From rec.arts.sf.reviews Wed Jun 19 14:22:47 2002 From: Steve Rhodes Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Review: JASON X (2001) Approved: ramr@rottentomatoes.com Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films Date: Thu, 25 Apr 2002 17:37:06 -0000 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: X-RAMR-ID: 31662 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 309416 X-RT-TitleID: 1113860 X-RT-SourceID: 703 X-RT-AuthorID: 1271 X-RT-RatingText: 2/4 Summary: r.a.m.r. #31662 X-Questions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Submissions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Complaints-To: newsabuse@supernews.com Lines: 64 Path: news.island.liu.se!news.Update.UU.SE!puffinus.its.uu.se!newsfeed.sunet.se!news01.sunet.se!news.kth.se!uio.no!80.65.228.52.MISMATCH!deine.net!fr.usenet-edu.net!usenet-edu.net!proxad.net!isdnet!sn-xit-02!sn-post-01!supernews.com!news.supernews.com!not-for-mail Xref: news.island.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:3494 rec.arts.sf.reviews:250 JASON X A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 2002 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): ** Go into James Isaac's JASON X with very low expectations, as I did, and you might just find that you end up like it. The technique didn't work for me, but it's always worth a try. JASON X, the tenth in the FRIDAY THE 13TH series, is set way off in the future -- 2455 to be precise. It is a time of peace and prosperity on earth with people spending all their waking hours engaged in artistic and humanistic pursuits. Kidding, of course. Screenwriters' visions of the future usually vary only in the degree of the destruction that humans have inflicted on the planet and each other. This time Earth is so uninhabitable that the action is set on a spaceship. In what could be titled JASON GOES SCI-FI, the movie tells yet another tale about Jason Voorhees (Kane Hodder), who, after having been frozen back at the turn of the millennium, is being defrosted. The college age scientists on board the ship are all horny hunks or brainless brunettes, except for one token blonde bimbo. The best and funniest character is a female android named Kay-Em 14 (Lisa Ryder), who is a cross between Sigourney Weaver and an inflatable sex toy. Her best scene comes when her master tries to help her be just like a real woman. The only problem is that her nipples keep falling off. He assures her that he loves her just the way she is. Most of the movie -- surprise -- consists of Jason slicing and dicing the crew as gorily as possible. The crew, given their level of stupidity, probably deserves their fate. When it's clear that their bullets won't kill Jason, their solution is just to fire more. (Why do science fiction movies figure that guns in the future will be almost exactly like today's machine guns, only bigger? Don't they think weapons will advance in four centuries?) And when the crew goes after an unstoppable killer like Jason, why do they split up so that he can more easily kill them off one or two at a time? With its kind of enjoyable, high volume techno-organ funeral music and its little bits of humor, I've got to admit it. It could have been worse. JASON X runs 1:33. It is rated R for "strong horror violence, language and some sexuality" and would be acceptable for older teenagers. The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, April 26, 2002. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC and the Century theaters. Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com *********************************************************************** Want free reviews and weekly movie and video recommendations via Email? Just send me a letter with the word "subscribe" in the subject line. ========== X-RAMR-ID: 31662 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 309416 X-RT-TitleID: 1113860 X-RT-SourceID: 703 X-RT-AuthorID: 1271 X-RT-RatingText: 2/4 From rec.arts.sf.reviews Wed Jun 19 14:22:47 2002 From: JoBlo Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Review: JASON X (2001) Approved: ramr@rottentomatoes.com Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films Date: Sat, 27 Apr 2002 02:39:01 -0000 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: X-RAMR-ID: 31675 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 309669 X-RT-TitleID: 1113860 X-RT-SourceID: 573 X-RT-AuthorID: 1021 X-RT-RatingText: 4/10 Summary: r.a.m.r. #31675 X-Questions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Submissions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Complaints-To: newsabuse@supernews.com Lines: 98 Path: news.island.liu.se!news.Update.UU.SE!puffinus.its.uu.se!newsfeed.sunet.se!news01.sunet.se!erinews.ericsson.se!erix.ericsson.se!luth.se!skynet.be!skynet.be!sn-xit-03!sn-post-01!supernews.com!news.supernews.com!not-for-mail Xref: news.island.