Embodiment Of Evil (Blu-ray/DVD Combo) (2008)

[Embodiment of Evil (2008) co-written, starring and directed by Jose Mojica Marins widescreen presentation] Horror fans rejoice, as this film marks the return to the screen of Coffin Joe (Jose Mojica Marins), the gruesome graveyard caretaker, murderer, torturer and existential executioner of exploitation extraordinaire. And it's a helluva homecoming, establishing a new watermark in the annals of contemporary horror films and redefining the horror/exploitation genre for a new generation. In this transgressive terror tale, Coffin Joe makes Freddie, Myers, Jason and Leatherface look like cub scouts or altar boys. No horror enthusiast/collector should miss this one. Even if you don't agree with my previous remark.

After serving 40 years in the mental wing of the Sao Paulo State Penitentiary, Josefel Zanatas, Coffin Joe's birth name, is finally being released, not for good behavior, he killed nearly 30 men during his term there, but through an administrative decision, overcrowding and the financial burden of keeping him in solitary confinement. His re-emergence back into a society he loathes will be a simple one, as he is greeted by his faithful hunchbacked servant, Bruno, and they prowl the streets witnessing extreme poverty, prostitution, drug use, crooked cops killing kids they deem irredeemable and too young for prison, and a military so corrupt they torture innocents into confessions before doing away with them in the most heinous way possible; that is until Coffin Joe puts his agenda into play.

Upon the return to his lair, whose upkeep was Bruno's loyal labor of love all these years, Coffin Joe mutters, "Perfect", when in fact this place would make Dracula uncomfortable. The modern gothic creepiness of the surroundings and its accoutrements is sickeningly splendid. Bruno has also recruited four new 'apprentices' to undertake the missions of CJ, and their tasks are not the type dictated by Donald Trump, I assure you. Now the carnage and butchery begins anew, and these events make scenes in 'Saw' or 'Hostel' seem sometimes tame in comparison. CJ still espouses his blasphemous, anti-biblical philosophical diatribes throughout the movie, peppering each scene of insanity to add almost operatic overtures to the gruesome and ghastly imagery heaved upon us with near projectile-vomiting brutality. There's no downtime, no flat, static or dry moments to even catch our breath; the plot was constructed to maximize the onscreen onslaught of audacity. We're continually barraged with flinching scenes of torture, barbarism, cringing crucifixations, scalping, skinning, whipping, dismemberment, flesh-eating bugs and a scene with a rat you'll never forget you know, the things fans of this psychotic cinema want and expect from these flicks. No disappointments here, the 'rituals of purification' are the most disturbing you'll find it makes a Bosch painting look like a church-sanctioned Da Vinci fresco. This is madness in a class all its own.

As in the first two flicks from the 60's ('At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul' and 'This Night I'll Possess Your Corpse' there was a third film that's totally ignored here by all, `Awakening of the Beast', one of my favorites, but I believe it's being ignored due to the plotline here is a continuation from the second film) the saga of Coffin Joe searching for the right woman to have his 'perfect' child subtext (and isn't that what it always comes right down to the search for a 'soulmate' in every romantic comedy and drama throughout history? See folks, Coffin Joe's just an extremely misunderstood romantic at heart) is still vital to the story and referenced continually in nightmares, flashbacks (done in B+W, like the earlier films), hellish hallucinations and spectral haunting from his past female victims, who also appear in B+W. It's a great effect in the context of the film.

In spite of this entire demented phantasmagoria, the film has a clear, linear plot, great dialogue, mood, settings, a strong budget and alarmingly realistic special effects that are never reduced to CGI effects, as detailed in the 'making of' featurette. There's also abundant nudity heaped upon us (some gratuitous, some plot essential, all of it enjoyable) along with the extreme hyper-violence and gore that's near heart-stopping yes, kids, there's something here for everybody. I was impressed from start to finish (but that might be admitting there's something dreadfully wrong with me...) and I'm a harsh critic of modern horror films.

The fourth act is supremely and sadistically satisfying, and a posthumous-procreation finale results in a perfect ending and set-up for a sequel insuring the legacy of Coffin Joe is far from over (let's hope we don't have to wait nearly so long for it, Marins is already ancient). After all, he is 'The Embodiment of Evil, isn't he?

My initial exposure to Coffin Joe was through Fantoma's box set including "At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul," "This Night I'll Possess Your Corpse," and "Awakening of the Beast." I absolutely loved these films for their spacey, pseudo-philosophic criminal worldview, shocking-for-their-time violence, and trippy visuals. I had no idea Jose Mojica Marins had filmed a long-delayed follow up to these films until Amazon emailed the suggestion to me. Naturally I jumped all over the Blu-Ray once I learned about it.

I would compare "Embodiment of Evil" to Dario Argento's "Mother of Tears" for several reasons. Both are more modern looking films by classic directors. Both serve as a sort of homage to each respective director's prime. And both movies are pretty much insane. As a long-time Argento fan, I actually liked "Mother of Tears" a lot more than most. However in comparing these two films, I would say that Jose Mojica Marins' movie was more successful. While both make numerous and welcome references to characters and scenarios of the past films, Marins delves into a sort of meta-fictional territory by having Coffin Joe haunted by his former victims, who appear in black and white just as they were in the sixties films. Marins also imbues his new film with a greater sense of gravitas (despite the inherent silliness of the entire premise) than Argento. "Embodiment of Evil" feels like a logical progression in the series, whereas "Mother of Tears" feels almost like a parody of the classic "Suspiria" and "Inferno."

Marins also touches upon all the elements that made his earlier films great. There is shocking violence (much more intense than the previous films), crazy pseudo-philosophical ramblings, and trippy visuals. There's even a descent into hell just like there was in "This Night I'll Possess Your Corpse," although it looks much different this time around. Argento failed, at least in large part, to recapture the beauty and grandeur of his earlier masterpieces, choosing instead to take "Mother" in a more campy direction.

Moving away from this comparison, I would also say that I hope Marins finds time to film another Coffin Joe movie. Without spoiling the ending, it opens up an extremely interesting possibility for another movie.

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This film is very exploitive and gratuitous, but it doesn't look or feel sleazy. The production values look pretty high; and it's also well acted, directed, and the gore FX are very good. It contains some great gruesome imagery, as well as a plentiful amount of nudity and graphic violence. This is a Brazilian film, so there's no shortage of nudity; there's full frontal nude scenes in the film, and all the women are really good looking. I thought the films pace is pretty fast, and it has really good replay value. The film will obviously appeal to most horror fans of exploitive 70s and 80s horror, but it also might appeal to many mainstream horror fans because the film looks and feels modern; it isn't a cheap sleaze film. I personally thought it was a great horror flick.

The DVD quality looks great, and the extras are good as well.

