tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27783967840299210272024-02-07T03:57:04.515-05:00Movie ScumPuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12924219699313473972noreply@blogger.comBlogger598125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2778396784029921027.post-32773507092381315182020-09-06T16:35:00.006-04:002020-09-07T00:02:20.868-04:00Random Movie: The Frighteners (1996)<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP_jNUH6PgKxS8UeGuy4F-HevU_zDyAPGbkQPusKPE9C8jcbr0P1qqlUXRJN2J6SmprJ-xO56lN3BaEvf2x_aaZt_dLG5SKUW7WUh0QBymcciV9V-DtyC123uTMS9HPDb5Xy6yr5w1Uuo/s2048/frighten.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP_jNUH6PgKxS8UeGuy4F-HevU_zDyAPGbkQPusKPE9C8jcbr0P1qqlUXRJN2J6SmprJ-xO56lN3BaEvf2x_aaZt_dLG5SKUW7WUh0QBymcciV9V-DtyC123uTMS9HPDb5Xy6yr5w1Uuo/w625-h354/frighten.jpg" width="625" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Photo: Universal Pictures</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>In hindsight, it's surprising that it took this long for me to get around to <i>The Frighteners</i>. With Robert Zemeckis and Peter Jackson still in their prime, as well as Michael J. Fox who arguably never left his prime (seriously, check out his arcs on <i>The Good Wife</i>), I must have just presumed this movie was a stupid comedy with horror-like elements and moved on. Only now have I realized how great this movie actually is.</p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p>I've said before (and will likely say a few more times) that I don't gravitate toward horror-comedy hybrids if only that the track record of that genre is more miss than hit. This could also explain my proclivity toward avoiding this film as a teenager that informed my viewing habits as we have a bunch of random movies on the seventy various streaming services I have access to. But I needed an 'F' movie, I've always heard good things about <i>The Frighteners</i>, and it was readily accessible.</p><p>The story centers around the always charismatic Fox as a marginally convincible "paranormal investigator" Frank Bannister who preys upon a recently departed's grieving family to make a few bucks. It seems that after a traumatic incident in the past, Frank is now able to see and converse with the spirits of the dead but somehow convinces them to help him scam normal people to believe they are being haunted. All fun and games with a few hundred bucks at stake until a dark and shadowy figure comes to their town in <strike>New Zealand</strike> California and starts taking the lives of people with no discernible cause. Frank becomes the prime suspect (in the straight-forward cases of heart attack?) and must find the truth on his own! Well, and also with his ghostly friends and a local woman who looks a lot like Andie MacDowell but is actually not. </p><p>Considering that paranormal stories and conman are intertwined means this film does not work at all without anyone but Michael J. Fox as the lead character. The IMDb indicates that other prominent actors like Tom Cruise or Matthew Broderick were considered if Fox had passed but there is a quality that Fox brings that would not be present in any other iteration. Perhaps it's his eternal youthful appearance or merely his generally wholesome film career, but Fox sells the character of Bannister more than anyone else could. He is begrudgingly a scam-artist but he derives no joy from it and his arc in this film proves he is merely looking for a legitimate way to use his newfound gift of seeing spirits.</p><p>The main reasons this film was groundbreaking at the time (and also cost $30 million in 1996 dollars for a horror film) was the CGI that was pretty unprecedented at the time. As I probably learned first from an HBO behind-the-scenes promo, a lot of new and enhanced technology was used on this film to portray the physical spirits that Michael J. can see, but also the moving ghosts protruding from walls and carpets to attack our protagonists. While these effects look okay but not that great in 2020, I'm sure the minimal audience back in the day was more taken-aback by it. At least we can say that the <i>Nightmare on Elm Street</i> remake from fourteen years after used similar processes but looked way worse so ... point, Peter Jackson.</p><p>Considering the film doesn't take itself too seriously, the story is pretty heavy with the death of several people, a wrongly accused man, and also a serial killer subplot that eventually collides with the main characters. If anything, the "deaths" of several of the main ghost characters do not carry much weight in favor of continuing the mysterious dark and shadowy figure saga, although that concludes satisfactorily as well. The Frighteners is constructed well enough to leave you hung up in Bannister's shenanigans enough to disregard the other bits of story floating around. It's a clever trick to keep the movie from becoming just another conman proves himself right storyline that we've all seen countless times before.</p><p>It would be years before I'd officially discover the greatness of Peter Jackson with Dead Alive but had I been smarter, I would have had a head start with this film.</p>Puckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12924219699313473972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2778396784029921027.post-70798638911970007462020-09-05T17:15:00.004-04:002020-09-05T23:24:45.819-04:00Random Movie: Escape Room (2019)<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-BB4Xuw2oNK3KSb8KI9AUJJ7ndskdq3_tEk_6qvFGy9FzRt-nF1x_tkvFCSt8tYWR357bXkcEVlIIr38DSpfziOoWqGNSMeWozrrKCBlQv3tV_In1unvGjzzcRVpnsOnc-RGtfR_0TMw/s2048/escape1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-BB4Xuw2oNK3KSb8KI9AUJJ7ndskdq3_tEk_6qvFGy9FzRt-nF1x_tkvFCSt8tYWR357bXkcEVlIIr38DSpfziOoWqGNSMeWozrrKCBlQv3tV_In1unvGjzzcRVpnsOnc-RGtfR_0TMw/w625-h354/escape1.jpg" width="625" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">Photo: Sony/Columbia Pictures</div><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>To be honest, I had chosen this movie primarily because it is a recent film beginning with an 'E' that is easily accessible and I fully expected to hate it. I knew nothing of <i><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5886046/">Escape Room</a></i> other than what my almost 14-year-old has told me (she saw it twice in theaters) and the <i>Saw</i>-lite vibes I got from the trailers that I had seen. But shockingly, if not for trying to review random movies over the next two months, I'd probably have never gotten around to this one. But, as it turns out, I would have been missing out.<span><a name='more'></a></span><div><br>Even though the last few years have proven that PG-13 rated horror movies can be good, many end up tame enough to end up on standard cable with minimal tweaks. <i>Escape Room</i> also fits that description. But unlike the <i>Saw</i> films that clearly inspire it, this film does well enough without the graphic scenes of body trauma or torture, and still manages to be pretty entertaining. It was only after I started watching it that I saw this movie was directed by <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0733263/">Adam Robitel</a>, who did another non-gory, but still quite satisfying, horror film I rather enjoyed, <a href="https://scumomovies.blogspot.com/2015/03/random-movie-taking-of-deborah-logan.html"><i>The Taking of Deborah Logan</i></a>. <br /><p>While the film tips its hand a bit at the beginning as it shows us more details about three of the eventual six main characters, Robitel and writers Bragi E. Shut and Maria Melnik make up for it as the rest of the group is introduced early on in the film. While I've never been to an escape room, I trust that getting a mysterious puzzle box with an invitation inside is not the norm. But the film sets up a large cash reward for beating the game as well as the characters' motivations for achieving it so we are mostly left in the dark who will be the victor through these challenges.</p><p>I say mostly because, as seems to be more common than not for horror movies recently, this film begins with a flash forward of an important scene from the end of the film. Logistically, I understand that theater audiences (especially younger ones) may be wanting, or even conditioned, to expect a big sequence or death at the start of the film to set the tone. Even though it doesn't really take that long to get into the 'Escape Room' proper portion of the film, it seems the producers or whomever did not trust the audience to hold on for a whole twenty minutes or so before walking out in protest of boredom. </p><p>Aside from that issue, I was thoroughly entertained throughout the film, much more than I expected to be as I explained up top. As there are only six characters to worry about, all are given enough backstory and drive to make them both notable and worth caring about. We soon find out (in true <i>Saw</i>-like movie fashion) that these particular people were chosen for a reason to compete against each other in this game. But unlike probably half of the participants in Jigsaw's games, these characters seem to be on the up-and-up and sympathetic, which makes their eventual demise more impactful. </p><p>As I have never been to an escape room (other people and outside events are generally incompatible with my existence), I have no clue how these things work other than in pop culture. That the challenges are both physically and mentally based seems to track, without, you know, the killing of people who do not complete the level. All of the rooms in the film are interesting and different enough that while I was as much in the dark as most of the characters as to how to escape, I was still completely engaged in the film and hoping these folks find their way out of an upside-down room or an indoor convection oven.</p><p>One might expect that as the movie progresses, the six main characters are whittled down in the various escape rooms that have some personal elements that might through them off guard. And it probably wouldn't surprise you either that there is an evil force at work behind these escape rooms (spoiler: It's rich people.) But after the movie has come to a complete end, it surprisingly keeps going and seems to try to segue from the finale of this film into the opening act of the presumed sequel. This film only runs at about 100 minutes so the extra padding isn't a dealbreaker but it is confusing at least. Especially since there is a forthcoming sequel of some sorts.</p><p>All in all, I admit I did not expect good things out of <i>Escape Room</i>. And while the designation of <i>Saw</i>-for-babies isn't exactly inaccurate, it is a pretty good movie nonetheless. </p></div>Puckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12924219699313473972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2778396784029921027.post-60264518166869725932020-09-04T15:11:00.006-04:002020-09-07T00:02:41.393-04:00Random Movie: The Divide (2011)<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHbg7y2lADOZ4jlzKlcXPlxs0oevOzeD5vcdHQwRBhDjgwh0cOdF0PLstc16MnTiRkYPSZAOQqYm1Ya-GZB6B47z8I5XfIl_1Al8aASgZymYF8Uoh5huY5BUAkt-C1oz4lBL9TEGboDhs/s2048/divide1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1153" data-original-width="2048" height="354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHbg7y2lADOZ4jlzKlcXPlxs0oevOzeD5vcdHQwRBhDjgwh0cOdF0PLstc16MnTiRkYPSZAOQqYm1Ya-GZB6B47z8I5XfIl_1Al8aASgZymYF8Uoh5huY5BUAkt-C1oz4lBL9TEGboDhs/w625-h354/divide1.jpg" width="625" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Photo: Anchor Bay Films</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>"The real monsters were the people we met along the way." - Ancient Proverb (?)</p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p>Xavier Gens' 2011 film <i><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1535616/?ref_=ttkw_kw_tt">The Divide</a></i> trades on established tropes and plot points from countless other movies that you might have seen or heard about. It is a post-apocalyptic tale of desperate characters stuck in unfathomable situations, trying to survive the forces trying to kill them, both external and internal. In addition to being the base summary of just about every zombie film, other movies like <i>Daylight</i> or <i>10 Cloverfield Lane</i> offer similar stories without some of the missteps that drag this film down.</p><p>The film starts as nuclear warheads are raining down on New York City as seen by a handful of people in a downtown high-rise. As escape outside becomes impossible, a group of tenants make their way into the basement and force their way into the dingy, but well-stocked, living quarters of the building's super, Mickey (Michael Biehn). Before long, some of the refugees including Delvin (Courtney B. Vance) and Josh (Milo Ventimiglia) become suspicious of Mickey's generally creepy-ass demeanor and his lack of transparency. Mickey seems to have the survival instincts to know they cannot leave and risk radiation exposure but he is needlessly vague, if only to create tension.</p><p>Sometime later (I'm being vague, but I'll get into this later), the group hears a ruckus outside the steel door to the basement which then bursts open and they are rushed by a group of silent soldiers with automatic weapons and bio-hazard suits. It's only after the group discovers Wendi, the young daughter of Rosanna Arquette's Marilyn, a take her out the door. After being attacked for this, the soldiers open fire and try to kill the remaining group to no avail. After the onslaught, the basement dwellers are left with one of the soldier's suits, his weapons, and no further answers of what is going on outside their door, which has now been welded shut by the forces.</p><p>There are a few other inconsequential plot points that I've glossed over but in the end, the group splinters, becomes increasingly desperate and paranoid, and some emerge as true villains without the social structure that might otherwise keep them in check. Surprisingly, this does not include Michael Biehn who basically perfected that character arc in <i>The Abyss</i> as he starts pretty close to The Overlook's Jack Torrence but is sidelined for a good chunk of the movie. Most all of the characters (including those I haven't mentioned for the sake of time) lose some sense of normalcy and humanity except for Eva (Lauren German) who desperately tries to keep the peace. It should not be a spoiler to say that she is not successful. </p><p>While the film doesn't add much to the conversation about post-nuclear fallout or the breakdown of societal norms, it does have a pretty strong cast and a great visual style. Shot by Laurent Bares of the knockout French films <i>Frontier(s)</i> and <i>Inside</i>, makes great use of the claustrophobic set and multitude of characters to bring the desperate and breakdown into visuals. And even with a varying amount to do, the cast is uniformly strong with Ventimiglia and his friend Bobby (Michael Eklund) showcasing a lot of confidence as their characters break down into the personifications of the human id. </p><p>All that said, I had a couple of big problems with the film:</p><p>**SPOILERS BE HERE**</p><p>The whole subplot about the government soldiers who take Marilyn's child and are doing experiments outside seems to be either filler or a subplot that was created to explain certain character motivations. Ventimiglia's Josh goes up top to try to find a way out and finds these shadowy forces have created a lab, presumably in the ruins of the building, for ... reasons. These reasons are never explained. Who the soldiers are is never explained. After the door is welded shut to prevent the basement group from leaving, this is never even addressed again. I don't mind films leaving certain plots dangling when necessary but I really see no reason for this to exist. It doesn't inform the characters or their motivations for the rest of the film short of taking the child which could have been easily done in another, less clunky or superfluous, way.