Day 362: Amadeus (1984)

amadeusThere are movies for this challenge that I promised myself that I was going to watch before it was over and today’s film is one of those said films. One of the greatest composers of the 18TH century was the virtuoso Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and for today’s film I decided to watch the 1984 film Amadeus. Antonio Salieri (F. Murray Abraham) likes to believe that he is a great composer and writer of classical music, but he had to work hard for it. Unlike his counterpart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Tom Hulce) who was born with a natural talent and ability that it drives Salieri mad with jealousy. The film is Salieri’s take on what drove him to the point that he would actually murder the young prodigy. The film also stars Elizabeth Berridge (The Funhouse) as Constanze Mozart, Roy Dotrice (Hellboy II: The Golden Army) as Leopold Mozart, Christine Ebersole (The Wolf Of Wall Street) as Katerina Cavalieri, Jeffrey Jones (The Crucible) as Emperor Joseph II, Kenneth McMillan (Dune) as Michael Schlumberg, Charles Kay (Henry V) as Count Orsini-Rosenberg, Cynthia Nixon (Sex And The City) as Lorl, Kenny Baker (Star Wars: Episode IV- A New Hope) as Parody Commendatore, Simon Callow (James And The Giant Peach) as Emanuel Schikaneder, and the film was directed by Milos Forman (The People Vs Larry Flynt).

elizabeth-berridgeI just want to warn all of you with short attention spans that this film is a little over three hours long so if you can handle it then proceed. Amadeus is definitely one of those films that they went all out for because it has an amazing score, amazing set designs, amazing costumes, and most importantly great acting that makes it complete. The soundtrack features so much as far as amazing 18TH century classical music and amazing opera music that should satisfy any fan of that genre. The set designs and costumes were so amazing that it actually makes you feel like you are walking and living in 18TH Century Austria which is what a time period piece is supposed to do in the first place. One thing I do know is that this is actually a fictionalized look at the life of Mozart or at least the idea of Salieri killing Mozart. Mozart died of an illness that is often debated as to what it was exactly. When he was working on his Requiem, it said that he dictated in bed to one of his proteges and not Salieri (although this is not proven either). F. Murray Abraham was absolutely brilliant in his portrayal of a man driven with jealousy and hatred toward God and Mozart. Tom Hulce is brilliant as the virtuoso who if he was a lead singer he would have had LSD (Lead Singers Disease). He knew he was amazing and he wasn’t afraid to show it. I was a little skeptical of Jeffrey Jones playing an Austrian Emperor, but he does a pretty good job at it. You really have to love classical music and Mozart to want to watch this film, but I am a fan of music so I loved it. I am going to give the film an A for a final grade.

Day 295: Ouija: Origin Of Evil (2016)

maxresdefault-3There are few things in this life that truly freak me out and one of those things happens to be a Ouija board and the other is evil spirits. So, what happens when you combine those two things into one film, well hopefully a good horror film. For today’s film, I decided to check out the prequel to the 2014 film Ouija in Ouija: Origin Of Evil. For Alice Zander (Elizabeth Reaser), life hasn’t been easy for her and her girls since the death of her husband. She relies heavily on scamming people during seances to get some extra cash. One day she brings home a Ouija board to add a little something extra to the seances, but what she doesn’t realize is the impact it’ll have when an evil spirit possesses her daughter Doris (Lulu Wilson) as a result of it. Now they’ll have to battle the demon inside her in order to save her.The film also stars Annalise Basso (Oculus) as Lina Zander, Henry Thomas (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial) as Father Tom, Parker Mack (The Darkness) as Mikey, Doug Jones (Hellboy II: The Golden Army) as Ghoul Marcus, Chelsea Gonzalez (Criminal Minds) as Gloria, Michael Weaver (Super Troopers) as Roger Zander, and the film was directed by Mike Flanagan (Hush). To see the rest of the review, please click here to go to Moshpits and Movies.

Day 177: Roboshark (2015)

Roboshark-2016We are continuing our theme of Shark Week this week with another serving of shark related films. For today’s film, I wanted to explore a title that was at my local Redbox and so I chose Roboshark for today’s film. An alien spacecraft is hovering over the Earth when it launches some pods into our solar system and they land in the ocean. When inside the ocean, the pod gets eaten by a shark, but it ends up transforming the shark into Roboshark, a robotic killing machine that is making it’s way to the city of Seattle after destroying a submarine. While the Navy gears up to destroy the robotic shark, a news reporter and her daughter try everything they can to get the scoop and find out what the shark wants. The film also stars Alexis Peterman (Survivor) as Trish, Matt Rippy (Hellboy II: The Golden Army) as Rick, Vanessa Grasse (Leatherface) as Melody, Nigel Barber (Mission: Impossible- Rogue Nation) as Admiral Black, Isaac Haig (Grumpy Cats Worst Christmas Ever) as Louie, Laura Dale (Lake Placid Vs. Anaconda) as Veronica, Kicker Robinson (Wrong Turn 6: Last Resort) as Commander Sumner, Vlado Mihailov (Wrong Turn 3: Left For Dead) as Eric, and the film as directed by Jeffery Scott Lando (Goblin).

roboshark-2015-syfyThis movie was tailor made for Cheeseball Cinema on my other blog because this is a complete piece of crap. I can’t believe that I actually wasted my time on this one because there is a point to be campy because it’s fun, but then there is this. The film features a crap ton of overacting that it wasn’t even fun for me to watch. We know the acting is bad in Sharknado, but it’s an enjoyable bad and then there is trying way too hard to out do them which is what this film did. They tried to be more over the top than Sharknado even calling them out during the film, but they didn’t accomplish it. I have seen films like Mega Shark vs Mecca Shark and while that film had it’s faults, it was still better than this one. If you love really bad acting, really cheesy and obviously cheesy special effects then you are probably going to love this film. The one redeeming part of this film was Vanessa Grasse who is going to be in the upcoming Leatherface feature. She was the one in the film with the better acting skills than most of the others. If this were Cheeseball Cinema, I would say On a scale of one being close to an A-List Hollywood film and five being the cheesiest film of all time, I would give it a straight five. This isn’t Cheeseball cinema and with that being said, I am going to give the movie an D for a final grade because The Witch is a hell of a lot better than this film. It’s available on Redbox as we speak.