Way of the Gun

Ryan Philippe, Benicio del Toro, James Caan. Christopher McQuarrie, writer/dir. 2000, Artisan.

Another good movie if you like 'em rough and bloody. Several different characters with interweaving story lines - basically put, two small time hoods suddenly get into the big time when they kidnap the pregnant surrogate mother of a low-level (yet still pretty powerful in his circle) mobster - and all of this is set against the backdrop of the southwest desert (Arizona? California?) and eventually winding up in Mexico.

Gets better on repeated viewing as well - especially allowing us to appreciate more the interchange between the two bodyguards who were supposed to have protected our young pregnant lady - and the James Caan character, who is a "fixer," with all of the ominous images that entails.

Needless to say, there are plenty of twists and turns, and changing allegiances, and even though all of these people are criminals to varying degrees, you pretty much end up liking most of them - except for the mobster's trophy wife, who's a total B. And even though in the end there are more dead bodies than in a Shakespearean tragedy, we're left with a sense that everything turned out justly.

Overall, a very satisfying shoot-em-up, replete with great one-liners and gritty sarcasm.


VG

Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas

Voices of Brad Pitt, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Michelle Pfeiffer. 2003, Dreamworks.

Dreamworks seems to be outdoing Disney on its own turf, that is: making entertaining cartoons from old mythology and making them accessible to all audiences.

The ONLY drawback to this movie is that there's not enough of it. You want more adventures after following these characters through this.

It's a great movie, full stop. And in a world where everything has a sequel and that usually hacks me off . . . this time, I wanted a sequel.

VG

Pi

Ok - first, how do you type the symbol for Pi? I've been looking around for keyboard shortcuts and there ain't nothing out there! (either that or I'm just too impatient) but anyway

Darren Aronofsky, writer/director. 1997 - Harverst Film Works.

I may get shot for this quote, but the only way I can describe this movie is as follows:

Ahem . . .

"Pi" is the movie that Jim Jarmusch would make if he had actual talent instead of merely having many talented friends.

Ouch! you might say, but hey, I've seen almost every Jarmusch film and they get progressively more boring each and every time, whereas the number of famous actors increases exponentially. It's fantastic.

However, this movie has the same dark feel "TONE" that Jarmusch tries to create, but Aronofsky does it almost effortlessly. This film has nobody famous, so far as I can tell, and you begin to believe that this actually can happen to a certain segment of New Yorkers. In fact, what's incredible is that you actually find yourself caught up in the action, and the action is simply a mathematician trying to compute the formula for Pi. In his small dingy apartment. Surrounded by a mish-mash of computer equipment.

Honest to goodness it sounds unbelievably dull, and I agree, but that's the amazing part: as you watch this movie it's not dull, not at all. This film is not only a great introduction to mathematics as a metaphysical exercises, but also is a great into to Basic Judaism and overall philosophy.

This is a must for any collection of DVD for those of us who like our movies both cerebral AND that cause us to veer wildly toward that sharp edge between genius and madness.

VG

The Grudge

Sarah Michelle Gellar. Takashi Shimizu, dir (based on his characters and drawn from his original Japanese film Ju-On) 2004, Sam Raimi/Columbia Pictures/Ghost House Pictures.

Apart from the eeriness of the movie, the Gellar parts I kept thinking that Scooby and Shaggy were going to come traipsing in at any time.

Which really detracts from the film, sadly, because the rest of it is rather macabre. Interesting take on the skipping back and forth through the timeline, because I had to view it a second time to determine the plot. Note: there's a space of 3 years, but in the present time, which you might think the action is separated by several years, really only takes place over the space of a few days.

However, the theme of the piece is intriguing - that of a place that takes on the "stain" - of someone who died in a state of intense emotional as well as physical pain - that can transfer itself onto any living being that comes inside the place, leading them to suicide or something even more gruesome. That definitely is an idea worth being explored.

That, and I'm finding a similarity in tone with the horror movies of Japan - this one reminded me of The Ring and The Eye (which is Chinese, I know!) - so let's just say that Asian horror movies seem to explore more of the emotional aspects of horror, whereas the American ones simply deal with dismemberment.

Oh yeah - and this movie also suffers from "creepy child" syndrome - which always freaks me out. But other than that, this is more of a psychological thriller rather than a scare-you-outta-yer-pants.

Also, Bill Pullman . . . speaks Japanese. Only a couple of lines, but it sounds cool anyway.


VG

Punch Drunk Love

Adam Sandler, Emily Watson. Paul Thomas Anderson, writer/director. 2002, Revolution Studios/New Line Cinema.

Definitely an odd little film - it leaves you with a feeling that you can't quite explain. Definitely not one for Adam Sandler fans of the fart jokes, because they'll see a Sandler here that will blow their pointy little minds. Actually, he's not really so much cast-against-type as the mood of the movie is not light humour, but very very dark humour.

Much of it is understanded. Very subtle. This is a movie about a strange little man with fits of uncontrollable rage and the woman who falls in love with him and accepts him completely for what he is.

Add to that mix the subplot of the Mormon family who runs a blackmail racket derivating from a 900 phone sex line . . . which is really the catalyst and the only true tension in the entire movie.

Fans of action will hate this flick, but people who like their movies thought-provoking and subtle will absolutely love it.

Decide which one you are, and that will determine if you should check it out.


VG

John Carpenter's Vampires

James Wood, one of the Baldwins. 1998. Columbia-TriStar.

One of the styles of vampire movies that I particularly enjoy - that of the hard-bitten vampire hunters tirelessly chain-smoking and staking the snot out of the vile creatures. This movie comes in second only to Near Dark, which to this day reigns in my personal canon as the best of this genre.

