Saw VI (2009)

I had not seen any of the "Saw" movies, so I tried to keep an open mind. My husband, sister and brother-in-law have seen all of these movies in a really strange and twisted tradition, they attend together. I think that we were four of the thirty people in the theater and that included the people who brought in the six and four year old (Who DOES that? Some people really need to go through the "Saw" puzzle for other reasons!).

I was not a fan of this movie. While there did seem to be a plot, that of a killer ("Jigsaw" played by Tobin Bell) playing his game with an insurance executive that denied him access to alternative treatment for his Cancer. Although the mastermind behind the killings is dead, he seems to be able to use his minions (Detective Hoffman played by Costas Mandylor and his ex-wife Jill played by Betsy Russell) to continue his games. There are many flashbacks to why Jigsaw wants this executive to go through the parts of his game. The flashbacks show that the executive William (Peter Outerbridge) uses a formula that he concocted to basically decide who lives or dies by denying treatment when it is not financially positive for Umbrella Insurance. When the killing starts it includes random people from his office, anyone from the janitor to his secretary. Just like in his job, he must decide who lives and who dies. The warehouse that this takes place in reminds me of a really bad haunted house that they make up a few days before Halloween. This movie is not scary in any way although I do cover my face right before the predictable killing parts (because I'm wimpy). The "acting" is really bad although there is an interesting twist at the end.

90 Minutes. Rated R. I give this Movie ONE AND ONE HALF STARS.

Jezebel (1938)

Julie Marsten (Bette Davis) is a spoiled young woman who is engaged to Preston Dillard (a young Henry Fonda)in the pre-civil war South (New Orleans). When her fiance doesn't jump to fulfill her request to accompany her to a dress fitting for a ball gown (something that gentlemen just didn't do) she decides to exhibit her displeasure by purchasing a scarlet red dress for the occasion. At this ball only white dresses are worn by the young ladies to showcase their "innocence". Her Aunt (Fay Bainter) and Uncle implore her not to wear the dress as does her fiance. She insists on wearing the dress and when she arrives at the ball is shocked at the unwelcome reception she receives in her defiance of the unwritten dress code. Everyone steps away and/or turns away from Julie and her escort. Julie wants to go home, but her fiance is not letting her out of the situation that she has put herself in and insists that she take her medicine and dance. The dance sequence in which they are the only ones left on the dance floor is awesome. Her look of embarrassment at being kept there and his of steady control are priceless. He makes sure that she has learned her lesson. Even though Preston breaks up with Julie after the dance, she believes that he will come back to her.

A year later he does come back...with a wife! Preston comes back to help with the Yellow Fever outbreak that is occurring in the New Orleans area and drops by Julie's house as she is having a dinner there. Julie is devastated by his marriage to Amy (Margaret Lindsay) and tries to use an old suitor, Buck Cantrell (George Brent)a man who loves her, to get back at Preston. Her old flame ends up getting killed in a duel over words that were said as a result of her shenanigans, she is still up to her old tricks. She feels awful about what happened and when Preston gets Yellow Fever, she decides that she is going to try to make it up by putting herself in danger by nursing Preston back to health.

This movie was great. Bette Davis is one of my favorite actresses and this was a fantastic film that I had not yet seen (hard to do). There were some interesting things happening in this film such as the fact that the people thought that by firing off cannons, that the air would be expunged of the Yellow Fever. There was also abolitionist talk when Preston and his wife came down from the North with another point of view on slavery. Keep in mind that this is a Hollywood film, but it is interesting to see how the "Hollywood South" worked.

Bette Davis was up for the Scarlett character in "Gone With the Wind" but did not get the part. One of the rumors is that Warner Brothers would not lend her out to David O. Selznik for the part and she was upset, so they gave her this part in Jezebel. In the old days, actors had contracts with studios and the studios had ultimate control as to what movies their employees worked in. They were often put in movies that they did not want to be in and the studios could make or break their career. This movie was filmed as "Gone with the Wind" was in pre-production. It seems to have worked out for Ms. Davis as she took the Oscar for her role as the scheming Julie. Fay Bainter also received an Oscar for her portrayal of Aunt Belle.

