The one that inspired.....

A blast from the past. I just want to recognize Mr. Spike Jonez for making such a great video over 15 years ago. This video inspired me the pick up a camera, and put together a sequence, whether it makes sense or not. Its short, its sweet, its a classic, its SABOTAAAAAAAGE!!!

Stuff I've watched as of late......

INFESTATION-

It sounds like the cheese of what is a predictable story line, and it is. But I seem to be a very forgiving person when it comes to movies. Sometimes the plot is not as important as one would think. Its how the plot is performed.

Chris Marquette, plays a "slacker", who wakes up and discovers the world is being overrun by huge ass insects. His clever dialogue seemed so natural. And thats what really appealed to me, was not so much the story, but the conversations in between the action.

A movie can have a great story behind it, but the dialogue can sound totally scripted. Complete shite! The more natural, the more I can relate to it. Cooper, Chris's role, reminds me of...me in a way, and how he explains how wished for this incident to happen, "...this whole end of the world thing...in the end he wished he had a girl, a dog, and a muscle car....settling down in a cabin in the mountains, trying their best to re-populate the planet... rustling up their spiky haired, children, telling stories of the before times..." I can relate to this, because I have the same mentality on dorky shite like that....Kinda funny.

The effects were not to be "WoWed" about, but it was ok. Aside from the clever dialogue, It seemed to touch bases emotionally within the characters as well. Not everyone makes it, of course, some lose their mind, and the once slacker becomes the hero. blah blah blah...

For me, I thought it was worth the download, haha! It was quite enjoyable. It made me realize that a movie has a lot of pot holes in the road. The dialogue fills them up for a smooth ride. (wow, this was pretty long)

And here are a couple short reviews:

CRANK 2: HIGH VOLTAGE-

Much like the first, the movie was non stop. It had lot action, gruesome comedy, wicked gun fights, and mmmmmmmm Amy Smart. The fast paced editing made it seem like the movie was alive in a way.
GI JOE: THE RISE OF COBRA-

What more can you really expect from a movie based on a cartoon? Not much. The movie was pretty. Big explosions, beautiful actors, and cheesy one liners. And a lot like the toon, the dopest character is always my ninja, Snake eyes!

BEHIND THE MASK:THE RISE OF LESLIE VERNON-

This was a pretty sweet indie horror flick. Comedy/slasher/documentary. I like the twist, and how casual it can be to talk about stalking a teenager, and butchering her friends.
LESBIAN VAMPIRE KILLERS-

The title says it all. It had its moments. Boobs. Girls kissing girls... Word!

Hor-ry cow?

What can I say, the undead have risen and started to dance.

DRAG ME TO HELL- review, old.

Horror, at its best done by the best. Sam Raimi got “tangled in a web” for close to a decade, making the Spiderman series. Although decent films, they lack a certain ingredient that flows deep within Raimi’s veins. The rush of being scared and the comfort of laughter are tough to pull off at the same time. Sam Raimi revisits the genre that made him one of the biggest names in feature films today, horror with an unexpected splash of slapstick comedy.

Subjectively speaking, I have a deep admiration of the works done by Raimi. Watching his films and seeing him progress as a filmmaker over the years; I can say that he has been a major inspiration in my filmmaking to this date. From making a secluded cabin in the woods an ultimate nightmare for any nature junkie in Evil Dead, to his box office smash of Spidey’s web slinging, Raimi’s style always seems to leave a glimmer in my eye with admiration.

Drag Me to Hell pretty much had all the elements to a Sam Raimi flick. He capture’s the audience from beginning to end. Raimi’s trade marked use of obscure angles and fast zoom action kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the 90 minutes in the theatre. Same with sound, at one moment the scene would be completely silent, slowly torturing the viewer with anticipation. Then an unexpected roar nearly gave myself heart failure at age 28. While simultaneously making me jump like a little girl in my seat, he adds wacky comedic gags mixed in with the suspenseful sequences, similar to the Three Stooges stunts which fuels Raimi’s twisted humor in his films. I never thought an attractive girl being gummed and slobbered all over by a crazed gypsy, or a mere nose bleed all over a bank manager would make me laugh so hard in my life. Although the dialog may have been cheesy at times, the acting from the cast made up for it in the long run.

I see Drag Me to Hell as a reincarnation of Sam Raimi’s roots of horror. A rekindled flame that I thought burnt out while “web slinging” the past few years. He still has the talent to make a good solid flick in general. With his signature cameo of his 1977 yellow Oldsmobile, dubbed “the classic”, which is in almost every Sam Raimi picture, one element is missing from this film.


A mere cameo of Bruce Campbell would have made this film completely complete, which is surprising that he wasn’t in this one. (Maybe in the background somewhere I missed) It’s no Raimi flick without Campbell. In honor of the Evil Dead trilogy, I give this flick a solid 4 blood stained chainsaws out of 5.

Watch it for a good scare and laugh.

Wowzer!

Opportunity Knocks....

It can come unexpectedly. A documentary on Hawaiian Music, not my greatest of passions. However, its a fully funded film that will help me and my brother get our feet wet. It seems I've been waiting for something to fall in my lap. This seems like a great opportunity, but I feel like I'm not 100% on this at the moment. It's not like I don't want any part of this, but I don't want to commit myself to something that might not happen. This is all in the works right now, so I cant tell if this is actually going to happen. We'll shall see. When an opportunity knocks like this, I cant help but answer the door, and see who's on the other side of the peep hole.

7 years of my life....

and about half of my collection is apparently only worth $90 to Rasputin's. But its less clutter, and stuff to have lying around the house, waiting to get stolen piece by piece.

Make it so....