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Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
Enjoyable 3D Blu-Review
Captain America: The First Avenger's 3-D presentation is almost as good as the "Avengers" presentation. Chris Evans plays the World War II genetically engineered superhero, as the story begins in that era. Steve Rogers was always small, but wanted nothing more than to serve his country like his friend 'Bucky' Barnes (Sebastian Stan), and finally got his chance when a German scientist, Dr. Erskine (Stanley Tucci) offers him the chance of a lifetime, only to have the project fall short of a "Super-Soldier Army" thwarted by Nazi ally HYDRA research department headed by Johann Schmidt, also known as the Red Skull (Hugo Weaving). Leaving Rogers the loan subject to be paraded around the country to gain support for the troops, until he gets word that his friend Bucky has been captured, and even though Colonel Phillips (Tommy Lee Jones) tells him not to, Rogers saves his friend's life along with several other troops. In the wake of this event Rogers is awarded his own team to lead as they go in to clean up Nazi Germany. The film's climax is made up of events that lead up to modern day, and ushers us into the "Avengers" film. It is still a very satisfying film on it's own just the same.
Captain America is a top notch thrill ride, and is what we have come to expect out of Marvel headquarters. Along with a good looking 3-D Blu- Ray, it is well worthy addition to your library.
Jurassic Park (1993)
3D Blu-Review
Jurassic Park is one of my all time favorite films, it is a masterpiece and a landmark in film history. For anyone unfamiliar with the story, the Steven Spielberg adaptation of the Michael Crichton novel is about a rich entrepreneur named John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) who has designed and built the world's first amusement park with live dinosaurs. Hammond needs specialists to sign off on the park before the insurance company will allow him to open for business so he enlists Dr. Grant (Sam Neill), Dr. Sattler (Laura Dern), and Dr. Malcom (Jeff Goldblum) to take the ride through Jurassic Park, along with us. Of course after the ride begins things start to go wrong, due to sabotage, and chaos ensues as the dinosaurs take over the park.
The movie is a fast paced, suspenseful, and well done, in the tradition of "Jaws", not an exact reference of the source material but the version that was meant to be. The effects are still astounding and the movie still works 20 years later. The film's 20th anniversary 3-D convert is excellent. It has a lot of depth and the movie lends itself well to the added dimension. The movie was "sweetened" for the 3-D release, adding just some environmental elements for 3-D and the soundtrack was also tweaked to engulf the audience more.
The only new extra is a short featurette on the conversion of the film, that is also in 3-D, nice touch. The original blu-ray from the box set and a DVD is also included in the 3-D combo-pack. The extras on the blu-ray are a very good combination of older extras and a new documentary, which has counter parts on the sequels in the box set (or separate releases that are now available).The only changes are environmental objects for stereo- viewing, and the soundtrack has also been enhanced to engulf the audience. No there has been no real "changes" made, so no need to get upset that it is really more than what it is, a 3-D version of the classic film.
Well worth the upgrade, though I now have more copies of "Jurassic Park" than I can count
you want one???
Thor (2011)
Better than it had the right to be...
3D Blu-Review... Marvel has given us a plethora of great entertainment the last few years leading up to the "The Avengers" last summer, part of that was introducing us to Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger the year before that. Both movies are available in 3-D, and the films actually both good as far as movies go, differ in the 3-D arena drastically. Thor tells us the story of the Norse god himself, living in Asgard, a beautiful world ran by Thor's (Chris Hemsworth) father, King Odin (Anthony Hopkins), and protected by Thor, his friends, and Thor's brother, Loki (Tom Hiddleston). After a break in to the kingdom by what appears to be their old foes the Frost Giants, Thor and his entourage seek revenge for the invasion. Odin thwarts war just in time, and in turn banishes Thor to Earth, hoping he may learn a thing or two about becoming a King, and earn his rightful place on the throne. In the meantime Loki seems to be responsible for the events and is stirring up trouble behind the scenes, leading to Odin falling into a coma, and Loki taking the throne of Asgard.
On Earth Thor keeps running into a few scientists, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård), and Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings) who were chasing a storm that seemed to include Thor inside. Thor's friends start to smell something foul and question Loki, and try to find their friend on Earth. The climax ramps up and the action is well paced. Director Kenneth Branagh does good with the "Aquaman" of the Marvel Universe. I never felt Thor needed his own film, but it works.
What doesn't work so well in this film is the 3-D. It is very difficult to make out anything in any of the darker scenes. Some scenes work, but for the most part the 3-D presentation is lackluster at best. The 2-D version of the film is fine, but unfortunately I cannot recommend this movie in 3-D, a first for me.
