Archive for August, 2007

The Abandoned

Published August 31, 2007 in On The Box - DVD Review. 0 Comments

‘One of the 8 Films To Die For‘ from the After Dark Horrorfest, The Abandoned departs from the current Hollyweird trend of ‘gore is more’ to tell the honest ghost story of separated twins (played by Anastasia Hille and Karel Roden) who return to the Russian homestead of the parents they never knew . . . only to discover they’re being haunted . . . by ghosts of themselves. The characters are interesting (and sure, they could be developed a bit more - but it is, after all, a horror film), and the story is well told. It’s a unique take on the ‘old haunted house’ that’s been done to death, which makes it a film worth watching if you like to think a bit while you’re being scared to death in a dark room at 2AM.

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Exiled

Published August 30, 2007 in Indie Review and On The Box - DVD Review. 0 Comments

If you like your movies multi-media (that’s right - this one is subtitled), Exiled promises to be a unique action/drama.

Recently acquired for DVD release in the English-speaking world, Exiled is a Toronto Film Festival winner from heralded Hong Kong director Johnny To. It’s a stylized and artistic modern gangster flick. The cinematography is spectacular, making the camera itself as integral to the story as any actor on the screen.

The film itself documents two hit men on a mission to take out one of their own - a professional killer who has opted out of the business to protect his wife and daughter amid a dangerous political upheaval.

Expect non-traditional action, both from an American and an Asian frame-of-reference, well-developed characters, and a unique look and feel on the screen.

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Death Sentence

Published August 28, 2007 in Preview Review. 0 Comments

Given that Kevin Bacon has done pretty much everything else, there’s no reason to believe he can’t pull off a vengeance-crazed father in a justice-killing flick. As with much of what we’ve seen in the last decade, the basic story is familiar. A promising hockey career is cut short before it begins when a father watches his son become a murder victim in a convenience store. The system fails to convict the man responsible, so dad begins hunting down the killer and the members of the gang responsible, all the while agonizing over how to balance the safety of his remaining family and his need for justice. The characters have potential, though the trailer is fairly ambiguous on how developed they might become. The story seems believable - save for the purchase of an arsenal (supplied by the dependable John Goodman) by an office-dwelling fellow who doesn’t seem likely to possess the skill set necessary to effectively make use of such weaponry. And the fact that a gang leader would offer so many warnings to a squirrelly guy in a suit who’d begun killing off his key people. OK - so it’s not all that believable. It should prove entertaining enough to watch the little guy who’s been wronged get his (again), but this won’t be a watch-it-again, buy-the-DVD flick.

Kevin Bacon fans, throw in your Bacon Brothers cd, roll up the sleeves of your too-tight white t-shirt, and dance Footloose down to the nearest multiplex. The rest of you . . . wait for the DVD, or for Hollyweird’s next version of this story starring the actor of your choice.

And fans of the Jigsaw killings . . . sit this one out (lest it diminish your opinion of the writers and directors thereof) in favor of Saw 4, on its way later this year.

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Halloween

Published August 27, 2007 in Preview Review. 1 Comment

If there is hope - or interest - in the ability to breathe life (ironic pun intended) into the Michael Meyers third of horror’s Played-Out Trinity (Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, and Friday the 13th), Rob Zombie would seem to be the penultimate capable party. His uncompromising focus and depth of vision with regard to classic and purposeful gore is unmatched, as can be seen in his music videos for classics like ‘Living Dead Girl’ and ‘Dragula’, as well as his blockbuster (as in video) success ‘House of 1000 Corpses‘ and its sequel, ‘The Devil’s Rejects‘ - which interestingly enough received as much attention for the inclusion of Ms Sheri ‘it certainly doesn’t hurt to look at her’ Moon-Zombie - who also happens to play Debbie Meyers in the new Halloween film.

In Zombie’s installment of the series, Michael Meyers, age 6, is remanded to an asylum for the murder of his older sister, escapes at age 21, and returns to his hometown. Mass murder ensues in the search for semi-mysterious teenage girl who turns out to be Michael’s sister, and Sam Loomis - Michael’s doctor - is the only one who can stop Meyers from finishing what he started 15 years ago.

In short, it’s a classically-styled horror film with blood, dementia, a hot chick, and an edgy director. It’ll be great if you’re into that sort of thing, and not great if you aren’t.

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Mr Bean’s Holiday

Published August 23, 2007 in Preview Review. 1 Comment

Nancing and stumbling about like the bizarre bastard child of Mr Rogers and Jim Carrey, one-trick pony Rowen Atkinson makes yet another attempt to seem as funny on this side of the pond as he’s rumoured to be on his own. The one potential saving moment - which still isn’t worth watching the whole film, given the advent of YouTube - is the Mr Bombastic dance routine. Aside from this clip, Bean misses the mark in the States.

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Hannah Takes The Stairs

Published August 22, 2007 in Indie Review. 0 Comments

And now for something completely different . . .

