FilmJabber.com DVD Reviews - Last 20

Prom Night (2008) DVD Movie Review

2008-08-20

Prom Night Movie Review: D+

I'm about ten minutes away from the end of the remake of Prom Night, and all I can say is that it's disappointing so far. Time and time again, these horror movies cease to amaze me; after all, shouldn't it be incredibly easy to make an entertaining movie about teenage girls in prom dresses getting hacked to pieces?

Prom Night stars beautiful Brittany Snow as Donna Keppel, who, when younger, watched her family get butchered by a sadistic killer. Years later, on her prom night, the man escapes and comes after Donna, obsessed with having her all to himself. The hotel where the prom is being held becomes a killing ground as her friends and hotel staff get picked off one by one by the relentless murderer.

It's a story that should work, remake or not. Put a bunch of attractive girls in prom dresses, have a few of them get out of their prom dresses, slap an R rating on the pic with some quality sex, nudity and gore, and you have yourself a decent thriller. Throw in a disturbing, obsessive killer and there you go. Director Nelson McCormick takes things another direction. While not all the blame can fall on him - the PG-13 rating was certainly the studio's doing, and some of the plot points are the fault of the writer - he is, ultimately, the captain, and the captain is responsible for the actions of his crew. Prom Night is about as PG as horror movies get; aside from a few stabbing and gutting sounds, the amount of gore is minimal at best. As expected, the use of sex and nudity is strictly forbidden, leaving the characters to do rather boring stuff like dance a little bit, go up to their hotel rooms to check on their friends, and get attacked.

Prom Night isn't nearly as dreadful as I was expecting, but that may just be due to low expectations. Still, it lacks the excitement and edge this movie could have so easily attained. There are a few plot points that really kill the film, some picky and some not-so-much. For starters, the main characters keep going up to their rooms and back down again; while I'm sure the allure of getting up to the room as fast as one can would be on many teenagers' minds (whose bright idea was it to have a high school prom in a hotel, anyway?), the fact that the characters come and leave from the prom is a bit odd, and seems merely an avenue to get people killed in uninteresting ways. Specifically, why would a prom queen nominee head up to fool around with her boyfriend shortly before the king and queen are announced? Beyond that, the police strategy is just lame. While I give writer J.S. Cardone credit for attempting to intertwine a believable police response into the story, he just isn't that good at it. As soon as the police realize that the killer is indeed within the hotel, wouldn't they pull Donna to safety? And when they do decide to extract her, what do they do? They pull the fire alarm (couldn't they just ask the hotel to turn it on?) before they even locate Donna. Other little things, like the fact that Donna decides to go up to get her mother's shawl from the room - via an elevator that in the real world would not be functioning - after the fire alarm went off, are a bit weird.

What really hurts the movie is the final act, where McCormick and Cardone take us away from the hotel, the prom dresses and everything else to Donna's house, where standard horror cliches ensue. The cops protecting the house do little, but what's worse is that the entire premise of "prom night" is lost once the characters "calm down," dress down and try to go to sleep. Oh, and I hate dream sequences, and McCormick is so lacking originality that he decides to use several to have "scary" moments when none really exist.

The actors do a good enough job for what they've been given. Snow looks great, and the rest of the cast is pretty and likable. Unfortunately, the movie isn't scary and lacks a truly threatening villain. Johnathon Schaech has the look, but whether due to the writing or acting capabilities, he comes off as rather boring villain. Had another ten minutes been added to the opening sequence (and had it not been a dream sequence), McCormick could have really established the killer as a truly disturbed guy. His obsession and jealousy is never exuded in the right way, and it would have been nice to see more interaction between him and Donna. Even though the two never had a real relationship, it would have been interesting to see things from the killer's point of view, on a psychological level.

Prom Night is watchable, but it lacks the scares and originality to make it anything more than a mediocre slasher flick. A different director and screenwriter could have taken advantage of the available resources to a much greater result.

Review by Robert Bell (D-)

Bring out the taffeta, corsets, sequins, corsages and underage drinking; it's time for prom! Acting as a cultural tradition of tacky dresses, broken cherries and lonely fat girls who don't get asked, the prom defines so much of what is wrong with Western culture. Teenagers learn to spend ridiculous amounts of money on formalwear, hotel rooms and gaudy limousines, while desperately seeking the approval of their sycophantic peers. It ushers in adulthood with gusto, defining the shallow surface-based world we live in that encourages underweight 17-year-old girls to shove their fingers down their throat to expel the handful of peanuts they had for lunch. One can only hope that they will be voted the prom king or queen, winning the popularity contest of false sincerity.

Prom Night dispels no myths about the glitzy debacle, featuring brain-dead teens babbling about menstrual cramps and who they intend to fornicate with, all while smiling blankly with perfectly glossed lips and soulless eyes. The purpose of the film is essentially to stage sequences of inevitable slaughter for each camera friendly vixen, but fails at even this simple task. The scares are about as innovative and clever as a black cat unexpectedly jumping out of a closet, and character logic is almost indecipherable. This is PG-13 horror at its crappiest; a movie best viewed while drunk.

Coming home one night, teenaged Donna (Brittany Snow) arrives to a quiet and suspect house. Upon finding the dead body of her younger brother, she decides to hide under a bed, where she watches her mother get stabbed to death by creepy stalker (Johnathon Schaech).

Several years later, Donna is seen living a relatively normal teen life, save some occasional mental anguish and a need to pop pills. Coming up on prom, Donna has picked out the perfect champagne-coloured prom dress and is totally stoked to take a limo with her sassy, sexually liberated best friend Lisa (Dana Davis) and their bitchy cohort Claire (Jessica Stroup). Their concerns are mixed: Claire struggles with PMS and her relationship with Michael (Kelly Blatz), while Lisa wants only to be prom queen and to shag her dreamboat boyfriend Collins (Ronnie Heflin), and Donna is like totally upset that high school is almost over, but manages to overlook this while making out with her 40-year-old date, Bobby (Scott Porter). The gang gradually disappears up to various hotel rooms for random bizarre reasons, only to be slaughtered one by one.

Aforementioned slaughters are a bit of a problem in Prom Night. Each kill is similar, as characters find themselves alone and hearing a suspicious noise, only to have the wild-eyed Schaech jump out from a corner to strangle or stab them. Keep in mind that there are never stab wounds after said stabbings, and that the strangling is often shown in inadvertently amusing close-up (especially in the case of a particular male hotel employee). There is absolutely no tension or creativity demonstrated in this capacity, leaving one to wonder why they're even viewing the film.

In addition, characters regularly make weird and unexplained decisions. As the hotel is being evacuated, Donna decides to take a quick run up to her room to grab a clothing accessory. It's just such a bizarre decision for a psychologically scarred teenaged girl to make given the circumstances. This is just one example of many sloppy writing devices demonstrated throughout.

The young cast does their best to bring life to their cardboard roles. Jessica Stroup in particular has quite a bit of screen presence and is consistently a pleasure to watch. The young men in the film are bland and interchangeable, but Brittany Snow carries the film relatively well, appearing natural on camera and giving an occasionally convincing "scared" vibe. Other times, her fear seems a bit more like she's about to throw a hissy fit at the shopping mall because there isn't a shirt in her size.

