DIRECTED BY
Julian Grant

STARRING
Brian Shaw - Yar
Kathleen Lawlor - Janice
Alden Moore - Hak
Almir Limaj - Stabber

Genre - Horror/Zombies/Infected

Running Time - 100 Minutes


PLOT
In a post-apocalyptic world, a virus outbreak has infected much of the human population, turning them into something like cannibalistic zombies. The government is hunting down those infected, killing them in order to solve the problem they probably created.

We follow one infected family headed by Yar (Brian Shaw), who tries to keep his pregnant wife (Alden Moore) and two children safe from being captured and killed. Knowing his family wants some human flesh, he goes hunting, finding a body inside a tent, not realizing that there are radioactive warnings all around the corpse. He lets his family take the corpse for dinner while passing on it and drinking from a liquor bottle the corpse had on him instead.

The next day, Yar finds out that his family are now incredibly sick, to the point that each one of them dies. Yar does manage to save his newborn son by literally extracting him from his wife's corpse. Yar realizes he's his son's only hope for a better future, leaving his family behind and looking for some sort of haven. Along the way, he saves an uninfected woman named Janice (Kathleen Lawlor), who was about to be murdered by two infected humans. Although they both seem untrusting of each other at first, Yar and Janice come to sort of a truce as he lets Janice help him with his son. Will these three be able to start a new family? Or are their fates doomed?

REVIEW

STORY - THE DEFILED is an interesting take on the overused and overexposed zombie film. Presented in an arthouse sort of way, THE DEFILED focuses on the zombie's [or infected person's, in this case] point of the view of the situation rather than a human. Instead of survivors scrambling together to make sure they survive the outbreak while bickering on a good plan, THE DEFILED lets us in on the world of the infected themselves, making us witness what they need to do in order to survive. They communicate like cavemen [losing all intelligent speak], hunt for human flesh, and eat it to survive. They also have to hide from those who created them, knowing that they're hunting them down like dogs. It's an original and fascinating concept that I'm really surprised other filmmakers haven't latched too much on, although some have created more intelligent zombies that interact like humans would [like in DAY OF THE DEAD, FIDO, and LAND OF THE DEAD].

THE DEFILED is also strong due to the fact that it has an infected character teaming up with a healthy human as they go on the run to protect themselves and Yar's newborn. As humans, we know another human is capable of love, protection, and the willingness to sacrifice themselves to save someone we deeply care for. But Yar's portrayal is more profound as, in a lot of ways, lost a lot of his human side due to this disease he's suffering from. His mind and behavior has degenerated into nothing but instinctual knowledge and feelings. He's like an animal in a lot of ways - doing anything to survive while remaining loyal to his family. The fact that Yar still has human feelings of compassion and love for his son is a great character trait and makes the audience support him throughout the film. It also makes his alliance with Janice more effective as even though they're now different, they both have the same feelings for each other and for the baby. It's a great display of showing that two different people, one diseased and the other not, are both the same. This gives the hunters more of a villain feel since they want to destroy this due to being afraid of the outbreak spreading, even though they were probably a part of it or working for those who were.

THE DEFILED also has to contend with the fact that there is no actual dialogue in the film at all. We do have music and the characters do grunt and yell at each other, but no actual words are spoken for 100 minutes. It's a big challenge to keep an audience invested in a story that doesn't involve emoting with words. Instead, the acting has to really make up for this. And while sometimes, dialogue could have helped during duller moments in the film, I appreciate the boldness by Julian Grant to let the visuals do the talking rather than the characters making up the film.

I will say that THE DEFILED did bore me a bit at times, especially after the hour mark where Yar and Janice are walking around to different places that don't really move the story forward. I understand these scenes were kept in to show what society and civilization now looks like due to this horrible outbreak, but the film wouldn't have changed much if taken out. In fact, I feel as if this great concept would have been more effective as a shorter film. With less focus on establishing this world and more focus on the character's journey for salvation in a desolate civilization, THE DEFILED would have gotten better praise from people. But the film does lose its momentum for a while in the second half, although the final act does make up for it somewhat. Still, trimming maybe 25 minutes wouldn't have hurt the film at all.

DIRECTION - Julian Grant does a really excellent job bringing his vision to life. While I already mentioned the uneven pacing with certain dull scenes that could have been edited out, the rest of the visuals work better than one would expect from a film like this. THE DEFILED is shaded with a blue-grey tint to give off a look that was inspired by NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968) and CARNIVAL OF SOULS. It actually gives the make-up work and special effects done for the infected [created by Robert Kurtzman] a more old-school, creepy look that looked pretty convincing of their condition. There is a moment where the film does go into a reddish tint, but it's during a dream or flashback sequence or something. The cinematography and camera work is very nice. The editing is solid, although Grant likes to fade-in and fade-out a lot, which can be a bit distracting and annoying. I would have loved a dissolve every now and then. I do have to give credit to Grant for taking on an ambitious project and making it work for the most part. It'd be interesting to see what he can do with a bigger budget and some dialogue.

EDGE FACTOR - Language is N/A. There is a sex scene, but nothing that's graphic at all. As for the violence, there are gunshots and physical grappling. But it's pretty tame stuff considering the other opinions out there in this very sub-genre.

ACTING - There are really only two main actors in the film. Brian Shaw was excellent as Yar. His role involved a ton of body language and he used it really well to convey every emotion he had to portray without speaking. I thought he carried the film like a champ. Kathleen Lawlor was decent as Janice. She had good moments, but I wished she'd show more expression with her face. She usually had the same face for much of the film. But I thought the two had nice chemistry as they worked well off of each other.

SPECIAL FEATURES - The DVD for THE DEFILED comes with a few features. One is a feature-length commentary track with actors Brian Shaw and Kathleen Lawlor, pretty much giving audiences information about the film's production and discussing their time filming the movie. Other stuff includes "Slide Show", which is a 4-minute slideshow of stills from the film, "Home Movies", which is 2-minute test footage that's not really explained. And of course a trailer for the film itself.

THE FINAL HOWL
THE DEFILED is a film that's high on ambition and meets it for the most part. I still feel that this film would be stronger as a short, as the second half does drag on a bit without dialogue. But the film is unique and interesting enough for me to recommend it to those who want to see something different and more artsy done with the typical zombie film.

SCORE3 Howls Outta 4

DIRECTED BY
Steve Shimek

STARRING
Shalaina Castle - Jordan
Brandon Sean Pearson - Cole
Clare Niederpruem - Alison
Kyle Paul - Will
Tye Nelson - Collin
Luke Drake - Officer Eric Schroeder
Richard Dutcher - Sheriff Ben
Allan Groves - Officer Marcus Larsen

Genre - Horror/Thriller/Slasher/Indie

Running Time - 90 Minutes


I remember that internet meme a couple of years back where you had to guide your mouse through a four-level maze. In each level, the paths would get narrower and narrower to the point where you would have to restart the whole thing when you touched a wall. But if you actually made it to that last level, you would get to the mid-point of the maze until *BAM* - a Pazuzu possessed Regan MacNeil from THE EXORCIST would pop up and scare the daylights out of you. Yes, I screamed like a bitch when she popped up. I'm man enough to admit it.

