Ya, Lost Boys: The Tribe was mostly a waste as a sequel, and just ok as a stand alone Vamp movie. I also took note of how the female “lead” got pushed aside so quickly. Plus this version had almost zero campy fun that was signature of the first one. There are some nice bit for the fanboys. Just check out the bit in the credits & the alt. endings. And there is one Hysterical moment in the very beginning! But I won’t spoil it for anyone! I just wonder if it was the same person. I sure hope not! LOL!
I got nothing much from Harold and Kumar escape from Guantanamo Bay, except from Neil Patrick Harris!
Watched recent American DTV horror flick, The Asylum, starring Sarah Roemer from Disturbia and directed by the guy who did Final Destination 2. Ugh. I wish that I could invent a time machine, so I can go back in the past and tell myself not to see this film.
The Cottage = awesome, fun, a great time watching this
Botched = okay, campy silly fun movie
The Worst Horror Movie Ever Made = SHIT!!!
Teeth = great cast, great acting, great direction - a great movie
Brutal Massacre = See it.
Werewolf in a Women’s Prison = hard up for nudity, see this, otherwise the JC Penny Catalog would save you time and money (although Yurizan Beltran is gorgeous and naked).
KARAOKE TERROR = Crazy Japanese film that is silly, wacky, violent and pure f’ing awesomeness. A buyer - if you are a fan of this kind of off the wall extreme japanese cinema.
The Girls Rebel Force of Competitive Swimmers = a japanese school girl horror fan’s dream - I died and went to heaven.
OMG—thank you, LJB. Wot a flick! I picked this one up after LJB’s rec. Offensive. Exploitive. Violent. Ridiculous. A real throwback to 70s Japanese “pinky” flicks.
Watched also, w/Alain Delon, Duccio Tessari’s Big Guns (aka Tony Arzenta)—how cool is Alain Delon? Ultimo cool. This film epitomizes why I love eurocrime—great music, action, acting, and overall, entertainment value. Tessari is a stellar and underappreciated director, who helmed a number of quality westerns, gialli, and action flicks (Tough Guys, anyone?).
Oh snap, it’s Monday. :( Anyway, here’s what I watched his weekend—and incidentally, I can’t wait for next weekend already.
Tokyo Zombie: dir. Sakichi Sato, the screenwriter of Ichi the Killer and Gozu. The leads are those respective films stars, Tadanobu Asano and Sho Aikwa. A zombie comedy. As misleading and off-putting as “zombie comedy” sounds, this one is more a showcase of Sato’s v. dark and unusual brand of comedy rather than a zombie spoof. Anyone whose familiar w/his Miike scripts is aware of his off-the-wall sense of humor. The horror takes a backseat to the sight gags and humor between the two leads, and it is quite often v. funny and unusual. I was v. pleasantly entertained by this one.
The Maniac Responsible: dir. Mario Caiano w/Antonio Sabato. I love Caiano’s Weapons of Death and Bloody Payroll, so I decided to give this crime/giallo hybrid a spin. The plot involves a missing schoolgirl who later turns up dead, a la Twin Peaks. Sabato, in an excellent performance, plays the detective working the case. V. entertaining w/a v. tightly executed script.
House of the Cursed Spirits: dir. Carlo Ausino. A v. low-budget giallo from the early 80s—so it gets massive points in my book for that. The plot involves four young distant relatives who inherit a mansion, apparently cursed and haunted. Hijinx ensue. A fair balance of ineptness and trash and laughs and moments of pure entertainment. I pretty much loved every second of this one.
Mob Story: dir. Herman Yau, the man who helmed two of the sickest HK flicks from the 90s—The Untold Story and the Ebola Syndrome. However, since then, Yau has kind of turned into the Cat. III Wong Kar-Wai. His 2006 film, Cocktail, which was v. good, shows WKWs influence w/out a drop of blood in sight. This film IS a Category III, WKW film. The plot involves a hired killer, who travels to Taiwan to hook up w/an old buddy, named Goblin (everyone should have a friend named Goblin) and becomes embroiled in a mob trist involving a beautiful prostitute named Chi-Ling. Unrequited love and mournful, subjective poses crossed w/hatchets to the face and numerous amounts of blood splatter = WTF? A minor masterpiece. Late.
