Southland Tales

Richard Kelly thinks highly of himself and of his movies. He fought the studio who wanted to release an edited version of Southland Tales and in the end they gave him the movie and let him do with it what he wanted. Kelly seems intent on creating movies that show how creative or clever he can be without a high regard for continuity or story telling. This movie was booed at film festivals, panned mercilessly by every critic, played in Sacramento for only one week and the Blockbuster employee tried to talk me out of renting it for about 15 minutes. Yet, I had a pull to watch it. I had just come off of Donnie Darko and was ready to be entertained if more than a little confused. Did I make the right decision?

In the near future Justin Timberlake will be stationed on a giant sniper rifle off the pacific ocean and he will be reading from Revelations (The Bible) as The Rock, writes a screen play about the end of the world while banging Sarah Michelle Gellar who will be a porn star, turned pop star, turned marketing whore. In the near future Sean William Scott will be a cop and his twin and Cheri Oteri and Amy Poeller will be liberal crazies trying to destroy the conservative government with Marxist ideology. In this future nothing at all will make sense. Jon Lovitz will appear for no reason at all and in the end, the end of the world may be set off by a guy and his future self finally meeting and touching. Sound like fun? Yeah not so much!

Even if this is a literal adaptation of Revelations (the theory that makes the most sense) Southland Tales may be the single worst movie I have ever seen. The acting is porn star bad, the script is self congratulatory without making any damn sense and even the visuals pale in comparison to Kelly's last movie. The story is so over the top it borderlines on stupid and while it may be trying to grasp at social commentary it all gets lost in the ridiculous stunt casting of former Saturday Night Live performers. However, all of that could be forgiven if I was entertained but on top of all the other faults, this movie is just BORING! I was checking my watch about 5 minutes in and continued to do it throughout this absolute atrocity of a film. It is a slap in the face to real guilty pleasures. If strip clubs are guilty pleasures and hookers just make you feel guilty, Southland Tales is the hooker who follows you home after getting paid and tells your wife about it. I am sure Richard Kelly had a grand master plan when he set out to make it and maybe there are people out there who appreciate this brand of disgusting movie, but I feel like not only was I raped over 2.5 hours of my life, I am dumber, slower, uglier, meaner and more uninteresting because of Southland Tales.

Final Grade: FF--

Donnie Darko (Cult Classic Review)

I have never met anyone who has seen Donnie Darko who had a negative review of it. I have heard it was confusing, but excellent. Everyone who sees it seems to have an affinity for it and that always intrigued me. Until now though, I hadn't really had a desire to see it. A few years ago I caught about 15 minutes of the middle of the movie and wasn't impressed, so I never thought about checking it out. However, after mid-terms last week I had some down time and decided to finally give Donnie Darko a shot.

Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhall) is not your typical teenager- he sleep walks, sees a shrink, oh and he is seeing a 6ft tall bunny rabbit. His sleep walking and following the giant bunny lead Donnie out one night and it turns out to be lucky because that night the engine dropped out of an airplane and the engine dropped through his roof and on to his bed. It would have killed him. Because he was spared, he thought he should start listening to the giant bunny who tells Donnie that the world is going to end soon unless he does the things the bunny tell him to do. The things he is supposed to do involve, arson, wielding axes and things like that. Darko is often picked on, but he finds respite from it all in the form of Gretchen Ross(Jena Malone). Gretchen is a girl with a bad family history and the two make an odd pair but they work because of their oddities. Donnie becomes sure that the giant bunny is from the future and he becomes interested in time travel and his science teacher Kenneth Monnitoff(Noah Wyle) gives him a book called The Philosophy of TIme Travel and soon the screen is lit up with passages from the book trying to explain the significance of each character and what needs to happen to keep the world from exploding. In a side plot, Jim Cunningham(Patrick Swayse) is a motivational speaker who believes all human emotion boils down to only two things- love and fear. His story comes to a fairly obvious, but bad ending.

When this movie was over I was very confused, but I was drawn to it. A day later I was still confused, but I was thinking about it. It is now five days later and I am still interested in the movie. I want to discuss it endlessly with anyone who has seen it and has a better working knowledge of it. I want to delve into it and figure it all out, but I don't have the time. Instead I have my own conjectures about what was really going on. Then, I go on-line and realize everyone has conjectures and maybe that is the point. Director Richard Kelly created a very surreal, disturbing, dark, scary, sometimes funny, pseudo intellectual world with possible time travel and possible fourth dimensions. There are little things that may or may not be important later in the movie and everything appears connected, but you have to really have time to figure it all out. If you don't have the time you get to just sit and wonder in the back of your mind if the world really ended in the world of Donnie Darko.

I am not going to bore anyone with my theory on what is going on in Donnie Darko, but I will say that it is a very interesting and entertaining movie. There are some remarkable visuals (Donnie trying to hit the bunny through the mirror for starters) and there is a lot of philosophizing about good and evil and the role of fate in life. There is also a lot of nonsense and thing sin there that seem to be there just so the director can smirk about how clever he is. The acting is fairly strong all the way around but this movie lives or dies by Gyllenhall and he keeps the movie alive with a dark, brooding, tortured, layered, some times funny performance of the ultimate emo kid.

I cannot recommend this movie to anyone, but I can recommend it to anyone who enjoys mind bending movies or just dark deep movies. I am sure subsequent viewings will enhance my pleasure as I start to pick up the littler things, or maybe more viewings will turn me off to it. I do not know, but I know it is still with me and I like that. I like that with as many movies as I watch, there are still movies that keep me wondering; movies that keep me guessing. Richard Kelly is definitely one to watch.

Final Grade- A-

Stop-Loss

Iraq war movies did not enjoy a very good 2007. The audience was telling Hollywood they did not want war in their entertainment as war movie after war movie bombed, even the big budget ones like The Kingdom were failures. However, Hollywood was not about to listen and here in early 2008 we get the first official Iraq war movie. Only opening in roughly 1,000 theaters in the country, the expectations were pretty small for this testosterone filled, MTV films movie, directed by a woman, Kimberly Pierce who had not directed a movie since 1999's Boys don't cry. It did not open to big numbers, but Saturday night in Davis it played to a nearly packed house of college liberals looking for their next fix of Anti-Bushisms. They were not disappointed.

Brandon King(Ryan Phillippe) and Steve Shriver(Channing Tatum) are best friends who led their Texas high school football to championships, and then joined the Army with misplaced anger from 9/11. They served their 5 year term and they are on their way out. Shriver has a fiance he plans to marry, Michele(The cute as hell Abbey Cornish) and Brandon is not sure what he is going to do, except drink a lot of beer. The entire unit, consisting of Tommy Burgess(the incredible Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and a few other soldiers have been welcomed to King's hometown for some parties. Monday comes quickly and when King goes to turn in his Army stuff he is informed he must go back to Iraq because he has been Stop-Lossed. Stop Loss is an army term whereas on the bottom of your contract it states if the country is at war they can change your contract to keep you in. King calls it a "backdoor draft." King wisely points out the President said the war was over and he would not return. He brakes protocol by punching out some Army guys and taking off, leaving Shriver and Burgess behind to deal with the ramifications of his action as well as their own traumatic stress disorders. King enlists Michelle's help to get to Washington to talk to a senator but when that backfires, King is faced with possibly fleeing the country and starting life as someone else.

Stop-Loss is the uneven kind of movie that hits more than it misses, but is disappointing in a way because you feel it could have been better. Being an MTV film, the editing is,at times, too frenetic and the flashbacks especially feel forced and faster than they need to be. Phillippe does a great job as he shoulders the load representing the 81,000 soldiers who have actually been stop-lossed in this country. He cries well, yells well, but he is most impressive when he is going through the reality of trying to adjust to life outside of the army. There is a scene where he encounters some thieves that is as intense a scene I have seen this year, thus far. Tatum is second fiddle, but he shows a range of acting I had not seen from him in any of his other movies. Yes, he is still shirtless, in fact shirtless and without pants at one point, and he fills out an army uniform well, but he is on his way to making a nice career for himself. The real winner though, is Levitt. Having spent the last few years in amazing indie performances, it is nice to see Levitt get some shine in a bigger picture and while he is very supporting, he haunting on screen. His Burgess uses alcohol to dull the pain of real life and Levitt's portrayal of a man spiraling to self destruction actually gives the film some more heart.

I cannot speak on realities of stop-loss or anything like that, but I can speak on how this movie deals with it and how it deals with the military in general. The opening war scene is shown with a brutal realism and the language of the young soldiers makes them quickly identifiable. Making the kids from Texas was a nice touch, because we see that they come from a pro-war area and are in fact proud to have been over there killing people, but the movie is taking a very anti-war statement showing how difficult these kids' lives are when they return. Shriver is prone to digging bunkers in his front yard in the middle of the night. Burgess is not good at anything but being a soldier and King is worried another tour would kill him and kill his family. In all of this is Kimberly Pierce, finding a way to manipulate the audience emotions almost as well as she did with Boys don't Cry. It all played well in the theater jam packed with hacky sack playing, protest rally attending college kids as there were even cheers during anti-Bush sentiments, but I wasn't completely won over.

