Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Praise for Gummi Popcorn!

I recently received this glowing review of Gummi Popcorn via email. It's my first endorsement!

"Awesome! I started reading your reviews and put your site on my Favorites. I like your writing style, and you are giving me exactly the kind of REAL info I'm looking for in a review." - C.O. in Colorado (used with permission)

Isn't that cool?? She seemed to grasp exactly what I'm trying to accomplish here at GP.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

The Grudge 2 (2006)

Yokos home life was never sunny.

Directed by: Takashi Shimizu
Format: DVD
DVD Features:
Starring: Amber Tamblyn, Edison Chen, Arielle Kebbel, Misako Uno, Sarah Roemer
Trailer

The Grudge 2 follows a recent trend of Japanese horror films being remade for American audiences. Originally, this movie and its prequel were labeled Ju-On, directed by the same Japanese director, and shot on the same set. Ringu and Ringu 2, known on Western shores as The Ring series are another example. I have seen Ringu and there isn’t a great deal of variation between it and the version starring Naomi Watts. There is even less variation between The Grudge and Ju-On. So, why go through so much trouble to remake the film? Are American audiences so resistant to subtitles and foreign faces? It’s not just Japanese film that gets this treatment either. What about Vanilla Sky (Abre los ojos)? Why spend millions of dollars just to retell a story that, more often than not, was much better the first time?

If you haven’t seen The Grudge, you may be a little bit lost, since the sequel picks up just about where the first one left off. Karen (Sarah Michelle Gellar), after trying to burn down the cursed house from the previous film, is now in the hospital. Her mother in the U.S. decides that she’s going to send Karen’s estranged sister Aubrey (Tamblyn) to Japan to convince her to return home. But, Aubrey doesn’t have much time to talk before the spirits from the house finish her sister off. At the hospital, Aubrey gets some help from a young man named Eason (Chen), who is a journalist investigating the history of what happened in the house.

Meanwhile, high school students Vanessa and Miyuki decide to play a trick on their classmate Allison (Kebbel) and take her into the evil abode. Little do the three of them realize, the legend attached to the house is true – anyone who steps inside will be followed by the phantoms that haunt it and every step they take is doomed. After Miyuki disappears and Vanessa is attacked, Allison loses her grip on sanity and returns to her family in Chicago. But, the curse has followed her there and begins to seep through the walls into the neighbor’s apartment.

Just as with the first Grudge movie, the main spooks are the young woman and son who were the first victims in the house. The boy, Toshio, continues to appear out of the shadows and the mother, Kayako,’s animated hair winds its way around her victims. The two don’t have any new characteristics or talents to speak of, they just pop up in unexpected places. There is a shower scene in the sequel that threatens to mimic a similar scene from part 1, but thankfully it’s just a tease. I would have been happy to see Yoko or maybe Peter take part in the haunting this time. Sadly though, none of the other victims of the curse make an appearance in ghost form. To be quite honest, I’m tiring of the cat yowl and the croaking noises coming from these two. It was creepy the first time, but not in the second round. Many of Yoko’s attacks reminded me too much of a similar long haired spirit from a similar Japanese remake, especially the dark room scene.

As far as the acting in The Grudge 2 in concerned, well, I never thought I’d say it, but, there are worse actors than Sarah Michelle Gellar. In fact, I wish she would have lasted longer in the sequel because I much rather an additional hour of her performance than what the film continued with. Edison Chen was terrible as the so-called investigative journalist and male companion for Aubrey. Granted, even veteran actors from Hong Kong usually bomb in their first American films, but Chen seemed like he was being read his lines from offstage. Amber Tamblyn seems to have mastered little more than repeating the same horrified look over and over. Miyuki, played by Misako Uno, had the most shrill and irritating voice! It was like listening to nails on a chalkboard every time she opened her mouth. Thank god she doesn’t have a huge role in the movie. The best actor I noticed was Matthew Knight, who plays Allison’s curious neighbor Jake.

During most of The Grudge 2, it was as if there were three separate plots taking place at once. Karen’s sister and Eason are the first and most obviously connected characters. The three students, Allison, Miyuki and Vanessa take up the second string. Jake and his family make up the third, and most detached storyline. Until the end of the film, it was difficult for me to determine how the Chicago family was involved, seeing as how none of them stepped foot in the haunted house. In addition, there is a small bit of Yoko’s past that figures loosely into the movie that is never fully realized. The story is sort of all over the place and non-cohesive.

