Reviews by moviebuff15

"Jake's Closet" is an underrated little low-budgeter, propelled by an impressive performance from young Anthony De Marco, who you might recignize as the crying nephew from Chistopher Nolan's illusionist drama "The Prestige."

It is the story of a feuding couple and a little boy caught in the crosshairs. He, in turn, becomes convinced that there is something malevolent living in his closet. Because of this, he starts being increasingly clingy and defiant, and refuses to sleep in his own room.

At what point will Jake's parents stop hurting him? At what price will he free himself of his demons? His fears start when his neighbor's brat son Dillon (Matthew Josten,) whose harassment he is supposed to tolerate, tells him that the dead, mutilated rabbit in his yard was offed by a zombie.

The more he tries not to think about it, the more his fear grows. Meanwhile, his parents get divorced, and his abominable mother (Brooke Bllom) tries to convince herself, and her son, that his father (Sean Bridgers) is abusing him so that she can gain full custody.

"Jake's Closet" sports a kid's eye view visually (Something the opening scene of John Carpenter's "Halloween" tried and failed to do) and an interesting beginning scene. Anthony De Marco is emotive and cute as a button, and it's easy to identify with him.

On the other hand, there are several over-the-top characters, such as Jake's mother's Southern charmer, obnoxious love interest (Ben Bode) and the alcoholic babysitter (Barbara Gruen.)

Despite this, the three leads remain grounded in reality. When Jake Finally meets his monster, it looks like a latex mask, and the blood in the dream sequence looks unbearably fake. Ah, the constraints of a low budget.

Nevertheless, this flawed but deeply human film remains saddening, angering, and innovative. Considering the young lead's many family problems, it provides a set-up to a probable sequel, "Jake's Doctor."

Note- The rating for this film would of hit a 7/10, if not for the final scene, which felt a bit too much like a bad 80's movie.

Short Film Review
The paranoid in you should enjoy this unsettling little horror short. Newlywed Rachael (Kerry Finlayson)- spelled with an 'a,' strangely, wakes up to the phone ringing, and receives an unpleasant surprise.

The make-up is good, and director Drew Daywalt does a good job building up suspense. The only real complaint I have is the lame music at the end, where a more subtle, chilling score might of worked better.

I am enjoying more and more the "Sixth Sense"-esque ability to create fear in an ordinary environment, and this movie does just that. Anyone who likes horror should get enjoyment, and maybe a little chill, out of "Bedfellows."

Watch this before Daywalt's other short, "Creep," in which the monster looks more like a man in blackface. Click the Imdb rating and watch it there then tell me what you think of it. It's 2;30 not wasted.

...Mostly bloody. And when an armor-clad direct descendant of Ivan the Terrible shows up to hack and slash our beleaguered anti-heroes, borderline ridiculous.

In this pseudo-horror, pseudo-comedy, the pseudo-plot follows a thief named Ritchie (Stephen Dorff) who, when a jewel heist goes badly awry, pays a visit to his crime boss Mr. Groznyi (Sean Pertwee) who forces him, under duress, to pull off another crime.

Ritchie joins forces with sociopath Peter (Jamie Foreman) and his whimpering brother Yuri (Russell Smith) in a high-rise in Moscow, Russia. Their mission, to steal an expensive cross that once belonged to royalty.

No one ever wanted to watch a movie about a safe and simple jewel heist, however, and things get complicated- fast. Although he is a thief, Ritchie has a moral code.

Peter, on the other hand, doesn't, and pretty soon a woman is dead and they have a cluster of hostages- among them shy pacifist Dmitry (Hugh O'Conor,) attractive Anna (Jaime Murray,) and a strange, religious group of women led by Sonya (Bronagh Gallagher.)

When one of these people pulls a gun... and it is revealed the entire floor is booby-trapped and policed by a madman, things get bloody. Although it has some funny moments, "Botched" dishes out sequence after comic sequence that simply doesn't work- among them the stolen sandwich, the pissing rat, and the scene where Dmitry is slapped.

On top of that Jaime Murray, as Anna, is mediocre at best and the idea that she would even consider hooking up with Ritchie is really pushing it. Stockholm Syndrome, anyone? The performance of Edward Baker-Duli as the mad slasher is exaggerated and uninteresting, like a role in a stage play- a really bad stage play.

