APOCALYPSIS -- DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 4/4/18

 

Stunningly directed and photographed--that's the first thing I noticed about writer-director Eric Leiser's fourth feature film, the near-future dystopian thriller APOCALYPSIS (2018), so it's the first thing I wanted to mention.

This story of a woman named Evelyn Rose (Maria Bruun), a Christian whose deep pondering of the Book of Revelations fills her mind with bizarre visions of frightening portent, and a man named Michael Banderwack (Chris O'Leary), a radical "hacktivist" bent on saving the world from itself even as the NSA use all their electronic surveillance might against him, is one endlessly intriguing and often beautiful work of cinematic art.

Visually, it reminds me of an updated version of 1982's cult sci-fi classic LIQUID SKY, both starring striking-looking female protagonists having disturbingly transformative experiences amidst a production designer's most fervid bursts of imagination.  It's as though David Lynch and Ridley Scott fell asleep in a candy store and collaborated on the same psychedelic dream.

That aside, the story is instantly compelling despite being the third installment in a trilogy (the other films being IMAGINATION and GLITCH IN THE GRID). Evelyn works for a rare book seller while constantly experiencing mindblowing visions inspired by the pages of Revelations and rendered in wonderfully odd stop-motion animated vignettes by director Leiser.

Meanwhile, Michael stays one frantic step away from the NSA (tinfoil bedsheets and all) while doing his outlaw radio show and planning acts of uncivil disobedience against the increasingly oppressive Big Brother state. 

This quest draws Evelyn and Michael together since both refuse to be "chipped" with an electronic "Mark of the Beast" under their skin and, in their own different ways, are willing to sacrifice their own lives for the collective good.

The fact that Michael is an atheist only makes their relationship more interesting.  Evelyn, an albino, looks almost as translucent as her guileless soul, and the two of them compliment each other. 

Despite occasional lapses in this symbiotic pairing, as when Michael suspects Evelyn of being an NSA mole, they will ultimately be united in a final, potentially futile struggle against the coming New World Order.

O'Leary's Banderwack is funny and fun to watch, a character we can admire despite being something of a flake. As Evelyn, a woman steadfast in her faith and pure at heart, Bruun is compelling throughout. 

Angels are sent to watch over her--even disbeliever Michael gets a visit from one after he goes "off the grid" and is advised that Evelyn needs his help.  And for once, a character's religious faith is neither mocked nor treated as a freaky quirk.

Storywise, we're deposited into this already-in-progress trilogy just at the right point to be able to pick things up as though it were a stand-alone film. The intrigue between underground political dissidents and voyeuristic Big Brother agents hot to bring them in for "processing" is enough to keep things interesting, and then there's the likability of the lead characters as their experiences allow the best of themselves to come through.

My main and perhaps only disappointment is the abrupt ending, which makes this seem like the penultimate entry in a trilogy rather than a concluding one. But that aside, APOCALYPSIS is like a visually sumptuous cinematic art gallery with a plot.  Both my eyes and my mind found it dazzling. 


Tech Specs
Runtime: 90min
Format:1:78 HD
Sound: Dolby Sr.
Country: USA
Language, Captions: English
Website: www.IndicanPictures.com
Genre: Sci-Fi
Extras: Making-of featurette, Indican trailers

Watch the Trailer

APOCALYPSIS -- DVD Review by Porfle

2001: What If HAL Wasn't Really That Good At Reading Lips? (video)

One of the most suspenseful scenes in "2001: A Space Odyssey"...

...is when Dave and Frank go into a space pod to discuss disconnecting HAL.

While they know HAL can't hear them inside the pod...

...they don't realize that he's reading their lips.

But what if HAL wasn't all that good at lip-reading?



I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!

2001: What If HAL Wasn't Really That Good At Reading Lips? (video)

SEX AND THE FUTURE -- DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 7/27/20

 

Ever wonder what would happen if you had a "real doll"...that was TOO real? No? So, it's just me? Okay...well, anyway, it's an interesting thing to ponder, which SEX AND THE FUTURE (2020) does in amusingly comedic sci-fi style.

Imagine what would've happened if the guys from WEIRD SCIENCE had made Kelly LeBrock sex robots and marketed them and made millions of dollars. Brilliant but nerdy inventor Barry (Chris Markle), who dreams of losing his virginity, does the inventing while his smooth roommate Evan (Phillip Crum), an aspiring actor who measures happiness by the number of Instagram followers he has, does the marketing.

Meanwhile in a Middle Eastern kingdom, Prince Fahad (Fahad Olayan) runs away from his overprotective parents and, along with faithful bodyguard Khalid (Andy Kenareki), makes his way to L.A. to become an action movie star.

The trouble is, Fahad looks closer to Quasimodo than Cary Grant (facial warts, unibrow, and all), but has been forbidden to look at mirrors all his life while being told that he is incredibly handsome.

Prince Fahad, in his own naive, clumsily well-meaning way, is a very endearing character who, despite thinking that he's God's gift to women, isn't the slightest bit conceited about it.  In fact, he's the film's least selfish and self-centered character, and is always concerned with the feelings of others.

Evan, on the other hand, lets success go straight to his head, taking all the credit, fame, and wealth and becoming a media superstar while Barry is cast aside (shades of Seth Green's "Napster" in THE ITALIAN JOB).

While Fahad courts Evan's acting classmate Steph (Maxi Witrak), a feminist who ends up picketing the robot factory, and Evan falls in love with Barry's beautiful cousin Vanessa (Lena Escandon), the increasingly mad Barry plots a devastating revenge that will ruin his former friend in ways that neither he nor we can even begin to imagine.

Although most filmmakers would've played this material as a wildly outlandish, frenetic farce, directors Luis Carlos Hueck (who wrote the script) and Ethan Zvi "The Don Kap" Kaplan just let it play out as a pleasantly diverting and amusingly comedic sci-fi story that leans a bit more toward character development, an interesting plot, and intriguing sci-fi elements than a succession of belly laughs.

Even so, the film's snappy pace and editing have a nice cartoon-like quality, with some eye-pleasing cinematography (especially in the drone-cam establishing shots). Performances are uniformly good, with special kudos going to Fahad Olayan as the sweetly likable lug Prince Fahad.

The musical score itself is a series of catchy hip-hop and techno songs, mostly by "The Don Kap", that are funny because they're so deliberately dumb.

While some viewers may dismiss it as lightweight and even lightheaded, SEX AND THE FUTURE struck me as a bright, breezily amusing comedy that manages just the right blend of "what if?" sci-fi and surreal silliness.


Buy it at Indican Pictures

TECH SPECS

Runtime: 80 minutes
Format: 1:78 HD
Sound: Dolby Sr.
Country: USA
Language: English (w/available subtitles)
Extras: Indican trailers

SEX AND THE FUTURE -- DVD Review by Porfle

NOT COOL -- Movie Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 2/12/15

 

I didn't have the same vehemently negative reaction to NOT COOL (2014) as one of its erstwhile producers, STAR TREK's Zachary Quinto. Anger and indignance toward its very existence were his main feelings after viewing the finished product, from which he had his name removed. All I felt during most of this raunchy teen comedy's running time were boredom and indifference.

As seen in the Starz reality series "The Chair", a single script by writer Dan Schoffer was turned into two very different movies simultaneously by first-time directors Shane Dawson and Anna Martemucci (hers was titled HOLLIDAYSBURG), then voted upon by an audience to determine who would win a cash prize of $250,000.

It should come as no surprise to longtime fans of Dawson's raucous YouTube videos that Martemucci's semi-chick-flick take on the story turned out to be positively sedate compared to his frenzied interpretation, which is a no-holds-barred explosion of tasteless gross-out humor that leaves no graphic vomit, fart, dick, poop, or sex joke unexploited.

