Author: Darren Goodhart

Nina Sayres is a talented young ballet dancer, and as our film starts has this dream that she’ll be playing the part of the Swan Queen in a production of Swan Lake. Her life is consumed with dance which is true for all dancers, but with added pressure by living with her obsessive mother, Erica, a former ballerina. She’s just as driven by the director of the company she works with, Thomas Leroy. Nina is his first choice to play the White Swan in his production, but he wants the same dancer to be able to perform as the Black Swan, and there Nina lacks right drive. Her obsession grows as a new dancer joins the company, Lily, who outwardly seems to represent all that the Black Swan should embody. An uncomfortable relationship forms between the two, which helps to put Nina more in touch with her darker side, but goes into a carelessness which threatens to destroy her life.

Black Swan is the latest film from director Darren Aronofsky, who has certainly kept me impressed ever since his very first movie, Pi and my most favorite of all of his movies, Requiem For A Dream. Black Swan is cut from a similar cloth as that of Aronofsky’s last movie, The Wrestler both of which show their own brands of performance creativity while trying to succeed in their chosen entertainment forms. The result of both, are pretty dark character studies, with Aronofsky showing the darker sides of both professions that most of us never see.

Nina’s on a lot more shakier psychological ground Mickey Rourke’s character was from The Wrestler. Aronofsky illustrates this by constantly keeping his camera on her in close-up odd angles that suggest an uncomfortable intimacy, so almost right from the start, you get the feeling that something is just a little off with her.

It’s a beautiful production and it does what I think the best movies should do, which is show us a world that we just don’t have any idea about. I know that ballet is certainly a graceful art form, but I don’t know the mechanics or the pain that the dancers go through, and on this Aronofsky certainly succeeds at showing that side of the craft.

This is billed as a psychological thriller, though I think dark character study is a little more appropriate. Aronofsky’s vision is certainly fresh, but I get the feeling of a few other movies in here as well- I certainly see some similarities to such things as DePalma’s Carrie to various Dario Argento movies to even something like Verhoeven’s Showgirls. At the same time, Aronofsky is very much telling the story of Swan Lake in his own visceral way. This is very much an “art house” movie, and as such it won’t be for all tastes, and at least from what I could tell, it wasn’t to everyone’s satisfaction at the theatre that I saw it at.

Ever since I first saw her in Luc Besson’s Leon (or it’s American title, The Professional) I thought Natalie Portman was going to be a huge star, and she certainly has become that. Aronofsky pushes her in ways she hasn’t been pushed in past performances and gets something truly harrowing out of her, though it doesn’t quite totally connect with me say the same way that James Franco did in 127 Hours (another recent example of a film where one character is dominant over all others). Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a terrific performance, very much worthy of all the accolades it’s receiving, but the character just isn’t quite as full. Of course some of this can be chalked up to her single minded obsessiveness as well with all of the other characters being there to personify some other aspects.

Portman’s backed up with a fine array of talent, best of which being in both Vincent Cassel as Leroy and Mila Kunis as Lily. Whenever I see Cassel in anything, I think the bar gets raised a bit, and while he is support here, he’s still compelling to watch. Kunis is playing the darker, freer side that Nina would like to get to and she certainly excels at that, and also serves for some brief comic relief to some scenes. Barbara Hershey plays Erica, Nina’s mother and it very much reminds me in it’s own way of Piper Laurie in Carrie with her obsessive tone. Winona Ryder fills out the main cast as an aging star who’s being put out to pasture, and if there is any performance that does lack here, it’s probably hers, though I wouldn’t say that it’s entirely her fault. We’re told she was great, but we never see that, instead just getting a one-dimensional anger. Now this certainly can be chalked up to this entirely being from Nina’s point of view, but Nina also has respect for her, but we don’t know why other than that we’re told it. It’s a moot point, but I thought worth mentioning, especially in light of the fact that we do see Lily (Kunis) perform.

Still this is very much worth seeing, but I honestly don’t think it’s for everyone. We had a group of 50-ish women in our audience who were just totally turned off once certain sexual and fantasy scenes played out, which just had me thinking that they weren’t really wanting to see something like this and would’ve been more at home with a safer movie with Jennifer Aniston or Sandra Bullock in it. One thing about Darren Aronofsky movies is that they’re never safe, and I certainly applaud that. So be sure you bring your pads and cleats to this and be ready to play when it comes to this film, it’s hardly a passive experience. Very much recommended.

In April of 2003, a young engineer named Aron Ralston had a startlingly harrowing experience. Being enthusiastic for the canyons of Utah, Aron set out on a weekend hiking adventure on his own and got way more than he bargained for. While walking through one narrow crevasse, he slips and a small boulder falls with him, wedging itself between his hand and the canyon wall, trapping Aron, with what seems as no hope for survival.

