Day 300: The Dark Half (1993)

Can you believe that 300 days ago I started this journey where I promised to watch one film a day for the whole entire year. It sounded crazy at first and maybe I was crazy for starting this, but for day 300 I wanted to do something special. I chose a film that features two icons of horror in director George A. Romero (Night Of The Living Dead) who adapted the book The Dark Half from Stephen King into a film. Young Thad Beaumont (Patrick Brannan) always had a knack for writing, but something is disrupting his life. After discovering that his twin hadn’t been absolved and was in his head, it’s removed and he continues his life. Fast forward 23 years later and Thad Beaumont (Timothy Hutton) is a professor at a college and he has a secret identity as a writer. One day after his cover is blown, he decides to be upfront and lose the moniker of George Stark (his secret identity). The only problem is that George doesn’t want to go that easy and he comes to life to kill everyone who agreed to Thad losing the moniker. The film also stars Amy Madigan (Uncle Buck) as Liz Beaumont, Michael Rooker (Guardians Of The Galaxy) as Sheriff Pangborn, Robert Joy (The Hills Have Eyes) as Fred Clawson, Royal Dano (Killer Klowns From Outer Space) as Digger Holt, and Rutanya Alda (The Deer Hunter) as Miriam Crowley. To see the rest of the review, please click here to go to Moshpits and Movies. 

Day 145: The Battle Of Shaker Heights (2003)

For today’s film, I wanted to watch something that featured Shia LaBeouf (Disturbia) who I am a huge fan of. I love his dedication to his art and I like his films. I was scrolling through the Showtime Anytime app when I saw that The Battle Of Shaker Heights was about to expire so I chose it for today’s film. Kelly Ernswiler (LaBeouf) is an War reenactor who is having some trouble in his life. He views his life as a constant battlefield whether it’s dealing with his recovering addict father, a bully at school, or trying to win the love of someone who is obviously way over his league. That is what Kelly deals with until he meet a fellow friend named Bart (Elden Henson) on the battlefield who ends up helping him with most of his troubles except for one major one which involves his sister (Amy Smart). The film also stars Billy Kay (Halloween: Resurrection) as Lance, Kathleen Quinlan (The Hills Have Eyes) as Eve, Shiri Appleby (Swimfan) as Sarah, William Sadler (Tales From The Crypt: Demon Knight) as Abe, Ray Wise (Jeepers Creepers 2) as Harrison, Anson Mount (Urban Legends: Final Cut) as Miner Weber, Dana Wheeler-Nicholson (Tombstone) as Mathilda, and the film was directed by Efram Potelle and Kyle Rankin.

I didn’t realize until I chose to watch the film that was a Project Greenlight film which was a series started by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. The film’s script was the big winner for season two of the series and Efram Potelle and Kyle Rankin were the lucky winning directors. If you ask me, the series was more interesting of a reality show than any other because it’s cool to see the process involved in making films like this one. The role that Shia had in this film was a very typical role for him back in his early days play the quick witted rebellious teenager (just like in Disturbia) who doesn’t really see the big picture. It’s a great film for teenagers because it’s exactly the way teenagers think and feel like they know everything. Amy Smart has always been one of my favorite actresses since I first saw her in Varsity Blues. She does an amazing job playing the object of Shia LaBeouf’s desire. The film isn’t that long and I think that’s perfect because anymore and it probably would have dragged. The film cuts all the fat out and makes it the perfect length giving you the right amount of comedy and drama one can take. When they pour the drama on you, they really pour it on as it seems things just get worse for our main character which kept me glued in. Is it the best Shia LaBeouf movie out there? Well after seeing some of his other films like Fury or even The Nymphomaniac films, then I would say no. On a teen scale, then it’s a maybe. I am going to give the film an B for a final grade.