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Reviews
Jack Pierce: The Man Behind the Monsters (2002)
Fun for any Universal Monsters fan
This is a great tribute to the man responsible for the look of many of the iconic movie monsters. Great care went into this DVD, and it shows. The special features are also excellent. Get this if you're a fan of the classic horror films!! I purchased the film from jackpierce.com and am very pleased with it. The re-enactments of the makeup are at times extraordinary. The film deserves more attention than it has gotten just based on everything it has to offer to fans of the genre, and even just fans of makeup work in general. The lead who plays Jack looks a lot like him in the makeup, as well. I don't know a ton about him, but I suspect that Jack Pierce would be proud of this work!
The Monster Squad (1987)
Cult classic monsterpiece!!
What's not to love about this great flick?! It's got humor and great moments with the classic monsters, rendered in styles much more in keeping with the Universal tradition than the slick "Van Helsing" (which I do like).
The kids are great, the monsters look good, and the jokes are actually funny. WHEN will this film be released on DVD?! It deserves the special edition treatment.
I've seen this film so many times, first as a youth when it was released, and it never gets boring.
It's campy without being stupid, and tongue-in-cheek antics abound. Anyone notice the odd way that this film and "Evil Dead 2" seem to have shared similar endings? It's kind of strange, really.
ANYWAY, would love to see this released as a nice DVD.
Daredevil (2003)
Repelling the bias against Daredevil
Much of the critique here is harsh and unwarranted, in my opinion. The Daredevil film was the Batman movie that Warner was always too scared to make, in many ways. It's dark, brooding, action packed with REAL fighting scenes as opposed to stiff guys beating up ham fisted supporting villains.
If you compare the film with Spider-Man (which had a massive budget and was a much brighter film in terms of colors and mood), you probably WON'T like it. HOWEVER, if you put it in the context of the Daredevil comic (novel idea, eh?) you SHOULD come away with the sense that it's pretty accurately rendered mood-wise, with some nice comic relief and interesting and somewhat tense encounters with some pretty mean bad guys. It might not make fanboys completely happy in some aspects, such as the slight modifying of the origin, but it's close enough to the book's ideas and visuals that those mildly altered aspects of the film aren't distracting. One cool cameo: Frank Miller. This is basically Frank's take on the character in a multitude of ways, so that was fitting.
People not familiar with the comic should at the very least enjoy Colin Farrell's wickedly charismatic scene stealing role as Bullseye.
It isn't perfect, but as far as the genre goes, it's pretty darn good. I think Affleck may take an undue beating on the film, as well, as far as reviews go. I found him to have made an excellent Murdock and an effective and credible Daredevil, and for me, it was an exciting and fun venture into the dark world of Hell's Kitchen.