Bubble
Directed By: Steven Soderbergh
Starring: Debbie Doebereiner / Dustin James Ashley / Misty Wilkins
Rating:

Firstly, am I the only that constantly confuses Steven oderbergh with David Cronenberg? (At least I can spell their names properly) And secondly, the only Soderbergh films that I have seen previously are the Ocean’s films, Traffic, and The Good German (which I didn’t care for). I can see now that I definitely need to explore more of his earlier work. It’s not all George Clooney and heists.

I randomly picked up Bubble at the library a few days, thinking it was from the director of Eastern Promises and A History of Violence. With that in mind, I really wasn’t expecting the style of the film. About 20 minutes into it, I had to check the director on IMDb.

It’s quite an unusual film, more in the style of the Dogme 95 movement than anything else. I learned afterwards that the three main actors hadn’t acted before and the scrpt was improvised. This definitely makes sense, and I thought that it worked out very well. Everything about the film felt real and not forced. I was especially impressed with the subtelty.

There’s an alternate ending on the DVD, which personally I didn’t care for. I’m very glad that they didn’t use it, as it completely ruins the realistic quality of Bubble. I vastly prefer the ending that I did see. Everything isn’t wrapped up in a nice narrative box. There’s a lot to think about in terms of the characters and their motivations, and especially varying degrees of conflict. And of course, toss a little religion into the mix.

Bubble could almost be qualified as a short film, clocking in at 73 minutes. For me the length was perfect. With a film like this that doesn’t rely havily on professional actors and a developed script, I’m not sure how it would have fared with another half hour or so. The story was concise and intriguing.

I’m not going to summarize the film. I’d rather just recommend that you get a copy and watch it.

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“Plastic. I’m talking to a plastic tree.”

Oh boy.

The sixth film by writer/director M. Night Shyamalan is undeniably different than his previous five films. For starters, it is the first film that has recieved a ‘R’ rating, and it’s also (surprisingly) a film without any attempt for his trademark twist ending. There’s no attempt to fool you or to pull something from behind an invisible curtain. In his previous films, Shyamalan had a gift for setting things up and layering the events of the movie in such a way that we were surprised by the ending. Everything was important and so every scene was crucial. That is not the case in his latest paranoid thriller, The Happening, which explains the great mystery of what’s going on very early in the film, and the movie suffers greatly as a result.

The film focuses on a high school science teacher, Elliot Moore (Mark Wahlberg), and his estrainged wife, Alma (Zooey Deschanel) as they try to protect a young girl (Ashlyn Sanchez) while on the run from a mysterious natural threat to humanity. An event starts in Central Park where people suddenly become disoriented and lose motor functions and then finally feel compelled to kill themselves in any variety of horrible ways. Theories spread about what could be causing it, the first theory being that it’s a chemical attack by terrorists. A panic ensues and in Philadelphia, Elliot and Alma join Julian (John Leguizamo) and his daughter, Jess (Sanchez) on the first available train out of the city. Shortly later, reports come in that Boston and Philadelphia have both been hit by the same threat and then the conductor of the train loses contact with the outside world and stops the train in a small Pennsylvania town, leaving Elliot, Alma and the rest of the passengers to fend for themselves. Julian leaves Jess with Elliot and Alma as he hitches a ride to go search for his wife, and the three of them go on the run as they try to figure out whats going on and how to survive it.

The Happening is a truely bizzare film. It is very reminescent of the 1950’s apocalyptic paranoid thriller’s about the end of the world or alien invaders. Most noticably, the writing doesn’t seem as polished as in his previous films. I know I am in the minority, but I enjoyed Lady in the Water and think Shyamalan took a step backwards with this film. Litterally about 1/3 of the way into the movie you’re told what’s going on, that it has something to do with the wind and another thing I won’t divulge here. So, from that point on we’re not as scared, both because of what it is and because the mystery is gone. The movie relies on scare moments and the acting of the main characters, which is extremely wierd and hard to watch at times. Mark Wahlberg plays his role with two basic expressions, worrying and thinking about worrying and does both with the same basic intense look on his face. It’s painful to see a great actor reduced to playing an unconvincing teacher with the emotional range of a wet sack.

Perhaps the moment where I started to lose faith in the film is where Elliot and Alma are walking along in a field with other survivors and Alma confesses having gone on a date with another guy she met at work. Firstly, she does it so mousey and so mumbly that it just seems wierd and ungenuine. Then Mark Wahlberg’s reaction is basically to breathe heavily for a moment and cheesily say “You lied to me?” and then continue walking without another word. I’m sorry, but especially under the stressful situation they’re in, any guy would’ve screamed at his wife at that point, or had some reaction. They both just seem so unbelievable in the movie. Don’t get me wrong, both Wahlberg and Deschanel are amazing actors on any other day, but both played there parts in this movie very cardboard like. Maybe that’s what Shyamalan wanted, maybe it was on purpose and it was for some unknown reason that escaped me, but I didn’t like it. Deschanel’s role is attempted to be explained away as her having trouble expressing herself and her emotions to others, but that doesn’t help her performance any. She has the biggest and among the most beautiful blue eyes in hollywood, but they spend most of the movie in an prolonged hightened sense of terror, often for no reason.

Then there’s the needless attempt for a ‘R’ rated horror film, probably just to advertise the movie as Shymalan’s first. Take out a few gory scenes and the film is essentially ‘PG’. However, the horror scenes are quite graphic, sometimes needlessly so and I often found myself missing the more subtle horror in his previous ‘PG-13′ films, which to me was much more terrifying because we were allowed the ability to see what we wanted and essentially scared ourselves. Here it is just all there for us to see. Blood and gore and all. The scenes depicting humans killing themselves in all sorts of different methods are quite disturbing and horrible, as they should be, but the looming big picture threat wasn’t pulled off as well, and often came off as just silly nonsense. Also, the threat occurs so early in the film, that the main characters are essentially on the run the entire film and that gets old after awhile. There’s nothing worse than a 90 minute film with 45 minutes of worthwhile storytelling to accomplish. 