So why am I writing about that maze again? Because the reaction I got from it was a lot more stimulating than watching 2010's low-budget independent horror/thriller THE MAZE, which takes place in a corn field in the middle of nowhere. While not a terrible film, it won't leave you aMAZEd either. Here's the perfect example of a film that has a great idea, but can't live up to its potential due to several factors that's mostly out of its control.

PLOT
Five friends, who seem to bicker alot, decide to drive in search for a huge maze that's surrounded by rows and columns of corn stalks. Along the way, one of them brings up a story about a guy in a red hoodie stabbing and killing people, who venture through this maze, with scissors. Being the geniuses they are, they decide to head there anyway and check it out. Unfortunately by the time they arrive there, it's night and the maze is closed for the public. Being the geniuses they are, they decide to trespass and play a game of "tag" as they travel through the large maze. What they don't know is that someone wearing a red hoodie is also inside the maze, eager to attack these friends one-by-one.

REVIEW
THE MAZE could have been a pretty great horror/thriller if it had more things going for it, instead of against it. The main culprit is the lack of money to really fund a great premise like a killer in a corn field maze, as the film doesn't show us enough of what we need to see in order to make a movie like this work. The other culprit is a weak script that pretty much derails any potential or momentum THE MAZE needs to make it stand out.

Like I mentioned, the narrative is very weak because it doesn't seem to know what type of film it wants to tell. The first half of the movie is definitely a slasher, with a stalk-and-kill villain chasing after five one-dimensional characters through a corn field. The problem with the whole slasher deal is that it doesn't do what slashers are known for - nudity and graphic violence. No one gets even close to being naked in this film at all. Plus, the violence is pretty tame. There's barely any bloodshed. The kills seem to happen off-screen. And with characters that have no development at all, we need those two distractions to keep audiences invested in finishing the film. And I gotta say that the Final Girl has got to be one of the worst choices for a Final Girl in a slasher film. Not only do we know nothing about her, but she's a total bitch for most of the film. So why should I care about her survival again?

The second half of the film switches modes, becoming a thriller as the killer reveals himself and torments the Final Girl in a twist that I didn't see coming honestly. Unfortunately, I don't understand the twist's purpose because the backstory of the killer is never revealed. We have no idea why he does what he does. We have no idea why he only kills people who enter mazes of corn. We have no idea why he decides to play mind games with the lone survivor instead of killing her and getting it over with. I will say that once the killer is in his civilian clothes and actually speaks, his personality shines right through. In fact, I wanted to see more of the character. But with no clear motivations for his actions, there was definitely a piece of the puzzle missing.

And while the film was disjointed due to the change in genres, I felt the thriller portion of the movie was stronger than the slasher portion. The slasher portion dragged on for way too long, boring me to tears. The characters were very annoying, unlikable, and not even worth the time caring about. The killer should have killed them faster in my opinion. The thriller portion, while not exactly thrilling, was better paced. It went by quick and I liked the characters and acting better as well. Personally, THE MAZE should have been a shorter film, with maybe 15 dedicated to the slasher portion, and 30 minutes to the thriller portion. The film would have been more effective and the small budget would have gone to more things in the production, like maybe better actors and the graphic violence.

Nagging issues: Why would five adults drive for so many hours just to see a maze built with rows of corn husks? And why would they trespass at night, especially knowing that a killer did horrible things there? And when they did see the killer, why didn't they just run through the corn instead of actually trying to find a way out through the maze? I know horror characters are supposed to have smaller I.Q.'s than real life people, but this was pretty ridiculous.

The gore is pretty non-existent, due to the low budget. But we do get slashed throats, stabbings, gunfire, burnings, and even guillotine action. It was a very tame slasher. But I can understand why it wasn't better. With more money, the gore effects could have easily compensated for the unforgivable weak screenwriting and story structure.

The direction by Steve Shimek is more hit than miss. To get the negatives out of the way, Shimek doesn't provide enough tension or scares to satisfy horror and/or thriller audiences. We get the usual jump scares and false starts that most modern horror films rely on when there's no atmosphere to set the creepy mood. Shimek also relies on his score to provide tension and scares, but all they did was take me out of the scene. The music wasn't bad, but it just seemed to be playing during the wrong times at some spots. I also thought the pacing was off, like I mentioned earlier. The disjointing two halves didn't help either. I will say that Shimek does have some decent visual style behind the camera. There were moments in the film where slow motion his use of flashbacks worked well. I also loved the cinematography and composition of the film. It looked very professional for a small budget, with the settings and framing looking quite impressive and stunning at times. I thought the visuals were actually the best part of the film, I have to say. I would like to see what Shimek can do with better screenwriters and a bigger budget.

The acting in the film wasn't all that impressive, but it wasn't totally horrible. I will say the best actor was the killer himself. I won't say the character's name because I don't want to spoil who it is, but I dug his work in the last half of the film. Shalaina Castle was also cool as Jordan, although she annoyed me in the first half of the film.

THINGS I'VE LEARNED WHILE BUTTERING MY CORN

- "No one gets buried alive anymore." Tell that to Bill Pullman or Ryan Reynolds. I think they'd disagree with you...

- One of the characters had trouble lighting her cigarettes anytime she needs a smoke. No wonder she's single - she has no idea how to turn on things that are in her mouth.

- One of the characters got strangled to death. That's what happens when you get roped into doing a stupid maze.

- Don't bring a shotgun to a dangerous corn field. Corn will be the last thing getting popped.

- Don't get yourself trapped in a maze that has an Alice In Wonderland motif and a killer dressed in red. Once he gets his hands on you, it'll be off with your head!

THE FINAL HOWL
THE MAZE is a disappointing, mediocre low-budget horror film that could have been better if there was more money involved and if the screenplay was written better [I can forgive the budget, I can't forgive lazy writing for low or big budget films]. Still, we don't get a lot of horror films involving creepy corn fields. THE MAZE is a decent rental if you're into indie horror. Otherwise, I wouldn't bother. You wouldn't be missing a thing if you don't journey through this MAZE.

SCORE
2 Howls Outta 4

With the nominations for the 20^th Annual Gotham Independent Film Awards announced today, many agree that the 2010 awards season is now officially underway. For those unfamiliar with the Gotham Awards, it is a ceremony hosted each year in New York City (which was nicknamed “Gotham” years ago by Washington Irving) to honor the makers of independent films. They are part of the Independent Feature Project (IFP) which is said to boast the largest membership organization in the United States dedicated to independent cinema.

