The X Files: I Want to Believe««½ PG-13, 104m., 2008
Cast & Credits: David Duchovny (Fox Mulder), Gillian Anderson (Dana Scully), Amanda Peet (ASAC Dakota Whitney), Billy Connolly (Father Joseph Crissman), Xzibit (Agent Mosley Drummy). Directed by Chris Carter. Screenplay by Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz.
Like FBI Agent Dana Scully, the skeptical Doubting Thomas who was always ready to dispute any outlandish theories her partner, Fox Mulder, had when it came to investigating the paranormal for eight years on the science fiction/horror cult television show, The X Files (1993-2002), I too, went into seeing the second installment to the 1998 big screen film with a lot of skepticism, and with good reason.
It’s been ten years since we last saw agents Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) on the case investigating the unexplained in the film version of the television series subtitled, “Fight the Future.” I found that movie unexpectedly entertaining and I am a non-fan of the series. I have only seen one creepy episode involving some killer cockroaches. I knew enough about the show, though, having read articles in Starlog and various entertainment magazines that sometimes did a rundown of every single episode to be able to figure out who was who in the world of The X Files. Watching the first one, I knew, for example, who “The Lone Gunmen” were (a trio of computer hacking conspiracy nerds) and that one of the primary villains of the show was a chain smoker called “Cigarette Smoking Man.”
The film though came out at the height of the series’ popularity, the way the creators of Fox’s The Simpsons chose to release a longer animated version of their show last summer on the big screen to cash in on the long running series' continuing success.
I suspect, at the time, there was a possibility between the first X Files movie and when the series went off the air in 2002 that fans assumed there might be a second film. It’s been six years though since the show ended and other than an occasional rumbling on various movie/science fiction websites about a second film, not much was asked as to if or when we will ever see Mulder and Scully together again on the big screen; until now that is.
Therein lies the problem with The X Files: I Want to Believe. Going into the film, I asked myself, “Other than the fans, are people still interested in The X Files franchise?” Maybe that’s the reason for the film’s tacked on title, “I Want to Believe.”
Unlike the first one, the second installment is for the fans only, hence the title. I have no doubt after seeing this one those same fans will hold discussions about the plot or the direction the show’s creator and director as well as screenwriter Chris Carter chose to go here. I wouldn’t be surprised if one of the debates is whether or not they felt this one played out like an extended one hour episode of the television show that’s the equivalent of either a final episode of the season until fall, or THE FINAL one all together. If I were in such a discussion, I’d say yes. That’s exactly what “I Want to Believe” is.
I had the same question for Carter and co-screenwriter Frank Spotnitz when it came to the story involving a former Catholic pedophile priest (Billy Connolly) with psychic abilities as I did for filmmakers Steven Spielberg and George Lucas who concocted the alien plot for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), which was not something you expect to see in an Indiana Jones movie.
Was the story involving pedophilia and serial killings the best Carter could come up with after six years since the show’s end? Instead of giving us an intriguing plot that is not quite from this world, we get a storyline brought down to earth, so to speak, in which the accused priest has visions of women being abducted, murdered, and then having their body parts sewed onto the living. It’s a story that would be right at home in a new sequel about Anthony Hopkins’ infamous cannibal serial killer, Hannibal Lecter. Or at the very least, it serves as a weaker episode of The X Files.
I Want to Believe is not, however, without some redeeming moments. I liked the conflict Anderson’s Scully has often throughout the film. Now a brain surgeon, she develops a personal emotional attachment to a young boy suffering from an incurable brain disorder. At one point, Scully questions what kind of God would create a human being who would allow he/she to endure such suffering. Yet, at the same time, she questions whether God forgives the worst sins such as pedophilia.
This leads to one early confrontational scene where after learning the convicted priest often prays for the salvation of his immortal soul, Scully asks him, “You think God hears your prayers?”
“You think he hears yours,” the priest asks.
“I didn’t bugger thirty-seven alter boys,” Scully replies back.
The film also reveals something about both agents I wasn’t expecting to see happen and I’d be interested to see how fans feel about it. Those faithful viewers of the Law & Order franchises, how would they feel if they found out the male and female partners on their favorite series suddenly hooked up and are living together?
Then again, if a male and female crime partner are now romantically linked, do they still call each other by their last names the way Mulder and Scully do?
As I asked earlier in this review, are people still interested in The X Files franchise?
My guess is the fans still are. For people like myself who were non-fans of the show, but liked the first one, I am afraid I have moved on.