I am not against war movies, in fact, when done well I quite like them, and in the grand scheme of it all, this was a pretty good movie. The disappointing ending was probably the most real way it could have gone, but I feel like I wanted more from some of the supporting cast. I wanted to know more about Shriver and why he was so intent on sniper school and I would have loved more screen time for Levitt and his masterpiece of acting as Burgess. Also, I know some late editing was done to cut out the sex, but in doing so they made a lot of unnecessary sexual undertones between Michelle and Brandon. I understand why they decided to leave out the pair having sex, but then it leaves a bunch of scenes leading up to it that don't end up going anywhere. A weird complaint maybe, but if you see it I think you'd understand. Phillippe continues to try and get away from being just a pretty boy and he is proving to be a pretty good actor, but in the end this is still just an MTV movie filled with guys who like to drink beer and shoot guns.

Overall Grade: B-

21

Everything I learned about black jack I learned from a book called Bringing Down the House. It is the book on which this movie is based. My love for the book lead to an unusual excitement for this movie. I say unusual because nothing about the trailer made the movie look like something people needed to see. Add to that the fact that I am not a Vegas guy nor a gambling guy, it seems weird I wanted to see this movie so badly. Also, before I go any further, I try to not be one of those elitist jerks who says "well the book is better than the movie." I understand movies have to do in a little over 2hrs what a book can do in 500 pages. I do not judge a movie based on how the book was or what was in the book. This wills strictly be about the movie, 21.

Ben Campbell(Jim Sturgess) is an extremely bright college student with a rain man like quality when it comes to numbers. He is also from a fairly poor family and is trying to get into Harvard Medical School. If he does not get the full ride scholarship given to only 1 student, he will have to come up with $300,000.00. Ben is a total nerd who spends his nights with his two best friends trying to create a robot car, but he and his friends dream of having a life adventure and he dreams of scoring the hottest MIT girl ever, Jill Taylor(Kate Bosworth). One night as he is studying he is approached by Fisher(Jacob Pitts) who tells Ben he must him. When they reach their destination, Ben sees a room with his favorite Professor, Mikey Rosa(Kevin Spacey), Jill Taylor and two others. They are playing black jack. Well, they are counting cards. Ben is offered a spot on the MIT black jack team and is promised more money and more fun than he could possibly imagine. He is resistant at first, but Jill with her piercing blue eyes and big, sexy pouty lips is very persuasive. Ben is a pro at counting card and he is soon winning ungodly amounts of money, very quickly. Each team member changes persona's depending on the Casino and soon the reserved Ben is a full on big time player in the world of Vegas. It all seems perfect but the more popular and into Black jack he gets in Vegas, the worse things get for him at school and before to long everything he "worked" for is gone and his gambling addiction truly cost him everything.

As movies go, this is one of the most slick I have seen in a while. The clothes, performances, locations, camera shots and everything else are extremely slick and polished, much like everything in Las Vegas. Sturgess, whose dreamy earnest eyes caught my attention in Across the Universe, puts on a very believable American accent and is very good in transitioning between MIT nerd and Vegas hot shot. He looks good in all of the suits and he captures Ben's descent into addiction pretty well. Bosworth is mostly eye candy, and while she is a little too skinny for my taste, she looks damn good all dolled up in Las Vegas. She has a very nice sexual chemistry with Sturgess and actually gives a bit of depth to a stock character. Laurence Fishbourne who shows up as a Casino loss prevention officer on the heels of catching Ben, is a true thug, but a veteran thug who knows his livelihood is nearing its end. The true star though is Spacey. Spacey is in pure snarky, leader of the pack form here. He really gets to let loose as the Professor with a dark past of gambling. He plays the devil almost as he shows he doesn't really care about anyone, just the money. Every time he is on screen the movie gets a bit more exciting, but he never over steps his bounds and lets the young cast get theirs.

I was never bored, even if I felt they could have tightened the story up a bit and the shots of Black Jack actually make the game look a lot more exciting than it really is. The direction is fast and the editing is a little choppy but it actually works with the overall style of the film. Sure, it is probably a lot more style over substance, but that is not to say there is no substance to be found. 21 captures how devastating gambling addiction can be and how devastating losing yourself can be. However, it wraps things up in a pretty little Hollywood bow, which is my chief complaint about the movie. I did not think the mostly happy ending went with the themes, but I understand the American public demands the bad guys get theirs and the good guys find redemption.

Overall this is thoroughly entertaining movie that is not ruined by the typical ending. The performances are strong and the direction is interesting and the pace never gets bogged down. Here comes my little bit about the book- If you enjoyed 21, I highly suggest seeking out Bringing down the House by Ben Mezrich. The movie focuses solely on the Las Vegas exploits, but the book gets to delve even deeper into what happened each of the members of this real life team. While it is a non fiction book it reads as quickly as a fictional story. I really enjoyed the movie and it actually makes me want to read the book all over again.

Final Grade: B+

Horton Hears a Who

Movies based on Dr Seuss books are generally considered to suck. I actually liked the live action Grinch based on my love for Jim Carrey, but I understood why people hated it. Well, Carrey is back in a Dr. Seuss movie but this time it is just his voice. Maybe I am a lone in this but I always think it weird in animated movies for people to voice characters that are vastly different in shape to the people voicing it. I just assume a big character should be played by a big guy, so I had that hurdle to leap over when I first saw the trailer for it. Also featuring the voices of Steve Carrell, Seth Rogen, Amy Poeller, Will Arnet, Jonah Hill, Isla Fisher, Dan Fogler and comedy legend Carol Burnett, you have kind of a who's who of comedy in America right now.

Like most of Seuss' stories, Horton is a fairly straight forward story with a message. Horton(Carrey) hears something on a tiny speck that is flying through the air and he believes he has to help whatever is on the speck. The Sour Kangaroo(Burnett), who kind of runs the jungle, doesn't like it one bit because she believes it will start giving kids ideas about imagination and it will ruin the order of the Jungle. She is determined to get the clover on which Horton has placed the speck. So much so that she sends a Vulture(Arnett in a hilarious cameo) after it and in the end sends an angry mob after it. Horton is affable, earnest and kind of dorky, but he is 100% on the mission of getting the speck to safety, especially after finally making contact with the Mayor(Carell) of the speck. The Mayor tells Horton that the speck is an entire town of people and in the town nothing bad has ever happened. The Mayor is a spastic, awkward, on the edge kind of guy and he doesn't really have the respect of the town or his only son JoJo who should be the next mayor when the time comes. it is a Dr. Seuss book so in the end it all gets worked out and children watching this movie or reading that book learn the valuable lessons of sticking to your word, believing in yourself, using your imagination is fun, and peer pressure kind of sucks.

Carrey still seems like kind of an odd choice for Horton, but I liked him in the role a lot. He really lends himself to animation but it almost always seemed within the realms of the story when he goes on a Carrey like tangent. Carell is pitch perfect as the awkward mayor which is not terribly shocking. As a fast moving mouse friend of Horton's, Rogen is limited but funny and actually all of the voice work is pretty exceptional. The animation is at times gorgeous, sweeping and magnificent and at times very cartoonish and awkward (The Monkeys especially). The movie moves quickly enough and while it doesn't seem like there is enough material for an 85 minute movie, I was not ever actually bored by any of it. It is a great story for children and the movie plays very well to children. There is enough humor for adults though to make it relatively interesting.

My biggest issue with the movie was the anime section, where Horton's fight fantasy is drawn and shot like a Pokemon cartoon. It was from way out in left field and did nothing to enhance my movie going experience. In fact, it was quite off putting and it took me a little while to get back into the story. Also, having kind of an affinity for the world of Horton though Seussical, I missed the songs. I missed the music big time, actually. I know Carrey and Carell can both sing and they threw in a random song at the end but, I really missed the world of Seussical. It is no fault of the movie, but it did hinder my enjoyment a bit.

Overall, while I enjoyed it at times and the voice work is excellent, there were too many random things and unnecessary animation tricks to make this a completely enjoyable experience. I know this movie is not aimed at me. I get that, I do, but if Pixar can continue to make great movie for both kids and adults, why is it too much to ask that other animated movies do the same?

Final Grade: C+

Be Kind Rewind

I always felt like one of the last people in America to convert over to the DVD player. In fact, I still have a box of VHS tapes of movies I have not found on DVD quite yet, and I bust one out and watch it every so often. Sure, they don't have the picture or video quality of DVD and VCRs have been known to chew through them fairly regularly, but I like the nostalgia of the VHS. Apparently, I was not the last one though, because in Michel Gondry's latest bizarre movie, Be Kind Rewind, there is essentially an entire town, Passaic, New Jersey, that is stuck in the nostalgia of the VHS.

Mike( Mos Def) works in a run down, nothing-but-VHS video rental store and Elroy Fletcher(Danny Glover) is the owner of the store and they both seem to live upstairs. Business is not good with a new box rental store (Think Blockbuster or Hollywood) has come in with lots of titles and lots of DVDs. Elroy is not keen on the DVD player because he doesn't want his customers to have to purchase the upgrade. Jerry(Jack Black) is Mike's best friend and his job is to watch some sort of power plant at night, so his house is a trailer on the lot of the plant. Mike and Jerry do not know this, but Elroy has been told by the state that his store is not up to code and it will be knocked down to build new condos in a matter of months if he cannot afford the renovations. Elroy leaves the store in Mike's hands while he goes to spy on the big box store. One night Jerry tries to destroy the plant, something goes horribly wrong and he gets magnetized; he walks into Mike's shop and with his mere presence erases every tape in the store. At first everything seems doomed because the most regular customer, Miss Falowicz, wants to watch Ghostbusters. Then, Mike gets the brilliant idea to shoot Ghostbusters themselves, all low tech like. It turns out to be a hit with the youth in town and soon everyone wants Mike and Jerry's low tech movies that they say are "sweded." They enlist the goofy, cute, Alma (Melonie Diaz) to help them and soon their entire store is full of these sweded movies. They are charging $20.00 per movie and think they may make the money they need to save the store. Things don't always work the way you want them to and in the end the entire town comes together to create a fictional documentary about Fats Waller, a Jazz Musician who may or may not have been born inside the video store.

