Reviews

This type of big budget studio pap is exactly what one expects from the likes of Sir Travolta but the fact that it included the more "indie-credible"(pun intended) talents of Vaughn and Buscemi (who were apparently slashed in a Wilmington, NC barfight/redneck deathmatch during the shoot) managed to suck the money right out of my wallet despite my reservations. The movie, like most typical tinsletown offerings, resembles a beautifully wrapped Christmas gift that's nothing more than an empty box. Mr Travolta plays the worlds cleanest oldfashioned yachtmaker who's torn when his ex wife takes their "troubled" son and re marries with the mysterious handsome businessman:, Vaughn(they never really say what type of business he's involved in but it's really, really important because he got the city award after only two years!!). The tone changes when, after a surprise visit, it becomes apparent that Vaughn's dark past isn't as far behind him as he thought.....blah, blah, blah. Enough with this drivel. It's not nearly as interesting as it sounds. This film couldn't have been more freakin' vanilla flavored if they used Cathy Lee Gifford. What you end up with here are enough credibility gaps to drive a gas tanker through, the typical WGA inspired two dimensional characters, and all in and all an experience that begs the question after one and a half hours of tedium ( i laughed at every inappropriate place in the finale-just to p*** off the sheep who were enjoying this garbage): Wouldn't this film have done better if it was made for LIFETIME NETWORK FOR WOMEN or better yet, PAX?(of course that's only if you take out that one "edgy" F bomb from Vincie) If you want edgy go check out the new Barbet Schroeder film about Medellin hustlers and lets all help this cinematic spoor to die a quick, natural death.

Oh my god! What a dreadfully horrible waste of everyone's time, money and effort(cast, crew, AND AUDIENCE) this was. The CGI fx were overused ad nauseum and most of the matte shots looked about as real as those seen in TV's "Land of the Lost". I personally think it was secretly filmed ENTIRELY in the Valley. I enjoyed "Raiders of the Lost Ark" DESPITE it's superficial characters and serialized plotline because it was a well made film, unlike "The Mummy Returns". Mr. Sommers should stick with scriptwriting or whatever he was doing before the studio put him in charge of this overambitious two hour plus torture session to save himself from further embarrassing himself and his family anymore than he already has. I also would like to express my sincerest wish that this film ends "The Mummy" series because "The Scorpion King" is obviously going in a different Schwarzeneggeresque direction and can't really be called a sequel to this tripe. Anyone who thought this was a great film should be embarrassed for their cinematic banality.

I so eagerly anticipated watching this pseudo snuff, what a letdown! I first heard about the films (the series) from a kid I worked with in a bar several years back and I just couldn't wait to get my greasy little sausages on 'em. Of course the mind conjures up images far beyond any reality and this was my biggest problem after finally viewing this "schocking" installment. To any real spatter aficionado this film is nothing. It's reminiscent of Herschel Gordon Lewis shot on video with even less plot that his celluloid epics. The director attempts some very low budget stylization but it's just repetitive and blatantly predictable.

My Degeneration: the movie-overall,I loved it but I have one beef which I'll get out of the way right off the bat. This film features several scenes of a band playing live music(for the sake of the scene but not really live of course). In this film as in many others where the director has no musical talent the films are nearly ruined for me because their isn't the slightest concern payed towards any technical aspects involved so it ends up looking HOKEY!!! I just wanted to get that off my chest, whew, I feel better already. Now then...This happened to be the third film I've seen by Mortisugu and it turns out to be my favorite (the Elvis film was pretty cool but the print I watched was virtually indecipherable through most of it's brief running time-was there really footage of the real corpse of E on the bathroom floor in that movie?) Getting back to my opinion of "My Degeneration"... The story here concerns the meteoric rise to success of an all girl garage band after they sell out and become commercial spokesmodels for the beef industry. That's right, the beef industry. Using pixieish punks to push "what's for dinner tonight",.. what a potentially hilarious concept! In the end the story develops rather predictably into the "too much, too soon, big stars' crashing-to-earth" scenario. While overall it's pretty trippy in many parts (i.e. talking, severed pig and cow heads), the production value is just good enough to retain sufficient interest throughout. If you like eighties hardcore music and/or underground/psychadelic cinema this one's for you.

