Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Sleepers

Sleeping isn't easy sometimes and late night TV is usually more irritating than anything else. So when there's nothing good on Coast to Coast AM I will tend to pick something from the On Demand menu to put me to sleep. Here are a few examples that I've actually managed to see in their entirety after many viewings. Before I nodded off, that is.

Woman Wanted - This was a terrific snoozer and I watched it more than a few times before I even got past the first couple minutes. Holly Hunter is the woman hired as a housekeeper by father Michael Moriarty and son Kiefer Sutherland. These two men are the textbook definition of dysfunctional, thus made by the death of their wife/mother. Holly, in one of her less annoying performances (she can be wonderful, but more often she makes a chainsaw sound soothing), gets the two talking and relating to one another - before she starts sleeping with both of them, that is. There are good parts, but mostly slow and agonizing. Good to watch if you ever want to get the tough guy "24" image of Sutherland out your head. His shortpants wardrobe made me laugh out loud more than once.

House of Wax - No, not the 3-D classic from 1953 starring Vincent Price and Carolyn Jones, but the equally low budget schlocker from 2005 with "24" star Elisha Cuthbert and the infamous Paris Hilton. While I did drift off once or twice to this one, it's really, believe it or not, quite good. This House follows a familiar formula of many 1970s drive-in horror flicks and does it well. Elements that stand out are the stereotype empty town, the creepy guy who cleans up roadkill and the actually big budget house made of actual wax. The house pays off big time in the end, but it must have been a bitch to film. Paris Hilton really shines in this movie because she is essentially playing herself, not a heiress mind you, but otherwise herself, and because of it she comes off very reall and very believable. Not as much a waste of time as I originally thought, and a few good scares as well. Check it out.

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