I wasn't quite sure what I was getting into when I rented this. I added it to my queue based on a Netflix recommendation; which they're actually pretty good at, I've discovered a few worthwhile films that I'd never before heard of. Murder Party was a complete unknown, but after some quick research I saw that it had won the Audience Award at the Slamdance Festival, that and the cover was enough for me.

Alex is a mild-mannered meter-maid, a normal enough guy, a little lonely maybe. He's walking home early on Halloween night, when he comes across a party invitation laying on the sidewalk. "Come to a Murder Party" it offers. He has to make the decision whether to spend a quiet night watching horror movies with his cat Sir Lancelot or making the trek out to an unknown party. He chooses the later, but first he has to create a costume. He builds a fairly elaborate knight costume out of some cardboard and duct tape, a few subway rides and a long walk through the warehouse district and he's there.

He walks into a very dead scene, a few people milling about to some low key music playing from an old boom-box, and only one girl in sight. For Alex it quickly turns from a very lame party, to a horrifying situation. The party-goers grabs him and tie him to a chair, and begin discussing what manner is the best to dispatch him. They start by pouring acid on him, which turns out to be a jug of vinegar; obviously not pros. They blame him for being dumb enough to coming to a Murder Party, and have designs to kill him in an artistic fashion. It seems that an important art supporter is offering up a large grant for the person who can come up with the most unique murder.

What follows may seem a little boring for someone expecting a hardcore horror film, but the last twenty minutes more than make up for it in the gore category. While Alex remains tied to a chair, the artists sit down and talk for a while. There is some funny discussions of the New York art scene, which may be a little too inside for those who don't have background in art, but I found it pretty hilarious. All the characters are fairly well developed, we learn about why they're there, who they are. All the amateur actors put forward at least entertaining performances, each character is memorable in their own ways; and their unique Halloween costumes make them easy to distinguish. Soon people are dying in horrendous ways, none of them being Alex. There is a particularly great scene where a guy dressed up as a werewolf catches on fire, and his mask melts to his face, creating a horrific image.

For a film that I knew nothing about, and started off kind of slowly, I was blown away. If you have a sick sense of humor, this is an extremely funny film. It's a perfect set-up for a low budget horror film; a handful of actors and a warehouse location, letting the filmmakers focus on the characters and the wild scenario; it is a really well done film all the way around, with good acting, photography, editing, and make-up effects. The last twenty minutes is a perfect cacophony of murderous mayhem, including the use of an electric chainsaw and a guy dressed up like a member of the Baseball Fury gang from the cult classic The Warriors. Very inspired stuff. - Grade: B+

I didn't love or hate Meet the Robinsons, it's a fairly bland and harmless film. The animation isn't particularly beautiful or well done, but it's not bad either. The story is pretty fun, some of the characters are great, I really liked the "bowler hat guy" as the bad guy, he's hilariously inept in his efforts to foil the hero's plans; I especially dug when he brings the dinosaur to the future to help him, funny stuff.

Young Lewis is an orphan, who is a genius at science, is constantly inventing amazing gadgets. He's desperate to find out who his family is, and invents a machine that will dig deep into his subconscious and find out who is mother is. Before he's able to use it, a kid from the future, comes to find him, because he needs his science expertise. Once in the future, Lewis meets the boy's family and falls in love. It's fairly obvious what's going to happen, and who they really are. I was able to figure it out from the trailer; but for a kid, it's a nice story. The one surprising thing is who the villain really is; and what happens when they succeed in their dastardly plans.

If you're sick of watching the same kid movies over and over, the way I am, this is a decent film for a young one. But it's probably not going to become a family favorite. - Grade: C

It doesn't seem that long ago that Reality Television was a novel concept. Now it is a fact of life. It isn't going anywhere, it's cheap to produce, the ratings continue to remain high, and there is a never ending supply of people desperate for a taste of fame, no matter what the cost or the amount of humiliation they have to endure. That's the idea behind, American Cannibal; just how far are people willing to go, will they eat human flesh? And who are the people willing to create it?

Gil Ripley and Dave Roberts are a pair of TV writers, who've had a little success, but have yet to hit it big. They don't want to demean themselves with reality television, they think it's below them, but since nothing else seems to be working, and their manager has suggested it may be a way to get their name out there, they're willing to try anything. They've got a couple of pretty far out there ideas; like Virgin Territory a show full of virgins, who are put to the test with a constant barrage of sexual imagery, and whoever can go the longest without masturbating, gets to lose their virginity to a porn star. They're selling their ideas to anyone that'll listen. Eventually they work their way down to porn producer Kevin Blatt, who is most famous for promoting the Paris Hilton sex tape; he's hoping to go mainstream with a reality TV show, and surprisingly doesn't bite on the virgin show (I guess he has in the meantime), instead goes for something Gil and Dave kind of make up on the spot.

It's a show called The Ultimate, Ultimate Challenge, terrible name, lame idea; but he's willing to put the money up to produce it. The concept of the show is to starve people, while they live on an island where cannibalism is still legal, and also compete in Survivor type challenges. Watching the casting process for this show is amazing, it is pathetic to watch people grovel, just for the chance at this no-name show. Once the cameras are rolling on the real contestants, it's interesting to see how manipulated these type of shows really are. Something horrible happens while the show is shooting, they it a mystery as to what happened before and after, with no real conclusion as to what actually went down. I'm not sure if the whole thing was manipulated by the filmmakers, or if they're being vague on for entertainment purposes.

I've never understood why more of Dean Koontz books haven't been adapted for film. Watchers and Phantoms are probably the two most popular adaptations, both which suck as films and failed at the box office. And from looking at his IMDb page, it looks like a few of his novels have made it to television, but I've never seen or heard anything about them. He's insanely popular as a writer, and even though he's not as talented of a writer as Stephen King, I believe his books offer themselves up for adaptation much easier than King's, who has near a 100 films from his works. Most of King's books have more inner conflict, while Koontz is more story, which easier to get across on screen.

