Lazy Reviews

Things I've Watched Recently:

Cloverfield
This would have been a fine sci-fi thriller if not for that gimmicky shaky-cam crap. The shaky-cam style should be used to add a sense of rawness or urgency, not complete and utter confusion. Yeah, I know, the characters were confused and so we're supposed to see them being confused. But after 20 minutes, it wears out its welcome and becomes annoying. It also would have helped if the movie weren't populated by idiots. "Hey, the giant monster is right in front of us! I know, I'll turn around and film my friends' reaction to the monster instead of the monster itself! I'm brilliant!"

Rambo 4 (aka John Rambo or Rambo, depending on which country you're in)
Not terrible. I guess. It held my attention, even if I was rolling my eyes half of the time. The action was way overdone, but as repetitive as it was, I never actually got tired of seeing people get hit by .50-caliber rounds. But Richard Crenna was dearly missed.

The Beast (aka The Beast of War)
I'd always heard that this 1988 film was an overlooked classic, so I finally got around to watching it. I wouldn't go so far as to call it a classic, but it was a damn fine movie. It focuses on a lost Soviet tank during the war between Russia and Afghanistan. The tank and its crew have just wiped out an innocent civilian village, and are being pursued by a group of Afghan rebels bent on revenge. The tank's commander (character actor George Dzundza, in the best role of his career) is slowly losing his mind, while the crew (including a young Jason Patric and very young Stephen Baldwin) begin to have a crisis of conscience. The tank scenes play like excerpts from Das Boot, though inside a different vehicle of war. There are major flaws (no actor even attempts a Russian accent), but they are easily ignored in favor of plot momentum. The movie is basically one long chase, and the tension is kept high at all times. I highly recommend this to anyone with a Netflix subscription.

The Mist
Ridiculous ending aside, I loved it. But I also loved the novella, and the film doesn't stray very far from the source material (apart from the the previously mentioned ending). I think Richard Roeper described it best when he called it "...one of the best B-movies of 2007, and I mean that in a good way." It relies on atmosphere instead of jump-scares, and focuses as much on the dark side of human nature as it does on the monsters. Just remember to stop the movie as soon as the main characters pull away in the Land Cruiser. Just pretend they drive off into the mist and the credits roll.