2001

Oozing with creativity (and believe me there's a lot of oozing on this movie), Spirited Away is a gorgeous and far-out fantasy.

Zoolander is rarely laugh-out-loud funny, but it is consistently colorful and fun throughout. At only 89 minutes, it doesn't go overboard trying to wring more out of its material than it reasonably can. Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson are mostly charming as the ridiculously good-looking, air-headed male models, and they make an enjoyable pairing. Will Ferrell tends to steal the show with his fashion tycoon character and there are plenty of great cameos, including a former hand-model played by David Duchovny. As per the course in movies like this, the plot exists to get the characters into funny situations and isn't too compelling, but that's honestly just fine. Nothing derails a good comedy quicker than a serious storyline. It isn't exactly high-brow, and I think they could have done a better job satirizing an industry that almost begs to be made fun of. Still, it's a pleasantly likeable, quotable comedy.

The abandoned asylum in which most of Session 9 takes place is a wonderfully creepy, foreboding location. Basically it is the movie, and really deserved a better film to take place there. Unfortunately, I hear it's since been removed so there will never be another chance.

This movie is moody and tense in spots, but it's not nearly consistent enough. Just when the suspense is about to ratchet up for one character, they switch to another shot or three of other characters running around somewhere else, breaking the spell. Eventually you can see this is done to cover up the movie's secrets until its messy and unsatisfying reveal. Session 9, despite apparently having a talented crew and all the atmosphere they could ask for, resorts to gimmick sound effects during transitions and random footage including a spider attacking a bug when what the actors are doing should be enough to hold our attention.

The cast is actually pretty good overall, even Mr. Sunglasses himself, David Caruso. He has one hilarious line reading exacerbated by the cheesy camera angle but otherwise not bad. It would be nice to see some characters in a horror movie who work together for once, although depending on how you interpret the story there could be a good reason why these guys don't.

I couldn't help but think there was a world of untapped potential here. Only one scene I felt truly stood out as utilizing the setting for maximum effect - when Hank goes back at night for his treasure. But what about the signature chair? The dark subterranean tunnels? The wings reserved for extreme cases? The place where Hank finds his stash? There was just so much that could have been done with this the result feels tepid compared to what I would have imagined.

In a sense it's nice that the movie lets you know what you're in for right up front. There are some clever gags and I laughed at this more than most comedies I've seen lately. However, there is so much gross-out humor that it really wears on you, as well as jokes that are too obvious and drawn-out. The conventions of movies like "She's All That" are ripe for the thrashing, so I can't be too hard on a film that points out the ridiculousness of those. It also picks on movies that are a lot funnier than it is. Let's face it - Airplane! and The Naked Gun set the standard for gag-a-minute spoof movies and they have never been surpassed. The farther away we get, the worse the imitations are becoming. This is a smarter movie than the Friedberg and Seltzer junk, but not enough to recommend it.

You ever been with a group of friends watching a video of them cutting up and being generally as immature as possible? You ever notice how those things are only really funny to the people involved?