</p><p>The other big issue I have is that the film seemingly goes out of its way to bend the perception of time. I'm sure this is intentional but as it is, we have no basis of telling how long any of the events of the film are from the inciting incident. One character is shot when the soldiers come in but toward the end of the film, that wound has more or less healed with just a nasty scar. If that's the case, they were down there for a series of months? And if that's the case, they could have all broken out the way Eva does at the end into the world without much fear of further radiation poisoning. Or, on the flip side, if the events all take place within a ridiculously short amount of time after the bombs (like a couple of weeks), that would have been helpful to establish that Josh and Bobby, and even Marilyn to an extent, were barely holding on to normalcy by a thread to begin with. </p><p>**END SPOILERS**</p><p>In the end, while I enjoyed my time watching <i>The Divide</i>, I can't really recommend it as it has a number of baffling story choices, characters that aren't to pleasant to be around, and ultimately is just a repackage of other genre tropes in a slightly elevated production.</p>Puckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12924219699313473972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2778396784029921027.post-15383401317977289042020-09-03T18:22:00.002-04:002020-09-07T00:21:07.029-04:00Robert Pattinson Diagnosed with Covid-19, Shutting Down 'The Batman' Production<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi84XHrv3GazLt9Ct8pxG6q1pvhdUddSXT1zMfGQCYh-4xnXQv3EMlW3Of30_XKWdGZFxFluX0_kTWmVl4RCX-4P4XtKBnTeSyIiZFEqodq5cTkmrIuLh1cP_B8fU928XS9JOC_Ts5j2io/s1280/patts.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi84XHrv3GazLt9Ct8pxG6q1pvhdUddSXT1zMfGQCYh-4xnXQv3EMlW3Of30_XKWdGZFxFluX0_kTWmVl4RCX-4P4XtKBnTeSyIiZFEqodq5cTkmrIuLh1cP_B8fU928XS9JOC_Ts5j2io/w625-h354/patts.png" width="625" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Photo: Warner Bros.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></p><p>Reports earlier today indicated Warner Brothers' 'The Batman' had to cease production after a recent restart due to a crew member testing positive for Covid-19, the novel coronavirus. But it has since come out that the infected party is none other than The Batman himself, Robert Pattinson. If a billionaire vigilante can catch this, what hope is there for the rest of us?</p><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2020/09/09/robert-pattinson-the-batman-coronavirus">Source: Robert Pattinson Has COVID-19, Halting <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Batman </em>Production</a> | Vanity Fair</div>Puckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12924219699313473972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2778396784029921027.post-50424995114379368302020-09-03T14:19:00.005-04:002020-09-07T00:21:25.703-04:00Random Movie: Children of the Corn (1984)<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg2ugj4Cbvgz3GIrNC78MAO-qXM4yYpuetCwuiwYkCLHN6r_3DVRXD73dlinK9hadIUF9ueUCfSK9sd6lqA0jG0iVmqKVbxKxlTvvLCE2IE_nIEofA52FAEXQF07XaIEztoJlWQjLHnN0/s1021/children-corn.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="574" data-original-width="1021" height="354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg2ugj4Cbvgz3GIrNC78MAO-qXM4yYpuetCwuiwYkCLHN6r_3DVRXD73dlinK9hadIUF9ueUCfSK9sd6lqA0jG0iVmqKVbxKxlTvvLCE2IE_nIEofA52FAEXQF07XaIEztoJlWQjLHnN0/w625-h354/children-corn.jpg" width="625" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Photo: New World Pictures<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p>A repeated line in the trailer for <i><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087050/?ref_=tttr_tr_tt">Children of the Corn</a></i> is "it's an adult nightmare." Creepy kids? Religious cults? Middle of nowhere America, surrounded by corn? Yep, checks out. All nightmare fuel.</p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p>Based on a short story from Stephen King, <i>Children of the Corn</i> is a fine addition to the underused horror sub-genre of killer kids. I cannot speak about the quality of any of its nine (NINE!) sequels but considering the relative caliber of Dimension Films' DTV output, I'm guessing they are garbage. This film though is pretty good with real actors, some impressive kills, and decent gore.</p><p>Main creepy kid Isaac has been visited by "He Who Walks Behind the Rows," a nebulous, barely-seen boogeyman that I'm sure is fleshed out thoroughly somewhere around the 4th DTV sequel. At "His" command, all the children band together and murder the adults in town, some in rather gruesome fashion. The film jumps forward three years to introduce Burt (Peter Horton) and Vicky (1984's great Linda Hamilton) as they are on a cross-country trek to Burt's new job. You can probably guess where it goes from here.</p><p>Although King wrote the first draft of the script, it was jettisoned in favor of <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0326070/?ref_=tt_ov_wr">George Goldsmith</a>'s take which seems to have been the right decision and King's honestly sounds pretty boring. After the opening scenes of the murdering moppets, we take some time to meet and grow accustomed to Burt and Vicky on their travels but they are "interacting" so to speak with the children before the 30 minute mark. From there, they go on the requisite search for exposition with a conversation with the old gas station attendant who warns them away from the town.</p><p>Of course they don't listen, and they head to the town in search of a phone, an adult, or answers. Instead, they find a rather eerie abandoned town square that is soon overrun by scythe-wielding teenagers. Aside from a few moments where they meet Job and Sarah, two of the town's children who have not fallen under Isaac's spell, the pace of the film is fairly consistent and engaging, especially as the couple splits up leading to Vicky being captured.</p><p>Sadly, Hamilton isn't given much to do in the role after this (but I guess she really wasn't in the OG Terminator either), but Horton steps up as the action hero to save the girl, emancipate the children, and defeat the ... whatever it is. Director <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0452607">Fritz Kiersch</a> keeps everything moving along nicely so we are in and out with a complete three act story in around 90 minutes. It doesn't look like he had much other luck in Hollywood after this which is a shame considering the decent amount of scares and the sinister feel of the dilapidated town aren't easy to pull off. </p><p>On the downside, the film ends rather abruptly after the "monster" is defeated leaving the status of the remaining children in the wind. Are they reformed? Do they still harbor a murderous rage for adults? Will they embrace the upcoming new-wave genre of 80s music? I guess that's why there are sequels galore as well as two remakes to fill in the blanks. As it is, just watch this film and make up your own sequel. You'll probably be better off.</p>Puckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12924219699313473972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2778396784029921027.post-9902283847698475862020-09-02T16:37:00.007-04:002020-09-07T00:03:55.514-04:00Random Movie: Blood Diner (1987)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgik8gUZfdK_UYlU-CWK-iRIB0kFpFI-_KpbUPzhyceDR9ccFL2nsc62kTtnZPN1T3Ut87-pQCdce78oXfjSweucpbttobmpow26fRnmC6VZMl5wKSaE3anJsrxFLlEbJnNSLbY5v-ba-s/s639/blood2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="639" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgik8gUZfdK_UYlU-CWK-iRIB0kFpFI-_KpbUPzhyceDR9ccFL2nsc62kTtnZPN1T3Ut87-pQCdce78oXfjSweucpbttobmpow26fRnmC6VZMl5wKSaE3anJsrxFLlEbJnNSLbY5v-ba-s/s0/blood2.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Like many of you in my age range, you probably have fond memories of roaming the aisles of the local video store and gazing at all the great VHS covers to try to pick that night's movie. <i><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092669/">Blood Diner</a></i> was definitely one of those films with eye-catching box art that has evaded me for years. I prefer it had stayed that way.<p></p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p>Over the course of the past ten years, this site has been no stranger to low budget horror movies across the spectrum of great to downright awful. <i>Blood Diner</i> firmly sits toward the latter category. I am willing to forgive a whole host of filmmaking mistakes and gaffs in exchange for a creative story, good scares, great gore, or some other X factor. With the exception of a ten minute span way after this film has tried and broken my patience, all you can expect from this is wooden dialogue, terrible line delivery, stupid characters, and a bunch of random bits to hopefully label this as irreverent and silly. It is instead cheesy and annoying. </p><p>Perhaps writer <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0814516/?ref_=tt_ov_wr">Michael Sonye</a> and director <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0465034/?ref_=tt_ov_dr">Jackie Kong</a> bit off more than they could chew with a story about cannibal brothers, an uncle's head marinating in a mason jar of Sierra Mist, and the resurrection of an ancient goddess to bring about the end of the world ... or something like that I believe. <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0122078/?ref_=tt_cl_t1">Rick Burks</a> and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0187680/?ref_=tt_cl_t2">Carl Crew</a> star as the brothers, Michael and George respectively who run a diner as a front to lure young women to their deaths and to helpfully dispose of the excess human tissue by feeding it to their patrons. On the case are the two worst cops in horror movie history, Shepard (<a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0202283/?ref_=tt_cl_t3">Roger Dauer</a>) and Jackson (<a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0478582/?ref_=tt_cl_t4">Lanette La France</a>), the former who makes wildly inappropriate sexual advances and the latter who stumbles through line readings with the expertise of a fourth grader. Like all good horror movies cops, they are horribly inept and stumble ass-backwards (literally) onto solving the case while hinting at stupider things like the "Enema Bag Rapist."</p><p>There is so much disjointed nonsense in this movie that it's really hard to make heads or tails of it other than to ascertain that it doesn't work at all. While it predates this film, <i>Blood Diner</i> seems to be going for a <i><a href="https://scumomovies.blogspot.com/2010/05/random-movie-dead-alive-1992.html">Dead Alive</a></i> blend of horror and zany comedy but falls well short considering that nothing is especially funny or scary, and worst that the characters are way too over-the-top to be mistaken for real characters in a fucked up situation that the movie likes to present. And god, it's so cheap. The film looks like it was shot through a container of vaseline, almost all of the dialogue is ADR and badly done at that, and at certain point, they don't even bother with folly effects to even pretend to be a real movie.</p><p>Also, there's an almost ten minute unnecessary detour when one of the characters wrestles a blond guy with a Hitler mustache and Nazi armband, helpfully called Jimmy Hitler. Unlike yesterdays <i>AVPR</i>, this film's 90-ish minute runtime drags and drags since there is nothing going on that you will possibly care about. Except for that one sequence I mentioned which is like <i><a href="https://scumomovies.blogspot.com/2017/09/random-movie-return-of-living-dead-1985.html">Return of the Living Dead</a></i> in craziness, but far less competent. Skip the reservation on this one.</p>Puckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12924219699313473972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2778396784029921027.post-76055116085698253182020-09-01T16:25:00.005-04:002020-09-08T10:21:00.698-04:00Random Movie: Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007)<div class="separator"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM8CR7A1YYHG_Zug3O3qOBlqnJ6UaPUx4CGO4qxkv2fnmMNVuJ8f04NvE7DeEQEm29VzpSLTMGLFesxv3QdjQ6pqOAmpyX6aUhbyRUTBYV7qm4cFy29j9FbashK61WJIs9mduUDix7pLE/s2048/avp2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM8CR7A1YYHG_Zug3O3qOBlqnJ6UaPUx4CGO4qxkv2fnmMNVuJ8f04NvE7DeEQEm29VzpSLTMGLFesxv3QdjQ6pqOAmpyX6aUhbyRUTBYV7qm4cFy29j9FbashK61WJIs9mduUDix7pLE/w625-h354/avp2.jpg" width="625" /></a></div><div><br /><p>Considering <i><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0758730/">Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem</a></i> takes no more than fifteen minutes to murder a child by way of an alien chest buster, I was pretty stoked. And shockingly, it mostly held up to my grand expectations for it.</p><span></span><span><a name='more'></a></span><p>Directed by the absurdly named duo The Brothers Strause (who directed the also pretty solid <i><a href="https://scumomovies.blogspot.com/2011/04/mini-scum-skyline-2010.html">Skyline</a></i>), <i>AVP:R</i> as the cool kids call it, has some aliens crash land in Colorado, a Predator in hot pursuit, and a bunch of dumb humans to be fodder for both for the next ninety-six minutes. I have no idea why this movie is only at a 4.7 on IMDb. In fact, considering the output of both the <i>Alien</i> and <i>Predator</i> series over the past decade or so, this one is clearly the most entertaining since it is a slasher movie with aliens and not some grand allegory for the creation of life or some horseshit like in <i>Prometheus</i>.</p><p>This film is supposed to take place immediately after the last one but I never saw it so I was forced to fill in some of the gaps. Apparently, an alien face hugger impregnated a wounded Predator, only for a hybrid being (referred to online as ... The Predalien, sigh) to emerge and start causing trouble, starting with a father and son hunting team who get John Hurt-ed in the first few minutes. Like I said, awesome.</p><p>Then we meet some of our "hero" characters including Sheriff John Ortiz, some kind of scumbag Steven Pasquele, and Army-mom on sabbatical Reiko Aylesworth. There are some other characters too but they don't matter because they either die quickly or are part of this stupid teenage love triangle that has no business in this movie. Given me more AlienVPredator-ing rather than two guys fighting over a girl!