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Dark, violent, and porn. These are the best three words for describing Nicholas Cage's latest flick, 8mm. Hello again and welcome to the final Out & About Movie Review for me, Mike Stevens. 8mm starts off with Tom Welles, Cage's character, working on a case for who turns out to be a senator. After the case he returns to his wife and infant daughter. Mrs. Welles, played by Catherine Keener, isn't too happy about the work Tom does, you see Tom is a private investigator, a PI, gumshoe, and the like. But Tom does the work to provide for his family. Moving on, Tom then gets hired by Mrs. Christian, the widow of a rich and powerful steel baron who recently died. The old lady hires Tom to see about the authenticity of a snuff film found in the old man's safe. See the old lady can't believe her hubby would have such a film, but on the other-hand the scene looks so real that she also must know if the girl was still alive. For those of you who don't know what a snuff film is, of which I was until this movie, it is a porno that shows the death, not simulated death, of one of the participants, in this case a young girl about sixteen. So now Tom must first find out who the girl is, which he finds out it is a runaway named Maria Mathews, a girl missing for about five years. Next Tom heads to Hollywood to find the girl, Hollywood being the last known destination of Maria. There in La La land he meets up with Max California, an adult bookstore worker who isn't into porn, but does have a lot of connections in the industry. Max is played by up and coming actor Joaquin Phoenix. Eventually they trace the film, which by the way is in 8 millimeter, and hence the name of the film. So they trace the film to a producer director named Dino Velvet in New York. After Max and Tom get to New York all the real action starts. There they meet up with Dino and set up a trap to get him and his buddy, Machine. Machine is portrayed by Christopher Bauer, and is the character in the leather S & M mask who actually kills the girl. Dino is played by Peter Stormare, while James Gandolfini is the porn producer Eddie Poole. Myra Carter plays the widow, and the lawyer Longdale is Anthony Heald. Make sure and pay attention to the foreshadowing of the shots with cars in the foreground. And that's all I give with regards to the plot of 8 MM. Cage puts in a good performance, and this movie is a lot better than his last, Snake Eyes. Also this movie is not for the squeamish, and as such is rated R for violence, nudity, and language. Back to nudity for a moment. There is nudity, but for the most part it is not the kind of nudity that I prefer. Phoenix also puts in a great performance as Max California. The film is directed by old-timer Joel Schumacer, and it was written by Andrew Kevin Walker. This thriller movie has plenty of suspense and a bit of action, plus Max California provides a bit of comedic relief. I like 8 MM, especially compared to Nicholas Cage's last flick, but that really shouldn't matter. I guess it's finally time for the Out & About Rating of 8 MM which gets eight couches and a leather whip out of ten. Couches, not whips. So for this finale for me, I must say it's been fun most of the time. Hopefully the show will live on in cyberspace. So till next time, if there is one, goodnight and thanks for watching.
Last updated: Thursday, March 20, 2008 02:45:40 AM |