friday the 13th retrospective: part 6 jason lives

If you missed them: Retrospective Intro, part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5

Ok, this one is bad, so lets make it quick. Tommy and his friend from the mental institution go to incinerate Jason’s body to end his madness once and for all. They go to dig him up during a lightning storm. Tommy freaks out, rips a rot iron pole from the fence and stabs Jason’s corpse manically. Guess what happens next, the pole gets struck by lightning multiple times and reanimates Jason.

Then the opening credits start where Jason walks out and spoofs the James Bond opening where he shoots the camera. When did Friday movies spoof other genres? The movie goes down hill from here. People die, they change the lakes name to “Forrest Green,” and a bunch of other worthless things happen.

What they tried to do was for this movie to make fun of itself. There is a couple of times it works, but other times I’d rather pee on my face, seriously. Why would anyone think people wanted this to be a comedy? Case and point, the entire paintball scene defecates on the entire series. Like in part 3, we return to rooting for Jason because you hate the characters.

It ends with Tommy figuring out he must take Jason back to his original resting place. He does by wrapping a bolder with a chain on one end and Jason on the other. I guess Tommy didn’t catch that he has to be dead for it to work because he is quite alive at the end of the movie.

Rating: 1 Bloody Machete
Body Bags Needed: 16
Survivor(s): Tommy, Megan and the camp kids

friday the 13th retrospective: part 5 a new beginning

If you missed them: Retrospective Intro, part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 6

WHAT! Another one? I guess they made too much money for Jason to just die off. This Friday starts with a dream sequence. Tommy, the slayer of Jason, goes to his grave and finds two idiots dig up Jason to find that he is not dead. Tommy wakes up, looks to be twenty-ish, and is on his way to halfway house for kids his age. At the house, we meet some kids. The only kid who really matters is the fat annoying kid who gets killed by another resident.

We notice quickly that this isn’t the same Jason we’ve loved and hated. The Jason look-alike has different markings on his mask. Instead of the red triangle on the forehead there are two blue marks over the cheekbones. Tommy does have some visions of Jason in his mask as a reminder. Tommy hasn’t handled life well post Crystal Lake. He isn’t the fun talkative boy from the forth movie; he only has 15-20 lines in the whole movie and a short fuse too. He whips out some type of martial arts a couple times, which makes me wonder. Why would anyone let a kid with anger issues take karate lessons? Just sayin’.

Many people rag on this Friday. There are several reasons I enjoyed this one. First of all, they bring back the Jason POV shots in the woods, and an overall go since of suspense. They learned their lesson from the previous outing and realized that the “gotcha” scares work better if there is a little suspense to go with them. The other reason is that the first time I saw part 5 I was convinced that Tommy was the new Jason. So much that the second time I watched it, I thought that Tommy was Jason. I remember when Jason was in the barn with Tommy, and I still thought something was going to happen where Tommy was Jason. The writer thought it would be better for it to be a random EMS worker who’s son was killed at the beginning of the movie. Oh don’t forget that fat kid said that he didn’t have any family. If he only knew he had a stalker for a father, things would have been better.

There were three things that they could have done to help the series out. One, make Tommy a Jason 2.0. That’s what everyone wanted anyway. Two, make the kid who killed the fat kid Jason for the day. It wouldn’t have been good but it would have at least made more since than the actual killer. Three, not make the sixth movie . . .

Rating: 3 Bloody Machetes
Body Bags Needed: 18
Non-Jason Kills: 18
Survivor(s): Tommy, Pam and Reggie

friday the 13 retrospective: part 4 the final chapter

If you missed them: Retrospective Intro, part 1, part 2, part 3, part 5, part 6

All right, here we have it, the final Friday. After a too long intro recapping the previous movies, we pick up where the third movie ends. Jason’s “dead” body is taken to a hospital morgue. Of course he isn’t dead, so he kills a couple of people and gets back to stalking his woods. We next meet the Jarvis family, Mrs. Jarvis, Trish and Tommy, who own a house in the woods near Crystal Lake. Tommy, played by a young Cory Feldman enjoys making masks of scary creatures. The house across the street is being rented by a group of teenagers for the weekend. They are a typical teen line up, ready to be hacked and slashed. Rounding out the cast of the teens is everyone’s favorite “insecure guy,” Crispin Glover. And you thought just having a Corey was great.

The odd thing about this Friday is that it seemed like they need more bodies to kill, so they threw in three more random characters. Normally, this would seem like a bad idea. But here they actually pulled the story together. The extra characters are the two twins and Rob. The twins are bad characters, but the plot point were one tries to steel a boy from the main group movies the story along nicely. Rob seeks revenge for the death of his sister Sandra, who died in the second movie. It sounds like a lame throw in, but his scenes develop Tommy and Trish’s characters nicely. The movies strongest point is Tommy and Trish. I really liked these two people, and the movie is stronger for it.

The story moves along as expected. Jason picks off each person one by one. They really brought back the suspense and gore for the final Friday. This time around they really gave us what we wanted. A contributing factor to this is you never feel safe. When one person leaves the pack you feel something bad is going to happen.

Eventually, only Tommy, Trish and Jason are left. In a moment of sheer brilliance, Tommy shaves his head to look like Jason’s when he jumped out of the lake. Tommy barely saves Trish from Jason’s wrath. After a swing and a miss by Trish, Tommy sinks the machete blade into Jason’s skull. Jason falls on the machete further dividing his brain. The siblings hug in relief. Then Tommy sees a twitch in Jason’s finger. Tommy snatches the machete and manically hacks at Jason’s dead body.

There are a few things to note in this Friday. One, here is also a strange amount of things getting thrown through windows. Two, it has the most horrific scene, not just for the Friday series, but in all movies that have been released and will ever be released. That scene is Crispin Glover’s dance scene, SCARY!

Rating: 5 Bloody Machetes
Body Bags Needed: 13
Survivor(s): Trish and Tommy

friday the 13th retrospective: part 3

If you missed them: Retrospective intro, part 1, part 2, part 4, part 5, part 6

After two successful movies, the Friday series got a bump in the budget. What better way to blow the budget than to move Jason into the third dimension? Answer: None, in theory.

The story takes place right after the second movie. We have a group of teens and two pot-smoking adults heading up to a cabin. Our main character is Chris. We soon find out she wants to go to the lakeside cabin because she was attacked there two years prior. Remember, that was only three years after the events of the original Friday. I’ll give you two guesses who the attacker was.

That’s where the story stops being interesting. The characters are pretty weak. I found that I wanted the characters to die just so we wouldn’t have to suffer through scenes with them in it. The acting isn’t that bad, but the characters feel like cardboard. Even the character development they had was where the true horror came out. We find out Chris’ back-story all in one scene. She hints that things had happened to her before she dumps her sob story on us, but it was annoying every time. I’m not trying to over analyze the movie, it’s just that bad. It probably would have been better if they cut it out all together. I wont even comment on the story of the fat, curly haired kid. No one went to see the movie for character development. So why bother? There are a million other reasons to get six people to go to a cabin near a serial killers stomping ground.

The movie is just blah. It’s not scary or fun, just bad. Unfortunately, it wasn’t bad enough to make it good. They also seem to forget how awesome the POV shots from Jason’s eyes where. It would have been great in 3D too. Have the window or foliage in the foreground and the prey in back. No instead we get yo-yo’s dropped on us.

There has to be something good? What was the best part of the third Firday? What do you need to know from this chapter? Jason gets his mask. That’s it.

Rating: 2 Bloody Machetes
Body Bags Needed: 12
Survivor(s): Chris

friday the 13th retrospective: part 2

If you missed them: Retrospective intro, part 1, part3, part 4, part 5, part 6

So what’s worse than an overprotective mother? Her son rising from his lake gave to avenge his mother’s death. Jason doesn’t waste any time starting his rampage. The movie starts off two months after the original. He ties up the loose ends and disposes of Alice.

Fast-forward five years. Paul Holt decides to open up a new camp. Don’t worry it isn’t at Camp Crystal Lake. Jason’s favorite summer spot has now been condemned. So Paul just opens his camp farther down the lake (still within walking distance of Camp Blood). Right away, you notice that there are a few more councilors for Jason to prey upon. This works well for the audience. We know that part two will just be more of the same, but the larger cast adds a mystery to who will die. That’s pretty much where the excitement ends.

The fun POV shots of the killer from the first movie don’t seem as potent. The reason we watched the movie was to see Jason. What did he look like? How old was he? These are the things we wanted to know. We can tell pretty early that he is more man than boy, but we don’t get to see his head for a good chunk of the movie. Then we see it, he’s got a pillowcase over his head. WHAT? Lame, not scary. From there they go back to not showing Jason’s head, but his feet just aren’t scary anymore, we want to see how crazy messed up his face is.

At this point, half of the councilors have left the camp to booze it up. Jason’s pickings are pretty slim now, and he makes quick work of the six left. Paul and his assistant Ginny head back to camp and find the aftermath of Jason’s handiwork. Paul gets beat down pretty good. Then there’s a nice little chase scene Jason vs. Ginny, that leads to Jason’s cabin. Ginny stumbles upon Jason’s shrine to his mother, including her decapitated head and her favorite blue sweater. Putting her child psychology to good use, Ginny puts on Mrs. Voorhees sweater and tricks Jason into thinking she is his mother. Jason isn’t fooled when his sees his mother’s head and blocks Ginny’s fatal blow.  Lucky for Ginny, Paul isn’t dead and comes to distract Jason long enough for Ginny stick Jason in the shoulder with a machete. Paul helps Ginny to her cabin and they think they are out of the woods until Jason makes a surprise appearance, mutilated mug and all.

Ginny wakes up, while she is being carted off to and ambulance. It isn’t clear if the cabin scene was a dream or not. Nether is the fate of Paul. Although some people think he is dead so I don’t give credit here. Jason, if you want me to count it they have to be fatally wounded or dead on screen.

Overall, this doesn’t hold up well to the original. There are a couple of redeeming factors. There is a shot where one of the female characters is at a dresser with her back to the camera. She ducks out of frame momentarily, and reemerges facing the camera. The shot gives off a creepy weird feeling. Another great moment is where we see the dog, Muffin, walk up to Jason’s feet, then the camera cuts to a close up of hot dogs on a grill. Finally, the best part of the movie takes place during the Jason/Ginny chase. She finally gets away from him and hides under a bed. Jason comes in the cabin and starts looking around. A rat scurries under the bed, to give Ginny some unwanted company. This is a great moment of suspense that is one of the best moments the series.

Rating: 4 Bloody Machetes (Out of 5)
Body Bags Needed: 9
Survivor(s): Ginny, maybe Paul, and all the other councilors who were smart enough to go get drunk instead of staying around to have sex.

friday the 13th retrospective: part 1

If you missed them: Retrospective Intro, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6

Here it begins, Camp Crystal Lake. Steve Christy thought it would be a good idea to open back up the family camp. What he failed to tell the new help was that back in the late fifties, two councilors were killed there. Also, every time someone starts the camp back up, more people die. So guess what happens now, more people die.

This will go down as one of the greats in the slasher sub-genre. The strength of the moves is its tone. In the beginning, the characters (including good ‘ole Kevin Bacon) give it a carefree tone, but once the killing starts its all business. When horror movies are driven from scare to scare, they tend to ease off of the audience. This Friday never gives you that safe feeling. Even after countless viewings of the movie I always feel as if the killer is in every scene waiting, watching. For the first two-thirds of the movie we only see point of view (POV) shots of the killer. Once the killer is revealed the POV shots can be seen through the victim’s eyes. These shots are what make the climax of this movie so great.

Back to the plot, it seems that the year before the two councilors were killed a young boy named Jason Voorhees drowned. Guess who also had a crazy over protective mother, Jason Voorhees. Pamela Voorhees decided that she would punish anyone at the camp, from that point on. In the end, Alice lops Mrs. Voorhees head off ending the camp terror, hopefully. Not surprising, that’s the only plot point you need to know.

Rating: 5 Bloody Machetes (out of 5)
Body Bags Needed: 10
Survivor: Alice

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Due to award season, there are several high content/high quality films that are coming out in theater’s all at once.  Alas, with expensive ticket prices, I am lucky enough to have only seen one over the holidays (and it was a free ticket paid by my awesome brother-in-law).  It was THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON directed by David Fincher.  The basic premise is of a man who is born old and he ages backwards.  He falls in love with a woman and must make important decisions based on his unique predicament.  Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett pair a second time (after BABEL) to deliver subtle and nuanced performances.  David Fincher (FIGHT CLUB, SE7En, ZODIAC) crafts the fairy tale that plays very much like a short story.

What’s good about it: It is a fascinating idea.  I was very interested in what would be revealed placing a man in such a unnatural process of aging while the world around him proceeds along as normal.  I have to say that the special effects do what they should and you hardly even notice that they are “effects”.  You really believe you are seeing a 60 year old Benjamin Button instead of a CGIed gimmick.  Another interesting point is that the story is centered on Pitt and Blanchett, so the mood and style of the film is very personal and intimate to their relationship.  There performances are not Oscar worthy in my book, but they have a wonderful chemistry together and I am continually interested in how they interact.  Honestly the best acting comes from the supporting cast.  They develop the world of the film and create unique characters with power.  I feel that Fincher does a great job directing with beautiful sets, costumes, CGI, and cinematography.  These can be tough elements to wrangle all at the same time, but I see a cohesive film that due to strong direction.

What’s not so good:  My biggest complaint is the screenplay.  I really don’t think they explored the material enough.  Instead of asking tough questions about mortality, history, human perspective, and memory, it simply revolves around a tortured love story.  This is fine, but the whole concept of the character of Benjamin Button aging backward is more of a side note to the love story and thus it becomes merely an obstacle that must be overcome.  What is Benjamin Button’s perspective on the world around him?  What does he learn and how is that different from a normal human who ages forward?  An example: he learns piano from a woman, and then we never see how music effects him in his life.  It is a footnote that is thrown in the mix, much like everything that he encounters accept the love story.  Pitt is not challenged enough, nor is he given any scene in which he really must grapple with what he thinks of this world around him (what an interesting idea to have a “teenager” in the twilight of his life, what would he have to say to us that is different?  Instead Benjamin Button just putters off to the grave).  Instead of truly diving into the mystery of the characters predicament, Benjamin Button could just as easily have been a man dying from some ailment and the story would not change that much.

An impressive chapter for Fincher (and I hope the film does well at the box office purely because I like all the people involved in the film).  Honestly, you could rent this one when it comes out on DVD.  No need to rush to see it.

Youth Without Youth

I have been so busy I realized that I haven’t watched a new movie and written a blog.  My apologies.  Francis Ford Coppola has come back to direct after 10 years.  He creates a mind-bending film that offers more questions than answers in YOUTH WITHOUT YOUTH.  Tim Roth stars as Dominic, who after being struck with lightning inexplicably regains his youth.  With his second chance at life, he plunges the depths of science, religion and philosophy by attempting to discover the origins of language.  He also must reach across time to find his lost love and attempt to undo past mistakes. 

What’s good about it:  Coppola has adapted Mircea Eliade’s novel and the film narrative flows much like a literary piece.  I felt like I was reading a very inquisitive short story in Lit. Class with an eccentric lead character who interacts with a world that seems unable to contain his true nature.  Tim Roth offers a multi-layered performance (as well as an alter ego turn as the character) that truly engages the audience.  The film is shot beautifully and every scene seems to communicate a strong mood that prompts our investigation.  We see such beauty and science wrapped together in the script, performances, and screen shots that we continue to dive deeper and deeper into the subject matter.

What’s not so good: Coppola financed the film himself, and while that is a powerful example of how much he loved the material, the special effects and green screen shots are glaring.  I cannot offer this film to the average viewer because they would turn it off in the midst of a headache brought about by an esoteric intellectualism.  Several of the supporting characters play such off the wall parts that it is difficult to truly connect with what they are attempting to portray.  It is hard to tell if the film needs to be this dense or if it is simply due to the overindulgence of the material by the director.  The film demands so much from the viewer that I feel that many would be lost along the wayside.  If you were to ask me what it is about, I really cannot answer that until I see the film at least two more times. 

You must treat this film as a novel, and make the effort to sit down and view it.  Coppola does not offer many answers within the film, but I find that the quest is fascinating.  It is an art film by nature so it helps to come with your “cultured” thinking-cap.  I enjoyed it (which usually means 75% of audiences might not).  But I think it would be great for those of you who want a film to challenge you and prompt discussions.  I am excited to see where Coppola goes from here.

