Small Town Murder Songs

In a small Mennonite farming town a murder occurs. Local policeman Walter, whose violent past is no secret to the community, is one of the people working the case. The suspect is his ex-girlfriend's new lover and over the course of the investigation, Walter struggles to keep his newly found composure.

The film is not so much about who killed the girl - with only one suspect and a witness putting him in the same location with the victim the night of the murder - but more about everyone's, especially Walter's, reaction to the tragedy that has befallen this quiet town.

Peter Storemare in the lead role is absolutely wonderful. The film's look borrows from the Coen brothers. The story, however, has all the dark of a Coen mystery without any comic relief. And the soundtrack is absolutely wonderful (never heard of Bruce Peninsula before, but went right onto iTunes to download the album).

I like this a lot.

8/10

Thinner

The film is based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King (or rather, his alter ego Richard Bachman).

Billy Halleck, an overweight small town lawyer, accidentally hits and kills a gypsy woman with his car. During the deposition, the local judge and a policeman fix the case so that there will be no further criminal investigation into the death, which gets ruled accidental. As he leaves the court, the gypsy's father comes up to him, strokes his cheek and says, "Thinner". From that moment on, Billy starts losing weight rapidly.

The gypsy apparently also cursed the judge (who slowly turns into a lizard - official explanation "skin cancer") and the policeman (who sports a gross collection of boils all over his body). Billy tries to find the gypsy, convinced that the one who puts a curse on you is also the only one that can lift it again.

Stephen King himself has a cameo in the film, like in several others. Here he plays the local pharmacist.

The book is rather mediocre and so is the film.

3/10

The Frozen

A young couple, Mike and Emma, goes camping in the snow (ya know, like you do) in a rather remote area. They are all by themselves (or are they?) without cell phone reception (of course). After an accident with the snow mobile, they are somewhat stuck and frequently get lost when trying to hike back to their truck, which they left parked some 10 miles away.

Then weird stuff starts happening.

They see (or imagine) a guy with a hunting rifle watching and/or hunting them. One night Mike goes to investigate strange noises (ya know, like you do) they believe to come from the hunter taunting them. He never returns.

The rest of the film, Emma stumbles through the wilderness trying to find her way back to civilization, all the while running from a hunter.

She has a few weird nightmares (visions?) along the way and finally ends up in a small town, where she bursts into a diner begging for help. When no-one reacts and she realizes that one of the patrons is actually the guy she tries to escape from, he explains to her that she died in the snow mobile accident, as did Mike, who didn't give him such a hard time with constantly running once he explained the facts to him. Then Emma takes the hand of the hunter (death? an angel? some spiritual guide?) and walks off into eternal peace.

Or something.

4/10

All About Evil

Slasher film of the worst kind. And by worst, I obviously mean awesome.

Librarian Debbie runs the movie theater her late father left her. When her evil mother (formerly playing the Wicked Witch in a Wizard of Oz themed matinee) wants her to co-sign a sale contract, Debbie snaps and kills her.

The security camera in the lobby has captured the entire encounter and as she panics and accidentally plays it back to the audience instead of the actual film that was supposed to screen, it becomes an instant hit and Debbie is henceforth celebrated as a heroine filmmaker.

She proceeds to produce a string of horror shorts, assisted by a group of misfits, that play to increasing success in her own theater. Obviously, Debbie - now going by Deborah Tennis - eventually dies a gruesome b-horror-movie death.

Funny/ridiculous film that makes fun of itself and the b-horror genre as it produces rivers of fake blood.

6/10

All Movies Are Just One Nicolas Cage Movie

Found this on the website of the AV Club (always a fun site to read).

....which brings me to my constantly returning question: Is Nicolas Cage the worst actor ever?

(Answer: Yes, of course he is.)

Academy Awards - Official Poster

The official poster for this year's Academy Awards is quite brilliant, I think.

Every bets picture winner is represented by an Oscar statue, and you can try your hand at guessing on the website, as well.

The Words

This is a story about a book about a book.

Let me explain:
Author Dennis Quaid wore a book about wannabe author Bradley Cooper who found a manuskript inside a leather bag his wife bought for him while on honeymoon in Paris. The manuskript is, of course, awesome. Bradley Cooper, not scheming or anything, types it into his computer (like you do). His wife Zoe Salander 'finds' it and tells him how wonderful it is.

It finally gets him an agent and success. The original author, Jeremy Irsons, one day walks into a bookstore and stumbles upon the book that he wrote. He follows Copper into Central Park one day to talk to him about the hi-jacked book. Or rather, he tells him his life story (the story in the book). Why? Not sure. It's not like he wants anything for it, it seems.

And Dennis Quaid reads all this to an audience that includes grad student Olivia Wilde, who is, like, totally intrigued by the tale and ends up in Quaid's apartment (of course). When he tells her the ending (Cooper comes clean to his wife and publisher, but they all keep mum and enjoy the money reaped fromt he stolen book), Wilde is for some reason unhappy with it, because that is not what she expected or wanted.

Whatever.

3/10