Posts tagged review
Movies of 2011
Best: Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Worst: Thor
Most Enjoyable: The Legend of the Psychotic Forest Ranger
Most likely to be seen using a time machine, but actually just re-released for various reasons: Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day, The Lion King
I honestly did not see that many movies this year, but I would say the best one I saw of the year was ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ for a few reasons. For one, when I think “what movies did I see this year?” this is one of the only ones that pops into my head. Also, it was really, really well done and makes the Planet of the Apes story so much better than the explanation tacked on in the original series.
Also saw ‘Captain America’ and ‘Thor.’ Cap had some cool cinematography to make it look really period. Thor was really… bizarre, in that it was a Shakespearean movie about a b-string hero. BROTHAH! FATHAH!
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Pt. 2 was quite good. Kept all the stuff they were supposed to, and it was a good way to end the series. The sad part? I will no longer get to use my ‘spoiler alert! It turns out it’s a school for wizards!’ joke. RIP, best gag ever.
Add to that ‘Groundhog Day’ and ‘Ghostbusters’ making this truly not just the summer of Murray, but the year of they Murray.
Also went to ‘the Lion King 3D’ – which of course was great. This year was also the year of seeing movies I have already seen.
I really enjoyed ‘Super 8’, but actually not as much as I thought that I would. I know Erin loved it (possibly her #1 of the year…). I think it would have gone to #1 for me if they just made it the prequel to ‘Cloverfield’… which I completely thought it was during the advertising and first hour (and then some) of the movie. If JJ Abrams suddenly said “This was a prequel to Cloverfield” I would totally accept it still.
And finally ‘the Legend of the Psychotic Forest Ranger’ finally came out! I have been waiting years to see this thing, and it did not disappoint. Knowing most people in each scene made fun easy, but it would have been great even with total strangers. Kudos, Brad and all the cast/crew.
2011 in Review
Lots of stuff happened this year. Let’s get right to it!
HIGHLIGHTS:
Got a job – finally got a full-time(ish) job teaching at ICEAP, teaching international students how to make good English for their school stuffs. (March)
Black Jack 4: The Homecoming – another of my theatre goals scratched off the list by finally putting my dream scene on stage. (March)
Got married - honestly one of the nicest days I have ever had. Good job, us/our families. (August)
Toronto Honeymoon – considering I usually hate Toronto, this was a really great vacation. Fun stuff every day, and finally got to a FanExpo. And we saw dinosaurs. AND a bunch of plays/theatre stuff. AND had a really expensive/sub-par meal REALLY high in the air – spinning! Thus far getting married was a good idea. (August)
Elton John – ‘Elton John?! Where did you see Elton John? Toronto? London – I didn’t know you went to London! Was it London?!’ you ask. No! Elton John came to Sydney. Yes. How very odd. It was awesome. And he played an encore that was a medley of Lion King songs. Who could ask for more? (September)
Ghostbusters costumes – Joel (Stanz), Alicia (Spengler), Erin (Janine), Adam (Stay-Puft), Jason (Slimer), and I (Dr. Peter Venkman) made some pretty awesome Ghostbusters costumes for Halloween/a screening of Ghostbusters. We were a photo attraction for all to see, and I got a proton-pack out of it. (October)
Tales from the Bottom of the Well 3 – finished off the trilogy, from what I’ve been told, rather well. Scared some people with a fun play. (October)
Jerry Seinfeld – yup, Jerry Seinfeld also came to Sydney, which is awesome. He was funny and told jokes. Funny ones. (December)
LOWLIGHT:
I have SEEN jetpacks - they do seem to exist - but I don’t yet have one. Why isn’t someone looking into this?!
I’ll have a few more of these (likely with more specific subjects - likes movies and stuff) in the next few days.
B-Movie-Palooza XI: The Mini-Pops, Part 2 - Gingerdead Man
Question the first: why is Gary Busey a gingerbread cookie? Question the second – that’s not how you make gingerbread cookies (with the dough being hand-shaped into a man) – that’s not a question, but this also isn’t a movie. I hope to god it isn’t. It is? Oh. The voice over made it sound super fake, but there you go. Just checked – there’s at least 3 of these things. Huh. Also WHY DID THEY JUST LET BLOOD DRIP INTO THE DOUGH?! THEY DESERVE TO GET KILLED WITH BAD EFFECTS!!! Actually, I’m super-glad they used an actual puppet and absolutely no CGI. They really could have used CGI, but went the dumber, cheaper, more awesome route. Winners.
4 out of 5 bloody axes. Amazingly bad crap.
PS – GingerDEAD – I get it.
B-Movie-Palooza XI: Mini-Pops, Part 1 - Howling III
Okay, so as the first one, this is a great one. Incredibly crappy make-up, incredibly crappy acting. And Australia? That’s where all the werewolves are? My guess is that was the only place they could shoot that would be cheap enough. However, most of this review will be lent to this topic: “if you only see one werewolf movie this year…”?!? How many friggin’ werewolf movies come out in the run of a year?! Was this a huge trend that I missed completely, or, again, is this purely an Australian thing? Do the Aussies love werewolves more than the rest of the world? Who can say?
