Saturday, December 31, 2011

Alien 3 (1992) Trailer D

Alien (to the power of) 3 (1992)

Ok.

Ripley has now escaped from the aliens, TWICE. She has gained a child that she can dispel her maternal warmth to. She has pushed aside her prejudices to save a droid. She has ran a gazillion miles away from the aliens. She deserves a damn break. Nope.


In a way, I should have seen it coming. Twice now Ripley had been the one to go to the aliens. The aliens were just  staying put, pooping out those eggs. The first movie her ship had answered a distress call from the first group that got entangled with the aliens. Second time, she was saddled with a gun blazing group that just set fire to everything in sight. From the perspective of the aliens, I would be plenty damn pissed. I would go after them too.

Just not in the way that the movie contrives it.

The last time we left our hero, Ripley, the a droid (i can never remember his name), and Newt were safely sailing through space away from the super duper awesome Queen that they just left in a burning inferno. A BURNING INFERNO. Somehow, some-damn-how, the Queen was able to place an egg on the landing gear which was able to enter the ship.How?? How??? HOW?!?!??! No answer. All we see are headache-inducing cuts of a flashing pod with broken pods and random readouts.

My first thought: this has become an artsy fartsy movie. hmmm...lemme see....ahhh. Directed by David Fincher. Same director of "The Curious Case of Bejamin Button" and "Fight Club". I have not seen "Fight Club" (Ow...ow...I know...it's on my too-watch list) but the style of the movie makes so much sense. Alien has a sci-fi theme similar to Kubricks. Aliens was explosion orgasm of fun. And now we get artistic style of violence with splurts of deep emotions and humor.

So...back to the movie.


Ripley lands on a prison planet inhabited by prisoners that have become religious zealots .Hey, they have been isolated on planet with barely any security. After all the murderous riots die down, they must have strives for some sort of order in their lives. It turns out that Ripley is the only female on the planet. This arouses some resentment and  frustration in the prisoners. This could have easily turned into a rape-sorrow story if it wasn't for one vital thing. Ripley is now carrying an alien. And here's an added twist: her incubation time is taking longer because she's carrying a special kind of alien.

Then the movie becomes a survival story. Where the first two, she was surrounded by people that she could trust in friendship (Alien) or power (Aliens), she has no reason to trust these prisoners. In the end, they all work together for the common goal of defeating the alien.

Just for good measure, the Company still wants the alien. Now they want Ripley with the alien.

Ok.I know I'm bashing on this. I really hated it after I first watched it. I was indignant at Ripley having sex and the weird religious prisoners, and the bloody egg getting into Ripley. But then I thought about it.And I have come to appreciate it as a good conclusion to the trililogy ( it's a trilogy dammit!!! the fourth one is a drunken-induced mess). If I follow Ripleys psyche, she goes from leading a pretty trangquil life to seeing the brutal lives of her comrades ripped apart to witnessing firsthand the horrors of what space can emit to realizing that she missed her daughters life to almost gaing sanity in Newt then having Newt ripped away from her. Ripley has been thrown into the blender of shit and spun until the motor burned out. It is no wonder that she loses her characteristics that we have come to admire and love from the previous movie.What human can withstand all those horrors in such short of a time. Your morals would have splintered into oblivion. If ( just play along here) I was her place, I would have been grabbing on to any human being for some sort of contact. Any contact.

I do have mention that I really dig the idea of the alien taking some attributes of the being that it incubates from. So when the other egg (which I still don't fully understand how the hell that happened) hatches from a bovine creature,it's a four-legged creature ( I would definitely recommend everyone to watch the behind the scenes for the previous ideas for the creature- the greyhound idea was absolutely adorable!).


So this movie wasn't  my favorite but I can definitely appreciate what it was trying to pull. This movie really splits fans apart but it makes sense. I really love the idea that it began with Ripley and the Queen and it would end with Ripley and the Queen.

WHY THE FUCK COULDN'T HAVE BEEN KEPT THAT WAY!?!?!?!?