Click here to see the nominations

DIRECTED BY
Christian Alvart

STARRING
Renee Zellweger - Emily Jenkins
Jodelle Ferland - Lilith Sullivan
Ian McShane - Detective Mike Barron
Bradley Cooper - Douglas Ames
Callum Keith Rennie - Edward Sullivan
Kerry O'Malley - Magaret Sullivan

Genre - Horror/Thriller/Suspense/Supernatural/Evil Kids

Running Time - 109 Minutes


It must be difficult working as a social worker in a child protective services position. It can't be fun dealing with issues of child abuse, neglect, and foster care. Lately, these workers have been giving a bad rep, due to certain cases where they have failed to notice the signs of child abuse before it was too late [Nixmary Brown being the infamous one recently]. A lot of people have lost faith in these workers due to their actions [or lack thereof].

So it's no surprise that CASE 39 treats the social worker characters as incompetent and naive individuals. It's not because they don't notice children being abused. It's because they're fooled by a little girl who acts innocent, but is anything but. Unfortunately, I can't be fooled in believing this film is worth a movie ticket price this weekend when it's a rental at most. Let's open up this file and see why CASE 39 is nothing more than a mediocre "evil kid" flick.

PLOT
A child social worker named Emily Jenkins (Renee Zellweger) looks into the case of Lilith Sullivan (Jodelle Ferland), a 10-year-old girl whose parents (Callum Keith Rennie and Kerry O'Malley) don't seem quite right mentally and emotionally when it comes to Lilith. Emily believes that Lilith is being abused, but can't seem to prove it or get her supervisor to back her up without evidence. One night, Emily receives a phone call from Lilith who urgently cries for her help. Emily and her police friend Mike Barron (Ian McShane) rush over to find Lilith's parents trying to bake her in their oven. Lilith's parents are arrested and Lilith is placed in the foster care system.

After finding a family for Lilith, Lilith begs for Emily to take care of her. After some hesitation, Emily can't refuse and has temporary custody of her. Even though things start out well, things eventually get worse when people in Emily's life start dying. Emily finds out that the victims received phone calls from her home, making her suspect that Lilith is behind the murders.

REVIEW
CASE 39 is one of those films that has a lot of potential but fails to live up to it for various reasons. What could have been something more ends up being nothing but your predictable and mediocre "evil kid" film, a trend that started in 1956's THE BAD SEED until most recently in 2009's ORPHAN. ORPHAN sticks out in the sub-genre because it had a twist no one saw coming - a twist that actually made sense and worked for the film's benefit. CASE 39 is more of a supernatural story, putting it in the same territory as 1973's THE EXORCIST and 1976's THE OMEN. Yes, Lilith is demonic and uses her victim's fears to cause them harm. We've seen films like this before and honestly, I have no problem with that the fact that it takes a pretty predictable route. After all, originality is hard to come by these days. But the filmmakers behind CASE 39 don't do anything to really make the film stand out, making it nothing really special.

The screenplay by Ray Wright, who wrote the English-language remake of 2006's PULSE and the remake of THE CRAZIES (2010), writes a pretty standard and predictable story. I feel bad for CASE 39 because while it was released in Europe last year before ORPHAN, it'll end up being remembered as a film that waited two years to be released in North America [a whole year after ORPHAN was released here]. CASE 39 really needed an interesting twist to make it live up to ORPHAN's twist. Unfortunately, the only explanation we get about Lilith is that she was born without a soul. Nothing more, nothing less. There's nothing about her being a demon. There's nothing about what her motivations are or how she ended up in the system to begin with. It's almost as if Wright forgot to give viewers an explanation for Lilith's actions and just stuck one on her at the last minute. It's even worse in that Lilith's powers of using people's fears against them to the point that they die is extremely interesting. But no one does any research or even tries to decipher who or what Lilith is until the very end, which by that point is way too late. I think if more thought was placed on Lilith's supernatural abilities, CASE 39 would have been a stronger and way more effective film. Instead, it just feels like the same old, same old.

Plus, what was the issue with phone calls? You're telling me a demon needs to call someone first before they can do bad things to them? It's like ONE MISSED CALL all over again, and I don't need those kind of bad memories resurfacing! I just thought it was really silly and it's purpose is never explained. It could have been creepy if something was done with this subplot.

And the ending is just ridiculous. I won't spoil it, but all I could ask myself was "That was it? All that build up for THAT??" Not only can you see it coming, but it's illogical and not executed well at all. The finale is very lame.

That's not to say that Wright writes a horrible script. As a matter of fact, it's not all that bad. It's just not all that memorable either. The film has a decent structure. While it could have used more character development, at least there is some. And the dialogue isn't terrible either. In fact, I enjoyed the fact that we sympathize with Lilith in the first half of the film where she plays victim, creating a jarring effect when her true colors begin to appear. And I also thought it was ironic that the child social workers who did good deeds were the ones being punished. It was almost as if Wright really had a dislike for these workers because not even the good ones escaped unscathed. I know a lot of people lost respect for child social workers in the past few years. If Wright had done more with that, CASE 39 could have probably been a more inspired and interesting movie.

The direction by German-born director Christian Alvart, who directed ANTIBODIES (2005) and PANDORUM (2009) is actually pretty good. It has a subtle mood and creepy atmosphere at times, and the film looks quite polished. Maybe a bit too polished. I do think Alvart took a weak script and tried to compensate for it with a balance of visceral visuals and psychological themes. A scene where Lilith turns Doug's words around on him during a counseling session is pretty chilling at times. There's another moment where Emily is stuck inside an elevator that quickly plummets but ends up being nothing but an illusion that ends up being visually stimulating. I also think my favorite moment is where Emily locks herself in a room and something suddenly bangs on her door, smashing the hinges and throwing the furniture barricading the door to the side. We expect this vicious monster to appear, but it's just normal Lilith smiling at Emily and wondering why she's hiding under a bed. More moments like this could have been done because they really worked. But the studio had Alvart by the balls and he had to play by the rules. But I'm sure if he had his way, the visuals for CASE 39 would have made an uninspired script more inspired. By the way, CASE 39 does use CGI to reveal Lilith's demonic appearance, as well as for some of the murder sequences [in particular one dealing with a swarm of hornets]. Let's just say it probably would have been better if it was more implied rather than seen.

The acting is decent. Renee Zellweger was okay, I guess. She's never really impressed me as an actress and CASE 39 doesn't change that. She does manage to carry a level of empathy and terror that makes the character work for most of the film. But I do think a much better actress would have brought out more in the character. Still, Zellweger has come a long way from 1994's THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: THE NEXT GENERATION. Bradley Cooper and Ian McShane do well in their extended cameo roles. Cooper had the best fear sequence and McShane took a nothing role and gave it some depth. I wish they were in the film more. The star here is Jodelle Ferland as Lilith. She's cute and creepy at the same time. I thought she did a nice job giving subtlety to a menacing role.

THINGS I'VE LEARNED WHILE KEEPING MY FEARS TO MYSELF

- As a social worker, Emily is in charge of a lot of cases. That's quite a COLD MOUNTAIN of paperwork to look through.

