The Taking of Pelham 1, 2, 3 is one of the coolest heist films in history. I remember watching this with my dad and I was so awed by the great dialogue, the memorable characters (Quentin Tarantino got his inspiration for calling the gangsters in Reservoir Dogs by colors in this movie), and the wonderful Walther Matthau who was just spot on as the police officer.
I do remember that a remake was made of this movie before but I think it was a TV movie. This time though a real big screen adaptation is in the works. Tony Scott is set to helm the movie and big stars like Denzel Washington and John Travolta are already on board.
The latest new is that James Gandolfini is already locked in for the role of the New York City mayor. John Travolta is going to play the head of the criminal gang, which would mean Denzel Washington will be the cop.
I’d love to see how Gandolfini will gel with his co-stars. The guy has such an immense talent that Washington and Travolta will have to keep up.
Movie Review: Death Proof
Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof, his latest movie after the one-two punch of Kill Bill Vols. 1 and 2, is part of Tarantino and director Robert Rodriguez’s homage to the grindhouse movie culture of the 1970s. The two directors decided to make their tribute by trying to faithfully embody what grindhouse cinema is – aside from the themes of their movies, they also decided to show it back –to-back just like the “double feature” practice during that time.
Death Proof, Tarantino’s grindhouse take, is vintage Tarantino. All the elements that you have come to expect from a Tarantino movie are here – and he really brings in bucketfuls of “Tarantino-isms” to the screen. You’ve got the imaginative shots and perspectives, the lightning fast witty repartee, and the pulpy plot and story that is filled with obscure pop culture references. Tarantino has really honed his personal style to a razor’s edge and Death Proof shows it in spades.
Trying to give short description of the plot of Death Proof will be futile because a synopsis will not do the story any justice. It is Tarantino’s penchant for making the different scenes of his movies twist, fold, and bend into each other that makes it quite difficult. The great thing here is that Death Proof is told from a straight narrative, with absolutely no flashbacks or post-modern story structures like the one Tarantino used in his breakout movie Pulp Fiction. It is precisely because of Tarantino’s immense talents that the movie feels like it folds in on itself without even screwing with the narrative.
I absolutely love the fact that the two “halves” of the movie is punctuated by probably one of the most memorable crash scenes in recent history. It serves as a dramatic counter point that signals the end of the first half, if you will, and the beginning of the second half. I think it is really clever. You enter the first half not really knowing where the movie will go then you see the crash scene so by the time you get to the second half you already have this immense sense of foreboding. This new set of girls are going to get it too. That’s what drives the second half of the movie – the impending sense of doom. But Tarantino still manages to turn the tables on us by actually pulling in another twist. This time, it is the Stuntman (devilishly played by Kurt Russell) who gets the surprise of his life.
Tarantino mined a lot of talent for this movie. Russell is just picture perfect for his role. Rose McGowan’s cameo of sorts is very memorable. CSI New York’s Vanessa Ferlito is a revelation here. She really dove into her character with gusto and that lap dance sequence is just phenomenal. Same goes for Rosario Dawson, who provided her character with the right amount of zing.
I know that Death Proof has polarized a lot of people, this is one of those “love it or hate it” type of movies. I for one loved it and this is another fine addition to Tarantino’s already impressive filmography.
Rating: B-
1408 – Review
Ahhhh, another Stephen King movie. These just aren’t made in the same abundance as they used to be. His stories seem to be relegated mostly to TV miniseries and the occasional anthology television series episode, these days. King has tried his hand at pretty much every subgenre of horror there is, but it’s his ghost stories that have entertained me the most. As I’ve mentioned elsewhere on this site, haunted house films are one of my favorite horror subgenres, so naturally a movie about a haunted hotel room based on a story by Stephen King was bound to tickle my fancy. “1408” shares several similarities with other haunted house stories written by King, with more than a passing resemblance to “The Shining” and “Rose Red”. Like the aforementioned examples, “1408” is a more surreal take on the subgenre and is all the better for it.
Mike Enslin (John Cusack) is the skeptical author of a series of haunted hotel guides. He receives a mysterious postcard in the mail from the Dolphin Hotel in Manhattan, urging him not to stay in room 1408. Taking the warning as a challenge, Mike forces the hotel’s manager (Samuel L. Jackson) to let him spend the night in the supposedly evil room. Since the hotel’s construction, there have been fifty-six recorded deaths in the room, though Mike is not spooked. However, shortly after checking in, room 1408 begins to play tricks with Mike’s head. And as Mike quickly discovers, checking out of room 1408 is impossible.
