HorrorweenComposerTony Reviews

Tron: Legacy (2010)

A very worthy sequel

[9/10 · 24 December 2010]

So many reviews and so much has come out about the graphics and acting, so that will not need to be re-iterated. The main thing I look for is the storyline to be engaging and in the case of a sequel, to fit the storyline continuation or offshoot from the original movie's universe.

In that respect, I was pleasantly rewarded by Tron: Legacy.

Some claim the storyline is fairly thin. I would beg to differ as I feel it has as much depth as the original and continues the original in a fantastic narrative. The characters are also engaging and work towards the storyline well.

My only point down is some clichés making a nod towards modern movie clichés here and there.

The original was considered a theatrical failure and eventually grew into a beloved cult classic. This sequel very much will do the same.

An American Tail (1986)

Amazingly and achingly beautiful movie

[10/10 · 23 June 2010]

Had never seen it before, am not so much a fan of animated movies. The classic song was all over, tried finding on you tube, found the movie version instead. Was instantly captivated. The animation was gorgeous, very old school Disney style and it was a truly heart tugging scene rather than the beautiful duet which was a million seller.

So had to get the movie. Was not disappointed in the least.

The animation was pure classical Disney style. Don Bluth's work I had seen before with Dragon's Lair which was reminiscent to me, especially some action scenes. The storyline was simple yet rendered well, heart tugging without becoming formulaic, and characters that hit your heart. Another reviewer had said something which I do agree with, this film stands above others by having elements which other animated movies shy away from, a true darkness and sadness, pathos and despair, the mirror to the soul. Fievel's journey is much more real due to those elements. You realize the despair and triumphs, innocence and growing up taking place before your eyes. Am now realizing that some highly touted modern animated films can't hold a candle due to those precise qualities.

A truly timeless classic. Kudos to all involved.

Dark Walker (2003 Video)

Loved it

[8/10 · 3 November 2008]

This movie makes no bones about what it is and wants to be. A return to the 80s slasher flicks. A plot that movies things forward without being pretentious or deep. Plenty of eye candy. A horrific monster that does what he is supposed to do, kill up everything in sight for disturbing the lands. All the good things a slasher movie needs to be.

Most of all, it was FUN. I get the sense that the case and crew had an absolute blast in making this movie.

I won't say which but there is this one other movie which purports to goes back to those days, but with a super high budget pretending to be low budget. It fails because it feels like a carefully researched numbers crunched cheese substitute. It didn't have the heart of classic low budget.

Dark Walker is the real thing, a FUN low budget popcorn movie. Hang out with your date and friends at a drive in for this one.

I got this one based on the name of a great actor and acquaintance, Chuck Williams. Took 2 years to finally watch it but darned glad I did. Chuck, you got a fun movie here!

And awaiting the sequel with baited (no anchovy) breath!

Night Gallery: The Phantom Farmhouse/Silent Snow, Secret Snow (1971) Season 2, Episode 5

A delicate and ethereal masterpiece

[10/10 · 6 September 2008]

This is not the first time this story has been told on film. But it is the finest version.

How can one quantify what makes this episode among the finest of the Night Gallery series? The choice of a delicate and un-nerving story of a boy's journey into autism, the soundtrack which underscores the journey, the excellent acting of young Radames Pera or the sublime narration by the late Orson Welles?

The name would be unknown back then but today, it would be a journey to autism as this story tells of a boy and his journey towards loneliness and isolation, a goodbye to the world of people.

The original story was written in 1934 and still holds timeless. No matter the time and date, it holds forth the truths of the human condition and the dark and lonely corners that inhabit within all of us.

Magic Journeys (1982)

Surrealistic movie

[9/10 · 17 October 2007]

A strange curiosity. The plot is pretty much nothing (but still more than a lot of today's things, sadly). The visuals were natural, full of wonder, very textural. Warm summer memories with surrealism thrown in. Viewing today, it is cornball, very 70's to 80's period but still entertaining.

In a message to Disney: RELEASE Magic Journeys on DVD as well as Captain Eo. There are fans clamoring to see these where they cannot see them anymore. Add them into the 7 year release cycle. Add in the Horizons Omnitheatre and the Circlevision movies as well. Collectors and people who enjoyed them int he past would purchase them. I sure as heck would!

CrissCross (1992)

Slice of life movie

[7/10 · 23 December 2006]

Slow paced as mentioned in another comment like a sleepy summer afternoon, the depiction of life in Key West in the late 60's rings true. It isn't polished and glitzy or glamorous. You can see this play out in your life or the life of friends.

the film centers around young David Arnott in the title role. The awkwardness and naturalism works in making it more real.

