This week offers two very good titles from earlier this year hitting DVD shelves, one terrible title, and one that will likely make fans of its genre happy, while leaving everyone else cold. Stick to the first two if you are a serious movie fan.
Adoration *** ½
Atom Egoyan’s Adoration is his best film since Ararat, a cleverly conceived movie about a teenager (Devon Bostick), struggling with the death of his parents – one Arab, one white – and being raised by his uncle (Scott Speedman), who has guilty feelings of his own. His grandfather (Kenneth Welsh) is a racist, who blames Bostick’s father for the death of his beloved daughter. When his teacher (Arsinee Khanjian) convinces him to pretend that a story about a man who put his pregnant wife on a plane with a bomb is really his own story, things quickly spirial out of control. Egoyan is exploring fascinating political, moral, family and sexual issues with this film, and even if he does not quite accomplish everything he sets out to do, this is still his most ambitious feature in a long time. As a writer, he needs a little work, but as a director, he is in top form here. For my original review please see: http://davesmoviesite.blogspot.com/2009/05/movie-review-adoration.html
Drag Me To Hell *** ½
Sam Raimi’s return to his horror roots makes for one of the
most satisfying genre pieces of the year. Alison Lohman stars as a young banker, who wants to show her boss that she is tough, so she denies a mortgage extension request to a creepy old lady, who later tracks her down in the parking lot and places a curse on her. What follows is a race against time as Lohman tries to figure out the curse, and how she can rid herself of it. The film is scary in a old school horror movie kind of way, not because it is full of blood and gore. Raimi’s direction is surefooted perfection, and Alison Lohman is magnificent in the lead role. Justin Long makes for a good long suffering boyfriend as well. The films finale is a classic chiller. Great horror movie. For my original review please see: http://davesmoviesite.blogspot.com/2009/06/movie-review-drag-me-to-hell.html
Land Of The Lost * ½
A talented cast including Will Ferrell, Danny McBride and Anna Friel, and some nifty, old fashioned looking (but for what I hear, very expensive) special effects are completely and utterly wasted in this laugh free comedy, based on the cult TV show of yesteryear. Ferrell is an idiotic, yet genius, inventor who comes up with a device that transports the three main characters to an alternate reality, where dinosaurs, monkeys and some sort of weird alien looking creatures dominate, and they are the only humans around, although there are remnants of a human society. The dialogue is weak, the performances don’t help much, and the story almost non-existant. Simply not a funny movie in any way. For my original review please see: http://davesmoviesite.blogspot.com/2009/06/movie-review-land-of-lost.html
The Proposal ** ½
In
the absence of any really good romantic comedies this summer, this movie became a sizable hit. However, other than devotees to the genre, I doubt this movie is going to win many big fans. Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds are appropriately funny and charming as the pair of mismatched people who are stuck pretending to be engaged for his family, despite the fact that they hate each other. Then of course, they fall in love. The movie is by no means painful, I’ve just grown tired of the genre, so when an entry like this comes along, and does absolutely nothing new or different with the tired formula, I get bored. For my original review please see: http://davesmoviesite.blogspot.com/2009/06/movie-review-proposal.html
Adoration *** ½
Atom Egoyan’s Adoration is his best film since Ararat, a cleverly conceived movie about a teenager (Devon Bostick), struggling with the death of his parents – one Arab, one white – and being raised by his uncle (Scott Speedman), who has guilty feelings of his own. His grandfather (Kenneth Welsh) is a racist, who blames Bostick’s father for the death of his beloved daughter. When his teacher (Arsinee Khanjian) convinces him to pretend that a story about a man who put his pregnant wife on a plane with a bomb is really his own story, things quickly spirial out of control. Egoyan is exploring fascinating political, moral, family and sexual issues with this film, and even if he does not quite accomplish everything he sets out to do, this is still his most ambitious feature in a long time. As a writer, he needs a little work, but as a director, he is in top form here. For my original review please see: http://davesmoviesite.blogspot.com/2009/05/movie-review-adoration.htmlDrag Me To Hell *** ½
Sam Raimi’s return to his horror roots makes for one of the
most satisfying genre pieces of the year. Alison Lohman stars as a young banker, who wants to show her boss that she is tough, so she denies a mortgage extension request to a creepy old lady, who later tracks her down in the parking lot and places a curse on her. What follows is a race against time as Lohman tries to figure out the curse, and how she can rid herself of it. The film is scary in a old school horror movie kind of way, not because it is full of blood and gore. Raimi’s direction is surefooted perfection, and Alison Lohman is magnificent in the lead role. Justin Long makes for a good long suffering boyfriend as well. The films finale is a classic chiller. Great horror movie. For my original review please see: http://davesmoviesite.blogspot.com/2009/06/movie-review-drag-me-to-hell.htmlLand Of The Lost * ½
A talented cast including Will Ferrell, Danny McBride and Anna Friel, and some nifty, old fashioned looking (but for what I hear, very expensive) special effects are completely and utterly wasted in this laugh free comedy, based on the cult TV show of yesteryear. Ferrell is an idiotic, yet genius, inventor who comes up with a device that transports the three main characters to an alternate reality, where dinosaurs, monkeys and some sort of weird alien looking creatures dominate, and they are the only humans around, although there are remnants of a human society. The dialogue is weak, the performances don’t help much, and the story almost non-existant. Simply not a funny movie in any way. For my original review please see: http://davesmoviesite.blogspot.com/2009/06/movie-review-land-of-lost.htmlThe Proposal ** ½
In
the absence of any really good romantic comedies this summer, this movie became a sizable hit. However, other than devotees to the genre, I doubt this movie is going to win many big fans. Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds are appropriately funny and charming as the pair of mismatched people who are stuck pretending to be engaged for his family, despite the fact that they hate each other. Then of course, they fall in love. The movie is by no means painful, I’ve just grown tired of the genre, so when an entry like this comes along, and does absolutely nothing new or different with the tired formula, I get bored. For my original review please see: http://davesmoviesite.blogspot.com/2009/06/movie-review-proposal.html 
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