Spoiler warnings for both movies, but I don't try to hard to ruin it for you.



I'd honestly rank H&K 2 right up there with the first one.  There's a few funny scenes, and the movie drags on a bit too long by the end.  

Oh, and NPH steals the show once again.

I do love that this one starts up RIGHT after the first film, which a lot of sequels don't tend to do, but for whatever reason I love it when this happens.  It's why I enjoy Halloween 2 a hell of lot more than I probably should.

The humor is still on the stoner side of things of course, but it's not something like Cheech and Chong, where I feel like you literally have to be fucking stoned to find it funny.  There's some decent race humor, and I'm sure most of you can more or less figure out how they get sent to "G-Bay" in the first place (ethnicity issues arise!), but right after they make it out, it kinda turns into a replica of the first film.  

I mean really, did they have to do the damn going home with a redneck and hijinx ensue joke again?  

So yeah, some of the stuff feels pretty stale, but once again the NPH stuff is gold.  I kinda hope they don't bother to do a full film on him though, if only because I don't think the writers are capable of putting together an hour and half joke revolving around Harris' character of himself.  It works well as a 10-15 minute sequence, but I don't see it sustaining a whole fucking film.  

Also, while some of the humor works, a lot of it is pretty fucking retarded, and some it seems ripped out of 80's Revenge of the Nerds / Animal House stable of jokes.  You've got this jocky, Alpha Male character who ends up being completely what you think he is, and then there's the authority figures that manage to be a threat to H and K evne though they're obviously completely retarded.  One incredibly stupid sequence has the main "villian" using an interpreter to speak with Harold's parents, even though they speak perfect english.  Every time they respond to the interpreter in english, he, and the villian, act like they can't understand what they're saying, and go so far as to say the parents are speaking gibberish.  By this point we've well established that the villian is pretty fucking racist, and this sequence is really fucking stupid, and drains most of the humor out of the joke.  

Anyways, it's just alright.  In the post Apatow world of R rated comedies it doesn't really have a lot going for it, other than some gratitous nudity and a bit more gross out humor than some of the other stuff out there.  


Doomsday, on the other hand, was fucking awesome.  I was prepared to already like the movie going in, which is pretty fucking bias I guess, but I don't review movies for a living, so who cares?  I liked Dog Soldiers quite a bit, even if I was one of the last people on Earth to actually see it, so I knew the gore and physical FX stuff could be well done.

I was fully prepared to see some kind of modern take on a Mad Max vehicle going in, but I was pretty surprised with how closely the movie echoed Escape from New York, right down to a Carpenter-esque soundtrack, and the main character Major Sinclair (the super hot Rhona Mitra), sporting one eye and an eyepatch thru the majority of the film.  

There's nothing particularly electrifying about the acting or the cast, other than Rhona Mitra is hot, and plays up a Ripley/Plissken hybrid really well, and the character Saul (a rock star like cannibal gang leader), who puts on a solid performance as a threatening psychopath in every scene he pops up in.

Also, the movie uses Bob Hoskins, which more movies really should do.  

The gore doesn't disappoint, and what I really love about it is that it all feels pretty real.  I can completely imagine that someones face would look like that after a shotgun blast to the head at close range, or that someones hand would get mushed in that fashion if they stuck it into a closing blast door of sorts.  The action itself is shot really well too, you don't have any trouble following the fight sequences and shoot outs, and there's not a lot of shaky cam effects, or a ton of shitty WS Anderson Quick Cuts that keep you from being able to figure out what the fuck is going on.

The only real complaint I have with the movie is towards the end, when Sinclair and the others come across the car and phone in a pretty fucking convienient manner.  I guess maybe they had mapped this out prior to entering the zone, but if they did it wasn't really explained all that well.  I can't complain too much though, since this leads into the pretty awesome car chase/fight sequence that probably tops whatever Death Race is going to show us this weekend.  

There's even a little bit of an Aliens nod, whether it's intentional or not, in the vehicles that Sinclair's team arrive in the hot zone with.  Also the idea of the team feels a bit like the Colonial Marines, but they're not nearly as fleshed out as Vasquez, Hicks, and the other guys.  

Also, I love that Mitra's character is pretty much just reffered to as either Major, or Sinclair.  You don't even learn her first name till the last third of the movie, and nobody fucking uses it.  It just reminds me of a classic action hero name, and it's easy to remember. 

Still, it's one hell of a sci-fi action flick, and I really loved it.  Lots of violence and gore, and one particularly gruesome scene that I'll make the weak stomach people cringe I imagine, but it's not shown in a boring Gore Porn fashion, and the actual action is fun and pretty constant.  The ending opens up the way for a sequel, but I'm not entirely sure we'll ever see that happen. 

