[fuzzymctiger]

Ramble time! I have an assessment tomorrow and there's only so much you can read about Turn of the Screw. Reverse order as usual. Sadly, I put this off too long, so some great thoughts (or complaints) may have since dissapeared.

Toxic Avenger III: The last time anyone should use left over footage for a sequel, Or How to become a Toxic Yuppie - Jesus christ what an absolute bore. You know you're in for trouble when an hour of an 100 minute run time is a flashback. You also lose consistency, with a headscratchingly poor move to have Toxie casually work for the villains of the first movie. The humour is dry, and so is the action. The last 40 minutes is a long battle in a series of challenges, with the devil himself. But this section just gets bizarre, with random reversing action, a painful to watch rehash of the original Melvin, god appearing, and more. As for the disc, 88's disc is packed with extras, but sadly a mess. Transfer is a lot dirtier than the other two, it's missing gore (not obvious jump cuts, but obvious lack for Toxie), it has a random 2 second poor 4x3 film stock insert that shouldn't be there. Unless you're a completist or an absolute die-hard fan, both of which I am, avoid. That being said, I still have high hopes for Citizen Toxie. 4/10

Blood Feast 2: All U Can Eat - Before i start reviewing, holy shit, a note on the disaster of a dvd and the fun experience I got out of it. Arrow's disc is in 4x3. The film is is 1:85. The transfer is 4x3, but with black bars, so it appears window boxed on any mdoern tv. But the credits fill the 4x3 box. Pissed at the idea of watching it window boxed, I said stuff it to director intensions, and stretched the 4x3 to 16:9. The result? I watched Blood Feast 2 in 2:35, and ****ing loved it. If you have this disc, try it, the film works fantastically, and nobody really looks too stretched at all.
As for the film, well what can one say about it? It's shit. It's self aware and shit, it's vapid, it's brutal as hell, and I loved it. The dialogue and characters are all over the top and ridicolous, and the gore is positively filthy, long and lingering. At times, quite purposely hilarious, like the recurring body of the father no one cares about. The opinion I reached was this movie is making fun of it's older incarnations, and is doing it again for fun. And it succeeds spectacularly. The overacting is theatrical as opposed to unbearable, the plot is goofball as opposed to silly, and the soundtrack is top. I rated it 8/10, but it gets a 10/10 for a Saturday night good time.

Once Upon A Time in America - I saw the 200 and god knows what minute version, but long story short it was the longest version and probably too long for the single sitting in a theatre I was at. Some new material is good, some is pointless, the quality of most is jarring. The film itself? A very interesting look at an era, that is very well directed and haunting at times. The opening sequence with the ringing phone is a perfect piece of film making in my opinion. The rest of the film could have done with splitting in two. It's very long and some scene's get pretty boring, and certainly plays out as more of a drama than any other genre really. Overall I enjoyed it, but I can't recollect an awful lot of thoughts on the film. 9/10

Turn of the Screw - the BBC tv adaption. ****ing awful in every regard. A travesty of an adaptation and a travesty of a film. Performances suck, editing and direction is laughable, excessive and ridiculous. A classic story butchered. 1/10

Natural Born Killers - Wow. This left me shocked and in awe. A true experiment in every single form of media, from music to every medium for filming imaginable. I was gripped immediately, but nearly lost it around the middle and was surprised by how soon they were in prison, but boy it just kept getting better. The multimedia rapid cutting, use of ads and stock footage, and sequences playing out like sitcoms, this film cleverly blends whatever it can get it's hands on to critique the society of it's time, and much like A Clockwork Orange, shock and confuse everyone in the process. The performances here are not to be questioned. Woody Harrelson is chilling, Robert Downy Jnr wild and believable, and Tommy Lee Jones is an absolute blast. The ending prison riot is the stuff of nightmares, the single most effective piece of brutality and hell I have ever seen (in the Director's cut only). If you haven't seen this, watch it. If you have, I'm curious to know what you think, as it appears to be very polarizing. 10/10

Midnight Movies: From Margin to Mainstream - Always wanted to watch this, and was pleased to see it on TV. Not so much a full documentary, but a look at the midnight success of each of the 6 films individually in order, with short connections. One could chop a segment out and make it a special feature on the respective film, and it would be great. On the whole it still works great though. One need not know the films, as they're briefly enough explained through lots of used footage, and interviews from the distributors, fans, and the directors themselves. And the director's themselves should be applauded, because they both love it. All are full of smiles and stories, and very very vibrant. John Waters, George A Romero, and David Lynch stick out, as all are very different filmmakers, who tell great stories, make you laugh, and are pleasant to watch. If you have any interest in these films, or their type in general, I highly recommend. 10/10

Toxic Avenger Part II: The much better sequel - I started this when I first received the disc, but just never got around to finishing it until recently, so memory is a bit stuffed. First the American set scenes at the start and finish, well are a lot of fun and gore, but some such as the opening battle, are far too drawn out. A lot of laughs here however, and still good silly fun. The Japan scenes? Absolutely loved them. For a studio as insensitive as Troma, they somehow made something so very accurate. Never once is it racist or does it stereotype, but in fact quite accurately depicts aspects of their culture, is shot on location in Tokyo at a variety of known, however not iconic places (I've been to a few which made it even better), and the Japanese cast truly give it their all. Overall an 8/10, but if you have interest in Japan, this is a good watch.

The Delta Force - I've had this for a while but put it off due to low expectations and long run time. I really shouldn't have though. The first half depicting the hijacking, I felt was honestly 10/10 material. If it was made as it's own movie, I feel it would have done very well, as the acting is very good and it's all very well executed for tension. Of course the second hour is extremely silly, but great action fun all the same. 9/10

Thief - This was a very good movie. I'm having trouble with thoughts here though. I really liked the score and cinematography, and the realism of the robberies was very good. It's tense, it's interesting, if you like Scorsese i'd say you'd like this. Had a lot of trouble with inaudible dialogue though. 10/10

Birdman - A solid film about an adaptation of a Carver story becoming very much a Carver story in itself. That's my only original thought here really. Everything else is obvious and has been said. Riotously funny, mesmerizing performances, unique scoring and cinematography. See it. 10/10

The Last Horror Film - I wanted to see this for a while, expecting it to be a 2nd Maniac almost, but was very pleasantly surprised in how much it wasn't. This film is almost like a time capsule. Depeche Mode and constant soft rock, Cannes Film Festival with a LOT of poster shots, and also the air that this needed to be rescued from somewhere. Two scenes of violence are from a very dark tape, and the opening credits jump around a fair bit with the music. However, this is a fun almost slasher. People connected to an actress die as Spinell tries to make his movie. Fun twist at the end that I really liked, and a hilarious final shot. It's a fun by the numbers almost Scooby Doo like horror movie, very self aware. 7/10

I'm splitting this in half here in case I lose anything and for easier reading.