#24 – Seven
Reasons Why – Se7en? The gritty reality of it all. This could happen. Kevin Spacey rocked in this film, but so did Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt, heck throw in Gwyneth Paltrow even though I’m not so crazy about her. Having a horror movie based on the 7 deadly sins. Why didn’t someone think of it before this movie? It doesn’t matter, the movie spooked and had one of those shocker endings that films like The Sixth Sense became known for. I’ve always seen this as a companion type movie for Silence Of The Lambs. They both have the same genuine feel. As great as Spacey was here, he wasn’t Hopkins, but that’s not saying much because he was great in his own right.
Does it hold up? – Yes. I’d say it’s less dated than Silence Of The Lambs, but I can’t put my finger on what the precise reason for that is. I mean they were only 4 years apart, but it feels like a bit more than that.
Stars – Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt, Kevin Spacey, Gwyneth Paltrow, R. Lee Ermey
Director – David Fincher
Studio – New Line Cinema
Similar Films – The Silence Of The Lambs
Followed By – No sequel
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#26 – Poltergeist/Poltergeist 2
Reason Why – It’s a tie? Because both movies scare really well. Poltergeist II: The Other Side has the creepy reverend going for it and he scared me more than anything in the first movie, though the first is a classic and scares in many ways, Part II just hit home and seemed much more real to me. There’s also the alleged curse but real life deaths connected with these films. Dominique Dunn getting murdered by a jealous ex-boyfriend still creeps me out. Julian Beck who played the creepy Kane (2nd picture) died of stomach cancer, which he knew he had before accepting the part. Will Sampson, the medicine man died of kidney failure and malnutrition problems. Lastly, cute little Heather O’Rourke died of what was thought to be influenza but ended up being ruled as septic shock due to toxins in her bloodstream. All this real-life death related to these two creepy movies about death just adds to the whole viewing experiences. It’s both sad and scary. Does it hold up – Pretty much. The first is creepy from what you don’t see for much of the film as well as the clown and toys in the kids bedroom and the 2nd because Kane just creeped me the heck out!
Stars –
Poltergeist – Craig T. Nelson, JoBeth Williams, Heather O’Rourke, Dominique Dunn, Oliver Robins, Zelda Rubenstein
Poltergeist II: The Other Side – Craig T. Nelson, JoBeth Williams, Heather O’Rourke, Oliver Robins, Zelda Rubenstein, Julian Beck, Will Sampson
Director – Poltergeist – Tobe Hooper, Steven Spielberg (uncredited)
Poltergeist II: The Other Side – Brian Gibson
Studio – Poltergeist – MGM/United Artists
Poltergeist II: The Other Side – MGM
Similar Films – The Exorcist, The Haunting, Paranormal Activity, The Blair Witch Project
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#27 – The Blair Witch Project
Reason Why – For those who missed out the first time around The Blair Witch Project was a phenomenon. Taking the internet by storm was the is-it-real story of three amateur student filmmakers who investigate the legend of the Blair witch. After interviewing some of the townspeople about the legend the take off into the woods to investigate further. There they find that the woods can be creepy themselves with mysterious happenings, sticks and rocks piling up into haunting formations. The three soon find themselves hopelessly lost and even using a compass the woods seems intent on not allowing them escape.
Does it hold up – Yes and no. Yes, it can still scare given the right moment in viewing it, but it is not the movie it was back when it was new. Time has hurt the film somewhat.
Stars – Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, Michael Williams
Director – Daniel Myrick, Edward Sanchez
Studio – Lionsgate Films
Similar Films – The Woods, Children Of The Corn, Paranormal Activity, Wrong Turn
Followed By – Blair Witch 2: Book Of Shadows
Runner Up – Children Of The Corn
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The Legend Of Bruce Lee DVD Review
The Legend Of Bruce Lee is a movie made up of parts of a 50-part TV series based on the life of the legendary martial-artist, movie actor and pioneer in fighting that led to the eventual popularity of mixed-martial-arts used most notably by UFC. It’s been more years that Bruce Lee has been gone , 37 in all(1973) than he had been alive which was a meager 32. The man is still as relevant today as he was back in the early 70’s. This film produced by his daughter Shannon Lee and endorsed by the Lee family is uneven in its acting, but main star Danny Chan shines like nobody else who played Lee in many movies about his life or rip-off movies trying, but failing miserably, to be another new Bruce Lee film. Chan does a good job of playing Lee, but at times he makes you forget he is NOT Bruce Lee.
The acting is the weak part here and the cohesion of the storyline seems a bit jumbled and misplaced most likely due to some shoddy editing. Still, aside from Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, this is the closest anybody has come to a true biography of Bruce Lee on film. The movie might try to turn a blind eye to some of Lee’s real-life failings such as rumored affairs and drug usage that even Dragon touched upon and this film fails as far as Linda Lee‘s character is portrayed as a subservient American wife to her “masterful” Chinese man. I get that the film is trying to empower the Chinese and I fully support that, except that here it comes off as goofy and offensive to American women.
You can read my full review of The Legend Of Bruce Lee by clicking the picture and going over to Movie-Vault.com
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Red Riding Trilogy DVD Review
Red Riding Trilogy is a unique 3-Disc DVD set based (somewhat loosely) on true crimes. Each movie is titled after a year and time-period in which the certain crimes took place and also filmed vastly different from one another using the filming technique made popular of the time period. Starting off with 1974 there is a young investigative reporter out to prove himself until he sees that there is a series of child murders that nobody seems to care about from the cops to his superiors, he is determined to solve the murders and see that the culprit is brought to justice. 1974 is filmed in 16 mm and directed by Julian Jarrold. 1980 directed by James Marsh and filmed in 35 mm is about a highly respected Police Investigator brought in to try and solve the murders that the local authorities have been unable to solve on their own involving the Yorkshire Ripper. A past love affair threatens to derail his case and dangers within law enforcement threaten his life. In 1983 director Anand Tucker filming in digital video wraps up the trilogy as the disappearance of a little girl brings back the 1974 cases. A small-time lawyer takes on the case to try to uncover the truth and discovers shocking secrets that unites all three series of crimes. A very satisfying trilogy filmed for British TV, The Red Riding Trilogy will spook, mystify, and astound you. Very well done and surprisingly entertaining this is a set that you should at least rent if not buy!
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$5 A Day Blu-ray Review
$5 A Day is a fascinating movie about a father (Christopher Walken) who constantly lies and boasts that he can live off of $5 a day. He tells his disbelieving son that he is dying of cancer and needs to go to Mexico to get special treatment there, but he needs a driver to take him there. $5 A Day is a rare movie about father-son bonding with some comedy and drama thrown in for good measure. This would make a nice rental or a cheap buy. One of Christopher Walken’s best performances in a while.
As usual click the picture to read my review @ Movie-Vault.com!
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