The Avengers (2012)
3D Blu-Review
The Avengers (2012) a movie nearly a decade in the assembling, (yes pun intended
f**k you if you don't think it's funny) is a kick ass movie, through and through, what all the fan boys have been waiting for and showing average audiences why comic-book story arch's are so entertaining and can make exciting movies. The movie begins where Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), Thor (2011), Iron Man 2 (2010) and the original movie, and The Incredible Hulk (2008) led us to, an assembly of 'Marvel", a spectacle unlike any super-hero movie, or movie period has before. Loki, Thor's adopted brother, has come to earth via S.H.I.E.L.D tampering with a magic cube known as the Tesseract, which he in-turn steals from the agency along with converting Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Dr. Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård) to the dark side with a magic spear he has brought with him. Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) see's no alternative to fight this "God" from another dimension than to restart the "Avenger Initiative" and bring together the worlds finest heroes, Iron Man/Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), recently thawed out Captain America (Chris Evans), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), and to track the Tesseract with his knowledge of Gamma Radiation, Dr. Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), who, just for good measure, happens to morph into a huge green monster when he's aggravated.
Director Joss Whedon handles the film with finesse, and the movie lives up to expectations, all around. The 3D presentation is excellent, and really stands out during the climax, which I have to commend Joss Whedon and those responsible for setting it during the day, helping the 3D stand out. So many of these type of movies set the end showdown at night, and it was a nice change besides being beneficial to the 3D.
Dumbo (1941)
Dumbo Blu-Review
The 70th anniversary Blu-Ray of Dumbo is a must have for Disney fans and classic animation fans alike. The movie has been restored beautifully, showcasing the charming water-colored backgrounds, and the animation just pops off the screen in High-Def, like a living painting. Years ago when I seen a documentary about how Disney was using computers to clean up their classic animated films frame by frame I wasn't sure how the result would be, but the movie looks like it was just made, and not in a bad way. The sound is equally well restored, not over-blown but above and beyond most movies over 70 years old. A huge improvement over the DVD release from 2001.
The movie if you are one of the few people on earth not familiar with the tale, is about a baby elephant with extremely large ears, named Jumbo Jr, but after being mocked the name "Dumbo" sticks. Despite this, with the help of his friend, a mouse, Timothy Q. Mouse, he soars above his bullies in more ways than one.
Dumbo is presented in it's original 1.33:1 aspect ratio, and you can chose to watch it with black bars on the sides, or changing art panels that reflect each scene. There is also a Cine-Explore experience, with historians and animators taking you through the movie, a deleted scene and song, a documentary on the making of the film, a feturette called Celebrating Dumbo, and one on the ride at Disney Land, an audio commentary, a pair of classic Disney Shorts "The Flying Mouse" and "Elmer Elephant" (both in HD as are most the special features), and some games for the kids. A nice package for a classic film.
RATING:
MOVIE: 10 out of 10
AUDIO/VIDEO: 9 out of 10, 10 out of 10
EXTRAS: 9 out of 10
Tron: Legacy (2010)
It's Awesome...3D Blu-Review Tron: Leagacy
My first RealD 3D experience in the theater was the movie TRON: Legacy, and I enjoyed it, but it was so dark, and hard to see, as most people give as the reason they do not like 3D movies in the theater. My experience on my 3D home theater though was excellent. Truly two hours of eye candy, a movie that truly uses the 3D to it's advantage and not just a gimmick.
The movie is a sequel to the 1982 Disney cult-classic TRON, the story begins in 1989, with a computer altered Jeff Bridges returning as Kevin Flynn, telling his son about the world he experienced and had been trying to get back to, which he does, and becomes trapped in for over 20 years. Flynn's son, Sam (Garrett Hedlund) is just as technically inclined as his father, but not as interested in running his father's company Encom, so he does what he can to get under the corporate board member's skin, whenever he can. When his father's former partner and the man that created the program TRON, Alan Bradly (Bruce Boxleitner) gets a page from Kevin Flynn, Sam sets out to investigate his father's disappearance only to get sucked into the "Grid" while discovering his father's hidden work room in the old arcade. Soon after arriving Sam encounters his father's program that forces Sam to compete in the "games", Clu (Jeff Bridges computer altered to look young again), and TRON (also an altered Bruce Boxleitner), he escapes the games with the help of Quorra (Olivia Wilde) who takes him to his father who lives outside the city, having been betrayed by Clu. After meeting his father the trio discover that Clu is responsible for luring Sam into the Grid, as part of a plan Clu has to get into the real world by using Kevin's disc. It becomes a race against time for the trio to stop Clu, and get back to the real world.
The 3D is unique in that, the "Real World" scenes are in 2D, which makes things stand out even more when we enter the Grid with Sam and enjoy the adventure. The movie is presented in the IMAX version, where the screen opens up to 1.78:1 from the 2.35:1 aspect ratio for bigger action scenes like The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. The 3D set also includes a standard 2D Blu-Ray, DVD, and Digital Copy, extras of course are on the 2D disc like most sets like this. The disc is light on extras unfortunately, a short film about the day after the events of TRON: Legacy, which is okay but nothing mind blowing, a few shorts documentaries, second screen experience, a trailer for the Disney XD cartoon, and a music video by Daft Punk round out the extras. After the bevy of extras on the original, this is a bit of a disappointment. If you have a 3D home theater though, this is a must for your collection.
