Psych:9 DVD Review

Psych:9 is the debut feature length effort from both director Andrew Shortell and writer Lawrence Robinson, unfortunately it's a confusing mess of a flick that doesn't even seem to understand itself. My problem with it is this, it's standard psychological thriller fare that winds itself up in it's own convoluted story so much that by the end your left wondering exactly what happened, when and to who. 

The story revolves around Roslyn (Sara Foster) who starts a new job at a recently closed down hospital sorting out the old patient files. She'll be working mostly alone, at night, subtle set-up. There is one other person in the hospital, a psych doc working up on the fifth floor, Dr. Clement (Cary Elwes). Rosalyn bumps into him one night and they start to hang out and talk at night. This is all happening against the backdrop of someone murdering women with a hammer. Rosalyn seems to be having some marital problems and is non to happy when her husband, Cole (Gabriel Mann), shows up at her work with her lunch and begins to read the patient files. Then with no warning she scrawls 'I want my baby' on the wall of her apartment and snaps. Her talks with Dr. Clements become therapy sessions and we find out she was abused as a kid, killed her father when she was 10 and escaped being burned alive by her mother a few weeks later. Rosalyn begins to believe her husband is responsible for the murders when she realizes that all the victims were patients at the hospital whose files he could have read.  

During her therapy session's we also find out she is unable to have kids and that she was a patient herself on the psych ward after her ordeal as a child. As she slowly begins to lose it the police clear her husband but even after being told that the epicenter of all the attacks is the hospital no one seems to suspect her at all. It all comes to a head when her friend, who got her the job, shows up at work and tells her that the psych doc working on the fifth floor will finally be coming in tonight...huh? Rosalyn tells her about Clements only to be told that he WAS a doc there but he was murdered by a patient years ago. Rosalyn rushes upstairs to find the 5th floor is a mess that no one has worked on and the treatment rooms are covered in 'I want my baby' she plays the tapes from her sessions and they only have her voice on them. She's officially bat-shit crazy. Despite all this she still insists that Clements is real and he is murdering the blond women because he was killed by a blond patient and he wants revenge. This for me is were all logic get's thrown out the window. Rosalyn is on the roof, her friend Beth is murdered on the stairs. Clements shows up on the roof with a bloody hammer Rosalyn threatens to destroy all the files so he will never be able to find out who killed him, we clearly see she is yelling at nothing and she torches the files before throwing herself down a laundry chute landing right next to the blaze she just started and into a locked room. Cole manages to save her and they both get out alive. The movie closes with Rosalyn revealing that she is pregnant and has dyed her hair blond. Wtf...so who actually killed them? Is there a supernatural element at work that they just never acknowledged or was she just crazy? Why did I just sit through a movie where the best thing was the opening credit reel?

One thing is evident, Shortell has probably seen every scholocky low rent horror movie made in the last 10 years and for some reason held them up as something to aspire too. The difference here is that while horror movies like this are a dime a dozen a lot of them are actually enjoyable, Psych:9 is not. It's a clumsy, slow paced mess that makes little to no sense. Now don't get me wrong I'm not saying that I need all my films tied up in a neat little bow. There are a lot of great movies out there that have meandering, twist filled plots but the difference is in the writing, they still manage to offer the viewer some sense of completion. Taking into account that this is a first feature there are some redeeming elements, it's shot fairly well, the ambiance and lighting is decent and there are definitely some creepy moments. If you're a fan of this kind of movie then you might do OK with it, just keep in mind that it's a debut effort and you'll probably be scratching your head at the end.

Directed by: Andrew Shortell
Written by: Lawrence Robinson
Starring: Sara Foster, Cary Elwes and Gabriel Mann
Distributed by: Lionsgate Films
Website: http://www.psych9.com/

Never Let Me Go DVD Review

"We all complete. Maybe none of us really understand what we've lived through, or feel we've had enough time" 

I'll be the first to admit that this movie doesn't seem like my usual fare, I sold it to my wife as something for the both of us. Part chick flick with a sci-fi twist that would appeal to me. Turns out I over sold her part and undersold mine. It all worked out in the end though, this is an insanely well made, hauntingly beautiful movie that's probably best watched with your significant other to save your geek cred.

The basic premise is that in the 1950's a medical breakthrough was made that allowed the life expectancy of humans to surpass 100 years, that breakthrough was cloning. The movie follows the story of narrator Kathy (Carey Mulligan), as the movie begins she explains she has been a 'carer' for 8 years now as she looks through glass at a man on an operating table. She goes on to tell the story of Tommy (Andrew Garfield), Ruth (Kiera Knightley) and herself. The story begins with the three of them as kids at Halsham House a seemingly idyllic boarding school that has . Kathy falls in love with Tommy but before she can let him know he enters into a relationship with Ruth. When they turn 18 they leave Halsham to live at the cottages, a collection of secluded farm houses where the clones from various schools around the country live while they wait to give their first donations. It's at the cottages where they first hear about the possibility of having the first donation deferred for couples who can prove they are in love and also where the relationship between the three deteriorates to the point where Kathy decides to leave to become a carer. 

