Naked Fear

Reading the description listed for the film Naked Fear reminded me of a book I read years ago called The Most Dangerous Game about a wealthy hunter that has taken to hunting humans on his island home. Having enjoyed that short story, I felt that this movie might be interesting enough to hold my attention for two hours. Although Naked Fear does not have big budget backing, I found the film to worthwhile.

Naked Fear introduces us to a cast of characters in the small town of Santa Paula , New Mexico . The disparity between the number of women in relationship to the number of men make women a commodity in New Mexico . Women are brought in to staff a local strip club with the assistance of a seedy character who basically forces them into the sex industry. The hunting culture in Santa Paula allows for some misdirection (and even the plausibility of a cover-up) regarding the disappearance of several young women from the community. The women are kidnapped and taken to a remote are of New Mexico where they are stripped naked and given a fifteen minute head start by their captor. If they can outsmart the hunter, they earn their freedom. They never seem to succeed.

Although the plot seemed to be lifted from The Most Dangerous Game, the use of strippers added a visually appealing twist to the concept. The characters were not very well developed, but the writer (Christine Vasquez) does a good job at creating a bit of mystery regarding the prime suspect in the disappearances. The dialogue was decent at times and downright stupid at others. The individual who brings new dancers to town would like to be a menacing character…but neither the acting nor the writing for this particular character sold me. He was flat and hard to believe. Another issue with the writing was that you have a resourceful and particularly tenacious girl who is duped into stripping rather than finding a legitimate way to repay the cost of relocating from Texas to New Mexico . It couldn’t have been more than a couple of hundred dollars that she owed the “head hunter.” That entire train of thought was lost on me. However, there were some exchanges that were interesting. The background of a young officer is brought up through conversations which, although far from intellectual, seemed like a natural way to convey some motivations, while contributing to the suspense. Although the writing had ample areas for improvement, it wasn’t completely bad.

The acting was mixed. I felt like the lead character, Diana, was expertly portrayed by Danielle De Luca. Although there were elements of the character that were a bit inconsistent, De Luca did an expert job of using her character to connect with the audience. Joe Montegna played an interesting character that keeps the audience guessing. Is he a straight as an arrow Sheriff or is hiding a dark secret? Maybe he is covering something up. Montegna creates a character in Naked Fear that has some complexity and engages the audience. I found that his character was relevant and an important aspect of the story. Much of it a tribute to Montegna's ability to deliver a multi-layered performance. Arron Shiver was a bit less convincing as the newly hired Sheriff's Deputy Dwight Terry. Shiver was okay, but not exceptional. Another interesting character was Colin Mandel (J.D. Garfield), a cafe owner and avid hunter. Garfield had a role with some challenging elements, which he overcomes smoothly. The performances of Garfield, De Luca and Montegna made Naked Fear worth watching. The rest of the cast were one-dimensional and forgettable.

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One-Eyed Monster

Adam and Jordan Fields were probably smoking something pretty potent when they conceived the idea of a killer cock. I’m not talking about fighting chickens either. And what better bratwurst could they possibly possess than the over-exposed lumber of Ron Jeremy. But how do you create a killer kickstand? How about having the love muscle become taken over by an alien life form, discarding the rest of the body that does not propagate in order to run as efficiently as possible.

An unlikely absurd scenario to say the least. But intriguing none-the-less. I had to laugh at the very premise of this film, and was intrigued enough to actually watch it. So how do you rate an obviously B-Film? Do you rate using the same standard as a big budget production, or do you take into consideration that the entire process is meant to be part comedic, part suspense and low budget. I split the difference.



The aging Ron Jeremy agrees to make a late-in-life film, featuring his nine and a half inch piston. Things seem innocent enough…a group of young aspiring porn stars are driven to a remote cabin along with Ron Jeremy. An aging actress, Veronica Hart, has come along as an advisor on the film, but manages to weasel her way in for a last hoorah. While working up his stamina outside the cabin, Jeremy appears to be struck by a flash of light. A short while later, while filming a scene with Veronica, Jeremy appears to become possessed before falling back on the floor and dying. But not before his knob manages to go mobile. The fugitive flesh then stalks the remaining porn stars, eliminating them one by one in a form of humor that is at times campy, gross or simply laughable. In any event, the drama is far from high drama. But the premise was certainly original.

