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lindsaymichelleyoung
Reviews
Ash vs Evil Dead (2015)
So Disappointing - Only one insignificant spoiler here
I wish people would take out of consideration the fact that this involves Bruce Campbell & Sam Raimi, and judge it by content. If you look at this sans-nostalgia, it's purely stupid. The jokes are the witless hardy-har kind (unimportant spoiler: Ash idiotically walks through shards of shattered bulbs he just smashed, wincing in pain...really?) I get that it's trying to maintain it's cheesiness, but even campy stuff needs to be original (possessed lamps and mounted heads in Evil Dead 2 got it right).
I love the Evil Dead movies, even the new one. So, I'm not judging this as an outsider or as someone who hates reboots. I'm the ideal audience, and they still got it wrong with me. Oh, also, the gore looks terribly CGI. I remember the creator of the 2013 Evil Dead talking about preserving the tangibility of the original movies by using props and blood buckets over CGI in his own. I wish they'd done that here, too, because it really is important to the essence of Evil Dead.
Gretchen (2005)
So Many Feelings
I picked up this movie @ a video store in Austin based on the cover. Had to know who this character was! Immediately after watching, I bought it online. My god, this is a perfect movie. The irony of adults acting out teenage insecurities, the anxiety-inducing hilarity of the pacing, jean on jean & patterned turtle necks. Some scenes reminded me of "Welcome to the Dollhouse," like when Gretchen is on the corded phone talking to a boy and her mom is in the kitchen, elated at the sweet idea of a boyfriend for her daughter, completely unsuspecting of the adult nature of the call. The mom, Becky Ann Baker, plays the SAME kind of mom she does in Freaks & Geeks. Warm, understanding, desperate to save her daughter from the pain of adulthood.
I think what this film does so well, what makes it different, is that its just as sad as it is hysterical. I hurt so badly at times in this movie for Gretchen, but that doesn't stop me from pointing & laughing. The settings are also great - the way Gretchen's mother's house feels like a comfortable cage, her father's house feels like a squatter's, the restaurant she temporarily works at is as pathetic seeming as her attempt to fit in there, the "rave" club is as elementary & hopeless as her escape, etc. The character's wardrobes are just fun. I don't know what year we're living in during this movie, but it doesn't matter.
This movie gave me a lot of feelings, more than Gretchen, probably. And it took me days to shake them. I can't wait to see Courtney Davis again in another Steve Collins flick, "You Hurt My Feelings" - I suggested it to be ordered to my local video store.
Buzzard (2014)
My second favorite movie @ SXSW 2014.
There is nothing about this movie I would change given the chance, and that's why I give it 10/10. I'm not sure when this movie is supposed to take place & love that it didn't matter. Marty is the gutsiest slacker on earth, taking advantage of the system everywhere he goes. The camera spends a lot of time in view of his face, which makes it all that much more apparent how withdrawn and composed he is in his scams, and effective when we notice him displaying fear & rage & doubt as things begin to close in on him. One of my favorite parts of this movie was Marty's selfish, awkward & mismatched relationship with his coworker and friend(?). Napoleon Dynamite-ish humor there. A scene where they snack of Bugles brought me to tears. Yay for junk food & horror culture. Yay for this movie. Release it to DVD already so I can show all my friends.