One thing about comedy is that there are so many different dimensions of the art form to explore, and it takes a lot of time and patience to discover what’s right and what doesn’t work. “Harvey Daggit” is a new approach from directors Larry and Aaron Longstreth, more of a dark and demented comedy. About olives. You have to give to the Longstreth’s for taking such a ridiculous concept and adding a sense of menace, and utter confusion to it. It’s not often you see a crime mystery that revolves around gardening. Well, there’s “The Godfather,” but you get the picture.
Tag Archives: Mystery
Night Skies (2007)
“Night Skies” is almost ninety minutes long. It falls short of that number by six minutes. Forty-seven minutes is the time it takes for our mysterious aliens to finally drop down on our hapless travelers and launch their attack. That’s almost eighty percent of the film we’re told is a horror/sci-fi movie. Supposedly based on the accounts of the original victims of this alien abduction, apparently, the writers felt that since the accounts of the supposed remaining victim of these alien abductions were possibly vague and unusable, filling the film up with over an hour of soap opera melodrama would have made for more quality entertainment. Fact is, Knyrim sets forth many plot devices and potential story elements and never pays off for the audience.
The Quiet (2005)
The whole concept behind “The Quiet” is that our main character Dot (subtle) is a deaf mute that lives among the upper class after her parents died. Dot is a deaf mute yet she still narrates every twenty minutes. This is not introversion of our main character stuck in a world she doesn’t want to be in, this is just an excuse to give Camilla Belle dialogue even though common sense would entail her character not speaking. It’s explained later that Dot could speak and hear once, but not anymore. Which is no excuse to give her narration. If you want us to believe this girl is now in a world where sound and communication can no longer exist, don’t undermine it with rambling narration.
Watch Me (2006)
The recent craze of Asian horror inspired films has been one I’ve not been most accepting of, mostly because half of them aren’t very good to begin with. Some are dramas painted as horror (Dark Water), and some are just remade into horrible films (Pulse), but I’m always willing to watch a horror film inspired by the trend and see if it lands on its feet or falls flat and breaks its neck. “Watch Me” has all the basic elements of an Asian horror film. Creepy ghost, mysterious object inspiring mysterious deaths, and of course a modern medium used as a facilitator.
Saw III (2006)
Well, it’s sad that a promising trilogy is now being announced as having almost five more installments added soon. Lions Gate has made no lies or double talk about this decision. The creators Whanel and Wan have proclaimed they’re dropping out of the further installments, but the studio and Tobin Bell are intent on continuing this franchise. Soon we’ll have “Saw: in Space”! Since the studio is intent on raping this series until it bleeds, “Saw III” is possibly the last good entry in an otherwise quality franchise.
Halloween Night (2006)
Asylum’s “Halloween Night” is a film cashing in on a popular horror flick in the same vein, and they won’t admit it. Heaven forbid we should notice the similarities. Pumpkin inter-spliced with knife in hand, and the words “Halloween” and “Night” plastered on the cover. As much as I revel in bashing Asylum for their blatant horrible rip-offs, they’ve become just like every other film company. They chose to unofficially remake big budget films and they’re no better in the fact that they basically remake “Halloween” before Rob Zombie, and say, in a press release, that this film is better than both “Halloween” and “Friday the 13th” combined. For shame. Now, let’s get to the meat of the situation, I’m roasting the big pig known as “Halloween Night.”
Dust Devil – The Final Cut (1992) (Limited Collector's Edition DVD)
Richard Stanley’s “Dust Devil” is “The Hitcher” with a supernatural twist. It’s a compelling story about a man who kills random drivers on the road, yet is also a monster impossible to kill. With the special edition of “Dust Devil” from Subversive Cinema, now on DVD, you don’t only get one DVD, you get five. You receive the final cut, the more extended work print, and three other film works from Richard Stanley that are very avant-garde. Like the “Cannibal Holocaust” boxed set, this is well worth the money because it gives film collectors something to really bite on with a wonderfully constructed library of goodies with extras, booklets, production diaries, and even a “Dust Devil” comic book.