When I heard that Echo Bridge Home Entertainment was going to release most of the Dimension Films library on Blu-Ray for the first time, I was very excited. So far, they’ve released some of my favorites from that studio including “The Crow: City of Angels”, “From Dusk to Dawn” and “The Faculty” to name a few. Today, I’m here to review David Cronenberg film “eXistenZ”, which I haven’t seen yet.

The film take during a demonstration of a new virtual reality game called eXsitenZ. Allegra Geller (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is violently attacked by a deranged man that is obsessed with killing her and her creation. Now in hiding, she enlists a man (Jude Law) to help her with the damaged system by getting inside the virtual reality game. Everything becomes out of control with the two, as both virtual reality and reaility merge with the fantasy of the game. The features an all star cast that includes Ian Holms (The Lord of the Rings), Sarah Polley(Dawn of the Dead (2004)), Christopher Eccleston(Shallow Grave) and William Defoe(The Boondock Saints).

Film Review:

I was hoping that I would enjoy this film considering that this boasts an interesting cast and it was one of Cronenberg’s earlier films before I became fan of this his. After watching this film, this made me want to dive more into his film catalogue. I enjoyed this film a lot.

One of the things that made this film very good, Cronenberg makes his imagery very surreal. He does a very good job making it that way, so it keeps your attention. It helps make the virtual world in the film interesting and it also keeps you interested with the film’s story. The other thing that Cronenberg does with his direction, he gets the performances to help make this world come to life. I liked, how he focuses on getting the performances to fit the weird tone that this film has. The lead performances here were very good. Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jude Law did a very good job making the character very interesting. They had very good chemistry that was much needed to offset all the bizarre action.

Cronenberg’s screenplay was very interesting. There’s lot of bizarre action that goes on in this film. What he does so well here, he’s fleshes out the characters. It helps make the characters interesting and makes the main relationship work on all levels. It makes those characters interesting. It makes you want to follow them, as they’re placed into some very bizarre sequences. The other thing that I liked about it was the way that Cronenberg fools you into thinking a certain way and then in go in completely different direction. It leaves you surprised at the end result. I liked it, when screenwriters of Cronenberg’s caliber do that. It makes the end result of the film unpredictable and you’re left in shock of what just happened. That’s what makes genre films like this interesting and entertaining.

Blu-Ray Extras:

There isn’t much in the way of extras on this blu-ray. The disc boasts interviews from actors Jude Law, William Defoe and Special Effects Coordinator James Isaac who passed away earlier this year. I thought they were a welcomed addition to this disc. The interviews go in-depth especially with Isaac’s interview which went on for almost a half hour. It was nice to see more depth into each of the interviews, as they didn’t seem like the typical interview that you usually see on most of these releases.

Sadly, we don’t get didn’t interviews from David Cronenberg or Jenifer Jason Leigh here on the disc. It would’ve also been interesting in listening to interviews as well. At least, it’s better than the previous DVD release of the film in 2000, where there was only a theatrical trailer.

Final Summary:

After seeing “eXistenZ”, I was very impressed with how the film was made and written. It makes me more interested in search for more of David Cronenberg’s earlier work and makes me even more looking to the upcoming Blu-Ray release of his latest film “Cosmopolis”.

Film Review: Five Stars
Blu-Ray Extras: Two Stars

eONE Films US has send us over stills and official trailer for the upcoming David Cronenberg film "Cosmopolis" THe film stars "Twilight's" Robert Pattinson and costars Juliette Binoche, Sarah Gadon, Mathieu Amalric, Jay Baruchel,Samantha Morton and Paul Giamatti. "Cosmopolis" hits theaters in limited release on August 17th.

Plot Synopsis:

From director David Cronenberg (A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, DEAD RINGERS, THE FLY, EASTERN PROMISES) and based on the prophetic novel by Don DeLillo, comes COSMOPOLIS, a contemporary thriller that turns into a wild, hypnotic odyssey through our new millennium's obsessions with power, money, control, information, technology, violence, sex, mortality, revolution, destruction and ultimately, redemption.