Odd Thomas is the perfect example. Although I think Odd has much more going on in his head than some of Koontz's characters, his story would make a fantastic film. I've read 25-30 Koontz books in my life and this is my favorite. Odd, being his actually given name, has the ability to communicate with the dead. Yes, much like The Sixth Sense, but it's as if that character is now grown up, completely used to his role as speaker for the dead, accepted it, and tries to help out where he can.

He has a beautiful girlfriend, many wonderful friends, a job he loves as a short order cook, and a small town that he's never left. He likes to keep his life simple, because talking to ghosts makes it difficult. Besides seeing the dead, he is also able to see other unworldly things; such as bodachs, which feed off people's misery. They often lead Odd to tragedies about to occur. When a strange-looking-dude, Odd takes to calling Fungus Man, comes into his restaurant, with over a 100 bodachs following him, Odd is determined to find out what catastrophe is about to happen. It's a horrendous, real world event, that only he can stop; with quite a few scares and deaths along the way.

Odd Thomas, moves along at a brisk pace, keeping you excited and guessing what's going to happen next. With the immediate similarities to The Sixth Sense quickly out of the way, it moves into much deeper, philosophical territory. I could have done without Elvis showing up to hang out with Odd every so often, it dragged it into a cheesy area. But for the most part, it's a fantastic read; I really fell in love with Odd as a character, and am looking forward to reading the sequels, Forever Odd, Brother Odd and Odd Hours. Somebody with the right sensibilities could make a kick-ass film out of this book, but I won't hold my breath. - Grade: B+

Robert Zemeckis is one of my favorite directors; Back to the Future, Forest Gump, Contact, all classics. He's been pushing the visual effects envelope for most of his career, from mixing animation with live action in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? to being one of the first filmmakers to use CG to create realistic effects in Forrest Gump. It makes sense that computer-generated films are at the top of the effects heap, that he moved into that arena. I wasn't that big of a fan of The Polar Express, it had it's moments, and I think it's not a bad film for kids; but as a Zemeckis film, I'd consider it one of his lesser ones.

The reviews for Beowulf were fairly mixed, so I wasn't sure what I was getting into. But almost instantly I liked it more than Polar Express, the characters looked much more realistic, not as dead in the eyes, yet they're still a bit strange, because he's trying to create realistic looking humans, and they're not quite there yet. Give it another 10 years and it'll be hard to tell the difference. Stylized characters work much better in animation, and I really loved the tortured monster look they gave Beowulf's nemesis Grendel, and the dragon Beowulf fights at the end, may just be the coolest looking dragon yet created for film. At first it was weird to watch a digital Anthony Hopkins, John Malkovich, Angelina Jolie and so on; but they still give great performances and the effect grew on me as the film went on.

I saw an excellent Beowulf film about a year back called Beowulf and Grendel, that created a realistic feel out of the epic myth. Zemeckis' Beowulf tries no such thing, going full out with the fantasy trappings; including immortal witches, dragons, sea monsters and deadly curses. The film is a visual feast, full of grand sweeping camera moves impossible in live-action and beautiful locations from the wide-open-ocean to dank-caves. I was also pleasantly surprised by how violent the film is, bodies torn asunder, head's bitten off, limbs removed, and swords plunged, the digital blood flows freely. The film's battles are all pretty epic; I think that any fan of Lord of the Rings would appreciate this film.

The story is really nicely told as well. The history for why Grendel is so pissed, ties in nicely with what happens to Beowulf; really taking the idea of those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it to a whole new incestuous level. Beowulf is an incredible hero, conquering everything that stands in his path, but also a very tragic and flawed character; you get to see him from a young brash fighter, to an old weary king. You feel sorry for the monster Grendel, he's portrayed wonderfully by Crispin Glover, who specializes in tortured souls. Most of the characters are rounded out nicely.

I'm surprised that Beowulf didn't receive higher praise. It's a slightly-flawed film, but a highly entertaining and excellently made one; creating a beautiful new world out of this ancient poem. I think as more people see it on video, especially the kids that grow up with it, will love it, and it may go down as a minor classic. I look forward to seeing what Zemeckis will get up to next, it looks like he's animating another classic story with A Christmas Carol; live action films has lost one of their greats, but computer animation has a new master. - Grade: B+

This proves that I'll watch pretty much anything; I was looking for something brainless and comedic, but hadn't seen before, and this fit the bill. I'm not a fan of Larry the Cable Guy, I only really know him as Mater from Cars. I figured when it got too painful, I'd stop it and delete off our DVR. The funny thing was that it never got bad enough to turn off.

It's definitely not a good film, it only works at the most basic level; the picture is in focus, the camera is pointed in the right direction, and somewhat of a story is told. You can figure out the plot from the title; Larry's a health inspector, some food goes bad and he investigates in his own somewhat humorous ways. There's a romantic interest, things go bad for Larry at the end of the 2nd act, before he redeems himself and saves the day.

Mostly it's a chance for Larry to do his thing, not being familiar with his shtick, I found it fairly amusing for 80 minutes. And no I never need to see another Larry the Cable Guy movie again, because I'm guessing he does pretty much the same jokes in each film. But I found it funnier than a lot of supposed comedies I've seen in the last few years, Larry has a good attitude about life, and most of his humor is good natured, not relying too much on discrimination. Health Inspector also had some funny supporting performances by Thomas "Biff" Wilson, Tony Hale and Megan Price.