Heath Ledger and Bryan Johnson team up in this Aussie crime story/black comedy. The story is well written with some interesting characters and unexpected plot twists including the aforementioned slapstick gag which takes place during a bank robbery- the scene had me laughing for about ten minutes, literally. Ledger does a decent job as a nice guy who happens to have a latent criminal streak which circumstances keep turning him towards. Johnson, as the leader of a low rent heist crew offering work to the desperate protagonist, plays a great white trash Aussie scumbag. This one's worth watching on cable if you enjoy the genre.

While this film is far from great it's a lot better than 90 percent of the pap wanna-be producers are pimping to get the "Pulp Fiction" market (i.e. ANY of the dozen or so films Michael Madsen's made in the last few years). My one major criticism with it was the casting of an Irish actor who needed about 10 more years of acting lessons and dialogue coaching. It really does take more than a handsome face to pull of a major role even in a small film like this. The scenes this guy were in were frustratingly bad and it hurt the film immensely. The only other criticism I had was with Lucy Liu's cheesy generic Asian accent. Her meth lab chemist-in-bondage part didn't require her to be a real immigrant(she would've been better with her natural patois),although I have to say she looked sooooooo good in that little camo tank top and short shorts that I didn't mind it that much. The rest of the cast do a decent job with their characters and there are some funny moments throughout.

What a surprise! More studio pap for the teen/mtv market. This movie was really dreadful. There was so much wrong with this movie that I'd like to start by mentioning the only positive aspect I got from "Final Destination". That small consolation was the unintentional hilarity in both the Coroner's speech scene and the "Naked Gun"-esque death scene of the female chaperone. Other than these accidental humorous moments the film was utterly forgettable unless you're a fan of horrible dialogue. Don't even waste your FREE blockbuster rental on this caca, instead try "Idle Hands" which is actually a decent horror/comedy starring the same lead, Sawa.

I really enjoy the films of Errol Morris. His quirky, Lynchian style of storytelling is quite entertaining plus he's a director who truly understands how important music is as a companion to the images of film. The soundtracks to his films are just as interesting as the shot and lighting effects themselves. In fact, only Carter Burwells orchestrations stir emotions as fully. The sad story here was truly a movie waiting to happen and one wonders how much the destitute Leuchter was paid for his cooperation(a la Streetwise). I only came away from the film with one question: I grasped the symbolism in the shot but WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT GIANT BIRDCAGE THING HE WAS SITTING IN FOR THE EARLY AND ENDING SHOTS?

This film is a real treasure in modern horror! This was one of the first good american horror films to come out in a while, a real first class effort. The creators went to the limits of their budget to make this dark story work. The period settings are flawless in their interpretation of early suburban banality. The horror is understated but reveals itself just at the precise moments. The child who plays the emotionally assaulted protagonist is amazing. His speech at school during show and tell is one of my favorite horror scenes of all time and there isn't a single monster or drop of blood in it. This film should be on everyone's "to see" list.

The one positive thing about this movie is that it should silence all the silly anthropologists and archaeologists who claim that early man was smaller in stature than modern hominids. Myself and several like-minded colleagues have always known that we are descendents of 100 foot tall hairy apelike giants....I knew it all along.... This film is a horrible attempt at cashing in on the huge success of the "King Kong" remake(a lousy film in it's own right) by rewriting the story with sinocentric roots and incorporating the famous remains into a new king kong. The effects in the film are primitve, the plot is a near total lift of the american film's, and the acting is quite smelly. I'm not sure what it is about this film, but despite it's campiness I found no pleasure in it whatsoever. I can't include this on my must see bad movie list.

All in all, this film could have been much worse. I make this assertion in consideration of it's genre. Scanning the shelves in your local video store's horror section, one can definitely see some truly larcenous attempts at the movieviewer's dollar. This film at least makes an earnest attempt at a feature. The shots used are stable, in focus, and decently lit. It also offers the obligatory (at least in any decent horror flick) female nudity and crudely created gore effects. While the plot is laughable and the pacing is horribly slow the movie is most noteworthy for it's revolutionary use of chicken clucking for sizeable amounts of on screen dialogue, truly one of a kind. Low budget horror fans should give it a peek.

This film is celluloid nirvanna. Some films have come close but not a single film has ever MATCHED this level of excellence when examined microscopically. It is a film that examines and presents the human condition in both it's finest and darkest hours telling it's story with the cinematic equivalent of the strokes of a beautiful, ancient caligraphy brush. The Seven Samurai is an experience to cherish and relive again and again as subsequent viewings do not dim the warm, human glow of it's aura. SEE THIS MOVIE TO REMEMBER WHY YOU FELL IN LOVE WITH MOVIES.