I could discuss plot, dialogue and character development at great length. But it is much easier to simply say that it was one step above porn film. I move it one step up, because there actually is a plot, and the entire film is not centered around people getting naked and hooking up. In fact, the nudity was extremely minor for a movie about creating a pornographic film. To my recollection, there was only one scene involving naked breasts and a couple of simulated sex scenes with no nudity. One involved a young man and a machine…not very convincing, but humorous. The characters were pretty flat, the dialogue was weak and the plot was mostly predictable. But it was often fun to watch, regardless.

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G-Force

Okay...I'm a sucker, too. I'm one of those movie-goers who contributed to the phenomenal weekend at the box office for G-Force. But I demand a recount. Just because my three tickets counted as three votes, I want to recast them for Harry Potter. If I had it to do over again...like many of those who went to see this stinker...I would have spent the money on the young magician. And to think I paid the extra two dollars per ticket to see this crap in 3-D!

My issue with G-Force has nothing to do with the cute factor. The film gets five stars for cute. But I expect at least one original or unexpected line in a movie. I do not want to sit through an hour and a half of Disney rehash watching a formulaic plot unravel in unoriginal and predictable blandness. That was the major fallacy of this film...what promised to be Disney magic didn't even fizzle. This forgettable film had nothing new to offer. Even the fart jokes were lame.



I am going to give G-Force credit for the animation and a couple of the actors. The animation was certainly cute, seamless and (ahem) believable. The integration of the characters was done exceptionally well. I like Steve Buscemi in just about anything he does...especially the annoying roles he tends to gravitate to. His bit part in this film was the closest thing to original this film had...but it was a minor diversion with only a slight contribution to the overall plot. I've liked Nicholas Cage in a few films...and have had to admit he has grown on me a bit. He was utterly repulsive in this film. Even though it was voice acting...it sounded hammy and contrived.

G-Force tries to survive on great animation while shortcutting on plot. With the number of writers (Cormac and Marianne Wibberly, Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio and Tim Firth developed the screenplay from Hoyt Yeatman's story) you might think that there would be some fresh ideas sprouting from somewhere. A spark of inspiration or a plot twist that no one would expect. Instead, the plot unravels like a first grade reader. In a nutshell, specially trained animals are looking to earn their rank among the elite government investigators by solving a major crime. They face setbacks but use their teamwork to solve the caper before their funding is cut. And there is a twist...although predictable...I will leave that for the viewer to figure out...just in case a first grader might be reading this.

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Awake

When you look at the numbers, the seemingly innocuous number of 0.01 percent of the population who wake up during surgery seems much more startling when one considers 21 million people per year undergo surgery...which is equal to 21,000 incidents per year. The concept of waking up during surgery and aware to pain, but paralyzed from the other drugs in the anesthesia cocktail creates a startling premise upon which to build a suspense film. What an excellent, disturbing concept.

Awake takes the concept of waking during surgery and weaves a story of intrigue and greed around the idea in a manner that makes for a refreshing if not simplistic storyline. Ample foreshadowing provides the viewer with some cues as to what is coming without completely divulging the participants or manner in which the elements would tie together. A degree of supernatural out-of-body type experience allows for the plot to be revealed and gives the writer (Joby Harold, who also Directs) a method for tying together other loose ends. Although the dialogue wasn't necessarily exceptional, the plot lines and character development helped overcome the mediocre dialogue.



Without giving away any important plot details, Awaketells the story of a young prodigy, Clay Beresford (Hayden Christensen) with heart problems, whose life is saved by a struggling Doctor (Jack Harper, played by Terrence Howard) who has a history of malpractice suits. Clay and Dr. Harper form a close bond, which troubles Clay's mother, Lilith (Lena Olin) who can afford the best for her son. And the best seems all that Lilith is willing to accept, creating conflict between the two. The introduction of a love interest, Sam (Jessica Alba) creates further strain on Clay's relationship with his mother.

