“Teeth” doesn’t know what it wants to be. Is it a satire of small town morality, or a parody of American culture’s emphasis on female adolescent processes, or a jab at the male fear of the devouring female, or a horror entry with both blood and brains? In appearing to try to be all of these, “Teeth” fails at all of them and becomes, in a missed opportunity, just another schlock-horror with a killer who wields a vagina, not a machete. Although the film was an audience favourite on the festival circuit, it’s hard to see what everyone got so excited about. It’s badly written with a lame, unimaginative ending, and despite a game cast, it will be remembered as simply the movie with the many close-ups of bleeding penis stumps.
Acclaimed American playwright David Mamet is as well known for his movies as his plays. “Redbelt”, starring Chiwitel Ejiofor as a righteous martial arts trainer who becomes involved in dirty dealings, may not be one of his best, but it’s the kind of martial arts movie that art house audiences may actually watch where the hero is introspective, doesn’t fight a lot, and puts ethics before violence. The film moves at a brisk pace and the bad cover art design shouldn’t put anyone off of renting the movie. I imagine it is the finest possible version of “Best of the Best”.
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