</p><p>But anyways, for much of the film, the aliens are going around impregnating hobos and randos to increase their numbers, the Predator is running around trying to eliminate and contain them, and our human characters have no idea what's going on for the most part. But then, somewhere around the halfway point, the battle between the creatures breaks out into the town and all hell breaks loose. For about ten minutes or so, this turns into the finale of Hot Fuzz with the Predator completely destroying this town trying to stop these ne'er-do-well aliens.</p><p>Before the film is done, aliens have breached the local hospital and done some very disturbing things to the seemingly large number of pregnant women for such a small town, John Ortiz has called in the National Guard only for them to be slaughtered within 90 seconds, and our group of characters split up because the National Guard is sending "an air rescue" into town which smart Army-mom Reiko Aylesworth correctly figures is a tactical missile to destroy all the creatures, humans included. </p><p>These events are interspersed with lots and lots of "hand-to-hand" combat scenes between the Predator and aliens which aren't great. It's admirable that while the Strause kinfolk have their background in a lot of visual effects, most of the creatures here appear to be practical effects that ooze drool and bleed neon green blood. Unfortunately, during the fight scenes, everything is shot so dark and sloppily, there's no chance of figuring out what the hell is going on other than if you can see Slime blood from the Predator or hear acid blood from the aliens.</p><p>Either way, not everyone can do action decent up close so I can't ding this dumb movie too much on that. If anything, I was more disappointed that the filmmakers or editors seemed to be holding back on the violence and gore. Considering (according to the IMDb), this movie was designed to be a hard-R to quell backlash from fans about the tame first film, there are really only a handful of shots that stand out as especially gruesome. Most seem to pull the editing trick of cutting away just before you start seeing anything which was especially frustrating. </p><p>Alas, I'm not complaining too much and maybe some of this is rectified on the unrated director's cut which I probably will never get to watching. Considering the generally predictable scenarios and complete lack of any character development, perhaps I'm giving this B-grade, trash movie more credit than it's worth. Judging from responses online, if you are an uber-fan of either series, stay away from this as it does not seem to fit in with established cannon. But if you aren't a nerd, go ahead. Again, some little kid eats shit in the first reel so count me in.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /></div>Puckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12924219699313473972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2778396784029921027.post-40136822939361144832020-08-26T15:22:00.008-04:002020-08-26T15:38:50.153-04:00Finally Open for Business! Top Movies Delayed for Some Reason or Another<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisCXCWljjQOSuhFgLIikjgGBKoa9iifWvG1VuGbJWraDAMCs8ypxZs_WJg2NnBjTo3zKDruz_WwITbOzrKpOChsthl5lISFyCj-QG_7eDBR-R2tpCtH_VG9djRsbfHfwG7iDbSF6AmSj8/s2048/the-new-mutants_exnGbt.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Photo: 20th Century Films" border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="427" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisCXCWljjQOSuhFgLIikjgGBKoa9iifWvG1VuGbJWraDAMCs8ypxZs_WJg2NnBjTo3zKDruz_WwITbOzrKpOChsthl5lISFyCj-QG_7eDBR-R2tpCtH_VG9djRsbfHfwG7iDbSF6AmSj8/w640-h427/the-new-mutants_exnGbt.jpg" title="Photo: 20th Century Films" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Photo: 20th Century Films</td></tr></tbody></table><span face=""><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span face="">It's finally happening! At least I presume someone is excited about this weekend's release of the long-delayed <i><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4682266/">The New Mutants</a></i> from <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1837748/">Josh Boone</a>, said to be the final hurrah of Fox's <i>X-Men</i> continuity. The film was shot in summer of 2017 with a targeted release date of early 2018. In case you don't have a calendar handy, that was over two years ago with the delays blamed on test screenings, reshoots, studios changing hands, and of course, a global pandemic.</span><span face=""> </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So, in honor of this long-gestating piece of 2017 nostalgia, let's look at some other films that have fallen into the abyss of release date shuffles and burials.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <span></span></span></o:p></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1137470/">Accidental Love</a></span></h4><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hailing from <a href="https://www.bustle.com/p/david-o-russells-history-of-alleged-abusive-behavior-spans-many-years-movies-2982064">alleged asshole</a> (but pretty good director) <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0751102/">David O. Russell</a>, <i>Accidental Love</i> began production as <i>Nailed</i> in 2008 only to experience multiple shutdowns due to the financiers running out of funds. In 2010, Russell <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/david-o-russell-quits-long-25461">walked away</a> from the project and the film languished for years in bankruptcy until it was recut without Russell and retitled <i>Accidental Love</i> and released in 2015. It is by all accounts terrible and even drew the ire of <a href="https://film.avclub.com/no-i-didn-t-call-your-shitty-movie-a-comedic-masterst-1798282276">The AV Club</a> after the distribution company misquoted a review to get a positive blurb. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0490076/">All the Boys Love Mandy Lane</a></span></h4><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Many lower budget horror films (like this film and <i>The Poughkeepsie Tapes</i>) seem to suffer a similar fate regardless of the critical acclaim they garner from the festival circuit. <i>All the Boys Love Mandy Lane</i> was an independent film produced in 2006 that was later acquired by Harvey Weinstein and Dimension Films for a wide theatrical release. Instead, in-house fighting about the theatrical viability lead to the film being sold off to a company that would later go bankrupt, tying it up in legal limbo. It would be several years before Dimension would recover the rights to the film and release it. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1935897/">Amityville: The Awakening</a></span></h4><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The tenth (!) installment to a series based around a since-debunked haunted house "true" story, <i>Amityville: The Awakening</i> is some sort of direct sequel or meta-sequel or some shit based on Wikipedia. Produced by Dimension Films and Blumhouse Productions, the film was supposed to debut in January 2015. Suffice to say, inspire of a pretty decent cast, it was delayed several times only to be unceremoniously dumped as a free download on Google Play in late 2017.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0490087/">Black Water Transit</a></span></h4><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A film I had never heard of until before, <i>Black Water Transit</i> is by all accounts mostly finished and good enough to have director Tony Kaye continue to tinker with it. Set in a post-Katrina New Orleans, the movie stars Laurence Fishburne and Karl Urban, among others, in a tale of illegal arms shipments in a Traffic-like story involving criminals, police, and prosecutors. The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Water_Transit#Post-production">legal history </a>of this film is long and boring enough that I didn't retain much, but it seems that after being shot thirteen years ago, we shouldn't hold our breath to see this one anytime soon.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1259521/">The Cabin in the Woods</a></span></h4><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Unlike some of the films on this list, <i>Cabin in the Woods</i> is unabashedly great and just the victim of studio chicanery rather than kicking an underwhelming can down the road. Cabin was intended to be released in early 2010 following its shoot the year before. At the time, it was postponed to undergo a conversion to 3D, which was still the rage at the time. Unfortunately, production company MGM's financial troubles caused additional delays until it was picked up and released by Lionsgate in 2012. This probably helped the film considering the previously unknown (or under-known?) lead Chris Hemsworth would have his series in the MCU debut with <i>Thor</i> in the meantime. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119004/">Don's Plum</a></span></h4><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In the mid 1990s, a group of friends including Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire and Kevin Connelly, amongst others, would come to be known as the "<a href="https://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2015/11/history-of-the-pussy-posse-leonardo-dicaprio">Pussy Posse</a>." Around this time, the "Posse" would work on a film bad enough that DiCaprio and Maguire would later take legal action to block the release of. Named for the diner it was shot in, Don's Plum was a black-and-white, independent, and loosely-scripted film of a bunch of people hanging around in a diner, talking about the world, and generally being assholes. Per a court settlement, the film cannot be <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/jan/23/dons-plum-leonardo-dicaprio">legally distributed</a> in the United States or Canada although you won't have to dig hard to find a copy on YouTube. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0249516/">Foodfight!</a></span></h4><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">While I have not seen this film, the current rating of 1.5 out of 10 stars on IMBd tells me that I am not missing much. Set in a supermarket after closing time, various corporate food mascots like Charlie the Tuna, Mrs. Butterworth, and Mr. Clean that come to life and attempt to stop the Nazi-like (!) Brand X from infiltrating and replacing the brand names. For a computer-animated family film that was originally scheduled for release in 2003, after a series of setbacks including theft of the production's hard drives and various financial issues (ie. embezzling from producers), the film was auctioned off and dumped onto video where no one but podcasts and the bizarrely curious would find it. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0466893/">Margaret</a></span></h4><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Kenneth Lonergan, the director of the most recently acclaimed <i>Manchester by the Sea</i>, embarked on the production of <i>Margaret</i>, starring Anna Paquin and Mark Ruffalo in 2005. It would take <a href="https://www.slashfilm.com/kenneth-lonergans-longdelayed-margaret-finally-release-date/">six years</a> for the film to be finally released but not for the usual causes of financial difficulties or studio interference. By all accounts, Lonergan was tasked to trim the film down to a breezy(?) 150 minutes but he could not or would not get below 180 minutes, in spite of having a slew of acclaimed editors working with him. Several lawsuits later resulted in a 150-minute movie released in 2011, and although it was not overseen by Lonergan, he was able to get his preferred cut on video.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110978/">Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation</a></span></h4><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0377066/">Kim Henkel</a>, co-writer of the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre, returns to the series as a sort of follow-up to the first film while still acknowledging the other films and wanting to parody the original characters. Whatever. Shot in 1994, two up-and-coming actors were cast, Matthew McConaughey and Renee Zellweger with the film to premiere in 1995. Columbia Pictures released the film, then known as <i>Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre</i>, in a handful of US theaters before pulling the film. It was recut and retitled <i>Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation</i> and released in 1997 to coincide with the rising stars of the top actors, much to their chagrin. The film went on to gross less than $200 thousand dollars. <a href="http://scumomovies.blogspot.com/2011/01/random-movie-texas-chainsaw-massacre.html">PBF argued</a> that it should have stayed buried. </span><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>Puckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12924219699313473972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2778396784029921027.post-42860947406644611522020-08-24T16:24:00.008-04:002020-08-24T16:28:02.337-04:00Trouble on the 'Texas Chainsaw' Remake? Who Could've Seen.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMZvT5cHNg8-4rmM4L2DINkt6mKtFMB1Q5lLK9D3E2UBG_OwtsdTX2tD3So1NE59_X_2huEvEfX8BjmRnsUnnJ7klIjxPEO2KdCJUXpglFrqlOecTxA8z35eCk1RpDZlWdlF0rx3ALZog/s960/texas-chainsaw-massacre-3d_37eda8.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="639" data-original-width="960" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMZvT5cHNg8-4rmM4L2DINkt6mKtFMB1Q5lLK9D3E2UBG_OwtsdTX2tD3So1NE59_X_2huEvEfX8BjmRnsUnnJ7klIjxPEO2KdCJUXpglFrqlOecTxA8z35eCk1RpDZlWdlF0rx3ALZog/w642-h426/texas-chainsaw-massacre-3d_37eda8.jpg" width="642" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Photo: Lionsgate Entertainment<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p>This afternoon, I was surprised to see <a href="https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/news/1146572-texas-chainsaw-massacre-reboot-replaces-directing-duo-scraps-early-footage?utm_source=feedly&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=texas-chainsaw-massacre-reboot-replaces-directing-duo-scraps-early-footage">a news article</a> about the directors of the new <i>Texas Chainsaw Massacre</i> reboot being replaced. As anyone, I promptly exclaimed "Jesus Christ, another one?"</p><p><span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p>At first thought, I believed that there had already been six dozen <i>Texas Chainsaw</i> remakes. When I started to do some research on it, I quickly threw my hands up in dismay as with this series' fucked up continuity, it's basically impossible to tell what is a remake/reboot/reboot-quel, proper sequel, or something else in between. Leatherface's name has changed more than Puff Daddy, there are I think three different timelines in the series, and aside from the first and second movies, there has been no little carryover with behind-the-scenes crew.