House of Sand and Fog (2003)

Director: Vadim Perelman

Writers: Andre Dubus III, Vadim Perelman, Shawn Lawrence Otto

Composer: James Horner

Starring: Jennifer Connelly, Ben Kingsley, Ron Eldard, Frances Fisher, Kim Dickens, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Jonathan Ahdout, Navi Rawat, Carlos Gomez, Kia Jam, Jaleh Modjallal

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Some dreams can't be shared.

Plot: An abandoned wife is evicted from her house and starts a tragic conflict with her home's new owners.

My rating: 7.5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

HOUSE OF SPOILERS &MORE SPOILERS!!! YARRRR!!!

Oh, this is so frustrating.  I REALLY loved the movie up to a point and then it went downhill to the end.  Kathy (Connelly) is in the wrong and we all know it.  Behrani (Kingsly) is completely innocent and he does the right thing all along (until the fucked up ending).  I was engrossed in the story as these two tried to settle their issue all along.  I even liked how Kathy used the racist and not-so-bright cop, Lester (Eldard), to help her.  She was somewhat subtle in doing so since she needed someone for emotional support yet also found he could be useful.  OK, I'd like to think that she used him as a tool in some small way and not just for a fuck buddy to help her get through this. I'm going along with all of this and I'm captured by the compelling story until Esmail (Ahdout) takes Lester's gun on the steps and he's gunned down by the police.  The fuck?  That's about THE dumbest thing a person could do.  I get that emotions were high for everyone involved but I wasn't buying that the kid would have made that ridiculous decision.  Then there's Behrani poisoning his and his wife's tea for a sad death scene.  I get that he thinks they'll be deported to Iran where they will be executed but wouldn't he also be smart enough to think there could be a way out of this?  I might have bought that scene more easily if it hadn't been preceded by the one-two punch of the kid's dumbass move.  Am I missing something that makes all of this more reasonable?  I was digging this flick up to the shooting where is suddenly went into typical Hollywood territory and then it lost me.  It's a shame that with such wonderful performances, score, storytelling and cinematography that it didn't as intelligently as it should have.  But I did dig that the fate of the house was left to our imagination.  At least there's that.  The DreamWorks DVD comes with a commentary, five deleted scenes with optional commentary from the director, a 16 minute behind the scenes featurette, Shohreh Aghdashloo's audition footage, and a photo gallery. 

Drive Angry (2011)

Director: Patrick Lussier

Writers: Todd Farmer, Patrick Lussier

Composer: Michael Wandmacher

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Amber Heard, William Fichtner, Billy Burke, David Morse, Todd Farmer, Christa Campbell, Charlotte Ross, Tom Atkins, Jack McGee, Katy Mixon

More info: IMDb

Tagline: One hell of a ride.

Plot: A vengeful father escapes from hell and chases after the men who killed his daughter and kidnapped his granddaughter.

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again? Yes.

The less you know about this movie the better.  All I knew was the plotline above.  I didn't even watch the trailer.  This movie is bugnuts fun.  It's also got too much down time and a few minutes that can be trimmed overall but boy, oh boy when it's showtime it really cuts loose.  It's retarded as shit and it knows it.  That's the best part.  The film makers embrace the insanity.  Cage's acting is all over the place.  At the end of the opening chase his line readings are atrocious.  I can't remember if that's where we laughed out loud first.  Regardless, as the story unfolds and you learn more it makes more sense.  In hindsight I enjoyed it that way (knowing nothing).  Fichtner (as The Accountant) is fucking hilarious and he's the best character in the picture.  Cage has moments of fun but it's more from bad acting.  He's an odd bird, that one.  Everybody else does a fine job, though.  And you can't go wrong with having Tom Atkins in your cast.  The special effects are often, purposely, corny and old school and I absolutely loved it.  There's plenty of violence and nudity which is always welcome.  I'm looking forward to checking this out again and digging into the extras.  This flick is super, off the charts fun and would be a great flick to show with a rowdy group of friends.  I only have the 2D DVD but I'll have to start looking for a nicely priced 3D Blu-ray.

The Prodigal Boxer (1972)

Original title: Fan Shi Yu

Director: Yang Ming Tsai

Writer: Kuang Ni

Composer: Cheng Chang

Starring: Fei Meng, Lin Lin Li, Yasuaki Kurata, Hung Pai, Ching Wong

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Overpowering in savage action!

