Movie Review: Disturbia

Disturbia (2007) 

Directed by D.J Caruso 

Written by Christopher Landon, Carl Ellsworth 

Starring Shia LeBeouf, Aaron Yoo, Sarah Roemer, Carrie Ann Moss, David Morse

Release Date April 13th, 2007

Published April 13th, 2007

We all have movies we love that no one else even vaguely remembers. For me, one of those movies was director D.J Caruso's independent debut feature The Salton Sea. A dour but very clever modern nor starring Val Kilmer, The Salton Sea is a triumph of smart scripting and clever direction. Caruso's work since that debut, Taking Lives, Two For The Money, have been slipshod big star vehicles that are as slick as they are forgettable.

For his latest film, Disturbia, however; Caruso looks to be back in form. A modern, teenage take on Hitchcock's Rear Window, Disturbia uses the tools and techniques of classic cinema to craft a tricky, if somewhat predictable, little thriller; much more entertaining than you might expect.

Kale (Shia LeBeouf) lost his dad in a horrific car accident. Since then he has become a problem child whose troubles come to a head one day when he punched out his Spanish teacher. A sympathetic judge keeps Kale out of juvenile hall. The compromise however is no picnic. Kale will spend his summer trapped in his house under the ever watchful electronic watchdog, an ankle bracelet.

At first it's all videogames and cable TV but when mom (Carrie Ann Moss) cuts off both of his sources of entertainment, Kale finds his attention drawn to his neighbors windows. Using his high powered video camera and his dad's old binoculars, Kale begins capturing his neighbors routines. On one side he finds the new girl next door Ashley (Sarah Roemer). On the other side is Robert Turner, a creepy loner who fits the profile of a serial killer that Kale and his pal Ronny (Aaron Yoo) have been following on the news.

Soon the girl next door has joined the boys in their stakeout of the creepy neighbor who may or may not be a serial killer.

Disturbia takes the classic conceit of Hitchcock's Rear Window and updates it for the Ipod generation. Using plenty of modern gadgetry, director D.J Caruso uses technique to create tension and strong characters to create rooting interest and Disturbia becomes surprisingly involving. When it's quiet and watching Kale unfold his relationship with Ashley it has a John Hughes feel. When the tension is ratcheted up, Disturbia becomes old school Hitchcock by way of radio shack.

Shia Le Beouf is a young actor whose appeal is difficult to isolate. He isn't handsome, he doesn't cut a tough guy figure by any stretch. What he does have though is that classically Tom Hanks kind of goofy everyman thing. It is that quality that allows him to play the unique duality of Kale in Disturbia. On the one hand, he is an unlikely romantic interest for the beautiful girl next door. On the other hand he is the unlikely action hero running to the rescue.

David Morse is so effortlessly creepy he could be Giovonni Ribisi. With his imposing height and disquieting calm, Morse plays the creepy part of a serial with the zeal of a great method actor taking on Shakespeare's Hamlet. The script undercuts Morse's character by giving away too much too soon but that doesn't stop Morse from projecting menace well enough to keep you glued to the screen.

If there is one thing that irritates me about Disturbia it is that faux hip title. Disturbia as a title is too clever by half. It's just so market tested, as if an ad executive were trying to invent some hip teenage slang. Of course, if the one issue I can find with a movie is its title, that must be a pretty good movie. And, Disturbia is a pretty good movie, not great but really good.

Disturbia is a quick on its feet modern thriller, slightly predictable but endlessly watchable. Director D.J Caruso is old school in his approach to crafting and creating tension. He's also quite modern in the way he sews together two different genre aspects, the thriller and the coming of age romance. It helps to have a talented young cast to deliver on your vision and Caruso is blessed.

Shia Le Beouf may be a star in the making, watch for him in Transformers this summer, see him in Disturbia soon.

Movie Review: Aqua Teen Hunger Force The Movie

Aqua Teen Hunger Force The Movie (2007)

Directed by Matt Maiellaro, Dave Willis

Written by Dave Willis, Matt Maiellaro

Starring Dana Snyder, Dave Willis, Carey Means, Andy Merrill

Release Date April 13th, 2007

Published April 14th, 2007

In my early 20's I had a brief bout of depression. I was placed on a drug called Wellbutrin which took the blues away but left me completely numb. After about a day I realized I would rather be miserable than feel nothing. Watching the new movie adaptation of the Cartoon Network cult fave Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theaters, I was reminded of my Wellbutrin experience. Walking out of the movie, I felt nothing. I didn't hate the film, I didn't like the film. I was actively indifferent to it. It's the most unique reaction I've ever had to a movie and, somehow, the most forgettable.

A group of crime fighting foodstuffs, Frylock -a flying box of talking French fries-, Master Shake -a shuffling, talking milk shake- and Meatwad - a rolling, talking, childlike piece of meat- have been cult faves among stoners and late night drinkers since its cartoon network debut 4 years ago. The show, only 15 minutes in length or less, was arguably the single most scatological and scattershot pop culture satire since Andy Warhol trained his camera on a blank wall for several hours.

In the first feature length Aqua Teen adventure, our heroes are attempting to assemble a piece of exercise equipment that may in fact destroy the world. The guys are aware of some of the danger but plow ahead anyway. Standing in their way is a pair of stoned. lazy aliens from the future and a mohawk and duck bill wearing robot that humps everything. Along for the ride is AQHF's poor put upon, loudmouth neighbor Carl who is often the victim of their shenanigans, and is especially this time their victim.

That is what I could make of the narrative. For the most part, ATHFT is a meditative experience that never rises above the level of a dull not unpleasant hum. A droning bore with sometimes eye catching visuals and minor jokes, Aqua Teen is mostly just bizarre. A character called Dr. Weird dresses as a chicken, a robot humps everything in sight. Exercise equipment comes to life and becomes a killing machine. Wildly scatological ideas that have zero context and no obvious humor beyond the mere creation of them as thoughts turned into images.

My reaction to the Aqua Teen Hunger Force the movie was something I would describe as active indifference. I know that I watched the movie. I know that I didn't hate the movie but I certainly did not like it either. I was entirely apathetic toward it. The movie stirred no emotion in me whatsoever. I was completely numbed by it, hypnotized by some of the exceptionally bizarre scenery but still, by the end, completely dispassionate.

I can't tell you how many times people have told me that I just don't get it. However, when I press them on why I don't get it; they have no answer. Could the joke be so meta that it's actually a prank on the people who think they get a joke that doesn't really exist? That would go a long way toward explaining the bizarre experience that is Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie For Theaters.

Movie Review The Hoax

The Hoax (2007) 

Directed by Lasse Hallstrom 

Written by William Wheeler

Starring Richard Gere, Alfred Molina, Marcia Gay Harden, Hope Davis, Julie Delpy, Stanley Tucci 

Release Date April 6th, 2007

Published April 8th, 2007 

A biography of a man famous for a fake biography, what an inspired idea. No doubt the great Clifford Irving chuckles at the thought. The man who made his name by inventing, from public record and his fabulously tricky mind, a biography of Howard Hughes, must chuckle endlessly at how his famed hoax has made him a real celebrity.

This multi-million dollar hoax that engulfed his closest friend and his wife, landing all of them in jail, is now the security blanket of his fame and fortune. It could not have turned out more fortuitous unless he had managed to skip the 14 months he spent in federal prison. This grand illusion he spun into a million dollar book deal has, since sending him to prison, allowed him to become an honest bestseller.

The scam has now led Irving to have his life's greatest and most fantastic achievement portrayed in a film, The Hoax, in which he is played with gumption and a touch of crazy by Richard Gere. Directed by Lasse Hallstrom, the film takes a few minor liberties with the true story; but I'm sure Clifford Irving won't mind.

In the spring of 1970 Clifford Irving, a bestselling novelist and biographer, found himself with a book no one would publish. His latest novel, though praised as a work of angry humor, has just been declined by his long time publisher McGraw Hill and even his friend and editor Andrea Tate (Hope Davis) seems ready to write him.

The desperate moment leads to the invention of a story so fantastic that only master storytellers and con-man like Clifford Irving could come up with it. Bursting into Tate's office he declares that he has the story of the century and he is putting it up to the highest bidder. That story becomes the auto-biography of Howard Hughes, and the highest bidder is McGraw Hill, because there were no other bidders. There really was no book.

Teaming with his best friend and fellow author Richard Suskind (Alfred Molina), Clifford plans to take advantage of the eccentric millionaires current status as a reclusive nutjob, alleged to be hiding out in empty hotels, terrified of germs and slowly deteriorating, on the theory that the crazed Hughes won't come after them for fear of having reveal himself in public.

Together, and with the help of Clifford's wife Edith (Marcia Gay Harden), Clifford and Richard will craft the Hughes story from public records, interviews with friends and associates and fantasy tales of Hughes interviews conducted by Clifford himself to create this unusual and unlikely narrative. They will get the publisher to advance them hundreds of thousands of dollars and take advantage of Swiss banks to launder the money. The plan is foolproof... to Clifford anyway.

