Being on Disney did not help.

Now it makes sense as to why I've never heard anything about it. I didn't even know that the channel still existed.

47 Ronin




A Keanu Reeves project that on one hand embraced the scope and look of an epic Samurai culture, but on the other hand is too solemn and sluggish to enjoy. I remember hearing little news stories how this particular project was plagued with problems.

Regardless 47 Ronin is a gorgeous film to look at. The sets and locations do bring some emotion with the subject matter… which by the way is simply, Kai (Keanu Reeves) is a half-breed and not accepted by anyone… except the Lord’s daughter. Anyway, a ruler from another land cunningly kills the Lord, takes over and banishes the Samurai… who then technically become Ronin (Samurai without a leader). The rest of the movie is gathering up the Ronin including Kai and seek revenge and take back the palace.

There’s elements of fantasy characters sprinkled throughout. Thankfully minimally or that would have turned me off completely. Mainly because this story is based on true events.

While this looked like hundreds of other Samurai films, I was hoping for the best on a good update to the story. It just moved too slow, with little action and very little payoff. It seemed longer than it actually ran.

In Their Sleep



A 2013 French film that I recently read as must watch. I’ve seen less than a handful of French horror films, but each was better than the next. In Their Sleep is good… not great. I saw the twist way early, but that’s OK. The twist was not THAT critical to enjoying the flick.

It was all subtitled, which sucked, but nonetheless, a pretty good emotional thriller. The killing scenes were a little too realistic for me. And the French are known for being unforgiving. Once scene just tore me up. I had to look away. A first.

In Their Sleep reminded me a little bit of the old horror exploitation film Last House on the Left.

If you like who-done-it thrillers, you might want to pick this up sometime.

Currently on Netflix

Haven't seen it so I can't comment on it. But knowing you, there are two things that I expect to make you run away from your TV Set: Shaky cam and Found footage. It must have been a slow night if you actually made it all the way to the end of the movie.

Tamara



Was a brand new listing on The Movie Channel’s Splatterday (all things horror) listing. So I gave it a go. When it starts off with following a very tight butt on a teen girl walking down the school hall, you have my attention. Wellllllllllllll, besides a couple of brief sexy shots sprinkled throughout the movie, this was a colossal waste of time. Did the directors not see “I Know What You Did” or did they just blatantly rip-off the movie and hope no one noticed. I’m at a loss. You would think someone could site plagiarism.

Anyway, I didn’t care for any the characters. In fact, most of them were major AH. Including Tamara. It wasn’t suspenseful. It wasn’t scary. It just was… stupid.