1.29.2010

52. Whip It

Movie #52 of the young year was 2009's Whip It. This is actress/producer Drew Barrymore's directorial debut. It stars Ellen Page as a high school student who falls in with a women's roller derby team.

Whip It is your typical sports movie about a fairly atypical sport. You've got your standard rivalries, David vs Goliath battle at the end, etc. Women's roller derby is not exactly your run of the mill, mainstream product. I remember seeing it on tv when I was a kid and being fascinated by it. This isn't a bad movie but ultimately, it's not one that's really going to stick with you for any time to come. It's good for a viewing and then you're more or less done with it.

Ellen Page leads the way here and is decent as Bliss. It's almost as if she's playing a slightly toned down version of Juno. Support comes from Marcia Gay Harden, Drew Barrymore, Eve, Daniel Stern, Alia Shawkat, Juliette Lewis and Kristen Wiig. Barrymore is good in a pretty comedic role. Her character is likable and has some pretty funny lines. Wiig is the standout though. She really shines as Maggie Mayhem, a badass roller girl by night and devoted mother by day.

Overall, Whip It is a fairly enjoyable movie but it's not going to be a movie you re-watch dozens of times. Give it a rent.

1.28.2010

51. The Keeper

Going back to work today put a damper on the festivities as I was only able to sneak in one movie before heading out the door. Anyway, onwards and upwards...


Today's movie was The Keeper starring Steven Seagal. This 2009 flick is his latest direct-to-video effort. Yes, I still watch Seagal's movies. Not for nothing but I was 11 years old when Above the Law came out. Nico Toscani was practically a deity to me back then. At any rate, since 2002's Half Past Dead, everything he has done has bypassed theaters and headed straight to video. Some have been pretty horrible. Some have been decent. This was the rarest breed of all...this one was actually pretty good.

Seagal stars as Rolland Sallinger, a member of the LAPD. At a drug bust, his partner turns on him and shoots him, leaving him for dead. After quite some time of recovery and rehabilitation, he is forced off the LAPD. Coincidentally, an old friend of his from Texas happens to need some help as his daughter has nearly been kidnapped. Basically, this is a cross between Taken and Man On Fire.

There's not much to say about the acting and story here, honestly. Seagal is the only name you'll recognize in the cast. The rest of the cast is hit or miss. Leizl Carstens as Nikita is easy on the eyes but not much of an actress. The story really has no originality. It's really a mindless action flick and it does that pretty well. You've got some car chases, lots of gunplay, even some knife throwing.

Of all Seagal's recent efforts, this probably comes closest in tone to the flicks of his heyday. If you're not a fan, you can skip it. But if you've ever liked his stuff, it's worth a rental.

1.27.2010

48. Paper Heart
49. Case 39
50. Pandorum

Yesterday was the last day of my vacation so I wanted to squeeze in a few more before heading back to work and having my numbers level out some. I wish I didn't have to work but I need money to keep on buying these movies. As a bit of warning, the reviews may not appear right away in the future. They probably still will, given how anal I am. But you never know.


Started off with Paper Heart. This 2009 flick was dubbed a "hybrid documentary" by the filmmakers. Star Charlyne Yi is filming a documentary on love. She doesn't really understand love so she figures that discussing it with others might help her get a grasp on the subject. Along the way, she meets Michael Cera. A relationship develops rather quickly. Tensions quickly flare up though since every move they make is being filmed for the documentary.

I didn't really care for this one. Yi and Cera are essentially playing themselves in a fictionalized version of their true-life romance. They dated for 3 years, eventually going their separate ways shortly before this movie was released. The biggest problem with this one is that you never quite know what is real and what is not. Supposedly the love story between Cera and Yi is staged. What about the interviews with people? Are they legitimate or are they staged as well? I couldn't get these thoughts of my head during the movie and for that, I found myself distracted and kind of annoyed with the whole thing. You can skip this one.


Later in the day, we went with Case 39. This one stars Renee Zellweger, Bradley Cooper, Ian McShane and Jodelle Ferland. Zellweger is a child services case worker who gets Ferland's case dropped in her lap. To her it's an obvious case of parental abuse. However, sometimes things aren't always as they seem.

This is a pretty good flick. It's one of those movies that takes a bit of a turn from where you're expecting it to go. Zellweger, Cooper and McShane are all solid here. The star of this one though is young Jodelle Ferland. She's great in her role as Lillith. The story is interesting. My chief complaint about the movie is the pacing. It's a bit slow to really get started. It would have been alright if they were developing the characters but it felt more like aimless wandering. Clocking in at 109 minutes, I feel that they could have excised about 10-15 minutes and made for a better movie. Overall, I still liked it and would recommend it.

Bit of trivia on this one...this movie was actually filmed back in 2006 before Cooper hit it big with The Hangover. Its original release date was February 2008. Then, it was bumped to August 2008. From there, it was bumped back to April 10,2009. And again, it was pushed back to January 1,2010. However, it was bumped again and now no longer appears on Paramount's release schedule. You'd figure that they would try to capitalize on Cooper's popularity but I guess they've got different ideas.


After Case 39, we went with Pandorum. Odd coincidence of the night...both films were directed by Christian Alvart. Anywho...

This one stars Ben Foster and Dennis Quaid as crew members aboard a spaceship. Their destination was Tanis, a planet intended to be used as a suitable alternative to an overpopulated Earth. Upon waking from their "hyper-sleep", Foster and Quaid are dismayed to find no other crew members and have little memory of what has happened. Ultimately, they discover that they are not alone.