Although I did like the Russian music and the hyper-kinetic cinematography, "Botched" was neither funny nor involving enough to hold my attention. On the back of the box, Slasherpool.com calls it a 'brilliant horror-comedy' and compares it to "Shaun of the Dead." Fat chance, skippy.

"Wake Wood" starts out with an unnerving premise and goes downhill as the film's tyke goes on a killing spree. Her name is Alice, and she has had a happy life. Why does she kill?

Well maybe if you were resurrected during a Pagan ritual, you'd have problems too. After Alice (Ella Connelly) is killed in a dog attack, her parents Patrick and Louise (Aidan Gillen and Eva Birthistle) would do anything to have her back.

They move to Wake Wood, the kind of community that exists primarily in horror movies, cloistered and isolated, with weird locals who come into the house uninvited.

"How would you like to get you daughter back?" asks creepy villager Arthur, played by Timothy Spall (not a direct quote.) "That's not funny," replies Patrick. a believable response. But conveniently, Louise caught a glimpse of a resurrection ritual. She believes him.

The ritual can bring the deceased back for three days, so the bereaved can say their goodbyes. It requires that another person's body be used in the process of resurrecting the girl. Conveniently (or not so conveniently,) an older man in the village was recently crushed to death by a cow.

The ceremony is prepared, but the child's parents lied about one important detail- Alice has been dead for more than a year, which creates a rift in the Pagan magic. Will Alice come back a normal little girl? Or the bad seed reborn?

You should have been able to figure out the answer to this question without my little commentary on the first paragraph. And forgive me, but I don't buy that a seven-something year old girl, albeit an undead one, could rip a woman's heart out of her ribcage. Which also happens in the movie. Keep up with me, folks!

Notice how I'm saying the word 'convenient' a lot? "Wake Wood" runs on unlikely occurrences, close calls, and horror cliches, like 'car breaks down,' 'woman runs into *gasp* her husband,' and the inevitable 'child kills animal' archetypes. All this and a scene pulled straight from "Carrie."

Ella Connelly, as the girl, has all the cuteness and wide-eyed sincerity of a young Dakota Fanning, but Dakota Fanning she is not. Although she could act happy and sweet, she wasn't really convincing as an infernal child-gone-wrong.

Which brings us to the ending. Eva Birthistle is the highlight of this film, portraying grief and distress naturally. Timothy Spall is a great actor in an underdeveloped, criminally underwritten role, therefore hindering his capacity for greatness.

Aidan Gillen, who did a commendable job playing a mentally ill stutterer in the indie "Buddy Boy" some years back, practically sleepwalks through this role. His apparent mindset- play the part, jump the hoops, collect the paycheck. There's little passion or commitment to this role.

Now that I think about it, his character in "Buddy Boy" was a little stiff, a little under-reactionary. But it fit the character, and Aidan Gillen had some spark playing the nervous wreck. Gillen now plays Patrick as detached to the extreme, facing horrific and astonishing occurrences with mild anxiety. He plays a concerned husband, but that's about it.

Despite it's initially chilling premise, "Wake Wood" fails to deliver. Although it has potential as a thriller, it ultimately fails as a movie.

"Buddy Boy," Mark Hanlon's debut, is a haunting and potent film about dead end lives that provokes more questions than answers but remains bizarrely interesting throughout.

The film provides a look into the surrealistic existence of emotionally stunted, stuttering misfit Francis (Aidan Gillen,) who lives with his trollish invalid stepmother (actual amputee Susan Tyrell) in a squalid apartment.

Suffering from overwhelming guilt concerning his sexuality, his religion, and himself, he goes to confession monthly, admitting every impure thought and indiscretion.

The contrast between faith and the id is revealed in the opening, which presents the viewer with a montage of religious imagery followed by Francis, uh... pleasuring himself to a magazine pair of voluptuous breasts.

Like Kevin Spacey in "American Beauty," this is the high point of his day, which soon descends into woeful monotony. He finds a new past time in spying on his attractive neighbor Gloria (Emmanuelle Seigner, controversial Polish director Roman Polanski's wife) through a hole in his apartment.

Then they meet. Gloria is strangely attracted to Francis, which would be unfeasible if she weren't clearly lonely and desperate too. She tells him she is a vegan, a word he doesn't understand, but he catches on.

According to her, she doesn't care what he eats, but then she buys him a 'Meat Is Murder' T-shirt, which is a mixed message if I ever saw one. This further accentuates the character's conflicting beliefs and desires.

