The Wicker Man

The Wicker Man ***

"The Wicker Man" isn't the best movie in the world, but it is strange, bizarre, and engrossing to watch. I may have chuckled at some parts that weren't meant to be chuckled at, but for the most part, it's really not to bad at all. Sadly, I have a feeling that I will be defending this one for time to come, as it's not really recieving the greatest of all praises. It is a remake, of a 1970's horror film which I have yet to see, which is probably for the better, as it would have ruined all the surprises.

Nicolas Cage returns from a streak of good acting with "Matchstick Men," "Adaptation," "Lord of War," and "The Weather Man," all in a row. Here he plays Edward Malus, a police officer in California. Throughout the day he rides on the roads in his motorcycle, and when a doll falls out of a car window, he pulls the car over and returns it to the little girl in the back. However, she throws it again, and when he goes to retrieve it, the car with the little girl and her mother is struck down by a truck. Edward fails at saving the girl. A few months later, he is torn apart by what he failed to do, and that is why a letter he gets in the mail by an ex-girlfriend leaves him interested. In the letter, it is revealed that his old flame had a daughter, and she is missing on the island that they live. It turns out that Summersisle is a old farming commune, where the inhabitants aren't very normal. They all refer to one another as Sister, and they all have nature names-Sister Beech, Sister Rose, Sister Moss. And men are obviously part of some kind of second class, where they can't even speak, and are only used for breeding. And it turns out that his ex-girlfriend, Willow, isn't the most respected in the community. And so, Edward begins to hunt for her daughter, Rowen, and maybe make himself feel a little better after the incident months before. But the mystery gets larger and larger, and he gets stuck into a strange world of rituals to a mysterious Goddess, and where this ritual may have sealed Rowen's fate.

Nicolas Cage is on target here, even though this role isn't as challenging as some of his latest works. And while it's far from perfect, "The Wicker Man" is interesting, and strange, and it always kept me guessing. This farming commune is such a strange place, with freaky images, and one where I wanted questions answered. And if I was involved enough to want to have the mystery solved, then this movie is well worth watching. And in the end, I was shocked to see how far this battle of the sexes really went. It did have some awkward scenes, for example watching Nicolas Cage run around the woods in a bear suit, or seeing Ellen Burstyn wear blue and white face makeup as if she were in "Braveheart." And there was a very pointless final scene, which almost ruined the entire thing. The next to last scene was chilling enough so that if the film ended right there it would have left a better impression as I walked away. And yet, that wasn't enough for Hollywood, and they had to add something more, which undermined the entire rest of the film. And yes, this scene said "Six Months Later." A worthless epilogue. I enjoyed this one, and will support it after all the harsh comments it'll receive.

Idlewild

Idlewild *1/2

The hip hop group Outkast always delivers fun, happy music, with beats so catchy that your foot can't help but tapping. And that is kind of what I expected in the two members of the groups first movie together, "Idlewild." Instead, it was an overlong period crime drama, which didn't have a story enough to justify it's two hour running time.

The first member of the duo, Andre Benjamin, sometimes billed as Andre 3000, has already dabbled in the acting world, with roles in "Be Cool" and "Four Brothers," and he really isn't too bad, always creating a likeable character in whoever he's playing. I don't know anything about the second member of the duo, Antwan A Patton, sometimes billed as Big Boi. Here, the two of them play friends since childhood, Percival Jenkins and Rooster. In the 1930's the two friends have taken many different paths. Percival is the clean friend, who works with his father as a mortician in the family business. Rooster has taken the path of the gangster and the bootlegger, with ties to some of the biggest mobsters in Idlewild, Georgia. Rooster has a wife and five kids, while Percival is still by himself. However, the two of them may have entire different lives, but at night, the two of them work together in a little club which they call "The Church." Percival plays the piano, something that he had been doing since he was a boy, while Rooster is more of a singer and dancer. Rooster gets involved with a up and coming gangster, Trumpy, to wants to take over the liquer running business. He witnesses Trumpy killing the two biggest mobsters in the town, and suddenly finds himself in charge of the club, and in charge of the club's debt. Meanwhile, Percival finds love with Angell Davenport, a singer who has recently arrived at the club.

"Idlewild" isn't really very much fun as it's advertisements promised. Instead, it's very talky, and not so much a musical as a drama with some music thrown in every now and then. And the trademark music that Outkast is known for isn't really here, as none of the music is very catchy, or memorable, save maybe for the song that plays during the credits. I will give it credit for the set design, which was very detailed, and obviously had alot of care put into it, from the paintings on the wall, to the roaches that run around on the tables sometimes. The films biggest acting breakthrough is probably by newcomer Paula Patton, playing Angell Davanport. Not only is she beautiful, but she actually shows some signs of acting, and considering she only has about three screen credits to her name, that is pretty impressive. And to add to the fact that it's not alot of fun, the final scenes involve a car chase sequence, and a depressing and strange ballad to a dead body. The latter portion was just weird, and uncomfortable to sit through. By the end of "Idlewild," I just wanted to get home, and the two hours just doesn't want to end. It goes on and on, and it's paper thin plot didn't deserve such a long time. There was alot of padding, and alot of it didn't seem necessary. The Outkast duo aren't really the greatest actors in the world. They are likeable enough, but when it comes to the real grit of acting, they really don't have it. Instead of making such a dark and heavy crime drama, it should have been a bit lighter, as neither one of them have the acting skills required for any tearjerker scenes. So, for looks rather than story, I suppose "Idlewild" is the way to go, but I really wouldn't recommend it for that. It's not worth the ticket price or the time.

Surviving Eden

Surviving Eden *1/2

"Surviving Eden" is a "daring" satire that takes on the subject of reality television. Doesn't sound very daring. It's a subject that was seen earlier this year with "American Dreamz," except that was told in a different way, "Surviving Eden" uses the good ol' method of the mockumentary, which for some reason, never impresses me. And it casts some very funny people, with a not very funny script, which is simply a recipe for disaster.

"Surviving Eden" is the name of a reality television show, somewhat like "Survivor." Where a group of people live in a large garden for three months. They have to use nature as clothing, resulting in many cases of censorship when the show is on the air. There is a new batch of contestants, including Dennis Flotchky, a 320 pound man who is only on the show because of a prank that his best friend and roomate, Sterno, played on him. Sterno secretly filmed his friend, and sent in a tape to the people that pick contestants. Dennis is a kind, warm hearted man, and hopes that on the show he meets a nice woman. And he finds someone he is interested in, with Sister Agnes O'Malley, who is on the show to try and raise money for the church. Three months later, it is the final episode, and all that is left in the garden of Eden is Dennis, Agnes, and the self-absorbed Maria Villanova. Dennis becomes the winner, and had survived Eden. However, Dennis has changed. Not only has he lost alot of weight, but he begins to hang out with different people, and doing things that he never would have considered doing before. And its all because he got Maria pregnant, and now he has to sit down and start a family. But the money is going to Maria's head, and she gets the idea of doing a reality show about Dennis, a reality show winner. And that is when Sterno and Agnes are left in the dust, as Dennis enters the world of fame, and leaves his real friends behind.

The problem here is that there is nothing original at all. There is no twist in this entire story that I didn't guess before it was revealed. It isn't boring, but it just isn't fresh. And as for the satire, there was no controversial idea presented that was worthy of any satire. It was pretty straight. And it's a shame this didn't work, because there is a nice group of people. Michael Panes as Dennis is someone I never heard of before, but he does the part well, making us feel compassion for Dennis. And then there's mockumentary vetern Jane Lynch, who is constantly in those Christopher Guest movies that I hate so much. And Cheri Oteri, of Saturday Night Live fame. Peter Dinkage, the biggest small actor around is the best of the bunch, and this is just more proof that he should be hired more. I guess "The Station Agent" wasn't enough to show that this guy can act, and not only that but he's hilarious. 'Surviving Eden" has potential, but it's downfall is that it doesn't bother saying anything unique. It needed something more than a little humor. It needed to be daring. But the odds of anyone really seeing this, especially with it's tiny tiny release is slim. After all, when I saw it, I was the only person in the theatre. . .

Viva Pedro Part Two: All About My Mother

Viva Pedro: Part Two
All About My Mother ***1/2

It is only Pedro Almodovar who fully understands the way that women talk, act, and are around one another. His female characters, between this and "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown," are all so rich and detailed, doing things that actual women would do under these circumstances, capturing little conversations between them as only a master director can really do. And this is why everything that I've seen by him is a successful, because when it comes to characters, Almodovar always shines through.

"All About My Mother," released in 1999, is the second film in the eight week series "Viva Pedro." It is the story of many mothers, but mostly Manuela, who lives alone with her son, Esteban. Esteban wants to be a writer, and he also wants to know the true secret of his father, who his mother never talks about. The two have a wonderful relationship, until running after a theatre actress to get an autograph, Esteban is struck down by a car and is killed. His body is put to some use, when a man on the donor list recieves Esteban's heart. Manuela cannot stay where she is anymore. It is simply too much torment, so she decides to go on a journey to find Esteban's father, and tell him two things: that she had his child, and that he is dead. However, her journey begins to loose focus once she arrives in Madrid, and finds old friends and is introduced to new ones. Like Sister Rosa, who is pregnant and may or may not have AIDS. Or Huma, the actress that Esteban wanted to get the autograph from, and Huma's fellow actress Nina, who is always messed up on some drug or the other to even be able to focus straight. Manuela soon becomes the personal assitent to Huma, and the caregiver to Rosa, whose pregnant has left her ill. Her quest to find the father of the child she lost leads her to become a mother figure to someone who needs it the most.

