The Crazies Review

I was in the mall today so I decided to catch matinee showing ($7.50) of "The Crazies". I am really pleased with this film. It's kind of if "Cabin Fever" and "28 Days Later" had a love child...it would probably be the Crazies.

(Personally, I'm a big fan of both of those flick).

Oh and seeing the trailer for "A Nightmare on Elm Street" remake on big screen was like an icing on the cake.

Title: THE CRAZIES
Genre: HORROR/ACTION/DRAMA
Director: BRECK EISNER
Summery: About the inhabitants of a small Iowa town suddenly plagued by insanity and then death after a mysterious toxin contaminates their water supply. (imdb.com)

The Crazies is a remake of George A. Romero's 1973 film of same name. I've seen it awhile ago and I thought it was pretty weak compared to Romero's other works ("Dawn of the Dead", "Night of the Living Dead"). I thought to myself, will the remake be any better? With an excellent remake of Dawn of the Dead, I thought to myself...maybe?

That's before I found who is directing it. The director of "Sahara" got attached to it directing this film. That's when I lost hope...and not like the director himself is responsible for the film but I didn't think Mr. Eisner had much experience to direct a horror movie...but neither did Zack Snyder. Hey, prove me wrong!

Anyway, I kinda forgot about this movie until the trailer come out. Everything about the trailer was great and I wondered if this could be one of those decent horror movies. I'm really happy to announce that the movie exceeded my expectation. When I sat down in theaters and even before the lights went off, I was prepared for just a decent popcorn flick.

I was pleasantly surprised from the very beginning. The story doesn't beat around the bush and jumps right in with opening shots that establish the location perfectly. Those were some really nice shots, I can add. Than without any dialogue we get to know the main character through a montage as he drives his car through the little town. That's very good storytelling since number one rule in filmmaking is...SHOW, DON'T TELL!

The story is very basic man vs. society that has been done many times before. The characters were great and the tension in the movie is very good. It reaches its peaks than slows down just to jump right back up. The scares follow mostly the basic formula for the horror movie but it does have few surprises here and there. Overall the action keeps the movie going as some of the dialogue feels a little stale. Nothing major thought.

Oh and I also have to add that the film has very solid cinematography. Visually, the movie is stunning and to me that's always a big plus. What can I say? I'm jealous :)

Overall, I give this movie a solid 7.8/10 - Worth checking out if you enjoyed "28 Days Later", "Cabin Fever", and "Dawn of the Dead" (2003). For some of course, the movie might seem like just a rental. It's up to you.

Trailer
imdb.com

A Nightmare on Elm Street Trailer

Daytime Drinking

I happened to run across an ad for this film online somewhere, so I added it to my Netflix queue. Had never heard of anyone involved but it turned out to be pretty good. Its a Korean film, basically about a guy who just broke up with his girlfriend and goes on a road trip to try to forget her, sort of a series of mini-vignettes with an odd sense of humor and some strange twists. Entertaining, I recommend it. IMDB link: Daytime Drinking

The Shutter Island Review

I just watched a late night showing of The Shutter Island and let's start by saying that it was a ten dollars well spent.

Title: THE SHUTTER ISLAND
Genre: DRAMA/MYSTERY/THRILLER
Director: MARTIN SCORSESE
Summery: Drama is set in 1954, U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels is investigating the disappearance of a murderess who escaped from a hospital for the criminally insane and is presumed to be hiding on the remote Shutter Island. (imdb.com)

When it comes to Martin Scorsese's films, The Shutter Island is not his strongest but at the same time it is a very good film on Scorsese's part. Visually it's stunning. The dream sequences are very powerful and the acting for the most part is strong. Leo DiCaprio, Michelle Williams, and of course Ben Kingsley really shine in this movie. I think that Mark Ruffalo's role was a miscast. Usually I enjoy Ruffalo's work but this time I really didn't feel his character. Also I have to note that the music was beautiful. Apparently no score was recorded for the film, instead Scorsese hired Robbie Robertson to ensemble already recorded material. I tip my hat because in my opinion it fitted the movie spot on! In fact my friend pointed out that the music style and sound editing reminded him of the older movies from the 60's. Now that I think about it, the music placement really gave my that (Alfred Hitchcock's) "Psycho" vibe, and now I know why.