- Lilith's parents tried to bake her in an oven. I knew their traumatic childhood episode would turn Hansel and Gretel into murderers! And aren't Hansel and Gretel brother and sister? Ew....

- A child murdered his parents with a hatchet as they slept. If they refused his request for an increased allowance, then they were probably axe-ing for it.

- Lilith threatened Doug during their therapy session. She must have seen ALL ABOUT STEVE. It's understandable.

- Doug constantly had hornets coming out of his ears, eyes, nose, and mouth. Now I see why some of the women and men consider him the Bee's Knees.

- Lilith knew she wanted to destroy Emily's life once she saw that Emily was a good person and cared about her. She had her at hello. She had her at hello!

- Don't piss off Lilith in an elevator. She'll probably give you the shaft. Literally.

- Lilith's father, under delusions, murdered his Asian cellmate. What a bastard! If anyone was going to create a foolproof escape plan, it would have been him!

- A vicious dog murdered one of the characters. You'd think the dog would be happy after the Asian was killed!

THE FINAL HOWL
CASE 39 isn't a horrible film, but it's not a movie you'll end up remembering or talking about much once it's over. It had the potential to be something good, yet it comes off as lazy at times and overly predictable. Still, it has decent direction and acting so it may be worth your time if you're into this kind of movie. I wouldn't spend money on a movie ticket for CASE 39, but it's not bad for a rental when the DVD is released.

SCORE
2 Howls Outta 4

DIRECTED BY
Paul W.S. Anderson

STARRING
Milla Jovovich - Alice
Ali Larter - Claire Redfield
Kim Coates - Bennett
Shawn Roberts - Albert Wesker
Sergio Peris-Mencheta - Angel Ortiz
Spencer Locke - K-Mart
Boris Kodjoe - Luther West
Wentworth Miller - Chris Redfield
Sienna Guillory - Jill Valentine

Genre - Horror/Science Fiction/Action/Zombies/Video Games

Running Time - 97 Minutes


With its fourth film out this weekend, RESIDENT EVIL has officially become the most successful video game franchise of all time. Who knew in 2002 that this video game adaptation would still be talked about, in good and in bad, would spawn a motion picture quadrology? The film really wasn't all that good and left a lot to be desired. It probably didn't deserve as many sequels as its gotten. Yet, here I am again discussing another RESIDENT EVIL flick, this time titled AFTERLIFE.

RESIDENT EVIL: AFTERLIFE is a sort of rebirth of sorts for the franchise. For one, it has brought the original director [and Milla Jovovich's husband/baby daddy] Paul W.S. Anderson back to direct and write. It also brings back the more claustrophobic feel of the first film where interior shots take precedence over exterior shots. And it also adds more Resident Evil game characters than ever before, with Chris and Claire Redfield, Jill Valentine, the Executioner Majini from Resident Evil 5, and one of the coolest villains, Albert Wesker, all appearing in one film [Leon Kennedy will probably be in the next film at this rate]. But the biggest addition of all is the 3D elements that seems to become the popular thing to do these days, for better or for worse.

If you've read my three previous RESIDENT EVIL reviews, you know I'm not the biggest fan of this franchise. I love the games but the films just make me scratch my head. Still, I find some enjoyment in them and I can see why people love these films so much. I wasn't really eager to see RE: AFTERLIFE. But I felt I had to complete this franchise before my sanity returned and warned me to stay away.

My only wish for the film was that it was better than that stinker, RESIDENT EVIL: EXTINCTION. And thankfully, my wish came true. RE: AFTERLIFE is definitely better than its previous installment. Still, the same problems linger and show why this franchise has gone longer than it probably should have.

PLOT
Continuing four years after EXTINCTION, Alice (Milla Jovovich) and her countless clones have infiltrated the Umbrella Corporation building in Tokyo, Japan. They murder everything in sight, going after Umbrella's head honcho, Albert Wesker (Shawn Roberts). Wesker is one step ahead of Alice, murdering all of the clones in a massive explosion and escaping in a bulletproof plane. Predictably, the real Alice is already boarded on the plane to stop Wesker. Unfortunately, she's too busy getting one-liners in that she is vulnerable to Wesker injecting her with a new Umbrella serum that strips Alice completely of her superpowers, making her fully human. The plane crashes, but both manage to survive.

Six months later, Alice finally arrives at Alaska to find Arcadia, the haven where the non-infected are staying at. But Alice quickly realizes that there is no Arcadia in Alaska. Soon after, she reunites with Claire Redfield (Ali Larter), who has a spider device on her chest [created by Umbrella] to wipe her away of her memories and control her. Alice removes the device, taking Claire and herself to Los Angeles - now overrun by zombies [or paparazzi, what's the difference?]. They land on top of a building where they meet with more survivors: basketball player Luther West (Boris Kudjoe), TV producer Bennett (Kim Coates), actress Crystal (Kacey Barnfield), and Chris Redfield (Wentworth Miller) who happens to be a cop and also Claire's older brother. The survivors point Alice and Claire towards the real Arcadia, which is a ship in the Pacific Ocean. But before the survivors can get there, they must encounter zombies, Genados infected with the Los Pragas parasite, The Executioner Majini, and a superpowered Albert Wesker himself.

REVIEW
RESIDENT EVIL: AFTERLIFE is pretty much the same as the three previous installments. We get the usual lack of logical story. We get the wooden acting from everyone involved. We get decent amount of action. And the direction is what it is. The only difference is that Paul W.S. Anderson actually filmed the film in James Cameron's 3D Fusion Camera System, the same technique used to film AVATAR. And to be honest, this film would be a waste of time without the 3D thrown in. While not great, it does help the experience in watching RE: AFTERLIFE.

To discuss the lack of story and character development would be pretty much pointless. This franchise isn't known for deep, fascinating stories and their interesting and colorful characters. And RE: AFTERLIFE doesn't change that. I should be overlooking this aspect of the movie and praising it for at least being consistent in its "storytelling", but that wouldn't be fair as a reviewer to do that. I could ignore the lazy screenplay if other things in the film compensated for it. But there isn't enough action, visual style, or great acting for me to do that.

The fact is, we're in a fourth film in this franchise and we still have NO idea who Alice is. I will praise Anderson for stripping away her powers, which I had issues with for a while now. It actually makes Alice vulnerable now and gives her a new dimension to her character. Well it should have if he had allowed Alice to deal with the fact that she doesn't have an advantage over Umbrella anymore. But we never get a scene like that. In fact, it's like Alice hasn't changed except that she doesn't use her psychic powers anymore. She survives plane crashes, battles with The Executioner Majini and Wesker, and swinging away from zombies as if her powers never left. It wasn't a really effective plot point at all, even though it was the right move to make.

