Amy and David (Kate Beckinsale and Luke Wilson) are a bickering couple traveling down a dark, lonely road. They hit a raccoon and decide to spend the night at an isolated hotel. They get to their room and discover video tapes on top of the television. The tapes are snuff films that were shot in the exact room in which they are staying. To add to their shock, someone is banging on the door from the next room.

Before long, the hotel manager and two sidekicks corner the couple, hoping to make another film. The couple bands together to fight off the bad guys in the most predictable, boring ways possible.

Director Nimród Antal begins strong and then limps across the finish line. The images of the snuff film are very striking and disturbing. If someone forces the images of people being tortured on their audience, they better have a very, very good reason for doing so. Antal doesn't live up to this demand. Instead, his film descends into a cheap horror/action film that lacks any deeper value or meaning.


This movie is another example of the cinematic motif of the American Savage. As explained in my review of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, this feeds into the urbanite fear of the country folk. the civilized city dwellers wander off the beaten path and the thick-browed, red necked citizens of the American netherworld come to prey. Watered down, it is a fear of poor white people put to film.

This is a violent movie that isn't good enough to justify sitting through the rough stuff - so don't.


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Labels: film, frank whaley, Kate Beckinsale, Luke Wilson, movie review, Nimród Antal

Short Review: There are these two guys and they’re friends. They both love the same girl. This starts a flummoxing love triangle as they struggle to overcome their own selfish needs and expectations…oh yeah, that and then there’s this part where the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor. Anyway, so the girl loves the first boy…


After seeing this film, I believe it's fair to say the men and women at Pearl Harbor have been attacked twice.

This is akin to making a film about The Batan Death March and placing the focus of the story on the relationship between a boy and his dog.

The film is a complete horror. The love story at the center of this grand insult is lifeless. Perhaps this is due to the limp script being played out by three of our less charismatic and talented actors: Benny Affleck, Josh “I look like Tommy Lee Jones’ kid” Hartnett and Kate Beckinsale. Maybe I’m nuts but I’m of the opinion that if you’re going to produce a film on one of the most important events in American History, you should go with your A-Team. What’s with the junior varsity players getting a shot at this?

The only serious member of the cast and crew is screenwriter Randall Wallace and this is so bad, I can’t believe he wrote it. Wallace is a national treasure as far as I’m concerned. But to look at the juvenile handling of this movie I’m shocked he’s allowed his name to remain in the credits.

Film is important. It informs people about the world we live in and in cases such as this, it teaches people about history. That is one of the purposes of this production in the first place. This should have been a reflection on that dreadful day and its implications in history. Instead we a mash of music video, action movie and just plain crappy film making. On top of all of that, the film has the nerve to make the fascist FDR look like a hero. He was a corrupt and vile man, to make him look like a strong, honorable man is disgusting.

Revisionist history is bad enough. Do we have to make history itself suck too?


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Labels: Alec Baldwin, Ben Affleck. Josh Hartnett, Cuba Gooding Jr, Dan Aykroyd, film, Jennifer Garner, Jon Voight, Kate Beckinsale, Michael Bay, movie review, Randall Wallace, Tom Sizemore, William Finchner

Short Review: Whiteout - appropriate title since that is what they needed to use on about 60% of the script.


The cold, barren landscape of the Arctic in the film was either a metaphor for the amoral void of the human soul, or it was a metaphor for the fruitless, blank script. I couldn't tell.

U.S. Marshal Carrie Stetko (Kate Beckinsale) oversees an research compound in Antarctica. She is about to leave when, you guessed it, a killer begins bumping people off. Stetko has to solve the mystery before the sun sets - when the sun goes down it doesn't come back up for six months. The timing device of the sun setting is nice, but ultimately useless given that she shouldn't have too much trouble figuring out whodunit. Heck, I figured it out in less than three minutes and I wasn't even there.

This is a very conventional thriller. Which means it is predictable and dopey. At the risk of sounding lecherous, the only moment of note is a flagrant butt-shot of Beckinsale in her undies. I don't point this out because I'm a mouth-breathing college dorm monkey whooping every time I see a half-naked chick. I note this because the shot of her butt is soooo obvious, soooo choreographed. They couldn't have been more heavy-handed if they put arrows on the screen pointing at her with the sound of a studio audience bellowing "whooooooo!"

Mystery, mystery, snow, mystery, KATE BECKINSALE'S BUTT, mystery, snow, mystery, mystery.

Do not bother yourself with this production. At its best it is a stock piece of work.



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Labels: film, Kate Beckinsale, movie review, Tom Skerritt

Screenwriters: Jon Hoeber, Erich Hoeber, Carey Hayes (House of Wax) and Chad Hayes (The Reaping)
Director: Dominic Sena (Swordfish)
Actors: Kate Beckinsale (Underworld), Tom Skerritt (Alien) and Gabriel Macht (The Good Shepherd)

Labels: film, Kate Beckinsale, movie trailer, Tom Skerritt

Screenwriters: Rob Lurie (The Contender)
Director: Rob Lurie (Resurrecting the Champ)
Actors: Kate Beckinsale (Underworld), Matt Dillon (There's Something About Mary), Angela Bassett (Contact), Alan Alda (The Aviator), Vera Farmiga (Running Scared), David Schwimmer (Apt Pupil), Countney B. Vance (Hamburger Hill) and Noah Wyle (W.)

Labels: Alan Alda, Angela Bassett, film, Kate Beckinsale, Matt Dillon, movie trailer, Vera Farmiga

Speaking from experience, a shocking tragic event, a near-death experience, does have a huge impact on a person. You do not come out the other side the same. The transformation, the coping with the event can be an ugly piece of business. This film tells the story of a group of survivors from a mass killing in a cafe. Each deals with the event in their own way. I don't have a problem with the reactions shown in this trailer. The key here is going to be in the film's resolutions, what conclusions do the characters arrive at? With the title and the imagery in the trailer they obviously look at theological issues, at least briefly. With Forrest Whitaker's ironic statement "I have faith, the question is, am I lucky?" hints that the film may have brainpower behind it.







Screenwriter: Roy Freirich
Director: Rowan Woods (Little Fish)
Actors: Kate Beckinsale (Underworld), Dakota Fanning (War of the Worlds), Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland), Guy Pearce (Memento), Jeanne Tripplehorn (Waterworld), Josh Hutcherson (RV), Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls), Jackie Earle Haley (Watchmen)

Labels: Dakota Fanning, ensemble, film, Forest Whitaker, Guy Pearce, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Jennifer Hudson, Josh Hutcherson, Kate Beckinsale, movie trailer