Reviews

I absolutely respect that the filmmakers did a fine job with the budget that they had, and its very clear that everybody involved had a great time making this movie. And you know what? Good on them! I'm glad they took something so ridiculous and cheesy and just ran with it, having a blast along the way; but this film is surely not for everyone and in the end wasn't for me. In many regards it is clear that "Evil in the Time of Heroes" was simply meant to entertain, and to a degree it certainly succeeded. I laughed and gasped and had a half-decent time (not a stellar/memorable time mind you). However, when all is said and done I found this particular venture into the realm of ridiculous horror was too stylized and ambitious for its own good.

For starters, I think it can be easily argued that "Evil in the Time of Heroes" works as an experimental film more than anything and as such I can honestly say you will more than likely hate this experience if you are not familiar with this type of filmmaking. This film is literally all over the place. It jumps back and forth between modern times to ancient times, between current events to hours/days/minutes/seconds ago, and after a certain point it just becomes clear that the film doesn't really know when or where it needs to focus and truly doesn't care. This is fine to an extent, but it also becomes slightly frustrating and eventually grows stale.

As such, "Evil in the Time of Heroes" is a definitive example of the hand-held shakiness, quick cutting, fast paced, bizarre camera angles, seemingly direction-less style which seems to pop up every once in a while (even in mainstream cinema like with "Crank" and "Crank 2: High Voltage"... only amplified).

Furthermore, it becomes clear that one may not even be able to fully appreciate the themes and jokes without some understanding of Greek history and modern life in Athens. Of course there is a large degree of slapstick humour, situational comedy, and an overall absurd awkwardness which can be enjoyed by all. And I certainly valued those aspects. But the completely random pacing of the film, coupled with the preposterous actions its characters take and the bizarre situations that occur, are sometimes a little too much to choke down.

So take this review as a little forewarning on what to expect. "Evil in the Time of Heroes" is NOT your typical horror-comedy along the lines of "Shaun of the Dead", "Dead Alive", "Night of the Creeps", "Re-Animator", "Return of the Living Dead" etc. It is something entirely different... ABSURDLY different. With this in mind, perhaps you will enjoy the film for what it is!

Strictly speaking from the technical/production aspects of Max Paynae, the movie is stunning. Jonathan Sela (director of photography) truly does a phenomenal job at presenting a dark, gritty, and grim world in true noir style. What stands out the most to me in this sense mainly comes from the outdoor locational scenes. Whether it be on the docks of New York city, completely with spots of flood lighting to accentuate shadows, or in the snowy downtown alleys in which light and dark plays a key role in presenting the films strong mood, everything is beautiful.

So in this sense Max Payne excels at at not only capturing the "feel" of the game, but also in simply presenting a stellar noir piece in terms of atmosphere and style. Other than this, the move sadly fails to deliver anything memorable or impressive.

In terms of casting, there were definitely a few mistakes. Most noteworthy is Ludicrous who, and I'm sorry if anyone else thinks otherwise, just absolutely DOES NOT fit the tone of this film. He feels so out of place that regardless of the stunning cinematography or phenomenal lighting/atmosphere of the scene around him, the gritty/dark is shattered by the mere fact he is there. This simply comes occurs because of, in my opinion, the style of acting he chose to employ for the character of Jim Bravura is just not fitting for a film of this style. Maybe he was in fact trying to go for the character of a tough, grizzled investigator but I'm sad to say he does not pull it off. He's just not believable in the role and regardless of his confidence in line delivery, it shows.

