Gateway Review: Grindhouse

Grindhouse double feature provides action-packed, grade "A" experience

What do a crazed stuntman, an amputee go-go dancer, a Hollywood stunt woman and a swarm of bio-engineered zombies have in common? They're all part of Grindhouse, the best movie of 2007 so far and quite possibly the greatest movie experience I've ever had.

Friday marked the opening of the epic double-feature tribute to the low-budget exploitation films that influenced directors Robert Rodriguez (Sin City, Once Upon a Time in Mexico) and Quentin Tarantino (Kill Bill, Pulp Fiction) to make movies themselves. And boy what a tribute it is.

If you're a fan of gore-filled sci-fi/horror films like Dawn of the Dead, Omega Man or Re-Animator, than you will have a blast with the first of the two films, Rodriguez's Planet Terror. You've heard the storyline before. A toxic chemical has been released into a small town and as people become infected, they terrorize the townspeople who band together to fight off the zombie hoard. And, of course, vixens like Cherry Darling (Rose McGowan), who uses a machine gun for a prosthetic leg, and Dr. Dakota Black (Marley Shelton), who carries a hypodermic needle gun, are just par for the course.

While the film can be dull at times, most of the time it's so completely ridiculous that you can't help but enjoy it. In pure grindhouse fashion, Planet Terror is complete at its most incomplete. With skipping frames, damaged footage and horrible dialogue, Rodriguez gives the audience what it wants.

But the show is not over; after a series of hilarious fake movie trailers from directors like Rob Zombie, Eli Roth and Edgar Wright, it's Tarantino's turn to shine with his homage to road-rage movies like Duel and Vanishing Point.

Compared to Planet Terror, Tarantino is on another level with Death Proof. It stars Kurt Russell in a brilliant performance as Stuntman Mike, a guy who likes to use his "death proof" stunt car to terrorize unsuspecting victims.

But the tables are turned on Stuntman Mike when he encounters four women, including real-life stuntwoman Zoe Bell, who hunt down Stuntman Mike in one of the most gut-wrenching car chase sequences I've ever seen. This film should be a fan favorite regardless, but a fair amount of experience with 70s horror films will make the experience that much sweeter.

As a pair of movies, Planet Terror and Death Proof are both so good at being bad that they are ultimately good. But that doesn't mean that there aren't unintentional flaws. Both films could stand to have 15 to 20 minutes shaved off. In fact, if Grindhouse was trimmed down, I'd venture to say it might be one of the best-made movies in recent memory.

While both may be "B" movies in the truest sense of the word, the Grindhouse experience is definitely grade "A."

Planet Terror: B-; Deathproof: B+; Grindhouse: A

Originally published on April 13, 2006
© Copyright 2007 Gateway

Gateway Review: 2007 Oscar Predictions

And the Oscar goes to... Gateway predictions for the 2007 Academy Awards

Well, it's that time of year again where everyone sits down to watch the stars on the red carpet, make last-minute changes to their ballots and wait in anticipation as the presenters open up the sealed envelope and say those magic words: "And the Oscar goes to ...."

Sunday is the 79th Annual Academy Awards. The theme this year is diversity, with an openly gay host and three African-Americans up for prestigious acting awards.

This is also the first year yours truly has actually watched a majority of the films up for the big awards. Because of this I'm pretty excited about this year's ceremony and seeing how my predictions will do. And that's why I'm here, to help handicap this year's winners.

Am I going to be correct with all my choices? No. But I'm sure you'll keep reading anyway. I mean, you've read this far, right? OK then. Let's get started.

Best Original Song: Dreamgirls is nominated three times in this category, and normally that would mean that the votes would be split. However, the other two nominees are songs from Cars and An Inconvenient Truth, so I don't think there will be any problems. I couldn't tell you what song will win, but I'm sure one of them will.

Best Makeup and Art Direction: There is only one film that can compete in either of these categories and that is Pan's Labryinth. The world that Guillermo Del Toro creates in this film is nothing short of fantastic. And, quite frankly, putting films like The Good Shepherd and Click in the same category is insulting.

Best Costume Design: This award always seems to go to a period piece, and of the nominees, that would be Milena Canonero's work in Marie Antoinette. Other films nominated here are Dreamgirls, The Devil Wears Prada, Curse of the Golden Flower and The Queen. The only one I can see challenging Antoinette here would be Curse of the Golden Flower, but not a lot of people even know what the movie is about.

