Horton Hears a Who DVD Review

 

I’m a huge Dr. Seuss fan.  I love his books, and most of the cartoons based on them as well.  I enjoy the actors that voiced the characters in the film, so I was extremely excited to see this film.  I missed it at the theatre, so I picked it up to watch with my kids during the holidays.  

First off I have to say that the animation on this film is beautiful.  I really enjoyed the style they used, and felt that it was respectful to the source material.  And for the most part I enjoyed the movie as well, but it wasn’t my favorite Dr. Seuss adaptation.  There were a few sequences that really irritated me, but I’ll get to those in a bit.  First I want to talk about the characters.  I felt that these characters were really strong, and the actors they got to voice them were all spot on.  I especially enjoyed Steve Carell, who voiced the Mayor of Whoville.  I also think that Carol Burnett and Set Rogen rocked too.  Jim Carrey is always a pleasure in whatever he does, but in this case his character was slightly irritating.  It’s not his fault, but for some reason I had a hard time connecting with Horton in the flick, like I did with the character in the book.  

As for the parts of the film that irritated me, there was one scene that went full anime that really lost me, and another scene that wasn’t anime, but was done in 2d that just took me right out of the flick.  Other than that the story pretty much followed the book, and the animation worked really well.  I’m not going to go into detail about the plot because I’m pretty sure most people on the planet have read the book. Overall I had a decent time watching Horton Hears a Who, and despite a few odd scenes, it was a killer film.   

The DVD

Audio Commentary: I didn’t care for this audio Commentary.  I would have dug it if the whole cast would have participated, but for some reason that’s not what’s on this disc.

Ice Age: Surviving Sid: This is a pretty cool little Ice Age short that is worth watching.  

Ice Age 3 Sneak Peek:  This is a weak preview of the new Ice Age flick.

Rating:

Silent Night, Deadly Night DVD review

The Film:

It’s the time of year when people want to be in a peaceful mood, being thoughtful, spiritual, and all of that good will to men stuff, but there are a few select individuals that might not be. It’s well-known that some people suffer from the “holiday blues”. This could lead to depression, possible criminal activities due to the pressure the holidays bring on some people, or it gives us killer Christmas horror films!

What a strange subgenre this is. Christmas is generally regarded as a family time, a peaceful and religious time of year, so when you mention a Christmas horror film, you’ll get some odd looks. I love it. Sneers, eyes roll, questions about yourself, it’s the best. It’s a relatively small genre, but the pure goofy, raunchy, gratuitous Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984) is a blast.

Taking the form of a slasher film, like any other 1980’s film, they themed it with Christmas and in time became a cult hit. It’s easy to see why. At the time, it was critically banned, Siskel and Ebert put “shame, shame” after each name in the credits, Leonard Maltin questioned the nature of the idea, and PTA members actively sought to have the film outright banned. Controversy sells, and it went out to be a popular and successful film. Why did they go ape-shit over it?

The film starts out with a grandpa giving a dire warning to his grandson about how Santa punishes the naughty on Christmas Eve and later that night a killer dressed up as Santa uses the image to sucker some good Samaritans into a ride, in which he kills the dad and as the son looks on in horror, his mom is stripped topless, raped, and killed-all in the first few minutes! After years of being in a Catholic Orphanage, Billy still can’t get over the fear of Santa Claus and after going through one more traumatic situation on Christmas he snaps and decides to punish the naughty himself as Santa.

Hilarious. If you love the slasher genre, you’ll know the expectations and the rules, and Silent Night Deadly Night plays by them exactly. Each kill is more outrageous, each girl is prettier and nuder, but really it’s just a fun scenario for all of the horror hounds and bah-humbuggers out there. If we can all sing about grandma getting run over by a reindeer, then what’s wrong with a killer in a Santa suit? Stop being PC people and enjoy some gore under the mistletoe.

The DVD:

Audio/Video: Anchor Bay does a good job in the audio; it’s solid, clear, but not very robust. The picture is hard to accurate judge since they decided to use a few prints to compile the uncut version, so we get really clear and precise scenes and some are a little fuzzy.

Interview: This is a great piece as we sit down with director Charles Sellier, Jr. as he talks about the production and the controversy. Curious about the film, see this.

Poster and Still Gallery

Conclusion: Ho, ho, ho! Nah, for the bah humbuggers and fans of slashers!

