I broke a personal record yesterday.

I managed to watch a whooping twelve movies within the short timespan of 12 hours and still manage to do my daily magazine handouts and go on a long informative walk with my mother. I'm feeling a bit worn down today, eyes not as wide open as they usually tend to be, brain running a bit slower, maybe due to informational overload from the previous day. If you wonder how I manage to squeeze 12 movies over 2 hours long each into such a small gap of possibility, here's the answer. I kept two movies running simultaneously, trying to focus on both of them, and the intertwined speech that flowed from my speakers.

Sometimes it was tricky figuring out from which movie the music was streaming, but since the movies all had different settings and themes I grew accustomed to it. To shorten off the process even further I skipped all unnecessary intros and ending credits, and some longer parts in between. If I'd managed to squeeze yet another movie into the list it'd have been thirteen. Anyhow, the movies I watched were:

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Mmm, felt like watching movies, then I felt like reviewing. What a coincidence huh?! Here you go.

Tetsuo - The Iron Man (1988)

Despite it's title, this movie has nothing to do with the more modern American box office hit with the same name. As you can probably tell by the title this is an Asian movie, more specifically from Japan, a twisted masterpiece featuring an ordinary man apparently gone crazy, with illusions of metal parts appearing from within his body. He is not alone about this, the wires intertwine, the blood flies in fountains of hideous design and the story gets more and more confusing the further it goes. That he goes crazy is just my interpretation though, maybe it's meant to portray reality, through a twisted metamorphosis of metaphors, or maybe it's all just an outtake from some bad dream the producer once had. Regardless, it's a great movie, worth watching. Did I mention it's black and white as well? Don't let that affect you though.

 rated 4/5: fo shizzle

The Iron Man (2008)

20 years later this movie comes out, the Iron Man, a story based on yet another one of Marvels marvelous comics featuring a superhero more heroic than any other with less magic and more machinery and great punchlines. Great plot, great action, great filmography and digital input. I loved watching it, and if you liked Batman, Daredevil, Hellrider, etcetc, you'll love this. Is the twenty year gap pure coincidence? Did the above inspire this? In some twisted way they are related, the moral of the story is the same, the synthetic view on society. The only thing new here is the color and justice. Oh, and the superhero, the above just contained a massive amount of broken pipes and cables, but if you look behind the scenes you will see some similarities.

 rated 4/5: fo shizzle

Suicide Club (2002)

We all know that Asians don't have the same unmoral view on Suicide as we do, and when a cute teenage pop band starts playing a happy song this big suicide streak starts with over fifty schoolgirls jumping in front of a train at the same time. It gets worse and worse, bloodier and bloodier, and eventually the police find rolls with pieces of patched skin on the scene. Not a scary movie, but disturbing and deep. If you don't mind large amounts of sometimes a bit exaggerated but still pulse boosting blood puddles, it's definitely a recommended watch. Unless you speak Japanese, be sure to get the version with English subtitles.

 rated 4/5: fo shizzle

Return To House On Haunted Hill (2007)

The house is back to capture and kill everyone who inhabits it. This time the people visiting the house are on a hunt for hidden treasure, driven by money, just like before. More monsters, and flashbacks into the all their deaths. The main character is the daughter of one of the survivors in the prequel. The movie isn't as scary as the previous one, not at all.

The scenes are more gory, the events all take place quickly after one another and the house seems less insane than it did previously, now it's just haunted, and with a good will. The ghosts aren't ghosts, they're walking corpses, solid figures. Through the story all the events are explained, the people on the treasure hunt try to give reasons as to why things happened as they did, and the crazy doctor himself doesn't seem as mad as he did before.

Everything is nicely filmed, and sure, it has some horrifying moments in it, but basically it's just the first part once more, with everything different. The creators have been careful to switch all previous styles of murder, methods of escapes and means of intrusion to something new, and it just makes everything so predictable, all except the ending. The characters have shallow personalities, the storyline is a simple one and it just doesn't have the same amount of suspense as the prequel.

