The Cell

At long last, I got around to watching The Cell. This film has been on my radar solely for Vincent D'Onofrio, who in my opinion is one of the greatest actors active today. And man, does he deliver here.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Social worker Catherine Deane (played by Jennifer Lopez, who I always thought a much better actress than singer) is involved in an experimental treatment involving a billionaire's son in a coma. To get to the boy and possible reverse his condition, Catherine is taped into the boy's mind as a means of contacting him. The idea is to get him out of this world in his mind that he is believed to be trapped in. Obviously, this sort of treatment is experimental and financed by the boy's father. But as no visible progress is being made, he is ready to pack it in.

It is at this point in time that serial killer Carl Stargher (the aforementioned, flawless Mr. D'Onofrio) fall into a coma of his own, due to some rare form of schizophrenia. His latest victim is believed to be still alive at this point and there is a 40 hour window to save. Stargher keeps his victims in a glass box, fully automated, that is periodically filled with water until - at last - the victim drowns and is subsequently turned into a sort of doll.

The FBI then contacts the treatment facility and gets Catherine to tap into Stargher's mind to help them locate the missing young woman currently inside the box before she drowns. Catherine agrees and after initially contacting Stargher as a child and understanding the abuse he himself has suffered under the strict hand of his father, more than actually finding the girl, she wants to help the little boy. When one session goes wrong in a way that Catherine and Stargher overlap, FBI agent Peter Novak (the insufferable Vince Vaughn, showing why he should only be doing comedy) volunteers to participate in the experiment to 'find' Catherine again and save her.

It is he, in the end, that finds the deciding clue that helps them locate the victim and as he runs off to save the day, Catherine locks herself in with Stargher and reverses the experiment so that rather than her entering his mind, she invites the boy into her mind. But adult Stargher finds his younger self and Catherine becomes a huntress and kills Stargher - not through the arrows and sword she sticks into him, but through drowning the boy, who has suffered the same wounds as his older self.

Stargher is dead, the victim is savend and Catherine gets another shot at saving the billionaire's son by getting him into her inner world.

As strange as this sounds, the film is exciting and visually stunning in ways that I personally have only ever seen in those Hong Kong sword fighting epics.

But hey, don't take my word for it....

from Roger Ebert's review: On one level The Cell is science fiction about virtual reality, complete with the ominous observation that if your mind thinks it's real, then it is real, and if could kill you. On another level, the movie is a wildly visionary fantasy in which the mind-spaces of Stargher and Deane are landscapes by Jung out of Dalí, with a touch of the Tarot deck, plus light-and-sound trips reminiscent of 2001. On the third level, the movie is a race against time, in which a victim struggles for her life while the FBI desperately pieces together clues; these scenes reminded me of The Silence of the Lambs. The intercutting is so well done that at the end there is tension from all three directions, and what's at stake is not simply the life of the next victim, but also the soul of Carl Stargher, who lets Catherine get glimpses of his unhappy childhood.

8/10

The Irrefutable Truth about Demons

Anthropologist Harry receives a video tape showing a rant by the leader of the Black Lodge cult, including a specific threat addressed to Harry. He shrugs it off, even after another warning received from a weird woman who he runs into outside of his place of work.

Soon after, he is kidnapped by a group of weird looking cult members, that refer to him as 'slave' and chain him to the floor in a room. Lucky for Harry, the floorboards are not too solid and he can break free and run off, thus saving himself for whatever was in store for him. He stumbles into a restaurant, where his girlfriend Celia is waiting and before passing out he sees Le Valliant, the cult leader, sitting at a table nearby.

Later, as his girlfriend's place, as he is taking a bath he has a vision of her throat being cut and the body thrown on top of him, while his head is held under water. When he comes to and stumbles out of the bath, he discovers Celia suspended in a crucifixion like setting just as the police start hammering at the door.

