Recent Viewings: Ring 2, I Heart Huckabees

[Mr_Vindictive]

Ring 2 - 3/10

Summary
Rachel and her son Aidian move to a small fishing town after escaping Samara in the original Ring. Now Samara is back and Aidian is acting strange. A s**tty movie ensues.

Review
First of all I want to say that I really really really liked the American version of The Ring. Gore Verbinski brought the tension and the doom from the original Ringu and translated it into something for our masses perfectly.

Why couldn't the same have happened with The Ring 2?

Hideo Nakata, the director of the Japanese Ringu 2, was brought aboard to direct this piece of crap. I had high hopes from that point on. The trailer looked scary, and they have the original director! How can this go wrong?

Easily.

From moment one I knew I was in for something bad. The first two minutes of the film are overhead shots of water. That's it, just waves. Then we cut into the obligatory "Teenager getting another to watch the video" scene.

The story then rolls into Rachel and her bastard (literally) son Aidian. They've moved to a small fishing village after escaping Samara and all is well.

Until Aidian starts seeing Samara again, that is.

This film isn't the least bit scary. The story goes stupid within the first twenty minutes, and I was just waiting to leave. This film is excruciatingly boring. There are only two decent scenes throughout the film which Nakata handeled quite well, but the rest is pure crap.

This is not a film that you need to see at the theater. This is pure rental material at best. I'm not blaming the director on this one, because I feel that it was the script that needed the most work. Plotholes abounded and nothing really happens.

Save your cash and go rent the original Ring (or Ringu) and turn off the lights.






Side Notes:


Hideo Nakata is currently remaking another fantastic Asian horror film - The Eye which should hit our shores in the next year. Go out and rent the original!

Nakata is also talking about doing another American ring film which would be The Ring 3. It seems that he wants to follow very closely to the original third Ringu film which was Ringu 0 and followed Samara through her early years until her demise.







I Heart Huckabees - 9/10

Summary
Albert is a young man who wonders why he has ran into the same African man three times in the last few months. He hires two existential detectives to find out what it all means.

Review
I must say first off that I Heart Huckabees surprised the hell out of me. I had expected to enjoy the flick, with it's fantastic cast and all, but I never expected to be so thoroughly entertained.

The film starts with Albert (Jason Schwartzman), a confused and lonely environmentalist. He contacts two existential detectives (Lily Tomlin, Dustin Hoffman) to help him figure out why he has ran into the same African man at different places over the last few months. The detectives delve into every part of Albert's life and eventually uncover numerous things in his life. The film also ties in with a corporate exec (Jude Law) for the superstore Huckabees, his girlfriend (Naomi Watts) and a whacked out firefighter (Mark Wahlberg).

Sounds confusing, doesn't it? And well...it is. Atleast for the first half hour or so. After that you kinda start to get into the whole "everything means everything" groove and really start to enjoy the film.

The film is brilliantly written. I would have never thought that a script about being, nihilism, connection, and fate could have been so entertaining. I'm quite surprised that David O. Russel and Jeff Baena didn't get nominated for an Oscar for the script. It stayed fresh, funny, and drenched in hilarious philosophy throughout.

The acting is fantastic as well. Schwartzman does an amazing job as Albert the confused environmentalist. Lily Tomlin and Dustin Hoffman are both hilarious as the detectives in the film. This is probably the funniest thing I've seen either of them in, in a long time. Jude Law also sells his part quite well. His American accent and blonde hair had me almost completely forgetting it was him. Naomi Watts does a decent job with what she's given and Wahlberg hit the ball right out of the park.

This isn't your normal comedy, so don't go looking for it thinking it's going to be a laugh out loud kind of film. It's not. I smiled throughout, had a great time and only a few guffaws. Still well worth checking out though.






Side Notes:

Check this film out if you liked Being John Malkovich, Rushmore, Adaptation, or Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind and Three Kings.

Britney Spears was auditioned and almost cast for the role of Dawn which Naomi Watts ended up getting.

[AndyC]

We got together with a few other couples and watched Huckabee's not too long ago. These were the sort of people who really got the humour, which made the whole experience all the more enjoyable. It was surprising, different, cute at times, intellectually stimulating, and we laughed ourselves silly.

A fun movie that was not, at all, what I expected.

[Mr_Vindictive]

Andy,

I agree 100%.  I got it for free from peerflix.com and just ordered it on a whim.

[Chopper]

yeah i thought the Ring 2 stunk also. in fact it take that back i thought it was horrible. i made a paper airplane out of an insurance agent card and threw it at the screen.

on the bright side though Million Dollar Baby was great and made up for my previous cinematic sins.

"shake the crime stick!" -Mr. Show

[nobody]

I bought "I Heart Huckabees" online right after I finished watching my rented copy. I loved it. It's easily one of my top 5 movies.

"I give and I give... and he takes and he takes." :)

[dean]

Looks like someone had a bit of a Naomi Watts viewathon.  Next you'll be hiring Tank Girl and telling us all what an Avant Garde Masterpiece it is [which it is of course, something that silly must be!!]

Haven't seen either, but I Heart Huckabees is on my 'must rent as soon as it's out on DVD here' list.   Ring 2 is a 'maybe see on the big screen if I'm bored because the scares would be better on big screen than little screen if it must make up for being not so good as the first' category film.  If that made any sense [I am really tired right now]

Anyway, Happy Easter all!