Threat and acting aside, I do like where the movie ended up, and the messages it got across. Besides the obvious one, which will be apparent when you see the movie, I quite liked another scene near the end of the movie, which was the only honest and well written scene in my opinion. Elliot and Alma are in seperate rooms talking to one another thru a pipe in the ground as the looming threat is outside. They start talking about there first date and how Elliot bought her a mood ring, and they begin recalling what each color meant when they looked it up. Finally Alma asks Elliot if he remembers which color stood for love, and he answers very honestly and tenderly, “I don’t remember.”  It echoes beautifully the estraingement between husband and wife and the distance that has grown between them. That scene has layers to it, and its probably only 2 minutes long and was a great subtle message within the overall message of the movie. It’s a shame that Shymalan appears to have been more focused on shock value with the death scenes and not on writing the usually well written and character driven films we’ve become usued to seeing in the past.

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The second film by writer/director M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense, Signs, The Village), focusing on the mystery surrounding a middle-aged man who begins to realize he has unique abilities after he remarkably survives a disaster.

“Do you know what the scariest thing is? To not know your place in this world. To not know why you’re here. That is just an awful feeling.”

After surviving a train derailment outside of Philadelphia, David Dunn (Bruce Willis) is stunned to learn he is infact the only survivor of the disaster, and also that he has no injuries to speak of. After attending the memorial service for the other passengers, David finds a card on his windshield. The only thing written is a cryptic question, asking David how many days in his life he has been sick. He asks around at work, and to his estranged wife, Audrey (Robin Wright-Penn), and noone can remember him ever being ill. David, and his young son, Joseph (Spencer Treat Clark), visit the store shown on the mysterious card left on David’s windshield and meet up with Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson), who shares a fantastic theroy with David about his condition and the possible connection the two may share. Elijah suffers from a condition where his bones are extremely fragile, and he believes that if someone like him exists in the world, that surely someone must exist on the other end of the spectrum…someone like David, someone who can’t be harmed or injured.

Elijah has spent most of his life bedridden because of his condition, and has turned to the stories within American comic-books for inspiration. He explains to David that he believes comics are the last great form of communication, much like the ancient cave paintings or inscriptions within the great pyramids, that comic books are much more than silly pictures and spandex costumes. Elijah not only believes David is his opposite, but that David was put on the Earth for a purpose, to protect the innocent like the great heroes within comic books, and he attempts to persuade David to harness his possible abilities. Eventually, David does begin to realize he does have some remarkable, if subtle abilities and starts to question his life and the true meaning behind it. Is David infact some modern day super-hero? Or is he just an extremely lucky man who walked away from a train wreck unharmed?

The most unique and bold choice by Shyamalan so far, Unbreakable is unlike any of his other films in that it doesn’t quite have the twist ending we’ve grown accustomed to. I don’t think many people were fooled by the ending, but in a way, it makes the film all the better. Knowing what will happen doesn’t take anything from the building drama and the suspense of wondering what David will ultimately do. The film is basically Act One of a traditional comic book origin story told in modern times. Act One in other comic book movies is typically the opening third of the film, but Shyamalan boldly chooses to focus the entire film on David’s journey to enlightenment and building to the moment where he makes the choice to use his powers for good, and to try and help people.

The movie is shot like a comic book as well, with shots framed like a traditional comic book panel would be and the story unfolds very deliberately and narratively like a comic book. Clear examples of this is in the color pallete of the film, which is brilliantly done, and has several scenes that feature very muddy, neutral color schemes and then use bright colors to draw our focus to something or someone. It’s an old-school trick used to great effect by Shyamalan in all of his movies, and perhaps has the best payoff in this film. The best example of this “comic book framing” style of directing used in the film is the opening scene. David is attempting to flirt with an attractive (and married) sports agent and the camera keeps alernating its placement during crucial times in the conversation. It’s remarkably well done and helps us really focus on David and grow attached to him quickly.

The acting is top notch as well. Both Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson are phenomenal in this film. Willis plays David with such restraint and such tenderness that its hard not to root for him. Jackson, meanwhile, instills such humerous brooding contempt into Elijiah that its hard not to feel sorry for him as well. It’s great how deliberate everything Elijiah does in the film is. Its so methodically thought out, and you become mesmerized, wondering what he has up his sleeve next. Both characters go thru remarkable character journeys in the film. David has opportunities to turn away from his heroes journey, and Elijiah has opportunites to right his own path. It’s the choices they make and the complexity within them that make the drama so compelling.

The script by Shymalan is also remarkably strong, as in all of his films, but this one is one of my favorites. I love the structure in the plot of the first third of the movie, in which we see glimpses of Elijiah’s past as we journey with David to the moment he meets Elijiah in his store. Also, as David progresses along on his journey in the film, we catch glimpses of his own past and the single lasting moment that ties all the characters in the movie together with such subtle brilliance. That, of course, is the much talked about car accident, referenced several times in the first two acts of the film and finally seen by us near the conclusion. (Spoiler Alert! Skip to the last paragraph if you haven’t seen the movie) David and Audrey are in college and have a near fatal car accident, infact David is thrown several yards from the car and should’ve died. It’s the first moment in David’s life where he suspects something is different about him, and he has repressed those thoughts into adulthood. He rescues Audrey from the wrecked car, and seizes the opportunity to give up his future as a football star, a topic we’ve already learned at this point, that Audrey had strong feelings about and may’ve changed the course of there relationship had David not faked an injury and quit the game. It’s this great ability and stength of Shymalan to connect everything in his films, no matter how small and ordane and make it all important.

