One Movie to See and Another to Skip (No. 60)

Movie to See: Brick

This little movie is all about the grit of Film Noir meets the modern American high school flick. A train wreck, right? Surprisingly, it is actually fairly complementary to the older genre. There is plenty of intrigue and canned heroism to go around -- not to mention the sheer silliness of inserting such a dark and seedy underbelly into a world of crushes and hormones. The humor of such a stark dichotomy is aptly demonstrated by scenes that just can't match the mood of the film. For instance, after the most powerful drug dealer in town (a weaselly little kid with a couple of heavies to do his dirty work) has just kidnapped and then spent the entire evening torturing our investigative hero for information, the two sit down across from one another at the kitchen table to do the traditional villain/hero stalemate stare-down... all while the bad guy's mom is trying to serve them breakfast in near anachronistic Leave it to Beaver fashion -- completely oblivious to the dark tenor of the boys at the table or the menacing presence of the two high school thugs flanking the mental combatants. It begs the question as to whether or not high school really is as dark and seedy as the scenes we're watching, or if it just feels that way when you're a kid -- hence why all the adults seem to miss out on the dark plots threaded throughout their sleepy little town. Well done. An amusing trip. Shockingly dark at times, but ultimately perfectly balanced between slapstick absurdity and a serious detective story.

Movie to Skip: Perkins 14

This one is a predictable slasher in just about every sense: people who should be smart are stupid, people who should be stupid victims are out saving the day, the "monsters" are practically invincible, and the simple solution is just too hard for everyone to grasp. That, in and of itself, doesn't completely kill a movie as many writers and directors have managed to pull this kind of thing off despite (or perhaps because of) the predictability. But in this one, there is just too much that doesn't feel right. For instance, there is an oddly vicious group of rebel teens that act out just a little too strongly without apparent reason, a philandering spouse with some bizarre (and apparently unearned) hate issues, an uber villain that doesn't last long enough to give us the keys to the master plan, and the creation of the monsters that ultimately thrash the town is kind of hard to buy into -- I mean, I buy the re-programming angle, but seriously? Unfortunately all of these small problems add up to a film that just doesn't satisfy. At best it is a low rent gore fest that could have been much much better if some care had been taken to craft the characters a little more fully. Oh, and a little care could have been spent on the plot... even though this is just a slasher film...