Gloria is pretty and nice, too nice, and Francis begins believing irrational things about her pastimes, focusing on her eating habits. Meanwhile he becomes increasingly psychotic (?) and has a falling out with God. Is Francis going insane. Or is meat back on the menu?

"Buddy Boy" is an enigma- although declared a religious allegory by Imdb users, it at times seems to be making a statement against Christianity. In fact Francis spends so much time obsessing about his masturbating, sinning ways that the viewer wishes the poor guy would just snap out of it.

The movie is a triumph of atmosphere- the bleakness and decay of Francis and Sal's apartment is palpable, while Gloria's big-windowed, pleasingly green abode seems to spell change for the troubled young man.

The problem, it seems, is the vast contrast in acting styles between Aidan Gillen (Francis) and Susan Tyree (Sal. the step mom.) Gillen, from the GLBTQ show "Queer as Folk" (Unwatched by me,) plays his character sensitively and gently, as a fundamentally benevolent albeit strange outcast damaged by trauma and psychosis.

Susan Tyree plays his abusive step mom more like a SNL skit. Maybe her broad performance is the fault of the material. When an actress' character is scripted to beat a plumber over the head with her artificial leg (one of the stranger scenes in this story,) maybe there isn't much room for subtlety.

"Buddy Boy," nevertheless, is an intriguing first feature and a fascinating story. It walks a fine line between being campy and profound, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

I like the humanization of Francis, a character who might be written off as a scummy voyeur, or worse, as white trash. It raises interesting questions, contains twists, and transports you, which is something films should accomplish, but rarely do.

Can people change? The general consensus, if that person is Derek Vinyard, is no. Derek (Edward Norton) was a crazy-mean white supremacist who committed a brutal crime and wound up in prison.

After a traumatic term, he came out a changed man. This change is derived, including an eye-opening relationship between him and a black prisoner. He comes back to see that although his home has changed, his old gang remains very much the same.

The middle-aged leader and writer of neo-nazi literature (about as artistic as 'Mein Kamf,') Cameron Alexander (Stacy Keach,) is still teaming up unhappy young men and refusing to do any of the dirty work himself.

Derek's girlfriend Stacy (Fairuza Balk,) who was there when the crime was committed, is still a shrill, screeching harpy. But worst of all, Derek's younger brother Danny (Edward Furlong)is getting into 'the life,' heavily influenced by Cameron and his goons.

Unsure of the ideals he once held in high esteem, Derek attempts to divert Danny, only to rouse the attention of Cameron's gang. "American History X," director Tony Kaye's first film, is violent and depressing, yet at times strangely optimistic in it's message of progression and change.

Derek behaves so brutally that his only hope for the future seems to be as a Nazi poster child. An interesting (if not original) method is used in that the past scenes are filmed in black and white. This eliminates the need for the overused '_ ___ ago' technique.

Edward Furlong (the guy from "The Terminator 2- Judgement Day" who isn't former governor of California) and Edward Norton (the guy from "Fight Club" who isn't Brad Pitt) give good performances. This is the movie that made me like Edward Norton (no thanks to "The Incredible Hulk,") and further evidence he's willing to take on daring roles and not rom-com type blockbusters.

One of the problems of the film is the overblown portions of the soundtrack, that leave no emotions to the imagination. On the up side, the characters have an interesting ambiguity and are pretty well-developed.

Despite the fact the movie is about race, the black characters are not sentimentalized or made into 'cute' objects of pity as a plea for tolerance ("To Kill A Mockingbird," anyone?)

"American History X" is an important movie. It is important as a morality tale about race for grown-ups, and as a showcase for superior acting. In a world full of nihilistic revenge movies and one-dimensional melodramas, there is a lot of strength in depicting that people can change, even if it's hard to believe it.

When does someone's struggle to make a difference go too far? When that person ends up dead, apparently. That's what happens to Tessa (Rachel Wiesz) when she attempts to reveal a cover-up involving a pharmaceutical company being unfairly tested on African Natives.

The protagonist of the film is Justin Quayle played by the great Ralph Fiennes. He's an easy-going kind of guy, a British diplomat prone to puttering around in his garden. He meets, Tessa, a humanitarian, while giving a speech on diplomacy to a bored audience.

She stands up and argues her ideals to him, which he takes well. After a discussion, Tessa apologizes, and they go to her house and have a one-night stand. Justin might not think much of it. He may, considering his most intimate moments involve plants.