Pedro Almodovar loves women. And the bulk of his characters, at least in the films that I have seen, are either women, or are men who want to be women. He knows exactly what to do with every female character that he creates. And his stories always tackle the unusual, and the darkness of life. "All About My Mother" is indeed a dark story, but in a different way from "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown." This story is more human. It is not as screwball as the latter. Cecilia Roth completely inhabiants the character of Manuela. She lost her purpose when her son died, and now she has to find something that brings it back. And so she helps everybody that she has the chance too. Even though she is the main character here, the film doesn't rely solely on her preformance. Mainly, how all the characters relate to one another is important, because without that, the core of the film is not there. This isn't a one women show. The film's main highlights are when the women are just sitting there talking to one another. About life, about love, about sex, about each other. A second thing that Almodovar is trademarked for is his photography. Out of the three films I've seen by him, this is probably his most true to life. And yet, his settings and photographs transport you to a world of the strange and bizarre. Where everything is bright, and oddly solid. And even though everything looks fake and hand made, is seems like real life. Almodovar has the power to make these strange settings feel like home, because his chracters are always as real as can be.

"Viva Pedro" continues next week with "Talk to Her."

The Quiet

The Quiet *

A young high school student, thick black hair, no makeup, walks down the hallway. She wishes that she were invisible, and whenever she is in a large crowd of people, she doesn't even feel like she is there. This is the first image of "The Quiet," quite possibly one of the most silly, dull, and very unlikely thriller which was is full of hated characters doing hateful things, not one of which I can even jusitfy. And I wouldn't want too. I really also have to question the road on which Camilla Belle is going down. She showed serious promise with "The Ballad of Jack and Rose," and now she is doing her perfectly fine acting in duds like this. And don't even get me started on "When a Stranger Calls." That was just embarassing. She really should start looking into a new agent, because she is simply too beautiful and too talented to go on like this.

"The Quiet" stars Belle as Dot, a deaf mute who is just trying to get through high school without being noticed. She does, like mentioned before, wish to be invisible, and to be left alone. In the lunchroom, she sits alone in a circle table in the center, apart from everyone. Not even the "freaks" want to hang around with her. Sometimes she'll talk to the lunch lady, who has a deaf child and can communicate through sign language. Dot's father recently died, and she showed up at the doorsteps of a family friend, Olivia and Paul, holding a bos with her father's ashes. She has no where else to go, and the two take her in without any hesitation. Olivia is in the middle of decorating the new house, so everything is really a mess. Dot's presence isn't alright in their daughter Nina's eyes, who continues to verbally abuse Dot. She takes advanatage of the fact that Dot can't hear or speak by saying bad things to her, in front of her face and behind. However, the entire family has secrets that they all decide to tell Dot, as a way to get things off their chest without telling anybody at all. Olivia pops pills, and Paul has been sexually molesting Nina for years. Nina tells all of this to Dot, including the fact that she plans on murdering her father. However, there is in deed something strange about Dot, and as she begins to be the confident of all these people, it turns out that she has secrets of her own.

The biggest problem with "The Quiet" is that it is really just a sloppy made thriller. It's written horribly, with dialouge that sounds as if its being read by movie characters and not actual people. It's directed by a television director who has a handful of episodes of "Gilmore Girls" and "Nip/Tuck" under her belt, and she tries to give every single scene a sort of style which doesn't contribute at all to the actual film's content. It's really just a pest. Maybe if she spent some time on characters and not on the look, it would have resulted in a better product. And then there's the script, which goes from point A to point B, and then onward to point C, D, E, F, and even G. There is no road to travel here, and it jumps from topic to topic, character to character, situation to situation, without any rhyme or reason. It because hard to watch sometimes, because I was being shifted so much to so many different things, many of which didn't even add on to the storyline. There is something about Camilla Belle, though. She really can act, and she really does show her stuff here, even though most of her preformance is silent. She takes a candle out of the "Little Miss Sunshine" book here. She tries to act invisible, and wants to be alone, but everybody keeps putting their affairs into her life.

"The Quiet" is very dark and depressing and dank. In fact, it's probably one of the darkest I've ever seen, which is usually a real hook for me. However, every character here is so damn messed up that they can't even be liked. I hated everyone, from the mother and the father, to Nina's best friends friend, someone who just has one or two lines. I can't even think of anyone to recommend this too. It's not exciting enough for a thriller lover, and not involving enough for a drama lover. It had no redeeming qualities, and is a train wreck all the way. I hated everybody in this film, and I hated every minute. There is a reason why this came out in the last week of Augest.

Beerfest

Beerfest **

I must say, the comedy troop that wrote "Beerfest," who names themselve Broken Lizard, really must have confidence in themselves after calling themselves geniuses in the advertisments. While that might not be, they are still funny, have plenty of witty gags under their belt, and for some reason, can make a 110 minute movie go by as if it were under 80. There last offering "Club Dread" was plenty of fun, and while "Beerfest" may not have the full wit that their last offering did, it still is fun to watch, as long as its with a large audience, and one that doesn't take this kind of movie seriously. For example, when I saw the flick, there were four guys in the theatre, yelling at the screen often, and actually drinking beer. I can hear the glass bottles scatter along the floors as they walked out of their seats. This isn't the kind of film to watch at 12:00pm with the seniors looking for a discount, it's made for the 10:45PM crowd. The crowd of people who are looking for something to do on a Friday night when "World Trade Center" is too heavy for them, and "Little Miss Sunshine" is not playing.

"Beerfest's" five main characters are all played by the Broken Lizard troop-Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter, and Erik Stolhanske. It's plot, or somewhat of a plot, involves Soter and Stolhanske as Jan and Todd Woflhouse, two brothers whose grandfather has just died after pulling his own plug in the hospital. They are instructed by their Great Gam Gam to go to Munich and spread his ashes at Octoberfest. The boys go, and soon find themselves in an underground festival known s Beerfest. There is only one rule-No one ever mentions Beerfest outside of Beerfest. It's a festival of beer drinking games, where teams of five from all over the world compete with one another. Germany rules supreme. The games range from tossing quarters into cups, pouring beer down another teammates throat from high up, and even drinking as much beer as you can upside down, like a monkey. However, the Germans always end up winning the final round, known as "Das Boot." And this is where the boys fail. The air bubble that pops whenever there is no more beer left in the toe area always explodes in their faces, making them choke on the beer, and also losing. And when the Germans accuse Jan and Paul's grandfather of stealing an ancient beer recipe years ago for the greatest beer in the world, they challenge them to a beer drinking match, where Jan and Paul, out of practice, fail.

But that doesn't stop them. They return to the United States, and begin to assemble of team of three other people. There is Fink, the very smart Jewish doctor who works in a lab collecting samples from frogs. There is Barry, a former ping pong champion who has now had to resort to selling his body on the street for sexual favors, and then there is Landfill, the big man who can drink beer faster than anyone in the group, and who also worked in a brewery, and has years of experience. The five of them begin to drink beer around the clock, for an entire year, all leading up to the return to Munich, and the final round against the Germans.

Now, with a name like "Beerfest" how can you really go inside and expect a masterpiece? Like "Snakes on a Plane," Augest is a great month for movie titles. And "Beerfest' certainly does take advantage of the R rating. There is swearing, nonstop drinking, and even some nudity in the mix. It really does take the old dirty comedies from years past to heart, and it could be alot of fun. Many of the jokes do miss, some of them even taking to the extreme, but the Broken Lizard troop is best when they are being witty, as opposed to trying to be laugh out loud funny. For example, there is a nice trick towards the end with one of the actors playing a dual role, which is just plain clever. It's hard to explain without spoiling anything, but it allows the movie to have its share of heart and drama, and at the same time, completely making it as if nothing has changed. The plot isn't really important here, and I'll admit that when the plot came into focus, the movie lost it's charm. It's such a simple premise, that I'm glad they didn't overblow it by using it often. At times, I forgot that there was a story going on at all.

I can't give "Beerfest" a recommendation rating, because in the grand scheme of things, its not even a very good movie. But, for the twentysomething year olds, drunk off their asses on a Saturday night, they would love it. And anyone who loves beer. Or anyone who doesn't mind just getting silly for two hours without the hangover. I'll take the latter.

Snakes on a Plane

Snakes on a Plane **1/2

When "Snakes on a Plane" was first reported to be shooting, it created such a strange frenzy on the internet. People were fascinated, and obsessed with this movie which describes it's entire plot in the title. After all, based on the title, it's hard to not understand what the movie's about. There are snakes. . . and they are on a plane. And so, the internet became stuffed with various parodies, including fake trailers, and pictures of Samuel L. Jackson shouting-"There are snakes on this motherfu**ing plane!" And this was all before a single still from the film was even released to the public. After seeing all the press released by the public ages before the film even comes out, New Line Cinemas even reshoot parts of the movie, taking it from the PG-13 rating that it was sure to get, and making an R one, for the fans. And to be even more kind, they even rewrote part of it to include Samuel L. Jackson using the line that made the film so famous to begin with. And so, come the night before its release one week ago, there were the special 10PM screenings, and all the die hard fans of this movie that was never even released packed the theatres, prepared to laugh at what promised to be one of the worst good movies in years. And now, late, I finally got to see it and. . .

