Let’s start from the beginning. As I sat down to watch the cheesy goodness that is Grindhouse, I had both high and low expectations. High because this is a film by two of the best and cutting edge directors that Hollywood has seen in a long time and they both have some great movies under their belts. Tarantino with Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill. Rodriguez with the Mariachi trilogy and Sin City. Low because of the subject matter: 70’s grindhouse and exploitation flicks. Being a child of the 80’s and 90’s I have no prior experience of these types of films. The closest I can claim is a horror double feature on Saturday afternoons on WKBD 20 (Detroit). So I cannot compare this film to those, which may give my review a different tone than some of the others that are out there. So let’s get to the meat of the review. I enjoyed Grindhouse to no end. A little long, clocking in at 3 ½ hours, but otherwise an almost perfect way to spend an afternoon.

Machete – One of four fake trailers directed by guest directors. This one was by Robert Rodriguez himself. Rodriguez regular Danny Trejo is Machete, one Mexican you don’t want to f**k with. With Cheech Marin as a shotgun weilding priest, these two are going to clean up the town. Rumored to be an actual direct to video movie by Rodriguez, Machete was a fun little take on the revenge picture.

Planet Terror – Beginning with the best opening credit scene ever to be put on celluloid (Rose McGowan go-go dancing for 3-4 minutes) Planet Terror is filled with over the top acting, blood, gore and comedy with characters that you find yourself caring more than you would expect. For instance, two brothers (Michael Biehn and Jeff Fahey) who have been having a feud over a BBQ recipe for years finally reconcile at the end. Cherry Darling (Rose McGowan) wants to be a stand up comedian but thinks that can never happen after losing her leg. Get it? Stand up comedian? Ha ha! Don’t let that fool you though, Planet Terror doesn’t slouch in the gore department either. Just a few choice bits include a brainless Fergie (yay!), head shots, popping pustules, dripping genitals and decapitation by helicopter. Rodriguez has made a zombie movie that encompasses everything that I love about horror. With missing reels, dust, dirt, scratches and hair in the film, Planet Terror is a throwback to a much different era of horror. Planet Terror feels like it could be the precursor to the style that dominated horror in the 80’s while still thinking that it is a “serious” horror film. My personal favorite of the two.

Intermission – The other three fake trailers were presented between features. Werewolf Women of the S.S is Rob Zombie’s addition. While it was cut together a little to quickly for my taste it looks like it could be an interesting concept. The best part – Nicolas Cage as Fu Manchu. Now that made me choke on my Pepsi. Don’t – yes that was a name of a trailer and a lame one to boot. Thanksgiving – Eli Roth’s spoof of Holiday themed horror with a few extremely inappropriate kills that would never have been in an 80’s flick.

Death Proof – While Planet Terror spoofed horror, Tarentino’s Death Proof spoofs the car thriller. Not being a big fan of the genre I can only spout off Christine and Duel as well as the Smokey and The Bandit movies as any kind of comparison. Which isn’t really a comparison at all so never mind. Anyways, Death Proof is a little more flawed due to some irreverent and overlong dialogue that supposedly serves to flesh out some of the characters but is really pointless since they die in the next scene anyways. Albeit a kick ass death scene that we get to see four times, so we can see how each passenger in the car buys it extremely gruesome detail. It just seemed that Tarentino forgot that he was making a grindhouse film and started making a Tarentino film instead. I mean, even with all the extemporaneous dialogue and character building, you still don’t care about these girls. But, once the tires get rolling in the third act, look out! You are in for one hell of a car chase. This next batch of would be victims aren’t slouches and turn the tables on Stuntman Mike. Chasing him down and giving him a healthy dose of his own medicine.

I neglected to talk about the cast in order to address them here. Everybody is perfectly cast. From Planet Terror you get Rose McGowan, Freddy Rodriguez, Marley Shelton, Michael Biehn, Jeff Fahey, Tom Savini, Josh Brolin, Bruce Willis, Carlos Gallardo, Fergie and Naveen Andrews. Rose proves that she is one of the sexiest women alive. Fergie proves she’s brainless, Freddy Rodriguez proves that he can be a bad ass, Biehn shows that he has a sense of humor and Fahey just does his thing. Death Proof brings us Kurt Russell, Rosario Dawson, Sydney Poitier, Tracie Thoms, Michael Parks, and Vanessa Ferlito. Russell shows that he can still be a mean dude. What I like about Stuntman Mike is that you don’t know why he is doing these things. I actually liked him when we first meet him. Russell plays him as a normal guy, which is strange because I thought that grindhouse movie villains were the precursor to the 80’s slasher flicks. Tarentino slipping off the track again. The three would be victims, Zoe Bell, Rosario Dawson and Tracie Thoms continue the underlying theme of strong women that began with Rose McGowan’s Cherry Darling. The stand out is Zoe Bell, who plays herself. Once Death Proof gets rolling and she does what she does best, the tension just keeps getting cranked up and doesn’t stop. If Tarentino would have cut out half of the dialogue and added another group of victims, Death Proof would be damn near perfect.

