Actor Spotlight: Cam Gigandet
This all started because I used to hate this guy—used to. His hair is always too perfectly disheveled, he doesn’t know what body fat is, and washboards actually envy his abs. He seems to constantly get type-cast as “sharp-looking boyfriend” or “sharp-looking high school douche bag.” Basically roles that don’t matter; like a glorified extra with a few lines. But as a serial over-analyzer of movies I figured I’d take a step back and really assess his work in chronological order in my first Actor Spotlight. However, in the spirit of good taste, I’ll make no mention of The OC or Twilight.
Never Back Down (2008). At 26 years old, we find Cam playing a high school mixed martial artist. I imagine that if this came out while I was in high school then I would have thought it was cool. Having seen it for the first time at age 30 (about a year older than Cam currently is), it was…entertaining. However, I never see the need to see this again. It’s the same way I feel about No Retreat, No Surrender or The Karate Kid (the original or the new one).
Anyway, Cam plays a douche and he does a great job of it. He functions as the recurring villain who finds most of his screen time when we first meet him as the local popular guy/bully and when we last see him. I won’t tell you not to watch this, but I’d much sooner endorse the sequel which features Michael Jai White.
The Unborn (2009). Here Cam plays the supportive boyfriend of the ultra-hot Odette Yustman (You Again, Cloverfield, television’s Breaking In), who is sort-of possessed by her unborn, demonic twin brother. Cam is likeable and he does his job well, which doesn’t demand much of him, as he plays a high schooler again…at 27.
Pandorum (2009). This is my favorite role of his and he apparently plays his age for a change. I don’t even know if he did that on The OC. He doesn’t get a lot of screen time, but he does very well with what he has. Overall, I really dug this movie. Ben Foster and Dennis Quaid really deliver in the space madness action-suspense flick.
The Experiment (2010). Cam really delivered in this one, too. He plays a depraved son of a bitch and does it damn well! I’m reminded of the guards from Sleepers. You know, just plain evil. I feel like this is the only time he’s had a role where he could shine…like a bright evil star. Again, he seems to be playing his age. For a complete review of the movie, click here.
Like anyone with abs like his would be in a Celibacy Club at age 22!
Easy A (2010). And we’re back to Cam playing high schoolers, again—at 28, but playing a 22-year old senior. This is about as silly as when Tom Welling played high school freshman Clark Kent in season one of Smallville when he was actually 26. But I loved Smallville, all ten dragged out seasons, and I enjoyed Cam in his goofy role here, too.
Burlesque (2010). I am on a mission to let Cam prove that he can act. But parts like this are not helping him out too much. That said, while I generally detest musicals, I have decided to endure Burlesque. I just hope that suffering through Christina Aguileira’s attempts to act don’t make Cam look bad by association.
As the movie gets started it is safe to say that Cher’s troupe may have the least sexy burlesque show ever. If clubs carded age based on the raunchiness of the show, then Cher’s club would be 10 and up. An SI Swimsuit issue is naughtier than this whoopti-do spectacle. Aguileira is just as annoying as an Iowa-naïve cutie-pie and Cher is as the protective Mother Hen. The nice surprises in this movie are Stanley Tucci, who is always delightfully witty whether playing gay, straight, or up-in-the-air, and Kristen Bell, who ate some sandwiches to make a real body out of her typically skeletal frame. Most other characters are rather forgettable. Cam, however, comes off as likeable. Not bad, not particularly good, but likeable—which, I guess, is a good thing.
The Roommate (2011). Competing with Justin Long for how old one can be and still play a college kid, 29-year old Cam is once again desperately trying to prove to us that he can act. But know this Cam: I don’t care how carefully disheveled your hair is—you still look damn near 30 to me. You’re not fooling anyone.
This movie has no more depth than an episode of The Smurfs and is just as predictable as Titanic. It should have been called Single White Swimfan, although the crazy chick in this one was closer to Jennifer Jason Leigh (one of my top picks for The Craziest Chicks of Film) than Erika Christensen. The best part of this movie was probably the beer I drank while I watched it. But the second best part might have been Cam’s performance. He really wasn’t bad.
