New Release Tuesdays Presents: Harry Brown This was half-way decent. A little slow throughout most of the film. It was a nice little treat to see Michael Caine play a vigilante who kills a crap load of mindless thugs. What more can you ask for? Simple story told in a simple matter. Good for a one night of entertainment. Ending could of been better, in my opinion, but again, what more can you ask for with this plot? A good Irish beer might go down nice with this one. I wouldn't advice drinking more, might bore you a bit.
Ajami No wonder this was nominated for Oscar this year. Freaking awesome. It tells the story Pulp Fiction style. Hell, there's even a drug overdose scene. It's told in five chapters. One of them could of been better, but, overall good strong film. If I had a choice between this and "A Prophet," I would go with "A Prophet" just a tad more. This one is almost equally as great. Good to buy for the Foreign Film Section.
The Killer Inside Me Decent flick until the ending. Everything was going good but the ending kinda ruined it for me. Good brutal scenes. Nice direction. Casey Affleck did alright as a psychosexual killer. This could of been something special. Maybe worth an Oscar nomination. But, overall, I didn't like it as much.
Taking advantage and killing two birds with one stone. Tonight's grindhouse presentation is two of George Romero's flicks.
Martin Badass!! Original vampire flick. One of the best I've seen. Definitely good for grindhouse. I think "Let The Right One In" was a little inspired by this. Every second was worth it. At one point, I needed to go into another room, but I was so glued into this movie that I couldn't pause it. I never did. I waited until it was over. That's a plus. I felt sorry for this vampire. He's not your typical vampire. In fact, he makes fun of all the vampire stereotypes (sunlight, crosses, garlic, etc.). This is one of the best George Romero films I've seen. A must for the Grindhouse collection.
The Crazies I saw the remake to this a few months back.
Finally, got to see the original tonight.
The remake had a zombie feel to it.
This original, clearly shows that it's not a zombie movie. The main focus here is about the military
and their crazy ways of taking over a town.
We hardly see how crazy these "infected" town people are.
The sense of urgency is shown better here than the remake. I personally enjoyed the remake more.
Both had its up and downs. The remake has the better characters and entertainment.
This one has the better story.
That concludes this month's director segment. Here's my overall most favorite to least favorite
This month's director is George Romero. And now for Romero flick #3:
Knightriders This was very long. Surprisingly, I kinda liked it. Good original story. I like the attitude of the film. I also liked the message and the theme (putting a show from the heart vs. selling out). I thought I was not going to enjoy it, but I did. The only complaint is the length. This was the first time I saw a Romero flick that wasn't horror. In my opinion, this is better than Creepshow and Survival of the Dead, but, not a movie I would buy.
The second Romero flick to see this month is the latest of his zombie series, which came out today on DVD.
Survival of the Dead It's alright. Nothing impressive. Same feeling as I had with both Land of the Dead and Diary of the Dead. This one has its flaws. I didn't like the zombie riding a horse part. This movie started out good but after a while it loses its touch. The gore was nice. Love the final battle scene. For those zombie fans, I wouldn't buy this for full price, I would wait for it to be under 5 bucks.
This month I will see 5 films I've never seen before by director, George A. Romero. As a matter of fact, I will see those five films this week. The only one's I've seen are: Night of the Living Dead Dawn of the Dead Day of the Dead Land of the Dead and Diary of the Dead
The first George A. Romero film to see this month is:
Creepshow I remembered first seeing this cover back in the mid 80's. I never actually saw it. Maybe, I did see it, but I don't remember any of it. So, now it's official. I saw this in the morning. Cheesy 80's stuff. I like some of the stories, like the ocean tide story with Leslie Nielsen. Decent special effects (Tom Savini rules). Overall, I didn't think it was all that. Some of it was okay. I probably would of liked this a lot more when I was a kid.
Knockabout Awesome Kung Fu classic. Comedy mixed with action. Some scenes are kinda ridiculous. I think the kung fu movie, Gallants, paid tribute to this movie and other kung fu classics. This was original. You know a kung fu movie is good when you walk out after the movie is over and you start kicking and punching in the air. A must buy for fans of this genre.
Big Money Rustlas ICP are back with this prequel. 10 years ago they did, Big Money Hustlas, a cheesy blaxploitation tribute, and now, they return with this western tribute. Same cheesiness is there. Not as cheesy as Big Money Hustlas, but, entertaining. A few laughs here and there. Lots of cameos (Jason Mewes, Ron Jeremy, and famous wrestlers). There's this character named, Dirty Sanchez. He had some good lines in here. You have to be a fan or familiar with the Insane Clown Posse to enjoy this. If you're not, this would be a waste of time.
Dressed to Kill Brilliant Brian DePalma thriller masterpiece. Love the camera shots and the artsy feel to it. I wanted to check this one out in a long time (ever since Tarantino referenced it in Kill Bill Vol.1). There were a couple of moments where it felt suspenseful. And the use of certain shots made it all work. A must own thriller classic.
A Town Called Panic Nice animation we have here. It's got a lot of heart. I had the opportunity to see this at Fantastic Fest last year, but, I went to see another movie instead. Man, I'm mad at myself. This ended up getting the "Audience Favorite" award. Now that I got to see this tonight, I can see why people loved it. It was sweet and fantastic. Love the voices on here. Those voices made it funny. This brings me back to my childhood in some ways. Not a priority to buy, but, If I ever see this on sale somewhere, I don't mind having this on my shelf. Check it out!!
Ca$h Saw this indy film this morning. Not bad. Some of the acting is bad. But, overall, not bad. Definitely not a movie to buy. This just teaches an important lesson: If you ever find a suitcase full of cash, don't buy ever things in cash right away, especially a car. The story had potential for greatness, but it was a little weak due to some of the acting and direction.
