By Justin, on March 10th, 2009
Dear Zachary (imdb)
A lot has been written about Dear Zachary, an independent documentary with a slightly unusual means of production, a shocking and heart-wrenching twist, and a bloodied but unbowed finale. Some have said it was snubbed for an Oscar while others claim it’s production values are amateurish and sloppy. I don’t care about Oscars, but even if it is arguably a little rough around the edges in terms of its presentation, the story it tells will hold your attention right to the credits and will probably elicit an emotional response. It’s hard to know what to say . . . → Read More: Movie Mini-Reviews for 3/10: Dear Zachary, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Don’t Go In the House, Baraka, The Road Warrior, Basket Case, The Planet of the Apes, & Beneath the Planet of the Apes
By Justin, on February 26th, 2009
It’s been a while, so there are more reviews than usual this time around. I also rewatched High Noon and Akira (Blu-ray), but I didn’t write reviews for those. Anyway…
The Invincible Armour (imdb)
One of the better overlooked kung-fu films of the late 70′s, Invincible Armour stands out for several reasons, not the least of which is its inclusion of not one, but two of the stock evil white-haired baddies. The fights are frequent, over-the-top, and imaginative as fight scenes in a movie like this need to be. The movie’s main fault lies in a story that’s a . . . → Read More: Movie Mini-Reviews for 2/26: Invincible Armour, The One-Armed Swordsman, Opium & the Kung Fu Master, Deep Red, Religulous, & Visitor Q
By Justin, on February 7th, 2009
Singapore Sling (imdb)
This is definitely the strangest movie I’ve seen so far this year. It reminded me a bit of Guy Maddin’s Tales From the Gimli Hospital, and while both are highly unique, seemingly-nonsensical surreal black and white allegories for something or other, neither makes for a very interesting film if narrative is what you’re after. A detective searching for a lost love ends up in the grasp of a very twisted mother and daughter who take him in, torture him, and subject him to a lot of gross shit and dry-humping. The mother and daughter often address . . . → Read More: Movie Mini-Reviews for 2/7: Singapore Sling & Dead & Buried
By Justin, on February 3rd, 2009
Eagle vs. Shark (imdb)
I take the populist approach to Napoleon Dynamite: it’s a great film that provides a solid mix of quirk and sentiment. What I don’t care for are the clones that followed in its wake, which is exactly what this film is. By the time the characters are at a party dressed in animal costumes having a video game tournament involving a Mortal Kombat rip-off I knew I had seen enough. The appeal of Napoleon Dynamite as a character is that no matter how ill-at-ease he was in any given situation, he had the charisma to . . . → Read More: Movie Mini-Reviews for 2/3: Eagle vs Shark & Deadbeat At Dawn
By Justin, on January 30th, 2009
Gutterballs (imdb)
What an inexcusable pile of crap. The acting here is so bad that I can honestly say I’ve seen more convincing performances from first-year high school drama students. The story here—if you’re even generous enough to call it that—is so threadbare that it has to be padded with countless “fucks”, forced “funny” dialogue that never ceases to fall flat, and generous helpings of semi-porn that’s far more likely to make you wince than pique any sort of sexual interest. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that the director was going for heavy-handed homage here, but if you . . . → Read More: Movie Mini-Reviews for 1/30: Gutterballs, Dante’s Inferno, & Doom Generation
By Justin, on January 27th, 2009
A larger post than usual this time around. I accidentally saved over my original review of My Bloody Valentine 3D, so the shorter rewrite will have to do…
Right At Your Door (imdb)
A tight, tense, relatively low-budget thriller, Right At Your Door pulls off perpetual dread incredibly well. While a lot of the films of the past decade that address or hint at nuclear issues and terrorism do so by use of allegory, RAYD tackles the immediate repercussions and human drama that might follow another terrorist attack. Set in Los Angeles, the film is essentially the story of a . . . → Read More: Movie Mini-Reviews for 1/27: Right At Your Door, Zerkalo, Team America: World Police, My Bloody Valentine 3D, & This Filthy World
By Justin, on January 24th, 2009
Repo! The Genetic Opera (imdb)
I consider myself somewhat of a cinematic masochist, having endured lots of really bad Italian horror, independent “horror/comedies”, and some generally mediocre films right to the credits. I couldn’t do it with this one; it was just too awful, too cringe-inducing, and too embarrassing to ever admit to having seen in its entirety. I stopped somewhere around the 16-minute mark and promptly reinserted it into its Netflix envelope and sealed it. From what I saw, the film tried way too hard to appear edgy and weird and ended up just coming across as a . . . → Read More: Movie Mini-Reviews for 1/24: Repo! The Genetic Opera & Pineapple Express
By Justin, on January 17th, 2009
Two absolute stinkers this time around…
The Lost (imdb)
Watching this film made me realize the extent to which the horror genre has become a high-speed race to the bottom. While critics of the genre have long argued the same thing, I’ve never really considered myself among their ranks until now. The Lost is utterly without any value, “redeeming social”, entertainment, or otherwise. It’s a two hour exercise in tedium that tries way too hard to shock its audience and as a result comes off as both incredibly juvenile and pathetic. The story centers around an egocentric psychopath named . . . → Read More: Movie Mini-Reviews for 1/17: The Lost & Babylon A.D.
By Justin, on January 14th, 2009
Save the Green Planet (imdb)
A strange, rather uneven blend of comedy, science fiction, horror, and drama that switches back and forth without so much as a moment’s notice, Save the Green Planet isn’t a great film, but it’s a highly unique one. The central plot centers around a young man who kidnaps his former boss based on fears that his boss is an alien from Andromeda and is highly involved in orchestrating the end of the world. Told in a deliriously anachronistic fashion, it felt a bit like a Chan-wook Park revenge film (Oldboy, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance) run . . . → Read More: Movie Mini-Reviews for 1/14: Save the Green Planet, The Brothers Solomon, & Stuck
By Justin, on January 9th, 2009
Lair of the White Worm (imdb)
I’ve been meaning to check out some of Ken Russell’s films for almost a year now, and despite having had copies of Gothic and Altered States for a while, Lair of the White Worm was my first. While not a great film by any stretch of the imagination, Lair still manages to be oddly compelling throughout, and the locations in the film were entrancing in their own right. A grad student’s excavation on the property of a bed & breakfast run by two sisters unearths a giant skull and resurrects rumors of a Pagan . . . → Read More: Movie Mini-Reviews for 1/9: Lair of the White Worm & The Lookout
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