Movie Review- Zelig

I really like Woody Allen, he's a great writer/director/actor. He's just as good as I expected he'd be in this movie. It's a very interesting concept, and it's executed wonderfully. The film is shot documentary-style, and revolves around a man from the late 1920's named Leonard Zelig, who has the strange chameleon-like ability to imitate those who surround him. If he spends enough time around doctors, he starts acting and talking like one, if he hangs around with guys with beards, he instantly grows a beard, and so on and so forth. This of course makes him a big celebrity. The film raises a lot of questions about individuality and conforming, and is very thought-provoking and well written. The cinematography is very interesting, the scenes that supposedly take place in the 1920's actually look and sound like they were filmed in the 1920's. There's also a good deal of stock footage from the 1920's that seamlessly blends in with the rest of the film, creating a very authentic documentary feel to it. The humor ranges a good bit, though, from subtle and witty dialog, to slapstick and a few visual jokes. Unfortunately, the the slapstick and visual humor, while still funny, seems out of place with the rest of the movie, and doesn't feel like it should be in a documentary. There's a good bit of parody of the culture of the time; Zelig becomes a marketing sensation and spawns a dance craze called "The Chameleon", among other things. The acting is really nice, Woody Allen in particular. He took a potentially silly character and made him strangely heartfelt. Overall, a very odd and inventive movie. The plot's a bit slow in places, much like real documentaries, but other than that, this is a great movie. Really recommended. 4/5

 IMDB Page- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086637/

Movie Review- The Man With Two Brains

I really like Steve Martin, he can be quite the funny guy at times. But this flick was lacking. The premise revolves around Steve Martin who plays a brain surgeon that falls in love with a disembodied brain's personality. This would be an interesting premise if the pacing had been a bit faster; nothing really interesting happens until about halfway through the movie, but given the sense of humor, it seems like the plot should have moved along a lot faster. I say this because the plot buildup doesn't really add to the story, there's some bit of character development, but it could have been handled a lot more quickly than it was.
But that being said, the movie can be quite funny at times, such as the scenes with the paper-thin laboratory, and the exchange between Steve Martin and Merv Griffin towards the end. Overall the film falls flat, mostly because the movie is all over the board with what it wants to do. For the most part, The Man With Two Brains is filled with slapstick humor, but there are elements of science fiction and romantic comedy that don't blend well together. Steve Martin is pretty decent in this role, though, and he makes the film a lot better than it could have been. All that aside, it's an okay movie at best, and it's not all that enjoyable. It has some funny moments, but overall it's just not that good of a movie. Not recommended. 3/5

IMDB Page- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085894/

Movie Review- Commando

Gee, what a cool movie. Not a great one, mind you, but a cool movie nonetheless. Commando stars the manliest man of manliness, Arnold Schwarzenegger, as John Matrix, a former war hero who has to rescue his daughter from terrorists. But essentially this is 90 minutes of physics-defying fistfights, car chases, and explosions. It's a crappy plot, but really fun to watch. Schwarzenegger gives his usual soulless and robotic performance, but he's just so gosh-darn cool, it's easy to look past his crummy acting. The pacing is fairly decent, and that's really the only positive quality about the film, but you shouldn't go in to an Arnold flick expecting something good.
The fight scenes are great, by the way, with some really creative uses of garden tools near the end. The dialog is average, but the one-liners are quite funny, albeit cheesy ("Let off some steam, Bennett"). There are plot-holes galore, and improbable feats of manliness (jumping from a moving plane and surviving without a scratch), but it's a good kind of mindless fun. I don't really have any problems with this movie, it's just a straight-up awesome and campy action movie. Highly recommended.
Quality: 2/5
Enjoyment: 5/5

IMDB Page- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088944/

Movie Review- Little Shop of Horrors (1986)

