dairylanddon Reviews

Kevin Smith: Sold Out - A Threevening with Kevin Smith (2008 Video)

3 Good Things, 1 Bad Thing about... A Threevening with Kevin Smith

[6/10 · 23 October 2008]

ONE GOOD THING: To the casual Kevin Smith fan, this collection of "blue" stories and gossip-y musings, recorded on the director's 37th birthday, will cause massive chuckles and give insight into the absurd world of Hollywood movie making.

ANOTHER GOOD THING: The third in a series of packaged Question and Answer sessions, this particular installment is slightly more entertaining than "Evening 2: Evening Harder," yet not quite as broad in scope or topics as the original and very watchable, "An Evening with Kevin Smith."

EVEN ANOTHER GOOD THING: Kevin Smith's charm and comedic story telling ability make most of his recollections mistake-able for stand-up comedy routines, as well as causing nearly 5 hours (not the "over 5," the packaging claims) to disappear with a wide smile.

ONE BAD THING: Due to much of Smith's life being accessible to his fans through websites, "smodcasts," commentaries, and printed/online diaries, he unfortunately plagiarizes himself and forces his die-hard fans to double pay for the same stories.

OVERALL GRADE: B

OTHER ENJOYABLE MOVIES LIKE IT: An Evening with Kevin Smith (2002), An Evening with Kevin Smith 2: Evening Harder (2006), Swimming to Cambodia (1987), This Filthy World (2006)

Thursday (1998)

3 Good Things and 1 Bad Thing about... Thursday

[9/10 · 18 October 2008]

ONE GOOD THING: This hidden treasure of a crime drama is incredibly entertaining from beginning to end. An example of low-budget film making at it's best, writer/director Skip Woods uses seemingly everything he could find (ex: Lamborghini, super model, cow phone) and an ear for dialogue to add levels of satire to the plot and all of his camera set-ups.

ANOTHER GOOD THING: This movie seems to be made for the DVD era, with several segments that comprise a larger story (similar to the work of Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's Desperado). Each "chapter" of the film features Thomas Jane's main character spending one day at home encountering quick and memorable performances by Aaron Eckhart, Glen Plummer, Mickey Rourke, Michael Jeter, James LeGros, and an unforgettable role by Paulina Porizkova.

EVEN ANOTHER GOOD THING: Not exactly a "good" thing, but incredibly shocking and memorable... Every person who sees this movie remembers one important scene. Much as Deliverance will always be remembered for it's awful rape of Ned Beatty, Thursday will go down as the movie where a woman forcibly rapes an unwilling man. Unforgettable.

ONE BAD THING: The title makes people think it is somehow related to (or derivative of) the "Friday" series of films featuring Ice Cube.

GRADE: A+

Independence Day (1996)

3 Good Things, 1 Bad Thing about... Independence Day

[7/10 · 9 October 2008]

ONE GOOD THING: The sheer "popcorn movie" spectacle of Roland Emmerich's Independence Day makes it highly watchable. The film is one of the first of its era that embraces modern special effects to "remake" old movies, which couldn't be made better at the time. Although similar (or derivative) of it's predecessors, it fills the screen with an ensemble cast and delivers disaster scenes you couldn't walk away from if you tried (dog out-running an explosion excluded).

ANOTHER GOOD THING: The sheer panic/confusion/indifference felt by the different characters is an interesting bit of character study. Some people welcome the aliens with open arms, while others pack the freeways to escape major cities, and still others are sitting at strip clubs regardless of what's going on.

EVEN ANOTHER GOOD THING: The famous destruction scenes of the national and international monuments culminating in the explosion of the White House are quite possibly the finest of their kind.

ONE BAD THING: The wooden performances elicited by Emmerich (10,000 BC) are all quickly overshadowed by the inclusion of the Randy Quaid character. Why in the world is "Uncle Eddie" (National Lampoon's Vacation films) in this movie fighting aliens? He is heavy handed in his delivery and should of had his character cut out during initial re-writes. Without Quaid (and Harvey Fierstein's over-the-top comic relief supplied for the Jeff Goldblum character) this movie immediately improves its rating by 2 stars.

OVERALL GRADE: C+

OTHER MOVIES WITH SPECTACULAR DESTRUCTION SEQUENCES: The Day After Tomorrow (2004), Twister (1996), Poseidon (2006), The Poseidon Adventure (1972), The Towering Inferno (1974), Cloverfield (2008).

House of the Dead (2003)

3 Bad Things, 1 Good Thing about... Uwe Boll's House of the Dead.

[2/10 · 8 October 2008]

ONE BAD THING: This movie has the notable distinction of being truly awful. Uwe Boll firmly establishes his legacy as the worst film maker since Ed Wood. If you don't believe me, do a web search on his name and look for the petitions to force him to stop working.

ANOTHER BAD THING: This movie is so poorly conceived and executed that it not only notoriously splices clips of the original video game source material into the live action footage, but also accidentally reveals the device used to launch actors during an explosion made famous by the "A-Team."

EVEN ANOTHER BAD THING: This flick gives zombies a bad name. By relying on the undead as nothing more than monster targets for shotgun blasts, the movie never delves into issues of mindlessness and animal-like behavior explored by better film makers (see: "Dawn of the Dead" or "28 Days/Weeks Later").

ONE GOOD THING: Featuring perennial horror favorites Jurgen Prochnow and Clint Howard; as well as, atrocious dialog and attractive women in revealing situations, the movie is ripe for drinking games and "Mystery Science Theater 3000" type commentary.

OVERALL GRADE: F

BETTER MOVIES LIKE IT: Evil Dead II (1987), Army of Darkness (1992), Dawn of the Dead (1998 & 2004), Braindead (1992), Night of the Living Dead (1968), 28 Days Later (2002), 28 Weeks Later (2007).

