Apocalypse Now (1979) review

(10/10)

I'm not one for war films, but this had me hooked from the start.

PLOT:In this Vietnam War epic, we follow Captain Benjamin Willard (Martin Sheen) as he's assigned to a mission to hunt down and kill a rogue colonel who went insane and took his troops with him, Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando). Capt. Willard boards a boat with a group of guys who agree to take him to this location. This film is his descent into the deep trenches of the 'Nam war. The plot is pretty basic, but executed brilliantly.



ACTING:The acting was great. Sheen did a brilliant job, as did Brando. I saw the toughness and insanity in each ones story through their acting. Besides these two stars of the show, the other shiners were Fredric Forrest as Chef, Albert Hall as Chief, and Dennis Hopper as the photo journalist with honorable mentions to Harrison Ford as the colonel, Laurence Fishbourne as Clean, and the camoes of Francis Ford Coppola as the director and the Playmates.

SCORE:The score is mixed up of several types of themes, from The Doors, to creepy horror score, to intense 80s-sounding score. They all mixed in to make fitting moods either way.

CAMERAWORK:This earned an Academy Award for Best Cinematography, and it shows. The shots captured by Coppola and his camera crew are harrowing and unique, as that of Kubrick. This is my first Coppola film other than The Outsiders, which I also enjoyed, and this has already gotten me hooked to him. Well played, Francis, well played.



OTHER CONTENT:People say this is the greatest war film ever created. Even though I haven't seen many, I would agree so far. The Vietnam War was a haunting, disturbing, scary war, and this captured everything and then some. It was brutal. It was twisted. It was all made in a brilliant way. This movie was memorable from its disturbing situations all the way down to its unique quotes. This is truly a brilliant film.

OVERALL,an epic war film with a brilliantly executed plot, great acting, mixed score, harrowing camerawork, and everything needed to make an accurate Vietnam War film.

Kakurenbo: Hide and Seek (2005) review

(7/10)

A creepy short film, but nothing truly special.

PLOT:In the haunted town of Otokoyo, it is said that when kids play hide and seek after dark that they will be taken by demons. You have to have seven kids and each has to wear a foxface mask. Young Hikora ignores the warning about demons and goes with his friends and the other players to find his sister, who played the game earlier and went missing. Some kids playing aren't convinced by the story, but when the lanterns are lit with no one around to light them, things start to get creepy. It's a very good idea for a plot executed decently.



VOICES:The voices (English dub) were mainly pretty cheesy, annoying, and over-acted. I didn't care for them at all. The only voice I can really call a shiner is the voice of Hikora's little sister. The voice she uses in here is just so creepy, as that of the little girl from Poltergiest.

SCORE:The score was used mainly to set the mood, but it was freaky-sounding.

ANIMATION:In my opinion, the animation wasn't all that great. It reminded me of that of a 3D comic book, but more pixelated. The motions ran through smoothly, but the overall animation was pretty sucky.



OTHER CONTENT:Besides the plot's potential, the only thing that kept this short film going was the creepy effect it had. The demons that are seen in this short film are very freaky-looking, along with the creepy twist near the end. This would be good as a brief ghost story for a group, but it's not long enough to be a good anime horror. Part of the plot's loss of potential is that this is too short! They have a good idea with some interesting and freaky twists, but they don't allow the runtime enough for a true story with character development and longer twists. Nevertheless, it's good as a short film, just not very detailed.

OVERALL,a good anime short horror with a decently executed plot, mainly overdone voices, freaky score, sucky animation, and an accurate creepy effect; if it had only been longer..

Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) review

(9/10)

An old favorite of mine that seems to have just gotten better with my age.

PLOT:In 1940s Hollywood, cartoons and humans live together separated by a boundary to what is known as Toontown. Eddie Valiant (Bob Hoskins), the famed detective, doesn't like toons; he hasn't since one killed his brother/partner back in the day. Now he's forced to work with them again when he is put on the case of photographing the affair of famous cartoon star, Roger Rabbit's wife, Jessica Rabbit (Kathleen Turner) and mayor of Toontown, Marvin Acme (Stubby Kaye) by the cartoon-maker, R. K. Maroon. When Roger finds out about the affair, he is devastated, but is he devastated enough for murder? Later that night, Acme is murdered and all fingers point to Roger Rabbit. Now Eddie must get to the bottom of the case and prove Roger's innocence, not to mention find Acme's will before it falls into the wrong hands, specifically the evil Judge Doom (Christopher Lloyd), who has nasty plans for Toontown. Will they find the Acme's will? Will Roger's innocence be proven? Will Eddie Valiant stop being so bitter towards toons? I'll leave you here. It's a very unique twist to a classic detective story executed cleverly.