Well, here's something you don't see everyday; a musical about a talking man-eating plant from outer space. But it's a horror-comedy, and the movie gets away with the ludicrous premise by being very, very funny. The cast is great here, which really helped make the movie. The screenplay is good too, it manages to be somewhat creepy despite the overall humorous tone of the film. The film works great as a musical, too, although it would have worked just as well without the singing. The art direction and set design is really nice, it manages to make a dreary setting quite aesthetically pleasing. The main attraction here, though, is Audrey II the man-eating plant. The puppetry and the puppet of the plant itself are both top-notch, and while a bit cartoony at times, are surprisingly convincing.
Rick Moranis isn't at his best here, but he's still a good fit for the role. Steve Martin's really creepy in this movie, surprisingly, and he plays a sadistic biker/dentist, and his performance is a nice change-up from his usual comedic self. There's a very creepy/hilarious scene between Steve Martin and Bill Murray, which serves very little to further the plot, but it's quite fun to watch. Bill Murray plays a masochistic dental patient, which is much to the annoyance of Steve Martin. Murray has a very demented air to him that was quite interesting to watch. The movie's score was really enjoyable, too, with a nice 50's love-ballad and rockabilly sound to it. Overall, a very silly and fun film to watch. Highly recommended. 5/5

IMDB Page- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091419/

Movie Review- Murder by Death

I've always enjoyed mystery and detective-based movies, and this one is a treat to watch. The script is wonderful, from the dialog, to the plot, everything about it works. The main characters are all different stereotypes of detectives, (The San Francisco gumshoe, the Belgian Inspector Clouseau type, etc.) but it's played for laughs, and it works quite well here. Peter Sellers is particularly funny as Sidney Wang, the Charlie Chan spoof. The plot revolves around 5 world-famous detectives and their accomplices who are invited to "A Dinner and a Murder". It's later revealed to the detectives that there will be a murder at midnight, and that whoever solves it will win one million dollars. The pacing here is great, as the actual murder doesn't occur until two-thirds of the way into the movie, and there's a lot of room to build up suspects as to who the murderer will be, before the murder has even happened. The humor here is very fitting with the overall tone of the movie, very well-written and witty humor, laced with the occasional sight gag at the hands of the blind butler played by Alec Guinness. My only complaint is that the ending wasn't as clear as it could have been, but I get the feeling that was an intentional parody of mystery movies with confusing endings. Overall, a very funny and enjoyable film. Highly recommended and it would make a great double-feature with Clue: The Movie. 5/5

IMDB Page- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074937/

Movie Review- Amazon Women on the Moon

I've read a lot of mixed reviews for this movie, people either love it or hate it. Personally, I'm on the fence about it. I wanted to love it, but overall it lacks the comedic punch that similar films have had. It was a pretty enjoyable movie, but I can see why so many people hate it. Amazon Women on the Moon is technically the unofficial sequel to "The Kentucky Fried Movie", but the writers are different, and therefore the humor is different, too. I'm pretty sure that's why a lot of people didn't like this movie. The subject of parody here is late-night TV, the main focus being a phony science-fiction movie supposedly from the 1950's that's being played on some local access channel.But the film strip keeps breaking, and the film cuts away to various other skits, mainly making fun of commercials. But there are a few skits in between all this, but they seem a bit out of place, since they don't take place on TV, where the rest of the movie takes place.
But on the bright side, most of the skits end up tying into each other at various points in the film, so it's not too nonsensical. The humor here is kinda dark and surreal in places, but it works given the format. The main problem here is that the script always seems to fall a bit flat towards the end of each skit, which takes away from the overall impact of the preceding jokes. All that besides, it's a pretty funny movie, nothing laugh-out-loud funny, but it's still amusing. It's worth a watch if you enjoy skit-based movies. 4.5/5

