Two more movies last night at
ravenmimura's place. The first was Black Mask starring Jet Li. Boring movie. I wasn't looking much for a plot, but the action sequences were horribly filmed. The camera jumps around so much the viewer never gets a good look at the stars fighting. Not recommended.
The second movie we watched was The Zero Effect from a few years ago. It's the story of a private eye. He is hired to find the key ring for an executive type who is being blackmailed. Supposedly the blackmailer used the key to find something to hold over his head. The story itself isn't very interesting. Super good detectives aren't very interesting. He is able to figure everything out way too easily. It's also a pretty slow movie movie. I think they could have cut out a good 10 or 15 minutes to pick up the pace.
The fun part of the movie is the interactions between the characters. Daryl Zero (Bill Pullman) is the detective. Steve Arlo (Ben Stiller) is his assistant. Zero sends Arlo back and forth across the country on a whim. It becomes quite funny. The second interaction that was fun was between Daryl Zero and Gloria Sullivan (Kim Dickens). Daryl works undercover to find the blackmailer, who turns out to be Gloria. There is a wonderful sexual tension between the two. Ms. Dickens has a different look than most Hollywood heroine's and an earnest acting style.