movie update

It's been a while since I've paid to see a movie. The last one was... The Swimming Pool. So ok, maybe not that much of a while.

This time, my $8.50 went to Identity, the John Cusack/Amanda Peet/Ray Liotta movie about 10 travellers stranded at a deserted motel on a rainy day.

I think the movie worked and it made me and my movie-watching pals talk about it after, which to me is usually a mark of a pretty darn good movie. Unless of course the talk is like 'why the hell did I fork out $8.50 for that show???'

Here's the basic premise: With all roads washed out and all forms of communication dead, a group of people become stranded at the motel along with the shifty manager (John Hawkes). Among the stranded are Ed (John Cusack), a former cop turned limo driver; Caroline (Rebecca De Mornay), a self-absorbed actress; Paris (Amanda Peet), a prostitute attempting to escape her profession; Rhodes (Ray Liotta), a cop transporting a prisoner (Jake Busey); Lou (William Lee Scott) and Ginny (Clea DuVall), bickering newlyweds; and George (John McGinley) and Alice (Leila Kenzle), a married couple travelling with their young son.

But a killer is on the loose and the bodies start piling up.

That's all I would like to say about the story as revealing anymore kinda would spoil it all actually. And the show did have an interesting twist. And one that makes you actually have to think a little.

As a thriller goes, it was a fun watch, to guess who'll be next and who the crazed killer is. And of course to get a little nervous and creeped-out knowing the killer is lurking around.

But the most important thing is that it is not only just about creeping the audience out. That very interesting twist about 2/3s into the show does a complete turnaround.

Identity is directed by James Mangold (Girl, Interrupted and Kate And Leopold) and he does a great job at splicing the stories of how the travellers end up in the motel. I thought a little similar to some bits in Guy Ritchie's Snatch but totally different at the same time.

I would have to put this movie as one of the better films I've seen this year. And it's not just because I like John Cusack but because it really did work.

Oh yes, another movie I did see was Rugrats Go Wild. A combination of the Nickleodeon staples The Rugrats and The Wild Thornberrys.

This is by the way the third Rugrats movie and the second Wild Thornberrys movie but it's all Rugrats, down to the very corny songs. I did see The Wild Thornberrys Movie last year. Unimaginative title aside, it was a pretty decent show. Rugrats Go Wild was my first encounter with the Rugrats on the big screen and I was often tempted to run out of the theatre and dull my senses with some alcohol.