I can't really recommend this film, it's not memorable in the least. But if you're desperate for a comedy, and this comes up on cable, give it a few minutes, it may grow on you. I managed to find a few laughs, and didn't feel too stupid after watching it. - Grade: C-

There was a bit of expectation on my part for this film. While I lived in Seattle, I used to read The Stranger's Police Beat written by Charles Mudede on a weekly basis; in it he takes Seattle's weirdest police cases and turns them into an artistic forum, often appreciating the writing of the officer's reports. It's a very funny and surreal read. I heard about them making the film, and thought they could make a fantastic little film out of it; at least something the folks of Seattle could enjoy. When they had the star ride down my street one day, on the back truck-trailer, I was even more excited.

We left Seattle before the film was finished, and it had faded in my memory. It was sparked a bit, when I saw it was premiering at the Sundance Film Festival. But I didn't read anything about it after that, it didn't have any buzz about it, and again it faded. It took over three years to find its way to video, but when I saw it on Netflix, I immediately had to see it. I feel a connection with any Seattle filmmaker (since it's where I learned how to make films) and I wanted the best for director Robinson Devor; who also did the documentary Zoo which received a lot more attention, because it's a film about a guy getting killed by having sex with a horse, which I haven't seen it yet.

Unfortunately after watching Police Beat, I can understand why it's quickly fading into obscurity. It's beautifully filmed, I don't think I've ever seen Seattle better captured in a movie; they shot all over the city, finding hidden away locations, almost consciously keeping the Space Needle out of frame, because any Hollywood movie would exclusively feature it. But as a former Seattleite, the layout of the film often doesn't make sense; the main character of the film is a bike cop, who would probably have at most a few mile radius, but they have him riding all over the city, even down to the airport, a 30 minute car ride. So that kept pulling me out of the film.

But that's not the biggest problem with the film, and it won't be a problem for anyone besides people from Seattle. The problem is it's an almost inaccessible film. I believe that art is personal, the first person you create art for is yourself, if you're not pleasing yourself, you probably won't please anyone else. The makers of Police Beat, are probably very pleased with what they've created, and I'm happy for them; but it's a artistic-piece that is too personal. Film is a medium that demands an audience; which I'm sure there is, it's just very limited; basically you have to appreciate meditative experimental films.

There is no real plot to Police Beat; there's a bit of drive in the main character Z, who is constantly wondering what happened to his girlfriend who ran off on a camping trip with her ex-boyfriend. He has a constant internal monologue, in an African language with subtitles, obsessing about her and what she may be doing. He rides all over the city, dealing with different people and their problems; a few of them are funny or interesting, which relieves some of the boredom, but they left out a lot of the flavor from the original column. Z has a partner, who has a weird relationship with a junkie-hooker; which lands him in some trouble. But ulitimately the film goes nowhere, and at just over 90 minutes, it feels like a lifetime, moving at a glacial pace.

If you appreciate obscure artistic films, Police Beat is well enough made that I believe it will find a home somewhere. It simply wasn't for me, way too out there; on a completely different wavelength than my brain operates. That may be partially my fault, as this is nowhere near the movie I envisioned when I first heard about it. I wish Devor and Mudede the best of luck with their further projects, but I don't think I'm their audience. - Grade: D

I didn't know much about this film when I rented it. I knew that John August, who wrote Go and Big Fish, among others, wrote and directed it. I knew that Ryan Reynolds starred as three different characters whose lives intertwined in a yet unknown way. And I knew that it had gotten some good reviews. That's the way to go into The Nines, knowing as little as possible; and I won't give away too much in this review to keep you fresh.

The film is split into three sections, in each Reynolds plays a different character; connected in surprising ways, most noticeably by the characters around them, with Hope Davis and Melissa McCarthy each playing three separate roles. You're lost for much of the film, it does an excellent job of hiding what's really going on until almost the very end, with enough revealed to keep you interested and a few other possibilities thrown in to keep you guessing. The final answer is quite unlike any other film I've ever seen; it's very satisfying and a truly intriguing idea. Afterwards, I couldn't come up with any plot-holes that tore the answer apart, and I imagine it'll hold up and make it a whole other viewing experience the second time around.

In the first section "The Prisoner", Reynolds plays Gary, a semi-famous TV actor who goes on crack binge, and accidentally burns down his ex-girlfriend's house. He ends up in house arrest, with Melissa McCarthy playing a woman hired to watch over him; Hope Davis is his neighbor, a bored-house-wife, who tempts him in new ways. He begins to see strange things, like a ghost of himself living in the house, and odd clues that lead him to believe that reality isn't all that it's cracked up to be. The section ends on an odd note, that leads to more questions than it answers.

In the second section "Reality Television", Reynolds is Gavin, a TV writer who is in the works of his first big pilot, it's shown from the point of view of a reality show that he's appearing on; McCarthy is the lead actress, and Davis is the TV exec in charge of his show. In the third section "Knowing", Reynold's Gabriel is a video game designer, married to McCarthy, with a child and Davis is a weird-mystery woman. I won't give away any more than that, this is a film that truly deserves to be discovered on it's own.

John August has crafted a wonderful little sci-fi, drama, comedy; it's pretty uncategorizable, as it is has comedic elements, is dramatic at times, with an overall fantasy sense to it. The three leads, Reynolds, McCarthy and Davis, each get a chance to shine, in three very different roles. The Nines has a wonderful mystery to it, that is revealed at just the right pace. It's nicely put together, beautifully photographed, in three different styles, with a mix of reality and mysticism. It's not a film for everyone, I think it might be a little to slow for those who are expecting a typical Reynolds comedy; but if you're looking for something more, something different, it is a film that is well worth the journey.

After falling so in love with Nightmare City, I immediately had to rent another Umberto Lenzi film. I figured he'd captured lightning in a bottle with Nightmare, but I had to give it another chance. Eaten Alive, isn't anywhere the same level, but it's also entertaining in the same fashion; good in a so-bad-it's-fun kind of way, bad acting, terribly inept action scenes, over-the-top gore, and obscene nudity; but instead of zombies this film focuses on cannibals.

