Featured Review: DECEMBER

Holidays and finals and work and church and friends have me overloaded, so I have not seen very many films lately, but more of the award movies are coming out and if I don't write legitimate reviews they'll be updated here.

BOLT - Starring John Travolta, Miley Cyrus, Sussie Essman
Grade: B

BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS - Starring Vera Farmiga
Grade: C+

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON - Starring Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Tilda Swinton
Grade: B

DOUBT - Starring Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams
Grade: A

FROST/NIXON - Starring Frank Langella, Michael Sheen, Sam Rockwell
Grade: A-

IGOR - Starring John Cusack,
Grade: F

MADAGASCAR 2 - Starring Ben Stiller, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett
Grade: C

MILK - Starring Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin
Grade: B-

NOBEL SON - Starring Alan Rickman, Bryan Greenberg, Mary Steenburgen
Grade: D+

RACHEL GETTING MARRIED - Starring Anne Hathaway, Rosemarie Dewitt, Debra Winger
Grade: A-

REVOLUTIONARY ROAD - Starring Leo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Michael Shannon
Grade: TBA

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE - Starring Dev Patel
Grade: A+

VALKYRIE - Starring Tom Cruise, Tom Wilkinson, Bill Nighy
Grade: B+

YES MAN - Starring Jim Carrey, Zooey Deschanel, Bradley Cooper
Grade: B

Featured Review: CHANGELING

Changeling

Starring - Angelina Jolie, John Malkovich, Jeffrey Donovan, Amy Ryan, Colm Feore, Jason Butler Harner, Michael Kelly, Geoff Pierson

Directed by Clint Eastwood

Grade: B

"I want my son back! I want my son back!"

Watching the details so intricately placed in Changeling, I began to notice something. So we have standardized the telephones since the 1920s. We've standardized refrigerators, cars, public transportation, cereal boxes, arrest warrants, and mental institutions. So now, have we standardized award movies?

Changeling turned into what invariably happens to several films of its caliber every year; it went from a good film that otherwise would be an engrossing period biopic, into a forgettable "award" movie. The entire production is full of pedigree that screams from its every ounce of life that it wants to be a big contender come February's Oscars. However, it lacks the true gumption and risk some of the best movies ever made had to deservedly get there.

Angelina Jolie stars as Christine Collins, a single mother in the working world of 1920's Los Angeles. When her son Walter goes missing during an emergency shift at the Pacific Telephone Company, Christine is soon embroiled in hardships and controversy with the Los Angeles Police Department, a devious and corrupted lot led by Captain J.J. Jones (Burn Notice's Jeffrey Donovan). They give her a different boy, send her to a mental institution, subject her to a serial killer's dementia, and out and out lie and underhand her plight. The only humane person it seems is Reverend Gustav Briegleb, a radio pastor who uses her to highlight the treacherous police force.

Unlike the flappers we've seen in Chicago, Christine is an honest, hardworking woman active in the retro society dominated by men and corruption, just touching as a precursor to the equal rights and power women would fight for decades later. The title doesn't necessarily invoke the change in Christine's "son", but rather the strength she acquires through her ordeals. Jolie is very strong at purporting this, mixing a shy, trampled demeanor with a little bit of "We Can Do It" slogan spirit as her terrible circumstances go on through the years. Since the Best Actress category is always a little weak, Jolie seems to be a shoo-in to get a nomination.

Other performers vary, but all are adept. Jason Butler Harner is as outstanding as he is creepy playing Gordon Northcott, a demented, abusive, but almost child-like Canadian serial killer involved with Walter's disappearance. Amy Ryan is subtly good as a "woman of the night" Christine meets in the mental ward, as is Malkovich as the reverend out for justice, a rare restrained role for him. Only Jeffrey Donovan, struggling to rid himself of his New England accent, seemed a bit stiff.

The biggest problem I had with Changeling as a complete film was the same I had with David Fincher's Zodiac last year. Both biopics were definitely watchable with an invigorating cast and a sharp story, based on true-to-life serial killer cases and the people involved on the investigative side. But like Zodiac, Changeling drew back from any prestige with a procedural feel and too many subplot elements distracting away from the heart of the story, which Eastwood chose to make about the plight of Christine Collins.

Eastwood's direction is deceptively simple, which is both a positive and negative. His style invokes an old school Chinatown feeling (both films are about power and corruption in Depression-era Los Angeles), with pinpoint accuracy of the styles, colors, models and fads of the time. However, it's done to such a fault that Changeling plays like a straightforward period movie, without much suspense. There's some ambiguity within the context of the story, but Eastwood piles everything together in such a simple manner that the film tends to drag on during the times when the acting isn't being put on showcase.

Changeling is by all accounts a good film; solid acting, swift direction, and the pace was steady enough to stay alert and comprehensive throughout. But for such a lofty pedestal it placed itself on, Eastwood and company failed to trigger a real emotional reaction. When a film wants to puff itself up as an award worthy film, it has to fire on all cylinders. Instead Changeling went through all the motions of a forgettable award movie.

Featured Reviews: NOVEMBER

`
Yikes, I'm really behind! So many things going on right now, and it's a shame for my movie watching because I haven't had time to do any personal choices, only going with friends & family, thus I haven't even seen Changeling yet. As always though, check out the mini review database blog for every movie I've seen this year. So here's a roundup of films I've seen since the last front page update:

Body Of Lies - Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe, Mark Strong
Director Ridley Scott peppers some unorthodox moods and settings into an otherwise typical cat and mouse chess game of spy intrigue, thus making Body Of Lies interesting and watchable aside from its two main stars. DiCaprio and Crowe are certainly fine here, but the film just nearly misses going south on its own prestige, ala Scott's American Gangster a year ago. Mark Strong, as a Jordanian leader and possibly the British equivalent to Andy Garcia, is a quiet force that hits the right marks.
Grade: B (10/10/08)

City Of Ember - Starring Saoirse Ronan, Harry Treadway, Bill Murray
Usually obscurer, secondhand children fantasy novels such as City Of Ember fizzle out as movie adaptations. But unlike say, The Seeker or The Golden Compass (though Ember's box office numbers say otherwise), Ember has the feel of a cult classic kids adventure that hasn't been seen widespread since the 1980s. Though it treads into some mundane and quirky aspects, the film features some fun performances and Oscar/Prezzie deserving Set Design/Costumes.
Grade: A- (10/10/08)

The Express - Starring Dennis Quaid, Rob Brown, Omar Benson Miller
Saved by the surprisingly nuanced performance by Brown as the titularly nicknamed player, The Express is an otherwise stereotypical feel-good-to-feel-bad sports drama ala previous football films about race and death such as Remember The Titans and Brian's Song. Frankly it's amazing a story like Ernie Davis' has went this long without a film treatment. Solid film to watch, even if you've seen similar variations of every cliche in the football film playbook several times before.
Grade: B- (10/10/08)

Passengers- Starring Anne Hathaway, Patrick Wilson, Andre Braugher
It's not the out and out worst movie of the year, but Passengers is so boring and cluttered with curious mistakes that it fares worse than many pointless films that you know are going to be bad. Horrendous story with a nonsensical ending that flips between vague thriller and peppy romance, anchored by uninspired performances and the dreariest shot location in history. Has there EVER been a good film made in Vancouver?
Grade: F

RockNRolla - Starring Gerard Butler, Tom Wilkinson, Mark Strong
Entertaining if stereotypical Guy Ritchie British gangster noir, RockNRolla has a mix of great performances (Wilkinson, Strong, Toby Kebbell as the title nickname) and atrocious ones by Jeremy Piven (a surprise) and Thandie Newton (no surprise). Although quick-paced and fun, the quirkiness of Ritchie's characters and situations have never been this full tilt, and it starts to get annoying towards the end.
Grade: C+ (11/9/2008)

Role Models - Starring Paul Rudd, Seann William Scott, Elizabeth Banks
There's something about a little boy, not even yet a teenager, shouting extreme expletives that kind of bothers me. Curse words are a great tool for humor, but not when it's so out-and-out obvious. I can watch kids get blown up, shot, murdered all sorts of ways on screen, but Role Models' sort of lopsided raunch-to-heart ratio couldn't muster up the affection. File this under the underwhelming category with the similar but blander Drillbit Taylor.
Grade: D+ (11/9/2008)

Zack & Miri Make A Porno - Starring Seth Rogen, Elizabeth Banks, Craig Robinson
Though not as cohesively funny and warm as Judd Apatow's 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up, director/writer Kevin Smith fills in for Apatow's producer misfires this year with his own knock-off that follows the same raunchy-but-sweet formula. Crude, quite possibly deserves an NC-17 in its own right, but downright more touching and funny than 95% of PG-13 movies. Justin Long, Brandon Routh and surprisingly Jason Mewes are highlights along with usually durable Rogen & Banks.
Grade: B+

Featured Review: OCTOBER I

Continuing the trend of short reviews, I had free time on Friday & Saturday to see 7 films (4 on Friday for a grand total of $5, 3 on Saturday for $5, equaling 7 films for $10). Also added Choke from a random Tuesday night screening after class.

