Sorry about the huge lapse and disarray. I had a lot of shit to blow through and sometimes living trumps everything else. Keep and eye on this site though.
I’ll present something real soon.
Unearthed recorded video documents a group of New Yorkers as they try to survive and escape New York City while something huge wreaks havoc and lays waste.
The Good
Holy crap. I haven’t been into a movie in a while. This had me at the edge of my seat. There have been pure scenes of panic and suspense. There are actual jump points that totally catch you off guard. They take time to pace the rises and falls. The acting is great. The film wasn’t filled with hometown heroes, but with real people with real flaws and pay for their consequences for their flaws. Just a group of people with a camera. I’m glad they casted semi-famous people instead of known faces for this movie, because it would have taken away from the story. Even though I know some of you out there can handle the shaky cam (passes out the barf bags), it works really well for this movie, story and effects wise. I thing the thing that really gets two thumbs up is Sound. Not only is it crisp and clear, but there is no score whatsoever till the end. This makes the film all the more intense.
The Bad
What was bad about this? Despite that the characters are descendants of the 50’s drive in monster movie set (except it 20somethings playing actual 20somethings) and some lapses in logic (a camcorder battery can last 7+ hours?), I think the big negative was that it felt a bit short. I do think some lengthening could have been done or at least some fleshing out of scenes.
Conclusion
If Ishiro Honda were alive today, I think he would have given high praise to J.J.Abrahms and company. They brought a new facet to an almost forgotten genre. The point of view of an innocent bystander in the middle of the “big trouble”. And while there is a “big trouble”, the movie was focused on the dilemmas and sad outcomes these people have to deal with in that span of 7 hours. Abrahms has taken the essence of Gojira and translates in a way we can connect and relate to. And he does the job very well.
If you have the cash or if a ticket is offered, jump at a chance to catch this movie whenever you can. Be sure to carry your pills in case you get motion sick though.
Four stars.
Grenouille, a man born with a superhuman sense of smell, vows to learn and master the art of creating perfume and preservation of sent in 17th Century France. His life mission leads him to become a very prolific serial killer in the search to preserve beauty.
This is a very beautiful movie. Very beautifully shot and very beautifully written. The colors of lights and darks are bold and bright. This movie was thought to be impossibly adapted from the brilliant novel from David Suskind mainly because it’s almost impossible to describe smell and sent. The film forges on and gives a college try with positive results. Dustin Hoffman almost steals the movie as the elder perfumer. You get the impression that if there was a companion piece, Dustin’s Baldini would definitely a central character. Tom Tykwer does a very good job with this film.
There are some faults. It’s a bit slow and paced for your casual movie goer. Another thing is that it’s a movie about a murderer. Is this bad? No. It’s just that casual filmgoers are a bit more hardwired to predictable variables. The final sequences did lose me a bit. I had to watch the movie a couple times to get it. It also seemed to lose focus in the middle of the film just immersing itself in perfume and smell.
As a movie, it’s great, but as a DVD it kills. It sucks. First of all, I’m sick and fucking tired of the anti-piracy ads that auto start when you play the discs. You treat the public like fucking morons when you do this. Especially the ones who collect DVDs. To have SEs, Box Sets, two years worth of DVDs with that ad on it really is pushing the point too far. Another thing is this DVD is almost bare bones. It’s like they didn’t give a shit about the movie. Just slapped it on a disc with it’s Showtime documentary and some trailers of movies that doesn’t even have a thread related to the main movie and just threw it out. Bad form Paramont. Bad form. There was a lot you could have done in supplement material and you threw it away.
31/2 stars.
After rupturing top secret bio waste drums, two bumbling clerks and the manager of a medical storehouse try to get rid of the reanimated remains only to accidentally seed the rainclouds above and have it rain on a graveyard.
God! This film hasn’t changed when I first saw it. This was a silly stupid fun film back in the day. Seeing this movie is like unearthing that toy you played with so much as a kid and you just find it in the back of the attic or basement or even pawnshop. The characters are fluid and real. The makeup effect is awesome for the time. While Russo tried to revitalize the “zombie genre” without stepping on George Romero’s toes and pulls it off with flying colors. And if you all don’t know why Linnea Quigly got famous, check out this movie and you will pretty much find out why. Mind the Barbie codpiece.
