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.
I imagine it’s hard to make a horror film involving war, because war in and of itself is such a horrific experience that there’s little that you can add to make it any worse, which is probably why there aren’t too many of them.
In fact, for awhile Su-chang Kong’s “R-Point” and Michael J. Bassett’s “Deathwatch” were the only films that I was aware of, though now it appears there’s another.
And it’s Paul Campion’s “The Devil’s Rock.” If you catch it on Netflix, don’t let the DVD cover art fool you, it’s actually a taut, well-acted film that happens to involve a demon and buckets of gore.
It appears that the Netflix gods finally listened to my requests for some new horror. Just a day or so ago they started showing “Intruders,” “Hunger,” “The Devil’s Rock,” “Hidden,” “Road Kill,” “Cornered,” “Girls Gone Dead,” among others. Strangely enough, they have also included a bunch of Mario Bava films, such as “The House Of Exorcism,” “Bay Of Blood,” “Lisa And The Devil,” “Baron Blood, and “Kill, Baby, Kill.”
I expect that most of the films I mentioned won’t be worth the time it takes to watch them (other than the Bava films. From what I have read he has done as much to advance the giallo film as Dario Argento) but then again, you never know when you are going to find a classic, such as “Occupant,” which was part of the last group of horror films to appear on Netflix.
Speaking of “Occupant,” here’s the trailer. It’s a creepy little ditty worth checking out.
After all, who knows? It might just lead one to reconsider moving into that rental that feels just too good to be true, because it may end up being a real…killer…deal.
“You’re “Better Off Dead,” than taking a trip down “Rosewood Lane.”
Remember Savage Steve Holland‘s comedic take on teenage angst and suicide, “Better Off Dead?”
You probably don’t, though if anything stuck, it’s the psychotic paperboy, and the way his catchphrase “Two dollars…” struck fear into the heart of Lane (John Cusack).
Victor Silva‘s “Rosewood Lane,” quite possibly one of the silliest films I have EVER seen, despite not being a comedy, takes the premise of an insane paperboy and kicks it up a few notches. It’s an odd idea, though the problem is that very little in the film rings true, more so than the concept itself.
The movie cheats excessively (and the ending not only doesn’t tell how the paperboy was able to do what he did, but also fails to explain why no one would have kicked the living crap out of him–other than the script didn’t want it to happen, that is) and is scary only in it’s remarkable inconsistency.
And to refer back to Holland’s film, which was deliberately silly, so it was easier to accept how determined (to collect his two dollars) and bizarre the paperboy was. Silva treats his film as if it were Hitchcock, which makes virtually every scene that follows more outlandish than that which came earlier.
So, in conclusion, you’re “Better Off Dead,” than taking a trip down “Rosewood Lane.”
If you’ve caught Seasons One and Two of Channel 4 raunchy teen comedy, “The Inbetweeners” and can’t wait till they get Season Three, look no further. I originally checked out Channel 4′s web site, but for whatever reason it’s not available there due to some technical issues (I don’t know if they’re due to me owning a Mac, because streaming is streaming, as far as I know).
Instead, click on this link, for three episodes of Season Three (the seasons are very abbreviated, containing no more than four or so episodes).
“The Inbetweeners” is also being remade by MTV, and while I haven’t seen it, I get the feeling that it’s going the same way as their “Skins” remake, which is early cancellation.
Here’s the trailer for the Americanized version, though having watching it it feels way too planned and calculated.
In other words, it doesn’t appear as interesting as the British version.
The small, almost micro-budgeted, film, when successful, can bring new creativity (and profits) to the box office. For instance, the whole found-footage trend came into its own with the three “Paranomal Activity” films, which combined cost just over $8 million to produce and earned almost $600 million worldwide.
That being said, there are times when a bigger budget works for the benefit of all concerned. For instance, the first ”Jurassic Park” had a $63 million dollar budget (which is cheap when you think how remarkable the dinosaurs looked) but they could not have featured so many different types of saurians otherwise.
