Posts Tagged ‘movie review’

It’s been a couple weeks since Sex and the City made its way to theaters, raking in a whole ton of money. I got invited to see the movie opening night, but opted not to stay up to 3am with a bunch of weeping, screaming women. Part of the reason, I’ll admit, is that I didn’t want to be ridiculed by my guy friends for going to see a midnight showing of Sex and the City. Another reason: I am not that huge of a fan to sacrifice my beauty sleep for a picture like this.

Nevertheless, I finally made my way to see the Sex and the City movie, and it was pretty good. In fact, I thought it stayed extremely loyal to the TV show (it probably helps that the writer/director/executive producer of the show is also the writer and director of the movie) and managed to be just as funny as any individual episode.

And, to be blunt, I am straight and single. I didn’t go see Sex and the City because my girlfriend dragged me to it, and I didn’t see it because of my sexual orientation. Yes, I was one of the few single straight guys in the audience – perhaps the only one.

Read my full Sex and the City movie review.

I’ve posted a movie review for the 2008 remake Funny Games, starring Naomi Watts, Tim Roth and Michael Pitt. The movie is directed by Michael Haneke, who also directed the original Austrian version ten years earlier. Anyone know why he decided to remake his own movie? I don’t know. Even worse, the movie is a shot-by-shot remake, meaning if you’ve seen one you’ve seen the other, save some subtitles (assuming the original is indeed subtitled).

I haven’t seen the original Funny Games, so thankfully I was able to enjoy this one a lot. It is depraved, disturbing and shocking – read my Funny Games movie review here.

Review by Robert Bell (A-)

Featuring clever and natural dialogue that is anchored by uniformly impressive performances from the young (mostly) Canadian cast, Young People F*cking is a refreshingly real sex comedy sure to be a cult favourite with many. What makes YPF stand out from the endless parade of soulless sex romps are the embarrassingly accurate observations and organically derived laughs. It struggles only in maintaining its tone as the slice of life insights are unable to carry to weight of an entire narrative.

The film follows the sexual pursuits of five separate pairings (and triplicate) as defined by non-diegetic on screen titles: the friends, the couple, the exes, the first date and the roommates. Each story is unraveled on its own without need to intermingle characters for purpose of connectivity; they are connected thematically, defining an overall dramatic arc and observation about modern relationships.

Best friends Matt and Kris (Aaron Abrams & Carly Pope) decide to take their platonic friendship to f*ckbuddy status. Kris is more comfortable with the arrangement, needing to urge on her friend with booze as he struggles to sexualize his longtime female companion. Amusement is derived from the friendly discussions that arise and honest revelations about how it feels to watch a buddy provide oral sex.

Abby (Kristin Booth) & Andrew (Josh Dean) play the couple, who find themselves in a sexual rut, going through the motions without any real desire. It’s a painfully relatable depiction of long term relationships and the discussion of fantasy screws while Andrew goes down on Abby is absolutely hilarious. Who knew that anything involving Ian Ziering could be laugh-out-loud funny?

The most complex and dramatic story comes from exes Mia & Eric (Sonja Bennett & Josh Cooke). The pair comes together for one last meeting and attempt to revisit a sexual encounter without strings and emotional entanglement. Unsurprisingly, it inspires memories, both fond and unhappy, which make the simple shag that much more complicated and difficult.

The first date segment is an amusing look at male/female manipulation and power struggles as Ken (Callum Blue) tries to get into Jamie’s (Diora Baird) pants by convincing her that he’s not interested in a one night stand. The mismatched dynamic and unique neuroses demonstrated give a needed sense of unfamiliarity to the overall text of the film.

Unsurprisingly, the most overtly comedic storyline involves a sexually liberal couple, Gord & Inez (Ennis Esmer & Natalie Lisinska), who invite Gord’s reserved roommate Dave (Peter Oldring) into the bedroom for a threesome. Dave is initially keen on the idea, until he notices that Gord intends only to observe and narrate the sex act while eating cookie dough. The needed chemistry and awkwardness between the three is what makes this sequence as bizarre and memorable as it proves to be.

If there is one indie comedy to see in the summer of 2008, it is Young People F*cking. Giving the genre a much-needed kick in the formulaic arse, it proves to be one of the most genuine and true comedies in some time. One would be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t find charm and amusement in this movie.

Check out my Control movie review, which I just posted online last night. The movie is about Ian Curtis, the lead singer of the 1970′s rock band Joy Division. The movie arrives on DVD today, June 3, 2008. Filmed in black and white (well, actually, color and then converted to B&W) – Control is pretty good, though ultimately unforgettable.

Speed Racer is almost upon us, whether you like it or not. I, personally, am going to see it just to make sure it’s as bad as it looks. My friends feel the same way (though many won’t even go see it). Others, however, are actually looking forward to this Wachowski Brothers film, so it will be interesting to see fan reactions over the next few days. More interesting, however, will be to see how well it does in theaters… will it beat Iron Man in its second week? I’m not so sure.

