Sutton Briefly Goes To The Movies

Wow, this week flew by quickly, and I decided to wrap it up by checking out some flicks. First up...

Stealth: I saw this one late Friday night, and I didn't expect all that much out of it. The commercials and trailers didn't impress me, but then I went in and actually had a good time. Maybe it because I won two rounds of air hockey before the movie, I don't know. Stealth didn't make a single bit of sense in the end, but I'm a Friday The 13th fan, so I had no problem detaching my brain over the course of the movie. But as far as silly action movies that make no sense go, Stealth isn't horrible and it isn't wonderful; it's somewhere in the middle. I'll give it three stars, though I'd probably recommend either downloading it or waiting until it hits the local cheap theater.

Dark Water, the Japanese version: I saw this one via the wonder that is Netflix, and I enjoyed it a lot. While I feel that the American remake is superior, I still found Dark Water: Japan to be an entertaining movie. The performances are good, and tension abounds (especially towards the ending). At the climax's summit, tell me your skin doesn't crawl when they show the evil ghost. However, what I didn't like about the movie is that the evil ghost's intentions aren't exactly clear until the end. While a villain with unclear intentions can be scary if done properly, the execution here is confusing. I'll be honest: I wouldn't have known what the ghost wanted I hadn't seen the remake, no joke. But regardless, I liked Dark Water: Japan, and I'll give it three and a half stars.

That's all I have for the current moment. Sutton out.

Goodbye, Part 2

The funeral was today, and things were a little better. Me, my sis, and our cousins were the pallbearers, and I actually held together. I thought for sure I was going to lose it, but I'm okay. I'm actually worried more about my dad, aunt, and uncles than anyone else, because they're her kids. They'll have the most to bear. But I believe things will start to cheer up around here sometime in the next week. I hope, anyway.

Sutton out.

Goodbye

Ninety percent of the time, when it comes to this blog, I keep my personal life personal. I'm a shy person by nature, so it's hard for me to really open up. But I'm gonna open up a little bit, for a change.

My grandmother Laura was born on December 3, 1912. The proud mother of four kids (my aunt, my two uncles, and my dad), she was like a second mother to me, helping raise me and my sister while our mom worked nights. My grandma's a very special person, not just to the family, but to almost everyone who knew her. She was the family's matriarch, our den mother, the biggest root on our family tree.

And here comes the bad news. A little over two hours ago, we said goodbye to her. I can't say I didn't see it coming, because she'd been sick for a while, but it's still killing me inside. I lost one of my best friends today, and I don't know how to handle it. I thought that if I just went without acknowledging it, I'd be okay. Out of sight, out of mind. But when I actually faced it, I just broke down inside. I'm not strong enough to cope with this. I've got to be, but I'm not, and I'm afraid. Part of me actually thought my grandmother would be around forever, and the realization that she's gone... it hurts. A lot.

I really don't know what else there is for me to say. I'm not good at this "opening up" thing. Feel free to send prayers or good vibes towards central Kentucky, because we could use them.

Sutton Watches Movies

I saw The Devil's Rejects last night, and if you're a fan of 70's exploitation movies, you should see it right now. Despite being a sequel to House of 1000 Corpses (well, more of a spinoff, really), you only really need to see the previous movie if you want a better understanding of the movie's main plot point. The Devil's Rejects is its own monster, a monster that can be very disturbing at times. Its violence is like The Passion of the Christ only without Jesus, and the majority of the film's nudity isn't the happy kind. It's downright uncomfortable.

The acting is engaging from start to finish, the effects are both disgusting and wonderful, and the music is superb. On the topic of music, the songs in the movie are each used to excellent effect, especially Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird" in the movie's finale (which also works as my favorite scene in the movie too). The Devil's Rejects also benefits from some very sound direction by Rob Zombie, who makes his second venture to the director's chair here.

The movie has some very slick scene transitions and fun off-kilter editing choices, along with both humor and horrific moments in its script. The Devil's Rejects is visceral, unforgiving, and raw, and I couldn't love it more. They don't make movies like this anymore, but they should. Four stars, and a hearty seal of recommendation.