While that's not really all that new (I mean, PORKY'S) and I actually like several comedies that could be termed "gross-out" (NOT ANOTHER TEEN MOVIE is a personal fave), Dawson is saddled with an added element he's never had to deal with before on YouTube--heart.

NOT COOL is, beneath its oil-slick veneer of utter crudeness, a touchy-feely love story in which we're actually supposed to care about these cartoony characters, which we don't. It's like watching ANIMAL HOUSE and suddenly being asked to get in touch with Bluto's inner loneliness and inability to form a lasting love-bond with Mandy Pepperidge. The two sensibilities not only clash, but detract from each other as well.

The story begins with former high school prom king Scott (played by Dawson) getting blown through a "glory hole" in a public restroom stall by his caricature of a slutty girlfriend Heather after returning from college to his hometown for Thanksgiving. Heather picks this moment to break up with him, after which Scott cute-meets and then falls in love with former classmate Tori (Cherami Leigh), whom he had previously ignored. Unconvincing romantic complications ensue.

Meanwhile, Scott's sister Janie (Michelle Veintimilla) is being cute-stalked by the virginal Joel (Drew Monson), a lovesick employee in her dad's record store, with his desperate attempts to win her over growing more outlandish by the minute. This subplot also suffers from the schizo juxtaposition of blatantly farcical elements with a slathering of insincere warmth that's supposed to make us smile even as we wince in disgust.

In the midst of all this, we're treated to the sight of a homeless guy eating his own feces, Tori getting a rancid faceful of barf at a party, the same homeless guy guzzling his own freshly-squeezed urine from a Dixie cup, Scott taking a dump on Heather's lawn, an extreme close-up of the homeless guy's jiggling junk, and other similar expressions of Dawson's manic desire to shock and offend us into gales of mindless laughter.

The film is capably directed but has the candy-coated veneer of a made-for-TV teen movie. The cast of relative unknowns do their best with their shallow characters, with one of the most enthusiastic performances turned in by Dawson's real-life girlfriend Lisa Schwartz as Tori's "Miss Perfect" (but comically blind) sister Marissa. As Scott, Dawson himself struggles with a tendency to be overly cute at times, while coming off as rather grating in his various drag cameos.

Needless to say, NOT COOL will probably succeed with certain audiences--Shane Dawson's YouTube fans should eat this up with a spoon, and the DVD may prove popular at frat parties with plenty of beer and weed floating around. But before Dawson gets another shot at directing a movie, he may have to make a serious effort to mature beyond making feature-length YouTube videos. I like a good gross-out comedy myself, but--unlike the angry and deeply offended Zachary Quinto--I just found NOT COOL to be drab, joyless, and utterly unexceptional.


Read our review of HOLLIDAYSBURG
Read our review of THE CHAIR

NOT COOL -- Movie Review by Porfle

"SWAMP THING: THE SERIES" -- DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 1/20/08

 

 

 

"I know the evil men do. Do not bring your evil here. Do not incur the wrath of...SWAMP THING!"
 

Thus warns Dr. Alec Holland, aka Swamp Thing, who, as those familiar with the original DC comic and 1982 Wes Craven film will know, was once a scientist doing genetic research in the swamps of Lousiana. After a run-in with the evil Dr. Anton Arcane, Holland was bathed in deadly chemicals and set afire. Plunging himself into the swamp, he transformed into the hulking plant-animal hybrid known as Swamp Thing and began a one-monster crusade against evil.

The movie, as I recall, was fun but not really that great. Being more of a fan of Marvel's "Man-Thing" myself, I don't think I ever read a "Swamp Thing" comic, and I never caught the 1990 TV series when it was on. So sitting down to watch the first two seasons of  "SWAMP THING: THE SERIES" on this 4-disc set from our old friends at Shout! Factory was intriguing. Would I be blissfully swept away on a wave of pure entertainment? Or would it suck swamp water? There was only one way to find out.

The first thing I noticed was the fact that it was developed for television by Joseph Stefano, whose credits include the original "Outer Limits" and the screenplay for Hitchcock's PSYCHO. Not bad--and he wrote the script for the episode that kicks off the set, "The Emerald Heart", along with several subsequent ones. Definitely a good sign.

In this episode, we meet Jim Kipp, a troubled, introverted lad who is spending the summer at his grandmother's house at the edge of a swamp. (Later, Jim and his mom will move into the house after the grandmother dies.) Jim's divorced mom, Tressa (Carrell Myers), hopes that a little time away from it all in her childhood home will help Jim to not be so emotionally screwed-up. This turns out to be a good plan when Jim meets the Swamp Thing, who becomes his best friend and guardian--which will come in handy when the evil Dr. Arcane (Louis Jordan in the movie, now played by dapper Mark Lindsay Chapman) starts putting the moves on Tressa and trying to wrest the house and property away from the Kipps.

In a way, the initial premise of "Swamp Thing" is surprisingly similar to numerous TV shows like "Flipper" or "Fury", in which a kid lives in a natural environment with a single parent and has a special friend to go on adventures with. Swampy comes off for the most part as a benevolent, almost warm and cuddly presence. Until someone commits an evil deed in his swamp, that is. Then, he's liable to pin the poor slob against a tree and encase his body in bark or something.

But just when the family-drama aspect of the show is playing itself out, something horrible happens to remind us that "Swamp Thing" has all the bases covered. That's usually where Dr. Arcane comes in. He's a twisted scientific genius with a hidden cave laboratory filled with hideous genetic mutations, and it's in this setting that the series comes closest to Irwin Allen territory. Like H.G. Wells' Dr. Moreau, Dr. Arcane's hobby is taking swamp animals and turning them into humans, with grotesque results. Then, more often than not, these creatures manage to escape and run around the swamp, making everyday childhood a bit more interesting for our Jim.

Swampy is played once again by Dick Durock, who wore the costume in the '82 film and its sequel. Although he doesn't really do that much, Durock acts well with his eyes and is a convincing presence in the role. The Berni Wrightson-inspired costume itself seems to have been improved upon by creature-creators Carl Fullerton and Neal Martz.

Ten-year-old Jesse Zeigler is fairly talented and manages to not be very obnoxious as Jim, which to me is a good recommendation for a child actor. Carrell Myers is appealing as All-American single mom Tressa, and is more than capable of handling the dramatic scenes. Mark Lindsay Chapman seems to relish playing such a dastardly character, which is a plus. His Dr. Arcane is a handsome young chap who can be quite charming, yet is the epitome of evil. This is an obvious contrast to the frightening-yet-benign Swamp Thing, demonstrating that you can't always judge a monster by its cover.

The rich, autumnal cinematography takes advantage of some good Florida locations, and Christopher L. Stone's evocative music augments the visuals nicely. (His "Swamp Thing" theme is hummable, too.) It's interesting to note that some of these episodes were directed by none other than "Wally Cleaver" himself, Tony Dow, while Andrew Stevens helmed a few others. The guest cast occasionally features notable names such as Stevens, Roscoe Lee Browne, Sandahl Bergman, Peter Mark Richman, and Wolfman Jack.

The DVD's picture and sound are of the same quality you can usually expect from Shout! Factory, with the standard full-screen TV image. The packaging (two double-disc slimline cases) and menus are nicely designed, though lacking an episode list with summaries, guest stars, and other info. As a bonus to the 22 half-hour episodes (presented here in the original order in which they were intended), a nineteen-minute featurette entitled "The Men Behind the Muck" contains interviews with Dick Durock and co-creator (with Berni Wrightson) Len Wein. Wein's enthusiasm for comics and writing in general is infectious, while Durock offers up an interesting history of his participation in the Swamp Thing's different screen incarnations.