It turned out to be just another standard thriller movie.

I walked into "Snakes on a Plane" expecting a grand time. Something that doesn't take itself seriously, with lame special effects, wooden acting, all leading up to that moment where Jackson finally delivers the best line-"Enough is enough. I want these motherfu**king snakes off this motherfu**ing plane!" And the movie delivers all of that, but halfway through you realize to yourself "Hey wait a minute. There are snakes. . . and they are on this plane. . . now what?" There are only so many ways for a snake to bit a human, and there are only so many ways for a human to kill a snake, and after sometime, you've really had enough of these snakes, and this movie.

Jackson plays FBI agent Neville Flynn, who just found Sean Jones almost killed by the henchmen of Eddie Kim. The reason why they are after him is being Sean ended up witnessing one of Eddie Kim's hits, and now Flynn has to take Sean from Hawaii to Los Angeles, so that Sean can testify against the bad man. And so they board Flight 121 to LA, with a colorful group of characters. However, Eddie Kim's men planted a giant crate of snakes in the plane, and also filled the vents with a certain drug, which make the snakes go crazy. And so, the snakes begin to raid the plane, killing one of the pilots, and setting their sites on the passengers. And for added effect, they even trip the wires, shutting off almost all the lights, as well as the AC. And who can forget about that rain storm that the plane is passing through, over water. They can't land, because the only place to land is the ocean. And so Flynn leads the group of passengers to safety, while the police on the ground try to find out information about the snakes that are on the plane, so that when the plane lands, they can deliver the antidote to the passengers right away.

On the plane, there is quite a cast of characters. Not mentioning the flight attendents, there is a rapper who doesn't like it when people touch him, and his two bodyguards, one who is video game obsessed(played by Kenen Thompson, oddly enough.) There is Mercedes, the, what I am assuming, rich girl who carries around her dog in her purse. There is the newly married couple, the husband who is deathly scared of flying. Two little children who are flying for the first time by themselves. Etc, etc.

The problem is, I was expecting more B movie, but at times, I got the feeling as if they were really trying to make a serious thriller. Sure, the film has it's share of hokey lines like "God bless the Playstation," or "Get this snake off my ass!" And sure, the snakes look horribly fake, and at times we even get to see from their point of view(where everything is blurred and green.) But, at times, it doesn't seem to want to end. The audience wanted snakes, and they got snakes, but after a while, it seems to repeat itself. How many snakes can we see die? The snakes bit the humans in every possible place-the legs, the toes, the face, the eye, the crotch(for both male and female) to the point where they run out of places to attack, and after a while all the deaths were seen through the dark. I enjoyed "Snakes on a Plane" for what it was. A stupid, enjoyable, horror flick for the end of the summer. I was disappointed after all the hype. I was hoping it would be more of a parody of itself, and a reflection to old B horror movies of the past, but it ended up being just a standard thriller, nothing really special, and not deserving of what it was made out to be. However, I do give permission for everybody, even in the future, to make fun of the title. It's the best part of the entire movie. . .

The Illusionist

The Illusionist ****

Ever since I was a little boy I have always been fascinated by magic and all of it's secrets. Even today, whenever I am flipping through the channels on the television, and I stumble across some kind of magic show-like David Blaine walking down the streets and doing tricks for the people that are passing by-I will watch it. It's always amusing, and I must say, I prefer watching little tiny card tricks that take a few seconds, as opposed to seeing a man encased in a block of ice in Times Square. There is just something about magic that always captures attention. These magicians do these giant tricks, that look as if they are actually doing something supernatural, but I'll bet if you were able to hear the secret about how a trick is actually done, you would think that you were stupid because the answer was obviously in front of you the entire time. And it's that gap between the illusion, and the fact that the secret is so obvious once you know it that makes people puzzle over how many of these tricks are done. And that is what attracted me to "The Illusionist" from the beginning, and it turned out to be one of the most fun, entertaining, romantic, and thrilling films of the year, sure to be one of the best.

And how can it be all bad? It features two of the best actors around at the moment: Edward Norton and Paul Giamatti. It even has the love interest of Jessica Biel, who I am assuming is trying to break away from her previous film roles, "Blade 3" and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," and trying to prove herself as a serious actress. "The Illusionist" is a small role, but she really does nail her part quite well. Norton and Giamatti are as perfect as always, and we even get to hear them use British accents, which they actually do use quite well.

Norton plays Eisenheim, an illusionist who has an odd history behind him. When he was a little boy, he became interested in the field of magic when he came upon a traveling magician in the street. However, the magician, and the tree on which he was leaning upon, both disappear, leaving his puzzled and confused. While practicing his magic, he meets Sophie, a little girl who is from a royal family. The two are destined not to be together as Sophie's family doesn't want her to mingle with such a low family, and the two are separated forever. Years later, Eisenheim has perfected his craft, and has come to do in a show in Vienna. He makes the audience fascinated with his tricks, and one trick involving him growing an entire orange tree takes the attention of Chief Inspector Uhl, who demands to know how the trick occured. Uhl starts a sort of friendship with Eisenheim, and informs him that the next night, the Crown Prince Leopold will be attending his show. During a trick that calls for a volenteer, Leopold ends up volenteering the woman that he plans on marrying, who Eisenheim recognizes right away. It's Sophie, all grown up, and the two begin an affair which leaves the Crown Prince angry. Leopold isn't very happy with the fact that Eisenheim makes him look like a fool, especially when Leopold is convinced that everything Eisenheim does can be explained easily. However, that doesn't really seem likely. Eisenheim ends up having a sort of following, which masses more and more when he starts to summon the dead from their graves. And the main question now is, does Eisenheim really have supernatural powers, or is everything that he is doing really simply an illusion?

"The Illusionist" is really alot of fun. Compared to many of the period pieces of the past, it doesn't take forever to start, it's not almost three hours long, and it doesn't make a big deal out of itself. It really is alot of fun, and could please almost anybody who is in the mood for a good thriller. It's suspenseful, interesting, and extremely entertaining. I understand that the audience cannot appriciate the magic that the characters are seeing, as we know that computers were used to make the orange tree appear out of nowhere, but that still doesn't make us less entranced by what Eisenheim does. I did end up guessing the films final twist about twenty minutes before it was revealed, but it was only a speculation. It's still a good time watching how all the pieces of the puzzle end up fitting into place.

Other things I liked. It was great to see Paul Giamatti do something a little different, and even though the role sounds like an odd one for him to play, I really can't imagine anybody else doing it. He's the heart and soul of "The Illusionist" acting wise. I also loved the look of the film. The entire photography has this kind of flickering feel to it, as if everything is being lit by candlelight. I would like to see more period dramas like "The Illusionist." Something more fun, and out of the ordinary, as opposed to those by the book ones that come out all the time-"Vanity Fair" anyone? It's also one of your best bets if none of the other summer thrillers out there are of any interest to you. There is another film about magic coming out in the fall which I am looking forward to very much, and it's great to finally see a magic film that is for adults, instead of the fantasy driven childrens films, that are entertaining, but don't contain the dark and morbid and scary ideas that real magic entails.

Factotum

Factotum ***

I'll start with the fact that I have never read anything by Charles Bukowski, but after seeing this, and hearing my dear old father rave about his novels, I've decided that is the first thing that I am going to do next month, when I venture into a new novel. I've heard that his books often involve the characters drinking, and drinking alot. They also are more like little tiny episodes as opposed to actual stories. And that is much like the pacing and style of "Factotum," which is loosely based on the author himself. One must walk into "Factotum," not expecting an actual story, with great development, plot twists, etc, but instead, to see something more like little tiny vignettes in the life of a man, who drinks and drinks and drinks.

Matt Dillion gives an amazing preformance as Henry Chinaski, who continues to find new jobs for himself in the newspaper. Small job, really. One of them is a delivery man for a company that sells ice. Another is working in a bike repair shop. One is a job at a pickle factory, which he claims he wanted because pickles always reminded him of his grandmother, who used to serve him pickles whenever he visited her. He even gets a job dusting a giant marble statue in a newspaper building. However, he always ends up getting fired, and it's always for the same reason. One his breaks, or even when he's supposed to be working, Henry ends up making a quick stop at the bar for a few shots of some drink or the other. In his spare time, he writes numerous short stories, even submitting many of them to the New Yorker, and other magazines. Henry keeps drifting through life, until he meets Jan in a bar, and three days later he's moving in with her. And the two have their ups and downs. She likes it better when he is jobless, and they could do it all day, drink all night, and then do both of them again in between. Over time, he ends up calling it off with Jan, and ends up dating Laura, but he soon goes back to Jan again, only he finds that things are must different this time.

