This blog covers Movies, TV, and other Geeky things...... Movie Reviews (over 3,400 movies rated so far) Countdowns of my top movies by year.... and much more.
In our latest Podcast we discuss Star Trek vs Star Wars in a fun conversation. I was surprised at what we disagreed on. We talk Star Trek: Beyond and Rogue One. We get into the Franchises as a whole and also briefly touch on the new Woody Harrelson Han Solo movie news.
The original movie was a fun take on the War of Roses type movie. A couple battles a frat in a crazy battle of neighbors.
The movie did well at the box office office so a sequel was inevitable. When the trailer came out it actually looked like it may be worth watching ---especially if you liked the original. The concept for the sequel was an easy one. This time around ...right as the couple was trying to sell their house a sorority moves in and chaos ensues again,
Unfortunately--all of the best scenes for this sequel are in the trailer. It should have been more over the top and crazier than the first one, but instead it was just a not so creative rehashing of the original. It wasn't as funny, it wasn't as extreme in the battles. Despite one good scene with a chase at the Tailgate party --- the film was pretty tame and almost dull. The writing for this sequel was just lazy and instead of being wild and crazy it was fairly dull and mundane. It was an unnecessary cash grab sequel with little entertainment value.
I decided to take a look back at Event Horizon recently after watching several similarly themed films over the summer.
Event Horizon is an example of a horror movie in space. Think of it as a Space Ship/Haunted House film. It borrows elements from films like the Shining (in the journey to madness) and Aliens (in the visual style of the film).
I had recently seen films like Pandorum from 2009 in which a couple astronauts wake up early on a long range mission to find out they are not alone on the ship. It is a great journey into space madness. An interesting film worth checkin out.
Inifini 2015 was a surprisingly good low budget Aussie film with of a similar story where a search a rescue team are transported to a facility to only to find madness as well. And the movie Sunshine 2007 which also had a simliar story that just didn't work as well for me.
I'm glad I took a look back at Event Horizon --because on repeat viewing I actually enjoyed it a more than the first time around . Paul WS Anderson directed the film and the production of the film itself sounds like it was cluster f... . There is a great article over on Den of Geek that gets more into detail of the film's production issues and factors that may have lead to how the film turned out.
The strength of the film is the performances by its strong cast that includes Laurence Fishburne and Sam Neill. The crew is sent to investigate a spaceship that disappeared into a black hole and has now surprisingly come back. Sam Neill does an excellent job as the scientist that already knows more than the crew. (Evil Scientists always ruin everything---they always have to study things --that shouldn't be studied). Something came back with the spaceship when it returned from the black hole. A Force, a dark energy, maybe even Hell itself. Instead of being just a movie about space madness---this film gets deeper into Clive Barker, H.P Lovecraft territory. The ship has apparently returned acrosss the black hole from another dimension --basically unlocked Pandora's box and unleashing a hell dimension into our universe. The film is visually stunning. The abandoned ship is super creepy with a strange gothic ship design that looks like something out of a torture chamber. The movie sets up this haunted ship in space so well and then devolves into chaos. I really enjoyed this film on repeat viewing after about 20 years and gave it a better rating than I had back in 1997.
If you like creepy Sci-Fi horror with a strange haunted house gothic vibe ---make the time to revisit Event Horizon
He may not be James Bond anymore--but Pierce Brosnan has still got it and could still pull off Bond in my opinion. He has aged well as Peter Devereaux a former CIA Agent who is pulled back into duty to extract a woman escaping from Russia. The mission ends up having him face off with a former protege. The woman that is trying to escape is shot and it turns out it is Devereaux's wife, but leads to information about another women that has major secrets.
The movie is a good spy thriller with twists and turns as everyone is trying to locate one women that may have powerful secrets that no one wants to get out. The action sequences were fun and exciting. Brosnan is still very believable as as trained killer and this character has a little darker edge from his turn as James Bond. Definitely a spy thriller worth checking out. I was able to predict how it was going to end however a little bit too easily so --it loses a point for that---but otherwise a fun thriller.
When your sick in bed sometimes you will watch anything. That was the case with The Green Slime.
A giant asteroid is threatening Earth so some astronauts must go and blow it up. Armageddon and Deep Impact decades before its time. The only problem is they bring back a strange substance to the space station that turns into a bunch of one eyed tentacle monsters.
The Green Slime was actually a decent 1960's Sci-Fi film that story wise set-up future great sci-fi films with it's themes. The Retro Sci-Fi Poster is awesome. The theme song is catchy and the acting and writing is actually pretty good. With modern special effects this could have been a really decent flick. Unfortunately it featured some of the silliest worst looking monsters this side of Sigmud the Sea Monster. Seriously this creatures look ridiculous.
So is this movie So Bad that it is Good??? or does the fact that everything else about this film is enjoyable --make the monsters of the film just unfortunate? I'm very conflicted --because I want to like the movie and be scared by the monster --but they look like extras from a Sid and Marty Kroft production.
I loved the astronauts trying to fight off the terrible monsters with their electricity arms.
These power hungry creatures reproduce as fast as Trebbles.
I think I'm going to have to give this film a 7 out of 10 --for being interesting despite one of the worst movie monsters of all time.
I've now seen all 4 of the Matt Damon Bourne movies and I'm convinced that Jason Bourne is just a disposable action hero. The Jason Bourne movies have perfected the following and avoiding people in a crowd scene. These scenes are filled with tension and look great on screen. Half of the scenes are people trying to find Jason Bourne and Jason Bourne trying to find answers. The first movie in the Bourne series seemed new and unique---but now the formula for the Bourne movies has made them completely unmemorable after viewing. Don't get me wrong: they are a fun and enjoyable ride at the time you are watching them --but other than Jason Bourne getting one small piece of information about his past --nothing really happens. Jason Bourne isn't saving the world like James Bond or Jack Bauer, instead he is just avoiding capture again and again while the people around him die. The series features great action sequences---but after the thrill of watching the film---I feel empty as far as the series goes.
In conclusion: Watch the Bourne films for the action sequences --not for the slowly evolving and redundant story lines.
Everything gets a remake or reboot. I don't really think thing anyone was clamouring for a Mr. Peabody and Sherman remake --but it happened anyway. The characters come from shorts in Rocky and Bullwinkle TV series from the 1960's so I'm sure kids today have no idea who this character even are. Mr Peabody and Sherman travelled through time in the original 1960's cartoon so I guess the concept has some potential.
The Movie:
The movie itself was alright--but not memorable. This time travel adventure was high on quality action sequences --but missed the mark on humor. I didn't laugh once. Mr Peabody and Sherman as characters were just not interesting enough to carry the movie. If you are going to do an animated Time Travel movie it needs to be funny.....and Mr Peabody and Sherman failed for me in that respect.
Time Travel:
The time travel aspects of the story were decent as far as the places the traveled and the consequences of their time travel, but again I was thinking about a Family Guy time travel episode and how much better that was than this.
The average opinion on the Internet views this film more favorable than I did ....So my advice as always---would be if the trailer looks good to you give it a shot. It is family friendly animated film with a few historically jokes that only adults may get...But definitely safe for the kids.
