An American horror fantasy directed by Clive Barker, Starring David Cronenberg.
A man who has dreams about killing people is confronted by his therapist because those people have been killed as he said. He goes to a certain cemetery where he is shot by police, but vanishes from the hospital. His girlfriend tries to find him dead, alive or undead.
This was almost as cool as Hellraiser. There were monsters and special effects. The plot was in line with the UPO and the "fun & games" section was the girlfriend seeing all the monsters in their underground lair. I thought that was just amazing. I almost cared about the main characters, but when cool monsters take the screen, my attention gets diverted. The camera-work was invisible because I was watching for plot and special effects. Pacing kept a decent jaunt, but I would have put more monsters into 2 hours if it was mine. More demonstrations of monster abilities and those being used in conflicts would have been amazing, but obviously expensive. I really liked it, but I felt that there was not enough monster screen time. Maybe a slow pan of monster faces could have eaten some seconds and given the viewer a better look at the characters. I don't know. I'm rambling. I rate this awesome. Watch it if you like Hellraiser and Subspecies.
A Canadian science fiction by David Cronenberg.
The causes and effects of telepathy are discussed with video examples in a scientific research environment.
I had to turn this off and you know what that means. The reason is that there was no audio except brief and meaningless fictional scientific jargon about telepathy. No music, no noises of the actors moving, nothing. I consider this to be horrible! I won't put it in the running for worst film ever, but it does get my shit rating for a turn off. DO NOT WATCH!!!!
A Canadian British drama directed by David Cronenberg, starring Ralph Fiennes, Miranda Richardson and Gabriel Byrne.
A man is released from a mental hospital to live in a halfway house. While there, he re-experiences traumatic events from his childhood involving his father's infidelity and the death of his mother.
I had to look up that plot on Wikipedia because that is not what I saw in the film. I was under the impression that the crazy adult was the boy's real father and I was not aware of any mental institution, unless that was the halfway house. Whatever the plot may have been and whomever the characters were, it was very stylishly done. It really conveyed the idea of mental instability throughout. There were some good shots of adult crazy walking by a wall in the beginning and the boy setting up his string. The ending got really suspenseful by use of good editing: quicker cuts and such. Overall, I liked how this was made even if the plot did not come through correctly. I rate it adequate. You may want to watch it because it's so crazy that it can't tell it's story.
A Canadian horror directed by David Cronenberg, starring Barbara Steele.
A doctor has developed a new kind of parasite that supposedly filters human blood to repair damaged kidneys. The man with the parasite in him becomes sick and the parasite exits his body to find and infect others. This parasitic disease spreads like wildfire through a hotel.
This was not good. I was listening to the voice-over on the intro, detailing the benefits of the hotel and expecting this to play into the plot somehow. Nope. There were lots of underexposed shots, the characters mattered less than the setting and the plot was too simple. The only good things were a quick use of forced perspective and female anatomy points. Overall, it sucked. I rate this bad.
A Canadian American horror directed by David Cronenberg, starring Marilyn Chambers, Patricia Gage and Susan Roman.
After a motorcycle accident, a woman has experimental skin grafts to heal her wounds. She develops a mutation and starts a zombie epidemic in Canada.
This was not so great a movie, but first a word about the stars. Marilyn Chambers was repeatedly arrested in the '80s while she was an exotic dancer. The arrests were for sexual acts in public that was viewed by police as prostitution. Susan Roman's fame comes from her voice acting in children's cartoons like Care Bears, Strawberry Shortcake and Sailor Moon. So we've obviously got female anatomy points for the lead role. There were topless scenes as well as a "wet T-shirt writhing on the bathroom floor" scene. The plot was simplistic and generally uninteresting, which allowed me to become distracted by details. In the beginning, there's a man wearing a sports jumpsuit with a shirt that reads "Jogging Kills" on the front. The surgery scene is VERY graphic and almost hurt to watch. When time is elapsing at the hospital, there is a beautiful sunset shot with wonderful reflections in the building's windows. There was also an interesting scene in which zombies at a construction site use a jackhammer to kill the driver of a car without opening the door. If I were to rate for funny details, this would get awesome, but I'm rating the whole film. I have to give it a weird pink rating for being a piece of shit full of awesome little details.