I was very disappointed with this follow up to The Grudge. The first film was truly eerie at times, made much more sense and had a richer cast of characters. The ending to this second movie was relatively confusing and particularly lame, especially the conclusion of Aubrey’s involvement. While a few interesting ideas were touched on in The Grudge 2, they were never explored further or even figured back into the plot afterwards. I was even more let down with this film than I was with the sequel to The Ring.

Overall Rating: 2
Hottie Rating: 1 (Chen was almost attractive if it hadn’t been for the terrible performance)

Alternate recommendation: The Ring
Official site
IMDB page
Dread Central review

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Tuesday, November 13, 2007

30 Days of Night (2007)

Some things in the Arctic are hot

Director: David Slade
Format: theater
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Melissa George, Ben Foster, Danny Huston, Megan Franich
trailer

For every monster, whether it be in movies or in video games, there are rules. Rules such as; vampires die in the sunlight, werewolves are killed with silver bullets, and the only way to kill a zombie is to destroy its brain. Rules tell the heroes how to survive. Even when the monsters are not standard fare, the ground rules have to be laid in order for the audience to understand how the game is to be played. The zombies in 28 Days Later were not the normal, slow variety that audiences were used to. However, the filmmakers let us know how people were infected and how to avoid becoming a victim. Without some kind of structure, things can go to Hell.

30 Days of Night takes place in Barrow, Alaska - the Northern most town of the United States. This far North on the globe, the sun takes a month off in Winter. So, if you’re a creature of the night, it’s the perfect place to vacation. Just as the sun gets ready to dive below the horizon, a stranger arrives in town. A mysterious chain of circumstances eliminates every escape route and puts the only apparent law officer in residence, Eben Oleson (Hartnett), on his guard. But, he doesn’t have much time to sit around and ponder the situation, because the town falls under attack. Vampires. Much of the town is slaughtered right away, but a small group of citizens manages to find a hiding place and try to find a way to survive until the sun returns.

30 Days of Night has some interesting costuming and makeup. All of the vampires are in spiffy suits and have very animalistic faces. However, instead of the standard elongated incisors, they have two rows of very sharp teeth. I liked that the vampires didn’t speak English. I’m no linguistics major, but their dialect sounded something akin to Russian. They’ve all got the strength and agility of vampires, but not much in the way of personality. Call me a traditionalist, but I prefer the Anne Rice, romantic, sexy vampires to the creatures in this movie. Rather than seducing their prey, they go about slaughtering and tearing throats, much more like a zombie would. They seem to gain no sustenance from their victims and delight merely in the kill. I don’t really like this strain of vampire. They didn’t carry much of the allure that I’m used to.

One thing that surprised me about 30 Day of Night was the gore. After the first 30 minutes of the film, I was resigned to the possibility that I may see nothing more than a few blood spattered walls. Once the main characters became the last survivors in town, the gore factor improved dramatically. There’s even a scene where one man has his head chopped off with an ax. Usually, it’s only the swing and the screaming that suggest a beheading that we get to see. In this film, the actual chopping in full, gory detail fills the screen. Right on! I wonder how it managed to sustain an R rating.

I have quickly become a fan of Josh Hartnett. He’s a bit more rugged (and fully dressed) than I’ve seen him in other films, but no less tasty. On top of his killer good looks, the boy can act. His female counterpart in 30 Days of Night is Stella, played by Melissa George. Her character is a little irritating at the start of the movie, but soon becomes a valuable part of the group. Most of the other characters in the movie are sort of mundane. There wasn’t any feeling of loss as they dropped off one by one. No particularly stellar performances. Eben’s little brother Jake (Mark Rendall) was annoying and I never felt any sort of real connection between him and the older Oleson.

I would wait for 30 Days of Night to hit the rental shelves before viewing. It isn’t nearly worth the $9.50 or other outrageous sum paid for admission. The gore factor almost redeems this movie, but the lack of any sort of guidelines (aside from an aversion to sunlight) or personality on the part of the villains makes the struggle unimpressive.