#56

Part of me was taken back by how much I enjoyed Cloverfield.  I knew going into it that I would like it, but even a few days later (I saw it on Friday), I'll still say I loved it.

The found cam footage doesn't get as tired as you might think, and part of that can be attributed to the brisk run time (somewhere around 75 mins, sans credits).  The CGI effects are spectacular, and the monster design is pretty damn unique.  If you wanted to compare it to anything, think of the texture of the monster from "The Host", but as far as the actual look goes, well, I can't really come up with much.

The main gut of the film takes about 20 minutes to really kick off, and it doesn't let up from that point on.  There are a few quiet moments spread about, but they're pretty short, and when they do kick in they tend to impact the audience pretty well.  In particular, there is a gut wrenching scene in the subway, where one of the characters has to inform his mother via phone that his brother has died during the escape.  The completely unrecognizable actors (I can't place a single face in anything else I've ever seen) really help to sell the cam footage feel of the movie, so nothing really brings you out of the experience.  

New York City's grand destruction definitely echo's some of that 9/11 feel from all the footage we've seen of the falling towers, especially in a scene that happens directly after the decapitated Statue of Liberty, where a building collapses after being hit, and a huge cloud of dust and debris engulfs everyone that's run out into the street.  I can imagine certain things being hard to watch for survivors or people that were on the scene, but I honestly don't feel that its exploiting that as some have suggested (FOX News, ugh).  

There's other mass destruction sequences that are pretty effective, but the lasting impressions come from viewing the after effects.  When the cast mounts a rescue operation for the main character's gf, they manage to make it to her apartment building only to find it leaning against another high building for support.  It's a pretty striking image, and the interior parts of this scene are handled really well.  

I have to suggest seeing it in the theater, mostly because I think a lot of the effect will be lost on a smaller screen, but it's one hell of a ride.  


#57 - Godfather Part 2

Fantastic movie, and I definitely enjoyed it more than the first.  

In particular, the scenes with DeNiro playing young Vito were the best, and his "rise to power" didn't play out quite like I would have suspected.  Seeing him finally get revenge against he man who murdered his family was satisfying, and it was interesting to compare how different his family building was to that of Michael.

The stuff with Mike was definitely good, but as he lost more and more of his core family, he becomes a bit less interesting to watch.  The film is supported well by the diverse cast, but as they begin to disappear towards the last act it just feels more distant.  

Definitely top notch though, and while I know i should avoid Godfather Part 3, I have to see it to quell the curiousity of how they went wrong with that one. 

#43 - Paprika

Holy shit.

HOLY.

SHIT.

I was completely blown away by this one.  

Absolutely wonderful anime/film by Satoshi Kon (Tokyo Godfathers, Perfect Blue, Millenium Actress) adapted from a novel/short story.  The art direction is fantastic, and the over all theme and plot is pretty damn good.  I'm not entirely sure EXACTLY what caused me to love this movie so much, but I absolutely do.  

It's hard to go into detail about it without ruining the movie for folks, but I'll give some scant details.  

Basically it revolves around a device that allows its user to join in on a dream with someone else wearing the same device.  The theory is that using this can help in the field of psychiatry and what not, which in itself isn't quite a unique idea.  However, something (or someone) goes wrong and causes something akin to a viral dream that runs rampant thru people causing them to go mad, and the gut of the story is figuring out what is happening and how to stop it.

Paprika does a fantastic job of bringing a dream world to life, and is probably the best I've seen at capturing the complete random oddness of being in a dream and realizing that you're actually dreaming.  

I can't suggest this one enough, you pretty much have to go out and at least rent this over the weekend or something.

Also, fucking brilliant on Blu Ray.  My new favorite disc easily.

SUPER MARIO GALAXY!  I'm totally picking this up today, and my excitement is at an all time high while I peck this out on the keyboard at work.  Only a few more hours to go...

Gamefly is pissing me off.  So is Netflix.  Yes, I know we had a "holiday" that caused the Post Office to be closed on Monday, but dammit, neither of them have updated with anything recieved or shipped.  

I somewhat expect this from Gamefly, it usually takes a few days for them to get my games back.  However, the last group I sent back ended up getting that "Fast Return" shit applied to them (meaning the PO scanned them in, which notifies Gamefly that the games are on the way and thus they can safely send me new ones), but it doesn't look like that is happening with these two.  That doesn't make sense, because I always go to the same PO to drop my stuff off.  If they weren't billing out for the month today I'd probably drop them and just pick up a game or two at Blockbuster here and there.  

