livinitup2589 Reviews

The Devil's Rejects (2005)

The Devil's Rejects: Modern-Day Horror Masterpiece

[8/10 · 29 September 2007]

I gotta hand it to Rob Zombie. The guy knows how to make a horror movie. I haven't seen his first film House of 1,000 Corpses, but I don't really have to in order to recognize his flair for film-making. The Devil's Rejects, the sequel to Zombie's debut, is so strikingly violent that it's hard to watch for more than five minutes. But at the same time, there's a certain diabolical charm to the movie that keeps the sickest acts of human kind very watchable. In a strange way, I couldn't look away.

After a TCM inspired opening, we're taken into the Firefly house. As Otis, Baby, and the rest of the clan awaken to the sweet smell of rotted corpses, their house is bombarded by the police, headed by hot head Sheriff Wydell. The family arm themselves with guns and metal face plates, and all hell breaks loose. After a shooting spree that leaves a good number from each side dead, the cops seize Momma Firefly and Baby and Otis manage to escape through the sewers.

The rest of the film follows the two fugitives as they shoot, stab and molest their way across the state. Eventually, the two meet up with Captain Spalding, a perverted clown who's just as psychotic as they are. Running parallel to the storyline is Sheriff Wydell's manhunt for the three of them.

Taken at face value, this isn't a movie you'll likely enjoy. There's far too much here for the squeamish and the violence is completely reprehensible. But Zombie (a former hard rocker who's self image seemed to be right out of a horror film) handles every moment with such a strong sense of humor that we forgive the movie for much of its ugliness, and begin to enjoy the madness . As unforgivable as some of it is, the movie is somehow able to win us over.

There's a chance, a good one, that this is the first movie that I can remember laughing out loud at such incredibly nasty people. Captain Spalding, with his dirty beard and scary clown makeup, is absolutely hilarious. This is funny, considering I don't find clowns to be really funny at all. It seems strange that when I finally find one, he's a homicidal nut job. Otis, the bearded, trigger happy psycho is just as funny because he's so careless and clueless that only he can take himself seriously. As far as Baby goes, she's not nearly as funny as she is sexy. Although I do wonder how she grew up to be so good looking.

Besides the fact that the movie mixes so well elements of splatter and comedy, it's a technical achievement as well. Zombie's script is packed with witty dialogue and scenes of true emotion between the characters. He even goes so far as to develop the Fireflys into an actual family, which only works in the movie's favor. His directorial skills are impressive as well, as he seems to have mastered pacing and has a real manic energy with the camera. He's not just another horror hack, but a guy who knows his stuff.

While Zombie is the movie's heart and soul, the actors seem to be its backbone. Each actor, no matter how small their part is, is superb at what they're given. As the film's lead, Sig Haig gives Captain Spalding a perfectly believable menace and a strange charm. The scene where he car jacks P.J. Soles (who is terrific in her short time on screen) is just as funny as it is scary because of Haig's ability to be intimidating and goofy at the same time. As Otis, Bill Moseley is second only to Haig with the most scene stealing performance in the movie. As Baby, Sheri Moon Zombie is not as good as the other two, but does a good enough job at being sick and twisted. William Forsyth gets the more conventional role as the revenge bent sheriff and runs with it.

Despite its wretched characters and even more wretched content, I think The Devil's Rejects will someday become a horror classic. Zombie defies modern horror in a way that hasn't been seen for a long time. He pushes the entire genre over the cliff of absurdity, and brings it back with an entire new set of rules. There may be no more rules left by the time he's made his next film.

Thirteen (2003)

A step up from today's coming-of-age movies.

[8/10 · 25 November 2006]

My problem with most teen movies is that they tend to be either too exaggerated or underdeveloped. Their depictions of adolescence lack conviction and realism. All of them, at least in the era after the great John Hughes, seem to think that every high school is the same, every kid is a stereotype and that jocks reign supreme while all the nerds serve as easy targets for cruelty.

The fact is, teenagers don't exist in a black and white world. Movies like She's All That and Jawbreaker should take a lesson from Thirteen, a film that shows teenage life at its most tragic. This is a movie where the ugly truth about peer pressure and fitting in is put on display without apology or remorse. Where the emotional fragility that comes with of growing up is put through hell and is never the same again. In other words, it's the real thing.

