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Showing posts with the label serial

THE ROCKETEER - REVIEW

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Director Joe Johnston brought The Rocketeer to life in this Disney film from 1991 starring Bill Campbell and Jennifer Connelly. While it was critically well received, it didn't earn quite enough at the box-office to guarantee a sequel but it's still seen as something of a cult gem. Created in 1982 by comic-book writer/artist Dave Stevens, The Rocketeer is a homage to classic serial heroes: an all-American good guy with one special ability, fighting against cartoonishly evil villains. The ability in question being a jetpack which stunt pilot Cliff Secord (Campbell) finds with airplane mechanic Peevy (Alan Arkin) when a bunch of gangsters steal it from Howard Hughes (Terry O'Quinn). Cliff uses the rocket pack to save people and fight back against those looking to harm him but this puts his girl Jenny Blake (Connelly) and others close to him in great danger. The main antagonist being Neville Sinclair, a popular Hollywood actor (played by a scene-stealing Timothy Dalton)

THE RAVEN - REVIEW

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On paper, The Raven is awesome. Having Edgar Allan Poe try and solve murders linked to his own stories is a premise which could be used for just about any writer and... you know what? I'd be up for that franchise. Can you imagine? Jules Verne-themed murders with Jules Verne himself on the case? Tunneling down to the center of the Earth to find some crazed criminal in a hot-air balloon... Silly? Perhaps. But also pretty darn great. The Raven has a fun concept and although the reviews were rather harsh with it upon its release, this is a terrific little movie! Like Sleepy Hollow , The Raven brings back the vibe and gothic sensibilities of old Hammer horror movies and does so brilliantly creating a unique whodunit that's both camp and completely involving. This is mostly thanks to John Cusack's fun interpretation of the Poe character, the film's slick, moody look and, funnily enough, the love story at the heart of it all. Rare thing that, a romantic subplot in a th

CHRISTINE - REVIEW

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John Carpenter makes the very best of an inherently silly idea to create one of the best movie killers ever.  A personal favourite of mine, this "typical" story of boy meets car, car kills people is a lot of fun from start to finish and is probably one of Carpenter's most underrated little gems. Keith Gordon is brilliant as the nerd-turned-rebel and his growing insanity is a delight to witness. Not to mention Robert Prosky's slimy, foul-mouthed mechanic who almost steals the show by being hilariously repulsive. As far as Stephen King film adaptations go, this is one of the good ones. Carpenter's moody score and playful direction creating a slightly tongue-in-cheek but genuinely unnerving slasher movie (without any slashing). Some scenes are just ridiculously awesome like when Christine is set alight and pursues one of the piss-taking bullies down a deserted road or when the car is smashed to pieces and it fixes itself...by itself. All in all,

666 THE DEMON CHILD - REVIEW

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As far as bad movies go, it's hard to do better than this little nugget. Unless you're Tommy Wiseau. Then again, compared to other equally terrible creations, 666 The Demon Child is actually very entertaining: plastic devil babies, giant eggs, old men with tattoos, archaeologists, still images of the sky, the same annoying sound of like 10 babies all whining in unison repeated A THOUSAND times!!! What's not to like? From the soporific opening in which an old Native American man walks for about 10 minutes before uttering the immortal line: "And now, it begins!" to the genuinely perplexing end "twist" (think the end of Godzilla except you can't actually tell what you're even looking at), The Demon Child is one of those cinematic catastrophes which has to be seen to be believed. Needless to say the acting is beyond terrible, the script and direction are abysmal, the lighting minimalist to say the least (one light?), the sound dis