Watched The Signal last night…I liked it overall. I like apocalyptic films, and lord knows they are cranked out by the boat load these days and that takes a little bit of the wind out of it’s sails to a point I guess, but I still enjoy them if they are mostly decent. The three different directors approach was pretty well done…I liked the first and third act a lot and enjoyed the second act for being kind of a break from the normal formula of this type of film. Plus I knew one of the segments was meant to work as a dark comedy so I wasnt taken aback by the humor like others were. And I did like that I got to spend some time with the proverbial crazy people…see how it affected each person differently, and I liked seeing their rationality to the situation…kinda kept me wondering who was crazy and who wasnt. It’s something you don’t see in these types of films very often. Acting was solid, and even though the style was pretty familiar it was shot nicely. If I gave it a CD rating it would be 7.5 with a thumbs up.
I also watched The Royal Tramp this past weekend….man all I can say is I loved this faqin movie. I am a big Stephen Chow fan and this was no let down. Nicely choreographed fight scenes, and the humor was perfect. Chow is belly busting at times and plays a character that is up there with one of the funniest performances I have seen on screen. I give this film a 8.9 and a big thumbs up for a review.
“Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang” was highly underrated. Excellent flick.
Anyone else seen “I’m a Cyborg, but that is OK”, from the director of the Vengeance Trilogy. Easily one of the weirdest/most creative movies I’ve seen in a long time. Highly recommended.
For any who have not watched Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang…you need to check it out, it is a very entertaining and well put together fil by Shane Black, who wrote the once and still great Lethal Weapon….one of the best performances by Val Kilmer I have ever seen and I think the guy is pretty good in everything…...I will agree with seven-ate-nine….very under-rated film…....also Robert Downey Jr. is awesome in his usual way…...
Anyone else seen “I’m a Cyborg, but that is OK”, from the director of the Vengeance Trilogy. Easily one of the weirdest/most creative movies I’ve seen in a long time. Highly recommended.
I really want to see this flick…I’m a huge Chan-wook Park fan, and didnt know it was out yet. Glade to hear you recommend it.
Let me echo the KISS KISS, BANG BANG love. It’s a wonderfully written and acted film, and Downey Jr. totally won me over in it, despite me despising him for being such a smurfin-up for years.
And I even regained some REAL GENIUS/TOP SECRET level respect for Val Kilmer.
But the writing is everything. Shane Black needs to keep making movies like that.
Finally watched The Mist last night. It was pretty good, but I should’ve seen it before all of the hype. The CG was a bit heavy, but overall… not a bad film.
Just watched Greg McCleans follow up after WOLF CREEK, ROGUE and I liked it quite a bit except for the Creature From the Black Lagoon Type third act, which felt a little out of place to me…...good film to rent though…..check it out!!! I would like to see what others thought of the film, it’s a beautiful film to look at as well…........for those who dont know, it is a Large Crocodile Run a muck type film….....lates…..
Hans: I’ve been meaning to see Tokyo Zombie for a while as I’m a big Asano fan and had heard good things about it.. this is encouraging. Is Mob Story the one with Andy Lau? If so, I have it and will be watching it this week. Other than Yau’s Untold story, I haven’t seen anything else by him I can think of off the top of my head. Yau’s later efforts have been Cat.III WKW eh? I’m sold in a BIG way.
Mattsuzaka: I personally HATED the signal, but to each their own I guess. Glad to see you liked the Royal Tramp. Have you ever seen God of Cookery? it’s pretty good; it’s the usual Chow fare, but is highly enjoyable..
Man all of this Kiss Kiss, Bang, Bang talk really has got me wanting to see it..
Seven-ate-9/Mattsuzaka: I saw I’m a cyborg last year and it is the weakest of Park’s films; but with that being said it is still a pretty good, interesting film. It really is a departure for him. The usual Park flair is there, the technical aspects are all first class, and Rain(who is the Korean Justin Timberlake, and can be seen in Speed Racer and in the Wachowski’s upcoming Ninja Assassin) puts in a really good(and surprising) performance. I thought Cyborg was really good and sweet, but ran about 20-30 minutes too long and suffers from L.O.T.R syndrome with 3 or 4 endings, so by the actual end of the film you are worn out..
The Mist was easily one of my favorite films from last year.. Great stuff, good ensemble and EXCELLENT ending.
