Just Watched Movies (2012)

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The Host-When a vicious creature emerges from a river and snatches away a family member, the rest go after her and try to get her back while dealing with their own dysfunctions and the local police who are trying to stop them. Very over-hyped affair, certainly with some good stuff but containing far too much flaws to really be anything more than a decent overall offering. The initial attack is outstanding, as it's a long, drawn-out action sequence that is impressive, realistic and quite shocking at times, moving through the location with great ease and containing many numerous fun scenes throughout to make it more enjoyable. The scenes of the kidnapped victim in the sewers trying to hide from the creature and her various escape attempts were really nice and suspenseful, including the final attempt up the flimsy rope she constructs over the sleeping creature. Even better, the CGI isn't a total mess and actually looks good, and the main beast looks nice overall, but there's still way too many problems here, from the over-blown plot that takes the film on twenty-minutes longer than necessary, a slew of utterly uninteresting family relationship troubles that are excruciating to sit through and a ton of problematic areas in the story that really shouldn't be there. It's decent and certainly watchable, but quite flawed and overrated at times.

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Empire of Passion-After conspiring with her lover to kill her husband, a woman finds herself haunted by the man's ghost as she tries to carry on the deceit they've left and try to stop his torturous series of appearances. Pretty decent Japanese ghost story, obviously taken from a popular folklore tale but in a pleasant twist switches genders around, maybe not really making much of a difference but clearly doing something with the material. Here, though, we still have a recurrence of the same flaws that plague the original story, in that there's not a lot going on in the first half of the story that's of real interest, as it tends to wander through the main narrative points without offering much to stay focused on, leaving the film having to spend far more time than necessary to get it's point out and repeating itself quite often. There's a few occasions it gets things right, from the initial hauntings being seen as her potentially going crazy as well as a great action-packed sequence in a burning house, but these are far more rare than anything. It's quite good when it gets things right, but painfully flawed when it's not.

[Fenril]

- The dark knight rises. The latest Batman movie.

I rather enjoyed this one, regardless of wether it holds up to the previous two movies or not. I'll leave it that Anne Hathaway was suprisingly good as Catwoman (althrough she's never called that in the movie proper), and that this movie managed to incorporate bits of the comic book from several eras (the Silver Age and the 90's, specifically) in a fairly unobtrusive way. Can't really say which of the thousand versions of Batman I like best, as at this point there's pretty much every kind of movie about the guy.

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Ju-On-When a series of strange deaths are linked to be from those entered a house with a cursed history, a group of detectives race to stop the deaths from continuing as they learn more and more have entered the dwelling. Highly impressive at times, and definitely worthy of getting some good points out of it, mainly from the scares which are quite creepy and definitely scary ghost popping up whenever you least expect it in areas that are quite shocking to see them come from. The workplace ambush on the security guard, the lone girl in the apartment, the police detectives in the house and the reporter in the hotel room are all outstanding sequences that work very well because of where the ghost finally pops up and how creepy it is, which generates some rather creepy moments from time-to-time. Unfortunately, it's also pretty problematic, plagued by a plot that's far too disjointed to make any sense as we constantly zip around to view the dozen or so different stories that are told within, making it nearly impossible to keep track of who's who here, and then because we learn so late in the film what's actually going on, it's far too late to really care. When it sticks to the ghosts, it's great stuff all around.

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Added an uncut copy of Body Bags to the collection.

Shark Week-Awakening to find themselves trapped on an island, a group learns they are to be subjected to a series of encounters with the host's collection of deadly, ravenous sharks to be able to leave the area alive. Absolutely terrible killer shark film that really has so little going for it that it's almost unwatchable. The idea of utilizing the creatures as obstacles that must be overcome by the group in order to survive to the next trap, effectively rendering them into a state equal to a Torture Film set-up, is so ludicrous and insulting to their existence that it effectively kills whatever fear they might have, because every single set-up is the same thing only done in a different cave. The idea for the madman's scheme for revenge is so laughable that it's impossible to think it's meant to be taken seriously and the whole affair is mired in a series of sloppy, utterly atrocious CGI effects that are utterly terrible and have no lasting impact. While it does have some great pains involved in laying out the mystery and trying to get it going, there's nothing else in this worthwhile.