Read Best Reviews of Embodiment Of Evil (Blu-ray/DVD Combo) (2008) Here

If you're like me, you adore Coffin Joe's first two films, "At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul" and "This Night I'll Possess Your Corpse", and snatched up the UK Blu-ray for the third and last in the series, "Embodiment of Evil", the moment it came out. When I saw that a US Blu-ray was put out, I ignored it for a while. "Why bother when I already own the film on the format?"

Well, upon buying a few Synapse BDs and being highly impressed by their quality film reproduction, I started to wonder if their release for this film was any different from what I already owned, whether there was an appreciable difference in the transfer. I inquired about it, to which I was informed that a whole new master was struck for this release based on a 2K telecine of the film, whereas Anchor Bay's UK release was sourced from an HDCAM tape (not HDCAM SR, but regular, old-fashioned HDCAM from the mid '90s), which has a maximum interlaced resolution of 1440x1080 (rectangular pixels which are then upsampled to 1920x1080 during playback). In other words, this isn't true HD by today's standards, while the Synapse release is.

In addition to that, Don May fixed special effects shots and they look a whole lot better this time around. The overall presentation is just a whole lot more filmic and pleasing to the eyes; color reproduction is beautiful, whereas the UK release looks incredibly drab. A pleasing, healthy veneer of grain graces the image. (I've said it before, I'll say it again: grain COMPOSES the image, and you're bananas if you hate grain in film.)

It's a must-own Blu-ray for Coffin Joe fans and definitely worth upgrading to if you already own the UK BD. The HD footage spliced in from the original films makes me yearn for those two to be released on Blu-ray. As of now, the Brazilian lab has yet to scan the two in HD. Here's hoping that they do so soon. In the meantime, Synapse plan to release them on DVD, and they're sure to be a vast improvement over the non-anamorphic DVDs by Fantoma.

The film? A worthy end to the Coffin Joe trilogy. The fact that it was made forty years after the second film and the story has the same amount of time in between is astonishing. José Mojica Marins plays the character with such elegant ferocity that rivals and even tops his previous performances. The content in the film can be quite extreme at times, so isn't for somebody who has a weak stomach. One example is of a naked woman who is drugged and made to show her loyalty to Coffin Joe and his vision by having her right buttock cut off like Christmas ham and fed to her raw. "For you, I would eat my own flesh." Sure to make some queasy.

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I love this film so much. And I knew it was going to be great. Although it does not carry the same mystique and soul of his first two films, it creates a completely new horrific sense and awareness. I will not go on about the plot, other than to say it is genius. If you are a fan of Ze do Caixao you must do exactly what I did: buy a multi-region player, then buy this film. You'll thank me in the end. Brilliant horror!

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Metropolitan (The Criterion Collection) (1990)

This 1990 film by writer-director Whit Stillman is wonderfully refreshing and intelligent. It is sure to please audiences with a taste for the avant-garde or those just looking for something a little different.

The story follows a group of upper-crust New York preppies during the Christmas debutante season. These are kids for whom black-tie balls at the Plaza Hotel and charming little soirees in Park Avenue apartments are serious matters. They are the UHB-"urban haute bourgeoisie"-a social circle carrying out traditions so anachronistic as to seem alien; traditions, in fact, which were outdated before these characters were even born.

A middle class outsider and budding socialist named Tom Townsend (Edward Clements) happens into this elite group and briefly livens things up. He shocks them with his leftist rhetoric (he is a devotee of Fourier) and anti-deb outlook, but they nonetheless find themselves drawn to him. Tom finds a kindred spirit in the cynically fatalistic Nick (Christopher Eigeman). Nick is the most self-aware member of the inner circle and he provides comic relief with his devastating ongoing critique of their lives and behavior.

Stillman's characters seem to have everything going for them. They are bright and educated and come from very wealthy families. We learn, though, that privilege is both their blessing and their curse. These children of status are destined to always remain in the shadow of their very successful parents. As one of them puts it, "We're doomed to failure." We come to realize that even though they are well-off in many ways, they still must struggle with the same insecurities and fears as the rest of us.

The characters in "Metropolitan" are the kind of people that F. Scott Fitzgerald knew so well. Indeed, if Fitzgerald had been a director rather than a writer, this is the type of film he might have made. It is intelligent and literate with dialogue that almost crackles with its liveliness and wit. "Metropolitan" gives us a rare glimpse into a world that scarcely exists anymore, if it ever really did. It is a real treasure.

This movie glistens like a piece of old Belleek. Whether in the subtle gold of an off the shoulder evening gown, or in the vast expanse of a deep, plush, ivory colored carpet, nearly every frame shimmers with champagne like iridescence.

And gold is an apt visual metaphor, particularly when juxtaposed against the black satin of a tuxedo lapel or the wintry Manhattan night scape, for a world seemingly vanishing right before our eyes--a world too sleek, too soigné, too genteel to survive the steam roller of galloping blue-jeaned egalitarianism.

That the denizens of this vanishing breed, as depicted in the film, are themselves, insecure late adolescents, make its departure all the more poignant.

"This is probably the last Deb season..." one of them observes resignedly, "...because of the stock market, the economy, Everything..." Yes, everything...the huge smothering subject that hovers all around the plot itself and from which its characters are only temporarily insulated.

In particular, the focus here is on a group of privileged Eastern Seaboard collegians enjoying the Christmas holidays in a series of Park Avenue, "after dance parties," in which they loll about and ruefully anticipate the disappearance of their youth, their success, and their kind.

That they are one at the same time cerebral, immature, literate, prankish, frightened, polished, well educated but vulnerable and inexperienced, puts them well outside the troglodyte teens that inhabit the deconstructionist zoo in most post 1970 films, (with the exception of a unfortunate and mis-placed "strip poker" sequence which violates the picture's otherwise overall mood.)

Indeed, they seem to exist outside their own time, belonging rather to that group Cecil Beaton dubbed "the smart young things" from the 1920's, in his "The Glass of Fashion." Certainly, one imagines them far more comfortable with Ivor Novello than Mick Jagger. And like many "smart sets" they seem rather a closed corporation.

Until that is, into their number unexpectedly arrives a young man of reduced circumstances, Tom Townsend, (Edward Clements) who by virtue of his sincerity and intelligence, is invited to "sup at their table--on a borrowed pass" so to speak. His romantic misadventures with the beguiling Audrey Rouget(Carolyn Farina)forms the cynosure of the charmingly fragile plot.

Audrey and Tom stand out from the pack, in their earnestess and integrity, though it is assuredly Nick, (Christopher Eigeman) their figurehead and chief quip master who is the groups' un-elected leader. As interpreted by Mr. Eigeman, Nick is the embodiment of the cocktail fueled, cigarette wielding bon vivant--trenchant, self absorbed, far from virtuous, and with a ready verbal arrow that never misses its target. He is George Sander's heir presumptive.

Nick's observations are worth the whole price of admission as they say, whether it be bemoaning the Protestant Reformation, the social climbing Surrealists, or the scarcity of detachable collars.

