Night of the Demons (2009)

I barely remembered the 1988 version of this movie. I just know it was bloody, chaotic and scary. This was none of those things. This movie was so bad it even killed careers. Edward Furlong and Shannon Elizabeth how far you have fallen.

The acting was horrible. The effects were extremely cheap and ridiculous. The script, the plot...oh so many things wrong with it. Even if I got those 93 minutes of my life back I would still not feel compensated enough.


Verdict: Only a drinking game would redeem this movie. 1 drink per cheesy line. (0 out of 5)

ps. Can I go lower than zero on these?

A Nigthmare on Elm Street (2010)

A remake of the 1984 suspense slasher film by Wes Craven. This new version of the original follows along the same lines as the original. Teens are having horrible nightmares about a burned man with knives on one hand. As they are killed in their nightmares they are also killed in real life. Trying to stay awake and find out what is going on, Nancy, finds a way to bring Freddy out of the dream world in order to kill him and be rid of him for good.

The plot is an exact copy of the original, but this was to be expected. The pacing of the movie on the other hand was horrible. Within minutes into the film you are able to clearly see the main antagonist. Bye bye suspense. The transitions between the real and dream were too clear on this remake. In the original it would take the viewer a few minutes to realize in which world the movie was in. This added to the confusion and lack of safety. The remake did away with this as well.

The actors in the film had horrible scripts to follow and the dialogue seemed contrived in several parts of the film. Not only was the acting simply average, but the characters were unimpressive and undeveloped. When one of them would be killed you would not find yourself gasping in horror, just simply yawning and looking at your watch. Lastly for a slasher film this remake had the lowest bodycount of its genre.

Verdict: Flat characters, no suspense, nothing scary about it. (2 out of 5)

Get Him to the Greek

An outrageous spin off to the movie Saving Sarah Marshall. Russell Brand reprises his role as Aldous Snow, an over the top rocker who has just recently returned to heavy drug use. Jonah Hill plays a mild mannered fan who works for a record company and an extremely over the top boss, Sean "P Diddy" Combs. He has to get the rocker to a sold out concert in 3 days, but the rocker is so outrageous and out of it that it leads him through a hilarious set of drug induced parties and extreme circumstances.

The movie is hilarious and the circumstances are quite believable. The movie does touch on a few subjects such as relationships with their loves and their family. These scenes are of course overshadowed by the rest of the debauchery and intense situations that Jonah's character is put through. There were a few scenes that were so over the top that they became really uncomfortable. These scenes even cross a line that almost made the rest of the movie unwatchable....almost.

Verdict: Extremely funny and fast paced, but some scenes were just too much. (3 out of 5)

Robin Hood (2010)

Another adaptation of the old English folklore hero. This time Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett lead the story of how the outlaw came to be. The story starts with Robin Longstride, his original name before becoming an outlaw, fighting in the last battle of a ten year long Crusade for King Richard. This Crusade has proven exhaustive for the troops as well as for England in resources. As the battle is about to finish the King is killed and Robin uses the opportunity to make his way back home to England. Through lies and deceit he becomes the son of one of the nobles and Marian's husband. His deceit is eventually discovered but he is able to rally all the disgruntled nobles of England to fend off a French invasion. Regardless the new and incompetent King John declares him an outlaw for his deceit.

The story is well told and the acting if of expected high quality from all the A-list actors involved. It is a refreshing change of pace to see the story told in a gritty and non-romantic perspective. You will not see any Merry Men wearing leotards on this movie. No cheesy archery tricks. The only negative about this movie is the length of it. Its only 140 minutes, but the pace of it at times makes it seem like a 3 hour movie. The fight scenes are great, but there are a few too many plotlines going on and it becomes exhausting by the end.

Verdict: Great adaptation of a  classic story. Slow pace at times and lengthy. (3 out of 5)

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

I'll begin by saying that I have not played the video games that this movie is based on. From my experience that is usually a good thing. Same thing happens with books and movies. If you read the book then usually the movie will not live up to the expected translation. Well needless to say Prince of Persia was an enjoyable flick for me.

Movie's plot is nothing spectacular. Outcast taken in by rich family, he falls in love with a princess, betrayed by family, clears his name and gets the girl. Nothing new and pretty standard plot...I cant help to think of a live version of Aladdin when I see this movie. The special effects were done very well and used rather sparingly for the most part which is a welcome change from the Mummy series and such. The acting was good as was expected from such big name actors as Jake Gyllenhaal, Ben Kingsley and others. Now the choice of actors is a bit of a problem.

As you might have heard there was a bit of controversy when this movie was cast since it is based in the middle east and there are plenty of non-caucasian actors capable for the roles. I personally agree that the casting should have been a bit more "accurate", but then again Im sure that the Hollywood machine uses the A-listers in order to bring in the crowds (Jake was the eye candy for the female demographic).

