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Feeling dirty never felt so creepy!

There comes a time in all of our lives that we have to face the fact that life can be unbelievably cruel. Since good art should express the wide range of human experience, it is necessary for artists to sometimes explore the darker side of life, including the unbearably cruel events that people put each other through on a daily basis. However, there must be a purpose in explicitly showing this cruelty and that is where viewing disturbing art can become difficult. Does watching horrible events unfolding on a movie screen make us think about our own lives and how we treat the people that we come into contact with? I believe that in addition to exploring the darker side of human nature in his film Oldboy, director Chan-wook Park wants us all to think about our everyday actions and how they may affect those around us.
In Oldboy, seemingly regular guy Oh Dae-su (Choi Min-sik) is kidnapped and held captive in an apartment for fifteen years. He never sees his captors and has no idea why he has been imprisoned. While in his unusual cell he watches TV, racks his brain about who he could have pissed off to get him in this situation, and eventually trains himself for revenge if he is ever to be released. Without warning he is released and then given five days to find out who his captor is and why he was imprisoned. Oh Dae-su meets up with sushi chef Lee Woo-jin (Yu Ji-tae), who takes him in and helps him with his quest. Oh Dae-su leaves a trail of blood in his wake as he scours the city for clues and sweet vengeance.
Let me just start out by saying that this is a very beautiful film as well as one of the most truly disturbing movies I’ve ever seen. Bad things happen to the main character from the beginning and continue throughout the movie’s 120 minute running time. Any bit of happiness that any of the characters seem to feel is immediately immolated and castrated on the spot. Hatred, spite, depravity, and rage are the order of the day and most events are played out with extreme violence and anger. Yet, Chan-wook Park has managed to present this in a very eye-pleasing and well-constructed thrill ride of a movie, and for that he should be congratulated.

From the outset you will realize that this film is masterfully made and inventively put together. The whole first portion of the movie documenting his fifteen years of captivity is very schizophrenic, reflecting the fragmented state of the character’s mind as he deals with the madness of not knowing why he is suffering in this way. The rest of the movie features some great action scenes including one where Oh Dae-su fights off what must be a hundred guys armed only with a hammer! The film looks great and was made by a director who truly knows his craft.
I just want to warn you, by the end of this movie I felt like my soul had been raped by a jackhammer. Ok, maybe that’s a bit dramatic, but still, it left me feeling deeply disturbed and exhilarated. However, there’s a real beauty to be found in all of this tragedy; a beauty made all the more poignant in the film’s finale where Oh Dae-su has to make an impossible moral choice just to be able to live what he’s discovered about himself. It is one of the biggest and most powerful emotional payoffs you’ll ever see in a movie, and one you’ll not soon forget. Oldboy is definitely not for the faint of heart, but those who enjoy involved storylines, gritty fight scenes, and explorations of the seedier side of things will find much to appreciate here.

This Danish film about a POW is good for the icing, but not the cake.

The story of Brothers is unoriginal nearly to the point of cliché, but the masterful performances and beautiful cinematography make the movie interesting. Indeed, the familiarity of the story squarely plants the focus of the film on the art of those making it and on the underlying theme of betrayal and forgiveness.

Michael (Ulrich Thomsen) is a major in the Danish army who is being deployed to Afghanistan; his brother Jannik (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) was just released from prison where he served time for robbing a bank. When Michael is taken prisoner by Afghani fighters and is presumed dead, Jannik must summon the maturity to hold his family together while caring for Michael’s wife Sarah (Connie Nielsen) and her two daughters. As Jannik and Sarah grow closer, Michael endures unspeakable horror to survive.

The tension between Jannik and Sarah is palpable as they each long for the other to dull their grief. As the two fall into an uneasy friendship, the audience is left wondering what really happened between them, an issue further complicated by exposition by unreliable characters later in the film. It’s unfortunate that the character of Jannik makes little sense as he seems to pluck responsibility out of the blue when his brother goes missing, then loses it just as quickly when Michael returns. In fact, once Michael is rescued Jannik takes a back seat, nearly disappearing from the film altogether, making it clear that Brothers is really about Michael and Sarah.

When Michael returns home, he finds it impossible to accept what he did to survive and chooses instead to hide it. Odd behavior and unprovoked outbursts spiral into a drunken rage in which he tears his house apart, meanwhile Sarah must hide the growing fear of her husband from her daughters. I would have liked to see more of Michael before he is deployed to Afghanistan so that the effects of his imprisonment stand in greater relief.

