Friday March 21 through Thursday March 27, 2008

Friday, March 21, 2008
Automaton Transfusion - 2006

Oh crap, high school angst. Only Joss Whedon can make that not suck. And the writer here SURE ain't Joss. If you couldn't guess from the DVD cover, this has extreme blood and gore. If you couldn't watch Anthropophagus, don't rent this puppy, as it's rough at points. And the ending? "To Be Continued" Are you kidding me?

Commentary by writer/director Steven C. Miller and producers William Clevinger and Mark Thalman. Here we learn that there was only a $30K budget, and a 9 day shoot. These guys are right out of film school. Entire movie ADR?!?! (dialogue recorded later). Commentary is a pretty good mix of tech and personality with only a little "oh, I love this scene".

Other extras includes Trials and Tribulations: Making of, which was happily subtitled. Yeah! It's also very good. Best making of in a long time. Especially good since this is a freshman effort by these guys. The only other extra are some deleted scenes, none of which will be missed.

Saturday March 22 through Sunday March 23, 2008
Tin Man - 2007

Well, it's supposed to be a "reimaging" of Wizard of Oz. I know I've ranted about this before, but if you're gonna change the story significantly in your "reimaging", then call it something different. So calling this Tin Man is a good move. It's obviously WoO, but so much is changed that the new name is appropriate.

BUT, if you divorce yourself from the past (movie and books) and just view this as a fantasy, it's pretty good. I enjoy'd it.

Other extras include Beyond the Yellow Brick Road: Making of. Not much info, mostly blahblahblah. On Set with directory Nick Willing , which was utterly pointless. A Blooper Reel that isn't a real blooper reel. Four Interviews with actors. Dull. Skip the extras.

Monday, March 24
Amazons and Superman - 1975 Italy aka Super Stooges vs the Wonder Women

The aka should really give away the fact that this movie is not to be taken seriously. Or at least, you won't be able to once you start watching it. And to put the icing on the "this is seriously gonna suck" cake, it's directed by Al Bradley. That name not mean anything to you? Well, that's because it's really Alfonso Brescia, who gave us such delights as Space Odyssey, War of the Robots, Battle of the Stars, and the ever popular Labyrinth of Sex.

This may be the worst thing (in all the good ways)I've seen in ages. Inappropriate music, goofy stunts, retarded dialogue. Boy, is this thing begging for a revival of MST3K. Everything that's good/bad about cheap Italian cinema is right here. The line forms at the rear.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Army of the Dead - 2008

The director, Joseph Conti, is a special effects supervisor by trade. That would explain why this movie is full of skeletons that look ALOT like the skeletons in Army of Darkness. And as everyone knows, animated skeletons are the only reason you need to rent a movie. The CG skeletons here are way cool. They also have "shadow skeletons" which are even cooler, but you should reuse the same shot. It lessens it's impact. Overall, however, this movie is definitely worth a rent.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Witchfinder General - 1968 aka The Conqueror Worm

Vincent Price in a role that he did best. Slimey bad guy. Man, is this movie dark and depressing. Impressive for a movie made in 1968.

Commentary by producer Philip Waddilove and actor Ian Ogilvy, moderated by Steve Habermon, a screen historian. Lots of historical info and reminiscing, nothing technical whatsoever. And this is the first time I've EVER hard ANYONE say a bad word about Vincent Price. Drunk? Really? I tend to doubt it.

Thursday, March 27, 2008
I Am Legend - 2007

MUCH better than I expected. The aspects of the previous movies that they emphasized (the insanity, the hearing things, etc), I thought were really well done. The ending was not what I had hoped, but, what are you going to do. (sorry, no spoilers here).

Other extras include animated comics, which were stories of other survivors, all in different animation styles. These are really cool, and a couple are as good as the movie, and I'd like to see an entire movie in that style with those characters. There's even one written by Orson Scott Card.