Movie Review The Exorcism

The Exorcism (2024) 

Directed by Joshua John Miller 

Written by M.A Fortin, Joshua John Miller 

Starring Russell Crowe, Ryan Simpkins, Chloe Bailey, David Hyde Pierce, Adam Goldberg 

Release Date June 21st, 2024 

Published June 20th, 2024 

Russell Crowe is in a strange period of his career. The former leading man, heartthrob, and box office star, is now a sideshow act in the world of horror. I'm not saying it's a downgrade, but going from being an Academy Award nominee to starring in multiple movies centered around exorcists or or exorcism is certainly not what anyone would have predicted regarding a man who was once one of the most bankable stars in Hollywood. Crowe's career was derailed by alcohol and bad behavior and now he finds himself in a genre famous for actors slumming it hoping for a hit and a comeback. 

Just last year, Crowe starred in the odd, so bad it's good, exorcism horror flick, The Pope's Exorcist. That film was so successful that Crowe is making a sequel in 2025, marking the third exorcism-centric film in a period of three years. That's weird right? I'm not crazy, that's just a bizarre turn of events. For his second exorcism movie in two year, Crowe stars in The Exorcism in which he plays a down on his luck former leading man actor who takes a role in a horror movie where he plays a priest who is leading an exorcism of a possessed teenager. The meta is apparently coincidental but nonetheless inescapable.

Find my full length review at Horror.Media, linked here. 

Movie Review 2 Days in Paris

2 Days in Paris (2007) 

Directed by Julie Delpy 

Written by Julie Delpy 

Starring Julie Delpy, Adam Goldberg, Daniel Bruhl 

Release Date May 17th, 2007 

Published May 17th, 2007 

Julie Delpy, so enchanting opposite Ethan Hawke in Richard Linklater's indelible double feature Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, brings that Linklater influence to her directorial debut 2 Days In Paris. No Sunrise/Sunset clone is this. 2 Days In Paris is similar in theme and content to her influences, but the characters she has created for herself and Adam Goldberg are wholly her own. Smart, funny, sexy and very French 2 Days In Paris unfolds the realistic twists and turns of a couple under the strain of a two year, where is this thing headed, relationship and a cross Europe vacation that concludes with a visit to Paris and a meet the parents situation unlike anything you've ever experienced, I would hope.

Marion (Julie Delpy) and Jack (Adam Goldberg) have been together two years and though they seem happy where they are, a couple can't be together two years without talk of the future looming overhead. They have spent the past two weeks all over Italy on what was supposed to be a romantic vacation. It has been romantic, occasionally, but Jack has been sick and Marion has been looking ahead to her visit home to Paris. They are laying over two days in Marion's old apartment, she keeps it though they live together in New York.

While there Jack will meet Marion's parents, Anna (Marie Pillet) and Jeannot (Albert Delpy, Julie's real father). Meeting the parents is always awkward but when you literally don't speak the language it can be interminable. Then there are Marion's friends, mostly men, some of them ex's. Naturally Jack is a little insecure and these being French men things get a little more uncomfortable, talk of sex is more open and every conversation is rich with flirtation and entirely in French. That language, so romantic sounding that even the most innocuous compliment sounds like poetry.

All of the strain of a foreign vacation, Marion's parents, Marion's past and Jack's insecurities finally comes to a head and we get scenes of exceptionally smart and wrenching dialogue between two people who communicate a depth and history to their relationship without having to explain it. The tiny jokes, the offhand insults, the little things that make a life between two people are the things that director Julie Delpy captures so beautifully. When we arrive at the more difficult conversations, the tough moments, we are not taking sides, rather we are invested in both characters and this relationship as if we had something at stake in them being together. That is exceptional work.

