Stop Loss, Horrorfest, April Movie Preview + more...

Stop Loss - It's been a long time since Kimberly Peirce has graced us with her presence. She, of course, made the amazing Boys Don't Cry way back in 1999 (that movie is the single reason why I still even bother with Hillary Swank). Well, it was worth the wait. She's back with Stop Loss, a gritty, powerful war film that is more about characters and friendships than politics and George Bush. Peirce could have easily taken the easy way out and made a film full of propaghanda and extreme liberal thinking. Instead she made a smart film with no real political agenda. It doesn't glamourize desertion. It's not anti-war. Instead, it focuses on the men who volunteered to fight for our country. This is a movie about soldiers and, if anything, it respects them immensely. The story follows two childhood friends serving together in Iraq - Brandon King (Ryan Phillippe) and Steve Shriver (Channing Tatum). They arrive back in Texas after their tour ends with friend Tommy Burgess (Joseph Gordon-Levitt who is absolutely Oscar worthy - more on him later). All starts well with a night of drinking and dancing. Steve is excited to get back to his fiancee Michelle (Abbie Cornish) but soon drunken fun turns into fights. After that, King learns he has been stop lossed. Instead of being released from the service as his contract states, he is being sent back to Iraq thanks to a clause in the finest of print. This doesn't exactly make him happy and he chooses to fight it instead of go back to war. He figures he's done fighting for his country. He did his job and now it's the armies turn to live up to their side of the agreement. And guess what? You can't really argue that he's wrong. The film is absolutely solid and riveting. It meanders a bit for my taste. I would have prefered much more time with the great ensemble of characters instead of focusing so heavily on Phillippe and Cornish as they cross state lines to try to get answers and help. The acting is all top notch. Phillippe, who is usually very hit or miss for me, is superb and does some very emotional, gritty work. War films usually leave very little for women to work with but Cornish does a great job of playing a woman trying to deal with her fiancee seemingly choosing war over her. Tatum is amazing as well. (I just need to say this - as a film fanatic, I want to thank Kimberly Peirce for this movie, but as a woman, I want to thank Kimberly Peirce for the scene of Tatum digging a foxhole in his underwear). It's tiring to hear people complain that Tatum can't act. Clearly, they haven't seen A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints. And they can't really say that after seeing this movie either. He doesn't have the biggest role but he does wonders with what he has to work with. Then there's Gordon-Levitt. I think it's pretty clear how I feel about him. He's, hands down, the best actor under thirty (forty, even, maybe). He's done increasingly impressive work ever since Manic. His performance here is really amazing. He gives layers and layers of rage that can only be hinted at on a page. He plays an alcoholic who enjoys target practice with the marriage presents he and his wife (Mamie Gummer) recently recieved. He's a little bit funny, a little bit tragic and just plain outstanding. His final scene is riveting. In the hands of a lesser actor, his character could have been completely forgettable but instead, Gordon-Levitt has instead created the perfect picture of a haunted and tormented soul. His performance is amazing and the movie is really the first truly good verging on great film of 2008.
Grade: B+

Wristcutters: A Love Story - Now this is my kind of movie! It's a unique and original idea - people who commit suicide and end up in a place that is just like life only worse. It stars Patrick Fugit and Shannyn Sossoman. It's wacky and enjoyable and quirky and funny and a little depressing but mostly uplifting. It's not exactly groundbreaking or anything but it does serve as a reminder that sometimes you can find beauty in the strangest of places.
Grade: B+

Horrorfest 2008 continues...
Tooth and Nail - I hope I haven't peaked so soon. Last year it took me until near the end of my run to find The Hamiltons and so I appreciated it all the more. I really hope Tooth and Nail isn't the best Horrorfest 2008 has to offer. I mean, it's good compared to the rest of the crap they churn out but it's nothing fantastic. It's a solid 'end of the world' story (I've been watching a lot of those lately) and has it's creepy moments, for sure. It stars Rider Strong and Rachel Miner as a group of survivors during the apocolypse who hide in a hospital to fend off evil cannibal rovers led by the great but underused Michael Madsen. It's interesting how this movie chose to have the world end. Not by war or virus or bacteria. We simply run out of oil. And guess what? That's totally believable to me. The acting is mediocre and the writing is too. It's cheesy at times and a little over the top. Still, for what it's worth, it's not a bad little horror movie.
Grade: C+
Lake Dead - And then there's this... It's like Texas Chainsaw Massacre meets Lake Placid meets The Hills Have Eyes meets some random soft core porn all done by a hack with little talent. And that's putting it nicely. Even mentioning two of those movie titles in the same paragraph with 'Lake Dead' makes me a little sick to my stomach. There is no originality, no style, no substance, no scares, nothing. I just... there's nothing really more to say. It's not getting an F just because there were times when I thought it could possibly be one of those 'so bad it's good' horror movies but it never even gets to that point. Sad.
Grade: D-


