A new Monster Men is up. If you are looking for a good horror movie to rent tonight, look up the films that IFC Midnight distribute. It's your horror TV Guide for the next year.
Showing posts with label DVD. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DVD. Show all posts
Saturday, March 21, 2015
Thursday, June 12, 2008
It’s Cloverfield, Not Dangerfield
Show the movie Cloverfield some respect, will ya?
I liked it. I’m not saying it’s the greatest movie ever made. It’s not. But it is a very fresh take on a stale genre. It’s original and takes chances. You can’t say that about too many films these days.
Cloverfield is a movie about a giant monster that attacks New York. However, this movie is filmed from the point of view of a handheld video camera by a regular guy attending a party when the action begins. It’s been described as The Blair Witch Project meets Godzilla, and that’s pretty darn accurate. Just throw in a touch of 9/11 video styling for added realism like you’ve never seen before in a movie like this.
“Something you’ve never seen before” is probably the reason to give this movie some respect. You’ve seen plenty of giant monsters, but you’ve never seen one like this. You’ve never seen people reacting like they really would if a giant thing started tearing the city apart. They’d be panicked and totally clueless as to what was happening. Falling buildings, shrapnel and other people would pose just as much a threat as the creature.
Sure, the movie is flawed. There is a lot of talking in the first act, to establish the characters and set up the rest of the movie. There is shaky camera work. There are scenes where you know the camera man would never have kept filming in real life, but we wouldn’t have a movie if he did that. This is reel life. And yes, you don’t get a good look at the monster until the end. That’s part of the fun. It is not a traditional movie.
Watch it to see someone’s take on what a giant monster attack from the perspective of a scared civilian. Admire the balls it took to try something like this. Watch the DVD extras and look at how amazing the special effects really were. You will be amazed at what they pulled off for a movie shot from a handheld camera.
So lighten up and enjoy it for what it is. Love it or hate it, Cloverfield at least deserves a little respect.
I liked it. I’m not saying it’s the greatest movie ever made. It’s not. But it is a very fresh take on a stale genre. It’s original and takes chances. You can’t say that about too many films these days.
Cloverfield is a movie about a giant monster that attacks New York. However, this movie is filmed from the point of view of a handheld video camera by a regular guy attending a party when the action begins. It’s been described as The Blair Witch Project meets Godzilla, and that’s pretty darn accurate. Just throw in a touch of 9/11 video styling for added realism like you’ve never seen before in a movie like this.
“Something you’ve never seen before” is probably the reason to give this movie some respect. You’ve seen plenty of giant monsters, but you’ve never seen one like this. You’ve never seen people reacting like they really would if a giant thing started tearing the city apart. They’d be panicked and totally clueless as to what was happening. Falling buildings, shrapnel and other people would pose just as much a threat as the creature.
Sure, the movie is flawed. There is a lot of talking in the first act, to establish the characters and set up the rest of the movie. There is shaky camera work. There are scenes where you know the camera man would never have kept filming in real life, but we wouldn’t have a movie if he did that. This is reel life. And yes, you don’t get a good look at the monster until the end. That’s part of the fun. It is not a traditional movie.
Watch it to see someone’s take on what a giant monster attack from the perspective of a scared civilian. Admire the balls it took to try something like this. Watch the DVD extras and look at how amazing the special effects really were. You will be amazed at what they pulled off for a movie shot from a handheld camera.
So lighten up and enjoy it for what it is. Love it or hate it, Cloverfield at least deserves a little respect.
Monday, May 12, 2008
I Am Legend... NOT!!
3/29/08- I finally watched the Will Smith version of I Am Legend on DVD after avoiding it in theatres. It’s based on the classic book by Richard Matheson, and this is actually the third time this story has been told on film. It was first done as The Last Man on Earth in 1964 with Vincent Price and as The Omega Man in 1971 with Charlton Heston. Lovers of the book wonder why they had to make this movie a third time. Lovers of the book should not worry. This movie resembles the book as much as Courtney Love resembles Faith Hill.
(I’ll leave out most of the story points, but there will be minor spoilers ahead.)
Lovers of the book, don’t watch this movie expecting to see that story. It ain’t pretty. It’s Courtney, not Faith. Everything you love about the book is missing; the nemesis Ben Cortman, the sexual frustration of the lonely main character and most of all the VAMPIRES. One of the greatest vampire stories ever written is now a feature film that is not about vampires. To Will Smith’s credit, he does a fine job in the Robert Neville role. He is a charismatic stage presence who pulls off both the heartfelt plight of a solitary man and the action sequences without a hitch. (Hitch… get it?)