This is one of those movies that people either enjoy immensely or hate completely. I happen to fall into the first category on this one.I saw this film on cable around the age of 12 or 13 (back in the early eighties when parents weren't censoring this type of material -- the phenomenon of mass murder as an adolescent vocation hadn't yet become big money for the news media) and it really captured my imagination from the get-go. Forget about the plausibility of the story, this is adult (I was a MATURE 12 year old) oriented escapism. The plot is rather silly but the action is fast paced and the guignol is served up in large, realistic looking doses (The first scene of the film was amazing, kind of like "The Fog" only without the fog and with well lighted on screen murders). I recommend this film to any splatter, action, or David Warner fans.

I saw this film for the first time on cable back in the early eighties and was quite impressed with it overall. The story is interesting and the films'good pacing builds momentum to the climax quite well. The plot is simple: take a group of researchers and put them on a remote island surrounded by the shallow watery graves of hundreds of nazi soldiers genetically altered for maximum homicidal capabilities THEN add to the mix one mad doctor who wants to reanimate his fallen brethren......The understated level of gore (despite some excellent makeup on the waterlogged undead ss) complements the films' overall subtle, yet successfully CREEPY approach. The technical aspects here were much more memorable than the acting but in this genre that is usually the way it works. This one is worth a look.

Oh my god, this movie is horrible. I saw this in the theatre during it's initial run in my late teens and that is saying a lot because this was a period before I developed any real acumen for good cinema yet I realized it's shortcomings even at that time. This movie S U C K E D! The premise seemed mildly interesting but nothing developed. I think the biggest shortcoming was the lousy acting with the award for the worst of the worst going to Mr. Alice Cooper as the "street schizo". This film marked the beginning of a really unfortunate trend for the once so talented director. More recently we can add the abominations "In the Mouth of Madness" and "Vampires" to this mix.

This is definitely my favorite Jet Li film. This movie has it all: truly original characters for the genre (the guy in the boulder and the vampire bat kung fu master are the two which come to mind most prominently), unusual Kung Fu styles and abilities, decent stylized production value, kick ass wire stunts, and even more guignol than "Duel to the Death" . The version I saw was called "Lord of Wu Tang" from a company whose releases are renamed with "Wu Tang" attempting to cash in with the urban hip hop video market. The plot in this film isn't that confusing,( I like grey area when it comes to heroes and villans) it's simply a souped up version of the swordsman genre flick. Don't let any of the preceding negative reviews sway a decision to search this one out. If you're a Hong Kongophile you'll LOVE IT!!

"Last Day" is a really good film that shouldn't be watched by persons suffering from clinical depression. The first rate acting from a cast of Canadian regulars really draws the viewer in from the onset, totally absorbing you into their doomed world. I remember getting the same feeling during this film as I did with "The Day After" as both are able to make you forget very quickly that everything will be fine when the movie's finished. The excellent character development, sharp sense of irony, and stylish subtlety of the film create a near perfect calling card for the director whose future work will be much sought after.

Who talked Arnie into this one? Forget about his limited acting ability, the script alone sank this one from the start. This movie is so bad, it makes "Raw Deal", "Red Heat", and "Commando" look like good cinema. The screenwriter managed to rip off an impressive number of past plot devices yet he still couldn't even maintain continuity within his own cannabalized story.(How come Satan's regenerative powers stop working towards the end?) This movie has absolutely no redeeming qualities whatsover,even the gratuitous nude scene with Tunney left me irritated because while there was no need for it whatsoever, they shot it like they didn't want it to seem exploitative.(Maybe that was the actress's idea.)Stay away from this pathetic waste of Hollywood millions.

Being a fan of "Dia de la Bestia" and "Accion Mutante" I couldn't wait to get my hands on this film but I was shocked to see that De LaIglesia actually kind of sold out and made a kinder gentler version of the awesome Gifford novella whose characters were inspired by the Matemoros kidnapping/murders. . The one bright spot of the film is definitely Javier Bardem. His acting skills make Antonio Banderas' look Segal-like. Bardem's delivery in english is just as good as in his native spanish and with his genuine silly Mexican rocker-style haircut he masterfully sets a chilling profile as the homicidal drug dealing Santera. Rosie Perez plays a great New York diva but is out of her league with this evil character(in the film Perdita isn't even really THAT evil). People who haven't read the novella (included as a prologue in the book "Sailor's Holiday" by the gifted Gifford) might understandably find the story shocking but it's really quite weak (except for maybe the Santeria corpse hacking ceremony scene). Forsaking most of the really dark elements and substituting a Hollywood formula plotline after the promising beginning, this movie left me mournful for what a great movie this could have been.