April Movie Preview...
April 4
Leatherheads stars George Clooney, Jim from the Office (ha) and Renee Zellweger. Two out of three ain't bad, I guess. Then there is The Ruins. This one has me interested. At face value it looks like just another cheesy horror movie. However, starring Jena Malone never really hurt any movie. Then there is the fact that it's based on a totally rad book. Makes things a little more interesting, now doesn't it? Now that Martin Scorsese has won his Oscar, he can pretty much do whatever the hell he wants... like make a concert film about the Rolling Stones called Shine a Light. I'd pretty much see anything Scorsese made, even if it was a movie about dentists drilling teeth or something.

April 9
Young @ Heart opens in limited release and looks so fricking great I can barely stand it.

April 11
All I can say about Prom Night is - what are these people thinking with the horror movie remakes? Still, I'll probably see it just so I can complain about how people don't have original ideas anymore and they have to taint the name of great original horror movies and no one can make a good horror movie anymore and blah, blah blah. Smart People stars Sarah Jessica Parker (who is NOT the unsexiest woman in the world and I don't care what some stupid magazine says) and Ellen Page. Two of my favorite people together in a movie? You know I wanna see it!

April 18
Al Pacino is BACK in 88 Minutes, a movie about a professor whose life is threatened after he maybe helps lock up the wrong man in a series of murders. It may be cheesy or it may be great. I'm not decided how I feel about it yet. Then there is Forgetting Sarah Marshall which is Judd Apatow's next chance to actually win me over to the dark side. By the way, Mila Kunis > Kristen Bell. Oh, and Bill Hader!!

April 25
Amy Poehler and Tina Fey may be a match made in heaven in Baby Mama. Or it may turn out like The Brothers Solomon, a similarly plotted film that looked great on paper but not so much on film. Deception stars Michelle Williams, Ewan McGregor and Hugh Jackman. I'm not entirely sure what it's about but the cast looks great! Then there is Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo. Yep. You heard me.

The Other Boleyn Girl, Southland Tales, Drillbit Taylor

The Other Boleyn Girl - Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson are probably two of the most talented young working actresses. Sure, they are hit or miss. Scarlett was fantastic in Lost in Translation, but for every Woody Allen movie there's something like The Island that balances it out. Natalie gave her absolute best performance in Closer but for every Goya's Ghost there is a Star Wars prequel to discuss. Still, they both have potential. In The Other Boleyn Girl, they play roles you think maybe should have been reversed. In real life, anyway, it seems Natalie is the meeker of the two while Scarlett is a little more extroverted. In the film, Scarlett plays soft-spoken, kind-hearted Mary Boleyn and Natalie plays manipulative Anne Boleyn. One performance works completely, the other not so much. Scarlett is all over the place in her portrayal. One moment she's great but the next her accent seems fake, her expressions are painful, etc. Meanwhile, Natalie is just great. She starts out the film as a flirtatious young troublemaker. At one point, her character is sent to exile in France. When she returns, she's a total bad ass. That's when the film really comes to life, as well. The beginning of the film is boring and long but the second half is much more enjoyable. Kristin Scott Thomas also dazzles as a sort of feminist before her time, playing the mother of the children. Eric Bana plays the mecurial Henry the VIII, although I'd rather Jonathan Rhys Myers anyday. Jim Sturgess rounds out a pretty solid cast as the brother of Anne and Mary (and try not to cry for his pretty, little head). The film is very soap opera-ish but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The editing and directing decisions aren't exactly good enough. The ending sort of assumes that everyone watching the movie is a moron (probably because most of them are). Still, the movie is not entirely bad. In fact, it's mostly interesting and entertaining. I just wish it would have gotten an R-rating so it could have been a little racier. What's the point of all the bed hopping if it's PG-13?
Grade: C+


