grimrogue Reviews

Boot Camp (2008)

Missed Opportunity

[5/10 · 16 August 2008]

I work with troubled teenagers in my profession, and I am always on the lookout for movies to show them that they might relate to and learn something from. I always pre-screen the flicks before watching them with the youth, and Boot Camp is a good example of why I bother doing this. Although admittedly entertaining and mostly well acted, Boot Camp feels like a movie written by troubled teenagers who are unable to see beyond their angst and hopelessness. The result is a "misunderstood kids" versus "evil authority figures" storyline that was disappointing in its singular focus and lack of meaning.

The idea of the film is actually quite interesting, and it reminded me of another flick about a troubled teen made in 1989 called Lost Angels. The difference between the two movies, however, is that the angry young man in Lost Angels actually learns something about himself and comes to understand how his actions got him into trouble in the first place. In Boot Camp, Mila Kunis stars as a young woman who is actually not a very nice person and learns nothing about herself throughout the story. She starts off being annoying, and stays that way until the very end. The only thing she learns is that you can get raped and killed in youth counseling programs.

She decides to embarrass her father in front of his business associates, and then is seemingly surprised when he gets angry about it. The parents have had enough with her antics and send her to a boot camp overseas. Her boyfriend tries to rescue her by pretending to be a heroin addict, so that his parents will send him to the same boot camp. His plan works and the film slips into a fairly routine "prison escape" flick.

What's so disappointing in Boot Camp is the lost potential it had to show many different sides to the same story. All of the parents are portrayed as cruel cardboard cutouts lacking any ability to empathize with their kids whatsoever. They are shown to be ruthless disciplinarians who just don't understand their children and refuse to try, thus sending them away to boot camp to have them "fixed". The teens have this attitude that they just need to be left alone and that they can take care of themselves. It's all very black and white.

I was hoping for at least some kind of growth to occur with the main character; a moment of awakening or some event to take place that would suggest a level of maturity had been attained. But this was not to be. From the moment she arrives at the boot camp until the final escape when it gets burned to the ground, she's an icy bitch who frowns on another girl with weight issues and treats the staff like garbage. Admittedly it's not a very nice place to be, and in no way am I defending the horrendous abuse that does occur in the film towards some of the youth. Boot Camp just doesn't bother trying to convey any message other than, "Hey kids, it's not your fault that you are messed up. It's your parent's fault. And if they send you to a boot camp, you could get raped or killed."

The most interesting aspect of the story for me was the dynamics between the camp leader and his sister. It really did seem like he cared about the youth and had decent intentions. His plan of "saving" kids through these labor-intensive boot camps with extremely strict rules and consequences is not new and it has been proved to work in real life. He just became too obsessed with "making it work", and his vision flew off the rails after some very poor decisions, such as hiring that psycho ex-Marine to be head of security.

Most of the positive reviews for this flick talk about the evil camp leader and the equally evil parents. If you can watch Boot Camp with this one-sided view of "troubled" teens just being misunderstood and unfairly hassled by authority, than you will probably really enjoy it. You are also probably a teenager feeling the same way. Wait a few more years and watch it again. When you can no longer pump your fist at the end and say "hell yeah" when the camp burns to the ground, that is when you have finally grown up.

Calvaire (2004)

Mesmerizing

[7/10 · 22 September 2006]

I didn't watch Calvaire with any expectations, other than I knew it had some sort of Misery meets Deliverance plot, and that there were possibly disturbing scenes of people getting it on with farm animals. How could you not be interested in checking out a film like that? But seriously, Calvaire turned out to be a very strange and oddly mesmerizing movie that was basically a descent into madness. It was refreshingly less violent than I expected, as the "scary" moments in the film are much more psychologically unsettling.

Others here have mentioned the bar scene in Calvaire as being a good enough reason to watch the film, and I would have to whole heartily agree. The bar scene in Calvaire is classic. It is so bizarre and wonderfully shot that I had to watch it three times. The music as well in this scene is so incredibly fitting and freaking cool. I would have to say that my opinion of this flick would even drop quite considerably if this scene wasn't in the movie, as I felt it really set a great tone and atmosphere for the events that happen later. The movie definitely could have used more scenes like this one.