Priest (2011). Cam, who was effective and enjoyable as a meant-to-be-hated character in Pandorum and The Experiment, played a marshal who annoyed both Paul Bettany’s Priest and me. This performance was surely Cam’s least talented. I know his character in Priest is meant to be a pain in the ass, but I didn’t appreciate his contribution to this mediocre movie at all. For a more thorough review, click here.
CLOSING ARGUMENTS: It seems that Cam is up to snuff when playing bad guys, bullies, and the ever-ancillary supportive boyfriend. Up to snuff, sure, but his roles in Easy A, The Roommate and The Unborn are very minor; second even to that of a supporting actor. Meanwhile, movies where he plays his age—Burlesque, Pandorum, The Experiment—allow him to demonstrate that he doesn’t suck when handed a script where he has more than 3 scenes and 10 lines. Priest seems to have been his worst work.
So can he act? Sure. Why did I think he couldn’t? Probably a combination of several very minor roles and meant-to-be-hated characters. I’m sorry I doubted you, Cam. Just stay away from anything else directed by Scott Charles Stewart (Legion, Priest).
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Trailer Talk: Lock Out
Guy Pearce is a great actor. Just watch Memento, Count of Monte Cristo, Hurt Locker, King’s Speech, The Road and The Proposition.
Now he is playing a badass who has to go to a prison and save the president’s daughter. The problem is that the prison is in space and is loaded with the most violent people on earth.
Lock Out looks like the perfect guilty pleasure movie. I love movies where tough guys have to fight other tough guys. This is going to be a superb example of ridiculous violence. The movie has a No Escape vibe except everybody is bad.
I’m hoping this film lives up to its bad movie promise and delivers violence, violence and more violence.
Enjoy the Guy Pearce. Appreciate the Maggie Grace. Dig the zero gravity.
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Bad Movie Tuesday: In Time
Good looking people solve problems while good looking people chase them.
Justin Timberlake plays a working stiff who decides to make the rich pay and critics moan. I was looking forward to a film where people say lines like “Your time is up” and “Time isn’t on your side.” I also hoped that JCVD would be a Time Cop and John Cusack would land in the fictional world in a hot tub. Basically, I wanted to go beyond the funny threshold and stretch the time references to a maximum.
I’d compare this movie to the bad classic Paycheck. In Paycheck Ben Affleck loses his memory and has to get it back while being chased. The movie looks good but reaches levels of ridiculous that left me hoping that somebody would get thrown from a large building so I could say “your paycheck has bounced.”
The movie centers around T-Lake kidnapping Amanda Seyfried and the two of them become underwritten Bonnie and Clyde Time Bandits. The two steal from the rich squirrely guy from Mad Men and give the time to the poor.
Odd fact: Timberlake steals time and gives ten years to his best friend played by Leonard from the Big Bang Theory. The dude then goes and drinks himself to death. The strange thing is that he leaves behind his wife and child.
Chasing the good-looking people are local attractive thugs. These thugs are chased by the svelte “time keepers.” These well manicured folks look at their wrists a lot and worry about time while chasing each other. Eventually, the movie ends and the world is better….or is it?
The movie was written, produced and directed by Andrew Nicol. Nicol wrote the great Truman Show and directed the science fiction gem Gattaca. Those two movies took viewers to new and interesting worlds that were completely engrossing. However, Nicol missed the mark this time. Instead, of creating characters he instead creates a world of running actors. Steven Rea sums up Nicol’s movie perfectly when he says “Phillip K. Dick for knuckleheads.”
The movie looks great but multiple critics described it as “ham handed.” There is a streamlined look but the dialogue is so clunky it makes for a stark contrast of beauty and dumb. It is like a Lamborghini riding over speed bumps. That is why you should watch this film. It is a curious little bugger that provides the viewer with many pithy comments. Just read Rotten Tomatoes and you will notice the creative dog pile.
Watch this movie. Surprise yourself with funny one-liners. Appreciate that there are movies like this still being made. Bad is good when it is unknowingly bad.
