Review Archive: Noroi - The Curse - Strange Wildreness

Noroi: The Curse
Noroi: The Curse is an interesting movie, told in documentary style, involving demonic rituals and psychic phenomena.

This is the first Asian horror flick that I've seen in a long time that doesn't involve a female ghost with long black hair obscuring her face coming from beyond the grave to exact her vengeance. I've heard people call this the scariest movie they've seen in a long time. I wouldn't necessarily go along with that. It's creepy and there are some scenes that will stick you with long after the fact, but it's not scary in the typical horror movie fashion. The story is interesting as it keeps you guessing for the majority. I can't really comment on the acting due to the documentary style it's shown.

Noroi is worth watching if you're a fan of Asian horror. It's something different and that's always a plus.


Nowhere to Run
Nowhere to Run is a typical Van Damme flick. Guy with a bizarre accent, on the run from some sort of trouble stumbles onto a damsel in distress and manages to save the day and bond with the damsel's kids. Nothing we haven't seen before. Van Damme excels in the action sequences. There aren't a ton of them in this movie but the ones we get are pretty good. Rosanna Arquette plays the damsel in distress and is alright. Frankly, I find it hard to believe that a band actually wrote a song about her 10 years prior as she was looking a bit long in the tooth.

Nowhere to Run is recommended to fans of Van Damme. That's pretty much the entire audience for this one. Otherwise, skip it.


Ocean's Twelve
Ocean's Twelve is the follow-up to 2001's Ocean's Eleven. The events here take place shortly after its predecessor. Director Steven Soderbergh returns as does the cast.

The vast majority of reviews that I've read for this have said that it's not nearly as good as the first. And they're right. It's really not. However, it's still a really entertaining movie. Clooney, Pitt, Roberts, Bruce Willis, etc... all look like they're having a good time with the material and it comes across really well. Very solid cast here. The story is interesting enough as another thief gets thrown into the mix. The plot offers up some twists and turns to keep things moving along nicely.

Ocean's Twelve is not the best movie out there but it's a decent watch. Recommended.

One Missed Call (2008)
Meh. That's the best word to describe One Missed Call. It started off fairly strong but as the movie progressed, I just found myself losing interest to the point that I almost started dozing off. It starts off fairly similar to Final Destination with minorly elaborate death scenes that you can see coming. That was the part that held my interest. It's when the movie turns into The Ring with the lead characters trying to discover the secrets behind this death curse that I lost it. Ed Burns and Shannyn Sossamon are both pretty good but there's really just nothing to see here.

If you're a genre fan, skip it. If you just don't know any better, check it out. But don't say I didn't warn you.


The Outsiders: The Complete Novel
The Outsiders: The Complete Novel is director Francis Ford Coppola's new cut of his 1983 movie. It adds over 20 minutes of new footage to the original cut and in turn, makes it an even better movie.

When I was younger, I used to watch The Outsiders a lot. Another of those movies that always wound up airing on HBO that would just lure me in. I always really liked it and thought it was well done. This new version eclipses it and makes for a whole new viewing experience. The added footage really makes the characters more real. While the Greasers are essentially tough guys from the wrong side of the tracks, you really get to see the vulnerable side of them. Underneath all the grease and layers of dirt and grime, these are just kids after all. It makes everything that happens to them much more poignant and effective.

Everything about this is top-notch. The cast is great. It's amazing to see how many of them went on to become really big names from here. The story and directing are both excellent as well.

The Outsiders: The Complete Novel is highly recommended.



P.S. I Love You
P.S. I Love You is a chick flick. A sappy, emotional one at that. That being said, it's not a horrible movie. There are some parts that are pretty entertaining and even a few that tugged at this cynical bastard's heartstrings. The cast is solid with the exception of Nellie McKay. She's a singer and she certainly needs to stick with that, as opposed to the acting thing. Every scene she appears in she comes across as a distraction. Thankfully, she's not in that much. What really hurt this movie is the length. At 2 hours and 6 minutes, it could stand to be shortened up significantly. I'd say after about an hour and 15 minutes, I started to lose focus on the movie and it never really regained my interest.

