One Movie to See and Another to Skip (No. 57)

Movie to See #1: City Island

Secrets and lies are difficult to keep over long periods of time without them eating away at you slowly. And the bigger those secrets, the deeper and deeper they will erode your core, hollowing you out until you are just an emotionless ghost, an empty vessel staring up hopelessly at the sword of Damocles as it sways ever so slightly under the strain of a rapidly fraying rope. In this movie, the secrets at stake are filled with such dramatic weight, that when you see these monumental icebergs of secrecy drifting slowly towards one another, you just KNOW that the collision is going to be terrible; years and YEARS of lies, coupled with a dizzying array of new ones as it gets more and more difficult to keep old skeletons from bursting out of the closet. And yet, when the time finally comes, and the dramatic tension is at its absolute height, the result is hilarious! 

 

The cast is amazing; everyone feels genuine and likeable. Yes, the complicated twists and turns are unbelievable if you sit down and read them on paper, but the actors in this film did a great job of making you believe that sometimes, and only sometimes, an absurd compilation of insanity can hover like an impossibly dark rain cloud over a single family. This is simply one of the best independent comedies I've seen in a while, with fantastic execution. I don't say it often, but this one isn't one that should be passed by lightly..

Movie to See #2: The Specials

This movie pretty much boils down to a tiff between groups of super heroes... where super powers are questionable, and the movie's budget was even more questionable. While I thought this one was going to be pretty lame, it was actually surprisingly funny... although probably in one of those 'the less you expect from it, the better it will be' kind of way. The movie is actually pretty dark, but it's silly enough to get away with it. Overall, a pretty good independent comedy... and a MUCH better movie for Jordan Ladd than Cabin Fever...

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Movie to Skip #1: Ong Bak 3: The Final Battle

I like tony Jaa, but this was an odd and unnecessary elongation of the Ong Bak series. The prequel to the original, Ong Bak 2 was a stretch, but it worked for the most part. An oddity, however, is that I thought Ong Bak 2 ended with the main character's death... apparently I was mistaken and it was a "cliffhanger" ending. So, I guess that makes Ong Bak 3 a second prequel? Why?! It's like George Lucas opened up pandora's box of stupid prequel ideas and no one can shut the damn thing - but at least there was no JarJar character. Like the previous two films, the fighting scenes are still good, damn good actually, but the story felt like a re-tread of #2, which made the film kind of pointless. It probably would have been best to just cram this story into the second film instead of putting together a third.


Movie to Skip #2: Septem8er Tapes

I think this movie wants to be the Blair Witch of war. But because this movie is entirely fictional, the thrust of the movie's "message" loses a lot of its appeal. Because of the Blair formula that you can see unraveling throughout, this is not a surprise ending. There just simply is no real cliffhanger, despite attempt to create one.
Unfortunately, despite the visceral nature of the film (or perhaps because of it) the movie can be hard to follow at times. The camera work and the babbling dialogue of the characters creates a bit of a disconnect that I didn't enjoy. While these things give the movie a genuine feel, I hate having to rewind a movie because I'm missing lines. Ultimately, not my cup of tea. Close, but no cigar...