Shymalan has made better films than Unbreakable, but few of the others had such a deliberate message behind them. The film, heroes journey aside, is ultimately about a man who realizes what’s important in his life. He made choices to give up the things he loves for his wife and child, and as grown unhappy with his life as a result. Remarkably he learns how to balance his family and his own needs, which is never easy. Elijiah explains in the film that he thinks the superpowers, and even the superheroes themselves within comic books, are only metaphors for everyday life or the troubles of the time in which they’re written. David represents our ability to right wrongs in our own life, and to not give up. We all get second chances, its up to us to make the best of them, and in Unbreakable, David Dunn shows us that anything is possible. 

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Nic Cage is back to reprise his role as treasure hunter Ben Gates in the follow-up to the 2004 hit. During a presentation Ben Gates and his father are confronted with information that could link their family with John Wilkes Booth and the assassination of President Lincoln. After doing research Ben and his team are taken on an international hunt to find the clues that lead to clearing their families name and even discovering a lost golden city.

When you can’t get Indiana Jones for the job done then the second guy in line I imagine would be Nic Cage as Ben Gates from National Treasure. Its been awhile since I last saw the first National Treasure, but I do remember watching it think how much of a Indiana Jones wannabe it was. Don’t get me wrong I didn’t think the movie was half bad, but come on when you watch it you can’t help but think it.
My one real problem with the movie was how long and slow paced I thought it was. It took forever just for the “Book of Secret” to finally appear on screen. There was a lot of running around finding all these clues and time of them planning on getting to the clues, I thought it should have been cut down either the scenes themselves or they should have reworked the script and not put as many treasure hunting element. Cause in the end they find what they were really looking for but it just took too long that I almost gave up on the movie and turn it off. Other then that I really don’t have that much to complain about other then Nic Cage couldn’t have been anymore cheesier with the one liners. Or that sporting that haircut doesn’t hide the fact that your actually bald.
But the film does contain it’s share of the action and chase scenes from start to finish. I was sometimes on the edge of my seat  trying to figure out the clues along with Nic Cage’s character. I did enjoy the storyline and the idea of why they were going on another treasure hunt of the sorts. And that they decided to include Helen Mirren as the mother. Plus they pretty much brought back all the important characters that everybody liked from the last movie as well.
If it wasn’t for my dad who enjoys both movies I probably wouldn’t have bothered watching this movie at all. It’s no Indiana Jones but it the end it is still fun to watch. And it a movie that kids and adults can watch together.

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Short Review: Mario Kart meets Death Race 2000

Speed Racer, directed by the Wachowski brothers, is a visually stunning adaptation of the cartoon of the same name. The story follows the career of Speed Racer (Emile Hirsch), a young man who lives for the thrill of the race. He’s a natural at what he does and quickly attracts the attention a major corporation that wants to bank on his increasing talent.

The Wachowski’s don’t hesitate with the special effects in this film; they go all out, and I think this was a wise decision. I haven’t seen the original Speed Racer, but from what I hear it was an anime. With that in mind, the adaptation is the closest I’ve ever seen to a live-action anime. If they had tried to make it look realistic, I don’t think it would have worked at all; it would have come out looking horribly fake, rather than vibrant and in it’s own world.

I loved the visual transitions that were used throughout the film as well. They were very unique and didn’t cramp the pacing at all for me. You have to see it to believe it.

The story was pretty straightforward, which was expected, and had some great parallels between similar character arcs. The scenes with Spritle and the chimp seemed out of place at times and tossed in for a few quick laughs before jumping back to the story again. I thought those could have been either cut in places or trimmed down.

All in all, Speed Racer was a lot of fun. It’s definitely style over substance, but man is the style good.

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“88 Minutes” stars Al Pacino looking more worn-out than ever and other actors I have no desire to even mention. It’s directed by Jon Avnet (Fried Green Tomatoes) and written by Gary Scott Thompson (Hollow Man, The Fast and the Furious).

Dr. Jack Gramm is a wealthy forensic psychologist by day and a partier by night. He receives a threatening phone call stating that he has a very long 88 minutes to live. As he repeatedly gets these phone calls reminding him of how much time he has left, he tries his hardest to scope out the harasser using his knowledge in forensics.

88 minutes…you wish. This actually runs for a total of 108 very dull minutes. Just because Al Pacino is in it doesn’t give Jon Avnet the right to release this theatrically. The film just can’t shake off that haunting straight to dvd feeling, even with Al Pacino as the lead. Those who pay to see this are just participating in the making of bad films. If we keep seeing them, they’ll keep making them. You might as well reach down in your pocket, take out $9.50 and flush it down the toilet. Al Pacino tries his best but he just looks tired and drained of all emotions, leisurely sagging along.

This is a film with absolutely no redeeming qualities and is a top runner for the worst film of the year. It’s a sloppy and unoriginal psychological bore. An ill-suited score, very poor direction and an inept script is just a taste of what to expect if you waste your time with this one. There is enough unintentional hilarity here to make up a decent comedy. It’s plain and simple, this film just should’ve never been made. I take my reviewing seriously and when I come across a movie as awful as this, it makes me want to slap myself for watching. It doesn’t even qualify for being worthy of a free viewing.

Only see it if you’re willing to contribute to the worst film of the year so far, apparantly without any film competing at taking its place. Al Pacino isn’t really horrible in it, but the material is downright bad. Nothing is worse than seeing a good actor like Al Pacino attempt to make something work and fail. The truth is, I’d rather bash my head repeatedly against a desk 88 times before ever viewing this movie again.

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“Awake” stars the hot and sexy Jessica Alba and the usual monotoned Hayden Christensen. It’s written and directed by Joby Harold. This is his first step into the spotlight of directing with Awake being his first entry into filmography.

Joby Harold explores a lurid real-life phenomenon known as anesthesia awareness in his directorial debut “Awake”. Clay Beresford is a happily married and extremely wealthy man who has a weak heart and must undergo a long, and in this case, very painful experience involving a heart transplant.

