[*REC]
To follow up on Jay’s post, I have two films that follow the vein of The Blair Witch Project, but, does it right.
The films are Quarantine and [*REC], but we only need to talk about the later as the former is an American remake of the later Spanish Film.
Both are excellent, but, I have to admit to liking [*REC] better.
Both stories follow a female reporter who host the show “While you were sleeping” and follows a group of fire fighters who are called to a tenement building to help with an old lady who has fallen.
That’s when the film goes to hell. Literally.
What makes both films great is that it does not start as a horror film. It lulls you into a false sense of security. The second thing is that the actors in the film feel like normal people who have gotten stuck inside the building.
I prefer [*REC] because the main character is absolutely convincing and ending is…well…creepy. It has more in common with Aliens than Blair Witch, and makes for a pretty scary Halloween movie.
Is it Real, or is it Crap?
Two films have been released this autumn that fall in the vein of The Blair Witch Project: feature motion pictures produced from purported actual archival video capturing elements of the unexplained.
The newly released The Fourth Kind, starring Milla Jovovich, is one of those “let’s pretend this is real using actual video footage” movies, like Paranormal Activity, except here the filmmakers augment the archival “footage” with “dramatic reenactments.” The premise involves a close encounter of the fourth kind, abduction, and the aliens here are not the happy ET’s of Spielberg’s movies. These are bad beings with a grudge.
The set up is intriguing: a psychologist in Nome, Alaska (Jovovich), has patients who seem to all have abduction accounts when placed under hypnosis. And so, too, as it turns out, does our heroine. But the result is uneven, and the climax never really wraps anything up, except to suggest that these bizarre nocturnal owl sightings are really alien abductions, which the audience knows from the get-go. So going in, the audience already knows “the big secret,” so the filmmakers have the responsibility not only to tell a compelling story, but to bring us to a climax that pays off somehow. They fail at both.
The flip side of the coin is Paranormal Activity, which emerged on the festival circuit two years ago but received a wide U.S. release in October. Its premise is very simple and effective: a young couple experience unusual noises and happenings in their San Diego home, and set up a video camera in order to not only record their every waking (and sleeping) move, but to hopefully capture whatever it is that may be haunting them. The film that audiences see is supposedly culled from video tapes released by the San Diego police department.
Director Oren Peli shot this film, which has grossed more than $80 million thus far, at home, in seven days, for $15,000, and delivers a tense and spooky film wherein what the audience doesn’t see is often scarier than what it does. It’s been a while since off-camera audio and mere sound effects have provided such a powerful emotional impact on audiences. And a few of the sequences, shot during the night, in time lapse, are rough and grainy and as spooky as anything I've seen in a movie in a long time. Shot simply in a cinema verite style, this film succeeds where The Fourth Kind comes across as merely a bad two hours of “UFO Stories” on the History Channel.
Labels: Paranormal Activity, The Fourth Kind
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant
Cirque du Freak is something for teens, a modern Fright Night, as far as I’m concerned, and it’s a good, clean vampire fun. Two best friends become vampires after visiting a peculiar little freak show run by Mr. Tall (Ken Watanabe) and come down on opposite sides of a vampire conflict: one sides with the good vampires (they do not kill humans) and the other sides with the evil vampires who kill humans and want a war with the good vampires.
Silly, of course, but this kind of goofy cinematic fun is sometimes what movies are all about. Director Paul Weitz (In Good Company, About a Boy) keeps the action moving in this simple but entertaining good versus evil story. The decent performances by John C. Reilly, Selma Hayek and a terrific turn by Willem Dafoe as one of the "good" vampires provide the flick with a little street cred, as does a screenplay co-written by one of my favorite screen scribes Brian Helgeland (Payback, Mystic River, L.A. Confiedential).
Bright Star
Directed by Jane Campion, “Bright Star” is not only a poem by John Keats but the person for whom the poem was written, a young Englishwomen by the name of Fanny Brawne, who falls in love with the young Keats despite the fact that the struggling poet has no income to support a wife. Their romance is not an easy one, lacking the approval of both Keats’ best friend and Fanny’s traditional family, and the three year romance is ultimately cut short by Keats’ tragic death at age 25, a failed poet, broke and alone in Italy recovering from an illness. A great romance flick for those who love poets and poetry.
Another Summer Movie Round Up
DISTRICT 9
Produced by Peter Jackson. This sci-fi lesson about racism has some nice ideas—unwanted aliens stranded on earth and kept in camps, growing inter-species mistrust, a plan to return the aliens to their planet gone awry. But the follow-through is lacking, the performances second-rate and the film withers pathetically on the vine.
G-FORCE
Animated, from Disney. Talking CG guinea pigs are secret agents. Why, Disney, why?
HANNAH MONTANTA
Starring Miley Cyrus and Billy Ray Cyrus. After so many bad films, Disney takes a kids’ Disney Channel sitcom and stretches it out to an hour and a half motion picture, and what do you have? A pretty watchable film, actually, and much to my surprise. Although the first part of the picture (set in Hollywood) is pretty much business as usual for the “Hannah Montana” show, the rest of it takes on some meaning as Robbie Ray takes his daughter Miley (who is actually superstar Hannah Montana) back to the family farm in Tennessee, much against Miley’s wishes, where she learns lessons about the importance of family, integrity and closeness, lessons her big time life in Hollywood never taught her. This movie is actually about something, has some interesting characters and there is character development, juvenile as it may be. There are also decent performances from the supporting cast, some humor, and a story you can hang a hat on.
