Stuart Gordon burst onto the scene in 1985 with Re-Animator, one of the most creative zombie films ever made. A film that is as funny as it is disgusting, with great creative twists that forever changed how filmmakers mixed horror with comedy. 23 years later that film remains his high-point, but that doesn't mean he isn't a filmmaker worth note, in fact, just the opposite. For the last two decades he's made quite a few fun horror films including, From Beyond, Dolls, and Dagon.

With his last three films he's hit a new creative stride, moving away from pure horror, into more dramatic work, but still with a deep dark side and a wicked sense of humor. It started with King of the Ants, a film about a young lad getting a viscous introduction to the world of professional killing. (I was lucky enough to interview him when he premiered the film at SIFF.) It continued with Edmund, starring William H. Macy as an average-Joe, who flips a switch and begins to enjoy his life with a new homicidal tinge. Stuck is the third film in which Gordon explores a ordinary people thrust into a dark world, and it may be the best of the bunch.

Mena Survari plays Brandi, a nurse in an old-folks home, whose life is so mundane that a promotion to shift-manager a very big deal. Stephen Rea is Thomas, a guy really down on his luck, he has one of those days where he loses everything; job, house and all his possessions. He's forced to sleep in the park, where he meets a helpful homeless man, who starts to show him the ropes of life on the street. After a night of celebrating for Brandi, and Thomas getting kicked off his park bench bed, they meet in the most violent way possible. Brandi, drunk and distracted by her cell-phone, runs down Thomas. He's thrown into her windshield, broken, bleeding and knocked out. Brandi, fearing the consequences of her actions, drives home with Thomas' half-dead body lying on her hood. She gets home and leaves him and the car in her garage. From here the film is a twisted little piece of genius and by the end you'll be rooting for some sickening actions.

Gordon expertly plays these characters so you're not quite sure what to think of them. At first Brandi seems like the hero of the film, but by the end she is quite clearly the villain. The things she does will disgust and shock you. Poor Thomas goes from a hard to love loser to a quiet action-hero bent on survival. Both performances are neatly crafted, nothing in the film rings false, as horrible things happen because, to and all around them. This is not a film for the faint-of-heart. Once Thomas is Stuck, the film jumps into a maniac gear that is at once hard to watch, but you also can't tear your eyes away. After this film, I have hope that Gordon may yet create a film that outdoes Re-Animator. - Grade: B+

I don't expect too much of Hollywood thrillers these days. They're too formulaic, too predictable, too tame, too Ashley Juddy and Morgan Freemany. Every time I watch one, it feels like I've already seen it. They have the same plots, the same twists, the same cops and bad guys. But I love the genre, so I keep going back.

I'd read a couple of good things about Mr. Brooks, but really didn't expect much from Mr. America 1988 aka Kevin Costner, the botoxed Demi Moore and pseudo-comedian turned hack-actor Dane Cook. Maybe it was my low expectations, but I thoroughly enjoyed this film. For a modern Hollywood thriller to keep me engaged, not ask me to switch my brain off every 3 minutes, and actually still make sense by the last twist; it's a minor miracle.

What worked best for me about this film was William Hurt playing Mr. Brooks evil-conscience. He sits in the back seat of the car, suggesting nasty things for them to do. Costner's Brooks wants to be a good upstanding man, and when we first meet him, he's receiving Man of the Year honors from the Portland Chamber of Commerce. He's a good husband and father, a successful business, and has been able to curb his murderous tendencies for the past few years. But apparently Hurt's Brooks has had his eye on a particular victim, the old urges win out, and the serial-murder known as the Finger Print Killer goes back to work. He's a little rusty though, and kills a young couple in front of a wide open window.

His sloppiness soon comes to haunt him in the form of Dane Cook's Mr. Smith, who blackmails Brooks with some photographs of the murder scene. But Smith doesn't want money, he wants a taste of murder and forces Brooks to take him out with him on his next kill. This is really the meat of the film, I love how Brooks takes Smith under his twisted wing and shows him how a professional serial killer works, all the while playing a sadistic cat and mouse game. Writer/Director Bruce Evans even manages to get a decent performance out of Cook. He has an important role, and if his Mr. Smith doesn't work, the film fails. There's also a decent subplot about Brooks' daughter possibly being a serial killer herself. The weakest link is Demi Moore's on-the-edge detective. (Is there any other kind?) She's not that bad, just cliche'd, and there's a fairly useless storyline about her bastard ex-husband, that slows down the film.

Overall the film really works; it's well made, nicely shot and edited, and competently directed and acted. Most importantly the screenplay works, it doesn't dumb things down, or have twists that come out of nowhere to ruin the film. William Hurt and Kevin Costner are great together as the two sides of Brooks' ego. Mr. Brooks is the rare, modern Hollywood thriller that doesn't make you feel stupider for watching. - Grade: B (Seen on 7/3/08)

I'd love to spend some time writing in detail about this beautiful film, but there has been enough dissections of this near masterpiece, that mine will only become another small piece of the noise. Instead I'll post a few of my favorite Persepolis clips in hopes that these tastes will be enough to convince anyone, that hasn't seen this film, to seek it out.