Best Achievement in Visual Effects: The nominees are Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Poseidon and Superman Returns. My gut tells me that Dead Man's Chest will win this thing because of its creature designs for the Kraken and the octopus-like Davey Jones, which were fantastic by the way.

Best Supporting Actor and Actress: This one is pretty simple, Eddie Murphy and Jennifer Hudson will walk away with the golden statues for their performances in Dreamgirls. The wins will provide Hudson with a firm foothold in Hollywood and also give Eddie Murphy a second chance at redeeming his acting career.

Best Actress and Actor: Helen Mirren, for The Queen, and Forest Whitaker, for The Last King of Scotland, have won every single possible award this year. Not surprisingly, the Oscar will be a well-deserved, feather in each of their caps. Both performances were stellar and outpace their respective competition by a wide, wide margin.

Best Director: This year is reminiscent of two years ago when Clint Eastwood won the Best Director Oscar for Million Dollar Baby, besting Martin Scorsese for his work with The Aviator.

Now it's looking like a Scorsese and Eastwood showdown again. Half of the Academy wants to reward Eastwood for his amazing work on both Flags of Our Fathers and Letters for Iwo Jima, and the other half of the Academy wants Scorsese to finally have his Oscar after being snubbed countless times.

Everything points toward this being Scorsese's year. I'm crossing my fingers that he will finally walk away with a little statuette to call his own.

Best Picture: Basically, this category comes down to how much you believe in statistics and tradition. It is almost unheard of that the Best Picture winner isn't directed by the winner of the Best Director award. Now, common sense says that with the most diverse list of nominees in history, the most international film, Babel, is the favorite.

The Departed has Hollywood buzzing like Crash did last year, and if Scorsese does win the Oscar, I think his film could shock a lot of people and, deservedly, win the Oscar as well. If you want a safe pick, go with the likely winner in Babel, but I'm going to take a risk and pick The Departed as my choice for Best Picture of 2006.

Originally published on February 23, 2007
© Copyright 2007 Gateway

The Fountain: Cotton candy for the mind

Dozens of words could be used to describe the latest film from director and co-writerDarren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream), but sadly "good" isn’t one of them.

The Fountain, which stars Hugh Jackman and Aronofsky’s fiancé Rachel Weisz, centers around Izzi (Weisz), who has a brain tumor, and her husband, Tomas (Jackman), a doctor who will stop at nothing to save her from dying.

While this may sound like your typical chick flick, it isn’t. The Fountain is made up of three narratives. One takes place in a book Weisz’s character is writing on her deathbed, where she is the Queen of Spain, looking to find the Fountain of Youth with the help of a conquistador version of Jackman; the second features the couple’s battle with the crippling disease; and the futuristic narrative, where a monk-like Jackman and a big tree travel through a golden-colored nebula in a giant bubble.

As the film jumps between these narratives, Tomas becomes more insecure about the possibility of losing his wife while Izzi comes to terms with her own mortality.

As the film’s title implies, through this crisis, and the three timelines, they are on a quest to find eternal life.

The message of The Fountain will mean different things to different people, but probably for the wrong reasons. By the time you think you figure out what Aronofsky, is trying to say; it makes no sense again.

All is not lost, though. One of the film’s big victories is the eye-popping visuals. The conquistador narrative is short, but features some awesome artistic aspects while the "dream" narrative is truly stunning.

The second positive with The Fountain is the acting of Jackman and Weisz, who each put in fantastic performances despite a weak script and a limited amount of character development. But performances and stunning visuals are not enough to make The Fountain the magnum opus that it wants to be. Instead, it ends up being more like cotton candy; it tastes sweet but ultimately, the bulk of it is just a bunch of empty air.

At a run-time of 96 minutes, The Fountain is never dull, but is almost always confusing. People going to this film expecting, as the film’s marketing would have you believe, a classic love story that spans the centuries, are going to be sorely disappointed. However, if you want to pay $8 to essentially experience the film equivalent of an acid trip (I'm assuming ), then The Fountain is certainly worth a try.

Grade: C-

Originally published on November 28, 2006
© Copyright 2006 Gateway

Gateway Review: Best/Worst Scary Movies Ever

Top 5 Horror Movies

5. Haute Tension (2003) - Directed by Alexandre Aja
Haute Tension is a French horror film that I heard about through word of mouth in 2004. According to my favorite horror movie Web sites and blogs, it was supposed to be a one of the best horror movies to come out years, so obviously I went to check it out. The film not only lived up to the hype, but also surpassed my wildest expectations as the first film since I first saw Jurassic Park in 1993 to scare the living hell out of me. Haute Tension is a gritty, bloody and suspenseful slasher film that grabs you by the pit of your stomach from the first 20 minutes and never lets go.