I really have nothing bad to say about the movie. Yes, the movie is cheesy, but it’s supposed to be cheesy. It’s supposed to be funny. That’s the purpose of the whole thing. For those who throw temper tantrum that Zombies don’t run, they run, work and talk. So all you getting your undies in a bunch need to sit down, shut up and watch this movie. Not only do the zombies bring a good amount of comedy as well as the element of impending doom and horror. Other then that and maybe the styles at the times which is a nitpick, this is a classic.
The DVD is cool. I love the DVD. Visuals and audio is alright. The extra include documentary on the movie with interviews with most of the cast, a look at the effects art that was used as inspiration for the special effects. Film and TV trailers and two commentaries. One by O’Bannon and will Stout and another by the cast. While I like the O’Bannon commentary, the cast commentary wasn’t my cup of tea. The reason being that they added “zombies” to the commentary. Why? I don’t know. Maybe to be hip with the kids or something. You might like it though. All this covered with a glow in the dark sleeve.
four stars.
Because I became very sick the last week, I couldn’t properly cover my latest batch of reviews. So here is the audio reviews of RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD, THE BURNING, PEEPING TOM and EXORCISMO.
Here it is folks. The audio post where I talk a bit about what should be essential in everyone horror collection as well as a bit of history in the horror genre. I hope you listen and enjoy.
OH! A feel free to leave comments as well!
A gypsy couple release a werewolf from deep slumber while robbing his tomb. The werewolf goes on a rampage and is finally stopped by international playboy Waldemar Daninsky. Wounded, Daninsky now carries the werewolf’s burden and finds out the reason why his fore-bearer did not take a possible avenue for a cure.
Not only is this the first movie in the Waldemar Daninsky series of movies, turning shy scriptwriter Jacinto Molina into Paul Naschy, international horror star, but this is the first Spanish horror movie ever. The Franco regime was strict during it’s day and it’s movie censor board even stricter. Without German money and American distribution, this movie would not have been big as it is. Based off of Universal and Hammer pics, this movie works high on gothic settings and uses ruins effectively to augment the chaos of Naschy’s powerful and animistic performance as Daninsky, exceeded all other performances of tormented monsters. This movie was originally shot in 70mm which makes the film more vibrantly colorful then other film. Sometimes, the color patterns are the most beautiful in the film.
There are some low points. The American distributor tries to forcibly shoehorn a ridiculous premise of why there was no Frankenstein in the whole picture. While it doesn’t hurt the movie, it’s just plain stupid to try to form it around the name instead of vice versus. The movie also had times where it was very slowly paced and was making some scenes longer then they should be. The film had to be clipped to fit run times. I think they could have done a bit more here and there, but other then that, it was a good college try.
The DVD from Shreik Show is Fan-tastic. The video is a bit unsteady. The editing of both the European and American print restores the full movie, but gives you patches of soft and sharp stock in the movie. The audio is great. You get all the American promotional materials (trailers, posters, radio spots, etc.), an interview with Paul Naschy, liner notes from DVDdrivein.com’s George Reis and a commentary from the American distributor Sam Sherman who talks about how he found and should this movie, what makes a great horror movie from an artistic and marketing standpoint and how this movie was tied up into the fall of 3-D technology. A very fun and informative commentary.
4 stars.
Three people flying to make a cabana show get engine trouble and land on an uncharted island occupied by a mad scientist who is trying to look for a way to contain an old Nazi bioweapon consisting of flesh eating bacteria.
This is a very interesting feature by Jack Curtis. The cinematography is absolutely gorgeous for an indy feature. The script and storyboards was done by Arnold Drake, who is known mostly for his work in comics. The script is actually intriguing and mixed with somewhat gory effects, makes this feature somewhat groundbreaking. They also make very good use of one beach as a full island. Improvisation at it’s finest. Fast fact: The was the movie that prompted George Romero to change the name of his movie to Night of the Living Dead
Is there any downsides to this. Other then cheesy effect (which were used quite well, I might add), I think after a while, you get tired of beach shots. Sure, you know it’s on a deserted island, but after a while, you just want to see a bit more of the inland. Give the island a sense of depth.
Dark Skys does real well with making this into a DVD. The stock is cleaned up to the best it possibly could be. Giving it a slightly natural feel. The audio is crisp and clear. Extras include short and long trailers, a radio spot and some deleted footage by Curtis of Nazi testing sequences and blooper reel. The sequence wasn’t added because not only was it almost reliant on shock, it just didn’t look right in the whole story. If it was added though, it would have beaten NoTLD as the benchmark of modern horror by four years.
3 and a half stars.