INGLORIOUS BASTERDS
Starring Brad Pitt; written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. Tarantino is back with a violent, talky and exceptionally crafted motion picture about a squad of Jewish American soldiers (led by a Tennessee-accented Pitt) dropped behind enemy lines in occupied France in order to kill and scalp as many Nazis as they can get their hands on. A second storyline, involving a young Jewish woman living as a Parisian Gentile in order to escape the Nazis who murdered her family, intersects with the first in a Paris cinema where dual plots to assassinate Hitler and his cadre of Nazi killers are hatched.
STAR TREK
Starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Leonard Nimoy, Bruce Greenwood; directed by J.J. Abrams. Director Abrams got it right, and
Star Trek is retooled for the 21st century. The story is clever and manages to preserve the canon while introducing a new cast and new elements to the classic Star Trek universe.
ORPHAN
Peter Sarsgaard is rarely bad in anything he does, though he is not above appearing in a bad film. Like this one. Clumsy and predictable, the film should have been abandoned on a doorstep and not distributed to theaters nationwide. Someone might have adopted it. Sarsgaard, maybe?
PUBLIC ENEMIES
Starring Johnny Depp and Christian Bale; produced, co-written and directed by Michael Mann. I expected much more from writer/director Michael Mann (
Collateral, Heat), but
Public Enemies failed to deliver much of anything. Johnny Depp as John Dillinger dialed in a performance unworthy of the great actor, but I give him a pass given that the story was confusing and uninspired, and the dialogue uninteresting. The cinematography was too “TV drama,” and did not service the needs of a period piece like this one. The final scene seemed shot on DV. This film just did not look good, and it did not help that the set design and art direction were bland and uninspired. The only thing I really enjoyed here was Christian Bale as Melvin Purvis, but it was not enough to render the experience the least bit entertaining or enjoyable.
TERMINATOR SALVATION
Starring Christian Bale; directed by McG. The time-bending Terminator back story can be mind-bending as well, and McG and company make the most of it and deliver a film that looks good, and incorporates a welcome cameo by Arnold Schwarzenegger, but on the whole is soulless and unremarkable.
TAKING OF PELHAM 123, THE
Starring John Travolta, Denzel Washington, John Turturro and James Gandolfini; screenplay by Brian Helgeland; directed by Tony Scott. Unnecessary remake of the 1974 film with Robert Shaw and Walter Matthau manages to stay tense and entertaining throughout despite a mediocre performance by Travolta as a baddie who hijacks a New York subway train. Washington is terrific as the dispatch operator who finds himself the conduit between Travolta and the New York police. John Turturro as a police negotiator and James Gandolfini as New York’s mayor are well cast.
WHATEVER WORKS
Starring Larry David, Evan Rachel Wood, Patricia Clarkson, Ed Begley, Jr., and Michael McKean; written and directed by Woody Allen. Larry David, co-creator of "Seinfeld" and creator and star of HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” is a perfect Woody Allen New York curmudgeon in this comedy about a bitter genius whose life is transformed when he takes in a runaway from the deep South (Wood). The supporting cast is terrific and the story, although a little tired and recycled, works thanks to David’s energy and amusing performance.
Summer Movie Round Up
I went to see what will most likely be my last summer movie today, and it got me thinking: I haven’t posted a single thought about it on 4RC. Shame on me.
Wolverine *
I really liked the first two X-Men films, but the third was completely lost on me. Wolverine started off with one of the best opening montage sequence since The Watchmen. After that, it jumped around, and by the time film ended, I just didn’t care anymore.
Star Trek ****
I have mixed feelings about this film. TOS has a particularly special place in my inner geek, and part of me was sad to see that they made a TOS film that was better than five of the other TOS movies. I approached this movie fully expecting to kinda like it, but not love it. But J.J. breathed life into my childhood heroes and proves one of my friends favorite sayings: “it’s all about the story.”
Terminator Salvation ***
I think that after Seth Rogan, Christian Bale must be the hardest working man in Hollywood. I went into this film with a chip on my shoulder: the Sarah Conner Chronicles had just been canceled. Maybe that was why the film seemed to take forever to hook me. In the end, I didn’t really like John Conner – I don’t think he was meant to be liked. He had this weird destiny to play: he had to protect Kyle Reese long enough to send him back in time. Throw into the mix a new Good Guy Terminator and the appearance of the 80’s Arnold Terminator made for a big finale.
Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian **
I took one of daughters on a date to see this movie. It was so puny that I laughed all the way through. Not very deep, but was a laugh a minute. The humor was corny, which was a relief – so many kid movies today are simply 90 minutes of Fart and Booger jokes.