Prom Night feels like a half-assed, last minute hack job throughout. It may please less discerning 14-year-old girls who are easily scared, but will likely annoy all other demographics.

Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden? (2008) DVD Movie Review

2008-08-20

Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden? Movie Review: B+

First he ate French Fries for a month, and now he's taking on the number one fugitive in the world. Yes, it's the natural progression: Morgan Spurlock is asking Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?

I will blow the ending: Spurlock does not answer the question. He doesn't find the guy, which is a bit disappointing since I assumed that would be the only suitable climax to such a film. I mean, he spends all his time asking people in Palestine, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and so forth where Osama is - he should have been able to find him!

In all seriousness, Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden? is an entertaining, intelligent and down-to-earth documentary. It isn't as funny or mind blowing as Super Size Me, which got me off fast food for a month (and now I barely eat it at all), but WITWIOBL, as I like to call it, works in its own way. Spurlock, as he likes to remind us, leaves his pregnant wife to go travel around some not-so-friendly places in search of Osama, or, more realistically, in search of the average Muslim. The real point of the movie is that most Muslims in the Middle East, while not completely the same as the average American, are not that much different. Some may understand Osama and al Qaeda more than we do, and others hate America for what it has done - or what they perceive it's doing - to the Middle East, but the average Muslim is a moderate Muslim, with no interest in blowing themselves up or joining the jihad.

Spurlock travels from one country to the next, talking with these people and examining both the hypocrisy of Osama and the United States. He touches on the fact that the U.S. doesn't side with countries and their governments because they treat their people well; the U.S. sides with countries and people that provide immediate benefit to their goals. That's why Osama, Saddam Hussein, the Saudi government and many others have all been U.S. allies at some point or another.

Spurlock uncovers nothing new, but for the less-than-worldly American, Spurlock presents the issues at hand in a very entertaining, insightful way. He reveals the people he talks with as smart, likable individuals. He shows us the conditions that people are living in - from the slums of Afghanistan to the shopping malls in Saudi Arabia that, while safer, are much more restrictive. Spurlock asks some moderately tough questions in some awkward places, including to a couple of students at a Saudi school while their teachers are standing by. Understandably, he doesn't get much out of them. Strangely enough, other than the stray bullet here or there, Spurlock runs into the most trouble when a bunch of Jewish people get upset at him and start shoving him around, forcing the police to take action. Those were some angry Jews.

Spurlock is trying to get a message across, but does so in a way that isn't a "liberal" attack on his own country. WITWIOBL is one of those rare political documentaries that crosses party lines. Its faults are pretty minor: it would have been great to see him attempt to interview a few more radicals, or more people of official standing, like politicians or community leaders. The ending is a tad weak, as Spurlock attempts to cover over his cowardness (I wouldn't have gone in either) with a vain attempt at establishing a happy ending. At least end his message with a, "And I was scared" bit.

While not as shocking as Super Size Me, Spurlock's Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden? is an enjoyable, intelligent documentary that presents things on a "stupid American" level. And for once, that's a good thing.

In Bruges (2008) DVD Movie Review

2008-08-04

In Bruges Movie Review: A

It took me over a week to watch In Bruges. My friends and I got to within ten minutes of the ending credits when, just as one of the main characters was shot through the stomach, the DVD froze. I quickly reported the problem to Netflix and they sent me a new copy within a day, but then it took several days to get everyone's schedules to work together. I could hardly wait.

Despite what some critics - and coworkers - say, In Bruges is a highly entertaining, funny and unique comedy. The flick, which stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson as two hit men who, after a hit gone awry, are sent to Bruges, Belgium by their boss (Ralph Fiennes) until things calm down. While Ken (Gleeson) immediately takes to the small, medieval town, Ray (Farrell) is horrified by the boring nature of the place - until he finds that there is a movie being filmed nearby, which stars "midgets," and meets Chloë (Clémence Poésy).

In Bruges is a hilarious film - but you have to appreciate quirky, sarcastic jokes and a lot of swearing. The people who didn't like this film either didn't get the jokes or didn't care to enjoy them, but In Bruges, written and directed by Martin McDonagh, is packed full of laugh-out-loud pieces of dialogue. Both Gleeson and Farrell are great and all but carry the film on their own, but Farrell is especially excellent. This is the kind of movie that demonstrates just how good of an actor he can be; while he is known more for serious fare such as Tigerland and The New World, he is absolutely hilarious here and shows exquisite range.

In Bruges runs that fine line of dealing with hit men and violence and being consistently funny. More often than not, a movie can be one or the other but not both, but McDonagh pulls it off rather seamlessly. The last 20 minutes or so are fairly serious and a tad bloody, but the transition doesn't seem abrupt at all. He moves his characters from serious to funny and back to serious again without much effort, and even manages to make some of the more "serious" scenes pretty damn funny.

The movie is not for everyone, but those who like edgy, quirky comedies with an European twist should have plenty to cheer about with In Bruges. This is one of the funniest movies of 2008.

Shutter (2008) DVD Movie Review

2008-07-24

Shutter Movie Review: C-

Shutter, the latest in the ongoing stream of cheap horror movies, stars "Dawson's Creek's" Joshua Jackson and Transformers' Rachael Taylor as a newly married couple who move to Japan and find themselves haunted by a deadly ghost.

The plot of Shutter really isn't important, as it continues in the vein of other similar horror films - specifically Japanese remakes - only with a slightly different trimming. Essentially, the approach director Masayuki Ochiai takes is to copy what has been done before and make it even more predictable and inane. After all, to do horror movies these days, all you have to do is have your characters catch some glimpses of dead Japanese people and establish a plot where the ghost is attemptingt to get revenge for some wrong done to her in the past.

In all fairness, Shutter isn't nearly as bad as I was expecting. It has a twist I wasn't really expecting (whether I cared is another matter) and Taylor is pleasant to look at. Nevertheless, the movie is just a blatant rip-off of a genre that ran dry shortly after The Ring made it to theaters, and no matter how attractive the lead actress is, she's not enough to save this film from unoriginality. Furthermore, as one might suspect, Shutter isn't remotely scary, as Ochiai relies on turn-your-head-and-see-a-ghost techniques that have been used so many times I almost see ghosts in real life.

Compared to some movies from the Japanese horror remake genre (I'm not sure if Shutter is a remake, but it sure feels like it), Shutter is at least watchable, but it won't scare you and it won't really surprise you, despite Ochiai's cheap attempts to do so. In other words: don't waste your time on Shutter.

Doomsday (2008) DVD Movie Review

2008-07-23

Doomsday Movie Review: B-

I went into Doomsday expecting the worst. Despite being written and directed by Neil Marshall, the man behind The Descent, I had little hope that Doomsday would be anything more than a piss-poor Mad Max-meets-Resident Evil rip-off. In many ways it is, but Marshall embraces the ludicrous nature of his film with open arms - and it works.

Doomsday is set in the near future where much of Great Britain has been quarantined after a deadly virus has run amok, killing almost everyone. Within the now walled-off area, those who were immune to the virus were left to die off. Years later, however, a new outbreak occurs in London, forcing the government to act hastily to cover its ass. Having recently discovered signs that there are still survivors in the quarantine zone, the Prime Minister sends a small team inside to look for a cure. What the team finds is a splintered civilization of cannibals and killers.