I was quite surprised with this debut effort from Shalyman. The actors who were excellently cast in their roles(the mother, the son, and the psychologist) do a more than adequate job with the chilling tale. Shalyman himself does a great job of slowly unveiling the terrifying world inhabited by the dearly departed and the movie really draws you in effectively. The scenes in which the horrors seen by the boy are left up to the imagination create the most memorable shivers. While not an entirely original plot through and through (the scene in which Willis' character hears barely distinguishable voices on an audio tape undoubtedly came from the novel "Legion" by William Peter Blatty)"The Sixth Sense" makes for a good old fashioned scare. My only contention is the "surprise" ending as I thought it was totally telegraphed early on.

When I intially came to post here I was overwhelmed by the number of glowing reviews this film recieved. Did I miss something? Is there truly some comedic magic which I failed to recognize in this picture? To make a fair determination let me first count the factors I am sure that I did observe and weigh these in the balance before passing final judgement. First off I'll list the detracting qualities: Contrived slapstick(Perry's manic energy in most places just doesn't feel real), cartoonish TV sitcom acting job from the protagonist,the worst attempt at a foreign accent on screen since "Robin Hood"(Arquette), and finally to be kind I'll omit several more and leave this as the final negative- the most unlikely romantic pairing seen since "Heavy"(Perry and Henstridge). Now I'll weigh these against the positives: um, well I honestly can't come up with any. So the verdict is in, quality still doesn't have one bit to do with the success of movies in the United States. What a pity.

Tarkovsky's greatest skill as a director lies in the ability to create shots that look like live paintings, full of nuances and mysteries. In Andrei Rublev, he did this masterfully and in the process made the greatest Russian film of all time. In Stalker, the shots are just as beautiful and mysterious but the story falls quite short despite the early promise it showed. The science fiction story adaptation concerns the trek of two intellectuals with a local guide(the stalker) to a mysterious area called "the zone"- a place where contact with some mercurial force can materialize one's deepest wishes....or fears. Once the highly anticipated "zone" is fleshed out on screen (or not fleshed out-that's the real weakness)all momentum is lost from a movie that ends up as a prolonged esoteric discussion.

This film is superhero comics fare, nothing more. In said genre, character depth and acting weighs lightly.(As long as the principals are beautiful) With that in mind I have to say that HEROIC TRIO ROCKS! The first thing that stands out in the movie is the overall look of it. The production value is excellent and the atmospheric cinematography is done as deftly as any Tony Scott film. The action choreography with heavy usage of Hong Kong style wire effects is the finest I've ever seen and the fights(especially the one in hell against a demon who kidnaps children and turns them into cannibals-remember it's a live action comic book!)are frenetic kung fu masterpieces. I realize that this type of film may not appeal to all(I enjoy subtlety as much as the next guy)but I would ask you to give this one a chance because it really is much more interesting than the average Hollywood action pic.

While I found this film entirely irresistible, I have to say that I found it's strength more on the superficial level, rather than the metaphorical. I was completely uninterested in the obvious story of "the redemption of a damned soul", but I found the journey mesmerizing. Keitel is dead on here and I found myself wondering how deeply immersed in the character he actually was during the drug use scenes.(A la Estevez's drunken tirade in "Apocalypse Now") The use of real locations with no extras and the quasi-impromptu dialogue are probably the two biggest assets here(reminiscent of "Trash" but with better production value). All in all, it's quite a trip through a life of depravity and desperation that gives a great vicarious thrill to the viewer. Don't miss this film.

This film was a great thriller and featured some REALLY scary moments.(Patrick Ewing as an angel, the evil nun/nurse chasing people around with the coroners' bone cutter)Scott's performance as a bleary-eyed homicide cop in the twilight of a career plagued by memories of past murders is dead on. My one complaint with the movie is the totally unnecessary exorcism scene added to the film after it was already complete. Apparently the studio felt that the audience would feel ripped off seeing an "Exorcist" installment without one included in the film. Big mistake. As a side note-the film is nothing like the book-which is quite scary in it's own right.