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Henry Poole Is Here Movie review: A-

Review by Robert Bell (A-)

To dismiss Henry Poole is Here as a maudlin rumination on faith and religion would be to ignore the inherent human struggles and blatant annihilation anxieties rumbling beneath the surface, which are exposed only through the central "religious" plot device that unites a group of people who would otherwise have little to do with each other.  Faith acts as a simple fulcrum to expose incontrovertible feelings of disappointment, rage and lost hope. 

Surface thematic interpretation aside, systemic cultural incertitude surrounding sincere emotion and the fear of complex mortal thoughts outside of the minutia that society is socialized to value and prioritize will likely cause most to ignore Henry Poole’s deeper human themes, which is really a shame as it’s one of the better films thus far in 2008. 

When he is unable to convince homeowners to sell a house he desperately wants, an angry and disconsolate Henry Poole (Luke Wilson) settles for a dilapidated house down the street.  Settling into his routine of getting drunk by himself and eating frozen pizza, Henry is interrupted by an enthusiastic neighbour named Esperanza (Adriana Barazza) who believes a watermark on the side of his house to be the face of Jesus. 

Given that Henry moved to the neighbourhood to be left alone, her bubbling persistence and endless religious prattle is particularly unwelcome and only complicated when he meets the mute daughter (Morgan Lily) of his much more affable neighbour Dawn (Radha Mitchell). 

Through his newly established relationships, Henry is forced to again battle the learned belief that hope and expectation begets pain and disappointment.

It is true that Albert Torres’ script paints subtlety like a 4-year old with an oversized crayon by imbuing central characters with names like "Dawn", "Patience" and Esperanza (which means "Hope") and having them spout dialogue like "Hope won’t save me", but Pellington’s direction of the material is really rather impressive.  He clearly understands despondency and defeat and frames his characters with emotional truth rather than the usual hip and ostentatious vulgarity an emotionally detached audience is accustomed to. 

Moments of stillness and reflection will be interpreted as either dull or moving depending on the expectations and connectivity of the viewer, and as such will likely divide audience appreciation of the film.   Regardless, it would be difficult to ignore the visual cohesion and use of positioning and lighting to reinforce character representation.

Also difficult to ignore is the sheer magnetism of Adriana Barazza who all but steals the show as an almost manically hopeful woman desperate to believe that such an unfair world can have miracles.  There is an energy and complexity in her performance that is both touching and amusing. 

Quite simply, this is a film that boils down human complexity to the basic anxieties that create conflict and has the balls to answer the question "Why?" with "Why not?"  (Seville)

Pineapple Express Movie review: B

Review by Robert Bell (B)

The title, Pineapple Express, refers to a strain of marijuana that is “so rare, that smoking it is like killing a unicorn.”  In fact, if smoked, one might be inclined to look up things on the internet, talk about how hard it is to be cool and watch episodes of 227 (yes, that show with Jackee).  The film - while nothing particularly special - succeeds in making the usually oblique and inaccessible (to those who aren’t under the influence) stoner comedy engaging to a wider (read sober) audience.  While it will surely be appreciated more by potheads, the bizarre logic and chaotic happenings are kept relatively grounded in reality by indie director David Gordon Green’s candid, matter-of-fact technique.

Dale Denton (Seth Rogen) is a 26-year-old pothead who serves subpoena’s for a living and dates a high-school student (Amber Heard) on the cusp of college where, according to Dale, she will forget about him and get into bands like “Godspeed! You Black Emperor” and “The Shins.” 

After a routine visit to his weed dealer Saul (James Franco) to pick up a rare strain of marijuana known as Pineapple Express, Dale witnesses a drug Mafioso (Gary Cole) and a crooked cop (Rosie Perez) killing someone and accidentally leaves a roach at the scene of the crime.  Paranoid and panicking, Dale returns to Saul to find out if this rare weed can be traced back to them. 

