I was planning on catching “Star Trek: Into Darkness” this weekend, till the mild sneezing and runny nose I was experiencing throughout last week bloomed to a full-on cold. As a result, I have spent the entire weekend in my apartment, doing as little as I could till I get over this.
My condition seemed somehow in sync with the weather, with periods of rain and clarity all weekend.
For better or worse I can always tell when I am about to get sick. I get headaches, which I never get otherwise; my nose aches and stings and I get congested when I try to sleep. My cold made landfall yesterday, and despite knowing what was coming, it still knocked me for a loop.
So I have been watching a lot of “Archer” on Netflix. I have already seen all the episodes there, but it rewards repeat viewings.
I had seen most of the horror films on Netflix that I considered worth viewing, though there were a few that I haven’t yet seen.
“Truth Or Die” was one of them.
“Hemlock Grove” is an oddly captivating series, less for its content – it lacks the blatant sexuality of “American Horror Story” as well as its hit-or-miss shock value – than the fact that Netflix is releasing it the same fashion as they did in the case of “House of Cards,” which is the entire series at once as opposed to a more traditional model.
This is a powerful new way of making television that I think other non-broadcast and cable networks will mimic because it almost guarantees viewership of the series, either over a period of days, or in one shot (I am a huge fan of marathon viewing) though I have no idea how they determine if the content is being watched.
Which is very important if you want to know if you’re going to create another series.
I really like this trailer. James DeMonaco, who wrote the screenplay for the excellent “Assault On Precinct 13″ reboot is directing “The Purge,” which takes place in an America where crime and unemployment have fallen to unheard of lows.
It’s a golden age, though nothing worth having comes without a price.
That price is known as ‘the Purge,’ which, for twelve hours, once a year, you can steal, beat, rape or kill whomever you want, with no repercussions, legal or seemingly, moral.
From the trailer I assume that everyone saves up their anger and frustrations till it comes around, wild out, then balance out, so for the rest of the year everyone is kinder and gentler.
All of that anger, all of that rage, building for the better part of a year…I would hate to be the focus of it.
Ethan Hawke and his family, to their dismay, will soon intimately learn what happens you when you get in the way of the Purge.
“”Evil Dead,” the reboot of Sam Raimi’s 1983 film,”The Evil Dead,” tag line notwithstanding, probably is not “the most horrifying film you will ever experience,” though few films approach self-multilation with such a sense of abandon”
In Sam Raimi’s original film, humor was often used to leaven the effects of the horror, thought the reboot–for the most part–plays things straight. This approach works to devastating effect when the going gets really nasty, because nothing is coming to help release the tension.
And while Fede Alvarez’s film is remarkably violent at times–made even more horrific by special effects that appear entirely practical, instead of digital–the most significant difference between the two movies is that the new version opens with a man attempting to free his daughter from the influence of the demon that will later return to plague another group of unwary travelers.
The aforementioned travelers, a group of young people who come to the cabin to stage an intervention, inadvertently summon the demon that will bring their doom. And speaking of the demon, in the original it appears long before anyone does anything to bring it about, which makes playing a tape with the spell a little bit pointless.
In the new version the spell is read from a book, though one would have to wonder why anyone would do that, especially since the book the information came from was covered in human flesh (I don’t recall anyone saying that it was written in blood, but when you’re talking about flesh-covered books, I think it’s a given) and wrapped in barbed wire.
The older version handled this important plot point better (despite invalidating the same point early on), if only by using a tape recording it at least took control out of the hands of the potential victims.
“”The Apparition” Is Too Good To Have Been Treated So Shabbily By Its Producers”
First off, ignore the trailer posted below. It’s seemingly for Todd Lincoln‘s “The Apparition,” currently spooling on iTunes. The footage is accurate, though the voiceovers misrepresent the movie (most of which aren’t actually in the film), as does the tagline for the poster.
Which is a shame because such deception is unnecessary. It’s sold as a found footage film in the vein of “Paranormal Activity,” which it isn’t (though the opening feels like one).
Though what “The Apparation” is is a taut, atmospheric ghost story that is more than a few jump scares, and better than any found footage film that I have yet seen (and this includes “The Blair Witch Project,” which started the whole genre) and actually plays like a close relative to Tobe Hooper’s “Poltergeist,” even down to most of the action happening in a subdivision of not-lived-in (except for the protagonists and one other family) ticky-tacky houses that all look just the same.
And, remarkably, for about two-thirds of the film it hangs with such esteemed company pretty well, till a third act stumble almost sends things off the rails.
Early on, viewers are introduced to “the Charles Experiment,” which was an effort by a group of parapsychologists to contact the spirit of someone they worked with, named Charles Reamer.
“The most recent version of “The Omen” (2006) isn’t terrible, but by being so faithful to the original makes one wonder why you wouldn’t go to the source. “
I recently visited my local Giant, looking for something work-related, when I stumbled upon a bin filled with previously-viewed movies, virtually all of them costing $3.99.
The majority of them were drek, though a few interested me. One of those that did was John Moore’s 2006 remake of Richard Donner’s 1976 film, “The Omen.”
I enjoyed the original immensely, and was curious how the remake compared.
I shouldn’t have bothered, because while not a shot-for-shot remake, it differed only enough to make me miss how much better the original film was in comparison.
Moore’s film not only brings nothing new, but is really hard to justify why anyone would have bothered in the first place.