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Operation Condor-A team of explorers are hired to find a treasure buried in the African desert left behind by the Nazis and must outwit the second team gathered to find the same treasure. Finally got around to my long-awaited rewatch last night, and found it manages to hang into the underrated section of Chan's work. A ton of comedy that's far funnier than expected, with the hotel confusion and the bumbling agents providing plenty of laughs in this so it feels like a traditional outing of his. Mixed in are a couple of hilarious moments in the battles at the end as well as a lot of jokes to make for a lot of funny moments. Not in the same league as 'Twin Dragons,' but it's hard not to laugh at this. Aside from the comedy, the Action is great with a frenetic car chase, several foot-chases and a great, hilarious shoot-out to make for some fun before the finale in the hangar, where the hand-to-hand work is solid, dependable outings. Overall, that sums the film itself, solid and dependable.

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Boogeyman-When a series of strange deaths are apparent in a small town, the local authorities find them to be caused by a demon released that has a special connection to several of the residents and must stop it's rampage before it's target is found. A decent overall entry, not one that really has a lot of bad points but not one that's really overflowing with positives either. While there's some fun to be had with the creature's history and backstory, which is pretty clever and quite unique in and of itself because of what it signifies and how it's done here to link together both it's appearance in the story as well as the connection to the human stories. It's also got some nice action scenes spread throughout with the different confrontations it's got, with several high-energy scenes included as well as some creepy stalking early on. The problem here is basically a common grievance in having the one character who knows what's going on and how to stop it keep that information to themselves, forcing everyone else to deal with the situation without knowing what to do, but beyond that and some usual atrocious CGI, it's pretty decent.

And by the way, it's not connected to the franchise with the same name and the creature's origin doesn't have anything to do with the folklore-being of the same name.

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DeadHeads-Waking up as zombies, two different men get together on a road trip to find one's long-lost human girlfriend and propose to her before being brought in by the government search team trailing them. Absolutely funny and enjoyable zombie romp, which not only has one of the more unique and inventive storylines but also manages to be hilarious and enjoyable at the same time. The use of making the zombies coherent and pretty much exactly the same as humans is pretty novel, and that only adds to the hilarity when combining the different features here including the bumbling agents after them, the continued gags that can only be done with zombies and riffs on their familiar behavior and so on. It's still got enough blood and guts to matter, and the zombies here are still considered a threat due to that fact, so it works on that level, but there's one minor annoyance here in that the duo are constantly captured and manage to escape, and it gets old and tiring after a while so there's that, but otherwise this is a lot of fun.

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Rise of the Dead-When a series of vicious murders is targeted at those around her, a woman finds that they're the cause of her deceased baby's spirit attempting to possess them for revenge on it's past, forcing her to confront them to get out alive. A pretty decent offering overall, not one that's really got a lot to offer about it but enough that it at least becomes watchable. The general idea is creepy enough and has a rather demented air to it, and certainly several of the stalking scenes are bit chilling since they seem to appear out of nowhere as a possessed entity allowing for a pretty nice air about it when it gets to that part of the film. Too much of the film, though, is filled with absolutely inane parts that have no use in the film, from the family drama and the multiple adoptions that leave the film utterly confused about itself, or the pretty low running time that doesn't really leave enough time to really get itself going, forcing the plot-points upon us in dream sequences rather than actual discovery to move itself along. Combined with a low-budget look and feel, it's not that impressive although it does have some good points.

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Ringu-After finding herself cursed to die within a week after watching a mysterious videotape, a woman searches to find the truth about the tape's origins and connection to a legend about a vicious woman before her time runs out. While this one had some really good stuff, overall the flaws here take center-stage. The main thing hurting this one is the fact that the main storyline is incredibly flawed and makes little sense. As the ghost wants her body found out, why make a videotape that originates in a back-country community that plays only on a locally-broadcasted channel that's supposed to generate interest in solving her mysterious disappearance, an event that's counter-intuitive to what she really wants. Beyond that, the fact that the film is just so slowly-paced and lacking of ghost action that the middle segment completely eliminates the killing to focus on the investigation into the video tape's images and source, and none of those are crawling with horrific ideas or concepts, leaving this to drag on and crawl to the final twenty minutes. Granted, that's great stuff that happens there, but it comes too little too late to save the rest of the film though it somewhat evens it out to make it borderline watchable.

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Are You Scared?-Awaking in a strange building, a group supposedly trying out for a reality show on conquering fears finds themselves stuck in a twisted game by a demented madman with ties to one of the victims and try to get out before falling victim to the traps laid out for them. Utterly terrible 'Torture Film' in which, despite the kills being pretty graphic and bloody, there's not a lot to like here. The reality show premise is lame and terrible, with no real purpose for it's existence, the games are lame and none of the fears are really that overwhelming, leading to no purpose for the game to even exist. As well, because of the twist in the later half that truly throws a monkey wrench into the proceedings, it makes even less sense for a reality show concept, and the concept of the whole thing being done for revenge is so stupid and lamely thought out that it truly hurts trying to piece together everything that has to go through for it to happen. On top of that is the familiarity factor of this being so similar to a fault of numerous other films, copying them to a detrimental degree and hurting the film even more, giving this one more flaws than anything.

