The Wolfman

I saw this in the theaters and hated it.  I had great expectations for it, very few of which were met.  The writing was pretty bland, the dialogue was cheap, and the character development was uneven.  Watching it months later, though, I have a new appreciation for it.  It's certainly not a new classic, but it's fun nonetheless.  The dark, gothic imagery is effective without being overbearing.  The melodrama is poured on a little thick at times, but the actors make it good enough to enjoy as a guilty pleasure.  This movie, like The Core, is further evidence to my belief that a good cast can make a bad movie enjoyable.

The Bucket List

Seems like there was a lot of hype around this one, which tends to make me skeptical. But waiting until a few years after it came out allowed me to watch it without much expectation. Also, having just turned 50, I was in the right frame of mind for a film about stuff to do before you die...

But hey, Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson, now that raises my expectations, and they did not disappoint me. And the story avoided a lot of potentially silly and trite stuff, while still being a touching drama, mixed with enough comedy and, well, just hanging around cool places around the world to keep it interesting and fun. In the end I really liked it, and will surely watch it again...

Public Enemies

I like Michael Mann's films.  Heat, Collateral and The Last of the Mohicans are some of my all-time favorites.  While I can't say Public Enemies is, I can definitely say I liked it.

I do have a couple of gripes with it, though.  The first is Christian Bale, which is tough for me to admit since I like him.  While it's nice to see him step out of the Bruce Wayne/John Conner action hero role, I feel like his talents were ultimately wasted on his portrayal of Melvin Purvis.  He plays him as a passionless, rather bland man.  If Purvis really was as dull as Bale played him, then I feel like any other actor could have taken his place.  This ties in with my other complaint with the movie, which is that none of the characters have much personality.  Johnny Depp has enough charisma to make up for it with Dillinger, but everyone else feels like cardboard cutouts of old gangster movie characters.

Criticism aside, Public Enemies is an enjoyable movie.  The acting is sufficient, the story is solid, and it holds your attention.  It has a bit more soul than the average popcorn flick, but it falls short of being a favorite.  Worth a watch every now and then.

Horror Movies

A recent email from my dad got me thinking about horror movies and how disappointing many of them turn out to be. So many of them seem to sacrifice plot and characterization for horrific deaths and cheap scares that I am automatically skeptical when approaching horror movies. I thought I'd list a few modern horror movies that I liked.

House of Wax: Not bad for what it is. The characters are nothing but collateral damage, but their fates are pretty horrifying and entertaining. Worth a watch.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Pretty damn good for what it is. The characters have some depth, and the tension is thick. Truly horrifying.

Saw: The Saw franchise has become pretty stagnant, but the one that started it all is still good in my opinion. It's far from perfect, but the premise is fascinating and the twist at the end is great.

The Ring: This is a good movie all around. Good acting, good cinematography, good direction, good story. It's also not afraid to leave some questions unanswered, which I like. It's what you don't know that scares you the most.

The Collector: This one is just fun and bizarre. The writers make no effort to make the story make more sense than it does, which actually serves it well. Just sit back and watch the people get butchered.

Silent Hill: Impressive effort. The dark world the protagonist slips into has the right mixture of realism and surrealism to keep the audience guessing. The bad dialogue bugs me, but I can suffer through it to enjoy the picture.

Hostel: This one only exists to horrify audiences. The story is as thin as the paper the script was printed on, but the violence fills in the gaps. It's worth watching just to say you saw it, whether you hate it or love it.

The Devil's Rejects: The main characters are completely unredeemable and downright unlikable, but the film is fairly well-made and the story is as interesting as it is disturbing.

Trick r' Treat: This one is different. It's broken up into several stories that all connect at one point or another. It also successfully walks a very fine line between being humorous and horrifying. It doesn't take itself too seriously, but it still sets out to scare you.

Seven Pounds

For better or worse, I tend to sort actors according to how much they rely on character acting skills versus just being themselves. At one end of this spectrum are actors like Gary Oldman, who are so good at morphing into someone else that I sometimes don't even recognize them.

At the other end are actors who just sort of fall back on attitude and charisma, and I would have to put Will Smith as a prime example. Now I like Will Smith, but in every movie I've seen him in he's just doing his cool/jokey thing, so I had written him off as not having much range. Until now...

I found Seven Pounds to be just a so-so movie overall -- story, acting, directing, etc. have some good points, but sort of get tedious and sentimental by the end. But what I noticed right from the start was that Will Smith has finally evolved some new acting range. In particular I saw in his face some depth, especially when he was showing pain.

I like it when actors (and most other artists, e.g. musicians) step outside their comfort zone and push into new territory, and grow. Welcome to a new level, Will.

Carriers

Virus-related apocalypse movies are a dime a dozen nowadays, so I was skeptical going into this one. My only real interest in it was Chris Pine, who I am a dedicated fan of thanks to Star Trek. I was pleasantly surprised, though. In addition to its fairly talented cast, Carriers managed to stand out amongst other films of its ilk by focusing on the characters instead of the virus. And although the movie is about how the survival instinct separates us from our humanity, it avoids becoming a morality tale by maintaining a delicate balance between tugging at the audience's heartstrings and shocking them. The concluding voice over monologue felt a bit forced and there's some 28 Days Later crossover here and there, but otherwise I'm pretty satisfied.

three flicks with Kevin Spacey

One of my favorite actors is Kevin Spacey. I especially like him in American Beauty, K-PAX, The Big Kahuna, and The Usual Suspects. Lately I've been on a mini-run of movies with Spacey that I hadn't seen before...

The Negotiator - The story has an interesting premise: a police hostage negotiator himself takes hostages and has to deal with another negotiator. But much of the rest of the story is filled with stereotypical elements. Fortunately most of the focus is on the two main characters, excellently played by Samuel L. Jackson and Kevin Spacey. The non-police supporting actors did a good job, too.

Moon - I generally agree with Brian's review, but I found the story sort of weak and predictable -- after the initial revelation, I saw where it was going from miles away. But the excellent main character(s) focus sort of makes up for this -- Sam Rockwell really pulls off a tricky set of roles. I also like how "Gerty" (computer/robot) mostly avoids several computer stereotypes; Spacey's voice gives it just the right balance of logic and "heart"...

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil - Eh. This certainly had some interesting elements, but ultimately it didn't quite gel and pull me into caring much about any of its characters (especially the main John Cusack one), and it slid into a stereotypical courtroom drama in the last third. Kevin Spacey does well enough, although his character doesn't have a lot of depth, so he doesn't have a lot to work with.