Braindead

Wow this was gory, I still can't sleep because of that end scene. Brain dead or Dead Alive as some call it) is one of Peter Jackson first films, with some calling it his best(Yes, better than lord of the rings no less). Like Evil Dead, it is also one of the goriest films of all time. Made after his commercial failures Bad Taste and Meet the Feebles  which I will not review for it makes even my stomach churn, it too was a failure at the  Box-office. After his success with the "Lord of the Rings Trilogy", audiences were more observant of Jackson's previous work. 
So whats the story, well a zoologist is searching for a certain species of ape on Skull Island(yeah, I know), but he is bitten and is dismembered by his own crew. Later in New Zealand, Paquita falls head over heals in love with a well meaning, scatterbrained Lionel. The only problem with this relationship is that Lionel's mother is constantly trying to keep the two apart. after a date to the zoo, Lionel's mother is bitten and infected by the Rat-monkey. Lionel soon finds out that his mother is dying, but is shocked to find out that she is actually come back to life. From here all the hi-jinks occur. As the body count rises and the splatter levels reach their peak, we are taken on a comedy-horror roller coaster.

I always thought that zombies could get their own genre, but the zombie comedy is one I never foresaw. There are so many zombie comedies around, like Shaun of the dead, Zombieland, warm bodies, Dead snow, Army of darkness, etc. What I like is the gore and effects. I only recommend this for those with a strong stomach. For a low budget, it is amazing to see how far it can stretch. The premise of the zombies is interesting as, though not mentioned, despite decapitation or dismemberment, your just making them stronger in numbers and size. The characters are interesting enough. My favorite is the Kung Fu Vicar who "kicks ass for the lowrd  (no misspelling, I think I worked out how to talk like an Aussie). the romance is interesting as instead of boy falling in love too fast for the girl, it is the opposite way around and her love is not reciprocated. My other favourite line is "party's over" as spoken by Lionel at the climax.

Of coarse there are things I dislike, the acting is sometimes hoaky, some of the scenes look so good that you notice others look really fake. As for those of you who saw Zack Snyder's "Dawn of the Dead", I believe you all to have been disgusted and disturbed by the zombie baby, so you won't be comforted by the fact that there is another one in this and for longer and deadlier. My final qualm is characters to be thrown away. In this movie Lionel visits a very risque vet with quite a bizarre political opinion, he appears just once without being seen again. He is what The Nostalgia Critic might call a "big lipped alligator moment". A scene or moment that appears right out of nowhere, has little to no bearing on the plot(OK maybe he does) and is never mentioned again.

For all its fun, the main point I must get across is that it is not a horror, rather a very extreme type of slapstick. The only moments of fear come from the mother near the end, which is quite terrifying if you ask me. Another point is that I didn't really laugh at some moments as much as I wanted, so some of the humour is a bit off, but it's really worth it for the other jokes. I would recommend it to those not of a nervous disposition or weak stomach. The gore is over the top and the slapstick is very well done. Anyone who likes Peter Jackson will love this.
Premise:*
Direction:1/2
Acting:1/2
Effects:*
Script:1/2
Rating:***1/2 good for a couple of viewings, but only if your up to it!

Directors chair

Well now, today I will do another Directors chair. As I ask the question; Is Joel Schumacher that bad? Now I know you are thinking about my Kubrick, review. But I will tell you now, my opinion of Kubrick is praise and admiration for his work and art and not his methods or techniques.

As for the man in question. I started realizing that people hated, I mean really hated Schumacher for his role as a director. His work on certain films (you know what, but I'll get to it later.) has sealed his faith as one of the worst directors of all time. But really is he? He has been known for placing homosexual undertones or even overtones in some of his films. But in some films he just does well. Examples include “A time to kill, Phone Booth, The Lost Boys, 8 mm and falling down”; all of these were well received or box-office hits. Lost boys is considered to be a landmark vampire film, while Phone booth is a tense psychological thriller (seriously that name sounds so lame, but the film is suspenseful at the same time)

A time to kill is actually one of my favorite films. It’s like all the other courtroom dramas set in a prejudice/racist state of the south, but power house actors bring it so vividly to life. Actors like Sam L Jackson, Kevin Spacey and Matthew McConaughey.