Tron (1982)
TRON Blu-Review...
TRON is one of those movies, that could have been as bigger, but yet still managed to weave it's way into the culture, especially with the internet boom in the 90′s. TRON has a hazy past on home video, only being released maybe twice on video, and once on DVD in a sub-par version, and then a decent special edition.
The movie had become such a cult classic that Video Games and other forms of extended universe entertainment had always been in development at Disney. Nearly 30 years after the original film, a sequel, TRON: Legacy, was released. It would seem history would repeat itself with TRON's legacy, pun intended, as TRON: Legacy didn't exactly bust blocks, but did make it a viable franchise that does continue in Animation, Video Games, and a possible third film.
So as a sequel was on the way you would think a Blu-Ray release of it's 1982 elder would be a no-brainer. This did occur, but not until he Home Video release of TRON: Legacy. That being said, it doesn't matter really in the grand scheme of things, other than maybe a bit more interest in the sequel, or what Disney seemed to fear, that audiences would turn away from the sequel as they did the original, because it is different, and when things are different it's hard to find a way for Hollywood to get their heads around it.
I will review TRON: Legacy soon, but I want to take a look at the original first. It is a classic, no matter if you want to admit it or not, it is a breakthrough in not only technology and special effects on the screen for it's time, but is also the first film to use computer generated images, (CGI), and blend them with footage of real people.
Disney tried to jump on the Arcade Game craze of the late 70′s and early 80′s and that is why it's more than obvious that is the reason Disney made this movie. The lead character in TRON isn't the character of the same name, but an Arcade owner and former game and program designer Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), who is trying to hack into his former employers computers to prove that his games were stolen by new VP of Encom, Ed Dillinger (David Warner). He is helped by former co-workers, Lora (Cindy Morgan) and Alan (Bruce Boxleitner) who just happen to create a new program called TRON, created to fix the problems with the new Master Control Program, Dillinger has total control over, so it seems. They try to break into Encom one night, while in the process Flynn is sucked into cyber-space accidentally and is now a user in the world of programs. Programs are like the people who make them, and of course resemble them. The world they live in though is where Disney's hard work comes in. It may not seem so visual by today's standards but the fact that the Academy disqualified the film because they used computers and felt they "cheated", goes to show that they were on to something, and this is modern film-making in it's infancy, light years ahead of the rest. (Less than 10 years later many awards were given to movies for utilizing computers, including Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Jurassic Park.) My review is getting a little long, and that is part of the turn-off to some people about TRON, it is a very simple story told in a very original and complicated way. There are so many elements that all tie in to the plight of Flynn to get home, and the programs defeating the Master Control Program, that forces them to play games to the death, like the Romans, using the ones it has use for, disposing of those it does not, and once a user gets thrown into the mix, everything changes.
The Blu-Ray presentation is well done. The colors are vibrant, and the computer world stands out and even though some of the effects are archaic, High-Def doesn't really show the tape and glue, so much as enhances the charm of the challenge that this huge task was for the group behind it. The new sound mix is also well done for a 30 year old film, it serves it's purpose without complaint.
The Blu-Ray adds a few new short documentaries in High Def, along with the previous DVD special edition bonus features, so everything is covered pretty well. The 2 Disc DVD from years ago was Criterion quality, so even if those features were all that were on here, it would still be a good haul.
Green Lantern (2011)
3D Blu-Review
I did watch the Extended Cut before, but I have to say I enjoyed the theatrical cut a little more, the movie flows faster, and seems to have more energy. The 3D presentation is well done, and does help with the CGI, as well.
The story is about test pilot Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) who is chosen by a ring of power, making him part of the Green Lantern Corps, which are basically an Intergalactic Army, protecting the galaxy from evil. Hal is the first human to ever be chosen and needs to prove to the other Lanterns and himself that he can be one of them and protect earth from ultimate doom.
The 3D presentation is immersive enough, and still looks good in the outer-space scenes, helping the CGI blend as I said before as well. A lot of well used floating effects, sometimes the villain can become hard to make out but that's the nature of the effect I think so I won't hold it against the movie. For the most part the picture isn't overly dark either, so that's a plus as well.
