Filmsy - Movie Reviews Blog

LaBeouf to appear in new thriller

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Shia LaBeouf continues to prove that he is the new IT guy in Hollywood by bagging another good role in a movie. He is set to appear in The Dark Fields, which will be directed by Neil Burger.

The movie, which was adapted from Alan Glynn’s book, is said to have the same atmosphere as both Fight Club and The Game. Both movies were directed by David Fincher. Burger’s last movie was The Illusionist starring Edward Norton.

The Dark Fields tells the story of an out of his luck loser who manages to get access to a secret drug that makes a person smarter. He becomes very successful but discovers that the drug has deadly and permanent side effects.

LaBeouf is also set to apepar in the new Indiana Jones movie, Eagle Eye and a segment of the New York, I Love You film anthology.

The Soup’s McHale to join Damon in new movie

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I obsessively watch E!’s The Soup because I find host Joel McHale quite outrageously funny. I’ve seen Ayesha Tyler’s and Greg Kinnear’s run in the show and I tell you, both pale in comparison to the always funny McHale.

Now it looks like McHale is going to do a Kinnear — that is, initiate the jump from the small screen to the big screen. McHale is reportedly slated to appear in Matt Damon’s new movie along with other comic actors. The new movie, a comic thriller to be directed by Steven Soderbergh is entitled The Informant and will be made under Warner Independent Pictures, Participant Media and Groundswell Productions. The movie is based on the smash bestseller The Informant: A True Story. Actual filming for the movie is scheduled to happen anytime this month.

Bakula and McHale, who is in final negotiations, will play FBI agents working with agri-business insider Mark Whitacre (Damon) to stop a price-fixing scam. The film is based on Kurt Eichenwald’s 2000 best-seller “The Informant: A True Story.”

Other new cast members known for their comedic turns are Mike O’Malley (CBS’ “Yes, Dear”), Andrew Daly (Semi-Pro), Adam Paul (Starz’s “Hollywood Residential”) and Melanie Lynskey (CBS’ “Two and a Half Men”). Comedian-actors Tom Wilson, Rick Overton and Tom Papa will round out the cast.

Scott Z. Burns adapted the book for the screen. Principal photography is set to begin this month.

Pelham remake to star Travolta, Washington and Gandolfini

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The Taking of Pelham 1, 2, 3 is one of the coolest heist films in history. I remember watching this with my dad and I was so awed by the great dialogue, the memorable characters (Quentin Tarantino got his inspiration for calling the gangsters in Reservoir Dogs by colors in this movie), and the wonderful Walther Matthau who was just spot on as the police officer.

I do remember that a remake was made of this movie before but I think it was a TV movie. This time though a real big screen adaptation is in the works. Tony Scott is set to helm the movie and big stars like Denzel Washington and John Travolta are already on board.

The latest new is that James Gandolfini is already locked in for the role of the New York City mayor. John Travolta is going to play the head of the criminal gang, which would mean Denzel Washington will be the cop.

I’d love to see how Gandolfini will gel with his co-stars. The guy has such an immense talent that Washington and Travolta will have to keep up.

Movie Review: Death Proof

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Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof, his latest movie after the one-two punch of Kill Bill Vols. 1 and 2, is part of Tarantino and director Robert Rodriguez’s homage to the grindhouse movie culture of the 1970s. The two directors decided to make their tribute by trying to faithfully embody what grindhouse cinema is – aside from the themes of their movies, they also decided to show it back –to-back just like the “double feature” practice during that time.

Death Proof, Tarantino’s grindhouse take, is vintage Tarantino. All the elements that you have come to expect from a Tarantino movie are here – and he really brings in bucketfuls of “Tarantino-isms” to the screen. You’ve got the imaginative shots and perspectives, the lightning fast witty repartee, and the pulpy plot and story that is filled with obscure pop culture references. Tarantino has really honed his personal style to a razor’s edge and Death Proof shows it in spades.
Trying to give short description of the plot of Death Proof will be futile because a synopsis will not do the story any justice. It is Tarantino’s penchant for making the different scenes of his movies twist, fold, and bend into each other that makes it quite difficult. The great thing here is that Death Proof is told from a straight narrative, with absolutely no flashbacks or post-modern story structures like the one Tarantino used in his breakout movie Pulp Fiction. It is precisely because of Tarantino’s immense talents that the movie feels like it folds in on itself without even screwing with the narrative.