And then we have the other characters, whose only character development are their names and occupations. The newer characters didn't bother me much anyway because they were zombie food anyway. But Claire still doesn't feel like Claire. And Chris is as bland as they come. And even though the two are siblings, they hardly talk to each other or share scenes together. Some backstory for these characters would be nice. Just throw your fans a bone here!

And Wesker is okay, but he doesn't do enough to really effect you as this major villain. He's an awesome character in the video game franchise, who has a long history with Umbrella and S.T.A.R.S. In the film, he's treated as an Agent Smith ripoff from THE MATRIX. The character deserved better, even though I didn't hate the portrayal all that much. He should have been in the film more to really matter.

I will say that the narrative is a lot simplier now, and it doesn't have many subplots that distract the flow of the film. We clearly understand the goals of the characters and it's followed through pretty much. There's no more experimenting on clones. There's no more moments of Alice's eyes changing to reflect her new powers. It's pretty much kept as a small group of survivors trying to make to a place where they live safely without infection. The story felt closer to tone to the first RESIDENT EVIL, which was kind of refreshing.

I will praise RE: AFTERLIFE for having the best action in the franchise so far. The opening sequence with the Alice clones is pretty cool and ties up that sub-plot as best as Anderson could write it with his capabilities. The ending with Wesker is more of a skirmish than an actual battle, but it was cool to see the Wesker from the video games using his superpowers on Alice and the gang. The best action sequence was the one with the Executioner Majini. That dude is intimidating in Resident Evil 5 and he was pretty imtimidating here as well. I wish they had explained who he was or where he came from, but this is a RESIDENT EVIL film we're talking about. They just supply questions, not answers. Still, I thought the action was handled well for the most part and kept me from being bored, although the dead spots were pretty obvious as the film went along.

The direction by Paul W.S. Anderson is a mixed bag. The pacing is off at times due to the fact that we get massive amounts of action, then a period where characters just talk and walk around, followed by more action, followed by talking and walking, and etc. This wouldn't have been an issue if the talking and walking was shot in a more interesting manner. Also, Anderson loves his MATRIX-like slow motion filmmaking, to the point where it started to annoy me after a while. I don't think this was more worse than during the fight between Alice/Claire vs. The Executioner Majini. There was times during that sequence where I actually felt a bit of tension and suspense, but then Anderson ruins it by filming portions in slow motion. It just ruined everything! Without the slow motion, this fight would have been pretty awesome for a RESIDENT EVIL movie. But it completely takes you out of it. And the way it was framed as well was just awkward. You have to see it to understand. Other than that, the film looks good. The editing was tight. And the 3D, while not the greatest I've seen, is actually very well done. You get a bunch of things flying at you, like weapons, blood, brain matter, and other stuff. I thought a lot of it was very cool and it definitely made the viewing experience a lot better than it probably should have been.

The acting in RE: AFTERLIFE is pretty bad. Milla Jovovich is still bland as Alice, although I will say that this is her best acting performance as the character since the first one. She still does action very well and she was emoting a bit more at times, which was nice to see. I think she was more game for this one since her husband was the director. But I didn't mind Jovovich at all. Ali Larter, on the other hand, is no Claire Redfield. She's a better actress than this but she's just wooden as hell here. I have to blame Anderson for not bringing out more from her, but it wasn't a great performance at all. Wentworth Miller is just as bland as Chris. He tries to be this badass but just comes off looking bad. He doesn't get to do much either. Shawn Roberts was also wooden as Wesker, but he had his moments. And Boris Kudjoe as Luther West was okay as well. He seemed to be more into the film than the other actors.

And stay after the end credits to see a familiar face return to the movie franchise. From the looks of it, I'm kind of interested in the next installment. I can't believe I just wrote that...

THINGS I'VE LEARNED WHILE THROWING THESE WORDS TOWARDS YOUR COMPUTER SCREEN

- Always walk away from a hot girl standing in the rain for no reason. She's probably a zombie. Or thinks she's participating in a wet T-shirt contest. Dead and stupid - not exactly an attractive combination.

- Don't ask Wesker questions. He'll just shoot you in the head. Or make you watch him in DIARY OF THE DEAD. No one deserves either fate.

- Even though she was stripped of her powers, Alice still managed to survive a plane crash without much injury. If only John Denver had his DNA manipulated by Umbrella...

What? Too soon?

- Alice arrived in Alaska, disappointed to find out that Arcadia wasn't there. Well, Arcadia hasn't been around since the mid-80s. She should have known that the members are back in Duran Duran now.

- Chris Redfield was locked inside a cage, saying he knew the way out towards Arcadia. Well if anyone knows how to break out of prisons, it's this guy.

- Alice and Claire took care of the Executioner Majini. The only thing better would have been receiving an achievement or a trophy for 50 GS for sitting through it.

THE FINAL HOWL
If you're a fan of the RESIDENT EVIL movie franchise, then you'll enjoy RESIDENT EVIL: AFTERLIFE. If you're not a fan, then stay far away. I'm in the middle when it comes to these films. I enjoy them as mindless entertainment, but it's becoming obvious this franchise needs to end sooner than later. Still, it's an improvement over EXTINCTION and I can't say I wasn't entertained. RESIDENT EVIL: AFTERLIFE is a film I wouldn't mind watching on DVD or cable every once in a while. But I wouldn't spend 18 dollars to see this in a theater, even if the 3D helps the film a decent deal. No movie is worth that much, especially this one. But it was better than I was expecting it to be and I'm pretty satisfied by that.

SCORE
1.5 Howls Outta 4

DIRECTED BY
Ethan Maniquis
Robert Rodriguez

STARRING
Danny Trejo - Machete
Robert De Niro - Senator McLaughlin
Jessica Alba - Sartana
Steven Seagal - Torrez
Michelle Rodriguez - Luz
Jeff Fahey - Booth
Cheech Marin - Padre Benito Del Toro
Don Johnson - Lt. Stillman
Shea Whigham - Sniper
Lindsay Lohan - April

Genre - Action/Exploitation

Running Time - 105 Minutes


In 2007, Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino [among other filmmakers] came together for GRINDHOUSE, a three-hour tribute to "grindhouse" cinema of the 1970s. Creating a solid double feature in PLANET TERROR and DEATH PROOF, the experience was fantastic. Unfortunately, the mainstream audience wasn't sold on this idea and GRINDHOUSE did poorly at the box office, only finding its true cult audience with the home video market. Sandwiching the two films were a bunch of faux-trailers to complete the grindhouse experience. One of these trailers was for a film called MACHETE, a character played by Danny Trejo in all three SPY KIDS films. It was shot exploitation style, with classic narration that stated that "They've fucked with the wrong Mexican!" The trailer was a hit - so much in fact that MACHETE was actually made into a real full-length film.

Three years later, MACHETE was finally released to pretty decent success at the box office. Surprising since it's an exploitation film through and through - a genre not really appreciated by the mainstream audience. But with the co-direction of Robert Rodriguez and the diversity of stars that jumped on board, there was no doubt people were going to get curious about MACHETE.

