Reviews

Okay...Hat's off to Rob Zombie (Robert Cummings), the music video producer and lyricist and guitarist for "White Zombie"- a band that found it's way to Guitar Hero III and slithered it's way into popular culture- for going from a subversive 'music guy' to film director. I know a few music video directors who have gone from that tediously novice job to director, Michael Gondry, Spike Jonze, etc. However I've never seen one who has maintained the look and atmosphere of a supposedly grainy, 70's style video in film. And we've all seen the psychedelic additions of computer effects from the editorial room, but literally Zombie has created something here that modern cinema craved. I tell you this from every inch of me: NO KIDS. This will make you sick. I'm no fan of violence as much as everyone, however I seem impervious to the 'walking out' factor, at least more then most. This is a dizzying array of cold, dark blackness and bright burning carnage. It is an angry film, if I may. Isn't that what you'd describe his music as? It's a homage to 70's style horror, except for the addition of extra gore and blood and anger. But that's not Zombie's work. He did create it yes, but he is saying that back in the 70's you would see this, but not LIKE this. It's society that's brought this on themselves-they like having the ability to make violence as realistic as possible- and now you have to deal with it. So Zombie's vision has been released from the chain, and like Frankenstein, he was never as bad as he was when he had no chain's holding him back. And movies were never as bad as they were when they had rules and regulations. Good one, Rob. At least I got it. I only wish the presentation was tweaked in a few areas, but that's why I'm able to be critical, I didn't make it. So well done, anyway. Zombie's vision is impaired, yes, but the actual exposition I fear will be making the box office sweat a little before it explodes with confused teenagers looking to get a glimpse of rural Texas as bad as it was in '78 with "Texas Chainsaw Massacre". Speaking of which, how about "House of 1,000 Corpses"? It was a disgusting and emotionless pathological waste of time. But again, there's room for it at the Box Office because you know who's going to be rushing in, the teens. It attracts them because they figure if they can't sleep for weeks, it fits in with their usual schedule. I say this only because I honestly wasn't scared by that film, it was scary, yes, but not like Devil's Rejects. It holds you like no other movie. I guarantee it'll have parents upset and audiences raving. So I say it was good, yes. I say it was bad, yes. Do I recommend it...? Wink...

Something for the guys: brutal killings and tense chase scenes. Something for the girls: Racy photos of Christian Bale were reveled around the opening of the movie on the internet, but then it was said they were just stills from the movie, also Reese Witherspoon's presence will attract swarms of viewers eager to see her be legally blonde again. Something for the critics: A dynamic performance from Bale as Patrick Bateman, the supple design and layout of the 80's is superb, and the direction by Mary Harron. Something for the trashcan: The sloppiness near the end, and the fact that it's too off-beat to ever deem a particular genre. Horror? Drama? Comedy? Musical(certain parts throughout the film have Bale doing rather interesting things while listening to Genisis and other 80's bands)? I can't say without giving away much, so do I recommend it? Yes and no. Again the off-beatness makes it one of those fast-forward-certain-parts, scenes that are okay are really okay, and parts that aren't, well, aren't. Lets say for example you are one of those who liked the book - to let you know, your one of the fifty in the world that weren't mad at Bret Easton Ellis for making what woman-support groups called "filth" - then you might not like the book, it's a politial satire rather then slasher, a character focus rather then a character study and most importantly you can see the killings, they didn't exactly jump out of the page did they? Jered Leto, Willeum Dufoe and Reese Witherspoon have nice appearances.

Michael Clayton(George Clooney) is an attorney for a law firm in New York City. He's Satan's go-getter and is a shark that attach's it's teeth on the case and doesn't let go until i's completely drained of blood--no stragglers, or visible leavings. Clayton is a man who understands there are rules that can be bent, and for a price, he's the one to bend them. An efficient amount of time in the film is devoted to let us know that there are men in New York who seem well suited to the upper-class environment on the outside; sport coats, ties, trench coats, but inside they are ready to pounce on the prey. Director Tony Gilroy (who's the soul beneficiary of credit for the script and direction) does wonders with the tone of the film; and is never off-beat. Keen wit and sharp moral satire of men and woman of tight balances between work and personal lives. Thus making a point of people who take their work home with them in their head, and suffer grammatically while itching to get back to work. Producing was done by Sydney Pollak, Steve Samuels, among others, they do a great over-all job. Executive producers include Clooney, Steven Soderbergh and Anthony Minghella. The plot focus' in on the life of Clayton, but sort of veers off into a multiple protagonist storyline that begins to explore the emotional depths of these persons without souls, one in particular, Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson) who has a chemical imbalance that prescription drugs can seize, but personal life and work can't. And, as the plot develops, we see that the fellow that's not-all-there is struggling to keep a lid on his uncontrollable outrage toward the business. Now looky here, we have a Tilda Sweedon-- who's honestly never done better, in a role that rivals Cate Blanchette's Bob Dylan-- who plays Karen Crowder, a fine-and-dandy little company called U-North's chief counsel, who discovers that the crazy-guy has found evidence that U-North has bad crap that causes cancer, and is planning to do something with it, her first instinct is rash, but these executive decisions usually are. She has two big dudes follow and basically probe Arthur Edens to death, and following the passing of Arthur, Crowder thinks she's off the hook, but your never off the hook when Michael Clayton is on the prowl. He smells something wrong with her and jumps at the opportunity to do something about it. But I've gotten ahead of myself, prior these fun little folk-tales, Arthur,in a fit of craziness at a business meeting, he strips down and runs outside only to be arrested and begin a chain-reaction that ends up in a great little family-friendly multi-billion dollar case. When you have a multi-billion dollar case, Who do you call? Ghostbusters? Transformers? Oprah? Nope! Michael Clayton, silly. He takes care of things as usual, until they get a little deeper then just another court-case that'll be on TV in a few days, but transform into something of a personal awakening for good ol' Mickey, who'll benefit in ways he never dreamed of. Need I say more? I doubt it. Michael Clayton is the year's best legal thriller, although among precious few, it holds many key cinematic gems and sub-messages that There Will Be Blood and Juno don't. There are things those masterpieces have Clayton doesn't. But listen up: Michael Clayton is a badass who could care less if a few people are weed-whacked on the job, but in the end, when Michael leaves the hotel after taking care of business(just to inform you, kickass Clayton turns around and does something good, takes care of the old witch that killed the crazy guy who, believe it or not, made the most sense in the movie), and gets in a cab and speeds off, thinking about the turn of events that occurred here, perhaps he liked doing something good, something right right for the first time in his sandy career as a shark that liked to swim close to the shore line, so-to-speak. Michael Clayton is a legal thriller and character-driven drama that exposes corporate boo-boos and when those boo-boos get called on by "the fixer" Michael Clayton. Clooney gives a captivating performance that, unlike his role in Syriana, shakes the viewer to the bone. The third best picture of the year. By: Greg Decaire

