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[REC] [2007]
Directors: Jaume Balagueró & Paco Plaza
Genre: Horror/Mystery/Thriller
Language: Spanish
Country: Spain

[REC] is a Spanish horror movie using the handheld camera point-of-view that makes you feel as if you are right in the middle of what is happening on screen. The story follows Angela (Manuela Velasco), a TV reporter who is doing a special report on a typical night at a Barcelona fire station. During the middle of the night, the reporter and her unseen cameraman Pablo (Pablo Rosso) follow the group of firefighters on what appears to be a standard call: helping an elderly woman who is trapped in her apartment. Upon reaching the apartment building, however, it is clear that everything is in an utter state of chaos. An apparent zombie-esque virus has broken out in the building, and the area is quarantined shortly after the firefighters and crew arrive inside. Naturally, this infection spreads rapidly while everyone tries to find a way out of the building. Meanwhile, amidst the bedlam, Angela and Pablo maintain filming as best they can.

As stated earlier, the film uses a handheld POV so of course there is a lot of shaky camera action that is bound to bother many viewers. If you had trouble watching the Blair Witch Project or Cloverfield, then you will likely have a hard time with [REC] as well. I really enjoyed this vantage point and felt as if it made the movie more realistic. There are times when the camera is sneakily left rolling even when those in charge attempt to make Pablo turn it off. The camera also catches plenty of gruesome deaths.

[REC] is a fairly short film, but it is a suspenseful ride throughout. There is always a feeling of despair while the characters frantically scramble to find a way out of the building, all while avoiding the increasingly vicious number of infected. However, it is not until the climax that the movie really comes together. Quite frankly, the ending is on a whole different level than the rest of the movie, and it is downright terrifying! There are a handful of jumpy moments throughout the film, but the end is the only segment I would actually label as scary. If it weren’t for the climax, I would have felt a little underwhelmed with [REC]. As it stands, it is the perfect capper to a fresh take on the “zombie” horror genre.

7/10

* It should be noted that there is an American version of this movie titled Quarantine. I have not seen it, but it has generally received unfavorable reviews. I would advise seeing [REC] first.

Bet The House
Author: Richard Roeper
Original Release: February 2010

Taking a page from Morgan Spurlock in the film Super Size Me, movie critic Richard Roeper embarked on a mission to spend 30 days in a row gambling. Placing wagers of at least $1,000 every day, Roeper tackled any form of gambling he could find: sports betting, greyhound racing, poker, slots, lotto tickets and even a basic back-and-forth battle flipping coins. There was really no point to this venture other than for the author’s own personal amusement. The book certainly has an interesting concept, but it felt more like Roeper was just looking for an excuse to spend a month gambling more than usual (and apparently he was quite the gambler already).

Bet The House is geared more toward those who partake in gambling themselves. Roeper explains the basics behind each endeavor, but it certainly helps to have knowledge of the subjects beforehand to properly grasp some of the terminology. As a small-time gambler myself, I thoroughly enjoyed the subject matter, and the book was an extremely quick read. It was also interesting to read how Roeper handled himself during the inevitable hot and cold streaks.

Ultimately, the book is entertaining but extremely shallow. At the end of his “journey” there is no groundbreaking revelation and it feels like the author did not learn much of anything from the whole ordeal. I feel that a better test would be to spend 30 days gambling using methods that could actually win. Roeper knew that playing the slots and the lotto was basically like burning his money, yet he went through with it for the sake of the book. Maybe next time he will stick to sports, blackjack, etc.

If you appreciate gambling, you will feel at home with this book. Bet The House is a good, quick read – just don’t expect to be enlightened at all.

6/10

Kick-Ass [2010]
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Genre: Action/Crime/Thriller
Language: English
Country: USA

Immediately after watching Kick-Ass I was not sure how I felt about the movie. The film started off in one direction, playing up the story of a nerdy teenager (Aaron Johnson) who dons a superhero costume and goes out to fight crime despite having no training whatsoever. I loved this portion of the movie, as his superhero alter-ego, Kick-Ass, was obviously no match for a group of thugs and got his ass handed to him. Despite a trip to the hospital, Kick-Ass is not ready to give up on his dream and decides to give being a superhero another try. A couple of other “wanna-be” superheroes enter the mix shortly after, and this is when the plot takes a completely different turn. These two new crusaders are a father (Nicholas Cage) and 11-year-old daughter (Chloë Grace Moretz) known as Big Daddy and Hit Girl, respectively. These two actually have skill, know how to fight and are highly trained with weaponry. Big Daddy and Hit Girl are on a mission to obtain vengeance against a prominent mob boss (Mark Strong), and somehow Kick-Ass gets involved in the middle of all this.

