Edge Of Darkness

Starring Mel Gibson

Imagine your daughter is violently ill and so you decide to drop everything and take her to the hospital right away. You grab your keys and hurry her out the door on a stormy night and as soon as you step outside to join her, she is gunned down right before you. This is how the tale begins and it is not for the faint of heart. The previews for this movie would have you believe that this is a simple tale of a cop wanting to find his daughters killer and for the most part, that is what we get. However, there is a whole other side to this story that involves politics, greed, conspiracy theories and of course terrorists are implicated as well.
Mel Gibson appears stripped down and humble with his thinning hair and deep set wrinkles mapping his face and he couldn't have looked more appropriate for the part.
With Gibson looking the part,what unfolds is a thought provoking story that has the odd twist or two to keep you from groaning at what appears to be a by the numbers revenge tale. Peppered with some jarring scenes of violence our hero plods along and sinks deeper and deeper into the reality of the situation as it unfolds before him. There are too many people involved and on too many levels for him to comprehend. One by one Gibson sorts out what he can and is unapologetic in doing so along the way.
Once you the viewer is all caught up, its hard not to root for him as the bereaved father does what he can to get to the bottom of it all with the help of visions and flashbacks of his daughter helping guide him on his quest.
This is part Death Wish and part Taken but in its own way this movie despite a terrible title stands alone as a much deeper tale.

Rating 3 cover ups out of 5



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Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince

Starring Daniel Radcliffe , Emma Watson and Alan Rickman

Ive honestly lost count but I know there only two more to go in the series so this one simply serves to move things along. It shows. No new ground is covered and so to keep things fresh, we are introduced to a couple of new characters and story lines. Poor old Harry still has trouble with the birds and perhaps that's why Radcliffe in real life did some Broadway last year and went full frontal. But that's another story.
This time around the theme remains dark and so does the actual look for roughly 80% of the film. Another muddled aspect is the dialogue. I found myself having to rewind a few key scenes after not being able to discern the accents and that got old quick and after 2 or 3 times I gave up.
The visuals are a different story and continue to be a selling point with this franchise. Knowing that the final two chapters will be in 3D I can honestly say that I am looking forward to them more than the last 11 or 23 or however many there have been already.
Positive points here include Alan Rickmans performance and Radcliffes subdued turn and a few welcome humorous scenes that helped break up the bleak theme and unfortunate passing of a main character.
As I stated before, nothing new here but its fun to look at and it translates beautifully on Blu-ray. You don't need my recommendation, if you've seen the others you will of course see this one.

Rating 2 1/2 teen romances out of 5



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Paranormal Activity

Starring some no namers and a very low budget

Treading lightly and not wanting anything to be spilled in the way of secrets, I tried to avoid any discussion on this movie with all that saw it before me. Knowing full well that the idea behind this ultra low budget flick was to simply generate internet buzz, ones expectations aren't that high. The problem here though is that through a wild fire of word of mouth our little experiment turned far too many heads and soon demanded a wider public release.
And thus begins the incredible story of a 15 thousand dollar movie going on to eventually take the top spot at the box office going up against films that spend that much on food over a weekend shoot.
I must say that some of the "acting" was a little amateurish at times and through some poor editing I found a few too many little gaffs in continuity but that being said, this was perhaps the best 15 thousand dollar movie I will ever see.
The tension builds at a wonderfully predictable pace and the look and feel is creepy enough to keep you wanting more. Even the special effects were seamless when they could have easily been overblown or altogether absent.
You find yourself scratching your head at a few parts while wondering how in the hell they actually pulled of certain scenes and that's a good thing.
If you showed these few creep out scenes to someone on your computer and told them the footage was real, it would no doubt be taken seriously and for that alone, the film deserves all the accolades it has garnered thus far.
Well done marketing team and all involved.
Turn off the lights and crank up the surround sound and enjoy.

Rating 3 door slams out of 5

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