“We are here to tell the truth! People say if you don’t love America, then get the hell out! Well I love America!”

-Tom Cruise as Ron Kovic in “Born On The Fourth of July”

"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies."

-Thomas Jefferson

I was a little worried about Michael Moore’s latest film, “Capitalism: A Love Story.” It covers the catastrophic economic fallout from 2007 to 2009 and presents a very harsh indictment of the current economic order in the United States. Throughout the movie, Moore shows us families being evicted from homes that have been in their families for years, and how many get swindled out of them without them realizing until much too late. He also looks at how Wall Street treats the country’s economy like a reckless night of gambling in Las Vegas, and at how Goldman Sachs gained a frightening amount of leverage over congress at an economically vulnerable time. In short, it is Moore’s attack on all things capitalism, and of how it is an evil that is ruining the fabric of our once great country.

While it may seem ironic that Michael Moore would take on capitalism, especially when he has benefited so much from it over the years with his films and books, he creates a very compelling case here. Whether you think he is telling the truth or simply manipulating facts to his own advantage, he remains the most entertaining documentary filmmaker in American films today. “Capitalism: A Love Story” is honestly one of his best films to date, and it combines some of the hallmarks of a Michael Moore, truly devastating moments with some very funny ones. The movie does need those humorous moments, otherwise this could have been one of the most emotionally draining experiences of watching any movie.

“Capitalism: A Love Story” starts off in a way that is both hilarious and frightening. Moore starts off with one of those cheesy, snicker inducing 1950’s instructional movies about the rise and fall of the Roman Empire; it resembles all those films we were constantly subjected to throughout elementary, junior high, and high school. They did leave me with some funny memories though. Anyway, while the movie plays out along with the stiff narration, Moore inserts clips from the Reagan era White House, and continues all the way through the Clinton era, not to mention both of the Bushes, showing us how the fate that befell the Romans is very much alike to what is happening to America right now. Clearly, he sees us as following in the footsteps of a society that was destroyed through endless greed and avarice, and he is amazed that many people want to hang on to this damaged system regardless of how bad it is.

From there, Moore takes us to a family in Peoria, Illinois that is getting evicted from the home that has been kept in their name for several decades. It’s one of the saddest moments in the film, and to add insult to injury, the family ends up getting thrown out of their home much earlier than they had expected. They were given a couple of weeks originally, but it turns out the bank that repossessed their home had just sold it to another family who were ever so eager to get settled in their new place of residence.

I’ve been looking at these alarming number of foreclosures from a distance, and I felt that a good portion of them were due to owners not living up to their responsibilities. But while that may be the case to a certain extenet, Moore creates a very interesting case of how the banks ended up swindling many families out of their homes because the banks continued to charge them more and more for their mortgage.. For those looking to become homeowners, the movie is a reminder of how important it is to read the fine print of every contract you sign. Whether or not you understand all of what is being said to you is another story.

For Michael Moore, capitalism seemed like such a great gift to our country when he was growing up in Flint, Michigan. The way he saw it, it provided his dad with a good job, helped to give his family free health care, helped to pay for him to go to college without falling into tremendous debt over student loans (those were the days I’m sure), etc. But then Ronald Reagan came along and ruined it all from Michael’s perspective. “Capitalism: A Love Story” doesn’t necessarily portray Reagan as an evil man, but it views him more as a puppet for the banking industry among other industries. Before the star of “Bedtime for Bonzo” came along, the rich were apparently given a 90% tax on what they made, so naturally, they weren’t very happy about this. With Reagan taking over as President, the banks were able to gain control of all things money related, and they created massive tax breaks for the rich. From there, the cost of living rose faster than the cost of living did, and prices on things like health care skyrocketed to an unbelievable rate. Even prisons and juvenile detention halls became a for profit business where the sentences turned out to be longer than you were told. In short, things were changing, and the price of those things started to get higher and higher.

Much of the American public seemed to be sold on the idea that we could be rich too, and therein lays the big lie of Reganomics. In actuality, his policies throughout the 1980’s resulted in creating a bigger gap between the haves and the have nots, and the middle class at times threatened to be rendered extinct. Moore presents this as the point in our country where things started to change to where the rich benefited more than anyone else. Greed became a powerful influence on everyone, and much of America turned into a “me me me” society as opposed to one which sought to help less fortunate people. Moore shows how it went from there to the Clinton era, and even (more horrifyingly so) to the George W. Bush era in which the tax cuts for the rich almost became permanent.

“Capitalism: A Love Story” is presented as sort of a semi-sequel to Moore’s own “Roger & Me” which came out 20 years ago. In that film, he pursued then General Motors chairman Roger Smith for an interview over the closing of the car factory in his hometown. This resulted in a tremendous loss of jobs, all despite the fact that GM was posting record profits. All these years later, Michael Moore still cannot get a meeting with the CEO of GM. What occurred in Flint, Michigan all those years ago gave Moore a chance to tell the automotive industry,

“I TOLD YOU SO!!!”

Unsurprisingly, after all these years, Michael Moore can still not get inside the doors of the GM corporate headquarters to talk to the CEO. I imagine most corporate offices have a detection system set up in case they get a sudden visit from him. His attempts to enter other buildings are just as unsuccessful, and when he tries to get any of the bankers to explain what a “credit derivative” is, one of them says:

“Stop making movies!”

Actually, one moment in “Capitalism: A Love Story” that really stayed with me long it ended when President Reagan was addressing the bankers on Wall Street, and one of the most powerful bankers standing right next to him told (not asked) Reagan to “speed it up.” Wait a second, President Reagan was one of the most powerful people on the planet at that time, and someone next to him was telling him to speed it up? It makes you wonder who was really in charge of America at that point.

A truly heart breaking scene comes when a former employee of Wal-Mart talks on camera of how when his wife died at a young age, the company ended up making thousands of dollars off her death. It turns out that Wal-Mart took out life insurance policies on all their workers, and ended up profiting from their passing. To make matters even worse, the younger the worker who dies, the more money Wal-Mart gets. Now fact checkers everywhere are going to point out that Wal-Mart has long since ended these policies, but Moore does mentions this during the closing credits of the film. This makes another great reason to stay through the end credits if for no other reason then to respect the fact that hundreds or even thousands of people make a movie. It’s not just one person who does it all.

Another section of the film that hit close to home was when Moore points out how airline pilots are paid less than the manager of a Taco Bell. By that, I mean about $19,000 a year for starting pay. My brother is an airline pilot, and while he makes better wages now, those first few years were a struggle to say the least. It seems almost criminal that these huge airline companies that make millions of dollars end up paying their pilots with what looks like breadcrumbs. Thus, we get an example here of the ever widening gap between the rich and the poor.

Now let’s take a moment here, because we all know many will be accusing Mr. Moore (many of whom will not even bother watching this film) with thoughtlessly manipulating his on camera subjects and distorting what they say to his own advantage. Granted, there are moments where his camera focuses on crying family members a little longer than what feels comfortable. While the feeling of manipulation is hard to ignore, getting angry at Michael Moore for showing this will be missing the point. He wants you to be mad. With “Capitalism: A Love Story,” Moore means to stir up your anger because he does not want you to react passively to what you are witnessing. He wants you to take action against what is happening here because he is really sick and tired of doing this all by himself. Can you blame him? Many of us are viewing this economic breakdown and corruption from a distance, we can’t spend the rest of our lives letting all of this go unchecked.