Although there is a moment that will make the faint of heart queasy and possibly encourage you to think twice about surgery, “Awake” is a film that tries much to hard to please it’s audience. When it’s all over, it’s as if Joby Harold has his hands on his knees, out of breath and gasping for air. There are enough twists in this movie to make your head spin and the majority of them can be predicted without effort. For a directorial debut, this does have minimal style.

Hayden Christensen reprises the role that he has played numerous times before and, like most of the time, without a glimpse of true acting skills. Once again he is a rich and lazy voiced character with a preppy look. The sketchy chemistry between Hayden Christensen and Jessica Alba was intentional for some crucial plot points in the film. This I respect. I believe that most of the flaws are based on lack of direction. This is a film that is very limited in its creepiness. Even though it does have a moment of nearly unbearable intensity, it drifts off into an ineffective experience once you get pass Clay’s inner-thoughts of sheer pain.

It is amazing how many twist and turns this film takes. One fresh and jaw-dropping twist would have justified the needs of most moviegoers. Instead, we have nearly uncountable twists that don’t quite surprise us when we figure most of them out way beforehand. Jessica Alba gives another mildly mediocre performance and relies on her good looks to be charming. Not a bad thing, but does this beautiful woman actually have any acting abilities? One actor in this movie has proven his skills in acting before. Terrance Howard, although not in the top of his game, gives a marginally well performance as one of the surgens.  Most of these problems are just lack of experience and will hopefully upgrade when or if Joby Harold makes his next feature film. I am eager to see if improves.

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Paranoid Park” stars Gabe Nevins, Daniel Liu, and many other first time actors. It’s written and directed by Gus Van Saint (Good Will Hunting, Elephant) and is based on a novel written by Blake Nelson.

A teenage skater named Alex (Gabe Nevins) becomes the suspect of the possible murder of a late night security guard patrolling an area near the train tracks. A detective named Richard Lu (Daniel Liu) visits the school known for multiple skaters who hang out at the famous skate park known as Paranoid Park. His reason being that the murder weapon was a skateboard and occurred near this famous skater hang-out.

“Paranoid Park” is an independent flick shot with style and grace. A subtle thriller featuring Gabe Nevins’ debut as an actor and this role just might boost his way to stardom. He gives a spectacular performance as a loner who finds himself in the most disturbing of situations. Not only does Gabe Nevins nails his character, but just about every actor portrayed in the film appeared natural on camera. It’s amazing how confident all of these first time actors (composed primarily of young teens) are. Some of this credit goes towards veteran director Gus Van Saint for prying out these fresh performances, but most of the credit goes to the actors themselves for being so casual during filming.

This is an atmospherically dark and thought-provoking entry into the film noir genre. The excessive use of slow-motion is common in independent flicks. Gus Van Saint takes full advantage of this using ultra slow-motion every chance he gets, eventually overusing it at times. This is a film full of gritty style, even using an unfocused camera at times adding a hazy effect. It has a very modest pace to it that neither hurts the film nor does it really help. The script was sharp and intelligently written.

My only real problem with this film is the ending. It doesn’t quite answer important questions and leaves a dry feeling. An odd selection of music was used in appropriate moments and the direction was done with fashion. This is a well made sleeper that with its subtle approach is gripping, and most of all unsettling. Anyone who is looking for a film with first time acting at its best, distinctive style and a pneumatic ring to it, “Paranoid Park” has that and much more.

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88 MINUTES

2008

TriStar Pictures

Written by Gary Scott Thompson

Produced and Directed by Jon Avnet

            When movie fans get together and start discussing the most influential and greatest actors ever, there’s an excellent chance that Al Pacino will be in the top five if not right at the top.  And with good reason.  If Al Pacino had only performed in “The Godfather Trilogy” his place in movie history would be assured.  But he’s assembled a list of classic films that few actors today can match: “Serpico” “…And Justice For All” “Dog Day Afternoon” “Heat” “Scarface” “The Panic In Needle Park” “Dick Tracy” “Looking For Richard” “Carlito’s Way” “Glengarry Glen Ross”…hell, I even like “Bobby Deerfield” “Revolution” and “Author! Author!”  But lately Al Pacino hasn’t been hitting them outta the park the way he used to.  Oh, he played an okay bad guy in “Ocean’s Thirteen” but it was a performance that anybody could have done.  It didn’t have that magic we expect from Al Pacino.  And 88 MINUTES isn’t a movie that’s going to enhance Mr. Pacino’s reputation at all.  Even my wife Patricia who is an Al Pacino fan from way back in the day (we have epic arguments over who’s the better actor: Al Pacino or my boy Robert DeNiro) was highly disappointed with 88 MINUTES. 

            Dr. Jack Gramm (Al Pacino) is a popular Seattle college professor who also is a nationally renowned forensic psychologist who’s made a sizeable fortune from his work profiling serial killers for the FBI and various police departments around the country.  Gramm’s latest success was in convicting Jon Forster aka “The Seattle Slayer” (Neal McDonough).  Forster maintains that he’s innocent and when one of Gramm’s students turns up murdered in the exact same way as Forster’s alleged victims, there’s some doubt raised.  Gramm maintains that Forster has an accomplice on the outside who committed the murder.  FBI Special Agent Frank Parks (William Forsythe) isn’t so sure.  Y’see, Gramm’s DNA is all over the crime scene.  To complicate matters, Gramm gets a phone call telling him he only has 88 minutes to live.  Why 88 minutes?  Because 88 minutes is related to a specific case in Gramm’s past that has extraordinary personal significance for him.  Gramm must use his skills and training as a forensic psychologist to identify who the killer is before his 88 minutes run out.

            Sounds like thrilling stuff, huh?  Nothing could be further from the truth.  For a movie hyped as a suspense thriller, 88 MINUTES has no suspense and even fewer thrills.  The movie is being sold on Al Pacino’s performance and even that isn’t as dynamic or exciting as we’ve come to expect from him.  The movie throws far too many potential suspects at us.  Most of who are women.  Given that Gramm is supposed to be a rampant womanizer we shouldn’t be surprised when the identity of the killer is revealed.  Hell, half of the people in the audience Patricia and I saw it with accurately identified the killer an hour into the movie.