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:3499 rec.arts.sf.reviews:251 JASON X RATING: 4/10 http://www.joblo.com/jasonx.htm For more reviews and movie wallpapers, visit http://www.joblo.com/ PLOT: Jason Voorhees is still alive but now he's frozen in space in the year 2455. Despite the changes around him, the man famous for sporting his hockey mask wherever he goes, hasn't changed much and still has "killing" and "teens" on his mind. The killing of teens ensues. CRITIQUE: Since I've already seen a couple of cool, popcorn horror thrillers this year in RESIDENT EVIL and the superior BLADE 2, I had certain expectations from this movie as well, hoping for it to deliver the similar fun punches as the former films. Unfortunately, this flick isn't in the same league as the others with little action, almost no suspense or believable tension, one-dimensional characters up the wazoo, an embarrassingly lame score and sets that can only be described as "sci-fi generic". What sucks even more is that the film does actually have a pretty cool premise (for a "slasher" flick, that is) and an ultra-cool opening credit sequence. In the 10th installment of the FRIDAY THE 13th series, it seems as though Jason, the unstoppable killing machine that he is, wakes up in the year 2455 and still wants to kick that ass. It's cool that they tried to change the environment around the uber-murderer, so that it would be a little different from the previous installments, but unfortunately they forgot to spice the film up with the required energy, interesting characters, thrills or a reason to give a shit about anyone on screen. Starting with a decent opening scene featuring a cameo by director David Cronenberg, the movie quickly downshifts into space and presents us with many faceless teens parading around in as less amount of clothing as possible, and expects us to give half a rat's ass about them, even though they all come off like complete morons (it doesn't help that the actors are all pretty stale as well). And the girlie-girls, you might ask? Well, there was this one hot babe, you see, and...well, yeah, she's one of the first to go (great move, Mr. Director...why not kill the only guy with balls on the ship next, so that we really don't want to have anything to do with the movie!) I will admit that the way in which the hot babe is killed is definitely one of the cooler kills that I've seen in quite some time though. And I only wish that the film had continued that trend, but it doesn't, and most of the rest of the kills are pretty generic, with little gore and CGI-obvious, save for a couple of other doozies. Jason, of course, still kicks a lot of ass but that can only take you so far (unless you're a major fan of the dude, and if you are, you shouldn't care about reviews in the first place), but even he's not given the rightful support with an extremely weak score (was that an organ playing in the background?) and almost no rock music!! (now this, I can't forgive) Sure, the film slaps a couple of tits our way near the end of it all, during a fantasy sequence that is actually pretty fun, but most of the chicks in the movie aren't appealing, the action (aka killings) are okay but don't really blow you away and the one action sequence that was fun, featured a robotic chick and Jason going head-to-head, but God knows how she suddenly achieved her Matrix-esque like powers (which reminds me, I don't mind stretching the believability factor in a movie that features a man who can never die as the lead, but when said nutball is killing everyone in sight, don't have two of the characters suddenly discover that they love one another and start making out-it's not the right time...there's a madman on the loose, dammit!!) I will say that the one character of Sergeant Brodski, played with commitment by actor Peter Mensah was a lot of fun to watch ("That oughta do it"), and actually made me think of how the film might've been improved if the characters had all been hard-nosed adults, instead of weak-assed, bad acting teens. Overall, the film might entertain some who enjoy watching Jason chop through people (I haven't followed the series, so if that makes a difference to you, I saw this film "as is", with no baggage from previous installments), but for any regular moviegoers wishing to find a thrilling, action-packed movie with well-developed characters and mucho originality, you're barking up the wrong Jason movie. Dead on arrival? Where's JoBlo coming from? The Bride of Chucky (7/10) - Event Horizon (6/10) - Jeepers Creepers (6/10) - Halloween: H20 (7/10) - I Know What You Did Last Summer (7/10) - Resident Evil (7/10) - Scream 2 (7/10) - Supernova (5/10) - Urban Legend (4/10) - Urban Legends (3/10) - Valentine (3/10) Review Date: April 23, 2002 Director: James Isaac Writer: Todd Farmer Producer: Noel Cunningham Actors: Kane Hodder as Jason Voorhees Lisa Ryder as Kay-M 14 Peter Mensah as Sergeant Brodski Genre: Horror Year of Release: 2002 ------------------------------------ JoBlo's Movie Emporium http://www.joblo.com/ ------------------------------------ (c) 2002 Berge Garabedian ========== X-RAMR-ID: 31675 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 309669 X-RT-TitleID: 1113860 X-RT-SourceID: 573 X-RT-AuthorID: 1021 X-RT-RatingText: 4/10 From rec.arts.sf.reviews Wed Jun 19 14:22:47 2002 Path: news.island.liu.se!news.ida.liu.se!newsfeed.sunet.se!news01.sunet.se!erinews.ericsson.se!erix.ericsson.se!luth.se!skynet.be!skynet.be!sn-xit-03!sn-post-02!sn-post-01!supernews.com!news.supernews.com!not-for-mail From: Jon Popick Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Review: JASON X (2001) Approved: ramr@rottentomatoes.com Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films Date: Sat, 27 Apr 2002 02:42:41 -0000 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: X-RAMR-ID: 31677 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 309666 X-RT-TitleID: 1113860 X-RT-SourceID: 595 X-RT-AuthorID: 1146 X-RT-RatingText: 3/10 Summary: r.a.m.r. #31677 X-Questions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Submissions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Complaints-To: newsabuse@supernews.com Lines: 59 Xref: news.island.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:3504 rec.arts.sf.reviews:252 Planet Sick-Boy: http://www.sick-boy.com "We Put the SIN in Cinema" © Copyright 2002 Planet Sick-Boy. All Rights Reserved. I don't know if Alien is to blame or not, but there's a disturbing number of horror film franchises that inevitably make the leap from raising holy hell here on Earth to doing the same thing up in space. Hellraiser: Bloodline, Leprechaun in Space and, one can only imagine, Rocky VI: The Struggle On Myzuggal all take place where nobody can hear you scream, and Jason X - the 10th installment of the Friday the 13th series - follows suit by transplanting its hockey-loving star into the stars themselves. Has it really been twelve years since the last 13th installment? Beats me, since I haven't seen one of these beasts since the 3D version back in '82. If you're in a similar state of Jason Confusion, don't worry - X isn't really the kind of film that will puzzle those who haven't seen its nine predecessors. That said, I'm not sure why anyone that isn't a diehard fan of the series would bother wasting their time with X. You'd be just as well off renting one of the older titles, because they're all pretty much the same movie. A splash of blood here, a missing limb there - there isn't much new ground being broken with X. X begins in 2010 at the Crystal Lake Research Facility (an homage to the bucolic setting of the first film), where superkiller Jason Voorhees (Kane Hodder) is about to be cryogenically frozen. It seems Jason is indestructible and has survived many attempts at punishing him capitally, so the only option (!) is to put him on ice until the best and brightest of the future can figure out a way to get him down for a dirt nap. Things, as they usually do when Jason is involved, go horribly wrong, though the killer is eventually frozen, along with a young hottie named Rowan (Lexa Doig). Flash forward several hundred years, where a group of students from Earth 2 (Earth 1 has long been uninhabitable) discover Jason and Rowan while on some kind of an archaeological field trip. They unfreeze them both, and wouldn't you know it, the killing starts immediately. Personally, I would have put the kibosh on the stabbing and the slashing and made the film into something like Encino Man, where Jason has trouble trying to fit in with the cool kids from the future. There really isn't too much more to mention. Some of the special effects are pretty cool, thanks to director James Isaac, who brought similar wonderment to David Cronenberg's eXistenZ, The Fly and Naked Lunch (Cronenberg has a cameo early in the film, too). Fans of Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda might get a kick out of seeing Doig play a human (she's a robot on the show) and costar Lisa Ryder a robot (she's a human on the show). And, yes, the ending of X leaves things open for yet another Jason adventure. 