But if scenes of everyday working class people getting heartlessly fleeced doesn’t frighten or enrage you, then the latter half of the movie where nerve wracked members of congress get swayed by Goldman Sachs among other banks to bail them out so that the banking industry could survive. Nobody I know of (including myself) was happy to hear about this, and we got even more pissed off when they got million dollar bonuses which were undeserved to say the least. There was a great article recently in Rolling Stone of how Goldman Sachs circumvented the economic crises of past and present to benefit them. Seeing this play out on the screen with not brought back my own deep feelings of unrestrained infuriation at seeing what these bankers were doing with taxpayer dollars. Why exactly do we have to pay for the mess they created anyway? What happened to accountability?

Many still believe that Michael Moore is nothing more than a fat bastard of an anti-American who has nothing better to do than say all these bad things about our country. The conservative comedy “An American Carol” had a character like him trying to convince fellow citizens to abolish the Fourth of July as a holiday. But that’s what made me really love the last half of this film; he shows how the power of the people really did win out. If you still think he is a hater of this country after watching this, you may need to remove yourself from the cave you have been hiding in for the last eight years.

Moore shows how it was will of the people that prevented the first economic stimulus (largely engineered by members of Goldman Sachs) from passing. At seeing what was about to occur, Americans everywhere contacted their representatives, urging them not to pass this bill which would take away from their rights. There were enough house representatives who saw that the banks were in the position of almost completely controlling the legal process, and they rallied against them for the sake of the country. This was all the result of American citizens speaking up and speaking loud.

The spirit of the American people is shown even more strongly when we witness the laid off workers of Republic Windows and Doors in Chicago do an in house protest at their place of employment. This came about because none of them were paid the severance they were promised from Bank of America. We also get a look at community groups like LIFFT in Miami which helped unfortunate families who “liberated” the houses of those who were evicted from them. The police came out in force of course, but they ended up not arresting anybody probably because it wasn’t worth the trouble (it was a problem for the banks anyway, not them). Then we see Captain Chesley Burnett "Sully" Sullenberger III, the American airline pilot who saved the lives of all 155 passengers aboard US Airways Flight 1549 when he landed it in the Hudson River, go before Congress to protest the way pilots were treated in general and how underpaid they are.

I should add that when the section regarding Captain Sullenberger came up, I was afraid that Moore would bash him in some way. But he actually applauds Sullenberger for taking his newfound fame and using it to help others who love their job of being a pilot. This leads to one of the movie’s funniest moments as Moore shows how the media seemed to like him more as a hero instead of someone who stands up against the companies for not paying pilots enough.. Moore ends up putting some patriotic band music over the soundtrack to shut out Sullenberger, because no one really likes a Debbie Downer. It reminded me of when at last year’s Republican National Convention, those pink ladies disrupted Senator John McCain’s acceptance speech for the nomination of President because they are against the wars America is stuck in.

After all the films he has made criticizing people and polices of the United States, it seems amazing that anyone would talk to Moore on camera. But he does get people like University of Missouri professor Bill Black, and Ohio Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur to talk about what they see as terribly wrong with capitalism. Furthermore, he even talks to the Catholic priest who married him and his wife who says that capitalism is a sin and that it is not very Christian-like.

Marcy is one of the movie’s most compelling voices, and she said that the first economic stimulus bill would have been a disaster for democracy had it been passed. It would have allowed the banks to have more control over taxpayer money and over the legislative process, hence rewriting the law books we have come to study all these years. The banks may want to concentrate the nation’s wealth among the 1% of the population who has it, but they cannot be allowed to silence the voices of the other 99% which includes people like you and me.

Bill Black himself comes off as one of the most intelligent people seen here, and it is heartbreaking to see that some of the smartest minds in America saw this economic disaster coming from miles away. Bill compares the fallout to a water damn that breaks apart, and not just that it breaks down completely, but of how we could see those little cracks forming. The fact that many people like Bill were silenced or had their character smeared beyond all repair is shameful. For them, they saw it as only a matter of time before the banking industry came crashing down, so there was no way they could have been surprised by any of this.

I was also really pleased to see Michael Moore stick it to the Democrats as well as the Republicans. While the Republicans may share the largest blame for this, the Democrats cannot be excluded because many of them are every bit as guilty in what transpired. It doesn’t matter what side of the political spectrum they were on, politicians of all kinds were bought out with what seemed like very little effort. Truth is, I am seriously frustrated with both major parties right now, and Moore taps into that because many Americans (regardless of their party affiliation) feel the same way.

By the way, if you really think that Moore is this left-leaning zealot, keep in mind that he has spent many years criticizing both parties (for good reason might I add), and his ire at the Democrats seems much larger because he expects more from them. I’m sure that if Moore had it his way, Ralph Nader would have been President by now (like that’s ever going to happen).

As for President Barrack Obama, Moore steers clear of saying anything bad about him, probably because many still see him as a symbol of hope. If Obama does foul things up in Afghanistan, I’m sure Moore might consider doing something on that. But that coupled with the power of people made the last half of this movie seem like the feel good movie of the year, and that’s irregardless of how exaggerated it all may seem to those who cannot stand this baseball cap wearing filmmaker.

In the end, Michael Moore is not out to make you repeat everything he says or believes in like it’s the gospels. His attack against capitalism is not entirely waterproof, and much more blame could be thrown at how corporate America has become so corrupted. But it doesn’t matter because what Michael Moore wants is for you to be angry, and to fight against those who would try to wrestle away the powers given to us in the Constitution.

“Capitalism: A Love Story” is really one of his best films in how he attacks many policies this country has adopted, and then counters with proof that the power still does belong to the people. It does to the banking industry and deregulation what “Sicko” did to the health care industry in this country, and it is informative, funny, moving, and endlessly entertaining.

For those who wonder why Michael Moore hasn’t left America yet, see this movie to find out. Like him, you may hate what this country is doing to its people, but you are not about to leave it.

**** out of ****

Starring: Aaron Eckhart, Jennifer Aniston, Dan Fogler, John Carroll Lynch, Judy Greer, Martin Sheen

Directed by: Brandon Camp

Written by: Brandon Camp & Mike Thompson

The majority of chick flicks that come out in a given year are romantic comedies. This is because women need to laugh at love in an equal approximation to the amount of time they spend complaining and crying over it. Yin and Yang and all that. Sometimes though you just don’t feel like smiling or laughing. In times like these, women reach for a good romance to cry through. This is because a romantic movie, unlike a romantic comedy, usually ends tragically.

“Love Happens” hovers in a place somewhere between these two genres. On one hand there are no laughs to be found in the whole run of the movie. On the other hand no one was maimed or stricken by an illness/motorized vehicle. Though the movie is serious, it doesn’t drive you to tears or break your heart. Instead it is a just a simple movie about grief, hypocrisy, and how we can all be struck with both.

The bulk of the movie centers around the life/recovery of Burke (Aaron Eckhart) who‘s wife died in a tragic accident years ago. Burke wrote a book to help people get through their grief and move on with their lives. Now, Burke it attempting to build a self-help empire based on his simple rules of life. Unfortunately, Burke is a firm believer of the “do as I say not as I do” variety.