The story itself tries to be complex but if you put it piece by piece than it is actually really easy. I think the plot was interesting and it had a very big premise but sadly I feel like it didn't delivery. It was wrong pacing for a mystery. Maybe it is because the idea has been done so many times but I believe that it's the script's fault. I haven't read it yet but I really believe that a better writing would have saved this movie from being too predictable.

Anyway, I really enjoyed it. I think that The Shutter Island is that kind of movie you don't want to think about the plot until the movie actually is over. When you finally can piece the movie together and you see that last scene that's when you really need to start thinking...the actions of the characters behavior as well as what was said...especially Teddy's last line.

So overall, I'm pretty pleased with the movie even thought it was not what I wanted it to be. And in the end I give this movie 8.4/10

P.S Don't be expecting a horror movie, it's a psychological thriller but only to a degree because the story shifts between different genres. It even has few good laughs.

Trailer
imdb.com

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GO (1999)

I recently saw GO for first time. I've been told to check it out for years but finally decided to watch it.

Directed by Doug Liman (Swingers, Bourne Identity, Mr. & Mrs. Smith)
Written by John August (Big Fish)

It was pretty rad, I mean it was fun and I really liked the storyline. It's not a masterpiece or anything amazing, however it's worth checking out. The story is told from three different points of view that come together in the end. It's about a drug deal that goes wrong. I really like how the story was put together piece by piece.

Unlike the original A,B, and C storyline...here pretty much everything happens at the same time. However, the way the movie is put together it's pretty much seems simple at first than gets more complex and interesting.

7/10

Trailer on youtube, click here
on imdb.com, click here

Few movies I saw recently,

So basically because of Netflix's instant watch, I try to watch as many films on there as I can and recently seen those:

Following - Christopher Nolan's first feature film. Highly recommend

Sunshine Cleaning - Interesting for what it was, worth renting.

World's Greatest Dad - Very enjoyable and well put together film. It's a bit of dark comedy and drama but defiantly worth checking out. It's ironic, strange, and fun.

Cabin Fever 2: Spring Break - Ehm, personally I thought it was decent. I'm a big fan of the first Cabin Fever but many people hated it. I think Cabin Fever 2 was just mindless fun and overall well combined horror and dark comedy. Winston character gets me all the time. It kinda felt like Jennifer's Body, which I also liked...maybe little too much for the film it was.

Nueve Reinas aka Nine Queens - A very well made criminal flick. I saw it few months ago but I just watched it again last week. I really like it. It's in Spanish with English subtitles but totally worth it. The American remake called "The Criminal" is not even half as good but still worth checking out so you can compare. Anyway, if you get a chance check out Nine Queens!

Tonight I plan on seeing 11:14 since it's on Netflix and I just read below that it was good. We'll see about that.

Anyone know what theater we're going to see Wolfman at tomorrow? Text me please; 727 507 1790 thanks!

Primer

"Primer" is the movie I mentioned in our first class, a super-low-budget film from Austin, TX, and one of the best time-travel movies I've ever seen. First time I saw it, I ended up rewatching it at least 5 times within one weekend just to try to untangle the story.

Definitely highly recommend it.

Oldboy

Hey all, glad to be here. Watching and discussing movies for homework? Gee, what a chore.

Just saw this Korean film called "Oldboy" directed by Chan Woo Park. Its from 2003, so possibly some of you have seen it before. Its an awesome story with a very unsettling ending.
Its got one particular action sequence that is amazing, a several minute fight scene all done in one take.

Highly recommended.

11:14

recently saw this movie

pretty awesome!

Hello all!

Let's talk about what we all know and love....movies!

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