Little did the flim flam man and his partners realize just how big this story was. How this story would not only affect the frail but feisty Mr. Hughes but also the President of the United States Richard M. Nixon and, allegedly, change the face of history.

Directed by Lasse Hallstrom, The Hoax is a welcome departure from the directors usual brand of cloying uplift. Hallstrom's films, The Cider House Rules, Chocalat and The Shipping News are brutal exercises in sickly sweet life lessons. Overly precious with a complete lack of self awareness, these films show a director whose mind is on tugging heartstrings, not making a truly heartfelt film.

The Hoax is a completely different film. Gone is any attempt at uplift. Where there was no self awareness, there is now a light hearted wink and a nod. There is sincere humor in the storytelling and direction of The Hoax which delights in conspiring with Irving to pull off his hoax while presenting an unvarnished look at who this guy was. Clifford Irving was a man incapable of the truth, a literally physical aversion to telling a true story. The Hoax, through the playful, heartfelt performance of Richard Gere nails just who Clifford Irving had to be to attempt; and nearly pulls off; one of the greatest cons in history.

Casting a movie is an art form that is highly underappreciated. The wrong actor in a role can destroy any script; no matter how good that script really is. The Hoax could not be anymore perfectly cast. Richard Gere delivers the single most satisfying performance of his long and illustrious career. In recent years the man once called 'the sexiest man alive' has made a living with sullen, wooden characters in cut rate mainstream program pictures.

There have been good performances, I really liked his wronged husband in Unfaithful, but it seemed the charm was waning and that Gere was restless and bored. The Hoax finds Richard Gere rejuvenated, full of life and bursting with the kind of charisma that made him a star decades ago. His Clifford Irving is an astonishing work of guts and wit and the kind of charm that only the best actors can communicate. This is a first rate performance worthy of Gere's first serious consideration for an Oscar.

The supporting cast is equally sensational. Alfred Molina, as Clifford's best friend, crafts a schlubby, lovable lost soul who would be easily enthralled by someone like Clifford Irving. A talented writer in his own right, Suskind was drawn into this web of lies of his own will but Molina conveys beautifully the longing for glory, even the reflected kind, that likely drew Suskind to Irving.

Hope Davis is tough as nails with just the right touch of naiveté as Irving's editor while Oscar winner Marcia Gay Harden provides the emotional center of Irving's life as his ex-wife. Stanley Tucci, Zeljko Ivanek and Eli Wallach each deliver spot on supporting work in cameos that serve to deepen what is an already strong cast.

2007 has been a strong year already with movies like Zodiac, Smokin' Aces and Breach setting a very strong tone. Now comes The Hoax and it is the best of the bunch. Smart, funny, and brilliantly constructed, The Hoax delivers on the best work of director Lasse Hallstrom and actor Richard Gere, really, in their entire careers.

A truly engaging and sensational piece of work, The Hoax is a movie that you absolutely must see.

Movie Review: Blades of Glory

Blades of Glory (2007) 

Directed by Josh Gordon, Will Speck

Written by John Altschuler

Starring Will Ferrell, Jon Heder, Will Arnett, Amy Poehler, Jenna Fischer

Release Date March 30th, 2007

Published March 29th, 2007

How does a film critic approach something like the new Will Ferrell comedy Blades of Glory. It's not so much a movie as it is a series of skits featuring the same characters. Yes, there is the vague sense of a narrative and a sense of filmmaking skill involved in the capturing of the various skits, but is it really a movie in the classic sense of the term? Not really. Blades Of Glory may not be a real 'movie' but as a series of skits; cut together; and presented on the big screen; it is rather hilarious.

Will Ferrell stars in Blades Of Glory as Chazz Michael Michaels. We are told that he is a world championship figure skater whose showmanship has earned him the nickname "Sex on Ice". His main rival is a sweet natured, orphan turned prodigy; Jimmy McElroy (Jon Heder). When we meet them for the first time, in dueling TV highlight packages, they are competing for the world championship in men's figure skating.

Michaels with his trademark fireballs and McElroy with his own trademark bird-like moves, manage a tie for the gold medal but neither is satisfied. On the medal stand the two rivals argue and push and shove and finally break down into the kind of catfight one might not stereotypically expect from figure skaters. Soon both skaters are bloodied and the mascot is on fire.

The fight gets both skaters stripped of their medals and banned from skating. Oh, but there is a loophole. They were banned from men's singles skating, not pairs. Eventually, Jimmy's coach (Craig T. Nelson) gets the brilliant idea to pair the rivals as the first male figure skating pair in history, much to the dismay of the top pairs couple in the world Stranz and Fairchild Van Waldenberg (Will Arnett and Amy Poehler). The brother sister pair make it their mission to destroy their new rival with the help of their mousy little sister Katie (Jenna Fischer) who caught Jimmy's eye.

OK, there is a semblance of a plot here. However, watching it unfold and describing it are two very different things. Watching Blades of Glory I was left waiting for the movie to begin. Every scene is the set-up of a bit, closed with a punchline ending. There is little story progression, almost no character development and what little there is, is undone quickly by another gag/punchline ending. That said, most of the gags and punchlines in Blades of Glory are pretty funny and that goes a long way in excusing the film's faults.

I promise not to give away any of the great jokes in Blades of Glory except to say keep an eye on the hot dog guy. This one line day player has the best joke in the movie. Also stealing the show is costume designer Julie Weiss whose Flash Gordon meets Tron designs are absolutely priceless. The costumes in the final performance may in fact get the loudest laugh of anything in the film.

Will Ferrell is... Will Ferrell. He's everything you expect him to be in Blades of Glory, obnoxious, clueless, occasionally drunk and it works for him. What is odd is watching Ferrell try and share the screen with Heder who, though likable, is not on Will's plain in terms of starpower. In fact, Ferrell's role is really a glorified supporting role. Heder is the one with the more pronounced arc and he gets the girl. Ferrell merely sweeps in for punchlines. Pretty well, all of them.

For those who stick around for the credits and want to know who that is singing that oddly earnest sounding "Blades of Glory" theme song, it's not Survivor or the remaining members of Boston. It's former American Idol contestant Bo Bice.

I don't think Blades of Glory is very good as a movie but as a series of laughs strung together; I must admit, I laughed alot. Will Ferrell as a figure skater is enough to produce a chuckle. When decked out in spandex skating to Foreigner tunes, he is just a scream. There may not be a plot but when the jokes are this funny it's hard to complain to much. I guess; you could call this a recommendation for Blades of Glory.

Movie Review Shooter

Shooter (2007) 

Directed by Antoine Fuqua 

Written by Jonathan Lemkin 

Starring Mark Wahlberg, Michael Pena, Danny Glover, Kate Mara, Rhona Mitra

Release Date March 23rd, 2007 

Published March 23rd, 2007 

Mark Wahlberg is on the verge of major superstardom. Coming off his Oscar nominated performance in The Departed, Wahlberg is one major starring role away from that rarefied air of a 20 million dollar man. Unfortunately, his latest starring role, Shooter, is not the career transforming movie he was looking for. An abysmal mess of action movie cliches, Shooter is a step backward, in fact, for Wahlberg who delivers one of the least appealing performances of his career.

Bob Lee Swagger (Mark Wahlberg) is one of the best snipers in the world. As demonstrated early in the movie, he can take out a can of beef stew from a mile away. That is why security contractors led by Colonel Johnson (Danny Glover) turn to him to find out how an assassin might kill the President with a near impossible shot from more than a mile away.

Though not exactly keen on helping a President he has deep philosophical differences with, Bob casually reads the 9/11 report and talks of disdain for wars over oil; just to give you an idea of his political bent, Swagger agrees to help out. It turns out to be a fateful decision. The asassination happens despite Bob's help and in fact because of it, the men he is working for are the actual assassins and Bob it seems is their patsy.

Now he must team up with a rookie FBI agent, babyfaced Michael Pena, to take down the shady conspiracy. To do so, they will have to kill a whole heck of alot of people.

Directed by Antoine Fuqua, a master of style over substance filmmaking, Shooter has no real plot but rather plot hangers on which scenes of extreme violence are hung. On the bright side, much of that extreme violence is pretty cool looking. A siege on a farmhouse where Wahlberg and Pena kill some 20 or more nameless henchmen brings back fond goofball memories of Schwarzeneger's Commando and Stallone's Rambo.

Naturally, this being a throwback to action movies past there is eye candy in Shooter. Hot redhead Kate Mara, last seen in the underappreciated We Are Marshall, plays Wahlberg's love interest who by chance happens to spend much time in bondage wearing only a bra and jeans. And then there is smokin' babe Rhona Mitra, best known from TV's Nip/Tuck, who plays Pena's FBI partner who, though she keeps her clothes, models some lovely short skirts that I doubt are standard issue for an FBI agent.