At times, the Stefano influence gives "Swamp Thing" the feel of an old "Outer Limits" episode--indeed, Swampy would've been a perfect character for that classic show. Stefano also made sure that, while there would be no shortage of monsters and other weird stuff, the quality of the writing remained relatively high. In the episode "Falco", Swamp Thing has a rather philosophical exchange with a man (Richman) who used to be a peregrin falcon until Dr. Arcane got done with him, leaving him with a human body and a large falcon's wing in place of his right arm. The two kindred souls discuss what it's like to be freaks of nature and whether or not revenge is the right path to take. A chance occurrence gives Falco a more inspirational outlook on life and leaves us with an uplifting ending.

Another episode, "The Legend of the Swamp Maiden", has some surprisingly erotic overtones. Jim and his older-but-not-wiser friend Obo (Anthony Galde) sneak out into the swamp one night to witness the appearance of the fabled title character. She emerges naked from the swamp, and seduces Obo into a kiss that turns him into a monster. Appearing later in a revealing plant outfit she gets into a kinky wrestling match with Swamp Thing. Finally, the naked-again swamp maiden disappears back into the depths. I don't know about you, but my kid shows didn't have half-naked babes in them.

Then comes episode fourteen, and suddenly things have changed drastically. Joe Stefano's name no longer appears in the credits. Jim Kipp, last seen kidnapped by Dr. Arcane and being transported in a cage by truck to parts unknown, is history. Man, this has got to be the most unceremonious departure of a continuing child character I've ever seen. To paraphrase Tom Hagen: "It's like he never even existed." Meanwhile, Jim's older half-brother Will (Scott Garrison) has come home to stay, and Kari Wuhrer joins the cast as Abigail, a discarded result of Dr. Arcane's experiments in creating human life without human DNA. She moves in to cook for Tress, who's busy with a new swamp-tour business, and also to serve as a romantic interest for Will. So, with a hunky guy and a hot babe suddenly running around the swamp, the show takes on a rather different dynamic. As for Dr. Arcane, he's even more sinister than ever, now turning innocent humans into genetic mutations for sale as slave labor, among other atrocities. What a great guy.

The blending of family-oriented drama with monsters and sci-fi elements is pretty smoothly done and makes "Swamp Thing" a show that can be appreciated on both the kid and adult level. In this way it kinda reminds me of "The Incredible Hulk", in which the grown-ups could enjoy the serious adventures of Bill Bixby while the kids waited for him to Hulk out. It also brings to mind, of all things, SHANE. In that classic Alan Ladd western, a family of settlers is terrorized by bad guys trying to run them off their land until a mysterious stranger with special abilities rides to the rescue and becomes the little boy's hero. I don't think it's too much of a stretch to say that this describes much of "Swamp Thing" pretty well, except you don't need a six-gun to fight the bad guys when you can sic the environment on them.

"SWAMP THING: THE SERIES" -- DVD Review by Porfle

THE 4 MUSKETEERS -- Movie Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 4/17/11

 

I've never read Alexandre Dumas' "The Three Musketeers", but through the years have become familiar with the storyline thanks to various other filmizations and, yes, the "Classics Illustrated" comic book version.  So I know enough to recognize some rather drastic liberties the 2005 Canada/France/UK/Czech Republic production THE 4 MUSKETEERS takes with the story, not the least of which being the fact that Milady de Winter is presented as not just evil, but a full-fledged diabolical sorceress in league with Satan.  I guess if you're going to make alterations to the original story you might as well go all out.

The basics: a young commoner named D'Artagnan travels to Paris to become a musketeer.  He manages to offend three different musketeers  and is challenged to separate duels by all three, but when the cardinal's guards arrive and try to arrest them for dueling, the four join forces against them and become friends.  Subsequently, they end up trying to foil a plot by Le cardinal de Richelieu to discredit the Queen with the help of the evil Milady de Winter.  Dark intrigue and lots of swashbuckling ensue.

The initial meeting of D'Artagnan and the three musketeers isn't handled as well in this version as I've seen it done before, but it's there.  The affair of the Queen's necklace with the twelve diamond tags is pretty nicely portrayed, and other original story elements appear frequently in one form or another.  It seems a strange decision, though, to turn this into a supernatural thriller with sorcery, pacts with the Devil, and other fantasy elements.  There's even a "wuh-oh" ending so overly-familiar to viewers these days, a jarring replacement for the rousing, triumphant fade-out one might expect.  At any rate, director-screenwriter Pierre Aknine gets points for trying something different.

Dumas' novel has been filmed numerous times dating well back into the silent era--even the Ritz Brothers took a crack at it in 1939.  Richard Lester's 1973 THE THREE MUSKETEERS is probably the best--the theater audience I saw it with at the time stood up and applauded at the end, then cheered enthusiastically when a preview of the follow-up, THE FOUR MUSKETEERS, came onscreen. 

I don't think audiences would cheer this version, though.  Anyway, you might have to wake them up first--it's three hours long, and there's a heck of a lot more yakkity-yak than swordplay going on, at least when the characters aren't running, riding, or rowing from one location to the next.  The bonafide swordfights one expects from a movie like this are few and far between, and these are marred by bad editing and camerawork which make it difficult to evaluate the merits of the fight choreography.  There's even some iffy wirework and wince-inducing CGI involved to remind us that we're watching an action film made in an era in which such ingredients seem to be required by law.

Sumptuous production design and photography are highlights, as are some noteworthy performances.  Emmanuelle Béart (MISSION:IMPOSSIBLE), easily the stand-out of the cast, is fascinating to watch as Milady de Winter, and Stefania Rocca (THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY) makes a lovely and dignified young Queen Anne D'Autriche.  As Le cardinal de Richelieu, Tchéky Karyo ("Serge", THE CORE) is adequate but not nearly as impressive a presence as Charlton Heston was in the Lester version.  As for the others, some really bad dubbing makes it difficult to evaluate their performances. 

Most of the focus is on D'Artagnan (the original title is, in fact, D'ARTAGNAN ET LES TROIS MOUSQUETAIRES), and Vincent Elbaz, who looks like a cross between a hair-metal guitarist and a male model with a touch of "Weird Al" Yankovic thrown in, gives the character a strange mix of noble valor and goofiness that gets easier to take as the movie progresses.  The actors portraying the three musketeers themselves capably fulfill what the script requires them to do, which isn't nearly enough. 

Their characters are given short shrift here--they're like supporting players in their own story.  Aramis (Grégori Derangère) is an amourous rogue, Athos (Heino Ferch) is haunted by his past association with Milady de Winter, and Porthos (Grégory Gadebois)  is, well, portly.  These bare-bones traits are just about all we're given to identify them with, which makes those frequent shots of the four musketeers riding together with triumphant music blaring in the background feel somewhat hollow.

The closing sequence is drawn out longer than necessary, and the movie ends on a downer.  Along the way, if you can make it through all the talky scenes, there's some pretty exciting action, especially when Emmanuelle Béart's Milady de Winter goes into full-out attack mode (she's definitely the best thing about this version).  The movie looks great but the direction and camerawork range from stunning to irritatingly offhand, and three of the main characters--that is, any of THE 4 MUSKETEERS who aren't D'Artagnan--are so disappointingly underdeveloped that they might have been played by the Ritz Brothers without affecting anything much. 

Although sparsely entertaining during parts of its three-hour running time, it's not a movie I'd enthusiastically recommend you go out and rent--at least not if the much-superior (and much more fun) Richard Lester version is sitting next to it on the rack.

