I Am Ωmega (2007)

A direct-to-dvd adaptation of the I Am Legend (1954) novel by the studio that gave us such shameless mockbusters as Snakes on a Train (2006), The Day the Earth Stopped (2008) and the Bay-busting Transmorphers: Fall of Man (2009). Even though it’s pure crap it does manage to give Neville (here called Renchard) some worthwhile characteristics: his cautious paranoia is appropriate (if it wasn't so sporadic) and his memory of a past tragedy fuels his anger, an anger that helps keep him alive. He also knows martial arts, owns a good laptop and a machete. What more could one man want?
The empty world is part of the story, but the emptiness of the film is a failing.

1 drive through infected town in an open top car out of 5

COBAIN: MONTAGE OF HECK [2015]

Documentarian Brett Morgen directs Cobain: Montage Of Heck, the first fully authorized film about Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain who took his own life in 1994, thus joining the notorious 27 Club.
Using old recordings of Cobain's memoirs, his bizarre artwork from all periods of his life, deeply personal camcorder & Super-8 films and beautifully animated sequencs, the film begins with the troubled musician's happier times as a baby then ends with the artist having a baby of his own.  What we have here isn't a pic that paints the man as a rock icon but instead turns him into a human being who wasn't ever quite sure what he was doing.  He's not always the perfectly innocent tortured artist fans like to believe he is and is quite often a man who did some pretty despicable stuff in his lifetime.  It is quite long so glossing over several key moments throughout his life is a bit disappointing but in the end the film still does a beautiful job at painting a disturbingly raw and honest portrait of the man.

3½ taunts for G 'n R out of 5

The Omega Man (1971)

The second adaptation of I Am Legend (1954) isn't entirely faithful to its source, but it’s a classic of the genre, nonetheless.
The opening sets the tone perfectly: Heston cruising empty streets; timed long shots capturing and silently translating into imagery the way he feels; showing him as a small, solitary cog in a great, abandoned machine.
The way it drip-feeds information to the viewer is complemented by the benefits and harrowing realities of being the last man.
Rosalind Cash adds a beneficial 70s Harlem-culture sass to the overpowering, white, militaristic attitude that the gun-happy Heston exudes.
The enemy is more dangerous this time because it can rationalise its own situation, forcing us to ask the question: when the diseased outnumber the healthy, who should be counted as outcast?

4 cleansings out of 5

FIGHT CLUB [1999]

Director David Fincher's abrasive adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's novel Fight Club is like giving a monkey a loaded gun to viewer's how have no idea what the film is actually trying to say.
On the surface it's about a white-collar office worker, tired of what he's becoming, who creates an underground fight club with the help of a brutally honest social misfit.  Below that, you have a cynical social commentary on everything that's wrong with the adults of today, which appeals to most anger-fueled twenty-somethings.  Peel that away and it's picking apart those who live by those cynical ideals and proving that no matter how much knowledge you bestow, you're still an idiot if you don't know how to use it.  Like the fighting blinds the character's from what's going on around them, the sneering facade of the narrator's commentary blinds the viewer with what is actually going on.  With a bit of keen observance and careful deconstruction you'll find it works on numerous entertaining levels.

4 chemical burns out of 5

The Last Man on Earth (1964)

The first filmed adaptation of Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend (1954) is more faithful to the book in comparison to what followed, it even has the pit.
Vincent plays the titular man. He walks as if the weight of what’s left of the world is on his shoulders, a visible sign that he's a man for whom routine has become a kind of prison. There’s a lengthy flashback to a happier time that could've and should’ve been emotionally powerful, but some painfully bad dubbing issues leave the scenes feeling cheap and insincere. Had they been rectified it would've been a better film, because the story is there and the sense of isolation that it requires is captured well enough.