After I watch a movie I hit the IMDB message boards to gauge the general consensus view on a movie and I was shocked to find this movie being obliterated on the message boards. I am not sure these people saw the same movie I did because I fell in love with this movie from the very beginning. Jack Black is usually one of the most obnoxious actors on screen, but in this movie I found him to be funny and charming and his chemistry with Mos Def's somewhat slower Mike, totally worked for me. The Sweded movies are not only hilarious but creative in a way that makes me want to pick up a camera and start shooting movies. The Ghostbusters scene is the longest and funniest, but the remakes of Robocop, Driving Miss Daisy and Rush Hour 2 are also hilarious. They find a way to make low tech special effects and even animation in a way that shows real heart and passion for movies. Gondry also has fun with Black's character being magnetized in some funny physical comedy side gags. Danny Glover is also a very nice addition as he actually plays quirkiness quite well.

The final 25 minutes of this movie is where the real creativity lies though. When the entire town rallies to shoot this documentary, we see them finding ways to create all kinds of set pieces and props with just the stuff they have around them. Not to mention how having them shoot near fan gives the impression that it is old, from the sound. There is a lot of suspension of disbelief involved in enjoying this movie, but you can wrap your head around the silly premise and get to the heart of the picture I think it is very much worth it. Be Kind Rewind is a movie that believes in movie making magic. It is a movie that believes movies can bring people together in a time of crisis and can unite people in a bigger cause. It believes movies are made with heart and that movies can be good even if they are shot for basically no money. Be Kind Rewind believes in movies the way I believe in movies and the way my friends believes in movies. It is creatively shot, has some very good laugh out loud moments and underneath it all, it is heart warming.

Final Grade: A-

Drillbit Taylor

Judd Apatow and company are cash cows and Drillbit Taylor is the first movie out to really prove that they have the golden touch. See, the script and story for this movie have been floating around since the eighties. Eighties giant John Hughes started writing it back in the day and with studios trying to make as much money as possible off Apatow and his troupe, they gave the script to Seth Rogen to polish off, punch up, and turn it into a big winner. That was the hope anyway. Then they gave the script to a director who handles broad comedy fairly well having directed a few Sandler flicks in the past, put Apatow's name as a producer and sat back to wait for the money to roll in. Then Owen Wilson tried to kill himself. I do not mean to sound insensitive but his reluctance to get back in the swing of promotion kind of hurt the movie's chances, but did it really have a shot to begin with?

Drillbit Taylor(Wilson) is a homeless Army Vet looking for $380.00 so he can leave California and go to Canada. Wade(Nate Hartley), Ryan(Troy Gentile) and Jim(Ian Roberts) are three high school freshmen with a serious bully problem. The bully, Filkins(Alex Frost) is an emancipated senior with serious issues. In a montage of bullying the 3 losers are thrown, hit, flushed, crammed into small spaces, made to piss each other etc. They get fed up and decide to hire a bodyguard; enter Drillbit. At first Drillbit is just trying to to sucker the kids out of $380.00 but soon he realizes they are worth more to he sticks around to swindle them out of more money. As part of his protection plan he pretends to be a substitute teacher and meets Lisa(Leslie Mann) a very horny English teacher. In various montages, Drillbit pretends to teach the kids how to fight and how to look and feel tough. But, in the end the kids do have to fend for themselves as the usual trappings of such a comedy expose Drillbit as a fraud and the kids to fight Filkins on their own. There is also a sweet side romance between Wade and a Little Asian girl.

Typically with comedies I loathe or love them; there is no middle ground. Well, Drillbit Taylor finds that middle ground. It is funny enough to make me like it, but too broad and absurd for me to love it. The three kids, especially the pudgy Troy Gentile, are all quite endearing and funny. Rogen punched up the script with some nice one-liners including 1 or 2 that seem for a more adult movie. Owen Wilson is his usual charming self and he finds a way to deliver lines to make them funnier than they ought to be. He works very well with the 3 kids, but it is something Wilson plays often and it would be nice to see him try something new. Unfortunately most of the jokes come in the first 35-40 minutes and the fun action comedy comes in the final 20 minutes which leaves the middle 35 minutes in which the film flounders. Neither the script nor the director seem too sure where they want the focus to be. Drillbit is essentially a supporting role that over stays its welcome because the kids are at the real heart of the movie. The romance between Mann and Wilson is fun and nice but seems out of place and only succeeds in dragging the movie along instead of having it be quicker.

The movie is also very sitcomy with the treatment of parents and teachers. No one question Filkins fake pleasantries even after it is found out the kids went so far as to hire a bodyguard for protection. Also, how not a single teacher suspected Taylor might be a fraud is too convenient to be taken seriously. But it all ends up worth it for the big climatic fight. yes, the fight does happen and for anyone who was bullied (like I was) there is a twisted joy out of watching 3 losers try and pummel a bully. The fight is choreographed very well with pauses for cheers and laughs and the kids all handle it very well. Also, there is never a moment of "violence doesn't solve anything" nonsense, so the movie is never hypocritical as many movies are. In this movie violence is not only necessary but it can help freshmen grow up and learn to have self esteem.

In the end, I laughed full on big laughs for the first section and I was entertainingly cheering on the kids in the end, so I think the movie accomplished its goal. I am sure it will be compared to Superbad because of the look of the 3 kids, but this is obviously not Superbad and anyone expecting that will be disappointed. However, if you just want to kind of laugh at some goofy kids in goofy situations, I recommend this movie. It has heart; it has laughs and it has a fat white kid rapping 8 mile style. What is not to like about that?

Final Grade: B-

Sleuth (2007)

Pop quiz hot shot, when is a remake not a remake? The answer is when both are based on a play and when the remake has the advantage of having Harold Pinter as the writer of the screenplay. Such is the case with Sleuth, a remake of a 1972 film which was an adaptation of a stage play. In the 1972 version Michael Caine played the young lothario and in this version he is the older of the two men. It is very easy to see how this started as a screenplay as it features only 2 characters, one stationary, if massive, set and very distinguishable scene breaks. However, the scene breaks may have been accented for effect by Kenneth Branagh, the director.

Andrew Wyke(Caine) and Milo Tindle are two men engaged in a battle of wits or one up manship. Tindle is sleeping with Wyke's wife and has come to Wyke's house to coax Wyke into giving his wife the divorce she wants. Whther or not any of that is actually true or not is beyond me and seems to be beyond the scope of the movie and appears just to be a set up to get the two men in a room together. What follows is a very complex game of cat and mouse. In act 1 Wyke wants Tindle to break into his house and steal a necklace so he can claim the insurance on it and Tindle and Wyke's wife can sell it and live off of it. It turns around on Tindle because Wyke was controlling the whole thing. In act 2, Tindle semi-cleverly disguises himself as a detective coming to arrest Wyke for the murder of Tindle. Act 3 takes a bizarre twist and derails the entire movie because in act 3 it is never clear who is who and what is what. We have no basis to believe the homosexuality when it is hastily thrown in our faces and we are not sure what to believe in anymore. In acts 1 and 2 we kind of understood what was going on and there was a clear cut game or trick at play, but in act 3 it seems that maybe Wyke is being sincere, but it isn't fully flushed out.

Sleuth is mostly better heard than seen. Pinter's script is quick and smart and Caine and Law handle it with ease and they both sound pleasant enough. The story moves from point A to point B swiftly without ever losing the wit or charm in Pinter's words. The violin heavy score adds an element of suspense without ever becoming annoying as a lot of violin heavy scores get. On the other hand we have Branagh's decision to film giant sections of the movie through surveillance cameras or giving bizarre close ups at weird moments. He also likes over head shots and quite a lot of shots where people are only half in the picture which can be a nifty trick with great effect, but here is just seems like someone bumped the camera man and no one fixed it. Branagh appears unsure how to handle anything that is going on from the action to the massive house that is almost a character in its own right. The script has obviously gotten the best of the director here and it hurts immensely.

The acting, though, is fabulous. Law, a very strong actor, really lets it rip as Tindle the possible psychopathic actor. He is adept at the disguise that is employed in act 2 (this is not a spoiler because only 2 actors appear in the opening credits)and he reaches crazy heights in the end of act 2. He is menacing, funny, charming, intelligent and down right evil and none of them seem to be too challenging. Caine, the consummate actor, plays Wyke as a very clever yet ferocious possible homosexual. The two men do the best they can in the third act when the script and the direction fail them and between the two of them they almost salvage the movie. They have a very nice chemistry even in times of deep hatred on screen. It is clear Law was not scared to tackle the role first played on screen by his acting partner and with Caine to play off of, Law appears to be in the driver's seat of Sleuth.

Final Grade: C-

Doomsday

Doomsday is another movie in the virus-is-ending-the-world genre. It borrows liberally from I am Legend, Escape from New York, Clockwork Orange, Resident Evil, 28 days later, Mad Max, Gladiator and yes, Pulp Fiction even. It is from the director of The Descent and while it is a very different film he manages to incorporate the same style of blood and guts as that film. Also, this movie features more human beheadings than The Descent. I will leave that up to you whether that is good or bad.