Is there a scarier idea for a guy, than a vagina with teeth? Taking the ultimate in pleasure and turn it into an extremely dangerous proposition, is a great premise for a horror film. Teeth takes that idea and manages to turn it into something slightly more than that, and although the film is extremely flawed in some areas, its comes up enough interesting ideas to make it well worth seeing. The filmmakers got very ambitious with the project and nearly turned out a cult-classic, but the tone jumps so wildly from scene to scene, that the film doesn’t flow well and loses some momentum along the way.

The film starts with our anti-heroine Dawn, about seven-years-old, sitting in a play pool with her step-brother, who wants to play “I’ll show you mine, if you show me yours”. He takes it a little too far, sticking his finger in, and then in sweet revenge, nearly gets it bitten off. The film sets this gruesome mutation up slighly, with a short shot of a nuclear power plant in the background of their family’s home. The film jumps almost a decade to where Dawn is now a quickly blossoming teenager. She’s part of a militant group of virgins, that vow to wait till marriage, after a rousing speech, she claims the torch as one of the groups leaders. Being a pretty young girl, that of course won’t stop boys from trying to get into her pants.

She thinks she’s safe in her friendship with the dreamy Tobey, who too is one of the groups leaders. There’s a hilarious scene where Dawn starts to masturbate, dreaming about a wedding between the two, but stops herself before going through with it. Even the virginal Tobey proves that teenage hormones are too strong to overcome and friendly swim turns nasty, when he tries to rape her. Her vagina dentata come in extremely handy, and Tobey is quickly dispatched by getting his penis bit off in gruesome, yet darkly humorous series of shots. Dawn is terrified, she doesn’t know how to react to what happened. Her extreme lack of sexual education doesn’t teach her that her teeth are abnormal. Soon she’s visiting her first gynecologist, where according to the world of Teeth, all men are evil-sexual-fiends, and the situation quickly turns gnarly. The film continues from there, with Dawn growing more comfortable with her abnormality, turning it into a favorable situation, dismembering a few more sexual deviants along the way.

The story of Teeth is obviously a metaphor for a girl growing into a woman, using the danger of her teeth as a replacement for her burgeoning sexual desires. It plays off this idea, without cramming it down our throats. The main problem with the film lie in the tone of the film. Most of the scenes do manage to convey the right emotions; the film is equally dramatic, deadly funny and terrifying at moments, but the way it jumps from scene to scene it becomes very uneven. Writer/director Mitchell Lichtenstein, in his first feature, is able to pull of this delicate balancing act for the first half of the film, but by the end it’s very distracting as the various plots come to a head. The film is nicely put together, with some good acting, especially in the case of Jess Weixler as Dawn, it’s an extremely memorable role, that may be tough to shake for a while. Ultimately the film has enough good ideas to outweigh the bad, making it worth seeing. – Grade: B- (Seen on 6/23/08)

We watched two family pet movies fairly close together, one being about an amazing dog, the other being the Lock Ness monster itself. Neither film blew me away, but neither was too painful of a way to spend 90 minutes with your family.

I figured Firehouse Dog was going to be pretty unbearable, and only took a chance on it because there was a free movie channel weekend on DirecTV. It isn't necessarily good, but it turned out to be better than expected. Josh Hutcherson, who plays the lead character Shane, is the main reason the movie didn’t sink into completely worthlessness. He’s a good young actor, that’s been in a bunch of family movies in the past few years, including Zathura and Bridge to Terabithia. He kind of reminds me of a young Christian Bale, and I can see him easily transitioning into an adult actor with adult roles. Of course, only time will tell.

The rest of Firehouse Dog was pretty cliché, extremely predictable from beginning to end; although I did like a few of the bits at the beginning of the film, where we’re shown the dog’s back-story. He’s a Hollywood hotshot, basically the Arnold or Sly (80’s versions), of dog movies and has the movie-star personality to go with it. When a movie stunt goes wrong, he’s lost in the middle-of-nowhere, with no way of communicating who he is. He befriends Shane, whose father is a fire-chief, and his mother is dead. Who decided that nearly every family film had to have a dead or missing parent? It’s extremely rare to see one with a family fully intact.

The dad is played by Bruce Greenwood, an always dependable character actor, he brings a bit of realism to this fairly ridiculous story. His fire station, where apparently only five firemen work 24/7, is on the verge of being closed down by the city. There is also a subplot about an serial-arsonist who killed the chief’s brother. But once wonder-dog shows up, he manages to bring the family together, save the station, and capture the arsonist. All fairly typical movie-dog traits, Lassie pulls off these tricks while getting a flea bath. But Firehouse Dog is a fairly well put-together film, at least for a movie of it’s kind. It’s not too condescending towards its intended audience, although the dog does let a few farts rip. The film isn't good enough to recommended for anyone without a kid younger than 7 or 8, but they should enjoy it. – Grade: C (Seen on 6/7/08)

The second film was a lot more ambitious, being a period piece and including a lot of special effects. Water Horse: The Legend of the Deep, takes place in Scotland during WWII; where a family is taking care of a large mansion near Lock Ness. Again a parent is missing, this time it's Dad, who’s been killed in the war, but the youngest son refuses to acknowledge the fact, leading to a couple of dramatic moments. The boy finds a strange egg in the Lock, takes it home to Dad’s shop, where it hatches a small aquatic monster during the night. When the boy first finds the beast, it’s a fairly creepy scene, at least as far as kids movies go. I was surprised it didn’t scare my son to death, with the dramatic music, dark lighting, weird noises and flashing lightning. But he got through it just fine, although I’m not sure most 4-year-olds could handle it.

