DIRECTOR: Michael Davis
CAST: Clive Owen, Paul Giamatti, Monica Belluci
THE PLOT: A man named Mr. Smith delivers a womans baby during a shoot out and is then called upon to protect the newborn from an army of gunmen.
BEN'S VIEWS: Shoot Em' Up is a hell of a good time if you don't take it seriously. If you think this is supposed to be a realistic action film like The Bourne Identity then you might be a bit disappointed. Shoot Em' Up is like a Bourne film on steroids. It is a complete spoof of the one man action hero movies. Shoot Em' Up is to action films as Planet Terror was to zombie movies: a send-up of the genre. It is full of staged, over the top action and hilarious one-liners. If you take it for what it is then you might get more laughs out of this film than from half of the years comedies. Clive Owen and Paul Giamatti star and both play their parts of good guy/bad guy with a wink. The story is appropriately absurd involving a baby farm, bone marrow transplants and a United States Senator. The one thing about Shoot Em' Up is that you feel like the filmmakers could have done maybe a little more with the idea. Their are so many areas of the action movie that could be spoofed other than gunplay. The film barely makes it to 80 minutes in length and by then the gunfights have become a tad bit repetitive. But if your a little tired of all the "serious" films of the awards season then this is a great way to enjoy a film that is pure fun to watch.
DIRECTOR: Mike Cahill
CAST: Michael Douglas, Evan Rachel Wood
THE PLOT: An unstable father recently released from a mental institution tries to convince his daughter that there's treasure buried under a Costco.
BEN'S VIEWS: King of California is really just an average look at a father-daughter relationship. The only thing to save it from complete mediocrity is a kooky performance from Michael Douglas as the nutcase father in the film. The film attempts to be the next hip indie-comedy like Little Miss Sunshine or Juno. But the screenplay for King of California is nowhere near the quality or originality of these films. The dialogue strives for the same wittiness at times but ends up just sounding cheesy or pretentious or both. This is especially apparent in the half-assed voiceover narration. The actors do what they can. Evan Rachel Wood is decent (besides her narrating work) and sometimes very good as a daughter trying to cope with her mentally off-balanced father. Douglas gives the film a spark of energy it wouldn't have had without him. With a big bushy beard and a twinkle in his eye you can tell that he's having a good time. But even his performance and the good ending of the film can't stop you from thinking "so what"?
DIRECTOR: Sidney Lumet
CAST: Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Marissa Tomei, Albert Finney, Rosemary Harris, Michael Shannon
THE PLOT: When two brothers in need of money organize a robbery, it goes terribly wrong and triggers a series of events that send them and their family towards a shattering climax.
BEN'S VIEWS: May you be in Heaven for ten minutes before the devil knows your dead. This quote, taken from an Irish toast, sure is appropriate for the characters in this film and the nasty sides of human nature that they display. Before the Devil Knows Your Dead is an ugly motion picture; I mean this as a compliment. The characters in the film are deeply flawed human beings. But the fact that they are shown for what they are, warts and all, makes the film more compelling. They contain flaws that we all have such as greed and bad judgment. As the movie goes on it becomes like watching a train-wreck in progress. You know that the end result is going to be bad but you can't look away. Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Albert Finney help make the movie so compelling with their expert portrayals. Hoffman is very impressive and Finney gives a strong yet crucial supporting performance. Director Sidney Lumet uses a non-linear approach to telling his story, showing us events leading up to and occurring after the films crucial event. The approach doesn't really add anything to the film. It would have played through just fine in a straightforward manner. But it doesn't hurt it either. Overall this is a great movie. Movies in our generation are finding it harder and harder to surprise us. Before the Devil Knows Your Dead does it with ease. It may not be a pretty picture but you won't want to stop watching.
