Scream (1996)

Number Rolled: 92

Movie Name/Year: Scream (1996)

Genre: Horror

Length: 111 minutes

Rating: R

Director: Wes Craven

Writer: Kevin Williamson

Actors: Drew Barrymore, Neve Campbell, Skeet Ulrich, Lawrence Hecht, Courteney Cox, W. Earl Brown, Rose McGowan, Lois Saunders, David Arquette, Joseph Whipp, Matthew Lillard, Jamie Kennedy, Linda Blair, Wes Craven, Henry Winkler

Sidney has just started to get over the brutal murder of her mother a year earlier, when she learns about the murder of two of her classmates. She’s not very close to them, but it isn’t long before the killer lets her know that his intent is to affect her. Although Sidney attempts to continue on with her life, it gets more and more difficult to feel safe.

When “Scream” came out in the 90’s it was almost instantly known as a classic. To this day, few people are willing to dispute that claim. The question isn’t whether or not this movie belongs in a category with the greats; the question is why it belongs there.

By the time the movie was being produced, Wes Craven was already a seasoned director. He’d already directed seventeen movies and seven episodes of TV shows. The well known director had already learned what makes a good film and what makes crap. He’d seen both ends of the spectrum and when he was hired to direct this piece by Kevin Williamson, he must have had a vision in mind. What we got from that vision was a movie that knows it follows a certain recipe and makes fun of it. We get the thrills with an added nod to the genre. It can come off a little smug, but when a movie reaches a certain level of ‘good’ maybe a little ‘smug’ is allowed.

The best movies I have ever seen have mixed genres: drama with thriller, comedy with romance, comedy with drama, Sci-fi/Fantasy with comedy, etc. “Scream” is no exception; it mixes the horror we expect with the comedy delivered by the spoof of its genre.

To be honest, this is one of those movies that, if I go long enough without seeing, I look back and remember being corny. However, after watching it, I wind up perpetually engulfed in it – regardless of how many times I’ve seen it in the past. I’m not exactly sure what causes this to happen, but I have to consider it in my rating.

Overall Opinion – 4/5

Ransom (1996)

Number Rolled: 91

Movie Name/Year: Ransom (1996)

Genre: Action and Adventure

Length: 121 minutes

Rating: R

Director: Ron Howard

Writer: Cyril Hume, Richard Maibaum, Richard Price, Alexander Ignon

Actors: Mel Gibson, Rene Russo, Gary Sinise, Delroy Lindo, Lili Taylor, Brawley Nolte

Well, I don’t know about how Mel Gibson would feel about a Jew critiquing one of his films, but I’m just going to say he’s a crap actor who sucked dick to get to the top anyway. Now that he’s stopped reading (which let’s face it, he never was) I can go on to a more serious look at the film.

It was boring. I was so easily distracted, some of the time I forgot to look at the screen. If I had been tired at all, I might have fallen asleep. It had some good parts, but it was altogether unimaginative and the best actor in the entire film was probably the kid or an actor that’s no longer a factor maybe a half hour in.

It wasn’t terrible, just boring. I mean, I wouldn’t warn anyone away from the film but I’d be hard-pressed to watch it again.

Overall Opinion – 2/5

The Craft (1996)

Number Rolled: 68

Movie Name/Year: The Craft (1996)

Genre: Teen Scream, Supernatural Horror, Horror

Length: 100 minutes

Rating: R

Director: Andrew Fleming

Writer: Peter Filardi, Andrew Fleming

Actors: Robin Tunney, Fairuza Balk, Neve Campbell, Rachel True, Christine Taylor, Skeet Ulrich, Assumpta Serna, Cliff De Young, Breckin Meyer, Nathaniel Marston, Helen Shaver, Jeanine Jackson, Brenda Strong

I remember loving this movie when it came out. I was in Junior High School, I hated just about everyone and everything and I felt like I had nowhere to fit in. So when this movie came out, I clung to it like a security blanket. I didn’t know of anyone at my age, at that time, who didn’t at least like the movie a bit. I understand the basic psychology behind it, and watching it again, now, it still gives me the warm and fuzzies as my first horror movie – but I saw it in a different light this time.

Considering the time frame of when the movie came out, the script and plot is actually pretty original (by our time, not so much, but keep in mind this move was made over a decade ago). Along with that, Fairuza Balk plays insanity like no one else possibly can. I’d love to be able to say the rest of this review goes down this same road, but I can’t.