The story is told through the eyes of naive Tracy (Evan Rachel Wood), a middle schooler with an average but happy life. She has the kind of outlook on life that every girl her age needs. She lives in a single-parent home with her brother (Brady Corbet) and mother (Holly Hunter). When the first day of seventh grade arrives, Tracy begins to develop a sudden craving to be part of the "it-crowd", and decides to ditch her friends in an attempt to meet Evie (co-writer Nikki Reed), the most popular girl in school. When she finally approaches her new-found idol she's surprised when Evie gives her number to go shopping after school. Tracy wouldn't dream of passing the opportunity up, and her decision to befriend Evie causes a chain reaction of corrupt behavior, sex and drugs that will change her life forever.

The most striking thing about Thirteen is that it more-or-less resembles real-life. This day and age is a dangerous time to be hitting puberty, and that is exactly what the movie says about contemporary America. At a time in life where the evils of society shouldn't be near a thirteen-year old, they seem to be disturbingly invited. Tracy and Evie are just as inclined to steal as a pair of middle-aged panhandlers, as willing to destroy as an immoral drug-dealer. The only difference is that these two don't have any of the responsibilities that come with adulthood, only the consequences of premature corruption.

With all the poignancy that develops throughout, Thirteen's power also comes from its uncompromising view of what teenagers do when there's no parents or authority watching over them. With its R-rated content surely deserved, this is a movie that ironically deserves to be seen as a family film. Parents with a preteen should make an exception to constricting their children to violent movies and sit down with them for this one. In a year or two, they'll be glad when their kids are practicing abstinence when the majority of their classmates won't know what the word is.

So, I've established Thirteen as an important movie. This, above all, is thanks to a script that was written with authenticity by a girl who knows how it feels to be changed by her age. Nikki Reed, along with director Catherine Hardwicke, has told a brutal but undeniably effective story. But the problem with its impact comes in the technical storytelling. Hardwicke, who manages to get great performances out of everyone on screen, doesn't always do the right thing with the visuals. There are moments that, with more subtle and restrained energy, could have been better than they are.

For example, when Tracy first meets Evie, Hardwicke uses a few freeze-frames too many and employs rock music that camps up an otherwise serious scene. The same is done to a number of the girls' most horrific moments, where the camera moves as much as it needs to, but doesn't stop. For a movie that holds so much contempt toward contemporary America, it tries awfully hard to fit in to the MTV clique of teen cinema.

The only flaw to the movie's content comes with its treatment of social acceptance. Unlike real-life, Thirteen classifies its characters into two-dimensional ideas, not as individuals, but as groups. I don't notice much segregation in terms of popularity at my high school, but it seems to exist beyond belief here. After meeting Evie, Tracy completely abandons her former friends because she feels herself as superior in terms of her social status. This wouldn't be such a problem if the movie wasn't aiming for realism, but in reality, teenagers aren't this subjective to their temporary reputation high school.

But Thirteen's message is so strong that people will be probably look past these flaws and take the movie as is. It defies the limits of modern teen movies and substitutes truth for PG-13 falsity. In its attempt to tell the audience what really goes on when teenagers have the freedom to do whatever they want, it leaves its mark long after the last shot ends. For every parent and teenager living in denial about the social tragedies that surround them, Thirteen is required viewing.

Angel Heart (1987)

Angel Heart: A brilliant example of atmospheric horror

[8/10 · 14 October 2006]

The first time I saw Angel Heart, I didn't know for sure what it was. About two years ago I had been flipping through stations on TV and stopped on a movie with Mickey Rourke and a bearded Robert De Niro. Already I was hooked, but it wasn't just the presence of these two actors that had me watching, it was the look and feel of the film. Considering I had only caught the last ten minutes of the movie, I was completely engrossed. But it wasn't until earlier this year that I was finally able to sit through the entire movie.

The story of Angel Heart is one of noir essence accompanied by overwhelming dread. It begins in 1950's New York, with Harry Angel (Mickey Rourke), a low class gumshoe with quite a low prolific career. In his office, he gets a call from a potential client's lawyer, asking him to meet him in of all places, a Harlem church. The client in question is Louis Cyphre (Robert De Niro), a mysterious figure who offers Harry a case: Find Johnny Favourite, a war veteran and jazz singer who went missing after returning from the war.. This seemingly simplistic case takes Angel from the roughness of New York to the steamy bayous of New Orleans. As he investigates Favourite's disappearance, he finds himself in the middle of something far more sinister than he ever suspected.