IMDB Page- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092546/

Movie Review- The Chopping Mall

Chopping Mall is a science-fiction horror movie produced by Roger Corman. That alone should tell you what kind of movie this is. I've seen several Roger Corman movies, and this is definitely one of his better movies for sure. The premise is inventive, at least in comparison to other slasher movies. The movie, originally released as "Killbots", tells the tale of some teens who decide to have a party in the department store of a mega-mall. Unfortunately the mall's newfangled security guards, monolithic tank-type robots, come in and blow everyone up. And that's about it. But despite that, this is actually a pretty enjoyable movie. The plot gets a bit slow at times, and the runtime is unfortunately short at 77 minutes, but it's still a fun movie. The special effects are excellent given the budget, the killbots are really convincing and really well-built. The characters, while paper-thin stereotypes, are still pretty fun to watch, and the acting is fairly good given the material they had to work with. Speaking of which, the script is riddled with cliches, to the point where it strangely isn't all that annoying. The ending was a bit anticlimactic and ambiguous, but it could have been worse. There's also a fun little cameo by Dick Miller, who starred in one of Corman's earlier films, "A Bucket of Blood". The score here is the overbearing synthesizer-based music that plagues many a low-budget movie, but it isn't nearly annoying as other movies. Overall, this is a fairly good quality B-movie, it's not perfect, but it's still an enjoyable watch. Recommended for those who enjoy a good B-Movie, even if it's really campy.

Quality: 2/5
Enjoyment: 4/5

IMDB Page- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090837/

Movie Review- The Kentucky Fried Movie

Gosh, this was a funny movie. The Kentucky Fried Movie is a skit-based film, and thus is short on plot and heavy on the laughs. While the subject matter varies greatly, the main subject of parody here is 70's daytime TV and film. The movie opens up with a skit involving a morning news crew and it gets rapidly more absurd from there. After a few skits, the movie hits its main feature, a lengthy and spot-on parody of Bruce Lee movies. Aptly named "A Fistful of Yen", the skit basically follows the plot of Enter the Dragon, and the parody works to perfection. The ending was a bit unexpected, but still funny nonetheless. There are few skits afterwards, my favorite being "Zinc Oxide", an educational film gone wrong. It's worth noting that the script was written by the guys behind Airplane! and the Naked Gun movies. The humor here is slightly different from their other films, though, as The Kentucky Fried Movie relies a lot less on sight gags than their other work. It's still a funny movie, but from a different aspect. Overall, a very tasteless and funny movie, and a highly recommended watch. 5/5

IMDB Page- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076257/

Movie Review- Hellraiser

Hellraiser is one of the few horror movies I have ever seen that actually managed to give me the creeps. It's a very suspenseful flick that relies on character and story development over the body count, and that makes it stand out against the numerous mindless horror movies I've seen. The lighting is really dark in places, in a good way, and that just adds to the general creepiness. The storyline is very inventive and well-executed, and the dialog is decent, too. The acting, while somewhat poor, is much better than most horror movies. The cinematography is fairly decent too, which is always a bonus in my opinion. The tone is really creepy, what with the themes of sadism and torture, and it works great in this setting. The makeup effects are really top-notch and gruesome, especially the early scenes with Frank, and the Cenobites. It's definitely not a movie for the faint of heart. Overall, a very creepy and suspenseful movie; it can be a bit campy at times, but it's much better than most horror movie fare. Highly recommended, and a must-see for horror movie fans. 4.5/5

IMDB Page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093177/

Movie Review- Yellow Submarine

Saying this movie is strange would be an understatement. It's absolutely bizarre. It doesn't even seem like a movie at times, more like a series of loosely connected music videos. The animation is spectacular for the 60's, and it seems a bit reminiscent of Terry Gilliam's animated segments from Monty Python's Flying Circus. It's a very aesthetically pleasing film, for sure. The script is rather loopy and nonsensical, which I normally don't like in movies, but it somehow works here. The dialog is strangely non-sequitur and witty, and sprinkled with allusions to various Beatles songs. I don't know why, but it works wonderfully. It's worth noting that the Blue Meanies are really inventive characters. They look like a cross between the Joker, Mickey Mouse, and a blue cotton ball. And somehow they come across as quite unsettling and very menacing for cartoon characters. And the soundtrack is great. The songs chosen for the film work perfectly with the narrative, and it's quite the treat to watch. Overall, a very fun and psychedelic movie, and a must-see for Beatles fans. 5/5