Regardless, fellow movie reviewer Robert Bell has written a glorious Speed Racer movie review…

As cinema gradually evolves, it becomes increasingly clear that storytelling is becoming less of a priority. Glossy hyper-stylized images and hackneyed, insincere emotional catharsis are the wave of the future, as are indecipherable frenetic action sequences designed to overwhelm the senses with an almost orgasmic glee. Hollow excess and easily digested “wow” moments give a desensitized audience the homogenized escapist crap they so desperately seek; unwilling and unable to pause or reflect on anything with meaning. It’s only logical, given the rapid take-no-prisoners, pop-a-pill-to-stifle-unwelcome-feelings culture we have become. Everything we do is designed to escape from reality: our entertainment, dream vacations and misguided career focus are all just filler, despite the requirements of emotional development, which need downtime and personal reflection in order to find a personal purpose and reason. Then again, isn’t it that much easier to just quash away all of those feelings of confusion and inadequacy by accepting the ideologies and distorted moral codes of the majority? It is. And if we distract ourselves long enough while going through the motions of expectation, we may not even notice how utterly stupid and frivolous our surface driven lives are. Then again, happiness is defined by the individual, and maybe designer sneakers and a fancy new refrigerator is all one needs to feel satisfied in this world.

Read the full Speed Racer movie review…

I just got back from Iron Man (a 10:15 Thursday showing), and it was pretty cool. Here’s my full Iron Man movie review. And, I can easily say, Iron Man is the best movie of the 2008 summer season. Yes, I know it’s 1am on May 2nd and no other summer movie has reached theaters yet… but I’m not lying!

Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead was released on DVD on April 15th, so I’m a few days behind on my DVD review. The movie, as you probably don’t know, is about two brothers (Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke) who, after some rough times, decide to commit an armed robbery. Their target of choice? Their parents’ jewelry store.

As one might suspect, their robbery goes horribly wrong and the two find themselves in a cat-and-mouse game against the police, their consciences and even each other. Oh, and they’re both sleeping with the same woman (Marisa Tomei, who spends most of the movie walking around naked).

Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead is a pretty good movie. It’s a pretty decent crime thriller, with good performances and a good story. It’s unique in that it blends family drama with an increasingly dark crime story, though what it lacks is the big twists that really could have taken it to the next level. However, since this blog post is about the DVD and not about the movie itself, you can read my full Before the Devil movie review here.

The DVD, unfortunately, gives little reason to buy this good-but-not-great movie. While I would still recommend a rental, the DVD only offers three special features:

• A theatrical commentary with Ethan Hawke, Philip Seymour Hoffman and director Sidney Lumet. I can imagine this commentary is quite good, but since I never listen to commentaries, I have not made the exception here.
• A making-of featurette, which is about as interesting as watching a sack of coal get transformed into diamonds over a thousand years. It’s more promotional than anything else and really doesn’t offer much insight into the creation of the movie.
• The theatrical trailer. Whoopdy-do!

The Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead DVD is really a lackluster product from ThinkFilm. Even though the movie was never really considered a wide release, I was expecting something a little more substantial in terms of a DVD package.

The movie is still worth it, but those looking for bonus features won’t be satisfied with this release.

Have you ever gone to a movie theater by yourself? I don’t know about you, but I feel a bit like a loser when I do. Very rarely will I go by myself, but I know what I think when I see some guy show up with his popcorn, sit down at the end of the row, and remain there for two-plus hours with no one to keep him company… I think, “That poor, pathetic bastard.”

And then I go and watch a movie by myself. I typically only do this once a year, when I am so craved to see a movie that I will pay my money when no one else will. Given that it’s early April and I have to choose between crap and more crap, it’s not surprising that none of my friends want to go see anything (and my family never called me back). Still, I’m pretty ashamed to go by myself. Today, I went to the theater to buy a ticket for 21, the gambling movie starring Jim Sturgess, Kevin Spacey and Kate Bosworth. My plan was to buy the ticket at the machine, quickly hand the ticket to the ticket-tearing dude (while pretending to be on my cell phone as if I were meeting someone inside) and grab a seat near the back. Instead, the credit card machine failed, so I had to go buy a ticket from an actual person. I then got thirsty, so I sidetracked to the concession stand where I bought a small, $4.00 soda (from a young kid who asked me with no sincerity whatsoever whether I would like to purchase a combo, or get more unhealthy liquid for only 50 cents more, and so on and so forth). I did the cell phone bit to get past the ticket taker, but when I got in the theater there were just enough people for it to make more sense for me to sit closer to the screen than farther back.

