MCP's Top Ten Films of 2006 - #10-11
There are a couple of changes from last years top movie list. Instead of doing all of my top films
in one post, I’m going to spread time across several. So bear with me.
Also, instead of doing 10 films, I chose 11. Why 11? Well, most lists go to 10. And I’m like where can you go from there? Where? What I do is, if I need that extra push over the cliff, do you know what I do?
Eleven. One louder.
Anyway...here we go.
#11 – Nightwatch
Reinventing Vampire Mythology very rarely works. Sure, it gets tweaked from film to film, but the core rules of Vampires seem like they’re carved in stone cinematically. The basics of a vampire in Dracula, Interview with the Vampire & even Buffy are all the same. Audiences kind of demand it that way. That’s one of the things that make Nightwatch so fascinating.
This is a film that throws out everything we know about Vampires out the window and starts from scratch, and the results are fascinating. Suddenly we have to sides of a conflict as old as time. There’s nothing romantic about these Vamp’s. Theirs is a dirty & ugly world.
But it has an epic feeling about it too. I love that this trilogy starts off with the good guys getting the crap kicked out of them. There’s nothing happy about the ending of this flick. Apparently these films are based on a series of Russian novels. The first book is finally going to be released in English; it’ll be really interesting to see what those are like.
I can thank Star Wars for helping me appreciate one major aspect of this film (And I’ll only spoil this because the whole lodge has already seen the flick). George Lucas had 3 movies to convince me that an innocent kid would go to the dark side. And you know what? He kind of failed. This flick pulled it off in just one scene. From that point on, I’ve been counting down the days to see the sequel “Daywatch” just so I can see what’s going to happen next.
I saved my favorite part about this film for last: The subtitles. This film did something brilliant. Subtitles are normally considered a deterrent. They take you out of the story somewhat and pulls your focus away from what’s happening on screen. This film turned subtitles into a storytelling device, which is simply a brilliant move. They move, pulse, fade, appear in different colors and dissolve into blood. Simply the way the subtitles appear is telling us something about the story or the tone. Having seen it used, I’m shocked this isn’t taken advantage of all the time. Instead of detracting from the experience of watching the movie with subtitles, the filmmakers found a way to enhance it. For this reason alone the film should be applauded.
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 57%
#10 – Slither
Was this the best horror movie of the year? Probably not (although it was one of the best reviewed horror flicks of the year). But it is the one I enjoyed the most. This movie gets my “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang award” for the best movie that nobody saw.
This is the kind of movie that’s going to live on for years in the rental market. This is the flick that teenage horror movie buffs are going to show all their friends for years to come. I really believe it’ll find its way into the same horror category as Evil Dead 2 and Dead Alive.
Both of those flicks were horror films that had a great sense of humor about them. Slither is no different. Starring Nathan Fillion (Serenit...uh...I mean “Two Guys A Girl & A Pizza Place”) & Michael Rooker (Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer) this films blends together multiple horror movie scenario’s. You’ve got your aliens from another world, zombies, and giant monsters.
Writer/Director James Gunn (Dawn of the Dead & the guy who’s dating the chick who plays “Pam” on the office...lucky SOB) clearly loves the genre he’s working with. He has fun with the deaths, and keeps the supporting cast eclectic and fun (The guy who plays the mayor practically steals the whole movie). It’s gross out B-movie horror done right.
The real tragedy of this movie was just how badly it bombed. The week this film came out it was beaten by another horror movie called “Stay Alive”. Does anyone even remember this movie? No! Nobody does! (Rotten tomatoes had that flick at 6% one of the worst reviewed films of the year!) But I do realize that movies like this aren’t really made for the masses. This is the kind of film that is directly made for horror film buffs (upon watching it a second time, I was surprised to see a lot of horror film references).
Rotten Tomatoes Rating – 83%
in one post, I’m going to spread time across several. So bear with me.Also, instead of doing 10 films, I chose 11. Why 11? Well, most lists go to 10. And I’m like where can you go from there? Where? What I do is, if I need that extra push over the cliff, do you know what I do?
Eleven. One louder.
Anyway...here we go.
#11 – Nightwatch Reinventing Vampire Mythology very rarely works. Sure, it gets tweaked from film to film, but the core rules of Vampires seem like they’re carved in stone cinematically. The basics of a vampire in Dracula, Interview with the Vampire & even Buffy are all the same. Audiences kind of demand it that way. That’s one of the things that make Nightwatch so fascinating.
This is a film that throws out everything we know about Vampires out the window and starts from scratch, and the results are fascinating. Suddenly we have to sides of a conflict as old as time. There’s nothing romantic about these Vamp’s. Theirs is a dirty & ugly world.
But it has an epic feeling about it too. I love that this trilogy starts off with the good guys getting the crap kicked out of them. There’s nothing happy about the ending of this flick. Apparently these films are based on a series of Russian novels. The first book is finally going to be released in English; it’ll be really interesting to see what those are like.
