FILM REVIEW OF ''THE LAST EXORCISM" (2010)

"The Last Exorcism" (**** OUT OF ****) amounts to something more than the abysmal "Blair Witch Project." This above-average, 87-minute, Lionsgate release doesn't rely entirely on wobbly camera movements for its impact. Indie Teutonic director Daniel Stamm lenses the action as if it were a straight-forward documentary. Meantime, a sense of irony permeates this unobtrusive epic that isn’t entirely apparent on initial viewings. The chief difference between "The Last Exorcism" and "The Blair Witch Project" is its sophistication that I missed when I saw it the first two times. Stamm employs the cinema vérité camera style when he wants you on the edge of your seat. Mind you, nothing scary happens up front. Audiences who crave blood and gore may feel cheated. Just when you think you might see something bloodcurdling, Stamm cuts away to a reaction shot of people looking at what you want to see. Any shots in "The Last Exorcism" that would have required blood and gore as well as slashed up body parts were omitted. In one scene, the demon-possessed girl kills an angry white cat, and its remains look like a heap of bloody rags. Rated PG-13, "The Last Exorcism" uses the single-camera approach to accentuate its suspense and the tension.  Nevertheless, Stamm spawns a surfeit of suspense and tension by playing it cool. "The Last Exorcism" does pale by comparison with the mother of all exorcism movies "The Exorcist" and lacks a tenth of "The Exorcist's" impact.  Meantime, Stamm and his scribes create some genuinely creepy atmosphere in the remote backwoods settings where "The Last Exorcism" occurs and many of the home-grown performers are convincing, especially Patrick Fabian as a minister who is having a crisis of faith.  This one point eight million dollar film was a success, earning over $40 million domestically.

 

Indeed, "Broken Condom" scenarists Huck Botka and Andrew Gurland establish the character of the protagonist, Reverend Cotton Marcus of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, as a sympathetic fellow who wants to expose exorcism as a scam. In Cotton's own words, he doesn't want to read about another unfortunate adolescent dying because an exorcist wrapped a bag around the child's head in his zeal to oust a demon. Cotton (Patrick Fabian of "Must Love Dogs"), has been preaching since he was knee high to a pulpit. He comes from a long family line of preachers who also served as exorcists. His father, Reverend John Marcus (John Wright, Jr. of "Waiting Room"), has performed 150 exorcisms, and Cotton carried out his first exorcism when he was age ten. Cotton's father owns a 'who's who' of all the demons. He keeps this vintage leather-bound volume written in Latin locked up in an office safe. Nevertheless, Cotton isn’t entirely happy with his career as an exorcist and he wants to atone. 

Like the religious figures in all exorcist movies, Cotton is wrestling with his conscience about what he has done in the name of God. Cotton confides in us that exorcisms are more popular now than ever. He brandishes a newspaper article about an exorcist academy that the Vatican has instituted to help combat the scarcity of exorcists. He makes his agenda clear from the beginning.  "What I want to do is expose exorcism for the scam that it really is, and that's why we're doing this.  So if I can help expose it for what it really is and save one kid from having a plastic bag wrapped around his face that sounds like God's work." Cotton has a pile of exorcism requests stacked up on his desk. He selects an 'urgent' letter at random. A single-parent, Louis Sweetzer (Louis Herthum of "In the Electric Mist") of Ivanwood, Louisana, who believes his 16-year-old daughter, Nell Sweetzer (Ashley Bell of "The Truth about Angels"), is afflicted with demonic possession. Of course, Cotton thinks all the poor girl is suffering from is schizophrenia. Louis shows Cotton a disemboweled cow in his barn. When Cotton talks to Nell, he finds some disturbing artwork, but he believes he can handle this case with relative ease.
 

Unfortunately, Reverend Marcus finds himself in a bigger predicament. Initially, he conducted an exorcism—that he faked with a magician's finesse—and everything went off without a hitch. Nell recovered. Cotton counted Lewis' money. Cotton and his camera crew left the premises to spend the time in a motel. Cotton didn't tell the Sweetzers where they were checking in for the night. Imagine Cotton's surprise when Nell shows up at their motel. He carries Nell to the local hospital, and they discover Nell is pregnant. When Louis learns the truth, he swears that a demon has raped his virgin daughter. Earlier, Louis' oddball son, Caleb Sweetzer (Caleb Landry Jones of "No Country for Old Men"), had told Cotton that his father was a drunkard. Predictably, Cotton suspects Louis may have raped his daughter. Meantime, Louis demands that Cotton perform another exorcism. Louis is fully prepared to kill his own daughter with a shotgun to save her immortal soul if Cotton refuses. Cotton and his camera crew find Nell's latest art work, and the unseen photographer doesn't like the idea that he is depicted in the picture as a man without a head. At this point, things really begin to twist and turn.
 