Appaloosa - Starring Ed Harris, Viggo Mortensen, Renee Zellweger
Harris starred, directed, co-wrote and co-produced this lumbering western that re-teams him with his A History Of Violence co-star Mortensen. The performances are all solid and edgy, menacing in their surroundings (though Jeremy Irons' character voice is remarkably similar to that of Daniel Plainview), but Appaloosa slowly builds and builds to a climax that never really comes. Pretty to look at, not very interesting to watch.
Grade: C (10/4/08)

Beverly Hills Chihuahua - Starring Piper Perabo, Jamie Lee Curtis, Drew Barrymore
The premise and the marketing for this film is outlandishly and garishly stupid by all means, but Chihuahua IS a Disney movie. Given the chance, Chihuahua isn't half bad, and actually spreads a positive moral message to its key demographic of little kids. Director Raja Gosnell (Scooby Doo) refrains from taking the film's annoying qualities to an absolute hilt. Sort of like this generation's Homeward Bound, except for slightly less intelligent and focused kids. AKA, perfect for the YouTube generation.
Grade: C (10/3/08)

Blindness - Starring Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Gael Garcia Bernal
Blindness, Fernando Meirelles' much anticipated follow-up to Cidade de Deus and The Constant Gardner, is extremely ambitious visually, ironic for such a story about quarantined blind people. It has Children Of Men and I Am Legend vibes, inserting a we-take-our-lives-for-granted rhetoric in the midst of an almost apocalyptic disaster quality film. In the end Blindness fails to see a grander picture of allegorical democracy, but is interesting enough for an artsy two hour commentary on the beauty of vision.
Grade: B (10/4/08)

Choke - Starring Sam Rockwell, Anjelica Huston, Kelly Macdonald
Anjelica Huston gives a knockout performance, as does Rockwell as always, but it's hard to take their merits seriously in such a bizarre story of bizarre characters. Sort of true to Chuck Palahiuk's book, everything is disjointed until the very end, but it takes a lot of investment to understand any of the character's motives beyond the simple premises. Entertaining, but strange and hard to warm up to.
Grade: B- (9/30/08)

Fireproof - Starring Kirk Cameron, Erin Bethea, Ken Bevel
It's a simple matter of personal faith; if you're a die-hard Christian, you'll probably love Fireproof. If you're an atheist, agnostic or someone who couldn't give a crap about Kirk Cameron, Fireproof will make you burn with hate. Yes, the acting is kind of cheesy at points, and it is more or less shot like a Lifetime movie. But for a film that was made on half a million dollars and starring Cameron and a bunch of Georgia church volunteers, it's surprisingly durable.
Grade: B (10/3/08)

How To Lose Friends & Alienate People - Starring Simon Pegg, Kirsten Dunst, Megan Fox
Whereas Pegg's "Brit conquering the States" contemporary Ricky Gervais found himself working seamlessly in the mainstream Ghost Town, Pegg has yet to break out of the sheer brilliance of Shaun Of The Dead. How To Lose Friends is full of pompous revelation and cliche hyperbole. It gets tolerable in the second half, but save the pig and chihuahuas for a family comedy. Fox is spot-on as an airhead actress, but she's still only used for her body here.
Grade: C- (10/3/08)

Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist - Starring Michael Cera, Kat Dennings, Alexis Dziena
With its cooler-than-thou New York suburbanites crawling the city spouting lyrics and gusto within every square inch of prime hipster real estate, Nick & Norah should be a casualty of the MTV generation lambasting the indie generation. But the film features a charming cast of up-and-comers who fit into their roles like beautiful stereotypes, and we're left with a pocketful of music rebellion nostalgia that hasn't really been seen since the 1980s.
Grade: B- (10/3/08)

Righteous Kill - Starring Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, John Leguizamo
On the bright side, director Jon Avnet improves on his technique over 88 Minutes. While De Niro and Pacino are nowhere near the brilliance their careers were 20-30 years ago, they don't embarrass themselves too badly here. The big hitch however is the fact that the "grand twist" is obvious to anyone who's ever seen a NYPD noir 20 minutes into the movie, and thus we're forced to watch this tepid cat and mouse game go on for another hour before anything gets resolved.
Grade: D+ (10/4/08)

Featured Review: SEPTEMBER

So I've been incredibly busy lately with college, relationships and a new job, so for now I'm just going to post short reviews of the films I've seen this September, and at worst post every 2 weeks or so the new things that come up. Still planning to do a major awards ceremony this winter.

Bangkok Dangerous- Starring Nicolas Cage, Shahkrit, Yamnarm, Charlie Young
Laughably bad and exceedingly boring, Bangkok Dangerous plays like Nic Cage's steely Asian action version of An American In Paris. He fights some bad guys, trains his Thai courier boy the ways of the American dojo, and falls in love with a deaf mute pharmacy clerk. And the hair, oh Lord child, the hair. Cage's pantomime skills are classic.
Grade: D (9/5/08)

Burn After Reading - Starring George Clooney, Frances McDormand, Brad Pitt
Though not nearly as funny or heartwarming as some of the Coens' best parables, Burn After Reading doesn't necessarily let it's big name actors get in the way of an interesting and well-made, if ultimately pointless film. The main stars range from excellent (Pitt is a considerable Supporting Actor nomination) to weary (John Malkovich is a great actor, but kind of slows down the film here).
Grade: B+ (9/13/08)

College - Starring Drake Bell, Kevin Covais, Andrew Caldwell
It's pretty sad when a film titled College is still more infinitely forgettable than a simple T-shirt with the word on it. Though it has some genuinely funny laughs occasionally, the movie suffers from a slew of perplexing decisions going against it. Targeting high schoolers and Drake Bell fans with an R-rating? Making all your characters except Covais truly detestable? This ain't your older brother's Superbad.
Grade: D+ (9/5/08)

Eagle Eye - Starring Shia LeBeouf, Michelle Monaghan, Billy Bob Thornton
Eagle Eye is sort of a coming out party for director D.J. Caruso to be the next Michael Bay. Vastly entertaining yet insufferably over-the-top and cliche, Eagle Eye curbs itself from a host of movies, including Enemy Of The State, I Robot and without spoiling TOO much, 2001: A Space Odyssey. Sure, it has a cheeky sense of humor and never truly takes itself completely seriously, but even if it was thrilling enough to finish the popcorn bag, you find yourself asking WHY?
Grade: C+ (9/27/08)

Fool's Gold* - Starring Matthew McConaughey, Kate Hudson, Donald Sutherland
Despite the easy affability, chemistry and charm of the leading actors- a pair that should be together in real life- Fool's Gold sinks to the bottom of the filmmaking depths with shallow caricatures and some jarring violence for such a breezy and hollow effort. It's like an exotic vacation that you spent the entire time in the lavatory for.
Grade: D+

Ghost Town - Starring Ricky Gervais, Greg Kinnear, Tea Leoni
It takes a lot of gall to appreciate Gervais' awkward and dread based sitcom comedies (including the brilliant, original UK version of The Office), but surprisingly Gervais is easily accessible here. He alone turns what would normally be a middling romantic comedy of the updated Topper variety into a charming spectacle with a little bit of off-color bite. Ghost Town is the kind of film that one shouldn't necessarily be excited to see, but is proof that there is fresh life in the romantic comedy genre. Surprising little gem of a movie.
Grade: B+ (9/25/08)

Man On Wire - Starring Philippe Petit, Annie Allix, Jean-Louis Blondeau
Usually when one thinks of a documentary, they think of a subject that is either made to change a point of view, or to enlighten. Certainly Man On Wire enlightens, but for a subject so seemingly inconsequential in the grand scope of the world- a man tightrope walking across the World Trade Center almost 35 years ago- it is highly entertaining. Blending a unique spin of straight documentary and heist film, director James Marsh doesn't mince on 9/11 despite an easy target to do so, and thus the absence of the subject makes the legacy of the WTC that much more bittersweet.
Grade: A- (9/16/08)

Miracle At St. Anna - Starring Derek Luke, Michael Ealy, Laz Alonso
For every ingenious thing Spike Lee crafts within this quasi-true story of black soldiers holed up in Italy during WWII, Lee seems to make 1 1/2 times more mistakes with the storyline. While his "struggling race in the face of white supremacy" slant has been toned down over the years, Lee still manages to make a couple of toothless jabs at the subject. An interesting tale with a couple of stellar performances (Omar Benson Miller in particular is sweet natured), Miracle At St. Anna ends up disappointing in the long run.
Grade: B- (9/26/08)

Indie Review: BRIDESHEAD

For the mini-review of the indie film of lesser importance, Bottle Shock, click here.


