Classic Wes Craven

Last House on the Left

I googled ‘classic wes craven’, and last house on the left came seventh or so. Maybe unsurprisingly, first on the list was The Hills Have Eyes, which I may or may not review at some point… The 1970s version that is. The original Nightmare on Elmstreet might also be considered a classic in my opinion, and I may include a review of that one as well sooner rather than later.

Back to this notorious last house on the left, it certainly was an interesting piece of film history. At the time, shocking, perhaps still shocking – if a remake was done today, could it possibly capture the feel of the original? I doubt it. Everything seems to be very polished nowadays.

Enjoyable? Perhaps. Interesting? Yes. Original – well, shocking in itself is not original, and a lot of films have tried to be shocking and notorious, and often using similar means. See for yourself – it’s only a movie…

Heads will roll!

Severance

I wanted to go and watch severance when it came out, but never had the time. So I watched it on DVD. I suppose it’s a decent time filler, but it was no Shaun of the Dead. It reminded me of an old Kenny Everett film, Bloodbath in the something something, or similar. But less funny, less sex, less just about everything. Danny Dyer is of course good. In fact, all the characters are pretty good. It all starts pretty well, but it is a bit of a let down. I won’t even bother to write a long review.

I do like to see some British films occasionally, and any other non-American films really, they have a different, fresh feel.

Black snake?

Black Snake Moan

Christina Ricci is definitely one of my favourite actresses. I’ve always liked Samuel L. Jackson as well. And I’ve never really liked Justin Timberlake, though am yet to see Alpha Dog. Luckily Justin is not around too much in this one.

If you like seeing Samuel sing and play guitar, check this out. If you like seeing Christina Ricci half naked a lot, check this out. If you want to see a good film, see this one. I know that mention about Christina is a bit out of order, but she is a pretty woman and is not wearing that much clothes in this film. I would not call this a regular erotic movie though, its not that kind of movie.

At the beginning there were some small scenes that brought to my mind Lilja 4-Ever. That’s a good movie by the way. And more touching then this one.

Samuel’s side story is not on the same level really, perhaps there was no time to concentrate on that one more – at least I think there was more to it, it did not seem complete. Otherwise a very touching film. Well cast, including Justin. And if you usually like Justin’s acting, then this should be just as good if not better.

Black Snake Moan.

2 days later

Danny Boyle must be very busy nowadays. Someone else had to do this.

outbreak!

I just can’t find any photos of Imogen Poots… A real shame. A memorable performance in its simplicity.

You don’t see a start like this movie very often. the setup, what is it sometimes called, ‘inciting incident’ or something. Very careful build up. Made me wonder at first, then I received the reward. Nice. Well, it is a sequal, so maybe that makes it different to start with.

When 28 days later arrived came, I was quite impressed, not just about the film, but how they managed to empty roads in London. And they’ve done it again. There are some scary moments there, it was not waste of time to watch this. There were times I wished they’d ditch either Carlyle or the theme music, or both.

This is my second review on this site, so just in case its not clear: I try not to talk about the story line too much… I find it irrelevant to the review bit. don’t you agree?

I think it was Ben Jones on virginradio who said it’s pretty gory for a 21st century flick. I think he does the virgin drivetime, some time afternoon. I’m guessing he also did the film advert for radio there. There sure is a fair bit of blood here. And some good acting. Apart from a couple guys who seemed to have escaped from Doom III. The wheelchair guy from Oz was there as well, still not really walking that much.

Didn’t care for the story so much, but I can’t complain, I suppose you can’t expect too much for a film like this – it just didn’t hold together very well. Some really nice shots here though. And the ending of the film did make me smile.

What’s with you Mr Raimi?

I tend to think my work mates have an idea what a good movie is. So I was somewhat surprised to hear one recommend the latest spidey flick. I thought, well, she’s a bit young. A friend’s friend at Double Negative was less impressed, but then again he’d look at it from a different point of view – I wasn’t too worried about the sfx stuff.

So I gave it a chance. I’m telling you, watching the end was like re-run of the end of the Return of the King… I felt like leaving the theatre, but I never do so I stayed.

I honestly think my 12-year-old niece could come up with a better story. But having said that, my wife said it wasn’t that bad… And really, I am not a spiderman fan, I don’t know the whole background stuff happening, what’s with the supervillains and all – Surely a film should work without all that.

Nice action here and there, a bit of story on the side, but nothing to write home about.

spiderman 3