The Italians had some sort of weird obsession with cannibal films during the late 70's, early 80's; cranking out endless films with morons entering the jungle, getting their clothes ripped off, then eaten by some blood-thirsty natives; with Cannibal Holocaust being the zenith and most famous of the bunch. It stands to reason that one of their best horror film directors would tackle the genre; which he actually did twice, directing Cannibal Ferox after this and Nightmare City. I read better things about Eaten Alive, so I tried it first, but I'm sure I'll get around to Ferox eventually.

While watching this, I wasn't sure if I'd seen it before or if another film had used some of the exact same locations, or possibly even the same footage. Because while I didn't remember this exact plot, I did remember the cave that they filmed in, with our hero climbing around trying to escape the tribe of cannibals. All these films are so similar, that they're tough to discern. Eaten Alive's is about a woman whose sister is kidnapped by a cult that has their compound deep in the jungles of New Guinea. Determined to bring her back, she hires a jungle guide to take her in to find the cult, led by an obvious Jim Jones type. (The Jonestown Massacre was two years before this film was released.)

The cult leader wants the world to go back to a simpler time, be closer to God, and once you enter his compound he won't let you leave. So the woman and her guide are forced to live the cult life, taking mind-altering drugs, and in her case painting her nude body gold, while they figure out a way to escape with her sister. Things are made tougher when the jungles they're living in are surrounded by cannibals. Eventually they escape, people are eaten, heads removed, spears chucked, helicopters hung from, native women exposed (some with obvious fake breasts no less), cult members drinking the Kool-Aid, and many animals killed. That's always been the most disturbing thing about these films for me, the fake blood and gore while people are eaten, are nothing compared to the real-life on screen killing of these jungle animals; animal torture is not my idea of entertainment, and unfortunately they're prevalent in this genre.

If you've never seen an Italian cannibal film; start with Cannibal Holocaust. If you've never seen an Umberto Lenzi film; start with Nightmare City. But if you've seen both, you will most likely enjoy Eaten Alive; it's got hilariously bad acting, especially by Robert Kerman (also known as porn-star R. Bolla) as the jungle expert he gets to perform a bunch of badly executed action scenes, tumbling about with natives and throwing spears in comical ways. There's gore a plenty, but nothing too memorable, a woman getting her breast cut off and eaten is probably the top of the heap. Eaten Alive isn't a classic, it's Velveeta compared to Nightmare City's smoked-cheddar, but for anyone that enjoys cheese, it's still edible. - Grade: C+

I wrote a blog on The Turning Point Myspace page about a year back, complaining about all the film festival rejections we were racking up. Chris Suchorsky posted a comment about keeping my head up. I contacted him and thanked him for his optimism; what came of it was me reviewing his very good documentary Golden Days. Looking into his past a bit, I noticed he had also made a short documentary called Failure. I asked him if he could lend me a copy, so here we are.

Failure, was what came out of Chris trying to make his first feature film. Going into it, he was very naive; believing he could shoot a 95 page script in 6 days, with unfamiliar rented equipment, slacker friends to star in it, and no one behind the camera but him. What followed was a quick devolution into chaos; first he couldn't figure out how to properly use the camera, next his friends couldn't keep a straight-face or be reliable for more than a few minutes at a time, and he quickly learned when you're not paying somebody they're not likely to show up on time. After the week, he was barely able to scrape a scene together, let alone an entire film.

He sat on the footage for a while, thinking it was a complete waste. But then the brilliant idea came to him of turning the mess into a documentary, which he proves to have a talent for. He creates an entertaining and enlightening story out of his film's collapse and the hysterically bad footage he was able to get. I think that any amateur who sets out to make a film, should watch Failure first; get a feel for just how many things can go wrong. Anyone with an interest in filmmaking will enjoy it as well, and learn a little more about how difficult filmmaking can be; it's a quick watch at 30 minutes, and it plays often on IFC. - Grade: B

For more information about the film: Official Failure Website

The last thing the Internet needs is another fanboy fawning over the greatness that is 300, so I'll keep this short. I originally saw it in the theater and instantly fell in love with it. I don't rewatch a lot of movies these days, so it's saying something when I revisited it on DVD; and I'm sure once my son is old enough to watch it, I'll see it many more times, as it'll be something I'll be excited to show him.

Director Zach Snyder has created something fully unique, that I expect will be copied to death in the coming years. It's an absolutely gorgeous film, with a true artists eye; each frame flips by with near perfection, the entire film looks like it's been painted by a master artist. The over-stylized violence is beautifully realized; strong camera angles, beautiful sepia-tone photography shocked with bright red splashes of blood, edited in very tight and fun fashion. It's about as close to watching a comic book as you can get. I don't need to go on, and honestly I'm having a hard time expressing my feelings about this almost perfect film. It might have lost some of it's power, through all the mocking it's received in the last year; but it'll be remembered long after those jokes die.

I'm really looking forward to Snyder's next film Watchmen, it's one of the few graphic novels I've read in my life and I believe that Snyder is the perfect filmmaker to capture this already greatly realized world. I had no idea who he was before his first film, the remake Dawn of the Dead, which I originally thought it was a bad idea; but after seeing Snyder's re-imagining of this zombie classic, it quickly became my 2nd favorite zombie film (after Return of the Living Dead), and made me realize I had another director to watch for. With 300, he more than proved that worth, and I greatly hope that he can keep it up with Watchmen and beyond. - Grade: A

Not so long ago I had great hopes for director Doug Liman. Right out of the gate, he directed Swingers, one of the seminal films of the 90's; still quoted greatly 12 years later. A few years later, he made another great film of the 90's in Go, it defined the rave scene, and has become much more appreciated over the years. Both were in the indie-filmmaking mold, and it was understanding when he wanted to jump into big budget Hollywood stuff; and he did so to great effect with The Bourne Identity, which proved the world that Matt Damon could be an action star, and made the Bond films feel outdated on the spot. Then he made the big-budget mess Mr. & Mrs. Smith; it had some decent action scenes, an okay chemistry between Pitt and Jolie, but both who spent way too much time mugging for the camera; all in all, a pretty forgettable film. Now with Jumper, he's sunk to a new low and made an okay sci-fi-action flick that could have been made by any Hollywood hack director.

