The Larsen Film Review

The Blog is NOT Dead!

noreply@blogger.com (Keith Larsen) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:00:00 +0000

So it has been quite some time since I've reviewed any films. Each film is actually a lot of work and requires a good amount of time to find and upload a movie poster. Link to imdb. And come up with something to say. When I get behind it becomes a big challenge to catch up, and this time I fell behind over 40 films before throwing in the towel.

So here is the plan.

The format of the blog will be changing drastically. Instead of posts about each individual film I thought I would post only about films I deemed "worth watching" but then I was afraid when I got behind I would give something a "just average" as to avoid writing about it.

Instead I'll be writing "Monthly Reviews," a single lengthy post sorting all the films I've watched over the month into "Worth Watching", "Just Average", and of course "Avoid Watching." I'm going to write a lot less on the film, so I'm going to assume my readers can find imdb themselves and see who is in it and what is is basically about. The blog will basically a journal of what was good and why.

Expect the first post, a review of the 20 films from November, this week. Another on 23 films from December next week, and 17 from January shortly after. I will probably still writing full reviews on the Oscar short films, my rankings of the best picture nominees before the Oscars air, and my annual top 20 in October.

-Keith

The Greatest Movie Ever Sold (2011)

noreply@blogger.com (Keith Larsen) — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 04:30:00 +0000

Morgan Spurlock [Super Size Me] is back with a documentary about brand marketing in movies. Spurlock has made just one feature documentary between this and the 2004 McDonald's documentary that was so popular, mainly because he has had a documentary TV series, 30 Days, that he has been working on.

The documentary starts by giving examples of advertising in movies and television shows, some incredibly blatant. He then decides he wants to make a movie built 100% on advertising money. He gives his pitch to a few companies and receives constant rejection. I'm not sure if this was just editing to make the viewer think that he went from constant rejecting to a lot of acceptance or not. He starts to pick up some major sponsorship from POM Wonderful, JetBlue, and Mini. At this point the film really takes a turn, we see the affect of the sponsorships and what he is allowed to say. The final approval of the film requires that POM Wonderful is happy with the final product. So we aren't even sure what ELSE has been taken out.

The film does not attack any of the issues with advertising in film, it merely talk about how it works. That isn't enough for a good documentary. You won't see this on anyone's "top" lists.

Vote: 5/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1743720/

Rio (2011)

noreply@blogger.com (Keith Larsen) — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 03:00:00 +0000

Blue Sky Studio's latest animated film, the company that brought you The Ice Age Series, Horton Hears a Who, and Robots, brought out their latest animated film earlier this year. A good year for a weak computer animated film since Pixar's film was a flop and Disney and Dreamworks didn't have much.

The film is about a rare South America bird who's home is Minnesota. Domesticated before he was able to fly out of his nest he has never learned to fly and has never been outdoors. When an ornithologist visits his owner she is convinced to take Blu to Brazil to mate him with the last female of his species.

The film is very cookie cutter from the start. Probably enjoyable for the kids and something my 3-year-old would enjoy some day. As an adult I was bored the whole time. The assisting characters I found irritating and juvenile. Probably the weakest film this company has made to this point [maybe equal to the Ice Age sequels]. It is a very weak Oscar Animated year if this one gets nominated.

KSF: 2/5
Vote: 5/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1436562/

Conviction (2010)

noreply@blogger.com (Keith Larsen) — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 20:00:00 +0000

Like Flash of Genius I struggled to commit my time to watching this one because I felt I already knew the entire story. It only takes reading the imdb synopsis to get the whole story, but this is one of those films that knowing what happens really doesn't ruin the story itself. I remember this being on the Oscar radar but I don't get what kept it out of the running. Sam Rockwell seems to be constantly ignored by the academy and Hilary Swank already has two wins in the leading lady role, so getting overlooked for this one isn't that big of a deal.

The film is about a brother and sister who grow up in a small town with a dysfunctional family. They like to sneak into other people's homes and pretend they have a normal home with a normal family. After several run in's with the police Kenny [Rockwell] is labelled as a suspicious character and is hauled in for questioning every time their is a crime in town. After a brutal murder he is brought in for questioning and almost a year later is determined to be the killer. With no physical evidence he is given a life sentence thanks to an ex-wife and ex-girlfriend on the stand that lied about this whereabouts. His sister Betty [Swank] decides to pursue a law degree to free her brother.

