DVD Review: Dark Corners
Dark Corners (2006)–1/2* DVD Review Who in the hell is Thora Birch’s agent? I’d like to meet the person who thought it was a good idea for the star of films like American Beauty and Ghost World to take a role in a C-grade psychological thriller with Lynchian aspirations but only music video vision. Birch has never been a huge star, but I have to believe her resume, which is quite substantial compared to that of her co-stars, merits better offers than the lead in bargain bin junk. I was actually startled by the genuine incoherence of the opening sequence, which has little to do with the rest of the film. We get to see the blood and gore of a serial killer massacre, but its shock value only helps to lower the bar for a thriller without objective....
Read MoreDVD Review: Sensitive New Age Killer
Sensitive New Age Killer (2000)–Too Cool for a Star Rating DVD Review How did I go so many years without seeing Sensitive New Age Killer? Director Mark Savage’s high-camp hitman flick is a blast of B-movie goodness. It’s hard to imagine anyone not enjoying this movie. Like a great video store find or a late-night TV chance encounter, Sensitive New Age Killer delivers exactly what it wants to: fun. I don’t often talk about how fun a movie is, not even when describing a summer release. But let’s take a look at the facts. SNAK, as the acronym goes, follows a man named Paul (Paul Moder), who decided to be a killer with a heart after watching a hitman named the Snake (Frank Bren) kill someone who just happens to be beating a prostitute. One day, hitman Paul, a...
Read MoreDVD Review: The Fountain
The Fountain (2006) Film Rating–**** DVD Rating–** Watching the DVD release of The Fountain is a bittersweet experience. On one hand, the third Darren Aronofsky film is a visual masterpiece. Its poetry resonates throughout the harrowing love story. Anyone who saw the film in theaters and loved it will want to own it, without question. But for a production that was as troubled as this one was, it’s disappointing to not have any worthwhile DVD extras to illuminate things. There isn’t even a director’s commentary. I don’t know if it’s Aronofsky’s silent protest over his one time $75 million sci-fi epic being turned into a $35 million sci-fi epic or if it’s Warner Bros. continuing to minimize costs, but The Fountain certainly deserved a much grander release than it receives. How grand? The film is one that spans a...
Read MoreDVD Review: Breaking and Entering
Breaking and Entering (2006)–*** The first thing I asked myself after Breaking and Entering ended was, “Is this an original movie or an adaptation?” That’s a question I don’t often think to ask, but it struck me as an important one considering the textured, complex storytelling. Had Breaking and Entering been based on a novel, I wouldn’t have appreciated it nearly as much as I do knowing it’s an Anthony Minghella original. That may seem like a bad way to judge a film. But considering the utter dearth of original adult dramas coming out these days, Breaking and Entering becomes a refreshing reminder of what studios are able to do when they loosen the reigns. Jude Law stars as Will Francis, an architect with a vision to revitalize London’s King Cross district. He and his partner (Martin Freeman) set...
Read MoreDVD Review: Suicide Killers
Suicide Killers (2006)–*1/2 I don’t like Suicide Killers for two reasons. First, the film, a documentary investigating the motivations of Muslim suicide bomber, doesn’t do much more than offer a sampling of what could have been examined. It’s like ordering every appetizer on the menu and never getting to the entrée. Second, and the one that I find more alarming, is that it made me laugh more times than it made me think. Suicide Killers is comically sensationalist, but that comes with the territory if you’re model for filmmaking is a 1990s slasher movie. Slasher movie? In one scene, a pounding sound can be heard each time a dramatic statement is made, like boom of a synthesizer in Scream. It’s just one of the many techniques that over-dramatize something that is by definition dramatic. We get snippets of interviews...
Read MoreDVD Review: Four Eyed Monsters
Four Eyed Monsters (2005)–**** I don’t ever really remember not having the Internet. When working at my day job, I find myself emailing co-workers in other states rather than calling them. It’s my first impulse when I want to communicate, though the older coworkers prefer phone. I’d recommend Four Eyed Monsters to them for two reasons. First, it’s a damn fine film, intimate and funny. Second, it’s a film so aware of life in the digital age that it, more than any other film I’ve seen on the subject, illuminates the personality behind the impersonal nature of 21st century communication. The film follows the introverted videographer named Arin (Arin Crumley) who has more to offer in lust than he does in ambition. He spends his days ogling women on the streets and sending messages to girls on social networking...
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