Topic: Jon's Random Reviews

[Najemikon]

 

Thing is, I want to have a mini-marathon of those movies and give them the time they deserve. This is fun, Saturday night fodder. I will get to them soon. While I'm enjoying every second of the Hitchcock marathon, I am starting to miss other genres, like Western and Horror. My enthusiasm for another review I just posted shows I need a bit more blood and guts in my diet! 

[Jimmy]

I don't know if Achim had ordered the two Bava's boxset in the Amazon sales, but if he had it would be great to do a Mario Bava and Dario Argento marathon. I'm sure that we aren't the only one to have some of their movies in our collection.

This is what I have

Mario Bava
5 Dolls for an August Moon
Baron Blood
Bay of Blood
Black Sabbath
Black Sunday
Four Times That Night
The Girl Who Knew too Much
Kidnapped
Kill, Baby...Kill!
Knives of the Avenger
Lisa and the Devil
The House of Exorcism
Planet of the Vampires
Roy Colt & Winchester Jack
Shock

Dario Argento
Deep Red
Inferno
Mother of Tears
Phenomena
Suspiria
Tenebre
The Card Player
The Stendhal Syndrome
Trauma

[Achim]

It made perfect sense for that to be reason enough to Hulk-out and cause a depressed Banner to go back on the run, after demolishing the town, but no; We have to have the stupid drop-of-blood coincidence bullshit, leading to all out fucking war. Nice cameo from Stan Lee, otherwise, too noisy and muddled. Good idea, screwed up.

I am not a Hulk fanboy but I agree that the drop of blood thing was a ridiculous thing to do. I am also with you in that I also didn't think Ang Lee's Hulk was entirely bad; yes, the dogs were kind of stupid and Nick Nolte was chewing scenery left and right, but it had good intentions and I liked the comic book panel design. I am also apparently one of the few people who prefer the Hulk's look of the previous film; thjat's how I remembered him, kind of square-looking, not that tall skinny kind of look he has in the Incredible Hulk.

I don't know if Achim had ordered the two Bava's boxset in the Amazon sales, but if he had it would be great to do a Mario Bava and Dario Argento marathon.

That's how I wanted to defend Jon, that he's waiting for me But yes, I did order the two sets; I usually post in the What Ya Got thread when I receive the stuff... I also wanted to order Aregnto's Phenomenon but that would have messed up the BOGOF sale for me; I will possibly order i8t during the DeepDiscount sale which is hopefully coming soon. I am definitely looking forward to watch these films parallel with you guys.

[Jimmy]

I'll be waiting for you than and Jon won't have any excuse for not watching them

By the way, if The Stendhal Syndrome is available at Deep Discount when their sale will happen take a chance on it. This is the best film that Argento had directed since Phenomena, not an horror film at all but a real confusing artistic experience (I think that Blue Underground had released it on Blue Ray) starring his daughter.

[goodguy]

... "don't make me Ang Lee" version ...

     That is a so f-ing obvious pun, yet it never occured to me.

[Najemikon]

... "don't make me Ang Lee" version ...

     That is a so f-ing obvious pun, yet it never occured to me.

  Sadly, I can't claim it. I heard it somewhere and it always amused me!

[Achim]

I'll be waiting for you than and Jon won't have any excuse for not watching them

By the way, if The Stendhal Syndrome is available at Deep Discount when their sale will happen take a chance on it. This is the best film that Argento had directed since Phenomena, not an horror film at all but a real confusing artistic experience (I think that Blue Underground had released it on Blue Ray) starring his daughter.

I'll try to remember to look out for it. My shopping cart is basically rather full already, so it might not make the cut.

[Najemikon]

First Blood
4 out of 5

They don't make 'em like this anymore! A decent solid thriller, adult themed bone-crunching action. They try to make John Rambo a deep character, but it really boils down to a modern day Western where the line between good and bad is distinct. Therefore the only kill is accidental. But that doesn't stop it appearing brutal. Damn, I miss the days when action movies were for kids to try and watch secretly, not waltz in the cinema to see a 12a version. I know I'm sliding off-topic, but Rambo, Terminator, Commando, Robocop, Aliens, were all of a certain, gung-ho flavour. Now coming to a theatre near you in glorious PG crap.

Stallone is great as Rambo, before he let the cartoon action seep into the sequels. This Stallone, and the one in Rocky and Nighthawks, is far more interesting than the one he came to be. You forget he can be a decent writer and actor; check out the scene he calls in interviews an "emotional death". Powerful stuff considering this is a pretty basic setup. From the rest of the cast, Brian Dennehey stands out. He was once the go-to-guy for this sort of movie and frankly I miss him. He last turned up in 30 Rock and Stallone could have done worse than find him a slot in The Expendables.

It surprised me how pretty the film is. Gorgeous locations in the mountains really benefit from Blu-Ray. Some bits are grainy, but check out the cave sequence and the waterfalls. The explosion, courtesy of some "weekend warriors" works well too.

It's odd, but if you have a certain image of Rambo from the sequels, it's worth looking this up because you'll probably be surprised. It's an assured action flick which straddles the gritty 70s and the excessive 80s (pretty much all the Colonel's dialogue: "200? If you're sending that many, make sure you've got plenty of body bags!"). 

[Jimmy]

Stallone is great as Rambo, before he let the cartoon action seep into the sequels. This Stallone, and the one in Rocky and Nighthawks, is far more interesting than the one he came to be.

