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Agreed on pretty much all points regarding Club Dread, Usual Suspect. I like Scary Movie, but Club Dread does what it tries to do (the whole spoofing thing), and does it better, and much more cleverly. Very nice review.
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28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
DAY 131: January 11th, 2009.

The Abyss



One of Cameron's films that is really good...people really like it, yet rarely gets mentioned among his films. It's always Aliens or Terminator, or if you're a young teenage girl Titanic. Yet here is a film that is beautiful, thrilling, haunting and quite emotional.

The special effects are stunning even by today's standards. Well before Cameron 'perfected' it in T2. The cast is strong and the performances from everyone is outstanding. I still sit on the edge of my seat when Bud is trying to revive Lindsey.

The message of the film is strong and the last 20 minutes are truly wonderful. The tidal wave climax is still one of my favourites. A lot of people praise Cameron as a director, but you never really hear them give his due in writing. Yet he writes all his own movies. The Abyss is not short of great characters, story or depth.

Check it out if your a sci/fi fan, or just looking for a great entertaining flick.

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28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
DAY 132: January 12th, 2009.

Tremors



A classic B-horror movie monster flick and it stars KEVIN BACON!!!!!

When I first saw Tremors, I was a bit upset over the false advertising on the cover art. These monsters looks nothing like that cover. I was expecting something big and with some teeth!!! so after knowing what the film was like, the second viewing was more enjoyable and now it has become a sort of favourite of mine. At the very least a favourite in the genre of cheesy b-movie horror monsters.

Fred Ward and Kevin Bacon work well off each other and the supporting cast do their numbers in acting scared. It's really the chemistry that the two leads have that get the audience into the flick. It's a shame that Bacon didn't reprise his role in the sequel, which tried to emulate what Bacon and Ward had, but fails.

The effects now, make me smile. If this film were done today, it would be littered with CGI and nothing about it would feel real. These monsters have a sense of texture to them, which helps the tension. The film doesn't need to rely on gross out humour either. The laughs rely on the reaction of these characters in the predicaments they are in. Believe it or not, this is a smart film and one that I believe is underappreciated, despite spawning numerous sequels.

Tremors is a great flick for those looking for some monster fun.




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Wow, The Abyss. That brings back memories, I haven't seen that film in years. I may re-watch it at some point in the near future.
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It's been a long time since I watched that CGI ground breaking film too.
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DAY 131: January 11th, 2009.

The Abyss

One of Cameron's films that is really good...people really like it, yet rarely gets mentioned among his films. It's always Aliens or Terminator, or if you're a young teenage girl Titanic. Yet here is a film that is beautiful, thrilling, haunting and quite emotional.

The special effects are stunning even by today's standards. Well before Cameron 'perfected' it in T2. The cast is strong and the performances from everyone is outstanding. I still sit on the edge of my seat when Bud is trying to revive Lindsey.

The message of the film is strong and the last 20 minutes are truly wonderful. The tidal wave climax is still one of my favourites. A lot of people praise Cameron as a director, but you never really hear them give his due in writing. Yet he writes all his own movies. The Abyss is not short of great characters, story or depth.

Check it out if your a sci/fi fan, or just looking for a great entertaining flick.

Very nice review, sir. I don't want to give anything away, but you'll be seeing The Abyss in the near future in my Top 100 list thread. I agree with everything you said about it (except I'd give it the full
), and the extended cut of the film is by far the superior version. Without its ending, an entire sub-plot and universal theme (or message/warning, rather) is missing from the film.



28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
DAY 133: January 13th, 2009.

8MM



Every time I think of Joel Schumacher I cringe. Is Batman & Robin really so bad that it makes me want to disregard the rest of his films? He's not a bad director, hell I enjoy some of his work, yet I still cringe when I hear his name. Let's take a look at 8MM, something that is the polar opposite of B&R.

It stars Nic Cage as a private investigator, hired to find out if the content on an 8MM tape found in a safe of a recently deceased millionaire is real. The tape is referred to as a snuff film, which is a pornographic film that ends with the murder of the female. So, already we have ourselves a pretty dark and disturbing film here. Yet, as I watched it I felt that is played it a little too safe.

Upon research you will find out the writer and the director had a falling out over the film. The studio wanted it to be a bit lighter, and the director agreed. While the writer, who also wrote Se7en, wanted to keep the gritty disturbing feel he had originally wrote. The final product is a film that tries to be more hardcore then it actually is.

Nic Cage really seemed to be playing by the numbers here. He is more monotone then usual I thought and didn't really seem invested in his character. Joaquin Phoenix on the other hand immerses himself into this world. Playing the sidekick who is smarter then he looks. The supporting cast also includes James Gandolfini, doing what he does best and Peter Stormare. Both stretch out beyond the page and embody their characters. With Gandolfini, we've seen him do this character before. But with every performance there is just one little thing that makes them all seem different every time.

I was really underwhelmed with this flick. It was a bit longer then it needed to be, just over 2 hours. You go along for the investigative ride and are interested with the story, but at the end you just feel empty. Never connecting with the relationship between the main character and his wife he neglects. Some scenes that were meant to be powerful came off as comedic to me, specifically the "Give me permission to hurt them" bit near the end.

I did enjoy the film, but wanted more. The ingredients were there to make a really good film, but the final product falls a bit flat. It's a rental, or if you are really a big fan of anyone involved . I will say this though, I wouldn't mind if Cage went back to making movies like this instead of the filler he's been cranking out the last few years.




... I will say this though, I wouldn't mind if Cage went back to making movies like this instead of the filler he's been cranking out the last few years.
Jesus!?!? How bad are the films he's making now, if you wouldn't mind him going back to stuff this bad?

