Hard Candy (2005)

Spoilers ahead. This is a chilling portrayal of two people who do the two most evil things I can think of: pedophilia and torture. Ellen Page plays a 14-year-old girl who decides to torture a man who has a thing for young teens. Although at the beginning of the movie, it's easy to hate the creepy pedophile, by the end you're wondering if she's not as disgusting as he is. The great pleasure she gets out of torturing this man, physically and psychologically, is every bit as disturbing as the opening scene where his sins are showcased. The whole movie is unsettling and well-acted and tense. Not sure I could recommend it, but I'm glad I saw it. 4 stars.

Peggy Sue Got Married (1986)

This is a sweet, fluffy little romantic comedy about making things right. Kathleen Turner is charming as the woman who time travels back to her high school days, and Nicolas Cage is very funny as her high school boyfriend. This movie has not made a lasting impression on me, but I remember enjoying it while it was playing. A very not-challenging, fun movie. 3.5 stars.

Cry-Baby (1990)

The beginning of this musical spoof is a little bit shaky, but it gains momentum after a half hour or so. Johnny Depp is hilarious, playing up the melodrama of his brooding character beautifully. A few of the song sequences are extremely funny - Allison's plea to the judge is wonderful, as is Cry Baby's sad bluesy song in jail. Not perfect by any means, but a solidly entertaining film. 3.5 stars.

Bug (2006)

Spoilers ahead. This might be one of the most terrifying movies (and one of the most interesting) I have ever seen. Ashley Judd, who I have never really paid attention to, is brilliant as a lonely woman who begins a relationship with a young man who seems to be all right at first glance, but the audience eventually realizes something is wrong with him. Very, very wrong. He is obsessed with bugs, sees them everywhere, believes they are in his body and in his brain. She finds her trapped in his paranoid way of thinking.

The final scene is the most brilliant. It is an awful scene of the two of them her home - it's covered in aluminum foil to "scramble the signals" the bugs give off. The two of them are bloodied from (self-induced) bug bite wounds. Judd's lengthy ending monologue is a terrifying vision of a woman overtaken with paranoia - she hyperventilates as she works frantically to connect the dots of every mystery she's ever been presented with, involving everyone she's ever known in their delusional conspiracy theory.

Brilliantly directed, written, and acted, this is one of the best psychological thrillers I've ever seen. Although I wouldn't have thought from the trailers it would be something I could recommend, I rescind that and recommend it *highly*. 4.5 stars.

Celebrity (1998)

I think the biggest problem with Woody Allen is that Kenneth Branagh was playing him too perfectly. Emulating the voice, the stammer, the movements... he wasn't playing the character. He was playing Woody Allen playing the character. John Cusack, Will Ferrell, and Scarlett Johnsson have played the typical Woody Allen character in recent years, but they each added their own special touch to them. Branagh makes us feel like we're watching some sort of Freaky Friday moment in motion, where Allen has actually transported himself into the body of the other actor. This is somewhat unsettling to people who are familiar with Allen and his mannerisms.

The story itself isn't too hot, either. It mostly treads old ground. Although there's some very good moments (Leonardo diCaprio is wonderful as a spoiled, sleazy movie star) it's one of Allen's least impressive films...and also one of his least funny comedies. Disappointing. 2.5 stars because he's still a very good writer/director... But this pales miserable in comparison to anything else he's done. 2.5 stars.

In the Company of Men (1997)

Aaron Eckhart is the backbone of this movie. His cold, vicious demeanor is incredibly disturbing. The movie as a whole feels like it loses itself in the last half. When Matt Malloy's character begins to take the foreground, everything gets shifted slightly off. He is not a very well-defined character and is not nearly as interesting to watch. Every scene with Aaron Eckhart glued me to the screen with a terrible fascination... the rest is fairly disappointing. 3 stars.

Little Shop of Horrors (1986)

A good musical movie is difficult to make, but by the middle of the song "Skid Row" I knew this was going to be one of them. Garish colors contrast the dark, dingy streets that surround the characters... and the colorful songs contrast the bizarre material they sing about. Rick Moranis and Steve Martin are both very good in their roles and Ellen Greene certainly has some great moments.

The singing may not be perfect, but the characters are preserved perfectly through the songs so it doesn't even matter. Toward the end it starts getting a little bit draggy (I was ready to be done with "Mean, Green Mother From Outer Space" about halfway through it) but as a whole, a very funny movie and a very good musical. 4 stars.