Afterwards little Nessie is pretty cute, and the boy, his sister and the new maintenance-man make a pact to keep the beast hidden from mom, who obviously wouldn’t approve. This leads to a couple of ridiculous scenes, where the group is force to hide this quickly growing beast in toilets and so forth. Meanwhile, the Scottish army has also set up base on the house’s grounds, believing that a German submarine may find it’s way into the Lock. Soon Nessie is far too large to be kept around the house, leading to a tearful goodbye as they release her into the Lock. But she remains a good friend with the boy Angus, taking him on an exciting underwater ride, hypothermia free and all. Of course there’s a convoluted mix-up with the army, and soon they’re bombing the Lock, leading to all kinds of dramatics surrounding Nessie’s new home.

While nowhere near a great film, I thought that Water Horse was a much more interesting film than the previous one. Some of the effects are pretty laughable, especially when the boy takes a ride on Nessie’s back, but for the most part they sell this fantastical idea. They handle the friendship between the boy and Nessie pretty well, it definitely has an E.T. vibe to it. The Scottish, WWII setting also makes it interesting to watch. Plus the filmmaking is just plain better, there’s some attention to details, with nice photography, good set and costume design, and some good English actors lending their talents; including Brian Cox as the narrator, Emily Watson as the mother, Ben Chaplin as the new maintenance-man and young Alex Etel as Angus is very strong. (Also see him in one of the best family films from the last few years, Millions.) I’d say that the film is well enough made, that it’s actually a worthwhile film if you don’t have kids, although you certainly have to suspend your disbelief for certain scenes. – Grade: B (Seen on 6/7/08)

This film is an incredibly ridiculous supernatural thriller, that falls apart the minute it’s over, as you start to fill in the badly done pieces. It works okay for a while, good enough to keep you watching and wanting to know how it ends. But once some of the film’s mysteries start to unravel, you feel dumber for continuing to watch it. The film only works because of some blatant plot-holes and leaps in logic, that don’t make sense even in a world where Sandra Bullock’s life jumps back and forth between days of the week.

At the beginning of the film Sandra’s told that her husband has died, obviously it’s a horrendous day for her family and she goes to bed much worse for the wear. However the following day, she wakes up to her husband being alive again, and thinks her memories are nothing but a bad dream. But again she wakes up to a dead husband, and suddenly she’s going off the deep end, winding up the day by being committed to a mental hospital. Again she wakes up to her husband being alive. She starts to unravel the mystery of what’s going on, hoping that she can save her husband from dying.

She learns that she has a couple more days to figure out how to stop it all from happening. There’s one unintentionally funny scene where she ponders if he’s worth keeping alive, after she learns about his affair. Which pales in unintentional hilarity, to when she first confronts the fact of her husband being dead, sending his beheaded noggin rolling into the street; my favorite scene in the film. I’ll admit I was a bit interested in how it would come to an end, if it was in fact a self-fulfilling prophecy, something that’s always intrigued me. But once the groaner of an ending played out, and the credits started to roll, the film destroyed any sense of logic.

Premonition is a thriller for those who’ve never unraveled a mystery, and don’t want to spend a second past the end of a film, thinking about what they’ve just seen. Sandra Bullock dramatically over-acts her way through the whole film, ranging from hysterical tears to hysterical terror; her husband played by Julian McMahon, never sells himself as a real guy, I kept thinking he was going to jump into maniacal villain role. The filmmaking is typical Hollywood slickness, but with no real artistic or intelligent touches. But it’s the script that truly fails, with ridiculous scenes full of unrealistic dialog and actions, ending with a huge cheat. (Which I’ll discuss below) – Grade: D (Seen on 6/19/08)

(Full spoiler mode.) So the film ends with Sandra crazily driving after her husband, trying to get him to stop his car before the spot where he’s hit by a truck. She ends up stopping him at the exact place where he was killed and as he tries to pull a u-turn, his brand new car breaks down in the middle of the road, leading to a truck driving straight through him and then nonsensically exploding. Those ridiculous events aren’t even the problems I had with it, because at the beginning of the film, she’s told by a cop that her husband has died. Yet she’s on scene when it happens. Why doesn’t the cop know that or even recognize her? Time is only mixed up for her. They also blatantly cheat another thing in the time-line. There’s a “shocking” shot where her daughter’s face is suddenly mangled. They show later that she accidentally ran through a sliding-glass-door, but in the time-line which they set for the movie, it happens before they learn that daddy is dead, in fact daddy shows up at the hospital. But at the very beginning of the film, when they find out he’s dead, her face is perfectly normal. They should have found another way around this, by shooting her only from the back or something, instead they simply cheat. Not that it would have made this crappy movie any better.

I recently reviewed a pair of French comedies, complaining about the lack of good American comedies lately. These two films here are exactly what I'm talking about. I won't even bother to separate them as they both have all the same problems. In the completely unnecessary remake of The Pink Panther, Steve Martin puts on a ridiculous French accent to play the role of Inspector Jacques Clouseau. Originally made famous and a thousand times funnier, by the comedy-genius Peter Sellers. You can practically smell the desperation in the filmmakers attempts to make us laugh. Steve Martin, who himself once was an incredibly funny man, making stupid comedy seem brilliant, in films like The Jerk. Seems lost in how to make a joke work as Clouseau. He simply pumps everything up to 11; the stupidity of his character is so far out there, it's no longer funny.