3 heartbeats away from hell out of 5

The Ray Bradbury Collection

Bradbury’s books and short stories are magical things. They’re nourishment for the hearts and souls of millions of readers the world over. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said about many of the film adaptations of those same works. There are many reasons why that is, but I don’t have space to go into them. I can provide a list of the reviews that are currently on the Nuts, though:

On Nutshell:
01. It Came from Outer Space (1953)
02. The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953)
03. Fahrenheit 451 (1966)
04. The Illustrated Man (1969)
05. The Electric Grandmother (1982)
06. Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983)
07. The Halloween Tree (1993)
08. The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit (1998)
09. A Sound of Thunder (2005)

See also:
01. Ray Bradbury books and comics on our sister site, Nut Ink.
02. The Martian Chronicles (1980) miniseries on our sister site, Nut Box.
03. Fahrenheit 451 (1984) game on our sister site, Nut Load.

Cry of the Banshee (1970)

I wanted to like CotB because it had Vincent being evil, using the power of his magistrate role to be enforcer of the law and simultaneously above its judgement, but overall, besides a small number of well-acted scenes, it didn't reach the heights that it was aiming for. Had I not been very much in the mood for 60s-70s horror I might even have found it boring.
The story makes reference to a Banshee but forgets to actually include one, but it’s AIP and that’s how they roll. (The Poe part is another lie.) It has witches, though, who are, of course, Satanists because in old movies there’s rarely any distinction between the two very different lifestyles.
I was surprised to see Terry Gilliam provide the opening credits. His style is unmistakable, but a little unusual for this type of thing.

2½ seeds of evil out of 5

YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU [1938]

Actors Jean Arthur, Jimmy Stewart & Lionel Barrymore make their first film together with director Frank Capra's cinematic adaption of George S. Kaufman & Moss Hart's stageplay, You Can't Take It With You.
Stewart plays a man from a family of snotty money-hungry rich folk who gets engaged to a young woman from a less-than-rich family of free-spirited oddballs, which eventually leads to all sorts of problems.  It teeters on the brink of The Great Depression and World War II so much will be lost on modern viewers but much should be taken in as well.  The values and lessons taught are done in such a light-hearted and humorous manner one can't help but feel great by the time it reaches it's final reel.  The performances are all wonderful (particularly Barrymore), the direction is busy yet simple and it's funny enough to feel fine leaving your worries at the door.

4 fireworks out of 5

AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON [2015]

Director Joss Whedon returns for his final stint in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the second full-fledged Avengers film, Age Of Ultron.
Basically it's Earth's Mightiest Heroes, still feeling the repercussions of what their solo films put them through, team up to save the world from an humanity destroying machine known as Ultron.  The concept is simple enough for first time viewers to still enjoy the film without any prior knowledge, yet, like the MCU films & TV series before it, it features just enough back-story to excite fans who know the pieces for the Infinity Gauntlet and Civil War are all falling into place.  It doesn't quite have the same impact of "hey that Whedon guy did a great job" as the first one did but it still manages to pretty damned good fun.  Whedon's at his strongest when he's featuring his ensemble team working (or fighting) together in both dialogue heavy scenes or full all-over-the-map action sequences.  It's front-to-back a modern Hollywood spectacle but it proves Transformers is not how you do popcorn films.

3 drunken excelsiors out of 5

Stray Cat Rock: Wild Jumbo (1970)

Hastily released the same year as the first film (just three months later) even though it's not an actual sequel, Wild Jumbo doesn't have much plot for the first hour, or so it seems. Somewhere around the 55-60 minute mark the real reason for the gang’s goofing around is revealed to both them and us. The last half hour doesn't change how it goes about things, but it does finally give the antics a purpose and in some ways validates part of what came before.

2½ wet holes out of 5

2014 - Cuckoo's Year In Review

Due to a number of reasons I wasn't able to complete my annual Year In Review until now.  "Better late than never", a late person once said.
Like the previous years here at the Nutshell we reviewed more films than we can actually remember, so I like to save a list of the ones I highly recommend.
Like last time, many of these films were produced the previous year but didn't get a proper release until 2014, so yes, there are technically a few 2013 films on the list.

