DVD Roundup (Boogeyman, D.E.B.S., The Machinist)

Boogeyman

Finding a quality horror movie over the last decade has been about as tough as finding a good Freddy Prinze Jr. movie. Sure there have been some relatively likeable horror movies, but only 1 or 2 great ones. This is a sad turn of events if you ask me. I am willing to give horror films a lot more leeway than I give most genres, but still it is hard to find decent horror films. Boogeyman has pretty much all the problems that most of the bad modern horror films seem to have. The first and biggest problem is it just isn't scary. If it were scary, then I could let the rest of the problems slide. The movie is an exercise in style over substance using quick MTV style cutting to try to create jump scares. This approach will never work and I wish some filmmakers would realize that. Great horror movies create a mood and an ambiance that is scary, these recent horror movies just try to skip all that and cheat the scare. Like White Noise, Boogeyman seems like a short film concept spread over 90 or so minutes. This causes the movie to be really slow with nothing happening until the last 15 minutes where everything goes a mile a minute and gets confusing. The movie is slow to a fault for the majority, and then gets going so fast at the end that yourt not entirely sure what is happening. Not to mention the fact that the ending is kind of cheesy.

Boogeyman wasn't all bad though. The first 10 minutes were very good, setting up the story nicely. If the rest of the film were as good as the first 10 minutes it would have been much better. I also liked Barry Watson's lead performance. I found him likeable enough to still care about what happened to him, even though he could have come off just as a complete wacko. I haven't really seen Watson in many movies, but he is a solid actor and I look forward to seeing him again. The rest of the cast was pretty average. No one turned in a bad performance, but there wasn't another good one either. All in all, Boogeyman isn't the worst horror movie ever, just another pretty forgettable one.


D.E.B.S.

It's hard not to like a movie about hot lesbians in school girl outfits. Having said that, I went into D.E.B.S. expecting an exploitation film, but what I got was a teen comedy/satire version of Charlie's Angels with a lot more heart and a lot less clothes. That's a win-win situation. The DEBS are a crime fighting branch of the government not unlike the CIA or FBI but they are comprised of beautiful (that's what the B stands for) college aged girl. We find out that the SAT test also tests for DEBS and only the best of the best get into the prestigious training school. If this all sounds ridiculous, I assure you, it's supposed to. The lead group of DEBS consist of a blond (the only girl to get a perfect score on the test), a black chick with an attitude, and French girl, and a dopey underclassman. During a routine surveillance mission spying on a beautiful assassin played by Jordana Brewster, things go haywire and one of the DEBS ends up alone with this dangerous assassin. And then they fall in love. Bet you didn't see that coming. From there all hell breaks loose. I love the way this movie treats the lesbian subplot as if it is a normal thing, that is not at all out of the ordinary. This makes it feel far more genuine and less like a statement movie.

D.E.B.S. is a very likeable movie. It has a cool, if not campy premise and pulls it off well. The acting is as good as you can hope for in a movie like this, and is loaded with good young actresses. Michael Clark Duncan even shows up as this films version of Bosley. This is a fun movie, if you go in looking for a light, fun movie you will not be disappointed. It is the kind of movie that will keep you interested and laughing for a couple hours, and in a few weeks, you will barley remember it.


The Machinist

Christian Bale is a seriously dedicated actor. For those that do not know, he weighed 120 lbs. while making this movie. He lost so much weight that he had health issues and was dizzy through a lot of the shooting. While that defiantly was a plus for his character, it also took me out of the movie. I just could not get over how bad he looked. He literally looked like a holocaust victim. While his weight loss was noble and also necessary to play the role (a role he was very good in), I think they needed to go with an unknown in the lead. Not because Bale didn't do a good job, but because every time I saw him I couldn't believe it was him. Which took me out of the movie ever so slightly.

With that said, The Machinist is a good solid mind screw of a movie, never really becoming great, but it will keep you watching for sure. The story is about a man slowly losing his sanity thanks to insomnia. He has not slept in over a year and things start to happen to him and he isn't sure if it is actually happening or if it is all in his head. This makes the movie a bit confusing to watch because you never really know what exactly is going on. You are left in the dark intentionally, so the audience is as in the dark as the character on the screen. The movie builds up very nicely to a climax it can't possibly live up to. The ending works well enough, but goes with a whimper instead of a big bang. All in all, it is worth a shot if only to see Bale's amazing physical transformation and a solid performance by Jennifer Jason Leigh. It is a movie that was certainly aiming for greatness, but has to settle for simply being good.