I felt the exact same way about Robin Williams in License to Wed. This often intensely hilarious actor, seems out of his depth. I didn't find myself laughing once at his portrayal as Reverend Frank. His nonsensical ideas on how to bring Mandy Moore and John Krasinski together as a couple, didn't once seem genuine. There has to be at least a certain sense of reality, when trying to make us laugh. Krasinski, who I find very funny and charismatic on the great show The Office, seems demeaned to be playing this guy set to be married to the ultra-bland Moore. He does the cliche' romantic-comedy thing, of constantly lying to his partner, performing ridiculous often illegal acts, getting himself deeper into trouble, when a moment of truth would resolve everything.

Poor Kevin Kline and Jean Reno, both great performers in their own rights, couldn't have been more obvious in their lackadaisical approaches to their characters. They both seemed embarrassed to be part of the mess that is The Pink Pather. Emily Mortimer, who plays Clouseau's love interest, is the only one that had any realistic attachment to her character, but she's in the film so briefly that she can't help. Beyonce, once again does her, "look Mom, I'm acting!", thing that I can't stand. The only performances with any life to be found in License to Wed, were done by some of the bit roles. I like young Josh Flitter as the Reverend's aid, he brings some life to his character, and out funnies Williams. Brian Baumgartner, Kevin from The Office, is maniacally over-the-top as another finance going through Reverend Frank's trials, but he at least seems to be trying to get some laughs.

The filmmakers behind these two extremely lame attempts at comedic filmmaking should be embarrassed by these movies. They are sloppily put together, with no real sense of zest, horribly acted by reliable performers, and worse beyond anything, not funny. I think between these two films, I had three slight chuckles, but countless groans at the pathetic attempts at humor. Not once was I drawn into the film or made to care about anyone in the least, I remained a distant viewer throughout each. The only worthwhile moment in either film is the opening credits animation in The Pink Panther, because it reminded me of the better versions of the film. - Grade: C- (Seen on 6/4/08) License to Wed plain sucked throughout. - Grade: D- (Seen on 6/15/08)

(Seen on 5/31/08) It's nice when a movie surprises you by being something more than it originally appeared to be. Timber Falls, although I'd read some good reviews, seemed to be nothing more than your typical slasher in the woods horror flick. And for about the first half of the film it seemed just that way, but then a twist changed it all, and it became far more interesting. Now I won't say that this film worked on all levels, but if you're a fan of horror films, especially original ones, this film would be worth giving a try.

I'm currently 44 films behind on my reviews. I find myself skipping movies at night, simply because I don't want to get further behind. Which is not what I want to do. I want to watch as many movies as I can. So there will probably be more postings like this in the future, with mini-reviews. Today I'm going to focus on three 2007 films that could fall under the horror genre. One near classic, one mediocre film, and one terrible film; can you guess which is which yet?

(Seen on 5/27/08) Vacancy was a film I didn't have a ton of interest in seeing, the trailer made it look okay, with nothing special or unique. I still have the same feeling after seeing it, the only part that truly stood out was the opening credits. But I'll recommend it as a decent thriller, that's pretty well made, and not too stupid.

I was actually surprised by how smart they made the lead characters. Instead of constantly putting themselves in harm's way, they were making the right decision. The bad guys kept one step ahead for most of the film, simply because they were on their home turf. There were a couple of good jumps and I was pleasantly surprised they were restrained in the ending and didn't go for the obvious horror cliche'. Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale have a good bickering chemistry together, it convincingly felt like they'd been together a while. And I think this is the first time I've liked Luke outside a comedy, he doesn't seem to do drama well. You could do a lot worse in the thriller genre than Vacancy; it's a tight film, moving along quickly and smartly, without any truly dumb moments to drag it down. - Grade: B-

But within a few minutes it was fairly evident that this sequel wasn't going to be much better. They take way too long setting up the characters that are mostly going to end up fodder for the two species of aliens to maim and kill; with none of them are memorable. Where's our Ripley, Dutch, Hicks or "I ain't got time to bleed" Blain? I couldn't care less about a single one of these folks, they couldn't kill them off fast enough. I'll admit that the fight scenes in this film are done much better than the first Alien vs. Predator, but they're the only scenes in the film worth watching. I actually found myself getting bored about half way through the film, a real no-no for something so stupid.

Directors Greg & Collin Strause try way, way too hard to make us think about the classic film Aliens, there are a ridiculous amount of allusions to that film; from the music and sound effects ripped straight from that film, to the character archetypes and they even include military vehicles and weaponry extremely similar, even though this film takes place now and Aliens is hundreds of years into the future. The second half of the film is pretty much nothing but a bad Aliens rip-off, with a few Predators thrown in to kill an alien here or there. Another worthless addition to both series. - Grade: D

(Seen on 5/23/08) Ultra-talented writer/director Frank Darabont could go on making Stephen King adaptations for the rest of his career and I think the world would be a better place. His film Shawshank Redemption, is the absolute best King movie ever put on film; yes, I believe it's even better than The Shining. The Green Mile, was another excellent adaptation, a little long in spots, but tonally just right. With The Mist, he moves away from the prison-drama setting, into more familiar King territory, a horror story. And in my opinion he made the best horror film of 2007. One whose reputation will grow with time; because like many great films it was misunderstood upon it's first release.