I don't know if you have seen F.I.S.T but he is good in this one too. Keep in mind that it isn't an action movie, but an unofficial retelling of the career of Jimmy Hoffa with the Teamster syndicate.

[Najemikon]

Rambo: First Blood Part II
3 out of 5

This is a fairly decent sequel, though it does lose much of the power and point of the first. On one hand it's a thin excuse for Rambo to go a bit more killing machine than in the first part, but at the same time, the screenplay (co-written by action maestro James Cameron) does balance very well. The story needs a silly contrivance to get Rambo out of the prison term he's been serving, and Trautman is still talking bollocks, but the heart of the story (American POWs left behind in Vietnam) is a good progression of the first and another indictment of how the US handled their part of that war.

The action itself is fantastic, if dumb, iconic stuff. Rambo without a leash, happily killing faceless enemy soldiers, is great to watch and the cathartic last act (helicopters, and dealing with the suits!) is just a perfect ending.

According to the interview on the disc, Stallone seems to be trying to distance himself from both this and part 3, which is typical of him. He's got a point about the next one, but this is the best sort of sequel, especially for the time it was released.

[Najemikon]

Tremors 3: Back to Perfection
2 out of 5

What an unfortunate title. After the sheer, wonderful brilliance of Tremors, the sequel could only be a disappointment, but it was still good fun. This, though, is about as far from "Perfection" as you can get.

Tremors used it's budget to great effect with some brilliant use of gory effects and the next film continued that, but introduced CGi to handle the more ambitious second-stage creatures. Here, it's almost exclusively CGi and it's bloody awful. The film quality deteriorates every time CGi is about to be used! And frankly, the new "ass blaster" form is pathetic. Flying versions of the Shriekers powered by farts? Good grief.

The best parts of the film are those with the original style worm, called El Blanco, a sterile albino worm seemingly very fond of Burt (Michael Gross) and the sequence where he gets eaten was very Men In Black and hilarious! The Shriekers would have been acceptable too, but we never actually see them (apart from a prologue sequence which is just terrible).

It was nice to see several of the original actors returning, especially the kids (including Ariana Richards, who did Jurassic Park between these), but the Burt character was never ideal for lead, especially without Reba McEntire at his side.

[Najemikon]

Tremors 4: The Legend Begins
2 out of 5

Big improvement on number 3, probably down to going back to the second films director, S.S. Wilson (he's a better director than his writing partner Maddock who did part 3), but unfortunately falls flat. It's set in the old West where Burt's great-grandfather owns a silver mine close to the town that would become Perfection in the original film and Michael Gross plays this version of Burt too, called Hiram. He's a very different character who can't use guns, though he learns and it is cute to see the burgeoning obsession beginning. He handles the lead better than he did as Burt in the previous film, but that just underlines how different the film is in style.

The mine has been attacked by "Dirt Dragons" and luckily we're back to basics at least. No silly ass blasters here, just your basic common variety of Graboid. And the writers (who have been the same throughout the series and also did Short Circuit!) obviously have a lot of affection for their creations and have managed to make a rather faithful little period version.

Unfortunately they forgot to make it funny. It's quite serious, surprisingly, so although the characters, effects and plot, all hinge together nicely, it's a bit boring. They don't even try to use the Western angle properly, settling for a sombre tale of a town struggling to make ends meet; I'd have liked to have seen a couple of bona-fide cowboys get eaten, horses and all, for instance. There was one gun-fighter, and he didn't call the worm "Varmint" once!

It's a pleasant film to watch without any effort and for absolute Tremor fanatics, some nice links to the earlier characters, but the whooping b-movie crowd the original seemed made for, will find nothing to get excited about here.

[Najemikon]

Zack and Miri Make a Porno  ****
4 out of 5

This film is pure filth! And absolutely brilliant for it. Why does Kevin Smith always seem to be on the sidelines while Apatow has the Midas touch? Smith has been doing it longer and better. The only thing I can think of is that films like Knocked Up play it relatively safe. Much as I enjoy them (although Superbad was a misfire for me) they always feel quite generic by the end. While this also is also predictable (unavoidable in this genre, though Smith did well with Chasing Amy), but it maintains a high standard throughout.

Critics of Kevin Smith films often accuse him of naivety. While I can sometimes see their point, I just think he's a very honest writer. He goes as dirty as he possibly can and matches it at the other end in sentimentality. It's no more sentimental than identikit crap like Sandra Bullock phones in every couple of years and at least this has some bite.

The adorable Elizabeth Banks rounds out a typical View Askew potty-mouthed cast. Her relationship with Seth Rogen feels genuine and while he's playing a similar part to Knocked Up, this feels more natural.

Overall it's a similar format to Clerks, in fact it borders on autobiographical for Kevin Smith who made his first film in the shop where he worked, blanking out the windows, foregoing sleep and getting his mates to help. I bet when he had the idea for Clerks, he considered a porno!

[Achim]

While some people found it to be one of the funniest scenes, I must the the "chocolate mousse" scene was the only one that somewhat bothered me.

I quite enjoyed Superbad (maybe because I like Freaks & Geeks as well as Undeclared?) and Knocked Up will be in my upcoming DeepDiscount order. However, I agree that the Apatow film almost come across as fluff compared to Kevin Smith.

I own the Blu-ray, but I think the special features are almost the same as the DVD and give great insight of the making of this film.

[Najemikon]

While some people found it to be one of the funniest scenes, I must the the "chocolate mousse" scene was the only one that somewhat bothered me.

I thought that I should be bothered by it, but I wasn't!