In 2008 a virus is mysteriously unleashed on Scotland and the country is essentially boarded up and forgotten about. The movie in time to about 25 years in the future where we are introduced to a sexy, snarling, one-line spouting bad ass chick, Eden Sinclair (Rhona Mitra) with a detachable eye that gives her vision around corners and what not. She belongs to some sort of national police team (think about V for Vendetta) and when there is a small outbreak of the virus again, shit hits the fan. It turns out that there have been survivors in Scotland as shown by satellite footage and Sinclair will be leading a team into the seemingly abandoned country in hopes of discovering maybe an antidote for the virus. The team is comprised of 4 soldiers, 2 scientists and 2 drivers. As they reach the hospital inside Scotland, they are met with a whole crazy troop of 1980's punk rejects with make shift weapons and Molotov cocktails. The death toll really gets off to a nice start with bloody limbs flying every where and even our group of 8 heroes is very quickly whittled down. This is not the kind of movie where the small group slowly gets smaller, no sir, we lose half of the team right away, and they do not get heroic deaths- throats are cut, brains bashed in and one is just brutally beaten to death. Sinclair is captured by these ruffians who are led by a Clockwork wannabe named Sol. We figure out quickly that they survived by eating dead people. They cook and eat one of the hero squad in a pretty vile scene. Sinclair escapes and helps someone else escape who can help Sinclair find the Scientist who may have the antidote.

Here is where the movie really gets absurd. After traveling through a secret tunnel, Sinclair, the girl she saved, that girl's boyfriend and the last 2 remaining hero squad members somehow go from this weird post apocalyptic city to 1800 Scotland and in doing so are met by archers, a crazy big villain on a horse and yes, a giant Castle! Sinclair must fight the giant villain guy Gladiator style in a very stylized cool fight with pretty gruesome results and Sinclair finds out there is no antidote, just immunities to the virus. The Scientist played by Malcolm McDowell, gives a very Darwinian speech about survival of the fittest and how the virus was God's work to show the people what was truly important, which is apparently dressing like 18th century people and living in a castle that has a gift shop.

Now, it may seem as if I hated this movie and perhaps I should have hated it, but I really didn't. I was thoroughly entertained. From the cannibalism, the be-headings, the bad one-liners, even the fully rubber dressed gimp, I was laughing and cheering up a storm. Sure it is not a very good movie, but it entertained and the sheer audacity of it to rub our faces in how absurd it was really earned it points in my mind. Yes, it is pure B-movie schlock, but it is incredibly entertaining B-movie schlock. There is a very amusing car chase that features some very innovative stunts, funny moments, crashes, burning bodies and a sick ass Bentley and with all of that how bad can a movie really be?

I will not be recommending this movie to anyone really because it is ridiculous. However, if you can check your brain at the door and just go along for the very impossible ride, I think you will find yourself laughing and enjoying the movie immensely. I am sure maybe the director was hoping for a little more out of and maybe he was trying to have some social commentary about Government. cover ups, fearing God and all that stuff, but when you show a bunny being ripped apart by an automated machine gun you kind of lose the right to make a deeply serious point. As a throwback or homage to those 80s post-apocalyptic movies this really hits the nail on the head and I think John Carpenter and George Miller would approve.

Final Grade: B-

The Bank Job

Heist films will always be popular because deep down every guy wishes he could rob a bank or rob casinos. It is just the way of the world. However, heist films have always been getting so high tech, us normal guys cannot conceive being able to do that anymore. We do not have access to the kinds of toys George Clooney and Brad Pitt got in the Ocean's movies and we don't think it is practical to drive an Audi down the halls of a rich person like The Italian Job. Luckily, when people set movies in the 70s we don't have these high tech problems, such is the case with this movie.

Based on somewhat true events, The Bank job is the story of a group of 6 people who decide to take everything they can out of the safe deposit boxes in a bank. The catalyst to the whole event is a former model named Martine Love (Saffron Burrows). After being arrested for a pretty serious drug charge she calls a Government agent she knows to help out of the jam. He agrees to it if she can find a group of people to rob a bank. The Government needs the contents of a specific box but cannot be linked to the robbery. Love drops in on childhood friend Terry Leather (Jason Statham), who is a very small time criminal and he and his boys agree to the job and so it begins. There are also side plots involving high up Government people who go to a brothel and are secretly photographed and a porn king who has a ledger with his police pay offs. All of those things are in the boxes robbed by Terry and his crew. After the robbery the movie kind of tail spins a bit into a kind of predictable double cross, he-who-has-the-money-has-the-power, type of movie with the big climax in public involving all of the stories coming together.

However, before it kind of spins out of control The Bank Job is a fun, easy going movie that feels very much like the time period shown in the movie. The gang of robbers all have fun distinct personalities and the bickering from them is a lot of fun and watching them all work to make the heist happens is not only fun, but it also is a throw back and made me feel like I could actually rob a bank with just a jack hammer and a shovel. AWESOME! The script is tight and none of the scenes feel unnecessary. At times you wonder when they are going to wrap it up, but that is all in the post robbery stuff. The fun is the pre-robbery and the robbery itself. The guys are all guys we identify with and that really adds to the fun. There are some politically charged things in the side plots that can be a bit distracting, but when the focus shifts back to our shifty robbers, the fun quotient revs back up.

Jason Statham is a real man's actor. He is laconic, stoic and full of badassery, but here he actually proves he can act a little bit. He is not going to win any awards or anything, but he does have a nice moment of vulnerability with his wife and it certainly ads to the heightened sense of danger in the post robbery third of the film. He also gets to kick a little of ass towards the end and it reminds me how awesome he is when he is fighting. There isn't a lot of camera trickery here as the director understands to just let the movie fend for itself and his minimalist approach really adds to the seventies quality to the film. He Never loses us when the movie starts playing games with who is good and who is bad and who works for what Government agency which is nice because so often things like that get confusing and can ruin the mood of a movie.

It is sad that movies like this get lost in the shuffle underneath those big mammoth movies because these small quality independent movies deserve an audience. I am sure there will people who are turned off by the nudity and the amount of time spent in a strip club, but again it really makes it feel like the fast, loose and free seventies. The Bank Job has laughs, sex, punch outs, stabbings, shooting, and a freaking bank robbery and if that isn't good old fashion entertainment, I don't know what is.

Final Grade: B+

10,000 B.C. (spoilers)

I know that admitting what I am about to admit could essentially ruin any credibility I have as someone who reviews movies, but I dug The Day After Tomorrow. Roland Emmerich, the guy who directed 10,000 B.C. also directed The Day After Tomorrow as well as the awesome Independence Day, the terrible Godzilla and the alright The Patriot. He makes big spectacle pictures that are often high on fun but low on everything else. I readily admit that The Day After Tomorrow is not a good movie, but I enjoyed the hell out of it. A year after the epic 300 we get 10,000 B.C., the 2008 version of 300. What I mean by that is that we get a big budget movie in the middle of March feature something pre-historic almost. Yet, with Emmerich's spotty record would this turn out like Independence Day , Godzilla or somewhere in between?

I will now attempt to tell you the plot of this movie, but I have to be honest, I am not quite sure I ever really understood what was going on. Some of it was because of bad storytelling and some of it is because during the exposition voice over opening, there was a child crying in the theater. What I understood was this- a little girl with startling blue eyes, Evolet(Camilla Belle is found by this tribe of cavemen (when I say cavemen, don't think of cromagnen people, no these are gorgeous people who speak perfect English)and the spirit mother of the tribe believes this blue eyed girl is the key to survival for the tribe and the guy who gets her will lead the tribe. Our hero D'elh (held backwards because "held" is the German word for Hero, brilliant I know). He is a Mammoth hunter but his father deserted the tribe and he is kind of a weakling, at first. These creepy big guys come into the tribe destroy it and kidnap all the males and of course Evolet. D'elh was not amongst the captured and he sets off to find Evolet. Along the way he manages to meet a ton of tribes of people who all seem to speak different languages, but luckily one guy seems to know them all. These separate tribes of people all join forces to fight the big bad gods. The Gods are kidnapping people to turn them into slaves to build the pyramids, so maybe the Gods are supposed to be Egyptian? If that means they are near Egypt where did the tribe learn English? Who knows?!?!

10,000 B.C. is such a bad movie I very nearly walked out of it. "How could a movie that had access to Saber Tooth tigers be so awful?", you ask. Easy, the Saber Tooth tiger spends 3 minutes on screen and doesn't do anything bad-ass. In fact the Saber Tooth tiger is as harmless as an every day house cat in the movie. The only fierce creatures appear to be some sort of hybrid between a Raptor and a dodo bird. What the hell? The Mammoth's look gorgeous, the tiger looks gorgeous, but they are merely window dressing to try and disguise the fact that nothing in the movie makes sense. The one remaining God fears the one with the mark, which some what turns out to be Evolet, but she doesn't do the killing at all, so the whole mark nonsense turns out to be useless and just a way to add time to the movie. The story makes no sense and every time the movie switches back to the old mother woman I was just lost in the stupidity. The acting is god awful, but at least Evolet is gorgeous. The dialog is useless, as Emmerich seems only interested in creating a faux epic with wide circular motioned shots of sprawling snow capped mountains, but it all amounts to nothing.

