One of the many movies I first saw when I was a kid that didn’t really cater to the Disney movie standards enforced on me by my parents, that incidentally enough helped nurture my love for movies, was Wes Craven’s 1986 horror romance “Deadly Friend.” For those completely unaware, “Deadly Friend” one of the least notable Wes Craven horror pictures even if it’s his most creative after “Nightmare on Elm Street.” Merging a science fiction killer robot concept with a revenge plot, director Craven tells the story of a young genius who moves to a new town to work on a project at the local college. You see this young man has a thorough understanding of the brain, and is destined for great things. Which is made apparent by his robotic sidekick BB.
Tag Archives: Drama
Argo (2012)
Ben Affleck is quickly on his way to becoming one of my favorite modern film directors. His complete re-invention as a mediocre actor to a very understated and incredibly complex director has been an experience worth watching unfold, and “Argo” is the further metamorphosis of a man who has miles to go to show everyone he’s anything but a pretty face. Affleck’s portrayal of an expert expatriate is nowhere near the sensationalistic character the director has the potential to depict him as. Affleck stars as Tony Mendez, a conflicted and troubled agent who has to sneak in to Iran to save the lives of a small group of people stuck in the middle of a violent revolt.
A Date with An Angel (2012)
Director Mark Millicent’s “A Date with an Angel” feels almost like a condensed episode of “The Twilight Zone” like “The Hitch-hiker ” or “Time Enough, At Least” where the audience gets a word of warning in the end and really is asked to heed the advice. The short film itself is a very compelling and often spooky short about a young man on the path to destruction and the mysterious little girl trying to keep him from becoming yet another lost individual.
She's All That (1999)
It seems like there’s a Hollywood rule that every time there’s the impetus of a trend of films at the box office, there eventually has to be a satirical film made about it. After countless teen oriented garbage, 2001 saw the release of the hysterical “Not Another Teen Movie.” Granted, the movie on its own is hilarious if you were very familiar with the teen junk of the late nineties and early aughts, but “She’s All That” already accomplished such a feat of mocking this trend. The inexplicable box office hit of 1999 is perhaps one of the stupidest and most inane romantic dramas ever made.
Hellraiser: Revelations (2011)
From what I’ve read, Dimension has the right to Clive Barker’s “Hellraiser” property and wants to remake the film series. But the ever troubled production has reached the point where the rights have run out. To keep the rights, Dimension basically rushed out a cheap shoddy sequel to the original “Hellraiser” series. This is a movie so horribly made and poorly constructed that the iconic Doug Bradley opted out of his star making role as the horrific Pinhead, due to his salary being chopped down from the low budget film. In his place is Stephan Smith Collins a poor bastard who has to live up to Bradley’s gravitas as Pinhead in every conceivable way and wages a losing battle from the very beginning.
We Love "Hulk"
Being a pure comic book geek I was most surprised to discover that not only did The Incredible Hulk steal one of the biggest movies of 2012, “The Avengers,” but that the man who played him, Mark Ruffalo, has been the best Bruce Banner so far. The Hulk has been in two movies prior to “The Avengers,” and the limited screen time of The Hulk has warranted renewed interest in the character.
The Hulk is now going to have yet another new movie series in the work and is set to debut on television once again as Hollywood misses the point. Once again. The Hulk is excellent. In limited doses. In either case, while the first two cinematic efforts to give the Hulk a series have failed, I do have to admit one thing about the prior films.
Star Studded Dramas – 8 Engaging Films (DVD)
For movie fans looking for some dramatic features, Mill Creek is more than happy to provide an eight film boxed set of some varied dramas that will surely attract any audience in the mood for soapy, entertaining, or who just want to kill some time. The “Star Studded Dramas” are worthy of the watches, if only for their varying degrees of tone since neither title is very similar to the other.
2000’s Billy Bob Thorton directed “All the Pretty Horses” finds Matt Damon as a cowboy who falls in love with the local rancher’s daughter, who so happens to be Penelope Cruz. Filled with sudsy direction and a great cast, this is one of Matt Damon’s most unique films. 2004’s “A Love Song for Bobby Long” stars an interesting cast including John Travolta as an alcoholic and Scarlett Johannson as the woman who befriends him in the somewhat bleak drama about characters colliding in the middle of tragedy and soon they begin to learn about one another in ways they never imagined.