Allegedly, when it comes to the action/thriller genre, we are supposed to accept plot holes and dumb luck that allow the lead character to escape certain capture or death. Shooter abuses the dumb luck in scenes so appallingly contrived that Jean Claude Van Damme would scoff. What luck that Swagger manages to steal a car that happens to have medical supplies in the truck right after he had been shot twice.

What luck that the one guy in the world without a television happens to be an expert in weapons who can help Swagger figure out who set him up. To ask for suspension of disbelief once or twice is cool, to keep asking over and over until all logic is abandoned in favor of utter contrivance is just too much.

Shooter compounds its goofball plot with a political perspective as ludicrous as any of the outsized action scenes in the film. Wahlberg's Bob Lee Swagger presents a pseudo-liberal political perspective that he defends with a gun. In a more self aware movie that could be played for ironic laughs, but Shooter is not a satire. The film wears a simplistic anti-war, anti-conservative perspective on its sleeve right down to showing Swagger casually reading the 9/11 report and chiding his enemies for their wars for oil.

Kudos to Mark Wahlberg and director Antoine Fuqua for wanting their film to be relevant but if they really want to get their point across; they need to do it in a smarter, more self aware movie. Shooter is a blood and guts, old school action picture. Attempting to shoehorn political commentary into the film only serves to make the politics seem as irrelevant as the film itself.

The most disappointing thing about Shooter is the thing that should have been its biggest strength. Star Mark Wahlberg. In one of the most unappealing performances of his career, Wahlberg mumbles his way through a charisma free performance. Handicapped by a script that gives him little more to do than shoot and grunt, Wahlberg brings very little life to this performance.

Mark Wahlberg is far too good an actor for such dopey material as Shooter. Brainless action crossed with mindless political cliche, Shooter feigns depth by appealing to a left wing mindset but insults that same left wing with its goofball liberalism defended with a big gun. It's true that Shooter has its heart in the right place; but when its purpose is so poorly expressed, the point is desperately missed.

Wahlberg will bounce back from this. Shooter may not launch him into the star territory of Tom Cruise, Will Smith or even Mel Gibson, but he's too talented not to make it there eventually. That is, if he can bypass idiot movies like Shooter.

Movie Review Premonition

Premonition (2007) 

Directed by Mennon Yapo 

Written by Bill Kelly 

Starring Sandra Bullock, Julian McMahon, Nia Long, Kate Nelligan, Amber Valletta, Peter Stormare

Release Date March 16th, 2007

Published March 16th, 2007

Sandra Bullock's star has dimmed a great deal since the days when she was touted as replacing Julia Roberts as the queen of romantic comedy 12 years ago thanks to 1995's While You Were Sleeping. In this decade she has had only one legitimate hit movie, Miss Congeniality, that was sold on her star power. On the surface that would seem to reflect badly on Ms. Bullock.

In fact, however, there is a more complicated and interesting reason for her seeming decline. Sandra Bullock made the conscious choice not to be pigeonholed by her rom-com persona. Thus why she has made such eclectic and low key choices as  28 Days, Murder By Numbers and her small ensemble turn in the Oscar winner Crash. None of these movies has done anything for her box office reputation but they are, at the very least, risky and interesting choices.

For her latest film, the thriller Premonition, Bullock returns to big budget, mainstream, starring roles and chooses a most unlikely and uneven film choice. Premonition is a shallow, time shifting weepy about a woman who loses her husband over and over again until we in the audience aren't sure if we are cheering for Bullock to save her man or for the husband to finally disappear for good.

In Premonition, Sandra Bullock stars as Linda Hanson, a suburban mom of two lovely pre-teen girls (Shyann McLure and Courtney Taylor Burress). Her home is well tended, she runs everyday and keeps in great shape and yet there is something tearing at the fabric of her perfect suburban sprawl. Linda's husband Jim (Julian McMahon) has grown distant since the birth of their daughters and Linda doesn't know what to do about it.

All of that however, goes out the window when Jim is killed in a car accident. On his way to what he said was a job interview, though there is fair suspicion that Jim was meeting with another woman. Linda and her family are devastated, that is, till the next morning when Linda wakes up to find Jim in the kitchen making breakfast for his daughters.

Was it just a nightmare or a premonition? That becomes the point of the film as day after day Linda awakens to different days of the week and different realities before and after Jim's death.

Directed by German auteur Mennan Yapo, in his American debut, Premonition rolls out a time space continuum crossed with Groundhog Day plot and proceeds to beat it into the ground with repeated ridiculousness, lost and found plot lines and inconsistencies you could drive a semi truck through, oh sorry Jim.

The script by Bill Kelly, who has written nothing since the 1999 comedy Blast From the Past, is a mess of unfinished ideas and pointless existentialism. This is a film that is desperate to be deep but is far too lazy to figure out just what is deep or compelling about this plot. The story cannot even adhere to its own basic logic by connecting the various plot strands that either hang unfinished or simply peter out due to lack of interest.

Sandra Bullock has always had the ability to earn and keep an audience's sympathy and that is still the case; even in trash like Premonition. Even playing this ditzy, overwhelmed character who is blessed with all of the same knowledge that we in the audience are but refuses to make much use of it in her ever increasingly dire situation, Bullock somehow retains our sympathy.

The problem isn't Sandra Bullock, it's a bad script and a director more interested in camera histrionics and moody, gray skied atmosphere than in telling a smart compelling story. I must admit, director Mennan Yapo is a talented scenarist. With his best friend and cinematographer Torsten Lippstock, Yapo delivers some very interesting and unique visuals. His liberal use of handheld cameras gives the story a chaotic urgency that would have served well in a more coherent story. Unfortunately coherence is the last word I would use to describe the abysmal mess that is Premonition.

Sandra Bullock's best days at the box office are behind her but at least she still makes interesting and risky choices. Unfortunately, starring in Premonition isn't a choice that pays off well. Incoherent, ludicrous and outright irritating, this time twisting flick lacks the chills, thrills or even the modest entertainment value necessary for a successful film.

Sandra Bullock will walk away from Premonition still a sweetheart, still a presence who can win and hold your sympathy. It's the movie around her that suffers from its many plot holes and structural flaws.

Movie Review I Think I Love My Wife

I Think I Love My Wife (2007) 

Directed by Chris Rock 

Written by Louis C.K 

Starring Chris Rock, Kerry Washington, Gina Torres, Steve Buscemi, Orlando Jones, Wendell Pierce 

Release Date March 16th, 2007

Published March 16th, 2007

President Bill Clinton redefined infidelity in the 90's with his 'the definition of the word is' bit, but it was the great auteur Eric Rohmer who began the most thoughtful and incisive conversation about infidelity with his 1973 film Chloe In The Afternoon. That film wondered if infidelity of the mind was on par with actual infidelity and left audiences to answer that question for themselves.

Chris Rock is a big Eric Rohmer fan and has taken Rohmer's conversation about infidelity and added his own sensibilities to create the new film I Think I Love My Wife. The title is a daring, questioning, plea that I'm sure will make many married couples a little uncomfortable. This story about boring married life versus the constant excitement of what Rock has called in his stand-up routines "new pussy", is at times daring, at times touching and at times maddeningly cute.

Chris Rock is maturing as a filmmaker and this is a step forward but there is a way to go.

Richard Cooper is happily married with two kids but that doesn't mean he isn't bored out of his fucking mind. Richard and his wife Brenda (Gina Torres) have become roommates as much as they are husband and wife. They have stopped having sex and Richard is growing frustrated. It is at this crossroads that Richard gets a visit from an old friend who throws some excitement into his life.

Nikki (Kerry Washington) knew Richard before he got married, she dated a friend of his who had a nervous breakdown after she dumped him. Nikki comes to Richard for a job reference and becomes a fixture at his office, going out to lunch with him everyday so she can enlist his help in getting out of a bad relationship. Nikki can't believe Richard is married and she takes great pleasure in tweaking him about just how happy he is.

Nikki is exciting, sexy and flirtatious and Richard is very intrigued. As Nikki keeps showing up at his office Richard finds himself risking his marriage and his job for the excitement of spending time with Nikki. Will he take the chance for an exciting affair with Nikki or will he return to his comfortable but boring life as a suburban husband and father.

Written and directed by Chris Rock, I Think I Love My Wife wants to be taken seriously while still being funny. Rock nearly pulls that off. However, broad jokes involving viagra and fantasy sequences about women in their underwear on the streets of New York undercut the film's more serious purposes. Similar problems permeated Rock's last directorial effort; the political comedy Head Of State.

In Head Of State Rock played the first African American President of the United states. While much of his satire of race and politics was dead on, Rock could not resist his innate comedian's sense that the audience must laugh every ten to twenty seconds or something isn't right. As he did in Head of State and does again in I Think I Love My Wife. Rock cannot simply stand by and allow the story to be told. He forces in jokes and sight gags and an odd bit of singing that get in the way of an otherwise thoughtful and serious minded examination of marriage and infidelity.

