Deep Red: Profondo rosso (1975)

A little late for horror month, this one came out on blu-ray earlier in the year and was the last horror movie in my possession, yay! Folder complete now.

This 70's horror film has taken a little bit of flack for actually killing a lizard on screen. I can't say that screams animal cruelty to me, but it seems to bother some people so I can respect that. The film starts out a lot like a modern day horror film. A creepy mysterious killer in a leather jacket murders a famous psychic, we do not see who it is but we immediately know there is not a twist involving our main character.

The film gets really slow and basically turns onto a murder mystery at this point. I personally had trouble connecting with the film, partially because I was a little sick of horror films at the time, and also because I watched it with the goal of being done, and not to enjoy it. My fault. Overall I did like it, but the almost constantly out of sync [due to poor dubbing... it is mono audio], and blu ray doesn't help this. It is distracting and keeps me from wanting to watch it again.

Vote: 6/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073582/

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Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest (2011)

After watching documentaries on Foo Fighters and Pearl Jam this year I thought it would be interesting to watch a documentary on a musical group that I DIDN'T group up liking. I know of this hip-hop group and heard a few of there song in CMJ [College Music Journal] back in 1993 when Midnight Marauders came out.

The documentary looks at who influenced the group, how they came to stardom their their connections to DJ Red Alert and their formation of the Native Tongues. A pretty cool concept of collaborating with fellow artists like, De La Soul, Queen Latifah, and Jungle Brothers. The thing I think the documentary hinted at but did not discuss very much was hip-hop being "killed" by rap. At least this is my opinion. The unofficial death was really about the time I started listening to a range of music ironically and was in 1993 when Midnight Marauders came out the same week as Wu-Tang Clan's "Enter Wu-Tang." That same year Snoop Dogg, 2-Pac, and Easy E all came out with albums. Soon enough the fun loving hip-hop artists were overshadowed by gangster rap.

A look at the history of hip-hop and the rise of rap would have been much more entertaining to me, but that isn't what they were going for here. The end of the film goes into the bickering that broke the group up and was not exciting at all. I think Pearl Jam and Foo Fighters documentaries were both better, maybe because both bands are still creating music and getting along.

Vote: 6/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1613023/

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Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)

In a pretty weak year for animated films look for this average film to get an Oscar nomination. A sequel to the 2008 Oscar nominated film with the same director, writer, and star put it in line for another nomination. In 2009 they lost to the far superior Wall-E, but with no Pixar front runner this year you never know.

I can't say that I remember all of the detail from the first film, but they came back to me pretty quick in the first ten minutes. Po [Jack Black] is the "chosen one" and leader of the kung fu masters now. Tigress [Angelina Jolie] has warmed up to Po and the team of animals protects the city. We get a story of a crane who has harnessed gun powder for weapons instead of fireworks and is starting to conquering cities. Kung Fu is thought to be dead and the Kung Fu Masters have to prove that it is not.

On a scare factor rating I'd say that the violence alone gets a 3. If your kids are old enough for that, this film is very kid friendly. We'll see how it does against a slew of animated sequels in awards season. I liked it a lot more than I thought, but it wasn't something I'll buy for my kids.

KSF: 3/5
Vote: 6/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1302011/

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Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon (2011)

Michael Bay is back with his third installment of the surprisingly successful [box office-wise] series. The first one made Megan Fox a star, the 2nd one showed she isn't a very nice person, the 3rd one drops her completely.

I have to say that I did like the first film, it was really good, especially since there were no expectations. The 2nd one was just awful and Bay's camera rotations made it almost unwatchable at times. This one however was quite a bit better. Shia LaBeouf's character is now trying to have a normal life after his adventures in the first two films. He has a model for a girlfriend [Rosie Huntington-Whiteley] who replaced Fox, and when the Decepticons attack he works his way back to work with the government to help out.

This film was much better than the last but still lacked a lot of editing. They do realize that scenes can be cut completely right? All of the interactions with LaBeouf's parents were unnecessary. They added a lot of unnecessary runtime to the film, and none of it was funny or relevant to the plot. That lack of editing keeps these films at an unnecessary 2 and a half hours.

Overall, a big improvement from the last, I'm glad I gave it a shot but 6/10 is about right.

Vote: 6/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1399103/

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The Brood (1979)

David Cronenberg is famous for making creative science fiction films on small budgets. Known as the Baron of Blood he has made films like  Scanners, Videodrome, The Dead Zone, The Fly, and one I need to see Naked Lunch. Lately he has made the switch to dramatic films, and he is strange to hear his name around awards season with films like A History of Violence, Eastern Promises, and this years A Dangerous Method [all films starring Viggo Mortensen].