Since the film's short, bouffant,cocktail dresses and automobiles unmistakably place the film in very late modernity--the Reagan era in fact, and long after the Ray Anthony's Orchestra, top hatted milieu it depicts, we cannot fail to miss the film's core observation--the parallel evanescence of the groups' own social connections, as placed against the simultaneous collapse of civilized life as we once knew it.

As the Christmas season ends, so do the nightly gatherings, and each character is forced to come to terms with impermanence--their own and everything else's. In a melancholy bar scene, an older man warns the youngsters of disappointment ahead, "I'm not destitute but...it's all so mediocre."

That Producer/Director Whit Stillman manages to fuse the personal with the sociological in such and intriguing and entrancing way is a testament to the penetration of his vision.

And, lest we miss the point, he includes a cunning shot of a significant book left on bedside table--none other than Spengler's "Decline of the West."

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One editorial review remarks "as the innocent, easily manipulated Audrey..". I seriously doubt it. You really must watch this picture several times before the parts fall into place. Take the opening scene when Tom 'accidentally' runs into Audrey's crowd. As the film later reveals Tom was given the ticket and has been sitting behind Audrey's table all night. He even went to the trouble to rent a tux for the occasion! He went to all this trouble in search of a woman by the name of Serena. The film also makes clear that he has never met anybody in the group. It's Audrey who's been looking him over. When Tom finally meets the woman, Serena, he learns that everybody writes to her and she never keeps any of them. She usually reads the very bad or the very good to her girl friends at the dorm but quickly assures him that his letters were always quite good. In fact her roommate liked them so much that she fell in love with him and kept them. Tom is horrified at this lack of privacy then stunned when he learns that Audrey was the roommate! Audrey wasn't an easily manipulated woman. One can only suspect that she manipulated Tom through the movie with the assistance of friends from time to time. Isn't it interesting that she's reading The Rector of Justin in the tanning scene? Or how she's dressed? Audrey deserves far more study in this film. Tom is far more related to Holly Martins of The Third Man. They are both struggling to learn what's happening around them. This film isn't for the one and done club. It needs more than one viewing to fully appreciate it. It was truly well done.

Read Best Reviews of Metropolitan (The Criterion Collection) (1990) Here

Back in 1984, Whit Stillman began work on his screenplay for "Metropolitan", a screenplay that would be completed in 1988. At the time, Stillman ran his own illustration agency but in order to get his screenplay created for the big screen, Stillman sold his apartment in New York for $50,000 and whatever money friends and family could contribute to his project.

"Metropolitan" is loosely based on Stillman's experience while attending his first year at Harvard and while living with his divorced mother during the week of Christmas break. The film focuses on a small group of preps who live in Upper East Side Manhattan and attending the debutante balls during their first year of college. The term "Urban Haute Bourgeoisie" was coined from this film and while many people would consider the film about WASP-students, ironically Stillman's grandfather E. Digby Baltzell was responsible for coining the term WASP.

The film featured intellectual dialogue reminiscent of French New Wave director Eric Rohmer and the film would go on to receive an Academy Award nomination back in 1991 for "Best Original Screenplay", a nomination for Grand Jury Prize (Drama) at the 1990 Sundance Film Festival and winning "Best New Director" at the New York Film Critics Circle Award in 1990.

"Metropolitan" is a film that revolves around a group of Upper East Side Manhattanites who are preparing for a party at Sally Fowler's. Princeton student Tom Townsend (played by Edward Clements) is trying to catch a cab in which the group (known as the Sally Fowler Rat Pack) is also trying to catch. Because Tom allows them to take the cab, Nick Smith (played by Chris Eigeman) invites Tom to join them for their party.

We are introduced to a group of individuals who love to discuss socio-economics, literary discussions, politics and the life of young adults. Tom who is an intellectual himself meets the rat pack leader Nick (who becomes a good friend of Tom and allows him to be part of their circle); the blonde singer Sally Fowler (played by Dylan Hundley); the often-drunk and always sleeping Fred Neff (played by Bryan Leder); the very opinionated Jane Clark (played by Allison Rutledge); the sexy Cynthia McLean (played by Isabel Gillies); the bespectacled and often-opinionated Charlie Black (played by Taylor Nichols) and the sensitive, literary loving Audrey Rouget (played by Carolyn Farina).

After the party is over, it is revealed that unlike his new friends, Tom doesn't live in the Upper East Side. He and his mother try to live with whatever money they have and despite going to a nice college, he tries to conceal his lack of finances by renting tuxedo's and thus he is seen as a man who is skeptical about upper-class values, but even though his new friend Nick figures him out, Nick doesn't mind because of a "severe escort shortage" and that Tom is good in conversations with him and his friends.

Meanwhile, Audrey has fallen for Tom but Tom has always been in love with Serena Slocum (played by Elizabeth Thompson) who is dating a baron named Rick Von Sloneker (played by Will Kempe) who Nick despises.

The film spotlights on the friendship and relationships of Tom and his group of upper-class friends which Charlie has crafted the new name of "Urban Haute Bourgeoisie".

VIDEO:

"Metropolitan THE CRITERION COLLECTION #382' is presented in 1:66:1 color. It's probably one of the few Criterion Collection films that looks its age but considering this was a low budget indie film, I'm not going to be too picky on picture quality. There is a fine layer of grain and I'm guessing noise that can be seen on the print.

According to THE CRITERION COLLECTION, the DVD release is presented in its original Super 16mm. Director Whit Stillman and director of photography John Thomas supervised the new HD transfer, which was created on a Spirit Datacine from a 35mm blow-up interpositive. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris and scratches were removed using the MTI Digital Restoration System.

AUDIO:

According to THE CRITERION COLLECTION, the soundtrack for "Metropolitan" was mastered at 24-bit from the 35mm magnetic stems and audio restoration tools were used to reduce clicks, pops, hiss and crackle. The film is Dolby Digital 1.0 and thus is center channel-driven. I chose to set my receiver to stereo on all channels for a more immersive soundtrack.

Subtitles are in English.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

"Metropolitan THE CRITERION COLLECTION #326" comes with the following special features:

* Audio Commentary Audio commentary by writer/director Whit Stillman, actors Christopher Eigeman and Taylor Nichols and editor Christopher Tellefsen. Informative commentary on how certain scenes were filmed, filmmaking with a budget to reasons why some of the cast was stereotyped and unable to find work after "Metropolitan". A pretty entertaining commentary!

* Outtakes (9:23) Outtakes from "Metropolitan".

* Memorial (1:00) Behind-the-scenes footage of line producer Brian Greenbaum who died in 1992.

* Alternate Casting Featuring two alternate castings that were not used in the film. One titled "Record Producer Allen" starring Lloyd Kaufman (2:27) and the other "Nick Smith" (1:52) featuring Will Kempe (who plays Van Sloneker in the film) playing the character of Nick. An optional commentary is included with Whit Stillman discussing why he changed the cast for those roles.

