D-Man

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Posts posted by D-Man

  1. Whoa. D.W. You are fucking awsome for bringing up STREET FIGHTER. One the greatest martial arts masterpieces of all time. Pretty hardcore, though. ENTER THE DRAGON would probably be a more palatable introduction to the Chop-Socky genre. Or perhaps Mamet's REDBELT. Light on the violence but heavy on the philosophy of the machismo-centric male.

  2. Just wanted to say that if you absolutely have not had enough zombie in your movie diet then please skip ZOMBIELAND and refer instead to our review of THE LIVING DEAD AT THE MANCHESTER MORGUE in episode 118. I feel it's one of the best zombie films ever made and easily one of my very favorite movies covered on DREAD MEDIA.

  3. I have to admit, I'm kind of ashamed of my review. I went real easy on a film I would normally trash. I was literally desperate to be entertained that night and because I chuckled a few times I gave it a pass. The morning after, I woke up and I wondered, "what the hell did I watch last night? Oh yeah, ZOMBIELAND. What an empty, hollow, souless experience that was."

    This picture contained a lot of things I'm generally done with in cinema such as zombies, which I'm kind of sick of; Video game violence which has no place in a horror picture and college student characters who -no offence to college students- are way over represented in these flicks. Plus the dialogue was weak, the characters generic and the acting tepid. Whew, glad I got that off my chest. Bring on the next feature!

    This.

    What?

  4. I have to admit, I'm kind of ashamed of my review. I went real easy on a film I would normally trash. I was literally desperate to be entertained that night and because I chuckled a few times I gave it a pass. The morning after, I woke up and I wondered, "what the hell did I watch last night? Oh yeah, ZOMBIELAND. What an empty, hollow, souless experience that was."

    This picture contained a lot of things I'm generally done with in cinema such as zombies, which I'm kind of sick of; Video game violence which has no place in a horror picture and college student characters who -no offence to college students- are way over represented in these flicks. Plus the dialogue was weak, the characters generic and the acting tepid. Whew, glad I got that off my chest. Bring on the next feature!

  5. Great show guys, thanks for turning me onto Hellsongs. Really looking forward to 500 days of summer as well, even though I'm not sure of its chick-flick status given that its playing on male anxieties about relationships in the film itself. Fits the broader definitions though, so no complaints.

    OH! The pressure!!!

    ALSO: D-Man... we're NOT Team Dread, rather Team M2M or Team R ;) You and D are the D2 Team Dread!

    And yes, we talked about you before and after watching this flick!! xo!

    Mrs Des, You are, of course, correct. My wrist stings from your slap and my crush just took an intriguing turn.

  6. One of the female leads was there, all I remember about her was that she was blonde and busty, and she looked so embarrassed to be there.

    Excuse me? How could she be in a movie where porno actresses are killed and fucked by a ventriloquist dummy; Where girls get pvc glue squirted in their faces to simulate a cum shot; Where an animated dummy pulls it's pants down, bends over and sprays liquid shit/acid that dissolves a door.

    She was in that movie and did it with a straight face and then decides she's embarrassed to be doing promotional appearances? Give me a break.

  7. I loves me some Zooey Deschanel, as Team Dread are well aware. Looking forward to this one.

    On Robocop - I also thought a love interest would have made this movie ten times better. It should have ended with a wedding scene. Robocop could wear a big tuxedo made of metal. with a propellor bow tie that spun around when he kissed the bride.

    Also, Robocop should have a horny, jive-talkin' puppet sidekick. Awsome.

  8. Wow, Chadzilla. Nice to know their are other fans of Lifeforce out there. I'll be looking forward to your thoughts on that six hour Lifeforce mini-series Dread promised is in production. Can't wait.

  9. OK. Here's a revised list to fit more with what you're going for. I do, however, still contend that a few of these titles bridge the gap between those films dedicated to chicks and those for dicks in that both parties may wind up enjoying them for the same or for different reasons. Others, though, are firmly entrenched within their given genre. My hope is that by the end of this process you guys will conclude that there are in fact no such thing as chick flicks and guy flicks but only good and bad movies.

    DICKS:

    Roadhouse

    Tombstone

    Die Hard

    The Good The Bad & The Ugly

    La Femme Nikita

    Leon: The Professional

    Armageddon

    Blade 2

    Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon

    Brotherhood of the Wolf

    Road Warrior

    Army of Darkness

    Resevoir Dogs

    Heat

    Raging Bull

    The Godfather

    Enter the Dragon

    Shane

    Crimson River

    CHICKS:

    French Lieutenant's woman

    Stealing Beauty

    Enchanted April

    Say Anything

    The Piano

    Double Life of Veronique

    Australia

    Devil wears Prada

    Emma

    Moonstruck

    Captain Correli's Mandolin

    Chocolat

    Don Juan Demarco

    Shakespeare in Love

  10. Actually, True Lies falls nicely into that sweet spot I'm talking about. A guy flick with a decidedly female perspective part way through as we examine an action heroe's marriage in crisis. Spoiler: Killing terrorists together is good for a marriage.

