The Fourth Kind

Nov 2009, Olatunde Osunsanmi, 98 mins

The Fourth Kind is a spine-tingling experiment in horror which relies on the audience to buy into the ‘truths’ of the film. Directed by newcomer, Olatunde Osunsanmi the film plays as a handsome re-enactment of true events. The actors actually speak to the camera as themselves explaining the events their characters will be portraying? Confused? Well, it is a tough endeavor to hold an audience in suspense when you are continually telling them that what they are watching is a movie.

There are moments of true genius mixed in with the sometime faulty set ups. With scenes of “actual” footage of events being split screened with the fictional re-enactment of said scene. Again, a bit confusing. The genius is the way the filmmakers are able to blur the line and inter-cut the actors and the “real” subjects.

The acting is bland and the interviews contrived but never have I had so much fun watching a theatrical chiller. The movie is creepy as hell. You don’t know what was actually taped and what Hollywood brewed up on a sound stage. The idea of alien encounters is a classical cinematic genre and The Fourth Kind deserves to be seen.

The fundamental flaws of poor acting, the continuous explanation by all included that what you are watching is a film, and the dullness of the dialogue all play a part in holding it back from greatness. It is a little frustrating when a moment of great suspense is followed by an almost laughably taped interview segment. Osunsanmi , who uses himself as an interviewer periodically throughout the film, should have stayed behind the camera. He inadvertently distracts the viewer with his odd pauses and mannerisms that should have been left on the cutting room floor.

In the long, boring, sometimes idiotic array of sci-fi horror, The Fourth Kind is still a step above the field. Is it The Shining? ...no. But is it as good as The Ring? ...yes, easily so.

Poor Show, Great Movie

Submitted by AMM contributor Grooveking

RIFF TRAX showing of “Plan 9 from Outer Space”

9/2/09, selected theaters

Let me first admit this: I don’t know shit about this stuff.

I went to this show for a strong dose of comedy (no disappointment there). But I really had no idea what to expect of this special showing on September 2^nd. This whole show was produced by an out fit called Fathom Events, which is a division of NCM (National Cine Media). They produce Internet TV programs, Cinema Media Events, In-theater advertising. Wha? For this event, they hired the talent, booked the venue (Nashville’s Belcourt Theater), produced and recorded the show, and then arranged for it to be shown two weeks later in some 400+ movie theaters on the same date. I did the quick math: there were about 100 viewers at my theater, meaning maybe 40,000 viewers nationwide (although it was probably not close to that many). With the $10.00 ticket, that’s a $400,000 gross. Splitting 50/50 with the theaters, I figure Fathom got about $200K, probably much less. Now I’m beginning to understand why it was so bad.

Now let me say this: I do know some things about some shit.

I spent more than 15 years in my (younger) life in the entertainment industry. Like everyone else, I began as a musician. It didn’t take me very long to realize that wasn’t my strength, so I moved over to the business side and became very successful as a booking agent, an artist manager, a concert promoter and a big nightclub owner. I even traveled as a Production Manager for a 26-city US tour of two RCA Records recording acts. I think I have the creds to evaluate this show. Not only was I disappointed in the technical quality of the Fathom recording of this event, but I believe that the staging and the talent acquisition fell way short. It was advertised as an HD recording, yet the colors were washed and the clarity didn’t match what one is used to seeing up on the big screen. Unbelievably, there were even three total drop outs during the show (the screen went to black with no audio for 5-6 seconds). It reminded me of when I was a kid watching a film strip in the classroom – sans the melting film sequence. The staging was very average and the lighting subpar, as though we were watching a high school talent show in the auditorium. And that provides me with the perfect segue into talking about the talent. In fact, let’s not use that word at all. Let me rephrase: the perfect segue into talking about the performers. No, the entertainers. No, the acts. No, the hacks. Yeah - that’s it, the hacks.