Rhona Mitra stars as Eden Sinclair, the badass woman of the day. Not too different from Milla Jovovich's character in the Resident Evil films, Eden is tough and willing to do anything to stay alive. Mitra, who is both the very essence of hot and tough merged into one sensational being, is the perfect choice for the role. She carries the film well, though she isn't the one that makes the film what it is.

Doomsday works because it is just so damn insane. Sure, it has some decent action scenes, gore and excitement, but I could get the same in a dozen other films that have been recently released. The movie works because it rips off so many other films and doesn't for a moment blink an eye about it. Everything from Gladiator to Braveheart, Mad Max to 28 Days Later, First Knight to Escape from New York and many more are blatantly "copied" to serve Marshall's whims. Doomsday, as it turns out, is a "brilliant" hodgepodge of other movies.

It's hard to describe, but Doomsday is just an entertaining thrill ride. It's funny because it's absurd. The movie goes so many odd directions that it's hard not to be enthralled. After entering the quarantined zone, Mitra and her soldiers are attacked by a bunch of crazies like the first action sequence in Aliens. From there, they are captured by the cannibalistic crazies, only to escape to none other than a castle where its inhabitants have resorted to medieval culture to survive (though the castle is still equipped with emergency exits and gift shops from its tourist days). When Marshall grows tired of knights and gladiator fights, the film shifts to the countryside, where we get the Mad Max car chase and so on and so forth. The movie is a film for those with ADD, one where the focus never stays on one genre or even time period for too long.

Of course, the movie is pretty stupid and suffers from a few storytelling flaws. Its main problem is that, because of its constantly shifting attention, none of the bad guys are developed all too well. There are two or three different groups of bad guys, and each get their own section of movie to show their stuff. While Marshall attempts to develop a central villain, he never really succeeds. The cannibal guy comes in and out of the picture, and the stint with Malcolm McDowell is short lived. As such, the movie never establishes a high level of suspense or anticipation, despite having a fair amount of action.

Doomsday is an oddly engaging movie, not because it's particularly smart or explosive, but because it is just absurdly ridiculous. It's not for everyone, but the right audience will get a kick out of it.

Review by Robert Bell (B-)

Filmmakers have rarely shown the world of tomorrow as being particularly promising. Whether mankind is ruled by machines, fascist governments, military regimes, scarce resources, dystopian landscapes, or blissful consumer ignorance, it's never a symbol of progression or forward evolution. Perhaps it's base humanity itself, which bridges on anarchic, even within current shaky societal constructs, behaving only as a survival mechanism rather than actual concern for fellow man. It doesn't take a genius to sense that it would take very little for etiquette and code to break down to an animalistic level. The survival instinct leads us to believe that we are far more caring and intelligent than we actually are. In exploring the many ways in which society can break down, filmmakers can explore psychological and allegorical aspects of current trends in a far more dramatic and conflict based setting.

Doomsday is a mishmash of liberally borrowed ideas from an array of post apocalyptic hits. It has some highly entertaining sequences, and certainly pleases on a visceral level, but simply isn't developed or cohesive enough to really be considered any sort of a success. This movie should entertain those out for an amusingly gratuitous raunch-fest, but marks a sharp decline in the filmmaking abilities of Neil Marshall, who showed a great deal of talent with Dog Soldiers, and The Descent.

Pic opens with a deadly "reaper virus" sweeping through Glasgow and rapidly spreading. In order to contain the virus a giant wall is placed around the hot zone to protect the world from sure demise.

Jump to 2035 London, where Eden Sinclair (Rhona Mitra) shows a take-no-prisoners attitude as a military police major, sporting a high-tech removable replacement eye. When the virus reappears, her boss Nelson (Bob Hoskins) sends her and a team of professionals into the "hot zone" to find a cure.

The success and failure of Doomsday stems greatly from the many texts it borrows from. The film most closely resembles Escape from New York and Mad Max, but also finds roots in Resident Evil, Conan, AI, Gladiator, The Warriors, First Knight, and even Mortal Kombat. There is an element of fun in identifying the many references Doomsday makes, and Neil Marshall certainly directs it all with energy and glee, but the sheer randomness and lack of cohesion in it all lead one to believe it possible that Rhona Mitra will suddenly decapitate someone and yell "There can be only one!".

Marshall's direction is propulsive, and really shines in later car chase scenes, but struggles with frenetic camera work and rapid editing in some battle sequences. The movie clips forward well, lagging only somewhere in the middle during the scene of ritualistic cannibalism, while 80's new wave hits blare on loudspeakers and strippers twirl around poles.

Another area where this film suffers is in characterization. While this film obviously isn't aiming to be a character-driven drama, it does aim for the ragtag military fun of the Aliens crew. Unfortunately, there is no one anywhere near as interesting as Vasquez, Hudson, Bishop, or Apone; and Eden Sinclair is no Ellen Ripley. That said, Rhona Mitra certainly carries her own weight throughout the film, and seems a natural for the action genre, but everyone around her is interchangeable and replaceable.

Doomsday is really a very gratuitous and derivative exercise in shallow filmmaking with a perfunctory ending. It is however, a fairly well crafted derivative exercise in shallow filmmaking, which will likely entertain the very audience who wants to see a raunchy dystopian action flick.

Darfur Now (2007) DVD Movie Review

2008-07-14

Darfur Now Movie Review: C+

In Darfur Now, an amateur volunteer leader, a female rebel fighter, a community leader, an international humanitarian, a Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court and actor Don Cheadle find their paths crossed as they fight to save Darfur, a region of the Sudan. The documentary, a glossy, seemingly high budget piece of work from writer/director Ted Braun, Darfur Now examines the crisis - or at least some people involved in combating it.

Darfur Now is an effective tool for relaying the problems in the Sudan to the American people, as it avoids the constant, in-your-face misery kind of approach that documentaries often take and that American audiences easily ignore. After all, the movie prominently features Don Cheadle and also has appearances from such people as George Clooney, Arnold Schwarzenegger, John McCain and Hilary Clinton. Furthermore, the documentary even follows a "Law and Order"-style crime model, as the plot revolves around an investigation by the Hague's ICC and a volunteer's attempt to change legislation in the United States to restrict funding to the oppressive Sudanese government.

The movie gets its point across, but one can't help but feel that Darfur Now is made by Americans for Americans to make us, and those involved with the film, to feel better. The presence of big names is good and should be a driving force to get more people to watch the film - and thus come to learn about Darfur - but when you have scenes where Cheadle, Clooney and others are talking about strategies in their hotel room, or the volunteer Adam Sterling trying to deal with politics, unions and mobilization way beyond his understanding, you have to question whether this movie is less about convincing the world that genocide is happening in Darfur and more about showing how a couple people are "giving it their all" to help. I do not mean to detract from the work these people are doing for Darfur, but Darfur Now comes off as insincere.

I'd rather see a movie that wholeheartedly focuses on the people and problems of Darfur, rather than one that devotes half its running time to the campaigns of individuals in the United States. Sterling's passion is interesting, as is Cheadle's and Clooney's and even Luis Moreno-Ocampo's, the ICC prosecutor, but their stories seem more like sidebar items rather than the underlying issue. Do we need to see how Sterling mobilized his efforts to change legislation in California, or how Cheadle and Clooney approached the Chinese government, or how Moreno-Ocampo came to his conclusions about Sudan? With exception to the latter, which I think is important to establish that an international court has in fact declared that there are bad things happening in Darfur, the answer is no. Yet Braun seems to give more weight to these than the stories that are actually happening within Darfur itself. Should a movie about Darfur star only two Darfurian people?

