Halloween Horror Month #2: 2001 Maniacs

From being pleasantly scared by Joe Dante's The Hole the previous night, last night we visited Pleasant Valley in Tim Sullivan's 2001 Maniacs, a remake/update of H.G. Lewis's 2000 Maniacs. The movie was picked for one simple reason last night. It was short, finishing at under 90 minutes.

A word of warning. This is not the best movie to watch with your wife/girlfriend. While not being the T&A-fest that Alexandre Aja's Piranha is, there's definitely enough breasts on screen to make your wife doubt if we're actually watching a horror movie or a softcore porn(this actually happened).

That said, there isn't much going for this movie. None of the characters are memorable, except for Robert Englund's main villain, and that's just because he's played by Robert Englund, who is hamming it up and clearly having fun. There is no plot to speak of, which is evident at the ending when we are told what happened earlier by a sheriff, and it really doesn't work at all. It seems that they thought of the kills of the movie first and then wrote the rest of the movie around them.

And thee kills are about the only thing that does work in the movie. They are some of the more inventive deaths I've seen and Sullivan shows them all in their gory glory. The best of them all involves a character drinking some special moonshine. This movie never tries to be scary in the slightest, so I can't fault it for not being scary. But since you don't care for the characters at all, you don't care what happens to them and there is no suspense to the "story".

I do have a feeling that the circumstances I saw this movie in do affect my judgment of it, somewhat. This is the kind of movie you should watch with your friends, having a few beers on a Friday night. Not after work on a Tuesday night after your kids have fallen asleep. Still, I don't see myself returning to this one anytime soon. My rating for 2001 Maniacs: 4/10

P.S. I noticed that they made a sequel as well, but Robert Englund is replaced by Bill Moseley. I think I will stay away.

Halloween Horror Month #1: The Hole

So this year for Halloween, I thought it would be nice to watch a horror movie every day for the whole of October. So I made a list, checked it twice, had the wife take a look and off we go. There's movies we've never seen before, movies we love and movies that are...less than good, but I love them anyway.

The first movie on the list was Joe Dante's The Hole, which I've reviewed on my blog before. I'm rather surprised that it is only now getting a theatrical release in the US, as it was released on DVD/Blu-ray in Europe back in January 2011. Not going to waste a lot of time on this review, since you can find my earlier thoughts on it as well.

That said, I think this movie works better on the second viewing. Chris Massoglia's Dane doesn't come off quite as wooden as he did before, and the relationship between him and his brother is actually quite sweet. The love between the brothers isn't always spelled out in the movie, but you can feel it constantly throughout the movie.

Also I'm reminded at how scary this movie actually is. I'm sure I'm not the only one going "That fucking clown..." after the movie. According to my wife, this is one of the creepiest movies she's seen. And there's a lot of creepy things in the movie, but the movie doesn't go over the top with the scares and there's a very few unearned jump scares. I'm sure that how Joe Dante managed to get under my skin with Gremlins when I was a kid, this movie will get under the skin of a whole new generation.

Only thing that doesn't really work for me is the ending. As this movie is geared more for a kid-friendly audience (friendly might not be the right word), there's the whole "facing your fears" lesson to teach the kid. This is all fine and dandy, but I was rather disappointed in the way Dane finally faces his fear.

In the end, I definitely recommend this movie to horror fans, young and old, and I hope this does well in the box office in the US. It's been too long since we got a Joe Dante movie and call me crazy, I would want to see another movie from him sooner rather than later. My (new) rating for The Hole: 8/10

Greetings from Twin Peaks!

I know I'm a little bit late with this, since it aired back in the early 90's, but last week I finally finished watching Twin Peaks. I was too young to watch it when it first aired and on reruns I never managed to catch it all. I've had the Complete Series boxset in my shelf for a year or two now and when my wife and I were looking for something to watch, we decided on Twin Peaks.

This isn't going to be a full review of the show, rather just some thoughts I have about the show, likes and dislikes and so on.

