Halloween Movie Night #25 - Saw 4

Don't read this unless you've seen the first three.

Jigsaw is dead. Amanda is dead. Yet, the story continues on. Someone is still out there trying to carry on Jigsaw's work. Apparently, Jigsaw knew that Amanda was going to blow it.

The great thing about this chapter in the Saw story is that we get a LOT more background on the villain himself. Before the cancer, before the suicide attempt, before his mission to teach people how to value their lives by putting them in horrific games, Jigsaw was in love. She was only hinted at in the last chapter, but now we found out more about John Kramer's wife. There is yet another layer of sadness in that story that drives John Kramer to don the mission of Jigsaw. We even witness his first ever game.

Saw 4 begins with an autopsy of John Kramer that is just as realistic and disturbing as the makeshift surgery in the last movie. When the check the contents of his stomach, a wax-covered mini tape is discovered and Detective Hoffmann is called in to hear it. Hoffmann is that character that was merely hinted at in the previous film.

The focus of this chapter, however, is on Lieutenant Rigg. He has been all the movies before, but in this one he takes center stage. Everyone around him is dying and he is now on a personal mission to hunt whomever is continuing the gruesome legacy that Jigsaw has left behind; even if it means ignoring protocol. The new Jigsaw sets up an elaborate game for Rigg, one that closely resembles the game from the last movie in that the player's choice effects the lives of other players.

Two new characters appear in this: two FBI agents are now on the case and they are convinced that Rigg is being recruited to continue Jigsaw's morbid legacy. All the evidence points to the fact that Rigg always seems to have a connection to the current list of victims. Is that a coincidence?

We also learn the fate of Detective Matthews who plays a more prominent role in this film again. He and Hoffman are set up in Rigg's game as well.

Though not one of my favorite chapters in the series, Saw 4 does offer some fascinating insight into John Kramer's past and introduces a more prominent figure for future chapters: his wife. It is never clear if she is an accomplice or merely an ex-wife as she claims. For me, this was the meatier part of the story.

Halloween Movie Night #24 - Saw 3

Don't read this if you haven't seen the first two Saw movies.

Story-wise, I think Saw 3 is one of my favorites of the Saw movies. It is a chilling character story and it answers a lot of questions all while raising even more. It also has one of the greatest misdirects ever in a movie!

At the end of Saw 2, we learned that Amanda is Jigsaw's protegee. She helped him orchestrate not only the game from that movie, but she also helped him set up the game from the first one. This chapter explains a lot more about her involvement in the Jigsaw story. He wants her to carry on his life's work.

But we quickly learn that John Kramer (aka Jigsaw) is always testing people, even those we think he may trust.

Saw 3 starts by giving us more information about Detective Matthews from Saw 2. At the end of that movie we saw him chained to a pipe in that fateful bathroom. This movie starts right where #2 left off. From there we are taken to another Jigsaw crime scene being investigated by detectives. Kerry, the confirmed expert on Jigsaw, is called to the scene and she worries that it's Matthews who is still missing. After finding out that the victim isn't him, she begins to realize that this "game" doesn't match Jigsaw's others. Thus far, his games have been escapable - Amanda is proof of that. But this latest test was performed behind a door that had been welded shut. There was no way for the victim to escape even if he had passed the test.

We also meet a new character: Mark Hoffmann. His screen time is short here, but his importance to the story will be huge later.

Later, Kerry is at home reviewing the tape from this latest victim when she herself is abducted and put in a trap. She is... well, I better not ruin what happens to her...

The story shifts to the focus characters of this movie. We a meet a doctor named Lynn and a man named Jeff. We learn that Jeff is still mourning the death of his son who was killed by a drunk driver. Jeff's test is one of forgiveness because he will soon face a witness to the accident who ran instead of testifying. He will face the judge who only sentenced the drunk driver to 6 months. Finally, he will face the drunk driver himself. In all the cases, those people's lives are in his hands. Can he find a way to forgive them and save them from the horrible deaths?

During all of this, the doctor is assigned with keeping a VERY ill John Kramer (Jigsaw) alive during Jeff's game. She is fitted with a gruesome collar that will blow her head off if Jigsaw's heart monitor flat lines. Using only crude tools, she has to perform an operation on his skull to relieve pressure on the brain. This is one of the most realistic surgeries ever performed on film, hands down.

Amanda is in this one, too. As the movie progresses, she gets more unhinged. Jealousy and anger still rule her life as though she has learned nothing from Jigsaw's tests. She clearly loves him, but these bitter emotions still get the best of her. She is there to keep Lynn in check, but at the same time, it's as though Amanda needs to be kept in check, too.

All of this builds to a pretty amazing conclusion and another twist... Well, more a series of twists. One of them relates to the misdirect that I mentioned earlier.

