Day 38 -- The Boondock Saints

Released: January 21st, 2000

Starring: Sean Patrick Flanery, Norman Reedus, William Defoe

Writer/Director: Troy Duffy

Description: Fraternal twins set out to rid Boston of the evil men operating there while being tracked down by an FBI agent.

[Review may contain spoilers. Please watch movie before reading, unless you don't care. Most of these films have already been released for a while, so they should be readily available.]

***

Movies are enjoyed for all sorts of reasons, and become popular in many different ways. The least of which is the quality of the film. You could like the actor, director, writer, and hell, even the cinematographer, or it could be made from a terrible novel (*cough* Twilight *cough*), or sometimes the lack of quality is the reason (The Room). While shooting a movie, there really is no way to know whether you will find your audience because the film is good or some other unpredictable element.

"Boondock Saints" owes it popularity in my circle of friends to the tremendous drinking game involved with it, and honestly, I've only seen this film twice without a drink in my hand. There are many different games depending on how drunk you want to get, but the most popular one is to drink whenever someone swears. This can get dicey during the one action scene about midway through the film.

Despite the fact that the game is sometimes the only reason someone will see the movie, there's an actual film with a plot and everything. Connor (Flanery) and Murphy (Reedus) McManus are on a mission to wipe out organized crime in the city of Boston. With their loose cannon partner, Rocco (David Della Rocco), the brothers kill about a dozen of Beantown most notorious criminals. The action is your standard fare for the time period, lots of slow motion and creative ways for people to die, including shooting a guy while he's masturbating at a peep show, which surprisingly is Ron Jeremy.

As the movie moves along there are several twist, such as the hitman hired to kill "the Saints" turns out to be their father, and FBI Agent Smecker (Dafoe) decision to join the brother on their quest to eradicate evil. If you take the writing (more the dialogue) for what it is, a typical high-energy, action movie with some comedic moments, then you do not get bogged down by some of the poor exchanges. But if you consider Duffy's work as mediocre then you are complete missing the point of the script.

 None of the encounters involve thought provoking dialogue or insightful soliloquies, but the overall issue of the film is where his genius lies. The Saints are rampaging through Boston on a murder spree, but their victims aren't random people, they are the low-life scum of the criminal underground. 

So are they justified in what they do or are they simply killers?

It is a deep and difficult question to answer, and Duffy tries to show that with the end credits consisting of testimonials from citizens of Boston. It definitely goes back to the idea that one man's vigilante is another man's terrorist. The men they kill, while evil in many respects, come from families and are not seen as bad men by their wives and children. 

And if vigilantes were allowed to kill those that they saw as evil, where would the line end. Criminals are easy targets, but what about the people that believe women who get abortions are evil, or to the even more extreme, those that participate in pre-marital sex. There's a reason why there's a justice system and it is not like the old west, and it is my belief that while the McManus brothers are bad ass, they are also criminals because they committed a crime that wasn't in self defense.

Even though I probably went a little deeper with this movie then I need to, I still enjoyed it. It's a fun action film that is great to watch with a few buddies, and possible enjoy an adult beverage in hand. It's not a classic by any stretch, but it does more things good than bad, so it passes my action film litmus test.

Rating: 6/10 -- Good popcorn flick, and definitely one that can be enjoyed with friends before or after a night out. But don't sleep on the thought provoking idea presented in the film. Defoe is outstandingly creepy like he should be.

Day 27 -- Ten Inch Hero

Released: February 29th, 2009

Starring: Elisabeth Harnois, Danneel Harris, Jensen Ackles, Clea DuVall, Sean Patrick Flanery

Writer/Director: Betsy Morris/David Mackey

Description: Ten Inch Hero follows the love lives of several young adults who work together at a sandwich shop, The Beach City Grill, owned by a child of the sixties who adheres to the surfing lifestyle.

[Review may contain spoilers. Please watch movie before reading, unless you don't care. Most of these films have already been released for a while, so they should be readily available.]

***

Surprisingly good films are something I expected to find during this project, but honestly, this wasn't one I had considered. My choice of the film was mostly because of my love of "One Tree Hill", particularly season three. With two cast members from that season in this movie, it was something I added with crossed-fingers and a hope that it would be passable. Well, it was that and more.

"Ten Inch Hero" is one of those rare combinations of a romantic comedy and a coming-of-age story that doesn't make you roll your eyes. It follows the lives of young employees of a sandwich shop in California. We meet Piper (Harnois), Tish (Harris), Jen (DuVall) and Priestly (Ackles) on Piper's first day on the job, and she immediately meets all of your typical characters in romantic comedies: The "slut" (Tish), the sheltered one (Jen) and the comic relief (Priestly). To be honest, this would make a pretty good CW series because the four stories (five if you include the shop owner) could easily be spread out over a few seasons, and a sandwich shop makes a perfect central locale.

As the movie continues, the same cliches from this genre begin to appear, but something's different. Not in the story, but the way it's being told. The chemistry between the actors, which is one of the hardest things to create, is what makes this film believable and entertaining. The actors did an amazing job of taking a bare-bones story and making the audience care about the outcome, even though veteran watchers of the genre already knew the ending. 

The writing in this movie is top-notch for a romantic comedy. It doesn't miss any of the beats, such as, Tish's storyline where she realizes that she is worth more than sex and stops looking at the superficial. Even the twists in the movie are pulled off without much groaning, except for the end when Priestly cleans himself up to gain the courage to ask out Tish. 

This is the big swing and miss in the film, as it completely undoes everything that he stood for, and confirms everything that Jen says occurs to her. Also, it doesn't completely allow Tish's character to grow. And their bonding moment of having weird first names (Boaz and Platisha) is a too contrived.

All of the actors, which was a who's who of the WB and CW, were stellar in their roles. Sure, it's not like any of them are going to win awards for their performances, but they did something that I believe is tougher than acting in a drama: being good in a Rom-Com. There is a balance of comedy and drama that one needs to show in these films that few do well. Harris and Ackels, who are married in real life, are the standouts on the comedy end, and DuVall and Harnois hold down the drama side, with each actor not failing when needing to crossover. 

"Ten Inch Hero" could easily become a guilty pleasure for me because it has three thing I look for: beautiful actresses, writing and performances that make laugh and a fun story. The romantic comedy gets a lot of negative buzz, and rightfully so, because most of it is crap, but every once in a while a movie shows exactly what the genre should be. There's no love triangle, no obvious choice for the protagonist and no script that looks like it was written from a template, but what it does have is a truly romantic story (but not self indulging) that feels like it could happen in reality.

Rating: 7/10 -- Fun movie with four underrated actors, who create characters that I could see working at my local sandwich shop. The story is so down-to-earth that I could see any of the storylines being told to me by a friend over drinks. If you enjoy the genre, it's definitely one to pick up. Maybe I'm just a sucker for a well-told, WB-ish story, but dammit I liked it.