Frozen

If you’re a fan films like 'Deep Water', perhaps the 'Saw' sequels, then you may like ‘Frozen’. Writer/Director Adam Green brings us this “chilling” survival movie set on a small ski mountain in New England. The premise is something that every skier has thought about, what you would do if you got stuck on the chair lift.

When Parker, Joe, and Dan convince the lift operator at their local mountain to allow them one last run before the mountain closes, a misfortunate series of events strand them in the middle of the ride up. As the lights begin to go out their worst fear sets in, they have been forgotten and are now stranded. To make matters worse the small skiing operation is only open on weekend, and since it is Sunday, the trio begins to fear that they will be stuck for the next six days.

If you have ever been skiing, there is a good chance you have been on the lift when it has suddenly stopped. Being stuck permanently is a thought that is hard not to have. Then you begin to think: can I survive jumping from this height? could I slide down the wire to the tower? is help coming? how long would it take to freeze to death? All of these options are explored here; there is not a single original thought in this film. At the three friends vent their frustrations at each other, you start to hope they will make a bad decision to help move the plot along.

The plot is dull and predictable. The acting isn’t bad, but the characters are very un-interesting. ‘Frozen’ dose nothing new, and fall short in comparison to similar movie that have come before it. It’s not that it’s a bad movie, it’s just boring. The only reason I didn’t turn it off was because I intended to write this review. But if you are a college aged skier or snowboarder who really likes "B" movies, then this film is perfect for you. Otherwise, I would say pass on it.

Date Night

In the book “Rant” Chuck Palahniuk talks about liminoid spaces. These spaces are gaps in regularity that occur when the social norm is flip flopped but accepted. These spaces include holidays like Halloween, Madi Gras, road trips, or date nights….

The author states that these events while normally regarded as being against the social norm, are accepted under their circumstances. Circumstances being scheduled breaks like holidays or stress relief like a vacation, even weekends. They are accepted because it is believed that once over the participants will return to normal behavior, re-energized yes, but also more accepting of the mundane pasterns of life that we seem to fall into. And for Phil (Steve Carell) and Clair Foster (Tina Fey) that is exactly what they would love to do.

“Date Night” is a story of two married people who have become jaded by everyday life, and how they come to appreciate their lives together after a night of one crazy encounter after another. When Phil and Clair learn that their friends are getting divorced, they both look to find ways to break the mundane patterns that they have fallen in and led to the separation of their friends. And they do so by crashing the reservation of another couple at a fancy restaurant in New York City. When a pair of thugs, working for a crime boss, believe that they are the couple who had made the reservation it starts a chain reaction that will lead the Fosters into dangerous and marriage saving situations.

Now while the situations that Phil and Clair get themselves into are funny and entertaining… everything between them is rather dull. The story feels like the writers came up with fun things for the characters to do, and then filled in the blanks till they had a beginning middle and end. The plot was dreary and dull, and in case you missed the point of my first two paragraphs I’ll tell you that the character development in this story is nothing more than a liminoid space.

As far as the acting goes, everyone was great in this! With the exception of Steve Carell and Taraji Henson who plays a police detective. Mark Wahlberg has a small part, which may be the most memorable part of this movie. When watching his scenes I realized that I would be enjoying this movie a lot more if he was plying Phil. And it would probably work well because Phil, despite being a office jockey tax preparer, is kind of bad ass. He steps up to protect his wife, he knocks two guys out cold, and he almost shoots a guy… There is no reason Marky Mark couldn’t kill at this roll.

So with your lead actor kind of doing his same old boring shtick, and the plot being a lazy mess, I really can’t recommend this movie to anyone.

Catfish

To hell with "The Socail Network", "Catfish" is the real Facebook movie. If I were to describe it, I would say "It's the dream of every person who has ever walked around with a camera, hoping that a story will unravel for them". "Catfish" is a hell of a ride, with twists both in the plot and the themes. One thing to get out of the way first, this is a documentary in the spirit of "Blare Witch" or anything Michael More makes. So the people in this film are characters, but they do their best to make it feel as raw and real as possible.

When Nev receives a painting from a fan of his photography, he becomes friends with her on Facebook. The painting is signed Abby, an eight year old girl from Michigan. Nev becomes Facebook friends with several of Abby’s family members including her mother and sister. He begins talking on Facebook and the telephone with her mother Angela and sister Megan, and realizes he has feelings for Megan. This is the backstory for a film that Nev's brother Rel and friend Henry decided to make about the discovery of an amazing eight year old painter.

As we begin to learn more about Nev's relationship with Megan, the film begins to focus on his desire to meet her. But while on a work trip the three catch Angela in a lie, as they discover the songs she claims to have recorded are in fact ripped off from youtube. Once one lie is found, holes in everything Nev knows about these people begins to take shape. Both out of curiosity and perhaps Nev's desire to meet Megan, the three film makers decide to take a detour on the trip and drive to Michigan. Twist and turns await them and their hunt for truth.