One thing I’ve noticed about King’s haunted house stories is that he likes to portray the house (or the room, in this case) as its own character. A lot of haunted house stories simply pit the main cast against the spirits dwelling within the location, but King goes a step further and presents the actual place as a sentient villain. I’ve always dug that approach as it adds a certain level of dread to the conflict. When you enter these places you’re essentially entering another dimension, where the house or hotel room dictates the laws of reality. This paves the way for some pretty heavy surrealist horror tactics, most of which hit the mark. Room 1408 draws on Mike’s memories, dredging up his most painful experiences in a sick attempt to force him to commit suicide. Mike has to weather these bizarre challenges as they get increasingly worse.
The scares range from your standard “jump” scares to some of the more unnerving “what the hell” variety. I’m usually very critical of “jump” scares, as I find them to be lazy and cheap for the most part, typically only relying on the volume level of a theater’s sound system to provide an effective fright. The “jump” scares in “1408” are markedly better than those featured in lesser horror films, coming at you with little warning yet placed at the most opportune and appropriate moments so they don’t feel quite so cheap. The more surrealist horror elements were my favorites, though. When Mike becomes trapped in the room he literally becomes isolated from the rest of the universe, with unique and disturbing barriers keeping him from escaping or calling for help. A few of the ideas seemed to be recycled from “Rose Red” (which had a very similar concept of a haunted house isolating the cast from the rest of reality), but they comprise only a small number of the scares.
Since the bulk of the movie is just John Cusack being flooded with violent supernatural blows to his sanity, it of course falls on his shoulders to carry the movie. John Cusack isn’t one of my all-time favorite actors, but he’s still a very good one and is more than up to the task. He occasionally expresses a bit too much humor after some of the more frightening sequences, which I felt broke the tension a bit too much. Then there’s Samuel L. Jackson as Gerald Olin, the hotel manager. His role isn’t very big, but he plays it with his usual presence of charm and humor. You won’t leave the theater squealing “Wow, Samuel L. Jackson sure was FANTASTIC in this movie!” but you won’t be disappointed in his performance, either.
Lately, the haunted house subgenre of horror has been in a rather sad state of disrepair, what with the only other one of note released this year being the underwhelming “The Messengers”. “1408” is a refreshingly good return to the genre, based on a story written by a man who knows how to write a good haunted house tale. With this month being tragically low on horror flicks, “1408” is definitely your best bet.
Grade: B
Magic (1978) – Review
Those of you who were disappointed in this year’s most recent killer-ventriloquist-dummy-horror movie, “Dead Silence”, might be interested in checking out “Magic” starring Anthony Hopkins which was recently unearthed on DVD. Much more of a psychological thriller ala “Psycho” or “Rosemary’s Baby” and less of a gratuitous “killer toy” movie like “Child’s Play” or “Dolls”, “Magic” actually tells a very unnerving and engaging love story with a very solid cast you wouldn’t expect to see in a movie such as this.
Corky Withers (Anthony Hopkins) is a ventriloquist who’s moving up in the world of show business thanks to his manager, Ben Greene (Burgess Meredith). However, Corky is a bit too attached to his loud and crass dummy, Fats (voiced by Hopkins), and when he is required to take a psychological exam before taking a television contract, panics and flees to his old home town. He takes up residence at a lakeshore motel run by his old high school crush, Peggy (Ann-Margret), and the two immediately hit things off. However, Fats’ personality begins to dominate Corky’s and he views Peggy as competition. Corky undergoes even greater psychological stress when Peggy’s violent husband begins threatening him and Ben Greene tracks him down, determined to get to the bottom of his mental disorder. Corky eventually snaps from the stress and under Fats’ guidance, deals with his problems one after another.
For a movie that typically gets relegated to the silly horror movie bins alongside “Rock and Roll Nightmare” and “Troll 2”, “Magic” has an incredible cast. You’ve of course got the likes of Anthony Hopkins in the lead role, back before he really hit it big. But you’ve also got then-bombshell Ann-Margret and the ever-talented Burgess Meredith filling out the ranks. The all-star cast alone should tell you that this is more than some goofy movie about a killer ventriloquist dummy.