127 Hours is the newest movie from director Danny Boyle. Now I’m a huge Danny Boyle fan, with some of his past movies like Trainspotting, 28 Days Later, Sunshine and Slumdog Millionaire easily being some of the best movies that I’ve seen for the years that they were released in. At the same time, Boyle is also responsible for the only movie that I ever walked out on, A Life Less Ordinary, and this always looms for me whenever I go to see one of his films. Really though it hasn’t made a difference at all.

And that’s certainly the case with 127 Hours, an absolutely amazing tale of the perseverance of the human spirit in impossible odds. Boyle’s direction is kinetic and enthusiastic, which is even more amazing when you realize that the bulk of the movie takes place in one confined spot and with just one main character. but even with those limitations, Boyle is constantly keeping things moving and we feel every ounce of Aron’s pain along the way.

Two hallmarks of all Boyle’s films are visual flash and engrossing use of music, which are certainly evident here. The cinematography and editing in this really stand out, featuring beautiful landscapes filmed in some very interesting ways, cut together in a kinetic fashion, with a particular good use of split screen techniques. Now for all the visual flash though, it doesn’t overpower the story, and works in tandem for an experience that you feel. The music is quite effective as well, with a terrific choice of songs playing in the background that always help to highlight the situation.

But what’s at the core of this film is the sure-to-be Oscar-nominated performance of James Franco as Aron Ralston. Oh sure, there’s a supporting cast at work as well, but they are there in the barest support, which is fitting considering the solitary experience. I’ve certainly seen Franco in a lot of stuff in the past, but his work here is what I’d call career altering and inspiring. He’s full of enthusiasm that’s never irritating and pathos that’s never sappy. the most important thing though is that we’re with him all the way through this, and everything that he feels, we feel.

Don’t miss this one, it’s truly a terrific tale of survival against impossible odds that’s told with a lot of visual flash, but filled with loads of substance. Near the end of the film, things do get pretty grisly with Aron’s ultimate resolution to his predicament, so more sensitive viewers might want to keep that in mind, but still, I wouldn’t want that to stop anyone from the experience that you’ll get with 127 Hours. Highly, highly recommended.

The warrior Yang has trained at the hands of the deadly clan his entire life to become the greatest swordsman the world has ever seen. To fulfill his duty to his clan, Yang is ready to strike down the final survivor of an enemy clan. He tears through the survivor’s bodyguards only to find that the final survivor is a baby girl. Upon seeing her face and hearing her little laugh, Yang can’t bring himself to kill her and instead takes it upon himself to take care of her. Knowing that he’s failed in his duty to his clan, Yang and the baby April, set across in a journey to find an old friend of his for help. This friend has traveled to the American West and once there, Yang finds that his friend came to a deserted town now settled by a band of misfit carnival workers. But Yang’s friend has passed on, and now Yang and April find themselves adopted by the rest of the townsfolk.

Yang has abandoned his old ways and taken on the role of launderer in the town hoping that his new, quiet life will keep him from being found by his old clan. He soon discovers that the town has it’s own deadly past…

And that’s all that I’m going to say about The Warrior’s Way, a little movie that literally came out of nowhere (as far as I’m concerned) and is one of the very best little gems I’ve seen all year.

I only saw the trailer for this the first time when I saw Skyline a couple of weeks back. The trailer looked fantastic and my friends and I were ready to see this immediately on it’s opening. The trailer was exciting and stylish and loaded with action, but the final movie is another matter itself filled with a whole lot of heart and some wonderful, engaging characters.

The best way I can describe this is to reference a couple of international flavors. to me, this is like what you’d get if the French filmmaker Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Delicatessen, City of Lost Children and Amelie) made his own version of Koike and Kojima’s classic manga, Lone Wolf and Cub.

The film’s look is extremely stylized, having a “fake” quality that I think really works for it’s storybook presentation. I love the fact that director Sngmoo Lee was confident enough in his skills to go with this look and run counter to what would be traditional of making it look all too real. The stylized action certainly sells the movie in the trailer, and it’s exceptional, playing right in hand with the look of the film. That action though isn’t as large a part of the movie as you would think. It’s predominant at the start and end of the film, but the middle portion is filled with building it’s world and characters, and that’s just loaded with heart. Lee’s look may be intentionally fake, but his feel is loaded with love for the genre’s that he’s playing with here.

The cast really surprised me, simply because I wasn’t expecting to see people like Geoffrey Rush, Kate Bosworth and Danny Huston in something like this. Now while no one here is going to win awards for this work, that’s not to say that it’s bad by any means. Their inclusion adds weight to this world and I thought all concerned did a great job, with big kudos to Danny Huston playing the sadistic Colonel who terrorizes the town.