For all the horrific torturing these movies depict, there is quite a story being told. I'm probably a sick man for loving these movies as much as I do, but I swear it's all about the story! Much like a guy flipping through a porn magazine for the articles. I SWEAR!

Halloween Movie Night #23 - Jennifer's Body

Okay, I'm just going to say it: I really don't see the appeal of Megan Fox. I know straight guys really dig her. Apparently she's...I don't know...hot, or something? Whatever. I guess it's a straight guy thing and I just wouldn't understand. Although, I have found women attractive before (not that I wanted to have sex with them) and I just don't see the same qualities in Megan Fox that I have seen in those other women.

Maybe she's not my type?

I'm not that fond of her as an actress, either, though that's probably because the only other movies I've seen her in were the Transformers movies, the second of which was a waste of every living (and non-living) resource on this earth.

I hadn't heard anything good about Jennifer's Body. The reviews hadn't been favorable and a quick look at it on IMDB.com showed that it barely has a 50% rating. That's a failing grade in school and it's even worse for movies. When I saw that it was playing on HBO, though, I decided to have Tivo record it. So, I lose nearly two hours of my life. It's better than paying for a rental and THEN losing nearly two hours of my life.

I ended up liking the movie, though. First, it was written by Diablo Cody who also wrote Juno. People tend to either REALLY hate her stuff or REALLY like her stuff. I am definately the latter. This dark comedy shifts so quickly between witty dialogue and horiffic scenes that you almost catch yourself laughing at something truly gruesome. As with Juno, the success of Jennifer's Body lies with Cody's acerbic wit. For example, shortly after being run through the stomach by an oar, a character looks up and asks, "Got a tampon?"

Jennifer, (Megan Fox) is the victim of a sacrifice to Satan by a struggling indie-rock band. Unfortunately, they mistake her for a virgin and apparently when such a mistake is made, the result is demonic possession rather than hit records (though the band tends to do pretty well following the attempted sacrifice). Jennifer becomes a boy-devouring undead girl, preying on anything with two legs and a penis.

For me, the better performance in the movie came from Amanda Seyfried who sang her way through Mama Mia! but to me will always be the girl from Mean Girls who "like, must have ESPN or something!" One reviewer I read said she has eyes as big as an alien from Avatar and that is no joke! Frankly, I think she's much prettier (gorgeous, even) than Megan Fox. She's also a better actress.

Playing the boyfriend to Amanda's nerdy girl is Johnny Simmons who is pretty damn adorable. He was in the movie Hotel for Dogs and more recently in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. Though none of the boys in the movie are given any real depth of character, Simmons' Chip at least has some. This movie, though, is all about the ladies. Thankfully, they at least gave this cutie some shirtless scenes.

Jennifer's Body was a pleasant surprise (and I gotta say that I never thought I'd say something like that).

Halloween Movie Night #22 - Saw 2

Part two of the horrific trilogy begins with a guy strapped into a venus-fly-trap-contraption set to snap shut on his head in 60 seconds unless he can dig the key out from behind his eye in time. This began the pattern of opening the movie with a death game, only this one was unrelated to the story.

Saw 2 tells the story of several people who wake up in a mysterious house that is leaking poisonous gas into their lungs. The antidotes are hidden around the house and each is hidden behind a different game - each one relating to a particular character's specific sin in life. One of the "players" in Jigsaw's twisted game is the son of a police detective who discovers his son's participation while trying to arrest Jigsaw. We discover that this is also a game for the detective - all he has to do is sit and talk to Jigsaw, while his son continues to breathe in the toxic poison. If he does this, Jigsaw promises that the boy will be found in a safe location, but can we really believe the promise of a serial killer?

Except Jigsaw isn't really a killer and one of his specific traits is that he doesn't lie.

Also interesting in this sequel is the promotion of a minor character from the first one - a drug addict named Amanda. She is the only known survivor of one of Jigsaw's games and she is back. Apparently she didn't learn her lesson the first time around, so she is one of the victims in the poison-infested house.

We don't really learn much more about Jigsaw in this movie, other than the fact that his cancer is really dragging him down. He's still as wry as ever, though. Still one has to wonder how exactly he's able to acomplish everything he does in his declining state...

One last joy for me about this film is the fact that Beverly Mitchell is in it. She played darling Lucy Camden on the hit TV show 7th Heaven and though there really isn't much for her to do in this - and she often just seems like Lucy Camden dying of poison - it was still cool to see her in this.

As with the previous installment, there is a twist that is pretty damn cool.

Halloween Movie Night #21 - Saw

I realize that most people in this world do not like the Saw movies. Yes, they are very gory, sick and twisted, but even my co-worker who loves that kind of stuff is sick of these movies. The reason I really like the Saw franchise is that they are really damn clever. The story that they keep telling with each new installment just keeps getting better and better. Even when the particular movie you're watching isn't the best in the series, it still has something to add to the overall story. For someone like me who is a writer, that's really fun.