He flees, dressed only in a towel, to a rundown motel. From there he calls his colleague Johnny for help, but the unfortunate young man does not live long after leaving Harry. After he discovers Johnny's body in an alley, covered in cockroaches,he again sees Le Valliant. To the rescue comes the weird woman, who introduces herself as Bennie. Together they get away on a bus.

But there seems to be no escaping the cult. Apparently, they had something to do with Richard's death. He even sees Celia, alive, and realizes she is a member, as well. The members always seem to find him and, finally, he is overwhelmed by the group and Le Valliant digs out his heart with his bare hands.

Through some ritual, however, Benny keeps him alive and together they go and face the cult again. And prevail after actual demons come to take out Le Valliant, whose powers may have been transferred to Harry.

Next we see them in an insane asylum, where Harry coughs up a bug and Celia returns to tell him that she killed Richard. Later, in the yard Harry reunites with Benny and they find a dead bug that comes back to life in Harry's palm. In the last scene, Celia gets in her car outside the asylum, where Richard (as a zombie? a demon?) is waiting for her in the backseat with a knife.

Weird, weird, weird.

3/10

A Day in the Death of Joe Egg

Couple Bri and Sheila dedicate all their time to caring for their daughter Jo, who suffers from cerebral palsy and has been unresponsive ever since she was a baby.

To try and keep their spirits up and their marriage together, they have taken to using dark humor and funny voices around their girl. They even make up her side of the conversations. The doctor they consulted when she was a baby (a German or Viennese, they don't quite remember) referred to her as a vegetable, because the official terms for everything that was wrong with her was too much of a mouthful.

Bri would like to have her institutionalized and even fantasizes about killing the girl. He is also slacking when she his left in his care and forgets some medicine or other. Sheila, however, is dedicating as much time as she possibly can to caring for their daughter.

Not only does the marriage suffer, visits from a couple of friends, Freddie and Pam, are also somewhat embarrassing for everyone involved. Pam is uncomfortable about being around a sick child while Freddie is overly cheerful. He tries to help by dishing out advice about putting her in a 'special school' so that they can get on with their lives. Pam wonders aloud whether it wouldn't be better for the child to die, even stirring the conversation towards euthanasia and the way the Nazis dealt with sickness. The opening for her little rant was given by Bri himself, who told them a made up story about how he had suffocated Jo with a pillow earlier.

Jo takes a turn for the worst and after Pam and Freddie leave to get medical assistance, Bri takes the girl out into the cold with him to leave her in the garden. But when the girl appears to be unresponsive he takes her back inside, saying, "I believe it is all over." But the ambulance arrives in the nick of time and Jo survives, much to Bri's apparent disappointment.

Sheila and Jo return from the hospital again the next day and discuss the possibility of finding a hospital for their daughter to stay in for a few weeks every year so that they could find time to go on vacations. But Bri is done with this version of normalcy and - instead of going to work as his wife believes - he boards a train to London.

Brilliantly acted by everyone involved.

8/10

Deathwatch

During WW I, a battalion of British soldiers stumbles through a field of fog, losing their orientation. When they come upon extensive German trenches, they kill the few German soldiers still in it except for one and take over the trenches. Obviously, they don't heed the lone soldiers warning about the place, telling them that they will turn on each other if they stay.

They are under command of one Cpt. Jennings, who orders them to defend the trenches until their own troops catch up with them. But they are unable to make contact with anyone, with only white noise coming through the radio.

The place is eerie, to say the least, and the fogs surrounding everything never lifts. They soon realize that they are stranded, not knowing where they are and unable to call for help. But their Captain insists on staying, no matter how uneasy everyone is.

Sometimes, at night, the place is surrounded by battle noises but whenever they get ready for the oncoming attack nothing happens and the noise dies down again. In the confusion that follows their trying to clean out the tunnel system by throwing explosives inside, the Captain accidentally shoots one of his own men - the first sign of them turning on each other.

On another occasion, a patch of fog, this one rather red than white, befalls one of the soldiers who is then finally ready to desert his post. When he does, he is - as deserters will be - shot by a companion. His other fellow soldiers try to help him, but he gets swallowed up by the ground before they can get to him.