            I have to say that Al Pacino looks great in the movie.  And he tries his best to make the character and the movie work.  Perhaps his best scene in the movie is when he explains to another one of his students (Alicia Witt) what personal meaning 88 minutes has for him.  It’s a scene where we can see the Al Pacino we know and love at work.  Unfortunately you’ve got to sit through a whole chunk of pretty slow scenes in order to get to it.  Amy Brenneman is a standout as Pacino’s assistant and I would have liked to have seen more scenes between them.  Which leads into one or my major peeves with this movie: There are way too many scenes where the actors are talking to each other on cell phones instead of interacting on the screen together.  I haven’t seen cell phones used this much to convey information since the last season of “24”.  Neal McDonough is a fine actor but he’s not given much to do here.  I would have liked to have seen more scenes between William Forsythe and Al Pacino as I enjoyed them both when they were in “Dick Tracy”.  The Seattle locations are nice to look at as is Deborah Kara Unger and Leelee Sobieski. 

            So should you see 88 MINUTES?  I can’t recommend this movie even if you’re a diehard Al Pacino fan.  I wouldn’t even recommend waiting for the DVD and renting it.  The mystery at the heart of the story isn’t interesting or compelling and there’s never any feeling that the Pacino character is in any real danger.  The amount of suspects thrown at us is laughable and when the killer is finally revealed it isn’t surprising and the killer’s motives are laughable.  I’m hoping that Pacino’s next movie, “Righteous Kill” which will re-team him with Robert DeNiro will be a whole lot better.  But it wouldn’t have to do much to be better than 88 MINUTES.

108 minutes

Rated R for brief nudity, language and violence

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Director - Juan Antonio Bayona

Writer - Sergio G. Sánchez

Starring - Belen Rueda, Fernando Cayo, Roger Princep, Mabel Rivera, Montserrat Carulla

Review:

Usually when a famous and well respected director, in this case Pan’s Labyrinth creator Guillermo Del Toro, attaches their name to another film under the title “presents” it will draw fans but ultimately disappoint. The Orphanage has broken that trend, at least for now, as it’s a creepy, skin-crawling and genuinely effective little horror film that should have you grabbing for the nearest thing to hide behind.

A woman moves her family into a house where she used to stay as an orphan and she decides to open it up again. Before long her son starts to communicate with some invisible new friends.

It’s not really apparent from the beginning that The Orphanage is going to be the scary ride it soon becomes. It starts off fairly slowly, concentrating very much on the story and the origins of things to come. It sets up things very well for the scares to come, using various techniques to lull us into a false sense of security. But at the same time everything has a creepy air about it, not least of all is the Shining-esque empty house with seemingly endless hallways and huge rooms. The aforementioned Kubrick masterpiece showed us that a huge and empty building can be terrifying in and of itself and The Orphanage has that same thing going for it.

Things soon take a turn for the scarier, and this isn’t really giving anything away since it happens fairly early on, when the main character’s son disappears at a party without a trace of who might have took him and where he might have gone. This, also, in and of itself is a creepy thing to watch. The disappearance of a person without a trace is an interesting plot device and it is sure to hold the viewers interest until the conclusion. Added to that the fact that you actually care about these characters and what happens to them, the ordeal they go through makes you feel for them.

What makes The Orphanage so effective is the carefully and precisely done moments of horror and big jump scares. I would need at least three hands to count the amount of times I jumped throughout the movie, in particular one in which I can safely say everyone in the cinema jumped out of their skin all at the same time, and for any horror film to get that reaction from me that many times I commend it thoroughly.

The film uses various different, effective techniques to create the jump scares and general horror tension. Most notably is the use of music, when and how it is employed. Usually in a horror film the music will either build up and up and culminate right when something jumps out at you or it will culminate then there will be a moment or two of silence and then something will jump out at you. The Orphanage builds the music for an extended period of time, culminates as you would expect and then nothing would come of it. This happens more towards the first part of the movie, the music becomes more and more few and far between as the movie goes on, and is used to great effect. This could possibly frustrate some viewers who are used to, want and expect the regular kind of jumps scares but it’s part of the reason it works so well. It plays on audience expectation, does things differently and then proceeds to make you jump regardless.

To accompany the horror element of the film there is also a great sense of humanity to it all. This is fairly unusual in horror films, especially nowadays, as we are used to seeing everything be in a film as an excuse to have the horror element. Here we have both; arguably the humanistic side actually takes president more than the horror does. But it doesn’t once ruin the movie, as it actually adds an extra layer than most, including myself, weren’t expecting to get from the film. This element helps the audience care for the characters and to actually give a damn what becomes of them.

I can’t quite say there was anything majorly wrong about the film, except, perhaps, that it’s a tad too long and the scares aren’t quite as frequent for any die hard horror film. Luckily I am not one of those devoted horror nuts who needs gore and/or terrifying moments for every minute of a film’s runtime. Therefore even though it was noticeable that it wasn’t scary at every moment it didn’t really bother me as it might some.

It’s wonderful to see a horror film that prays on fears of a more phsychological nature and that gets under your skin as opposed to the plethora of gory films we have had as of late. It’s effectiveness can surely be attributed to the skilfully done moments of skin crawling horror and huge jump scares inserted at exactly the right moments. This is most likely going to be wearing the crown of best horror of 2008 and I will be surprised if that’s proven otherwise.

