Day 282: John Dies At The End (2012)

While the horror world decides on what series they should continue and so on and so forth, there are people that are making films that are a little different than what we are used to. Sure, we have had weird supernatural films before, but none like John Dies At The End, a film that was written and directed by horror legend Don Coscarelli (Phantasm, Bubba Ho-Tep) and is our choice for Eddie’s 31 Days Of Halloween film today. He brings a new element to films that involve other dimensions, weird creatures, and time. The film is about two college dropouts who ingest a new street drug that allows you to see things that no normal human can see. It also allows you to travel to different dimensions while altering time. The only problem is that you may not return to planet earth as a human anymore. So, can Dave (Chase Williamson) and John (Rob Mayes) save the world from this silent, but deadly creatures? The film also stars Paul Giamatti (Private Parts), Glynn Turman (Gremlins), Daniel Roebuck (The Lords of Salem), Clancy Brown (The Shawshank Redemption), and Doug Jones (Hellboy). To see the rest of the review, please click here to go to Moshpits and Movies.

Day 264: Colors (1988)

I have said this many times and I say it because it’s absolutely true. There are some instances where a film sneaks right by you and somehow later on you wonder why you’ve never seen it. That was definitely the case for today’s film which is the Los Angeles gang violence film Colors. Robert Duvall (Days Of Thunder) plays CRASH officer Bob Hodges, a man with one year left until he gets his pension from the LAPD. Sean Penn (Fast Times At Ridgemont High) plays hot shot CRASH rookie Danny McGavin who gets paired with Hodges after a gang member is murdered in a drive by. The two are on the streets as they try to investigate the murder while trying to keep gang violence between the Bloods and Crips to a low. The film also stars Maria Conchita Alonso (The Lords Of Salem) as Louisa Gomez, Randy Brooks (Reservoir Dogs) as Ron Delaney, Don Cheadle (Hotel Rwanda) as Rocket, Damon Wayans (Major Payne) as T-Bone, Trinidad Silva (UHF) as Frog, Glenn Plummer (South Central) as High Top, Grand L. Bush (Lethal Weapon) as Larry, Gerardo Mejía (Can’t Buy Me Love) as Bird, Courtney Gains (Children Of The Corn) as Whitey, and the film was directed by Dennis Hopper (Easy Rider).

I know that the film is not really a coming of age movie, but I think that it’s a point that could be legitimately argued. Think about it for a second, what is the definition of coming of age? According to Google, “a coming-of-age story is a genre of literature and film that focuses on the growth of a protagonist from youth to adulthood (“coming of age”). Coming-of-age stories tend to emphasize dialogue or internal monologue over action, and are often set in the past.” While the film isn’t set in the past, you do see Sean Penn go in a s this hot shot rookie on the CRASH force who just wants to bust heads and kick ass. Then when the going gets a little tough and something happens to his partner, he begins to realize what he was doing wrong and he changes for the better. In my opinion, that could be a coming-of-age story. This was one of those films that was trying to show you just how bad things were in Los Angeles as we would eventually see Boyz N the Hood, South Central, Menace II Society, and so many more films that focused on the issues. Robert Duvall and Sean Penn were both equally amazing in the film as they were almost the perfect pair. The cinematography in this film was superb in my opinion as they captured some amazing shots of East LA and Los Angeles. I had to get used to the fact that Damon Wayans was in this movie, but the role was perfect for him as he played T-Bone who is basically a junkie. This is definitely a film that must have opened people’s eyes to what was going on in the world and the problem that is gang violence. I definitely recommend this one and that is why I am giving the film an A- for a final grade.

Day 254: Spies Like Us (1985)

Two of my favorite comedians from the 1980’s was Chevy Chase (Fletch) and Dan Aykroyd (Ghostbusters) because the two always made great films. For today’s film, I decided to check out their first film together since working on Saturday Night Live in Spies Like Us. Emmett Fitz-Hume (Chase) and Austin Millbarge (Aykroyd) are a couple of bumbling idiots that work for the government. Both of them hear about a test that is being administered that if you pass you can become a spy for the government. After noticing that they are idiots, they are assigned to go to Russia where they think that they are becoming spies, but in reality they are decoys for nuclear war. Will they survive and surprise everyone or will they play out their prophecy? The film also stars Steve Forrest (Mommie Dearest) as General Sline, Donna Dixon (Wayne’s World) as Karen Boyer, Bruce Davison (The Lords Of Salem) as Mr. Ruby, Bernie Casey (Never Say Never Again) as Colonel Rhumbus, William Prince (As The World Turns) as Mr. Keyes, Tom Hatten (I Saw What You Did) as General Miegs, Jim Staahl (Bobby’s World) as Bud Schnelker, James Daughton (Animal House) as Bob Hodges, Charles McKeown (Brazil) as Jerry Hadley, Vanessa Angel (Kingpin) as one of the Russian Rocket Crew, and the film was directed by John Landis (An American Werewolf In London).

I don’t know if this is my favorite film to feature Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase, but it definitely has it’s funny moments. Dan Aykroyd plays a typical Aykroyd character while Chevy plays Chevy. Chevy plays that typical smooth talking hound dog that your surprised isn’t humping women’s legs. It’s his character in Fletch, Caddyshack, etc, but I am not saying that’s a bad thing because there have been a lot of memorable moments. One of my favorite scenes in the film is when they are training after the test. The one moment that I love is the G Force moment with their faces and messed up hair. That is classic Aykroyd/Chase comedy that is very physical. Other than that, it has it’s funny moments like the hey it’s the end of the world so let’s have sex like bunnies cause we are all going to die anyways scene. One of the cool facts about the film is that Aykroyd wrote it as an homage to the Road To… series and Bob Hope makes a cameo in the film. That was very cool of Bob Hope to do that out of his busy USO schedule that he had back then. The other cool fact in the film is that Sir Paul McCartney sings the theme song to the film. I really liked the movie, but it wasn’t my favorite comedy that I have watched so far. The film is available to watch on Netflix and you should give it a shot if you are a fan of Dan Aykroyd or Chevy Chase. I am going to give the film an B+ for a final grade.

