Classic Movie Review Army of Darkness

Army of Darkness (1993) 

Directed by Sam Raimi 

Written by Sam Raimi, Ivan Raimi 

Starring Bruce Campbell, Embeth Davidtz 

Release Date February 19th, 1993 

Published June 20th, 2023 

Army of Darkness is a direct sequel to Evil Dead 2 but, in the tradition of Evil Dead 1, continuity between the two is not necessary. The basic elements are enough to marry one film to the other. Ash (Bruce Campbell), survived a fight against the Deadites, zombie demons from another dimension, only to find himself sucked into another dimension. In this dimension there are Kings and servants, warring clans, and an ancient evil that Ash happens to have some experience in defeating. After demonstrating god-like powers in surviving against a Deadite at the bottom of a well, Ash is welcomed into this bizarre world. 

In classically Ash fashion, he immediately flirts with and gets the girl, Sheila (Davidtz), who is then subsequently stolen away and corrupted by the Deadites. In order to free this cursed land from the evil of the Deadites, Ash must go on a quest to retrieve the Book of the Dead, the very book that got him into this mess in Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2. The book was sucked through this dimensional portal along with Ash and has now fallen into the hands of the Deadites who've placed it in a cursed cemetery. The Arthurian touches in Army of Darkness are inspired gags. 

The key to Army of Darkness however, is a spirit of anarchic invention. Director Sam Raimi and his star, Bruce Campbell show off a childlike glee as they workout different bits and gags they can do with the larger budget and platform they were given following the modest but notable success of Evil Dead 2. If you ask Raimi, he would say that he didn't need the budget that was given to him but he also then felt obligated to spend it since he had it. With that, we get both improved special effects and the kinds of practical effects that Raimi developed a remarkable talent for in the Evil Dead movies. 

The combinations of Harryhausen inspired practicality, music, and slightly more expensive effects, are used to create a low budget atmosphere on a relatively large budget. Raimi's homemade aesthetic somehow survives the move to a big studio feature and there is a wonderful charm to how Army of Darkness combines big effects with the kind of inventive, chaotic, weirdness that drove Raimi in his early career as a filmmaker. The delight Raimi and his collaborators take in creating comic gore, and paying tribute to low budget effects movies of the past is wonderfully infectious. 

Bruce Campbell however, is perhaps the best special effect in the movie. Campbell's ability for physical comedy, his willingness to put his body on the line for a gag, and his more than willingness to be silly, is an incredible asset to the charm of Army of Darkness. His Ash may talk like a cross between the tough guy banter of Bogart and the suave charm of Errol Flynn, but Campbell has a comic quality that neither of those legendary performers has. It's a sly ability to ride the razors edge between silly camp and action movie star that is a one of a kind combination. 

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media 

Movie Review: Thirteen Ghosts

Thirteen Ghost (2001) 

Directed by Steve Beck

Written by Neal Marshall Stevens, Richard D'Ovidio, 7 other writers 

Starring Tony Shalhoub, Embeth Davidtz, Matthew Lillard, Shannon Elizabeth

Release Date October 26th, 2001 

Published October 26th, 2001 

When was the last time you saw a scary movie that actually scared you? For me it would be 'Friday the 13th Part 2,' but what did I know I was nine years old when I saw that. For me horror films are like America's funniest home videos, some are painful to watch and some are truly hysterical. The 'Nightmare on Elm Street' series has provided me with some huge laughs some intentional, most not.

Sadly the newest addition to the horror genre 'Thirteen Ghosts' only has a few laughs one unintentional, a grisly murder meant for shock value that is made hilarious in execution; and one intentional laugh, a very funny line wondering what happened to the character whose murder provided the previous big laugh. That's all the joy one will take from Thirteen Ghosts. 

The film is otherwise populated with been there done that attempts at scares. One of the selling points for the movie is the much talked about house in the film. The house is impressive in design but we've seen it more lavishly done, quite recently, in 'The Haunting' and more interestingly done in the very funny 'House On Haunted Hill.' 