Likes:
The best thing the show has going for it is the town of Twin Peaks. Possibly the best realised small town on TV next to Northern Exposure, it has a definite feeling of community and a place where people actually know each other.

Dale Cooper. One of the best characters in the history of TV. Quirky, but not overly weird and his relationship with the town sheriff Harry S. Truman actually works very well. I was always amused at how easily Cooper would get the cops behind his ideas, no matter how unearthly they sounded. And some of them were really out there.

The mystery of Laura Palmer's murder is an intriguing one, and it's very well done. The show actually manages to make it feel like a mystery and the killer isn't obvious from the start.

Which brings us to Bob. Bob is scary. Nightmare-inducingly scary. Had I seen this when I was a kid, I don't think I would've been sleeping a lot. The scene in which Bob is after Laura's cousin in the living room is one of the scariest scenes I've ever seen.

The first season in general is a masterpiece of 90's TV.

Dislikes:

Laura Palmer's murder is the thing that was used to launch the series and from what I gathered, it was the show creators' David Lynch's and Mark Frost's original plan to build the show around the murder and then take the show on from there, possibly never revealing the killer of Laura Palmer. But the show needs better writers for that.

Lynch does love the world of Twin Peaks and probably would've done something better with Season 3, as the things being set up for the next season in what ended up being the series finale, are much more interesting than what happens in the show after the initial murder has been solved. The show has no idea on what to do with itself and goes for the soap opera cliches that it had cleverly avoided or played with before. Yes, I'm looking at you, James and your "adventures" outside of Twin Peaks.

Also, where season 2 eventually lets me down is the new antagonist, Windom Earle. I like the name, and he seems like a worthy opponent for Cooper from all his messages and the backstory they share. And then we meet Windom and he's basically the evil version of Roger Moore's The Saint. With disguises and playing games with Cooper, he just doesn't seem threating at all. Considering how powerful of a villain Bob was, having Windom Earle be so lackluster just makes the whole thing so much more sad.

Spoiler area:

I do like the reveal of the killer of Laura Palmer and I thought it was well done all around to finish up that storyline. Losing Leland Palmer at the same time was, I suppose, inevitable, but I really missed his character.

Afterwards, the show really loses its footing, like I've mentioned before. There are so many characters that were introduced as red herrings for the Laura Palmer murder that the writers didn't know what to do with them all after Leland/Bob was revealed as the killer. James's run-in with the femme fatale wife is definitely the low point of the show, and things like Ben Horne's Civil War re-enactment are probably what drove people away from the show. Also, the plotline with Nadine and her "superpowers" just went on and on without really going anywhere.

Added to this, they bring in more and more characters, only couple of which actually work, main ones being David Lynch's half-deaf FBI agent Gordon Cole and David Duchovny's agent who is a bit different from his later Fox Mulder character. But I'm sorry to say, the characters of Billy Zane and Heather Graham just didn't work for me at all, and that part of the finale did fall flat for me.

Which is sad, because there was definitely potential here. It seemed like we were getting rid of some characters in the finale, including my favorite Twin Peaksian, Pete (played by Lynch regular Jack Nance). I can't say Season 3 would've brought Twin Peaks back to basics, but it certainly seems like it would've taken some chances that it really should've taken during its second season.

I don't know how much Lynch/Frost were pulling the strings after the first season, I have a feeling the writer Harley Peyton was planning a lot of the second season, which could explain the missteps. Then again, could be that Lynch just doesn't know how to run a TV show. He almost got a second chance with Mulholland Drive, whose pilot was later re-edited into a brilliant movie.

Twin Peaks is definitely worth watching, even with the problems during its second season. And with only around 30 episodes to watch, it doesn't really take that long to go through either.

Super 8

And I'm back! Sorry for the near death of the blog, been busy being a dad and then moving over to Berlin at the end on 2011. So now that we've more or less settled in the country, it's time to bring this time back to life. So without further ado, on we go to the first review of 2012.