The biggest plus in the cast though is South Korean actor Jang Dong Gun who plays the warrior, Yang. Jang has a quality about him that reminds me of Chow Yun Fat to some extent. He’s extremely stoic here, but there’s still something in his eyes and his body language that makes him very appealing, and he sells the action quite well.

As I said at the top, this one really took me (and my friends) by surprise. We were expecting to have a good time with this, sort of in the same vein as we did with last year’s Ninja Assassin and what we got was a whole lot more. The Warrior’s Way is a beautiful and exciting film just loaded with heart, and heart goes a long way. I don’t expect this to appeal to everyone, but I had a ball with this. I can’t wait to see it again.

This one took me by surprise. Based on it’s initial promotion, I thought Faster was going to be something entirely different than what it’s final product is turns out to be. I think this one is going to be passed on by a lot of people and it’s a shame if it is.

We’re introduced to a man called simply Driver. He’s just been released from a ten-year stretch in prison and he’s hell-bent on revenge. The Driver leaves prison with no one to meet him and he runs to a nearby junkyard. There he collects several things; a super-fast muscle car, a gun and instructions on where to find a certain man. The Driver quickly goes to the destination, an office building, and like a primal force of nature, kills his target in cold blood in front of many witnesses. But he’s not done yet…

This catches the attention of another man, known simply as the Cop. The Cop is a burned out detective with just days to go before his retirement and he finds himself drawn to help in catching this man, the Driver.

As the Driver’s killing spree continues, a third man gets involved. Known simply as the Killer, he’s an assassin for hire who does what he does now after a life of over-achievement. Killing is something that he does because he’s bored with everything else in his life, and doing this makes him alive.

Eventually the paths of all three cross in some very interesting ways, but that’s for you to discover how.

By the promotion that I saw for this movie and it’s title, I was expecting Faster to be something much more conventional though I was still looking forward to it. It had been too long since seeing The Rock (Dwayne Johnson) in a straight-up action movie after having made many lighter-flavored films designed to increase his audience visibility. I thought I was going to get something here that was going to be some sort of cross between a movie like The Rundown (which I loved) with the The Fast & The Furious (which I also loved).

What I got… well, I’d describe it in terms like this: this is what you’d get if you gave a Garth Ennis-scripted crime movie (to comic book fans, Ennis is best known for his astounding work on Vertigo’s Preacher) to a director with heavy duty Walter Hill leanings (who also has just a touch of John Woo’s Hong Kong days). It could also be described as a more straight-up version of Quentin Tarnatino’s KIll Bill movies. The final result is a fast-paced, hard-boiled crime movie that’s loaded with depth and context. While there are a lot of elements to this movie, you don’t get lost in it and all makes sense in the end. This isn’t as action-packed as the trailer promises and so I could see this as a minus to some viewers, but I was more than satisfied with most of the film’s other elements.

My only criticism is that the end is all too abrupt. Oh, it does make sense in the end, but there should’ve been more. There was one more character tied into these events that should’ve been seen in the finale- which in turn, could’ve lead to setting another character on the same path that the Driver finds himself on. I’m sorry to be vague with this, but really I don’t want to spoil this.

It’s ending does hurt it, but it’s not a total loss by any means. Faster is extremely well-acted, beautifully shot and made (this is my first experience with a movie directed by George Tillman Jr.), and it kept me on my toes all the way to the end, it’s just that the end should’ve been even more than what it was.

Ever since seeing Dwayne Johnson in The Rundown, well, I’ve been a big fan. I certainly appreciate what his years as a wrestler have given him when it comes to his acting chops. One of the nicest things about The Rundown was one of it’s opening scenes where a cameo appearance from Arnold Schwarzenegger literally passes the torch of “big action star” down to Johnson. While I don’t think his successive movies have quite stacked up, he’s still been good in them, though I have to admit, I haven’t been attracted to his recent string of more family fare films. I get why he’s done them, but I’ve wanted to see him come back to something harder and with Faster he has. While the Driver might be seen as a simple character on the surface, there are a couple of scenes here which aptly explain his single-minded purpose and considering that background, it’s easy to see why he’s as hell-bent as he is. Johnson’s definitely an imposing figure just by his pure physique, but what really works for him here is his eyes. The intensity and inner conflict shown there, just sells this character totally.

Billy Bob Thornton plays the Cop and he has “burn-out” written all over him for the part. In his own way, he’s just as driven as the Driver, but instead of revenge, he wants to correct his mistakes and on the surface, his going after the Driver seems like his way to do so. Thornton’s money in the bank with this part, helping to ground this movie. There’s a scene in the movie where the Cop first comes face-to-face with the Driver and it’s as powerful a scene as any I’ve seen in movies. A lot of that power is due to Thornton and his willingness to be ready to accept what he thinks his fate is going to be.

