What I'm Watching: April, 2011

Hello, horrorheads!

First up, before I get into my rambling thoughts, my scanner seems to have passed away.  This has a minor effect on the website, as each review contains cover images from the DVDs that I scan in myself, as a bit of odd proof that I actually own these things.  This is never anything I've pointed out, but it's there.  I'm shopping around for a replacement, so it's a minor thing, and I'll get by no problem, but there might be a slight difference that gets noticed.  Or maybe not.

I've been watching the classic V tv series from the 1980s.  I saw a number of these back when they originally aired (Sigh I'm old), but mostly remember them from the Scifi Channel reairing them in the 1990s.  I finally grabbed the DVDs and have gotten around to watching them.  What with alien lizards, killing people, and a few scares, it's an appropriate thing to mention.  Also, cheese.  There is a lot of nostalgia for V, and much of that is due to the original miniseries, which is a brilliant bit of allegory.  But once it became a weekly series, the quality took a dive.  Not many alien effects, most of the spaceships are reused footage from the miniseries, the cast is pared down almost weekly as money dries up, and the writing is simplistic and corny, if not downright silly.  The reboot of the show in recent years is getting a lot of deserved flak, but...the other original series?  Not that great either.  It's still campy fun, and does have some brilliant moments, and familiar characters, but it's wince worthy too.  And it gets worse with each episode, I think.

It is no secret I love Doctor Who.  I reference it in almost every damned review, in some way.  Often, more than once.  So yeah, the new series kicked off just before I'm writing these words, and I loooved the newest episode.  That's all I'm saying.  It was surprising, terrifying, and all those things you expect from Who.  I also picked up the American-made FOX tv movie from 1996.  Eric Roberts as an over the top, super campy bad guy.  He needs to appear in more movies I review.  He's a godsend to Trisk.  So goofy, I love his performances.

On the movies I missed front, there's the much-maligned Skyline.  Aliens come to Earth, and people get sucked into the sky and their ships.  A lot of the dislike this movie got is well deserved.  The movie has nothing that stand out about it, but it's not THAT bad either.  But it's not bad enough to come around to good again.  The performances are fine, the effects are surprisingly good, but the plot is slow, plodding, and takes too long for anything of substance to happen.  You never quite get a feel for the characters, with all the time they spend with them, which is a shame.  So much time, and I couldn't care less about these people.  Making most of them be stereotypical LA asshats doesn't help.  The plot is also a little too murky.  It clears up on repeated viewings, and with some commentary, but I don't think the movie itself quite explained itself well enough.  I'd check this out if it comes up on tv, since it's an OK movie and not as bad as many say but...it is still kinda bad.

Also, finally saw Black Swan, which may be the most critically and commercially acclaimed movie I've seen and owned.  Why is this here?  It is just barely horror.  This is the most horror movie that will win an Oscar, I think.  It has definite elements of horror to the story, wrapped up in a serious drama.  It's more the latter than the former, and is actually very well done.  Darren Aaronofsky is a brilliant director, very visual, and this is such a well made movie in almost every way.  It's just barely not something I would normally watch, but has those minor bits that DO interest me, and brought me into a movie that I mostly enjoyed.  A definite must see.

And finally, a movie I bet none of you have heard about, which is nothing new for Trisk; Dead Awake.  This is about a man who's struggling through life after his parents died, obsessed with death and who killed them, and unable to move forward.  The trailer made the movie look a lot more supernatural than it was, and while there were some elements of that in the final product, the movie was not what I thought it would be.  It's not a bad movie, and has some good things to say about life and loss, and that state of suspension some of us can fall into after losing someone, and is actually quite good for a small, personal film like this.  Just not what I was expecting.  Once I got past that, I came around to liking it.  Nothing great, but a good watch.  It's a very personal story, good character bits, and well written.  Just the kind of small, independent movie with just the right amount of the darkness to keep things interesting.  You never quite know how much of that stuff the movie is dealing with, 'til the very end.

