http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1144884/
2009- watched via comcast on demand
So here we have the 4th installment of the Final Destination series. I believe I have watched the other 3 at one point or another. I also feel like one of those was a good movie. Most likely the first in the series. That must be why I keep subjecting my wife to such mediocre crap. And I really thing mediocre best describes this series. They obviously have some budget to work with and get some decent effects out of it but as usual the acting and story are just mediocre. Here in the 4th installment the storyline pretty much reads the same as the other 3 from what I can remember. Group of folks survive catastrophe due to some kind of future vision and rest of the movie is spent trying to avoid elaborate almost Rube Goldberg'esk http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rube_Goldberg_machine sequences that inevitability lead to doom. There are 2 notable things about this film. The first is it's run time, it's fairly short which always makes me happy. Something about investing 3 hours watching crap drives me nuts. 2 hours? No problem. Anyhow the second item of note is the first 10 minutes. This like the others in the series is when the big event that sets everything else in motion occurs. In the case of the forth it's a nascar race. I believe the prior instalments involved a plane and a roller coaster and something I can't recall. So this nascar race is what makes this movie worth a watch. The whole affair is so over the top with gore that it's really hysterical. Beyond that best to stop watching or suffer my wife's fate...
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Orphen
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1148204/
2009- watched via comcast on demand
Going into this one it was hard to not expect an omen remake based on the little I knew about the premise. So they made it a girl instead of a boy... I also fully expected the usual Satan type of storyline that is so very easy to explain away any open questions the viewer may have. I'm happy to report that what I received instead was a smart creepy film with no mention of Satan or any of his worshipers. The movie like all movies must these days has a twist and it's a good one for a change. Not since the 6th sense have I gone "oh that explains what the hell is going on". It was a good feeling. The cast is strong with believable performance especially from 10 year old Isabelle Fuhrman who really nails the creepy kid thing. Overall a very enjoyable movie that keeps you hooked even though you know full well things are about to go very wrong.
2009- watched via comcast on demand
Going into this one it was hard to not expect an omen remake based on the little I knew about the premise. So they made it a girl instead of a boy... I also fully expected the usual Satan type of storyline that is so very easy to explain away any open questions the viewer may have. I'm happy to report that what I received instead was a smart creepy film with no mention of Satan or any of his worshipers. The movie like all movies must these days has a twist and it's a good one for a change. Not since the 6th sense have I gone "oh that explains what the hell is going on". It was a good feeling. The cast is strong with believable performance especially from 10 year old Isabelle Fuhrman who really nails the creepy kid thing. Overall a very enjoyable movie that keeps you hooked even though you know full well things are about to go very wrong.
Zany Glof
That spelling is for my buddy.
So I ended up with red rings on my xbox this weekend which abruptly ended my re-obsession with Burnout. So in the mail it goes back to microsoft to get fixed. In any event I fired up the old xbox. I was cruising through the genesis selection to see if anything caught my eye. There it was the classic Zany Golf by Will Harvey published by EA. It had been some time since I hit the minigolf lynx but it was as fun as ever. In short the game consists of 9 holes of "zany" mini golf action. Each level has its own unique style from the classic windmill to a arkinoid take off. Each level offers a unique challenge with unique obstacles, a cheese burger bouncing over the 2nd hole for example. The view point is a 3/4 rendered afair with very amiga'esk looking graphics. Gameplay is super basic but easy to control while still challenging to master. The soundtrack is fantastic, like so fantastic, especially the pinball hole. I had a great time and was fortunate to score a "5 extra strokes" power-up on the second hole, next to the hamburger you know? The fantastic thing was it gave me the strokes to make it to the end! Now I use to play this game a fair amount back in the day but it's hard, and it gets way hard near the end so to finally finish it was a great accomplishment. Time to check that one off the "things to accomplish before I die" list. Though much to my dismay the end was nothing more then the completed score card that you can bring up anytime during the game by pressing the pause button. Lame. Trying to deal with my grief from another lame 16 bit game ending I was stuck by the fact that the best representation of the game of mini golf was made in the early 90's? WTF. Where is my "quality" Wii mini golf I ask you?
So I ended up with red rings on my xbox this weekend which abruptly ended my re-obsession with Burnout. So in the mail it goes back to microsoft to get fixed. In any event I fired up the old xbox. I was cruising through the genesis selection to see if anything caught my eye. There it was the classic Zany Golf by Will Harvey published by EA. It had been some time since I hit the minigolf lynx but it was as fun as ever. In short the game consists of 9 holes of "zany" mini golf action. Each level has its own unique style from the classic windmill to a arkinoid take off. Each level offers a unique challenge with unique obstacles, a cheese burger bouncing over the 2nd hole for example. The view point is a 3/4 rendered afair with very amiga'esk looking graphics. Gameplay is super basic but easy to control while still challenging to master. The soundtrack is fantastic, like so fantastic, especially the pinball hole. I had a great time and was fortunate to score a "5 extra strokes" power-up on the second hole, next to the hamburger you know? The fantastic thing was it gave me the strokes to make it to the end! Now I use to play this game a fair amount back in the day but it's hard, and it gets way hard near the end so to finally finish it was a great accomplishment. Time to check that one off the "things to accomplish before I die" list. Though much to my dismay the end was nothing more then the completed score card that you can bring up anytime during the game by pressing the pause button. Lame. Trying to deal with my grief from another lame 16 bit game ending I was stuck by the fact that the best representation of the game of mini golf was made in the early 90's? WTF. Where is my "quality" Wii mini golf I ask you?
