As promised last week, the discussion questions are returning.
This week is a simple one, but should be fun to hear the responses.
What is the WORST movie you've paid money to see in a theater?
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Friday, October 2, 2009
Introducing Lethargic's Horrorfest 2009
My apologies for the severe lack of attention to this site. Full time work has really been getting in the way. There is good news though. While I will not only try to put more discussions up to my once a week expectation, we have a guest providing some reviews in honor of October and Halloween. Now, we must admit, neither Brandon nor Jeremy are big horror movie fans. This however should solve all your desires for horror film reviews. So no further introduction. This is a big chunk of review from Lethargic and we thank him.
Lethargic's Horrorfest 2009 Part One
What is Horrorfest? I've been a fan of horror movies since I was a sweet young boy. Halloween was like Christmas. I'd wake up early and watch the all day long horror movie marathons. But then it got to a point where I wondered how many times can I sit here and watch the exact same movies every year? So I started making my own Halloween day marathons. Then it became an all weekend thing, then an all week thing. A few years ago I decided I was going to have a full on HorrorFEST. Watch as many horror movies as possible in the month of October. That started in 2002 and I got 51 movies watched. In the following years it continued to grow. It became more like September to November. 2005 lasted all the way until December and I watched 200 movies. That was the year I said, OK, let's not go that crazy again. Since then my goal has been to get around 100 watched every year and not let it drag on until the following year.
When I first started Horrorfest all I did was keep a list of what I watched. Then I started rating every movie one a scale of one to five. A couple of years ago I started writing down my thoughts on what I watched. I've posted this stuff in a few places over the years but this year I was thinking about not writing it up or maybe just doing it on my Facebook page. But then Brandon Felder made the mistake of announcing this site on his Twitter and I was like ooooooh! Nashville Predators blogger + Nashville Predators blogger reader = the best Horrorfest of all time! So thanks to my BFFs here at Beyond the Big Screen, you readers get to be shocked and amazed at the terrible movies I will be watching over the next month or so. And away we go....
1. Zombie Nightmare (1986) - Pretty much your typical bad 80's horror movie except this one features the amazingly goofy Jon Mikl Thor. I'm going to pause here while you do a Google image search for Jon Mikl Thor.........ok. Back? Soooo, that weirdo you just saw plays the world's most metal softball player. On the way home from the grocery store he gets hit by car driven by generic 80s villain #356. The slight tap of this car should never have even hurt a sexy beast like Jon Mikl Thor. But it apparently killed him dead because his friends didn't even think about taking him to the hospital. Why would they go to a doctor when they have a voodoo priestess in town, right? She resurrects Jon Mikl Thor....well.....sort of. I guess Thor's asking price was too high and they could only get him for a couple of days because Thor does NOT play the zombie version of the character. That honor goes to Pee Wee Piemonte who just so happens to look NOTHING like Jon Mikl Thor. Who did they think they were fooling? Jon Mikl Thor has long flowing blonde locks, wears a loin cloth and carries the magic hammer of Odin. He's VERY recognizable. You can't put a dude with short black hair who does NOT carry the magic hammer of Odin into the movie and expect us to think it's the same guy.
Anyway, for the most part it's just another dumb 80's horror movie, but it has its share of fun moments. Though my favorite moment wasn't IN the movie. During a scene with a body bag my friend decided to call it a corpse sack. At that moment it was the funniest thing I've ever heard. Now I keep thinking about how I want to start a metal band called Corpse Sack. Also, after you watch most bad 80's horror movies you can go to IMDB and see that these people never made anything else. Not so with Zombie Nightmare. This cast was kind of amazing. It had Tia Carrere who would go on to find fame and fortune in Wayne's World. Frank Dietz who became an animator, his movie Kung Fu Panda was mildly successful. John Fasano went on to write and produce all kinds of stuff. That Pee Wee guy has done stunts in nearly 200 movies and acted in a bunch more. The main villain, Shawn Levy, is now a very successful director including the Night at the Museum movies. Adam West was in it, he went on to become famous for being completely insane. Then, of course, Jon Mikl Thor went on to play in front of literally 10's of people in bars across the world fronting the world famous rock band THOR. So big props to the casting director of this one.
2. Quarantine (2008) - Most horror movies made in the 2000s generally suck because they follow the same formula. The opening 10 minutes are used to set up their villain, killer, monster, etc. Like they'll have a whole group of people get massacred by whatever it is and it makes you go wow, if that happens before the credits even start then this movie must be BANANAS!!!! But then after that opening scene the movie slows down to a crawl as the people making it think that when we buy a ticket to "Crazy Axe Murderer Part 27" we want to spend 80% of the movie watching story, plot and character development. Quarantine does the complete opposite. While watching it, the first ten minutes were awful. Slow, boring, aggravating to the point of almost making me hate Jennifer Carpenter which I didn't think possible. But as the movie progressed it became clear. They did what horror movies SHOULD do. They used the opening act to introduce us to the characters and the plot. OK, here are all the people, decide who you like and don't. Ok, now, we're trapping them all in a building with a mutant super rabies virus that turns people into bloody thirsty killers. Ok, that's everything, GO! And once it goes, it goes. The movie is constantly going uphill. The tension and the scares are constantly getting scarier and...uh...tensionier....whatever....until the last 10 minutes where the movie does indeed go BANANAS! On a scale of 1-5 skulls I give this one 5 skulls. As far as horror movies of the 2000s, this would most certainly be in my top 10 and maybe top 5 on a good day. Of course this is the remake of the movie Rec which I have not seen yet, so maybe after I see that version I won't like this one anymore. We'll see.
3. Cemetery Man (1994) - When I saw this movie 15 years ago, it was classic. It had horror! It had comedy! It had the greatest female thingies my young eyes had ever seen! 15 years later, some of it has held up, some of it hasn't. The comedy is still there. The female thingies....boy, are they still there. The horror? Not so much. But the good news? The horror is funny. So if you want to laugh, it's a great choice. Want a scare? Not a great choice. Thingies? Best choice ever.
4. Hellgate (1989) - And the winner for worst movie I've watched so far goes to Hellgate. Here's the plot: Hot chick gets killed by a biker gang. She then haunts a road and leads motorists to a Wild West ghost town named Hellgate. Her father, Mayor of Hellgate, has a blue rock which he uses to zap a horrible 80's movie laser at the people his daughter lures in. The blue rock laser zaps the people into zombies who are then trapped in Hellgate for eternity. The end. Think the few seconds it took you to read that plot was awful? Try watching it for 90 minutes.