With many of Cronenberg's early films all of the stars are only known for this film, that's how you keep your budget low, right? There are definitely a few scenes that are pretty creepy in this film, honestly I didn't find it to be thrilling at all and preferred Scanners over this one. I would say the two had a lot of similarities so you should see Scanners instead.

Better than the last few horror films I've seen so I'll give it a just average rating.

Vote: 6/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078908/

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Hour of the Wolf: Vargtimmen (1968)

Slowly but surely I've been working through Ingmar Bergman's catalog of films. Considering he directed more than 60 and wrote more than 80 I have a long way to go. He made this one right after Persona, a surprisingly good film, and is probably the closest he has been to the horror genre, which is why it isn't surprising that Schneider would find a reason to include him on this list.

The film is a horror, but I would it a drama if you didn't fully "get" it. Having to "get" a film to be scared doesn't make it all that scary. Bergman is usually a pretty confusing director to follow and has many subtle nuances you have to keep up with. This film is about an artist who lives alone with his wife on a small island away from society. He goes to the mainland to work on his painting and is harassed by women who's faces come off when they take of their wigs. Boys on the beach that attack and bite him. A number of strange encounters.

The first half of the film is very slow, and it really isn't building up on anything suspenseful, it is just laying the groundwork for the suspense to follow. The 2nd half is strange, confusing, and scary at times. Bergman is a great director, and he gets this from fantastic descriptive dialogue. The problem is that a picture is worth a thousand words, and in a horror the pictures are the scary part and most of the film fails in this regard. I'll stick to his other films.

Vote: 6/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063759/

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Horrible Bosses (2011)

One of the #1 films at the box office this past summer, this comedy stars a number of well known actors and a director [Seth Gordon] with a pretty decent track record.

The film is about three people with completely different bosses, all awful in their own way. Nick's [Jason Bateman] boss is a mean corporate manipulator [Kevin Spacey],  Kenny's [P.J. Byrne] boss constantly sexually harasses him [Jennifer Aniston], and Kurt's [Jason Sudeikis] boss is a recently promoted junkie [Colin Farrell].

I can see how playing these characters was probably a lot of fun. Spacey's character is pretty unrealistic... well they all are, his more so than the others. Aniston was probably the most crude, but also pretty funny. I found Byrne to be pretty funny, just slightly annoying at times. Sudeikis was REALLY annoying though, and reminded me of what I didn't like about Hall Pass.

So back to the plot. All three feel cornered in their jobs. Bateman's character realistically more so than the other two. They hatch a plot to kill their bosses, in the process they hire Jamie Foxx, but end up deciding to kill each others bosses... like in Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train.

Over the top silly, some funny parts, a good drinking movie but definitely not one for kids.

Vote: 6/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1499658/

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Cape Fear (1991)

Funny that I just spoke in my last post about leaning toward originals [review] over remakes. Well this is a good example. My goodness, I really should have liked this huh? Directed by Martin Scorsese, starring Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange, and Juliette Lewis. The original stars are even in the remake, Robert Mitchum and Gregory Peck.

The Oscars half way got it right with their nominations. I loved Robert De Niro's performance, but I hated Juliette Lewis' performance. Sure I was supposed to be annoyed by her, but I really just can't stand her acting and it makes her films frustrating to watch.

The film was very "90's," the music, the clothing, I'm not sure why all this annoyed me but I just couldn't love this film.

Vote: 6/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101540/

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A Tale of Two Sisters: Janghwa, Hongryeon (2003)

With High Tension [review] out of the way, this was my newest film from my 101 horror movies book to watch. Since the names aren't close at all I didn't catch that there has actually been an American remake of this film. The remake was called The Uninvited, it came out in 2009 and starred Emily Browning and Elizabeth Banks. It wasn't until I read this that I even realized the two followed the same script. I actually watched The Uninvited about two weeks before starting this blog and gave it a 7/10.

Fans of this film seem to hate the remake, and those that liked the remake tend to hate this film. Interesting how that can work; how a specific director can draw different fans with the same script. I'd have to put myself in the camp of the US remake. I tend to lean towards originals, but in this case I just didn't get the original.

There is a "main" twist, sorry if this spoils it for you, but it has to be discussed. The issue I have is that it gets very confusing and reality and fantasy are never really clarified. Maybe some people like this, but I'm the kind of person that likes that "gotcha" moment of clarity when a director makes everything clear. Hitchcock was a master at this.

