13 Assasins aka (Takashi Miike Makes a Film That Frickin Makes Sense)

This movie kicked all kinds of ass!! Seriously I really can't say enough about this film. I grew up loving these type of movies,not so much "kung fu" type movies,but samarai and shogun flicks,such as "Shogun Assasin" from back in the day.....really enjoyed that,but haven't seen a ton of the epic type films with brilliant sword play much anymore.I know they still make them in Asia,but they dont always make it over here to the states,and unlike my beloved horror films,I'm not so much in the loop on these type of films.

With that being said,I had been watching HDMovie Net the past couple of weeks and they had repeatedly aired commercials for a "sneak preview showing" of Takashi Miike's latest film "13 Assassins" which looked awesome in the previews.I really wanted to see this flick.

Now I haven't seen a shit load of his films,but he is best known here in the states for "Audition" which is about as fucked up a film as you could see....especially as the film first seems to start as almost a romantic comedy and ends up being a nuts ass torture flick.Hell his stab at the old J Horror standard of the long haired ghost girl in "One Missed Call" was even unlike any other of its type,especially the WTF? ending (still a very good film...FUCK you Hollywood and Ed Burns and the Cancer to film that is Shannyn Sossamon).Needless to say he doesn't always do films that are of the more standard type of fair.

"13 Assasins" seems to be Miike's attepmt at an old style epic,and man does the guy nail it!!! This film is fantastic!! "13 Assasins" is the story of an aging samari being enlisted to kill an oppressive and evil as shit lord.The samari is played by Kogi Yakusho who has been in many films including "Kairo" aka "Pulse" (again FUCK you Hollywood,and fucking Vampire Bullshit Ian "Oh I'll Just Put On Eyeliner and Be So Cool" Sommerhalder...cant hold it against Kristen Bell she's too damn adorable!!),as well as "Retribution". Well he is excellent in this.....its supposedly 1844 in Japan and its a peaceful time,where the samari have had very little to do in a long time...when he is approached to help out the people of the land to end the attrocities being put upon them by this Lord,he is more than ready to get the job done,he ends up recruiting 12 (it eventually gets to the titled 13) samaris to assist who all have had nothing to do,and considering,its like their job and shit to fight and die and stuff,well they are all up to the task.

Just as Yakusho is up to the task,every actor is great in this film.The actor playing the evil lord is great,bringing a feeling of a bored,spoiled,and just plain saidistic individual,he's awesome,you'll be wanting this fucker to get his just deserts.Plus how can you not LOVE a film that pits 13 guys against an army of 200? The last 50 minutes is one non stop battle and its perfect.Perfect in the way its filmed,and the way its staged and again the actors are great,they had to train their asses off for the amount of physical activity done in this film (mainly in that 50 minute battle scene).

Miike is known for his violence,and there is violence in this film,but again,he seems to have toned it down a bit(for him),the violence that is on screen is what would actually happened in a battle,not exaggerated in any ways.Even the results of the violence,as the scene of one of the results the lords actions is damn sad as hell,and the effect to make the victim appear as she does is something else.

Look,if you enjoy great action films,and have an itch for an epic of this type,see this film!! Its coming out in limited release (it should get a bigger release) and it will also be coming out on video very soon!! Or you can just wait for the half ass Hollywood remake where they make it either a sci fi flick or a western....

The Pool aka (Holy Shit!! Is That Isla Fischer and James Mcavoy??!!)

So I had remembered a little bit about this flick from about 8 years ago,one night late I was having trouble sleeping and came across an ok slasher that seemed foreign even though everyone was speaking English,but again it was late and I came across it kinda in the middle and didn't make it to the end,I just couldn't ever find it on again and eventually forgot about it.

Then I came across it a week ago and even then I thought it sounded familiar,but I couldn't remember all the details about it,what with old age and everything.Anyways,for a forgotten,rarely seen,and relatively unknown flick made by some German dude who has done nothing else....its not that bad.Plus if anything,the German dude can claim he at least made a flick with Mrs. Borat and a dude who has starred in Oscar nominated films in the same film.

And this fact I didn't even know until they popped up early in the film,since I wasn't totally paying attention during the credits,but damn if Isla Fischer's adorable little butt (which we unfortunately don't get to see) and James Mcavoy don't pop up as boyfriend and girlfriend in this one.Which was a kinda pleasant surprise.They aren't the two main characters either,so you also don't know when they are gonna buy the farm...you just know they probably will.

The film is the typical,a bunch of teens (uhm,25 year olds) graduate from an international high school and Prague and decide to have a big last night together bash at this posh pool resort that's closed for the night,but they are able to break in and party....which honestly,the party was actually pretty lame,you have like 10 people,all just splashing around and drinking and goofing off.....not quite the awe inspiring night of all nights that the main guy pronounces on the way to the event. Anyways,someone is out to kill them off as the night progresses....and that's pretty much it.

Its not a good film in any stretch of the imagination,but for a time killer its entertaining,I wouldn't pay a ton of money for it,hell I wouldn't buy it,but for a rainy Sunday or something its not bad,if you like non descript slasher films. It does have one really great death scene in it,involving a water slide and a machete that is pretty great though.Plus its always fun to see famous actors in shit,they'd probably rather not have brought up when they are hanging with James Lipton.