Brideshead Revisited



Starring- Matthew Goode, Ben Whislaw, Hayley Atwell, Emma Thompson, Michael Gambon, Patrick Malahide



Directed by Julian Jarrold



Grade: B-




"Sebastian and I are a couple of heathens."
"I am not a heathen. I'm a sinner."

To anyone who's seen Atonement and has fallen in love with it, Brideshead Revisited may seem like a blatant knockoff of Joe Wright's vision of Ian McEwan's novel. But very much like a teen slasher picture or a Matthew McConaughey film, the British Period Epic is just its own separate genre. Each one will feature sweeping choreography, immaculate theatre-trained class acting, and high society drama. From Howard's End to The English Patient to The Heart Of Me, British Period Epics are its own brand of demographics.

The true key of distancing Brideshead to the far superior Atonement is less subtle. The acting here is top notch, but just a shade underneath the performances of Keira Knightley, James McAvoy and Vanessa Redgrave. The direction by Julian Jarrold is classy, but doesn't quite have the same aesthic pleasure. The writing, based on the novel by Evelyn Waugh, Overall it does indeed share many similarities with Atonement done to a lesser quality, but Brideshead Revisited gets judged by its own highlights and demerits.

Charles Ryder (Match Point's Matthew Goode) is a middle-class young man off to Oxford in the years prior to World War II. While there, he begins a friendship with the flamboyantly gay Sebastian Flyte (Ben Whislaw), who invites Charles to his family's huge estate, aptly titled Brideshead. Therein lies a mess of conflict; Charles is a modern-day atheist, unsure of what he wants out of his life, but begins to fall for Sebastian's sister Julia (Hayley Atwell). Sebastian is part of a devoutly Catholic family, and being homosexual and confused about the contrasts of who he's supposed to be, turns to alcohol. Their mother, Lady Marchmain (Emma Thompson), is one of the last of dying breed of nobility and class from England's past, clinging onto to her religion in the face of the problems surrounding her.

Firstly, I've never personally read the book, but knowing what it entails, the film version of Brideshead Revisited seems to lose its deeper meaning. Waugh's novel was chiefly entrenched on the roles Catholicism and atheism played on the wealthy elite and middle class alike, and while Waugh himself was pro-Catholic, he gave principal allusions to both of its faults as well as its merits.

The film hints at it, but neither Jarrold or the screen adapters Andrew Davies or Jeremy Brock are fearless enough to tackle the subject straight on. Instead it just sort of resides off to the side while the temptations of love become the focus of the fim. Rather than looking at Lady Marchmain and Sebastian's religiousness in the face of each of their problems, Brideshead devolves into a mostly straightforward love triangle.

Secondly was the odd nature of the relationships. There were allusions to homosexual experimenting and love trysts in the novel, but the kiss between Charles and Sebastian in the film seemed almost done in exploitation than necessary to the story. Charles' pursuit of Julia rings somewhat hollow as well. It's not that these subjects are bad, but a bigger focus on the way the family crumbles yet finds its strength in its religious beliefs (the death bed scene of their spiritually wavering father is the acme of the film), more akin to the book, would have distanced Brideshead Revisited from its Atonement comparisons.

Wrapping up the film also proves fairly troublesome. It's pretty true to the book in story towards the end, but drags on for a good 20-30 minutes with several false endings that ultimately does not lead us to any particularly better conclusion. There was a proper climax, but it gets ruined with 20 minutes of almost needless extra explanation. We go from 100 minutes of blossoming drama, to 20 minutes of rapid-fire tying of loose ends.

Despite all of these faults, Brideshead Revisited is buoyant with some fine acting. Goode, known to many American audiences for films such as The Lookout and Chasing Liberty is dependable as the lead, performing like a standard Brit of class, never once breaking emotion unless its called for. Whislaw (I'm Not There) is as endearingly touching as Sebastian as he is revolting in his despair. Emma Thompson, matriarch of the Flyte clan, may follow Judi Dench, Cate Blanchett and her own footsteps (Sense & Sensibility) to another Oscar nomination with her domineering performance that voters eat up.

I'm almost tempted to check out the fabled 1981 BBC miniseries, because it is there that Waugh's book has supposedly been done justice. But I'm not a big enough fan of the British Period Epic to seek it out. If you're naturally a fan of the British Period Epic, you won't be too disappointed with Brideshead Revisited, other than maybe that BPE's poster girl Keira Knightley isn't in the film. But if you're new to exploring the genre, I'd advise you to check out Atonement first. Not because this is 'too British' as one may lead you to believe, but because it has

Featured Review: TRAITOR

Traitor



Starring- Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Said Taghmaoui, Neal McDonough, Aly Khan, Jeff Daniels




Directed by Jeffrey Nachmanoff



Grade: A-



"You must be willing to sacrifice some of your pawns if you want to win the game."

There seems to be a misconception in Hollywood; that action films have to be dumb for the sake of the fight sequences, and that independent drama films with artistic ties cannot be violent, lest their fickle critics debase it as a said action film. Thankfully, Traitor blends both worlds together into a mostly captivating and engrossing spy thriller that offers the audience something different to think about. Something less patriotically jingoism in its actions, and more , even if that worldview isn't fully realized.

Surprisingly, Steve Martin, the guy still making Pink Panther and Cheaper By The Dozen sequels, is a co-conspirator behind Traitor's story. It's understandable to see him delve into a softer side with such Anglo-urban schmaltz as Shopgirl, but to come up with truly unique anti-American perspective (even if the film doesn't always stay anti-American) that isn't seen in too many mainstream films, Martin deserves a chance to branch out from the inane family comedies he's been stuck with as of late.

Don Cheadle stars as Samir Horn, a Sudanese native who had military ties to the United States. Currently he's in Yemen, selling explosives to American officials and Islamic terrorists alike; whoever is the highest bidder for his services. When Roy Clayton (Memento's Guy Pearce) and his partner Max Archer (Neal McDonough) step into the investigation, Samir finds himself in a worldwide cat and mouse game not only with them on his trail, but also navigating

Cheadle is certainly a treat to watch as he usually is, even if his character slowly becomes the "sensitive, slightly offended Black man out to do good", a Cheadle staple (see Hotel Rwanda, Boogie Nights, Reign Over Me). But it's still a great act. For at least the first half of the film his intentions are ambiguous and the audience is unsure how to like the character. It's no question that he'll end up being a good guy, but how good? He's no knight in shining armor, but can he redeem himself as a whole, or has his past rendered him to a life of guiltless solidarity? Cheadle leads us on a pretty decent journey of his emotions.

Also engaging is Said Taghmaoui, as Omar. He, more often that Cheadle's Samir, represents the conflicting views and sentimentality of what we consider terrorists. Omar is very much a part of the spree of violence, but has a pathos worked into the fabric of his character. Taghmaoui was one of the more interesting actors in Vantage Point, and has a real ability to be a principal star ala Omar Sharif if he's given his chance.

As a message film, Traitor doesn't pack much of a punch, but doesn't limp to its conclusion either. Obviously it strives to look deeper into the world and reasoning of people who commit such brutal acts of violence against Americans and their fellow countrymen. While its biggest points don't hit hard enough to truly get people debate the ramifications of America's status as First-World "peacemaker", it does offer more insight to its subject than most films claim to have.

The film can excuse itself from its intellectual faults by being a solid spy thriller. As far as action goes, it may even be considered a little slow paced for people expecting to see something as gung-ho as the Bourne trilogy. But there's twists and turns among the espionage, with plenty of violence, that give Traitor a few ounces of extra adrenaline over other dramas. It'll keep you guessing and interested throughout.

At times a bit cloying, but mostly enjoyable and thoughtful, Traitor is a rousing drama in the September midst of Hollywood dumping ground cinema. It's at times smarter than the Bourne series, but not as adventurous or . For a film conceived by a guy who's next film project is a comedic remake of Topper, and directed by the writer of The Day After Tomorrow, Traitor is however unusually engrossing thriller drama to watch. Unlike say, 88 Minutes, Traitor doesn't sabotage us on that.

Featured Review: DISASTER MOVIE

To read last week's mini review on Star Wars: The Clone Wars, or any other of the 94 movies from 2008 I've seen, CLICK HERE.


Disaster Movie



Starring- Matt Lanter, Vanessa Minnillo, Nicole Parker, Crista Flanagan, Calvin 'G Thang' Johnson, Ike Barinholtz, Kim Kardashian



Directed by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer



Grade: F


"That sounds kind of gay, dude."

WRITER'S NOTE: I did not pay to see this film. I have a reputation to uphold.