</p><p>Aside from the fact that I mostly liked the reboot movies from the aughts, I don't really care for this series. But I think it's hilarious that the powers that be in Hollywood keep beating this shit out of this dead horse carcass for a quick buck, even though the last movie, <i><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2620590/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">Leatherface</a> </i>(not to be confused with <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099994/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_3"><i>Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III</i></a>) was overwhelmingly terrible from the reviews I've read and not even worthy of a wide theatrical release. The wheels keep on turning in spite of the diminishing returns.</p><p>But anyways, back to this ill-fated <i>Texas Chainsaw</i> reboot: directors <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4002487/?ref_=tt_ov_dr">Andy</a> and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4633744/?ref_=tt_ov_dr">Ryan Tohill</a> have been given the boot after a week of filming after the production company, Legendary, did not care for their output apparently. They have been replaced with <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2596725/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">David Blue Garcia</a> who now appears to be in the Quixotic position of making another follow-up to the classic <i><a href="http://scumomovies.blogspot.com/2010/03/random-movie-texas-chain-saw-massacre_21.html">Texas Chain Saw Massacre</a></i>.</p><p>May God be with him.</p><p><i>Note: I apparently already knew about this project back in February with </i><a href="http://scumomovies.blogspot.com/2020/02/jesus-another-texas-chainsaw-movie.html#more" style="font-style: italic;">this article</a><i>. I can't speak to this being either pre-pandemic or just that I don't retain information about all these goddamn Texas Chainsaw movies. Maybe a bit of both.</i></p>Puckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12924219699313473972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2778396784029921027.post-67365684253777347662020-06-25T23:01:00.003-04:002020-08-26T21:49:09.541-04:00Will Tenet Ever Come to Theaters? Will We?<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8u-LBm_zTwrw5Rp9e2OZkUPfLh8hEs-Y_hhIQXMGXl6ryGYbrDPPL3o1gIow3iCEsG3oW3JYy2_Aycg35GsMx8mAcc5vf6HTeom86wh2A8QBMaNUi0mx56DyGjgMW_NWQbTsAQSXBe_8/s1600/tenet_H0is4e.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Photo: Warner Brothers" border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="427" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8u-LBm_zTwrw5Rp9e2OZkUPfLh8hEs-Y_hhIQXMGXl6ryGYbrDPPL3o1gIow3iCEsG3oW3JYy2_Aycg35GsMx8mAcc5vf6HTeom86wh2A8QBMaNUi0mx56DyGjgMW_NWQbTsAQSXBe_8/s640/tenet_H0is4e.jpg" title="Photo: Warner Brothers" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Photo: Warner Brothers</td></tr>
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Hey guys! It's been a while since I've posted! Has anything new happened? Oh, global pandemic? That sucks. Is this affecting movies? Oh, it is?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div>
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While this global pandemic has been ongoing, movie theaters have been shut down, and for good reason. But many believe that the world is ready to get back to normal and see a flick in the local movie house. The flick that has been leading the way: <i><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6723592/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Tenet</a></i>. This has been pushed to <a href="https://variety.com/2020/film/box-office/tenet-release-date-delayed-again-christopher-nolan-1234690272/">August 12</a>, as of now.</div>
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After Christopher Nolan created the biggest superhero movie known to man, he has had a blank check to the Warner Brothers coffers, creating films like <i>Inception</i> or <i>Interstellar</i> that have broken the minds of audiences as well as yearly profit sheets. So, of course he is a big deal.</div>
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Nolan is also a big proponent of the movie theater experience as he has continued using physical film where his counterparts have not as well as advancing the IMAX experience so audiences can immerse themselves in the movie itself. As such, reports say, Nolan has been the biggest champion for releasing his upcoming film in theaters as a way of rejouvinating itself.</div>
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Sadly, it appears, the novel Coronavirus has different plans.</div>
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Reportedly, Nolan himself has pushed for the theatrical release plans in July to bolster the struggling theater industry. But as the release date for the film has been moved from July 17, to July 31, to now August 12, one has to wonder ... will this film be released?</div>
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But of course. Warner Brothers hasn't invested a trillion* dollars in Chris Nolan over the past twelve years to blow away a chance at a bunch of money. But does August 12 happen? Will it get pushed again to later that month? Maybe later in the year where Oscar fair usually pops up? </div>
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Of course, here on June 25th, no one really knows what the world will look like in a month, or three months, or even really a year? </div>
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Will we see <i>Tenet</i> before June 25, 2021? I'm sure of it. But based on the way things are now, I don't plan on heading back into a darkened movie theater full of questionable people and even more questionable recycled air any time soon. </div>
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Am I an outlier? Perhaps. But at this time, I don't plan to find out how much I'm willing to pay either. And I presume I'm not the only one.</div>
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*Trillion: Insert the correct figure here</div>
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Puckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12924219699313473972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2778396784029921027.post-70883658405133038942020-03-05T16:39:00.001-05:002020-03-05T16:58:45.975-05:00Theater Scum: The Way Onward<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjERK9WkmsfV4RXw1p1JjhMAlgzbGASNvHAfVgZ4rB0J38-h58yDm2xo9G3BdvgGQ4XpxT5XjyHxcr81kUqk-8IF2mE6p8z_hRGW8Fhlhp54JDxq8kVcKYOQzV8ckkT_jZ2BJkIhVwe8_4/s1600/onward.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="899" data-original-width="1600" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjERK9WkmsfV4RXw1p1JjhMAlgzbGASNvHAfVgZ4rB0J38-h58yDm2xo9G3BdvgGQ4XpxT5XjyHxcr81kUqk-8IF2mE6p8z_hRGW8Fhlhp54JDxq8kVcKYOQzV8ckkT_jZ2BJkIhVwe8_4/s640/onward.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Photo: Warner Bros.</td></tr>
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Quite a week for family-friendly films.<br />
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<i><b><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7146812/">Onward</a></b></i><br />
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While I can’t say Pixar of late has impressed me, that’s fine as I’m not really the consumer they are looking for. Most of my kids are grown-ish and more interested in a Harley Quinn film than an animated family romp. That said, I love and appreciate Pixar for <i>Up</i>, <i>Wall-E</i>, and those <i>Toy Story</i> films that were heartfelt and had a great underlying message.<br />
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As such, I don’t really know what to think about <i>Onward</i>. It’s an original story which is certainly welcome and it maybe features a good lesson about the loss of family and coming to terms with that? But, that this film is being released in March, rather than in the middle of summer, doesn’t seem to indicate much faith in the film from Disney’s perspective. And the above trailer, even though it features top voice talent like Tom Holland and Chris Pratt, really seems like it short be an acclaimed Pixar short, rather than an endless feature film.<br />
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I’m more than happy to be wrong but this one seems like more of a <i>Good Dinosaur</i> rather than <i>Toy Story 3</i>.<br />
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<b><i><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8544498">The Way Back</a></i></b><br />
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Honestly, once I found out Gavin O’Connor was director of <i>The Way Back</i>, I was in. Not in enough to see it in the theaters probably, but it will definitely be a catch-on-HBO type of film. I loved <i>Warrior </i>and I hear <i>Miracle </i>is a good film as well so this is certainly within his wheelhouse of tear-jerker sports movies with heart and stuff.<br />
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This type of genre doesn’t typically excite me but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t get me in the feels every time I see it. Considering his personal issues over the past few years, maybe this is the perfect type of project for Ben Affleck to take on as well. He has proven that he can excel in his craft given the right director, and I’m sure O’Connor is on that level.<br />
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You know what? Maybe I will see it in theaters after all.Puckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12924219699313473972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2778396784029921027.post-37118549069535542142020-03-02T08:54:00.004-05:002020-03-02T08:55:23.533-05:00SyFy Channel to Finally Bring Zombies to the Small Screen with 'Day of the Dead'<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjklq_EATQVhYOQv9mPWt-sZzRtBKH8mKBbQEYmUPBpXrhfV12u25p9B0bwNWLZX3jYETXlquiOS4sAmlbEdpqeiFPPBnWx7LylKoWDZZ3KUN6Hen3L5pn_-dhyCeZaiYYbLog7K7zg5W8/s1600/day-of-the-dead_Ei6Nd1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="840" data-original-width="1600" height="336" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjklq_EATQVhYOQv9mPWt-sZzRtBKH8mKBbQEYmUPBpXrhfV12u25p9B0bwNWLZX3jYETXlquiOS4sAmlbEdpqeiFPPBnWx7LylKoWDZZ3KUN6Hen3L5pn_-dhyCeZaiYYbLog7K7zg5W8/s640/day-of-the-dead_Ei6Nd1.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Photo: Laurel Entertainment Inc.</td></tr>
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Oh, wait. <i>The Walking Dead</i> is still on? And SyFy had their own batshit crazy zombie show <i>Z-Nation</i>? Hmm ...<br />
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<a href="https://deadline.com/2020/02/day-of-the-dead-the-surrealtor-series-orders-at-syfy-1202870263/">Recent news</a> suggests that the SyFy Channel is striking while the iron is ... lukewarm(?), bringing another zombie TV show to the airwaves via the late George Romero’s <i><a href="https://scumomovies.blogspot.com/2010/10/monster-scum-marathon-day-6-day-of-dead.html">Day of the Dead</a></i>. Of course, this is not the project <a href="https://scumomovies.blogspot.com/2015/05/george-romero-brings-more-zombies-to-tv.html">involving Romero</a>, unless he has become one of his own creations, and based on the provided summary, only seems to be inspired by name alone: “Day of the Dead is the intense story of six strangers trying to survive the first 24 hours of an undead invasion.”<br />
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Since AMC’s flagship <i>The Walking Dead</i> has been hemorrhaging viewers for years, this might be a place to get good weekly zombie installments, especially if they do stick with this “first 24 hours” setup that almost always seems to be glossed over in other properties. But, on the other hand, SyFy series tend to have a collective reputation of slightly better than their original movies so who knows how it will actually turn out.<br />
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The new 10 episode series of <i>Day of the Dead</i> is expected to shamble onto TV screens in 2021.Puckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12924219699313473972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2778396784029921027.post-88529528116579124762020-03-01T08:59:00.000-05:002020-03-01T14:13:07.128-05:00Random Movie: Child's Play (2019)<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKAH-hgy5eUHr3p9EuQuIf7bBW5hAHSDE2v-RZodfpsvXrLUK0o6lfbmdKdlxURSVMjDvb2qd7hlqgXIz7EPfCM55Bw6fmVlkd1_kvN4G3u-brXu3Hg9rw35byiAIqFohwHtKqT3Jt484/s1600/childs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKAH-hgy5eUHr3p9EuQuIf7bBW5hAHSDE2v-RZodfpsvXrLUK0o6lfbmdKdlxURSVMjDvb2qd7hlqgXIz7EPfCM55Bw6fmVlkd1_kvN4G3u-brXu3Hg9rw35byiAIqFohwHtKqT3Jt484/s640/childs.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Photo: Orion Pictures</td></tr>
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2019's <i><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8663516/">Child’s Play</a></i> is an odd duck in the remake world. We are all used to the blatant money-grab approach from studios to leverage existing properties for more money (see most of the Platinum Dunes remakes). Occasionally, you’ll even have a long dormant franchise that gets new legs from a big name promising a new take (like the upcoming <i><a href="http://scumomovies.blogspot.com/2020/02/damn-this-candyman-trailer-is-sweet.html">Candyman </a></i>or <i>Spiral: From the Book of Saw</i>).<br />
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But the O.G. Chucky series is peculiar in that series creator <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0238841/?ref_=tt_ov_wr">Don Mancini</a> is still involved, has continued to make sequels every few years (the latest coming from our friends at <a href="http://scumomovies.blogspot.com/2020/02/1440-entertainment-leader-in-direct-to.html">1440 Entertainment</a>), and even has a <a href="https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/chucky-don-mancini-straight-to-series-order-syfy">newly announced</a> TV series coming with the principal cast of the last few movies involved. Remaking a series that still shows signs of life seems counterproductive until you look into the business side of things. MGM owns the rights to the original <i><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094862">Child’s Play</a></i> from 1988 but none of the sequels which have been distributed by Universal Pictures for thirty years. I guess MGM big wigs were desperate to get some of that Chucky money and didn’t mind stepping on toes to get it.<br />
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So even while the new <i>Child’s Play</i> is just movie finance 101, seemingly not born from any great respect or reverence of the original series, it’s largely okay and at least is not a beat for beat remake of the first with enough changes to separate itself from its predecessor. Gone is the killer doll possessed by a serial killer through voodoo or some nonsense with this film’s Chucky being a sentient artificial intelligence that in uninhibited by rules or protocols and essentially acts out because he doesn’t know the difference between right and wrong. So, that’s new.<br />