Thanks to Ron for suggesting this movie!

105 Minutes. Not Rated. I give this movie FOUR STARS!!

Love the old trailer!!

Law Abiding Citizen (2009)

Scottish actor Gerard Butler plays engineer Clyde Shelton whose wife and daughter are murdered in a random home invasion. The criminals, Clarence Darby (Christian Stolte) and Rupert Ames (Josh Stewart) are caught but only one of them gets the death penalty. The other one gets just a few years in a plea deal that the prosecutor set up. Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx) is the prosecutor on the fast track to the D.A.'s office and doesn't want to upset his 96% conviction rate with a case that he is not certain to win. Needless to say, Shelton is not happy.

Fast forward ten years later and one of the criminals is executed and the other turns up in a gruesome way. Shelton is arrested and it seems that we should applaud his efforts instead of condemning them because of what happened to his family, but after he is jailed he begins to threaten that more people will die and the targets become more innocent. The audience view of Shelton begins to make him look more like a criminal as Price's colleagues and more innocent people die before his eyes. Shelton is always 12 steps ahead of the authorities and it is interesting to see how everything unfolds. The big question is how are Shelton's murders still being committed even as he sits in prison?

This film has some gory, unexpected and inventive ways of killing (some of the items used looked like they were borrowed from the prop room at "Saw") and had some interesting plot twists. Butler gives a good performance as the tortured husband and father out to show everyone the injustice of the event.

A lot of critics didn't like this movie, but it kept me interested although I had to turn away from some of the gore (Kind of wimpy, I know).

108 minutes I give this film TWO AND THREE QUARTERS STARS.

Rated R

Revolutionary Road (2008)

Just call this film starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo Dicaprio "Depression Central".

The movie, based on the novel by Richard Yates, begins as April (Winslet) and Frank (Dicaprio) meet at a party after they lock eyes from across the room in the 1950's and quickly moves to their life in a Connecticut suburb. They have had two children and Frank is an unhappy salesman at a business machine company in New York and April is equally unhappy as a suburban housewife. They are considered by friends and neighbors as a perfect couple even though they are both seething below the surface. April, who feels that they are special and better than this, wants to pack up the kids (who, by the way, we see a total of about one minute during the movie) and move to Paris so that she can work and Frank can "find" himself.

Not long before they leave, April realizes that she is pregnant. This is not happy news to either of them and there is talk of an abortion. Not long before they are to leave Frank begins to receive recognition and a promotion at work and decides that they aren't going to move, but doesn't directly tell April. She finds out when they are at the beach with neighbors and he mentions it to one of the neighbors. From there things continue downhill as they turn against each other in frustration.

I know that a lot of reviewers are going to talk about how great this movie is and how it is about the horrible depressed lives that show suburban despair, blah,blah, blah. I like entertaining movies and this one just made me feel bad. I don't understand all of the award nominations.

Directed by Sam Mendes (Winslet's real life husband), the film doesn't work as well as his most well known film "American Beauty" which is also a suburban tale. I have to say that the acting in this film was excellent. Winslet (one of my favorites) and Dicaprio turn out fine performances as the angry couple. This film also included Kathy Bates as the couple's real estate agent and, in an Oscar winning performance, Michael Shannon as her mentally unstable son.

Review suggestion by Micah. I give this movie TWO AND ONE HALF STARS.

119 Minutes. Rated R

Couples Retreat (2009)

Although I like almost all of the actors in this movie, I found it to be a dud. Vince Vaughn, Jason Bateman, Jon Favreau, Kristin Davis and Kristin Bell as well as a host of others starred.