The real question is whether the actual film matches up to the hype of the trailer? Well while I think the trailer is brilliant and the film doesn't completely live up to it, MACHETE is still a solid film that probably should've been made in this modern era of cinema. Yet it's here, and I'm very happy that it was made because MACHETE is an entertaining movie from start to finish.

PLOT
Machete (Danny Trejo) is an ex-Federale whose wife and daughter are slain by an evil drug lord named Torrez (Steven Seagal). Years later and trying to pick up the pieces of his life, Machete is picking up jobs to make ends meet, including one near a taco stand run by Luz (Michelle Rodriguez) - who is in charge of The Network, which helps immigrants get jobs. One day, Machete is hired by Booth (Jeff Fahey), who wants him to assassinate Senator McLaughlin (Robert De Niro), a man who is anti-immigration and is losing in the polls for the next election. Machete takes the job, but realizes he's nothing but a mark in a set-up as Machete is double-crossed and is blamed for the attempted hit [which boosts McLaughlin's poll ratings]. Confronted by an ICE agent named Sartana (Jessica Alba), who realizes that Machete is a victim, she helps Machete get revenge on those who fucked with the wrong Mexican(s).

REVIEW
MACHETE is a great homage to the exploitation era of cinema. It has massive amounts of violence. There's a definite sex factor. The dialogue is pretty corny. And the story is very simple and straightforward, even though the message behind it is very calculated. MACHETE could have been a mess of a film if an incapable director was behind it. But Robert Rodriguez lives and breathes exploitation, which helps him find the balance between what works and what doesn't.

The screenplay by Rodriguez and his cousin Alvaro Rodriguez is self-aware of itself and uses it to its advantage. MACHETE is an absurd film and has no problem showing how proud it is of that fact. We have naked women who hide telephones in their vaginas like it was a natural act. We have men taking intestines and using them as means of escape. We have religious figures using God's name in vain and killing others without caring about the consequences. We have politicans being politically incorrect about immigration as if that sort of thing is accepted by the mainstream. We also have men hunting Mexicans for sport! All these moments are so damn ridiculous that they shouldn't work in a film's favor. But both Rodriguez cousins use the irony to create a surreal, yet entertaining film that knows these moments are ridiculous. MACHETE is not a subtle movie in terms of what it presents, which is exactly what an exploitation film should be.

The main subplot that glues MACHETE together is the immigration theme that's presented through multiple point of views. A lot of reviewers seemed to have an issue with this. This isn't because of the issue itself. I mean, the whole immigration debate is probably one of the leading news topics we're currently dealing with as a society. I'm surprised more films HAVEN'T used the topic as a starting point for a story. And I'm not going to sugarcoat it: MACHETE is definitely pro-immigration. After all, we sympathize more with the Mexican immigrants than we do with the "gringos" with political or financial power. I do think some scenes that focus on the issue do take away a bit of the exploitative feel of MACHETE. But it's never really forceful about whether immigration is a good thing or a bad thing. It never tries to push a social platform on its audience. The filmmakers have an opinion and decided to use that opinion in an exploitative way to entertain the audience. I honestly didn't have a problem with the social commentary of the movie. I think it actually enhanced some of it. Did it halt the flow a bit? Absolutely. But it never took center stage, which was refreshing.

My other issue about MACHETE would be the fact that the title character himself almost feels second-fiddle at times. I mean, it's hard to juggle so many intriguing characters in an 105 minute movie. I thought each character had a place in the story and were used appropriately in the story. But the film should have been more about Machete getting revenge on Torrez and Booth, and sometimes the film gets sidetracked from that. But it doesn't happen all that often, which is a plus.

The dialogue itself is instantly cheesy as hell, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Sartana's speech about the border is very hokey and would have been more effective if performed by a more capable actress. But lines like "Machete doesn't text," and Padre Benito Del Toro telling Machete, "I absolve you of all your sins. Now, get the fuck out!" are instantly classic. There's a lot of humor here at the expense of everyone. Americans, Mexicans, religion, politics, the life of a certain actress - nothing and no one is immune to ridicule here.

The gore in MACHETE is off the charts awesome! I kept ooh-ing and ahh-ing everytime someone got murdered. We see heads get cut off, limbs get cut off, gunfire, stabbing, intestines pulled out of bodies, blades through the skull, eyes getting shot, corkscrews through the head, and even a crucifixion scene. This film does not hold back on the violence and I appreciated that to no end. And these moments weren't even disgusting. They were more funny than anything. That's why it works so well.

The direction by Robert Rodriguez and Ethan Maniquis is solid. The film moves at a great pace. The editing is tight. The fight choreography is shot perfectly. I loved the grittier look of the film. It would have fit right in with PLANET TERROR and DEATH PROOF three years ago. Rodriguez and Maniquis are having fun bringing their idea to life, and the audience has fun along with them. I think Rodriguez is a fantastic director who can make incredible movies with shoestring budgets and blockbuster budgets. The man can do no wrong as far as I'm concerned. This movie may be silly, but it has a big heart. If anyone can bring exploitation back in the modern era, it's Robert Rodriguez [and Quentin Tarantino right along with him].

The acting in MACHETE is great for the most part. Danny Trejo, at 66 years old, finally gets a leading role and proves why it should have happened years ago. The man is a presence on screen, making Machete a true bad ass without a sweat. Trejo acts with his eyes, as he has barely any dialogue in the film. You can tell what his character is feeling just by looking at his eyes. That's the sign of a great actor. I don't think he should be leading a lot of movies, but given the right project, why not? He carries the film well and kicks ass too.

Robert De Niro seems to be having fun as the politically incorrect Senator McLaughlin. He's not in the film as much as one thinks, but he looks more motivated on film than I have seen from him in years. And I loved the TAXI DRIVER homage towards the end. Nice to see him make fun of himself like that. Same goes to Lindsay Lohan, who actually surprised me in her short role. It was obvious her April character was a parody of her real life, from the drug addiction, to using sexuality to gain attention, and to filming herself because the public wants to see more of her. I found her to be sympathetic and thought she did a good job. Let's hope this is a comeback for her. I still think she can do great things in cinema.

Michelle Rodriguez was cool as Luz. She was tough and sexy, but it wasn't forced like in some of her other films. It was a more naturalistic performance. It was refreshing to see and I enjoyed her alot. Jessica Alba is okay as Sartana. I thought she was miscast in the role of an ICE agent, to be honest. But she's eye candy, which the exploitation genre used a lot of their actresses for. So it works for me. Cheech Marin was hysterical as the priest. He had the best lines. Steven Seagal surprised me and made a captivating villain. It was nice to see him being part of the joke, since he tends to take himself way too seriously. Don Johnson hammed it up every chance he got and I loved it. And Jeff Fahey rocked it as the two-faced Booth. I think he's extremely underrated and should be in more films - better films. Just a solid cast all in all.