ACTING/VOICES:There was a variation between acting and voices. Hoskins did a great job as the bitter detective. Lloyd did his usual overacting style, and did a pretty decent job since he faces a huge personality change near the end. Kaye simply did his job. Turner did a great job voicing the sultry Jessica Rabbit. The other shiners in here were the voice of Roger Rabbit, Joanna Cassidy as Dolores, Charles Fleischer as Benny the Cab, and the cameo of Mel Blanc as the Looney Tunes.

SCORE:The score was mainly played for comedic effect with several silly songs, but it was pretty catchy and fun.



ANIMATION:The blend of animation and live action in here was done with so much ease it's like Zemeckis knew what to do before he did it. The animation is not only nostalgic, but innovative and detailed. The characters move with such realistic finesse that you could almost believe they were real.

OTHER CONTENT:This film is not only an innovative masterpiece in animation for its time, but it's clever, wacky, well-written, unique, and overall fun; Roger Rabbit is definitely a fun film to watch with its clever one-liners and wacky slapstick antics, yet one of its great strengths is its only flaw. The film is wacky fun, but that counts against it because you can't seem to take it seriously. Even in the ending scenes, it delivers more cartoonish comedy than it should need. Yes, it is halfway a cartoon. No, it doesn't need to thrive on wacky slapstick for its seriousness. I'm sure some will disagree, but I just felt that it was too much wacky.

OVERALL,an awesome movie with a cleverly executed plot, mainly great acting and voices, fun score, nostalgically innovative and detailed animation, and an overall fun film, but some of its fun and wackiness distract from the movie's more serious points.

Perfect Blue (1999) review

(6/10)

It's definitely not the best anime thriller out there, but it's worth a watch.

PLOT:Mima used to be a pop idol in the three-girl group CHAM, but she decides to quit and become an actress on a tv drama. Things start going well until she's asked to do a certain risque scene, and her image then spirals out of control when she takes up modeling for dirty magazines. Not all of her fans are happy about this. In fact, one mystery fan starts to murder her closest associates in the business and things start to get creepy. Not only that, but also there's a fan posing as her on a fan-made website called "Mima's Room" that seems to know her every move. Between all of this media change, murder, and fan stalking, she starts to feel guilt for what she has done and wonders if she even knows who she is anymore; she even starts seeing apparitions of her old self. We are left with a lot of questions that come around and get answered in the end, so I'll leave you here. It's a good idea for a plot that's executed somewhat cheesily, but it still has its moments of shock.



VOICES:The voices in here I believe to be overdone. They all put too much emphasis on the character and make it seem more cheesy and cartoonish than it really needs to be. The only real shiner is the voice of Mima, who still overacted, but sounded pretty decent compared to the others.

SCORE:The score is mainly made up of some creepy mood music and a really unnerving theme. It worked on creeping me out, so I give it my respect.

ANIMATION:I really didn't think the animation in here was anything special. I'm very critical when it comes to anime, and I must say this stuff was kind of lazily done. To be brutal, I know girls in my school who can make better anime than this! This did have its moments, however, that seemed better animated than others, mainly close-ups. It wasn't the worst, but it was pretty lazy.



OTHER CONTENT:This movie had a good bit of flaws, such as the cheesiness, the overdone acting, and the lazy animation, but all of that is made up for in thrills. This anime flick is really a psychological thriller that doesn't fail to do its job. The kills and atmosphere of this movie sent shivers up my spine and kept me on the edge of my seat waiting to see what would become of our beloved Mima. This movie's thrills are all about atmosphere; if it wasn't so creepy, than it would just be a cheap cheesefest of a suspense. This did succeed in creeping me out and giving me the feeling of being watched, not to mention getting caught up in the psychological apparitions and feelings of Mima and her mysteries. Besides atmosphere, this movie runs on lust and its effects. I believe it included enough of that to keep it going, but not enough to make it come off as a "fanfiction" type of thing.

OVERALL,an ok anime flick with a cheesily executed plot, overdone voices, unnerving score, lazy animation, creepy atmosphere, thrills that kept me on the edge, psychological effects that I could get caught up in, and enough lustful scenes to keep the movie's flow.