The Mist takes the classic horror cliche' of trapping a bunch of people together with monsters banging on the door, and turns it on its ear. Darabont started out in horror films, writing the best of the Nightmare on Elm St., sequels with The Dream Warriors and also wrote the completely underrated remake of The Blob. So it's with no surprise that he's created a wonderfully built, incredibly well thought out B-Movie. If it weren't for a few spottily built computer monsters, The Mist would be an almost perfect horror film. There are great characters to root for in the hero David Drayton, a painter and dad, who stays calm under pressure; played nicely by the underused Thomas Jane. I particularly dug the character of Ollie; he's a chubby, balding, overage bag-boy, who has a big brain and a kick-ass action hero brewing inside him. They gave them a great human villain, in Mrs. Carmody, an over-zealous religious nut, who believes the monsters are God's apocolypse and she's ready to sacrifice the sinners to save the believers who begin to follow her. Marsha Gay Harden, brings this woman to life with such ferocity, that she is often more terrifying than any of the creepy-crawlies outside.

Although there are definitely a couple of classic monster scenes; the first time they get a taste of what's really happening, some incredibly creepy spiders, and I thought the "fishing for monsters" scene was darkly hilarious. I like how the monsters have an ecosystem all their own, with creatures of all size, from insects to dinosaurs, feeding on each other, and only turning to the humans as another source of food. The grocery store setting is the perfect place to bring characters from all walks of life together and it gives them ample food and shelter. It's only when things start to go so wrong on the inside that the heroes dare to venture out into The Mist. Once they do, it brings a whole other level to this already excellent film. The end is one of the most pessimistic I've ever seen, it leaves you with an ache in your gut, for what these characters have gone through. And I believe that's why the film didn't catch on like it should have, it's not the typical "everything is going to be okay" type of wrap up, and the film is much more powerful because of it. - Grade: A-

(Seen on 5/23/08) The Simpsons show is my all time favorite TV show, they've created the smartest and funniest show for two decades. When the film came out last summer, I was pretty excited to see it. And amazingly it lived up to the hype, it was very much a long episode, but they took it beyond that as well, did some things they can't do on the show. I particularly loved the Bart skating naked scene, it had one of the biggest laughs I've had in years. I think the only thing I didn't like in the whole film, was that they called the president Schwarzenegger instead of Rainier Wolfcastle, who was always an obvious parody, but it's a minor quibble.

I got around to watching it again on DVD and it held up quite well on a second viewing. There's so much going on, that it's tough to catch all the jokes the first time. But I don't feel like spending a bunch of time writing a full review, if you're a Simpsons fan you've seen the film, and don't need me to tell you how great it is. If you're one of the rare people who doesn't like the show, what's wrong with you?... I mean, I won't be able to convince you to see it, since it's the same thing as the show only longer and better animated. - Grade: B+

(Seen on 5/20/08) I was fairly stoked to see this film. It had received good reviews and I like Steve Carrell as an actor. I was expecting to see to a smart, well made romantic dramedy. The film is almost there, it has a lot of the right ingredients, but ultimately, it never clicked for me. Too much of the film felt false, so I couldn't buy into this slightly ridiculous story.

Carrell is Dan Burns, an advice columnist, with three daughters and a dead wife. It's time for the Burns family reunion, so he throws his daughters in the car and heads out to the Rhode Island coast to his parents picture perfect home. On a trip into town, he meets-cute with a beautiful woman in a book store. When she asks him to help find her some books, he pretends to work there and helps her find some books. I appreciated that the rouse didn't blow up in his face, like so many films, but instead he plays it off, and the two have a wonderful talk, where he tells her all about his life. Marie is the first woman he's met, that's truly interested him since his wife died a few years before. Despite the obvious connection, she suddenly decides to take off. Before she drives away, Dan gets up the courage to ask her out and that's when she tells him she's already seeing someone.

This being a predictable romantic comedy, they meet up a short while later at Dan's parent's house, where he discovers his younger, irresponsible brother is dating her. This leads to many awkward moments between Dan, Marie and the rest of the family. There are a number of ridiculous movie-only moments; such as Dan and Marie ending up in the shower together, while Dan's oldest daughter is having a heart-to-heart with Marie. So much of film doesn't feel right, this is an only-in-the-movies kind of family; the whole weekend, they're constantly doing something like playing backyard football, practicing yoga together, or having a family talent show. This family is too picture perfect. Diane Wiest and John Mahoney, who've played parents in a combined 612 movies, once again show up as the all knowing, sweet as pie mom and dad, who always have exactly the right thing to say.

The movie is fairly entertaining, it is full of great actors who take these unreal situations and sell them to the best of their abilities. Carrell is his usual awkwardly-charming, hilarious self. Juliette Binoche doesn't have to stretch too much to be the perfect woman, she's beautiful and enchanting. Dane Cook, who plays younger brother Mitch, is the only one I really didn't like in the film; I've never bought him as an actor and proves again he doesn't have the chops. Writer/director Peter Hedges, has created a film that's utterly predictable, where the jokes are telegraphed from way off, with the whole thing playing a bit too on the nose. Dan in Real Life doesn't offer a single unique moment, but the caliber of the actors makes the film works as a cliche' riddled only in movie-land type fashion. - Grade: C+

(Seen on 5/20/08) I'm not a huge fan of political films, they're usually kind of dry or they get my ire up. I've tried to avoid most of the Iraq war films, since it's still an open wound, and according to the box office, it seems most Americans feel the same way. But a film with the pedigree of Charlie Wilson's War, there was no way I could pass it up. The film is directed by an old master, Mike Nicholos; stars two of the biggest movie stars around, Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts, and is written by Alan (The West Wing) Sorkin, and they prove that they know how to put on a hell of a show. The film is funny, entertaining, quick moving and enlightening.

