Tag Archives: L

The Long, Slow Death of a Twenty-Something (2011)

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Ben Baker is the classic male of the western society. He has no identity. He’s too old and mature for his teenage antics that involve gaming, bullshitting, and heavy alcohol, and he’s too young and immature to accept the doldrums of adulthood that involve committed relationships and responsibilities. Too adult for childish things, and too childish for obligations, both of which are worlds where Ben is incapable of being himself and expressing of his true feelings on any given topic. With a very symbolic prologue involving a blue square, director Larry Longstreth basically sets the stage for a story about growing up, moving on, and trying to find a place in a society that demands everything of you but yourself.

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The Losers (2010)

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I’ve never actually read the graphic novel “The Losers” is based on and sometimes that’s a good thing, since a film adaptation tends to garner its own flavor and narrative path from its source material and that can be said for the film adaptation of “The Losers” a movie that doesn’t try for Oscar gold or even legendary status but instead tries to make us laugh and cheer about as much as humanly possible in the ninety minutes it greets us with an array of bad asses, each with their own skill, who have a bone to pick with their government. Like “The A-Team,” this group of soldiers were all framed for a crime they didn’t commit, and deemed dead after a failed assassination attempt, disband and lose touch.

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Let Me In (2010)

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let-me-in-uk-quad-movie-posI think “Let Me In” will be deemed as a respectable companion piece to the infinitely superior “Let The Right One In” if only because Matt Reeves directs this version with his eye on convention more than edge. The original was already so gruesome and complex and filled with subtext and undertones that Reeves opts instead for simple and superficial and it will rely on the audiences preference if they want a movie about a vampire and a boy falling in love, or if they want a story about a boy and a girl falling in love, one of whom mutilates people and drinks their blood.

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Long Pigs (2007)

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lpAt first glance of “Long Pigs” and screen captures, many movie goers will be quick to dismiss Chris Power and Nathan Hyne’s mock documentary as merely a low budget film attempting to shock us in to submission and while in many ways “Long Pigs” is a gruesome and shocking film, “Long Pigs” also has a sense of sardonic humor and intelligence to it that makes it much more than just a movie about a cannibal and his fixation on the fine art of grooming human corpses to be eaten for his cooked delicacies. The directors behind this clearly were influenced by the likes of the classic film “Man Bites Dog” about a documentary crew anxiously trying to get in to the mind of a criminal who get too close for comfort, and “Long Pigs” is very influenced by that title engaging in a long moral and social breakdown of the greatest of taboos: cannibalism, and what repercussions they have in today’s society.

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The Landlord (2009)

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landlorddvdI guess on paper, “The Landlord” seemed like a great concept for a horror comedy. Emil Hyde’s movie starts off simply enough with a sitcom premise with a horror twist about a man living with two demons. The man has to rent out an apartment to keep the demons fed. The demons who reside in his flat have a knack for possessing and devouring the tenants and he has to go back to renting the flat all over again. This can be set up for some raucous laughs and clever twists on the concept, but sadly “The Landlord” is a lethargic and brutally tedious horror comedy that never scary or funny.

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The Loved Ones (2009)

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the-loved-onesIf John Waters and John Hughes ever conceived the idea for a modern day “Misery,” we’d essentially get this Australian horror gem known as “The Loved Ones,” a movie that’s centered around an impending prom and two rather demented love stories that concern fractured love and new relationships. After accidentally crashing in to a tree Brent kills his father and six months later is a train wreck committed to smoking pot and putting himself in as much danger as possible. He also makes a hobby out of cutting himself and inflicting pain.

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Lost Boys: The Thirst (2010)

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Lost-Boys_The-ThirstAfter the disastrous and god awful “The Tribe,” which was just a remake of the original film, “Thirst” takes every chance to link to the original film convincing audiences that it really is an honest to goodness sequel and not just a wannabe of the “Lost Boys” variety. In its essence though it’s still just nostalgiasploitation, as it takes every precaution to connect to the original movie trying to create a fluid sense of continuity. We hear the classic theme song played in the opening, there’s a re-make of the vampire train track diving scene in the original, Edgar has flashbacks (i.e. clips) of his fighting days with Sam and Alan, Edgar and his brother take the time to explain to one another what happened to the rest of the characters (Corey Haim who died before the film, is told to have suffered a slight case of vampirism and staking), and Alan re-appears as a supporting character now in vampiric form.

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