Darfur Now has its moments and does relay something about the atrocities happening in Sudan, but it comes off as an overly stylized and insincere documentary with its intent in all the wrong places. I'm sure Braun did not intend for his movie to be acknowledged in this way, but this is a perfect example of American arrogance in foreign affairs. We've done our part - see - and now the rest of the world is a better place. Right? Right?

Stop-Loss (2008) DVD Movie Review

2008-07-14

Stop-Loss Movie Review: C+

In Stop-Loss, Ryan Phillippe stars as as a soldier who has returned from Iraq, only to find that the U.S. government has "broken his contract" and decided to send him back for yet another tour. Unwilling to return, he goes AWOL and sets off a series of events that put friends, family and himself in a precarious position.

Phillippe turns in a good and believable performance as SSgt. Brandon King. While some of his fellow soldiers and lifelong friends have either returned as mentally disturbed or still patriotically blind, King has become disillusioned with the war, having killed several civilians why over in Iraq. More importantly, though, he feels that he has put in his fair share of the effort, and that the government is not holding up their end of the bargain. Phillippe relays such a character quite well. He's always gotten a bad rap for his acting abilities, but he does the understated characters with ease. He's not going to win any awards for the performance, but Phillippe is a pretty good choice for the role.

Abbie Cornish does a good job as Phillippe's partner in crime and almost-love interest.

Beyond the performances, Stop-Loss is a surprisingly decent film. Its message isn't very subtle and overall is pretty predictable, but director Kimberly Peirce has created a pretty entertaining movie. Those worried about the fact that this is an MTV-produced film should rest at ease, as Peirce avoids the glossy, music video look and instead goes with a gritty, rustic look that fits the screenplay perfectly. Even her use of modern music - the one MTV-esque aspect of the film - plays well into the production. And actually, the theme song made for a killer movie trailer, too.

Still, Stop-Loss does suffer at times. Once King goes AWOL, Peirce and co-writer Mark Richard don't quite what to do. It's as if they thought of a good concept with a clear anti-war statement but didn't quite know how to fill in the gaps. For the most part, they pull it off, but Phillippe gets into one too many scrapes to be completely believable. The movie is also littered with the typical soldier friends, from the blindly patriotic (Channing Tatum) to the psychologically scarred (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). They also work themselves into a hole with Cornish's character, as the romantic angle is a little tough considering that she's his best friend's wife.

Stop-Loss has its flaws, but overall it's an enjoyable and well-done picture, with good acting. Recommended to all you liberals out there.

Review by Robert Bell (C+)

When two affluent megalomaniacs come together as a union, it is imperative that they breed and create a smaller power-hungry version of themselves. They can place the child in private schools, teaching them superiority and entitlement; fostering an ideology that deems personal success paramount over empathy and identification. These children grow up to demonstrate relentless self determination, which mixed with the endless financial resources of their sires, lead to our nation's ambition-riddled leaders; men who make decisions that affect millions without an emotional framework or the intuitive nature to identify with, or understand the implications, of their single-minded actions. Led by passive-aggressive, pissing-contest global tendencies, glassy-eyed political leaders dictate the fates of the many followers who know no better; those who genuinely struggle for independent thought outside of prescribed beliefs. Indeed, this is a culture assembled by emotionally retarded men who snort cocaine off of the fake plastic boobs of Vegas hookers. Perhaps this is a vast generalization; but more than likely not.

Stop-Loss examines the impacts of war on readily exploitable soldiers; forced to act out of obligation and ignorance, rather than unique ideologies. While some insight is shed on the nature of systemic folly, a great deal of contrivance and bizarre character motivations are revealed on the journey. This is a film that appears hesitant to expose its true agenda, settling for facile views of problematic politics that create disenchanted but patriotically-correct loyalty.

Led by homegrown/meat-and-potato Brandon (Ryan Phillippe), a unit nearing the end of the Iraq tour spends their downtime horsing around, videotaping their antics and gleefully singing patriotic-southern-country-BS, which acts to muddy shades of black & white around the films anti/pro-war intentions. This downtime is juxtaposed with a visceral white-knuckle ambush that leaves a trail of dead and wounded soldiers.

Cut to Brandon's ride home to Texas with sharpshooting bud Steve Shriver (Channing Tatum) and the visibly unstable Tommy (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), where the gang is warned by Lt. Miller (Timothy Olyphant) not to beat up civilians or screw underage girls. They are met in Texas to a rowdy welcome home party, with an admittedly did-ya-shoot-em-all-good-n-dead dynamic. It isn't long before Tommy is starting fights with people and Steve is freaking out his suspiciously masculine girlfriend Michelle (Abbie Cornish) by digging a trench on her front lawn in his underwear. Brandon acts as the fulcrum of the group imbuing reason and accountability on all; that is, until he is stop-lossed.

The purple-hearted golden-boy quickly turns from saintly American hero to a pissed off renegade lawbreaker with a F**k the president attitude, as he rides cross country with his buds and empathic filly Michelle, to find a senator who will right his perceived wronging.

This rapid character shift and subsequent quest act as the main areas of contrivance in the film. Road trip clichés abound as the loyalty torn Brandon encounters drama exposing car thieves, other stop-lossed soldiers on the run and fetishistically filmed war amputees. They all act as ciphers for Brandon's inner-turmoil, as does the underwritten Michelle, who essentially sits around taking his crap throughout the film. While some insights are shed and compassion acknowledged for the after effects of war on Brandon, Phillippe handles the material with only minor effect, struggling to give his character a great deal of dimension. Cornish and Levitt on the other hand, bring quite a bit of depth to their poorly written characters, standing out as stars of the near future.

Peirce's direction is professional, if as similarly standoffish as the overall message. Handheld approach is used appropriately, as are emotional close-ups and war footage integration. This works from a visual perspective, but leaves the distinct aftertaste of risks not taken. For such touchy subject matter, everything feels somewhat safe.

College Road Trip (2008) DVD Movie Review

2008-07-13

College Road Trip Movie Review: D

Why I do this to myself I just don't know. Over the weekend, in anticipation of next week's The Dark Knight, I watched a truly horrifying film: College Road Trip. Now, College Road Trip, if you look at the title only, sounds like pretty entertaining fare. It's a great title for an R-rated teen romp full of sex, nudity and crude jokes. In fact, I bet there were a few 13-year old boys who bought tickets for the film, thinking they would get to see boobs. Little did they know, and who would have expected, that the title actually belongs to an inane, G-rated comedy from Walt Disney.

Yes, College Road Trip is a G-rated Martin Lawrence movie that also stars Cosby Show's Raven Symone. Oh, and Donny Osmond. Those of you who read my reviews often should know that I have extreme distaste for Lawrence; he just isn't funny. Team him with a couple of sitcom stars and a Disney Channel-quality screenplay and you have a real mess on your hands.

