Movies for the week ending July 11

In the past seven days I've had the pleasure of watching even MORE movies than the previous seven days before that.



CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK - Of course, I saw this in the theatres when it first came out, as I was a big fan of PITCH BLACK, and consequently, somewhat disappointed in the direction this movie took. That is, of course, a fairly standard action movie. But, since, it is in space, is full of hardcoreness and entertaining scenes, it's a movie that I can watch in small doses time and again. A few days ago I caught the middle of this movie, where they take Riddick to that crazy prison and they manage to escape the exploding surface of the planet itself. I mean, that was fun. I've probably seen this movie about four times now, and I would have to give it a rating of 6/10.

BLADE RUNNER - Do I really need to say how awesome this movie is? This time around I could truly appreciate the classic special effects and how they've held up over the years. It really makes me depressed that we depend upon CG so much, and how quickly that stuff ages. This movie, specifically, the final cut, is solid all round. Great picture, great sound, fantastic story, sets, acting. This movie has it all. 9/10

DAWN OF THE DEAD [1978] - I keep watching this more often the past couple of years and it just keeps getting better. I still can't comprehend how the "consurmerist" message is still relevant in this day of age, but I guess it would have been when malls were these new, overwhelmingly large things, and the idea of surviving in one was absurd. Now, we have no problem imagining such things as they seem to be complete cities under one roof. This is just classic cinema; nothing much more to say on it right now. 9/10

WALL-E - Yeah, a kids movie, but, it's Pixar, right? Pixar has never done wrong and I'll always contend that these are as much for adults as the young'uns. I loved how this movie played out with no (English) dialogue for the first half. The technical aspects of the film blow me away and the whole "look what has happened to society" is fantastic stuff. The movie is very cute; the robots are great and the messages being conveyed are pretty simple. Fun movie to watch, definitely. 8/10


Ahhh dammit. You just can't win. I had this great review of American Psycho typed in here, then Blogger crapped out on me, erasing everything. Well, just so you know, I love the movie. I gave it a 9/10 and had some real intelligent things to say about it. Ugh, Blogger

Recently seen movies

Is anybody still out there? It's been over a month since I've posted last; I'm so bad. It's also been decided that I shoudl update more often but perhaps with a little less writing. Like really, what may be dissuading me from writing more often is the thought of trying to write something long and intelligent about a movie. Specifically, when that movie is quite terrible, or even quite good, words don't jump out at me. And perhaps that's all insane, so just forget it.

Movies I've seen recently:

NEXT - Do you recall seeing the trailer for this a while ago? Did this movie come out a year or two years ago? In any event it was part of that whole thing where celebrities would wear their hair long for no good reason (Tom Hanks in Da Vinci, and now Nic Cage here). So Cage can see two minutes into the future except when around the obligatory love interest, which adds an interesting tidbit to the ending of the movie, but in the end, this movie wasn't great, although it was entertaining. Perhaps it could have been better had Nicolage Cage not had stupid long hair and been twice the age of Jessica Biel, who still can't act. Overall: 6/10 (above average, worth watching).

INCREDIBLE HULK - Great stuff; let's keep this new Marvel ball rolling, please! This movie had to be exactly the oppositie as HULK five years ago: that is, not intelligent, more action and basic. I still have a soft spot for Ang Lee's vision but this one really cleans things up and just gives you a movie worth getting into and rewards you for doing it. Apparently Norton wasn't happy about the final edit, he wanted something "smarter" or whatever. Good! Let's see a multi-disc Blu-Ray with each version on it. The only thing I wish about this movie is that I was more into the whole Hulk universe so I could pick up on the subtleties sprinkled throughout. Overall: 8/10 (solid movie)

THE DEVIL'S REJECTS - Saw this one again for the third time in as many years (potentially). I appreciate this type of "horror" movie moreso than what has been littering the cinema as late, simply because it is shocking but doesn't stop there. It's not out for the cheap thrills. Whereas HOSTEL (or any of those other torture-porn flicks) would throw in a scene for sheer shock, this movie likes to build the scenes. A scene finishes and you think these monsters couldnt' get worse, but they do, and it scares you, cause these people are somewhat believable. I'm interested to see what else Rob Zombie can do. And for the record, I saw this one before the first one, which I'm not convinced makes a lick of difference. Overall 7/10