Calvaire is entertaining to watch as it's well shot and the acting is very good. I was never quite sure where the story was going next. As the insanity escalates and things turn from bad to worse until the bloody conclusion, I was left having to piece it all together as to why it even happened. But that's part of the charm of Calvaire, as it could be deciphered in many different ways. I think the clues are there, but to search for motives based on the actions of lunatics could be enough to drive someone crazy. So if you don't "get" Calvaire, as I'm not even sure that I do, it shouldn't really make a difference. It's just kind of fun to watch in it's own sick way.

Miami Vice (2006)

As a stand alone crime drama, it works quite well...

[7/10 · 30 July 2006]

This is a tight little crime drama. I almost felt like I was watching a reality television show about undercover cops in action. Forget the old TV series Miami Vice, for this is a pure 2006 update with gritty realism and a much darker style. There are no opening credits whatsoever, which helps to provide the feeling that these aren't actors up on the screen and that there are no "stars". These are criminals and law enforcers doing battle.

I've read many complaints about the confusing story and lack of character development, but I think these critics missed the point of what they were watching. First of all, it's Crockett and Tubbs, and the movie is called Miami Vice. Even though the updated version of their characters does not resemble them from the 80's, we are all supposed to at least know a little bit about who they are already. It didn't really matter to me anyway who these guys were in their normal lives, as they are undercover pretty much the entire time, and the use of flashbacks or "witty banter" between the two of them to provide more depth would have been cheesy and distracting.

This movie is like a fast paced slice-of-life drama, as we follow these two bad asses on their next assignment to bring down a big-time drug trafficker. As I've never organized multi-million dollar drug deals before and have never worked as a seasoned vice detective, I did feel lost at times trying to decipher the dialog and reasoning behind the character's actions. This was part of the charm however, as I just sat back to be taken along for the ride.

Don't compare this to the TV series and don't expect a whole lot of action either. Miami Vice, the movie, is an entertaining crime drama that is well acted, intense, and worth sitting through the 2 ½ hour running time. I would watch it again and look forward to the inevitable sequel.

Silent Hill (2006)

Very disappointing.

[2/10 · 26 April 2006]

My memories of playing Silent Hill for the Playstation are fond ones indeed. It was the first video game to actually scare me, and I can remember thinking as I cautiously wandered around the sinister, fog-drenched town, "This would be a cool movie." It's really too bad that after all these years, the flick finally gets made, and it's nowhere near the same level of brilliance and creativity that the game possessed. The movie is bad. It takes the video game's classic setting and combines it with ideas and themes stolen from The Ring. It's an unfortunate mix.

After reading all of the positive reviews on here for this movie before I saw it, I can now only wonder what the average age group most of these fans fall into. It's an 'R' rated movie, but really, it plays out no differently than most of the generic 'PG' rated horror flicks that have hit theaters in the last couple of years, except this contains more senseless violence. I'm all for seeing disturbing images on screen if it propels the story, but in Silent Hill, these scenes come off as being pointless and meant for shock value only. Most mature horror movie fans will find this boring, not "cool".

The story is really what sinks this movie. I don't exactly remember the entire plot from the original video game, and I could have honestly cared less if the movie completely re-wrote it for the screen. All I was really hoping for was a decent script, and this movie does not deliver in any way. In fact, there are moments that just don't make any sense, and fans will argue the point that "it's meant to leave you with questions for a sequel" or "it's supposed to make you think." Whatever.

There are moments in the movie that are unintentionally silly, which really hurt the viewing experience since the audience was supposed to be feeling a sense of fear and dread. These parts are subtle, but at least the majority of the people in my theater were older and understood how ridiculous it was, as there was a few instances of shared laughter at the foolishness of it all. A perfect example is early in the movie when the lead actress holds out her hand to catch what could be a snowflake falling from the sky, but when she rubs it between her fingers, it leaves a black residue. What would any half-intelligent horror movie fan think at that moment? It's not snowing; it's raining ashes, right? Well she has to literally say out loud to herself, "It's ash", so that we, the simple minded audience that could never possibly grasp this visual for ourselves, can understand what's happening and keep up with this "intelligent shocker". Bah.