Obviously, I'm not in the right demographic, but I'm the one who sat through 55% of this movie (I fastforwarded through bits that were just too unbearable). Unless you're someone who still watches the Disney Channel on a regular basis, you will want to avoid this film at all costs. College Road Trip is full of stupid jokes, gags and mishaps that one would expect from a sitcom, not a feature-length movie. It's ultimately pretty harmless, other than all the shrieking Symone and Lawrence commit to screen, and shriek they do. Lawrence is his usual annoying self as he parades from scene to scene acting like a fool and embarrassing himself and his daughter. Symone is even more obnoxious and hardly worthy of a starring role. Osmond is mildly funny as an overly chipper, singing neighbor, but director Roger Kumble and the four writers (yes, it took four writers to make things this idiotic) don't really take advantage of his Flanders-esque character.

College Road Trip has little going for, and I'm amazed it went on to make $45 million in U.S. theaters. This is one that you can easily miss.

Step Up 2 the Streets (2008) DVD Movie Review

2008-07-13

Step Up 2 the Streets Movie Review: B-

With much hesitation, I deposited Step Up 2: The Streets (get it?) into my DVD player this morning, not expecting much. The original Step Up was surprisingly decent, for a dance movie. Still, it was not the need for a continuation but a response to the bucket loads of money Step Up made that forced a sequel, and thus expectations were low.

Thankfully, Step Up 2: The Streets is pretty entertaining and on par with the original in most ways. The movie contains everything a dance movie needs: a respectable screenplay, good-looking actors and yes, some pretty good dancing. Channing Tatum, the star of the first movie, shows up at the beginning for an extended cameo, just enough time to pass the puck to pretty Briana Evigan, a rough-edged orphan who takes Tatum up on his offer to try out for a spot at a prestigious arts school. She's accepted, but find her style of dancing doesn't fit in with everyone else's. Thankfully, the most popular guy at school (Robert Hoffman) sees something in her, and along with several other students they form a team to compete in a street competition.

If you like dance movies, you'll probably like Step Up 2. It has some pretty creative dancing and a decent-enough plot to connect those scenes together. Step Up 2 avoids a lot of the pitfalls dancing movies seem to share, or at least keeps them to a minimum. The main character doesn't go on too many rants about how "for the first time in my life, I have something to live for" and "without dancing, I have nothing," thankfully. A few, but not many. But more importantly, the characters are likable, the women good looking and the dancing pretty good.

In comparison to the first one, the most noticeable difference is there is a clearly defined romance. Tatum and Jenna Dewan were a pretty steamy couple, and the dancing revolved around the two of them almost exclusively. In Step Up 2, the movie takes a half-hearted stab at some sizzle between Evigan and Hoffman, but when they hook up at the end, it seems like an afterthought. This is fine, but there seems to be a lot less on the line in this round. Furthermore, while Evigan turns in a pretty good performance and looks pretty hot, especially at the end where she's dancing in a torn tank top in the rain, her character isn't nearly as interesting, or rebellious, as Tatum's.

As dancing movies go, Step Up 2: The Streets is pretty good. It isn't quite as good as the first one, as the two lead actors lack real chemistry, but it's entertaining little fare.

Ruins, The (2008) DVD Movie Review

2008-07-11

Ruins, The Movie Review: B-

In The Ruins, five attractive twenty-somethings find themselves off the beaten path in Mexico on top of a hidden Mayan temple. Surrounded by locals who will kill them if they leave and haunted by deadly shrubs that inhabit the temple, the young people find themselves dying one by one with little chance for salvation.

While The Ruins may sound pretty stupid on paper, it's actually not the cliche drivel you'd expect of a horror movie. In fact, it's quite a bit different, but does that make it better?

The movie begins with two couples just out of college (Jonathan Tucker and Jena Malone, and Laura Ramsey and Shawn Ashmore) meeting up with an European guy (Joe Anderson) at a beach party. The five decide to travel to a Mayan temple off the tourist track, but their visit is anything but serene. At the base of the pyramid, they are flanked by dozens of locals with rifles and bows and arrows; the five are unable to leave. They make camp at the top of the pyramid, but things are much worse than they could have ever imagined. The pyramid is covered in foliage that can move, kill and enter the skin.

The Ruins has a lot that I feel is required for a good horror movie such as this: some nudity, sex and a fair amount of gore. Beyond that, though, The Ruins is refreshingly different. Most of the movie takes place during the day and in a single location; the horror derives less from scares and more from the hopelessness of the situation; and thankfully, none of the characters are your typical, stupid horror victims. The movie has a good pace and is generally entertaining. Carter Smith has done a good job of adapting the book, written by Scott B. Smith - who also wrote the screenplay. I haven't read the book, but at least the movie didn't turn out to be yet another forgettable horror flick.

That being said, The Ruins isn't amazing. Moderately entertaining is more like it. The movie has its gore, its nudity and its sex, and it has an engaging story, but beyond that, it isn't particularly exciting or scary. Those looking to be freaked out will be sorely disappointed; those looking for a lot of good looking women running through the jungle while being pursued by a monster will also be disappointed. The deadly shrubbery is about as good as it could be, but beyond the obvious, there's not much too it. I'm glad the movie didn't delve into the mystical origins of the plant, but The Ruins doesn't have a fully realized plant or villain.

The DVD also contains several deleted scenes; the alternate ending, while only marginally different, is much better than the one used for the theatrical release.

The Ruins is a good movie, but not a great one. Recommended to those looking for something different, but this is a rental, not a purchase.

Cassandra's Dream (2008) DVD Movie Review

2008-07-07

Cassandra's Dream Movie Review: C

Woody Allen is one of the most hit-or-miss directors working today, though critics tend to lean toward misses more often than not. I've actually enjoyed a lot of his recent works from Small Time Crooks to The Curse of the Jade Scorpion - and his serious film Match Point was my second favorite film of 2005 - but then again, he has also had movies like Hollywood Ending and Scoop to make me think twice. With his new film, Cassandra's Dream, I had high hopes as it starred two respectable actors and hints of the magic Allen achieved with Match Point. Unfortunately, it wasn't to be.

Cassandra's Dream stars Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell as two down-on-their-luck brothers who agree to do an immoral task for their uncle (Tom Wilkinson). Terry (Farrell) is a compulsive gambler who has gotten himself deep into debt to a loan shark, whereas Ian (McGregor) is a passionate businessman with big ideas that rarely go anywhere, who wants to run away to America with his new girlfriend. In need of money, the two go to their rich uncle for help - who will give them money in exchange for murdering one of his enemies. Can they do it, and if they do, will it be worth it?

Movies that rely on a single crime, especially a single crime executed by a couple of amateurs, need a lot of things to go right. These kinds of films are often character driven and rely on the intricacies of the characters to lead any plot twists or decisions. As such, they rely on quality acting; that is, up until the finale, when the writer needs to execute something memorable and believable.

Woody Allen sticks to these points for the most part, filling his film with quality actors, pretty good writing, a believable story and a relatively believable finale, but misses on a few levels. While McGregor, Farrell and Wilkinson all deliver fine performances, none of their characters are particularly likable. This is fine, but both McGregor and Farrell come off as more pitiful than anything else, and when the ending rolls around, it's hard to feel for them much at all. Ultimately, the investment in the characters is minimal, despite the actors' best attempts to make them appealing.

