Film Journal — 3/14/10
Triangle
A combination of Memento, Time Crimes, and, I don’t know, Ghost Ship, this little ditty was a terrific surprise. Check in on the BGH podcast for our full rousing discussion.
Final score: 4 out of 5
Bright Star
It has been a while since I’ve sat down and taken in something akin to Bright Star, and because of that I enjoyed it as a change of pace if nothing else. But to leave it at that would not do justice to a film, that despite bordering on histrionics at some points, managed to hold my attention for 120 minutes without a single explosion, car chase or fist fight. The credit for that is due largely to a strong script, interesting cinematography and solid performances all around — just a professionally done film, really. It’s hard to not talk about Abbie Cornish as she was clearly the star here, but for me, the more interesting performance, and indeed performer, was Paul Schneider. He is near unwatchable on Parks and Recreation owing largely to writing, but I have loved him in nearly every film role I’ve seen, including The Assassination of Jesse James. There, as well as here, he brings a bombast and believability to period roles that just can’t be pulled off by every actor, which makes me think he may ultimately find the most success by travelling the “under-appreciated” road of a Brad Dourif or Jeffrey Jones. Maybe not the career that every actor dreams of — especially the child-porn charges that Jones eventually pled to — but it’s a much more than many actors achieve.
Final score: 4 out of 5
Town Creek (aka Blood Creek)
A decent amount of buzz had me pretty stoked to check this direct-to-DVD horror feature out. One small detail set me back on my heels, however: director Joel Schumacher. Now, to be fair, Schumacher has a couple of relatively decent horror credits under his belt — The Lost Boys has kitsch value, Flatliners a little less so, and I know some people liked 8MM. But the defining films of Schumacher’s oeuvre will always be the two worst Batman films, which were sandwiched around my favorite, though probably not the best, Grisham adaptation, A Time to Kill. Unfortunately, my fears about directorial vision proved to be well-founded as Town Creek is a high-concept mess. That’s not to say that there’s nothing of value, because for many horror fans the film will have its moments. By and large though it brings very little to the table beyond what can be found in many of the new breed of horror anthology episodes. I’d be remiss if I didn’t give a slight nod to some decent make-up effects, but those were counteracted by some equally mediocre blood/gore effects. I really did want to like the essential plot more — Nazi occult zombies! — but it wasn’t deployed as effectively as I had hoped, and never approaches the level of fun or fright that it could have.
Final score: 2 out of 5