It also needs to be said that creepy little kids in movies who are scripted to speak like creepy adults just isn't scary anymore. It fact it is downright irritating. Please screenwriters, let this crossover fad from Japanese horror movies die once and for all. Another problem with the script was the addition of Sean Bean as the frantic father searching for his wife and daughter, alongside a cop who seemed to know more about the town of Silent Hill than he wanted to admit to. Both of these characters were pointless to the story and added nothing to the movie. I don't think I've ever seen two characters in a flick interacting with this much screen time that had absolutely nothing to offer. What a waste of Sean Bean, who is normally interesting to watch and adds some kind of needed element to a story.

For fans of the original video game, there are a few good parts to the film. The music is pretty cool, and at times it flashed me back to scenes from the game that made my skin crawl. And there is no doubting the brief sense of fear that strikes you when the town siren first goes off in the movie, as anyone who played the game can remember, it was always a chilling moment when you knew that bad things were coming fast. Unfortunately, things like the radio static, which was also very creepy in the game (as well as being extremely useful), was poorly underused in the movie, as was any form of "puzzle solving". I know, watching an actress on screen trying to decipher a brainteaser isn't exactly horror, but it was a huge part of the game, and I'm sure it could have been done somehow in the movie to make it more interesting.

Rent this only if you were a fan of the video game. Don't expect to like it though.

Cookers (2001)

A must see if you enjoy dark and depressing films with brilliant acting!

[7/10 · 18 December 2005]

Cookers was quite a movie. When I made my first attempt to watch it, I was expecting to see a simple story about drug addicts fighting off evil spirits, much like any other low budget haunted house horror flick that we've all seen before, but with an interesting twist in that the main characters were speed freaks. After watching about thirty minutes I had to shut it off to take a break. With only three characters and an empty house in the woods, Cookers manages to create such a tense and unsettling atmosphere that I found it to be almost unbearable at times.

The story could indeed be viewed as a simple one, as we see a young couple, Hector and Dorena, who are on the run with a crystal meth lab in their van and are looking for a place to set up shop for a while to lay low. With the help of Hector's buddy Merle, they find a secluded house that has been abandoned on the outskirts of town and make it their temporary home. Dorena is a "cooker", who specializes in actually making the crystal meth so that it can be sold on the street. Hector's specialty is doing crystal meth, so they are a good couple. Things get spooky and strange very quickly after Hector and Dorena get high, as the house may not be completely empty after all... Are they seeing ghosts or just hallucinating? And will Merle eventually betray them to cash in on the deal himself? Brad Hunt plays Hector, and he deserves much credit for holding this flick together. His acting in Cookers is award worthy. I don't remember ever seeing a junkie portrayed with such realism. Cyia Batten as Dorena was also impressive. The two of them worked very well together. Even Patrick McGaw was believable as Merle, who provided brief moments of comic relief and added a much-needed element to the film. All three actors delivered the goods and were always interesting to watch.

Cookers also succeeds in the writing and directing department. Although it doesn't have a big budget, the few special effects that we do see are suited to the shooting style of the film, and never distract from the overall sense of "what's real and what's not" that keeps you guessing until the end. But this movie is not about building to a big twist or tricking its viewer. It is about drawing you into a bleak world of fear and hopelessness, and director Dan Mintz does an admirable job in capturing these emotions on film. Jack Moore and Jeff Ritchie wrote the script, and it is fresh with gritty realism and excellent dialog. Merle tells a bizarre story one night as the three of them are getting stoned, and it is truly chilling. Dorena also tells a story to Hector about her past, and it was heart wrenching.

Cookers is not a film for everyone, nor do I think that I will ever watch it again. It is a movie that I will always remember, and one that I am very glad that I saw. Although the ending is somewhat weak, it is a relentless and riveting story that will appeal to those with an open mind who are in the mood for something different.

Transporter 2 (2005)

What movie were you people watching?!?

[2/10 · 11 September 2005]

I think Jason Statham is a cool actor, and the character of Frank Martin as a professional "transporter" for hire is somewhat original and has tons of potential for a great action movie. It's just too bad that this film hasn't been made yet. I wasn't much of a fan of the first Transporter flick, but I was impressed enough with the basic idea of it, along with Statham's slick performance, to be interested in seeing a sequel some day when it inevitably came out. Well that day did come, and it was a very disappointing one indeed.