I, Robot (2004)
I, Robot 3D Review
I, Robot is a sci-fi thriller about a cop, Del Spooner (Will Smith) set in the year 2035, where robots are everywhere, do most labor, and are sub-servant to humans, but he doesn't trust them. After an apparent suicide by Dr. Alfred Lanning (James Cromwell) a designer at US Robotics, the countries biggest robotics company, Spooner smells something isn't right, and implicates a robot, Sonny (voiced by Alan Tudyk), in what appears to him as a murder, which is against one of the 3 Laws Of Robotics;
I recall reading I, Robot,and several other Isaac Asimov's stories when I was younger, the collection of short stories have little to do with this film though, only the 3 laws more or less are important. That aside, I, Robot is actually a very entertaining and clever thriller, with for the most part so-so special effects for decade old CGI, more on par with a video game, and Will Smith doing it 'Big Willy Style'. I like Mr. Smith, I've followed his career since he was only a rapper, and for the most part the man has made his career, and has arguably the most successful musician turned actor since Barbra Streisand. Rising above his urban upbringing and taking acting so seriously that you can watch him progress into a serious contender in the realm of acting Gods over the last couple decades. Now, I'm not saying that I, Robot is a masterpiece of cinema for the times, nor am I saying it's Will's best acting job ever, in fact that brings me to my point I was getting to, after giving credit where credit is due, in this movie, as I said before, Mr. Smith is doing it "Big Willy Style", and what I mean is, this is a character that Will plays from time to time in these obvious big budget movies. A style interchangeable with a few of his other screen alter-egos. That aside, this movie is fun. That's what counts, it's a pop-corn movie, it's just a little bit better than most. Before you bombard me with slander for comparing this movie to Jaws, it's not in the same league, but the way it's constructed reminds me of how Steven Spielberg took one story and kept the spirit, but gave us something that was much more exciting than had it been a direct adaptation, and this movie is the same way, the spirit of the stories are there, especially with the 3 Laws, but it's a nice tight suspenseful tale that keeps you interested and pays off.
All that aside, let's get to the "meat and potatoes" of what this review is really about, the 3D conversion. It's interesting how the movie has been cropped from it's original aspect ratio down to 1.78:1. making the film feel a tad cramped sometimes, as you are losing some of the picture, but I actually prefer 3D presentations in this ratio normally, even though I do generally prefer a nice full 2.35:1 or more panoramic picture to movies like this, at home 3D movies that are in a smaller ratio tend to lend to the experience better by filling the entire screen. I could go on and on about this all day, and I"m sure if your even still reading you don't care anymore either, the real deal is does the 3D conversion work? Yes and no. It's not going to blow your mind, and probably not going to be the first movie you grab to try and impress your friends with. Most scenes feel like two 2D images just separated from the background, very flat. This is one time i cannot say that the 3D helps with the CGI blending with real footage and it is sad because in films that were older, like Jurassic Park and Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace the 3D conversion helped those films. It's decent enough, and since most places have it reasonably priced, it is a suitable addition to your 3D library. The standard version is on the same disc, and there is a DVD in the combo pack. All the original special features were carried over.
Dark Shadows (2012)
Enjoyable enough
Dark Shadows based on a British show of the same name, which I"m not familiar with so cannot compare, but was enjoyable enough. The movie stars Johnny Depp as a vampire named Barnabus Collins, suffering a witch's (Eva Green) curse, finally set free from his prison after nearly two centuries, introduced to the modern world of 1972. His decedents now live in his home and he share's his secret with the matriarch of the family Elizabeth (Michelle Pfeiffer), along with the secret to the family fortune hidden in the castle by which they plan to reclaim the family glory before the witch, Angelique (Green) cursed the family. It has some funny moments, and is directed by Tim Burton, who has fun with it, and it pays off and shows, because it is enjoyable, and has some great moments.
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Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013)
Fun, but not for the kiddies!!!
Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton play the title duo, respectively, as the grown up versions of the fairy-tail siblings we know. They are now witch hunters, and are called to a small town when several children come up missing, only to discover that something big is brewing with all the witches, and they are part of it. Famke Janssen of X-Men fame plays the lead witch. It is hammy and over-the-top, but it's good fun. It has some good laughs, and some 3D eye-candy, along with a fast paced story, that like "Dark Shadows", if you don't take it too seriously you will enjoy it. Fun bit of trivia, Will Ferrell and Adam McKay are producers.
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999)
South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut Blu-Review
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South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut was what really got me interested in South Park, I did see a few episodes before that, but the movie is where I really "got it". Most people see the show as low-brow humor, done cheaply, for cheap laughs, but anyone who's really paid attention notices the social commentary and "nothing is off-limits" angle of the humor to the show, and movie. South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut does pick up between shows, but you can still watch it without seeing the show and enjoy it for what it is, nearly 15 years later it's still funny and relevant, taking a stab at how American entertainment is skewed to allow violence to go to extremes, yet sex and fowl language are very regulated. Co-Creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have dealt with the MPAA on several occasions, especially with this movie, which was just a big middle finger to them to begin with. Like bullied victims the South Park movie was a big return upper-cut after tons of abuse and beatings.
South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut begins with the boys (Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny-all voiced by Parker and Stone) going to see the new Tarrence & Phillip movie: Asses of Fire. The R rated Canadian movie sets off a fire-storm of trouble when the boys' parents blame the movie for the their potty mouth and the death of Kenny, after he lit one of his farts on fire. With Kyle's mom Sheila (Mary Kay Bergman) leading a group of parents against Canada, war and (literally) all Hell breaks loose. The Oscar nominated music is wonderful, and needless to say the Parker and Stone's craft has come full circle with "Book of Mormon" musical, the same talent shines through here.
