BOP 25 of Fall 2005: 20-11
September 9, 2005
20. Roll Bounce
Ah, the late 1970s. A simpler time, a time that celebrated the principles the United States was founded on: innocence, groove and roller-disco. Xavier Smith - X to friends and family - is an urban teen who frequents the local roller-disco. When said roller-disco closes, X and his friends have to venture into the unfamiliar territory of a cross-town roller venue. New challenges and adventures surely await. Bow Wow (can I gripe here? You don't get to come to fame by having "Lil" grafted on to your pre-fabricated name, and then get to drop it when you grow up) stars as X. Mr. Wow came to fame in 2002's Like Mike, but has since only appeared in last year's Johnson Family Vacation. Chi McBride, also seen in Undercover Brother, costars as X's father. The cast also includes Nick Cannon, Mike Epps and Khleo Thomas. Malcolm Lee is one of the few young black film directors working in Hollywood. His first film, 1999's The Best Man, debuted in the #1 spot. Three years later, Lee spawned a cult hit with his screen adaptation of the Internet cartoon Undercover Brother, starring Eddie Griffin, Dave Chappelle and Denise Richards. His earlier works prove that he can handle a large ensemble cast, and knows how to infuse humor and soul into his work.
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19. MirrorMask
The other side of reason. The other side of fate. The other side of truth. That's what the inscrutable trailer promises that movie-goers will discover behind the MirrorMask. The details are sketchy, but it looks oh, so pretty. This project is written by Neil Gaiman. We could stop there because we know you are already sold. Just to cement your interest, MirrorMask's trailer teases one of the most visually stimulating productions in recent memory. This is, of course, to be expected of a film which combines the vision of Gaiman with the talent of The Jim Henson Company. Since this is an original screenplay rather than an adaptation of the author's prior work, we have no idea just what to expect from MirrorMask. This makes us giddy with anticipation to finally see the film's release as the staff is growing weary of speculating. And if MirrorMask is a hit, we are that much closer in our dream to see big screen adaptations of other Gaiman projects such as Neverwhere and Stardust, in addition to the already-announced Coraline and Beowulf. Is Neil Gaiman about to take over Hollywood? Dare to dream, baby.
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18. Three Extremes
A pan-Asian anthology film, this film features three different segments from three different horror directors: Fruit Chan of China, Chan-wook Park of South Korea, and Takashi Miike of Japan, each legends in their own country and emerging cult favourites in North America. Each segment is a chilling tale of some sort, making this something akin to The Twilight Zone Movie, albeit with less Dan Aykroyd. Hong Kong film goddess Bai Ling won the Best Supporting Actress award at the Hong Kong Film Awards for her role in a segment about youth-restoring dumplings with a terrible secret, but that's just one part of this anthology's great pedigree.
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17. The Exorcism of Emily Rose
This has been the worst year for the horror genre in recent memory, if not ever. There have been a ton of atrocious horror titles in 2005, most of which have still done respectable business. So what do we do with a movie that looks fan-freakin-tastic? The film is based on the true story of Anneliese Michel, a young woman in the 1970s who was officially recognized by the Catholic Church as being possessed. A priest who was charged with the task of liberating her body of evil spirits wound up on trial for murder. The Exorcism of Emily Rose draws its plot from this story, though it is set in the present as a fictional retelling of the events in question. This project offers the promise of being the most shocking and unique psychological thriller since The Blair Witch Project. Even better, it harkens back to the halcyon days of the 1970s when The Exorcist was first released and left audience members vomiting in the aisles. In a year of garbage horror film after garbage horror film, BOP hopes to find the proverbial diamond in the rough.
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16. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang
It's difficult to remember now, but throughout the '80s and early '90s, the buddy action-comedy was the meat and potatoes of the movie industry. The genre is still around, of course, but even last year's Bad Boys 2 seemed like a bit of an anachronistic throwback. One of the biggest names of this period was Shane Black, who created the Lethal Weapon series among other action hits. Amazingly, it's taken him this long to get his directorial debut, with this - whaddyaknow - buddy action-comedy about a small-time crook who stumbles into an acting career. While being coached by an LAPD detective on how to be a cop, he also stumbles into a real-life murder mystery. Ironically, it stars two guys who might have been in one of these films back in their heyday, Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer (and what a harmonious set that must have been). Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (a title action fans might recognize as an inside joke about the James Bond franchise) has an intriguing tongue-in-cheek premise and style that may just be what movie fans have been waiting to see return, even if they didn't know it.