Plot: A gifted but proud young martial arts student injures and kills an opponent. In retaliation , his father is killed. The young student vows revenge and begins to prepare for his epic face-off.

My rating: 5.5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

Normally I don't watch classic chop socky movie in fullscreen format but this is the only way I could see it.  It's part of a Grindhouse Experience 20 movie set from Fortune 5 and I'm determined to watch everything in it for some stupid damn reason.  It's OK.  There's nothing special about it.  The English dub is at times ridiculously ameteurish as the often were and the fight scenes aren't memorable.  The story is pedestrian and one used time and time again.  The only fun thing about it was the hero's mother looks to be the same age as him.  Hilarious.  I've got a shelf filled with widescreen classic so it pains me to watch a sub-par presentation like this when I've got guaranteed gold just a few feet away.  Oh, well.  That's the life of an obsessed movie fan, right?

Bonnie and Clyde (2013)

Director: Bruce Beresford

Writers: John Rice, Joe Batteer

Composer: John Debney

Staring: Emile Hirsch, HOlliday Grainger, Saray Hyland, Elizabeth Reaser, Lane Garrison, Dale Dickey, Austin Hebert, Holly Hunter, William Hurt, Jack Thompson, Nick Cardona

More info: IMDb

Plot: Based on the true story of Clyde Barrow, a charismatic convicted armed robber who sweeps Bonnie Parker, an impressionable, petite, small-town waitress, off her feet, and the two embark on one one of most infamous bank-robbing sprees in history.

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again? No.

I'm going to sound like another broken record by saying this but the truth is far more fascinating than the crap the writers came up with for this THREE HOUR MOVIE.  What a disappointment.  Not only was it wildly inaccurate (if you're remotely interested in the B&C story you must read Go Down Together: The True Untold Story of Bonnie And Clyde by Jeff Guinn - it's fascinating and considered to be THE definitive true story) but it's shockingly dull and silly.  Bonnie was not the brains nor the driving force behind Clyde and his gang (which, by the fucking way, where was the gang? B&C were rarely alone and they almost always had several other members).  Clyde's premonitions was a huge load of crap.  The whole idea of condensing the media down to one reporter (who gets an armed visit from Bonnie insisting she be mentioned in her articles and plays a larger role) is so poorly done.  I mean seriously, she tells her editor that she predicts (after Bonnie was captured, testified in court that she was innocent, and released) that Bonnie will re-join Clyde and there will be lots of car chases and violence ahead and with her pulling the trigger.  Wow.  William Hurt does a good job as Robert Hamer, the man who hunted them down to the last.  They even have a scene early on where Clyde meets Hamer before either had reason to know the other's name.  This is an utter waste of time not only historically but cinematically.  This film is a waste of time and resources.  You're much better off watching the still wildly inaccurate BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967).  At least that one is one helluva great film regardless of truth... and that's OK by me.

The Pledge (2001)

Director: Sean Penn

Writers: Friedrich Durrenmatt, Jerzy Kromolowski, Mary Olson-Kromolowski

Composers: Klaus Badelt, Hans Zimmer

Starring: Jack Nicholson, Robin Wright, Aaron Eckhart, Benicio Del Toro, Patricia Clarkson, Helen Mirren, Tom Noonan, Vanessa Redgrave, Mickey Rourke, Sam Shepard, Lois Smith, Harry Dean Stanton

More info: IMDb

Tagline: He may have retired, but he's still catching the killer.

Plot: The night he retires as a Nevada sheriff, Jerry Black pledges to the mother of a murdered girl that he will find the killer. Jerry doesn't believe the police arrested the right man; he discovers this is the third incident in the area in the recent past with victims young, blond, pretty, and small for their age. So he buys an old gas station in the mountains near the crimes in order to search for a tall man who drives a black station wagon, gives toy porcupines as gifts, and calls himself the wizard: clues from a drawing by the dead girl. Jerry's solitary life gives way to friendship with a woman and her small, blond daughter. Has Jerry neglected something that may prove fatal?

My rating: 7.5/10

Will I watch it again? Nah.  Twice is fine.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!! YARRRRR!!!

