Adam Green’s original Hatchet was a very enjoyable homage to the great slasher genre of the 80’s. Paper thin plots, gratuitous violence and supple breasts. Hatchet II is more of the same, in a good way.
The sequel continues the tale of swamp stalker Victor Crowley as he murders his way through another group of hilarious actors pretending (poorly) to be rednecks. It’s difficult to expend too much energy reviewing a film that doesn’t take itself very seriously. If you enjoyed the first Hatchet (I did) then you’ll enjoy the second one too. It ups the body count, ups the gore and throws in an enjoyably disturbing sex scene for good measure.
However, if I had a gripe it’s that I would’ve liked to see a change of locale for the film to really differentiate itself and feel less like a rehash of the first film. And that is my main criticism of Hatchet 2. It did not do anything different or better than the first movie. Which isn’t a terrible thing, but what’s the point of bothering to make a sequel if you don’t have anything new to add?
It’s an enjoyable little movie but I have a hard time recommending anything more than a light rental.
Ohai, Danielle Harris, I didn't realize the Babezone had a new resident.
I’m not sure where to start exactly with this film. Firstly, I assume everyone by now realizes that, as a whole, this documentary is fake. However, that doesn’t do it justice to just dismiss it as fake. Watching the movie you have to be impressed with the entirety of Phoenix’s portrayal of this lost version of himself. Part performance art, part guy who snorts coke off hooker boobs, and part real frustration. It was not an entirely faked persona, but I do think it was intentional.
Documentaries are hard to review. Documentaries seem better suited for discussion. I’m Still Here is not a documentary. It is, in effect, a fiction movie. However, being so anchored in the real world and by bringing real people into the film it is able to make poignant and relevant statements on society, as documentaries usually do best. One point that came across to me was the tremendous gap between celebrities and the vast majority of people. While this is in no way a revelation that celebrities don’t live like us, it is jarring to see this gap from a less glamorous angle than we are used to. Celebrities like Phoenix are so removed from day to day society and the mores and codes associated with it that it isn’t surprising that so many celebrities seem to be bat shit insane. Early in the film, Phoenix brings up the chicken and the egg analogy to discuss himself. And I think it can be broadened to celebrity as a whole in this instance. Do the press and society merely react to and report on celebrities or are they creating these people to begin with? It’s a bizarre and confusing issue that this movie captures well I think.
Another thing I thought was worth mentioning was the moment in the film where they show Ben Stiller impersonating and mocking Phoenix at the Oscars. The crowd roared with laughter as Stiller basically did exactly what Phoenix had been doing for months. (Side note: I’m fully convinced Stiller was doing this at the behest of Affleck and Phoenix so I’m not implying he’s the idiot here.. although he did make Little Fockers so he is an idiot… just not in this particular instance) After Ben Stiller’s impression, the movie shows about 100 or more people impersonating, mocking, explaining Phoenix all on the screen at once to give a sense of the magnitude of the reaction. As I’m watching all these people in fake beards on webcams or whatever else with lame puns or jokes, I’m thinking, Why are they only laughing now? This is the entire thing Phoenix is doing, it has all been a joke but since he didn’t preface it with, “Knock, knock” or something, no one knew it was a joke and didn’t laugh. I think it speaks to the ridiculous ‘follow the leader’ game that our popular culture is. There are so few originals; people won’t laugh at Phoenix’s joke but they’ll laugh at someone else dressing up like Phoenix and doing the same routine. Too few people would take the time to examine or interpret Phoenix for themselves. I don’t think that point is unintentionally made.
There’s some really interesting points about our culture and the notion of celebrity made in this movie and that alone makes it worth watching. It runs about 15 minutes too long, maybe 20. The first two thirds of the film spends too much time on sort of mundane scheduling details of Phoenix’s rap career which slows the film down because the success of his rap album is not the point of the film. The most memorable scenes for me were just the extended shots of the contemplative Phoenix. Those scenes said a lot more than the scattershot early part of the film. The film could be tightened up a bit as it doesn’t seem to have a focus or a coherence for the first part, and it seems all the best moments are in the last thirty or so minutes.
So watch this one. It’s not terribly funny. Not a documentary. Not always totally engaging. But it does have some interesting things to say and should make you think just a little about forming your own opinion and chasing that seemingly lost notion of self-actualization.
Winter’s Bone is the story of Ree Dolly (played exceptionally well by Jennifer Lawrence) who sets about to find her absentee father and see that he attends a court date because he has leveraged the family home to the bail bondsman who will seize the home if he does not appear for his charges related to Meth production, sale or some other such lawyerings. Anyway, this is not a spy film, plot is not terribly important. I don’t want to talk too much about this because it’s best to experience this type of film without knowing the ins and outs of the plot too well.
The thing that most impressed me was the setting. The setting of the Ozark mountain area (Mizzurah, for those, like me, that needed Google to find out where this is) provides a monochromatic, bleak backdrop for the similarly bleak lives of the characters. This is one of those films where the setting is a character unto itself and the cinematography reflects this by framing shots carefully to get the full effect of these people’s surroundings. I often found myself looking at everything around the actual person on screen, and at times the people bleed into the surrounding spaces, and vice versa. There’s a specific scene of Ree entering a home and meeting her dad’s friend and the scene of people playing music and singing bluegrass where each decoration on the tables and walls feels as authentic as the music you’re hearing. A simple pan around the room does a wonderful job of establishing everything we need to know about this subset of the society; this is achievable because of the careful set decoration and great casting.