But now the question must be asked, what about the bad movies? My goodness there is a lot. Films like St Elmo’s fire, Batman forever and of course Batman and Robin. I’ll tell the truth, I don’t mind ‘batman forever’ that much. It had some (SOME!) good actors, an interesting introduction to the Riddler, who is one of my favorite Batman villains, and Jim Carry is hilariously over the top. I don’t mean it will be on one of my top ten’s, but still a guilty pleasure. In fact note to self review lost boys and Batman Forever.

But as for his bad films, when they bomb, they really bomb, or rather bat-bomb. Batman and Robin became the official worst batman movie of all time. Poor acting, bad sets, bad props, awful script and dialog. Some say it was a giant step back and it was. It was campy, hoakey and in a way it was a tribute to the 1960’s tv series of old. Maybe it was bad, but does that make him the worst director ever.

Even Phantom of the Opera was poorly received, mainly due to poor script and bad direction.

He is certainly a visual director in tackling elements of fantasy or fiction.  But his tackling as a director can be sometimes flawed.

Be that as it may, it should not be said that Joel Schumacher is one of the worst directors of all time. He has good films and has bad films, maybe he is just a normal director.

Just to avoid any disappointments, I will give you my top five favorite Schumacher films:
5.     Batman Forever, Funny, action and some good acting. OK in my opinion.

4.  The Wiz, he wrote the screenplay and it is personally one of my favorite musicals.

3.  The Lost boys: some cool acting, cool effects and proper vampire lore

 2.  Phone Booth: Tense, well shot (no pun intended) and it has an Irish man in it.

1.  A time to kill: Good drama, good acting and a good ending.

      

So what are is your least favorite director that everybody likes, or your favorite director that everybody hates? Please comment below. Adieu.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Now, what to do here? A film that combines four of my favorite, among others, genre's of films: Musical,  Horror, Comedy(parody), and Cult. Starting out on the West End, The Rocky Horror show was met well with praise by audiences and critics alike. So in the mind of the writer, this meant it was inevitable to make a film adaption.
 

 It parodies the hammer horror franchise, namely Frankenstein, and gives it a musical twist. Now the acting can range from over the top to hokey. Starting off with the criminologist(yeah that's his name) telling the story of of two lovers, Brad and Janet(I was surprised they could get a song out of even these names) and how they come to meet Dr Frank-N-Furter( "Very Funny hahaha") and his crew of misfits. Now, when you see this movie, ten minutes in you will start to think "pretty standard movie", don't let it fool you. By the half-mark you will be asking What? Why? and...No I think that's it. After a couple of music numbers, we are introduced to Rocky, a creation of Frank-n-Furter, who has no lines apart from singing. We have an all star cast(sort of) including Tim Curry(if you replace two letters becomes Jim Carry) as our sweet transvestite doctor, Susan Sarandon as our Heroine, Richard O'Brian as Riff-Raff, Meatloaf can you believe it as Eddie, etc, etc.

So what do I like. I love the song's. That is the movies saving point. Seriously, they are so damn catchy. Who knew a song about a transvestite or a song about science fiction plot-hole fixers would be as memorable as the characters on screen. Like Alex DeLarge, Tim Curry should have gotten an award for this memorable portrayal. In fact so memorable it is that Tim got tired of being remembered for that one role that he got a tan, put on weight and became plain. He eventually opened up to the premise of rocky horror. I tend to agree with critic Robert Ebert, he makes the film, because he is having the most fun. That can be said for the other's including Richard and Susan, but Barry Bostwick I feel is just a bit out of place. It also has that B-Movie feel to it, as though the set was hastily put together at the last minute.

As for my dislike, I find the film too surreal and bizarre for my taste, while at the same time being on par with the surrealness of the other films I have reviewed.
I know the traditions of this movie, some are do-able like toasting the happy couple(literally bring toast) while others are kind of hard to do, like dress up as one of the characters.
Overall, I find it a fun romp, I like the song's Tim is a lot of fun and  the culture around it I can respect. Nothing else to say but lets do the time warp and watch it again!!!   

