Mama:
Story:
A young couple takes custody of two children, only to discover the wrath of the vengeful ghost that unofficially adopted them.
Review:
I had high hopes for Mama. I really did. Director Andres Muschietti was assisted by Guillermo Del Toro during the making of Mama. Del Toro, as in, the guy who directed Pan's Labyrinth, the Hellboy movies, and Cronos. But unfortunately such high hopes were thrown off a cliff and dashed into the rocks.
What I liked the most:
1. Unintended humor.
The children are supposed to be creepy little barbarians, but they really don't do much other than add unintentional humor to Mama. They're creepy for a span of two minutes, then they become unintended comic relief.
2. Jessica Chastain's portrayal of someone not hunting Osama Bin Laden.
Jessica Chastain could possibly be one of the better actresses out in the field, and it definitely shows in Mama. She knows how to act and how to amplify the emotions her character shows.
What I liked the least:
1. The weakly done attempt to copy Tim Burton's directing style for the ending.
Tim Burton is a great director, and he knows how to make an ending for a film both beautiful and creepy (Corpse Bride, anyone?). Unfortunately he's not directing Mama. The antagonist looks like she came straight out of a Tim Burton movie, and the track for the ending sounds like a Danny Elfman composed track, but there is one problem with all of this:
It's not Tim Burton directing Mama (and Danny Elfman didn't compose the score for this movie).
As such, the ending is a lot weaker than it could have been, and there's no actual concrete conclusion to the story.
2. The other actors.
Jessica Chastain is the only person who does a great job in Mama. The other actors were more hit and miss, most of the time landing on the miss side of their respective fields.
3. The typical psychiatrist.
Of all the things I didn't expect, the psychiatrist was one of them. You'll get deja vu when his character is introduced because almost every other horror film that involves ghosts has a psychiatrist in it. There was no point in him being there.
Who I recommend Mama to:
Well, if you were disappointed by the lackluster The Apparition or House At The End Of The Street, then you might like Mama. It wasn't a complete waste of time, plus the unintended humor is good for later inside jokes (Chop chop).
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Two reviews! Gangster Squad and Cronos
Gangster Squad:
Story:
A group of cops is assembled to wage war on Mickey Cohen, a mobster from Chicago hellbent on taking over Los Angeles.
Reviews:
It certainly isn't an amazing cop vs. gangster movie, but Gangster Squad does a good job regardless. Some underwhelming performances and sloppy editing prevented Gangster Squad from being awesome.
What I liked the most:
1. The humour.
Whether it's not-so-subtle moments of racism, alcohol, or other topics, there's usually a moment in Gangster Squad where there are bits of humour to balance out the bits of violence.
2. The violence.
While not quite on the same level as a Tarantino movie, there is still a lot of violence, most of which is very well done. A lot of movies just use bland, generic violence, while Gangster Squad managed to make the violence a part of the movie.
3. The story.
While Gangster Squad is slightly based on a true story, it takes a lot of creative liberties from that story and ends up making a movie that is true to character and unique from the source material.
What I liked the least:
1. Emma Stone's lack of performance, and Sean Penn's overdone performance.
Emma Stone's hot, I think anyone can agree that she is hot, but just being hot isn't enough to do a good job in portraying a character in a movie. Her lack of emotions throughout the film don't really help her any; Yes, we get that she is sad in that scene, or afraid in that other scene, but we don't see it.
Sean Penn on the other hand, does perhaps too much for his role. He gets the mobster part down perfectly, but he is too evil sometimes.
2. The editing ruins the pacing for the plot.
Rapid scene switches can sometimes be used to good effect, but for Gangster Squad, that isn't the case. You'll be watching a violent scene and then all of a sudden SWITCH peaceful moment. No gradual transition or anything. As such, the pacing alternates from slow to fast on a bipolar rate.
Who I recommend Gangster Squad to:
Anyone who likes Mafia films. This is a good movie, and despite its flaws was overall entertaining to watch.
---
Cronos:
Story:
An ancient device that gives immortality to its owner is found, creating a trail of destruction.
Review:
Leave it to Guillermo Del Toro to deliver an amazing movie like he always does. Cronos was an excellent film that is creepy, suspenseful, and emotional.
What I liked:
1. Everything.
From the story, to the creepily amazing performance by Ron Perlman (known to most of us as Hellboy), to countless other moments in Cronos, to the soundtrack, everything is brilliant.
What I liked the least:
1. Nothing.
Everything was well done. I can't honestly think of anything that I disliked or liked the least.
Who I recommend Cronos to:
To people who like pushing their minds a bit when watching a movie. Cronos is a thinking person's movie. It's an old movie, but it's an excellent movie all the same.
Story:
A group of cops is assembled to wage war on Mickey Cohen, a mobster from Chicago hellbent on taking over Los Angeles.