This then causes the group to finally split apart, some wanting to leave immediately, the Captain still wanting to stay and establishing his role as the leader and one rather crazy man hollering at whatever is out there with him to come and get him. When the Captain orders him to cease his nonsense, he gets stabbed to death for his efforts. As predicted, they all turn on each other, with only one of them (the youngest) having any sense of moral left and only shooting out of self defense.

When all but himself are dead the earth swallows the bodies along with him into...the ground? ...hell? When he comes to he is surrounded by decaying corpses and in the distance sees his entire battalion, seemingly unharmed, including himself. When he stumbles outside he runs into the one remaining German soldier, now suddenly fluent in English when before he was only able (willing?) to communicate in French, telling the survivor that he is free to go as he was the only one trying to help him.

It all ends with another battalion happening upon the trenches and aiming at the German soldier, who lifts his head to face the camera, smiling.

The film relies mostly on the dreary and bleak atmosphere and a pretty decent cast, convincingly portraying a scared, desperate group of soldiers.

It is a bit confusing, though.

5/10

Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle

Harold and Kumar have problems.

Harold's work ethic has two of his colleagues dump a last minute research project on him, which may hinder the young analyst from 'partying' with his room mate Kumar. He calls his friend, who has his own issues. He is in the middle of an interview with an administrator of a medical school - arranged by his father - when he takes Harold's call. Kumar convinces his friend that he could manage to do the work and still smoke pot with him. This does not leave the best impression on the interviewer, obviously.

Harold gets home, meticulously parking his car and walks in to run into the neighbor he is in love with but never works up the nerve to actually talk to. They spend an elevator ride in embarrassed silence. Reunited with Kumar, the two smoke a joint and watch TV, when they realize - surprise! - that they are hungry. And the TV suggests they go for sliders at White Castle. They decide that this is exactly what they want to do.

They take off and get harassed by a gang of idiots living in the neighborhood (something that will be repeated throughout the night) before they make it to their car, but they bravely march on. When they make it to the White Castle of their choice it is gone and has been replaced by another fast food joint. When they require about the White Castle that used to be there at the drive through window, the guy working points them toward the nearest location of the franchise and the friends decide to make the drive.

This is when things start going wrong. First, the machine at the toll station does not register their quarters, Kumar drives through because the guy in the car behind him is getting agitated and yells at them. Harold, a paranoid, law abiding citizen, panics and throws their last joint out the window because he expects to be followed by law enforcement. Also, he makes Kumar take the next spot, which takes them out of their way.

When Kumar takes a break to pee, a raccoon crawls into the car and hides on the backseat. Kumar finds a bush to his liking and is about to go about his business, when a guy in a bad suit and with bad hair stops right next to him to do the same. This spurs a hilarious conversation about the availability of bushes in the area and the right to pick any bush to one's liking.

When they take off again, Harold gets attacked by the raccoon and they panic that follows, they almost collide with another car. Someone from the other car gets out and charges toward them but no alteration takes place because in the other car are their equally high next door neighbors. Much to Kumar's chagrin, Harold insists on being brought to the next hospital - a place where both Kumar's father and brother work. Of course, he runs into them and is berated for constantly messing up his interviews for medical school. More hilarity ensues and, luckily, it turns out Harold does not have rabies.

To score replacement dope they decide to visit a girl that has a crush at Harold and works at a nearby college. There, they do score a bag of weed but get also chased out by campus police. Somewhere along their drive through the night, they pick up a hitchhiking Neil Patrick Harris, who ends up stealing their car while they ask for directions to White Castle at a gas station.

Then Harold gets thrown in jail because he is about to cross the street despite the light being red and in a discussion with the policeman that follows, he punches the man in the jaw (the punch was intended for Kumar). Kumar, ever the faithful friend breaks Harold out of jail, where they also steal the same bag of weed they briefly had in their possession at the college.

And then they ride on a jeeter. (Don't ask.)