There is a rumor that the Weinstein company is going to split the two movies up and re-release them as stand alone films. While that may be a good idea, it means that you may have a short time in which to enjoy Grindhouse as it was originally intended. So go see it now! You may see me there as I will definitely catch this one again before it leaves theaters.

I used to think Joel Schumacher was a crap filmmaker after what he did to the Batman franchise. Not quite at the level of Ewe Boll, but not high on my list. And then I looked at his IMDB (Internet Movie Data Base – www.imdb.com) page and noticed that there are quite a few films that he has done that I enjoy including Lost Boys, Flatliners, Falling Down and even Phantom Of The Opera. So I will forgive him for nipplefying Batman. That being said, I was highly impressed with The Number 23. It’s almost a throwback to the suspense thrillers like some of those mentioned above.

Joel Schumacher has created a dark, suspenseful thriller which isn’t as supernatural as the trailers would lead you to believe. If you want complete honesty, I would call this a psychological thriller with elements of the supernatural. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed this movie. It had a good story that kept you guessing, some good camera tricks such as a scene at the beginning when Walter (Carrey) starts to read the book that his wife buys him and is the catalyst for the whole story. The camera is continuously moving forward through each scene like chapters in the book. For some reason it just caught my eye. In actuality almost all of the “book” scenes had a noirish, dream like quality to them that really separated the fiction from Walter’s real life developments.

Jim Carrey turns in a great performance here. One of his rare turns in a serious role, he plays obsessive well enough to be, well, obsessed by the number 23. He is in a downward spiral that will only end when he learns the truth and plays it accordingly. Virginia Madsen, who seems to have been a busy little beaver lately with this and The Astronaut Farmer being released on the same day, plays another supportive mother/wife who just wants to protect her family. Their son Robin, played by Logan Lerman is one of the semi-small touches that makes this movie work for me. He gets just as enthusiastic and almost as obsessed as Walter does and helps to solve the mystery.

I must say that this film has gotten some negative press but I really liked it. I will probably add this to my DVD collection if only to see how many instances of the number 23 I can notice. And yes, there are a ton of them. The number 23 (number, not the movie) has some significance in history as being regarded as a supernatural number. I’m sure you can find tons of interesting articles and what not if you are interested. Me, I just watch movies.

With an ending that really caught me by surprise, The Number 23 is an ideal movie for fans of flicks like Stay, The Sixth Sense, and Donnie Darko if not just for seeing Carrey in a serious role that he pulls off very well.

Featuring stunning visuals, great performances and a story full of imagination and sadness, Pan’s Labyrinth is another movie that has hit the ball right out of the park. Guillermo del Toro has created what many are touting “an adult fairy tale” and they would be right. This is not a kids movie, no matter how deceptive the trailers may be. There are a few really graphic scenes of violence that even made me shudder. That’s the first warning. The second is that this movie is completely subtitled, which can make some movies difficult for some viewers to watch (my wife hates them). That being said we can move on.

The heart of this movie is Ofelia, played by Ivana Baquero. She is confronted with the brutal realities of life during a time of war and is also dealing with fantastical creatures and scary monsters and plays both sides with the same determination and innocence. Sergi Lopez’s Captain Vidal is one of the most uncaring “villain” that I have seen in a while. He cares nothing of Ofelia and her mother, all he wants is the son she is carrying inside her. In one of the sub plots, Mercedes, played with heart and gusto by Maribel Verdu, is a servant who is also helping the rebels and she seems to be the conscience of the film.

The stand out performance has got to be Doug Jones as The Pale Man and Pan. He has a way with body language that is unbelievable. You have to see these two characters to know what I am talking about. If you have seen Hellboy, another of del Toro’s films, Jones played Abe Sapien with fluid grace. On a side note, Jones has been tapped to play the Silver Surfer in the upcoming Fantastic Four sequel Rise of the Silver Surfer. So keep your eyes open for that. The last cast member I want to mention is the voice actor for Pan. I read in an interview with Jones that his voice was dubbed by someone else and I can’t find any mention or credit anywhere. Whoever he was he did a damn fine job.

