My Late review of Drag Me to Hell

So, I finally saw Drag Me to Hell and I have to say, I was less than impressed. I was excited to see this movie. I’ve been a big fan of the Evil Dead series since I was a kid and saw Army of Darkness for the first time on First Choice (now known as The Movie Network).

When I heard Sam Raimi had a new movie coming out I was really excited. I obviously didn’t see it in theatres, but that’s another article I need to write about. I just don’t do theatres. Regardless of that though, I got ahold of the pre-release DVD and sat down with my girlfriend to watch it.

She didn’t want to watch it, but that’s expected. Women don’t normally like movies like that, but she watched it anyway.

From start to finish, I neither laughed or felt scared. At least in Sam Raimi’s other horror movies you find it kind of funny, but this was just…. blah. There was a scene with the main character’s nose bleeding profusely over the bank manager. Lame. The was the fight scene with the old gypsy woman. Super lame. When the demon took control of the body of the Spanish Dude. Extra lame.

Speaking of that scene, it reminded me of that scene in Evil Dead when the demon is in the air dancing to an Irish jig. This scene was clearly copied in Drag Me to hell.

Anyways, that movie was stupid and recycled. I guess it might just be me. I got my hopes up for the movie to be “Sam Raimi” and that’s what I got. I guess my tastes have changed and my love for Evil Dead isn’t that it’s awesome, but it’s just nostalgic. Oh well.

See This Movie: Gamer

I haven’t written anything in a while but now I’m trying to force myself to sit down and write at least a little bit a day so eventually, even if I don’t finish an article every day, I’ll at least be working toward a goal. For my first article in quite a while I’d like to tell you about a movie called Gamer.

Gamer is about a future in which people can control other people though nanotechnology implanted in the brain. This technology was created by a Bill Gates-esque super-billionaire named Castle (Michael C. Hall) and is used in two “games”. One is a Sims (or Second Life or Playstation Home) like game called “Society” in which you control an avatar (who is a real person) and you interact with other people controlling real people avatars. The other game is called “Slayers”, think first-person-shooter, in which death row inmates allow themselves to be controlled for the opportunity to gain their freedom. Survive 30 games you go free, but of course no one has ever done that. Kable (Gerard Butler) is getting close though.

The movie has an interesting plot and lots of action scenes. The problem is the plot is more interesting than entertaining at times and sometimes the action can be annoying. The action is shot in really shaky camera style, too close, with lots of quick cuts and when in a game there’s lots of superimposed digital effects too often to remind us as if we had forgotten that this was a game even if the stakes are real. The plot is interesting even if at times the plot scenes, as opposed to the action scenes, drag on a bit.

The plot is helped by a great cast. I’m a big fan of Michael C. Hall who is in full evil genius mode here. And is it just me or is Gerard Butler in everything right now? There was even a preview for another of his movies before this one. I can see why too, he’s a good star. Terry Crews (a.k.a. Cheeseburger Eddy) is also in it but it’s kind of weird seeing him in a one-note serious bad guy role when I’m used to seeing him in really funny comedic roles. I’d mention the rest of the supporting cast but it’d be redundant since no one does a bad job.

The real standout though is Michael C. Hall. I only wish he was in it more because the better scenes in the movie usually involved him (as did my favourite scene in the movie which I absolutely will not give away but to those that saw it you know what it is, it involves a song).

I wish the action was shot better because if it was this would be a ringing endorsement. As it stands now I’m still recommending the viewing of it but you won’t be missing much if you wait until you can rent it or something.