5. Corn (2004) - Hellgate is no longer the worst movie I've watched. Jena Malone had a pretty good career going for her there for a while. Starting with Donnie Darko she had a string of about 5 or 6 really cool movies. Then for some reason (A dare? A bet? Payment to the mafia?) she decided to make Corn. Probably the worst career decision anybody has made since Mike Tyson got on that plane to Tokyo. I haven't seen her since. She should've checked the cameras out while filming because by the look of this garbage I'm thinking it was shot on some kid's webcam. She should've also looked at the poster for the movie before she signed on. It features a bunch of sheep with red glowing eyes, behind some badly drawn barbed wire and the word CORN in a menacing font with a biohazard symbol in place of the O. At the bottom is the terrible tagline of "It's not nice to fool Mother Nature." OOH THIS IS GOING TO BE SCARY!!! The problem with having scary sheep in your movie is that sheep aren't scary. If you do scary sheep as comedy, that can work. (See the movie Bad Sheep for an example.) But this movie is DEADLY serious and more like a melodramatic Lifetime movie than a funny killer sheep movie. The plot revolves around a girl who gets pregnant after an affair with a politician, drops out of college and goes back home to the farm to live with her Pa, there she discovers that the farm's sheep have been eating genetically modified corn that is making them crazy, nobody in town believes her about the sheep so she..........Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
6. Jack-O (1995) - At least that's what the box says. The title screen calls the movie Jacko Lantern. The box also says the killer is named Jack-O. In the movie the killer is named Pumpkin Man. Even the person who designed the DVD packaging couldn't be bothered with sitting through this garbage. Classic 80's B-Movie Queen Linnea Quigley + Classic B-Movie Producer Fred Olen Ray + Poorly designed big plastic pumpkin headed killer = One very, very, very, very bad movie. How this thing managed to get a 2 out of 10 on IMDB is beyond me.
It did have one fun scene though. Dude is sitting on a motorcycle with his girl. She asks for a hit of his cigarette. He gets really mad, tells her to get her own, and then throws his on the ground. That alone was enough to make me like this guy for being such a jerk. But then he lights up another cigarette. Now I LOVE the guy.
7. Highway to Hell (1991) - A Hell Cop kidnaps a girl, forcing her boyfriend to journey to Hell to save her. Sounds awful, right? I expected a typical slasher movie with a Jason Voorhees style killer in a cop uniform, but I was wrong. This is surprisingly watchable. Not a slasher film at all. It's more like your typical fantasy adventure flick where somebody has to make a long journey and face countless obstacles to save somebody or get something and meets up with a group of wacky characters along the way. Like a Wizard of Oz or Lord of the Rings in Hell kind of thing. It's a fun little movie. If I had paid attention to the people who made the movie and starred in it I probably wouldn't have expected a typical slasher movie. A script by the screen writer of LA Confidential performed by a better than expected main cast of Kristy Swanson, Patrick Bergin, Chad Lowe, Richard Farnsworth and CJ Graham (Jason in Friday part 6) is helped along the way by a bunch of fun cameos by the likes of Lita Ford, Ben Stiller, Jerry Stiller, Anne Meara, and the BRILLIANT choice of Gilbert Gottfried as Hitler.
8. The Tommyknockers (1993) - Another Stephen King story adapted by screen writer Lawrence Cohen (Carrie and IT) proves that lightning does not strike thrice. No blame on Cohen though, he didn't really have as much to work with this time. This was not one of King's best stories. The plot revolves around a buried green glowing UFO that telepathically teaches residents of a small town how to build and fix stuff. Water heater broke? No problem, the UFO teaches you how to fix it and also make it glow green. Need a TV that will kill your cheating husband and also glow green? Got you covered. Having trouble sorting the mail at the post office? Well, handy dandy green UFO can build you a mail sorter....that glows green. Putting on a magic show? Let the green UFO make you a great trick.....and make it glow green. Need a type writer that writes the story for you? This UFO can build it AND make it glow green for one low, low price plus shipping and handling! This stupid UFO is better than the Slop Chop, Awesome Auger, George Forman Grill, ShamWow and Mighty Putty rolled into one. It does everything. And it glows green!!!!!! Even after all that the most unbelievable aspect of the movie is the casting of Traci Lords as a postal worker. Do what now? I've been to the post office, never seen nothing like Traci Lords there. If Traci Lords worked at the post office there would be a constant line around the building of middle aged men buying one stamp each. And of course there's only one member of the town not affected by the green glowing UFO, our hero, the alcoholic writer. Really, Stephen King? AGAIN? ANOTHER alcoholic writer hero? We get it. Everything is about you and you're a big hero. WE GET IT. Quit writing about yourself and write another book about a haunted car or a vampire or a bad doggie. Enough about Stephen King in Stephen King books.
9. Catacombs (1988) - Garbage. Just pure garbage.
10. Timber Falls (2007) - This movie could be the ultimate in horror hackery one could ever see. A couple go hiking in the woods (100,000 different horror movies) and get accosted by some rapey rednecks (Deliverance), deal with a crazy old hermit lady (Misery), get chased by a mongoloid maniac (Jason Voorhees) who has a burned face (Freddy Krueger) and likes to kill and torture people with hooks and hammers (Leatherface). Just when they think they're being saved by a local cop, it turns out he’s a crazy killer too! (Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake) And then it turns out that all these people are part of one big murdering family! (Every Chainsaw movie ever and 5,000 other clones) The girl ends up getting the upper hand and chopping off the evil mother's head in the end. (Friday the 13th) Normally I'd complain about this. But this was so over the top I couldn't wait to see what they would steal next. There were certainly more good moments than bad. I guess it was OK in the end and it definitely deserves an award for the most "homages" in horror history.
11. Wilderness (2006) - The description of this said "stranded on a remote island, a group of juvenile delinquents are hunted by a killer." Now, that sounds like something I can get behind. Who doesn't hate juvenile delinquents? And it made it sound a lot like the awesome movie Battle Royale and I expected something like that. I expected something along the lines of a bunch of criminals being banished to a deserted island to get killed or kill each other, something like that. Something that would be like a punishment. What I got was quite different. After one of the juvies kills himself, the rest of his dorm room of misfits are sent to this island as punishment for bullying him into it. But.....it's not really a punishment at all. There's nothing very menacing at ALL about this island they get sent to. It's quite nice. They have a guide to take care of them and tents, sleeping bags, food, all the things you need to have a swell camping trip. I'm really having trouble finding the punishment here. Instead of being caged up in a cell, they get to sleep out in the wild open? Really? To make matters better, they soon reveal that these guys are locked up for murder, armed robbery and rape. Yet, they still get to go camping? But wait....there's more. Due to a scheduling conflict, there is also a group of female juvies on the island at the same time. OH NOES!!!! So now these murdering rapists are not only getting this awesome all expenses paid camping trip on this beautiful deserted island, but they're also getting to hang out with a bunch of hot crazy slutty chicks. Why do I get the sudden urge to be a criminal all of a sudden? Well, sure, a killer shows up and kills everybody but nobody knew that would happen when they handed down the "punishment" of the happy fun time woods filled with hot girls.
12. The 13th Guest (1932) - This is a great atmospheric whodunit thriller. Made around the same time as Dracula, it has a lot of the same feel. Like Dracula, it has no music, so in the quiet scenes all you can hear is that white noise hiss that gives the movie so much more added creepiness than music could ever deliver. But...the thing is...the movie isn't what is important here. I watched this because it was a episode of Vampira's Attic from 1954. Actually, it is THE episode of Vampira's Attic. This was the only episode the station ever recorded and saved. And as I watched it, knowing this was the only one I'd ever see, it was really quite sad. Vampira was the first TV horror host and would later go on to star in the under-rated classic Plan 9 from Outer Space. And this proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that being first is always better than being second. I expected the same old goofy camp that her rip off Elvira made famous, but it wasn't like that at all. Sure, she had goofy jokes and puns, but even a goofy joke and pun can be funny if delivered properly. Kinda like how I could go poke somebody in the eye and it wouldn't be funny at all, but The Three Stooges could do it and it'd be hysterical. Plus, unlike every other modern horror host, she actually looks naturally freaky. She's not selling sex the way Elvira does, Vampira would rather creep you out. And she's just really, really cool. Sitting there in her dark attic, drinking a "vampire cocktail" out of a martini glass in one hand and smoking a cigarette in one hand, talking about the movie and cracking jokes, she....was......awesome. I would normally love this movie, instead I was mad that the movie wasn't getting interrupted enough because I wanted more Vampira. And I can't believe this is the only one. That really stinks. Now I have something else to make me feel completely out of place in the year 2009.