The premise of this film is that Cynthia and Jason (Bell and Bateman) have announced to their friends that they have decided to divorce and that they are going to go on a trip to Bora Bora to get counseling. Their friends, happily married Dave and Ronnie (Vaughn and Akerman), married high school sweethearts Joey and Lucy (Favreau and Davis) and just dating Shane and Trudy (Love and Hawk) eventually agree to go with them with the idea that they will be able to just go and have fun. Wrong. When they arrive, they are told that they will all be required to participate in the counseling sessions or they must leave. They also find out that the "fun" side of the island, is just across the bay from them. Jean Reno (so good in "The Professional") makes an appearance as a sort of Love Guru that was just cheesy. There were also a couple of small scenes that included Dave and Ronnie's two children that didn't really have any purpose in the movie except to up the cute factor for a few moments.

From here everything is totally predictable. Everything from the usual massage/erection jokes, to the hunky (and slightly creepy) yoga instructor hitting on the women as their husbands look on, to the "we all have problems and/or issues" speech at the end.

I think that I only laughed aloud once throughout this whole movie. However, if you just want to get away for a bit, you might like this movie. My movie going companions seemed to enjoy this movie, but I found myself looking around the theater at other people rather than watching the movie.

I read that Vaughn and Favreau co-wrote this movie along with someone else. This movie was also directed by the star of one of my favorite Christmas movies of all time, "A Christmas Story's" Peter Billingsly who played Ralphie (He'll shoot his eye out!!!!). Vaughn and Favreau have been in several movies together including their most famous movie together to date, "Swingers" (They were SO money!).

PG-13 I give this move TWO AND A HALF STARS.


Here is one of my favorite clips ever!

Julie and Julia (2009)

What makes this movie so good is Meryl Streep's performance as Julia Child.

This film is made up of two stories. The story of Julia Child is her time spent in post-war Paris with her diplomat husband (Stanley Tucci)with whom a deep, mutual love is evident. Julia is not your usual woman of the time, she got married late, is a virtual giant (compared to the French and her husband) and is childless although not by choice. She is looking for something to take up her time and tries hat making and Bridge before stumbling into cooking. She attends the Cordon Bleu and the rest is history. She always looks like she is having a great time even in tense moments and when her equally tall sister arrives for a visit, hilarity ensues. The story of Julie Powell doesn't have nearly the spice that Julia's does. Julie is a clerical worker that seems to have been passed by by her more successful friends. She feels that she needs to do something, so she decides that she is going to cook all 524 recipes from a cookbook that Julia co-wrote called "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" in 365 days and blog about it. She is encouraged by her supportive husband Eric(Chris Messina)in completing her task.

The director, Nora Ephron, moves between the present as Julie prepares her meals, and the past with Julia's time in Paris. The screen time spent with Julia is much more entertaining. Other than a few cooking mishaps including how to kill a lobster, I found that the Julie part of the story dragged on a bit.

This is not the first time that Streep and Adams have worked together. They recently starred together in a movie called Doubt in which they both play nuns in a more serious film. It might also be interesting to read the book in which Julie and Julia was based. Written by the real Julie Powell, it is called "Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen". I am going to try to read it as I think that the kitchen mishaps will be much more fun in the book.

This movie was very entertaining, I would buy it. I give it THREE AND THREE QUARTER STARS.

PG-13

Better Off Dead (1985)

Since I am on a John Cusack roll, I thought that I would review one of his first films.

High School student Lane Meyer (Cusack), considers suicide after his girlfriend breaks up with him for the captain of the high school ski team. He spends most of the movie trying to win her back. There is an interesting cast of quirky characters including his strange homemaker mother, a father who is convinced that Lane is on drugs and a genius little brother who spends his time building laser guns and reading books about how to pick up trashy women. Other characters include the wacky neighbors across the street who have basically imprisoned their French foreign exchange student, a couple of race car driving Korean brothers who have learned to speak English by listening to Howard Cosell and a paperboy who REALLY wants his two dollar payment.

This is Cusack quirkiness in all it's 80's glory. Keep that in mind if you decide to watch it. The soundtrack is cheesy 80's, but it is a fun movie.