Unfolding in a single cataclysmic day, the story follows Eric Packer (Robert Pattinson) - a 28-year old financial whiz kid and billionaire asset manager - as he heads out in his tricked-out stretch limo to get a haircut from his father's old barber, while remotely wageringhis company's massive fortune on a bet against the Chinese Yuan. Packer's luxe trip across the city quickly becomes dizzyingly hellishas he encounters explosive city riots, a parade of provocative visitors, and is thrust into a myriad of intimate encounters. Having started the day with everything, believing he is the future, Packer's perfectly ordered, doubt-free world is about to implode. Produced by Paulo Branco and Martin Katz, COSMOPOLIS also stars Juliette Binoche, Sarah Gadon, Mathieu Amalric, Jay Baruchel, Kevin Durand, K'Naan, Emily Hampshire with Samantha Morton and Paul Giamatti.

"Cosmopolis": Official Trailer

Sony Picture Classics has send us over some stills and the official poster to one of the most anticipated films of the fall David Cronenberg's "A Dangerous Method", which stars Viggo Mortensen, Michael Fassbender, Keira Knightley and Vincent Cassel. The film is slated to open in New York and Los Angeles on November 23rd.

For more information on this film, you can visit the film's official website at: http://www.sonyclassics.com/adangerousmethod

You can become a fan on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/adangerousmethod

Plot Synopsis:

Seduced by the challenge of an impossible case, the driven Dr. Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) takes the unbalanced yet beautiful Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightley) as his patient in A Dangerous Method. Jung's weapon is the method of his master, the renowned Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen). Both men fall under Sabina's spell.

David Cronenberg’s “eXistenZ” is probably best known as the cerebral version of “The Matrix.” It gets you to question the reality the characters are in all throughout the movie, and it continues Cronenberg’s exploration of the blurring line between reality and fantasy. With “The Matrix,” it was clear what the real world was and what the matrix was. With “eXistenZ,” you can never be sure what is reality and what is not. Just like U2 sang it, this might be even better than the real thing.

The movie stars the always awesome Jennifer Jason Leigh (“Margot At The Wedding”) as Allegra Geller, a well known game programmer who is at a special gathering to try out her latest game which is said to be like no other. While most new game consoles come in this big metal boxes, Allegra’s box is a more organic creation. In typical Cronenberg fashion, the box looks like human skin that looks like it is living and breathing when it is activated. To play the game, you have to hook a cord (which looks eerily like an umbilical cord) into a port in your back which connects the game to your spinal cord. Like many a Cronenberg movie, “eXistenZ” deals with the degradation of the human body as well as the human soul.

In the course of testing out the game to an excited crowd, Allegra is nearly assassinated by a man who is intent on eliminating what he sees as a threat to reality. It soon becomes clear that seems to be a war between those who want to preserve reality by destroying the gaming industry, and those who want to preserve the games and to see them be taken to another level of advancement. Allegra is forced to go on the run to safety, and coming along with her is a young marketing trainee, a shy nerd of a man named Ted Pikul. Pikul is played by Jude Law, and it is a role that no one could probably see him playing today. Ever since he showed off his tanned body on the sunny shores in “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” he has become a sexy god to many. There’s nothing sexy to this character he plays here, at least, not right away.

In the course of the attack, Allegra’s gaming pod is damaged, so she has to play the game to see what needs to be fixed. She encourages Ted to play it with her, but he is not terribly enthusiastic about that as he is a virgin to these kinds of games. He has never played them before, and he does not have a bioport in his back which is essential to playing the game, and he does not like things like that or needles being inserted into his body. But Allegra eventually encourages him to play along, and he does get a bioport essentially jack hammered into his back courtesy of Gas (the always reliable Willem Dafoe). From there on out, Allegra’s and Ted’s voyage through the game will challenge their perceptions and has them wondering where they really are in all of this.