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Taking place in an only slightly exaggerated reality from ours, technology powerhouse Kaslan Corporation that has released internet connected TVs, thermostats, lights, and cars is branching out into interactive dolls, specifically the Buddi. Buddi is an ugly red-headed doll that is supposed to serve as a hub for all the internet things in your house and be a companion to your attention starved child. It can walk around on its own, bring you that science book you are about to forget (can I tell it to grab me a beer?), and otherwise be a docile servant for today’s hectic life. Unfortunately, not all Buddi dolls are alike as one is programmed by a disgruntled employee without any safeguards to prevent it from cursing, killing, maiming, or being even creepier than it already is. I think the main lesson from this film is that quality control is very important.<br />
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After young mother Karen (the always great <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2201555/">Aubrey Plaza</a>) is harangued at her customer service desk about a defective Buddi doll, she finagles it out of the store and gifts it to her son Andy in hopes to cheer him up from another move and another dirt-bag boyfriend she has. 13-year-old Andy (<a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5145655/">Gabriel Bateman</a>) isn’t too interested in an odd-looking ginger doll for kids until he learns about his lack of inhibitions. The Buddi doll, who names himself Chucky (for reasons?), quickly imprints on Andy and declares him his best friend. Of course, when Andy gets irritated with his “dick-hole” cat and the mother’s scumbag boyfriend, Chucky takes it as an affront to his bestie and starts acting out violently.<br />
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Part of the necessary (but still questionable) suspension of disbelief regarding Chucky prime is that at the end of the day, it’s a three-and-a-half foot doll that happens to be psychotic. He can get the jump on you when you aren’t expecting but beyond that, the threat should be pretty nonexistent when you can just punt him across the room as he slowly stalks you. This film though makes Chucky more dangerous as he can tap into all those internet connected things to do his deranged bidding like drones with lawsuit-pending razor blades as propellers or driver-less cars that can disconnect seatbelts and crash. This especially makes the final showdown more interesting as Chucky taps into other Buddi dolls, including the somehow more creepy Buddi bear, and unleashes them on unsuspecting consumers in a mad dash for more Kaslan products. This sequence has a very Gremlins-esque vibe to it which I rather enjoyed.<br />
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Like many of the other preceding films, Andy is blamed for the death and destruction, especially by Detective Mike (<a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3109964/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t17">Brian Tyree Henry</a>) whose mother happens to live in Andy’s building as well as being the lead on all the murders. This is a plot point I could have done without (especially since it treads on such similar grounds as before) as it doesn’t last very long before Chucky is found out by the adults to be the real aggressor. Andy’s friends are on board believing the killer doll story without much evidence to back it up so there isn’t a real threat of all the murders being pinned on Andy even before there is physical evidence of the doll acting alone, because of course there’s an app for that.<br />
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<a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000434/">Mark Hamill</a> takes the reigns for voicing Chucky and does a good job oscillating between sweet and murderous as the situation warrants. Direction by Lars Klevberg is competent with a few decent jump scares throughout and the rising threat in the final act as the jettisoned Chucky merely seeks to make Andy happy, albeit in a largely violent fashion. And if nothing else, I appreciate that the film is quick and lean, coming in under 90 minutes, even if I’m sure that led to some of the subplots introduced being abandoned.<br />
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Overall, <i>Child’s Play</i> ‘19 is a fine film and certainly worth the 99 cents I paid to rent it. I’m not the biggest fan of the original which plays a killer pint-sized doll largely straight, but this does a serviceable job in giving a modern twist to the hazards of childhood.Puckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12924219699313473972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2778396784029921027.post-34609697320052325122020-02-28T17:00:00.000-05:002020-03-01T14:13:07.110-05:00Let's Go Down the Rabbit Hole of Recut Trailers<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOulsv51t51hf77u0i422l2dwnYi-59mf_2zYTOy21pRvZogTYLOzCD0OFRLqUOwXSlwSF3xku4Geh542mjfAUhsvqaKXi21pINLBqPMkknDUheo7RXc0Po3NsfG8DKujdP1xXnNOOvc8/s1600/home.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="901" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOulsv51t51hf77u0i422l2dwnYi-59mf_2zYTOy21pRvZogTYLOzCD0OFRLqUOwXSlwSF3xku4Geh542mjfAUhsvqaKXi21pINLBqPMkknDUheo7RXc0Po3NsfG8DKujdP1xXnNOOvc8/s640/home.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Photo: 20th Century Fox</td></tr>
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With the news this week that Macaulay Culkin <a href="https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/american-horror-story-macaulay-culkin-among-joins-season-10-1203516373/">will be joining</a> the upcoming season of <i>American Horror Story</i>, I thought about Big Mac’s films throughout the year and how horror-adjacent many of them are.<br />
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Of course, the eldest Culkin was part of an actual horror/thriller/evil kid movie The Good Son but his biggest roles in the <i>Home Alone</i> films and <i>My Girl</i> are chock full of potentially disturbing and brutal imagery or even death! As such, YouTube editing geniuses have much to work with to retool these films, at least for a two minute trailer, into pint-sized thrillers.<br />
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Wen Powers writing for <a href="https://www.vulture.com/2014/11/what-horror-and-comedy-have-in-common.html">Vulture </a>explains the rationale behind the common adage that horror films and comedy are very closely related:<br />
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Comedy and horror are intricately linked. That’s because these feelings are so primal. We don’t have to sit and analyze their effectiveness like a drama or a romance. We know their successes are based purely on the raw responses they provide us.</blockquote>
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Comedy and horror tend to have heightened realities and larger than life characters which lend to the ease of flipping between genres when called for. This is how Robin Williams’ obsessed father in <i>Mrs. Doubtfire</i> or Jim Carrey’s unstable limo driver in <i>Dumb and Dumber</i> can easily be changed from affable humans to demented monsters through the magic of editing.<br />
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It’s neat to see on these YouTube clips just how much story and tone can be altered with a few dramatic poses and ominous music. But these armchair editors doing this for clicks aren’t the only ones capable of such deception. Many films have been sold to audience based on a trailer that either grossly misrepresents the tone of the film or exaggerates elements barely in the finished product. Look only to trailers for <i>Drive </i>or <i>Hancock </i>to see how creative these trailer folk can get.<br />
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Of course, comedy to horror isn’t the only way these things can go. You can turn the fraught and disturbing first half of <i>Full Metal Jacket</i> into a <a href="https://youtu.be/U7kNSbowBKA">feelgood comedy</a>. You can even make Stanley Kubrick’s <i>The Shining</i> into a <a href="https://youtu.be/KmkVWuP_sO0">wholesome family romp</a>. While a more pessimistic person than I would use these as evidence to distrust any trailer or marketing for a movie (that ship has long since sailed for me, thanks <i><a href="https://youtu.be/67cdXuWnRKs">The Mod Squad</a></i>), it just goes to show how important editing is as one of those mostly invisible trades that only stick out when it’s really bad.Puckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12924219699313473972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2778396784029921027.post-33104902673785703712020-02-28T09:31:00.000-05:002020-03-01T14:13:07.104-05:00Damn, This 'Candyman' Trailer is Sweet<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNhsysh5VeDGrSHKXOY_hzIN0AHx82sFRIBPWHze_oC9n44qNjhpTmgJ5SoCZ7GIvnN-hWDdFoLCBAVt44bEaPo7GQ4xcWKX6KlmA69ChAOJpp2RmbRD94iQVnJOyOqpr0cOxlLHHjMSo/s1600/candy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="513" data-original-width="910" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNhsysh5VeDGrSHKXOY_hzIN0AHx82sFRIBPWHze_oC9n44qNjhpTmgJ5SoCZ7GIvnN-hWDdFoLCBAVt44bEaPo7GQ4xcWKX6KlmA69ChAOJpp2RmbRD94iQVnJOyOqpr0cOxlLHHjMSo/s640/candy.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer</td></tr>
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The early 1990s were not a great time in the horror genre as the big slasher franchises had mostly run their course and the new teenage wave starting with <i>Scream </i>were still a few years away. Arguably, the biggest film to come from this barren time is 1992's <i><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103919/">Candyman</a></i>, a smart and socially relevant tale with more heft than your later <i>Nightmare on Elm Street</i> or <i>Friday the 13th</i> installments.</div>
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<i>Candyman </i>is probably the film that scared the shit out of me most during my formative years, having watched it as a 10- or 11-year-old during a sleepover. That night was filled with stupid boys standing in a dark bathroom daring each other to say “Candyman” five times, partially knowing that it was based on a movie that can’t possible be real but with no one really willing to risk being wrong about that.</div>
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After the original, Tony Todd and his iconic villain appeared in two more films, <i><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112625">Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh</a></i> and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0165662"><i>Candyman: Day of the Dead</i></a>, only the first of which I saw in theaters and couldn’t tell you anything about but both apparently never grasp the heights of the first, though both have their proponents on social media. But after 1999, Candyman turned into a swarm of bees and flew away, even if <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0865302/">Tony Todd</a> parlayed his iconic role into steady work for the next twenty years, mostly in stuff I haven’t heard of.</div>
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Until this year, that is. Todd and the Candyman legacy are back, shepherded and co-written by <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1443502/">Jordan Peele</a> and directed by <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4804442/">Nia DaCosta</a> of the acclaimed <i>Little Woods</i>, 2020's <i><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9347730">Candyman </a></i>is said to be a spiritual successor to the original film, which hopefully means scary as shit without pulling punches about the still-relevant hardships of poverty stricken minorities and their place in the world, specifically Chicago. Even though it’s been a while since I’ve seen the original, it is a film that lingers in your brain long after. Here’s to hoping the new one will as well.</div>
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Candyman is expected in theaters June 12.</div>
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<br />Puckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12924219699313473972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2778396784029921027.post-66021247344208001922020-02-26T13:04:00.000-05:002020-03-01T14:13:07.118-05:00Random Movie: Hollow Man (2000)<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTkhlqgqcIH8tYjMiS1Y8VrgvpaC_13gupgX2gDvpdB1x_5nSlKNPFCA9gvD5NSYQGJOzGimfv5WFXXGsPyKtbmdlRtNxE6cjkKTOKeWTN2VgVF5RHZjC4aSu9W_yigtPOu2MOnuDXewo/s1600/hollow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="901" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTkhlqgqcIH8tYjMiS1Y8VrgvpaC_13gupgX2gDvpdB1x_5nSlKNPFCA9gvD5NSYQGJOzGimfv5WFXXGsPyKtbmdlRtNxE6cjkKTOKeWTN2VgVF5RHZjC4aSu9W_yigtPOu2MOnuDXewo/s640/hollow.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Photo: Sony/Columbia Pictures</td></tr>
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Short of the 1930s adaptation of H.G. Well’s novel The Invisible Man, I can’t really think of any other version or variant that is renowned or even good. While <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000682/?ref_=tt_ov_dr">Paul Verhoeven</a>’s <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0164052"><i>Hollow Man</i></a> takes some interesting approaches, I can’t give it more than mediocre with a few flourishes here and there. Perhaps this week’s <i><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1051906/">The Invisible Man</a></i> directed by Leigh Whannell can strike a better balance.<br />
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As I rewatched <i>Hollow Man</i>, I wondered if having Verhoeven on board was a benefit to the film or a detriment. On one hand, Verhoeven in his prime was the pinnacle of late 1980s/early 1990s action and excess. No one can argue the original <i>Robocop </i>and <i>Total Recall</i> films are nothing short of genre classics. <i>Basic Instinct</i> and <i>Starship Troopers</i> have their own pluses and dedicated fans and even the much maligned <i>Showgirls </i>has had a resurgence in popularity, ironic or not. So the question is not if Verhoeven is a bad or incompetent director but why he chose this particular project?<br />
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So if Verhoeven had not taken the reigns on <i>Hollow Man</i>, bringing along previous collaborators like DP Jost Vacano and composer Jerry Goldsmith, what would a take from a Paul W.S. Anderson or a Peter Hyams look like? Would you still have the pretty impressive cast of Elisabeth Shue, Kevin Bacon, and Josh Brolin? Would it a $90 million movie with special effects that oscillate between pretty great and Playstation 1 cut scene quality? All this is a roundabout way of saying, if not for Paul Verhoeven, would <i>Hollow Man</i> have been a more entertaining C-grade movie rather than a more disappointing B movie?<br />