I try to be a consummate professional when critiquing movies; I don't want to be like the filmmakers of Disaster Movie and delve into the lowest forms of trepidation by mocking something so mercilessly and pointlessly infantile like Disaster Movie, and make an entire article one long ode to terrible filmmaking. It may certainly seem futile on such a wispy and unnecessary movie, but I'll give this short review my best academic reasoning behind why I and many, many, many others will hate this film, many without even seeing it.

By calling their film Disaster Movie, directors Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer purposefully and openly set themselves up for a barrage of reviews that use a pun along the lines of "a complete disaster of a movie". They don't need the critics. Instead they have a built-in audience of ADHD-riddled pre-teens and their parents who read the glossy supermarket magazines about Brangelina's latest adoption news. Friedberg, Seltzer and Lionsgate can laugh all the way to the bank while their "fans" hopelessly sit through 90 minutes of laughless celluloid. But gaging the audience that showed up for the screening, perhaps once and for all the last laugh will be on them.

If you've actually sat through one of these films, you know the title is misleading. While each film has a threadbare plot throughout that coincide with the name, every film is just weak satire on the minute pop culture of our society. The most sensible way to describe the plot goes like this: Will (Matt Lanter) and Amy (MTV's Vanessa Minnillo) break up because of his commitment issues. Will's friend Calvin (Gary 'G Thang' Johnson) then throws him a birthday party. When the city is under attack by some hurricane or what have you and Amy is trapped in a museum where she works, Will, Calvin, and other characters face strange encounters, most not involving any sort of actual 'disaster'. It's best left not to describe it.

The plot, or whatever you make of it, is more or less a patchwork of Cloverfield and The Day After Tomorrow. But they won't reference the latter by name because the core audience of Disaster Movie were but mere babies when that film was released in 2004. A real satire on disaster movies (which in effect was already done by David Zucker's Airplane! spoof on the Airport series) would have highlighted the Irwin Allen years, the random star power of those films (no Carmen Electra is not a 'star') or at least thrown in some sly winks to the 1990's revival of the genre. No Charleston Heston tributes? No dice.

Instead it's the kind of film that references one of the most quotable lines in the Rocky franchise, forever over-saturated on t-shirts and pop culture shows, by saying "Like Dolph Lundgren in Rocky IV, 'I must break you'". You know, in case the kids younger than 11 don't get the reference in between the 'jokes' of a film of which the oldest parody reference is December 2006's Night At The Museum.

It's the kind of film that sings TWO musical numbers that are so annoyingly bad and random that it actually makes you think "Prom Tonight" from 2001's Not Another Teen Movie deserved a Grammy. Or at least a Juno award.

It's the kind of film that drags on for 5 minutes "making fun" of Hannah Montana's self-promotion. But really, it sounded like they were giving Miley Cyrus a pitch more than actually making fun of her. Maybe when Cyrus' show ends and she's about 2 months away from defying daddy in a Playboy or Maxim spread, she'll star in Oscar Movie or Animated Movie (or isn't she already doing that in Bolt?).

It's the kind of film that doesn't even bother hiring lookalike actors anymore. The guy who did Dr. Phil looked, talked and acted nothing like the real subject, and the way they wrote his character can't even be considered a 'parody' since it wasn't even making fun of things he's known for.

It's the kind of film that has a guy named 'G Thang' as one of its stars.

Sadly I have to admit that Disaster Movie edges out Friedberg/Seltzer's previous installment Meet The Spartans just an infinite fraction of an iota. While Spartans was devoid of a single laugh, Disaster did throw me for a couple of "I cannot believe they are doing this" chuckles. Perhaps the only genuinely funny moment, and an awkward one at that, was Nicole Parker's take of Amy Adams' Enchanted princess, describing her drug tolerance. But considering she did cheap impersonations of Jessica Simpson and Amy Winehouse as well, she deserves just as much ire as the rest of the prorated MadTV cast.

I refuse to end this article with a cheap titular pun. Friedberg and Seltzer know they want it, but they don't deserve it.

DVD Review: RAISING ARIZONA (1987)

Raising Arizona

Released: March 13, 1987

Box Office: $22.8 million
(ranked approx 51st of 1987)

Starring- Nicolas Cage, Holly Hunter, John Goodman, William Forsythe, Trey Wilson, Sam McMurray, Frances McDormand, Randall 'Tex' Cobb

Directed by Joel Coen

DVD Issue: 1999

Grade: B+


Before he became the action guy of The Rock and Con-Air, and later the terrible star of vehicular catastrophes like The Wicker Man and Next, Nicolas Cage was a normal actor of varying star power. Once he had a footing in the Hollywood script machine, he struggled between serious projects like The Boy In Blue, Moonstruck, and Leaving Las Vegas and curious misfires like Vampire's Kiss, Amos & Andrew and Deadfall. Sometimes lost in the shuffle of his spotty early career before 1996 is the 1987 Coen Brothers gem, Raising Arizona.

Raising Arizona is only the 2nd feature the Coen Brothers- Ethan and Joel- ever wrote and directed, the first comedy, but viewing it more than 20 years and 11 films later reveals many similarities in context and style that they would revisit later. Despite a flair of 1980's family comedy absurdity that runs throughout, Raising Arizona is very much a smartly written comedy for the time, one that would set a template for such Coen classics as Fargo, The Big Lebowski, and the tentatively released Burn After Reading.

Cage stars as Herbert "H.I." McDunnough (a perfect Coen name), a petty convenience store robber in Tempe, Arizona who falls in love with Edwina, nicknamed "Ed" (Holly Hunter), a police station photographer, while going through the justice system time and again. They get married, and H.I. is determined to settle down and raise a family. However, Ed is discovered to be barren, and H.I. gets the itch to fall back into his criminal life. When the television news stations cover the birth of quintuplets to a wealthy local furniture magnate, the pair get the idea to steal one of the babies. Getting their hands on one proves to be easy. Keeping it is an entirely different matter.

As a native to the great state of Arizona, I could have taken offense to the hillbilly existence the state is portrayed as (as Cage's H.I. declares, maybe happiness is just Utah). Even 20 years ago the suburban city of Tempe was not made of poor white trash trailers in wide-open desert. Contrary to belief, not everybody wore printed leisure shirts, bola ties, and drove around in wood-paneled sedans.

But anyone familiar with the Coens' regular style of characters, especially in their comedies- primary examples being in Fargo, The Big Lebowski, O Brother Where Art Thou, and The Ladykillers- will know that at least one character in these films possess the Coen rhetoric. They may talk like country bumpkins, but also possess the verbal abilities of uniquely American folklore and speak. Some fans took the stereotypes of Minnesota and the north to heart in Fargo, but like Raising Arizona, it's not so much the product of the environment as it is the product of the Coens' world.

Also like many other Ethan and Joel films, the imagery in Raising Arizona stands out in particular. While some shots, such as Cage's legs swinging in the air while fighting with Goodman or Cobb's Leonard Smalls getting knocked off his motorcycle, scream of the slapstick antics that were popular in the decade of comedy, there are thought invoking scenery. The film is littered with allusions to hope and despair, partially influenced by the Cold War, including the burning car behind Edwina.

Because this is in essence a self-conscious comedy film of the 1980s, the acting will undoubtedly get a little tiresome. Sam McMurray and Frances McDormand (wife of Joel, hence why she stars in almost all Coen works and has been made a certifiably noted actress) screech their way through their big scene as suburban yuppies. There's a lot of hollering involved with Goodman and William Forsythe's characters, much crying from Hunter (who became a legitimate leading actress after this and Broadcast News later in the year), and many a stupid quip by Cage.

Granted, for this kind of slapstick humor mixed with folklore pathos, Raising Arizona is funny if not outright ribald, and actually quite sweet. Some of Cage's dumbfounded looks are genuinely hilarious, and the way almost each character speaks real dialogue in eloquent fashion compared with the poor diction that they have, is funny

Raising Arizona is one of just many, many cult classics from the decade that brought the art of a family comedy to the Hollywood conscience. But unlike quite a few that hinges on its stupid premise or all-star cast, Arizona is graced with a good script and direction by its up-and-coming sibling duo, which foretells of many of the Coens' projects to come.

Featured Review: HOUSE BUNNY

The House Bunny

Starring- Anna Faris, Emma Stone, Kat Dennings, Katherine McPhee, Rumer Willis, Colin Hanks, Christopher McDonald, Beverly D'Angelo

Directed by Fred Wolf

Grade: D

"I gotta meet this frickin' bird!"

If while watching The House Bunny, you start to feel deja vu, you're not alone. Written by the co-writers of Legally Blonde, this film plays like a tired mixture of 50% Blonde, 30% Revenge Of The Nerds, and 20% Sydney White. Lots of ditsy blondes, lots of pink, lots of stereotypes about college make the film so vapid that it refuses to listen to the genial goodwill message it tacks on at the end.

