Rating: Summary: won't quite fo'shizzle yo nizzle, but not bad. Review: Imagine this scenario if you will: Shaft goes to investigate weird goings on in The House on Haunted Hill, goes inside and finds a beautiful girl sprawled out in the hall. he gets in, starts to be a sex machine to this particular chick, when it suddenly morphs and he finds himself delivering ten times out of ten to Freddy Kruger. nine months later, there is the pitter patter of tiny feet. and all four of them belong to BONES.And, surprisingly, it is quite watchable. Snoop cuts a fine figure as the titular Jimmy Bones, the direction is great, with Bruce Dickerson playing games with the structure and imagery of the movie, and hearlding the return of one of the ghost movies biggest staples: maggots. Such a shame then, that the script is a little patchy. first, delving into sub Elm Street mythology (Bones has his own song!), and throwing in some humour towards the end that changes the tone of the movie way too rapidly. the writers are going for an urban horror classic with this, but the lack of imagination in the original story drags it down to b movie territory. which is unfortunate because this is fun, unsettling and very watchable. it won't quite fo'shizzle yo nizzle, but give this thizzle a vizzle and enjoy yo bad self. chuch.
Rating: Summary: I Have A BONE To Pick Review: Is Bones a horror movie? Being grossed out by a rainfall of insects is not the same as scared. Is it an artsy-noir film? It seemed to try to be without any relevance. Given that the cinematography and special effects were excellent, the story line left something to be desired. Thin on plot and ragged on the edges. The kids find a dog locked up in a building. Nowhere in the film is the dog's presence explained. It seems to have just wandered through the filming without any direction or motivation. Jimmy Bones decapitates two of his victims at one point, and the heads start talking in a pathetic attempt at humor that does not fit in at all with the genre. The legend is barely explained as JB wreaks his revenge on his friends who were forced at gunpoint to let him die, or die with him. He should have stayed dead. Granted Bones will cause a hair or two on the back of your neck to prickle, but will it be because you shelled out eleven bucks to see it?
Rating: Summary: Horror B-Movie: Nothing More, Nothing Less Review: It's been over ten years since cinematographer Ernest R. Dickerson made his feature directing debut with the urban drama, "Juice." Since that time Dickerson has emerged as one of the hardest working journeymen in the business. The volume of his creative output rivals that of his former collaborator, Spike Lee. In 1998 alone, Dickerson directed three feature length projects. While clearly a technically competent director, his work tends to fall short in some way or another. "Bones" is no exception. It tells the story of Jimmy Bones (played adequately by rapper Snoop Dogg) as a popular underworld figure that is double crossed by his own men, resulting in his murder. Some twenty years later, the ghost of Bones returns to get back at those who killed him. This is hardly an original storyline, even for a black film. The plot is essentially similiar to "J.D.'s Revenge," a film starring Glynn Turman, that was released in 1976. The corpse of Bones resides in an abandoned house. It just happens to be recently purchased by Patrick (Khalil Kain of "Juice"), the son of Jeremiah Peet (Clifton Powell), one of the men who betrayed him. Patrick and his partners plan to convert the house into a hot nightspot. As expected, Bones lashes out at a bunch of people, who mostly end up dead. In the process, the audience experiences some better than average special effects. Obviously, much thought was put into the film's production design. If only the same were true for the very predictable and obvious script. Adam Simon and Tim Metcalfe's screenplay leaves very little to the imagination. In terms of acting, it is generally way over the top. This is true pretty much across the board -- from the veteran actors to the less experienced members of the cast. Standard for movies of this type, the film's exaggerated acting is not necessarily a criticism. At the very least, the actors all know that they are in a B-movie and not say, "Silence of the Lambs." The DVD features the standard extras. This includes audio commentary by Dickerson, Simon and Snoop Dogg. The dominant theme of the commentary seems to be how the studio was constantly trying to "dumb down" the material. Perhaps they are right. However, given some of the B-movies that Dickerson cites as inspiration, even if he was given complete artistic freedom, the picture would never have risen to the level of the gothic horror masterpiece that he was obviously striving to reach. From the looks of things, Dickerson had some intriguing ideas, but didn't quite know what to do with them. Overall, "Bones" is a decent time filler. For fans of horror B-movies, there are plenty of jolts, visual effects and gory scenes to keep you interested. If you don't come expecting anything special, you won't be disappointed. Be sure to bring plenty of popcorn.