This will be the first of what I hope will be many indie film reviews at previewbox.com. For once I’ll doff the pretentiously academian cynical humour and say with sincerity that ‘Hannah Takes The Stairs’ is a great introduction to independent film.

For those not as familiar with indie film, let’s first address the white elephant . . . no, it doesn’t look as glossy as the shellacked cardboard visuals concealing wire-framed scripts that Hollyweird is producing these days. What it does have is a scope, soul, and artistic sincerity you won’t find within ten leagues of The Hill. But now I’m ahead of myself on this review.

‘Hannah Takes The Stairs’, the most recent directorial product of Joe Swanberg, stars the effervescent Greta Gerwig as Hannah, a quirky and (most importantly) believable twenty-something who has found herself but has yet to find someone to share the world with her. Even in the limited window of a 1:51 second trailer, the characters ring true in situations that have likely happened to you or someone you know. This film promises deliver on the ‘real-world relationship’ hype falsely promised by 1992’s ‘Singles’.

If you’re tired of sugar-coated wax paper comedies of contrived romanticisms that couldn’t actually happen . . . if you’d prefer to see acting as opposed to type-casting . . . if you value art and talent over production and shock value . . . and you happen to be in West Hollywood CA, Cambridge MA, New York NY, or Seattle WA, make sure to catch a screening of ‘Hannah Takes The Stairs’.

And if you’re privileged enough to see this film, drop a note with your own review here at PreviewBox!

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September Dawn

Published August 21, 2007 in Preview Review. 0 Comments

Documenting the suppressed history of violence upon which the Mormon church was founded, September Dawn is the story of an American ministerial massacre perpetuated at the hands of the narcissistic heirarchy. A solid dramatic piece with a built-in interest, given the secrecy, rumors, and urban legends surrounding the seemingly culturally divergent group. Of course a superfluous, star-crossed love story is woven into the script, having no historical validity and serving little purpose save to jerk upon additional emotional strings . . . as if the unprovoked extermination of a cultural group in the name of God is not provocative enough. That flaw aside, if the overt 9/11 references (due to the unfortunately coinciding dates) can be overlooked, this promises to be a solid film with notable performances from Jon Voight, Terence Stamp, and relative newcomer Tamara Hope.

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Resurrecting The Champ

Published August 20, 2007 in Preview Review. 0 Comments

In a role reminiscent of his stellar character from The Caveman’s Valentine, Samuel L Jackson delivers a dramatic performance - this time in a big-budget film where the portrayal is more likely to be seen and appreciated. Josh Hartnett plays a sports reporter already floundering in his very young career who discovers a homeless man . . . a man who is either a former boxing champion or an unstable con man . . . and whose story could secure the reporter’s career or destroy his journalistic reputation. As the article progresses, the rapid and dramatically shifting altitudes that result from the struggle between personal and artistic integrity reveal that sometimes our actions are more about the end results than the intent. Hartnett’s been type-cast as himself again (see ‘Wicker Park’, ‘Pearl Harbor’, ‘The Virgin Suicides’), so it seems obvious that Jackson will carry this film; nonetheless, it will be great to see Sam play a strongly developed character in a major film rather than waiting for another pseudo-indie like Francois Girard’s ‘The Red Violin’ (1999) to surface on DVD.

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Vacancy

Published August 17, 2007 in On The Box - DVD Review. 0 Comments

The undeniably hot Kate Beckinsale and the perpetually almost famous Luke Wilson take themselves far too seriously in this film that doesn’t know it’s a B-movie. Beginning like every campfire ghost story, a couple has car trouble on an old country road, finds a lonely gas station attended by a bumbling stoner who - shocker! - can’t repair the car until tomorrow morning, forcing them to spend the night in a dated roach motel run by - surprise! - serial killers who tape their crimes in the very room where the couple is staying - oh my! Nothing exciting happens as the couple tries to escape by every traditional and predictable method, each time discovering their captors see and control everything - even the miraculously discovered ’secret’ passages. In the end, it doesn’t matter if the couple lives or dies, unless the viewer is particularly distressed by the sight of pretty people bleeding from everywhere but their glamorous faces, which will certainly remain intact.

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The Lookout

Published August 16, 2007 in On The Box - DVD Review. 0 Comments

The Lookout plays more like a book than a film . . . something for which I, as a writer, have a great appreciation. This piece is a more refined and relaxed approach to believable identities - emotions, reactions, motives, and reasons for behaviour - than about squeezing skeletal personalities between big visuals and plot-driven narrative. It is well paced, taking its time, allowing the characters space to develop to the point that the bank heist (which some misguided and less insightful folk might mistakenly argue is the subject of the film) is merely a backdrop for the relationships and reactions of the people involved. We’ve certainly seen elements of this story on many prior occasions, but it hardly matters in this instance due to the artful and crafted storytelling. If, as Mr Harlan Ellison says, all stories are truly about people, then most of Hollywood is missing it while films like this one have gotten it right.

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