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15. The Fog
If there's anything scarier than low-hanging clouds, I'd like to know what it is. Oh, others might try and tell you that axe-wielding maniacs, vampires, or even bunny rabbits are scarier, but you know better, don't you? For sheer terror, a large area of floating water droplets does it for me. So you can only imagine just how interested I might be in this remake of John Carpenter's 1980 film. Horror styles continue to jump around, competing with other styles for dominance over screams, and supernatural horror seems to be having its turn right now. A town's haunted past catches up with it when people start dying under cover of fog for no explainable reason. As the body counts pile up, our blandly attractive young cast has to uncover the mystery of their town and hope to outlast whatever revenge plot from the "other side" is underway. Okay, so it's pretty much like every other supernatural horror film ever made. It's not a genre known for its originality, all right? What makes this film somewhat special is how high-profile the bland young cast is, including Tom Welling of Smallville, Maggie Grace of Lost, and Selma Blair, among others. If you ever wanted to see them in an atmospheric (ha!) horror film, The Fog finally gives you that chance.
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14. Doom
This is a story all post-pubescent computer gamers know. Two guys named John, Carmack and Romero, revolutionized the computer/videogame industry by perfecting a new genre, the first-person shooter. The complicated relationship between the two men soured soon after, but the baby born from their pairing, Doom, is one of the most important games of all time. In the dozen years since then, a movie has been frequently rumored but never came to fruition...until now. The Rock, arguably the most popular action star of the moment, will star in this film. Or will he? Producers have been cagey about the fact that The Bourne Supremacy's badass villain, Karl Urban, gets top billing. He is also rumored to have the larger role in Doom despite the fact that his counterpart is a much more pedigreed box office draw. No matter which one winds up saving the world from Hell-spawned Martians, the film is expected to deliver on the cinematic promise offered from the game itself. For the first time ever, an attempt will be made to offer action sequences from the first-person perspective in order to simulate the thrills and scares from the id Software title. The early buzz is that this effect could become the new bullet time. That's good enough for us.
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13. Lord of War
So, Lord of War is the not-so-friendly Nic Cage midlife-crisis movie of the fall. Here, he plays an international arms dealer who finds the trade getting a little old, the enemies a little too numerous and the deaths he's indirectly responsible for weighing a little too heavy on his conscience. But as you might expect, the arms trade isn't exactly the kind of business you can just walk away from. The film covers his meteoric rise in this dangerous industry and the 20 years leading up to present day, inter-cut with his run from an Interpol agent (played by Ethan Hawke), a Liberian general, and a host of other angry customers. Directed by Andrew Niccol of Gattaca (and... S1m0ne. We're willing to ignore this for now), this could be the intelligent and exciting film about war we've been waiting for ever since Three Kings.
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12. A History of Violence
Director David Cronenberg is long known for making creepy and disturbing films like Crash, Naked Lunch and Dead Ringers. What people forget about him is his commercial side, with hits like The Dead Zone, The Fly and Scanners to his name. His latest film is in that mode and is based on a popular graphic novel. A restaurant owner and family man (played by Viggo Mortensen) becomes a national hero after single-handedly stopping an armed robber in his small town. However, that's when his real trouble begins, as some other shady characters arrive in town, and seem to think that he's a long-lost associate who caused them a bit of trouble some time ago. One of them poses the question of just how he got to be so good at killing people, and you know, he's got a point. The premise reminds us a bit of The Bourne Identity, and it's intriguing to see what Cronenberg might do with one of his best casts in years, including Maria Bello, Ed Harris, and William Hurt. If the film's reception at Cannes is any measure, he's done a fantastic job, and this may be one of Cronenberg's best films ever.
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11. Thumbsucker
A movie that almost certainly aspires to be a cult teen classic à la Donnie Darko and Napoleon Dynamite, Thumbsucker is based on a novel by Walter Kim and features odd roles for such actors as Keanu Reeves and current It-Boy Vince Vaughn. The coming-of-age tale centers on 17-year-old Justin Cobb, a young man who still sucks his thumb. While he realizes that he should stop and that his habit is disruptive to his family and his very identity, the only thing that seems to really help is the advice given him by his "guru" orthodontist (Reeves). However, once Justin begins to delve deep into his own psyche, he realizes that his problems were considerably more deep-seated than he knew. When he turns to a variety of "thumb substitutes", his situation becomes ever more complicated. Thumbsucker's trippy trailer makes it appear to be an intriguing and unique entry on the fall schedule, and we can't wait to judge it for ourselves.
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