(2000)
Dir - Sam Raimi
Overall: MEH
Overall: MEH
Just before embarking on his Spider-Man trilogy, Sam Raimi was behind the lens for the understated, quasi-supernatural thriller The Gift. The screenplay was co-written by Billy Bob Thornton several years earlier and the cast is made up of top to bottom familiar faces, (sans Thortnton himself), all doing their best Southern drawls. Standing out is Cate Blanchett who is predictably great in the psychic, single mother lead and Keanu Reeves playing probably the most unrepentant scumbag in his entire career. Though usually good as well, Giovani Ribisi's way on the spectrum, traumatized mechanic does go a bit too hard in comparison. Also of note is Katie Holmes who was still in her Dawson's Creek run, turning some heads in a minor though pivotal role as a topless adulteress. While the plotting is pretty hokey, it does have an intense agenda to depict women in highly troubled, vulnerable positions and Raimi's uncharacteristically flash-less presentation treats the material in a respectful manner, as it should.
(2003)
Dir - Rob Minkoff
Overall: MEH
Cookie-cutter from top to bottom, The Haunted Mansion brings the famed Disney amusement park attraction to digitally enhanced, grandiose, massive budgeted life with a story that hits all of the kid-friendly, utterly unoffensive marks that it possibly can. Star Eddie Murphy was about a decade into his PG phase by the time he appeared as the workaholic, wise-crackin' realtor dad here, but his unmistakable comedic chops still manage to creep up to the surface even under such predictable, pedestrian writing. Though it is primarily a CGI wet dream, nothing here is meant to look remotely palpable so it gets a pass for its lush, over-the-top, cartoony visuals which are thankfully enhanced by some of the most fantastic skeleton zombie makeup ever seen, courtesy of Rick Baker of course. The hum-drum plot is barely worth paying attention to as well as impossible to get lost in, plus the best thing you can say about the dialog and handful of cliche-ridden characters, (including a smart-ass thirteen year-old, a scaredy cat ten-year old, Jennifer Tilly's crypticly rhyming Madam Leota, and Terence Stamp as a stone-faced, creepy butler), is that they are not AS obnoxious as they otherwise could be.
(2008)
Dir - Frank Henenlotter
Overall: GOOD
The outrageous collaboration Bad Biology between Frank Henenlotter and rapper R.A. the Rugged Man Thorburn is the type of movie that revels in its quirky bad taste while being pretty damn hilarious in the process. For anyone familiar with Henenlotter's filmography, this follows the trajectory to a tee. Clearly made well outside of the confines of any studio interference whatsoever, Henenlotter is allowed to be indulgently ridiculous, just with amateur actors and no production values. Self-financed by Thorburn, it is highly unlikely that a sex romp about a guy with a drug addicted, sentient dick plus a murderous nymphomaniac with seven clitorises who gives "birth" to disposable, crying fetuses within two hours of intercourse could have even gotten made any other way. Most of the absurdity stems from the premise, but the fact that it looks more like a YouTube video than a proper movie does give an extra laugh-out-loud weight to many of the scenes, particularly the finale where the junkie appendage somehow separates from the rest of its body and flops around several naked women, orgasming them to death on a rampage. It is interesting to imaging what this could have been with more than about $40 thrown into its budget, but it is certainly worth seeing for those who champion midnight movie madness.
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