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The Grey
The trailers misrepresented The Grey. The film is not about Liam Neeson punching wolves. The Grey is about living, dying and faith. Liam and the other three-dimensional characters wax poetic between wolf attacks. This film is more The Tree of Life than The Edge.
Liam Neeson deserves an Oscar nomination for his commanding performance. A similar companion is Russel Crowe’s Maximus in Gladiator. You never once doubt these men as they live for nothing yet choose to survive.
The cast is stellar as well. Dermot Mulroney casts aside his rom-com persona and gives depth to a quiet man. Frank Grillo (Warrior) is the doubter of the bunch and proves that he is an actor to be watched. Dallas Roberts, Nonso Anozie and Joe Anderson are the quiet, gentle and loud group members who give their characters unexpected depth.
The Grey is a mature film from a man who is known to make bombastic dude flicks. Joe Carnahan has succeeded in directing a mature and philosophical movie. The vistas provide a beautiful view for the ensuing grey material. The movie could have been a black and white action film but manages to ask questions and provide character depth that is unexpectedly poignant.
The wolves are secondary to the story. There is some backlash from animal rights groups complaining that the wolves are made villains. The wolves are not the bad guys. They are animals who are protecting their turf. They kill to protect not for pleasure. They are like death pursuing each character. You can’t avoid death but you can choose how to deal with it. This movie is about the characters dealing with unlikely survival.
There are a couple false moments in the film that take away from the realism. There is a strange forty-foot jump and an ending after the credits that takes away from the film. I dug the philosophical direction the movie takes and the drama was a pleasant surprise. It gives the bleakness a reason to exist.
Do not expect a gore fest. Do not expect Neeson headlocking wolves. Expect a tense film that attempts to move beyond the limits of the action genre.
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John’s Horror Corner: Slugs (1988)
MY CALL: Pleasantly less awful than expected. An enjoyably campy 80s horror flick featuring among the least menacing “monsters” ever. IF YOU LIKE THIS, WATCH: There are some fun animal-horror movies out there. Some of my favorites include Gnaw 2: Food of the Gods (1989), Lake Placid (1999) and Black Sheep (2006).
Toxic waste has offered up a lot of fun to the movie industry…The Toxic Avenger, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Class of Nuke’em High, the Return of the Living Dead series. In this case, sewer slugs are mutated into enlarged, opportunistically anthropophagous critters when they are exposed toxic waste. People are dying, the slugs are spreading, and it’s up to our faithful county sanitation workers to save the day.
When slugs attack!
It should come as no shock that a lot about this movie just didn’t work. The score was way off. Often we’d hear uppity tunes between serious scenes. For example, someone calls in that a dead body was found and as the cop is responding we hear some goofy sitcom jingle as he makes his way to the scene. The acting sucked. But there’s really no more to address on that issue with a “when animals attack”-themed horror movie about slugs.
Another weird thing was that these slugs seemed to come out of nowhere. There’s this scene where two people fooling around in bed. Then woman gets up and slips on the floor which, during however long they were getting freaky, has become covered so densely with slithering slugs that you can’t tell if it’s hardwood or carpeted. Where did they come from? How are they that fast? It’s like how Freddy and Jason seem to just “appear” unexpectedly to make the kill. Anyway, this was a good kill. She flops about like she’s in an oil wrestling match with a slimy slug swarm.
Like any other horror flick, you have premarital sex…slug death!
Slugs was a lot of things. None of those things are “great.” But even bad 80s horror flicks deserve to be recognized for effort. This flick was successful at being campy and gory. Festive use was made of fake spurting blood, silly squirming sound effects, and fanged (yes, fanged), bitey slugs. There was even an attempt at injecting some (fake) biology trivia when someone accidently eats a slug in a salad and becomes infected with deadly blood flukes which, naturally, explode from your face once they’ve fully developed. This was the best kill by far! It happens while he’s trying to close a business deal over dinner and drinks.
I say give Slugs a shot if you’re really bored and love campy 80s horror. It made me smile.
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Bad Movie Tuesday: Underworld Awakening (Revisited)
What the what?