The genius of "The Last Exorcism" lays in its superb sense of irony. The first-act is flawless as we watch Cotton prepare his charade.  By the second and third acts, you realize this is more than just another found footage flick and that Cotton is battling more than simple superstition. This movie wallows in its own sense of irony because Cotton refuses to believe in demons. Since he rejects demons, Cotton has lost his faith. Indeed, he presents an expose of his own exorcism and demonstrates how he uses a sound system to frighten his clients. A local minister and his obese wife serve as comic relief, but "The Last Exorcism" doesn't conjure up many laughs because it is so powerful. Stamm knows how to generate suspense, without calling attention to his real agenda. This chiller boils down to a compelling an expose about a non-believer who confronts the reality of a world he abhors. "The Last Exorcism" succeeds as a memorable exercise of terror because the filmmakers shun blood and gore so we cannot take our eyes off the exorcism.

FILM REVIEW OF ''SNITCH" (2013)

Arnold Schwarzenegger tangled with the Mexican Drug Cartel in the shoot’em up actioneer “The Last Stand” back in January.  This month the Rock wrestles with the same dastards in “Snitch.”  “Felon” director Ric Roman Waugh pits the six-foot-four inch former World Wrestling Entertainment champ against hoodlums armed with accents and submachine guns in “Snitch.”  This suspenseful but formulaic narcotics caper about a father who plunges himself smack in the middle of a drug war on account of his son telegraphs most of its punches before they land.  Our outnumbered protagonist is a fearless father determined to save his son from death in prison at the hands of the inmates.  Unfortunately, this loquacious crime thriller suffers from a case of pervasive ‘shaky cam’ cinematography.  Happily, “Snitch” shifts gears during its final quarter hour, and Waugh salvages this straightforward melodrama with some smashing automotive derring-do.  Before he started calling the shots as a director, Waugh coordinated and performed stunts in the “Lethal Weapon” sequels.  Mind you, the Rock has made better movies than “Snitch,” but this white-knuckle epic isn’t an outlandish exercise in gratuitous violence.  Waugh and “Revolutionary Road” scenarist Justin Haythe based their humorless undercover crime yarn on an episode of the PBS’ television series “Frontline” that first aired in 1999.  In real life, a desperate dad endangered his own life for the sake of his imprisoned 18 year old son.  The real-life father helped law enforcement nab narcotics dealers, but the local prosecutor refused to honor their side of the deal.  Of course, nothing as treacherous as this transpires in “Snitch” because the filmmakers bathe the Federal Government in a complimentary but gritty light.  

In “Snitch,” Dwayne Johnson emerges as a thoroughly charismatic hero.  In other words, he doesn’t mutate into a fantastic, larger-than-life, figure like The Scorpion King.  As John Matthews, the Rock owns a successful transportation company with a fleet of eighteen wheelers.  He resides with current wife, Analisa (Nadine Velazquez of “Flight”) and their young daughter Isabelle (Kyara Campos) in a spacious house. Meantime, Matthews’ former-wife Sylvie (Melina Kanakaredes of “CSI: NY”) and their 18-year old son, Jason (Rafi Gavron of “Mind Games”), have reverted to her maiden name of Collins.  As “Snitch” unfolds, Jason accepts a special delivery package from a friend who wants to him to stash his drugs for him.  Jason opens the shipping carton, finds a sack of Ecstasy pills, and then spots a DEA signal transmitter.  Moments later, Agent Cooper (a bewhiskered Barry Pepper of “Saving Private Ryan”) and his team storm Jason’s house.  They pursue the terrified lad on foot and in cars through the streets until they corner him.  As Sylvie and John learn in courthouse, Jason’s so-called friend struck a deal with Federal authorities to reduce his own prison sentence by implicating somebody else.  Although Jason admits he has smoked pot in the past, he doesn’t abuse drugs and hasn’t taken anything like the Ecstasy pills in his friend’s package.  Nevertheless, the amount of MDMA that the DEA caught him with lands him in prison for a ten-year stretch.  Naturally, John is as stunned as Sylvie is distraught, while U.S. Attorney Joanne Keeghan (Susan Sarandon of “The Banger Sisters”) refuses to cut John any deals

