For some reason, mid May and June have to appealing movies for me. July is where I jump back into action and continue my quest to find the best movie of the year.
Starting off with Larry Crowne, I was slapped in the face with Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts' boring romantic comedy. This isn't the same duo that brought us Charlie Wilson's War. If Tom Hanks wants to keep his career status, then stay away from the dwindling Roberts, who hasn't had a hit since Closer.
What's a Monte Carlo?
Unfortunately, my tolerance date for Jamie Foxx has expired, forcing me to miss out on Horrible Bosses.
If they would have brought Charlie Sheen in on Zookeeper as a camel, just saying Winning, I would have even gone after matinee.
Glad to see Harry Potter gone. Sad to see Winnie the Pooh's comeback.
Badly paced, Captain America, along with a slapped up script, only to have a lead in backstory for the supposedly big, proclaimed hit of next summer made this a very disappointing movie. I tell you want this Avengers movie had better be a masterpiece, if not, then that means I have gone through three bad movies for nothing: Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America.
Cowboys and Aliens left me with good last feelings of this month.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Insidiously Impressive
Insidious is one of those movies I thought about skipping out on, looking like a typical haunted house flick. If it wasn't for James Wan being attached to this, I probably would have ended up not seeing this. James Wan looks as if he's stepping into the shoes of the early John Carpenter style. The way he sets up a chilling tone and delivers it effectively. Well, I'm glad I didn't skip out on Insidious because it's not your typical haunted house flick.
Leigh Whannell, the writer of Insidious and most of the Saw flicks, tells the tale of a family that moves into an old house and start experiencing paranormal activity after they're son, suddenly, slips into a coma. The film stars Rose Byrne and Patrick Wilson, who needs to be in more starring roles.
Just by looking at the opening scenes, you could easily make a close to accurate prediction of what the budget is on this movie. The visuals and lighting are very dull, which by being a movie that's trying to give off a dark, horrendous tone is acceptable. Though, this is still a big step up for the producers of this who are the creators of Paranormal Activity, where the budget was nearly 50,000.
James Wan gives us a nice, fresh take on the haunted house sub-genre. I can't believe I'm saying this, but there is no severe overkill of jump scares, which seem to plague every plain haunted house movie ever made. In most haunted house films, no matter how much danger, no matter the circ*mstances, no matter what demon surfaces, the victims being haunted seem to never to anything about it, but just endure all the pain. The moment things start to get hectic this family gets the f*ck out. A lot of the scares came more from the film's tone and it's conventional, basic scare tactics that works more on your psyche than a hop. The audience great reactions made this film even more fun to watch.
If Insidious had a Siamese twin, it would definitely be Poltergiest, where this film seemed to pull out of it's ass all of a sudden, during the second act of the film. From the opening title sequence and first act, James Wan takes this simple formulaic sub-genre and creates a new impact to direct horror. Unfortunately, Insidious has a unusual turn in the second act, a Poltergiest rip off. I can't do anything else but call out the producers. Basically, Paranormal Activity was Poltergiest with a home video filming style. This looks like a hostile takeover of the producers taking over the director's film, to the point where it lost me and I felt like every thrill and mystery dissolved in the second half. This film could've been great but became a very mediocre, strangely received haunted house feature.
Leigh Whannell, the writer of Insidious and most of the Saw flicks, tells the tale of a family that moves into an old house and start experiencing paranormal activity after they're son, suddenly, slips into a coma. The film stars Rose Byrne and Patrick Wilson, who needs to be in more starring roles.
Just by looking at the opening scenes, you could easily make a close to accurate prediction of what the budget is on this movie. The visuals and lighting are very dull, which by being a movie that's trying to give off a dark, horrendous tone is acceptable. Though, this is still a big step up for the producers of this who are the creators of Paranormal Activity, where the budget was nearly 50,000.
James Wan gives us a nice, fresh take on the haunted house sub-genre. I can't believe I'm saying this, but there is no severe overkill of jump scares, which seem to plague every plain haunted house movie ever made. In most haunted house films, no matter how much danger, no matter the circ*mstances, no matter what demon surfaces, the victims being haunted seem to never to anything about it, but just endure all the pain. The moment things start to get hectic this family gets the f*ck out. A lot of the scares came more from the film's tone and it's conventional, basic scare tactics that works more on your psyche than a hop. The audience great reactions made this film even more fun to watch.
If Insidious had a Siamese twin, it would definitely be Poltergiest, where this film seemed to pull out of it's ass all of a sudden, during the second act of the film. From the opening title sequence and first act, James Wan takes this simple formulaic sub-genre and creates a new impact to direct horror. Unfortunately, Insidious has a unusual turn in the second act, a Poltergiest rip off. I can't do anything else but call out the producers. Basically, Paranormal Activity was Poltergiest with a home video filming style. This looks like a hostile takeover of the producers taking over the director's film, to the point where it lost me and I felt like every thrill and mystery dissolved in the second half. This film could've been great but became a very mediocre, strangely received haunted house feature.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
"More Like A Rope-a-Dope"
Zack Snyder, no longer the fresh-footed director that gave us an honorable re-imagining of the classic zombie flick, Dawn of the Dead, has now fully transformed into a director with his own unique brand. Sucker Punch breaks the ground with separating casuals and the niched Snyder fan base. Creating his own story, Snyder shows what he's all about. When this movie ends, you'll discover that you're either suffering the effects of a 'sucker punch' with Snyder's, now, branded style, or you'll find yourself inside a now declined core group of Snyderism.
Browning, Cornish, Chung, Malone, Hudgens, sounds like a recipe, are the stars of this action-fantasy film, where a young woman, played by Browning, is about to be lobotomized as she tries to escape an asylum with her inmate friends. Of course, this film's gloriously, beautiful look is a work of visual genius. What would you expect from a former cinematographer with a background history involving music videos. Speaking of music videos, Sucker Punch is a gigantic two hour music vid-extravaganza. This movie is a train-wreck from the start. It's 'real life' breeding a fantasy of mafia, brothel owned presence, which constructs another fantasy of a setting in Feudal Japan, where all of the kick ass action takes place. Confused yet? Trust me, by the end you'll get the picture. Oscar Isaac's menacing performance and Carla Gugino are the closest thing to saving grace for the acting side of this film, which is kind of unfair to say, since the ensemble female cast really doesn't consist of much dialogue. They are just cool looking, bad ass chicks with guns and flips. I didn't really care if any or all of them lived or died or escaped.
Throughout this movie, I felt like someone was pounded my head with a ten pound sledgehammer. The problem with Zack Snyder's style of filming is that there's no direction of pace or direction on your cast. If you were a bad actor and you starred in a Zack Snyder film, no one would notice your horrendous performance, without any flow of film-making. That's what Snyderism is. The art of filming without filming.
Towards the third act of this movie, my tolerance balanced and I started to kind of enjoy this crumble of a film. Browning's character escape to fantasy from a world that no longer felt real to her over a new world of true purpose found relation to myself, personally. For me, Sucker Punch did a rope-a-dope, going from bad to worse to an okay, but not okay enough to watch again, film. You got me sucker.
Browning, Cornish, Chung, Malone, Hudgens, sounds like a recipe, are the stars of this action-fantasy film, where a young woman, played by Browning, is about to be lobotomized as she tries to escape an asylum with her inmate friends. Of course, this film's gloriously, beautiful look is a work of visual genius. What would you expect from a former cinematographer with a background history involving music videos. Speaking of music videos, Sucker Punch is a gigantic two hour music vid-extravaganza. This movie is a train-wreck from the start. It's 'real life' breeding a fantasy of mafia, brothel owned presence, which constructs another fantasy of a setting in Feudal Japan, where all of the kick ass action takes place. Confused yet? Trust me, by the end you'll get the picture. Oscar Isaac's menacing performance and Carla Gugino are the closest thing to saving grace for the acting side of this film, which is kind of unfair to say, since the ensemble female cast really doesn't consist of much dialogue. They are just cool looking, bad ass chicks with guns and flips. I didn't really care if any or all of them lived or died or escaped.
Throughout this movie, I felt like someone was pounded my head with a ten pound sledgehammer. The problem with Zack Snyder's style of filming is that there's no direction of pace or direction on your cast. If you were a bad actor and you starred in a Zack Snyder film, no one would notice your horrendous performance, without any flow of film-making. That's what Snyderism is. The art of filming without filming.
Towards the third act of this movie, my tolerance balanced and I started to kind of enjoy this crumble of a film. Browning's character escape to fantasy from a world that no longer felt real to her over a new world of true purpose found relation to myself, personally. For me, Sucker Punch did a rope-a-dope, going from bad to worse to an okay, but not okay enough to watch again, film. You got me sucker.
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