In Honor of Halloween

So if you're anything like me, you have a love-hate relationship with horror movies. I love the thrill and excitement, but of course hate the ensuing nightmares. So in honor of this past Halloween weekend, I decided to try my luck at the movie theater with the sixth installment of the Saw movies.

Of course, there is not a whole lot someone can expect from a movie designed to make you lose your appetite, but this movie really topped my expectations in terms of just how bad it got. The first scene was by far the scariest/grossest scene in the entire movie and from there it all just went downhill. The acting was atrocious, Costas Mandylor as Detective Mark Hoffman was almost painful to watch. Along with many of the other actors, it made the movie seem like just that, a movie, something fake and staged, taking away from the horror factor. The only actor who managed to pull the plot and the movie together was Tobin Bell as John Kramer/Jigsaw. He is more believable than any other character and carries the film.

Although maybe not the greatest piece of artistic work in terms of film, Saw does (as usual) keep a very interesting plot. They always manage to twist the plot at the last second right when the viewer thinks they have it all figured out. The plot twists always tie the entire movie together right in the last few minutes of the movie, right when people like me are starting to yawn and text and have stopped paying attention.

All in all, Saw VI was probably not worth my $8 Matinee ticket. I think that Saw has started to stray from its original roots of the first movie where they had a great parallel and balance between the gore and the plot. The gore seemed to be more important in depicting than the actual plot where the acting and reality of the story seemed to be secondary. But as I said, Saw movies are still a great way to lose your appetite :-)

Matt Damon does more than Ocean's Eleven movies

In case you thought Matt Damon had fallen off the map after his Borne and Ocean's Eleven movies, he's back. Damon just appeared in what I would call an under-ratably good movie. The film is based on a true story of a whistle-blower for a large company in the 1990's, who through a series of events becomes an FBI informant. Although the topic is serious and familiar to many people, it takes a surprisingly satirical mood throughout the whole film. Matt Damon plays Mark Whitacre, an unwitting corporate mogul moving up in the ranks. He turns informant and to the FBI's surprise is not quite so forthcoming as they had expected and constantly changes his story and in the end, in a huge plot twist, ends up being more of a culprit than a victim.

I think that this story takes a very heavy and sometimes boring topic and adds a really funny element. Matt Damon does a great job of embodying his character and making it believable. The movie is also filled with "streams of consciousness" from the mind of Mark Whitacre which are both entertaining and different.

Although the movie had great acting and comedic timing, there was a bit of lag in my opinion in the plot. It could've been a bit shorter and maybe then it would have been a better movie, but all in all it was definitely worth my $10