My favourite take is the vampire hunters being a sort-of mercenary hire from the Catholic Church - with teams all over the word, doing the Lord's work. The film has great dialogue, great action, lots of blood n guts and a good vs evil mentality, with of course the underlying premise that sometimes good has to be just as mean as evil, but hey! It's vampires!

Check it out.

VG

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Robert Downey Jr, Val Kilmer, Michelle Monaghan. 2005, Silver Pictures. Shane Black, writer/director.

Film noir. Had the feel of the best of the Coen brothers (Big Lebowski, Man Who Wasn't There), etc. Dialogue-driven, in the hard-boiled style. Read like a Raymond Chandler story, which of course was the homage (with the chapters based on Chandler titles, i.e. Farewell My Lovely and The Simple Art of Murder)

Also what was spectacular was the use of the "unreliable narrator" in that, during the course of the narration - he hesitates, stops, reverses the scene - adds details that he "should" have added before during the narration in order to make the story more seamless, then apologizes to us, the audience, and continues on.

The setting also posts to the mood - however, in Chandler's stories, the city itself actually became a character in and of its own - in this movie, that seems to be alluded to, but the city does not become so integral to the story as the overall ambivalent ambiance of the people who live in LA - they seem to ride this soft wave of moral decadence, generally accepting of all types of evils as long as it doesn't rock their own personal boat. Several times throughout the movie my wife asked, "Why aren't those bystanders doing anything?" and I could only respond, "Hey baby, it's LA" which, to be honest, having never lived there, I don't know if I was buying into a stereotype or simply making a supposition based on valid information.

Guess some day I'll have to check it out for myself.

The story also depended heavily upon the Kilmer character's "gayness" which, while not truly intrinsic to the story, did help the dialogue - Downey's character development, overcoming a slight bit of homophobia and leading to additional witty repartee, even beyond the standard teacher-student arguments.

Basically, this movie is character- and dialogue-driven, with an extremely convalescent plot (along the lines of Maltese Falcon) and comes across as a fantastic homage to the style, proving that you can bring the hard-boiled directly into modern setting without losing any of the romantic flavor. The only problem with that is that you lose any sort of the modernistic "dirty" feeling to the story (that kind of COPS gore that's so prevalent in movies today).

Personally I would really love to have a copy of this screenplay. So, Mr. Black if you're reading this blog, just shoot me a copy, OK?

Everyone else, you MUST see this film.

VG

Bloodrayne

Kristianna Loken, Michelle Rodriguez, Michael Madson, Ben Kingsley. 2006. Ewe Boll, prod/dir

Another to add to the vampire cannon. Actually, this is pretty standard fare. Well, let's be honest - the plot was thin, the acting terrible, and the special effects so-so. This film actually feels like a high school play. Also thinking that this director also did House of the Dead and Alone in the Dark, (this guy must LOVE making movies out of video games), I am intrigued by the idea of an essay covering the effect of the director on the ability of the actors. For example, I've seen Madson and Rodriguez play much more convincingly, and Kingsley is very well-renowned as actors, but in this movie they all seem to be reading from note cards - it was a similar feeling from Alone in the DArk and Episodes I-III of the Star Wars Trilogy: the actors simply didn't seem to be emoting. Perhaps there should be a greater discussion regarding this.

Essay for another time. Back to this movie.

Well, that's really all that needs to be said. It was standard-fare quasi-medeival vampires-wanna-walk-by-day with the half-breed heroine kicking supreme vampire bad guy's keister - type of flick.

VG

Snatch

Jason Statham, Brad Pitt, Dennis Farina, Benicio Del Toro, and a host of others. Guy Ritchie, writer/director. Screen Gems, 2000.


simply bloody awesome movie. I can't even begin to gush enough about this movie - suffice it to say that it has a wonderfully intricate plot and each character is magnificently drawn (and well-acted, BTW) and I just want to get a copy of the screenplay, because I know that's a work of art in and of its own.

Basic synopsis: how a stolen diamond interweaves itself throughout the lives of England's complete underworld of crime bosses, pawn shop owners, and wannabe thugs. This is absolutely one of the best movies I've ever seen, it even knocked out The Usual Suspects in my own personal "film faves."

NOTE: some people might not be able to understand the various English dialects, so turn up the volume and strap yourself in your seat and keep the rewind button handy in case you miss any snappy bits of dialogue. You truly must not miss a word.

VG

Shade

Stuart Townsend, Gabriel Byrne, Thandie Newton, Jamie Foxx, Melanie Griffith, Sylvester Stallone. Damien Nieman, writer/director. RKO Pictures, 2004.

Excellently written thriller - what I like about the writing is that the characters are well-developed without much overt characterisation - most of the character development is through their conversations between each other and not through a series of "flashbacks" (except for the Stallone character - but that one is visually stunning and was much better handled visually than through the dialogue, such as the others)

Plus, good effect played to the non-linear plot, jumping back and forth through the days' events in order to reveal or enhance what we had known before, using that in order to give the viewer a much "broader" grasp as to what was truly happening.

This is a movie about card players, and therefore, of course, nothing is really what it seems and alliances shift with every new deal of a hand. [Oooh! Sounds like I'm writing blurbs now!] But it's extremely entertaining and ultimately satisfying. I have to admit the final card game was tense as anything I've ever seen, and I thought to myself that if I was this tense, rooting for the characters, then the script and the presentation had done its job: to draw me in to the story with characters I liked (through good dialogue) enough to make me care truly about the outcome. Man, I was sweating as they were laying down those cards!

Dam'fine movie! Check it out!

VG