Friday the 13th (1980) - DVD Re-issue
Director: Sean S. Cunningham
Starring: Betsy Palmer, Adrienne King & Kevin Bacon
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080761/
This dvd re-issue ain't too much to be impressed by unless your a hardcore fan or a completist like me. It's the uncut edition, yet it's really only a few seconds of extra gore the casual viewer won't even notice. Some new extra features are added, and that's cool. Mostly interviews and convention panels. "The Lost Tales From Camp Blood" is pretty lame. I still give this a 5 *'s though because it is a great film. If you have never seen it, you should. One of the best slasher flicks made and it's not what you'd expect from the Friday the 13th series if you've only seen the later installments.
Verdict: * * * * *
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Friday The 13th Part II (1981) - DVD Re-issue
Director: Steve Miner
Starring: Adrienne King, Amy Steel & John Furey
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082418/
Part 2 of the series. Re-released as well. This one doesn't have extra footage like the first, but it does have similar bonus features including part 2 of "The Lost Tales Of Camp Blood". This is the film that introduces Jason as the killer for the series. Still one of the best. The DVD re-issue is fairly pointless if you have the box set, but I still give it four *'s because it is just so damn entertaining.
Verdict: * * * *
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Friday The 13th Part III - 3-D (1982) - DVD Re-issue
Director: Steve Miner
Starring: Dana Kimmel, Nick Savage & Paul Kratka
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083972/
The third in the series and the last of the recent re-issues... in 3-D! Back when I was a kid this is how it was released in theaters. This isn't the fancy digital 3-D you get in theaters now, but how it was when I was a kid with cardboard glasses with the red and blue lenses. Notable fact about this film is it's the first one where Jason gets his hockey mask. I give this one a higher rating because I've waited a long time to get it in 3-D. Even if you own the boxed set, it's worth getting just because it is only 2-D in the set.
Verdict: * * * * *
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Newline Jason Slasher Collection - DVD Re-issues
Featuring:
Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday (1993)
Director: Adam Marcus
Starring: Kane Hodder
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107254/
Jason X (2001)
Director: James Isaac
Starring: Kane Hodder & James Cronenberg
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0211443/
Freddy Vs. Jason (2003)
Director: Ronny Yu
Starring: Robert Englund, Kelly Rowland, Jason Ritter & Katherine Isabelle
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0329101/
Jason Goes To Hell features rated and un-rated versions and alternate tv scenes. Jason X features some documentaries. Freddy Vs. Jason is a two disc with all the features of the original release. All feature "Jump To A Death". Best thing about this set is i's boxed up and in slim-line cases to match up with your first box-set "From Crystal Lake To Manhatten" if you already have it.
The films are not the best in the series and are far from my favorite, but they are still entertaining. Jason Goes To Hell features Jason getting blown up and then possesing different bodies, Jason X sends him ti space to become "Uber-Jason" and then Fredyy Vs. Jason gives the fanboys what we've wanted since we were kids... only somehow nowhere near as cool as we thought it would be. Can't beat it for the price though.
Verdict: * * * *
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His Name Was Jason: 30 Years Of Friday The 13th (2009) - DVD
Director: Daniel Farrands
Starring: Almost Everyone
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1282052/
All new documentary released to coincide with the release of the remake. A lot of fun and hours of extra features. Two discs total. If your a fan get it, if not pass.
Verdict: * * *
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Friday The 13th (2009) - Remake - Theatrical Release
Director: Marcus Nispel
Starring: Jared Padalecki & Derek Mears
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0758746/
Jason revamped for the new generation. Faster, smarter and more boring than ever. I fell asleep in the theater on this one. I really wanted to like it. I knew they were going to change him and the formula, but I still tried to give it a chance. It just did not work for me. Still being the fanboy I am, I'll give it another chance on DVD.
Verdict: * *
- Al B. Damned
Friday, February 27, 2009
Street Fighter: The Legend Of Chun-Li (2009)
Director: Andrzej Bartkowiak
Starring: Kristen Kreuk, Chris Kline, Neil McDonough, Michael Duncan & Robin Shou
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0891592/
Alright, everyone knows Street Fighter! It's a game we all grew up on and loved. They made a movie about it before with Van Damme that totally sucked. It was an embarrassment to cinema, but they tried to fix that with this one.
Kristen Kreuk plays Chun-Li. She does a pretty good job, I enjoyed her role. The action was good and fun. The film was made so kids could watch it as well as adults. Everyone was pretty enjoyable. A few moments that bordered on cheese, but not too bad.
The biggest fault of this film was casting Chris Kline. WTF!!! This guy can't act for shit. Everytime he opened his mouth I expected him to say, "Suck me beautiful!". I'm not sure what the point of his character even was, everytime he had screen time it totally slowed down the pacing of the film and made me lose interest.
