1st Post

Okay,

Since I work at a video store and all, I thought I'd create this and share my thoughts about one movie I see per week because I work odd hours (usually 5ish until 11:30ish) and I have nothing better to do during the day. I'll try to avoid overly egregious spoilers (or if I do, I'll warn everyone beforehand) and not mention any plot points that aren't on the back of the box. I also don't count the end credits in a movie run time (and no, the current lame trend of adding a 30 second scene after the credits in a bunch of movies doesn't make me change my mind about this)

If you don't know what a spoiler is, its when you read a movie review and they tell you major plot points like for example that Jessica Alba was really dead at the end of Fantastic Four 2... Wait, she wasn't dead?? Was she a zombie in that one?? No?? Well with her acting 'skills' and blatant cue card reading, I couldn't really tell (burnnn)... On to this week's movie


While She Was Out - 1 hour, 21 minute run time - Suspense/Drama

This isn't a movie that got a theatrical release that I'm aware of, it's not high budget, but it was executive produced by Guillermo Del Toro (director of Pan's Labryinth and one of my personal favorites in the directorial chair) and it stars Academy Award Winner Kim Basinger.

Your basic set up: Basinger is Della, a typical middle american suburban mom, has the S.U.V., two kids, and a real abusive asshole husband (Craig Sheffer who plays it straight eeeviiilll). After a fairly brief but well done character establishing opening, the movie sends Della to the mall to do some Christmas shopping. There's some good moments as Della deals with the irritations of the holiday season, some juxtaposition with some happy families and her crappy husband... The movie really starts when Della leaves a passive-aggressive note on a car taking up 2 spaces in a very crowded mall parking lot. Unfortunately, for her, the owners of the car are 4 young gang banger punk types who wait for her and don't have her best intentions at heart. A mall cop shows up (neither Seth Rogen nor Kevin James), things take a nasty turn, and Della ends up with only a toolbox being chased by a car full of angry punks...

So did anyone see Jodie Foster's "The Brave One" ? Ordinary people who get pushed a little too far... I got a really similar vibe out of this flick, down to an Oscar Winner Basinger's sometimes panicked, sometimes horrified, yet always determined and ultimately empowering lead performance. There's a first time director at hand (Susan Montford, who also co-wrote) who uses some strong cinematography and interesting settings (an unfinished housing development) keep the tension going. I also have to give a shout out to Lukas Haas (famous role - the kid from Mars Attacks - best role - the drug dealer from Brick) who channels some Dennis Hopper crazy at the leader of the punks.

On the bad side, the punks to me provide some hammy acting (Haas in particular veers between real menace and blatant evvill mugging throughout) and also seem a little too UN (there's one white guy, one asian guy, one black guy, and one latino guy). Despite Basinger's best efforts, I didn't completely buy into some of her character's arc and she can't overcome some of the clunkier writing. Also, despite the movie's short run time, the pacing is off, the chases get a little redundant, and there are some really silly plot holes (I kept expecting Haas to yell "Let's Split Up, Gang" Scooby-style at times).

So anyhow, overall, its a recommend if you want a lot of tense closeups of Basinger, some good feminista suspense, and some well done, documentary style camerawork. Its a no go if you can't get past some corny acting, a few pacing issues, and some writing flaws.

For me, it's a 6 out of 10. And that's all I have to say about that.

Patrick