A Canadian French German American drama directed by David Cronenberg, starring Julianne Moore and John Cusack.
A supposedly insane girl goes to Hollywood to meet a star that she is obsessed with. She gets a job working as a gofer for a female star and meets up with her family, who are all stars and all crazier than her.
The plot was not very clear and how the characters related to each other was not clear either. This was mostly because of unshown back-story that was referred to constantly. The video looked good and made sense as I was watching it and I could hear what everyone was saying. I liked the portrayal of the imperfect lives of movie stars most. The burned girl had the same hairstyle as the doctor woman from Crash, which I find to be a very attractive one. I don't really know what to write, so I'll rate this o.k. It was pretty mediocre and a little confusing.
A Canadian British thriller directed and produced by David Cronenberg.
A man gets into a car crash on his way home from work. The other survivor is a woman in the other car who exposes her breast to him. They eventually develop a relationship as well as joining a car crash sex cult. From there, things get out of hand.
This is the Cronenberg that I know and love. I went through the whole film with a WTF feeling and was left with the same. That being said, the plot (as strange as it was) was linear and kind of made sense. The characters were dynamic, developing new fetishes as the film progressed. The cult seems to spend their time smoking joints and jerking off to car crash videos, which seems a little unnerving to me. Although associated with vehicular manslaughter and infidelity, I'm awarding female anatomy points. Overall, it was a controlled kind of crazy. I know I've done this frequently and recently, but I rate it adequate.
A German Canadian British drama directed by David Cronenberg, starring Keira Knightley and Viggo Mortensen.
A doctor in a mental asylum falls in love with one of his patients. She is eventually cured and goes on to be a doctor herself.
At the beginning, I got excited because I thought this would involve crazy people acting loony, but I was mistaken. It was actually quite dry, despite numerous sex/torture scenes. The plot was on the simple side and the characters were identifiable, but I just didn't like them. Pacing was rather slow, camera-work unimpressive and it was generally lacking excitement. The acting was convincing and there were no dark scenes prompting lens cap questions. Overall, it was mediocre. I rate it o.k.
An American crime drama directed by David Cronenberg, starring Viggo Mortensen.
The owner of a small town diner shoots a robber who is trying to hold the place up. He becomes a local hero and is shown on television. Gangsters see him and recognize a former co-worker. Is the main character a guy with a family and a diner or a ruthless mob boss?
Another Viggo Mortensen flick. It's always interesting for me to imagine an actor whose fame came from another role playing that role in one of their lesser-known films. Here we have Aragorn serving coffee. The plot kept my interest and the characters fit their roles. The acting was good, especially the son's jokes about having a mob father. Pacing felt right all the way through, with just enough side-story/B-roll footage to really set the stage for the main plot. The video was clear, with not too many dark scenes of underexposure and lots of good slow panning in the camera-work. I'm saying all good stuff about this, so I give it one of those solid green ratings that should be the goal of all movies.
A British Canadian American crime drama directed by David Cronenberg, starring Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts and Vincent Cassel.
A young pregnant woman has her baby delivered before she dies. The nurse steals the diary of the dead mother and tries to have it translated from Russian and find her family. It turns out that the dead mother was a sex slave for Russian gangsters.
The plot was very complex and non-linear. The story of the nurse was mixed with parts of the Russian girl's diary and the dealings of gangsters. Characters got a little confusing too. The nurse, driver and mob boss were easy to keep track of, but everyone else just kept piling into the already messy plot. The video style was clear and pacing seemed right, but was too quick for me to absorb the story thoroughly. The camera-work looked appropriate and acting was convincing. Viggo Mortensen was Aragorn in Lord of the Rings and Naomi Watts played secondary female lead in Tank Girl. Overall, it was very well-made confusing mess. I rate it o.k. Watch it if you really want to unravel the plot mystery.
A horror by David Cronenberg.A father and his daughter go to see the grandmother and after the man leaves, she is killed. The grandfather comes to town for the funeral and is killed in the same house. The daughter's teacher is then killed at school. The mother is locked away with an evil man who is her psychiatrist and the father tries to figure out what's going on.The audio was absolutely terrible because the characters insisted on whispering as quietly as they could. The plot was alright and the style was a little weird and dark. I'm rating this o.k.