In terms of plot it is overall decent. There is a very clear story arch and the narrative is rather straight forward so comprehension of whats going on isn't overly difficult to grasp. The problem arises in pacing and repetition. At its core, the story presented by the film is rather simple, and yet the narrative takes a large amount of time to "investigate" plot points that the audience may have already figured out (I say this because nothing was surprising for me and I seemed to figure things out far faster than Max did). Max spends a good hour or more learning about the drug Valkyrie, the tests on soldiers, his wife's murder and discovering those responsible when really not that much time is needed. Sure he has to link things together but the clues he stumbles across and information Mona learns make the revelations of the secrets glaringly obvious to the audience well before the investigation is concluded. As a result, when the "reveal" occurs it isn't exciting or shocking (with the exception of one surprise). It's more of a "oh NOW he finally gets it, about time Max." Due to this pacing, when the action FINALLY comes to fruition it is quick and far from satisfying. I personally believe that this is the fault of the films trailer which insinuates that the film will be "action packed". Here's this trailer with bullets flying, scenery exploding, bodies flying into walls, and giant winged hallucinations but when the film gets underway it is nowhere near as adrenalin pumping as the trailer makes it out to be. While proud supporters of the film may argue that you cant blame a trailer for leading false hopes... that is just not true. Simply put, the trailer for Max Payne leads the viewer to believe they are about to see a grand opus of utterly cool action, hopefully with a decent plot. Instead the film gives a decent plot with mediocre, worn-out, and unfulfilled brief moments of action.

Now you may think otherwise, but this is how I felt about Max Payne. It just wasn't that great. Sure the whole noir style and classic grizzled detective stint was cool but all in all I personally didn't find it flowed well.

In conclusion: While Max Payne is visually and atmospherically stunning, some misfires in casting and poor plot pacing bog the movie down to a mediocre level. Some may like it, others may not. But overall, in my opinion, it was a heartbreaking missed opportunity for a chance at being a stellar noir/action film.

When a movie like Red Dawn is made, one has to expect that people are going to read into the "deep messages" and "political viewpoints" the film seems to take. As a result, it appears the majority of people think Red Dawn is absurd and extremely right winged.

And you know what? Maybe it is. But as far as I'm concerned, who cares? When you decide to watch a movie about communists invading the United States with the help of Cuba after NATO disbands, I would think that the first thing you would do is suspend disbelief. Some movies in general are simply meant to entertain, and I personally believe that deep down, that is all Red Dawn means to do. And it excels at it. Simply put, this is just an action movie. And if you are going to pick it apart by calling it right winged and unbelievable then you might as well say the same about films like Rambo II in which a "God of War" sort of guy demolishes vietnamese and Russian "bad guys" or hell even the Die Hard movies which has one man battling an army of freelance terrorists who are shutting down the US in it's fourth installment.

Red Dawn is no different than these. I for one have seen the film numerous times on television as well as on DVD and just have a blast watching it. Heck, the DVD even comes with a "CARNAGE COUNTER" which tells you how many communists die, how many wolverines die, how many explosions are shown, and how many RPG's are fired. This alone should immediately let the viewer be aware that its all about the action. I mean what kind of "political war film" has a death toll and explosion counter on its DVD? Just have fun with it! Watch it with an open mind, suspend disbelief, and for added bonus watch the Rambo movies after it to get a marathon of similar films going! Red Dawn is wicked fun, the characters are well developed, and the sub-plots of survival in both are actually somewhat fascinating.

This is yet again a movie that is read into far too much. Sure there may be political viewpoints in it but when 90% of the film is explosions and shoot-outs I'd think it would be clear that these politics are not meant to be focused on. Basically, I loved it.

Wolverines!

I had to watch this movie for my Film Studies class in Melodrama and I must say that I didn't really enjoy it at all. I think it was mainly a stylistic thing. No matter how hard I tried, I just could not buy into the characters and performances. I see a lot of posts on here and critic reviews about how these are each actor's best performances and the roles are mesmerizing... I completely disagree. Hell many of the liens and line deliveries were a joke. I don't know if it was the films intention to make me laugh. But it sure as hell did.

Now we have also watched the films of Douglas Sirk and other melodramatic titles such as "Home From the Hill", "East of Eden", "Mildred Pierce", "Imitations of Life" and many more which were FANTASTIC films. But this one was a complete and utter miss for me. Talk about style over substance. Maybe if they had even put it in black and white I would have taken it a tiny bit more seriously. I can't quite put my finger on it, about what exactly it is about the way that this was filmed I hate so much, but I can say I've seen it once and that was enough for me. I really wish I had just rented it for class instead of buying it. Or maybe just not had it on the syllabus at all. But whatever.