* Original Theatrical Trailer (2:06) The original theatrical trailer.

EXTRAS:

"Metropolitan THE CRITERION COLLECTION #326" comes with a quad-fold insert featuring an essay by Luc Sante titled "After the Ball".

"Metropolitan" is a fantastic, entertaining and highly enjoyable film that many people have probably not heard of.

And after they see the trailer or read a little about it, I wouldn't be surprised if people tend to pass on the film because of its unknown actors and that it is a film that focuses on upper-class WASP students. Correction... as the Charlie would say, "Urban Haute Bourgeoisie" (or "UHB") students which are neither a preppie or a WASP but a member of a group that because of its specific status, has nowhere to go but down.

It's a film that showcases intellectual conversation, engrossing dialogue and for those who are able to follow it and understand the humor within the film and its witty dialogue, you will easily find "Metropolitan" quite entertaining.

It's pretty interesting because I tend to bring up a film such as Eric Rohmer's "My Night at Maud's" or his earlier films in which the conversations were intellectual and engrossing but its what made Rohmer's films so intellectually stimulating. They weren't meant for humor, "Metropolitan" is well-crafted for one to follow it and just laugh of the exchanges between the characters.

I absolutely enjoyed how the screenplay is written and the conversations that Stillman includes in this film. For example, here is a conversation between the literary loving Audrey and the intellectual, Fourier admiring character, Tom.

AUDREY: I read that Lionel Trilling essay that you mentioned. You really like Trilling?

TOM: Yes.

AUDREY: I think he's very strange. He says that nobody can like the heroine of "Mansfield Park". I like her. And then he goes on, and on, about how we modern people of today with our modern attitudes bitterly resentments for the park because its heroine is virtuous. What's wrong with a novel having a virtuous heroine?

TOM: His point is that the novels premise there is something immoral in a group of young people putting on a play is pretty absurd.

AUDREY: You found Fanny Price unlikeable?

TOM: She sounds pretty unbearable but I haven't read the book?

AUDREY: What?

TOM: You don't have to read a book to have an opinion on it. I haven't read the bible either.

AUDREY: What Jane Austen novels have you read?

TOM: None. I don't read novels. I prefer good literary criticism. That way you get both the novelist's ideas as well as the critics thinking. With fiction, I can never forget that none of it ever really happened, that its all just made up by the author.

This is just but one of the few conversations featured in the film.

"Metropolitan" is probably one of those romantic comedies that definitely does its best in showcasing the life of young Manhattan debutantes. And I have read that because Stillman's father was an attorney for President Kennedy (and his parents was divorced), he had the opportunity to see life in both worlds of rich and not rich at all and definitely provided some insight to the (disappearing?) lifestyle of young upperclass students.

I loved the characters of this film. Personally, with the way the film is ostentatiously written, especially how characters (especially Charlie) who has this opprobrium feel to his fellow upperclass friends, he senses doom. In no different of how a conservative views a liberal. I loved the character of Audrey who is the most reminiscent of early Rohmer films with her discussions of literary likes. And as a person who took part in high school book clubs to have these literary discussions, I have found Tom the most interesting of them all. Not just in regards to his comment of not reading novels and following criticism (because even those of us who review films are guilty of reading reviews and essays from Sarris, Kael, Rosenbaum, Agee, etc. of films we may have not seen yet) but it's his take towards the upperclass and not being a fan of the debutante balls but yet hangs out with the UHB's and thus, there is a hypocrisy that begins to be unraveled as he starts to sort out his emotions and the way people around him have started to have an affect on him.

By no means is "Metropolitan" a film that is pedantic nor does it asks its viewer to be an erudite on literary and socio-economic topics. But it does make for an engrossing film for those who know what the characters are talking about and for the most part, this is an independent film that it so well written and for a low budget film that deals with the upperclass, Whit Stillman has done a fantastic job with this film and definitely helped set things up for the writer/director for his next two films "Barcelona" and "The Last Days of Disco". If anything, it has been over a decade since we have seen anything else from Stillman which is a shame because he is fine director and I hope we continue to see more films from the director.

As for the DVD, it may not be a release that has the typical CRITERION COLLECTION style of being loaded with bells and whistles, nor may it be one of their better looking films in the collection but for those who are fans of Stillman's work or a person who is craving for humorous but smart, engrossing dialogue will find "Metropolitan" to be to their liking.

Overall, "Metropolitan" is a film that I very much love but by saying that, I know this film is not for everyone. But still "Metropolitan" is definitely a DVD release still worth recommending!

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Whit Stillman's "METROPOLITAN" is the brilliant and clever study of late 80s-early 90s youths in Manhattan, living would-be intelligent and affluent lifestyles as they wax philosphical on every topic which lies at their fingertips (ultimately, they just want sex)...

Chris Eigeman is way more charming and funny than he has any right to be as the smarmy and downright obnoxious fraud who one night, by chance ?, befriends a Conan O'Brien look-alike in a baje-colored overcoat.

It's through this meeting that our hero (the carrot top) meets Audrey, a charming and sadly insecure young lady who finds him intriguing, if he would only reciprocate those feelings. Yes, the heartstrings and nerves of these bright young things are very tangled, indeed.

Stillman, who made his fearsome, forceful writing-directorial debut here, has crafted a bittersweet and wonderfully eloquent take on the yuppie lifestyle and the love lives of a particular circle of friends within that strata of society.

The great news: The Criterion Collection, known for their brilliant and astonishing treatments of great films, have wisely decided to release this film for the first time ever on DVD! On 2/14/06, "Metropolitan" will be available to own with, I'm sure, some great extra features! If we could just get another Stillman commentary (like on the "Barcelona" DVD available from Warner Home Video), then we'd be in business. Anything else is just gravy.

This is a masterpiece of ultra-independent cinema, with a young first time writer-director strutting his stuff and leaving an indelible impression of his viewers. This is where Stillman gets a loyal audience. And it won't just be available in the Netherlands anymore!!!

See also: "Barcelona" (1993) and "The Last Days of Disco" (1998), at least while waiting for Stillman to get off his bum and do another film!!!

PLEASE!

