Con Air (1997)

Con Air has the honor of being one of the silliest action movies of all time. From the letter-writing scene between Cage (with full blown Southern accent) and daughter to that godawful song played over the sappy reunion at the end, Con Air is an all-out cheesefest. A silly premise aided by an ensemble cast of good/decent actors (John Malkovich, John Cusack, Steve Buscemi, Ving Rhames) playing silly characters along with a goofy (sometimes clever) script adds up to an enjoyable yet generally substance-less viewing experience. The action scenes are convoluted, but everything about the film is convoluted. Con Air is loads of fun.

8/10

World is Not Enough, The (1999)

The third Pierce Brosnan Bond film is highly entertaining but silly from beginning to end, providing ridiculous action scene after ridiculous action scene. To tip you off as to how ridiculous this film is, it starts off with not one, but two opening scenes in a row before the title credits. The writing is atrocious with groaners left and right. The plot is an uninspiried buzzword spy plot involving Russians, nuclear weapons, and oil. Here we have the best and the worst of Bond girls--Sophie Marceau as Elektra King and Denise Richards as Dr. Christmas Jones, respectively. Denise Richards is unbelievable as a nuclear physicist and no matter how attractive people think she is, she is a terrible actress. A solid Bond, but certainly not one of the best.

6/10

Dracula Has Risen From The Grave (1968)

Dracula Has Risen From the Grave (1968) is an enjoyable entry into the Hammer Dracula series, but it is not without its eccentricities. The story is a pretty typical vampire story. The twist is that it has greater focus on the involvement of the Church. The pace is brisk, with decent acting throughout. There were some really strange decisions made in terms of cinematography, tinting the edges of the frame different colors during different "horror" scenes and sets of the film. My biggest complaint were the idiosyncrasies in the vampire legend. The most offending parts: you see Dracula's reflection in the water, his coffin has no dirt in it, and somehow Dracula is killed by a "stake" made of metal! Weird.

7/10

La maschera del demonio (1960) aka Black Sunday

This film is absolutely gorgeous. The lighting and shadow, the gothic architecture, and the general atmosphere of the picture is stunning. A strange mixture of vampirism and witchcraft, Black Sunday is possibly the best gothic horror film I've ever seen. While the dubbing is mediocre (which is to be expected from 60s Italian films) and the plot mildly confusing, the copious amounts of gothic imagery are breathtaking: a dark castle, a ruined crypt, an exploding stone coffin, spiked masks, burning witches at the stake, secret passages, gnarled tree branches, and fog billowing everywhere. This film is the gothic horror go-to. Not to mention the generous amount of gore uncharacteristic of films from 1960.

9/10

Halloween (1978)

One of John Carpenter's earliest films, and a great one at that. A very young Jamie Lee Curtis and her friends are terrorized by an insane killer escaped from the asylum with Donald Pleasance hot in pursuit. The film shows no sign of its low-budget origins and is still effective today. What I found most interesting is how Carpenter managed to turn a normal suburban environment with normal suburban teens into a suspenseful and frightening horror film. Not only are there effective shock moments but also the sheer terror of Michael Myers' presence is all throughout the film. Halloween is an example of how to make a low-budget horror film, employing no flashy special effects and virtually no advertising yet still turning out a great film because of good camerawork, a decent story, and effective sound effects/music.

8/10

Funhouse, The (1981)

Tobe Hooper directs this little B-horror flick about some stupid teens who decide to stay the night in a carnival funhouse that has more than just attractions going on. The film starts off pretty well with homages to all kinds of classic horror films: Wolf Man, Frankenstein, Psycho, Halloween. The teen actors are okay I guess. As the film progresses, though, it just keeps getting worse. By the end of the film, the characters no longer function under any semblance of rationality. The film's sets are interesting and well-lit, using a lot of colored gel lighting to get the funhouse idea across. The makeup effects are pretty good. A good number of the scenes went on too long, especially towards the end of the film, causing the film to drag giving you enough time to absorb just how stupid the characters' actions are. And I mean stupid.

6/10