If you are looking for whizbang Hollywood value type of action here, this isn't the place. what you get is a true to life drama that can happen anywhere, at any place. David's moral choices are based on how he sees things as a real kid.

As a movie, it works well.

Altered (2006)

A very taut thriller

[9/10 · 22 December 2006]

Me likes. Unpredictable and a taut thriller. Pace begins the second the movie starts and doesn't let the mood go. Very much like Night of the Living Dead, this is a LONG and suspenseful night that leaves you on the edge of your seat.

Plot line is also pretty original for an alien movie plot line. Don't think I've seen any with payback for an alien abduction. Even then, the plot took itself in new directions. Unpredictable.

OK, so I admit a bias, knowing the producing crew. Even if I didn't, this movie is still pretty darned good and worth a view. A direct to DVD gem that really should have made theatrical release.

American History X (1998)

Amazing movie

[10/10 · 19 November 2006]

I gained a heck of a good person as a friend recently, after having misjudged him completely, and vice versa. This movie would have been part of said misjudgement, originally. I was expecting a more simplistic diatribe about hatred in typical style. Even watching it with a macrovision messing with my system (old TV, DVD player hooked directly through vcr kind of thing), this movie hit me like a steam train. Very powerful and moving performances and a helluva strong storyline make this movie a hell of a ride. Norton and Furlong and DAngelo work together well as a family hurt from hatred. Instead of merely using familiar symbols, American History X explores the deeper meanings, the root causes and effects on their lives.

Hellp (2006)

A powerful and moving testament

[10/10 · 17 November 2006]

Sure, we have all seen the news reports going hysterical during the time. But what was the aftermath, the REAL people that lived there? Hellp is a heck of a testament to all they went through. Not simply sound bites for a receptive audience, Hellp goes to the heart, real people affected and how their lives were overturned forever.

The most gut wrenching part for me was a young man, a victim of police brutality. Forever confined to a wheelchair. No more than 16 years old.

So much hurt, so much hope. From the horrifying to the rays of hope from volunteers and people willing to work to help out. Hellp is one to be remembered.

Keepers of the Frame (1999)

A very sad but important documentary

[10/10 · 16 September 2006]

Much of our film heritage has been lost over the years for various reasons. Keepers of the Frame is a documentary about the valiant attempts at finding and restoration of the treasures which may slip from our history forever.

If you are a film or history buff, this is very much a must see documentary. Be warned it can make you cry. The stars and people who speak in this documentary have the full heart and passion for the restoration. The sad part is when there are no known copies to exist, not even badly decomposed copies. Many movies are simply wiped from existence due to various reasons. Some may turn up in strange places, true hidden treasures with a far more incalculable value than any mere gold or silver.

Idle Hands (1999)

Hilarity and horror ensues

[10/10 · 29 December 2005]

I am turned off by smirky teen slasher movies. Tired and boring. They are a drug on the market, and tend to be bland as heck. This does not apply to merely the latest ones, but ones going back for many years.

Enter Idle Hands. Christmas present to myself. Why not? Was told it was a fun blend of comedy and horror. But YOW! I was NOT told that I was in for a wild ride! A previous review mentions the first 5 minutes looking like the typical cliché, until the fun kicks in. Well, the first 5 minutes came and went, then when devon appears, the movie threw the clichés out the door and settled down into an insane and goofy pace playing on the comedic talents of some seasoned child star vets who are armed and dangerous with comedy and not afraid to use it. The end result is an absolute delight. Not smirky, not self referencing this movie is genuine fun with genuine horror as well. A wild ride, ups and downs, giving you screams of fright and laughter.

A 10 out of 10 for me, this one is a keeper to show friends for parties.

A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)

A true masterpiece.

[10/10 · 23 October 2005]

Kubrick films always had the problem of being misunderstood for their time. That I believe is due to Kubrick reaching out for broader visions and questions and answers that simplistic audience expectations do not see. As an example, while "A Clockwork Orange" shocked and outraged due to the ultra violence, very few of the viewers realized the true nature of the movie, the morality of the loss of choice.

A.I. works on many levels, with the problem being that the main audiences today are raised on a pablum of 15 minute talentless stars and copycat story lines. When presented with a movie which has many moral and philosophical questions, they simply walk out of the theater.

A.I. was the perfect mesh of many talents coming together at the right time. It is a shame that Kubrick did not live to see the final cut. By passing the torch onto Spielberg, he helped give the movie the heart that Kubrick himself was not capable of giving it. Some may claim it to be a schizophrenic pairing, but I consider it to be perfection. More depth and from many angles.

