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Tonight I learned that Farley Granger has died of natural causes at the age of 85.

Mack the Knife (1989)

Trey’s Rating:  4 Surprisingly Young Bill Nighys (out of 5)

As I write this I am struck by the appropriateness that today (10 February 2011) is the birthday of playwright Bertolt Brecht, the playwright responsible for the play which Mack the Knife adapts.  Before I begin, let me briefly put on my Theatre Snob Beret and say that The Threepenny Opera is awesome.  The music is catchy, the lyrics are witty, and the satire is razor-sharp.  That said, (as I switch back to my Film Critic Fez) Mack the Knife is much better than any late-1980s English language adaptation of Threepenny Opera has any right to be.

The Green Hornet (2011)

Trey’s rating:  3 Hornets (out of 5)

I’m actually not going to talk about the movie for a bit – however, given that I started with the poster and a rating, I should at least give a teaser of the review which will really pick up later in this piece:  I didn’t hate it.  Those four words were chosen very carefully, and I will elaborate shortly.  But first, I feel the need to highlight a brief history of The Green Hornet, since Sony did virtually nothing to reintroduce people to the character before releasing their film.

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Before I start, I have to qualify the post title.  I’m pretty big on genre studies, and the horror genre is kind of my thing.  So I’ve spent a lot of time with horror movies, and my top favorites (except for one or two) change on a yearly, if not monthly, basis.  However, with Halloween coming up soon I thought I would post a personal top 10 horror movies that I will be watching (and in most cases, re-watching) this year.  I had a friend ask me recently for some recommendations, and I feel like I should apologize, because the top 10 I gave him is not the same as the top 10 I am about to post here.  I could go into an explanation of why, but let’s just chalk it up to my rebelling against the arbitrariness of capping the list at 10 (In fact, now that I think about it, I’m going to give this list an honorable mention – hooray for making up the rules as I go!).  Anywho, counting down from #10….

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In addition to maintaining this blog, I am now a contributing writer for Bad Movie Nite!  I will be posting different content for each site, so keep an eye on them both!  I now return you to your regular programming.

End of line.

The Exorcist III (1990)

Trey’s rating:  5 Unexpected Fabio Cameos (out of 5)

The Exorcist, released in 1973, is easily one of the most influential and successful horror films of all time.  It is no surprise that Warner Bros. was very keen on trying to recapture that success with a sequel.  Unfortunately, their attempt was John Boorman’s The Exorcist II: The Heretic in 1977.  Make no mistake, The Heretic is not a good movie, especially considering the near-perfection of its predecessor and the level of hype that grew around it.  However, William Peter Blatty, author of the novel and screenplay for The Exorcist, had absolutely nothing to do with that film.  When he felt a sufficient amount of time had passed, he wrote a novel that he considered the official sequel to The Exorcist, and the title of that followup novel was Legion.  Blatty, who mostly worked as a screenwriter, had dabbled in directing at this point (notably in the excellent but underrated The Ninth Configuration), and worked out a deal to adapt and direct his own novel under a different studio, Morgan Creek.  This project is what eventually became The Exorcist III.

Review: Count Dracula (1970)

Trey’s rating: 3 Wooden Stakes (out of 5)

I must confess, I consider myself something of a connoisseur when it comes to Dracula movies.  Hammer, Universal, big budget or grade-Z, I enjoy them all (or in some cases at least, I love to hate them).  A Dracula movie does not, by necessity, have to stick to the letter of Bram Stoker’s novel – in fact, some of the best (like Hammer’s series) more or less abandoned everything but the character names.  This particular adaptation has a reputation for being more faithful than the other preceding Dracula films, and in some ways that is correct. 

Review: Piranha (1978)

Trey’s rating:  3 1/2 Mutant Carnivorous Fish (out of 5)

In 1975 Steven Spielberg’s Jaws was released to theaters, and the contemporary blockbuster was born.  Or something.  In any case, that’s really a discussion for another day – but it’s pretty much all the context needed to understand Roger Corman’s motivation when he assigned first-time screenwriter John Sayles and first-time director Joe Dante to make a low-budget horror movie about a school of man-eating fish.  Actually, Corman waited until 1978 to make his variation on the Jaws formula, and by this time copying Jaws had virtually created its own horror subgenre as low-budget and foreign studios all created their own rip-offs to capitalize on the blockbuster’s success.  By waiting so long, Piranha actually ended up being released in the same year as Jaws 2, and to be honest is the better of the two films.

Review: Scott Pilgrim vs the World (2010)

Trey’s Rating: 5 gold coins (out of 5)

Full Disclosure: I have never read any of the Scott Pilgrim comics. This probably makes me some kind of failure as a comic book fan, but it’s true.  It is a failing that will soon be corrected, however, as I have now seen the error of my ways thanks to Edgar Wright’s third feature film (following Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz).

Review: Phantom of the Opera (1989)

Trey’s Rating:  3 falling chandeliers (out of 5)

I don’t know what persuaded me – genuine interest, morbid curiosity, or sheer boredom – but for some reason this film made its way to the top of my Netflix queue.  Released in 1989, I would bet money that this version of The Phantom of the Opera was intended to cash in on both the popularity of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical which opened a few years prior and the success of Robert Englund’s memorable performances as Freddy Kreuger.  In fact, many of the film’s problems can be traced to an inconsistency of tone that oscillates wildly between serious (albeit very loose) adaptation and hammy, Nightmare on Elm Street-esque slasher film.