"Factotum" is an odd film, because of it's very slow pacing. It doesn't really ever have scenes that advance the plot, but unlike "Trust the Man" which had the same method, it doesn't affect the audience in a negative way. It's meant to be told in this episodic way, because that is the way that Bukowski would write his novels. There is an extended scene where Chinaski finds out that Jan gave him crabs. He goes to the pharmacy, where the woman gives him the directions on how to use the medicine in such a loud voice that everybody in the entire store can hear. Now, what is the point of this? Why bother introducting a subplot where the main character gets crabs? The answer is simple: It's just like life-just one thing after another. And these little incidents, these vignettes, really are welcome, because they are always something creative, and strange, and random, and fun to watch, just like they would happen in life. Dillion inhabits the character of Chinaski, and is pitch perfect. Every single line, Dillion delivers with such patience and such expertise. He really becomes this guy, and something I can't believe how far Dillion has come since the 80's when he starred in "The Outsiders." It's beyond me. And the film is very funny too. Sure, it's about a drunk, but it never has any scenes where he is waking up in the middle of the night, sweating, or going to bar, and making a scene by throwing glasses and getting in various barfights. Because unlike the Hollywood cliche that is around, not all drunks have to be angry. This one isn't for everyone, but it's funny, entertaining, and worth a look. I hope that Dillion isn't overlooked come award season, because he is at the top of his game too. Also, points for indie siren Lili Taylor, who I had thought disappeared off the face of the Earth there for a while. Maybe she's making some kind of comeback. . .

Boynton Beach Club

Boynton Beach Club ***

There is a line in the middle of "Boynton Beach Club" which I think completely describes why I found this such a delightful and refreshing film. One of the characters says, "People think that when you reach a certain age, you just stop having sex. That just isn't true." And yet, in every single Hollywood movie in the last few years, the ideas of senior citizens having anything to do with a romantic relationship outside of their marriage has just been considered taboo. With the exception of "Something's Gotta Give," I can't remember another film which involved the senior love world, which must exist. . . right?

The entire film takes place in the Boynton Beach community, where we are introduced to Marty and Marilyn, who have been married for the better part of forty years. While on his morning jog, Marty is run over by a woman on a cell phone, who wasn't paying attention to anything but her conversation. Marty dies, and Marilyn finds herself angry. Angry at the woman who drove her husband over, and angry at the fact that she just couldn't talk to Marty for a few seconds more. Maybe then, he wouldn't have been killed. We are then introduced to Jack, who has already lost his wife of forty years, and he is going through the phase where all he eats is the food that his neighbors made for him. However, both Jack and Marilyn are given the chance to join a club where others are also going through loss, and they are invited to it by Lois, who lost her husband eight years ago, but joined the club after her son ended up passing away. Lois has a new love interest, in the form of Donald, a real estate agent that she met in a diner. Jack makes friends with Harry, who lost his wife a while back, but is finally getting back in the dating game by meeting people on the internet-in one of those internet dating services. And Jack also ends up meeting Sandy, who gives him her card without having met him yet, just wanting to take a chance on something that she thinks could be wonderful. And the various interconnected stories weave and begin to be told. . .

"Boynton Beach Club" is a nice little film, which deals with sex, dating, and grief. These people aren't strangers to the dating world, but the fact that they have been married for the last few decades makes them a bit afraid of what's ahead. They haven't dated in almost fifty years, and now they are just expected to go through all of that all over again. The preformances are on key. Everyone works really well together. It is a formula romantic comedy, really. The characters all go through their love affairs, and then are drawn apart from them after some kind of shocking and deep revalation, but then everything is alright again at a New Year's Eve Party. But, it's also a step forward. Maybe it could possibly allow more films like this to be made. Maybe in the future, Hollywood won't be scared to make a film where the lead actress, a woman in her 60's, ends up showing her breasts. It's brave, really. A film where the elderly actually get to behave as if they would in real life. Just because they are old, Hollywood thinks, doesn't mean they can't mate, date, swear, or do anything that people in their 30's do. Trust me, the elderly do do that, and more. When that character that I mentioned in the beginning of this says the line that he says, I can't help think that when he says "people" he really means "Hollywood." Maybe it's just the directors way of sticking it to the big studios, who would never release anything as human as "Boynton Beach Club."

Trust the Man

Trust the Man *1/2

The problem with "Trust the Man" doesn't land on the hands of the actors involved, but the actual script and story itself. Sometimes, I felt as if I was watching an hour and forty minute sitcom as opposed to an actual film. At times, it gets so bad, and so utterly pointless that I really were hoping that it would cut to commericals. And it a real shame, considering the four main cast members are actors that I really admire-David Duchovny, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Julianne Moore, and Billy Crudup. There isn't a bad member in the bunch, and I can't believe that none of these talented actors sat down for a second, and actually thought about the "story' that they were a part of. Did it ever hit them that maybe nothing that happens in the entire film has any relevance to anything else? More on that later. . .

"Trust the Man" is basically the story of four people, and two couples. There is Tom and Rebecca, who are married and have two children. Rebecca works as an actress, and Tom acts as the house husband. After a long hard day of playing with the kids and going to the park and the store, all Tom wants at the end of the night is a little bit o' action with the wife, which she doesn't seem to want to give him. They do have some problems, martially. They go to a marriage shrink, but instead of going once a week like the shrink recommends, they only go once a year. They say that it releases the tension brought upon by the year. He complains about this to his best friend, and brother in law, Tobey. "I guess you thought that it would be more like marrying a hooker," Tobey says to him. "Yeah, only without the payment." Tobey has his own relationship problems. His girlfriend of seven years, Elaine is going through that time of her life where she wants to have a baby, and he, scared out of his mind about the idea, gets scared. So, they split up, and for the rest of the film,we see the fate of the two couples, as Tom is swayed to temptation about a possible affair with the mother of one of the children from his kids class, Rebecca is hit on by one of her co-stars in the play she's in, and Tobey watches as Elaine begins to date other men.

The problem with "Trust the Man" is that it doesn't have enough story to cover a full length feature. There are often extended scenes of the guys talking about sex, sports, and other things, while the girls talk about the men in their lives. At times it was like watching "Sex in the City" come to the big screen. In addition to that, it had so many additive scenes that didn't advance the plotline at all. What was with the scene where the head of a publishing company came on to Elaine, who wants to get her children's book published? What was with the old married friend that Tobey met again from college? Tom ends up thinking that it might be possible that he has a sexual addiction, so he goes to a meeting, where he gets intimidated and lies about a sexual fetish that he has. In order to have a fully satisfying experience, he must be wrapped in deli meats first. I mean, come on, this didn't even get mentioned again. "Trust the Man" is four fine preformances, ruined with a script that is better for television, if even that. It's obvious why this was released furing the final moments of Augest.

Barnyard

Barnyard**

In the end, "Barnyard" doesn't pretend to be something that it's not. It doesn't try to wow the audience with amazing visuals, like those that can be seen in "Cars" or "Monster House." It doesn't try to wow you with an amazing voice cast. It doesn't flaunt the commericals with names like JULIA ROBERTS or PAUL NEWMAN. It is cheaply made, a low key voice cast, and something a little different compared to some of the animated movies of late. It's not just for children, and I was surprised at some of the rude jokes that it presented, many of which I didn't mind at all. In fact, it gave a little life to the lifeless slate of animated films of late. But, in the end, it was pretty uninspired, and was indeed something that could be missed. But I admire the fact that it wasn't trying too hard to begin with.

"Barnyard" is the story of a barnyard, where there's the farmer, who wakes up early every morning, and prepares to go on his rounds. However, little does he know that the animals in his barn actually walk and talk. Nobody has four legs, and they can easily walk on two. And they can talk, and have celebrity voices, and plan meetings. More deeply, "Barnyard" is the story of Otis the cow, who would very much like to be like his father Ben, but he would also like to lay back, have a good time, and party. And indeed, when we first meet Otis, he is getting ready to skate down a mountain, with his friends the mouse, and the pig. He crashes, literally, into the town meeting, where his father is prepared for the coyetes, who come every season and try to slaughter all of the animals in the barnyard. However, a horrible fight with the coyetes leaves Ben dead, and Otis suddenly finds himself in charge of all the animals, including a foxy new, pregnant cow, Daisy, who Otis finds himself attracted to right away. So, as the coyetes prepare to come and take the hens, Otis tries his best to defend the rest of the animals, and do well in his father's memory, while also trying not to be caught by the farmers, and trying to have big parties every night.

"Barnyard" does have some laughs. There is an extended gag with a pizza delivery duo, who act very much like Bill and Ted. There's the wife and husband of the house next door, where the wife always hears the animals having their parties, and thinking that the farmer is a wild and crazy man. There's another gag where the farmer actually sees the animals having a party, where the other animals have to keep knocking him over the head so that they can plant him under a tree, and have him thinking that he was hit in the head with something. The voice talents are well done, and they aren't very huge names. They are famous, but not to the extent of the voice actors that these latest flicks are getting. The animation is not the greatest in the world. It looks more like a television show, which doesn't get the type of budget that a movie does, or even a video game. But, it didn't really bother me very much. Like I said, I have a feeling that "Barnyard" wasn't made to compare to "Cars," or "Monster House." I have a feeling that it really was just made to entertain, and not become groundbreaking. It doesn't pretend to be better than it is. I did hate one scene, towards the end. It's the birth of Daisy the cow's baby boy, and it's a very odd, uncomfortable, dull, overlong scene. It was like the filmmakers wanted to get a little spirtual, and it just doesn't work. It's a birth scene, with soft, one beat music playing the background. It doesn't fit at all, and even if they wanted to include it, it could have been much shorter.