Now I have to mention the effects. The bad thing is that I can’t go into too much detail without giving away some plot point and surprises. Let’s just say that the fantasy elements are realized beautifully, blending in with reality where needed almost seamlessly. The graphic violence I mentioned earlier? Just brutal and in your face. Not glorified or over the top, just shown as straight forward and realistic as possible.

Final thoughts – Leave the kids at home, grab your Spanish speaking cousin and head to the theater for an adult fairy tale that will take you down the rabbit hole, mess with your mind and toss you back up into the brutal sunshine all before dinner.

I hate writing reviews for really great movies. It is so difficult to find the words to describe how a truly great movie makes you feel. So I am going to do things a little differently this time. Here are some words and the explanation for why I chose them. Before I do that I will give you the short review. An emotionally gripping, beautiful, tense, funny, and engrossing must see from director Alfonso Cuaron that is my number one movie for the year. This has something for everybody and then some.

Emotionally gripping – You sit down expecting a decent sci-fi flick with an undertone of Blade Runner. What you get is a movie that, for someone like me who doesn’t read under the surface of movies, still grips you and doesn’t let go. I got the idea that there was a whole lot of symbolism going on here that I chose not to try and decipher, I just went along for the roller coaster ride.

Beautiful – There are moments in this movie that are just so emotionally charged and symbolic that you just have to say that it’s beautiful. Even though the movie is set in a war torn England where the future seems to hold no hope. Look for the long continuous shot when Theo goes into the building to save Kee. That shot is almost too much, both emotionally and cinematographically.

Tense – The action sequences are awesome. Reminds me of the opening of Saving Private Ryan and the commercial for that WWII game for the X-Box 360. These characters aren’t in it for survival of the individual, they are in it for the species, to quote Doogie Howser from Starship Troopers.

Funny – Besides anything Michael Caine says, Children Of Men is filled with fantastic little quips that are spot on. These characters use humor to deal with the bleakness and ugliness around them. None of the humor seems over the top or out of place.

Engrossing – Most of the time at the theater I look around to see what kind of audience there is, take my time writing notes, making sure that my wife is enjoying herself, so on and so forth. Children Of Men had me from the beginning. I took only two notes for the whole film. “Michael Caine is on some good drugs (probably Strawberry Cough).” and “A little too much hand held camera work”.

The camera work note was the only problem I had with the whole movie but I understand the reasoning behind it. Cuaron wanted a documentary feel to the film but I think it is a little overused. Not only in this movie but in TV, movies and video games. I even turn the bob option off in most 3rd person shooters I play. So that may just be my personal preference but dammit, they make tripods for a reason!

For those who need more, everybody involved with this film gave stellar performances. Clive Owen’s Theo has lost his way after the death of his child. He just doesn’t care anymore until he meets Kee. Julianne Moore’s performance as Julian was just as good. You can see the chemistry between her and Owen. You know that there is a chance for them as lovers. Michael Caine’s Jasper stole the show though. A hippy pot growing recluse that just enjoys the hell out of life with a penchant for the classic “pull my finger” joke. The rest of the cast shines in their respective parts. There are no bad performances in this movie at all.

Final thoughts – Just a damn good movie that is completely relevant with the direction that the world is heading. The final message for me is “Never give up hope.” and have as many babies you can while you are still able to!

Meanwhile his girlfriend/dealer Donna (Winona Ryder) won’t let him get close to her, in more ways than one. His two roommates Bariss (Robert Downey Jr.) and Ernie (Woody Harrelson) are along for the ride. Throw in the super junkie Charles Freck (Rory Cochrane) and the cast of misfits is complete. That’s about all I can say without giving a lot away.

This was a very strange movie in many ways. Let’s tackle the visual style first. You probably know by now that this is animated using a process called rotoscoping. I don’t really know what it is and I am too lazy too look it up. Part of it is they film the scenes like a regular movie then place the animation over it frame by frame. To me it was fascinating and disconcerting at the same time almost to the point of being distracting. There were points in the movie where I found myself watching the animation rather than paying attention to what was going on with the story. And I can’t even begin to explain the scramble suits. They are used to hide the identities of undercover agents but beyond that, you have to see them for yourselves. I felt that they were unnecessary to the story. It seems to me that they were used as a way to show off the animation. I mean, there are other ways to hide your identity than a fucked up acid trip of a suit. I’ll bet if you saw one in real life it would cause an instant migraine.