Director Susanne Bier’s minimalist style is unobtrusive and serves to showcase the talent of the actors. The use of no additional lighting draws us in as we get a sense of the locations without the need for long scenery shots, and the use of handheld digital cameras lends the film urgent intensity. Color subtly evokes the mood of the characters, with pale blues after Michael’s supposed death warming as Jannik and Sarah draw closer, as well as providing a visual clash between Denmark and Afghanistan. On the other hand, the unnecessary images of waving grass that signify the next scene will be in Afghanistan seemed amateurish. All in all, the film takes the best elements of Dogme 95 while retaining familiar elements that make an audience comfortable, like a soundtrack.

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ZolarCzakl puts gets his two cents in on Undead

Since the dawn of the modern zombie film in the late 60’s there have been hundreds, if not thousands of cinematic stories told about the undead and those left living who struggle to remain alive. So it’s understandable that to make a zombie movie these days you need to try to put a new spin on the whole idea if you want your movie to get noticed. The Spierig Brothers from Australia have, for the most part, done this in their relatively recent movie Undead (made in 2003 but just now hitting our shores), although the execution of the film leaves a bit to be desired.
The story goes like this: In the small Australian town of Berkeley, meteorites start falling from the sky and immediately turning people into crazed, flesh-hungry zombies. Rene (Felicity Mason), a local beauty queen, holes up in a house owned by a strange farmer named Marion (Mungo McKay), who happens to sell weapons and really knows how to use them. Two cops, a park ranger and his pregnant wife show up as well and the rag-tag group of strangers must band together to survive the zombie onslaught. Things get much stranger from this point on as mysterious hooded figures come into the picture and to tell you any more would be a crime that I’m just not willing to commit.
There seem to be two major species of the zombie film: the serious kind and the funny kind. On the more serious side we have the George Romero movies from Night of the Living Dead all the way up to the recently released Land of the Dead. These movies have sprinklings of humor but for the most part are played in a serious dramatic manner. On the other side we have movies like Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead series and the movie that perhaps personifies this entire sub genre, Peter Jackson’s 1992 gore opus Dead Alive. These films take goofy characters and situations and mix them with stomach-churning gore and horrific suspense to create a unique blend of sickening violence you can laugh at. Even though the trailer for Undead makes it look like a very serious Romero-type zombie movie, it seems that the Spierig’s were trying to make one more in the Jackson camp but couldn’t quite pull it off.
The problem is that the movie can’t decide if it wants to be funny or if it wants to be serious. Scenes that are meant to be funny (but don’t quite make it) are surrounded by long action scenes (that are at times too drawn out) and even longer stretches of drama. If you look back at Peter Jackson’s first (Bad Taste) or the first Evil Dead movie, you can see that those directors had the comic/horror blend down pretty well from the beginning. It’s apparent that the Spierig Brothers don’t have it yet, but certain things in Undead do show promise for these Aussie filmmakers.
When the humor works, it works really well. In some of the action scenes, the crazy farmer Marion suddenly starts pulling some stunts straight out of Hong Kong crime movies and the Matrix series. Guns appear from out of his sleeves into his hands and he does impossible body flips in slow-motion that are very out of character. There are humorous lines found throughout and some of the violence is really funny in that Dead Alive way. There’s also a scene with zombie fish that has to be seen to be believed. If they could have found a way to keep this humor running consistently throughout the movie then it wouldn’t seem so out of place and would be much funnier overall.
As far as the zombie effects go, they are done pretty well. There is a lot of CGI stuff going on, but it didn’t bother me as much as it does in other movies. The blood and guts are effectively disgusting and the zombies were disposed of in much more entertaining and imaginative ways than they were in, say, Land of the Dead (had to get another jab at Land in there). You know a movie is going to be pretty good when you see a fountain of blood shooting very unrealistically out of someone’s neck like in a Monty Python sketch in the first few minutes of the film. Well, at least I do.
The film was a little disappointing but overall pretty entertaining. Not to compare or anything, but I got more genuine zombie thrills from Undead than I did Land of the Dead. It’s impressive for a first film and should provide enough blood and quirkiness for those who crave goofy zombie mayhem.

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“It’s not a tumor” has been replaced with “they’re not boobies”.