P.S. I Love You is recommended for fans of chick flicks. If you like stuff like that, you'll like this one. Otherwise, skip it.


Pathology
Pathology is a solid, medical horror flick. It tells the story of a group of med school students who have a little contest to see who can pull off the perfect murder.

This is one of those R-rated horror flicks that we don't see much of these days. We've got blood and guts, violence, sex, violent sex, drug use, etc. The story is interesting and the acting is solid. Milo Ventimiglia is good as the newest person recruited into the group. When he sees the corpse of a person he'd encountered the night before, he knows he's in over his head. Much like the viewer watching this, he gets sucked in by the game. The biggest drawback to this flick is one scene in particular. Near the end, there is a death scene that really feels as if they were running out of time and had to wrap the story up as quickly as possible. Not a huge drawback but it was just aggravating enough for me.

Pathology is recommended.


Porky's: The Ultimate Collection
Porky's: The Ultimate Collection is a 3-disc set that contains all 3 Porky's flicks. These were some of my favorites growing up so I was curious to see exactly how well they'd hold up after all these years. The answer is surprisingly well.

The first Porky's is a classic. It really sets the standard for what a teen sex comedy should be. There's nudity, vulgarity and tons of laughs. The cast here is mostly unknown and for the most part have remained so throughout the years. It's too bad because they made this flick what it is. They really seem to be having a good time and that makes the characters come across as likable. In terms of story, the laughs propel the story along quite nicely. The story isn't top-notch, but it doesn't need to be given the genre.

Porky's II: The Next Day is a direct follow-up to the first movie. It's definitely not quite as good as the first but it's better than your average sequel. This time, rather than take on Porky, they have to do battle with an overzealous religious group who tries to put the kibosh on the students' Evening of Shakespeare. With a handful of exceptions, the cast returns for this one. The laughs still come pretty fast here. There's a bit of seriousness added as the Klan gets involved due to the casting of a Native American in the Shakespeare performance. Naturally, they get their comeuppance in a pretty hilarious manner.

Porky's Revenge takes place a year after the events of the first two movies. In this one, Porky has reopened Porky's as an illegal gambling casino. The students' basketball coach has gotten himself into some trouble and it's up to the guys to save the day. As with the previous sequel, most of the cast makes return appearances here. One of the biggest knocks I hear on this one is the age of everyone involved. Most of the cast was in their late 20s/early 30s so buying them as high school students was tough. That was pretty true throughout the series though so it's not a big deal. Of all the movies, this is probably my least favorite. There are some genuinely funny parts but they definitely don't come with the frequency they did in the other movies. All that being said though, it's still not a bad movie.

Porky's: The Ultimate Collection is highly recommended.


Prom Night (2008)
Prom Night is a remake of the 1980 slasher flick bearing the same name. It's a remake in name only however as the stories aren't related or really even very similar.

This is an absolutely terrible movie. The pacing is bad. An 89 minute movie felt more like 189 minutes. I found myself staring at the counter on my dvd player, wishing that the time would miraculously catch up to how it felt. The story is downright silly and offers little explanation for what is happening. We're not given any real motive for what the killer is doing. Granted, motive is not everything but in a movie like this, it would have helped a great deal. The lack of motive ties into the lack of character development. I literally felt nothing for any of these characters because there's no life pumped into them. Throughout the movie, I found myself talking to my wife in an attempt to make sense of the plot holes. There are plot holes big enough for a convoy of Mack trucks to barrel through. The majority of the kills were gratuitous and just unnecessary. The killer's weapon of choice was a small knife that was about as fearsome as a pair of nail clippers. If any of these dimwits had any sense at all, they'd have just knocked it out of his hand and been done with it. Argh.

Skip this one. Seriously. Or I can't be your friend anymore.


Pulp Fiction
There's really not much that can be said about a movie like Pulp Fiction. Countless other reviewers have said it better than I could ever even hope to. That being said, I still have to throw my two cents into the mix.