The evening’s host was introduced as the “Queen of the Internet,” leading me to think, “Yeah, man – Alright!” Out on stage strolls Veronica Belmont, whose claim to fame is her internet TV program “Tekzilla” on Revision3. Wha? She is cute (like that’s a difficult requirement for a casting department to meet, right?) but totally devoid of anything closely resembling stage presence. All night long, she (gulp) read her lines from a crumpled paper pad. Was this dress rehearsal? Did any one tell her it was being recorded? Did Fathom even hire a Director and, if so, was he backstage eating a sandwich? Belmont introduces a “special” musical guest, Jonathan Coulton. The Brooklyn native is a singer/songwriter (okay, I’ll give him the songwriter part) who writes a blog as well some slightly humorous songs). He walks up to the microphone and yells, “Hello, America!” Wha? Settle down, little fella. This isn’t LIVE AID. It was all downhill from there. Summary: Very average guitarist with a voice to match. We’re talking Monday night open-mic level of quality here. Hard to believe this is who Fathom came up with. Please tell me he’s the son or brother of someone deep within the Fathom chain of command. Then it would at least add up. And let’s not forget the guy (didn’t catc h his name) who started the show by drawing raffle tickets (“Collect your gifts on our website”) and hawking products (ahhh, the “In-theater advertising” part). God, I hate that. I paid $10.00 to get in. No ads, please. Rounding out this All Star line-up was Rich “Lowtax” Kyanka (another household name) who actually produced a couple of rather clever mock commercials. Lowtax gets a C-, while Belmont and Coulton need to be held back and repeat First Grade. The other guy should have been left on the cutting room floor, or has this cliché now become “deleted into ether limbo”? In any event, get him out of there. For all I know, he’s the president of Fathom Events. Apart from the headlining movie, this show was consistently short of a professional presentation. Ah, yes . . . the movie:

In the end, we all laughed ourselves into tears.

They should have just shown the movie. Ed Wood’s classic stinker, “Plan 9 from Outer Space” is funny enough by itself these days, what with the pie-plates-on-a-string flying saucers and Vampira’s 18-inch fingernails on top of her 14-inch waist to Bela Lugosi (oh poor, dear Bela Lugosi) in his final role. What a way to end a noted career. He died during filming, and Wood substituted a replacement for the balance of the film who kept walking in and out of scenes in that iconic Lugosi posture of the cape over the arm covering the face. However, this version of Plan 9 was greatly enhanced by the reunion of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 trio of Mike Nelson, Tom Servo (Kevin Murphy) and Crow T. Robot (Bill Corbett) and their uproarious interjections. You may recall years ago when they were a TV rerun staple, with their three silhouettes in the front row of a very bad movie, wise-cracking throughout. I loved them then, and they were even better this time. Most memorable comedic comment of the night: regarding cast member Tor Johnson, who played the part of a 400-pound Zombie, “Tor received his name from his mother in remembrance of what happened to her during his birth.” Honestly, I had to remove my glasses to dry my eyes at least a dozen times. People in the theater were laughing so hard they were snorting out their noses and losing their breath which led to choking and coughing which led to maybe calling for an usher – you know what I mean?

After looking at the RIFF TRAX website, I was not surprised to learn that these guys have several DVDs of their shtick available and I may just get some. They are hilarious. It’s really too bad that the Fathom Events folks feel the need to package them with such crap to fill up two hours. Certainly they can figure out a better way and then really be able to shout out “HELLO, AMERICA!”

NEW Box Office Predictions

My predictions for Friday, August 28th - Sunday, August 30th

$24.1 --- The Final Destination

$22.9 --- Halloween 2

$21.2 --- Inglourious Basterds

$9.6 --- District 9

$6.6 --- G.I. Joe

$6.2 --- Julie & Julia

$5.8 --- Time Traveler's Wife

$3.4 --- Shorts

$2.3 --- Harry Potter

$2.3 --- G-Force

Check out the Derby

Inglourious Basterds

Aug 2009, Quentin Tarantino, 153 mins

Though District 9 may be the surprise hit of the summer, Inglourious Basterds is the best movie of the summer. Quentin Tarantino has woven together a film that can't help but entertain. The over indulgent running times of some summer flicks like Transformers 2, Public Enemies, and Funny People had become a major turn off to spending my Sunday afternoons at the cine-plex. However, there is the correct way to make a movie with a 2½ hour run time… the correct way is to make your movie filled with excitement and intrigue much the way Tarantino sculpted Basterds.

Brad Pitt does his best John Wayne impersonation as the lead basterd, Lt. Aldo Raine. Raine and his group of heavenly thugs lay down the law on any unfortunate ‘Natzees’ (spelled as it is pronounced throughout the film) they may come across. Eli Roth and Til Schweiger are both superb as supporting basterds.

As the stories unfold on screen, we start to see the climax coming together. Much like Pulp Fiction or Go, the outlying plot-lines do come to a head in a dramatic bang ‘em up fashion. Basterds is not a war movie in the way Saving Private Ryan or Platoon are war movies. It’s a fictitious dream theory meant only to entertain. Who said Hitler had to die in a bunker with Eva Braun? There is a fair share of grotesque scalping, bat bludgeoning, and blood splatter but it seems light enough for the dissections that some horror/war movies have shown in the past. I think the opening march in Saving Private Ryan was just as extreme if not more.