4. The Blair Witch Project (1999) - Directed by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez
The Blair Witch Project is a film that people are either going to love or hate; I'm obviously in the "love it" group. What can I say? I'm a sucker for the minimalist approach they used and it probably helps having a personal experience of being lost in the woods to make this movie's scares really hit home. Personal experiences aside, I still think the last 20 minutes of the movie are some of the most disturbing and frightening I've ever seen.

3. The Ring/Ringu (2002/1998) - Directed by Gore Verbinski/Hideo Nakata
Both versions of this movie, the Japanese original and the American remake, are equally frightening. However, my vote would have to go to the American remake. More of an unsettling, atmospheric film, The Ring is just so cool to watch because it breaks a lot of horror movie rules. The movie also contains some magnificent performances from Naomi Watts and Brian Cox, which makes it better than any horror movie remake has the right to be.

2. Halloween (1978) - Directed by John Carpenter
I've watched Carpenter's classic every Halloween for five years and it still captivates me. There are just so many creative elements to this film, especially the use of first-person POV shots where you actually see through the eyes of the killer. The effect had been used in Black Christmas previously, but was perfected by Carpenter. The movie's score, low-budget style and ability to break down the idea of the cozy and safe "suburbia" lifestyle just make this movie so entertaining to watch.

1. The Exorcist (1973) - Directed by William Friedkin
The Exorcist isn't just one of my favorite horror movies, it's one of my favorite movies, period. I think the music is perfect, the acting is phenomenal, the build up is properly paced and some scenes just chill you to the marrow. One scene that still freaks me out is the "spider walk" scene; my blood turns to ice every time I see it, even though I know it's coming. And the film isn't just technically sound, it's very premise of possession is just personally one of the most psychologically terrifying things I've ever seen on film.

Worst 5 Horror Movies:

5. Ju-On/The Grudge (2003/2004) - Directed by Takashi Shimizu
I saw Ju-On on the recommendation of several Asian horror Web sites that said it was one of the best horror films to come out of Japan since The Ring. Unlike Haute Tension, I watched the movie and just couldn't understand the hype. I could handle the croaking voice and even the idea that the main character was being terrorized by a "curse," but hiding under the bed as protection was too much to stomach. What's sad is that the American version was worse than the Japanese one, and that in itself is more terrifying than either movie tries to be.

4. Suspiria (1977) - Directed by Dario Argento
I saw Suspiria at the Dundee Theatre after hearing repeatedly that it was one of the best horror movies of the '70s. I went in to see the movie expecting to see something suspenseful, terrifying and bloody; what I got instead was a big steaming pile of s*&#. Suspiria is beautifully shot, but that's about it. The movie gets lost in a pointless story and cheap attempts to be "scary," rendering the film a total joke. I suggest avoiding this one at all costs.

3. Poltergeist III (1988) - Directed by Gary Sherman
I'm a fan of Poltergeist; it's actually one of my favorite horror movies. However, Poltergeist III is just atrocious. It has horrible acting, a horrible script and a weak bad guy. Honestly, any movie that's biggest scares involve a malfunctioning elevator and a "bottomless" puddle of water in a parking garage is really reaching for a plot. Hell, I've seen the movie more than I'd readily admit to in public and I'm still not sure what the plot of the movie was.

2. An American Haunting (2006) - Directed by Courtney Solomon
With An American Haunting you have two veterans of horror movie classics in Sissy Spacek and Donald Sutherland, as well as up-and-coming young star in Rachel Hurd-Wood. A veteran cast like that in a movie about spirits haunting a small farm house in the 1800s sounds like it should be pretty good, right? Unfortunately, the movie is less about possession and poltergeists and more of a morality play about child abuse. An American Haunting is more of an after-school special than it is a horror movie. Too bad I actually paid to see it in theatres.

1. Godsend (2004) - Directed by Nick Hamm
I thought the idea behind Godsend was a good one. A child is killed, cloned, and then brought back to life, but something's not right with him. It's definitely a plot that could be worked into a decent suspense or horror movie. Something apparently got lost in translation because everything, and I mean everything, about this movie fails. Godsend tries to be like The Omen, but ends up being a 102-minute argument about the dangers cloning. This movie is just painfully bad, even for a horror movie.