The most important thing to keep in mind is that this movie was not made for the lovers of the book. This is another case of a Hollywood treatment of a story in order to deliver an accessible blockbuster movie. I can answer the question of why they remade this movie a third time. The time seemed right. Special effects have evolved to the point where you can finally make decent version of some of the more fantastic stories from years ago. I thought The Amityville Horror was a good movie to remake in theory, since the original has not aged well. They screwed that one up even more than this.
Another good reason for the remake is that there are a lot of people who don’t love the book. They don’t love it because they have never read it, or even heard of it. Most of the people I tell about the book or previous films have no idea they exist. I can thank my love of horror movies/stories and the old 4:30 Movie for my familiarity with the material. Ask a 20 year old what the 4:30 Movie is, or who Vincent Price is. You’ll be lucky if they know he does the voiceover in the Thriller video. I Am Legend is not a well known entity to the mainstream.If you accept the changes from the book, the first two thirds of the movie are fine. Will Smith living a lonely and sad existence in a deserted Manhattan is pretty good. As usual, it’s the last act that kills it. The meaning of the title is completely different from the book to the film, and that is the stake in the heart of this vampire-less fiasco. (Read the book if you want to know the meaning of the title.)
The departures from the book might have been more acceptable if the creatures looked better. Instead of vampires, the infected humans are now rabid CG cartoons that look like the love-child of Gollum and Mr. Clean. They don’t speak, they roar. They also jump around and climb like Spiderman on speed. Had they used real actors, they probably could have salvaged this movie and added some real tension. Unfortunately, Roger Rabbit had a more convincing mix of real actors and animation.
If you are not familiar with the source material, you’ll watch this movie and then pretty much shrug and forget about it in a week. It’s just another movie with a lousy ending. If you enjoyed the book, you will be upset that they blew the opportunity to bring the story you love to life. Then again, if you read the book you have probably either seen this already or have boycotted it altogether. You don’t need me telling you how much you’ll hate it.
What’s the bottom line? There is nothing legendary about the film I Am Legend. Now go read the book.
(I’ll leave out most of the story points, but there will be minor spoilers ahead.)
Lovers of the book, don’t watch this movie expecting to see that story. It ain’t pretty. It’s Courtney, not Faith. Everything you love about the book is missing; the nemesis Ben Cortman, the sexual frustration of the lonely main character and most of all the VAMPIRES. One of the greatest vampire stories ever written is now a feature film that is not about vampires. To Will Smith’s credit, he does a fine job in the Robert Neville role. He is a charismatic stage presence who pulls off both the heartfelt plight of a solitary man and the action sequences without a hitch. (Hitch… get it?)
The most important thing to keep in mind is that this movie was not made for the lovers of the book. This is another case of a Hollywood treatment of a story in order to deliver an accessible blockbuster movie. I can answer the question of why they remade this movie a third time. The time seemed right. Special effects have evolved to the point where you can finally make decent version of some of the more fantastic stories from years ago. I thought The Amityville Horror was a good movie to remake in theory, since the original has not aged well. They screwed that one up even more than this.
Another good reason for the remake is that there are a lot of people who don’t love the book. They don’t love it because they have never read it, or even heard of it. Most of the people I tell about the book or previous films have no idea they exist. I can thank my love of horror movies/stories and the old 4:30 Movie for my familiarity with the material. Ask a 20 year old what the 4:30 Movie is, or who Vincent Price is. You’ll be lucky if they know he does the voiceover in the Thriller video. I Am Legend is not a well known entity to the mainstream.If you accept the changes from the book, the first two thirds of the movie are fine. Will Smith living a lonely and sad existence in a deserted Manhattan is pretty good. As usual, it’s the last act that kills it. The meaning of the title is completely different from the book to the film, and that is the stake in the heart of this vampire-less fiasco. (Read the book if you want to know the meaning of the title.)
The departures from the book might have been more acceptable if the creatures looked better. Instead of vampires, the infected humans are now rabid CG cartoons that look like the love-child of Gollum and Mr. Clean. They don’t speak, they roar. They also jump around and climb like Spiderman on speed. Had they used real actors, they probably could have salvaged this movie and added some real tension. Unfortunately, Roger Rabbit had a more convincing mix of real actors and animation.
If you are not familiar with the source material, you’ll watch this movie and then pretty much shrug and forget about it in a week. It’s just another movie with a lousy ending. If you enjoyed the book, you will be upset that they blew the opportunity to bring the story you love to life. Then again, if you read the book you have probably either seen this already or have boycotted it altogether. You don’t need me telling you how much you’ll hate it.
What’s the bottom line? There is nothing legendary about the film I Am Legend. Now go read the book.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)