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The Mist stars Thomas Jane known mainly for his roles in (The Punisher,Deep Blue Sea).Also satrring is Marcia Gay Harden  (Into The Wild),Laurie Holden (Fantastic Four,Silent Hill)Andre Braugher(Rise Of The Silver Surfer,Poseidon,Into The Wild)William Sadler(The Green Mile,Shawshank Redemption,Trespass,Bill n Ted’s Bogus Journey,Die Hard 2 and lastly Chris Owen who will be mostly known ffrom the American Pie films as Sherman and in the recent Bank Job.The Mist was directed by three time oscar nominated Frank Darabont who gave us The Green Mile,Executive producer for Colateral,the screenplay for The Fly 2 and The Shawshank Redemption.

Joe Drayton(Jane)is a hollywood artist who whilst finishing his latest picture realises there is a most unusual thunderstorm and as he and his family take a look the house is hit by a tree.The next morning Drayton notices a large mist cloud drawing nearer and nearer to his house and goes round to speak to his next door neighbour about the damage caused and they take a trip into the local supermarket and soon after the whole town hears a loud siren and the mist has covered the whole town and a man arrives screaming, not to go outside into the mist and they bolt the doors closed and wait.As people become more frightened some leave to go home,but never return.Later a group decide to go and find out what is going on in the back room and are attacked by a large tentacle like ceature and a young man is dragged off(Owen)the group try to convine the remaining survivors there is a large tentacled creature outside and again are attacked by new creatures,smaller,but which can fly and poison them.A small group decide to go off and find medical help and come across the original group never to return and are again attacked by even more deadly creatures.After fleeing back to the store,the group begin to believe through a religious woman(Harden) that this is an act of god and he is punishing them.More and more people fall prey to the religious woman beliefs and the few who don’t must make a stand and again decide themselves to go into the mist and find help and then comes the surprise of the most shocking endings.

This film is from the horror mastermind of Stephen King and will terrify you to your very soul.It deals with a lot of issues like religion,paranoia,isolation and human instincts for survival.It is lead by Tom Jane who gives my favourite performance to date And is backed by an extraordinary co-cast and really have you feel for them and want them to survive.The setting is as simple as it can get,with most of shis  being in a superstor gives you the sense of being trapped and people fear and beliefs.The story line was going to  be a worry and you are just waitng for the cheesy one liners and  ending,but these never happen.The script was astonishing because in alot of films similiar to this you only ever get 3-5 people who have good lines,but there were so many varied charcters given to you in this,that you were always anticipating each persons responses throughout.

Another worry for me with this was with the monsters and seeing if they were poorly made.Again never a problem mainly because you only really see the smaller creatures and the bigger ones are teased in now and again but are used for your imaginaion,which for me works best in this really case does and brings the horor factor into play even more so.Director Barabont has made this in a very mature way and uses many everday life factors to bring you a world of fear and paranoia and mixes it with religion and human beliefs.The cgi used for the monsters was sublime and everything mixed perfectly to give you one of the most intense horrors i have and i’m sure many would agree will see.

As you will now know i am an avid horor fan and it takes alot for me to get excited about certain horrors and with all my worries and doubts with this being completely scrapped ,I cannot recommend this film enough.I do believe alot of people will probably find the monsters not to be used enough,but thet are extremely frightening and this i feel adds to the tension and unknown.And again many will feel the religion factor plays too big a part in this,but these are everyday  factors mixed with the unknown.This i am sure will frighten most people and with one of the most surprising endings i have ever seen you will have so many thoughts racing through your mind about what you would have done to do  deal wih the situation.With many films blendid like Cloverfield,Godzilla with a hint of Arachnophobia and Evolution put together with very believable acting and characters,this is a must must see now on sight film.Absolute smasher go see……

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“Gone Baby Gone” stars Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris, John Ashton, and Amy Ryan. This is Ben Affleck’s directorial debut and the screenplay was written by Ben Affleck and Aaron Stockard. “Gone Baby Gone” also features Amy Ryan’s first academy award nomination.

A four year old girl by the name of Amanda McCready becomes missing. The little girl’s aunt hires two missing person detectives named Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck) and Angie Gennero (Michelle Monaghan) to find the truth about what happened to Amanda McCready. Living in a tough neighborhood and not being police officers gives these two detectives a huge advantage on the case.

This is undeniably a really good movie, but I found my mind wondering. It didn’t live up to my expectations. I was ready for a movie that was going to blow me away. Instead I got a critic proof movie and nothing more. The scenes that really kept my interest were the ones that involved academy award nominee Amy Ryan. Even then, I found myself distracted, more interested at the wall in my living room. For a directorial debut, this is a fine job. Maybe it is just me, but I found this somewhat hard to follow. I was totally disoriented until the ending.

I also had a hard time understanding Casey Affleck’s lines considering that he talks through his teeth the whole time. “Gone Baby Gone”, for some strange reason, just didn’t hold my interest. The twist ending that isn’t a happy one, but the right one almost won me over. However, I can’t see myself watching this movie again. I do think that Ben Affleck has more talent behind the camera than in front, but he is none the less talented. Let me put it this way, you won’t be kicking yourself in the ass for not seeing it.

I was somewhat annoyed by Casey Affleck’s performance here, never completely opening up his mouth when he spoke. Amy Ryan has a total of about twenty minutes of screen time, which is probably the most interesting moments of the two hour film. This movie has top-notch acting, it is directed superbly by first timer Ben Affleck, and has you guessing until the end. In other words, Ben Affleck’s directorial debut is strong in most of the critical areas, but it’s just not interesting enough to capture my attention. It earns not a high recommendation, but a low one.

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“Murder By Death” stars Eileen Brennan, Truman Capote, James Coco, Peter Falk, David Niven, Alec Guinness, Elsa Lanchester, Peter Sellers, and Maggie Smith. It’s directed by Robert Moore and the screenplay was written by Neil Simon.

A millionaire named Lionel Twain (Truman Capote) invites five of the worlds greatest detectives to solve a murder that has yet to happen. During the nine o’clock dinner, Lionel Twain tells his guests that the murder is to occur at exactly twelve o’clock by someone sitting at the dinner table. The detective that solves the murder shall receive the large sum of one million dollars. Before long, a silent scream leads them to the body of the blind butler. Will the world greatest detectives be able to solve a crime that hasn’t occurred yet?

