Moooooovies!

Seen some movies over the past few days.

1) Terror Train. It's the classic horror shocker from early 80's, starring our favorite Scream Queen of that bygone era; Jamie Lee Curtis. It had some good moments, and some fun little scares. It had David Copperfield and his fun magic. It had Ben Johnson, the veteran actor clearly collecting a paycheck; but still offering some legitamacy. Jamie Lee didn't have much to do, but the climactic fight in the office car let her return to her "fighting psycho killers" roots; and she does it well. That part was actually a bit creepy. I wasn't aware this was another "holiday" horror film; taking place on New Year's Eve, both in the establishing scene and in the main part of the story. We had a nerd being humiliated and then returning years later to take his revenge. Relax folks, it wouldn't have taken you long to figure this out. Slaughter High; one of my favorite bad movies from years after Terror Train; clearly borrowed this concept...then again, what slasher film didn't? The highlight of the scares here has to be the many different masks the killer uses. Did I forget to mention that this New Year's party is also a costume party? Convenient. I must point out the fact that one of the leads; a young Hart Bochner caught my eye and made my pants tighten a little bit. Get it out of the gutters people. I simply meant that when I saw how attractive and thin he was, I realized I can never be that attractive and fit, thus I paused the film and went to the kitchen, grabbing some unneccesary junk food, gobbling it down, thus tightening my pants around my waist. Okay, that was a long explanation for a plain old lie. :) Anyway, I'm glad I've finally seen this, and believe if I had seen it during my heyday of horror obsessions, it would today be on my all time fave list. Shockingly, this film is currently being remade. Although I really don't know why...maybe to make a better version?

2) William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet. This is Baz Luhrmann's go @ this classic story, and I have to say...I was extremely disappointed. While I really enjoyed Strictly Ballroom, and adored Moulin Rouge, this did not remotely make any of my lists. Correction, it made my "I was so bored during this film, I was ready to turn it off after 5 minutes". I cared nothing about the characters, I didn't believe very many of the actors; delivering some amazingly written dialogue. Who is this Shakespeare guy anyway? I can't believe he's not famous! I never had much desire to see this, and I wish my gut instinct would have been followed. There were some good moments; Paul Sorvino casting out Claire Danes; and the scene where the Nurse returns to her room, with all the info about Romeo, for her dear Juliet. But that's about it. I was very irritated by this whole mess, and it is one film I wish I could get my money back; had I paid for it. I didn't buy Leo at all, and frankly, the chemistry between Leo and Claire was...oh, forgive me, there was no chemistry. For my friend Ryan, I'm glad to have seen that Christina Pickles was in the cast. What a fun treat. I told the other half that this would rate @ about a D+.