As far as the Blu-Ray is concerned, once again Paramount dropped the ball, and the new release is hardly worth celebrating, considering the original DVD was bare bones, there isn't much for extras here either, the fact that the Blu-Ray was obviously made from a film-print and not the original digital animation files is beyond me. Makes no sense that a new master for the Blu-Ray simply wasn't ported over, considering the movie and show have always been animated by computer (minus the pilot episode, that was actually done with construction paper cut outs). The last few years of the show look better than the High Definition presentation we are given here. It's not the worst picture ever, but unless it was requested by the creators I don't know why they would chose to master it this way.
The only extras are a collection of trailers, a music video of "What Would Brian Boitano Do" , and a commentary by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, which of course is the reason to get this Blu-Ray. The commentary is very retrospective of course being over a decade since it's release, but they are entertaining of course, the duo does mini commentaries for each episode on the season sets, but they never get real in-depth, so the rare chance to hear them talk about the film and South Park in general in a more candid and open way is a treat and the only reason there is even a rating for the extras on my final grade. It's about half-way there, but this movie screams out for a kick-ass full blown Special Edition, c'mon Paramount!!!
RATINGS:
MOVIE: 10 out of 10
AUDIO/VIDEO: 8 out of 10/7 out of 10
EXTRAS: 5 out of 10
Premium Rush (2012)
Premium Rush Blu-Review
Premium Rush is an aptly named thriller starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Wilee, a bike messenger, working in New York, who is given a package one day that sets him on a chase for his life. When a rogue cop (Michael Shannon) with a gambling debt wants the package that Wilee has been charged with delivering because it's contents is a ticket worth a lot of money. When Wilee learns what the ticket is really for, it becomes a race against time and odds to get the package to it's destination.
David Koepp directs, and keeps the film at a steady pace, letting us know what we need to know when we need to know, dropping in flashbacks, but not pulling you out of the action. The story is pretty tight, and the execution works, it is an adrenaline rush. The Blu-Ray is acceptable, with a couple short featurettes but are pretty much all you need for this movie, they give a nice quick look at all the stunts and visual effects, pretty much anything you might want to know about how the movie was made without it being overly stuffed.
RATINGS:
MOVIE: 8 out of 10
AUDIO/VIDEO: 9 out of 10/9 out of 10
EXTRAS: 8 out of 10
Cheech & Chong's Animated Movie (2013)
Basically animated Greatest Hits...
I've always been a Cheech and Chong fan, so I was looking forward to Cheech & Chong's Animated Movie, but basically it's an animated "Greatest Hits" collection of some of their audio skits from their albums. The animation is pretty decent, looks bright and vibrant in High-Def. The animation is better than a Flash animated movie per-say, but it does have that type of feel to it. The movie segways between set pieces, and really all I can say is if your a fan of the duo you'll still enjoy it even though it's not new material. It reminds me of the Looney Tune movies that used old animation mixed in with new in a way.
It could have been worse though, it is fun for what it is, as long as you don't go into it with huge expectations.
Arthur (2011)
Mediocre and unnecessary...
The original movie from 1981 is, and always will be a classic. The sequel on the other hand was one of the first head scratchers where movies that didn't really call for a sequel still got one. A common thing in the 80's (and still to a point now, when we are given so many sequels to movies that came out years and years ago).
For anyone who hasn't seen the original, or is unaware of what the movie is about, the plot is pretty simple. Arthur Bach is a spoiled man-child, who never grew up, and is constantly inebriated. He squanders his families' vast fortune, and torments his loyal nanny. But one day Arthur is given an ultimatum to marry a woman that he doesn't love and keep his inheritance, if not he will lose it all. All while trying to win the heart of another woman that he truly does love.
A lot like the original, which, let's face it if it works, don't break it. The new version isn't really anything different than the original film, and even hits most the same beats story wise. A few things are switched up here and there, but all the broad strokes of the original plot is intact. I will say it is mostly well casted, except for a few exceptions.
I generally like Russell Brand in the right parts, and this would seem to be a shoe in to most, but he was basically mimicking Duddly Moore in this movie. Not really acting, just doing his shtick. It felt like if someone decided to go around doing Rodney Dangerfield's act just because he slightly reminded people of Dangerfield, even though he wasn't quite as sharp and witty. Brand has his moments in other movies, but this was just a remake that was not needed. It had it's amusing moments. I only chuckled a few times though.
