The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

    **** out of ****

     “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” is a classic tale of violence, greed, and deception; told through the eyes of director-co-writer Sergio Leone and through the performances of Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and Eli Wallach. What a spectacular film it is. It wasn’t well-received, particularly at its time, but it has since gone on to be regarded as a classic. Now, thanks to the film, Spaghetti Westerns are respected yet again; and that is how things shall stay for some time now. But as far as those films go, I’d have to say that this is the best I’ve seen. It’s a grand, sweeping epic built around spectacle, characters, story; all the key ingredients you need for a movie as long, visually stunning, and historically important as this one.

 Full review here.

The Darjeeling Limited

       **** out of ****

       I first watched Wes Anderson’s “The Darjeeling Limited” about two-to-three years ago. It was my first film in terms of the writer-director-auteur, and it wasn’t exactly a warm welcome to his wonderful world. I found it dry, sporadically funny and sometimes amusing, but nonetheless hollow at its core. It was lacking in both sincerity and depth for me. Then I saw “Rushmore”, “The Royal Tenenbaums”, “Bottle Rocket”, “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou”, and when it released, “Fantastic Mr. Fox”. Then I revisited “Darjeeling”. And I say that in a more literal sense than you may think.

     The full review.

Dawn of the Dead (1978)

    **** out of ****

Now THIS is the kind of movie that earned George Romero the title as the “King of the Zombies”, and I mean it. “Dawn of the Dead” is his masterpiece, among others. It arrives after “Night of the Living Dead” and continues from where that film left off. The dead walk the earth, as they should in every single zombie film in existence, but they do it in an odd, almost unique way here. Romero understands zombies, and he’s one of the only filmmakers out there able to use them as social satire. He re-invented this genre. And he created something much more here.

 

Full review here

Final Destination 3

    **1/2 out of ****
     

 With James Wong back in the director’s chair, “Final Destination 3” already has plenty of potential. I watched it and tried to enjoy myself, and I did. Wong is good at making movies like this. He knows how to stage death scenes and plot his movies in this franchise in an almost satirical, funny way. This installment is closer to what I liked about the first film than the first sequel, and it hits the spot, for what it is. Nothing can save it from its stupid, ludicrous plot and its shallow characters, but look at the bright side: at least you get to see them all die in genuinely creative ways.

              Probably the biggest down-side, aside from what I’ve already described, is that Tony Todd does not have a physical appearance in this film. He does, however, lend his vocals to a few cameo voice-roles. You’ll notice them off the bat if you know what Todd talks like; and how distinctive his awesome voice is. Oh yes: it is awesome. And you know it.

Read the full review here.

Blow Out

     **** out of ****

       “Blow Out” isn’t the most popular thriller in existence, and usually I’d have the ability to seek out the sources to why it’s so obscure and even forgotten, but alas, there are none. Besides…I don’t think it’s all that forgotten anymore. The film, written and directed by the exquisite Brian DePalma, was recently re-issued through the Criterion Collection; and they have never been so right about giving a first-rate thriller another chance at success. There is an audience for “Blow Out”. There always has been. Yet, I hear nobody talking about it, hardly anybody I know has seen it, but I want to change that as much as I can. Here we go.

         Plenty of people admire DePalma. His films are richly drenched in suspense, beautifully shot, and masterfully crafted. Aside from “Scarface”, I believe that this is one of the best DePalma films yet. That either means something to you or it doesn’t, and if it doesn’t, then you might as well forget about ever seeing this wonderful and skillfully-made thriller. And that, my friend, is too bad for you.

Full review here.

Kill, Baby, Kill

    *** out of ****

        Mario Bava’s more well-known films work a certain charm for me, and I think I know why. Bava himself is one of the few horror directors who ever lived that could master nightmare surrealism as well as he does. While some believe that films such as Lucio Fulci’s “The Beyond” capture the nightmare perfectly, I’m going to have to go along, disagree, and give people like Mario Bava more credit.

