Mez Movie a Day: October 2010

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Day Six Hundred Sixty Nine - Saw 3D

Year of release: 2010

Written by: Patrick Melton & Marcus Dunstan

Directed by: Kevin Greutert

Starring: Tobin Bell,Costas Mandylor, Betsy Russell, Sean Patrick Flanery & Cary Elwes

Thoughts Before Viewing: Two of my favorite horror movies from the past two years have been MY BLOOD VALENTINE 3D and PIRANHA 3D, so I don’t mind SAW getting in on the 3D craze. I’m still going to go into this with the logic I’ve used for all these SAW movies: “just give me some cool traps, and don’t be too illogical,” but I do want a satisfying ending, because you know this is the "final chapter" in the series. Note the quotations around "final chapter," because I rolled my eyes and did air quotes while thinking about it.

Thoughts After Viewing: I think Patrick & Marcus really love what they do, because in the past two movies the traps have become really sick & twisted. Or as I like to say, awesome! The trap with the key in the fishhook was wonderful. All the fucked up traps make this one of my favorites in the series. There was only one trap that I felt was a little weak (the one involving the wood boards), but I did like how that ended. The 3D was fun but it’s something you can definitely pass if you want to save some monies.

Now to judge it as the finale to the SAW series... the movie follows the same basic structure that all the other movies follow: We see the game being played, and we see the police trying to stop it. The game doesn’t factor into anything, so let’s fast forward to the end of the movie. Hoffman outsmarts the good guys yet again because he’s totally badass. He’s so much of a badass, that the last ten minutes of SAW 3D turns into a slasher film. Jill is being kept under police custody, so Hoffman sneaks in there and kills everyone. He eventually gets his hands on Jill, and we finally get to see the reverse bear trap do its thing ... It’s great. It seems like Hoffman is going to get away with everything until he gets attacked by three people in pig masks, and the final SAW reveal is that after surviving the events of the first film, Dr. Gordon has been helping Jigsaw. It might not be the best way to wrap things up but I still liked it.

So what is my final take on the entire SAW series? I’m still a big fan. The only really bad entry is the fifth one, the rest all have some redeeming qualities (the traps... the series is all about the traps). I’m not going to sit here and say this is one of the best horror series of all time, because that would be silly. I will tell you that this is one of the most fun horror series in a long time. For seven straight years a SAW movie has come out for Halloween, which is pretty crazy to think about. Not everybody is going to like these movies, and that’s understandable because it’s very easy to pick them apart. But I look at it this way: the tagline for the second movie was “oh yes, there will be blood,” and no matter how confusing, bored, or over the top the storyline got, they always delivered with the red stuff. And because of that, they have made me a fan for life.

Bonus Movie: Halloween II
Bonus Movie: Halloween III: Season of the Witch
Bonus Movie: Halloween 4: Return of the Michael Myers

Movie Total: 441

Day Six Hundred Sixty Eight - Saw VI

Year of release: 2009

Written by: Patrick Melton & Marcus Dunstan

Directed by: Kevin Greutert

Starring: Tobin Bell, Costas Mandylor, Betsy Russell, Mark Rolston, Peter Outerbridge & Shawnee Smith

Thoughts Before Viewing: After watching the dreadful fifth movie, I was hoping all those positive reviews I read about SAW VI were true, otherwise I was going to be a little pissed off. Thankfully they were. I really liked this movie... in fact, after the original, it might be my favorite SAW movie. It has an interesting different take and some very cool traps. Looking forward to seeing if this holds up.

Thoughts After Viewing: The second viewing confirms that yes, I do love this one. I can safely say this is my second favorite SAW movie. The traps are great (especially after having two movies with very weak ones) and Hoffman begins his ascent to badassery. There’s a few callbacks to the previous films but for the most part, it works as a stand alone film.

Movie Total: 437

Friday, October 29, 2010

Day Six Hundred Sixty Seven - Saw V

Year of release: 2008

Written by: Patrick Melton & Marcus Dunstan

Directed by: David Hackl

Starring: Tobin Bell, Costas Mandylor, Scott Patterson, Betsy Russell, Mark Rolston, Julie Benz, Carlo Rota & Meagan Good

Thoughts Before Viewing: Since I didn’t like SAW IV when it first came out, I decided to take a break from the SAW series. SAW V came and went in theaters, and based on all the negative reviews, I made a good choice. Fast forward a year, and I started hearing some good early buzz about SAW VI. You can’t really skip a SAW movie so I sucked it up and rented SAW V … I hated it! Taking a two year break on the SAW franchise was not a good idea, I had no idea what was going on. Besides the all over the place storytelling, my real problem with the movie was for the second movie in a row, the traps were lame. I wish I remembered what they were, but that alone should tell you something. No matter how bad you think the story is, you usually come out of the movie talking about the traps. If the traps aren’t good, what’s the point?

When I first thought about doing this full week of SAW, I was not looking forward to having to sit through this again. I’m hoping that because the first four movies are still fresh in my mind, and the fact that I liked SAW IV a lot more than I remembered, this one will be more enjoyable. Trust me, my hopes are not very high.

