Morton Arboretum

After years of knowing about the Morton Arboretum but never actually seeing it, I finally started visiting it in the past year. I made my first summer trip last week, and for the first time noticed on the Arboretum map that the Morton family cemetery is on the grounds. Having a particular interest in cemeteries, I had to see it...

The path to the cemetery

A lake inside the Arboretum

Hostel Part II

I really wasn't a big fan of the first HOSTEL. It was okay, but in my mind it just wasn't a great movie. The plot is original and intriguing, I'll admit that. And I do enjoy my gore as much as the next girl. It was the beginning of the movie that really turned me off, so by the time we got into the good stuff I was praying the main characters would die quickly. Imagine my surprise when I discovered myself sitting in the theatre ready to watch HOSTEL PART II.

In this sequel, the plot of the original is played through again with a group of American girls going to school in Rome. They plan to take a trip to Prague, but are persuaded into traveling to Slovakia instead. As you might suspect they end up staying in a hostel, and are picked off one by one by the now very organized and very business-like club from the original. In PART II though, we also get to see what things are like from the perspective of the sick people who pay to kill the young travelers.

I wish I could say otherwise, but frankly I remain unimpressed. Prior to seeing the film myself I did read other reviews, so I was looking forward to the character development. It was definitely interesting, but it felt too shallow for me. And I didn't enjoy Heather Matarazzo's character at all, it felt too silly to me. They could have done so much more with both the girls and the killers. Their stereotypes were so obvious, and there was no subtlety to the symbolism. Not to spoil part of the movie, but the surviving girl might as well have had "FINAL GIRL" stamped on her forehead, and worn a t-shirt with a complete citation to Carol Clover on the front of it. It was so blatant that it half-ruined the ending for me.

Despite my criticism, it isn't a horrible movie. It's okay, but not great. It does explore female stereotypes, the effect that horrors inflicted upon women can have, and why women might be targets for that sort of violence. I thought the direction of the character development was good, it just needed more follow through. Honestly, as soon as the film ended I thought to myself, "That's it?" I wasn't expecting it to end when it did.

Those who were fans of the original HOSTEL will most likely enjoy PART II as well, especially for the fresh crop of victims and the peek into the minds of the killers. There are some really great scenes and what it attempts to do is at least interesting. But overall, I felt they could have done much more with the characters and the plot in a sequel such as this, which is really what I was expecting.

Ocean's Thirteen

In the past I've owned some pretty snobby ideas of what constituted good taste in film, among other things. Independent film, foreign flicks, unique cynical comedy. Opening up to a love of horror starts to destroy those ideals in a way, because of how much sludge you become exposed to... and how much you actually love to wallow in such filth. But it also eventually created space for me to appreciate a wider variety of genres, which is what led me to my surprising enjoyment of action, adventure, and eventually heist films like OCEAN'S TWELVE.

I saw OCEAN'S TWELVE in the theater and really enjoyed it. As I've learned in the past few months, that is not a popular opinion. Most people felt TWELVE was weaker than the first film (OCEAN'S ELEVEN). I eventually watched ELEVEN, and obviously liked it just as much. Looking back, I suppose there are some weak moments in TWELVE, but I love it so damn much that I really don't hold those weaknesses against it.

That said, I thought OCEAN'S THIRTEEN was absolutely wonderful. The two things that make this series so attractive to me are the visuals and the music. The shots are great, the sets are beautiful, and the color blows me away every time. The music in the previous two films has been a perfect complement to this particular kind of film, and THIRTEEN is no exception. I don't mean to gloss over the relationships and chemistry of not only the characters, but the actors themselves. Nor am I ignoring the brilliance of the plot-- there's an incredible attention to detail, and it keeps me delighted throughout the entire film. Those factors are just as influential when it comes to my opinion of the OCEAN'S series.

Regardless of my disagreement with other critics when it comes to the previous film, I echo their overwhelmingly positive response to OCEAN'S THIRTEEN. It's an amazing piece of work, and I can't wait to see it on DVD.

Hard Candy

To say that HARD CANDY (2005) is a film that plays with gender roles would be too simplistic and obvious, though true. Furthermore, I feel that ultimately what power lies in the movie has less to do with the gender of the main characters and more to do with other facets of their relationship. This isn't about a girl taking revenge upon a man, and all the inferences made by that act. This isn't I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE. To take a lesson from the 7th season of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," it's about power.

You could say that typically men have had power in our society, and you'd be right. But this film isn't commenting on which gender has the power, who steals it from whom, etc. Jeff, the thirty-something photographer, doesn't really have any power. Any that he seems to have is an illusion created by Hayley, a 14 year old girl he meets on the internet.

Hayley on the other hand has all the power. She's intelligent, crafty and persuasive. What's amazing about that isn't the fact that she's female-- it's that she's only 14, but she talks as if she's at least twice that. While I'm on the topic, kudos to Ellen Page for her performance because I found it hypnotic. It's obvious from the beginning though that Hayley's calling the shots. She convinces Jeff to meet in real life, and then to bring her back to his apartment. The next thing he knows, he's been drugged and tied to a chair.

So who's the wolf in sheep's clothing here? It's "Little Red Riding Hood" for heterosexual male pedophiles. Beware the little girl skipping down the path.

The thing I most enjoyed about this film is how it played on my sympathies. As much as it sends a warning to bad sheep pretending to be wolves, it also grabs the viewer by the collar and asks them to take a side. It would be so easy to side with Hayley, commend her on justice well-served and be glad that the world of HARD CANDY is rid one more pedophile. But I honestly felt bad for the guy. I wanted Hayley to get caught, and I wanted her to be punished in a sense, for playing such a dangerous game. She was obviously crazy and didn't have the right to take Jeff's punishment into her own hands.

To have that opinion sounds horrible, given the situation. Let the pedophile win? That's not right! But the point the film tries to make is that while he may have unnatural desires, he's still a human being made up of human experiences. He's no monster, he barely has any personal power. The only thing I can glean from my reaction is that I didn't believe a child had a right to consume and wield all that power. It felt wrong, and I wanted her to fail because of it. It's so bizarre to think that, but that's kind of what I liked about the film.

HARD CANDY isn't a gory film at all. The entire effect is achieved through a battle of wills, complemented by the physical tension of a few chases around the house. But in the end, it's Hayley's mind and power which are scariest.