Sunday August 28, 2011

Prom- Cliche to an unbearable level, yet utterly charming. The cast works the predictable, so even when you are screaming in your head, "That would never happen!", you totally wish it would for some of them. Some of the stories are less interesting than others, since the whole jock cheating on a girl thing is so played out in my head, so it can be kind of hard to watch. But I liked how the film presented Prom… like it was such a big event in a high school career (not so much in real life), since in that way it pays homage to John Hughes films, where the loser gets the girl, and the bad guy is not so bad after all, and everything culminates at the last event of the school year, the prom. All its lack of realism and fairy tale aesthetics will ultimately set poor expectations on the youth of today, but hey, let tweeners tream. It's the kind of good, clean, cutesy fun filled evening meant to create expectations, and why not? It's a solidly entertaining time, even if the word schlock somehow comes to mind.



Priest- In an effort to combat the feminine style of 'Prom', I decided to venture into 'Priest', which didn't quite do it, but it helped. I started the film thinking blah from the opening scenes. But as soon as I saw Stephen Moyer (Bill Compton, True Blood) playing a human role in a vampire flick, I couldn't help but lighten up a bit. It also didn't hurt when Cam Gigandet showed up, (the antagonist Paul Walker looking guy in 'Never Back Down') as a sheriff to proposition Priest for his help in saving the girl he loves (Lily Collins, the daughter in 'The Blind Side'). That is when the film starts to actually get better. Maggie Q (plays a Priestess that fights with Priest) does nothing for me and Lily Collins is just around to look pretty. Outside that, the plot is not bad, but requires you to be a fan of westerns and also for you to see the film from a better character's perspective. You see, the Priest character isn't all that interesting. He's very cocky, and really doesn't have any room to grow. Paul Bettany (who seems to keep doing religion-based films, 'Legion', 'The Da Vinci Code', 'Creation', and now this) doesn't do much with guy, cept for talking in a low pitched voice and kicking vampire butt. For that reason alone, the film should have stuck to Gigandet's perspective and made it a sort of 'True Grit' with 'Vampires' Mattie Ross/Rooster Cogburn sort of thing. Either way, the film isn't long, and it wouldn't be the worst hour and a half you spend, so why not if you are looking for an action/horror/western type of movie. Although, I'll be honest, I kind of enjoyed 'Prom' more (way more of a feel good movie, even if it also comes with annoying, while this just makes me meh with shrug hands).



Hesher- You don't often hear lines like "What's green, slimy, and smells like bacon?" in a film, google it if you want to know. Using such a profane style, Writer/Director Spencer Susser makes it abundantly clear the kind of film you are getting yourself into isn't going to be a walk in the park (though it might be a swim in the pool). Sure, there have been films about a kid who learns from a mentor, but I don't know if they have even been quite like Hesher. Think of a juvenile version of the destructive character Clint Eastwood portrayed in 'Gran Torino', and you've got Hesher. He lives anywhere he can, he leaves a trail of fires wherever he goes, and he claims things like he need to go to the doctors because "it burns when [he] pees". His snake/mice and missing nut stories connecting to the plot are utterly ridiculous. Hesher is a character worth a film. No, the movie isn't perfect. It gets odd and chaotic at some points, but it's still interesting when it does. This is because of the work of Rainn Wilson, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Natalie Portman, and Devin Brochu (who plays the lead), who do a great job performing off of one another. Overall, this is nice indie black comedy about what you gain from loss, and it has enough lessons and laughs for a solid average viewing recommendation.



- Jeff Bassin