To put it simply, the first Transporter movie had about two memorable action sequences. Transporter 2 has one. That basic math alone makes the original superior. There are not a lot of fight scenes in this movie, and what martial arts we do get to witness are displayed with too many quick cuts and confusing edits. This disorienting and choppy style also flattens the intensity of the car chases, making one extended driving scene in particular frustrating to watch. For a film about a professional driver, the action on the road should be much better than this.

I can handle all of the over the top action sequences (I was greatly looking forward to them), and the sometimes cheesy dialogue and poor special effects, but what I can't handle in a movie like this is a bland directing style and a silly plot that was not very captivating at all. The two main villains are somewhat sinister but are not very unique, nor are they used to their full effect, and the cookie-cutter henchmen are all quite ridiculous.

I just wanted to have fun with this movie. I wanted to be taken on a wild, unbelievable ride with Frank Martin as he saves the day while struggling triumphantly to get his "cargo" to the destination on time. Great car chases? None. Great fight scenes? There was one. Great directing style? There's only one really awesome shot that comes to mind. Great story? Negative.

Still I am a fan of the character, and when Transporter 3 eventually rolls around I'm sure that I will see the preview for it and sincerely say, "Frank Martin is back. Cool."

Dead End (I) (2003)

Entertaining but tedious...

[19 October 2004]

Dead End isn't a bad movie, in fact I would recommend it to people who are looking to see a strangely captivating "Twilight Zone" type story that has good actors and a skilled director. The problem with this film is that the idea behind the premise, or the twist in the plot that all the disturbingly bizarre events lead up to, is not original at all and is easily figured out within the first twenty minutes of running time. Once you know exactly what's going on the story becomes a little boring, and the only things that keep you watching are the fine performances and the overall alluring creepiness of the film's atmosphere.

**SPOILERS**

It's hard for me to trash this movie even though it made me frustrated. I was really hoping that there was going to be an extra twist, or that I was wrong in my obvious assumptions that the cars had collided and everyone was trapped in an afterlife nightmare. There shouldn't be a single person who is surprised by the ending, except maybe for the part about the nurse having the same name as the elusive town.

**END SPOILERS**

As much as Dead End made me groan, it also provided several intentional laughs and some truly weird scenes that were moderately scary. The acting is really good, and the general strangeness of how the story unfolds is interesting even if the inevitable outcome is extremely predictable. There's a lot of dark humor thrown into the mix and some decent gore as well. It just gets a little too repetitious given the fact that there's been other movies made about the exact same thing, although Dead End ranks as one of the best from this list of films with similar plots.

If you're looking for a decent little psychological horror movie that packs no surprises but is fun and interesting, give Dead End a try. Die-hard horror fans and movie buffs looking for originality and scenes with bloodcurdling terror may want to pass.

Wendigo (2001)

For those who watch it with an open mind, Wendigo will not disappoint you.

[6 March 2003]

It's sad to see a movie like Wendigo get such poor reviews on here. What is interesting is that most of the people who didn't like this film seemed to be more upset at being misled than at the actual movie being bad. Wendigo is being marketed like it's a horror monster movie. When you read the back of the video rental box, it actually says that a family gets relentlessly pursued by an evil force or creature of some kind through the woods. I don't consider it a spoiler at all if I say right now that Wendigo is not a monster movie. Wendigo isn't even really a horror movie, at least in terms of what we're led to believe when looking at the poster art and plot summary.

I rented this film late on a Saturday night, and watched it alone with the lights out after getting into the proper frame of mind. I knew nothing about the story except for what I read in the video store. What I expected to see was a disturbingly gory monster flick with hopefully decent acting and production values. As soon as the movie started I knew I was in for something much different, something more psychological and character driven. I was pleasantly surprised to say the least.

Wendigo is a very good film, although it does have scenes that run too long and the overall pacing is a little off. It starts with a family driving to a vacation house down a long back-country road through the winter woods. They end up hitting a deer that was being chased by hunters. One of the hunters, a rugged redneck named Otis, feels more than a little insulted and humiliated by the city slickers ruining his fun. He gets into an argument with the father, which leads to some spooky and tragic events later in the film.

Not much can be said about the storyline, mainly because there isn't a whole lot that actually happens in Wendigo, at least in terms of action and plot twists. This movie is more about developing the characters and setting a spooky atmosphere, which I believe was handled very well. Wendigo may not be a horror movie in classic terms, but it does have a unique creepiness to it, an unsettling feeling that exists from the opening scene until the very last. This sense of dread was maintained quite consistently and always kept me interested.