If you are a Bad Movie Tuesday fan and have read Mark’s recent review of What’s Your Number, you will recognize this. I have to say that after seeing this movie, I can now identify with this facial expression.
To give you a little insider knowledge (feel honored!)- the Movies, Films & Flix crew prefers to highlight the awesome badness of movies rather than outright hang a cloud of gloom over your head. We are a nice bunch 🙂 I felt that the best way to highlight said badness of Underworld #4 would be to present you with a list of questions. Never have I ever had so many questions, only 10 minutes into a movie.
Consider this my earnest plea to understand what happened to such a fun franchise. I’ll admit it, I love the first three Underwold movies. I spent many a late night in college, flipping channels (while studying?) only to come across one of these movies and be glued to the screen until the credits appeared. If you know the answers to my questions, please feel free to answer them in the comments section.
Okay, let’s play Twenty Questions…
- Whats with the video recap of the series? I’ve seen these movies. These are your fans in the audience.
- Part 1:Why did she kill all of those cops in the very beginning?
- Part 2:When did she become so mean (read: bi-otch)? She was never this mean before, I really liked Selene in the previous movies, now she is just murdering cops
- Part 3:Couldn’t she have just dressed up as one of the cops and escaped, sans bloodshed and endangering Michael?
- Why was this movie in 3D? They barely utilized it, I know, I checked by taking off my glasses multiple times
- Was the character Michael actually in this movie? Methinks no.
- Why have her boots and corset been held in a refrigerated cabinet with bottles of chemicals, conveniently next to her ice tomb for 12 years?
- Did they WANT her to wake up and get dressed one day?
- Also, where did she find the stretchy black catsuit? I didn’t see it in the fridge….
- Why isn’t Michael Ealy in more movies? Seriously. He is by far the best part of Underworld Awakening. Mr. Ealy’s agent, do you hear me???
- Can we create a drinking game for this? Drink every time Kate Beckinsale ‘walks slowly’ across or towards the screen.
- Why does Mr. Extra Large Lycan keep throwing her 50 yards away? What does this accomplish?
- Why was Mr. Extra Large Lycan punching the wall with the too small doorway in frustration? Why waste that time?
- SPOILER: Why did Selene break open Michael’s ice tomb before the battle? Why not do it after and then come back and wait for him to defrost with her little family?
- SPOILER: Why didn’t Michael help them out after defrosting? He had to see all the dead bodies in the building? No? And he didn’t hear the ruckus down stairs?
- SPOILER: Who will play Michael in Underworld 5??????? If Scott Speedman didn’t want to make this movie, can they keep using archive footage, unnamed stand-ins and CGI?? Can they?!?!
- Was the movie of the doppleganger/stand-in actors? Examples of actors and their possible look-alikes from this movie: Charles Dance (Bill Nighy), Khris Holden-Ried (Chris Marten), India Eisley (Hailee Steinfeld), Random Stand In (Scott Speedman)
- I found this on IMDB: This is the first Underworld movie to not feature Bill Nighy. Don’t they know that EVERY movie could benefit from some Bill Nighy?
- Where does Selene keep all of those grenades, bombs, other weapon thingys? I don’t see any pockets on that skin-tight outfit, do you?
- Did you hear that? Was that a squish? Probably the squishy-est (spelling?) sound effects I have ever heard…and I love them. They make all of the kills way more fun 🙂
To be fair, we did like some aspects of the movie. Mainly that it made us laugh, we had a great laugh as we talked about the badness and walked to the parking lot. A fun night together is never a waste of money 🙂
If you need a supernatural, vampire or 3D fix, watch Underworld 1-3, the entire Resident Evil collection or wait for Resident Evil: Retribution 3D. Thank me later.
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John’s Horror Corner: Deep Space (1988)
Okay, before I get started can we please take a moment to appreciate the lines on this poster? It’s actually rather indicative of the screenwriters’ skill.
