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High Stakes (2010)
Fantastic!
I love this movie, Hayden Upton is a fantastic up and comer. Jean Rodney Albert is fantastic also! While it was made on a micro budget for a film festival, a lot of heart and soul went into this film. For Upton's first short film, it is a great effort. Jean Rodney Albert is a great up and coming actor (who may or may not have a small role in the new Mad Max film!) Unfortunately they didn't win the film festival, but the film won my heart! I have had friends with gambling problems and this portrays gambling problems with people very well. I believe had they had a bigger budget, it would be an 11 out of 10 effort. Top work guys, can't wait to see what they come up with next
Westender (2003)
A simple idea done well, though not without it's flaws
Reading previous reviews and comments of this film, some people really didn't like this film. Personally, i really found enjoyment in this film, but i can see why others didn't. It doesn't contain expensive costumes, lots of fight scenes and numerous interesting characters. In a way, reading the plot line suggests these things MAY exist in the film. In fact, this film is about the personal struggle of a Knight, once held in high regard, who falls into depression and a self destructive path after his love his killed. The only thing of hers he possesses, her ring that he had given her, is lost when he drunkenly gambles it away in a game of chance. Once he sobers up the next day, he realizes what he has done and sets out to find it. Where the journey takes him throughout the film is his own personal progression from being a sorrowful drunk to regaining his honor as a knight of prestige. The amount of characters he meets along the way are minimal and are basically there to act as a buffer so the main character isn't the only one on screen for the entirety of the film.
This film has some wonderful scenic views and takes full advantage of this throughout the feature. This film also has a wonderful soundtrack and the composer is actually one of the supporting characters in the film. Where this film fails is its lengthy sequences. There are many scenes of the main character Asbrey is walking through the forests. Lots of these scenes are key to his back story and his predicament, but there are many scenes that could have been cut down in time. One that stands out is his walk through the desert in the last act of the film. It attempts to depict how traveling through the desert can drive someone mad, but instead will drive the viewer mad by how long it takes for this sequence to end. Also, the are a few scenes where Asbrey encounters a wolf that appears to be helping him. While i'm guessing it is left to the viewers interpretation as to what the wolf represents, it is never made clear in the film.
In conclusion, this in my opinion is a lovely gem that i can and have watched more than once. It saddens me that the director has not moved on to bigger and better things, especially when i learned he was only a film student when he made this film. Blake Stadel as Asbrey in the lead role is above average, nothing more, and majority of the supporting cast are adequate. It is not an original plot, not a groundbreaking script, but an enjoyable experience when you know what you are getting into.
Alone in the Dark II (2008)
incoherent rubbish
Are you people serious? Reading other people's reviews of this movie, i couldn't believe majority enjoyed this movie, despite it's low rating (or as it would seem). While not everything about this film is a loss, majority of it is. On a positive note, the visual effects are quite good however due to the small budget they were used sparingly. Also, Lance Henrikson did the best he could with this Cleveland steamer of a film. Rick Yune is more wooden than a tree with no charisma at all. Ralf Moeller has fallen very far from his great performance in Gladiator and Rachel Specter is just plain bad. B movie regulars Michael Pare, Natassia Malthe and Danny Trejo all have very limited screen time in this flick too. The film is all over the place, making one wonder if they had missed some important information in a previous scene, but you don't. The new info appears out of nowhere. At no point was i even startled by the "witch". This i blame on the directors, as very little tension or atmosphere was created for action scenes. This film just plods along, quite slowly in fact. I was glad to see it end at 80 minutes. Dare i say it, I enjoyed number one much better. Shoot me now, for i just said i liked a Uwe Boll film!
The Dread (2007)
For b grade horror fans only
The concept seems simple but interesting. A asylum stricken young man Alex seems to be able to transform into a maniacal vicious creature with the ability of becoming non corporeal. He is in the asylum due to becoming non responsive after the brutal murder of his parents, something which his monstrous alter ego could be responsible for. The creature has laid dormant for years until a doctor revives old memories for Alex. The killings become more violent when his biological sister Teri comes for a visit(she was adopted after the parents were murdered).