While I enjoyed this transition into a different storyline, it came as a bit of a surprise considering I was not familiar with the comic books the movie is based on. It almost felt as if there were a bit of an identity crisis. The first part of the movie was spent basically teaching us that ordinary kids should not mimmick their favorite superheroes, then all of a sudden the other two copycats come in and start annihilating any bad guys in sight. Don’t get me wrong – Hit Girl is a highly entertaining character, basically a pint-sized version of The Bride from Kill Bill – but it just felt peculiar to swerve into this direction.

Although many may be offended by the movie’s gratuitous use of violence (much of which is inflicted by children) and occasional profanity, I happened to love all of that! There were certainly a lot of over-the-top killings and fight scenes, most of which had particularly graphic results. This cartoonish violence added to the whole comic book feel, as well as the scene shiftings taken straight out of comics. Without a doubt, there was nary a dull moment in this flick.

One particular detail that really rubbed me the wrong way, however, was the inclusion of an absolutely ridiculous storyline. At the risk of giving away spoilers, I won’t go into too much detail but needless to say it is rather unrealistic (even by comic book standards). I read the synopsis of the books the movie is based on after viewing, and it sounds like this storyline was much better in book form. If there is one thing that I cannot stand in movies, it is an unneeded romance plot with a weak ending.

In the end, I truly did enjoy Kick-Ass as an exaggerated comic book action movie. However, its faults are too blatant to be ignored. Chalk this one up as an enjoyable romp that does not quite live up to its potential.

6/10

Predator [1987]
Director: John McTiernan
Genre: Action/Adventure/Sci-Fi/Thriller
Language: English
Country: USA

It’s hard to believe, but I saw Predator for the first time this past weekend. I went to a small midnight showing, eager to see an action classic that has somehow eluded me all of these years. Perhaps the midnight venture was not the best idea (due to one guy in particular laughing at scenes that were not funny), but I was glad to finally have seen John McTiernan’s 1987 masterpiece.

Predator is essentially a tale of two stories. A group of commandos led by Arnold Schwarzenegger are sent deep into a Central American jungle to rescue a group of diplomatic hostages. This plotline serves as a straight-up action flick and segways into the next portion of the film. In the second part, the commandos discover that there is something unhuman lurking in the jungle, something that is killing off people one-by-one in particularly gruesome form. This killing machine is, of course, the Predator.

The Predator is easily one of the most badass villains ever seen in cinema. In the first half of the movie, we never see what “he” looks like. Instead we are periodically shown infrared-like glimpses from the Predator’s point of view. This brings a certain sense of dread to the viewers, in that we know that there is something evil out there (whereas the characters have no clue, at least at first). When the Predator is finally shown on screen, it is hard not to be impressed and worried about the commandos’ future at the same time.

Arnold has a good group of guys with him, led by Carl Weathers as his old friend/rival and Jesse Ventura (who has many of the movie’s best one-liners). These guys are all muscle-bound and riddled with testosterone, and provide some great bantering amongst each other. There are several great action sequences with numerous explosions, and there is never a dull scene in the movie. The dialogue is often hilarious, as are many of the one-liners. My favorite exchange:

Poncho (Richard Chaves): You’re bleeding, man. You’re hit.
Blain (Jesse Ventura): I ain’t got time to bleed.
Poncho: [Confused] Oh… Okay…
Poncho: [Poncho shoots a bunch of grenades up to the top of the cliff] You got time to duck?

There are plenty of great snippets of dialogue like that. Obviously, this movie is more about balls-to-the-wall action and suspense rather than trying to be anything deep or meaningful, and that’s why it turned out so well. Viewers can’t help but love this group of characters who end up fighting for their lives against an alien creature with unbelievable power. Predator is a highly entertaining film, and it is an absolute must-see for any fan of action/sci-fi.

