Jack Frost

Ardustry Home Entertainment - 1996

A good one for sitting around with a couple of friends, having a few beers on a movie-fest night.
Slight B-movie fun. More gaffs than gore, which is truly edifying.

Other than that, there's really not a whole lot to say about this film - a serial killer's on his way to his execution and gets some acid dumped all over him, which melts his body into the snow, and his "soul" combines with the fluffy stuff to turn him into a giant killer snowman.

Yes, that's right: a giant killer snowman.

And you probably know right now if you want to see it or not. Take it or leave it - I just always like to let you know what you're getting yourself into!

VG

K-19: The Widowmaker

Harrison Ford, Liam Neeson. Paramount Pictures/Intermedia Films, 2002.

This is definitely a must-see. I watched it in honor of my father, who always loved those neo-war movies and submarine suspense flicks especially (he listed one of his all-time favourite movies as DAS BOOT - which I always found to be so completely utterly depressing that it's impossible to watch without coming to the Sartre-esque conclusion that nothing matters in this bleak reality because all will come to bad end anyway - my dad was the only person I know who could come away from DAS BOOT smiling)

but character studies aside, I watched this anyway and found it to be completely, utterly,

RIVETING!!

(and yes, I know that word is overused in "movie-talk" but is completely applicable here - it keeps you going from start to finish)

and the fact that it supposedly is based on historical events makes me want to study it to see if that is indeed true, which is why I depend on you, dear reader, to let me know the historical veracity of this movie, should you know.

Just watch it!


VG

Wild Things

Matt Dillon, Kevin Bacon, Neve Campbell, Denise Richards.

I know I've seen this before, many years ago, but I watched it again because I'd forgotten - but then I remembered the whole "tooth-pulling" scene. Overall, am I the only person who really didn't like this movie? I don't know, because I see copies of this movie on sale everywhere, so maybe it's maintained a certain sense of popularity, but even though I always love "double-cross" movies and those with shifting allegiances, this one just seemed a little overtly dull, all in all.

Oh well, if you like your death in the everglades, you might want to give it a watch. Otherwise, watch something else.

VG

War of the Worlds (2005)

Tom Cruise. Stephen Spielberg, dir. DreamWorks/Paramount.

Fairly good update of the WoW storyline - again falling under my theory that we should never be purists, but accept each retelling of the story as a variation on a theme - look at it as how well the story is told in this version. As such, this version is pretty good, although it's excellent on the visual spectacle that is the War. The creatures bursting forth from the ground, after the most unusual storm builds up the tension to the boiling point - and then the immediate flight from the city, with the machines destroying the entire world - and that's just the first 30 minutes!!

What was added to the original story was the tension about Tom Cruise being the Non-Custodial Parent, who during this tragedy realizes just how much he has lost contact with who his children are. His son, mid-teens, on the verge of becoming an adult himself, is the "coming-of-age" character in this morality tale. While a viewer who just wants to see the world blown up might consider this aspect of the film rather worthless, it nonetheless humanizes the characters. Personally I liked it, even though I might be skeptical of people who are trying to "reconnect" emotionally while the entire human race is being devoured (literally) by giant metallic monsters from Mars.

The "Artilleryman" segment was well-done, if overlong (but to be fair, it was afforded the same amount of time as in the original Wells' book) but Tim Robbins is excellent as usual in showing us a character who has truly lost contact with reality in a world that has completely gone to hell. Cruise eventually taking him to the back room to kill him (out of the sight of his young daughter, of course) I thought was a pretty brave step in this version of the tale. I don't think the character in any other retelling ever was driven to that.

I don't have the correct terminology to describe this, but in the best words I can muster, I have to say this about Speilberg's movies - I will admit that he's a good director, he's always visually stunning and the stories are generally good, but I always get the nagging feeling in every movie that he's directed from Empire of the Sun and forward that he manipulates the audience emotionally. It's as though he knows so completely thoroughly how we are supposed to react, and how we are supposed to feel for this character or that character in whatever situation. Like I said, I wish there were one specific word for this feeling, but I simply can't peel myself away from the notion that I'm watching a movie and being told what to feel.

Maybe it's just me. I dunno. But overall - it's a good movie and a good version of the story.

VG

Uzumaki

Higichinsky, director - written by Takao Nitta, based on the Manga by Junji Ito. 2000, Elite Pictures [however, Elite might simply be the company that produced the DVD in the USA - I'm not too certain].

OK - now as I was reading the back and saw "manga" several things about the movie came into perspective - it's actually filmed like a "live-action" anime. It has the same shots the same abrupt and "explosive" emotional expressions, which, in all honesty, is a little off-putting.

I don't know if the manga is continously running or a complete story with a definite end, but taking the movie on its own merits, I have to say that there were almost none. Believe me, I like most movies and it takes a real dog to turn me off, and this one did it.

The premise could have been wonderful: an entire townsfolk become obsessed and eventually insane with the uzumaki - the spiral, which can be found in all things: snails, fingertips, smoke patterns, etc.

But the premise isn't played out in any coherent manner - the viewers are assualted (and insulted) with a p-poor plot, no buildup, and climactically we have everything from human snails crawling up walls and spiralling hair wrapped around telephone wires and self-contorted bodies (as well as one in the washing machine - which, despite the lunacy, was actually one of the few parts that might have been put to good use if someone had actually known something about plot!)

Two of the commentaries compare this to both Lovecraft and Tim Burton. Lovecraft, I can understand, because despite his popularity, let's face it, the man also didn't know how to craft a story, preferring instead to throw the bizarre at his readers simply because he liked the bizarre. Were I Tim Burton, I'd be insulted, and think to myself, "All of my pieces have the standard storytelling tecniques, simple things such as, oh I dunno - characterization! suspense! appropriate creation of mood!"

'Nuff said about this doggerel.

VG

Hitch

Will Smith, Eva Mendes, Kevin James, Amber Valletta. Columbia Pictures, 2005.

Very sweet movie. I like movies where there are truly no real villains (well, there is a villian in this one - but only a minor role - 2 scenes total, and he gets slapped around in both of them) and where nobody is trying to hurt, destroy, or otherwise take advantage of any other character - simply a movie in which two couples are trying to fall in love, and really don't know if they are or not.

That's pretty much this movie in a nutshell. Basic plot - Hitch helps geeks get dates with dreamgirls in Manhattan. Emphasis - he is NOT pimping, coercing, or otherwise misrepresenting - he is simply showing the dreamgirls that the geeks are the men of THEIR dreams. Eva Mendes is your hard-bitten (i.e. bitter) rag journalist. Kevin James, geek accountant - Amber Valletta, rich socialite dreamgirl. Hitch gets them together. Mendes finds out - but misunderstands (through the "villian") and believes that Hitch is a pimpish scumbag.

And much ensuing hilarity throughout. Plot can get convoluted at times, but there's enough to keep you laughing and entertained and overall the moral is that it's the sweet, simple, clumsy and dorky things that we do that our partners love so much in us.

And that, my friends, is a point that hasn't been overstated.

Rent it for a laugh and a warm fuzzy feeling!

VG