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Sonic Death Monkey
SPOILER ALERT !!
Hi, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab...
You’ve been a busy monkey, haven’t you? Glad to see you back at it, SDM, and I’ll admit... I’m curious about RED EYE. It looks better than the Jodie Foster film, PANIC PLANE, which I saw the trailer for this weekend. I’m sure I’ll end up seeing both of them eventually, but for now, let’s see what you thought of Wes Craven’s latest:
So, Harry, I get home today and am rather pleased to see that my Fun With Dick and Jane review got posted. But, to clarify once more, I am NOT a plant. The closest to proof I can offer is my live journal (nc_seventeen). For those of you who know how to use LJ you can find it. Feel free to cut this if you don't want plugs or whatever.
Now onto the review; I recently... ok a couple months ago... saw Wes Cravens new one "RED EYE".
RED EYE is like an episode of "Alfred Hitchcock presents" and it could easily have been cut down to fit a 1 hour TV show. The film is 79 minutes without end credits and the real plot doesn't even start up until 45 minutes in. (I know, I checked my watch)
I went in knowing absolutely nothing about the film. The title wasn't even on the invitation. I didn't know Craven was involved until the opening credits. I couldn't identify either of the stars. I went into this thing colder than I nuclear winter. All I knew was it was 'a new thriller from a major studio' and that it was PG-13ish.
The flick starts with a slow burn of sorts. Mcadams (who is infinitely cuter as a redhead, even if I get the distinct impression that her dimples could eat me alive. Seriously, those things are gonna become sentient soon and then we're in for some Sky-net style shit) plays a high powered…hotel clerk. Apparently being a concierge is THE WORLDS MOST STRESSFUL JOB!!! She's at wits end and no one except her can do the complex process of…you know, checking in guests. Don't get me wrong, I don't envy the job, I'm sure it's a bitch, but I just don't see how she could take her work home.
Anyway, you know she's a nice girl because she treats a cabbie with respect and gives him a tip even though she's running late. Luckily, so is her plane. She sticks up for a harassed desk clerk and Cillian Murphy backs her up. They flirt and things seem promising. The dialogue is cute and fairly well written. But of course you know Murphy is evil because…well motha'-fucka' looks CREEPY! You know it immediately if you've ever seen another thriller, just like you know Mcadams has a dark secret too…but more on that later.
Murphy and Mcadams sit next to eachother on the plane. They flirt more and then he reveals deep dark secret # 1 of the film. If the movie were more clever, they would have joined the mile high club then during pillow talk he would have casually dropped that he was prepared to murder her father…but alas, a PG-13 means no sexual mind games.
Brian Cox plays the endangered dad. He's dead unless Mcadams does the unthinkable…change a guests reservations from one side of a hotel to the other! Im not kidding, that's the hook.
What follows is Mcadams desperately trying to alert passengers and crew to Murphy's nefarious reservation altering plans. It works, but should have gone on much longer. This is only 20 minutes of the film, tops. For about 10 minutes during the middle of the film, I thought there was a real mindfuck in store. See, Mcadams has a big ol' scar on her chest. (above the bra of course). I thought maybe her dark secret was that she was a werewolf or monster or something. but sadly, no dice, nothing supernatural happens in the film. Just good old crazy action thriller unreality.
Dark secret #2 is revealed as the plane lands and then the film becomes die hard in a car. With guns, stabbings, guys getting shot more times than Jason could survive and still getting up, political intrigue…and a bazooka. Yes, the plan involves room changes and a bazooka.
By this point, any sense of reality in the film had melted away and I was laughing so hard I was tearing, and I wasn't alone in this. The movie has a rigid three act structure. Act 1 is a romantic comedy, then it 180's into act two which is a Hitchcock knock off thriller, then hurtles into act three which pulls another 270 (a 180 would make it a romantic comedy again) and becomes an 80's style action film. It's all bizarre and surreal, but its also very entertaining.
One or two more 'dark secrets' are revealed, lotsa people die, and shit blows up real good (probably to justify its summer release date) all of which leads up to a denoument that means absolutely nothing.
