MOVIE REVIEW - Disturbia (2007)

Disturbia is a teeny-bopper thriller with teeny-bopper depth, but it works better than most in the genre. Shia LeBeouf is under house arrest and eavesdrops on his neighbors out of boredom. He enjoys the scenery of his newly-arrived next door neighbor in the swimming pool. But the story hinges on the guy across the street (David Morse, who is excellent at Creepy), who LeBeouf suspects as a local serial killer. LeBeouf and the lead girl were mediocre actors, but the banter between them worked.

There are some great crazy-scary scenes. When LeBeouf first saw David Morse looking back at him through the binoculars - yikes. And wow, that was one AWESOME and shocking car crash. There's also plenty humor. LeBeouf's friend sneaks into Morse's house because they suspect he's killed a stripper. On the phone with LeBeouf, the friend says, "It reeks in here."
LeBeouf: "What's it smell like."
Friend: "Like the corpse of a rotting hottie."

The climax was a little disappointing: the scenes were too dark to tell what was going on; LeBeouf had too much time to look around, while the bad guy was supposedly after him; and the resolution was too neatly wrapped in a happy teen package. But overall, still an enjoyable 2 hours.

MOVIE REVIEW - Hoax, The (2007)

Nicely told true story starring Richard Gere as Clifford Irving, an author in the '70s who faked being the ghost writer for Howard Hughes' autobiography. They filmmakers made an unbelievable story seem plausible as to how it all came about. The fictional flashbacks from Gere's deceptive point of view added to the believability. They did a stellar job of getting the '70s right - hairstyles, clothes, furniture, everyone drinking Tab, even the aerial shots of Manhattan, Bahamas, and DC. I didn't understand all the implications of Hughes bringing down Nixon - I'd never heard those accusations before and would like to know if there is any substance to it, or if it was just rumor.

Gere was very Gere - I'm unsure why he is getting all the critical acclaim. He is fine, but no better than other actors could've done. Hope Davis in her bizarre wig was excellent as the conflicted publisher who wanted to support Irving but could just never decide who to believe.

MOVIE REVIEW - Shooter, The (2007)

The Shooter is a bit of a cinematic geography course, beginning with Ethiopian rivers and waterfalls, continuing into the luscious snow-filled Rocky Mountains, skipping into nice city shots of DC, Baltimore, and Philadelphia, off to Montana mountains, then to serene rural locales in Tennessee and Kentucky. With such an effort placed on cinematography, you would almost forget this is an action thriller. But only almost, as there are plenty of guns and explosions to keep everyone excited, plus the coolest napalm balm effect since Apocalypse Now.

Wahlberg plays Bob Lee Swagger, a former military sniper who has developed governmental paranoia and secluded himself in a hermit lifestyle with his dog in the Rocky Mountains. Until the government (or, are they? The plot is nothing deep or mysterious) recruits him to help stop a presidential assassination. Wahlberg is quickly mistaken as the assassin, and thus begins the chase movie of the year. Potentially hokey lines like "Welcome to Tennessee, the patriot state of shootin' stuff" instead come across as cool and funny.

Danny Glover is mediocre as the shady government official who hires Wahlberg - plus, the director gave him some weird mouthpiece that made him look dumb and talk with a lisp - distracting. Michael Pena, who was excellent in Crash, was out of place as a lackadaisical FBI agent who suddenly (and unrealistically) becomes motivated by Wahlberg's plight. Kate Mara was surprisingly restrained and endearing, and she had a mostly-authentic Kentucky hick accent. And Mark Wahlberg makes all of his movies better than they should be, bringing the necessary intensity to his sniper on the run. While The Shooter is a bit heavy on the conspiracy theory with negative allusions to the Bush Administration, I'm a sucker for a good vigilante story.