MY CALL: Three parts Aliens (1986), one part The Thing (1982, 2011), then add shredded cheddar until desired level of horror cheesiness is achieved. This laughable flick is only advisable for connoisseurs of truly bad horror and sci-fi. I give it a cheesy C+. IF YOU LIKE THIS, WATCH: Other campy Alien rip-offs include Contamination (1980) and the Tokyo Shock-esque Alien vs Ninja (2010). Enjoy them both with an immature friend and some good beer. Just want some cheesy 80s space madness? Then try Inseminoid (1982) or Galaxy of Terror (1981).
Like most 80s horror, the plot is essentially that some “thing” starts killing people. Not surprisingly, a lot of our questions about the plot will go unanswered. More specifically, some government scientists engineered this alien-mutant-monster thing. They never explain why. Then they put it into a dormant state and shot it into space. They never explain why. Then the monster storage space parcel crashes back onto Earth. They never explain why. After the first few minutes of the movie the story takes place entirely on Earth, yet it’s called Deep Space. They never explain why.
After the “ship” crashes to Earth a couple of nearby teens go investigate. Guess what? They won’t be right back. Amid the burning rubble they find a giant pod-thing that is evidently the monster’s cocoon of sorts. Much as in The Thing, tendrils fire from its body and drag the nutritious teens to its over-sized maw. Some rather unattractive cops, whose lines are both written and acted poorly to the point of annoyance, investigate and serve as our protagonists. You never feel the urge to root for them.
Look at this guy. Is this really our hero? Don’t you just wish the alien would eat his face off?
So the cops take the alien pod thing to their crime lab where, just like in The Thing, it comes to life, kills, and disappears quietly…from the police station! Sure, aliens may be sneaky. But later, every scene with these creatures depicts them as extremely noisy. Setting this ridiculous notion aside, the cops turn their attention to some other pods they got from the crash site and kept at home—yeah, loud and clear, they brought unidentified alien crash site objects home! They bring it to some scientist with the theory that it’s like “a giant roach egg.” These pods hatch out Alien facehugger-ripoffs. They lunge and skitter across the floor just like them. If I go by the movie, the best way to kill them is with a baseball bat.
Oooh la la…look at how casual I am about handling this alien roach egg thingy. Pssst. Does the chick look impressed? She looks impressed, doesn’t she? I am so getting lucky tonight.
Without any clues to get to the bottom of this, our cops turn to a meddlesome psychic (Julie Newmar) who randomly contacted them after the alien crashed. This plot device feels pointless and forced, and the psychic is no less annoying than the cops. I was really hoping the alien would win and kill all these losers. No such luck.
The Psychic Friends Network has been doing so poorly that some of their employees have been dropping freebies about alien invasions on the local police force. Even the cops could care less.
In the finale, the cops hunt down a fully-metamorphosed alien. We don’t know if this is “the queen” or simply a developed adult. They track it by the Alien calling card: clear, thick mucus-like ooze. Either way, it had the general body form of an Alien with an elongate, exoskeleton-like head with no eyes. It was hybridized with The Thing, having unevenly mangled teeth and a second toothy maw on its stomach, beside which are half a dozen rubbery, whip-like tendrils.
The final fight is pretty funny and pretty dumb. Despite some heavy firearms, the creature was ultimately done in with a fireaxe, a chainsaw and a jar of Roach-B-Gone from a pest control company. Thankfully, the credits started rolling within a minute of the creature’s death to help numb the pain.
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Trailer Talk: Seeking Justice
Nic Cage is married to January Jones and he has bad facial hair. He is terrorized by Guy Pearce. Will Cage freak out? Will January Jones finally emote? Will this go straight to DVD?
The plot revolves around Nic Cage’s wife getting attacked and hospitalized. Nic Cage gets involved with some shady folks who kill the attacker. The kicker is that Cage has to kill somebody. Cage doesn’t want to murder that somebody…..Wait….I don’t care about any of this. All I care about is Cage running around whilst people chase him.
Anytime you get to see Nicolas Cage running away from a truck you smile. I’m stoked for this flick and more bad facial hair
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Margin Call
Actors in expensive suits look at computer monitors and say “F**k me.” Then, they show paperwork to other actors who say “F**k me.”