I give this film THREE STARS.

97 Minutes long. Rated PG.





Other Cusack movies around the same time period to check out are "The Sure Thing" with Daphne Zuniga and "Say Anything" which is a personal favorite. One of his first movies that went past the "teentype" is "The Grifters" in which he plays a con-man with co-stars Angelica Huston and Annette Bening.

Zombieland (2009)

A virus has infected humanity. How it happened and how far it reaches, no one knows. About the only thing that is clear is that there are not many people still around that are not infected. The only uninfected humans that we see are five people and no animals.

This movie was a riot! It was short, (less than an hour and a half) but we laughed through most of it. The movie is narrated by Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg, who was last seen in "Adventureland" which was a big disappointment) who, in his quest to stay alive in the Zombie filled world has made up a list of items that a Zombie Evader needs to live by. For example, he warns that one needs to be careful in the bathroom as Zombie's like to crawl under the stall doors. Throughout the movie, his list of rules pops up on the screen, very amusing in opportune moments. He meets up with Talahassee (Woody Harrelson) and they decide to travel toward Texas. I am not usually a big fan of Harrelson, (again because he seems like kind of a jerk in real life) but he nails it here as a Twinkie hunting badass in a wardrobe right out of "Wild at Heart" (love the Python jacket). He likes to find some of the more interesting ways to kill Zombie's, think garden tools.

While on one of their stops in the search for Talahassee's Twinkies, they stumble upon a couple of sisters, Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) who turn out to be a couple of con-artists. Yes, everyone seems to go by names of places that they are either from or are going toward. They all straighten out their differences and decide to head to the west coast to an amusement park called Pacific Playland that is rumored to be Zombie free. When they get to L.A. they decide to crash at a nice home for the night and end up at Bill Murray's house where they meet the celebrity who turns in an awesomely funny performance.

Brian and I laughed through most of this movie. It also received a huge ovation in the theater. There was a lot of gore, but it was gross and funny at the same time. The gore seemed kind of cartoonish with a lot of drooling and black and red spew. Nice!

If you are looking for another good Zombie type movie that is more of a comedy, check out "Shaun of the Dead". It takes place in England.

This movie was highly entertaining. I am giving this THREE and THREE QUARTERS stars.

Rated R

Grosse Point Blank (1997)

This entertaining movie stars quite a few well known and diverse actors including John Cusack, Minnie Driver, Dan Aykroyd, Hank Azaria, Alan Arkin, Joan Cusack, and Jeremy Piven. Martin Blank (John Cusack) is a former government assassin gone into business for himself. He finds that he is to do a job in his hometown of Grosse Pointe, Michigan. He is talked into attending his ten year high school reunion which is taking place while he is there by his secretary, Marcella(His real life sister Joan). While there he visits old haunts and friends and finds out that his house is gone, in it's place is an Ultimart and WHERE is his Mom?

This film gave me a lot of laughs. Joan Cusack's Marcella reminds me of....ME! So of course I loved her. Dan Aydroyd's "Grocer" does a hilarious turn as a rival assassin bent on unionizing their "occupation" and stealing Martin's "marks". Alan Arkin plays Martin's psychiatrist and Hank Azaria plays an FBI agent following Blank. I could have done without the love interest (Minnie Driver)as it really didn't have much to do with the outcome of the movie. As for the Jeremy Piven's character, (a friend from home)I just have a hard time getting past the fact that he seems like a jerk in real life, Entourage be damned.

Word on the street is that Cusack and Piven were once very good friends as proven by the fact that Piven has small parts in more than a couple of Cusack's films. I read however, that they aren't close any longer. Watch for two other Cusack siblings in this movie. His sister Ann plays one of the "Pointers" and their brother Bill plays a waiter in a bar.

Reviewed by request by my buddy Steve. Overall this movie is very enjoyable. That's what counts, right? I rate this movie THREE and ONE HALF stars.

I own it! See it.