What's so wrong with that you might ask? I have no problem with directors like Brett "Rush Hour" Ratner, Tim "Fantastic Four" Story, and Jon "National Treasure" Turteltaub; guys who make passable Hollywood action films, stuff that isn't terrible, but also never knock it out of the park. With his first three films Liman hit a home run, and gave me great hopes for more wonderful films to come, but with his last two, he seems content with a single; not swinging for anything grander. He's quickly devolved from classics to instantly forgettable. But he's got a long career ahead of him, and he'll hopefully get back to something more worthy of his time; although I see Jumper 2 is already lined up. Enough about Liman... on to the review!

I thought that the premise of Jumper was a pretty cool idea; that and Liman's involvement made it enough for me to make a trip to the theater. I don't believe I've ever seen a film about a guy with the power of teleportation. What would he do? Where would he go? It's pretty much any young man's dream. And like any young man, David Rice, played Hayden "Whiny Anakin" Christensen, decides to rob banks and live life to the fullest. I mean how cool would it be to wake up in New York, surf Hawaii in the morning, have a picnic in Egypt, party it up in Paris that nigh, without ever stepping on a plane? A nifty plot device. The problem with the film is that it never really evolves beyond that.

All the effects are top notch; and I'm very glad that they made the decision to actually shoot in most of the places, (unlike the craptastic Bucket List) which made it very fun and beautiful to watch, as he instantly pops in and out of all these exotic locations. There's one very cool sequence towards the end, where David chases Griffin, his teleportating nemesis, through a dozen locations throughout the world. It's so chaotic, that it's almost mesmerizing. But that's all the film has to offer; cool locations, fun effects, and some decent action scenes.

The love story between David and Millie, played by the beautifully bland Rachel Bilson, is booooring! Absolutely no chemistry between these two dead-wood actors. When Millie was in danger, I had zero care if she lived or died. Sam Jackson's rocking some bright white hair for unknown reasons, and his motivations for chasing David around the world are even more unclear; his great efforts to put a stop to his teleporting, are summed up in one sentence from the trailer about how "only God should have such powers." There is no explanation for his group of Paladins, who track down and kill teleporters. They don't seem to have any Government ties, my only thought was that they are religious zealots who don't want anybody but God jumping around the world wily-nilly like. I needed to understand a little, to care why they were going to such lengths to track these guys down.

As it is, Jumper is a decent, brainless action film; if you don't look beyond the surface you can have fun with these guys jumping through the world, throwing buses at the bad guys, dodging electrified whips, and living it up like nobody's business. But when there is no reason to care about why these amazing things are happening, it becomes forgettable. The Bourne Identity made us care about an assassin with amnesia, so we felt something during the amazing Mini car chase through Paris, it wasn't simply action for actions sake. And unfortunately, that's all Jumper is; fast moving action and loud sounds, it distracts us for a while, but fades away as soon as it's over. - Grade: C+

I don't have a lot to say about Ocean's Thirteen, I was mildly entertained for 90 minutes, then immediately forgot it. It's a bunch of top-notch filmmakers getting together for a toss-off. Director Steven Soderbergh can make these films in his sleep, he set the tone in the first one, experimented with it a bit in the second, but since everybody ragged on Ocean's 12, he went back to the original style for part three. It's impeccably polished, nicely shot, edited with a flair, but with no real soul.

Clooney, Pitt, Damon, Pacino, Cheadle, there's too many actors too list, get by on their typical movie-star charisma. It's an easy paycheck movie for them, so they can get back to their more serious stuff; which is fine, at least it's well made schlock. You can't hate this film, it's too slickly made, too full of famous faces and it's fun watching Pacino as the casino owner get taken down in inventive ways by a bunch of con-artist pros.

Though I can't imagine wanting to watch this more than once. It's pure fluff, Soderbergh and all the actors know it, and they don't treat it with any more seriousness than a bowl of Jello. The film is about as filling and as satisfying as that mild-confection; it tastes good on your tongue going down, but it's without a hint of substance, and after a few days in the fridge it's decomposed back to its water base. Enjoy it while you're feeling sick, stressed or brainless, but get back to the real desserts as soon as you can. - Grade: B-

I've seen this film so many times, in three different variations now, that I'm not sure where to start. At the beginning I guess. My dad showed me this film when I was around 13, I wasn't quite sure what had happened, but I knew I liked it. But I don't think I watched it again for another five years, when I was in art school. One of my friends insisted on watching it over and over, which I had no problem with. Blade Runner is one of those rare movies, that no matter how many times I see it, it always seems fresh. There's so much to look at, so many details, that you're always noticing new things about the film. We were watching the original cut, the one with the narration, I've seen it so many times, that I still hear it when watching the versions without.

In 1997 I bought my first DVD player, and Blade Runner: The Director's Cut was the very first DVD I bought to go along with it. I watched it quite a few more times in that form, grew used to the new changes. Around the same time I saw it for the first time on the big screen, when they did a revival show, at the best theater in Seattle, the Cinerama. I bought and read the book Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner, a must read for any Blade Runner fanatic. I've read the original novel Do Android Dream of Electric Sheep? by Phillip K. Dick, a wonderful book, that truly only shares the dystopian view of the future and a cop chasing down rogue androids; if you want to expand the Blade Runner universe, again, a must read.

