Mini DVD Reviews

Paranoid Park - It's no secret that I think Gus Van Sant is brilliant. A genius, even. He is most definitely ever present on a list of my top ten directors of all time (perhaps I shall make that list sometime...). And while I like to pretend that the ill-conceived Psycho remake never really happened, I have come to terms with the all around mediocre lameness of Finding Forester. After all, he's better than those two bit boring films. And Paranoid Park is the next film to prove it. With it's minimilistic cineamatography, non-linear story telling and mostly non-professional cast, Parnoid Park is another gem from Van Sant. It's exceedingly well done with an interesting story (did a high school skateboarder accidentally kill a security guard?) and great acting from lots of unknowns. Van Sant has not disappointed me in a very, very long time.
Grade: B+

Return to Sleepaway Camp - Having long been a believer that Sleepaway Camp is one of, if not, THE best horror films, perhaps my expectations were too high for the long, long, LONG awaited sequel. And since the original Sleepaway Camp has possibly the best twist ending ever, the sequel can't possibly top it, right? Well, unfortunately, it is right. While Return to Sleepaway Camp has the same cast (Felicia Rose and more!) and the same director, it also, unfortunately, has the same story line. There is little difference between the original and the sequel... except for, you know, twenty years or so. You can see the big twist ending coming a mile away and the main character is probably the most annoying horror movie character since Franklin in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Still, it's not a total bust. The death scenes are all original and cool as hell, my friend Nick has a scene stealing cameo and, well, it's just great to have the original cast back together. It's not a great film by any means but it's a fun way to spend an hour and a half.
Grade: C

Get Smart - The best parts are pretty much everything you see in the trailers. There's nothing really to expand on here. Bill Murray's cameo in a tree is brilliant. Other than that, I wasn't shocked by anything: Alan Arkin is a hilarious scene stealing genius, Steve Carrell is adorably dorky, Anne Hathaway is a terrible actress and The Rock has a certain amount of charm that makes up for his lack of talent. It's not a bad movie by any means... it's just not good either.
Grade: C

Transiberian - Now let's talk about the hidden film gem of 2008. I never even heard of this movie. Usually, I at least hear of most films. If I haven't heard of something, then I think it's probably a bad sign. But the cast of this film was enough to make me change my mind and give it a try. After all, it's got Ben Kingsley, Woody Harrelson, Kate Mara and, of course, Emily Mortimer who is so good and so fantastic in this film. The film follows a young couple (Mortimer and Harrelson) who get entangled in a drug trafficking plot while traveling on a train through Russia. Kingsley plays a drug agent who is on to their incidental involvement. Of course, there's so much more to the story but I wouldn't want to spoil anything. Plus, there's so much story it would take forever to explain. Basically, let me say this - Transiberian is totally worth it. It's completely engulfing, interesting and pleasantly surprising.
Grade: B

Pathology - Next on to a film which is neither engulfing, interesting or pleasant in any way. It follows Milo Ventimiglia from Heroes as a pathology student who gets involved with a little game. He and the rest of the med students begin to kill random people. The others have to figure out how it was done. Interesting concept, I guess, but that's all it really has going for it. The acting is mediocre, at best. The character arcs of certain people are completely unbelievable and bizarre. It lacks any likeable characters to cheer for. It's just a bad film, plain and simple.
Grade: D

Birds of America - Who is the MVP of pretty much every movie he's ever been in? If you answered BEN FOSTER, then you're right. Birds of America is just above terrible. The only saving grace, really, is Foster and his performance as a man so sick of society that he begins eating berries and living by a ravine. Maybe it's that I can completely relate to him because that's what I want to do just about every day of my life or maybe it's just that he's such a fantastic actor (or probably both) but it was enough to keep me interested in an otherwise dull and boring movie.
Grade: D+ (the plus is for Foster, of course)

Coming soon - Bond. James Bond.

Porn, Angelina and a wedding...