Schindler's List (1993) review

(10/10)

This is possibly the best film on the Holocaust that has been and will ever be made.

PLOT:Based on a true story, this takes place during the Holocaust when Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson), a German businessman, sees an opportunity to make money off of the Nazi's powerful reign. He decides to give several out-of-work, useful Jews a job in a pot-making factory with his associate, Itzhak Stern (Ben Kingsley), who is also Jewish. Business is booming for a while until Schindler's Jews are assigned to a labor camp under the cruel hands of Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes), who is cruel enough to snipe random Jews from his home balcony. Though Schindler is only in it for the business, he begins to develop a heart and sense of humanitarianism. He then finds himself trying to save the Jews over his business. It's a very interesting plot based on the true story and it's executed to this finest and truest performance.



ACTING:The acting was brilliant. Neeson has always had my respect from when he fought a sith lord (Star Wars), to when he went searching for his daughter who is also a fish (Ponyo), and even when he crash landed in a pack of wolves (The Grey), but in here was without a doubt his best performance yet and will probably always be. I really don't know, for I can see a lot of potential in Neeson. I also thought Kingsley did a fine job. Fiennes didn't do a bad job either. There really wasn't a bad performance in this entire 3 hour film.

SCORE:The score is composed of several haunting themes that seem just elegant enough for such an unelegant event. I didn't care for it, but it was very well composed.



OTHER CONTENT:This was, simply put, a perfect film. The editing was perfect, the relation to the true story was perfect, the direction was perfect; everything was just perfectly done. Spielberg shows us in here that he has a sense of perfectionism not seen in his other films. This has got to be his best work by far. I was truly a fan of the clean-cut editing, for it did the job of making perfect cinema. This also had enough shocking violence and emotional stirrings to touch my heart and give me the feel of how haunting the whole thing was.

OVERALL,an epic film with a finely executed plot, brilliant acting, well composed score, clean cut editing, and every thing being made to look perfect.

Inglourious Basterds (2009) review

(9/10)

I have finally seen it. The wait is over for me, and passed on to another unlucky cinephile.

PLOT:There are two separate storylines in this anti-Holocaust film. The first is led by Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt), leader of the notorious Nazi killing group, The Basterds. They have grouped everyone from the ferocious Donnie "The Bear Jew" Donowitz (Eli Roth) to the notorious Hugo Stiglitz (Til Schweiger). They formulate a plan to ambush the local theater they're showing the Nazi film, "Nation's Pride" in and blow it up, for the four highest ranks in the war (including Hitler) are attending. The second storyline is following Shoshanna Dreyfus (Melanie Laurent), an escaped, incognito Jew, who now runs a theater with her partner in France. When she meets a Nazi war hero that falls for her (Daniel Bruhl), he pulls a few strings and has the premiere of his film, "Nation's Pride", shown at her theatre; the same Col. Landa (Christopher Waltz) that killed her family is even going to be there. To get her revenge, Shoshanna comes up with the idea to lock all of the Nazis inside of her theatre and burn it down. If you haven't noticed already, the two storylines seem to run into each other to where the climax sycnhronizes. As you can guess, things don't go directly according to plan. It's a well-thought out plot based on the Holocaust executed to the true Tarentino factor.



ACTING:The acting in here was brilliant. Pitt shined indefinitely in this role as Aldo Raine. He added a certain flair and charm to the role that I don't think could have been pulled off quite by anyone else. Every actor did a fine job, but he definitely stole the show. Other shiners or honorable mentions are Laurent as Shoshanna, Waltz as Col. Landa, Eli Roth as Donny, Michael Fassbender as Archie Hilcox, Martin Wuttke as Hitler, Diane Kruger as Bridget von Hammersmark, and the brief cameo of Rod Taylor as Winston Churchill.

SCORE:The soundtrack is one of the finest parts of the film; my dad even had to buy it and he isn't a cinephile or score fan! The score consists of old, vinyl-sounding tunes, marching string tracks, haunting piano themes, and in your face rock songs. This is definitely one of the best soundtracks I've heard in a while.