While Anna Faris is no Reese Witherspoon in the acting pantheon, she deviates away from Witherspoon's Elle Woods enough to find a character on her own. Faris at times is really annoying, playing up the Marilyn Monroe-voiced, clueless but means well bimbo, but her comic timing and natural likability is one of the few saving graces for a pretty cliche and tumescent film.

The House Bunny has an undeniable mark left by Happy Madison, the Adam Sandler-owned production company in charge of it. It is at times just as raunchy as some of Sandler and his crew's dirtiest films, and if there is anything positive to say about the movie besides Faris' comic timing, it would be the equal way that the girls can perform gross-out gags alongside the boys. But then, is that really a good thing when it results in The House Bunny?

Shelley (Faris) is a former orphan, now a staple in Hugh Hefner's Playboy Mansion. But unbeknown to her, some of her fellow Playmates want her gone. Therefore, a day after turning 27, she is forced to move out. Where can an unschooled, unintelligent, poor, former Playboy bunny go to? Naturally, after a night in jail, she finds a sorority house further down the block. This leads Shelley to an unlikely facade as House Mother to the worst and most ragtag house on campus. These girls need pledges to keep their chapter, but who wants to pledge at a place that doesn't feature rockin' parties and kickass social events?. Shelley has ideas.

Pretty much every cliche about college and female outcasts are presented here. The girls range from being nerds to feminist rebels to pregnant hippies to exceedingly tomboyish. They are purposely and exagerratedly ugly, their house is ugly, and naturally, in the case of Emma Stone and Katherine McPhee, and mostly, in the case of Kat Dennings and Rumer Willis (eerily similar looking to father Bruce) become beautiful with a quick She's All That montage makeover that exceeds no cost.

The movie throws in a quick feel-good ending about the dangers of over-hyping the value of looks, but after spending the bulk center of the film glorifying the girls' new wealth in popularity and outer gravitas, the final moments feels as contrite and hollow as the jokes that reside in those moments.

The humor here is a bit overlapping at times. There's a dearth of dumb blonde jokes as expected, but once in awhile the screenwriters slip in a genuinely witty little tidbit that almost goes unnoticed. Instead the movie focuses on the dimwit musings that a 'typical blonde' from Playboy like Shelley might conceive in her head.

Anna Faris has come a long way from being the slightly-built, raven-haired Cindy Campbell of the Scary Movie franchise. One could say that when Reese Witherspoon left the vapid blonde role for bigger and artsier pictures like Walk The Line and, uh, Just Like Heaven, Faris ably filled in on her own terms. But how many films do we need, in which a ditsy woman learns how to deal with her life and the people that surround her in cutesy fashion and fabulous, FABULOUS clothes?

Overall, The House Bunny feels like just another comedy that curbs its ideas from the wacky hi-jinks movies from the 1980s, without as much family-friendly camp. Perhaps in 25 years our generation and the next will look at movies like The House Bunny with the same kind of cult reverence that we do for Revenge Of The Nerds; never as a particularly good film, but enjoying the somewhat dated 'product of the times' and humor with genial affection. Shelley may have hoped to be a Playboy Centerfold, but that's the best The House Bunny can hope for.

Featured Review: MIRRORS

Mirrors



Starring- Kiefer Sutherland, Paula Patton, Amy Smart, Cameron Boyce, Erica Gluck, John Shrapnel



Directed by Alexandre Aja



Grade: F




"Don't make me threaten you!"

Remember that lost season of 24 when Jack Bauer, between thwarting Russian terrorists and a secret government conspiracy unit, saved the world from demonic spirits that use mirrors to kill innocents? The one where he runs around screaming at people to save his family, shooting at the mirrors, and then fights the secret bad guy that almost comes out of nowhere towards the end? And we thought the writer's strike would save us from such a wild scenario.

As ludicrious as the plot sounds, movies like Mirrors can at times be unabashedly good. Films like The Shining and Poltergeist knew how to effectively deal with troublesome and killer ghosts in a story that didn't hinder the excitement or terror. But while director Alexandre Aja (Haute Tension, The Hills Have Eyes) earns a few points for cinematic style, he couldn't maintain a cohesive script, a shred of plausible acting, or any proper special effects. The rest of Mirrors is a jagged mess of broken shrapnel painstakingly piercing our auditory and visual senses.

Kiefer Sutherland stars as Ben Carson, a disgraced ex-cop who is rebounding from a bout with the bottle. His relationships are tenuous; he's unresponsive to his sister Angela (Amy Smart), seperated from his wife Amy (Paula Patton), and rarely sees his kids. That all is put to the test when Ben gets a job as a security guard, patrolling a burnt out department store that is left standing due to legal tie-ups. See, the mirrors in the place, enough to basically cover the entire store, are haunted with demon spirits. They want something, someone, Kiefer's blood be damned.

Never mind that the department store Kiefer oversees is larger than most malls, and that despite being gutted by a fire five years before, still retains all the charred mannequins, counters, and racks of burnt clothes. Never mind that Kiefer's job is so fresh that he's able to find the wallet of the guy he replaced in a locker, or that he can waltz in and check the guy's body because his wife just HAPPENS to be a forensic analyst at the morgue where the body was taken. No, Mirrors is much worse than that.

The plot holes are mind-numbingly rampant for a plot that sounds so ridiculous to begin with. Most of the damage the demon spirits inflict on the cast happen outside of the department store, as a means of revenge or notice. How can these random mirrors be haunted if the story's big reveal is primarily focused on the history of the department store mirrors? If they can travel to other mirrors in people's houses that easily, why don't they do much more widespread damage?

It's just another in a long line of films that only uses enough logic to drive its story, especially coming from a director who made one of the ultimate cop-out endings in recent film history in Haute Tension. They paint over the mirrors in the family house (and there's dozens of them. What, the Carsons don't appreciate any art?), instead of throwing them away, and apparently if that doesn't work, the spirits can supposedly control the water faucets, so they can reflect themselves in the flood.

The ending is somewhat unique, but the stupidity and fallacies of the first 108 minutes that preceded it completely desensitizes the viewer past the point of caring. It was like Aja came up with this last idea first, and attempted to build a shoddy story that leads to it.

Sutherland's status as Jack Bauer is supposed to lend an air of credence to the film, but Kiefer is overtly terrible. He starts off somewhat of a pussycat in his faux cashmere sweater and collared shirt, but by the end becomes as pushy and loud as Bauer is during an interrogation. Except instead of questioning terrorists, he's threatening elderly nuns about ghosts inside mirrors. Sutherland gets one-liner gold such as "What do you want from me?!" and "The mirrors... they're so clean!", and has an asinine penchant for screaming a singular profanity after every conversation. It's really quite humorous.

The effects were mostly cut-rate as well. The computer animation is so cartoonish in its gore factor that it illicited more laughter from the audience than gasps. Simple prosthetics, like in the mirror scene from Poltergeist, might have been scarier. Natch, just about anything inserted into the film would have been scarier than Mirrors as it is, aside from say, Prom Night.

Maybe I'm just being overly critical about a film that is not supposed to be as smart and sensible as Hamlet or even Hamlet 2. But you'd like to think that Kiefer and Patton are brighter than this. Even Amy Smart, she of Road Trip and Crank, doesn't deserve the miserable fate of being in Mirrors. When a horror film can't sustain a scare or even a modicum of reason for us to believe and invest in the story, the empathy for its mistakes doesn't exist. If only the wretched memory of Mirrors that now haunt my head didn't exist...

DVD Review: THE WIZ (1978)

The Wiz

Released: October 24, 1978


Box Office: $13.6 million
(ranked approx. 20th of 1978)

Starring- Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Nipsey Russell, Ted Ross, Mabel King, Theresa Merritt, Lena Horne, Richard Pryor

Directed by Sidney Lumet


DVD Issue: 1999

Grade: D+

The Wiz is as fascinating to watch as it is terrible. With such a strong roster of pop and jazz singers such as Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Lena Horne, Nipsey Russell, Thelma Carpenter, and Mabel King, along with one of the funniest comedians of his time, Richard Pryor, The Wiz should have succeeded on its acting and singing alone. Alas, because of some dreadful directing and writing, and let's face it, the entire project, The Wiz becomes a sour, almost blackface minstrel-like offshoot of L. Frank Baum's 'The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz'.

That being said, unlike modern African-American re-imaginings of seminal "white" classics, including recent bombs such as Cedric The Entertainer's The Honeymooners, The Wiz is done with all seriousness and a sense of pride in its production. Based on the popular titular Broadway play of the time, The Wiz therefore plays like a failed prototype of what Dreamgirls would realize 28 years later rather than something that truly offends. This was a film that was suppose to change the market for urban audiences. Instead The Wiz's box office failure singlehandedly set back the financing on black films for several years.

