The Crow (1994)

Reviewed 11.19.2006

People once believed that when you died, a crow took your soul to the land of the dead.....but sometimes, just sometimes, the crow could bring that soul back, to make the wrong things right..."

In this 'Gotham-esque' city, master criminal Top Dollar (Michael Wincott) directs low-life underlings in wanton acts of arson and depravity on what has become known as Devil's Night, the eve of Halloween. On the eve of their wedding, rockster Eric Draven and his fiance Shelly Webster were brutally murdered. On that Devil's Night, Eric (Brandon Lee) comes home to find Shelly (Sofia Shinas) being raped and beaten, only to find himself assaulted, shot and shoved out a five-story window. They leave behind a close young friend Sarah (Rochelle Davis), endless rainy nights in the city, and infinite sorrow on those who knew them. A year later, a Crow brings Draven's tormented soul out of the grave, gifting him with new powers and a world of pain and grief. Guiding Draven, the Crow allows him to take revenge upon his killers and earn eternal rest.

Director Alex Proyas' revenge thriller is just bad. The characters are bad interpretations of bad guys. With fool-hardy names like Skank, Funboy, and T-Bird, who begin each night of depravity with 'Fire it Up', what else do you expect? The mastermind behind them all, with his equally non-sensical name, Top Dollar, carries a sword, has a penchant for eyeballs and calls an Asian woman with weird lips his sister. Still with me? When Top Dollar says "this is already boring the sh!t out of me," the viewer can't help think the same.

As for Brandon Lee, it's a shame we never saw him do more. Beneath the Insane Clown Posse reject make-up is a glimmer of emotion and passion that might be unique. With his skin-tight heroine chic ninja oufit, complete with electric guitar, the audience knows he's out to save Gotham City. Or not. To his credit, Lee, is given some of the worst moments of dialogue and tries for believability. "Suddenly I heard a tapping, as of someone gently rapping...at my chamber door". Raven.. Crow... not the same thing. Nice try. Wait, depressed teenagers wouldn't know the difference.

The Crow complete with its weird, creepy, Gothic atmosphere is visually interesting to watch. While it has reached cult status with depressed teens everywhere, a closer look shows this film doesn't hold water. It's a shame a smart graphic novel can become a mockery of itself so quickly. With characters that barely rise from the grave themselves, stuck in obviously cliched melodramatic moments, The Crow is so bad, it's funny.

01.10.10 ~ Funny, when I went back to retrieve this review, I remembered it being positive.  Wrong.  This is incredibly harsh for what I now view as a guilty pleasure.  Ouch.

Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

Reviewed: 12.28.2006

The Hoover family from Albequerque, New Mexico might be the family next door. Or not. Dad, Richard, (Greg Kinnear) is a wanna-be movitational speaker who spouts lectures on winners and losers. Mom, Sheryl (Toni Collette), is a chain-smoking housewife, who like any woman, wants only the best for her marriage and family. Uncle Frank (Steve Carrell), we are reminded, is the pre-eminent Proust scholar who recently tried to commit suicide following an unsuccessful romance with a male graduate studen. Grandpa Edwin (Alan Arkin) came to stay after he was kicked out of the retirement home because of his heroine addiction. Brother Dwayne (Paul Dano) is a fanatical follower of Frederich Nietzsche and has taken a vow of silence until he completes his life goal of joining the air force and flying. Then there's young Olive (Abigail Breslin) who dreams of competing in beauty pagents.

Despite his drug habit, Grandpa enthusiastically coaches Olive in her contest talent dance routine. One day, Olive gets the call. She's finally getting her chance if she can make it to the Little Miss Sunshine contest in California. The one thing that might prevent her dreams coming true is her own families quirks and neuroses. The family road trip that ensues in a barely functional VW bus is sad, tragic, painful and fuzzy warm.

Little Miss Sunshine has been the Napoleon Dynamite darling of 2006 and after viewing, I can see why. I almost didn't see bother with this one because of the hype surrounding it.

Really, the characters are unoriginal, overdone cliches, but thanks to its charming cast of lovable f^ck-ups, you'd be hard pressed not to find Little Miss Sunshine relatible on some level. The whole cast shines, but it's little Abigail Breslin that draws you in. Despite her age, Breslin imbibes Olive with an innocent maturity well beyond her years. The film hangs on her every moment of sadness, joy, confusion and determination. Olive is the only 'normal' one of the bunch and let's use that term loosely. This odd looking creature with her even odder family rallied in support of her goal and loaded into the VW bus is hysterical. Carell is his first semi-serious role as Frank finds another shade of deep despair. Dano, as Olive's older brother manages to speak volumes with little more than facial expressions and shoulder shrugs. Arkin as the cantankerous grandfather could have played this role in the dark. And although I've never been a fan of Kinnear, even he manages to fill his role as judgemental father failure spot on. Holding it all together is Toni Collette, the frustrated 'Every Mom'.

This is a brilliant character driven film. Most of the film takes place in the VW bus or along the roadside and not one single frame is a waste of time. Throughout the film, each character has, what I affectionately deem, their 'light-bulb' moment and each of those moments are dramatically different and at times, odd. Little Miss Sunshine contains simple themes of love, death, and ultimate acceptance but without all the preachy insincerity.

Little Miss isn't all sunshine with a few plot issues and continuity goofs, but the intriguing personalities more than cover for them. The bits of subtle physical comedy found along the way are side-achingly funny, in a most unusal way; dialogue is witty, but honest and every day. The simple score adds further quirky enhancement to the road trip. The stops along the way provide incredible moments of dry humor, from the gas station to the highway patrol, but it's the climax of the film when Olive performs at the pageant that shows us, albeit rather uncomforably weirdly, what family should be all about.

Little Miss Sunshine is a beautiful message is an unlikely package. It's a fresh creative film that shouldn't be missed. It proves that life isn't about the destination, but rather the journey along the way.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

Reviewed: 06.06.2005

After their relationship sours, Joel (Jim Carrey) undergoes a procedure to erase all memories of his former love Clementine (Kate Winslet) after discovering she has done the same. As memories become lost, only then do they realize what they had to begin with. Carrey is perfect as socially inept Joel. Winslett shines as neurotic Clementine who's hair changes as often as her mood. Charlie Kaufman did us all a favor in dazzling us with the human mind in all is complexities and all of its beautiful possibilities.

I love this movie, but you'll only love it if you enjoy the existential.  One of Carrey's finest.