If you recognize and are amused by this quote then Beneath the Darkness might be tolerable for you. If you know where it comes from and don't find it funny at all then you should probably skip this film. If you never heard that before then this film will be new to you but I still can't recommend it without reservation.
Dennis Quaid plays a small town widower Texas mortician and former football hero named Ely, who in the opening scene jogs up to a neighbor walking his dog, boasts about his biceps and then produces a gun and tells the neighbor he's had this coming for a very long time. Ely takes the neighbor for a ride in his van. A one way ride that is.
Well at least the dog gets away. I wouldn't have liked it if the dog had gotten killed too. Dogs are cool. Neighbors? I can take them or leave them. Some neighbors I'd miss. Others???
I'd have to think about that for a while.
Fast forward to the local high school in which a troubled teen, (is there any other kind?) Travis (Tony Oller) is not doing well academically. He believes he had a paranormal experience when his sister died. So it makes PERFECT sense that he works as a cemetery groundskeeper for the just this side of manic Ely. Travis argues with his Mom about his faulty schoolwork and lackadaisical attitude. He hangs out with three other teens, one of whom is a girl, Abby (Aimee Teagarden) whom Travis would also like to take on a ride, but presumably a different kind than that which Ely gave to his neighbor. Abby however, appears to be more interested in another member of of the foursome, the quarterback of the football team. The names are REALLY not important. There's Travis, the quarterback, Abby, and Travis' best friend, who is apparently a wide receiver.
TRAILER
Drive
If Drive has one moral it would be "A man's gotta have a code". The hero of the movie is unnamed. Let's call him Driver (Ryan Gosling). Driver doesn't talk much. He lets his actions speak for him. Driver works in a garage owned by the garrulous Shannon (Bryan Cranston). Driver also works as a Hollywood stunt car driver, a racer and as a getaway driver for armed robbers. Driver appears to be at peace with himself and the world.
Driver meets a pretty young woman Irene (Carey Mulligan) and her son when they have car trouble. As it turns out they are neighbors and Driver starts spending time with Irene. Again this moves slowly and naturally. They DON'T have sex.
The lighting, attitude, acting and action of this movie are just superb. Top notch stuff. I wish there were more movies done like this. You really enjoy the quiet parts and the frantic parts of this movie. It uses dynamics in its pacing and storyline. This could have won an Oscar. Well maybe that's stretching it a bit but it's not just a drive-fast shoot-em-up movie. Gosling does a really good job here. Camera work excites without leaving you queasy. Albert Brooks and Ron Pearlman play off each other nicely as the gentleman gangster and unreconstructed thug, respectively. Check this one out. It's easily the best of today's group. No competition. Look for Christina Hendricks in a small role.
TRAILER
Phantom Punch
This should have been a better movie than it was. It starred Ving Rhames as Sonny Liston. Although I can't immediately think of someone who could have theoretically better captured Liston's aura of menace and forboding, the harsh fact is that Rhames was a few years too old for this role. His acting was the best in the film but it wasn't enough. Phantom Punch is apparently low budget. The camera work is okay but the sets and lighting, with a few exceptions don't really hold up. I understand that a film about Liston does not want to focus on Ali. But given that Ali was known as "The Mouth From The South" for his nonstop chatter, mastery of the dozens and general ability to get under the skin of opponents, it doesn't make a lot of sense to have the actor playing Ali be virtually silent.
The fights definitely don't convince the viewer as to authenticity. I mean they REALLY don't. Nick Turtorro plays Caesar Novak, Liston's direct mob handler. David Proval is the local mob boss. Stacey Dash plays Sonny's wife Geraldine, while Bridgette Wilson-Sampras is Caesar's girlfriend Farah. This movie suggests that Liston's demise was as much for personal (and classic) reasons related to Farah as it was for business ones. Generally this had a very made for TV/direct to DVD feel to it. There were some accurate depictions of incidents in Liston's life and of the open and casual racism of police officers and sportswriters. The film did have a strong sense of sadness and wasted talent which it could have investigated further. Phantom Punch made me want to learn more about Liston but it wasn't that entertaining (Dash and Sampras-Wilson in tight/revealing clothing aside)
Death to Smoochy
Okay just upfront, I liked this film a LOT. It was however a complete box office disaster. I think the mixture of kids' shows, cynicism and mobsters was a bit too much for most people.
It is an adult comedy that centers around kids' shows. There is a tension here between TV producers and performers who are presumably trying to inculcate good, selfless behavior in children while at the same time fighting for ratings, raiding other shows for talent and generally behaving in all sorts of selfish, if not criminal ways.
One performer who has become thoroughly disillusioned by the whole sordid business is Rainbow Randolph (Robin Williams) the current popular host of a top ranked children's show.Randolph is about this close to telling everyone where they can go and has long since lost any sense of happiness at entertaining children. He is only concerned about making sure his checks clear. When Randolph is busted in an FBI bribery sting operation, the self-serving station president Stokes (Jon Stewart) doesn't want to know him any more. The show's hard driving head producer Nora Wells (Catherine Keener) drops him.
The producers want a soft sap who won't make any waves and they think they've found what they need in Sheldon Mopes (Edward Norton) an earnestly submissive and irritatingly pleasant and optimistic young man who performs as Smoochy the Rhino. Mopes was playing to literally captive audiences in methadone clinics. This didn't bother him. Mopes is the kind of man who, if someone throws something heavy at his head, will reluctantly duck and then calmly ask if the assailant wants to talk about her feelings. There are reasons for his demeanor though.
However as rapidly becomes apparent, Mopes actually believes in helping kids first and foremost. Mopes believes in organic foods and is anti-sugar. He gets extremely agitated at any suggestion of commercialism or endorsement activities. At first this is merely mildly annoying to Wells and Mopes' agent Burke Bennett (Danny Devito). But as Mopes holds his ground, showing previously unknown backbone, Bennett and Wells start to run afoul of the larger crime charities, including one presided over by Merv Green (Harvey Fierstein). They are decidedly NOT happy about having their income stream limited by Mopes and put pressure on Bennett to get him to play ball. Or else.
Meanwhile the disgraced, impoverished and increasingly insane Rainbow Randolph is shocked to see that the show's ratings are better with Smoochy. He convinces himself that he must get rid of Smoochy, by disgrace and scandal if possible, or by good old fashioned murder if necessary. Williams carries this movie. I loved his over the top performance here. I am really confused as to why this film didn't do better but everyone has different needs for humor I guess. It's fair to say that Keener and Norton don't light up the screen together but again, Williams' performance more than makes up for that in my view.
TRAILER
