One Movie to See and Another to Skip (No. 2)

Movie to See:






The only drawback I have with this movie is that it isn't in English, which means you have to read it.  Fortunately, common linguistic roots mean that eventually you can pick up on phrases that are repeated in the movie and you don't have to read every word to know what is going on.

The movie is based on a book by Stieg Larsson, and it really doesn't disappoint.  There is plenty of suspense, and the story actually seems plausible. But even better, however, is that you really couldn't guess what was going to happen ahead of time until you learned about new information at the same time as the characters in the movie. If you watch a lot of suspense/thrillers, then you know that all too often the characters in this kind of movie suddenly become really stupid in order for them to blunder into an obvious trap; but not this time. In this story there are certainly traps, but there really was no way for the characters to figure it out ahead of time... just like the viewer. I appreciated that, and it made for a much more suspenseful movie.  I recommend this one to anyone that likes a decent thriller... and doesn't mind seeing naked leading men without the typical cover of Men's Health magazine body.  It's a little rough; but at least the chicks are hot. :) 

A Movie to Skip:




 If you like spoof movies along the lines of Scary Movie, then you might like this one. Like the Scary Movie series, this movie is probably classified as a "guilty pleasure" flick, but is a little light on the "pleasure" part. Stan Helsing is heavy on puns and bad jokes, which is not everyone's cup of tea, and very light on pacing and story telling. The bad guys are unnecessarily over-the-top parodies, and the main characters are far dumber than was really required. So, yeah, this movie is a real dog; but at least it's obvious throughout the movie that nobody involved with the film thought it would be anything other than a dog, which makes their "acting" honest.  One casting note: I would have traded the actors in the roles of the ex-girlfriend and the stripper/nurse. Frankly, I think Doira Baird would have made a far more convincing stripper than Desi Lydic and would have better explained how EVERYONE in the movie kind of ignored Baird in favor of Lydic. Visually speaking... that didn't make any sense. And acting... well, I'm pretty sure both the actresses and the roles were fairly interchangeable given the quality of the talent involved and the script everyone had to work with.