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The Mist (2007)
Awesome adaptation... until the ending
The Mist.
It's a novella by Stephen King about a massive electrical storm, the mist that follows, and what lurks in the mist. More than that, it is about people, human beings, reacting to a completely unknown situation where reality itself seems to be unwinding.
People begin to unwind, as well. Horrible deaths, murders, unbelievers, and a father's all-encompassing love for his son all make their fair showing.
The movie was great. I've read the story and the movie wonderfully adapted it to the screen, almost scene for scene.
I believe it accurately captured the look of the "creatures" based on how I imagined them, too.
The location was spot-on to what my brain had conjured, also.
Marcia Gay Harden surprised me with her exceptional portrayal of Mrs. Carmody, eagerly devolving (evolving?) from simple troublesome fear-monger to fire and brimstone Inquisition prophet.
A few things were missing such as the radio that David found his "hope" on (which guided the written ending), the fact that he actually makes it back to his house and finds out what happened to his wife, and he actually saw what the thing with the gigantic legs looked like. But the ending... ouch. The novella left everything open, folks driving toward a possible, or possibly not a last bastion of humanity and safety. That's a Stephen King ending. No explanation. No resolution.
The movie holy sh*t it slapped me in the face with the ending. It was probably the most cliché part of the movie and it hurt to watch it in more ways than one. I was totally not expecting it to end the way it did. Spoilers beyond spoilers to follow.
.
.
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I expected them to keep going and have the movie end with them still driving in to the unknown.
They ran out of gas.
I expected it to end there.
David counts the bullets: four bullets, five people.
I expect someone to talk him out of it.
His son wakes up.
Surely he will come up with a better plan now.
Four gun shots.
I bet he saved his son.
Oh f*ck! He shot everybody but himself! He shot the girl he was supposed to end up with. What the hell!
He freaks out and leaves the truck telling whatever is out there to, "Come on!"
I expect him to cry and scream, give up, crumple to the ground, and there get skewered by some ghouly and die. And the movie would end.
The tank shows up AND THE MIST CLEARS!
What? What? Are you serious? He runs out of gas at precisely the spot and at precisely the time that the military is going to be coming by about 15 minutes later? Just long enough for him to form the suicide pact and kill everyone and have them show up 30 seconds later? The military saving the f*cking day with flame throwers and gas masks? Holy sh*t! The woman who left the store to get to her eight year old kid actually survived? How? She walked through the mist? What's wrong with you?
The mist f*cking goes away just like that? What, did the military have special inter-dimensional fans strapped to their tanks or something?
Give me a f*cking break!
If it had an ending more like the novella's, I'd have given it a ten. It was still a great movie.
Awesome, actually.
Roll Bounce (2005)
An enjoyable film
I grew up at the end of the 4-wheel skate days, but did spend enough time at the rink to smile a few times and nod at memories. The soundtrack is fantastic. I haven't tried to track down an official soundtrack (not sure how many of the songs from the movie made it). The acting was surprisingly good. I didn't expect much out of Bow Wow. I guess it helps that the lines they were delivering were straight out of real life. The cut downs, the psyche outs, all of it, true, true, true. I even like the fact that the ending, which I will not elaborate on, is more realistic than you would expect. For a film that was practically straight formula, I was very surprised at how much fun I had watching it.
Cool World (1992)
Big Disappointment
I've heard this movie called "Roger Rabbit on Acid." This movie has about as much in common with "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096438/) as "Natural Born Killers" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110632/).
Where WFRR took great strides to make sure that the flesh and animated actors interacted convincingly (even having the flesh actors take mime training to learn how to simulate weight and substance when nothing is there), CW just sort of throws the stuff up there and hopes it looks nice.
Unless you want to masturbate to a sexy cartoon women pole dancing around (Holli Would looks much better in ink than she did in person, anyway), go watch something else.
It's like they didn't even really try...
Dellamorte dellamore (1994)
Surprisingly American -- up to a point
Francesco Dellamorte doesn't deal with 'Zombies'; don't be so crass.