Diana Ross, somewhere in between her Janet Jackson-like diva makeover of the late seventies, plays Dorothy, remade as a shy, 24-year-old kindergarten teacher in Harlem. Like her original character's counterpart, Dorothy gets transported to the magical land of Oz, which is a sort of fantasy version of New York City. She must travel to Emerald City to see 'The Wiz', a metallic head with a metallic afro voiced by comedian Richard Pryor. Along the way she meets and befriends The Scarecrow (Jackson), Tinman (Russell) and the Cowardly Lion (Ted Ross), and faces all sorts of strange baroque versions of real-life city dangers such as homelessness, drugs, and shiny gold disco dancers.

I've never been a fan of Ross' musical career after she left the Supremes, and The Wiz doesn't really change my opinion of her here. She's fairly less of a megalomaniac diva as Dorothy, but also plays the character as a near infantile nitwit. She's 34, playing a 24-year-old with a 4-year-old's emotional capacity. Luckily, there are far more baffling things in the film to truly pinpoint her as the film's ultimate flaw.

Michael Jackson provides key selections to the soundtrack just fine, but with his youthful, pre-vitiligo/lupus looks hidden behind a Raggedy Andy style costume of The Scarecrow, Jackson looks and sounds more like Anna Faris in drag than he does a teen heartthrob. His and Ross' dough-soft acting, especially in comparison to the overly Shakespearean theatrical Ted Ross, recreating his Broadway role of the Cowardly Lion, and the weird vaudevillian antics of Russell as the Tinman, bring an odd combination to the bulk of the film.

Then there's the storyline. The Wiz starts off fairly innocuous, mostly with painted sets and jazz stylings. But about halfway through the film seems to only get stranger and stranger. The foursome run into a cavalcade of nightmares in a yellow brick train station led by a creepy character called the Subway Peddler. They finally reach the World Trade Center-inspired building of gold disco convention, led by the 'phony' silver head of Richard Pryor's Wiz, but not before Dorothy and the gang visit worlds involving opium dens, sweatshops, and flying monkey motorcycle gangs.

Even more troubling is the Caucasian hierarchy in control behind the scenes. Outside of the musical score and actors, almost everyone else involved is white, which might have led to some friction between what makes a truly successful film. Obviously people of all race and creed can make the best films ever made, but when an all-white production crew is trying to make an all-black musical, there are racial tolerances that are obviously going to be stepped on and mixed up. It's like The Wiz was made with the utmost stress on being hip and fresh to black audiences, an African-American Tommy if you will, and instead comes off like a big-budget blaxploitation film.

Sidney Lumet is a famous director, known mostly for classics such as 12 Angry Men, Dog Day Afternoon, Network, The Pawnbroker and Before The Devil Knows You're Dead. These type of films are gritty, and often are shot like photoplays; movies that don't require many external sets. Lumet's treatment of The Wiz at times seems both terribly expensive and cheaply bare. It is also remarkably poorly lit for a musical with so much color. Helmed by a legitimate musical director of the time like Bob Fosse or Alan Parker, The Wiz might have worked under camp brilliance like Grease did the same year.

Then you have a younger Joel Schumacher adapting the screenplay. Schumacher, known mostly for directing films such as The Lost Boys, Batman & Robin, Phone Booth and The Number 23, doesn't seem like the type of person that would service a black musical script, and his almost comically "darkie" dialogue is definitely a part of the film's failure. Rob Cohen, director of such modern action fare as The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor, The Fast & The Furious, xXx, Stealth, Dragonheart, and The Skulls, was a producer on the film as well, and was a crucial factor in getting Diana Ross the lead part.

The Wiz is almost surreal to see. With sets and songs planted firmly in the late seventies, it's almost as enjoyable in its dreadfulness as it would be watching a legitimately good version of the Broadway musical. It's easy to see why Ross and Jackson never really became actors, nor why Lumet ever helmed another musical or principally black cast again. Somewhere along the yellow brick production road, The Wiz succumbed to a terrible fate of being without much of a brain. At least the music was fly.

Featured Review: THE ROCKER

This review was originally written from an advanced screening on July 25th.


The Rocker



Starring- Rainn Wilson, Christina Applegate, Teddy Geiger, Emma Stone, Josh Gad, Jason Sudeikis, Jane Lynch, Jeff Garlin, Will Arnett



Directed by Peter Cattaneo



Grade: C-



"A lot of elevators play Celine Dion... that doesn't make it right."

Actors who get defined to one television role often have a blessing and a curse. They experience popularity and job security for the duration of their career-making character, but then they also struggle to develop a successful transition away from it. Michael Richards often superseded his titular co-star as Kramer in Seinfeld, but couldn't etch out anything of substance on his own. Bob Denver was known as Gilligan for the rest of his life. Same goes more or less for people like George Wendt, Megan Mullally, James Van Der Beek, Neil Patrick Harris, etc. They just can't escape the shadow of what made them a household name in the first place.

So is the case of Rainn Wilson and his first fully-engaged star-making turn, The Rocker. Stuck somewhere between a vehicle for Wilson, a vehicle for stalwart teen rocker Teddy Geiger, and an earnest if lukewarm attempt to appease every demographic with a slightly risque but never truly offensive PG-13 family message film, The Rocker never reaches that pantheon of hard metal licks. Instead it plays like weak radio-friendly pop rock.

The Rainn man plays Robert 'Fish' Fishman, once the highly touted drummer of 1980's hair metal band Vesuvius (with cheeky cameos by Will Arnett, Fred Armisen and Bradley Cooper), now a loser living in his sister's attic over 20 years later. His nebbish nephew Matt (Josh Gad, of FOX's short-lived Back To You) is playing the prom with his band A.D.D, and when their drummer gets expelled from school, Matt is forced to call upon his uncle for help. Igniting new passion into his life, Fish wheels and deals the local garage band into scoring gigs and going on tour, often in ways he didn't plan for. Along the way, he and his younger bandmates finds lessons in life and begins to grow up.

Everybody who has seen at least 50 mainstream movies know how these kinds of films end up. Each of the band members have ups, they have downs, they face their biggest challenge, the big bad villain (in this case being Fish's old band Vesuvius) gets its long-awaited comeuppance, and Fish gets the girl. All of this at the mere price of logical fallacy and enough pratfalls to make Chevy Chase want to sue.

Whereas Wilson's supporting role in My Super Ex-Girlfriend basically placed him as a jerk with glasses much in the vein as his character Dwight in The Office, Wilson's The Rocker persona almost strives with the singular goal of making him the exact opposite. He wears longer hair (a relic of the 1980's glam he's refused to move on with), doesn't wear glasses, and has a 'wild' personality. The movie itself is centered around a dozen or so gags that cause Fish bodily harm, a broad tactic that is rarely used in The Office.

But the trouble with this of course is, without the Dwight persona, Wilson isn't really all that much interesting. He hasn't had much of a chance to shine elsewhere, but does anybody remember his bit roles in Almost Famous, Sahara or Steven Soderbergh's Full Frontal? For the few people that sat through House Of 1000 Corpses and watched him get killed and turned into some kind of mermaid creature, did they really look at his performance and say "Wow, he's going to be a star someday"?

Similarly unimpressive is Teddy Geiger, the 'real' brains behind the fictional band as the lead singer, songwriter and guitarist. He has genuine talent, but his character is so depressing and one-note for much of the movie it's hard to see him as a legitimate actor. I can imagine that after his short-lived success with his album Underage Thinking in 2006 went nowhere, he's looking jealously towards the increasingly manic fandom of The Jonas Brothers, wondering where it all went wrong.

The music in The Rocker is manufactured almost as much as a Disney multimedia franchise, only much less successful. Geiger and the modern A.D.D. band are obviously going for that 'tween rock sound somewhere between The All-American Rejects, Boys Like Girls and any number of the Fueled By Ramen label cohorts. They're all catchy enough, but nothing inspires. Worse that, not a single song is played in its entirety. Seems the writers concocted a verse and a chorus and settled at that. Had they made full-length songs and released them before the film comes out, income-flushed ten-year-olds might be almost as excited to see this as they were for Camp Rock and High School Musical 3.

If Rainn Wilson is ever going to come out of the shadow of Dwight Schrute, he needs a better outing than this. The Rocker seemed like a limp idea that Wilson was able to jump on in an effort to give himself some public face time. Unfortunately, plain and simple, this isn't the kind of movie that will take him to the top of the charts.

Indie Review: AMERICAN TEEN

A mini-review for College Road Trip, 2008's shrillest and loudest film of the year, can be read HERE.



