Silent Hill: Revelation

Silent Hill: Revelation - Dir. Michael J. Bassett (2012)

Video game movies haven't been altogether successful. Interactivity is the key ingredient missing. Every choice the player makes advances the story in various ways and affects the outcome. They are a huge part of building the narrative whereas the film's audience is solely along for the ride. There's no button to mash or joystick to jostle if they don't like what's happening. The viewer is stuck with whatever wrongheaded decision has been made by the producers or screenwriters. This brings us to the befuddling Silent Hill: Revelation, based on the spooky franchise from Konami. Think of it was their answer to Capcom's Resident Evil.

The first Silent Hill game was released in 1999 and adapted into a 2006 picture by director Christophe Gans (Brotherhood of the Wolf) and writer Roger Avary (Pulp Fiction, Killing Zoe). To recap: Christopher (Sean Bean) and Rose Da Silva's (Radha Mitchell) adopted daughter Sharon (Jodelle Ferland) has frequent nightmares about a ghost town in West Virginia called Silent Hill. Believing it to be the girl's birthplace, Rose takes Sharon there only to be trapped in a nightmarish alternate dimension. The town is blanketed by fog and ash and inhabited by a cult of religious fanatics who accused Alessa, an innocent child, of being a witch and burned her at the stake. Sharon is actually a manifestation of Alessa's purity and innocence. The film concludes with the vengeful spirit of Alessa killing the cult while Rose and Sharon escape from Silent Hill, but remain trapped in the other world.

That summary may have been unnecessary because Revelation throws most of that out the window in the opening minutes. A brief flashback reveals Rose used a talisman known as the Seal of Metatron to send Sharon back home. Since then, Sharon (Adelaide Clemens) and her father have been moving across the country under assumed names to avoid the remaining cultists (The Order of Valtiel). Unfortunately, the Order has caught up with them and kidnapped Christopher to draw Sharon back to Silent Hill. With the help of classmate Vincent Cooper (Kit Harington), Sharon sets out to rescue her dad from the Order's leader, Claudia Wolf (Carrie-Anne Moss), who seeks to use Sharon for a ritual that will summon their god.

Writer/Director Michael J. Bassett (Solomon Kane) should get credit for creating such a slick and creepy looking movie on a shoestring budget of $20 million. His Silent Hill feels like hell on Earth and populated by gruesome creatures ripped from the mind of Clive Barker. Bassett plays plenty of lip service to the hardcore fans with the appearances of game villains like the knife-wielding Dark Nurses, a disturbing spider made out of mannequin parts, and the instantly recognizable Pyramid Head.

Ultimately, the visuals mean nothing when faced with a nonsensical story that exponentially increases in absurdity. Bassett clearly loves the source material, but finds no possible way to streamline it. Thus, the majority of the dialogue is nothing more than exposition. Characters drone on and on in a vain effort to explain the convoluted mythology of the game.

Malcolm McDowell makes a silly cameo as a raving old man, a role he's more than capable of comfortably slipping into. Yet, you can't help but feel he, along with Sean Bean and Carrie-Anne Moss, are slumming it. Neither of the leads is given much. Aussie actress Adelaide Clemens bares a strong resemblance to Michelle Williams, except she's not given the chance to show if she has the same dramatic chops with such a one-dimensional character. And "Game of Thrones" devotees shouldn't expect a lot from Kit Harington since his Vincent Cooper isn't nearly as well-written as Jon Snow.

Silent Hill: Revelation is a portentous horror show that could have easily been churned out of the Paul W.S. Anderson factory. At least, it's better than anything by Uwe Boll.

Rating: * (*****)

Easy A

Easy A - Dir. Will Gluck (2010)

Easy A might be the surprise hit of the summer. I wasn't expecting much, but it is several notches above recent teen comedies that favor raunchiness and gross-out gags.