Furthermore, while I liked the story, the movie's pace is slow, the crime comes too late in the story (or too early), and the ending is unsatisfying. Allen treats things realistically, but that approach actually hurts a film like this. Crime thrillers need a purpose, and Allen spends too much time developing his characters, effectively pushing off the actual crime until deep into the story. Then, once it has happened, Cassandra's Dream shifts gears into a more standard, paranoia-driven crime thriller. Both halves of the film are effective, but not together. As is, neither section come off as fully realized; the second half especially feels like a lesser version of better, more intriguing crime thrillers. The ending is lackluster, too.

Cassandra's Dream is not a terrible movie, but it's just too slow and subtle for its own good. The movie lacks the impact Allen achieved with Match Point and pales in comparison to other similar films from other directors.

Other Boleyn Girl, The (2008) DVD Movie Review

2008-07-07

Other Boleyn Girl, The Movie Review: C

It is many men's dream. Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson and one man. Granted, in most of those dreams, the one man in question is the person having the dream, not Eric Bana, who plays King Henry Tudor of England in The Other Boleyn Girl.

Justin Chadwick, in his big screen directorial debut, brings the two beautiful actresses and the talented Aussie together in the period piece "political" thriller, about two sisters who vie for the heart of the King of England. While Anne Boleyn (Portman) is selected for the esteemed position of mistress to the King, it is Mary (Johansson) who truly wins his heart. The three become involved in a wicked love triangle, one that could result in the women's deaths.

The Other Boleyn Girl is an okay period piece, with suitable acting and an interesting enough story. It keeps the attention for the most part, but never sinks its teeth into you the way a film of this nature should. In fact, a period piece needs to grab you by the throat to stand out from what has become a hit-or-miss genre.

Unfortunately, The Other Boleyn Girl is a gentle miss. The film lacks the grit, power and sensuality that this story needed, and a lot of the blame must land on Chadwick's shoulders. This really should have been an R-rated picture, and not just because I want to see Portman and Johansson have R-rated sex scenes. The Other Boleyn Girl needed to be dark and gritty, with riveting performances, sensual sex scenes, thrilling politics and so on, more in line with Elizabeth than a teen-grade, PG-13-rated drama.

The performances are good, but not stand out. I've seen all three main actors do better in more powerful films, and it's as if they know this film is nothing more than a device to tease men with the thought of a three-way involving the two leading ladies.

The Other Boleyn Girl isn't a disaster, but it lacks the spark, charisma and purpose a film like this needs. Everything about it is just ordinary, but no director should ever set out to just do an ordinary film. I would pass on this film, as there are so many better period pieces out there.

Review by Robert Bell (C)

Historical dramas have, in the past, been regarded with a great deal of dignity and respect. There was a time when any Merchant/Ivory production with a pulse was garnering critical praise and Oscar buzz. Times have clearly changed. One could argue that the resurgence of films reflecting on the nature of heroics, and classical Western ideologies may stem from the recent political climate, or the advent of immediate gratification in a technology driven world. That may be oversimplifying things. Regardless, films like Elizabeth: The Golden Age and The Other Bolelyn Girl, in attempting to simplify their narratives, are finding themselves lacking the dignity and respect that they may have garnered ten years ago.

Bolelyn is a relatively engaging film with beautiful costumes, a marvelous colour scheme, and some solid supporting performances, but struggles in convincing characterizations and narrative flow.

The story starts with the marriage of Mary Bolelyn (Scarlett Johansson) to the son of a merchant family William (Benedict Cumberbatch). Mary's father Sir Thomas Bolelyn (Mark Rylance), urged by his brother-in-law The Duke of Norfolk (David Morrissey), decides to push his other daughter Anne Bolelyn (Natalie Portman) into seducing and beguiling King Henry VIII (Eric Bana), despite the reservations of his wife (Kristen Scott Thomas).

Henry, suffering the disappointment of his wife's (Ana Torrent) inability to provide him a male heir, is easily swayed by a Bolelyn girl, just not the right one. As Henry begins an affair with the reluctant Mary, Anne is filled with a jealous rage, eventually being exiled to France as a result of her passive-aggressive marriage to Henry Percy (Oliver Coleman).

Upon Anne's return, she finds Mary bedridden and pregnant and the King free for her to act on.

The Other Bolelyn Girl is most noteworthy in its visual flair. The colour scheme, costume design, and appropriate score are welcome and sumptuous. The sets are wonderfully decorated, and Justin Chadwick's direction takes aim in letting it all sink in. His direction also propels the movie forward at a decent clip, keeping the viewer relatively engaged, never glossing over plot points with distracting stylistic impulses.

Unfortunately, Peter Morgan's lackluster script does little to add value to the film. This is somewhat surprising considering the fine job he did with the Oscar-Winning The Queen. The characters in this film are never fully developed. Mary Bolelyn is effectively meek and gentle, but never gives us a glimpse of anything tangible aside from her loyalty to family. She talks of loving King Henry VIII, but nothing in the film indicates this aside from their occasional sex scenes. King Henry VIII himself is even less developed. He is easily manipulated throughout, and never seems to be much of a character aside from thoroughly enjoying sexual intercourse with both Bolelyn girls. Coming across with slightly more effect is Anne Bolelyn, who busts at the seams with ambition and determination. While her self indulgent fancies are painted well, the script fails to capture any forms of weakness or humanity, ultimately leaving the emotional denouement less effective than it should have been.

The performances are also a sore spot for this film. Eric Bana is completely disengaging and flat, making one wonder if he even wanted to be there. Johansson is passable, certainly playing the passive victim admirably, but fails to give her character any spark, coming across as milquetoast. Portman is all over the place in this one, occasionally commanding the screen and radiating powerful emotion, but also dipping into hackneyed territory with awkwardly delivered lines and actorly gestures. This might indicate more fault behind the camera than with Portman herself, but is a problem nonetheless. Kristen Scott Thomas stands out in her supporting role, conveying a wide range of frustration and gentle manipulation, all while do the unenviable job of delivering dialogue specifically intended to point out already obvious subtext to the audience.

The Other Bolelyn Girl is far from being a perfect film. A weak screenplay and some bad acting are the main culprits. It is however, a relatively entertaining movie. It is simplistic, and aims for an emotional catharsis that isn't fully earned, but it provides for a relatively engaging diversion.

Walker, The (2007) DVD Movie Review

2008-07-07

Walker, The Movie Review: C+

From the director of American Gigolo and Affliction comes The Walker, a political thriller starring Woody Harrelson. The Walker, which is both about political maneuvering and a murder, has a lot going for it, but in the end it lacks the punch I was hoping for.

Harrelson stars as Carter Page III, an upper class gay man who has made a career - or at least a social one - of accompanying the wives of politicians to various events while their husbands are unavailable. One day, though, he finds that in Washington, your friends are only such so as long as you can't damage their reputations. When he comes across the dead body of one of his enemies, he becomes suspect number one in the murder investigation. His own investigation brings him to the realization that one of his closest allies may be responsible.

The plot sounds all well and good, but director Paul Schrader keeps things so subtle and suppressed that it never amounts to much. Other than the performance by Harrelson, which is about as good as we've seen from the actor in a long time, the movie lacks the power needed to make things work. Crime thrillers do not need to be action packed, but there needs to be some level of excitement, whether through political intrigue, threat of death and so on and so forth. Schrader, who also wrote the film, fails to erect any kind of suspense.