The Good The Bad The Weird Cool. Fun. Kick Ass. Those are my words to this movie. This is an homage to Leone's "The Good, the bad, and the ugly." It's a mix of that and some Asian flavor. The story is a bit different but it's the usual spaghetti western kind of plot. Love the sound to this. I had to turn my receiver way down because of the loud clear sound. Love the battle scene with the song "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" (same one used in Kill Bill Vol. 1). A must buy for fans of the genre. This was a nice Korean treat. It's a little long. Would make a good double feature with Sukiyaki Western Django. This one is more into the serious side and a little bit more action than S.W. Django.
The Chinese Connection Awesome kung fu/Bruce Lee classic. Bad English dub and choppy editing, but that's typical in these movies, beyond that, is a clever story with good fight scenes. I like that they focused more on the story rather than just fight after fight. Favorite fight scene: I liked all of them but I especially liked the scene where Bruce Lee kicked the crap out of dozens of Japanese karate students near the beginning. I can't wait to see the remake and kung-fu masterpiece, "Fist of Legend" with Jet Li, hosted by long-time friend, Ramon, next month. (Thanks for this recommendation, Ramon)
Diary of a Wimpy Kid Saw this yesterday. It was a little better than what I thought. I thought it was going to be kinda stupid but silly. It turned out to be a little fun. I'm not familiar with the book, but, I like some of the characters. The ending shot could of been better (it went too fast).
All in all, not bad for a kid's movie. Same rank as the movie, "Shorts." Beware of the "the cheese touch."
Linda's Chick Flick Night Presents: The Proposal Not bad but predictable chick flick. I'm not a fan of Ryan Reynolds. I try avoiding movies that have him in there, but, tonight was not my pick. So, I had to deal with his b.s. Bullock was good. Story is typical for a chick flick romantic comedy. Couple of laughs. The verdict: Linda loved it. I'm okay with that.
Cemetery Man This was a weird but very original zombie flick. The main guy goes crazy and starts killing people as well as zombies. The gore was okay, nothing extreme, although, there was one or two crazy scenes. Love the intro. My favorite character is Gnaghi (the big dude with the I.Q of 13). The dvd didn't have the original Italian track, only a dubbed version. It was kinda hard to understand these people with their English accent. But, I made it okay. Zombie kids also get killed in this strange and surreal flick. Good stuff. If I ever see a DVD on sale for this, I might grab it. Or wait for a release that will include the original audio.
Re-Animator Awesome cheesy 80's zombie flick. At first, I was deciding if this was a zombie flick or not, but after watching it this morning, I concluded that it is a zombie flick. One zombie is able to talk and think. The others were typical zombies. Can't believe I missed out on this classic during the 80's. Glad I saw this today. Good to have for the zombie collection. Love the Psycho theme song 80's horror remix. Favorite parts: the dialogue.
Spaghetti Western Night Presents: Mannaja This is the first spaghetti western that I've enjoyed in a long time. Good story, good pacing, and interesting scenes. One scene that comes to mind is the scene where this group of females are dancing and playing music while a few miles away another group are being savagely murdered, instead of hearing the shootings and screaming, we (the audience) only hear the music in that one scene. The movie is about 90 minutes, perfect time. I hate when these westerns drag on forever, and this wasn't the case. Lots of axe throwing and axe kicking. A must buy for the spaghetti western collection.
Date Night Sweet but not laugh out loud comedy. Okay to check out.
Couple of good funny parts, especially with James Franco's cameo. Another favorite part is the taxi cab stuck with the Audi chase scene. This movie is good for one date only.
Definitely not a marriage. One word that describes this movie: Charming.
With the exception of "Kick Ass" (action/comedy),
so far this year, there hasn't been a bad ass laugh out loud
The Horseman Crazy torture Australian flick. The story is easy to follow. Kinda simple. It didn't suck but it didn't blow my mind either. It's alright to check out. Basically, this is a messed up version of "Taken" except, the story is slightly different. A lot of kills not that many thrills, good for a one night stand.
The Shinjuku Incident This was an okay Hong Kong gangster flick with Jackie Chan. It's kind of hard to picture Jackie Chan as a gang leader, but he does have his moments on here. I was surprised with some of the violence. The story drags on a little. Nothing major and nothing original. Kinda has a similar story to Scarface except with a more positive message. Worth to rent! Nothing more, in my opinion.
The following two movies are brand spanking new movies that will be shown next month at Fantastic Fest. These two films have been playing in selected festivals around the world. And tonight, I had the pleasure (thanks Mike) in watching these two flicks.
A Kung Fu Double Feature
Ip Man 2 If they would of cut the second half (boxing scenes) and extended the first half, this would of been my 2nd favorite film of this year. But, points were taken off for those boxing (Rocky knockoff) scenes. It was still good action. More action than the first Ip Man. The first Ip Man had the better story and overall better movie. The first half of Ip Man 2=total badass. The tabletop fight scene is one of the best fight scenes I've ever seen.
Gallants The same way Planet Terror and Death Proof pays tribute to the grindhouse era, it's the same way this Hong Kong flick pays tribute to the classic kung fu flicks of the 70's. Original story. Love the instant zoom ins and zoom outs and jump cuts. The short old teacher was the favorite character. This was decent for a kung fu flick. A lot of comedic moments.
After. Life Believe it or not, this was entertaining. It gets good in the second half. The only thing I didn't like was Justin Long's character. Could of been better written, in my opinion. Part of me was curious to see this and part of me thought this was going to suck. Glad I saw it. Well, is she dead or alive? See it for yourself to find out.
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