AWN Blogs

This heart-rending account of a couple dealing with Alzheimer’s disease from the point of view of both the afflicted and the helpless observer is an impressive feature-directing debut by actress Sarah Polley. The young filmmaker handles the heavy material with grace, subtly and maturity that is surprising for someone 28 years old. With this film, we not only have one of the best films of 2007, but the dawn of a truly talented filmmaker.

Grant (Gordon Pinsent, THE SHIPPING NEWS) becomes quietly worried when he begins to see the signs that his wife Fiona (Julie Christie, MCCABE AND MRS. MILLER) may be suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. When her condition worsens to the point when she is afraid to leave the house because she is unsure if she can find her way back, she decides to enter an assisted living facility. The policy of the home is that new patients cannot receive guests from the outside for 30 days so they can become accustomed to their new surroundings. Grant doesn’t like this rule, but Fiona can’t bare him staying too long because it is so sad. When Grant returns for his first visit, Fiona doesn’t remember him and has developed a very close relationship with fellow patient Aubrey (Michael Murphy, X-MEN: THE LAST STAND). Intercut with Fiona’s journey to the home are scenes of Grant meeting Aubrey’s wife Marian (Olympia Dukakis, MOONSTRUCK); the two have the same thing in common as Fiona and Aubrey do, only from the other side.

This Belgium/Netherlands co-production was originally released in 2003. It finally made its way to the U.S. in 2005 as an art house release. What one might find surprising about the film is that it's not an art house film. This slickly stylized thriller has more in common with Hollywood blockbusters than European dramas. The central plot of "cops after a killer" is fairly standard, but what makes this film special is the beguiling performance from Jan Decleir as a highly skilled assassin who is beginning to show the signs of Alzheimer's.

We start with detective Eric Vincke (Koen DeBouw, EXIT) involved in a child prostitution sting with his juvenile-acting partner Freddy Verstuyft (Werner DeSmedt). Then Angelo Ledda (Decleir, ANTONIA'S LINE) comes to town. He's assigned to kill two people and retrieve a lockbox. When Angelo refuses to kill his second target for personal reasons, he becomes the target. As he discovers the details of his mission, he forms his own personal vendetta against his clients, toying with the police that he is cleaning the streets of the crooks they cannot catch. Vincke will get ensnared in a cat and mouse chase with the hired killer and learn that the affair could blow the lid off layers of government corruption.

This review of the extended cut of Robert Rodriguez's PLANET TERROR, which was released in theaters as GRINDHOUSE along with Quentin Taratino's DEATH PROOF, will be brief. This is fitting because the extension from the original cut is brief. A short plot summary would be go-go dancer Cherry Darling (played by so-to-be Mrs. Rodriguez, Rose McGowan), along with a host of others, must contend with a chemical weapon, which is turning everyone into zombies. If you liked what you saw in theaters than you'll like this version as well — for the only addition that I could detect was some extra skin in the sex scene. Does this make the film better? Actually no. In extending the scene, it changes the pacing and ruins one of the film's best-timed jokes. Anyway, overall, it's still a phantasmal gross fest that revels in the excesses of the genres it's paying homage and spoofing at the same time.

Many of the pieces of this satire work wonderfully. The look and feel is dead on. However, often, the humor is so opaque that at time it's non-existent. Smart people made this film; people who know history very well. On that level it plays perfectly. However as a comedy it rarely hits the mark.

The conceit is that the film is really a British documentary on the history of the Confederate States of America. It's an alternative history mockumentary that looks at how American history would have played out if the Confederacy had won the American Civil War. The film even includes fake commercial breaks with less than PC products for sale. After the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln goes on the run and flees to Canada, where he dies of old age. The "documentary" shows clips of old movies where Jefferson Davis figures out how to rebuild the North by giving slave owners a tax break. The CSA becomes a great aggressor colonizing South America. Later Asian immigrants are turned into slaves in the West. In the time leading up to World War II, the CSA president meets with Hitler and discusses the waste of killing the Jews when they could make wonderful slaves. The CSA attacks Japan instead of the other way around. Many of the accomplishments of blacks who would have been U.S. citizens, become Canadian landmarks like rock 'n roll, jazz and Olympic record breakers. In modern times, there is even a home shopping network for slaves.

One of the great horror films from one of the great filmmakers, THE SHINING is a simple horror tale, raised to another level by perfect tone and Stanley Kubrick's uncanny knowledge of the filmic language. Based on a Stephen King novel, Kubrick and Diane Johnson altered the story a great deal, boiling it down to its essence. Upon multiple viewings, the film still has the ability to create unsettling feelings and dread.

Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson, THE DEPARTED) is a wannabe writer who takes a job as the caretaker for the long winter at the remote Overlook Hotel. Upon taking the job, the manager Stuart Ullman (Barry Nelson, "Stopover in a Quiet Town" episode of THE TWILIGHT ZONE) warns Jack that a previous caretaker went crazy during the winter season and murdered his family there. Jack doesn't seem phased, because he is looking forward to having months of time to write his first novel. Accompanying him is his wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall, 3 WOMEN) and their young son Danny (Danny Lloyd, WILL: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF G. GORDON LIDDY), who has an imaginary friend named Tommy living in his mouth. At the Overlook, the head cook Dick Hallorann (Scatman Crothers, THE KING OF MARVIN GARDENS) discusses the special abilities that he and Danny share. Both are telepaths who can see the past and future. And the future looks scary for the Torrances as Jack becomes increasingly unstable under the influence of the ghosts of the hotel.