Emma Stone has seen her star rise steadily since debuting in Superbad. She cemented her status as one of the most talented actresses today with roles in The House Bunny and Zombieland. Even in subpar movies like The Rocker and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, she's able to shine. In Easy A, Stone receives her first starring role as Olive Penderghast, a virtual non-entity attending high school in Ojai, California. To avoid going on a camping trip with her best friend Rhiannon (Alyson Michalka), Olive tells her she's got a date with a boy who goes to community college. The boy doesn't exist and Olive actually spends her weekend at home giving the dog a pedicure and listening incessantly to Natasha Bedingfield's "Pocketful of Sunshine."

Olive's little white lie begins to spiral out of control when Rhiannon jumps to the conclusion that her BFF lost her virginity to this imaginary boyfriend. Olive rolls with it and the news that she busted her cherry is spread all over campus by Marianne (Amanda Bynes), the self-righteous leader of a circle of Christian conservatives. Next, she's approached by Brandon (Cougar Town's Dan Byrd) who is constantly bullied due to his homosexuality. They concoct the plan to fake having sex at a wild party to pass Brandon off as straight. Soon, Olive is trading pretend sexual favors for gift cards in order to bolster the reputations of the school's geeks, losers, and fatties. One gawky kid can only sheepishly offer a coupon to Bed, Bath, and Beyond.

Taking inspiration from The Scarlet Letter, Olive decides to really roll with it by dressing provocatively and embroidering a big red A on her clothing. Before nobody knew she existed, now Olive is turning heads wherever she goes. However, her newfound notoriety isn't all it is cracked up to be considering no guys have bothered to ask her out on real dates.

Easy A doesn't have the bite of the darker edged Heathers. It doesn't have the resonance of the John Hughes films it references multiple times, even if the redheaded Emma Stone reminds one of Molly Ringwald. Still, there is an underlying level of poignancy, especially given the recent spotlight shown on teen suicides. The cruelty seen in Easy A never reaches those same levels, but it comment on the difficulty of adolescence and the damage that can be done by rumor mongering. Aided by text messaging and the internet, gossip spreads like wildfire within seconds. Despite her new status, Olive has no one to confide in. Her best friend turns against her and her parents (Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson) would rather be her pals than her parents. Seeking guidance from the school counselor (Lisa Kudrow), Olive is given a handful of condoms instead along with a curt brush off.

Easy A does ask its audience to make a few leaps of faith. As with the majority of teen movies, the young cast is comprised of 20-something actors who still look too old to be in high school. The point is joked about in Marianne's boyfriend (Cam Gigandet) who has been stuck as a senior for almost four years. It's also hard to believe that Emma Stone could ever be invisible. She's pretty, charming, and almost carries the picture. I say almost because some of the adult actors provide notable performances. Tucci and Clarkson are hilarious as the free-spirited parents, Thomas Haden Church appears in an understated, yet funny turn as an English teacher, and Malcolm McDowell is good as the school's uptight principal.

Rating: ***

The Book of Eli

The Book of Eli - Dirs. Albert & Allen Hughes (2010)


The world has ended once again. In the past several months, it has been destroyed by zombies (Zombieland), vampires (Daybreakers), and Roland Emmerich (2012). This time around, we’re lucky enough to have Denzel Washington around to save us all. And if there’s anybody you want to have your back in a post-apocalyptic nightmare, it’s Denzel.

The landscape of Book of Eli has much in common with the recent Cormac McCarthy adaptation, The Road. This is a barren and desolate wasteland dotted by the rusting, abandoned husks of automobiles. Denzel is the archetypical hero of the Spaghetti Western. He is the mysterious, taciturn individual wandering what’s left of the world, armed with a machete and an iPod. He takes on the hijackers and cannibals who cross his path. He is the man with no name. Though the film is titled The Book of Eli, no one refers to him as such. The only reference is a tag in his backpack reading, “Hello, my name is Eli.” Some folks call him Walker because he walked into town.

Said town is ruled with an iron fist by the ruthless Carnegie, played with a villainous aplomb by Gary Oldman. He keeps his blind mistress Claudia (Jennifer Beals) under his thumb as well as her daughter Solara (Mila Kunis). Carnegie has his men searching the wastelands for a particular book and it becomes obvious he is on the hunt for a Bible. All known copies were destroyed following an alluded to war that decimated the world. Of course, Eli has it in his possession, reading it on a nightly basis.