So yeah, I'm a fan. I easily place it among my top five films; if it weren't for The Matrix, I'd call it my all-time-favorite sci-fi film. I believe it's a masterpiece in every sense of the word. Beautifully crafted from top to bottom; from the set and costume design, to the gorgeous, dark photography; superbly written, great naturalistic dialogue, great acting, and top notch direction by Ridley Scott. At a time when everyone was trying to remake Star Wars, Scott and team set out on a completely different sci-fi idea, creating a new view of the future, and influencing a whole new set of filmmakers.

I was ecstatic when the long rumored Final Cut made it's way to DVD. And after watching it, I must say it's the best version of the film yet. It's not drastically different than the Directors Cut, there are only a few different cuts here and there, mostly in reference to Deckard's being an android himself; they extended Deckard's dream of the unicorn, which pays off by Gaff leaving him an origami unicorn at the end; saying that he knows his dreams and what he really is. The other big editing change, is when Zhora is killed by Deckard and she goes crashing through the glass store front; in previous versions it was obviously a stunt-man in a wig, now, it looks like actress Joanna Cassidy all the way through. The most noticeable change about the film is the way it looks.

It looks brand new, no more dirty prints, it is clean and gorgeous like it was shot yesterday, instead of 25 years ago. Some of the effects are slightly improved, not in a "look at me" kind of way like the new Star Wars films, but subtle, keeping with the original look of the film. My only problem with this new version of the film, is that it does pretty much spell out that Deckard is an android himself. I always liked that the original cut left the idea vague, leaving the decision up to the viewer. Scott has taken that decision away. He does that through the unicorn dream and the fact that at one point in the film, you see every androids eyes glow red, which Deckard's do when he's in his apartment with Rachel. Something that may have happened in the original cut, but I always missed, and is now pretty blatant.

One problem I've always had, is that if Deckard is a android, why is he so weak? He is constantly getting beat up by all the Nexus-6's he's tracking down. If the cops went to the trouble of getting an android to do their hunting, wouldn't they want him to keep the advantage of strength and quickness. It's a small quibble, and it gives me something to discuss with the other die-hard Blade Runner fans. All in all, I'm very happy with the Final Cut and the DVD set. It's something I will treasure for a long time, and hope will introduce the film to a whole new generation of fans. - Grade: A+

By all reasoning I should be sick of quirky, coming-of-age indie-comedies. There's been a glut of them the last decade, every year a couple more are released, usually at Sundance; Juno being the most popular of the bunch, most are released on DVD and quickly forgotten. But I seek out all of them, I have some sort of an unknown affinity towards them; even though they're all starting to blur together; one large mess of awkward teenagers, smart-ass dialogue, symmetrical photography, over-done set design, obscure rock song soundtracks and dry, all-knowing narrators.

Rocket Science really takes the cake in the quirk department; there's very little here that rings true. I mean, who really plays The Violent Femmes' Blister in the Sun on cello? But movies don't have to be real, that's the whole point, to produce an alternate universe of your own design. Writer/Director Jeffrey Blitz, who made the excellent documentary Spellbound, has created a fairly well-made and funny ride through the embarrassing teenage years.

Hal Hefner,an uneasy high school freshmen, stutters his way through life, his parents have just split-up, and his big brother is a bully and a kleptomaniac; nothing seems to be going his way until Ginny Ryerson the bright, cute captain of the school's debate team decides that he'd be perfect as her new partner. She thinks that those with disabilities make the best debaters, because they have a deep seeded sense of anger. He's willing to give it his best shot as long as he gets to be near Ginny; he has a major crush on her, since she's the only girl that's ever given him a second glance. When they make-out in the closet at school one day, he's done for, completely obsessed.

When he fails her by badly, by stuttering his way through their first debate together, she quickly gives up on him. Even going so far as to switch to a private school, to team up with the best debater in the city. Hal is crushed. After purging his anger in a destructive and humorous manner, he decides to get revenge. He does so by tracking down Ginny's old partner Ben, who had a public meltdown in the opening scene of the film. They make a goofy team, learn some valuable life lessons, and Hal figures a bit about who he really is.

There's nothing new about Rocket Science, every character has some weird tendency, from the Mom who's become some sort of nymphomaniac to Hal's Asian friend who follows him around like a lost puppy, none of the side characters seem more than a set of movie quirks. The entire film is like that, every cliche' of the genre is thrown in. The narrator even sounds like Alec Baldwin, a Wes Anderson alum; the entire film feels like Anderson light, but director Blitz makes it work. It's all so goofy and over-the-top unrealistic that it meshes together nicely, creating a sort of comic book world. While not as good as Rushmore or Juno; if you enjoy films of this sort it's worth checking out. - - Grade: B

In the first moments of my first viewing of the trailer for this film, my thought was, "exactly what the world doesn't need, another computer animated film about penguins." But the trailer began to grow on me, it seemed like something I might enjoy. Sometimes it's good to have a kid for exactly that reason. I probably would have felt a slight twinge of embarrassment buying tickets for this on my own, but with a three-year-old in tow, it was no problem; and in the end I think I enjoyed the film more than him. When we bought the DVD, I was happy for another chance to watch the film, and glad to have something well made for my son to watch a hundred times.

What I like most about Surf's Up is the documentary aspect. From a style perspective, Hollywood computer animated films are about as safe a genre as you can find. You don't often see someone trying to push the envelope; everything is pretty much straight forward, letting the ideas drive the film, instead of reaching for any kind of new artistry. As a fan of surfing documentaries; from Endless Summer to Riding Giants; I love that they pull those aesthetics into the crisp clean world of CGI. In telling the story of Cody Maverick, the film goes through scratchy Super-8 footage, old washed-out photos, TV coverage of surfing events, hand-held cameras, and they even have the filmmakers talking to the subjects from off-screen. Fairly gutsy stuff for a family film about talking penguins.