The story begins with a shot of what the film is entailing: sexual deprivation, temptation and exploration on so many levels. The shot is of Nicole Kidman slipping off her dress revealing her naked body within the pallor of her luxurious apartment. Funny. Tom Cruise plays a different role for him, but not one he necessarily did poorly with, in fact, playing someone in his position would be quite a task. After the couple- William and Alice Harford- enjoy themselves at a party hosted by a fellow doctor, they adjourn to their home to have sex. Ahem. Anyway, they drink, and smoke pot, and begin telling each other how hard it basically is to ignore the temptation of everyday sexual situations, which brings up a story that a menacing Alice begins to tell, about how she almost cheated on him, almost. But this seems to spark some kind of chain reaction for Mr. Harford, and he leaves on a house call, but out of spite, revenge and malice decides to walk the streets of New York, and begins a quest of moral and immoral discovery that leads him to long periods of thought to himself. What is just a story of light revenge between a husband and wife, is actually beginning to become a harrowing journey into some kind of murder mystery. After his pianist friend (Todd Field) informs him of a new gig he got at a mysterious location, Harford can't ignore the apparent lustful edict that goes on at this place, so he gets a costume, including the infamous mask, and spends a lot of money, then is ready to go to this place. It was described as sexual pleasure beyond imagining. And he realizes that it is, but it is also some kind of dangerous cult that poses a threat,and when a stripper informs him that he does not belong there and must leave, he also is told the same by the group. So he leaves with strange confusion. I must not go on. Needless to say, this is a great final film for Kubrick, with two great performances from the leads, and a script based on Traumnovelle by Arthur Schnitzler.

Rob Zombie, as you all most likely know, is one of cinema's most eccentric director, and with "The Devil's Rejects" he show'd us what fun and how depraved psychos can be, but rather in (a surprising remake of John Carpenter and Debra Hill's 1978 chiller by the same name) this film he explored the character of the hunter and the hunted, although no development actually takes place; I'm glad that at least one slasher film does what it can in character exploration, and shows the struggle and hurt of the protagonist. With a interesting role for Malcolm McDowell-a good one at that- who plays Dr. Samuel Loomis, the character who tried to find the decency in the killer, a quest that was never completed, but instead, Myers got worse. And a killer was born. The plot revolves around Myers, and goes from the terribly depressing and harrowing exploration of his childhood with a caring but absent-minded mother, an abusive step-father, and an older sister; who all somehow lead Myers to his downfall. On Halloween night, a night he treasures, no one will take him out trick-or-treating, instead he sits in the kitchen contemplating whether he should forget about Halloween, or pull the biggest knife you've ever seen and chop up his family, all except his mother and baby sister. The killings in the film are done tastelessly, and that somehow makes the image Zombie was trying to create even stronger, the more guts and nudity in the film, the more potent the sub-text is to the viewer. The second part of the film, following terrible digression at the mental hospital, and suicide of his mother, he escapes and makes a road trip all the way back home, for Halloween night. He stalks his baby sister (Scout Taylor-Compton) and her friends, only to create a bloodbath for the three baby sisters. An intelligent point of both films, is when the child that she is babysitting is going on and on about 'the boogyman' there actually a soulless maniac out there waiting to spring. There are certainly very intense moments in the film so no children or squeamish should even think about watching this, but fans of Zombie, slasher-horror, or just looking for a good movie will like this film. The scene where Laurie Strode (Taylor-Compton) is up in the rafters of the abandoned Myers' house, and Michael is using a giant log to smash holes where she is hiding will literally make your heart stop. I doubt that if McDowell wasen't in it, Zombie haden't have directed it, this would be yet another typical clichéd film.