The Children

The Children
Director: Tom Shankland
Starring: Eva Birthistle, Stephen Campbell Moore, Jeremy Sheffield, Rachel Shelley & Hannah Tointon
Genre: Horror
Rated: UK 18 (so I'm assuming R)
Tag line: You brought them into this world. Now ... They will take you out.
Amazon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
My Rating: 4 stars

Plot: On Christmas vacation, a family of children begin to turn on their parents. A simple way of describing it would be think Children of the Corn meets 28 Days Later, only without the zombies.

Review: I don't think a movie I liked could irritate me so much like The Children did. It starts off rather relaxing, a lot of whispering which made the film hard to hear at times, but it did pick up as it progressed due to the fact that we had to higher the sound and children started screaming (which was the irritating part).

Taking much from what I saw on the Internet, I already knew the plot to the film, the children were going to kill the adults not unlike something out of Stephen King. But wait! There's a twist. And what a twist it is because the children aren't consciously killing the adults but are motivated by a symptom of their disease. Each child gets sick, and it appears the older they are the longer it takes before their immunity breaks down and they go psychotic on their elders.

What looked like an isolated incident turned out to be wide spread when a carefully planned "accident" leaves on father dead and a pregnant mother screaming in pain as her leg snaps, bone tearing through her flesh. There comes a time when you have to start to wonder why aren't these parents reacting to any of the strangeness that is happening with their children.

Even though the movie leaves you on the edge of your seat, and in some cases completely annoyed by the fact that you have no idea what the virus is or where it came from, or if it's even the "real" reason why the children are revolting, the acting, the story the suspense is all perfect - no Hollywood cliches here! It's a must watch, one that you will remember in the weeks to come.

Rest Stop

Rest Stop
Director: John Shiban
Starring: Jaimie Alexander, Joey Mendicino & Joseph "Joey" Lawrence
Genre: Horror, Suspense Thriller
Rated: R (or Unrated, depending on which you get)
Tag line: Dead Ahead
Amazon rating: 2 1/2 out of 5 stars
My rating: 3 stars

Plot: Aspiring actress, Nicole Carrow runs away to Los Angeles with her boyfriend, Jess Hilts. Upon their travels, they encounter a man driving a yellow truck who begins stalking the couple. When they come to a rest stop 60 miles from anywhere, Jess is kidnapped by the sadistic driver leaving Nicole to fend for herself. Throughout the night, she is mentally tortured by the man in the yellow truck causing her to lose herself in delirium. In end, one can ponder if Nicole isn't just haunted by her own feelings of guilt.

Review: A huge leap away from her Kyle XY character, Jaimie Alexander (yes, she has a nude scene) delivers her full acting potential, working with what she was given.

The plot of the movie reminds me a lot of that Paul Walker film about the sadistic truck driver, just with less driving and with more phantoms in the night. The story's riddled with Hollywood cliches, leaving the view disenchanted at times. However, rather than to toss this DVD aside to the do not watch list, leave it in queue on your Netflix because you just might be in for a treat.

While several have grunted that the movie was terrible, one has to keep in mind that the "internets" are a shallow group, not withstanding the intellects of others. Most of them want to be served a storyline that makes sense, which they can decipher before the end credits roll. Rest Stop is definitely not the brain candy they seek, nor is one that anyone who wants the Hollywood "five-paragraph" story that tells you what's going to happen, what's happening when it's happening, and what just happened.

Rest Stop leaves you in riddles, trying to figure out what exactly is happening and what is merely the psychosis of a guilt-ridden girl stranded in the middle of nowhere. Or perhaps they are simple holes in the plot, left unsuspectingly by an amateur film director slash writer, which Shibon is not.

Watch it or don't, it doesn't matter because in the end we all get what we deserve.

Latest Fox Show Should Take Own Advice

Not sure if I should be surprised that the latest addition to "Animation Domination" sucks more than anything that it has thus far released. Greg the Bunny, please come back!

Sit Down, Shut Up is set within the halls of a school and revolves around the lives of the faculty who run it - or attempt to, anyway. Within the walls of the school is a masculine boy-hungry librarian, a effeminate bisexual theatre teacher, a bumbling couch who's in love with a holier-than-though, moron Christian stereotype (is she a teacher?) Miracle...I think you get the point.

The show won't be on long. And if it is, then I'm going to have to start questioning the intelligence of those who kept it on. It's insulting to our intelligence that Fox would think to even green light the school. The pilot alone is everywhere, introducing each character and their "catch phrase," instilling their stereotype and characteristics, giving a crumbling premise. It makes me wonder if Fox is using this show as a replacement for King of the Hill, whose cancellation was announced last Fall.

Animation Domination, which lineup includes The Simpsons, Family Guy and American Dad, is expected to gain another show this Fall, a spin off of Family Guy - The Cleveland Show. I'm wary that Fox might be losing its touch, however the success of the latter two just might prove that a third just might be as funny. I just wonder what will replace Sit Down, Shut Up when Fox finally comes to its senses and axes it.