Meanwhile, the performances by Tony Shalhoub, Shannon Elisabeth and Embeth Davidtz are perfunctory, typical scenes of running and screaming. Elisabeth, who in commercials is played as a lead but only actually only appears in maybe a third of the film. I can say this about the acting; for the first time since 'Scream' I liked Matthew Lillard, his character provides a couple of good chuckles and his manic energy occasionally brings the film to life.

Of course I couldn't have expected 'Thirteen Ghosts' to be any good knowing, as I did, beforehand that it has been written by NINE different writers, yes, nine. I always thought four writers were the absolute kiss of death but NINE?

Movie Review: The Emperor's Club

The Emperor's Club (2002)

Directed by Michael Hoffman

Written by Neil Tolkin 

Starring Kevin Kline, Steven Culp, Embeth Davidtz, Patrick Dempsey, Emile Hirsch, Rob Morrow 

Release Date November 22nd, 2002 

Published November 22nd, 2002 

In Life as A House, Kevin Kline pandered unsuccessfully to Oscar voters with a character that begged to be loved. Why an actor as talented as Kline felt the need to beg for an Oscar nomination is beyond me because, with his roles in the highly underrated comedy Dave and the forgotten cop thriller The January Man (which is a personal favorite of mine), Kline has proved he can act as well as anyone. In his latest film, The Emperor's Club, Kline takes on yet another role that seems to scream for Oscar attention while not deserving it.

Kline stars as Mr. Hundert, a professor at an all-boys private school named St. Benedictus. Mr Hundert teaches the classics and Roman history, to a group of kids who will grow up to be politicians and the future captains of industry. At first, he is simply dealing with a group of bright kids who are just there to learn. Things change when the troublemaking son of a senator named Sedgewick Bell (Emile Hirsch) joins the class and begins to disrupt things. At first, Mr. Hundert is at a loss as to how to teach Sedgewick since the kid simply refuses to do anything. However after speaking to Sedgewick's father (character actor Harris Yulin, in a typically villainous role), Hundert sees a way to reach the young boy.

The culmination of the school year is a competition between students to become Mr. Julius Caesar, a crown bestowed on the student who has the greatest knowledge of Roman history. Sedgewick begins taking part in class and earns a spot in the contest finals for Mr. Julius Caesar. Though Sedgewick didn't truly earn his spot, Mr. Hundert increased Sedgewick's score on a test, just enough to get him in the contest. Whether he felt sorry for Sedgewick or felt his hard work warranted the extra couple points, Mr. Hundert's decision will come to haunt him when he catches Sedgewick trying to cheat in the contest.

The film begins with an older Mr. Hundert reuniting with his class of 1976, the class which incluses Sedgewick and his friends, and ends with the actual reunion which was organized by Sedgewick as a rematch of the Mr. Julius Caesar contest.

The Emperor's Club is notable for its simplistic scale. This is not meant to be a broad inspirational tale, but rather, a straightforward, earnest character study. It is a movie that seems dedicated to the one teacher that everyone remembers fondly, but instead is a study of one man and his decisions and morals. Mr. Hundert is a good man whose bad decisions haunt him for a long time, but never overwhelm him.

This is not Mr. Holland's Opus or Dead Poets Society; this film isn't that broad. The Emperor's Club is a simple character study. If only that character were more interesting than this one. The Emperor's Club could have been pretty good. Kevin Kline has natural charisma and intelligence yet his Mr. Hundert is an endlessly dull character, as are his students.

Anyone who has never been to a private school and could care less for its rites and traditions will find that The Emperor's Club does little to make them interesting. I expected the film to illustrate the exhilaration of learning. Learning even the most obscure knowledge can be exciting, but the film fails to show this. Instead, the film glosses over the teaching and learning in favor of its morality play.

I have yet to see a film that really expressed the joy of learning. Stand & Deliver came close, but was more concerned with racial politics than with learning. The Emperor's Club had the opportunity and missed. Still I believe someday a film will truly show the joy of learning and that will be one great film.

