Hellboy (2004) Action/Adventure -3.5 Stars
Hellboy rocks as a character; born a demon, summoned by Nazis, saved
by Americans, raised to fight otherworldly evil creatures, and played by Ron Perlman.
“Hellboy” is the long-awaited film based on a comic book. Hellboy files his horns down to fit in with society, although he is kept out of sight by a secret government, anti-demonic-creature agency called the B.P.R.D. Hellboy loves cats, he eats an awful lot, and he is unbelievably strong. He is also fire-engine red, and even though he looks like a freak, he has managed to have a relationship with a lady named Liz (Selma Blair), who has recently left both the bureau and Hellboy.
The movie throws us into Hellboy’s world by showing us his origins
during WWII, then jumping into the present. Hellboy’s mission today is to stop the evil guy that summoned him to begin with, none other than Rasputin (Karel Roden); the Rasputin who is repeatedly reborn and/or reincarnated. With the help of a pair of psychic friends, including the fire-blasting Liz and the half-fish Abe and his foster father, we zip through a series of daytime city streets filled with epic battles between Hellboy and gangs of gruesome demons en route to the fulfilling or preventing of a world-destructing prophecy. It’s X-Men meets Ghostbusters. There’s even a key-master! Before I ruin it for you, grab your buddies and head out to see this film.
Dawn of the Dead (2004) Horror -3 Stars
When there is no room in Hell, the dead walk to the mall. That was the
message of horror master George Romero’s 1978 anti-consumerism flick
“Dawn of the Dead.” This 2004 remake by first-time director Zack Snyder takes away much of the social message, and fills it instead with plenty of head-blasting, zombie-killing mayhem and a surprisingly unpredictable storyline that, while far from perfect, is tons of fun to watch.
The plot loosely follows the Romero original. This time around, the
star of the survivors crew is Ana (Sarah Polley), a nurse who wakes up from a romantic night with her boyfriend to a nightmarish world gone undead. Her neighbor’s cute kid has turned into a flesh-eater, and has taken a big bite out of her sweetheart, turning him into a walking zombie. The story takes place in a typical suburban Wisconsin town; the dead are walking again, they are hungry, and they can run like an Ethiopian track team.
Ana stumbles across some other “living”: a cop (Ving Rhames), a
recovering bad boy (Mekhi Phifer), his pregnant girlfrind, and an average Joe (Jack Weber). They head to a well-stocked shopping mall, holding up with three security guards and hoping to be rescued by the military. Not a bad way to spend a zombie crisis! Much like the original, Snyder’s version shows our castaways indulging in the shop-a-holic joys of a shopping mall. This film reminds me of an apocalyptic Breakfast Club. If you are in the mood for a good walking zombie horror movie, this is your ticket.
Starsky and Hutch (2004) Comedy -3.75 Stars
Starsky and Hutch is a solid, well-timed comedy. The flow of this movie
may not be entirely expected. After all, it is an adaptation of a 1970s cop show, assembled by director-writer Todd Phillips (Road Trip, Old
School).
To be sure, Starsky & Hutch does not have the flow or build of a truly great comedy. It is, as the credits put it, a Todd Phillips movie, so there is not an intricate plot so much as an already established concept. A re-visited cheesy 1970’s cop show provides the framework, leaving Ben Stiller (Starsky, the uptight one) and Owen Wilson (Hutch, the laid-back one) to do the rest. Other supporting actors though, like Old Schoolers Vince Vaughn and Will
Ferrell, as lead and supporting bad guys, make the scenes that do not feature the central cops; and Snoop Dogg, as informant Huggy Bear, does his part to nudge the movie toward actual, non-winking cool. I laughed considerably, especially at Starsky’s gung-ho running style, and a scene I will refer to only as “Will Farrell’s prison scense” made me laugh harder than I have at a movie in months.