John Matthews decides to take matters into his own hands.  He persuades an employee on his payroll with a criminal record, David James (Jon Bernthal of “The Walking Dead”), to introduce him to a notorious drug dealer.  This kind of unethical behavior on the part of our hero reflects just how desperate he is to intervene for his son.  Earlier, John tried to infiltrate the local street gangs and gotten beaten up for his trouble.  Eventually, David James comes around and takes John to talk with a two-time loser, Malik (Michael K. Williams of “Gone Baby Gone”), who proves to be a pretty shrewd gangsta.  James and Malik, it seems, knew each other before James decided to go straight for the sake of his wife and son.  John convinces Malik that he needs the money to bolster his declining business.  Afterward, John sneaks back to give Keeghan his news, and Agent Cooper provides him with back-up.  Basically, John plans to let Malik use his tractor-trailers to traffick in narcotics.  During the illegal deal, John and James barely escape, but their initial misfortune turns out to be fortunate.  Whereas John had negotiated a deal to hand Malik to her on a platter, he has an even bigger offer for her.  The local leader of the Mexican Cartel (Benjamin Bratt of “Catwoman”) contacts John in person because he believes there is a place for him in their criminal family. 

The filmmakers turn up the heat on our hero.  When John sees Jason in prison, our hero is shocked by his son’s battered appearance.  Apparently, Jason isn’t holding up too well behind bars, and this compels John to fight even harder.  The problem is John has gotten himself in too deep. The suspense mounts when cartel gunmen pay a surprise visit to John’s house.  Moreover, they learn about Jason through a uniformed contact in the prison, and the pressure rises for our hero to perform.    The cartel wants him to drive a fortune in cash, approximately $83-million in greenbacks, in the trailer of an eighteen wheeler to the border.  John suspects they mean to kill him.  Agent Cooper warns him to be vigilant.  

“Snitch” amounts to an okay actioneer.  The sensational driving stunts pump up the film.  Meantime, the supporting cast spends most of the time on the fringes.  Sarandon’s prosecutor rarely leaves her office, while Barry Pepper stays out of the Rock’s way.  Benjamin Bratt has little time to develop his characterization of a lethal cartel drug leader beyond the stereotypes that we have grown accustomed to in these movies.  Similarly, Melina Kanakaredes is confined to the sidelines.  Essentially, “Snitch” implicates the mandatory-sentencing laws that compelled a father to fend for his son.  Ironically, the same laws Waugh’s movie rants against serve to bring down the villains.

A FILM REVIEW OF "A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD" (2013)

Before I saw “A Good Day to Die Hard,” I remembered “Die Hard 2: Die Harder” as my least favorite film in the Bruce Willis franchise. Now, “Max Payne” director John Moore’s “A Good Day to Die Hard” (** OUT OF ****) has acquired that dubious distinction.  This fast-paced, but formulaic, 98-minute actioneer should have gone the straight to video route.  Nobody would have missed it.  I’ve seen better Bruce Willis epics go the straight to video route.  Although it boasts some sensational, larger-than-life stunts, the fourth “Die Hard” sequel qualifies as a Spartan saga with little to distinguish from its straight t0 video competition.  The film generates little charisma and lacks a strong villain like previous “Die Hards.”  Indeed, it appears that Twentieth Century Fox has inserted the Bruce Willis/John McClane hero into a raw-edged, generic thriller about a tense father and son relationship.  Unlike the first two “Die Hard” movies, the action doesn’t occur at Christmas, and McClane isn’t confined to one setting as he was in the first two “Die Hards.”  “A Good Day to Die Hard” is more like “Die Hard with a Vengeance” and “Live Free or Die Hard” since the hero remains at large.

