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Sequel to Ocean's Eleven

Folks who saw the first one have tended to say that the second film was a great disappointment, and I can see how it could be interpreted as a cop out towards the end with its built-in twist. It wasn't enough of a disappointment for me to dislike the film, there was still the camaraderie between the well-defined characters and I still love George Clooney in most anything. Some bad elements are usually when they try to do a Dustin Hoffman-style social setting, where every character is talking over each other in a mishmash and none of it has anything to do with the plot, just supposd to be like a family holiday get-together or something. As sequels go, this one definitely feels like it, but retains enough color from the original to remain fun and watchable.

***1/2 out of *****

Second film in Chan-wook Park's "Revenge" trilogy

This is the second film in the director's trilogy of "Revenge"-themed stories, starting with "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance" and ending with the recently-released "Lady Vengeance". The movie is quite intense, with rather brutally-depicted scenes of violence and uncomfortable sexual concepts, particularly the lurid desire to linger upon them. There seems to be indecision between whether our hero is a comic-book styled anti-hero, or a tormented protagonist from a drama/thriller. Many of the scenes are overacted and wildly out of proportion to the events that unfold. This doesn't completely detriment from the film, however - it maintains your attention, provides a complex puzzle to solve, and results in quite a satisfying shocker of a resolution. This is modern asian cinema in very raw form. If you can handle scenes of torture, long and drawn-out images of realistic violence, and stylized pathos, it's quite a unique experience.

***1/2 out of *****

Crazy guy lives alone, shoots stuff

This begins several weeks of classic 70s sci-fi movies that are cult hits, but I've regrettably never seen. If this is any indication, I may have been better off doing without. Charlton Heston spends most of the movie acting unconvinceably crazy and shooting at things. The film has many resemblances to Stephen King's book, The Stand. But the film is so dated that it's hard to watch with a straight face, including the jive-talking afro queen, the 70s fashions, or the pre-Rambo-esque hardass demeanor Heston runs around with. The bad guys aren't particularly threatening, even less than zombies. And the religious-toned ending just pours salt on the wound. The film is bearable, but doesn't contain much in the way of surprises. If any movie needs to be remade, this would be one.

** out of *****

Little boy Satan

While Damien, our little devil from this film, is no Bad Seed or zombie boy from Pet Semetery, the original Omen still manages to convey a low rumble of competent suspense throughout the production. While Satan's spawn needs help, in the form of a malevolent nanny, to be much of a threat, the majority of the story focuses on the adoptive father and a photographer who seek out Damien's origins. Their tale watches like The Ninth Gate, significantly a detective story rather than a horror or slasher one. There are a few killings which range from the bloodless to what the 70s considered moderately gory (e.g. not too much), but for the most part there's a lot of waiting around for the next revelation or event to occur. Moderately entertaining, but not particularly memorable in today's market. Perhaps that's why it has three sequels and a 2006 remake.

*** out of *****

Final installment in El Mariachi trilogy

Alas, things start to take a turn for the ghastly in this final episode. The romping fun of Desperado is partially buried under brooding cruelty and much heavier gore levels. The gimmickry is still there, but the tone has definitely dipped into uncomfortable territory. Don't get me wrong, tho, this is still a huge actionfest that still has humor and crazy characters, but it's harder to watch. The real treat here is Rodriguez's use of digital filmmaking that he picked up from George Lucas, and totally blows anything Lucas did out of the water. This is one of the few times I have been wholly tricked by digital FX. The 10-Minute Film School extra on the DVD is a jaw-dropping must-see after the movie.

***1/2 out of *****

Don't get too friendly with your photo developer. And don't let him get too friendly with you.

This is probably one of Robin Williams' best performances. Superficially, it's totally bereft of depth, but reflectively, there's so much you just take for granted until it's pointed out to you. The director plays the audience like an instrument, leading you by the nose and manipulating your emotions perfectly. Fear is mixed with sympathy in an utterly surreal, yet familiar environment which makes the experience all the more uncomfortable. The abrupt event at the 60-minute mark just seals the deal and sends you on your way. This is going to be a great movie to show to people, just to watch their reactions. Already ordered it on DVD.

