Identity (imdb)
Identity is enjoyable enough, but you can’t help but feel that it’s the movie equivalent of a mass market paperback by some bestselling mystery/thriller author with a pinch of M. Night Shyamalan thrown in for spice. Perhaps the greatest strength of Identity is that they somehow made John Cusack a somewhat convincing badass, something that has never really happened before, and was made even more difficult after the mopey and vastly overrated High Fidelity. It’s not a great movie by any means, but it’s reasonably entertaining.
Crooks (imdb)
I couldn’t finish this one, but I did manage forty minutes, which is more time than I would recommend anyone ever spend with this movie. I can’t be that disappointed I guess, since I paid $1 for it on the last day of a Hollywood Video’s going-out-of-business sale a few years ago, but entertainment-wise, it wasn’t even worth that much. They put Jim Norton on the cover since he’s the closest thing to a marketable name in the movie, but his smaller-than-the-cover-would-indicate part doesn’t play up his strengths at all, wasting a comedian at his best playing an insensitive asshole on a sheepish role that isn’t even consistent. There’s a plot in there about stealing rare misprinted stamps from the post office, but between a few stupid subplots and a severe drought of anything resembling comedy, you’ll lose interest before anything starts to happen; and I’m having to guess that something happens, since nothing really did in the forty or so minutes I managed. When the most comedic thing in your movie is a quick sight gag involving a giant pile of dog shit on top of a van for a poop-scooping business, it’s probably best to start looking for ways to use your flop as a tax write-off.
Interview (imdb)
It’s hard to crap on this movie outright, but it’s equally as hard to recommend it. Interview is all about dialogue, since it’s about the titular interview, its utter failure, and its subsequent shaky return to something vaguely resembling its intended course. Steve Buscemi plays a jaded alcoholic journalist reluctantly sent to interview a TV/B-movie actress known more for her love life and fluctuating breast size than for any real talent. After the first attempt at getting the interview under way fails spectacularly, fate intervenes and the two end up at the actress’ apartment to trade stories, frustrated sexual advances, and enough lies to make a used car salesman wince. The thing about movies like Interview is that you don’t leave feeling entertained. It feels like reading an article in a magazine at the dentist’s office; just something to pass the time.
The Deer Hunter (imdb)
I’ve had this on the long-dead HD DVD format for a coon’s age, but just now got around to watching it. In a way I really regret writing anything about movies regarded as classics. It’s not that I don’t agree with their status most of the time, or that I don’t trust my own opinions, but there’s that nagging voice in the back of your head sometimes when the credits roll saying “I don’t think I enjoyed that nearly as much as everyone else must have”. That said, The Deer Hunter is a great film, and is very beautifully filmed, but man did someone have a hard-on for weddings and dances. It almost seems like the film spent as much time at the wedding as it did in Vietnam. It’s definitely a great film and a classic, but it feels like it could have been trimmed of a good 45 minutes of its runtime and come out to much the same effect and acclaim.
Hitch Hike (imdb)
Usually when a cult film is described as a “lost classic”, you can generally take that with a whole shaker of salt, since exploitation-style films are oversold by their very nature, and that trend of overhyping a mediocre product didn’t die in their translation from drive-in to DVD. Hitch Hike, however, is a very solid film that tells a very compelling and ultimately nihilistic story in a way that recalls more widely recognized classics such as Straw Dogs and Dog Day Afternoon. After picking up a hitchhiker who turns out to be a wanted felon, a husband and wife’s drive back from vacation ends up turning into a living hell with plenty of psychological torture and occasional violence coming from all angles. Franco Nero is great as usual as the husband, but David Hess really shines as the psychopathic hitchhiker, bringing the same sort of detached nonchalance to the character that Michael Rooker brought to his titular character in Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. And maybe it’s just me, but by the end of the film I had flashbacks (or would that be flashforwards?) to No Country For Old Men.
Double Game (imdb)
This film can be described in four words: what a fucking mess. The old saying about too many cooks spoiling the broth is correct more often than not, and when you try to weave in a half-dozen or more meaningless subplots, you spoil what might have otherwise been a mediocre Italian cop flick. As it stands, there is nothing redemptive about the film, as even the cinematography is mundane. How anyone deemed this worthy enough for a 2-disc special edition DVD boggles the mind, especially considering Michael Mann’s masterpiece Thief can’t even get a decent, anamorphic single-disc release.
Head Trauma (imdb)
David Cross’ stunt double has nightmares about someone in a shoddy, homemade Scream costume as he squats in his late grandmother’s condemned house in a half-assed attempt to salvage it before the city brings out the wrecking ball. Head Trauma isn’t a bad movie, but it’s equally far (if not much further in spots) from greatness. If you’re familiar with Brad Anderson’s work, namely Session 9 and The Machinist, you’ll find a lot of similarities here, as Head Trauma seems to borrow heavily from both films. While there’s nothing wrong with drawing inspiration from great films, Head Trauma lacks the subtlety of Anderson’s approach. One of the most brilliant aspects of The Machinist was how the ending still retained its shock value despite the fact that it made you realize how many clues you had been shown throughout the film. Head Trauma goes more for the “new horror” approach of faceless antagonists, alternating loud noises and whispers, and lots of jumpy cuts during the nightmare sequences that comprise much of the so-called horror in the film. To be fair though, it’s got a unique look and autumnal color palette that works to its advantage, even if the narrative, acting, and execution leave a bit to be desired.
Heavy Traffic (imdb)
While I love Ralph Bakshi, I realize his films aren’t for everyone. What’s really interesting about the majority of his films, regardless of your opinion of them, is that they were even made in the first place, let alone bankrolled by a major studio. Films like Fritz the Cat and Heavy Traffic go against the still-prevalent convention that animation is by default for children, and adult enjoyment should be relegated to wink & nudge jokes that will fly over children’s heads. Heavy Traffic is a bit good deal more experimental than Fritz, combining live-action sets and sequences with animation, and the results are enjoyable if a little jumbled and incoherent at times. The plot loosely concerns the plight of a young cartoonist in New York City, the world he inhabits, and the characters with whom he is acquainted; his would-be mobster Italian father, his slutty-but-traditional Jewish mother, his black bartender ‘girlfriend’, and any number of strange but intriguing supporting characters. Heavy Traffic isn’t where I would start if I were getting into Bakshi, but it’s a great gateway drug into surreal animation without drifting into the uncharted waters into which Czech filmmaker Jan Svankmajer and his apprentices the Brothers Quay often venture.
