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mortwerks
Reviews
Tremors (1990)
More twisted fun than a barrel of drunken monkeys!
To me, this is almost a perfect movie for its genre. While the characters are a bit stereotypical, the actors play it straight & nobody makes it a parody of itself by over-acting. The Val & Earl characters conjure up memories of Lee Marvin & Jack Palance in "Monte Walsh" (1970), as cowboys with no cattle to herd, looking for something else to do. Burt & Heather are fun to watch as "gun enthusiasts" confronted with giant underground monsters trying to eat them. And the rest of the characters are fairly fleshed-out enough to care about that we don't want the graboids to gobble them up. I think a special nod should go to Finn Carter for the Rhonda LeBeck character - She took what could have been a thoroughly minor role & made it not only integral to the film, but also believable without the usual sappy "love interest" diversions. All-in-all, more twisted fun than a barrel of drunken monkeys!
The Day of the Triffids (2009)
Underrated "B" Sci-Fi for a Rainy Afternoon
I enjoyed this miniseries very much and think many of the reviews have judged this production a bit too harshly. After all, we're not talking about a Kubrick or Scorsese opus here. It's not intended to be "Gone With the Wind" or "Battleship Potemkin". It's just an updated "Monster Movie" (as we used to call them when I was a kid). The writing and acting are reasonably adequate, and the production qualities are a refreshing update from previous film versions of Wyndham's great book. While it seems to have been made targeting pre-adolescents and certainly isn't a cinematic masterpiece, if you want a modern "B" Sci-Fi movie to watch on a rainy afternoon, you can find many far worse than this.
Jacob's Ladder (2019)
Average- but why bother?
While I like the original film very much, it was still short of perfection - So I can understand the general idea of using modern effects and film techniques to really have the remake "Pop". However, that doesn't happen in the new version, leaving me in agreement with the other reviewers who wondered why anyone would bother remaking this movie at all.
To be fair, if someone gave you a role and paid you a chunk of cash to remake a fairly well-admired film, you'd probably do the best you could, hope everyone else does the same, and pray the final product didn't suck. And that is what we have here...
Those who have never seen the original will probably find this an average psychological thriller, though perhaps a tad pretentious in it's zeal to confuse the viewer, and fans of the original will probably miss the truly touching human moments, such as those between Danny Aiello and Tim Robbins.
Top Gunner (2020)
Makes "Plan 9 from Outer Space" Look Like Shakespeare
Eric Roberts in a "Top Gun" ripoff from The Asylum- What could possibly go wrong with that formula? Turns out, even more than I could possibly imagine. While normally I would encourage people in any artistic endeavor, no matter how ill-conceived, in this case, I'm asking (nay, pleading) with both Roberts and The Asylum to just... stop. For the love of all that is holy and just, please do not make any more videos! Sell the camera and donate the rest of the equipment to the A/V Department at the local high school for the tax write-off. Then just walk away, Renee... This makes "Plan 9 from Outer Space" look like Shakespeare...
Meteor Apocalypse (2010)
Was Seriously Hoping For Better...
I find many of the SyFy and Asylum movies fun to watch (in a cheesy, drive-in movie carload night, triple feature kind of way), but this one was a huge disappointment. I don't mind suspending logic or reality for the sake of a low-budget picture, but this had no real coherent plot or character development. I found myself rooting for the meteors to splatter these people whom I'd been following for the better part of an hour, just to put me out of my misery. I give it a "2" just because it might be okay to have on while you vacuum the house or make dinner, but you'd be better off watching a 50s "B" monster or sci-fi movie rather than this...
Storm Seekers (2009)
Ed Wood Would Have Been Proud!
I don't usually write reviews, but five minutes into this talkie, I had to research the Director (George Mendeluk) here on IMDb to see if anyone let him direct (or would fund) another picture with him after this was made. Oddly enough, it seems (as of the time I am writing this) that later, Mendeluk got the keys to the car 5 more times, though 3 of the 5 were "TV Movies". This means that apparently there were five other people somewhere that thought this effort was so good that it warranted a follow-up effort.
So let's examine this tragic train wreck of cinematic wonder, shall we?
Good writing can sometimes save a mundane movie from the abyss, but here the writing goes out like "Thelma & Louise", gleefully pushing the whole mess into oblivion. The acting is as predictable and worthy as any ardent troop of twelve-year-old children's theater veterans fresh from their grueling weekend production of Peter Pan. And finally, the production values (aside from the hideously loud crescendos of background music, which mercifully drown out much of the obtuse dialog), still feature special effects worthy of Hanna-Barbera on the tightest of budgets.
One genuinely gets the sense that the ghost of Ed Wood was the zeitgeist behind this reprehensible heap of celluloid, in that it seems every scene was shot once, called a wrap, and then hastily packed up to move on to the next, and it wouldn't surprise me a bit to learn that this whole steaming mess was lashed together over a drug-addled weekend by bingeing frat-boys with a few extra bucks to spare.
That being said, this film does give me a comfortable sense of nostalgia for the days of when "Spanky & Our Gang" (or "The Little Rascals") would enthusiastically shout out "Hey, kids, let's put on a show!" ...and then convert the barn to a theater, collect canned goods for the admittance fee, and proceed to win the war for the Allies through sheer force of will alone...
Diablo (2015)
Interesting Subject in an Unusual Setting
I saw this movie without knowing anything about it beforehand and without even realizing Scott Eastwood played the lead role (I missed the opening credits, I guess). I admit I was lost until about 2/3rds of the way through, but hung on for the ride to see where it went... I'm glad I did!
The acting was "weird" at first, but as plot twists are revealed later, everything made perfect sense and really added to the film's impact. I believe Scott does a beautiful job in portraying an "old west gunslinger" (without aping his father's performances) and bringing a freshness to the genre. I've seen lots of inexperienced actors try to be cowboys in movies, but Scott almost convinced me he was a cowboy trying to portray an actor (which is a pretty neat trick, if you think about it).
Finally, the main power of the film is the background story and how everything that happens is a result from something we (as a society) have a hard time coming to grips with even today. It's a western unlike any other, and I thank those who took the time and made the effort to bring it to us!