It's hard to keep a straight face when there is an upcoming horror remake. Previous remakes of The Stepfather, Prom Night, Sorority Row, The Messengers, One Missed Call (do you want me to continue?) have all tanked at the box office and have become the laughing stock of so-called horror. The Crazies, however, manages to separate itself from the dregs of such tomfoolery by taking a simple premise and throwing in a legitimate mystery (however outrageous it may be) for both characters and audience to figure out together. Trouble is, the mystery is solved far too early and we are left to helplessly watch the townsfolk survive what seems to be unsurvivable.
On the first day of spring (baseball has begun after all), a man walks onto the field carrying a shotgun and Sheriff Dutten (Timothy Olyphant) is forced to shoot him where he stands because this man, also known as the town drunk, was about to do the same to him. Another man is sent to the family clinic by his family where Dutten's wife, Judy (Radha Mitchell), works. He seems to be incomprehensive to his surroundings and Judy thinks it's just a sick bug going around. Dutten, an intelligent man (they are few and far between in these horror films), tries to discover what is causing some of these townspeople to become belligerent and murderous. Taking the coroner's autopsy into account, Dutten hires a boat to scour the local lake and finds something that is, indeed, causing his town to go crazy.
Breck Eisner, whose only other major work was the forgettable Sahara, can't help but succumb to using the cliche elements of horror (first-person POVs, close angle shots of faces) but pulls it off by not yielding to the usual jump-out-and-scare-you routine. Kinda nice, since we already knew that the town was being overrun by crazy people anyway.
What also keeps The Crazies going is its ability to move the characters from place to place without dragging its feet. What I mean to say is that no where is safe. Even a car wash. As the town's population dwindles by the hour, both Dutten and his wife, along with the deputy (Joe Anderson) and Judy's young secretary, manage to move from location to location dispatching fellow townspeople when necessary and avoiding the military at all costs. No one will tell the town what is going on, so the group is left to fight for their own answers.
The Crazies, as crazy as it is, is not as crazy as it should be. The infected kill the uninfected without question (and the reason why is not entirely answered) but they're coherent enough to still understand the world around them. Understand that the crazies are not zombies, they are just humans who have succumbed to a virus that is slowly killing them and causing their skin to make them look like zombies. Despite its stop-and-go pace, The Crazies treats each scene as if the survivors are out of the forest, yet there is still something, or someone, wanting to end their quest for survival.
As the conclusion of the film nears, we are supposed to prepare ourselves for a sequel. This is horror, after all, and studios become blinded by the fact that they believe we want to see more of the same. It's evidenced by those remakes mentioned above. I'm sure The Crazies will bring in the same amount of cash as the usual horror remake (read: not much), but at least The Crazies is a movie I can watch again with serious intent instead of laughing at them like I usually do. B-
Friday, February 26, 2010
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
Based on Rick Riordan's teen series of the same name, the plot of Percy Jackson is simple. Once it manifests itself. There are several parts of the story, however, that need to be set up and since this is the first chapter in what should be intended as a franchise, Percy's story needs to be established before we decide whether or not we like the characters that are placed before us.
I suppose we should start form the beginning: Zeus's lightning bolt has been stolen and Zeus accuses Poseidon's son of making off with it. Poseidon is appalled that his own brother would even think of pointing fingers at his nephew, but we'll later learn that there is a code between humans and gods that will take some mental power to follow.
Percy Jackson (Logan Lerman, who I'm sure we'll seeing more of in the coming years) is a high-school student whose greatest weakness is self-prescribed dyslexia. Percy sees English as Greek and vice versa, which isn't so much dyslexia as it is subconscious transference. He lives with his mother (Catherine Keener) and her boyfriend (Joe Pantoliano) who is the epitome of all things slimy. On a field trip to a museum containing Greek history, his English teacher pulls him aside and demands he return Zeus's lightning bolt, lest the gods wage war on each other. Percy, of course, understands nothing about what is going on and is rushed by his mother and his best friend, Grover, who also happens to be his protector, to a camp for demi-gods (half-god, half-human, in case you were wondering) hidden deep within a forest located conveniently next to a lake. Along the way, his mother is taken captive by a minotaur sent by Hades.