The acting in Awake failed to meet the same standard as the plot. Although Howard and Olin were decent, I did not care much for Christensen or Alba. They didn't seem to have good chemistry. I had trouble buying into their relationship. Some of the scenes between Olin and Christensen seemed to be a bit off as well. I'm not sure what the source was, but I had trouble believing the relationships.

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Revolutionary Road

Kate Winslet was refreshing in The Reader. Her performance in The Reader made the novel film exceptional. Kate is a solid actress. Leonardo DiCaprio is slowly growing on me. The most recent film I have seen with DiCaprio in it was The Blood Diamond, which he brought great life to. The two have decent chemistry as evidenced by Titanic. However, this film was a poor choice for them to reunite in.

Revolutionary Road takes place in Connecticut in the years following World War II. A young man and woman fall in love after the war. A picture of the soldier standing in front of the Eiffel Tower inspires the half-baked idea to sell their house and move to Paris with their two children. The idea and the marriage fall apart with the announcement of an unexpected, unplanned pregnancy. The pregnancy affects both of the main characters in different ways creating a division that seems impossible to breach. Irrational decisions lead to loss.



The worst thing about Revolutionary Road was the pacing. Independent films are after slow and require patience for the rewarding storyline. Revolutionary Road tested that patience for a full two hours, while never really delivering anything of substance. Yes, it was a depressing film with controversial subject matter and a few great comic diversions, but for the most part, the script was tired and boring. Revolutionary Road managed to lose my attention several times when it got bogged down with the sluggish pacing.

In contrast to the terrible pace of this film, Revolutionary Road had phenomenal acting all the way around. DiCaprio is slowly starting to win me over...I used to strongly dislike him as an actor. I can sum up his skill with a closing scene, where DiCaprio displays emotion the emits both loss and lack of direction. When his character is called by one of his children, he manages to maintain that displaced look while acknowledging the child with a distant smile that seemed genuinely forced through the fog of depression. That single scene demonstrated the gift that DiCaprio has for immersing himself in character. There were some excellent arguments between DiCaprio's character, Frank Wheeler and his wife April (Kate Winslet). These exchanges deomonstrated great skill from both players.

With headliners like Winslet and DiCaprio, it might be easy to overlook the supporting cast, but not in this film. If nothing else, Revolutionary Road, was exceptionally well cast. Kathy Bates is getting better with age. She delivered a quirky performance as the Wheeler's real estate agent (Helen Givings) that was outstanding. Her son, John Givings, visits from the insane asylum and injects the only true life into this film. John Givings (Michael Shannon) provided insight into some of the psychological issues in play, while creating exceptionally tense, interesting and comic situations that redeemed the writers just a bit. Shannon played an enjoyable nutcase in the film Bug, in a role that was not unlike the John Givings role in terms of intense insanity with an eerie quality of coherence. The supporting cast were a definite bright spot in this film.

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Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

I liked Transformers the first time around. I was eagerly awaiting the sequel, which I was certain to like. With Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg collaborating, this had to be a hit. I can't say I hated this film, but I can say that the talk of a Transformers 3 may be jumping the gun just a bit. Maybe they should have made sure that Revenge of the Fallen was done right before thinking ahead. I'm not against cashing in...but at least make it worth the money.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen feels like a cheap sequel. That is exactly what it is. Mind numbing special effects can not make up for a plot that seems contrived and ill planned. There were some dashes of Hollywood formula...like the hot girlfriend catching you in a compromising position with another hottie...only you didn't actually do anything wrong...the timing was just off. This ploy was predictable and poorly executed. It was either filler to add a few minutes to the film or was intended to be a sub-plot that never had time to develop. Whether it was a rushed formulaic idea or filler, it didn't fit. There were other visible shortcuts in the plot as well.



Continuity was another issue I had with Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. For a film with exceptional CGI detail, this film overlooked traditionally important real-life details. If you are going to put the female lead in white pants and then have her fighting machines and rolling in the dirt, the pants should remain greasy or dirt stained. The switching back and forth from clean pants to dirty was distracting and ridiculous. Come on. The pants are white. How hard is it to figure out that people are going to notice inconsistencies in the wardrobe. Details like this were missed throughout the film.

