Sep 20 2017

Boogie Nights (1997)

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

Writer: Paul Thomas Anderson (Screenplay)

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Julianne Moore, Burt Reynolds, Don Cheadle, John C Reilly, William H Macy, Heather Graham

 

Plot: The story of a young man’s adventures in the Californian pornography industry of the late 1970s and early 1980s.

 

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

 

Verdict: Brilliant Drama About Success

 

Story: Boogie Nights starts as we meet high school dropout Eddie Adams (Wahlberg) working in a club for Maurice TT Rodriguez (Guzman) in his disco club. The club brings in porn director Jack Horner (Reynolds) with his number one star Amber Waves (Moore). When Jack sees, and hears the rumours about the size of Eddie’s penis he wants him to be the new star of his movies.

Leaving his home Eddie move in with Jack and it isn’t long before he becomes the hottest property in the porn industry as Dirk Diggler, as he learns that along with the fellow pornstars Rollergirl (Graham), Reed Rothchild (Reilly) and Becky Barnett (Parker) the production company dominates the industry through the late 70’s and early 80’s, but with the success come the darker side of the industry the drinks, drugs and knowing age could be an expire date in the industry.

 

Thoughts on Boogie Nights

 

Characters/Performance – Eddie Adams is the typical high school dropout that lands on his feet entering into the porn industry. The characters sum up how a young star can rise too quickly and become blinded in the overly famous. Jack Horner is the director of the films but also the man preparing the latest talent even if not everything is strictly legal. Amber Weeks is the experienced star guiding Eddie as well moving onto new thing. We do get a couple of well-developed characters in the supporting roles too who we can all learn about as we are invested in their supporting roles.

Performance wise, Mark Wahlberg burst onto the main stream with this impressive performance, Burt Reynolds in the star of the show here dominating the screen whenever he appears. Julianne Moore, Heather Graham, Don Cheadle, William H Macy, Nicole Ari Parker all are great in the supporting roles in this film.

Story – The story shows the rise and fall inside of the porn industry, we see how some people get out and start a life outside the industry, others get consumed by the lifestyle, others never move forward with the times and others can struggle in the post industry life. I do think this brings us brilliant character development even if the story is slightly long at times but the afterlife outside the industry becomes fantastic viewing.

Settings – The settings show us the time the film is set, the struggles the people are going through, I think each setting comes off perfect as we get to see the world we are entering.

Final Thoughts – This is a long film but it is also a rewarding film too, it does a brilliant look into how lives can be ruined by a career choices.

 

Overall: Brilliant, haunting look at the porn industry.

Rating

 

 

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Sep 20 2017

The 13th Friday (2017)

Director: Justin Price

Writer: Justin Price (Screenplay)

Starring: Lisa May, Khu, Melissa L Vega, Victoria Valdez, David E Cazares, Deanna Grace Congo

 

Plot: When a female refugee discovers an ancient demonic device that opens the gateway to another realm, she unleashes a dark entity that poses as her daughter. After many failed attempts to have the church explain the creation of her worst nightmares, she learns that the house is cursed by an enraged spirit that died on Friday the 13th. And now a group of thrill seeking friends unknowingly unleash its wrath and damn their souls.

 

Runtime: 1 Hour 35 Minutes

 

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

 

Verdict: Standard Low Budget Horror

 

Story: The 13th Friday starts as we learn the legend behind a church where the daughter of a previous owner sacrificed here demonic daughter, but the house was waiting for more victims and the party of teenagers offers them that with the victims all disappearing.

Allison (May) has been preparing with her friends for what is meant to be the thirteenth sacrifice, while junior reporter Paige (Khu) is searching for answers to the disappearances going on around the house, can the answers be found before it is too late.

 

Thoughts on The 13th Friday

 

Characters – Allison becomes friends with the group that entered the house, she wants to learn more about what has been happening with the house but her friendship with the group might be to help solve the curse. Paige is a junior reporter that is investigating the string of disappearances in the town, but we don’t see that much from this character. Ryn is one of the friends who entered the house and must find a sacrifice to save herself and the friends. We get the usual group of friends, the person that has spent years investigate the first cast there and the easy victims.

Performances – When you look into the performances here, it would be fair to say these are not going to be remembered on any of the stars highlight reel, the performances just seem to fail to connect with what the horror is offering up.

Story – The story is an idea which sounds very interesting, because watching friends look to solve a curse which is coming for them with people from outside the group investigating the truth works. The problem I found is the way this story is told, we follow to separate people trying to solve the curse while also seeing the original group of friends not doing anything to investigate it themselves and if the story was told in a smoother way we would get a more complete horror movie.

Horror/Thriller – Many of the scares do feel borrowed from other horror ideas (The Ring, Lights Out just to mention a couple), but I did think the image of the ghost does come off frightening every time we see it.

Settings – The house or church starts the horror but then we fall into small town America and here the people don’t seem to know each other either and don’t seem to have one location where you would find them all.

Special Effects – The CGI effects do show us the budget the film was working with but the practical ones, well they are good with the make effects on the ghost.


Scene of the Movie – Lights Out

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Having two characters doing the same thing.

Final Thoughts – This is a horror film with a lot of potential but due to a poor storytelling process, we lose out on better developed characters, horror moments and most importantly any reason to care about these characters.

 

Overall: A horror that misses the marks

Rating

 

 

Sep 20 2017

The Simpsons Challenge Season 4 Episode 5 – Treehouse of Horrors 3

The Simpsons Challenge

Season 4

Episode 5 – Treehouse of Horrors 3

Couch Gag – This time we have the family as skeletons arriving on the sofa.

Plot Synopsis – An evil Krusty the Clown doll makes life hell for the Simpsons, Marge is captured by a giant ape who falls in love with her, and Bart inadvertently raises the dead.

What is going on really – We get a Hitchcock like start with Homer giving a warning about the episode as it is the Halloween one. In the first chapter we have the Simpsons hosting a Halloween party as Bart being Alex from A Clockwork Orange. We then move into story time.

First one Bart get a Krusty doll from Homer after he forgets to get him a birthday present. When the doll comes to life it targets Homer but things all work out nicely in the end.

In the second story we enter the world in King Kong as Marge joins Mr Burns and Smithers on the hunt for King Kong. Homer is King Kong and takes a shine to Marge but gets captured and taken back to America before marrying Marge.

In the third chapter Bart needs to read a book and finds the occult section at school and starts trying to raise the dead. When Bart does raise the dead Springfield is overrun as Bart needs to find a spell to reverse the effects bring everyone back to the normal.

Star Character

The Family

Final Thoughts – This is one of the weaker treehouse of horror because all the stories do seem to have a happy ending and don’t have enough time to shine, we get well known parodies though with Child’s Play, King Kong and Night of the Living Dead. I wouldn’t start with this one though.

Rating 2.5/5