Halloween Marathon: Lake Placid (1999)

The first non main feature to hit the Halloween Marathon this year is of one of my favorite horror sub genres: Creature Features! I love them to bits and I’m pretty forgiving of them.   I’ve never seen Lake Placid although I’d heard about it before.  I’ve watched spiders and sharks and even octopuses but never giant crocodiles so this seems like it can be lots of fun.

Enough talking! Let’s go!

Lake Placid (1999)

Director: Steve Miner

Cast: Bridget Fonda, Bill Pullman, Oliver Platt, Brendan Gleeson, Betty White, David Lewis

A group attempts to destroy a giant, 30-foot-long man-eating crocodile, which terrorizes Black Lake, Maine.-IMDB

Its starting to feel like Maine is the center of a lot of horror movies or even places close to it.  Maybe its because Carrie was also based in somewhere in Maine that I say that.  It just feels that way.  Lake Placid is not really Lake Placid but rather they actually mention that where this went down, they wanted to call it Lake Placid but the name was somewhere else so its called Black Lake now. Lake Placid is a fun movie to watch just like most creature features are, unless they are just being way stupid or boring. The cast is fun and the dialogue is acceptable.  There are some silly moments but it does also create some genuinely tense moments and equally some comedic parts.  I’m not too harsh on it because I enjoyed the characters but it could also be because I’ve grown to be forgiving and expect characters to make stupid decisions and rather predictable deaths.  Is it a horrible creature feature? Not by a long shot.

Remember last year, I did the whole Friday the 13th series for Halloween.  Part 2 is one of my faves in that series and guess who the director is- the same guy as this one. I guess thats why I like the style of it.  There are some jump scares, some tense moments and in the Black Lake, its rather mysterious in some shots.  They try to make you think there’s something when there isn’t and the twist is pretty funny about the reason of why the 30 foot crocodile chooses to stay there.  And that ending was hilarious and so obvious that they wanted to bank on the possibility of having a sequel, which I’ve learned has 3 sequels? I’m not sure but at a quick glance at IMDB, its there.

One of the props does go out to the crocodile scenes being incredibly believable.  I mean, okay, eye to eye with the crocodile, maybe you won’t be so calm and there was a scene like that.  And that crocodile was pretty smart. And I had to do a little research to see if they actually used a real crocodile. Sounds stupid because it was in fact designed (which was expected) but it was fairly real.  Even the reactions and the movements.  While we never caught the crocodile close up until the end for longer moments, and the underwater scene seemed like those rehashed and repeated scenes as it went through the dark water, it still worked fairly well.

As for the cast and their characters, this was incredibly well for what it is.  I wonder about its budget.  Brendan Gleeson is a great actor along with a personal favorite of mine being Bill Pullman, especially in the 90s, he was in a lot of random movies. I don’t think I’ve seen Bridget Fonda anywhere before but she’s good. Alongside that, the best parts that led to some comedic moments was the bickering between Brendan Gleeson’s character versus the “crocodile specialist” of the group played by Oliver Platt.  The different views and beliefs about crocodiles and the desire for Bridget Fonda’s character to break out on this “adventure” while having some underwater expeditions and whatnot made this decent.

Overall, I had a lot of fun with Lake Placid and I think that for a creature feature, its really not too bad.  There are the expected bad or clunky dialogue and there are stupid decisions to be made.  Even so, the crocodile was done well and the sequences built to a point that I had a few thrills at the end despite the stupid decision they all had.  Then that final ending scene right before the credits was pretty hilarious even if it forced a possibility for a sequel. Its definitely worth more than the 30 something % that Rotten Tomatoes gave it.

Have you seen Lake Placid? What did you think of it?

Sleepless in Seattle (1993)

When I tell people that I haven’t seen Sleepless in Seattle, they usually give me a surprised look.  One reason is that I am a huge fan of Meg Ryan and two its because this one is relatively popular.  I get it, I really do but I had TV restrictions when I was a kid and this hit right in that time frame of my life where I was in elementary school and it wasn’t really my dad’s sort of movie, so no, I never saw it until now.  Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks was a good pair in You’ve Got Mail and I’d really like to see how they did in this one.

Before I move on with the review, I’d like to direct your attention to MovieRob who has his Monthly Genre Grandeur with April’s genre being romantic comedies. Maybe you have seen a romantic comedy or you love the genre, you should send him a review and join in! I will be sending one over to him soon once I decide which to watch.  For more info, you should head HERE!

Okay? We’re good to go? Did you follow him so you can at least read up his awesome reviews?