THE 4 MUSKETEERS -- Movie Review by Porfle

SHE-WOLF -- DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 4/3/19

 

It took me a few scenes before I got what Argentinian director and co-writer Tamae Garateguy (UNTIE YOU UNTIE ME) was up to with SHE-WOLF, aka "Mujer lobo" (Film Movement, 2014). 

But once I caught on, this bloody psychological horror-thriller became one of the most exhilarating movie experiences I've had in a long time.

Bare bones synopsis: a vicious female serial killer (the "Mujer Lobo" of the title) seduces men and then, either during or after sex, murders them. One of her potential victims happens to be an undercover cop named Garcia, who begins to track her down with a vengeance.

 

Meanwhile, she falls in love with a young drug dealer named Leo, who is unaware of her nefarious nocturnal activities, after he helps her escape from the dogged cop.

But here's what really kicks SHE-WOLF into play: this Mujer has multiple personalities, each played by a different actress.  Mujer Lobo (Mónica Lairana) is the ruthless and utterly feral she-beast who kills for pleasure. Mujer Rubia (Luján Ariza) is a blonde bimbo-slash-nympho who helps lure Mujer Lobo's victims to their doom.  And Mujer Joven (Guadalupe Docampo) is the straight-laced, innocent young woman who must suffer the deeds of her other selves.

Director Garateguy handles the transitions from one actress/personality to the next brilliantly, leaving us constantly on edge as to which one will come to the fore during the Mujer's romantic interludes with Leo or other interpersonal dealings.

 

Often all three will take turns engaging in a particular situation, as when Joven's sex play with Leo suddenly goes from wildly erotic to dark and frightening when Rubia and Lobo get their blood up.

This also gives an added edge to the murder scenes when Rubia's insatiable sex drive is overcome by Lobo's animalistic bloodlust, sometimes right in the most inopportune stages of oral sex. 

Lobo, we find in several startling scenes, has a fondness for biting, which comes in handy not only when killing for pleasure but also for disposing of certain adversaries in order to protect the sweetly vulnerable Mujer Joven.

Garateguy's direction and the film's dreamlike black and white photography are often brilliant, with a sort of David Lynch quality that makes it all visually fascinating.

Performances are first-rate, and watching the main character's unpredictable switches from one personality to another keeps us in a constant state of keen suspense. We never know which personality will emerge dominant at any given time, or what pandemonium may result.

Disturbing yet delightfully intriguing, SHE-WOLF is a bracing dive into the deep end of dark, weird dream cinema and a marvel of fine technical and artistic filmmaking.  But best of all, it's a one-way ticket for fans who enjoy the occasional first-class seat on the horror express.



TECH SPECS
Format: NTSC
Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
Number of discs: 1
Language: Spanish with English subtitles
Bonus: None
Studio: Omnibus Entertainment (distributed by Film Movement)
DVD Release Date: March 12, 2019
Run Time: 92 minutes

SHE-WOLF -- DVD Review by Porfle

FEAST II: SLOPPY SECONDS -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 10/7/08

 

I didn't see FEAST, but that doesn't matter because FEAST II (2008) just picks up where the first one left off and plunges ahead with more reckless abandon than Rosie O'Donnell fighting over the last Ring-Ding. And I haven't had this much fun watching a gore-drenched, insanely irreverent, and just plain demented horror comedy since FROM DUSK TILL DAWN.

We quickly pick up enough info to know that in the first film, a remote desert bar was attacked by horrendous man-eating monsters. A cycle dyke named Harley Mom was killed by a sleazy guy named Bozo. The bartender (Clu Gulager) and a ditzy chick named Honey Pie (Jenny Wade) survived. And when Harley Mom's twin sister Biker Queen (Diane Goldner again) shows up at the start of this movie, she grabs the bartender and motors toward the nearest town seething with a lust for revenge against Bozo.

Unfortunately, that town is crawling with the same monsters and it's about half past dinnertime. Biker Queen rolls in with her gang of hot-bad cycle chicks who soon find themselves holed up in a garage with the motliest assortment of characters this side of FREAKS. People are ripped apart, disembowled, eaten alive, shot full of holes, smashed with ball-peen hammers, impaled through the head by pipes, and slowly melted by internal monster juices. Human and monster bodily fluids fly. A cat is raped. A midget is shot out of a catapult. And aside from all that, some of what happens is really over the top.

FEAST II is probably one of the few horror films you'll ever see in which Mexican midget wrestling is integral to the plot. It's also, as far as I know, the first sequel to a "Project: Greenlight" flick. Director John Gulager lets his imagination go wild and gives us a picture that snaps, crackles, pops, and bleeds all over the place, with the help of Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan's cartoonishly splat-stick screenplay. With his dad Clu (one of my all-time favorite actors), brother Tom (memorable as the cowardly "Greg Swank"), wife Diane Goldner, and infant nephew Clu, Junior on board, it's truly a dysfunctional family affair.

The talented cast is so large that I can't list everyone, but Carl Anthony Payne is hilarious as Slasher, a used car dealer who "slashes" prices, and so are Hanna Putnam as his wife "Secrets" (who's having an affair with fellow car salesman Greg Swank), Jenny Wade as Honey Pie, and little people Martin Klebba and Juan Longoria García as Thunder and Lightning, the midget wrestlers who also run the town's key shop, which figures importantly in the plot.

Special mention must go not only to Goldner as the macho bike-dyke Biker Queen, but also to her crew of gorgeous cycle chix who, in grand exploitation style, end up stark naked before the movie's over because their clothes are somehow required in the construction of the midget catapult. And the fact that I was able to write that sentence just now is one of the reasons I like this movie so much.

The budget isn't huge here but the director and his crew make the most of both their resources and their location, the small town of Plain Dealing, Louisiana. The monster suits are great and the gore effects well executed. Yes, I noticed the use of green screen in several of the rooftop scenes, but it's tolerable. The showstopper has got to be the dissection scene, in which Greg Swank thinks they can learn more about the creatures by examining a dead specimen's inner workings. This results in one of the most horrendously gross sequences I've ever witnessed, in which the dead monster manages to drench everyone in the room with gallons of vile bodily fluids of all varieties, to which they all respond by vomiting their guts out. It's practically indescribable, but it's also screamingly funny.

The DVD is widescreen with Dolby sound and English and Spanish subtitles. Extras include an intimate cast and crew commentary and two fun featurettes entitled "Scared Half to Death Twice: The Making of Feast II" and "Meet the Gulagers."

Nothing is sacred in FEAST II: SLOPPY SECONDS, and many viewers will be offended. Some scenes, in fact, may have certain viewers ripping the DVD out of the player, stomping on it, smashing it to pieces, and setting it on fire. Others, however, will simply laugh with glee, sing "That's Entertainment!", and enjoy every minute of it. The abrupt ending, unfortunately, leaves us hanging until the inevitable third film in the trilogy. In my mind, I'm already there.

FEAST II: SLOPPY SECONDS -- DVD Review by Porfle

PULSE 3 -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 12/19/08

 

I missed the first installment in what is now the PULSE trilogy, but I did catch the second one and found it entertaining enough to look forward to part three. And here it is-- PULSE 3 (2008), the final segment in the saga of a global apocalypse that occurs when a freak technological discovery opens up a portal between the world of the living and the dark, terrifying dimension of the dead.

The last movie ended with a newly-orphaned little girl named Justine (Karley Scott Collins) boarding a bus which would take her to an isolated refugee colony in West Texas, far from any visual communications devices or internet connections through which the soul-sucking ghosts enter our world. Now seventeen and chafing from the confines of her near-primitive lifestyle, Justine (the winsome Brittany Renee Finamore) runs away from her foster parents and heads for Houston after discovering a working laptop computer and making friends with an unseen IM buddy named Adam.