Monday, December 26, 2011

[Aliens] [1986] [Trailer]

Aliens (1986)

Sigh. I'm going to have to side with the masses on this one. Of all the movies in the franchise, this was just plain freaking fun to watch. It didn't add any new ideas to the sci-fi genre like the first one did. It just did what every person wanted to do after watching the first one. See those alien fuckers burn. Eventually.

What can you expect from a movie directed by James Cameron. Cameron = explosions, lots and lots of explosions.  What comes in even greater surprise, is that this sequel was done SEVEN years after the first movie. Seriously, Sigourney Weaver is an immortal. I am insanely jealous and in awe of her.

Ripley has been floating in space for a good amount of time. When she gets picked up, she finds that its been at least 60 years. She is astounded to find that a colony has been growing during the time she has been gone. Outraged, she finds that the big wigs don't believe her. Until they lose contact with the colony and then they want her help.She refuses until persuaded by a company man to go along as a consultant with "promises" to exterminate them. Armed with a rag tag  group of armed marines, they soar off. When they arrive, they find a deserted colony with one lone survivor, a little girl. And on top of that, there is not just one alien, there are a whole bus load of aliens. Oh, and they're stranded. Shiiiiiiit.


Not only is survival the goal of the game but there's a a great growth of maternal connections between Ripley and Newt ( the rescued child). During the time that Ripley was in space, she had lost her own daughter to old age. The scene where she finds out her own daughter died as an old woman struck me. The pain on Ripleys face was so strong that I teared up a bit. What even impresses me even more is the parallel connection betwen Ripley and the Queen. Both are strong female representatives of their kinds. Both are dead set to protect their brood. Both are equally strong. That is some serious conflict!

There were so many teeth biting moments. The part where Ripley and Newt are stuck in the med lab with the face huggers?! Ugh! I was scrambling to tuck my legs in. The part where they're walking through the nest? Ewww.. The whole chase scene through the plant and then the final stand off? Wow!!! The gun turrets running out? Ahhh!! Run!!!!

My absolute favorite part of the movie was seeing the Queen. Oh my gosh she was so bad ass. I didn't realize that Starcraft was based on Aliens. I could definitely see where Zerg was inspired from (Zergs are awesome and can kick anyone's ass!!!). This was a beautiful piece of animatronic art. It was designed mainly by Cameron and I bow down to his visual creativeness.

The marines were so weak for me. Just a bunch of loud talking military muscle who freak at the first sign of unknown factors. The clearest distinction between the groups was when the group watches the ship crash, it is only Ripley and Newt who calmly stands to survey their next movie. For some reason, the hispanic marine female irked the bejeesus out of me. So irritating. And I seriously wanted to kill Hudson.


On a random side note, I couldn't help but mentally compare Aliens to the "Water of Mars" episode in Doctor Who. I wonder if Russel T. Davies was influenced by Aliens?


Someone posted up a great thought on one of the boards. The distinct possibility of the aliens all being DNA related to Newt. Twisted.











American Nudist (2011)

