Wednesday, October 26, 2005

TALES FROM NETFLIX

Tales From Netflix are DVD reviews, where I tell you where you should put a disc in your Netflix rental queue - placing it at the top, burying it at the bottom, or not even bothering in the first place.

HIGH TENSION

Solid movie, that delivers fairly well on the premis.
It does break the tension it's building by fumbling a bit with the plot, and that's to say nothing of the questionable ending (or the odd mix of French and English, clearly dubbing some lines while just using subtitles otherwise).
Good stuff though, perfect for fans of Dead@17!
This could go mid to top QUEUE, depending on your mood.

INTACTO

The last movie was French, this one's Spanish.
Instead of college girls with bloody power equipment though, we get men who steal luck for sport. Intacto has a very interesting premis, that people with good luck, crash survivors, champion bull fighters, etc, actually steal luck from others, and can put this to use in high stakes gambling.
Hunh?
Yeah. It's decidedly different, but charming and well done. Some of the character motivation's a bit questionable (the inspector), but otherwise high marks all around.
As with Tension, this one's a mix of English and subtitles.
Put INTACTO at the top of your QUEUE

IT'S ALL GONE PETE TONG

Pete Tong is all about Frankie Wilde, a supposed Euro DJ superstar who loses his hearing, but finds himself. Done up mockumentary style.
It's a very cheeky send-up of DJ culture and lifestyle, complete with visions of a "Coke Badger", but it's anchored by a strong performance from the lead, Paul Kaye.
Put this one at the top of your QUEUE

LAND OF THE DEAD

After finally seeing all of the original Romero Zomibie movies, in adittion to the respect other zombie flicks paid him (like Shaun of the Dead, Dawn of the Dead remake, etc), I was completely stoked to see this. The reviews I'd seen were lukewarm, so I wasn't too hopefull, and I think that's a fair place to come into this movie from, one of reserved expectations. It's not better than Night or Dawn, but it is better than Day. By the time the film was through I'd thouroughly enjoyed it, but it didn't come through as much as I'd liked.

Whereas with Night or Dawn of the Dead, there was never a time I wasn't riveted to the screen, or fully enjoying the sensory or cerebral stimuli, Land of the Dead is not so strong (as with Day). All in all, it felt a little light, like it came to the final act, just as it was building to something. There's just not much tension to be had, and that's really what drives a good survival horror film. It almost felt like an episode of a zombie TV show, albiet a great TV show.

Also, I found it a bit hard to buy the mindless zombies learning human behavior, or the focus on one zombie leading the group through the course of the story.

If you're a zombie nut, Land of the Dead is a top QUEUE movie, if you're not, put it in the middle.

ME AND YOU, AND EVERYONE WE KNOW

Me and You is one of those slice of life indy films with unique flair. Not something that may draw many in, including myself, but once you give this a few minutes chance, you're hooked.
It really is a crazy, fucked up look at love, relationships, sex, and everything inbetween, all presented with quirk and style (and often times, with children?!?). It makes you think, and it makes you laugh.
Put ME AND YOU at the top of your QUEUE

No comments: