October 30, 2011

Movie Night: Halloween (1978)

Review #068: Halloween.

Cast
Jamie Lee Curtis (Laurie Strode) and Donald Pleasence (Dr. Sam Loomis) (With Nick Castle as "The Shape") Directed by John Carpenter (The Thing, They Live and Escape from New York)

Review
It is fitting that AMC shows Halloween (Apparently they won't show Halloween II, for some dumb reason) at midnight's time, in the darkness. Anyway, this film is truly scary. This film is a bit like The Exorcist in which the film has a beginning with slight scares and the ending having scares, except Halloween actually frightens you a bit in the beginning. The film has good acting from Donald Pleasance and Jamie Lee Curtis (Who is daughter to Janet Leigh, who starred in Psycho) The film does have some choppy dialogue, but the film still scares and entertains you. It does the scares slowly but steady, building up to a conclusion that mystifies you.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

October 15, 2011

Movie Night: The Running Man.

Review #067: The Running Man.

Cast
Arnold Schwarzenegger (Ben Richards), María Conchita Alonso (Amber Mendez), Richard Dawson (Damon Killian), Yaphet Kotto (William Laughlin), Marvin J. McIntyre (Harold Weiss), Mick Fleetwood (Mic), Professor Tanaka (Professor Subzero), Gus Rethwisch (Eddie "Buzzsaw" Bitowski), Jesse Ventura (Captain Freedom), Jim Brown (Fireball), and Erland Van Lidth De Jeude (Dynamo) Directed by Paul Michael Glaser.

Review
This film has an 80s charm to it, yet it's not really outdated. It still makes you wonder what could happen in the future (admittedly I made a joke about that while watching it) and what television could and might do to us. The acting is solid for the most part (Arnold and his lines with death puns being a good highlight). Dawson is our bad guy (with my jokes about Family Feud, it works for me) but the film uses its message and the action to keep you interested. And so the film is a drama, science fiction (possibly), dystopian futuristic thriller.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.