American Teen



Starring- Hannah Bailey, Colin Clemens, Jake Tusing, Megan Krizmanich, Mitch Reinholt, Geoff Haase



Directed by Nanette Burstein


Grade: D+

"You could've gotten an A."

Sometimes documentaries are used to convince viewers to think a certain way. Others merely offer a glimpse of its' subject, and leave the audience to interpret what actions should follow. Being the latter, American Teen has an intimate take on the lives of these high school students that many times parallel the lives that we've all had as students. But while that unity and common bond through moments of joy and suffrage may be the ultimate goal of the film, American Teen doesn't really offer anything new, nor at times does it particularly convincingly.

The film follows five teens during their senior year of high school in Warsaw, Indiana. On the outside looking in, you can stereotype each student; Megan is the affluent snob in the popular cliques. Jake is the acne-scarred nerd with no friends. Hannah is the independent free spirit that roams the social circles. Colin is the golden boy athlete. Mitch is Colin's teammate, but has a streak of independence as well.

But as the film unfolds, each student has deeper emotional scarring, some from the high school experience itself, some from their home life. Colin has pressure to get a basketball scholarship, and isn't as solid in popularity as one might think. Hannah continually breaks her strong will for boys and the pursuit of happiness. Jake breaks out of his anti-social , but burns his bridges really quickly. Megan deals with the death of a sister, and going to Notre Dame isn't just a priority for her, but almost an ultimatum from her family.

The common thread that gets noticed throughout is the parenting. All five kids have parents together except for maybe Jake's, who aren't even featured. Megan's father calls her an idiot when she helps toilet paper and spray-paint a rival's house. Hannah's parents try to bring sense to her, but their words are choosy. Colin's father (an Elvis impersonator) is backhandedly supportive, giving advice while telling his son he is never quite good enough. The questionable logic behind the parenting these adults do is often more interesting and telling than anything the teenagers do.

Unfortunately, while director Nanette Burstein (On The Ropes, The Kid Stays In The Picture) gives a simple, straightforward approach to the direction, it also feels pretty fake. There's an understanding that the editing process is heavily manipulated sometimes in the effort to make a conceivable and hard-hitting film, but as American Teen goes on, we notice parts of the same day, people wearing the same shirts and sitting in the same restaurants throughout the film. I'm sure they covered an entire year, but this realization took me personally, out of the honesty of the film.

I'm not saying anything in the film was scripted, but the way the film unfolds seems based more on an episode of The Hills than Hoop Dreams. The drama the subjects face isn't anything much more than stuff anyone of that age group would face, but American Teen revels in its potboiler drama. Like Burstein sat for eight hours filming one kid, and got excited when they slipped up and said something stupid. The poster above that parodies The Breakfast Club says it all; American Teen vies to create a seminal movement in film, than to create an actual merit.

Also distracting from the major element of the film are the animation vignettes. One of the teenagers could be telling a real, heartfelt story, and Burstein breaks the talking head interview up with animated representatives. These little scenes only further distances the entire project from reality, especially Jake's scenes involving a World Of Warcraft-like fantasy world.

American Teen offers a glimpse of the typical life of a teenager in America, if only a prorated portion aimed at sensationalizing the high drama that normal teenagers get themselves into. There are some genuine moments, but overall the film doesn't truly strike a nerve into the class system in high school, nor does it offer anything exciting or different from any other documentary or insightful biopic of the American way of life.

Featured Review: VICKY CRISTINA

Vicky Cristina Barcelona



Starring- Scarlett Johansson, Javier Bardem, Rebecca Hall, Penelope Cruz, Chris Messina, Patrica Clarkson, Kevin Dunn



Directed by Woody Allen



Grade: C+




"Life is short, life is dull, life is full of pain."

Woody Allen's fanbase is desperate for a hit. His films have more or less faltered from the nearly universally acclaimed works he submitted decades ago, but when one decent piece of work such as Vicky Cristina Barcelona hits the pipeline after so many other flukes and failures, people are desperate to find much more substance and eloquence than Woody, I think, is capable of anymore. A time-filling, pleasing little film that rights the ship set by Scoop and Anything Else? Yes, but Vicky Cristina never truly shakes up the world in which its characters are so desperately trying to live in.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona is an interesting little piece of cinema. It obviously draws on European ideas and influences, particularly of the sexual revolution of the French New Wave. How do I know? Because the narrator explains it to us, in case we didn't get that was Allen's intentions here. There's many instances of bed-sharing, bed-hopping, three-ways, and other sexual and philosophical ideas, so it must be European. At least that's the freewheeling theme that speaks loudest.

We meet Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) on their voyage to a summer trip in Barcelona, Spain. Vicky has studying to do, and Cristina goes along for the adventure. They both have different directions they are heading in their lives, with different ideals, but when a curiously handsome and winsome stranger, Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem) interjects some romance between them, both Vicky and Cristina begin to question themselves. They work it out, and all seems to be fine and good, until Juan Antonio's suicidal, moody, yet talented ex-wife Maria Elena (Penelope Cruz) forces herself back into the picture.

Like Wes Anderson, Allen as of late has been fascinated with the trials and tribulations of the wealthy. Without good money, neither of the women would be able to jet set for the summer to Spain, one being able to whisk off to France when she feels like it. The couple they stay with own a fabulous mansion, Juan Antonio lives in a sprawling estate despite a carefree artist's life, and even his father seems to have a great big place to stay without much effort to show. Obviously it's a fantasy tale, but it seems Allen forgets that not everybody can name drop and travel to New York, Paris, Barcelona and the rest of the world at the tip of a hat.

Almost all of his characters, narrator included, spout off pretentious, haughty, over-enunciated diction for simple conversation. While that can be refreshing in a world of mainstream film that relies on swear words and slang, Allen's conversation lacks the wit his best-loved films are known for, and thus ultimately rings hollow. When Vicky says something like, "Let's not get into one of those turgid, categorical, imperative arguments" when just conversing with her husband and Cristina down a charming boutique alleyway, it would stop the flow of the moment in any conversation in real life. But because this is classic Woody Allen, the line passes right through.

The narration is served to function as a storytelling device, to make the film unfold like a short story you'd read on a relaxing day in a southern Europe villa. But in the end it does nothing but distract the viewer away from what the picture can tell us. So we understand Vicky has repressed feelings. Cristina doesn't know what she wants in her life. But these ladies are both very capable actresses, I'd prefer to have their emotions tell me what they're feeling rather than some nameless narrator completely unconnected to the story.

What keeps the movie above the waters of tedious arrogance is the acting. Every member of the principle cast is engaging and spirited, if only forced to embody characters that speak words that sound better on paper. Hall is particularly intriguing, with a face and charm of a possible star. Johansson holds up well, as does Bardem, who does a great job masking his Anton Chigurh-ness. But the most widely noticed and accessible role is Penelope Cruz's.

Cruz is the firecracker that sets the table for the second half of the film. Her performance is quite impressive, with a mix of fierce intensity, wild-eyed curiosity, but yet with enough nuance to control her aspect of the story. She's been given much praise as a possible award candidate, but for now she's on the fringe. If Cruz was given more to do than just be the crazy tigress that drives the stake through Juan Antonio and Cristina's existence, maybe the performance would've stood out more.

While overall Vicky Cristina Barcelona can be kind of unsatisfying and not as stirring as Woody's only other "good" film of the decade, Match Point, it is a step up from his terribly uneven resume of late.

Still, it's quite amazing that a man who can write witty screenplays such as Love & Death, Sleeper, Bananas, Annie Hall, Manhattan and et cetera, can lose his touch for the joy he found in his own neurosis. It doesn't necessarily take an East Coast ivory tower intellectual to understand his humor, but Allen needs to embrace that as his niche like he used to, rather than pretend he's something he's not. Because without his classic, compulsive wit, you get a 'turgid, categorical, imperative' kind of film like Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

Indie Review: HENRY POOLE

PLEASE NOTE: Writing this review got out of hand a little bit, so I'm pretty sure at least half of the review interjects my own opinions that had nothing to do with the film. So, be forewarned.


Henry Poole Is Here



Starring- Luke Wilson, Radha Mitchell, Adriana Barraza, Morgan Lily, Rachel Seiferth, Cheryl Hines, Richard Benjamin, George Lopez



Directed by Mark Pellington



Grade: A



"All I see is a water stain from a lousy stucco job."

Religion is probably the touchiest subject that two strangers can talk about. More than politics, than sports, than relationships, religious beliefs are something that everybody has a pretty strong opinion about, whether they are firm believers in God, or think its an age-old facade. Having been on both sides of the intermittent fence over the course of my life, I can say with an open heart that its hard to discuss religion with strangers. There's nothing satisfying about someone persecuting my beliefs, nor is there anything redeeming when someone attempts to goad me into believing something I'm not comfortable accepting.