I can thank Star Wars for helping me appreciate one major aspect of this film (And I’ll only spoil this because the whole lodge has already seen the flick). George Lucas had 3 movies to convince me that an innocent kid would go to the dark side. And you know what? He kind of failed. This flick pulled it off in just one scene. From that point on, I’ve been counting down the days to see the sequel “Daywatch” just so I can see what’s going to happen next.
I saved my favorite part about this film for last: The subtitles. This film did something brilliant. Subtitles are normally considered a deterrent. They take you out of the story somewhat and pulls your focus away from what’s happening on screen. This film turned subtitles into a storytelling device, which is simply a brilliant move. They move, pulse, fade, appear in different colors and dissolve into blood. Simply the way the subtitles appear is telling us something about the story or the tone. Having seen it used, I’m shocked this isn’t taken advantage of all the time. Instead of detracting from the experience of watching the movie with subtitles, the filmmakers found a way to enhance it. For this reason alone the film should be applauded.
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 57%
#10 – SlitherWas this the best horror movie of the year? Probably not (although it was one of the best reviewed horror flicks of the year). But it is the one I enjoyed the most. This movie gets my “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang award” for the best movie that nobody saw.
This is the kind of movie that’s going to live on for years in the rental market. This is the flick that teenage horror movie buffs are going to show all their friends for years to come. I really believe it’ll find its way into the same horror category as Evil Dead 2 and Dead Alive.
Both of those flicks were horror films that had a great sense of humor about them. Slither is no different. Starring Nathan Fillion (Serenit...uh...I mean “Two Guys A Girl & A Pizza Place”) & Michael Rooker (Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer) this films blends together multiple horror movie scenario’s. You’ve got your aliens from another world, zombies, and giant monsters.
Writer/Director James Gunn (Dawn of the Dead & the guy who’s dating the chick who plays “Pam” on the office...lucky SOB) clearly loves the genre he’s working with. He has fun with the deaths, and keeps the supporting cast eclectic and fun (The guy who plays the mayor practically steals the whole movie). It’s gross out B-movie horror done right.
The real tragedy of this movie was just how badly it bombed. The week this film came out it was beaten by another horror movie called “Stay Alive”. Does anyone even remember this movie? No! Nobody does! (Rotten tomatoes had that flick at 6% one of the worst reviewed films of the year!) But I do realize that movies like this aren’t really made for the masses. This is the kind of film that is directly made for horror film buffs (upon watching it a second time, I was surprised to see a lot of horror film references).
Rotten Tomatoes Rating – 83%
posted by Casey at 12:24 PM
11 Comments:
So a few people have told me that the subtitling effects are NOT on the dvd. wtf? Does your lore of fanboydom know of a special edition release that needs to carry this, or is there just a menu option for it?
I really really loved nightwatch. unfortunately, my other friends were not able to watch it all the way through. BOOOO.
It's a double sided disc. If I recall side B has the cool subtitles, while side A does not. The reason for this is that the subtitles don't run on a seperate track. They are actually integrated into the movie.
I have not seen either of these films....but look forward to doing so after reading about them.
I just re-started my netflix about a month ago....so I'll be able to start playing catch up after taking about 2 years off....
nice...reading the Nightwatch review made me want to pop it in right now...and having seen both films...I can tell you that I'm not sure how Slither can be ahead of Nightwatch...
yeah yeah...I get the geek aspects of slither, and Rooker did keep me interested, but was it really that good? and when I say good, I mean was the unintential/intentional comedy/horror scale that high?...just another film we'll agree to disagree...oh by the way MCP the theater is ready...
You needn't take it any further, sir. You've proved to me that all this ultraviolence and killing is wrong, wrong, and terribly wrong. I've learned me lesson, sir. I've seen now what I've never seen before. I'm cured! Praise god!
Nightwatch. I've seen it. And like forest gump says. "Thats all I have to say about that"
Lodge traffic would go astronomical if Dude posted.
Netflix f*cked this one up with Nightwatch... no double-sided disc with the embedded subtitles. Seriously, I had to force myself to watch it a 2nd time with dubbed terrible voices... horrendous job by the DVD release. I'm still angry about this.
Slither & Nightwatch were really neck and neck on my list. The main reason that Slither got ahead was that it's the kind of movie I'm more likely to re-watch over and over than Nightwatch.
I was really surprised to see how well Slither ended up getting reviewed. Out of 115 critic reviews on RT, 96 were positive & only 19 were negative. That actually makes it the second best reviewed horror film of the year (just 1% behind the Descent).
Jimbo, where's the Pitch Talk?
it was on monday...and considering we had more posts today then all of last week, I figured I would work on it for another..."slower" day...that and my hand is wrapped with a splint so the chicken typing takes longer...but I'm not making excuses...
Of course you are not. Train makes excuses...But then brings it today like a Zero Bombing Michael Bay's house
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