Oliver Jackson-Cohen plays the Killer and he sort of comes off to me a s a British version of Jake Gyllenhaal. The Killer is the odd man out in this piece. Seemingly out of place in comparison to the events around the Driver and the Cop, his function here is to serve as the total opposite of what the Driver does. He’s conquered every bit of adversity he’s ever faced in life and come out on top to such a point where it’s all pointless now and so he does what he does out of boredom more than anything else. With the Driver though, he’s found someone who’s literally faster (hence the title) than he is, and so his challenge is made. Jackson-Cohen does a nice job with the part, he’s arrogant but has his own depth.

The cast is rounded out with some nice support from Carla Gugino, Moon Bloodgood, Jennifer Carpenter, and Maggie Grace. All serve functions of setting up the men that they’re in support of (Gugino and Bloodgood for Thornton, Carpenter for Johnson and Grace for Jackson-Cohen). Their scenes are short (with the exception of Gugino who fares better with her screen time) but the support is top drawer. Even better though is Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (who you’ll know as Mr. Eko from Lost or Adebisi from Oz) who plays the last person on the Driver’s “to kill” list. Akinnuoye-Agbaje’s scene with Johnson near the end of the film is about as powerful as it gets.

As I said, Faster took me by surprise. While expecting something way more conventional, what i got was a sincere and hard-edged crime movie loaded with depth and detail. I don’t expect it to do well as far as the box office is concerned, though I do hope that eventually people discover this down the road. While it’s ending wasn’t what I wanted it to be (though it still works), I expect that this movie will get even better for me with repeated viewings later on. If you want to see Dwayne Johnson doing something harder-edged, then Faster is certainly worth your time, the marketing just betrays what this film really is. Very much recommended.

Thanks to the carelessness of two slacker railroad employees, a half-mile long freight train, loaded with explosive chemicals is now careening at high-speed across the tracks of southern Pennsylvania. It’s now up to veteran engineer Frank Barnes and rookie conductor Will Colson to stop the train and avoid it’s explosive consequences.

Unstoppable has a pretty simple premise and makes for some fairly riveting entertainment in this fifth teaming of director Tony Scott and lead actor Denzel Washington. Prior to this, their other movies included last year’s remake of The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, Deja Vu, Man on Fire and this writer’s personal favorite of all of Scott’s movies, Crimson Tide. They’re a good team who works extremely well and I have no doubt that they’ll probably make more movies together.

Unstoppable has a nice pace with a leisurely start that quickly amps up thanks to it’s circumstances. Scott throws a lot of stuff on screen, but it’s all in service to the premise and it’s never intrusive and he’s got solid technical support and a very good cast.

The one thing that does get in the way (though I’ll grant you this isn’t really overwhelming) is the fact that this is promoted as being “inspired by true events.” Now a lot of movies do this with their promotion and I wonder just why this is such a big deal to use in their promotion. It’s now funny to me whenever I see those words in any promotional aspect of a movie, because it invites you to figure out what’s not inspired by the “true” events and what fits with Hollywood convention. As far as I know here, the only thing that’s inspired by something true is just the basic premise itself. I’m inclined to believe that because all of the character work and outside corporate influence smacks of pure Hollywood that’s designed to appeal to the gut and the heart.

Now really, there’s nothing wrong with this as long as your end product is good, and fortunately Unstoppable is a lot of fun. Tony Scott’s kinetic camera action is certainly evident, but not as manic as say in movies like Man On Fire or Domino. The train action sequences are extremely well done and when you have a movie with this basic premise, that’s what you want to see.

It helps that you have a solid cast in place and while no one’s going to win any awards for their work here, there’s nothing to be ashamed of either. I’ve said it before, I’m a huge Denzel Washington fan. Whenever he’s in anything he brings a great amount of gravitas to it, and this is no exception. Chris Pine plays Will Colson and he certainly impressed me with his rendition of Captain James T. Kirk in Star Trek. Colson’s sort of the same type of impulsive character and so this is well-suited to him. Rosario Dawson plays the rail commander Connie and like Washington, she’s become a real favorite for me over time. Her performances have gotten more and more driven over time and it certainly doesn’t hurt that she’s drop dead gorgeous as well.

In the end, Unstoppable is fun diversionary entertainment. You won’t see anything new here, and as long as you know that going in, you’ll probably be entertained for it’s running time. I certainly was and I very much look forward to the next time that Tony Scott and Denzel Washington team together.

