★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Showing posts with label chris columbus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chris columbus. Show all posts
Thursday, 10 October 2013
Adventures in Babysitting (1987) - Chris Columbus
Chris Columbus' first ever directorial role. And what a brilliant film. You think it's just another kid's film, and at some points, it does stray into that area. However, there are so many adult jokes and references it had to be rated a 12 over here in Britain. A nice film to watch on a night when there's not much on, and you don't need to concentrate. And Elisabeth Shue is pretty hot as well.
Monday, 12 August 2013
SPOILERS Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (2013) - Thor Freudenthal SPOILERS
I have read most of the Percy Jackson books, but this was at least four years ago, and the first movie Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief (2010) - Chris Columbus wasn't too memorable, other than that I thought it was quite good, and an alright adaptation, considering all the changes that were made.
This version was less so. There was too much packed into the hour and forty-five minute run time. Nathan Fillion's cameo was a particular highlight of mine, particularly with the Firefly reference; it made me laugh.
I feel as if the film dumbed it down a little bit, unnecessarily. The Polyphemus problem was solved too easily with Nobody not even mentioned once. If you don't understand what I mean, go and read Homer's Odyssey, you Philestine! But I'm sure there was meant to be a scene with Aries and Aphrodite, or maybe that's the next one. Anyway, there was too much missing from this one, and it's bad that as a person who doesn't remember the books too much, I can notice this.
A bit of a disappointment considering I enjoyed the first one so much.
This version was less so. There was too much packed into the hour and forty-five minute run time. Nathan Fillion's cameo was a particular highlight of mine, particularly with the Firefly reference; it made me laugh.
I feel as if the film dumbed it down a little bit, unnecessarily. The Polyphemus problem was solved too easily with Nobody not even mentioned once. If you don't understand what I mean, go and read Homer's Odyssey, you Philestine! But I'm sure there was meant to be a scene with Aries and Aphrodite, or maybe that's the next one. Anyway, there was too much missing from this one, and it's bad that as a person who doesn't remember the books too much, I can notice this.
A bit of a disappointment considering I enjoyed the first one so much.
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
Wednesday, 9 January 2013
SPOILERS Texas Chainsaw 3D (2012) - John Luessenhop SPOILERS
Dear Lord, the main actress in this is attractive. Alexandra Daddario, most memorable (to me anyway) for her role in Percy Jackson & the Lightning Thief (2010) - Chris Columbus - the books were awesome too - brought to the role exactly what the original lacked, namely, a rockin' hot bod, that is shown as much as possible without making it graphic, or giving the star some kind of complex.
That out of the way, this film was exactly what it promised: a horror that reboots an already finished franchise. However, I did enjoy the recaps of the original Tobe Hooper version (The Texas Chain Saw Massacre [1974]) in the opening, and the way the story flowed, making this a canon sequel. I won't mention the hundred and odd other sequels. Also nice was the nod, to Hooper's work, in the form of a character named after him, even if the character was one (how the fuck he made Sheriff, I will never know) of the two weakest characters, the other being obviously, the random dude who knew there was a serial murderer in a basement of some dead lady's house for four months, waiting for a cousin to come for some reason.
Again, all of that shit aside, it was a good movie. I say good, but I mean believable. Partly. Until the end, because that's what anyone would do, yeah: let's let the killer kill someone else, and then let him walk away without so much as giving him a slap on the wrists. The film lost its scariness, its only redeeming factor as soon as all the subplots (obvious though they were) came back into it.
I should probably give it a good point. Ah, here's one: I like the way in which Heather Miller's real character background was foreshadowed without a full reveal, in the way she worked as a cutter of meat in a supermarket, in much the same way her blood relatives had worked at the slaughterhouse. It showed a penchant for meat and blood, particularly when we see her "bringing her work home", creating art using the bones from the cut pieces of meat, in much the same way that Leatherface is shown doing (slightly more extreme, but oh well) in his basement. It's the subtle things that get me, not like the outright killing of your mates, and then befriending the murderer, because family is just that important.
Another point: stop feeling sorry for the murderers, you bastard audience. Damn straight those rednecks did the right thing, killing that fucked up family. Let's not forget they were feasting on people! People! Crazy old man with a fucking hammer! That's a different film. Oh well. Rant over.
But yes, it's watchable. If you're in for a night of horror, it's perfect. If you like this sort of thing.
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
PS The old one is based on Ed Gein's murders and victims. I think it's worth note, that he's dead now. So don't be too scared. Unless he has a cousin.
That out of the way, this film was exactly what it promised: a horror that reboots an already finished franchise. However, I did enjoy the recaps of the original Tobe Hooper version (The Texas Chain Saw Massacre [1974]) in the opening, and the way the story flowed, making this a canon sequel. I won't mention the hundred and odd other sequels. Also nice was the nod, to Hooper's work, in the form of a character named after him, even if the character was one (how the fuck he made Sheriff, I will never know) of the two weakest characters, the other being obviously, the random dude who knew there was a serial murderer in a basement of some dead lady's house for four months, waiting for a cousin to come for some reason.
Again, all of that shit aside, it was a good movie. I say good, but I mean believable. Partly. Until the end, because that's what anyone would do, yeah: let's let the killer kill someone else, and then let him walk away without so much as giving him a slap on the wrists. The film lost its scariness, its only redeeming factor as soon as all the subplots (obvious though they were) came back into it.
I should probably give it a good point. Ah, here's one: I like the way in which Heather Miller's real character background was foreshadowed without a full reveal, in the way she worked as a cutter of meat in a supermarket, in much the same way her blood relatives had worked at the slaughterhouse. It showed a penchant for meat and blood, particularly when we see her "bringing her work home", creating art using the bones from the cut pieces of meat, in much the same way that Leatherface is shown doing (slightly more extreme, but oh well) in his basement. It's the subtle things that get me, not like the outright killing of your mates, and then befriending the murderer, because family is just that important.
Another point: stop feeling sorry for the murderers, you bastard audience. Damn straight those rednecks did the right thing, killing that fucked up family. Let's not forget they were feasting on people! People! Crazy old man with a fucking hammer! That's a different film. Oh well. Rant over.
But yes, it's watchable. If you're in for a night of horror, it's perfect. If you like this sort of thing.
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
PS The old one is based on Ed Gein's murders and victims. I think it's worth note, that he's dead now. So don't be too scared. Unless he has a cousin.
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