“Creeeeppppyyyy”
There are definetely situations I know I’d never want to be in. Sometimes those situations arise in movies and it makes the connection to the flick that much more. The Strangers is not a new story or situation by any means, but it does represent a terrifying possibility: What if help weren’t a phone call away? In this generation where cell-phones, texting, laptops etc. help keep us connected 24/7, is there anything more frightening to know that you may not be able to? Scream used the concept of cell phones to it’s advantage. The Strangers uses cell-phones as extensions of the people who can’t use them and to how lost we are without them.
Ok so that’s pretty critical and maybe a little hefty in the analysis. The Strangers is an above average horror movie that is truely creepy. From first time director Bryan Bertino, this movie looks and feels like a poor mans Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Which is a compliment, not a detraction. From the moment the movie starts, you care about the characters and what will happen to them from their little back story. I like that there isn’t much exposition, but enough to know you should care. There’s a history and clearly something at stake. Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman do this in the little screen time dedicated to the topic at a wonderful rate.
Which brings me to the next exciting point. Once shit starts hitting the fan, it does so at a break neck pace, never really allowing the viewer to feel safe or take a deep breath. Our heroes always seem to be one step behind the heartless villains. Speaking of the villains they are pretty well done. They lack just the right amount of emotion and mess with the heroes enough to know something about them without them having to say a line. Tonally, visually and conceptually the movie is very well executed and certainly scary.
Which brings me to it’s detractions. Like many horror movies of this generation, there is a sense of “Why would you do that?” when watching the heroes. There are many moments in the movie where it seemed that they were doing what they were doing for the sake of making the situation more frightening as opposed to what a logical decision would be. Of course these moments mean you’re following the story, but also take you out of it for a moment as some of the situations seem written for that reason.
Other than that, The Strangers doesn’t try too hard to be scary and that’s what ends up making it scary. It doesn’t depend on gore or indestructible villains to be what it is. Ultimately, The Strangers is a very creepy movie and definitely worth checking out. I’m giving this flick a very solid 8 out of 10 Bones for being creepy, visually impressive and overall a good first effort for Bryan Bertino. Let’s just hope theres not any bad sequels.
RATING: 
“Carell and Co. make it fun and funny but nothing special”
Not expecting too much from a film is sometimes a nice feeling. I notice that a lot of the movies I go to see I’ve somehow built up in my mind in some way or the other. Whether it be really excited, or totally not giving it a chance, rarely do I frequent the cinema without having some basis for stepping through those doors. Get Smart wasn’t entirely that, as I certainly had pre-conceived notions, but ultimately I wasn’t expecting comedic genius.
And it wasn’t genius. It was pretty fair though. Steve Carell exhibits in this movie that he is a worthy leading man for other franchises as well as the potential franchise that Get Smart may ultimately spark. I’ve always liked Steve Carell, but rarely give comedies free passes. What the movie tries to do is reboot the popular TV series of the same name and inject some modern day lewd humor and edge. They certainly succeed, but the product is somewhat clunky.
Don’t get me wrong; I was entertained. There are very funny moments in this movie. The action isn’t all that half bad either. Carell and Hathaway share some great chemistry. This movie is meant to be taken lightly, and in doing so, you may have a fun time. In being critical however, the movie’s dialogue and half-hearted attempts at high-brow humor fall short.
There isn’t much bad I can say about Get Smart, being that it’s fun and likeable. But being that the bar wasn’t really set that high and it reached it’s bench mark as an average adventure comedy, I can’t really endorse the movie as something to run out and see. If you’re at the movies and trying to decide ,however, and it’s been a long week and you need a few cheap laughs, Get Smart will suit your fancy. This movie get’s a 6+ out of 10 Bones for being slightly above average adventure comedy fair.
RATING:PLUS!
“(Insert ‘This Didn’t Happen’ pun here)”
M. Night Shylaman is a talented dude (What does the M stand for anyway?). Regardless, he’s gotten this reputation for being a total diva. I guess I can see it, but I don’t particularly care. His writing, in general has ranged from clever and masterful (Sixth Sense) to not good (Lady in the Water). When the first pieces of The Happening started leaking onto the net, I was as interested in anyone else. What ended up happening at 9:30pm the night of 6/13/08, was a force of nature. A movie so bad, that I couldn’t find much right with at all.
This movie is not good. At all. The acting is so confusing, the writing so lost that I found myself laughing at the scary parts. Clearly his attempt is at Hitchcock and he ends up at Wood (and not in the good sense either). The movie is so laughably confused between it’s attempt at satire and horror, that I find it very hard to gravitate toward any portion of the film, character, plot or otherwise.
The imagery he has at some parts is actually pretty good. He’s a very good visual director and certainly has very prevalent and haunting images. Without a story, however, these images are hollow points of value. The twist in the film is pretty lame as well. The characters go from point to point without any real purpose or reason. I found myself watching a movie about something that just didn’t make me care.
Overall, I think this is another failure for M.Night. I don’t really have too much to say about the flick that’s positive so allow me to stop bashing it and assign it a Bone value of 2 out 10 for being a really boring, poor attempt at…something.
RATING:
“HULK GOOD AGAIN”
It’s hard to try and understand who came up with the idea to do another Incredible Hulk movie after the box-office disaster that was The Incredible Hulk, by Ang Lee. It confused the hell out of me and made me roll my eyes. Theres something about the Hulk that I didn’t believe was easy to translate into a movie the way that Spider-Man, Batman or Superman are. Enter Edward Norton and a healthy dose of crow for me to eat.
Edward Norton is easily one of the best actors of this generation and ever. His resume is so wide ranging and he’s played so many different roles that when I heard him bringing his astounding talent to the role of Bruce Banner, I had to see that. Apparently, Norton was a big fan of the show and it certainly shows throughout the flick and the direction they decided to take with the character and franchise.
It’s also worth noting that Marvel Studios was one of the producing studios of this flick. This is important because they made Iron-Man, a very good flick and are trying to line up a bunch of single hero flicks that will inevitably lead to an Avengers flick. So in reclaiming a cornerstone of the Avengers in The Incredible Hulk, they have effectively continued to amass their characters (and original property) to bring fans a star studded Avengers movie.
The Incredible Hulk is a very good movie, in that it follows Banner’s character and how he is trying to rid himself of this curse. It almost feels like an origin flick, which seems to be exactly how comic movies are resurrecting themselves. The effects are good and the cast is very solid. Marvel certainly has perfected the comic feel in movies. Liv Tyler and Norton have very good chemistry and watching their little budding romance is enjoyable.
While the Hulk has never been the most likeable of heroes in the comic universe, this film seeks to touch upon Banners struggle with the Hulk. And while the movie itself certainly doesn’t seek to touch upon any great message, it certainly lines itself up for an entertaining series and spinoffs.
And still, the movie, while exciting and certainly entertaining and well made, feels a little watered down. I didn’t find myself getting incredibly excited during any portion of the film but I didn’t find myself getting bored too much either. It has a better payoff than Iron Man, but less charm. All in all, a very enjoyable film with cool action and a good ressurection of character. Easily the equal to Iron-Man, this gets 8+ out of 10 Bones for being big, green and fun to watch.
RATING: PLUS!