It reminded me of The Longest Yard remake. Had it's moments, a few went too far, but stuck with the basic story structure with no real horribly out of place twists for no real reason (Eh-hem...Nightmare on Elm Street...). But just felt unneeded and unwanted. Neither of those films did I ever look at and say, "This would be so much better if they remade this movie!" It is too much like the original to completely disregard and is passable. Nothing really called for this movie to warrant an update though. King Kong, I understand, it's been remade and sequelized in so many ways. New special effects technology and the iconic image make it a viable entity to be re-imagined in a whole new way. Unlike movies such as Longest Yard, and Arthur, where there is no real need for the films, but there have been MUCH worse remakes of others lately. Ones that would have been more suitable for repackaging and a nice polish bit the dust, but this movie is entertaining enough to catch on cable or cheap rental if your curiosity makes you.
I'm actually surprised it wasn't made 5-10 years ago with Adam Sandler. He basically already remade it with "Billy Madison," only difference is school being the catalyst, not getting married as the reason for their possible loss of fortune. Would have at least been different that you could love or hate it on it's own merit. The remake on the other hand is too much of an over copied copy of the original though, looks like it, but a little muddy.
I love the original, and even though the sequel did enough damage, this movie will leave a bad taste in the mouths of most fans of the original like spoiled cream, it was good before, but now it's just sour.
Could've been worse but it's unneeded so that just makes it all the more redundant.
Friday the 13th (2009)
What were they thinking?
I won't waste much time on this movie. It's a mess from beginning to end, and they missed a great opportunity to resurrect a true horror legend.
The original 1980 film is compressed into a few minutes of black and white footage, where we are supposed to understand that some crazy lady is chasing a girl through the woods. Something happens, it's dark and rainy, and this lady gets her head chopped off, and some freaky looking kid see's this happen.
Now I know who these people are, because I've seen the original, but anyone who doesn't, has to be completely lost.
The movie goes even more downhill from there, we are then subjected to a 20 minute or so pre-title story of a few teens who enter Jason's woods to be hacked off one by one, or at least most of them.
Then even more people are introduced who we don't get to know or care about, to be hacked off one by one.
The filmmakers just didn't get the originals, yes they had a list of a lot of things that were in those movies, and things they wanted to amp up, but I don't think they got what the soul's of those old movies were like.
Don't waste your time on this.
Halloween II (2009)
What Happened?
I have to say first off of all the remakes of the classic 70's-80's horror icon's, Rob Zombie's "vision" of "Halloween" was the best of the bunch. I was very disappointed by "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and even more sickened by "Friday the 13th"-at the very least Zombie's "Halloween" was handled with care, and in it's own way-stood on it's own apart from John Carpenter's classic.
Zombie's "Halloween II" is a mess, being Zombie's 4th film, I was very upset with the direction he took with this film. I will go into the few things i liked before i go into all the things that were just wrong with this movie.
First, I felt the actress playing Laurie did a much better job here, she was one of the few actors from the first film I wasn't too thrilled with, but she does much better here. The story went it's own unique direction, giving the characters a lot more punch than the first film- which had crammed so much into a running time not much different than the original.
All the new arcs were interesting and well played out. Except for 1.2 of the people in the movie, I felt that it was the right way to portray the returning characters.
I won't go into much detail on the 1.2 characters-just know that 1 is Michael and one of the .2 is his mom, you will see what i mean if you actually torture yourself with this mess. The problems came in with the center piece of the film, Michael, and this whole thing with his mom. the other .2 is young Michael and first off-I don't care if the kid who played young Michael is 3 feet taller than Sherry Moon Zombie-the new kid is HORRIBLE. Beyond that, the whole reason for young Michael, and Michael's mother returning is the pit-fall of what could have been a decent sequel. (You can do ONE movie without her Mr. Zombie!) I won't go into much detail for fear of spoiling this drivel, but let's just say Zombie must have just wanted to turn Micheal into Jason Vorhees...
Add in the fact that Zombie decided to go to 1:85.1 aspect over 2:40.1 like the first film, bothers me. I am against changing a films aspect ratio like that for no apparent reason, especially when a film screams out to be opened up and given room to breathe in a beautiful Panavision landscape.
All in all I wish i could have liked this movie, I tried so hard. The film starts out well enough, giving us a tease of what a true remake of "Halloween II (1981)" Zombie-style would be like. Only young Michael and his Mother ruin this film. The whole idea goes farther and farther down hill as the climax is more of a spiraling vortex into more crap.
Cloverfield (2008)
Blair Witch meets Godzilla!!!
I'm not going to waste much time on this review, as I didn't waste much time on this film, (watching most the later half in high speed, just to get to the ending). My summary above says it all.
The problem with this film is the over used, bad gimmick of the cam-corder gag to try and make things "more suspenseful". The only place this gag worked was the only good part in "Signs". That scene was chilling and looked so real, but it was just a glimpse, not the whole running time of the film.
Maybe the film would have been better if the main characters all didn't make such dumb decisions, and the intent of the people to "document" this happening...just dumb, drop the camera and run.
It may have worked better if the movie had started out this way, then went into traditional film...I just got sick of it. Sorry I didn't buy into the hype, much like Blair Witch I was just left feeling cheated, and like I waisted my time.