So, that's the long write ups here.  If you want to see what I thought about some other recent releases, swing by my Livejournal, and read my in-depth reviews of Source Code and Insidious.  I won't repeat myself here, and let you read those wordy reviews over there.  They really are entire posts unto themselves.  In short, they're both great movies I loved watching.  Pick through my reasons why at your leisure.

See you in a few days for the next Trisking review!

J

What I'm Watching: March, 2011

Hello, horrorheads!

I've noticed a weird jump in activity the last few days, and I'll be darned if I can figure out why!  But any of you out there reading these words, speak up!  Leave a comment!  Let us know how you found this site!  Let's chat.

Been pretty quiet for movies lately, but there's a few scattered things I've been piling up and watching in my spare time.

Finally grabbed and watched the complete set of the NBC series, Surface.  I tried watching it when it was first on, but it never really grabbed me.  Watching the whole thing now, I think I can see why.  It's a decent show, but a little too family friendly for me.  Many people compared it to classic Spielberg, and I can definitely see that comparrison now.  Which isn't a bad thing!  I love Spielberg!  It's just this show was pretty cutesy half the time.  But mostly worth watching if you get the chance.  The acting is good, and the story is a bit wandering though.  Shame there's no real conclusion, but the ride was ok.

Also took in the recently released MST3K volume 20 DVDs.  Shout! Factory once again puts out another solid set.  I've got nothing more to add to what I've already said about MST3K, just giving them another *ahem* shout-out.

I finally saw My Soul to Take, one of many movies I avoided in the theatres because it was in 3-D.  This movie was pretty much stomped all over by reviewers, that I saw.  Even the horror-friendly ones.  But you know what?  I liked it.  I thought the story was solid, with just enough twists and red herrings, and a lot of people slam it for no real setup, but I've watched the movie a few times, and they do mostly play fair with the mystery.  It has it's cheese, and while Wes Craven used to be quite adept at tapping into that high school voice, I think it's clear he's grown out of touch and doesn't quite know how kids today act and sound.  Even so, that's not terrible.  Watching this so close to Ripper, the styles of storytelling are so similar in their ideas, but vastly different in execution.  Soul succeeds on every level Ripper fails at.  Craven has done better, but it was an entertaining 90 minutes or so.

And last, and definitely least, is Birdemic. *shudder*  Birdemic.  A pox upon my soul.  I can't say enough bad things about this movie.  I can usually find something good to say, but this one, wow.  I am at a loss.  This is a brand new movie, and it makes me want to break my own rule about no movies after 2000.  It is THAT bad.  It needs to have the full Trisking, I think.  The movie is astoundingly awful.  Let me know what you guys think in the comments.  If I get enough response, I will rewatch and dissect the hell out of this turdemic.  For you, the readers.

That's all that's been keeping me busy lately.  Now, to get back to the next Rippertastic movie.  And you thought the first one was bad?

J

What I'm Watching: Early February, 2011

Hey, horrorheads!

Taking a break from plotting the first half of adventures for Triskaidekafiles in 2011, rebuilding my computer, and assorted stuff to catch up with all of y'all out there.  Let's take a look at the pile of DVDs that have passed my eyeballs in the last few weeks, shall we?

At least this month is all horror, all the time.  I grabbed a random DVD when I saw it coming out, called Chain Letter.  At first I hoped, I prayed, it was an adaptation of the Christopher Pike novel of the same name.  Yeah, no.  It's not.  Bad things happening to people who don't forward chain letters is nothing new, but an adaptation of that teen horror classic would have been better than this.  Which isn't to say there isn't fun to be had here.  They take the old tropes of that type of story and drag it kicking and screaminto into the 21st century, using text messages and e-mails.  The cast includes genre faves Brad Dourif and Ketih David, and they definitely bring their A games, but the rest of the cast is weird and wooden.  The deaths though, are amazing.  Holy crap, the blood is great in this.  The plot starts out mostly ok and set up well enough, but the whole mystery is very poorly done, and completely falls apart in the half-assed way they try to explain what's going on.  There's no emotional hook to what is going on, and since the mystery is never really delved into, the revelations are ultimately meaningless and confusing.  The ending manages to redeem some of the movie by being a little clever, but nowhere near enough to save this film.  A good bloodfest that just went horribly awry, which is a shame.  It's like a rough draft of a story that needed a few more revisions.  I enjoyed the campy fun, but it could have been much better.  This so would be a full reviewed movie if it had come out 15 years ago.