IMDB Page- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063823/

Movie Review- Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

I really like musicals, and I really like slasher movies. Sweeney Todd is a darkly humorous and surprisingly effective hybrid of the two. Tim Burton is a generally good director, and this is one of my favorite films he's done. As usual, the art direction is rather gloomy, but it works perfectly given the tone and setting. All of the actors look rather ghoulish in this movie, which really helps sell the menacing tone. The cinematography is really nice, which is always a plus. The script is great, too. Sweeney is a really believable character, and the method to his madness is well established, and makes his character all the more enjoyable. Although Johnny Depp did seem to be channeling an evil Jack Sparrow at times, which kinda got on my nerves. The entire cast did all their own singing, which is quite impressive on its own. Speaking of which, all the songs are excellent, both lyrically and musically. The ending seemed almost a bit rushed, though, but it was a creepy and fitting ending nonetheless. Overall, a very dark and enjoyable film. Really well-made, and highly recommended. 5/5

IMDB Page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0408236/

Movie Review- House II: The Second Story

House 2 is my least favorite kind of sequel, in that it has absolutely no correlation with the previous film. Heck, it barely even takes place in a house. While the previous film tried really hard to be a good movie, this movie feels as if the producers were trying to cash in on what limited success the first House had. While it's labeled as a horror/comedy, this is more of a really lame fantasy/comedy. The plot revolves around this guy, named Jesse, and his inexplicably reanimated great-great-grandfather, who have to protect a crystal skull from "evil forces" . The latter of the two characters is a very annoying cowboy stereotype, but he comes across as more of a grizzled miner from the 1840's. The aforementioned "evil forces" are a bizarre mix of cavemen and Aztec warriors, both of which are hardly 'evil'. The special effects are really lacking here, too. There's some really crappy stop-motion animation effects, and equally bad puppetry. And on the subject of puppetry, there's several scenes really fake-looking pterodactyl baby, and several more with a creepy caterpillar/dog hybrid puppet. Both of these monstrosities are supposed to be played as 'cute', but the poor quality of the puppets makes them extremely creepy. The ending is extremely ambiguous and confusing, somehow more so than the rest of the film. Overall, a very incoherent and boring film. Not recommended in the least. Personally, I'm a bit indifferent about this film, though. I wanted to hate it, it's really bad, but not cringe-inducing bad. So for that, I'll give it a 2/5.

IMDB Page- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093220/

Movie Review- House

House is a rare feat. A horror-comedy that is neither creepy nor funny. I think part of the problem comes from the fact that the director and producer were the guys behind Friday the 13th 2 and 3. But the main problem with this movie is that it is very unoriginal and formulaic. The same old haunted house routine, with very little ingenuity or inventiveness. The characters are flat and generally boring and unlikable, which really affects any potential this movie had. There's some weird interludes with the main character's Vietnam flashbacks, which make very little sense other than to set up an equally confusing final monster. The acting is really uneven here, particularly his neighbor with a constantly disappearing and reappearing European accent. Much like the acting, the special effects work is uneven, running the gamut from flying obviously-on-strings garden tools, to surprisingly good zombie makeup during the last 15 minutes. Speaking of which, the last 15 minutes is really the only interesting part of the film, but even then it makes almost no sense whatsoever. The main character somehow retrieves his lost son from inside his bathroom mirror, but not before being attacked by a skull-eagle thing that looks like something from a heavy metal album cover. After retrieving his son, he's attacked by the zombie of his former Vietnam war buddy, who's back for revenge for some reason. It's as if the special effects team was inspired heavily by heavy metal album covers, because the zombie/soldier guy looks like something from a Megadeth CD. As thrilling as this may sound, it's somehow a snoozefest. Overall, this is a very boring film. I didn't hate it, but I certainly didn't like it. Not recommended in the least. 2/5

