(2001)
Dir - John Carpenter
Overall: WOOF
The movie that burnt John Carpenter out from making movies as he would take a ten year break before making another one, Ghosts of Mars certainly looks the part. Which is to say that it is a poorly executed mess; Carpenter clearly running on empty at this point. By 2001, the man had directed fifteen films in less than thirty years and even though it is the follow up to the rather fun Vampires, this one has very little working for it. Ice Cube is Ice Cube and an otherwise, primarily B-movie cast delivers B-movie performances by spouting embarrassing one-liners. Though CGI at the time was hardly adequate, there is no denying that the model and practical effects here look equally as poor. Coupled with the industrial metal soundtrack, yelling aliens, and slow-motion machine-gun battles that seem to take up about half the screen time, there is a straight-to-video quality here that is impossible to deny. Jason Statham's persistent attempts to get in Natasha Henstridge’s pants grow more and more annoying and all the other attempts at bad-assery would otherwise be worth a chuckle if perhaps the script was stronger. Carpenter has revisited the theme of humans being overtaken by some malevolent, “alien” force so many times now that it is hardly surprising that it fails to grab our attention under such schlocky circumstances.
(2003)
Dir - Chris Kentis
Overall: MEH
Hinging solely on a fundamentally terrifying premise, Christ Kentis' Open Water is admirable in its attempt while being primarily laborious to sit though. A paramount problem is in the visual presentation itself as the movie was shot with digital cameras and has a home movie quality not unlike those from the SOV boom which started in the early 80s. Unlike the found footage sub-genre of recent times though, Open Water plays itself conventionally with incidental music and proper cinematography, all of which makes the poor visual quality that much more jarring. While the two person cast does adequate work under the circumstances, neither of their performances are particularly strong. Such sub-par production qualities ultimately hinder the intentionally stagnant, slow-boil approach where the first act is entirely skippable and everything that follows is far more boring than tense. Shot on location with real live sharks, it may be of interest for those seeking more authentic details than expected for such a minimally-budgeted film, but a movie cannot get by on its mere concept alone and in that regard, this is a better idea on paper than in realization.
(2009)
Dir - Henry Selick
Overall: GOOD
Another well regarded, stop motion animated work from filmmaker Henry Selick, Coraline is based on Neil Gaiman's novella of the same name. Gaiman apparently asked Selick personally to adapt the story as he seemed an ideal fit having done The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach, both of which may as well exist in the same magically-inclined universe as here. While it still easily fits into the mold of a children's film, the source material and resulting movie present a dark fantasy world where the basic concept of a witch tempting children with "love" only to sew buttons onto their eyes and keep them locked away from their real families is more chilling than such films usually allow. Visually, this is wonderfully detailed in a grandiose, Tim Burton like fashion with an ever-present, eerily whimsical score by French composer Bruno Coulais that could have just as logically come from Danny Elfman. The story itself is not filled with too many twists or turns and operates within a common, fairytale type logic that never gets too contorted or creepy to push younger audience members away. This is not a detriment though as the entire presentation still comes off as highly imaginative and enjoyable, if not necessarily wheel inventing.
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