Shawn's The Eye and Strange Wilderness Reviews

Sadly this just seems to be becoming Shawn's Illadvised 2008 Movie Quest :( I'm so lonely here on the blog. Anyway, I'm really late on watching last week's movies but I'm just about caught up now. I should have all three watched by tomorrow night. Should probably have seen Fool's Gold by the end of the weekend too :(

2008 Movie #17 - The Eye

So after One Missed Call and just about every single other japanese horror movie remake to come out in the last way too long amount of time, I didn't really have a lot of faith in this one. Plus let's face it, Jessica Alba, niiiiiiiice to look at, not so much niiiiiiiice with the acting abilities. I've been meaning to watch the original version of this movie for quite some time now before I watched this one but simply never got around to it. I still intend to watch it, especially because I keep hearing it's loads better than the remake and I gotta say....I didn't mind the remake.

It's no secret that I've had to sit through a lot of shit this year already and there's lots more to come. Therefore it's always nice to have a movie surprise you like this one did to me. It's nothing amazing mind you and I'm sure I'll have almost forgotten completely about it by as soon as the end of the month but for the time it was playing, it's actually pretty decent.

You all know the plot. Jessica Alba is blind, gets a transplant, can now see, unfortunatly all she now sees is tons of fucked up ghosts and spooky stuff. Instead of doing what most people would do and cry in the corner, she decides to get out there and find the secret of her newfound evil visions.

The movie kept me interested throughout and I was always very curious as to just what the hell was going on. As with a lot of movies like this, the reveal at the end was a bit of a disappointment but not nearly as big of one as say, 88 Minutes. At least the road to get there is entertaining and actually has a couple of genuinely scary/creepy moments in there as well.

Jessica Alba actually does a pretty good job here as well. I might even go as far as to say this is her best performance yet, which if you look at her filmography maybe isn't really saying much but still, bravo Jessica. I was still very attracted to you and at the same time didn't want to punch you in the mouth every time you spoke. The other actors, whatever. They don't distract you so I guess that's really the best compliment I can give them.

Overall, as far as horror movies go (and especially japanese remakes go) this one is actually alright. I guarantee you there will be worse horror movies coming out this year so at some point, maybe check this one out.

***/5

2008 Movie # 18 - Strange Wilderness

As I said in my February preview (which let's face it, now of you even fucking read did you?), I found the preview for this movie quite funny and therefore became pretty excited for the movie itself. Wow, what a letdown. This is a classic example of the funny parts being shown in the trailer. No wonder almost the entire trailer is taken up by one single joke, it's pretty much the only good joke in the whole movie. This is also a classic example that it must actually be really fucking easy to write a movie and get it released. Hell this barely even counts as a movie. It's just a series of random things happening with a plot trying desperatly to string it all together. Granted it's not fucking Meet the Spartans terrible, but it's certainly not good.

I said in my First Sunday review that reviewing comedies are the hardest reviews to do. For the record, yes I am being paid every time I use the word "review" in some form, hence the last sentence. Anyway, thats never been more true than now writing this review. This review really doesn't review need any review more info other than review the fact that review the movie simply review isn't funny...review. I laughed out loud maybe twice (and I think I forced it a little both times just to trick myself into thinking I was enjoying myself) and smiled maybe two more times besides that. It's really too bad because there are a lot of really funny people in this movie who deserve a lot better than this. Skip this shit.

*/5