OTHER CONTENT:This is indeed a Quentin Tarentino film. His direction shows, from cut scene to calm-then-violent cutscene. He definitely has a clean cut vision for direction, and it showed in here. I admire his directing. This film was a thrilling, fun, violent, interesting ride through a historic fiction idea. Just as Tarentino likes, he separated the movie into sections, or chapters, for better effect. Like the films he does that in, you find yourself somewhat confused until the finale. It follows classic Tarentino formula, and follows it well. The film would have gotten a lower rating from me if it had not been for the shocking and pleasing ending. The finale ties the whole film together and gives us what we have been waiting for. My only problem with the film is I feel it's a slight bit predictable,  though satisfying, and that it lags a bit in the middle. It's just a few small flaws to such a great masterpiece.

OVERALL,an awesome Tarentino film with a well-thought out plot, brilliant acting, a great soundtrack, a fun and interesting ride of thrills, classic Tarentino formula, and a finale that ties the whole film together, but with all these flaws comes one small problem; it lags a bit in the middle.

The Woman (2011) review

(7/10)

Too twisted for me too enjoy fully, but still has an artistic charm that pulls me to it.

PLOT:Christopher Cleek (Sean Bridgers) is an "average" guy who works for a law firm and has a family of a wife, two daughters, and a son. One day when he goes hunting, he comes across a beautiful feral woman (Pollyanna McIntosh) bathing and the stream and decides to trap her and lock her in the basement. He forces his family to take part in helping "civilize" her, but is that all he wants, or is there something more to it? To add to the mystery, each of the members of the family, minus the youngest, is hiding something. It's a strange idea for a plot executed to the most twisted yet unpredictable degree.



ACTING:The acting is pretty good. It isn't the best I've seen, but it gets the job done pretty well. The shiners in here are Pollyanna McIntosh as The Woman, Lauren Ashley Carter as Peggy Cleek (the older daughter), and Zach Rand as Brian Cleek (the son). I didn't think Bridgers did that good of a job in here, for his acting was a little flawed; he didn't convince me enough until the ending scene. On the other hand, I give respects to McIntosh for looking so bad-ass (and beautiful) most of the time just by looking calm, and I give credit to Carter because I felt the pain her character was experiencing just by looking in her eyes.

SCORE:The score is mainly made up of indie songs by unheard of bands that sound similar. It reminds me how McKee used the score in Roman.

EFFECTS:I thought, for one, that the effects looked extremely fake. All of the blood and gore looked just as you would see them in a generic zombie film: gruesome but extremely fake-looking.



OTHER CONTENT:This movie was directed by Lucky McKee of May and Roman, and was originally written by splatterpunk author Jack Ketchum of The Girl Next Door. With these two strange, twisted minds putting a film together, you could expect something bizarre. McKee has a certain, strange direction style that I just can't seem to understand; it's modestly simple yet bizarrely twisted altogether from the writing to the editing. I just don't seem to understand him. Ketchum is just that twisted and I like to see what kind of stuff he can put out. I thought this one, however, went a little too far for comfort. This film isn't just a horror; it's split between a gruesome horror and a disturbing family drama. The family drama wasn't as twisted as the horror part, but they both came together to make something unique and, well, twisted. I do appreciate the family drama in here for what it's worth, for it enthralled and shocked me to see everything go down and figure out the dysfunctional family's struggle. Though this was twisted, it did have a bit of an artistic charm that drew me into it. It is brutal, profane art, but it goes just a little too far for me. Also, it reminds me too much of The Girl Next Door. It makes me feel like Ketchum copied some of the basic idea from there and stuck it in here. It overall left me with a bit of a guilty, disturbed feeling that I didn't like. I give the film some respect, but not too much.

OVERALL,a good horror/drama with a strange plot, very good acting, indie score, fake-looking effects, an enthralling family drama, twisted horror, and an artistic charm, but it went too far for me, reminded me to much of the writer's past work, and left me with a bad feeling at the end.

Requiem for a Dream (2000) review

(9/10)

An intense portrayal of addiction touching to some and sickening to others.

PLOT:The first person we meet is a woman named Sara Goldfarb (Ellen Burstyn) who is addicted to TV, mainly a self-help infomercial about a technique called "JUICE". One day, she receives a call that she has been selected to be on TV, and she goes insane over the call. She goes so insane, she tries to diet to fit into her old red dress. When that doesn't work, she goes to a doctor who sets her on four pills a day to help her lose weight. Our second character, Harry Goldfarb (Jared Leto), is Sara's son who currently runs a drug-trafficking business with his best friend Tyrone (Marlon Wayans). Harry plans on using the money from his sales to open up a fashion boutique for his girlfriend, Marion (Jenniefer Connelly) . When profits start running low for them, they have to dig deeper and deeper to get what they need. It's a very well-thought out plot executed to the best ends for each character.