Everyone is looking at me, thinking, “That poor, sad, lonely bastard.” God, if only I had a girlfriend I’d drag her along to these things (then again, if I had a girlfriend, I wouldn’t be writing this stupid blog post at 8:45pm on a Saturday night).

Anyway, long story short, I watched 21, and it was pretty good. Not great, but pretty good.  I now have two 21 movie reviews online, one by myself and one by Robert Bell. We pretty much agree, but you can read them both and see who is the better writer (my take is that he is far superior).

In other news, it looks like 21 will win the box office weekend for a second straight week, as Leatherheads got tackled in the end zone and is headed for a third place finish behind Nim’s Island. 21 will make approximately $15 million in its second weekend, and certainly a big win for Sony.

Sean Penn’s Into the Wild is now available on DVD in a 2-disc Collector’s Edition. While the movie is one of the better films of 2007 (I hesitate to say one of the year’s best), the DVD is lackluster by anyone’s definition.

The second disc, which houses the special features, contains only two featurettes, one titled “The Story, the Characters”, the other “The Experience.” Both of these go on to explain the creation of the characters, the sets and so on and so forth, but I found neither of these to be particularly informative or memorable. Mind you that I watched these features while going on 30-hours of only a couple hours of plane sleep, but there is nothing here worth noting. In fact, I found the featurettes to be rather promotional, as if they were made before the Into the Wild‘s release to get more people excited in this interesting tale.

That’s not much of a DVD review, but that is all Into the Wild has to offer. Why Paramount Vantage has to waste such resources to create a second disc for those featurettes is beyond me, as the set seems more comparable to a standard, single-disc release.

Nevertheless, the movie Into the Wild is still a good one, featuring great acting and an incredibly unique story. You can read my full Into the Wild movie review here.

Beautiful girls in little or no clothing get raped and murdered in Lake Dead, a B-grade crapfest version of The Hills Have Eyes meets The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. One of 2007′s Horrorfest films, Lake Dead has its moments, but most are uninentional.

Lake Dead follows three beautiful sisters who have just learned that they have inherited remote real estate from a grandfather they thought was long dead. Along with their friends, they travel to their hotel but for some random reason decide to camp at a nearby lake, which makes for easy pickings for the mutated, inbred hillbillies living nearby. As the friends are picked off one by one, two of the sisters realize that they are destined for something worse than death.

There are a few things about Lake Dead. The young women in the movie are hot. Sometimes they wear bikinis, on a rare occasion they get naked, and almost always are wearing something tight and skimpy. For this type of movie, that’s important. There are some good gory moments, even though the film is so low budget at times that the blood looks more like red paint. Best of all, the film has some great, albeit unintentional, one-liners. Here are two examples:

• A guy who is known for cheating takes off into the woods to collect firewood with the seductive slut of the group, and the two end up having sex. As they undress, the female says to the guy, “Let’s see if your wood can light my fire.” All women should use that line. That’s hot.
• Near the end of the film, after one of the main bad guys is killed, his protagonist brother who is responsible for the death says, “Now that’s fucking family.” Inbreeding. Screwing. Get it?

This is dialogue that you just can’t get these days in theaters, but thankfully the Horrorfest films are deemed as “too disturbing for theaters.” If The Hills Have Eyes can make it to theaters, then any film can make it to theaters, and the only reason Lake Dead and the rest of these Horrorfest films don’t get wider releases is that they’re too terrible for theaters. While I do enjoy these violent, B-grade horror films more than the PG-13 crap that usually find wide releases, I can’t say that they’re better movies as a result. The gore, violence and sex/nudity make up for a little of it, but Lake Dead offers some of the worst acting I have seen in a long while. The actors are quite cringe inducing at times, and you have to wonder how realistic their career aspirations are.

Basically, Lake Dead suffers from being a lot goofier than the filmmakers ever intended it to be. It is entertaining enough, but its similarities to other and better horror movies make it pale in comparison. The makeup and gore in the film is cartoonish at best; the inbred brothers aren’t even remotely intimidating. The bad, psychotic cop is borrowed directly out of Chainsaw Massacre, and the rest plays out like a titillating teaser to a better movie that doesn’t exist.

Those of you looking for a bad but enjoyable film should look no further than Lake Dead, but if you’re in the mood for real horror or suspense, keep searching.

I just watched Jumper early this afternoon, despite it being a fabulous day outside. Relatively warm with few clouds in the sky, it was a great day to play in the park, go for a jog, or at least watch beautiful women jogging. Instead, I opted to go and sit with my male roommate in a dark theater and watch Hayden Christensen jump around the globe while being pursued by Samuel L. Jackson.

The movie is okay. From an action and sci-fi perspective, it’s worth it. Jumper is consistently entertaining and has a great concept to build from; unfortunately, director Doug Liman and the screenwriters involved don’t take full advantage of the film’s potential, leaving several plot holes in its wake. If you can get over these, you’ll like Jumper, but if not… well, here’s hoping for a remake of sorts a few years down the line.