Awesome! Lets carry on with this review 🙂

Director: Nora Ephron

Cast: Meg Ryan, Tom Hanks, Ross Malinger, Bill Pullman, Rosie O’Donnell

After the passing of his wife, Sam Baldwin (Tom Hanks) and his son, Jonah (Ross Malinger) decide to move to the West Coast to try to have new beginnings and move on.  However, having moved for over a year, Jonah sees that his father hasn’t moved on and doesn’t sleep so on Christmas Eve, he decides to call the local radio station and ask for the help of Dr. Marcia Fieldstone.  Reluctantly, Sam is dragged into this and as he pours his heart out about his marriage, women who are listening to this fall in love with him and he is nicknamed Sleepless in Seattle.  One of these women is the engaged Annie (Meg Ryan) who lives in Baltimore.  Although she is happy with her fiance Walter (Bill Pullman), she feels drawn to Sam and tries to get to know him better despite their distance. She writes him a letter in hopes that they could meet on top of the Empire State Building on Valentine’s Day.

I have no idea what Sleepless in Seattle  was about but see that reaction up there? That is how I kind of looked like when I was watching it and Tom Hanks gets the name of Sleepless in Seattle.  Plus, it had an extensive relating to An Affair to Remember which I only watched afterwards to understand better what they were trying to talk about.

All joking aside, Sleepless in Seattle was a good romantic comedy.  I can’t quite decide if I like You’ve Got Mail or this one more when I finshed but I have a feeling that I may like this one a tad more even though some parts didn’t quite make much sense (like the scene up there) but then rom-coms are really about making sense, its about the feel-good factor. Agree? Thought you would 😉 This flick is really the essence of defining love because its about magic, fate, destiny and all that stuff.  Whether you believe it or not, I do and I eat that stuff up.

Sleepless in Seattle has a charismatic cast. You already know that part, right? Tom Hanks is a phenomenal actor and even though him and Meg Ryan don’t really have many scenes together per se, they both carry each side so well.  Its pretty entertaining to watch them both carry themselves through this flick.  Meg Ryan’s Annie struggling between wanting and resisting the urge to know Sam more while Tom Hanks’s Sam tries to move on with a lady that laughs in a creepy way.  Plus, the little kid was just so hilarious. And how can I forget Rosie O’Donnell! She’s been poking through all of these movies I’ve been watching and she is just the most awesome part of the movie because she brings this energy and wit.

As a fan of romantic comedy, I have to give a round of applause to Nora Ephron for writing and directing a lot of them.  She knows how to put together a fun, heartfelt and especially romantic love story.  Sure, there is nothing epic about her stories but it always leaves me feeling warm and fuzzy and thats what feel-good movies should do 🙂

Another Meg movie scratched off the list, Paul S! Which next?

 Which do you prefer for Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan pairing: You’ve Got Mail or Sleepless in Seattle? What did you think of this?

 

The Killer Inside Me (2010)

Next up in the recommendations was after my review of Gone Baby Gone from Tyson at Head in a Vice to check out The Killer Inside Me.

Director: Michael Winterbottom

Cast: Casey Affleck, Jessica Alba, Kate Hudson, Ned Beatty, Elias Koteas, Tom Bower, Simon Baker, Bill Pullman, Liam Aiken

West Texas Deputy Sheriff Lou Ford (Casey Affleck) is asked to evacuate a woman, Joyce (Jessica Alba) due to her involvement with the powerful man Chester Conway’s son, Elmer.  Little did he know that she would attract him and drag him into this mess, causing him to show a hidden serial killer self.  As he pulls himself out of the situation, Joyce and Elmer both dies.  DA Howard (Simon Baker) is sent in to investigate.  Lou has to try to continue on as he usually does despite all the suspicions cast on him and put on a facade especially in front of his girlfriend, Amy (Kate Hudson).  As things get more serious, he starts to lose himself bit by bit as he tries to keep the situation from spiraling out of control.

I have no idea how to write this synopsis.  The Killer Inside Me is a decent movie.  I did find it a bit slow in the beginning but it is an attractive little movie because of its cast and the charming music they use in the background that really helps set the mood.  However, something didn’t click for me in the beginning of the movie.  I don’t really know what, maybe some connection was missing and that had me a little less engaged in the first half of the movie.  Maybe after the review, I’ll see it a bit more clearly.

The best thing about this movie has to be its cast.  First off, we have Casey Affleck as the main character Lou Ford.  In the beginning of the movie, his character seemed a bit boring and empty but as the movie progressed, you can tell he was seriously out of his mind.  The expressions he makes in his quiet tone of voice is so creepy and deep.  His sexual encounters with both the lovely ladies, Joyce played by Jessica Alba and Amy played by Kate Hudson was pretty hot and steamy and downright passionate.  Quite a convincing act but even through that we saw the “killer inside” that was leaking out.  The mystery of his character was what made it very intriguing to watch.

