Jason and Shawn review: Blood Into Wine and Splice

Blood Into Wine

Jason: Never before has a movie left me feeling so conflicted. On the one hand, I don't think there's enough material here to support a feature-length documentary. But some moments worked so well that I couldn't help but feel completely entertained and moved. Maynard James Keenan is a great screen presence and some of his journey as a winemaker is very interesting. But one can't help but feel that this is nothing more than an extended ad for his wine, or even a bit of a con job. Watch for yourself and decide. A Bad rating from me.

Shawn: Viticulture. Exciting! (sarcasm). I like my red wine. I like Tool. Loud! So when lead singer Maynard James Keenan decides to make wine, I think that sounds cool. But is it worth a feature-length documentary? Not so much. The entire thing comes across as a way to sell more of Keenan's wine in the wake of free music downloads. That way he can still be weird and make money. There are some funny moments, but Blood Into Wine rates an Ugly for me.

Splice

Jason: The first movie ever made that asks the question "what would it be like to have sex with a genetic mutation?" Sadly, Splice carried a lot of advance hype as the next great horror/sci-fi outing and cannot live up to. It's good, and well made and acted, but it's not the next big thing. Instead we've got a solid, extended episode of The Outer Limits and nothing more. It's worth a watch, but I doubt I'd ever see it again. Another Bad from this Basement Dweller.

Shawn: Genetic research? Splicing DNA? Creating a new species? How many times has this movie been made? But the formula still works. Splice evoked feelings that are best described as uncomfortably reasonable. There was a lot of seat squirming going on here due to moments of questionable morality. It created a lot of different emotions in me, and I really dug that. Few movies can pull that off. That's why it rates a Good, but I do feel dirty.

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