The Wolf Man!!!
Went and saw The Wolf Man yesterday with my brother. Tell you what, it was weird to be leaving the house, lol. I’m going to have to make more of an effort with that - it’s not good to be sitting around vegetating.
Anyway, the movie. Benicio Del Toro as the Wolf Man, Sir Anthony Hopkins as his father (incidentally, the one who cursed Del Toro’s character in the first place - a cool little twist) and Hugo Weaving as an Inspector from Scotland Yard (neat twist with him in the end, too) and boy can that guy pull off facial hair. He should wear a beardy thing more often. Emily Blunt played the female lead and she didn’t suck too badly either, so it was a win all round. She could have showed more ankle, though ;)
I’m a big, big fan of monster movies and I love werewolf movies most of all. Well about as much as I love a good vampire movie, anyway. It’s been so long since there’s been a decent monster movie (so not counting the Twilight franchise), so it was good to see that there’s finally something worth watching out.
The movie held its own well within the horror genre and worked pretty well both by itself and as a remake of the original film of the same name which I’ve also seen. Lon Cheney Jr. was a cool werewolf. Rick Baker is the guy who did the makeup for The Wolf Man and you know that his work is brilliant because he's the genius who did the makeup for MJ's Thriller video. The visual quality of this movie was really something.
He also managed to keep some of the same look from the original movie...That fur framing the face look. Check it out for yourself, lol, it’s tough to explain. Also, the transformations were very cool. Very. It was different to An American Werewolf in London in some ways, but similar in others; it was similar with the way the feet and jaw transformed, but there was the benefit of that whole CGI business which looked smooth but not overused. The transformation in The Wolf Man was more intense, though, because it was more violent with Del Toro’s character’s (Lawrence Talbot, I think his name was) fingers snapping backwards hard and his teeth falling out when the fangs pushed through. Very cool.
There were some other little neat things in this movie including the fact that Charlie Chaplin's daughter, Geraldine Chaplin, played a Gypsy named Maleva and Gene Simmons voiced the transformed Wolf Man. Also, I noticed that in one scene where the Wolf Man is drinking from the Thames, the Tower Bridge is in the background....But - if I'm right, and I'll check it - it wasn't completed until 1894, so it would still be being built during the time in which the movie was set. I think....."Anachronism" is the word I'm looking for.
So, it was good all-in-all, I think. I had my eye on it from the beginning, so it was awesome to finally see it and check it out. The next one I really want to see (about a thousand times) is Our Lord Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland. That will be really freakin’ cool. Really. A lot.
Lol, speaking about movies, Benjo and I watched Children of the Corn the night before and I have to say it was crap. I think (I really hope) that it was one of the movies that Stephen King wasn’t happy about - I really hope. It was 85 minutes (and 14 seconds) of really bad acting, terrible script and awful editing and effects, though I’m prepared to make exceptions for the effects considering the age in which the movie was made. It was pretty badly put together and it felt like there were scenes missing, so the story didn’t really seem to make too much sense. I really hope (I believe, rather) that King’s book would be light years better.
Anyway, the movie. Benicio Del Toro as the Wolf Man, Sir Anthony Hopkins as his father (incidentally, the one who cursed Del Toro’s character in the first place - a cool little twist) and Hugo Weaving as an Inspector from Scotland Yard (neat twist with him in the end, too) and boy can that guy pull off facial hair. He should wear a beardy thing more often. Emily Blunt played the female lead and she didn’t suck too badly either, so it was a win all round. She could have showed more ankle, though ;)
I’m a big, big fan of monster movies and I love werewolf movies most of all. Well about as much as I love a good vampire movie, anyway. It’s been so long since there’s been a decent monster movie (so not counting the Twilight franchise), so it was good to see that there’s finally something worth watching out.
The movie held its own well within the horror genre and worked pretty well both by itself and as a remake of the original film of the same name which I’ve also seen. Lon Cheney Jr. was a cool werewolf. Rick Baker is the guy who did the makeup for The Wolf Man and you know that his work is brilliant because he's the genius who did the makeup for MJ's Thriller video. The visual quality of this movie was really something.
He also managed to keep some of the same look from the original movie...That fur framing the face look. Check it out for yourself, lol, it’s tough to explain. Also, the transformations were very cool. Very. It was different to An American Werewolf in London in some ways, but similar in others; it was similar with the way the feet and jaw transformed, but there was the benefit of that whole CGI business which looked smooth but not overused. The transformation in The Wolf Man was more intense, though, because it was more violent with Del Toro’s character’s (Lawrence Talbot, I think his name was) fingers snapping backwards hard and his teeth falling out when the fangs pushed through. Very cool.
There were some other little neat things in this movie including the fact that Charlie Chaplin's daughter, Geraldine Chaplin, played a Gypsy named Maleva and Gene Simmons voiced the transformed Wolf Man. Also, I noticed that in one scene where the Wolf Man is drinking from the Thames, the Tower Bridge is in the background....But - if I'm right, and I'll check it - it wasn't completed until 1894, so it would still be being built during the time in which the movie was set. I think....."Anachronism" is the word I'm looking for.
So, it was good all-in-all, I think. I had my eye on it from the beginning, so it was awesome to finally see it and check it out. The next one I really want to see (about a thousand times) is Our Lord Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland. That will be really freakin’ cool. Really. A lot.
Lol, speaking about movies, Benjo and I watched Children of the Corn the night before and I have to say it was crap. I think (I really hope) that it was one of the movies that Stephen King wasn’t happy about - I really hope. It was 85 minutes (and 14 seconds) of really bad acting, terrible script and awful editing and effects, though I’m prepared to make exceptions for the effects considering the age in which the movie was made. It was pretty badly put together and it felt like there were scenes missing, so the story didn’t really seem to make too much sense. I really hope (I believe, rather) that King’s book would be light years better.