Whether or not he expects her to come back is not clear, but return she does, and with a surprising proposition. The proposition is a marriage of convenience, so that she can go to Africa with him.

Time passes, and the marriage becomes strained. Justin suspects Tessa of having an affair, and is disconcerted by how much time she spends with fellow philanthropist Arnold Bluhm (Hubert Koundé.) Tessa is disheartened by Justin's consistent uninvolvement, and a sudden tragedy presses down on them.

And then she's gone. Reeling, Justin focuses on her final project, the unveiling of a conspiracy that she never got to complete. In doing so, he finds himself on dangerous ground, but cannot bring himself to return to his plants.

I honestly cannot find much fault with this movie, a well-developed thriller with terrific acting. The cinematography, story, and character are all well-done. I liked the relationship between the two main characters and how it wasn't heavily romanticized or glib like a lot of romantic couples in movies.

Unlike the overrated Academy Award Nominee "Blue Valentine," the lead characters are likable and engaging. In this movie, Ralph Fiennes proves why he he one of the best of modern thespians. With each facial expression, he conveys a world of emotion. He never over-emotes or 'stage-acts,' and remains believable throughout the movie.

The only complaints I have is that some of the child actors are not up to par with the script, and the black characters (other than Arnold Bluhm) are not terribly developed. Lastly, I think that most people can relate to Justin's involvement with his own personal interests. I think there is more of the constant gardener in us then we would care to admit.

Not your first pick for Mother's Day, "The Living and the Dead" is morbid and horrifying- and I mean that, strangely, as a compliment. It is a family drama, a psychological thriller, a tragedy, an art film, all these things at once, and and despite it's flaws, it doesn't overextend.

The film opens with Lord Donald Brocklebank (Roger Lloyd-Pack,) a worn-down, silent shell of an old man, pushing an empty wheelchair through a quiet room. The image delivers the same feeling as a dark grey painting, lonely and despondent.

He watches, lip quivering, as an ambulance pulls into his massive estate. Cut back an undetermined amount of time. Donald stands straighter.He maintains a kind of pride that must come with being one of the British elite, but he is grieving. He has a lot to grieve about.

His wife Lady Nancy Brocklebank is terribly sick, and probably won't be with him much longer. The bills are piling up, and they will soon lose their mansion. His son James (Leo Bill, in an over-the-top performance that works,) dashes around the house with little clear purpose.

James is in his mid-to-late twenties. He is stuck in a kind of permanent childhood, the kind of childhood that is made up of nightmares, not whimsy. Although Simon Rumley, the director, describes him as 'mentally challenged,' I suspect Paranoid Schizophrenia.

James is by far my favorite character in the film. He is a complicated movie creation, and his emotional limitations do not hold back his complexity or ambiguity as a person.

Donald treats James with the casual cruelty that is most likely inflicted on the mentally ill more often than we think, condescending to him, forbidding him to use the phone or answer the door.

James is desperate to prove to his father that he is an independent adult, and plans to do so by taking care of his mother. His father understandable rejects the idea.

In an undetermined matter of days, James will have locked the door, shut out the nurse, skipped his pills, and may have destroyed the lives of those closest to him. Soon, as his lucidity deteriorates, the viewer begins to wonder if the past events were only in James' head.

This is a film for a patient audience- it's a while before anything happens, and the reality of the events is questionable.The atmosphere is palpable, and the characters are well developed.

There are many plot holes and unanswered questions throughout the film, as the story itself seems on the edge of reality, with it's Gothic features and abstract images.

People have had different opinions on whether James is 'good' or 'bad.' He is a disturbing character, to be sure. He is not a sex maniac, mad slasher, or stony-faced killer, but a exceptionally childlike and deeply disturbed man.

This movie might make you feel differently about a crime in the paper factored by mental illness. Despite naysayers, "The Living and the Dead" is a emotional bombshell and thought-provoking film.

Ralph Fiennes transfixes in this post-Freudian, gothic psychological thriller. in 20th century Britain, Dennis, nicknamed "Spider," is released from an asylum and makes his way to a halfway house. One of the first scenes shows an array of passengers getting of a train.

Spider gets off last, feet shuffling, perpetually astonished by the hustle and bustle of the world as well as the chaos culminating in his own head. Spider speaks primarily in an incomprehensible mumble, so make sure to turn on your subtitles.