The premise could work well enough because at its heart, this is not a love story. Instead this is a movie about fear, trust, and learning to start over. For this reason, the title is probably a bit misleading. Perhaps this movie should have been called “When It Happens” instead. The problem is that the script never fully commits to Burke’s story but instead waffles on whether this is a love story or a story about Burke’s redemption.

Although I actually love Jennifer Aniston, she did not seem right for the role of Eloise. If this movie was a love story, Aniston would have been great in the role. However, since the movie is more a story about Aaron’s recovery than love, Eloise should have been cast with an unknown actress. Eloise is an extension of his grief and a symbol of his recovery. Unfortunately, the script never really committed to that direction. Aniston is luminous but ultimately, it feels like she is in a separate movie from Eckhart all together. They have zero chemistry and even when they are in the same scene it feels like it is a split screen with two movies playing side by side.

Scenes that are meant to be touching come off as cheesy or over the top. Moments that are meant to be humorous feel mostly hollow. The script and the direction are at odds. As a viewer, you are not really sure which story you would like to see, but you definitely are left with the feeling that you only got two halves of two stories and nothing satisfying to laugh or cry about. The movie simply does not know what it is and as an audience member, we can not be expected to decide that for the director. Movies unlike small paperbacks do not lend themselves to the “Choose Your Own Adventure” model.

This might be worth a look if you spot it on cable one rainy weekend. But if you do watch it, remember that you will be left unsettled and unsatisfied as if you never saw the ending of the movie even though you watched the credits roll by.

Film Arcade.net recently received new photos from the new Jennifer Lopez film "The Back-Up Plan" courtesy of CBS Films.

After years of dating, Zoe (Jennifer Lopez) has decided waiting for the right one is taking too long. Determined to become a mother, she commits to a plan, makes an appointment and decides to go it alone. On the day of her artificial insemination, Zoe meets Stan (Alex O’Loughlin) – a man with real possibilities.

Trying to nurture a budding relationship and hide the early signs of pregnancy becomes a comedy of errors for Zoe and creates confusing signals for Stan. When Zoe nervously reveals the reason for her unpredictable behavior, Stan commits fully and says he’s in. Never before has love seen a courtship where a wild night of sex involves three in a bed – Stan, Zoe and the ever-present massive pregnancy pillow. Or, where “date night” consists of being the “focal point” at a near-stranger’s water birth which does for kiddie pools what “Jaws” did for swimming in the ocean. The real pregnancy test comes when both of them realize they really don’t know each other outside of hormonal chaos and birth preparations. With the nine month clock ticking, both begin to experience cold feet. Anyone can fall in love, get married and have a baby but doing it backwards in hyper-drive could be proof positive that they were made for each other.

The film hits theaters in January 2010.

For more information on this film, you can visit the offical website at: http://www.theback-upplan.com/

This is a new feature on Filmarcade.net, where I rant on films and the film industry. In this edition, I rant about how awful The Final Destnation 3D !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! was.

(Please note that it represents Anthony T's Opinion and not the opinion of Filmarcade.net.)

Film Arcade.net recently received the trailer for "Pirate Radio" from Focus Features. This is Richard Curtis' followup film to the 2003 hit "Love Actually".

Pirate Radio is the high-spirited story of how 8 DJs love affair with Rock n Roll changed the world forever. In the 1960s this group of rouge DJs, on a boat in the middle of the Northern Atlantic, played rock records and broke the law all for the love of music. The songs they played united and defined an entire generation and drove the British government crazy. By playing Rock n Roll they were standing up against the British government who did everything in their power to shut them down. The band of rebels is lead by The Count, played by the Academy Award Winning Philip Seymour Hoffman, Quentin the boss of Radio Rock, Gavin the greatest DJ in Britian, Midnight Mark, Doctor Dave and Young Carl who comes of age amidst the chaos of sex, drugs and rock n roll. The film features an unbelievable selection of music including The Beatles, The Stones, Beach Boys, Dusty Springfield, The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Smokey Robinson, David Bowie, Otis Redding, Cat Stevens just to name a few. The film is laugh out loud funny and speaks to the rock n roll rebel in all of us.

The film stars Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Rhys Ifans, Nick Frost, Kenneth Branagh, Tom Sturridge, Talulah Riley and January Jones

The film hits theaters November 13, 2009

"Pirate Radio" Trailer:

Welcome everyone to the 200th Edition of my blog. I can't believe I have made it this far. After watching so many movies I felt it was time to give back a little bit and recommend 10 very diverse movies each week. I can't really write a detailed review so I decided on this idea and I have never really seen anyone do this format so I thought I would. Most things I start, I really don't finish but this has kept going and going. I appreciate all my supporters but need to find other outlets for this since myspace just is not the popular thing it used to be. I am paying tribute to the late Simon Dee this week. I will be including five selections from the Random Myspace Profile selection process this week which is a record here and next week I will have at least two with the possibility of three. The 208th Edition will be my four year anniversary but 200 is a great number. I did not use any special format for this, I just put out another 10 movies so read on and tell me what you think.

Carefree (1938): This is a selection from the Random Myspace Profile selection process and for this one I chose the tribute page to Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. This is the 8th of 10 collaborations between the two and this one focuses less on song and dance making it more of a screwball comedy than a musical though it still has its song and dance moments. Fred plays psychoanalyst Dr. Tony Flagg. Ginger stars as Amanda whose fiance Steven, played by Ralph Bellamy, feels he his having relationship problems and wants Dr. Flagg to help her. The situation becomes more complicated when they begin to like each other leading to some funny situations, especially the hypnosis scene. This might be my favorite collaboration I have seen so far from the two.

The Italian Job (1969): This is my tribute to Simon Dee who has a small part as the shirtmaker in this movie. He was a radio disk jockey and a BBC host for a show called DEE TIME. Elizabeth Hurley cites he is the inspiration for the Austin Powers character that many of us have come to know and now to the movie. Michael Caine stars as Charlie Croker who is just getting out of prison and is not quite ready to go straight. He takes a job which will either make or break him and his crew. Noel Coward, in his last role, plays the brains of the operation from prison. This was before Caine hit the mainstream where he was popular among Britain and fun to watch here. There are some good action scenes with a great car chase coming to a strange finale. This movie was loosely remade in 2003 with Mark Wahlberg as Croker but a much different story. That version was every bit as good as this one if not better but this got it started.

Barfly (1987): This is another selection from the Random Myspace Profile selection process and for this one I chose Jasmin St. Claire who used to run the wrestling promotion 3PW. She was also involved with Extreme Championship Wrestling and now to the movie. This is based on the writer Charles Bukowski which is based on his autobiographical story. Mickey Rourke plays Henry, the one based on Bukowski, who never really cared about being "someone" and was content going to the bar and getting into fights with the bartender. Faye Dunaway stars as his love interest Wanda who is not much better off than he is leading to some pretty volatile situations. Frank Stallone co-stars as the tough-guy bartender Eddie who is not a big fan of Henry which is is best performance. Rourke was also very good and in my opinion his best movie of the 80s until you-know-what from 2008. I don't think too many people even need to guess that one.