Rating: Summary: Should have been a video Review: O.K., I try and support my folks who star in these movies, but sometimes I wish I didn't have to. Bones and Kingdom Come were two of them. As African Americans we need to support each other, but I'd rather watch movies with a storyline that follows through, and makes me not recognize the actor, just the character they are playing. I took my kids to see this as opposed to trick or treating, and we wished we had gone to Blockbuster instead. I kept waiting for Snoop to start rapping, Pam to break out in Coffee, and Clifton to change into his Pinkie suit:). Save your money, tape it when it comes on cable.
Rating: Summary: Better than I expected but a few flaws. Review: Ok, let me just start of by saying that I hate rap, so you would think that I wouldn't be able to stand it. yet, some how this movie turned out to be good...except the ending was just dumb...not to mention incredibly gross! but other than that this movie is not what I expected...especial coming from snoop dogg! all in all, its a good movie for young'ens (despite the language) and adults!
Rating: Summary: Great movie Review: Snoop is a really good actor and "Bones" is a really fun movie. It's a horror movie with some comedic elements. It's definitely worth the buy.
Rating: Summary: POSSIBLY THE BEST HORROR MOVIE FROM 2001 Review: SOME 20 YEARS AFTER A GANGSTER [SNOOP DOGG] IS BRUTALLY MURDERED, HE COMES BACK TO LIFE TO GET VENGEANCE OM THOSE WHO KILLED HIM. VERY CLEVER AND VERY ENTERTAINING. EVEN THOUGH IT TAKES HALF OF THE MOVIE TO SEE SNOOP'S CHARACTER COME BACK AND START KILLING PEOPLE, THAT ADDS TO THE SUSPENSE. EVEN THOUGH PAM GRIER, WHO PLAYS JIMMY BONE'S LOVER, HAS AGED, SHE STILL DOESN'T LOOK AS BAD AS A LOT OF THE OTHER WOMEN THAT'RE IN HER AGE RANGE. SNOOP DOGG ACTUALLY MADE A GOOD SERIAL KILLER IN THIS MOVIE. THIS WAS WAY BETTER THAN ''URBAN MENACE'' AND ''THE WRECKING CREW''.
Rating: Summary: This movie needs to be buried Review: There's a long-standing joke about white people being dumb enough to stay in a haunted house day after day instead of leaving the first sign it's possessed. Hollywood attempts to prove blacks are just as dumb in this failure of a horror movie, comedy, suspense-thriller, whatever... Four teenagers buy a run-down building in the ghetto and attempt to turn it into a nightclub, not knowing it's possessed by Snoop Doggy Dogg, aka Mack Daddy Jimmy Bones. Sound goofy? It is. I was hoping for once blacks and whites could coexist for an hour and a half without the issue of race being brought up, but of course one of the kids had to talk about KFC being controlled by the Klan. Snoop, who could've become an interesting character in the movie, really turns out to be just a dumb zombie killer. Regardless, I was still going to give it two stars anyway as it was watchable with its murder/revenge subplot - that is, until the ridiculous ending. I wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone. It's not scary. It's not funny. It's really not anything.
Rating: Summary: Bones Review: This could have been a great movie, with two or three more rewrites and a better director. Jimmy Bones was wrongfully slain after a delicate business meeting for what can and cannot be sold in his part of town. Thirty years pass and a couple of kids want to turn the place into a nightclub, foolishly taking a hound from the underworld home with them. Eventually all chaos ensues, which unfortaunatly goes more for the "Grossout" type of reaction than horror. There are some scenes that hold a little dark humor to them, but tend to take away from the story more than anything else. The idea that more than revenge is taken also takes away from the idea behind what was supposed to be Bones genuine character. The ending makes sense once you think of it, but is not worth sitting through an hour and a half of film for. We also tend to lose some of the characters and story along the way. Bones winds up being about a man's spirit slowly being reborn, and the ghoul who comes back killing or grossing out (Depending on the scene) about every character he comes across, and who is supposed to be the main character. Yet only takes up 20 minutes of the film, if that. It was a great idea, but horrible execution. Watch it at your own risk.
Rating: Summary: Excellent! Review: This is a very cool Nightmare On Elm Street-esque horror flick that does everything right. Great plot, great acting, Pam Grier, and awesome special effects are just some of the things this movie has going for it. I was on the edge of my seat most of the time, just waiting to see what disturbing imagery was about to be thrown at me next. If you are a fan of old-school Wes Craven, or just the horror genre in general, check this movie out. It's very good. The DVD is PACKED with extra features too...it's very worth it!
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