Movie Review: Fracture

Fracture (2007) 

Directed by Gregory Hoblit

Written by Daniel Pyne, Glenn Gers

Starring Ryan Gosling, Anthony Hopkins, David Straithairn, Rosamund Pike, Embeth Davidtz, Cliff Curtis, Billy Burke, Fiona Shaw 

Release Date April 20th, 2007

Published 19th, 2007

There is plenty of Oscar related gravitas to go around on the new thriller Fracture. Star Anthony Hopkins won an Oscar for Silence of the Lambs. His young co-star Ryan Gosling is fresh off of his first nomination for Half Nelson and David Straithairn isn't long from his Best actor nomination for Good Night and Good Luck. With all of that Oscar gold shining  it could be easy to miss how shallow and unworthy a movie like Fracture is.

This movie of the week, sub-Law & Order-CSI, thriller wastes a group of great actors on a plot full of minor cracks and imperfections or fractures if you will.

Willy Beachum (Ryan Gosling) has one foot out the door. Having just landed a big paycheck; corporate law gig; Willy is leaving behind the district attorney's office and his 100% conviction rate. He just has one case left on the docket and it looks like a slam dunk. A wealthy older man, Ted Crawford (Anthony Hopkins), has attempted to murder his much younger wife (Embeth Davidtz). Crawford confessed to shooting her. The police on the scene found the gun in his hand. They were the only people in the house. This guy is guilty.

So how can this guy Ted plead not guilty? And why did he decide to represent himself in court. If Willy weren't already out the door on his way to that new job; he might have asked these important questions and maybe he wouldn't have been ambushed in court and made to look like a fool when it's revealed that the lead cop on the case, detective Rob Nunnally (Billy Burke), the man who took the confession and found the murder weapon, was sleeping with the victim.

Now, a case that should have been a slam dunk; is now a case that could cost Willy his career.

With the Oscar pedigreed cast and a complicated thriller plot, Fracture should work. Unfortunately, director Gregory Hoblit and writers Daniel Pyne Glen Gers can't get out of the way of these remarkable actors. Placing them in an untenable maze of cop and lawyer show garbage, Fracture unfolds like an average CSI or Law & Order episode, only less believable.

Despite a plot that betrays him, Ryan Gosling turns in a surprisingly good performance. Watching him work is like watching a young Newman or Redford as they came into their own as actors. Gosling has the looks and the brains of those legends and most importantly that classic smolder of a leading man. There is a scene in Fracture with Gosling and Rosamund Pike who plays his very brief love interest. They meet for the first time at an opera and sitting down the aisle from one another; Gosling gives Pike a look that has more heat than your average sex scene. It's a look that only a great leading man could give.

Anthony Hopkins can't help but be entertaining but in Fracture he seems a little more tired than we've ever seen him. Sleepwalking through this underwhelming plot' Hopkins falls back on a gleem in his eye and a forced creepy smile to sell this malevolent character. He also has Hannibal Lecter to fall back on and there are plenty of laconic Lecter-isms in Ted Crawford. Hopkins is still watchable but there is a cruise control feel to this performance.

What the creators of Fracture fail to realize is that modern audiences in the age of Court TV, CSI and Law & Order audiences are more savvy and knowledgeable about the law and law enforcement than ever before. So, when Willy misses an obvious bit of legal maneuvering, the cops seem to ignore pertinent information, or the killer makes an obvious forensic mistake, we notice and it takes us out of the movie.

I spent more time in Fracture pulling apart its legal logic, or lack of knowledge, than I did watching these two wonderful actors work together. It's a shame, because the few minutes I did watch the actors, they were very good.

Two great actors, one not so great movie, Fracture fails to take advantage of a seriously good pedigree. Instead we get a sub-cop show thriller that relies on ill logic and poor decision making by characters who should no better.  The creators of Fracture underestimate the intelligence of their audience and think they can play fast and loose with the rules of law enforcement. However, in the day and age of Court TV and Forensic Files, we know more than they give us credit for and the ill-logic of Fracture shows through.