Or to put it more in Scully’s own words, “I’m done chasing monsters in the dark.”
Cast & Credits: Meryl Streep (Donna), Amanda Seyfried (Sophie), Pierce Brosnan (Sam Carmichael), Christine Baranski (Tanya), Julie Walters (Rosie), Stellan Skarsgard (Bill), Colin Firth (Harry Bright), Dominic Cooper (Sky). Directed by Phyllida Lloyd. Screenplay by Catherine Johnson.
Mamma Mia! falls into the category of being both a guilty pleasure and the kind of film that’s not nearly as bad as what most critics are saying it is. No, I don’t put it anywhere close to the big screen musical adaptations of such long running Broadway productions I have enjoyed such as West Side Story (1961), Evita (1996), Chicago (2002), Phantom of the Opera (2004), and Dreamgirls (2006).
Mamma Mia!, at the very least, isn’t as laughable as some of the big screen musical misfires of the early '70s and '80s like Jesus Christ Superstar (1973), Xanadu (1980), and Give My Regards to Broadstreet (1984). You could disregard the unbelievable storylines where, for example, the actors in JCS got off a bus in what looked to resemble either the Grand Canyon or the Middle East to sing and act out Christ’s last days. Or the artist in Xanadu; his female drawing comes to life in the form of Olivia Newton John. Or ex-Beatle Paul McCartney; he has a nightmare that his recording tapes from his latest album have been stolen in Broadstreet. The fantasy nightmare runs close to two hours.
On the scale of most favored big screen musicals with West Side Story ranking the highest to Jesus Christ Superstar; the lowest, I’d put Mamma Mia! in the middle.
The film is modeled after the long running Broadway musical, which made its American premiere in May 2000 and is based on songs from the 1970's Swedish rock band, ABBA. The musical continues to play in sold out shows across the country and I can understand why. It’s all because of the music, which yes, you’d probably have to be a fan of in order to truly understand the band’s and the play’s popularity much less even appreciate them.
The first time I heard any of Abba’s songs was back when in the mid 1970s when I was in grade school. I’d come home to hear a variety of singles from Frank Sinatra to the Bee Gees blaring from the stereo that my dad had running. Among the different titles playing from an assortment of bands was Abba’s "SOS" and "Dancing Queen."
At the time, I didn’t care too much for "SOS" whose lyrics were about a marriage in trouble, but I did enjoy the fast paced "Dancing Queen" and yes, I am not ashamed to say that today I sometimes have it playing in the car to and from work.
It wasn’t until I started working for an I.T. computer support helpdesk decades later that I got into listening to several of the band’s other songs. This was all thanks in part to Greg Hehn, a fellow co-worker who often during the late night graveyard shifts when there were no calls coming in would sometimes have Abba’s CD of their greatest hits playing from his cubicle.
A majority of those greatest hits are heard in Mamma Mia! about a broke work-a-holic hotel owner in Greece and single mother named Donna (Meryl Streep) who must not only contend with preparing the upcoming wedding of her daughter, Sophie (Amanda Seyfried). She must also confront her apparently wild sexual past when three of her ex-boyfriends from the 1960s (Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, and Stellan Skarsgard) arrive on the island who Sophie secretly invited to her wedding upon reading her mother’s diary that one of these three could be her father.
The film’s best moments are when the cast burst into song which, in some cases, plays out like those music videos on MTV. Like "SOS", most of the songs deal with the character’s situations the way several of The Beatles music was adapted in Across the Universe (2007) to fit the stormy political times of the 1960s. When Donna tells her two closest friends (Christine Baranski and Julie Walters) how she never has a day off, she begins singing “Money, Money, Money.”
“I work all night, I work all day to pay the bills I have to pay,” Donna sings. “Ain’t it sad?”
At Sophie’s bachelorette party, her friends sing “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! A Man After Midnight” as they serenade Donna’s former boyfriends.
I’ll be honest. I didn’t care about Mamma Mia!’s predictable story which plays along the lines of a soap opera. The top musicals I enjoyed not only had great soundtracks, some of which were worth purchasing, but had interesting storylines that were either loosely based on real life people (Evita), were based on supposed murder cases (Chicago) or horror mysteries (Phantom of the Opera). The tragic love story, for example, in West Side Story was inspired by William Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet.
Mamma Mia! literally grinds to a halt the moment the characters speak without singing the way the Star Wars prequels sometimes stalled the minute the lightsabers shut off. It’s only when they burst into song that the movie comes to life, which is quite often.
