Return of the Living SB Movie Experiment: Pontypool

[Deleted]

Pontypool.

[bob loves the Hurt Syndicate]

Seven Samurai

[SsnakeBite, the No1 Frenchman]

Attack the Block

Suggested by The Pixel


Thepixel had already suggested Cockneys vs Zombies earlier and I really liked it so when I saw him suggesting another English fantastic-action-comedy film, I was stoked, and this film is... heh. It's alright, I guess but it's not nearly as fun. The real problem is that while it starts off fairly original by being set in London and following a bunch of teenage thugs and the woman they mugged, plus very creative alien designs, it's actually a very by the book monster film.

There just isn't much originality. Monsters appear, chase humans, the humans load up on weapons and take the fight to the monsters. Now I know you might be thinking: it's pretty much what monster movies are all about, the originality isn't in the concept, it's in the execution. Well that's just the thing, the execution is really unremarkable. It's nothing we haven't seen a hundred times before; if you've seen the classics of the genre, you've seen this, pretty much, just imagine it set in current-day London.

And what really hurts the film in my view is that, while in Cockneys vs Zombies, you sympathized with the main characters despite them committing robbery because they do it for a noble reason and obviously don't want to hurt anybody, here the thugs are actually pretty vicious and selfish. To be fair they do get better over time but even that feels hamfisted and with them spending the first half of the movie being generally unlikeable, it's hard to start giving a damn at this point and to forget that everything is pretty much their fault.

It's not all bad though. In fact, it's not really bad at all. The monsters look cool and I like the fact that for aliens, they're actually pretty original, looking like some kind of half-bear, half-gorilla hybrid with neon teeth. There isn't much wrong with the acting or directing either. Really it's all down to the rather generic and predictable plot as it really is one cliché after another. They even do that super-overdone thing where a monster is creeping up on the bad guy as he's threatening the heroes, they tell him to turn around and he goes "do you really think I'm that stupid?" and then gets killed by the monster.

So I guess if you don't mind the clichés it's a decent and fairly average movie, but I would only recommend it to die-hard monster movie fans.


Next we have a behemoth of a movie. The editing alone took one year to complete, the original cut lasted almost eight hours (!!). It is none other than Greed.

[Next Level was WRONG]

I'd like to suggest Alone In The Wilderness (2004).






www.imdb.com/title/tt0437806/

[Deleted]

Crank

[Deleted]

Crank 2

[bob loves the Hurt Syndicate]

The Ruling Class (1972)

[bob loves the Hurt Syndicate]

Taxi Driver

[Deleted]

I Saw The Devil.

[SsnakeBite, the No1 Frenchman]

By the way, sorry I haven't posted any review in a while. I've had a busy week and to be perfectly honest, in my free time I felt more like playing video games, browsing the net or drawing than watching movies, but we should be back on track very soon. And thanks a lot for sticking with me and suggesting more films!

[SsnakeBite, the No1 Frenchman]

Greed

Suggested by The Sam


And we are finally back! Seems appropriate that it took me so long to get around to watch and review this considering this film's storied adventure. On top of that, Erich von Stroheim was so obsessed with detail that at the end of the shoot, he had accumulated 85 hours worth of film and the first version of the film he gave lasted almost 8 hours, and so this film entered something of a legendary status due to the extensive cuts that had to be made (to be fair, Stroheim suggested splitting the film into two movies when asked to cut it down to 10 reels), to the point it's been rumoured that Stroheim originally intended to adapt the entirety of the book this film is based on (it's not true). For the record, the version I saw is the 140 minutes one so if you saw the restored version, don't get mad if you know about scenes and sub-plots I have not seen (also, you'd think finding a good copy of a public domain film would be easy, yet all I could find was a low quality version with Italian cards...).

Man was that bleak. I'm not sure what I was expecting with a story about greed but damn, the contrast between the cheerful and careree atmosphere of the beginning and the nihilistic end is striking, especially as we see the situation deteriorate before our eyes. Every time we think things can't possibly get worse, they do. And really, it's quite effective. I'll admit it took me a while to really get invested in the film but by the halfway point I was starting to feel its effects.

Said effects are reinforced by the direction. It shows that Stroheim was a perfectionist. There are many awkward cuts (which I presume must be due to the large amount of footage removed from the original version) but when thy work, the scenes are undeniably effective. In fact, the film sometimes feel oddly recent at times as, for a silent film, some scenes last quite long and show a lot of detail whereas most silent films usually tend to be rather fast-paced with short scenes that give us the basics of what we need to know.