I remember seeing “eXistenZ” almost ten years ago at an art house movie theater in Orange County. Along with the characters, I was ever so eager to experience what they were experiencing when they played the game. It took forever to get to that point it felt, and it turned out to be nothing like I thought it would. The meanings of the movie were not entirely clear when I first saw it all those years ago. Watching it now as part of a David Cronenberg double feature at the New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles (the other film was “Naked Lunch”), it is not only more clear what Cronenberg is trying to accomplish here. Along with our infinite advancements in technology, the story is more frightening because it is all the more real. Cronenberg is questioning how far we will go in our pursuit of the new high that is virtual reality. Once we have experienced the game, will we want to leave it? Will it make our “normal” reality feel unreal? Everyone seems to be stuck in jobs they hate but have to work, and they always dream of a better life for themselves that they wait for instead of doing anything to make it actually happen. Could this be accomplished through a game? Maybe not, but with the way technology continues to advance, anything is possible.

The other fascinating thing about “eXistenZ” is how it looks at the moral boundaries these characters cross when they play the game. The games we play on our Playstations and Xboxes seem to have that effect, but we can easily see that we are indulging in a fantasy that is completely unreal, and that makes it okay. But as the line between reality and fantasy blurs all the more as the movie goes on, the consequences seem all the more real, and these characters cross a line that they can never back to. When we cannot tell reality from fantasy, how can we justify the horrible things we do to others?

Cronenberg’s movies have a look that is all their own, and “eXistenZ” has his signature touch throughout. What other director could come with an organic pod for game playing, or with a gun made out of animal bones with teeth used as bullets? Even in the game the characters are playing, the violence is still pretty vicious, and no death ever looks pretty. This is also typical with Cronenberg’s movies as we see faces blown off to where certain people look like Harvey “Two Face” Dent from “The Dark Knight.”

Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jude Law are always terrific in just about everything they do, and their work here in “eXistenZ” is no exception. Leigh, who usually plays characters who are anything but pretty, is an alluring presence in this movie in a way we don’t usually see from her. She not only manages to seduce Jude Law (something that shouldn’t be too hard to do), but she also succeeds in seducing the audience into the world her character inhabits. That’s what her performance needed to accomplish in order to make the film work.

If this movie were made today, I’m not sure that we would have seen Jude Law in this role. Jude would probably be seen as much too cool to play this kind of role, and that is a drawback to being a film star. People get used to seeing you in a certain way, and it can get to where no one wants to see you as anything else. It’s a shame because he truly is a great actor, and he is great as he goes against type here as a man who has to overcome his phobias and aversions in order to play the game and help Allegra. The effect it has on him is immense as it unlocks unconscious desires that soon rise to the surface. Jude portrays this conversion of character very effectively, and he has great chemistry with Jennifer in the movie. Heck, is it possible for Jude Law to not have good chemistry with another actress onscreen?

The ending of “eXistenZ” will leave you with more questions than answers. This may frustrate a lot of audiences, but Cronenberg has not always been about providing answers. You come out of his movies thinking about the storyline and of the possibility of something like this becoming a reality. It is not an action packed film like “The Matrix,” and you won’t see a lot of actors wearing skin clad leather costumes and wearing cool sunglasses, but the movie stands on its own as an examination of where technology is taking us. Like “Videodrome,” it threatens to be a very prophetic film as we head further and further into the new millennium with new technological discoveries that are just around the corner.

We are still all on a search for something that is even better than the real thing, and it’s never gonna stop.

***1/2 out of ****

I have not had the chance to read William S. Burroughs’ book called “Naked Lunch” or anything else he has written. The legend behind it, however, seems to be everlasting in its effect. Many people protested it and called it obscene. Many wanted it banned, and that is usually what gives a book like that its power. All I know is that many said that it was an unfilmable book, and that narrative is very non-linear. Adapting a book like that into a movie sounds impossible, but after seeing the movie version of “Naked Lunch” last night at the New Beverly Cinema, it is clear that only David Cronenberg could have pulled something like this off. Cronenberg has a style all his own, and it seems to fit the subject matter that Burroughs deals with here.