  11. "But the idea is that she presents a chick flick and I present a guy's flick."

    Yeah, I know. These films sort of bridge that gap, though. There's nothing saying a chick flick has to be saccharine or that a guy flick has to be brainless. For instance, while both Stealing Beauty and Enchanted April would be considered chick flicks by any definition of the phrase I really, really liked both those films. Alternatively, While Crouching Tiger and La Femme Nikita are action oriented and therefore considered guy flicks, both contain elements that would entertain a female audience. I guess what I'm saying is that these are films that defy the stereotypes of chick vs. guy flicks. Granted, there are a few (Away We Go) that don't embrace that dichotomy but most do. And the sexy ones (Belle Epoche) are fun too.

  12. OK. Here's a rather exhaustive list of movies that I deem as being for couples. Meaning there is a good chance you will both enjoy them. They all entertain on an emotional and/or intellectual level. Some even on a sexual level. Like I said, movies for couples.

    In no particular order:

    French Lieutenant's woman

    La Femme Nikita

    Stealing Beauty

    Enchanted April

    Away We Go

    Cold Comfort Farm

    Off the Map

    Jules et Jim

    Kramer Vs. Kramer

    Nine 1/2 Weeks

    Out of Sight

    Malena

    Say Anything

    Blood Simple

    Body Heat

    Romancing the Stone

    Raising Arizona

    Boogie Nights

    Belle Epoque

    Moonstruck

    Casablanca

    Run Lola Run

    Amelie

    Before Sunrise

    Before Sunset

    The Piano

    Double Life of Veronique

    Postman Always Rings Twice

    Smoke

    Australia

    Lulu on the Bridge

    Bitter Moon

    Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon

    8 1/2

  13. I'm not sure. While the screenplay for Lifeforce is by O'bannon, the book, (The Space Vampires) by Colin Wilson, upon which Lifeforce was based, was written in the seventies. Thatcher was a product of the eighties, right? I'll have to track down a copy of the book before I can comment on the political ramifications of the story. As it happens, a new edition of The Space Vampires was just published this last December. Fortuitous.

  14. Dread and I both enjoyed Lifeforce a great deal but our review was focused mainly on the pulp aspects of the film. Not surprising given our biases but there is a whole other level of psycho-sexual politics in this flick that we kinda glossed over. It's interesting that the only female presence in Lifeforce is a malevolent force of nature that very nearly brings the British empire to it's knees through the power of her sexuality. The movie's club of boys playing manly grownup roles (Spy, Astronaut, Scientist) fight valiantly to stick together and fend off her sexual advances. The astronaut, especially, is affected by her feminine wiles. When he dreams of sexual congress with her he awakens screaming horribly as if from a nightmare. When he describes a psychic vision of the female seducing another man it is the hight of horror while the other boys listen in leeringly. When the Astronaut and the Spy confront the female force in the body of a beautiful nurse they take perverted, voyeuristic pleasure in brutalizing her. The kiss between the Astronaut and the insane Doctor is another obvious sign of the characters' sexual confusion. Ultimately, it is a traditionally phallic weapon that dispatches the sexy vampire but not before she has snatched her prize away from the boys' club. Even the spaceship is an enormous sexual object that appears male on the outside but female inside.

    So, what do we have here? A pulpy, sci-fi, vampire, zombie, adventure B-flick with blatantly sexual overtones that is actually a comment on male adolescence and a boy's sexual awakening to the appeal of those icky girl space vampires that will drain you of your lifeforce and leave you a mindless, desiccated corpse. How crazy great is that?

    Highly recommended.

    Oh yeah. During the review I forgot to recommend another film as a double feature with Lifeforce. Quatermass and the Pit (known in some circles as Five Million miles to earth) would pair neatly with Lifeforce given it's similar sci-fi themes and british locales (here's a trailer: http://www.trailersfromhell.com/trailers/185 . Add to that the Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue which I had previously paired with Lifeforce and you've got one hell of a triple feature. That would be a fun movie night.

    .

  15. Yes, indeed he is.

    But I gotta say, this movie has stuck with me over this past week. It was pretty fuckin great. One of my favorite parts was the actual Ultra-sonic machinery that's allegedly responsible for the Zombie uprising. Up close it has a real ominous, vaguely Dr. Who appearance, yet it's grounded in a real world practicality. From a distance, say passing a field along the M6, you may be only mildly curious at what it's doing, not realizing that just over the next hill is an old church graveyard where all hell is breaking loose.

    In another thread I claimed that zombies had jumped the shark but this flick harkens back to a time when zombies were still a fresh (no pun intended) source for horror.

  16. Re: Victorian Undead - Yup. You just confirmed my exact thoughts on this book after a cursory examination in the comic shop. Bland, generic, outdated. Thanks for suffering through this so that others may avoid it. Can we just officially call it now? Zombies have jumped the shark.