Hey everybody. Tonight, not only do I bring you three new reviews of my own, but I'm also pleased to introduce a new reviewer. Scroll past my Hostel diatribe and you'll find a very talented writer named Patti give her thoughts on Equilibrium. We here at filmbrats are glad to have her on board and we hope you are too. Without further ado....




Hostel
Review by Jon Waterman

*1/2

Three vacationers are traveling across Europe, looking for all the best the various countries have to offer. Their youthful, hedonistic ways lead them to all sorts of drugs and women. After a run in with a local of Amsterdam, they head off to Slovakia to find an out of the way hostel that promises to have the hottest, sluttiest women who just love American men. How could anyone pass up such an opportunity? When they finally find the place, they find what they’re looking for and so much more that they weren’t.

You wouldn’t guess from watching the first half of the movie that you were watching a horror flick. Instead, the best bet would be on horrible college sex comedy. I have no problem with opening a scary movie with some light-heartedness to lead us in or to help draw us into the characters, but I don’t need it to be the majority of the damn picture.
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++++++++


Equilibrium
Mini-Review by Patti Naretta

I have enjoyed Christian Bale since he was in a little Disney musical called Newsies. And with each and every film he adds to his resume, I find him perfecting his craft all the more. Just when I thought he couldn't get any better than American Psycho, he came out with Equilibrium (and since then Batman Begins--but that's another review). This movie, to me, was everything I was promised in the Matrix and did not get. I did not enjoy the Matrix. I have never appreciated the so-called talents of Keanu, the action was mind-numbing, and I kept thinking throughout the entire film that I could have been doing better things with my time. It got to the point where I didn’t even care what happened to Neo or who he was or what he was working for or against. But why do so many people compare Equilibrium to the Matrix?
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++++++++


Saw II
Review by Jon Waterman

*

Tough-headed cop Eric Matthews is hot on the trail of one of the most clever, elusive and dangerous criminals out there. He has to hurry up, because somewhere, the mastermind Jigsaw has trapped a group of people in a house as part of his sick game. Each person in there is constantly breathing in toxic gases that will kill them if they don’t figure out the clues to the locked antidotes. But of course, many of the clues are booby trapped, and so they must be careful and watch every move.

Now, I know most of the time you want the bad guy to win in horror movies, because that will mean you are treated to more of the death and gore that you paid good money to see. With “Saw II” that desire grew very strong, very fast. In the first movie, I simply didn’t care about any body. This time around, I found them to be excruciatingly stupid and mind-numbingly annoying. And there were more of them to hate. Not only was the gang in the house unbearable, but so was Donnie Wahlberg’s character, Eric. I never thought I would legitimately sympathize with a villain like I was forced to do in this feature.
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++++++++++


Saw
Review by Jon Waterman

**1/2

A sadistic madman whom the press has dubbed Jigsaw kidnaps two seemingly unconnected men and chains them on opposite sides of a large bathroom. They’re given a time limit in which to complete a horrendous task to the other in order to save themselves. Instead, they apprehensively work together and begin to piece together the myriad clues left for them by this mysterious, twisted individual. But even if they find out why they’re being locked up, that won’t mean they can escape. And it won’t save their families.

This is probably the most original concept for a horror movie I’ve seen in a long time. The victims are being held with a constant option for release. The problem is that what they must do in order to be set free is completely reprehensible or inconceivable to most. And if time runs out, they will die as punishment for their inaction and for whatever it is that they did wrong in the first place. The movie adds more complexity to that simple, yet effective formula so that when the end credits roll you can easily appreciate the multi-layered tapestry of the scheme.
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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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Well, I'm going to keep this intro short and sweet. Two new reviews for you to enjoy. More will be coming later. And away I go. Come back soon.



The Producers (2005)
Review by Jon Waterman

1/2 star

Struggling Broadway producer Max Bialystock is becoming increasingly desperate. Mostly he’s relying on his ability to charm little old horny ladies out of their retirement checks in order to keep his slumping entertainment career afloat. That is, until he comes across accountant Leo Bloom. Leo comes by and inadvertently tells Max of a moneymaking scheme. All they have to do is put on a play that’s guaranteed to flop. The two eventually partner up and find the perfect script: “Springtime for Hitler.” How can they miss?

Well, if we’re talking about the movie, it misses on several major elements. As many of you are well aware, this is a movie based on a Broadway musical based on a movie (about a Broadway musical). Having not only the critically acclaimed original film and musical as points of comparison certainly works against it. And how do you keep the same amount of story while giving the audience unfunny, flow-killing musical numbers? Why, you have to add time, of course! The 1968 version clocks in at 88 minutes. Even after cutting three songs from the Broadway show (which I haven’t seen, and no longer want to), the 2005 movie is a staggering 134 minutes. That’s nearly an hour of mind-numbing song.
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+++++++++


The Producers (1968)
Review by Jon Waterman

***1/2

Producer Max Bialystock is in a rut. He used to be the über-producer on Broadway, churning out hit after hit. Now he’s fallen on hard times and has to scrape the bottom of the fundraising barrel to put together any type of play. Existence is looking pretty low until accountant Leo Bloom enters to balance the books from Max’s last flop. Leo finds out that Max raised more money than he used to create the play, and is just told to hide it. It’s then that Leo theorizes that one could make more money from a flop than with a hit, by doing the same thing on a larger scale. The two go into business together and set out to make the worst play the theater community has ever seen.

Established TV writer, Mel Brooks, makes his feature-length directorial and writing debut in this brilliant and occasionally funny film. The whole film screams of a vaudevillian influence. Actually, the whole movie screams. There are countless moments where a joke is delivered at the top of the characters’ lungs. I guess the louder it is, the funnier it is (and that rule of thumb works most of the time here).
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