After barely surviving a harrowing encounter with a lonesome cotton farmer along the way, Justine reaches the ruined city to find it inhabited only by baleful ghosts. Her search for Adam leads her right into the clutches of an old acquaintance from the previous film, The Man With A Plan (Todd Giebenhain). Holed up in his red-lined loft (the color red repels the ghosts), this psychotic yet highly-intelligent wacko has been developing a plan to foil the spirit invasion in conjunction with the military. The main drawback is that his plan involves lots of nuclear weapons. Locked in a red room with a captive ghost, Justine must find a way to escape and make contact with Adam--if he's even still alive.

PULSE 3 never builds up much of a head of steam and isn't quite the finale I'd expected, but it's still an entertaining and well-made grade B horror flick. Like the previous film, much of it is done with green-screen, both in exterior and interior shots, which might prove distracting or even off-putting for some viewers. Still, the photography is good and the film is technically superior to a lot of equally low-budget efforts I've seen. Director Joel Soisson's script offers an intriguing mystery concerning Adam's character, along with several imaginative vignettes along the way.

First off is the cool opening sequence which shows college student Adam (Rider Strong) carrying on a long-distance romance with an Egyptian girl named Salwa (Noureen DeWulf) via several monitor screens situated in the various rooms of their respective apartments. They chat, watch movies, have dinner together--everything short of actual physical contact. When the spirit invasion begins, Adam must witness Salwa's demise through her cell phone camera as she wanders onto a fire escape in a trancelike daze and jumps off.

My favorite sequence is when Justine, tired from her long journey toward Houston, spends a night with the lonesome cotton farmer, Wilkie (Thomas Merdis in a very good performance). At first she fears that the outwardly-nice but sorta creepy Wilkie may try to make sexual advances toward her, but his true intentions are even more terrifying and result in the film's goriest and most disturbing segment. Also quite entertaining is Justine's encounter with The Man With A Plan in his gadget-filled loft, which was filmed in an abandoned YMCA's indoor running track. Todd Giebenhain's performance is a hoot as he paces around the track, manically spouting reams of dialogue about his plan for wiping out the ghosts using the EMP from several airborn nuclear blasts.

The ghosts themselves aren't employed as effectively here as in the previous film, but there are some unnerving scenes and a few good shock cuts here and there. The filmmakers do a good job of depicting Houston as a ruined, empty city, and the scenes of Justine's shantytown home in the middle of nowhere are equally well designed and atmospheric.

The DVD is in matted widescreen format with good image and sound quality. Special features include a nice, low-key commentary with writer/director Soisson, Producer Mike Leahy, editor Kirk Morri, and star Brittany Finamore, plus a brief making-of featurette and some trailers.

How much you like or dislike PULSE 3 will have a lot to do with your expectations. As the conclusion to a trilogy, it falls far short of its potential and doesn't satisfy the anticipation the second chapter left me with. It's episodic, underpopulated, and sparsely plotted. But as a minor horror flick done by imaginative filmmakers on a low budget, I found it fairly entertaining and fun.

 

PULSE 3 -- DVD Review by Porfle

PULSE 2 -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 9/30/08

 

2006's PULSE, based on the Japanese horror film KAIRO, began what will be a trilogy about an apocalyptic invasion by supernatural entities after a freak technological glitch inadvertently bridges the gulf between the living and the dead. PULSE 2 (2008) gets right on with the story and pretty much assumes that those of us who didn't see the first film will catch up, giving us just enough exposition along the way to keep the slowly-unfolding mystery intriguing while maintaining a high creep factor.

The afterlife, it turns out, is a dark and lonely dimension. So when a portal to the world of the living is opened up, ghosts begin to pop up all over the place--via computers, cell phones, and televisions--and suck the will to live from anyone they touch. These victims, in turn, either commit suicide or die from a horrible disease that quickly turns them to carbon dust. When divorced mother Michelle (Georgina Rylance) wakes up in her apartment amidst a cloud of this dust and finds that her young daughter Justine is missing, she fears the worst. But things are much darker and more sinister than even she suspects.

Meanwhile, Michelle's ex-husband Stephen (Jamie Bamber, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA) and daughter Justine (Karley Scott Collins) are hiding out in a cabin in the woods, where they hope to remain isolated from the plague that is spreading everywhere. Stephen's insufferable girlfriend Marta (Boti Bliss) shows up and, after accidentally turning on his laptop, they discover that he's receiving dozens of email messages reading "Help Me" over and over--from a dead person. Their location now exposed by this Internet connection, Stephen and Justine are then forced to flee cross-country in search of a safe zone beyond the reach of technology, with malevolent spirits hot on their trail.

For a sequel, PULSE 2 is a fairly stand-alone story that had me in suspense throughout. While the open ending left me anticipating part three, there was enough of a resolution to keep it from feeling as wide open as the middle entries in other trilogies often are.

Much of the early part of the film has an eerie "Twilight Zone" feel as we try to figure out what's going on. The ghosts look like old, flickering black-and-white video images, which is a pretty cool idea. Writer-director Joel Soisson does a good job of staging the scary stuff, giving us some mildly effective shock cuts while establishing an overall atmosphere of dread.

There isn't a lot of gore, although an extreme BCM (Bad Cat Moment) may have cat lovers hitting the fast forward button. Here, Michelle's Aunt Carmen (veteran actress Lee Garlington) and Uncle Pete are on either side of a locked bedroom door, and one of them is a ghost. Later, a delightfully nasty scene has an infected woman seducing a fat guy and then literally being reduced to black goo beneath his heaving body as they make out on the floor. Other instances of violent suicide and hostile ghost attacks help to keep things interesting.

As it's hard to depict the end of the world on a low budget, a large amount of PULSE 2 is done with green screen. Granted, this is some pretty good green screen--I've definitely seen a lot worse. But while you don't notice it as much in a futuristic or fantasy setting, it's pretty obvious when used for everyday backgrounds like houses, city streets, forests, deserts, etc. I got used to this after awhile and it didn't bother me, but for viewers with a less willing suspension of disbelief this element will probably prove a major drawback.

Karley Scott Collins handles the crucial role of Justine very convincingly for such a young actress. Jamie Bamber and Georgina Rylance are also good as her parents, Stephen and Michelle, whose custody battle over Justine really gets serious when one of them joins the ranks of the living dead. The rest of the cast is fine, particularly the ever-reliable Lee Garlington as Aunt Carmen and Boti Bliss (who looks like she could be Ashton Kutcher's sister) as the sexy but unstable Marta. Special mention goes to Todd Giebenhain as Ziegler, a sarcastic, wrapped-in-red computer geek (the color red repels ghosts) who holds Justine hostage until Stephen ventures into a haunted warehouse to fetch him a particular electronic component. It's a good bet we'll see him again in part three.

The DVD is in matted widescreen format with Dolby 5.1 and English and Spanish subtitles. Extras include a group commentary track, two deleted scenes (an unfinished one shows the actors performing in front of the green screen), and a preview of PULSE 3.

After sneaking a peek at the IMDb page for this movie, I notice that so far it isn't exactly taking the world by storm. For me, it was consistently entertaining, with a certain Dean Koontz vibe that I found appealing. PULSE 2 isn't a classic, and there's that little matter of the ubiquitous green screen, but for a low-budget, direct-to-video apocalyptic horror flick I'd say it's well worth checking out.