Based on a true story, although it's always tough to tell how much is based in reality and how much is for our entertainment,the film is about Charlie Wilson, a Texas congressman. Charlie spent most of his time in office abusing his power, partying with high rollers and such, which isn't too hard to believe. But when he sees Dan Rather reporting from Afghanistan, where they're warring with the Soviets, his motivation to help suddenly kicks in. Through a lot of political finagling, the help of a rich philanthropist and a CIA outsider, he manages to strike the first blow in the down fall of the Soviet Union. He does so by covertly supplying the Afghani's with advanced weapons and the training needed to operate them, so the battlefield is evened out.

The film has a lot of great Washington insider scenes, and you get a good feeling for how things really work. Hanks as "Good Time Charlie" Wilson, is impetuously likable, constantly surrounding himself with beautiful women, and when he takes to something he cares about, he goes at it full force. Julia Roberts has her best role in years as Joanne Herring, the Houston socialite, who uses her charm and vast amount of powerful contacts to help garner support for Wilson's cause. Philip Seymour Hoffman steals every scene he's in as the boozy, CIA operative Gust Avrakotos, his history of underground dealings help pave the way for all the deals that Wilson has to make along the way.

With a top-notch cast and a whip smart script, it seems like all of Nichols work was done for him. But he sets just the right tone throughout the film, knowing when make us laugh and how to sell the drama. And although the film takes place in the early 80's, it has a lot of significance towards today's politics, especially the middle eastern policies and what's happened since then. So many of these "message" films are full of self-importance and an unnecessarily long running times. Charlie Wilson's War moves along quickly and is a very easy film to like.

(Seen on 5/19/08) I’m not quite sure why they’re trying to sell this film like one of the quirky coming-of-age films, with the comic book type poster, like it’s the next Juno or Rocket Science. Except for a slightly off-skew sense of humor, this film is nothing like those types. It’s not cute or quirky, there are no smart-ass teenagers; nor is the soundtrack full of Violent Femmes songs. This is an adult film, with adult issues, and a lot to do about death and how people death with it. But it’s funny.

Even though both the main characters, Wendy and Jon Savage, are middle aged, it does have one thing in common with those kinds of films; it’s a coming-of-age story. Both Jon and Wendy are stuck in an advanced state of adolescence. What finally kicks them in the ass to grow up, is dealing with their dying father. Wendy, played with spit and vinegar by Laura Linney, is an artsy-little-girl stuck in a woman’s body. Wendy is having an affair with a married man, does temp jobs, while dreaming about writing plays; her only responsibility being a potted plant. Her younger brother Jon, another wonderful character from one of the greatest actors of our generation, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, is a little more grown-up; he has a real job as a professor of literature and a live in girlfriend, but he's still very much figuring out life.

When their father’s girlfriend dies, leaving him without a home, they’re forced to move him from Arizona, into a low rent retirement home in Buffalo, NY, where Jon teaches school. It’s quite apparent to them, that he doesn’t have much time left and they decide that Wendy will move in with Jon for a while, so they can spend his lingering days together. They didn’t have much of a family life together when they were young, they want the opportunity to get to know him before he’s gone. This dysfunctional family slowly learns how to love each other once again. Jon’s also dealing with his girlfriend’s visa expiring, and her being forced out of the country; while Wendy and her married boyfriend’s relationship comes to a head.

The Savages is a wonderful little film, full of great performances; with Linney and Hoffman making their characters fully rounded and sometimes too close to home. I also really liked Philip Bosco as the father Lenny, he gives dying a true depth, a reality, and some humor. This is not a laugh-out-loud comedy, but sometimes you have to chuckle at the darkest moments in life, because dwelling on them too much would be too much to handle. Writer/director Tamara Jenkins culled this film out of her real life experiences, and the film feels all the more realistic for it. (She also did a little film I dug called The Slums of Beverly Hills.) This is a film with a true beating heart, it understands how people really act out their lives. Spending some time with The Savages leaves you with more life experience. – Grade: B+

After watching Russell Crowe in hero mode a few nights back in American Gangster, it was fun to see him in all-out bad guy mode. He’s one of the few actors around that has the gravitas to make you fully believe him in either role, and it’s fun to watch him stretch those impressive muscles. Here in 3:10 to Yuma, he plays one of the great western villains in Ben Wade. Until a third act slip-up nearly ruins his character and the entire movie. (Which, I’ll write about in full spoiler mode below.) I was enjoying the film and his character so much up till that point, that despite the total flaw, I tried to overlook it and enjoy the film for all its other great moments.