    Everyone has their own favorite genres to watch.And we will watch any movies in that genre over and over.Even if the story line is predictable or you've seen one too many thousands of explosions. We just have our own comfort groupings of movies. Fantasies and romance are my weaknesses.
     I do try to watch movies outside of my comfort zone. It's always good to see a different perspective, a new form of art, or discover a new favorite. Independent movies are one of the best resources to discover something new. Film festivals, word of mouth, accidental browsing all contribute to the tools in this discovery. Sometimes my jaw drops in awe. Sometimes it drops in disgust. More often it squinches into confusion.
   That's all right.I don't have to understand every single form of style out there. Some can be too disgusting for my taste or too incomprehensible to my mentality. It's a free country. Anyone can make a movie.
    I was asked to review an independent movie weeks ago. I agreed to it without researching it or even asking what it was. Once I saw the cover of the DVD, I had major apprehension. The cover looks straight out of a soft porn cover. It wasn't just me, I asked other people to give me their first impressions. I heard :" Porn","Wow....really?","Can I borrow that into the DVD for a moment?".
    I'm no stranger to naked women or porn. I live in LA, pretty close to Burbank. 'nuff said. The thing is I didn't want to watch soft porn. I wanted to watch an indie movie. I pushed it for a few weeks until I finally sighed and popped the movie in.
   My first impression of the movie was an inaudible dialogue of a man who keeps walking in and out of an empty apartment. Then a series of nudism footage. An introduction to some alter egos. Alotof people angry and screaming. More nudist footage.Then inter splicing shots of the screaming guy, cat, and chaos.
     I didn't like it. And I feel horrible for not liking it.
    To be honest, I had to watch this movie three times. I fell asleep (I probably shouldn't have watched it after a long day of work) and had to restart it the second time. I watched it with my boyfriend for a third time to make sure that I wasn't crazy in my thoughts.
    Then I spent a few days googling this movie and reading other comments and reviews. I am completely baffled and amazed at the responses.This movie has recieved mainly glowing praise. After much time to organize my thoughts. I have come up with some simple reasons why:
1. This movie was difficult to watch literally
     I thought it was just me but my boyfriend agreed. The sound quality of the movie was atrocious. The conversations between the actors were inaudible or had the soundtrack playing over them. It got pretty annoying for me to up the volume, then down the volume. Speaking of which, the soundtrack annoyed the bejeezuz out of me. A classical musical mesh that grounded my molars into powder.
  
2. The plot was paper thin
   Since I couldn't hear anything, I didn't realize that there was a plot. From what I read of other reviews, it was an artist who lost his muse and was trying to recapture it with nudism. I'm all for indie form and art house but there was really no plot to follow. It becomes less of a movie and more of a showcase. Just a bunch of seemingly random shots spliced together. It would go from old footage of nude news to dancing montage to metaphors of a decomposing artist to a cat.

3. Point of this movie

    Before I googled, I honestly felt that the movie was made by a guy who wanted to be surrounded by women.

   There were a few fine points to the film I admired. The women were very beautiful and fun to watch. The nudist footage was entertaining to watch. I have very minimal knowledge about the nudist culture so the footage was really amazing to watch.I can't help but envy these peoples confidence and comfort in walking around in their skin. After suffering extensive damage to my own self image, its great to see some positive personal confidence. Although...I had to smirk when most of the footage was of beautiful women naked. The one footage of the yoga class was amazing. I wish the soundtrack hadn't ruined it for me.
   I liked the guy who did some exposition about the nudism. Until he was shot naked then it was awkard again.
   Some of the actors were pretty cool. I don't remember their names ( like I said, I couldn't hear a damn thing). One was a young woman who was explaining her sisters reaction to nudists. The eyeballs were hilarious. The second was a guy mostly hidden in the shadows and screaming into the phone. His short appearance still showed great projection and acting. They were delights to watch. 

     Alot of people enjoyed this movie and that's great. I could see where this movie could have appealed to me. It's not the nakedness. It's the lack of making a decent movie to watch. Which means good sound quality and steady cam. If there was a consistent story arch with somewhat clear reasons for the shots, then I would have enjoyed it more. Instead it came it as more of an amateur film with lots of beautiful naked women in it.

 Not the movie for me. Before you judge anything, experience it first. Enjoy everyone!



Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Alien Trailer (1979)

Alien (1979)

I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry!!! I know it's been a looooooooooooooooong time since I've been consistently blogging. I have three simple reasons: 1. NanoWrimo, 2.Finals, and 3.I was uninspired once again.







Here was a common scenario:
    Upcoming three page lab report is due...in....oh....one day. And I have completed....oh....not one word. So I'm slumped in front of the computer screen, doing absolutely nothing. My piles of personal DVD covers have merged into a multi-colored stream. I sigh and sigh and sigh.
    Enter my boyfriend.
    "Babe, are you hungry?"
     "Mmm hmm"
      "Are you gonna cook?Ok.....stop laughing... did you do your lab report?....stop laughing...see now your choking.....how about this...i'll cook if you'll watch 'Alien'?"