Fun fact on Vampira: She was famous for having an insanely tiny 17 inch waist. 38, 17, 36 were her complete measurements. She kept this tiny waist because the only thing she ever ate was boiled eggs, graham crackers and orange juice.
Another fun fact on Vampira: Her breath smelled terrible.
13. The Girl Next Door (2007) - This movie is the most frustrating movie you could ever see. It's based on a real life story but as much about the real story as Psycho is about Ed Gein. The true story is still regarded as one of the most shocking crimes in American history. In 1965 a 16 year old girl and her sister were sent, by their parents, to live with a woman they knew because they couldn't take care of them at the time. The woman, her two kids and two neighborhood children would end up torturing the 16 year old to death. That story right there is enough to make a pretty terrifying movie. Do you really need to embellish that? Isn't the actual crime bad enough? Apparently not! They turned it up to 11 in this movie to a point where, even though I knew the true story, I still didn't believe it. The 2nd dumbest thing they did was instead of making it her kids and two neighborhood kids....they made it EVERY single kid in the neighborhood. Every kid in the entire neighborhood is just taking part in the torture and rape of a kid their own age. Really? Not a single one of them would say...umm...hey....stop? Nobody would call the police? Nobody would tell their parents? EVERY one is evil? Really? But the #1 dumbest thing and what made this movie version so frustrating is the addition of the next door neighbor kid. He met the girl when she first moves in and become best friends and she becomes his first love. While he doesn't take part in any of the torture, he witnesses almost all of it. He stands by and does nothing. He doesn't try to stop them, doesn't try to get help, doesn't even try to comfort her, he does nothing. It just lead to me screaming at my TV. DO SOMETHING!!!! If they had just told the true story without needlessly embellishing it and without adding in this extra frustrating character, this could've been a very good movie. Instead I hate it more than I've ever hated anything.
14. The Man Without a Body (1957) - This is a classic. This would be in the "so bad it's good" category but I kinda hate that term. I figure if something makes you enjoy watching it, even if it's because it's bad, that makes it a good movie doesn't it? If so....this one is really "good". A man with a brain tumor finds a doctor who is working on transplanting minds. Brain tumor guy would kinda like that option obviously. So he decides he needs to find a good head to get transplanted into. What does he decide on? Nostradamus of course. Just because he's been dead a few hundred years doesn't make it a bad choice of head. So he cuts Nostradamus' head off and they bring it back to life. But uh oh, Nostradamus head is too smart! He tricks the brain tumor guy into losing all this money! Brain tumor gets all mad and tries to kill Nostradamus head but kills one of the doctors instead. The other doctors transplant Nostradamus head onto the dead doctor and then wrap WAY too many bandages around him so he ends up looking like a giant tooth. Giant Nostradamus head tooth then goes crazy trying to kill the brain tumor guy. Wait...........what am I talking about??????????
15. Night of the Blood Beast (1958) - When you get a movie from the 50s made by Roger Corman you know you're in for some crappy fun. When you get a movie from the 50s made by Gene Corman, Roger's less talented brother.....well.....you're know you're mainly just in for some crap.
16. Voices (2007) - Oh, look. It's yet another Japanese horror movie. Yaaaawwn. Here's all I could think about while watching this: If you go by their movies, it must really suck to live in Japan. It used to be cool because you were always a samurai or a ninja. But since the 60s, you either get killed by a giant lizard or killed by a evil ghost. But I liked this one. Probably one of my favorites of the Japanese horror onslaught.
17. Necropolis (1987) - A group of do-gooders in the 1600s bust in on a witch who is minding her own business trying to worship the devil in her own home. She gets all uppity about it and goes YOU CAN'T KILL! I'LL HAVE MY REVENGE!! The scene then fades and cuts, very awkwardly, to 1987 New York where the witch now looks like Siouxsie and the Banshee's number one fan. She now spends her day riding around on her Vespa, trying to find the Devil's ring. When she's not busy with that she spends her time weirdly dancing to awful generic 80's keyboard music and growing breasts. She gets up to 6 of them!! This is the time in Horrorfest when I start wondering why I do this to myself.
I'm tired so that's all for part one. Part two, coming soon!
Lethargic's Horrorfest 2009 Part One
What is Horrorfest? I've been a fan of horror movies since I was a sweet young boy. Halloween was like Christmas. I'd wake up early and watch the all day long horror movie marathons. But then it got to a point where I wondered how many times can I sit here and watch the exact same movies every year? So I started making my own Halloween day marathons. Then it became an all weekend thing, then an all week thing. A few years ago I decided I was going to have a full on HorrorFEST. Watch as many horror movies as possible in the month of October. That started in 2002 and I got 51 movies watched. In the following years it continued to grow. It became more like September to November. 2005 lasted all the way until December and I watched 200 movies. That was the year I said, OK, let's not go that crazy again. Since then my goal has been to get around 100 watched every year and not let it drag on until the following year.
When I first started Horrorfest all I did was keep a list of what I watched. Then I started rating every movie one a scale of one to five. A couple of years ago I started writing down my thoughts on what I watched. I've posted this stuff in a few places over the years but this year I was thinking about not writing it up or maybe just doing it on my Facebook page. But then Brandon Felder made the mistake of announcing this site on his Twitter and I was like ooooooh! Nashville Predators blogger + Nashville Predators blogger reader = the best Horrorfest of all time! So thanks to my BFFs here at Beyond the Big Screen, you readers get to be shocked and amazed at the terrible movies I will be watching over the next month or so. And away we go....
1. Zombie Nightmare (1986) - Pretty much your typical bad 80's horror movie except this one features the amazingly goofy Jon Mikl Thor. I'm going to pause here while you do a Google image search for Jon Mikl Thor.........ok. Back? Soooo, that weirdo you just saw plays the world's most metal softball player. On the way home from the grocery store he gets hit by car driven by generic 80s villain #356. The slight tap of this car should never have even hurt a sexy beast like Jon Mikl Thor. But it apparently killed him dead because his friends didn't even think about taking him to the hospital. Why would they go to a doctor when they have a voodoo priestess in town, right? She resurrects Jon Mikl Thor....well.....sort of. I guess Thor's asking price was too high and they could only get him for a couple of days because Thor does NOT play the zombie version of the character. That honor goes to Pee Wee Piemonte who just so happens to look NOTHING like Jon Mikl Thor. Who did they think they were fooling? Jon Mikl Thor has long flowing blonde locks, wears a loin cloth and carries the magic hammer of Odin. He's VERY recognizable. You can't put a dude with short black hair who does NOT carry the magic hammer of Odin into the movie and expect us to think it's the same guy.
