Change Your Image
Turtle5729
Reviews
Deadlands: The Rising (2006)
They did what they could...
My dad works with "Michelle" from the movie, and that's how I got around to seeing it. Michelle and her husband were producers on the movie, and her husband helped do the music, so they got acting bits. All of the actors were locals, and the "zombies" were random people that answered to an ad in the paper.
The producers pulled every string they could to put the movie together, and for low, LOW budget, it's not too bad.
AND I'M SURE IF YOU SAW THE MOVIE YOU WANT SOME THINGS EXPLAINED MORE: While they did manage to get a street blocked off for the zombie scene, they didn't have a lot of time to prep for filming it.
The thing with the dog - there were alternate takes where the dog had to be put down, etc. but it just wouldn't do things on cue, which is why the dog doesn't leave with Michelle after a fuss is made over it.
1408 (2007)
Very good, but not REALLY Stephen King
Okay, so I saw this a while ago and I would just like to get it out there: THIS MOVIE IS NOT REALLY STEPHEN KING'S WORK. IT'S BETTER! I saw it with my dad, a real Stephen King buff, who said he read the short story it was based on in "Everything's Eventual." He left saying, "Well, it's not Stephen King... whoever did the screenplay didn't have a lot to work because the short story wasn't memorable. They did better than a lot of the stuff he's been writing lately." Now, Stephen King is NOTORIOUS for not liking the Hollywood-treatment of his stories, but he's got no room to complain about 1408.
I recommend people see it in theaters or with a good sound system because most of it plays on your senses (hearing and all), so you won't get the full effect otherwise. And the supporting cast was all big names! What a waste of Tony Shaloub!
Simply Irresistible (1999)
Simply Terrible
The direction was bad.
The script was bad.
The actors tried. They failed to make up for it.
There could've been a few things in the movie that could have been explored more, and they weren't, which leaves you feeling, "what the hell is that about?"
*SPOILER* There was one running joke made that was funny. That's it. The friend character says when men put their hands in their pockets they're thinking about sex. When she's getting ready for a date and tries different outfits he does that and she says, "Really?" He looks down and takes his hands out. Ha ha ha, very funny. And she sees various men with their hands in their pockets and looks disgusted, etc.
An American Haunting (2005)
Eck... disappointing.
There is a slight spoiler ahead, so be prepared: The movie begins with a girl having a nightmare, and her mother begins to read an account of how The Bell Witch came to be. This is set in modern times. It lasts all of two minutes. It's essentially pointless to the whole of the movie. The movie doesn't cut back to these mother and daughter characters until the last minute of the movie and all has been revealed. Talk about a yawn.
To be honest, it took all of twenty minutes give or take before I actually got into the movie. And even then all the sort-of black and white 'ghost perspective' views gave me an even worse headache than already had.
However, I will say this: the actors, overall, were pretty good, but no one was really given enough time to shine. I felt like some characters were unfortunately underused or just unnecessary filler.
Anyway, if you like 'horror' without all the blood, gore, real suspense, psychological chills, or real monsters, and just prefer to see a girl get dragged around by an unseen force, this flick's for you.
Mr. Suave: Hoy! Hoy! Hoy! Hoy! Hoy! Hoy! (2003)
Brilliant!
This movie I saw at Otakon 2005 (anime convention), and it made my going there all the worthwhile. Vhong Navarro totally worked it in this movie, and he is seriously magnificent when it comes to physical comedy.
This movie has slapstick, some parts mildly gross out humor, romance, shrimp selling, and overall it will make you laugh like you wouldn't believe. I highly suggest this movie.
And, for those of you that don't like reading subtitles, you should still see it - that's how funny it is. The fact it was filmed in another country doesn't effect the movie at all, as the culture didn't play a really big part in the story, just the main character's "ordeal."
Secret Window (2004)
And people thought this was good?
--SPOILER ALERT--SORRY IF YOU WANTED TO SEE IT-- Look, I love Stephen King stories as much as the next slightly Gothic-minded gal, but this movie did not need a screen adaptation. Then again, it could have worked with a slightly better screenplay, and, more importantly, a director that knew what he was doing.
Sure, the movie starts out strong with the tense scene involving Mort (Depp, in a characteristically good performance, but with what was obviously little directorial direction) and his cheating wife, but it's all downhill from there. Yes, granted, Depp and Turturro (as Shooter) gave it their all, but a lot more could have been done with this movie. Namely, the ending sucked to say the least.
It was positively non-climactic. The director just drops it on you that, hold back your gasps, Shooter is Mort's other personality dying to get out to kill his ex-wife. This could have been handled with a little more subtlety, i.e. without the ridiculous and unnecessary special effects, or even humor, like the scene in "Fight Club." (Yes, I'm sorry, another spoiler.) Once he kills his ex-wife, in what could have been a more frightening or dramatic scene, the movie should have ended. However, the director wanted to put yet another nail in the coffin and decides, "Hey, I know, I'll put Johnny in braces, send him to a super-market, and have him hit on some girl. Then I'll send him back to his cottage so the Sheriff can come and tell him that everyone is just waiting to have proof that he killed his wife, and let him look oblivious to everything the guy just said with a stupid grin on his face." Basically, I ended the movie thinking, "What the Hell? I wanted to spend money to see it in theaters?!" You see, the first week it came out, I was dead-set on going, but wouldn't you know, the second I walked up to the theater, a great big screen had "SECRET WINDOW - SOLD OUT" running across it like in a bad movie. Little did I know "Secret Window" was the bad movie that I wasn't meant to see.