Starring: Max Thieriot, John Magaro, Denzel Whitaker, Zena Grey, Nick Lashaway, Paulina Olszynski, Jeremy Chu, & Emily Meade
Written and Directed by Wes Craven
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0872230/
Finally, Wes Craven is back. Sort of. My Soul To Take isn't as groundbreaking as say, Last House On The Left or Nightmare on Elm Street, but it has it's own quality about it that makes for a fun time at the movies. Like many other people I was getting tired of Mr. Craven releasing his earlier works to be Remade. With the exception of maybe one remake, the rest were just awful. I hated Last House On The Left, Couldn't stand Nightmare ( except for Jackie Earle Haley ) and felt cheated that Wes wasn't doing anything new. I was Wrong.
My Soul To Take has been hyped up non stop, but with a twist. The commercials made it look like an updated version of Scream. Well people, THAT IS NOT THE CASE. The trailers are very misleading, and kinda geared for that scream crowd, but trust me, it's not. The first 20 minutes can be a bit confusing, but hang in there and pay attention, you won't be let down. Well, unless you have no brain or no sense of originality.
Oh the story? In the sleepy town of Riverton, legend tells of a serial killer who swore he would return to murder the seven children born the night he died. Now, 16 years later, people are disappearing again. Has the psychopath been reincarnated as one of the seven teens, or did he survive the night he was left for dead? Only one of the kids knows the answer. Adam "Bug" Heller (Max Thieriot) was supposed to die on the bloody night his father went insane. Unaware of his dad's terrifying crimes, he has been plagued by nightmares since he was a baby. But if Bug hopes to save his friends from the monster that's returned, he must face an evil that won't rest...until it finishes the job it began the day he was born.
And there you have it. Surprisingly, the story isn't as cheesy at it sounds, and keeps you guessing until the end. There were also some subtle nods to previous Wes Craven movies ( Last House, and nightmare ) but not so much that it would seem tacky. The only bad thing about My Soul To Take ( if there was any ) is the 3D. I know why the studio pushed for 3D, but this movie didn't really need it. The 3D was almost non existent, and having those dumb fucking glasses on my face for almost 2 hrs got annoying, but the story kept me glued.
Overall, the movie was great but the 3D was very lame and distracting. Can't wait to see it again without the glasses.
Mr. What? ( * * * )
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Monday, October 4, 2010
Case 39 ( 2010 )
Starring: Bradley Cooper, Renée Zellweger, Jodelle Ferland, Ian McShane, & Adrian Lester
Directed by Christian Alvart
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0795351/
To say that Case 39 is misleading, is to put things lightly. C39 is what i hate about modern "Horror" movies. There was nothing Horror about it, and it to call it a Horror Movie is insulting to the very term Horror Movie. It was dull, drawn out, slow moving throughout, and had zero connection with an audience. I felt like walking out Half way through, due to onset dumb movie narcolepsy.
The acting wasn't bad at all (which actually kind of saved this garbage heap) but even with a decent cast and great film location (Portland Oregon) it was too much for anybody to sit through. The whole movie felt like it was caught in the confines of the Pacific Northwest weather ( gloomy, dark, wet, and depressing) and took waaay too long for any real action or suspense to kick in.
The story was a pretty simple one. Case 39 centers on an idealistic social worker who saves an abused 10-year-old girl from her parents only to discover that the girl is not as innocent as she thinks. To me it felt like The Omen meets The Orphan, sans a 30 something chick dressed up like a little girl. Not only was the story kinda of dull, the pace for which it was set was agonizingly slow. I have said this many times before, but you cannot have a decent movie with a slow and dull pace. The audience grows bored and begins to fidget with cell phones checking how time is left.
On the plus side, it was nice to see Bradley Cooper step out of his type cast role to try something different. Until he met his demise that was the only thing that kept my interest. Miss Zellweger showed that she could handle a so so role like this and still make it semi fun to watch. Not all of the move was so bad. There were some decent implied "Messed up" moments. One of which had a family throw their little girl into the stove and light it. No real gore, but f'd up to think about.
The last thing I felt was bad was the R rating. I think I heard the F word three to five times and the gore, or lack of, was not enough to warrant an R rating. Maybe sometime soon we will get a solid hard R rating for a solid Horror movie. Oh wait thats right, just wait 2 weeks;)
Mr. What? (* * )
Directed by Christian Alvart
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0795351/
To say that Case 39 is misleading, is to put things lightly. C39 is what i hate about modern "Horror" movies. There was nothing Horror about it, and it to call it a Horror Movie is insulting to the very term Horror Movie. It was dull, drawn out, slow moving throughout, and had zero connection with an audience. I felt like walking out Half way through, due to onset dumb movie narcolepsy.
The acting wasn't bad at all (which actually kind of saved this garbage heap) but even with a decent cast and great film location (Portland Oregon) it was too much for anybody to sit through. The whole movie felt like it was caught in the confines of the Pacific Northwest weather ( gloomy, dark, wet, and depressing) and took waaay too long for any real action or suspense to kick in.
