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Reviews
Out for Blood (2004)
More than I expected...
Out For Blood (The Sci-Fi Channel edit) turned out to be enjoyable, but not as original as I had hoped. The writing was one of the two weakest points in this film, and the writing wasn't bad.
The Good: The acting was more than I expected, most actors at least earned their paycheck, if not more. Kevin Dillon did a fine job and didn't over do it on the emotional side or during the vampire-ish scenes he had. Lance Henriksen actually put a bit more "emotional investment" than his role required, and it was nice to see him in a film that while "B Grade" was at least enjoyable, and also to him be cast with some dignity (Mangler 2, WTF?!!). The cinematography was fairly conservative but at the same time visually covered the visuals to adequately tell the story.
The Bad: The "Essential Fiction" of the movie (Vampires stalk the Night...) seemed a bit bland, especially if you the viewer even remotely indoctrinated into Vampire Myth. Most especially if you have any knowledge of the "World Of Darkness" line of products from White Wolf Game Studios. Also the primary female antagonist's brother was annoying beyond the script, which got on my nerves. The few gory scenes that are in this movie could have been shot with a bit more "Umph". The "messy" scenes I saw were shot sort of late 80's TV style. Mind you I saw the "Edited for Sci-Fi" version the DVD version may be more hardcore, but since the violence and damage it inflicted were not even remotely the focus of the film, I doubt I missed much.
The Ugly: The make up for the main antagonist was very on/off, it looked decent enough in the quality department but the execution was not all that gripping, in fact none of the full on "Vamp-Face" make up really did it for me. Also the "Big Bad's" voice is processed with quite a bit of "phlange", unfortunately said phlange is not a good thing. Think how the Cenobites sounded in the first Hellraiser film and deepen it, that is best description I give for the voice tweak they used.
With the gripes pointed out above I would still recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys 80's-90's horror, especially if they enjoy the Vampire sub-genus of horror. It's no "Bram Stokers" but it's much, much better than say "Jugular Wine".
Tron (1982)
To the cyberculture this film is nearly apocryphal.
Tron has truly imprinted itself in the industrialized world's subconscious. Those of us who grew up during the "Computer Revolution" this film (Tron) was almost a life altering experience. Even by modern (21'st Century) standards Tron is an exceptionally creative and unique movie. Many have tried to retread this now well established land but even now it still remains only merely dated by the trappings of the characters and settings in the "real world" scenes. Most of Generation X had dreams of the "Network" looking like Mead and Lisberger's vision of the "Computer World". And to be honest I'm still surprised it doesn't. The dye for visuals of an entire genre' were struck with this film. From 'Published Fiction', Role-Playing Games, Movies, Television, and of course Video Games, they all have been affected. If you haven't seen this film yet it may strike you as a bit old, but the "in the system" images are surprisingly timeless. I recommend you see this gem from the past so you to can see a vision of the future that is still yet to come.
Blade (1998)
This film kicked the door back open for two entire genre's.
After the insult that was "Batman & Robin", Comic Book based screenplays were sort of dead in the water. Most film studios shied away from such fare, especially from Marvel Comic licenses. Blade literally showed up barely on the radar before it struck gold, hard. Slick screenplay, surprisingly quality acting by all hands on deck, and a serious lack of cowardice when it came to getting brutal. Blade sort of hit all the action/supernatural/horror genre nails on the head simultaneously. And with the budget it had, I was truly amazed out how good it was. Me and some compatriots went to see it in theatre thinking "this is gonna' rock or suck, no middle ground." and we were all truly amazed how much better it was than what we had feared. If you enjoyed this film and haven't seen it's sequel, by all means do, I imagine you would like it as well.