Just Watched Movies (2012)

[slayrrr666]

The Marksman-After launching an operation to supposedly rescue hostages at a nuclear plant, an expert Army team finds the area overtaken by radical terrorists looking to unleash a nuclear holocaust and must stop them before the area is destroyed. Doesn't really feel like a traditional Snipes type of Action movie, since it's more of a military-action movie where he doesn't really get to do much of his normal routine and instead relies more on shooting, escaping dangerous situations and sneaking around which makes for some rather off-putting scenes at times since this doesn't feel like a traditional film. That aside, as an action movie it certainly delivers in spades with tons of shootouts, chases and fights that makes for an entertaining time when that becomes the focus, and it's got enough to make that a fun time if it's to be enjoyed in that manner, but still seems like an odd choice for him to make.

The Art of War II: Betrayal-After being brought out of retirement to solve his mentor's murder, a master agent finds that it's all intended to set him up for other murders and must fight to clear his name. Disposable thriller rather than all-out Action film, concentrating more on surveillance and high-tech espionage than chasing, shooting or fighting, leaving this one to come up incredibly dull for just about the entire running time. With only a few sporadic action scenes placed throughout which aren't that long or even get into any kind of adrenaline-charged activities, it leaves the film as a rather bland, boring affair most of the time. Though it does pick up some steam towards the end when all the plotlines get sorted out, the fact that this one makes no sense and tends to feel cobbled together from several different films tends to make this all the worse off.

[Fenril]

- 3 dev adam (Turkey, 1973). Istanbul is under the grip of "The spider", a serial murderer / mob boss / art collector with a maniacal laughter. Thus the police summon a trio of American superheroes: USA's "Captain America"! Mexico's "Santo"! And Brazil's... Julia.

Glorious example of trash cinema with zero budget, a script that was surely the result of running at least five different movies and tv serials through a blender and an impossibly enthusiastic cast. Never received an official release and never will, given how many copyright issues the premise alone would have broken. And yet, this was a lot of fun, definitely one of those movies that are just so bad they are great.

Did I mention that "The spider" is intended to be Marvel's Spider-man?

[But seriously, they couldn't look up a single Brazilian pulp character?]

- Escaflowne (Japan, 2001). Depressed schoolgirl Hitomi wishes she could just "fade away", and she does --unly to find herself dropped in the middle of a huge war on a parallel world called Gaea. She's to play a key role in this war, assuming she can figure out where her sympathies lie: does she want to save an entire world or destroy it?

Anime movie adaptation of a 1996 tv series; the character designs and story have been drastically altered, yet it keeps most of the original's charm, and blending of different stablished genres (Fantasy epic, Mecha, Alternate history, sci-fi...). It's often called a darker version of the tv series, which I frankly disagree with -- if anything, the original was considerably more grim.

All in all, a very entertaining anime.

[slayrrr666]

The Contractor-After being brought back to finish what his last job, an assassin finds himself betrayed and left in London as the culprit in a set-up aimed to take him out once and for all, leaving him and a neighborhood girl to clear his name and get out alive. Not all that much Action again in such a movie which really should've provided a heaping dose of such due to what the plot points out could happen, but instead we get endless scene of him sitting around the apartment doing nothing or bonding with the girl and trying to figure out who's lying to who, which doesn't make for some good Action scenes. While it does feature an odd shootout or chase (including one admittedly fun one in an airport baggage claim section) the rest of the movie doesn't have much until the end where it's a lot more frantic with it's action, but otherwise this one turned out more dull than anything.

