MY GENRE MOVIE CRED!
It suddenly dawned on me that I haven’t posted many movie reviews on this blog – especially movies that I’ve watched either on cable or blu-ray. Most of the time it’s because I don’t want to waste mine or your time with mediocre posts about films that I just felt were okay or even just good or entertaining. I wanted to reserve the Guardians of the Genre for pimpin’ wicked cool films that I felt are overlooked or that I thought I could give a slightly different perspective on; even if that perspective were just weird or funny. I did want to let anybody who does wonder if I actually watch any of the genre movies that I profess to love know what I have been watching, if for no other reason, to keep up my genre movie cred.
Here are all the films I have watched in my tripped out home theater just in the past month:
Survival of the Dead (2009)
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010)
Lost City (1935 - 12 chapter serial)
Ninja Assassin (2009)
Clash of the Titans (2010)
Push (2009)
Gamer (2009)
Bitch Slap (2009)
Halloween 2 (2009)
The Decent Part 2 (2009)
Paranormal Activity (2007)
30 Days of Night: Dark Days (2010)
If any of these films had really pushed my buttons I would have posted a postal blog on it. Unfortunately, most of these flicks were at best entertaining and some were just down and dirty dreadful. I can’t recommend any of them highly; nor can I say that the worst of the lot were completely without merit (although Paranormal (in)Activity comes mighty close).
If I find the time I will post a short review on a few of them; but more than likely I’ll only post on something that I find wicked cool! I have to run now…. I have to watch Zombieland again… for the fourth time… or is that the fifth time? Freak out!
Hey Doc...I would love to hear your input on The Descent 2 or Halloween 2.
ReplyDeleteI loved Halloween 2 way back when.
I also really enjoyed The Descent but have not seen the sequel.
Best,
SFF
Thanks for the interest, S-F F!
ReplyDeleteI think Rob Zombie is an amazing technical director. Unfortunately, he has yet to direct an original story. House of 1001 Corpses is essentially a reimagining of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, with a twisted sort-of supernatural ending. The Devil’s Rejects, his most original story, is basically a crime film, and not really a genre film, but it is the film of his I like the best. Halloween was too close a copy of the original – although he did add quite a bit of depth of character to Michael Myers with the back-story – which made it boring to me. I actually liked Halloween 2 better than the first, but because I’m not a fan of the slasher genre overall, I can’t say that I liked it. I do think that Rob tried to make it as artistic as possible considering the restrictions of the slasher genre. I particularly liked the use of the ghost (?) of Michael’s dead mother to influence his actions in the sequel. On a side note: I really wanted to like the animated adaptation of Rob’s comic book series (which I loved), but The Haunted World of El Superbeasto relied far too much on crude sex jokes and not enough on the crazy character humor from the comics.
I too liked the Decent; although I felt it relied a little too much on the graphic depiction of cannibalism to elicit shock. The Descent: Part 2 (not a very imaginative title) was workmanlike and used many of the same techniques to derive dread. However, the character development and the relationship interaction between the women that was so strong in the first film, was mostly absent in the sequel – and not just because of the mixture of male and females in the rescue group. Also, the weakest part of the first film – the fake-out survival of Sarah Carter (which turns out to have been true) – is also the weakest part of the sequel. I won’t spoil it here, but to suffice it to say, the ending of The Decent: Part 2 is equally as puzzling and irritating as the original’s conclusion. In summation: If you liked the first film – you’ll most likely find the sequel worth watching.