Neve Campbell has a couple of believable moments, but otherwise wound up completely overshadowed (like Rachel True) by just about anyone in the cast. Even people who only see minor screen time like Skeet Ulrich or Brenda Strong. Robin Tunney, the lead in this particular movie, was horrible. The start of the movie comes in, she seems to be a strong actress and then it’s like she got bored or distracted or something because she lost it. Then the last three minutes of the movie come along and she’s strong again. I don’t know what happened to that strength. Maybe she’s just not cut out for horror flicks.

Regardless of the acting snafus, I still believe this is a movie worth seeing at least once.

Overall Opinion – 3/5

Overkill (1996)

Number Rolled: 24

Movie Name/Year: Overkill (1996)

Genre: Action Thriller

Length: 91 mins

Rating: R

Director: Dean Raphael Ferrandini

Writer: John Langley, Jerry Lazarus, Ron Swanson

Actors: Aaron Norris, Michael Nouri, Kenneth Moskow, Pamela Dickerson, David Rowe, Enrique Munoz, Damian Alcazar, Gerardo Soublette, Gerardo Zepeda

First of all, I need to get this off my chest. The way “Norris” is printed on the cover makes me believe they wanted people to think that it was Chuck and not Aaron in the movie. Cheap move I think, but after actually watching it, kind of fitting. Overkill had all of the Norris, none of the Chuck.

Don’t get me wrong, I like my share of B movies, but my favorite B movie is the kind that doesn’t try to be anything else. This movie was certainly nothing else, but tried to be. Undoubtedly, they thought having a Norris in their movie would sell tickets. However, I expect an actor to react to a nice hard kick to the face. Not stand there for a few and then jump backwards in a very obvious way.

At the beginning of the movie, things are pretty much cut and dry. Uncontrollable cop screws up a raid and is told to get their shit together or resign. Cop goes on vacation and gets wrangled into helping out some nerdy tech guy who looked into the wrong computer file. That’s the storyline. Not much more to it really…. Until you start hearing about the shadow people out in the jungle. That touch of the supernatural in a movie like this was definitely unexpected.

For the majority of the movie I found that added other-worldly plot just as corny and predictable as their dialog, but the ending really caught me off guard. I was actually really impressed with it and that’s what saved this movie for me. In fact, it jumped it up from what would have been an overall opinion of one.

If you do decide to watch it, watch it with the knowledge that you are watching a B movie. Don’t expect a blockbuster or you will be disappointed.

Overall Opinion – 2/5

The Cable Guy (1996)

Number Rolled: 70

Movie Name/Year: The Cable Guy (1996)
Tagline: Are you ready to get wired?

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Thriller

Length: 96 minutes

Rating: PG-13
Production Companies: Columbia Pictures Corporation, Brillstein-Grey Entertainment, Licht/Mueller Film Corporation
Producer: Judd Apatow, William S. Beasley, Bernie Brillstein, Brad Grey, Marc Gurvitz, Andrew Licht, Jeffrey A. Mueller 

Director: Ben Stiller

Writer: Lou Holtz Jr.

Actors: Jim Carrey, Matthew Broderick, Leslie Mann, Jack Black, George Segal, Janeane Garofalo, Diane Baker, Ben Stiller, Eric Roberts, Andy Dick, Harry O’Reilly, David Cross, Owen Wilson, Kathy Griffin, Misa Koprova, Paul Greco, Tabitha Soren, Rikki Klieman, Robert Simels, David Bowe, Bill Clinton
Stunt Doubles: Bob Brown, Tom Elliott, Erin Ricotti, Erik Rondell

Blurb from Netflix: A lonely and disturbed cable guy raised on television just wants a new friend, but his target, a designer, rejects him, with bad consequences.

I’ve got a lot of friends who are really into this movie. I, personally, have no problems with Jim Carrey (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, In Living Color, Bruce Almighty). He’s the King of stupid movies – in the best way. However, I just didn’t see what everyone else seemed to see in this film.

Quite frankly, for the majority of it, I was bored.

Carrey was his normal, funny-faced, over-acting self and Matthew Broderick (Finding Amanda, Bee Movie, The Producers) really compliments that over-the-top character with an understated character of his own, but that’s really all there was to it.

It was also a bit too long for what it was, though the social commentary of the ending was pretty cool.

I really don’t have much else to say about this movie. It’s not even really that I didn’t like it, I simply didn’t care about it. I was watching it and the clock at the same time. 

All in all, the ending made it watchable, though I doubt I’ll be going out of my way to watch it again.

Languages

Speech Available: English

Subtitles Available: English

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 54%

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 51%

Metascore - None

Metacritic User Score – None

IMDB Score – 6.1/10

Trust the Dice: Selina's Rating – 2.5/5

Movie Trailer: