Yet another Star Wars film that has to compete with the expectations of episodes 4, 5 and 6. It's not going to happen. Critcs and fans are right, the audience is lambasted with overdone action and nostalgia. The acting is not horrible, and one or two actually pull off some decent depth (Oscar Issac and of course the magical Anthony Daniels). The CGI was a bit much. And the story just seemed.... lazy. David Lynch should have directed this one. I love all Star Wars films. I've seen all of them first run. I loved this one, but it will be in the bottom half of the 11 to date. It's worth the price of admission. Once.
Reviews
4 Reviews
Poltergeist
(2015)
Decent for a horror fan, for everyone else- eh...
26 May 2015
First off, yes, the original was a classic. The first Poltergeist was one of the reasons I am a horror movie fanatic. This remake/update is not a classic, and will likely be dismissed as another failed new vision of an older masterpiece. So don't expect any miracles here. However, if you are like me and would rather watch a horror movie over just about everything else, then watch this one, because there are a few high notes.
Sam Rockwell is the movie. He gives a great performance, creating a very believable, struggling father in a film with a way too fast script and pace. The other actors are not bad, but they definitely don't capture your attention - or even emotion- like Rockwell does. You can have a rather high expectation of his performance... It will be met.
There were a couple of modern updates that were very entertaining and lived up to potential. Those brief moments brought a little suspense into the film and made me wonder if the filmmakers had just chosen to loosely follow the original then maybe this one would have more merit.
The pace of the film is too fast. Scares are packed in and quite predictable. I'm not certain the use of CGI really ruins anything, it seems to beat the whole "jerky crawling around on all fours" phantoms of the post-modern Japanese horror films. But the suspense seems to be lacking. I'm sure we would have a different film from 1982 if CGI were available. Spielberg and Hooper would go nuts with that stuff, but we all know they wouldn't skip out on making us sweat to see it.
At the end of the film, I came to the realization that this is where we are with horror movies this day and age. I guess there are only so many ideas out there and instead of being accused of ripping off a classic, they just remake it. But, it's still a horror movie, and true horror fans will dutifully watch them all.
Sam Rockwell is the movie. He gives a great performance, creating a very believable, struggling father in a film with a way too fast script and pace. The other actors are not bad, but they definitely don't capture your attention - or even emotion- like Rockwell does. You can have a rather high expectation of his performance... It will be met.
There were a couple of modern updates that were very entertaining and lived up to potential. Those brief moments brought a little suspense into the film and made me wonder if the filmmakers had just chosen to loosely follow the original then maybe this one would have more merit.
The pace of the film is too fast. Scares are packed in and quite predictable. I'm not certain the use of CGI really ruins anything, it seems to beat the whole "jerky crawling around on all fours" phantoms of the post-modern Japanese horror films. But the suspense seems to be lacking. I'm sure we would have a different film from 1982 if CGI were available. Spielberg and Hooper would go nuts with that stuff, but we all know they wouldn't skip out on making us sweat to see it.
At the end of the film, I came to the realization that this is where we are with horror movies this day and age. I guess there are only so many ideas out there and instead of being accused of ripping off a classic, they just remake it. But, it's still a horror movie, and true horror fans will dutifully watch them all.
The Thing
(I) (2011)
Truly a film for the fans
17 October 2011
John Carpenter's version of "The Thing" is a classic. The makers of this film clearly recognize that. So instead of doing the typical thing of this generation and "rebooting" a series/film, they did something classy- they expanded on a story. And they pulled it off exceptionally well. Yes, this movie has MUCH more CGI effects, but it wasn't overboard. The tie-ins to Carpenter's version are spot on. Set designs were great. The acting went way beyond my expectations- Winstead was amazing as the lead. The story was tight. As its first week of release showed, I'm certain this film - like Carpenter's - will go under-appreciated. But I would bet the farm this movie will find its place right next to Carpenter's on your movie shelf at home. Give it a chance!!
Halloween
(2007)
I just can't see what the fuss is about.
4 September 2007
Warning: Spoilers
First- John Carpenter is my favorite director. Second- Halloween is one of the greatest films ever made. I knew that before I watched this movie. So my expectations were- well, different because Zombie is a fan of the genre. Just like me. With that being said, I really liked this movie. It seemed to be realistic, gritty and dirty. The death scenes were just brutal, relying less on new and inventive ways to kill and more on grabbing you with the absolute fight for life during a physical attack. The back story added some realism- which descended Myers from a supernatural creature to just a very disturbed, very violent, emotionless character; a nice new twist in my book. Myers is definitely is the new main character (not Laurie), but the other characters are given just enough depth to make them interesting and real- like the teen-age girls, which are terribly annoying, but man, they were as real as it gets. The suspense was lacking, but Zombie is not known to be the master of suspense as Carpenter was. Zombie's a master of gore and violence. Anyone who goes to see this film thinking otherwise should just avoid it and rent it later. Anyone who wants to see what a horror movie fan does when he gets to remake a classic should make the time to check it out.
Tell Your Friends