****1/2 out of *****

Bear and deer bonding experience

Once Hollywood realized there was money to be made on CG-animated films, everyone wanted in on it. What resulted were a range of great films like Pixar's, to awful ones like Doogal. Open Season lands square in the middle - deerly bearable. Occasionally, there are some really funny moments that are paced and timed perfectly, resulting in well-deserved laughter. The bear/teddybear connection is even quite cute. The more sour side involves a very poorly voice-cast bear. Martin Lawrence lends an urban slant to a bear that was brought up in a small, forest town, which just doesn't match the environment that the film takes place in. Also poorly chosen is Patrick Warburton, who can only perform one voice that has been vastly overused. Another hit is taken in character design - those are the butt-ugliest animated squirrels I've ever laid eyes on (except maybe in Hoodwinked). Most of the other characters are borderline visually appealing. General consensus of viewers seems to have pegged this one correctly: mediocre.

*** out of *****

Yuppies at sea

This film is supposed to be Blair Witch at sea, but it mostly just comes off as a painfully bad attempt to turn a Discovery documentary into a horror film. The shark footage is almost straight out of an educational program making it appear relatively nonthreatening - sharks never look mean or happy or sad or whatever, they just tool around in the water. To make sharks threatening, you do what Jaws did and crease the forehead, exaggerate the teeth and attitude, etc. Otherwise, like in this case, it doesn't work. The characters are two underwear models amongst an obviously more standard selection of people, which ruins the amateur-footage effect. I can't describe other oversights without giving away plot points, but major events and the climax are simply unbelieveable. The film could've been about 30 mins shorter. Gratuitous nudity. "I wanted to go skiing!" Skip it.

*1/2 out of *****

Mormons and porn

Ah, guilty pleasures. Every now and then, you watch a really stupid movie that makes you feel dumb. And you like it. That would be Orgazmo. This film, one of Trey Parker & Matt Stone's (of South Park fame) earlier efforts, is classic lowbrow C-grade. The acting is laughably bad, the jokes are almost all sex-based (of course) unless they're fart jokes, and the plot and script is pretty much the same quality as the porno movies it parodies. Throw in Ron Jeremy (who may be the funniest thing in here, scary as it sounds) and you've got a fraternity dream film. Somehow, this unrated version is stuck with an NC-17 rating, despite being befouled with little more than bare men's butts and swear words. Not even much in the way of bare-chested women and there's not a real penis to be seen.

*** out of *****

Three sons and a daughter suffer through the night after their mother dies.

Based on the reviews, I'd expected to suffer through this film myself, but was pleasantly surprised that it turned out be be quite decent and especially enjoyable. True, it's a sad film about a sad subject, but there's well-paced grim humor during each of the siblings' misadventures in trying to find a life without their dear mum. Speaking of which, the film is rather quirky in that it's in English, but the Scottish accents are so thick that the DVD comes with hardwired subtitles, which I ended up being thankful for. The downside of the film was that it's a slow mover and very european, so a little stuffy and angry.

*** out of *****

Erotic musical?

Definitely fits into the weird category. This foreign entity starts as a late-night pay-cable drama, quickly becomes apparent as a West Side Story musical, and slowly but surely becomes a silly, upbeat comedy. If you can stick around long enough from the slow beginning, it's rewarding to watch two couples' relationships fragment, mill around hysterically and paranoid, throw in some gay-themed elements, before resolving in a little slapstick and an upbeat song and dance number. It's still a dramedy, so don't expect action, adventure, or thrillng elements, but it's good if you're patient.

**1/2 out of *****

Democracy is not democracy

Several years ago, a US political consulting firm was called in to help Bolivian presidential candidate Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, also known as Goni, get reelected. He had served as president from 1993-1997 and was reknowned for making unpopular capitalist decisions against the will of the people that left his countrymen poor and unemployed. As we already know in the US, the political system here is based on profit and cash - usually only the rich can hold office and the US moves forward by profit rather than the will of the citizenry. Send US democracy to Bolivia, already suffering from it, and the expected catastrophe occurs. The film is very dry and if you aren't interested in the political campaign process, this will be very boring to watch. It demonstrates rather clearly that US capitalism cannot be forced on other countries using false promises and dirty politics. And if they can't work in Bolivia who already tried capitalism, how can they possibly work in the Middle East? If you can sit through it, it's an unsettling window onto our own methods and policies.