Originally published on October 31, 2006
© Copyright 2006 Gateway

Gateway Review: The Prestige

The Prestige tries too hard to trick audience, doesn't live up to hype

The Prestige, the latest film from Batman Begins collaborators Christopher Nolan, Christian Bale and Michael Caine, takes its name from the third and final part of a magician's act. The prestige, as Caine explains in the film, is the part of a magic trick "with the twists and turns, where lives hang in the balance and you see something shocking you've never seen before."

While there was no shortage of entertaining twists and turns in the film, I can think of several other s-words that more accurately describe them.

The Prestige, also starring a surprisingly skillful Hugh Jackman, tells the story of two apprentice magicians who become bitter rivals when a mistake by Bale's character, Alfred Borden, causes a magic trick to go awry, killing the wife of Jackman's character, Rupert Angier.

The storyline is revealed in a style common to the Nolan clan. Nolan's younger brother Jonathan wrote the film, based on Christopher Priest's novel, in the pair's first collaboration since the critically acclaimed Memento. Opening with the trial and subsequent sentence of Borden for Angier's murder, we see the friends' rivalry evolve through flashbacks, testimony and dictated journal entries.

The film does a good job of showcasing the acting chops of all involved, minus a horribly miscast Scarlett Johansson, but leaves you scratching your head, not because of the excellent storytelling abilities of the younger Nolan brother, but a complete lack of them. At the end of this nearly two-and-a-half-hour movie, I actually cared less about the characters than I did when I took my seat.

The problem is that viewers aren't given any reason to like the two main characters, or at the very least sympathize with them. Too quick to rush to the rivalry, the film does little to show you that these two magicians were actually friends at one point. So when you see the magicians staking out each other's performances, using spies to grab secrets and openly sabotaging each other's shows, it's like watching two adults throwing pointless temper tantrums.

Now, don't get me wrong, the film can be damned entertaining at times. Many of the tricks were clever and the underlying story of obsession was actually quite interesting.

However, after being impressed at how skilled the Nolan brothers are behind the camera in their previous projects, I was disappointed at all of the loopholes and convenient plot devices used for the final "gotcha" moment.

Maybe I'm being too harsh, but I just think a movie that makes no secret of trying to trick the audience shouldn't explain away the entire film in the final 10 minutes. It gives you no reason to come back and see the film again, or at least discuss the film later with friends. Just like the characters, there is no reason to care about the film.

The bottom line is that if you're looking to spend some time at the movies in the coming weeks you could do better than The Prestige, but certainly do a hell of lot worse. Just be sure, if you do decide to go see the film, to check your brain at the door. Unfortunately, you won't be needing it.

Grade: C+

Originally published on October 24, 2006
© Copyright 2006 Gateway

Gateway Review: V for Vendetta

V for Vendetta is vivaciously victorious

In the late 1980s, Alan Moore and David Lloyd wrote the graphic novel V for Vendetta. Luckily for moviegoers, the writer / director tandem of Andy and Larry Wachowski picked it up and gave Moore's work the Hollywood treatment.

The original release date for the film version of V for Vendetta was actually Nov. 5 of last year, to coincide with Guy Fawkes Night, a British holiday commemorating the attempt to burn the British Parliament in 1605. The film was pushed to March when Warner Brothers, the film's distributor, cited the need for more post production work. But it's rumored to be that the company did not want to risk a backlash, given the bombings in London that summer.

In the Wachowskis' first film since the Matrix sequels, they actually only wrote the screenplay and handed the directorial reigns over to James McTeigue, a long-time assistant director who worked on films including the Matrix trilogy and the recent Star Wars prequels. Ironically, McTeigue plucked his stars from those sagas'; Benchwarmers now turned superstars.

Receiving top billing for this project was the scene-stealing actress from the Star Wars prequels, Natalie Portman, who plays the part of Evey Hammond, a clerical worker for the British Television Network in a futuristic London. We are introduced to her in the film as she is trying to avoid detection in the city's dark alleys during the enforcement of a strict curfew.

She is spotted by a group of police officers, and under the threat of being taken into custody, resigns herself to being abused by the trio of officers. Before anything can happen, a cloaked figure wearing a Guy Fawkes mask and carrying a convenient set of throwing knives appears from the shadows to take out Evey's assailants.

