Murder By Numbers - 2002

 When you're flying cross the country and you have 5 hours to kill, sometimes you end up watching a movie you wouldn't expect. There's very little choice on a lot of planes and so the fact that this 2002 unknown action thriller was available made me put it on.

Murder By Numbers is a apt title for a pretty much by the numbers thriller film. A well-written and perhaps well inspired film, but also one in which there's very little takeaway and there's not going to be a ton to say. I called that this was inspired by the Leopold and Loeb case, a real life case in which two very intelligent men thought they could smart their way into getting away with murder.

Michael Pitt and Ryan Gosling Star as the two men and Sandra Bullock stars as the investigator, we know pretty early on that they did it and we know pretty early on that she thinks maybe there's something suspicious about them. The rest of the film is putting the puzzle pieces together as to how they did it, who did what, and why.  

That's all well and good, and it executes it to the average degree. What I found the differentiated this from certain other movies is that the character stuff is well written. Sandra Bullock's character is very strange and slightly comical and slightly dark. The two kids are well written and they have an odd dynamic. Side characters are pretty well fleshed out and each one delivers a very solid performance. I appreciated that this was more of a character piece than one would need for plot like this and that the character pieces that were attempted were done well.

That said it's the only thing that makes this stand up a tiny bit above the average mystery thriller and I give it a 3 out of 5.

Rambo III - 1988

 Everyone knows First Blood, it's the actually good overlooked psychological look in on a veteran who returns home and faces difficulty from a cop. 

Part two that same veteran is sent to rescue POWs in Vietnam. It's a steep drop off from the first. Then... what the fuck happens in part 3?!  That is why I'm choosing to review that one even though I watched all 3. 

Rambo 3 is the one where Colonel Troutman gets kidnapped while he's sent on a mission and then Rambo choses to go in and rescue him alone. That's the gist of this one. But as I started it I just kept wondering is this one any good or do I just forget about it constantly, is it just too much of the same thing?

For both 2 and 3, these movies had been on a trajectory of losing dramatic interest and instead opting for action.  I think that the reason this one jumps the shark is because it takes a relative side character in Troutman and not only focuses a lot on him but chooses to do so in an action lens. Richard Crenna is a good actor and the movie is not terribly written but I think I end up not caring because it's not what I came for.

Troutman is the secondary character in this, and beyond that you have some Middle Eastern family that Rambo's sort of adopted.  I only now realize both 2 and 3 don't really have central villains... They're fighting governments, lands, entities. The first movie had Brian Dennehy. Just something to note. 

Rambo 3 is fine to put on in the background and it's very forgettable but it's not like it's going to hurt you.  It's still better than Rambo and the recent Rambo Last Blood. I'll give it a 2.5

Twisted - 2004

 Dude c'mon with this title. The year is 2004 and Ashley Judd had been implemental to the post Se7en nu-metal soaked post millennium world. Why not capitalize with a film titled Twisted?!

Geez you guys. This movie is exactly that though. You have Bone Collector and Double Jeopardy and such, and this is arriving a bit late to the scene to say, "hey how about that whole thing again? I have something you say!"

But does it tho... You know.... Does it? Not really basically. This movie switches things up by having Judd be a short haired sexually charged cop who is also an unreliable narrator. They just looked at those stops and said fuck it pull em all out. 

Sam L Jackson, Leland Orser, and Andy Garcia fill out the cast, and the movie goes along minding its own business. They show Judd is a tough cop in a new precinct and a new body shows up- it's someone she's slept with. She instantly gets a bad omen and sure enough, soon other men she's fucked begin to turn up dead. 

Twisted is a product of its time, yet without leaving full into an R rating it leaves it feeling uncertain what it wants to do. Also, the end is entirely predictable. I'll give it a 2. 

The Burning - 1981

 I guessed later in the 80s. Hm. 

The Burning is a slasher. Wait, a slasher in the 80s? First for everything. 

I dunno. The Burning is a movie I've seen a few times, honestly had to check to see if maybe it'd been put on this blog before. This movie is a lot like Sleepaway Camp, which is of course a lot like Friday the 13th. 

I'm not calling the Burning completely unoriginal. In fact when I first saw this I liked it, and I watched it again now and liked it again. There's the slasher I'm trying to remember where the kids play a trick on someone in the beginning... Terror Train, of course. Anyways in both Burning and Train the beginning shows the future killer getting spurned by dumb teens, giving them the need to kill. It's a weird idea to front load the reason, but then again I guess Friday the 13th had a strong reason in the end... Huh I dunno. 

The Burning has a pre Seinfeld Jason Alexander, it has some titties, it has some decent deaths, and the ending is fun and fast paced. There's not much to dislike. I'll give it 4 stars. 

Maniac - 2012

 I first saw Maniac fairly early on, perhaps in 2012. I was pretty into Alexander Aja at that time, and I saw an independent movie produced by and starring Elijah Wood also produced by Aja so naturally I watched it. 

Maniac was so recent but so long ago. Long ago in that Texas Chainsaw, Halloween, and probably other stuff I can't think of had recently been remade or sequelized, and also graphic "horror porn" was still sorta in the zeitgeist. 

This is sort of a remake of the William Lustig 1980 same titled film which I actually rewatched recently and both times I've watched Maniac 2012 I've thought how was this a remake? I get it basically it's a horror movie where the killer is obsessed with mannequins kinda, but other than that they're pretty unrelated. 

Elijah Wood is a maniac killer whose eyes we literally see out of in the rip off of the idea in Enter The Void. He goes around slicing off women's scalps and having freak episodes, and basically that's the plot. It's made with a gimmick in mind, that of seeing from his point of view, which I will give it credit for in that it is original, and never caught on in any significant way. 

Is the movie good? I mean, interesting question. Gimmicks can work, I will not dismiss them outright. Director Franck Khalfoun certainly made a unique, highly watchable movie. Almost certainly made on a shoestring budget with a lot going to the gimmick, it doesn't feel cheap. Also it is eerie and memorable. For years I been sitting here saying, remember that first person slasher movie I saw once?

Maniac is not essential but it is a good movie and worth a watch. 4 stars.