I also relate this film to Flash of Genius because the main character gives up a normal life and family in pursuit of what they feel is right through legal means. Based on a true story this one, overlooked last year, is well worth your time.

Vote: 8/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1244754/

Friends with Benefits (2011)

noreply@blogger.com (Keith Larsen) — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 04:00:00 +0000

Director Will Gluck, who brought us Easy A, last year. Brings us a movie that at one point was going to be called "Fuck Buddies." Good luck marketing that. It was actually in production around the same time as No Strings Attached which features Natalie Portman who was paired up with Mila Kunis in Black Swan. Just a little interesting that co-stars of a film with 5 Oscar nominations was in the process of an ad campaign for a film where the stars were working on two separate and similar films.

So the film is about a young hot shot website designer [Justin Timberlake] who is contacted by a headhunter [Mila Kunis] to take a job in New York. Dylan seems happy in LA, but with some convincing from Jamie he takes the job. He works for GQ where Woody Harrelson plays a pretty funny sports writer that questions Dylan's sexual preference. Jamie is Dylan's only friend in the city and their "work" relationship turns into a friendship with "benefits." Trying to avoid a romantic relationship their emotions start to play a factor and we learn that Dylan has commitment issues.

Pretty typical to have a guy with commitment issues, which is why I liked No Strings Attached a little more. In retrospect I'm not exactly sure when No Strings didn't get an 8/10. Either way, the flash mob scenes are pretty cute, there are some good running jokes, and Timberlake proves once again he can handle the shift from singer to actor. Probably worth your time if you like Rom-Com's.

Vote: 7/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1632708/

I Love You Phillip Morris (2009)

noreply@blogger.com (Keith Larsen) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 13:00:00 +0000

Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor star in an interesting comedy based on a true story. The film which was produced in 2009 and released in three other countries before the production company decided not to bring it to the US. The rights were purchased by two other companies and release at the end of 2010.

The film is based on Steven Russell, an American con artist & prison escape artist. Russell seemed to be living a normal life with a wife and daughter, until one day he decided he no longer wanted to hide being gay. He moves to Florida, gets a boyfriend, and lives an extravagant lifestyle... all on credit card fraud. Eventually caught, he serves him times before getting out, running his con, and going back.

The story is silly, almost unbelievable, and definitely a little over done for Hollywood. Overall I liked it. Not one to watch with the kids and probably not for people that don't like Jim Carrey since he reverts to some of his old comedic shticks.

Vote: 7/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1045772/

Deep Red: Profondo rosso (1975)

noreply@blogger.com (Keith Larsen) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 05:00:00 +0000

A little late for horror month, this one came out on blu-ray earlier in the year and was the last horror movie in my possession, yay! Folder complete now.

This 70's horror film has taken a little bit of flack for actually killing a lizard on screen. I can't say that screams animal cruelty to me, but it seems to bother some people so I can respect that. The film starts out a lot like a modern day horror film. A creepy mysterious killer in a leather jacket murders a famous psychic, we do not see who it is but we immediately know there is not a twist involving our main character.

The film gets really slow and basically turns onto a murder mystery at this point. I personally had trouble connecting with the film, partially because I was a little sick of horror films at the time, and also because I watched it with the goal of being done, and not to enjoy it. My fault. Overall I did like it, but the almost constantly out of sync [due to poor dubbing... it is mono audio], and blu ray doesn't help this. It is distracting and keeps me from wanting to watch it again.

Vote: 6/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073582/

Page One: Inside the New York Times (2011)

noreply@blogger.com (Keith Larsen) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 03:00:00 +0000

The full title of the film makes it pretty self explanatory. The film is a look inside The New York Times newspaper at a time when newspapers are a dying breed. Considered a front runner for an Oscar nomination I felt that the film had the perfect scope on an interesting subject matter. That being said, I'm writing this review after finding out that it did not even make the 15 film short list for the Oscar.

