As I said on Facebook Will, I agree entirely. The first 90 minutes in The Dark Knight were stunning, I loved it. Then the final 40 minutes or so just seemed too much. The film was ready to end, but just didn't. As good as those scenes in the last 40 minutes are, they were too much on top of what had already happened. It was just dragged out. It felt like watching Lord of the Rings
Few reviews from me then
First up, couple of Clive Barker films
Lord of Illusions and
Candyman
Candyman I've not seen since release when I saw it at the cinema (Warrington Odeon, 7:30 p.m. showing). I remember enjoying it, and it had a certain haunting quality greater than it should have. I also remember the cinema was full of a good mix of people, so lots of jumps and nervous giggling - the sign of a good horror.
So it was interesting to see again 20 years on. It's actually not aged as badly as you'd think (mostly because the awful late 80's/early 90's fashions are currently back
). I'd forgotten the plot, so the film was almost fresh, and it's actually still surprisingly good. It's a little bit threaded at the edges and you can see it coming apart a little and there are holes here and there. However, it's still not an awful film. If you're a fan of horror, then it's well worth a look.
Lord of Illusions is slightly different. Clive Barker was fed up with the treatment his work was getting from other directors, and directed this himself.
At the time of release, I was a huge Barker fan, and had just finished reading most of his (current) works. So I had rose tinted glasses on watching the film and rated it much higher than I should. The film is essentially a murder/mystery with Scott Bakula (Sam from Quantum Leap) playing a private detective who always ends up hitting occult cases. This time, it's a powerful and evil magician we see being fought in the opening scene. He's trying to work out the connection between a bunch of grisly deaths and the magician.
As a fan of Clive Barker, I can read a lot of what's going on in the background that's never revealed in the story. Knowing his work, I know there's so much back story never covered. With clearer vision and removing that, it's a pretty shallow, obvious tale with few redeeming features. Bakula's role is too much of a departure from his iconic Quantum Leap character, much of the acting is pretty dire and the film as a whole just promises considerably more than it ever actually delivers. If you're a fan of Clive Barker, you can overlook all of this, and grab a decent short story and make up the depth for yourself. Otherwise, I wouldn't bother.
Next up Minor_furie was bemoaning the fact he'd never seen
Shaun of the Dead. I pointed out he's had the DivX on his PC for years, but he claim ignorance (I claim stupidity
).
So we watched it, and it was still great fun. I really enjoy the film, but find it gets a little lost towards the end. It certainly peaks in the middle, with the only highlight of the last twenty minutes really being the
Queen section. Still a great film though to waste an hour and a half.
Lastly, I made both minor_Furie's watch
Little Shop of Horrors I like the film to a degree. I think it's always close to being superb, but never quite makes it. However, it's good fun and Maxi-Minor_Furie spent most of the film with an evil grin on his face, he really liked it. Likewise, Minor_Furie understood the more adult humour and really enjoyed the film, particularly Steve Martin's dentist role and Bill Murry as the masochistic patient. Cheesy, fun musical for all the family
Time Travellers wife next... I wonder if it has any time travel in it?
