Planet Terror

The Good:
I sincerely have nothing good to say about this giant steaming pile of crap.

The Bad:
Oh dear - where to start.

The acting was horrifically bad. If you can call any of what I saw acting.

The effects were cheesy and overdone.

There was no plot, none what-so-ever.

All in all:
There is no reason to even bother with this "film". The actors in it should be ashamed to have been a part of something this horrible. Where Tarantino succeeded with Death Proof in making a tribute film that was also good - Rodriguez failed on all possible fronts. In the opening 2 minutes of the "commercials" prior to the actual movie there were 4 breasts and more blood than in the lawnmower sequence of Dead Alive - and the effect was done just as poorly. The dialogue was retarded, as was the story, if in fact there was a story. Take every good and memorable sequence from a Zombie movie (all of which have been done before) and beef those up with stupidity to take away everything that made them good and memorable. Add to that nonsensical plot points, overdone super poor effects and horrible dialogue - and you end up with this movie. I've watched some bad movies in my time, I've always been able to make it through them - I could not make it through this one. It was so bad - in fact - my husband who will watch just about anything - tried three times to watch it and still couldn't make it through. This was without a doubt the worst thing I have ever seen. Shame on you Rodriguez. Shame.

Stardust

The Good:
All of the actors were fantastic. Michelle Pfeiffer was a delightfully evil witch, Claire Danes was the perfect mix of innocence and bravado, Charlie Cox was perfectly adorable as Tristan - but it was Robert DeNiro who really stole the show as the marauding sky pirate Captain Shakespeare.

The princes were wonderful. I was almost more engaged by the ridiculous hilarity of their story than anything else.

The effects were quite good for a Fantasy film.

The story was engaging and fun - along the lines of a Princess Bride type story.

The Bad:
It was a straight up Fantasy film, a fable, a fairy tale. If this type of story does not appeal to you - then this film won't be for you.

All in all:
Though I couldn't convince my husband to watch it with me - this was actually a very fun film. I went into it not expecting much, and was rewarded beyond what I had imagined. I am a girl at heart, though my preferences tend to bend toward horror and suspense and things not typically considered girly - I enjoy a good Fantasy piece - and this was very good.

Death Proof

The Good:
I haven't laughed this hard at Kurt Russell since his Big Trouble in Little China days. Russel makes Stuntman Mike so much fun to ride along with. His lines are perfectly delivered and a dead on mix of humor and insinuated serial killer creepiness that keeps you watching.

Tarantino delivers one of the best "oh my god that was horrible" moments I've seen in quite some time. Kudos Quentin. Well done!

"The Girls" were AWESOME. Zoe Bell, Rosario Dawson, and Tracie Thoms were so kick ass! I'm a sucker for a good girl power moment and these ladies delivered and then some!

The Bad:
The choppiness and loss of color and sound that were added to give the "feel" of the true Grindhouse movies of drive-in lore often just made you think that something was wrong with the DVD. This, I'm sure, would have translated better in the theatre.

Over all:
Don't go looking for a cinematic masterpiece but go in for a good time and you won't be let down. The movie was fun and as with all of Quentin's work the dialog was fantastic.

The Orphanage

The Good:
As with Pan's Labyrinth, Guillermo Del Toro's hand can be felt touching this piece. It was beautiful. The colors were rich even in their darkness. The music and sound were crystal clear. The story was solid and the actors always hit their mark.

The Bad:
This was billed as a horror movie and it really wasn't scary at all.

Over all:
If you liked Lady in the Water then you'll like The Orphanage. I went into this expecting a horror movie. What I got was a beautifully done reinterpretation of the Peter Pan fairy tale. I was not disappointed at all.

Blade Runner: The Final Cut

The Good:
The effects were solid and at times beautiful. Watching this again after years reminded me just how far ahead of it's time this movie actually was.

Harrison Ford - the man, the myth, the legend. Had my first crush on him as Han Solo, couldn't get enough of Indiana Jones - but to me he will always be Rick Deckard. Everything that Keanu Reeves did wrong in translated Philip K. Dick's character for A Scanner Darkly - Ford did right in Blade Runner.

Sean Young is stunning in this movie. She's beautiful and vulnerable and everything Rachael was meant to be.

