20) Season of the Witch (2011)

20) Season of the Witch (2011) Dir: Dominic Sena Date Released: January 7, 2011 Date Seen: January 24, 2011 Rating: 2.5/5

Maybe it's because I was drinking cola-diluted Absente (it was my birthday, after all). But so help me Jabba, I maintain that Dominic Sena is a good action director. Yes, Witch's screenplay stinks and Nicolas Cage and Ron Perelman didn't spend nearly enough time wrestling with wolves, Satan, etc. But the draw bridge scene in this movie, like the scene in Whiteout where Kate Beckinsale is feeling her way around in the middle of a harsh snow storm using only a rope anchored by some stakes, is genuinely good. Perhaps it's just adequate-good and I'm blowing this whole let-us-sheepishly-give-due-praise-to-the-director-of-Swordfish thing out of proportion. But while watching Season of the Witch, I could have sworn that scene was qualification-less good. Like, good-good. That good. The good of good. Damn that Absente.

293) Whiteout (2009)

293) Whiteout (2009) Dir: Dominic Sena Date Released: September 2009 Date Seen: September 13, 2009 Rating: 2.75/5

I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't affected by the claustrophobia in Whiteout, Dominic Sena's adaptation of Greg Rucka and Steve Lieber's comic by the same name. Its setting, evocatively parsed in the French subtitle for the film, "L'Enfer Blanc," and the obstacles it creates for its protagonists do a hell of a job of creating tension. But obviously that's not enough. The retooling and post-production monkey shines that plagued the project and almost ruined the film's script, stuffing it with inexpert info dumps and unnecessary asides*, is apparent. Which is a shame because as sloppy as the film was, I got the feeling that it had the right idea but wasn't allowed the chance** to realize it. Good material handled clumsily out of a studio's need to appeal to a mass audience? And we wonder why there are so few good comic book movies.

*It's freezing cold outside, so what's the first thing we see in the film? Kate Beckinsale taking her clothes off. Nice.

**Or the funds. Some of the CGI, especially in the flashbacks, is risably bad.