Week in Review: Movies and TV Shows

Here's my weekly wrap-up of the movies and TV shows I watched.  Definitely a variety this week from campy to surreal to just plain painful to watch.

First on the list is Teeth.  This movie is a independent film directed by Mitchell Lichtenstein.  The main character, Dawn, discovers she has the best defense against rape: a toothed vagina.  Vagina dentata, as it's known in mythos, makes for an interesting plot device which lends to the film's campy black humor and shocking horror.  Sprinkle in a devout abstinence program and a nuclear power plant and you've got yourself an interesting film.  What I liked about this film was that it was that the horror was more startling and disturbing than gory (though it had plenty of gore for the audience, especially if you're a guy).  Beware, there are lots of penises in this movie...not necessarily...er...attached.  I give it 4 out of 5 stars. 

The next film I'd like to share with you is called Ink.  The descriptions on Netflix don't quite capture what this movie is like.  The site describes the movie as a story of a young girl, Emma, who was spirited away into dreamland while her body lay comatose in the world of the living.  Forces of good and evil are fighting over her, while her distant father sits helpless by her side.  Watching Ink is like being in a lucid dream for 106 minutes.  There are moments where you know you're dreaming and other moments you are so sure they're real, but they end up being fantasy.  The imagery in this movie is delightful yet dark.  I give it 4 out 5 stars.

Obsessed is your typical stalker movie with all the appropriate tropes.  You could probably look at this film as Fatal Attraction-lite.  The film stars Beyoncé Knowles and Ali Larter (Heroes and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back).  Lisa (Ali Larter) gets a temp job as a secretary where she immediately and unabashedly becomes smitten with Derek (Knowles' husband).  Obsession ensues and you've got your typical stalker-movie plot.  I actually liked this movie because stalkers and serial killers fascinate me.  It was quite interesting to see how Lisa developed her "relationship" with Derek in her mind, convincing herself it was real.  One warning though: Knowles is a terrible actress.  I give this movies 3 out 5 stars.

Speaking of trope-filled movies... Here we have Serendipity.  It's your typical romantic comedy.  The plot is cutesy but unrealistic in which a couple meet and instantly hit it off, but leave it to fate to hopefully bring them back together again several years later.  Which, of course, happens else you wouldn't have a movie.  I feel sorry for John Cusack, who I think is a great actor, but he seems perpetually stuck in romantic comedies.  I didn't hate the movie, but my cynical side had to dock it several stars.  Or maybe I just don't like romantic comedies?  I give it 2 out of 5 stars.

I consider Law and Order: Special Victims Unit to be one of my comfort shows.  You know how you have comfort food?  I have comfort shows too.  When all other movies and shows fail to nab my interest, this is one of those shows I'm always in the mood to watch.  It's hard for me to rate each season individually since the shows all run together in my mind, but even after eight seasons, the writing and acting is still top notch.  My only complaints come from a political and philosophical stand-point with some of their shady oversights with respect to civil liberties.  Plus they always seem to ignore the most level-headed of all the characters, Dr. Huang the psychiatrist.  He almost always hits the nail on the head and rarely judges the victims or perpetrators.  The rest of the cast is very judgmental even against things that aren't against the law.  That's a very frustrating aspect of the show for me.  However, I still consider it one of my comfort shows.  I give season eight 4 out of 5 stars.

This is the movie I was talking about that was painful to watch.  You thought I meant Teeth?  No.  I meant 2012: Doomsday.  I mistakenly thought it was Emmerich's 2012.  Boy was I disappointed.  The plot of this movie involves the Mayan-predicted doomsday about to destroy the world as we know it (cue REM).  Any fan of  the apocalyptic genre (of which I am one) would think it would be a decent story, even if it was low budget.  But you would soon discover you were sadly mistaken.  First of all, the special effects are laughable.  Literally.  Secondly, the acting for the most part is sub-par even at it's best.  And thirdly, Mayan mythos gets trumped by a Christian agenda.  I find that incredibly disrespectful to Mayan history.  Not to mention, all the deaths are of the ethnic actors (save one) and all the white actors miraculously survive.  I give this movie 1 out of 5 stars.  If Netflix let me give 0 stars, I would have.

Finally, on my list of movies this week, I present to you Flatliners.  This movie was released in 1990 and I found it fun to see some top actors of the time in their prime again.  The story involves five medical school students playing with life and death.  Headed by Nelson (Keifer Sutherland), the students would take turns allowing the others to literally kill them for a small amount of time, then resuscitate them.  The point?  To find out if there really was some truth to near-death experiences and see what was on the other side.  However, the students quickly find themselves facing some of their biggest fears.  The movie also stars Kevin Bacon, but this was before his gratuitous penis shot phase.  I give this movie 4 out of 5 stars.