The movie does have a lot of style and visually, the shots of the area are pretty nice to watch.  The scenes are well- balances and attractive to the viewers.  The only thing that I didn’t really get was the story itself.  I understand what they wanted to do and how it was about Lou Ford losing control of that killer inside him and his deep dark secrets.  Casey Affleck did a fantastic job with that as mentioned in the previous paragraph.  The only issue I had was the fact that I felt this story was going in circles.  It just kept doing the same thing over and over and in a really slow way.  There were parts in the middle that I was just bored.  I had to split this movie in half and I usually don’t do that.  Maybe its because this movie had something more profound to think about, I don’t know.  I never really understood why he did any of it.  Was that the point? To show that he was just a crazy unrational cold-blooded killer in the first place?

A lot of questions are still going through in my head about this movie about the plot.  Maybe thats whats missing…the motive for all this and what means it was to obtain? I probably just need to watch this again.  That aside, this movie was packed with a bunch of awesome actors aside from the main ones.  We have Simon Baker in the role of the DA and he is totally awesome! Maybe its because I already like him as an actor a lot so he impressed me.  There was also an appearance from Bill Pullman.  Although he’s somewhat changed from when I last saw him (aged a bit), he was a nice addition.  Oh, and I was happy that Liam Aiken (the kid from A Series of Unfortunate Events) was in this also.

This movie is a bit confusing for me.  I will recommend it if you want to see an outstanding performance by Casey Affleck.  If you want a movie with style, this also has a lot of that.  The music really does mesh well with it, making it quite an enjoyable experience.  I just can’t help but feel like I’m missing something from the plot.  Maybe I need to pick up the novel and read it to fully understand better what was really going on.  Or maybe, there was a storyline setup that didn’t work out too well.  I can’t help but think that the script/story could’ve been just a little stronger.

Thanks to Tyson for this very mind-boggling movie experience.  I haven’t had one of those in a while.  Check out his site with great movie reviews and his awesome Desert Island segment 🙂 I linked his site on the top when I first introduced him.

Christmas Marathon: While You Were Sleeping (1995)

Second up in the marathon was While You Were Sleeping, a bit of an older selection, but still a very memorable holiday flick.

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

DIRECTOR: Jon Turteltaub (National Treasure 1 &2, Sorcerer’s Apprentice)

CAST: Sandra Bullock, Bill Pullman, Peter Gallagher, Peter Boyle, Glynis Johns

Lucy Moderatz (Sandra Bullock) is a girl that works on the train ticket counter who doesn’t really have any family around and Christmas is right around the corner.  Everyday at her counter, she sees the perfect guy, Peter (Peter Gallagher) and falls for him.  On Christmas Day, when she is forced to work, she sees this guy but on the platform he gets mugged and then falls onto the tracks and goes unconscious.  He falls into coma and there she meets their family who mistakes her for his fiancee.  She share a lot of family fun for her over the holidays and its there she meets Jack (Bill Pullman).  While he is sleeping, she realizes that she falls in love with Jack.

First off, I’m a HUGE Sandra Bullock fan.  This was before all the other awesome stuff she’s done afterwards and still I loved her in this one.  She portrayed this lonely and casual character really well.  It was a charming performance.  All her reactions and emotions were done right on.  I don’t know why but if anyone asks me about Bill Pullman, this is the movie I’d think of right away.  Its not that I don’t know other films that he’s been in, it just never seems to surpass how I liked him in this role.  He was funny and very entertaining to watch.  Maybe first impressions do have a lasting effect.  There is someone else that I’d love to mention.  I didn’t recognize her right away but man, she’s definitely still got it. That’s the woman that plays the grandmother Elsie, played by Glynis Johns who happens to be in Mary Poppins as Mrs. Banks.  Awesome stuff, right?

Why is this in my Christmas marathon and never escapes the list? Above all, this is a romantic comedy but it also brings in a family aspect.  It gives us a lot of heartwarming moments of celebrating Christmas and New Year’s with family.  Its not only heartwarming but its really funny.  There are conversations (many of them) that you just laugh really hard.  There really is one line that probably sums up the plot, “Life doesn’t always turn out the way you plan.”

If you haven’t seen this, you should.  Its an uplifting, funny family-oriented romantic comedy.  Just perfect for the holidays.  It never fails to get into my Christmas marathon.

I always have this feeling that this movie is underrated.  Have you seen or heard of it before? Did you like it?