Some may claim that The Walker is not about the murder mystery but about how quickly someone can fall in Washington, but I don't buy that. Having just watched the movie a couple weeks ago, I don't even remember how it ends. I was mildly intrigued for a while, but by the third act I all but stopped paying attention. So little happens that it's practically impossible to recommend this film.

That aside, the writing, mood and acting in the film are spot on; it just lacks a purpose. A few tweaks here and there and The Walker could have been something; instead, it will remain as one of those movies-Woody-Harrelson-starred-in-but-no-one-has-ever-heard-of-nor-cares-about kind of films. Decent, but without an effective ending, The Walker has and will remain forgotten.

Charlie Bartlett (2008) DVD Movie Review

2008-07-06

Charlie Bartlett Movie Review: B-

City of Men (2008) DVD Movie Review

2008-07-06

City of Men Movie Review: B

I received City of Men in the mail the other day and was rather looking forward to watching this follow-up to the Oscar-nominated picture City of God. Unfortunately, I was disappointed to see that I had misread, having thought that Fernando Meirelles (The Constant Gardener) had directed this film as well. Instead, he is listed as merely a producer, which means that City of Men could be good, bad or anywhere in between.

Thankfully, director Paulo Morelli holds his own and has created an engaging and visually compelling story of friendship and maturity among violent gang wars in Brazil. I don't remember City of God all that well, but I remember the colorful but gritty filmwork, the absolutely violent ferocity of its characters and so on and so forth; City of Men seems a little glossier, a little less violent and ultimately less effective, but that doesn't mean it isn't worth seeing.

The film follows two almost-18-year old men, Acerola (Douglas Silva) and Laranjinha (Darlan Cunha), who are about as close to being brothers as friends can be. Ace already has a young son, while Laranjinha has set out to find out who is father is. But with manhood comes consequences, and the truth about his father reveals a secret that could splinter the two friends; to make matters worse, Ace has been accidentally targeted by a local gang for execution, and his only hope is to take protection with the neighborhood's other gang.

City of Men, like City of God, portrays the unimaginable recklessness of youth gangs in Rio de Janeiro and establishes some quality characters to boot. Ace and Laranjinha make good protagonists, and the two actors deliver quality performances, though it's no real surprise. Both had parts in City of God and have played the same characters in the television series "City of Men;" most of their careers have been devoted to this world.

The story itself is effective, though not as engaging as in City of God. Nevertheless, the story arc is a good one and Morelli, with a screenplay from Elena Soarez, makes it clear that you have no idea who will live and who will die. While not utterly depressing, the movie maintains a sense of hopelessness, that no one is safe in a world where gangs run free with automatic machine guns and can kill at will. My only solid complaint lies with Morelli's use of flashbacks; I can't remember if City of God had these or not, but the flashbacks, especially the short ones, come off as an awkward way to establish back story or depict emotions for some of the characters; they appear amateurish.

It would have also been interesting to see more developed villains; what goes through the minds of the gang leaders? How did they become what they are today? Are they so used to this way of life that they never have regrets about what they do?

City of Men, now out on DVD, has all the makings of a good movie: likable protagonists, good directing, quality acting and a realistic but violent setting. While not perfect, it is a respectable follow-up to its Oscar-nominated predecessor.

Superhero Movie (2008) DVD Movie Review

2008-07-06

Superhero Movie Movie Review: C-

From the writer of Scary Movie 3 & 4 comes Superhero Movie, the latest in an inane series of spoof films that appeal to the lowest common denominator. Thankfully, Superhero Movie is not written or directed by Aaron Seltzer or Jason Friedberg, the guys behind Epic Movie and Date Movie, as I had first thought, which means the movie beat expectations and turned out to be bad rather than God-awful.

While Superhero Movie isn't as painful to watch as the Seltzer/Friedberg films, it still relies on taking scenes from other films, tweaking them slightly and then expecting people to laugh. With a few modifications, this movie, written and directed by Craig Mazin, is just a bad superhero movie with a few jokes, rather than a comedy that pokes fun at other superhero movies. For the most part, Mazin follows the plot of Spider-Man, which is not the best of ideas to start with considering that Sam Raimi made his serious superhero flick tongue-in-cheek to begin with. In reality, Spider-Man is a lot funnier than this spoof of the movie, begging the question: why? Why? WHY?

Mazin sidetracks to make fun of other superheroes such as X-Men, Superman and so forth, but clearly lacks understanding of what makes comic book movies tick and how to spoof them. To successfully make fun of superheroes, a track more along the lines of Hot Fuzz needs to be taken; Mystery Men was a failed attempt at such an approach, and judging by the reviews Hancock is receiving, there's still a void. If done right, a superhero spoof could be funny, but it needs to be written by someone who truly understands the comic book world and is willing and able to pepper every line of dialogue and every corner of the screen with clever references. Mazin relies on the tried-and-true-to-fail approach of deriving laughs from long fart scenes and other idiotic gags that to do nothing to encourage the audience.

There's really no need to comment on the production values, acting or anything else, as without intelligent writing, Superhero Movie was a lost cause from the start. All of these spoofs that have been released over the last decade had potential had the studios intended them to be good, but there is clearly no intent that quality is a concern. As such, Superhero Movie is another one you can easily disregard.

Drillbit Taylor (2008) DVD Movie Review

2008-07-01

Drillbit Taylor Movie Review: B-

When you look back on Owen Wilson's career, it's surprising to see that he's rarely headlined a film himself. From Zoolander to Shanghai Knights and The Wedding Crashers, he has always shared the load with other comedians. In Drillbit Taylor, however, Wilson has the film all to himself, aside from several teenage unknowns.

Drillbit Taylor will not go down as one of Wilson's funnier films, but it has enough laughs and entertainment to make it worth a rental. The movie, about a sarcastic bum who tricks a couple of high schoolers into paying him to protect them from a school bully, is likable enough. Wilson carries a lot of the jokes on his shoulders, and if you like Wilson's brand of humor, you'll probably like Drillbit Taylor. He gets a little obnoxious after a while, but that's nothing new.

Surprisingly, the real stars are Nate Hartley and Troy Gentile, two teenagers who get higher billing than the well-known star. Hartley and Gentile hold their own and make a pretty good on-screen couple. They're like a PG-rated version of the guys from Superbad (maybe PG-13-rated); not nearly as funny, but still likable and pretty entertaining.

The movie, which is co-written by Seth Rogen, is fairly clever considering its rudimentary plot; after all, the high school bully story has been done before. Nevertheless, Rogen and Kristofer Brown establish a ruthless villain you love to hate and avoid a lot of the pitfalls that high school comedies generally fall into. Drillbit Taylor isn't amazing, but it's entertaining enough.

My Blueberry Nights (2008) DVD Movie Review

2008-06-29

My Blueberry Nights Movie Review: C+

From the writer and director of In the Mood for Love and 2046 comes an American-based romantic drama about intersecting lives and relationships. An ensemble piece starring Jude Law, Rachel Weisz, David Strathairn, Natalie Portman and, in her acting debut, Norah Jones, My Blueberry Nights is well-done but unremarkable.