As Percy begins to adjust to this new life, Chiron the centaur (Pierce Brosnan) explains to him that Poseidon is his father and that he is the one accused of stealing Zeus's bolt. In fact, all the kids at Camp Half-Blood are offspring of Greek gods.
So after a well-paced, not-your-average capture-the-flag battle, Percy decides to leave the camp on his own to find the entrance to Hell, get his mother back, and find and return Zeus's bolt. All in a day's work, right? Grover, and a fellow demi-god AnnaBelle (Alexandria Daddario) also decide that they are going to accompany Percy on this treacherous journey. But as one of their fellow demi-god warriors explains: getting into Hell is easy, getting out is the hard part. So they must begin a cross-country journey finding three pearls that will allow them exit out of Hades. A journey that will cross paths with Medusa, the Hydra, and the Sirens. I'll leave it you to guess where the entrance to Hell might be.
With a cast that reeks of acting talent (Sean Bean, Pierce Brosnan, Steve Coogan, Rosario Dawson, Uma Thurman to name a few), not one actor is able to stand out among the rest because of the amount of screen time they're given. After all, the movie is called Percy Jackson and the Olympians, not the other way around.
Even though the screenplay still needed some work in the dialogue area, the special effects and action sequences make up for it. Chris Columbus has experience in filming scenes with several components (see the first two Harry Potter's) and that experience pays off here. Despite the plot being full of minor details and silly holes, Percy Jackson is a fun adventure that takes Greek mythology and turns it into something updated and modernized for younger viewers. Yes, history can be fun! C+
I suppose we should start form the beginning: Zeus's lightning bolt has been stolen and Zeus accuses Poseidon's son of making off with it. Poseidon is appalled that his own brother would even think of pointing fingers at his nephew, but we'll later learn that there is a code between humans and gods that will take some mental power to follow.
Percy Jackson (Logan Lerman, who I'm sure we'll seeing more of in the coming years) is a high-school student whose greatest weakness is self-prescribed dyslexia. Percy sees English as Greek and vice versa, which isn't so much dyslexia as it is subconscious transference. He lives with his mother (Catherine Keener) and her boyfriend (Joe Pantoliano) who is the epitome of all things slimy. On a field trip to a museum containing Greek history, his English teacher pulls him aside and demands he return Zeus's lightning bolt, lest the gods wage war on each other. Percy, of course, understands nothing about what is going on and is rushed by his mother and his best friend, Grover, who also happens to be his protector, to a camp for demi-gods (half-god, half-human, in case you were wondering) hidden deep within a forest located conveniently next to a lake. Along the way, his mother is taken captive by a minotaur sent by Hades.
As Percy begins to adjust to this new life, Chiron the centaur (Pierce Brosnan) explains to him that Poseidon is his father and that he is the one accused of stealing Zeus's bolt. In fact, all the kids at Camp Half-Blood are offspring of Greek gods.
So after a well-paced, not-your-average capture-the-flag battle, Percy decides to leave the camp on his own to find the entrance to Hell, get his mother back, and find and return Zeus's bolt. All in a day's work, right? Grover, and a fellow demi-god AnnaBelle (Alexandria Daddario) also decide that they are going to accompany Percy on this treacherous journey. But as one of their fellow demi-god warriors explains: getting into Hell is easy, getting out is the hard part. So they must begin a cross-country journey finding three pearls that will allow them exit out of Hades. A journey that will cross paths with Medusa, the Hydra, and the Sirens. I'll leave it you to guess where the entrance to Hell might be.
With a cast that reeks of acting talent (Sean Bean, Pierce Brosnan, Steve Coogan, Rosario Dawson, Uma Thurman to name a few), not one actor is able to stand out among the rest because of the amount of screen time they're given. After all, the movie is called Percy Jackson and the Olympians, not the other way around.
