Wizards is what I’d describe as the first film in Ralph Bakshi’s trilogy of fantasy epics – this film, Fire and Ice (which I previously reviewed at Bureau42), and Lord of the Rings (which roughly adapted The Fellowship of the Rings and The Two Towers). The later films are certainly superior works, but the three films together definitely show a development of Bakshi’s craft when it comes to epic fantasy. However, what about his first big fantasy film? Continue reading
Tag Archives: Film Review
This past weekend the latest installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has come out, and I’m giving my thoughts on the film. Continue reading
Movie Review: Samurai Cop
It would be reductive to say that Samurai Cop was is what you should expect from a film from the late ’80s, and early ’90s titled Samurai Cop. Reductive, and not entirely accurate. Not because the film is better than that description would imply – but because the film is actually worse. Continue reading
This time I’m taking a look at the first of the film adaptations of Cornelius Ryan’s books, with The Longest Day. Continue reading
Film Review: Planet of the Apes (1968)
To get this out of the way first – the twist for this film has been spoiled to death. I’d say it probably was spoiled in its entirety well before I was born. On the one hand, this means that the film’s ending has lost some of its punch, as we all know it’s coming. On the other hand, this means that when you come into the film, since you know the twist is coming, you also know to look for the clues for the twist in the story, and generally pay more attention to the film itself. Continue reading
This time I’m taking a look at the latest installment of the John Wick series. Continue reading
Film Review: Ghostbusters (2016)
The 2016 Ghostbusters film ended up being a hurricane of controversy – depending on where you were on the internet, if you liked the film you were a horrible SJW out to shove your political correct values down everyone’s throat. However, once the film came out, the ultimate verdict on the film pretty much ran the gamut – that you either loved it, hated it, or thought it was decent, but not worth seeing in theaters, with perhaps the character of Hoffman being an even more divisive character. Continue reading
Film Review: Westworld (1973)
Michael Crichton has never encountered a piece of technology that didn’t scare the crap out of him, to such a degree that he reminds me a lot of H.P. Lovecraft. Continue reading
Film Review: Nosferatu the Vampyre
How do you take a silent film, that’s one of the most iconic works of German Expressionist cinema alongside the Cabinet of Doctor Caligari, remake it in late ’70s and in color, and have it work just as well? You have Werner Herzog do it, apparently. Continue reading
Film Review: Phantom of the Opera (1925)
The 1925 film version of The Phantom of the Opera is a film which, I think gets the Phantom himself much better than some of the later interpretations of the story. It gets the horrific side of the Phantom right, without over romanticising him. Continue reading
Film Review: The Omega Man (1971)
The Omega Man is a weird film to think about in the wake of the presidential election. It’s a film that is as counter-cultural as it is against the counter-culture, with a protagonist who, as a character, very heavily represents the establishment, and who is played by an actor whose later life left him intrinsically linked, in a way, with the establishment. Continue reading
Film Review: Tales from the Crypt (1972)
One of the strengths of the anthology film in horror, is that horror works really well in short form. It is almost as much the medium of the short story the way that Science Fiction is the realm of the novella and novel, and heroic fantasy is the realm of the novel. This is also why the horror comics of the 50s and 60s leant themselves well to anthology TV series and the anthology film in particular. Continue reading
Film Review: God Told Me To (1976)
God Told Me To is an interesting exploitation film. On the one hand, it’s a pretty clear-cut science fiction film on a lot of levels, but on another hand, it has some interesting concepts it plays with with societal paranoia and copycat crimes that gives it a bit of depth. Continue reading
Film Review: Squirm
You know the old joke of Slasher films having “30 minutes with jerks”. This film is more like “90 minutes with jerks”. Continue reading
Film Review: The Fall of House of Usher (1960)
Arguably, the best films of Roger Corman’s career were his adaptations of the works of Edgar Allen Poe he made with AIP. They had some of the highest on-screen production values of the films he directed, and had some of the finest actors he ever worked with – especially this film’s stand out star, Vincent Price. Continue reading
Film Review: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
It’s interesting having viewed the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers after I’ve seen the remake. It’s interesting to see how many beats the remake cribbed from the original, but which executes on them so very differently, with a different emotional payoff. Continue reading
Film Review: Death Valley (1982)
What’s worse than a horror film that’s bad? A horror film that’s bad because it’s boring and annoying. This is the issue with Death Valley, a slasher film with an interesting concept, that fails in the execution in multiple respects. Continue reading
Film Review: Phase IV
Phase IV is an underrated, very weird film – the only dramatic film directed by Saul Bass, who is best known as designing the movie posters and opening credits sequences for the films of Alfred Hitchcock. Continue reading
I saw Doctor Strange last weekend, and video recorded myself talking about it! There are some minor spoilers towards the very end of the video.
Film Review: Dark Angel (1990)
Dark Angel (originally released as I Come in Peace in the US) is the film I wish Predator 2 was. Continue reading
Film Review: Mr. Vampire (1980)
Jackie Chan, as a performer, is frequently compared with Buster Keaton and, as I’ve mentioned in my own review of Police Story at Letterboxd, Charlie Chaplin.
Well, Mr. Vampire, a martial arts horror-comedy film produced by Jackie Chan’s friend and fellow member of the Five Little Fortunes, is what I’d probably describe as the Hong Kong equivalent of the Abbott and Costello Meet… movies. Continue reading
Film Review: The Brood
This Halloween we have a review of another Cronenberg film, with The Brood. Continue reading
Film Review: Blood and Lace (1971)
There’s a bit in an episode of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip where the characters on the series serial-numbers-filed-off version of Saturday Night Live are working on a sketch for Thanksgiving where the turkey spurts absurd, Army of Darkness levels of blood when carved. The bit is not shown, only talked about – with one of the characters commenting about the Prop guy thinking the level of blood is unrealistic with the comment”If it’s just a realistic amount of blood, then it’s… extremely disturbing…”
That is, perhaps, Blood and Lace‘s greatest strength, and its weakness. Continue reading