Netflix, on the other hand, is surprising.  Since I've resigned back up with them, they've been incredibly consistent.  I send back a movie, they recieve and ship a new one the next day, I have the movie in my hands on day 3.  However, I dropped off two on Monday (PO closed day), and one yesterday, and they haven't recieved any of them.  If I've entered the fabled throttle zone I'll drop them too.  Fuckers.

I got some new review games in yesterday, two of which I wasn't expecting.  So now I've got Mario and Sonic Olympic Games (ehh), Viva Pinata Party Animals (ugh), and Virtua Fighter 5 online (yay!) to check out.  I'm happy to see that VF5 doesn't seem to have any online achievements, which is good because I'll be getting my ass handed to me by everyone I'm sure.

Yes, yes, I've never seen Casablanca before, but I will say I enjoyed it.

I'm not BIG on old Hollywood flms, but there are a few I like, mostly Hitchcock stuff and in particular To Kill a Mockingbird.  Love that one.  However, Casablanca manages to stand out pretty well for me, even though I more or less knew the plot from all the homage/parody bits that I've seen in hundreds of other shows and movies beforehand.  

Rick is a great character, and reason enough to watch the movie.  The dialogue bits he has with everyone in the movie is fantastic, and you can tell that Hollywood has mined him a bit for other iconic "cynical hero" roles.  

I watched this in HD too, and the transfer is pretty great.  It also retains the correct aspect ratio, and doesn't try to stretch the film out for widescreen TV's, which is nice.  

Another classic that I want to see is "The Adventures of Robin Hood", which is also on HD, but the trailer included on the Casablanca disc doesn't look too hot quality wise, which will be a shame since it looks to be a pretty colorful film.  


Side note:  I watched the first disc of Flight of the Conchords and definitely loved it.  It's a bit cheapened to me only because I've seen a lot of the musical bits already, but Mel is fucking awesome, and the highlight of the first disc has to be episode 3 with the muggers. 

#35 - Hellraiser 3

Jesus Christ (lawlz not quite), this movie sucks.  I thought I had seen it before, but I guess I only saw the nightclub massacre scene.  I get what they were doing, trying to make Pinhead into the BIG THREAT, because really in #1 it was Frank and in #2 it was the Doctor, but he works so much better as a pawn mover/psychological element than he does a Freddy/Jason slasher guy.  I didn't mind the explanation too much, about how the Pinhead entity is seperated from the soldier guy, but still, laaaame.  

Also, who the hell greenlighted those replacement "cenobites"?  Camera-Head Guy, CD Tosser, and Dragondude are horrible.  Oh, and the scene where the main character, Joey, is running down the street and all this shit is exploding around her is stupid bad.  Ugh.  I can't imagine Hellraiser in space being worse than this one, but I guess I'll find out eventually. 

Rounding out the Freddy films, New Nightmare can easily be viewed as a stand alone film what with its "breaking the 4th wall" stuff.  Still though, it's easily the second best of the series, in part because of Craven's involvement, and because the premise is pretty damn interesting.  

Basically this movie revolves around the actual actress from the first film, 10 years later, who is married and has a young son.  She's been recieving harrassing phone calls for quite some time, from someone that most assume is a whacked out Krueger fan that taunts her with the Krueger nursery rhyme.  On top of this, California has been experiencing a large number of earthquakes, and the stress of both things have begun to take a toll on her. 

Add into the mix that her son has been having nightmares that apparently involve Krueger, her husband is secretly working on a mechanical Krueger glove for a new Nightmare move that Wes Craven is making, and that she's been asked to reprise her role as Nancy, and things spiral out from there.  

The basic idea is that Craven writes the movies as his nightmares occur.  He has one, wakes up, writes it down, and so on.  Later on, as the threat of Freddy seems to be more and more real, including physical manifestations of his actions showing up, Craven explains to Nancy that Krueger is some type of ancient evil, and that he originally created the Nightmare series as a way to bottle that evil and keep it contained in story form.  When the series was declared over, the evil began to get stronger, and is slowly breaking out from its confines.  It takes the form of Freddy because that's what it has been for so long, and it is striking out at Heather due to the role she played as Nancy, and because she was the first person to humiliate Krueger in the films.  

One thing I love about this movie is Krueger himself.  They change his design around a little bit, and the minor changes really do make him look more evil than his film counterpart.  The makeup is upgraded, and the additions of a black coat and no hat do just enough to differentiate him from the other films.  That, and his "humor" is dialed way back.  Everything he does say that's supposed to be like a one liner is just fucked up, like when he imitates the Tina kill in the first film with the babysitter in the hospital. 



Anyways, great movie, and I'd like to see someone carry the darker Freddy a bit further sometime, but that probably won't be happening.  Not that I have a problem with how Freddy was represented in F vs J, but still, it'd be a nice change.  