The pair quickly learn that their paranoid delusions are very much real when a visit to marijuana middleman Red (Danny R McBride) turns to violence and a pursuit by hired baddies (Kevin Corrigan & Craig Robinson). 

Pineapple Express is a shallow, slight film that really makes no effort to be anything other than a moronic comedy.  Any notions of artistic integrity are thrown out the window somewhere around the third or fourth fellatio and sodomy joke.  Attempting to criticize this point would be silly as the film makes absolutely no effort to say anything profound or life changing; it seeks only to paint an accurate picture of pothead nomenclature and explore astonishing notion of weed-fueled paranoia coming true.  In this capacity, the film succeeds with flying colours.

Like all Apatow produced films, the second half drags with unnecessary padding and glib life lessons, but in relation to his other productions Pineapple finds itself leaning closer to the amusing antics of Superbad and 40-Year-Old Virgin than the less comically successful Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Knocked Up.  Fans of the existing template will be pleased, but others may find the familiarity and initial charm of it waning.  

While over-the-top fight scenes and an absurdist car chase sequence bring a great deal of humour to the film, the real scene stealer is James Franco, whose stupid grins and delayed reactions add the much needed human hilarity that Seth Rogen’s typical performance is lacking.

For a shallow, slight and insipid glance at stoner humour, one could do much worse than Pineapple Express.  It’s sure to incite some laughs and the occasionally absurdist plotline is sure to keep most audience members on their toes and entertained for the majority of the running time.  Anyone looking for something with depth and significance will be disappointed and should probably consider avoiding films about potheads running from serial killers.

Baghead Movie review: B+

Review by Nathan Samdahl (B+)

A surprisingly engaging and well-crafted film, Baghead is a fresh addition to the relatively small pool of films that can be considered horror-comedies.  Despite it being several months since I saw the movie, I can still remember it clearly, which alone speaks volumes about the film’s quality. 

From its description, Baghead could easily fall into the category of a typical horror-slasher film- a group of relatively young people going out to a cabin in the woods to have some fun before eventually being terrorized by a person who wears a bag on his head.  However, in this case, the early-thirties couples are four struggling actors who are attempting to go away for a weekend to write a screenplay with four juicy parts, which will kick-start their careers.  The problem arises when lack of motivation foils their screenwriting endeavor and the half-ass story they came up with begins to come true.   The film’s gritty camcorder visuals and the extremely down-to-earth characters make this one of the most relatable horror films in recent memory.  The characters actually, for the most part, act in the sensible ways that you hope you would follow in similar circumstances.  It also helps that the characters, particularly the two lead males, are hilarious, particularly before they encounter Baghead.

While the characters’ toiling at the cabin is the heart of the movie, the film’s opening sequence at a small theater/club proves to be one of the most hilarious and relatable sequences.  Here both couples go see the performance of one of Matt’s friends, Jett Garner, who is played by none other than Jett Garner.  The performance ends up being some of the awfully pretentious drivel that people force themselves to enjoy in a vain attempt to be cultured.  Thankfully, the directors created four characters that feel the same way the movie audience does about the performance piece, making the sequence an incredibly funny introduction to the characters, particularly when they tell Jett Garner how much they enjoyed the performance.

Baghead is a bit of a slap to the face of all the piss-poor horror films produced for a budget probably ten times that of this film, which really appeared to be shot over the course of a weekend.  Unfortunately, this high quality film does not seem to have much at all in the way of a decent distribution deal.  Understandably, it has no recognizable actors or directors nor does it have the expected glossy visuals, but that clearly was not the plan for this comedy with dramatic and horror elements.  In fact, the story of Baghead seems to pretty closely mirror the production of the film, a story made for four relatively unknown and talented actors to have a breakout role.  If you ever get a chance to see this film, more than likely on DVD, take the time to see it.  Despite the lack of any marketing for the film, Baghead is one of the most entertaining movies so far this year and at a running time under an hour and a half, this is a great film to watch with an antsy group of friends.