Overall Rating: 2 ½
Hottie Rating: 4 (Hartnett, of course)

Alternate Viewing: Bram Stoker’s Dracula
Official Site
IMDB Site
Horror Movie A Day review

***Note: If you found this review via IMDB, please let us know by leaving a comment. Thanks!***

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

The Butterfly Effect (2004)

Somebody's bitch

Directed by: Eric Bress & J. Mackye Gruber
Format: DVD
DVD Features: (coming soon)
Starring: Ashton Kutcher, Melora Walters, Amy Smart, William Lee Scott, Eldon Henson
Trailer

There have been countless books and movies exploring the concept of time travel. From that concept arose theories about what the effects would be should it ever be possible to travel into the past. The Butterfly Effect is one of those theories. Although I’ve always known the term as the theory that all things on Earth are effected by, and in turn, effect one another, this movie uses the term another way. In a nutshell, it asserts that if one small thing were changed in the past, it would cause a sort of ripple effect, dramatically changing the present. Remember The Simpsons Halloween episode when Homer accidentally turns his toaster into a time machine? That’s the basic idea.

When Evan Treborn is 7, he starts to experience brief episodes of memory loss. His blackouts and disturbing behavior prompt his mother to take him to a psychologist for evaluation. Although the doctor doesn’t find any medical reasons for his condition, he suggests that Evan begin to keep a journal. At the age of 13, he continues to black out during particularly traumatic events, all of which involve his small circle of friends. Kayleigh Miller is one of his childhood friends and becomes his first love. Her brother, Tommy, is violent and deeply disturbed. Tagging along with those three is Lenny Kagan, the chubby kid that Tommy likes to pick on. But after one too many disturbing incidents, his mother moves them out of town.

One night, years later in his college dorm room, Evan happens to open one of his old journals. As he’s reading, the writing starts to waver on the page and he suddenly finds himself at the age of 7 again, back at the scene described in his journal. Moments later and he’s returned to his dorm room, with a bloody nose and a killer headache. Since he’s a psych major, with a focus on how the mind processes memory, Evan’s interest is peaked by his apparent ability to relive his childhood – literally. He drives back to his old neighborhood to look up Kayleigh, whom he hasn’t seen in years (despite his promise to come back for her). When he questions her about their past, she becomes upset and when Evan returns to school later that night, he learns that Kayleigh’s committed suicide. Feeling that he may be able to save her from that fate, Evan uses his newfound ability to change the past. However, the results aren’t quite what he hopes for.

By far, the most disturbing special effect in this movie is Evan as an amputee. It’s completely creepy and realistic. Aside from that, the visuals in The Butterfly Effect are pretty standard. There aren’t any wild CGI sequences or surreal worlds. There aren’t any notably creative camera angles or lighting effects. In and of itself, the cinematography isn’t bad, but it’s not astounding. It’s basic and expected.

I can’t say that I’ve ever been an Ashton Kutcher fan. He was never my favorite character in That 70’s Show and I made no particular effort to watch Punk’d. As Evan Treborn however, he’s not half bad. Granted, during most of the film he’s got the same sort of confused stoner act going on that he usually does, but it’s much more bearable than usual. Perhaps that’s because the dumb factor is turned down a little and there isn’t that forced attempt to be amusing. I actually enjoyed his younger counterparts a bit more. John Patrick Amedori is Evan at the age of 13. Logan Lerman plays him at 7. Lerman was great, putting Kayleigh’s abusive father in his place. Every time I say that I detest child actors, I find one that makes me retract the comment. The other actors, young and old, are passable, but not extraordinary. My favorite side character was definately Ethan Suplee as Thumper, Evan’s heavy Goth roommate.

Whenever the subject of time travel is approached, there are invariably some kinks and paradox involved. But, aside from the inherit problems with the time travel premise, my two biggest questions were these. If Treborn retains the memory of each sequence of events following his time tampering, and does indeed have several lives full of memory crammed up in his cranium as the good doctor suggests, then why does he seem so stupefied whenever he wakes up to his new present? If he’s got all of the memories leading up to the new present, he shouldn’t be surprised to wake up in bed with no arms. Secondly, if Evan loved Kayleigh so much as to repeatedly attempt to change the future to save her, why did he leave her behind without visiting for so many years in the first place?

Despite what I’ve read in other reviews, I didn’t think that The Butterfly Effect was a bad movie. It’s a little bit mediocre as far as the acting goes, but the plot is definitely interesting. It’s entertaining to see the changes each person makes in response to their traumatic past, and each of the main events in the storyline would be truly disturbing for young people to experience. Ultimately, the movie is a bit depressing considering that each time Evan attempts to cure the present, nothing ever quite works out. I won’t give away the ending, but it’s not particularly sunny either. The depressing movies are usually the ones that keep me thinking though.

Overall Rating: 3
Hottie Rating: 1 (for cute teenage Evan)

Alternate recommendation: The Mothman Prophecies
Official site
IMDB page
A.V. Club review

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