Scream 4 aka (Wes Craven's Best Film In 15 Yrs.......Even Though Thats Not Saying Much)

Wes Craven......to be honest,I think the fact that he is repeatedly called "The Master of Horror" is a bit of a misnomer. In all honesty,true the guy has done a butt load of horror films....but shit a lot of them have been total crap. His actual good films are "Last House On The Left" (which in my opinion isn't really all that good,I'd heard sooo much about this one,and when I finally watched it....it was like....really??Ehhh,I am just saying its good based on its historical context), Nightmare on Elm St, New Nightmare,Scream 1 and 2 (even though there were parts in 2 where if it was edited down a little might have helped it more)...and that's pretty much it...And no I don't think his Hills Have Eyes is all that good.

Since Scream 1 and 2,he has been just on cruise control.His last movie prior to "Scream 4" was "My Soul to Take",which is one big old mess from the start....have no clue what the fuck he was thinking with that one.

Well,I'll honestly say,Craven put forth the effort with this one,and that its a good film.While not a classic,for a 4th film in a franchise,its effectively done.And in context of the other sequels,I actually prefer it to the other two.

The film's cast does well with what they are given,the writing which originally was done by Kevin "If It Wasn't For Me James Van Der Beek Wouldn't Be Known As The Dawson" Williamson and touched up by Ehren Krueger ,is decent enough for one of these things.As stated before this is the third sequel in a slasher series,that didn't take itself seriously,and really nobody should go into seeing this wanting to judge it very seriously.It is what it is,a fun time distraction,that does a decent job of keeping the feel of the original...which was severely lacking in the third one.

I'm not going to go into too much about the actual story...I mean its Scream 4 for Christs sake....but also I don't want to worry about giving away any spoilers,even though the only person I know that occasionally reads these fucking reviews saw the damn film with me.Anyways,if you like the Scream series,you won't be disappointed,and if you don't like the series,why the fuck would you see this one anyways???

PS- Hayden Panettierre is SOOOOOOOOO ridiculously cute in this film it should be a crime!!

Also I do want to say that Craven and Williamson did a nice job poking fun at the remake/reboot crazy asshole thinking that makes up a lot of the horror genre of present day Hollywood.Fucking Hollywood......

Insidious aka (Not Trying to Reinvent the Wheel,But Damn Fine Horror Flick)

I have been waiting for this one for a long time. Its been almost a year since early write ups about "Insidious" being more old school in terms of horror,and that it was gee I don't know a horror movie that actually was kinda scary....damn what a concept!! And thank the lord its not a remake of an old slasher from the 80's,nor a remake of some little seen Asian horror flick,or an unnecessary sequel....but a gosh darn actual original story.....unbelievable.

Its kinda sad that its gotten to the point with theatrical horror films,where just the thought of an original concept has me all antsy and excited to see it,no matter what the concept.Seriously,if someone showed me a preview of a horror movie that dealt with a tire rolling around and killing....oh yeah I saw that last week....anyways I am just really glad to see an original horror film make it to the big screen and not be relegated to limited release and DTV like most of the actually deserving films of the genre have recently unfortunately been getting.

Look I'm not gonna tell you a whole lot about it,its a ghost story,you either like ghost stories or you don't.I personally love them.I mean I'd rather watch a good things going bump in the night ghost story,than a by the numbers slasher flick any day of the week,and unfortunately,no matter how you slice it (heh) pretty much every slasher is by the numbers nowadays.

James Wan has directed several flicks now,and really I can honestly say,he hasn't made a bad film yet.He did the original "Saw" which was way better than anything that followed in the series,He did "Dead Silence" (which this film sometimes has a feel of in some of the creepy moments) which was stylish and very much like an update of the old 1930's Universal horror films,and he did the kick ass Kevin "My Wife Thinks Your a God" Bacon flick "Death Sentence" that was again stylish and non stop in its action with some great camera work.The dude knows what the fuck he's doing.

I am stunned that this film cost only a million to make.It looks easily like it was made for at least 20 times that,and with a cast that includes insanely cute girl next door Rose "Stick It In My Bum" Byrne and Patrick "Always kind of a slacker/laid back attitude" Wilson its surprising that it was made so cheaply....yet so well.

If you want to see a good little horror flick that definitely delivers on the creep (with some sensational work of the surround sound,best I've heard in a horror movie at a theater since "The Strangers") you really should enjoy it,is it a perfect film? No,but its definitely worth seeing,and probably one of the better horror flicks of the year.

PS- I'm really glad to see it came in 3rd in the theaters this week with over $13 mil. Nice to see a non franchise,non sequel/remake that's not some crap ass sellout for the teens and tweeners (godawful crap like the Prom Night and Stepfather remakes). Sure its not going to probably make $50 mil,but that's a nice weekend for a film that was made for $1 mil. Especially considering that the genre hasn't exactly been tearing it up at the box office lately.This film needed to make what it did last week,so that hopefully the idiots who run the studios will not eventually start to give up on releasing horror films at the theaters,other than the sure things like Paranormal Activity 5 where the demon terrorizes big breasted Katie's cousins mothers nephews dog.