What do you get when you cross a homemade version of Hammer Horror and Peter Cushing Horror of the 70’s with the decadent metal of the 80’s?  You get Ford Austin’s Attitude for Destruction, getting a world premier at Horrorfest next weekend.  If you were to call it a heavy metal That Thing You Do! gone terribly horrific, you wouldn’t necessarily be far off.

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Dave’s Score:  8.5 out of 10 

Going into any movie, one can’t help but have pre-conceived ideas.  I had two strong ones going in:  1.)  As has been well documented, I’m a huge Simon Pegg fan.  If he’s in it, I WILL watch it and 2.)  I am really not a Thandie Newton fan.  I’m putting that as diplomatically as I can.  I have yet to see anything of hers that I’ve actually liked.  Add in that this is David Schwimmer’s first feature directorial venture, and this one could have gone either way.  Fortunately, Run Fat Boy Run takes all the clichés of a feel good comedy and makes it feel like it isn’t a retread of forty other movies you’ve seen before.

Dennis (Simon Pegg) isn’t just a loser.  He’s the worst kind of loser.  The guy left his pregnant girlfriend Libby (Thandie Newton) at the altar.  From there, things go downhill for Dennis.  He’s stuck in a dead-end job as a security guard for a high-end lingerie store and he gets no respect.  To be fair, he really hasn’t done anything worthy of respect.  He hasn’t finished a single thing in his life.  The only thing he does right is love his son and try to be a father to him.  Five years after leaving her at the altar, Libby has a new man in her life named Whit (Hank Azaria).  Whit is an American living in London who really seems to be the perfect man.  He’s a nice guy.  He runs marathons for charity and he really has a good relationship with Dennis’ son Jake (Matthew Fenton).  When it becomes apparent where their relationship is headed, Dennis has to make a last ditch effort to win Libby back and decides that running a marathon will do the trick.  Will Dennis win Libby back?  Will he finally finish something for once in his life?  Do you really have to wonder the answers to these questions?

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Barry’s Score:  9/10

Be Kind Rewind, the latest from the always innovative Michel Gondry, is a terrific film, one of the best of the year and one I hope everyone will see in theaters. The movie has been sold as a one-joke comedy and had a poor opening weekend, which means it will probably be gone from theaters soon. I want to urge everyone interested to see this right now- it’s better than I imagined and quite wonderful.

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Josh’s Score:  10/10

Once in a while there comes a film that is able to emit an experience for an audience. These are the reason why people go to the movies. Now, we are lucky enough to live in an age of significant technological advancements to propel a film experience to a completely new level. U2 3-D is that film.

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Barry’s Score:  7/10

Know that this will be the most spoiler-free, movie-goer friendly review of “Cloverfield” I can muster. Its only January, but one of the most buzzed about films of 2008 is already out and, frankly, I wasn’t all that excited to see it. I don’t know if it was the defeaning pre-release buzz, the endless assesements of the teaser trailer or that the film was produced by J.J. Abrams (the only big name in the promotional materials) but was directed by Matt Reeves, whose last film was the David Schwimmer/Gwyneth Paltrow bomb, “The Pallbearer”. Even with lowered expectations and an overall reaction that may come across as faint praise, the overall film is a scary, if empty ride that truly works, even when it fails to totally convince.
 
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Our thanks to Ethan for coming through with another great review!

Ethan’s Score:  10/10

P.T. Anderson’s newest film is not an easy one. It cannot be sumarized or simplified into a neat little package. It is a lot to digest on just one viewing. But that’s what I love about it. When I see a movie, I WANT to be challenged. I WANT to think. And There Will Be Blood made me proud to be a film geek.

The story centers around a misanthropic oil man known as Daniel Plainview. From the brilliantly executed dialogue free opening, we learn so much about who he is. During the first 1/3 of the film, he seems reasonably relateable and likeable. But you see those little signs in his eyes or facial expressions of a monster. It’s not until a certain point in the film in which he talks to his brother, that he outright reveals his true feelings. But Anderson does not lay out a heavy handed characterization at this point for the dumber members of the audience. He uses this to build upon the end, where Plainview becomes a true scoundrel. And even with an already beautifully written character, Daniel Day Lewis takes it even farther. He truly gives one of the best performances I’ve ever seen.

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Barry’s Score:  8/10 

Tim Burton’s marvelous, if too-literal adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s classic Broadway musical of the same name is truly in a class by itself. As it was on stage, the story follows a psychopathic, murderous barber (Johnny Depp) as he teams up with a ghastly baker (Helena Bonham Carter) to partake on a mission of revenge against a perverted judge (Alan Rickman) who wronged him years ago; however, the barber’s target expands to all of mankind, as he and the baker concoct a scheme that, for starters, involves murder, deceit and cannibalism. While there have been movie musicals as comically gory (“Little Shop of Horrors”) or bleak and harrowing (“Dancer in the Dark”), no film has ever taken the notion of “black comedy/musical/horror” as far as this one does. The violence was easier to take on stage, as theatrical trickery (which added to the humorous, downright campy tone) is tossed aside for bloodletting on a “Kill Bill” scale. The vividness of the gore mutes some of the humor, and many won’t have the gag reflex to last the whole film. At one point, early into the film, my wife turned to me and asked, “Why are you laughing?!” My answer: “It’s funny!” Truly, even if you’re a die-hard fan of Depp, Burton or musicals, this one’s not for everyone.

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Barry’s Score:  2/10
 
I wasn’t the biggest fan of Phillip Pullman’s much celebrated “His Dark Materials” trilogy; once the talking warrior bears showed up, I found it became too silly, even for a fantasy. Yet, it had an undeniably engaging story and some rich detail, most of which is lost in the muddled, unappealing film adaptation, which will confuse non-fans and dissapoint the faithful.
 
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Due to some technical issues (my e-mail freaking out and having to be recreated entirely), this review comes a bit late, and I apologize.  Ethan is back again with a brand new inven…never mind.  Let’s get to his look at the new Coen Brothers film.

No Country For Old Men

9/10

I will will start this review with a bold statement : Javier Bardem WILL win a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for this. I guarantee it.

Now onto the movie. No Country For Old Men is brilliant. Freakin’ brilliant. The Coens brothers take what could be an average thriller and turn it into an examination of the moral values and society of this day and age. These aren’t blatantly on the surface. But even if you don’t get the themes, you’ll still probably wind up enjoying the movie. From the masterful suspense and stunning cinematography, No Country For Old Men gets it all right. It also features more humor than I expected. Which is a good thing. It prevents it from getting too bogged down in it’s darkness.

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Longtime listener/reader Ethan has been checking out some of the films up at the Toronto International Film Festival and he was kind enough to send us a a review of Michael Clayton.  I won’t waste any more time.  On to the reveiw!

Ethan’s Score:  8.5/10

We’ve had plenty of legal thrillers in the last few years. They all seem to be decently made, but not original. Well acted, but not Oscar worthy. Entertaining, but not insightful. But Tony Gilroy’s Michael Clayton gives the genre a kick in the ass and manages to be original, feature Oscar-worthy performances and be insightful!

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