I still remember the first time I ever saw this one. I was 17 and I was lucky enough to catch it at the tail end of its theatrical run. It was a small theater and I was probably one of the only people there. When I left the theater that day, I was disappointed. See, I'd discovered Reservoir Dogs and True Romance on video and loved them. I was expecting so much more from this. When it first came out on VHS, I gave it another shot and was surprised to find that it was better than I remembered it being. Now, 14 years later, it's probably my favorite of Tarantino's films. It's also one of the only ones I can watch repeatedly without really growing tired of.

This one has great performances all around. From Jackson and Travolta to Willis and Rhames, everyone here is stone solid. Even Uma Thurman, whom I'm not usually fond of, is great here. Everything about this is top-notch. For a movie that is two and a half hours long, the pacing is excellent and it doesn't feel long at all.

Pulp Fiction is highly recommended.


The Quiet
The Quiet is a strange movie. The subject matter is different, to say the least. It's really not as bad a movie as many people have made it sound. I actually found myself getting really into it. The cast does a good job with what they have to work with.

The Quiet is worth a rental, if only for the eye candy that are Elisha Cuthbert and Camilla Belle.


Raging Bull
April 3rd 2008 marks the first time I've ever seen Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull. As long as I can recall, this has been one of the more recommended flicks I'd never brought myself to check out. I finally got to it today and am very glad I did. This really is just an excellent movie. DeNiro is great as La Motta and is worth the price of admission alone. Watching La Motta slowly lose his marbles over the course of the 129 minutes is a true study in acting. Cathy Moriarty is very good and extremely attractive as Vickie. And, of course, you can't go wrong with Joe Pesci. If he were to release a cd of himself just cursing for 60 minutes, I'd buy it for myself and give copies to everyone I know. Nothing makes me smile more than hearing Pesci go off on someone with that distinctive voice of his. I highly recommend this one.


Rambo
The 4th installment in the tale of John Rambo finds Rambo in Burma battling soldiers. This is a solid action flick. It's got a ton of violence and for a mainstream movie made in 2008, it has an exceptional amount of gore. I was actually taken aback a bit by how much of the red stuff they showed. It's nice to see something like that in this day and age and as silly as it may sound, it actually made me enjoy the movie a bit more. Instead of being a stuffy action flick, it's delightfully over the top and a lot of fun.

Rambo is recommended.


Real Genius
I love Real Genius. It's one of those movies that I must have seen dozens of times as a youngster. I'd stumble onto it on HBO and stop everything I was doing to watch it. No matter what time of day, I'd be glued to the tube. Some 23 years later, I find it still holds up just as well. This is Val Kilmer at his best...a snarky wiseass that knows more about everything than you could ever hope to. Upon re-watching this tonight, I discovered that I seem to have patterned a bit of my personality from his performance as Chris Knight. Good stuff.

Real Genius is highly recommended.


Reign Over Me
Reign Over Me is an excellent movie. Yes, a movie starring Adam Sandler has just been referred to as excellent. Alert the Guinness folks! Sandler really shines here as a man who lost his family in the September 11 attacks. Not many people believed he'd be capable of such a serious performance but he pulled it off exceptionally well. He wears his emotions on his face and near the end of the movie, you can really see the pain and anguish setting in. Don Cheadle is solid as the friend who tries to help Sandler get through it all and regain his life.

Reign Over Me is highly recommended.


Rescue Dawn
Rescue Dawn is a great movie. It tells the story of an American pilot whose plane goes down in Southeast Asia and the experiences he goes through at a Vietnamese prison camp. The story is tense and makes you really care about the characters. The acting in this one is just top-notch. Christian Bale turns in a great performance as Dieter Dengler, the shot down pilot. And Steve Zahn, who is usually more adept in comedic roles, pulls off the role of Dwayne Martin excellently.

Rescue Dawn is recommended.


Rogue
Rogue is an extremely entertaining giant animal flick. I'm a sucker for movies like this and this one didn't disappoint. Rogue tells the story of a group of tourists on a river cruise and what happens when they encounter a giant crocodile. The leads are solid and the story moves along at a brisk pace. There's a decent amount of gore here as can be expected in a movie where the protagonist is a huge animal.

Rogue is recommended.


The Ruins
The Ruins is based on the 2006 novel by Scott Smith. It tells the story of 4 American tourists in Cancun who get more than they bargained for when they tag along with a German fella to the site of an archaeological dig on some ancient ruins.

