Rick's Flicks Picks on AWN

If you've ever seen a Guy Maddin film than you remember his style. If you don't remember his style than you're lying and have never seen a Guy Maddin film. For those who haven't seen his work he creates modern silent films with all their excesses and devices. More so than THE SADDEST MUSIC IN THE WORLD (a very funny film) and DRACULA: PAGES FROM A VIRGIN'S DIARY (a blood-sucking ballet), this film delves deep inside the filmmaker's own Id.

The main character is named Guy Maddin (Erik Steffen Maahs). At the start of the film, he heads back to his family orphanage inside a lighthouse to give it two fresh coats of paint. He wants to make it nice for his mother (Gretchen Krich, HENRY FOOL) who has had a pull over him ever since he was a boy (Sullivan Brown). As a youngster, he and his older sister (Maya Lawson) lived among the orphans, notably Savage Tom (Andrew Loviska), who gives all the younger kids lessens in primal urges. Guy and Sis' mother kept tabs on them with a strange telescope device that could find anyone you loved no matter where they were. This allows her to keep tabs on her blossoming daughter. Guy was a captive witness to the sexual hysteria his mother wields toward his teenage sister.

M. Night Shyamalan can be a good filmmaker. For me, his last three films, including this one, have been disasters. Others would push that number higher. I'll defend THE VILLAGE and SIGNS — they had interesting characters and grand themes that drove their narratives. The same qualities that drove his most successful work, THE SIXTH SENSE. The director seems to have lost those skills. Even with quality source material to work with, he was unable to deliver a coherent, let alone a compelling, story.

All the players from the anime-inspired Nickelodeon series are present. In a world where four tribes of people can control the elements of air, water, earth and fire, there is one Avatar who rises in each generation that can control them all and bring peace to the planet. Aang (Noah Ringer, upcoming COWBOYS & ALIENS) is the latest Avatar, but when he is told of his fate and that he will not be able to have a family as a result, he runs away and ends up trapped in ice. After a hundred years, he and his flying bison Appa are freed by Southern water tribe members Katara (Nicola Peltz, DECK THE HALLS) and her brother Sokka (Jackson Rathbone, TWILIGHT).

The third in the TWILIGHT film series is the best. That said, it's nothing groundbreaking, but at least it doesn't take itself too seriously. The original TWILIGHT was made for teenagers who watch soaps. NEW MOON was made for teenagers who never smile. ECLIPSE was made for teenagers with a sense of humor.

In this edition, we begin and end in a field of purple flowers. Edward (Robert Pattinson) tries to convince his love Bella (Kristen Stewart) to marry him, but not insist that he turn her into a vampire if they wed. She doesn't want to bear growing old while he stays young forever. At school, they run into shirtless werewolf Jacob (Taylor Lautner), who warns Bella that Edward and his vampire family are hiding things from her. The vampire Victoria (Bryce Dallas Howard, SPIDER-MAN 3) is back and looking to kill Bella as revenge on Edward for killing her love. And then there is also the army of young vampires, led by Riley (Xavier Samuel, ROAD KILL), headed right for their small town as well.

In the time-honored tradition of Ed Wood's ORGY OF THE DEAD, the Suicide Girls have combined horror with nudity. Now in no way I'm I comparing the quality of this film to that of the master of shlock's hour and a half long striptease, but only the lack of pretense in its main motive. Wood's film's mission was to show pretty women take their clothes off. That's pretty much the same here.

Directed by Suicide Girls founder Sawa Suicide (the one with the pink hair), the production is billed as the first reality show horror film. I've seen episodes of JERSEY SHORE so that might not be a completely true claim, but I digress. Sixteen Suicide Girls are taken to a remote cabin in Maine for a calendar photo shoot. Their phones and laptops are confiscated to insure that no images of the week3 are released to the public. Then Bailey Suicide goes into the woods and messes with some ancient graves and ends up missing. Soon one by one, different girls start disappearing. Who is picking them off?

This action comedy attempts to recreate the globetrotting thrillers like CHARADE and NORTH BY NORTHWEST. Innocent people are wrapped up in international espionage. The plot tries to keep us guessing. Romance grows as the leads run from a host of nefarious characters. Casting was a big part of those previous film's successes and this film gets that element right, but the others less so.

The film begins with Roy Miller (Tom Cruise, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE) watching June Havens (Cameron Diaz, MY SISTER'S KEEPER) at the airport. They have a funny way of bumping into each other. But something seems odd when they end up on the same flight and June gets bumped, than given a seat anyway on a nearly empty plane. During the flight, she flirts with Roy and they seem to have a connection going. But when she goes to the bathroom, all hell breaks loose. Roy is attacked by everyone on the plane, which ends up in a nosedive. Roy informs June that people will come for her and say that he is crazy, but that she should not believe them. The evidence up to this point doesn't support his case.