I believe that the animation adds to the story but takes away from the acting of some of the performers in this. Except in Keanu Reeves case, Keanu is Keanu , although he does seem to be improving over time. I didn’t recognize Rory Cochrane at all. I actuallly had to look him up on the IMDB once I got home. You may remember him from “Dazed and Confused” or “Empire Records”. He played the most disturbed character in the film, Charles Freck. He reminded me of a cross between Oliver Platt and Benicio Del Toro, especially Del Toro’s Dr. Gonzo in :Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas:. I usually find Winona Ryder to be kind of whiny in most of her films but I actually enjoyed her character here. I felt Ryder’s and Cochrane’s performances are the ones who suffered from the animation. Robert Downey Jr and Woody Harrelson are the more entertaining of the cast. Harrelson looks like a surfer stoner and acts like one too. Downey plays this as he plays almost everything, paranoid and obsessive and just plain weird.

The story itself was hard enough to follow. Having never read the book I went into this without a clue as to what i would be seeing. It wasn’t until the very end that a lot of questions were answered. And some not answered at all. Such as, why was Bariss such a prick and who did Arctor actually sleep with? Why had the images changed not only when he was in bed, but also when he was reviewing the tapes? I have even looked on a few message boards for answers, but none were answered satisfactorily. I guess I will have to see it again and read the book, hopefully I will be able to understand more.

For those who don’t know my taste in drug related movies, I lean towards the comedic side as my step mother died from drugs when I was 17. I have recently reviewed movies such as “Killing Zoe” and “Drugstore Cowboy” and really didn’t care for those because of my personal experiences. But this film is a good blend of seriousness, comedy, science fiction with a little bit of mind fuck thrown in for good measure. I enjoyed it enough to recommend it to a few different types of moviegoers, the Phillip K.Dick fans, as Automatic told me that Linklater stayed pretty true to the novel. I would recommend it to animation fans who just want to see a cool looking movie. Also to mystery fans as well as Sci-Fi fans. It was decent, if somewhat confusing Sci-Fi/Drama flick that is worth a rent.

When 22-year-old Ilona (Romola Garai), one of Avalon’s most promising scientists, is abruptly kidnapped, Avalon calls on Barthélémy Karas (Daniel Craig), a Paris cop with a hard-fought reputation for finding anyone, no matter what sacrifices he has to make along the way. As the trail gets hot, Karas senses he’s not the only one looking for the beautiful enigma, and every witness he digs up seems to turn up dead. To find Ilona and unlock the secrets of her disappearance, Karas must plunge deep into the parallel worlds of corporate espionage, organized crime and genetic research where the truth imprisons whoever finds it first and miracles can either save the world, or end it.

I want to state for the record, that I know very little about Noir films. The only experiences I have had are the newer examples, which are mostly homage’s. Films like Brick, Femme Fatale, Blade Runner and so forth. Hell, I don’t really know what noir means! So if you are a big fan of noir films, please excuse my ignorance.

The first thing that grabs you is the animation. If Sin City brought a comic book to life while actually keeping with style of Frank Miller’s work, then Renaissance brings a comic to full 2D life. Looking as if every frame could be a panel from a graphic novel, Renaissance shows that you can make a comic book-like movie without being a cartoon. The only thing missing is the dialogue balloons. I am not going to go on about the animation, even though that is the most striking thing about this film, because most other reviews will probably focus on this aspect of the film.

Director Christian Volkman mixes elements of Blade Runner, 1984 (Not the Van Halen record), Sin City and The Matrix to create this futuristic crime story. Helping him is an excellent voice cast including Daniel Craig as Karas, Ian Holm as Dr. Jonas Muller, and Jonathan Pryce as Paul Dellenbach, the CEO of Avalon. The other two leads – Bislane and Ilona Tasuiev, are played admirably by Catherine McCormack and Romola Garai, respectively.

The story is a straightforward crime drama with all of the expected twists and turns. Which I don’t want to go into detail about as those twists are half the fun of crime dramas. What really makes this movie believable, well, as believable as an animated movie set in the future can be, is that the technology shown is not the flashy type seen in films such as MIB and Star Wars. It seemed like most of the advances were practical in nature. No BFG’s or anything like that. There was some interesting product placement though. The communication devices used by the police are tiny, about the size of a dime, and stick directly on the neck with the Motorola “M” shown prominently. Another scene shows a billboard for Coca-Cola Light. While I noticed these placements, they weren’t obtrusive. The only real problem I had with the movie is that after a while the animation got to me a little. While having as much detail as possible, there is only so much you can do with plack and white. My opinion is that it needed some shades of gray to add some depth.

Final thoughts? This movie edges over the line past novelty film and into the realm of an interesting film that uses the animation not as a gimmick, but as a different type of palette with which to paint the story. This isn’t a movie I will buy when it comes out on DVD, but I will rent it. These types of dramas are always worth a second viewing to see if you can catch the clues.