Rating:

Brutal Massacre: A Comedy DVD Review

 

The Flick

Brutal Massacre: A Comedy is one of those films that some die-hard fans of the horror genre will love, however the average viewer will probably have a hard time making it through the entire flick without bumping the fast forward button.  I love independent movies that break the mold, outshining their competition.  This flick, however, is not one of those indies.  

Harry Penderecki (David Naughton) is a washed up horror director on a mission to restart his career by making a bloody indie horror movie.  Not since his film I’ll Take the Ring Back, and the Finger Too!  has he been able to sustain a healthy amount of interest in any of his films.  Also, every time he makes a movie someone either dies or gets severely injured, so Brutal Massacre is his last ditch effort at regaining the spotlight and proving that he can finish a film without killing anyone.  The entire story is told through the camera lens of a documentary filmmaker there to bring Harry’s struggle to life.  

The actors were for the most part competent, but sometimes the dialogue they were given felt forced, and the film itself looked like it was shot without adequate lighting.  Director Stevan Mena assembled an impressive cast for the flick, including Brian O’Halloran as the films AD Jay, Ellen Sandweiss as production manager Natalie, Gerry Bednob as DP Hanu, Ken Foree as the humble grip Carl, and Gunnar Hansen as the deranged property owner Krenshaw.  The comedy worked, but some of the deliveries weren’t as solid as I was hoping they would be.  It’s not that the film wasn’t good, it’s just that the film was the kind of movie that plays well on late night cable or bumming on a couch with a cold one, but otherwise is pretty luke warm. I’m getting tired of the documentary story line that has been used-to-death in the past few years, but the technique works here.  I feel that I should also note that Brian O’Halloran was particularly impressive, showing that he has skills beyond what most people know him for (Clerks).  

If your looking for a fun time waster I’d recommend renting this one, but it’s not one I’d purchase for my collection.  Brutal Massacre: A Comedy wasn’t really a killer film, but was still entertaining.  

The Disc

Overall there isn’t a whole lot of extras on this DVD.  There are some deleted scenes, a few trailers, a short Behind the scenes movie that features the actors in character talking about the fake movie, and that’s about it.

Rating:

Man on Wire DVD Review

The Film:

James Marsh has run under most of our noses, directing films in drama and documentaries, but I think Man on Wire will finally bring him the proper attention he deserves. In fact, this film won the Audience Award and Best Doc at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. I discovered James Marsh a few years ago with his debut film, 1999’s Wisconsin Death Trip. That film was brilliantly staged, through re-enactments and still photographs, creating an eerie, haunting mood, with occasional humor about a suicides and murder that plagued one small Wisconsin town. Then, Marsh disappeared. Well, not really. He’s directed two more, one highly regarded drama The King and an uneven documentary The Team.

Man on Wire is a fantastic documentary made up of interviews, photos, archival footage, and re-enactments. Philippe Petit is the subject; a crazed, but artistic man, full of life and displays no sense of fear. He says he has mind of a criminal, something that he’s been arrested for. His charge was disturbing the peace, something he did on August 7th, 1974 when he wire-walked between the two towers of the World Trade Center. Not once, but eight times, laying on the wire, waving to spectators, talking to birds, and other stuff that would make most people’s hands sweat as he did this 1,400 feet in the air-no net.

Something about the WTC towers captured his imagination. He’s wire-walked The Notre Dame Cathedral, the Eifel Tower, and other big buildings and bridges, but the WTC was something else-something artistic, something fantastical and something definitive. At this time in 1970s, the WTC towers weren’t a popular creation. His walk made them notorious.

Marsh felt that his tale would work perfectly as a heist film. The film gathers constant momentum; we start out with archival footage of the WTC towers being built with Petit’s story of his fascination with wire-walking and his early successful attempts. As the towers near completion, we start to see how the ‘coupe’ was planned. Marsh spares nothing. We see home videos of Petit’s ragtag group of misfits planning the act and even some suspenseful re-enactments. At one point, Petit and his friend had to find cover under a tarp and remain motionless for hours as a guard remained in the empty room. This little story works better seeing it re-enacted with flawlessness instead of a talking head describing it.

But there’s an elephant in the room nobody’s talking about and its 9/11. For the sake of Petit’s amazing story and the success of the documentary, I’m glad Marsh doesn’t include any insights about the destruction of the WTC towers. It would have cheapened the film. In fact by not saying anything about 9/11, the film casts an awesome power on us. A cop was interviewed shortly after arresting Petit. He began stating on how he was ‘watching something that was once-in-a-lifetime thing, something nobody else would ever see in the world.’ Those feelings are terribly haunting to us viewers in a post-9/11 world and gives the film incredible emotion.

I’ve seen people cry and laugh, but it’s all in joy at this film. Man on Wire is a hauntingly beautiful film, filled with a breath-taking score and joyful presence about itself. It was called the ‘Artistic Crime of the Century’, a foolish near-death attempt that in hindsight gave the WTC towers the symbolism that is has. Terrorism might have destroyed the towers physically, but Petit’s act stands tall in New York City folklore. A New Yorker commemorating the 5 year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks feature Petit floating in air walk on the wire with the two towers missing. That pretty sums it all up. Go see this film now.

The DVD:

Audio/Video: It’s a decent DD 5.1 mix as dialogue and music are properly handled and never fight for attention and the video is good too but the film uses a mix of news footage from the ‘70s so it’ll look only as good as can be.

Sydney Harbor Bridge Crossing: This is the actual footage from his famous walk in briefly seen in the film. Pretty cool but a little long.

Philippe Petit Interview: More footage of him talking as it plays like extended scenes deleted from the film but worth the watch. Runs about 12 minutes.

The Man Who Walked between Two Towers: This is a ten minute story book-styled slideshow thingy narrated by Jake Gyllenhaal. Kind of neat as it re-enacts his famous feat.

Conclusion: A fantastic film, with decent extras, is a must own for documentary fans and a must see for everyone else. I do wish James Marsh was on the extras somewhere though.

Rating:

Hospitality review

I wish someone in the rehearsal roundtable (assuming there was one) had spoke up and said, “You know, this dialogue isn’t working.” On an indie feature there’s the need to appeal to a wide audience, but for the indie produced Hospitality, even the hardest gangbangers would chuckle at the stuff coming out of Teddy’s (Gian-Murray Gianino) mouth. This fuzzy head white dude, spews more “dawgs” than a Pound, and uses slang for everything involved with sex. It’s ridiculous the amount of code words he uses. In that assumed rehearsal it should’ve been noted that it is coming out silly and more importantly and sadly, forced.

Nobody would buy this dude, and this is coming from a reviewer who grew up in a harder area and school than most white boys. Oh well, what does the film offer? Within the first 15 or so minutes I knew this film was copying a rarely seen horror film called Effects from 1980. Basically, Teddy celebrated his 25^th birthday and some random guys spent the night. Needing to clean up the place for tomorrow, in which some friends of the family where to stay at the cabin this party took place in, the two guys sort of agree to clean up the place. After 40 minutes of talking (which amounts to nothing except revealing the film’s second half and thus making it excruciatingly predictable, the two guys want Teddy to be their latest victim for a snuff film. Yawn.

Production values and technique are good, acting’s okay at best, but if this would have been a short, I wouldn’t have been so hard on it. The idea didn’t need 75 minutes to tell it. There’s no blood or gore to at least tease us with entertainment, so what’s the point? A twist ending to the snuff film they’re making is as limp as can be. With some f-bombs and a few too many close up shots of cum-filled condoms (WTF). I’m not sure that horror fans would embrace this movie.  It’s more of a calling card for the director and crew to get better jobs, probably in commercials or something, than us to view and enjoy. Can you feel me on dat, dawg?

Rating:

White Dog DVD review

The Film:

I don’t really say this much but I’m glad a film like White Dog exists. Call me naïve or whatever, but I had no idea certain people would corrupt a young puppy into a raging racist to hurt and kill only black people. That’s the premise of this “forgotten” Sam Fuller 1982 film. White Dog is a gripping, pleasing, intelligent film about the worst deeds on man: racism. It’s an anti-racist movie with a great message and its amazing Paramount didn’t know what to do with it at the time and shelved it until now.

Julie (the adorable Kristy McNichol) one night accidently hits a German shepherd as it crossed the street. Doing what any good natured person would do, she takes it to a near by veterinarian clinic and decides to keep it as no one has claimed it after she put up flyers for the lost dog. After a series of some odd incidents it is concluded that the dog is a white dog, an animal trained to kill black people on sight. A daring animal trainer (Paul Winfield) makes it his mission to break the dog of this thinking.