Southland Tales - When the movie ended, my friend asked, "Did you like it?" I wasn't sure what to say at the time. Southland Tales, from Richard Kelley, the director of Donnie Darko, is by far the strangest movie I have ever seen that wasn't directed by David Lynch. However, the more I think about it (and it does stick with you whether you like it or not), the more I think I absolutely loved it (think is the operative word). What is Southland Tales about, you ask? Well, I kind of have no idea. The easiest way to explain is to say it's about the end of the world. At one point in the film, about half way through, there is a sort of musical intermission where Justin Timberlake lip synchs to a song by The Killers. Sarah Michelle Gellar plays a porn star who wants to be a pop star who sings a song called "Teen Horniness is Not a Crime." There is a scene of two SUV's having sex. Seann William Scott plays twins - one's a racist cop, the other has no memory (I think). The Rock plays an action star named Boxer who is married to the daughter of a Republican senator (Mandy Moore) but sleeping with Sarah Michelle Gellar's Kristy Now (who's tag line is, "If you want to f**k me, f**k me now."). At one point, the Rock also says the following line, "I'm a pimp. And pimps don't commit suicide." Like I said, it's a strange, strange movie. Still, it was over two hours long and it didn't feel like it. It kept my interest and it was, at the very least, unique. After much thought, I think it was actually one of my favorite movies of last year. So, at first, I had no idea what grade to give it. Now I think I've made my decision and most people won't agree with it but I don't care. This is definitely not a movie for everyone.
Grade: A

Drillbit Taylor - I can't think of any reason why Owen Wilson would want to make this movie. But I am glad that he did because without his natural charm and likeability, this movie would have been just crap. I mean, it has it's moments. Unfortunately, there aren't many of them. The three kids have a sort of natural chemistry that is nice and there are, maybe, two scenes which are actually laugh out loud funny. Other than that it's amusing at best and boring at worst. I think the Judd Apatow machine may finally be falling apart. Although, this is minor Apatow - watered down, rated PG-13, no Jonah Hill. It's pre-Superbad, but not nearly as funny. There's really not much to say about the movie. It's nothing special and not very funny. Skip it!
Grade: D+

The Bank Job, Doomsday, Miss Pettigrew, Horrorfest 2 begins...

The Bank Job - In a year where I've only given one movie above a D+, The Bank Job is a welcomed film. It's not fantastic, per se, but it is, at the very least, enjoyable. It stars Jason Statham and Saffron Burrows and tells the (allegedly) true story about a bunch of small time crooks who are duped into robbing one of the most famous banks in London. You see, some very important people want to get to the contents of a certain safe deposit box. The best way to do that, you ask? Get criminals to break in, of course! I have no idea how much of this movie is actually true. Most of it seems hard to believe. Still, the movie is a mostly well done heist film. When you get over the fact that you can't understand half of the things these people with heavy British accents say, then you can mostly enjoy the film. It's fun and funny. It has a lot of action and it's well thought out. I can do without the Hollywood ending. That is what I find most unbelievable about the entire story. It's not a great movie by any means but in this crappy year of movies, it's one of the better ones.
Grade: C+


Doomsday - Doomsday is from the director of The Descent, a movie that came out a few years ago that everyone loved and I hated. It stars Rhona Mitra, Bob Hoskins, the fantastic Malcolm McDowell, and the extras from the Dr. Dre / Tupac video for California Love. It's a little bit fun, sure. It's a little bit ridiculous (and I always mean that in the best sense of the word), sure. But it's also a lot cliched. It's sort of like those really bad movies like Date Movie and Superhero Movie and Epic Movie... except Doomsday plays it completely straight. I know a lot of people loved his previous film, The Descent, but I did not. So I didn't go in giving him the benefit of the doubt. It was an overblown, unneccesary film. It has a terrible script and uses solid actors (McDowell, Hoskins) very badly. So, at least come up with an original idea! Instead it rips off everything from Mad Max to Escape to New York and Resident Evil. Doomsday doesn't pay homage to these movies. Instead it is a mash up of much better movies clumped up into one huge mess. Also, if anyone could tell me what the hell was up with the Scottish castle? Yes, the movie also gets a little Gladiator at one point. If you like good acting, great scripts, character development, originality, thrills and suspense... then skip this movie.
Grade: D

Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day - Now, this movie isn't bad at all. It's cute (sometimes a little too cute, courtesy of Amy Adams... we'll get to that in a minute). It's a little bit fun and mostly well written and well done. Plus, it stars one of the greatest actresses working today and someone who has the possiblity to be one of the great actresses - Frances McDormand and Amy Adams, respectively. If anything, this movie is best described as a missed opportunity. It could have been more clever and funnier and just all together tighter. McDormand is fine in her role. Adams is cutesy... and I'm starting to have a problem with that. Amy Adams is cute. Yes, I know. She's nearly as cute as a kitten or a bunny or something. Still, when I watch her I'm beginning to get the feeling that I've seen it all before. In Junebug, she was cute. In Enchanted, she was cute. In this, she was cute. I mean, she's a great actress... but it's time to do something different! I want to see her play a serial killer or a child molester or a hooker or something (and not a cutesy Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman hooker either). I still have hope for her though. I will reserve my final judgments until after Doubt which comes out later this year. I believe she has range and can do darker, more serious things... I just need to see it. The movie is very hit or miss but it's great to see McDormand on screen again. She hasn't really had a juicy role since Fargo. Since then she's just been playing mothers and sisters and friends. I know she's a character actress but so is Johnny Depp and he's a huge star so why can't McDormand be as well? In the end, the movie is decent and at times enjoyable. However, it is missing one very important element - heart. Everyone seems to be going through the motions and nothing ever really connects with the audience. It's a shame because this movie could have been something much more and much better.
Grade: C-

Horrorfest 2
Nightmare Man - Ugh. If this is any indication of how Horrorfest 2.0 is going to go then I think I'll change my mind about watching all 8 films (again). Why subject myself to such potential misery? Last years crop of films were mediocre at best and downright awful at worst. But, I did find a solid little gem called The Hamiltons and I'm hoping to do that again this year. I mean, they can't all be awful, right? Hopefully not, but Nightmare Man is, ahem, a nightmare. It's a story everyone has heard a million, trillion times before. Crazy bad actress wants to have a baby so she orders a fertility mask which ends up possibly being a demon who haunts her dreams and potentially lives inside her. Or... is she crazy? It's hard to tell because she's such a lousy actress. Anyway, en route to a mental institution where her husband is taking her, the car runs out of gas. Husband walks back to gas station. Wife / bad actress / annoying bitch gets chased through the woods by Nightmare Man and ends up coming upon a cabin in the middle of nowhere. Inside are two couples playing Truth or Dare (do people who are not 12 actually play this game?) and faking orgasms and stripping and being lesbians (of course!). Blah blah blah. Slasher cliches ensue. If Mystery Science Theater was still on the air, this would be one of their favorite films to tear apart. There is almost nothing redeeming here. There is one kid (I don't know any of their names and I don't care to learn them) who isn't a terrible actor... but he dies pretty quickly. I don't know which is worse - the script or the acting. There are bad continuity errors (and I don't even usually notice this stuff but it's sooooo bad and obvious here), the make up is cheesy and the movie is the exact opposite of scary. I'm just hoping all of the Horrorfest 2.0 movies aren't this bad.
Grade: F

Mini Reviews

I know I've been slacking lately - watching tons of movies and not updating about them. It won't happen anymore - promise. As for now, I'm going to right a bunch of small reviews just to get caught up...