Here is a way to tell how much I enjoyed it. I only looked at my watch once during the viewing. And that was with about a half hour left to the film. I may actually start using that idea to rate films. What do you think?

This film was a big improvement over HOATC. Rob Zombie is definitely learning from each movie he makes. This is still nothing groundbreaking in the horror genre but entertaining. It was a roller-coaster ride from beginning to end. There were three times where you think the good guys are going to win just to be beat down by Captain Spaulding and the gang. And, although the end sequence was a bit drawn out and a tad melodramatic, I almost felt sorry for the Rejects at the very end of the flick. It was also disturbing that for the last quarter of the movie I was rooting for Sherriff Wydell and then to feel sorry for the bad guys? It messed with my head a little.

The classic rock music choices fit well but seemed out of place for a Rob Zombie film. I mean, at least I noticed the music in this one. Noting jumped out at me from HOATC. I wouldn’t mind picking the soundtrack up.

Casting – Sid Haig wasn’t as funny in this one, but then again he was the best actor in the HOATC. I hated Bill Moseley in HOATC, but his performance in this was much better, and he looked a lot better too. Seemed to have bulked up a bit and didn’t look so scrawny this time around. Sheri Moon’s Baby was better too. At least she lost that Evil Dead wannabe laugh from the first one. William Forsythe was such a badass in this. I was really rooting for him to get them. I guess I should’ve known better. Leslie Easterbrook’s Mother Firefly was fucked up in this movie. I liked her a lot better than Karen Black. The way her facial expressions kept changing during her police interrogation was one of the high points of the film. Did anybody else realize that she was Callahan from the Police Academy movies? There were so many cameos and smaller roles that I have to list them. I kept going “I’ve seen him in something?”, “Him too!” or “where have we seen her?” So here goes-

• Roy Sullivan – Geoffrey Lewis: Anybody remember him from Every Which Way But Loose?

• Gloria Sullivan – Priscilla Barnes: Was Suzanne Somers replacement on “Three’s Company” as well as the topless psychic in “Mallrats”

• Rondo – Danny Trejo: From almost all of Robert Rodriguez’s films.

• Jimmy – Brian Posehn: The creepy janitor on “Just Shoot Me”

• Candy – Elizabeth Daily: Dottie in “Pee Wee’s Big Adventure”

• Fanny – Ginger Lynn Allen: Porn star from the 80’s

• Morris Green – Daniel Roebuck: Many, many TV shows. Recently Arnst in “Lost” He got blowed up real good.

• Dr. Bankhead – Duane Whitaker: Maynord from “Pulp Fiction”. “Get your foot off the nigger”

End note – While not one of my favorite horror films, a great improvement over House Of A Thousand Corpses. If you like HOATC even a little bit then watch this. Although I do wish that there was a Captain Spaulding skit in the menu like the first, there is a pretty funny blooper reel, a boring makeup test and a nice little tribute to Matthew McGrory. I will be looking forward to Rob Zombie’s next effort.

I rented this movie the first time because I wanted to see Keira Knightly in something besides Pirates of the Caribbean, and was very surprised. This movie is what I classify as a “mind-fuck movie”. And a really good one at that. It is a dark film without crossing the line into being a depressing movie. The flashbacks and visual effects that are used during his “travels” are intense and relentless without being overbearing. I just wanted to know what happened next.

The casting is almost perfect. I have only seen Adrien Brody in Solo, King Kong and this. He is a pretty goofy looking guy but has a certain charm about him. I would love to meet him and hang out with him for a while. Even though it doesn’t really show in this movie he seems like a pretty laid back guy. Keira Knightley did a decent job in this. I liked her better in Domino but what can you do, at least she gets (briefly) naked. Kris Kristofferson is usually the laid back hero. It was very different to see him in a role like this. Not quite the villain but a misdirected Dr. who becomes the unwilling antagonist. He truly thought he was helping them. I was impressed with Daniel Craig in this. After seeing him only in Tomb Raider, this was quite a different character. Very disturbing and funny at the same time. I am not a big James Bond Fan, but I am interested in seeing what he does with Bond. Jennifer Jason Leigh – Don’t like her. She speaks in a monotone and in most of the roles I’ve seen her in, she thinks she is more sexy than she actually is.

If you like movies like The Butterfly Effect, Stay, Jacob’s Ladder, A Beautiful Mind and so forth. Give this one a shot. While it didn’t cause the hours of discussion between me and my wife that Donnie Darko did, we enjoyed this movie enough to buy it.