       And just like that I agreed. See, I've been terrified of watching "Aliens". Every time I see that clip of the drooling alien, I freak. I've heard of the "Stay away from her you bitch" line a gazillion times that I figured I was pretty knowledgeable in my pop culture.Why bother right?  Until the stomach and sheer laziness takes over.With a warm bowl of heaping pasta,I prepared myself to be frozen in terror and sleepness nights.

  Seriously.

  WHAT THE HELL WAS I TERRIFIED OF?!??! THE ALIEN QUEEN IS BOMB-ASS!!!!

  Ok,..let me backtrack. The queen doesn't show up until the second one."Alien" is the first movie of four I absolutely refuse to acknowledge the fourth one as movie-but more on that one in another blog. It centers around space mining team that hears a distress call during their journey.  Theres the captain Dallas, the co-captain (played by the immortal Sigourney Weaver), a doctor, a droid, and other mining crew. As they veer off to the planet, their scout encounters an alien face sucker ( it is literally a six-legged creature with a tail that just jumps on the face and impregantes in your mouth...EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW).
   Now, there are strict protocols when it comes to alien contact which this obviously was. Ripley insists on refusing entrance to protect the rest of the crew. Ignoring reason (a.k.a Ripley), the rest of the crew grants the scout entrance.Dumb-asses......
   So they're able to surgically remove the face hugger and everything seems all right. Until the infamous spaghetti scene and a little alien is borne. The rest of the movie begins a suspenseful series of survival and trying to outwit an unknown alien. And on top of that, there is a whiff of a conspiracy since one of the passengers is a company man who does not want the alien to die. Hmmm....
   For  a movie that was made in 1979,it is just done amazingly! Alot of use of sound to scare the crap out of you. A simple but powerful story that has you gripping your seat. I couldn't help wondering (out loud-oops) what was happening next. All without the use of jump scares and crappy stories.
    I kept thinking of Kubrick as I watched this movie.I find that you either love Kubrick, meh about Kubrick, or absolutely hate Kubrick (dad...). I am in the meh section. I understand why he's influential but sometimes the scenes are so sloowwww.  And the beginning of "Alien" is sloooooooow. It probably didn't help I was tired when I watched this.
    I couldn't help but wonder what I would do in this situation. A situation where I'm stuck on a spaceship with a killer alien that. I would die first. Most definitely.
    There two things that I hated. One was the incessent strobe light effect. That became so annoying and painful that I got up to wash the dishes to wait it out.I hate strobe lights. The second was how tiny her underwear was at the end. Maybe it was her choice, maybe it was fan service but it was damn distracting. I kept watching for it to slip down.
    I did love that she went back for Jonesy the cat. I swear if they killed the cat, I was gonna stab my boyfriend with a pasta stained fork.
      Ripley has to be the most bomb-ass female character I have seen in the movies. She is strong, reasonable, and reasonably frightened. You are convinced that she is not an actress playing a hero in a thriller. Your watching a woman frightened but still using  her mind bent on survival. She is a great role model. Oh and she went back for the cat which win in my book!!!
      Can I just say, how amazing Sigourney Weaver is? Her character is awesome and her portrayal of the character is AWESOME. Every time she's on-screen he presence exudes strength and confidence despite running for her life.
     How can I write so long without managing to chat about the star of the move, the alien? Just on technicality, the alien is an animatronic and sometimes a body suit. No CGI and this alien was damn scary. It probably helped that it was designed by H.R. Giger, a damn freaky artist. It is complex, scary, and black. A very scary, shiny black.
    This movie was amazing and I had no reason to be frightened of it.Watching the first one made me curious about the second one. So I did. Then I watched the third. And....the fourth....ugh. 
   After watching this, I completely understand why this tops alot of sci-fi movies. I agree with this wholeheartedly. But alas, it is not my favorite. Which one was it?....Stay tuned....




Friday, November 4, 2011

Official Fright Night Trailer

Fright Night (1985) Trailer

Fright Night (1985/2011)


NanoWrimo is here!!! If you have no idea what NanoWrimo is, then your sane and have a better social life than I do....

The main goal of NanoWrimo is to write a novel of 50,000 words in one month. oh yeah. One month. It's not too late to join. Check out www.nanowrimo.org/ for details.

