Frankenstein Unbound

Oh my dear God. Where do I even start?

Well first things first thank you James from Cinemassacre for showcasing this on a Monster Madness and bringing it to my attention, second thank you Roger for going out on the most spectacularly batshit story possible for your final directing credit, so let's just do this. I wish, oh how I wish a movie would be made like this today. You know how fucking uppity people get in their tightwad asses about staying true to a book's source material these days? Their heads would explode in Lovecraftian insanity if they watched this movie, literal brains turn to soup and their heads would explode Scanners style, no question. I'm not even sure where to begin here but we'll try. So the year is 2031 (boy I can't wait to see that) with John Hurt as a scientist named Joe who developed a machine to implode matter however the experiments cause timeslips to occur and before you can say "I may have gone too far in a few places" he finds himself in 19th century Geneva. And that's only the start of the weirdness. So he meets Victor Frankenstein, then meets the fabled monster, then meets Mary Shelley and her entourage at the Villa Diodati (no Cyberman this time sadly), then somehow gets looped in the section of the novel where Victor creates a mate for the monster, as he tries to get, say it with me now, back to the future. Now Roger co-wrote, co-produced, and directed so to say he had his hand in this would be an understatement. I'm just completely speechless guys. I will give thanks and appreciation for the fact that despite the fish out of water trope Joe honestly rolls with this shit pretty quick and being an educated man knows the history of these famous literary people and the story of Frankenstein, no need for any floundering about for 30 minutes wondering what is going on. That's for after the movie ends. And to follow the more understandable concepts, the prodiction is honestly pretty friggin' good! It's practically a period piece with lots of costumes, real life settings and architecture filmed judging from the crew credits in Italy, and the special effects range from pure cheese to pretty decent when it comes to gore. Now when I heard Raul was going to play Victor I was psyched even knowing this was a film made during the very late stages of his life unfortunately, and sadly we only get bits and pieces of him until roughly the last 30 minutes where he becomes prominent yet the acting even in that case is stellar. He's already off the deep end at this point when we meet him and seeing this morally bankrupt, deranged, anything for science attitude does still give him a lot to play with and regardless is a highlight. John Hurt love that guy to death probably plays the most laidback and dare I say disruptful scientist not just in terms of creation but just slapping the space-time continuum like it owes him money, yet again it's kind of a testament to these guys acting ability facing this frankly preposterous off the wall material with a straight face that must be admired. Joe doesn't come alone either, getting sucked away into the bleeding time vortex with a car that I can only accurately describe as if the DeLorean and KITT from Knight Rider had a daughter, and he is the most blasè son of a bitch I have ever seen showing it off to anybody, uses it to prove Mary Shelley he is indeed from the future, also shows Victor just for yucks I guess, and is the reason he gets back to....some period of time I don't know which. That whole non-intervention thing you see in every time travel story practically gets taken out back and sodomized with a double barrel shotgun, personified perfectly with Joe flat out banging Mary Shelley. Oh yeah that happens. Do you see what I mean with my opening remark? This might be the biggest fuck you movie to anybody who pays attention to source material, and I kinda love it for that. I don't think anyone has the balls to make a movie on a book and pay barely any heed to it at all in this day and age, but not in a we decided to take a few liberties kind of way and more like I did four lines of cocaine and I just wrote unicorns conquered the moon kind of way. Hell the only slight I genuinely have against the movie is the editing, it's kinda off and feels slapdash in a good few instances and maybe some less than believable ADR work. But other than that, this is fine by me! What did you expect from the asshole who reviewed Frankenhooker? This is a special kind of nuts movie but it's entertaining, I see the craftsmanship to it production wise, I'd rather see something like this than just another plain jane adaptation of the book personally speaking. It has no reservations, it wholeheartedly does it's own thing consequences be damned, and I feel that's very telling of me who I am as a person so simply take it for what it is. Watch it, just give it a go, and make judgements later. 3 stars, 7/10 from me, I need to decompress from this so I will see y'all next week.

The Addams Family Values

I'll be totally clear, I don't hate this movie. In fact I enjoy this movie but does it surpass the first? Yes and no.

Our story focuses once again on Uncle Fester who ends up actually getting married to a seemingly nice lady named Debbie who turns out to be a money obssesed psycho. It happens. Meanwhile Gomez and Morticia have had their third child and due to Wednesday and Pugsley not liking the baby much along with Debbie's suggestion get sent to a summer camp. Now I think I can safely say everyone loves the camp scenes in this movie, and most will agree it is the best parts of the movie. But why exactly? It's by no means an admission to the marriage plot line being bad, but there's really not much going on except for several humorous attempts on Fester's life. So there's a hell of a lot of comedy in the camp scenes and genuinely has a conflict and story, and to be brutally honest I feel much the same way Wednesday and Pugsley feel toward the camp. I'd rather choke and die than go there, it's so....suburban. But it leads to some great comedy, this is so much more the film where Christina Ricci gets to shine, she's outstanding in this movie! Again, not to say the rest of the cast does bad cause Christopher Lloyd still does good and he is completely whipped in this movie which causes turmoil in the family which is an element I like, Anjelica Huston is still lovely and has some great lines, Carol Kane actually really cracked me up as the grandmother and I just adore Carol Kane so nothing but love there, and Raul Julia though not having much to do this film around still gives a great and very funny performance with a killer dance scene with Morticia. I think the reason this film does not surpass the first is, though it does have excellent scenes there's not much for the family to do, we're either focused on the marriage or the camp scenes despite there being a new member of the family. So it just doesn't give as much time to the other family members, and I know the entire conflict of the last movie is a bit shoehorned in because The Addams Family is above such scenarios but it still worked, and though the idea of a black widow marrying into the family could be quite funny not much is made of it. But you should still see it to judge it on it's own merits and to see if you liked it more than me. The only highlights are the camp scenes and Raul Julia, which is a shame because I love these actors and I love these characters very much and I know you can make entertaining stories and great humor from one of pop culture's most famous families. Regardless of decade or iteration, from the 60s series, to the 70s animated show, to friggin' Scooby-Doo, to these movies and beyond, The Addams Family always holds a place of undying love in my heart and I am always happy to see them time and again. Especially Lurch, because he's my favorite. I'm very interested to see what the new movie has in store, and already was putting it on my calendar just from seeing the comic strip designs for the characters, and I'll tell you what I think of it on Friday. But don't be afraid to pay a call on The Addams Family throughout this month, for it is always a grand spooky time in their house regardless of day or season. Until we meet again.