In this one it's just all blood, guts and murder. Feels like they made a sequel based simply on popular demand, the new one is just here to sell and generate cash, not to terrify or inspire. No creativity in this one. The atmosphere isn't the same as in the first, it's much brighter, much clearer, and the special effects seem even crappier than they did in the last one. Even the music has a more adventurous style to it, not one of despair and darkness. If you've seen the prequel, don't expect much of this. If you haven't seen the first one however, this will probably give a you a great deal of entertainment. It's a good movie, just not a good sequel. Sequels are supposed to be better.

At the very least, they're supposed to be as good as the original.

 rated 3/5: not bad

Sicko (2007)

The American world of medicine and health-care sure is a troublesome one. This is a great insight in social services, personal economy and the gigantic medicine companies that control everything. You'll learn a lot from this, especially if you live outside America. It's amazing how big a business this really is, and how much of the government they control and how different medical care is in different countries. Everything is nicely filmed, the narrator tells us everything smoothly, everything is easy to understand.

 rated 3/5: not bad

You Kill Me (2007)

The comical story of an icecold killer with a drinking problem and a lack of friends.

Due to a job messed up he has to take a trip to New York, where he starts working as a dressup artist for dead people. He meets people. Things happen to him. And guess what happens? Well I won't tell you, don't want to spoil the fun now, so you better watch it yourself. It's not an insanely funny movie, it's more one of those normal movies, with unordinary events, but nothing exaggerated, nothing unreal. There wont be any parts where you laugh at loud, but it's one of those movies you can watch through with a smile on your face the whole time, almost.

 rated 3/5: not bad

Blow (2001)

Johnny Depp plays the roll of a businessman, one within the business of cocaine, an item that is new and highly requested within America. He gets more money than he can spend, he gets everything he's dreamed of, and he gets a wife, they get a daughter, and that's when things start crumbling apart. He gets tricked by a former friend and quits his job. He stays away from drugs and he and his family live happily for five years. Then, on his birthday, his wife decides to organize a little party and he gets busted. The DEA storm the place and he is accused of supplying all the drugs they find at the party. But that doesn't matter, he pays the bail and gets out easy, runs away, just another twist in his life. The bank in Panama, in which he has stored his former fortune, has changed nationality and the government has taken care of all his belongings. His wife turns him in and he gets sentenced to three years jail.

His wife visits him once, telling him that she's found another and that he'll be in charge of child support. After he gets out he plans one last job, a quick flight to get drugs, and get enough money to spend the rest of his life in California, with the one good thing in his life, his daughter. He is set up, and this time is sent away for 60 years. He's still there now, and will be there until 2015. If he lasts that long he'll be over 100 years when he gets out.

It's a true story, and a sad one. The man character is one you feel sympathy for, he's not a bad person, not at all, just on a voyage towards quick cash that didn't turn out quite as he had expected it. Everything turns to shit. The filming is good, the acting is good, the music is good. It's not a very tragic movie, but it's sad, depressing. If you haven't seen this, I recommend you do, it's a nice insight in how it was at the start of American drug life too.

 rated 4/5: fo shizzle

So Close (2002)

It's a Korean movie. A nice storyline, well defined characters, lots of action, all stylishly filmed with exaggerated unrealistic environmental effects for the different events. All the characters mix together, form a plot, and shatter either by death or different motives, and then it ends. The sceneries are beautiful, the technologies in forms of weapons/computers/etc all look very advanced and everything is neat and well made. The places are a bit too perfect to be real, and so are the people, which might be considered a downside of the movie, but all we want is action, right? And that we get.

We also get romance, drama and lots of emotional outbursts. The good and the bad are clearly defined, the different occupations, the different genders, the everything. It's not a movie you know the ending of from the very first five minutes, it progresses along nicely revealing new things all the time, and it never gets boring. The filming style is very clear, bright and smoothly flowing. It's easy to see that digital effects and real filming are mixed, but it's all well-made. If you like action, it's a movie I recommend!

 rated 3/5: not bad

Epic Movie (2007)

Epic. Need I say more? Seriously though, it's a good movie. A great parody of many different movie plots. The jokes may be exaggerated and at times so lame you can't laugh, but at times they're not that lame, and everything is nicely put together. It's one of those movies you'll enjoy watching once, but never watching again.

 rated 2/5: decent

Grindhouse: Planet Terror (2008)

A friggin masterpiece. Great actors, great action, great plot, great colors, great filming, great music, everything is just perfect. Need I say more? Go watch it.

 rated 5/5: friggin awesome

Transformers (2007)

There is this cube. Nobody knows where it comes from, all they know is that it was the object used to fill the world with life. For a moment everyone lived in peace, but like all powerful items some wanted it for evil, some wanted it for good, and thus the war began. Then the cube was lost, and where did it land? Earth.

