I watched this movie in the hopes of seeing Bruce Campbell do a cheesy Elvis impersonation and fight mummies for an hour-and-a-half. Gee, was I let down. Expectations aside, this is still a crummy movie.
First things first, this is not a goofy, over-the-top horror/comedy. Bubba Ho-tep is more of a boring dramedy that happens to have a mummy in it. The first forty minutes of the film are surprisingly serious, but the attempts at being serious and meaningful are lost amongst poorly written dialog. There's a lot of blatant exposition that relies heavily on the audience's preexisting knowledge of Elvis's life, and it comes across as really clunky and awkward.
The humor here is a big problem, too. It relies heavily on swearing and toilet humor to stir up laughs, and it fails miserably. There's a lot of unnecessarily gross scenes involving bedpans, ointments, etc, that I guess are supposed to be funny, but they certainly aren't. A lot of the plot points are really ridiculous, too, and given the semi-serious tone of the first half of the film, it's very hard to suspend your disbelief at that point. And to make matters worse, a lot of the ludicrousness ties in with stupid and crude humor, making for a very unpleasant combo. (e.g. The mummy removes people's souls from their butts, and so forth). There's a somewhat funny element in Elvis's friend Jack, an elderly African-American man who thinks he's JFK. But the joke starts to wear thin extremely fast, as do most of the running gags.
There's very few positive things about this movie, but they're worth noting; the movie's main cast are all elderly characters, which is rarely seen in films. The other being that the ending is pessimistic, another thing that's rarely found in movies in general. But even then, the positive elements have their flaws. Old people being the heroes could have been an interesting plot point, but it's ruined with relentless and unfunny jokes at the expense the elderly. Even the pessimistic ending felt somewhat sicky-sweet in its delivery.
There's a lot of annoying and unexplained things in this movies universe, too. It's never explained why the mummy is dressed like a cowboy during the whole movie, nor why hieroglyphs appear every time he speaks. (The symbols are portrayed as three-dimensional objects, not subtitles). Elvis is also somehow able to see into the mummy's mind merely by looking at him, and it's never explained how that worked. I could go on, but there's far too many things to nitpick. A lot of these little things add up, though, making for a very confusing viewing experience.
Overall, this is a very disappointing movie. It had a promising storyline, but it was ruined by a poorly written script. Even Bruce Campbell's performance was lacking, and he was one of the main reasons I watched this movie. It could have been a lot better, but at least the production quality was good. But nonetheless, it's a boring and bland film that slowly degenerates into a bland and confusing mess. I wouldn't recommend it at all, it's a waste of time.
Enjoyment: 2/5
Quality: 2/5
IMDB Page- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0281686/
February 5, 2012
January 26, 2012
Movie Review- Intruder
Good horror movies are so hard to come by, both enjoyment and quality-wise. Intruder not only manages to be enjoyable, but it manages to be really well-made, too. What's even more impressive is that it's a slasher, a subgenre known for low quality. On a side note, there are a few edits of this movie floating around. Unfortunately, the only version I could find was a heavily edited cut of the movie. (Edit: Since the initial publication of this review, an uncut version of the film has been released on Blu-Ray.)
The setting for Intruder is a rather unique one, as it takes place in a grocery store. It's a nice change-up from the usual campground/forest setting, and it works particularly well. Another great thing about this movie is that nobody dies until 30 minutes into the movie. This leaves a bit more time for character development, and while the characters are still pretty flimsy, we're given enough time to actually care about them. Speaking of which, Sam and Ted Raimi co-star in this flick, and they're pretty decent in their roles. There's also a brief cameo by Bruce Campbell at the end, which is pretty cool, too.
The cinematography is really interesting, too. There's a lot of strange point-of-view shots, as well as an abundant use of creepy low-angle shots. There's a particularly interesting scene in which we see one of the characters making a phone call, but from the view of the phone. It doesn't add anything to the story, but it sure is cool to watch. The death scenes are inventive, but most of the violence was cut out in the version I watched. The special effects, while few, are decent, ranging from death by crate-squisher and a guy that gets his head chopped in half. The killer remains hidden until the end of the film, which adds to the suspense, and makes for a really good twist ending, too.
Overall, this is a really good slasher movie. There are a few campy moments here and there, but if you can look past all that, there's a lot of good things to be found here. The story is above average, the pacing is great, the comic relief has a dark quirk to it, and it's generally creepy and suspenseful movie. If you're looking for a change of pace from the usual slasher fare, this is a definite must.