Adam Goldberg is an actor that can be difficult to take. His characters are all the same, neurotic, New Yorkers, constantly angst ridden and on the edge of an angry explosion. In 2 Days in Paris, as familiar as this character is, there is a little more nuance to it. Goldberg is more in control of his tics and mannerisms here than I've seen him before. He's a little more emotional and in touch with his feelings and though he still has that sarcastic armor that is his calling card, it's part of a richer character. As put off by his act as I'm sure some of you are, you will find it fits this character well.

As for the actress Julie Delpy, she is typically magnificent. I'm sure Ms. Delpy has made some bad movies but when she in her element, romance, France, she is ethereal. This character is more complicated and screwed up than the romantic heroine of Before Sunrise and Before Sunset so she must find different ways of getting us to root for her and somehow, even after some major meltdowns and questionable decisions we root for her and wish for her. It's a terrific performance made all the more impressive because she was directing herself.

Talky, provocative, smart and very funny, 2 Days In Paris is one of the movies I wish I would have seen before I listed my best movies of the year. It is that good. The influence of Richard Linklater has done well for Julie Delpy but 2 Days In Paris is her baby and it is quite beautiful. It is soon to be on DVD and you must check it out.

Movie Review Stay Alive

Stay Alive (2006) 

Directed by William Brent Bell 

Written by Matthew Peterman 

Starring Samaire Armstrong, Frankie Muniz, Adam Goldberg, Sophia Bush

Release Date March 24th, 2006 

Published March 24th, 2006

The horror genre has always been cheap and exploitative. To expect anymore from it is to be constantly disappointed. Sure, you occasionally get something like Dawn of The Dead that sneak past the guards of genre expectations and surprise you with incisive wit and social commentary but those experiences are few and far between.

More often you get cheap forgettable trash like Stay Alive, a serviceable, not too irritating exercise in teenage bloodletting that while you may not remember it long after you see it you at the very least won't wretch when it comes to Cinemax or Showtime in two or three months from now.

Little known actor Jon Foster stars in Stay Alive as Hutch, a twenty something slacker whose all consuming love of videogames is tested by the death of a close friend. A death that is eerily reminiscent of that friend's virtual death in an underground video game called Stay Alive.

The game is an historic gorefest based on the legend of a woman named Elizabeth Bathory aka The Blood Countess. She is said to have murdered hundreds of servant girls in the late 1800's and bathed in their virgin blood in order to keep herself youthful. If Ms. Bathory sounds far more interesting than anything else in Stay Alive you can understand why this film is  disappointing.

Hutch comes into possession of Stay Alive at his buddies funeral where he also meets a strange girl named Abigail (Samaire Armstrong) who also knew Hutch's late friend but is vague about the connection. She joins Hutch for a tribute to their late friend. With fellow gamers from a local internet café, Swink (Frankie Muniz), October (Sophia Bush), Phin (Jimmie Simpson) and Miller (Adam Goldberg), Hutch will play Stay Alive until they can't play anymore.

Little does anyone realize that you don't just play this video game you literally have to survive it. Like the video in The Ring or the website in Fear Dot Com, anyone that comes in contact with this video game has sealed their fate and will be picked off in the order of their passing inside the game.

The concept is unoriginal and not very inspired but that is the genre we are dealing with. Modern horror has little more on its mind than the kill and often that is enough to make these films passably entertaining. What dooms Stay Alive however is another scourge of the genre, the PG 13 rating.

With movies like The Grudge and When A Stranger Calls proving there is a viable moneymaking market in PG 13 horror we are now subject to bloodless horror cliches stripped of what makes us want to watch a horror movie in the first place, blood and sex.

Stay Alive is the latest example of the neutered horror genre. With plenty of dead bodies but little gore Stay Alive becomes a dull exercise in horror sanitized for the protection of children. The appeal of the genre has always been in the dark recesses of our minds where our id hides that part of ourselves that cannot resist the animalistic urge for blood.

The horror film appeals to base instinct, to titillation, and only the most skilled of the genre, people like George Romero or David Cronenberg can combine it with subtext and smarts. Most horror films have to settle for that base appeal to the darkness and allow us to wallow in that caveman enjoyment of blood, guts and beautiful naked woman.