I must point out one thing, and this is really to the filmmakers. Male cows are called bulls, and bulls do not have udders. Every single cow in this film had udders, and besides for the one gag where the bull gives a pelvic thrust moving his udder, there was no need to screw up the anatomy. It's a cartoon, I know, and it's for children, yes, but there was no need for the male cows to have udders, not at all. It was pretty distracting, really. "Barnyard" is a good pick as a last resort, and now that the two big animated blockbusters are pretty much gone(and I mean "Cars," and "Monster House,") it's probably your best bet.

Pulse

Pulse *

I'll admit from the start, that when it comes to a big-budget Hollywood movie, I'm not very hard on it. When you walk into something like this, you leave with exactly what you expect. And even the horror genre, something which hasn't been successful in the longest time(and I don't mean in the box office), I usually give it a passing grade, if it does what it set out to do. Well, "Pulse" set out to scare you, and it doesn't even do that very well. It even tries to wow you in the end with some sort of statement about society, and thats just so laughable I just discarded it.

Anyways, it starts off by basically saying that technology is bad. Not only is it responsible for predators attacking young children, or a place to put up pornography, but it also ends up being a connection for the dead to come back to Earth from the underworld. Damnit, we should have known. And that's exactly what happens to the young group of college students, whose friend Josh hangs himself after an encounter with a dead person. And now the rest of his friends, including his girlfriend Mattie, try and find a way to get over the loss of their friend. However, they can't find the time to get over him, as their friend continues to send them eerie messages from beyond the grave. While in a chatroom, he begins sending them messages. "Help me," he persists. When his computer is sold to a guy named Dexter, he plugs the computer in, and the only visual he recieves is a live web feed of strange and creepy people looking into the camera. And as the dead begin to attack each person one by one, they take over the life of that person. The dead begin to get life once again, through the internet.

"Pulse" is another one of those horror movies that is just an American version of a Japanease horror flick, and based on the past horror movie remakes like "The Ring," and "The Grudge," I've decided that maybe those movies are actually scary. I find it hard to believe that any form of "The Ring," "The Grudge," or "Pulse," could actually be creepy, but maybe the directors overseas know what they are doing. A few other things: "Pulse" is by the book, not only with the scares, but with the characters. There's the lead girl, aspiring to have a big career(in this case a shrink,) her best friend, the wild party girl who always wants her friend to be living life on the edge. There's the awkward guy friend, who is in love with the lead girl, but is overshadowed by another guy. Oh, and then there's the silly, clown man, who provides the audience with a little bit of comedy from time to time. I tell you, the film critic character from "Lady in the Water" would have a ball with this crew. And I must comment on the fact that those Weinstein brothers can't seem to dish out some extra money for scenery. In Mattie's house, on the wall there was a poster for "Chicago." And in another character's house, there were posters for "Sin City," and "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind," all films that were produced by Miramax and the Weinsteins. I guess they thought that nobody would notice, but they couldn't put that one past me. The final moral of the story, which barely is an adaquate commentary on the nature of America and their obsessions with technology, seems forced and out of nowhere.Maybe it worked better in the Japanese version, but not here.

I'll give the movie bonus points for two things. The first thing is the photography. The entire film is pretty much grey and blue(aside from the red tape, which keeps the dead people out. And I still don't know why.) It captures a real dreary looking atmosphere. However, there is no difference between the way the city looks before the dead people take over than after. I didn't see any comparsion at all. The film should have started a little brighter and happier, and then over time became more dark and dreary. Second, I liked the ending. It doesn't for the typical way to end something, but I think I would have ended it a scene before it did. The final scene on the side of the road just seemed pointless and stupid. Maybe they had to have some filler, but it was very much unneeded. "Pulse" is lifeless.

Conversations with Other Women

Conversations with Other Women ***

"Conversations with Other Women" is built around a method of storytelling. For the entire duration of the film, we are presented with a split screen, that show the same image sometimes from different angles, or even different scenes from different time periods. The reason why they had to find an unusual method to tell the story was because there is nothing here that we couldn't find in "Before Sunset." Two people, who haven't seen each other in some time, talking for an 82 minute running time, revealing secrets, getting to know one another, and then parting ways, the question being if they will see and speak to each other again in the near future. I have a few problems with it, but at the end, I wanted to see more of these characters, and to watch them continue to talk on and on and on for the rest of the night.

It begins at a wedding. We meet the man and the woman, as the man approaches the woman who is sitting at a table, and the two begin an epic night of conversation, sex, and memories. She is married to a heart doctor, living in London with his three children, and he is a lawyer living in America, dating a twenty-three year old dancer. What begins as an appeared flirtation delves into something more, as they go from the table, to the dance floor, and then back upstairs to her hotel room. The whole time, their histories begin to unravel, and it turns out that what looks like a one night fling is something much more.

The plot is short, because there really isn't that much to describe, and I wouldn't want to ruin anything. "Conversations with Other Women" works best when you don't know what secret is going to come next. By the end, you know alot about these two character, but you really don't know much at all. They do, and that is what is important. The style of the film takes some getting used to, but after a little while, the split screen becomes the norm, and you don't mind it so much. Aaron Eckheart and Helena Bonham Carter are perfect, and share great chemistry, and without their great preformances, this film would be nothing. It would be empty, and lifeless, and they bring the life to a rather odd script. The script tries to contain all of the secrets of the second half by making the characters talk in ways that they wouldn't normally talk, in the first half. It's hard to explain, and I can only describe exactly what I mean by spoiling things, which is not my intention at all. Let's just say, the opening conversation isn't the most realistic thing you'll find. It sounds normal in the beginning, but when certain things come into light, the reality of it drips down, quickly.

When the night is over, and it's time for the woman to catch her plane back home, you really do wish that the night could continue, just for another few hours. "Conversations with Other Women" runs for a short 82 minutes, and just when your getting into the swing of things, the screen turns black. These are great characters. They are funny, intelligent, smart, and you can watch them talk to one another all day. Get in tune with their histories, and get in touch with who they really are, instead of just peeking into their lives for a few precious hours. I know that it takes a candle from Linklater. Hell, even the actor that plays the man as a young man bears an odd resemblence to Ethan Hawke, but it is it's own movie. It's a different conversation, and different circumstances, and a damn good one at that. "Conversations with Other Women' does stay with you, and the night is over far too quickly.

Viva Pedro Part One: Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

Viva Pedro: Part One
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown ***1/2

Sony Pictures Classics is releasing eight films by the great Mexican director, Pedro Almodovar, the director of countless great films. Now, with this eight week retrospective of eight of his films, I can slowly begin to unravel myself to the strange and unusual mind of Pedro Almodovar. At the end of the series, the release of his newest film "Volver" will hit the United States, and will slowly be released throughout the country during the holiday season. This eight part series begins with "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown," originally released in 1988.

"Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown" is a wacky, zany, offbeat, and very dark comedy, set in the world of love affairs, voice dubbings, and real estate. We begin with Pepa, an actress whose plays the mother of a serial criminal on a television show. Her lover, Ivan, has left her, and now she wants to find out why he did it. He calls her to speak with her for the last time, but a dose of sleeping pills left her out of it, until the very end of the telephone call. By the time she picks up, his receptionist informs her that he is gone. Pepa goes to his apartment to leave him a note, but the note is found by Ivan's wife, who always suspects her husband of cheating. Pepa's friend, Candela, comes into town for a visit, at the worst of possible times, because she is scared that the police are chasing her down for her housing potential terrorists in her home. Pepa goes to see a lawyer about what Candela should do in her situation, only to find that the lawyer is Ivan's newest lover. And then, Ivan's son, Carlos, comes to Pepa's apartment to try and find a house to rent. Paths cross, leading up to final car chase worthy of one of the funniest scenes put on film.

"Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown" is very dark comedy, and a perfect screwball romance: the type that could have been made back in the 50's, even though a little cleaner, and would have been a huge hit. I can see Spencer Tracy as Ivan and Katherine Hepburn as Pepa. But it won't have the visual stint that makes it so memorable. Almodovar uses splashy colors and bright visuals to tell his tale. In a way, this makes it even darker, begins the entire setting looks so happy and carefree, that the violence, jealousy, and cat fights inside are exactly the opposite. It's never dull, and it's set a certain standard for dark humor. It's also alot of fun seeing Antonio Banderas, sporting an Eraserhead like haircut, and thick glasses. He looks like a nerd, which is the exact opposite of any character that he plays from here on end. And as every female character is introduced, a new problem is presented, and they are all thrown closer and closer into the deep end. And sooner or later, every single one of them pops. I loved every single minute of this tale, and could have enjoyed another half hour of these women, plotting and scheming, and being led from place to place, all ending up in a full circle, if they are sane or not being the main question.

"Viva Pedro" continues in two weeks with "All About My Mother."

Half Nelson

Half Nelson ***

At the end of the summer, the big studio releases are slowly winding down, and the chance to see fighting pirates, superheros, and talking cars begins to disappear, and a bigger question begins to surface: What films will be nominated for Oscars at the start of 2007? I can say now that it is a sure fire bet that Ryan Gosling, the star and main character of "Half Nelson" will have an Actor nomination, and will most likely be the underdog. If he will win or not, that is tough to say because the year is still young, but I know he'll be chosen for something.