It's probably been since 2002 when I first saw this.  I loved it then but this time I'm a little more critical.  It's a damn fine serial killer movie unlike any you've probably seen.  The actors are all in top form.  There is a lot to like.  The film takes its time.  Over the course of the weeks and months after Jerry's (Nicholson) retirement we see him drift in and out of this case that's been bothering him.  I liked that it wasn't a straight up instance where he's constantly working on solving it.  I also like the relationship he starts to form with Lori (Wright - is she one of the best at playing regular, down to Earth characters or what?) and her daughter.  What feels forced is the moment when Jerry promises the mother of the dead girl that he'll find her killer (although he's a couple of hours left from officially retiring), Benicio Del Toro's over the top performance and the final act where Jerry loses his marbles. That last part would work better for me if there was a transition or a better reason for his sudden slip into madness.  Yeah, he doesn't immediately know that the man he knows is the killer died in a car accident that day but he would have found out very soon anyway and he would have then been able to go to Stan (Eckhart, in a touching performance as a cop who helps his old friend but is hurt by seeing him slip away) and finalize the case.  Then Jerry would feel good going to the mother and completing his mission as it were.  So, ultimately I guess I'm not buying Jerry's fate at the end of the film.  Still, it's a damn fine film.  Unfortunately the Warner Bros. DVD doesn't come with anything but an anamorphic widescreen trailer for an extra.  A commentary by Penn would be fantastic and might explain some of the reservations I have.  This is one of many films based on Durrenmatt's novel, the first of which is, I think, IT HAPPENED IN BROAD DAYLIGHT (1958), which I'm now very interested in seeing.

Cottage to Let (1941)

Director: Anthony Asquith

Writers: Geoffrey Kerr, Anatole de Grunwald, J.O.C. Orton

Composers: Louis Levy, Charles Williams

Starring: Leslie Banks, Jeanne De Casalis, Carla Lehmann, Alastair Sim, John Mills, George Cole, Michael Wilding, Frank Cellier, Muriel Aked, Wally Patch, Muriel George, Hay Petrie, Catherine Lacey

More info: IMDb


Plot: A wartime cottage on a Scottish estate becomes a focus of attention when not only the new tenant but a London evacuee and a downed fighter pilot all move in.

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

I digs me some WWII era British war pictures.  This one's got a few familiar faces in the cast and they do a fine job.  I won't spoil it but I surprised to find out who were the good guys and bad guys.  With modern sensibilities it's easy to over think situations since we're so used to twists and turns to keep us entertained.  Still, it's a good spy/war thriller with some good performances and atmosphere.  I like it when films aren't afraid to show brutality towards children.  I say that only because it's rarely shown on screen and it's refreshing to see films go places most won't.  If it were commonplace then I wouldn't like it so much.  Not that I think smacking kids is right...it's just neat to see it in the movies when it's justified. You can't tell me a Nazi is going to let a kid get in the way of a successful mission are you?  I didn't think so.  The absolute end is abrupt like in some of those chop socky flicks in the 70s.  Bad guys disposed of?  BAM!  Get out of the theater.  It's on Netflix streaming.  

The American Scream (2012)

Director: Michael Stephenson

Composer: Bobby Tahouri

Starring: Matthew brodeur, Victor Bariteau, Manny Souza, Lori Souza, Richard Brodeur

More info: IMDb


Plot: Each year, in the sleepy town of Fairhaven, MA, the creative minds behind three local homemade haunts valiantly try to ignite the town's Halloween spirit.

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again? No.

I'm a passionate movie guy and I'm off the charts in love with films and the whole movie making process so I can appreciate other people who have a passion for something.  The subjects of this movie live all year for one night and sometimes their passions affect others and not always in such a good way.  These people are rock stars in their own world and that's awesome.  It sucks, though, when you learn that not all is rosy with Lori, the wife of Manny, as you can tell she's disappointed that her husband's hobby has taken over his life and it's not the life she envisioned.  Still, it's easy to see that these people are obsessed with making their homes a Halloween Disneyland for one night.  Some viewers will laugh at them but think about how much pleasure it brings them and the people who visit their homes.  There are lots of memories being formed because of these folks and it's hard to put a price on that. The first half of the documentary runs pretty slow but do stick with it as the second half flies and it's got a nice emotional payoff.  How about that awesome poster? And I almost forgot, Bobby Tahouri's score is outstanding.  Keep an ear on this cat's career.  If this is indicative of what he can do, he should a top composer in the next decade or two.