*Carter Webb: I pride myself on being this great listener, but whenever I meet somebody new I find I'm doing all the talking.

Sarah Hardwicke: Maybe you're not really such a great listener.

Carter Webb: Hmm?

Sarah Hardwicke: Maybe you're not such a great listener.

Carter Webb: No that's not it, I'm a great listener.



In the Land of Women
Starring Adam Brody, Kristen Stewart, Meg Ryan
Written and Directed by Jonathan Kasdan


THE CASE: After his girlfriend breaks up with him, a twentysomething TV writer (soft-core porn to be exact) leaves L.A. and heads for suburban Detroit to spend time with his grandma and repair his damage soul -- leading him right into the lives of a mother and daughter who are equally as damaged and together they find the meaning of love and life again.


THE GOOD: In the Land of Women reminds me why I want to be a screenwriter. This film is perfect... I love this film. I know I am a sucker for films about people in search of “something missing” -- but I am telling you, this film is extremely well done. Everything is right on. First of, the film is written and directed by Jonathan Kasdan (son of acclaimed writer/director Lawrence Kasdan) with such insight and detail to human emotion that it is scary. The story is simple, but the key is his characters are complex -- just like his father’s were in The Big Chill. They come off as real people with real problems and that is why we fall in love with them. Each scene is eloquently executed and the casting is dead on with Adam Brody (The O.C.) playing a self-contradicting writer, Meg Ryan as a mother dealing with cancer with a happy facade, and the lovely Kristen Stewart playing a teenage girl who like all teenagers is trying to make sense of the world. I can’t stress enough how well written and directed this film is.


THE BAD: None. Flawless piece of work.


THE LAW: In the Land of Women joins the ranks of Say Anything..., Jerry Maguire, and Chungking Express as one of my most favorite films. Cameron Crowe is my favorite writer/director, but Jonathan Kasdan is giving me doubts about that. It doesn’t matter if you are a guy or a girl -- go see In the Land of Women, you will not be sorry and you just might learn something about yourself.

*[from Planet Terror]

Dakota: If anyone comes to the door, I want you to shoot them.

Dakota's Son: What if it's Dad?

Dakota: ESPECIALLY if it's your dad.


*[from Death Proof]

Stuntman Mike: Do I frighten you?

Arlene nods.

Stuntman Mike: Is it my scar?

Arlene: It's your car.



Grindhouse
Starring Rose McGowan, Kurt Russell, Rosario Dawson
Written & Directed by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino


THE CASE: Rodriguez and Tarantino’s latest tag-team production that features two feature length films sandwiched by fake movie trailers that all pay tribute to the grindhouse (a rundown theater that plays exploitation movies all day, often times in double-bill format) movie experience.


THE GOOD: The fake movie trailers are off-the-hook! So dead-on and so hilarious in how they are so dead-on -- the fake trailers are by far the best part of Grindhouse. I don’t want to spoil it for anybody, but with titles such as “Werewolf Women of the SS” and “Machete” and with directors such as Eli Roth and Rob Zombie attached to them -- you can guess just how absurd and entertaining the trailers must be.

Planet Terror, the first feature of the double-bill is Robert Rodriguez’s best shot at making an alien/zombie flick. Having done previous films like The Faculty and From Dusk Till Dawn, he is quite good at pulling off this genre and does produce a fairly entertaining piece of work. It also helps that Planet Terror stars Rose McGowan as a Go-Go dancer with a machine gun for one leg.

Death Proof has a great car chase sequence that would make Bullitt or Vanishing Point blush and is filled to the brim with dialogue that only Tarantino can produce.


THE BAD: Being a huge-huge fan of both Tarantino and Rodriguez -- it really saddens me to say that I was extremely disappointed with Grindhouse. Being that the total running time for Grindhouse including all the fake trailers is 3 hours and 15 minutes -- you better have one-hell of show -- but when the show is not “one-hell of” -- the audience is left crying in their over-buttered popcorn.

Planet Terror was missing all the flair and bandido style that Rodriguez usually injects into his films and to me it just sounded and looked like a Tarantino script directed by Rodriguez (although the writing and directing credit is given to Rodriguez). It looks like a mediocre video game and really doesn’t play with the audience as much as I had hoped for going in.

Death Proof has too much dialogue -- which sounds like an oxymoron considering there is never too much dialogue when Tarantino delivers it, but in Death Proof the characters all look and sound like cheap rip-offs of Tarantino’s own characters, missing the fresh and ultra-cool vibe his characters usually embody. The pacing is just atrocious, even for a grindhouse flick, and the actors are more annoying than likable. Death Proof is oh-so-so bad -- but sadly not in the cool way. (Note: Even Kurt Russell sucked in role he couldn’t possibly suck in.)


THE LAW: My heart is broken. I love Tarantino and Rodriguez... I love grindhouse movies... But I didn’t love Grindhouse. Wait for the DVD folks, I am praying it will look better in six months on a smaller screen.

*Pimp Lester: [pointing gun at Oleg] Say hello to my little friend!

Joey Gazelle: That's real fucking original. What are you, a fucking cartoon?!

Pimp Lester: I'm a Mac Daddy pimp!



Running Scared
Starring Paul Walker, Cameron Bright, Vera Farmiga
Written and Directed by Wayne Kramer


THE CASE: A crime thriller involving a mob-hand who ends up in the most psychotic and unusual situations after an abused 10 year old Russian boy uses a gun that he was suppose to dispose of to kill his adopted father -- setting off a race to find the gun before the cops or the mob find the gun and them first.


THE GOOD: Running Scared is a highly original film. Based on the ad campaign and the poster and cover art, you probably are thinking it is just another one of those gangster flicks with a lot of senseless violence and Tarantinoesque dialogue -- but if you thought that, then you thought wrong. It is ultra-violent, but unlike those other kinds of films I mentioned, it can back it up with some complexity. The film is like Alice in Wonderland (pay attention to the end title sequence), except that Wonderland is the underbelly of New Jersey and Alice is a creepy looking Russian kid played by the creepy looking, beyond-his-years, Cameron Bright. Paul Walker, who is not known for his acting chops, surprisingly under the direction of writer/director Wayne Kramer (The Cooler) -- punches out probably the best performance of his career so far (although he probably had more fun on the set of Into the Blue with Miss Alba). I have always thought Wayne Kramer was a talented director, but now I can add creative to that thought. The scenarios in Running Scared have never been captured before and one really cool scene taking place in a neon black-light hockey rink is not to be missed.


THE BAD: The only complaint I have for this film is that it is a little too avant-garde for its genre. Yes, I know I stated above that I thought this was a good thing -- but you still have to be aware of your audience. I’ll say it again, I think Wayne Kramer did a bang-up job -- but at times I think he just got a little too carried away with his creativity and forgot to think of the big picture.


THE LAW: Check out Running Scared on DVD, making sure you watch the “Making Of Featurette” and you will enjoy this film even more than you will while watching it.