nzbdad Reviews

Grindhouse (2007)

The directors got the last laugh

[2/10 · 10 April 2007]

Grindhouse failed to capture the feeling of the 60's and 79's B movies. I saw the film in a theater where it seemed to run much longer than 3 hours. Laughter in the audience was sparse. No one stayed through the credits. The most amusing parts were the fake trailers shown before and between the two films. The first film was a combination of Night of the Living Dead and Doom. The female lead has little of the sex appeal needed for her pivotal role. There was some good acting by secondary performers and there were so many of them. The second film was a car war starring an amusing Kurt Russell. Unfortunately, that was the whole plot for the 90 minutes. It seemed like the first 45 minutes were filled with really inane dialog from remarkably unappealing actresses. Fortunately, the women were replaced with four other actresses about midway (for no apparent reason). Unfortunately, their lines were just as inane as the first set. The theater should have made an announcement that it was OK to use cell phones during these scenes. Finally, the car war started. There was some remarkable stunt work there. It was also interesting (for about 5 minutes) to see how a new film could be made to look like one produced and abused in 1970. During the film, several B movies were mentioned, like Vanishing Point. Take an evening to watch Vanishing Point and the last film of Grindhouse. I think you will understand my disappointment in Grindhouse. In the 60's and 70's "B" movies didn't necessarily mean "bad" movies. I think the directors copped out on this film and are laughing at the audience.

Prey (I) (2007)

Scare, yawn, repeat.

[4/10 · 11 February 2007]

This film contains extremely graphic(realistic)violence and is probably not appropriate for preteens. The play on words of the title is the cleverest thing about the film. Otherwise, the film is predictable. The main characters get into and stay in jeopardy by doing dumb things. The middle of the film consists of repeated episodes of attacking and waiting. There are two reasonable outcomes to the situation the family. About half way into the story I got curious about whether the screen writers would find a third possibility. That helped me stick with it to the end. The close up photography of the lions is worthwhile and the work of the lion trainer is impressive. It's a movie to watch on an afternoon when you have nothing better to do.

The Mind Benders (1963)

Bland Bender

[4/10 · 1 January 2007]

Good acting, photography, and ideas are not used to their full advantage by the script, particularly when it fell apart in the last few minutes. The opening of the film was quite intriguing. This film may have introduced the idea (familiar today) of an isolation tank. The hero spends some time in the tank and the experience changes him. The basic story line is the same as Altered States, but without the fantasy dimension. The supporting characters in Mind Benders are generally quite bland too. The transfer of the B&W source is quite good. The photography is technically quite good, but flat. Much more could have been done with the photography to enhance the drama. If you are thinking of renting this movie, you would probably find Altered States a better choice.

Casino Royale (2006)

back to a good action film

[7/10 · 30 December 2006]

The film combines a good story, good acting, and some excellent stunts to produce a pleasing action movie. For a change, the stunts seemed to be things a human could do (barely). There was some poor logic in the script particularly during gambling scenes. They reduced the effectiveness of the film since I found myself thinking, "that's silly." I didn't personally feel the female lead had the sexual firepower required for her role. The end of the film was first rate. The final scene and the final line of dialog were knockouts and reminded me of part of the appeal of some of the early Bond films. The Bond character seems more like the one I remember from reading some of the books years ago. He was completely committed to his job which he did impersonally using his intelligence and considerable athletic ability. He was also very lucky.