Movie starts nicely with a digitally animated object floating around while a deep voice tells us this story. Then the action starts. It's the story of a boy, a girl, and two alien forces struggling over control. I wasn't expecting much when I watched this movie. Basically everyone I know has been telling me that it's just full of crap, but I haven't seen anything transformer-related before this, except for toy figures in the stores. I guess that lets me build a different standalone perspective, not taking into consideration any of the previous episodes or movies that have been made, if there have been any made, I have no idea. It's by far the best digitally animated film I've seen. The storyline is a unique one, the heroes are heroic, the villains are bad, the boundaries are clear, and everything goes as it's expected to. Real film and digitally animated monsters blend in perfectly. The angles of filming are great, the camera changes are great, everything just looks perfect.

Lots of action, lots of variation, great music and characters with clearly defined personalities. The transformations and modern technologies displayed in the movie look pretty amazing, and the details even in the most chaotic atmospheres are fantastic. Even with the robots flying through office buildings you see the people running around inside, moving realistically, running for cover. Explosions are well-made, everything sounds realistic, everything looks realistic. It's a alternative vision of this world. The storyline is fast-paced, filled with both comedy, action, drama and romance. Everything looks flawless. I don't want to hype this up too much or you'll be disappointed if you watch it yourself, so let me just conclude the summary here. If you haven't seen it already, I recommend it, weather you have seen previous related series or not.

 rated 5/5: friggin awesome

The Box (2008)

Yet another detective drama. It all starts with police bursting into an apartment, bodies strewn on the ground, guns, blood, uncertain circumstances. After that, ninety percent of the movie is staged in the questioning room, where two suspects are being questioned. One of them seems like a nice person, the other seems like your typical criminal, dishonest and weak.

As they are being interrogated they get flashbacks to what happened earlier, the same events play again and again with different sequences of events. But everything isn't as easy as it seems, the plot thickens, more secrets unravel and the end invites you to a nice surprise. Starts off pretty boring, but after a while the suspense increases and you start understanding that it's not as easy as it seems. Good actors, good filming and a nice play with different colors in certain events. Great movie! If you haven't seen it, I recommend you do so.

 rated 3/5: not bad

Batch no10!

Rocky 4 (1985)

Rocky goes to Russia, this time to meet his toughest opponent yet. As usual there's a great deal of fighting, but in difference from previous movies this time it's mixed with a sense of revenge and patriotism. Russia is certified villain and America the hero, with stereotypical characters and characteristics for both the countries. That's an aspect I don't like about this movie, but other than that, it's filled with nice fights and good filming. Worth watching if you've seen the previous three in the series.

 rated 3/5: not bad

Rocky 5 (1990)

Rocky can't fight. Movie four gave him more than the best fight of his life, it gave him brain damage, and he now risks dying if he steps into the ring again. This time it's not about him, it's about his son, among other things. Of course we get some Rocky action as well, a showdown at the very end, but since Rocky 1 things have basically been heading downhill in this series. They say the 6th movie isn't worth watching, and having seen the first 5 I agree.

It hasn't been getting better and better, it's been getting worse and worse. Somehow the movie reminds me of the Godfather, in the essence in which it just follows the life of an uncommon person, from start to end, and all the twists in between, the ones that connect this uncommon person with common people. Again, if you've seen the previous ones, I recommend this one as well.

 rated 3/5: not bad

The Scorpion King (2002)

The Rock is here, in yet another epic movie starring him, his loyal camel, his untrusted servant, his future bride and the seemingly perfect but apparently overconfident villain. Also featuring a bunch of soldiers and victims. It's a great movie, the Rock plays his role perfectly as always, and so do the other characters. The scenery is beautiful, the storyline is simple and the events are varied and easy to follow. Simple, adventurous, happy. It's a movie I recommend.

 rated 4/5: fo shizzle