Thursday, October 27, 2005

DVD Review: Land of the Dead


The latest zombie flick from the man that invented the genre, George A. Romero is a pleasant surprise. I had heard alot of disappointing things about it so I was wondering how bad it was going to be. Well, not bad, not bad at all. Romero tells a fresh rendition of the zombie flick where the zombies actually start to regain some type of thought control back over their bodies. The world is overrun with the dead and a caged-in city is the only safe haven. The city is divided into a class system with only the rich getting the goods and the lower class citizens living on the streets, hey just like real life! Eventually, the zombies get tired of the humans coming out into their world and killing them and taking supplies for the big city. It's time for a revolt! the zombies are able to think on a barely-there level, but just enough to get by, almost like they were modeled after George Bush, but with a little more smarts. Romero does an effective job of portraying his behind-the-scenes social commentary which I think is about social status and racism. Nicely directed with plenty of gut ripping, I give Romero's latest **** out of *****.

DVD Review: The Hollow


Nothing like a good old Headless Horseman movie on a chilly October night, oh, can anybody recommend one to me cause this one ain't it. Not unless you like your Horseman riding around with a gigantic rubber pumpkin on his head. This thing was more like a watermelon than a pumpkin! And when he rode, the damn thing was bobbing this way and that! It looked ridiculous. And to boot, the rider was never headless like on the cover, he always had the melon on his head. The fact that Nick Carter gets the lead billing tells you something about this one too. He plays a tough kid so that also tells you a little about the casting. The plot is basically this-Icabod Crane escaped the Horseman the first time round and now his ancestor (Kevin Zegers) must face the reemerging threat of the Horseman. Stacey Keach was at least entertaining as the graveyard keeper but can someone please get Judge Reinhold a decent haircut! Kaley Cuoco from TV's Eight Simple Rules was no better than Carter in the acting department. Just too many things working against this one--**1/2 out of *****.

DVD Review: Sin City


Frank Miller's cult comic hit comes to the movie screen with Robert Rodriguez directing. Sounds like a match made in heaven, sometimes yes and sometimes no. There's just too much going on in this movie. It's comprised of three seperate yet intertwining stories. Each story was good enough for it's own movie and yet they had to be squashed down to all fit within one movie. The direction is stunning with the black and white with certain things colored look. The movie was a visual treat to watch but the way the stories were combined took away from an otherwise good film. Mickey Rourke was fantastic as Marv, he was the highlight of the movie and his story was the best. Given that, the movie as a whole gets *** out of *****.