The thing about this movie is, it's shit. It only really works in the context that I saw it in, knowing nothing, and the trailers have already ruined that. Even then, it only works because of its bizarre audacity. The audience seemed to like it though, and you could do worse for a date film. Still, none of it makes any cognoscente sense, even during the first viewing. All the same, it's never boring and it does at least try to be something original, so ill give it credit for that.
5/10 as a film
7/10 for pure entertainment value.
-sonic death monkey
Huh. I hear the second trailer for the film pretty much ruined every twist, so I’ve avoided seeing it. Thanks, as always, for the review.
"Moriarty" out.
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I liked "Cellular". ...
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Jul 27, 2005 6:49:16 AM CDT
"it's shit" - Damn those PLANTS and their reverse psychology
by angry chimp
This sounds truly awful, where's the queue?
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And I am in love with McAdams so fuck it, I have seen far worse this summer.
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From the time I saw the second trailer for this, I became less and less interested in seeing it(I'll probably still see it just to see if it turns out badly)! The teaser for the film was perfect. It actually teased you and left you wondering just what the hell was gonna happen! And with Wes Craven directing, I figured there had to be some supernatural element, right? The full trailer, however just shattered my hopes, revealing itself to be some NON-supernatural, garden variety suspense thriller, and when I saw all the footage that takes place OFF the plane, I lost even more faith.
I like Cillian Murphy, especially as a badguy, so I GUESS I'll give it a look. But dammit if my excitement level has since dropped dramatically. -
Further confirming my thoughts that Craven is the biggest hack in the movie biz. He lucked out and stumbled on an original idea back in the early 80's (ELM STREET) and made one good movie to date (I include its parody followup, ELM STREET 3). Okay, maybe HILLS HAVE EYES sits up there too. But, dude... These films were like 25 years ago. The guy hasn't made a quality film since. AND YES!!! This does include SCREAM! Anybody who knows anything about horror films saw SCREAM for what it was from the start: 90210 in drag. Or, simply put, a sitcom trying to be a horror film. Not an original idea in the entire film.
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...but he doesn't know how to say "NO!" to a bad script!
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Fucking Craven, get back on the horse, man.
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So, could be a lot of fun - but this man is a smartypants. Where's the brainfood, Mr. Craven? Give us something to really chew on again.
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He actually plays heroes in British miniseries and stuff, but here he's typecast as a pyscho-killer. He's a very good pyscho-killer, though, even though he appears to weigh about 98 pounds (hell, both Holmes and McAdams could have taken him easily). Still, I hope he catches a break down the line somewhere (rather like his countryman Jonathan Rhys Meyers in "Bend It Like Beckham") and gets to play a sympathetic character -- or at the very least a neutral one.
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In some respects I'd say it was a stronger film than Elm Street. People Under the Stairs was also amusing, if nothing else. Peace.
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cillian was the good guy in 28 days later
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My god... he has a TIME MACHINE! ...... ... ... ... ...Peace.
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Actually it is possible that you have seen Hostel. But last night that didn't register with the brain and the using it. The film is not out yet, but you could have caught it at a convention screening. Peace.
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Jul 28, 2005 8:36:26 PM CDT
I heard Craven based Elm Street on a news paper article about th
by mr. profit
Anyway, Elm Street is great when you grew up watching it. I myself prefer Dream Warriors and The Dream Master. Dream Master had a great score mixed in with the MTV soundtrack. It was the first glossy Elm Street movie. And it still looks like they spent a bit of change on it with the effects. But Red Eye is not a step in the right direction for Wes if he wants to regain his cred. Devil's Rejects trumped his Last House on the Left. He needs to get back on the ball. And so does John Carpenter.
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Not sure about the Freddy origin. Might be true... I have this real foggy memory that he ripped the story from a guy he was talking to in a cabin. I think this came from a Joe Bob interview with Wes. Any Monstervision fans recall? As for Dream Master I wasn't clear if you were aware or not but Wes did not direct that film. Dream Child had damn good effects at times though... perhaps the best non wes sequel in my book. 2 had some cool ideas in it though... Hmmm. Peace.
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