(1990)
Dir - Charles Philip Moore
Overall: WOOF
If not the worst Evil Dead/Night of the Demons knock-off ever made, Demon Wind is easily up there as one of the most hare-brained. Essentially all of the blame lies at writer/director Charles Philip Moore's feet, making his solo debut here. Considering that Moore made a career out of nothing but derivative, D-rent garbage like this, his "skills" behind the lens are either intentionally asinine and uninspired or just pathetically inept. From the ominous keyboard score that never, ever shuts up, to the distorted demon voices that never shut up, to the horrendously unlikable characters that never shut up, every actor trying to do a worse job than the other, and dialog made up of as many cliches as every single plot point has, the movie plays out like a series of only the most schlocky horror movie tropes that have long been burnt out to death. The tone is far too sincere to be considered any kind of a spoof and Moore's pacing is utterly monotonous, growing tiresome long before everyone is trapped in a creepy cabin and each person get inevitably picked off by putty-faced monster versions of themselves whose warped, scary-voiced dialog we can barely understand. Not that anyone should give a shit about what they are saying in the first place.
(1992)
Dir - Robert Zemeckis
Overall: GOOD
Lighthearted yet cheekily macabre, Death Becomes Her was yet another in a string of box office hits for director Robert Zemeckis. One of the earliest works to rely heavily on CGI, such effects may look as dated as one would expect today, yet they are utilized in a stream of clever set pieces, each one of which is successfully played for laughs. The script by Martin Donovan and David Koepp is an over the top satire of superficial Hollywood where Goldie Hawn and Meryl Streep's envious bickering is matched only by their selfish desire to live forever. As a cruel, twist of fate tale of comeuppance, said characters are given relatable if petty motivation behind their awful behavior which along with the hilarious gags, dialog, and performances are just enough to make them sympathetic. While Streep is predictably good in everything and Hawn had long proven herself as a comedic juggernaut, Bruce Willis surprisingly steps up to own all of his moments as the shamed yet ultimately noble plastic surgeon that is the only person in the movie to see through the eventual, lonely shortcomings of being both fabulous and immortal.
(1997)
Dir - Taylor Hackford
Overall: GOOD
Stuck in development HELL, (har, har), for a number of years, the A-list budgeted adaptation of Andrew Neiderman's novel The Devil's Advocate eventually emerged under Taylor Hackford's direction as a slick, John Grisham/Rosemary's Baby/The Omen hybrid. In a role tailor-made for his particular brand of scenery-chomping, Al Pacino excels as the Great Deceiver. This version of Satan leans into Faust/Paradise Lost influences which are integral to the actual story, even going as far as to having the character use the alias John Milton. The entire film hinges on the premise of free will, where Keanu Reeves is constantly given an out yet he lets his vanity ultimately doom him into Pacino's unholy hands. Though the plot hardly contains any surprises, it cruises along at a pace that forgives the nearly two and a half hour running time. Pacino certainly and predictably owns the movie, yet Reeves is quite strong as well in the lead by showing off some chops, (as well as a far more convincing accent than his infamous one in Bram Stoker's Dracula), that most of his other performances hardly call for.
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