I Sell The Dead What a coincidence!! I started this month with a couple of zombie films and I end this month with this semi-zombie film. This independent film could of been a little funnier, better, and maybe add a little bit of gore. It had some interesting parts, but not enough for me to enjoy this movie. In fact, there were parts that were a little boring for me. It gets a little better after 30 minutes into it, but not enough to keep the story alive. This is not worth the 80 something minutes. Stick to Shaun of the Dead, you'll be alright.
Infernal Affairs Late last night, I decided to pop open some Kirin Ichiban with a little bit of sushi and some Panda Express. It was at that moment where I realized that I have an Asian film to watch. It's not Japanese but from Hong Kong. It is this movie that later was remade as "The Departed." Being a big fan of "The Departed," I couldn't help but figuring out the differences. It's about 95 percent the same. With Infernal Affairs, the timeline and order is different. The feeling in this movie is more tragic than "The Departed." However, the performances and direction of "The Departed" were more better for me. Still, this is a good film. It's part of a trilogy. I don't know if I'll see the rest of the trilogy anytime soon. There certain scenes that make this more tragic. Besides the ending, the scene where "Sp Wong" dies was more dramatic than the scene where Martin Sheen's character dies in "The Departed." Good to check out. And good for any gangster or Asian collection.
Catching Up With A Director Segment [Each month of this year I will pick a director and see five movies that I've never seen before from that director. I will watch them throughout the month.]
This month's director is Guillermo Del Toro. I saw the Hellboy movies, Cronos, and Blade 2 this month already. The only other films I've seen before from Del Toro are Pan's Labyrinth and Devil's Backbone. Now it's time to see the 5th Del Toro film. I saved his most underrated film for last.
Mimic When this movie came out back in the day, I didn't know who Guillermo Del Toro was. I wasn't interested in watching this at all. Fast forward to the present, this sucker was okay. In other words, it didn't suck like I thought it was going to suck. Yeah, it's my least favorite Del Toro film, but not necessarily a bad film. There were some good suspenseful moments. Then there were moments that could of been suspenseful, but didn't deliver. Wish they could of done more with the little boy who was kind of autistic. Don't know why they put him in there, if there was no real importance. The bugs were kinda cool. They don't care if they eat children or not. What made this an alright movie was that I went in with low expectations and being a respectable fan of Guillermo Del Toro. I've seen all his films now. I'm more of a fan than I was before because of watching all his films. Here's my top favorite Del Toro films to least favorite: 1. Devil's Backbone 2. Pan's Labyrinth 3. Hellboy 2 4. Cronos 5. Hellboy 6. Blade II 7. Mimic
For those of you that are not fans of his work, but are curious, start watching his films from the top of the list to the bottom. Maybe, you'll become a fan too.
Catching Up With A Director Segment [Each month of this year I will pick a director and see five movies that I've never seen before from that director. I will watch them throughout the month.]
This month's director is Guillermo Del Toro. I saw the Hellboy movies and Cronos already this month. The only other films I've seen before from Del Toro are Pan's Labyrinth and Devil's Backbone. The 4th Guillermo Del Toro film this month is:
Blade II Visually awesome. Started out really good. Then it was alright. Kudos for the ending. The sound also gets honorable mention. I remember seeing the first Blade movie a long time ago. I wasn't feeling it, so I never bothered to watch the sequel. Thanks to this segment, I'm glad I did. So far, Guillermo Del Toro has not disappointed me. Yeah, the story gets weak here towards the end, but it's fun entertainment.
Surrogates Entertaining sci-fi with a not so good ending. That sums up this flick. It grabbed my attention throughout the first half, even though there were some things that were predictable. Favorite line is when Greer says, "I don't know what you are. For all I know, you could be some big fat dude sitting in his chair with his dick hanging out." The action is decent. The second half was also enjoyable except for that ending. There's a major plot-hole during the ending. If you haven't seen it, there's a big spoiler coming up, so just don't read the following sentence. What bothered me with the ending was, Canter was all about human rights and stuff, why did he want to kill everyone and their surrogates instead of the surrogates only (which Greer did at the end)? That's about it. It was an okay sci-fi flick. Kinda felt like District 9. But District 9 still blows this one out of the water.
Departures I'm going to be honest. I kept falling asleep during this movie. I wake up, go back a chapter, and see what I missed. I kept doing that throughout. It's a long slow drama. Not good to watch after a long day. They're some good parts, especially in the beginning. But, it wasn't what I expected from a Japanese movie that won the Best Foreign Film Award at the Oscars last year. I knew it was going to be a long drama, but I thought there will be some light comedy and perhaps some interesting characters. The only comedic parts are the parts in the trailer. It felt like a well made movie, but it wasn't for me. The only thing I did enjoy was the cinematography.