Quality: 4/5
Enjoyment: 5/5
IMDB Page- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095379/
The setting for Intruder is a rather unique one, as it takes place in a grocery store. It's a nice change-up from the usual campground/forest setting, and it works particularly well. Another great thing about this movie is that nobody dies until 30 minutes into the movie. This leaves a bit more time for character development, and while the characters are still pretty flimsy, we're given enough time to actually care about them. Speaking of which, Sam and Ted Raimi co-star in this flick, and they're pretty decent in their roles. There's also a brief cameo by Bruce Campbell at the end, which is pretty cool, too.
The cinematography is really interesting, too. There's a lot of strange point-of-view shots, as well as an abundant use of creepy low-angle shots. There's a particularly interesting scene in which we see one of the characters making a phone call, but from the view of the phone. It doesn't add anything to the story, but it sure is cool to watch. The death scenes are inventive, but most of the violence was cut out in the version I watched. The special effects, while few, are decent, ranging from death by crate-squisher and a guy that gets his head chopped in half. The killer remains hidden until the end of the film, which adds to the suspense, and makes for a really good twist ending, too.
Overall, this is a really good slasher movie. There are a few campy moments here and there, but if you can look past all that, there's a lot of good things to be found here. The story is above average, the pacing is great, the comic relief has a dark quirk to it, and it's generally creepy and suspenseful movie. If you're looking for a change of pace from the usual slasher fare, this is a definite must.
Quality: 4/5
Enjoyment: 5/5
IMDB Page- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095379/
January 23, 2012
Movie Review- Seed of Chucky
The "Child's Play" series has been a lengthy and strange one. I really enjoyed the first three movies, which were a nice blend of creepy camp and unintentional laughs. The fourth movie (Bride of Chucky), however, tried to parody itself while retaining the elements of a slasher movie. The end result was a really bland and generally unfunny horror-comedy/road-trip movie. Seed of Chucky is a big improvement over Bride, in that it ditches any attempt to be scary, and goes straight for the laughs. And while the humor doesn't always work, it maintains its tone and overall plot direction.
The pacing is really interesting in this flick, seeing as the writers weren't going for a slasher movie. The body count is fairly low because of this, and the deaths are inventive without being ridiculous. The setting is mostly contained to Jennifer Tilly's house, and the limited location works really well. Speaking of which, Jennifer Tilly was quite enjoyable here. She came across as really annoying in the previous film, but she does a lot better of a job in this movie. A fun little plot twist is that Jennifer Tilly stars as herself in the movie, as well as the killer doll Tiffany. There's a lot of self-deprecating humor between the two of them, and it works surprisingly well.
Whereas the previous film had the killer-doll duo as supporting characters rather than just the villains, they're the main characters here. Another highlight of the movie is Chucky's androgynous child Glen/Glenda, who is also one of the main characters. Glen/Glenda isn't a murder-enthusiast like his parents, and there's good deal of humor as result. ("But violence is bad. It said so on TV" "Not violence... vio-lins! Violins are bad.") Not all of the humor works, though. There's a good deal of lowbrow crude humor that doesn't really flow with the rest of the movie and just isn't funny. But the number of jokes that work outshines the ones that don't, so it's easy to look past the unfunny and crude stuff.
The only other major problem I had with the movie is that Chucky's child, while somewhat funny, seemed like a bit of a third wheel to me, and was the butt of a lot of the gross-out humor. There's a recurring gag that Glen/Glenda pees himself whenever it's scared. While I found it unfunny and a bit strange that the writers felt it necessary to include that, I was able to look past it in favor of the better parts of the movie. I could nitpick about the factual errors, plot holes, and the nonsensical ending, but this is one of those movies where you have to look past those things to enjoy it.
Overall, a very stupid but fun movie. If you're a fan of the series and haven't seen this one yet, it's definitely worth the watch. It's nothing profound, but it's certainly enjoyable.
Quality: 2/5
Enjoyment: 4/5
IMDB Page- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387575/
The pacing is really interesting in this flick, seeing as the writers weren't going for a slasher movie. The body count is fairly low because of this, and the deaths are inventive without being ridiculous. The setting is mostly contained to Jennifer Tilly's house, and the limited location works really well. Speaking of which, Jennifer Tilly was quite enjoyable here. She came across as really annoying in the previous film, but she does a lot better of a job in this movie. A fun little plot twist is that Jennifer Tilly stars as herself in the movie, as well as the killer doll Tiffany. There's a lot of self-deprecating humor between the two of them, and it works surprisingly well.