TMNT (2007)
DVD Review
Over 20 years after we were introduced to those 4 crime fighting reptiles, we get a new version of the Ninja Turtles. This time in computer generated animation, it actually seems more like a step back from the stellar live action film from 1990.
The story begins in a way that no matter which version of the turtles you are familiar with, you can fit right in here, and for those who aren't too familiar, there is very little back story here.
The film takes place several years after the events of the team's early adventures. The turtles have all found different things to do in life now that The Shredder is gone. Leonardo went overseas to train, in the jungle. Raphael is now spending his nights cleaning New York of crime as as a vigilante. Donatello now works as a tech support provider, and Mikey is making scrap by playing himself for children's parties.
Now a new evil force comes to New York, and brings the brothers back together again to fight to save New York, and the world.
The good things about the movie is the animation of the turtles, it looks great. Almost makes me wish they had made a live action film with CG turtles, after seeing how cool they could have looked. I also wonder because the human characters in the film look like plastic dolls. Up against the turtles they all look worse. The monsters are give and take, but are lame bad guys, considering we have never seen many of the other classic TMNT rogue gallery in film form, it was kind of a let down. I would have much rather seen the Rat King or any of the others. The other parts of the story are wonderful progressions from what we've come to know, but there is not much.
On the DVD we are "treated" to some deleted and extended scenes, which might actually give us a bit more meat of the characters we love, but instead the director talks over them all, and we can not turn him off, so we don't know what is being said in the scenes. Granted most of them aren't completed, but still. The other extras are a few EPK shorts that were available online, including an extended trailer, a short interview with the voice actors, and finally a commentary (surprise) from the director. The track would have been better if it was more than one person, perhaps along with the creators of the turtles, or the voice actors. It's pretty bland, and he spends most of his time praising himself and the others that worked on the film. The only unique thing is there is a choice to turn on subtitles for the commentary, not a normal thing for a DVD, to bad the commentary wasn't more interesting.
The movie itself looks OK on DVD. The back of the cover lies, and says that it's Dual Layer, when it's really Dual Sided. The movie would have looked much better if it had been allowed to be dual layered, and widescreen only. The full screen version looks so muffled and obviously cropped, it's a waste of disc space, on an already pretty empty disc.
I'm not sure if this print is a strait digital print, or from film back to digital. with all the noise it's hard to tell. It's no Pixar disc, that's for sure.
The sound is in Dolby Digital 5.1, along with French and Spanish tracks. As always a DTS track would have been nice, being that the film is under 90 minutes, it would have looked and sounded great spread out onto a dual layered disc, with a few more extras to fill it out.
So the extras are lackluster, the picture isn't great, and the sound is OK, this just isn't normal Warner Bros. quality. Perhaps I'm too picky, and this release from any other company with no changes might have been more acceptable, but in this case, Warner screwed the pooch. I would have expected at least a 2 disc collectors edition, it wasn't a flop. Warner has been known to release single disc and double disc versions of many of it's films, why should this one be any different? It will sell well on DVD I think, because it's cross generational. Anyway, piddly complaints I guess.
The Blu-Ray looks awesome of course, but suffers from the same lack of great extras.
Warner didn't promote the film to heavily, we didn't even get treated to special editions of the original live action films, when TMNT hit theaters, and now on DVD. (New Line owns them, yes but most of you know that New Line is a sister company of Warner's.) So is this worth buying? Yes if you can get it for around 15 bucks or less if your a huge fan, otherwise wait till it goes below $9.99 in a few months. (Note: A Blu-Ray/DVD box set of all 4 films has been released, nothing new feature wise, it is the same release.)
Red Eye (2005)
Not what I was expecting from Mr. Craven...
The man that made the rules known for horror/suspense films with Scream through them completely out the door. There are so many things that go wrong in the last half of this film, that starts off so promising. Even in it's short running time it manages to stay too long on the plane over using to many devices, then once we get on the ground it turns into a stupid horror film that Scream had been making fun of. What was Mr. Craven thinking? (SPOILERS)
First-the phone thing goes on too long with the "losing signal" gimmick. Second-Why was she running from the police when she gets on the ground, if she would have told them everything then the movie would have been done yes, but at least she could have taken off her high heels... Third-Her father awakens after being knocked out, and we watch our Racheal McAdams and Cillian Murphy play cat and mouse and dad is no where to be seen for far too much screen time, just to show up to conveniently at the last minute to save the day-makes NO sense...why even show him wake up at all???
In a movie like this it's easy to ask us to make believe along with the film makers but stupid mistakes just make the movie unbearable. If you want to get a rush from a film on a plane, check out "Flightplan" instead, I wanted to like "Red Eye" and hated it, and didn't think I was going to like "Flightplan", instead I was surprised.
Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)
Heeeeerrreeeesssss.....Jason.
OK, so Jason, a son of a #$@#, as we learned from part 1, is out continuing the damage done by the killer in "Friday the 13th". Believed to be drowned as a boy, we see that obviously he survived and has been living in the woods all these years. Deformed and hungry for blood, teenagers at Camp Crystal Lake better beware!!!