Stripped of that, a film like Stay Alive is simply boring. Like watching someone else play a video game and never giving you a turn. There is very little to hold your interest, especially with a concept that is so derivative and unoriginal as a killer video game.

A question for Frankie Muniz. Why are you in this movie? Muniz is not exactly a big star. His TV show Malcolm In The Middle is limping to the finish line and his Cody Banks film series is not likely to continue. However on name recognition alone he is the biggest star in this movie and yet he plays a supporting role to a guy who's biggest role to date was the gas station attendant in Terminator 3? Okay, Jon Foster has had bigger roles but he is nowhere near as well known as Muniz whose career takes a big step backward in Stay Alive.

Of all the disappointments in Stay Alive however, maybe the biggest is writer-director William Brent Bell who shows off far more talent behind the camera than the film deserves. Bell's occasional directorial flourishes make you wonder why he put so much talent in service of such a forgettable little film. Bell's writing could use a great deal of work but as a director he seems to have a good deal of talent.

Someday William Brent Bell may make a serious name for himself as a director for hire on big budget features where a strong producer like Joel Silver can help him focus on simply making the film and forget about trying to be a writer slash director. As the script for Stay Alive, co-written with fellow first timer Matthew Peterman, shows, Bell simply doesn't have the writing chops.

Stay Alive is yet another forgettable teenage slasher flick designed more as a studio ATM than as an entertaining horror film. I'm not recommending it, hell I can barely remember having seen it myself.

Movie Review How to Lose A Guy in 10 Days

How to Lose A Guy in 10 Days (2003) 

Directed by Donald Petrie 

Written by Kristen Buckley, Brian Regan, Burr Steers 

Starring Kate Hudson, Matthew McConaughey, Adam Goldberg, Michael Michele, Shalom Harlow 

Release Date February 7th, 2003 

Published February 6th, 2003 

In Almost Famous, Kate Hudson blew away audiences and critics with her beauty and talent. She had a charisma that melted the hearts of the audience and she and Billy Crudup had chemistry that melted the screen. Since that 1999 film, however, Hudson has struggled to recapture that star quality. Her latest attempt, the romantic comedy, How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days, is a step in the right direction, though she could have used a little better direction from director Donald Petrie.

Hudson is an advice columnist for a women's magazine, writing in-depth articles about how to get a date and how to shop for clothes. However, she longs to write about important things like politics and religion. When a friend loses another boyfriend, Andie gets the idea to write a column about all the things women do to screw up a relationship, an article that shares the title of the film. She and her friends descend upon a Manhattan bar to find the man who will provide the basis for her research.

At the bar is an advertising exec. Ben Barry, trying to save an account that his boss wants to give to another co-worker. The account is with a major diamond company, which his boss (Robert Klein) believes could be better served by two female execs (Michael Michele and Shalom Harlow). So Ben cuts a deal if he can prove he understands women he can keep the account. He can prove it by convincing a woman to fall in love with him in less than 10 days. Little does Ben know that his competitors know just the girl to choose, and Ben is introduced to Andie.

At first Andie is her cool sexy self, a package that a man who wasn't working on a bet couldn't resist. Their first date is all mind games with both Andie and Ben trying to gain the upper hand. After the first date hooks him, Andie sets her plan in motion. On the second date, she ruins Ben's time at a Knicks game. From there, she becomes the girlfriend from hell - clingy, and whiny and just generally abominable. Still, Ben is game; he refuses to give up. Not only because his professional life is riding on the relationship, but because there is still a little spark of the Andie he first met inside this frightening package.

The first half of the film is its strongest as these two likable, intelligent characters set the stage for their courtship, laying out the stakes and letting the games begin. On their first date as they jockey for position, I was reminded of a couple lines from an episode of Seinfeld where Elaine is talking about her boyfriend who doesn't play games and Jerry's appalled response "No games? But how do you know who's winning".

