VIDEODRONE

By only

Monday September 24, 2007

NEW MOVIE MONDAYS
Knocked Up
Who didn’t love this movie? Once again, team Apatow has given us a refreshing take on an old standard… the unwanted pregnancy comedy. OK, not really an old standard. This small movie did big business at the box-office and certainly helped star Seth Rogen’s first film, Superbad, become the success it is. The strong ensemble cast is what helps make everything from Freaks and Geeks to Knocked Up so much fun, and the original choices taken in terms of freewheeling dialogue make for some very quotable moments. Like telling a guy his face looks like Robin Williams’ knuckles? Solid gold.


Black Book
One of our favourite movies of the year, this international World War II epic has it all. Set towards the end of the war, a young Jewish woman tries to flee Holland after her hideout is bombed. She is aided by the resistance, which she decides to help, and takes the assignment of seducing her way into Nazi headquarters. The story is massive, but Verhoeven, making his first European film in years, masterfully brings all the threads together to create a sweeping thriller that manages to be a powerful study on the dangerous and duplicitous nature of humanity. Kind of like Showgirls.


Bug
Years ago, Billy Friedkin terrorized his movie set while directing the Exorcist by waving a gun around and punching a priest in the face to get that perfect “I’m so shocked” look. Obviously a bit of a nutter, now he’s essentially created a single roomer (ala Tape, Look Back in Anger) based on a play about a couple who think the goverment is using them as test subjects for a mind control experiment that features itty bitty bugs that live in and feed off their blood. The film slowly descends into a bloody and paranoid thriller as the couple start scratching and scratching and scratching. Are the bugs real or are they just going Cuh-razy? There’s evidence pointing in both directions, and Friedkin does a good job of keeping the pace, but if you were to look away from the screen and just listen to the dialogue, you might think this is the most ridiculous bit of writing you’ve ever heard.


Next
It seems like Phillip K Dick adaptations have become about as commonplace as circumcisions these days. This latest one, based on his novel “The Golden Man”, stars the incomparable Nicolas Cage. Despite his horrible wig, Next is certainly an upgrade on Ghost Rider, which was the last Cage movie we had to suffer through. But yeah, that’s not saying much. In this he plays a total loser magician with the special ability to see two minutes into his own future, all the time. It’s a pretty sweet superpower. Basically he can’t ever die (unless it’s cancer or something) because he can always see his death before it happens, and avoid it. Like getting shot? No way, he dodges bullets. Winning at blackjack? You bet. He always knows when he’ll bust or hit 21. Stopping a nuclear bomb from destroying the world? Well, he does that too. Plus he gets to do it with Jessica Biel. She’s like the new Scarlett Johanson, except with a better butt and worse acting ability, which was previously thought to be impossible.