Troll Hunters PosterIn Trollhunters three Norwegian college students are making a documentary investigating a series of strange bear killings in Norway. When they begin to follow a mysterious hunter they are thrust into the dangerous world of troll hunting. To say anything more would do you a disservice, but I implore all of you find this film. Anyone familiar with Zak Penn’s Incident at Loch Ness will appreciate Trollhunters’ sly humor and cutting jabs at dimwitted bureaucrats. The film is gorgeous, and the special effects look incredible, proving big budgets do not equal spectacular visuals. I cannot recommend this film enough, and I cannot wait to revisit it and hear what you all have to say.
The Amityville Horror (2005)It is admittedly hard for me to separate myself from a remake’s source material. As many of my readers know, John Carpenter’s 1982 masterpiece The Thing is my favorite film of all time, so I have my reservations about Matthijs van Heijningen’s remake coming out next week. While I do not regard Stuart Rosenberg’s 1979 classic The Amityville Horror as highly as I do The Thing, it is a fantastic film that added brilliant iconography to the haunted house subgenre. In 2005 director Andrew Douglas and Dimension Films took it upon themselves to attempt an update of the Amityville story, and the end result is typical of most horror remakes.
Sticking closely to the original film’s basic set-up, The Amityville Horror has George and Kathy Lutz (Ryan Reynolds and Melissa George respectively), a newlywed couple that are baited by a cheap sticker price into buying a house that was the site of a vicious murder only a year earlier. Some of the details and instigating actions are revamped, but all-in-all Douglas plays it safe and delivers a special effects heavy remake of many of the same scares found in the original (flies and all).
That is not to say the scares are not effective, in fact quite the contrary. I have watched this version of The Amityville Horror several times and there are several situations that succeed at being truly frightening, if not imaginative. This is in despite of an over the top performance by its star Ryan Reynolds. The bearded and shirtless hunk spends the majority of the film playing to a model of disembodied rage, but distractingly only manages laughable squawks and wails that derail the film’s tone.
Check out the update only after watching the 1979 original. It may not hold a candle to the storytelling abilities of its predecessor, but this newer Amityville Horror does stand on its own as a solid, worthwhile horror film.
October EisensteinSergei M. Eisenstein’s 1928 film October is brilliant example of propaganda filmmaking. Shot in documentary style, it is nearly flawless in its ability to convince the viewer of truth, while at the same time projecting its political intentions so flagrantly it is now laughable in retrospect. It is not as discussed as his earlier film Battleship Potemkin, but both films share similar themes and have grandiose set pieces that are as brutal as anything you will see on screen today.
Tomorrow is the beginning of the Big Bear Horror Film Festival 2011 and ControllerUnplugged will be there to check out the latest in what indie horror has to offer. This is my first festival since last year's trip to Pusan, South Korea, so I am excited to experience three day's worth of horror films without having to battle a wicked case of jet-lag. Keep checking the site as I will hopefully be updating often, and check the link to see for yourself what's on the line-up.
John CazaleI Knew It Was You PosterJohn Cazale deserved better than this. What amounts to nothing more than a dvd special feature, I Knew It Was You: Rediscovering John Cazale is an inspired attempt at introducing the world to a forgotten master. The problem is director Richard Shepard employs silly technical choices and bi-polar editing that doesn’t quite fit the subject matter. Chronicling the life and death of one of Hollywood’s greatest actors John Cazale, for probably the first time ever, is put up on a podium. The man acted in five films, all of which were nominated for best picture, before he died of cancer in 1978. Perhaps best remembered for his performance as black sheep brother Fredo Corleone in both The Godfather and The Godfather part II, the man had such understated passion that his eyes could take you to your knees. Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, Meryl Streep and many other notable guests appear in the documentary to give us some insight into who Cazale really was on and off screen, offering up some sincerely poignant moments. The film is bizarrely put together however, with foolish design decisions that serve no purpose other than to distract. I Knew It Was You succeeds despite itself, proving just how compelling Cazale could actually be.
Let us just bypass the puns and hyperbolic metaphors. I am not going to say that Drive is a “high octane fuel ride,” or “ Ryan Gosling puts the pedal to the metal as the Driver.” Oddly, these types of responses are what you would most likely be expecting after watching Drive’s trailer. Falsely presenting a car chase heavy action film, Drive is actually more of a kindred spirit to Le Samurai than The Transporter.
Thank God.
Drive Film PosterDrive is pure genre, pure formula, and yet, unlike anything you’re likely to see on screen, perhaps ever. While the plot is filled with overt twists and turns that you can see coming from a mile away, director Nicolas Winding Refn is fearlessly unconventional in his execution. Ryan Gosling plays the Driver, a stunt-driver by day, wheelman by night. He is a loner, either by necessity or by instinct, probably both. He is only really himself when he is behind the wheel, and if its running from the cops or escorting his neighbor Irene (Carey Mulligan) and her son Benicio through the streets of Los Angeles, Driver knows he is invincible when he is in a car. His boss and mentor is Shannon (Bryan Cranston), a no-luck sort that honestly believes he still has a shot at success. This impulsive optimism eventually puts both him and the Driver in bed with Bernie Rose (Albert Brooks) and Nino (Ron Perlman), two tough-as-nails mobsters who leave no room for error.
The film has the same destination as most films of this sort, but it is the U-turns, dead ends, and short cuts where Drive earns its distinctiveness. The ensemble is as impressive as you knew it would be, but this is Gosling’s vehicle, and with Drive he proves he is here for good. Lacking the charisma of Bullitt’s Steve McQueen, Gosling perfectly compensates with stoicism, bringing the “man with no name” trope to new heights. When the film’s Miami Vice aesthetic is replaced by South Korean fierceness halfway through the 2nd act, Drive daringly stops being an exercise in style and becomes a brutal investigation into what it actually means to be a hero. Let me put it to you this way, no prince ever saved his princess without slaying at least one villain.
Drive Film PosterI knew within the opening moments of Drive that this movie was made just for me. It is a masterful example of style with substance, and director Refn along with his cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel demonstrates their expertise in genre filmmaking. Drive tackles action film etiquette without the swagger so many other directors deem necessary. The car chases are not won by who can drive the fastest, but the smartest.
Driver is an unconventional hero, and his relationships and interactions are interesting, but unorthodox. He is inspiring in his stoicism, but also truly terrifying, as he must be to succeed. In the end perhaps Benicio was right, unfortunately, there are no good sharks.
I want to do a spoiler talk soon, so let me know how many if any of you guys have seen the film yet and if that is something you would be interested in. I should have just ignored my fight against hyperbole and started my review by saying this is without a doubt the most badass perfect film of the year, but I restrained myself. How do you feel about Drive? Please leave any comments and click the "share" button below to help get ControllerUnplugged out there!
Monday, October 3, 2011 at 2:42PM 
Troll Hunters PosterIn Trollhunters three Norwegian college students are making a documentary investigating a series of strange bear killings in Norway. When they begin to follow a mysterious hunter they are thrust into the dangerous world of troll hunting. To say anything more would do you a disservice, but I implore all of you find this film. Anyone familiar with Zak Penn’s Incident at Loch Ness will appreciate Trollhunters’ sly humor and cutting jabs at dimwitted bureaucrats. The film is gorgeous, and the special effects look incredible, proving big budgets do not equal spectacular visuals. I cannot recommend this film enough, and I cannot wait to revisit it and hear what you all have to say. 
Trollhunters poster