The film starts with us meeting some of the staff and they explain the process behind determining what will make it on the cover of the newspaper. We look at some of the important moments in the paper's history and how they have been a national if not world leader in news. The film isn't like some of these "band" documentaries where they ignore the negatives, there is actually discussion on the WMD [Weapons of Mass Destruction] fiasco and how the Times reporter pushed false information. They also defend her, in that, the information to was given by a government source was wrong.

The most interesting and scary thing about the documentary is that the newsroom venue of collective minds deciding was is important news is dying. It looks at internet sites that take Times articles and plug in search engine keywords to retool the titles to get more internet hits. It looks at the fact that without newspapers credible field reports are going to be hard to come by.

Oscar or not, this is a documentary you should watch. Informative, interesting, and important.

Vote: 8/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1787777/

Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest (2011)

noreply@blogger.com (Keith Larsen) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 03:00:00 +0000

After watching documentaries on Foo Fighters and Pearl Jam this year I thought it would be interesting to watch a documentary on a musical group that I DIDN'T group up liking. I know of this hip-hop group and heard a few of there song in CMJ [College Music Journal] back in 1993 when Midnight Marauders came out.

The documentary looks at who influenced the group, how they came to stardom their their connections to DJ Red Alert and their formation of the Native Tongues. A pretty cool concept of collaborating with fellow artists like, De La Soul, Queen Latifah, and Jungle Brothers. The thing I think the documentary hinted at but did not discuss very much was hip-hop being "killed" by rap. At least this is my opinion. The unofficial death was really about the time I started listening to a range of music ironically and was in 1993 when Midnight Marauders came out the same week as Wu-Tang Clan's "Enter Wu-Tang." That same year Snoop Dogg, 2-Pac, and Easy E all came out with albums. Soon enough the fun loving hip-hop artists were overshadowed by gangster rap.

A look at the history of hip-hop and the rise of rap would have been much more entertaining to me, but that isn't what they were going for here. The end of the film goes into the bickering that broke the group up and was not exciting at all. I think Pearl Jam and Foo Fighters documentaries were both better, maybe because both bands are still creating music and getting along.

Vote: 6/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1613023/

Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2011)

noreply@blogger.com (Keith Larsen) — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 01:00:00 +0000

A dangerous formula of combining Werner Herzog and documentary leads to the first film I've fallen asleep in this year. Considered a potential Oscar documentary contender I thought I'd get a jump on the eligible films knowing that some won't get shortlisted. Of all the ones I watched early, this is the only one I regret watching. Originally shot in 3D, it had a pretty decent box office run, and the non-3D is not great.

The film is about a cave that was found in the south of France in 1994 by a couple of explorers. They found that it contains wall paintings that date back 20,000 years. The oldest preserved wall writings and the film is an exclusive look at a very contained site. Honestly it was pretty cool for about 15 minutes, and I think this would have made an excellent documentary short film. The content just seems to run out after 30 minutes and we get interviews with scientists who talk about how the cave "might" have smelled, what dreams the people "might" have had.

The problem was that the scope of the documentary was so limited that scenes of a toy plane flying around the valley [pandering to the 3D I'm sure] seemed out of place. The valley probably looked completely different 20,000 years ago so what are you showing me. This wasn't for me, to each his own, but I'm glad this one wasn't shortlisted.

Vote: 3/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1664894/

Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)

noreply@blogger.com (Keith Larsen) — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 17:00:00 +0000

In a pretty weak year for animated films look for this average film to get an Oscar nomination. A sequel to the 2008 Oscar nominated film with the same director, writer, and star put it in line for another nomination. In 2009 they lost to the far superior Wall-E, but with no Pixar front runner this year you never know.

I can't say that I remember all of the detail from the first film, but they came back to me pretty quick in the first ten minutes. Po [Jack Black] is the "chosen one" and leader of the kung fu masters now. Tigress [Angelina Jolie] has warmed up to Po and the team of animals protects the city. We get a story of a crane who has harnessed gun powder for weapons instead of fireworks and is starting to conquering cities. Kung Fu is thought to be dead and the Kung Fu Masters have to prove that it is not.

