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Post by slayrrr666 on Mar 8, 2012 11:23:37 GMT -5
I Am Bruce Lee-Documentary about the man's life and what he brought to film and life in general. However, not really a true documentary and is more of a biography just interspersed with snippets about what those events did to the culture or influenced the future, from his studies to training and eventually his films. Hardly ever got a chance to talk about his films beyond merely glossing over his first two and then a brief mention of 'Enter the Dragon' which then focused on his death, so rather than getting a lot of talk about the movies it's more about his personal philosophies which, while not really boring, doesn't make for an interesting topic if you're not in the mood for such a series of conversations. Plus, the odd nature of how it goes from what happened first then how it influenced the future makes for some really troubling times trying to keep everything together in a timeline sense, but it's never troubling to follow along and it's a rather fascinating watch regardless.
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Post by slayrrr666 on Mar 9, 2012 11:52:52 GMT -5
American Kickboxer 1-After being released from jail for an accidental death, a champion kickboxer trains with a protege for a grudge match against his hated rival in a last-chance showdown. Really lackluster martial arts movie that really plays off more like a traditional boxing movie in that it's about the sport involved and not about doing that anywhere else, which isn't all that interesting when the focus isn't on the matches. With a lack of fight scenes, a rather lame plot-line about the inability to believe in his skills enough to allow him to focus on the victory, and it feels really contrived and cliche-ridden. Despite that, the few fights in here aren't that bad and definitely have some cool moves even if they're more like kickboxing than out-and-out martial arts. Still, there's more flaws than good parts so it sinks down somewhat.
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Post by Fenril on Mar 11, 2012 17:05:44 GMT -5
- The artist. A silent-movie star finds his career ruined by the arrival of ´talkies´, just as a starlet (herself one of his fans) is propelled to great stardom.
Basically "A star is born" by way of old Hollywood, through making this particular movie a mostly silent one was a cute choice. Well-made, entirely harmless entertainment buoyed by some neat references to 20's and 30's classic films.
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Post by slayrrr666 on Mar 12, 2012 13:21:10 GMT -5
Capulina vs. The Monsters-When a juvenile newspaper-salesmen is captured and has his brain switched into monsters by a psychotic mad doctor, he races to stop their shenanigans from wrecking the town. A family style horror film light on horror, heavy on slapstick comedy and full of fun, campy-throwbacks to the classic Universal horror when it gets around to it. As the majority of the film is spent with the title character's interaction with the neighborhood children, it gets agonizingly slow at the beginning filled with all sorts of inane acts like trick-or-treating with them or running from the numerous customers who get infuriated with his juvenile antics, but when it comes to the monsters on the loose, it's actually a lot of fun and manages to get in some insanely funny sequences amongst it all. As the monsters are played for laughs, they look silly and therefore the scenes requiring them to scare away the locals make no sense, but this is a light-weight, enjoyable romp if that's what you're expecting.
Santo vs. The Zombies-After a series of robberies and kidnappings are found to have been committed by thought-deceased criminals, the masked wrestler is brought in and finds they are zombies created by a criminal mastermind for his own evil-doing. A fairly enjoyable effort that manages to contain some nice ideas into it before it gets really overdone by the cheesy level. Since this is obviously influenced by the earlier end of the zombie spectrum, they behave nothing like normal zombies and more in the 'White Zombie'/'Revolt of the Zombies' style form of the zombies used as slaves so it tends to make them sense like big lumbering giants with no sense of pain, quite a difference indeed from the more traditional zombies. That said, this here is still a lot of fun, with a host of extended wrestling scenes, a fantastic fight with zombies amid a burning orphanage, lots of spy gadgets and a sense of campy fun that runs through it all, despite a significantly diminished last-half which knocks it down a little more still.
The Beautiful Dreamer-When a caveman who finds himself lusting after a female member of a rival tribe gets accidentally frozen and awakes in our time, he finds himself struggling to survive with the changes in society since then. An absolutely uproarious caveman comedy, which feels like a Mexican version of 'One Million Years B.C.' mixed with a Tarzan movie and then spiced up with slapstick comedy and music numbers, which creates a jarring watch as it goes all over the place but overall becomes incredibly entertaining as it goes through it's paces. Unquestionably, the caveman sequences are the film's best, filled with absolutely hilarious bits as the tribe's unofficial nickname has to be the Head-bonkers due to their custom of bashing everyone on the head with a mallet for every occasion, hand-puppet Dinosaurs and women in animal-skin swimsuits which create just a funny, enjoyable atmosphere before it gets to him being revived, which just feels quite cliched and routine rather than the hilarious first half, but a couple good gags do go over enough to make it decent enough.
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Post by slayrrr666 on Mar 13, 2012 11:15:27 GMT -5
Clash-After a group of mercenaries are gathered together to engage in a series of mysterious assignments, they realize there's a difference in their personal objectives and try to find out how to accomplish their tasks as such. Vietnam's foray into the world of kung-fu, this one manages to really get the job done in that department with a whole host of exciting battles, including multiple enemies at once, extended one-on-one fights and more which are all extremely entertaining for their realism, excellent choreography and quantity throughout the film. While these and other action scenes are enjoyable, the film slows to a crawl when it's away from such matters, as the cliched romance, backstory and comic-ness of the villain's foibles all provide plenty of head-scratching moments, and then the final battle is lost without any real impact behind it which is what's demanded for the segment, but otherwise this was certainly a decent entry into the country's offers.