This movie lacks the sheer audacity of The Day After Tomorrow, it even lacks the goofy stupidity of Godzilla and the over the top nonsense of The Patriot; in short, the movie has no fun with itself. Emmerich was really trying to make a big drama set in a pre-historic time period and it blew up in his face miserably. The battle sequences are dull, the chases lack a sense of urgency. I mentioned 300 earlier and I think some of the comparisons they are drawing are fair. Both are movies that take a liberal use of history to tell a crazy story, but 300 has fun while telling the story. 300 had amazing visuals, a fun story, incredible action sequences, and a strong presence in the lead actor to mask the awful dialog, whereas 10,000 B.C. doesn't have enough to make up for the obvious shortcomings. The worst thing a movie can be, in my opinion, is boring. Boring is the kiss of death for a movie and I was checking my watch about 30 minutes in because I kind of wanted it to just be over.

I left with an overwhelming sense of disappointment because I was pretty excited about this movie. Not because it is historically accurate or even because I thought it would be this amazing movie, but because deep down, I love to be entertained by over the top messes and this looked like it would at least be that. Instead it was just a mess. It was timid, small scale and I never felt the stakes were high enough for me to care about anything that was going on. I was not alone in my disappointment either. I heard the disgust in the voices of the other people leaving the theater.

Final Grade: F

In Bruges

If you still need proof that the first two movies directed by Quinten Tarantino are the most influential movies to be released since 1990, In Bruges is another movie that is heavily influenced by Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. Those two movies were released in the early nineties and here we are in 2008 and we still get movies that probably would not exist without them. A playwright who made a short film two years ago that won the Oscar for short film, Director Martin McDonagh starts off his feature film career with a bang. Part Tarantino and part Mamet, McDonagh looks to have a long established career if his ego doesn't get the best of him (See Troy Duffy).

Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson) are hit men who have been told to go to Bruges (which is in Belgium and doesn't have a bowling alley but has a Pizza Hut) after a hit to await further instructions. Ken is interested in the ancient architecture of Bruges and likes the calm peacefulness that surrounds the quaint little town. Ray on the other hand feels that " If I'd grown up on a farm and was retarded, Bruges might impress me, but I didn't, so it doesn't." Ray is a high strung, sarcastic, politically incorrect, handsome guy, but he is haunted by a secret. Ken is a slow moving, affable, bigger, older and wiser of the two men, and he is a mentor or father figure to Ray. While in Bruges, they spot a movie being made and Ray spots a very pretty girl, Chloe and a dwarf named Jimmy. Chloe and Ray go on a date that ends in two violent acts. However, he still likes the girl, but he steals some of the drugs she sells and ends up in a room with the dwarf and two hookers doing blow and discussing a future where a race war happens and all of the blacks fight all of the whites, including all the black dwarfs fighting all of the white dwarfs. It is all fun and games until we actually learn Ray's deep dark secret. It changes the mood of the movie, some what and it all culminates in a somewhat bloody, and very dark climax.

In Bruges is the perfect blend of silly humor, very dark humor and interesting story telling. Ken and Ray are very complex real characters and Farrell is exceptional as the younger hit man. I have always believed in him and am glad to see him get back to doing good work. He is incredibly hilarious in his line delivery, but his reactionary expressions are what help make this a flat out hilarious movie. Gleeson is the great mix of quiet and intense and really balances Farrell's high wire act. Ralph Fiennes shows up in person in the last 25 minutes and sets the screen on fire with his brutal big boss hit man. He doesn't have worlds of screen time but he really makes the most of it. Clemence Poesy as Chloe is a beautiful minx and while she doesn't have too much to do she is the character we seem to most identify with.

However, the real star of this movie is McDonagh. His dialog pops off the screen with hilarious and biting lines and his directing is top notch as his location shots really make Bruges a motionless character in the movie. He gets great performances and seems to always get the best shot. There is also an interesting morality tale at play here, but to say too much about it would give away the secret held within the story. Listening to hit men go on about morals is always interesting and with McDonagh's hyper literate hit men we really gain an understanding of what McDonagh was going for here. He never drowns us in lecturing because he is always ready with a joke to lighten any tense moment and he captures a brilliant climax that begins as an intense chase, shifts into absurdly hilarious, then transforms into something very dark and bloody before hitting another hilarious moment for the falling action. McDonagh also manages to be mostly politically incorrect without being terribly offensive to anyone, except fat people, but that scene is so incredibly funny that it is hardly mean spirited.

I am not going to lie, if I see 10 movies better than this later this year I might be a bit surprised. From the opening moment of dialog until the very last line, I was immensely entertained and laughing harder than I do in many movies that are just comedies. In mixing the intelligent humor with some great thrills, McDonagh has really proven himself as someone to watch in the future. It is almost a shame this movie has been buried in February, but I am highly recommending this movie to everyone who enjoys very smart, fast moving crime movies.

Final Grade: A

Charlie Bartlett

Typically when a movie is pushed back from August of 2007 to September of 2007 to November of 2007 to January of 2008 to February 2008 it is a very very bad sign. It means something is consistently wrong with the movie and the studio is not quite sure what to do with such a movie. However, at first that was not the case with this movie. It was originally moved because of the buzz created by Robert Downey Jr.'s performance so they wanted it closer to Oscar time, but the buzz died and the film died essentially. I always just assumed I would end up having to rent it, but was happy to see it opening in Davis over the weekend. Sadly, only 5 or 6 other people were as excited and the weekend totals proved that maybe it should have gone to DVD.

Charlie Bartlett (Anton Yelchin) is the new age high school slacker. He is Ferris Bueller if Bueller had daddy issues and didn't have a sense of innocent fun. He has been kicked out of every private school due to all kinds of shenanigans and his alcoholic, loopy, I-want-to-be-friends-with-my-son, mother (Hope Davis)just plops him into a public school. Bartlett is not afraid of annoyed by going to public school because he is such a happy-go-lucky seeming kid. On day one he meets smug hottie Susan Gardner (Kat Dennings) and runs into the stereotypical drug peddling bully, Murphy Bivens (Singer Tyler Hilton)and Bartlett is left to wish what it would be like to be popular. Never fear because soon he knows exactly how to be popular: Give the kids drugs!! Well he sells the kids all kinds of pills that he gets by going to all different shrinks with different symptoms. He also sits and listens to the problems of his fellow students and offers help. This entire thing does not go unnoticed by principal Gardner (Downy Jr.). Gardner is an alcoholic and he has lost control of his school and he blames Barlett. What happens next is a tug-of-war between Bartlett and his principal and control of the school and the affection of Susan.

With the exception of an ending I found too disappointing I loved, loved, loved this movie. I was concerned off the bat because it was a little silly showing Bartlett under the influence of Ritalin because the rest of the movie did not feel so offer the top, but once the movie really got to meat of the story, I was totally won over by Yelchin and his incredibly charming off putting nature that embodied his Bartlett. There are of course a few great themes about popularity and the addiction that comes with it. Also, addiction in many forms, plays big here in Downey Jr. Downey Jr. brings every ounce of life experience as a former addict and he just nails every scene he is in. He is funny, charming, depressing, villainous, pained and in moments incredibly fatherly. He really helps elevates everyone in Charlie Bartlett. Yelchin really deserves a lot of credit though because he appears in about 90 percent of the scenes and he really carries the movie. We believe an entire school could get behind him.

Don't worry either, this is not a movie promoting drugs. In fact, one depressed student tries to commit suicide with the drugs he bought from Bartlett and when Principal Gardner says in one of the best moments in the film "It isn't about being popular, it is about what you do with that popularity." Therein lies the real theme of this movie. What do you do when you have a whole group of people following you? Do you continue to lead them astray and help cause more problems or do you use your power for good. In the immortal words of Ben Parker "With great Power comes great responsibility." But, I don't want to be downer because this is a comedy after all. And as a comedy it really packs a nice comic punch. The dialog is fresh and funny and it rarely, if ever, relies on any sort of bathroom humor. Of course, it does not have the kind hearted spirit of its obvious predecessor, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, but does any movie ever really capture that spirit? I do hope you will all give this a shot, at least on DVD. It deserves to be seen and enjoyed.

Final Grade: A-

Vantage Point

This is a movie that owes everything to the trailer. You know the trailer; the one that has been airing for about a year now as this movie toiled in release date hell. The trailer with all kinds of action and speedy action sequences. The trailer that made this movie appear to be one high octane action thriller. The trailer that probably showed too much because how much cooler would it have been if we didn't know it was a fake President who was killed. Anyway, I went to see this movie based on the strong trailer and the pretty strong cast, but I was not sure exactly how I would feel about it.

The story itself is very straight forward- The President of the United States is in Spain for an Anti-Terrorism convention thing and he is assassinated. That is the movie in a nutshell. The movie is essentially the same scene told 8 different times before revving up to an unbelievably convenient and highly coincidental climax. The first "Vantage Point" (known from now on as VP)takes place in a news van as a Global News Network covers the Presidential address. Sigourney Weaver is the head newswoman and we merely see what we would see if we were watching this event on television. The second VP is Dennis Quaid's Secret Service officer serving his first mission since taking a bullet for The President 6 months ago. We see him in the before the gun shots and briefly after. The third VP is The President; the Fourth is Forrest Whitaker who is a random American tourist and the final VP follows the 4 or 5 terrorists responsible for the assassination.

