Day 288: Clown (2014)

I figured since it’s Halloween season and there have been a ton of weird clown sightings ll over the US that it would only be fitting to see a film with clowns. While clowns can make you laugh, they can scare the crap out of you so I chose the Eli Roth produced film Clown for today’s film. Andy Powers (In Her Shoes) plays real estate agent Kent who seems to have it all going for him. One day when a company double booked the same clown for a couple of birthday parties, Kent is forced to step in and dress like a clown after he found a costume for his sons birthday. While he was certainly the hero of the day, he can’t seem to get the costume off as it starts to change him and become a part of him. Now his family has to try and get the costume off before it’s too late. The film also stars Laura Allen (The 4400) as Meg, Peter Stormare (The Big Lebowski) as Karlsson, Christian Distefano (Paw Patrol) as Jack, Chuck Shamata (The Day After Tomorrow) as Walt, Elizabeth Whitmere (The Last Hit Man) as Denise, Robert Reynolds (Warm Bodies) as Dr. Martin Karlsson, and the film was directed by Jon Watts (Spider-Man: Homecoming). To see the rest of the review, please click here to go to Moshpits and Movies.

Day 24: Bringing Out The Dead (1999)

Soon enough you’ll figure out that I am a fan of Martin Scorsese (The Wolf Of Wall Street), but I honestly did not know that he directed today’s film. In 1999, Scorsese directed the film Bringing Out The Dead which starred Nicholas Cage (Raising Arizona) as paramedic Frank Pierce. Frank has been on the job for way too long to the point that he is burnt out and the ghosts of patients that he couldn’t save are starting to haunt him whether he is on the job or off. Over the course of three turbulent and mind exhausting nights, Frank will have to try and survive the nights without completely losing his mind in this drama/thriller. The film also stars John Goodman (Death Sentence) as Larry, Patricia Arquette (A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors) as Mary Burke, Ving Rhames (Mission: Impossible) as Marcus, Tom Sizemore (Saving Private Ryan) as Tom Wolls, Marc Anthony (The Substitute) as Noel, Mary Beth Hurt (The Exorcism Of Emily Rose) as Nurse Constance, Nestor Serrano (The Day After Tomorrow) as Dr. Hazmat, Aida Turturro (The Sopranos) as Nurse Crupp, Cliff Curtis (Blow) as Cy Coates, and Sonja Sohn (The Wire) as Kanita.

This film is so intense in just about everything and it’s awesome. Nicholas Cage does a great job playing a guy who is just going through absolute hell and looks like he’s been going through absolute hell. This is one of those rare times that I really enjoyed his performance because he’s hit or miss with me. The film is very dark in nature so it has that look that Shutter Island had with it’s dark color tones with the bright reds, etc. I really enjoyed the scenes where every thing is all of a sudden sped up to make them look even more crazier than they are. The film also shows you how dark and dingy the city can be and it shows you sections you’ve never seen before as well. I love how Scorsese almost focuses on that as well like he’s making the city a vital character as well. I have to say that I truly enjoyed the side story between Patricia Arquette and Nicholas Cage because they are both struggling with inner demons while Cage is being haunted by the dead, she is dealing with a dark past of her own. It definitely added a cool dynamic to the film that kept the story rolling. Martin Scorsese is definitely one of my favorite directors and there are a lot of films that I still have not seen that will probably show up on this challenge. Check out the film for yourself, I am giving the movie an B for a final grade.

Day 9: Superstar (1999)

Another simple case of nothing else on television and not enough time to view anything. Believe it or not, I actually avoided this movie for about this long, but I decided to check out Superstar. The film was a huge skit on Saturday Night Live and it starred Molly Shannon (Never Been Kissed) as Mary Katherine Gallagher, a high school girl with lots of issues. All Mary wants to do in life is get her first kiss from the high school hunk in Sky Corrigan (Will Farrell). She figures that is she wins the talent show at her catholic school which guarantees you a role as an extra in film that she will get her first kiss, but she’ll have some pretty hefty obstacles in her way from her bully. The film also stars Elaine Hendrix (The Parent Trap) as Evian, Harland Williams (Half Baked) as Slater, Mark McKinney (Kids In The Hall) as Father Ritley, Glynis Johns (Mary Poppins) as Grandma, Jason Blicker (The Day After Tomorrow) as Howard, Gerry Bamman (Home Alone) as Father John, Emmy Laybourne (Mystery Men) as Helen, Jennifer Irwin (The Gate) as Maria, Tom Green (Freddy Got Fingered) as Dylan, and the film was directed by Bruce McCulloch (Stealing Harvard).

Looking back on this film, I believe the skits on Saturday Night Live were a lot better than the film. In my opinion, this was one of those cases where the film wasn’t as great as the skits. Don’t get me wrong, the film had some memorable quotes and some funny scenes, but it just wasn’t laugh out loud funny. I like the fact though that it seemed like a fusion between SNL and Kids In The Hall (which was a great TV skit show in its own right) with an actor and director from the series combined with actors and a skit from SNL. Molly Shannon of course emboddied the role of Mary Katherine Gallagher as it was her role entirely from the get go, but I have to say that I loved seeing Will Farrell more as Jesus than Sky Corrigan. Anytime he showed up as Jesus, I thought it was hilarious and I couldn’t get enough of it. Tom Green is his typical self in the movie where he goes a little over the top in what he does, but I miss Tom Green. I don’t really have much else to say about the movie so I’ll cut to the chase and give the film it’s grade. I am going to give this movie a B- for a final grade.