Shaun of the Dead

Film Title: Shaun of the Dead
Year: 2004
MPAA Rating: R
Length: 99 minutes
Film Genre: Comedy / Horror
Director: Edgar Wright
Producer: Tim Bevin, et. al.
Writers: Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright
Players:
Simon Pegg as Shaun
Nick Frost as Ed
Kate Ashfield as Liz
Plot: An outbreak of the walking dead disease has struck Britain. A five-star posse holds up trying to survive the milieu. Brilliant comedy ensues.
Acting: It’s British humor. The acting has to be bad. Actually, it is quite good, though the great majority of the cast is a horde of groaning, bloody masses of dead flesh.
Cinematography: Much of the camera work adds to the already funny screenplay.
Visual: Perfect mimicry of classic zombie movies. Scene change montages are funny.
Audio: Good. A fast-paced soundtrack compliments the action of the movie.
When I watched it last: Two days prior to review
What to watch for: Hilarious British antics, the awesome duo of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost
What to watch out for: Language, copious amounts of alcohol, comedic gore
IMDB Rating: 8.0 out of 10
Roger Ebert Rating: 3 out of 4 stars; “a send-up of zombie movies, but in an unexpected way: Instead of focusing on the Undead and trying to get the laughs there, it treats the living characters as sitcom regulars whose conflicts and arguments keep getting interrupted by annoying flesh-eaters.”
The Cinema Standard Overall Score: 8.2 out of 10; Along with Hot Fuzz (Pegg and Frost's latest), Shaun of the Dead is one of the funniest comedies to come out in the past 5 years.
--Reviewed by Brady

Nochnoy Dozer / Night Watch

Film Title: Nochnoy Dozer (Russian)/ Night Watch (English)
Year: 2004 (Russia) 2006 (America)
MPAA Rating: R
Length: 114 minutes
Film Genre: Action / Fantasy / Horror / Fiction / Foreign
Director: Timur Bekmambetov
Producer: Varvara Avdyushko
Writers: Timur Bekmambetov
Players:
Anton Gorodetsky: Konstantin Khabensky
Boris Gesser: Vladimir Menshov
Zavulon: Viktor Verzhbitsky
Svetlana: Mariya Poroshina
Olga, sorceress (owl): Galina Tyunina
Ignat: Gosha Kytsenko
Yegor: Dima Martynov
Larisa: Anna Dubrovskaya
Kostya: Aleksei Chadov
Bear: Aleksander Samojlenko
Plot: The forces of Light and Dark have been waging an eternal war. Known as the Others these two factions create a truce and as part of this truce create policing units called Night watch and Day Watch. The Night Watch is the police unit of the Light and enforce the rules of the truce and make sure that the Balance is held.
Acting:
The acting in this movie is good, nothing spectacular
Cinematography The cinematography is pretty standard nothing too fancy. However, the interlacing of the subtitles into the movie itself is shear brilliance.
Visual: Amazing special effects (over 400 in the movie).
Audio: The audio is about as good as the special effects, it really helps to emerse you in the film.
When I watched it last: Last night
What to watch for: Amazing and unique special effects. Interesting twist on an age old story. Awesome subtitles (you just have to see it for yourself)
What to watch out for: Language. Lots of blood. Slow at times
IMDB Rating: 6.4 out of 10
Roger Ebert Rating: 2 stars
The Cinema Standard Overall Score: 8.0 out of 10. An interesting concept. Special effects are amazing. Subtitle animation is unique. This movie is the 1st in a trilogy, and a good builder movie. Worth buying if you like these sort of movies.
--Reviewed by Jason

The Shining

Film Title: The Shining
Year: 1980

For production credits see Jason's post on this movie:
Cinema Standard - The Shining by Jason Williams

Acting: Jack Nicholson is the perfect person in the role of Jack Torrence. Between The Shining and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest we see the remarkable Nicholson at his finest - in the flawless execution of a mental crackpot.
Cinematography: This film is a milestone in camera work. Kubrik is at his best, as usual. The slow pace of the film is exacerbated by the incredibly slow pans and zooms. The camera work causes unease for the viewer and a tense mood of anticipation for some absolution of action, which always comes just after you have told yourself it will not happen.
Visual: The hotel is strikingly grandiose and immensely cavernous. The interposed snapshot scenes of the tenants visions are masterfully interwoven to cause the leap-out-of-your-seat scare and the anxiety for what is to come.
Audio: Eerie music and sound effects make your skin crawl. One can see and hear Danny Torrence (Danny Lloyd) riding his trike down the long corridors, the modulation of sound between loud and soft as he traverses the hardwood floors and large carpets. Lack of musical action also increases the tension of the movie.
What to watch for: Jack Nicholson and Danny Lloyd, a great onscreen father/son duo.
What to watch out for: One scene of prolonged nudity which then turns pretty gross; some blood and gore.
When I watched it last: A few days ago.
IMDB User Rating: 8.4 out of 10; #64 on the top 250 movies of all time as rated by users.
Roger Ebert Rating: Included in his list of Great Movies (his top honor); "The movie is not about ghosts but about madness..." (rogerebert.suntimes.com)
The Cinema Standard Overall Score: 9.2 out of 10; This is the hallmark of psychological horror.
- - Reveiwed by JB

