Perfect Stranger
Directed by James Foley
By Travis Mackenzie Hoover

Let me put the cards on the table: Perfect Stranger is the front-runner for worst movie of the year. Maybe ever. A fiery collision of tortuous plotting, painfully unmouthable dialogue, sleazy supporting characters and what ranks as the most bizarre and implausible shock ending of any movie of the past ten years, it’s a special sort of train wreck that comes along once in a generation. Halle Berry embarrasses herself completely as an investigative reporter who’s trying to infiltrate the agency of Bruce Willis’s ad exec — seems that lecherous Willis has possibly murdered a childhood friend of Berry’s, meaning she has to worm her way into his life (and maybe his bed) with the help of sociopath techie Giovanni Ribisi. That description conjures images of a boring erotic thriller, circa 1992, but nothing about this film is by the book Perfect Stranger careens from the insane overacting of the two nominal good guys to gratuitous digs at a lesbian assistant and the uncomfortable creepiness on the part of Ribisi. His presence as a sympathetic character in a major Hollywood movie is the most astounding thing about Perfect Stranger, with his stalker-ish behaviour making Travis Bickle look like Charlie Rose by comparison. But by the time we’ve made that particular judgment we’ve already been confounded by the acid-flashback plotting that can’t decide who’s a hero and who’s a villain, and changes its story so many times your head will spin like Linda Blair’s. An out-of-left-field ending gives some evidence of re-shooting but I can’t imagine the test audience who would approve the current version. Perfect Stranger is a ridiculous capper to a freaked-out movie for camp fanciers and absolutely no one else. Consider yourself warned. (Sony)
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At a time when zombie films were all the rage, the team behind hit UK sitcom Spaced introduced a fresh take on the undead with the “rom-zom-com” Shaun of the Dead. An unexpected hit filled with as many belly laughs as bites, the film established director/writer Edgar Wright, actor/writer Simon Pegg ...Read More
After the Wedding - Dir. by Susanne Bier
It’s ironic that Susanne Bier got her foot in the international door through the ministrations of Dogme 95, as her subsequent work has none of the rigour that such a movement supposedly represents. The most recent of these is After the Wedding, and for all of its stabs at relevance and Renoir-ian ki ...Read More
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Sleeping Dogs - Dir. by Terrance Odette
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Misstress Barbara - Montreal, QC November 21
One of this city’s superstar DJs, Misstress Barbara specializes in big beats for the masses, and with her three-piece band Girls on a Ducati, she’s extending her house pop chops to a more traditional live setting. With a guitar and mic, as well as keys and effects, she’s a capable front-woman but he... Full Review
Transit / Man Overboard - Transit / Man Overboard
The deliberately lo-fi, yet earnest, split between Transit and Man Overboard sounds like the product of a bunch of friends growing up on punk and hardcore throughout the '90s. The hardcore leanings of Boston fivesome Transit lay the groundwork for the pop punk tendencies of the Jersey kids in Man Ov... Full Review
The Music Box
The term "videogame music" is often intended as an insult, deriding electronic beatscapes as rudimentary by comparing them to the 8-bit by necessity, bleep-based soundtracks of early Atari and Nintendo games. (See: Castles, Crystal) That Super Mario's theme music remains embedded in the frontal lobes of anyone under the age of 40 proves the critical weakness of the diss ― but it's also hopelessly archaic considering how much videogame music has evolved over the years.... Read More
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