As a through-back to the detective thrillers of the 40's and 50's, Angel Heart takes us to places that weren't often traveled in thrillers of the 80's. We're taken to the backwoods of Louisiana where locals practice Voodoo, jazz clubs where classic sounds are still new, and seedy motels that make alleys look like suites at the Ritz-Carlton. There aren't many clean places in the film and it rains in nearly every scene. Writer-director Alan Parker creates a world where only the noir exists and darkness is constant.

But this is not a genre film in the conventional sense. Parker keeps most of the story within the nostalgic South and even adds Satanism to the mix. Eventually, the movie begins to completely turn away from its noir roots and becomes surrealistic horror.

In what can be called a virtuoso performance, Mickey Rourke gives Angel a perfect glibness that makes his journey all the more surprising. Balancing pompousness with certain professional drive, Rourke perfectly captures a down and out gumshoe. Sharing his every scene with Rourke, De Niro shines in a purposely understated role. As Cyphre, De Niro is at his most stoic and creepy in only a few scenes.

At the time of its release, the real interest of the movie came in the appearance of then Cosby Kid Lisa Bonet. As the gorgeous but mysterious Epiphany Proudfoot, she gives an against type performance that showed its power by getting her fired on the role that made her famous. The sex scene that most scarred her innocent persona is anything but sexy and is something you have to see for yourself.

For me though, the ultimate standout of the film's legacy lies in the brilliant cinematography by Michael Seresin. In terms of capturing a film's visuals with its atmosphere, Seresin's photography is some of the best I've seen in the horror genre or any other. Along with Seresin, Parker uses another one of his regulars, Trevor Jones, to create the perfectly toned music for the film.

Angel Heart is a prime example of a filmmaker creating a perfectly envisioned piece of work. Everything about the movie fits the genre to a perfect pitch and follows its dark visage to the very end. Criminally underrated at the time of its release, its finally found an audience ever since its release on DVD, and rightfully so. A horror film this brilliant shouldn't be missed by anyone remotely interested in horror or mystery films.

The Fan (1996)

More than just a heartless exercise in sports obsession.

[7/10 · 22 August 2006]

Watching The Fan, it's difficult,at times,to see beneath its in-your-face presentation and realize what the film is actually about. Since the beginning of the century, America's been obsessed with sports. Just as much as the sports being played, people adore the athletes who play them. I've seen people who literally dedicate every breathing moment of their life to their favorite sports star. Gil Renard, the man at the center of The Fan, is this kind of guy, and then some.

On the surface, the movie can be seen as a two-dimensional thriller about a psychotic baseball nut. You could also say that for every motive this guy has for doing what he does, none of them seem to justify his actions. This kind of bleak criticism seems unfair though, since after taking into context the film's parallel telling of middle class suffering against the fame and fortune of a life in the spotlight, the film begins to transform into a sad story of a man down on his luck.

The film begins with an unusual but effective sequence that has Robert De Niro voicing a poem over a montage of stock baseball footage. With this, we're brought into the down-sliding life of Gil Renard. His career as a knife salesman is nearly coming to an end, his ex-wife is on the verge of taking his son away from him, and he has an appointment scheduled during the San Francisco Giants season opener. But Gil has one thing going for him: center field superstar Bobby Rayburn (Wesley Snipes) has signed a $40 million contract with the Giants. Gil is ecstatic, but as his luck on the field stacks high, his personal life goes tragically downhill.

Soon Gil begins to replace life itself with a fantastic obsession with Rayburn's performance on the field. And when the superstar enters a slump and loses his $40 million worth, Gil takes it upon himself to get his favorite player hitting again, whatever it takes.

For Tony Scott, The Fan marks his first foray into character study, but is only an addition to thrillers on his filmography. Scott isn't exactly the first director I'd expect to take over a project like this, not because he isn't capable of doing a thriller with depth, but because his direction is often too action oriented to devote an audience's attention to the characters. Here though, his style and hyper-kinetic visuals never detract from the story. If anything, Scott puts an interesting spin on things that make them more effective than they would without him.

