DVD - The Killer Inside Of Me

Serial Killers are something that the film industry rarely does right. They are, often times, the driving force behind B-grade horror movies, cheap, poorly written pieces that studios or independents churn out to make a buck. Because of that, it's not often we, as an audience, get the chance to take a movie with this kind of subject seriously. The Killer Inside Of Me, however, is none of these things, and you WILL take it seriously. It doesn't allow you to do anything otherwise.

Centering around Sheriff's Deputy Lou Ford (Casey Affleck), Killer starts out simple enough. Ford gets sent to run off a prostitute (played by Jessica Alba), operating out of a shack on the outskirts of town. They become entangled, and begin a side relationship, even though Ford has a girl, Amy (played by Kate Hudson), at home. When things get complicated between Joyce (Alba) and Chester Conway, the father of a young man obsessed with Joyce, Ford works to broker a deal between the two which would get his son and the prostitute out of town with ten thousand dollars to start a new life. But Ford isn't having it. He hatches a plan to kill the both of them, and, eventually, make off with the money. His plan, however, begins falling apart almost immediately, and he finds himself killing more and more to try and cover his tracks.

Michael Winterbottom does a great job of directing this thriller, based on a 1950's cult novel. Casey Affleck delivers, probably, the performance of his career, making you FEAR this small, understated man who is willing to do ANYTHING to cover himself. Winterbottom allows Affleck to go to wherever he needs to go, and does not hesitate to put every moment on the screen. The murder of Joyce is particularly graphic and disconcerting. I very rarely ever get sick, but this scene did nauseate me. Alba delivers, for once, an on par performance, but this isn't surprising, seeing as how the Joyce character doesn't really have too much to her. Alba's job is to, basically, wear practically nothing, look sexy, and make you want her. Like I said, not much of a stretch. A series of great acting in smaller roles also rounds out the film with Elias Koteas as a blackmailing Union rep, Tom Bower as the Sheriff of the little town, and Simon Baker as a Fed who is absolutely sure Ford is the killer, but has to find the evidence to prove it.

Nine

It's just about the worst time for movies in all of movie history right now. The money for independents has dried to a trickle, and the studios aren't interested in anything but remakes, re-imagining's or proven properties. It's a hard life for someone who is trying to do something even mildly original, even if they have been nominated for Oscar's for their previous work, and won countless other awards for the same work. Rob Marshall, apparently, believed that he could recapture the magic that he had with his hit stage to screen musical Chicago, in the Fellini inspired, hit Broadway musical, Nine. Unfortunately, when it didn't do as well as expected on its opening week, the studio pulled out of engagements all over the country, and now this thoroughly entertaining film will probably only be seen for the first time, by many, on DVD.

Nine is about about a director, Guido Contini (patterned after Italian director Federico Fellini), who is having a crisis trying to figure out what his next film is going to be. He has made a string of hits, and now, his production company is moving forward on his new project, a film for which he doesn't have an idea for, much less the script that everyone keeps demanding. He is forced to reckon with pretty much everyone in his life, and ESPECIALLY the many women of his life, before his creative muse will return.

Nine, I think, is a fun romp, especially for those who are fans of film history and enjoy Fellini. Daniel Day Lewis is exactly how you expect his character should be, Italian (or, at least what we think of as Italian) to his very core. The film boasts a number of incredible supporting roles, the best of which is Marion Cotillard as Contini's wife, who is constantly humiliated by his philandering ways. Penelope Cruz turns in a fun performance as Contini's mistress, and Judy Dench does a great job as one of Contini's right hand staffer's. It's hard to comment on the direction in a movie like this, because musical's are really a mixture of acting direction, choreography, and musical direction, which, most of the time, are taken care of by various people. I enjoyed Nine immensely, though, and do recommend it to people, though mostly to "film" people.