Quick Movie Review: Vol 26

Yet again it’s time for me to catch up on all the movies I’ve watched. It’s what you call professional, with a capital P. Anyway other than one movie I’ve got into my time machine and watched some movies from the past. One was an old favourite that I wanted to put through the nostalgia test; the other was an apparent classic that I wanted to test for myself.

Gee so many tests I feel like a scientist, maybe I should go and put my lab coat on. You know, FOR SCIENCE!

Safe House (2012)

I kind of wanted to do a full review of this movie as I actually had a good time watching it. But when I kind of weighed up what I would talk about I didn’t come up with much. This is a competent film but it never really excels. The acting is pretty good, but with the calibre of actors used you wouldn’t expect it to be bad. Denzel Washington is great as Tobin Frost, but you get the sense he’s phoning it in. On the other hand this movie is great at showing Ryan Reynolds as an action movie leading man. I kind of wish this was released before Green Lantern.

Plot wise this movie really does stumble by the fact it’s pretty easy to guess where everything is going. Who the inevitable traitor will be? What the hero will do? Also the character arc of Tobin Frost seems a little hollow as he seems like a bad guy from the get go, and is only helping Reynolds character Matt Weston because they are in a sticky situation. I didn’t buy Frost’s more sympathetic moments. Overall I still had fun and if you like the spy action movie genre then you may find some entertainment.

The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967)

Hearing good things about this Roman Polanski movie, I decided to finally give in and watch it. Being a vampire lover I thought I would get some satisfaction from the movie. Man was I wrong. I’m not sure it it’s because it’s dated badly, or maybe the humour just wasn’t my cup of tea, but I was really very bored through this entire movie. I will give credit to Alfie Bass as Shagal, he did manage to get a chuckle out of me, but his character never seems to actually gel with the movie and seems like he escaped from another cinematic escapade.

I think most of the trouble stems from the plot revolving really around Roman Polanski’s character. He’s not a great actor, and just doesn’t create enough momentum for the movie to generate any flow. There is an idea at the core, an idea that is only really revealed at the end of the movie, it’s interesting and could actually lead to a good movie, but there is so much slow meandering padded around the movie it fails. I can only recommend this movie to people who really love vampire movies, and don’t want to miss watching a single one.

Highway to Hell (1991)

When I was a small boy I remember renting this video on VHS a lot. That’s right I said VHS. Being on a trash movie kick I thought I would take a look at this movie and see if it survived my nostalgia tinted glasses. Amazingly not only did this movie meet my expectations, but being older I actually appreciated the humour of the movie a lot more. What was interesting were all the actors I noticed making guest appearances like Ben Stiller and Gilbert Gottfried. It just seemed from the get go this movie was trying to be subversive with its comedy.

The  story has Chad Lowe’s character Charlie venturing into hell with a magic car, shotgun loaded with a handful of holy ammo and his faithful companion, all in an effort to rescue his girlfriend from the devil and his hell cop. It’s a big, goofy, cheesy movie, which actually takes some great comedic shots at society in the back ground. Top it off with some great performances, especially from Patrick Bergen as Beezle who actually gets the most interesting character of the movie. Those who love fun genre movie I would get your butt’s out there and find this movie. It’s a hell of a ride.