De Niro is used to playing this kind of character by now. Since the seventies, he's played psychotic stalkers to the point of perfection. As Gil, his obsessiveness toward Rayburn feels more out of desperation than of pure lunacy, thus separating his performance here from the likes of Max Cady in Cape Fear. Snipes, on the other end, hadn't accomplished quite as big a reputation in his role as the Giants slugger, but he puts in a believable performance and looks like he can swing a bat like the real pros.

As opposite ends of the social pipeline, De Niro's blue collar salesman and Snipes' pampered center fielder, and the differences in their lifestyles are what The Fan is actually about. As Gil's life slides down a long slope, Rayburn is treated like a star throughout. Even if his average isn't what the fans want to see. Rayburn's life will never hit as low a point as Renard's. Beyond its thriller like exterior, The Fan is a commentary on sports obsession.

Wolf Creek (2005)

Not for the squeamish, the unprepared, or the intolerant.

[5/10 · 12 June 2006]

Since Wolf Creek managed to pass up mainstream treatment and distribution as a widely released horror movie, most of the U.S. audience gets to see this Australian export without knowing much about it in advance. This probably works in its favor, since seeing the movie with any details of its subject matter would more than likely make you pass up a chance to rent it at Blockbuster. To put it simply; Wolf Creek is not an easy movie to watch. After the first half, there's hardly a scene that doesn't involve some kind of dismemberment, If that's not your thing, there's plenty of mutilation and blood spatter to suit your liking. If you're not a fan of what I've mentioned ( maybe even if you are), Wolf Creek won't be much fun.

The setup's nothing new, except for that it lasts long enough for the characters to flesh out and be believable. It starts with Ben(Nathan Phillips) renting a car for road trip with his friends Liz(Cassandra Magrath) and Kristy (Kestie Morassi) to go hiking where they'll eventually end up at Wolf Creek National Park.

As usual, their car breaks down in the middle of the night and they're stuck in the middle of nowhere. Things start to look up when nice guy Mick Taylor(John Jarrat), who knows the woods like the back of his hands, offers to tow them out of the wilderness. They spend the rest of the night telling campfire stories and listening to Mick talk about his life as a boar hunter. Eventually, the three drift to sleep safe and sound thanks to nice guy Mick.

OK, here's where the relief stops and hope of being saved from danger disappears completely for the three. From here on out, Wolf Creek becomes relentless in depicting the pursuit and mutilation of the three travelers. I really don't want to give anything away, but I'll say that when the action starts and seemingly nice guy Mick turns out to be a sadistic maniac, the movie never gives you a chance to breathe. I don't mean that the movie's terribly exciting (suspense is hardly ever there), but the violence comes at such a hurried and ever going rate that you never get a chance to really enjoy the movie.

Its lack of enjoyability is Wolf Creek's biggest flaw. It's not that it's a a bad movie or devastatingly boring, but its fearless approach at showing murder and blood doesn't compensate for its lack of appeal to audiences. Even if you like this kind of thing and are a hardcore horror fan, Wolf Creek might leave something to be desired.

*I noticed that on Wolf Creek's IMDb homepage there's a comparison made to Eli Roth's Hostel. Even though both movies are more or less similar in that they show people dying for seemingly no reason and have enough blood in them to fill a bucket, don't go into Wolf Creek expecting another Hostel. The fun and light handedness of Hostel's violence is turned into sheer terror in Wolf Creek. Come to think of it, fun is the last thing this movie is.

Internal Affairs (1990)

Internal Affairs: A tense, fearless police thriller and a showcase for Richard Gere.

[7/10 · 30 April 2006]

Internal Affairs is a thriller with a lot of nerve. It takes risks, presenting the audience with a grim and violent story of police corruption. It doesn't care if you like it or hate it, just that it does its job of getting under your skin. The main reason the movie is so effective is because of Richard Gere's powerhouse performance. It caught me off guard, since before I saw it I'd always seen him as the hero or love interest, far from the territory he's in here. I'll get more into Gere's performance later, just let me clear up the plot.

