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dmeister72
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Kill and Kill Again (1981)
Asking the Question: What if Afrikaners had Made 'Enter the Dragon?'
You all know the plot: An evil super-villain in some remote compound prepares his army of karate soldiers to dominate the world. The fate of the world thus rests in the hands of our super-ninja hero, sent in by the Gov'meant with his team of sidekicks, who must defeat the super-villain's champions in a karate match in order to save mankind.
Starring James Ryan as Steve Chase as The White Bruce Lee, and marketed as a sequel to the seemingly unrelated "Kill or Be Killed" (1976), "Kill and Kill Again" gives you just about everything you would expect from a cheesy 1980s karate showcase movie that doesn't star Chuck Norris.
Although fight scenes from the 70s and 80s, which frequently rely on traditional Shotokan karate, generally do not age well, many of the action sequences in this movie still seem competent. And James Ryan, who was not a martial artist before making these films, actually does an incredibly convincing job as a super-ninja.
Sure, you may wonder why the army of karate soldiers dress in summer camp t-shirts. Or why the super-villain keeps sending unarmed men to stop our protagonists. You may even find a super fuel made from potatoes that also makes a mind control serum as a byproduct hard to swallow. Et cetera. Et cetera.
But it is all in good fun. While considerably less serious than the vastly superior "Enter the Dragon," "Kill and Kill Again" provides a combination of 80's action and camp that is hard to beat. Movies like "Kill and Kill Again" and "Gymkata" (1985) are great throw-back flicks to enjoy on a weekend afternoon.
Rites of Spring (2011)
Better Than Average Low-Budget Horror
"Rites of Spring" is a competent low-budget horror movie with a fairly interesting storyline that follows two seemingly unrelated situations as the paths of the two protagonists ultimately prove to converge and as the circumstances surrounding their connection to each other become clear. The result is part film noir, part slasher fare. But, for me at least, the plot kept me intrigued for the length of the movie.
While not necessarily ambitious, the special makeup effects were at least effective. Direction, cinematography, sound, and other "film stuffs" were all solid, at least to this casual viewer. Nothing stood as amateurish, which is obviously a potential concern for low-budget films.
The weakest aspect of this film, in my opinion, was its rather abrupt and somewhat anticlimactic ending. I was left with the feeling that the filmmakers had simply exhausted their budget, and were forced to wrap things up as quickly as possible.
The entire cast delivered believable performances, especially for such an obviously low-budget film. Anessa Ramsey, in particular, really stood out. I love low-budget, low-key horror films that are well done, because they feel more "personal" to me. So, for me at least, "Rites of Passage" was money well spent.
I've heard others suggest that too many elements of this film were borrowed from earlier films. Of course, the "earlier" films referred to by these individuals had, in turn, already borrowed much from even earlier films, so I'm not sure if there is really any point to arguing the absence of originality. At least it's not another remake!
Sushi Girl (2012)
Competent crime drama in the vein of Reservoir Dogs
"Sushi Girl" is a very competent crime drama in the vein of gritty, low-budget films like Reservoir Dogs. And I have no doubt that many others will make similar comparisons to this Tarantino flick.
Film industry veterans deliver competent performances in a movie that combines plenty of tension with subtle twists and turns. The violence is sometimes gratuitous but always powerful, although the torture porn promised by the trailers serves more as exhibitionism than anything.
Tony Todd arguably delivers the performance of his career. Hathaway, Hamill, Mackenzie, and Duvall all deliver competent performances that effectively keep the tension in the movie high.
Danny Trejo, Michael Biehn, and Jeff Fahey share a brief cameo scene that plays out like a Rodriguez Grindhouse reunion, although Fahey and Biehn are sadly underutilized in this movie. Sonny Chiba also makes a brief appearance.
Cortney Palm in the titular role serves mainly as eye candy for much of the movie, and absolutely fantastic looking eye candy at that, with what I would consider a perfect figure. But she also shines in those critical moments in front of the camera, whether she is delivering dialogue or just conveying subtle emotion with those expressive eyes of hers. And I'm sure that her performance here will garner her higher profile roles in the future.
All and all, "Sushi Girl" is a solid genre film with good acting, tight directing, and above average production values.
Death Valley (2011)
Brilliant and incredibly well done horror comedy
This show is brilliant and incredibly well done horror comedy. As others have pointed out, "Death Valley" is essentially "Reno 911" with monsters, very similar in vibe to the X-Files episode "X-Cops." As with "The Walking Dead," the special makeup effects are better than average for television. The cast are all seasoned actors who sell the story. The obviously high production values keep the show from sinking deep into campiness.
I was shocked to discover that this was actually an MTV production. I was less shocked to discover that MTV chose not to renew the series for a second season, since I have come to expect such moronic programming maneuvers from this network. Perhaps they needed more time slots for Jackass reruns. That said, if you're not the kind of person who would enjoy Reno 911 with monsters, feel free to move on to Glee or House or whatever you're thing is.
The Apparition (2012)
Not that bad, if you can get beyond the unoriginal writing
I like ghost story and haunted house movies, so I usually cut them a little more slack than I would, say, another sexually ambiguous teen vampire movie. Nevertheless, I think that this movie was a little better than many of these reviewers would have you believe.
The Apparition actually had a lot going for it: sufficient production value, competent directing, decent acting, decent editing, decent sound design, et cetera. Ashley Greene, who is obviously exceptional eye candy, delivered an acceptable performance and really seemed to shine next to some of the duller performances involved. Unfortunately, where this movie really dropped the ball was in the writing, which was a little too ridiculous and derivative.
The ideas in the script are so far from original and borrow heavily from so many popular films that your frequent flashbacks from these earlier, and often far superior, movies may often detract from what is otherwise a fairly competent realization or execution of the script.
In fact, much of the key dialogue and major plot elements of the script had to have been lifted directly from Pulse (2006, the American remake of Kairo, 2001), in particular, but you will also recognize lines and plot devices from Insidious (2010) and several other films.
I realize that it becomes increasingly difficult to be original in the movie business, but you can at least strive for a little less unoriginality. The death blow for most viewers of this film will probably be the ending, which added absolutely no inspiration or imagination to the ending of Pulse that it ostensibly imitated.
And, speaking of bad writing, I found the lead characters so completely unbelievable as to be distracting. The protagonist is an incredibly hot professional female who rescues animals from certain death when she isn't drinking beer and playing video games, tanning her swimsuit-model body, or decorating the $300k home she just bought. Her boyfriend, however, is an especially vapid and seemingly incompetent BestBuy Geek Squad employee who looks like the front man from an emo rock band and who frequently broods over, I'm assuming, his utter lack of personality.
So, we have the female version of Christian 50-Shades-of Grey shacked up with the equivalent of the loser across the street still living in his parents' basement and playing Warcraft every night. Does this kind of thing ever actually happen in real life? Certainly not in my neighborhood.
Night Stalker (2005)
Another Great Show Lost to Studio Stupidity
First of all, I grew up watching the original television series, with Darren McGavin, whom I hold in terribly high regard. However, the new series was, in my opinion, closer to the more serious intentions of the writers of the original series, which ultimately resulted in a lot of "camp" factor. While I do agree that the series should have picked up someone with a little more personality than Stuart Townsend, the new series was still worth watching. Too bad some Hollywood moron decided otherwise, canceling this show prematurely. While the filming appears somewhat amateurish, the special make-up effects are very well done. At the end of the day, this show should not have been canceled.