When viewed as a drama/thriller with subtle supernatural undertones, Wendigo is an extremely engrossing film. The acting is great. The family relate and react to each other very realistically. The dialogue is all well written and well performed. I was very impressed overall with how realistic the movie was in general. The characters all seemed like real people, and were not just stereotypes stolen from other films of this kind.

On the back of the rental box for Wendigo, it says that it's a cross between 'The Shining' and 'Deliverance'. That is quite misleading as well. Although the storyline at certain points could resemble minor parts in either of those two films, I would have to say that Wendigo has more in common with the old Sam Peckinpah classic 'Straw Dogs' than it does with anything else. In that movie you had a mild-mannered Dustin Hoffman, staying with his wife at a house they were newly renovating. The carpenters they get to do the work end up having a confrontation with Dustin, which leads to a bloody and violent climax that is unforgettable.

Similar to 'Straw Dogs', the father in Wendigo has to deal with the threat of physically imposing men harming his family. He's a lover not a fighter, but feels the pressure of facing his own masculinity and weaknesses as a man. Being out in the woods and out of your element, surrounded by the wild nature of man and beast, can be a scary situation when you're feeling threatened and the safety of your family is at stake. Although not nearly as good as 'Straw Dogs', Wendigo does manage to explore these themes in a refreshing way.

Wendigo also has some beautifully creepy scenes. There are several shots of trees and wooded areas that are both spooky and stunning. The director of this film definitely knows how to handle a camera, especially when shooting montages of the surrounding wilderness to further enhance the scare factor. One scene in-particular, when the spirit of the Wendigo looms over a family chopping bloody deer meat and they all freeze in suspended animation when the presence is sensed, is simply incredible.

There are of course negative comments to be said about Wendigo, and many of them that have already been said here I can somewhat agree with. The script gets weak near the end, and the climax does come pretty quickly without you realizing that the movie is almost over. That's not such a bad thing though, as when it was done I was wanting to see more because I was really getting into it. But the ending could have used some work, no arguments there.

Just ignore the advertising for Wendigo and watch it with an open mind. I was pleasantly surprised by the depth of the story and the overall creepy vibe it had. Give it a try.

Die Another Day (2002)

If you're a fan of Brosnan as Bond, Die Another Day is more than satisfying.

[2 December 2002]

********POSSIBLY CONTAINS MINOR SPOILERS********

Die Another Day is a good Bond movie. It has everything we all come to expect from the series, plus a few neat twists that were a pleasant surprise.

Seeing James Bond get captured at the beginning of the film and held captive for 14 months was really cool. He was abandoned by M and left to die, as is the way when a secret agent gets caught; to deny the very existence of the agent or the agency he works for. We all knew the rules from watching the previous movies where it always gets mentioned before he goes on a mission, but to actually see Bond be tortured and beaten knowing that nobody is coming to rescue him was heart-wrenching. An opening like this reminded me that even though the series has stayed true to the Bond formula, the Brosnan entries are not the same 007 movies you grew up watching as a kid. That's not a bad thing at all.

People who complain about how silly Die Another Day was in terms of gadgets (invisible car comes to mind) and plot (madman trying to create a second sun to scorch the Earth) are just being too cynical. It's James Bond for pete's sake! How can anything be too far-fetched or ridiculous when it comes to Bond!?! The invisible car wasn't really invisible to begin with. It had digital reflectors that would "camouflage" the car by reproducing images of what was around it. Sound crazy? Sure. But is it any less ridiculous to have a laser beam on your watch or a pen that has acid for ink? I mean seriously people, either you accept it all or you don't.

Another cool aspect of this movie is seeing Bond go rogue, which we haven't seen since Timothy Dalton did it in License To Kill. This gives the story a much more personal feel, as Bond decides to go after the man who so brutally tortured him during his capture (and who now happens to be the henchman of another evil genius trying to cause mass-destruction).

Halle Berry as Jinx was a welcome addition also in this movie. She's the best Bond girl yet and their chemistry was great. The last half of the movie has her and Bond teaming up to take down the bad guys, and it's an action packed spectacle that has to be seen to be believed. And just when you think the movie is over, there is an additional half-hour of pure adrenaline rush that pushes the envelope for special effects and intensity never before seen in a Bond movie climax.

