Army of Darkness

Army of Darkness

1992

Directed by Sam Raimi

This is the third Evil Dead film... and the one most focused on comedy out of the three. There are some great one-liners in this film and Bruce Campbell does a great job as the macho hero Ash. The film really is a tribute to the work of Ray Harryhausen and there are some very funny skeleton army scenes. Not all of the humor works, but this is still a fun film to watch with a group of friends.

Rustin Allison

Rosemary's Baby

Rosemary's Baby

1968

Directed by Roman Polanski

So, I have finally seen Rosemary's Baby. Needless to say, I wasn't surprised by the ending of the film. It has been referenced to and parodied so many times it would be hard not to know about the ending. So did I still enjoy the film even though I knew what was going to happen? Yes, I did. 

One of the themes that runs through Ira Levin's work is that a community is working against an individual. In The Stepford Wives, it is the husbands conspiring against their independent wives. In Deathtrap, it is the playwright and his student who cause the playwright's wife to die from a heart-attack. In Rosemary's Baby, it seems that almost everyone in the apartment building in which she lives that is conspiring against Rosemary. The protagonists almost have nowhere to run because they can not really trust anyone. If they do trust someone, it may turn out to be a lack of judgment and the placement of trust turns out to be a betrayal.

This is the aspect of this film that I really felt was the most compelling. Rosemary is constantly pushed to be isolated from the outside world and the only people that she comes in contact with are people that she can not trust. Even though I knew the ending, the film was still very suspenseful because of Rosemary's situation. 

The film has an odd sense of humor as well. This is interesting because some things are deliberately funny. Mrs. Castevet (played by Ruth Gordon) is an example of this odd humor. She is an over-bearing and very nosy neighbor which leads to some comedy, but as she is also felt as a threat to Rosemary, her character is an odd mixture of humor and horror. I think this points out a theme in the movie as well. The film is a balance of the normal and the occult, and because of this strange balance it gives the film a very off-kilter feeling.

Rustin Allison

 

No Country for Old Men

No Country for Old Men

2007

Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen

It has been quite a while since I have watched a Coen Brothers film. The last one that I had seen was The Ladykillers. This film is a dark look at the inevitableness of life. Tommy Lee Jones plays a Texas sheriff who is trying to save a welder (played by Josh Brolin) who has gotten involved in a drug deal gone wrong. 

The stand out actor in this film is Javier Bardem. His portrayal of a hit-man hired by drug lords to track down Josh Brolin's character is a cold and chilling performance. Bardem's character has his own code of ethics that he expects people to adhere to, and if they do not they are ultimately punished by him. Bardem's character is a unstoppable force that casts it shadow over the whole film... much as Bardem's face overshadows the other characters in the above poster.

Rustin Allison

The Fog

The Fog

1980

Directed by John Carpenter

I was a bit disappointed in this film. I really enjoyed The Thing, so I have been interested in watching more of Carpenter's films. I think that he took a bit of a misstep with this film. I liked the narrative of the film enough... I just think it was made to be more of a slasher type film than it should have been. The story of the film follows a sea-side town that was cursed on the night of its founding 100 years earlier. A fog rolls in during the centennial celebration and people are slaughtered as an act of revenge for the greed of the town's founders. I think that if the town's secret had been kept a bit more mysterious until the end, the film would have made a great ghost story.

Rustin Allison

Monsters Vs Aliens

Monsters Vs Aliens

2009

Directed by Rob Letterman and Conrad Vernon

This is the first 3D film that I have seen since The Nightmare Before Christmas was re-released in theaters a couple of years back. I went to see this movie because it was 3D, and although it wasn't the best animated film I have ever seen... it was worth seeing it in 3D. The film was funny enough and I loved all of the references to old sci-fi movies. It just felt like a re-hash of The Incredibles to me.

The main reason to see this film is the 3D presentation. Yes, my eyes did feel a bit of a stain after a while... but it was worth it. The destruction of the Golden Gate Bridge sequence has received much attention and it deserves the notice. This sequence was very thrilling to watch and the 3D aspect of it added so much. Since this film was a success, it will be interesting to see where 3D goes from here.

Rustin Allison

Really clever stop-motion

Just saw this over on BoingBoing... a really clever 

animation!

Rustin Allison

Southland Tales

Southland Tales

2006

Directed by Richard Kelly

Southland Tales is a film that I have been wanting to see for a while. I really enjoyed Kelly's Donnie Darko, and wanted to see how this next film fared. While I think this film had great potential, I felt a little lost while watching it. I didn't feel like I connected to any of the characters in the film. I did like some of the ideas in the film... like the slow transition of the US into a police state and the fact that people needed visas to go from state to state.