Mix in a little bit of schoolwork and Long Beach Comic Con, poor little me has needed a break. But I won't get one for a long time so I'm gonna do the next best thing and write a blog post about some really cool movies. The show must go on!

Movies from the eighties are known to be.....pretty far out there. They're whimsical, ridiculous, based on the thinnest of ploys and a lot of foggy effects. One thing that trumps eighties movies from movies released now is that the story is fun to watch. There is a story to follow with lots of whistles and bells. Most movies now are a lot of shine but no foundation. Kind of like shooting yourself from a cannon into the most spectacular fireworks display ever, enjoy for a few seconds, and then plummeting to an antarctic ocean.

And when eighties movies are being remade, it's just plain HORRID. I hate them. "Footloose", "Dirty Dancing"...ugh...ENOUGH!! I was about to throw in the towel and reduse to watch any movie. Until my boyfriend urged me to give "Fright Night" a chance.

I've never heard of "Fright Night". The poster intrigued me but it was the mention from Ralph Garmon from KROQ FM (my ultimate movie guru!) and that my boyfriend urged. So...before I watched the remake, I hunkered down to see the original.

Wow. The original1985 was just soooooo awfully awesome!!!

The story begins with a young teen male named Charley who is trying to make out with his girlfriend Amy (who is played by Amander Bearse....yup...Marcy from "Married with Children"...try to wrap your mind around that!) while they're watching a late night horror show titled "Fright Night" hosted by Peter Vincent. Charley becomes distracted by a sound from next door. From then on, he is convinced that his next door is a vampire. It's up to Charley, Amy, and his best friend Ed. The next door neighbor in question is Jerry played by Cris Sarandom (cool trivia: he has been in all three Fright Movies: the original, the sequel, AND the remake!!).

So many weird things in this movie. I figure it's because it's outdated and corny to me but yet there's still something awesome about it. I wasn't scared but I was intrigued by it. Two things I didn't like was the best friend and the the fight scene in Charleys window. The friend was mega annoying and I was glad when he died. The fight scene was a bit gruesome for my taste.

There was this really awkard scene in the dance club where Jerry has seduced Amy. They dance together in, I guess, a sexy way. It just came off as a little bit sleazy porno way. I even had to force myself to forget Marcy and focus on Amanda as a teenage girl. Cris Sarandon as a vampire is just damn sexy by the way.


Now I was eager to watch the remake. I was on the fence for so long. What was the pushing agent for me???

DAVID TENNANT played Peter Vincent... ..DAVID TENNANT

Sold.

The story follows pretty much the same format with some minor improvements. Charley's character comes off a strong geek whereas the original Charley was a bit wimpy and slightly moronic. Amy was played by a female that looked like a teenager AND she was pretty badass. She fought Jerrys seductive powers for a loong time (the club scene was vastly improved...oh..and so sexy...). Ed was played by Christopher Mintz Plasse as a very, very likable geek. I felt so bad when he died (for reals).

Oh....oh....oh...David Tennat was Peter Vincent. Instead of a failing late night horror show host, Peter Vincent was similar to a Cris Angel type character for a Las Vegas Show. He was charming and a prick. He was a coward but rose up the fight. And he walked around in leather pants.

oh and colin ferrel was jerry. whatever.

The mother had more of a dynamic role in the modern remake and the action was just phenomenal!!! So many suspenseful scenes. So much comedy. I was freakin' out, laughing, clutching the edge of my seat. I damn LOVE the remake.

That is crazy, right!?!?! To love a remake more than the original.Several reasons:
1. there's more of a solid story. The plot holes were pretty filled up and made much more sense
2. the vampire changed from a demon who was there for no particular reason, to a demon who had a very damn good reason to be there
3. great mix of horror and comedy
4. action scenes
5. dynamic characters
6. so much fun!!!
7. DAVID TENNANT

There is one complait I have about both versions:
WHY DOES THE VAMPIRE EVEN BOTHER TO TRY TO KILL CHARLEY?!?!?
If Jerry just let Charley be annoying, then the whole town would have dismissed him as a token teenager. Instead, Jerry just brings more attention to himself. Wow....idiot...