  And he deserves it. Bava is a very good filmmaker. I last saw “Blood and Black Lace” when it comes to Bava films, and you know what; I loved it. That is what a great giallo thriller should be; gruesome, bloody, perhaps a bit perverse; but ultimately passionate in each of the three. Now, I’m reviewing “Kill, Baby, Kill”, which you probably haven’t heard of; but I have, I did, and I saw it. And I’m glad.

 Read the full review.

Take Me Home Tonight

 *1/2 out of ****

 I admit to being somewhat of a sucker for era-comedies that are sure to evoke nostalgia out of their target audience. I enjoyed 2010’s “Hot Tub Time Machine”, which is some sort of comedic homage to the 1980’s. I won’t say that the film was completely drenched in inspiration or admiration for the good ol’ 80’s, but it worked, and dare I say, it was funny. The film has become a major guilty pleasure for me, but then again, I do actually believe that it’s a well-cast and hilarious piece of work. “Take Me Home Tonight”, yet another 80’s-era-modern-comedy, attempts to do all the same things that “Hot Tub Time Machine”, but due to a lack of truly raunchy charm, it underachieves.

     I don’t mind raunchy comedies. Often times, the truly raunchy comedies are the work of true comedy geniuses who know how to write profane but clever dialogue. I suppose this movie would have been an enjoyable and thoroughly funny one if it had not only embraced the 80’s as its era, but also if it had been attached to a better writer and a better director. There’s absolutely no inspiration here. Those who grew up in the 80’s may be a little more sympathetic than I am as a critic, but real movie-goers who are serious about even their comedies will probably find little funny or clever about the movie, because in spite of what it’s TRYING to do, “Take Me Home Tonight” has almost nothing going for it.

 Read the full review here.

Memories of Murder

      *** out of ****

       “Memories of Murder” is a beautifully directed, wonderfully acted murder-mystery thriller from Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-Ho. His previous film was “Barking Dogs Never Bite”, a witty satire; and the film that he followed up this one with was “The Host”. Now, I have always loved “The Host”; which is the best monster movie of the 2000’s, and perhaps my favorite of all-time; or at least one of them. I admire how Joon-Ho breathes new life in the form of satire and commentary into each of his films. Somehow, he manages to succeed in doing so yet again in this movie; which happens to be about something that most people wouldn’t even attempt to satirize: serial killers.

        This is, to my knowledge, the first serial killer-thriller that Bong Joon-Ho has directed. Yet, he still seems to know the basics; and he puts his own unique spin on the genre. He is a skilled filmmaker and he’s out to prove it. “Memories of Murder” works so well because it is not drenched in style, but it is very much interested in its characters and its narrative. Sometimes, of course, there are characters that feel a bit left out amongst others; but when you’ve got a movie this involving, you just don’t care all that much.

 

   Read the full review.

Barney's Version

 *** out of ****

      There’s something that I like about Paul Giamatti when it comes to his actions and his speech. He’s almost an awkward man; but he’s good at being that guy. He’s played assholes before his character in “Barney’s Version”, but this one takes the cake. It’s a good movie with a couple good stars and one very great one; and I’m sure you can guess who that is. It makes the most out of the source material, which is a novel written by Mordecai Richler. I haven’t read the book for myself, but as they always say, it’s probably better than the movie; but at least it got a good adaptation.

           Read the rest of this review here.

Final Destination 2

       ** out of ****

       Oh, this is getting tiresome already. “Final Destination 2” is a mediocre, stylish, violent sequel to yet another stylish, violent, but all-around surprisingly good original. “Final Destination” had its idea and its cruel sense of humor to back it up when it got, perhaps intentionally, absurd; but the sequel has even less. It seems to have abandoned the concept of using the premise for comedy, and instead most of the laughter comes from the filmmakers and people behind it. It’s obvious that we’re supposed to laugh when everybody dies a grisly death, but I’m just not seeing it.

Read the rest here.