What I'm Watching: July, 2010
Hello, horrorheads!
Probably the biggest news is that I saw Predators this weekend. What a movie! Light, popcorny fun, a good guilty pleasure type of movie, and definitely a worthy sequel to the original. There's a few issues with it, but overall I was thoroughly entertained for 90 minutes and change.
The acting was pretty good from everyone involved, and it was fun to watch the characters trying to figure things out and not get dead. If you're a fan of the movies, I definitely say you gotta see this movie.
In more closer to home stuff, right here in Trisk Labs, as has been obvious, I have something old and something new in the Puppet Master movies. I've already covered the new remastering of PM1, and I want to write up my thoughts now that I've actually watched the whole thing instead of just looked at images. That's a post in and of itself.
But the something new is Puppet Master: Axis of Evil, the first, new PM movie in ten years. Since it's brand new, I don't plan to do a full on look at the movie like my other reviews, but I do have some thoughts on it.
Sigh, it's not bad, for a Puppet Master movie, but it's not great either. There've been worse PM movies, that's for sure, but it doesn't quite reach the greatness of those first few films.
The movie just looks weird, for starters. The movie starts off with some new footage spliced in with scenes from the first movie, notably William Hickey's role as Toulon and Blade's scampering around the grounds of the Bodega Bay. But the differences between the original and new are VERY noticable. I don't know what they filmed the new movie on, but it has a very digital look, and it just doesn't mesh well with the classic, filmic look. It becomes very noticable when people are supposed to be in the same hallway, but in two different movies. I could get really geeky and talk about the depth of field, and the compression artifacts, but you get the idea.
The plot is pretty standard, as a kid who was friends with Toulon discovers the puppets, and just so happens to run into the same Nazis that chased down the puppet master when he returns home. How coincidental. Oh, and they're also trying to blow up the bomb factory the guy's girlfriend works at, as well as come between the boy and the girl. Convenient.
The acting isn't that great either, and the making of features on the disc probably explain why. This movie was filmed in 13 days. That's very fast for a movie, and they could have used a little more time to finesse the perfomances some more.
But I don't hate it. It's got some nice kills, the new puppet isn't so bad (Although he's a bit on the nose with the plot), and the plot may be standard, but it gets the job done and is a solid kind of standard. Stick with what works, right? But then the movie fails to end. It is all setup for the next movie. Ugh. I hated it when Puppet Master 4 was the first half of Puppet Master 5, and I hate it now. I want a complete story from my movies, not a setup for the next film which may or may not be made.
In fairness, this is a Full Moon movie, and they'll surely shove it out sooner or later. They crank these puppies out like a cor...meat grinder. ;)
Maybe I'll be happier once the next chapter is out and I can see the 'whole' film, but that is a huge beef of mine. Definitely worth seeing for fans of the series, but not the best entry, with some weird visual touches.
Now I gotta get back to the dungeon and watch the next movie for review, which just arrived the other day! Keep an eye out for more snakes, and more puppets shortly.
J