I probably make it sound like I did not enjoy this movie, but I did. I found it to be fast paced and action packed if incredibly ill conceived and ridiculously impossible. The plot holes are massively big and at times I found myself trying to re-write the script to it would make sense in my brain that I was actually enjoying the film. I enjoyed the gimmick of showing the same set of events 5 or 6 different ways as each VP gave us a little more insight to the bigger picture and I liked that most of the VPs ended in the same area so when the action picked up it was a non stop thrill ride until the end. Matthew Fox continues to prove that he is at his best on television because he is out of his league against the everyman Quaid and of course Forrest Whitaker is one of those actors who fully inhabits a role to the point where you almost forget you are watching Forrest Whitaker. But, I could not stop wondering how all of these talented actors ended up in a movie that was probably going to be a direct-to-video release without the stars.

Another item in the plus column is that the action really starts in the first five minutes with the President being killed, then we hear a bomb go off and a minute later we see another bomb go off and from there we get to see see and hear all of those things again and again. Watching the same bomb go off 5 times has never been so much fun! There is a nice car chase that ends in a fun collision and ends with Quaid's car being squished but leaves his suit in perfect condition! However, if anyone deserves to have a suit not get ruffled it is Dennis Quaid! Ultimately I felt the action and the thrills in the movie override the sheer stupidity of the plot holes and the silliness of the goofs. Also, the movie is almost derailed by the most absurd twist. The editor deserves some recognition so I am going to say that Stuart Baird is a wonderful film editor.

Final Grade: B-

Definitely, Maybe

This movie could be filed under the heading "Movies I would never think to see if I didn't get in them free." That is quite a heading I know, but it is true. Romantic comedies don't typically make for must see viewing for me, but when you have two hours to kill before work and the opportunity to see a free movie, you take it. I like Ryan Reynolds a lot; He is a funny actor who has taken to taking a wide variety of movie roles, but romantic lead was not one I thought I'd seem him do. Having seen a romantic comedy in December, I wasn't sure I really needed another one so soon, but I saw it anyway.

Will Hayes (Reynolds) works in advertising and is about to get a divorce. His daughter, Mia (Abagail Breslin) sees how unhappy he is and wants to know what happened so she asks her dad to tell her the true story of how he met her mother. She wants more than "We met, fell in love and had you." Hayes is reluctant but eventually agrees under the condition that he will tell her the story of the 3 women of his life and she will have to guess who is who. The story then shoots back to 1990 where Hayes is about to move to New York to work on the Bill Clinton campaign. Emily (Elizabeth Banks) is his college love and she is worried about what will happen to them. In New York Will meets two women, Summer Hartley (Rachel Weisz and April (Isla Fisher). April and Will become fast friends. There doesn't appear to be any romantic spark between them, but Summer is a different story. When things don't work out with Emily, Summer and Will start dating. The story moves through the Clinton presidency and Will now runs his own business running political campaigns, but Summer writes for a magazine looking for dirt on candidates so the conflict of interest gets in the way. Will realizes he loves April but April has moved on. Back in the present, Mia is starting to realize life and love are very complicated, but she just wants her dad to be happy.

There isn't anything too terribly original in the story , except trying to figure out all of the pieces, but at some point it seem obvious who is who in the story, but that didn't matter to me. I do not know if my love for Ryan Reynolds overshadowed any flaws, or if this movie caught me on a day when I was feeling a sense of romance, or maybe, just maybe, it is actually a good movie, but I was buying everything this movie was selling. Reynolds has an absolute command of the screen and his chemistry with all four females in this movie was outstanding. You could feel how much he cared about his daughter and how in love he was with each of the three women. He was probably the best with Rachel Weisz because Rachel is just so good and effortlessly moved through the movie as a career woman who essentially chewed and spit people out. Fisher and Reynolds probably have the most fun chemistry and their flirtatiousness was very adorable and actually quite funny. In fact, a lot of the things in this movie were very funny. All of the stuff in Will's work life was funny, especially his first few days as a Clinton staffer. Watching the Clinton scandals unfold as Will’s life spun further out of control was an interesting parallel to watch as it became an ongoing theme throughout.

Another thing I want to mention is how perfect the opening credits were as a seeming love letter to New York. Will puts on his iPod and Sly and the Family Stone's "Everyday People" comes blaring through his speakers and we see him walking to pick up his daughter and while he probably passes more New York monuments than are necessary, it is very effective in setting the stage as New York as a reactive character in the narrative. It also makes New York feel normal; it feels like any city U.S.A. It gives the story a very personal feel which makes us feel more invested in the story as a whole. I am not saying this movie is for anyone looking for some new wrinkle in the Rom-Com format, but I was laughing when it was funny and I was touched when I was supposed to be touched. I also longed for romance as Will longed for romance and I can not ask much more than that from a movie, can I?

The Spiderwick Chronicles

In the age of Harry Potter, most young adult books turned into movies involve young kids who have powers; unlike Potter, they don't usually transfer well because they aren't as strong as that little em wizard boy. When I first saw a trailer for Spiderwick, I was more reminded of The Neverending Story than I was of the Potter franchise. It made me a bit excited. I know absolutely nothing about the books and normally nickelodeon movies don't make me want to run out see a movie, but I was there on the opening weekend to watch this one.

Jared Grace (Freddy Highmore) is a young boy unhappy with the impending divorce of his parents. He has moved to a giant creepy house in the middle of nowhere with his twin brother Simon (also Highmore), his sister Mallory (Sarah Bolger) and their mother Helen (The simply gorgeous Mary Louise Parker). When things begin to go missing in this giant house, Jared is the assumed culprit because he tends to lash out when angry and he is angry a lot. During one of his outbursts he starts bashing at the wall with a broom because he thinks he hears something in the walls. He comes across a secret little dumbwaiter and goes up to the top of the house where he discovers a secret book with a warning not to open it. He opens it and all of a sudden all hell breaks loose. A little honey loving creature named Thimbletack (voiced by Martin Short) comes out and explains what is going on. Jared's Great Grand Uncle, Arthur (David Straithairn) discovered a magical world hidden within ours and compiled a book featuring all of the secrets of this world. Unfortunately a nasty Ogre wants his hands on so he can crush the entire world. The book must stay inside the protective circle, around the house, in order to remain out of the hands of the Ogre. Jared cannot seem to grasp this concept and he takes the book out, often and little trolls start to cause drama and pain.

Visually The Spiderwick Chronicles is quite stunning, especially the little flower creatures that we don't see nearly enough. The house, which is sort of a character in its own right, is a big gorgeous set piece. The trolls have a nice distinct look and their captain provides a few nice slapstick moments. I was a bit disappointed in the lack of the Ogre. He can take any form he wants but we only see 4 forms- a raven, a human in the form of Nick Nolte, a snake and his true Ogre self. Oh wait, we get five because he shows up once as Jared's Dad and Jared's dad looks an awful lot like Andrew McCarthy, yes that Andrew McCarthy! As twins, Jared and Simon, Freddy Highmore proves that he can be the real deal in young acting. He seems to be perpetually going through puberty though, unless that is just how his voice is going to sound. He does a good job of creating two very different characters- the wild obnoxious Jared and the borderline boring Simon. As Jared he really drives the action, giving a performance that suits this film perfectly. He acts opposite creatures that are not really there quite well, which is not always easy.

The movie is almost too short, though. The climax felt rushed because they were worried kids would get restless and so things feel unfinished. I am not sure if this is the first book in a series, or if it includes the entire series, but things felt left undone. I also kind of wish we could have spent more time getting to know the various creatures of this world. We are only introduced to maybe 7 or 8, but the book has hundreds of pages. Seth Rogen provides some great laughs as a pig like creature that eats birds and has a deep desire for killing, if he wasn't so afraid of everything. I certainly prefer this movie to The Seeker, The Golden Compass and other Harry Potter light types of movies. Hell, I preferred this to Harry Potter 5. And while it is not perfect, it is a visually interesting, and it is fast moving enough that any short comings can easily be forgiven.


Final Grade: B-

Jumper

Well all know I love Superhero comics and that I love Superhero comic adaptations, well for the most part. And while I knew the day would come when Superhero stories would originate in T.V (Heroes) and movies, I wasn’t sure how I would react to them. Heroes is fine when it is good and absolutely bland when it is having a bad week. Then I saw a trailer for a movie called Jumper. I found out it was based on a novel which I have not read, but it took the idea of Nightcrawler’s teleportation and created its own little mythology. The trailer looks fun and the director, Doug Liman, is always good for some cool action- see The Bourne Identity and Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Plus, February is always a nice time for some fun action coming off the heavy Oscar season and the typically terrible January releases.

David Rice (Hayden Christensen) appears to have the perfect life. He is a rich man living in New York who has the ability to be anywhere in a split second due to his special teleporting abilities. Utilizing a voice over and a flashback we see the day he first realized this gift and we see how a 15 year old boy would use these powers; he robs banks. Of course, he doesn’t stop robbing banks at 15 and it seems like he has robbed banks all over the world as he opens a room with currency from all over the globe. Rice looks cool, dresses cool and is smooth enough to get whatever he wants. He also has a nasty group of people on his ass wanting to kill him because of his gifts. These people, led by a white haired Roland (Samuel L. Jackson), have these nifty little weapons that shoot massive volts of electricity that ground the Jumpers so they can kill them. They want nothing more than to rid the world of the jumpers. After all, “Only God should be able to everywhere at one time.” Yes, they are religious fanatics who were behind the Salem witch trials and many other events throughout history, according to fellow Jumper and resident exposition spewing crazy man, Griffin (Jamie Bell). Griffin has been tracking these religious fanatics and kills as many as he can. Together, Rice and Griffin try to save the cute as a button Millie (Rachel Bilson).

