I watched them so you don't have to: The Young the Gay and the Restless, Pizza, and Unknown
The Young, the Gay, and the Restless
Wow...talk about a horrible movie. It's a low-budget film that is suppose to be mocking soap operas, from what I could tell. However, they don't do it in an amusing and intelligent way. Instead, they grabbed the most annoying actors and actresses and had them vamp and camp it up for the camera. The mother character is probably the worst, affecting an accent and attempting to channel old Hollywood camp actresses that are beloved by many gay men today. It was just grating to try to watch her drag through a scene. And then they would dramatically shift from one storyline to another (like in a soap opera), but then would recap what happened earlier when they would jump back. That's fine in a daily soap where you need a refresher, but it's not fine when they repeat something you just saw fifteen minutes ago. Stay away from this trash. It's not even trash in the fun way.
Pizza
Ethan Embry stars as a 30 year-old pizza delivery boy who has a habit of getting involved in the lives of random people. It happens that he meets Cara Ethyl at her 18th birthday party, though she does not turn 18 until dawn. She ends up coming along on deliveries and having the adventure of her life thus far. Embry steals the movie with his charisma. And the product as a whole is quite good. You really want to see what happens next to this girl, who is an equal mix of tragic and bold. I definitely recommend this one for a rental.
Unknown
Blockbuster made a deal to exclusively carry certain Weinstein Bros. movies. Unknown is one of these movies (as is Shut Up and Sing, the Dixie Chicks movie). Though this works out for me now (as I use Blockbuster), it opens the door for similar deals with other rental chains...which would be bad for me. Unknown is one of these exclusive movies...one that I hadn't heard of until watching the previews of another movie a week or so ago. This movie has a pretty famous cast for a direct-to-DVD movie (Jim Caviezel, Peter Stormare, Bridget Moynahan, Barry Pepper, Greg Kinnear, Jeremy Sisto, etc.), which could say something about the quality of the movie. And, I admit, the movie is not as good as its premise gave it the possibility of being. But it is a good movie once you get past the exposition. Odds are that you don't know anything about this movie, so here's the basic idea: five men wake up in a warehouse with no memory of who they are or what happened to them. One is tied to a chair, one is on the ground with a broken nose, one is handcuffed and hanging from a railing with a bullet wound, and two seem to be just unconscious. The police are also working to find a woman's kidnapped husband. The characters attempt to figure out who they are, how they got to the warehouse, and how they ended up the way they did while the cops try to save the husband. Things twist and turn as people start to regain memories. After what seems like a very long time with people freaking out about having no memory, things start to finally get interesting. It ends up being pretty decent on DVD, but would be a huge disappointment in the theater. If it sounds interesting, give it a rent.
Wow...talk about a horrible movie. It's a low-budget film that is suppose to be mocking soap operas, from what I could tell. However, they don't do it in an amusing and intelligent way. Instead, they grabbed the most annoying actors and actresses and had them vamp and camp it up for the camera. The mother character is probably the worst, affecting an accent and attempting to channel old Hollywood camp actresses that are beloved by many gay men today. It was just grating to try to watch her drag through a scene. And then they would dramatically shift from one storyline to another (like in a soap opera), but then would recap what happened earlier when they would jump back. That's fine in a daily soap where you need a refresher, but it's not fine when they repeat something you just saw fifteen minutes ago. Stay away from this trash. It's not even trash in the fun way.
Pizza
Ethan Embry stars as a 30 year-old pizza delivery boy who has a habit of getting involved in the lives of random people. It happens that he meets Cara Ethyl at her 18th birthday party, though she does not turn 18 until dawn. She ends up coming along on deliveries and having the adventure of her life thus far. Embry steals the movie with his charisma. And the product as a whole is quite good. You really want to see what happens next to this girl, who is an equal mix of tragic and bold. I definitely recommend this one for a rental.
Unknown
Blockbuster made a deal to exclusively carry certain Weinstein Bros. movies. Unknown is one of these movies (as is Shut Up and Sing, the Dixie Chicks movie). Though this works out for me now (as I use Blockbuster), it opens the door for similar deals with other rental chains...which would be bad for me. Unknown is one of these exclusive movies...one that I hadn't heard of until watching the previews of another movie a week or so ago. This movie has a pretty famous cast for a direct-to-DVD movie (Jim Caviezel, Peter Stormare, Bridget Moynahan, Barry Pepper, Greg Kinnear, Jeremy Sisto, etc.), which could say something about the quality of the movie. And, I admit, the movie is not as good as its premise gave it the possibility of being. But it is a good movie once you get past the exposition. Odds are that you don't know anything about this movie, so here's the basic idea: five men wake up in a warehouse with no memory of who they are or what happened to them. One is tied to a chair, one is on the ground with a broken nose, one is handcuffed and hanging from a railing with a bullet wound, and two seem to be just unconscious. The police are also working to find a woman's kidnapped husband. The characters attempt to figure out who they are, how they got to the warehouse, and how they ended up the way they did while the cops try to save the husband. Things twist and turn as people start to regain memories. After what seems like a very long time with people freaking out about having no memory, things start to finally get interesting. It ends up being pretty decent on DVD, but would be a huge disappointment in the theater. If it sounds interesting, give it a rent.