Once he arrives at the halfway house, he is coldly greeted by Ms. Wilkinson (Lynn Redgrave,) the nosy matron in charge of the establishment. He also meets Terrence (John Neville,) a strange but friendly occupant, whose morbid anecdotes reflect Spider's own fractured mind,

But this film isn't about creating a new future. It's about a man who's stuck in the past, and his intricate and often inaccurate thought process. The halfway house is located near Spider's childhood home, and Spider begins to 'follow' his younger self around.

Young Spider (Bradley Hall,) who is about nine or ten, live in a poor part of town with his father (Gabriel Byrne,) who likes to spend an awful lot of time at the bar, and his mother (Miranda Richardson,) who despairs at their relationship.

spider loves his mum just a little too much, so much so that the name "Oedipus" comes to mind. Spider is just fine having his mum to himself, but Spider's mum want Dad back in the picture. Then the unthinkable happens- but in Spider's mind everything must be taken at face value, and nothing is certain.

Davis Cronenberg creates a unique, uninviting atmosphere of British gothic. where bathwater runs brown with rust, smoke from a nearby factory billows into the sky, and something strange is buried in the garden- or is it? The acting is exceptional, especially from Ralph Fiennes, who portray a schizophrenic mind so delicately.

This is the movie that made me like him. He's good good at anything he does but Voldemort's Voldemort, you know? The other Potter-less Ralph Fiennes movie I recommend is "The Constant Gardener." He handles both dramatic roles with dignity and grace.

"Spider" is the kind of movie, that's twist lingers right under your nose, but you don't guess it, anyway, til the end. Then it seems obvious. I would compare it to films such as "Memento," "The Butcher Boy," and "The Living and the Dead." It is not a mega budget concept movie like "Inception," but should be watched for it's tremendous acting and psychological undercurrent.

David Fincher's 1999 adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's novel, "Fight Club" is visceral, like a punch in the the chest. It is unapologetic, gritty, subversive, and at times blatantly sexual.

And it's funny. It is a story about what happens when a movement that promises freedom becomes more constricting then confirmatory society ever was. Think 'Animal Farm' with abnormal psychology and bloody, bone-crunching fistfights.

The unnamed anti-hero of this film, Narrator (Edward Norton,) is a disturbed office worker who can't sleep at night. His insomnia presents reality as some kind of waking dream. Well, he doesn't look as bad a Christian Bale in "The Machinist," bu he's still pretty rough in appearance, and he can barely work up enough enthusiasm to go to work in the morning.

Because he works repossessing unsafe cars after fatal accidents, he gets to travel a lot, but his life remains at a virtual standstill. All this changes when he meets Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt,) a nihilist rebel who believes humanity should be reduced to it's most primal state.

After Narrator's apartment blows up under suspicious circumstances, he goes to live in Tyler Durden's home, which must of been a beautiful house at one time but is now repellent in it's decay and inefficiency.

Soon, Tyler and his new house-guest start a Fight Club, which temporarily releases men's feelings of inadequacy minus a few teeth, and might seem like a great idea if you're into boxing and WWE.

Add the Borderlinish, suicidal Marla Singer and the men's own twisted psyches, and you've got a recipe for disaster. The first thing that strikes me about this film is the overwhelming loneliness. Narrator is a cynic, so much so that he alienates himself and everyone around him.

"How could Tyler thing it was a bad thing that Marla Singer was about to die?" he muses when Marla swallows a bottle of Xanax and invites Tyler over for a night of lovemaking.

In my 'Favorite Characters" description of Edward Norton's character, I said this- 'like Chuck Palahniuk's character Victor Mancini, the sex addict at the center of the book and film "Choke," 'Narrator' pretends to hold the human race in contempt, but at the same time cries out in pitiful loneliness, "love me, love me, love me!!" I think us cynics can relate.' I think this is pretty accurate.

Although his character is dark-dark, I cannot help but sympathize with his urge to make things right after he finds out the truth about Tyler. This is not a film for everyone. The violence comes in droves, and no character presents themselves as noble. Furthermore, it is not really a realistic presentation of it content, and is more stylish than literal in it's subject matter.

But it makes you think while it entertains you, and I cannot really find any movie to compare it to. It is utterly original. Note- This film is a work of fiction and any decision to partake in an actual Fight Club would be utter stupidity.