Super 8 is the first original movie from J.J. Abrams, previously having done Mission Impossible 3 and the Star Trek reboot. Based on his own story and produced by Steven Spielberg himself, Abrams's movie tells the story of kids working on a movie in Smalltown, USA in the 70's and how everything is ruined by an alien.

Super 8 is a movie that doesn't know what it really wants to be and it's two sides make it seem rather schizophrenic at times. On the other hand, we have the story of the Joe (Joel Courtney) dealing with the lost of a parent, dreaming of Alice (Elle Fanning) and hanging out with The Other Kids. And as boring as that may sound, it's actually the part of the movie that really works. Abrams gets good performances out of the boys, but Elle Fanning's Alice is easily the best written and acted part of the movie. Movie might've actually benefited from making her character as the lead, but as this seems to be a movie about the director mostly, I can see why that didn't happen. And it's always nice to see an old favourite of mine on screen as well, Kyle Chandler, who will always be Gary Hobson from Early Edition to me.

The part that doesn't really fit with the story is the alien. Making its entrance in the loudest and pretty surely the longest train crash in the history of everything, it seems that the movie doesn't know what to do with the extra-terrestrial. Having it go around eating people and then trying to get the sympathy of the audience on the side of the alien doesn't work at all, especially once it is revealed that it can read minds by touch. For a movie that goes for that Spielberg feel of movies like E.T. and is actually produced by Spielberg, it's such an odd thing not to have the alien better fleshed out.

There's a lot to like in Super 8. It has the retro-feel of the 70's, the kids are all good, Michael Giacchino's score is, while not as memorable as Up's, great and fits the movie perfectly. It really a shame the alien side of it all fails to excite as well as it should. To paraphrase The Monks: Nice Kids, Shame About the ET. My score for Super 8: 6/10

Quickfire Reviews #1

Just a few movies I've seen recently that I think you should see/avoid. Going to do a reviews of the Marvel movies that came out this summer as soon as I get my hands on Thor next month.


The Resident - Below average thriller in which the cameraman worships practically every single part of Hilary Swank's body. Oh, and there's a bad guy too. Not worth anyone's time. 3/10

Hanna - A great performance from Saoirse Ronan. The score by The Chemical Brothers kicks ass. Story isn't the best, but extra points for the "internationality". It feels very global, I don't think much if any of it was actually filmed in the US. 8/10

The Town - Well directed, if a bit sloppy crime drama. Rebecca Hall's character is severely underwritten and she and Affleck don't really have chemistry. Jeremy Renner is very good in the movie though and the movie comes a bit more alive whenever he's on screen. 6/10

Animal Kingdom - Strong debut from director David Michod. Gritty has been overused a lot describing recent movies, but this really is gritty. No big action, but brilliant acting, old story well told. Not for the faint of heart though. 9/10

Cop Out - I don't usually review movies I've not seen all the way through, but I had to switch this off after 15 minutes. Based on that, 1/10. Just don't.

Movies and Parenting

I think it's safe to say that with the arrival of our daughter Josephine approximately ten months ago, my movie watching habits have changed dramatically. Where in the past I would be watching almost a movie a night, with more on the weekends, now it's a lot less.

I don't write this to say that I miss watching movies. I'm writing this to point out a few things that happen when you have kids in your house. Granted Josie is only ten months old at the moment, so I'm sure additions to this list will appear in the future. But so far, these are the things that I have noticed.

1. Parental Discretion

There might not be more room in hell, but the dead can't walk the earth just yet and the Terminator will have to be back after 8pm. While your baby is awake, it's going to be something kid friendly on TV. Doesn't explain why we watch reality TV though.

2. Attention

You finally got that movie you really wanted to see? And it is suitable for kids? You won't be able to watch that during the day either. You'll be playing peekaboo and have people crawling on you too much to pay attention to the movie. Rewind will be your friend. For a while anyway. Before you give up and decide to wait till baby's asleep.