I found an interesting correlation between this film and Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut. Both films examine betrayal, apathy and fidelity and though I Think I Love My Wife is more straightforward in terms of storytelling; Eyes Wide Shut is more true emotionally. Where Rock pulls punches Kubrick's metaphors are like body blows landing with impact, especially the ending which has just the kick needed to send audiences home reeling. Rock goes for a very similar ending in his film however, an ill-timed musical number, yes I said musical number, cuts into the truth of the moment and sells it out in favor of a bit.

Gina Torres as Rock's wife Brenda in I Think I Love My Wife delivers the film's truest dramatic performance. Her measured, practical observations of Richard's behavior, belying a naivete of his actions with Nikki, are some of the most compelling moments in the film. Torres takes a character written as something of a cold fish and infuses her with a hidden passion and fire that comes out in quiet, desperate moments that are some of the films best.

Chris Rock's stand up comedy act has always been edgy and insightful. Most people remember his controversial rants on politics and race. However, it is on the topic of relationships where his most insightful work comes from. In his Bigger and Blacker special from 2000, Rock masterfully demonstrated the benefits of marriage over being single with brutal honesty.

Rock talked openly about how marriage is boring. Why don't men want to be married? How easy it is for a man to cheat. But the overarching point was still strongly made by weighing his options. You can be married and bored or single and lonely. Rock chose marriage and boredom and now he's written a movie about this very topic.

I Think I Love My Wife attacks this same topic with similar honesty and openness and though some of his more broad gags get in the way of the film's very real drama, the humor still carries the day in this loving tribute to bored married couples.

Chris Rock remaking Eric Rohmer? It's not as far-fetched as it might seem. Both are fascinated with the same topics, morality, politics, infidelity, women. One just happens to be from the French New Wave and the other is a brilliant stage comedian. I Think I Love My Wife is much more heavy handed than Rohmer's more thoughtful take, but it's also much funnier than Rohmer's Chloe In The Afternoon.

Though there really is no need to compare these two films in terms of quality. Rohmer was a far more experienced filmmaker in 1973 than Rock is today. It's unfair to expect Rock to match Rohmer in his command of the medium. Where the two cross paths well is in insightful examinations of the subject. Both are equally fascinated with the mechanics of marriage and relationships and both have something unique and interesting to say about them.

I Think I Love My Wife adds a good deal of humor to the equation and that is mostly welcome, except when it becomes a crutch. Chris Rock needs to learn to let his storytelling breath and that there is no need to shoehorn in the jokes. The humor can come from the characters and the situation. After watching I Think I Love My Wife I can see that Rock is learning these lessons and I can't wait to see him mature further.

Movie Review: The Ultimate Gift

The Ultimate Gift (2007) 

Directed by Michael Sajbel

Written by Cheryl McKay 

Starring Abigail Breslin, Drew Fuller, Bill Cobbs, James Garner

Release Date March 9th, 2007 

Published March 10th, 2007 

Cynically trading on the Oscar nomination of young Abigail Breslin is the religious themed drama The Ultimate Gift. This film from the newly minted Fox Faith distribution company is Fox's even more cynical attempt to turn a profit on religion. In the wake of Passion of the Christ we have seen more and more of these religious dramas and with their low budgets and relative returns; they aren't likely to improve in quality anytime soon.

Jason (Drew Fuller) has drifted through life on his mom's money for many years. Naturally, with privilege paying for his high class New York apartment and expensive car, Drew values nothing above vanity. However, his life is changed forever by the death of his grandfather Red (James Garner). It's not that Jason was close with his grandfather, indeed grandpa wasn't close to anyone in his family. No, it's just that grandpa decided on his death to use his money to teach his wayward grandson a lesson.

With the help of his lawyer (Bill Cobbs) Red has set up a series of challenges for Jason. First, he forces Jason's mom to cut off his money. This costs Jason his apartment and his beloved car. Jason must prove that without his money he still has friends. This is much harder than he would have imagined. This is when Jason meets Emily (Abigail Breslin). Sleeping on a park bench, Jason is thought to be a homeless man.

Emily offers him food and soon Jason is scheming to have the girl and her mother Alexia (Ali Hillis) pretend to be his friends. Unfortunately, that still isn't enough for Jason to get his money. There are more challenges, including working on the ranch owned by Gus (Brian Dennehy) one of Red's best friends, to teach him hard work. Of course all of these valuable less are meant to make Jason a better person and wouldn't you it, the little girl and her mom have a secret that will also influence Jason's becoming a better person.

Directed by Michael O'Sajbel, The Ultimate Gift is like an unfunny version of the Richard Pryor comedy Brewster's Millions. Both films are about learning the value of a dollar and how money, having it and not having, teaches a valuable lesson. Brewster's Millions thankfully, isn't weighed down by biblical piety and dull melodrama as The Ultimate Gift is.

Director Michael O'Sajbel has been rather indignant about his film being treated as or marketed as a faith movie. He might want to look at the distributor shingle hanging on the front of the film. It's a new division of the Fox movie company called Fox Faith. A reaction what marketers had hoped was a new niche in the wake of The Passion Of the Christ.

Unfortunately, that niche has proven unreliable and movies like The Ultimate Gift, Amazing Grace and September Dawn have been made for an audience that may not even exist. Certainly, there was a vocal group of people who went to see the Passion and talked openly of how they rarely go to the movies because of their negative impression of Hollywood filmmakers.

In reality, most churchgoers are just average moviegoers who would rather watch swashbuckling pirates, spider based heroes and big green ogres rather than some self serving pseudo religious drama. Churchgoers, even the evangelicals, are as starstruck as any other audience and would rather watch Johnny Depp in a bad movie than some guy named Drew Fuller in a movie that allegedly appeals to their values.

The failure of The Ultimate Gift is simply a question of quality. The film isn't very good. The acting is subpar, the aesthetic is amateur and the underlying ideals are a cynical attempt at niche marketing. There really is nothing good about this movie and that is why audiences rejected it in droves when it was released in theaters and continue to reject it on DVD.

This will no doubt be the fate of most if not all films that follow the same path. Assuming that churchgoers are not savvy movie fans or that they are somehow entirely different from average moviegoers is a failed premise.

Movie Review: 300

300 (2007) 

Directed by Zack Snyder

Written by Kurt Johnston 

Starring Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, David Wenham, Michael Fassbender

Release Date March 9th, 2007 

Published March 8th, 2007

Frank Miller is the pre-eminant graphic novelist of this short century and now that film technology has reached the ability to present his vision on screen we are being treated to some astonishing works. His Sin City, directed by Robert Rodriguez, was a mind blowing exercise in cool. Now comes 300 a historical novel that uses the graphic novel form to render history in a most visceral and modern fashion.

Directed by Zack Snyder (Dawn of the Dead), 300 is about bravery, manhood and desire. But more than anything, 300 is about style and rendering Frank Miller's vision on the screen in the most slavishly accurate ways imaginable, short of just making it straight animation.

The Persian army is spreading like a virus across continents; slaughtering millions and enslaving millions more. Now, standing on the doorstep of the Roman empire, the Persian king Xerxes looks to complete his world domination but first a small band of warriors stand in his way. The greatest warriors in the world, Spartans, stand in a small corridor between the Persians and the conquer of the Roman empire.

Leading the Spartans is their king Leonides (Gerard Butler) who refused to kneel to Xerxes when he was offered a truce. Xerxes is well aware of the reputation of Spartan soldiers as the greatest fighters in the world and had attempted negotiation. Leonides ended the negotiation by killing the messenger. However, before he could go to war he had to consult the gods.

The Ephors, mountain top dwelling cretins, are the conduit between Sparta and the gods. They deny his call for war leaving Leonides with one option. Taking 300 warriors, men with sons who could carry on their names after they die, Leonides heads toward the coasts, toward Thermopylae where he will stand against Xerxes army and hope that his bravery moves the gods enough to bring back-up and take war to the Persians.

Based on the novel by Frank Miller, 300 is a visually arresting force of nature. Director Zack Snyder stunningly recreates Frank Miller's graphic novel with every blood drop and sword whoosh in tact. It is in fact such a slavish recreation that its fair to criticize Snyder for not bringing something of himself to this epic movie.

Snyder's work is there. He was the one slaving over every shot making sure the actors were at home in their CGI environment and the melding is seemless. Zack Snyder's technical chops are unlimited it would seem but at times they can be a little much. Once you have seen one head spinning in slow motion as it disconnects from its body, you've seen it enough. That scene however, along with many others is repeated over and over throughout 300.

It's all visually impressive but once you become accustomed to the style the repetitive nature becomes mind numbing and tedious. It's no help that this film seems louder than most other films. I know for a fact that 300 is no louder than any other action blockbuster, but with it's raging hordes of Persians, elephants, rhinos and freaks it seems louder.

The films rousing, bombastic score from Tyler Bates is so amped up I was preparing for my face to melt ala the screaming demons of Indiana Jones. Bates' score asaults the ears and while it's not a bad score it's often so amped up you may have to cover your ears to make out the notes.