On a scare factor rating I'd say that the violence alone gets a 3. If your kids are old enough for that, this film is very kid friendly. We'll see how it does against a slew of animated sequels in awards season. I liked it a lot more than I thought, but it wasn't something I'll buy for my kids.

KSF: 3/5
Vote: 6/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1302011/

Pearl Jam Twenty (2011)

noreply@blogger.com (Keith Larsen) — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 04:30:00 +0000

Directed by Cameron Crowe, this film documents the twenty years that the band Pearl Jam has been together. Lead singer Eddie Vedder was greatly influenced by The Who, and Crowe who is fan of The Who and their documentary The Kids Are Alright (1979) constructed this film partially as an homage to them.

The band, who started in the Seattle grunge scene after the death of Andrew Wood broke up Mother Love Bone. They came onto the scene with the album Ten, and in many respects rivaled Nirvana for air time and publicity. The film touches on Cobain's dislike of Vedder and his band, then goes into their feud with Ticketmaster.

I have been a Pearl Jam fan for a very long time. The hard part for me is that I really like their angry and passionate music from Ten, Vs., and Vitalogy. When the band took a step back and "reinvented" themselves... sometime that bands have to do to stay interested and interesting I lost some interest. No Code was not my favorite and I felt I made myself like it. Yield was just ok, and I had lost interest by Riot Act, Self-Titled (2006), and Backspacer. I listened to them all at least once, and I bought the b-sides "Lost Dogs" a couple of years ago and felt that was a mistake.

I have a lot of respect for how the band handles themselves. They are very unified in their stances on Tibet, Choice, government, and how to act in public. It is rare for a band to get along so well and probably part of the reason they have managed to stay together so long. I recommend this to anyone who likes the band, but even if you don't know much about them it is still a good documentary.

Vote: 9/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1417592/

The Host: Gwoemul (2006)

noreply@blogger.com (Keith Larsen) — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 05:00:00 +0000

The film starts at an American lab where the boss is telling the Japanese assistant to go ahead an dump all of the chemicals down the drain. The water empties into the river and the chemicals create a sea creature that attacks the people. The family in the story run convenience stall next to the river and the creature runs off with their daughter. I'm not sure what to call this movie. Labeled at a horror or a comedy... I don't really see either. More along the lines of a bad science fiction than anything.

The film is not well known, and one that I saved for horror month because of the mislabeling as horror. It is one of the films that the 1001 movie book added on a revision, then removed a year later. It is kinda frustrating that a list of 1001 movies changes so much, but I'll digress from that argument.

Not worth you time, and hard to find.

Vote: 5/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0468492/

Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon (2011)

noreply@blogger.com (Keith Larsen) — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 03:00:00 +0000

Michael Bay is back with his third installment of the surprisingly successful [box office-wise] series. The first one made Megan Fox a star, the 2nd one showed she isn't a very nice person, the 3rd one drops her completely.

I have to say that I did like the first film, it was really good, especially since there were no expectations. The 2nd one was just awful and Bay's camera rotations made it almost unwatchable at times. This one however was quite a bit better. Shia LaBeouf's character is now trying to have a normal life after his adventures in the first two films. He has a model for a girlfriend [Rosie Huntington-Whiteley] who replaced Fox, and when the Decepticons attack he works his way back to work with the government to help out.

This film was much better than the last but still lacked a lot of editing. They do realize that scenes can be cut completely right? All of the interactions with LaBeouf's parents were unnecessary. They added a lot of unnecessary runtime to the film, and none of it was funny or relevant to the plot. That lack of editing keeps these films at an unnecessary 2 and a half hours.

Overall, a big improvement from the last, I'm glad I gave it a shot but 6/10 is about right.

Vote: 6/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1399103/

Frenzy (1972)

noreply@blogger.com (Keith Larsen) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 04:00:00 +0000

Another new Alfred Hitchcock for me, as some of you know I really like Hitchcock and have been trying to force myself to ration out his films for years so I always have some new ones. This one is actually in the 1001 Movies book, and gets the horror label simply because I haven't taken the time to make a separate "thriller" label yet.