The Addams Family

I love this movie.

I've always been a fan of The Addams Family since I was dreadfully young, and this movie has always been a favorite. I'm absolutely thrilled to finally be able to see an Addams Family movie in theaters so it was high time to talk about the still loved duology from the 90s. So our story begins with Uncle Fester returning after 25 years since he disappeared, but all is not as it seems since Uncle Fester has suffered amnesia and is part of a team ready to rob the Addams blind, so we spend time with the family and see the connection begin to grow between Fester and the family before the final resolution. Yeah, this isn't a film for it's plot but more just to be a very fun movie for everyone and it succeeds greatly. This is the better of the two movies but more on the second next time, but for now let us delve deeper. This is such a funny and entertaining movie, I dare even say that the reason it's took about 25+ years for a new Addams Family movie is because the casting could not have been more perfect. I mean really ask yourself, who could have played these parts better during that time and place in the world? No one. Raul Julia is the stuff of legend, Anjelica Huston does give Carolyn Jones a run for her money, Christopher Lloyd is great and because the story focuses on Uncle Fester you get a lot of screen time with him, and well let's be honest Christina Ricci was created to be Wednesday, and the rest of the cast is just as great. The comedy is really good, it can easily make me either smile or bust out laughing, but when you have a good script and expertly delivered lines by great actors it's hard not to laugh! There's just a lot to love in this movie from the design, to the comedy, the timeless characters, even the effects. I was surprised by the effects to be honest, I mean I don't know how they pulled half of it off from Thing to even just simple throwaway gags like the books, it's quite amazing. I could praise the movie all day, but this movie grabbed my love from the very get go where our macabre family greet Christmas carolers by pouring hot oil on them. It speaks to my very soul. Though easily the best scene in the entire movie is the Mamushka, such great music and energy! This movie really does showcase Raul Julia the more I think about it, he can dance, sing, swordfight, his charisma leaps off the screen and is a bittersweet joy to experience. Raul Julia always said this was his favorite role to play because he enjoyed entertaining children and it always brought a smile to his face to see people recognize him as Gomez, and if there ever was just one single reason to watch this movie it is because of him. I definitely recommend this movie to all ages and all families, this is a funny and well done movie, easily a solid 4 stars check it out!

And we'll be back next time to look at the sequel.

Street Fighter The Movie

Yep we gotta do some video game movies before Detective Pikachu.

I'm gonna be honest I don't know much about Street Fighter. I know a bit, I recognize characters and some of their traits, a handful of moves, and other things I've absorbed from pop culture. So when I decided to sit down and watch this movie I didn't know what to expect but I had a blast guys! This movie, to an absolute newbie to the franchise is really dang good. But why? Well I think a big part of it comes down to not being familiar with the games so I can't go all fanboy rage if something isn't adapted correctly. I know about Mortal Kombat and how the movie isn't a perfect adaptation, so it's a liberty I don't have here. But screw it, I really enjoyed this movie! Granted you don't get non-stop hand to hand combat but you get decent fights, and strangely enough though the movie is close to 2 hours it feels short. By the time the movie begins it feels like 30 minutes of buildup have been dropped and we're right in the preparing phases where our hero Guile is after the villainously brilliant General M. Bison who's taken hostages and put up a $20 billion dollar ransom. And believe me, I have no issue saying the only reason I wanted to see this movie was because of Raul Julia who plays M. Bison, and I think it's very sweet that this was a role he took for his kids and the film is even in memory of him. He gets lots of screentime, great lines, plays it so absurd it's actually genius, and looks like he's enjoying every last bit of it. The reason you watch this movie other than being a hardcore fan is because of Raul Julia. Van Damme on the other hand plays Guile very straightforward and I'm just gonna say it, bland. Also, good thing I watch movies with subtitles all the time, because I know I would be scratching my head at some of his lines! Plus though my knowledge of Street Fighter is lacking, I can tell they threw in a lot of characters, almost too many even because they don't get a lot of time and they have fun and colorful personalities so you want to see more. It's a no win scenario I know, you either have too few characters and people complain about the roster or you have too many with not enough time for them all, it sucks and no format can do it justice besides the video game. But they do fine, they got good fun actors for these crazy parts, the sets are nice, the action though sparse is good, and surprisingly it's really damn funny! I was shocked how much I was laughing at this, they got good funny dialogue, most of it more subdued comedy than actual attempts at jokes, just keep your ears open and you'll hear it. So yeah, Street Fighter is a pretty good movie and I was shocked to see not even a 4/10 star rating on IMDB, I mean it wasn't that bad! I enjoyed it, I'd probably watch it again, I can certainly recommend it for a fun movie night with a group of friends! Yeah, big thumbs up for Street Fighter The Movie from me!

And next time we go straight to Japan for our next adaptation of an acclaimed and beloved video game franchise.