Thoughts After Viewing: I enjoyed the movie more this time than the first time I saw it, BUT my opinion went from “hate it” to “really don’t like it.” The movie was a lot easier to follow this time around, but once again my main problem was still the traps. Putting someone into an electrified tub … lame, breaking light bulbs to get keys to open a tube before being burnt alive … lame. The final test does deliver, but by then it is a little too late. Back to the story, it’s really just Agent Strahm going to places from previous movies, then we see how Detective Hoffman was in on it the whole time. I would say to skip it but there is about 10 minutes that you need to see before moving on the next installment (Hoffman framing Agent Strahm so it seemed like he was the one helping Jigsaw and then the Agent Strahm death scene so you don’t wonder why he isn’t around anymore). Definitely the weakest in the series (up to this point of course, still haven’t seen SAW 3D yet).

Bonus Movie: Friday the 13th Part 4: The Final Chapter

Movie Total: 436

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Day Six Hundred Sixty Six - Saw IV

Year of release: 2007

Written by: Patrick Melton, Marcus Dunstan, Thomas Fenton

Directed by: Darren Lynn Bousman

Starring: Tobin Bell, Costas Mandylor, Scott Patterson, Betsy Russell & Lyriq Bent

Thoughts Before Viewing: It takes a lot of balls for a very successful horror franchise to kill off their main bad guy. Normally when this happens, he comes back as some supernatural bad guy. Thankfully, SAW IV did not do this. Instead they went with telling a story that was happening as the events of part three were happening. This is one of the big reveals, along with finding out Detective Hoffman has been helping Jigsaw. Other than that, I had kind of forgotten the traps and the story. Unlike the last movie, I remember not liking this one very much so that explains me not remembering much else.

Thoughts After Viewing: When I saw the black officer from the previous films was the focal point in this one, I instantly remembered everything about the movie. The movie wasn’t as bad as I remembered but that doesn’t mean it's that good (because it is not). It was interesting to see the story unfold, especially getting to see the Detective Matthews story wrap, but the traps weren’t very good. I only liked the hair in the gears traps. Very disappointing to have a SAW movie with lame traps. So why did I like the movie a little better this viewing? Probably because I now know how bad part five is.

Movie Total : 434

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Day Six Hundred Sixty Five - Saw III

Year of release: 2006

Written by: Darren Lynn Bousman

Directed by: Leigh Whannell

Starring: Tobin Bell, Shawnee Smith, Angus Macfadyen, Bahar Soomekh & Dina Meyer

Thoughts Before Viewing: I remember that Jigsaw is near death so a doctor is brought in to try to keep him alive. I also remember that at the same time a man is going through a series of tests but I can’t remember any of the traps. I don’t think this is because the traps are bad. I just think I’m confusing some of the later traps with this one. Or at least I hope that’s the case.

Thoughts After Viewing: Once I saw the traps, I instantly remembered them (except for the frozen girl), but I still couldn’t think of which traps were coming up. Which I think is very weird, especially considering I thought the traps were great. I assumed this was the going to be the last in the series, why else would they kill off their bad guy? I was way wrong with that assumption.

It's Kind of a Funny Story

Movie Total: 433

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Day Six Hundred Sixty Four - Saw II

Year of release: 2005

Written by: Darren Lynn Bousman & Leigh Whannell

Directed by: Darren Lynn Bousman

Starring: Tobin Bell, Donnie Wahlberg, Shawnee Smith, Franky G, Glenn Plummer, Beverly Mitchell, Dina Meyer, Emmanuelle Vaugier & Erik Knudsen

Thoughts Before Viewing: Besides opening weekend, I don’t know if I've ever seen this one again. I can remember all the traps (who can forget the pit of needles?). I was a fan of this movie mostly because it was our first real taste of Jigsaw. The calm, cool, collected Jigsaw that tells people exactly what they have to do to survive (or save a loved one)... of course none of them ever do and thank God they don’t, because that would make for some boring ass movies.

Thoughts After Viewing: As soon as the Spanish guy was on my screen, I remembered some of the things I didn’t like about the movie the first time I saw it, mainly him. I understand he’s supposed to be crazy, but man, he’s a little too over the top even for me. Him aside, I still enjoyed the movie. The traps were great and the big twist ending that the game has already happened along with Amanda being in on it was great.

Total Movie: 431

Monday, October 25, 2010

Day Six Hundred Sixty Three - Saw

Year of release: 2004

Written by: Leigh Whannell (based on story by: James Wan & Leigh Whannell)

Directed by: James Wan

Starring: Cary Elwes, Danny Glover, Monica Potter, Michael Emerson, Ken Leung, Leigh Whannell & Tobin Bell

Thoughts Before Viewing: I saw this opening weekend back in 2004 and loved it. I can still remember freaking out when the “dead” body in the room got up as the big reveal was happening … loved it. Besides watching the Rifftrax version of the movie (which is hilarious, by the way), I can’t remember the last time I sat down and truly watched this movie. Very excited for this.

Thoughts After Viewing: Seven years later and I still love this movie. It’s been a while since I’ve seen the other movies, but I do remember a lot of what happens and having that knowledge is very weird. This simple movie about two guys locked in a room turns into this crazy, gore filled and twist & turn filled horror series. Who would have thought that?

Movie Total: 430