This masked man, introduced to the audience simply as "V," is played to perfection by Hugo Weaving, who may best be remembered as Agent Smith in the Matrix movies. After being saved by V, Evey follows her rescuer to a first-class seat for his personal "explosive" tribute to the Nov. 5 holiday. Watching in horror and fear, Evey realizes that she has gotten herself in to something bigger than she could have ever expected.

V follows his display by making a threatening declaration to again attack the government in one year's time. Furious and fearful, High Chancellor Sutler, played wonderfully by John Hurt, orders the government to track down the perpetrator of the terrorist action and the female accomplice before they can strike again.

The film goes on to jump between V and Evey's relationship and the exploration of V's past through an investigation by the government's lead detective, Eric Finch, played by Stephen Rea, best known for his starring role in The Crying Game. Finch, who is cautious of his government to begin with, becomes more so as he digs deeper and deeper into V's past, learning quite a lot that the government is keeping from their citizens.

V for Vendetta has been publicly condemned and has been the subject of recent controversy in the press, with some critics citing that the film condones and even promotes terrorism. The negative press did not deter audiences or reviewers, however; the film has received critical acclaim and is the number one film in America.

Quite simply, the public has gotten it right. V for Vendetta is one of the best theatrical experiences in recent memory and the word is that the IMAX version is even better. Filled with stellar leading performances, V is an emotionally relevant story that keeps you glued to your seat. It has colorfully excellent cinematography, and one of the best ending sequences in recent memory. The final verdict is that V for Vendetta is better than good, it is the first "must see" film of 2006.

Grade: B+

Originally published on March 21, 2006
© Copyright 2006 Gateway

Gateway Review: The Pink Panther

Martin is worthy successor to Sellers in new addition to Panther series

In 1963, the legendary Peter Sellers starred in a small film called The Pink Panther, a movie that would later be nominated for an Oscar, a Golden Globe, a BAFTA and a Grammy Award. Today, The Pink Panther is considered a classic film and one of the best films in Sellers' career.

When Sony Pictures decided to add a new version of the classical film series for a younger generation, it was a task that needed to be approached with either great caution or reckless disregard. Somehow the team of Steve Martin, Kevin Kline and Jean Reno, under the supervision of director Shawn Levy, found a way to not only do both, but do it well.

This version of The Pink Panther is actually a prequel to the Peter Sellers version. It involves detective Jacques Clouseau as a simple French policeman who is called up by Chief Inspector Dreyfus, played by Kevin Kline, to help investigate the murder of Yves Gluant, played by The Transporter's Jason Statham, and the robbery of his trademark piece of jewelry, the Pink Panther diamond.

Dreyfus does not disguise his ulterior motives from Clouseau, stating that he wants Clouseau as a decoy for the press until he can form his own investigation. When Clouseau drops the ball, Dreyfus would then pick up the case with the ultimate goal of finally winning the French Medal of Honor after being nominated seven times in the past and never winning.

This premise works remarkably well for the film, and from the very first scenes, you get pulled in to the world of the bumbling detective and trade off between laughing at Clouseau and laughing with Clouseau. The packed crowd watching the preview enjoyed every minute of it, only pausing to take a breath before belting out laughter. The crowd even stood up and cheered for Martin's performance.

One of the questions on everybody's mind is how Beyonce Knowles does in her role as Xania, girlfriend of Gluant and a suspect in the Pink Panther case. The answer is that Knowles does surprisingly well for what her role allows, and that is just fine, because one senses when watching the film that Knowles' skills, if overused, could fall under the old adage of "too much of a good thing." The only real problem with Knowles is that she is given a platform to sing in a seemingly unnecessary scene near the end of the film. But if her presence helps bring people to the movie, then it will prove to be a successful casting choice.

If there is one glaring problem with the film, it is that Clouseau is sometimes shown as much smarter than he actually is, or should be, given his body of work. Despite the humor being a bit too obvious and the plot being relatively simplistic, the choices made are understandable. This is being primarily pitched as a children's film and definitely succeeds in providing an enjoyable experience for parents and kids alike.

Thanks to the still hilarious and studious acting of the film's star, Martin, The Pink Panther is without a doubt the best kind of plain and harmless fun. This is what movies today should be: An escape from reality where you can kick back and relax and watch someone else screw things up, even if it is only for a stingy 90-minute runtime that almost seems to be too short, and leaves you wanting more.

Grade: B-

Originally published Feb. 10, 2006
© Copyright 2006 Gateway