Also watched Monsters, which is an interesting story, with an interesting reaction from me.  It's the tale of the daughter of a wealthy man trying to get out of Mexico, and one of his employees is there to help get her across the border.  Along the road trip, they fall in love.  Oh, and there's alien creatures that have begun infesting Earth, but the movie wouldn't really be any different if they were there or not.  Replace aliens with rebel soldiers, and the story would be functionally unchanged.  The movie is well known for doing a lot of CG and replacement of elements on a very low budget, in a very guerilla way, and for what the movie did, how it did it, and how well it did it?  On those counts, I love it.  I admire the movie for what it accomplished in visual storytelling and effects, but the story being told around them is so bland, so straightforward, and just left me cold.  You know they're going to fall in love from the moment they meet, and they do.  There's no real obstacle to that growing relationship thrown in their way, so that's pretty uninteresting.  And the aliens are only background details of the world, so there's very little interesting there to the story.  It could just as easily have been people on safari and watching a lion in the distance.  They did some good work with allegory but overall, the story goes from point A to point B in the straightest, least interesting line possible.  I look forward to more from the director, since he did an amazing job MAKING the movie, but yeah...

Next up is the Last Exorcism, another movie in the genre that puts you squarely in the film, making the cameraman a character in the movie.  Unlike Cloverfield or Blair Witch, this isn't found footage so much as a real documentary, and sold that way.  It has a score, it's edited, and it's polished.  I think that made this movie all the better.  The characters are actors, and this mockumentary is well made.  They nailed the feeling of a documentary, and everyone totally sold it.  The acting is spot on perfect, the camera work, everything.  It's the story of Cotton Marcus, a preacher who has grown disillusioned with the church's policy on exorcisms, and begun making a documentary to show what shams they are.  Along the way he encounters a family with a supposedly possessed daughter in the middle of nowhere New Orleans, and he has to determine if she is really possessed, or it's all an act.  The movie brilliantly walks that line between is she or isn't she, and you are kept guessing right up until the very last minute of the film.  So well done.  The ending of the movie has become very divisive.  Love it or hate it.  Me, I love it.  This is one of the best horror films I've seen in awhile, and such a good ride.  Definitely seek this out.

Finally, there's Let Me In, the American remake of a foreign movie based on a book.  I've not seen Let the Right One In, or read the book, so I can't compare and contrast.  I can only speak to what I've seen.  And what I've seen is good.  Very good.  Chloe Moretz is amazing.  She has a long career ahead of her in this business, and is a better actress than a large chunk of the Hollywood population.  Her costars are equally good, and the performances in this movie really make it.  This is a vampire story, a coming of age story, and a love story all at once.  It takes common themes and looks at them in whole new ways, and does it so, so well.  My only complaint is when Chloe vamps out and becomes a bouncy piece of CGI.  The  CG has no weight to it, and she bounces around effortlessly.  It looks so fake and yanks you right out of the movie.  Those moments are so few and far between, that fortunately the rest of the movie being rock solid makes this definitely a great movie.  If they dealt more with that side of things, with more of the goofy bouncy vampire, then this movie would suffer from it.  But no, that isn't what the movie is about.  It needs those moments to get from one story point to another, and then back to amazing acting, storytelling, and cinematography.

