After watching "The Bucket List" (starring Will Smith and De Niro) last week, one particular phrase from the movie really stood out to me. "Witness something truly majestic" was the main characters fateful ambition, an idea which I, myself, took an immediate interest in.Little did I know that two days later I would achieve this feat, when watching Justin Steele's Death and Cremation (2010). This amazing story sees Stanley (Brad Dourif), a lonely psychopath and serial killer working at a small town's crematorium, hire equally troubled teenager Jarod (Jeremy Sumpter) after the latter's stubborn persistence. What ensues is a riveting tale of unparalleled cinematic brilliance and character development not seen since the likes of Citizen Kane (1941).The father-son dynamic which the viewer sees slowly unfold between the two main characters is one of the most powerful moments you will ever bare witness to in a film, and the intelligently written story will see you completely absorbed from start to finish. A particularly spectacular scene of note sees the two protagonists attempt to hide a body from the teenager's unsuspecting mother. This scene is possibly the funniest scene to ever grace the big screen in living memory, and alone easily merits a score of 10 for the movie.I will close by simply saying, watch this movie. Watch it not because it is so damn great (it really is) but because you long to discover the genius of imagination brought to life. Watch it because it will prove to you that movies can be more than just movies. But most of all, watch it because is it better than The Woman.

From Peter Pan to a bullied outcast, Jeremy Sumpter continues to show his tremendous versatility as an actor in Death & Cremation. This cast was the whole reason I wanted to see this movie, but unfortunately it falls well short of my expectations. Stanley (Brad Dourif) is a loner and a serial killer who runs the perfect business for getting rid of evidence, a crematorium. He's a lonely man and nothing exciting happens to him until a loner named Jared (Sumpter) starts working for him. This film tries very hard to be something it's not and that's creepy. Death & Cremation isn't about blood and gore, but rather moves very slowly and methodically in order to try and freak us out, but sadly it doesn't. Stanley and Jared aren't guys you're going to be scared of, more like two guys you'd like to hang out with and that's the problem. The audience can relate to them and isn't scared of them at all. That being the case this film should have gone the other way and been extremely bloody and disturbing, but it's not that either. The story is bland and the movie is slow, but the cast is amazing. Brad Dourif plays a psychopath better than anyone and it really wouldn't surprise me if he is in fact a serial killer. Here he's teamed with one of my absolute favorite actors, who is also superb, but they're giving their all in a slow, sloppy film, that just doesn't cut it.

I like movies that make you become more aware of how we treat strangers. However! I felt that this movie got a bit silly and cliché as far as it's portrayal of "popularity" or the actions that popular people take. Also, The main kid that is supposed to represent a misfit social outcast pretty much looks like the kid that is suppose to represent a frat boy popular guy at his high school. Same physique pretty much, just black nail polish and a "Disturbed" T-shirt (a mainstream band that would make you look "cool" according to most high school students). It would have been more believable had the main misfit kid looked more like an overweight, shy introvert. I know Brad Dourif calls himself a "movie whore" and he will be in pretty much anything if he feels like it. I've fallen for him so many times (i.e. The Fading of the Cries movie, way more boring than this believe it or not) because I will watch anything he is in. This movie is worth it just because of his acting. I love the ending. Someone put in a previous review said that they felt it ended rather abruptly due to the movie makers having no more money...I really feel that that reviewer totally missed the point of this movie and is a good example of a "victim".

Sullen Emo boy meets odd-ball father figure and team up for righteous, bloody justice. Could have been a great movie, right? Or at least a very creepy character study? Unfortunately, the glacial pacing and undeveloped story lines leave a great cast with the task of making a movie out of thin gruel. While there is very little in the dialogue to justify the friendship that develops between the two leads, the actors pull it off. It's a shame that such talent is wasted on mood moments, rather than extra-judicial villainy. This pair could have been a trailer park Batman and Robin; or a twisted Daniel Larusso and Mr. Miyagi; or even a homo-erotic and homicidal Harold and Maude. Worse, the ending is the sort of thing that screams "we ran out of money - that's a wrap."