3 out of 5 bloody axes.
And that’s where the timer stops. That was hard – I had to go all from memory of when I just watched it. Not that plenty didn’t stand out…
Review: Legend of the Psychotic Forest Ranger
Who doesn’t love the 80s? Big hair; vapid attitudes; Reagan; neon. So many memories. However, we all know the best part of the 80s was the movies. 80s movies are a thing of legend, or at least, a thing of 22-31 years ago. There’s the ones with epic fantasy; tales of teen-angst and coming-of-age; sci-fi masterpieces and groundbreaking effects. Most importantly – more important than Ferris Bueller or big hair combined – there was the slasher movie. Freddy, Jason, Chucky. Names that will live forever in movie-gold infamy. And now, a new name is added to the list: the Psychotic Forest Ranger. Who knew that a new 80s slasher would come out of 2011? Or, more properly 2008?
A loving homage to the greatest worst movies ever made, ‘Legend of the Psychotic Forest Ranger’ has it all: cheesy effects, a killer soundtrack, gushing food-based blood, continuity error after continuity error, and some of the most horrible acting I have ever seen on the big screen. Of course, it’s all intentional (/brag – I know most of the actors in the movie, and they’re really quite good/award winning performers, so the ‘bad-acting’ was actually really good acting… yes. /end-brag).
Brad Mills helmed this project (and by ‘helmed’ I mean “wrote, directed, produced, edited, acted, etc. etc. etc.) and it is clear that it is a labour of love. Brad loves bad movies. Bad movies like “Psycho Cop” a movie that I didn’t think could be topped in continuity errors. Congrats, Brad. His idea was to bring back – or at least honour – the best of the worst from the golden era of horror. And he did it in a very memorable way.
The film revolves around 4 (or 8… or 10) teenagers who – I’m gonna ruin it – run into some trouble in the woods. Classic. Seems a forest ranger, many years ago, was tortured… or fired… or burned in a forest fire… or something, and now he’s out for revenge on anyone who mistreats his forest. Or is just around. Or isn’t around, but is relatively close by. No real reasons at all. Think Jason-style (ie – in the woods with various woodsy weapons) but with seemingly randomly thrown out catch-phrases. And a really good evil laugh. Mike MacDonald (the Ranger) really filled the bigger than life role and made him a very good combination of creepy, evil, and hilarious. And corny – let’s not forget corny.
I feel I must stop here for a moment. I say ‘corny’ with love. I say ‘hilarious’ and ‘awful’ and ‘terrible’ with love. I live for these kinds of movies. They are my bread and butter. Each of those words could easily be replaced by ‘amazing’ or ‘great’ or… ‘really corny.’
Anywho, the teenagers – who, if I’m not mistaken were 100% not played by actual teenagers… classic – were equally brilliant and gave some of the best completely one-dimensional performances I have seen. Emotionless deaths; terrible jokes; and, of course, big hair and neon. And sex. It could hardly be an 80s slasher without sex and the inevitable murder(s) that follow it. I can’t even single out a particular “teen” - they were all great and lent so much to the overall “story.” This is what a true ensemble piece is. No one stole a scene, and everyone had their moment (or, dozens of moments – pretty much every word out of Stephanie Peters’ mouth is hilarious).
But, if you wanna scene-stealer… well, there are a couple of those as well. Aaron Corbett as Ranger Dan is, sadly, in just a few short scenes, but they are some of the best/worst, and are perfect for the genre. He’s the hapless do-gooder who you just want horrible, horrible things to happen to. Spoiler alert: horrible things happen to Ranger Dan. Yay. But, if you want a “holy crap, that was a great scene… and it’s all because of that one guy!” then look no father than Keith Morrison as the cop. He’s on screen for maybe 5 minutes, and he has perhaps the most cliche lines ever uttered (again and again) on film, but it’s… well it’s perfect. Spoiler alert: horrible things also happen to the cop.
All in all, I really can’t say anything bad about this movie. Partly because it’s meant to be bad, but mostly because it does a great job at doing just that. As someone who has watched a lot of bad slasher movies (and I mean a LOT), I enjoyed every nod at Camp Crystal Lake, Sleepaway Camp, and that cottage where Evil Dead took place. I cheered at every death (spoiler alert: pretty much everyone has a great, cheesy death). Every good joke got a laugh, and every bad joke got a bigger one. There is something for every horror AND comedy fan.
In short (yes, in short after a page and a half), every second of this movie is meant to be pure entertainment, and it really pulls it off. If you haven’t already seen this movie, I highly recommend you do so when you get the chance (the Atlantic Film Festival, and of course one more night in the home of the Ranger, Cape Breton, and anywhere else this is going to be). See it, if for no other reason, so that in a few years when ‘Legend of the Psychotic Forest Ranger’ replaces ‘Troll 2’ or ‘Slumber Party Massacre’ as a classic movie-nerd conversation staple, you can say you saw it before it became a cult legend.
Or you can just see it and wait for the Ranger to come back. Spoiler alert: he’ll probably come back. Classic.