Script Fix

Here is something I haven't done in a while, fixing a Film, good or bad, by replacing and/or removing elements that have not been working in favor of the film in question. Today as a special treat I will script fix one of the most infamous films of all time, "Star Wars Episode I The Phantom Menace".

To tell the truth, it isn't really a bad film, just some ideas didn't work in their favor. So let us begin.

1. Replace a ten year old Anikin Skywalker with a sixteen year old. Instead of being a mothers boy, he could be a rebel or a loner who does not conform much. When I was younger I saw the animated "Star wars clone wars" television show. In it, not only was there brilliant story arcs and jaw dropping action sequences, but a complete BADASS of Anikin. He hunts, he scavenges, he leads and his relationship to Padme is much more tender, but we will get to that in a moment.
2.  Jar-Jar Binks removal from the film. I do not think I am doing this movie any disfavor. He served little to no purpose to the plot, other than to provide comedy relief(Yes I know). In fact the who Gungan army battle serves very little other than drawing the fire away from the city. He has since created the Meme "Jar-jar binks of the movie", meaning incredibly annoying or serving no purpose. 
3. Padme having a better story line. I was confused seeing this the first time, as to what position of power Padme held. She should be made an ambassador for Naboo rather than a Queen and senator and ambassador. This opens her up to more responsibility as well as simplicity in her role. Also what the hell was up with that robot voice. 
4. If we do have a climax it should only be the final battle between Darth Maul and Obi-wan and Qui-gon. Darth Maul should have been given more of a backstory and more dialog. His presence and quietness makes him intimidating, but he does not match up to the mysteriousness of Darth Sidious or the evil of Darth Vader. 
5. Our understanding of the force is lessened due to science babble of mediclorians. This is what confuses me about Anikins training. If he has more Mediclorians than Yoda, then surely that is enough to train him. But he might bring about the rise of the dark side or balance of the force. In that case train him to be a Jedi, if not the Sith will get their hand on a Jedi with more power than Yoda.If you have the prophecy, then use it.

The Re-Animator

The Re-Animator, just the title alone symbolizes something incredible. Based upon the novel by HP Lovecraft, it tells the story of a University student, Dan Cain(Bruce Abbot), his girlfriend Megan(Barbara Crampton), daughter of Dean Dr. Halsey and Herbert West(Jeffrey Combs), the re-animator. Beginning in the more ambiguous Switzerland location, see's West injecting his Professor with what looks like a bottle of glow stick liquid, but I will let this slide seeing how cool it is in the syringe. After bringing back to life his Professor, much to the horror of his fellow employee's. After a few months, we meet our Hero, Dan, who is a medical student and fiance to the Deans daughter Megan. After an uncomfortable introduction and West moving in we are bombarded by a whole array of weird and wonderful special effects. Immediately you see the seventies tint in the color of the film, as though someone rubbed a thin layer of Vaseline on the lens. Not a bad look, it gives it a more nostalgic feel.

I loved Jeffrey Combs(of The New Batman Adventures fame) in this role. You can tell just by looking at him he was born for the role. He looked the part, acted the part, but most of all he sounded the part. He came off as Egotistical, paranoid, eccentric and sometimes a bit of a lunatic. Dan is a bit of the every-man, like Zack Morris from "Saved by the bell", he gets away with anything and is the favorite of many. Megan has little character despite being the dean's daughter and dating this discount Zack Morris. As for the villain, it is kind of unexpected but at the same time you'd look at this person and say, "yeah, I wouldn't trust him". 

As for the cult following, I see where it comes from. The film has a sort of camp feel to it, as though it knows it's premise is good, but the execution is goofy in the same style as Child's play. The practical effects are good, but you can tell how they are done. there are some disgusting scene's of decapitation and mutilation, providing some much needed gore. The Pseudo-science of West's formula is not exactly accurate, Rocky Horror however combined both electricity(lightning) and chemistry to create life, so maybe they could have thought it out how to make a new Zombie. There is not a lot of character development, but as a fun, horror flick, you can let it slide. I should have thought that the writer of the Cthulhu mythos would write something as crazy as this. Admittedly according to the book, Dan and West meet and over the coarse of a few years they begin to develop the formula.and see what it can do. So I might have preferred that.