Zack and Miri Make a Porno - Well, if you expect Zack and Miri to make a porno that's what you are going to get. Here's the thing: if you like Kevin Smith and his 'humor' then you will probably like this movie. If you don't, then you won't. Kevin Smith is very, very hit or miss for me. I liked Dogma and Chasing Amy and that's about it. Call me pretentious, but I like my comedy without dick and fart jokes (and that's just the tip of the iceberg in this movie). Still, it's not all bad. Smith manages to mix the sweetness in with the naughtiness and that actually works for the most part. It doesn't hurt that Seth Rogen (Zack) and Elizabeth Banks (Miri - trying not to look like the goddess bombshell that she is) have great comedic chemistry together. Their love story is actually borderline believable. Everyone knows the plot by now - Zack and Miri can't pay their bills so they decide to make a quick buck the old fashion way - making porn. They enlist help from Craig Robinson (the scenestealer best known as Daryl on The Office), Jason Mewes (Kevin Smith's muse who does full frontal) and a couple of actual porn stars. Then there's Justin Long who all but steals the show in his brief ten minute or so part. For me, Zack and Miri was hit and miss. At times it was very, very funny. At times it was very, very touching. At times it was just silly. And at times it went just a little too far.
Grade: C+

Changeling - About five years ago, Clint Eastwood directed the shit out of a movie called Mystic River. For my money, there were few films better directed than that film. After making something so near perfect (not to mention other great turns with Million Dollar Baby, Flags of Our Fathers and Letters to Iwo Jima), how could Eastwood possibly make a film so... sloppy. Maybe sloppy isn't necessarily the word. The movie starts out like a Lifetime film (not necessarily a bad thing since I've been known to watch a Lifetime movie or two in my day) and eventually turns into a crime procedural. The beginning half works very well. Eastwood makes old school Los Angeles look and feel just right. It doesn't hurt that he's got a top notch performance from Angelina Jolie to work with. As a young mother searching for her son who has gone missing, she's phenominal. There is one particular scene - you've seen it in the trailer when she's yelling "I want MY son back" - that is particularly emotional once you see it in context (SPOILER ALERT - she's actually yelling this at the ten year old boy pretending to be her son). As no real fan of Angelina (I can't think of one thing I actually liked her in...), I'm a big enough person to admit she's stellar and worthy of that Oscar nomination. Still, the second half of the movie falls apart and it's mostly due to some poor editing. Make that very poor editing. There's a particular sequence that jumps between two courtroom scenes that is just jarringly bad. It's almost unthinkable that someone who is as much of a pro as Eastwood would let a sequence in his film. All in all, Changeling isn't necessarily bad... it's just mediocre.
Grade: C

Rachel Getting Married - First off, I love hand held camera work probably more than anything when it's done well. And in Rachel Getting Married, it's done very, very, very well. Jonathan Demme goes for a raw, emotional, intimate feel with his direction and it was a great decision. There's a lot to praise about Rachel Getting Married, starting with the great camera work, continuing on to the smart, clever and emotionally powerful script and finishing with a quartet of stellar performances (from best to even better - Bill Irwin as an overprotective father, Anne Hathaway as an emotionally stunted, volatile young woman recently released from rehab, Debra Winger as a passive/aggressive mother and RoseMarie DeWitt as the titular Rachel, struggling with a sister who constantly steals the spotlight, even on her big wedding day). Still, there's a little bit to dislike as well, starting with a rehearsal dinner that seems like it takes five days (do we really need to see EVERYONE'S toast? we can't just see one or two?), continuing on to a completely waste of space with a dishwasher scene that lasts way too long and finishing with a final act that does little to advance the plot. Nothing really happens in the last ten minutes or so. We spend too much time dancing at a wedding and not enough time dealing with this emotionally stunted dysfuntional family. Still, in the end, Rachel Getting Married is this powerful, viscious, cruel, dangerous film that is also pretty damn good.
Grade: B

Tomorrow - The hidden gem of 2008 and Bill Murray in a tree. Also, I may or may not confess my love for Emily Mortimer.