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Black Book (2007)

As many here have said, this is a beautifully shot, gripping, unforgettable movie, a great addition to the honorable genre of WWII flicks. In fact, the father of one of my colleagues, Dutch himself and in his 70s, said this was the best film he has ever seen. So I don't understand why, if a man in his 70s who is from the WWII generation himself did not find this film "prurient," so many reviewers have insisted that it is. The scene that most of the prudes seem to find gratuitous is (spoiler alert) the scene in which the Jewish heroine prepares herself to pass as a blonde bombshell so she can seduce the German officer. Clearly, she is going to have to dye or shave hair other than the hair on her head in order to pass as a natural blond. The movie shows her doing this. Why is it not gratuitous? Because the scene sets up the love triangle that will result in the conflict in the last third of the movie. It is absolutely essential to the advancement of the plot, and in my opinion, any reviewer who can't see that is not only a fussy old woman, but also not much of a reviewer. So if you have not seen this movie because you've read a review that trashes it on the grounds of prurience, please reconsider. And consider this: the most recent Ang Lee movie is so sexually frank that it got an NC-17 rating, yet there hasn't been a single review which has trashed it on the basis of its gratuitous sex. That says to me that some major reviewers are only interested in criticizing Paul Verhoeven rather than commenting honestly on his film. Another reason to see this movie is Carice Van Houten. She not only convincingly plays a 40's bombshell, she has that same 40s movie-star quality that you can't take your eyes off of. Truly, you could watch this film 100 times and never get tired of her. She is irresistible.

One of my special interests is WW II history, especially the Nazi era, and I have watched many fact-based movies dealing with the theme. Black Book is a first-rate thriller that depicts the trials and tribulations of a young Jewish woman in Nazi-occupied Holland. Rachel Stein the lead character is played consummately by the beguiling Carice Van Houten whose facial expressions do a lot more to convey fear, vulnerability, hatred and determination than mere dialogue alone. To ensure her continued survival and escape from certain death that awaits the Jewish populace, Rachel, having suffered the loss of her brother and parents, takes on the guise of an Aryan, Ellis de Vries, and is roped by the Resistance to seduce Ludwig Muntze [Sebastian Koch] a Gestapo officer and steal Nazi secrets.

The actors in this movie are well-cast even the Gestapo officer, whose very title should inspire revulsion is portrayed with a certain sensitivity, and he shows a semblance of humanity, a rare trait for an officer of the Reich. Even knowing Rachel's true Jewish identity, he falls hopelessly in love with her, and this is portrayed with a level of credibility given the contradictions inherent in such a pairing.

The action is fast-paced, there is much violence, and yes, even explicit sex, but through it all, nothing detracts from the plot, only serves to enhance the story, and makes this a gripping, must-see WW II thriller.

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Director Paul Verhoeven stunned the film world with his World War II masterpiece "Soldier of Orange"...and in a sense, this film is a second

installment of his story of the Dutch Resistance. In the earlier film it was easier to distinguish the evil from the good...here characters are edgier and perhaps darker.

The story begins when a young, pretty Jewish woman tries to flee to Belgium from Nazi occupied Holland but her family is betrayed, massacred and robbed along with other Jewish families. After a nail-biting escape,

Rachel (Carice Van Houten), joins the Resistance and agrees to infiltrate the Gestapo headquarters. Surprisingly, she becomes attached to one of the officers, and the tale begins a spin into betrayal and counterbetrayal...so that enemies and friends are very hard to distinguish.

There is a lot of old-fashioned World War II suspense and action that

rolls the story along. But ultimately, this is a film about how hard it is to identify villains and heroes, when everyone is wearing a mask...including Rachel,of course who is hiding her Jewish identity.

Overall, the film sizzles more than Soldier of Orange, but the original World War II film is still the better steak. Recommended for the high octane action, interesting plot twists, and solid historical detail.

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I think the best reason to view this movie is to watch Carice van Houten as she plays the part of Rachel Stein, a Dutch Jew trying to stay alive during the Nazi occupation of Holland in 1944. Rachel is forced to assume a different identity as Ellis de Vries ( recruited by the Dutch Resistance following the betrayal and deaths of her parents and brother), even going so far as to dye her dark hair blonde to hide her Jewishness from SS Officer Ludwig Muentze in order to gain his confidence and infiltrate the Nazi HQ. Carice is incredibly convincing as the sexy ex-cabaret singer entertaining the smitten Captain Muentze, with whom she becomes infatuated, and his fellow SS officers with her 40s Bombshell looks and sweet voice.

The movie was a well-written, exciting, and suspenseful foreign language film (in Dutch, German, and English) from beginning to end. I highly recommend BLACK BOOK to anyone who enjoys good film making.

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Mata Hari and Greta Garbo move over; Rachel Stein a.k.a. Ellis de Vries is the new girl in town, and she is positively fearless!

Paul Verhoeven, whose American film making career gave us such films as BASIC INSTINCT and ROBO COP, has returned to his native Netherlands to co-write and direct his "piece de resistance" (literally!) in his exhilarating and relentlessly thrilling BLACK BOOK.In BLACK BOOK Verhoeven has created a Resistance fighter/spy/seductive vixen heroine for the ages in Rachel Stein.She is a one-of-a-kind, and Dutch actress Carice van Houten probably has made her most important career choice in portraying her.

Though The film begins on a Kibbutz in 1956 Israel where we meet a song singing teacher named Rachel Stein who chances upon an old friend from the War days,a former Nazi whore named Ronnie, Rachel's memory quickly takes us from the peaceful kibbutz back to the horrors of WW2 in 1944 Holland.This is where the story of Rachel Stein really begins.

As a Jewish woman in Holland, Rachel Stein has been forced into hiding with a Dutch family in order to fly under the radar of the terror of the Nazi Occupation and the compliant Dutch Police. When the family's farm is bombed ,Rachel is forced by circumstance to begin a long line of improvisations to simply stay alive.She is gorgeous,incredibly resourceful and absolutely and unapologetically opportunistic as she,instead of waiting out the War in seclusion, boldly goes forth right under the noses of the Nazis,changing her persona to Ellis de Vries,a platinum-blonde former Berlin cabaret star ,relying on her incredible female powers,beauty (and she is!) genius and courage and takes the Nazi Terror on.Ellis finds her niche with the Dutch resistance which asks her to land smack into the arms of a head Gestapo officer,Ludwig Muntze,(Sebastian Koch).She becomes the Resistance's chief spy as she plays whore to a Muntze,who falls heartily and hard for the magnificent and charming Ellis.What was simply a spy job,though,now changes drastically as Ellis and Ludwig really do fall in love.This is where the final and most difficult task lies for Ellis (and that is all this reviewer is giving away!)

Carice van Houten is an absolute rare find and no doubt the job that she so admirably does in infusing Rachel/Ellis with such depth,complexity and grit will land her all kinds of accolades and awards in the year to come.Ms van Houten takes the courageous yet fleeing Jewess Rachel and transfigures her into the ever resourceful,luminesque-Garbolike Ellis taking her into the world of roller coaster nightmares that leaves the viewer positively out of breath (and I was!)

Sebastian Koch,fresh from his sucess in the 2006 Foreign Oscar winner THE LIVES OF OTHERS is even MORE convincing as Gestapo officer Muntze in BLACK BOOK.This is an actor of such depth that coupled with van Houten and a flawless script and deft direction, BLACK BOOK is going to be hard to top for the 2007 Oscar.With such a glut of overused and underachieved American "stars",van Houten and Koch are actors' actors and hopefully will keep making smart decisions to act only the finest material under the best direction.Watching these actors makes one wonder why Americans fawn over some of the "fluff" stars we do?