Made in America

We're From America (Single)
Artist: Marilyn Manson
Genre: Shock Rock/Hard Rock/Metal
Tracks: 1 (free download)

Lyric quote: "We don't like to kill our unborn,
we need them to grow up and fight our wars"

Thoughts: "We're from America," Manson belts on his latest single of the same title. After a pause to pursue his film making career, Manson has released a gem of a song that puts into question just what this country is made of. Being no stranger to the "political" song, Manson lends his opinion to us about this country's spiritual warfare. With lyrics like "We're from America/it's where Jesus was born" and "We don't like to kill our unborn,/we need them to grow up and fight our wars," Manson evaluates the Christian dogma's hypocritical stance on the importance of life and it's sheer delusion that this country is a god country.

The long awaited album, The High End of Low, will hit shelves on May 26th. However, you can download the single from his website for free.

What the Watchmen movie was Missing

Watchmen: Tales of the Black Freighter & Under the Hood
Directors: Mike Smith & Daniel DelPurgatorio
Starring: Gerard Butler
Genre: Animation, Short Horror
Rated: R
Tag line: The animated epic that completes the Watchmen experience.
Amazon's rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars
My rating: 3 stars

Plot: After surviving an attack by the Black Freighter, a mariner attempts to make it back home in order to protect his family and seek revenge against the demons on board.

Review: There was a great disappointment when I saw Watchmen earlier this month because the Black Freighter wasn't included. I suppose had it been, the movie would've been longer than it was and a lot of you party poopers would've complained even more. However, the movie company did know just how important the Black Freighter is to the story so they did release an animated version of the fictional comic book.

While I still feel the movie should've contained the story, the animated short (it runs about 25 min) does deliver and fanboys shouldn't be disappointed. The grisly animation, horrific gore and tone that Gerard Butler gives us is just how we imagined (or at least I did) the Black Freighter to play out. It's a must watch if you've seen the Watchmen movie or if you're going to see it for the first time.

Rachel Getting Married

Rachel Getting Married
Director: Jonathan Demme
Starring: Anne Hathaway, Rosemarie DeWitt, Bill Irwin, Tunde Adebimpe, Mather Zickel, Anna Deavere Smith & Debra Winger
Genre: Drama
Rated: R
Tag line: N/A
Amazon's rating: 3 out of 5 stars
My rating: 4 stars

Plot: After spending 10 years in rehab, Kym returns home to see her sister's wedding.

Review: Just when we thought that every movie being released would be a remake or a typical Hollywood cliche, Rachel Getting Married reminds us just why we love movies.

While the plot seems a little too familiar, the characters - both the portrayal and their stories - are well rounded. Anne Hathaway's portrayal of ex-drug addict, Kym, strays away from the typical characters she is cast to play (just like she was in Havoc). And while I've never seen Rosemarie DeWitt's acting prior to this movie, her portrayal as responsible sister, Rachel, is beyond any stellar acting I've ever seen.

The story Jenny Lumet wrote is one that will last the test of time. I'm not sure it could have been delivered as well as it had with out the aid of director Jonathan Demme and the excellent cast they chose.

Caveat: While the movie is a must see, several people have complained that the story isn't that great. I disagree, of course, however there were times that the movie seemed to drag - such as the one where everyone is making toasts. The main reason the several nay-sayers - or at least what I believe - is because the story is too realistic for their liking.

Produces Mixed Signals

The Signal
Directors: David Bruckner & Dan Bush
Starring: Anessa Ramsey, AJ Bowen, Justin Welborn & Scott Poythress
Genre: Horror/Suspense Thriller
Rated: R
Tag line: This is not a test
Amazon rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars
My rating: 3 stars

Plot: The broadcast of a strange signal through several sources of media turns every day people into psychotic murderers.

Review: The movie is split into three stories, or "transmissions" as they are called. Each story revolves around a particular character in the movie, however all the characters are interlocked so there is some constancy in the movie, though it jumps time lines - think Go rather than Pulp Fiction.

While at first worried this was going to be a zombie-esque movie - so many other people when first seeing the trailer actually thought the movie was based off the novel Cell by Stephen King - I am glad that it wasn't. Rather than seeing several thousand zombie-like humans tearing at each other, eating flesh mercilessly, we are given instead a small group of people - as the movie is about survival, not the "monsters" - hacking away body parts, shooting people purposelessly and bludgeoning with a baseball bat. The exciting part is the fact that you never really know who's been affected by the transmission as they find themselves in the know.

It's also funny at times, which usually doesn't work in these sort of movies - with the exception of those that are meant to be funny (see: Shaun of the Dead). The characters aren't really molded out well with the exception of Lewis (the jealous husband) and Mya (the adulterous wife), but even they seem to be lacking dimension. It also leaves open the plot hole of why some people are inclined to commit murder while others who see the transmission are left with a severe form of psychosis.

Nevertheless, the movie brings you the thrills, chills and excitement that we demand, even though it fails to live up to its full potential. Overall, it's a movie worth watching.