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Planet Terror-After an escaped gas turns a small Texas town's residents into blood-craved zombies, a one-legged dancer joins a small resistance force to stop the ever-increasing numbers of undead from overrunning the town. This was a fairly enjoyable and interesting zombie effort. One of the better aspects here is the film's rather high amount of graphic, bloody violence. Whether it's in the cheesy methods or in a more serious note, this one here is a bloodsoaked ride that features a ton of splatter that makes for an enjoyable ride. That's brought along by an incredibly strong mix of action scenes that litter the movie, which include not only the massive swarming of the victims, but the film has just a ton of bullet-riddled shoot-outs, gunfights and explosions, especially once the leg-attachment is put on that just ups the action even more, most of which just so big and grande that it's excitement level is incredibly high. The only real problem here is the lame attempts to make it look old, from the projector fades, grain and fuzzy look, and other tactics feel incredibly contrived and don't do anything to trick the viewer into thinking it's an older film, just a sense of aggravation and annoyance, but it's a small feat and barely damages the film otherwise.

Cyborg 3: The Recycler-After discovering she's pregnant, a cybernetic android seeks out her creator for help in removing it as well as protecting herself from the bounty hunters hoping to cash in on her status. Cheesy Cannon post-apocalyptic affair, far cheaper than it should be but still a total cheesefest all the way through. The plotline is pretty goofy and silly, making it seem all the worse off than it really is but still manages to allow it to maintain a relatively exhaustive pace as there's a ton of action here, from high-speed car chases, tons of shoot-outs and gunfights and featuring more that make this pretty enjoyable. While it's still pretty hard to get over the goofy, cheesy plot and low-budget nature of this, it's not really as terrible as it sounds.

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Videodrome-After discovering a pirate TV signal that features snuff footage and torture, a programmer tracking the source uncovers it's part of a vast conspiracy against the public and searches for a way to take them down. This one wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. The opening here is a bit of a disappointment, as the search for the mysterious transmissions and they're addictive quality takes over overthing, a little strange in itself as there's very little in them which would warrant such an attraction in the first place, beyond a hypnotic quality to them this isn't all that interesting or even in the slightest bit horror-related. When the discovery is made about the truth to their origins, it gets a little better and a bit more interesting, especially with it's more graphic and vivid hallucinations, before really getting good in the final part where he begins hunting them down, which really earns the film the most enjoyable parts overall. It's still hard to get over the fact that the original transmissions aren't that interesting to warrant such attention to them, and the overall plan doesn't make sense, but it's still interesting enough to warrant a watch.

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TNT-After leaving the special forces following a disagreement over his orders, a former soldier finds his new civilian life interrupted by his former squad looking to take him out for deserting his orders. Pretty decent low-budget actioner, not really displaying a lot of really big, impressive action scenes but featuring enough scenes that there's enough to stay interested. With a couple of decent shootouts early on, it makes for some really interesting moments getting into it, and again at the end when the entire squad gets in on the action which results in more traditional action movie stylings, though the center of the movie is where it really looses itself. Dropping a lot of the action in favor of his secrecy over his past and trying to settle down in the small town doesn't generate any excitement and leaves large sections of the film with nothing going on. It's certainly decent enough, but not all that great.

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Daybreakers-After learning his corporate vampire bosses want nothing to do with his supposed cure to curb the vampiric society of potentially devastating blood shortage, a sympathetic doctor hooks up with radicals seeking a cure to take down his former bosses. Not that bad actually and it turned out better than expected. The film does score some nice points for it's pretty original premise that actually is far more layered than expected, which makes this a certainly worthwhile effort alone before any of the high-intensity action scenes are brought in. From the car chase in the desert to the ambush on the caravan and the final confrontation in the headquarters which is just an absolute bloodbath of grand spectacle and rather innovative action, this here is pretty fun and generally gets a lot right. The method of generating a cure is pretty new and original, but also quite innovative in execution and concept, which makes this all enjoyable enough if only it wasn't so backloaded on action that the middle segment is so devoid of action it's impossible to really get excited over anything. The fact that so little is made about them being vampires is a part of the problem, but really the slow middle-section is what hurts this one. Still worthwhile and enjoyable, but slightly problematic.