[slayrrr666]

Beware-After taking up a ride with a local women when they get stranded in a small town, a group of friends learn the truth about a local legend involving a maniacal killer who lives in the area when he begins targeting them and killing them off one-by-one. Highly enjoyable if slightly derivative slasher effort that, really beyond the cliche feeling, only has one major flaw in the rather impossible-to-understand nature of the friendship between the group since it seems to consistent feature them berating, insulting or arguing with each other, which makes the film really tough to get into initially and really takes a lot of the focus away since we're dealing with this group for the majority of the time. When it's finally done with that, we get pure slasher nirvana here with just about everything necessary for the job, including outstanding stalking scenes, a fantastic final-girl confrontation, a fantastic set-up involving a creepy backstory, tons of gore, nudity and sleaze, and a frenetic pace that allows for lots of action. It's a lot of fun and really moves this up from the rather banal intro part.

[slayrrr666]

Blackout-After getting stranded in an elevator together, a group of diverse people find themselves struggling to survive when they learn there's a dark secret uniting them together. Really lame wannabe-horror but turned into a thriller so early into the scenario that it really just gets boring quickly. Thin plot that should've never been a full-length effort, way too much time spent on backstories that just serve no purpose, no gore or sleaze, just a rather boring thriller masquerading as a horror film.

[slayrrr666]

Added an uncut copy of The Forbidden Kingdom to the collection.

Grave Encounters-After compiling footage from a supposedly-missing film crew, the exploits of them filming in a haunted, abandoned asylum reveal their encounters with the supernatural still living there and their struggle to get away. An absolutely enjoyable effort, which has a lot of great things going for it and not too much holding it down. By incorporating the found-footage aspect into a solid, workable format it displays a frantic energy to the film with it's never-ending scenes of banging doors in the distance, cries echoing throughout the abandoned corridors and many other tried and true tactics that still work in a film like this. Also worthwhile are the film's numerous and outstanding jump scares, since this one has the decency and good grace to have the demons and creatures interact on camera, having them pop up unexpectedly out-of-nowhere or come strolling into frame, giving them a reason to be feared and helping this along beautifully. Mix together with some outstanding atmosphere and a couple rather inventive ideas and it's an enormously satisfying entry.

Santo vs. The She-Wolves-After receiving help from a colleague about a series of strange disappearances, the masked wrestler races to protect a woman from a band of werewolves targeting her small hometown. This one here turned out to be quite an enjoyable effort with a lot going for it. Due to its more serious tone (though that's more in storyline terms than in any actual on-screen content) this one manages to actually get in some rather cool moments from time-to-time, including a rousing opening where an abducted woman is terrorized inside a lavish Gothic Castle's foreground, a rather fun sequence of Santo being attacked at an abandoned wrestling ring by werewolves-as-dogs, and many numerous amounts of flashing/teleporting away after a seconds' notice. There's also a ton of great action scenes here, from a fiery ambush in a remote desert valley to a grand confrontation at the house which contains a lot more violence and gore than expected, making for some positives to overwhelm the cheesy look of the creatures who resemble cavemen more than werewolves. Still, this one is enormously satisfying.

El Fantastico vs. The Nahual-After returning to his hometown, a former wrestler finds the residents tormented by a vicious creature and must return to his former ways to stop the deadly creature. Not even remotely in the same league as the other masked wrestler film watched, this one here turned out to be an extreme disappointment. While in most cases a low-budget isn’t that big of a deal, here it worked against the film by giving it an unmistakable sheen that is hard-pressed to ignore and didn’t allow for a lot to overcome this designated weakness. Also of note is the fact that this one doesn’t have much in the way of action until the end, as it focuses more on the relationship between the townsmembers rather than the creature’s attacks, leaving for a large portion of time with nothing remotely happening to generate excitement, leaving to a lot of rather banal and incredibly boring scenes of them being harassed or confronting locals before the creature gets involved. When it does decide to show up, the creature’s not bad, generating a spooky presence with its’ glowing eyes and eerie howls in the night so there’s some fun to be had there, as well as some cheesy moments where we witness the wrestler’s past accomplishments as a movie viewed by classroom children, but otherwise not a lot stood out.