On the flip side, the story itself is very powerful and had a ton of potential. Too bad the style it was filmed took itself way too seriously and just ruined the whole experience. Unless you absolutely love, and I mean cant get enough of classic melodrama, then skip this one. And even the die hard to casual fans of the classics might find loads of disappointment like I did.

Just as with "Stella", "Wainy Days" isn't for everybody. If you are looking for smart comedy then then look elsewhere. The jokes, plots, acting, and characters are utterly retarded at times. Simply put, it's just a very stupid comedy series, with over-exaggerated lines, random weird moments, and outlandish plot arches, but it's funny as hell. Especially the random moments where David knocks people down in the street while walking and giving a monologue. Basically, if you are a fan of goofy, off the wall comedy then you'll probably get a kick out of "Wainy Days".

Sure it's not high quality production but if you're just looking to place your brain to the side and laugh at dumb stuff then give it a look.

I don't know why it is exactly that Michael, Michael, and David haven't made it into any Judd Apatow or Adam McKay movies, but I hope we begin to see them working alongside Jonah Hill, Seth Rogan, Bill Hader, or Paul Rudd soon in big screen pictures.

I for one think David and the two Michaels are hilarious.

It's interesting that a lot of these comments are praising "Silent Hill 4" for it's story alone. While I fully agree that the storyline is incredibly engrossing and fascinating, what these people fail to acknowledge is the simple fact that "Silent Hill 4" is SUPPOSED to be a video game. And as a video game, it is far from being an impressive installment to the series.

See the thing is... the Silent Hill series is all about telling an eerie and fascinating tale. And they've all been successful at doing so, even in this latest chapter. But what the others have that this doesn't is an interesting and fun game-play aspect. Silent Hill 4 really isn't that fun to play. It's actually really pretty boring to be honest. You run around in beautifully creative environments fighting somewhat cool monsters with a clunky and hindered battle system. There are no puzzles. No brain twisters. No real challenging obstacles at all really. The only "problem solving" you need to do is backtrack through a vast environment 2 or sometimes 3 times to pick up a key or get behind a closed door.

The entire "game-play" obstacle is simply getting from point A to point B without getting too frustrated and turning your system off. You run from room to room, from environment to environment, dodging annoying ghosts and monsters that are bent on frustrating you to the very end. They are not there to provide interesting combat but instead they are meant to make your journey literally a living hell.

So yes, the story is amazing and the Silent Hill games are incredibly at providing an interactive movie sort of feel. But Silent Hill's 1-3 gave you a great storyline and really fun game-play mechanics. The fighting was phenomenal in these games, the puzzles were challenging and interesting, and the stories were fantastic. "The Room" has VERY little of this.

This game took me nearly 4 months to beat because I simply couldn't stand how it played. The ONLY thing that kept me coming back to it was that I really, really, really wanted to see how it ended. And the entire story arch and ending are just fantastic. BUT THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE A VIDEO GAME! If you just wanted to see an engrossing story from Silent Hill then they should have made "The Room" a book or a movie or something. As it stands, this was a poor attempt at reinventing the series although yet again Konami proves they are fully capable at creating an intricate, beautiful, and creepy storyline was fascinating characters and incredibly visuals. Sadly, it's not enough in the big picture. I actually only wanted to give "The Room" a 6 out of 10, but as many have mentioned here before... the story is just so dam good. It's just too bad the GAME was so lackluster and poor at times.

I'm starting to notice a little trend in season 2 so far and that is with the theme of madness and alienation. In "Damned Thing" we had the madness embodied in a vengeful spirit representing mankind's greed and corruption, this demon descends upon a town and drives it's residents into a murderous frenzy. In "Family" we had an alienated man who's clearly gone insane by finding his connection with people is best made by killing them and implementing them as skeletons into his home unit.