A mixed bag, but mostly good.  Chain Letter is good for camp, but don't expect a good movie.  Monsters you should at least check out since a lot of people love the story.  It just wasn't what I wanted.  But Exorcism and Let Me In are great, and must see movies.

See you in the theatre!

J

What I'm Watching: January, 2011

Happy new year, and greetings programs!  Sorry there wasn't an early January posting, but I honestly didn't have much to say.  I was stuck watching the new Doctor Who season, and that was pretty much it, and there was no juicy news to share.  But what that means is I've built up a pile of stuff since then, so this is a biggy.

Starting with the much anticipated Tron: Legacy.  I may well be the last person on the planet to see it, because I literally just got back from the theatre.  I had to wait for the movie to get into a 2D theatre, which is why this movie I've waited two decades for, a sequel to one of my fave guilty pleasures, has not been seen until now.  Sucks.

But I digress.  How was the movie?  For the most part, it was worth the wait.  Even in 2D, it was a visual and auditory feast.  It had a plot, that was maybe a little thin at times, but even then everything just looked and sounded amazing.  I'm not a style over substance kinda person, but you can't comment on those things with this movie.  Sam Flynn was one of the weaker links, as I never quite connected with who he was.  The movie could have used a little more character building on his part.  He still had his moments though.  No surprise that Jeff Bridges was amazing, though.  And his younger self managed to stay out of the uncanny valley, for the most part.  The biggest glitch with Clu was that his head and neck didn't always seem connected.

The first movie seemed to do more with comparrisons to the real world, and I don't think Legacy *quite* pulled that off.  The world didn't seem quite as well thought out to me.  It felt more like an alien world than a computer world, if that makes any sense.  What I really would have liked to have seen was more conflict, and not just in the good versus evil department.  They could have done SO much with fathers and sons, two brothers pairing against each other, the difference of generations both in people and technology, between the open source and closed source movements, religion and tech...so many options.  There were moments of some of those things, but that's all they were.  There was some great stuff between Clu and Kevin Flynn towards the end of the movie that was the closest to that, with a son's rage against a father's broken promises.  I wanted more of that.

But there was a plot in the movie, and one that moved pretty well for a two hour film.  It never quite felt like it dragged.  If anything, it needed to be longer, to give it more meat.  This could have easily been a mindless action movie to cash in on 3D, but they had a story to tell, and they told it.  It just wasn't as much of a story as I was hoping for.  And there is nothing wrong with that.

I've got a stack of DVD movies I've watched lately, so I'm going to breeze through them.

I have now seen the infamous Lindsay Lohan bomb, "I Know Who Killed Me."  And...and, I um, actually liked it?  Don't get me wrong, there is plenty bad here.  The acting is subpar, the story is laughable, but...with the other movies I watch?  It is NOT that bad.  Maybe worse than a lot of other big Hollywood movies, but it was entertaining, and well made.  I was absolutely enthralled with the noirness of it, and the way it was shot.  This movie dripped style, and the director did an amazing job.  But it is what it is, a goofy pulp bit of fluff that is best left forgotten.  But I've seen worse.

A little less horror, although there's a personal level of horror to the story, is Catfish.  This is a documentary of a guy who gets involved with a person online, things start to seem hinky, and his quest to get to the bottom of things.  I was surprised to find out this is a supposedly true story, but just as surprised to find out how interesting it actually was.  The story isn't terribly surprising, but there's a few unforseen twists, and the depth of the lies was truly enthralling.  I was on the edge of my seat watching to see just how deep things got.  The best part for me is that once the truth came out, they did not make it confrontational.  It could just as easily have been a case of, "HOW DARE YOU??" which I am sure many people would have taken, but instead the people involved were understanding and almost caring, even in light of the lies, since we're all a little bit of a lie online, aren't we?  I like what the understanding nature of it says about humanity.