I dunno, it was an entertaining film that I would totally enjoy watching with my nephews. I probably would have given it a 4 if they left all of Kline's scenes on the cutting room floor. It wasn't as good as the martial arts films of my youth, but I wasn't expecting it to be either. I give it 3 *'s.
- Al B. Damned
Gran Torino (2008)
Director: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Bee Vang, Christopher Carley, and Ahney Her
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1205489/
For the second time in recent Clint Eastwood has shown Hollywood how it’s done. In Gran Torino Eastwood plays Walt Kowalski, a very hard headed, traditional, gun slinging Vietnam vet. After the passing of his wife he finds his community turning into an ethnic ring. After a failed attempt at stealing his 1972 Gran Torino his neighbor Thao Lor played by Bee Vang is forced by his family to work off his wrongs. Walt reluctantly begins to defend the Lor family from the Hmong gangs surrounding the Lor family.
This movie did it for me. If you’ve been looking for something well worth your time go see this. Eastwood truly makes this film, if you stay for the credits you’ll even get to hear the old goat sing. Hidden within this movie are underlying deeper connotations and messages that Eastwood makes so subtly apparent, but we won’t get into that. If you haven’t seen this yet, then do, nuff’ said.
I give this five *'s because it's just that good.
-The Assman
Jonas Brothers: The 3-D Concert Experience (2009)
Director: Bruce Hendricks
Starring: Joe Jonas, Kevin Jonas & Nick Jonas
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1229827/
I came in with an open mind, wanting to give this movie an honest chance, because there is obviously a target audience somewhere... far, far from being me. That was out the window in the first few minutes...
It's your basic concert video that cuts between some behind the scenes b.s. and concert footage. From the get-go all the behind the scenes style footage seemed obviously scripted. Then it has them running down the streets of New York while being chased by thousands of girls, as if they are the Beatles. There is even a reference to them being like the Fab Four later in the film. They are far from it.
This consists of a lot of poorly constructed pop songs and sped up cut scenes reminiscent of Menudo. These guys have the looks the little girls go for, but lack the talent. It's kind of sad... little girls are creaming their panties over these little boys who actually probably like boys.
Taylor Swift also made an appearance with the boys singing her "Shoulda Said No" song. That just was too much for me. I really hate these pop singers claiming they are country music. A fiddle and a banjo does not make you country. Sorry. Stop trying.
I've been trying really hard not to rip into this film... obviously I have not been doing to well at keeping from that. On the plus side the guys did write most of their own songs. So I guess they have more talent than I thought... it's just a shame that even for pop songs they fall flat. The best of the bunch only being "ok" and the worst... well... you don't want to know. I give this one *, only because I can't give it lower.
- Al B. Damned
Taken (2008)
Director: Pierre Morel
Starring: Liam Neeson, Famke Janssen & Maggie Grace.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0936501/
A small basic plot, man's daughter get's kidnapped... he hunts for her and systematically destroys the people responsible. In the wrong hands this film could have been terrible. But this is well written, well directed and well acted. This is the first action role I've seen for Liam Neeson in a while and it's like he never left. Hell, this was almost as bad-ass as Darkman. Four *'s. I'll watch this one again and again.
- Al B. Damned
Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
Director: Danny Boyle
Starring: Dev Patel & Freida Pinto
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1010048/
Slumdog tells the tale of a young man growing up in the ghettos of India who hit it big on a game show. The show is the Indian version of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?". He gets all the answers right and is accused of being a cheat. While in custody and being questioned, the film takes us through his life and shows us how he actually knew the answers.
The film is pretty entertaining, even though I'm not a big fan of Danny Boyle's directing style. My biggest complaint is that this is supposed to be real, and in real life you don't start out that shitty and end up that good. You don't get the girl and live happily ever after. That's Hollywood. All in all though, it is fairly entertaining... drags a little in the later half. Not award winning material in my opinion, but still worth watching. Verdict: 3 *'s. Final Answer.
- Al B. Damned
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Fired Up (2009)
Starring: Nicholas D'Agosto, Eric Christian Olsen & Sarah Roemer
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1083456/
The synopsis is the two most popular boys in school (and the best football players) attend a cheer camp to hook up with as many girls as they can. The deal is that they don't sleep with girls from their school. Shawn ruins the plan when he starts to fall for Carly, a girl on their school's cheer squad. "Fired Up!" isn't quite as raunchy, fowl mouthed, or smutty as other teen movies--- but it's also not as funny. The movie lacked any creativity. It was cliche and predictable. Although I like to watch half naked girls run around just as much as any other person, it just felt like that was the only purpose to the movie. There were a few one liners that got a chuckle out of me, but for the most part the movie lacked any comedic juices. I don't even want to get started on the cast. How hard is it to find actors/actresses who can actually pass as high school kids? I'm about fed up with 30 year old men playing kids with raging hormones. I give this movie [*].
-Loosy Ann Reel
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