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Reviews
Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)
A fitting prequel. All of the in-between knockoffs are irrelevant
If you were alive and a teen or adult in 1968 you will remember the groundbreaking movie Planet of the Apes. It was the movie that everyone was talking about. People were stunned. Those days were full of turmoil. The day after it was released, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. Viet Nam was still a monster on the horizon.
Charlton Heston descended from his mount and beat the wet sand on the beach as he screamed at his descendants who had blown it all to hell. He had battled the damn dirty apes only to realize that it was his own kind that had destroyed the world.
Zoom forward through the decades to the present day and see the world around you. Medical breakthroughs and technology that surpasses other movies of that time such as 2001: A Space Odyssey. See the advancements and see what was sacrificed. There are now medical advancements that extend human life at the expense of hundreds of thousands of sentient creatures who happen to have been born without opposable thumbs and the developed brain lobes that give them dominance over every other lesser creature. The lab animals suffer for the humans and they don't know why they're being tortured.
When I first heard the plot of Rise, the first thing that came to mind was; how can a handful of intelligent apes take over the world? There just aren't that many. A small town police force could take them all out within an hour.
After seeing the movie I have had all questions answered. This is another breakthrough movie. Its state of the art CGI that will astound and it should be taken as a tribute to the state of the art. Because movies are just that, art.
The first part of the movie is human tragedy, the son desperately seeking a cure for Alzheimer's as his father slips away. There is sadness that will tug at everybody's heart as Caesar is separated from the only human home he has ever known. Man's inhumanity to the man-like creatures is brutal. Many scenes pay homage to the original and give comedic relief, such as one scene that flashes by where Caesar is building a model of the Statue of Liberty.
Then when the apes rise up, the audience is rooting for them. It's the exact opposite of the original Planet of the Apes where the apes were the oppressors.
The questions are answered at the very end in the credits. That is when it all fits together and it becomes apparent that Rise of the Planet of the Apes is an appropriate prequel bookend to the original Planet of the Apes. All of the other in-between knockoffs are irrelevant.
Devil (2010)
One Creepy Ass Movie
This movie starts from the opening with vertigo. The opening credits are shown against an upside-down cityscape. This alone jars the viewer and says this is something different. The plot is simple. Five people are trapped in an elevator and one of them is the devil. The opening narrative fills you in on the background. The twist that really makes this flick worthwhile is that it doesn't matter if you figure out who it is. You almost certainly will. The story is more about the people and their sordid lives and the paths that lead them into this claustrophobic space where there is no escape from the evil that is inside of them. The intense background of the police and firefighters trying to rescue them as they watch them being killed one by one is riveting. And the ending brings it all back around in a nice M Night twist. Awesome comeback from M Night.
Dreamcatcher (2003)
If you read the book
If you read the book you will enjoy this movie. I only read it a few months ago and thought it was good but not great. As far as sci-fi stories go, it had some original twists. Then it popped up on a cable channel.
It was like they took as much of the good ideas as possible and put them in the film, but left another films worth of material on the cutting board. Most of the history of Duddits was left out, the later encounter with the bullies, and tons of stuff that set up the encounter with Mr. Grey. But would you really want to watch a four hour movie? No. That's what is great about this movie - if you've read the book. If you haven't, you won't get a lot of it in depth. All in all an entertaining couple of hours with fairly decent CGI.
Dolan's Cadillac (2009)
If you are reading this because you liked the short story, go for it
If you are reading this because you liked the short story I would say go for it. I read the story in Nightmares and Dreamscapes and it hung with me. I don't understand the negative comments and all I can figure is that:
A. They didn't read the story or
B. They didn't read the story.
For gods sake, it's not an academy award winner and it wasn't intended to be. This was a very good enactment of the story and that's about all I can say. Not bad for a Saturday afternoon throw away movie. It delivers the essence of the story, Also I would advise any Stephen King fans to read or listen to the audio book, On Writing. It's pretty much an autobiography of the trials and tribulations of a writer who will go down in history as a contemporary, or superior, of any given living writer. Even if you don't write and you just enjoy the reading you will gain volumes of insight into King's mind. It's every bit as fascinating as any of his novels or short stories. Don't dilly dally, just watch it.