Other than, both were great movies! Definitely recommend both. I haven't seen the sequel but I'm not too sure if I would...

By the way, Colin Ferrell played Jerry with the same sleazy sex appeal as Cris Sarondon did. Both are better vampires than Robert Pattinson...They actually look and act seductive. Not withered to the point that they need stupid sparkles to attract attention.


Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Cinderella (1997)


I can't believe I haven't wrote about this!! And yeah,I'm totally going old school with this post. And I will count this as a movie even though it was first released on TV (the abc channel I believe). It was later released as a VHS so neener neener.


This movie is just pure entertainment.

I know that there alot of flaws with it but I frankly, I don't give a damn. It's colorful,shiny,and romantic. Plus Brandy, Whoopi Goldberg, and Whitney Houston is in it. Hell yeah!

If I'm correct, this movie is based on the Rodger and Hammerstein's adaptation of "Cinderella". There was even a previous TV movie of Cinderella featuring some soap star actor of some sort. I saw a glimpse of it and it was bleh. Boring and hokey looking.

Do I really need to go over the story of Cinderella? I do? Sheesh.

Now gather around:
Cinderella was the beloved daughter of a widowed merchant who travels alot. On one trip he returns with a brand spankin' new stepmother and her daughters. Instant family, just add petty jealousy.
Poor father passes away leaving Cinderella to be enslaved by the stepmother to do chores, etc. while the stepmother squanders the family money away.
During this time, a wayward prince is told to either get hitched his way or his parents way by the end of a ball.Naturally all the dainty females are now all a twitter over a chance of some royal ass.
The stepdaughers from hell go off to the ball while Cinderella mopes, whines, wails, and swoons over her woes. And dammit, a shiny godmother comes, waves her hand, and poof! Makeover magic! (insert expletive). Shiny Cinderella waltzes into the princes arm and waltzes away because alas there was fine print under the shiny: she only has till midnight then all her shininess goes away.
Cinderella carelessly leaves a slipper which the Prince find. He goes foot shopping. Yada Yada long search yada yada oh whee! i found the foot! yada yada happily ever after.

There. That's the basic gist of the story. A better story is the Grimms tale. Oh yeah. Pools of blood and gore. Awesome.

So the duo that is Rodger and Hammerstein were determined to make a much happier song and dance version. Even Disney's version had some tension and gloom ( although I'm not sure whose version came first..). And this is my personal annoyance with R and H. So many of their musicals that are based on a story are really thinly, THINLY, based on the original. I have this feeling that R and H were determined to scrape out as much of the doom and gloom from stories as possible leaving saccharine songs and head scratching dance numbers. I don't harbor much love for R and H. I refuse to watch the "Kind and I" and blanched after watching 'The Flower Drum Song". I'm currently searching for a good autobiography of R and H to understand what the hell was their big idea of making these plays!??!? ok...enough ranting...

the only heartwarming R and H producion is this version of Cinderella. Only this one. I am really not a huge fan of the story. Oddly enough, I love reimagnings of this story. The story just has so much to expand from! There have been many versions but i do love this version. And all for superficial reasons.

I was just a little tween when this movie came out. Hormones were rip roaring through my stream. Boys were becoming attractive. Yeah...you get the gist.

This movie was a great movie for a tween.It had enough shiny and colorful sceneries to attract young,impressionable eyes. The songs were amazingly sung. One of my favorite songs is sung by Bernadette Peters (who plays the fabulous stepmother)," Falling in Love with Love". It's so amazing, here's a you tube video: http://youtu.be/lqEclRcoZeo

The characters in this movie were just plain fun. I've already mentioned Bernadette Peters (who I freakin' adore).There's Jason Alexander for crying out loud. He plays "Lionel", the plucky royal advisor. Whoopi Goldberg is the Queen with Victor Harber as the King. Whitney Houston plays the diva-er-Godmother.

Brandi as Cinderella was a great casting choice. She's beautiful with a kind face. For a tween, she seems like a great best friend. Plus her voice is awesome.