Reviews:
It certainly isn't an amazing cop vs. gangster movie, but Gangster Squad does a good job regardless. Some underwhelming performances and sloppy editing prevented Gangster Squad from being awesome.
What I liked the most:
1. The humour.
Whether it's not-so-subtle moments of racism, alcohol, or other topics, there's usually a moment in Gangster Squad where there are bits of humour to balance out the bits of violence.
2. The violence.
While not quite on the same level as a Tarantino movie, there is still a lot of violence, most of which is very well done. A lot of movies just use bland, generic violence, while Gangster Squad managed to make the violence a part of the movie.
3. The story.
While Gangster Squad is slightly based on a true story, it takes a lot of creative liberties from that story and ends up making a movie that is true to character and unique from the source material.
What I liked the least:
1. Emma Stone's lack of performance, and Sean Penn's overdone performance.
Emma Stone's hot, I think anyone can agree that she is hot, but just being hot isn't enough to do a good job in portraying a character in a movie. Her lack of emotions throughout the film don't really help her any; Yes, we get that she is sad in that scene, or afraid in that other scene, but we don't see it.
Sean Penn on the other hand, does perhaps too much for his role. He gets the mobster part down perfectly, but he is too evil sometimes.
2. The editing ruins the pacing for the plot.
Rapid scene switches can sometimes be used to good effect, but for Gangster Squad, that isn't the case. You'll be watching a violent scene and then all of a sudden SWITCH peaceful moment. No gradual transition or anything. As such, the pacing alternates from slow to fast on a bipolar rate.
Who I recommend Gangster Squad to:
Anyone who likes Mafia films. This is a good movie, and despite its flaws was overall entertaining to watch.
---
Cronos:
Story:
An ancient device that gives immortality to its owner is found, creating a trail of destruction.
Review:
Leave it to Guillermo Del Toro to deliver an amazing movie like he always does. Cronos was an excellent film that is creepy, suspenseful, and emotional.
What I liked:
1. Everything.
From the story, to the creepily amazing performance by Ron Perlman (known to most of us as Hellboy), to countless other moments in Cronos, to the soundtrack, everything is brilliant.
What I liked the least:
1. Nothing.
Everything was well done. I can't honestly think of anything that I disliked or liked the least.
Who I recommend Cronos to:
To people who like pushing their minds a bit when watching a movie. Cronos is a thinking person's movie. It's an old movie, but it's an excellent movie all the same.
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Respect women's rights, or their redneck chainsaw wielding cousins will come after you
Texas Chainsaw 3D:
Story:
Heather Sawyer inherits her grandmother's estate. What she doesn't know is that her cousin, an aggressively hostile man, is living in the basement.
Review:
What do you get when you combine a decade spanning franchise with a prequel-esque storyline? A movie that outsells The Hobbit in America. Odd, though, that such a poorly written, poorly acted, and overall poorly conceived movie is doing so well.
If you expect me to say, "just kidding," you will be sorely disappointed.
What I liked:
1. Accidental/intentional exploitation of rednecks as comic relief.
The one thing I can appreciate about any movie is taking something funny and making it outright amusing. For a movie that is roughly an hour and a half, Texas Chainsaw does provide some pretty good humour at the expense of rednecks all around the United States of America. You can basically tell this movie was made by a democratic American.
What I didn't like:
1. Everything else.
The soundtrack is cheesy, the script was more or less typically horrible 90's slasher dialogue, Leatherface isn't as scary as he was in the other films, and who decided that casting Alexandra Daddario as the protagonist was a good idea?
Everything about this movie screams mediocrity. Even the actors seemed to be hastily speeding through their lines just so their characters could get killed off.
Who I recommend Texas Chainsaw to:
Nobody. No one would be stoned, drunk, or otherwise intoxicated enough to be able to watch this thinking it's a good movie.
Story:
Heather Sawyer inherits her grandmother's estate. What she doesn't know is that her cousin, an aggressively hostile man, is living in the basement.
Review:
What do you get when you combine a decade spanning franchise with a prequel-esque storyline? A movie that outsells The Hobbit in America. Odd, though, that such a poorly written, poorly acted, and overall poorly conceived movie is doing so well.
If you expect me to say, "just kidding," you will be sorely disappointed.
What I liked:
1. Accidental/intentional exploitation of rednecks as comic relief.
The one thing I can appreciate about any movie is taking something funny and making it outright amusing. For a movie that is roughly an hour and a half, Texas Chainsaw does provide some pretty good humour at the expense of rednecks all around the United States of America. You can basically tell this movie was made by a democratic American.
What I didn't like:
1. Everything else.
The soundtrack is cheesy, the script was more or less typically horrible 90's slasher dialogue, Leatherface isn't as scary as he was in the other films, and who decided that casting Alexandra Daddario as the protagonist was a good idea?