Besides, unlike Donna, whom it seems to take more than half the film to find out the real reason why her three former boyfriends are all on the island the day of her daughter’s wedding, I knew immediately who Donna's one true love and Sophie’s father was.
It don’t take brain surgery looking at the three male stars (Brosnan, Firth, and Skarsgard) as to who that person is. Ask yourself of the three, who’s the more popular actor American audiences most identify with?
Mamma Mia! has one thing going for it; the joy of watching the cast sing their hearts out, Streep in particular, who like Al Pacino, can act in any film, good or bad, and manage to still come out unscathed. Whether she is jumping on the bed and on the sea decks singing “Dancing Queen” or singing about having to let her daughter go off to live her own life in “Slipping Through My Fingers”, Streep looks like she hasn’t had this much fun making a movie in years.
All right, there are two things. I liked the soundtrack, which I bought, and by the time the movie was over, I felt like uttering the words to one of Abba’s songs, “Thank you for the music.”
Cast & Credits: Christian Bale (Bruce Wayne/Batman), Heath Ledger (The Joker), Aaron Eckhart (Harvey Dent/Two-Face), Michael Caine (Alfred Pennyworth), Maggie Gyllenhaal (Rachel Dawes), Gary Oldman (Lt. James Gordon), Morgan Freeman (Lucius Fox), Monique Curnen (Det. Ramirez), Cillian Murphy (Dr. Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow), Nestor Carbonell (Mayor), Eric Roberts (Salvatore Maroni), Anthony Michael Hall (Mike Engel). Directed by Christopher Nolan. Screenplay by Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan.
Anarchy. Chaos. Mayhem. Murder.
Such are the things that occur often in The Dark Knight, the most eagerly awaited sequel to Batman Begins (2005) that rebooted the troubled movie franchise many say was destroyed by director Joel Schumacher with the cartoonish Batman & Robin (1997).
To call The Dark Knight “eagerly awaited” goes without saying. Batman Begins ended with Christian Bale’s Caped Crusader being warned by Lt. James Gordon (Gary Oldman) that a new villain was in town who mysteriously leaves a calling card with a “Joker” on it at his crime scenes.
That was enough to let every fan of the Batman comics and the films know who Bruce Wayne’s first major nemesis was going to be in the second film. The two big questions left to answer were who would play him and depending on who that actor would be, how could he possibly out do Jack Nicholson’s show stopping performance as the infamous killer clown in Tim Burton’s original dark, futuristic Batman (1989).
Even if Oscar nominated actor Heath Ledger, who plays The Joker, hadn’t passed away in January at the young age of 28; the result of an accidental overdose on prescription medications, it’s a good bet The Dark Knight would have still raked in millions opening weekend (which it has). The desire to see it doesn’t just stem from the fact it marks Ledger’s final unexpected swan song and to make comparisons between his take on the character and Nicholson’s. The fact is The Joker is the most popular villain of all the nemesis’ Batman has had to face; so much so that the mere mention of his name even being proposed as the next adversary is enough to leave fans salivating.
Much has been said already that Ledger deserves not just an Oscar nomination for his final role but the gold statue as well. I have seen Ledger in only two films and both were from the beginning of his all too short career, The Patriot (2000) and A Knight’s Tale (2001). I can say watching him in The Dark Knight under the heavy messed up black, white, and red make-up that looks more like it was painted on, and a greasy green hairdo, I could not tell if who I was watching was Heath Ledger. If there is any reason for the sudden push to get his name on the Oscar ballots early next year, it's because in The Dark Knight, Ledger is completely unrecognizable.
The character is everything the late actor said he was in his early press interviews; “a psychopathic, mass-murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy.” Whereas Nicholson’s Joker was a grinning homicidal showman delivering bizarre macabre theatrics (like vandalizing museum artwork and holding a parade dancing to the songs of rock star, Prince, before sending out poison gas meant to kill hundreds), Ledger’s Joker is Gotham’s resident Osama bin Laden.
At one point, Bruce Wayne’s loyal butler, Alfred (Michael Caine) sums up the madness surrounding the Joker’s personality that could be compared to today’s al-Qaeda terror masterminds.
“Some men aren't looking for anything logical,” he says. “They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.”