I'll admit from the start that "Half Nelson" is nothing new when it comes down to plot and storytelling, but the acting is above average, especially by the two stars, including Shareeka Epps, who is a perfect match for young Gosling. Gosling plays Dan Dunne, a history teacher at a junior high school in an inner city neighborhood. Dunne's life is nothing special, and he's been living with his eyes closed for a while now. He's trying to write a children's book, but hasn't even been able to start it, and when he's not working at the school, teaching the philisophy that history is the result of change over time, he's either out in the nightlife looking for women and drugs, or sitting on the floor of his apartment. Dan has a horrid addiction to crack, and he's been living his life without any emotions or feelings: Just living. That is, until he is caught by one of his students, Dree, when she finds him in the school locker room after a basketball game, passed out with the still lit pipe in his hands. From that moment on, Dree and Dan start a sort of friendship between one another. Dan gives Dree a ride home every day. The student's mother works throughout the whole day, and her father doesn't seem to want to have anything to do with her. Dree, sadly, has also been befriending Frank, a neighborhood dealer. Dan doesn't want Dree to have anything to do with Frank, and he doesn't want her to end up like him. He knows that he is screwed up, but he doesn't want to see others be as screwed up as he is. So, he decides to try to not let his addiction get in the way of his work: trying to teach these kids, and trying to keep Dree out of danger.

Overall, "Half Nelson" is really a commentary on the ability to change. Dan teaches how history if the result of change, but at the same time he can't seem to try and change his own history. He watches his ex-girlfriend come visit him, a former drug addict who went to meetings and is now getting married, and he wishes that he could be like that. He lies to his new love interest that he is clean, and he does drugs every now and again to get by. But in fact, there is nothing that he could do. He has given up, and he only wants to live his life from one high to the next. And maybe he isn't the one that needs to save Dree from drugs, but he is the one that needs saving. There is nothing really fresh about "Half Nelson" and as a movie itself, it's nothing special. It's shot on a very low budget, with a handheld camera. Normally, I'm not a big fan of shaky camera work, but I'll admit it is effective here. Dan is unstable, and it's important that we see things from his eyes. Dree is also confused and lonely, and the up and down of the camera also sees things from her viewpoint as well. This isn't only Dan's story, but her's as well, and it's important to see that they are equals, even though they have a massive age difference between them. I have a feeling that "Half Nelson" will be overly praised, when in fact it's simply an preformance driven work. This film really wasn't worth the 105 minute running time that we are presented, and it could have been cut down greatly. But preformances alone are worth the price of the ticket, and the word of mouth for "Half Nelson" should sprend in the coming weeks. This isn't the last we've heard of it.

World Trade Center

World Trade Center ***

"World Trade Center" passes as a memorial to September 11th, even though it may be loaded with Hollywood BS, and even caused me to roll my eyes a few times. It doesn't suceed in the way that the much more dramatic and artier "United 93" did, but in it's own way, it is something special. It's much more Hollywood, though, especially with the director Oliver Stone helming it. Unlike some of his other films, however, it doesn't offer any of Stone's normal conspercy theories. Stone doesn't make historical films the way history offers it, but in the way that he himself feels about the events. Instead, "World Trade Center" doesn't offer any proof until the credits that he is the director.

Everybody knows about the events of 9/11(well that's not true. When I was putting up the title for World Trade Center on the marquee at the theatre I work at, a little boy asked me what it was. When a passerbyer told him that it was "the true story about the terrorist attacks on 9/11" the boy was just scratching his head. He looked as if he was about ten years old, which means that he was six years old at the time of the attack. I figured that he would know about it.) Anyway, "World Trade Center" follows the tale of two Port Authority officiers, and where they were during the time of the attack. They are called to duty at the towers, to evacuate Tower 1. They are John McLouglin and Will Jimeno. As John's team of men are getting prepared to go up the tower, it falls down on top of them, and they are all pinned under the rubble. Eventually, it ends up being just John and Will, as the other members die. Pinned under a rock, Will can't move, and John, while he appears unhurt, is still stuck under a number of large rocks. Up above, it is simply chaos. Both of the towers end up falling, and the wives and familis of the two men wait for any type of knowledge about the attack, and the two men wait for any chance of actual survival.

"World Trade Center" is certainly an experience. And, I think if Stone didn't pad it down with standard Hollywood cliches, it could have been much better. There are strings and pianos on the score, slow motion, which I had a big problem with. September 11th was a day of total confusion. Things were happening quickly with no time to think. The slow motion gives you time to ponder over what is going on, and really does destroy the flow of things, and it takes away from any realism on that day. I could have lived without some of the dialouge. The way the marines spoke were just laughable, as was a scene where the two wives end up walking past one another in a hospital. They simply give one another a knowing look, and little do they know that they are connected. That was an eye roll too. Stone really does give a realistic atmosphere, and a look of total emptiness. Take the scene where Jimeno's wife is driving down the street. It's the only car on the road, and it's normally a busy city block.

The acting is on par. None of the actors tries to upstage the other, and they all seem on the same level. Michael Pena shows the same type of emotional range that he showed in "Crash," wherein, I felt that he was the best player out of the entire ensemble. Nicolas Cage hasn't disappointed me of late, either, and the beautiful Maria Bello gets to showcase a New York accent. I would have changed her contacts, though, as her light light blue eyes made her look like something out of this world. At times, the actors playing the Marines overdid it a little bit. Sometimes, I felt that they might as well have just shown an advetisement for the Marines smack dab in the middle of the movie, and I'm surprised there weren't recruiters hanging out by the doors. And who can forget the amazing preformance by the boom mikes, which I saw a couple of times, namely at the end during a hospital scene. See if you can spot it.

As for the "too soon" reaction, I don't think it's too soon to offer a film about 9/11 at all, and as much as I usually dislike Stone, I am glad that he made a film about it. In a way, this one is actually more disturbing than "United 93" because this one actually does get right in front of the towers. That film took place all on a plane, and dealt with one set of people on that day. "World Trade Center" involves the masses, and an entire city, really. Under the rubble, Stone doesn't move the camera much. There's alot of close-ups, and feelings of being closed in. I wouldn't recomend it to anybody who in any little way could feel upset by it. Stone doesn't shy away from anything that could have happened. There's even a few close ups of bodies jumping out of the building. I enjoyed seeing this brought to the screen. It's shot well, and has a special look about it. I enjoyed the first few shots the most. Stone sets the stage up on the morning, before the attacks. The sun is coming out. It was a beautiful day that day, and it should have been great. It gives the audience to remember what life was like before the attacks. The carefree existence that we all had, as everybody wakes up for the last time in that state before what happened. It has it's shares of cliches that any typical audience will succomb to an start breaking down, but at the same time, it's a perfectly adquate telling of the events. I just hope that the Oscars doesn't fall for it and nominate it, because as much as I did enjoyed watching it, I just don't think it deserved any kind of award.

"World Trade Center" is the first real "Hollywood" 9/11 movie. I don't think "United 93" was focused much by the big studios. I suppose I can see where Stone was coming from with the major Hollywood cliches-I guess he wants to get back with the big guns after the failure of the terrible "Alexander,"-and I suppose a film like this will only survive with Hollywood cliches. And people will go to see it, and cry, and remember, etc. I have a different mindset of the event. I was young when it happened, and wasn't affected by it in the grand way like most people. I also can't get by some of the Hollywood BS like others, which is why "World Trade Center" made my eyes roll into the back of my skull at times, but not being biased, it's a worthy memorial to the events, and for the first time of my knowledge, Stone manages to make a historical period piece based on fact, and not opinion. It's certainly an experience.

The Ant Bully

The Ant Bully **

I remember back in the day, when I was much younger, during the age of early Pixar, there would be an animated movie coming out three or four times a year. Maybe not even. It was an event. All of the little kids, and even many adults looked forward to it, and it was always an enjoyable family experience. Now, it's only a tool to make alot of money. I can't even count on one hand how many animated movies have come out this year alone. It has to be close to ten, and it's only Augest. Every single studio is making an animated unit-from Dreamworks, and even Sony Animation is coming out in September. And this wouldn't be bad, if it weren't for the fact that every single animated flick that's come out has just bee a retrend of something bigger and better. And the actual animation itself has been decreasing as well. There's a huge difference between the vibrant and beautiful world of "Cars," to the lesser world of "The Ant Bully." Sure, it's pretty to gaze at, but eventually this world gets old, and quick. Think of a combination of "Antz," and "Over the Hedge," two great family animated films.

"Ant Bully" takes us into the neighborhood of Lucas Nickle, a young little nerdish boy, clad with thick framed glasses, and button downed shirts. He is constantly picked on by other kids around him, who tell him the same thing: "There is nothing you can do about it, because I'm big and you're small." So, he decides to take out his anger and frustration on the only thing around that is smaller than he is: the ants. He takes his water gun, and sprays it on the colony. Little does he know, the ants actually have feelings and speak just like humans, and they have dubbed Lucas "The Destroyer." And to teach him a lesson, the wizard ant, Zoc, invents a potion that could make things shrink, and he puts it in Lucas' ear, making him the size of an ant. Ready to eat him, Zoc to stopped by the Queen ant, who tells everyone that instead of trying to destroy the "Destroyer," they should instead teach it the ways of the ant. And the ant that volenteers to help him is Zoc's girlfriend Hova. Eventually, they teach him important life lessons about diversity, and the importance of working together, no matter what species. It all leads up the final battle with Exterminator Stan Beales, who is prepared to get rid of all the insects on the entire lawn.

