Super High, Super Dry, & not Ruin-ed
April 22nd 2008 19:16
First things first: I lied last week. It was pretty silly of me to predict that there wouldn't be a horror movie this week. But there are two non-horror flicks.
The first of which, Super High Me (7/10)
has a potentially hilarious premise, and, although it was consistently amusing (and occasionally educational), it never really paid off the way I was hoping it would. The film follows comedian Doug Benson (VH1's Best Week Ever) as he goes 30 days without marijuana and then spends 30 days as high as a kite, smoking "legal" medical marijuana from morning 'til night. Although he's a funny guy, I found myself waiting for him to do something really, really stupid (or entertaining) while under the influence and the moment never comes. A perfect example would be a stoned visit to the Mall of America, which we're teased with for a couple of minutes before a cut to his stand-up performance (one of many that only occasionally feel like filler) wherein he tells a quick joke about the trip, then never mentions it again. His performance on the SATs and other tests while both sober and stoned is mildly interesting, but scenes of him acting ridiculous while high, though they might go against the film's argument for the legality of medical marijuana, sure would've made for a much funnier film - which I guess wasn't the point, no matter how much I wanted it to be.
Reservation Road (5/10)
was another letdown, though much more so. Joaquin Phoenix plays a father whose son is killed in a hit-and-run, and the film pretty much just follows him and his wife (Jennifer Connelly, still gorgeous) as they move through the stages of grief that follow, for him mostly anguish and anger; for her, abandonment as he slips further and further into his private investigation of the perpetrator's identity. Unfortunately, nothing ever drags us as viewers into the hell they go through. Mark Ruffalo, as the driver, is neither sympathetic nor particularly easy to hate - he's just a sad-sack divorced dad who f-d up. Bad. Instead of being wary of the final confrontation, or even hoping for a desperate act of revenge, I pretty much just wanted something, anything to make me feel something for these characters. Each of the actors seemed to be giving it their all, so I guess it was the script that let them (and the audience) down here.
And, lastly...I finally broke down and saw The Ruins (7.5/10)
I really, really loved Scott Smith's book and the negative buzz in the air around the film had been keeping me away...and I'm glad I finally let my curiosity get the better of me, because it's not nearly as bad as I had feared. The Ruins tells the tale of four young Americans vacationing in Mexico who take an excursion to some...ruins along with some other tourists they meet at their hotel. While the book let the dread mount to an almost dizzying degree before unleashing hell on its protagonists, the movie gets them there quickly and efficiently, sacrificing a bit of characterization, not to mention tension on the way. But I'm fine with that. I'm even sort of okay with the film's completely different ending, though I do wish Smith (who wrote the screenplay based on his book), hadn't messed with perfection. Some of the other changes he made might work even better than the original sequences in the book, and The Ruins is a pretty grueling horror film on its own terms. Actually seeing the toll the experience takes on the characters really amps up the experience; in fact, there are several sequences that fit right in under the "torture porn" label everyone's been griping about. Some moments and decisions in the film may strain believability, but if you've ever been on one of those rickety Mexican "excursion" bus tours, some of it will ring pretty damn true, too. The effects (for the most part) were top-notch, and the actors are all up to the challenge of being baked in the sun while their hope dwindles. Jena Malone (Amy) and Laura Ramsey (Stacy) were especially noteworthy as they were not only as pretty as I'd imagined the book's characters, but also very convincing in their desperation. I've read criticism of them being guilty of "overacting", but if I was presented with even half the nightmare the characters go through, I doubt I'd ever stop crying or screaming. All in all, I didn't love it quite as much as I did the book, but if you're in the mood for capable, fairly gruesome horror, The Ruins has you covered. If you don't have time to, like, read.
As if you needed a reason to see The Ruins beyond a hunger for gore: Laura Ramsey is in it.
Ms. Ramsey has experienced horror south-of-the-border before, having been involved (and taken advantage of!) in The Real Cancun, and if she can make it easier to sit through crap like The Covenant or She's The Man (okay, maybe that was slightly amusing on its own), she's more than welcome in The Ruins.
The first of which, Super High Me (7/10)
has a potentially hilarious premise, and, although it was consistently amusing (and occasionally educational), it never really paid off the way I was hoping it would. The film follows comedian Doug Benson (VH1's Best Week Ever) as he goes 30 days without marijuana and then spends 30 days as high as a kite, smoking "legal" medical marijuana from morning 'til night. Although he's a funny guy, I found myself waiting for him to do something really, really stupid (or entertaining) while under the influence and the moment never comes. A perfect example would be a stoned visit to the Mall of America, which we're teased with for a couple of minutes before a cut to his stand-up performance (one of many that only occasionally feel like filler) wherein he tells a quick joke about the trip, then never mentions it again. His performance on the SATs and other tests while both sober and stoned is mildly interesting, but scenes of him acting ridiculous while high, though they might go against the film's argument for the legality of medical marijuana, sure would've made for a much funnier film - which I guess wasn't the point, no matter how much I wanted it to be.
Reservation Road (5/10)
And, lastly...I finally broke down and saw The Ruins (7.5/10)
I really, really loved Scott Smith's book and the negative buzz in the air around the film had been keeping me away...and I'm glad I finally let my curiosity get the better of me, because it's not nearly as bad as I had feared. The Ruins tells the tale of four young Americans vacationing in Mexico who take an excursion to some...ruins along with some other tourists they meet at their hotel. While the book let the dread mount to an almost dizzying degree before unleashing hell on its protagonists, the movie gets them there quickly and efficiently, sacrificing a bit of characterization, not to mention tension on the way. But I'm fine with that. I'm even sort of okay with the film's completely different ending, though I do wish Smith (who wrote the screenplay based on his book), hadn't messed with perfection. Some of the other changes he made might work even better than the original sequences in the book, and The Ruins is a pretty grueling horror film on its own terms. Actually seeing the toll the experience takes on the characters really amps up the experience; in fact, there are several sequences that fit right in under the "torture porn" label everyone's been griping about. Some moments and decisions in the film may strain believability, but if you've ever been on one of those rickety Mexican "excursion" bus tours, some of it will ring pretty damn true, too. The effects (for the most part) were top-notch, and the actors are all up to the challenge of being baked in the sun while their hope dwindles. Jena Malone (Amy) and Laura Ramsey (Stacy) were especially noteworthy as they were not only as pretty as I'd imagined the book's characters, but also very convincing in their desperation. I've read criticism of them being guilty of "overacting", but if I was presented with even half the nightmare the characters go through, I doubt I'd ever stop crying or screaming. All in all, I didn't love it quite as much as I did the book, but if you're in the mood for capable, fairly gruesome horror, The Ruins has you covered. If you don't have time to, like, read.
As if you needed a reason to see The Ruins beyond a hunger for gore: Laura Ramsey is in it.
Ms. Ramsey has experienced horror south-of-the-border before, having been involved (and taken advantage of!) in The Real Cancun, and if she can make it easier to sit through crap like The Covenant or She's The Man (okay, maybe that was slightly amusing on its own), she's more than welcome in The Ruins.
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