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Post by slayrrr666 on Mar 14, 2012 11:02:54 GMT -5
My Super Psycho Sweet 16: Part 3-Attempting to reconcile with her sister on her birthday, a young woman finds herself and her friends stuck in a large mansion as a masked madman with a grudge against the group killing them off one-by-one. Another in the line of decidedly decent MTV slashers, though this one might just be the best of the bunch as there's a renewed focus on the stalking and the set-ups here that work very good. Even though it gave away the killer from the very start, this one manages to make it feel pretty creepy since it plays the most important card possible in having the characters unaware of the killer's identity, much less that there is one, until the end, so even with that there's some fun to be had with the rather fun sequences that provide some rather suspenseful times. While the body count could be bigger so it provides some more gore than it does here. Some problems with the characters behaving like total douchbags which makes it hard to care about the film at times, but it's not a troubling issue and makes it the best of the whole series.
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Post by slayrrr666 on Mar 15, 2012 10:40:19 GMT -5
Repulsion-I don't have much to say here, it was 50 minutes into it and nothing had happened which gave me the impression it was going to be a horror film so I turned it off. Even if it changed, there was nothing in that time which made me think I was going to like it anyway with it's slow pacing, non-existent plotline and utter boredom.
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Post by slayrrr666 on Mar 16, 2012 10:28:02 GMT -5
True Legend-After leaving the military life behind, a man learns a mystical form of kung-fu to track down his vengeful brother who killed his wife and children, which in turns leads a rebellion on his partner who controls the land in the area. Far, far too much plot going on for what should be a typical kung-fu revenge flick, but that's not a huge gripe especially since this marks the glorious return of Yuen Woo-ping to directing, and his fingerprints are all over this one. From the acrobatics that require performers flying and jumping through the air with ease, to absolutely fast, frenetic sword-fighting and tons of broken bones from the hand-to-hand fighting, this makes for a very entertaining and engrossing film, when that's the sole purpose. When it gets to the story, this is far more cliched and routine than it sounds, with a story done thousands of times over which just seems so shoehorned into the film it's as if it were placed there from another film entirely, completely missing the tone and style of the earlier scenes and feels very off, but if you're just here for the butt-kicking this one wholly satisfies.
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Post by Fenril on Mar 18, 2012 22:57:23 GMT -5
The Beautiful Dreamer-When a caveman who finds himself lusting after a female member of a rival tribe gets accidentally frozen and awakes in our time, he finds himself struggling to survive with the changes in society since then. An absolutely uproarious caveman comedy, which feels like a Mexican version of 'One Million Years B.C.' mixed with a Tarzan movie and then spiced up with slapstick comedy and music numbers, which creates a jarring watch as it goes all over the place but overall becomes incredibly entertaining as it goes through it's paces. Unquestionably, the caveman sequences are the film's best, filled with absolutely hilarious bits as the tribe's unofficial nickname has to be the Head-bonkers due to their custom of bashing everyone on the head with a mallet for every occasion, hand-puppet Dinosaurs and women in animal-skin swimsuits which create just a funny, enjoyable atmosphere before it gets to him being revived, which just feels quite cliched and routine rather than the hilarious first half, but a couple good gags do go over enough to make it decent enough. Ah, the old-school charm of comedian Tin Tan and the golden age of Mexican cinema... Also, just seen: - Chronicle. Three teenagers stumble upon what appears to be a meteorite and develop telekinetic powers. They think this abilities will let them become nothing less than superheroes... but instead all that power starts corrupting them. Especially Andrew, who wasn't the most stable kid in the first place... I was looking forward to this sci-fi movie since I heard about the premise and for once it turned out to be even better than I expected. The "found footage" format worked very well this time around (it's used as a way to compress the story, rather than just coming around as a gimmick) and unlike so many of those movies this one had perfectly developed (and interesting) characters -- I especially liked how each one used his powers according to his personality traits (one cautiously, another gleefully and the other methodically). Impressive special effects and a third act that actually surpases a lot of those superhero movies it almost deconstructs. My only complain is that one character's father was far more of an asshole than was strictly necessary for the story --but then, because of the subjective camera, we never get to hear his side of the story, so I guess I can forgive it. All in all, a pleasant surprise. |
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Post by slayrrr666 on Mar 19, 2012 11:21:11 GMT -5
Leprechaun's Revenge-After accidentally awakening a terrifying leprechaun, a teen and her friends try to use the local legends handed down from their family's past to stop it's gold-lust rampage from spreading further through their town's inhabitants. Actually far better than expected, this turned out to be quite an enjoyable creature feature rather than the slasher series of pop culture lore. This gives it a rather nice change-of-pace as the film goes through a series of brutal kill scenes that give off a great sense of suspense and atmosphere during these scenes as well as some nice gore scenes. While it tends to utilize a lot of actual folklore to make it feel a little more realistic, it still has a lot of problems in a rather unexplained creature, far too much reliance on familiar plotlines and story-points, and a really weak ending that doesn't have any impact or feeling behind it. Still, it's not altogether terrible.