But for a female, it doesn't really matter who plays Cinderella. It's the Prince who holds the movie. For this movie, it was the most scrumptious asian prince I have ever seen. It is a shame that Paolo Montalban hasn't shown up in more movies. Damn he was fine....
Geez, I can wax so much praise for this movie. It's just one of the most enjoyable movie to enjoy. Great movie when you just want to unwind and let your romantic side fly.

Um, a word of warning...

....good luck getting those songs out of your head.

Friday, September 30, 2011

Attack The Block - Official HD

Attack the Block (2011)


Wow. I went from a deep slump of passive viewing of bleh to an eye popping media party! So many movies to write about, so little time to execute!!

First off in my crazy train of movies is "Attack the Block". I have been noticing this movie left and right during all the film festivals. This has exploded to become one of the best movies of the year. After finally watching the movie a few weeks, I wholeheartedly, palm slapping the table agree. So much so, I want to throw myself on top of a table, tap dance a few steps as I scream my enthusiasm for this movie!!

I admit that I did have my doubts. When I first saw the trailer, I immediately thought if how closely linked it seemed to Stephen Spielbergs "Super 8". And, sigh, another attacking alien movie. So many movies have came out about attacking aliens that I'm wondering if these filmmakers are really depressed about the world. Then again, after hours spent in LA traffic, I know I have entertained many thoughts of raining fiery meteors conveniently to cars around me.

But....then I saw that it was produced by the makes of "Hot Fuzz" and "Shaun of the Dead". Not a huge fan of "Hot Fuzz" but I LOVE "Shaun of the Dead".So...sold.

"Attack the Block" is simply a movie about aliens that have landed in the block (the poor/slum-like district of England). A group of young boys witness the alien and set about defending their neighborhood. Not just your run of the mill good boys. These are hoodlums. They're such bad boys that we are first introduced to them while they're committing a crime. And your wondering how the hell am I supposed to relate to these pricks?!

You know what, very well. By the end of the movie, I adored the boys and I was saddened by some of the tragic events. That is so amazing. I haven't seen a movie in a very long time that has me changing my mind about characters. Usually if I hate them in the beginning, I will continue to hate them.

Not only did I love the characters, the action was so good. I mean, I was gripping the edges of the chair. The chases were so damn exciting. I don't even know how the hell am I supposed to do justice on it.

And damn....it was more violent than I thought.....but it was still so good...

Oh and geez, the aliens were simple but SCARY!! They made me so nervous. You just see this blob of black fur with flourescent teeth, big deal right? No. The mannerisms, behavior, and intent of these creatures are what makes them terrifying.

Mixed with the scary parts of the movie, there were plenty of funny bit to balance them out. Damn this movie was soooo good!!! I loved this movie so much!!!

I'm an absolute fan and I definitely recommend this movie to everyone!!!

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Mannequin (1987) Trailer

Mannequin (1987)





Whoa!!!! What an unintentional hiatus happened!! I've had most of my time dominated by craft making and lots of korean drama (if your curious, I was obsessed with "mischievous kiss" and "boys over flowers"), a road trip for camping and bridal shower, and oh yeah, school starting.

But to be really honest, I haven't felt a passionate need to write about movies for quite awhile. None of the movies I was watching stirred enough interest to even think about. I watched two Cary Grant movies that made yawn and cringe. Some movies with Doris Day that was heart achingly boooooooooring. And some other crap that I can't remember.

Then admist all my craziness, I was bombarded by movies that made me sit up and cheer!!! Of which I shall write about another day. Tee-hee, I'm such a tease.

No. I have more passion to write about a nostalgic movie. A movie that I LOVED when I was younger. I remember feeling that this movie was oh so romantic! I haven't seen it until I just bought it off of Amazon. Oh man. Oh man.

This is why I should never burst my childhood happiness bubble. I was delighted to watch hideously bad movies (what kind of bad movies? try..."Double Dragon"....."Drop Dead Fred"....just to name a few). Some movies that I have revisited still awaken that childish glee somehow. Some movies just have me grasping my head in shock, wondering if I was drugged as child. At best, my head would be cocked to the side in utter confusion at what I'm watching. I should just not revist nostalgic business and move on. But I can't. When I need an excuse to procrastinate, I watch movies. Any movies. Especially ones hiding in my desk drawers.