I might have enjoyed "The Ant Bully" if it wasn't exactly like some of the other animated films I've seen of late, especially when those take themselves seriously. It's very obvious that "The Ant Bully" was made as a ploy to make money, and it works to a point as an after school special. The morals and basics are pretty much gagged down your throat, and when its not all talky and full of lessons, the action scenes are pretty much like watching a video game. All of the action scenes, in a way, seem like filler, and many of them don';t advance the story at all. During a scene where story advancment is happening, it extends to seven or eight minutes for an action scene to talk place, and it's never satisfying. I suppose for visuals, "The Ant Bully" is alright, but not even that. It's biggest marketing scheme was the big names, but people shouldn't be fooled by the big red Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep, and Nicolas Cage plastered on the posters. If you're looking for animation, there is much better fare out there, such as "Monster House," an original and entertaining children's flick. "The Ant Bully" is simply another retrend. Nothing special, nothing unique, and nothing very good.

Monster House

Monster House ***

As opposed to the some of the recent cinematic animated fare, "Monster House" is not a retrend of something that Disney or Pixar did five or six years before. Instead, it is an original, fun, and visually appealing one, and one that hasn't been done yet. It also brings scares back to the basics: a return to the classic haunted house story.

In D.J's neighborhood, there is an old house where a grumpy old man by the name of Nebbercracker lives. Whenever kids go onto his lawn, Nebbercrackers gets mad, and his basement is told to be full of all the toys that the kids lost on the lawn. Legend has it that Nebbercracker was married, but he killed his wife and ate her. Anyway, D.J's parents are going out of town for a few days, and in their place is the babysitter, Zee. She, of course like all babysitters, wants to have little or nothing to do with the child that they are hired to be watching. The trouble all begins when D.J's best friend, Chowder, looses his ball on Nebbercrackers lawn. D.J goes to rescue it, until Nebbercracker comes out, but dies in the middle of his rant about trespassers. However, the spirit of Nebbercracker doesn't seem to want to rest, and the house begins to do creepy things, like use it's rug as a tougue to stick out of the door and eat people, and the shingles so resemble eyes. Of course, as it must be in these types of films, nobody over the age of twelve seems to believe them. No parents, no babysitter, and no cops will be of help here. So, with the help of the pretty neighborhood girl, Jenny, the three have to figure out what is going on with the house, before Halloween, when countless numbers of little children will be ringing on the doorbell of the old house, and who knows what could happen to them.

The animation is somewhat like the type seen in "The Polar Express," only not as shocking. The people look real, and at some times, especially when they were standing real far away, I was certain that someone forgot to animate, and I was looking at a real person. At the same time with the regular 2-D release, Columbia is offering a special 3-D version at select theatres, and I am really wondering how it looks. As I watched, I could see exactly what scenes would appear in 3-D. All in all, "Monster House" is the best family film out there that could be enjoyed by both the youngins and the adults. It's clever, smart, visually arresting, and very exciting. It probably wouldn't suit any children under the age of ten, because that house was pretty creepy, especially towards the end. I heard that Kathleen Turner, who does the "motion capturing" for the house, has videos of her literally thrashing about, acting out the movements of the hosue to be animated. I would like to see those tapes, and they could be a fun extra on the DVD. There's a nice handful of celebrity voice cameos, and those are always kind of fun to identify, especially since this is one of the rare animated films of late that doesn't have to list the names of all their voice actors as a way to draw the crowds.

I also have to give credit to director Gil Kenen. He used alot of artistic shots that I really liked. Take the opening shot, of a leaf falling off a branch, and then blowing with the wind along a little girl on her bike. We follow the leaf, not the girl, and when the girl falls off her bike, we only hear it, as the leaf keeps going on, and we don't see it until the leaf is blown back a bit. That was eerie in itself, as we had to leave it to the imagination as to the fate of the girl, just for a delayed couple of seconds.

I do have to question the release time for it. Sure, it's the summer time, and children are out of school and able to see movies whenever they want, but this really is a Halloween picture, and it might have been better if it was released then. A fun Halloween movie is needed after the cruddy horror movies the studios release at that time. But, oh well, it'll just have to remain a summer blockbuster.

The Night Listener

The Night Listener ***

"The Night Listener" is a short, slow, and simple little thriller that really does make you think for a long while after you exit. In fact, its so slow that it makes you wonder what time it is every now and then, and its so short that once it's over, you wonder where the time actually went. It's another installment in the "Dark Thriller Robin Williams," and at times I can't even decide which I like better, this one, or the zany one.

Williams plays Gabriel Noone, a late night radio talk show host, who often likes to read the fiction stories that he wrote. This time he's telling his own story, which he calls The Night Listener. In the beginning, he ends up splitting up with his live in partner, Jess, and doesn't know what to do about it. Luckily for him, he recieves a manuscript of a book written by a fourteen year old boy who is dying of AIDS by the name of Pete Logand. Late at night, Noone begins to talk to this young boy, who regards him as some kind of a hero. He listens to his show every night, and sees it as a bit of relief from the horrible past that he's had. His parents raped and abused him in the basement of their home, and now he is in hiding with his foster mother, Donna Logand. Noone and Logand become very good friends over time, and even begins to send little gifts to him, including a signed baseball bat by Derek Jeter, and a Playboy magazine. He even gets invited to Wisconsin for Christmas, until the trip is suddenly cancelled at the last minute. Noone tries to get in touch with Pete again, but the phone is disconnected. Things don't improve until Jess makes an observation that Pete and Donna sound exactly like the same person on the phone, one with a higher voice tone than the other. Gabriel begins to get confused deciding what to believe, and he decides to take a trip down to Wisconsin to figure some things out.

I'll admit, it's not a perfect film, but for what it was, and in it's short 80 minute running time, director Patrick Settner gets you involved in his film. I was always wondering what would happen, as the picture slowly makes its twists and turns. It's not a long journey, and it's not one filled with closure, but it's enough to keep you talking about it. Williams is good here, but the true star is Toni Collette, who shines in every scene she's in. There's a scene between her and Willaims that goes on for about ten minute, just them talking and walking around a house, and the entire time you're eyes are glued to the screen, watching them interact with one another. I was glad by the fact that Gabriel was gay wasn't focused upon very much. In a lesser movie, it would have been a bigger deal than it really is, but it's who Gabriel is. We have to quietly accept that from the start. I would have dumped out Sandra Oh, who is always wonderufl, but lately, between this and "Hard Candy," reduced to three minute little scenes for the entire thing, and billed heavier than she should be. She's coasting through this bout in her career, I suppose.

The film claims to be based on a true story, which I can easily believe. There are some crazy people in the world. I accept this beign a ture story more than "Peaceful Warrior" which had a sixty year old man jump fourteen feet into the air. I can't really believe that. Lastly, the music here is so incredibly wonderful and beautiful. Just listening to the melody during certain scenes will have you floating in the air. In the end, no much is really solved, and it remains one of the biggest unsolved cases that I could think of, but it's thought provoking, and very good filmmaking. This is one that'll slip under the rader, I'm sure.

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby ***

There is no doubt in my mind that Will Ferrell is one of the funniest actors on the planet at the moment, and he does his best when he is doing his own material. No offense to his previous projects, but when he is working with something that he wrote himself, he inhabits a character that is so unique and so unforgettable. We saw this with "Anchorman," and now he's back again with minor work, but still chock full of laughs of "Talladega Nights."

Instead of satirizing the late 70's news shows, Ferrell takes a spin at NASCAR, playing Ricky Bobby, a mechanic who replaces his driver when in the middle of the race he stops to use the bathroom, eat a chicken sandwich, and make a phone call. All his life he's wanted to go fast. His mother gave birth to him in a speeding car. When he was in his early decade, he stole the car and ended up speeding down the road. And he decides to live his life by the rule that his father told him: If you're not first, you're last. And now, after becoming the top NASCAR race driver there is, Ricky Bobby is living the good life. Sponsored by Wonder Bread, Bobby comes in first every time, and has married a beautiful woman, and given birth to two sons, Walker and Texas Ranger. But his life changes when NASCAR goes French, and Ricky Bobby is put to the test with a new racer, Jean Girard, whose life mission is too destroy Ricky Bobby. He is also gay, and claims that he will leave Ricky Bobby alone forever if he kisses him on the lips. He gets into a horrible car crash, where instead of actually getting hurt, he thinks that he's hurt, and for some time he sits in a wheelchair, convinced that he's paralyzed.

That's sort of the general plot outline. It's hard to really describe, because it's just scene after scene of some of the most madcap, random humor. It's the randomness that really makes it special, and the same goes for "Anchorman." Comedy doesn't always have to have rhyme or reason. It could just happen, leaving you laughing because your scratching your head. John C Reily has some funny supporting work as Ferrell's best friend, whose motto is SHAKE AND BAKE! Again, it comes out of nowhere, but for some reason it works. You could tell that these actors had a good time making this film, and you could also tell that alot of it was improv. This is going to be one of those DVD"s that has over an hour of deleted scenes and outtakes, and I really do wonder how much of it was actually scripted. Ferrell is one of the masters of characters. Even when he is playing someone cliche and sappy like in "Kicking and Screaming," he manages to do it with a certain style that only he can pull off. All the acting here is over the top and overblown, but it works in this world. It makes it even funnier than it really is. You have to enjoy this type of humor to really get into "Talladega Nights," and if you do, you're in for a real treat. It's a small step down from "Anchorman," but it's still worth your while.