Go see Die Another Day and keep an open mind. Don't take it seriously and simply enjoy the story and how it all unfolds. Brosnan is of course perfect as the charming hero, and we can only hope that he has at least one more Bond movie in him so we can all rush to the theater to see how he saves the world once again. As long as they don't ask Madonna to do another opening theme song, I'll be there with bells on (her song "Die Another Day" has to be the worst opening credits tune yet in a Bond movie - at least that's one thing everyone who has reviewed this movie here can agree on).

Donnie Darko (2001)

Donnie Darko is a brilliant film that will stick with you long after it's over.

[26 March 2002]

I loved Donnie Darko. I'm still not sure if I understand it completely, but there's no denying the power and complexity of this amazing film. It basically gives you the skeleton of a much bigger story, and lets you try to figure out on your own how all the pieces fit together.

Don't be turned off by some of the negative reviews you read for this movie. Donnie Darko is a viewing experience that will be different for everyone. That's the real beauty of it. It's a story about people and the human condition, and how you react to what happens in the movie may say a lot about who you are as a person.

See it for yourself, and watch it with an open mind. Don't worry so much about understanding it when it's all over. Focus more on how the film makes you feel. You won't be disappointed.

Resident Evil (2002)

If you like zombie movies, you will like Resident Evil.

[20 March 2002]

I wasn't going to review this movie, but I just get so MAD when people go on and on about how "Resident Evil: The Movie" wasn't an exact representation of "Resident Evil: The Game Series". What you people don't get is that we're talking about two totally different mediums of artistic expression. How can you possibly make a movie and expect to market it to the world if it only makes sense to a certain group of gamers? And why bother making a movie in the first place since there's already an identical game people can play?

Movies are not games. They tell stories in a different way, and have much less time to do it in than a game does. This means things have to be changed, shuffled around, and taken right out. Characters have to be condensed, backgrounds brief, let's get right to the action. You see what I'm saying?

Resident Evil was a fun movie. It had a comprehensible plot that didn't get bogged down technically with advanced science mumbo jumbo. This movie basically gives you the skeleton of a much bigger story, and it's up to you to put the missing pieces together. I never really played the games at all, and I understood everything that was going on.

Go see Resident Evil if you enjoy a fast paced movie that is never corny or badly written. Milla Jovovich was great, and I hope she gets more tough girl roles in the future. All of the actors were well casted and there were actually a couple of surprises in the script along the way too.

But if you're still reading reviews for this movie asking yourself, "I love zombie movies, but is Resident Evil still worth my time and money?" IT'S A MOVIE ABOUT ZOMBIES!! That should be enough to get any fan of the genre out to see this movie. When was the last zombie movie to hit theaters? I mean a real zombie movie. It's been a while right? Go see Resident Evil.

The Item (1999)

This movie is a lot of fun to watch.

[19 March 2002]

The Item is not a movie striving for greatness nor does it try to convey any important messages or morals. It's basically Reservoir Dogs meets Brain Damage (another film involving a worm puppet that talks).

Movies like this are refreshing to find. Anyone out there who writes a bad review for this film obviously doesn't appreciate independent cinema. The budget is low, the actors won't win any Oscars, the camera work at times is just plain silly, and the ending will leave you scratching your head in confusion.

If you can forgive the above complaints and watch The Item with an open mind, you will be pleasantly surprised at how energetic and creative it is. My favorite movie of all time has to be The Evil Dead, and although it's a much better film than The Item, the two movies share a wonderful "make the best of what you got" shooting style that renews my faith in the genre of low-budget horror filmmaking.

Director Dan Clark does try to make the best of what he's got with The Item. It's clear that he had a passion for the project (he also wrote the script and plays a character named Alex), as every scene is handled like a short film within a film. Some of the camera tricks that he employs are brilliant. One such example is the transvestite chase scene, where everyone glides down dark alleyways as if riding on skateboards.

The acting is pretty good for a movie like this. There's just the right amount of character development to make the story more interesting. I really liked all of the characters by the end of the movie. They each had defined personalities and it was fun watching them argue and try to kill each other.

The Item is a fun movie, plain and simple. Sure there are problems with it, but it's a lot more entertaining than some of the recent Hollywood crap that I've seen (I still can't believe how terrible Jeepers Creepers was).