Of the many things that are worth mentioning about the Basterds, two standout more than anything; first, the performance of Christoph Waltz, playing Nazi Co. Hans Landa, demands early attention for the Best Supporting Oscar even this early in the game. Waltz gave such a spark of evil to Landa that he only needed to be seen for a split second to elicit fear. The second is Tarantino himself. His camera shots, the cinematography, and his ability to get the best from his actors plays out so beautifully on film.

Inglourious Basterds is the best film of the year to date.

(500) Days of Summer

By Doug Carasso, our first AMM Contributor.

Jul 2009, Marc Webb, 95 mins

(500) Days of Summer is 95 minutes of movie heaven. Can you remember the last time you went to a film that was charming, funny, unpredictable, and fresh? Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who bears an eerie resemblance to the late Heath Ledger (could he be the next Joker?), and Zooey Daschenel, who previously charmed Will Ferrel’s Elf and here plays the breezy Summer, make an engaging pair, with an uncanny chemistry between them that one rarely encounters. They could be the next generation’s Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.

The story concerns the ups, downs, sideways, and other directions in the relationship of this 20-something couple, at work, with friends, at play, in love, or not. The film is at times experimental, using camera techniques such as split screens and striking cinematography devices that, in a lesser film, would appear a failed attempt at making up for what is lacking elsewhere. Here, these methods spring naturally from the spontaneously evolving storyline and lend to the texture of the plot.

500 Days is a great date movie. It makes you feel good about not only the characters in the film, but also whomever you’re with watching the film. Take a peek during the film, and you will likely see a broad smile on the face of your movie-going companion(s).

What is it about this film that inspires such joy, such good will toward it? First, is the script – smart, funny, with unpredictable turns, and even an inspired and infectious musical number included. Then, perhaps most of all, there are the lead performers. Gordon-Levitt, whom most of us remember as a much younger actor, such as in 10 Things I Hate About You, is so winning that it makes you wonder what he or Hollywood have against each other that he has been kept from us in any prominent movie for so long. Deschanel also has a natural and irresistible charm. Together, Gordon-Levitt and Deschanel have that rare ability to make their every action not only interesting, but also matter.

By all means, see (500) Days of Summer. You’ll be glad you did.

Doug is a top Orange County Lawyer and a member of the Callahan and Blaine legal team.

District 9

Aug 2009, Neill Blomkamp, 112 mins

District 9, a film starring nobody, with a plot unlike anything I’ve ever seen, may just end up being the best popcorn movie of the summer. With a relatively minuscule budget of $30 million, D-9 pulls of a feat that many other films have failed at this summer, show some humanity. In a summer ruled by Alien robots and drunk mis-adventures in Vegas, who would of thought that a little Sci-Fi flick set in South Africa would even be a blip on the radar screen.

The film’s star, other then the cool and original styled aliens, is Sharlto Copley. Who is Sharlto Copley? I sure don’t know. Even on his IMDB page there is only one other acting credit for some project back in ‘05. Whoever the actor might be, his role as Wikus Van De Merwe, a sort of camp councelor for the stranded aliens is noteworthy. As the stiff and mild mannered Wikus, he acts with a sort of anti-intellegence much like Michael Scott in the British and American versions of The Office. You can’t not like him, even though his actions border on idiocracy.

The film, which never would have been made if writer/director Neil Blomkamp had landed his dream job at the helm of the much anticipated but derailed screen adaptation of the uber-popular video game series Halo, is also noteworthy. D-9 touches on a lot of human emotions due to the fact that the mistakes of its human characters directly mirror mistakes of true human history. The idea of being scarred of what we don’t know or don’t understand makes us a race of overly ethnocentric creatures. The sad last statement is the final moral meaning of the film and it poses the question, what does it take to accept and live with things we don’t fully understand?

In the end, D-9 has enough action for any fanboy and an engrossing enough screenplay to entertain the most critical of critics.

Box Office Predictions

UPDATE: 80 out of 520 this week, with 74% accuracy. Basterds comes in with a whopping $38.1 million, blowing away all estimates. That's over $12,000 per screen. Amazing. District 9 came in at $18.2, wiht G.I. Joe at $12.2.