The movie begins with a love scorned Norah Jones making her way into a corner cafe, where she meets the owner, played by Law. The two strike up a friendship and perhaps more over some late night blueberry pie, but her attentions are still focused elsewhere. From there, the movie shifts focus to one of Jones' customers - she's a waitress by day and bartender by night - who's both a cop and a drunk. The man (Strathairn) is separated from the wife he loves (Weisz) and wants nothing more to get her back. And then the movie shifts gears again.

The closest thing to a central character is Jones, though the movie itself is much less focused. Thankfully, Jones, who I consider to be a one-hit wonder in the music industry, holds her own and actually appears to have some talent. She's pretty and establishes a sound and likable character, which is pretty amazing since she's acting alongside some of the best in the industry. Law, Strathairn, Weisz and Portman are all actors I consider to be in the upper echelon, yet Jones seems unintimidated. On the flip side, neither Weisz or Portman get very good parts, as their characters come off as either cold or annoying, but, more importantly, uninteresting. Law doesn't get a lot to do, but he still has a pretty solid character; Strathairn is the only one who really gets some substance (as a suicidal drunk of a police officer).

Beyond the acting, My Blueberry Nights is mildly mesmerizing. It feels like a dream that moves from one story to the next, and in that way it's similar to other work that director Kar Wai Wong has done. But Nights lacks the visual intrigue and character development that Wong is known for. While pretty to look at and understated in many ways, there is nothing particularly memorable about the picture. The film lacks a story arc and as such, much purpose.

By itself, My Blueberry Nights is not a bad film, but in relation to Wong's other movies, it pales in comparison.

Hammer, The (2008) DVD Movie Review

2008-06-22

Hammer, The Movie Review: B

As I placed Adam Carolla's The Hammer into my DVD player, I was expecting a first round knockout. After all, the movie stars Carolla, a funny guy on "The Adam Carolla Show" and "The Man Show," but hardly a proven commodity in films. Furthermore, despite his popularity, the movie debuted on only 20 screens and went on to only make half a million dollars. Essentially, for most people in the country, The Hammer is a direct-to-DVD film, and that does not bode well.

But... what's this? The Hammer has a 7.4 rating on IMDB? And an equally significant 74% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Could The Hammer actually be good?

Amazingly, The Hammer is good. Good enough, in fact, that I'm shocked this movie didn't receive a much wider distribution. Made on what is clearly a very low budget, this movie could have been one of the most profitable flicks of the year. When it comes out on DVD this coming Tuesday, it is bound to become a cult classic. People have to know: The Hammer is a good movie.

To set expectations, the movie isn't amazing. It isn't a masterpiece, and it isn't the funniest movie you'll see this year. But it is a consistently entertaining, funny, enjoyable and even heartwarming picture.

Carolla stars as Jerry Ferro, a 40-year old construction worker who has never gone anywhere in his life. Once a respected small-time boxer, he now works crap jobs, hangs out with his Guatemalan friend Oswaldo Castillo and so on and so forth. However, he makes the decision to reenter the ring and start training at an amateur level. The young guys laugh... until he starts knocking them out. He may be slower and older, but he still packs a punch, and soon enough Jerry finds himself fighting for title in a regional amateur tournament. And he has a new girlfriend, a lawyer. And he finally has a purpose in life.

I didn't know what to expect from an Adam Carolla film, but I guess this is the result I should have seen coming. On his radio show, Carolla often references his poor childhood, and since the movie appears to be very roughly based on his life, at times the movie seems like an autobiography. As far as comedy goes, there are a lot of little gags, but not cheesy ones that you'd find in a film like Date Movie, but ones you can actually picture Carolla doing at some point in his life - or to Jimmy Kimmel. The dialogue clearly takes advantage of Carolla's humor, and at times even seems improvised; if you like Carolla, you'll find plenty to laugh about here.

Beyond the comedy, The Hammer is just an all-around feel-good movie. After all, it's about a guy who starts out as low as you can go and just keeps rising. It's an underdog sports movie, too, with some halfway decent boxing scenes. Amazingly, the most convincing part of the movie is the slow, bonding relationship between Carolla and his on-screen girlfriend Heather Juergensen. They have real chemistry and the simple caricature of their interactions seems a lot more real than those found in most romances.

The Hammer is a fun movie that succeeds in almost every way. Funny and entertaining, this one is the surprise of 2008.

Signal, The (2008) DVD Movie Review

2008-06-22

Signal, The Movie Review: B-

Having just watched The Happening in theaters, I couldn't help but notice similarities to the limited release horror film The Signal. The Signal has a low budget, no recognizable actors and is by no means a masterpiece, but the three-person writing/directorial team has managed to do what M. Night Shyamalan couldn't: deliver a disturbing adventure into insanity.

In The Happening, a supposed force of nature sweeps through cities, causing people to turn suicidal. In The Signal, a strange signal begins to broadcast on every TV and radio station, causing people to go crazy and turn homicidal. It's like a zombie movie without the lust for flesh, and considering that The Happening could be the worst movie of 2008, it's easy to see what the better alternative is.

The Signal, written and directed by David Bruckner, Dan Bush and Jacob Gentry, succeeds in the way it develops its homicidal maniacs. It begins with Mya Denton (Anessa Ramsey) returning home to find her boyfriend and a couple of his friends trying to fix the television, which is broadcasting a strange signal. Then, a small fight leads to the boyfriend (AJ Bowen) striking down one of his friends with a baseball bat. Mya quickly discovers that her entire apartment building has gone haywire, and barely escapes with her life. She flees with a friend, only to find that he may be inflicted by a serious and homicidal case of paranoia.

Switch gears to a landlord (Scott Poythress) who shows up for a party at the home of Anna (Cheri Christian), who appears to have killed her husband for purely logical reasons. The landlord understands this and waits for other people to show up to the party. In the meantime, Mya's boyfriend shows up, thinking that she has escaped to that apartment. The three, paranoid of what is happening outside, hole up and wait for help, but the boyfriend begins to suspect that the landlord is having an affair with his girl. Logically, he should kill him.

The great thing about The Signal is that there are no clear cut good guys and bad guys. People who appear to be normal will suddenly turn homicidal, as their paranoia about who has "got the crazy" leads them to go crazy themselves. Beyond that, the directors even delve into what the crazy people are thinking; to them, they aren't crazy at all, but simply following basic logical assumptions and carrying through with what they believe is the only course of action. The segment in Anna's apartment, which takes up half the movie, is quite entertaining, as the three characters, who are all crazy to some degree, try to get through the day, all with perfectly good explanations as to why they should be afraid of their "friends."

At times, The Signal intentionally becomes funny, which is more than can be said for The Happening (which is funny, but not in a good way). While watching the film, I can't say this is the best move, as I was starting to get into the paranoid nature of the film; once things become goofier, the tension fades away. Still, in hindsight, the absurd logic the characters apply to themselves make for a unique and entertaining segment that is surprisingly well done.

However, the final third of the film switches back to being a serious thriller, and the back-and-forth mood is offsetting. I lost interest near the end, because the movie can't decide whether it wants to be funny or serious. Furthermore, it lacks a clearly defined protagonist, which is fine until you get near the end and realize that there's no one to root for. The directors have created a creepy world where everyone is crazy, but there's no defined plot or characters to keep us engaged all the way to the ending credits.

The Signal is not without its flaws, and falls apart near the end, but there are some surprisingly well-done elements here. Recommended to those who want something a little different, or who need to get the bad taste of The Happening out of their mouths.