Unexpectedly walking in during a meeting of the city’s top mobsters with several explosives attached underneath his purple coat, The Joker gives one simple order, “Kill the Batman.” He is not just a party crasher. He is "The Ultimate Party Crasher." If you and he were in the same room together, you might consider yourself lucky if you happen to walk out alive. Being in a room with him is like having dinner with Anthony Hopkins’ cannibal serial killer Hannibal Lecter. All you can do is hope you are not the one who is the main course like what happened to Ray Liotta’s character in Hannibal (2001) where he ate his own brains and was too drugged out to know it. Or at the very least, fall victim to one of the Joker’s disappearing tricks as when he murders a henchman with a pencil.
Ledger’s Joker is the equivalent of the kinds of sick terrorism we’ve heard too much about in the news in Iraq since 9/11. The videos he sends to the police and news media torturing victims dressed up as Batman before killing them are similar to the kinds of youtube videos often seen of terrorists beheading American hostages. He isn’t afraid to die, so long as he wipes out several others in the process, yet his reasons for murder are vague. He isn’t even in it for the money.
“It’s not about the money,” The Joker says. “It’s about sending a message.”
Whereas the usual formula for the Batman movies of 1990s was we learned about each villain’s downfall that made them become something else, director and screenwriter Christopher Nolan along with Jonathan Nolan have come up with a screenplay that has no background introduction or reason as to what sent the Joker over the edge.
We don’t even learn his real name and when we do get clues into his personal life, it’s when he is about to slice a smile into someone’s face with a switchblade telling tales about how his father beat his mother or how his wife got into trouble owing the mob money and was severely beaten to where her broken jaw resembled a sewed on smile.
“You remind me of my father,” he tells one potential victim. “I hated my father.”
If Ledger’s Joker is bin Laden with Gotham City as his America on who he is waging war against, then it’s Bale’s millionaire playboy/Dark Knight who could be like President George W. Bush, Gotham’s own “Dubya.” When he isn't busy courting sometimes three women at a time to various parties and fund raisers, attempting to see if his childhood sweetheart lawyer, Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal), is still interested in him, or dozing off during corporate meetings, Wayne dedicates himself to being the city’s protector. His crime fighting victories are however dampened by Gotham's citizens who view his brand of vigilante justice and helping the police as more of a problem than a solution.
In one scene that might echo Bush’s attempt to get congress to approve law enforcement’s eavesdropping on cell phone calls as a means to stop would-be terrorists from conspiring to do more attacks on American soil, Bale's Dark Knight asks one of his corporate CEOs (Morgan Freeman) and his secret supplier of all his latest crime fighting technology to tap into every person’s cell phone to narrow down the Joker’s whereabouts.
As much as has been promoted about the Joker’s appearance in The Dark Knight, he almost comes off as a minor character. The surprising, more tragic focus of the story is on the rise and fall of District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), who’s often referred to by Gotham City’s police department as “Two-Face.” Determined to put a stop to the Joker’s crime spree, Dent is a cross between crusading crime fighter Elliot Ness and Robert Kennedy. Given that he reminds me of Ness isn’t far from the truth since Gotham City is really Chicago, minus the Sears Tower and RFK did, in fact, conduct investigations into the Mafia before becoming President John F. Kennedy’s attorney general.
When Dent loses everything he loved (and I am not going to reveal that one thing that makes him go off the deep end as it is also one of the film’s unexpected surprises), his comment early on to Bruce Wayne is almost prophetic.
“You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain,” Dent says.
Dent’s story is one of the film’s brighter, maybe I should say lightly dimmed moments in this intense, but most of the time unsettling installment. If you laugh at the Joker’s murderous antics, it’s not because it’s funny as was often the case with Nicholson’s character. You laugh more out of sheer nervousness than anything else.
The Dark Knight can be called anything positive. Fun, though, is not the word for it. Looking back on the summer of 1989 when Burton’s Batman was released, I remember the commercials promoting the film that said “How many times have you seen Batman?” It was true. People did see that film more than once. I was one of them.
Then again, this is not Burton’s Batman universe. It’s Nolan’s vision and his is a dark, empty, soulless, violent take on the franchise that echoes more of today’s bleak uncertain times than it does an enjoyable comic book movie. It’s a Dark Knight for the 21st century.
Of course, unlike Nicholson’s Joker whose death ruined the chances of him returning in a sequel, Nolan stays true to the Batman comic books by not killing off the series’ most popular villain. I am not giving away anything here by saying that. Everyone who has read a Batman comic book or is familiar with the 700 plus issues DC Comics has published knows the Joker has always lived to battle the Caped Crusader another day.