This film starts out okay (i'm talking the first couple of minutes), but quickly suffers a downward spiral. If this were a student film for a school project, it would rate well. But it isn't, so it doesn't. Obviously this film had bugger all budget, but i have seen better films on a shoe string budget. Supporting actors seem to be people giving it there best shot, but most of them don't make the grade. The music score is b grade but acceptably so. Includes some horror clichés, like horny teenagers breaking into the asylum for a cheap scare. Word of advise, if you take your date into an asylum and she strips saying she's always wanted to have sex in one, she is most likely nuts herself so i'd steer clear.
The point of view shot coming up behind the main character to try and trick the viewer into thinking the killer is behind them. Usually filmmakers do this shot after the killer is loose, not before. The creature is poor and is quite obviously a guy in a costume. If the mouth moved when it talked, it might redeem it a little. But it didn't, so it doesn't. There is some blood and guts for gore hounds, but not great views of it as it will become obvious that they are animal parts from the butcher shop or corn syrup mixed with red food dye. Best performances go to the lead detective played by Marvin Bernard and asylum ward caretaker Sid Ellis. The asylum manager played by Ellen Sandweiss completely overacts and would have expected more from someone who seems to have the most acting experience in the whole movie (she was in the first Evil Dead). Alex's sister played by Sally Pressman is adequate.
Decadent Evil II (2007)
Summary
After surviving their encounter with the Queen vampire Morella in Decadent Evil, sweet vampire Sugar (Jill Michelle) and her human boyfriend Dex (Daniel Lennox) travel with Marvin the homunculus to Little Rock, Arkansas. Their plan: to revive Marvin's dead son, the famous vampire hunter Ivan Burroughs (Ricardo Gil) with the life - giving blood of the King Vampire. On a quest to locate the King Vampire, Sugar and Dex are drawn into a coven of the wicked creatures that are using a local strip club as cover. When Sugar is kidnapped for sacrifice to the King Vampire, Dex manages to revive Ivan as one of the living dead to assist in the rescue efforts.
Gabriel (2007)
Story was there, but.....
I had high hopes for this film. Being an Aussie and a big fan of the sci-fi/ fantasy genre, it is exciting to think that these sorts of films can be made Down Under by Australians.
What resulted is pretty much a great story, but as a previous writer indicated, i feel it was poorly executed. At the start i remember thinking "what kind of film was this shot on? It looks so dark and grainy". Perhaps this was done on purpose, but it gave the film an amateurish feel. As did some of the acting, which at times was not up to standard, especially for a film with national release. The action scenes were also not very exciting (most of the time). The choreography of them all appeared so slow and in real life you would have seen the blows coming a mile away. I felt the start was a little bit slow and dull. It took sometime for the real action to kick in.
I believe the director will learn a lot from this film (who originally financed it by getting his mates to re mortgage their houses) and while i think he will make more movies, his plan for this to be a trilogy will not come to fruition. This movie would have been great with more experienced actors and perhaps a more experienced director (though i think he did quite well for a first time). I would not be upset by a US remake.
Apart from the the story being the main good thing about this film, the end has a killer twist and i challenge you to pick it.
5/10
Comedy Store (1997)
Stand up at it's best
This show used to feature on the comedy channel on cable in Australia back in 1999-2000. The Comedy Store is a comic club in England and featured mainly British and US stand up comedians such as Rich Hall, Bobby Slayton, Sean Meo, Patrice O'Neal and Jeff Green. Some would have an entire show devoted to their act, but usually it featured at least three comics per show. Some of the stuff these guys come up with is amazing and my friends and i still use their jokes to this day. For instance, Bobby Slayton explains how great it is that the Indian people put a dot on their head when they get married rather than buy an expensive wedding ring. He explains how great it would be to go to the drug store and buy a magic marker for 89 cents and propose. Then he finishes with the punchline, "Honey i love you. Here's your friendship dot, here's your engagement dot, here's your wedding dot. Tic tac toe NOW F**K ME ALREADY!. And if you give good head, i'll give you a star!"
Grade A material!