fantasyfilmsman Reviews

The Mist (2007)

Completely pointless trek!

[1/10 · 2 July 2022]

If you take away the ending then you have a decent little monster thriller with an annoying crazy religious zealot. There are some good set pieces that are suspenseful but banal dialogue and an utterly mean spirited useless ending that ruins the main characters whole point in the film. It's not shocking but downright mean!

Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore (2010)

Better than the first.

[8/10 · 28 July 2010]

First off let me start by saying if you thought the first one sucked than you should probably steer clear of this one. If not though you should defiantly check this one out. Overall the story moves much faster, is loaded with more laughs and the SFX are cleaner and better. All the major players from the first one are back, but that doesn't mean you need to see the first one to enjoy part 2. The new hero introduced is a German Shepard named Diggs that is a police dog in a funny and inspired opening. After Diggs disregards his police human master and blows up a used car lot Diggs is Jailed so to speak. Enter the dogs from part 1. From there the jokes are fast and furious, some hitting home and some missing, but overall, I had a smile on my face the whole time, and my eleven year old loved every minute. There is another new edition to the crew a pigeon picked up mid way through the movie that is down right hilarious. The voice work is well done, and in one truly inspired moment Mr. Tinkles the main villain from part 1 shows up to do a gut busting scene taken straight from Silence of the Lambs. It's at this moment you will groan or laugh in spite of yourself and truly feel the movie is worth your dollars. All in all an excellent family film that will have kids enjoying themselves and enough stuff to keeps the parents entertained. Note I saw the 3D version and truly nothing is really added from the effect, though the picture is clean and vibrant.

The Last Airbender (2010)

Torn in Two.

[7/10 · 30 June 2010]

Let me just say I'm not the big Avatar fan like my son and daughter are but I am aware of the show and have seen some episodes so when I sat down for the screening I really didn't have any expectations. So I am coming at this movie not as a raging fan but a fan of film and there are elements of the film that I really liked and others that I did not. First the bad. The child actor who played Aang was really not that good, but also the script for him was also not very good. Stilted dialog will do that and it really is a shame because the bending parts and martial art scenes the kid is quite good. The other two kid actors are really not given much to do, the girl is so-so and her brother looked like he could have done something with the role but for the most part was relegated to the back. Also there are some continuity gaps in the film that kinda make you go huh? Plus and this is a good-bad thing the movie only runs about 90min and I truly would have liked to see the movie run a little longer. There are some great scenes with the Firebender banished prince and his uncle and a scene with Saka and the princess about her blonde hair that makes you look at the screen and go yes, but then there are parts where the film is rushed to get to the action. And now the good. I'm glad to say the action in the movie is really well done. The SFX are very good and very organic so they don't stand out at you and go look FX. Also the action isn't all cut up MTV style. M.Night chose to film some of the action in long full shot takes and I truly enjoyed those elements. As for fans of the show I think it will be a mixed bag. I think the movie should have used Asian actors and dealt with the relationships more but on the whole if I could I'd really give this movie a 6.5. It's one of those movies that could have been really good, but just misses the mark. Plus save your money and if you see it see it in 2D. The 3D adds nothing.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)

The Robots Battle...a lot.

[7/10 · 26 October 2009]

First off I'm going to get this out of the way. This is not the worst movie of 2009, not by a long shot, that's reserved for Grace. No the big problem I see with Transformers 2 is the pacing. The movie feels to long. As with all Bay movies he tends to overindulge in cool camera movements that make a scene to long, that doesn't need to be that long. If you shaved down the scenes in question I would say you'd get a pretty good 2 hour flix here. As is I enjoyed it, but you can pretty much put your brain on auto-pilot. The actors are just there for eye-candy and the robots...well they're well done. There are parts of this Transformers I like a lot better than the first, but the first climax is way better. The opening in China is a fantastic fight, and one of my beefs, not enough sideswipe or the other good auto-bots. To much decepticon action. Another stand-out sequence is when Optimus Prime is attacked by Megatron, Starscream and Grindor. It's about time we see Optimus kick some major butt. That scene was worth the watch. The next being the Constructicons forming into Devastator, that was one mean SFX. All in all there are better popcorn movies, but if you love explosions then this movie will go down easy like the fake butter used in said theaters.

Drag Me to Hell (2009)

Not one of Raimi's better works

[6/10 · 26 October 2009]

Drag Me to Hell has been getting a lot of good pub. in the horror community and frankly after watching it, I really don't see why. I had heard it was a lot like Evil Dead/Evil Dead 2 in tone. I fully see where Raimi was going but ultimately he doesn't get there. First off the tone of the movie is all over the place. The tension is all there but the Evil Dead 2/ Army of Darkness bits don't blend in very well for me. I'm a big fan of Raimi, heck I even like his Quick and the Dead, but for me he didn't go all out. If he wanted a shocker he should of went for it. If he wanted an Army of Darkness clone, go for it, but the blending of the two just pulled me away from the experience. One big scene being where the gypsy lady attacks the leading lady in a tool shed and forces her fist down her throat. The sequence up to that point was well done, then hilarity ensues. Sure I giggled and laughed but really was that the point? The first 20 minutes of setup are top-notch but frankly it's dead serious stuff, and then when the gypsy lady attacks our hero in her car all you can do is laugh, which I'm fine with, but keep that tone going throughout just not in the scare scenes. Evil Dead 2 did this just fine but the material here doesn't warrant this. The camera angles, acting and pacing are dead on though. I sat back and enjoyed it nothing less, it just wasn't as good as it could have been. If your a fanboy of Raimi then you'll want to see this. If you don't like your horror w/comedy then steer clear.

Land of the Lost (2009)

Goofy Fun.

[7/10 · 22 October 2009]

Growing up a young lad in the late 70's early 80's I caught many a show on TV of "Land of the Lost". I never really liked the show, but since it was so bad as good, a kinda guilty pleasure, when I heard about this with Will Ferrell, I was actually looking forward to it. With all the negative reviews, I actually had to see this even more. Sure enough it was everything I thought it would be. Watching the movie brought a smile to my face. Sure the story isn't all that, but then again it's really there to just string together funny set pieces which the actors do with great ease. There are two sequences that really had me rolling, one involving the old "Land of the Lost" song from the show, and (as a sucker for a good potty humor joke) a bit involving Dino urine. Now if that last line bothers you then this won't be the movie for you, but all in all the four actors with ample screen time do a good job in being funny and wacky. The production design is dead on for a kitch show and in the end if you can just sit back and eat your popcorn not looking for a masterpiece I think on a popcorn movie level you'll enjoy it. As for the rant about kids not enjoying this I have children of my own and though they didn't laugh quite like me, they still sat there watching the movie and enjoying it. But be warned, if your of the prudish type where monkey's humping legs or groping a women's clothed breast will bother you, I suggest you not show them this. It is a hard PG-13 when it come to the comedy aspects along with a few swear words here and there.

The Ring (2002)

Great Atmoshpere that really amounts to nothing.

[6/10 · 28 March 2003]

It amazes me what people these days consider scary. Granted there are a few scenes in this movie that may get a jolt out of you, but take away the great atmoshpere and really what you have is a movie about, well nothing. Plot spoiler ahead. For example, why does the lead actress go through what everyone else goes through, even though she has inadvertently solved the puzzle. The holes in this film are extrodinary. I recommend you see it for yourself, but just don't ponder over it to much. Cause it really doesn't amount to anything. Just enjoy the visuals and just maybe your skin will crawl. Yet how people feel this is scarier than the Exorcist or some other truely great horror films, says to me that they don't like horror movies in the first place.