3. How Long Is This Movie Anyway?

So now the baby is asleep and it's time to watch the movie. And also when you realise that the length of the movie is not the same as the time it takes to watch the movie. A movie that has a running time of 1h 30min might very well take closer to three hours to finish. With this pace Frodo's trip to Mt. Doom might very well take a week.

4. Volume

Also, when baby is asleep, you can't really have the TV blaring too loud. (Unless you live in a huge mansion where the baby sleeps in his/her own wing, then blare away.) Which can hinder your enjoyment of the movie somewhat. That Inception BRAAM! doesn't sound as impressive with the TV turned down. Which brings me to...

5. Movie-Watching Parent's Best Friend

Subtitles. That's right, kiddies. Less confusion during the movie. Everyone wins. Especially if you're watching the movie with the other parent. "What did he say?" "Something about the woman." "What about the woman, was it important?" "I don't know, I'm trying to watch the movie!" "Me too, that's why I'm asking!" Trust me, subtitles save relationships. If your movie doesn't have subtitles, save it for a time when you're alone. Which will probably be in about 18-20 years.

But these are just my observations, maybe some families are different. And as I said, I'm sure there will be things added here. I'm getting the feeling that in about five years, I'll be able to recite all of Lion King in my sleep.

Paul

What happens when geeks make a movie for geeks? It's should have everything a geek would want. And when it comes to Greg Mottola's Paul, it does have a lot of geekery in it. Written by and starring geek gods Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, Paul is a road trip comedy, that pays tribute to almost everything that geeks hold dear. There's references to Star Trek, Star Wars, Steven Spielberg and a lot of other things that don't start with the letter S.

Pegg and Frost star as two English guys, who are visiting the US for the San Diego Comic Con and then go on a road trip to see all the famous UFO sites in the country. Not too much later, they end up meeting Paul(voiced by Seth Rogen), an alien who has escaped captivity after 60 years and now wants to go home. The guys agree to help Paul and end up being chased by the FBI, rednecks and a weird religious guy.

The movie has a lot of credit to it. Pegg and Frost are familiar for having done Spaced, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, Greg Mottola struck it big with Superbad and Seth Rogen voicing Paul was a perfect fit for the character. Adding to that, some of the funniest comedians currently working, Kristen Wiig, Jason Bateman, Bill Hader et al. Sounds like the makings of a very funny movie, right?

Wrong. Well, mostly wrong anyway. There's a lot of things going for the movie. Main one of these is Paul himself. Arguably the best CGI character since Davy Jones from Pirates of the Caribbean, Paul is not a particularly fresh take on aliens, but a very fun one. Which is good, because there's not a lot to the main characters. Neither Pegg or Frost have much to do in the movie and even during the climax of the movie, they're handing the fight to the supporting actors.

Which is where the movie shines the most. Wiig, Bateman and friends bring their best to their roles. To be fair, the supporting characters are written better than the leads, especially Wiig's character, who actually has something resembling a story arc. Bateman does his FBI agent role very well and enjoys playing something a bit against his typical role.

The main problem of the movie is that it's so much geared towards the geek community. It feels like Pegg and Frost took a bunch of classic sci-fi movie lines and built a movie around them. This comes off the most at the last half an hour of the movie, which seems to be littered with said lines. What's more, they don't do anything new with them, they just use the lines as they are and expect people to laugh just for recognizing the line.

Another problem is the tone of the movie. Going from a heartfelt scene to the easy swearing and piss jokes is kind of jarring. It feels the movie has an identity crisis at times due to this. But I have to say, the swearing in this movie is the most colourful I've heard in a while.

There's a classic alien comedy buried somewhere in Paul. It's too bad the script seems to have every idea Pegg and Frost came up thrown in there and the movie itself gets buried after tons of geek references. Added to this very lackluster main characters, and your movie is in trouble. Luckily Paul and the supporting characters save the movie somewhat and make the movie watchable. My rating for Paul: 5/10