You can read my full Jumper movie review here.

I just watched The Bucket List, nearly two months after it was originally released in theaters. The Jack Nicholson/Morgan Freeman death comedy didn’t get very good reviews – only 42% fresh at Rotten Tomatoes – and as such as I had relegated to this to the rental pile. However, on a cold Saturday night, one of my friends and I visited the movie theater… and found that The Bucket List was actually pretty good.

The movie is funny and at times emotional. It’s not unique, and it’s not groundbreaking or award-winning, but its humor is genuine and heartwarming. It’s fun watching Nicholson and Freeman play off one another, and they really have great chemistry.

Read my full Bucket List movie review.

Mammoth came out on DVD on January 8, 2008, but I had to wait to watch this one with my mom. You see, I’m not a big fan of direct-to-DVD or TV movies, especially ones like Mammoth which are pretty much guaranteed to be lousy. My mom, on the other hand, loves these kinds of pictures.

Having just sat through the travesty that was the Seahawks-Packers game (my mom, being first a Packers fan, second a Seahawks fan, was quite happy, while I, being by far and away a Seahawks fan for life, spent my afternoon cursing out the Seattle defense on their horrific performance at Lambeau Field), the last thing I needed was to put a nail in the coffin with a terrible movie from the Sci-Fi Channel (aside from Battlestar Galactica, has this channel ever produced anything even remotely good?) – but that was the plan.

Mammoth is about a killer mammoth who comes back to life in a small, modern day town. How does it come alive, you wonder? Why, aliens crash land in the museum where the mammoth was being held and take over the body, then proceed to run around town stepping on people and sucking the life energy out of others. The scientist who was studying the mammoth is forced to team with a “Men in Black” federal agent to take down the seemingly unstoppable creature.

It’s really quite an absurd movie. I was expecting a standard movie about a killer mammoth (created through cloning or what not), but instead get an absolutely cheesy and shockingly dull flick about a computer-generated mammoth-monster inhabited by aliens. Admittedly, it’s quite clear the creators of the movie did not intend for Mammoth to be taken too seriously, but whatever they did intend, I hope it wasn’t the final product.

Mammoth just isn’t fun to watch. Crappy monster movies can still be entertaining if there are enough deaths or cheap thrills, but Mammoth lacks almost all of that. Nothing – literally nothing – happens for the first half hour of this 90 minute picture, and the mammoth probably only has five to ten minutes of screen time total. Of course, given that the creature looks less like a mammoth (aren’t they supposed to be woolly?) and more like some amalgam of other monsters, it’s no wonder the director decided to leave the monster off screen most of the time. Still, Mammoth is so boring at times I almost fell asleep.

Mammoth is sadly a step up from some other Sci-Fi Channel productions, but it is still another lousy sci-fi movie with lame special effects, a terrible script and uninspired delivery. Why I decided to watch this piece of crap is anyone’s guess, but definitely avoid Mammoth at all costs.

This weekend, I flew down to Florida to visit my uncle. As my uncle had a tendency to like any kind of B-grade, C-grade, D-grade or even F-grade horror movies, we ended up watching one of those movies found on those “50 horror movie” DVD packs, which are typically a septic tank of movies no one ever wants to see. Luckily, my uncle decided to be nice and chose Phenomena (also known as Creepers), an early Jennifer Connelly movie that is surprisingly decent – if not still rather cheesy.

Phenomena is about a 15-year old girl (Connelly in her pre-eyebrow trimming days) who finds herself at a private, all-girls school in Europe. Daughter of a popular actor, she has the looks and smarts to be popular herself, except she has a rare gift that is subject to making her quite weird: in addition to sleepwalking, she can also talk to insects.

Aside from the fact that the main character can control bugs not unlike Carrie could control objects, the movie is a relatively straightforward horror movie. Someone has been killing young women (and decapitating them), and young Jennifer Connelly believes that with the help of her insect friends, she can find the killer. As she learns from Donald Pleasance, the maggots found in a rotting corpse have a story to tell. It’s an early “CSI” if I ever saw one, but the film eventually relies on Connelly to make her way to the truth.

The movie is definitely cheesy in parts, doesn’t always make sense and has a few moments completely out of left field, but it is mildly entertaining. What really makes the film are a few scenes near the end. While the gore isn’t anything spectacular, there are a few gory scenes, and a sequence where Connelly is thrown into a pit of rotting carcases and maggots is especially appetizing. Also, the introduction of a deformed maggot boy who likes to tear the flesh off his own face is also a highlight.

Fans of B-grade horror movies should find some entertainment here, as Phenomena is definitely on the high end of “crappy” horror. It isn’t that good, but it isn’t bad at all.