Day 246: 31 (2016)

There are only 59 days left until Halloween is here which means there is only 29 days left until another year of Eddie’s 31 Days Of Halloween. It’s Friday which can only mean one thing and that it’s freaky Friday and we have a special movie for all of you in Rob Zombie’s 31. For carnival workers like Charly (Sheri Moon Zombie), Venus Virgo (Meg Foster), Roscoe (Jeff Daniel Phillips), Panda Thomas (Lawrence-Hilton Jacobs), and Levon (Kevin Jackson) life is all about the next stop and how to make money quick and lots of it. One day while travelling on the road, their vehicle is hijacked and they are brought to a strange facility. They are told that they have to play a game for 12 hours where they will be hunted by psycho clowns and murdered, but the goal is to survive. The film also stars Elizabeth Daily (Pee Wee’s Big Adventure) as Sex-Head, Torsten Voges (Funny People) as Death Head, Richard Brake (Batman Begins) as Doom-Head, Lew Temple (The Devil’s Rejects) as Psycho-Head, Malcolm McDowell (Rob Zombie’s Halloween) as Father Murder, Judy Geeson (The Lords Of Salem) as Sister Dragon, David Ury (Grimm) as Schizo-Head, Pancho Moler (They Want Dick Dickster) as Sick-Head, Jane Carr (Dear John) as Sister Serpent, Ginger Lynn (The Devil’s Rejects) as Cherry Bomb, and the film was written and directed by Rob Zombie (House Of 1000 Corpses).

It’s hard for me to really come up with an answer to how I felt about the film. The film and it’s idea was definitely one that Rob knew his hardcore fans wanted, but did he execute. While I am going to say not really to that question, I am willing to give him a break because I am curious if the version we see now is different than the one we will see on DVD. I say that because if you are looking for lots of gruesome gore, the film doesn’t really have it. Yes there’s tons of blood and violence, but the camera shots don’t really allow you to see it all. I heard a lot of people complain about Sheri Moon Zombie being in the film, but that didn’t really bother me. I was looking for House Of 1000 Corpses/The Devil’s Rejects kind of violence in the film but that is why I am willing to wait for the DVD to come out just to see. There were two performances in the film that I thought were absolutely brilliant and one of those goes to Pancho Moler who plays the Spanish speaking Nazi psycho who was just absolutely awesome. I really loved the time he spent on screen because he scared me more than the others. The other performance that I loved was the one from Richard Brake whose performance reminded me a lot of Bill Moseley’s Otis. There’s this brilliant opening scene where he walks in and he is talking and it seems like he is talking to you until you find out who he is really talking to. My favorite part of all of that was when he picks up the ax and he says, “I apologize in advance for not sharpening my ax so this may take a couple of whacks.” I enjoyed the story, some of the shots, the music, but the film just didn’t really live up to the hype. This is a watch at your own risk, take my opinion for what it is kind of situation. I am going to give the film an B- for a final grade because it’s not in the C range in my opinion.

Day 78: The Big Lebowski (1998)

This could possibly be the third Coen Brothers film that I have decided to review for the blog, but this is definitely one film I have wanted to see. The Big Lebowski stars Jeff Bridges (Starman) as Jeff Lebowski better known by his friends as The Dude. Unfortunately for him, he is always mistaken for a millionaire (David Huddleston) who shares the same name as him and apparently this millionaire’s wife (Tara Reid) owes some people a lot of money. After his rug us pissed on and such, he is hired by the other Lebowski to deliver money to the people who kidnapped his wife and that is when things get complicated. With the help of his insane Vietnam Vet friend Walter (John Goodman)and his quiet fragile friend Donny (Steve Buscemi), they will try their best to get her back in one piece and hopefully his rug as well. The film also stars Julianne Moore (Boogie Nights) as Maude Lebowski, Philip Seymour Hoffman (Moneyball) as Brandt, Peter Stormare (22 Jump Street) as Nihilist #1, Flea as Nihilist #2, Torsten Voges (The Lords Of Salem) as Nihilist #3, John Turturro (Quiz Show) as Jesus Quintana, Dom Irrera (Barnyard) as Tony the Chauffeur, Sam Elliot (The Good Dinosaur) as The Stranger, and the film was directed by Joel Coen.

The film was actually better than what I expected even though it can kind of go all over the place. This is definitely an iconic performance from Jeff Bridges, but it was also one heck of a performance from John Goodman. He plays your typical paranoid, everyone is against us, war veteran with conspiracy theories, but he does it well. He was definitely the highlight for me when I was watching the film because it was hilarious to see him fly off the rails on the drop of a dime.The other thing I loved about this film was the various dream sequences that the dude would have if he was knocked out like being inside of the bowling ball as it goes down the lane and even the music sequence piece to Kenny Rogers was cool. The film also has some iconic lines in it so you know the screenwriting was done right. The film has that typical Coen Brothers feel to it where things and events can change at the drop of a dime or they can go in places you never expected. The soundtrack to the film is also a strong point for the film as they decided to go the classic way of choosing artists like Bob Dylan, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Monks, Santana, and so many more. One thing I was surprised about as well was the fact that Steve Buscemi’s character was so minor in the film whereas he had a bigger role in Fargo and Julianne Moore’s character was so weird in this film, but I liked it. Nevertheless, it was a great film worth checking out if you hadn’t before. I am going to give the film an A- for a final grade.