Body of Lies

While I was in New York, I hopped over to the cinema to watch BODY OF LIES directed by Ridley Scott.  This film examines the lies and deceit that go on in modern day espionage.  Leonardo DiCaprio is the man in the field that does the leg work, while Russel Crowe acts as the “big brother” who watches and instructs him on his next move.  DiCaprio must manipulate the system by befriending the local authorities and dodge the terrorists, however the line between right and wrong blurs with each step he takes.  Crowe tries to keep the big picture and deals with every situation as a teenager casually playing a video game.  We see the lengths to which we are willing to go to secure “democracy” and what we are willing to sacrifice for our morality and honor to achieve that objective.

What’s good about it: I was continually interested in where the movie was going, so I was intent on learning everything I could from every scene.  Crowe seems to be a wonderful symbol of bureaucracy and American perspective (we can bomb a city or assassinate an enemy while dropping our kids off to school).  DiCaprio questions the “why’s” behind the actions of his boss and in turn he questions his government.  As an audience, we must then question our own government.  The most interesting thing in the film is finding that brutality and terrorism is found in all of us.

What’s not so good: There is nothing new here.  Ridley Scott does not seem to cover any new ground that hasn’t been covered in films like Syrianna, Munich, and Babel.  The most depressing part of the film is how little we care for the deaths we see.  Friends and innocents are killed, and we may have a moment of perplexity about it, but the dead are forgotten within the next scene never to be thought about again.  If the characters don’t feel the weight of their choices then we won’t care as an audience.  I felt like I was simply watching the movie run scenes to tell a story without any strong attachment to the characters.  DiCaprio and Crowe are fun to watch, but there is nothing much here that allows us to truly understand the characters they portray–and that may very well be the point.  We cannot understand this situation, which makes it a difficult leap for an audience to relate.  And there is a romance thrown into the story that really doesn’t fit and ultimately seemed so forced.

Honestly, you can skip this one.  I wanted to love this movie, and I was interested throughout, but ultimately I did not feel any growth or development from the story.  I wonder if they really could not figure out what the statement was with this film (they tried to make a point but I never saw anything change as a result of that point).  Averagely filmed, averagely acted, averagely told…

A Mighty Heart

Thank goodness for this film.  For a moment there I thought we had lost Angelina Jolie to the mighty hand of Hollywood sensationalism.  But in this film, she subtly and strongly gives the best performance of her career.  The film chronicles the life of Mariane Pearl when her journalist husband is kidnapped by Pakistani terrorist.  Much like a pearl, we see how this woman is refined and strengthened through a difficult ordeal.  The film examines how hatred and revenge may not be things we must resign ourselves too; perhaps there is a higher road in our pain other than striking back at our attackers.

What’s good about it: It is shot in a very documentary style.  It is based on the book that the actual Mariane Pearl wrote so the authenticity in storytelling is one of the strong points.  Jolie really does a fine job connecting with the material and using an accent that does not detract from the story.  Because the story is filmed in such an authentic manner, the emotional attachment is so much stronger–your heart breaks.  And it is an important film, especially in a time where terrorism and aggression seem to be the main courses in our television meals.  You really do question what you would do if you were in Pearl’s position, and how we can take her example and apply it in your own life.  What interested me the most was that we typically assume that the Middle Easterners are the “bad-guys” in films today, but we see that there are plenty of Pakistanis that would do anything to see Mariane’s husband returned.  There are no clear villains, but the heroes stand out not because of there nationality but the content of there character.

What’s not so good:  Sadly, Angelina (while being the strength of the film) may be too big of a face for the film.  It is hard to completely divorce ourselves from the constant images of her and believe that she is Mariane Pearl.  The film’s storyline is extremely complex and hard to follow–and that is the point.  We see the characters chasing after names and locations that change and disappear continually.  When at first the objective seems clear; the waters soon become muddy.  We as an audience also get lost in the mix and we simply watch them follow leads to which we have a difficult time connecting too.  When films move into such large grey areas, it can be hard for an audience to know what is going on at all times.

A fantastic film and very much worth a watch.  I was emotionally challenged and it made me question my own strength in the midst of tragedy.  I think anyone who has an opinion about what is going on in the Middle East would do well to see this film.  We are moved to act by this piece, and I believe that this is a worthy example of how to make a “war film” for our time.  If you have an opinion about the war and you try to convey that opinion in a film–you will divide your audience and show nothing that cannot be accomplished by the evening news (I am talking to you LIONS FOR LAMBS).  However, if you concentrate your story on one life and how one person lived through a tragic event, then we see truth.