Watching “Massacrator” is frantic, jarring and violent, and in the end you feel very violated. I had every reason to love Pierre Ayote’s ode to Grindhouse silliness but instead I just couldn’t jibe with what was happening on-screen. Being a simultaneous ode to everything from Grindhouse to science fiction we meet Massacrator, a borg sent in to the present (or future?) to… kill a girl, I think. After decapitating a few poor suckers, he makes his way to a young woman who manages to get away just in time to avoid his super punch.
Tag Archives: Science Fiction
Dude, We're Re-Writing the Phantom Menace!
So as you all may know, we’re big, big fans of the “Star Wars” series. We’ve seen all the movies, all the re-edits and special editions, we (when we say we we mean me) bought all three covers of the TV Guide special edition celebrating “The Phantom Menace,” we’ve seen the animated series, the other animated series, that other animated series with those dumb teddy bears, the animated series with the gay robots, and the current animated series exploring Anakin’s life before he became all evil and melodramatic. Recently we rewatched the entire series on Spike TV here in America and realized that we didn’t enjoy the prequels as much as we remember. I mean I’m definitely in the minority when I say “Attack of the Clones” was watchable, and “Revenge of the Sith” almost (almost) gets in touch with what “Star Wars” is all about, but I sat watching “The Phantom Menace” and… um… yeah, it’s terrible. Terrible. Awful. I mean I still don’t know what the actual plot for that movie was. Seriously, tell me! I decrypted the plot to “2001: A Space Odyssey” faster than I did for this.
Cinema Crazed's Top 10 of 2009
10. Trick ‘r Treat
Michael Dougherty’s love letter to Halloween experienced so many problems since its introduction that it took literally years for horror fans to finally be able to watch it. When they did the reception was mostly positive. “Trick R Treat” is a classic anthology film that perfectly captures the feel of Halloween and celebrates the holiday’s greatest elements. From urban legends to classic monster mashes, Dougherty pulls out all the stops to tell various stories, all of which are filled with twists that you simply won’t see coming. So brilliant is it that you’ll need to see it three times to fully capture the essence of its in jokes and tricks and treats. Dougherty’s ode to All Hallow’s Eve is a title that won’t easily be forgotten.
The Broad, Disappointing Strokes of "Avatar"
There’s something about shooting fish in a barrel, and if any modern equivalent of a movie which lent itself to post-modern bashing more than Avatar does, you might only have truly smug equivalents of Stepin Fetchit, and those examples are self-aware.
9 (2009)
One thing Acker has going for him is the animation. I haven’t seen a movie filled with such fluid motion and sheer detail outside of a Pixar film, and Acker seems to challenge “Wall-E’s” apocalyptic wasteland with his own that sparks on facets like steam punk and whimsical quite often. The burlap dolls are magnificent and make for some appealing heroes and heroines because their designs are so fantastic. From their glass eyes, right down to their wooden hands, these pint sized heroes are such a sight upon their introduction. Beyond their personalities, it’s easy to know which character is which and what they’re meant for as bits of their master’s soul. The wonderful technology keeps the terrain and lands looking like steaming piles of rubble where artifacts are left behind and humans have been all but decimated at the claws of their war machines.
District 9 (2009)
“District 9” has a definitely unique take on the alien invasion sub-genre that switches the tables on the old dichotomy between humans and aliens and it does it so well and in such a unique method that it is in a constant struggle searching for a protagonist to spotlight. But as most political situations involving illegal immigration and government, we rarely have someone we can root for or find empathy for. “District 9” is that skewering of illegal immigration and lower class struggles that makes it definitely one of the best films of 2009 and without a doubt one of the best science fiction films ever made. Blomkamp and company take the premise and fit it in to the sub genres of found footage films and alien invasions and rarely ever misses a beat between the changes in gear.
Terminator: Salvation (2009)
Trust me, if I were asked to watch McG’s treatment of the Terminator franchise I wouldn’t turn it down. Is it one of the best the franchise has ever offered? No. In fact it’s one of the lamest simply because it takes every advantage to flex its PG-13 rating and make sure that everyone but the humans suffer a wicked death. In this version every human is given a bloodless death by robots we’re assured are vicious, merciless, and willing to make their victims suffer a long and painful death. All ounce of suffering we’ve seen at the hands of the machines in previous films is bypassed in exchange for interchangeable special effects and ho-hum action sequences.