This movie really was an 8 or 9 in the first hour, but I couldn't get it and really don't care to figure it out.

Vote: 6/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0365376/

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The Innocents (1961)

Many people are probably familiar with Deborah Kerr from films like From Here to Eternity and The King and I, but when asked what she felt was her finest performance she chose this film. A film that is listed in the 101 Horror Films, and considered one of the most chilling and shocking films of its time.

Based on a book, the movie is about a young Governess, Miss Giddens [Kerr], who is hired to take care of two orphaned children. Their uncle hires Miss Giddens to raise them on his country estate with complete freedom so that he may go about his city life without them as a burden. We learn from a maid that the former governess died and that she was having an affair with the valet, who is also dead. Miss Giddens becomes convinced that the souls of the dead lovers have possessed the two children and she intends to do her own exorcism.

The scary part of the film is that you are never entirely sure if she is nuts or if they are really possessed. We see the same ghosts that she does and the kids to act pretty bizarre, but we never get the comforting feeling that we understand what is really going on. Honestly a black and white Victorian era film is boring to me to begin with, so the ghost story wasn't enough for me to really like this film. It was just ok.

Vote: 6/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055018/

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Island of Lost Souls (1932)

Directed by Erle C. Kenton, who was known more for his two reel comedies, but branched out into horror on a few occasions. This will probably be his only lasting film. Recently released in high definition, sadly I didn't know this until I had already watched a very grainy version.

The film stars Charles Laughton [who won an Oscar the following year for The Private Life of Henry VIII.] and Richard Arlen [who was in the silent film Wings... the first Oscar Best Picture]. Bela Lugosi is on the credit pretty high, but his role is very minor, and he is in costume so you wouldn't know unless told. The film is in my 101 horror movies book, but I didn't find it scary in the least. If this was a modern film you would consider it an adventure/fantasy.

The story is about a man, Edward [Arlen], who is found adrift at sea. The boat that finds him is on their way, with an assortment of animals, to an island not on any map. When Edward sticks up for a servant against the drunken captain he boots him off the ship at the mysterious island. The island belongs to Dr. Moreau [a character with about five films to his credit now, the rest much more recent], a mad scientist who does Frankenstein-like operations on animals making them more human.

Horror movies must have soundtracks, suspenseful music sets the mood, awkward silence unsettles us, but a complete lack of background effects or score make the film dull. This isn't the only reason this film was boring, but it just wasn't that interesting and just a little too fake for me. Sure it is very old, but that isn't exactly why. I'm not sure why this needs to be on any lists, and a 6/10 is very generous.

Vote: 6/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0024188/

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Devil (2010)

I really didn't know much about this independent thriller film that came out last year. It was made on a $10 million budget, and grossed more than three times that, but was it worth my time? Directed by John Erick Dowdle and written by M. Night Shyamalan.

The film stars a group of recognizable stars, but none really that big. You've probably seen Logan Marshall-Green, Chris Messina, Geoffrey Arend, Bokeem Woodbine, or Jenny O'Hara in something. The film is about the devil's presence amongst a group of strangers on an elevator. The five strangers get stuck between two floor and all attempts to move the elevator result in someone getting hurt.

The lights go out and one of the passangers is killed.They come back on and the security guard calls the police who do everything they can to get in. One by one the people start to die...

It was kinda cool, but I see myself forgetting all about it in a year or two. The direction was ok, the story was a little hooky, and none of the stars had breakthrough performances. Take it or leave it.

Vote: 6/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1314655/

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Hachi - A Dog's Tale: Hachiko (2009)

A straight-to-video release in the US, this film was actually in the theaters in Japan. It is very loosely based on a true story of a Japanese professor in the 1930's (maybe 40's I forget), who's dog waited every day for him at the train station even after he died.

Entertainment Weekly made a big deal about this being one of Richard Gere's best performances in years. Boy o'boy that sure is setting the bar low. The film start with Gere getting home from the college in a train and walking home, since I live in Texas with a 45 minute commute I'm not sure how realistic walking to and from a train station and never using a car really is in the current setting that they make this film. He finds this abandoned puppy with no identification, after putting up signs to find the owner he eventually keeps him... which you can tell his wife isn't thrilled about. Joan Allen plays his wife, Jason Alexander plays the train attendant, and Sarah Roemer [Disturbia] plays his daughter.