The Shining

Film Title: The Shining
Year: 1980
MPAA Rating: R
Length: 2 hours and 22 minutes
Film Genre: Horror / Thriller
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Producer: Robert Fryer
Writers: Stephen King
Players:
Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrence
Shelley Duvall as Wendy Torrence
Danny Lloyd as Danny Torrence
Scatman Crothers as Dick Hallorann
Plot: Jack Torrence is a ex school teacher working on a book deal. He agrees to take on the responsibility of winter caretaker of the Overlook Hotel high in the Colorado mountains. Isolated with his wife Wendy and their son Danny, the winter begins to draw long and the isolation begins to take its toll. Not to mention the mysterious history and activity that is going on in the hotel.
Acting: Jack Nicholson will freak you out! Nicholson is one crazy actor and in this movie his crazyness really shines. Danny Lloyd plays well against Nicholson as his slightly unhinged son. This movie consists of 5 major characters, Jack, Wendy, Danny, Dick and the Overlook Hotel/the Shining. The acting in this movie is top shelf considering there are only 5 major players, they all give performances that will stun you.
Cinematography Visual: Kubrick is brilliant with the camera, it is unfortunate most of his movies are for the most part completely strange. The camera angles and use of what i'll call the chase view are amazing. In this film the camera follows the actors several paces behind them, giving us the feeling that we are walking right behind them. The angles he uses to shoot close ups and the action really allows for the raw-ness of what is going on to come through. Also the use of colors adds alot to connect characters and set the tone of certain scenes.
Audio: When I watched it last: 2 days ago
What to watch for: Acting is great. The set is amazing (Overlook Hotel and surrounding grounds). The story is crazy and twisted which holds your attention. Watch out for little hints in the dialogue and other little details that make this movie stand out.
What to watch out for: Language, Nudity (really gross nudity, it is in the chapter called Room 237 for those wanting to avoid it altogether) slight gore and violence.
IMDB Rating: 8.4 out of 10
Roger Ebert Rating: Great movie (probably 4 stars)
The Cinema Standard Overall Score: I am in no way a fan of the modern Horror genre for its love of senseless violence and gore. However, with that said this movie is the measuring stick by which all Horror/Thriller movies should be measured. It will mess with your mind, your emotions and your view of reality and it does it all with limited gore and limited violence. 9.0 out of 10. Watch this movie!
--Reviewed by Jason

Cinema Standard - The Shining reviewed by Brady

Event Horizon

Film Title: Event Horizon
Year: 1997
MPAA Rating: R
Length: 96 minutes
Film Genre(s): Sci-Fi, Horror/Thriller
Director(s): Paul W.S. Anderson
Producer(s): Nick Gillott, Jeremy Bolt
Writer(s): Philip Eisner
Players:
Laurence Fishburne as Captain Miller
Sam Neill as Dr. William Weir
Kathleen Quinlan as Peters
Joely Richardson as Lt. Starck
Richard T. Jones as Cooper
Jack Noseworthy as Justin
Jason Isaacs as D.J.
Sean Pertwee as Smith
Plot: A state-of-the-art ship, built to travel faster than the speed of light, disappeared seven years earlier and has just reappeared in the orbit of Neptune sending out a distress beacon. A rescue mission is sent out to recover the ship and crew but is met with a terror unlike anything anyone has seen before.
Acting: For the most part, the acting in the movie was good. Laurence Fishburne was already a seasoned actor and was well on his way to his best performance in the upcoming Sci-Fi mega movie The Matrix. Richard T. Jones is the necessary comic relief in the movie. His self-confidence and unearned machismo are the only alleviation from the absolute tension of the film. With a full cast of 15 people, a lot of stagecraft is demanded of only a few people. I’m not convinced that Sam Neill is a worthy portrayer of the antagonist/absolute evil. It’s hard to watch Jurassic Park’s hero become a carved-up Devil personification.
Cinematography: This movie demanded much of the camera crew. Uneven floor plans for the sets meant a lot of rigging and movement. In one scene, the camera rotates around the crew as they talk about what should be done. The camera goes back and forth several times making for a nice alternative to several camera switches.
Visual: Visual effects in the movie were both stunning and haunting. The vividly lit green tunnels near the core have been copied to an extent in many movies. Spacecraft design and settings were expansively and visually awesome. Roger Ebert points out a design goof. The Event Horizon is floating in the turbulent atmosphere of Neptune, yet after the initial approach by the rescue vessel, all the scenes seem to take place in calm space.
Audio: Orbital was called in by Paul Anderson to work with Michael Kamen on the film’s music. Dark beats are layered on top of Kamen’s symphonic melodies, which gives many of the scenes an edgy heart-pounding effect.
What to watch for: Awesome visual effects…and that’s about it.
What to watch out for: “Orgiastic” (as quoted by the Paul Anderson and Jeremy Bolt) scenes of sado-masochistic mutilation, torture, blood (lots and lots of blood) and intense gore; language.
When I watched it last: Two nights before review
IMDB User Rating: 5.8 out of 10
Roger Ebert Rating: 2 out of 4 stars; “It's all style, climax and special effects.”
The Cinema Standard Overall Score: 5.0 out of 10 stars; Sorry, but I’m not a horror movie fan.
- - Reveiwed by JB