Lucky 8

Well, lets crack on, shall we? My first set of reviews is this weekend's movie viewings. As you can tell, I've not been up to much, though works on my new childrens' book are well underway... You can get a lot of doodling done during a movie-thon...

Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (Rawson Marshall Thurber, 2004) - 4 Stars

I have to admit, I have never been a big fan of the “new wave” American comedy that has been saturating our screens for the last ten years or so. Indeed the likes of Will Ferrell and Steve Carrell do nothing more than rile me with a rage akin to genocide.
As such, I have been avoiding this one for a long while now, despite perpetual claims of its brilliance from my peers. After a final recommendation from a friend in Tokyo however, I reluctantly decided to give it a try.
And I’m glad I did. Unlike the other players in its field (Anchorman, Talledega Nights, etc…), I found myself hooting in delight for the full ninety minutes that this little gem ran for.
The story, as I’m sure many of you know, revolves around Vince Vaughan’s unfortunate slacker fighting to save his Everyman gym from a corporate take over by Ben Stiller’s once obese egomaniac. The story is nothing new; the good guys overcoming the big nasties, but it is the supporting cast that make this one to remember.
Rip Torn is on fine form as ever as the aged dodgeball champion who teaches our heroes to “Dodge, dip, duck, dive and dodge”, whilst Justin Long and Steven Root deliver, as ever, as stalwart members of the underdog team.
Star performance, however, has to go to the fine Adam Tudyk (Serenity, Death at a Funeral), whose Steve the Pirate is nothing more than pure genius.
Overall, despite my reservations, this is an excellent comedy for a Saturday evening, and certainly one I shall not be dodging again in the future.

Dead Like Me: Life After Death (Stephen Herek, 2009) - 2 Stars

I first came across the ill-fated comedy-drama Dead Like Me during my first year at university. After seeing the girl ahead of me in line at the library returning the first season on DVD, I was intrigued by the concept; Grim reapers live amongst us, taking the souls of the soon to be departed, whilst at the same time having to hold down a steady job and manage their (after)lives just like everyone else.
The show was made both touching and tantalising by the wonderful cast and witty writing, a trait that even after the show’s cancellation was weaved into Bryan Fuller’s likewise prematurely canned Pushing Daisies.
Thus, when I heard a movie was in the works, continuing and allegedly tying up the loose ends of the show, I was in a state of salivation waiting for the promised manna.
Unfortunately, I was sorely disappointed. With a new production team, and many of the original cast tied up with other projects, Life After Death was an empty coffin of its predecessor.
The lacklustre storyline revolves almost entirely around our hero George Lass (killed by a toilet seat in the original show), played by the ambiguously attractive Ellen Muth, shadowing her now grown-up sister Reggie, and dealing once again with the loss of her family. This side story was always something of an annoyance in the series, and alas, within the movie, does little to develop or wrap up anything within George’s character arc.
The other Reapers meanwhile find themselves at a loss when their previous boss Rube (the wonderful Mandy Pattinkin (The Princess Bride)) moves on to the afterlife. His replacement Cameron Kane (Henry Ian Cusick, Lost), though as devious and charismatic as the script dictates, does nothing to fill the boots of the former epicentre of the Reaper world.
With Pattinkin unable to take up his role once again, the writers clearly did their best to make the best of a bad situation, though one does wonder why they did not do the same with Laura Harris’ character, the southern belle Daisy Adair. Harris’ stand-in (Sarah Wynter, 24) is not a patch on her predecessor, and I often found myself confused as to whether who I was seeing was actually Daisy or not.
A mention must go to Callum Blue (Smallville, Caffeine), reprising his role, thank goodness, as the delinquent Mason, who with just a spattering of screen-time, still manages to steal the screen. Unfortunately this cannot make up for the rest of the drudge that we have endured throughout the film.
Life After Death is the perfect example of trying too hard to resurrect a deceased love, and failing on every count. One of the hardest lessons of all, both for a writer and a fan; some things are better off dead.

Evil Dead II (Sam Raimi, 1987) - 3 Stars

The first instalment of my Sam Raimi marathon this weekend was the classic Evil Dead II, obviously the sequel to its own namesake, the classic horror Evil Dead.
I watched the first movie a few years ago now, expecting the horror-comedy that is so very renowned within the trilogy. As such I was surprised when I was genuinely creeped out by the film. Evil Dead is a horror movie, complete with vine rape and damn scary voices. I learned this the hard way.
Why I waited so long to imbibe in the sequels, I don’t know, but having watched them back to back now, I’m not entirely sold on whether or not I enjoyed them.
Evil Dead II starts out fine enough; classic “cabin in the woods” scenario, with our hero Ash (the cult standard Bruce Campbell) recovering from the events of the first movie, and struggling with his own inner demons. We then digress into the expected narrative; more people turn up, shit hits the fan, book must be read aloud to send zombie creatures back to hell. This is all fine and dandy, and Ash’s evil hand (I couldn’t help but realising at this point the sheer unoriginality of a film I had previously quite enjoyed, Idle Hands) is great fun.
And then we have the ending. An obvious set up for Part III (for more, see Back to the Future Part II), this is both confusing and nonsensical.
As a horror-comedy, I enjoyed this for what it was. Understandably a cult classic, it delivered in everything it set out to; some good laughs, some decent scares, a heck of a lot of needless yet mandatory gore, and a chainsaw hand. Okay, this one I enjoyed.

Evil Dead III: Army of Darkness (Sam Raimi, 1992) - 2.5 Stars

And here is where I get lost.