Cage. I really do hate him.



28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
Jesus!?!? How bad are the films he's making now, if you wouldn't mind him going back to stuff this bad?

Cage. I really do hate him.
Pretty bad.

Not quality wise, more story structure wise, which I think this film did a decent job at. Slowly reveal bits and bits till the end. Not running around in a giant bear suit.



28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
DAY 134: January 14th, 2009.

BOLT



The dog of a big television show thinks everything he is doing is real, until he escapes "by accident" and is shipped far away to New York. Now he must find his way back to the little girl he loves and protects all while thinking he still has these special powers.

The film's animation is nothing spectacular, but will please the little ones. The opening sequence is a scene from the television show, so it's packed with fast paced action and editing. Well done and interesting to see how the incorporated the dog into a superhero fighting everything from guys on motorcycles to helicopters.

The story itself is good enough to keep me interested and doesn't really get too stale. It goes through the required cliches of this type of flick, finding out he has no powers, feeling bad and upset, then realizing he still loves the girl and wants to get back to her, blah blah blah. It's all there, so don't expect anything really new in that department.

The voice acting is basic, specifically from the leads, Miley Cyrus and John Travolta. Is she in character? Or playing herself? The cat and the hamster steal the show in every scene they are in. Good chemistry between the three characters on their way back to Hollywood, which makes for some good laughs and more toys for the little ones to buy.

I can recommend the film because it is entertaining, feels like this years Kung Fu Panda, then again it feels like this years any animated film that isn't Pixar. Give it a look, the inclusion of the cat and hamster characters give it enough of a comedic touch to make it slightly above average.




28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
DAY 135: January 15th, 2009.

STRAW DOGS



Maybe it's because I was born in 87 and grew up in the 90's, and have been bombarded with so much violence that a film like Straw Dogs seems tame to me. I guess coming out in the same year as A Clockwork Orange didn't help, since that film goes into the extremes of violence and rape, both which are apparent in Straw Dogs as well.

This being the one and only Peckinpah film, I can't really decide if I'm a fan. Sure it was well made and acted, but the film left me empty inside. I hated the characters of the village, of course, but didn't really root for anyone in the end.

Dustin Hoffman is at times good in this role as the mild mannered American who is clearly pushed over the edge, but at times I just couldn't really take him seriously. The rest of the cast did a very good job though and brought that sense of realism to the film.

I want to give this film a second viewing to see if I missed what's so great about it, cause where I stand the film is pretty basic and isn't necessarily in your face with many issues that it has. They are there, but not upfront about any of them.

The violence and the rape scene seem tame to me, this could be because of the lack in the sound design. There wasn't there to put me in the scene. Here's hoping the film is better with a second viewing, or that Peckinpah's other films get more out of me.




Bright light. Bright light. Uh oh.
This is comparable to 8MM?

OK, I put a moratorium on your thread until you either rewatch the film (best choice), watch another Peckinpah film or somehow explain how the violence shown in the final 40 minutes is tame. You do seem to go on about "sound design" and usually I can relate to what you're saying, but in this case, I have no clue. Hopefully, you also saw the uncut version which completely changes the perspective of the rape but shouldn't leave you thinking that this movie is somehow "tame". I'm wondering if the first half of the movie actually put you to sleep (THAT I could believe and accept, but you never mention that.)
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28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
Comparable to 8MM, not really. The two share the same ratings, but I rate them in their given genre, style and basically for what the director set out to do. Club Dread is a
that doesn't necessarily mean it's better then a film that is a
just that given the TYPE of film it is.

I enjoyed 8MM, but the film is seriously flawed. Straw Dogs is tame for me, since I've sat through countless Saw and Hostel style films, which show more grotesque gore and violence. Sure the two are different styles and one leaves more to the imagination, but tame none the less.

Someone told me to watch The Last of the Mohicans because it was pretty violent. I sat there and questioned why this person thought the film was violent. He points to multiple scalpings, I wasn't affected by these scenes.

Same with Straw Dogs. The violence didn't affect me in any way, I just sat there and watched it.

Like I said, the recent flux of films in today's generation has gotten more violent and stylized. I will be upfront about it, this has warped my sense of what I deem to be violent or not. Is Straw Dogs violent? Yes, is it as violent as people have told me? No.

I was also debating on whether or not to give it a
if that would make any difference. But as you said, the first half is pretty challenging.

If this makes any sense, I'm just rambling.



I think this may have a lot to do with movie violence vs real violence or, at least, the portrayal of real violence. Straw Dogs, if memory serves, doesn't make its violence cinematic, it has the mundane banality of real violence, whereas, most films (Hollywood or otherwise) ramp up the violence as well as stylizing it for the screen.

If you see someone take a beating IRL, it's usually very quick, very brutal and quite quiet. On the screen, however, it's very different as we all know. If you see something violent on CCTV footage, it often looks very shocking because it's real. Yet if you saw the same thing on screen, you'd be disapointed. Not only do we expect more violence on screen, but we expect it to look and sound a certain way and when it doesn't, it just doesn't seem violent.

A bit like watching a real operation and a scene from E.R. We're so conditioned to what blood should look like and how an operating theatre should look that, when we see the real thing, it looks fake.

Anyway, maybe TUS will like the remake which, I'm sure, will have more 'conventional' movie violence.



28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
I'm not a fan of conventional movie violence though. It's just how I and other people my age have been conditioned.

I get that Straw Dogs' violence is more realistic, which is what I was trying to say too, and that realism didn't really affect me.

Again, the sound design is the most notable source. (for example, watch Fargo when Harve Presnell shoots a gun, it sounds like a little pop, not a gunshot bang people are use to. The sound used for that gun is more realistic and not amped up Michael Bay style)