Anyway, for the most part it's just another dumb 80's horror movie, but it has its share of fun moments. Though my favorite moment wasn't IN the movie. During a scene with a body bag my friend decided to call it a corpse sack. At that moment it was the funniest thing I've ever heard. Now I keep thinking about how I want to start a metal band called Corpse Sack. Also, after you watch most bad 80's horror movies you can go to IMDB and see that these people never made anything else. Not so with Zombie Nightmare. This cast was kind of amazing. It had Tia Carrere who would go on to find fame and fortune in Wayne's World. Frank Dietz who became an animator, his movie Kung Fu Panda was mildly successful. John Fasano went on to write and produce all kinds of stuff. That Pee Wee guy has done stunts in nearly 200 movies and acted in a bunch more. The main villain, Shawn Levy, is now a very successful director including the Night at the Museum movies. Adam West was in it, he went on to become famous for being completely insane. Then, of course, Jon Mikl Thor went on to play in front of literally 10's of people in bars across the world fronting the world famous rock band THOR. So big props to the casting director of this one.
2. Quarantine (2008) - Most horror movies made in the 2000s generally suck because they follow the same formula. The opening 10 minutes are used to set up their villain, killer, monster, etc. Like they'll have a whole group of people get massacred by whatever it is and it makes you go wow, if that happens before the credits even start then this movie must be BANANAS!!!! But then after that opening scene the movie slows down to a crawl as the people making it think that when we buy a ticket to "Crazy Axe Murderer Part 27" we want to spend 80% of the movie watching story, plot and character development. Quarantine does the complete opposite. While watching it, the first ten minutes were awful. Slow, boring, aggravating to the point of almost making me hate Jennifer Carpenter which I didn't think possible. But as the movie progressed it became clear. They did what horror movies SHOULD do. They used the opening act to introduce us to the characters and the plot. OK, here are all the people, decide who you like and don't. Ok, now, we're trapping them all in a building with a mutant super rabies virus that turns people into bloody thirsty killers. Ok, that's everything, GO! And once it goes, it goes. The movie is constantly going uphill. The tension and the scares are constantly getting scarier and...uh...tensionier....
3. Cemetery Man (1994) - When I saw this movie 15 years ago, it was classic. It had horror! It had comedy! It had the greatest female thingies my young eyes had ever seen! 15 years later, some of it has held up, some of it hasn't. The comedy is still there. The female thingies....boy, are they still there. The horror? Not so much. But the good news? The horror is funny. So if you want to laugh, it's a great choice. Want a scare? Not a great choice. Thingies? Best choice ever.
4. Hellgate (1989) - And the winner for worst movie I've watched so far goes to Hellgate. Here's the plot: Hot chick gets killed by a biker gang. She then haunts a road and leads motorists to a Wild West ghost town named Hellgate. Her father, Mayor of Hellgate, has a blue rock which he uses to zap a horrible 80's movie laser at the people his daughter lures in. The blue rock laser zaps the people into zombies who are then trapped in Hellgate for eternity. The end. Think the few seconds it took you to read that plot was awful? Try watching it for 90 minutes.
5. Corn (2004) - Hellgate is no longer the worst movie I've watched. Jena Malone had a pretty good career going for her there for a while. Starting with Donnie Darko she had a string of about 5 or 6 really cool movies. Then for some reason (A dare? A bet? Payment to the mafia?) she decided to make Corn. Probably the worst career decision anybody has made since Mike Tyson got on that plane to Tokyo. I haven't seen her since. She should've checked the cameras out while filming because by the look of this garbage I'm thinking it was shot on some kid's webcam. She should've also looked at the poster for the movie before she signed on. It features a bunch of sheep with red glowing eyes, behind some badly drawn barbed wire and the word CORN in a menacing font with a biohazard symbol in place of the O. At the bottom is the terrible tagline of "It's not nice to fool Mother Nature." OOH THIS IS GOING TO BE SCARY!!! The problem with having scary sheep in your movie is that sheep aren't scary. If you do scary sheep as comedy, that can work. (See the movie Bad Sheep for an example.) But this movie is DEADLY serious and more like a melodramatic Lifetime movie than a funny killer sheep movie. The plot revolves around a girl who gets pregnant after an affair with a politician, drops out of college and goes back home to the farm to live with her Pa, there she discovers that the farm's sheep have been eating genetically modified corn that is making them crazy, nobody in town believes her about the sheep so she..........
6. Jack-O (1995) - At least that's what the box says. The title screen calls the movie Jacko Lantern. The box also says the killer is named Jack-O. In the movie the killer is named Pumpkin Man. Even the person who designed the DVD packaging couldn't be bothered with sitting through this garbage. Classic 80's B-Movie Queen Linnea Quigley + Classic B-Movie Producer Fred Olen Ray + Poorly designed big plastic pumpkin headed killer = One very, very, very, very bad movie. How this thing managed to get a 2 out of 10 on IMDB is beyond me.
It did have one fun scene though. Dude is sitting on a motorcycle with his girl. She asks for a hit of his cigarette. He gets really mad, tells her to get her own, and then throws his on the ground. That alone was enough to make me like this guy for being such a jerk. But then he lights up another cigarette. Now I LOVE the guy.
7. Highway to Hell (1991) - A Hell Cop kidnaps a girl, forcing her boyfriend to journey to Hell to save her. Sounds awful, right? I expected a typical slasher movie with a Jason Voorhees style killer in a cop uniform, but I was wrong. This is surprisingly watchable. Not a slasher film at all. It's more like your typical fantasy adventure flick where somebody has to make a long journey and face countless obstacles to save somebody or get something and meets up with a group of wacky characters along the way. Like a Wizard of Oz or Lord of the Rings in Hell kind of thing. It's a fun little movie. If I had paid attention to the people who made the movie and starred in it I probably wouldn't have expected a typical slasher movie. A script by the screen writer of LA Confidential performed by a better than expected main cast of Kristy Swanson, Patrick Bergin, Chad Lowe, Richard Farnsworth and CJ Graham (Jason in Friday part 6) is helped along the way by a bunch of fun cameos by the likes of Lita Ford, Ben Stiller, Jerry Stiller, Anne Meara, and the BRILLIANT choice of Gilbert Gottfried as Hitler.
8. The Tommyknockers (1993) - Another Stephen King story adapted by screen writer Lawrence Cohen (Carrie and IT) proves that lightning does not strike thrice. No blame on Cohen though, he didn't really have as much to work with this time. This was not one of King's best stories. The plot revolves around a buried green glowing UFO that telepathically teaches residents of a small town how to build and fix stuff. Water heater broke? No problem, the UFO teaches you how to fix it and also make it glow green. Need a TV that will kill your cheating husband and also glow green? Got you covered. Having trouble sorting the mail at the post office? Well, handy dandy green UFO can build you a mail sorter....that glows green. Putting on a magic show? Let the green UFO make you a great trick.....and make it glow green. Need a type writer that writes the story for you? This UFO can build it AND make it glow green for one low, low price plus shipping and handling! This stupid UFO is better than the Slop Chop, Awesome Auger, George Forman Grill, ShamWow and Mighty Putty rolled into one. It does everything. And it glows green!!!!!! Even after all that the most unbelievable aspect of the movie is the casting of Traci Lords as a postal worker. Do what now? I've been to the post office, never seen nothing like Traci Lords there. If Traci Lords worked at the post office there would be a constant line around the building of middle aged men buying one stamp each. And of course there's only one member of the town not affected by the green glowing UFO, our hero, the alcoholic writer. Really, Stephen King? AGAIN? ANOTHER alcoholic writer hero? We get it. Everything is about you and you're a big hero. WE GET IT. Quit writing about yourself and write another book about a haunted car or a vampire or a bad doggie. Enough about Stephen King in Stephen King books.
