Wonderland (2003)

The story of what became of XXX movie star John Holmes after his onscreen career had ended but his hard drug addiction hadn't.
Portrayed as a sleazy and selfish weasel, Holmes (Val Kilmer) is the quintessential lowlife user of people, befriending others solely because they can give him what he needs, with betrayal just another bump in the road.
The presentation is choppy, employing techniques that aren't always complementary to each other; in trying too hard to be edgy it goes from one stylistic choice to another sometimes with little or no rhyme or reason. It occasionally works but mostly it's disruptive and detrimental to the whole.
It's an okay film in the end, but indulging the many truth games and multiple unreliable narrators shtick wore me out long before the credits rolled.

3 lead pipes in the drug house out of 5

RED DOG [2011]

Kill Me Three Times director Kriv Stenders brings us Red Dog, a lovable true story about an even more lovable canine.
A legend for his lone travels through Western Australia's Pilbara region in the 70's, Red Dog finds himself adopted by a ragtag group of miner's in a broken down community that needs the love a dog to help bring them together again.
Sappy right?  Well, yeah.  And at times it's pretty far-fetched but it's brought to life with a huge heart that is hard to resist.  It's also pretty funny too but be warned prudish North Americans, it is Trans-Tasman humor which isn't always welcome at the dinner table.  I never forgave Marley & Me for what it inevitably did to my still-broken heart but this one is easier to love because it actually is a good movie unlike the former.

3½ Red Cats out of 5

UNDERTOW [2004]

David Gordon Green dives a little deeper than before into the murky Southern Gothic world of rural America with the poetic and unsettling Undertow.
Like before, he nestles his stories into a seamless blend of realism and surrealism that's both simultaneously repulsive and beautiful.  DGG's flair for ignoring the bigger picture and focusing heavily on moments of truth, self-discovery, emotion and lost thoughts is what makes his films so memorable and lasting, compared to so many dramas that feel the need to be bigger than they ought to be.  Unlike his previous films, Undertow doesn't quite gel together as tightly in the end but it's the moments before that leave the lasting impression.

3 tasty pails of paint out of 5

Hulk (2003)

Marvel may have publicly distanced itself from Ang Lee's version of Hulk, but that doesn't mean it's a bad film. It's a very brave film.

It's an art house/blockbuster hybrid that's as schizophrenic as its titular character. Using the film frame like a comic panel, adding wild transitions and an abundance of split screen effects made audiences uneasy. Ang broke the rules and for that he got criticized harshly, but cinema needs that kind of disruption and daring every now and again.
The film crumbles under the weight of if its own weirdness long before the end, but it was a worthy effort. I may be alone in liking it better than The Incredible Hulk (2008) film that came after.

3 metaphorical doors out of 5

J. Edgar (2011)

Leo DiCaprio becomes Philip Seymour Hoffman as J. Edgar Hoover in Clint Eastwood's award-season pic of the year. Some nice acting performances, but all in all felt much too overlong and DULL. The nuances of Hoover's life are treated very delicately and subtly, which is fine, but it didn't deliver much as far as emotional punch. It's difficult to make such an asshole seem sympathetic, but it at least succeeds in that regard (blame it on the parents).

2.5 wire-taps out of 5