So, I've been watching movies someone else rented from Redbox the last couple days. The renter in question has been renting them based on how new of a release they are. Cause Van Helsing would have been so much better the day after it came out on DVD, right? Wrong, it sucks any time. So far, they have been hit and miss. But here's a little capsule review of some of the stuff I've been sitting through.
1) Language of the Enemy
This was an interesting film that had a lot of good content, but tried to be too many things at once. Romi, A Jewish man from Boston travels to Israel for the funeral of his father, killed by a suicide bomber on a bus. While there, he is talked into gathering information on the Palestinians who organized the bombing by his cousin, as he knows Arabic (hence the name of the film). At the same time, Joleh, a Palestinian woman working as a doctor in a refugee camp treats a young boy with a cut on his head. Shortly thereafter, the boy is killed in a skirmish between Palestinian militants. Romi takes over a bakery his father secretly owned in a Palestinian city. Joleh comes into the shop late, asking for donations for the boy's family. Romi gives generously, and the two strike up a relationship. After Romi is shot during the dead boy's procession, he ends up at Joleh's hospital where they strike up a friendship, and after a time fall in love, despite being sworn enemies.
The strength of this film is in the interactions between the two sides of the conflict, learning each others wisdom and eventually mutual respect, at least between two families. It's weakness is in some of the romantic sequences and any time it's trying to be funny. All in all a decent movie with some themes that far outperform the movie itself. 5/10
2) The American
George Clooney stars as a deep cover black ops agent working for an undefined agency. The film opens in a cabin in rural Sweeden, with Clooney in bed with a woman. The two of them go for a walk and get ambushed by a sniper. Clooney quickly dispatches him, then tells the woman to run back to the house. As she flees, he shoots her as well. His cover blown, he travels to Italy under orders from his superior to lie low until his next assignment. In the meantime he is assigned the task to aqcuire and customize a weapon for another agent. In his ample free time, he sees a local prostitute.
With The American, it pays to check your "James Bond" expectations at the door. Clooney plays a professional killer with years of experience hiding in plain sight. His Poker Face is unshakable. The pacing is deliberately slow and reflects what real spy work would probably be like. 7/10
3) Buried
Ryan Reynolds (always a good sign) plays a truck driver working as a civilian contractor in Iraq, Paul Conroy. As the film opens, Paul wakes to realize he has been buried alive. Using his Zippo lighter, Paul finds a cell phone in the coffin with him, and begins to call anyone he can in an attempt to secure his rescue.
It has to be said that, as I have clautrophobia, this was a really unsettling film for me, as the Entire picture takes place inside the coffin. Every shot is Ryan Reynolds holding a zippo or the cell phone and calling anyone who might be able to help him, and while there are a few Heavy Handed political messages (seeing as how he's in Iraq), it is overall a very interesting film. 7/10.
4) Case 39
A stupid-natural thriller starring Renee Zelwegger. She's a case worker for Child Services who takes in a child who's parents tried to bake her in an oven. But it quickly becomes apparent that she is the problem. Spoilers! She's some kind of stupid Demon yada yada yada, Rene burns down her house and drives into a river to get rid of her, the end. 1/10 Just Awful.
Anyway, I'm sure this wont be the last time I'm forced to watch Redbox movies against my will, so I'll let you know that I see next time.
And Just because I can, 'Sucker Punch"
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