The film is about a serial killer they call the necktie murderer. We learn early in the film who this person is, then we see how the wrong person gets framed. Hitchcock is interesting and different enough that you can never be sure how it will all play out and keeps the amount of information I shared from being too much.

I had to ask myself when it was over, if it wasn't Hitchcock would you have really liked it? The answer is, maybe not. It was good but he does have a lot better ones out there.

Vote: 7/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068611/

Eyes Without A Face: Les yeux sans visage (1960)

noreply@blogger.com (Keith Larsen) — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 22:00:00 +0000

Considered in some regards to be a sequel to The Island of Dr. Moreau, in more regards to the storyline than to the actual character or a film. Also, one of those Criterion films that is held in higher regards years after being made than on initial release. This is the type of film I expect in the 101 Horror Films book.

The film is about a brilliant surgeon going to any lengths to repair his daughters face. Her face was burned off in a car fire as a result of his careless driving, and he cares more about fixing "the face" than helping the girl. His assistant scours the city of girls of similar complexion then kidnap them to steal their faces.

It isn't the most exciting horror film, especially since I think the genre has come a long way in the last 30 years. It was a good story and interesting ending, pretty good, not great.

Vote: 7/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053459/

The Brood (1979)

noreply@blogger.com (Keith Larsen) — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 13:00:00 +0000

David Cronenberg is famous for making creative science fiction films on small budgets. Known as the Baron of Blood he has made films like Scanners, Videodrome, The Dead Zone, The Fly, and one I need to see Naked Lunch. Lately he has made the switch to dramatic films, and he is strange to hear his name around awards season with films like A History of Violence, Eastern Promises, and this years A Dangerous Method [all films starring Viggo Mortensen].

With many of Cronenberg's early films all of the stars are only known for this film, that's how you keep your budget low, right? There are definitely a few scenes that are pretty creepy in this film, honestly I didn't find it to be thrilling at all and preferred Scanners over this one. I would say the two had a lot of similarities so you should see Scanners instead.

Better than the last few horror films I've seen so I'll give it a just average rating.

Vote: 6/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078908/

Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht (1979)

noreply@blogger.com (Keith Larsen) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 23:00:00 +0000

A modern retelling of the classic film Nosferatu (1922), in Werner Herzog fashion. Herzog writes very slow panning scenes that just don't fit well in the horror genre, and this film ends up being more creepy and odd than scary.

It stars Bruno Ganz [Hitler in Downfall] as Jonathan, the man sent to find Dracula a home. Klaus Kinski plays Dracula, he was also Aguirre in Aguirre: The Wrath of God also directed by Herzog. I could almost swear that Herzog recycled the music from Aguirre for this film. I can't think of a movie character that has been done more different ways than Dracula. We have had versions where garlic or stakes or sun have killed him. We have had version were Dr. Van Helsing is the hero, where Jonathan is the hero, where Lucy is the hero, version where Dracula wins. You really can't assume you know how any one of them will finish.

Herzog just makes this film too slow. It is kind of a pity because Kinski was fantastic as Dracula. The sets and storyline are pretty good also, I liked this re-telling, but it was painfully boring. I'm not a big fan of Herzog and this film strengthened that opinion.

Vote: 5/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079641/

The Hunger (1983)

noreply@blogger.com (Keith Larsen) — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 20:56:00 +0000

Catherine Deneuve [Repulsion], David Bowie, and Susan Sarandon star in this 80's film that made it into the 101 Horror Films book. The first major film that Tony Scott directed; he went on to direct films like Top Gun, True Romance, and now his fourth Denzel Washington movie Unstoppable.

It might be a stretch to say this "starred" Bowie. The musician wasn't in the film more than 15-20 minutes, and one could make an argument that Sarandon was a more predominant character than Deneuve. The film, based on a book, is about an Egyptian vampire [Deneuve] who takes a "mate" until she is tired of them. When she is bored they are basically left to die and their eternal youth is lost. So we get to see Bowie wither away into nothing to start the movie. She then moves on and peruses Sarandon's character.