Film One – Horror movie
Film Two – Horror Comedy
Film Three – Fantasy Comedy with Skeletons

It just didn’t cut it for me I’m afraid. Maybe I missed something. Maybe I need to watch it again. I don’t know.
Many film series have managed to pull off the random genre change; Alien being the fore-runner, but this just didn’t work for me. I wish it did, because I know how much of a fanbase this movie has, and maybe with a second viewing it will fall into place. For now however, I’m lost.
Kudos does have to be given however to the effects team. The “army” is fantastically created, with a mixture of classic Harryhausen claymation and some great early green-screening. And Bruce Campbell really does believe everything he’s saying within the confounding script.
Sorry, but I was most certainly left in the darkness with this one.

Drag Me To Hell (Sam Raimi, 2009) - 3.5 Stars

I decided to complete my Raimi-thon with his most recent offering; the box-office hit Drag Me To Hell.
This is a delightfully original cautionary tale of the dangers of pissing off an old gypsy. Loan officer Alison Lohman (Beowulf, Big Fish), who is certainly easier on the eye than Raimi’s first choice Ellen Paige (Hard Candy, Juno) declines a loan application from an old lady, who in turn goes somewhat homicidal and curses her with an ancient demon determined to, as the title suggests, drag her to hell.
Along her decent, Lohman is subjected to various forms of supernatural torment (the highlight of which involves an eye appearing in a slice of cake, wonderfully reminiscent of the unforgettable dinner scene in IT) whilst aided in her attempts to escape the curse by her adoring boyfriend (the lovely Justin Long once again) and a helpful psychic (Dilap Rao, Avatar).
The story has some great twists and turns, and the ending left me with a wicked smile on my face. Nothing like some schadenfreude to lighten a Sunday afternoon. The script is well paced and witty, and the schlock effects are tantalisingly good.
In all, by far my favourite of the Raimi films I viewed this weekend – deliciously twisted and wonderfully formed. A hell-bound journey I would certainly endure once again.

Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (Sarah Sugarman, 2004) - 3 Stars

I’ll come out say it; I love Lyndsay Lohan. Since first seeing her in The Parent Trap all those many years ago, the miscreant redhead has held a special place in my heart. Indeed, I count her calling card Mean Girls amongst my favourite movies of all time.
Thus, I finally brought myself round to watching its Disneyfied little sister, Confessions…. The story is a pretty much Mean Girls for the younger demographic; teenage Lohan arrives in new town after her parents decide to move. She’s worried she won’t fit in at school, and naturally, being attractive and bubbly, she doesn’t. The fact that she seems to live in a make-believe world of her own creation doesn’t exactly help.
From there, she befriends the delightful Allison Pill (the girl from Dear Wendy) and the two of them embark on an adventure to see their favourite band in concert, learning many moral lessons about the dangers of growing up and being a “fifteen” year old with double-D breasts. It’s a lot of fun, and everybody learns something.
In all, it’s no Mean Girls, but it’s fun, it’s cuddly, and there’s a few decent laughs to be had, especially when the finale (a modern musical version of Pygmalion for some bizarre reason) comes round. Four star family entertainment.

I Know Who Killed Me (Chris Sivertson, 2007) - 1.5 Stars

To curb my Lohan fetish, I decided to put myself quite literally through some torture porn. I think that’s what the world needs; a Hostel style movie in which teenagers are slowly tortured using only crap movies. It’s certainly a better pitch than my last horror script, Preservation; Saw with jam.
To be fair, I Know Who Killed Me certainly wasn’t as bad as I expected, and probably didn’t quite deserve the plethora of Razzies that it obtained. It was no Scream, or even Scream 3 for that matter, but with a little tweaking and a little better direction, this could have packed quite a punch.
The film can be read in two ways; basically Lohan plays a young writer who is kidnapped and tortured to death. However, when her identical twin miraculously appears from nowhere, stigmatically exhibiting the same wounds as her missing sister, it is up to her and the blandly portrayed father to find her. At first glance, an interesting premise, or at least an original one, but add into the equation that the whole “twin” arc is imagined by Lindsay No.1 in a traumatised state during the torture, and we have a tasty little cocktail of destruction. A Molotov perhaps?
Unfortunately, where the movie stumbles and falls is the sheer convolution of the ridiculous plot, leaving little to no explanation as to what actually happened at the end. Also, if it is simply a case of “actual occurrence”, rather than the pained imagination of a tortured writer, then they messed up big time by giving the killer away within two minutes of the opening credits.
Watch it and decide for yourself if you feel so inclined. I probably won’t be visiting again though, since at face value, nobody killed her. And she didn’t know him.

Hamlet 2 (Andrew Fleming, 2008) - 4 Stars

Now, this is a movie I have been waiting a heck of a long time to see. Having been put back for release a number of times, and then only released in a limited amount of theatres in the UK, I finally stumbled upon it this weekend, and my goodness was it worth the wait!
The film centres around failed actor turned drama teacher Steve Coogan (Alan Partridge, Around the World in 80 Days) who despite his school’s failing drama department endeavours to create the greatest theatrical spectacular of all time; a sequel to Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
The film itself is a delightful parody of the Bard’s tale; father issues, sexual betrayal and the inevitable return of a prodigal protégé. Everything leads up to the much anticipated performance however, and dear God does it pay off.
We are presented with a musical time-travel romp in which Hamlet and Jesus attempt to save the lives of every character within the original script, whilst at the same time finding redemption of their own fathers’ “abandonment”s.
Words are difficult to find with this wonderful film, speckled with delightful cameos (Elizabeth Shue and David Arquette to name but two), so my recommendation? Just watch it. Watch it, love it, and Rock with Sexy Jesus.