A horror directed by Clive Barker, starring David Cronenberg.A troubled man's therapist is an undead creature. The man tries to get to the bottom of what's happening, becoming an undead creature himself.The style was alright, but the plot and characters were so stereotypical that it negates any good qualities. This is typical '80s horror applied to a '90s film. I'm rating it bad because it was.
A science fiction fantasy directed by David Cronenberg, based on a book by William S. Burroughs.An insect exterminator's wife becomes addicted to his pesticides and he is arrested for possession of the pesticides. At the police station, he meets a giant bug that loves the pesticide powder and has inside information. He kills his wife and meets a strange creature in a bar. The creature tells him to get a typewriter and move to "The Zone". The typewriter becomes a giant bug and his boss on secret spy missions.This is really strange and really cool. It's a shame that the plot doesn't make any sense, but maybe that just adds to the unique charm of this film. I liked the typewriter beings even though the special effects were limited. I'm rating this awesome. It's something you have to see to believe.
A drama by Don McKellar, starring David Cronenberg.The world is about to end at midnight and everyone knows it. Various people choose to spend their last hours in different ways.This film is very dark, despite the bright settings and it captures the apocalyptic feeling of the plot very well. The characters are mediocre at best, but the pace is quick and the setting holds my attention. I'm rating it adequate.This blog has become difficult to keep going. This is because I got a job and on top of 2 bands practicing and one having shows, I find it difficult to get through a movie in a reasonable amount of time. They get stopped and resumed quite frequently and when I do get to the end, there's no time to review it.
A science fiction directed by David Cronenberg.A homeless man is captured by government-looking guys and finds out that he is a "scanner" and can link his nervous system with other people's from across a room. He is sent to track down an evil scanner and finds the help of other good scanners along the way.The characters were identifiable and the plot was easy to follow. There wasn't too much action, but it kept me interested. The style was lacking, probably because of the date. I'm rating it o.k.
A drama directed by David Cronenberg.Identical twin Gynecologists sleep with the same women and progressively go insane, inventing sugical tools to operate on mutant women and slipping into drug addiction.The style of this film is so unique that it can't be described with words. The plot is great and they did a good job of choosing identical actors to play the twins. The picture is of the invented tools. I'm rating this awesome based on style alone.
A science fiction directed by David Cronenberg, starring Jeff Goldblum and Veronica Quaife.When a scientist tries to configure a teleportation device to move solid batter like people, the results are bad until he figures out to give the machine instructions about what to do with certain things. He tests the machine with a baboon and it works correctly. The scientist jumps in when a fly is buzzing around and goes through the machine to come out on the other side quickly changing into a fly.The subject matter of this film and Jeff Goldblum come together to make it so cool. The changes that Jeff goes through are fascinating because the special effects were tasteful. They may have used some Hong Kong wire and the department of making gross shite. The plot was direct enough that it doesn't need any explaination. Geena Davis is attractive and just there for eye candy,
A science fiction by David Cronenberg.A strange doctor is searching for his mentor after all of the sexually mature women in the world have been killed by cosmetics.This film was short at just over an hour, and pretty strange. The only voice in the audio is that of the narrator. It seemed to be British dry humor on display, but turned out to be from Canada. There were some definite analog synthesizer sounds in the soundtrack (possibly the entire thing). As the movie is short and mysterious, so is my blog entry. I'm rating it good, but don't know why.
A psychological thriller directed by David Cronenberg.People inside a game play a game in which they "port" into the game through their spinal cords. There are people who want to kill the makers of the game regardless of what level the game is on (like game inside a game inside a game type of level).The audio and video were good.check out: The sexual looking game pods and porting system. I guess this was inspiration for the male enhancement product called extenze.This is nothing new to me. I'm used to the circular reasoning of one reality inside another. For a science fiction psychological thriller type of movie, it bends reality quite well and I like the little 2 headed amphibians. This is one of the o.k.s that could easily have been good, but it just didn't have that extra special something to make it unique.
A science fiction directed by David Cronenberg, based on a book by Stephen King.A man crashes his car and after he awakens from a 5 year coma, he can see the future by holding hands with people.The audio and video were great quality.check out: The new world order pyramid room in the last vision.Damn, I hate Christopher Walken! The sight of his face is enough to piss me off. Obviously, you can imagine how I feel about a movie in which he is the main character.