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Ultimately, I fall on the side that the large budget and impressive pedigree hurts the film more than it helps as this seems to be a movie in conflict with itself. Part mad-scientist tale, part psychological thriller, and part super-human slasher at the end, <i>Hollow Man</i> varies wildly between these aspects. Having Kevin Bacon as the titular invisible man makes sense if his character is the focal point of the movie, which he is to an extent. But a lot of the film is dedicated to Elisabeth Shue and her interactions with Bacon and Brolin as she tries to learn about and hamper Bacon’s insidiously named Sebastian Caine after he loses his marbles. Considering that much of the movie features Bacon in voice only or in a crudely made latex mask, it could prove to be uninteresting to focus solely on him but the juxtaposition between characters and focal points is weird.<br />
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Also weird is that Caine’s character does not really have an arc as he starts the film as an egotistical asshole and ends in much the same way, just crazier and willing to kill to cover up his secret experiments that led to his invisibility. Much like Jack Nicholson’s character in <i>The Shining</i>, Caine enters the movie at an eight or so on the intensity scale and only climbs from there, robbing the film of its central message that either Caine’s experiment or the prolonged period of invisibility (and thus accountability) have warped his sense of right and wrong. Shue’s Linda and her boyfriend/colleague Brolin’s Matt are present to start as a check again Caine’s eccentricities and then to be terrorized as he goes off the deep end. As he is, of course, invisible, Caine’s bad behaviors when he leaves the lab in an underground bunker does not carry much weight as no one really knows for sure what he has done.<br />
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It is the final 30 minutes or so that really go batshit crazy as Caine has decided to embrace his new reality after many attempts to reverse it have failed. He sets out to kill all the members of his team (some of which honestly just seem to be established earlier to expand the body count in this section, sorry Greg Grunberg), destroy all evidence of the experiments by blowing up the lab, and escaping into the world with a slightly less crude mask on. Here is when the film jettisons any semblance of real life to replace with the invisible gentleman stalking and killing his team one-by-one like a transparent Jason Voorhees. The film takes those slasher tropes and goes bananas with them as Caine is burned, electrocuted, beaten over the head with a crowbar and blown up in a fiery explosion and still manages to come back over and over even though he is supposed to be some normal dude who happens to be invisible.<br />
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As mentioned, the special effects here that were (to my recollection at least) pretty impressive when the film was released 20 years ago haven’t aged too well. Some shots in particular hold up well, mostly pertaining to the transformation between visible and invisible as well as scenes where Bacon is invisible but affected by things like water and smoke to make him stand out. But I presume the production blew their budget on these showcase effects so others look really cheesy in contrast. The cinematography is fine but since most of the film takes place in a mostly gray enclosed lab, nothing really stands out like in Verhoeven and Vacano’s previous collaborations. Mostly, for such a high-budget, effects-laden film, it’s passable for the most part.<br />
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This again brings me back to my central thesis of what does this film look like with a different director. Does it go all out stupid like the final act or is it more restrained? Is it a badly acted mess of special effects like the DTV is reported to be with no redeeming qualities or something that’s so-bad-it’s-good? I guess the world will never really know.Puckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12924219699313473972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2778396784029921027.post-12964664197722308432020-02-21T17:00:00.000-05:002020-03-01T14:13:07.091-05:0020th Century Fox is Dead. Long Live 20th Century Fox!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibGyz535OV8MWNMGiVBUnVM3DocVLXqfFMudF8Bx6YzIgThlNFsKjAkHrmbTTkduwFTU4NZsJCpXluu0bvVFSP2x-Rp-PGHvpAZ0xEGT5RK9R_ths3bO5DqPV95TWD68aX2g1IJzHAMXk/s1600/20th.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibGyz535OV8MWNMGiVBUnVM3DocVLXqfFMudF8Bx6YzIgThlNFsKjAkHrmbTTkduwFTU4NZsJCpXluu0bvVFSP2x-Rp-PGHvpAZ0xEGT5RK9R_ths3bO5DqPV95TWD68aX2g1IJzHAMXk/s640/20th.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Not Fox News though. That can rot in hell.<br />
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After Disney’s successful acquisition of the film and TV
arms of the Fox empire, the mouse decided to <a href="https://variety.com/2020/film/news/disney-dropping-fox-20th-century-studios-1203470349/">drop ‘Fox’</a> from the name
altogether, branding the new company 20th Century Studios. This week’s new
release <i>The Call of the Wild</i> is the first film to be branded as such. On one
hand, it makes sense that Disney would prefer to drop the Fox brand, especially
considering some of the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/study-watching-fox-news-makes-you-less-informed-than-watching-no-news-at-all-2012-5">baggage</a> that comes with it. But on the other, life will
NEVER be the same without the triumphant fanfare accompanying a 20th Century
Fox logo before a new release.<o:p></o:p><br />
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But alas, life moves on and for now at least, there is at
least some semblance of the studio that brought us classics like <i>The Sound of
Music</i>, <i>Star Wars</i>, and <i>Airheads</i>. In honor of the beloved departed, let’s take a
look back at some swell Fox films.<br />
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<b><i>Die Hard</i></b><o:p></o:p><br />
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Ah, <i><a href="https://scumomovies.blogspot.com/2019/12/christmas-scum-marathon-day-1-die-hard.html">Die Hard</a></i>. The perennial favorite film of <a href="https://brooklyn99.fandom.com/wiki/Die_Hard">Jake Peralta</a> as
well as many other real people. John McTiernan’s <i>Die Hard</i> helped shape the late
80s and 90s action movies probably more than any other, so much so that it created
it’s own spin-off genre: Die Hard on a ____. While every December that rolls
around brings another argument of whether or not <i>Die Hard</i> is a Christmas film
(it totally is), these quibbles completely miss the point that it is a
near perfect film that can be watched any damn day of the year. It’s <a href="https://scumomovies.blogspot.com/2011/07/random-movie-die-hard-with-vengeance.html">secondsequel</a> is not too shabby either.<br />
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<b><i>Speed</i></b><o:p></o:p><br />
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Speaking of <i>Die Hard</i> ...<o:p></o:p><br />
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I love <i><a href="https://scumomovies.blogspot.com/2011/07/random-movie-speed-1994_5.html">Speed</a></i>. I’ve made this clear before and it’s entirely
possible this entire post is just an excuse to bring it up again. I get chills
watching this scene (any scene really) or even the excellent trailer. From Jan
de Bont’s superb first-time direction to Keanu and Sandra’s great chemistry to
the awesome score by Mark Mancina, I will always watch Speed when I stumble
across it on TV. And then, probably get pissed at the commercial breaks and
start it over on Blu-ray.<br />
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<b><i>Office Space<o:p></o:p></i></b><br />
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My first memory of watching <i>Office Space</i> was a Friday night
on HBO when I was as sick as a dog. At that point, I was probably just out of
high school without any real sense of the workforce save for my regular shifts
at Subway. But as I’ve gotten older and my career has aligned more with
Peter’s, I find more and more to love in Mike Judge’s film. Even seeing a
revival screening about 10 years ago with a rowdy crowd quoting lines cannot
dampen the hilarious, yet depressing, slice of life shown here.<br />
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While it remains to be seen exactly what the new 20th
Century Studios will look like, we can remain hopeful that it will be great
again. RIP in peace.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />Puckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12924219699313473972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2778396784029921027.post-74507621215569672962020-02-19T12:00:00.000-05:002020-03-01T14:13:07.123-05:00Theater Scum: Call of the Brahms<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmrdzSdeu8g6VC0a80PB2Y-4GO8SxMwL0NPtpjJVh9mE3rbSxLPZN_wvxSlM7wubYszLlaHXlP41Ml-mV3_2iGT57LJpzXF7qP2eZG1hjiJiAVWKpXcIHb3Rerbqo3viQIbKHYJYJ9YxY/s1600/brahms.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmrdzSdeu8g6VC0a80PB2Y-4GO8SxMwL0NPtpjJVh9mE3rbSxLPZN_wvxSlM7wubYszLlaHXlP41Ml-mV3_2iGT57LJpzXF7qP2eZG1hjiJiAVWKpXcIHb3Rerbqo3viQIbKHYJYJ9YxY/s640/brahms.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Photo: STX Entertainment</td></tr>
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A fake boy and a fake dog? Interesting theme this week at the box office.<br />
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<b><i><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9173418">Brahms: The Boy II</a></i></b><br />
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Even though I have not seen <i>The Boy</i> (in spite of the lovely Lauren Cohan starring in it), when the marketing for <i>Brahms: The Boy II</i> started, I had the ending of the first spoiled. Knowing that, I wonder how this film ties into its predecessor as this is presented as a haunted house/haunted doll/creepy kid movie which seems to go against what I know.<br />
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But I’m sure there will be a satisfactory explanation, probably this one being a secret prequel if I had to guess. In spite of a harsh drubbing from critics, The Boy made decent enough money to warrant a sequel and get Katie Holmes on board. So, that’s something.<br />
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<b><i><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7504726">The Call of the Wild</a></i></b><br />
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It’s nice that Harrison Ford is finally embracing his old-age grumpiness off camera. When he isn’t crashing planes, he’s dismissing Star Wars with a flippant “I don’t care.” On-screen however, Ford does not seem to have fallen down the “I don’t care” hole that swallows other actors of his generation like Bruce Willis or John Travolta. Perhaps he’s in a better position than them but he doesn’t seem to just agree to any script that comes his way and it looks like he actually gives a damn, even if he doesn’t.<br />
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As for <i>The Call of the Wild</i>, it looks like a totally fine family-friendly action movie with a cute dog. Oh, but the dog isn’t real? He’s all CGI? That’s weird, right? I get that there are things you can do easier and cheaper with CG than with real dogs but that feels like a big cheat. In the above trailer, the dog looks ... okay? Close enough to the real thing but far enough away in certain shots that give it the Robert Zemeckis-brand uncanny valley that probably isn’t intentional. I just feel for the poor dog actors who missed out on working with Indiana Jones in lieu of an algorithm of ones and zeros.Puckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12924219699313473972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2778396784029921027.post-22139509983747933792020-02-18T19:59:00.003-05:002020-03-01T14:13:07.097-05:001440 Entertainment: The Leader in Direct-to-Video Sequels No One Asked For<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioMLgkoB_cmoEI67aJEsdWusrGz5T2V4zv3UAa25OVB-VCOvLPY7E30SIU7nahyphenhyphenycw2vRn8ZwS81zgTqArCHPBkMG-SabHswZ6RP5tkKLLYtTEOFv7FllTnwjZUQYUZS2rYGY0RwBzs6U/s1600/bp2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="876" data-original-width="1600" height="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioMLgkoB_cmoEI67aJEsdWusrGz5T2V4zv3UAa25OVB-VCOvLPY7E30SIU7nahyphenhyphenycw2vRn8ZwS81zgTqArCHPBkMG-SabHswZ6RP5tkKLLYtTEOFv7FllTnwjZUQYUZS2rYGY0RwBzs6U/s640/bp2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"> Photo: Universal</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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As I am wont to do, while on a recent excursion to my local Wal-Mart for some mundane item like socks or cat food, I wandered back into the electronics area, specifically to the DVDs. While I am many years removed from my bad habits of blind buying movies that I might have a passing interest in, I still like to peruse the new and new-ish releases for anything that catches my eye. On a recent trip, that title was Bulletproof 2.<br />
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That’s right, Bulletproof 2, the sequel 24 years in the making to an all but forgotten Adam Sandler and Damon Wayans film. Even having seen it in theaters, I couldn’t tell you a thing about the OG Bulletproof other than ... I think it was okay? Unlike other not-great mid 90s movies that have stuck in my head for some reason like Daylight or The Net, Bulletproof was a film quickly forgotten by just about everyone. Except for the folks at Universal’s home video division, 1440 Entertainment apparently.<br />
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In search of a question for why someone would greenlight a low-budget, direct-to-video (or direct-to-streaming is more apt nowadays I suppose) sequel to a movie no one really cared for in the first place, I became fascinated by 1440 Entertainment and what market they seem to be catering to. With the exception of a scant few original stories and kids’ releases, 1440 almost exclusively releases DTV sequels to past Universal titles that are 10 to 20 years old, or basically, way past the point of relevance.<br />
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Aside from Bulletproof 2, we have also been blessed recently with timeless films like:<br />
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<ul>
<li>Undercover Brother 2, a sequel to the 18-year-old film starring Eddie Griffin and Denise Richards.</li>
<li>Doom: Annihilation, a sequel to the 15-year-old film starring Dwayne Johnson and Karl Urban</li>