Clocking in at a brisk 90 minutes, Jumper does not bother with really creating a deep nice mythology, but it does manage to entertain and excite for a majority of the time. We don’t learn much about the Jumpers except it seems to start when they turn 5 years old and we know even less about the religious fanatic group. In fact, I cannot even remember the name they were given (The Patrons, I think), but I do remember the slick, fast paced action sequences that presumably take place all over the globe in the span of 3 minutes. The fight between Rice and Griffin is an awesome experiment in special effects. There are some odd little logical issues with the movie but about 25 minutes in I totally forgot them because it was such a fun ride. Christensen and Bilson make a very attractive couple and their time together is fairly scorching for a pg-13 movie. Honestly though, this movie belongs to the effects of the quick disappearances and reappearances of the Jumpers. A lot of it is flawlessly done and I actually like the harshness of the first few jumps. I like that it seems like something Rice has to adjust to, like Wolverine’s Adamantium claws, it hurts the first few times. I like how disorienting the camera looks after Bilson gets jumped the first time.

In terms of a Superhero movie, this is fairly small scale because it is a personal story about a guy coping with his gifts and not using them for grand ideals like saving cities or worlds. I enjoyed the personal aspect of it, but was still left curious as to the background of the of the Jumper community. I am sure there will be a sequel if this turns out to be the money maker it is expected to be and it could turn into a nice little franchise and maybe then I will get the answers to the questions that lingered beneath the surface of this ultimately fun, fast and highly entertaining action movie.

Final Grade: B

My top ten Romantic Comedies

I think the hardest thing about a list like this is defining what exactly a romantic comedy is, because most movies, including comedies are driven by a sense of love. Therefore most comedic movies have a sense of romantic comedy in them. Wedding Crashers is driven by the potential love of Owen Wilson and Rachel McAdams but is it really a romantic comedy? I wouldn't say it is. Also, so many of the teen comedies starring Freddie Prinze Jr. have elements of romantic comedy, but is She's all that a romantic comedy? Again, I don't think. So I have accumulated a list of movies I truly believe to be romantic comedies at their core.

10. 10 things I hate about you- I think this list needs to include the idea of teenage love and this is my favorite of the teen comedies. The plot is familiar- a guy is paid to date a girl' she finds out gets mad, but they end up happy. Heath Ledger made his American debut here and scored high marks for a pretty earnest portrayal of guy falling in love and Julia Stiles is her usual solid self in this re-envisioning of The Taming of the Shrew. The sappy poem Stiles reads at the end is a bit cringe worthy, but she sells it well enough so we feel that maybe true teenage love is possible. Plus, who doesn't want to watch Heath Ledger butchering "can't take my eyes off of you" while dodging security guards?

9. Say Anything- John Cusak was an emo hero long before emo was cool. He was a charming slacker long before the grunge of the nineties made it cool to be so. And no movie better encapsulates those ideals quite like this movie. This is a movie for any guy who goes for the girl everyone tells him he cannot have. This is a movie for any guy willing to make that insane grand gesture of love (Stand holding a boombox outside of a window). Cameron Crowe's rapid fire dialog seems perfect for Cusak to be speaking and there is never a time when we are not rooting for success from our slacker hero.

8. The 40 yr. Old Virgin- I was hesitant to put this on the list because I am not sure it really can be called a romantic comedy, but in the end, because the Steve Carrell character really wants no one but the Catherine Keener, I decided to include it. It is the crudest movie of the bunch but there is a sense of realism to the complications of love and sex and that deserves merit. The comedy is fast and furious and at times a little more disgusting than I needed, but Carrell makes such an unlikely romantic hero it was fun to watch and root for him to overcome the stupid advice of his friends and his own insecurities.

7. While you were Sleeping- You cannot make a list like this without including at least one Sandra Bullock movie and this is my favorite. The entire movie is based on a lie which sets up all kinds of awkwardly funny moments and Bill Pullman proves to be a pretty good romantic lead. Granted I have not seen this movie since it was in theaters, but I remember being drawn into Bullock's 1990's persona of the kind of cute, a bit dorky and ultimately charming girl next door.

6. the Holiday- I am not sure if this movie is truly a romantic comedy because it is probably a lot more dramatic than anything else on this list, but it is also too funny to be a high romantic drama like the Notebook. Kate Winlsett is my favorite actress and the romance that blossoms between her and Jack Black is fun and feels natural. It actually felt like it would be the way I would fall in love. The side story of Cameron Diaz and Jude Law is more slap-stickish, but it has some real laughs as well. I really enjoyed every aspect of this movie and it proved to me that Jack Black doesn't always have to be annoying.

5. The Wedding Singer- This is probably the most quotable movie of the bunch and like The 40 yr old Virgin, an unlikely romantic comedy. Sandler and Barrymore have a very nice cutesy chemistry and the 80's references are all kinds of funny and random. The soundtrack is a classic and it is a movie that really believes in the ideals of love and marriage, even if it takes a while for the leads to realize it. The song at the end of the movie is perfectly romantic but corny enough to not be taken overly serious, just what we would want from a romantic comedy from Adam Sandler.

4. Hitch- I know a lot of people who hate this movie, but I absolutely love it. I love the lines like "Always remember, life is not how many breaths you take, it's how many moments take your breath away" and the idea of a Date Doctor kind of makes me giggle. Of course, it is not far from possible because of how desperate people are to fall in love in this day and age. Will Smith is perfectly charming and Eva Mendes appears up the challenge and I can relate because of how Hitch gets very clumsy around the girl he likes. There are all kinds of other great hyperbolic statements of love that make a romantic comedy great featured int his movie but none of them beat the climatic declaration of love from Will to Eva. It is romantic comedy gold.

3. Sleepless in Seattle- Really how could I do this list without a Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan movie, and they do not get better than this one. It is funny, a bit sad, but it always believes in the power of love. It is amazing to think of how good the chemistry is between the two leads considering they are almost never on screen together. There are a ton of great references to other movies and Hanks is doing what he does best- playing the everyman. We all know him and we all have this person in our life. Ryan- in pre-cosmetic surgery form- is classically adorable and seems a perfect fit to join the family of Hanks and son. This is a classic romantic comedy in every sense of the word. It is safe sure, but when you want to watch people fall in love, safe is okay.

2. My Best Friend's Wedding- This is an unconventional romantic comedy because e aren't always rooting for the female lead. Julia Roberts' character is actually kind of nasty and the Cameron Diaz character is so perfect, we are never quite sure what is going on. This movie also ushered in a new staple of romantic comedies- The Gay best friend- and Rupert Evert is so perfect he practically steals the movie. I liked that this was sort of a mini musicals before making musicals became cool again. I cannot say enough good things about this movie because I really enjoyed it and still do whenever it is on t.v.

1. When Harry Met Sally- I know this is not a shocking number 1 by any stretch of the imagination but this is the ultimate romantic comedy. It is often times hilarious, often times sweet and always interesting. It takes the age old question of whether men and women can be friends and toys with us for nearly 2 hrs. We all think we know for sure what will happen in the end, but everyone involved does a great job of making us think maybe it won't happen and when it does, the confession of love monologue is by far the best written in the genre. It was "you complete me" before "you complete me" ever thought of existing. Billy Crystal gives the best performance of his acting career and Meg Ryan is the perfect foil for his random hilarity. This movie takes its time to allow us to really get to know the two characters and so when the romance finally happens we are overwhelmingly happy!

So there you have it, my list of the top 10 romantic comedies. Feel free to add any of your own as I am not well versed in this genre and could be missing some good ones. Also, I didn't include any older ones because I can't say I have seen too many, if any.

Oh and I want to give a special mention to the movie least deserving of the title of romantic comedy:

The Break up- This is not a romantic comedy in any way shape or form. It is a mean cruel intentioned movie and I love it for that fact, but I have never seen a romantic comedy so ill intentioned. It is not romantic and it is barely a comedy. It is just a mean bitter movie about breaking up. It is mean and bitter the way real break ups are mean and bitter.

A review of The Varsity Theater

A few months ago someone asked me if I had ever considered doing reviews of actual movie theaters, seeing as how I spend so much time inside of them and that I have been to all of the ones in our area. I was not sure how exactly to do it, but I liked the idea. Of course, I would have to eliminate the Woodland theaters because I have a bias, but that still leaves about 10 theaters in the area I could review. This is going to be my first attempt at such a review. I may tweak this type of review in the future but for now I think I will break things down into categories and give each category a separate grade and then do an overall grade at the end. If people reading this find it to be too confusing or lame, please tell me so I can stop and not look lame, thanks!

The Varsity Theater, located in downtown Davis, has only been a movie theater for two years now. Well it was a movie theater when I first moved tot eh area in 1990, but then it became an all purpose theater. Now it is back in its rightful place as a movie theater.

Appearance: The exterior is as ugly and dirty as ever, with a confusing marquee and you purchase tickets outside, which causes issues if there is a line longer than four people because it leaves it up to the person number 5 which way the line will bend so as not to go into the street. Yet, when you go inside the place actually looks nice. The snack bar is small and simple, but again, if it is busy it can be crowded. The restrooms have been renovated and look much nicer than before, but the real beauty of this place happens once you get inside the auditorium. The auditorium is gorgeously spacious with seats big enough for people of any size and plenty of leg room as well. The stadium seating also looks nice and makes it easy to see everything.