They did an impeccable job in casting as well; I love Shia LaBeouf as Cody, he gives the character a good mix of cockiness and self-doubt, plus he just sounds like a surfer. And you couldn't do any better than Jeff "The Dude" Bridges as the old surf guru Big Z. Zooey Deschanel has been a personal favorite of mine since Almost Famous, she's fine here as Cody's love interest, but she honestly isn't that memorable. Jon Heder is good, as he does his typical goofy thing as Chicken Joe, he gets in some good one liners. Diedrich Bader is a highlight as Tank Evans, Cody's nemesis, he's hilarious throughout the film. Even though the film is full of "names", the celebrity casting for this film isn't as obnoxious as something like the Shrek sequels; the filmmakers actually seem to be focusing on what's good for the character, instead of another name for the poster.

The story is fairly straight-forward. Cody Maverick grew up a bit different, he's the only surfer in his small "town" in Antarctica. His family doesn't understand him, and they try to squash his dream. When a surfing scout shows up, on the back of a whale, Cody forces his way on board, and takes a trip to Hawaii for the Big Z Open. Big Z is Cody's hero, who everyone believes died ten years before; Cody discovers him living in hiding, having given up surfing long ago. The two become friends, through each other they rediscover the joy of life and surfing, Tank gets his comeuppance and everything ends happily for everyone else. It's a kids movie.

Directed by Ash Brannon and Chris Buck, they have created a nice little gem. It has a very sweet spirit to it, a soul hidden beneath it's commercial facade. I enjoyed the documentary style, which they stick to fairly faithfully, except for one scene where they go riding through some lava tubes. I appreciated that the humor didn't rely on pokes at pop-culture, so the film will remain fairly timeless. If Brad Bird and the geniuses at Pixar hadn't created the wonderful Ratatouille, I would have considered Surf's Up the best animated film of 2007. It's far better than the other animated penguin movie Happy Feet; it has a nice message to it, but doesn't cram it down your throat like that film. I think that it would make a nice addition to any family's DVD collection; and that even childless film buffs can enjoy it from a filmmaking perspective. - Grade: B+

You might think that a film about man who suffers a stroke and is forced to live out his life, unable to move, even unable to speak, would be depressing. That's what I figured going in to The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. I knew what it was about, but wanted to see it because it had been getting rave reviews and my wife, a lover of everything French, and I needed a night out together. The film begins with sadness, but after it's over you feel full of life, ready to face the world in a whole new light.

Right from the start, the film puts you into Jean-Dominique Bauby's head, the first scene is filmed completely from his perspective. You wake up in a hospital, you don't quite know what's going on. Your eyes won't focus, doctors and nurses stream in and out of the room, and when you talk to them, they don't hear you. They tell you that you've suffered a stroke, that they're not quite certain of the damage yet. But it is soon quite apparent that it is catastrophic; you have what they call "locked-in syndrome". Information comes in through your senses, but you are unable to communicate with the outside world.

Your eye is going septic, you watch as they sow it shut; an incredible scene. The only thing you can think about is dying. Because what good is life, if you can not travel through it, are only able to see it through one pathetic eye, and unable to tell anyone what you are feeling. What good could possibly come of it? The film does an impeccable job of putting you into Bauby's state-of-mind, gives you a slight feeling for what he must have gone through. You're left feeling hopeless as he is; but then it all begins to lighten up. Bauby meets a beautiful nurse who teaches him how to speak by blinking his eye. It's an incredibly torturous way to communicate, but when it's your only choice, you must make do.

That's the power of The Diving Bell and The Butterfly. That it makes you appreciate life, even from the perspective of someone who is almost completely unable to do so. He makes new friends, connects with his family and father in a way that he couldn't before, and learns more about who he is than anyone could probably imagine. If you're stuck in your head 24/7, than you fill your life with memories, good and bad; relive your childhood, correct mistakes, and become a better person. He has so much wanting to get out, that he decides to write an auto-biography, which he must do one slow letter at a time.

Director Julian Schnabel has crafted a true masterpiece out of real-life; gorgeously photographed, full of wonderful sights and sounds, and completely heart-warming, without ever being preachy or schmaltzy. I haven't seen a lot of them, but I imagine this will remain my favorite foreign film of 2007. It was a crime, that it was denied a slot in the Academy Awards Best Foreign Language; in all honesty it should have been up for Best Picture over the cutesy Juno. (But they needed at least one popular film in there.) Do yourself a favor and see this film when it's released on DVD, you'll be glad you did. - Grade: A

Sometimes you run across a film that despite not being a very well made film, there is a magical quality to it. Nightmare City is just that kind of film. With the perfect amount of cheesiness, mixed with great gore, nudity, a certain ineptitude in front of and behind the camera that is endlessly entertaining, but also enough skill in certain areas so that it's not too horribly painful to watch, and a deadly seriousness that becomes unintentionally hilarious. You honestly couldn't set out to make a film like this and make it work this well; many have tried and many have failed. You can't force your way into the label cult-classic, you sort of have to stumble your way in, and director Umberto Lunzi and crew tripped right into a masterpiece.

The film starts with reports of a nuclear accident; meanwhile our dashing-news-reporter-hero Dean Miller is at the airport where he's supposed to interview the scientist in charge of the power plant. Once the plane lands, a horde of zombies disembark with axes-swinging, knives-a-stabbing, and guns-a-blazing. Yes, guns. These aren't your typical zombies, they're quite proficient in using a number of weapons. Well, they're not technically zombies either; they're radiated and mutated humans, with zombie like qualities; rotting flesh, cannibalistic tendencies, and quick transfer of infection. They messily dispatch the rescue team sent to their plane, while Dean and his cameraman happily watch the blood-letting, only when one of the zombies (I'll continue to call them zombies for simplicities sake.) gets too close for comfort do they decide to run for it.

