Case 39

The horror thriller Case 39 has been sitting in the archives since its completion in 2007, but after gathering dust in the past two years it is finally headed to the cinemas across the world. Paramount pictures welcomes Hollywood star Rene Zelwegger back to the genre which she was so at home in, with her starring role in the film.

The film is rated R for its horrific graphic scenes, disturbing images, and terror based violence. Unlike most typical horror films of the last millennium, Case 39 actually has an intriguing plot. The film begins introducing social worker Emily Jenkins (Zellweger), who thinks she has seen it all until she meets her newest, most mysterious case -- a troubled 10-year old named Lilith Sullivan (Jodelle Ferland).

Emily’s worst fears are confirmed when the parents try to kill Lilith, who bizarrely is their only daughter. Emily saves her, taking her into her foster care, only to find out the girl isn’t nearly as innocent as she first thought.

There are a number of shocks and sudden bursts of sound that will make you startle in your seat while watching, and there are a few gruesome scenes to boot as well. The reasons to Paramount’s archiving Case 39 are still unknown, but if it has anything to do with fears of lack of quality, then they are probably unjustified. The film is a decent viewing spectacle and does nothing to damage the horror/thriller genre.

Paranormal Activity

Imagine the Blair Witch Project with a touch of No Vacancy, and you have yourself the newest Hollywood creep movie. Paranormal Activity is much in the same vein as the former, where it is what you don’t see that scares the crap out of you. The new film is about a bunch of young love couple who move in with each other into a freakish house.

There has always been a mystery behind the house but it seems the eeriness comes out ten fold once the two move in. The fuss begins with lights begin turning on and off, doors suddenly slam shut and objects begin to become misplaced around the property. It then becomes a whole lot worse with ghostly figures leaving scars on the bodies of the lovebirds, and even sleeping in bed with them!

Without ruining the end, Paranormal Activity will freak the hell out of you, and the worst part is that it is actually based on true events. I’m not sure how true these events are but I do have a feeling they would be similar the real events behind the Blair Witch Project, which was non-existent. And just like that college university project turned worldwide blockbuster, Paranormal Activity was made for a ridiculously cheap $11,000

Fracture

It may be a late release in 2009, but Fracture is definitely up there with one of the best thrillers of the year. Starring the always amazing Anthony Hopkins, the cleverly directed action thriller takes the viewer on a journey through an old school who dunnit’ style film.

The cat and mouse games begin when engineer Ted Crawford kills his wife with w gun shot to the back of her head. He wastes no time in admitting what he did and is assigned Assistant District Attorney Willy Beachum (Ryan Goslin) as his prosecutor. Beachum is basically tying up all the loose ends before he begins his new job as a cushy executive in a rich firm.

The case is supposed to be his last before his promotion but it ends up being more than he bargained for when all things start going pear shaped. Along the way, the case starts beginning to appear more of a set up than a straightforward sentence, and before you know it, Crawford’s mind games start playing tricks on Beachum who begins to change for the bad.

Fracture takes viewers on an edge of the seat thriller, an the plot moves along in a really a simple, but very effective way. Finally, the movie would not have been half as successful had it not been for the amazing performance put in my Hopkins. His acting prowess really shines in Fracture, where his bad boy figure resembles that of Hannibal Lector in Silence of the Lambs.

The Lovely Bones Review

Peter Jackson makes his return to the big screens with the interesting tale of The Lovely Bones. The man behind the Lord of the Rings trilogy is a mastermind when it comes to virtual and fantasy based plots, which is why it was not surprising to see the film head off into that direction for a major part of the plot.

The movie starts off in a basic thriller/drama style, where a sixteen year old daughter, Susie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan) is murdered by a neighbour in her street. While she is dead, she des not make it immediately to heaven, but rather a middle ground between the two places. She then watches on as her father, played by Mark Wahlberg, tries to solve the pieces and avenge his daughter’s death.

What she witnesses instead, is the family torn apart from their lack of ability to move on form the tragic event. The lovely Bones is almost a film with two parts. One where reality is the focus, and a thriller investigation style lot is underway. Then, on the other side, we have a fantasy plot where the daughter is in a sci-fi land, which is so far from any reality.

The two sides juxtaposes another quite well and make for an interesting movie. If it is a standard Hollywood film you are after, stay away from The Lovely Bones, however, if you are interested in something different, make sure you check it out.

Tropic Thunder (2008) [Resume, Trailer and Download]

This Film is so fanny !!!

I used to LOVE Ben Stiller. Zoolander, Dodgeball, Meet The Parents and several others. But over the last couple of years it seems he’s put out trash film after trash film and I’ve almost totally lost interest. I sort of feel the same way about Jack Black… used to love him, but he’s disappointed me too much over the last little while. So when the first couple of trailers came out for Tropic Thunder, the only thing that REALLY caught my attention was the presence of Robert Downey Jr. playing a black guy. It looked like it could be too funny for words. So my expectations were that the movie would be bad, but that Downey may be good enough to at least give me some laughs. I’m very happy to say the film greatly exceeded my expectations.

THE GENERAL IDEA

The basic idea behind Tropic Thunder looks something like this: A big budget war movie is being made by a first time director and a hard assed heartless producer staring 3 big name actors. The problem is the film isn’t going so well, the producer is furious, the actors are hindering the process and the director is at his wits end. In a desperate attempt to give the movie a gritty realism, the director drops the actors in the middle of the jungle, but unknowingly drops them in the wrong country… and although they think they’re secretly being filmed for the movie, they’re actually in the middle of a fight for their lives.

THE GOOD

I’ve said this many times before, but it’s worth repeating here. If you’re making a comedy movie, the single most important thing is to make people laugh. You can get away with a LOT of mistakes in your movie if you make the audience laugh… at the same time you can do everything right, but if you fail to make people laugh, then your movie sucks. Tropic Thunder makes you laugh. It’s just that simple. They aren’t the smartest laughs… they aren’t high brow laughs… but oh my goodness they are laughs nonetheless. This is a FUNNY flick.

Warbirds (2008) [Resume, Trailer and Download]

In the midst of World War 2, an officer leads a group of female pilots on a mission to deliver a secret weapon, only to crash land on an island in the Pacific after an encounter with a deadly storm. On the island, they must not only contend with a small band of Japanese soldiers but the native inhabitants of the island as well - vicious prehistoric pterodacyls.

I admit I'm a sucker for these Sci-Fi Channel movies and I watch a ton of them. Usually they're just sort of campy fun if taken sort of tongue in cheek. The problem with this one is it seems to really try to be serious with itself, and it's just way too incredibly awful to do so. It was hard to even get a laugh out of the overall idiocy of the whole thing.

Where to start? I don't know... how about the bad (but expected to be at least) special effects. Or the simply dreadful acting, although with some of the terrible lines they had to say I'm not surprised. Or I could just mention how ridiculous so much of it was... from crash landing a plane on a small island, to fixing it up again and taking off without issue, to giant pterodactyls that can apparently fly as fast as planes, to a man and a woman repeatedly lifting 500 lb barrels into the back of a truck with ease, to the silly political correctness sprinkled throughout, to the most mind-bending stupid ending ever... the list could go on.

Keith (2008) [Resume, Trailer and Download]

A popular 17-year-old high school senior, Natalie, thinks she's got life figured out, until she meets and falls for Keith Zetterstrom, a new student. Natalie is dismayed when Keith has little interest in her, but she ultimately discovers the boy is hiding a dark secret, with tragic results.

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