While she is with one of her donors at the hospital she notices that Ruth is there and goes to visit her, this leads to a reunion between the three friends with Kathy being the only one who is yet 
to make a donation. Ruth apologizes to them and asks for forgiveness for keeping them apart, in an effort to make up for it she found out the name of the person who you are supposed to go to to request a deferral and advises them to seek one so they can finally be together. This proves to be Ruth's final act as she completes soon after. Kathy and Tommy go in search of a deferral only to find out there is no such thing and the patient Kathy is looking at through the glass at the beginning of the movie is Tommy.

Director Mark Romanek's adaptation of the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro works amazingly well on the big screen. His often haunting imagery combined with the unique, almost bleak, color palette used in the movie combine to really portray the emotional disconnect captured by the book. The sad, cold feeling portrayed by the lack of primary colors in his palette plays beautifully with the bleak lives the characters are forced to lead and allow us to identify with them regardless. The actors also put in sublime performances capturing the naivety you would expect from people raised to never experience the world as we know it.  

Directed by: Mark Romanek
Written by: Kazuo Ishiguro (book) and Alex Garland (screen play)
Starring: Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley and Andrew Garfield.
Distributed by: Fox Searchlight Pictures
Website: http://www.foxsearchlight.com/neverletmego

Easy A DVD Review

Directed by: Will Gluck

Written by: Bert V. Royal

Starring: Emma Stone, Penn Badgley, Thomas Haden Church and Stanley Tucci

Distributed by: Screen Gems

Website: http://www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/easya/

Going into Easy A I knew next to nothing about the actually movie. I had the basic premise, straight laced high school girl falls victim to the rumor mill and decides to use it to her advantage with less than impressive results. I knew Emma Stone was starring and I quite enjoyed her performances in 'Superbad' and 'Zombieland' but they weren't lead roles. That was pretty much it. I wasn't expecting much more than a PG-13 variation of the abysmal 'American Pie' straight-to-DVD sequels, it is technically a sex comedy after all. That's not what I got and I was pleasantly surprised.

Easy A centers on Olive Penderghast (Emma Stone) a typical high school senior. Olive is smart, funny, pretty, down to earth and, as happens so much in high school, unnoticed by the other kids. All that changes when she lies to her best friend, Rhiannon (Aly Michalka), about losing her virginity to a college guy over the weekend. Her lie is overheard by the vindictive, holier-than-thou, leader of the campus Christian society Marianne (Amanda Byne) who proceeds to spread the rumor throughout the entire school. Olive is upset about the situation at first but soon begins to enjoy the extra attention she is getting around campus. Things only get worse when she pretends to have sex with her gay friend at a party to get people off his back about being gay. This leads to her being compared to Hester Prynne from 'The Scarlett Letter' a role she takes on whole heartedly by buying a risque wardrobe and adorning each item with a red letter A. As more offers of fake trysts come in, complete with payments in the form of gift cards, things take a turn for the worse. When it all starts to fall apart Olive tries to repair her ravaged reputation by simply telling the truth, easier said than done when her 'clients' refuse to come clean. Turning to the only person who see's through her act, the school mascot, long time friend and almost  first kiss Todd (Penn Badgley), she set's a plan in motion to make the entire school see the truth.

The first thing that really made me sit up and take notice was the opening credits, the cast had some surprising inclusions that had small, but excellent performances. Thomas Haden Church put's in a star turn as Olive's favorite teacher, the witty, painfully sardonic Mr. Griffith. Stanley Tucci is excellent as Olive's liberal and slightly crazy father. Malcom Mcdowell plays the stuttering, perpetually flustered school principal. Finally, and most impressive, we have Emma Stone as Olive. She has absolutely no trouble steering this movie with an outstanding performance, proving more than worthy of a lead role. Her Olive is smart, witty, funny, likable, vulnerable, kind, generous, loving and insecure. In other words everything a teenage girl should be. Easy A is director Will Glucks sophomore effort and he does a good job here, getting great performances from his cast. The script, which as far as I know is Bert V. Royals first feature, is witty, funny and really allows Stone to shine with her dialogue. The whole flick smacked of John Hughes, clearly something Royal was going for evidenced by the scene with Olive comparing her life to the Hughes catalogue of movies. If that was his goal he definitely pulled it off in style. The whole movie is told in retrospect, beginning with Olive talking to a web cam and telling her story so she can finally get the truth out there, ending where we began with the big finish to her broadcast. While not a particularly original story tool it works very well here.

I won't be doing a whole separate special features section for this review, I saw the DVD version and they are pretty paltry. All you get for your money here is a gag reel, Emma Stone audition footage and a commentary track with Gluck and Stone. A bit underwhelming really.

Overall this is a surprising little gem of a movie. It's smart, funny and honest. Stone's performance makes it so easy to actually care about Olive you become invested in her plight and her struggle to repair her reputation. It's an ingeniously written movie that is worth a look for any comedy fan.