Topic: KinkyCyborg's Random Reviews 2010

[KinkyCyborg]

WOW!  I post this review, go off to work, come home and find not one character study but two!!  

I don't necessarily agree that Bill Murray is looking to shed his comedian moniker. Even in some of his more serious roles he throws in some dry humor that you can tell is coming more from him than the script. It's in his nature, always wanting to make people laugh, perpetually cracking jokes whenever he's being interviewed, at Pro-Am golf tournaments, etc... but I would agree that when he does do a dramatic role he wants it to be taken seriously and he might have to drop comedy cold turkey and allow a number of years to pass for that to happen and I just don't see it. He'll always drift back for an occasional dip in the comedy pool.

Another who I seriously think should drop comedy altogether and stick with dramatic roles (which he is quite good at) is Robin Williams. His recent comedies are duds, looking like he's just mailing it in. I recently watched his Weapons Of Self Destruction stand up dvd and I must say he is looking old and tired. I think his health is part of the problem... he's had heart surgery, he fell off the wagon again there for awhile (booze this time) and he's starting to show his age. A lot of his material was repetitive and he is not nearly as animated as we are used to seeing him. I'm thinking his body can no longer meet the demand of his hyperactivity disorder. How all this translates into piss poor movies? I don't know but I'm thinking that maybe he needs to take a page out of Tom Hanks book and leave the comedy behind. I know it's somewhat his signature but Robin has had some excellent dramatic roles and I think he'd do much better with them than these mundane comedies he's putting out.    

KC

[Antares]

This scene still brings a tear to my eyes...



Deep down, you know he wants to be remembered for this one scene. 


I remember the night my wife and I rented this for the first time, and when this scene ended, we both turned to each other and said WOW at the same time.

[KinkyCyborg]

Title:Rescue Dawn
Year: 2007
Director: Werner Herzog
Rating: PG-13
Length: 125 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround, French: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround, Commentary: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo
Subtitles: English, Spanish

Stars:
Zach Grenier
Marshall Bell (1945)
Christian Bale
Toby Huss
Pat Healy

Plot:
In 1965, an American pilot on a top-secret bombing mission was shot down over Laos and taken to a hellish prison camp deep in the impenetrable jungle of Vietnam. What followed was one of the most remarkable and harrowing experiences of the entire Vietnam War. Inspired by the true story of Dieter Dengler (Christian Bale) and written and directed by internationally acclaimed filmmaker Werner Herzog, Rescue Dawn is an uncanny tale of camaraderie and betrayal, courage in the face of despair, and triumph over tragedy. It stands as a true testament to the impossible boundaries of the human condition and the invincibility of the American spirit.

Extras:
Scene Access
Audio Commentary
Feature Trailers
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
Gallery
Closed Captioned

My Thoughts:

This one was my pick and it has been one I've been waiting to see for some time as I am always drawn to the military movies.

Well done true story of Dieter Dengler, bomber pilot who was shot down during a Black Op run before the Vietnam conflict officially became a war.

I was a bit surprised at the lack of torture and degradation so common in P.O.W. movies... in fact I thought the prisoners were treated not too badly as compared to other similar stories, although there was no question they were starving and suffering from severe mental trauma. Dengler, if he was depicted correctly, seemed to have a few screws loose even before he was captured which in a way I believe made his escape possible.

An interesting turn for Steven Zahn who usually plays the likable clown in comedies... he was quite good in this, playing well a man grasping at the last strands of his sanity.

Christian Bale is a bit of an enigma for me. I gain more respect for him as an actor with every movie of his I watch and yet for some in explicable reason I find him creepy.  Can't quite put my finger on why... but I've felt that way about him since the first movie of his I watched right up to Rescue Dawn.

KC

Rating:

[Najemikon]

This scene still brings a tear to my eyes...



Deep down, you know he wants to be remembered for this one scene. 


I remember the night my wife and I rented this for the first time, and when this scene ended, we both turned to each other and said WOW at the same time.

It really is superb. And what for me makes it especially brilliant is that Matt Damon was that young and he and Affleck had written the damn thing. It's a mark of maturity in any writer to see so far beyond themselves and make it feel they weren't reaching.

Williams was on a recent Jonathan Ross and he was brilliant, but Kevin, I also see what you mean. He's using his age to his advantage, but he's definitely different. Still fast though! He does talk about a recent heart scare, which must have had something to do with it ("slowed down on a recent tour") and his relapse (very funny! erm. You know what I mean)...