9. Catacombs (1988) - Garbage. Just pure garbage.
10. Timber Falls (2007) - This movie could be the ultimate in horror hackery one could ever see. A couple go hiking in the woods (100,000 different horror movies) and get accosted by some rapey rednecks (Deliverance), deal with a crazy old hermit lady (Misery), get chased by a mongoloid maniac (Jason Voorhees) who has a burned face (Freddy Krueger) and likes to kill and torture people with hooks and hammers (Leatherface). Just when they think they're being saved by a local cop, it turns out he’s a crazy killer too! (Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake) And then it turns out that all these people are part of one big murdering family! (Every Chainsaw movie ever and 5,000 other clones) The girl ends up getting the upper hand and chopping off the evil mother's head in the end. (Friday the 13th) Normally I'd complain about this. But this was so over the top I couldn't wait to see what they would steal next. There were certainly more good moments than bad. I guess it was OK in the end and it definitely deserves an award for the most "homages" in horror history.
11. Wilderness (2006) - The description of this said "stranded on a remote island, a group of juvenile delinquents are hunted by a killer." Now, that sounds like something I can get behind. Who doesn't hate juvenile delinquents? And it made it sound a lot like the awesome movie Battle Royale and I expected something like that. I expected something along the lines of a bunch of criminals being banished to a deserted island to get killed or kill each other, something like that. Something that would be like a punishment. What I got was quite different. After one of the juvies kills himself, the rest of his dorm room of misfits are sent to this island as punishment for bullying him into it. But.....it's not really a punishment at all. There's nothing very menacing at ALL about this island they get sent to. It's quite nice. They have a guide to take care of them and tents, sleeping bags, food, all the things you need to have a swell camping trip. I'm really having trouble finding the punishment here. Instead of being caged up in a cell, they get to sleep out in the wild open? Really? To make matters better, they soon reveal that these guys are locked up for murder, armed robbery and rape. Yet, they still get to go camping? But wait....there's more. Due to a scheduling conflict, there is also a group of female juvies on the island at the same time. OH NOES!!!! So now these murdering rapists are not only getting this awesome all expenses paid camping trip on this beautiful deserted island, but they're also getting to hang out with a bunch of hot crazy slutty chicks. Why do I get the sudden urge to be a criminal all of a sudden? Well, sure, a killer shows up and kills everybody but nobody knew that would happen when they handed down the "punishment" of the happy fun time woods filled with hot girls.
12. The 13th Guest (1932) - This is a great atmospheric whodunit thriller. Made around the same time as Dracula, it has a lot of the same feel. Like Dracula, it has no music, so in the quiet scenes all you can hear is that white noise hiss that gives the movie so much more added creepiness than music could ever deliver. But...the thing is...the movie isn't what is important here. I watched this because it was a episode of Vampira's Attic from 1954. Actually, it is THE episode of Vampira's Attic. This was the only episode the station ever recorded and saved. And as I watched it, knowing this was the only one I'd ever see, it was really quite sad. Vampira was the first TV horror host and would later go on to star in the under-rated classic Plan 9 from Outer Space. And this proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that being first is always better than being second. I expected the same old goofy camp that her rip off Elvira made famous, but it wasn't like that at all. Sure, she had goofy jokes and puns, but even a goofy joke and pun can be funny if delivered properly. Kinda like how I could go poke somebody in the eye and it wouldn't be funny at all, but The Three Stooges could do it and it'd be hysterical. Plus, unlike every other modern horror host, she actually looks naturally freaky. She's not selling sex the way Elvira does, Vampira would rather creep you out. And she's just really, really cool. Sitting there in her dark attic, drinking a "vampire cocktail" out of a martini glass in one hand and smoking a cigarette in one hand, talking about the movie and cracking jokes, she....was......awesome. I would normally love this movie, instead I was mad that the movie wasn't getting interrupted enough because I wanted more Vampira. And I can't believe this is the only one. That really stinks. Now I have something else to make me feel completely out of place in the year 2009.
Fun fact on Vampira: She was famous for having an insanely tiny 17 inch waist. 38, 17, 36 were her complete measurements. She kept this tiny waist because the only thing she ever ate was boiled eggs, graham crackers and orange juice.
Another fun fact on Vampira: Her breath smelled terrible.
13. The Girl Next Door (2007) - This movie is the most frustrating movie you could ever see. It's based on a real life story but as much about the real story as Psycho is about Ed Gein. The true story is still regarded as one of the most shocking crimes in American history. In 1965 a 16 year old girl and her sister were sent, by their parents, to live with a woman they knew because they couldn't take care of them at the time. The woman, her two kids and two neighborhood children would end up torturing the 16 year old to death. That story right there is enough to make a pretty terrifying movie. Do you really need to embellish that? Isn't the actual crime bad enough? Apparently not! They turned it up to 11 in this movie to a point where, even though I knew the true story, I still didn't believe it. The 2nd dumbest thing they did was instead of making it her kids and two neighborhood kids....they made it EVERY single kid in the neighborhood. Every kid in the entire neighborhood is just taking part in the torture and rape of a kid their own age. Really? Not a single one of them would say...umm...hey....stop? Nobody would call the police? Nobody would tell their parents? EVERY one is evil? Really? But the #1 dumbest thing and what made this movie version so frustrating is the addition of the next door neighbor kid. He met the girl when she first moves in and become best friends and she becomes his first love. While he doesn't take part in any of the torture, he witnesses almost all of it. He stands by and does nothing. He doesn't try to stop them, doesn't try to get help, doesn't even try to comfort her, he does nothing. It just lead to me screaming at my TV. DO SOMETHING!!!! If they had just told the true story without needlessly embellishing it and without adding in this extra frustrating character, this could've been a very good movie. Instead I hate it more than I've ever hated anything.
14. The Man Without a Body (1957) - This is a classic. This would be in the "so bad it's good" category but I kinda hate that term. I figure if something makes you enjoy watching it, even if it's because it's bad, that makes it a good movie doesn't it? If so....this one is really "good". A man with a brain tumor finds a doctor who is working on transplanting minds. Brain tumor guy would kinda like that option obviously. So he decides he needs to find a good head to get transplanted into. What does he decide on? Nostradamus of course. Just because he's been dead a few hundred years doesn't make it a bad choice of head. So he cuts Nostradamus' head off and they bring it back to life. But uh oh, Nostradamus head is too smart! He tricks the brain tumor guy into losing all this money! Brain tumor gets all mad and tries to kill Nostradamus head but kills one of the doctors instead. The other doctors transplant Nostradamus head onto the dead doctor and then wrap WAY too many bandages around him so he ends up looking like a giant tooth. Giant Nostradamus head tooth then goes crazy trying to kill the brain tumor guy. Wait...........what am I talking about??????????