My biggest complaint about the movie was the group of jackass teenagers sitting in front of me who spent more time talking and giggling and playing with their cell phones, as opposed to watching the movie they just paid $6.25 to see. Two ushers actually came down and told them to shut up or get out, and they actually left five minutes before the credits rolled. Next time I go to the movies on a Friday night, I'm taking a two-by-four and cracking some skulls if that happens again.

I was at a family reunion at my grandma's house earlier, but with a combination of the heat and my feet killing me, I had to leave early. I feel really bad about leaving, since I very rarely ever get to see any of my extended family, but me and heat don't get along very well. Now if the reunion had been held in, say, spring or fall, I'd have been there all day, no questions asked. C'est la vie, I guess.

Back on the topic of movies for a second, I saw rented The Crow: Wicked Prayer via Netflix and watched it Thursday night. It actually isn't too bad. It pales in comparison to the first one (as do the other sequels), but it's enjoyable. Three stars for the fourth Crow movie.

And that's all I have. Sutton out.

Batman Begins, Despite Four Other Movies

Happy belated Father's Day to all you dads out there.

Caught Batman Begins on Saturday afternoon. What makes it different from the four previous Batman movies is that it's actually a movie about the title character. The other four primarily focus on the villains, but where Batman Begins succeeds is actually putting us inside the head of Batman. He goes from being a superhero defending his city to a man who lost his family and seeks to wipe out the crime that took them away. It wasn't about the villains this time around, it was about the evolution of Batman. The movie really goes inside Bruce Wayne's head and shows us why (and how) he became Batman, and the struggle he had coping with the loss of his family.

When he finally does become the caped crusader, the action moves fast and furious. Christian Bale is awesome, and is actually more than just a guy in a rubber suit like his predecessors. He's actually a person in there for a change, and he's likeable in both halves of his dual role. However, the movie fails in presenting us with Bruce's love interest. Katie Holmes is does a respectable job, but her character seems superfluous. However, I will say that Bale and Holmes have a wee bit more chemistry than she and Tom Cruise, but that's not saying much. I was also disappointed in the lack of development in the Scarecrow character, but I guess that's the price you pay.

And am I the only one who got a kick out of the "I'm Batman" bit and the setup for the sequel? Four stars easily for Batman Begins, and a full review will be coming once I acquire a copy online.

That's all the news that's fit to print. Sutton out.

Super Saturday

Ladies and gentlemen, the waiting is over. You guessed it, today is Super Saturday! I mentioned some time back that I was working on an ultra-update for Sutton At The Movies, centered around a particular theme. I wanted to keep the theme of the ultra-update a secret, but over time, some of you found out what it was, and what some of the movies within the update were. But now, the wait is over, and it's time for me to reveal the posts to the world. With two high-profile comic book adaptations getting released this summer (Batman Begins and Fantastic Four, for those who are out of the loop on these things), I've decided to do a mass update of comic book adaptations.

The full list is...

1. Superman (1978)
2. Superman II (1980)
3. Superman III (1983)
4. Superman IV: The Quest For Peace (1987)
5. Batman (1966)
6. Batman (1989)
7. Batman Returns (1992)
8. Batman Forever (1995)
9. Batman & Robin (1997)
10. Catwoman (2004)
11. Spider-Man (2002)
12. Spider-Man 2 (2004)
13. Daredevil (2003)
14. Elektra (2005)
15. The Fantastic Four (1994)
16. Hulk (2003)
17. X-Men (2000)
18. X2: X-Men United (2003)
19. Hellboy (2004)

And to round out Super Saturday, three superhero reviews I've already done...

