For all it is in the end, “Around the Bend” sure is trite, cheesy, and cliché, but it’s also entertaining and most of the time it’s hard to beat the combined talents of people like Michael Caine, Josh Lucas, and the ubiquitous Christopher Walken, respectively. In the spirit of films like “Five Easy Pieces” and “Diamonds”, we’re given the usual trifecta generational clashing between father, son, and grandson as they venture out on the open road to fulfill a request courtesy of their great grandfather (cue Caine). So we have this sometimes beautiful road flick involving these actors as they discover each other while being forced to stop at every KFC’s that is drawn out for them on the map left behind by Henry after his death. Though the whole road trip concept is tired, what the plot does with it is a rather original twist by having these three generations of men bond while at a fast food restaurant and occasionally coming across an oddball here or there.
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Assault on Precinct 13 (2005)
A Tale of Two Sisters (Janghwa, Hongryeon) (2003)
I’m not sure what warranted the comparison, but “A Tale of Two Sisters” ultimately reminded me very much of “Hide and Seek”, the recent horror dud I had the misfortune of watching. Both films are very much similar in tone, theme, and concept, but make no mistake, they are not the same. In spite of its excellent cover, this isn’t entirely a horror film per se. This is more, in the sense, a supernatural drama that really manages to pinpoint the underlying themes of psychological trauma and childhood pain that, regardless of how much we try, can not ever come to grips with while telling one damn fine story. Such is the situation with this utterly beautiful masterpiece that paints itself as horror, but really ends up becoming an allegory for something completely different.
Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid (2004)
Baffling: This is a sequel to a really bad B film with a cast of Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, Owen Wilson, and Jon Voight.
Obvious: None of them returned for this.
Baffling: This is a sequel (!) to “Anaconda”.
Obvious: It’s really bad.
Baffling: This was released in theaters during the summer.
Obvious: There are no A or even B list actors in the cast.
Baffling: This isn’t a straight to video release.
Obvious: It should be.
Arc (2004)
It’s movies like these that still make me hopeful that are still at least some good filmmakers out there, and Steve Gelder has a lot of potential to become one of the best, if only Hollywood could pull their heads out their ass. “Arc” for what was obviously filmed on a low budget has a lot of fine production qualities that manages to enhance a fine production. What “Arc” essentially becomes is a truly bittersweet but inspiring slice of life which Gelder really achieves. Mind you, I’m always weary about independents because they’ll either make my job a lot harder, or a lot easier.
A Joker's Card (2005)
“A Joker’s Card” is possibly one of the more ambitious DC fan films I’ve come across in years. As a comic geek, I’ve admittedly seen very little fan films, but this one was surprisingly good. I wasn’t expecting much in terms of quality, but director Wu takes what he has and turns it in to a very colorful off-beat fan film that spoofs Batman’s rogues gallery. Imagine the villains and heroes off-spring attempting to create their own crimes and chaos. Dick Grayson’s son Nick has a bondage fetish, the Joker’s and Mr. Freeze’s sons are working together to kill Gotham’s off-spring of heroes to inflict their own crimes but are met with obstacles when Wonder Woman’s daughter decides to save the day.
Along Came Polly (2004)
Out of the entire movie, the only person that leaves unscathed is the person who doesn’t get a lot of the spotlight: Hank Azaria. It sucks he doesn’t do a lot more roles because this man is hilarious and truly steals the beginning of the movie with his role as a scuba diver nudist who steals Stiller’s character’s wife away. He’s such a funny man, and it’s a shame we never see more of him, pun not intended. So this is what comedies have become. Mediocrity at its finest. Throughout the entire movie you take two people, the male a comedian, the female a straight man, and all of it is just so mediocre while the movie is touted as funny as hell, you can see throughout the entire movie, while not laughing once, the writers are screaming at you from behind the camera, “This is funny! This is Ben Stiller! How can you not be laughing?! Are you mindless!”