I absolutely love the fact that the two “halves” of the movie is punctuated by probably one of the most memorable crash scenes in recent history. It serves as a dramatic counter point that signals the end of the first half, if you will, and the beginning of the second half. I think it is really clever. You enter the first half not really knowing where the movie will go then you see the crash scene so by the time you get to the second half you already have this immense sense of foreboding. This new set of girls are going to get it too. That’s what drives the second half of the movie – the impending sense of doom. But Tarantino still manages to turn the tables on us by actually pulling in another twist. This time, it is the Stuntman (devilishly played by Kurt Russell) who gets the surprise of his life.

Tarantino mined a lot of talent for this movie. Russell is just picture perfect for his role. Rose McGowan’s cameo of sorts is very memorable. CSI New York’s Vanessa Ferlito is a revelation here. She really dove into her character with gusto and that lap dance sequence is just phenomenal. Same goes for Rosario Dawson, who provided her character with the right amount of zing.

I know that Death Proof has polarized a lot of people, this is one of those “love it or hate it” type of movies. I for one loved it and this is another fine addition to Tarantino’s already impressive filmography.

Rating: B-

1408 – Review

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1408

Ahhhh, another Stephen King movie. These just aren’t made in the same abundance as they used to be. His stories seem to be relegated mostly to TV miniseries and the occasional anthology television series episode, these days. King has tried his hand at pretty much every subgenre of horror there is, but it’s his ghost stories that have entertained me the most. As I’ve mentioned elsewhere on this site, haunted house films are one of my favorite horror subgenres, so naturally a movie about a haunted hotel room based on a story by Stephen King was bound to tickle my fancy. “1408” shares several similarities with other haunted house stories written by King, with more than a passing resemblance to “The Shining” and “Rose Red”. Like the aforementioned examples, “1408” is a more surreal take on the subgenre and is all the better for it.

Mike Enslin (John Cusack) is the skeptical author of a series of haunted hotel guides. He receives a mysterious postcard in the mail from the Dolphin Hotel in Manhattan, urging him not to stay in room 1408. Taking the warning as a challenge, Mike forces the hotel’s manager (Samuel L. Jackson) to let him spend the night in the supposedly evil room. Since the hotel’s construction, there have been fifty-six recorded deaths in the room, though Mike is not spooked. However, shortly after checking in, room 1408 begins to play tricks with Mike’s head. And as Mike quickly discovers, checking out of room 1408 is impossible.

One thing I’ve noticed about King’s haunted house stories is that he likes to portray the house (or the room, in this case) as its own character. A lot of haunted house stories simply pit the main cast against the spirits dwelling within the location, but King goes a step further and presents the actual place as a sentient villain. I’ve always dug that approach as it adds a certain level of dread to the conflict. When you enter these places you’re essentially entering another dimension, where the house or hotel room dictates the laws of reality. This paves the way for some pretty heavy surrealist horror tactics, most of which hit the mark. Room 1408 draws on Mike’s memories, dredging up his most painful experiences in a sick attempt to force him to commit suicide. Mike has to weather these bizarre challenges as they get increasingly worse.

The scares range from your standard “jump” scares to some of the more unnerving “what the hell” variety. I’m usually very critical of “jump” scares, as I find them to be lazy and cheap for the most part, typically only relying on the volume level of a theater’s sound system to provide an effective fright. The “jump” scares in “1408” are markedly better than those featured in lesser horror films, coming at you with little warning yet placed at the most opportune and appropriate moments so they don’t feel quite so cheap. The more surrealist horror elements were my favorites, though. When Mike becomes trapped in the room he literally becomes isolated from the rest of the universe, with unique and disturbing barriers keeping him from escaping or calling for help. A few of the ideas seemed to be recycled from “Rose Red” (which had a very similar concept of a haunted house isolating the cast from the rest of reality), but they comprise only a small number of the scares.

Since the bulk of the movie is just John Cusack being flooded with violent supernatural blows to his sanity, it of course falls on his shoulders to carry the movie. John Cusack isn’t one of my all-time favorite actors, but he’s still a very good one and is more than up to the task. He occasionally expresses a bit too much humor after some of the more frightening sequences, which I felt broke the tension a bit too much. Then there’s Samuel L. Jackson as Gerald Olin, the hotel manager. His role isn’t very big, but he plays it with his usual presence of charm and humor. You won’t leave the theater squealing “Wow, Samuel L. Jackson sure was FANTASTIC in this movie!” but you won’t be disappointed in his performance, either.

Lately, the haunted house subgenre of horror has been in a rather sad state of disrepair, what with the only other one of note released this year being the underwhelming “The Messengers”. “1408” is a refreshingly good return to the genre, based on a story written by a man who knows how to write a good haunted house tale. With this month being tragically low on horror flicks, “1408” is definitely your best bet.

Grade: B