By way of comparison, John Boorman’s sequel to William Friedkin’s “The Exorcist,” Exorcist 2: The Heretic”–while not a remake–could have took the same material, and played it safe. Instead, the movie went ape shite crazy.
Was the second ‘Exorcist’ film successful? Depends upon who you ask, though I thought it was a bizarre and fascinating take on the subject matter.
But Moore almost literally (except for a few mildly effective dream sequences) makes the same film as Richard Donner did, except less well cast, which is a good place as any to start.
“Prey For Help…Because Boredom Kills.”
That’s not quite the tagline for this film, but it’s fitting.
I don’t make movies, which I mention because anyone that does knows that it’s not particularly easy to do, and people oftentimes deserve credit just for the attempt. I write as often as I can, and while that’s also not easy, moviemaking takes difficult to a whole ‘nother level.
That being said, sometimes people need to know what they’re doing wrong.
And Andrew Hyatt‘s 2012 film, “The Frozen” is just wrong. It’s technically well-done, but remarkably unengaging (almost as if it’s designed to be so). I blame the writer, who also happens to be the director, because there’s no sense of genuine menace anywhere to be found.
And I was looking really, really hard.
And the worse thing is that I really wanted to like it. I mean, I actually paid attention–for the most part–with the expectation that the movie was on a slow burn, gradually building speed.
And every once in awhile something actually did happen, though when it did it was either too cliched, happened too infrequently, or was too uninteresting; sometimes all at the same time.
The movie plays like an hour and a half verson of “The Twilight Zone” episode “The Hitch-Hiker,” except that the aforementioned ‘Zone’ episode is actually pretty creepy.
And I am so not trying to be a douche here because if you’re determined to watch it through the end, you can tell what the director is trying to do, only it doesn’t quite work.
But don’t take my word for it. It’s currently spooling on Netflix, take a look for yourself.
Bong Joon-ho’s 2006 cautionary monster tale, “The Host” is one of the best giant monster films to unspool in years. It’s similar thematically to the original “Godzilla,” with a major difference: the monster isn’t a lizard, doesn’t breathe fire, and looks like a huge tadpole with legs. And teeth. Huge teeth.
It would be worth recommending for the presence of the awesome South Korean actor Kang-ho Song alone, though the convincing special effects, engaging storyline and characters seal the deal.
Response to the film since it was released was terrific, which is why there’s a sequel coming next year.
And since I am speaking of “The Host 2,” here’s a special effect test from the film.
Thanks for Live For Films for the heads up.
I have noticed, more often that I like to admit, that I form opinions of people I have never met and experiences I have never had based upon what I have seen in movies, on television and in the news.
And even worse, I tend to do so unconsciously, despite being aware–sometimes even hyper-aware–of the distorted images they bring to reality.
For instance, I have always assumed that blind people are relatively helpless, that losing their sight has somehow made them…somehow less capable beyond the lack of sight.
This feeling wasn’t something that I was particularly conscious of, but was there nonetheless.
Which is why I was surprised by the film that I saw recently.
This story begins on a very rainy day in Washington, DC, a day I have spent cleaning my apartment, which is a bit messy because I let things go when I was sick last week–though the experience revealed to me that beer actually helps colds by muting the cough reflex as well as helping one sleep. After all, it’s not an accident that NyQuil contains alcohol–and watching horror flicks on Netflix.
At the moment Wes Craven’s “The Hills Have Eyes 2” is unspooling, and while it’s not by any means a great movie, what it does have is one of the most capable blind people I have ever seen in movies, without that person being a ninja, or something of that effect.
Brian’s ‘John Dies At The End’ Review
“Here’s to all the kisses I snatched, and vice versa.”
—Fred Chu
Think about it for a moment, you’ll get it.
One of Marvel Studios’ Phase Two projects is a feature film version of Doctor Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts. I still think that Ioan Gruffudd should play Strange, though who should direct? On the strength of “John Dies At The End” (never mind his rather bizarre filmography) it should be Don Coscarelli.
The reason being is that the movie takes some really odd subject matter, and not only makes it approachable, but fun. When I heard that this film was coming out a few years ago, I picked up the book by David Wong, so that I would go into the movie with some idea of what’s going on.
I enjoyed the read, but beneath the weird chocolately coating lies a somewhat conventional center.
What Coscarelli did was bring the most interesting, stranger parts of the novel to the screen, while de-emphasizing the conventional elements. What’s left is a movie that plays like David Cronenberg’s “Naked Lunch,” with its reliance on mainly practical special effects, while unlike that aforementioned film actually makes sense.
What “John Dies At The End” also reminded me of the Hardy Boys. On acid.
And apropos of Doctor Strange, wouldn’t Clancy Brown be an awesome Baron Mordo?
I am also resisting the temptation to reveal more about the movie–Trust me. My restraint has been admirable–but the actors that play John and David Wong, Rob Mayes and Chase Williamson, are a great bit of casting.
I referred to Clancy Brown earlier, though he rounds out a remarkable cast that includes genre veterans like Angus Scrimm, Glynn Turman, Doug Jones and Paul Giamatti (who also executive produced).
Though all is not rosy because “John Dies At The End” deserves a nationwide release, as opposed to the limited one that it actually got. I live in Washington, DC, and unlike Michael (thanks for reminding me that it was available online) over at Durmoose Movie Musings, I didn’t have the benefit of seeing this awesome movie in a theater.
Pity, that.
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