THINGS I'VE LEARNED WHILE MAKING SURE WHEN I HIRE TO KILL THE BAD GUY, THAT THE BAD GUY ISN'T ME

- A naked chick had a phone stuck up her vagina. It's the only time the "vibrate" option is preferable.

- Don Johnson doesn't like it when people step on his land. When you burn Nash Bridges with the guy, there's no turning back.

- Lindsay Lohan plays a drug addict. When did an exploitation film because a sad documentary of a troubled starlet's life?

- The Babysitter Twins play a couple of attentive nurses. Um, there's a porn movie in here somewhere, right?

- Michelle Rodriguez was seduced under the sheets by Danny Trejo. I don't know if his 66-year-old heart can take how FAST AND FURIOUS she is!

- Don't confess your impure thoughts and sins to your priest. He'll keep an inciminating file on your ass, causing your future to go UP IN SMOKE.

- Robert De Niro shot someone, stole a taxi, and drove away in it. If Jodie Forster and Cybil Shepard were around, I would have asked Robert Rodriguez whether he was talking to me. Who the hell else would he be talking...he talking to me? Well I'm the only one here!

THE FINAL HOWL
MACHETE is a great film that's well-made in the style of badly made films. Great action. Great characters. Great exploitation screenwriting. Great direction. And a cast of actors that you'll probably never see together in a movie ever again. It's not a perfect film and it may not have lived up totally to the hype around it, but MACHETE is worth the price of admission if you're looking for a entertaining movie that never tricks its audience in trying to be something it's not. Now if we can finally get that THANKSGIVING movie rolling, I'll be a very happy Wolf.

SCORE
3.5 Howls Outta 4

DIRECTED BY
Floria Sigismondi

STARRING
Kristen Stewart - Joan Jett
Dakota Fanning - Cherie Currie
Michael Shannon - Kim Fowley
Scout-Taylor Compton - Lita Ford
Stella Maeve - Sandy West
Alia Shawkat - Robin
Riley Keough - Marie Currie
Johnny Lewis - Scottie

Genre - Drama/Music/Biopic

Running Time - 107 Minutes

Score - 3 Howls Outta 4


For a long time, rock 'n' roll music was a male dominated genre led by acts such as Elvis Presley, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and so on. However in 1975, eccentric record producer Kim Fowley gathered five young girls to form one of the first all-female rock bands, The Runaways. Even though they broke up in 1979, the band influenced a lot of other all-female bands, such as The Go-Gos and The Bangles. Not only that, but two of its members, lead guitarist Lita Ford and rhythm guitarist Joan Jett, achieved great solo success in the rock world.

Cherie Currie, the lead singer for The Runaways and the inspiration for their biggest song, "Cherry Bomb", would write a memoir called Neon Angel, about her hard life growing up, her time in The Runaways, and the massive substance abuse that pretty much ruined her career. Joan Jett, feeling it was time for The Runaways story to be told, decided to produce a film adaptation based on Neon Angel. Starring TWILIGHT's Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning, THE RUNAWAYS was released in early 2010 to decent critical acclaim but not much commercial success.

It wasn't due to lack of interest, since rhythm games such as Rock Band and now Guitar Hero are now bringing their music to younger fans. It was probably because if you've seen one biopic about a rock band, you've pretty much seen them all. At least THE RUNAWAYS has some great performances in its leads and in Michael Shannon, making it worth a look above most of the others.

PLOT
1975, Joan Jett (Kristen Stewart) and Cherie Currie (Dakota Fanning) are two teenage misfits with dreams of rock 'n' roll. Cherie loves David Bowie and is considered an outsider because of it, especially during a talent show where she lip-syncs to Bowie and even dresses like him, to the crowd's disinterest and ridicule [in one of the film's best moments]. Joan, at the same time, wants to start her own band but keeps getting shot down because "girls don't play electric guitars" and she needs to act and dress more feminine.

At a night club one night, Joan meets up with record producer Kim Fowley (Michael Shannon) to help her build an all-girl rock band. While gathering four members, including Lita Ford (Scout Taylor-Compton), Sandy West (Stella Maeve), and the fictional Robin (Alia Shawkat), Fowley realizes they're missing a singer that looks like Bridgette Bardot. This leads to Joan and Fowley finding Cherie, seeing that she has the sex appeal the band needs to get noticed. Wanting to get away from her neglectful mother (Tatum O'Neal) and her alcoholic father (Brett Cullen), Cherie agrees to join the band.

Fowley begins to give the girls a boot camp in rock 'n' roll. He tells them that they need to act and think like men, as well as indulge in the lifestyle such as drugs, sex, and alcohol. While the members follow the advice, Cherie indulges a bit too much and becomes a victim of her own dreams. The Runaways' fame is rapid [especially in Japan] and their self-destruction is even quicker. But the one thing that didn't get destroyed is the relationship between Joan and Cherie, whose friendship is passionate in more ways than one.

REVIEW
I'm glad a movie about THE RUNAWAYS was made because not many younger rock fans know about this band, even though "Cherry Bomb" is a very popular rock/punk song from the 1970s. And yes, the narrative to this film is your pretty standard biopic. We see our characters as struggling unknowns. We see them get together to form the foundation for the band. We watch them gain fame and fortune. We watch how drugs, sex, and fame can turn into negative influences, both personally and professionally. And then we see the eventual breakdown of the band and the aftermath they left behind. Some reviewers I read for this film called this structure "lazy". I don't because that's how all biopics should go. It's the law of the land.

THE RUNAWAYS does do things that make it stand out from other biopics of this kind. For one, it begins with a shot of menstrual blood dripping down Cherie's leg onto the pavement as she gets her first period. What other film can say that? Also, the fact that we're following a band of young girls trying to succeed in a world dominated by men is actually quite interesting and makes the film sort of a social study in gender roles. And we get a lot of that in this film. Kim Fowley, the band's own producer, criticizes the fact that they play like women and sing like women. He wants them to play like men and think with their cocks. On the road, the girls must deal with a male rock band [who are supposedly the band Rush] who don't believe that girls have any place in rock 'n' roll. Joan retaliates by peeing on their guitars. To keep up with the lifestyle, they indulge in alcohol and drugs. And when Cherie becomes the face of the band due to her jailbait looks and not for the music, the band resents her. Unfortunately, the theme doesn't go much further than it does on the surface. But it would have made for an interesting case study if the screenplay was a bit deeper.

In fact, the film plays with the idea of sexuality. We have Cherie getting her period in the first shot. We have Cherie gaining confidence, becoming sort of this shy girl into this growling sex kitten that wears provocative outfits on stage. Joan teaches Sandy West how to masturbate in the shower. Cherie, underage, sleeps with the much older roadie. And Joan and Cherie even share their own intimacy, making out and probably even having sex with each other. It's kind of fascinating and slightly uncomfortable to watch at the same time.

The main focus of the story, however, is the relationship between Joan Jett and Cherie Currie. I actually enjoyed the fact that Joan Jett was portrayed as very multi-dimensional, especially when it came to her sexuality. While she did have relationship with men, her relationships with women seemed more frequent and more powerful. Yet, Joan is never defined or trapped by labels. The total opposite goes to Cherie, whose looks were pretty much the major reasons why The Runaways were successful. She was the "sex kitten" of the group and Cherie had to struggle with that. And seeing the two characters interact with each other, even due to their differences, was quite refreshing for a biopic. Usually, you would have them argue and go their separate ways in anger. But there's nothing but love between the two characters. In fact, I think Joan may have been in love with Cherie, even if Cherie didn't feel the same way. Even after the breakup, there's a scene [where Joan is launching her successful solo career after "I Love Rock 'N' Roll" was released] where Cherie [now working retail] calls her after years of not speaking with the love between the two still there. So instead of a sad ending, we get a happy one, which was nice to see for a change.

I also thought the Kim Fowley character was extremely fascinating. The guy is such a creep. He verbally abuses the girls in the band. He won't pay the band even after a gig, making excuses for it. He sets up impromptu photo sessions for Cherie, having her be photographed in sexy outfits for publicity knowing it will piss the other band members off. And during the breakup scene, Fowley enjoys the implosion, instigating it. I wished this guy would get his own film because I have no doubt it would be an entertaining movie.

I do have issues with the narrative though. For one, a lot of the facts are pretty twisted here. THE RUNAWAYS makes it seem as if the band was only together for like a year of two, when they were together longer than that. We get no sense of time, which would have helped, because the band's fallout seems much faster than one would expect. In fact, it makes it seem as if when Cherie quit the band due to her issues, The Runaways broke up. Not true, as they continued to forge on for a while longer with Joan singing lead. I felt that this film should have been longer because things happened way too quick for anything to have any sort of resonance. There were a lot of things missing here due to a lot being crammed in such a short period of time.

And while I do think the Joan/Cherie relationship was the strongest aspect of the film and should have been the focus of the film [after all, it's based on Cherie's memoirs], I feel as if the rest of the group got the shaft. Sandy West, the drummer, is the only other member who gets decent screen time. Still, I had no idea who she was and I didn't really care. She was actually a very good drummer and had a decent solo career as well after The Runaways broke up, but you wouldn't get that from watching this. And as the co-founder of The Runaways, she got the shaft. Unfortunately, West passed away years ago, so maybe that had something to do with it. And the fictional bassist, Robin, is nothing but a silent stand-in for the actual bassist, Jackie Fox, who refused permission to be used in the film.

And my biggest gripe has to be for the lack of Lita Ford, who has become a hard rock/metal icon after The Runaways. She's barely in the film and when she is, all she does is bitch and scream at the other members. I read that Lita Ford refused to participate in the production of this film because she felt disrespected by Joan Jett's manager, who wanted her rights for a measly grand. I don't blame her if that was the case, but this feud with Joan Jett made the film less meaningful to me. At least Ford did meet with Taylor-Compton and approved the actress after having very personal conversations with her about their lives growing up, seemingly sharing many things in common. But I wish was more about Ford because she was a very important part of The Runaways as the lead guitarist.

Floria Sigismondi, a music video director, does a good job bringing the Neon Angel memoir to life. While the standard narrative is paced well, it's the musical scenes that really give the film life. Especially the famous "Cherry Bomb" performance during a concert in Japan, where we really see what The Runaways were really about and why they were pioneers. Sigismondi handled the relationships between characters well [especially Fowley with the band, Joan and Cherie, and Cherie and her twin sister Marie]. I thought she did a nice job touching upon the important aspects of the group without exploiting it.

The acting is actually quite good in THE RUNAWAYS. Kristen Stewart does a good job as Joan Jett, even looking like her real counterpart at times. She brings a swagger and edginess to the role, making me forget she's that same actress who stars in those TWILIGHT films. She proves that she's a capable actress here and hopefully she'll do more roles like this rather than the Bella Swan stuff we've been dealing with for years now. Dakota Fanning, as Cherie Currie [who was the only person the real Currie wanted to play her in any film, even before she was of age to be even considered], is simply phenomenal in this movie. I always felt that Fanning was the Jodie Foster of this generation, and THE RUNAWAYS may be the film where that looks to be a fact. Her sex kitten act and her descent into drugs and alcohol is unbelievably convincing. She smokes, swears up a storm, and doesn't hesistate flipping the bird. Her chemistry with Stewart is very good. And her singing is actually pretty good during the musical sequences. It's a very grown up role for such a young girl and she pulls it off with ease. I hope she stays out of trouble like other young starlets and stays the course, because I think she'll do some great things as she expands her filmography. And Michael Shannon as Kim Fowley is just incredible. He plays those creepy characters well, and this one is no exception. What's even scarier is that he actually looks like the real Kim Fowley. I really want this character to get his own film, and that's due to Shannon's ability as an actor. The other actors do well as well, but don't have enough of a character to really be anything of note. I will say that Scout Taylor-Compton and Riley Keough are the standouts in the supporting category. I just wish they had more to work with.

THINGS I'VE LEARNED WHILE PUBLICIZING MY CROTCH FOR PUBLICITY

- Joan Jett's friend's brother said that guys don't like girls who are tough, but girls who are soft. Tough or soft, it doesn't matter. Just as long as they aren't smelly, crusty, or yeasty, it's all good.

- "Rock 'N' Roll is a bloodsport." Since when did Jean Claude Van Damme become a musician? No wonder dance pop and hip-hop have taken over the airwaves!

- Sandy West masturbated in the shower in front of Joan Jett. So next time you see something forming around your shower head, it's not mold or grimey build up.

- Kim Fowley wanted the girls to think with their cocks. Obviously he's seen too much of Rupaul's Drag Race to realize that real women don't have bulges.

- Cherie Currie and Joan Jett snorted cocaine in an airplane bathroom. Obviously, they took the Mile High Club thing a bit too literally.

- Joan was pissed at Cherie for publicizing her crotch, instead of The Runaways music, in photos. If people didn't publicize their crotches, would Paris Hilton even have a career?

As a matter of fact, I agree with Joan on this one. Damn sex tapes...

THE FINAL HOWL
THE RUNAWAYS is a generic, yet entertaining biopic that I think more people should check out. While I wished the film more on the band and its music, the relationship between Joan Jett and Cherie Currie is actually quite interesting and helps moves the film's narrative along. Plus we get three solid performances in Fanning, Stewart, and especially Shannon that truly make this film worth a look. However, it's not the definite film about 70s female rock musicians [there's an actual documentary about The Runaways that makes for a nice companion piece], but it's still effective due to the performances and the excellent soundtrack giving this film a voice.

TRAILER


DAKOTA FANNING & KRISTEN STEWART PERFORM "CHERRY BOMB"