15. Night of the Blood Beast (1958) - When you get a movie from the 50s made by Roger Corman you know you're in for some crappy fun. When you get a movie from the 50s made by Gene Corman, Roger's less talented brother.....well.....you're know you're mainly just in for some crap.
16. Voices (2007) - Oh, look. It's yet another Japanese horror movie. Yaaaawwn. Here's all I could think about while watching this: If you go by their movies, it must really suck to live in Japan. It used to be cool because you were always a samurai or a ninja. But since the 60s, you either get killed by a giant lizard or killed by a evil ghost. But I liked this one. Probably one of my favorites of the Japanese horror onslaught.
17. Necropolis (1987) - A group of do-gooders in the 1600s bust in on a witch who is minding her own business trying to worship the devil in her own home. She gets all uppity about it and goes YOU CAN'T KILL! I'LL HAVE MY REVENGE!! The scene then fades and cuts, very awkwardly, to 1987 New York where the witch now looks like Siouxsie and the Banshee's number one fan. She now spends her day riding around on her Vespa, trying to find the Devil's ring. When she's not busy with that she spends her time weirdly dancing to awful generic 80's keyboard music and growing breasts. She gets up to 6 of them!! This is the time in Horrorfest when I start wondering why I do this to myself.
I'm tired so that's all for part one. Part two, coming soon!
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
REVIEW: Ghostbusters
BLU-RAY REVIEW Ghostbusters
Director: Ivan Reitman
Cast: Bill Murray, Dan Akroyd, Harold Ramis, Ernie Hudson
Screenwriters: Dan Akroyd, Harold Ramis
Run Time: 105 minutes
Original Release Date: June 8, 1984
The Film:
This Oscar nominated classic manages to be hilarious and scary all at the same time. Even now.... 25 years later.
The three entrepreneurs, Dr. Peter Venkman (Murray), Dr. Ray Stantz (Akroyd) and Dr. Egon Spangler (Ramis), have been working on paranormal science for quite a while and then, upon having a first-hand encounter with one in a New York City library, they found the Ghostbusters.
Janine Melnitz (Annie Potts) joins the business as the receptionist and supplies the dry comic relief as the stereotypical female New Yorker.
When Dana Barrett (Sigorney Weaver) visits the old firehouse to become the first customer, Dr. Venkman - in his classic ladies' man ways - takes an interest in her and that relationship develops further as the film progresses. The person wishing they had a relationship with Barrett, however, is Louis Tully (Rick Moranis), her neighbor. Tully, an accountant who outright defines the nerdy stereotype, also becomes a central figure in the plot as well.
Even Winston Zeddemore (Hudson) is brought in to make the Ghostbusters a foursome and represent the blue-collar (read: non-scientist) demographic.
The cast is impressive, the acting is impressive, but the writing is even more impressive. With timeless lines such as "I collect spores, molds and fungus" to the more subtle "the flowers are still standing!", all the dialogue is perfect for each character and is extremely detailed for each actor.
The plot is fun and there's a heavy dose of both comedy, action and suspense. The ghosts don't look cheesy and the audience is happily forced to believe that ecto-plasm (and other quasi-science references) really exist.
If you haven't seen this movie in the last 20-25 years or *gasp* ever... buy it immediately. It's not only a comedy classic but it's also an absolute must-own for anyone who enjoys the comedy genre.
As for how the blu-ray looks, it looks exceptional. You're not going to see 1080p-style depth to each frame or anything - let's not get carried away - but you will notice a marked difference between the DVD release and this hi-def release. And for a moderate $20, it's worth every penny to see this comedy classic in a way you've never seen it before.
Jeremy's grade = A
The Extras:
The blu-ray release of Ghostsbusters features your standard Director's Commentary, Deleted Scenes, Storyboard Comparisons, etc. but it also comes equipped with the blu-ray exclusive "Slimer Mode" picture-in-picture commentary from a host of personnel along with a pop-up trivia track which is pretty entertaining. The only problem I have with the picture-in-picture commentary is that they don't "mute" the movie for the commentary audio which, at times, makes it extremely difficult to hear.
The blu-ray disc also comes with two amazing featurettes in particular: a Making-of Ghostsbusters the Video Game and Ecto-1 Resurrecting the Classic Car. The former was supposed to act as a sequel to Ghostbusters 2 but there's since been talk they'll actually make a third movie (cue collective "YAY!"). The Ecto-1 documentary looks like something straight off of the Discovery Channel and is a very entertaining piece.
On the flip side of the coin though, the deleted scenes are quite obvious as to why they were deleted. They're either not funny or they have absolutely nothing to do with the plot overall... and still aren't funny. One scene that (thankfully) hit the cutting room floor even has the feel of a horror movie scene which, obviously wouldn't have worked at all.
Overall though, the extras are worth seeing and even offer even the die-hard Ghostbusters fan something they've never seen before.
Jeremy's grade = B
Thursday, September 3, 2009
The Top 5 Actor/Actress Results and a NEW Discussion Begins
We're back. Sorry for the delay in discussion questions, but to be quite honest, life got in the way this week. Anyways, here is the results of everyone's voting in the previous discussion question.
Top 5 Actors:
1. Tom Hanks with 6 votes.
2. Matt Damon with 4 votes.
3. Jack Nicholson with 3 votes.
4. Tom Cruise with 3 votes.
5. Kevin Spacey with 3 votes.
Top 5 Actresses:
1. Kate Winslet with a whopping 5 votes.
2. Charlize Theron with 3 votes.
The rest of the top 5 is a little more than three remaining choices. These actresses all had 2 votes: Sandra Bullock, Gwyneth Paltrow, Winona Ryder, Diane Lane, Julia Roberts, and Meryl Streep.
Now on to a new discussion:
What do you consider the Top 5 Trilogies of All-Time?
Let's get some real debates started!
Top 5 Actors:
1. Tom Hanks with 6 votes.
2. Matt Damon with 4 votes.
3. Jack Nicholson with 3 votes.
4. Tom Cruise with 3 votes.
5. Kevin Spacey with 3 votes.
Top 5 Actresses:
1. Kate Winslet with a whopping 5 votes.
2. Charlize Theron with 3 votes.
The rest of the top 5 is a little more than three remaining choices. These actresses all had 2 votes: Sandra Bullock, Gwyneth Paltrow, Winona Ryder, Diane Lane, Julia Roberts, and Meryl Streep.
Now on to a new discussion:
What do you consider the Top 5 Trilogies of All-Time?
Let's get some real debates started!
Monday, August 31, 2009
REVIEW: Julie & Julia
------------
THEATRICAL RELEASE REVIEW
Julie & Julia
Director: Nora Ephron
Cast: Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Stanley Tucci
Screenwriter: Nora Ephron
Run Time: 123 minutes
Release Date: August 7, 2009
The Film:
The starring duo of Academy Award Nominated Doubt reunites for another solid film. This time, however, Amy Adams and Meryl Streep never share the screen with one another. And while that's regretable, it's not necessary as these two leading ladies bring powerful performances that forces the audience to actually forget they're watching a movie.
