The Host (2006 South Korea, 2007 USA)

Also known as Gwoemul.
Now this is how you do a monster movie! Take a splash of Godzilla, lightly season with bits of Jaws, Jurassic Park, and Alien, a dash of Evil Dead 2 for humor, and sprinkle liberally with anything by Hitchcock. Cook for two hours and out pops something wonderfully surprising and delightfully original. Terrifying monster? Check. Large-scale action sequences? Check. Brisk pace? Check. An involving story? Check. Social commentary on government intervention? Check. Bet-you-never-saw-that-coming plot twists? Check. Almost everything in this movie just works. So what if it dives into a bit of melodrama and overacting? Who cares if the effects aren't up to Pirates or Transformers standards? This movie is just plain, good natured, friendly, scary, silly, unique fun. I don't know how they did it, but those wacky Koreans may have pulled together an honest-to-goodness new classic monster movie.

9 out of 10.

Note: The English dub manages to get the point across, but is only so-so. If you don't mind subtitles, stick with the original Korean.

The Brave One (2007)

Only ever been to New York once, for a grand total of 48 (wonderful) hours, and even I know you DO NOT go to Central Park at night. Somewhere amidst the downright foggy moral ambiguity is a decent flick I suppose, but it is difficult to suss out who it's aimed at exactly. On the one hand, it's got a decent female empowerment kick to it, an emotional lead, tempered pacing with an emphasis on storytelling, and Sarah McLaughlin in the soundtrack. On the other, it's a dark tale of fear and revenge, the brutality on display is as gruesome as its R rating implies, what humor is here is morbid and cynical, and lots of wonderful swear words are bandied about regularly. It's either a manly chick-flick, or a girly guy-movie. I mentioned emphasis on storytelling a moment ago; I should elaborate. While it certainly concentrates on plot, it does so at a cost of character development. What's the use of basing an entire journey on the ramifications of someone's departure when you don't bother to make us care for the person leaving? I had trouble getting into the really emotional side of the story. It's still entertaining to see the almost film noir tale lumber forward but what should have been a punch in the gut was more like a really hard slap on the wrist.

6 out of 10.

The Ultimate Gift (2006)

Cynically, I wonder if Abigail Breslin's charm and appeal will last past her child star years. Though released and marketed as espousing strong Christian overtones and values, the movie manages to stand on its own surprisingly well. It doesn't wear its religion on its sleeve, and the very few points where it does come up don't feel forced or preachy. With that out of the way, the film itself is a decent morality tale with sadly slipshod editing. The story is a good, if extremely clichéd, narrative of learning to value what you have. The problem is it's told with what feel like obvious gaps in the tale, where important character moments or critical situational set-up is missing. It doesn't cause the plot to miss any important lessons, but it makes the big moments where it tugs at your heartstrings have significantly less impact than it ought to. Pity, too. The acting, the overall directing, and the delightful turns the drama takes all work, but it's just missing the edges of time it would've needed to feel complete.

6 out of 10.

'It's Not News It's Fark: How Mass Media Tries to Pass Off Crap as News' by Drew Curtis (Book - 2007)

If I were to take everything I learned in college about analyzing mass media, then to add in everything I've learned the last several years actually working in mass media, distill it down into 300 pages and add a witty writing style, it would only be about half as informative and quintessentially true as this book. Drew Curtis, who owns and runs one of the most popular news sites on the Internet, tears the whole process of news gathering and reporting down at such a backbreaking level that it's almost insulting. A book on how news is gathered and distributed is probably not everyone's cup of tea, but speaking as someone who's been an insider of the industry for a good portion of my life now, Curtis gets it right. You'll laugh, you'll learn, and you'll probably feel more than a little slighted at the conclusions he draws, but it strikes true enough that you can't help but wonder how the News business survives in the first place. An absolute must for anyone in or studying media, and a piece of near-brilliant observation for any news junkie.

8 out of 10.

The 11th Hour (2007)

Charitably, this could be called 'An Inconvenient Truth 2: Inconvenient Harder,' but I don't even think it rates quite that good. The problem with this film isn't necessarily of filmcraft, it's a decently made documentary. It's that we've seen it before, and done better and more persuasively. Basically here we have Leo Dicaprio showing us a laundry list of independent sources telling us what we “obviously think” about issues relating to renewable resources and global climate change. I don't have a problem with the argument being made to save the planet—I agree with their assertion that something needs to be done—it's just that there's very little persuasion going on, and a whole lot of assumptions. It preaches to the choir. All that said, it's a good film, and if you're already of the mindset this movie tries to assume you are, then you'll find a nice supplement to that other Inconvenient movie out there.

6 out of 10.

Mr. Woodcock (2007)

If I had to guess, based on his performances in Bad Santa, Bad News Bears, School For Scoundrels, and now Mr. Woodcock, Billy Bob Thornton is gunning for King of the Low Brow Comedy. It's kind of sad, honestly. Thornton managed one of the most amazing come-from-nowhere break-outs I can think of with his role in 1996's Sling Blade, but now he's just doing one horrible comedy after another. Here he faces off against Sean William Scott, the very same person who took the low brow comedy of American Pie and drove it down past the gutter into some kind of subterranean humor hell. Great. Wonderful. It's Bad Santa versus Stifler. Toss in a pile of awful punchlines, inane physical comedy, and a 100% predictable plotline and you've got the makings of another dull, unfunny two hours of celluloid. Thornton actually seems to try to make the most of a bad situation, but everyone else is on a kind of clueless I'm-just-here-to-get-paid form of autopilot. If only the committee that built this floater had realized that the only thing this film had going for it was its titular character, then maybe it would've spent more time creating a funny script, or better yet, not made the movie at all. At least then I'd have that chunk of my life back.

2 out of 10.

Ghost Rider (2007)

This review is based on the 'extended' cut of the film.
I have nothing against the idea of a leather-clad, chain-wielding, burning skeleton who rides atop a motorcycle whose wheels are made of fire. I really don't. I have nothing against Nicholas Cage either. Nor any problems with a father who makes an honest living as a professional plot device. Apparently, someone does. There is not a single good thing I can say about this movie. The acting ranges from bored to horrible all across the board, the script is something you'd expect in some goth kid's student project, and the special effects—the one thing you should be able to count on when a movie costs upwards of $110 million dollars—are absolute trash. It's a superhero film. I get it. You're supposed to lower your expectations and suspend your disbelief a bit when watching them. After this, I think I'll just hand my disbelief a noose and be done with it.

3 out of 10.

The Girl Next Door (2004)

This review is based on the 'unrated' cut of the film.
Now here's an interesting thing: most R-rated movies about teenagers try their best to pump in as much T&A and dirty jokes as they possibly can. Most of these are awful. Then comes along this movie, which cuts out the middle man and makes an R-rated movie about teenagers and porn stars. And it's excellent! Though, even I have to admit that it's a bit inconsistent. If I had to judge the whole movie by the first half hour, I'd call it a genre defining coming of age story and knock out for the rest of the night. It's a drama at first, but that doesn't last as the sparse but effective humor of the start takes the center stage as the story gets more and more convoluted and ridiculous. The movie swaps between genuinely funny comedy, and effective drama for much of the remainder of the film. The problem here is that the comedy side of film and the drama side don't really feel like they have anything in common. It's like watching two separate movies juxtaposed on top of each other. Both are well made, but seemingly unrelated. It isn't till the very end that both films come together, the mixed-up plot reconciles itself, and you're left with the feeling of cinematic euphoria that comes from a truly good ending. Ultimately it's not the definitive genre film it could've been, but it gets enough right that it doesn't matter.

8 out of 10.