Cliff Note Reviews #8

 

Cliff Note Reviews is an ongoing series where I briefly state my thoughts on recent films I've watched but don't have the desire to create a full review surrounding.  Short and to the point opinions on films that might make decent weekend watchers when you have nothing else to do, films to completely stay away from, and occasionally a few highly recommended films that I simply don't feel need to be given a full review due to already overexposure.

The Adjustment Bureau (2011)

A film I was looking forward to seeing back in mid 2010 when they first started showing previews, then they stopped promoting it and I never heard anything about it again until it was finally released earlier this year and seemingly flopped in the theaters.  It actually ended up being quite a good science fiction thriller, an odd combination of The Matrix, Dark City, and Inception.  Matt Damon is always an excellent choice for these types of "on the run" thrillers, and although the plot requires a little bit of suspended belief if you can get past them you'll find a highly entertaining film. 8/10

An American Werewolf in London (1981)

Another old school classic cult film that benefited from the pre-CGI days of Hollywood film making.  It's the look and the classic style of special effects that make a film like this hold up thirty years later.  The acting is absolutely horrible most of the time, and the film's continuous dose of comedy and catchy pop tunes sometimes overshadows scenes that were obviously meant to be somewhat scary, but I still found myself fairly well entertained.  Throw in the lovely Jenny Agutter and the continuous popping up of the main character's decomposing best friend and An American Werewolf in London is definitely one of those cult classics earns it's reputation. 7/10

An American Werewolf in Paris (1997)

This is what happens when you attempt to recreate the success of a 1980's cult classic without any of the same ingrediants that made the original work.  This film has the quality of a direct to DVD release, so imagine my shock when I learned the budget for this film was actually 22 million!  Where did all that money go?  I assume it all went into the horrible CGI werewolves which stand out like sore thumbs.  They might have been able to churn this film out quicker going the CGI route, but when the original grossed more on a 10 million dollar budget and is an overall a far superior film, was it worth it?  Everything from the quality of the filming to the insanely stupid storyline, bad acting and script make this one a pointless mess.  You simply can't duplicate classic cult films by cutting corners and replacing early special effects with computer graphics, it's never worked and it never will. 3/10