On a bit of theatrical catchup, I saw Machete finally.  Hooboy, this is a tough one.  It is way over the top, and gets very silly.  But then, we knew that, didn't we?  It's a modern day grindhouse film.  And much like Rodriguez's other grindhouser, Planet Terror, he nails the style and energy and fun of it.  This isn't the movie you watch for a serious movie.  It knows what it is, and what it wants to do, and does it.  No questions asked.  Perfectly executed, but problematic if you don't know what you're going to watch.

Continuing the catchup theme, I also got to see Piranha at last.  Another one I had to wait on because of 3D.  And much like Machete, it's not very serious, nor is it trying to be.  In almost any other world, this would have been on the Scifi Channel, but it somehow snuck onto the big screen.  It's a fun, deadly fish filled romp, with everything you would expect from a love letter to 80s horror movies.  Campy, classic fun.  If it had come out 20 years ago, it would get a full review.

Lastly, there's Buried with Ryan Reynolds, and almost only Ryan Reynolds.  It's a very simple story of a man trapped, buried in a coffin, with only a few items, and trying to find the way out.  For a movie that is solely on one character, in a single location, for 90 minutes, it was way more enthralling than you might think.  It dragged a few times, but it works for the confinement and claustrophobia.  You get uncomfortable waiting, and that's how you should feel.  It was a decent watch that kept me totally entertained, and the ending...well, I won't say a word.

Oh, and just one more quick shout out to a little known film that has nothing to do with anything; Gunless.  Yes, it's a western, and has nothing to do with this site, but it is smart, funny, clever, and is more of a deconstruction of the Western genre than anything else.  It's about a wanted man who ends up in the wild west...of Canada.  The Montana Kid then tries his best to get out, but that's easier said than done when he challenges a gunless man to a duel.  Very fun, and just something from the left of nowhere I wanted to shine a light on for interested parties.

Wow, that's a lot of stuff.  Well, I have even more movies to watch, and even more to write up reviews of, so until next week...end of line!

J

What I'm Watching: Early December, 2010

Well, the year is almost done, and it's been a decent 2010.  I've not gotten out to as many movies as I've liked, but that's what DVD is for, and that's what a lot of this post is about.  A couple of movies this time around are a bit of the odd, little known, rare side of things.

An odd little movie I grabbed randomly because it sounded fun, was the Australian thriller, Restraint.  Or Ravenswood as it's known in some markets.  It's a very small cast, but the performances are pretty well done across the board.  Most notable in the cast is Stephen Moyer, whom will be familiar to horror fans as Bill Compton on True Blood.  He plays a rich agoraphobe who is trapped inside his own home after some bad events.  One day, his home gets invaded by a pair of criminals on the run from the cops.  To save his life, he offers them large gobs of cash sitting in a trust fund that the female accomplice can get her hands on since she has a striking resemblence to his fiance.  Things go awry from there, as the trio are forced to spend time locked up in the house together, learning about each other.  It is a very good ride, especially for a low budget movie from first time (I think) filmmakers.  The ending leaves a weird taste in my mouth, but it works.  If you're looking for something a little low key with a few thrills and character exploration, this one is worth a rent.

Speaking of movies with decent thrills but weird endings, the other movie to pass my DVD player lately has been Altitude.  That's actually an odd coincidence between two very different movies.

Altitude is the story of a bunch of young students renting a plane to go to their annual Coldplay concert.  The pilot lost her mother in a plane accident when she was young, and the event haunts her.  After takeoff, things go from bad to worse as they get lost in thick, dark clouds, and start to see a creature lurking within them.  What the creature is and where it came from is the driving mystery.  This was a decent little movie, and used the bottle formula of a small cast trapped in a single location as they're slowly wiped out to good effect.  The first third of the movie is spent learning who the characters are and the plane's initial flight before things even go that wrong, so by the time the shit hits the fan, you actually care when tentacles start tearing people apart.  Or root for it, in one case.  But at least you do care about these people, which is always a good sign in a thriller/horror movie.  The ending is VERY strange, and while it wasn't unique, it did come out of nowhere, and was just so out there and a little bit ballsy that it kinda blew my mind.  I think I liked how it all wrapped up, but I'm not sure!  It was just such an out there twist, it sits uneasily with me.  But I've seen worse movies, so I say it's worth a look.  It was also directed by comicbook artist Kaare Andrews, and for a first time director, he does a good job.  Again, for a movie from new creators, and low budget, it's good for what it is.

