Movie review: Dahmer

What with the recent success of The Hurt Locker, and Jeremy Renner’s purported Oscar-worthy performance in that film, IFC has been running the 2002 indie flick, Dahmer, thinking people might want to see what else ol’ Jeremy has done. For me, he’ll truly always be “Penn” (from his guest-star on S1E11 of Angel) although I did enjoy him quite a bit in 28 Weeks Later.

Dahmer is a biopic of the infamous and twisted Jeffrey Dahmer who, you might remember, was arrested in 1992 for the murder and mutilation (and awful etc.) of fifteen young men and boys. The movie itself covers only a couple of days of Dahmer’s life, right before he was finally arrested, but flashes back further and further through his life: from the gay bars where he would pick up, drug and have sex with other men; to the frustrations of living with his grandmother; to his realization in high school that he was gay; to his distress at his parents’ divorce, which revealed itself in alcoholism and increasing estrangement.

The movie paints a fairly sympathetic picture of young Dahmer (who was only 34 when he was beaten to death in prison during his second year of a 900+ year incarceration), hinting that his violence, sadism and perversion arose out of being a frustrated, sad, lonely, deeply-closeted gay man. [Note: there was apparently quite a bit of outrage at how sympathetic the movie was to this serial killer and it was not out in theaters long.] Jeremy Renner is fantastic in this role, despite being far too good looking. He gives a very good, committed performance, the confusion and violence flickering behind his eyes even when he’s at his most charming.

While quite graphic – one could scarcely make a movie about a serial killer who kept body parts in his refrigerator without being a little gory - Dahmer is neither a slasher nor a sex flick. Sexual liaisons are on-screen but show no naked body parts below the waist; there is one dismemberment that takes place just off-screen (the camera pulls back only for the clean-up) and one other “exploratory surgery” scene that was no more graphic than similar scenes from a CSI or Angel episode, even.

Dahmer isn’t a fabulous movie by any means. As a biopic, there’s no plot per se, and the filmmakers definitely tread lightly on the makings of such a monster. I can see why the victims’ families were upset by the soft-shoe portrayal, and I would think that the gay community might have taken offense as well at the insinuations. That being said, it was very interesting as a character exercise and, as I mentioned, Renner is most excellent. I hope that the recent accolades bring him more good roles because he obviously is able to handle a wide range of them.

New Amsterdam - discuss amongst yourselves

Just when I was deciding that the Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles was worth its spot in the barren wasteland that is my DVR these days, Fox goes and yanks it off the schedule. In its place: New Amsterdam. I just finished the first episode and, I must admit, it's pretty good. It's about this detective who is under a spell cast by a ethnic wise-woman which makes him youthful and immortal, so for the last 400 years or so he's been trying to become human again, but he solves crimes and helps people in the meantime.

Wait. Haven't I seen this before? Don't I own all five seasons on DVD? No, sillies: this detective is not a vampire - he's human; he's a real cop, not an unlicensed PI; he lives in NYC, not LA; the wise-woman was a Native American whose life he saved, not a gypsy he murdered; and to become human he must find his heart's true love. I repeat - it's really pretty good. It's a fantastical drama with more drama than fantasy. The writing is well above average (ahem, crapass Moonlight) and there are some clever lines. The acting is solid; there's actually character development for the majority of the cast, including secondary roles. The lead guy, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, is pretty but not unrealistically so and he does a very good American accent for a Dane. (Not that I know what a Danish accent sounds like, of course.) I hope New Amsterdam has some legs on it - I'd like to see where it goes.

Side-note with respect to the Terminator t.v. show: Summer Glau had better watch it as she's clearly being typecast. This is the third show she's been on where they've showcased her dancing ability: first she was a ballerina ghost in a stand-alone Angel episode; then she did a joyful folk dance in an episode of Firefly; and most recently she got to be a ballerina again in Terminator - or at least a robot imitating a ballerina. What's next if Terminator gets cancelled - a gender-bending Leroy in Fame: The Next Generation? I shudder to think (and so should her agent).

Moonlight review

I just finished watching the premiere of Moonlight and I have to give it a resounding ... that was awful. David Greenwalt is SO grateful that he is no longer connected with this show. The best thing about it was that it made me want to dig out all my Angel DVDs and watch them again.

Let's get the "oh no, we're not ripping off Angel in any way" issues out of the way. This is a show about a vampire private detective who lives in Los Angeles. The guy was turned into a vampire by a particularly vicious and beautiful female vampire with a thing for children. There are numerous swooping overhead night shots of L.A. in between scenes. The vampire detective drives a big old convertible. Yeah, nothing like Angel at all. (And as the cherry on the sundae: tonight's episode guest-starred Rudolf Martin, the actor who played Dracula on a Season 5 episode of Buffy, as a college professor who is obsessed with vampires.)

Other problems: Bad writing (the voiceovers are particularly trite), bad acting by everybody (even Jason Dohring who is doing Logan-as-a-400-year-old-vampire except his vampire does not have 1/10th the edge Logan had). The female lead, who looks like a Kate Winslet knockoff, has bad hair and her American accent is all over the place. The green screen shots with the male lead driving his convertible at night are extremely fake-looking. The "next time on Moonlights" were set to a Celine Dion song (ack! I think my ears are bleeding). And last, but certainly not least, it was just BORING.

Because I have a soft spot for television vampires (and for Jason Dohring), I'm giving it two more episodes before I clear it from my DVR. That's the best I can do.