1:33 - R for strong horror violence, language and some sexuality ========== X-RAMR-ID: 31677 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 309666 X-RT-TitleID: 1113860 X-RT-SourceID: 595 X-RT-AuthorID: 1146 X-RT-RatingText: 3/10 From rec.arts.sf.reviews Wed Jun 19 14:22:48 2002 From: Michael B. Scrutchin Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Review: JASON X (2001) Approved: ramr@rottentomatoes.com Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films Date: Mon, 29 Apr 2002 17:29:29 -0000 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: X-RAMR-ID: 31683 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 310186 X-RT-TitleID: 1113860 X-RT-SourceID: 190 X-RT-AuthorID: 4496 X-RT-RatingText: B- Summary: r.a.m.r. #31683 X-Questions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Submissions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Complaints-To: newsabuse@supernews.com Lines: 84 Path: news.island.liu.se!news.Update.UU.SE!puffinus.its.uu.se!newsfeed.sunet.se!news01.sunet.se!news.kth.se!uio.no!logbridge.uoregon.edu!tethys.csu.net!nntp!sn-xit-01!sn-post-01!supernews.com!news.supernews.com!not-for-mail Xref: news.island.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:3518 rec.arts.sf.reviews:253 JASON X | B- New Line Cinema: http://www.newline.com -------------------- Year Released: 2002 MPAA Rating: R Director: Jim Isaac Writer: Todd Farmer Cast: Lexa Doig, Lisa Ryder, Chuck Campbell, Peter Mensah, Jonathan Potts, Melyssa Ade, Melody Johnson, Derwin Jordan, Kane Hodder. -------------------- Review by Michael B. Scrutchin | http://www.flipsidemovies.com JASON X is the kind of mindlessly fun action-horror romp that RESIDENT EVIL could have been if it hadn't taken itself so seriously. This 10th entry in the FRIDAY THE 13TH series is well aware of all the tired slasher conventions, and it employs them with a self-deprecating sense of humor that's refreshing. But the humor won't win over everyone. Geoff Pevere of the Toronto Star writes: "Does winky ironic self-consciousness of one's own crappiness... make the object in question any less crappy? If a turd winks, does that make it any less a turd?" In this case, I'd say yes. The movie takes place in the year 2455. A professor and his students on their way back to Earth II make a stop at the Camp Crystal Lake Research Facility on Old Earth (now a wasteland) and discover two cryogenically frozen bodies. One is hockey-masked Jason Voorhees (Kane Hodder), the murderous bastard who can't seem to be destroyed even by a trip to hell. The other is Rowan (Lexa Doig), a foxy scientist who knows Jason's machete-wielding history. The professor decides to take the bodies with them. They thaw out Rowan, who nails the title of the all-time hottest chick over 455 years old. Jason, however, seems as dead as ever. What causes him to wake up from his 455-year sleep? The sense that two teenagers are having sex down the hall. While I initially scoffed at the idea of Jason running amok on a spaceship, the film quickly won me over with its slightly self-mocking tone. It doesn't take itself too seriously, nor does it ever stoop to outright self-parody, instead opting for a tone that implies screenwriter Todd Farmer and director Jim Isaac have their tongues planted firmly in cheek, but don't think they're better than the material. It's clear they're F13 fans just out to deliver a fun time with a few laughs and maybe some scares, too. In fact, there is one scare that literally made me jump. That moment is followed by the most visually creative kill in the movie -- which shows a pretty young woman's face being frozen in liquid nitrogen, then smashed against a counter and shattering into bloody shards. While a few of the murders are a bit mundane, there's enough neck-snapping, throat-slicing, impaling, and decapitating to keep most Jason fans happy. Fans of FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VII's sleeping bag death will probably be delighted with the hilarious surprise near the end. There's a decent amount of gore, but it's not as gruesome as the previous entry, 1993's JASON GOES TO HELL: THE FINAL FRIDAY. Incidentally, it's not as quite as much fun, nor nearly as good as its immediate predecessor, but I digress. The characters here are little more than fodder for Jason. As a cute android with detachable nipples, Lisa Ryder is fun and likable, while Peter Mensah as the badass Sergeant Brodski is easy to root for. Lexa Doig as Rowan isn't given much to do but look pretty, though she does have at least one good line. When someone asks what the hell is going on, she replies: "Jason fucking Voorhees, that's what!" And everyone's favorite Jason, Kane Hodder, is back behind the mask for the fourth time. I'm sure he'll be receiving his honorary Oscar sometime soon. If one thing's certain, the success or failure of JASON X will help determine New Line's decision on whether to greenlight the long-rumored FREDDY VS. JASON project. Boy, my head is just spinning with thoughts of all that can go wrong with that one. Can it possibly avoid sucking? Well, if it turns out to be a turd, let's just hope it knows how to wink. Michael B. Scrutchin Flipside Movie Emporium http://www.flipsidemovies.com ========== X-RAMR-ID: 31683 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 310186 X-RT-TitleID: 1113860 X-RT-SourceID: 190 X-RT-AuthorID: 4496 X-RT-RatingText: B- From rec.arts.sf.reviews Wed Jun 19 14:22:48 2002 Path: news.island.liu.se!news.ida.liu.se!newsfeed.sunet.se!news01.sunet.se!erinews.ericsson.se!erix.ericsson.se!luth.se!logbridge.uoregon.