As happens with epic war movies in the era of Iraq; some critics are applying political allegory. Red staters could if they so choose see the Spartans as a small band of American soldiers standing against the hordes of Persians, read Arabs, with George W. Bush as Leonides. Blue staters see in the small band of spartans defending their homeland from hordes of invaders as an allegory for the Iraqis who are fighting the Goliath American army to protect their homeland.

Both are a great intellectual stretch. Not that Frank Miller's story doesn't have it's depth and metaphor but any relationship to Bush administration policy in Iraq is something you bring to the film on your own. 300 is a film that is about itself. This is a perpetuation of style, an exercise in aesthetic and reveling in technology.

The technology is quite breathtaking. From the computer generated elephants and rhinos to the exquisitely sensual rendering of the female form in slow motion, nearly nude, dance, nearly every scene in 300 is a remarkable visual. Some will compare it to a videogame and considering the advances in technology; that is not an unfair or even unflattering comparison.

Is it historically accurate that the Spartans fought battles wearing only leather panties and red capes? This seems an impractical and discomfiting choice of battle wear. They are right on the coast, the spray off the raging ocean alone must be a little uncomfortable. On the other hand, these outfits are perfect for showing off washboard abs and giant pumped up pecs. Whoever was lucky enough to open that Gold's Gym in Sparta must have been a very rich man.

The gay subtext of 300 I'm sure will be uncomfortable for some. But the fact is that with all of these pumped up bodies on display in all of their sweat soaked glory, it's clear that director Zack Snyder wanted some level of homosexual awareness in the picture. Either that or he is clueless and closeted. And there is nothing wrong with that. I admire the bravery of any filmmaker who so daringly displays the male form when the industry standard is to treat women as the eye candy

I liked 300 but I didn't love it. Maybe some of it was the hype or my own high expectations but I was slightly disappointed. From the trailer I expected a similar giddy thrill to what I experienced watching Frank Miller's Sin City. Instead I found myself, mildly thrilled and loving the work of Frank Miller but underwhelmed by the film made from it.

300 is an undeniable achievement in visual filmmaking and that alone is enough to recommend it. Just be sure to temper your expectations. The lower the better.

Movie Review: Zodiac

Zodiac (2007) 

Directed by David Fincher

Written by James Vanderbilt

Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr, Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Edwards, Brian Cox

Release Date March 3rd, 2007

Published March 2nd, 2007 

Director David Fincher has a childhood connection to the case of the Zodiac killer. Fincher grew up in Marin County just outside San Francisco and rode a school bus for weeks with a police escort after the Zodiac threatened to flatten the tires of a school bus and kill all the children inside. This memory amongst others of that hyper-paranoid time in San Francisco were the impetus for Fincher's involvement in the movie Zodiac starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Mark Ruffalo.

Though some will connect this serial killer film with Fincher's masterpiece of the macabre Seven, Zodiac is a very different animal. A meditative character piece, Zodiac is a masterpiece of observation and dialogue. Working without the shock factors of Seven or his other masterpiece Fight Club, Fincher cultivates an absorbing tale of procedure.

He also crafts his third masterpiece.

In 1968 two teenagers by a lake in northern California were shot to death with seemingly no motive. Then, less than a year later, two more teenagers, this time on a lover's lane, are shot and one dies. After this murder a letter arrives at newspapers across the bay area and a man who would soon come to be called The Zodiac, claimed credit for the murders. Another murder in early 1970, another couple, in which a woman is killed and her male companion survives is claimed by The Zodiac.

This was only the beginning of the case of the Zodiac, a case that would come to grip the San Francisco police department, amongst other northern California law enforcement offices, for more than a decade. Another murder in 1970, the death of a cab driver on the streets of San Francisco, kept the case open in several different counties in northern California.

Based on the prose of cartoonist turned amateur sleuth Robert Graysmith, the movie Zodiac is a studious recreation of the period of the Zodiac killings and the facts as gathered by Graysmith, the police and the reporters who gave their lives to solving the Zodiac case and failed.

The film stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Graysmith who in the late 60's was the political cartoonist for the San Francisco Chronicle. His path to becoming obsessed with the Zodiac case began with the killers first letter which included a cypher that captured his attention. As a boy scout Graysmith was taught code breaking. He didn't crack the first cypher but future codes he did break on behalf of the Chronicle's top crime reporter Paul Avery (Robert Downey Jr) who made Graysmith part of the case.

On the other side of the Zodiac case were the cops, especially San Francisco detective Dave Toschi (Mark Ruffalo) and his partner Bill Armstrong (Anthony Edwards). Though they were late to the Zodiac case, they caught what is allegedly the last of the Zodiac's murders, it was Toschi who the Zodiac singled out as a worthy opponent and though the film doesn't speculate, Toschi may have been the reason Zodiac came to San Francisco and changeded his M.O from killing couples to the thrill kill of a cab driver.

The evidence uncovered by Toschi and Armstrong is what leads the police to the prime suspect who, in a scene of chilling resonance, is revealed to be far more average than one might expect from a killer who has managed to toy with police and avoid capture for so long. This is just one of many exceptional scenes in Zodiac that add up to an ending some may find unsatisfying but I found liberating and illuminating.

Why did Robert Graysmith become obsessed with the Zodiac? That is a question that only Graysmith could answer and is not something that Jake Gyllenhaal's oddly compelling performance has time to ponder. Gyllenhaal crafts Graysmith as a nervous oddball character whose compulsive personality finds outlet in the investigation of the Zodiac.

First it's the cyphers which intrigue him. Then an odd sense of what he feels is justice takes him over. Though he doesn't question the police commitment to finding the Zodiac, he is convinced that he can help the investigation and thus begins a strange journey into the midst of the case. A series of red herrings and strong suspects distract him for a time but might have been the ramblings of a conspiracy nut soon become the key to revealing who the Zodiac really was.

Robert Downey Jr. nails every moment of his worn down, drugged out reporter in Zodiac. Robert Avery was the Chronicle crime reporter on the Zodiac case and he too was consumed by it, though in a far more self destructive way. Avery, at first, reveled in taunting the killer in his coverage, even calling him a latent homosexual in one controversial column. Soon he is turning up leads and working around the cops to break the case. Unfortunately, it was the case that broke Avery.

Mark Ruffalo has always been a solid actor but he is invigorated working with David Fincher. Ruffalo's is a lively engaged performance. Energetic, smart and even humorous, his Dave Toschi is such a compelling figure that it is no surprise that he was the template for both Steve McQueen's cop in Bullitt and Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry.

Zodiac is a hypnotic journey. An absorbing police procedural about obsessive characters and the lengths they go in pursuit of their obsession. Even at nearly three hours Zodiac holds you in rapt attention as it unfolds this horrifying tale of a murderer who escapes capture and the men who gave their lives for some semblance closure, even if that closure brought them nowhere close to justice.

Guaranteed to be one of the best films of 2007, Zodiac is the first can't miss movie of the year.

Movie Review: Wild Hogs

Wild Hogs (2007) 

Directed by Walt Becker 

Written Brad Copeland 

Starring John Travolta, William H. Macy, Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence, Marisa Tomei 

Release Date March 2nd, 2007 

Published March 1st, 2007

The stars of Wild Hogs are somewhat beyond their sell by date. Aside from William H. Macy, who has never been any kind of box office star, the box office for stars John Travolta, Martin Lawrence and Tim Allen have seen diminishing returns. However, that doesn’t mean that putting them together in a movie is bad for business.

Indeed, it would seem rather a genius idea and when you combine the collective star power of this cast with an easy sell of a comic premise like Wild Hogs, you have the recipe for a big hit. Regardless of whether the movie is any good.

Woody (John Travolta), Doug (Tim Allen), Bobby (Martin Lawrence) and Dudley (William H. Macy) have reached a point in their lives where they are stuck. For Woody a divorce and bankruptcy has him more than a little on edge. Doug is dealing with a son who doesn’t respect him and a job as a dentist that gets little respect. Bobby is so henpecked that even a daily ride on his motorcycle is hard to put past his difficult wife (Regina King). As for Dudley, crippling nerdiness has made him repellant to woman and arrested his development.

At least they have each other and their matching expensive Harley’s and a patch on their leather jackets that says Wild Hogs. What the really need is an adventure and Woody has just the idea. A cross country bike ride from their home in Cinncinati all the way to the Pacific ocean.

After a little dull exposition, convincing each character why they should go, we finally hit the road for a series of gay jokes, bathroom jokes and biker clichés. There is nothing remotely original about Wild Hogs. The films humor is lowbrow, in the vein of Robin Williams at his most cloying. In fact, Williams' family pic R.V has much the same idiots on the road vibe.

I hated R.V. Yet, I don't necessarily hate Wild Hogs. Where Williams flailed and fell about searching for laughs in R.V, Wild Hogs has four well known stars flailing and falling about trying to find laughs and somehow that is more entertaining.