True Romance (1993)

3 Good Things, 1 Bad Thing about... True Romance

[10/10 · 8 October 2008]

ONE GOOD THING: Quentin Tarantino's script is so vastly rich in its menagerie of characters and settings, that it becomes virtually epic in its scope. Gary Oldman's pimp, Brad Pitt's stoner, Samuel L. Jackson's drug dealer, Michael Rapaport's actor, and James Gandolfini's mob henchman are just a few of the "minor characters" who show up to steal the movie from its stars.

ANOTHER GOOD THING: Although many feel this film would have been better if directed by Tarantino, I would disagree. This film falls ideally on the Tony Scott directorial time line, somewhere between his glossy, almost over-polished earlier works (Top Gun and Days Of Thunder) and his rapid/frenetically edited later films (Domino and Man On Fire). Scott did, unfortunately, change the movie's original time structure, which was closer to Tarantino's Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs; but that appears to be a reflection of "Hollywood Money's" readiness to accept change, more than Scott's eagerness to meddle.

EVEN ANOTHER GOOD THING: Howard Hawks once theorized that a good movie featured three good scenes and no bad ones. This film features, possibly, the greatest scene in modern movie history without a hero narrowly out running a fire ball, nuclear explosion, or ELECTRICITY!!! By placing Cristopher Walken and Dennis Hopper in a smokey house-trailer with Tarantino's dialogue, Tony Scott crafted the most watchable conversation in recent movie memory.

ONE BAD THING: Time has not been kind to the film's two lead stars (Slater and Arquette), who have now been reduced to primarily television actors. This, unfortunately, gives perspective viewers/renters/buyers the wrong impression of the movie and it's superior quality level.

OVERALL GRADE: A+

Fight Club (1999)

3 Good Things, 1 Bad Thing about... Fight Club

[10/10 · 8 October 2008]

ONE GOOD THING: David Fincher's "Fight Club" is arguably a perfectly directed movie. The film is highly watchable on the first viewing or the 1000th, even the insert shots of buildings and coffee cups are fascinating. One of the first movies to properly use CGI without abusing it, it also cleverly incorporates an original score by the (electronic music inspired) Dust Brothers. And most of all, "Fight Club" manages to be highly stylized without being overly distracting from the story.

ANOTHER GOOD THING: "Fight Club" is cast without flaw. Edward Norton's "Narrator" is a prime example of the pre-9/11 every man, disillusioned by the ideals and confusions of an entire generation of bored consumers. Brad Pitt's "Tyler Durden" not only steals every scene he is in, but later fits the exact description (because of his real-life persona) of why the character acts the way he acts, and looks the way he looks; all simply because the role is being played by Pitt. Helena Bonham Carter plays her part in an amazing dual fashion; managing to be both grating and unlikeable on the first viewing, yet sympathetic and endearing upon all subsequent watchings. Even Jared Leto's "Angel Face" and Meatloaf's "Bob Paulson" are ideal for their roles, once the viewer learns those characters' fates.

EVEN ANOTHER GOOD THING: Chuck Palahniuk's novel was expertly crafted into a screen play by Andrew Kevin Walker (Se7en and 8 Millimeter). Much as the story, and the characters' roles in it, evolve upon multiple viewings, so does the overall message and tone of the film. "Fight Club" manages to transform itself from dark action/thriller to the silliest of comedies in about 3 viewings; with every line of dialogue managing to be social satire while still furthering the story.

ONE BAD THING: The only bad thing I could come up with, for a movie this expertly crafted was... the fighting. Even though the violence and self destruction of the characters is integral to the story being told, it is the by far the most misunderstood thing about the film. The studio's marketing department originally advertised this film as a type of Jean Claude Van Damme vehicle, with the main character being Brad Pitt's abs, causing many perspective viewers who would never watch such garbage to miss out. The violence of the movie has also inspired many real-life "fight clubs," full of confused young men on the same journey of self discovery as Edward Norton's character. However, none of them seem to grasp that their hero's anarchistic manifesto is revealed to be the ramblings of an insane schizophrenic whose best friend is imaginary.

OVERALL GRADE: A+

OTHER ENJOYABLE MOVIES FROM DIRECTOR FINCHER: Se7en (1995), The Game (1997), Panic Room (2002), Zodiac (2007)

The Golden Compass (2007)

Irony Lost in the Wake of New Line's Demise...

[6/10 · 13 June 2008]

"What if I told you there was a movie with elements of Harry Potter, Chronicles of Narnia, Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Star Wars... And, we can put James Bond, the star of Moulin Rouge, and the Coca Cola Christmas Bears on the movie poster?!!! Is that something you might be interested in?"

The film adaptation of the Golden Compass is highly watchable, but its surrounding controversies are far more entertaining.

The film's message was debated over by Christians and Atheists, condemned by the Pope for being Anti-Christmas, and ended on a cliff hanger to which there appears to be no resolution EVER coming.

The movie itself was mis-marketed in America, which is where its distributor (New Line) structured their end of the film's grosses. By selling off foreign rites, they lost out on the approximately 300 million dollars abroad, versus the less than 100 million (box office) earned in the US. This blunder fast-tracked the end of the company that not only brought us The Lord of the Rings trilogy, but virtually gave birth to modern horror films.

And after all of that, the most entertaining aspect of the Golden Compass is the film's message of Adult/Christian suppression of ideas, running parallel to the overt suppression placed on this film by Christian parents fearful of its message. I myself, saw nothing less than 10 mass Emails warning parents about this "evil movie."

The movie is worth watching, but a documentary of its circumstances would be much more fascinating.

OVERALL GRADE: C+

BETTER MOVIES LIKE IT: Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Harry Potter Films, Chronicles of Narnia.