Born of Earth (2008)
Bored of Earth
Contains spoilers.
If you like stiff, uncomfortable acting and a threadbare plot, you may like this one. It's just another in the long line of cheap-o low budget horror and sci-fi flicks that have been flooding the market lately. Someone seems to have too much money on their hands, but just not quite enough to buy decent material.
Right from the opening the suck starts. We see that thousands of years ago there was a battle between the demons and the humans. The demons retreated underground... until now! They should have stayed underground. The movie starts with the usual annoying scene. The wife sees some things coming up out of the ground in her yard at night. Instead of calling for her husband, who is just upstairs, she grabs a kitchen knife and runs out into the dark. "Hello? Who's there?" And of course she's killed. By the most non threatening silly looking creatures ever to crawl up out of the ground.
And so it goes. Five years later the creatures return and start picking off the towns residents one by one. Only no one could possibly care because none of the characters is likable. Daniel Baldwin is still struggling to find his place in his brother's shadow. Brad Dourff is just an empty suit playing the briefly lived mayor doing his best to squash the rumors of people killing monsters, lest the greedy developers pull out of their plans of building condos and bringing a spark of something into the boring town. Sound familiar?
And so it goes. When the group of humans try to flee from the creatures that came up from under the ground where do they run to? Undergrounnd of course. This movie is predictable and lame. Don't waste your time.
Wild Seven (2006)
Tepid attempt
I just picked this up on a whim at the local video rental shop, somewhat because I've had some good luck with indie flicks lately (He Was A Quiet Man, being the most recent). Wild Seven started out promising. Some nice scenery. A just released con, fresh out of prison and looking for revenge on his old partner in crime who set him up for a couple of decades. A group of wannabe bank robber kids. What could go wrong?
The first signal that something was wrong came when the newly released con (Forster) turns out to be about as menacing as a cream puff. The ex-partner (Loggia) is equally non-threatening, despite carrying and constantly displaying a gold plated Desert Eagle.
Flash forward (after some boring pointless setup, some of which made no sense whatsoever) to the (anti-)climactic bank robbery where everyone meets up by accident.
At this point, enough time had been wasted that I had to see if the movie could redeem itself even just a little bit. But no. It wasn't to be.
The movie ends abruptly, as if they ran out of money and/or ideas. In short, a pointless wasted of film. 3 out of 10 is being generous.
Gwoemul (2006)
Mediocre monster fest
I really wanted to see this and was all set up by the rave review (B+) from my local newspaper, the St Petersburg Times. (He who shall not be named *cough* Google *cough).
The movie critic here really needs to move on to another market. It seems like if it's foreign or gay content (not that there's anything wrong with that), it's gold. No matter how crappy it is. This movie called The Host for American markets is billed as "On par with Jaws."
Exsqueeze me? The short bursts of creature visuals are borrowed from early 50's and 60's Sci-fi movies, and are pretty good, but the in-between horrible acting and terrible dialog drag this flick down to the lower depths of the boring B movies. This ones's OK for a rainy day when nothing better is on.
5/10 for a heart felt, but failed, attempt in the lacking monster movie genre.
Dead Men Walking (2005)
Not one of those sissy zombie movies
The DVD cover art somewhat suggests a Dawn of the Dead type story.
So if you look at the cover art and are somewhat interested in checking it out... go ahead. I'm not a fan of over the top, low budget gore, but this is one of those films that makes fans of horror wish they could get some kind of budget to make a movie with their friends.
Surprisingly creepy.
The plot is the standard infection loosed in a maximum security prison.
In a bare bones prison environment Dark, frenetic, fast motion scenes when zombies attack, and (I have to admit) pretty gruesome dismemberment scenes.
The Romero movies seem kind of sanitized compared to this.
So in a nutshell, if you like zombie horror movies and you pick this up and have to think "Should I take a chance"?, go ahead.
Sissy.