There is a genial, good time vibe that is undeniable throughout Wild Hogs. All four of these stars just seem to be having such a good time that occasionally that vibe becomes infectious and you can't help but feeling it. William H. Macy is especially winning as a good hearted computer nerd. At first his schtick, crashing his motorcycle twice in the first 20 minutes, seems a little embarrassing and unbecoming an actor of his talent, but eventually Macy makes the characters awkward ways charming and when he falls for a small town gal played by Marisa Tomei the film takes on a real rooting interest.

John Travolta and Tim Allen have a very natural friendly interaction in Wild Hogs. They are the alpha males of this group of four and where you would expect Allen, the former stand-up, to be the comic; it is Travolta working for the laughs, and often getting them, while Allen plays things straight. I guess it should be no surprise that Travolta is good at mugging for laughs, what is surprising is how he manages to make much of his mugging in Wild Hogs so charming.

Martin Lawrence, unfortunately, never connects with either his co-stars or his hen pecked character. Lawrence has never done well with co-stars of equal billing, check Luke Wilson in Blue Streak or, much worse, Steve Zahn in National Security. Lawrence is most comfortable riffing his own material. Forced into the confines of an ensemble he melts into the background and appears to be going through the motions and simply picking up a paycheck.

Don't take away the impression that I think Wild Hogs is a good movie. This is truly idiot filmmaking. However, this group of actors is so talented and so likable that even the most hardened critic will have a hard time not finding something that makes them giggle. For me it was William H. Macy's fumbling attempts at romance and Travolta's mug that made me laugh much more than I ever thought I would during such an obvious and formulaic picture.

Wild Hogs isn't a movie I will ever see again but while I watched it, I kind of enjoyed it. This isn't the greatest endorsement I have ever given a film but count as a reason to see Wild Hogs. Once.

Movie Review: Black Snake Moan

Black Snake Moan (2007) 

Directed by Craig Brewer 

Written by Craig Brewer

Starring Samuel L. Jackson, Christina Ricci, Justin Timberlake

Release Date March 2nd, 2007

Published March 2nd, 2007

Craig Brewer's debut film Hustle and Flow was a sweat soaked tale of redemption as memorable for its musical conceit, southern fried hip hop, as for its dirty south setting. His follow up mines some of the same elements but with a great deal less success. Black Snake Moan is a similarly sweat soaked tale of redemption. Replacing hip hop with some old school blues, Black Snake Moan also has the musical conceit down.

So why does Hustle and Flow succeed and Black Snake Moan fail? High camp. Where Hustle and Flow could be taken seriously, even with it's pimps and ho's, Black Snake Moan is too balls out goofy in it's nympho plus bluesman equals redemption tale.

It's a concept so bizarre it's difficult to describe. A nymphomaniac (Christina Ricci) is depressed over her boyfriend (Justin Timberlake) having left for the military. So, she heads out for a night of hardcore debauchery. The next morning she is found beaten and unconscious on the side of a dirt road not far from the home of a bluesman turned farmer (Samuel L. Jackson).

How that leads to the nympho being chained to the bluesman's radiator is part of the overall kink of Black Snake Moan; another meta southern fantasy from writer-director Craig Brewer whose talent for recreating the southern milieu of mid-seventies southern exploitation films make him either the Quentin Tarentino of the southern drive in or a redneck Roger Corman. It depends on how much you like the story he's telling.

I loved the way he told the story of a pimp becoming a rapper in Hustle and Flow. That movie used the sweat soaked southern setting to put its characters in a pressure cooker environment that imitated the pressure each felt about turning their lives around. At times the pimp game stuff seemed a little too blaxploitation and not enough true story, but for the most part it worked.

Black Snake Moan is almost entirely an exploitation flick. Violent, creepy and yet somehow kind of sexy, Black Snake Moan trains its lecherous camera eye on Christina Ricci's panty and half shirt clad form, with a chain around her waist and milks it for all the kinky exploitation it can wring from such a scenario and not be accused of being porn.

And then the old time religion kicks in and the movie goes off in another goofy direction. Craig Brewer's direction of Black Snake Moan is as assured and evocative as anything he did in Hustle and Flow. The difference comes from the goofball story being told. Hustle and Flow created its own sweat soaked southern reality. Black Snake Moan evokes a Hollywood style southern culture by way of the goofy southern exploitation flicks of the 1970's.

You have to respect the bravery of Ms. Ricci for taking on such a complicated role. Though her performance is an utter disaster, she is at the very least highly committed to the part of a white trash sex fiend. It's a courageous and sexy performance but the character is entirely untenable. She is not necessarily redeemed and her character has little recognizable arc.

Samuel L. Jackson's bluesman is the more interesting and complex character. Surprisingly reserved and uncertain for a Samuel L. Jackson character, Lazarus makes decisions from moment to moment and often out of a quiet rage. That rage erupts rarely but when it does you get just a glimpse of the usual Sam Jackson; badass histrionics. This is a well measured and unique performance for Jackson, the best thing about an otherwise execrable film.

Black Snake Moan is southern fried dopey. Soft core porn on a Hollywood budget and with a much better soundtrack. I had hoped for something with a little more depth from Craig Brewer after his deft, quick witted debut. The filmmaking is strong; it's the storytelling that has suffered. Craig Brewer is too smart and too talented for such a shallow effort as Black Snake Moan.

Movie Review: Amazing Grace

Amazing Grace (2007) 

Directed by Michael Apted 

Written by Steven Knight 

Starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Romola Garai, Ioan Gruffaud, Albert Finney 

Release Date February 23rd, 2007 

Published February 23rd, 2007 

How do I recommend a movie like Amazing Grace? In the following paragraphs you will read that I don't find the film all that entertaining. Rather, I describe it as solid, professional, modest, educational, and like something produced by the History Channel. Not exactly the kind of movie that you run to the video store to grab for a Friday night date.

Amazing Grace is more appropriate for a classroom setting. It's studious and factual with the good intention of telling a valuable true story. As directed by the veteran Michael Apted, Amazing Grace is well made and admirably performed. I hope that is enough to get someone to see it, but I understand if you may prefer something else.

William Wilburforce (Ioan Gruffaud) was an easy touch for the issue his friend Pitt (Benedict Cumberbatch) brought to him. The cause? The end of the slave trade in England. Wilburforce had before then been merely a junior member of parliament who made his name with grand oratories that were mostly ignored by senior members.

When Wilburforce took up the cause, after meeting a former slave named Equiano (Youssour N'Dour) and a passionate preacher named Thomas Clarkson (Rufus Sewell), he was facing a losing battle. Much of the economy of the country was tied up in the slave trade and slave labor. It was not long before he was throwing himself into some of the most famous speeches in the country's history.

In an 11 year battle Wilburforce lost more fights than he won but he won when it counted.Amazing Grace is the movie the History Channel might make if they made films. Dry, concise, factual. All good traits, if not the most exciting or entertaining traits. Fans of the History Channel, like my father who runs it on a 24 hour loop when he's not watching golf, will find Amazing Grace to be just to their liking. School administrators are another audience likely to be satisfied with Amazing Grace and it's PG rated factuality.

As William Wilburforce Fantastic Four's Ioan Gruffaud gets to do some of the acting that being a CGI rubber band never allowed. It's not the first time that Gruffaud has shown he has some chops, his debut in the A & E mini-series Horatio Hornblower showed his promise as a capital A Actor. His performance in Amazing Grace is more mature than Hornblower, but also far less exciting. Steady, loyal, passionate, his Wilburforce is perfectly calibrated to the rather dry material he is given to interpret.

The rest of the cast is free to be a little more quirky and interesting. Though Romala Garai is underused as William's wife, she does brighten things up a bit by bringing a pretty face to the mostly male proceedings. The one truly entertaining performance comes from the crafty veteran Michael Gambon. Playing a senior member of parliament who surprises Wilburforce with his support, it is Gambon's character who seems to be pulling many of the important strings. That may or may not be true but the mischievous grin on Gambon's face throughout is fun to speculate on.

For fans of a very old school, masterpiece theater approach to filmmaking, Amazing Grace will have great appeal. Most mainstream moviegoers need not apply. There is nothing thrilling or even moderately rousing about this steady, solid and factual historic exercise. I am recommending Amazing Grace because I have no real reason not to. I was engaged by it, occasionally moved, if not entertained in any modern sense of the word. I was educated by it and that is valuable.

Valuable, steady, factual. These aren't exactly adjectives that sell you a movie for a friday night. Nevertheless, Amazing Grace is too well made and well intentioned to be a bad movie. It's not a bad movie, it's just not an entertaining movie.

Movie Review The Abandoned

The Abandoned (2007) 

Directed by Nacho Cerda

Written by Michael Katleman

Starring Karel Roden, Anastasia Hille

Release Date August 23rd, 2007

Published August 25th, 2007 

Courtney Solomon is the honcho behind After Dark films and the man behind the "8 Films To Die For" traveling horror film festival that managed to find nationwide distribution for what amounts to 8 direct to video features. By the numbers the most successful of this group of 8 b-movies was a tiny foreign set ghost story called The Abandoned.

