MOVIES: RED & BURIED

So after going out for a nice Valentine’s dinner, The Lady and I decided to skip going to the cinema to see SANCTUM (because we missed our start time and I just didn’t feel like waiting for the next one hours away…I’m grumpy and impatient when it’s cold out and I’m still a bit ‘under the weather’. Plus in our town the damn BORDERS closes at 9 PM on a Saturday night. You believe that?). So instead we decided to rent a couple of flicks from the RedBox and snuggle up on the couch in front of the flatscreen TV.

First, we watched RED, which was a great action/comedy hoot with Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Mary-Louise Parker, Karl Urban and Dame Helen Mirren. Great fun stuff that doesn’t try hard to be funny and outrageous, it just is naturally by its premise of middle and senior-aged black ops agents who are still hard to kill even as retirees living their boring civi lives. Though a decidedly altered translation-to-film from a 3-issue comic series of the same name by the great Warren Ellis (PLANETARY, THE AUTHORITY, TRANSMETROPOLITAN), from what I’ve read Mr. Ellis was extremely proud of the ‘adaptation’ of his original work, so that’s a good thing there. Retired, Extremely Dangerous. Only from the mind of Ellis. Recommended.

Now, our last feature which I deliberately planned for before bed was BURIED starring Ryan Reynolds. Great suspense/horror flick because being buried in a box with no way out (and I do mean No. Way. Out.) is a horrific thing to imagine, let alone experience. I was amazed by the production and like with THE DESCENT I can’t wait to see the magic behind shooting something so claustrophobic and dark. I can’t really give too much away on this one for fear of spoiling the viewing experience one little bit. I will suffice it to say that The Lady did not enjoy the ending. It’s an emotional one, as all good horror should be. It’s also a bit of a mindfuck, as all good suspense tends to be. I prefer my horror to be psychological and BURIED certainly accomplishes that.  Recommended.

I had expected some BURIED-inspired nightmares, at least for one of us, but instead The Lady had a bad dream about zombies and demonic dogs. Weird. We haven’t watched THE WALKING DEAD or I AM LEGEND in months.