[KinkyCyborg]

Title:The Gathering
Year: 2002
Director: Brian Gilbert
Rating: R
Length: 87 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 5.1
Subtitles: English, Spanish

Stars:
Christina Ricci
Ioan Gruffudd
Stephen Dillane
Kerry Fox
Simon Russell Beale

Plot:
Christina Ricci (Monster) stars in this spine-tingling supernatural thriller about an American backpacker in rural England whose life takes a turn for the worse after a car accident. During recovery, she is befriended by a researcher (Stephen Dillane) studying a buried 1st Century church embedded with images of Christ's crucifixion. She begins to have horrific visions of the townspeople and their deaths. Is the town cursed or are her visions spirits from the unearthed church grasping for life? What is uncovered will shock and terrify you!

Extras:
Scene Access
Bonus Trailers
Closed Captioned

My Thoughts:

Billed as a horror movie, there was little that was horrific about it, but I still liked it's originality and concept.

A bit of the supernatural, with religious overtones, as the people of 'The Gathering' are revealed for what they truly are you find yourself marveling at how it all fits into historical significance.

One thing that bothered me about the movie however was one particular scene of utter stupidity in which...

(click to show/hide)

a main character, after having had a traffic accident, staggers from his car which has flipped on it's roof in the middle of a busy highway, and not one vehicle slows down or stops... including the large truck which runs the man over which led me to exclaim quite loudly 'Get the fuck outta here....' 

It just baffles me how a director can have equals moments of brilliance and idiocy in the course of one 90 minute flick.

I've never been a fan of Christina Ricci or her abnormally large forehead but she did a good job as the lead and I must confess I was duly impressed by her nicely proportioned 'rack'

KC

Rating:

[Dragonfire]

I think I saw this one on HBO once.

[KinkyCyborg]

Title:Slap Shot 3: The Junior League
Year: 2008
Director: Richard Martin
Rating: PG
Length: 91 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 5.1
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Stars:
Greyston Holt
Jeff Carlson
Steve Carlson
David Hanson [Dave Hanson]
Lynda Boyd

Plot:
The Hanson Brothers Are Back!

Get ready for a rough-and-tumble comedy that knows how to kick some serious puck! When a ragtag youth team is on the verge of losing it, their only hope lies with the most outrageous players to ever hit the ice - The Hanson Brothers! Featuring comedy legend Leslie Nielsen and hockey greats Mark Messier and Doug Gilmour, Slap Shot 3 adds an all-new, hilarious chapter to the hardest-hitting, most irreverent sports comedy franchise of all time!

Extras:
Scene Access
Bonus Trailers
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
The Making of Slap Shot 3: The Junior League, Hockey Legends

My Thoughts:

Yay! A hockey movie!! Not a great one but it wasn't too bad. Played much like a Family Movie of the Week. Had some feel good moments and decent acting by the mostly teenage cast. The goonery that took place during the games make it completely improbable but no more so than the original Slap Shot.

Probably the worst aspect of the film was the Hanson Brothers who just aren't relevant anymore and not funny at all. Cameos by Doug Gilmour and Mark Messier.

KC

Rating:

[KinkyCyborg]

Title:The Third Miracle
Year: 1999
Director: Agnieszka Holland
Rating: R
Length: 118 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1, Pan & Scan 1.33:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo, Music Only: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo, Commentary: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Stars:
Ed Harris
Anne Heche
Armin Mueller-Stahl
Charles Haid
Michael Rispoli

Plot:
Two-time Academy Award®-nominee Ed Harris, Anne Heche and Armin Mueller-Stahl star in this provocative and powerful mystery from director Agnieszka Holland (Europa Europa).

Father Frank Shore (Harris) is a church-appointed spiritual detective whose job it is to investigate claims of miracles. Having lost his faith after an incident that earned him the nickname "The Miracle Killer," he takes to the streets in despair. When a statue at a convent begins crying blood, Father Shore is asked to look into the death of Helen O'Regan, a devout Catholic who is believed to be responsible for the healing tears. His investigation leads him to her daughter Roxane (Heche), a non-believer who cannot forgive her mother for abandoning her. As he struggles to choose between Helen's cause and his feeling for Roxane, Father Shore also must prove his case to the church, whose decision to name Helen a saint rests on his ability to convince the "Devil's Advocate," Archbishop Werner (Mueller-Stahl), of her worthiness. As sensual as it is spiritual, THE THIRD MIRACLE is "a masterwork" of filmmaking that "packs the power of a genuine revelation!" (Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times)

Extras:
Scene Access
Audio Commentary
Feature Trailers
Production Notes
Closed Captioned
isolated music score

My Thoughts:

Excellent film throughout including the ending which absolutely leaves you hanging although I believe that was intended. Still, it is one of the most gripping dramas I have watched in a long time.