Oh how I love Rutger Hauer as Roy Batty! Equal parts vicious emotionless killer and thoughtful heart-wrenching poet he embodies everything Roy was meant to be. His final moments in the film are still one of my favorite cinematic moments of the Sci-Fi genre.

I would be amiss to say that I wasn't influenced by Daryl Hannah's Pris. One of the first characters I ever built in City of Heroes was completely based on her interpretation of this role. Sex kitten meets lunatic assassin and played to a tee.

The Bad:
Watching it then the soundtrack (done by Vangelis) didn't seem out of place - watching it now the music seems dated and too cheesy for such a solid film.

I don't feel like the location of the movie was clearly explained so it became confusing at times to understand why there was such an Asian influence.

Over all:
I loved this film when first I saw it, and I love it even more the second time around. If Scanner failed miserably to interpret a solid novel - the Blade Runner succeeds on all aspects. I have enjoyed many of Ridley Scott's movies but this may be my favorite.

A Scanner Darkly

The Good:
I enjoyed the book when I read it so of course I enjoyed the story here as well. Philip K. Dick is a brilliant writer so the story is solid.

All three of the auxiliary characters played by Robert Downey Jr. , Woody Harrelson and Rory Cochrane were wonderfully played. They were fun to watch and laugh out loud funny at times which is exactly how I felt about them in the books.

The Bad:
The animation was... bothersome. I understand they just filmed the scenes and drew over them but it was like they didn't take the time to line them up correctly half the time so people's faces distorted and moved in ways they shouldn't. This detracted from the film.

I am not a fan of either Keanu Reeves or Winona Rider and this film didn't do anything to help either of them for me. They both seem to always be stilted and non-existent in anything they're a part of. Scanner was no exception. In the book, though addled by drugs, Reeves' character was dynamic and interesting. In the film he was flat and you just didn't care what happened to him. Caring what happened to him was the central emotion of the book. Rider on the other hand was dealt a character who in the book you both sympathized with and despised. In the film you just despised her.

Over all:
For me this is another read the book, skip the movie. Or perhaps read the book, skip any scene of the movie that does not include Rory, Woody or Robert.

30 Days of Night

The Good:
Visually it stayed very close to the amazing art that Ben Templesmith brought to the graphic novel. This was important to me because the art was such a huge part of what made the graphic novel so good. It was nice to see that they took Templesmith's interpretation of vampires and brought it to life in 3D.

They didn't play with the story TOO much. But really - this is more a compliment to Steve Niles who wrote the graphic novel than to the movie itself. When I stumbled across the graphic novel I was amazed that someone hadn't come up with the idea before - it seemed too perfect. There ARE places in Alaska that are dark for 30 days solid out of the year. Of course vampires would go there. Of course.

They honestly could not have cast the main vampire (Marlow) any better than with Danny Huston. His mannerisms, the way he spoke, his slightly jarred movement - straight out of the comic and everything that made the illustrated Marlow as intensely creepy as he was translated beautifully onto the screen.

I was so so so so glad they didn't tinker too much with the Trapper (Beau Brower) too much. He was a badass character in the novel, and he was badass in the film. Kudos to Mark Boone Junior for a part played to perfection.

The Bad:
I'm sure it's tainted by my dislike of Josh Hartnett, however I felt that The Sheriff came across as both too weak and wishy-washy and as much stronger than the comic had him ever become. There was a delicate balance written into the character that didn't translate from book into film. Whether this is the fault of the actor of the direction I cannot objectively say as I do not like Hartnett as an actor and that could taint my opinion in this case.

I felt like they made Stella (played acceptably by Melissa George) weaker than she was in the comic and less of a force than she should have been. Anyone who read the comic (SPOILER ALERT) knows that the heroine of this story was truly Stella, and yet the movie makes her out to be almost an auxiliary character. I didn't appreciate that at all.

Over All:
While there were things I liked, as a whole I felt like this was a piss poor watered down version of an amazing story. The visceral fear and anger and other emotions that were easily brought out by the comic just weren't there for me with the film. I felt that an extreme disservice was done to an amazingly original interpretation of a centuries old vampire tale with this movie. If you want something genuine, read the comic - skip the film.