Whereas the previous film had the killer-doll duo as supporting characters rather than just the villains, they're the main characters here. Another highlight of the movie is Chucky's androgynous child Glen/Glenda, who is also one of the main characters. Glen/Glenda isn't a murder-enthusiast like his parents, and there's good deal of humor as result. ("But violence is bad. It said so on TV" "Not violence... vio-lins! Violins are bad.") Not all of the humor works, though. There's a good deal of lowbrow crude humor that doesn't really flow with the rest of the movie and just isn't funny. But the number of jokes that work outshines the ones that don't, so it's easy to look past the unfunny and crude stuff.
The only other major problem I had with the movie is that Chucky's child, while somewhat funny, seemed like a bit of a third wheel to me, and was the butt of a lot of the gross-out humor. There's a recurring gag that Glen/Glenda pees himself whenever it's scared. While I found it unfunny and a bit strange that the writers felt it necessary to include that, I was able to look past it in favor of the better parts of the movie. I could nitpick about the factual errors, plot holes, and the nonsensical ending, but this is one of those movies where you have to look past those things to enjoy it.
Overall, a very stupid but fun movie. If you're a fan of the series and haven't seen this one yet, it's definitely worth the watch. It's nothing profound, but it's certainly enjoyable.
Quality: 2/5
Enjoyment: 4/5
IMDB Page- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387575/
January 21, 2012
Movie Review- Black Dynamite
Black Dynamite is a rare genre of movie, the send-up/self-parody; other films in the genre being "The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra" and "Mars Attacks!". The point of these movies is to simultaneously pay tribute to and poke fun at movie genres, without ever getting too silly. The genres in question here are blaxploitation flicks and crummy police movies (think "Mitchell") of the 1970's. This movie pulls off the parody almost perfectly.
The movie centers around Black Dynamite, an all-the-time macho guy. In typical cop movie fashion, his brother is killed by drug dealers, so Dynamite starts a war on drugs, so he can avenge his brother's death. The plot gets really loopy and nonsensical from there, as most movies like that tend to do. The storyline is intentionally campy, though, and it's quite funny. The dialog in particular is really amusing, ranging from jilted-sounding exposition, to the constant use of "Can you dig it?". The parody is dead-on, from beginning to end, down to the cheesy cinematography and overuse of sweeps and fades. The action scenes are over-the-top ridiculous, and the sound effects are laughably terrible, too. There's even a touch of sepia-tone to some of the interior shots, as is often found in old grindhouse movies.
While this is a very funny movie, there are times when it seems like the writers couldn't pass up an opportunity for a joke, and they come across as out of place comparison to the sense of humor of the rest of the film. There's a scene where Dynamite and his friends figure out what the motive behind the drug dealers was, ("Who makes M&M's? Mars! And what's Mars spelled backwards without the S?...) and while it's very humorous, it doesn't quite fit with the semi-serious tone of the movie. I say semi-serious, because the film almost never acknowledges the ridiculousness of itself, but instead acts like it's a serious action movie. When the movie does start to somewhat acknowledge itself, it definitely shows; the end fight scene between Black Dynamite and Richard Nixon seems almost like a knowing wink to the viewers. I'm not opposed to it, though, it works really well and is really funny; it's just that script-wise, it seems out of place.
Overall, this is a very, very funny movie, and good-quality one, too. Highly recommended.
Quality: 4/5
Enjoyment: 5/5
IMDB Page- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1190536/
The movie centers around Black Dynamite, an all-the-time macho guy. In typical cop movie fashion, his brother is killed by drug dealers, so Dynamite starts a war on drugs, so he can avenge his brother's death. The plot gets really loopy and nonsensical from there, as most movies like that tend to do. The storyline is intentionally campy, though, and it's quite funny. The dialog in particular is really amusing, ranging from jilted-sounding exposition, to the constant use of "Can you dig it?". The parody is dead-on, from beginning to end, down to the cheesy cinematography and overuse of sweeps and fades. The action scenes are over-the-top ridiculous, and the sound effects are laughably terrible, too. There's even a touch of sepia-tone to some of the interior shots, as is often found in old grindhouse movies.