Outstanding performance by Ed Harris, one of my all time favorite actors, in a surprising role of a priest, whom despite his own shaken faith, relentlessly champions a pious woman's petition to sainthood. Armin Mueller-Stahl is great as the arrogant Archbishop who, as it turns out, ends up having his own belief system rocked in a much different way.

I highly recommend this. 

KC

Rating:

[KinkyCyborg]

Title:My Summer Story
Year: 1994
Director: Bob Clark
Rating: PG
Length: 85 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo
Subtitles: English

Stars:
Charles Grodin
Kieran Culkin
Mary Steenburgen
Christian Culkin
Al Mancini

Plot:
Charles Grodin (Beethoven), Kieran Culkin (Father of the Bride), and Mary Steenburgen (Elf) star in this delightful sequel to A Christmas Story. For 10-year-old Ralphie Parker (Culkin, it would be a summer filled with adventure. Whether conducting a quest for the ultimate in spinning tops, watching his mother (Steenburgen) lead the gravy boat rebellion at the Orpheum Theater, or aiding the Old Man (Grodin) in his one-man war against their hillbilly neighbors, this was the summer Ralphie would always rememebr as the greatest of his life.

Extras:
Scene Access
Feature Trailers
Closed Captioned

My Thoughts:

Billed as the sequel to A Christmas Story, it is in fact directed by Bob Clark but I must question his sanity for putting out this movie as all it accomplishes is tarnish a classic.

The characters all are back... Ralphie Parker, The Old Man, brother Randy... but with different actors that hold nothing to the original cast. I didn't find this even remotely funny. Charles Grodin, whom I've always admired as an actor, is quite annoying as The Old Man with more grunting and wailing than actual dialogue. Mary Steenburgen, always graceful and pretty, shames herself with this role as a complete ditz.

I'd rather go blind than watch this again. 

KC

Rating:

[Najemikon]

 

Love that last line!

Bob Clark is a weird one. He did Black Christmas didn't he? As well as Porky's! There he is happily creating sub genres and then he's doing this sorry of stuff...

[hal9g]

Strangely, the title under the front cover image says, "It Runs in the Family"?   

[Dragonfire]

Bob Clark also directed Murder by Decree, a very interesting and entertaining Sherlock Holmes movie.

[Jimmy]

He also did Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things that I've pre-ordered a couple of days ago and She-Man (a really bizarre B/W movie that I own about a soldier who is blackmail to became a tranvesty in some kind of transgender house)...

[KinkyCyborg]

Strangely, the title under the front cover image says, "It Runs in the Family"?   

Yeah, IMDB shows that as being the original title of the movie. Probably the only way to ensure a second viewing of the movie by someone was to change the title. 

[KinkyCyborg]

Title:Doomsday
Year: 2008
Director: Neil Marshall
Rating: Unrated
Length: 113 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital: 5.1, Commentary: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Stars:
Caryn Peterson
Adeola Ariyo
Emma Cleasby
Christine Tomlinson
Vernon Willemse

Plot:
From the director of The Descent comes an action-packed thrill ride through the beating heart of hell! To save humanity from an epidemic, an elite fighting unit must battle to find a cure in a post-apocalyptic zone controlled by a society of murderous renegades. Loaded with ferocious fights and high-octane chases, Doomsday grabs you right from the start and doesn't let go till its explosive end!

Extras:
Scene Access
Audio Commentary
Feature Trailers
Featurettes
Theatrical and Unrated Versions

My Thoughts:

Loved this movie! Kind of a cross between the Mad Max series, Braveheart and Outbreak. Rhona Mitra can kick ass and has a gorgeous one herself! Bob Hoskins is solid as usual. Awesome action and plenty of gore. As far fetched as these kind of futuristic movies seem, after watching the news from time to time they probably aren't as improbable as you might think and likely not as far down the road as you might expect.

One of the best action flicks I've seen in a while. Would love to see a sequel to this. 

KC

Rating: