Reviews

Anyone who sees this film becomes part of a very special club. We can all claim to have been witness to one of the greatest films of all time. The Haunting achieves a level of greatness only experienced in the classics of one Drago Floyd. (Do yourself a favor and check out troll 2 if you don't believe me.) In fact I believe that this might have been on of Drago's lost scripts. Perhaps he was working on this as a follow-up to his classic, Anal Perversions of Lolita.

Anyway, achieving a script in which no two scenes follow is a remarkable accomplishment. Add to that, the fact that character motivation appears to change depending on which way the wind is blowing and you have yourself a classic. And for a limited time you also have the scenes that lead nowhere, like the car that threatens to blow-up and then doesn't. Man its a good thing they included that establishing shot of leaking gas.

All in all i'd say that Dreamworks has itself a hit. This film will be remembered forever. I just wish they spent a few more million on it to make it even better. Personally I can't wait for THE HAUNTING 2: CRUISE CONTROL!!!!!

Run! This might be the perfect entertainment. A young woman must save her boyfriend. She has twenty minutes to collect 100,000 marks. If she doesn't her boyfriend's dead. Unfortunately, Lola just had her moped stolen. So she has to run. The story plays out three times and each time slight variations affect even the most minor characters.

Lola is well acted and directed. I realize you have to get used to the music video style,but if you can get into it, you're in for a wild ride. A great techno soundtrack will have you bopping along in your seat. This is a must see.

I really don't understand the appeal of this film. Zombie shouldn't even be mentioned with Dawn of the Dead, let alone called an unofficial sequel. The movie has some decent special effects but effects don't make a movie. There is almost no plot and the acting is horrible. Dario Argento can get away with making plotless movies because of his surreal style but Fulci borders on hackdom. Do yourself a favor and check out Night of the Living Dead or better yet Dawn of the Dead if you want to see a good zombie flick.

Shaft's back and this time he's up against modern day slave traders. Shaft gets recruited to go to Africa and pose as a slave in order to expose the traders. This is a great flick. Its entertaining and exciting. As usual, there are some great lines. "Brother with the name Shaft better be good with a stick." And of course, "No ride camel, me ride ass."

Richard Roundtree is great as John Shaft. He's one bad mofo. (Shut yo mouth!) If you're a fan of Shaft you must check this out. And if you're not a fan, what the hell is wrong with you! One more thing, Richard Roundtree is Shaft. Forget about this Samuel L. Jackson thing. Its a travesty.

Dig it! You've got your black mama. You've got your white mama. You've got your lesbian prison guards. You've got your female prison shower scene. (That lasts about 5 minutes). You've got your tough Filipino gangsters. You've got your corrupt police man. You've got a Che Guevara like revolutionary leader. Put this together and what do you get? Pure cinematic goodness. This isn't a great movie. But hell, its a lot of fun. Pam Grier is great as usual as one of the mama's.(I'll let you guess which one.) Plenty of violence and nudity to spare. Don't go looking for this in the family section of your video store. Oh yeah, the story was written by Jonathan Demme. (Seriously!)

The effects are cheesy and the story is ridiculous but this is an entertaining flick nontheless. Tim Thomerson is great as the 13 inch Brick Bardo. (Love that name!) Brick crash lands in the South Bronx after chasing some criminal (actually just a head attached to some sort of board) into an energy field outside his home planet of Arturus. Brick arrives just in time to save a young woman from some hoods who take to calling each other homeboy. These tough punks with mullets to spare, are terrorizing the neighborhood. Leave it to Brick to clean up the mess with the help of his handgun("the most powerful weapon man has ever seen").

The film is filled with some hilarious material. The scene in which Brick jumps through a third floor window and catches onto a moving car below is classic. Needless to say if you go into this film with the right attitude you'll have a good time. Tim Thomerson should get more and better work.

They say lightening doesn't strike twice but check out Crawlers. This film is produced by the people who brought you that masterpiece known as Troll 2. Honestly this film doesn't match the pure genius of Troll 2 but it sure comes close. First, check out the Alaskan setting. Everyone knows that Alaska is beautiful and scenic but who knew it was so freaking hot! That Alaskan summer will kill you. At least five characters complain about the ungodly Alaskan heat. Second, the boss at the nuclear power plant might be the greatest actor I've ever seen on film. His tone of voice never changes. Its an amazing feat of line reading and I do mean line reading. This man deserved an award for this performance. No one can be that horrible. I believe its a commentary on the robotic nature of our everyday lives. This man deserves our respect. Third, look out for those flying roots. Tremendous special effects work permeates this film. Check out that helicopter crash. Was that a fisher price model? I do believe it was. And how about the tonka truck bulldozer. I guess they only had enough money to rent the real deal for a very brief time. All in all this film isn't quite as good as Troll 2 but it come pretty close. Watch and learn about the true art of filmmaking.

I can't understand why they decided to release this film to introduce the American audience to the dynamo that is Jet Li. Fist of Legend would have been a much better choice. Anyway, Black Mask isn't terrible, but it certainly isn't great either. The final fight sequence is well staged by Yuen Woo Ping who went on to coordinate The Matrix. But the English release suffers from rough editing and dubbing. (I'm begging the Hollywood studios to release these films uncut with subtitles.)Jet Li shows his characteristic charisma in the title role and Francoise Yip has a cool but brief role as the female 701.

Black Mask has a strange goth style that adds some interest but it is overloaded with gun battles and explosions. More focus on Li's fantastic physical skills were in order. Black Mask is a decent film but do yourself a favor and pick up Fist of Legend if you want to see a tremendous film that really shows Li's skills.

Terence Malick. Stanley Kubrick. Stephen Speilberg. Great directors all, and yet none have come close to the genius that is Troll 2. The man by the name of Joe D'Amato, of Anal Perversions of Lolita fame, created this masterpiece that deserves a place alongside the great films of our time.

The story involves a house exchange program in which a family from the country switches places with a family from the city. Although this occurs often without incident it seems this time something went wrong. It's a good thing that dead Grandpa Seth is around to help out when the sh*t hits the fan with that sage advice for which he's known. Joshua, our hero, tries to warn his family of the threat of attack by the goblins of Nilbog but the family pays no mind. When good old dead Grandpa Seth gives 9 year old Joshua a molotov cocktail to play around with the truth about the goblins becomes apparent. Needless to say that this film achieves a level of genius so far unmatched in the film industry. Joe D'Amato was working on a level in which few of us could hope to understand. But for those of us who believe in the true beauty of film, Troll 2 holds a special place in our heart. And as Grandpa Seth said, "No I'm not in hell but I knew someone who was there once." Genius!