While this is a very funny movie, there are times when it seems like the writers couldn't pass up an opportunity for a joke, and they come across as out of place comparison to the sense of humor of the rest of the film. There's a scene where Dynamite and his friends figure out what the motive behind the drug dealers was, ("Who makes M&M's? Mars! And what's Mars spelled backwards without the S?...) and while it's very humorous, it doesn't quite fit with the semi-serious tone of the movie. I say semi-serious, because the film almost never acknowledges the ridiculousness of itself, but instead acts like it's a serious action movie. When the movie does start to somewhat acknowledge itself, it definitely shows; the end fight scene between Black Dynamite and Richard Nixon seems almost like a knowing wink to the viewers. I'm not opposed to it, though, it works really well and is really funny; it's just that script-wise, it seems out of place.
Overall, this is a very, very funny movie, and good-quality one, too. Highly recommended.
Quality: 4/5
Enjoyment: 5/5
IMDB Page- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1190536/
January 16, 2012
Movie Review- Up the Academy
MAD magazine has occasionally tried to make forays into other mediums besides magazines, and it never really works. Up the Academy was their half-baked and silly attempt to cash in on the popularity of National Lampoon's Animal House. But is it really all that bad? For the most part, yes, but it has its moments.
The film opens and closes with very a creepy shot of a guy in an Alfred E. Neuman (MAD's mascot) costume. It gets better, though. But not by much. The humor here relies heavily on stereotypes, toilet humor, and occasionally some slapstick gags. These only work about half of the time, and it's strangely nothing like the sense of humor in the magazine that produced it. The main characters are mostly thin stereotypes, and the jokes revolving around their stereotypical personalities get old fast. It's worth noting that Ralph Macchio starred in this, in one of his earlier roles, and he's one of the only entertaining people in the whole thing.
The plot is very nonsensical, and somewhat reminiscent of the Police Academy movies, although this was released well before them. Basically, a bunch of misfit troublemakers get shipped off to military school and wacky hijinks ensue. That's pretty much it. The movie isn't completely bland, though, the first 40 minutes or so were fairly entertaining. After that, however, the humor starts to go flat. There's one strange thing worth noting, and it really took me out of the movie-watching experience; the soundtrack plays incessantly through the movie. While I liked the style of music (late 70's rock and post-punk), it plays far too much. There were several scenes throughout the movie that would have played out a lot better if there wasn't a song playing in the background. The effects, while few, were pretty cheap, and consisted mostly of old stock footage. I get the feeling this was meant to be played for laughs in some scenes, but it still makes the movie look pretty shoddy.
Overall, this is a very hit-and-miss movie. When it's funny, it's very, very funny. When it's bad, it's really terrible. It certainly isn't horrible, but it's nothing special, and not really worth watching. I wouldn't recommend it. The first three Police Academy movies are a much better alternative if you're in the mood for a "bunch of wacky characters in a not wacky setting"-type movie.
Enjoyment: 3/5
Quality: 2/5
IMDB Page- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081695/
The film opens and closes with very a creepy shot of a guy in an Alfred E. Neuman (MAD's mascot) costume. It gets better, though. But not by much. The humor here relies heavily on stereotypes, toilet humor, and occasionally some slapstick gags. These only work about half of the time, and it's strangely nothing like the sense of humor in the magazine that produced it. The main characters are mostly thin stereotypes, and the jokes revolving around their stereotypical personalities get old fast. It's worth noting that Ralph Macchio starred in this, in one of his earlier roles, and he's one of the only entertaining people in the whole thing.
The plot is very nonsensical, and somewhat reminiscent of the Police Academy movies, although this was released well before them. Basically, a bunch of misfit troublemakers get shipped off to military school and wacky hijinks ensue. That's pretty much it. The movie isn't completely bland, though, the first 40 minutes or so were fairly entertaining. After that, however, the humor starts to go flat. There's one strange thing worth noting, and it really took me out of the movie-watching experience; the soundtrack plays incessantly through the movie. While I liked the style of music (late 70's rock and post-punk), it plays far too much. There were several scenes throughout the movie that would have played out a lot better if there wasn't a song playing in the background. The effects, while few, were pretty cheap, and consisted mostly of old stock footage. I get the feeling this was meant to be played for laughs in some scenes, but it still makes the movie look pretty shoddy.
Overall, this is a very hit-and-miss movie. When it's funny, it's very, very funny. When it's bad, it's really terrible. It certainly isn't horrible, but it's nothing special, and not really worth watching. I wouldn't recommend it. The first three Police Academy movies are a much better alternative if you're in the mood for a "bunch of wacky characters in a not wacky setting"-type movie.
Enjoyment: 3/5
Quality: 2/5
IMDB Page- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081695/
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