My predictions for Friday, August 14th - Sunday, August 16th

$22.9 --- Inglourious Basterds

$19.9 --- District 9

$10.4 --- Shorts

$9.4 --- G.I. Joe

$8.8 --- The Time Traveler's Wife

$6.2 --- Julie & Julia

$3.9 --- Post Grad

$3.7 --- G-Force

$2.9 --- The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard

$1.0 --- X Games 3D The Movie

Check out the Derby

Box Office Predictions

UPDATE: The unforseeable bombing of both Bandslam and The Goods has rattled even this prognosticator ot prognosticators. I ranked 293/503, with 73.25% accuracy. Actuals put District 9 at $37.4 (way more than I thought - I'll review by Saturday), followed by G.I. Joe at $22.3 and The Time Traveler's Wife in third with $18.6. Bandslam opened up to a dismal 25% of expectations, while The Goods barely managed half of its expected ticket sales.

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My predictions for Friday, August 14th - Sunday, August 16th

$27.9 --- District 9

$21.2 --- G.I. Joe

$18.9 --- The Time Traveler's Wife

$11.0 --- Julie & Julia

$9.1 --- The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard

$8.2 --- Bandslam

$5.4 --- G-Force

$5.1 --- Harry Potter

$3.6 --- Funny People

$2.8 --- Ponyo

(Derby)

Consistant with the two (2!) people who voted in this week's poll...

Box Office Predictions

UPDATE: The inaugural predictions were terrible. I ranked 256/562, with 77.6% accuracy. Actuals put G.I. Joe at $54.7, followed by Julie & Julia at $20.0 and Harry Potter in third with $8.9. Better luck next time.

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My predictions for Friday, August 7th - Sunday, August 9th

$39.5 --- G.I. Joe

$25.0 --- Julie & Julia

$11.2 --- Harry Potter

$11.0 --- G-Force

$7.4 --- Funny People

$6.9 --- A Perfect Getaway

$4.9 --- The Ugly Truth

$3.9 --- Aliens in the Attic

$3.9 --- Orphan

$3.8 --- Ice Age

Let me know what you think... comment!

(Derby)

Funny People

Jul 2009, Judd Apatow, 146 mins

Adam Sandler has long been rumored to have the chops to carry a dramatic picture; and over the past 5 years Judd Apatow has solidified his reputation as a mastermind of comedy. On paper, having these two work together in Apatow’s first attempt at a dramedy seems like a match made in bromance heaven. This being said, the final product felt empty of a true connection between the characters and the moody melodrama that filled most of the 140 plus running time. Call me a cynic but I probably had too high of hopes for Funny People. Judd Apatow can’t make a classic every time around. Though enjoyable for the most part, I’m not sure the genre that Apatow created needs to be complicated with such emotional deepness.

Comic writers often find it hard to relate stand up acts to the big screen – much of the reason that Carrot Top will always be the punch line of jokes and never the star of a budgeted movie. There are plenty of laughs in Funny People but the best jokes are told on stage, much the way a comedians “concert” film would be shot.

Seth Rogen’s character Ira, gets the job opportunity of a lifetime by getting to write jokes for Sandler’s semi-autobiographical character, George Simmons. George, an aging super comedian who has been a marquee name in comedy for years, find out he has a serious blood disease that will most likely be his final act. George returns to his roots of stand-up in hopes to have a few good laughs before he goes. Ira tries to be the friend of the dying “sad clown” but ends up writing himself into the story which is George’s life. He goes beyond his hired reach and tries to help George deal with his missteps before life’s regrets become irreconcilable.

That’s the gist of the first half of the movie. Mix in a little bit of Jonah Hill dropping some relevantly humorous pop culture references and you have a sustainable first act.

The second half of the movie plays as if the Lifetime Channel attempted to do a romantic comedy. They are forced to address the serious content on which this movie was based. This (sad to say) is wasted time in an Apatow flick. Jonathan Demme, maybe. Steven Spielberg, sure. But Apatow? I’m going to say no. The set ups are bad, the jokes are absent, and if not for Eric Bana’s hilarious performance as George’s nemesis, it would have been totally forgettable.

Funny People is a far cry from the good natured witty humor of The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up. The belly laughs are missing, the quotable jokes are missing, and the happy spirit is gone. By the time the final laugh and fade away occurred, I was ready to stretch my legs and leave. Regardless, I believe the rumor will continue that Adam Sander has the chops to carry a drama – this film will not silence the critics, nor the worshipers.