The story was a pretty simple one. Case 39 centers on an idealistic social worker who saves an abused 10-year-old girl from her parents only to discover that the girl is not as innocent as she thinks. To me it felt like The Omen meets The Orphan, sans a 30 something chick dressed up like a little girl. Not only was the story kinda of dull, the pace for which it was set was agonizingly slow. I have said this many times before, but you cannot have a decent movie with a slow and dull pace. The audience grows bored and begins to fidget with cell phones checking how time is left.
On the plus side, it was nice to see Bradley Cooper step out of his type cast role to try something different. Until he met his demise that was the only thing that kept my interest. Miss Zellweger showed that she could handle a so so role like this and still make it semi fun to watch. Not all of the move was so bad. There were some decent implied "Messed up" moments. One of which had a family throw their little girl into the stove and light it. No real gore, but f'd up to think about.
The last thing I felt was bad was the R rating. I think I heard the F word three to five times and the gore, or lack of, was not enough to warrant an R rating. Maybe sometime soon we will get a solid hard R rating for a solid Horror movie. Oh wait thats right, just wait 2 weeks;)
Mr. What? (* * )
Friday, October 1, 2010
Let Me In ( 2010 )
Starring: Kodi Smit-McPhee, Chloe Moretz, Richard Jenkins, Cara Buono, Elias Koteas, & Sasha Barrese.
Directed By Matt Reeves
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1228987/
Among American versions of recent foreign movies, arguably none has faced the same chariness and doubt that awaits "Let Me In," a remake of 2008 "Let the Right One In.”
A moody, black-humored variant on "E. T.," Tomas Alfredson's Swedish original focuses on a lonely, bullied boy whose life is changed by a new kid in his apartment complex -- a girl who goes shoeless in the snow, solves Rubik's cubes in moments, scurries up buildings and trees, and, oh yeah, drinks blood to live. The film moves with strange, creepy energy and is populated by characters who delicately walk a line between charm and grotesquerie. It’s a treat.
And hey, whattaya know: "Let Me In" manages to capture much of the essence of the original -- so much, in fact, that it feels a mite redundant even as it bears its lineage with honor. Director Matt Reeves ("Cloverfield") has pared some elements from the original, but he moves his film with a similar confidence, poise, sad beauty and droll wit. And while he has added a splash of conventional horror, "Let Me In" is as compelling (if, inevitably, not as fresh) as its source, and, like Reeves' "Cloverfield," injects new life to an often-tired genre.
Kodi Smit-McPhee ("The Road") stars as mopey child-of-divorce Owen, Chloe Moretz ("Kick-Ass") gives another preternaturally grown-up performance as Abby, his bloodsucking crush, and such stalwarts as Richard Jenkins and Elias Koteas offer moments of substance. Reeves, though, is the standout, marshalling the look and flow of the film as surely as he does the performances. He has taken someone else's work and so infused it with apt and knowing choices that if feels as if it began with him personally -- a heck of a thing to achieve with such a potentially dubious project.
Mr. What? ( * * * )
Directed By Matt Reeves
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1228987/
Among American versions of recent foreign movies, arguably none has faced the same chariness and doubt that awaits "Let Me In," a remake of 2008 "Let the Right One In.”
A moody, black-humored variant on "E. T.," Tomas Alfredson's Swedish original focuses on a lonely, bullied boy whose life is changed by a new kid in his apartment complex -- a girl who goes shoeless in the snow, solves Rubik's cubes in moments, scurries up buildings and trees, and, oh yeah, drinks blood to live. The film moves with strange, creepy energy and is populated by characters who delicately walk a line between charm and grotesquerie. It’s a treat.
And hey, whattaya know: "Let Me In" manages to capture much of the essence of the original -- so much, in fact, that it feels a mite redundant even as it bears its lineage with honor. Director Matt Reeves ("Cloverfield") has pared some elements from the original, but he moves his film with a similar confidence, poise, sad beauty and droll wit. And while he has added a splash of conventional horror, "Let Me In" is as compelling (if, inevitably, not as fresh) as its source, and, like Reeves' "Cloverfield," injects new life to an often-tired genre.
Kodi Smit-McPhee ("The Road") stars as mopey child-of-divorce Owen, Chloe Moretz ("Kick-Ass") gives another preternaturally grown-up performance as Abby, his bloodsucking crush, and such stalwarts as Richard Jenkins and Elias Koteas offer moments of substance. Reeves, though, is the standout, marshalling the look and flow of the film as surely as he does the performances. He has taken someone else's work and so infused it with apt and knowing choices that if feels as if it began with him personally -- a heck of a thing to achieve with such a potentially dubious project.