Oyster Farmer (2004): This is a selection from the Random Myspace Selection process and for this one I chose the page for MOONLIGHT alum Alex O'Loughlin. Anna Reaves wrote and directed this movie which stars O'Loughlin as drifter Jack Flange who sends himself a package of money and ends up in a small town in order to retrieve it but sees that it is missing. He then gets a job at an oyster farm making many friends and falling in love with a mail carrier named Trish. It is an interesting look at small-town life but it did get pretty slow for me thinking it might miss the mark but about the last 20 minutes get very good and worth seeing O'Loughlin.

Bleach: Memories of Nobody (2006): This is my anime film for the week which is based on the tv series. I don't include much in Anime but when it presents itself to me, I usually jump at the chance to put it in here. In the town of Karakura, many unidentified spirits come into the town in masses leaving Ichigo and Rukia to see what is going on. They meet a mysterious girl named Senna who wipes out a lot of the spirits but refuses to speak of who she is. This is something where you don't really need to watch the series of BLEACH to get into this one where we get to know the characters pretty quick and have some good action.

Head (1968): This is a selection from the Random Myspace Profile selection process and for this one I chose The DVD Marquee. This is the first and only movie put out my the Monkees after their sitcom canceled. The Monkees, which consist of Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork, Davy Jones, and Mike Nesmith, are sent in to a surrealistic dream-like world which consists of the Vietnam War, film-making, and the media's treatment of the band. There really is not a real plot except to make a political statement and a statement towards the media playing some of the best music showing they are more than "fluff". There are many cameos which include Annette Funicello, Timothy Carey, Jack Nicholson, Sonny Liston, Dennis Hopper, and many others.

Tropic Thunder (2008): This is the last of the Random Myspace Profile selection process for this week and for this week I chose my Myspace friend Marcus A. Fine who is known as the #1 wrestling fan in Indiana. He mentioned in his movies anything from Jack Black so I chose this one. Ben Stiller directed this comedy where he stars as actor Tugg Speedman whose career is on the decline. Jack Black plays Jeff Portnoy who is an actor known for his crude and low-brow humor. Robert Downey Jr. plays Kirk Lazarus, an actor willing to do just about anything to get a part. Together, they are in a serious war film which turns much more real than what they expected. Downey was great as Lazarus who decides to turn his skin black so he can get the part of the African-American where he stays in character throughout the movie doing quite the imatation of a black man. I really did not find his portrayal as racist which I'm sure some did as I feel it was done pretty tastefully and I'm sure the Wayans got much less heat for playing white girls. The other two also hold their own in their efforts to stay alive in Southeast Asia. Tom Cruise was rather amusing as the movie studio big shot who really only cared about money. He looked much different than usual and was a good supporting role for him. Others include Matthew McConaughey, Nick Nolte, Brandon T. Jackson, and many others. I really enjoyed this violent comedy and found it to be very clever. The beginning consists of some good "previews" from the fictional actors with some more cameos.

Latin Lovers (1953): Lana Turner stars in this romantic comedy as Nora Taylor, a very rich woman who fears men love her more for her money but her fiance Paul, played by John Lund has a lot of money of his own. She goes with him on a trip to Brazil for a polo trip and in the process meeting Roberto Santos, a very charming man who Nora becomes smitten with and takes a liking to him making things complicated between John and Roberto who both really like Nora. I found this on TCM and worth it for the scenery, Lana Turner and even Ricardo Montalban who I seem to use a lot on here lately.

La Ronde (1950): I found this French film on TCM. Max Ophuls directed this movie centering on the affairs of people centering on a love triangle. This movie is kind of episodic when centers on Anton Walbrook taking us through each one of these affairs on a spinning merry-go-round which is to symbolize the lives. This movie has quite the French all-star cast granted I only knew Simone Simon who is most known for CAT PEOPLE. This was a very entertaining movie and is not very dark with Walbrook great as our narrator.

Life is Beautiful (1997): I had a hard time getting the last movie due to my rules but was glad to end here. Roberto Benigni wrote, directed, and stars in this movie taking place in WW2 Italy where the Nazis are taking over. Benigni stars as Guido, a clumsy but charming man, who falls in love with a schoolteacher named Dora who is played by Benigni's real-life wife Nicoletta Braschi. He soon leads a great life with his wife and son but things change when they go to a concentration camp. Guido then does what he can so that his son is not scared by telling him it is an elaborate game. Benigni won an academy award for best actor here and had quite a memorable moment at the Oscars. This is a very good comedy that works because it is not a comedy based on the holocaust, it is a movie centering around the holocaust and Guido doing what he must to make the most of his horrid situation. When I watch things like this, I can't even begin to imagine what people went through and people who had to die just based on people's hatred but people need to be educated on it with Roberto doing a very good job on making this movie very enjoyable.

Well, that is it for this week. I hope you all join me and stay tuned for next week that so far includes director William Friedkin, Helena Bonham Carter, Gerard Butler and James Steward. I did not expect to have two foreign films but it was the way the cards fell. I see I focused quite a bit on comedy, even dark comedy where each one of these had quite a bit of comedy to them. Tell me what you like and what you hate.

Welcome to the 199th Edition. I'm releasing this one a little earlier than usual with me not having home internet right now and a trip we're taking to a place where there likely is no internet. This week I pay tribute to Eunice Kennedy-Shriver, Les Paul, and Ruth Ford. Starting this week, I am going to try to go more in-depth on what I call "tributes" instead of

La Commare Secca (1962): I start with the debut of director Bernardo Bertolucci. This movie centers around the murder of a prostitute where the police question everyone that was in the park that night to see who the killer was at the time. Each person tells of their connection with the woman and their side of the story playing out some like RASHOMON. This was a good directorial debut that would be the start of a great career.

Ever After: A Cinderella Story (1998): The Facebook friend I selected for this week was Tatiana who was in my Spanish class. Andy Tennant directed this variation of the popular fairy tale. Drew Barrymore stars as Danielle, who is a servant to the Baroness played by Anjelica Huston. She then meets the conflicted Prince Henry, played very well by Dougray Scott, and mistakes him for a thief starting a friendship. She then poses as a princess to free one of the servants forming a relationship with Prince Henry who does not want to be king or have a wife chosen for him. Patrick Godfrey plays Leonardo Da Vinci who serves kind of as the Fairy Godmother. Richard O'Brien also has a part as a crooked businessman whose role is small but important. Barrymore was great as Danielle making this a great version of the tale.

The Seven Year Itch (1955): Billy Wilder directed this very daring comedy and co-wrote the screenplay with George Axelrod who wrote the play. At the time, the stage allowed far more freedom but with the censors at the time, much had to be re-written but Wilder dared to challenge these censors in many scenes. Tom Ewell plays the part of Richard Sherman whose wife and kids leave for vacation for the summer but he stays behind and becomes tempted by his neighbor, played very well by Marilyn Monroe. His temptation and guilt lead into many funny situation and fantasies which make this a great comedy but very controversial for its time. one known image is of Marilyn's skirt going up which actually took over 40 takes because she kept forgetting lines so the public really got to enjoy themselves. The dvd has an episode of AMC's show BACKSTORY showing the making of this movie and the trouble it took to put out one of the best comedies of all time. It also shows a screen test by a very young Walter Matthau who Wilder wanted to use as Richard but was deemed by the producers to be too unknown at the time so he took Tom Ewell who originated the role on the stage. Marilyn went through a lot of depression during the filming.

