Showing posts with label 2007. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2007. Show all posts
The testimony of FBI psychologist Jack Gramm (Al Pacino of The Recruit) helped put away a fiendish killer, Jon Forster (Neal McDonough), who is about to be executed. Gramm then gets a call in which an unknown person tells him he only has 88 minutes to live, a number that has special significance to him. Gramm figures Forster is behind it all, but who is his ally outside of prison? One of Gramm's students? His teaching assistant, Kim (Alicia Witt of Urban Legend)? Her motorcycle-riding boyfriend? His secretary, Shelley (Amy Brenneman)? The movie, with its hints of dark deeds in the past, numerous twists and red herrings, reminds one of a giallo film by Italian director Dario Argento, but without the cinematic flourishes or sick violence. The performances are good, and the slick movie moves fast enough to keep you from dissecting what's going on too carefully. Whatever its flaws, 88 Minutes is quite entertaining.
Verdict: Pacino treading water. ***.
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| The zombies are coming! |
REC (aka Red Light/2007). Directors: Jaume Belaguero; Paco Plaza.
A reporter named Angela (Manuela Velasco) is doing a story on the local fire department with her unseen cameraman, Pablo (Pablo Rosso), when an alarm comes in. Inexplicably the fire department is called in simply because an elderly lady in an apartment building is screaming, even though a police officer (Vincente Gil) is already on the scene. The ravenous old lady attacks two men, and authorities on the outside quarantine the building to stop the spread of a possible bacteriological infection. Everyone who's bitten by an infected person becomes violent and crazy. Angela and Pablo struggle to stay alive while everything is recorded solely by the video camera. Rec can make you nauseous not because of the bloodletting, but because of the shaky camera movements. It's one thing to use this approach when the events unfolding are real, but when they're just made up it makes little sense to subject the audience to tedious, documentary-style "camerawork" when a normal approach would work so much better. Although Rec was a hit in Spain and was remade in the U.S. as Quarantine, it has absolutely no new ideas, so you wonder if its fans have ever seen that many horror films. The creepy moments are nearly outnumbered by the stupid ones, and for long stretches the movie is incredibly boring. The film also has little emotional resonance, making it mostly schlock. So far there have been two sequels, with a third on the way, and Quarantine itself has an unrelated sequel as well. I will happily miss all of them. At least the acting is rather good.
Verdict: An occasional taut moment, but mostly over-familiar tedium; you've seen it all before. **.
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| Too much sympathy? Judith Light and Stephen Lang |
When a gay drug addict named Mark (Chad Allen) nearly dies, his brother puts him in a Christian facility named Genesis House. The place, which tries to convert homosexuals to heterosexuals through faith and prayer, is run by Gayle (Judith Light) and her husband, Ted (Stephen Lang). Gayle turned her son out of the house at sixteen after he came out; six months later he committed suicide -- she blames his sexual orientation instead of her narrow-minded rejection of same. Mark begins to fall -- rather quickly -- for some of the homophobic spirituality at Genesis House, even as fellow resident Scott (Robert Gant) begins to rebel; more importantly, the two begin to fall for each other. Will they give in to the negative attitudes of Gayle and Ted, or have the strength to break free and be themselves? Save Me is an interesting movie but in trying so hard not to present Ted and especially Gayle as formulaic hateful villains, the movie doesn't come down nearly hard enough on the thoroughly discredited "ex-gay" movement -- these people do serious damage to hundreds of innocent and confused youths. Lang and Light both give excellent performances -- Light is especially outstanding playing a woman who is both dangerous and self-deluding and in some ways pitiable -- and Allen and Gant are also terrific as the lovers. Robert Baker is also notable as the sad Lester, who has never given in to his "impulses" and probably never will due to the "loving," misguided notions of Ted and Gayle. Save Me does illustrate the horrors of homophobia, and has some good sequences and poignant moments, especially at the upbeat but nevertheless depressing conclusion. Unfortunately director Cary feels a need to "resist the temptation to judge Judith .. or any of the people at the ministry" as if he was completely unacquainted with the sheer, lying viciousness of anti-gay bigots. In trying to humanize them --- not necessarily a bad thing in of itself as far as characterization is concerned -- he seems to be excusing their behavior. But these people are no different from racists or anti-Semites; it's hard to keep a balance when dealing with such evil. The screenplay -- which is good but doesn't go nearly far enough -- is by Robert Desiderio, the husband of Judith Light, who served as co-producer. NOTE: As if to make up for the film's failure to more sharply condemn the ex-gay industry, the DVD has information on it as well as resources for people who want to reconcile their orientation with their religion.
Verdict: Not bad, but it needs a much edgier script. ***.
THE WALKER (2007). Writer/director: Paul Schrader.Carter Page (Woody Harrelson) is the third in a line of powerful politicians, but he himself is on the outskirts: as a "walker" in Washington D.C. he escorts the wives of important men to social functions and art events that the husband would rather not be bothered with. When one of these lady friends, Lynn (Kristin Scott Thomas), finds her lover butchered in his apartment, Carter is importuned to say that he found the body, and therefore becomes embroiled in scandal and mystery. The Walker certainly has an interesting cast -- Lauren Bacall and Lily Tomlin [Shadows and Fog] are two of the other ladies that Carter knows -- and the premise is an intriguing one, but while the movie is entertaining, it doesn't quite cut it. Having a gay man as the lead character is a step in the right direction, but Schrader won't let Carter be entirely comfortable with his lifestyle, and even adds a wistful postscript involving one of the ladies that almost gives the movie a homophobic subtext. But a bigger problem is that this is, in part, a thriller, and the basic plot is not that original or involving. Carter is an interesting character, however, and Harrelson gives a very good performance, even if at times he seems to be channeling his inner Liberace. Scott Thomas [Mission: Impossible] is also splendid, as is Ned Beatty as Tomlin's husband. Willem Dafoe [Daybreakers] plays Scott Thomas' husband in a brief bit, and Moritz Bleibtreu scores as Carter's sometime boyfriend, Emek.
Verdict: This might have been better if Schrader hadn't written the script. **1/2.
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| Conference: Billy Burke and Ryan Gosling |
At the opening of Fracture Ted Crawford (Anthony Hopkins of Thor) fires a bullet into the brain of his philandering wife. As she lies in the hospital in a coma, prosecutor Willy Beachum (Ryan Gosling) is perhaps more preoccupied with leaving the D.A's office for his cushy new job than he is with his last assignment. Crawford decides to represent himself, and things get especially complicated when it is revealed in the courtroom that the arresting officer, Lt. Nunally (Billy Burke), was the man having an affair with Crawford's wife [the audience also knows this from the first]. Beachum realizes that he has to up his game and pay more attention if he's going to put Crawford away for attempted murder. Fracture is one of those tricky suspense films that has some vaguely clever things going on but doesn't really add much to the genre. Hopkins is excellent, but the odd Gosling is exactly the same in the second half as he is in the first, and seems like an actor who should stick to after-school specials. Burke is okay, and Rosamund Pike [Jack Reacher] makes a good impression as Nikki, a pretty lady who works for the firm that Willy hopes to work for. The characters in this are all one-dimensional.
Verdict: Minor-league "thriller" with few thrills. **.