Best movie of this year hands down!

As Good As It Gets

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

The fourth film in the Tremors film franchise, but actually a prequel, is surprisingly a whole bunch of fun. That is on proviso you have any sort of affinity to Westerns. Plot whisks us to the Wild West and finds the residents of Rejection Valley in a battle against the creatures that would become known as Graboids. The link to the future Tremors movies is once again Michael Gross, here playing Hiram Gummer. Gummer is a weasel business man type who is forced to confront his moral compass and set it for future generations of Gummer's.Cult hero Billy Drago is on hand to up the fun quota as Black Hand Kelly, a hired gunman with a laid back attitude and a draw as quick as the best of them. For period flavours it's well stocked by director S.S. Wilson, for Western fans the clichés are as enjoyable as the costuming and town dressage. Problems here for Graboid fans is that there is a very long wait for things to really kick off into creature feature territory, and then it's evident that the effects work is not top line stuff. This goes some way to explaining the film's mediocre ratings on internet movie sites.In spite of its straight to video status and modest production budget, "The Legend Begins" does look fantastic on photography terms, the colour lenses spot on for the Wild West setting and the Bronson landscapes and cave systems look terrific, cinematographer Virgil L. Harper deserves a right good pat on the back. cast performances are a mixed bunch, but there is nobody bad here, all members, led by Gross, are fully committed to making the material work. Things invariably get pacey for the big finale, which is in keeping with the series, although all things considered it's not a barnstormer of chaotic creature feature conventions.Loads to like for Western fans with a bent for some "B" movie schlock, hardcore Tremors fans, though, are sure to be frustrated. 6.5/10

I'm gonna start by saying I love the Tremors series. The shabby flicks are an ode to the monster cinema of old, and I love it for that. The first one is the best, I find the second film enjoyable and even the third wasn't too bad. But this, this is just a PIECE OF SH*T. Serving as a prequel to the first three films, and taking place in the Old West for what reason I don't know, this film is a god-awful mess.Firstly, the story sucks. It was badly written. From the beginning that useless 19th century tractor pokes its nose into almost every shot, obviously indicating the machine will be a crucial tool in the finale. More on that later. Secondly, the build-up is pain-staking slow, and I mean SLOW. Now I did like the design of the infant graboids, but the execution of just how they kill their prey is utterly laughable. There's literally a long shot of a man running towards the camera, and two of the roughly 3-foot creatures fly across the screen like catapult-launched sandbags; 'ramming' him to the ground. What? How in the hell does a leg-less worm-like creature generate the lift to launch itself into the air? I'm an avid fan of Godzilla, so I usually I am tolerant of the dismissal of reality, but this just infuriated me.Then there's the creatures themselves, because the film does include a few adult-sized graboids. The budget was obviously even lower than the last film's, just when you thought that wasn't possible. You hardly ever see the Graboids at all. I could count their screen time with my fingers and have some to spare. I mean this literally. When we do, the Graboid puppet is stiff and stationary, and they even occasionally use CGI tentacles, pissing me off. The whole time the characters are re-establishing everything we already know about the graboids, making every bit of the dialogue just annoying to the syllable.And the climax succeeds in only one thing: making a viewer want to rip his hair out. The graboid somehow manages to beach itself on the surface like a poor orca, and they hook a chain to its tail, which is, you guessed it, attached to the tractor. Reeling the graboid in ass first, it smashes into the machine at roughly 5-10 miles per hour and actually explodes into bite-sized chunks on impact. WHAT THE F*CK???!! If there truly was a deity out there somewhere, it would not have allowed this travesty to be unleashed upon audiences. The worst part is the utter destruction of Michael Gross' character. I'm not even gonna go into that, because that'd be another whole essay. I'm all for low-budget monster fun, but this was a steaming pile of Graboid turd.

This fourth movie out of the Tremors-series is actually a prequel. The movie is being set in the time of the old wild west and again features Michael Gross in the main lead, this time as the ancestor of the character he plays in the other movies. He is actually the only actor out of the series that has appeared in all of the, so far, four Tremors movies.This movie is directed by S.S. Wilson again, who also directed the second movie out of the series. He is also the writer of all of the Tremors movies and served as a second unit director and producer on some of the Tremors movies as well. In other words, here is a guy that really understands the series. Yet the two movies that he directed are also the worst out of the series. Not that they are horrible or anything though, just a bit messy and less interesting to watch.The movie seemed to have a good and original idea with its main premise of making this a prequel but they did too little interesting with this in the actual movie. It actually takes quite a while for this movie for its action to kick in. The action itself is also less tense and spectacular, which is probably also due to the time period that the movie is being set in.But you can say a lot of negative things about this movie. Fact remains however that for a fourth movie in a series such as this one, it certainly ain't a bad movie. It's still being entertaining for most part and if you liked all of the previous movies out of the series, there basically is no reason why you wouldn't like and enjoy this one as well.A certainly decent enough movie. They are still playing with the idea to make a fifth movie as well and I don't see any reason why they shouldn't make it really.6/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

A little better than 'Tremors 3: Back to Perfection (2001)', but definitely inferior to 'Tremors II: Aftershocks (1996)'. Even if none of these straight to video sequels reach the greatness of the original, it's still quite an enjoyable franchise that manages to storm up something refreshing for the viewer as the creators knew what they wanted. Helping out a lot was that most of the guys behind the idea (Ron Underwood, Brett Maddock and S.S. Wilson) were aboard, albeit writing, directing or producing. They were always involved in some way and they're love for it showed in their works. Also let's not forget that Michael Gross is the only one from the original cast to appear in all four as his energetically memorable gung-ho Burt Gummer. Well that wasn't entirely the case and this last instalment (to date) paints that out.The fourth tremor film sees us transported back to what is a prequel. Set 1889 Nevada, in the small working town Rejection (yes before it was called Perfection). During one day nineteen miners are picked off in silver mine by some unseen creature (graboid) and this causes most the town to pack and leave. The owner of the mine Hiram Gummer (Burt's descended) arrives to an almost ghost town to hopefully rid the problem and re-open the mine.Michael Gross's character is largely different to what was use to seeing. It surprises. But the change of character/personality to what he becomes and what we love about him is done very well because of Gross' sincere acting. Billy Drago is simply wonderful and a joy to behold in his short role as the gun for hire. The rest of the cast do a very capable job, but we know whose show it is any way. Yes Gross, but the graboids too. With a mixture of well-constructed CGI and terrific animatronics' puppets that do come off. With the crew favouring the use of the latter more often and for such a low-budget production is amiably crafted.The plot structure (by S.S Wilson, Brett Maddock and Nancy Roberts) is dryly old-fashion monster fun on the western frontier that actually cares for its characters, pops in some consistent light humour and can rally pockets of suspense. Director S.S Wilson relax handling has a brisk and spirited flow to it.