“Magic” is a psychological thriller at its core. Fats is never actually “alive” in the sense that his dummy-body isn’t animate; he exists only within Corky’s delusional mind. It’s rather similar to an episode of The Twilight Zone (“The Dummy”) in a few ways, so if you recall that popular episode then you might have an idea of how this movie was handled. While Fats is never actually alive, Hopkins delivers such a strong performance you actually find yourself forgetting he isn’t at times. Despite being an inanimate doll, Fats truly steals the show in this film. It’s amazing how frightening he can be. He never actually moves on his own (save for one scene where the dummy operator screwed up), yet he becomes such an entirely separate character from Corky, that you discover yourself finding Fats scary and Corky not, despite them being the same person.
“Magic” provides some very tense and memorable sequences. My favorite is the scene where Burgess Meredith tells Hopkins to shut Fats up for five minutes. The movie then moves along in real time as Hopkins nervously tries to keep Fats quiet. A very uncomfortable sequence done extremely well, to Oscar-winning Director Richard Attenborough’s credit.
If you’re in the mood for a wacky horror flick about killer ventriloquist dummies then you’re not going to find it here. However, if you’re in the mood for an extremely well-crafted and well-acted psychological horror film then you’ve come to the right place. “Magic” really delivers and belongs on every cinema fan’s shelf.
Grade: B+
Bug (2007) – Review
I honestly haven’t seen a lot of William Friedkin’s movies. As a matter of fact, outside of “the Exorcist”, I don’t think I’ve seen any of his other movies. Despite that, fond memories of “the Exorcist” were enough to get me anticipated for this flick, even if said exorcism movie was made thirty years ago. To my surprise, Friedkin has lost little of his touch in the three decades since his biggest success. “Bug” is a very unnerving, uncomfortable and unsettling film that’ll make you feel itchy all over.
Agnes (Ashley Judd) is a troubled woman living out of a motel in the Midwest. Her friend introduces her to a strange but intriguing man named Peter (Michael Shannon) and she invites him to stay with her. She soon discovers that Peter isn’t alone. He has brought with himself a terrible swarm of aphid-like bugs that nest in your skin and eat your flesh. However, the longer she spends with Peter the more both of them mentally unwind, as the pair begins to suspect they are at the epicenter of a government conspiracy.
“Bug” is very much a psychological thriller/horror film that plays with the audience’s heads. You never see the bugs, and as the film progresses, you start to doubt they even exist. Yet whether the bugs are present or not, Friedkin crafts an atmosphere so uncomfortable you can’t help but feel your skin crawl.
I’m going to assume most everyone reading this has seen “the Exorcist”. If you haven’t then there must be something wrong with you. Well, “Bug” is set up very much the same way as “the Exorcist”. It takes a while to get going. About an hour, in fact. Yet, unlike some movies (“Death Proof”), the focus is never lost and this doesn’t feel like wasted time. The characters are introduced, developed and fleshed out, yet not at the expense of the film’s true plot. The tension builds steadily and once the real conflict gets underway everything begins to move at a hectic pace. It all eventually comes to a head and, much like “the Exorcist”, ends abruptly yet satisfyingly.
One thing I want to praise Friedkin on is the use of editing. Conversations happen in “real time” with as few cuts as possible, meaning the actors are delivering these very long sequences of complex dialogue without getting a breather. And to the cast’s credit, they do it very well. It doesn’t seem so impressive at first, as many of the discussions are rather mundane or run of the mill, but once Peter and Agnes begin to lose their minds and go off on extensive and psychotic rants for what feels like an eternity, you’ll start to squirm in your seat. And the things they say are so ludicrous and mind-blowing you’ll have a stern “what the” expression frozen on your face for at least an hour.
As far as the whole “are the bugs real or not” conflict is concerned, it isn’t nearly as cut and dry as you’d think. Agnes and Peter are nuts, there’s no two ways about that, yet there are several mysterious, unexplained and creepy things going on around them, outside their hallucinations, which seem to almost validate some of their paranoia. The movie gives you no precise answers either, leaving you to come to your own conclusions.
“Bug” feels like a movie that could’ve been made thirty years ago. It’s starkly different than most of the horror thrillers released in mainstream theaters these days, with their multi-million dollar budgets and glossy sheens. While movies like “Grindhouse” and “House of 1000 Corpses” try to homage or parody horror films from the 70’s, “Bug” feels like it stepped directly out of that decade. It’s certain to be overlooked, but I would easily recommend it to any serious horror fan looking for something different, but more importantly, something good.
Grade: B