Two very interesting flicks, that are a bit off the beaten path and might be of interest.  I've still got a lot more backlog to get through, and reviews to work on, so best to get back at it.

J

What I'm Watching: Late October, 2010

Happy Halloween!

Before I dive into the movies and such I've been watching lately, just some quick notes on what's coming to Trisk in the near future.

For those that have been here for awhile, you will remember the very quiet November from last year, as I partook in the yearly NaNoWriMo writing competition, and this year will be the same.  But with one main difference, there WILL be a review, come hell or high water.  I also plan to still do a Watching post at the very least, so it won't be a total ghost town around here.  Look for our Thanksgiving review on the 15th, to split the month up nicely in half to bide time between now and December.  And there's still one more review going up before then.

After that, Trisk will be diving right into more Christmas movies, and that will take us through 2010.  I've got only a little inkling of 2011 movies to kick off January.  There is a number of films jumping up and down to be reviewed, so they definitely have my attention.

Over the past few weeks, I've watched a number of horror movies; one rather strange, and one pretty straightforward but really good.

The stranger of the two was the rather infamous Human Centipede.  It's the rather simple story of a mad scientist who captures some hapless people stranded on the road, and then does crazy experiments on them, but taken to the Nth degree.  There's nothing that special in the plot, and what really makes the movie stand out is the nature of the experiments.  The crazy Dr. Heiter sews three people together with their mouths connected to the preceeding person's ass and connects their digestive tracts.

Ew, right?

Personaly, I found the Hostel movies far more disturbing, but I can see why this would squick people out.  I still found it to be an interesting study of the few characters in it, and was intrigued to see just how it would turn out.  While I find it hard to recommend something so bizarre and disgusting to many, if you can stomach it and aren't downright turned off by the description alone, I do think it is at least worth seeing, just for the experience of having done so.  I'm not going to get into the medical accuracy, or the movie's claims thereof.  Why start now?  NONE of the movies here are accurate to any sort of reality.  Isn't that half the fun?

From the weird to the almost normal, comes Frozen.  I really, really liked this movie!  I am sold on Adam Green's work, and am definitely moving Hatchet up my list of movies I need to see right the hell now.  Some people will sit down and nitpick apart every last second of the movie, trying to come up with things the trio of characters could have done differently once they get stuck on an abandoned skilift one weekend, or plot holes, or the usual.  However, in my opinion, I feel the movie addressed most of the major potential stupid moments very well.  Most ideas people come up with actually wouldn't work as well as you would think upon first thought.

The strength of Frozen is in its characters.  The secret to all good horror movies.  If you care about the people about to die, then you're willing to buy 90% of anything a movie might throw at you.  Since this movie is three people on a chairlift and nothing else for 80 of it's 90 minute runtime, you absolutely need great characters, and Frozen delivers.  Especially with the casting of Emma Bell as Parker.  She is absolutely adorable, and just on sight alone, you want absolutely nothing bad to happen to this girl.

Your desires will be completely denied, as much happens to Parker.

The absolute best scene in the movie is centered around what the movie doesn't show you, as a brutal attack that many movies would go to for the blood and gore, is left completely out of our sight, and we only experience it through the faces and reactions of the other characters.  That was brilliant and sold me on the movie.

Oh, and the writer/director is from my neck of the woods, and includes a lot of references to the New England skiing culture, so I may be grading on a curve just for those things alone.