“I don’t want to kill you,” The Joker says to Batman. “You complete me.”
In Nolan’s world, The Joker and Batman need each other.
So too perhaps, will Warner Brothers should this promising series run out of steam with the third installment as has been proven in the cases of X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) and Spider-man 3 (2007) where the filmmakers were unable to top the second outings.
Not only is The Joker this franchise’s wild card but the studio’s as well. If he returns and I suspect he will, the film will bring in millions regardless what actor portrays him.
Bloodwine««« NR, 99m., 2008 Cast & Credits: Melissa Johnson (Andrea), Lora Meins (Brandy), Vanessa Leinani (Carmilla), Heather Whitsell (Mercedes), Christina DeYoung (Nicole), Michael Lunday (Professor Kendall), Chad Holbrook (Brian), Corey Cleary-Stoner (Wine Shop Clerk), Richard Gray (Uncle Walter), Zalika Thomas (College Nurse), Mallory Carrick (Waitress/Customer), Stacey Girard Morgan (Tattoo Patron), Sandi Sharp (TV News Reporter), Eric Malloy (Space Rogue), Mandi Mazey (Tentacle Victim), Nicole Godwin (Lady Malicent), Vicky Morgan-Keith (Doom Bunny). Doom Bunny Films presents a film directed by Patrick Keith based on a screenplay written by Patrick Keith and Vicky Morgan-Keith.
I am not a fan of vampire films, though I can understand the apparent infatuation horror fans have with the undead. I got to admit, other than going out at night to find some young necks to sink their two sharp fangs into and then have to worry about concealing the evidence, being a vampire is probably not that bad. You get to sleep all day, never have to see the doctor (you’re dead already) and you never age.
To quote the tagline from The Lost Boys (1987), “It's fun to be a vampire.”
A bloodsucker can probably live a long eternal life provided he/she does everything in their power to avoid sunlight, a stake, cross, or holy water, which given the number of vampire films I have sat through over the years, doesn’t always work.
Although I think the most faithful, though not necessarily the best adaptation about the Prince of Darkness to date was director Francis Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992), I have always held the same belief. You’ve seen one vampire film, you’ve seen them all. I am not talking about the predictable storylines. I am talking about their supernatural characteristics.
I am amazed, for example, at how vampires are able to get from place to place in a matter of a second and yet, they can’t manage to get themselves out of a pair of handcuffs as the sun is coming up. You see them staring at you one minute from afar, only to be gone the next. Sometimes they will call out their prey’s name though they never make their presence physically known.
That’s exactly what happens in Bloodwine. When at the cemetery, for example, visiting the grave of her boyfriend, Brian (Chad Holbrook), recently killed in a car accident, Andrea (Melissa Johnson), a young Gothic college student, often thinks she may be being watched as when she sees a female stranger (Vanessa Leinani) looking at her from afar. When she is alone in her dorm, sometimes she’ll hear a feminine voice calling out her name though no one is around.
When it comes to visual effects, a filmmaker/screenwriter would be breaking the cardinal rule of vampire flicks if their lead character/villain didn’t become a fireball and get reduced to ashes at sunrise. Or at the very least, briefly writhe in pain the way Andrea’s best friend and college roommate, Brandy (Lori Meins), does when she is awakened by the burning sensation of her pale white, blue veined skinned left hand smoking as the morning sun peaks through the blinds of her dormitory shower window. As if she didn’t have enough to go through given she spent much of the night before hugging the toilet and passing out on the floor of the bathroom; the after effects of a strange drink she took a few gulps from that Andrea bought for her as a birthday present.
I was not surprised to see any of this in Bloodwine, a sexy low budget, or to put it in more precise words of first time director Patrick Keith who also wrote the screenplay along with his wife, Vicky Morgan-Keith, a “micro-budget” horror film distributed through their production company, Doom Bunny films. I say “sexy” because this is a female vampire movie. I may not like vampire movies in general but for some reason, I do think women vampires are sexier, maybe more domineering than the male ones. Maybe it’s that same kind of arousal some men sometimes get seeing two good looking women kiss and make out.
I wasn’t shocked, though I was pleasantly surprised by the number of scenes which brought to mind memories of countless other horror/suspense films like the shower scene in Psycho (1960) and Return of the Living Dead (1985) (paramedics trying to figure out why someone's heart isn't beating yet they are still alive). There is even an Elvira-like Mistress of the Dark named Lady Malicent who hosts cheaply made scary thrillers with the help of her co-host puppet, Doom Bunny (the film’s studio logo),which when brought to life, is a gray bunny rabbit with bulging, psychotic, uneven eyes and a severed right ear that wields a scythe for a weapon.