8 1/2 (1963): This is my second foreign film for this edition which was directed by the legendary Fellini. This is something that you must pay pretty close attention to and even try to watch it a second time if necessary. The movie is based on a director, played very well by Marcello Mastroianni, who is having trouble coming up with his next movie and directing it. At the time Fellini himself was experiencing writer's block so he wrote a movie that was somewhat autobiographical. It shows much of his trouble directing his movie and many dream sequences of much more trouble in his life. The movie contains a lot of bizarre imagery and a very cool scene in the beginning using a traffic jam. I got this on the Criterion collection and has a pretty good commentary track explaining his thoughts.

Flicker (2008): This is my documentary for the week which takes a look at artist Brion Gysin who invented the "dream machine". It focuses on the hypnotic effects it has had on many people including rock star Iggy Pop. Many say it gives you a non-drug hallucinogenic feel. It also gives a pretty good insight into Brion Gysin and the work he put into his invention. This was a pretty decent documentary that I found on the free speech network.

Dahmer (2002): I found this one on IFC. Jeremy Renner plays the title character of Jeffrey Dahmer who most of us know was a known serial killer in Wisconsin. This movie was based on the police reports done so a lot of it is rather fictional. It shows moments in his life when he was a very lonely man who lured young men into his home only for them to be his next victim. It also goes in some good flashbacks when he has a dysfuntional relationship with his father, played by Bruce Davison, and what lead up to his first killing. This is more of a character study and if you want a big gorefest, this is not it. It really does not focus on his crimes but more on his life though there are some very disturbing scenes.

Mary, Mother of Jesus (1999): I now pay tribute to Eunice Kennedy-Shriver who was the executive producer of this tv movie based on the Virgin Mary. She is the sister of the late Ted Kennedy who died 15 days before he did not getting nearly as much publicity so is also the sister of JFK and RFK. She is also the mother of Maria Shriver who is married to Arnold Schwarzenegger. In 1968, she founded the Special Olympics which has become quite a big deal and is a great thing for the mentally disabled (is that too politically incorrect). In 1998, she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame and now let's get to the movie. Penilla August plays the title character in her late years. Melinda Kinnaman plays the young Mary who is portrayed as quite an activist and it leads into her becoming the "chosen one" by god and giving birth to our savior Jesus Christ. Christian Bale plays Jesus in this movie and gives an interesting portrayal of him. This came right before AMERICAN PSYCHO what I feel was his breakthrough into the mainstream but he did some pretty good movies before that though so please take nothing away from that statement. Many may not like this or how Mary was portrayed but it's not like they portrayed her as some mean person, just someone who stands up for what's right but some may not agree.

Great Balls of Fire (1989): This is my tribute to guitar legend Les Paul, who has a song called LOVER which was performed here. He is the inventor of the Solid-body electric guitar getting him into the National Inventor's hall of fame in 2005. He also has a very expensive brand of guitar called the Les Paul guitars. He is known for his many innovations with the guitar and was inducted into the Rock 'N' Roll Hall of Fame. For all the guitarists out there, go ahead and idolize your Jimi Hendrix's and Jimmy Page's but he is owed a lot for what is out there today and now onto the movie. I go from a biopic of Mary to one of bad-boy rocker Jerry Lee Lewis who is played very well by Dennis Quaid. This takes place during his rise in the 50s and his near-fall for what is known by many as the first rock 'n roll scandal when he marries his 13 year old cousin Myra who is played very believably by Winona Ryder. Alec Baldwin plays his evangelical cousin Jimmy Swaggart who hated the lifestyle and the type of music that Lewis sang. Lewis did his own singing in the movie but Quaid did some of the piano playing. Lewis had a career that probably could have been much bigger had the scandal not happened like Paul is owed a lot for his piano playing and incorporating it into rock music. This movie is based on the book written by Myra Lewis, his wife, which Jerry hated as well as this movie.

Strange Impersonation (1946): This is my tribute to actress Ruth Ford who plays Jane Karaski who has a very small part but very important for the story. She is the goddaughter of Orson Welles and did some work at the Orson Welles Mercury Theater. She is a former fashion model and acted into the mid-80s before leaving the acting scene. I have no information on why or what she did afterwards and now to the movie. I was not sure what to expect here and enjoyed this b-movie film-noir far more than what I thought. Brenda Marshall plays Nora who is about to get a scientific break-through but her partner Arline, played by Hilary Brooke, is jealous of Nora's fiance and plans an experiment-gone-wrong which leaves Nora disfigured leading into her revenge. The Karaski character that Ford plays is very important to her scheme. The story flows very well but the ending seemed like one of those forced endings that the censorship board forced upon them but other than that, it leads to a great conclusion before the one that should not have been made. I found this on Netflix.

Baby, Take a Bow (1934): I end with Shirley Temple's first starring and feature role where she is the daughter of ex-con Eddie Ellison, played by James Dunn. Eddie really wants to go straight but finds it is really hard but his great daughter Shirley makes it easier. Claire Trevor plays his accepting wife and daughter of Shirley. Shirley then stands up for her father when his former crime associates try to get him back in. This is not her best but something worth checking out and a good musical number sung by Shirley and James Dunn ON ACCOUNT-A I LOVE YOU is a great song and dance number.

Stay tuned for the great 200th Edition next week that so far includes Ginger Rogers and Michael Caine. I hope everyone joins me for the 200th Edition. It will just be another 10 selections which I think people will like.

"This film is based on real events, but not everything you'll see is real, some are a fabrication.”

“So there.”

Right there, the opening title sets up the giddy tone of Steven Soderbergh’s “The Informant!” Based on Kurt Eichenwald’s 2000 non-fiction book of the same name, it tells the tale of Mark Whitacre, a bio-chemist at Archer Daniels Midland (ADM). When Whitacre informs his bosses that one of the competitors is extorting from them, the FBI becomes involved and seeks his cooperation. But Whitacre later lets it slip to FBI agent Brian Shepard (Scott Bakula) that ADM is actually involved in a multi-national price-fixing conspiracy over Lysine, a food additive. Soon after, Whitacre becomes a whistle blower for the FBI, gathering copious amounts of information to blow the company’s illegal dealings wide open. But in the process, it turns out Whitacre actually knows more than he’s telling anybody, and it is eventually revealed that he has been embezzling millions of dollars from the company. From there, he goes from being a star witness to a corporate pariah.

“The Informant!” is not just your typical corporate corruption film in which the main characters are on a mission to uncover the truth and expose wrongdoings. The movie is really about getting to the truth of who Mark Whitacre is. As the movie goes on, we find that he is not only being dishonest to everyone around him, but to himself as well. Mark ends up being diagnosed with bi-polar disorder which makes clear how far his mental health has unraveled. Soderbergh gets us to trust Whitacre along with Damon, and the rest of the movie involves us getting deeper into his psyche. Whitacre doesn’t just deceive his employees, he deceives the audience watching the movie as well.

Much has been said about Matt Damon going all De Niro on this role by having put on a good 30 pounds and a mustache to play Whitacre. But he more than succeeds in bringing an everyman quality to this role which is not at all easy with a star like him, known for his good looks (the term actor fits him better anyway). It certainly sets his character apart from Jason Bourne, who Whitacre is clearly not (he does liken himself to James Bond though). Damon has never had a role like this before, and it should be considered as further proof that he is a better actor than many give him credit for.

