Hey everybody. As you can tell from the title, I'm back with four new reviews. I'll be coming back later with more stuff. I still have quite a bit in my backlog such as Saw, Saw II, Bubba Ho-Tep, Hostel, The Pink Panther (2006) and Final Destination 3. It'll be a horror dominated site for a little bit, but you know me. I'll be sure to switch it up and offer you a wide variety of old and new movies of all genres as the weeks and months go on. For now, enjoy the following:




Doom
Review by Jon Waterman

**1/2

A special group of Marines are called down to Mars in order to investigate and take care of an unusual problem. It seems there’s been some trouble at the space station there, but no one is exactly sure what kind. When they arrive, they are shocked to find that there are strange and dangerous creatures running throughout the corridors. The station is put into quarantine and the only way any of them are going to be able to leave is to eliminate the threat and discover what caused it. Will they be able to stop these monsters before they all disappear like the previous crew? If only they had better weapons….

You know something? This wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be. Normally, movies based on videogames tend to be some of the worst pieces of crap ever committed to celluloid. For proof, see “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider,” “Super Mario Bros.,” “Street Fighter,” etc. Even the ones that don’t turn out to be a steaming pile never really reach that higher plateau to be considered a great movie. And “Doom” doesn’t make it either, but at least it doesn’t rank near the bottom of the list. It’s mindless fun.
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+++++++++


24 Hours on Craigslist
Review by Jon Waterman

*1/2

Have you ever wondered who’s really responding to all those crazy posts on Craigslist? Have you ever heard of Craigslist? For the uninitiated, Craigslist.org is a website that has turned into a relatively large text-based online community. On the site, you can look for work, stuff to buy from other people in your area, love or other forms of fun, a place to live, or just people to discuss various aspects of life with. On any given day there are hundreds of thousands of posts placed on the site for the public to sift through. This documentary attempts to explore the back stories behind a sampling of posts from a single day in the life of the ever-growing Craigslist.

The movie missed the mark on several different fronts; the key one being the approach. I think it might be more fascinating to see someone go through a whole day doing nothing but what he finds on craigslist. He shops, applies for jobs, meets strangers for get together meals, looks at a place, picks up some free junk and talks about interesting topics with random people in his city. Instead we get a bunch of little vignettes, which are ordered and edited together very well but lack much prolonged interest. Why did that lady have eight strollers to sell? Oh. Ok. Next.
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+++++++++


Capote
Review by Jon Waterman

****

Popular fiction writer Truman Capote is looking for inspiration for his next piece to be printed in The New Yorker. He finds it when a Kansas family is brutally murdered in their homes by two young men. Truman is looking to make the transition to non-fiction with this captivating source material. As his investigation goes on, he discovers things are much more complex than he originally thought. Through his manipulative behavior, he’s able to gain access to the prisoners and thus give his story an unprecedented angle. Can he possibly bring a sense of humanity to the perpetrators of a vicious crime? Does he really want to? Is that really what he’s doing?

What an incredible movie. In terms of character study, this has to be the best movie released in years. I’ve always found Phillip Seymour Hoffman to be a great actor, but he takes it to another level when portraying Capote. PSH completely transforms himself and for the first time in a long time I didn’t feel like I was watching a performance. Capote is presented as a self-tortured man. The real struggle of the movie comes not from figuring out to what degree the convicted men are guilty or not, but rather to what degree Truman is.
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+++++++++


Match Point
Review by Jon Waterman

***

Tennis instructor and former professional player Chris Wilton is trying to find meaning in his life. After a meeting with a wealthy student Tom brings him in contact with Nola, he just may have found it. The only problem is that Nola is Tom’s fiancée. He knows that the best way to stay in touch with her is to wed Tom’s sister Chloe, and so he does. Unfortunately, that only complicates matters, because now not only does he have an insatiable desire for someone other than his wife, but he also has to deal with married life and the high level job Chloe’s father arranged for him. He can’t fix this problem simply by hitting the ball to the other side and hoping they mess up.

This is the un-Woodiest Allen like movie I’ve seen. Granted I haven’t seen all too many, but it seems to break a lot of what seems to be his conventions. The most noticeable is that it’s not shot in New York, but that’s hardly the most important. I do think that to an American audience, the unfamiliarity of the London setting adds more tension in the moments that need it. The most prominent change is the lead character. There’s no hint of the nervous, unconfident man who fumbles his word with awkward social graces.
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