With the extended edition of PLANET TERROR hitting stores this week, I am centering another This Weekend's Film Festival around the theme of Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's GRINDHOUSE. Unlike the past lineup, which featured road/chase flicks, this one focuses on flesh eating and embodies the essence of grindhouse films. This will be the bloodiest and most disturbing lineup thus far. Most of the films will be films I recommend, but two will be films I didn't recommend. One of those films is one of the most controversial films ever made. The second is one of the most ridiculous zombie movies ever made. The two better films in the lineup are an homage to grindhouse fare and an old school grindhouse production that has risen to the heights of a horror classic. This Weekend's Film Festival isn't for the weak at heart -- or the weak stomached either. Be warned, you might be offended... but that's part of the grindhouse experience.

George A. Romero redefined a sub-genre of horror films with this landmark independent production. In addition to pushing the boundaries of screen gore, Romero also pushed the boundaries of handling race relations. This cult classic goes to show that great direction and story can overcome a low budget.

Barbra (Judith O'Dea) and her brother Johnny (Russell Steiner) have driven three hours for their yearly ritual of placing a wreath on their father's grave. A lone man wonders the graveyard. When Barbra gets a little creeped out, Johnny jokes, "They coming to get you, Barbra." How true that statement comes to be? Turns out that lone man is really a fresh eating zombie, who knocks out Johnny and chases Barbra to an isolated farmhouse. Barbra is almost catatonic when Ben (Duane Jones, BEAT STREET) arrives at the house. The young African-American man quickly takes charge to board up the windows from the growing number of the living dead. Later they will be joined by the coward Harry Cooper (Karl Hardman), who bickers with his wife Helen (Marilyn Eastman). Their daughter Karen (Kyra Schon) is sick. The couple is accompanied by the younger couple Tom (Keith Wayne) and Judy (Judith Ridley). Tensions build between the group as they argue on their best next move.

"No, I'm Spartacus!" I've been saying that for a week now after seeing this sword and sandal classic. It's only one of the iconic moments in this film about Roman slavery. Directed by Stanley Kubrick in a very uncharacteristic "Hollywood" style, this lavish production paved the way for modern epics like BRAVEHEART and GLADIATOR.

Spartacus (Kirk Douglas, THE SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS) has been a slave all his life, working rock quarries. Then he is purchased by shyster slave trader Lentulus Batiatus (Peter Ustinov, LOGAN'S RUN), who plans to train him to be a gladiator. After being assigned a slave girl named Varinia (Jean Simmons, ELMER GANTRY), Spartacus screams that he isn't an animal as this owners watch him fumble with the first woman he's ever been close to. Spartacus' tenderness toward Varinia makes her fall in love with him. As the gladiators train, Roman senator Crassus (Laurence Olivier, MARATHON MAN) comes with his protégé Marcus Glabrus (John Dall, ROPE) and two women to watch two pairs of gladiators fight to the death. Spartacus is chosen, and following a series of events, ends in Spartacus leading a slave revolt. Meanwhile, senior senator Sempronius Gracchus (Charles Laughton, MUTINY OF THE BOUNTY) tries to hold the senate together in the face of Crassus' maneuvers to use the uprising to gain more power. Spartacus' continued victories lead Crassus' own slave Antoninus (Tony Curtis, SOME LIKE IT HOT) to flee his master and join the rebellion.

On Monday in the U.S., we had the Columbus Day holiday. For many, non-religious holidays are just another day off from work; the meaning is inconsequential. However, Columbus Day is not one — except for government workers and a few happy school children — that many people get off from work for. This makes the holiday even less significant to many Americans. However, there is a segment of the population that find the holiday offensive, which is quite counter to the spirit of a holiday. We set aside one day a year to celebrate a man who really didn't discover the Americas, who was a tyrannical religious fanatic that heard "divine voices," and who died insisting that he was not exploring the West Indies, but the east coast of Asia. For the many indigenous and African-American people of the U.S., he also represents the beginning of the decimation of their ancestors through murder and slavery.

Based on a short story by Thomas M. Disch, this independently produced 2D animated feature was made by a who's who list of future animation superstars. The late Pixar storyman Joe Ranft wrote the story and provided voices. Mark Dindal (CATS DON'T DANCE) was an effects consultant while TARZAN and SURF'S UP director Chris Buck and BEAUTY AND THE BEAST helmer Kirk Wise served as animators. Hyperion Pictures gave it an art house release in 1987, making it a cult favorite. Disney, who actually originally owned the rights to the short story, released the film on video. Somehow, despite a theatrical release, the film was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program.

The story follows a group of household appliances who have been left behind at an underused cabin. They long for their young master to come back, but it has been years since he has visited. When a "For Sale" sign is posted in front of the house, Toaster (Deanna Oliver, HOT TO TROT) calls for his friends to head out into the world and find their old master. Along for the adventure are shy, innocent Blanky (Timothy E. Day), talkative Radio (Jon Lovitz, TV's SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE), skeptical Lampy (Timothy Stack, TV's SON OF THE BEACH) and grumpy Kirby the vacuum cleaner (Thurl Ravenscroft, 101 DALMATIANS). Along the way the brave gadgets will need to find a way to work together to survive woodland creatures, a waterfall, the junkman, jealous high-tech appliances and a junkyard garbage compactor.