Wolfman (2010)

My first post about a movie from the new decade. how exciting.

The movie was okay, enjoyable to watch but you could see everything coming from 10 miles away... except the parts with giant werewolves or very creepy children jumping out of blackness. the first time you see the main villain, you look at him and think to yourself, "that is totally a bad guy." even though he is the main character's father. a little, okay VERY predictable, it was exciting enough to please horror movie fans. (which i am not.) with a few good castles, lots of late 1800's guns, and guts and fog a plenty, the action was very exciting and well spaced out. I learned one important thing about England in the late 1800s: it is ALWAYS foggy. always. like there's a law about it. except for once and a while; it rains. the action was good, the plot actually not bad despite being very predictable, but the acting was halfhearted at times.

lawrence talbot (Benicio Del Toro), an actor originally from england but moved to america early in his life following his disturbance of seeing his mother commit suicide (you learn it's something different but i suppose i should save some of the surprise...) the movie follows his attempt to figure out what happened to his brother, ben talbot, after he is killed by a werewolf in the opening scene. the movie moves along at a nice pace, giving you clues to put together to uncover the mystery of the family and their curse, and slowly explaining who is the werewolf and the other villagers' attempts at stopping the beast.

The scariest part of this movie were the random flashes of werewolves and extremely terrifyingly creepy smeagle-like children. those parts made just about everyone in the theatre (me included) jump in their seats. the actual movie was not too horrifying, and the werewolves were more comical than scary. they looked almost exactly like Michael Jackson from the Thriller music video... and that is not even an exaggeration.

The end was the only part i did not see totally coming, although i kinda saw it coming. i just couldn't quite predict the final victim in the chain of wolfmen. the ending was pretty good, a nice cliffhanger, but it tied up all the necessary ends. i think a sequel would be pushing it, but i'm sure if they made it, people would buy tickets for it. if they spice up the plot i would be moderately interested in seeing a sequel, however probably not in theatres.

There was not much to say in this review. it was good; not great, not terrible. acting was good most of the time, however there were scenes that made you think, "did that actor just not want to act that day of filming?" all together, i don't regret spending money on it in theatres, and i actually might go and see it again in the theatres if i'm in the mood for a good horror flim. which isn't very often, but it happens.

Overall Rating: 5.6 out of 10.0

Categories: "Lots and Lots o' Blood" "HolyShit! I Just About Pissed Myself" "Pretty Good Horror Film"

O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)

This movie is old fashioned fun. Crime, music, adventure, a large deal of Dapper Dan hair care products, it's all here.

Placed in the late 1930s, this movie was loosely based on the the story "The Oddessey" by Homer. Following the trek of three men who happened to get chained together in a chain gang, Ulysses Everett McGill (George Clooney), who goes by Everett in the movie, Delmar O'Donnell (Tim Blake Nelson), and Pete, (yes, just Pete. played by John Turturro), escape from their chain gang to look for the buried treasure of Everett in an old lake bed, which Everett supposedly got from knocking off an armored car, which landed him in said chain gang.

In reality, Everett was nailed for practicing law without a license, (lame reason to be in a chain gang) and needed to get back to his home town to save his wife from marrying another man, and had to formulate a plan to get the other two guys to follow along with him. Along the way he's a quick talkin', "Dapper Dan" type guy, who is incessantly obsessing with his hair, waking with a start several times in the movie, his first words are, "How's my hair!?" Sounds like a pretty solid plan, right? The path of these men isn't quite as smooth as George Clooney made it sound...

Their road to success isn't paved with the smoothest of asphalt. They run into quite a few problems along the way. They knock off a few banks with "Baby Face"... i mean George Nelson, who leaves them a good sum of money, which they get promptly stolen from them from "BIG DAN", a supposed Bible salesman, who they encounter later. at a giant KKK rally. But don't worry, they crush him with a giant flaming cross. But before the giant flaming cross fiasco, they come across a black man named Tommy Johnson, who has sold his soul to the devil for some guitar talent. They cut a record at a local radio station as the "Soggy Bottom Boys" for a quick ten bucks each, and quickly become extremely famous across Mississippi, but no one knows who they are, because the only person there was the blind operator of the radio station. Later in the movie they cut into a packed concert hall so Everett can talk to his wife, but have to pretend to be a band to get in. So they become the "Soggy Bottom Boys" once again, and a few songs and a good deal of silly dancing later, they get a full pardon from the governor of the state of Mississippi. One more quick "act of God" and the movie's done, with an ending that leaves some loose ends, but ends that the movie goer can easily tie up with their imagination.

I loved this movie. it was good old fashioned fun, with some great acting and fantastic story writing, this movie was everything i like in a movie, short of a few good explosions. It was well done, but the background was nearly nonexistent. That may have not necessarily been a bad thing, though. It made you wonder throughout, and kept you thinking. I may have enjoyed the first hour of the movie slightly more, had i not been extremely distracted by where i recognized the actor who played Pete was from. (don't worry, i figured it out. The butler in "Mr. Deeds".)

Not so much of an intelligent movie, it wasn't dumb action either. Anyone can enjoy this type of movie. It's usually subtle humor and interesting plot kept you entertained with no problem.

Overall Rating: 8.3 out of 10.0

Categories: "Good Old Fashioned Fun" "Intelligent, But Not Too Much" "All Around Good Movie"

First Post - what's goin' down on this blog.

This blog is probably going to be quite a bit different than most movie reviews out there. I don't organize the posts by anything special... i just put them in the order i write the review. I am planning on putting 3 main things into each review:

1.) a review of what i thought, my opinion, what i think could have been better, etc.

2.) a total rating out of 10.0

3.) a category, or categories. they will be whatever i feel describes the movie, most of them will be in their own little categories. however i have a few common ones that i will briefly explain here.

--> "Intelligent-Man movies" (movies with deep meanings, hidden messages, movies that make you think about it after the movie ends.)

--> "Just-An-Action movie" (movies that are action movies - nothing truly special, good but not life changing. good fight scenes, good special effects, but no plot twists or "what the hell does that mean to my life meaning" moments.)

--> "Cult Classics" (movies that are love or hate. there are groups of people who worship them, and an equal amount of haters. generally slightly older. monty python, mel brooks, and quentin tarantino are lifelong members of this club.)


Feel free to let me know what you think! comment, express your opinion, but don't argue. don't be that internet dick that everyone hates.

Let me know what movies you think i should see, however i don't have a horribly large section of my free time devoted to watching terrible movies, and i have a large "to-see" list.