MovieTiff Reviews

Immortals (2011)

A visual feast, but a bit too slick and homogenized.

[5/10 · 14 November 2011]

This movie really wants to be 300 revisited. And it could have been, if not for the feeling that the people who made this film played it far too safe. The bloated visual effects help, and it is just stunning and in some places jaw-dropping, but other parts seem rushed visually, barely as convincing as a video game. The acting is all over the map, as is the story. When violence erupts, the pace moves, but other than that I felt it dragging beyond slow. I truly wanted to love the movie, being a fan of fantasy cinema, but I found myself looking at my watch far too often.

Seems today that the Hollywood dream factories that push these films out have lost their spines, bowing too any group who complains and falling into the trap of P.C. safe zones. It dulls these films, taking away all sharp edges until there is nothing left to offend anyone, when part of the draw for these films, for Horror and Action and Pulp Fantasy, IS to offend, to revolt and to gross us out. We want a true ride, not one on a small tricycle.

If you need a quick fantasy fix, you could do worse, but I yearn for the days of Sword and The Sorcerer again.

Whispers in the Gloom (1998 Video)

One of the few who have actually seen this one and it was great!

[10/10 · 14 November 2011]

It always surprises me when I log on to IMDb and see reviews that are negative or how many "stars" a film has when it has not even been released. In the case of this film, "Whispers In The Gloom," it has never been released in any format and was considered a "lost" film, but I was lucky enough to attend a special screening for distribution as the film is now coming out on DVD this year. How it got one star is ridiculous. IT proves that 44 people have rated this film and have never seen it, probably someone who9 has a beef with the director, a guy I met at the screening who laughed when I told him about the 1 star rating.

Anyway, the film was made over 10 years ago and is one of the first low budget films to have ever used CGI effects. It is pretty ambitious and has an original story that is both fun and engaging. The acting is a bit uneven but no one is terrible... being a super low-budget film, it has it's high and low thespians, but most do a pretty good job. This seems to be tailor made for the old "Grindhouse" and Drive In crowd before the big rush to recapture the "Grindhouse" nostalgia after the Rodriguez/Tarantino movie. Now everyone is doing it. This one has true heart and a great spirit of Drive In Theaters past.

What really struck me was the overall "feeling" of the film. It's really one of a kind and not only would I call it "dreamlike / nightmarish" but also a bit "Lynchian." It's like David Lynch meets the X-Files as filmed by a Horror master like Fulci, HG Lewis or maybe even Henenlotter. Trashy, fun and energetic, but also intelligent and done with love and real passion for genre films. It's a Sci-Fi / Action / Horror mash-up that has style and some really over the top scenes of excess. It was epic in some ways and really goes for broke, pushing well past the budget and succeeding more often than not.

I would recommend this one for people with open-minds who want to have fun at a movie and who get the joke. By that I mean there is a streak of film-smart humor going through this film, showing that the people involved are in on the fact that they are making a low low budget movie and that they were about 10 times more ambitious than they should be... and it makes it wonderful for this viewer.