3 Razors

The Vampire’s Assistant

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant
  • IMDB: link

vampires-assistant-posterI’m pretty sure Ed Wood would have loved Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant. Messy, flawed, riddled with odd choices and questionable casting, and stuck with a plot that make less, not more, sense as it progresses, The Vampire’s Assistant is in every way a B-movie. And, I’ll admit, I kinda liked it.

Based on a series of novels by Darren Shan the film’s main plot revolves around a rather bland high school student, Darren (Chris Massoglia), and his more rambunctious best friend Steve (Josh Hutcherson) whose main purpose it seems is to get Darren into as much trouble as possible.

A night out takes the pair to a freak show where events unfold that lead Darren into an agreement with vampire Larten Crepsley (John C. Reilly) in order to save his friend. Leaving behind his life, Darren becomes part vampire, and begins his new life in the Cirque de Freak as Crepsley’s assistant.

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Capitalism: A Love Story

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Capitalism: A Love Story
  • IMDB: link

capitalism-a-love-story-posterIn the past, Michael Moore has taken on George Bush, the gun lobby, and health care. In his latest film Capitalism: A Love Story, he finds a new target in the economic system of capitalism. Greed, it turns out, isn’t really good afterall. As in his previous movies, Moore combines interviews of real Americans, news footage, the town of Flint, funny clips, his own personal narrative, and his trademark stunts, to try and prove his point. Although Capitalism is a highly entertaining movie, in terms of constructing and presenting an argument it’s Moore’s weakest entry to date.

The basic premise of the film is capitalism is a flawed and inherently destructive system. To help prove his point, Moore showcases the inequality between corporate America and the middle class (which has been taken advantage of by a growing culture of greed). The advantages and opportunities that capitalism fosters such as entrepreneurship, invention, and the ability to rise far above the economic station of your birth, are simply glossed over (or reduced to broad generalization).

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First Flight

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Green Lantern: First Flight
  • IMDB: link

Created 40 years ago by John Broome and Gil Kane, at the dawn of the Silver Age, Hal Jordan is back in the center of the DCU and the star of his own animated film.

I was a bit surprised when I first heard DC was planning an animated Green Lantern film. Thrilled, but surprised. They had already done Justice League: The New Frontier which, at its heart, is a Hal Jordan story. I was also concerned by Warner Premiere’s hit-and-miss track record so far. So it was with hope, and a little trepidation, I sat down to watch Green Lantern: First Flight. Although far from perfect, this straight-to-DVD flick has a lot going for it. It’s a pretty good GL story, and it even casts Red Foreman as the voice of one of the villains.

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Public Enemies

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Public Enemies
  • IMDB: link

public-enemies-posterWell, it’s not my favorite Michael Mann film, and is sure not The Untouchables, but for all it’s faults, Public Enemies is still a fair film filled with some great moments, and it’s worth a good long look.

The story is centered around bank robber extraordinaire John Dillinger (Johnny Depp). We don’t learn much about Dillinger over the course of the film other than he’s the brains of the operation, well respected among other robbers, disliked by the mob for bringing attention on them, and an all around good guy (at least for a robber and murderer).

Rather than give us a character study or a balanced look at both cops and robbers, like he did in Heat, Michael Mann instead shifts the camera to zoom in on how this man’s mere presence affected those around him. The cops, led by (Christian Bale) begin to take shortcuts and cross many important lines in their quest to apprehend their prey. The most gruesome of these is the questioning of Dillinger’s girl (played magnificently by Marion Cotillard) with an old-school cop brutality that isn’t easy to watch.

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I’ve got a “Proposal” for you

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: The Proposal
  • IMDB: link

The ProposalRomantic comedies can scare critics away quicker than a mob racing out of a burning building. It’s hard to warm up to a genre that’s let you down so often, and so consistently. So settling down to watch The Proposal all I really was hoping for was to make it out of the theater with my sanity intact.

Here’s the thing, aside from the contrived device used to get the film’s stars together (and a few best-forgotten groan-worthy scenes), the film actually works better than I expected. It’s not great by any stretch of the imagination, but for the genre it’s above average.

Sandra Bullock stars as Margaret Tate, a bitchy cutthroat book editor who is feared by all. Her assistant, Andrew (Ryan Reynolds), sums up her character best as someone who is allergic to “pinenuts and the full spectrum of human emotion.” When Margaret is faced with being deported and losing her job she decides to blackmail Andrew, whose career track is tied to her success, into marrying her. The newly engaged couple take a trip to Andrew’s hometown to learn about each other and prepare for a quicky wedding. And so the shenanigans begin.

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