The film is quite sad, definitely to a cheesy and sappy point. It is hard to not let a tear escape at least once. It is almost cruel that the rest of the family didn't give this dog any love, but the film is trying to make a point, and also following the amazing true story they are bending a bit. Anyways, it was able to sneak onto the modern top 250 and there are worse films.

Vote: 6/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1028532/

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3 Idiots (2009)

This Bollywood comedy stars Aamir Khan, who is probably the most popular actor in India at this time. He stars in films such as Lagaan, Rang De Basanti, Earth, and Like Stars on Earth.

The only one of those that I have seen is Like Stars on Earth, and I did enjoy it. I gave it a 7/10. This one is about a kid who is thought to be a lazy student but thanks to a good teacher [Khan] he is inspired to become a good student. The 7/10 was because the film is close to three hours, it breaks out in song and dance several times, which works with the kids movie theme.

This movie is about three college students. Khan plays the son of a rich Indian family who puts learning above grades. There is a good moral to the story, but the breaking into song and dance in this film just does not fit. Maybe this is normal in India, but I didn't like it. The head professor, I'm guessing he is the dean... it wasn't very clear to me, is made to look like a moron. I'm not sure why he had to be so over-the-top stupid with crazy hair, a lisp, and crossed eyes; I found this whole dynamic ridiculous.

Late in the film Khan's character is re-united with the girl he loves. It has been 10 years and he has made no effort to contact her? This is just stupid, and played off as comical, I didn't think this was in any way realistic. For a 2 and a half hour commitment I wasn't very impressed with this film. It is about college electrical engineers, so that was one saving grace for me.

Vote: 6/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1187043/

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Even the Rain: También la lluvia (2010)

Gael García Bernal [The Motorcycle Diaries, Y Tu Mamá También, Babel] and Luis Tosar [Miami Vice] [the two guys on the poster] star in a movie about a filming crew trying to shoot in Bolivia amidst the locals protesting the governments privatization of the water supply. This film was Spain's submission to the Oscar Foreign Film race, and was short listed but did not receive a nomination.

The film they are shooting is actually a controversial film about Christopher Columbus and how the Spanish people treated the indigenous people. So it is only that ironic that the local people are fighting mistreatment from the current government at the same time. The crew actually has to do some inward reflection to see if they actually believe what they are preaching on film. Do they really care about these people? Karra Elejalde plays the man they cast as the rebellious leader of the natives that fight the Spanish on film, and he happens to be a leader off film against the government and water company.

The film has an interesting dynamic with these two aspects, but it fails to create any deep ties between these two at the same time. The more interesting dynamic is between the two directors. Bernal starts as the main character and I didn't feel he performed very well in this film, his character also seemed so adamant about the story they were trying to get on film. Tosar's character starts as a jerk and seems to make the most positive change through the film, at first he exploits the natives and casts them well under what he would if they shot this in Spain. When Elejalde's character confronts him about this, he sees the error in his way and becomes a better person. It actually reminded me of a reading from church I heard the same morning I watched this:

"What do you think? A man had two sons; and he went to the first and said, `Son, go and work in the vineyard today.' And he answered, `I will not'; but afterward he repented and went. And he went to the second and said the same; and he answered, `I go, sir,' but did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?" They said, "The first." Jesus said to them, "Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the harlots believed him; and even when you saw it, you did not afterward repent and believe him.
-Matthew 21:28-32

I think this should have been the 5th nominee instead of "Outside the Law." But it was still only my 5th favorite.

Vote: 6/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1422032/

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Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)

The fourth film in the Pirates series, this one of course uses the 3D gimmick, and replaces Keira Knightley with Penélope Cruz in the leading lady role. Part of me gets annoyed that this series is still going, while part of me is happy that something other than really bad horror films keeps their series going. What about James Bond or Star Trek, we don't say "really? they are making another one?" For me it helps that it is still Johnny Depp, if they replace him I'll stop watching [I don't see this happening].

So we've fought pirate ghosts then the kracken, recovered the heart of Davey Jones, and gone to the edge of the world in the previous films. This time we fight Blackbeard and search for the fountain of youth. The film is full of daring and silly escapes, it almost reaches the Bugs Bunny level when Jack Sparrow gets out of the king quarters and escapes the Spanish troops by swinging on trees. It makes it clear that there will be more films in the future, no surprise, and if this annoys you then why even start watching this one, right?

Could it have been better? Yes. Did I dislike the storyline, costumes, music, etc.? No. Could the dialogue have been better... definitely. We started to slip into kids movie realm with this film, which might be hard for the series to recover from. Guess we'll see in a few years.

