Tue, 17 Apr 2007

Quick DVD Roundup 4/17

Slither - **
Slither was a loaner from a coworker. It was deep in my queue on Netflix, but the coworker found out I liked certain movies and read various movie sites. Quite nice for him to loan it to me.

Anyway, that said, Slither's a horror-scifi flick along the lines of The Blob if it were crossed with a zombie movie. Nathan Fillion (the poor man's Justin Bateman? or the thinking man's answer to Justin Bateman, you decide) who was in Firefly stars as the local sheriff who has to keep a small band of townsfolk safe from an ever changing Michael Rooker (Henry, Portrait of a Serial Killer / Mississippi Burning).

See, Rooker's character got a bit too close to a meteorite one night and it really wasn't a meteorite? It bit him? He's changing into a snake thing?

Yeah, sounds lame in a way, but that's because of the way I'm writing. But you know what? The movie's kinda fun. It's written pretty well, it has decent dialog, doesn't take itself too seriously and still shows respect for the horror genre while having fun with it. Rent it.

A History of Violence - ***
This movie gets three stars for the acting (and maybe a bit because Maria Bello is naked for a sec). The only drawback to the movie is that it feels exactly like a graphic novel feels when you read it. (but not in a good way sometimes)

This shows my geek side- but you know how when you're reading a series of graphic novels and you slow down towards the end of the last issue because you know there are fewer pages and you linger over the various panels? It's like Cronenburg did that at the end. Lingering a bit too long over the family at the dinner table- to perhaps really sink it in at the end for the viewers eating too much popcorn?

But hey, it's a good story and well acted- yes, campy at times, but it's good. Oh, and William Hurt is (really really) good towards the end.

Do I want to ramble on about the film's message? No. Could I? Sure, but I'm not going to.

The Constant Gardener - ***
I thought that this movie was a "spy thriller" based off previews and the book's author. But I wouldn't classify it as that necessarily. Maybe a multi-faceted story about foreign state department workers uncovering a mystery in Africa, but not a spy movie.

Let me get the negative out of the way first. Parts of this movie have that feel of "this is how the movie should go" textbook flow. Anyone else get this vibe?

The positives- good story, my fave Rachel Weisz, filmed well, good actors. The pace could have been tightened up . .

I digress. It feels like a good movie adaptation of a lot of good books I've read with similar subject matter.

Opens with a bang -a murder, of Weisz's character. The rest of the movie tries to show you why it happened. Directed by the guy who directed City of God.

Meh, I can't write well about this DVD. A decent rental, but not one of the best of 2005 as billed by some people. here's a better review

Children of Men - *****
You know, I'm tempted to give this movie it's own review. It's that good.

Sure the story's a bit depressing but DAMN this is movie making as it should be. Near art status.

owen The premise: near-future, post-apocalyptic feel in London- Something bad's been happening (hints of a recent plague), no more babies being born in the world. People are depressed and dying. Governments rounding up and kicking out immigrants. Clive Owen contacted by someone to help get some illegal passage papers due to a connection to someone in the government. Then things go bad . . . (I really don't want to give too much of this away).

Let's get this out of the way first. The story itself is great. It's told well. It's believable "sci fi". It's compelling. The actors are all top-notch. And I mean tops.

There's a scene in a car and later a type of battle scene, or chase scene rather, that were done so well that, well, I dunno, you just know someone did their homework. I even looked up on film sites how it was done (no I'm not going to write about that here, watch the movie on your own first), or how the hell did they film that scene so well in a cramped van . . .

I think I'll write more about that movie later. But seriously, it's one of the best movies I've seen.

I'm also trying to get a guest reviewer to send me her review of the movie. I'll post it when I get it (if I get it).

17 Apr 22:50 | /movies | 4 comment(s)