Another thing I really like about the Saw movies is the villian Jigsaw. This villian will go down in history as one of the best. Much like the Ed Harris character from The Rock, Jigsaw has good intentions. Yes, he sets up these horrific "games" which are little more than glorified torture devices and forces his unwilling players to torture themselves in order to play. But there is one thing in common that all of Jigsaw's victims have in common: they are bad people. Jigsaw picks people who need to learn lessons about life - usually lessons about the values of life. As a man dying of cancer, John Kramer has learned to value life and by putting his victims in these horrible situations, he is trying to teach them to value theres. Or they die trying.

As they say repeatedly in the Saw movies, John Kramer (aka Jigsaw) never once kills anybody. He offers them a choice: live or die.

This first Saw movie finds two man (Dr. Lawrence Gordon and Adam) chained to pipes in a grungy bathroom. They soon learn that they must trust each other to figure out how to survive this game that has been thrust upon them. Through flashbacks, more information is given about Jigsaw, the man who is forcing them to play. Also, information is given about the two men and the lives they lead. We soon find out exactly why Jigsaw has chosen them to play his morbid game.

Soon into the game they find hacksaws and they figure they are to use them to cut through the chains. They realize, however, that the idea isn't to cut through the chains, but rather their feet. People assume that the hacksaws are what gave the movie its name. More accurately, I think the title Saw refers to the fact that the victims are always being watched. Jigsaw is always watching the game.

This is one sick movie, but if you can look past the gore, there's a really cool story being told. There is one hell of a twist that had everyone in the theater gasping once it was revealed. I still get excited when I get to that point in the movie. All the movies in the franchise have a "twist" to the plot revealed at the end, but few of them have had the impact as that first one.

I am re-watching all of these Saw movies this week because on Friday Saw 7 (yes, Saw #7) is hitting theaters in the 3D format. They actually filmed it in 3D, too... they didn't film it and then reformat it later - a trend that I find more disgusting than the gore in the Saw movies. I can't wait to see Saw 7 and my excitement grows with each Saw movie that I rewatch!

Halloween Movie Night #20 - Mostly Ghostly

I started to watch The Last House on the Left (a remake of a Wes Craven movie) today, but turned it off when it got to the brutal rape scene. It wasn't so much the rape scene that made me stop watching as it was the stupid story. There seemed to be no point to anything that any of the characters did, including the rape. I read the plot outline on wikipedia and discovered that the rape was merely a plot point to encourage revenge in the girl's parents. Revenge movies are not very original any more. So I stopped the movie, deleted it from Tivo and looked for another movie to watch.

Mostly Ghostly ended up being quite the opposite of the movie I started watching. It was funny at times and corny at others. Two kids named Nicky and Tara suddenly discover that no one is listening to them or can see them. They are, in fact, now ghosts. They encounter a boy named Max who is now living in their house. Max is a wannabe magician, despite the fact that his father would rather he be more into sports.

The three eventually discover that an evil ghost named Phear plans to release a bunch of evil spirits on the town and they are the only ones who can stop him. Nicky and Tara's parents tried before, but failed - though how they failed is never explained. Of course, Max will be able to succeed, so Nicky and Tara enlist him for the job.

So, while Mostly Ghostly won't win any awards for plot development or even for special effects or acting, it was a much better choice than the movie I started watching!

Halloween Movie Night #19 - The Covenant

The Covenant really did not get very good reviews. I happened to see it playing on FX and was able to record it, but as I looked at the wikipedia page, I began to wonder if I wanted to waste my time with it. What kept me interested in it was the concept of vulnerability bestowed on the warlocks in the story.

Four guys have been living in a Massachuttes town, so close that they are like brothers. Their families are direct descendents of witches that were around during the times of the Salem witch trials, so to protect themselves, they form a covenant to keep their powers hidden; though you wouldn't know it from the way the four boys use their powers in front of everybody!

What I liked about this idea was the fact that with the blessing of the powers also comes a curse: use the powers too much and you age prematurely. The powers are addictive and it is too easy to use them too much and age yourself too quickly. I love this idea! Vulerability among witches - at least like this - isn't something you see often in movies.

The conflict comes in the story comes from the revelation that there is a fifth family whose power is long-though gone since the Salem witch trials. Of course, we soon find out differently when a fifth warlock comes on the scene and challenges Caleb to his powers.

While The Covenant isn't a spectacular movie, it is definately of a better quality than say... certain movies and books about a vampire/wherewolf'/human girl love triangle. The acting is MUCH better, too. There are problems with the movie, but it's entertaining and offers an interesting angle on the magical powers of witches theme.