<li>Jarhead: Law of Return, the third DTV sequel to the 15-year-old film directed by Academy Award-winning director Sam Mendes</li>
<li>Inside Man: Most Wanted, a sequel to Spike Lee’s 14-year-old highly acclaimed film</li>
<li>Backdraft II, a sequel to the almost 30-year-old Ron Howard film</li>
</ul>
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In many cases with these films, the sequels have very tenuous connections with the preceding film, if any at all. Top talent like Kurt Russell or Denzel Washington is replaced with actors you haven’t heard of, or at least have forgotten about over the past fifteen years or so. And the lack of veteran Hollywood directors and crew come with a marked decrease in quality. Based on user ratings from IMDb, the company’s last ten releases average to a pitiful 4.41 out of 10 stars. The validity of random internet people ratings notwithstanding, that’s not a great track record.<br />
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Which brings me back to my primary question: why? Given that these films are made on the cheap (budget and sales numbers are difficult, if not impossible to find), it stands to reason that a few weeks on the shelf at Wal-Mart or in a Redbox kiosk will move enough units to make something of a profit. When you factor in the inevitable sale to a streaming service like Netflix or a few discounted rentals from Amazon or iTunes, it becomes more lucrative. Another revenue stream I hadn’t considered before reading this piece on Jarhead 2 from Grantland is international markets where a property that quickly faded here may have more fans, even enough to merit a theatrical release in some countries.<br />
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For as optimistic and positive as that Grantland article is though, it acknowledges the challenges of tying a film to an existing property in the Universal vault, namely those who feel that a DTV sequel like Jarhead 2: Field of Fire is a shameless cash grab of the somewhat acclaimed original. But the benefits of having an established film, even one as random as 1993's Cop and a Half, seem to outweigh those negatives, probably when it comes to a typical retail shopper who looks at the DVD of Kindergarten Cop 2 and thinks, “well, I liked the original. Why not?”<br />
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Given that in 2019 alone, 1440 Entertainment put out eight titles not including children’s fare, there clearly must be enough demand for these sequel-in-name-only films to justify producing so many. And to be fair, Universal and their DTV arm are not the only offenders of this practice. Disney has been churning out half-assed sequels to their popular animated films since at least the early 1990s, countless horror franchises like The Prophecy, Children of the Corn, and Hellraiser have been prolonged way past their expiration from Dimension Films, and where would we as a society be without the defunct production company Trimark’s continuation of the Turbulence series and Turbulence 3: Heavy Metal which features a killer rock band or something ...?<br />
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But the main difference between these examples and 1440 Entertainment is time. Dimension Films cranks out a new Hellraiser every couple of years just to retain the rights while Fox continued its Wrong Turn series with a new installment every two years or so after the original. But who has wondered about a sequel to 2002's Big Fat Liar in the past fifteen years? Universal and 1440 Entertainment as it turns out. But clearly, they must be doing something right. The ninth chapter in the American Pie Extended Universe, Girls’ Rules, is due out this year.Puckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12924219699313473972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2778396784029921027.post-11920613841830526082020-02-07T13:59:00.000-05:002020-03-01T14:13:07.081-05:00Jesus, Another 'Texas Chainsaw' Movie?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqOKbmu2JgZE6L4EdLTS1f-5-Sf9-j2DLJHRBTRMdweo2eeqrEzZSumfxBOXDSdHhsSTc2R53drMTtRlBehzqN-ktlF2mjifR7NTPqjW0rdD2CSUWYkVdmx-EpNdp7PHZdBVQ2yJ-QWn8/s1600/texas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="897" data-original-width="1600" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqOKbmu2JgZE6L4EdLTS1f-5-Sf9-j2DLJHRBTRMdweo2eeqrEzZSumfxBOXDSdHhsSTc2R53drMTtRlBehzqN-ktlF2mjifR7NTPqjW0rdD2CSUWYkVdmx-EpNdp7PHZdBVQ2yJ-QWn8/s640/texas.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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New reports indicate that the <i>Texas Chainsaw Massacre</i> series is still alive ... for some reason.<br />
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<a href="https://birthmoviesdeath.com/2020/02/07/that-texas-chain-saw-massacre-reboot-has-some-new-directors">Birth.Movies.Death</a> via Variety gives us the news that Fede Alvarez of the <i>Evil Dead</i> remake is on board to produce a new chapter, or reboot, or something of the horror franchise which has produced exactly two great to decent movies. Directing duties will go to relative newcomers Andy and Ryan Tohill of a script from Chris Thomas Devlin.<br />
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“The Tohills’ vision is exactly what the fans want. It’s violent, exciting and so depraved that it will stay with you forever.”</blockquote>
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Sigh.Puckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12924219699313473972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2778396784029921027.post-51645299126624656182020-01-31T09:12:00.000-05:002020-02-18T20:59:59.779-05:00Random Movie: Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7wEa87nB4kmWJvA2orqbA0XNgdQGptv_fF2LkbIffU5lzcjj_T4spzmTggZU8NhY89OaBbxD1uJLzXUdPeArLPFOqRksuz8YBkXHFpCE2C7Kwb3fu8g6P6a8ath3u-uw70ZqgzH5ArpA/s1600/terminator-dark-fate_i48f3s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7wEa87nB4kmWJvA2orqbA0XNgdQGptv_fF2LkbIffU5lzcjj_T4spzmTggZU8NhY89OaBbxD1uJLzXUdPeArLPFOqRksuz8YBkXHFpCE2C7Kwb3fu8g6P6a8ath3u-uw70ZqgzH5ArpA/s640/terminator-dark-fate_i48f3s.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Photo: Paramount</td></tr>
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The <em>Terminator </em>series continues to prove itself as a tough nut to crack. Of course, that’s not for a lack of trying. After <!-- -->James Cameron’s acclaimed<!-- --> <a class="sc-145m8ut-0 idsfNL js_link sc-1out364-0 fwjlmD" data-ga="[["Embedded Url","External link","https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103064/?ref_=nm_knf_t3",{"metric25":1}]]" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103064/?ref_=nm_knf_t3" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Terminator 2</em></a><em> </em>in 1991, <!-- -->additional films ranging from ‘meh’ to ‘eh’ have tried to continue the franchise by either <a class="sc-145m8ut-0 idsfNL js_link sc-1out364-0 fwjlmD" data-ga="[["Embedded Url","External link","https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1340138/?ref_=tt_sims_tt",{"metric25":1}]]" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1340138/?ref_=tt_sims_tt" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">shamelessly aping the original</a>, creating an <a class="sc-145m8ut-0 idsfNL js_link sc-1out364-0 fwjlmD" data-ga="[["Embedded Url","External link","https://scumomovies.blogspot.com/2009/12/terminator-salvation-review.html",{"metric25":1}]]" href="https://scumomovies.blogspot.com/2009/12/terminator-salvation-review.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">arrid and boring futuristic hellscape</a>, or by <a class="sc-145m8ut-0 idsfNL js_link sc-1out364-0 fwjlmD" data-ga="[["Embedded Url","External link","https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181852/?ref_=tt_sims_tt",{"metric25":1}]]" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181852/?ref_=tt_sims_tt" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">including Nick Stahl</a>. Suffice to say, none of these films inspired much confidence in the future of the series.<br />
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After the lukewarm reception of <em>Terminator: Genisys</em>, producer <a class="sc-145m8ut-0 idsfNL js_link sc-1out364-0 fwjlmD" data-ga="[["Embedded Url","External link","https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1911103/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cr5",{"metric25":1}]]" href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1911103/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cr5" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">David Ellison</a> pulled out the big guns for <a class="sc-145m8ut-0 idsfNL js_link sc-1out364-0 fwjlmD" data-ga="[["Embedded Url","External link","https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6450804",{"metric25":1}]]" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6450804" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Terminator: Dark Fate</em></a> <!-- -->and talked Linda Hamilton and series creator Cameron back into the mix, the latter of which only with a producer and story credit. Thanks, upcoming seventeen <em>Avatar </em>movies. Directing duties were handed over to <em>Deadpool</em>’s Tim Miller and of course, Arnold Schwarzenegger returns. With a spunky new savior of the human race in Dani (<a class="sc-145m8ut-0 idsfNL js_link sc-1out364-0 fwjlmD" data-ga="[["Embedded Url","External link","https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0721376/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t4",{"metric25":1}]]" href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0721376/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t4" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Natalia Reyes</a>), good guy protector from the future Grace (<a class="sc-145m8ut-0 idsfNL js_link sc-1out364-0 fwjlmD" data-ga="[["Embedded Url","External link","https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4496875/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t3",{"metric25":1}]]" href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4496875/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t3" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mackenzie Davis</a>), and robotic killing machine REV-9 <!-- -->(<a class="sc-145m8ut-0 idsfNL js_link sc-1out364-0 fwjlmD" data-ga="[["Embedded Url","External link","https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1890981/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t5",{"metric25":1}]]" href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1890981/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t5" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Gabriel Luna</a>), all the ingredients are here for a kick-ass, and proper, continuation of the series.
As has been the case with these later sequels, the future foretold in the first two films does not quite come to pass. There are still armies of robots directed by an evil artificial intelligence <!-- -->hunting down human survivors after a nuclear apocalypse. But it’s now called Legion, rather than Skynet. And instead of John Conner being the wasteland messiah, it’s Dani. Yeah, otherwise it’s basically the same though.<br />
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Following the template that’s been firmly ensconced for this series, Grace comes back to present day Mexico City, quickly followed by REV-9, they locate Dani and duke it out, Grace telling Dani that you cannot beat a REV-9, only run from them. They meet up with an older, even more jaded Sarah Conner, meet up with an older, sweeter T-800, and the film ends in an industrial site where the big battle rages for the future of mankind. Surprisingly though, even with the familiar formula, this movie more or less pulls it off.<br />
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Miller is a somewhat odd choice to helm a $200 million, balls-to-the-wall action film considering his only other feature directing credit was the much more modest, and far less practical from what I’ve learned, <em>Deadpool</em>. But by and large, he does fine with the responsibilities of juggling all the character beats between the three leads and giving us something more than a two hour Michael Bay nightmare of quick cuts and indistinguishable “action.” The script from David S. Goyer, Justin Rhodes, and Billy Ray features a lot of heart and some genuinely funny moments, especially coming from Arnold’s “retired” T-800 as he learns to behave like a human.<br />
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Alas, even with elements that all seem great on paper, the execution is still wanting as evidenced by a <a class="sc-145m8ut-0 idsfNL js_link sc-1out364-0 fwjlmD" data-ga="[["Embedded Url","External link","https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Terminator-Dark-Fate-(2019)#tab=summary",{"metric25":1}]]" href="https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Terminator-Dark-Fate-(2019)#tab=summary" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">big collective shrug</a> at the box office. Perhaps it is that all future Terminator films have been unfairly <!-- -->compared to the knock-out punch of the first and second films. Or perhaps it is that the past three <!-- -->films in the series (including this one) <!-- -->have been intended as trilogy starters and <!-- -->were big, wet farts requiring different approaches. Or maybe, we just don’t want Terminator movies anymore. Schwarzenegger has been pretty much the one constant in Terminator movies but the story has jumped from current to future to past with nary a connecting thread between them. In fact, short of quick cameo from Edward Furlong here, we haven’t seen the same actor play John Conner in more than one film. Between the sort of <!-- -->quick turnaround and roughly the same crew, the first and second films have an edge that any film almost thirty years later cannot compete with.<br />
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In spite of the general tenor of this review, I actually kind of dig the film even if it seems to play more like a band re-recording their greatest hits without doing much else differently. Hamilton is great as always, Schwarzenegger’s T-800, or Carl, brings a different twist on the classic cyborg, and Davis and Reyes both get their moments to shine even with the returning fan favorites. If anything, I am trying to wrap my head around the seemingly toxic reaction this film has received since it was released just three months ago. Critical and fan seems on par, if not better, than the previous films. And while it certainly lost money for those involved, <em>Dark Fate</em> is not a <em>Cats</em>-like flop. There is a section of internet whiny babies up in arms about it that I don’t have much to say about other than ... sorry not every movie can have a white man saving the world.<br />
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In short, for many people my age who grew up with overworked copies of <em>Terminator 2</em> on VHS, this is a fine continuation of that film, as long as you aren’t looking for anything groundbreaking.
Puckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12924219699313473972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2778396784029921027.post-43517148592011774062018-10-04T19:00:00.000-04:002020-02-18T20:06:31.183-05:00Theater Scum: A Venom is Born<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOEOST7irw-bJ5IhxJgGzpTdQazKO12Oi0ns7Dx4PpxhaStJxC-d1WD7Cg17h4mQQ0ETmQ75aUuNgEjG6IpU4vzcgcwO3B5oQoWt02TM0h00UdjrUSvpD7ow_haTz80iK8s6ks5iyq5-g/s1600/star.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1068" data-original-width="1600" height="427" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOEOST7irw-bJ5IhxJgGzpTdQazKO12Oi0ns7Dx4PpxhaStJxC-d1WD7Cg17h4mQQ0ETmQ75aUuNgEjG6IpU4vzcgcwO3B5oQoWt02TM0h00UdjrUSvpD7ow_haTz80iK8s6ks5iyq5-g/s640/star.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Two weeks from Halloween opening. We can do it, guys.<br />
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<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1270797/">Venom</a><br />
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Considering that Venom is a character/villain/being from the Spider-Man universe, it makes complete sense to have a standalone film of an entity only seen on screen before in the much maligned Spider-man 3. Oh wait, it doesn’t? Shit, yeah. It does not.<br />
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Since the last reboot of the Spider-man series (the one with ... Andrew Garfield, I think?), Sony and Columbia Pictures have been desperate to create their own cinematic universe to rival Marvel’s. At some point, they were even going to develop an Aunt May spy-picture or some nonsense. As much as I would like to see either Sally Field or Marisa Tomei running around in a Bond-esque film, it is clear Sony was grasping at straws to wring some life out of the Spider-man property they owned. Eventually, they broke down and let Spidey play with the rest of the MCU and things seemed to be alright for a bit.<br />
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And then <i>Venom </i>came along. Similar to the notion of a standalone Catwoman film (yikes!) or a standalone Joker film (jury’s still out), taking a superhero’s nemesis out of its series and placing them in their own film seems to be an odd way to go about things. Will audiences be able to connect with a bad guy and no one of note to stop them? Does the world at-large care that Venom is a product of the Spider-verse? Who knows.<br />
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The dreaded and much maligned Rotten Tomatoes currently has <i>Venom </i>at a 29%, which considering the talent involved, is not great. Tom Hardy and Michelle Williams are great actors. Ruben Fleischer is a decent director. And while the first trailer had me on the side of “hopefully optimistic,” everything since (including the reporting of a PG-13 rating) has soured that small amount of hope.<br />
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While <i>Venom </i>may not turn out to be a complete failure, it isn’t looking good. Especially since there has already been a fantastic movie released this year about a normal guy taken over and enhanced by an outside force, namely <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6499752/"><i>Upgrade</i></a>. I guess we’ll see how quickly a Venom/Aunt May spin-off gets off the ground.<br />
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<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1517451/">A Star is Born</a><br />
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I was a Bradley Cooper fan way before the rest of you!<br />
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Back in 2001, when a little show called “Alias” premiered, Cooper was one of the many highlights. As time went on, his character became less and less important and eventually he left and became a big Hollywood star. But I still remember his Will, pining after Sydney Bristow and chasing down news stories for a few years, even though Cooper may not look back at his time on Alias <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/american-hustle-star-bradley-cooper-666231">fondly</a>.<br />
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Now, he is one of the biggest stars in the world and has teamed up with Lady Gaga for a remake of <i>A Star is Born</i>, a film I have tertiary knowledge of but have paid little other attention to until watching the trailer right now. And you know what? I’ll probably see it.<br />
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These celebrity passion projects rarely interest me and a film that has awards buzz circling before it opens are typically not my entertainment fare. But as schmaltzty and cheesy as the trailer for this looks, I am a human being with tears and emotions and stuff like that. Heart-warming tales of the triumph of the human spirit are supposed to be on cable where I can quickly change the channel and watch a rerun of Law & Order but eventually I will see these types of films and like it. And that makes me sad because I know my Bradley Cooper waiting in the wings to make me a star at ... I dunno, movie trivia ... is never going to come.<br />
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But alas, <i>A Star is Born</i> is coming soon. It will win some awards. It will likely make you cry. And dammit if I don’t have the willpower to hold out forever.Puckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12924219699313473972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2778396784029921027.post-75707021045414923982018-10-04T00:00:00.000-04:002020-02-18T20:06:42.697-05:00Random Movie: Chopping Mall (1986)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhulEYbtrQ7OIBJF-sPFrKMA6DddqvEolC4cuZrKKIzikoWFbOxoHK43mggGrb1Wo2sdIzhiplTViK8r-0VV_0OLbCKYZRcEqV3IU1Hx0EUjEb82kotH_Cdfi0972vf-UeJb254g5tLoek/s1600/chopping.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="540" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhulEYbtrQ7OIBJF-sPFrKMA6DddqvEolC4cuZrKKIzikoWFbOxoHK43mggGrb1Wo2sdIzhiplTViK8r-0VV_0OLbCKYZRcEqV3IU1Hx0EUjEb82kotH_Cdfi0972vf-UeJb254g5tLoek/s640/chopping.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Even having seen the VHS cover for <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090837">Chopping Mall</a> more times than I can count, I never got around to this <!-- -->time capsule of 80s high-concept “horror” movies. No one will confuse <em>Chopping Mall</em> with high-art but it is a solid movie from its era that will make you wonder why they never made <em>Chopping Mall 2</em>.<br />
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Co-written and directed by <a class="sc-145m8ut-0 idsfNL js_link sc-1out364-0 fwjlmD" data-ga="[["Embedded Url","External link","https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0691061/?ref_=tt_ov_dr",{"metric25":1}]]" href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0691061/?ref_=tt_ov_dr">Jim Wynorski</a>, a man whose IMDb credits feature more soft-core porn titles <!-- -->than the seedy backroom from your childhood video store, this is a tight 78 minute jaunt into the sprawling indoor malls and neon lights of our collective childhood, with some malfunctioning, murderous robots thrown in for good measure. Unlike some of its contemporaries, <em>Chopping Mall</em> sets your expectations pretty quickly and lays out what’s in store as the perfunctory set-up and character <!-- -->introductions<!-- --> take maybe 12 minutes of screen time.<br />
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Although<!-- --> the premise of a seemingly typical California mall spending ungodly amounts of money on automated patrol robots requires some healthy skepticism, the film does the bare minimum to sell this idea and then quickly moves on to meeting our soon-to-be deadmeat characters who are camping out in a furniture stor<!-- -->e ... for some reason. After a freak lighting storm (because of course) strikes the mall’s overly complicated robot control center, the “Protectors” come to life and ignore their gentle parameters and start savagely <!-- -->murdering everyone in sight<!-- -->. Like I said, it’s pretty great.<br />
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Being an 80s horror movie, <em>Chopping Mall</em> goes against the grain somewhat with its gaggle of sex-crazed teenagers. Aside from the requisite lunkhead and his bratty girlfriend (who are the first to go, natch), the others become quickly aware of the danger lurking and come up with some fairly inventive ways to dispatch of the mechanical maniacs, rather than simply sitting around and whimpering. The film throws a few curveballs with who lives and who dies in what order and even though we haven’t spent much time with these characters (aside from the survivors, I’d have to look up the rest of the character’s names), their personalities and traits are broadly drawn enough to make you sympathetic to them without the in-fighting or drama that typically accompany these types of films.<br />
<span class="js_lightbox-wrapper sc-1eow4w5-0 dUoECc"><br /></span>From the groovy 80s synth score to the practical effects to the gore and carnage of exploding heads and persons on fire (!), <em>Chopping Mall</em> is a fine film to revisit (or first time watch, no judgments here) for your cheesy-yet-good horror film. I’d be shocked if we don’t get a VOD remake in the next few years, maybe with a laid-off security guard sabotaging the robots in revenge. There should still be malls around for another few years, at least.<br />
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<span class="js_lightbox-wrapper sc-1eow4w5-0 dUoECc"><span class="iyvn34-0 iSaTEN"><svg aria-label="ZoomIn icon" height="18" viewbox="0 0 18 18" width="18" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><path d="M10.5 1a6.5 6.5 0 1 1-4.23 11.44l-4.42 4.41a.5.5 0 0 1-.7-.7l4.41-4.42A6.5 6.5 0 0 1 10.5 1zm0 1a5.5 5.5 0 1 0 0 11 5.5 5.5 0 0 0 0-11zm0 2c.28 0 .5.22.5.5V7h2.5a.5.5 0 0 1 .5.41v.09a.5.5 0 0 1-.5.5H11v2.5a.5.5 0 0 1-.41.5h-.09a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H7.5a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.41V7.5c0-.28.22-.5.5-.5H10V4.5a.5.5 0 0 1 .41-.5z" fill-rule="evenodd"></path></svg></span></span></div>
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</figure>Puckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12924219699313473972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2778396784029921027.post-49181706251523509172018-09-01T17:00:00.000-04:002020-02-18T20:39:51.634-05:00Random Movie: Curvature (2017)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyAtv0hWrd2b0oTTSojZnTdfX_QIiuUKPcHeNgvxoDiR7tcoAHvMBMwwyL_VpNlXmkuTPGkStNfqqPalL_2DDnPzQmVwHrBNvE2syPI5PQRe0xVfwx_OoF3-eL9ImmTxHEwYPl0NQDXeE/s1600/curvature.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyAtv0hWrd2b0oTTSojZnTdfX_QIiuUKPcHeNgvxoDiR7tcoAHvMBMwwyL_VpNlXmkuTPGkStNfqqPalL_2DDnPzQmVwHrBNvE2syPI5PQRe0xVfwx_OoF3-eL9ImmTxHEwYPl0NQDXeE/s640/curvature.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
One of the key elements of a good mystery is immersion. It trumps a decent plot and interesting characters because the thrills are derived from a seemingly shared experience. As long as the audience feels like they’re solving a problem alongside the cast, they’ll go along with most anything. This does not include lackluster acting and an overly formulaic approach to storytelling…<br />
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<b><i>Kenneth Seward Jr. is the Editor-in-Chief of <a href="http://www.unitedfrontgaming.com/">United Front Gaming</a> and a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/Kennyufg">@KennyUFG</a>.</i></b><br />
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<a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3611504">Diego Hallivis</a>’ <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4720596/">Curvature</a>, billed as a sci-fi drama/thriller, follows the exploits of an engineer named Helen (<a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0960912/?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm">Lyndsy Fonseca</a>) sometime after the death of her husband. The apparent suicide has left her worse for wear; she sleeps on the couch, unable to go into her once shared bedroom. As a means of escaping her sorrows, Helen eventually decides to return to work. The goal is to take it one day at a time – being around colleagues helping bring about a sense of normalcy, if only for a few hours. Lingering questions about her husband’s death are magnified whenever she goes home but Helen seems to have a handle on things. That is until she wakes up one morning sporting new clothes and a bout of amnesia. Somehow, Helen has “lost” a week of her life. She didn’t sleep the entire time (the change in clothes and fact that she isn’t famished speak to that) and no fugue state or drunken escapade can explain away her apparent disappearance. If this isn’t bad enough, Helen immediately gets a phone call from a stranger telling her to flee her house. Good times.<br />
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From there, the film flows into a familiar groove. The audience follows Helen as she unravels each clue before stitching a solid conclusion together. For the most part, it works. Throw in some foot chases, near fatal accidents, and a segment where the hero must navigate a treacherous environment while avoiding bad men and you have the recipe for a compelling thriller. Unfortunately, Curvature starts to unravel shortly after the premise is laid bare. Not because of the acting; as a whole, the cast does a decent job. Lyndsy Fonseca is certainly believable as Helen. Even <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000157">Linda Hamilton</a>’s brief cameo should be well received. The overly formulaic approach isn’t an issue either. Though most will realize where the plot is headed early on, that alone shouldn’t necessarily deter viewers from sitting through the film. No, the main culprits are the script and convoluted plot.<br />
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One thing that the Curvature fails to do is immerse the viewer. This is in part due to the script and how it refuses to divulge critical information. Nearly every clue that Helen finds has to do with something that happens offscreen. A reference to a conversation that took place before the film’s start, items of significance made known moments before becoming a major plot point, literal inside jokes that the audience isn’t privy to – all of these things help in keeping the viewer in the dark of Helen’s plight. Interesting enough, the writers seemed to be aware of this fact. There are points in the film where Helen has to explain what something is (in relation to her world view) before also explaining why it’s a potential clue. Instead of showing how something the audience has seen earlier in the film is connected to a character, the protagonist gives a lengthy exposition on why a seemingly random object should matter.<br />
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The other issue stims from the film’s use of time travel. I won’t go into how it’s used, only to say that it isn’t needed to carry the plot. The “who done it” mystery would have been mostly the same without it as evident in how rarely time travel is actually mentioned in the film; it acts as a catalyst for many events but is kept in the background, only brought up to remind the audience that this is science fiction. And when I consider how the final story beats aren’t even possible – a problem most films/stories face when trying to manipulate time – I’m reminded of how unnecessary it was to include this plot device.<br />
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Curvature starts out interesting enough. It offers some nice shots (particularly one involving the inside of a rolling car), some decent acting, and believable drama; Lyndsy Fonseca should be pleased with her performance. It doesn’t take long before the film starts to falters though. Due to the absence of important information needed to build up a thrilling experience and the feeling that the writers tacked on a weak time travel angle, the film struggles to be mediocre. Curvature might be worth watching, sure. It just isn’t as compelling as its premise might lead you to think.<br />
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<i>Editor’s Note: Thank you once again Kenny!</i>Movie Scumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12860256566964794903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2778396784029921027.post-15806301161743747822018-06-10T00:00:00.000-04:002020-02-18T20:40:02.744-05:00Damn This 'Halloween' Trailer for Getting My Hopes Up<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHfcwsLLLqA3fsc1KKNXOXnTiTiPhLgA6O0Jm0dHPSO_Wp-0x5lhw986LYYFFSr89e94ZjObX0OopzfASDM2nISZlLQwKnqAGHv2cP1iaSybYc_NEUAzPBdI3QVTYfF83zEB8q9_539v4/s1600/halloween-david-gordon-green.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHfcwsLLLqA3fsc1KKNXOXnTiTiPhLgA6O0Jm0dHPSO_Wp-0x5lhw986LYYFFSr89e94ZjObX0OopzfASDM2nISZlLQwKnqAGHv2cP1iaSybYc_NEUAzPBdI3QVTYfF83zEB8q9_539v4/s640/halloween-david-gordon-green.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
The Shape is back! And he’s slashed all concepts of canon and connectivity to shreds!<br />
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Depending on who you ask, it’s either been eleven years since the last “good” Halloween film or much longer. However, the new <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0337773/?ref_=tt_ov_dr">David Gordon Green</a>-directed <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1502407">Halloween </a>sequel-reboot-thing may just be the film die-hard fans have been waiting an indeterminate amount of years for.<br />
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Taking the seemingly standard route for this franchise, 2018's <i>Halloween </i>(I wish there was something else to differentiate it from the other two films titled simply <i>Halloween</i>) will discard all other movies, including it’s own direct sequel of the same night. As the Laurie Strode’s granddaughter helpfully adds in the trailer, this means that Michael Myers is not Laurie’s brother. “That’s something that people made up.”<br />
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Taking what looks to be a smattering of all the good ideas from the past nine films, Green and co-writer <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1144419/?ref_=ttfc_fc_wr5">Danny McBride</a> essentially reset the series from one raging lunatic going after his sister/aunt/uncle/nephews(?) on Halloween to just a raging lunatic going after random people on Halloween. After seeing the depths those relationships have been mined in the previous sequels, I can’t argue with this choice.<br />
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<a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000130/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t2">Jamie Lee Curtis</a> is back as Laurie, not Michael’s sister remember, who has spent some amount of the past forty years fortifying her compound and becoming handy with firearms. When Michael inevitably escapes, she is ready for him and on the hunt, which hopefully will last longer than the best ten minutes of <i>Halloween: H20</i>.<br />
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This project seems out of Green and McBride’s normal wheelhouse but with co-creator <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000118/?ref_=ttfc_fc_wr1">John Carpenter</a> on board as executive producer and providing the score as well, there are more reasons to cheer this installment than fret like the previous ones. Halloween may or may not be my favorite of the big horror series (although the original film is one of my all-time favorites) so I’ve become used to looking forward to a new installment only to be let down ... since 1995!<br />
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I hope (and believe) this year will be the end of that disappointment.<br />
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Halloween comes early this year, opening on October 19.Puckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12924219699313473972noreply@blogger.com0