2.28.2010

87. The Darwin Awards
88. [REC] 2
89. Friday the 13th (2009)


The Darwin Awards is one of those movies that I stumbled upon blindly years ago. It went into my collection and was promptly lost to the hands of time. Typically, if I don't watch a movie within a week or two of having it, I forget all about it. This is one such instance.

The Darwin Awards takes its name from a website that issues awards to those folks who do mankind a favor by removing themselves from the gene pool, typically dying in bizarre and sometimes stupid ways. There is also a series of books by the same name that discuss some of these cases.

The movie follows Michael Burrows, a former forensic detective for the San Francisco Police Department. He is fired from the force when his overwhelming fear of blood allows a serial killer to escape. His obsession with the Darwin Awards and his forensic skills enable him to get a tryout for a job with a large insurance company. He is paired up with Siri Taylor, a claims investigator who specializes in odd cases. Together, they travel the country investigating these odd cases.

Honestly, I was pretty surprised with how much I enjoyed this movie. While not hysterical, it is pretty funny. The story is fairly original, although it does tend to become conventional and predictable in some aspects. The cast is peppered with tons of B-listers so you'll spend some time picking people out. The leads are Joseph Fiennes and Winona Ryder. Ryder's good here. I've always had a soft spot for her. Some of the famous faces who turn up are David Arquette, Josh Charles, Kevin Dunn, Nora Dunn, Judah Friedlander, Lukas Haas, Juliette Lewis, Julianna Margulies, Chris Penn, Robin Tunney and Wilmer Valderrama. Hell, even the guys from Mythbusters and Metallica make appearances here. Overall, I liked this one enough to recommend it.


[REC] 2 is the direct follow-up to 2007's [REC]. And by extension is also a follow-up to 2008's American remake, Quarantine. This sequel literally takes place right as the first one is ending.

The setting is a large apartment building. Trapped inside are many residents who are under quarantine as a mysterious "virus" runs rampant throughout the building. Those affected by the virus seem to hunger for human flesh. This movie finds a special police squad making their way into the building with a priest to try and get to the bottom of things.

Story and acting really aren't huge factors here. This flick is all about the suspense and scares. This movie delivers both in gore-filled buckets. It clocks in at 80 minutes so it's very fast paced and delivers you right into the action quickly. My only complaint about this one is a subplot that involves a group of teenagers attempting to go into the building. It's a storyline that just doesn't go anywhere. It almost seems as if it was intended to be a bit of padding in order to get the running time a bit further over the 60 minute mark. Aside from that one minor annoyance, [REC] 2 is highly recommended.


Friday the 13th is the 2009 reboot of the successful horror franchise. The series had been dormant since 2003's much-hyped Freddy vs Jason. After 11 movies, the series really was in need of a fresh start as it had become a parody of itself. A lot of people shit on remakes because they're afraid the legacy of the classics they love will somehow be tarnished. I disagree with that philosophy big time. The originals will still be there for you to watch and enjoy. It's our job as movie fanatics to remind future generations how awesome some of the classics are. That being said, I genuinely don't see anything wrong with restarting movie franchises. Granted, rebooting a franchise that is less than 20 years old might be a bit much but aside from that, I'm down. And not for nothing but with a lot of these reboots/remakes, I'd bet that movie fans would fucking adore them if they'd come out under a different name and with different distinguishing characteristics.

Now that my dissertation on remakes is complete, let's get on to the review. Everyone knows the story of Jason Voorhees so a plot synopsis is pretty useless here. If you've been living in a cave for nearly 30 years and don't know Jason, Google the name.

I liked this one quite a bit. Later Friday the 13th movies took the Jason character into bizarre and supernatural territory. This one keeps it a tiny bit more grounded in reality. Granted, the idea of a deformed man-child who drowned 20-odd years prior is a bit bizarre in and of itself. Anywho, rather than magically being able to pop up behind a victim or catch up to a running victim while he's slowly plodding along, this Jason runs. And he has a series of tunnels under the cabins that allow him to pop up where needed. The cast here is pretty good with Jared Padalecki as Clay Miller, a guy looking for his sister whose gone missing. He's solid here. Danielle Panabaker, Amanda Righetti and Travis Winkle all provide decent support. Derek Mears is cast as Jason and he's got the perfect build and look for the role. Hopefully if they do more Friday flicks, they'll keep him on in the role.

This one is recommended.