When claims agent Julie Powell (Adams) begins to brain storm with her husband (Chris Messina) on how to find a release from her boring and emotionally taxing job, she's reminded that her failed attempts at writing in the past lend themselves well to starting a blog. After many ideas, Powell decides to embrace her love for cooking as well and undertakes the massive project of going through all 524 of Julia Child's recipes... in 365 days.
Meanwhile - and masterfully done, I might add - the story of Child (Streep) rising to master chef is told intermittently. Her trying to get into a cooking class, all the resistance once there, her being asked to contribute to a cooking book. It's all there and told wonderfully. Streep's peformance as Child is worth seeing in and of itself and is more than worthy of an Oscar nomination.
This PG-13 movie is basically a must-see for anyone who even remotely knew who Child was. And even though you may have never heard of Julie Powell and her quest to master her idol, you don't need to. Adams' portrayal of Powell makes you feel like you've known her all along and only enhances the film if you just there to watch Streep.
Jeremy's grade = B+
THEATRICAL RELEASE REVIEW
Julie & Julia
Director: Nora Ephron
Cast: Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Stanley Tucci
Screenwriter: Nora Ephron
Run Time: 123 minutes
Release Date: August 7, 2009
The Film:
The starring duo of Academy Award Nominated Doubt reunites for another solid film. This time, however, Amy Adams and Meryl Streep never share the screen with one another. And while that's regretable, it's not necessary as these two leading ladies bring powerful performances that forces the audience to actually forget they're watching a movie.
When claims agent Julie Powell (Adams) begins to brain storm with her husband (Chris Messina) on how to find a release from her boring and emotionally taxing job, she's reminded that her failed attempts at writing in the past lend themselves well to starting a blog. After many ideas, Powell decides to embrace her love for cooking as well and undertakes the massive project of going through all 524 of Julia Child's recipes... in 365 days.
Meanwhile - and masterfully done, I might add - the story of Child (Streep) rising to master chef is told intermittently. Her trying to get into a cooking class, all the resistance once there, her being asked to contribute to a cooking book. It's all there and told wonderfully. Streep's peformance as Child is worth seeing in and of itself and is more than worthy of an Oscar nomination.
This PG-13 movie is basically a must-see for anyone who even remotely knew who Child was. And even though you may have never heard of Julie Powell and her quest to master her idol, you don't need to. Adams' portrayal of Powell makes you feel like you've known her all along and only enhances the film if you just there to watch Streep.
Jeremy's grade = B+
Thursday, August 27, 2009
The 1st DVD REVIEW and Other Notes
Notes: Continue to discuss the top 5 actors/actress list. We'll leave the list up until a new discussion for Saturday morning. There is a growing discussion of women's role in films. This means we need to hear from the ladies on the subject too.
Also, things are happening with our Twitter account (@BeyondBigScreen). We plan to make it a retweet bot thanks to Paul Nicholson. This means you will be able to submit your own Quick Flick Reviews whenever you finish a movie. Thanks to those of you who have already begun to submit those QFR! That is a great part of interacting with this growing community without having to track all the way over to the blog.
Be sure to tell your own friends about this site. The more people we have commenting, the more diverse and interesting the discussions truly become.
----------------------
DVD REVIEW
I Love You, Man
Director: John Hamburg
Cast: Paul Rudd, Jason Segel, Rashida Jones
Screenwriter: John Hamburg and Larry Levin
Run Time: 105 minutes
Release Date: March 20th, 2009
IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1155056/
The Film:
After watching this enjoyable film last night I was left with one lingering thought; Where would we be in this genre if it weren't for the rise of the R-rated comedy brought on by director Judd Apatow? Studios may have never given a green light for a film such as I Love You, Man, or the other popular summer comedy The Hangover, if it weren't for the critical and commercial success of Apatow's films (40-Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up). Well, thank goodness the comedy genre was revived by the R-rating because this was just a great comedy.
The general plot to the film follows Peter Klaven, played by Paul Rudd, who has no close male friend to be his best man at his upcoming wedding. After overhearing his bride to be Zooey, played by The Office alum Rashida Jones, defending him and his lack of friends to her girlfriends, Peter realizes, he needs to make a friend. Beyond that, he needs a BEST friend.
That's the general plot. The real meat of this film occurs as Peter searches for a new friend, and then ultimately finds one in Sydney Fife, played by Jason Segel. You may remember Segel as the leading role in the surprisingly funny Forgetting Sarah Marshall last year. This film struck a chord with me because it was an honest portrayal of the complexity of being friends with a guy. At times, male friendship is weird and at other times as simple as jamming to a common music interest. The movie may get called a "bromance" but that is an accurate title and one that the cast seems to welcome. I truly believe this a film that is enjoyable for both males and females, but I can't help but think a guy is going to take a little more away from it. He will get the heart of this film and appreciate it.
Beyond the main cast, there are some great secondary roles that really add a depth to the humor. Jon Favreau, Jaime Pressly, J.K. Simmons, Joe Lo Truglio, and Rob Huebel all have some shining and heavy laugh-inducing moments.
In the end, considering the lack of quality films and even bigger lack of good comedies, this movie was a great find and deserved the critical praise it earned. Until The Hangover comes out on DVD, this may be the best modern comedy rental for you.
Brandon's Grade = A-
The Extras:
Since this is the first DVD review I should explain that I'm a special features geek. This means, you put them on the disc, more than likely, I'll watch it. I love learning the behind the scenes stuff. A huge pet peeve of mine is when a company puts out a DVD with little to no features on it. I can't justify buying a DVD brand new with nothing on it but the film. So, for me, the decision to purchase a DVD new or wait till I find one used depends heavily on the Extras.
This disc featured a commentary track with the director John Hamburg, and the "bromance" that was played by Paul Rudd and Jason Segel. As a guy who almost always listens to commentary tracks, I really enjoyed this one. It had a great mix of humor and the behind the scenes info a film geek like me craves. For the casual person, I wouldn't say this was the one special feature you should take advantage of though.
Also on the disc was a 17 minute Making Of feature. This feature was mildly entertaining but about what you would expect.
One of my favorite special feature was simply called Extras. This was 22 minutes of alternate lines by the various actors. So many funny bits that didn't make the movie are packed in here. A very nice add in and the one feature you can't pass up even if you don't normally watch the special features on DVD's.
We have 12 minutes of extended scenes and just 3 minutes of deleted scenes. The extended scenes were great. Essentially, if there was a directors cut, these parts would have stayed in the film. The deleted scenes were pretty good too. I can see why they needed to save time but I liked these scenes as well.
Lastly we have an 11 minute Gag Reel. Considering what I saw from the Extras feature, I expected this to have some gut busting moments. Not so much. This bonus content was bookended by montages. While there were some funny crack ups, it didn't really deliver what I was personally hoping for.
As an aside, there are a few Easter Eggs on the disc as well. Unfortunately, they are very short and not really something that is worth spending lots of time looking for.
Brandon's Grade = B
Overall, I thought the movie was great and the special features were solid. Personally, I'll wait for a used copy to purchase around the 10 bucks range. I definitely think the movie is a must-see modern comedy.
Written by Brandon Felder
Already seen the film? Add your own review in the comments section. Agree or disagree with this review, we want to hear your thoughts.