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!sn-xit-03!sn-post-01!supernews.com!news.supernews.com!not-for-mail From: Christian Pyle Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Review: JASON X (2001) Approved: ramr@rottentomatoes.com Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films Date: Mon, 17 Jun 2002 18:31:16 -0000 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: X-RAMR-ID: 32067 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 728588 X-RT-TitleID: 1113860 X-RT-AuthorID: 1057 X-RT-RatingText: D+ Summary: r.a.m.r. #32067 X-Questions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Submissions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Complaints-To: newsabuse@supernews.com Lines: 67 Xref: news.island.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:3881 rec.arts.sf.reviews:292 Jason X Reviewed by Christian Pyle Directed by James Isaac Written by Todd Farmer Starring Kane Hodder, Lexa Doig, Lisa Ryder, Peter Mensah, and Chuck Campbell Grade: D+ Slasher films series are like a bad habit. The producers promise to end a series, but, no matter how long they stay clean and sober, they inevitably crave a fix. The Jason series has "ended" twice -- 1984's "Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter" and 1993's "Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday" -- but, despite having been blown to tiny pieces in the latter, Jason Voorhees (Kane Hodder) is back. At the beginning of "Jason X," Jason has been captured. Attempts to kill him have failed (no kidding!), so the government has decided to freeze him. A melee ensues that causes Jason is to frozen with a woman named Rowan (Lexa Doig of "Andromeda"). Cut to the year 2455. Humanity has fled our dead planet for Earth 2, but for some reason ships still visit Earth 1. A group of students find Jason and Rowan and take them up them up to their ship, the Grendel. Before long, of course, the crew are being hacked up like camp counselors. The plot of this movie probably came about when someone carrying a script for "Friday the 13th Part X" bumped into someone carrying a script for a syndicated sci fi series called "Stoners and Sex-Kittens in Space," causing their scripts to spill together onto the floor. Like characters in the old Reese's Cup commercials, they found that the combination of the two was tastier than either alone. (The feel of syndicated sci fi seems entirely intentional. Many cast members have appeared on shows like "Andromeda," "Earth: Final Conflict" and "Psi Factor.") At first glance, the longevity of the "Friday the 13th" series seems inexplicable. It's too goofy to be scary and too barren to be funny. Only one entry in the series (1986's "Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives") shows any sign of wit, a plot, or character development. The only reason I can see to watch them is the guilty pleasure of watching stupid, oversexed people be viciously slaughtered. (Why hasn't reality TV caught on to this idea yet?) The script is as derivative as ever. The author was so pleased at ripping off "Alien" that he named the character he plays in the movie "Dallas" (after the captain in "Alien"). The other characters he named after the user-ids of his online pals (names like Geko, Crutch, Condor, Kinsa, Stoney, Waylander, Azrael, and Tsunaron). What is this guy? 12 years old? Even the notion of moving a horror series into the future is old news. The "Hellraiser" series beat them to it. The only real fun in the movie comes in a virtual reality sequence that returns Jason to 1980 (the year the first "Friday" was released). In the woods he finds two bimbos who chant in unison, "We love premarital sex!" But if, like me, you find yourself drawn to Jason movies by some primal need to watch stupid people suffer, "Jason X" provides the familiar gore in a new setting. © 2002 Christian L. Pyle ========== X-RAMR-ID: 32067 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 728588 X-RT-TitleID: 1113860 X-RT-AuthorID: 1057 X-RT-RatingText: D+