The Descent

The Descent ***

It's ironic watching the box office total for "The Descent." I find it so amusing that Americans would pay a sum of over twenty million dollars in a three day period to watch something as dull and unscary as "When A Stranger Calls," and yet, when true horror stabs them right in the face, they skip it. This is the kind of horror movie that horror fans have been aching to see. A great, gory bloodfest, with bones sticking out of ankles, and people plugging their fingers into eye sockets, and stabbing people on the head. Between this, and "The Hills Have Eyes," I can't decide which one was more brutal and more daring. I think it's pretty ironic also that it takes a brilliant horror film, and the best I've seen in a long time, to be from the United Kingdom. Of course Hollywood didn't come up with something as special and creepy as "The Descent." It would just be too easy. In fact, there is an American Hollywood film that came out last year that is much like this called "The Cave." More irony is that I gave that film zero stars, and declared it the worst film of 2005.

"The Descent" also has the plot of every guy's wildest dream. But wait, the irony is that all the guys were out seeing the new Will Ferrell comedy. Oh well. There is an entire female cast. Well, there is a male, but he is killed five minutes into the film. That's Sarah's husband, whose husband and young daughter are killed in a horrible car accident. Woody Allen's character in "Scoop" would have said it's because the husband was driving on the right side of the road, but it could also be because of the giant pole that went ramming through his forehead. Anyway, one year later, Sarah's five girlfriends are going on a trip to the top of a cave to go caving. They are Juno, the strong and in shape one who can lift her leg up to the side of her face. There's Holly, her protege. Beth, who appears to be Sarah's best friend. And there's Sam and Rebecca, two sisters. They are all in the cabin in the woods together, and for a moment I was wondering if I slipped into an X rated movie instead of a gory horror film. However, the next morning they all prepare to go into the cave and explore. They climb to the top of the mountain, and go through the entrance, where there is no turning back. Halfway through the climb down, however, they end up experiencing a cave in, and Juno purposely left the guide book in the car. Oh, and she also neglected to tell them that she lied, and instead of being in a tourist cave, they are in a cave that has never been explored before.

The group soon finds out that the cave has been explored before, but nobody that has explored it has lived to tell the tale. And the human and animal bones that are scattered alongside the rocky floors are evident to this. The cave is inhabitanted by creepy crawling creatures, that look like human, are blind, and listen to the sounds around them, very much like bats. And one by one, each of the friends experiences a horrible encounter with one of the creatures, who dwell in the cave like roaches. . . everywhere you look, as they simply look for the exit in the cave to get them home.

It takes about half the film before we even get a glimpse of these creatures, but unlike other films of the genre, the first half is not boring. There are plenty of scares, and the tension slowly rises, until they appear, and once it starts and it body count rises, it doesn't let go. This is one of those rare horror movies where it's actually fun watches these people get killed. Being scared, for once, wasn't by the book, and I saw a horror film that wasn't loaded with cheap thrills and lame scares. I really enjoyed this one. It's not a perfect film, but it does what it sets out to do in a way that should pile on millions and millions of dollars, but for the first time, the horror film that people should see, will be the one that nobody does. I bet they all see The Grudge 2, though. I feel bad for the state of affairs the movie-going public is in. . .

Little Miss Sunshine

Little Miss Sunshine ****

It's Augest now, and since half of the year is good and done, it's time to start to wonder about the final top ten list in December. I must say, that there are a few films that I know will be on that list, and "Little Miss Sunshine" is certainly one of them. It's actually one of the best films I've seen in a long time. It has it all-characters that you end up loving at the end, tradgey, and it's also gut-bustingly hilarious. It's a quirky comedy, and fans of "Sideways," "Thank You for Smoking," and "Me and You and Everyone We Know," can appriciate the style and tone of this. Even looking at the poster, with the solid bright colors, you can predict what your in for.

"Little Miss Sunshine" is the story of the Hoover family, a family on the verage of a nervous breakdown. They have had a big string of bad luck. There's the father, Richard, who is a failed motivational speaker, trying to get a book deal signed for his "9 Steps to Success" program. There's the mother, Cheryl, who is in the middle of the financial woes that the family is going through. Richard's father lives with them, a stuffy old man who likes to snort cocaine in his spare time. Now, the family is being visited by Cheryl's brother Frank, a gay Proust scholar who needs to be watched after trying to kill himself. And then there are the two children, Dwayne and Olive. Dwayne wants to fly jet planes, and has taken a vow of silence until he achieves his goal. And Olive has a goal of her own. . . she wants to be a beauty pagant winner. And her dreams might be coming true, as she was the runner up in the regional Little Miss Sunshine contest. However, the girl with the crown was disqualified after a diet pill incident, and Olive has a chance to be crowned the winer. Richard wants his daughter to be successful, after all the entire basis of his career revolves around success, so the rest of the clan unwillingly gets into the families yellow VW bus, and they take a road trip from New Mexico to California, so Olive can compete in the contest. And it's a rocky road from the get-go, and the road ends, finally, up at the Little Miss Sunshine pagaent itself, which introduces them all to some very strange people.

And like any road trip movie, the family gets involved in a whole bunch of wacky incidents. But it's not silly, like the "Vacation", or convential, like Robin Williams last effort "RV." The preformances are all award worthy, and I mean all of them. Greg Kinnear, Toni Collete, Paul Dano, Alan Arkin, and Steve Carrell, and little Abagail Breslin all deserve to be recognized at the end of the year for their work here. The cinematography is bright and happy. The music is strange and catchy. I loved every tune I heard. It's quirky, yes, and the type of film this is is an acquired taste. You really have to know what type of film your going to watch when you walk into this one, but those who like this style of humor can't find anything better. After seeing so many convential Hollywood comedies of late, like "My Super Ex-Girlfriend," and "You, Me and Dupree," is such a wonder to see something with a shred of originality. Sure, the road trip aspect can seem a bit cliche, and it might turn people off, but the story is presented with such an original tone, that it overused idea is just the backdrop for something bigger and better.

"Little Miss Sunshine" may have shreds of satire, but it's really about the togetherness of family, no matter what the circumstances, for better or worse. And not just that, but it even jusitifies why families, and people in general, have to suffer. This family may suffer, and be strange and crazy, but its these quirks that makes them who they are. They could have stopped many times along the way, and give up, and yet they constantly persisted. They never gave up. The Hoover family may not be winners, but they certainly aren't losers. More like something in between. In the end, I was truly upset that it was over. It's one of those films that you can let go on for hours and hours, wanting to know what happens to these characters next. You fall in love with every single one of them, and you wished that they would live up your block so you can see them all the time. It's the type of film that Hollywood needs to make more of, and I can see this being a sleeper hit over the next few months, expanding from city to city, making more and more bucks. This is close to the top of one of the year's best. I can't stress the importance of seeing it, and soon.

13 Tzameti

13 Tzameti ***1/2

"13 Tzameti" has such intense thrills that nobody has seen sick Alfred Hitchcock's days. Even if you discard the overall plot, there are scenes where you literally want to close your eyes, but can't look away, and where you're at the edge of your seat, palms sweating, for minutes at a time. In fact, it's so good, that an English remake has been greenlit for production, and will be out in 2008. I am pretty saddened by this idea, but there is nothing original in Hollywood anymore anyway. The same thing happened to "Oldboy."

"13 Tzameti" begins with Sebastien, a young man who is hired to repair the roof of a neighbors house. Listening to his neighbors, he overhears a conversation that a particular package should be delivered that will end up making the family rich. And in the nick of time too, as the family is very poor, and is running out of time. However, the nieghbor ends up dying, and Sebastien ends up finding the package. He intercepts it, seeing the opportunity to make a small fortune. He takes on the identity of his neighbor, and is led to a seedy back room, where he meets his fate. He meets a group of men who gamble on each other's lives, in a game of Russian Roulette. Now, he can't turn around, and he becomes Contestant #13(see the connection to the number and Sebastien's situation). And this is where hte film takes an even darker turn, as Sebastien tries to survive each round, where the game gets more and more risky.

I don't want to say anymore, because it ruins the intensity of the situation. Director Gela Babluani manages to do these scenes without almost any gore at all. I can see the American remake now, with heads being blown off, and pretty much a bloodfest, but Babluani manages the scenes without any gore, and any visual aid. It's all left to the imagination. Another thing that will probably change in the remake is the fact that the film is in black and white. I hope they don't colorize it, because the black and white really adds to the dark and seedy tone that the whole film has. And like any good Hitchcock film, the thrills are really the backdrop of a much larger theme. Here, it's the sick things that people will do for money, and after watching this, I can't imagine how the human race manages to live with itself. "13 Tzameti" is a dark and intense piece of storytelling, and will please any fan of French cinema. I was reminded of the French New Wave watching it, and that is pretty rare nowadays.