On top of the direction, the film is also excellently acted. There are some very intense scenes, especially between Mac and Trina. The two actors really show their skills, which shows that silent films weren't all about exaggerated faces and grimaces. Their stares alone can tell entire stories. Jean Hersholt as Marcus also deserves mentions as he really managed to show a man who prsented a façade of someone happy for his friends' fortune while obviously being jealous.

With all that, I didn't even talk much about the story. Well, I actually feel this might be the film's weak point... for a while at least. Like I said, it took me a while to get invested but once I did, I was there until the end. The thing is, for a good part of the film I actually wondered if I got the wrong one because a good 20-30 minutes are dedicated to the love story between Mac and Trina before we even get to Trina's lottery win, which is what sets all the events in motion.

However, once it gets there, it does a good job of showing how destructive greed can be. It's easy to view it as an addiction, slowly turning a happy and well-off couple into a shrivelled, bickering, unhealthy mess in rags. What I especially liked about it is that the money is never spent, showing that this greed has no reason to be. The people don't want the money to actually live comfortably, it is an end in itself. There are some subplots I feel could have used more development as I sometimes was under the impression I was missing something, which again I will chalk up to the massive cuts, making me think that maybe Stroheim was on to something with his idea of splitting the film into two parts.


Next we will keep it old-school with a Hitchcock comedy thriller The Trouble With Harry.

[J is Justice]

May 31, 2014 3:17:41 GMT -5 SsnakeBite, the No1 Frenchman said:

By the way, sorry I haven't posted any review in a while. I've had a busy week and to be perfectly honest, in my free time I felt more like playing video games

Maybe you should do a video game related experiment, as well, then.

[bob loves the Hurt Syndicate]

The Rules of The Game (1939)

[bob loves the Hurt Syndicate]

Troll 2

[SsnakeBite, the No1 Frenchman]

Jun 3, 2014 11:53:39 GMT -5 bob loves the Hurt Syndicate said:

Troll 2

Ha HAA!! Already seen...


Troll 2

Suggested by bob loves the Hurt Syndicate


I'm not sure I can say much about this film that hasn't already been said. Best worst movie? Not sure if I would award it this title but it certainly is a contender. It's one of those fascinating train-wrecks of a movie where NOTHING is done right. Every single second of the film is loaded with hilariously incompetent surprises, and at the same time it has that endearing naiveté that makes such movies click with audiences. Of course, the infamous dialogue is probably the best part.

Let's just say it shows that it was written by a director whose mother language is not English and refused to have his script re-written by someone more familiar with it. It's not even that it's full of mistakes, because it's not, but it's incredibly awkward and unnatural, full of figures of speech that no-one in any English-speaking country would ever use. And of course, the director not being a native speaker may also explain why he never caught the very much unnatural intonations, leading to such gems as the notorious "ohmygooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood".

Speaking of that scene, I both find it a shame and a good thing that this and "you can't piss on hospitality! I WON'T ALLOW IT!!" seem to be all most people know about this film. A shame because that movie has many, MANY more moments that are just as funny (one word: Creedence), but also a good thing because it kept the experience fresh for me, unlike The Room where pretty much the entire thing had already been spoiled for me.

And on top of everything else, some of the behind-the-scenes stuff is just as insane as the film itself, like the fact that the crazy-looking shopkeeper who gives one of our heroes milk... well, didn't just look crazy, as he himself has stated for the documentary Best Worst Movie that he actually was crazy and was in fact receiving treatment at a nearby mental hospital and was hired on the spot on a day he was allowed to go to town.

It truly is an amazing movie for all the wrong reason. You can't intentionally make a film this weird and out of place. It's one of those accidents that results in something far more fascinating than success.

[bob loves the Hurt Syndicate]

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

[Deleted]

SsnakeBite, the No1 Frenchman

How many Final Destination films have you seen

[SsnakeBite, the No1 Frenchman]

Jun 4, 2014 15:31:17 GMT -5 cageking666 said:

SsnakeBite, the No1 Frenchman

How many Final Destination films have you seen

All of 'em. They're all rubbish except the first one.


At least they're somewhat amusing rubbish, I suppose.

[bob loves the Hurt Syndicate]

The Sting (1973)

[Next Level was WRONG]

I nominate The Celluloid Closet (1995)