Everything about this movie screams mediocrity. Even the actors seemed to be hastily speeding through their lines just so their characters could get killed off.
Who I recommend Texas Chainsaw to:
Nobody. No one would be stoned, drunk, or otherwise intoxicated enough to be able to watch this thinking it's a good movie.
Friday, January 4, 2013
Beasts of the Southern Wild + Jack Reacher
Beasts of the Southern Wild:
Story:
In the wake of a natural disaster, six year old Hushpuppy is forced to be courageous and strong as her father's health fades.
Review:
I was originally going to write this review a few months ago, but I kept pushing it aside and pushing it aside until finally I ran out of movies to watch. Upon reflection, I should have watched Beasts of the Southern Wild first. Amazing, emotional, and spellbinding for a realistic story about a dangerous situation through the eyes of a six year old. This is a movie that I highly recommend to anyone.
What I liked the most:
1. Realistic story.
A bayou community is flooded due to the melting ice caps. Amidst the very fast emotional development of young Hushpuppy, the environmental message is very strong. We get glimpses into Hushpuppy's backstory as the events around her begin to worsen. Not often does a movie do this and is able make the viewer fully able to understand Hushpuppy's emotional state every single time. The writing has a very authentic feel to it, and that's what makes BOTSW so memorable.
2. The actors.
As seen in Life of Pi, using unknown actors/actresses to lack overshadowing other characters is a very useful tactic. There are no major names in BOTSW, and with that, you don't fully know how the story ends until it's close to the ending. You never feel like some characters (other than Hushpuppy) are more important than other characters, and as such, each character becomes equally important regardless of their screen time.
Not only that, but the acting is some of the best I have seen this year. Each character not only brings forth their own uniqueness, but also emphasizes what Hushpuppy is going through while progressing the great story even further.
3. The camera work.
Shots of the bayou combined with shots of the ice caps and some brilliant up close shots with the wild beasts help amplify the already amazing brilliance that BOTSW is. Some of the scenes are filmed with perfect amounts of intensity, and help provide the necessary realistic feel that helps pull the movie along.
What I liked the least:
1. Absolutely nothing.
This is a movie that is nearly flawless. There were some parts that irked me, and sometimes the story seemed just a tiny bit murky, but I get the feeling that was on purpose.
Who I recommend Beasts of the Southern Wild to:
Those who liked Where The Wild Things Are will like this. Others, who like dramas, will also like this, and yet more who like emotional movies will like this.
---
Jack Reacher:
Story:
Jack Reacher, a former military officer, investigates a brutal slaying that he at first believes was committed by James Barr, a former army sniper. The more he investigates, the more danger he brings to himself and the defence attorney representing James Barr.
Review:
I went into this movie only knowing that it starred Tom Cruise. I wasn't expecting an intriguing mystery with some slightly noir-ish elements and very aggressive choreography.
What I liked the most:
1. Tom Cruise actually looks like he's fighting.
In countless other action movies, Tom Cruise merely looks like he's displaying a fight. He never makes any of his characters look like they're actually fighting. In Jack Reacher, he actually pulls off some awesome moves and his character even has a signature finishing move. It may seem odd that he's capable of this at age 50, but this just means that there's more to come from the man most of us know as Ethan Hunt. On that note, if you want some of the better fight scenes Tom Cruise has been in, watch Jack Reacher. They're well done.
2. The intriguing mystery of the story.
From the get go you know that things aren't what they seem. You automatically know someone's being framed, but you don't know why they're being framed and what the actual purpose of the framing is. For a movie to reveal so much yet explain so little at the same time, that's very effective. Jack Reacher does that, all the while pulling you in to what becomes an action/mystery hybrid.
3. The amusing moments.
For as serious a movie as Jack Reacher is, there are moments where comedy is sprinkled in. Out of the few people in the theater that was watching, most of us laughed at the intentionally comic outcomes of some of the scenes.
What I liked the least:
1. Tom Cruise still acts like any other character he's played.
There are no discernible differences between each character portrayed by Tom Cruise, with the exception of Less Grossman in Tropic Thunder. Don't get me wrong, he always does a good job, but it would be nice to see a different portrayal of character every now and then. Everybody he portrays ends up sounding the same, and Jack Reacher was no different.
2. Rosamund Pike.
A lot of people see her as a good actress, but a lot of the times her characters, like Tom Cruise's, end up sounding the exact same. That was the exact problem with Helen, her character, in Jack Reacher. There is no discernible difference in portrayal, and thusly her character sounds exactly the same as every other character she has portrayed.
3. The not-so-evil antagonist.
Without revealing a lot, and to summarize, what you get is an antagonist that's very much as disappointing as the antagonists from the first two Daniel Craig 007 films. Not too much background, and not a lot of overly evil actions from a character that is supposed to be evil. It's very disappointing, and it was one of the low points of the movie.