Anastasia Hille stars in The Abandoned as Marie, a movie producer mired in depression and a general spiritual malaise. In an effort to turn her life around Marie goes out of her way to discover her birthplace on a tiny farm in the middle of nowhere hills of Russia's hinterlands. Marie was adopted as a small child and brought to America.

Called home by some unearthly feeling she must confront, Marie arrives at the farm to find another haunted soul already there. Nicolai (Karl Roden) claims to be a vagabond and caretaker but soon reveals himself to be Marie's brother, long separated since Marie's adoption following the mysterious deaths of their parents.

At first Marie finds Nicolai to be a terrifying presence, brother or no brother, but once the visions and ghosts begin making their appearance, Marie and Nicolai must become a team if they are going to survive the supernatural.

Directed by Nacho Cerda, in his feature debut, The Abandoned is a rather dull and dreary ghost story. The one working element is the bleak Russian setting which creates an oppressively creepy,gloomy atmosphere. That seems like a proper location for a good ghost story but The Abandoned never manages to become as frightening as its location is dismal.

Stars Anastasia Hille and Karl Roden are wonderful character actors in the right roles but as leads, neither shows the ability to hold the center of the screen. Roden is better known to American audiences than Hille thanks to small roles in Hellboy and The Bourne Supremacy, but his rote bad guy performances and thick Eastern European accent do little to make him an appealing leading man.

Hille's problem is a script that calls on her to be whiny and neurotic without an ounce of humor. Her teutonic textures formed into a permanent mopey frown, Hille is not a very compelling lead. I'm not asking her to dance or crack jokes but a modest amount of good humor would have been a way to lighten the oppressive moodiness of this dull gray horror trudge.

The Abandoned is a forgettable ghost story with uninteresting characters and boring plot twists. Director Nacho Cerda has a talent for an oppressive atmosphere but it's exactly that talent that manages to crush anything even modestly entertaining. The harsh gray look of The Abandoned may be evocative but it's also burdensome and crushing and make the film nearly impossible to enjoy.

Movie Review: Bridge to Terabithia

Bridge to Terabithia (2007) 

Directed by Gabor Csupo 

Written by David L. Paterson

Starring Josh Hutcherson, Anna Sophia Robb, Zooey Deschanel, Robert Patrick

Release Date February 16th, 2007 

Published February 17th, 2007 

Writer Catherine Paterson's children's novel Bridge To Terabithia contains a dedication to her son and her son's best friend. That friend had passed away some years ago but it was a tragedy that was a large part of the creation of the novel. Now on film, Bridge To Terabithia is a wonderful dedication to the imagination of children and the child's capacity to love and to heal.

Jess Arons (Josh Hutcherson) has always been an outcast. At school and even at home amongst his four sisters. He has never had a friend until a new girl moves in next door to him. Her name is Leslie (Anna Sophia Robb) and though it takes a little time the two eventually become best friends. Playing in the woods behind their houses the two invent a whole new world for themselves that they call Terabithia.

There is a tragedy that comes to take a large role in the end of Bridge To Terabithia. It is a surprise but not really a shock. Some will call it manipulative by nature because it involves a child. However, I feel that because Bridge To Terabithia so well establishes these characters, and so well tells this story that such an ending is fairly earned. It's also true to writer Catherine Paterson's novel.

Directed by Rugrats creator Gabor Csupo, Bridge To Terabithia is a magical crafting of the childs mind rendered on screen. Csupo and writers Jeff Stockwell and David Paterson strike a perfect balance between childish wonder and the big screen's ability to render the imagination on film. Movies can demystify the imagination by bringing it to life. The trick to Bridge To Terabithia the movie is to show children building a world from their mind while allowing that world to seem somewhat ordinary to the rest of us, as if we were simply watching kids play.

There are special effects in Bridge To Terabithia, many of them quite striking. But the reason they work is because of the strong acting of stars Josh Hutcherson and Anna Sophia Robb. Gabor Csupo does well to allow the characters to create the wonder of Terabithia before diving headlong into massive special effects that bring the childish imagination to life.

Anna Sophia Robb has a big, bright future ahead of her. The soon to be 14 year old actress has the impish cuteness of Drew Barrymore and much of the spirit of Dakota Fanning. In Bridge To Terabithia; Robb lights up the screen with a spirited performance that is really pure joy. Though she was unimpressive in the similarly family oriented Because of Winn Dixie, Robb really impresses in Bridge To Terabithia with a top notch performance.

Watching Robb and co-star Josh Hutcherson running through the forest of their Terabithia, creating their world from scratch as they walked, can't help but make one flashback to their own childish paradise. It's a wonderfully universal experience; so well captured by this lovely imaginative film.

Bridge To Terabithia comes from Walden Media; the family movie giant. Known for biblical allegory, and children's literature adaptations, Bridge To Terabithia is notable; not for its religion, which it wears on its sleeve, but rather for the realistic experience of religion by the children in the film. When Leslie, whose family is not very religious, joins Jess and his family at church; the scene leads to a theological discussion that only kids could have. A perfect recreation of the fear and wonder that religion inspires in young children, and a very brave scene by the moral standards of a Walden Media product.

Bridge To Terabithia is one of the most censored books of all time. The novel's use frank religious discussions and of course the death of one of the characters lead many parents to want the book banned from schools. Again, Walden Media is very brave to make this film and stay true to the story. This is a far more challenging film than anything Walden has produced before and they deserve to be commended for taking the risk.

A note to parents who aren’t familiar with the book: it is quite sad and you may have some hand holding to do by the end but it's worth it for such a terrific movie. Bridge To Terabithia shines with bright young stars and a heart rending story that is very well told. Anna Sophia Robb is a young star to watch and director Gabor Csupo shows he is talented well beyond his work in animation.

Bridge To Terabithia is the kind of kids movie that film critics long for. Challenging yet sentimental, smart but accessible. This is one of the best kids movies in a very long while.

Movie Review: Breach

Breach (2007) 

Directed by Billy Ray

Written by Adam Mazer 

Starring Chris Cooper, Ryan Phillippe, Laura Linney, Dennis Haysbert, Caroline Dhavernas, Gary Cole

Release Date February 16th, 2007 

Published February 17th, 2007

Robert Hanssen was America's leading expert in Russian counter-intelligence. When communism fell it was because of guys like Hanssen whose fluency in how the Russians conducted intelligence and counterintelligence helped topple Moscow. So how does a man so proud and outwardly patriotic become the greatest traitor since Benedict Arnold? That is one of two stories that unfold in the new movie Breach from director Billy Ray the young auteur behind Shattered Glass.

When agent Eric O'Neill (Ryan Phillippe) was assigned to be the assistant to veteran agent Robert Hanssen (Chris Cooper) he was told that this could be his opportunity to earn his way into becoming a full fledged agent. It was not because Hanssen was a 30 plus year veteran whose experience would be a great learning experience for O'Neill. Rather, this was a test of the young agents spy mettle.

Eric was chosen to watch over Hanssen whom he is told is a sexual deviant and thus susceptible to blackmail by foreign agents. Choosing a more veteran agent to watch Hanssen would arouse suspicion, so it's up to the. Little did Eric know, there was far more to this new detail than just sexual deviancy. He has actually been dropped right into the middle of the biggest internal FBI scandal in history.

Breach directed by Bill Ray, the man behind the Stephen Glass expose Shattered Glass, is a brisk exciting drama that tells the story of Robert Hanssen with an icy, quicksilver pacing that never rushes but never pauses too long either. The spycraft is formal and by the book, made exciting by the hard work of the actors and the terrific staging.

Chris Cooper shows once again why he is the preeminent character actor in the business. His Robert Hanssen is a constipated family man who is constantly fed up with just about everything. Everyone around him is regarded as a fool and he does not suffer fools kindly. The explanation for his treachery may just be an overall frustration with the people around him. He wants the system to conform to his idea of efficiency and when it doesn't he decides to goose the system by subverting it.

Ryan Phillippe continues to choose smart roles. His career track started as that of a teen idol after 1999's Cruel Intentions. Thankfully, brooding, handsome type was not the career he wanted and while his choices, from the cool underappreciated Way of the Gun to Antitrust to Crash, have been spotty, he has been good even in his most off-kilter role.

In Breach Phillippe plays a naive worker bee very well and his character grows up quickly. Initially all confusion and ambition his Eric O'Neill toughens up quickly and is able to use his naivete as a perfect wedge against the always suspicious Hanssen.

Breach is a breathtaking, fast paced story, exceptionally well told by director Billy Ray. There is not an ounce of fat on this story, every detail, from Hanssen's religious convictions to O'Neill's relationship with his wife played by the wonderful Catherine Davernas, it all pays off in a way. The crisp, efficient storytelling is aided by exceptional performances by Phillippe and Cooper and an extraordinary group of supporting players.