Also, things are happening with our Twitter account (@BeyondBigScreen). We plan to make it a retweet bot thanks to Paul Nicholson. This means you will be able to submit your own Quick Flick Reviews whenever you finish a movie. Thanks to those of you who have already begun to submit those QFR! That is a great part of interacting with this growing community without having to track all the way over to the blog.
Be sure to tell your own friends about this site. The more people we have commenting, the more diverse and interesting the discussions truly become.
----------------------
DVD REVIEW
I Love You, Man
Director: John Hamburg
Cast: Paul Rudd, Jason Segel, Rashida Jones
Screenwriter: John Hamburg and Larry Levin
Run Time: 105 minutes
Release Date: March 20th, 2009
IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1155056/
The Film:
After watching this enjoyable film last night I was left with one lingering thought; Where would we be in this genre if it weren't for the rise of the R-rated comedy brought on by director Judd Apatow? Studios may have never given a green light for a film such as I Love You, Man, or the other popular summer comedy The Hangover, if it weren't for the critical and commercial success of Apatow's films (40-Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up). Well, thank goodness the comedy genre was revived by the R-rating because this was just a great comedy.
The general plot to the film follows Peter Klaven, played by Paul Rudd, who has no close male friend to be his best man at his upcoming wedding. After overhearing his bride to be Zooey, played by The Office alum Rashida Jones, defending him and his lack of friends to her girlfriends, Peter realizes, he needs to make a friend. Beyond that, he needs a BEST friend.
That's the general plot. The real meat of this film occurs as Peter searches for a new friend, and then ultimately finds one in Sydney Fife, played by Jason Segel. You may remember Segel as the leading role in the surprisingly funny Forgetting Sarah Marshall last year. This film struck a chord with me because it was an honest portrayal of the complexity of being friends with a guy. At times, male friendship is weird and at other times as simple as jamming to a common music interest. The movie may get called a "bromance" but that is an accurate title and one that the cast seems to welcome. I truly believe this a film that is enjoyable for both males and females, but I can't help but think a guy is going to take a little more away from it. He will get the heart of this film and appreciate it.
Beyond the main cast, there are some great secondary roles that really add a depth to the humor. Jon Favreau, Jaime Pressly, J.K. Simmons, Joe Lo Truglio, and Rob Huebel all have some shining and heavy laugh-inducing moments.
In the end, considering the lack of quality films and even bigger lack of good comedies, this movie was a great find and deserved the critical praise it earned. Until The Hangover comes out on DVD, this may be the best modern comedy rental for you.
Brandon's Grade = A-
The Extras:
Since this is the first DVD review I should explain that I'm a special features geek. This means, you put them on the disc, more than likely, I'll watch it. I love learning the behind the scenes stuff. A huge pet peeve of mine is when a company puts out a DVD with little to no features on it. I can't justify buying a DVD brand new with nothing on it but the film. So, for me, the decision to purchase a DVD new or wait till I find one used depends heavily on the Extras.
This disc featured a commentary track with the director John Hamburg, and the "bromance" that was played by Paul Rudd and Jason Segel. As a guy who almost always listens to commentary tracks, I really enjoyed this one. It had a great mix of humor and the behind the scenes info a film geek like me craves. For the casual person, I wouldn't say this was the one special feature you should take advantage of though.
Also on the disc was a 17 minute Making Of feature. This feature was mildly entertaining but about what you would expect.
One of my favorite special feature was simply called Extras. This was 22 minutes of alternate lines by the various actors. So many funny bits that didn't make the movie are packed in here. A very nice add in and the one feature you can't pass up even if you don't normally watch the special features on DVD's.
We have 12 minutes of extended scenes and just 3 minutes of deleted scenes. The extended scenes were great. Essentially, if there was a directors cut, these parts would have stayed in the film. The deleted scenes were pretty good too. I can see why they needed to save time but I liked these scenes as well.
Lastly we have an 11 minute Gag Reel. Considering what I saw from the Extras feature, I expected this to have some gut busting moments. Not so much. This bonus content was bookended by montages. While there were some funny crack ups, it didn't really deliver what I was personally hoping for.
As an aside, there are a few Easter Eggs on the disc as well. Unfortunately, they are very short and not really something that is worth spending lots of time looking for.
Brandon's Grade = B
Overall, I thought the movie was great and the special features were solid. Personally, I'll wait for a used copy to purchase around the 10 bucks range. I definitely think the movie is a must-see modern comedy.
Written by Brandon Felder
Already seen the film? Add your own review in the comments section. Agree or disagree with this review, we want to hear your thoughts.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Let's Get the Discussion Started
A sincere welcome to Beyond the Big Screen. We are very excited to start this project and see just how far this community can grow.
Our core message is that this blog/site is about sharing an appreciation of film with friends. Sure, we may disagree, trash a few films, or actors. Those things are part of the discussion. The true heart of this blog though is all about sharing your love of films with friends and strangers. We hope that by finding common likes and dislikes in movies a community of film fans will find each other here.
Be patient with us though. This is a site in flux. We hope to make things look more appealing of course, but the true reason you should want to visit this spot daily will be the content.
Our plans for the content originate with you the user. In most cases, the latest post will be a discussion question. We'll present a topic, post our own opinions in the COMMENTS section, and then expect you to follow suit. Where the discussion goes from there is entirely up to you.
The discussion questions are not the only feature planned though. Jeremy and I do plan on doing some reviews every now and then. You can expect some current and new theatrical release reviews from Jeremy. I will focus more on DVD and older title reviews. To be honest with you, the reviews may not be a regular thing, but when we do get them up we hope you enjoy them.
As I said, this entire project is in flux. We'll push out some content, hope you'll respond, and take it from there. In the end, this space can only grow together or not at all.
Ok. No more blathering. Let's get the discussion started with our very first topic:
Who do you put in your Top 5 all-time actor/actress list?
Please site the name and your 3 favorite films of said actor/actress.
Enjoy and thanks again for stopping by. We hope you find this to be a fun and interactive beginning.
Our core message is that this blog/site is about sharing an appreciation of film with friends. Sure, we may disagree, trash a few films, or actors. Those things are part of the discussion. The true heart of this blog though is all about sharing your love of films with friends and strangers. We hope that by finding common likes and dislikes in movies a community of film fans will find each other here.
Be patient with us though. This is a site in flux. We hope to make things look more appealing of course, but the true reason you should want to visit this spot daily will be the content.
Our plans for the content originate with you the user. In most cases, the latest post will be a discussion question. We'll present a topic, post our own opinions in the COMMENTS section, and then expect you to follow suit. Where the discussion goes from there is entirely up to you.
The discussion questions are not the only feature planned though. Jeremy and I do plan on doing some reviews every now and then. You can expect some current and new theatrical release reviews from Jeremy. I will focus more on DVD and older title reviews. To be honest with you, the reviews may not be a regular thing, but when we do get them up we hope you enjoy them.
As I said, this entire project is in flux. We'll push out some content, hope you'll respond, and take it from there. In the end, this space can only grow together or not at all.
Ok. No more blathering. Let's get the discussion started with our very first topic:
Who do you put in your Top 5 all-time actor/actress list?
Please site the name and your 3 favorite films of said actor/actress.
Enjoy and thanks again for stopping by. We hope you find this to be a fun and interactive beginning.
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