The Last House on the Left + more

The Last House on the Left - Here's something that bodes well for the upcoming remake of Nightmare on Elm Street: it seems Hollywood is only capable of remaking Wes Craven movies. A few years ago, the remake of The Hills Have Eyes was released and I still stand by the fact that it's the only remake ever to surpass the original. I won't go quite so far as to say that with The Last House on the Left remake... but it's still a hell of a good movie.
First of all, the direction by Dennis Iliadis is superb. You can tell he's trying to give the studio what they want while still trying to stay true to a certain artsy sensibility. Some of the shots in the movie are downright beautiful and don't necessarily belong in a genre film. There is a particular shot of it beginning to rain while a young girl floats in a lake that is just breathtaking.
The violence in the movie is immediate and it is unflinching and relentless. But horror movies were always made to push boundaries and cross lines. This is a horror movie (and I don't even really like calling it a horror movie because it's so not) that illustrates the difference between gore and violence for the sake of being shocking and gore and violence for the sake of emotion. Without a grisly, raw, disturbing torture and rape sequence, the subsequent actions of a mother and father would make no sense. You need to see what happens to a young girl in order to feel the need for revenge.
The movie mostly stays true to the plot of the original film (a remake itself): Mari (Sara Paxton) is on vacation with her doctor father (Tony Goldwyn) and teacher mother (Monica Potter). The family is mourning the loss of a son and they decide to get away to their lake house for vacation. Mari escapes into town to hang out with her friend Paige (Martha MacIssac) who works at the local general store. The two run into Justin, a teen (Spencer Treat Clark) who promises that if Paige sells him cigarettes, he'll get them weed. Soon they are off to a cabin to smoke weed together. Justin's family isn't supposed to be home... but guess what? They show up and they are not friendly people. They are led by a murderer (Garret Dillahunt) who recently escaped on his way to prison with the help of his brother Francis (Aaron Paul) and his girlfriend Sadie (Riki Lindhome). Then the unthinkable happens. After a car accident, Mari is raped and left for dead, shot and floating in a lake, likely to drown (little do the killers know, she's a very good swimmer!). Crew and his gang walk to the nearest house to escape an incoming store. Ironic twist! It happens to be the house of Mari's parents. When Mari stumbles to the house on her last leg, her parents exact revenge on the men (and woman) who tried to kill their daughter.
The performances are all great with Best in Show awards going to Potter as the kick ass vengeful mom and Dillahunt as the madman con. Paxton is so moving and heartbreaking during her torture scenes and while Goldwyn might be the weakest link, he's still effective as the stoic doctor trying to be strong for his family. The director adds a touch of emotion that's not necesarily found in the orignal. Combine that with great photography and great performances and you've got yourself a pretty good thriller. Sure, it drags at times. It could have been edited a bit quicker. There's a particular death scene that seems to last for 30 minutes. Some of the scenes might be a little too much. But mostly, it's a good film.
The Last House on the Left is more than a violent, bloody gore movie. It's a parents worst nightmare and it has a surprising amount of emotion and when the film is at its best, it's oddly beautiful.
Grade: B-
EDIT: The more I think about this movie, the more I really love it. It sticks with you, that's for sure. Despite the fact that it becomes a typical thriller in the last 20 minutes or so (and even when it's typical, it's still fricking awesome), it's still the best slasher genre film in the last few years. It's artistic and intelligent and well done. So I'm changing my grade even though I don't like to do that. Also, watching Aaron Paul, who plays Francis so well, get his ass kicked on Breaking Bad on Sunday night was kind of cathartic.
New Grade: B+

Mini reviews...
Battle in Seattle - Directed by actor Stuart Townsend and featuring top notch performances from Charlize Theron, Michelle Rodriguez, Martin Henderson, Jennifer Carpenter, Woody Harrelson and Ray Liotta, Battle in Seattle is based on the true story of peaceful activism that went horribly wrong in Seattle in 1999. For anyone who ever wished the world was a better place - this movie is for you.
Grade: A

Synecdoche, New York - Another ensemble cast featuring Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Michelle Williams, Samantha Morton, Emily Watson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Hope Davis and Dianne Wiest, Synecdoche is the directorial debut of fiercly brilliant and unique screenwriter Charlie Kaufman. And guess what? It's fiercly brilliant and unique! A lot of people might find it pretentious and that's fine. It is pretentious. But it's also one of the most deeply affecting movies I've seen in a very long time. Had I seen it before 2008 ended, it would have ended up nicely at number 2 on my top 10 list. It's almost impossible to give a plot summary. Go to imdb. Go to the memorable quotes. There is a particular monologue given by "Minister" that more or less sums up the entire point of the movie. It's almost impossible to sum up in words how I feel about this movie other than to say this - it's brilliant.
Grade: A+

Watchmen

Maybe it's because I never read the graphic novel. I don't know. Maybe I just don't get it. But when I say I hated Watchmen, I really hated Watchmen. I've heard it's a pretty faithful adaptation but I also heard the graphic novel was intelligent and thought-provoking. This movie is anything but. There is no soul here. Eventhough I very much love at least three of the actors in this movie, I didn't care about any of the characters at all. Not even a little bit. These characters just aren't fleshed out at all. The bromance between Night Owl and Rorschach is more realistic than the big love triangle and I don't think it should be. The movie is long but I love long movies. I have no problems with long movies... as long as they use the time wisely. I'm not sure that Watchmen does that. Also, being long is the least of the problems here. I know action movies (if this is even an action movie since there are long stretches where there is NO action whatsoever) don't necessarily need good scripts but the writing here was really terrible. The dialogue was very lacking of any wit or intelligence. And, sure, the special effects were great but it's 2009 - the special effects better be great!
The soundtrack was pretty amazing... but it doesn't fit the movie at all. You know when you see a movie and there is a certain scene and a certain song and you think, "My Lord, that song was just made for that scene!" Well, this movie is sort of the opposite of that. The songs were all great but with the exception of the great use of "The Times They Are A-Changing" by Bob Dylan, none of the songs fit with the movie at all. Also, just so you know, when I hear "Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen, I do not automatically think, "steamy sex scene." At all.
The acting was lacking at best. There was one person in this movie that was amazing - Jackie Earle Haley as Rorshchach. He was a complete and total badass and he was the one and only thing about this movie that made it worth watching (with the exception of Patrick Wilson's ass... which was just lovely). All of the other actors (and I adore Patrick Wilson and Matthew Goode and I like Billy Crudup a hell of a lot) were adequate at best. I do give props to the casting people for actually hiring real actors and not action heroes... but it just doesn't work.
Bascially, the movie was just a big mess. It was inconsistent and disjointed. At one point, near the end, I totally forgot about the basic plot of the movie. Rorschach said, "We need to find out who killed the Comedian" and I was all, "Oh yeah! That's what this mess is about." I'm sure everyone had the best of intentions but with their best efforts, came an incoherent mess.
Grades...
A+ for Patrick Wilson's ass
A- for Jackie Earle Haley's badass performance
D for the overall movie.