[Fenril]

- The woman in black (1989). A solicitor is sent to a foggy seaside town to take care of a recently deseased woman's state. There, he finds the locals deathly frightened of an old legend having to do with a woman dressed in black who functions as a death omen for the local children. He'll soon learn the truth about that legend and what it has to do with both the house he's staying at and the fate of his own family...

Terrific television ghost movie adapted from a venerable novel by Susan Hill. Great atmosphere, a mounting sense of doom and an unforgettable ending. This was recently remade, while the book itself has been adapted to theater multiple times.

- Silent movie (1976). A disgraced film director attepts to save a floundering film studio with an unlikely idea: a silent movie made in the 70's starring 50's stars. Just like the one we are watching.

Mel Brook's clever slapstick comedy easily puts the recent "The artist" to shame. Moves at a breakneck pace while dispensing thousands of gags (both visual and conceptual), in a style very few directors could ever match.

(I find it very hard to review comedies, as I believe this is the single most subjective genre; you either find these things funny or you don't).

- El corazón del tiempo (2009). In the southern mexican region of Chiapas, a rural young woman falls in love with an insurgent soldier shortly after she'd already become engaged to a farmer. She'll have to choose between a sedentary life with a man she can't see as anything but a brother or joining the revolutionaries and spend the rest of her life hiding in the mountains, fighting the military.

Very slow-moving romantic drama set amongst a real-life, still going conflict with no easy solutions in hand. Good performances and breathtaking landscapes (the actual Lacandona jungle), trough not quite satisfying on a dramatic level.

[slayrrr666]

Added uncut copies of Hellraiser: Inferno, Hellseeker and Hellworld to the collection.

The Wild, Wild Planet-After a series of strange disappearances around the world, an international team of officers find the cause to be rooted in an alien plot rooted in the government to try to take over the world. Italian Sci-Fi space opera that really disappointed due to a plot that never really makes a lot of sense since it's based around a premise which falls flat quite early when it's discovered who's behind it all about a half-hour into the film. This makes it so that there's very little in here that really surprises or generates any interest once it gets going, leaving this to waddle along without a lot going on either, since it's not a shoot-'em-up or action vehicle and that hurts the film as well since the only action scene in here is one of the most unintentionally hilarious wrestling/martial arts match where three grown men, military-trained at that, struggle to get a handle on two women who constantly throw them around the room in the sequence which just makes the whole thing even more hilarious as the length of time it takes to complete is what really works this one over. While it still contains enough cheese in it's miniatures and overall feeling, it just doesn't quite measure up like the others.

[slayrrr666]

Haunting Sarah-A Woman comes to believe that her twin sisters' recently-deceased son has come back through her new child to continue his relationship with her daughter. An incredibly limp and lifeless affair, there's hardly anything here worthwhile. It has one rather cool sequence where the daughter's thrashing around in bed and they come rushing in to see what's wrong, and once seeing it's a charm bracelet as the cause, remove it to immediately find a supernatural cause flying in and wrecking the room. it does a rather nice job of making the possession seem realistic, from the drawings of the future to the secretive behavior in the twin's relationship as well as the mark on the body, all of which are nicely explained and given some real thought, yet nothing is really interesting here due to the film's nature since it can't really go too extreme or terrifying. That leaves a lot of rather boring scenes that don't have any impact due to how toned down or brief everything is, which in the end leaves it really wanting even though it does have a good moment or two.

[slayrrr666]

Added an uncut copy of The Deaths of Ian Stone to the collection.

[slayrrr666]

Added an uncut copy of Seventh Moon to the collection.

[slayrrr666]

Added uncut copies of Slaughter and The Thaw to the collection.

