Insidious

I know I'll get butchered by some for the title, but the tension in this film was stupendous. At all the right times, in all the right places, the scares and thrills are there. Sure, it's a hodge-podge of Poltergeist, Exorcist and Paranormal Activity, but each aspect of those movies is accentuated to produce a genuinely frightening combination.

After a family of five moves into a new home, it takes little time to realize something is wrong. Items move, doors close. When one child falls into a coma and the mother hears what sounds like Vin Diesel growling in some Gaelic dialect over the baby monitor, it's time to move despite the fact the father is a disbeliever. Unlike the Jefferson's, moving on up doesn't work for this family and the frights return like ghost herpes.

While creative license was necessary to move the story along, the astral plane concept is not completely embraceable. Nonetheless, the rest of the movie hits on all cylinders. Visually there isn't a lot, but what is presented works very effectively. All the scare techniques (e.g. eerie noises, well chosen music accompaniment, quiet-to-loud shocks, quick reveal scares) are expertly crafted and executed. Epic timing on more than one occasion. None of the actors really stand out, and a few (a Ghostbusters reproduction) were somewhat silly, but Lin Shaye must be recognized for her interesting performance as a medium who ties the entire movie into a sleep-stealing knot.

Impressed from beginning to end by this movie, I applaud the return to old fashioned, suspenseful horror that doesn't need a teenage sacrifice in a brothel, hostel, or abandoned building. Not saying I dislike those, but Insidious is good for the change of pace. The second half of the film is much slower than the terrifying first half, but if you've recently asked yourself, "Whatever happened to the slow build up?" Watch this in a dark theater with a great speaker system. Guaranteed thrills.

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

CBS messing with time slot running this season's shows late. That messes with DVR recording. Now all this season's shows are recorded short the last 15 minutes! Would rather pay Amazon than CBS-TV (who wants to bill 5.99 per month to watch shows!)

CBS...listen up! Why would I pay YOU on top of Cable/Satellite? Get real! Advertisers pay you. Viewers shouldn't!

The Mentalist Seasons 7

Only the first 2 episodes have aired so far of what will be just a half-season to wind up the series. This is promising to be an extremely memorable finale for a series that is head and shoulders above any I've ever seen. I have all the DVDs and look forward to the final set for Season 7. This is one show that is rewarding every time I watch episode again and sometimes again and again. More nuances become apparent that increase the depth of the story line. The acting is outstanding, the story telling is creative.

There is humor, drama, suspense and tragedy played out on a crime of the week platform. It's a work of theatrical art. The most remarkable thing about the series is the character development of Patrick Jane, played by Simon Baker. This is as award worthy as anything gets.

Stephen King's a Good Marriage

Great film! True to form, Stephen King is a great story teller. The tale unfolds slowly. This film is not for those who want car crashes and machine gun killings. When the wife discovers the secrets, her reaction suggests fear, but of what? And the seeming flashbacks - are they flashbacks or dreams, or both? A story of people living lies. Image is everything.

In the end it all comes together, as a good story does. The quality of acting is fantastic as well. I'm always amazed by Joan Allen. I did not even recognize her. The roles she plays are so varied. Amazing! And Anthony LaPaglia was great as well, (spoiler!?) as a man losing ground to "someone else". I have seen him before, but I did not realize that he is Australian, his American accent is so good. These two actors also are not actors playing a role, but become the characters themselves - real quality, not just Hollywood glitz.

I watched it again just to enjoy the quality of acting and the unfolding of the story. Again, the brilliance of Stephen King, a story taking place in Maine, that unfolds quietly with insight. I would like to know, however, who sings "A Tombstone Every Mile" in this film. Great song.

Banshee: Season 2 SD

From executive producer Alan Ball, creator of True Blood, this Cinemax action drama charts the continuing twists and turns that follow Lucas Hood (Antony Starr), an ex-convict who improbably assumes the identity of sheriff of the rural, Amish-area town of Banshee, where his former lover and partner-in-crime (Ivana Milicevic) lives under her own alias, Carrie Hopewell. Season 2 takes up immediately after the S1 finale, when Carrie’s father, gang kingpin Rabbit (Ben Cross) was left for dead after a climactic warehouse shootout. Carrie, now exposed and estranged from her husband and kids, is torn between her devotion to her family and her connection to Lucas, who had given himself up in order to save her years earlier.

The new season finds Lucas, having escaped detection after being interrogated by FBI agent Jim Racine (guest star Zeljko Ivanek), with his hands fuller than ever as sheriff, dealing with (among other things) the murder of a Kinaho tribe girl, the continuing escalation of tensions between Amish overlord Kai Proctor (Ulrich Thomsen) and Kinaho tribe leader Alex Longshadow (Anthony Ruivivar), and the unwelcome appearance of a surprise visitor: the reprobate son of the real (dead) Lucas Hood.

Tusk [Blu-ray]

I honestly don't know how many stars to give this weird, creepy little movie. I love Kevin Smith, but this is Kevin Smith doing his version of the Human Centipede. (Though I guess if I think of it in those terms, it was much better than Human Centipede if only because in this alternative reality of greatly suspended disbelief, the idea of turning someone into a walrus is much more believable than sewing people together rear-to-mouth. I mean, come on, the centipede's whole digestive and excretory system is completely unworkable, while turning someone into a walrus is .... oh, never mind.)

The soon-to-be walrusized Justin Long is really (and I assume deliberately) unlikeable in this movie, which I find complicated my loyalties as a viewer. While I was horrified at the idea of anyone being mutilated like this, having it happen to someone as unfeeling, crass and utterly lacking in humanity left me wondering whose side I was actually on. Even his girlfriend's ruminations on "what happened to the guy I fell in love with" (i.e. the one who cried at Winnie the Pooh) only made me wonder, "What are you still doing with this jerk? Are you sure you want to go find him?"

Yet I will confess, I was impressed by Long's ability to recognize literary quotes from Hemingway to The Rime of the Ancient Mariner; he may be a jerk, but he's a well-read jerk, and that means a lot to a writer and former English major like me.

What is enjoyable (though not as much as I would have hoped) is the "KevinSmithism" humor that creeps in. The passport guy at the airport is perhaps the funniest part of the movie. Canadian humor, eh?

Joel Haley Osment, who no longer sees dead people because right after that enormous success he suffered the fate of so many child actors: a growth spurt into puberty that rendered his once too-cuteness into something of rather awkward proportions. Luckily he seems to have grown into his features now. But he has such a tiny part in this movie, it's wasted.

I don't know how many people even know that Johnny Depp is in this movie, even after they've seen the movie. I give Depp credit as an actor for completely disappearing into the character of a Clouseau-like French Canadian detective. I had to Google to see if it actually was him. However, like most of this movie, he'd have been better and funnier with a little less screen time. LIke so many movies and tv shows, you get the feeling this was a good joke that would have made a great half-hour skit, but a really slow two-hour-ish movie.

The Equalizer [Blu-ray]

McCall (Denzel Washington) has put his mysterious past behind him and is dedicated to living a new, quiet life. But when he meets Teri (Chloë Grace Moretz), a young girl under the control of ultra-violent Russian gangsters, he can’t stand idly by. Armed with hidden skills that allow him to serve vengeance against anyone who would brutalize the helpless, McCall comes out of his self-imposed retirement and finds his desire for justice reawakened.

If someone has a problem, if the odds are stacked against them, if they have nowhere else to turn, McCall will help. He is The Equalizer.