This Week, I Have Been Mostly Watching.....

Having joined an online DVD rental service a few months ago, I end up watching quite a fair few movies a week, just to get the most out of my £13.99 a month. And while it does give you the chance to watch movies you missed out on at the cinema, a lot of them tend to be god-awful straight-to-video films that I would never usually even think about watching usually. American Pie: Band Camp and Single White Female 2 being the lowest of the low at the moment. This week’s selection was a pretty mixed bunch.

Jarhead (****) got absolutely slated when it came out in the cinema. But having watched it last night, I have no idea why. It’s probably the most enjoyable war film I’ve seen. Although I think I’ve probably only seen about three. Sure not much happens, but considering the film is about the boredom and tension of waiting for combat, that’s the whole point. Jake Gyllenhaal is excellent as the intense marine sniper Anthony Swofford, it’s beautifully shot and has a great soundtrack. If you expect it to be on the same headache-inducing level as Black Hawk Down, you’ll be disappointed. Otherwise, it’s an authentic and humorous look at an experience of the Gulf War you don’t often get to see.

Cry Wolf (***), a teen horror about a group of students who become terrified when a fictional tale of a serial killer they made up in an email, starts to become reality, is much cleverer than you would expect. Like Jarhead, it plays with the conventions of its genre, in that there’s very little gore, very few frightening scenes and very few on-screen deaths and unlike most other films of its kind these days, doesn’t play it for laughs. The constant twists and turns, a few which are maybe a little too convoluted, keep you guessing until the end and despite some dodgy acting, it’s an enjoyable addition to the teen horror flick.

Romantic comedies are not exactly my favourite type of film, but they can be watchable enough when they’re done well. Failure To Launch (*) is not. The plot is nonsensical, Matthew McConaughey plays the same charmless schmuck he plays in nearly every movie and Sarah Jessica Parker isn’t likeable enough to justify her character’s ridiculous career choice as a woman who somehow cons stay-at-home 30-something men into finally getting their own place. Even the excellent Kathy Bates can’t save it. Worst of all, it’s just downright dull. I switched it off with about half an hour remanining, so who knows, maybe I missed out on a huge cinematic masterpiece of a finale. I doubt it.