This parody of the earlier murder mystery detective stories of the 30’s and 40’s is sometimes funny, but not hilarious. The story has many twists and turns that will keep you guessing, even when you think you have solved the mystery. A goofy mystery that has many jokes, some of which hit the mark, while others fall flat. The acting was on par for satires like this one. The movie does seem to drag on, making it feel like a two hour movie. It does have a few laugh out loud moments, but for this film to work, it has to be funny constantly.

“Murder By Death” doesn’t have enough laughs to keep the viewers throughly entertained. I did enjoy Truman Capote’s role, which was the most engaging character in the movie. Director Robert Moore failed to show compassion for the actors and their character, creating a film that was later made into a better parody of mystery stories titled “Clue”. Unlike “Clue”, this film has a script that is mildly funny as to being consistently funny.

Would I recommend “Murder By Death”? I don’t think so. This is a dated version of the widely popular game turned to movie “Clue”. I found out the hard way that it isn’t worth sitting through the whole movie to get to the numerous twist and turns at the end. It’s not a bad film, just a tired one. A slightly funny, yet dragging movie that is far from the spectacular spoof it tries so hard to be. Good effort, but it doesn’t succeed in delivering top-notch humor.

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Director - Matt Reeves

Writer - Drew Goddard

Starring - Michael Stahl-David, Lizzy Caplan, Jessica Lucas, T.J. Miller, Mike Vogel

Review:

Originality is pretty hard to come by in movies nowadays. In particular in the action/blockbuster kind of areas. It’s usually the same stuff recycled over and over because it’s safe, predictable and comfortable to the masses. Cloverfield aimed to and has succeeded in breaking that trend for at least the time being as it is an exhilarating, involving and sometimes downright scary new take on the monster movie, and to steal a quote from many different people, “it’s a monster movie for the YouTube generation.”

The film revolves around a group of people throwing a party for a friend who is soon leaving for Tokyo. In the middle of the party an earthquake-style rumble is felt and heard and everyone makes their way to the roof to see what’s going on. They soon find out that there is some sort of giant monster attacking the city and that their lives are severely in danger. Because of a friend who is still stuck in the middle of the city they decide to make their way there to save them.

What drew me to this film in the first place was curiosity. The genius marketing campaign, overseen by Lost creator J.J. Abrams, of the first trailer having not given the name of the movie and just the general “hush-hush” approach to it all had me eagerly awaiting the film’s release. The film had a lot to live up to in terms of satisfying the audience members after all this mystery and hype has been built up. And in my opinion, although it isn’t a perfect movie by any stretch of the imagination, it accomplishes in fine style what it set out to primarily do; entertain.

Although the movie does borrow some ideas here and there (most notably from films like Godzilla, including a shot of people getting crushed by the monster’s foot, among others) it is generally an innovative and original take on the monster movie. The whole film is filmed from the point of view of the group of friends and we see the film through the view of a video camera. When I first heard about this style of shooting I was sceptical but it started to grown on me. During the first few minutes of the movie I had a real problem with the hand-held technique and the amount of shaky cam which bothers me if done hap-hazardly. But after about five to ten minutes I completely got used to the approach and done in any other way I think would take away the point and focus of the film.

What makes the hand-held technique, at first bearable in every way, and so well done is it brings an extreme sense of realism to the whole thing. Normally in a monster movie we would get full shots of the monster, the camera swivelling and flying between buildings and other places it naturally wouldn’t be able to go. With Cloverfield, however, we see it like a home movie and as a result the film seems believable. Sometimes it’s so real that that aspect becomes actually genuinely frightening. You feel almost if you walked out of the cinema then and there you would find the monster trundling through your city. This kind of dead realism is hard to accomplish, especially in the movie society today, and I loved that Cloverfield managed it.

Something which might annoy or even outrage some movie goers, in fact a lot, is the fact that it remains a mystery what the monster is and why it’s in New York City. People have come to expect from movies like this that we get scenes of scientists and military men trying to figure out what the monsters is and by the end we are all in the know. With Cloverfield we never find out, there’s just a monster attacking the city so deal with it. I for one thought this was one of the best aspects of the movie, the sheer guts and attempt at being original by not letting us in on just what the hell this creature is.

In the style of United 93, the film uses mostly, if not all, unknown actors to the fill the roles of the people we see on-screen most of the time. No doubt they have appeared here and there in a couple of small movies and TV shows but they aren’t A-list actors or celebrities. This, again, adds to the realism of it all and allows us to invest ourselves in these characters instead of watching someone like Tom Cruise or Matt Damon trying to survive this giant monster attack. We think of these people as the characters they are playing and not the actors that they actually are.

Like I mentioned the movie obviously isn’t perfect. It may be a bit unfair bashing the movie for some of it’s weaknesses if you take into account what kind of movie it is and what it’s aiming to be but in a review I must. First of all some of the extreme realism created is kind of broken in a few scenes because of the way the film is edited. What we are watching is supposed to be a tape, ‘property of the US government’ as the movie states at the beginning, and we are supposed to be seeing it as it happened. And yet in a few scenes the tape will cut back to a month or so beforehand to remind us the main characters love for the person he’s attempting to rescue. It happens not enough to dampen the movie but enough to be noticeable. And also, and this is probably the biggest weakness, is the glaring question of why are they still filming? If there was a threat like this in real life you would be running for your life rather than worrying about capturing it on video. Even though I was involved and feeling all these different emotions I still had this question in the back of my mind the entire time.

Overall the film is one of the most purely enjoyable cinema experiences I have had in a while. It’s a film worth making the trip out to the cinema to see rather than waiting for it to be released on DVD. If you like to just lose yourself in a film then this is one hell of a cinematic experience to take. It delivers in what it was trying to accomplish and any my opinion should satisfy the excitement and curiosity of the movie going audience. In a nutshell? Cloverfield is a flawed but thoroughly enjoyable time at the movies.