Vote: 6/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1298650/

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Run, Fat Boy, Run (2007)

Simon Pegg has now been in a number of films, and impressively a number of these have gained enough popularity in England to create a buzz in the US. A co-worker suggested this film to me when they learned that I had run several marathons so I thought it was worth a shot. It is actually directed by David Schwimmer [Ross from Friends], who has directed 4 tv movies, 10 episodes of Friends, and a couple episodes of the spin-off Joey. However, this was his first feature film.

Simon Pegg plays Dennis, who runs away from his pregnant fiancee, Libby [Thandie Newton], on their wedding day. Five years later he is a loser who still has feelings for Libby but can't seem to even take care of himself. When Libby gets a new boyfriend Whit [Hank Azaria, known for his many, many, many voices on The Simpsons], who is successful and runs marathons, he decides to prove his love by running a marathon also.

The film is mainly a comedy, but could be called a romantic comedy. There are many elements that felt like a tv sitcom to me, which makes sense to me because this has been the director's background. So if you know what you are getting yourself into, you might like it. There are better Pegg films, and coming from a running I didn't find the marathon portion to be anything special like I was hoping.

Vote: 6/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0425413/

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East of Eden (1955)

John Steinbeck's East of Eden was a very popular film, less for the quality of the film, and more for what happened surrounding the film. The film stars James Dean who died in a car crash around the time of this films release, and was then awarded the first posthumous nomination in Academy Awards history. Of course, Rebel Without a Cause, is the film that made him a cult icon, but this was the one and Giant [his second consecutive posthumous nomination] sum up his three film career.

Not really that challenging to watch his entire filmography, and having seen the other two some time ago it was time for me to watch this one. It is one of only a handful of film I've seen in Cinemascope, and thank goodness it was probably the first I've seen on a widescreen TV. Cinemascope is that really narrow widescreen that has black bars on widescreen televisions and is almost unwatchable on televisions a decade ago, and this one is 2.55:1 ratio, when most Cinemascope is 2.35:1. Anyways...

So the film is about a pair of brothers with a very "religious" father. James Dean plays Cal, the younger brother who can't seem to do anything right. In typical Dean fashion he is rebellious, lacks direction, but is good deep down. Cal has figured out that his mother, who his father told him was dead, is actually alive and working in a burlesque on the bad side of town. Cal does everything he can to win the affection of his father but he can't seem to do anything right.

It is a well written film, but a little dull at times. I prefer his two other films over this one.

Vote: 6/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048028/

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How Green Was My Valley (1941)

Winner of 5 Oscars and nominated for 5 others. This film will forever be known as the one that beat Citizen Kane [8/10]. Not only Kane, but it also beat out Sergeant York [8/10] and my favorite of the list The Maltese Falcon. The simple fact is that in 1942 this was the better film, get over it film buffs but a working class drama was more popular than an Orson Welles drama.

I'm sure you can see from the bottom of this post that my 6/10 means that I would rank it fourth out of the four I've seen from that year. It was however a decent film. Maybe my 6/10 is a little harsh because I just gave a few other films a 6/10 that I didn't like as much, so if I gave 0.5 points than I would give this 6.5/10.

So the film really centers around the youngest brother of the Morgan family in a Welsh mining town. He watches as his brother grow up and leave the home, as the mine goes through a strike, and as his sister goes through marriage problems that the whole town whispers about.

The film is really not that bad, and I can easily say there are some much weaker best picture winners, this one is spoken about a lot simply for who it beat that year. If you are going to watch all the Best Picture winners, you won't be disappointed by this one.

Vote: 6/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033729/

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State and Main (2000)

Part of Peter Traver's Top 10 list from 2000, I gave this comedy I haven't heard much about a shot. Come to find out that the cast includes Philip Seymour Hoffman, Sarah Jessica Parker, Alec Baldwin, Julia Stiles, and a few other faces you would recognize. Also there is an uncredited cameo by John Krasinski at the very end.

The film is about a film cast and crew looking for a new town after being forced out of their previous one. The new town they come upon is a sleepy little town in Vermont that boasts about their "old mill" which is a centerpiece in this film. Come to find out that the mill burned down in 1960 and the script now needs some major work since the title was "The Old Mill."

I can see how this might have been better 10 years ago, but I didn't find it to be anything special, and this wasn't Hoffman's best performance... he is still quite green.

Vote: 6/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120202/

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