September 18, 2012 (Masks, whips and cross-dressing. Kinky!)
Five Plastic Discs Released Today:
This is the one movie this week that I have not seen. I’ve heard two basic responses to this film so far: It’s amazing or it’s shit. I love extreme reactions; to me that signals that the creators were, at the very least, attempting to do something unique. I know nothing about this other than Joss Whedon’s involvement and I don’t really want to know, it’ll be fun to go into it completely without expectations.
This film really gets a terrible rap… sure, it’s a Halloween film without Michael Meyers in it… but really isn’t that kind of cool? The slasher films from the 80’s were really great back in the thick of it, but man about 98% of them suck total balls now. The endless revival of the main “monsters” makes the cheesy films even more ridiculous than they should be, really. So when they decided to actually kill Meyers in part 2, I thought it was cool that from there on out they were planning on just kind of making anthology type films which only tenuously linked to the universe. That was the plan anyway, until the fan-base became vocal about how much they wanted Michael Meyers back… sigh. Regardless, give this film another shot if you’re one of the haters. It’s almost like an alternate version of Videodrome or something, it’s actually a pretty creepy idea and has a decent plot driving it forward. Plus, it’s pretty crazy how many kids they kill in the damn thing – you’d never see that sort of thing in a movie today. The 80’s had balls.
Wow, I remember when Tim Burton actually used to make good films! Ed Wood is one of his best, in my opinion. Showcasing a grand reverence and attention to detail in regards to the source material, this is a film that not only looks great, but just feels great too. The cast is superb; Landau, Horse, Depp, et. al. Even Bill Murray in his smaller, yet kooky-as-hell role – just all around a great, great cast. The cinematography is gorgeous, the score fits and most importantly – it’s a great story. A modern tragi-comedy about a filmmaker with more passion than talent.
Fincher! This came out after Seven, believe it or not, and even though I think Seven is the far superior film, I still enjoy this one quite a bit. It’s a mystery thriller mind fuck, and it holds up really well. Douglas and Penn are fantastic as always and Fincher’s signature tight as a knot pacing keeps you wrapped up in The Game until the great double-bluff twist ending. Good stuff.
Come on! Do you really need me to say anything about this? Remastered boxed set on Blu-ray. There. I said something. Now I’m going to go watch the shit out of these.
Comics Astonish 