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Funny Farm
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095188/
1988 - Watched via Netflix Xbox360
Another retro entry, guess I'm feeling nostalgic. In any event I vaguely remember this one but had no strong feelings one way or the other. The overall premises just feels done like "stick a fork in it". Chevy Chase is a sports writer who for some reason is able to retire at 40 with his hot wife and move to some upstate new york farm town. The gags feel stale (with the exception of a lamb testicle eating scene which never gets old) and the story just plods along. Chevy Chase is un exceptional which got me thinking about all he had done and the large volume of movies of his that fall in that bucket. Really with the exception of Fletch, Caddyshack, and the Vacation films (I don't love em' but I know allot of people do) there is just alot of crap in his Filmography. Sure there are flicks like Spy's like Us and the 3 Amigos which are not too bad but once you start to get into Fletch 2, Caddyshack 2, Cops and Robertson's, and Nothing but trouble it goes down hill real fast. So back to funny farm, it's just not that funny but if I had to pick a example of a generic comedy from this generation this would probably be it. I didn't end up making it to the end so I will never know what happens... do they give up and move back to the city? do they make it work and become a part of the community? Does Chevy Chase go on an mad killing spree in search of more lamb balls? I guess I will never know...
1988 - Watched via Netflix Xbox360
Another retro entry, guess I'm feeling nostalgic. In any event I vaguely remember this one but had no strong feelings one way or the other. The overall premises just feels done like "stick a fork in it". Chevy Chase is a sports writer who for some reason is able to retire at 40 with his hot wife and move to some upstate new york farm town. The gags feel stale (with the exception of a lamb testicle eating scene which never gets old) and the story just plods along. Chevy Chase is un exceptional which got me thinking about all he had done and the large volume of movies of his that fall in that bucket. Really with the exception of Fletch, Caddyshack, and the Vacation films (I don't love em' but I know allot of people do) there is just alot of crap in his Filmography. Sure there are flicks like Spy's like Us and the 3 Amigos which are not too bad but once you start to get into Fletch 2, Caddyshack 2, Cops and Robertson's, and Nothing but trouble it goes down hill real fast. So back to funny farm, it's just not that funny but if I had to pick a example of a generic comedy from this generation this would probably be it. I didn't end up making it to the end so I will never know what happens... do they give up and move back to the city? do they make it work and become a part of the community? Does Chevy Chase go on an mad killing spree in search of more lamb balls? I guess I will never know...
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Toy Soldiers
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103112/
Watched on Netflix xbox360
From 1991 this Thriller/Terrorist flick stars some of the sizable names from the late 80's Early 90's including Sean Astin, Will Wheaton, and Luis Gossett Jr, plus the American bad guy from Die Hard with the little round glasses. I had only watched this movie once before back in the 90's and liked it quite a bit. This one fortunatly holds up to the test of time. There are elements that date the movie but mostly just the subtle way kids dress and if I had not been part of that generation I would not have noticed due to the fact that the movie takes place in prep school and there is one thing in fashion that never seams to change and that's preppy fashion. Why I'm writing this and not buying stock in the GAP and abrocrombi and fitch is beyond me... So long story short a group of terrorists who want a drug kingpin out of jail decide to take over a prep school full of kids of influential people, senators and such. The story line is simple but unfolds in a interesting way that manages to keep you hooked. Also for a movie that stars a rack of teenagers the acting is very believable. High production values and lots of helicopter shots make for a very well polished film that I highly recommend.
Watched on Netflix xbox360
From 1991 this Thriller/Terrorist flick stars some of the sizable names from the late 80's Early 90's including Sean Astin, Will Wheaton, and Luis Gossett Jr, plus the American bad guy from Die Hard with the little round glasses. I had only watched this movie once before back in the 90's and liked it quite a bit. This one fortunatly holds up to the test of time. There are elements that date the movie but mostly just the subtle way kids dress and if I had not been part of that generation I would not have noticed due to the fact that the movie takes place in prep school and there is one thing in fashion that never seams to change and that's preppy fashion. Why I'm writing this and not buying stock in the GAP and abrocrombi and fitch is beyond me... So long story short a group of terrorists who want a drug kingpin out of jail decide to take over a prep school full of kids of influential people, senators and such. The story line is simple but unfolds in a interesting way that manages to keep you hooked. Also for a movie that stars a rack of teenagers the acting is very believable. High production values and lots of helicopter shots make for a very well polished film that I highly recommend.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
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