To him they are merely "returners" to be dealt with in a very logical manner.
Bodies go in graves, when they come out, put them back in.
His working stiff ethic, unwillingness to rock the boat, and his plodding, mechanical execution speak directly to the experience of any blue collar worker.
Francesco was determined to "do his job" and to keep it.
The first 2/3 of the movie were standard fare for B-grade horror movies, which as a person used to American movies, was expected.
It delved into foreign film absurdity though and lost a few points for this sheltered movie watcher.
--- SPOILERS BY THE BOAT LOAD FROM HERE DOWN ---
When Claudio's motorcycle came out of the grave with him on it, I have to say, I was scratching my head.
Who gets buried with their motorcycle anyway? Escpecially when it is just some greaser. Was his family wealthy and this was just implied in ways that I was not able to comprehend (due to my limited cultural exposure)? Cutting off the head of the mayor's daughter and putting it in his TV was a great idea. However, I have yet to figure out how it ~walked~ from the grave to Gnaghi's room.
And what the heck was going on when Franco took credit for Franscesco's murders. What was the motivation? Once Franscesco started blowing folks away in Franco's room, I was completely lost.
When Marshall Straniero is running up the stairs to find the mad shooter and sees Franscesco's gun, his reaction defies all logic.
Is all of this merely to point out how impotent (in the medical sense as well as his ambition and drive) everyone saw him? He yells out, "It was me!" but nobody cares? Not even the policeman? Not even for a second? Obviously we are traveling in strange places not populated by normal human beings.
The feeling was of course completely confirmed by the suitably un-American and bizarre ending in which Francesco discovers that their little town is the entire world as far as they are concerned and Gnaghi and Franscesco seemingly switch abilities with Gnaghi regaining his senses (thanks, blow to the head!) and Franscesco losing his.
The defining moment for me was when Francesco realized that his dream woman was ~alive~ when he shot her in the side of the head in the ossuary. Thus began his slide into madness. It was an extremely poignant and moving moment; the viewer is able to feel the conflicting emotions for Francesco: anger over Gnaghi sticking a sharpened shovel in her head, anger over himself for realizing that she wouldn't return twice and that she was, in fact, still alive after her dead husband's bite, anger at himself for almost surrendering himself to her as a returner.
The movie was very entertaining and I might even watch it again to see if I missed anything.
Is that the true mark of a movie's worth? The fact that people want to watch it over and over to try and understand it
When the credits rolled and the movie was over, I felt sadness; not at the fact that it was over, but at how Francesco's life was turning out.
To destroy the woman you love and then lose her two more times (although, he probably had a chance with the last incarnation if he had tried instead of incinerating her -- to him, the point was it wasn't the first one; it wasn't the widow). Gah! To have loved and lost is the greatest pain a man can carry with him. Wounds that never heal but burst out again and again when you least expect it.
That is what the movie means to me.
Beyond the Wall of Sleep (2006)
Not what I expected
I wouldn't exactly call this a horror movie... unless your idea of horror is Return of the Living Dead (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089907/) or Night of the Creeps (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091630/).
Don't get me wrong, I like both of those movies just fine, but I knew what I was getting into when I watched them.
I agree with one of the other reviewers in that I sure hope this was designed to be satirical and not just a happy accident.
The acting was way over the top.. Dr. Fenton's accent was the stuff of high school plays and Dr. Wardlow chewed scenery like a rabid warthog.
As for Eischel, the star of the play (other than ol' Joe), he looked like an extra from a Beastie Boys video.
It was an enjoyable enough movie, but not quite the disturbing, ominous horror I was expecting.
I thought it would be more like From Beyond (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091083/), but alas, it was not.
For a movie based on Lovecraft, I think it did a great job; there are a lot of "Lovecraft" movies that scrape the bottom.
If you want straight up horror, go watch Hellraiser (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093177/) or Candyman (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103919/).
If you can watch this movie with tongue firmly in cheek, you just might find yourself enjoying it.