I mention it because “Area 407″ covers similar territory as “Jurassic Park” (mixed with a liberal dose of “Lost”) except that it (clearly) lacks the budget of “Jurassic Park,” which works to the film’s detriment. Like “Paranormal Activity,” it involves found-footage–a trend that appears to be quickly wearing out its welcome–of a crashed aircraft that ends up somewhere it’s not supposed to be.
The worse thing, beyond the aforementioned lack of resources, and the occasional shrill and irritating child, is that it’s not badly acted.
I spent all last Thursday as an extra on Netflix’s upcoming series, House of Cards (an Americanized version of a British series), and had a great time.
Prior to “House of Cards,” I worked as a policeman on “The Dark Knight Rises” (TDKR).
You would think, since TDKR had a massive budget compared to “House of Cards” that it would have been better in terms of amenities, but strangely enough, it wasn’t (though that may have had something to do with TDKR being filmed on Wall Street, and the massive number of extras used on that particular film).
Both productions, as far as I could tell, treated us well, though I thought that we were especially well-treated by the ‘Cards’ staff.
“House of Cards” (HoC) was budged around $100 million dollars for 26 episodes (which isn’t much when you consider that HBO paid $50 million for the pilot of “Boardwalk Empire” alone ). It didn’t pay that well, though you don’t work as an extra (that’s not a member of SAG–the Screen Actors Guild) for the money.
That being said, the food was plentiful, and quite good, and the waiting area was air-conditioned; which is a very good thing when the temperature is somewhere in the upper Eighties.
If you have been reading here for awhile, you probably noticed that I complained about “John Carter” being a terrible title for a movie that–literally–spanned universes (and wanted desperately to play on an epic scale)?
It was, though there are films where simple is best.
“Charlie Varrick” is one, and Daniel Barber’s “Harry Brown” is another. They work because both eponymously-named films are about men who’ve lives are as ordinary, and mundane, as their names (though that applies more to ‘Brown’ than ‘Varrick’). Michael Caine plays the character with an understated, weary gait. He’s seen more of the world than he lets on, and is not impressed. He’s old, but accepts that and other things which is cannot change.
At this point the only things that he lives for are his wife, who’s in hospital, and a friend that lives in the same complex as he does.
One day his friend comes to him, and tells him that he’s afraid because of some neighborhood toughs, though eventually circumstances force him to take matters into his own hands.
Which he does not enjoy doing–after all, he’s an old man with emphysema,who can barely run without an attack coming on– but Michael Caine plays the character with the right amount of desperation and mortality.
Comparisons to Michael Winner’s “Deathwish” are inevitable, but Caine’s Harry Brown isn’t as calculating as “Deathwish’s” Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson), and he only kills those that either have terrorized his friend, or threaten where he lives.
The change in scale is what makes “Harry Brown” that more realistic and interesting of the two films.
“The only revelation that “Hellraiser: Revelations” offers is that someone either needs to take this franchise seriously, or let it die. “
I was browsing though Netflix, as I often do, looking for a decent horror flick. There’s are some classics, like William Friedkin’s “The Exorcist,” or Michael Winner’s “The Sentinel,” though for every classic, there’s seems more in the way of dreck.
Then I noticed that “Hellraiser: Revelations” was available, so I gave it a try, despite not expecting much.
And it fully met my expectations, which wasn’t a surprise since the series haven’t been much of the way in of entertaining since “Hellraiser: Bloodline.”
Though what bothered me most was less than what was on screen, than the missed opportunities that weren’t. Doug Bradley, who played ‘Pinhead’ in all the other films, wisely bailed this time around and was replaced by Stephan Smith Collins (who, it’s worth noting looks nothing like Bradley).
Which would have worked if they had run with the concept, and replaced not only Bradley, but the entire Cenobite hierarchy. There could have been a set-up with Bradley’s Pinhead being deposed in Leviathan‘s eye with the new guy (or gal).
Netflix has done plenty of stupid things, but their latest decision isn’t among them. They have decided, in a burst of sanity, to not take on “Terra Nova” after it had been cancelled by Fox.
Netflix doesn’t have the deep pockets of a Twentieth Century Fox–and “House of Cards, and the participation of David Fincher, doesn’t come cheap–so they have to be careful in taking on expensive properties.