What is neat about BLACK BOOK is that Verhoeven never gives the audience one minute of rest.He, though, never allows BLACK BOOK to become just another action-packed spy thriller; instead he gives us an incredibly deep and detailed story,set among the darkest days in war torn Europe that is character-rich,plot-exploding with great visual sense and style.BLACK BOOK is Verhoeven at his most mature.His last Dutch film,the 1983 thriller THE FOURTH MAN,though alright,followed by his American films,puts BLACK BOOK at the top of his distinguished directorial list.

Anne Dudley,who heretofore was known to this reviewer for her classical-style music, HYMNS ANCIENT AND MODERN, has composed a compelling and riveting soundtrack that never overtakes any of the story,but cleverly moves the action along-the chief goal of a score writer.

It is hard to believe that this film was 2 and 1/2 hours long! It flew by.BLACK BOOK is rated R and contains nudity,violence and coarse profanity.

Great companion films on WW2 Netherlands would be THE HIDING PLACE and A DAY IN OCTOBER .It seems to me that THE NAZI OFFICER'S WIFE ,which is the true story of Edith Hahn's transfiguration from hiding Jewess into a Officer's wife may well have been the "true events" that inspired the screenplay for BLACK BOOK.The similarities are uncanny making BLACK BOOK all the better for it.DO NOT MISS THIS FILM!

Sebastian Koch followed up this film with THE LIVES OF OTHERS-another triumph!

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Its A Disaster (2013)

Amazing what can be conveyed from inside one house the whole movie. Initial tension turns to thought provoking results. One of those movies that stays with you a long time.

A collection of couples get together for their regular couples lunch, and this lunch turns out to be anything but normal. An unexpected calamity has hit, and they are not only dealing with personal issues amongst the group, but dealing with getting information about the disaster, and figuring out how to survive. This quirky black comedy is well-cast and skillfully scripted, enabling it to be quite funny and entertaining. The mostly little known actors are perfectly cast in their roles. The film may be called It's a Disaster, however it is anything but. This is actually a pretty darn good movie.

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As anyone can tell you, comedies are a tough sell, especially when broaching such subject matter as the end of mankind. Some wouldn't dare find anything close to that a laughing matter, but when it's used merely as a backdrop for broader, more general comedy, it certainly can be a nice filter. That's exactly what writer/director Todd Berger set out to do with IT'S A DISASTER: he combined an end-of-the-world scenario and mashed it up with a twentysomething and thirtysomethings coming-of-age comedy (THE BIG CHILL meets PERFECT SENSE. On many counts, it just doesn't quite work; yet, there's something wonderfully sublime about seeing a bunch of self-centered shallow suburbanites get their comeuppance ... even if that comeuppance is a nerve-gas Apocalypse.

(NOTE: The following review will contain minor spoilers necessary solely for the discussion of plot and characters. If you're the kind of reader who prefers a review entirely spoiler-free, then I'd encourage you to skip down to the last two paragraphs for my final assessment. If, however, you're accepting of a few modest hints at `things to come,' then read on ...)

Emma (played by the comely Erinn Hayes) and Pete (Blaise Miller) Mandrake throw only the best Sunday brunches. Yet this week's brunch is going to be a disaster. Not only are they in the midst of their own full-blown marital crisis, but also some terrorists are about to detonate a series of nerve gas canisters across the United States, bringing about an end to life as we know it. Will the quiche be too hot? Will everyone like the wine? Will they have to down it all before the end comes? Oh, what's a couple of yuppies to do!

Surprisingly, I thought IT'S A DISASTER missed more than a few of its marks. That isn't to say that it's unfunny in any way, because that would be inaccurate. It's just that, given the premise and the cast including David Cross, Julia Stiles, America Ferrara, and more I think I expected a bit more. Many moments felt like they should've been played a bit bigger a big more obtuse and, instead, they're scaled back almost to the point that one wonders if everyone showed up knowing their lines. Or was this a case of dialogue being manufactured on the set, and the players were only provided with the talking points? It's hard to say, though I'd be remiss if I didn't underscore a bit of disappointment.

There are some truly brilliant pieces in here. Berger himself dons a hazmat suit and shows up uninvited to the dinner party as snooping neighbor, Hal; he's the one that breaks the news about the attacks. Rachel Boston and Kevin M. Brennan are splendid as Lexi and Buck Kivel (respectively), a husband-and-wife team so completely comfortable with their own generous sexuality they want to share it with anyone they can (which almost includes David Cross's Glen in a wacky development). And the occasional still shot of the dead latecomers to the party on the front steps along with an assortment of dead crows is increasingly funny as it's played so wondrously deadpan. I can't help but wonder if IT'S A DISASTER started out as a stage play all of the action takes place inside the house, though spread out across several rooms but I've no doubt thinking that this is exactly the kind of film that when it gets remade will probably find a much bigger and much more appreciative audience.

It's definitely worth a view. Maybe not an owner. But definitely worth a view.

IT'S A DISASTER is produced by Vacationeer Productions, Attainment Media Group, ARM Entertainment (II), Gordon Bijelonic / Datari Turner Films, and Tip-Top Productions. DVD distribution is being handled through Oscilloscope Laboratories. As for the technical specifications, it all looks and sounds very solid, though there were a few instances when recording levels seemed a bit off. Fans will be surprised to find a wealth of special features, including a commentary track and even a Comic-Con Panel appearance. It's a nice assortment for a nice middle-of-the-road comedy.

RECOMMENDED. It's more benign comedy than it is outright farce, and, as a consequence, IT'S A DISASTER misses some of the true laughs because so much of it is underplayed. Still, there's an awful lot of talent in there, so much so that I would've expected better. This may've been the case of a writer/director being too close to the material to see the weaknesses in the performances; it could've used a few more manic highpoints especially given the subject matter and a little less routine shtick of twentysomethings trying to figure out who they are. It's the apocalypse, after all? Laugh it up, people!

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This is a good movie for anyone who enjoys a nice dark comedy every once in a while. It also has a lot of great lines that I will be quoting for a long time.

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This cast is great, the actors play to their strengths and really create the diversity necessary to make a one setting movie work well. Not only are there some "audience told" quirks about each couple or character, but there are some surprises as the movie progresses. The surprises sort of escalate as the movie moves along so I kept wanting to know who and what next? Did everyone show all their cards or is someone going to do something to top the last one.

Most important It's really funny! And, I can't say more on this, or it will ruin the ending for some, but the ending has a very good irony to it.

Well I hope if you choose to watch this, you enjoy it as much as I did!

