Week of Friday April 24 through Thursday May 1, 2008

Friday, April 24, 2008

The Red Cell - 2008

A truly obnoxious young guy, who has been diagnosed with a terminal disease, wakes up in filthy little room, being experimented on by an unknown person behind the wall. Sounds intriguing, right? Pity the victim can't act his way out of a paper bag. I mean, his line delivery is *SO* forced, you think they put a gun to his head to get his to recite them. In the end, I hated the victim more than the "killer".

Commentary by writer/director /producer Chris Schwartz is tedious. This guy has almost less emotion than the guy who plays the victim, Donovan Schwartz. Some tech, but short on details.

I have a simple rule concerning movies. It the director has to explain what is going on, and admits that it's unclear, then your moviemaking skill sucks.

Saturday, April 26 through Sunday, April 27
Black Jack, the Series - 1996

Sort of a anime House M.D., with some political elements. Pretty interesting and enjoyable. Artistic, with a message. Sure wish that all episodes where here. The commentaries talk about episodes that aren't available from Netflix. That kinda sucks.

Monday, April 25, 2008
The Forever Dead - 2007

Here's another movie from Brain Damaged Film. Hope this one is better than the last few. Hmmm, shot on video. Never a good sign. And the opening is the movie fast reversed. I hate that gimmick. And the writer/editor/actor's name is Bill Mulligan, I wonder if he's any relationship to Andy (answer is NO, as Andy didn't have any children).

Audio is real uneven, which I also hate. But, I'm lovin' this movie. Why? Because it's a classic crappy movie. Let's go thru the checklist:
Crappy foley - check
Wildly inappropriate music - check
Unattractive actresses - check (every single girl in this movie is heavy)

And it doesn't even have the good graces to be short. And it features the worst rabbit attack I've ever seen. Can you say "Puppet with string"? No, really, it's worse than the Vorpal Bunny in Holy Grail.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Cloverfield - 2007

Okay, first things first. This was better than I expected. I have a friend who walked out of this at the theater. Now, granted, I watch MUCH worse movies. But I think the big problem is that "shakycam" is truly painful on the big screen, but is MUCH more tolerable on a TV (even a 42" HD widescreen TV).

Having said that, the first 15 minutes (up through and including the party) are truly painful. Not because of the shaky, but because I hate 20 something angst. However, from that point on, it's pretty good. It gains a lot of power from 9/11. Plus, the dialogue of people under pressure is pretty good (and that's a hard thing to get right, I think). Bottom line, I enjoy'd this a lot more than I expected to.

Commentary has director Matt Reeves. This was actually shot on Prosumer HD Cameras. Which lets you know how good those cameras have become. Shot in 6-8 weeks. Not as technical as I'd like, but there was more general philosophy than "how we did it".

Other extras include a Making Of, which was fair, but kinda dry. Special Effects featurette - very technical but quite interesting. "I Saw it! It's Alive. It's Huge!" - which features the third time to hear the G.D. Godzilla story. Clover Fun - blooper reel, not bad, but short. Deleted Scenes - with and without commentary - none will be missed. Alternate endings - with and without commentary - neither very different.

Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Satan's Whip - 2006

This was duller than dishwater. Half way through, and absolutely NOTHING has happened. In fact, this is the worst movie Brain Damaged Films has yet to put out.They are supposed to be the champions of gore. Shame, BDF, shame!

Thursday, May 1, 2008
Black Jack, The Movie - 2000

Very nice - good plot, different from the series, as there was more at stake. This is a cool series. Definitely a renter.