While director Ron Howard’s “Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas” is by no means as wretched as “The Cat in the Hat,” it’s definitely a grim sign of things to come for the legacy of one of the greatest authors that ever lived. Typical of the Hollywood factory, the studios take a simple and meaningful story and bloat it to obscene proportions, turning it in to a ridiculous facsimile of the source material.
Director Josef Rodriguez’s short horror film “Take it Back” feels more experimental than a narrative when all is said and done. Given its short run time and atmosphere, it could use a ton of exposition and about five more minutes of back story. That said, in spite of its inherent faults, Rodriguez is definitely on to something in the horror realm, as “Take it Back” is interesting and definitely creepy.
Ever since “The Collective” got together to make their own anthology series revolving around demonic VHS tapes, every indie director has been attempting to cash in on the formula. “All Hallow’s Eve” is yet another take off on the concept, except it’s set around Halloween! A hot nanny (Katie Maguire) and two of the worst child actors in history have come back from trick or treating, and the nanny discovers an odd unmarked VHS tape in one of her charge’s trick or treat bags.
You have to give it to Will Smith. For a man prone to taking the spotlight and eating it up like a gluttonous child, he really is comfortable playing second fiddle in “After Earth.” Clearly just nothing but a vanity project for Smith and his son, he literally passes the torch on to his son Jaden to take up the role of the action hero. Smith meanwhile stays in a space ship for the duration of the film as the Maguffin leading his son to the film’s second Maguffin. It’s all for naught though since Jaden Smith has no screen presence, zero charisma, and can’t act to save his life.
One thing about “Violet & Daisy” that bugged me most, was that it pretends to be about something. When really, it isn’t. We don’t get to meet or know Violet & Daisy long enough to understand their characters or motivation. With the writing and short run time, “Violet & Daisy” portrays the titular duo as two moronic teenagers that happen to be assassins for some kind of gang or mafia organization.
Daniel Witkins short dramedy about a boarding school and a group of unruly young boys is a film that definitely has potential for a feature length treatment, should Witkins ever decide to re-work the premise. While it works well within the confines of its short length, it could also be an entertaining coming of age indie for audiences that can appreciate this type of entertainment.
One thing about Rob Zombie as a director is that he’s tasked with finishing one of his many nonsensical horror films with Sheri Moon as the lead. Sheri Moon is not an actress by any definition. She’s mostly suited for silent supporting roles with someone else doing the heavy lifting. Hence why she’s so much fun in “The Devil’s Rejects.” Sid Haig and Bill Moseley are such excellent actors, Moon doesn’t have to do much but work off them. With “Lords of Salem,” Zombie seems to realize Moon can’t carry a movie on her own, so he once again gives Moon a great supporting cast to work off of. When that safety net is gone, Moon mostly plays her role without much dialogue or heavy emoting, as Zombie fills in her bad performance with a ton of surrealism.