The special effects in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen were often phenomenal if not hard to follow. I found the detail to be dizzying at times. The machines were hard to decipher at times, especially during periods of intense action. It seemed like a mechanical blur that could have been done well if I had had time to see. The sound effects were well coordinated with the stunts but were overused. That one deep sub-woofer sound that they kept using to show how good the special effects were didn't work for me. Having said that, the transformation of the machines "on the fly" was amazing to watch." The animated characters were well thought out and intricately detailed. The artistry that went into creating this film was exceptional.

Shia LeBeouf seems to have become a Hollywood staple. He has established himself in several decent films, to include some good action films in recent years. It's not that he is an exceptional actor, but LeBeouf was believable enough as the male lead, Sam Witwicky. I also enjoyed the comic relief provided by his parents, Ron (Kevin Dunn) and Judy (Julie White). They provided the only adult humor that was palatable. There was plenty of crude humor throughout this film. Megan Fox was sizzling hot as Mikaela Banes, Sam's love interest and crime-fighting partner. The two have decent chemistry together and it showed on film. The two are an attractive if not unlikely couple on screen. The acting was okay.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallenattempts to use mindless gutter humor in the place of strong writing. Cheap sexual humor takes the place of witty dialogue, at the cost of making this film worth talking about. A smather of potty humor here or there is okay with me, but to stake the entire comic portion of your film on weak humor with predictable innuendo was a dumb move. It got old quick and demonstrated the shortcuts the writers (Ehren Kruger, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman) were willing to take to get this thing out to the theater. Aside from the tiresome dialogue, visual gags like using wrecking balls on a character to simulate testicles failed to make me snicker. If the film hadn't been so raunchy throughout, I might have laughed at that one...but it was weak comedy inserted throughout the film that really never showed any intelligence. What a disappointment.

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Live Free or Die

Unfortunately for Live Free or Die, the attempts at quirky humor were more tedious than fun. The concept was actually interesting and tightly woven, but the actual pacing of the film killed the redeeming qualities. I was mesmerised enough to stick with the film, certain that it would turn the corner. It never did. I hoped that it would pick up and deliver some profundity or capture my imagination some other way. But I was left lacking throughout until the ending left me feeling unfulfilled.

When I disparage the pacing in Live Free or Die, I accept the premise that good independent film can be quirky, slow-paced and still good. One of my favorite independent films, Lars and the Real Girl, is similarly paced and exceptionally quirky. But Lars' character touched me. The writing was subtle enough that the slow pacing didn't feel bogged down because I was gripped by the events and connected to the characters. I felt fulfilled with Lars. I felt as if the character was real and found myself touched by the outpouring of community support at a pretend funeral...a funeral that felt like the loss of a real person. In short, the characters mattered to me. I felt no such connection with the weakly developed and not so likable characters in Live Free or Die.



It wasn't the acting that killed the characters, either. I think Michael Rapaport is an excellent actor and always enjoy seeing him in films. He brings an edginess to his characters that I enjoy watching. He played a Police Officer in Live Free or Die, and was believable in the role. His character even delivered an excellent plot twist. But the convoluted story felt contrived and the characters never really connected, which seemed to be more a product of the writing than the acting. Gregg0 Kavet and Andy Robin are probably considered genius for their comedic writing on Seinfeld. The humor was not very evident in this film.

Aaron Stanford was excellently cast as a wannabe criminal named John Rudgate. Stanford was convincing as a two-bit hustler trying to convince people that he should be respected. Rudgate is more of a victim than a predator...his defensiveness has created a situation where he is forced to project toughness to cover his frailty. Those attributes were apparent in Stanford's performance. However, the character was mildly interesting but not engaging. I wanted to connect with Rudgate, but found his actions to be unbelievable and insipid. I guess Stanford was good with little to make his character relevant other than his performance. It didn't work for me. This film hinges on Stanford's character and I don't really think it was his fault that the character ended up being dull.

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