All Is Right In The World

Can't say I've been this geeked to see a movie since the last Lord Of The Rings, if you need me on June 8th I will be at Midland NCG Cinemas....I'll be the guy wearing the cool 3D glasses :)

10%-WTF

Watched “Season of the Witch” last night with Nicolas Cage and Ron Perlman on DVD and expected a train wreck of a movie based on reviews.

Rottentomatoes.com gave the film a 10% positive which means that 90% of reviewers found the film rotten.

Nine out of ten people found this film unworthy.

 Really.

Ninety percent?

For some unknown reason I feel a need to defend this movie.

It’s not terrible and it hardly deserved the onslaught of negative reviews.

With that said I will state that the film is no award winning piece of work but it is entertaining, it has some great sets and locations and some decent FX work.

The movie did what it needed to do and that was to entertain me for one and a half hours.

Do reviewers really hate Nicolas Cage so much that they trash anything he touches?

I liked “Con Air,” “National Treasure,” and “The Sorceress Apprentice” as well and these all received less than glorious reviews.

Back to “Season of the Witch,” the film is the story of two Crusaders that leave the church and find themselves charged with transporting an accused witch to a monastery for trial.

Simple premise but the film gives you plenty of eye candy.

-“300” style battle sequences.

- Plague doctors.

- Nasty black plague make-up effects.

- A cool dilapidated bridge sequence.

- Unique “transforming” wolves.

- Scary fog filled forest.

- A decent looking demon character.

- And a gorgeous looking “accused” witch.

Plus a bunch of other little touches that makes “Season of the Witch” a satisfying medieval romp with a touch of horror and supernatural thrown in for good measure, it’s an entertaining mix that in no way deserved the bad rap.

Insidious

Still of Lin Shaye and Leigh Whannell in Insidious

Typically I shy away from giving my opinion on movies because my taste usually does not reflect the opinion of a lot of other haunters out there.

Trick or Treat is a prime example…I really didn’t care for this film but most of my online friends raved about the movie. 

Everybody is entitled to their opinion which is what makes the world great.

I saw Insidious in the theater with my two sons and really liked what I saw.


(pun intended in the previous sentence)

It was solid, it was creepy and in several places it was just plain odd.

Odd is good, kudos to those that have the balls to do something different.

I liked the story, I liked the scares and I liked the cast.

The film felt small, intimate and aware of its purpose which was to scare you silly.

It worked.

Insidious is a small film loaded with an arsenal of creative ideas especially when it shows the way psychics translate what they are experiencing.

Lin Shaye plays a psychic which helps the family with their crisis and I must say I completely adored the character, she was my new Zelda Rubinstein.

Add a gas mask to the equation and you have genius.

The movie played as well or even better on Blu Ray as on the second and third viewing I saw how all the pieces of the puzzle were well thought out.

Insidious is a well crafted film.

I want more of these types of films.

Forget the remakes and give me original ideas that deliver the goods.

For a film that cost about 1.5 million it showed that good ideas trump everything.

Insidious now ranks up there with Poltergeist as one of my favorite scary films.

Add Drag Me To Hell and you’ve got a kick ass triple feature. 

Super 8

Anybody that is friends with me on Facebook knows that I've been eagerly awaiting this film all year, any movie that pays homage to the Amblin Entertainment era of Spielberg and company has to be good right?


Well I saw the movie this afternoon and....


Super 8 is a combination of Close Encounters, E.T., The Goonies, The Iron Giant and a dash of District 9.


I liked this film a lot but I can't say that I loved it.


The only thing that kept me from loving the film was the feeling they were trying a little too hard to make it feel nostalgic, it is a really great film being emotional, tender, exciting and in a couple places very scary.


I actually enjoyed the first third of the film that dealt with the characters more than the later monster/sci fi aspect. 


The cast was perfect and the production design was dead on plus it had a rock'n soundtrack featuring The Knack, ELO other great songs from the late 70's.


The friendships in portrayed in the film rang true and even though I was aware they were trying to make me long for 1979 I did feel a tinge of my childhood.


The film works and is easily one of the best summer offerings in a long time.


I so wanted to be blown away but in the end I can only say I really enjoyed and respect Super 8.


I'm also thinking that the phrase "Mint" is going to be very popular this summer. 

Backyard Drive In

As most of you know by now I'm a huge thrift store fan and today we scored a very nice portable movie screen....so we decided to spend our evening sitting in the backyard eating popcorn, drinking drinks and watching Indiana Jones fight some bad guys.

Life is more than papier mache and summer is short so I say enjoy!