Pixar’s Up ****
Does this movie REALLY have the company’s name as part of the title? I did not like Wally or Ratatouille. But Up caught me by surprise at is a very tender film about an old man fulfilling a dream that he shared with his departed wife. I wasn’t expecting to cry in this film. Excellent all around.
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
The film that made me mad at marketing. A solid PG-13, this film’s marketing targeted kids. With “ghetto” robots, a mom strung out on hash brownies, the main character being seduced by a hottie Decepticon. I could go on, but I have already let it go. The film was ok otherwise.
Bruno *
When Bhorat came out, it was so over the top that I could not believe that they got away with what they did. I was hoping Bruno would be the same, but it did not feel as authentic as the first film. It was very offensive, but, that’s kind of the point. Unfortunately, it wasn’t that funny (which was the point).
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince *
It had to happen: a Harry Potter film that I did not like. But, this could have been because of the baby that was crying behind me. Either way, they made it a much somber film to reflect the darkening tone of the books. But, I think what was lacking for me was the absence of fun. The book also had a somber mood, but, it was still a fun visit to the Potter Verse. Some things felt like they should have had a bigger punch (e.g. Malfoy and Snape and Dumbledore) that just did not pay off.
District 9 ****
This was a special movie for me. It was low budget film, a leading star that I had never heard of, a director I had never heard of, and the creative backing of Peter Jackson and Company. It reminded me of films from the 80s that only I really liked (e.g. Buckaroo Banzai) – but this film was really smart. It plays like a pseudo documentary, but more in the style of The Office than the “found footage” gimmicks of Blair Witch or Cloverfield. And like the office, they break the rules for the supposed documentary crew and you hardly question it (seriously, they were filming that?). For a science fiction film, this was refreshing.
Inglorious Basterds ***
The truth about QT is that I can either take or leave his movies. Generally, I enjoy them while at the theater, but quickly forget them. But, the thing that makes a QT flick is how psychopathic everyone tends to be. Usually, the psychosis is masked in dialog, but, the entire time, you have this knowing in the back of your mind that this will end very, very badly. For IG, I point to the meeting in the Bar Basement. Unfortunately, the last two chapters started to feel rushed, and I felt like that I was missing something.
G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra ***
I debated about seeing this film on screen. I played with the Vietnam error G.I. Joes when they were twelve inch figures, but gave them up around 3rd grade (I believe that Bullet Man was the last one I had). The 80’s Joes became considerably smaller, but had a cartoon that meant a lot to kids growing up in those days. So, all that to say, I had no investment in the 80’s Joes, so I had no expectations to live up to. Honestly, after Transformers, I wanted to pass on this. And, I am glad I did not. The difference between Transformers and G.I. Joe was that the latter embraced what it was – a cartoon brought to life. The action was big, the equipment looked like toys brought to life, the characters two dimensional, and the fun was amped up to 11 (although they only sustained about a five throughout).
Inju, The Beast in Shadow
Inju: the Beast in Shadow follows French mystery novelist Alex Fayard as he arrives in Japan for a publicity tour and receives a cryptic warning from his Japanese rival, Shundei Oe, a wildly popular but reclusive author who has never been seen or photographed, known only by a gruesome self portrait on his book jackets.
Alex meets a dancer in a tea house who thinks she knows who Oe really is, a brutal and insane former lover who may be capable of harming Alex.
Director Barbet Schroeder (Reversal of Fortune, Single White Female) seems at ease with both the material and the odd French/Japanese hybrid style of the film, which blends mystical Asian themes with elements of a taut European thriller. The plot unfolds like a flower, petal by petal; and as the plot unravels myriad twists and misdirection are revealed, the end result is a watchable and satisfying cinematic experience.
Hachiko: A Dog's Story
First time screenwriter Stephen Lindsay, who hails from Greer, SC, not far from my old stomping grounds, says he was thrilled to be involved with Hachiko: A Dog’s Story, to which actor Richard Gere attached himself early on and provided a great deal of creative input toward the final script.
Gere stars as Parker, a New England man whose life is changed when an Akita pup finds him late one night at the train station. The station master, played by Jason Alexander, can only turn him over to the pound, so Parker elects to take the pup home until the owner is located. It’s not an easy transition for Parker’s wife, but Hachi and Parker bond, becoming an inseparable pair. And, as any dog movie worth its salt would have it, the pup’s owner never comes forward.
Hachi becomes not only Parker’s best friend but a staple in the community where they live. Parker commutes to work by train, and like clockwork Hachi is waiting on his master every day outside the train station at five o’clock, rain or shine. Hachiko is based true events that occurred in Japan in the early part of the twentieth century. At its heart it's a story of friendship and undying loyalty, and manages to achieve the right balance of drama and sentimentality without going overboard. A word of warning, however – when the screening ended there was not a dry eye in the house.
Director Lasse Hollstrom (My Life as a Dog, The Cider House Rules) has a graceful and elegant visual style, which brings an intimacy to this simple yet poignant story which is appropriate for families and general audiences.
Both are excellent, but, I have to admit to liking [*REC] better.
What makes both films great is that it does not start as a horror film. It lulls you into a false sense of security. The second thing is that the actors in the film feel like normal people who have gotten stuck inside the building.