3:10 to Yuma focuses on two characters, Russell’s Ben Wade, who’s a total hard ass, has zero compassion for human life, and leads a gang of ruffians with an iron fist. On the other side is Christian Bale’s Dan Evans, he’s the polar opposite; tries to do everything by the book and goes out of his way to avoid violence. But it’s a harsh world and on the inside he’s really a hard man, trying to be good, and he's hiding something about his past. In the opening scene of the film, his family’s barn is burned down by the local goons working for the rich land owner, who Dan owes money too. The next day, he’s taking his sons and the last of their cows on the way to town, when they run across the path of Ben and his gang, who are robbing a stage coach.

You can tell this is a new fangled western in this highly stylized action scene, the guys on the coach have a Gatling gun mounted to the back and fire away mercilessly, while the bad guys ride hard after them, one of them even exploding when they get hit, because of the dynamite in their pocket. The scene ends with the coach flipping in a fury of dust and strewn bodies. The whole thing feels more like a car chase from a Bourne movie, than anything resembling the traditional western.

Ben shows a bit of compassion by letting Dan and his son's go and rides into town, where he is soon caught, due to his own arrogance. The railroad man, who’s coach was just robbed, offers a group of untrained men a reward if they get Ben on the 3:10 to Yuma train, taking Ben to prison. A doctor, one of the goons who burned Dan’s barn down, a Pinkerton who was the last left from the coach, and Dan who just walked into town. Dan wants to do the right thing, but also wants the $200 to save his family’s ranch. Through some good trickery the group manages to send Ben’s gang in the wrong direction, buying them some time, but still manage to run into a group of rogue Indians, some mining men that have it in for Ben, and Ben himself offers up all kinds of trouble on their trip to Yuma, and not everybody makes it there alive. Dan keeps alive thanks to an unlikely one-sided friendship with Ben, who sees Dan as a kindred spirit in some way.

The film offers up a nice simple western story, 6 unprepared men, taking one of the most dangerous men alive across the desert. The film is very nicely put together with a modern western flair, beautifully shot in cinemascope, it looks pretty authentic, with everybody’s dusty and dirty, plenty of hard horse riding and six guns a blazing. Crowe makes Ben a charismatic villain with ice cold heart. Bale does his usual thing, going all out, looking the dirtiest and most beat up of the bunch. Ben Foster has a blast playing Ben’s right hand man, a maniacal gunman, without an ounce of pity. Peter Fonda has his best role in years as the Pinkerton, who’s run in with Ben a few times before, but remains professionally pissed about it. I was totally into the story, and it’s put together so deftly, that I was really falling in love with the, until the story takes a completely unconvincing twist at the end. But it leads to another cool shoot-out in the streets of Yuma, so I wasn’t totally upset, but it nearly ruined this otherwise perfect western. – Grade: B-

(Spoilers ahead, I’m going to discuss the ending that nearly ruined the film.) Okay, so up until the very end of the film, Ben is a ruthless killer, willing to do anything to stay out of jail. When Dan reveals his secret about being injured by his own men in the war, Ben suddenly flips, changing from someone who'd do anything in his power to stay out of jail, to helping Dan get him on the train. Ben starts gunning down his own gang, and willingly puts himself on the train, even after Dan is dead. Sure, he’s mentioned that he’s escaped prison, but where’s the motivation; you don’t flip on a dime from ultimate bad guy, to decent fellow, with just a couple of words. It rang completely false.

Why do we like revenge films? Is it a violent urge inside all of us, to harm someone that did us wrong? I believe that movies let us live out fantasies that we otherwise wouldn't get to. Whether that be travel, sexual, violence or a million other possibilities. I think most humans are full of anger, it's simply part of being human; looking at our history, it's impossible to ignore. Now that most of us are domesticated, happy to live in harmony with our neighbors, we live it out through the movies. That's why films from Death Wish to Sweeney Todd exist, we get to see the guy who's been stepped on, get his revenge. It pleases our deepest instincts. (At least that's what I tell myself, when I cheer inside, when some guy gets brutally killed.)

So it was with those thoughts I went into Death Sentence. I've always liked Kevin Bacon, he's one of the industries most reliable actors, popping up in just about anything, always giving a good, believable performance. Director James Wan has caught my attention over the last few years; busting out with Saw, his original being the only worthwhile of the bunch, and I was one of the few people that really dug his killer puppet film Dead Silence. He's got a good eye, and a talent for building suspense and action scenes. I figured the two couldn't go wrong in revenge mode, and I was mostly right.

Bacon plays Nick Hume, an executive, a dedicated husband and father of two, you couldn't ask for a much plainer fellow. He takes great pride in the fact that his older son Brendan is a top-notch high school hockey player. He has hopes for him to get a college scholarship and maybe go pro one day. Everything changes one night, when the two stop at a gas station on the wrong side of town. Brendan is mercilessly killed by a young gang member, doing so, simply to be fully initiated into the gang. When the DA tells this grieving father, that since he's the only witness, the most he can hope for is a few years behind bars for the murdering bastard.

Pissed beyond belief at a justice system gone wrong, Nick has the judge throw out the case. And decides to take the law into his own hands! I mean really, is there any other option? Nick proceeds to track down the kid and kill him a few nights later. Being a novice at it, he does so pretty sloppily, leaving behind enough evidence for the cops and the kid's brother/gang-leader to be on his ass. I liked actor playing the brother, Garrett Hedlund, he has the angry-young-man bit down well. But the main cop, played by Aisha Tyler, is a drag every time she's on camera, I didn't buy her as a cop for a second. Nick has to distract the cops and fight the gang off the best he can, and his world begins to quickly unravel.