Here's my Top 10 Favorite Films of 2014:

click on the titles for mini-reviews

10.  JACK & THE CUCKOO CLOCK HEART
9.    JOE
8.    THE CONGRESS
7.    WHIPLASH
6.    VIRUNGA
5.    IDA
4.    SONG OF THE SEA
3.    BIRDMAN OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE)
2.    FORCE MAJEURE
1.    CALVARY    

Honorable Mentions:
BABADOOK, THE
BIG HERO 6
DOUBLE, THE
DROP, THE
ENEMY
FINDING VIVIAN MAIER
FRAME, THE
GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT, A
GONE GIRL
GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL, THE
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY
NIGHTCRAWLER
ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE
SNOWPIERCER
UNDER THE SKIN

And of course 2014 had it's fair share of festering piles of cat shit as well.
Here's the cream of the crap:

BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP
CAPTIVE, THE
COBBLER, THE
EXPENDABLES 3, THE
LEPRECHAUN: ORIGINS jesus, no.
OUIJA
SABOTAGE
TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION
V/H/S: VIRAL
ZOMBEAVERS

There you have it, kids.

Agree?  Disagree?  Have a list of your own?

WHIPLASH [2014]

Writer/director Damien Chazelle's Whiplash is far better than what it might initially sound like.
It's about a young jazz drummer who yearns to be the best he can be at a music conservatory where he meets an instructor who will stop at nothing to make sure his students are nothing short of perfection.  J.K. Simmons delivers THE best performance of his career that one can't help but think of R. Lee Ermey's frighteningly humorous drill sergeant in Full Metal Jacket.  Aided by some wonderful music, the film asks questions about the creativity, technicality and passion of the arts and what's worth more when it comes to your psychological health.  There's sports movies that aren't as excitingly intense as this, so much that I actually got up and clapped as soon as the end credits started rolling.

5 fucking limp-dick, sour-note, flatter-than-their-girlfriends, flexible-tempo dipshits out of 5

EXODUS: GODS AND KINGS [2014]

Director Ridley Scott takes it upon himself to retell the biblical story of The Amazing Adventures of Moses & The Jews in Exodus: Gods and Kings.
Uber-broody Christian Bale is cast as a sword-wielding Moses who leads 600,000 Jewish slaves out of Egypt to freedom and along the way they meet all sorts of zany characters and exciting hijinks ensue  Visually, the film is pretty damned spectacular, in both scenery and special effects, never denying itself the chance of a sweeping CGI overhead shot of the ancient lands and cities.  Elsewhere like in the heart and brains department, Exodus lacks a great deal.  Scott tries to scientifically explain all the biblical events like the parting of the Red Sea or the different plagues and in turn, he sucks all the magic out of what is actually a pretty amazing story and turns it into dazzling dullness.

2½ Godly kids out of 5

THE TAKING OF DEBORAH LOGAN [2014]

I had high hopes for Adam Robitel's feature-length directorial debut, The Taking Of Deborah Logan, after a lot of praise from the horror film community.
This brought absolutely nothing new to the table with it's tale of possession (or whatever you can call this).  It offers the viewer a pretty promising first 15 minutes but quickly falls into "been there, done that" and breaks the tension with some horribly annoying acting.  The only good thing I found about this film was the title character, effectively played by Jill Larson (who horror buffs will remember as the insanely creepy "shh" woman from Shutter Island).  She goes all out for her performance and managed to keep me somewhat interested until the predictable conclusion.

2 snakes out of 5

FORCE MAJEURE [2014]

aka Turist

Swedish director Ruben Östlund's Force Majeure takes a relationship problem and turns it into a tiny snowball then rolls it down a very high mountain to watch it build up into a colossal problem.  

A family on vacation in the French alps turns messy when the husband reacts poorly to a potential disaster that never happens, leaving his wife & kids to fend for themselves.  Like a Michael Haneke film, only with a bit of darkly sly humor inserted, the film breathes on an uncomfortable tension built through extended takes shot from a distance and an odd Kubrick-ian tone that's just normal enough to seem slightly off.  It raises all sorts of undecided thoughts on male ego, matriarchy, loss of face and how much you judge one's love based on a short, single moment of panic.  I absolutely loved this film but should warn those couples in an already fragile relationship to best avoid it because it's guaranteed to spark all sorts of heated conversation afterwards.  

5 smug cigarettes out of 5