Dean rushes back to his TV studio and tries to interrupt his channels "disco show" for an emergency announcement; this was released in 1980 towards the end of the disco movement, this scene is painful to watch now, but the dancer get what's coming to 'em; he is unfortunately overruled by the military, who wants to pretend that everything is hunky-dory as the city is overtaken by the ever growing number of living-dead. When the zombies show up and start munching on all the dancers, Dean decides to escape the city, but first must find his wife who's an emergency room doctor. Where of course, the dead and infected are being rushed to in waves. Dean battles his way through the zombies, to save her and drive off into the country; where they're unable to find peace, as the military is hopelessly inept at stopping the radiation-infection from rapidly taking over the world.

The zombies, or seriously-pissed-off-radiated-humans are just too cool. Instead of trying to make them look like they've freshly risen from the grave, they're supposed to look mutated, which is achieved by basically slopping a bunch of green-crusty-goo on everybody's face; which ranges from slightly dis-nerving to hysterically inept. I love their use of weapons, instead of biting at people's hard skulls, they gouge them with knives and suck at the blood. They also have a tendency to rip girls shirts open, none who bother to wear bras; I mean if you're mutated and angry at the world, you might as well get some cheap thrills while your at it.

The acting is painfully bad; which isn't helped by the fact that it's all been dubbed. I never understood these Italian horror films, where half the time they seem to be speaking in Italian, the other half English, whatever the actors native language is; and the entire thing is then dubbed over, it's an extremely odd effect. The dialogue is deadly serious; it's supposed to be some great warning against the use of nuclear power, but it's delivered in such a ham-fisted way, that it's hilarious. The gore and blood come in great waves, with breasts ripped off and eyes torn asunder. The photography is nothing special, but you can see what's going on, and it's not bad enough to be distracting. The movie moves along at a good pace; there is constantly something gross, funny or both to be watching. Nightmare City is endlessly entertaining for anyone with an appreciation for fine cheese. - Grade: A

I don't have a lot to say about this film, and if I ever want to catch up on my reviews, I'm going to have to shorten a few here and there. I enjoyed this documentary about the MPAA, it's well made and entertaining. I think some of their rating practices are pretty ridiculous, and there need to be some serious changes made. Especially the way that violence gets a pass, while sex is considered the most evil thing ever; and the fact that they treat studio movies with kid gloves, while being particularly harsh on independent films. There needs to be steady and even rules for every film.

But honestly even as a filmmaker, it didn't get my ire up. There are too many other, much bigger problems in the world to truly care about than this. I commend Kirby Dick (who directed the cult-documentary Sick) for tackling the idea and making an entertaining film out of the subject. I particularly liked the bit, where he split screen clips of gay and straight sex scenes, commenting on how they were shot pretty much the same, but how the gay scenes were all rated NC-17, while the straight sex got R's. If you have any interest in knowing how films are rated, this is a documentary worth watching; plus there are a lot of great film clips included. - Grade: B-

I was one of those that cried blasphemy when I heard about Rob Zombie’s remake of the classic Halloween. Many horror fans consider it to be the birth of the slasher-film (even though Black Christmas came before it); it was the first popular version of the psychopath chasing the various teenagers to their deaths, with the virginal girl becoming the hero. It remains effective to this day, John Carpenter crafted a nearly perfect horror film the first time around. Why bother to do it again?

I’m a fan of Rob Zombie as a filmmaker, The House of 1000 Corpses was a highly flawed, but ultimately interesting horror film; and its sequel The Devil's Rejects, is beautifully crafted, an experimentally made 70’s road movie, about a family of psychos on the lamb from Johnny-Law; a truly ambitious film, horror or otherwise. If they had to reboot the Halloween series, I’m glad that he was the director behind the lens.

While I still prefer the original, Zombie’s Halloween proves to be a worthwhile horror film. He’s taken enough of the original so that it feels similar, but not so much that it feels pointless in that we’re watching the exact same film. There’s enough of a twist on it, that it becomes it’s own film; he does Carpenter through his own eyes. It makes for a unique ride, through familiar territory.

Mainly what’s been added is a back-story for Michael Myers, we get to know his family; his drunk, abusive step-father played by the underused William Forsythe, his slutty older-sister, his loving, but worn-out mother stretched way beyond her mean’s played nicely by Zombie’s wife Sherrie-Moon. And once he’s killed off his stepfather and sister; we learn a lot more about his relationship with Dr. Loomis, played by Malcolm McDowell and his perfectly coifed, stark-white hair and beard. We see how Loomis becomes the only loving figure in his life as Michael sinks deeper into his own mind. I appreciated seeing most of this; the young Michael is portrayed fairly well, the young actor does a good job with it. There’s a bit too much though, they could have cut about 10 minutes of the back-story, not spelling everything out for us, while also moving the slightly longish movie along at a better pace.


Once Michael escapes the psycho-ward, the film becomes extremely similar to the original. There are a few differences, like we get to know the youngsters that Laurie Strode is babysitting a bit better. I don’t think that Lorie is played as well by Scout Taylor-Compton as Jamie Lee Curtis did, but it’s an acceptable job in taking the place of a classic role. Most of the deaths are done in the same fashion, but quite a bit more brutal in this go round. Zombie has to compete with the likes of Saw and Hostel, where Carpenter was treading in fairly fresh waters. There are a few other deaths piled on to the body count, and the film ends in a new, similarly predictable manner.

Overall, I enjoyed the film. I think that it could have been a total mess with another filmmaker besides Zombie behind it; too easy to just redo the original shot for shot, with new actors and a bit more gore and still rake in $25 million on opening weekend. I’m glad that they were more ambitious with it; adding some freshness, while also honoring the classic version. I’m sure they’ll make a sequel with another filmmaker that’ll become instantly forgettable, and I honestly hope that Zombie doesn’t bother in doing another Halloween, I’d like to see another original idea from him; but since they’re rebooting Friday the 13th, he might be the right man for the job. - Grade: B-