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The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond (2008)

Tennessee Williams is the heart, mind, and voice of the South, and Jodie Markell has made an extraordinarily beautiful film of his screenplay, "The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond." Exquisite in its detail and dramatic force, the director does not shy away from Williams's view of a rotting, decadent, romantic Gothic Southland. And in Bryce Dallas Howard (with alabaster skin and raven-black hair) and Chris Evans, she has possibly the most handsome cinematic-couple since Dame Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift in "A Place in the Sun." This film is a great achievement, not to be missed.

Jodie Markell has created a period piece with timeless appeal! This never-before produced screenplay by Tennessee Williams came to light at the right time and in the right hands. Markell's insightful direction and Bryce Dallas Howard's brilliant performance transport the viewer to 1920's Memphis with its juxtaposition of high-class southern charm, architecture and posh parties to the inner turmoil brought about through the accompanying societal expectations. Howard's portrayal of a "fallen" southern belle, Fisher Willow, is both heartbreaking and breathtaking. The high-value teardrop diamond earring she wears which is lost represents Willow's desperate struggle to hold onto her inheritance at all costs -monetary and personal. The viewer is seamlessly transported into Willow's world of truth vs. lies, genuine vs. fake, awake vs. asleep... as she is forced to face her past and present demons on the journey of discovering her true self (and true love, ie Chris Evans) in the process. You don't have to be a Tennessee Williams fan to get swept away by this film!

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I find it strange (or maybe just typical for an antsy media world) that this film was shunned so widely, if not overlooked. Also, there seems to be a recurrent animosity against Bryce Dallas Howard as an actress that I find hard to justify. I can think of few others who are showing such promise at an early age.

And as for the screenplay that is the inevitable draw of the film, it certainly falls canonically among Tennessee Williams' lesser works; yet even his lesser works have always carried much magic, and an idiomatic command of poetic elegance that no American writer since has matched.

We all know well Blanche's ruminations about paper lanterns as a metaphor for magic in the world; people far smarter and wiser than me have called those words among the most deeply felt ever written in the English language. In this film, Fisher Willow has her moment too, hers more nuanced than the melodramatic flourish of Vivian Leigh's delivery. She pines for the company not of strangers, but of people who have meaning, who aspire to art and creation, and so forth. They are words meant to be heard spoken, rather than spit out in this no-name review on the Internet.

So all of that is to say, the best you can do is ignore the shrugging critics and watch this film. It does the legacy of Tennessee Williams justice, it is beautifully shot on a very low budget, and it is a fine performance by a budding actress who absorbs the playwright's intentions elegantly.

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Beautiful and exquisite Tennessee Williams script with wondeful performances and flavor of the period. A must have for Williams fans.

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"The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond," is a real gem but it is not for everyone. If you are not a big Tennessee Williams fan, you probably will not like it. If you are unfamiliar with Tennessee Williams, then you are better off watching "A Streetcar Named Desire," or "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof."

Admittedly, this is not one of Williams' best stories. The reason the film works so well is the acting and directing.

I had seen Bryce Dallas Howard in a few other films but they did not prepare me for this absolutely thrilling performance. This is not just the best performance of the year but it is the best performance in the past several years. She brings the character of Fisher Willow to life the way that Vivian Leigh did for Blanche DuBois. In many ways Fisher Willow is like a young version of Blanche.

Fisher is a typical Williams' heroine. She initially comes off as a selfish, self centered, Southern Belle but underneath she is much more fragile than anyone suspects. Bryce Dallas Howard is able to bring this out with such complexity and nuance that we can sympathize with a character that we should not care about so much. Even in her best moments she seems as though she could shatter at any moment.

This performance alone is enough reason to see this film.

The story follows the familiar themes covered in other Tennessee Williams stories: loneliness, loss of wealth, fall from grace, and battling interior demons. The teardrop diamond could represent the wealth and status her family once had. It is not just a $5000 jewel. It is a symbol of what her family once was and what was once the old South.

Jodie Markell does an impressive job directing. Her style is old school. She knows when to let the camera linger and when to let the scenes play out. The film does not seem rushed and it never drags. The cinematography is gorgeous with burnished orange dominating the color palette.

"The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond," may not be one of the four best movies made from a Tennessee Williams story but it is not far behind. This is mandatory viewing for any fan of Tennessee Williams.

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Upside Down

Imagine my surprise when this movie showed up this weekend out of nowhere, without any advance advertizing, on a single screen for all of Greater Cincinnati. I figured this wasn't going to play very long here so I went to see it right away.

"Upside Down" has a very intruiging premise: there are two worlds very close together but each with their own gravity. As the movie opens, we are informed of the basic three rules: 1. All matter is pulled by the gravity of the world that it comes from, and not the other. 2. An object's weight can be offset by matter from the opposite world (inverse matter). 3. After some time in contact, matter in contact with inverse matter burns. Wow, get your head around that! As the movie opens, we see young/eventual teenagers Adam (played by Jim Sturgess) and Eden (played by Kirsten Dunst) find each other in striking distance from opposing sides of a high mountain. Adam pulls in Eden with a rope, and as Eden is hanging/resting upside down in a rock, they kiss (hello, Spiderman upside-down kiss replay, anyone?). Eventually they are found out and as Eden is trying to get back to her "Up" world, the rope is shot and she takes a bad tumble, causing amnesia. Fast forward 10 years, and by complete chance Adam (from the "Down" world) see that Eden is now working at TransWorld, the 'evil' company that controls everything. Adam is developing an "anti-gravity" matter that also serves as an "anti-aging" creme. That appeals to TransWorld and he gets hired. Adam is bent on finding Eden and reconnecting with her, even though she has no memory of him and her teenage romance with him. At this point we are not even half-way into the movie, but to tell you more would ruin your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Several commments: first and foremost, this movie is the most visual original movie that I have seen in a long, long time. It is slightly reminiscent of "Inception" in its visuals, but then does it one or two times better than that, just outstanding. I just couldn't stop marveling at how the images of the two "upside down" worlds were presented to us. That said, I thought that Sturgess was badly miscast as Adam. Even though he is in reality older than Dunst, he just looked like a boy next to her. On the other hand, Dunst just shines in this movie, continuing her strong streak in recent movies like Melancholia and Bachelorette. Kudos also for the nice soundtrack, scored by Mark Isham, a favorite of mine. The screening that I saw this at today here in Cincinnati was poorly attended (only 2 people besides myself), so if you get a chance to see this in the theatre, do not wait, or otherwise catch it on DVD. The plot lacks some emotional pull but the visuals will win you over.

Just wanted to say that if you are a sci-fi fan and enjoy outstanding visuals, like me, you must see this.

They probably got the visuals concept from "Inception" but actually used them in the plot instead of just for show (not that I didn't like Inception I did).

For me and I guess I can say I've probably seen it all this is the most artistic outstandng visual movie I've seen in, say, the last 2 years or so.

It has got an interesting uplifting love story with a rather uncommon arc that might keep you guessing until the very end.