There's a pretty great scene, when the gang finds Nick after work and they chase him through the alleys of downtown, into a parking structure, ending with Nick rolling a parked car from the top floor with one of the gang members still inside. The entire thing gets way out of hand, ruining his good name, and putting the rest of his family in jeopardy. The film's ending is about as big a downer as you could find in these films, which is really saying something.

Death Sentence isn't going to knock anyone's socks off. It's not breaking any new ground. The action scenes are fairly well done, and they're fun to watch. But it's tough to believe some of the things Nick puts his surviving family through, in order to get his justice. And the way the initial murder is set-up, it's not enough to get you totally riled up for his eventual revenge. You actually kind of feel bad for the guys he's chasing down and I think that's maybe the feeling they were going for, trying not to paint it in black and white. But the film isn't built well enough for us to feel a full set of emotions, mostly you just want to see Bacon kick ass. If you're into revenge films, you could do a lot worse; but there are a ton of them out there far more satisfying and better mad. - Grade: C+

I'm always impressed by film-making of this caliber. The sheer amount of effort that went into making this film is breathtaking. The locations, the time frame, the costumes, the set pieces, and the pure length of the film is astounding. That said, the film doesn't hold a true rewatchability factor, at least for me. It's so well made that I'll probably check out scenes when it pops up on cable, but the length of the film, nearly 3 hours, will keep me from ever sitting down and watching the whole thing again. Maybe, when I'm old and retired and have the time, but definitely not in the near future.

Denzel Washington, as real life mobster Frank Lucas, gives an amazing performance; from tough to tender, he hits it all. You're actually rooting for this guy, because of where he came from, what he's trying to achieve, the ingenuity and strength that it takes to accomplish it, even though it's all completely illegal. Russell Crowe gives another outstanding performance as the cop, Richie Roberts, who's seemingly the only straight cop in New York City. Everyone on the force, knows him as the cop who turned in a million unmarked dollars for evidence, even his partner hates him for it. But he has a mission in life and the dedication to do it.

The film is about two men coming into their own, heading for a collision that for much of the film they're unaware of. Richie's building a case towards a man hiding at the top of a drug empire. Lucas believes that he's built his protection so well, that nobody will ever touch him. It's interesting how the film contrasts them in their home lives. Lucas is all about family, taking care of his mother, his wife and his brothers; Richie is too dedicated to his job to even realize that he's missing out on his life, his wife's leaving him, with his son, and it's completely secondary. It's very intriguing to watch as it all comes to a head, and what happens when Lucas is finally taken down; I was very surprised by how it all turns out. Though I'm interested in how much of this story is actually true.

Director Ridley Scott has built an epic crime saga; that doesn't work in black and whites, there are a lot of shades of gray here. Just because a man is breaking the law doesn't necessarily mean he's a bad person, and those upholding the laws, are often not in the right. The film is so perfectly made, from top to bottom, that not once was I taken out of the story. The performances by Washington and Crowe are impeccable, along with the rest of the cast. I especially dug Josh Brolin as the dirty detective, Trupo. (This and No Country For Old Men, two amazing performances in 2007, from the big brother in The Goonies.) Writing about how perfectly made this film is makes me want to see it again. My only real complaint is the length, and it mostly deserves it, 10-15 minutes could be cut, but I can't complain. Maybe I'll watch it again sooner than I thought. If you haven't seen it, make sure and do so. - Grade: A

This is one of those films that is so middle of the road that it'll be tough to review. I didn't hate the film, but I didn't particularly like it either. It was mildly diverting in an non-insulting manner, but also completely forgettable. Which makes it tough to write about because I didn't form a lot of opinions while I was watching it.

Mostly War wasn't the film I was expecting. From the trailers it looked like a non-stop action film, full of kung-fu and gun fights. Which there are elements of, but not as much as I hoped for. With Jason Statham, the star of the Transporter and Jet Li, one of the greatest kung-fu stars ever, and a title like War, I was expecting 90 minutes of over-the-top battles. But there's a lot of story-development, which isn't usually a bad thing, but honestly there's too much for a film of this type. I don't want to watch Statham and Li talk out their problems.

Statham plays a rogue FBI agent, is there any other kind in these films? Who's after the master-assassin, Jet Li, who killed his partner at the beginning of the film. The funny thing is that Li starts to play the Yakuzas against the Triads, two mafia clans, who Statham has been trying to take down on his own. He begins to question what's really going on, while also trying to catch Li. They're both so busy with the mafia battles, that they don't get a chance to face off until the final scene of the film. Which is what's to be expected, but I thought there would be some warm up fights as well.

I actually didn't see the final twist coming, which was done pretty well, but the film wasn't entertaining enough up to that point to keep my full attention, so that I honestly didn't care by the end. If they're going to sell a film as an all-out-action film, they better be able to back it up. But the film, while having a couple of decently done scenes, has too much story and talking, that isn't done well enough to care about. They hardly have Jet Li do any kung-fu fighting, he uses his guns far more than his fists. I was hoping for a lot more battles between Statham and Li, their final fight scene is fun, but it takes far too long to get there. War is not bad, not good, a completely forgettable action flick without enough action. - Grade: C