Obviously as in any "documentary" worth its salt, the editing is key. The editing in this film does a fantastic job creating tension and humor, and well heartfelt moments. Cut-ins from Facebook and other web services that made this story possible are used tastefully and cleverly. My only gripe is that it makes a huge format shift two-thirds of the way through going from a point of view style film to a very formal interview style.

I feel that while yes the scary situations people find them selves in online these days is a device that will draw some into the story, The film is more about the interactions people have with each other. It is about how people act and react in real life versus this new online life many in the world have assumed. It is about how two people react when reality comes crashing in on them. And it is made all the better by the fact that is is a true story. Overall I enjoyed it very much, and can easily recommend it to anyone who has ever had what they consider to be a deep though... If profound thinking isn’t your thing, then maybe you should leave this one alone. But if you enjoy a movie that gets you thinking about your life and your identity and your interactions with other people, go for it.

Clash of The Titans

RELEASE THE KRAKEN!!! They played the ***t out of that line in the TV commercials for this movie.... Of course by the time 'Clash of the Titans' came to this point of the film, it had already lost me. Now I'm always up for a good mindless action flick, but this movie was just stupid.

Fresh off the 'Terminator:Salvation' set, Sam Worthington reprises his role as Jake Sully. Wait... no ya that’s right, He's playing Jake Sully again, this time their calling him Perseus and telling him he's destined to lead man kind against the gods. But good ole Perseus, he just wants to be a normal dude... But when his family is killed by the god Aries, he swears vengeance. So he teams up with the solders who have declared war against the gods, and a spiteful immortal, and some un-human magical mutants, so he can: slay Medusa and use her head to turn the kraken to stone which will weaken Aries allowing him to strike. I'm sorry if I just spoiled the movie for you, but really I didn’t say anything that you didn't know from the trailers and TV adds.

So the plot is a mess, but what makes it worse is the execution of it. Plot device after plot device is used, and the inclusion of several dues-ex-machina just becomes annoying. Although in this case the machine of the gods is quite literal... still an act of lazy story telling if you ask me. Looking back, I can say that the problem may have been the time table. This story would have been great as series of films, if had had time for some character development or a chance to see the journey. Instead we get you’re the hero, you’re the love interest, your mentor, you’re the comic relief, and you’re the Russell Brand/Umpa Lumpa hybrid... For a script I feel like they took a list of the plot points and added some cliché action movie moments and dialogue.... and said ready, set, go....

So how’s the action you ask? Well there was a great fight with some giant scorpions. From what I've looked up I can tell you that a good chuck of that fight was dome with practical effects. Every other action scene was a CGI mess. Now the scenery was nice, and the effects were shiny. And some one out there it was good enough to make a sequel of (set to come out in 2012)…So bottom line, if it’s on cable feels free to kick back and enjoy the pretty backgrounds and flashy lights. But don’t pay money to see this; it’s just not worth it.

Buried

Alright, to tell the truth I was very excited to review ‘Buried’ (aka Ryan Reynolds in a box) because it received mixed reviews from everyone who watched it. So I knew this would be my opportunity to settle the argument once and for all, since my opinion is he only one that matters after all. At first I was worried, because when the movie was over I realized that I had mixed feeling towards it. Then I had a revelation. I figured the people who came away from it saying they liked it fell for a few tricks that this movie uses. So my infallible review of this move is... ‘Buried’ kind of sucks.

When Paul Conroy wakes up in a wooden box, he quickly realizes that he is buried underground and proceeds to spend the next ten minutes having a nervous breakdown. Finally he discovers a cell phone, left in the box for him by his captors, and of course tries to call for help. This is where we begin to learn who he is. Paul Conroy is a truck driver, working in Iraq in 2006. His convoy was ambushed and he has been taken captive by insurgents. With the phone, he attempts to reach help, call home, and eventually hears from his captors. After Paul manages to get in touch with the people who will try to rescue him, but he realizes that the chances of rescue are slim. The story is a race against time, but all the audience gets to see is Paul, wondering if help will come in time or if help even cares about him at all.

Now this is a great set-up for a great movie. And Reynold's does a great job playing the part. However the editing is sloppy, some of the conversations over the phone are improbable, and in several points the movie actually tricks you into liking it. At one point, Paul asks how does someone he hasn’t talked to before know his name... Seconds later the woman on the other end of the phone says someone else gave her his name, and the topic was never brought up again. But for a brief second the audience believes there is more going on, and it the feeling sticks until you realize that this movie is just straight forward. At the end, the audience finds out that in fact one of the characters was being untruthful. This is done in a manner that I think was supposed to be a shock, but to me it was just an aggravating attempt to give the audience something to talk about when it was all over.

