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Reviews
Bereavement (2010)
Millenial American Gothic: Norman Rockwell dines with death
To designate BEREAVEMENT, an artful work combining the ethereal sensibilities of DAYS OF HEAVEN with the gritty melancholia of HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER, solely as a "slasher film" is to minimize its overall depth of vision. BEREAVEMENT is a movie with a subtle underbelly of mature "human horror" not found in standard, repetitious slaughter fare. Superlative casting, exquisite cinematography, and a piquant sense of existential hopelessness (as evidenced by the virtually immutable fates of every character in the storyline) serve to artfully transcend the meager scope of most commercial slaughter epics. BEREAVENMENT succeeds in tapping the vein of contemporary nihilism while its combined elements succinctly chronicle in counterpoint the ongoing collapse of traditional social order and the disintegration of the American Family. One can almost envision Norman Rockwell paintings blistering and peeling as they burn in the background.
The Stepford Wives (2004)
Hackneyed History vs. Horror Hokum
There is a disturbing trend toward rewriting or altogether forgetting historical cinematic perspective. The original "Stepford Wives", appropriately dramatic in intent, concentrated on a single character (played graciously by Katharine Ross) gradually uncovering a frightening and deadly chauvinistic plot against the women of an upscale Connecticut community. The 00's version seems to rely solely on the current one-trick pony of coarse, campy humor, with little to no regard for traditional storyline. Add to this a pretentious parade of identifiable pop icons (Kidman, Midler, etc.) in order to sell this flimsy film and you have an audience whose sensibilities have been bodysnatched and brain-eaten by rampaging, robotic redux. Alliteration aside, there is nothing new under the sun NOR on the silver screen!
Saps in Chaps (1942)
Cartoon cowpokes in a corral of comedy!
Sagebrush site gags depicting wild west wackiness. The bit where a snidely villain enters a saloon, approaches the bar and repeatedly shoots a cockeyed cowboy who laughs wildly and says "Stop! You're killing me!," is hilarious.