These two divided factions can easily persuade someone to love or hate Henry Poole Is Here. At times it tips its hand into being pro-Faith, but it never lets go of the wider message it tries to convey; the worst thing in the world is to not have faith and hope in something. If you believe in the healing power of God and Jesus Christ, great, but if you don't, that's certainly your prerogative. But for those who don't have anything or anyone to believe in, it's a long road ahead of you until you're able to lift the burden off of yourself and place it on something stronger, whether its God, Buddha or a positive affirmation that nothing exists beyond our existential world. And that's where Henry Poole scores its knockout.

Henry Poole (Luke Wilson) moves into in a non-descript Los Angeles neighborhood, pretty much ready to die. He has received a quite literal death sentence, and therefore has abandoned everything else in his life, intent on being alone. Not for very long, as Henry's meddlesome next door neighbor Esperanza (Babel's Adriana Barraza) finds a water stain on the outer stucco wall of his house, her devout faith declaring it to be the face of Jesus Christ. Soon the stain starts 'crying' blood, and the entire neighborhood starts to flock to Henry's house, much to his chagrin. Even more bothersome for Henry is the fact that they are supposedly being healed by touching the stain, including the traumatized daughter of his other neighbor Dawn (Radha Mitchell).

The story at first kind of sounds like a satire of the ultra-religious, the ones who stare into grilled cheese sandwiches and lima beans hoping to find their affirmation of Christ. But soon it becomes apparent that the stain isn't the focus of the story, but of the people and how each of them deals with what they believe in and how they feel they can help each other and themselves.

While God and the Catholic church are major thematic elements here, director Mark Pellington (Arlington Road, The Mothman Prophecies) attempts to transcend just a black and white story about the healing powers of God and the faithful. One can easily interpret that the stain doesn't necessarily heal its touchers because its a second coming of Jesus, but because they wanted something to affirm that they can overcome their obstacles. Same goes for Henry. He spent the entire movie running away from things he couldn't change, and while the ending may seem happy and set and cliche, we simply do not know if its the truth or just hope. What we do know is that faith and hope and love gets us through the day.

It's the little details that score big. The stain in the beginning appears ambiguous. Shots are purposely panned away from the stain itself, until as the film goes on and more people start to take notice, the shape gets darker and clearer. It might be a ploy, but it also symbolizes Henry's urgency unto himself to pay attention to the wall and find the missing piece within himself that everyone else has. With character names like Patience, Dawn, and Esperanza (Hope in Spanish), it's a subtle and unobtrusive nod that maybe everything in Henry's little world will be okay, which is the feeling that religious beliefs are supposed to invoke in the first place.

Luke Wilson definitely gives his best performance since The Royal Tenanbaums. When doing comedy roles, Wilson tends to err on the side of blandness, but he can really nail down the scruffy, depressed, cynic role. Just looking at him tells you so much about how many years of pain is built up inside of him. George Lopez is also a standout in a small role as a local priest, without being funny at all.

It is kind of disappointing the way Henry Poole is being marketed for the type of film it is. Billed as a comedy in some sources, with a quirky poster of the film's characters with quirky smiles, people may be led in to Henry Poole to expect a cute comedy and come out not expecting its heavier messages. Cheryl Hines' small role in the first act as Henry's real estate agent, and Barraza's highly religious and 'wacky' neighbor, at least in the beginning, do not gel quite right with the rest of film, and yet Hines gets a big headshot on the poster. I didn't know Cheryl Hines' name and face attracted moviegoers.

Whether or not you believe in God, Henry Poole's best selling point is making a finely crafted parable about people in different stages of grief, belief, and sweet relief. It leaves enough things open to interpretation without being pretentiously ambiguous. It shouldn't force you to change your mind about what you believe in, or how you should go about expressing that belief, but rather understand that not everybody can be persuaded into believing or disbelieving what they in their hearts understand to be true. Henry Poole has some odd music choices and little montage clips, but the idea behind it is much more heartfelt that most things you'll find in a cineplex.

Featured Review: TROPIC THUNDER

Tropic Thunder



Starring- Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr, Nick Nolte, Jay Baruchel, Brandon T. Jackson, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Cruise



Directed by Ben Stiller



Grade: A-



"I know who I am! I'm the dude playing the dude disguised as another dude!"

Everybody likes Hollywood, but films about Hollywood often do not fare well. Most viewers have never worked inside a studio, so the art of satirizing something everyone on the set can side with, but the audience can't, often results in a mixed, awkward film. At times, especially in the beginning, Tropic Thunder crosses that line, threatening never to come back. But with a little moxie by its stars and a pretty cohesive and well-rounded script, Thunder rolls back.

While his starring comedies have been lackluster of late, Jack Black scored a major hit with Kung Fu Panda. Robert Downey Jr. has Iron Man and a serious career. The real test for the film was for Ben Stiller, who not only stars, but co-wrote and directed Thunder. Outside of the holiday hits A Night At The Museum and Madagascar, his legitimate comedies haven't risen to the challenge of his peers the past few years. So it's fitting that while Stiller makes himself the de facto number one star, he also makes a winning film because of his reliance on sharing the wealth with his co-stars.

Tropic Thunder starts with a trailer for each of the main characters. We meet Tugg Speedman (Stiller), the faltering action star trying to branch out without much success, Jeff "Fats" Portnoy (Black), the drug-addicted, Eddie Murphy-esque comic, and Kirk Lazarus (Downey), the insecure 5-time Oscar winning Australian who gets a skin procedure to play a black soldier. Their egos and other mistakes by rookie director Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan) and his crew throw the film production into a tailspin.

With patience and money running thin, Cockburn is goaded by Four Leaf Tayback (Nick Nolte), the deranged former soldier and writer of the book the film is based on, to drop the actors off in the real jungle and film guerrilla-style. So off go the three stars and two supporting actors, the energy drink spokesrapper Alpa Chino (Brandon T. Jackson), and the only character without an ego or exposition, Kevin Sandusky (Jay Baruchel) into the wilds of Vietnam without a clue what's happening.

After the initial trailers, Tropic Thunder starts off quite poorly. Coogan whines. Tom Cruise yells and curses. The likes of Bill Hader and Danny McBride run around spouting things, and the other stars get their introductions and story lines through television appearances. There's too much going on at one time to really focus on the humor at hand. The film doesn't really pick up until the five actors get booted off to the jungle, and get an unexpected and gross surprise almost immediately.

As the main cast get deeper and deeper into the jungle, the action picks up, but so does the laughter. The actors have discussions about their often shallow personal lives, about role techniques, about who they're supposed to be to other people. All five of them have a chance to really shine at some point without resorting to, at least in Stiller and Black's case, what type of humor they're familiar with.

If you can't tell from the trailer alone, Downey Jr's portrayal of Kirk Lazarus is downright amazing in itself. Humor wise, there have been better roles, and his is probably not even the funniest of the movie (Cruise and Matthew McConaughey are arguably the funniest when they share screen time). But the fact that the normally sarcastic-toned, dark-haired, beady eyed Downey can switch back and forth between a blond, blue eyed Australian and his stereotypically gruff black persona shows how much depth Downey can eke out of himself even in a summer comedy. He brings a touch of true class to his absurdness, whereas Stiller is forced to parody his own ridiculous Zoolander type goofiness.

Meanwhile, though his character is still close to being the straight man of the group, it's good to see Jay Baruchel in a bigger chunk of movie action. Since his lead role in the cult Judd Apatow series Undeclared, Baruchel has quietly popped up in bit parts over the years, including Almost Famous, The Rules Of Attraction, Million Dollar Baby (playing his own retarded character), and Knocked Up. If any of Apatow's proteges could use his own star-making vehicle, after Tropic Thunder Baruchel attests that he can do it, being both funny and often times the sensible leader of the egotistical group.

The cameos number in the dozens, perhaps the largest since Robert Altman's The Player. We see them in the fake trailers, television talk shows, and the award ceremonies (often out of irony), and yet unlike most films that shill for the acknowledgments, Thunder's star power feels legit. Strangest of all is the fact we expect Cruise and McConaughey to be cameos, but they are in the film just as much as any other actor. Cruise has great fun in his first comedy appearance since Austin Powers in Goldmember, and McConaughey, replacing Owen Wilson, works better in his role than Wilson would have because we don't expect it from a "romantic comedy" star like McConaughey.

Tropic Thunder loses itself in the middle of lampooning the Hollywood system at times, and the potential for an even better film was there. But while it was slightly disappointing to the funny bone, Thunder survived among its comedic peers by being comprehensible and enjoyable all the way through, which is a much better compliment than most of 2008's comedies have been given. Perhaps if it does well at the box office, we will see a Tugg Speedman reprise in Tropic Thunder VI: Arctic Lightning. I'm sure Stiller would light up with that thought.