I've had "Mannequin" in my possession for a few months. I watched about ten minutes of the beginning before I shut it off. I forgot how the movie began. Yeah. That beginning is DUMB.

Then I rewatched it a couple nights ago. I forced myself to finish the movie. Ok. deep breathe. here I go.

Seriously it was hard to keep watching this movie. It is just so dumb....yet.....I still enjoyed it....

Andrew McCarthy plays Jonathan Switcher. He's a pretty good guy who just can't seem to hold a job. He's impulsive, accident-prone, dreamy but he has a big heart. Awww. He somehow has a girl friend who wears alot of shoulder pads and is very career driven. After Switcher loses his job again, he somehow meanders in front of a declining mall. He miraculously saves an elderly woman who is the owner of the mall. Grateful and charmed by Switcher, she gives him a job.
Blah, blah, hijimks.

Meanwhile, on the evil side of the metropolis, a successful mall is attempting to buy out the declining mall. They even have a mole at the declining mall. Why???? Why would you send a mole if the business is declining at a rapid rate. You can just wait....ok whatever.

Switcher constructs a beautiful mannequin (which I thought was too stern-looking to even be pleasant). One...magical....night, the mannequin comes to live as "Emma", played by Kim Cattral (ahh yes....she's part of the 'Sex and the City' squad....hmm yes).

The only explanation for this ties in the lame intro. Emma was a person in Egypt about to be married to a camel dung dealer. She makes a wish and lights off somewhere. Now, only in front of Switcher, she becomes human. For his love of her. For love. AWWW

I could write until my fingers turn blue on how many story points just blows!!There really is no reason for geniune love to blossum between the two. How is this love even growing? What are they basing their love foundation on? Their montage? Are montages the way to love?

No, hold up your screehing.

This movie is BAD. Very BAD. Yet it's lovable. By the end of the movie, you can't help to love this movie. Switcher and Emma are so cute that it manages to over look the horror of the story. The only thing you can connect for their love for each other is that they're very silly and dreamy. Unstable but strong.

It's Andrew McCarthy. I just loved how he played his silly character. It was so endearing and sweet. There are alot of messed up parts in this movie. Very dark and disturbing parts. I'm not too sure if intended to do so, but like his character Switcher, he just breezes on by. A mannequin just came to life. Raise some eyebrow but don't go tearing off into the night screaming. Now the mannequin is running around naked. Sweet.


Hollywood played by Meshach Taylor made the movie even more enjoyable. He plays the over-exaggerated gay man. How his character is played would probably make alot of people cringe and cry foul of the horrible sterotype. I honestly don't feel that his character was insulting. It was pretty bad-ass how he hosed down the cops.

Kim Cattrel's over acting bothered me at first. Really bothered me. I already have it against her for her future involvement with "Sex and the City". Then I just did what I should have done when the movie opened. Relax. It was made in the 80s. Then her over-acting made sense. If I thought about it character-wise, she was just born in the new world. She's overly excited like a child.


Which leads me one thing that has bugged an eensy-weensy bit. It's great how they go off, get married. But. She was a mannequin. How did she know of sex? Did her first life in Egypt teach her that? Will she cook for him? Clean the house? Work? Does she even know what state she is in? Sorry Switcher, you gotta lemon. A pretty lemon though.

The final shiny cherry of this nostalgic movie are the songs. Two songs pop up in my mind as being my favorite. One is played during the montage. The second is the ending song which everyone adores. And for good reason. It holds all the whimsy and love that the movie had going. So it was a great end.


Song during the montage:



Ending song:

At 1 am in the morning, I sat in front of my desk with a goofy smile in my face. I was happy.This movie could have been a really dark comedy. If made now, this would probably be a dark indie movie. Actually, this does remind me of "Lars and the real girl".

But this was made in the 80's where everything was fun and whimsical amid all the dark stuff going on. This movie made me happy then, and it made me happy now.