of a sanitarium setting done to delightful melodrama proportions like this one. Those goodies said, this is not an accessible film because it is essentially set inside the mind of a madman. If you hate dream sequences come alive and living scenes descending into nightmare, with all the odd and inexplicable dream logic intact, you will find yourself swamped by WTF? moments and not be able to enjoy the creepiness on display here. The ending for me is one of the few "twist" endings I find satisfying. The effects are top notch as one would expect from Carpenter. THE BIG FX EXCPETION: On principle, I disagree with showing full "Old Ones" or any such Lovecraft "deities" or "indescribable" creatures because they are MEANT to be indescribable and thusly impossible for us to even comprehend were one ever to be real and appear to a human, much less be possible for any human to replicate the experience - and to IMAGINE what these creatures could look like is an insult to Lovecraft's central driving theme of fear of the unknowable. In this film, the Old Ones on display are not an exception to this rule of "Don't show the top tier Lovecraft nasties" - they aren't indescribable horror finally and unbelievably realized, but instead just the exact sort of effects installation style you would expect from John Carpenter. I LIKE his style so I'm not as offended by what was done here to Lovecraft creatures so much as the horrendously awful CGI Dagon in Stuart Gordon's Dagon. To me, this is undeniably a horror classic and every horror fan should have this on their to-see list or objective "Best of Horror" lists. The real test of genuine greatness is that my dreams the night after screening this film were looping bits from the film with tiny touches of my own subconscious added details. |
September 22, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Otto; or Up with Dead People - Unrated |
This film does a terrific job at eliminating audience members - weeding out the weak. Do not watch this film if you can't handle: gratuitous gore of the intestine eating sort, explicit gay sex (between zombies using fresh improvised gashes as sexual orifices), frequent cross-cutting of "reality" and "film", and dedicating major segments of the film to an art house indie director criticizing art house and non-mainstream film. But if you're a weirdo like me and think all of that sounds like a hella good time, you will or will not be disappointed ;) Some things that are truly outstanding here: the director character's lover is constantly encapsulated in a bubble of silent film; the lengths to which this director goes to be "avant garde" and the heights to which those attempts accidentally succeed and the hilarious depths to which they intentionally fail. Otto, the main zombie character, is constantly battling for a sense of identity, and his story juxtaposed and interweaving with this director's vision (Up With Dead People is the title of her film) makes the titling very apt (which the title itself is a wink-wink nudge-nudge satirical jab at fringe cinema). Ultimately, this is not so much a film about zombies as it is a film about film; the zombie aspect is merely used as fuel for probing the subject of identity in both the personal and social arena. |
September 22, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Candyman - R |
It's refreshing to finally watch some decent horror. Not a masterpiece by any means, but it still delivers on the goods of an effective villain and some nice bits of gore. The acting of the heroine is quite convincing, even when her character's motives don't fit with any standard strain of logic. The art and set design here is quite brilliant, very atmospheric and gritty. |
September 16, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Walled In - R | I really like the concept of this film. The art direction is stunning and the cinematogrphy is great. Its biggest flaw is that it isn't scary. Its dialogue is pretty terrible and the plot uses many cheap twist tricks that any audience member will see coming. Overall, not bad but just not good enough to warrant a whole-hearted recommendation. | September 14, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Saw VI - R | September 11, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Shutter Island - Unrated | September 11, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Carriers - PG-13 | September 11, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Capitalism: A Love Story - R | September 11, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Fuel - Unrated | September 11, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Splice - Unrated | September 11, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| The Informant! - R | September 11, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Jennifer's Body - R | September 11, 2009 | N/A |
1678 ratings
588 reviews
