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Frankenweenie, a review by Danae Cassandra

Frankenweenie
Year of Release: 2012
Directed By: Tim Burton
Starring: Catherine O'Hara, Martin Short, Martin Landau, Charlie Tahan
Genre: Horror, Comedy, Animation

Overview:
From Disney and creative genius Tim Burton (Alice in Wonderland, The Nightmare Before Christmas) comes the hilarious and offbeat FrankenweenieFrankenweenie is alive with enchanting fun for the whole family.

My Thoughts:
First, let me say that I am unabashedly a fan of Tim Burton's work.  I've loved all of his stop motion films, and his live-action stuff is generally good too (if not as much).  I love his dark, atmospheric, gothic style.  I'm also a big fan of old, classic monster movies.  So it's almost a given that I was going to love Frankenweenie. 

There's a lot of homage paid to the classics - Frankenstein, obviously, but also all the old Universal films, Gamera, heck, there's even a Bambi Meets Godzilla moment.  There's some genuinely emotional moments; both mom and I teared up toward the end.  There's also an interesting take on the usual theme in horror films of science as dangerous - here it is the intent behind the science that creates danger, rather than the science itself.  Also the usual message about not being so judgmental, and a condemnation of mob mentality. 

A great film for older kids, especially ones who've seen Burton's other films, as well as adults, I can recommend this for anyone - unless they refuse to see a film where a dog dies (yes, I know that person).

Bechdel Test: Fail

Overall: 4/5

(From Danae's 2013 Horror Marathon on October 6th, 2013)

Kick-Ass, a review by KinkyCyborg

Kick-Ass



Title:Kick-Ass
Year: 2010
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Rating: 18A
Length: 118 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.40:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital EX: 5.1 (Matrixed 6.1), French: Dolby Digital: 5.1
Subtitles: English

Stars:
Aaron Johnson
Garrett M. Brown
Clark Duke
Evan Peters
Deborah Twiss

Plot:


Extras:
Scene Access
Audio Commentary
Bonus Trailers
Featurettes
Gallery


My pick last night and I've been seeing nothing but great reviews for Kick-Ass so it was time to watch it.

Wild comic book action and fantastic characters. I really liked the movie but it's not quite the 5 out of 5 stars I see most people giving it. Probably a 4 and a half for me. I like the idea of ordinary people wanting to fight injustice because they are tired of society turning a blind eye to it but I think I would have liked this even more if it had a bit of a darker, harder edge to it. All of the phony social media hoopla surrounding Kick Ass and the other superheroes made it a bit corny for me.

The young Kick-Ass was likable because his heart was in the right place and he had determination if not any real skills. He kept getting his ass kicked but never bowed out of the game. Luck was probably his greatest asset.

Big Daddy was cool despite the apparent rip off of the Batman image. He delivered justice in brutal, bloody fashion, terminating with extreme prejudice. I'm sorry we won't be seeing any more of him.

The real star of course is Hit Girl. Death never came in such a cute, innocent looking package before. Chloe Moretz plays this young phenom who can kill you a thousand different ways in an acrobatic blink of an eye. Awesome kill sequence as she made her way down the long book lined corridor towards the kingpin. I played it back twice.  Loved the rockin' music during that scene and throughout the movie actually.

Will be watching this again soon on Bluray. The success of this along with the closing remarks from Red Mist all but guarantee this is heading to a sequel.


Now, watch this video below and tell me this joker didn't recently watch Kick-Ass. Just a matter of time before he gets the shit beat out of him too... 



KC

Rating:   and a half

(From KinkyCyborg's Random Reviews 2011 on July 31st, 2011)

Tom's Buffy and Angel Marathon, a review by Tom

18. Where the Wild Things Are (2000-04-25)
Writer: Tracey Forbes (Writer)
Director: David Solomon
Cast

(From Tom's Buffy and Angel Marathon on September 12th, 2009)