The film is like a trendy goth film. Not really scary, not really suspenseful. Most of the scenes take place in rooms that aren't well lit and we get some interesting night club scenes. I'm not going to say I dislike Sarandon, just that she isn't my favorite.

Not a great film, not scary, not really worth your time.

Vote: 5/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085701/

Hour of the Wolf: Vargtimmen (1968)

noreply@blogger.com (Keith Larsen) — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 21:00:00 +0000

Slowly but surely I've been working through Ingmar Bergman's catalog of films. Considering he directed more than 60 and wrote more than 80 I have a long way to go. He made this one right after Persona, a surprisingly good film, and is probably the closest he has been to the horror genre, which is why it isn't surprising that Schneider would find a reason to include him on this list.

The film is a horror, but I would it a drama if you didn't fully "get" it. Having to "get" a film to be scared doesn't make it all that scary. Bergman is usually a pretty confusing director to follow and has many subtle nuances you have to keep up with. This film is about an artist who lives alone with his wife on a small island away from society. He goes to the mainland to work on his painting and is harassed by women who's faces come off when they take of their wigs. Boys on the beach that attack and bite him. A number of strange encounters.

The first half of the film is very slow, and it really isn't building up on anything suspenseful, it is just laying the groundwork for the suspense to follow. The 2nd half is strange, confusing, and scary at times. Bergman is a great director, and he gets this from fantastic descriptive dialogue. The problem is that a picture is worth a thousand words, and in a horror the pictures are the scary part and most of the film fails in this regard. I'll stick to his other films.

Vote: 6/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063759/

Carnival of Souls (1962)

noreply@blogger.com (Keith Larsen) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 22:00:00 +0000

At the end of horror month reviews, I'm starting to get writers block. An older film in the 101 Horror Movies book, this is by anyone's standards a B Horror Film.You can actually watch this for free here: archive.org.

So the film starts with a car full of girls next to a car full of boys in a little American town. They are sitting at a stop light and start revving their engines, the boys win, but the girls aren't going to give up and chase them down. They go across a small wooden bridge and the girls try and overtake the boys.. but end up breaking through the barrier and falling into the river. One girl, Mary [Candace Hilligoss] survives, and the film follows the events that follow.

Mary plays the organ in church, she is a quiet girl who keeps to herself and one might call boring. She decides to take a job playing the organ in a different town to get away from the accident and the undying gossip. In the new town she starts seeing a ghost. A creepy man who appears just about everywhere she turns. Something about him makes her feel that he is linked to the abandoned carnival on the edge of town and she must work up the courage to explore herself.

I found the film to be quite dull, nothing about it was very scary. There is a twist that is someone interesting, but not by today's standards. I could have done without seeing this one.

Vote: 5/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055830/

Cemetary Man: Dellamorte Dellamore (1994)

noreply@blogger.com (Keith Larsen) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 04:00:00 +0000

Easily one of the most bizarre films I've seen. A lot about this one just makes no sense at all. Those that like this film call it a "Fun" B-Horror film. The film is in Italian... and German and French... but all of the German and French actors have been dubbed into Italian. So the film is the worst of both worlds, bad sync on bad dubbing, and subtitles.

The film centers around Francesco, Rupert Everett, the graveyard head groundsman who has a half wit helper who lives downstairs, Gnaghi. Francesco has found out that the dead come back to life between 3 and 10 days after they originally die. The timeline changes person to person but seems to be linked to their age. He spends most days killing these people for a 2nd time, always by damaging the brain, either through a gunshot or removing the head.

He falls in love with a woman's who's husband just died. She becomes fascinated with the cemetery and becomes his lover. She meets her demise early thanks to the "undead." Then the plot gets really bizarre, biker zombies riding around, a severed head that becomes Gnaghi's girlfriend. Strange movie.

The one redeeming factor, the beautiful Anna Falchi, but she isn't even around long... then we have to suffer though Gnaghi and his disgusting eating habits. I thought this was going to go somewhere when Francesco and "She" [Anna's credit name] became a couple... but I was quite wrong. Forget this one.

Vote: 2/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109592/

Two Year Anniversary

noreply@blogger.com (Keith Larsen) — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 04:59:00 +0000

Hard to believe that it has been two years. In some ways I feel like I've been writing for much, much longer. Maybe that is because I've written 700 reviews now. I can definitely say that I watch movies differently now that I'm a blogger. Maybe this is good, maybe not. It forces me to pay attention more, it motivates me to plow through the bad films, and it makes me think about what I did and didn't like about the films while watching them. The downside is that I feel that all movies start at a 10/10, and that I have to criticize them all negatively. It is hard to say, "Hey, this movie is a 6/10 and nothing was really wrong with it." So feeling like I'm bashing films all the time is hard, especially since I like a lot of films, and definitely enjoyed everything I gave an 8 or more.

So what was the best of the year? Well these are the best NEW films I've seen in the last year. New meaning that they are less than two years old and I watched them in the last 365 days. Don't be too concerned with the order, I hate saying a film was 5th or 6th best when they were both excellent and completely different.

Last year's Top 20: http://thelarsenfilmreview.blogspot.com/2010/10/one-year-anniversary-best-of-year.html
All links will take you to my reviews of these films.

1. Inception
2. The Social Network
3. Harry Potter 8
4. Inside Job
5. The King's Speech
6. GasLand
7. Waiting for 'Superman'
8. You Don't Know Jack
9. Fish Tank
10. Bridesmaids
11. Animal Kingdom
12. In a Better World
13. X-Men: First Class
14. Coco Before Chanel
15. Black Swan
16. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
17. Toy Story 3
18. The Next Three Days
19. 127 Hours
20. Country Strong

Honorable Mention [Worth watching if you are a fan of the Foo Fighters]:
Foo Fighters: Back and Forth

Worst 10 of the Year:
1. A Christmas Carol
2. The Expendables
3. Hobo with a Shotgun
4. Il Divo
5. The Tempest
6. Babies
7. Synecdoche, New York
8. Jonah Hex
9. Uncle Boonme
10. I am Love

Look for my Top 100 Action films sometime in the next month!

Winnie the Pooh (2011)

noreply@blogger.com (Keith Larsen) — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 22:00:00 +0000

This marks the first film that I watched with my older daughter. Pretty cool. It is also the first film to get a 1/5 on the Kids Scare Factor scale... as I was hoping.

This is "almost" a remake of 1977's The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, I say this because they treat the audience as if this is the first Winnie the Pooh film and play with the theme of being inside a book in Christopher Robin's room. I really like how this is done in the original and they did an excellent job with the characters and voices. It was interesting to have a more British Christopher Robin, and it worked.

This isn't the 2nd Pooh movie ever though, and I'm not talking about straight-to-video cartoons. We had The Tigger Movie in 2000, Piglet's Big Movie in 2003, and Pooh's Heffalump Movie in 2005. This film seemed to have a better story and production values than all of those and was a real treat.

I'm sure I'll be watching this one a few more times.

KSF: 1/5
Vote: 8/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1449283/

The Road (2009)

noreply@blogger.com (Keith Larsen) — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 16:00:00 +0000

I won't lie about it, I really didn't completely pay attention to this one. I had something else going on and it was playing in the background. Maybe if I would have focused it would have had a higher rating... then again my wife was paying attention and agrees it was this bad.

This film actually was in post-production for a very long time. I think it was Viggo Mortensen's follow-up to 2007's Eastern Promises which he was nominated for an Oscar from. It was originally scheduled for a Nov. 2008 release but I think the market was saturated with similar themed films. By the time it came out I had lost interest. Now 3 years later I finally got around to watching it after hearing mixed reviews [mostly bad].

The film is based on a novel, and I'm guessing that the novel explained who the apocalypse happened. Either way some sort of event has left the earth in ruins with a very limited food supply and rampant cannibalism. Maybe this is supposed to be a realistic take on what it would be like after nuclear war... I'm not sure. Kodi Smit-McPhee is quite young in this film, you'd know him if you watched Let Me In. Charlize Theron plays the wife of Mortensen in his flashbacks and we have some small roles by Robert Duvall and Guy Pearce, nothing special.

I was quite disappointed by the pace of this film and lack of information, it should have been much better.

Vote: 3/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0898367/