Appearance grade: B

Taste: When I refer to taste I want to make clear that this encompasses food taste as well as movie choices. It is a one screen theater, so they do not offer options really. However, as an independent theater in a town dominated by the Regal Machine, The Varsity gets the smaller, independent films. Oscar films, foreign films and documentaries dominate the year, but in the summer when options are limited they sometimes hold onto a film for far too long which limits how often I attend this theater. The popcorn is pretty good, but I recommend asking for light butter because they really soak their popcorn and it can ruin the taste. They don’t offer nachos or hot dogs or any meal type food, but they have a little coffee window which is very nice for most patrons. I honestly don’t usually buy anything here. Also, in a town like Davis one would think they would have fun midnight movies on Thursdays or Fridays but no such luck because the guy running it isn’t really a movie guy.

Taste grade: B

Affordability/convenience: During the week hey only run 1 afternoon show and 1 evening show, and if the movie is long they only play 3 on the weekend, which makes little sense in a college town and it cuts down on the times you can attend. Plus, you are limited to on the street parking in downtown (read busy) Davis or the shared Parking garage with another theater. It can make you late if you do not plan on having to search a bit for parking which makes the whole thing a bit inconvenient. The prices are expensive to keep up with the growing minimum wages but they stay about a dollar cheaper than the other theaters in the area, so it feels like a deal. Also, Tuesdays are $7.00 all day, which turns out to be a nice little discount. The concession prices are too high for what you get, but that is the norm these days and at least it doesn’t taste bad!

Affordability/convenience grade: B-

The Final review: I love this theater, I really do. It has a throw back 1950’s look on the interior and I like that they get good movies. However, the employees are often rude and none of them are terribly knowledgeable about the current or future movies, which always bugs me. I think it could ultimately be run more efficiently, especially given its location, but I will wait a week to see a movie if I know it will be at the Varsity next week.

Overall Grade: B

Hopefully this becomes something I do semi-regularly and if the label thing works you can click the label and be taken to other movie theater reviews, in the future

Persepolis

My experience with animated foreign films is essentially relegated to two films- The Triplets of Bellville and Spirited away. I hated the former and loved the latter. I am not familiar with the graphic novel on which Persepolis is based, so I was not quite sure what I was getting myself into with this movie. Plus, the second trailer in which the lead girl sings "Eye of the Tiger" was awkward and made the movie look cheap, but the reviews were all pretty stellar. I went back and forth on whether or not to even see it. However, I had not seen a movie in the theater in over two weeks and I was itching for that theater going experience, and while I know that isn't the most ringing endorsement for seeing a movie, it did get me to see it, right?

Persepolis spans a little over a decade worth of time in the life of a French speaking Iranian girl from the late seventies to the late eighties. The Movie is often narrated by various members of the cast, a la, The Laramie Project. The girl, Marjane Satrapi, believes she is going to be a prophet because God speaks to her at night before and during sleep. She has communist parents but this is during the Islamic revolution and when the deeply conservative faction wins out, their city and their lives are changed forever. The women become mere servants in most aspects and Marjane's parents ship her off to England because she is unable to keep her forward thinking mouth shut and her parents feel she will be raped and killed. In England things do not go well for Marjane and she starts to lose her way, forgetting her heritage in favor of fitting in. As she blossoms into a young woman, she falls in and out of love and the trauma of one such love leave her homeless and depressed. She comes home to the more peaceful, yet backward thinking homeland of her youth, but before too long, her family believes she is meant for better things.

Animated in very distinct style, like it was just taken from a Graphic Novel, Persepolis is a truly moving picture that transcends a specific culture. The animation is often gorgeous, although fairly straight forward and simple looking. I think that is part of what makes the whole thing so moving. We feel as if we are witnessing this entire story through the eyes of a girl who starts as a precocious 9 year old and transforms, before our eyes, into a young woman trying to find her way in a world that no longer makes sense to her. She is living with the fact that her family members have been killed because they were political prisoners refusing to go back on what they belief. It is a mostly autobiographical story (I believe) and the style of animation helps with the intimacy. Yet, the simple animation does not keep the movie from being incredibly visually appealing. The director sets up shots beautifully and the panning camera action really adds to the intensity of the darker moments throughout the movie. Persepolis also manages to nicely weave between the absurdly silly (Marjane going through puberty) and the very dark war moments. The laughs never come at the expense of the story telling and all of the jokes add something to underlying themes.

The themes within the movie are plentiful, but Marjane's Grandmother seems to be at the heart of the movie with themes of integrity, humility, forgiveness and love. These are not themes exclusive to any part of the world and are things from which we can all benefit. The Grandmother character is the soul or heart of everything that happens. She provides insight to the craziness of war, she brings a soft sense of humor when things are very bad, but mostly she is not afraid to be honest, when she sees something she doesn't like. When Marjane is recounting a time when she told soldiers a man was hitting on her in order for her to not be arrested for wearing make up and the innocent man gets arrested instead, Grandma lets Marjane know that selfishness has no place in the world and that people are being arrested every day for crimes they did not commit and it is up to people like Marjane to fight for those people. It is one of the strongest moments in the film and really helps personalize the film for anyone watching.

What few complaints I have are that Communism was shown in an only positive light, but it can be forgiven because of how bad the alternative felt. Also, at times the editing seems a bit choppy as scenes sometimes end before they feel finished. That being said, I recommend this movie for anyone who is interested in an alternative to the bad horror movies that dominate the beginning of the year. It is a touching, funny, thoughtful and interesting movie that deserves an audience.

Final Grade: A-

The Boondock Saints (Cult Classic review)

A good definition of a "Cult Classic" is nearly impossible to find. Not everyone agrees on what makes a cult classic. A cult classic can be a great film that was lost on the mainstream or it can be a terrible film that has some redeeming or fun qualities. The one thing that makes a cult classic though is that it is loved by a relatively small, yet rabid, group of people. Movies like The Rocky Horror Picture Show or True Romance epitomize the idea of a cult classic. The 1990's brought us two directors who have essentially made a living on cult classics- Kevin Smith and Quentin Tarantino. Where we see Smith's influence in the movies of Judd Apatow, Tarantino influenced an entire generation of filmmakers. Pulp Fiction is arguably the most influential movie to be released since the mid-nineties (You could argue for The Matrix) and every year there are movies that borrow from elements of Pulp Fiction. In 1999 a movie was released by a writer/director named Troy Duffy and that movie was The Boondock Saints. One of the Weinsteins called Duffy "The next Quentin Tarantino" and an ego was born. The ego blackballed Duffy in Hollywood and we are left with only this movie. The Boondock Saints lives on as a cult classic, probably somewhat due to the director sabotaging his own career, but does it really deserve the title? Did he deserve the title?

Set in Boston, The Boondock Saints follows to brothers, Connor (Sean Patrick Flannery) and Murphy (Norman Reedus) who unexpectedly gain fame when they kill two men in self defense. The two dead men were Russian mobsters and drug dealers who had taken over the Boston streets, much to the chagrin of the citizens of that area. After turning themselves in to the police and an F.B.I agent by the name of Paul Smecker(Willem Dafoe), the brothers are released but praised as saints in the community. With the guns and money from the two dead guys, the brothers bank roll it for more guns, ropes, and assorted weapons and decide it is their calling from God to murder bad guys. F.B.I genius Smecker stays in Boston to solve the cases of all these bad guys being murdered. Of course, it never occurs to him that these brothers can do it because after all, the two brothers don't appear to know how to be skilled assassins. Oh snap, except they somehow are very effective at killing and not getting killed!! Never fear though, I mean they are killing bad guys, so when the F.B.I guy finds out it is them, he thinks they are doing good and decides to help them and his best way to accomplish that is to dress up like a female hooker!! Ending with one of the more ridiculous climaxes I have seen in a movie, The Boondock Saints somehow goes down in cinematic history.

If you refer back to the beginning of this review where I called Pulp Fiction the most influential movie to be released since the nineties, allow me to explain why that is. Movies like The Boondock Saints would not exist if Tarantino had no paved the way. Duffy is so blatantly ripping off Tarantino, Tarantino deserved a writing and directing credit for this movie. We see the crimes in a series of broken down flashbacks in a lame attempt to bend time the way Pulp Fiction did so well. The script is a very low grade, rip off of screenplays like Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and The Usual Suspects. However, Duffy does show some promise in regards to his directorial eye and his way with the camera, especially in the scene that takes place in 3 catholic confessional booths. I enjoyed those overhead shots a lot, but for the most part it really does play like a direct-to-video take on those great crime dramas my generation loves so very much. And maybe that is the problem: Duffy was trying so hard to make a cool movie that it looks like a movie that is trying too hard to be cool. People light up cigarettes at the same time, the slow motion gun battles come off looking cheesy, the dialog trite and even the music is nauseatingly corny. Cool movies just exist; they are supposed to happen by accident almost. The minute you set out to make a cool movie, you have already lost the battle.

The two leads speak in broken now-you-hear-them-now-you-don't Irish accents, but nowhere in the movie did I catch that they were actually from Ireland, just the Irish heavy Boston and last I check not all Irish Catholics from Boston speak in Irish accents. That is just one of the many lame things featured inside Saints. Defoe's gay F.B.I agent often takes to the streets to conduct a full on orchestra as he sweeps crime scenes or relives one of the crimes committed by the boys. I am not sure if this was an attempt at humor or an attempt to be hip and edgy, but either way it falls flat as I was starting to reach for the remote to speed through all of that garbage. Maybe this movie falls into the category of so-bad-its-good, but the rabid cult like fans don't seem to think so. These people really believe it is a great original cinematic work, but when Stephen Dorff even passed on starring in your movie, how good can it really be?