dibot Blog

Under discussion:

A Sound of Thunder  (2005)

Reincarnation  Production Year

Eagle Eye  (2008)

Eagle Eye is a pretty entertaining spy thriller. Of course, I think Shia LaBeouf ("Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull") rocks. I believed his ordinary man in extraordinary situation. The action starts off pretty fast and then doesn't let up until the end. Could I see where it was going after about half an hour? Yes. Did I still want to know how it got there? Yes. So, a fun two hour diversion. Just beware, Billy Bob Thorton ("Mr. Woodcock") is looking more and more like a living skeleton. Creepy.

A Sound of Thunder has a really interesting premise. In the future, man has created a machine that allows us to jump back in time. Only Ben Kingsley ("The Love Guru") is using it to take wealthy men back to hunt dinosaurs. And, of course, one tiny thing goes wrong and Ed Burns ("27 Dresses") has to scramble to save life as we know it. The CG is bad. I mean really bad. And the dialogue is often silly. However, I found myself entertained when it popped up on the Sci-Fi Channel.

Blindness should have been a really good movie, and elements of the good were there. But, somehow, and I haven't been able to put my finger on it exactly, it just didn't work. The story follows a group of people affected by a sudden plague of blindness. Only Julianne Moore ("I'm Not There") retains her sight, and she becomes the eyes for this group after they ar quarantined in an old hospital. Of course, all manner of atrocities ensue. It's a bleak story. the cinematography reflects this. And the film follows the book very faithfully, which is usually a plus. I don't even know exactly what to complain about. I don't usually mind depressing stories or gross and despicable things on screen. But this film just did not work for me, and I can't recommend it.

Death Row a.k.a. Haunted Prison, is a Sci-Fi Channel Original, and it's not one of the better offerings. Jake Busey ("Time Bomb"), yes, you read it right, stars as the leader of a group of thieves who take refuge in an abandoned prison as they try to escape police. Also in the prison is a group of filmmakers who are shooting a documentary about the building. But the prison has it's own plan, and the groups are thrown together as members are mysteriously killed off by the ghosts of inmates. The acting is atrocious, the dialogue not much better, but something kept me watching. Maybe the gore?

Reincarnation is one of the After Dark horror films, which, I'm discovering, are really hit or miss. This is one of the hits. A Japanese filmmakers is doing a movie about a seemingly random brutal slaying in a hotel. As he recreates the set, the people drawn to the project begin to have strange dreams and visions. Sometimes the movie is confusing, but always creepy, and the end is very satisfying. Check this one out.

Under discussion:

The Getaway  (1972)

Jules and Jim  (1962)

Baby Mama  (2008)

Righteous Kill  (2008)

Return to House on Haunted Hill  (2007)

Righteous Kill reunites two acting greats, Al Pacino ("Ocean's Thirteen") and Robert De Niro ("Stardust"). I was intrigued enough to get to the theater, but really the film is just a glorified made-for-TV cop drama. It's very predictable. Neither De Niro or Pacino really bring anything new to their roles of cops tracking  a serial killer who is probably one of their own. I did enjoy seeing De Niro play the more angry role. Just wait for this to come on cable.

With funnywomen Tina Fey ("30 Rock") and Amy Poehler ("Saturday Night Live") in the leads, Baby Mama should have been a big basket of funny. But, alas, it was not. Fey wants a baby, but is unable to conceive, so she hires Poehler to be her surrogate. Poehler is white-trash. Fey is upscale business. I guess writer/director Michael McCullers ("Thunderbirds," Baby Mama is his directorial debut) thought hijinks would ensue. However, the only funny bits were Poehler peeing in the sink and everything involving the doorman, Romany Malco ("The Love Guru"), who I couldn't get enough of. Also, Fey and love interest Greg Kinnear ("Ghost Town") have zero chemistry. Just skip it.

The Getaway stars the ever cool Steve McQueen ("The Hunter") as a thief just released from jail. His wife, Ali MacGraw ("Glam"), has to do some shady stuff to get him an early release, and McQueen must pull off a heist for the corrupt warden once he's on the outside. The film is directed by Sam Peckinpah ("The Osterman Weekend")  so there's loads of violence, slow motion and female issues. It also takes it's time getting where it's going. But McQueen is awesome, the shots are amazing. It's worth the time.

Jules and Jim is a famous French movie from director Francios Truffaut ("Confidentially Yours"). Jules and Jim are great friends who fall for the same woman. Then there's lots of voiceover and ridiculous philosophizing. The girl will do anything to get attention and the men will put up with her shenanigans. I didn't really care for it. I couldn't get behind any of the characters. In fact, most of the time they made me really mad. And this distracted me from any other goodness the film may hold. Maybe I was in the wrong mood, but I didn't get why this is so great.

Usually, with my love of bad horror movies, I can find something good to say about them, but I'm at a loss with Return to House on Haunted Hill. Even the ghosts weren't very creepy. Someone was drawn and quartered, so that was kind of neat. But bad acting, dialogue and plot just wiped that all out.