Here is another Keaton feature which, at 49 minutes, would not be considered a feature by today’s standards. Having seen this in film school, I knew it was one of his better offerings. However, I remember seeing it on VHS, and there being a low quality grain issue. I was looking forward to see Kino’s remastered cut. How does it stand up against the best of Keaton?
Annually, October becomes horror month on these pages. However, any time a Buster Keaton or Charlie Chaplin marathon happens on TCM, I DVR a bunch of those and ultimately end up with a month filled with silent comedy. I love that the last three movies on the top of this page are now THE NAVIGATOR starring Keaton, then the NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET REMAKE, and then Chaplin’s CIRCUS. I may be the first person on Earth to watch those three movies in that order.
I started this movie while simultaneously asking ‘Why do I do this to myself?’ I mean, the FRIDAY THE 13th remake sucked and the HALLOWEEN remake wasn’t anything good. Why would I think a reboot of A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET would be watchable? Oh well, I did it anyway…
Continue reading ‘johnlink ranks A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (2010)’
Another Chaplin feature showed up on TCM this past week, so I ate it right up like I do all Chaplin (or Keaton) features I have never had a chance to see. This one is set at a circus as the Tramp accidentally becomes the star of the show and tries to win the abusive Ringmaster’s daughter. Believe it or not, there will be SPOILERS below.
I first saw this around the time of its release, maybe a year later, so it has been five years since I visited this movie. I loved the humor, and this was the era when Robert Downey Jr. was really starting his career revitalization project. I’d been meaning to get back at it for awhile, so here we go…
Continue reading ‘johnlink ranks KISS KISS BANG BANG (2005)’
I’m not very familiar with Korean cinema. I’ve heard good things, and I’ve seen a flick here or there, but I haven’t looked to seek it out either. This movie, DEATH BELL, popped up on Sundance and I thought I would give the first five or ten minutes a glance. It held me enough to watch it through. Perfection? Well this is the story of a bunch of elite Korean students being killed off one by one as they try and answer an impossible test by the killer who may or may not be supernatural. So not perfect, but entertaining enough.
So I just watched this self-proclaimed documentary last night. It left me with a bunch of questions, but it also made an impact. I would say that, as a documentary, it did its job (if it is indeed truly a documentary). The advertising campaign says not to give anything away. So I won’t. Don’t make the jump if you haven’t seen it. But this is certainly worth hunting down in order to form your own opinions. The question isn’t ‘are these real people?’ because they are real people. The question is ‘How much of this is staged, and how much of it is strategically edited?’ SPOILERS BELOW
Anytime you can watch an 80 minute horror film with a half-decent premise, you do it. Very little risk, with the potential for a good reward. DEVIL was the first movie in a series of films which M. Night Shyamalan outsourced. He came up with the story (a group of people stuck on an elevator, one of which is the devil), and then got someone else to write and direct while he sat back and produced. There is a group of people that think Shyamalan films would be better directed by someone other than himself, so this served as an opportunity to see how that plays out.
PAN’S LABYRINTH. Though this only came out five years ago, it still held a spot on my Embarrassment List since it was so widely acclaimed. I knew this film spent time in the Underworld, and I had seen pictures of the creepy monster with its eyes in its hands, but literally knew nothing else about this picture (except that my buddy John R. wasn’t the hugest fan of it). There are SPOILERS below; I feel it is necessary to talk about the end with this film.
Continue reading ‘johnlink ranks EL LABERINTO DEL FAUNO (PAN’S LABYRINTH) (2006)’
I can’t hear this title without thinking of those obnoxious watch commercials that ran a couple NFL seasons ago (Unstoppable! Eli Manning is… Unstoppable). But, whatever. This seemed like SPEED on a train, but without the villain. I’ll give any Denzel suspense flick a shot, and I like the new Captain Kirk, so what the heck!
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