Jarrod and Terry are lifelong friends. Terry’s made a name for himself in some sort of aspect of the entertainment business (it’s really not specified) and is living large in Los Angeles within his penthouse apartment complete with shrew girlfriend and devoted mistress/executive assistant. Jared, hasn’t quite had the same success, he’s struggling as an artist, and has a pregnant girlfriend who’s just a touch on the shrewish side. Anyway, it’s Terry’s birthday and he’s invited Jared to come out to L.A. where he has big things in store for him… though getting caught up in a big-ass flat-out aliens-from-outer-space-invasion wasn’t one of them.

And that’s just what does happen, the aliens land and they ain’t nice. So goes the premise of Skyline, the new movie from The Brothers Strause, special effects guys who previously helmed Aliens Vs. Predators: Requeim. What I describe above are more specifics of the story here, in the bigger picture what this seeks to do is to take ideas from all sorts of bigger alien invasion movies before and tell a smaller side story, though that story does have it’s own unique twist for one of it’s characters. In a way, it kind of puts me in the mind of what you might get if you took a classic Stan Lee/Jack Kirby/Steve Ditko monster/alien comic story from the days of Marvel Comics before they became Marvel Comics, and flashed it all up with today’s technology.

The only thing is, you just don’t give a damn.

Now don’t get me wrong, there are some cool things here. The special effects are brilliant, especially when it comes to giant monster aliens walking the earth. Being a side story for this sort of thing, I thought it was pretty cool that most of the action is confined to a limited location. And it’s final five minutes goes in a direction that I just didn’t see this going in and at least for me saved this, putting it in the lower end of the B-movie scale. This is not a ringing endorsement though to run right out and see this in the theatre.

Where this fails is that you just don’t give a damn about any of the characters. Oh, I suppose if I was a young twenty-something living in Los Angeles who’s successful or semi-successful in the entertainment industry (or who has aspirations for such), I might find these guys as my role models. But no, I’m an older guy who lives in a flyover state, who’s just seen as being too whitebread to have any sort of idea of the bigger world around him.

Now while this is mostly a failing (for me) on the writing side, it doesn’t help that your lead actors don’t have a whole lot of charisma to them. Eric Balfour plays Jarrod and Donald Faison plays Terry. Now I’ve seen. Eric Balfour in a lot of stuff in the past, and tend to think he’s fine in support and character type of work, he just doesn’t give me anything here that makes me want to like him a whole lot. Donald Faison hits me a little better, but not by much, as the more proactive guy. The best of the cast is David Zayas, who plays the manager of the apartment building that Terry lives in. Zayas knows he’s in a B-movie, and certainly plays that to the hilt.

I’ve seen comments on IMDB that calls this the “worst movie ever” and to those that are saying that I just have to say you haven’t seen enough movies. There are far worse out there there than this, and usually they come from bigger budgets with bigger names who get a little too full of themselves and just should know better. Skyline is a B-movie and I don’t think it has aspirations for anything higher, though the pretentious title of “Skyline” doesn’t really help it a lot. It has some good moments, and an even greater over-the-top one at the end, but it’s all hampered by poor characters who I just couldn’t care about whatsoever, and for something like this, you need to care, even just a little bit.

I would recommend seeing this to B-movie fans, but you don’t need to run right out and do it, wait until cable or Netflix Instant Play and give it a go then. Your mileage will still probably vary, but at least you won’t be out the big money cash it takes to go to the theatre to find out.

When last we left off with Saw VI, Detective Marc Hoffman had been discovered as the one continuing the deadly Jigsaw killings. John Kramer’s wife, Jill Tuck was on her way fulfilling her husband’s final wish and taking care of Hoffman, who in his role as Jigsaw (Kramer’s successor) had been subverting the message that Jigsaw had originally intended with his deadly “games.” Hoffman had been left in one of Jigsaw’s reverse bear traps and managed to escape his final fate.

After two initial scenes, a short one that gives the promise to answer the series’ longest standing question of “Whatever happened to Doctor Lawrence Gordon” and an extended scene with another Jigsaw killing about to take place in an all-too-public location, we pick right back up, immediately after the final events of Saw VI. As with the other films in the series, this is a direct continuation, that answers some question and puts in some new elements while continuing it’s Grand Guignol thrill ride.

Saw 3D is the supposedly the final film in the series and it does offer a final resolution, though it’s also left itself a way to continue if the producers chose to continue. I love the series, I have since the start, and even though I’ll miss it, I do hope this is the final chapter.