Catching Up With A Director Segment [Each month of this year I will pick a director and see five movies that I've never seen before from that director. I will watch them throughout the month.]
This month's director is Guillermo Del Toro. I saw the Hellboy movies already this month. The only other films I've seen before from Del Toro are Pan's Labyrinth and Devil's Backbone. The 3rd Guillermo Del Toro film this month is going to be his first feature film, Cronos.
Cronos Amazing for Del Toro's first feature film. It's got an original vampire story. Nice and easy flow. My favorite scene was the mortuary scene with the ranchero music. This is a good genre movie. It's got dark comedy, a love story, and horror all roll into one. The only complaint was the mixing of the languages. This is mostly a spanish film, but there's some scenes where the characters speak both english and spanish. They understood spanish perfectly, yet, they still spoke in english. It's a very minor complaint, but, this story makes up for it. I enjoyed it. Glad to see it, I'm becoming a respectable fan of Guillermo Del Toro's work.
"Catching Up With A Director" Segment [Each month of this year I will pick a director and see five movies that I've never seen before from that director. I will watch them throughout the month.]
This month's director is Guillermo Del Toro. Last week, I started with Hellboy. It's only right to follow it up with the sequel. Just a reminder, the only other films I've seen before from Del Toro are Pan's Labyrinth and Devil's Backbone. So here's what I think about Hellboy 2. Hellboy 2 It is very rare to see a sequel that's better than the original. That's the case here. I freaking enjoyed this movie a lot. Scratch that. I fucking enjoyed a lot. While Hellboy part one was okay and nothing special, part two had a lot more going on. The story was a little better. There was a lot more creatures in this one. Typical Del Toro stuff. The first one had more regular people and their actions with a little bit of the creatures. This one, however, was all about different creatures. We hardly saw regular people. That's the way it should be for this kind of story. It's all fantasy. The direction and the acting was more enjoyable. This is Guillermo Del Toro at his best. Probably not the best Del Toro flick, but it's up there. This movie just made the first one better.
Friday at the Grindhouse [Every fourth Friday of each month this year will be Grindhouse night. I will watch two exploitation flicks back to back. This gives me an excuse to visit my favorite store, I Luv Video, and explore all the different films from the grindhouse era.]
Tonight's first feature is:
I Spit On Your Grave Brutal. That's a good word to describe this killer exploitation flick. It has a slow start but it delivers at the end. My favorite scene, the infamous bathtub scene. These people get what they deserve for messing around with this woman. Good ending. For movies in general, this was alright. But, for a grindhouse picture, this is badass cinema. She cuts the main dude in the bathtub, then she goes downstairs and puts on a song while the dude screams in the background. Awesome. I never took the acting seriously. I just had fun with it. It's gritty and sleazy and vengeance is in the air. Worth to check out and a must buy for fans of grindhouse cinema.
To continue the female revenge flick theme, the second feature is:
Ms. 45 This is kind of a revenge flick but not really. The girl here gets fed up with men and begins a killing spree against the male race. Innocent people die. But that's okay. Love the way they did the party scene. It felt like a David Lynch picture with all that jazz music. I heard about this movie a long time ago, but never had the chance until now. It was okay. There's some good cinematic moments like the scene where our main character is pretending she's shooting with her nun costume. Some scenes feel like a bad 80's movie. It was good to check out. But, if I had a choice between this and Thriller: A Cruel Picture, I would go with Thriller. Not bad for my first Grindhouse night of the year. I would try to mix things up in upcoming ones. Like having one focusing on kung fu, and others on different sub-genres.
Animation Night [Every 3rd Wednesday of each month this year, I will watch an Animation that I never seen before. It's a genre that I hardly see, so this would allow me to watch 12 Animations total this year. Can't wait.]
Welcome to the first Animation Night. Tonight's movie is:
Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs Very cool animation. Love this original story. I thought the first thirty minutes were the best. Love the cats performing "Fight the Power." A lot of themes are covered here. The obvious one was the father and son relationship. I kind of didn't like the father's character in the movie but it turned out okay at the end. I liked this movie as much as I liked "Up." They make a perfect double feature. This one is more into the comedy side. What other animations have hamburgers falling from the sky and rat-birds flying in a town that is famous for their sardines? Good times. This went well with a big ass bowl of spaghetti. All I needed was giant meatballs and oregano to make it a perfect dish. Next time.
