Behind the Mask
I was actually quite amused by Behind the Mask: the Rise of Leslie Vernon, despite its direct to video origins. The film is about the iconic slasher movie killers of the 70's and 80's, and exists in their universe, where Jason Voorhees, Michael Meyers, and Freddy Krueger really walk the earth terrorizing oversexed adolescents. It begins as the documentary film of a crew of graduate students who are interviewing a would-be killer, Leslie Vernon, who is in the midst of creating his nightmarish, supernatural persona and picking out a virgin teenage girl to stalk and terrorize. And it does explain a lot, knowing that movie serial killers do a lot of cardio to be able to chase people down while looking like they're barely moving. Leslie is so surprisingly charming in explaining the rules of his chosen calling and waxing mystical about the purpose of these killing sprees that it actually works, and you can believe that there are student filmmakers so naïve and fascinated by darkness that they can document his work without really confronting it.
Surprisingly the filmmakers find enough to do in their coverage of Leslie's preparations that it doesn't drag waiting for the big finale. This is the film that answers all the questions nerds ask when watching slasher movies, like why doesn't anybody try the windows (nailed shut) and how he pops up everywhere (carefully herding people where he needs them) and why every small town has a serial killer legend and some young journalism student stumbles onto all the evidence nobody else has put together (he plants the article clippings for her in the library). It's pretty funny, and to avoid being a 20 minute concept stretched out over two hours it brings in enough well-timed surprises and holds enough back to turn Leslie's planned run-down upside down and keep the finish from stagnating. It plays with very tired ideas in a much more self-conscious and nerdy way than Scream, and that's a lot of fun.
The Simpsons Movie
The Simpsons had become so self-conscious and lazy, explaining all their increasingly dated pop-culture references and lingering over their in-jokes, that I could scarcely countenance attending a Simpsons movie (particularly now that I've become such a patron of The Theeatah). The film avoided winking at its audience so much, and showed a lot more of a fresh spark than the laboriously telegraphed jokes of the last few episodes I've seen. This wasn't near the old peak, and the days of “Marge vs the Monorail” are long gone, but it's still a pretty good time, and I really did laugh. If this was their last hurrah, they went out well.
The Kingdom
The Kingdom was somewhat mocked as CSI: Riyadh, and that's more or less exactly what it is, a long procedural cop show that concludes with an unexpected crazy-ass kidnap and shootout. All the clichés are there, including the sacrificial lamb, the guy you know will die in the last reel, the craven politicians, and on it goes. However, I do have two nice things to say about The Kingdom, the first being that it does get the job done... it works, even as CSI: Riyadh. I was pulled in enough that I didn't check my watch or roll my eyes, and usually I'm pretty cynical about anything this heroic and topical (still scarred by 300). The other thing is it really tries for something deeper, and while it's not subtle and offered very little that lingered in my thoughts long after, it does have heart. I may be selling the film short, because after setting itself up with very conservative memes, the American FBI agents strutting off the plane like the A-Team, diving into this den of corruption and violence to kick ass and chew bubblegum, it does also temper its perspective in small doses and builds on that for a conclusion. The Americans' counterparts in the Saudi police are slowly fleshed out as real people with the same sense of patriotism the Americans, and they gain a certain amount of dignity as the film progresses. For instance the Saudi colonel's repeated demands for the Americans to stop using foul language initially just blends into the bleating opposition of the Saudi government and military (and our American heroes just swear more to show their resolve) but as they really start to work with the local police, it becomes more clearly a manifestation of the same sense of principle that is driving both the FBI and the locals. Actually that was the one thing that really lingered in my mind from this film, when Ashraf Barhom tells Jamie Foxx about how he became a cop because of seeing the Incredible Hulk fighting bad guys on TV. So The Kingdom wasn't bad, Ashraf Barhom was good, and Jeremy Piven was great in his brief appearance as the jaded state department liaison (some say reprising his role from “Entourage” a little too closely).
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