Well folks, sorry I haven't been keeping the reviews up to date, but quite frankly I've been seeing Tooooooooooooooo many movies. In the last 3 weeks I've seen 42 films. Now that the film insanity has come to a stop, I'm going to be writing them up. Knocking them off. First is my special Halloween review. I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER versus THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE!!!!!!!
Here we have the two Halloween films, the movies that are supposed to make you look over your shoulder. The first one I saw was I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER. It was the last film of the Austin Film Festival and I had just returned from a party after the premiere of Breaking Up with Russell Crowe. I was a little stunned that he knew who I was, and was quite a nice guy, though Breaking Up was tidieous to an extreme in my opinion. The concept of exploring the "breaking up" experience without the influence of the friends/family/acquaintances that constantly remind you that you are not complete, is a fatal flaw in my opinion in it's story telling structure. It's basically a film made up of screwing, breaking up, screwing, breaking up, and on and on and on. I personally didn't "get" their relationship. Oh well. Anyway, I got back from the screening party just in time. It was raining and I was hot and sweaty.
When I arrived at the theater the festival director, Jason, and the producer for I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER were there. He was a likable fella, that didn't motion for security to shoot me. Oh noooo, instead he seemed anxious for me to see the film. Hmmmmmm, cocky, I like that. Confidence in one's product is cool. He wasn't afraid of the big bad Harry monster, oh no, he knew what I would think of his film. He was right.
I took my seat and awaited the film to begin. Now I had read the same reviews yall have. Right here on AICN. People seemed to like I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER. However, the horror genre has been in a slump for way too long. Goofy gore fests with very few jumps or thrills had become the standard. Then along came SCREAM last year. A new twist on a very old genre. An injection of "cool" was slipped into the mix. Smart quirky characters, that mostly know not to go into a dark basement when a serial killer is loose and stalking your friends. Self-aware characters. SCREAM was a really fun film, here we see it's influence.
I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER takes the old campfire tale of the man with a hook, and fleshed it out. I believe there was a book way back when, a juvenile book if memory serves. I never read that book. So I can not attest on the accuracy of the adaption. Kevin Williamson did keep me guessing and on the edge. (He did the writing chores)
This film is very very cool. I'm not a credits memorization person, so I don't know the names of the various people but here is how I feel about this cast.
The two lead females are very good in my opinion. The dark haired one from Party of Five has... ummmm... matured in the minds of myself and my friends I saw the film with. She was much more likable than the the Neve Campbell character from Scream, to me anyway. Then you have that cool girl from Buffy The Vampire Slayer TV show. I was surprised by her character, which was set up to be one of those vain full of themselves characters that we would all want dead. Instead this film has two characters that we care about, that we want to survive for another day.
The two dudes. Well one of em plays the typical "I don't give a crap, I'm a god" boy friend that ignores the problem till it bites his own buttocks. The other one? Well, he's the typical "possible suspect" boyfriend. The guy characters aren't too grand. But here is what works for me:
The way this film played to MY particular audience. I highly recommend this movie, when sitting with an audience filled with high pitched 17-24 year old girls, in the mood for screaming. The shrieks of horror from them adds to the excitement. This becomes a spectator film. Imagine watching a football game at home, alone. No crowd, no friends, just yourself. It ain't as good as having that crowd of hootin' and hoolerin' cussing and drunken hotdog swallowing people that take that game to the next level. So it was with this one. Every jump, every leap, every last swell of terror, this audience was the Stadivarious (Horribly mangled spelling) of horror audiences. And I'll be damned if it didn't get to me too.
Soon I was screaming, jerking, and praying that characters didn't get the hook. I was yelling at the scream, giving advice and praying they wouldn't "go in there" or why they didn't "turn around". Soon the film became the type of film, where "I" wanted to leap on screen and begin saving this one character in particular. I knew this person was doomed, it was stamped on their (I'm not even gonna state the sex of this character) forehead. But I did not want this one dead. The character in question meets with a VERY intense, though non-graphic death scene. I hated the bad guy after this, and wanted the character DEAD. Too often in modern horror films, we as an audience has been rooting for the bad guy. You won't in this film.
This film has FRANCHISE written all over it. With a big red stamp all over it. One of the best "set-up" films. You can just feeeeeeel it. And.... well you'll see. This one kicks DEVIL'S ADVOCATE's ass in my opinion, but then here's that review:
Saw DEVIL'S ADVOCATE after a day of reading the script to ANTS, a fantastic film that can not fail. It will kick ass severly. It's smart, funny and it will be one hell of a visual treat. Wish I had a still or a shot from the film, so my mind would have the pallette in which to paint the film, as it is I have only the shot from A BUG'S LIFE to color my vision. Believe me, you will freak when you see this film.
I saw Devil's Advocate at the Great Hills 8, a pretty damn good theater, with great sound and pretty good screens. I've known the projectionist my entire life and he has screened many a great film for me. The line passed quickly and soon I was in my seat.
Saw trailers for:
FALLEN: an interesting trailer for a Denzel Washington movie which kinda reminds me of a film that had an evil possessed nun in it, a similar film about an evil killer that leaped from body to body. I believe Lou Diamond Phillips was in that one. Anyway, seems like Denzel will be in a Virtuosity role of hunting a killer that noone, but he, believes in.
MAD CITY: Has this trailer played too much? Do they have another trailer for this one? Will Chris Pula find it in his power to perhaps not alienate his audience by wearing them out with the same trailer... over and over and over again? I'm sick of this trailer. It was good the first time, but geezus, it's like the 30th time.
The ejaculating popcorn creature and the holy General Cinema symbol plays.
However, we don't get any Digital Sound, because WB doesn't feel it necessary to send a digital disk for their "preview audience". Ya know, when you are doing a press screening people, I advise you try to present your film as best you can. That way... the reviewers have the print of the film, the director wanted them to see.
Anyway prior to seeing this film, I felt the script was fantastic followed by the worst two pages in the history of screenplays.
After seeing the film, I think it is a pretty damn good movie (albeit lousy accent from Keanu) with an awful last 2 minutes.
Charlize Theron and Al Pacino are fantastic. Al is eating this character up, you just know he loves these lines, scenes, and starring opposite a complete mannequin. I love the way Al runs his tongue across his teeth, the way his eyes light up, the way he prances across the screen like the Prince of Darkness himself. Complete pleased with himself. Ya just gotta love it. And then there is Charlize Theron, who I'm dying to see in MIGHTY JOE YOUNG. She is just a delight to behold on screen and opposite an actor with passion, perhaps this could have been a great role, but opposite the mannequin, well she does her best.
Keanu... Well, he's not quite as bad as you can imagine, in fact he is actually good in a couple of low key scenes, but his accent doesn't work with his face, his hair-do is atrocious and ya just want to slap this would be character all over the place. I would have loved to have scene Michael Douglas in this role about 15 years ago. Would have been a hell (sorry) of a role for Russell Crowe!!! Alas, we have Keanu, a damn good clothesline. Do you think he makes himself blink? I do.
The Seductive Babes: Well, I have a problem here. You see, I can't understand fantasizing about Babes that are less Babe-ishous than the Babe you are married to. Don't get me wrong, the bad babes are plenty babe-ishous, but nowhere near Charlize. Then there is the choosing to go do something with your boss instead of staying home with Charlize. Now I don't know about you, but I'd rather stay home. Of course I wouldn't stay up late trying to keep creeps out of jail, instead of being by the side of Charlize. Ummm, maybe I should just be quiet now.
The Devil's Advocate is an "OK" movie. But THE FIRM is a better law movie. Rosemary's Baby is a better occult movie. And all in all it is a lousy "scary" movie. There are no jumps, no thrills. And a scary movie should have building tension, which this movie does not have. Keanu doesn't sink the film, he just contributes. The film is fairly erotic, and for us guys there is a lot to gawk at. And you gals get Mr Reeves flailing butt cheeks in a brief (or is it a lack of briefs) scene.
As for comparing the two films, well they are different films. I KNOW is a fun, roller coaster flick about twists and turns and hooks out of shadows. Devil's Advocate is a slightly demonic courtroom flick that doesn't demon out on us enough. Neither film breaks new ground, but I KNOW WHAT YOU DID is fun, and Devil's Advocate ain't. That's my opinion anyway. I can say that some people I know prefer Devil's Advocate. And in the forum, there are people hopping to both sides. I agree with the box office, I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER deserves to be your Halloween movie!!!
