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lindquistuk
Reviews
Forrest Gump (1994)
The Clean Livin' Republican's Handbook
A slyly reactionary movie - kinda the republican's handbook for good,
clean livin'. 'Gump' would like to perpetuate the myth that the best way
to get ahead in today's America is to be asexual, stupid and do as
you're told...Heaven forbid you should be a peace-loving, free thinking
liberal - for your troubles you should expect a childhood filled with
abuse, followed by drug-addled suicidal tendencies, an unhappy love-life
and, ultimately, death by a coyly unspecified disease.
In short, 'Forrest Gump' is about as politically progressive as 'Reefer
Madness', and the movie's technical proficiency just makes it's message
all the more unpalatable..............3/10
........
Shrunken Heads (1994)
Ya pays ya money...
This seems to be a movie people either go with or they don't. Personally, while watching this, I was always bearing in mind the obvious low budget origins of 'Shrunken Heads', and thus was pretty amazed at what they managed to put on celluloid for the money. I think the film cost around $2 million, but has a definite 'big studio' feel to it. The cinematography is, at times, wonderfully colourful, with bright cartoonish hues. The acting is a bit shaky (only Julius Harris seems to have gotten a hold on his character) but there's plenty elsewhere to compensate: the art direction, the eclectic, left of centre score from Danny Elfman & Richard Band (including lifts from Satie & Bernstien). Really, in the current state of play where low budget genre pics usually only appeal to the lowest common denominator (ripping off Scream/Halloween/Alien/The Thing et al) a movie like this should be heralded. It's a genuine attempt to get back to the 'anything goes' aesthetic of 1970's exploitation cinema, and a movie that will probably be better thought of in twenty years time than in the current climate of 'Generic Blockbuster Videos'.............
Dark Angel: The Ascent (1994)
These Are The Last Days....
A strange mix of artfulness (gorgeous, rich cinematography & a screenplay with a high-concept philosophical bent) and schlock-horror (below par fx/music & TV movie acting - apart from Angela Featherstone, who is utterly hypnotic). Strange also that they try to pass Romania off as the USA (where the script was obviously originally set - why they didn't just tweak the screenplay I'll never know, as the European setting looks stunning). Top this off with multiple references to 'Taxi Driver' (Featherstone feels a similar need to 'wipe the scum off the street'; she even takes her love interest on a first date to a porn movie, and can't understand why this should make him so uncomfortable!). In short - unique. Awful ending though, as abrupt and underwhelming as Full Moon's other efforts from the same period. But, nevertheless, quite an achievement considering the budget (I believe a paltry $250,000!)........
The Caller (1987)
Looking For Something Truly Different?
In amongst all the gremlin knock-offs/killer toy crap Charles Band has churned out over the last 20 years, a few surprises have sneaked through - usually to an indifferent audience. No wonder Band sticks to what he knows.....'The Caller' can be counted amongst Band's more valient efforts ('Dark Angel', 'Trancers', 'Shrunken Heads', 'Re-animator', 'Freeway 2', 'From Beyond', 'Ghost Town', 'Prison', 'Crawlspace') - a film that makes an honest effort to transcend the usual DTV crap that dominates the modern movie market. Like the aforementioned efforts, it all comes down to an above average script. And, unusually for a genre film, the two leads seem to be taking all this hokum seriously, which convinces the audience to do the same. MGM (who have owned Empire Pictures' back catalogue for the past 10 years) would be doing genre fans a service were they to re-release true originals like this, rather than garbage like Tim Kincaid's 'Breeders'...
Rawhead Rex (1986)
Retro-chiller For Brit Horror Fiends
God - lighten up people! Why everyone is so down on this movie I'll never know. Yes, if you're expecting a state of the art wam-blam-sh*t-godd*mn thriller this is sure to disappoint....but I feel there's a real old-school 1970's 'British Lion' feel to 'Rawhead Rex' (a la 'The Wicker Man'). And, in that sense, it was probably the last of it's kind: whereas now all British genre films try desperately to ape the US brand of quick cutting MTV 'horror', 'Rawhead' takes one back to the 'abandon all hope thee who enters the country inn' type of chiller that Britain used to excel at (and one that was equally aped by US directors for the likes of 'Straw Dogs' & 'An American Werewolf In London'). Not that this makes 'Rawhead Rex' a good film - just one that time will probably be kinder to than all those current 'hip' US teenflicks..