 

PULSE 2 -- DVD Review by Porfle

DEATH DEFYING ACTS: HOUDINI'S SECRET -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 10/29/08

 

Mixing a dash of truth with heaping helpings of fiction, the UK-Australian film DEATH DEFYING ACTS: HOUDINI'S SECRET (2008) finds legendary escapologist Harry Houdini in Edinburgh, Scotland during his final 1926 European tour (truth), where he meets and falls in love with a beautiful con woman named Mary McGarvie who claims she can help him contact the spirit of his dear, departed mother (fiction). The result is a handsomely-mounted romantic fantasy with an intriguing "what if?" premise and some interesting performances.

Mary and her young tomboyish daughter, Benji, live in an impossibly cozy shack in a cemetery and earn a living performing in a local music hall as "the tantalizing Princess Kali and her dusky disciple." This gives Catherine Zeta-Jones a chance to look fabulous in a skimpy harem costume while she and a brown-faced Benji wow the rubes with their fake psychic act. When Houdini triumphantly enters the city to an ecstatic reception, his standing offer of $10,000 to anyone who can prove their psychic veracity by reciting his mother's dying words to him is an irresistible opportunity for the mother-daughter team.

They set about trying to dig up personal information on Houdini to aid in their deception, and in the process Harry and Mary begin to fall for each other. This unusual romance, and how it effects both a jealous Benji and Harry's doting manager-slash-keeper Mr. Sugarman (Timothy Spall), keeps the story moving until the moment of truth in which Mary is expected to wield her psychic powers before an expectant Houdini and a horde of eager reporters.

Guy Pearce plays Houdini as a gruff but friendly egotist with an imposing personality and boundless energy. The usually rail-thin Pearce comes as a shock in his first shirtless scene--with his new muscular frame he hardly looks like the same person we saw in L.A. CONFIDENTIAL, MEMENTO, or THE TIME MACHINE. Catherine Zeta-Jones is a more restrained presence, but her Mary is just as strong-willed as Houdini and rejects his amorous advances until she's sure he regards her as more than a casual fling. As it turns out, Harry's interest in her is based in large part on her uncanny resemblance to his mother, which gives the story an added element of--well, weirdness.

The most interesting performance comes from 14-year-old Saoirse Ronan as Benji. She's a remarkably skilled, thoughtful actress who pretty much steals every scene she's in while doing so in a subtle and natural manner. Her Benji narrates the film, which we see mainly from her viewpoint and experience through her character. Much of the story's emotional resonance comes from the conflict between her devotion to her mother and her hero-worship of Houdini, who is, after all, the object of their deceptive scheme.

Director Gillian Armstrong (MY BRILLIANT CAREER, LITTLE WOMEN) handles the action well and gives the film a hazy, golden-hued, nostalgic look. Lush period detail fills the frame in every scene. The main titles display Armstrong's sometimes quirky visual sense--we see a strait-jacketed Pearce enter the water from below the surface and then drift into closeup, where he floats motionless and calmly holds his breath in one long, unbroken take until the credits are done. It looks like a SPFX shot but it isn't, and Pearce's breath control is the result of training with a professional.

We don't see much of Houdini's performance magic after that, although his famous water torture escape is very nicely duplicated early on. Armstrong imaginatively uses this device as a means for mystical floating visions to appear to whoever is inside it. Houdini sees a ghostly image of his mother, complete with pennies over her eyes; Benji, after accidentally falling in, sees a red-haired angelic harbinger of Houdini's death.

For me, the highlight is the sequence in which Mary is expected to channel the spirit of Houdini's mother before the assembled press and reveal her last words to him. It doesn't go off as expected, and there's a startling twist in which the boundary between fakery and actual spiritualism is apparently blurred. Surprisingly, it's Saoirse Ronan's performance in this scene which is the most impressive.

The widescreen picture and sound are good. The commentary track is just the kind I like--both continuous and well-balanced between being scene-specific and generally informative. It's also amusing the way director Armstrong keeps up a constant monologue while producer Marian Macgowan, who has a better memory for details, inserts various names and other factual data almost seamlessly into the pauses. Additional features consist of a "making-of" featurette and a trailer. There are no deleted scenes because, as Armstrong tells us, the script by Tony Grisoni and Brian Ward was so tight that it didn't require any trimming after it was filmed.

Not quite a remarkable film, DEATH DEFYING ACTS: HOUDINI'S SECRET is still an involving and visually satisfying historical fiction that benefits from its lead performances, imaginative story, and fine period setting. The rather peculiar romance between Harry and Mary is far more intriguing and adult than the usual Harlequin nonsense, while the mystical elements give it a nice dark tone and are left tantalizingly unresolved.

 

DEATH DEFYING ACTS: HOUDINI'S SECRET -- DVD Review by Porfle

BOY A -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 10/4/08

 

Over the years, I've occasionally seen movies that are so sad that they make me feel bad for days. This usually means that it's a good movie that has accomplished what it set out to do, which is to make me sad. BOY A (2007) is one of those movies, and boy, did it ever.

"Boy A" is the designation used during a sensational murder trial to refer to one of two young boys charged with the murder of a little girl. Now, years later, the older Jack (Andrew Garfield) is finally being paroled after growing up in captivity, and faces the world with a new name and a new chance at life. With the help of a caring parole officer-slash-social worker named Terry (Peter Mullan), Jack begins to settle into his job and make friends, and even form a tentative romantic relationship with pretty co-worker Michelle (Katie Lyons).

Eager to do well in his new life and wide-eyed with wonder at the world around him, Jack is likable from the start. But we worry that he may harbor violent tendencies that could emerge at any time, especially when he jumps in to fight off some thugs who attack his new friend Chris (Shaun Evans) during a drunken night out clubbing. However, an unexpected event crops up--one which seems contrived at first, but is played very well--which gives us a whole new concern. When Jack and Chris happen upon an auto accident and save the life of a little girl, they're thrust into the limelight, where Jack now runs the risk of being recognized by an unforgiving public who still perceive him as a monster.

Andrew Garfield is terrific as Jack, with an acting style that's totally natural and unforced--he's able to gain our empathy from the first scene and hold it for the rest of the movie. The realism and understatement of his performance make an already well-written screenplay even more effective. Since he's basically a boy in a man's body, his efforts to make friends and his first fumbling love scenes with Michelle are almost painful to watch, and we're happy for him every time he makes a breakthrough and inches closer to achieving a normal life.

As Jack's parole officer Terry, Peter Mullan (TRAINSPOTTING, BRAVEHEART) does a fine job of conveying compassion and concern for Jack, which, we'll discover later, is partly an effort to make up for a failed relationship with his own son. And in the flashback scenes which show us what led up to the initial crime, Taylor Doherty is outstanding as Phillip, an abused and very troubled boy whose friendship and influence over the young Jack prove disastrous.

Everything in Mark O'Rowe's screenplay is so deftly underplayed and effective that there's no need for big, showy scenes to reach out and grab us. John Crowley's direction is similarly restrained yet creative, brimming with imaginative compositions and impeccable photography. The score by Paddy Cunneen is similarly artful and evocative.

The DVD is in 1.85:1 widescreen format with Dolby 5.1 and English and Spanish subtitles. There aren't any extras, but after the last shot of this movie, I was too stunned to care.

BOY A has no showstopper ending filled with histrionic acting and heart-tugging melodrama, yet it's as emotionally devastating as anything I've seen. Some very talented filmmakers have given us a story that's deeply moving, involving, and worthwhile, but make no mistake--they want us to feel bad. Boy, do they ever. And when Jack's wonderful new life comes crashing down around him like a house of cards, it's like one of those nightmares that won't let go even after you wake up.