Even though the screenplay still needed some work in the dialogue area, the special effects and action sequences make up for it. Chris Columbus has experience in filming scenes with several components (see the first two Harry Potter's) and that experience pays off here. Despite the plot being full of minor details and silly holes, Percy Jackson is a fun adventure that takes Greek mythology and turns it into something updated and modernized for younger viewers. Yes, history can be fun! C+
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Getting Started
As this is my first entry for an entirely new blog, I feel the need to say something ground-breaking and memorable here, but I guess this will have to do: I love movies!
And so do several others, as evidenced by the fact that there are countless amounts of reviews out there just waiting to be read. Some reviews exalt the film in question, others urge you to not touch it with a ten-foot pole. So I've decided to add myself to the growing number of critics, who have spent many sleepless nights supporting the fact that the film they have just watched either sucks or rocks. Or somewhere in between.
I've been a writer for as long as I can remember and for the life of me, I've never so much publicly published an official copy of my work. What you're reading now is what I believe my first outing as an amateur writer. That's not to say I'm just beginning. I'll show you notebooks and folders full of story ideas, screenplay dialogues, and character arcs. But what you'll read here is something that I've decided to whole-heartedly pursue: movie criticism. As far as I know, I don't need a degree to tell you my opinion, but I do hope that you'll treat this blog as another website you, as a fellow movie lover, surf regularly.
This blog is also committing me to continue writing on a regular basis and put my work up for criticism itself. My reviews are, of course, my own opinion and you should in no way take them for what they are. Feel free to leave your comments on my reviews or thoughts on films that I will periodically post. I don't expect you to agree with what I write, but if you're reading this (or continue to) I know you're at least considering my thoughts about films.
To end this first entry in this newfound criticism blog, let me tell you what you can look for in future posts. You will, of course, see film reviews, hopefully on a consistent basis. I have a few articles in mind about the Oscars and my thoughts on nominees as I hurriedly try to catch up before the winners are announced. I also had a Most Disappointing List of 2009 I had mentally written, so look for that to make its way to print in the coming weeks. Next month I'd like to start a post entitled "Bond: 22 Movies in 30 Days." That's just like me, isn't it?
Well, I hope I've grabbed your attention with this first blog entry. I'll leave it to you to decide whether or not this is a blog worth reading. I know if I keep writing it, though, people will read it and that alone makes it worthwhile.
Enjoy the movies everyone!
And so do several others, as evidenced by the fact that there are countless amounts of reviews out there just waiting to be read. Some reviews exalt the film in question, others urge you to not touch it with a ten-foot pole. So I've decided to add myself to the growing number of critics, who have spent many sleepless nights supporting the fact that the film they have just watched either sucks or rocks. Or somewhere in between.
I've been a writer for as long as I can remember and for the life of me, I've never so much publicly published an official copy of my work. What you're reading now is what I believe my first outing as an amateur writer. That's not to say I'm just beginning. I'll show you notebooks and folders full of story ideas, screenplay dialogues, and character arcs. But what you'll read here is something that I've decided to whole-heartedly pursue: movie criticism. As far as I know, I don't need a degree to tell you my opinion, but I do hope that you'll treat this blog as another website you, as a fellow movie lover, surf regularly.
This blog is also committing me to continue writing on a regular basis and put my work up for criticism itself. My reviews are, of course, my own opinion and you should in no way take them for what they are. Feel free to leave your comments on my reviews or thoughts on films that I will periodically post. I don't expect you to agree with what I write, but if you're reading this (or continue to) I know you're at least considering my thoughts about films.
To end this first entry in this newfound criticism blog, let me tell you what you can look for in future posts. You will, of course, see film reviews, hopefully on a consistent basis. I have a few articles in mind about the Oscars and my thoughts on nominees as I hurriedly try to catch up before the winners are announced. I also had a Most Disappointing List of 2009 I had mentally written, so look for that to make its way to print in the coming weeks. Next month I'd like to start a post entitled "Bond: 22 Movies in 30 Days." That's just like me, isn't it?
Well, I hope I've grabbed your attention with this first blog entry. I'll leave it to you to decide whether or not this is a blog worth reading. I know if I keep writing it, though, people will read it and that alone makes it worthwhile.
Enjoy the movies everyone!
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