I'm not typically a big fan of the sci-fi/horror stuff but this was a pretty good movie. Quaid and Foster are both solid here. Good story. The effects are cool and the monsters have a look that I like. I'd recommend this one.

1.26.2010

47. The Road

Yesterday was a complete waste. Between going out early to do a small bit of grocery shopping and waiting for Verizon to come and check out my phone, we just didn't get much done. And in the evening, we wound up having to evacuate the house due to idiotic neighbors setting off the smoke detectors for the whole building. Because of that nonsense, we only managed to get in one movie....

We started and ended with a screener copy of The Road. This movie is based on the 2006 novel by Cormac McCarthy. It stars Viggo Mortensen, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Charlize Theron. It is set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland that used to be Earth. Some unexplained disaster has destroyed pretty much everything. Mankind, plant life and animals are all pretty much wiped out. The sun is obscured by a thick layer of ash, making the world a cold, gray place.

This is an excellent movie. It's dark, depressing and bleak. But goddamn, is it ever well done. The story follows Mortensen and Smit-McPhee as they head towards the coast. No character names are given. They are simply "Man" and "Boy". Along the way, they encounter thieves and cannibals, people just desperate enough to do whatever it takes to let them survive another day. The story is engaging but it's the cast that works magic. Mortensen and Smit-McPhee are great. Mortensen's performance as Man deserves an Academy Award nomination. As the film progresses, you see his struggle to keep positive while attempting to prepare the boy for the inevitable. Support is lent by Charlize Theron. Robert Duvall, Michael K Williams and Guy Pearce. I'm not going to lie, it took me a while to realize that Duvall was in the movie. The makeup rendered him virtually unrecognizable. And I had no idea that Guy Pearce was in it until viewing the movie poster earlier this morning. Again, just a tremendous job on the makeup.

The Road gets my highest possible recommendation. It is well worth the time spent. See it.

1.25.2010

44. Blood Creek
45. The Lovely Bones
46. Palmetto

Yesterday was a terribly gloomy day. We had torrential rains with wind gusts of 60 mph. In short, it was the perfect day to just stay in the house. Of course, that means I had to go out on more than one occasion. Here's what I managed to watch when I was actually doing what I felt like doing...


Blood Creek was the opening flick for the day. This is the 2009/Joel Schumacher Blood Creek. Not the 2006 version or any of the other movies with the same name. This one deals with the Nazi obsession with the occult. It starts off in 1936 with a family being contacted by the Third Reich to host a visiting scholar. They agree to do so not knowing that they will wind up sucked into matters of the occult. Flash forward 70-odd years later and the experiments are still going on.

This flick was fairly interesting. The occult and things of that nature tend to fascinate me. The movie had enough of that to keep me engaged for the entire runtime. The movie was pretty fast paced too with the 90 minutes going by pretty quickly. The stars here were Dominic Purcell and Henry Cavill. Both were solid in their roles. For a movie that was more or less dumped straight to video, it was much better than I was anticipating. Check it out.


We followed up Blood Creek with Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones. Yes, another screener. This is the film adaptation of the novel by Alice Sebold. It tells the story of 14 year old murder victim Susie Salmon. She serves as the narrator of the movie.

I hate to say it but this movie was just fucking terrible. I wanted to like it but I just couldn't bring myself to do so. It was overly long and boring. Clocking in at around two hours, it just kind of wandered aimlessly. A solid 30 minutes could have been trimmed and made for a better picture. However, director Jackson seems to have this thing for epics. He needs to either stick with the Lord of the Rings stuff or go back to his earlier days directing cheesy gore flicks. Because what he did here just isn't working. If he wanted to turn this into an epic, he could have stuck with some of the subplots from the novel rather than going the route he went. He overloads the movie with CGI shots of the "in-between", Susie's personal heaven. The shots are terrible, looking like something straight out of a calendar. It's overbearing and just poorly done. The performances aren't much better. The only two good things to come of this are Saoirse Ronan and Stanley Tucci's performances. Mark Wahlberg was simply Mark Wahlberg. I know he's capable of doing better so he was another disappointment. Rachel Weisz' character isn't given much to do at all before disappearing for a good percentage of the movie. And Susan Sarandon as the grandmother was horrid. There was a comedy scene midway through that had me rolling my eyes and talking to the screen like I was in a ghetto theater.

These were two of the longest hours I've ever spent in my life. Skip this stinker. It's just not worth it.


We wrapped up the evening fairly early with Palmetto, a 1998 neo-noir starring Woody Harrelson, Elisabeth Shue and Gina Gershon.

Much better! This was a pretty good movie. I'd imagine most of the folks reading have never even heard of this one. I vaguely remember seeing trailers when it came out but that was about all I could remember. Harrelson plays a reporter who uncovered a huge corruption scandal in the small town of Palmetto. For his trouble, he winds up being framed for accepting a bribe and is forced to serve two years in prison. Upon his return to society, he quickly finds himself wrapped up in a fake kidnapping scheme hatched by Shue. Things do not quite go as they're supposed to. There are double crosses and all types of shenanigans.

The story is good. There are enough twists and turns to keep you engaged throughout. Harrelson is solid, as usual. Shue and Gershon are two of my favorites. Shue shines here, oozing sex appeal. Chloe Sevigny and Michael Rapaport are also excellent. I found this one for $3 at Big Lots. It was well worth it...I'd have paid more. Check it out.