As one of the only humans to remember what life was like before the end times, Carnegie knows the power of the book. He seeks to enthrall the masses with its words in order to rebuild the land in his image.

Rounding out the supporting cast are the Punisher Ray Stevenson as Carnegie’s right hand man, Michael Gambon and Francis de la Tour as elderly survivalists who’ve turned cannibal, and musician Tom Waits as a shopkeeper.

Don’t expect any deep philosophical debate about the influence of religion. Book of Eli has its feet firmly planted in the territory of genre film. It’s the kind of movie where Denzel quotes Scripture then decapitates a man with his machete. The Hughes Brothers debuted with the Boyz in the Hood contemporary, Menace II Society, but haven’t a film since From Hell, a poor adaptation of the Alan Moore comic which came out nearly a decade ago. While they’re keen on slow motion shots of Denzel striding confidently through a scene, the Hughes Brothers direct their action sequences with a strong hand. So many American directors chop action up into a jumbled mess with quick cuts, overly tight close-ups, and shaky cam. Here, the twin siblings allow us to actually see the fight scenes. The film’s first set piece is stylishly shot in silhouette with Denzel battling a gang of thugs underneath a bridge.

The script by Gary Whitta isn’t anything wildly innovate, but Denzel is charismatic enough that he could read the Yellow Pages for three hours and make it interesting. The same goes for Gary Oldman whose Carnegie is reminiscent of the crooked DEA agent from The Professional. Jennifer Beals and Mila Kunis look exceedingly gorgeous for two women living in a world without make-up or hair product, but I’m more than willing to accept that. What is hard to accept is the petite Kunis as badass, action heroine. It didn’t work in Max Payne (admittedly nothing worked in that damn movie) and it doesn’t quite work here. But, Denzel kicking ass for just under two hours is a more than satisfying experience.

Rating: ***

Bolt

Bolt – Dir. Byron Howard & Chris Williams (2008)


Bolt began as the brainchild of Chris Sanders (Lilo & Stitch). The story involved a dog (the star of a hit TV show) getting lost in the Nevada desert with a one-eyed cat and a mutant rabbit. Sanders left the project after butting heads with Pixar CEO John Lasseter, now in charge of creative for Disney Animation. The final product definitely has touches of the Pixar brand, but doesn’t reach the heights of their last two efforts, Ratatouille and Wall-E.

The eponymous lead character, Bolt, remains the same, a white German Shepherd who believes he has superpowers and everything on his show is real. He’s accidentally shipped to New York City and must make his way back to L.A. in order to rescue his "person," Penny (voiced by teenybopper sensation Miley Cyrus). Along the way, he picks up a sassy street-smart cat, Mittens, played by Susie Essman, best known as the foul-mouthed wife of Jeff Garlin on Curb Your Enthusiasm. She’s essentially a G-rated version of that character. Rounding out the group is a tubby hamster named Rhino who’s even more delusional than Bolt.

The film opens up with a rousing action sequence, a chase through the streets of L.A. It’s wonderfully paced and animated, the type of sequence you might find in a Jerry Bruckheimer production. The rest of the film is derivative of other pictures such as The Truman Show, Incredible Journey, and even Toy Story 2. The cute animals eventually make their way home and Bolt learns he doesn’t need extraordinary abilities to be special. We learn that good old-fashioned, Midwest values are better than those found in gaudy, superficial Hollywood.

Still, Bolt is both entertaining and heartwarming. Unlike the majority of generic CG animated movies, Bolt isn’t relying on snarky pop culture references and stunt casting in its celebrity voice actors. Kids will definitely enjoy themselves and so will the parents and older audience members.

It’s been approximately a decade and a half since Disney’s modern-era glory days of Aladdin, Lion King, Little Mermaid, and Beauty and the Beast. Bolt seems like a step in the right direction and an indication that the House of Mouse is on an upswing. It’s a refreshing treat after the stale taste of flops like Chicken Little and Meet the Robinsons. Hopefully, we’ll see more films like this and less of the awful, needless direct-to-video sequels.

Rating: ***