Surprisingly good story executed in a sub-par way. The story telling need some cleaning. The premise is very M. Night (SIGNS), and while the bombshell happens a bit sooner than most films, the-Hold your breath- moment never happens. Spoilers Coming so stop reading if you are going to see it——..The story plays like a ensemble version of the Bates Motel, methodical showing how each of the characters timelines intertwine. Well done on that part. Then we see people start dying, and we follow John Cusack as he tries to figure it out. But all the characters turn out to be the split personalities of a mass murder going through a special therapy. The therapy forces all the personalities to kill each other off so that, hopefully, the purest and kindest personality is the one that-s left–..kind of cool huh? Well the filmmakers hopped narrative about 10 times and made the investigations more of a mess than a timeline. So by the time the revelations happened, you really didn-t care anymore.

A few more laughs than I expected, (most politically liberal movies make me cringe) but this silly romp with its literal translations of rock-s mind, hits the mark. Super Whore training camp was pure genius. The film played more like a good Living Color skit. And Bernie Mac-s comedic violence kept the film going as it was running out of steam. On a side note the opening credits were a great idea that I am amazed has never been done before. Worth a matinee despite the worthless supporting staff, the dancing socialites got more laughs than anyone with speaking parts. Politically you knew where everyone was coming from even though they never mention parties on either side. If they had made both sides fight for the democratic nomination instead for president, it would have worked better. Rock-s direction is not too heavy handed, but doesn't offer anything new either.

One of those films I would have walked out of if I had paid for it. Demme has a knack of making characters quirkier than they need to be, many times leading us in the wrong direction or destroying the narrative. This movie falls under: ‘Indie with a budget’, cause the stars have to fight for lines that make sense. I did not see Charade, but I have to believe that something this jointed and messy could not have been released in 1964. Demme took one of the best cinematographers in the industry and gave him 5 shots in the whole film, everything else was hand held. And a horrible hand held at that. When the bad filmmaking takes over the story and characters, disaster is not far behind. This was a DVD rental (haven’t rent in quite a while) and my controlled home theater could not control the suck. Side Note: Certainly a red mark in the career of one of the only female composers in the industry, Rachel how can you claim such an awful score.

The best of the weekend-Hands Down, a hugely overlooked film last year. One of my top ten writer/directors David Twohy (Pitch Black, Arrival) takes a run at U571/Das Boot and turns in the best of the bunch. Wolfgang-s great Das Boot was a wonderful film, but BELOW tightens it up with some of the best tension and cinematography I have ever seen. Every shot is a work of art, and the DVD has the clearest images I have seen-period! The film is a ghost-on-a-boat movie but the background actions and situations float (he he) it into the action/horror genre as well. The CG work is top notch, and if you listen to director-s commentary you-ll see he is rather giddy about them as well. Miramax is for better-than-average Indie films not this. This is a top notch-B- for the likes of New Line or the new and improved Sony. Twohy seems to have found his signature shot: large evil displayed in the darkness with a flash of light. (PITCH BLACK’s aliens seen with a burst flame and BELOW’s devil rays). Side note to Twohy-if you put the deleted scenes back in the film-you would have gotten a 4.5-the-Hot Fish- scene was better than most that you left in.

Antoine Fuqua made a big bang with his first flick-Replacement Killers-, It brought in a great Asia film star, and was top notch for it-s Hong Kong style action. Next up Training Day. A good movie by most standards, but was dirty, way too dirty. The action part disappeared in lieu of a story of power and corruption. So the green light was lit for a Bruce Willis war movie, and we all hoped for a-Replacement Killers- in the jungle. Praying for a remake of the great-Dark of the Sun- (Mercenaries). What we got was Training Day in the Jungle-.DAMMIT!!!. It was straightforward and methodical journey it to a commanders soul- and did I mention slow. It had the feeling of a Tom Clancy movie-one of the so-so ones, and was less entertaining to boot. The actors did great, but the movies style was more like Apocalypse Now without the fight scenes. One battle takes place in the film-that-s right ONE. A lot of stupid thing kept happening that took me out of the movie…what the hell was Skerrit doing talking on a cell phone when jets are landing behind them, good thing he knew his lines cause he definitely couldn-t hear who was on the phone. Overall, the film offered more frustration than enjoyment. By the way, Cole Hauser, you did great, great character- we need more heroic demolitionists.

Summer Disaster Movie, almost a clich- in itself, but one thing about clich-s-we do them because they work. Some of the early reviews I read said the movie was bad and childish and stupid. So I went in expecting nothing but bad, but came out saying,-Hey-that was pretty good-. The liquid part of the earth-s core stops spinning causing all types of magnetic and atmospheric problems. The destruction of San Francisco ..Yaaa!-damn 49ers, and the pigeon issue in London being the best visualized. When everyone in a one mile area with a pacemaker suddenly drops dead, a local college geologist figures out the problem and reports it to the snobbish head of geology for the US Government-and away we go. One of the people the head geologist stepped on during his rise to the top, has the knowledge to get to the center of the earth. And a ship is built and a crew is picked. The science part is surprisingly right on, a few issues but nothing like the problems with Armageddon. Once we get going you see just about everything coming, but the tight acting and direction pointed you in exciting and fun directions. Kind of a poor man-s Armageddon but they do the most with it.

Basic is basically (he he) a masculine version of Ed Zwick’s wonderful ‘Courage Under Fire’. An investigation of a military incident told differently by different people. But the similarity ends with twists and turns that you can’t perceive coming. And while I understood the ending, the misleading stuff to get there almost has to be completely thrown away to make sense. While the story of what happened can be changed and misinterpreted, we as a viewer must believe what is being said and discovered by the investigators. In M. night’s ‘Signs’ for instance each story point fits into a large puzzle at the end. Here a few of the pieces were for a different puzzle, one we are not even building. Travolta, Daly, Jackson and Neilson give great performances and you enjoy every frame of them on the screen. Director John McTeirnan comes back from the disastrous Rollerball and returns to the Predator/Die Hard style of filmmaking that makes him great. Action is limited and plays more like an Out-Of-Courtroom drama, but McTeirnan’s style keeps you interested and never slows down for a breather.

Old School (3 of 5)
Guy flick about starting your own fraternity-at 40. Fun premise. It was a good star vehicle for Vince and Will. Not the best teenage-sex-comedy-with-old-people, But the same level of fun as-Road trip.

I love musicals, but I love the West Side Story, Moulin Rouge, and Holiday Inn type of musicals. On location live action, when words cant covey the emotion, break into a song. Kind of cheesy…but it’s what I think musicals should be. Marshall’s Chicago takes a different style, half location-half stage show, and some nice mixes and transitions in both. Most of the numbers are shot a little sporadic, but 2 or three work extremely well. Not the way I would have done it, but definitely the Fosse would have made it.