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Night of the Living Dead (1968)
George A. Romero's Living Dead - Part I
"They're coming to get you, Barbara!"
With this line Co-Writer/Director George A. Romero revolutionized the way that we look at movies. Night of the Living Dead, plain and simple, is a movie that is worth seeing. Even though the effects, sound and picture quality and dialogue is outdated (by today's standards); this movie is still one of the best ever made. I first saw Night of the Living Dead at a local theater, around Halloween. I actually live in Butler, which is mentioned multiple times throughout the movie. That viewing was my introduction horror films and I've been a big fan ever since. Recently I purchased a colorized version of the film from Legend Studios/Off Color Films and 20th Century FOX. Seeing it in color is a different experience, but makes it just as creepy.
"You gonna let them get her too, huh?"
The storyline of Night of the Living Dead is pretty simple: A woman and her brother are attacked by a zombie (even though they are never called zombies in the movie) the zombie attacks her brother and she runs to a nearby farmhouse for protection, leaving her brother behind to fight Mr. Zombie. (Oh, don't worry she'll see her brother again!). At the farmhouse the woman meets a group of people who are also seeking protection there as well. The rest of the movie tells the story of their attempt to keep their lives from being taken by their cannibalistic attackers.
"Are they slow-moving, chief?" "Yeah, they're dead. They're all messed up."
Since its initial release in 1968, Night of the Living Dead has been referenced and spoofed in countless films and has become a landmark in film making history. It has spawned the creation of three sequels (so far) and its own remake in 3-D. The special effects aren't exactly top notch, but even by today's standards would probably be a close call between PG-13 and an R rating. Compared to the other movies in Romero's "Living Dead" series, it is the perfect microcosm of evolution (especially in violence)in the movie industry. Night of the Living Dead was a low-budget movie with a rookie director, surprisingly almost forty years later it can still hold its own.
Dream Theater: Live at Budokan (2004)
Absolutely Flawless
Dream Theater-put plain and simple-is really an amazing band. Each member has learned to play their instrument as well as anyone else on the face of the planet, individually they are amazing. Then you put them together. The result is a downright astounding band. The documentary on disc 2 is pretty well done if the three hour (18 song) concert isn't enough for you. Throw in the Mike Portnoy Drum Solo and the multi-angle version of Instrumedely and you have yourself one heck of a DVD set. If "Live At Budokan" was priced at $50 it would be worth buying, but being that it isn't use the money you have left over and get the CD as well.
King Kong (2005)
Top 10 Movie of All Time...
Peter Jackson's goal with King Kong was to have audiences feel the same way about it as he did when he first saw the original at the age of nine. Simply put, mission complete. King Kong will do to CGI (Computer Generated Images) what the original Star Wars did to special effects. I say this mainly because the main character was only half person, because King Kong himself made a real emotional connection with the audience even though all you saw of him was CG. Peter Jackson, who I have been a huge fan of from the first time I saw Fellowship of the Ring in its opening weekend, has shown that through CG there is nothing that cannot be accomplished, Nothing.
Seeing Andy Serkis as Kong himself was awesome, he did just as well with Kong as he did with Gollum. I was also very glad to see that Jackson also gave him a part where everyone could actually see his face, as Lumpy the Cook, and maybe get him the recognition as a good actor that he deserves. Although seeing him literally getting his head sucked off was pretty neat, it would be a horrible way to die, and I felt very sorry for him, very good imagination on somebody's part. As for the 100% human characters the lineup was superb. Jack Black was very good in a role that was not the lead role, a funny role or even the good guy. Adrien Brody was better than he was with his role in The Village, which wasn't a bad movie. But the best of the whole bunch, who was also no doubt the best screamer, was Naomi Watts. She was fantastic! She was sexy and yet made it believable that one could really fall in love with a giant ape. As far as the fights they were great Kong vs. Three T-Rexs how do you beat that?? Kong is a bit more violent than LOTR in that things such as the bugs are attacking the main characters of the story, who appear to be more vulnerable than those of LOTR. But the best was the T-Rex getting his jaw completely ****** up. My few minor complaints are that Ms. Darrow would've froze to death on the to of the Empire State Building and the ship crew somehow found time to weave a huge net that they tried to capture Kong in, even though it didn't work. Maybe these'll be explained in the Director's Commentary on the DVD. Nor did the score live up to my expectations, there were only two or three places that I counted that I felt it was really good. But in all fairness James Newton Howard didn't have that much time to write it. Overall, The Best Movie of the Year. I cannot wait for the Extended DVD version with many many (and since this is Peter Jackson) many many many many many hours of behind the scenes footage. Jackson can do whatever he wants to now that he did what he always wanted to with this film. Whatever he does next I'm sure people everywhere will love it.
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)
In a Nutshell...A Good Movie
Disney has proved time and time again that they can make the best children's movies. Over the past couple of years they have began to make adult movies (Pirates of the Caribbean, National Treasure) and now finally they have made a movie that children and adults can both watch together and both truly enjoy watching. The movie is rated PG and was obviouslly meant to be so, it could've easily been made a PG-13, but the books were written for children so the correct decision was made to make the movies for children as well. This movie could easily be "The Lord of the Rings for Kids". Both authors (C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien) were very good friends so it seems fitting that both of them would write two of the greatest stories ever, with one directed toward kids and the other toward adults. Being that this movie was PG, only the main evil character was developed, unlike Lord of the Rings where the extreme "evilness" of the orcs were brought out as well as Sauruman and Sauron's. The battle was done very well with enough action included to make fans of action movies happy, there were very few scenes, if any, where any one character gets completely destroyed, as there were in the epic Lord of the Rings' battles. All in all, the story was done nicely there was not, however, any attempt to explain how the wardrobe could do what it did or how it came into the professor's possession. I am told that the book does explain this. Overall a good movie for people of all ages to enjoy.
The Grudge (2004)
Not Extremely Scary, but Still a Good Movie
I have seen both the regular version and the unrated directors cut. First of all, If you are going to watch this movie then do yourself a favor and see the directors' cut version.
The Grudge is a remake of the Japanese movie "Ju-On: The Grudge", both versions of the film were directed by the same man, marking the first time that an American remake of a Japanese movie was directed by the same person. The Grude tells the tale of a house in Japan. Everyone who enters this house ends up dead not too long afterward, simple enough. They are killed by the two "ghosts", a mother and her son, who were murdered in the house. Most American movies that involve haunted houses and ghosts have their killings limited to a certain range (such as the haunted house) in The Grudge the two "ghosts" are not retained by any limits they can strike anywhere at anytime. Another difference between most American horror movies is that the person who is killed is usually guilty of something, in The Grudge all that the victims have done is simply enter the wrong house at the wrong time.
Sarah Michelle Gellar does a pretty good job as do the rest of the actors, the only standout is by a Japanese actor, who plays the part of the lead detective investigating the house.
The story is told a a good pace and the backstory of who the "ghosts" are and why they are is explained pretty well. This is somewhat of a "jump-out-and-say-booo!" movie, but isn't extremely scary, its good story however makes it a good movie.