9/10

The People Under The Stairs [1991]
Director: Wes Craven
Genre: Comedy/Horror/Mystery/Thriller
Language: English
Country: USA

Wes Craven’s “The People Under The Stairs” (hereby titled PUTS from this point forward) is not really a horror movie, but it certainly has elements of one. Perhaps best labeled as a dark comedy of sorts, PUTS is a mostly enjoyable movie that is both campy and suspenseful at the same time. The basic premise is that a ghetto family is unable to pay rent and is going to be evicted. Fool (Brandon Adams), the little boy of the family and de facto man of the house, decides to do what he can to help out his sick mother and his older sister pay rent. After hearing from a friend of the family (Ving Rhames) that his landlord’s house is full of gold coins, Fool tags along on a burglary run. Naturally, what Fool and the others stumble upon is not your normal house. The landlords – only known as Mommy and Daddy – are batshit crazy, and they keep a number of child rejects locked in their cellar (hence the movie’s title). Fool and his “friends” make some startling revelations, and of course there is a lot of chasing being done around the house once the landlords find out about the burglars.

Wendy Robie and Everett McGill are delightfully over-the-top in their roles as the psychotic Mommy and Daddy, respectively, and they are true highlights from the film (they also played husband and wife on “Twin Peaks”). Young Brandon Adams is competent enough in the lead role and rattles off some amusing one-liners throughout the madness. PUTS is never really scary at any point, and it is at its best when it throws in bits of humor here and there. The campiness is well-executed as well, and there is definitely a tongue-in-cheek atmosphere throughout.

Although the second half of the movie starts to get repetitive, it is still largely satisfying due to Robie and McGill’s performances. How can you not love seeing a man wearing leather bondage gear from head to toe (a la “The Gimp” from Pulp Fiction) randomly shooting up his own house? There is a lot to like with The People Under The Stairs, despite it not being one of Wes Craven’s best works. As long as you appreciate films that don’t take themselves seriously and you don’t go into the movie with the idea of it being a strictly horror film, you should enjoy this one.

6/10

Trials HD
System: Xbox 360
Publisher: Microsoft / RedLynx
Release Date: August 12, 2009

Trials HD is one of the more addictive Xbox Live Arcade titles I have came across. A bit of a throwback to the NES classic, Excitebike, Trials HD is a combination of a motorcycle racing and puzzle game. The goal of the game is to get to the end of the course as fast as possible while keeping the crashing to a minimum. Of course, there are plenty of obstacles along the way, some of which are ridiculously hard to overcome at the more challenging difficulty levels. Although the graphics are 3D, the game plays as if it is 2D since you can only manuever in a straight line. The controls are simple: you can only accelerate or brake, and lean forward or backward. This makes the game easy to pick up and play, although mastering the physics takes a lot of practice.

The main area of the game is split into five categories: beginner, easy, medium, hard and extreme. Each difficulty level has a handful of tracks in which you can earn a bronze, silver or gold medal. By the time you reach the extreme level (or even hard), be prepared for an insane amount of difficulty. It takes A LOT of practice to finish some of the levels, and it can get downright maddening. Therein lies the game’s biggest fault: you can only handle crashing and attempting the same obstacle so many times before you just want to shut the game off. Thankfully you are alotted a seemingly endless amount of crashes, but there comes a point when it just becomes too much. Still, when you finally complete a level that has been giving you hell, it is one of the greatest feelings you can acquire from a video game.

Trials HD offers other incentives to keep gamers coming back. For one, there are several “skill” games that offer a new twist to the game. One skill challenge has you balancing on a giant ball while attempting to go through a regular course. Another has you deliberately crash into an obstacle, with the goal being to see how many bones your rider can break. These mini-games are a fun diversion from the regular mode, and it is fun to try to beat high scores on your friends list.

Another thoughtful addition to the game is a track editor mode. This gives players the opportunity to build their own tracks and share them with friends. It is really quite immersive and a lot of fun to mess with, if you are willing to put the time into building a good course. Unfortunately, you can only download custom tracks from those on your friends list, which is pretty disappointing.

In the end, Trials HD is a damn good deal for an XBLA game, considering everything it offers. With its gameplay being easy to learn yet difficult to master, it does not take more than a handful of courses to get hooked. I know I will probably be trying to beat all of the extreme courses for quite some time still. Even with its frustrations, I highly recommend Trials HD, especially if you have some friends to compete with.