IMDB Page-  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091223/

Movie Review- Lo

One of my favorite film genres is dark comedy. And this is a great dark comedy. The whole movie plays out like a stage play, and the flashbacks themselves are actually stage plays within the movie. It gives the movie a very interesting feel, but mostly a low-budget feel. The script is great, even if it's a little odd at times. The plot is very dialog heavy, much of the film consists of Justin conversing with various demons, Lo in particular. But it's not boring by any means, the characters are engaging, as well as the plot. A lot of the budget here seems like it went into the demon makeup, and boy does it show. The makeup is realistic, which is a rare feat in any genre. Lo, the title character, is a Freddy Kreuger type, spewing humor here and there, but it still manages to be a menacing villain. There's a good bit of bizarre humor here, which may turn a lot of people off, but the offbeat humor fits with the tone of the movie, so I had no problem with it. Scenes such as the 50's-style love ballad sung by one of the demons, while really strange, are quite fun to watch. It's a very surreal movie, too, but again, it works great with the tone. The ending is quite unexpected, a good twist ending for once, which makes the whole film very bittersweet in retrospect. A very, very weird movie, but quite enjoyable. Highly recommended to those with an offbeat sense of humor. 5/5

IMDB Page:  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1047490/

Movie Review- Class of Nuke 'Em High

Class of Nuke 'Em High is another trashfest from Troma studios. They're not known for making good movies, but this was surprisingly entertaining. It definitely has its moments, and can be quite funny at times, but the overall poor quality of the movie negates the potential this film had. It's big on gore and cheap laughs, and short on just about everything else. The acting is rather uneven, ranging from passable to really corny, and this applies to the whole cast. The script is kinda funny at times, as I said, but the overall plot is lacking, and it really affects the last 30 minutes or so. The film editing is really poor here, too, and it gets really distracting at times, to the point where I was wondering why certain shots were even there. The gore factor is surprisingly sub-par for this type of movie, it's all really fake, and not in a laughable way. There's also a good bit of continuity errors and plot holes, which gets really annoying at times. It's the little things like that take away from the enjoyment of the film. But all the negative criticism aside, this is actually quite a funny movie at times, with a dark and goofy tone, particularly the humor based around the nuclear safety hazards. This isn't a profound movie by any means, but it's a mildly enjoyable 80 minutes if you've got to sit through it. But don't get your hopes up.
Quality: 1/5 Enjoyment: 3/5

IMDB Page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090849/

Movie Review- Terrorvision

There's nothing I love more than a good B-movie. They're so hard to come by, but when a genuinely fun film such as this pops up, it's a great feeling for me. Terrorvision is a tongue-in-cheek parody of crappy science fiction films, and it works wonderfully, as the production value is roughly the same as the movies it parodies. As expected from this type of film, the characters are nothing but walking stereotypes, from the Cyndi Lauper wannabe, to the brainless metalhead kid; but the characters are so grossly stereotypical that they're somehow likable. The movie briefly shifts gears from campy horror to a strange segment parodying E.T., in which the kids try to tame the monster, by teaching it about junk food and heavy metal. The monster effects are really well-done for the budget, although the alien kinda looked like a Jabba the Hutt/lobster covered in Vaseline. There's also a strange subplot involving the kids' parents, who are the "hip swinger" types, which adds an odd bit of comic relief, and by comic relief I mean that the writers were going for intentional laughs, as opposed to the camp-induced laughter. Another interesting element of the film is Medusa, an Elvira knock-off who serves very little to the plot up until the last 5 minutes, but her scenes were rather funny, so I'll let that slide. Some of the humor was a bit outdated, though, but then again, this movie was made 25 years ago. Overall, a very strange and campy movie, and one of the most enjoyable B-Movies I've ever seen. A very fun watch, and highly recommended. 5/5

IMDB Page:  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092074/

Movie Review- Monty Python's The Meaning of Life

I don't know why a lot of people didn't like this movie. Personally, I thought this was just as good as 'The Holy Grail', but that's just me. I love the darker tone that this movie took, the grimness works quite well with the usual Monty Python shtick. And there's very little narrative to the film, which makes it come across as a really long episode of the TV show. The humor has a wide range, which I normally don't like in movies, but seeing as this is more of an anthology movie, it works quite well. The humor ranges from philosophical moments, to gross-out humor, to the usual absurdity that the troupe is so well-known for. The musical numbers are quite funny, too, particularly the opening song lampooning Catholicism. The cinematography is mildly interesting at times, and the animated skits by Terry Gilliam are as wonderfully animated as they are strange. My only complaint is that the opening skit, which is about pirate insurance salesman, makes absolutely no sense give the nature of the rest of the movie, and seems to be there solely to play into a brief joke later on in the film. Not exactly a gut-bustingly funny movie, but it'll keep you smiling the whole time. Very enjoyable, and highly recommended. 5/5

