Posts tagged Terror
“The Last Exorcism Part II” Not Really
Mar 16th
“Or Is It?”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
The Last Exorcism Part II has a title that makes you think, whereas the movie itself just makes you cringe or laugh, sometimes simultaneously.
Maybe the filmmakers just wanted to cash in on the popularity of the trend in blockbuster series of movies having two parts to the final episode in the series, but the operative word here is “blockbuster,” which this movie isn’t, and neither was its predecessor.
Anyway, this movie is just as confusing as it is silly, and it continues where the first movie left off, which wasn’t called “Part I.”
Once again, we follow the story of Nell Sweetzer, who is 17 years old and living in Louisiana. Nell is trying to build a new life after escaping the events of the first movie.
Nell is living in New Orleans, and she can’t remember entire portions of the previous months except that she is the last surviving member of her family, and the evil force that once possessed her is back.
In other words, the last exorcism didn’t work, and now it is apparently time for another one.
Or, as a doctor tells Nell, “It’s your life. You get to decide who you are.”
Nell lives in a house with other troubled teenage girls, who are all under the supervision of the doctor.
Nell has a job as a maid at a motel, where a young man named Chris also works, and they act as if they like each other.
However, strange things start happening to Nell.
A radio talks to her, she answers the telephone, and a strange voice says disturbing things to her.
Nell and the other girls go to watch the Mardi Gras parade, and ominous people in unsettling costumes and masks stare at her, and she also thinks she sees her dead father across the street watching her, but of course he suddenly disappears.
Nell also has disturbing and erotic dreams, and so we never know if what we are watching is supposed to be real or just another one of her dreams.
Eventually Nell meets a woman with special powers who tells Nell that the demon that was in her before loves Nell and wants her.
So, naturally this woman arranges for an exorcism to get the demon out of Nell.
The Last Exorcism Part II … or is it?
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
Islam Intimidation
Oct 14th
In Boulder, protesters gather at the Valmont power plant known as the “pollution boat” to call for a cleaner form of power with Gas Powered Electricity also know as Killer Coal. In media news, printed media is still on the downfall and devices like the ipad, kindle and other e-book readers are starting to shine in the publishing market. Pakistan has been giving an ultimatum to root out Taliban, on that note South Park has had to cut back on racial slurs due to terrorist threats against the writers and Heather heads heads off to Washington D.C. to bring us world news.
“Straw Dogs” an Exercise in Violence
Sep 24th
“Another Unnecessary Remake”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
Straw Dogs is a remake of the classic 1971 film starring Dustin Hoffman and Susan George that was directed by acclaimed director Sam Peckinpah, who was known for the violence in his movies.
This 2011 version stars James Marsden and Kate Bosworth and was directed by Rod Lurie, and the location has been changed from a small town in western England to a small town in Southern Mississippi.
The title comes from the straw dogs that were used as ceremonial objects in ancient China. They were used as sacrifices, dressed up, put on the altar, and then when the ceremony was over, they were thrown into the street.
David and Amy are married, and when they drive into Blackwater, Mississippi, where Amy grew up, she mentions that the young good ol’ boys in town don’t have much to do anymore after their glory days of high-school football are over, and David compares them to the “straw dogs” of ancient China.
David is a Hollywood screenwriter, Amy recently starred in a television series, and they are in Blackwater because Amy’s father died and they are there to fix up his house and then sell it.
So, when they meet Charlie in town and find out that he has a small construction business, they hire Charlie to repair the roof on the barn.
Charlie says, “We take care of our own here,” and then he says to Amy, “Remember when I took care of you?”
And that is when David learns that Amy and Charlie had been high-school sweethearts.
Well, you can see where this is going, can’t you? Charlie and his construction team are rude and obnoxious, they ogle Amy because of the provocative way she dresses, and they belittle David almost every chance they get, because he doesn’t understand their small-town Southern culture, doesn’t fit in, and unknowingly insults them.
And then when Charlie and the boys invite David to go hunting with them, David feels obligated to go with them as a gesture of good will, but, of course, things don’t end well.
Things don’t end well at all, which can also be said about the whole movie.
There are some small subplots that attempt to flesh out the main plot, but basically the movie is an exercise in violence.
Straw Dogs is just another unnecessary remake.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
