Day 356: The Dead Pool (1988)

I figured since We have been watching all of the Dirty Harry films with the one and the only Clint Eastwood (Sudden Impact) and I figured we’d finish off the series. Do not confuse today’s film The Dead Pool with that hilarious Marvel Comics movie because this one is based off a twisted game. The Dead Pool is a game where they write a list of celebrities that each person believes will die within the year an the person with the most deaths wins the game. It all becomes a little real though when a musician is found dead and his name is on the very list of a director (Liam Neeson). Harry Callahan (Eastwood) is put on the case as more and more celebrities start to turn up dead that are all linked to the director. The film also stars Patricia Clarkson (Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials) as Samantha Walker, Jim Carrey (The Number 23) as Johnny Squares, Evan C. Kim (V) as Al Quan, David Hunt (Jade) as Harlan Rook, Michael Goodwin (Stuck In Love) as Lt. Ackerman, Michael Currie (Sudden Impact) as Captain Donnelly, Anthony Charnota (The Rookie) as Lou Janero, Victoria Bastel (The Video Dead) as Suzanne Dayton, and the film was directed by Buddy Van Horn (Any Which Way You Can). To see the rest of the review, please click here to go to Moshpits and Movies.

Day 229: The Number 23 (2007)

The film that I chose for today was one that always peaked my interest, but I never pulled the trigger because I was always weary of Jim Carrey (Ace Ventura: Pet Detective) doing anything other than comedy. Nevertheless, the film I chose for today is The Number 23 and Carrey plays dog catcher Walter Spearow. One day, Walter’s wife Agatha (Virginia Madsen) buys him a mysterious book simple called Number 23 for his birthday. After reading deep into it, Walter starts becoming obsessed with the number and starts to find that just about everything equals the number 23. Walter then begins to suspect that there could be some correlation between the book and real life so he sets out to find the author to figure out the answers. The film also stars Danny Huston (X-Men Origins: Wolverine) as Isaac French/Dr. Miles Phoenix, Logan Lerman (The Perks Of Being A Wallflower) as Robin Sparrow, Lynn Collins (X-Men Origins: Wolverine) as Suicide Blonde, Rhona Mitra (Underworld: Rise Of The Lycans) as Laura Tollins, Michelle Arthur (Fun With Dick And Jane) as Sybil, Ed Lauter (Trouble With The Curve) as Father Sebastian, Patricia Belcher (Jeepers Creepers) as Dr. Mortimer, Corey Stroll (Ant-Man) as Sgt. Burns, and the film was directed by Joel Schumacher (Batman Forever).

This was definitely an interesting film and an interesting role for Jim Carrey to take, but it was definitely a cool role for him. He definitely stepped it up in this film and proved that he could do films that were not comedies. The concept of the actual number 23 in the film was interesting, but to become obsessed with it is one for those that believe in conspiracy theories. What I loved about the film was how most characters portrayed two characters in the film when Jim’s character reads the book and he narrates. The story that you see unfold in front of you is actually a very cool one that has that detective crime story feel to it that definitely kept me glued. The real part of the story that was the best for me was the very end when all about the origin of the book is finally revealed to you onscreen. It was a text book thing that I should have seen coming, but I actually didn’t. It was just sitting there in front of my face and then it gets revealed and my reaction was of course it was. The tone of the film is very dark with lots of reds and out of focus shots that help tell the eerie story as it unfolds in front of us. I couldn’t believe that the film is less than a decade old it cause it seems like it came out forever ago, but I think if you’re a fan of mystery thrillers like this then you should give it a shot. I am going to give the film an B for a final grade.