ACTING:The acting in here is marvelous. This must be one of Burstyn's finest performances if not her best. I've seen Leto in the band 30 Seconds to Mars, but I never knew he could act! He did a pretty great job in here. Connelly never fails to disappoint me, and this is proof. Wayans even did a good job, considering this isn't his usual comedy deal. I don't think there was a bad performance in this whole film; everyone shined. Honorable mentions go out to the brief roles of Christopher McDonald and Keith David as well.

SCORE:The score here is brilliant. It's mind-boggling, haunting, memorable, and emotionally-fitting to the point that I can consider it a modern symphony of score. The key theme on this soundtrack is "Lux Aeterna", and I think it is a beautiful piece.

CAMERAWORK:I'm labeling this as camerawork, but I think the true subject I'm thinking of here is "editing". The editing in here was so clean, unique, and close. Director Darren Aronofsky is well-known among the critics as a directorial visionary, and I can see why. He has a certain essence of vision and perfectionism that every shot is cut to perfection and filmed for artistic emotion. I love his style and I will definitely be seeing more of his films.



OTHER CONTENT:This film is an intense, true look at the effects drugs can have on a person. It is also a beautiful, eye-opening, terrifying, unique trip into a bleak series of situations that cannot be described in any way but an amazing film. Some say that the film is being preachy by dissing weight loss pills and heroin, but not only do I think that it was made to do so, but I also think that they deserve to be put down for all they have done and can do, for my sister was a victim of them (true story). The only thing I found somewhat flawed in this movie is that it's definitely not for everyone. Some scenes are way too intense for the general audience to handle, especially near the end when it shows the terrifyingly depressing outcomes of our characters. One characteristic a movie needs to have to be successful is likability, which this does have but only to a certain audience and not everybody. It can get to be too much for most.

OVERALL,an awesome film with a well-thought out plot heavily involving character backgrounds, marvelous acting, brilliantly haunting and unique score, clean editing part of a great vision, and a true lesson to which I can understand, but it's not a film for every family or person to enjoy.

The Hangover Part II (2011) review

(6/10)

I thought this would be a dreadful, unfunny carbon copy; it's a decent, somewhat funny carbon copy.

PLOT:The pack of Doug (Justin Bartha), Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms), and Alan (Zach Galifinakis) reunite two years later when Stu marries the love of his life, a Thai girl named Lauren. The crew travels along with Lauren's 16-year-old doctor brother, Teddy (Mason Lee) to their homeland to get married. The five guys decide that night to take in a couple of beers and roasted marshmallows, well aware of what happened last time. When they wake up that morning, Alan is bald, Stu has a tattoo, there's a monkey in the trashed room, they're lost in Bangkok, and Teddy has gone missing this time, for Doug went back early. Now the same three must go on a recap of the night's previous events to find Teddy and patch things up in whatever way is needed. The plot is an almost direct copy of the first film set in a different location with different twists. If not for the twists, it wouldn't be anything too good Even the twists are similar (tiger-to-monkey, tooth-to-tattoo, etc.)!



ACTING:The acting was actually pretty good. The leads do just as good a job as they did in the first. Cooper was his same jerky character, Stu was his same geeky character, and Galifinakis was actually a little better as the awkward weirdo of a character this time around. He wasn't as charming, but he better acted the role. The other shiners besides the main cast in here were Ken Jeong as Chow and Paul Giamatti as Kingsley. Jeong always shines in his role as the crazy Chinese criminal and Paul Giamatti is almost always good anywhere.

SCORE:The soundtrack is similar to the first one, filled with gritty country and metal songs from artists such as Danzig, and hip-hop party songs from artists such as Kanye West. The soundtrack was good, but it was similar to the first one as well.



OTHER CONTENT:Besides being a complete copy of the first movie, this also suffered from a bit of laugh deprivation. The first one was uniquely funny and that's what made it special. This one is uninspired and pulls from the darkest cracks in the barrel to get its laughs. Nevertheless, more than half of the jokes did succeed in making me laugh, but they were dark and crude to the max. Because of this, most of the fun and joy from the first one doesn't transfer to this one. This installment is definitely a dark comedy and raunchfest and not a fun, light-hearted party like the first. Despite the flaws, this is worth seeing for the newer laughs and similarities to the first one.

