Halloween 2007 (2.5/4 stars) - Too much of a good thing kills the movie

Very high expectations led me to be disappointed in this movie. Rob Zombie’s directing is proving to be mediocre with the same old formula of raw camera work, over-the-top dialog and gore that tries too hard to be shocking. Some of his movies this works, but with this one it hurt the mystique of the original movie.

Part of the reason the original Halloween was so good was because it took place in an ordinary town, with ordinary people and a seeming ordinary boy (Michael Myers) killed his family. But in Rob Zombie’s Halloween, Michael Myers family comprises of a stripper mother, a violent, drunk, cripple step dad, a teenage whore of a sister and Michael who tortures small animals. The town is also made up of degenerate white trash kids, which make it hard to relate to any of the characters. The dialog was part of the reason I found myself disconnected from movie, it was so exaggerated it came off as phony.

There were some good scenes relating to Michael Meyers and his history that I enjoyed, but half the movie was this back story and then the movie seemed to try to play catch up. Most of the killings were done pretty well and followed a typical hacker/slasher formula. I wish that there was a little bit more suspense with the killings. Occasionally, it would have been nice to show all the action and leave a little to your imagination. But that is defiantly something Rob Zombie is not known for.

Overall, it wasn’t good but it wasn’t bad. It also depends what type of horror you like. I like the eerie, suspenseful type of horror rather than the gore fests. If you love gore than this movie may appeal to you more.

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Sunshine (2/4 stars) Too much Blah, not enough Yeah!

Sunshine is the Sci-fi, action, adventure, horror, drama that I never wanted. Simply put this movie tried to wear too many hats, and the end result wasn't all that sunny.

The movie is broken into 3 distinct parts:

The first part was mainly character development and back story. The dialog was a bit forced and some scenes just seemed a little unnecessary since you would have figured it out by watching it. The major problem I have with this first part is the length, it was over half the movie. There was nice part to the start though, the computer that was running the ship, appropriately named "Icubus", had the hottest voice. At first I thought one of the main characters was having futuristic phone sex, but no... it was just the ship.

The next part was the horror. Yes, you read that correctly, horror. It was very reminiscent of Event Horizon. For the most part this was pretty effective and intense, so the movie was getting better!

Then the last part hit with about 20 minutes left. This part was a too chaotic. You have the horror still lingering, the tension at the end is building, but now all of a sudden it is mostly an action/sci-fi film where a bomb must be detonated by hand. Sound a little familiar? That is because it is. I am sick of movies where one person must sacrifice themselves to save the world.

I give this movie 2 out of 4 stars. One for each time I wanted the star to die and get the movie over with.

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