Many critics dismiss the series as “torture porn,” it’s their way of telling us that they’re above something they perceive as this tawdry. I certainly get it, but disagree with it. I’m guilty of it in my own way as well, just reacting in horror whenever I see a new “comedy” come around with a Seth Rogen, or Zack Galifianakis or Jack Black or a new “romantic comedy” with Katherine Heigl or Jennifer Aniston. So I do get it, and grudgingly accept it, but am quick to defend the Saw series whenever I can. What’s been crafted here over the series of seven movies has been a highly intricate horror epic bathed in ridiculous violence. Sure the violence is ridiculous, but in my eyes, no more ridiculous in it’s own way than seeing a man fly in a comic book movie. This is a trapping that goes with the genre, it’s just a matter of how it’s used. The Saw series has always managed it well, though some fans will debate how well, between movies. But seen as a single piece, it’s been remarkably consistent and always well-crafted.

Even though the series has had three directors over time, the visual style and methods of storytelling have remained uniform and the look has always been on point. The over-arcing story is as intricate as any of Jigsaw’s deathtrap games. Charlie Clouser has provided strong and effective scores with each film, and you just wait for the signature theme to come into play when all of the pieces come together. On top of that, the series has never gone with any “star” actors, but those who have been part of it have been consistently strong and have willingly come back to play in this bloody sandbox.

The new wrinkle added this time is using a character who has falsely admitted to being a survivor of one of Jigsaw’s deathtraps. He’s now profiting from his lie and Jigsaw attempts to teach him a lesson. On it’s own, this would be another faction of the story, but because it’s also intertwined with answering the question of what happened to Dr. Lawrence Gordon, it has a little more significance. The question of Gordon does get answered and while I doubt that it will be of any surprise to long-time fans of the series (it wasn’t to me), it’s still satisfying in that the final story does come full circle. There’s not really any cheats here either, as Dr. Gordon has been mentioned in every film, so eventually it made sense that events would come back around to him. Hearing that this would be the final movie in advance, I was hoping to see actor Cary Elwes as part of the show again, and he does.

Elwes is here for a few brief scenes, and does a great job in those few scenes. Also returning are Tobin Bell as Kramer, Costas Mandylor as Hoffman and Betsy Russell as Jill Tuck. there’s a few other familiar faces as well, either as background characters or some of the other Jigsaw survivors attending a seminar given by our newest character, Bobby Dagen, played by Sean Patrick Flanery. While no one will win any awards for this, it’s all solid work, though I do want to call attention to one player, that being Tobin Bell. Bell’s only here for a couple of brief moments but his presence is felt throughout the entire film. Bell’s been kicking around out there forever in various character parts and it’s been nice to see him get his due with this series. He plays the very best kind of villain, one that knows what he’s doing is absolutely and uncompromisingly right. He has has his own brand of charisma that’s certainly made sense to the others that have followed him. As I said, his scenes are minimal here (though that’s understandable, his character has been dead since Saw 3), but because this is the last of the series, I wanted to give him special credit for what he’s brought to the table.

Where this fails, though it doesn’t hurt it’s story, is that it’s presented in 3D and from what i understand, only in 3D. The 3D here is not necessary at all and it’s just not used well. Oh there’s a couple of scenes where it’s not too bad, but in comparison to other recent 3D horror movies like The Final Destination or Piranha 3D it still falls extremely short. If you’re going to use 3D in something like this, then wallow in it. Absolutely glorify the killings as much as you can and take full advantage of every trick in order to bring the impact. This doesn’t do it, and because of that and because seeing it in the more expensive 3D presentation is from what I understand the only way to see it, this gets a lower rating.

For fans, it’s still a great capper and it’s final scene is absolutely terrific. For the uninitiated, you’ll be hopelessly lost without seeing the other films, so unless you want to make that effort, don’t bother. With the exception of the poor 3D, I was captivated from the start and so this still gets a strong recommendation, but beware, you will have to pay a higher price for it.

Last year, the original Paranormal Activity was the little movie that could. Made for an extremely low budget and utilizing a mostly word-of-mouth marketing campaign, the first was a huge success. Deservedly so as well, as the first is one very fun movie, one of my favorites from last year.

Now the second film is here, almost a year to the date from the first and it has a lot to live up to. And it does, serving up a film that serves as both prequel and sequel all in one.

Now I knew little of what this was about before going to see it, and absolutely zero when it comes to it’s story. I’m going to reveal a little something ahead here with the brief synopsis, so if you want to go into this cold, I’d advise skipping the next paragraph.

As this starts, we’re introduced to Christina and her family. Christina is coming home from the hospital with her brand new baby son, Hunter. Soon, the family experiences a weird break-in into their house and as a result of that, they install a series of six surveillance cameras to keep a record of what’s happening. Well, as this unfolds, we find out that Christina is actually Katie’s sister from the first movie and soon both Katie and her boyfriend Micah both show up to visit the family, where it’s then revealed that this takes place 60 days before the death of Micah Sloat. Weird things continue to happen which leads Christina to believe that this has something to do with the weirdness that she and Katie used to experience when they were little girls.

OK, so that’s it, no more about the story, if you want to find out more than seek it out on the internet or better yet go see it yourself. I was not expecting this close a tie-in to the first movie and I have to say, I was very pleasantly surprised by it.

Like the previous film, this is made of “found footage,” which of course has become it’s own sub-genre in this type of thriller. Where this ups the ante from the first is in it’s use of six stationary cameras this time around and only using one handheld. I also tend to think it’s there to strike back against the critics that will complain about the camera jumping around too much. Though I also tend to think that this won’t satisfy them either. Really, if you’re not a fan of this type of sub-genre thriller, I implore you… stay home, don’t go see it and spare yourself the “pain.”

Another criticism that I’ve been seeing about the film is that it just takes too long for anything to start to happen. Well, that’s not true, there’s always things happening here though they’re not the big scares. This is called the build-up and it’s necessary to both build the false sense of security and to get you involved with the characters. It does this extremely well.

I love the usage of the six surveillance cameras. Though the action depicted on them might just be happening on one part of the screen, the use makes you examine the whole screen and makes the startling moments all the better. Director Tod Williams uses these cameras extremely well and the pure storytelling is right on target. As are all of the performances (again, I don’t want to say too much here over the risk of revealing too much).

Paranormal Activity 2 leaves things wide open for another sequel and if it follows the same path as this movie and is a continuation, then I say bring it on. The excellent Saw series is coming to an end as of next week (review to come) and so another Halloween-timed horror series would certainly be welcomed by those of us who are fans of these movies. In the meantime, if you’re a fan of the first Paranormal Activity then by all means, go see the second. It’s a terrific night at the movies.

After Piranha 3D came out, director James Cameron derided the movie in the press (without seeing it first). He called it an example of the type of movie that’s currently giving 3D movies a bad name, of course conveniently forgetting to mention obvious tacked-on 3D movies like Clash of the Titans and The Last Airbender. How dare they use the new technology that he pioneered for such a gimmicked up piece of trash (in his unseeing eyes, I loved Piranha 3D).

I can only imagine what he’ll say once he finds out that his precious tech has been used to film a scene in which Chris Pontius’ private part is tethered to a radio controlled helicopter…

Johnny Knoxville and his band of friends are back to use and abuse the new technology with their own particular brand of humor with Jackass 3D and I have to say, I had a great deal of fun with it. 3D’s not the only thing they’re using in their new movie though, the Jackass guys are also now using high-speed filming to help them dramatically make greater effect with their 3D.

If Cameron was dead, he’d be turning over in his grave… and I’d say roll on over, Jimmy!

I love these movies and laugh harder here than what I would with most scripted attempts at film comedy, especially these days. They’re unabashedly stupid, but fun times owing to Tex Avery, Looney Tunes and the Three Stooges. And they’re made even more inviting by the obvious camaraderie that these guys share.

Like the other Jackass movies, this one has both it’s highs and lows with it’s best moments being it’s spectacular opening and closing scenes and just about anything that Steve-O is a part of. Oh, all of the guys are fun to watch in action, but with Steve-O there’s just a little something extra here, especially with his nervous anticipation of the torture that he’s about to put himself through. One of the better examples being “Tee Ball” where Mr. O is about to have his own take with America’s pasttime and the film’s final stunt before it’s close, involving Steve-O, a port-a-potty and some bungie cables.

At the same time though, these guys are getting older and a little chunkier (exceptions being Knoxville and Steve-O who seem fitter and trimmer than ever) and it’s a little apparent on-screen. Oh sure, they’re still having their fun, but it’s a little more hesitant than what it was before.

The 3D is pretty good, though it’s not entirely necessary for your enjoyment. It certainly adds to what goes on and I’d recommend it, but only mildly. To their credit though, this isn’t as augmented as what it would be for a high end effects-driven movie. Knoxville, producer Spike Jonze and director Jeff Tremaine have opted for it to be used more naturally with the only augmentation being the scenes where they’re mixing both the 3D and the high-speed photography.

It’s fun stuff, purely designed to be a party at the theatre. Of course it’s not for everybody, but if you don’t mind letting your hair down to watch live-action cartoon set pieces, you should have a pretty fun time, I know I did.

