So far I’ve enjoyed the output Wild Eye Releasing has dropped on movie lovers laps. “Blitzkrieg” was a fun and salivating homage to Naziploitation from the grindhouse era and now we have “Gothkill,” another neo-grindhouse bonanza that recalls the satanic thrillers of the seventies with its tongue firmly planted in cheek. At a merciful hour and nine minutes long, Connelly’s satanic horror comedy seems to be here only to present us with the finest and most unique satanic and gothic performance artists of all time from fire breathers, to magicians and fortune tellers, all of whom are included in the film for lip service in a story that is not only much too convoluted to understand at times, but seems too long even at the length of an average television special.
Category Archives: Movie Reviews
Pontypool (2008)
Okay, I’m just going to throw it out there and admit that I didn’t get “Pontypool.” Maybe I’m losing my touch or maybe this is one of the most incomprehensible messes I’ve seen in years, but “Pontypool” makes no sense. It’s abrupt, awkwardly paced, and often times doesn’t even know what to do with the formula it’s set up. We’re supposed to be watching a movie about what I can assume are zombies that have turned in to the walking dead (?) due to a sudden infection that’s carried through the English language. Did you understand that? Because I sure as hell didn’t!
Up (2009)
I hope you understand when I say that I’m utterly speechless, but it’s true. Pixar always manages to surprise with their imaginative adventures and character focus that they come dangerously close to Studio Ghibli territory at times. Take “Up” a movie very reliant on mid air travel and vivid landscapes and (sometimes literally) dog fights that are conducted in the open air. “Up” is a sweet and funny film about Carl Fredrickson, an old man whose spent most of his life selling balloons and devoting his love to his wife Ellie. After a somber note where Carl is left behind widowed, he decides to fulfill his life long dream of traveling to South America and he has a stowaway on board in the form of a chunky hero named Russell.
Friday the 13th: The Killer Cut (2009) (DVD)
Let’s face it, Platinum Dunes is a remake factory that’s managed to take some of the best horror films of all time and completely butcher them. Take “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” for one example, a bastardized MTV version of a damn good dose of indie filmmaking. But surprisingly, “Friday the 13th” isn’t a bad film and Marcus Nispel completely redeems himself. In fact it’s pretty damn good. I know I’ve become the small minority of movie viewers who see the film as a great reboot, but I just clicked with “Friday the 13th” and everything it pushed on audiences including the mean vicious SOB that is Jason Voorhees.
Star Trek (2009)
I’ve never been much of a fan of “Star Trek” as personally I’ve always found the intelligence vastly oversold by zealous fans, but I digress. I’ve spent most times admiring the light saber than I have the USS Enterprise and I think JJ Abrams has found a great balance where even folks who have written off the franchise can enter with a clean palette. And that’s not easy considering the Trek has lost its punch over the last ten years with a waning film series and television stake. “Star Trek” is a film that reboots the aforementioned franchise with all of its guns loaded as it looks to not only show what becomes of James T. Kirk and Spock but who their parents were and how they lived as soldiers of the Star Fleet.
Push (2009)
Pushers are described as people who can make others see what they want them to see. And minutes later they’re described instead as people who can simply push things with their minds guided by their hands. Often, “Push” can never seem to make heads or tails of itself but that doesn’t mean I didn’t have a good time getting to the end of the road with Paul McGuigan’s absolutely guilty pleasure of an actioner. “Push” belongs in that class of films I call “Not Quite X-Men,” movies that play out like origin stories to comic book characters and like the previous title “Jumper,” McGuigan’s “Push” aspires to be nothing more than a super powered “Fugitive” that uses all settings and space to make the best of a pretty thin plot and a pretty thin budget that takes the story to great levels of action and thrills.
Hamlet 2 (2008)
Andrew Fleming’s “Hamlet 2” is probably everything “High School High” wanted to be and couldn’t. It’s a raucous comedy that also doubles as an inspirational teacher vs. underprivileged kids flick sans any of the politics and searing melodrama. “Hamlet 2” is probably one of the funniest movies I’ve seen not associated with Judd Apatow and that’s thanks in whole to Steve Coogan who is absolutely hysterical as failed actor Dana, a man who has resorted to making school productions of popular Hollywood films and must find the right play to rejuvenate the arts program when he receives word all arts are being cut from the school he attends.