In want for a new ride after the jeeter runs off, they run into the gang of idiots again and steal their ride. Throwing all caution to the wind, Harold exceeds the speed limit and drives even faster when followed by a highway patrolman. They end up on a cliff looking right at the White Castle, down below them. Luckily, the gang was also fond of hang gliding and that is how the duo makes the final distance to their destination.

There, when they realize that they don't have any money on them, Neil Patrick Harris shows up again and pays for their burgers, fries and sodas because he feels bad about stealing the car. Harold, now having recovered his adventurous streak takes down his two colleagues (because of course they also end up at the same White Castle) and goes back home to finally get together with the neighbor he is in love with.

Happy ending!

8/10

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

The second installment in the Hunger Games trilogy marks the beginning of the revolution, long overdue in Panem. The victors Katniss and Peeta are paraded around the districts but rather than appease the public and keep them quite, the mere presence of Katniss - unwilling token of the uprising - inspires people to become defiant. It starts with three raised fingers in district 11, as a thank you from the locals for Katniss' treatment of Rue in the previous hunger games.

To stop any unauthorized behavior the new game runner, Plutarch Heavensbee, talks President Snow into a new kind of hunger game, to get rid of Katniss in a way that would not shed any more doubts onto the government. To celebrate the 75th anniversary of the hunger games the tributes will be drafted from the previous victors - two per district, one male one female.

Once in the arena, Katniss and Peeta form an alliance with Finnick and the elderly Mae, arranged for them by Haymitch. From then on, not much goes the way President Snow intended, but very much the way Plutarch orchestrated things. Rather than quench the revolution by distracting the public with the spectacle going on under a dome, a revolution is started on a smaller scale within the dome. Katniss is apparently the least informed of everyone involved.

In the end, the dome is brought down through lightning, wire and one of Katniss' arrows and she and a handful of other survivors are lifted out of the arena. Katniss awakes in District 13, where she learns that while her mother and sister and Gale are there, as well, Peeta and one of their allies, Johanna, did not make it out but are held by the government.

8/10

The X Files: Ice

I once read that David Duchovny said that it was with this episode that he realized that they were involved in creating something special. The agents see a video of a man, visibly in distress, recording the final message from the crew of the Arctic Ice Core Project. A group of scientists has been sent to Alaska and celebrate having drilled deeper into the ice than anyone ever before (also documented on video). The final message sent is, "We are not who we are. We are not who we are. It goes no further than this. It stops right here right now." Right after he and a fellow scientist first points handguns at each other before pointing the guns each at himself and committing suicide.

The agents, together with a trio of specialists in different fields, are taken to the station by one Bear, apparently the only pilot willing to take them in unsure weather condition. It is the weather, as well, that will have the group confined to the station for longer than they like.

The group finds bodies of the entire Core Project team and some samples of the ice they brought up. The start putting the pieces together but only get ahead when Bear and Mulder are attacked by the station's pet dog. Bear gets bitten and infected with what it was that initiated the team's downfall. From way down in they ice they brought up something looking like a worm that uses a warm blooded body as a host, making the person or animal very aggressive towards their fellow creatures.

The weather, the situation, the desolation winds the group up in ways that could be a symptom of the virus or bacteria or whatever that worm thing is. By accident (one of the scientist infects an already infected sample) they realize that two worms inside the same host will fight and kill each other - thereby saving the host.

When one of the scientists is killed and everyone gets defensive, the group agrees that it must be Mulder who is infected. He was, after all, attacked by the dog. With only one live worm left, they want to insert it in the agent to 'save' him, but when Scully checks him for sign of infection she realizes it cannot be him. The agents, however, are unable to convince the rest of the group of this fact. In the physical alteration that ensues, they find clear signs that it is actually one of the scientists that is infected and she gets saved in the nick of time.

8/10

Hey, isn't that...?

Two of the scientist with Mulder and Scully are played by Xander Berkley (Red John himself) and Felicity Huffman (of Desperate Housewives fame).