Behind the Mask, Evan Almighty, A Mighty Heart

Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon - Guess what? The horror genre isn't completely dried up and dead and boring. It's not completely conventional and and it's definitely not completely predictable... thanks in part to the creative and unique Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon. The tagline for the movie is, "Michael, Jason, Freddy... we all need someone to look up to." I was pretty much hooked from that alone. The story is presented as a documentary. Aspiring serial killer Leslie Vernon invites a few grad students to document his preparations for his big slaughter. What a unique way to present a horror film! We always see everything from the victim's point of view... never from the killers! We never really see all the preparation these guys have to go through: months of training, thinking of every possible escape route and coming up with alternate plans... even picking the perfect 'survivor girl.' She has to be a virgin with the potential to come out of her shell a better person, willing to fight for her life. But, here's the greatest thing of all: Leslie Vernon (played by newcomer Nathan Baesel) is a likeable guy! He's got a great sense of humor, a sharp wit and biting intellect. He's got tons of charm and charisma and Baesel is having the time of his life playing this soon-to-be serial killer. We also get to meet his mentor, the retired Eugene (Scott Wilson) and his 'ahab.' And, get this for the most perfect casting ever: the ahab (or... sort of good yin to his evil yang... think Dr. Loomis in Halloween) is none other than the one and only Robert Englund! I'm sorry but the fan girl in me can barely handle all the awesomeness of this movie. To top it all off, it's a really fun, really fresh, really great ride. This movie has a great idea and an amazing build up. It could be argued that it loses it's way with the ending (when it does become conventional slasher movie) but I was already having so much fun that it didn't matter too much to me. Make sure you watch all the way through the credits... and not just for Psycho Killer by the Talking Heads!
Grade: B+

Evan Almighty - What happens when you combine comedic geniuses Steve Carell, Jonah Hill, Lauren Graham and Ed Helms with one of the most beloved acting legends of our time, Morgan Freeman and one of the coolest men ever, John Goodman? Well, you get a mighty, mighty bad movie. This movie was not only not funny but also not entertaining in any way, shape or form. The only redeeming factors, for me, were Ed Helms and Jonah Hill who did their best to make the very lacking script work for them. Hill was one of the best things about Knocked Up and I can barely wait to see him team up with the young, comedic genius Michael Cera in August's Superbad. Now that's a comedy team with unbelievable potential. Helms is consistently one of the best things about the wonderful The Office. Still, these two alone cannot save this tired, heavy-handed, preachy, down-right boring movie. Carell just completely loses all of his sparkle and charm in this movie. And what a way to underuse the absolutely brilliant Lauren Graham. Not even underuse. How can you underuse something that you don't use at all? She's relegated to playing the dumb wife, a secondary, non-descript background character. How can anyone who has seen her work on Gilmore Girls not give her more to work with? She can more than hold her own with the big boys of comedy. Morgan Freeman does the same old God-shtick as the first time around. He's adorable and loveable but it's not enough to save this floundering mess. John Goodman does his best to play a bad guy but there's just one problem for me - I see him as nothing but a huggable teddy bear. Everything was rushed, the dialogue was laughably bad and the humor just wasn't funny at all.

Grade: D-

A Mighty Heart - I honestly can't think of a time when I've been more bored by a movie. Which is disappointing since I really had high hopes for this film. It tells the true story of journalist Danny Pearl (Dan Futterman) who disappears while on assignment in Pakistan and never comes home. Meanwhile, his pregnant wife Mariane (Angelina Jolie) has enlisted all kinds of people who look like each other and have accents you can't understand to try to find him before it's too late. Well, everyone knows that it is too late. Danny Pearl is beheaded on a videotape that is sent to Mariane's friends. Anyway, the movie is just a jumbled mess. There's too much going on and it becomes completely distracting, confusing and convaluted. After Danny goes missing, there's a lot of the same thing happening over and over: lots of random "Danny is missing" phone calls followed by discussions around a table and writing notes on a dry erase board. Then... more random "Danny is missing" phone calls followed by discussions around a table and writing notes on a dry erase board. Then... well, you get the point. The thing that probably bothered me most though was that Danny Pearl, who we are supposed to care about and worry about, the "heart" of the film, I guess, was barely in it. He was just a guy who showed up in a couple scenes and was sort of presented as this brilliant man who was stupid enough to be set up by these men who kidnapped him. The title of the movie is certainly kind of ironic since the movie has virtually no heart. The movie lacks any sort of emotion whatsoever and is just flat and boring. Now let's talk about Angelina. Her performance is completely unimpressive until one scene about 20 minutes from the end of the film. You know, the scene when she finds out her husband is dead. It proves her Oscar win for Girl, Interrupted was not a fluke. She's got talent. It's just a shame that her tabloid fodder life is getting in the way of her acting. She's no longer able to become a character. For me, I was never watching Mariane Pearl. I was watching Angelina Jolie do her best impression of Mariane Pearl.

Grade: D+