The Pacifier(2005): 1.5 Stars

Vin Diesel can be seen in many films and usually he’s very stoic, but in The Pacifier he’s the babysitter. The Pacifier is completely brainless fun for the family. Very similar to Kindergarten Cop, The Pacifier holds bar to Arnold and the senseless humor. Vin plays the stud who can kick butt, swim like a shark, and live off the land with some army rations, but can’t change a diaper. He truly did not have to do any acting, all he had to do is stand there and let the kids react to him. The site says that The Pacifier is “James Bond Meets Mary Poppins”, more like James Bond becomes Mr. Mom. Every worse case G-rated scenario that could happen does, baby vomit, baby poo, teenage girl problems, teenage boy problems, and the little girl with all the questions. Very surprising that the creators left out any drug, alcohol and sex related issues, but that may have turned the film into PG-13.

A Navy Seal, Shane Wolfe (Vin Diesel) finds himself as the babysitter for a family whose father had been assassinated for some secret gadget he had created. Wolfe was prepared to take on any duty he must to set this mishap straight. Finding watching over and taking care of 5 children at one time can be a little more daunting than the most riskiest military covert operation, Wolfe steps up to the occasion and takes on the protection of these children. Keeping house and fighting bad guys can be a little difficult, but the kids finally come to grips with the situation and start to warm up to their new found tough guy Mary Poppins and help out. Each child with their own personality, teen rebel Zoe (Brittany Snow), quiet and secretive 14 year-old Seth (Max Thieriot), 8 year-old inquisitive Lulu (Morgan York) and side notes 3-year old Peter and baby Tyler and with a little assistance from their wacky Romanian Nanny (Carol Kane), sadly Carol did not stay on long enough to keep the entertainment flowing smoothly, the family pulls together and gets the happy ending accomplished. Keeping a family together between evil ninjas, changing diapers, mad crazy wrestling assistant principles and drivers ed, Shane Wolfe pulled off one great feet and Vin Diesel playing his part was quite successful, both looked like a Seal out of water.

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She’s Mad She’s Black and She Kept a Diary

Diary of a Mad Black Woman (2005): 2 Stars

[B]Released on DVD June 28[/B]

Tyler Perry’s, Diary of a Mad Black Woman started from a small play origins and has grown to the big screen. The film hits on and tries to lighten some fairly serious subject matter, spousal abuse and low self-esteem. Perry pulls off multiple characters without flaw; his truly most inspiring part is Madea (short for mother dear), a gun totting, blunt speaking woman of faith who is the matriarch to the family. Overall, the rest of the cast is dull and portrayed a very unrealistic reaction to their character circumstances.

Helen (Kimberly Elise) is a woman who has become accustomed to a very wealthy way of life, but accepts her position as her husband’s, Charles (Steve Harris), second choice and mental and physical beating post. Along the way, Helen keeps a diary, a constant running dialogue about what is happening in her failing marriage and what she wishes would come about to correct it. She arrives home one night, after an awards ceremony for her husband, to find all her stuff loaded in a moving truck and her husband and his new fling taking residence in their home. Charles physically kicks Helen out after not taking the hint and tells her he wants a divorce. Helen has no where to go and no one to count on, but Madea. She shows up at Madea’s front door step trying to play it all off as if nothing has happened, but Madea, being the intelligent quick experienced woman she is figures it out. The next morning chain saw in one hand and handgun in the the other, Madea shows up at the mansion with Helen to split their belongings the proper way.

Helen spends a great deal of the time whining and crying about poor pitiful me and wanting her husband to take her back. Along the way she gets the attention of a hard working, soft spoken man who has the faith of hundreds and only the sweat on his brow to support him, Orlando (Shemar Moore). So wrapped up in her own problems and self-pitying prognosis, Helen doesn’t even take notice, but long enough to start arguments and nasty little fights with Orlando. He tries with all his might to be patient and woo her, trying to build her self-esteem back up and give her a little faith of her own.

Charles double crossed one of his rotten clients and got himself shot and in a wheelchair with no use of his limbs or voice. Helen finds this to be the opportune moment to get even with all Charles has done to her. It took too long for Helen to get mad and even, and what she does is bordering on the lines of pure torture. It gets so bad, she doesn’t feed or bath him and spends all her time verbally abusing him. The audience starts to feel pity for this poor soul and that shouldn’t be the affect that the film was looking for. He deserves to be shot with the way he treated her, but maybe being shot was enough. Helen hits a point where she realizes that she is no longer in love with Charles and has accomplished what she wanted. In An Officer and Gentleman moment, Helen runs out on the factory floor begging for Orlando’s forgiveness and hand in marriage.

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