As fun as the first half of the film seems, there was something wrong throughout it. Some scenes, like a fight outside of a movie theater or an embarrassing scene where Andie decides to name Ben's penis, play like extended takes where the actors continued ad-libbing while waiting for the director to call cut. Then there is the director's odd choice in some scenes, especially outdoor scenes, to cover the actors in this gauzy haze that reminded me of those lame Lifetime movies. It's the kind of haze Barbara Streisand uses to make herself look younger on camera. Why director Donald Petrie would think a woman as beautiful as Kate Hudson would need the help of this Vaseline lens is beyond me.

The film's biggest problem though is its inevitability. Falling into that same romantic comedy trap, the film throws up obstacles that are easy to overcome except that if they were overcome intelligently there wouldn't be a film. If Andie and Ben would be honest with each other after it was obvious that the relationship had grown past what they had intended, we wouldn't have to put up with the big reveal scene that you get in every romantic comedy. The scene that calls for each character to accidentally learn about the other's deception and get hurt and run away from each other only to get over it in the next scene, then cry, then kiss and live happily ever after. Been there and done that.

Director Donald Petrie is a master of this crowd pleasing, easily digestible, claptrap. His resume includes Miss Congeniality, My Favorite Martian and Grumpy Old Men. He is a pro director who knows how to point the camera but needs to pick scripts that are more entertaining. Too often Petrie's films skate on the charm of his actors. Though he is blessed with a pair of wonderfully charismatic actors in McConaughey and Hudson, he gives his actors so little to do that they at times look a little lost and forced to fend for themselves.

Movie Review: Waking Life

Waking Life (2001) 

Directed by Richard Linklater

Written by Richard Linklater

Starring Wiley Wiggins, Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Nicky Katt, Adam Goldberg

Release Date October 19th, 2001 

Published December 25th, 2001 

I am a collector. I collect DVD's, sports memorabilia and movie collector cups, etc. But above all I collect intelligent opinions. I love to listen to and interact with intelligent people. Richard Linklater's breakthrough animated film Waking Life is a series of intelligent conversations set against one of the most visually striking backdrops I've ever seen.

The film is taken from the perspective of an unnamed character played by Wiley Wiggins from Linklater’s Dazed & Confused. (I'll explain the “played by instead of voiced by” credit later). Wiggins’ character is trapped in a dream, though he doesn't realize it right away. In the dream he interacts with a series of run-at-the-mouth philosophers who while at times obnoxious, actually do have interesting opinions.

The conversations are meaningful discussions of philosophy, religion and the meaning of life. None of the characters claim to have the answers to the many unanswerable life questions but they are at least brave enough to discuss topics like death and existence or nonexistence of a higher power. Questions that many people would prefer weren't asked.

While the film is, at times, aimless, the animation is so lively that you are at rapt attention throughout. Linklater and his team of animators did something very unique in Waking Life, first filming the movie with live actors, Wiggins, Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy amongst others. Then the animators used computers to animate over the shot footage, which gives the film it's dreamscape and allows for visual experimentation that could never work in a live action feature.

You know how in dreams when you know where you are but it looks nothing like it does in real life? Waking Life seizes upon that dreamy feeling and uses it's dialogue to lead it's main character and the audience to a surprisingly satisfying open-ended conclusion. It's up to you the viewer to decide for yourself what happens to Wiggins’ character at the end of the film.

Richard Linklater is weaving an amazing career, from Slackers to Dazed & Confused to Tape and now Waking Life. Linklater has established himself on the new frontier of film as art.

It's a small, unnamed generation of young filmmakers like Linklater, Allison Anders, P.T Anderson and Darren Aronofsky who are championing filmmaking as art over mere commerce. They swim against the tide of Hollywood and attempt to say something. Film as sociological art. It's not merely about entertaining the audience but about inspiring them and touching them emotionally and intellectually. If only more filmmakers shared their vision and courage.