J.C. Chandor makes a memorable directorial and writing debut about a fictional Wall Street firm in 2008. Chandor put together a $3.5 million dollar budget and a plethora of big names actors to bring his Oscar nominated dialogue to life.
The budget and time constraints are evident in the film as Chandor tries to get into his groove as a director. The writing is crisp, the acting is solid but the film suffers from too many stagey flat shots.. I like that he tried to utilize a washed out color palate to mimic the coldness of the business climate. However, the shots make the production feel staged. I understand the need for static shots so the actors can spit out the rapid fire dialogue. However, when the setting feels staged the effectiveness of the film diminishes. You are supposed to be a fly on the wall but the set ups distract and take you out of that world.
The cast is game. It is good to see Paul Bettany back in dialogue heavy films after his recent ventures in Priest, Legion and The Da Vinci Code. Kevin Spacey is spectacular as his first non-smarmy character in years.
The acting and writing saves the day. Without the actors the film would look like a film school production of the crisis on Wall Street. I know that sounds like an insult. However, if you are investing in actors and solid dialogue you need to build a decent look. I’m looking forward to what Chandor does next.
Enjoy the flick. Dig the Spacey. Leave not saying “F**k me.”
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Real Steel (2011) [Round 2]
MY CALL: The fights may lack the technical delight we see from Scott Adkins (Assassination Games; Undisputed II) or Michael Jai White (Undisputed II, Never Back Down 2: The Beatdown), but with Sugar Ray Leonard’s choreography these fights are some good, old-fashioned bot brawler fun. I give this an unexpected B+. IF YOU LIKE THIS, WATCH: Not much like this, but this reminds me of Robot Jox (1990), a low budgeter sci-fi for the superfans out there. SIDEBAR: I stick more to the story while Marko provided a detailed critique of the moviemakers and production of Real Steel. Check it out.
In the not-too-distant future (2027) Charlie Kenton (Hugh Jackman; X-Men, The Prestige) plays a down on his luck, scheming ex-boxer who signed away the rights to his son at birth, owes every unsavory soul he could find some money, is behind on his rent, and even more behind on his dignity. He’s down on himself so much that he won’t even tolerate hearing accolades of his past triumphs. Charlie pushes everyone away so far and hard that he can’t even remember how old his own son is (who is 11).
The ultimate scumbag, Charlie sells custody of his son (Max, played by Dakota Goya; Thor). But to collect, he must spend the summer with him. He uses the $50K custodial bounty to buy an ex-pro robot boxer to pit in a dirty underground fight. Guess how that turns out for this winner?
Charlie teaches Max about haste, greed, theft, and the history of sport-fighting that led to the robot boxing sensation. Max, a fan of robot boxing, teaches him how to dream with his devout support of an obsolete model junkyard robot. Because Max won’t let up, Charlie has no choice but to submit and teach him about the sport. “You’ve played video games, right? Well this is just like that. Except that this one’s a 1000 pound robot.” Atom, as Max names him, is a sparring bot that mirrors fighting styles. Atom is under-sized, fast and designed to take hits, not deliver them. Charlie has doubts. Max has dreams. And Atom is special.
Charlie teaches Max what the audience wants and trains the bot to box. Max works up a mean robot shadow-dancing routine to give Atom a persona. Atom serves as a friend to the boy and an inspiration to both of them. This makes Charlie smile for reasons beyond money. When he sees Max win with Atom, it’s as if Charlie begins to think he can, too. They quickly beat some big names and make one for themselves and go pro aiming for Zeus, the pro-champ and an evolving, fully autonomous robot. How do you beat that?
For the boxing enthusiasts out there, Sugar Ray Leonard sets up an original rope-a-dope for our junkyard scrapper in honor of Muhammad Ali. In Real Steel, Atom may lack the palpable emotional output of Wall-E, but this faceless robot manages to make us “feel”. And it may not quite be Rocky, but when Atom wins, I feel like “I win.” This father-son team and junkyard robot turned hero really made my day! The hits are hard, the drive is contagious, and the victory is emotional!
Movies, Films & Flix 