1. The Crow (1994)
2. The Punisher (1989)
3. The Punisher (2004)
   

I tried to limit myself to superhero comics, so if you wanted to see reviews of Ghost World, Road To Perdition, or From Hell, I apologize. I am, however, considering a "Super Saturday 2" sometime in the future, because there were quite a few movies I was forced to cut as I was rushing to make my previous deadline. But before "Super Saturday 2" goes from an idea to reality, I'm thinking taking a break from reviewing for a couple of months. After doing almost twenty reviews as quickly as I have, I've just gotten burned out. But don't worry, dear fans. I'm not out of the game for good.

But enough of my blabbering, start clicking and reading! And for those of you keeping count, this officially pushes my total number of reviews to 102. Go me! :)

It's A Sledgehammer

I finally got a chance to see Napoleon Dynamite today, and all I can say is that it was different. It felt like it was just a big series of skits strung together with a threadbare plot, but it had quite a few funny moments. I'd don't know if I'd call it a purchase, but it's definitely a rental at the very least. Thumbs in the middle, leaning up. Three stars. And am I the only one that got an "Uncle Rico is a child molester" vibe?

Once Again, Sutton Briefly Goes To The Movies

Hi, everybody! ("Hi, Dr. Nick!") I'd like to start by wishing friend of the blog Krissie Moore a happy belated birthday. Happy 19, Kris, and don't take no crap from no hurricanes.

I caught both Dark Water and Fantastic Four last night, and I have to say that I was entertained by both. So let's get to the mini-reviews...

Dark Water: This little gem is similar to The Ring, in that they're both ghost stories drawing inspiration from a book written by Kôji Suzuki and a Japanese movie directed by Hideo Nakata. But that's where the similarities end. Dark Water is everything that The Ring Two should have been: suspenseful, brilliantly acted, and just downright spooky. The movie doesn't rely on cheap scares or musical stingers to frighten its audience, instead opting to use its atmosphere and creepy ambient tones. The direction and cinematography are brilliant, and the acting is extremely well done. Jennifer Connelly is great, and gives what I felt to be one of the best horror movie performances in a long time. The film shows her character's descent into madness, and the movie never really answers if it's the haunting or her own mental scarring that are driving her insane. The cast's other highlight, eight-year-old Ariel Gade, is both creepy and adorable as Connelly's daughter. I really enjoyed Dark Water, and will gladly give it a solid four stars.

Fantastic Four: I'll admit, I'm not a follower of the Fantastic Four mythos, so I didn't exactly know what to make of it at first. I'd heard the bad reviews (such as Roger Ebert giving it only one star out of four), so I went in thinking, "It can't be any worse that Roger Corman's Fantastic Four can it?" The good thing is yes, it is better than the old Fantastic Four movie. But is it any good? Well, that depends on your own personal outlook. I personally thought that it was a good intro to the powers of the Four and Dr. Doom, but it didn't really tell much of a story. The movie could have benefited from being twenty minutes longer. We're dropped right into the movie mere minutes before the fateful space trip that gives our lead characters their powers, and it's as if the filmmakers expect us to jump right in and expect us to be familiar with the characters from frame one. What are their backgrounds? How did they get to where they are? How are we supposed to believe that they're a family if we never really establish that dynamic? I'm not a reader of the comics, I don't know these things. I understand they want to avoid wasting time by getting to their powers quickly, but a little character introduction is nice too. The cast all do good jobs with what they're given, with my personal favorites being Michael Chiklis and Chris Evans as The Thing and The Human Torch. Much of the movie's comic relief comes from their interaction (or just Evans by himself), and that made the movie far more enjoyable that it probably had any right to be. The acting is give or take (though I thought Chiklis, Evans, and Jessica Alba were all really good), though I felt the Alicia Masters character (played by Kerry Washington) was underused. She's supposed to be pivotal in the Thing's development, right? It's kinda hard to be pivotal when you're only in one scene. In spite of its glaring flaws, I had a good time watching Fantastic Four, and I'll give it three and a half stars. But as always, your mileage may vary.

I'll close by saying this... Super Saturday is coming soon. Get the word out there, folks.

Sutton out.

Get Him, Xenu!