Director Keith, who admits on the couple’s website, http://www.bloodwinemovie.com/, that his love for making movies occurred when he first saw Star Wars in 1977, seems to make no qualms about what films he got his inspiration from to make this picture. A dream sequence, for example, between Andrea and her dead boyfriend brought to mind the deleted scene in James Cameron’s director’s cut of Terminator II: Judgement Day (1990) between Linda Hamilton’s and Micheal Biehn’s characters. At one point, Keith even imitates Hitchcock making a quick cameo appearance. When we’re not hearing the hard rock music of Dallas band, Slick Lady Six and the Transistor Tramps, whose voice of the lead singer sounds a lot like Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders, we get a musical score that sounds like something director John Carpenter scored for his first independent box office hit thriller, Halloween (1978).
I am certain it wasn’t Keith’s intention but I got the feeling as though he was channeling the format director Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez took with Grindhouse (2007), going for not just an independent level, but leaving in some minor kinks or flaws watching it to give one the feel this is a low budget production. Watching it on my 37' inch flat screen television, I found some scenes, dream sequences in particular to be fuzzy. When I viewed the film in parts; however, on my personal computer, the picture quality was actually crystal clear. I suspect the smaller the screen you see it on, the better the picture quality. There were also times where the “suspenseful” music overtook the dialogue to where I couldn’t hear what the characters were saying.
The big surprise and perhaps the best thing Bloodwine has going for it is it offers us a different twist on the vampire genre. Something I have been looking for a long time now. For all I know, Bloodwine might just be the Keith’s way of saying, “There are other ways you can become a vampire. It’s not all just a quick bite on the neck with two fangs.”
Watching it is indeed like walking in to one of those yearly film festivals held here in Dallas or at Sundance where other than reading the vast amount of production material or able to catch a few brief trailers on their website, you really have no idea if what you're seeing is going to be a possible candidate for consideration by the major studios or something that goes directly to DVD/Blue Ray or the cable stations months later. Bloodwine could possibly be the Keith’s Clerks (1994) or Juno (2007). The couple submitted the film for screenings at various horror fan conventions and is scheduled to make its first debut at Indie Fest USA the week of Aug. 8-15, 2008 at Anaheim, Ca.
This may be their first venture, but I have no doubt it makes me yearn to see what other bag of unpredictable tricks the Keiths have in store for future filmmaking projects. I will not be surprised if years from now, perhaps sooner, if when browsing the trivia section of http://www.imdb.com/ under Bloodwine if I see such comments as how their production logo is cleverly used in different ways throughout this movie and in probably several of their projects be it for the big or small screen.
Like Ironman (2008), where the one thing the superhero film had going for it was not so much the predictable story as it was the characters, Bloodwine succeeds in making us care for the two leads. The underlying theme of the screenplay is about “transformation.” On one side, we have Meins’ Brandy who goes from resembling a concerned college friend/nerd with glasses to a vengeful, sexy scantily clad goddess with an appetite for the red stuff. The minute she took off her glasses and let her hair down, she had an uncanny resemblance to actress Andrea Bowen who plays Terri Hatcher’s daughter on ABC’s Desperate Housewives. In fact, I think she is a dead ringer.
Of course the most prominent transformation happens with Andrea who becomes the opposite of what her rival dorm mates warn Brandy about in the beginning.
“They say she curses her roommates and nobody here has lasted an entire semester with her,” says one of them. “If I were you, I’d plan on stocking up on crucifixes and holy water.”
Seeing Johnson's Andrea with the long dark hair, heavy black eye shadow, and sometimes dressed in a black trenchcoat, combat boots, and a belt held together by handcuffs, she proves that just because she dresses differently, doesn’t mean she is anymore different emotionally. The ending, though I have a feeling the Keiths probably didn’t mean to plan it this way, suggests the possibility of a sequel.
I know the Keiths have other projects they want to pursue before even considering a follow-up to Andrea’s further adventures in the world of vampires. If they even give it a thought that is.
Personally, I’d welcome a sequel, Hell even a trilogy. Bloodwine could just be the kind of motion picture series fans would have embraced if the continuing adventures of Sarah Michelle Gellar’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003) were brought to the big screen.
