Has there ever been a genre with less success than video game movies? We’ve been getting video game movies two decades now and we’ve yet to see a single good movie. Sure, there have been a few decent ones, and ones that have worked as goofy and/or mindless entertainment, but there’s literally not a single success story to tell.
Death Race 2000 wasn’t a movie crying out for a remake. Sure, it definitely feels like a movie from the 1970s but it is still perfectly watchable. There is little that could be improved by simply re-doing the film 30 years later. So it was probably a wise decision to not simply do a re-tread of the original. In giving the film such a drastic overhaul, however, they went from a fun black comedy with action elements to a run-of-the mill action movie with 2008’s Death Race.
There are few phrases that inspire terror quite like “direct to video sequel.” Direct to video movies have had a bad reputation ever since there have been direct to video sequels. The original Pulse is certainly not regarded as a cinematic masterpiece either, so things aren’t looking too promising for Pulse 3. But maybe, just maybe, it can buck the trend and end up being a good movie.
George Carlin was, without a doubt, one of the top comedians in the world. Unfortunately, he’s dead now, but we do still have one final HBO special produced prior to his death.
The 1950s was truly the hey-day for low-budget science fiction. It seems like anyone who could scrounge up a shred of an idea, $50, and a camera could find an outlet to release their very own science fiction movie. In retrospect, it’s amazing to think that science-fiction, as a genre, survived the 1950s. Because about 90% of it was complete dreck. The title alone should be enough to tell you if Phantom from Space is in that 90%. Hint: It is.
Season three has always taken a beating from fans of Star Trek. It’s got more than a few silly episodes and it rehashes some season one and two episodes. But it’s not all bleak. There are more than a few classic episodes to be found in season three as well. The question is, is there enough good to outweigh the bad?
Though Strange Behavior was filmed in 1980, it is very much in the spirit of 50s sci-fi movies. It’s got mad scientists, experiments with hidden or unexpected side-effects, as well as the two most common protagonists for movies from that era: the sheriff (John Brady) and two questionably-aged teenage lovers (Pete and Caroline). Sure, it’s in color, and clearly set in the 1980s, but it definitely has the 50s feel.
If you are a fan of horror movies, and you don’t take your horror too seriously, you should have a lot of fun with this one. While the release could definitely use some more extras, the movie is a hell of a lot of fun.
Charles “Chuck” Bartowski had a pretty good life. He was enrolled at Stanford, he had good friends, a great girlfriend, and a bright future. Then one day, his best friend and roommate, Bryce Larkin, accused Chuck of cheating on a test. In short order, Chuck finds himself kicked out of school. And as a final insult, Chuck’s girlfriend left him for Bryce.
Suffice to say, having his life destroyed left Chuck rather despondent. Now he’s stuck in a dead-end job working as part of the Nerd Herd at the Buy More (basically fictional versions of the Geek Squad and Best Buy). Chuck isn’t exactly thrilled with his station in life, but neither does he have the ambition to do anything about it.
Season two of Supernatural ended with a large number of demons escaping from Devil’s Gate and Dean Winchester with a year to live before he is to be dragged off into hell. Not surprisingly, both of these events play a major factor in season three.
Eureka is about the town of Eureka, built back in the 1950s by the government. Its purpose is to bring many of the country’s top minds together in one place to invent. As a result, living in Eureka is like living in the not-too-distant future. Of course, with all the cutting edge experimentation going on, things can go wrong. And go wrong they often to. Fortunately, Sheriff Carter and the geniuses of Eureka usually manage to come up with a solution before things get too far out of hand.
The phrase “inspired by true events” is often a red flag when it comes to movies. Both the truth of the events and the connection to the film are often dubious, at best. Not to mention, movies that feel compelled to boast about how they are “inspired by true events” often suck. So when I saw that claim prominently displayed on the cover of The Entrance, my expectations were low. And when I read the back of the DVD and saw the “true events” had to do with a possessed nun, my expectations fell even further. So I was quite pleasantly surprised to find out that The Entrance didn’t suck.
Terry Pratchett first unveiled the Discworld franchise to the world with 1983’s The Color of Magic. Since then the franchise has grown to include 36 novels, as well as video games, maps, science books, live action movies and, what I am looking at today, two animated productions, Wyrd Sisters and Soul Music.
After season one, Jericho was canceled. There were some complaining fans but at first it looked like it would be just another good show that just didn’t have the ratings. But then the fans got organized and flooded CBS with 40,000 lbs. worth of nuts. Three weeks later, the series was resurrected from the dead as a mid-season replacement. CBS only gave them a seven-episode order for season two though. Would Jericho’s quality suffer when forced to tell their story in a greatly compressed time frame?
The Cottage is kind of two movies in one. The first movie is a black comedy about a kidnapping; the second is a mostly-straight slasher about a crazed killer. While these kind of hybrids can work at times, this one does not.
The oddly titled Killing Car is about a mysterious woman and her quest for vengeance. This vengeance is achieved through the ever popular killing spree. This spree also provides clues for the audience so that we can figure out just who this woman is and why she’s going around killing people.
Over the years there have been quite a few TV shows where time travel is used to better people’s lives. Usually, that has involved the use of a lot of technobabble and some sort of time machine. Early Edition tried it with a newspaper and an orange cat. And for the most part, it worked.
The only real problem with the movie is the return of the replicators. We’ve already seen a return of replicators (though admittedly a different variety) on Stargate Atlantis and having them come back here seems like going to the well one time too many. Not to mention the reasoning behind their return is poor, at best. Despite the mixed feelings generated by the return of the replicators, they are used really well though and play a crucial part in building tension towards the climax of the film.
Remember the Daze (originally called A Beautiful Ordinary) covers the twenty-four hour period that is the last day of school/the first day of summer for a (large) group of students. Beyond it being the last day of school, there isn’t really a central plot to Daze; instead there are a series of loosely connected plots running concurrently throughout the day.
It’s not often that you see the horror and western genres blended together. Before watching Left for Dead I had never seen a movie attempt such a feat. Of course, just because something hasn’t been done before doesn’t mean it’s a good idea.