And now comes along "Sounds Like", another episode dealing with these two themes. The story follows a man who has lost all love and connection towards the world. He has grown distant from his wife, is awkward when talking to neighbors or co-workers, and spends most of his time in the garage where he blocks out all the sounds of the world with ear guards while doing odd jobs. What really makes this episode work so well is the truly horrific look of anguish on our protagonist's/antagonist's face every time he is bombarded by the noise around him.

From the deafening grinding metal on metal as his wife knits to the ominous beep of the fire detector's dying battery in his house, Brad Anderson has created a truly torturing world for his lead character to endure. In this world is actually a very interesting message as well. That sometimes the quiet, serene sides of nature and the silence which can be found in everyday life is much more valuable than one may think. In surrounding ourselves with the hectic city environment of cell phones, road construction, and office politics; its a wonder more people haven't completely lost it in their mundane day to day existence. Of course having extra sensitive hearing and loosing ones son doesn't help with this all either. But "Sounds Like", although a stellar horror film on its own, is also a strangely intriguing character/societal study.

As tensions build from the overwhelming noise and stress in this world, "Sounds Like" builds up to a disturbing and terrifying conclusion. Every single amplified sound effect is used extremely effectively to provide a more intimate approach for it's viewers. In watching "Sounds Like" its hard NOT to feel bad for the lead character in some ways. And its even harder not to feel like you're going a little mad from the noises in the film as well. They are overwhelming, annoying, unnerving, and intelligently used.

Overall, an excellent episode. Brad Anderson has crafted an, at times, brilliant tale with this one. If Season 2 of Masters Of Horror has been disappointing for you so far, this installment should reassure you that good things are still to come. I'd say this one deserves a respectable 8 out of 10, and that rating will likely increase after the subsequent re-viewings it deserves.

I find it interesting that the majority of peoples comments about this episode I've read state that the first part of the episode is better than the rest. This is interesting to me as I personally thought everything which occurs in Collinswood Mortuary was atrociously cheesy and just plain... well... stupid. The dialogue was garbage, some events which occurred just silly, and the visuals reminded me of the cinematography in VERY forgettable horror flicks such as Feardotcom and Stay Alive. Sure everything that happens after the mortuary is basically recycled themes and clichés from other vampire movies but it was definitely more entertaining than the events occurring at the beginning. Withoug spoiling anything I'll point out some vague descriptions of the episodes highlights.

While the first half is corny and dull, the second half offers a few scenes of vicious gore effects which look very cool, a rather humorous phone call to the police by our hero, and a disturbing yet mildly satisfying revenge scene. Also, the large-black-pupils eye contacts on our vampires looked creepy and cool. Other than this I found myself frowning for the majority of the episode. As much as I was trying to find enjoyment throughout, there was very little that actually peeked my interest for the most part. Still, something about it did seem to work... although I cant for the life of me figure out what it was. But whatever this aspect was, which I think was just the overall mood perhaps, its pretty much the only thing Dickerson presents successfully. Everything else is just pretty much lame.

I actually only give this episode a 4.5 so me rounding it up to a 5 for IMDb is actually an act of extremely generosity on my part. Basically the whole thing just falls short of being mediocre, which is a shame because aspects of the episode felt like there was so much potential hidden in the layers of disappointing material. So this is officially my least favorite episode of Season 2, and my third least favorite overall (following the horrendous Dance Of The Dead and the extremely mediocre Incident On And Off A Mountain Road). While I'm sure there will be at least another one, possibly two, crap episodes to come as this season progresses... I hope to god they're not as bad as The V Word.

Oh well... nice try I guess.