The Sacred-Heading to the site an ancient Indian burial ground, a group of History students find the land cursed with malicious spirits looking to take them over and kill them one-by-one for their sinful lives, forcing them to find a way to get away alive. A surprisingly decent affair that almost becomes above-average, thanks to a clever storyline about the spirits haunting the land rather than a resurrected killer-type slasher effort or a zombie film which this plotline could've turned into quite easily. That allows for some suspenseful moments here and there where the possessed are being stalked around the area, and the woods are used to great effect here as this one really uses the location well during this segment. While it does have an issue with continuity (this is almost impossible to keep track of what's happening since it's not all that clear what's going on until quite late in the proceedings) and the typical difficulty in finding a reason a care about the group, this one isn't all that bad.

Virus-Finding a derelict ship floating in the middle of a storm, a salvage crew finds the supposedly-abandoned ship infested by a mechanical alien organism looking to meld the two species together. This here was a pretty decent effort, though it does have some minor problems. One of the film's biggest issues is that it relies too heavily on a science-fiction undercurrent and never drives home the horror of the situation. Despite being placed on a large, abandoned research ship, there's hardly anything exploiting the darkened corridors, strange equipment or even the state of the ship with the mess and general disarray it's found in, even though it can certainly be set-up to be an extremely suspenseful part. This is also matched with a missed opportunity when it begins to entertain all the technobabble trying to explain the creature's motives and intentions. This is all way too technical and makes little sense, making it a missed opportunity. While it does get in some great stuff in the end with a series of extreme, high-energy action scenes where it's being confronted throughout the ship, as well as a fantastic-looking series of creatures that interact quite well, it's still just an overall decent effort.

[slayrrr666]

Lost Boys: The Tribe-After getting involved with the leader of a rebellious vampire clan after his sister gets turned into one, a young man enlists a legendary vampire hunter to track them down and return her safely. This one was pretty decent though it did have some problems. The biggest is that it consisted far too much on a series of cliches which aren't the least bit interesting, from the lifestyle of the gang which isn't exciting to the different manners of behavior which indicate the change has taken place and the rather weak plan for infiltrating the group make this one seem quite lame at times, especially all the talk about the lead vampire being such a threat but turns out to be yet another pansy vampire looking for a bride like in so many of these kinds of films. It does have some good stuff in the gradual realization that he's stumbled upon a vampire clan and how it's built, utilizes vampire lore fairly well and includes some fantastic Action set-pieces in the finale where he stalks the group down in their hideout which is a dank, dark crypt which allows for some nice atmosphere, helping this one to become slightly decent.

[slayrrr666]

Vampires-Invited into their inner workings, a documentary crew shows the life of a vampire and his family as they survive in a world which acknowledges and tolerates their existence as they go through the same struggles as humans. Psuedo-documentary about a vampire family that is supposedly funny but is just instead painful to watch at times because the humor, which is the main focus here and not on the horror, isn't that funny. Using common vampiric lore to instead twist the unexpected should provide tons of laughs here, but this is presented as blank and matter-of-factly as ever, without ever delving into any real laughs, making this a real chore to sit through. Since none of it is as clever or engaging as it seems to think it is, so much of this is wasted on watching the same old thing playing out without much of a really entertaining concept. It's got enough gore to satisfy when it gets down to it and every once in a while a gag comes along that elicits some good chuckles, but overall it's not that entertaining.

[slayrrr666]

Priest-After learning of his daughter's abduction by a gang of vicious vampires, a priest defies the local clergy and sets out with several friends to stop her, running across the vampires' far more deadly plan in the process. Far better than it had any right to be, since this started off on a sour note with the hampering rating and a far more vicious and brutal comic-book style animation than what would be shown in the movie proper to open the film, but when it's basically like an Action film in how it plays out with all sorts of hunting, stalking and combatting going on all over the place, basically engaging in fighting all the time which makes for some good times in offering some exciting sequences and a higher body count than expected which boosted this considerably. While the vampire lead is pretty much non-existent and not much of a threat, his plot is a little underdeveloped and really seems shoehorned into the proceedings to keep the film going despite being somewhat clever in concept, so again a plus for a much-better-than-expected effort.