One of the best films of the 2010 comes to DVD and Blu-ray this week. Additionally, there three internationally acclaimed films that I've been eager to see for the first time, as well as a classic American film. Another Buzzed About film is one that features two Oscar nominated performances. Great post Father's Day treats here.

Pick of the Week
Green Zone
Paul Greengrass' Iraq War thriller uses real life events and fictionalizes them for a thought -provoking look at the motivations for getting into the war and the motivations for continuing to fight it. Matt Damon stars as a dedicated soldier who wants to get to the bottom of WMD intelligence. Co-stars include Brendan Gleeson, Oscar-nominee Greg Kinnear, Khalid Abdalla, Oscar nominee Amy Ryan and Jason Isaacs. While it plays fast and loose with some facts, the film conjures the feelings many Americans feel about the war and the mistakes that were made.

I went into this film knowing only the basics about the title character. Jonah Hex is a severely scarred bounty hunter with some supernatural abilities. His family was murdered. The film didn’t really expand my knowledge and in some ways confused me even more. At 80 some minutes, there were times I thought I was watching a reel of the cut scenes from the JONAH HEX videogame.

The film begins with Hex (Josh Brolin, MILK) voicing a montage of his time fighting for the Confederacy. He explains why war suited him and why that changed. Then the story jarringly cuts to Quentin Turnbull (John Malkovich, BURN AFTER READING) burning Hex's family alive and branding his former soldier as he explains that he's doing so because Hex betrayed him and murdered his son, who was Hex's best friend. Then we jarringly cut to what seems like an excerpt from the JONAH HEX motion comic filling us in on how Hex nearly died, gained some powers, has something to do with crows and that Turnbull presumably died in a fire. For all intents and purposes, the first act of the film is simply told to the viewer instead of shown.

This endlessly clever short is one of the best produced by Pixar. Teddy Newton’s film features two 2D characters with a CG world alive in their bodies. One represents day and the other night. When Night sees the beautiful women sunbathing by the pool inside Day, a howl of jealousy bellows from him. He tries to take what day has, but every attempt shows that things that go on in the light are not the same in the dark.

For the most part, the short takes its setup and runs with it. The gags fly by at a clip. Just to get a taste, the short starts with a rooster crowing and Day waking. After a series of perfectly paced gags about his morning routine, the sequence ends with a stream appearing in a relieving place on Day’s body. What starts as an adversarial relationship between Day and Night turns toward the end as Night realizes that Day doesn’t have everything. The short ends up being a classic great short in the way it gets into its premise quick, keeps the pace fast and ends with a note of poignancy. At six minutes, it is driven by action, but the action reveals the personalities of the characters and even allows for growth.

Director Lee Unkrich and the entire Pixar team have found a fitting conclusion to the TOY STORY trilogy. It is worthy to stand by the masterpieces that came before it. The story deals with many of the same issues the previous films did, but extends them organically. The first film was Woody dealing with the possibility of being replaced as owner Andy's favorite. The second film was about what it means to be a toy. Now the third film deals with the existential question of what does it mean to be the toy of a child who has outgrown toys.

After a rousing fantasy sequence that brings the tangent filled imagination of a child to life, Woody (Tom Hanks, FORREST GUMP) leads the other toys in one last ditch attempt to get Andy (John Morris) to play with them. It doesn't go so well and the endless optimist Woody prepares the toys for their new life in the attic. Naysayers fear they'll end up in the trash or on eBay. Through a series of misunderstandings, Woody ends up in Andy's box to college and the others in a trashbag at the curb. After a narrow escape, Buzz (Tim Allen, TV's HOME IMPROVEMENT), Jessie (Joan Cusack, WORKING GIRL) and the others make their way to the donation box, hoping daycare will allow them to be played with again.

This is a week to seek vengeance. On Blu-ray that is. Chan-wook Park's seminal modern classic trilogy is in the spotlight this week. There are also four new releases that are piquing my interest as well.

Pick of the Week
Vengeance Trilogy (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance/Oldboy/Lady Vengeance)
Chan-wook Park's vengeance trilogy is to South Korean cool as The Man with No Name trilogy is to Spaghetti Westerns. In the States, OLDBOY quickly became a cult hit upon its release with its twisted narrative about a man locked up in a room for years without knowing why. Upon his sudden release, he seeks revenge against those that imprisoned him.

In SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE, a young couple kidnaps the daughter of a high-profile businessman to pay for an operation for the young man's little sister. Of course nothing goes as planned as the audience's allegiances shift as the story spins further and further out of control.