CharlieDyer Reviews

Night of the Living Dead 3D (2006)

Not awful, not great, mediocre remake

[5/10 · 10 September 2006]

Just saw this at the World 3-D Film Expo and wasn't overly taken with this re-imagining of the original. If it weren't for the use of the 3-D and CGI this would be headed straight to the bargain DVD section of your local Walmart.

I really wanted to like this movie more than I did. It had lots going for it. A sold-out premier in high definition 3-D using the polarized glasses instead of the inferior red/blue glasses. They used special cameras as well as stedicam in shooting the entire movie. So, it looked as good as it was going to get.

But...geeking out is just not enough to carry an entire movie...

The script was clunky with some odd use of dated language mixed with present day dialog. A couple mis-castings didn't help matters much either.

And, it just wasn't creepy or scary...at all...

Hawaiian Nights (1954)

A waste of film, even in 3-D

[3/10 · 10 September 2006]

Just saw this at the World 3-D Film Expo and it was the world premiere showing of it as a 3-D public showing. I can't even imagine why this was even made in the first place.

I guess they wanted to show off some of what could be done in 3-D, but, then they never showed it to the public in 3-D, only 2-D. Wow, it must've been dull, dull, dull...

17 minutes of hula in Hawaii and not on a crappy sound stage would've been far more interesting.

What's really funny is that the print I saw was brand new. It was struck recently from the original negative. Now we know what's cluttering up film vaults while other films are left to degrade and need 'saving.' Glad to know a no-talent like Pinky Lee is safe for posterity...whew...

Miss Sadie Thompson (1953)

Religious hypocrisy in 3-D, whoopee

[7/10 · 10 September 2006]

Imagine Pat Robertson pointing his boney crazy fingers out of the screen at you and you've got the picture.

Just saw this at the World 3-D Film Expo and it was quite enjoyable. The movie has great depth and wasn't filmed in a really gimmicky 3-D style. The transitions between location and sound stage work was fairly seamless and there were scenes I really wasn't certain if they were shot in Hollywood or the South Pacific.

It's always interesting to stumble on old movies like these that resonate more than 50 years later. How much and how little has changed when it comes to religious zealots...hhmmm?

Sangaree (1953)

"Harlequin" romance-style claptrap...

[3/10 · 10 September 2006]

Just saw this at the World 3-D Film Expo and it was a turkey through and through.

Clearly this was only made for the lonely housewife set to ogle at a half-naked Fernando with painted-on pants. If he'd had a bigger basket I probably would've given it a higher score...:)

The transitions between real-world and sound stage footage was clunky at best. I can't imagine even a naive 1950's moviegoer believing any of this was shot in the real Savannah, Georgia.

Were it not for gimmick of 3-D this one would have been relegated to the dustbin of Hollywood long ago.

The Atomic Cafe (1982)

US government lies to the American people...shocking...not

[8/10 · 13 March 2006]

I recall seeing this movie when it was first released as a Freshman in high school in a cool movie theater in my home town. I'm really grateful for its existence since the only kind of movies I was being shown in school were the usual corporate propaganda films that this movie exposes. The irony was not lost on me that even though decades had past, nothing had changed in trying to indoctrinate the youth of America with the same old half-truths and outright lies. It was also the first time, but certainly not the last, for me to hear a US president knowingly tell a bald-faced lie to the American public without flinching.

A very sobering document of the nuclear race of the 1950's which not only resonated in 1982, but, still resonates in 2006.

Sad, isn't it...