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Que una pelicula coreana no aparezca en la tomatera es algo habitual pero que ni tan siquiera aparezca en IMDB realmente me ha dejado pasmado. Peor para ellos porque “Epitaph” es probablemente la mejor pelicula coreana del anyo.

un 10 . Desde el cartel hasta las letras del final.

Decir simplemente que se trata de una historia de terror se queda corto. Muy corto. Eso si, cuando pretende asustar lo consigue y reconozco que desde “Shutter” no habia visto escena igual. “Epitaph” es una historia de historias en un hospital coreano durante la ocupacion japonesa. Hay flashbacks y historias cruzadas en un ambiente tenso y bien logrado.

Lo que mas me ha gustado de la pelicula son sus referencias. Supongo que combinar los elementos que mas me gustan han hecho que me de la sensacion de que era parte de la historia. El guion en si me ha hecho pensar en Rampo Edogawa y todos esos relatos goticos que tanto disfrutamos por aqui. La musica y alguna de sus escenas son influencia directa de Park Chan-Wook y “Oldboy”. Hay una frase exactamente calcada de “oldboy” que tengo grabada en mi memoria ya que acompanya la banda sonora que sigo escuchando y esa orquestracion final a ritmo de vals es como si estuviera en casa! Como no me va a gustar? haha…

Los directores son noveles y hermanos. Y despues de buscar bastante por internet he encontrado el vinculo que estaba convencido existia. Fueron asistentes de direccion de Park tanto en Oldboy como en Simpathy for mr. vengeance.

Sarang he…

Una vez terminado el film sigo pensando en el y creo que la empezare a ver de nuevo para saborear esos cabos sueltos que solamente puedes comprender a partir de un segundo visionado. Me quedo especialmente con el juego con las luces (en epoca de guerra va y viene continuamente) y esa madre que lo perdona todo…bufff!! gallina de piel.

He descubierto tambien que esta pelicula llego al Festival de San Sebastian pero no se si Fementido llego a tiempo para verla. Ojala llegaras a verla!

Mama va a cantar una nana para que duermas profundamente…

En definitiva, la respuesta a mis pregarias en cuanto al cine de terror asiatico. No hay ninyas de pelo mugriento; el miedo esta en tu cabeza y despues de terminar la cinta me doy cuenta que tratan la relacion entre los dos mundos de forma diferente a la convencional. Si senyor! Seguro que Park no os ha ayudado?

Lo mejor : Empieza lenta pero acabas metiendote dentro de las habitaciones del hospital y da miedo apartar ya la mirada.
Lo peor : Ni tan siquiera en imdb le dais publicidad????

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Director - John August

Writer - John August

Starring - Ryan Reynolds, Hope Lange, Melissa McCarthy, Elle Fanning

Review:

So peculiar yet strangely engaging is John August’s directorial debut The Nines that it surely leaves each individual viewer perplexed in their own way but ultimately satisfied that they gave this rarity a chance.

To explain the plot of this film would be an exercise in futility without giving away everything that happens but I will at least try to give some sort of synopsis. The film is split into three parts; one about a troubled actor, one about a television writer/director and one about a videogame designer (all played by Ryan Reynolds) and the film unfolds by the three stories intertwining with each other in mysterious ways.

Cult cinema is a sub-genre (of sorts) I am a huge fan of. Donne Darko is one of my favourite movies of all time and there are countless other films I just love simply for their weirdness. The Nines is not a film I would immediately say I loved but upon further viewings and dissections I could come to that opinion. If you found the aforementioned Donnie Darko to your taste then you will probably find something to enjoy in this film. It is a brain-fizzing triple-whammy journey into the meaning of life, personal identity and the state of the world as we know it today. And although the film may be a bit too ambitious in its ideas and maybe it doesn’t fully convince the audience of what it’s attempting to say but you have to admire it for its attempt at doing so. So many films nowadays are formulaic, boring schlock that have no merit but to shut off your brain for a couple of hours. At least The Nines tries to be something different, tries to accomplish something most wouldn’t and I for one give it credit just for that.

As strange and confusing as the film is I have to admit I was in tune with it. Although, for the most part, I had no idea what the hell was going, within the context of the film and in losing myself within it I was sort on the same wavelength. Now I don’t claim to be someone who can understand what most are left confused by but there was just something about this film that had me firmly in its perplexing grip.

I can’t go too much into depth with what actually happens in the film and my thoughts about specific things as that would enter the uncharted spoiler territory. But what I will say is the way the film works in three different sections I thought at first was a tad pointless but by the end it would make even less sense if it were done in any other way. As we are slowly given clues as to what it’s all about, the film’s structure strangely works in its own peculiar little way. There is no doubt a plethora of things that I have missed upon first viewing that I would more than want to notice on a second.

Ryan Reynolds is an actor I like most of the time. He has made some stupid role choices in the past (ala The Amityville Horror remake) but most of the time he is a solid, quite underrated actor. I was surprised and yet happy to see him take on a role (actually three) like this as it proves he has versatility and a nose for unique projects. I can’t quite say he is fantastic here but he was certainly more than adequate. I think the same goes for the rest of the cast; perhaps not perfect but good enough.

This is writer John August’s (writer of such films as Big Fish and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) debut film as a director and for a first timer this is impressive stuff. It would perhaps be a bit odd for an experienced director to make this film but in a weird way it makes sense for a debut director to do so. And despite August’s brave ambition’s being not entirely convincing I admire them none the less.

But in the end I can’t quite recommend The Nines, at least not to a general audience. Personally I had a fun and thought-provoking time with it but any general movie goer who just happens to stumble upon it will no doubt be left confused and annoyed. Whether you are the former or the latter you will have to find out for yourself.

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