Keys, the animal trainer, is the heart of the film. Sam Fuller knew how to up tension and suspense in every film and by making Keys a black man determined to train the dog not to be racist adds much power to the film. Even scenes like when the dog is roaming the streets after breaking out of its kennel, there’s one where the dog is sniffing some trash looking for food, as a little black boy plays with his ball. Right when the dog walks away the mom grabs the boy inside, just missing making eye contact. What a terrifying scene without any real narrative purpose. But back to Keys, Winfield is pretty amazing as him and his one scene to shine he does. After he goes looking for he dog after it broke out of the kennel, he stumbles upon it after it murdered a black man in a church. Keys is conflicted. Does he report the murder and essentially ending the dog’s life or does he cover it up and break this dog’s ideology?

Julie wants the dog dead now. Too many people are getting hurt. Keys calls her out. He says this is how people are; let’s sweep racism under the carpet getting rid of it instead of educating those who are. That’s why he must train the dog, even if it’s one small victory; it’s one that could go a long way. It’s a powerful scene. The dog is merely a victim, despite murdering people because of their color. It’s the trainers that were corrupt, forcing some hideous ideology on such an innocent animal. If they can do this to man’s best friend, imagine what they could teach children?

This might not be Sam Fuller’s best film or work with racism, a topic he visited a lot in his career, but it’s an incredibly interesting, moving, thoughtful film filled with some fun dialogue, amazing dog attacks, and enough little horror elements to keep it all in an interesting package. It’s a shame we had to wait 25 years to see it.

 

The DVD:

Audio/Video: The audio is okay, nothing impressive. It’s a decent stereo presentation. Same with the video as Criterion is known for making their films the best looking they can get, so I expect this is the best White Dog will ever look.

Interviews: This 45 minute piece is really good. Criterion interviews Fuller’s wife, Curtis Hanson (L.A. Confidential) who wrote the screenplay and the film’s producer Jon Davidson as they all remember Sam Fuller, the film, the shooting, and the aftermath of Paramount shelving the project. It’s really informative and a great retrospect.

Interview with Dog Trainer: Using still photos and text, Karl Lewis Miller explains how they got the dogs to do what the script needed them too and working with Fuller. He explains an impossible shot that Fuller wanted and in three takes got. Fuller loved the five dogs that played the White Dog and gave each one a screen credit. Pretty cool extra.

Gallery: Rare photos from the production.

Essays: Criterion always dazzles with their essay books and his is no different. Covering Fuller use of the subject of racism and anti-racism, Fuller interviews the dog, and a look at the film’s meaning is all included.

Conclusion: White Dog is another great Fuller film. Criterion delivers a great disc and extras and now we can see his long forgotten film and see what idiots Paramount were back then. They called it a racist picture. Did they see it? Fuller was never racist. A must see.

Rating:

Bigger Stronger Faster DVD review

The Film:

I have never used HGH, steroids, or any other performance enhancing drug when writing a review, nor do I plan too. I felt compelled to open this review with something as absurd as that, due to Chris Bell’s documentary on steroids, in Bigger, Stronger, Faster.

The wonderful thing about this timely film is that while it takes on a serious subject matter rooted in deep moral choices, there’s a lot of fun happening here. Currently, there’s this big hoopla about MLB and the players using steroids. What could’ve been a standard documentary following Barry Bonds around or something, is elevated beyond its ESPN journalistic point of view, by flipping this finger wagging back on us.

The interesting way he presents his subject helps put the film into something we can talk about as we leave the theater, instead of saying, ‘okay, that’s that. They are cheaters.’ It’s not as easy as it might appear, Bell slowly unravels what we might be thinking about people using steroids and constructs a well-researched gray area. Using experts, senators, news footage, and interviews from everyone from the fore mentioned senators to ‘gym rats’, the real people affected by steroids. And to what effect are they hampered by their decision? Chris Bell spares no one; Hulk Hogan, Mark McGuire, Arnold, Sly Stallone, and even his family members. In fact, when he studies his family, I found it far more interesting than the pro athletes. His mother is unknowing to the fact that her three sons are using body enhancing steroids, two of which still are regularly. Call her naive, but Bell establishes this very hard gray area of what’s right and wrong about steroids.

