Quickie: Frontier(s)
Frontier(s) (2006) — ** Quickie Review A band of thieves who pull off a heist during anti-government riots flee to a rural youth hostel only to run into a band of neo-Nazis ready to torture and rape their visitors. Political subtext aside, this French horror picture is as conventional as its Hollywood counter parts. Sure, it’s smarter than most high-gore thrillers, but Frontier(s) may turn you into a sociopath just by watching it. Feel free to turn it off after the claustrophobia-inducing tunnel climb, which is the only truly frightening moment in the film. Directed by Xavier...
Read MoreMovie Review: Iron Man (2008)
Iron Man (2008)–***1/2 Iron Man isn’t high art, but it certainly is high entertainment. It’s a savvy, slick summer film that all Hollywood blockbusters should aspire to emulate. So few May-to-August action-taculars even try anymore, going through the CGI-driven motions or trying to discover their inner art film/soap opera. Iron Man, it turns out, is great because there is a dearth of movies like it – movies with the notion that sometimes entertainment doesn’t have to be overdone or over thought in order to be spectacular. Oh, and Iron Man is a superhero movie. I mention that because while watching the most recent Marvel Comics adaptation I nearly forgot that it existed in a world — and a genre — outside the movie I was watching. Much of the credit can be given to Robert Downey, Jr., who may...
Read MoreMovie Review: Baby Mama
Baby Mama (2008)–*1/2 Let’s take a cue from Amy Poehler’s SNL Weekend Update bit titled Really? Really, Amy? Really? You thought this gig in a tepid, tedious comedy was right for your first starring role? Really? That’s like saying heroin is the choice painkiller for you first experience with child birth. And really, Tina Fey? Really? Baby Mama, a second-rate little comedy about a 37-year-old business woman looking to be a mom, is really the film you want to make after lampooning the same character on 30 Rock for two years? Really? From Fey, a Saturday Night Live alumna, and Poehler, the sketch comedy show’s current leading lady, comes a comedy that is unacceptably unfunny. Oh, true, like any mainstream comedy, Baby Mama has its moments of unsatisfying laughter, but there’s this suspicion that we’ve been hoodwinked. How can...
Read MoreQuickie: Be Kind Rewind
Be Kind Rewind (2007)–*** Quickie Review A freak accident at a power plant supercharges some guy who hangs out at a Jersey VHS-rental store. The magnetic field he produces erases the tapes, forcing him and the store’s clerk to improvise remakes of all the movies. A messy, but ultimately funny comedy, this Michel Gondry picture tickles your funny bone as often as it grates on your nerves. (Though at this point I should point out that the “funny bone” is a nerve, Mr. Literal.) The extracurricular activities have more potential for entertainment (see www.BeKindRewind-TheMovie.com or search “sweded” on YouTube), so don’t be surprised if the film becomes as big a pop culture force as Napoleon Dynamite. For those who reminisce fondly on the days of VHS, it’s a must see. Starring Jack Black, Mos Def, Danny Glover and Mia...
Read More‘Hard Candy’ Chips Juno’s Tooth
Post-Juno, I decided to catch up on Ellen Page’s acting. Tonight I finally watched Hard Candy, the I Spit on Your Grave for the To Catch a Predator generation. The film follows a girl named Haley (Ellen Page) who decides to play a little too rough with a 30-something photographer (Patrick Wilson) she meets online. This Lolita has a serious vendetta. Word of warning: anyone who says they like this movie shouldn’t be left alone in a room with your young daughter. It’s a sick, masturbatory fantasy for anyone who ever wanted to be tied up by a 14-year-old girl. Much like a Saw or Hostel subjects us to grotesque violence, Hard Candy forces us to sit through the torture of a man who (spoiler alert) probably should have his balls cut off. If I cared one way or...
Read MoreQuickie: Cloverfield
Cloverfield (2008)–*** Quickie Review On the eve of Rob’s departure from New York City, a giant creature attacks the city. As filmed by his best friend who was taking video testimonials at the good-bye party, Rob and other survivors trek across a devastated Manhattan to rescue Rob’s would-be girlfriend. A terrifying, if angsty monster movie, the J.J. Abrams-produced feature succeeds in giving itself over to the human element, rather than simple spectacle. (Take note Roland Emmerich.) The very personal P.O.V. shooting-style — when mixed with special effects — adds so much to the genre film that you forget how badly it could have failed. Directed by Matt Reeves and starring Michael Stahl-David, Jessica Lucas, T.J. Miller, Odette Yustman and Lizzy Caplan. [youtube...
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