Gere is Dennis Peck, respected vice cop, father and husband, determined to do the job. Oh, he's also the dirtiest cop on the force. He plants evidence, shoots suspects, sets up his fellow officers, doing it all without a shed of remorse. The hero of the movie is Raymond Avila (Andy Garcia), newly assigned to the Internal Affairs division of the LAPD and a friend of Peck's partner, Van Stretch (Stephen Baldwin). When Stretch introduces Peck and Avila it's obvious they don't like each other. Not getting along becomes an understatement as Avila starts to uncover Peck's corrupt behavior and looks to put a stop to it. But Peck won't go down without a fight, and he'll do whatever he can to keep Internal Affairs off his back.

As far as police thrillers go, Internal Affairs is one of the meaner kind. Rather than put us into the normal day of a cop it decides to put us into the normal day of bad cop, a really bad cop. This is a guy who would kill a man for stepping on his shoe. He'd probably kill his family too, and laugh while he was doing it. Think I'm exaggerating? Not so much. Peck is the embodiment of all the bad guys in police thrillers and none of the cops in them.

Of all of the actors you could find to play a guy like this, who would have guessed that a likable actor like Richard Gere would ever fit the bill. Does he ever. He gives that kind of against type performance we see a lot from normally good guy actors. We've seen it from Denzel Washington (Training Day), Tom Cruise (Collateral), and Robin Williams (Insomnia) in the past few years. Each of these guys have given performances that have altogether changed how we see them as actors. Gere is no exception here. He seems to be having a blast too, chewing the scenery every chance he gets.

He's surrounded by some good supporting work. Andy Garcia gives Avila a kind of determination you'd expect from a guy who's life has been wrecked by a guy like Peck. As his partner, Laurie Metcalf is likable and isn't as wasted as she could have been.

But when it all comes down to it, this is Gere's show, and he shines in his only truly villainous role to date. He probably had enough of playing the villain by the time he was done with this movie. That would make sense. After playing a guy like Dennis Peck, any actor would need time off from playing the bad guy. I'd like to see Gere play the bad guy again though, and give us another surprising and terrifically evil performance.

Collateral (2004)

Collateral goes farther than the conventional thriller.

[8/10 · 8 April 2006]

It's great to see an action thriller that has more to it than shootouts and chase scenes. There's seldom an action movie that has a story to tell aside from what it takes to set up the plot and amp up the suspense. Luckily, there's Michael Mann's movies to look forward to. His action films overachieve to the point that, after we see his name attached to the title, we expect a drama instead of a thriller. So it's no surprise that Collateral pushes far away from the action genre and becomes a character driven drama.

The story revolves around two men. Max, an aspiring cab driver finishing his shift and ready to go home, and Vincent, a mysterious assassin who becomes Max's last fare of the night. At first glance, the premise of an assassin going around killing targets before the night's over sounds like the kind of mindless thriller normally released in the summer. That's exactly what Collateral could of been, but because of Mann's expert direction and the performances of his two leads, it comes off as a deep study of two different men instead of a two dimensional thriller.

As Vincent, Tom Cruise gives one of those against-type performances that makes you wish he played the villain more often. He makes Vincent more than just a cold-hearted killer with a gun. There are scenes that suggest his regret for pulling the trigger and we can sense that he kills out of necessity rather than enjoyment. Mann is the best when it comes to presenting characters whose lives are overtaken by their professions. Cruise gives an intense and concentrated performance.

Foxx is equally convincing as the subdued and passive Max. Along with Cruise, he plays against his usual kind of character dropping his comedic side and revealing that he can play dramatic scenes with intensity.

The movie spends a lot of time in Max's cab. In these scenes, Max and Vincent are never presented as straight forward good and bad. Both men have flaws and neither can really be called hero and villain. Normally in action thrillers, we know exactly who to call good and bad, but if we got to know the two sides we'd find that both of them are basically the same. Collateral is the first thriller in a long time to consider such a true to life aspect and use it to create such real characters.

Collateral is why Michael Mann is one of my favorite filmmakers. He's not interested in just giving us shootouts and chase scenes. He wants to make sure that the people doing the shooting and the chasing are worth caring about. With Collateral, he gives us a thriller that doesn't just thrill because of what the characters do, it thrills because of who the characters are.