More importantly, why must we cast out our sports and film heroes because they have used steroids? The facts indicate that only 3 people a year might die from steroid side effects, compared to the 400,000 people that die from tobacco or the 70,000 from alcohol. Vitamin C offers more side effects than steroids, but it’s the Congress hearings and the Chris Benoit case that makes this seem far more tragic.

Bigger, Stronger, Faster simply gives you the facts, a thorough look at our culture, and offers to you, no answer to the question of is using steroids bad for sports? When Stan Lee presents that Captain America went from a string bean guy to a muscle bound hero, then you know the area is quite gray. America’s need to be the winner, no second best, might have given way to this current steroid craze world we live in. But that’s the interesting thing about this film, it offers plenty of tangible facts and research, and you’ll be walking out thinking and talking about it. I came in being disgusted knowing that people like Roger Clemens and Rambo have been caught using steroids, but leaving this film, I might not want to look that down on them, it’s our culture you know?

The DVD:

Audio/Video: Clean and good sounding audio, I mean, it’s a documentary, so what did you expect? It’s hard to judge the video presentation since Bell used footage from a variety of sources, but it’s good, especially scenes with him or interviews with him on camera.

Additional Footage: Over 40 minutes of scenes that didn’t make it into the film  and for the most part they’re good. They are broken up into individual chapters making them easier to soak in. Give them a look as they add some more info to the film’s discussion.

Behind-the-Scenes: A very, very short promo piece if you will, about the team who gave us this documentary. Eh.

Trailers

Conclusion: With steroids in our papers and on ESPN a lot as of late, this documentary is very timely. Chris Bell presents it all in a fun, easy to follow manner, with humor and passion making this an easy recommendation.

Rating:

Wicked Lake DVD Review

 

The Flick

Wicked Lake opened up strong, with Ilene (Robin Sydney) posing nude for an art class, and she looks great in her birthday suit.  In fact every girl in this flick is unbelievably hot, and they all spend most of the movie’s runtime in various stages of undress (a good part of that time completely nude). I can’t fault the filmmakers for making a film that focuses much of its resources on four stupid hot girls that spend most of their free time naked, engaged in lesbian sex orgies that grant them supernatural powers.  Hallelujah!  I guess I’m just your typical guy, but these filmmakers had me at the naked girl.  

Basically the story follows the aforementioned hot girls on a fun trip to a cabin in the woods for a little lesbian sex, wine, and witchcraft, but their fun is soon spoiled by a family of morons.  Burgeoning art student Caleb (Marc Senter) is instantly smitten with Ilene and decides to tell his freaky family about her cabin getaway.  So Caleb and his family head out to the woods with a dull hunting knife, and decide to force the girls to have sex with them.  Only this doesn’t work out exactly like they planed, because at the stroke of midnight the girls become super witch bitches that enjoy killing men slowly.  

This little flick reminded me of the old films I used to watch on Skinamax when I was a kid.  I’d sneak into the living room when everyone was asleep, turn on the boob-tube with the volume really low, and watch all the really bad skin flicks that ruled late night cable.  Like those late night treats Wicked Lake was fun, had lots of naked girl goodness, and to my surprise the acting was pretty impressive as well.  All of the girls were pretty solid, especially Carlee Barker who played Mary in the flick.  Also, Jack Deth hemself, Tim Thomerson, was funny as the cop in charge of investigating the hotties.  The flick has the standard problems that come with low budget flicks, pacing, lighting, plot holes, etc.  But overall the flick is a lot of fun for anyone that likes naked girls with their blood and guts, and the there is plenty of the red stuff flowing in this nasty little horror nugget.  Wicked Lake was a killer (skin) film!

The DVD

Audio/Video: The audio was loud and clear and features a score by Ministry’s Al Jourgensen.  Sometimes it doesn’t quite fit, but it rocked none-the-less.  The video was crisp and looked really good for a low budget T&A horror movie.  

 

Special Features: 

Audio Commentary:  This track features the director and various cast members and was sorta fun, but mostly just an excuse to watch the girls rock the screen with their hot bods.  

Deleted Scenes: There are a few deleted scenes that were cool to watch, but I understood why they weren’t included in the final cut of the flick.  

Trailer/Gallery:  The prerequisite trailer and still gallery are on here as well.  The trailer I had seen before, but the pics were pretty cool.

Rating:

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