This is a pretty solid flick. As solid as you can get anyway, given the source of the tourists' problems. The cast is good. The story is good as the sense of impending doom builds as the movie rolls along. Some pretty decent gore in this one adds to the enjoyment.

The Ruins is worth a watch.


Salem's Lot (1979)
Salem's Lot is based on the best selling novel by Stephen King. It was one of his first books to be adapted into a movie and was the first (I believe) to be made into a tv miniseries.

I don't care what anyone says, in my opinion, this is one of the best King adaptations out there. The cast is solid with David Soul and James Mason as good and evil, respectively. Bonnie Bedelia makes an early appearance as Susan and is absolutely gorgeous. The story is very good. There's a sense of foreboding that builds up over the first hour that explodes into a pretty suspenseful flick the rest of the way. This has several scenes that have scared me since the first time I saw it. First one is the scene with the boy scratching at the window to be let in. When I was young, my bedroom was on the second floor so that scene always made me ill at ease. The other is the appearance of Barlow, the vampire. He is, hands down, one of the creepiest looking bloodsuckers out there. Watching this is fun because you see the influences that it had on later vampire movies such as Fright Night and The Lost Boys.

Salem's Lot is recommended.


Sea of Love
Sea of Love is a solid thriller. The cast is strong with good performances by Al Pacino and John Goodman. Ellen Barkin is unbelievably sexy as the potential murder suspect that Pacino gets in too deep with. Also here, in an early role is Samuel L. Jackson. How early a role is it for him? Well, let's just say that his character's name is "black guy'. Needless to say, he's probably not highlighting it on his resume.

The story here is interesting. A serial killer is offing guys while the song 'Sea of Love' plays. The song is played just enough times in the movie for it to be permanently etched into your head. Not necessarily a bad thing, but still. The story takes a few twists and the combination of Pacino and Goodman have some funny scenes.

Sea of Love is recommended.


Semi-Pro
Semi-Pro is one of those movies that deserves more than one watch. I first watched it a few days ago and was disappointed by it. So much so, in fact, that I decided to skip the review for the time being. I figured I'd give it another shot to see if maybe I'd missed something the first time around. Turns out I did. This flick is hilarious. The cast is solid, the laughs are steady and the basketball segments are pretty damn accurate. All in all, it turns out that Semi-Pro is a pretty entertaining movie and is worth checking out. More than once, even.

Semi-Pro is recommended.



Shade
This was a pretty solid movie. A strong cast and lots of twists and turns made this one very interesting. I'm surprised that this flick has slipped through the cracks for as long as it has.



Shooter
Shooter is a great action flick. The story is interesting and the action comes at you pretty quickly. Wahlberg is good as Swagger and Kate Mara is gorgeous as Sarah. I just found everything about this one to be really enjoyable.

Shooter is recommended.



Shutter(2008)
I imagine I'll be one of the few people over the age of 18 who actually enjoyed Shutter. Maybe it's because I've yet to see the original. Maybe it's because I'm not totally biased against the very idea of a remake. Something about this one just sucked me in.

The acting is decent with Joshua Jackson and Rachael Taylor leading the way giving pretty good performances. The story is pretty predictable. They're not exactly breaking new ground with this one. While predictable, I still found myself engrossed in this flick. There were a few scenes that actually gave me the creeps and some of the images seen near the end will actually stick with me long after the fact.

I liked Shutter. However, I know how most people feel about remakes. I'll recommend checking this out with an open mind.



The Sickhouse
The Sickhouse was alright. It had a lot of potential but it squandered it in my opinion. The setting was cool since I'm a fan of abandoned buildings/hospitals/things of that nature. Also, the story was interesting and kept me interested. This flick lost some points for me due to the poor acting. Gina Phillips was alright but the others were annoying. Also, the ending didn't make much sense and left me kind of baffled.

The Sickhouse was strictly average. It might be worth a watch if you can get a free rental.
Sleepers is an excellent movie. It's another one of those movies that I always intended to watch but never quite got around to doing so. I finally managed it today and I'm quite pleased with my decision.