**1/2 out of *****

Putting FOX News under a microscope

This documentary easily appears to have been made on the cheap, moves very fast, and features a lot of talking heads. The talking heads tend to present their own opinions frequently, rather than damning factual evidence. That, however, is filled by the mound of video clips that often back up the claims. Don't believe the anchors behave this way very often? Here's 200 video clips to illustrate otherwise. Don't believe Bill O'Reilly says Shut Up as much as people say? Here's 70 clips to the contrary. Sometimes, the imagery is painful to watch, such as anchors referring to a possible Kerry win as "unthinkable". So much for fair and balanced.

***1/2 out of *****

Space marshall lays down the law

This early 80's space/western stars Sean Connery cleaning up the crime in a futuristic mining town. I can't believe how much this movie reminded me of Alien. The set, pacing, soundtrack, and even the title sequence looked and felt like a ripoff. Not to say that's all bad, I loved Alien, but it just replaced aliens with guys bearing guns. Shotguns, even. See, this should've been viewed as all wrong and insulting to my intelligence, but there was a kind of gritty, noir, Blade Runner/cop-on-the-edge thing going, so it all seemed appropriate. The banter between Connery and Peter Boyle is particularly fun n' snarky. The gore-level sems a little unnecessary, tho. Definitely a decent standout from an age that is considered cheesy today.

***1/2 out of *****

Most political documentaries tend to provide a long list of talking heads with the goal of establishing enough damning evidence against the subject matter on which they preach to convince the viewer that there is a concrete issue with prevalent concerns. Out of Balance, a doc examining ExxonMobil's efforts to thwart the global warming movement, is big on talking heads, but spends surprisingly little time on the copious evidence available. Their three main pivots of argument are the Exxon Valdez spill (which doesn't have much to do with global warming), political obstacle Philip Cooney, and ExxonMobil's campaign of fake science. Unfortunately, the coverage of this sparse number of topics is overshadowed by the sheer amount of guest speakers bemoaning the situation and expressing grave concerns. In addition, the narration lacks energy. This could've been a better fact-oriented documentary, but instead it's mostly a mercifully short (1 hr) series of opinions.

** out of *****

Cop tries to avoid being framed.

Here's another movie that takes a while to get going. It's nearly half over before things actually start rolling and the action begins. It's definitely got the giggly tension down pat, those moments you want to yell at the screen and pauses of impending doom, those're great. The payoff, however, is remarkably underwhelming and unspectacular, and you kinda see it coming all the way down the line - it's been done before. Seems like a bit of a throwaway for Denzel Washington. Still, it's very light, short, and fun if you're looking for an extra rental to fill your evening.

**1/2 out of *****

The rise and fall of the director of Boondock Saints

This documentary dovetails perfectly with Boondock Saints since it's about the making of the film or, more specifically, the director, Troy Duffy. The point of the film is a barely hidden revenge gambit against Duffy by the filmmakers. It's pretty obvious throughout that Duffy is an egotistical control freak, and possibly somewhat mad. The flip side of the story is the lesson that you should never screw with Hollywood. Ever ever ever. When the hits come in, you can't help but wince, but you also can't help but conclude that it's a little bit of karma. The movie tend to rejoice in the fratboy lifestyle a little too much, glorifying the drinking and parties, and it could stand to lose about 20 minutes. But otherwise, it's pretty watchable if you've seen Saints.

***1/2 out of *****

Stuffed animals

This film is all about Steve Carell, the decade's new Jim Carrey (Don't believe it? He's starring in the sequel to Bruce Almighty and took the Maxwell Smart role from Carrey in the upcoming Get Smart). As Hammy the squirrel, he carries the film as the overwhelming, scene-eating comic relief. There are no laughs in the film like Hammy's, especially the predictable, but geniously-implemented climactic scene. If we forget about the benefits that Carell adds (more than half), what we're left with is a well-animated, but rather standard family film. The plot, involving the merits of an outsider belonging to a family which follows standard betrayal et al, is merely badly cloaked in someone else's comic strip - which doesn't even resemble the original strip, I'm told. The character design of RJ also takes some unfortunate steps into the uncanny valley by giving him human teeth and lips, eech. The other performances are acceptably entertaining but seem deliberately back-burnered. It's got entertainment value, but you'd better like squirrels.

***1/2 out of *****