Through the many reviews I've read on this movie it seems the main disappointment was the fact that Takashi Miike went too "normal" with it. I guess that the majority of viewers felt the movie was too similar to every other ghost movie via Juon, The Ring, and Dark Water. And that Miike's bizarre fashion and unique touches weren't as present in One Missed Call as in his other films like Ichii, Fudoh, Dead or Alive, or Gozu. I completely disagree. There was actually a LOT of Miike moments in this film. And in his regular fashion we are treated to an unique and bizarre conclusion that thats both disturbing and surprising. If you want to have a clearer picture of what to expect from One Missed Call, think of Juon: The Grudge mixed with the weirdness of Gozu, add a dash of Uzumaki (not a Miike film I know) and the pacing of Audition, and random spots of grotesque images and you have a basic idea of the tone the movie holds. It's misleading at first in making you think it's just going to be another clone of the Phone or The Ring but Miike then pulls you from those tracks and twists everything about.

I also think you need to have a sense of not taking it too seriously to truly enjoy the film. A lot of the events which occur are far out there and over the top at times. The weirdness of some of the deaths is almost humorous at times and I think Miike was just trying to have a good time with this one and give his audience a few cheap thrills. It's actually really enjoyable if you sit through it with an open mind and suspension of belief.

And whatever you do, DO NOT TRY TO COMPARE IT TO OTHER Asian GHOST MOVIES. You'll ruin it for yourself and really, though the basic idea is comparable to many prior ghost films Miike manages to keep things original and retain his wicked sense of humor and bizarre style.

One Missed Call is great. Its definitely not a masterpiece in Asian horror cinema but Miike's addition to the dark-haired-female-killer-ghost fad is exciting, humorous, creepy, weird, energetic, and unique. Give it a chance, don't expect too much, and just go with it.

Though not an amazingly outstanding movie, Blade: Trinity delivers exactly what its fans expect and a little more. The action is wowing, Jessica Biel is HOT (oh so very hot), and Ryan Reynolds actually delivers a surprisingly entertaining performance. Sadly the only downfall is the bland, overly simplistic storyline. But hey, is a complex character study really what we're looking for here? No. And thats why it still works.

Blade finally comes face to face with Dracula and all's good until the final showdown which turns out rather short and pretty typical. But everything that happens around the two titans is sweet. Reynolds has a wicked fight with Triple H, Jessica Biel lays a wicked (and hot) smackdown on the guards, and Blade easily rips up a crowd of dudes in a pretty cool way. As for he man on man fight with Drake (or Dracula), they have a sword fight and make holes in the expensive marble ground with each others faces. Blah blah blah. They kick the crap out of each other and the victor reigns supreme. But who's the victor you ask? Don't be so sure its out caring little Blade, for if Dracula is killed with the ridiculous virus the humans have made for him, its very likely Blade will die too. Dun, dun, dun!!!!

But all of that is just mild compared to what actually stood out in the film for me. Some of the greatest moments span from the opening fight to Blade's capture by the police just about halfway in. The video footage on TV and police reports describing Blade as a psychotic boogeyman prowling the streets were pretty neat/funny to see. On top of this, Blades showdown with swat officers at his hideout and the precinct downtown were pretty dam cool. It was just the overall fact of seeing Vampires VS Humans VS Blade in a gun showdown, with people being killed left and right, in crossfire and one-on-ones, who's hit? who's okay? It was sweet.

Other than this the trio of Jessica Alba, Wesley Snipes, and Ryan Reynolds MADE the movie. The three of them play off each others characters and dialogue so well its really pretty impressive. And without Reynolds, believe it or not, I don't think the movie would have been as funny/interesting as it turned out to be. Though some are saying Goyer has done damage to the movie, this is far from the truth. Goyer has simply taken what his predecessors made great about the franchise, and has slightly improved upon it.

Visually Blade was yet again just sweet to watch. The action sequences were intense, the lighting dark and eerie, and the effects were pretty much top-par considering the horrible looking fight in Blade's warehouse in front of the light grid in Blade II with that vampire chick and dude who's names I don't care to remember.

Overall, if you're a fan of the series, you should definitely enjoy it. If your not and you've never seen the original two movies, you'll still have an easy time following whats going on and enjoy the shootouts. Blade is still as cool and stylish as ever, and Trinity is just another great addition to a sweet comic adapted franchise.

9 out of 10. Its just cool okay.