In your face, James Cameron…

Mark Zuckerberg is a Harvard student who’s having a conversation with a girl who he’s dating in a local bar. He’s a brilliant guy and he wants to make sure that everyone knows that he’s smarter than them and in turn better than them. He’s buried deep in his computer skills and his desire to make something extraordinary of himself and as such, his social skills are at a level near zero. He says one thing too many to this girl, and in turn she dumps him rapidly. Mark, who’s only definable human emotion seems to be his anger, runs back to his dorm room. In a drunken state, he blogs insults about this girl while simultaneously setting up a web site that takes out his anger on women in general. The web site seeks to take all of the women in the surrounding campus and systematically puts them up two at a time to be compared as to who’s the hotter of the two. This web site shuts down the Harvard network and starts to form a plan in Mark’s head of how to put himself on the top of the world with what will become the eventual creation of the internet sensation known as Facebook.

That’s the opening of the new movie, The Social Network from director David Fincher and writer Aaron Sorkin based on the book, “The Accidental Billionaires” by Ben Mezrich. To be perfectly honest, about a month ago, my interest level in seeing this wasn’t very high, with the only appealing factor to me being that it was directed by David Fincher, one of the best filmmakers at work today. I’m not really what one would call a big Aaron Sorkin fan, being turned off by his superiority messages on display in such TV shows as The West Wing and Studio 60 on The Sunset Strip. And as well, at the time, I had really nothing to do with Facebook, though I’d been skirting joining the site for awhile now for professional reasons.

And then three weeks ago, I joined Facebook, and my interest in The Social Network increased dramatically. I was all of a sudden a convert. I was back connected in a big way with relatives, old high school friends, professional friends and associates of mine from all around. I was having fun exploring the site, finding all of the pages related to my personal interests and even whiling away some time playing the assortment of Flash-based games that they offer.

So now, I’ve seen the movie and by it’s end, I almost wanted to quit Facebook out of spite… but don’t let that statement fool you, The Social Network is one brilliant and even scary film.

Fincher has been a hot commodity for years now, and after his last film, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (which I enjoyed quite a bit), he was being attacked with being overly sentimental. The Social Network almost seems to be a strike back at all of those attackers because there’s nothing even resembling sentimentality here, with most of it’s characters having little to no human emotions at all, but an overwhelming anger to prove themselves beyond anything human.

Fincher’s trademark visual style is at an extreme minimum with this movie. Oh, don’t get me wrong, it looks great, but it’s not there to overwhelm you with his visuals. Instead, you’re asked to follow this through extremely smart and smarmy dialogue, delivered in a way that just knows one speed and one intonation, except for extreme circumstances. And here, Aaron Sorkin’s style shines… and shines brilliantly.

The scary aspect is just the question of where the humanity lies with these young internet geniuses out there today. It’s somewhat unsettling to see this site, which has connected so many people in such diverse ways could be put together by one man who seems to be devoid of anything remotely resembling humanity.

You couldn’t get that without a brilliant cast who has their finger right on the pulse. Jesse Eisenberg leads the cast as Mark Zuckerberg. His portrayal of Zuckerberg is grotesque and cartoonish, with just anger and superiority firing it. The only time he even begins to display the slightest notion of being able to be charmed by anyone is when he meets Sean Parker, the creator of Napster, brilliantly played by Justin Timberlake. Parker’s already been through everything that Zuckerberg is about to go through, and when they meet, it’s almost like sparks appear in Zuckerberg’s eyes. Here’s the one person who gets him and wants to give the finger to the world, while becoming filthy rich along the way. Timberlake is smooth and slick and charming in about the same way as a snake, and it’s thoroughly appealing to Zuckerberg.

But not so much to Eduardo Saverin, played by Andrew Garfield, Mark’s initial partner in the Facebook venture. Saverin is what could be seen as Mark’s real true friend here and he’s the one character in the main cast with the most humanity about him. Other cast standouts include Max Minghella as Divya Narendra and Armie Hammer and Josh Pence as Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss. This trio originally engages Mark Zuckerberg to create a dating site for their house and once seeing the creation of Facebook, decide to sue Zuckerberg for stealing their idea. The Winklevoss Twins are probably the closest thing that comes to a fantastic visual effect in the movie. Both are primarily played by Armie Hammer and I have to say that Fincher fooled me into thinking it really was two separate actors throughout the film.

Now of course, it’s been very big in the news that the real Mark Zuckerberg is calling this whole thing fiction and really seeing Eisenberg’s portrayal, I don’t blame him in the slightest. The movie certainly acknowledges this as well with some carefully chosen words said by actress Rashida Jones (who plays as associate to Marks’ attorney). At the same time, there’s enough other accounts of what’s really happened that one has to think there’s something truly representative here. What you have here is truly a tale of ambition for our times, with money and power being thrown in the hands of someone who’s just too self-obsessed to know what it is to be truly human. Highly, highly recommended.