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You know what, I think I'm going to make a go of it this year: Oct 1 - Pontypool I watched this one originally about... six years back and I'd forgotten just enough about it to fully enjoy the film once again. Its a zombie movie but with a weird twist on the 'why' and without a lot of the typical zombie movie action. It has a decent second half and an amazing opening. Right up until they reveal the twist about why there are zombies it is just handled as an incredibly unique take on the genre, with the story of whats happening being told as the cast's radio broadcast. You don't see the violence, or the chaos of a usual zombie flick, you merely hear about it and know that it is happening. Overall its a pretty solid movie that strikes me as frustrating solely because the writer of the original book and the screenwriter for the film didn't realize that the concept they had going for the first half of it was infinitely more interesting than the word zombies plot that they included in the second. Still, I'd say 7/10.
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Oct 2, 2014 19:17
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| # ¿ Apr 16, 2024 12:05 |
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Oct 2 - The Possession It says a lot about this movie that I had to skip through it a few times to remember enough plot to even write a review. A married couple has split up, Dad takes his daughters for the weekend and among other happy wholesome fun they stop at a garage sale wherein they buy a fancy old wooden box for the younger daughter. The box apparently doesn't have any seams when the dad looks at it, but clearly opens later on, so the dad needs glasses. Strangely for a horror film the devil/ghost/whatever inside of it happens to be of Jewish origin. To be more specific, the demon/thing/whocares was trapped inside the box by jewish Rabbis, and an investigation of the box with a local university professor who's skill set I am not entirely sure of, causes the dad to seek out an orthodox Jewish Rabbi to help fix his daughter. There is a bunch of plot stuff that I've sort of glossed over. The daughter goes nuts a few times, punches her classmates, stabs her dad pretty brutally with a fork all of which culminates in her faking child abuse to be kept away from him since he is suspicious about her evil box and tried to throw it away. The mom wants dad to keep away from the kids after that but thankfully comes around after, and I poo poo you not this is real, the demon thing appears as a ghostly apperition on an MRI scan. Like literally a demon face on the MRI. I'm honestly not sure if that was good or bad. It was certainly the most memorable and unique scene in the film, and a good excuse to have everyone accept that they need the Rabbi's help. They do... I dunno a jewish exorcism? Is that still an exorcism? The daughter runs away and has a slightly creepy 'standing motionless in the dark' scene only for dad to take the demon into himself to save his daughter. Then they do an exorcism on him and he's fine... so I don't know why they had to have it hop from her to him. Extend the run time? Family gets back together. Wife dumps her new dentist boyfriend who was nothing but a nice guy throughout the film. Also the dentist had all his teeth fall out due to the devil girl, so it really loving sucks to be that guy. The devil is trapped in the box, but in a twist ending he gets hit by a semi because he was talking on a cell phone while driving... which is the real horror! 5/10 It isn't bad, it isn't good. It hits a bunch of weak notes that don't go anywhere at all, and then ends. Oct 3 - ATM My movies are hand picked by my wife, and right now I'm beginning to think that she's harboring some unspoken resentment. My original guess was that this would be a Saw ripoff, but I was sadly mistaken. The film opens with a guy doing a bunch of amateur drafting regarding the films titular ATM. It then immediately jumps to follow an investment banker as he goes about his day. He argues with a customer, then talks a whole bunch with his douchebag of a best friend about some girl who he wants to ask out who is quitting. I feel like I should know these actors. Its like they are the dime store versions of actors who are actually good. The two of them head to a party and the main guy asks out the girl and offers to drive her home. She accepts and his cockbocking friend insists at being given a ride home. On the way they stop at an ATM to get cash because they need cash to buy food from a shady pizza joint. Also this movie expects me to believe that an investment banker drives what appears to be a used 2001 Sunfire with broken door locks. Their suits appear to be worth more than his car. They go into the ATM booth and upon trying to leave see a creepy guy in a parka staring at them. They hesitate to leave and parka guy stabs the poo poo out of a random passerby and resumes standing and waiting. They all have a little freak out and then hero guy goes outside in an attempt to pay the creepy hobo to leave them alone. Hobo doesn't take the money and chases him to the car where the 'hero' discovers the wires have been cut to prevent it from starting. He manages to get back inside and they try to come up with another plan. The heat is turned off in the booth which risks them freezing to death because its winter and they don't understand basic survival skills. Apparently three able bodied people would freeze to death in suits and jackets in the 4 hours before sunrise. I call bullshit. A security guard comes around in his car, and is promptly murdered by Parkahobo. Apparently seeing a smashed car window and the word help written in lipstick doesn't cause him to immediately radio in, and no one is concerned to check on him in the following four hours during which he does not respond to calls or radio. A random guy in a parka shows up to take out money and the two main guys strangle him to death with one of those pen on a rope things thinking he is the villain. Did the villain plan this? Or is it just oddly coincidental. Why don't the main guys go out and try and beat the poo poo out of the real parka man? The world may never know. The dumbass sidekick decides to make a run for it (which they should all do at once) and hits a wire placed at neck level. How they missed it being put up is anyone's guess. Bad guy stabs him but fails to kill him. Eventually they run out to save him, but don't just keep running in an attempt to find help... for some reason. Main character tries to smash the ATM to call help after parka hobo parks a car in front of the door to lock them in. This will be important later. Parka hobo attempts to flood them to death through the air vents, but they manage to start a fire and turn on the sprinklers. Both supporting characters die, from blood loss and a failed piggy back ride, and parka hobo crashes the car into the atm booth. The police show up and arrest the main guy who looks like Wilson from House, and a bunch of security footage intersperced with movie footage makes it appear like the main character is going to go to jail for everything that happened. There are a ton of problems with this, including the fact that they are in an atm booth for like.. four hours and neither of his friends seem scared of him. Hot blonde cuddles up to him after the friend runs away and its clear they are scared of something. Hilariously they edit out the visual of the car parked in front of the atm when those scenes are shown, which is basically the only way the plot makes sense. The implication is that parka guy does this a lot, meticulously planning scenarios where he gets to kill a bunch of people and blame it on some poor sap while he is standing out of the frame, but there is no way the police are going to buy that this guy somehow locked himself into an ATM booth from outside via a car, then decided to flood himself and his friends to death etc. That is a lot of words... but this movie was jsut awful and deserved every bit of it. 3/10 Next on the list, Candyman! Which might actually be good!
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Oct 3, 2014 21:26
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