Here Comes Randal. He's a Berserker.
From the Recently Seen Department
Clerks II
Kevin Smith, 2006
I didn’t expect to like this movie. In fact, I pretty much went into the theater prepared to hate it. Still, I really like Clerks and I love the short lived Clerks animated series, plus Randal Graves is one of my all time favorite screen characters, so my curiosity got the better of me. So, is Randal back? Yes, my friends, he is. Both he and Dante return to the film world in full force, here. Just as with Clerks, there are any number of brilliant comedic diatribes here, most of which I found myself laughing embarrassingly hard at. Further, this time out, Smith has also tempered his often scatological humor with several moments of authentic emotional weight. This is less a film about slackers than a film about what happens when slackers grow up. They’re still funny, they’re still lazy, and they have the same crazy conversations, but they also find themselves having to stand up and face the world around them. Mind you, this plan could easily backfire and become far to maudlin and disengenuine, but Smith (who’s skills have always been in his writing) provides the perfect mix of comedy and emotion here, easily sidestepping almost every potential problem you’d expect a Clerks sequel to have.
Rating: Berserker
A Scanner Darkly
Richard Linklater, 2006
Now, this, I expected to like. From the trailers, this looked like it would be a really interesting movie. Not only did it promise some excellent, semi-futuristic, sci-fi noir, it showed a truly interesting visual style, achieved, as with Linklater’s Waking Life, by means of rotoscope animation (filming live actors moving around and acting and then drawing over them). Unfortunately, the film didn’t deliver at all. Instead of offering a clear, interesting vision, all Scanner has is a confusing, convoluted plot, further hampered by an unusually poor performance from Keanu Reeves, which is really saying something. Sure, there are a couple of fun supporting performances, but I was bored as hell after the novelty of the animation wore off. I really should have just stayed home and watched Scanners. Then, at least, I’d have seen some heads ‘sploding.
Rating: Sleepy
From the I Can’t Wait Department
Bride of Re-Animator
Brian Yuzna, 1990
That’s right, baby, they made a sequel to Re-Animator. The original cast returns, including the decapitated head, in an attempt to make a woman from scratch. As soon as I can find a copy, I’m there. After that, I’m sure I’ll be chomping at the bit for the third Herbert West feature, Beyond Re-Animator, as old Herbie takes his act to a prison. Awesome.
Clerks II
Kevin Smith, 2006
I didn’t expect to like this movie. In fact, I pretty much went into the theater prepared to hate it. Still, I really like Clerks and I love the short lived Clerks animated series, plus Randal Graves is one of my all time favorite screen characters, so my curiosity got the better of me. So, is Randal back? Yes, my friends, he is. Both he and Dante return to the film world in full force, here. Just as with Clerks, there are any number of brilliant comedic diatribes here, most of which I found myself laughing embarrassingly hard at. Further, this time out, Smith has also tempered his often scatological humor with several moments of authentic emotional weight. This is less a film about slackers than a film about what happens when slackers grow up. They’re still funny, they’re still lazy, and they have the same crazy conversations, but they also find themselves having to stand up and face the world around them. Mind you, this plan could easily backfire and become far to maudlin and disengenuine, but Smith (who’s skills have always been in his writing) provides the perfect mix of comedy and emotion here, easily sidestepping almost every potential problem you’d expect a Clerks sequel to have.
Rating: Berserker
A Scanner Darkly
Richard Linklater, 2006
Now, this, I expected to like. From the trailers, this looked like it would be a really interesting movie. Not only did it promise some excellent, semi-futuristic, sci-fi noir, it showed a truly interesting visual style, achieved, as with Linklater’s Waking Life, by means of rotoscope animation (filming live actors moving around and acting and then drawing over them). Unfortunately, the film didn’t deliver at all. Instead of offering a clear, interesting vision, all Scanner has is a confusing, convoluted plot, further hampered by an unusually poor performance from Keanu Reeves, which is really saying something. Sure, there are a couple of fun supporting performances, but I was bored as hell after the novelty of the animation wore off. I really should have just stayed home and watched Scanners. Then, at least, I’d have seen some heads ‘sploding.
Rating: Sleepy
From the I Can’t Wait Department
Bride of Re-Animator
Brian Yuzna, 1990
That’s right, baby, they made a sequel to Re-Animator. The original cast returns, including the decapitated head, in an attempt to make a woman from scratch. As soon as I can find a copy, I’m there. After that, I’m sure I’ll be chomping at the bit for the third Herbert West feature, Beyond Re-Animator, as old Herbie takes his act to a prison. Awesome.
posted by Eric Houston at 4:02 PM
1 Comments:
Dude,
LOVE the new video! VERY cool! Almost like you went to film school to learn how to do that! I can't name all of the movies, but I do recognize most of them. I was glad to see Bubba HoTep win a spot. Of course the Iron Giant always makes me cry. That is the only time that I like Super Man! I didn't see two of my favorites, Nomads and Aliens 3! It is great to have you back!!
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