“A Good Day to Die Hard” takes place almost entirely in Moscow.  The Russian villains are former political allies who are prepared to kill each other.  Chaganin (Sergey Kolesnikov of “Cold Souls”) is a clean-shaven, natty, high-ranking politician with influence galore.  The other is a wealthy bearded dissident, Komarov (Sebastian Koch of “Unknown”), who bides his time in jail playing chess.  Ultimately, one of these villains wants what the villains in “The Expendables 2” wanted: weapons grade uranium.  As Detective Lieutenant John McClane, Bruce Willis returns in fine form to thwart the evil villains.  Sadly, scenarist Skip Woods doesn’t give Willis any clever wisecracks.  Consequently, for lack of anything better to utter, Bruce says, “I’m on vacation,” at intervals.  Ironically, he isn't on vacation.  He does utter his personal motto once when he pulls his biggest stunt to save his son’s life.  He performs feats of derring-do to assist his estranged son.  Basically, Bruce is the whole show.  The only other actor you may recognize is Cole Hauser.  Cast as the expendable CIA partner, Hauser gets caught in the cross-fire.  The remainder of the cast is largely unknown.  Jai Courtney resembles Sam Worthington of “Avatar” fame, but he radiates little of Worthington’s charm.

Our indestructible hero, Detective John McClane, is shooting targets on the NYPD firing range when he learns that his son Junior (Jai Courtney of “Jack Reacher”) has been imprisoned in Russia.  What the elder McClane doesn’t learn until later is John McClane, Jr., works as a spook for the Central Intelligence Agency.  Naturally, McClane flies off for Moscow after an obligatory moment with his daughter, Lucy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead of “Live Free or Die Hard”), with whom he remains on good terms.  The last time we saw Lucy, she was struggling with the villains in “Live Free or Die Hard.” Aside from Winstead reprising her role, there is little here to associate with the franchise.  When our heroes get a quiet moment to reminisce, they mumble forgettable dialogue. They are better off blasting away at the opposition or dodging both bullets and explosions.  McClane still has a thing or two that he can teach his son, but their relationship doesn’t advance very far.  They lack camaraderie, and Junior is one of those sons who could die and not be missed.

Everybody is after the elusive Komarov who claims to have an incriminating file on the wicked Chaganin.  You see, Chaganin is campaigning for the position of Defense Minister.  Komarov had a deal with the CIA, specifically Agent John McClane, Jr., before everything went chaotic.  Chaganin will do anything to dispose of Komarov, and he dispatches a gang of gunsels led by Alik (Rasha Bukvic of “Taken”) who hates Americans.  The younger McClane shoots his way into prison and then during a raid on the courthouse, Komarov and he get together.  John confronts them, and Junior puts a pistol in his face.  No, he isn’t happy to see his father.  Meantime, Alik and company are breathing down Junior’s neck.  A demolition-derby automotive chase ensues with some spectacularly orchestrated car crashes.  Junior and Komarov are desperately struggling to elude Alik, while John tags along close behind trying to run interference when he has the chance.  As it turns out, Komarov hasn’t been entirely honest with Junior about the mysterious file he has on Chaganin.  Eventually, we learn that Komarov has a daughter with her own pistol and an attitude.  The Komarovs betray our heroes and grab a helicopter.  They are bound for the sinister ruins of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant when Komarov has stashed the file.

Sadly, the villains in “A Good Day to Die Hard” aren’t memorable.  Nobody here is both as deadly and debonair as Alan Rickman was in the original “Die Hard” or Jeremy Irons in “Die Hard with a Vengeance.”  After father and son reconcile themselves somewhat, the best they can do is dodge more bullets and hope for the best.  At one point, after surviving several close scrapes, McClane scrambles aboard the villains helicopter and commandeers a vehicle stashed inside the chopper.  The villains are about to riddle yet another office building with machine gun fire where Junior is hiding.  Our stalwart hero cranks up the vehicle inside and drives it out of the cargo bay.  This action tilts the helicopter backwards at a precipitous angle so its machine guns miss their intended target.  This destruction of the helicopter qualifies as the best of the fireball explosions in “A Good Day to Die Hard.”

“Swordfish” scenarist Skip Woods doesn’t give us a lot to get attached to in this installment.  The surprises aren’t very surprising, and the filmmakers struggle to do anything that hasn’t been done before, like blowing up the above-mentioned helicopter.  No matter when you see it, “A Good Day to Die Hard” has nothing good about it.