Change Your Image
tenexe
Reviews
Survival of the Dead (2009)
Horrible beyond words
To start with I love zombie movies. To this day I think that the original night of the living dead is still one of the most frightening films ever made. I still hesitate to watch it when I'm home alone.
Now this movie is ridiculous. We can start with the absurd Hatfield and McCoy feud. I mean where else would you expect to see a feud other than an island off the coast of Delaware. Then you have the absurd death scenes. Let's see. If you shoot someone with a flare gun their head will not catch on fire. If you put a fire extinguisher in someone's mouth their head with not explode.
These scenes made the movie seem downright silly. We don't even have to mention the zombie riding around the island on a horse. Then to add insult to injury we have a fan-boy mocking a PC and pulling out his iphone. I wonder how much apple paid for that advertising.
The original "dead" movie did well because it was shot on a shoestring budget with an almost amateur feel to it which made it frightening. The music and black and white film gave it an eerie quality.
I think if Romero is going to make another movie that is good he is going to need to return to the original formula. Some of his other movies were very well done as well. Martin and Season of the Witch were both excellent.
I think that I would watch almost any zombie movie because I am such a fan of the genre but I could easily have passed on this one.
Adopt a Sailor (2008)
Great Movie
What a great movie. The 3 main characters were well written and so diverse. The writing was excellent. Extremely funny at times and heartwarming as well. It was interesting to watch people from two parallel worlds exchanging ideas and beliefs in a civil manner. It really shows that our humanity binds us more together than our differences pull us apart.
Of course we would expect excellence from Peter Coyote and Bebe Neuwirth and they certainly deliver here, but Ethan Peck is excellent as well and definitely holds his own with the other gifted actors. He should have quite a career ahead of him.
The direction was excellent the soundtrack was nice. There was really nothing not to like about this movie. I could definitely see it again.
The Wolfman (2010)
Once again with lost potential
Spoiler Alert: Once again I've waited years for a remake of this movie. The cinematography was amazing, (reminded me of sleepy hollow but a little more empty). The sets were amazing, The acting was so-so in many parts. The special effects were fine. The story was ABSURD! Who wrote this junk. Why couldn't they expand the original story and build on that. Where was Bela's character, where was the sign of the pentagram. Why was the father a wolf man also? Ridiculous. The fight scene at the end was beyond description. Everyone seemed to know that there was a werewolf and immediately accepted it. Moronic! I can't even compare this to VanHelsing. I thought VanHelsing was a far superior movie in many ways. Although it was extremely campy and silly, it played like a comic book and didn't try to aspire to anything further. This was the destruction of the one of the great Universal Classics. What a waste.
The Haunting in Connecticut (2009)
had potential but overall it fails
I really wanted to like this movie. Caution Spoiler Alert! Unfortunately it never lives up to its potential and wanders aimlessly stealing key elements from other horror movies but without the same impact. Lets see; pictures of creepy dead people stolen from The others, The Priest gets run off the road after performing an exorcism where the key tool was a crucifix that broke down into magnets. Then it falls into a myriad of melodrama. The repentant drunk father, the kindly wise priest, etc. Oh and did I mention the magnetic crucifix. And whats with all the bodies in the walls, nobody smelled anything? I will continue to wait for a good new Haunted House movie like the Changeling or a good version of the Haunting or The Legend of Hell House. This movie lacked the fright factor but instead relied on silly special effects. If your expectations are low you'll probably like this movie. Incidentally the boy's real name was Phillip and I believe he is now a married truck driver with his own children. On the positive side the acting was pretty good across the board with exception of Virginia Madsen, who I usually like. She was a little over the top. Anyway thats my review.
Funny Games (2007)
the first review was right
I rented this movie and after a while it started to drag on. I hopped onto this site to read reviews to see if it would improve. I read the one horrible review and thought at that point it wasn't all that bad. Oh how mistaken I was. The first reviewer was dead on. I also love suspense and horror movies. This was not much more than a poorly put together snuff movie that was dragged out way too long to even be efficient at that. There was little tension and the story just dragged I also wish i could get that time back in my life. Horrible, Horrible, Horrible, Horrible. If you waste your time, You've been warned. If you want to see a truly scary movie than skip this and rent the 8 films to die for movie "borderland".