I feel if this movie was about a guy kidnapped in America, by Americans then no one would come away from it saying they enjoyed it. It plays on the way people feel about our occupation of Iraq, and the stories that have come out of people being taken. Sure Ryan Reynolds really sold us on being stuck underground, but this movie as a whole is fair at best. If you told me you wanted to watch it, I would say as interesting as a movie that takes place entirely in a box sounds... Its kind of boring. I started caring less and less about whether or not Paul would get out of the box, and more concerned with whether or not this story will gain any depth. And I was sadly disappointed.

The Other Guys

Alright I’ll keep this quick.

‘The Other Guys’, I almost didn’t rent it because it got shitty reviews. I didn’t follow my own rule about giving anything that has potential a chance, until a friend said he really liked it. Of course this same friend was walking out of the store with a ‘Ninja Assassin’ knock off and ‘Death Race 2’. But I remembered I had similar feeling about another Will Ferrell movie, ‘Step Brothers’, and I laughed my ass off for a good chunk of that film. So I picked up ‘The Other Guys’ and found myself laughing even harder and more often.

Will Ferrell and Marky Mark star in this buddy cop film that despite setting it self up to make fun of buddy cops films, fails to make fun of buddy cop films. However, it manages to make fun of every other cop movie in existence. Mark Wahlberg plays a cop itching for a big case, while Ferrell is his partner who would rather sit a file paper work. But when a simple permit violation arrest drops these two in the middle of dangerous position, they both must step to crack the case and stay alive. Its not a great story line, but it serves to set up some very entertaining moments.

Ferrell’s character is very reminiscent of Frank The Tank who he played in ‘Old School’, typically this is something I would bitch about but it works here. It works because Samuel L. Jackson stops by to make fun of Shaft, Dwayne Johnson is playing who I assume is his old WWE personality The Rock, and Wahlberg is playing the same character he’s played in every movie. The humor in the movie works because they are making fun of them selves as much as they are making fun of other cop movies.

Funny man Will Ferrell doesn’t get as many laughs in this movie as he typically would, but he still gets some chuckles in his old outlandish way. Most of the giggles come when Ferrell sets up the jokes and the typically serious Wahlberg knocks them out of the park. Two week points of this movie were the police captain played by Michael Keaton and the shady invester played by Steve Coogan. Its not that they did a bad job, I just don’t feel the director knew what to do with them.

If the plot had been a little stronger this movie could have rivaled ‘Old School’ as one of the best Will Ferrell movies. This movie is made even funnier if you have seen a lot of cop movies, and a lot of Wahlberg movies, or are just very familiar with the tropes used in action flicks. But without knowing much about other movies the laughs are all still there. If you like Will Ferrell’s work you will enjoy this allot, if you don’t then you still have Wahlberg to laugh at. And if you laughed you ass off at the scene in ‘The Departed’ where Alec Baldwin and Wahlberg are ripping on each others mothers, I’ll say that you don’t want to miss this.

After.Life

Sometimes while looking at movies to rent, I will glance at one and think to my self "ya lets give this a try". Typically these are movies that look promising, even though I’ve never heard of them. Honestly a red flag should have gone off when I saw Christina Ricci, Justin Long, and Liam Neeson on the cover of a film I've never heard of. Typically I am easily able to spot the movies that sucked, but the got green lit when the studio figured they could throw a few stars in it there and turn a profit. And that's exactly what 'After.Life' is. However I figured this film had a strong enough premise that it would be worth giving a shot.

'After.Life' plays with one of the most mysterious questions a person can have, that is what happens when we die... When Anna (Ricci) wakes up on a slab in the morgue, she is told that she died in a car wreck. The funeral director Deacon (Neeson) claims to have the gift of being able to talk to the dead. However Both Anna and her boyfriend Paul (Long) are having trouble accepting that she is dead. Anna and Paul both believe that Deacon is lying, but the funeral director continues to claim that Anna is dead and he is simply trying to help. The whole movie is spent trying to figure out, is Anna really dead? Or dose Deacon secretly have malicious intent?

The question of is Deacon lying became the only thing that kept me remotely interested in this movie. It was frustrating just how inactive the characters are. I asked myself, if Deacon has done this so many times, why he wouldn’t have a better way of convincing the dead of their demise. And the relationship between Anna and Paul is very unconvincing. Paul is supposedly a hotshot lawyer, yet can never find the right words to say. He finds himself stumped as to his legal rights to see his dead girlfriend. Over all, Long's acting just failed. Ricci dose a decent job over selling everything. Being on the fence about wanting to love or wanting to live doesn’t make sense towards the end when we discover more about how she thinks. But all the revelations about Anna's past are just a failed attmept to add some depth. Neeson does a great job, doing nothing new. He’s playing the same character he’s done in ‘Taken’ and ‘Batman’ and even the Narnia films, just this time he is a creepy Funeral director.

'After.Life' is listed as a Mystery/Thriller. But really the characters are so inactive, and so borring its hard to get any thrills. As for mystery, the film does do a great job making the audience question whether or not Anna is dead, or if Deacon is bat shit crazy. But if you are interested in finding out for your self, my recommendation is to look up the ending on the internet. Watching this film is just to frustration to sit through.