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REVIEW: The Exorcist
Directed by: William Friedkin
Produced by: William Peter Blatty
Screenplay by: William Peter Blatty
Edited by: Jordan Leondopoulos, Evan Lottman, Norman Gay
Cinematography by: Owen Roizman
Music by: Various; Theme by Mike Oldfield
Starring: Ellen Burstyn, Jason Miller, Max von Sydow, Linda Blair, Lee J. Cobb, Mercedes McCambridge, Kitty Winn, Jack MacGowran, Father William O’Malley, Vasiliki Maliaros
Based on the novel by William Peter Blatty
Year: 1973
The Exorcist is yet another movie on my list of movies that I don’t know how I managed to not watch until recently. Unlike, say, The Godfather (put your pitchforks down, I saw them all years ago, but still after a while) or Braveheart, however, the reasons for not seeing it wasn’t simply because I was tired of hearing people talk about how great it was, but rather due to the fact that the subject matter and reputation The Exorcist had for being one of the most terrifying horror films of all time really freaked me out. As some of you may know, I was never really a horror film fan in the first place until I started writing this blog and forced myself to watch films from the genre for the month of October, and while this was partly because I thought less of the genre than I should have, I’d be lying if there was some part of me that was genuinely terrified of certain movies – and chief among them was The Exorcist.
Awful Movie Review: “Batman Forever”
Directed by: Joel Schumacher
Produced by: Tim Burton, Peter MacGregor-Scott, Benjamin Melniker, Michael Uslan
Written by: Lee Batchler, Janet Scott-Batchler, Akiva Goldsman (screenplay), Lee Batchler, Janet Scott-Batchler (story)
Starring: Val Kilmer, Tommy Lee Jones, Jim Carrey, Nicole Kidman, Chris O’Donnell, Michael Gough, Pat Hingle, Drew Barrymore, Debi Mazar
Music by: Elliot Goldenthal
Year: 1995
You know what? This movie gets too much of a free pass. I get that, compared to its sequel, it’s almost competently plotted out, but this in no way implies that this is a good movie. Make no mistake about this: Batman Forever is one of the worst superhero films out there, and it even lacks much of the so-bad-it’s-good qualities that its more ridiculous sequel possesses, making this almost more unbearable than that infamous stain of a film. To say that Batman Forever fails where its predecessors succeeded is to undermine the severity of the film’s existence. To put it simply, Batman Forever not only undid much of the goodwill gained by critics and audiences with the releases of Batman and Batman Returns, it very nearly laid the groundwork for the death of the genre as we know it. Read more…
Update: Busy, busy week…
To everyone who may be wondering –
I know you’ve all been panicking because of my 2 day absence from blogging, but it’s been an incredibly busy week and, well, I really needed to relax this weekend. Tomorrow’s Halloween, and, in my eyes, it’s still horror week. I will attempt to get most of the reviews I intended to do posted throughout the following week, but due to the fact that tomorrow’s my birthday (yep, Halloween) and I’ve got family in town, those will be coming a bit later than intended.
I know you’ve all been freaking out over this (right?) but I just thought I’d mention it.
In the meantime, why not think of any non-horror films you’d like me to review, post them in the comments, and I’ll check them out?
Thanks again, everyone, and hope you have a …
The Viewer’s Commentary: Coming Attractions
Hello everyone! I just wanted to thank you all for this past week. I’ve been figuring out scheduling and, while still quite a bit shaky, I am of course going to keep the articles coming. I’ve got some big things planned, but haven’t had much time to do it all thanks to a birthday party, church, and work, but I figured, in the spirit of cinema, that I would give you all a set of previews for some upcoming attractions I have coming that I’m really excited about!
REVIEWS – I’ve seen a few films this past week that I’m eager to get reviews of. One of them still in theatres, one of them well into its senior years, and two that are just now starting to toddle around. … Okay enough with the age analogies. Want some hints as to what these movies are? Well, the first one involves an epidemic so epic, I can list at least 8 major actors by name who appear in the film and still not touch on the number of people involved. The oldest film I plan on reviewing is actually a recently released Blu-Ray involving a pachyderm who rises to the big top. Hint hint… As for the other two, one is a fictional account of the assassination of a legendary outlaw, and the other revolves around a couple determined to be together despite a cosmic, all knowing bureaucracy. Hope you like variety! I’ve also got reviews of the Blu-Ray editions of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi lined up – the discs are literally sitting in my living room waiting to be watched, and my eagerness to get to other movies is definitely going to motivate me to get those watched.
PIXAR IN REVUE – While this is primarily a prelude to a feature I’ve been planning to do since long before this site was even registered, I will be going through each of the major Pixar works, from the first shorts to Toy Story in 1995 to their recent and hopefully brief flirtation with pure commercialization in Cars 2, and then to infinity and beyond. All that will lead up to my most ambitious idea yet…
WALT DISNEY FEATURES: THE FEATURE – Similar to what I’m doing with Pixar, I will continue to express my love of animated films by going over each of the 51 Disney animated features and take a look at some upcoming works and related works. This one will take me the longest to do, so it will likely become a weekly-at-least type of feature, while I try to not only review and opine on the films, but also hopefully provide some historical context for each of the films, pertaining to not only Disney, but animation and even the world. I plan on doing an overview of each film as a primer before setting out to look at each on an individual basis. This is going to be quite difficult, especially since I plan on continuing work on other films, too, but I’m up for the challenge and I’m really looking forward to tackling this the most!
HORROR FILM MONTH – As always, October is going to be the month I begin focusing on horror films. This year, I’m planning on getting in touch with some of the more famous horror films I’ve always managed to avoid (A Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween) while going over a few of my favorites, such as 28 Days Later, The Sixth Sense, Alien, and Psycho.
LISTS – Not so much a special thing I’m planning on doing as much as it is a regular feature I plan on doing, many of you may already know that I’m big on Top 10 lists, so expect me to fan the flames of discussion and discord while I make arbitrary lists of films and film-related things!
It’s about to get serious, and I appreciate both my friends and family who come here to support me as I indulge in my interests publicly and all of you who may possibly pass by this blog and find something worth your attention. I am but one man, but I do hope I can meet not just my own expectations, but yours too, and, again, I appreciate any support I get!
Thanks again everyone! I hope you are all as excited as I am!
The Viewer's Commentary 