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ndwolfwood3769
Alfred Hitchcock, Frank Henenlotter, Takashi Miike, Joe Dante and about a billion other directors. Really into Horror, Japanese and Cult Cinema. Also love an unmeasureable amount of classic films and comedies as well. I hate remakes and am obsessed with "Battle Royale" both the book and the film. My favorite actor is Bruce Campbell. Other favorites are Gregory Peck, His potrayal of Atticus was remarkable, Henry Fonda and Jimmy Stewart. I have an extensive film collection that is currently split up between two locations, because I just moved. Huge Monty Python fan. That's about all I can think of right now.
Brief list of favorite flicks include
Battle Royale
The Godfather 1 and 2
Goodfellas
Taxi Driver
Brain Damage
Basket Case Trilogy
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet St.
Dr Strangelove or How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Original and Part 2)
Q the Winged Serpent
the list keeps going and going
Favorite directors include:
Takashi Miike, Alferd Hitchcock, John Ford, Larry Cohen, Joe Dante, Dario Argento, George A Romero, Beat Takeshi Kitano, Wes Anderson, Kevin Smith
Reviews
The Hunt (2020)
Better writing would have made the satire aspect work.
Basically it's one of the worst versions of Most Dangerous Game out there. It's extremely predictable, the acting is wooden, there is zero character development and there's nothing new here. In fact this story has been done better so many times it makes me wonder if this film would have been filed away unseen by most if not for the unfounded controversy surrounding its release.
Hell's Kitchen: 18 Chefs Compete (2011)
Elise
This is the first season with Elise. She comes back in an All Star season where she proves to be psychotic. In her All Star season she follows another chef around for an inordinate amount of time screaming at her at the top of her lungs because she was upset that she was chosen for a challenge. Her presence in this season is equally detestable as she has a false sense of superiority and never stops verbally abusing her teammates making this one of the tougher seasons to watch. Her screeching and attitude are really disgusting and I'm convinced the only reason she lasted as long as she did and was invited back for all star season was to heighten the drama.
Hell's Kitchen: Day 10 (2006)
Uncomfortable watch
Kieth proved to be a crybaby and a sore loser. His presence in this episode was embarrassing. He proved that he didn't deserve to be in the finale and he should have stayed home. I'm hoping he gets a reality check. I honestly can't see a potential employer seeing this and hiring him. Horrible attitude and a sore sore loser.
One More Time with Feeling (2016)
Very personal account of the recording of Skeleton Tree in the wake of an extremely tragic event.
This documentary focuses on the recording of Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds' album Skeleton Tree. While recording the album Nick Cave and his family suffered a devastating tragedy with an accident that lead to the loss of their fifteen year old son Arthur. Before Arthur's death Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds had already written and recorded most of the album Skeleton Tree. After his death they went back to the studio to lay out the final recordings and fix up existing tracks. This documentary tells the story one song at a time while Nick Cave and others give their own insights and struggle to wrap their heads around the tragic loss that has permanently changed his family and himself. Nick has always exhibited a bit of humor and honesty when talking about his previous work or his process. That humor is gone. In fact it's told by Nick in a way that's so desperate and searching for answers or meaning that you can almost feel the loss. Nick talks about the effect it has had on his writing and his life in general. How his work and his process no longer seem important to him. How everything in his life seems so insignificant in the wake of the family's loss. The pain can be seen throughout and heard on the recordings. Being most of this album was completed before his son's death it is not addressed in the writing, but can be heard in Nick's voice throughout. Later Nick Cave would write more about his philosophy and how he is deeply effected in the Bad Seeds album Ghosteen. What we get here is a lot of emotion, anger and genuine pain. Where an event that seems insignificant such as finding an old painting made by Arthur seems to be heartbreaking. Being this was recorded so close to Arthur's death there is a lot of pain during the realization that the world still moves forward despite the tragedy. What reviewers may see as "self indulgent" or "pretentious" is nothing more than a family trying desperately to make sense of a tragedy.
M.O.M.: Mothers of Monsters (2020)
Really bad.
How did they get Ed Asner for this? Terrible acting, the kid is more annoying than anything else, poor direction, terrible pacing, convoluted plot and a silly ending.
Tales from the Hood 3 (2020)
Better than the second nowhere near as good as the first.
The previous reviewer mentioned the film is a ripoff of Skeleton Key and to a lesser extent Batteries Not Included. Though I understand why they would mention Batteries Not Included saying it's a ripoff is stretching it quite a bit. However there is a story that flat out rips off Skeleton Key. With that aside the stories are enjoyable and it looks like it sticks to its roots of being a social commentary coupled with horror. Unlike the second film (which stars one of my actors the legendary Keith David) the social commentary doesn't seem as forced. It's on full display in the second story which borrows a twist that mimics the Twilight Zone episode People Are Alike All Over where as the rest of the segments let it play out more naturally. I actually liked the way the twist was applied here in the second story as it made me grin. This time out Tony Todd and a young child provide the wraparound story. Todd is phenomenal as always, but I wished he had more to do. The child does a good job as she tells the stories and the it has a satisfying ending, however the CG in the scene nearly kills it. If you can get past the CG and ripping off Skeleton Key its worth a watch. Nowhere near on par with the first but better than the second.
Fawlty Towers: The Germans (1975)
One of the best episodes from a brilliant series.
With Sybil in the hospital Basil is left to manage the hotel on his own. On the agenda is hanging a moose head, a fire drill and the arrival of some special guests from Germany. As expectedthings don't quite go as planned. Manuel unwittingly tricks the major into thinking the moose head can speak English and Basil's usual fumbling and overreacting turns a simple fire drill into a real fire resulting in a head injury for Basil which lands him in the hospital. Slightly crazed at this point Basil escapes the hospital and goes straight back to the hotel. In the middle of his confused ramblings the German guests arrive and hilarity ensues. Every cringeworthy word uttered by Basil is perfect. The nonstop jokes are only matched by his physical comedy. Highly recommended. Python fans will get a good chuckle from his silly walk interpretation of Hitler.
The Twilight Zone: Deaths-Head Revisited (1961)
One of my favorite episodes. Still powerful nearly 56 years after it aired.
Oscar Beregi Jr makes his second of three appearance on the Twilight Zone. Before this he was in season two's The Rip Van Winkle Caper and later he was in season four's Mute. Here he gives an amazing performance as a Nazi SS Captain who was hiding out in South America years after WWII. He decides to pay a visit to Dachau the concentration camp he was assigned to during the war in an attempt to relive his glory days. As he walks around the remains of the camp he takes great joy in reliving horrifying memories of tortures he's inflicted on others. For example he looks back fondly at denying a prisoner water and laughs after reminding the prisoner that he hasn't given him food in days either. While he walks around the camp he suddenly sees a former prisoner named Becker (an amazing performance by Joseph Schildkraut who also appears in season three's The Trade-Ins). After talking with Becker he asks if Becker was a caretaker. After dismissing the hell he put the prisoners through as "a little mistake" the SS Captain runs to the defense "following orders". Becker puts the SS Captain on trial. I don't want to give away where it goes from here. The episode masterfully deals with an extremely sensitive issue. People were put through unimaginable tortures and endured pain and suffering beyond what anyone can imagine. When dealing with that subject matter it is crucial not to downplay what they went through or make light of the situation. Rod Serling wrote this episode and handled it masterfully. The bulk of this episode relies heavily on Oscar Berigi Jr and Joseph Schildkraut and both actors turn out amazing performances. Excellent episode from an excellent series. Highly recommended.
The Twilight Zone: Four O'Clock (1962)
Excellent episode from an amazing series. ***Minor spoiler****
I absolutely love Twilight Zone. I have been a die hard fan of the show ever since I was a kid and first watched season two's The Invaders. That being said I do realize the show is very preachy in it's messages. A lot of people seem to think that kills episodes like this one of course I disagree. The writing was always extremely strong to say the least. In this episode (season three's "Four O'clock") Rod Serling adapted a story by Price Day. Theodore Bickel stars as Oliver Crangle a man who seems to devote all of his time to try and ruin the lives of all the people he deems to be evil. His goal is to rid the world of evil people by shrinking all the evil people of the world down to two feet tall. Theodore Bickel does a great job as Crangle a man who is insane and seems to only have one friend a parrot named Pete who likes to remind him he's nuts! Recommended.
"That's Oliver Crangle, a dealer in petulance and poison. He's rather arbitrarily chosen four o'clock as his personal Götterdämmerung, and we are about to watch the metamorphosis of a twisted fanatic, poisoned by the gangrene of prejudice, to the status of an avenging angel, upright and omniscient, dedicated and fearsome. Whatever your clocks say, it's four o'clock, and wherever you are it happens to be the Twilight Zone."
The X Files: Nothing Lasts Forever (2018)
Bloody
No there is no metaphor about democrats as stated ignorantly in another review. It's just a bloody episode that tried to rely more on shocks than plot. It actually would have worked a lot better with some editing. It takes too long to go nowhere.
Blood Diner (1987)
Goofy 80s Horror Comedy
I just needed to clear up some things I have read in the reviews. First being Jackie Kong is a woman and secondly this is not a Troma film. This movie is an exercise in bad jokes. Most don't work at all, but set the tone . Initially intended as a sequel to H.G. Lewis' classic Blood Feast hence the similar name and plot. Two brothers watch as their uncle is killed by police officers shortly after a murder spree. Flash forward several years later and the boys are all grown up and digging up the remains of their uncle. After retrieving his eyes and his genitals they keep them in a jar in the back of their health food restaurant. From this point on the uncle's remains order the boys to gather female body parts to complete a feast needed to resurrect an ancient goddess whom they worship. The movie is in bad taste, but not done realistically enough to disturb or even classify as horror. There are body parts disguised as health food, dummies and nazi wrestlers all very over the top and in poor taste. Don't expect great acting, effects or dialogue, but it's still a fun little flick.