Alright, so yeah, I've seen this movie before, quite a few times.  HOWEVER, in the spirit of the month and what not, and based on a discussion I had with Tommy about watching all the movies this week, I'm putting this (and the sequels) in the list.  




Anyways, watching it last night I was a bit surprised by how much I really, really like this movie.  There's some cool things done as far as effects go, and the acting, for a teen slasher, is really decent.  

Couple things I wanted to point out that I actually paid attention to last night.  

You know how in movies that involve dreams they usually go out of their way to make you realize you're IN the dream?  Like different color tints, heavy fog, etc?  

When Nightmare starts, it begins with a dream sequence.  It also totally lets you know that you're watching a dream/nightmare play out, but it doesn't go for the big obvious ways of letting you know.  Instead you get two things:  1) A Sheep,  and 2) The nightgown.  I dunno why this struck me as so fantastic, but when I started to watch #2 (which I think is my least favorite) I realized how drawn back these sequences really were compared to the later films.  

Also, while the mythology of Freddy is pretty good, the first film doesn't even bother to explain to you HOW he's able to attack people in their dreams, and it's much better for it.  The only part of the film that I think this hinders is the end, which is kind of nonsensical.  Outside of that, so much focus is spent on the survival aspect that it helps make the movie far more tense than it would have been if they had really spent time on the dream mumbo jumbo stuff (which a couple of the later films really go over the top on).  



And the Gore!  I started to sit down and watch #2 last night, but made it about half way thru before I fell asleep.  Like I said, its easily my least favorite, and one of the reasons for that is because the kills just suck.  Nightmare 1 has the really memorable kill with Depp and all the blood, but the first kill is pretty awesome to, and if I remember correctly is used again in the last film (at the hospital?).  There's a couple things in the film that they try to do as a "gross out" which come off as kind of lame,  (muddy snakes, centipedes) but for the most part the gore is spot on and well used.  

Oh, and another favorite scene?  When Nancy is daydreaming at the school, and she sees her dead friend in the hall.  There's just something eerie about when she reaches the hall, and it pans back to show the friend in the body bag being hoisted up by her legs by an invisible force and dragged out of sight.  I love that visual.  

Anyways, easily one of my most favoritest horror movies ever.  There are about two Nightmare films I haven't seen (I think 4 and 6) which I'll get to by the end of the weekend.  This stretch will cover all the way from Nightmare 1 to Freddy Vs. Jason.  Then maybe I'll tackle the Jason films next, even though I don't feel like they stand up as well.  

I finished Half Life 2 (the main game) a couple days back, and I'm nearly done with Episode 1 which is surprisingly short.  I will say that I think Team Fortress 2 is a pretty disappointing experience on the 360, the user hosted service stuff is so hit or miss, and usually the connection I tend to get with whoever is hosting a game is completely shit.  

It is, however, a blast to play when you get a good game going.  It's very different from your typical console shooter multi experience.  The emphasis is strong on team play, in that you can't just rush out and get kills.  You have to work together with your teammates, and carefully plot out your course of action depending on the type of game you're playing.  It takes a bit to get into the mindset necessary to do this, but once you grasp a hold of it, well, it's a lot of fun.  I might just pick up the PC version down the line so I can play it on something a bit more stable though.

I started on Sega Rally Revo, which is a new entry into their classic Rally/Arcade series.  The game is fucking beautiful, it does a great job of capturing that Arcade racer feel.  I'd love to play it with a wheel, but I can't justify the purchase.  If you pick it up, i suggest you quickly shift your view from the Chase cam to the Bumper one, because I fishtailed like a motherfucker in the Chase view.  I know some people don't have trouble with it, but for the casual player I'd highly suggest it.  Other than that, its a lot of fun to sit down and play in bursts.  The music is kinda disappointing though, which is a shame because it's usually really good, but it has custom soundtracks at least.

Tonight I'm going to pick up a few Live Arcade games that I've missed out on, most likely Pac-Man CE, TMNT the Arcade Game, and then a toss up between Double Dragon, Streets of Rage 2, or Sonic 2.  Sonic with achievements intrigues me, but it's been a loooong time since I played the arcade version of Double Dragon.  

I've hit my skill level wall in Halo 3 Team Slayer apparently.  I'm stuck firmly in the 8 to 9 range, so I'm switching up to the Lone Wolf style to try and hone my skills a bit.  The only thing I don't like about Lone Wolf is how much the King of the Hill and Capture the Ball modes show up.  I'd prefer to play a bit more old school Deathmatch, and I'll have to see if I can filter that or not.