Overall I thought it was a good film, although I wish there was more character development and a longer running time probably wouldn't have hurt, but if you like gore, creative pseudo-science and Jeffrey Combs then this film is for you.

****

Premise: *
Acting:Sub par 1/2

Effects: *
Script:1/2

Director: *

Top Five Overrated Movies

One thing I dislike doing for a film is being to over hyped, that's why I am a pessimist. But if there is one thing I hate is being drawn in by other's over hype, even critics. Just because a film is said to be good by a top notch critic or even one of your friends doesn't mean you should take his word, form your own opinion.

To commemorate these films I have formed a list of five Over hyped, overrated and just overdone.

Number 5: The wizard of Oz

This may be a bit of a shock, but yes I do believe that Oz is a bit overrated. Don't get me wrong, I love this film, It's nostalgic and cultural significance, it being the first film I ever saw and a landmark of cinema. But after the arrival of 'Oz the great and powerful' it got me thinking,'can we ever get an Oz adaption without the comparison to the old, bright and cheery original. We can not. You might think I am being too hard, but please it's just my opinion. It was a good film, but others like 'Oz tgap' and 'Return to Oz' can never get a chance if this film continues to poke its head around every corner of the Emerald city.

Number 4: To kill a Mockingbird

Now I know that many love this film and see it, like the Wizard of Oz, as a classic. But for me it was just boring. The pacing was slow, the acting for the most part was wooden(Mary Bedlam and Gregory Peck are my only favorite actors) and I had recently read the book and it was a very decent read even if it didn't teach me how to kill a mockingbird(bad joke I know, it's my only one). I had a completely different idea to the film's portrayal. I may also be biased as this film was released the same year as 'Lawrence of Arabia', a well shot, well portrayed and well paced film. It won the best picture, but Peter O'Toole lost to Peck in Best Actor, which I consider an absolute travesty. Peck did well playing the all american hero, but Peter portrayed a HERO OF WAR, a successful one at that. I'd like to see these two in an Epic Rap Battle of History with Lawrence winning. I might give it a chance in the future and who knows maybe I will get a better appreciation for it.

Number 3: Twilight 

You may seem surprised to see this so low or on this list at all, but yeah, this is what I think of it.

Like the Music today, it's trash but still a hit, critics pan it and yet it still continues to be a box office hit. I suppose a good example of the diversity of badness can be found in the nostalgia critics "Is Twilight really that bad?" . But it was way too over hyped and it was the winner of many Razzie's so I can't complain too much. I'll say that I only liked two character the dad and Alice, the rest were horrible. Not much else to say but really bad AND SOMEHOW POPULAR!

Number 2: Avatar

Yeah....everybody seem's to have the same opinion on this film. It kept us waiting and waiting, stories shifted around, rumors, tales. that James Cameron took nearly ten years to make this film just waiting for the right technology. And what was our reaction to it in the first month........YEEEAAAAHHH! THIS IS FREAKIN AWESOME! The action, the design, the ideas. That was until we found out it was a combination of Ferngully, Pocahontas and Halo. The action is good, but only in 3D. the world is vivid and impressively designed. But alas it was meant to be a standard film and ultimately a tired and over used one at that.

Number 1: Argo
What a major let down. this film is a much too over hyped film. I mean winning the Best Picture over Life of Pi, Les Miserables or even Django Unchained is just mind boggling. I know I have gone on and on about this many times, but I cannot be the only one who dislikes this film. The first half is kind of tense and the supporting cast like John Goodman and Alan Arkin are quite good. But there are just too many historical inaccuracies, the plot is predictable(being a historical drama) and I don't think it really took much risks other bringing up a very delicate subject like the Iran hostage crisis. I have too many qualms for one list and will do a review in the future. But I think it's just too over hyped, overrated and underdone. My verdict: watch Avatar instead.

That's my list, I hope you enjoyed. I realize my opinion will garner some negative feedback, so please keep in mind this is my opinion. If you have your own opinion please comment and tell me if I forgot anything or if there is a review you want me to do. Thank you for your time.