OVERALL,an ok comedy with a copied plot, great acting, mood-fitting score, darker jokes, lessened joy, and uninspiration, but it is still worth a watch.

Barbarosa (1982) review

(8/10)

Great western fun with plenty of grit.

PLOT:After farm boy bumpkin Karl (Gary Busey) flees home after accidentally killing a couple of people, he runs into the most notorious criminal in the area, Barbarosa (Willie Nelson), who also has family problems. They are an unlikely team, but they decide to ride together and become the legends of the west. It's a basic western plot, but it's executed in a way that it comes off as an homage to most past westerns.

ACTING:Willie Nelson isn't my favorite singer of all time. In fact, I can hardly stand him, but his acting is more worth it than I thought. I think he should have taken up acting over singing more often. Busey did a great job as well, adding a bit of fun charm to the role that could come off as a comic relief to some. Every other performance was decent, but not anything truly special. These two clearly own the show.



SCORE:Most of the score was played for comic effect, but it did have some nice Mexican mood-setting music at times.

OTHER CONTENT:This film resembles what I would call a worthy homage. This passes out a fine salute to the westerns of yesteryear with enough scenes of grit, camp, and toughness to make a western fan grin with nostalgia. Though it is pretty cheesy in some parts and pretty generic in plotting, it is a pretty fine western that can bring memories of the Man with No Name from its character backstories all the way down to its cheaply made effects.

OVERALL,a great western homage with a basically lovable plot, surprisingly good and decent acting, mood-fitting score, and enough grit and camp to be considered a rightful homage, but it was merely a western of ordinary proportions.

Throw Momma from the Train (1987) review

(7/10)

A dark comedy that seems to be a hidden gem.

PLOT:Larry Donner (Billy Crystal) is an author and the teacher of an adult's creative writing class. He hasn't written a good novel ever since his ex-wife left him, stole his masterwork, and labeled it as her own making millions. One of his students, Owen Lift (Danny DeVito) is having his own problems with his mom (Anne Ramsey) always bullying him. One night when Owen finds Larry seeking advice for a murder mystery he is writing, Larry unknowingly tells Owen how they can get rid of their problems with their relatives: eliminate the motive and criss-cross murders. When it appears that Owen has murdered Larry's ex-wife, Larry is pushed to murder Owen's mother so he won't get caught by the police. Will he do it? Will they be found out? I'll leave you there. It's a pretty well thought-out plot inspired by a similar Hitchcock mystery, that's executed like an ordinary dark comedy.



ACTING:The acting is more than decent in this movie. Crystal does a delightful job as Larry Donner. I love how he can be so calm one minute and then blow up the next. He is so neurotic. I didn't really care much for DeVito in here. I don't like it when DeVito is stuck with the role of an idiot; he does much better as a smarter man (such as in Batman Begins or The War of the Roses). He did a good job, but it wasn't his best by far. Anne Ramsey was just a filler character that did the job she was supposed to be dreadfully. She was the comic relief, and I believe she kind of disrupted the movie's flow. Though it wouldn't work if the mom was nice, she overdid the simple slapstick humor just a tad. Everyone else did a decent job, especially Kim Greist as Beth.

SCORE:The score was either mainly played for comical effect or emotional impact, so it wasn't anything really special. It worked, but it was just there to evoke the right emotion.

CAMERAWORK:I actually was quite fond of the cinematography here. DeVito did the directing for this flick, and I can tell he had a vision to catch certain shots at certain points with a creative and steady hand. The shots are just made so smooth for such a rough film.














OTHER CONTENT:This movie is really nothing more than a simply-made dark buddy comedy with a tender amount of slapstick. I like slapstick comedy, but not if it just grows dreadful and unnecessary. In here, it is necessary to make the movie feel as fun as the idea is. It was silly, but that's the whole point of the movie is to be a mock-up of a mystery. I liked the chemistry in here among Crystal and DeVito as well; it really clicked into making a funny film. Some say it was ridiculous, but I think it made the film more unique. This is somewhat of a hidden gem because though silly, it is well-inspired and well-made. It reminds me of odd charmers such as Matilda (of course) and Death Becomes Her. This movie is nothing more than a simple dark comedy though. Not special, but a fun little trip.

OVERALL,a good dark comedy with a well thought-out plot, more than decent acting, generic score, creative and steady camerawork, decent slapstick comedy, a well inspiration and a great maker.