New Release Tuesdays There wasn't nothing really interesting that came out today on DVD, with the exception of the Criterion Collection of the movie, Che (which I've seen and recommend). But, it is New Release Tuesday and I have to see a movie I haven't seen that came out today on DVD. So, out of all them, I decided to go with the following flick:
Blood Creek Here we have some kind of demonic/little bit of zombie film. There's zombie horses in this one. That's probably the best part. Decent gore. The story is weak. Some of the acting could of been better. Love the first five minutes of the film. If they would of thrown in more nazi zombies, then this might of had a shot for good entertainment. This is not a zombie film, but it does contain some, especially zombies with four legs. Other than that, nothing exciting happens here.
"Catching Up With A Director" Segment [Each month of this year I will pick a director and see five movies that I've never seen before from that director. I will watch them throughout the month.]
This month I will catch up with Director Guillermo Del Toro. I've seen The Devil's Backbone and Pan's Labyrinth. Both great movies. But he has 5 other feature films I haven't seen. So let's start with his comic film, Hellboy.
Hellboy Good but not great. Special effects and costume is Del Toro's specialty. He proves it well with this movie. I wasn't interested in watching this movie in a long time. There was something about it that didn't attract me. I'm glad I finally checked it out tonight. The story is a little complicated. It doesn't flow good. But, it was a good time. It's a big popcorn blockbuster movie that I would rather see five times more than Transformers. My favorite parts are in the second act where we have more of the character driven parts. Also on another note, Hellboy and this other dude were smoking a lot of cigars, it made me want to spark one while watching. This Catching up with a Director segment was a good idea. I can't wait to see Del Toro's other films to get a grasp of what he does and hopefully I can make a top list from my most favorite to least favorite Del Toro flick. Worth the rent for any comic fan.
It's been a crazy week in my personal life. My wife and I had our baby boy this week. We weren't expecting him until March. Everything is fine now. I been in the hospital this whole time. Not to worry, while killing time at the hospital, I caught up with the movies I missed this week.
So let's start with:
New Release Tuesdays Presents: Moon This was one great sci-fi flick. Kudos to Sam Rockwell for his excellent performance. When I first heard about this, I thought this was some kind of 2001: A Space Odyssey ripoff. But, I guarantee you, this is not. It's better if I don't give out details. Love the colors on this. My favorite part is when Sam plays "Walking on Sunshine." There's some drama and comedy in this flick as well. Not to be missed. Definitely worth the rent.
This past Wednesday was supposed to be the first Spaghetti Western Night of the year. Due to my family emergency, I postponed it until this past Thursday.
[Every second Wednesday of every month, I will see a new spaghetti western I never seen before.]
Spaghetti Western Night (Encore) Presents: Adios, Sabata This is spaghetti western delite. I didn't think I was going to enjoy this as much as I did. This is not a direct sequel to the first movie, Sabata (which I saw a couple of years back). But some of the actors are back here playing different roles. This is also the same director from Sabata. I recommend buying The Sabata Trilogy box set. These are excellent flicks we got here. The music here is good. And I love the ending. I prefer Lee Van Cleef playing Sabata but Yul Brynner is an alright substitute.
Next month, I will be watching the third installment of The Sabata Trilogy. It is called, "The Return of Sabata." And it stars Lee Van Cleef again as the title role.
Friday Night I saw the following bad ass flick:
The Hurt Locker From the very beginning, this film sucked me right in. The energy is unbelievable. It felt like I was there. I didn't know what was going to happen next. Pure adrenaline war rush. But, that's about it. I'm not talking masterpiece. Just great entertainment. If you like the movie, "The Kingdom." Then this is a must see. Equally as good. My favorite part was the part with the suicide bomber who was strapped and wanted the Army to disarm him. This is a must see war movie. Definitely has a big shot as Best Movie of 2009, but Inglourious Basterds is still more fun and more entertaining in my opinion.
Sultanes Del Sur This is a whodunit movie with its up and downs. It's entertaining, especially the first part. It's the kind of movie that you only want to see once. Because, after you find out who was the traitor, then what's the point of seeing this again? I would see it again for the opening sequence at the bank. Other than that, this was nothing very special to me. My favorite scene was when they blow up the chief of police's secret stash hideout. It's got some alright comedy and some decent action. Think Reservoir Dogs in spanish without smart dialogue and mixed it with Oceans 13 (not 11, but the fucked up 13), and you get this movie.
Linda's Chick Flick Night [Every 2nd Saturday of this year, my wife Linda will pick a movie we haven't seen. It may be a traditional chick flick or anything else that I normally wouldn't choose (it wouldn't be fair for her to choose a zombie movie just for me).]