Who I recommend Jack Reacher to:
Fans of mystery films with a lot of action. If you like movies like Taken, then you'll love Jack Reacher.
Story:
In the wake of a natural disaster, six year old Hushpuppy is forced to be courageous and strong as her father's health fades.
Review:
I was originally going to write this review a few months ago, but I kept pushing it aside and pushing it aside until finally I ran out of movies to watch. Upon reflection, I should have watched Beasts of the Southern Wild first. Amazing, emotional, and spellbinding for a realistic story about a dangerous situation through the eyes of a six year old. This is a movie that I highly recommend to anyone.
What I liked the most:
1. Realistic story.
A bayou community is flooded due to the melting ice caps. Amidst the very fast emotional development of young Hushpuppy, the environmental message is very strong. We get glimpses into Hushpuppy's backstory as the events around her begin to worsen. Not often does a movie do this and is able make the viewer fully able to understand Hushpuppy's emotional state every single time. The writing has a very authentic feel to it, and that's what makes BOTSW so memorable.
2. The actors.
As seen in Life of Pi, using unknown actors/actresses to lack overshadowing other characters is a very useful tactic. There are no major names in BOTSW, and with that, you don't fully know how the story ends until it's close to the ending. You never feel like some characters (other than Hushpuppy) are more important than other characters, and as such, each character becomes equally important regardless of their screen time.
Not only that, but the acting is some of the best I have seen this year. Each character not only brings forth their own uniqueness, but also emphasizes what Hushpuppy is going through while progressing the great story even further.
3. The camera work.
Shots of the bayou combined with shots of the ice caps and some brilliant up close shots with the wild beasts help amplify the already amazing brilliance that BOTSW is. Some of the scenes are filmed with perfect amounts of intensity, and help provide the necessary realistic feel that helps pull the movie along.
What I liked the least:
1. Absolutely nothing.
This is a movie that is nearly flawless. There were some parts that irked me, and sometimes the story seemed just a tiny bit murky, but I get the feeling that was on purpose.
Who I recommend Beasts of the Southern Wild to:
Those who liked Where The Wild Things Are will like this. Others, who like dramas, will also like this, and yet more who like emotional movies will like this.
---
Jack Reacher:
Story:
Jack Reacher, a former military officer, investigates a brutal slaying that he at first believes was committed by James Barr, a former army sniper. The more he investigates, the more danger he brings to himself and the defence attorney representing James Barr.
Review:
I went into this movie only knowing that it starred Tom Cruise. I wasn't expecting an intriguing mystery with some slightly noir-ish elements and very aggressive choreography.
What I liked the most:
1. Tom Cruise actually looks like he's fighting.
In countless other action movies, Tom Cruise merely looks like he's displaying a fight. He never makes any of his characters look like they're actually fighting. In Jack Reacher, he actually pulls off some awesome moves and his character even has a signature finishing move. It may seem odd that he's capable of this at age 50, but this just means that there's more to come from the man most of us know as Ethan Hunt. On that note, if you want some of the better fight scenes Tom Cruise has been in, watch Jack Reacher. They're well done.
2. The intriguing mystery of the story.
From the get go you know that things aren't what they seem. You automatically know someone's being framed, but you don't know why they're being framed and what the actual purpose of the framing is. For a movie to reveal so much yet explain so little at the same time, that's very effective. Jack Reacher does that, all the while pulling you in to what becomes an action/mystery hybrid.
3. The amusing moments.
For as serious a movie as Jack Reacher is, there are moments where comedy is sprinkled in. Out of the few people in the theater that was watching, most of us laughed at the intentionally comic outcomes of some of the scenes.
What I liked the least:
1. Tom Cruise still acts like any other character he's played.
There are no discernible differences between each character portrayed by Tom Cruise, with the exception of Less Grossman in Tropic Thunder. Don't get me wrong, he always does a good job, but it would be nice to see a different portrayal of character every now and then. Everybody he portrays ends up sounding the same, and Jack Reacher was no different.
2. Rosamund Pike.
A lot of people see her as a good actress, but a lot of the times her characters, like Tom Cruise's, end up sounding the exact same. That was the exact problem with Helen, her character, in Jack Reacher. There is no discernible difference in portrayal, and thusly her character sounds exactly the same as every other character she has portrayed.
3. The not-so-evil antagonist.
Without revealing a lot, and to summarize, what you get is an antagonist that's very much as disappointing as the antagonists from the first two Daniel Craig 007 films. Not too much background, and not a lot of overly evil actions from a character that is supposed to be evil. It's very disappointing, and it was one of the low points of the movie.
Who I recommend Jack Reacher to:
Fans of mystery films with a lot of action. If you like movies like Taken, then you'll love Jack Reacher.
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