Laura Linney, Gary Cole and Dennis Haysbert bring expert skill to the roles of Hanssen's investigators. Linney is especially good as the strong willed lead investigator Kate Burroughs who made the tough call to put the kid O'Neill in with the veteran Hanssen. Icy and workmanlike, Burroughs hard nosed investigation was going on for two years before she brought in O'Neill as a last ditch effort to catch Hanssen in the act.

The person in charge of capturing the suspected mole before Hanssen was identified? Hanssen himself, something Burroughs is very aware of.

Taut, invigorating storytelling, Breach is the kind of thriller that excites with dazzling intellectual storytelling. Director Billy Ray may not be much of a visual stylist but he more than makes up for it with his ear for smart dialogue and his instinct for telling his story in a compact, quick witted way. The pace of the storytelling never outdoing the development of the characters, Breach unfolds the greatest failure in American intelligence history in the most entertaining way imaginable.

Movie Review Music and Lyrics

Music and Lyrics (2007) 

Directed by Marc Lawrence 

Written by Marc Lawrence 

Starring Hugh Grant, Drew Barrymore, Brad Garrett, Campbell Scott, Haley Bennett, Matthew Morrison

Release Date February 14th, 2007 

Published February 14th, 2007 

The biggest stars of the romantic comedy genre at this moment are Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore. Grant has starred in some of the highest grossing romantic comedies of all time and some of the most critically acclaimed including Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill and Bridget Jones' Diary. Drew Barrymore is a master of crowd pleasing romance from films like The Wedding Singer, 50 First Dates and Fever Pitch.

Bringing them together in Music and Lyrics, director Marc Lawrence never had a moment's worry about chemistry or comedy. His true achievement was not simply falling back on his lovable stars, putting them together in a smart, funny send up of the music industry and pop culture.

Alex Fletcher (Hugh Grant) has been. With his band 'POP' he became a huge star in the 1980's. However, when his co-lead singer left and became a huge solo star, Alex was left to live off his past glory. Now making a living off state fair tours, high school reunions and a standing gig at Knott's Berry Farm, Alex gets one last chance at the big time.

A pop star named Cora Corman (Haley Bennett), bigger than Britney and Christina combined, according to Alex's manager Chris (Brad Garrett), was a huge fan of Alex's band and wanted him to write a duet for them to sing together. Unfortunately, Alex hasn't written a song since his disastrous solo record years earlier. Lucky for him, his plant girl Sophie (Drew Barrymore) just happens to be pretty good with words.

Overhearing Alex working on the song, Sophie begins to offer a few words and after some prodding from Alex she becomes his lyricist. Together they write the song but when the pop star offers her thoughts will Alex compromise their hard work for the sake of his fame?

Director Marc Lawrence, the creator of TV's Family Ties, brings a solid professionalism to the crafting of Music and Lyrics. The story unfolds with little fat on the edges and a clear eyed purpose in the storytelling. Of course, Lawrence's most important contribution is helping to cast Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore, a can't miss romantic comedy duo.

The film is very smart about music and the industry of cool surrounding it. Young Haley Bennett skirts the edge of parody with her Cora Corman character. The character could easily tip over the edge into caricature, but Bennett gives the character a little more heart than what is on the page. Great laughs are mined from the Cora character without turning into a mean spirited attack on the Britney's and Christina's of the pop world.

Music and Lyrics are too sweet and light-hearted for that kind of hard satire. The light jabs at Cora and the excesses of pop stardom are pitched to the films overall genial nature.

With his can't miss charm and deprecating wit, Hugh Grant shows once again why he is the pre-eminent male star in this genre. As Alex Fletcher Grant delivers the film's biggest laughs; zinging one liners that provide comment on the scene in front of him and biting self analysis of his highly aware character. The real surprise in Grant's performance is that he is a more than credible pop singer. Yes, Grant did all of his own singing and hip gyrating dancing in the picture and he is quite impressive.

Drew Barrymore is her usual impishly cute self. Her lovability factor continues to be off the chart. Sophie is a scattered, slightly ditzy girl with a heart of gold. As written the shy, sweet character is likable but in the person of Ms. Barrymore the lovability is through the roof. Barrymore however, does not merely trade on her cuteness, she is a terrific comedian and the perfect off kilter foil for Grant.

The music of Music and Lyrics really sell the story. Director Marc Lawrence is careful to make sure the music is authentic to the time period and the film opens with a spot on spoof of classic 80's music. The video for "Pop Goes My Heart" captures perfectly the goofiness of videos of the time from bands like Soft Cell, Flock Of Seagulls and A-Ha. In fact "Pop Goes My Heart" is really as catchy and spirited as anything those real 80's bands ever made.

Not quite as strong but equally authentic is the song that Grant and Barrymore's character's craft for the pop star. The song called "Way Back Into Love" is not a great song but it is the kind of song that might click well with a pop audience. It's easygoing and unexceptional and entirely disposable, which is basically all modern pop music has become.

That the song means something to Grant and Barrymore's characters but isn't very good, doesn't necessarily hurt the characters, it just means their musical radar is a little different than mine.

Big laughs and big love, Music and Lyrics takes great advantage of the comic and romantic talents of its two wonderful stars to craft the rare romantic comedy that delivers on the promise of a good trailer. Drew Barrymore and Hugh Grant are truly the stars of this genre. She with her unending cuteness and comic timing and he with his deprecating wit and charm are a can't miss duo.

Movie Review Norbit

Norbit (2007) 

Directed by Brian Robbins

Written by Eddie Murphy, Charlie Murphy

Starring Eddie Murphy, Thandie Newton, Cuba Gooding Jr., Eddie Griffin, Marlon Wayans, Charlie Murphy 

Release Date February 9th, 2007 

Published February 9th, 2007 

The last thing Eddie Murphy needs with Oscar ballots still uncounted is a movie like Norbit. Unfortunately, Norbit is out there and TV commercials are exposing Eddie at his most commercially bankrupt. Will Norbit cast Eddie an Oscar? It's possible. Norbit is an example of Murphy at his most bankrupt, displaying his declining comic talent for the world to see, at a time when Hollywood is close to honoring him for the best dramatic work of his career.

Oscar voters aren't likely to see Norbit, which might lessen the impact, but just the sight of his giant fat suited character on TV could be enough for a few voters to turn their attention to actors with a tad more talent and integrity. 

Norbit (Eddie Murphy) was abandoned as a baby, thrown from a moving car at the doorstep of an orphanage/Chinese restaurant. There, Mr. Wong (Also Eddie Murphy) took young Norbit in and raised him as his own. Growing up in the orphanage, Norbit fell for a fellow orphan named Kate until she was adopted. With Kate gone, Norbit fell under the spell of Rasputia (Eddie, again) a giantess who protected him from bullies and years later forced him to marry her.

Trapped in an awful marriage to an awful woman, Norbit wants a way out. This is when Kate (Thandie Newton) returns and Norbit see's a different path for his life. Unfortunately, Kate has brought her fiance Deion (Cuba Gooding Jr.) with her. Can Norbit escape Rasputia and win Kate away from the scheming, jerky, Deion? These are the strands that stand in as a plot for Norbit.

Directed by Bryan Robbins, the auteur behind The Shaggy Dog and Ready To Rumble, Norbit is a terribly unfunny series of sitcomic sketches whose sole purpose is placing their star in a different funny outfit. The makeup on Eddie Murphy, done as it was in The Nutty Professor by effects master Rick Baker, is damn impressive but not nearly impressive enough to warrant a movie that is basically dedicated to the talent of the makeup department.

Norbit is pretty bad but not entirely laugh free. Comics Eddie Griffin and Katt Williams have small roles as pimps, Pope Sweet Jesus and Lord Have Mercy. The roles are awful stereotypes but Griffin and Williams are too talented not to deliver a couple of good laughs. In a scene near the end of Norbit, the two riff on love and steal the show for a few minutes.

Also kinda funny is Murphy's awful chinese caricature Mr. Wong. Murphy gives Mr. Wong all of the best and most shocking lines in the film and the racist banter and love of whaling are just wild enough to earn what few laughs are offered in Norbit.

As for Rasputia, Murphy's giant drag cliche, the character is a force of nature but there isn't anything there beyond the fat jokes. Unlike Tyler Perry's Madea who combines the bizarre look of a man in drag with a character that has its own level of odd integrity, Rasputia is just a walking stereotypical punchline. That Murphy infuses Rasputia with unending self confidence keeps the jokes from becoming meanspirited but the real problem is not political correctness or hurt feelings but rather that none of the jokes are funny.

Toss Norbit on the pile next to Daddy Day Care, Metro and Holy Man, yet another step in the decline of the comic talent of Eddie Murphy. Eddie's concert video Delirious hit DVD recently and is a hilarious example of how talented and gut bustingly funny Eddie Murphy once was. Why his skills have declined so badly is a mystery.

Like Adam Sandler impressing so many critics in Punch Drunk Love, Eddie Murphy's turn in Dreamgirls now looks like a flash in the pan, a moment of brilliance in a sea of declining talent. What a shame.