 

BOY A -- DVD Review by Porfle

DEAD IN 3 DAYS -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 3/4/09

 

At first, the Austrian horror film DEAD IN 3 DAYS, aka In 3 Tagen bist du tot (2006), seems to have all the makings of yet another forgettable teen slasher flick. But it quickly proves to be a sober, atmospheric murder mystery-thriller with believable characters and a suspenseful story that held my interest till the very end.

A close-knit group of childhood friends celebrating their graduation from school each start getting a text message on their cell phones that reads: "Dead in 3 days." When one of them disappears from a dance, the others report it to the police but aren't taken seriously until his body is found floating in a nearby lake, bound and weighed down by an anchor. Then, when Nina (Sabrina Reiter) is abducted from her home and barely escapes alive from the hooded killer's lair, it becomes clear that the group of friends have been marked for death. So they have three days to figure out who's after them and why.

An early incident in which they run over a small deer on an isolated road and are forced to club the suffering animal to death brings the inferior I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER to mind, but fortunately this merely hints at a more extreme occurrence in their past that binds them together and will soon come back to haunt them. (Which was a relief since I wasn't all that interested in watching a horror movie about a deer avenger.) This establishes a tone of shared guilt that will increase as the story progresses. With the first murder, which is shown in agonizing detail from the victim's point of view, it's clear that no one is safe and that anything can happen.

The teens, thank goodness, are fairly well-developed characters and not just cardboard cutouts. They work at part-time jobs, argue with their parents, have unstable home lives, etc. and aren't always entirely likable. Even when they have sex, it's unexploitive and not simply to get us stoked up for their slaughter by-the-numbers. The fact that we care about them creates genuine tension instead of just the usual build-up to the next jump scare.

That said, this is a pretty scary movie at times, with touches of old-school graphic violence. The "fish tank" scene is well-staged and harkens back to 80s films like HE KNOWS YOU'RE ALONE and SILENT PARTNER--as soon as Clemens (Michael Steinocher) notices the tank's dangerously sharp edge while filling it with fish, it's pretty obvious that somebody's eventually going to have a bad throat day.

While these instances of gory violence are shocking, they're not really what the movie is about. Ultimately it's the mounting tension and a heavy atmosphere of suspense and dread that drive the story and keep us on the edge of our seats. Directors Andreas Prochaska and Stewart St. John involve the viewer with unique camera angles (especially a good use of overhead and POV shots) and consistently compelling photography. This is a very visual movie, with muted colors--even the daylight scenes have a hazy look--and the deliberate pace gives us time to be immersed in the mood.

Certain dramatic moments are emphasized by switching to slow-motion and/or silence. When the first victim's body is found, there's no dialogue for several minutes, with only the images telling the story and conveying the emotions. It's a reminder of how effective silent movies could be at times, without all the noise and chatter. At other times there's even a Dario Argento-like quality in the use of interiors and exteriors to help build an overall sense of unease. In some shots you might almost think it was Argento's camera lingering over eerie windswept trees or prowling down shadowy hallways. All of this is bound together by a recurring water motif, the reason for which becomes clear at the end.

The DVD is in 1.85:1 widescreen with Dolby Digital sound and your choice of English dub or original German soundtrack with subtitles. There are no bonus features.

Once the surviving members of the original group figure out what's going on and who's after them, they decide to sneak away from police protection and take on the killer themselves. Incredibly dumb, yes, but it does lead to a bloody, intense finale that left me with that special glow that comes from having just watched a really good horror movie. For its rich, inventive visual style alone, DEAD IN 3 DAYS is well worth watching.

 

DEAD IN 3 DAYS -- DVD Review by Porfle

APOLLO 18 -- DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 12/13/11

 

I love a good "found-footage" mockumentary if it's done right, as it was with THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT (the grandaddy of FFMs) or the recent ATROCIOUS.  And as an avid fan of the USA space program during the 60s, I was sucked right into APOLLO 18 (2011) from the very start and stayed there till the classic "film running out of the projector" ending. 

The film is supposedly edited together from several hours of classified NASA footage of a secret moon shot which took place after the official "final" moon mission, Apollo 17.  Lt. Col. John Grey (Ryan Robbins) orbits the moon in the command capsule while Commander Nathan Walker (Lloyd Owen) and Captain Benjamin Anderson (Warren Christie) settle onto the lunar surface and start collecting moon rocks.  But first, they have to set up and activate a mysterious device--whose ostensible purpose is to track Soviet missile activity--at the behest of the Department of Defense.



All of this is presented via extremely convincing simulations of the aged, sometimes ragged film footage we've all seen of early NASA missions (along with simulated 8mm home movies of the astronauts and their families), which match almost seamlessly with generous stock footage of the real thing.  Close views of the moon suspended against a black void create an eerie, baleful mood early on and we begin to get a sense of the astronauts' total isolation.  This is heightened when Nate and Ben sit on the moon's surface in their cramped lander, as alone and vulnerable as two people can be, or explore a realistically-rendered lunar landscape strewn with pitch black shadows.

Director Gonzalo López-Gallego, aided by a cast of actors who are very adept at acting natural and unscripted, recreates the sort of light banter and good-natured antics we used to see from real astronauts when they knew the whole world was watching them.  Knowing that APOLLO 18 is a space horror film, however, and that the DOD doo-dad they've just set up must somehow bode ill, gives us a growing unease as little things begin to happen that alter the casual mood of the mission to one of severe apprehension.  And since the world is unaware of this particular moon shot, these guys are really on their own when they begin to suspect that they've been set up.

López-Gallego uses many clever visual tricks to create a spooky mood or, in some cases, a genuine jump-scare.  An astronaut takes photos in a dark crater until one flash suddenly reveals something terrifying; a seemingly random static shot of the moonscape or LEM interior seems harmless until we think we see movement in the periphery. 

The setting is especially effective because when these guys hear a mysterious noise or spot something moving around, it isn't rats in the woodwork and it sure ain't the wind.  As the unexplained and seemingly impossible events begin to escalate, so does the sense of claustrophobia and paranoia within the astronauts' fragile haven of life support.



I've tried to avoid giving anything away because not knowing is a major part of the fun with this movie.  I will say that Nate and Ben make some gut-wrenching discoveries on the moon (some of them quite queasily horrific) which force them to question everything they believe about the space program in general and their own increasingly doomed mission in particular.  Rarely does a story get to present a situation in which two guys are so utterly screwed, and I was with them all the way--vicariously, thank goodness--until the haunting final images. 

The DVD from Anchor Bay, Dimension, and the Weinsteins is in 1.78:1 widescreen with Dolby 5.1 sound and subtitles in English and Spanish.  Extras include a very informative director and editor commentary, deleted and alternate scenes, and four alternate endings.  The film comes as a Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital combo--this review is for the DVD only. 

As I understand, the majority of reviews for APOLLO 18 have not been favorable, with words such as "boring" and "suspense-free" popping up here and there.  I found the film riveting from beginning to end--it reminds me of the kind of stuff Joseph Stefano used to write back when "The Outer Limits" was in its heyday, an uneasy mix of both "sense of wonder" and hopeless dread.

APOLLO 18 -- DVD Review by Porfle

"PROJECT RUNWAY 4" -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 11/8/08

 

I detest the concept of "fashion", and skinny supermodels clomping around on a runway in freaky clothes don't do much for me. So why did I enjoy PROJECT RUNWAY 4 so much? Maybe it's because I'm a science-fiction fan, and watching these people and what they do holds the same giddy fascination as watching a STAR WARS prequel, with the added bonus that it's all strangely real.