OK, the teenagers aren't exactly at camp crystal lake, the camp itself has been closed since it never got re-opened after the events of the first film, but a little ways down the lake, is a camp councilor training camp full of teenagers for the picking.
An interesting and historical turn not just for the series itself, but film history in general. Part 3 would be even more significant.
Great special effects, but not a lot of them after the hack job for the censors.
Friday the 13th (1980)
Horror History
It's pretty easy to say when someone says "horror" a few things pop to mind. If you are a movie fan and you hear those words, things like "Halloween", "Nightmare on Elm Street," and "Friday the 13th" come to mind.
Out of all of those named and along with a few others have become cult favorites and made money at the box office for the most part. Since the beginning of films, the 'Movie Monster' has been an icon. Dracula, Frankenstein, Wolfman, every time you hear those words you think of the Universal versions of these famous characters. There are many many more. Our modern versions are just as colorful and scarier than those before. Freddy, Jason, Michael, Chucky, we know them all on a first name basis. Without even a last name, or even have seen any of the films in any series, you know who these characters are. Like Bugs Bunny and The Easter Bunny, they are part of our collective consciousness.
In Friday the 13th we are introduced to the beginning of what will become "Jason". Though if you are looking for the 'Hockey Masked' villain, you won't see him here, at least in his usual get-up (not to spoil the film if you haven't seen it.)
The first film in the series is full of a few surprises, and scares, but if you haven't been subjected to the plot already by someone else, or caught up quickly because you happen to be watching Friday the 13th Part 7 with your friends, you know what happens in this movie, and what it is about.
What is it about? Pretty basic premise, without giving away the ending: In the late 1950's Camp Crystal Lake was closed due to the murder of two teenagers who worked there. 20 years later someone else plans to open up Camp Crystal Lake again, but of course this is a bad idea. Soon the teen's that have been hired to help fix the place and take care of the kids when they arrive, are brutally being axed off one by one.
Pretty primitive and over used concept at this point in the 21st century, but in 1980 this was one of the more original slasher films to come about after "Halloween" had been a huge success 2 years before. Friday the 13th was an independent film like Halloween, then bought and released by Paramount, maybe that is half of it's charm and ability to rise just above the rest.
Of course, oddly the first film is not the best film in the series, it gets a little worse before it gets better, but it's all good clean fun!
Van Helsing (2004)
what a waste...
I Can't really do a true review since i ended up having to pay late fees and never watched the whole thing, the effects were stupid, the acting was beyond bad, and the whole story was just beyond dumb. I stopped the DVD about an hour and twenty minutes in. I just had no clue what this was about, why I should care, and who all these bad actors were. Really what was Jackman thinking??? This was such a silly idea, I'm sure that Universal is just crying because of all the money they sunk into this garbage and all it's cartoons and crap. None of the movie follows any of the monster's story lines at all. We spend too much time with too many action scenes, still waiting for the movie to actually start. Normally I wouldn't rate a movie i didn't watch all the way through, but I know there was nothing to save this hunk of junk, 1 out of 10...if only 0 was allowed...waste of 6 bucks...waste.
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Amazing...
Raimi's follow up to his 2002 blockbuster Spiderman, is nothing short of 'amazing'. If you don't already know the plot, you're probably living under a rock, and wouldn't be reading this anyway. If you haven't seen the original, do yourself a favor and get acquainted with this series, it's worth it.
Spiderman 2 does what very few sequels do, and that is build on the original and top it, with more story, more drama, more action, more suspense, more character, more emotion, and just more. We don't feel like we're a million miles away from the universe created in part one, yet it all feels new and fresh. I'm glad they did not do anything drastic to Spiderman's suit. There are subtle changes, but you really don't notice, yet on multiple viewings you will.
I give this film a 10 out of 10, large feat for a sequel.
The Monster Squad (1987)
Goonies meets Ghostbusters
I'm sure the way this film was pitched was "Goonies meets Ghostbusters". (heck, the poster says "you know who to call for ghosts, but who do you call when you got monsters?") The story of the film is pretty simple, you have a group of kids verying in ages (much like Goonies) who are obsessed with Monsters. They come to learn that REAL monsters are in their time and after them because one of the kids has Van Helsing's diary, and the means to destroy all the monsters, hence the Monster Squad is born. What saves this film is that it has good casting, good laughs, and excellent creature effects. (The Creature from the Black Lagoon looks awesome for 1987 standards). All the monsters are basically 'more' realistic versions of all the Universal classics, Dracula, Frankenstein's monster, Wolf Man, The Mummy, and as mentioned Creature from the Black Lagoon. Excellent nostalgia, only wish there was a widescreen DVD available...oh well, I'm sure it's gonna be out soon enough. (8 out of 10)(The DVD (Blu-Ray too I believe) is released now, it's packed with special features and an excellent wide-screen transfer)