Solo-When an android soldier realizes his bosses plan to scrap him for a more reliable design, he deserts his post and heads off into the jungle to help a group of villagers protect themselves from a rebel force, drawing his former bosses into the struggle as well. Predictable, routine actioner that, despite those problems, still retains a sense of enjoyment throughout the film. Aided on by some rather fun action set-pieces that are based on more of a War-movie film than a traditional shoot-'em-up, which allows for a lot of things to happen during those scenes. Again, the familiarity of it all is a problem, as is the tameness of the film since it never really goes for anything outlandish despite a plot that could support it, but it's still somewhat decent regardless.
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Post by slayrrr666 on Mar 20, 2012 10:36:23 GMT -5
House-When a group of school-girls take a trip out to a supposed-cursed mansion to take care of it's inhabitants, they find the place indeed haunted by a murderous spirit of one of their family members and try to break the curse before they all fall victim to the shenanigans. Absolutely crazy Japanese Haunted House comedy that manages to be wildly original and wholly entertaining except for a slow beginning which makes this one a challenge to get into. Bouncing around from one extreme sight-gag to another without much deference for a plot, it holds up as well as the gag makes you laugh, which is too hit-or-miss to be the main focus of the film. Once it actually gets to the house in question and things start happening, the film becomes all that much better due to a very chaotic, kinetic energy that allows for it to remain both wildly funny as well as deliver some crazy horror imagery. Off-the-wall but definitely memorable and enjoyable.
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Post by slayrrr666 on Mar 21, 2012 10:14:24 GMT -5
Wake Wood-After loosing their daughter in a tragic accident, a grieving couple find solace in a small town that says they can allow them to communicate with her, but when she's raised, they notice something oddly homicidal about her. Another in a long, long line of boring British horror films, there was just far too much time spent where it never got out of a dreary, agonizingly slow pace that never invites a viewer in and instead puts them to sleep before anything horrific can happen. A focus on keeping the crucial plot information out of the leads' hands despite everyone knowing what's going on doesn't help, as the cliche of everyone but the leads knowing what's going on because they live there but don't want to reveal what's happening and instead act ominous about it is just tired and needs to be done away with, as here it just ran up the running time incessantly with every villager seeming to come to them and warn them against doing this. Instead, this gives the whole first half the feeling of a Fantasy-based Drama, not all that entertaining. Though the daughter's rebirth doesn't directly lead to anything horror-based immediately like it should've, those are definitely somewhat fun and entertaining only since something happens, and while it's gory enough, not enough to save it.
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Post by slayrrr666 on Mar 22, 2012 10:16:43 GMT -5
The Vampire Effect-After a woman falls in love with a vampire who doesn't attack humans, her vampire-hunter brother and an evil vampire prince chase him as they race to stop a nefarious plot to unleash armageddon and wipe out the human race. Pretty funny HK mixture of classic vampire lore and kung-fu, filled with lots of rather funny and oftentimes downright hilarious moments that manage to make this wholly enjoyable. The romance borders on tedious after a while, since there's not a lot of spoofing to be done there or hilarious riffing to be done in order to make it as goofy as the rest of the movie, but since this is in all other pretenses a kung-fu film filled with some impressive fighters in the genre, those are brought up to the fore and this one manages to get in some pretty entertaining fights. While it does diminish the horror aspect of what's going on with the slapstick and silliness, it's still not a flaw big enough to drag it down.
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Post by slayrrr666 on Mar 23, 2012 10:06:31 GMT -5
Possession-After his wife leaves him and he begins to go crazy trying to comprehend why, a man resorts to following her in order to understand her obsession with her new lover, only to find something he never expected as the culprit. Grossly mis-marketed as a horror film when this has no connection at all to the genre, this turned out to be a catastrophic waste of time that never once offered anything to appeal to me. Instead of a horror film, it's a relationship drama about a couple that never veers into putting anything interesting on-screen, resorting to her offering vague, worthless comments about being unable to say why she wants to be with someone else and him going crazy being unable to comprehend why she won't offer anything more when he's doing all the work to keep them together. Coupled together with an ungodly running time and this was a wasted night all around.
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Post by Fenril on Mar 25, 2012 16:14:58 GMT -5
- The hunger games. In order to save her sister, a young girl volunteers to participate in a reality show where 24 kids must duel in an arena. Only one can survive...
Based on Suzanne Collin's bestelling young adult novels, this is more or less a North American answer to the great Battle Royale (Japan, 2001). As such this was surprisingly good; it's not nearly as bloody as BR (probably for the best, as in this case some of the contestants are 12 year olds), but still delivers plenty of suspense, character development and social critique. This is primarily a movie about and for teenagers, and a pretty good one at that.
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