Semi-Pro - The best thing about this movie is, for sure, the preview for Sex and the City that shows before the movie starts. Other than that, Semi-Pro is sort of a big, unfunny mess. Will Ferrell will keep on keeping on, for sure but I think he needs to stop with the sports movies. Any remotely funny part is in the trailer and Will Arnett can't even save this floundering mess. It's not a bad movie, per se, just boring and trite and unfunny. So far, I've only given one grade out that wasn't in the D family (at least my year end Worst List will have a lot of contenders).
Grade: D

10,000 B.C. - Seriously. I don't know what else there is to say about how bland and terrible the films of 2008 have been so far (with the exception of Cloverfield which wasn't even THAT good). I just hope things turn around with the release of Stop Loss later this year. Anyway, this movie is mild and boring where is should be bold and wild. It is plagued by weak dialouge and even weaker characters. Even the special effects are inconsistent at best. The only positive thing I can say about this movie is that Camilla Belle is perfectly cast. I've always thought her beauty is other worldly. She is of a different time and age but she deserves better surroundings than this.
Grade: F


Romance and Cigarettes - With a great cast that includes Susan Sarandon, Kate Winslet, Steve Buscemi, Christopher Walken and more, it's hard to imagine where this movie went oh-so-wrong. There are times when the movie is really funny and great (pretty much any time Winslet is on the screen) but other than that it's messy and often times ridiculous. Now, I love a ridiculous movie as much as the next person but this is so far past ridiculous into the realm of silly that it just can't be seen as good.
Grade: D


Silk - Starring Michael Pitt and Kiera Knightley (my god, are they not the most beautiful couple on the planet!? It was really like a battle of who has the better cheek-bones at times here), this movie takes place in the 1800's and centers on the silk industry (duh). It's long, it's boring, it's about romance and deciet and all that great stuff. Still, I found it at least slightly entertaining. The end was a great little twist. It was often too much of the same exact thing over and over again but Pitt and Knightley are engaging and the movie isn't bad so much as it is boring.
Grade: C


Things We Lost in the Fire - The thing that elevates this movie from below average to slightly better than average is Benicio Del Toro and his perfect portrayal of a heroin addict. He is always better than good and at times just perfect. I would have liked this movie even more if it was just about him. I could care less about Halle Berry, someone who is absolutely beautiful, but, let's face it kids, not a great actress. The fact that she has an Oscar and Kate Winslet doesn't makes me want to scream sometimes. But, enough about that. The movie is mostly anti-climactic and poorly written. Again, it's not necessarily bad. If you are a Del Toro fan than you should see it.
Grade: C+


The Gift - I saw this Sam Raimi directed movie years and years ago but didn't remember much about it. As I watched it, I did realize that I remembered how it ended (or else, the 'twist' is so absolutely obvious that a 3 year old could figure it out) but I still think it's an expertly done mystery thriller with a superb cast. It's got Cate Blanchett, Giovanni Ribisi, Keanu Reeves, Hilary Swank, J.K. Simmons, Gary Cole, Greg Kinnear and more. Ribisi really acts the hell out of this movie. He's easily the stand out. No one really does creepy yet oddly sexy quite the way he does. However, I was mostly really surprised by Reeves who is usually so wooden it's hard to find him enjoyable but he was strong here. Of course, Cate was Cate - beautiful, amazing, perfect in every way.
Grade: B+


Finally, let's talk about Gus Van Sant...
I officially take back all of the mean things I said about him after Finding Forrester. I also completely take back all the mean things I said about his upcoming Paranoid Park. He is officially one of my favorite directors working today after recently watching his 'Death Trilogy.' [Spoilers maybe... I mean... if you don't want to know that people die in the following movies.] A few years ago, I watched a movie called Last Days. It was loosely based on Kurt Cobain and starred Michael Pitt. I wasn't sure what to make of it at the time. Part of me absolutely loved how it meandered about and was more concerned with long takes of nature than actual story telling. Part of me wanted to call it a modern day masterpiece. Another part of me, however, wanted to know why I just wasted two hours of my life on this movie that could have been told in 10 minutes. But, Gus Van Sant isn't really interested in story, per se. He's more interested in all the beauty that is everywhere around us in this ugly world. The beauty is even more significant when being paralelled with such bleak concepts as suicide, murder and mass shootings. And, after watching the Death Trilogy individually and then together (thanks to movie night!), I can say I appreciate it more than ever. Maybe it's my current state of mind. I don't know. But Gerry, Elephant and Last Days are outstanding movies by themselves but together... they are just perfection. Elephant was easily my favorite of the three but all three are exceptional and worth watching either by themselves or together. I mean, if you have the patience for it. I've changed my grades since seeing the three of them together (something I don't like to do but I've made an exception here).
Elephant - A
Gerry - A-
Last Days - B+