Ahhh, fond memories of childhood in meth country...
Casting was another very strong aspect to the film. Jennifer Lawrence and John Hawkes (Kenny Powers’ brother, amongst other things) are the two lead roles and both are outstanding. Many others toss around the “oscar worthy” label for Miss Lawrence, but I’m not particularly good at picking Oscar bait and I don’t really care because Colin Firth and Hellen Mirren will probably win for whatever European historical biopic they’re doing this year anyway. Jennifer Lawrence was very convincing and I really enjoyed her performance so take that for what it’s worth from a guy who stole the ‘Silent Night, Deadly Night’ Parts 1 and 2 combo DVD from Blockbuster because A) It’s awesome and B) it’s very hard to find. (*by “stole” I mean ‘never returned stole’ not ‘walked to the back corner of the store and pried the magnetic strip out with pliers and put the disc in my jacket stole’) Also, credit to the filmmakers for getting people who actually looked like they were hard living Ozark natives and not merely going with attractive actors and some hollywood ugly magic. The traditional Hollywood film meth addict is something like: take gorgeous young actress, put some (but not too much) olive oil in her hair, let professional make-up artists add splotchy eye liner…BOOM meth addict.
before meth...
After meth... A haunting transformation to be sure, thanks Hollywood
Anyway, I’ve kind of veered off course here. But, yea, casting… it was excellent. There are no wasted roles in this film; even when characters have no dialogue they add tremendously to the haunting ambience of the places Ree travels.
The direction was very taut, very steady and sure. Debra Granik wrote and directed the film and this to me is usually a good thing because I think there’s a more unified creative force behind the movie. A writer/director often has a clear vision from page to screen and this is often to the benefit of small films like this. I really like the style of direction, for as many outdoor shots of never-ending woods as there are, the film retains an intimate feel as we are focused on Ree’s journey.
I recommend this film. It’s not a pillow nail biter. It’s not an edge of your seat thriller. It’s a small movie with a very unique setting, powerful and fitting performances and excellent direction. I give it five Corbin Bernsens out of seven.
Had some down time earlier this week to check out budding horror director Adam Green’s newest flick Frozen.
This poster would be a lot more terrifying if his pants were around his ankles.
This time around Green (Hatchet, Coffee & Donuts) takes us on a horrifying ride up a ski lift, as three college-age buds become stranded on a chairlift and are forced to make a number of life-or-death decisions.
The poster claims that this movie “will do for skiing what Jaws did for swimming.” Hmm. Well I hate skiing, maybe it’s the fact that every time I went it was in Wrong Turn, North Carolina, or maybe the fact that the snow there was more like solid ice or perhaps it was that my last memory of skiing is having my lift ticket snatched off my coat by Ski Patrol or maybe just that I hate being cold. Regardless, skiing sucks. So “omg I hope this doesn’t ruin my skiing vacations for me” never really crossed my mind.
So not really having any real sense of fear or “could this happen to me???” going on, I still got a real thrill out of the movie. You get a nice little set up for the first 20 minutes or so, two lifelong besties “Lynch” (Played by Shawn Ashmore, Iceman from the X-Men franchise, lmao, ICEMAN?! FROZEN!?!? GET IT!?!) and “Dan” (Kevin Zeggers, stupid CW shows) take to the slopes for their annual getaway from the real world, but this time Dan brings his new squeeze “Parker” (Emma Bell) along. There’s a little tension between the three that gets you excited to see how it will play out once they become stranded.
From L to R: Hottie, CW, Iceman
I don’t want to get into any specifics or spoilers but the movie really does set up for the action and thrills nicely. The transition from “fun weekend” to “we might die” flows pretty well, with the fear and life-or-death realization coming pretty naturally, doesn’t seem too forced or anything. The characters are pretty stock, but all three young actors do a pretty good job of bringing some realism to them.
The dialogue is pretty cut-and-dry, nothing bad, but nothing spectacular. I really do like the interaction between the characters once they realize how much trouble they’re really in. Though it’s in the same vein as Open Water, the movie and the premise on the lift are both pretty original. The fact that Green wrote and directed the flick will definitely get me to check out some of his past work. All around a good little movie.
I’ll give it 3.5 Frank Caliendo impressions out of 5. Definitely a good rent for any thriller fan. Check out the trailer below.
*One more note, the entire time I was watching the movie I kept thinking “I know this Kevin Zeggers kid from somewhere.” Well, when I checked the movie’s IMDB page I checked out his filmography to see where I recognized him from. Gossip Girl? No. The Jane Austen Book Club? DING DING Coooorrrect NO. And then I saw it, way back from 1997.
That's right! A young Kevin Zeggers starred in everyone's favorite film from 1997, L.A. Confidential!
Brundlefly On The Wall 