Movie Review: Obsession

The problem with horror movies like "Obsession" is that it rides a thin line between horror and disturbing screaming, whining, and insane violence, making this more of a crazy movie about a woman (Nikki) possessed by something called a "one wish willow", which makes her obsessed with her boyfriend (Bear). For me, this story does not meet the definition of a horror film.

The standout actor in this hard-to-watch two hours is Inde Navarrette, who probably has more time on screen than anyone else, constantly yelling and screaming, in movie history. These are not ordinary screams; these are over-the-top, hard-to-watch, pathetic screams from someone who should be in an institution. Within 30 minutes of this level of insanity, for me, it was time to go home, enough already. The worst scene was when Nikki stood in the living room for an entire day, waiting for Bear to come home from work, all the while urinating on herself and never moving from one spot. This is not a scene of horror; this is a scene of sadness, pathetic, and disgusting.

This movie starts with a relatively normal boyfriend/girlfriend story with Nikki, a very attractive woman, who just wants to be friends with an average-looking, mostly depressed Bear (Michael Johnston). On a trip to a novelty store, Bear buys this "one wish willow" stick, which, when broken in half, grants you any wish. Bear wishes that Nikki would be totally in love with him, never realizing that it would actually work, and work dangerously well.

What follows is not enough of a horror story but much more of a psychological nightmare of two hours, that includes one scene of murder, where a woman has her head rammed against a steering wheel, for yet another one of those overkill death scenes. We get it, she is dead already. Stop the head slamming. This is making me sick.

The strangest thing about this crazy film is that it is the first movie since ET, released in 1982, with the biggest box-office increase matching a rare weekend-to-weekend growth pattern. Even more insane is the mass rush of people who want to sit at the booth in "Little Tony's Restaurant" in North Hollywood, California, for one of the scenes in this movie (see video below), where Nikki goes on one of her insane rants.

Considering how difficult this film is to sit through, I am very surprised by the very high 95% ratings on Rotten Tomatoes, with my rating only 25%, with advice to run from this pathetic, sad, depressing, and too often disgusting film.

Movie Review: Power Ballad

The story behind the new movie "Power Ballad" is a good one. A struggling lead singer, named Rick Power (Paul Rudd), in a group touring in Ireland, shares the stage during a wedding with a famous and successful solo singer Danny Wilson, played by Nick Jonas. Later that evening, they drink and start exchanging ideas about writing music, eventually coming up with a very good song that Danny produces and releases and it becomes a huge hit.

Several months later, Rick hears his song in a shopping mall and sets the stage for a phone call to Danny's agent, trying to get credit and financial compensation for a new song that turned out to be a huge worldwide hit. Over the weeks and months of disagreements over who really wrote the song, there are times when Danny has guilt over stealing an idea from Rick, but Danny's manager Binzer (Rory Keenan) does everything he can to prevent Rick Power from ever receiving credit or any money from the song. Eventually, this reaches a violent conclusion with a fight in a hot tub during a party at Danny's Hollywood Hills home.

The best part of this film is the message about doing business with other people. It is always better to have friends to collaborate with many times in the future, rather than accumulate enemies by screwing over another human being. Unfortunately, this is not the path that way too many of the wrong people take, who never realize that making friends and long-term business partners when everybody wins, is always better than making enemies.

The conclusion of this good story was very believable and provided a satisfying ending.

The Rotten Tomatoes ratings of 84% are correct, and I recommend this well-done film.

Movie Review: Tuner

The new movie "Tuner" is unique because it is about a hearing disorder called Hyperacusis, which is a disorder that makes normal sounds extremely loud and even painful.

The main character Niki White (Leo Woodall), is a Piano tuner who works with this Grandfather, Harry Horowitz, played by Dustin Hoffman. Niki also has perfect pitch (the ability to recognize any note played), and there are some very impressive scenes in this story, one in particular where Niki can recite any Piano key(s) played, or any combination of keys, and instantly name the notes. Unfortunately, Niki's dreams of becoming a concert pianist were ruined by his hyperacusis, even though he was a prodigy at a very young age.

On a routine job to tune a piano, Niki meets Ruthie (Havana Rose Liu), a concert pianist, and they fall in love very quickly. Niki's grandfather then has very expensive medical problems, and through a series of unlikely events, he becomes involved with a Russian criminal organization, and using his extremely precise hearing ability to help them crack safes. Nike uses the money he makes to help his grandfather. This quickly becomes a Shakespearean tragedy, and Niki gets into trouble, which causes huge problems with Ruthie. The conclusion was unpredictable and plausible enough to create a satisfying ending.

Rotten Tomatoes' very high ratings of 94% were too high in my opinion, with my rating 85% and a solid recommendation.