Western Courier

Issue date: 12/2/05 Section: The Edge

Yes
Grade: C-

A passionate affair, culture clashes, class system divisions, the possibility of God and terrible secrets. Separately, these may all be story lines for superior films, but "Yes" ineffectively crams all of these ideas into a single 140-minute movie.

The invisible, yet wise maid (Shirley Henderson) introduces the audience immediately to the life of her employers. The wife, known only as She (Joan Allen), lives in a loveless marriage with Anthony (Sam Neill). The couple arranges their lives in such a way that they never have to see one another.  

She is an Irish-American scientist who longs for love. A Middle-Eastern chef, known only as He (Simon Abkarian), fulfills her want for that romantic love. From here the movie plunges into the lives of He and She during their fiery affair.

"Yes" is entirely spoken in iambic pentameter, the language of Shakespeare. Unlike Shakespeare though, "Yes" uses everyday language composed in a way that happens to rhyme. The funniest scene involves one of He's co-workers ranting while using the "F" word over and over again. Throughout this scene, the co-worker continuously rhymes in iambic pentameter while swearing about women.

The greatest aspect of this movie involves the incredible imagery that fills the screen. The brilliantly placed camera angles allow the audience to feel as if they are spying into the world of He and She. The audience looks through beautiful trees, cold fences and large doorways in order to spy on He and She. In scenes of intense emotion, the audience experiences the life of He and She through security videos and poorly made home videoes. All of these aspects of imagery allow the audience to feel as if they are infringing on He and She's life. A life that is real.

Although "Yes" contains some of the most amazing imagery of recent films, the unending chaotic storyline leaves you wanting more. There are no answers, just a multitude of questions.

- Stacey Becker
Edge staff



Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story
Grade: A-

When Family Guy made its remarkable comeback in May of 2005, it brought forth a new wave of comedy. When it was canceled in 2002, Cartoon Network's Adult Swim started airing episodes, and right away it gained giant-sized popularity; kids with Peter Griffin T-shirts, DVD season sales and through-the-roof TV ratings. Now with its recent comeback, the show's creator Seth McFarlane has put his idea to the test and made a special straight-to-DVD movie.

First and foremost, the only unsettling thing about the DVD was the fact it was advertised as being "uncensored" but almost every curse word that can't be said on TV was bleeped. This was very disappointing to find out after the large anticipation of f-bombs and sexual humor.

Despite the censored Griffin family, the DVD was "freakin' hilarious." The DVD starts out as a red carpet movie release show. It shows all the characters walking down the red carpet from Peter Griffin to the Greased-up Deaf Guy.

The first scene of the actual movie shows the Griffins at a swimming pool. Lois wants Stewie to take swimming lessons but he is reluctant. Then while at the video store, Peter runs into news anchor Tom Tucker and tells him how it "grinds his gears" that he can't rent porn at the new video store. Tucker gives him a news segment called "What Really Grinds My Gears." The segment becomes so popular that Tucker tries to destroy Peter, but gets fired in the process.

The stories of Stewie and Peter run parallel for the first half of the movie. Throughout the first half of the movie, Stewie is hell-bent on beating another child at swimming lessons so he practices hard. Events that happen at the swimming pool will take its toll late in the film.

Also, Peter and Lois decide Meg and Chris should start dating. They start teaching them dating etiquette.

The main focus of the second half of the film is Stewie's real father. Stewie sees a news broadcast in San Francisco and notices the man interviewed looks just like him. Stewie is then motivated to take a trip to San Francisco to find this mystery man.

The gags in this movie are just like the TV show. McFarlane does not stray from the format of the show and keeps all the flashbacks and current events in the film.

Go out and get this doozy of a film. It'll have you cracking up nonstop. If there are any non-Family Guy fans out there, they will be fans … sooner or later. It's probably the funniest thing out there today.

­- Khaled Okla
Edge staff



Mindhunters
Grade: B

Mixed with suspense from Agatha Christie's "Ten Little Indians" and thrill from "Silence of the Lambs," "Mindhunters" is sure to combine characteristics of all genres as it focuses on the mind of a psychological killer.

Imagine the television show, "CSI: Criminal Intent," with a little more nerve-wracking moments, which push audiences continuously to be on the edge of their seats.

Within the film, a group of FBI trainees (including Patricia Velasquez, Clifton Collins Jr., Christian Slater, Kathryn Morris, Eion Bailey and Jonny Lee Miller) have entered their final stage of training for potential psychological profilers under the influence and guidance of their instructor (Val Kilmer). At the final stage of preparation, the team is sent to a temporarily abandoned military island for a weekend of investigation and testing while being watched by a government official (LL Cool J).

As the time starts ticking down, it becomes obvious another person has joined them with the desire to kill them off, one by one. While the assassin creates a guessing game of who killed who, the killer maintains a sense of paranoia and uses the squad's strengths and weaknesses against them.

Solving the mystery of the killer is part of the fun as viewers will continuously play a guessing game. While the story is pure entertainment and not to be taken seriously, the film and cast offer an assortment of intriguing moments, which allow the viewer to think about the profilers and the potential killer.

Aside from talented acting and a well-written script, the visual effects are of a lesser quality, but still manage to serve the main purpose of portraying the latest causality.

"Mindhunters" presents an enthralling and beguiling puzzle, which is wrapped together in an entertaining and action-packed thriller. Although the mystery of who the killer is will be left to be discovered, the guessing game will without a doubt be an excellent challenge for a Friday evening.

­- Le Alexander
Edge staff

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