8/10

A Long Way Down
Author: Nick Hornby
Original Release: June 2005

Nick Hornby’s “A Long Way Down” is a book about a group of four people who have some serious issues going on in their lives, and they all decide to kill themselves on New Year’s Eve. Martin is a morning talk show host who spent some time in prison for sleeping with a 15-year-old girl. Maureen is a 51-year-old single mother with a special needs child and nothing resembling a social life. JJ is an American living in England who just had his band split up, and his girlfriend dumped him shortly after. Jess is an 18-year-old basketcase of a girl who is upset her ex-boyfriend will not return her phone calls, and is trying to cope with her older sister’s disappearance. Basically, Martin is an asshole, Maureen is a hermit, JJ is stuck in the past, and Jess is an out-of-control teen. Each has their own reasons for wanting to “off” themselves, with some probably being more valid reasons than others.

Little did any of these characters know that when they showed up at the Topper’s House on New Year’s Eve to jump off the building that they would not be alone. And so the novel begins, with the characters meeting each other for the first time and agreeing to stick around for at least one more day. What transpires from that point forward is an unusual relationship among the four characters. None of them really have anything in common, and it is clear that they would not be “friends” at all if they had not met under their particular circumstances. Naturally, this awkwardness brings up more than a few hilarious situations.

Although there are periodical touching moments, A Long Way Down is more of a dark comedy than anything. The story is told from the viewpoint of each of the four characters, with each one having their own style and providing their own perspectives on certain events. At first I was thrown off early in the book when reading a snippet from Maureen in which she repeatedly wrote “F—” instead of “fuck” as part of the dialogue. I quickly realized that it was written out this way since it was from Maureen’s perspective, and not one of the other characters (all of whom happen to cuss freely). The different styles of writing are a nice touch and help keep the book fresh, even when there is not much going on. A friend mentioned that she had listened to the audio version of this novel, and she highly recommends “reading” the book that way. I am not big on audio books, but this would definitely be a great one to listen to just because you would get to hear the story told from each viewpoint.

I found myself surprisingly attached to most of the characters by the end of the book, which really shows how well-written this is (considering how pathetic some of them are). A Long Way Down is a quick read with entertaining prose and a memorable plot. This was my first Nick Hornby book, and it will certainly not be my last.

8/10

Goliath [2008]
Director: Zellner Bros.
Genre: Comedy/Drama
Language: English
Country: USA

Goliath is a quirky indie drama/comedy that I recently found in the ‘new release section’ of a local mom-and-pop video store. A selection of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and directed by the Zellner Bros (who are known for their short films), Goliath is a story of a socially awkward guy who has everything going wrong in his life. In the recent past, he has become a divorcee, received a demotion at work and lost his beloved cat, Goliath. The main character’s (who is never named) search for his pet is the main story arc, but the film is more of a character study than anything. The main character is certainly an interesting fellow, the type of dude who comes home, heats up a TV dinner and watches obscure Asian pornography. He is definitely a strange guy, and a lot of his mannerisms and actions are quite funny. The type of humor found in this film is not something everyone will enjoy. If you like idiosyncratic humor found in films like Napoleon Dynamite or Good Dick, then Goliath will feel right at home.

Goliath’s slow pacing may also turn off some viewers, and there are some deliberately extended scenes which are sure to aggravate some (such as a divorce-signing scene that drags on and on). However, for that select group of people who are into this particular brand of unconventional humor, Goliath is worth a rental. I enjoyed the movie, even with its flaws.

7/10

Rashomon [1950]
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Genre: Crime/Drama/Mystery
Language: Japanese
Country: Japan

Rashomon is widely regarded – and rightfully so – as one of the most influential films of all time. Released in 1950, Akira Kurosawa’s masterpiece pioneered the idea of having the same story told through multiple points of view, and it has spawned countless other re-tellings. The story is simple: a notorious bandit happened upon a traveling samurai and his wife while wandering through the forest and then proceeds to rape the wife. In the midst of this, the samurai ends up stabbed to death. What proceeds is the re-telling of this story from various viewpoints: the bandit, the wife, and the dead samurai (through a very spooky medium). Every story is different from the other, and naturally each person makes themself look as good as possible in that situation. Of course, this brings up a conflict of interest to the viewing, leaving them to decide what actually transpired.

Rashomon is truly fascinating in that the viewer is being shown the same scene multiple times (with different results), yet each scene offers a fresh and enthralling take on what happened. Throughout all of this, there is breathtaking cinematography that makes the most out of the film’s small budget. Some may complain about over-the-top acting (particulary from the wife), as well as the movie’s slow pacing, but these are small faults for a truly vital piece of cinematic history. Simply put, Rashomon is a must-see for any aspiring film buff.

8/10