Verdict: Lots of action, great effects, questionable casting, predictable plot. (3 out of 5)

Dead Alive aka. Braindead

When I saw that Peter Jackson (known for the Lord of the Rings movies) had written and directed a zombie flick some time ago I just had to see it. The movie was made in 1992 so I expected the effects to be a bit dated. The movie makes up for it by adding a lot of quirky humor to the film. The biggest aspect of this film is the amount of gore. There are just bucket loads of blood and gore. If you think that you have seen a bloody and violent film, Dead Alive will beat it by a landslide. The storyline and dialog are lacking, but again due to the humor of the film it is hard to tell if this was done on purpose just for laughs.


Verdict: Dated effects, quirky humor and tons of blood and gore. (3 out of 5)

Resident Evil: Afterlife

Oh where to start. To be honest I have seen all of the Resident Evil films as well as played many of the games that the films are based on. I knew to expect a high action, high special effects, lots of gun play, one hot Milla Jovovich and very little else. I got what I expected and more (not in a good way) from this last installment in the series. So bad news first then good news?

The action and cool effects are a top priority such as in previous films. Notice I said "cool effects" not special effects. By that I mean the director/writer Paul W. S. Anderson discarded all suspension of disbelief in order to do what he might have considered a "cool" effect. Biggest example was the shotgun that used coins for ammo. Really? Who thinks that's ok? Five year olds that's who. Alice, the main protagonist, also has her superhuman/psionic abilities stripped from her, yet she fights just as well as before. Overuse of slow motion makes mundane actions into slow and painful ones (Ex. every time a gun is thrown through the air). These are just the tip of the iceberg-sized amount of holes in many of the scenes.

The main plot is also flawed before the movie even begins. The protagonist is trying to stop the large corporation, The Umbrella Corporation, from continuing their experiments on the remaining human population in a largely devastated planet. What is their motivation? The planet is completely destroyed, which means no economy. Power perhaps? Still nothing is left so whats the point.

Well even with all this mess there are good news. The 3D effects I have heard are very good. Sadly I didnt get to see the film in 3D. Milla Jovovich and Ali Larter in slow motion...a lot of slow motion.

Verdict: Good 3D effects, horrible plot and action scenes, Milla Jovovich and Ali Larter in slow motion. (2 out of 5)

The Other Guys

I was really looking forward to seeing this movie. Judging from the trailers it seemed like a very funny movie. Not only was I not disappointed, but it was even funnier than I expected. The combination of Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg was amazing! The characters these two played were such a great fit and the extreme contrast of the two personalities was so over the top that it added to the comedy just perfectly. The soundtrack to the movie was pretty good as well. There is a bar scene with music by Black Eyed Peas ("Imma Be") that was so simple yet hilarious. The story behind it all was also very good (nonsensical at times, but a good message).

Verdict: Hilarious, great story, great soundtrack. (5 out of 5)

La Horde

I am a HUGE fan of zombie flicks and this one was intense!! The film is French and there was an extreme amount of gore and the setting was great for the genre. The way the zombies behaved was also very unique (see spoiler below). The only problem with this flick was that it was French so finding a subtitled version was nearly impossible. Even then the subtitles were so horribly translated that one at times could not tell what the people were talking about. For example, one of the characters is somewhat crazy and it was specially hard to understand since I couldn't tell if it was the crazy or the bad translation.

Verdict: Intense, gory and definitely worth a watch, but hard to follow subtitles. (3 out of 5)

<<< Spoiler Alert Below>>>>

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

Just saw Scott Pilgrim in the theater and its was a lot of fun. It was specially fun if you are a gamer...or have A.D.D. The movie is very fast paced and, although I have not read the comic book version of it, it has a very comic book feel. The story was decent and a bit predictable, but the rest of the movie was so over the top that it really didn't take away from the movie. One of those types of movies you just cant take seriously but it definitely has A LOT of gaming references (blatant and hidden) throughout the movie.

The biggest aspect of this movie that sets it apart is the film's cinematography and editing. Simply amazing and I feel that it sets the bar for a lot of comic-based films. If Last Airbender or even the Dragonball movies were shot like this then they would have been much more enjoyable. At least visually.

Verdict: Great visuals and a lot of fun. (4 out of 5)

Intro

Hey whoever is reading this. Welcome to my blog. This is a spot to write and rant about movies I have seen. Whether they are good or bad or whatever. I love going to movies in theaters, renting movies, borrowing movies (sometimes not giving them back, sorry) and all kind of movies. So....yeah. Hope you like and feel free to comment or just say hi.

Oh and if you don't really like the blog then please let me know how to improve it in a constructive way. If you're just going to be a jerk don't bother.

Thanks for stopping by.