Changeling To kick off Linda's Chick Flick Night, Linda chose to watch this movie. My response: This is a good Clint Eastwood movie. How come I didn't pick this movie earlier? Well, I'm not a big fan of Angelina Jolie. I think she's overrated. But she does good here. There's a couple of scenes where she exaggerates, but not a lot as I expected. The story and the performances here were excellent. But, there was a plot hole that I didn't like. This other police department had a photograph of Christine's son, why didn't anyone bother to compare the photograph to her "fake" son? Other than that big plot hole, I think this was very good. The time didn't seem that long and I enjoyed this movie more than Gran Torino.
The Brothers Bloom Tonight, I saw this clever movie. Kudos for an original script. The movie felt like a Wes Anderson film. Love some of the characters, especially Bang Bang the Japanese mute. Not bad for director and writer, Rian Johnson. This is his second film. His first film is called, Brick. I need to check it out. I like it when directors write and direct their own material. That's why my top favorite directors are: Quentin Tarantino, David Lynch, The Coen Brothers, and Wes Anderson. Most of their films are stories they made up.
[Welcome to the very first Documentary Night special. This year, I want to catch up on some documentaries I missed out on, as well as some new ones. In order to do that, every first Monday of every month, will be Documentary Night.]
Religulous When I first heard about this documentary, I loved the concept, but didn't want to see it because of Bill Maher. It's something about him that kind of annoys me. Over time, I couldn't resist but to wanting to watch this. It's been on the bottom of my queue for a while, until tonight. This is a great documentary. At least, I think it is. It was funny, it had some good points, and good music too. This doc is not for the easily offended or extreme religious people. This doc is for the open minded and non-judgmental people. Love all the sarcasm that this provided. Which I almost forgot, if you don't like Michael Moore's documentaries, then stay away from this one. I don't believe in everything on here, but it was cool to see the different perspectives from different religions all over the world. I wish Bill Maher would of also interviewed people who share his personal theories or who can add more to his theories. This would make a perfect double feature with Passion of the Christ. No, not really!! But they should at least show it on Sunday school. That would be classic.
The Hand This is Oliver Stone's second feature film. I heard of it a long time ago, but I never got the chance to see it. I heard it wasn't a good movie. When I saw the dvd at Hastings at a very low price, I knew this was my opportunity to finally see it. I went in with very low expectations. In the end, I thought it was alright. It's underrated. This is not Stone's best work or anything. I couldn't tell if this was his film. But when certain scenes turned black and white, I knew it was his work. He even has a cameo. As far as the story goes, it's kinda cool and cheesy. A hand that kills people. I like that. Could of been better if Stone would of turned this into more of a grindhouse movie. Love it when Michael Caine's character loses his hand towards the beginning. The only reason worth seeing and buying is for the Oliver Stone collection.
Carriers Late last night, I was about to make this another feature for the zombie movie screening. Something told me to just wait a little. Early today, I went in to this screening. This is not really a zombie film. It's more of an outbreak movie. Some of the characters are not bad. The story wasn't very original. There some things I enjoyed in the plot, but not a lot. There was only a few suspenseful scenes. The rest, was nothing exciting. Other movies I would recommend instead of this would be Outbreak, [REC] or Quarantine, and 28 Days Later.
White Zombie Tonight, I had me a zombie double feature. What a way to start the new year. Last year I saw over 10 zombie films I never seen before. And I got hooked. I had to satisfy my zombie craving tonight with these two. This zombie classic was the first to screen. Bela Lugosi is one crazy actor. This was only an hour and 5 minutes. The audio wasn't very good and there was several jump cuts. But this came out in 1932, so that's understandable. I heard this is the very first movie about zombies. This is not the typical zombies we know today. These zombies do not crave human flesh. They just roam the earth because of some curse. I enjoyed the story. A good zombie classic for the zombie collection.
Zombies Anonymous Going into this, I knew I was going to see some stupid stuff. Sure enough, this is a stupid movie. But, it's the kind of stupidity I enjoy. At first, I was annoyed by the amateur acting and directing, but then I got used to it. Halfway through, I didn't mind all this. The gore is fantastic. The concept of the story is good. Zombies can talk in this movie. This is a modern zombie exploitation cheezy flick. And for that reason, I had a good time in this movie and I thought it was alright. This movie is not for everyone. It's extremely low budget. I probably won't recommend this even to zombie fans. But, if you're curious about this, I say give it a shot. Maybe you'll hated or maybe you'll think it's alright.