Soderbergh’s decision to give the movie a comic tone is an interesting choice, and it is a reminder that he is still one of the most unpredictable film directors working today. This is his second film that he has released this year, having earlier given us his indie experiment with Sash Grey, “The Girlfriend Experience.” While this one was done on a bigger budget, my understanding is that he shot almost as fast (30 days was the length of the shoot from what I have been told), probably because the studio wasn’t sure if people would see it or not. Looking more closely at the script, this could have been Soderbergh’s “Michael Clayton,” but they both have taken this story (the kind we see in the papers everyday) and made it into something a little different. While the tone is a bit inconsistent throughout, and you are not sure of how amusing the film is meant to be, that may be the point of it all.

The humor throughout this movie is very dry, and it sticks in your throat for good reason. Whereas everyone here looks like they are having a blast with the material, you have to remind yourself once in awhile that “The Informant!” is based on a true story, and that Whitacre’s conviction ended up giving a sentence three times longer than those he exposed. This may be one of those movies that thwarts expectations as it has been promoted and advertised as a full out comedy. It is not meant to be a laugh a minute comedy like “Airplane!”

When all is said and done, “The Informant!” really belongs to Matt Damon as much as it does to Steven Soderbergh. As Mark Whitacre, Damon never looks like he is just acting or simply doing an impersonation of the real Whitacre. This is also clearly not a performance that stopped at the physical appearance (Damon gaining all that weight), but one which really gets into the inner trappings of this bio-chemist’s mind. From start to finish, we keep hearing Damon’s narration about the little things he knows and what he makes of people around him. I somehow figured that this would all lead to a big realization at the film’s climax, but it really illustrates the deteriorating state of Mark Whitacre’s mind. Damon actually makes you empathize with this even while he comes across as a Bernie Madoff in training.

While Damon looks like he had the time of his life here, he must have exercised like crazy to get all that excess weight off. But really, has there ever been another movie where you have seen a high ranking corporate employee so overeager to rat out his colleagues? In any other movie, this guy would be cracking under the stress and pressure of having to where a wire at the very least. “The Informant!” does cover the 3 years Whitacre worked with the FBI, and he did indeed crack under the pressure, but it makes it look like he had a certain glee about it for the most part, and that’s even while it was all downhill from there for him.

During taped meetings, he looks straight into the tiny cameras the FBI installed in the lamps, utterly annoying the agents he is working with. Later, he goes out of his way to almost completely exposing himself as he tries to fix the taping device inserted into his briefcase while in an important meeting. While walking through his office, Whitacre even goes out of his to narrate the tapes to indicate who he is talking to and also dictates what area of the building he is in. I’m surprised that those who worked with him on this price fixing case didn’t suffer serious heart attacks from all the unintentional stress he put them under. Whitacre always looks like he is just one step away from completely ruining the case.

I also have to say that for the life of me, I cannot remember the last time there was a character that inspired so many dead or befuddled stares from other people. It’s like every single character he comes into contact with has at least two or three moments where they look at Mark Whitacre with their jaws hanging down almost all the way to the floor. Have you ever seen another movie where so many characters look like they are about to say:

“Excuse me? Would you mind repeating that? YOU WHAT??!!”

The two actors who end up giving Whitacre the most jaw dropping glares throughout “The Informant!” are Scott Bakula and Joel McHale. Both play off of Damon perfectly, and their expressions mirror our own as we come to discover the secrets of Whitacre’s ways at the same time they do. Bakula, still around long after “Quantum Leap” and the last Star Trek television spin-off “Enterprise,” gives us a coolly collected FBI agent instead of the intense and easily aggravated ones we see in these movies. But not to worry, he does lose his temper eventually. Joel McHale, who is now starring on the NBC comedy series “Community,” is even drier here than Bakula. At the movie’s end, he still cannot figure out if Whitacre has been completely on the level with him. Then again, Whitacre probably can’t figure that out either. I remember saying that if you believe in a lie so much, it eventually becomes the truth, and that is the biggest affliction of all for Mark Whitacre.

The seriousness of the story is also offset by the wonderfully breezy music score by Marvin Hamlisch. It treats the goings on as a bizarre farce that goes further out of the hand than anyone could have imagined…and then it gets even more bizarre before the movie ends. Even as the situation becomes increasingly serious with the walls closing in on Damon’s character, Hamlisch’s score remains surprisingly upbeat throughout. Along with the retro opening credits, it’s almost like Soderbergh was trying to give the film a 70’s look even though it takes place in the 90’s.

Damon is also given strong support by the rest of the cast which includes some stand up comics like the great Rick Overton as Terry Wilson (he seriously has some of the movie’s lines and delivers them with sharp comic precision), and Tom Wilson as Mark Cheviron. Still, you can never get Wilson’s work as Biff from the “Back To The Future” movies out of your head. You also get to see the Smothers Brothers in different scenes, and it feels like it has been too long since I last saw them in anything.

Also really good in this movie is Melanie Lynskey (“Away We Go”) who plays Whitacre’s wife, Ginger. She knows only to a certain extent of her husband’s illegal dealings yet feels as powerless as he does to stop it all. Ginger never comes across as your typical trophy wife of a corporate employee, and that makes Melanie’s performance seem all the more original than what I have seen before.

So while it’s not quite a great movie, “The Informant!” does have a lot going for it, and it is very inventive in how it presents this morally corrupted yet well meaning character. Whitacre may think he’s like Tom Cruise’s character in “The Firm,” he is nowhere as lucky as him. Soderbergh continues to be one of the best directors working in film today, and Damon continues to get better as an actor with each film he does.

SO THERE!

***½ out of ****

Starring: Robin Williams, Daryl Sabara, Alexie Gimore, Evan Martin, Henry Simmons
Written & Directed By: Bobcat Goldthwait
Grade: A

World’s Greatest Dad achieves a number of great accomplishments, but one of the most notable is it shows Robin Williams at his best. Williams’ performance combines his understanding and conviction that he had in Good Will Hunting and escalates an authentic humor that surpasses his earlier work. World’s Greatest Dad is a dark comedy done right. It’s a fine line, but the film really tackles the serious, dramatic troubles as well as hit on fresh, witty comedy that keeps you laughing from beginning to end.

Lance Clayton (Williams) is a determined, but so far failed writer. He has written four books before, none of which anyone would publish. Lance is just beginning on his fifth and promises himself that if this one doesn’t work out that he will finally set his pen down. He’s a poetry teacher at the school that his obnoxious and distant, 15-year old son, Kyle (Sabara), attends. Only a few students attend his poetry class since the majority prefer to take the young and hip Mike Lane’s (Simmons) creative writing class. Lance is in danger in losing his class if he can’t get more students interested. Mike doesn’t only strike a professional threat to him, but a personal one as well. Lance has been seeing the cute, art teacher, Claire (Gilmore), but only in secret as she doesn’t want to be exclusive or let others they have a relationship at all. When Mike gets an article published in The New Yorker, Claire’s eyes soon turn to him as they seem to close on Lance.