Mr. What? ( * * * )
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010)
Starring Milla Jovovich, Ali Larter, Wentworth Miller, Boris Kodjoe, Kim Coates, Shawn Roberts, & Spencer Locke
Directed by Paul W. S. Anderson
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1220634/
This movie was terrible. Why bother anymore? The last Resident Evil was such a slap in the face of gamers it should have been burned. Now, years later some idiot thought it would be cute to revamp the dead horse, but this time in 3D. Everything about RE4 was wrong. the acting was a joke, the story was a complete rip off of Escape from NY, and having not one man in on the good action was not only very sexist, but beyond cheesy.
What i hated about RE4 most was the inconsistencies and blatant rip off of other movies. Case In Point #1: Early on in the film Alice loses her powers and thanks Wesker ( a terrible Shawn Roberts looking like a white morpheus ) for turning her human again, only to crash the aircraft into the side of a mountain, and walk away unhurt. I call bullshit on that. Case In Point #2: After ripping off Escape from New York and the Matrix, we the viewers are treated to Alice loading a pair of shotguns with quarters. Next we see alice with the shotguns on her back running through a zombie gauntlet and then pull the shotguns and fire them without a single quarter falling out of the barrel while she pulled them. Bullshit again.
I won't even comment on the acting. OK I will, but only to point out how terrible it was.......
Alice: Totally Pathetic attempt at any sort of action hero.
Claire: Yeah who was the idiot who gave Ali Larter this role?!?! Hey Ali, note to self: Stop trying to pass as any sort of actor/actress cause that boat left looooong ago
Chris: Channing Tatum called and wants his look and style back.
Shawn Roberts: Nice touch on ripping of the Matrix and making Morpheus white.
It also must be said that the production sets looked like they were bought wholesale at the "Look Futuristic" store, because everything about them was a total visual abortion. Oh, and did i mention how much the Matrix was ripped off? Every damn thing that the matrix did in 3 movies, this piece of shit tried to do in one. Oh I am so sorry. My friend pointed out that they also ripped of blade 2. See? Even a guy not in this f'd up industry can see garbage when he see's it.
The zombies were almost not in the movie. It took almost an hour from the first on screen zombie attack to the next. Even then the zombies were tiresome and totally contrived. I felt it looked like somebody fudged on the budget and decided to make all of the dead people look the same. I mean, isn't this the balls of the franchise? zombies? So why take the only remaining good thing about this muck, and not hype that up?
Last thing I'm gonna say is even the decent 3D couldn't save this film. I really liked the 3D, but kept getting distracted by the stop and start motion rip off ala matrix. Do yourself a favor, ignore this movie.
Mr. what? (no stars)
Directed by Paul W. S. Anderson
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1220634/
This movie was terrible. Why bother anymore? The last Resident Evil was such a slap in the face of gamers it should have been burned. Now, years later some idiot thought it would be cute to revamp the dead horse, but this time in 3D. Everything about RE4 was wrong. the acting was a joke, the story was a complete rip off of Escape from NY, and having not one man in on the good action was not only very sexist, but beyond cheesy.
What i hated about RE4 most was the inconsistencies and blatant rip off of other movies. Case In Point #1: Early on in the film Alice loses her powers and thanks Wesker ( a terrible Shawn Roberts looking like a white morpheus ) for turning her human again, only to crash the aircraft into the side of a mountain, and walk away unhurt. I call bullshit on that. Case In Point #2: After ripping off Escape from New York and the Matrix, we the viewers are treated to Alice loading a pair of shotguns with quarters. Next we see alice with the shotguns on her back running through a zombie gauntlet and then pull the shotguns and fire them without a single quarter falling out of the barrel while she pulled them. Bullshit again.
I won't even comment on the acting. OK I will, but only to point out how terrible it was.......
Alice: Totally Pathetic attempt at any sort of action hero.
Claire: Yeah who was the idiot who gave Ali Larter this role?!?! Hey Ali, note to self: Stop trying to pass as any sort of actor/actress cause that boat left looooong ago
Chris: Channing Tatum called and wants his look and style back.
Shawn Roberts: Nice touch on ripping of the Matrix and making Morpheus white.
It also must be said that the production sets looked like they were bought wholesale at the "Look Futuristic" store, because everything about them was a total visual abortion. Oh, and did i mention how much the Matrix was ripped off? Every damn thing that the matrix did in 3 movies, this piece of shit tried to do in one. Oh I am so sorry. My friend pointed out that they also ripped of blade 2. See? Even a guy not in this f'd up industry can see garbage when he see's it.
The zombies were almost not in the movie. It took almost an hour from the first on screen zombie attack to the next. Even then the zombies were tiresome and totally contrived. I felt it looked like somebody fudged on the budget and decided to make all of the dead people look the same. I mean, isn't this the balls of the franchise? zombies? So why take the only remaining good thing about this muck, and not hype that up?
Last thing I'm gonna say is even the decent 3D couldn't save this film. I really liked the 3D, but kept getting distracted by the stop and start motion rip off ala matrix. Do yourself a favor, ignore this movie.
Mr. what? (no stars)
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