In this fourth season DVD set of the popular reality show, fifteen aspiring fashion designers assemble to compete in a series of assignments that test their creativity, skill, and speed. Their tasks can be anything from designing a new look for some guest celebrity (such as Sara Jessica Parker or football star Tiki Barber) to fabricating a wearable ensemble out of candy wrappers, to outfitting a bunch of nitpicky teenage girls for their prom. In one outlandish segment, they even get to design costumes for a group of WWE Divas. Their ultimate goal? To outlast the competition during the elimination rounds and break into the fashion industry.

With each episode comes a new fashion challenge. First, there's a mad dash to buy fabric on a limited budget and then, using all the resourcefulness and improvisational skills they can muster, construct whatever they've dreamed up and stick it onto a model. When their time's up, they have to present whatever they've come up with to the judges, ready or not, and face their painfully blunt criticism. Each episode's winner gets immunity in the next challenge, while the person with the worst design gets an "auf wiedersehen" from host Heidi Klum.

Here, unlike a lot of other reality shows, you don't have to worry about who's voting who off and who has alliances or whatever. And the challenges aren't a bunch of made-up playground games as on SURVIVOR--it's all directly related to who the contestants are and what they want to do with their lives. Thus, the drama and the intense feelings are all real, and the tension level is almost nonstop.

Big-time fashion guru Tim Gunn serves as "mentor" to the contestants, wandering through their workroom and offering observations such as "Ricky doesn't look good...Ricky looks a little panicky" and "This worries me." Tim comes off as impenetrable drollness on wheels at first but reveals himself as a big teddy bear later on. The judges, various well-known designers and fashion critics along with Heidi herself, watch what's presented to them on the runway with either measured approval or naked disdain. After a while we begin to get used to such straightfaced assessments as "Where's the 'wow'?" and "This looks so sad. You made us very sad." During one judges' conference, Heidi brandishes the shears: "I guess they all thought they were better than they really are."

What really makes PROJECT RUNWAY 4 fun to watch, though, is the odd assortment of contestants. They're a great mix of personalities and it doesn't take long to become familiar with them all and start to choose favorites. My favorite didn't win, but did make it into the final four. In the last episode, the three remaining designers each get to present their line of clothing in an honest-to-goodness big-time fashion show during the Super Bowl of fashion in New York. It's a tough choice for the judges and the viewer, but I agreed with the final winner.

The 4-disc, 14-episode DVD set is presented in standard format with Dolby Digital sound. Picture and sound for this well-produced show are both good. Extras include a brief featurette on the winner's post-show activities, including a photo shoot for Elle magazine (don't look at the extras menu first because it gives away the winner), and "From the Runway to Your Way", which offers some makeup tips. Episode 12 feels like a bonus feature because it's a reunion/recap episode in which both the contestants and judges get to loosen up and reflect on the show.

Even after watching PROJECT RUNWAY 4, I still don't give a hoot in hell about fashion. But I do have a better understanding of the artistic and creative elements that go into it, and an empathy for the people who dream of fashion design as a way of life. So whether or not you get the whole "fashion" thing, I can strongly recommend this DVD set simply for its irresistible entertainment value.

 

 

"PROJECT RUNWAY 4" -- DVD Review by Porfle

W.E. -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 4/27/12

 

With Madonna directing her first big-budget feature (after a more modest debut with 2008's "Filth and Wisdom") I can imagine the two main reactions were her fans hoping that she would succeed and her detractors gleefully waiting for her to fall on her face.  For those of us in the middle, however, her film W.E. (2011) is just a dull, plodding, and, despite all the bells and whistles, rather ordinary affair. 

Those most disappointed will probably be viewers interested in seeing a movie about the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, namely the former King Edward VIII and American divorcee Mrs. Wallis Simpson, for whom he abdicated the throne.  Their story (told with much more feeling despite much less screen time in THE KING'S SPEECH) is merely a backdrop for the modern-day tale of Wally Winthrop (Abbie Cornish), an unhappily married woman obsessed with what she sees as the famous couple's storybook romance. 

While haunting a major memorabilia auction at Sotherby's, Wally meets and is courted by handsome Russian immigrant Evgeni (Oscar Isaac) who works security.  When her turbulent relationship with husband William (Richard Coyle) turns violent, Evgeni is there to pick up the pieces.  Meanwhile, Wally's search for information about "W.E." (Wallis and Edward) leads to some personal letters which reveal that even a storybook romance has its downside and that poor Mrs. Simpson had to sacrifice much more than Edward did for their love.  (Not sure why, but that's what Madonna says and so that's the way it is.)

What these two stories have to do with each other is tentative at best, and at worst they don't really compliment each other at all.  The modern-day scenes have the air of an opulently-mounted Lifetime TV-movie which tends to be either maudlin or romance-novel unreal.  They also stop whatever forward momentum the "W.E." scenes manage to generate dead in its tracks just as we start to get mildly interested in what Eddie and Wallis are up to during their intermittent screen time. 

We never get a sense of why this celebrated couple were so irresistible to each other--when they meet at a royal to-do, she's not all that dynamic and he's hardly the most dashing man in the room.  In fact, as played by James D'Arcy, Edward seems neither distinguished nor charismatic.  As Wallis, Andrea Riseborough looks the part yet never convinces us that she's fascinating enough to give up a kingdom for.  An early scene in which Edward discovers that Wallis reads books and follows politics is about all it takes for him to go bananas over her.

Once we realize that Wally is the film's main focus and that "W.E." are merely there as a counterpoint to her story, the main question is "why?"  Wally's fixation on the Windsors, her problems with an impotent and possibly unfaithful husband who doesn't want kids like she does, and her budding romance with Evgeni are like unflavored yogurt with a few raisins mixed in.  And even the raisins taste a little funny. 

When Wally pops up in some of the period flashbacks to observe history firsthand, Wallis catches sight of her and barks "Get a life!"  Wally also starts seeing and conversing with the Duchess in the modern-day scenes the way Christian Slater conjures up Elvis in TRUE ROMANCE and Woody Allen consults with a ghostly Bogart in PLAY IT AGAIN , SAM.  Saying that such quirks take us out of the movie is putting it mildly.  Another thing that had me wondering was when Wally's doctor husband explains his absence the night before by saying that he was called in to the emergency room at the hospital.  This would be fine, except he's supposed to be a child psychologist.

With Madonna both helming and co-scripting, the men are all either handsome princes, evil bastards, or wimps (after meeting Edward, Wallis dumps her current hubby like a used Kleenex and the poor slob dutifully crawls off into oblivion), while the women are self-sacrificing and "strong" yet oppressed and unfulfilled.  Madge herself fulfills the directing imperative like a kid rummaging around in a toybox, greeting each new scene as an opportunity to be overly-creative and "expressive" with a non-stop barrage of music-video editing, unnecessarily busy camera movements, and a hyperactive musical score which at one point even has Mrs. Simpson bopping to the Sex Pistols.
 
Even late in this rather long film, Wally's visit to Paris to view the Simpson letters is padded with an extended montage of her roaming the streets while the camera makes sweeping circles around her. Interesting moments such as Wallis inadvertently calling Edward "David" (a name reserved for his lovers and family) in front of his then-girlfriend during a dinner party are few and far between. 

The DVD (also available as a 3-disc Blu-Ray/DVD+Digital Copy set) from Anchor Bay and the Weinsteins is in 2.35:1 widescreen with 5.1 sound and subtitles in English and Spanish.  The sole extra is a 23-minute "making of" featurette.

With period flashbacks that come off as a "greatest hits" package with little or no depth, and a contemporary story that overwhelms the proceedings with its resolute blandness, W.E. is hardly the major historical romance one might have expected.  Thus, Madonna's leap over to the other side of the camera after years of unsuccessfully courting movie stardom is best described as a perversely interesting misfire.

W.E. -- DVD Review by Porfle