When Kyle gets in to a fight at school, Lance has to beg the principal not to send him away to another school for mentally challenged students. Lance tries to get his son to take his school work more seriously and spend more time with him. The main problem is Kyle seems to hate everything even music and movies. The only thing he shows any interest at all is girls, sex, and porn. Lance finds that he not only doesn’t have much in common with his son but with Claire either. One night he goes out on his porch, smoking pot, which catches the attention of his neighbor. It turns out they have a common love of the earlier zombie films and that she has read all of his books he has thrown out. She praises his work and gives him the courage to keep on writing. When a freak accident shatters the entire school’s way of being, Lance finds inspiration in a very strange place. He can’t claim the work he is doing, although it is affecting so many people around him. Lance is finally so close to getting his work published, reaching an audience that is completely touched by what they read. The only problem is it’s a mere creation; artificial memories to the masses who never cared while this beloved departed soul was around them.

As I said, Robin Williams gives one of his best performances. He is very natural and he really puts so much of him in to his character that we feel immensely for him. His character’s actions are questionable at the least, but we understand them void of much if any judgment. The mix of comedy and deep dramatic problems Lance has to face was good for Williams at this point in his career. The comedy is very authentic and rich and the drama aspect isn’t overplayed, but it is still acknowledged and dealt with. Daryl Sabara also did an excellent job. Yes, that’s the kid from Spy Kids and he has come a long way in the past few years. He nails a pretty unlikable character. Kyle is rude, shallow, and is overly judgmental towards everything and everyone. Sabara adds a lot of charisma and hits his comedic marks wonderfully. Even if you don’t like his character as a person, you enjoy his screen time because things are always interesting and entertaining when he’s around.

Evan Martin was another stand out as Andrew, Kyle’s best and only friend. He’s slightly awkward, but very kind and intelligent. He seems to be the smartest one in the town when everyone else is so easily fooled. As Andrew doesn’t have the best home life, Lance becomes like a second father to him. Henry Simmons also did very well as Mike, the cool and threatening teacher. Simmons has a certain suaveness and charm to him that makes it easy to understand why others like him. There are some small moments that really make his character all the better. It’s really the awkward moments where his sense of humor clearly doesn’t match with those around him that make things much funnier.

World’s Greatest Dad tells a great story about a man who is quite lost and doesn’t really have control or a good grasp on anything in his life. Even though it wasn’t his original intention, it seems that everyone around him is begging to give all of this reasoning and depth to something that is void of these things. As he aspires to create something people care about and his audience is right in front of him, Lance turns the fiction in his own mind and presents it as a reality. The theme presented on how people seem to care so much about someone who they only barely acknowledged their presence when they were alive is strong. It’s funny how someone’s life can just be an annoyance to so many and then suddenly when that person is no longer there they are suddenly inspiring and beloved by all. In World’s Greatest Dad that point is exaggerated a little within the circumstances, but it makes a point about the power of depth and people craving for it to mean something so badly.

There are some pretty dark events that take place and never really go away. Yet, I was laughing continuously through the film. The laughs were very genuine. They were not forced or just for the sake of being present. The events are shocking and hard to believe at times, but the laughs don’t resort to the shock factor. The tragedy is respected and woven in to a comedic spin on things. The two are blended together far better than you expect them to. The only thing that seemed unsettled was when Mike seemed suspicious of Lance without developing this to see what he found out. Perhaps this was just to give us a hint that Lance couldn’t pull off his charade forever. It is such a small thing, but it probably would have been better if it was either gone in to further or taken out. Overall, the characters are incredibly unique, the comedy is rich, pointing out flaws in the human condition, and the story is extremely well crafted. World’s Greatest Dad is hands down one of the best films of the year.

DIRECTED BY
Dennis Iliadis

STARRING
Monica Potter - Emma Collingwood
Tony Goldwyn - John Collingwood
Sara Paxton - Mari Collingwood
Garret Dillahunt - Krug
Aaron Paul - Francis
Riki Lindhome - Sadie
Spencer Treat Clark - Justin
Martha MacIssac - Paige

Genre - Horror/Revenge

Running Time - 114 Minutes

Score - 3 Howls Outta 4


I can pretty much say at this point that while I can accept and tolerate them, I still dislike the recent remake trend that's going on in Hollywood. I mean, I get it. Filmmakers and the studios they work for want to update classic horror films for a newer generation who may not appreciate the older stuff because they're "ancient" or because they can't relate with the eras that they're from. Of course, there's the busine$$ aspect of the whole thing that you can't ignore. But when I see films I love like FRIDAY THE 13TH, HALLOWEEN [really HALLOWEEN II], DAY OF THE DEAD, THE HITCHER, and countless others being turned into crap because of modern Hollywood, I begin to get annoyed by the trend.

However, there are some horror films that don't really bother me when they're remade. Honestly, I think some of these movies could use a reimagining and a new vision for a modern era because they're either really dated or because they have flaws that could be improved on with a remake. THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, 1972's directorial debut by Wes Craven, is one of these films for me. I like THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT and its effectiveness with its brutality and a classic performance by David Hess, which can't be matched. But those deputy characters and the revenge by the parents in the film are more comical today than they should be, leading me to believe that the film hasn't dated all that well. Times change and how we perceive things evolve because of it. The original still holds a place as classic horror and exploitation, but the idea of the remake earlier this year didn't disturb me because I knew at the right hands, it could be made into a more serious film. And after watching it last week, I have to say that THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT surprised me and I believe it's one of the better remakes that Hollywood has released in the past few years.

PLOT
The remake's story is pretty much similar to the original's. The Collingwood family - father and doctor John (Tony Goldwyn), mom Emma (Monica Potter), and teenage daughter Mari (Sara Paxton) - head into the country for a family trip that ends up being bittersweet since teenage son Ben has passed away and it's the Collingwoods' first trip without him. Unfortunately, the Collingwoods have no idea that a group of killers is on the loose. Leader Krug (Garret Dillahunt) has escaped from police custody with the help of his sadistic and perverted brother Francis (Aaron Paul) and Krug's girlfriend Sadie (Riki Lindhome). Through Krug's teenage son Justin (Spencer Treat Clark), the group meets up with Mari and her friend Paige (Martha MacIssac), who hang with Justin for some sweet pot although Mari is hesitant about the whole deal. Just as the girls get ready to leave, Krug and the others take them as hostages. When they don't cooperate like good hostages, the group murders Paige, rape Mari, and then leave Mari to die in a lake during a thunderstorm.

Needing a place to stay for the night, Krug's group make it to the Collingwoods country home, not knowing who each other are. When the truth is revealed, the Collingwood parents take justice in their own hands, making sure Krug and his family never forget about the last house on the left.

REVIEW
This remake really surprised the hell out of me. The previews made this film look so generic. Plus the reputation of horror remakes these days tend to lean more on the negative side, so I really wasn't expecting a remake to an exploitation film like THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT to really meet my low expectations. But not only was this remake better than the previews had led me to believe, but it's also one of the better horror remakes that Hollywood has made since the trend started.

The story/narrative is pretty much the same as the original. However the way the same story is told in each version is very different. In the 1972 version, the story was a product of social commentary at the time relating to feminism, Vietnam, and the disillusion of the government. It truly reflected each of these issues, creating a story that was not only gritty, but effectively brutal. In the 2009 version, these issues don't exist anymore. Instead, the screenwriters went for a simple revenge flick formula where the parents get revenge on those who have raped and almost murdered their daughter. Yes, we've seen films like this quite frequently. But when they're written well and do enough to make you feel for the protagonists to the point where you want them to get revenge on these evil people, then why would anyone want to complain? Unlike the original, you never really question if the parents were justified in what they do to Krug and his gang. You know it's an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. It works and you're captivated from beginning to end.

