Davis Freeberg's DVD AllStars

I'll Take CIA Assassians For $1,000

Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]

Under discussion:

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002)

I'm a huge gameshow fan, so when I saw that there was a movie about Chuck Barris (the buy behind the dating game and the Gong show), I was pretty excited to see it.

I didn't know a lot about the film when I scheduled my TiVo to record it, but I figured CIA + Chuck Barris = Exciting Film.

Was I ever wrong about this one. This film wasn't exciting at all, it was boring and confusing. The limited CIA scenes had limited action and almost no background. One moment you were watching Barris on a date, the next you were trying to figure out who he was killing and why. In the end, the movie's only strength was the character development throughout the film and even that was pretty limited. I especially didn't understand why Julia Roberts or George Cloney was in the film as their performance seemed pretty weak.

Overall, I've got to recommend avoiding this one. It's not the worst film ever, but it's pretty bad.

Posted Monday, February 26, 2007 3:38 PM by davisfreeberg | with 0 comments

When There Is No More Room In Hell

Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]

Under discussion:

Dawn of the Dead (1978)

After being a little disappointed with the first film of this franchise, I came in with low expectations for this film, but was pleasantly surprised at how great this film turned out to be. Filmed nearly a decade after the original Night of the Living Dead, the Dawn of The Dead takes up where the last one left off. Being made a generation later really added a lot to the film. It's images are more disturbing, the plot more engaging and the film more sophisticated.

Unlike the first film that took place pretty much in a farm house, this film takes place at a mall populated by a group of bandits and a gazillion zombies that want to eat their flesh. The film takes the viewer from the first week of the zombie uprising to several months later.

One of the things I really enjoyed about the film was the fact that it was made in the 1970's. While there wasn't any references to disco, the culture of the 70's really came through on the film. I also liked that Romero left the ending of the film more open ended for his follow up film a decade later. Overall, I felt like this was a stronger film in the franchise.

Posted Tuesday, February 20, 2007 3:57 PM by davisfreeberg | with 0 comments

Mmmmmm Brains . . .

Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]

Under discussion:

Night of the Living Dead (1968)

As a horror movie afficianado, I knew that sooner or later I would not only need to see this film, but the whole series as well. When it was first released, Night of the Living Dead was actually a pretty controversial film, but over the years, as movies have gotten more graphic, the film has lost a little bit of it's edge. Since it's initial production we've seen a number of remakes/extensions to this franchise with varying degrees of success.

After watching the film, I wasn't really all that impressed with the movie itself, but it was neat to go back and see the start of the zombie genre. The most disturbing scenes are when the zombies eat the flesh right off of their victims, but even at some of it's more intense moments, this film would likely get a pg-13 rating today. If you are planning on watching other films in the franchise, you don't necessarily need to see this film in order to know what's going on, but given it's influence on other horror movies, it's still worth checking out, even if it's just to see how other film makers were impacted by the film.

Posted Tuesday, February 20, 2007 3:38 PM by davisfreeberg | with 0 comments