“Naked Lunch” the movie follows Bill Lee (“Robocop’s” Peter Weller) who is a writer whose day job is as an exterminator. We see him at the start of the movie spraying this bug powder all over a person’s room, and then he soon runs out of it. It turns out that his wife Joan (Judy Davis) has been using the bug powder to fulfill her own narcotic fantasies. We see her blowing on an unwelcome cockroach which soon dies from a whiff of her poisoned breath. From there, the movie follows Bill as he heads into a drug fueled spiral that includes hallucinations of his typewriter turning into a large and hideous looking bug who tells him that he needs to kill his wife.

Describing this movie is difficult to say the least, but it basically deals with the blurry view between what is real and what is not. This is the case with many of Cronenberg’s movies like “eXistenZ” and “The Dead Zone” among others in his large volume of work. My understanding is that the movie only takes so much from the book, and that it actually borrows liberally from other writings of Burroughs. Anyway, this is not meant to be a book to movie comparison since I have not yet read the book. It sure does make me want to read the book at some point in my lifetime.

“Naked Lunch” is not the most enjoyable movie ever made, but it is not meant to be. It is meant to be an experience more than anything else. As Bill Lee gets deeper into his drug taking, we cannot tell what is real and what is not. For those of you who know the personal history of William S. Burroughs, you know that he shot his wife by accident when he tried to shoot a glass off of her head. Then later on in the movie, we see Judy Davis playing another character (or is it the same person?), and I was wondering if this was his chance to correct the mistake he made in accidentally shooting his wife, or maybe this was just another delusion of his.

As we hurtle faster and faster into the future, the line what is real and what is not blurs more and more. “Naked Lunch” was made into a movie back in 1991, and yet its themes are all the more timely. The film was shot in the period that the book was written which was back in 1959 or so. Suffice to say, are dealings with drugs have not gotten any better. Bill seems to want to stay clean as he does not like seeing his typewriter turn into a hideous looking bug who wants some of that bug powder he uses Bill uses as an exterminator. But with drug abuse, getting clean is the easy part. It’s staying clean that is the hard part. Whether Bill admits it or not, staying on drugs seems to cut through the reality of his existence. You wonder if he can ever live without them. There seems to be a truth to reality when he is on drugs, and he comes back to them whenever he cannot figure out what is going on.

Peter Weller gives a performance that seems detached from emotion, but there are moments where he seems to be suffering. Perhaps it is withdrawal, or perhaps it is that he cannot be sure of what is real and what is not. It should be noted that Peter turned down a lot of money to star in “Robocop 3” to do this movie (smart move if you ask me). You have to wonder if his character is so detached from life that he has to wonder what it all means. Peter’s character seems to be more alive when he is under the grasp of some chemical substance, and he captures the conflicted state of his character in a way that no other actor could. His performance is very good here, and he keeps you wondering what he will do next.

Judy Davis, a Ferrari among actresses in film and stage, is brilliant here as she is in the throes of an endless drug addiction. It is a fearless performance that she gives, and she disappears into a character who does not care about reality as much as she does being hooked to the illegal substance of her choice. Judy has long been a daring actress to say the least, and she never holds anything back. You can’t take your eyes off of her when she is onscreen. After all these years, Judy Davis is a force to be reckoned with.

“Naked Lunch” also has many other great performances from the always reliable Ian Holm who plays Tom Frost, a writer with an unusually close connection to his typewriter. You also have the late Roy Scheider on board as Doctor Benway who appears to have a cure to the addiction of bug powder. In the end, he seems to be more of an enable than anything else. There are no bad performances to be found in this movie.

Seriously, this is the perfect kind of movie for David Cronenberg to do. It deals with the perversion of the human body and mind which is a common thread through all of his movies, and it deals with how we define what is real to us. The design elements of this movie are hard to compare to other movies. How many other movies do you know where the typewriters turn into bugs that speak from their behinds? Have you ever seen another movie where one typewriter attacks another? I sure haven’t! That’s what makes the movies of David Cronenberg so interesting. Cronenberg has a style all his own, and you can see from many other movies of his that they cannot be easily compared to anybody else’s.

Watching “Naked Lunch” makes me want me want to buy the Criterion DVD release of this movie. A day after I saw it, I am still fascinated by what I saw. When the movie reaches it’s end, you still find yourself locked into the plight of Bill Lee. How do you find your way back to reality when you cannot even recognize what it is? Today, we are always looking to experience something other than the reality that we are in because reality is not always what we prepare ourselves for. To experience an alternate reality is irresistible when our own reality feels like a prison. But you have to wonder, is it worth it to lose all sense of reality to really feel alive?

“Naked Lunch” is a daring movie that dares to make the unfilmable filmable. It also shows how David Cronenberg is a brilliant storyteller who doesn’t shy away from a challenger if it involves a subject that truly interests him. Watching a movie like this just once is not enough because there is a lot to think about and a lot to discover. What you find in this movie will give you a lot more questions than answers, but that is probably the point. As we all try to escape the routine of our daily jobs and mundane routines, we have to wonder if it is worth the price.

***1/2 out of ****

Eastern Promises

Year: 2007
Director: David Cronenburg
Stars: Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts and Vincent Cassel
MPAA Rating: R
Running Time: 100 Mins
Review Rating: 5 Stars


Eastern Promises is the latest film from cult director David Cronenburg. This film also re-teams him with actor Viggo Mortensen (The Lord of the Rings trilogy) who also stared in Cronenburg’s last film, A History of Violence. In Eastern Promises, Mortensen plays a notorious low-key gangster/driver named Nikolai Luzhin. He finds out that his existence has been compromised, when a woman (Naomi Watts) inadvertently discovers a notebook, from a dead girl that has some information that’s incriminates a member of his family and threatens his existence. Soon, his life is threatened as he begins to fear that people wants him dead, as he can’t trust anyone not even his own family. This will lead to murder, deceit and retribution for all those involved. Vincent Cassel (Derailed, Oceans Twelve) and Armin Mueller-Stahl (Shine, The X Files movie) co-star in the film.

Eastern Promises is a very dark and gritty gangster film that may not be for everyone, unlike me. I’m really starting to become a Cronenberg fan. He seemed to have gotten away from his trademark weirdness that’s been seen in most of his films like Crash (1996), Naked Lunch, and Videodrome. He’s focusing his efforts mostly on directing these days, instead of writing the films too. I like how he captures the dark atmosphere here, as it goes very well with the subject matter here. He again, like in A History of Violence manages to have the gangsters be creepy villainous characters, which is great and is not seen in many films of this genre. The screenplay was written by, Steven Knight who was nominated for Oscar in 2004 for Dirty Pretty Things. I thought he was very disciplined with the screenplay, as he didn’t rush the story along or try to move it along to the point where you don’t understand anything. He takes his time developing the characters and inserting the back-story of the dead girl within the film, which helps its grittiness and plays a vital role here. Also, I’m very surprised that the filmmakers got away with it’s R rating as there was a fight in the shower with a naked Mortensen, near the end of the film. Usually that’s something that the rating board frowns upon.

What also makes a great gritty gangster film is the acting and it was great here. I thought Viggo Mortensen was perfect for this role, as he deserved his Oscar nomination. He brought that creepy edge to the role, which made it perfect. At times, his character reminded me of Ed Harris in A History Of Violence. He’s up there with Guy Pearce, as one of Hollywood’s most underrated actors. Naomi Watts was very good, as she seemed to capture the innocents of this character, who caught in the middle of this.

Eastern Promises is a very gloomy gangster film that Cronenberg and gangster film films will have the benefit of watching one of the best films of 2007.