I think that the main problem with the film is that it tried to include too much in one film. As much as I dislike the current movement of Hollywood to try to make everything into a trilogy or a franchise... I think this is one of those films that could have easily been split into two or three different films and the director could have had the sufficient time and space to tell his story.

Rustin Allison

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

2008

Directed by Guillermo Del Toro

It should be no secret that Guillermo Del Toro is one of my favorite directors. I love his combination of natural, mechanical, and supernatural images.

I saw this film at the theater and have just recently watched it again on DVD. This film is much lighter than the first one. I thought it was very funny and introduced some great new characters. Some of the visuals are astounding, especially the Angel of Death which is on the poster above. 

I look forward to each new film from Del Toro just to see what comes from his imagination.

Rustin Allison

Girl, Interrupted

Girl, Interrupted

1999

Directed by James Mangold

There are some great performances in this film. One surprising one is from Whoopi Goldberg... I didn't even know that she was in the film until she appeared on-screen. Obviously, Angelina Jolie received acclaim for her role, but I thought that every in the film did a great job. the film is actually filled with quite a few young actresses who have come into their own. Angelina Jolie is one and Brittany Murphy is another.

The film looks at mental health and is edited in a manner that is supposed to reflect the mental state of Winona Ryder's character. There are periods where time seems to skip as well as move forward and back.

The film is worth watching for all of its strong female performances and I was quite happy to Joanna Kerns in it as well.

Rustin Allison

Speed Racer

Speed Racer

2008

Directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski

This was a movie I rented mainly out of curiosity. How did a big-budget family-aimed film do so poorly at the box office? I still am not sure... because I actually really enjoyed the film. Yes, it is a long film for a kid-oriented flick, but I never once was bored with it. Even though I knew Speed Racer would win his races, I was still silently cheering him on. 

The movie is full of glorious racing sequences that are full of over the top visuals. They are very trippy but I thought that in a way they made the audience feel what it would be like to be in a high-speed racing car. I also really enjoyed how some of the transitions were done. Little details from a scene would gradually fill up the screen until the transition was made.

The acting was just as stylized as the rest of the film and I really enjoyed John Goodman and Susan Sarandon as Speed Racer's parents. 

I came to this film expecting a complete mess but actually came away really enjoying it.

Rustin Allison

House of the Dead: Overkill

House of the Dead: Overkill

2009

Published by Sega

This is a game that I picked up pretty cheaply this week. I have to say it was well worth the purchase. I have never play any of the other games in this series, but this one is pretty outrageous. The film follows the look and narrative of a 70s exploitation horror film. Everything about the game is over the top and it make sit quite fun to play.

The film is divided into chapters and these chapters play like they are trailers for various films. There is a great narrator throughout the entire game that warns players of explicit scenes or says the names of the films such as Pappa's Palace of Pain. The game also has quite a few original songs that are quite funny and often offensive.

Rustin Allison

The Ruins

The Ruins

2008

Directed by Carter Smith

This unsettling film follows the story of four university students on vacation in Mexico. They are bored with the resort they are staying at and tag along with a new German to an archaeological dig site. This proves to be a horrible mistake as the ruins are overrun with deadly vines with a mind of their own and a taste for flesh.

I read the original novel when it first came out because I was a fan of Smith's A Simple Plan. Where that novel and film showed what depths of greed "nice" people would steep to, this novel showed how paranoia and fear could rip a group of friends apart. The film of A Simple Plan was a great adaptation of the novel. The film of The Ruins is a good film but it focuses more on the aggressiveness of the vines rather than the relationships between the people. In some ways I felt the film showed way too much (one example is Amy thinking that the vines have invaded her body), in the book this is presented as possibly the character just going insane from the situation.

Rustin Allison

Jack Brooks - Monster Slayer

Jack Brooks - Monster Slayer

2007

Directed by Jon Knautz

This was a film that I had never heard of until it showed up on my LoveFilm recommended list. This is one of the things about the internet that I DO like. The fact that companies like LoveFilm and Amazon can recommend things to me based on past likes and dislikes. I think this is referred to as The Long Tail effect.

This was a fun little film. It was especially enjoyable watching Robert Englund in a more kindly role rather than as the character he is most famous for (Freddy Krueger). The title character definitely owes its inspiration to Ash from the Evil Dead series, but he is different enough to stand on his own and support what looks to be the start of a franchise.

The other aspect about this film that I enjoyed was the complete lack of CGI to do the special effects. All the monster effects in the film looked to be all practical effects. That is they were done at the same time as the rest of the scene was filmed. I think there is something about this that adds to a horror movie rather than takes away from it. I like it when a film makes me go "Oh, how did they do that?" 

Rustin Allison