IMDB Page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085959/

Movie Review- Cyberbu//y

This was a lot better than I expected, particularly for a TV movie. Cyberbully tries really hard to make a good point, and it certainly does, but the message is lost slightly because of the overall campiness. The whole thing seemed like a new-age After School Special, hopefully this will bring about a slew of similar films.The acting is laughably melodramatic, and the 'cyberbullying' is quite unintentionally humorous. The characters are all unlikable, and it's hard to feel sorry for them, although the writers seemed to be trying to make them likable. The dialog is really cheesy at times, and Taylor's mom is extremely annoying. And the ending was little odd, but I wasn't expecting anything profound. But despite all that, this is a very enjoyable and unintentionally funny movie. A fun watch for those who enjoy campy movies.
Quality: 2/5
Enjoyment: 4/5

IMDB Page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1930315/

Movie Review- Basket Case

I love B-Movies. But there is a thin line between a laughable and cheesy B-Movie, and one that is just plain terrible. Basket Case would be the latter of the two. The acting is probably the worst I've ever seen in a movie, yes, even worse than 'Troll 2'. I highly doubt that anyone in the cast was actually an actor. And it's the little things that make this movie terrible. The sound quality is horrendous, as well as the film quality itself. The camera they used must have been really cheap. And then there's the gratuitous screaming. You can't go five minutes without someone screaming or yelling, which is made even worse by the crappy sound quality. And then there's the special effects. They would have been laughably bad if the effects weren't so darn pathetic. The monster looks like something made out of Play-Doh, and the stop-motion sequences are downright atrocious. On the plus side, which is very slim, the idea is very original, but the script is so poorly executed, it ruins all the creativity. Believe me, I love crappy movies, but this is just sad. I would not recommend this at all, I'm still mourning the loss of the 90 minutes I just spent watching this atrocity. 1/5

IMDB Page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083624/

Movie Review- Tucker and Dale vs. Evil

I would hardly call this a horror-comedy. This plays out more as a dark comedy of errors, really. And it works perfectly. It's a great twist on the slasher genre, where the twentysomethings are the villains, due to a large misunderstanding. Tucker and Dale are really well-developed characters, and are quite likable, a trait often missing from this type of movie. The color-correction was done to the extreme, which seemed almost as an intentional parody of most modern horror movies that use too much of it, which was quite funny in a subtle way. The script was great for this type of film, very witty and believable, although a bit silly at times. My only complaint is that the special effects for the death scenes were done almost entirely in post-production, and it's quite noticeable. But that being said, it is an indie film, so I'll cut them some slack on that part. Overall a very funny movie from beginning to end, and surprisingly heartfelt. Definitely recommended. 5/5

IMDB Page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1465522/

Movie Review Double Feature: Ringu and The Burning

Ringu:
This was much, much better than the American remake. I still wasn't too crazy about this movie, but it was definitely better. The storyline is a lot clearer, and the acting's definitely better. The special effects, while few, were really lame, sadly. The overall tone was a lot creepier than the American remake, as well. Overall, a fairly solid horror movie. 4/5

IMDB Page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0178868/

The Burning:
While this seems like a cheap 'Friday the 13th' imitation, which it is, The Burning far exceeds the former in almost all aspects. The plot is much more believable, which is rare in slasher flicks, and the acting is much better than expected. The characters are likable for once, and the death scenes are imaginative without being unrealistic. My only complaint is that the villain, Cropsy, is only onscreen for about 3 minutes, and the special effects makeup makes him look like Pizza the Hutt from 'Spaceballs'. That and the first kill scene makes absolutely no sense at all. All that aside, this is a really well-done slasher movie. Very enjoyable. 4.5/5

IMDB Page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082118/