The Hurt Locker

Jun 2009, Kathryn Bigelow, 131 mins

As with many solid war pictures, the acting and the directing must be near perfect. Storytellers and cinematographers need to know what feeling and persona they are trying to show the audience. There are two types of war movies, ones that work and ones that don’t. The Hurt Locker works. It works, not because it is a large, sprawling epic like Doctor Zhivago or Schindler’s List. It works because it has a certain profoundness without being pretentious. The movie allows its small arc to be large enough for support. The Hurt Locker is the story of three men, from different backgrounds and different inner personalities dealing with war. Many of the moments are so tense your fingernails will grow shorter by the minute.

Jeremy Renner leads the superb cast in Kathryn Bigelow’s shockingly surprising action movie. Renner is one of those actors who sneaks up on you. His next-door charm hides a dark strength not seen in a war film of this generation. He’s gone a long way from picking his nose in National Lampoon’s Senior Trip. As the bomb squad’s Staff Sergeant, Renner is a menace. A man who will, without a care in the world, attempt to defuse road side bombs strong enough to destroy a city block. Anthony Mackie gives a solid, if somewhat uneven performance in a supporting role.

There is something relaxing about walking into a universally well reviewed movie like The Hurt Locker, there is the feel that your ten bucks will not be wasted, that the final act will be as good as the first two, and the confidence that any twist will not involve a hidden personality in our lead. The Hurt Locker stayed solid throughout, though not a classic by any means, a good movie about war that does not leave you exhausted or sad. It leaves you feeling just the way you wanted it to, entertained.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Jun 2009, Michael Bay, 150 mins

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is a big, pretty, metallic, 150 minute long piece of crap. That’s it, that’s the whole review.

I should stop there, but that wouldn’t be fitting for a film that itself was about double the length it should have been. Once you get past the first hour or so, the robotic action runs its course. Not to mention the million new robots that enter the fray this go around. I’m sorry, but I was exhausted just trying to follow the paper thin romance of Megan Fox and Shia LeBouf… by the way, come on... come on! Who is the casting director?

Let me take a step back; I liked the first movie and I liked some of the action in the second. It was entertaining but the story was absolute junk. And I know, I should have “checked my brain at the door” – and I did that, I swear I did that. I just don’t like the idea that a movie with such a huge budget and marketing campaign couldn’t have come up with anything better than what stuck when it was thrown at the screen.

There were so many lame jokes and unfunny characters that the second half of the film really became an endurance test. What was fun became old and boring. By the time the final showdown occurred, there were so many robots trying to run through the hole-ridden plot that I can’t even remember who won. I think Megatron and Optimus Prime were there but I’m not sure.

With all this said, Transformers Revenge is a big summer movie with a lot of effects. There will be another one I’m sure. Hopefully the writers can take enough of a break to write a draft or two and get it right next time. It feels to me that this script was rushed into production shortly before the writers’ strike of last year. When a studio cuts corners like that, you get movies like Transformers Revenge, Spiderman 3, and anything staring Miley Cyrus.

Brüno

Jul 2009, Larry Charles, 81 mins

Sacha Baron Cohen loves his dick. A dick that he believes must be shown to every aching eye, brown or otherwise. In Brüno, there is a lot of dick – and barely any social commentary about the acceptance of homosexuality. How many movies can you say those last two lines about?

The lack of commentary is fine; I don’t really think people started caring more about the people of Kazakhstan after seeing Borat. Cohen wants to amuse but also disguise his humor, even if very slightly, with a word of hope or change. He does not always succeed.

Brüno has plenty of laughs, but most of them fall on light pop-culture references and topical humor. Some of the best jokes make reference to Sex and the City, or convince you again to agree that Hollywood-wannabe parents are retards. Not really groundbreaking stuff here.

In a nutshell, Brüno is a three part soup. Take 2 oz Borat, mix in a shot of shock and aww, and top with one large, used double-sided electronic dildo with handle bars and handcuffs. Now, pour the contents over your face and sit in it for 81 minutes.

The Shock-u-mentary style that Cohen has created may not last forever. The “film” barely counts as a motion picture. And now, he's made films from all three of his original Da Ali G Show characters. Though I would love another attempt. Maybe the next time he could try a film with a script so he wouldn’t have to ad lib with his dick.

To compare this to an M. Night Shyamalan film, it’s not as bad as The Village but not as good as The Sixth Sense. Here’s hoping Cohen’s next film is a little more Signs and a little less Lady in the Water.