Get ready for something... different.

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Eschewing the physics of reality, this film weaves a wonderfully fascinating tale of two young people in love. An astrophysics tale of Romeo and Juliet as the star-crossed lovers separated by a complex Escher-esque world of haves and have-nots.

Jim Sturgess and Kirsten Dunst portray Adam and Eden respectively.

Adam lives in the frigid, dirty, and dank oily world of Downbelow. While Eden's home is Uptop, a dreamlike existence of warm bright air and glittering palaces of light. Two planets who share every basic elemental aspect, but are divided by an unspoken social and fiscal chasm. But there are special places, natural features of great height, where the two worlds almost touch one another. A place like the Sage Mountains.

A chance encounter between a thoughtful young boy and a young girl searching for her lost dog, accidentally bumping into one another at their respective peaks, begins a desperate dance as two halves of the same soul find, then lose one another.

Like all children, they're born without hate in their hearts. Eden and Adam become friends. And as the years pass, become more than friends. Despite the monstrous illegality of their relationship, love blossoms in secret. Until one fateful day as the teen couple encounters a group of angry Downbelowers who attack the pair for their illicit romance. While helping Eden make her escape, Adam is shot. Losing his grip while attempting to lower her "up", the freefall drop ends with a sickening crunch. Striking solid stone as she crashes back onto her world, a widening pool of blood is the last image he has of her.

Ten years pass.

Now working as an electronics repairman with asides as an inventor, Adam unknowingly stands at the brink of a discovery that will revolutionize both worlds. Believing that his soulmate died on that fateful day, he goes through the motions of an infinitely empty existence. Until a pirated television program from Uptop catches his eye. It's her she's alive. And he will do anything to again be with his one true love. Anything. Even prostitute his incredible creation to the corporate slave masters of Uptop's largest corporation, Transworld, for that single solitary chance.

Finagling his way into and through Transworld he's stunned and horrified to discover Eden doesn't know him.

Nearly beyond words, he learns that the fall all those years ago caused blunt force amnesia; she has no memory of her childhood and teen years except when she sleeps and dreams.

Undaunted, Adam undertakes the ultimate risk.

The twin worlds' equivalent of a terrorist attack is to cross over without permission. A strictly forbidden act, permission is never ever granted. But he's going to cross over repeatedly. His only hope is to encourage her memories to return by consistent re-association. But a Downbelower noticeably, and literally, stands out (up) from the crowd. As Uptop's gravity slowly burns through his illicit Up-gravity weights, Adam has to manage and mask his increasingly uncomfortable state while his custom bodysuit tips at the verge of combustion. And in a world full of Up citizenry, desperately has to avoid drawing public scrutiny to the fact that he's threatening immolation with every passing moment.

Authorities from both sides are in hot pursuit, no pun intended, and closing in on the repetitious violator.

A very entertaining romance for a 21st century audience. And, uncommonly, a good fit for both men and women, as this film captures the emotional aspects of a chick flick while carefully balancing the taut scifi and adventure aspects of a guy movie.

There were a couple of very small weaknesses that prevents a full five stars, but this incredible visual feast is as strong a four as I can imagine.

Movie Note:

Despite the fact the two planets share an equal orbit, I thought it cleverly profound that Director Juan Solanas never shows Downbelow as "up" when viewing the two worlds in the context of right and wrong, or even good and evil.

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"What if love was stronger then gravity." Adam (Sturgess) and Eden (Dunst) have been friends since they were kids. They only thing that keeps them apart is gravity. The world they live in has two separate gravities and they live in two separate "worlds". After an accident leaves Adam thinking Eden is gone he moves on with his life. After seeing Eden on TV one day he decides to risk everything by finding her again. This is a movie that is very hard to explain without giving anything away. I have said that I'm tired of the same 5 movies being remade over and over again with nothing original coming out. This is one of the most original and visually stunning movies that I have ever seen. The only downside I have with this movie is that they seemed to spend more time on the effects then the actually story. While the story is really good it does seem to drag and repeat itself a few times but overall I would recommend this. Overall, worth seeing and one of the most visually stunning movies I have ever seen, very neat effects. I give it a B.

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Interesting premise. Very cool special effects to make both worlds interactive with each other yet opposite of each other. Love story could have been better developed.

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Triple Dog (2009)

Cheesy and corny, I like! This movie is supposedly a horror movie, but its more like a Comedy-Thriller-Drama. I absolutely love Scout Taylor-Compton and she usually makes some good indie movies and I really liked this one. It's a very cheesy movie but I really enjoyed it. I recommend this one for tweens who aren't really into the Horror genre, this one is good fun!

Hilarious is a great word for this film. So many bad lines and confusing ones: one my favorites: "Yo would you guys Superman that Hoe for 20 bucks?" Midway through the film as one of the girls is doing the dare of urinating on the principal's porchmat the bad girl Chapin spouts out "Shes totally splitting the whisker!" What the hell does that mean? Lines like that make me think, do modern teenage girls actually say things like that? Probably not, but its very funny indeed. So heres my final thoughts about this: Its a stupid/very cheesy movie with lots of hilariously bad dialogue. Watch it with friends and beers and enjoy.

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High school? Premise suburban high school age girls, bored. Let's play dare. One dominant girl, the rest subordinate, like sheep. No drinking nor drugs to induce this stupidity, but completely willing to make poor decisions anyway. I kept waiting for the movie to get better or remotely realistic. It didn't.

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I hope this review doesn't damage my review credibility, I'm avid Movie Collector and collect all styles of movies, I some how came across the lone 5 star review on Amazon, went to Youtube checked out the trailer and was sold, there aren't many reviews online for (triple-dog) so I wanted to give this little gem Its due, I own a few cheesy quality Movies that flew under the radar that some men wouldn't want to be caught watching, (16 WISHES, WISH APON A STAR, READ IT AND WEEP) all made for Disney Channel Movies, but (triple-dog) has enough edge and fresh ideas that I can see grown men hiding this under there collection of Action Movies, I don't think it fair to judge this movie with Oscar level movies, like American Beauty, Slum Dog Millionaire, Titanic, its just too different, but if compared to modern teen or tween Movies I'll stand by the 5 star review.

This is a surprising rated R movie, I say 13+ is o.k, teens would see more Sexuality and Vulgarity in a episode of (Jersey Shore) than (triple-dog), the prevailing question is what really happened to the girl that jumped from the bridge ? and what does Chapin (skater girl with edge) have to do with it ?, who will get there head shaved ?, who will win the game of triple-dog ?, If you buy this movie for your teens,"Mom and Dad can be Cool for at least one night". A really good job by Brittany Roberts as the lead Chapin, a quality supporting casts, some amusing dares and it all will pay off in the end. really good Teen Drama for adults too.

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This was a great thriller! I love the acting and production of this film. I watched with my friends and it was a perfect way to end the night!

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