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derekmccallan
Reviews
The Grudge 2 (2006)
I'm gonna get a Grudge if I see anymore of these movies
Despite the success of 2004's "The Grudge", the best thing going for this new installment is it's PG-13 rating. With most of the horror flicks receiving an R rating, "The Grudge 2" gives young teenagers a little taste without the gore (hardly any blood at all) and minus any sex or nudity whatsoever. Although, if you've seen any in this latest trend of the American remake of a Japanese ghost story (The Grudge, The Ring, Dark Water, Pulse), then you've seen them all. On the plus side, these films all seem to have a lot of style going for them but at the cost of having absolutely no logic.
In "The Grudge 2", director Takashi Shimizu jumbles several story lines that get really complicated when it all should have been so very simple. It's more or less the same film as the original; with three parts to it. One part has Aubrey Davis (Amber Tamblyn) traveling to Japan to visit her sister Karen (Sarah Michelle Gellar), who is in the hospital. After Karen's death, Aubrey is led to the haunted house from the first film to investigate and try to solve the big mystery of what happened to her sister. The second part has three schoolgirls in Japan entering the house and bringing a curse back with them. The third part takes part in Chicago (whatever) where the curse seems to be affecting a family in an apartment building.
There's some good visuals and generic scare moments but the best quality the movie has is it's sound. The unfocused and jumbled storytelling just made me not care about what was going on. I actually looked at my watch a few times to see how much longer I had until the whole thing was over.
Pretty boring for the most part. The final scene is just rotten, leaving the franchise open for a "Grudge 3" which I definitely will NOT be seeing.
Jennifer Beals (Flashdance) co-stars.
A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
Magnificent Film
On my top ten list, "A.I. Artificial Intelligence" is one of the most well written, acted, and technically brilliant films of this decade. Being one of the most anticipated films of 2001, I was surprised by the negative responses of critics and by how poorly it did at the box office.
Categorized as a Sci-Fi fairy tale, "A.I." is far from the cutesy "little boy robot" movie that one would expect from director Steven Spielberg. Instead, we are shown a thought provoking and dark view of the future and a robot child's quest for the love of his mother.
Global warming has melted the polar ice caps. Major cities, including New York, are underwater. In a world of starvation and population control, humans have become dependent on "mechas"; robots simulating human appearance and behavior. Cybertonics Inc. creates a robot child named David (Haley Joel Osment), and advanced prototype capable of love once a permanent imprinting program is activated. David is given to employee (Sam Robarbs) and his wife Monica (Frances O'Connor) to try out. Their son Martin, in a cryogenic state, comes home with a little resentment and jealousy towards his "mecha" replacement after an unexpected cure is found for his illness. David's human family isn't prepared for these consequences and there is a heart-wrenching scene where David is abandoned in the woods by his mother. Suddenly, David and his animatronic toy bear Teddy, are thrown into a strange and dangerous world.
With undertones of the Disney classic, Monica had read "Pinnochio" to David so he believes that if he finds the blue fairy, he will be turned into a real boy and his mother will love him again.
Based on the short story "SuperToys Last all Summer Long", the late Stanley Kubrick held back from filming in the 80's due to special effect costs. Supposedly, Kubrick wanted to use a real robot instead of an actor to play David.
Directing from notes left by Kubrick, the collaboration between the two have resulted in one of Spielberg's finest pieces of work. The film as a whole is no less than magnificent and truly never got the attention or praise that it deserved.
Also starring Jude Law who picked up an Oscar nomination for his role as "mecha" male prostitute Gigolo Joe.
The Other Sister (1999)
Another Garry Marshall Hit or MISS
Directed by Garry Marshall, "The Other Sister" is supposed to be a romantic comedy about two mentally challenged people that meet and fall in love. Carla Tate (Juliette Lewis), after being put away for a few years, returns home from a private boarding school to her wealthy family in the Bay area. While dealing with an overprotective and overbearing mother (Diane Keaton), Carla enrolls in the local community college, meets Danny (Giovanni Ribisi), falls in love, and decides to move out on her own.
It seems that "The Other Sister" goes out of it's way to make retarded people look cute and act funny. Giovanni Ribisi is pretty good with his role but what is up with Juliette Lewis? I thought she was amazing as the dim-witted and simple-minded Adele in 1993's "Kalifornia". I just thought the performance was a little over the top.
All in all, you have a movie with a really great cast that just sinks a little below average. A little preachy and glossy, it would have been better if it hadn't tried to be so damn cute and overdo itself. At just a over two hours running length, it could have used a little trim job as well.
But hey, there's a lot worse movies out there that you could rent.
Juliette Lewis has interesting cameos in "Romeo is Bleeding" (great movie) and "Strange Days" (not so great a movie).
Chi sei? (1974)
Beyond The Exorcist
I won't waste time summarizing the plot for this film since the other users have done quite a good job themselves. Basically, you've got just one more in a stream of films that cashed in on the success of William Friedkin's 1973 classic "The Exorcist". I can only recommend "Beyond the Door" to those who enjoy these types of movies. Director Ovidio G. seems to be the Italian version of William Girdler, who directed his own "exorcist" knock-off that same year with "Abby", a blaxsploitation version that was actually taken out of theaters after two weeks due to a lawsuit filed by Warner Brothers for plagiarism. If I'm correct, "Beyond the Door" was also attacked by Warner Brothers but I'm not sure what the outcome of that one was. It did manage to stay in the theaters though and actually did good at the box office. "Beyond the Door" copies "The Exorcist" in almost every way and you will either hate it or love it. This time, instead of a young girl, we have Juliet Mills (Nanny and the Professor, Passions) who levitates, vomits, spins her head around, and curses like a sailor, saying things like "lick the whore's vomit" in a demonic voice. Sound pretty familiar? "Beyond the Door" was marketed during it's theatrical release as being filmed in Possess-O-Sound, which was basically the same thing used for the Sensurround effect in the film "Earthquake"; huge speakers with the bass turned way up. To sum things up, this is not a well-made movie at all. I was especially turned off by the devil himself doing a little narration at the beginning of the film. You will, however, have a good time watching it and be entertained if you like this kind of thing. There's a few lines of dialogue from the girl playing the daughter that are a hoot and have to be heard to be believed. I'm pretty sure that whoever wrote this script was smoking some of the wacky tobbacy. I voted 7/10 for entertainment value and being one of those movies that are bad in a good/fun way. Otherwise, I give it only a 3.
Abby (1974)
Funny and cheap 70's Black version of The Exorcist
I had been wanting to see this movie since I saw the trailer way back in "74 and I was a young lad. Finally found a copy through ebay in 2002 and it was just as fun as I thought it would be. It is a blatant but cheap (and I mean cheap) version of The Exorcist with all black actors. Definately worth a look if you like really bad rip-offs that are SO bad that they are funny. It's too bad though that Pam Grier wasn't cast as the lead character. Maybe she thought it was even too bad for her to do. Personally, I think it's fun and should be in anyone's collection if they are into campy movies of this genre. Some others that should not be missed are Anticrist, L aka The Tempter and The Antichrist in USA and Beyond the Door which stars Juliet Mills (Nanny and the Professor). Both are Italian movies and really fun. In the first, the possessed woman actually rims a goat and in the latter, Juliet (Nanny) Mills does a lot of throwing up of black gook, levitations, and spinning. The first of a stream of Exorcist rip-offs. Look for the newest installation of The Exorcist coming out later in 2004. Should be interesting.