Sleepers
Everything about this movie is, in a word, solid. Solid cast, solid story, solid direction, etc. You really can't go wrong with the cast in this one. Kevin Bacon plays the role of Nokes just perfectly. He comes across as a true monster. I'm not usually a Brad Pitt fan but he's really good here as the grown-up Michael.

Sleepers is recommended.


Smokey and the Bandit: Pursuit Pack
The Smokey and the Bandit movies are similar to many movie series of their time. Usually the first is the best and the sequels are pretty damn bad. The first Smokey movie is a lot of fun. You've got Burt Reynolds at the height of his hot streak, Sally Field in one of her first real movie roles and Jerry Reed doing whatever it is Jerry Reed did. Jackie Gleason was a highlight as Sheriff Buford T. Justice. There are a lot of laughs and some cool stunt car work.

The second flick drops off noticeably in quality. It really seems as if the cast and crew were looking to finance new houses with it. The level of fun that the first one had is practically non-existent here. I found myself constantly checking the time on the dvd player to see how much longer it had to go.

The final film in the series is a bad movie. Strike that, it's a terrible movie. You're down to Jerry Reed playing the Bandit save for a 90 second cameo by Burt at the very end. Watching it, I felt bad knowing that this was one of Gleason's last roles before his death a few years later. There were a few scenes along the way that I found amusing but they were kind of funny in the same way that watching someone fall down the stairs is kind of funny.

Rent the first Smokey flick and skip the others.


South Park: Imaginationland
You really can't go wrong with South Park. I've found it almost impossible. Imaginationland is a 3 episode run from the 11th(?) season all edited together to form something of a mini-movie. Basically, terrorists attack our imagination and it's up to the kids to save the day and stop the government from nuking Imaginationland. The other story arc involves Cartman trying to cash in a bet that involves his balls being sucked.

This is a lot of fun. Imaginationland is inhabited by some familiar faces. I enjoyed trying to identify everyone as I saw them pop up on screen. Count Chocula, Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees and Strawberry Shortcake all make appearances. Even the Woodland Critters manage to find their way back into the series.

Imaginationland is highly recommended.


Space Cowboys
Space Cowboys is a great flick. You really can't go wrong with a cast featuring Clint Eastwood and Tommy Lee Jones. They make anything they're in that much better. This movie had a lot of laughs and a lot of heart. Definitely worth a watch.


Species II
Species II absolutely pales in comparison to the original. This one has a pretty solid cast but not very much happens. At several points during the movie, I was on the verge of dozing off. A sci-fi/horror flick like this isn't supposed to have that effect.

Skip it.



Stir of Echoes 2: The Homecoming
Stir of Echoes 2: Homecoming is a sequel to the Kevin Bacon original. This one debuted on the Sci-Fi Channel first before making its way to the video store shelves. It's nothing in comparison to the original. That was a classic flick. But for a practically DTV flick, this one was alright. Rob Lowe does a decent job as the Iraq war veteran who comes home and begins seeing dead people. The story moves along pretty well for the first hour or so. It builds up a mystery and keeps you interested in finding out what's going to happen next. Once the reasons for Lowe's visitations are revealed, the movie starts to lose steam. Solid beginning, disappointing ending.

Stir of Echoes 2: The Homecoming is alright for a rental.



Storm Warning
Storm Warning is a solid little thriller/horror flick. I really wasn't expecting much from this as the recent slate of DTV horror has been pretty lacking. What I discovered here was a pretty tense movie focusing on one couple's attempts to survive an onslaught by a family of crazed hillbillies. It took a little while for the gore to really get going but once it did, there was plenty of the red stuff flying around. Even a scene or two that made me cringe. There's something to be said for that.

Storm Warning comes recommended.


Strange Wilderness
Strange Wilderness was a disappointment. With the comedic chops of the cast, I was expecting so much more than I wound up receiving. Don't get me wrong, I laughed during some scenes but it just wasn't what I was thinking it was going to be. It's pretty bad when the biggest laugh came from a throw-away joke goofing on a shark's teeth.

Strange Wilderness isn't worth much more than a rental.