I do think the characterization of the villains could have been stronger. While Krug, Sadie, and Francis are horrible, dispicable people, they don't seem as sadistic as they should be. In the original, the villains were really the scum of the earth and you really got a sense that these people were horrible and had no sense of morality at all. In this remake, they seem very generic. Krug's character could be interchangable with many other similar villains in any revenge film. Plus Sadie, who was a really dispicable bitch in the original, seems to be more sorry and almost questions her actions judging by her body language and facial expressions. Only Francis seems to really be similar to his original counterpart, Weasel, not hiding the fact that he's a pervert and doesn't mind getting his hands dirty to get what he wants. While I like the protagonist characters in the remake more, the villains in the original are still tops for me.

I also thought some sub-plots weren't really necessary. Obviously the main one was the teasing of the Collingwood's disinegrating marriage. You can tell there was more to it than what the narrative or the film allows, but nothing really comes from it. So really, it could have been left out. Also Sadie's lesbian tendencies are displayed quite frequently and she seems like a sexual deviant. But that part of her personality quickly disappears. And then there's the final scene involving a microwave. Yeah. The less said about that, the better.

The gore and brutality in the remake isn't as much as the original. We do get some stabbings and bullets hitting flesh. Plus there's that surgery scene and a head blowing up. Let's not forget the hand in the garbage disposal. And the rape sequence went further than I thought it would, especially in more PC times. Nothing to really write home about but it does it job.

The direction by Dennis Iliadis is really good. I thought the composition shots and cinematography was absolutely beautiful. Iliadis really made the silence in the film more deafening than the louder moments, making the more brutal moments in the film more so. And there was definitely a nice use of creating momentum and tension. The visuals were very pleasant and I have no complaints at all about the directorial work.

The acting was quite good too. Monica Potter played the part of overprotective and vulnerable wife and mother really well. I sympathetized with the character and found her reactions to what was going on really believable. Nice job. Tony Goldwyn held his own too as the husband and father. But I don't think the role was beefy enough to really mean much. His action scenes with the killers were cool but there wasn't really all that much to the character. Sara Paxton played the "nice girl" role perfectly. Aaron Paul was great as the perverted Francis. He totally convinced me in the way he used his body and his face. Riki Lindhome did okay as Sadie, but her character should have been given more to do. Spencer Treat Clark played the kid who was caught up in a messed up situation really well. And Garret Dillahunt is no David Hess, but he was alright as Krug. It was more subtle than I was expecting and I honestly can't picture anyone but Hess in the role. But his performance was good.

THINGS I'VE LEARNED WHILE NEVER GOING UP TO MY COUNTRY HOUSE ON THE LEFT

- Never refuse a criminal his right to pee. It's better to be pissed on than to piss him off. Your life depends on it.

- Don't get too excited when two hot girls give you a makeover if you're a dude. They're not trying to get with you. You've just become their new gay friend. Congrats.

- "Memories are important." I agree. Like the time me and my frat buddy had too much to drink and we both woke up with our asses in unexplainable pain.

...Correction - Memories are overrated. Screw 'em!

- It's good to have a doctor for a dad. He'll stitch your broken nose. He'll stop the bleeding and put a tube inside so you can breathe. And he's a pro with the anal thermometer. No wonder every woman wants to marry a doctor.

- Don't go after a married woman. You'll receive a sharp pain in your chest after she rejects you. Or after she stabs you with a large butcher knife. Whichever comes first.

- Emma shot Sadie right in the eye, killing her. Damn, she wouldn't last long in the porn industry, would she?

THE FINAL HOWL
THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT is a surprisingly good remake that kept me entertained from beginning to end. It's not as brutal or as memorable as the original, but it takes the story a bit more seriously and I thought the revenge motif came off better here than it did in the original. So I think they both balance each other out and are both worth watching for different reasons. All in all, THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT '09 is a highlight of a lackluster year and will probably be on my Best Of '09 list by the end of December.

The Rainbow Film Company is proud to present Irene In Time a film by Henry Jaglom, coming to theaters in New York on September 23rd and is now playing in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Irene In Time is a puzzle about love and time, a mystery in which clues are found and secrets are revealed, Irene in Time is a look at the complex relationships between fathers and daughters and the consequences - years later - on the grown women's relationships to the men in their lives.

Irene In Time was written and directed by Henry Jaglom and stars Tanna Frederick and co-starring Andrea Marcovicci, Victoria Tennant, Karen Black, Lanre Idewu and Jack Maxwell. The film was produced by Rosemary Marks for the Rainbow Film Company.

For more information on this film, you can goto the film's official website at:
http://www.ireneintime.com/

"Irene in Time": Official Trailer

Film Arcade has recieved yet another poster for Saw VI from Lionsgate, which hits theaters on October 23rd. This is best of them yet.

Special Agent Strahm is dead, and Detective Hoffman has emerged as the unchallenged successor to Jigsaw's legacy. However, when the FBI draws closer to Hoffman, he is forced to set a game into motion, and Jigsaw's grand scheme is finally understood.

The film stars Tobin Bell, Betsy Russell, Shawnee Smith, Mark Rolston, and Peter Outerbridge

Saw VI Teaser Trailer:

The Video Guys

USA/NR/95 minutes

www.videoguysthemovie.com

Directed by Dan Brennan Producers Jeanne Brennan ... producer Antoinette Lipton ... associate producer Cast - in credits order Dan Brennan ... Paul Russ Camarda ... Rick Johnny Ferro ... Chuck Allison Lane ... Elizabeth Samuel Whitten ... Godrick Stephanie Faith Scott ... Maggie Carolyn Morrison ... Carol

Your wedding day can be the most stressful day of your life. These video guys have seen it all, from cheating grooms to sexy brides. They know how to be discreet and how to deal with any problems thrown at them. Now they face their greatest challenge, to shoot one of their ex-wife's wedding.

The Video Guys is the directing day beau for its director/star Dan Brennan (Paul) and he does a very credible job of it. The film gives a different comedic twist to Men in Black (1997) and Ghostbusters (1984). This troupe of misfit losers have banded together at the low end of film event preservation and go to any length to make sure that the groom shows up, the bar mitzvah boy does his speech and the birthday girl doesn’t drink too much. In so doing they are guaranteed to be able to edit a wonderful and “honest” video to preserve this magic moment for posterity.

While the acting is good the comedic timing is just OK, the production values are good and the editing pulls the story together. A special mention has to go out to Sabrina Brennan (Miss Piggy), the director’s daughter. She does a heck of a job and could really be a child actor to watch. However, I couldn’t help getting the feeling that The Video Guys was a pilot movie for a TV series. While the film doesn’t use gratuitous sex, nudity or violence to tell its story, I couldn’t help feeling that if it did, like Californication (2007 TV series) or Weeds (2005 TV series), it would actually play better and be funnier and more interesting The ensemble cast of misfit heroes reads well as a sitcom in this day and age of reality television and distrust of authority. I hope that the film makers are able to use The Video Guys as a spring board for a new HBO, TNT or Showtime original series. In the meantime, you can rent this little gem and imagine the lengths that a cable network can develop it into. Three stars.