Nothing much to report on today, except that I caught a 10:00 showing of War of the Worlds last night. I wouldn't suggest going to see the movie for Oscar-caliber acting or a well-written script or anything like that; War of the Worlds is all about effects-driven mayhem and destruction. While the movie is light on common sense, it makes up for it with action. However, where the movie fails is the ending. I don't mean how the alien army is defeated at the end (which is faithful to past adaptations of the H.G. Wells novel), but rather something that I don't want to spoil. I've got a self-written rule that I try not to give away a movie's ending here (unless it's unbelievably insulting like The Village or just plain bad like Identity), but there was one little bit that was just so implausible that I'm gonna have to cry "shenanigans" on it.

And am I the only one who's absolutely sick of Dakota Fanning? She's in every single movie that's come out during the last three years, and in War of the Worlds, she's beyond irritating. All she did was scream, whine, cry, and complain, and she was seemingly always doing something to make sure the aliens saw where they were hiding. I was just waiting for someone to either leave her behind or tell her what the five fingers said to the face ("slap!"). They could have used her to kill all the aliens too. Let them abduct her, and she'd have annoyed the aliens until they all committed suicide.

Outside of the grating Ms. Fanning, I enjoyed the cast. Tom Cruise is good and Justin Chatwin is acceptable as Cruise's angst-filled son, but perhaps my favorite member of the cast is Tim Robbins. Despite being in only one portion of the movie, I thought Robbins's "I'm crazy and I'm gonna kick some alien butt" character was quite intriguing, but keeping him limited was probably the best course of action.

One reviewer on IMDB.com has said that the movie was the best alien invasion movie ever made until the third act, at which point the movie tries to shoehorn itself into various summer action movie clichés. I'm inclined to agree, because the movie's vibe changes significantly once Cruise stops acting like the aliens are cosmic exterminators and starts acting like he's going to conquer them one tripod death machine at a time. But all in all, I thought War of the Worlds was a rather exciting way to kill two hours and see stuff go boom. Despite a rather lackluster final few moments, I'll give War of the Worlds four stars. My opinion may change upon a second viewing, but that's how I feel about it right now.

And that's all the news that's fit to print. Sutton out.

Sutton At The Land Of The Dead

Happy fourth of July, America. And to the rest of the world, happy Monday.

I saw Land of the Dead on June 25th in Frankfort, and I've got mixed feelings regarding it. I thought the performances were good (especially from John Leguizamo and Dennis Hopper) and the gore effects and makeup work are awesome, but the movie just didn't have the same gritty low-budget feel as the three prior movies in George Romero's "Dead Quartet." The lack of that grit causes the movie to lose some of the charm that the other three movies had. The movie also loses the feeling of claustrophobia the others had. While Land of the Dead is a quite different beast than its three predecessors, the claustrophobic "no way out" feeling could have made Land of the Dead a lot different. Don't get me wrong, I did like Land of the Dead, and I felt it was the closest realization to Romero's first draft of Day of the Dead as we'll ever get (unless someone remakes Day and uses that original draft as their template). I'll give Land of the Dead a solid three and a half stars out of five.

Meanwhile, I've been working on a particular project for months, and mentioned it a few times right here at this very blog. I gave myself a July 4th target date to post it, but it looks like there's been some complications. I really hate to do this, but it looks like I'm gonna have to give myself an extension. I really wanted to get it done by today, but there's a movie or two that I want to finish, and I'd rather have the project complete. I plan on posting them on a Saturday, so the big day will be dubbed "Super Saturday." When that Saturday will be, it all depends on when I finish the final review. It might be next Saturday, the Saturday after that, a Saturday two weeks from now... but trust me, it'll happen. So start telling your family, your friends, your dog and/or cat, your neighbors, and that little old lady who lives down the street and doesn't even know what the Internet is, because Super Saturday is coming soon. I promise.

And that, my friends, is all. I've got a Twilight Zone marathon on the Sci-Fi Channel calling my name, so I'm gonna wrap it up. Sutton out.