Sure, the story may not be original. Our responsibilities to those who we love and who love us, Pinnochio, and the story of the civil war and slavery. But those are touchstones to build the entire story on.

Haley Joel Osment proves himself to be literally the finest child actor who ever existed by carrying this technically and emotionally demanding film. The audience that is capable of grasping the concepts and understanding of this film (as opposed to the other kind of audience who walks out and goes to catch the next Paris Hilton feature as the height of their intellectual capacity). The audience who can understand and identify with the concepts will be able to travel with David through his journey and sufferings as an innocent lost child who lost the love he cares for the most.

10-20 years from now, this is a movie that will be very much a requirement in film schools or philosophy classes. It is a true masterpiece that is ahead of it's time, and history will bear it to the rightful place it deserves.

Horizons (1983 TV Movie)

A dream of its time....now gone forever.

[10/10 · 6 October 2005]

Horizons was pretty much Carousel of Progress part 2. A vision of the future with a much bigger look. the Omnisphere movie bridged the gap from the past to the future. The images were amazing as you travelled slowly, suspended way up there in the middle. The images told of what would build the future.

It all worked. It really did.

And now the ride is gone, replaced by a spin and barf, if you pardon the expression. This is one film that hopefully someday may be re-released. So many Disney classics re-released, with the exception of inpark movies. Hopefully, that is a hint for the future, a message, Disney! Release these wonderful movies!

Stranger Than Paradise (1984)

the only movie I ever threw popcorn at.

[1/10 · 3 August 2005]

I love indie films. This one simply failed to engage me utterly. As far as I could tell, the entire plot line was of...

several ugly boring people sitting round, smoking cigarettes in the bleak lands of New York. Then off to Cleveland which is identically as bleak and boring for yet more smoking. Florida was supposed to be in there? not sure yet.

It may have been too much, too alien a movie for me, young at the time. But after seeing comments about it in here, I don't think I was far from my impressions about it.

I would have thought that bleak city movies about depression and loneliness would turn me off. But I ended up loving Midnight Cowboy. But Stranger Than Paradise simply shut me down, leaving me to throw popcorn and walk out....

Midnight Cowboy (1969)

A movie which proves that you CAN go beyond the norm.

[10/10 · 28 July 2005]

A movie that dives into themes not explored so eloquently, a raw slice of life, the rawest paean to loneliness I have ever seen. Some were shocked by the sexuality of the movie. But that was never the point. The loneliness really was what shocked more, IMHO. Sexuality was only a means to assuage loneliness. the friendship, a means to end the loneliness which is the truest theme. I cried when I saw it for that theme alone. Sexuality is cheap...companionship is a far more precious thing. Gather your friends and family round in your heart after viewing this. you will appreciate them more.

Very much like A Clockwork Orange, people were shocked by the violence in A Clockwork Orange and the sexuality in here. In both cases, the real point was missed. ACO had the main point of the loss of free will being a robbing of morality. and here....I think I said enough up there on it :)

Rollercoaster (1977)

True suspense in a time of rote disaster films

[9/10 · 17 July 2005]

The typical disaster film of the 1970's had the same predictable plot of showing different small groups of people, disaster strikes, people band together and struggle to safety, some die along the way.

Roller-coaster is none of these and was lumped in merely because of the time period and the accidents.

James Goldstone claims straight out that it is far more based on the Hitchcock movie "Strangers on a train". I have not seen that one so cannot compare it, but Roller-coaster definitely works on a solid storyline and mounting suspense rather than the simple disaster film formula.

Roller-coaster builds on excellent character study that help shape their actions within the movie. The film noirish world weary and sarcastic George Segal and his family relationships and the cold blooded business aspect of Timothy Parnassus, the "young man" (played by Timothy Bottoms) (if you want to know where the name came from, read the original story :)

*** SPOILER ALERT *** George Segal's character aspects come into play and are expanded upon, such as the entire riding sequences at King's Dominion. You can tell that he is NOT having a good time with this! The incredible riding shot fakeout is a masterpiece in which you assume you are having an onride film shot and then it appears to fly off the tracks, only to curve round as the train safely rounds its curve in one of the most amazing helicopter shots ever. (Goldstone got in trouble for this one).

Helent Hunt was OK but I wouldn't consider this a breakout role. No one else talks about Craig Wasson who played the hippy on the Revolution with the giant stuffed teddy bear who would later prove his acting worth in Brian DePalma's Body Double. Steve Guttenberg's role was more of a go-fer or lackey, rather than a park higher up.

The acting is solid as is the storyline. This movie still plays well today and is as exciting, even barring the 70's cheese. It is a far more solid movie than most of the dreck coming out of Hollywood today.