But seriously, I could go on and on about this movie, and would love to talk more about it with anyone who has seen it.  If you haven't, I definitely recommend that you do.

And the reason I've kept this post on delay for so long, I literally just walked in the door from Paranormal Activity 2.  I talked about the original back in January, and wanted to get around to my thoughts on this as well.

It's not as good as the first movie, I'd say.  Whereas the original knew just when to get to scaring you, I felt the second time around they spent a little too much time with the characters.  It was ok stuff, but just a hair too long, and I started squirming in my seat waiting for things to get going again.

That said, the scares do make up for it, and are pretty good.  Some of them outdo the first movie, some don't.  It was a really good ride though, and a must see for any fan of the original.  A lot of the events were a bit confounding to me with how they lined up with the first, how they could possibly coexist, but that was explained nicely by the end.

I could have easily set fire to the three young women sitting across the aisle from me though.  They would not shut up and kept giggling.  Some of the giggling was warranted, but argh.

My one complaint is barely even a thing.  It has nothing to do with the plot, and it was a joke that got made by the husband.  His wife is in the bath, and he makes a joke about joining her and how he will, "Release the Kraken!"  In a movie set in 2006.  Um...  Gotta love anachronisms.

That's all for now!  Next full review up soon, and I'll see you when the snow flies.

J

What I'm Watching: Early September, 2010

Hey, gang!

I've been busy the last few days, and wanted to pop in with what's been going on.

But first, I wanted to speak about a movie.

I finally got around to watching Pontypool.  I've been wanting to see this movie for ages, and it finally popped up on the DVR and I had the time to sit back and just enjoy in a nice, dark room.

This movie is so totally up my alley.  Lurking creatures, that trapped feeling, and a great use of language, both in the script and the device of the movie.  That first hour or so was simply amazing.  One of the best hours on film I have seen in a long time.  The character building, the tension, the slowly creeping dread, and all of it happening off screen, as we're stuck inside a small radio studio.  So well done, and I cannot praise it enough.  It even sounded amazing on my sound system.  I seriously just wanted to lean back, close my eyes and just listen.  It almost works as an audio drama, which makes sense for the setting, doesn't it?

But the last 15, 20 minutes or so left me a little baffled.  Things were moving too fast, the language of the movie was getting a bit too confusing, which was deliberate to a point.  Something about that final act just didn't quite click for me.  I don't hate it, I just don't quite GET it, you know?  They lost their focus somewhere along the way.  Which is a shame, since that first hour was SOO good, and have it just fall apart like that.

I would love it if my faithful readers would get a discussion going here about the movie, maybe we can hash it out.  Either here, or I think I'll make a post on the Triskaidekaforum.  This movie could so grow on me, and I definitely want to watch it again, just for that build up, and to pick it apart.  I really want to totally grok this movie, and just love it.  Pontypool is SO close to being a fave.

Aside from movies, I've also been busy with the site.  If you're reading this, then it would be very difficult to miss the changes.  I yanked the login link, since I'm the only one who needs that, and I don't need the link to login.  And since that was gone, it made sense to move the links up to the navigation banner.  I'm also toying with ditching the contact form since no one uses it, and maybe just move it to its own page linked in the banner.

Speaking of the banner, I moved that below the logo.  I've actually moved that back and forth, or up and down as it were.  I like the seperation of it being above the logo, but it also makes sense to have it below as well.  Any preferences?

The biggest change though, is the main page.  I was never comfortable with the Triska- definitions.  It was a cute idea that never quite worked for me, and felt too cold of a welcome to the site.  Now it's more personal, and describes the site better, I think.  I'm sure that page will change frequently as I think of things to say there.  For now, I am much happier with how it looks, and how it reads.

And finally, I finally got off my ass and got the Cover Gallery up to date and fixed, something I was putting off for far too long.

Whew, like I said, I have been rather busy.  On top of all that, there's bad movies to watch, so I better get back to it!

J

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