Prisoners Review

What Makes A Good Movie?

This may be the hardest movie I had to watch this whole year. No, not like how Rapture-Palooza was hard to watch, nothing can be THAT painful to endure. Prisoners, starring Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis, Terrence Howard, Maria Bello and Paul Dano, centers around the abduction of two little girls. The parents don't know where they are, the police aren't having much luck, and the only lead to go on is the owner of an RV the kids were playing on before they vanished. Unfortunately, the owner (Paul Dano), has the IQ of a 10 year old. None of the chargers will stick so, naturally, they have to let him go after 48 hours. That plot already is very dramatic and upsetting. Unfortunately for the audience, that is just the tip of the iceberg. Now the father of one of the little girls (Jackman), convinced the suspect is the abductor, decides to take the law into his own hands and kidnaps the mentally-challenged man, willing to do whatever it takes to get the truth out of him. The question that was in my head after seeing this was- What makes a good movie? When I think of all of my favorite films- Pulp Fiction, The Shawshank Redemption, The Usual Suspects- I see a pattern. Movies are best when they tell a story that evolves. The story grows, the characters grow, the plot is an interesting, unique one that deserves to be told. Prisoners is a different story. The only thing this movie does is show how losing a child can completely ruin your life and the life of your loved ones. Don't be mistaken, this movie is not Changeling. It's not an inspirational tale about having the strength to never lose faith and mustering up the courage to live on after losing your child. Prisoners is dark, depressing, and lacks any real sense of redemption. The characters don't really grow, if anything all the characters do is wither up and slowly descend into a state of depression. Who would wan't to watch that? Who would want to slowly watch a seemingly happy family be torn apart and emotionally tortured, followed by a man physically torturing a mentally-challenged man. Apparently, I want to watch that. Prisoners is the best movie I've seen this year, which is really confusing. I don't really know how to describe this movie or recommend it. I can't really use the word "entertaining" because there was nothing entertaining about it. Which you think would be a bad thing, but it's not. This movie didn't have to entertain me for me to like it, it INTRIGUED me. That's an verb I haven't been able to use for a movie in a while. It grabbed me by my heart and kept squeezing and squeezing. The ensemble delivered some of the most realistic, gut-wrenching performances I've ever seen. Hugh Jackman seems to consistently become a better actor every time I see him. Jake Gyllenhaal does a great job portraying the determined cop. The rest of the cast does a great job as well, but I can't help but feel like they were all underutilized. Both the director and the writer are relatively new in my eyes, but they still both do a great job with the help of 10-time Academy Award-nominee Roger Deakins, once again proving to be one of the best cinematographers ever. Prisoners is the kind of movie that will stick with you forever, it sets out to make you feel. It wants you to feel horrible for these families, it wants you to feel morally conflicted when it comes to the torture scenes, and it wants you to feel lucky and appreciative for your loved ones. At least in my eyes, it achieved all it set out to do. Which begs the question once more, what makes a movie good? Prisoners effectively makes you feel emotions that no other movie has been able to, it may not have a lot of character development, it's story isn't as excellently crafted as most; it doesn't have a lot of the stuff that makes all the other great movies great, it's very different. However, it's still great. Final Rating- B+

The Family Review

Robert De Niro in a mob movie, who saw that coming?

What happens when a mafia family man turns on the mob? I'll tell you what happens, a great movie is what happens. From Luc Besson, the director of classics such as Leon: The Professional and The Fifth Element, comes this dark comedy starring legends like Robert De Niro, Michelle Phieffer, and Tommy Lee Jones. The film centers around Giovanni Manzoni, a notorious mobster, who turns on the mob and joins witness protection. The film starts off with Gio and his family moving to Normandy, France. In which we soon learn that old habits die hard. With Tommy Lee Jones keeping the eccentric family in line, they all try to adapt to the move and the code-switch. Being a huge fan of mafia movies and even a bigger fan of Robert De Niro, I was very excited by this movie's potential. Over the last several years, De Niro has starred in worthless pieces of garbage like Righteous Kill, Machete, New Years Eve, The Big Wedding, Little Fockers, the list could go on. Lately, there is a glimmer of hope for his career. After his Oscar nomination for the excellent Silver Linings Playbook, and his upcoming reunion with director David O'Russell in American Hustle. And this movie continues that hope. I came into this movie with very high expectations. I had a lot of faith in director Luc Besson and the plot seemed intriguing. Not overly original, but intriguing none the less. 

The ensemble in this movie is fantastic. From the classic actors like Michelle Phieffer and Tommy Lee Jones, to the breakout stars such as Jon D'Leo, the cast worked together marvelously. Even though the movie was filled with great Oscar-Winning/Nominated actors, it was still Dianna Agron who stole the show in my eyes. She really proved that she can act with the best of them, and she's defiantly not hard on the eyes. The only real complaint I have for this movie was the pacing. I get that The Family is a dark comedy, making it not an extremely orthodox piece of storytelling. But the speed and tone of the movie was flabbergasting at times. At first the movie is an incredibly slow drama, then it is a marginally slow family comedy, leading to a fast-paced, action-packed climax. While all parts were enjoyable to watch, it is still strange to observe that transition. Besides the tone, everything else in this movie worked for me. The character development was great and refreshing to watch seeing as how that is the key element missing from the biggest disappointments this year; disappointments such as Man of Steel, R.I.P.D., and Lone Ranger. Overall, The Family is an interesting, satisfying dark comedy filled with good performances, good action, and left me with a feeling a glee (no pun intended) in my heart. Robert De Niro, keep this up. Final Rating- B

Riddick Review

Riddick is back and better than...Well, better than the last 10 years.

Betrayed by his own kind and left for dead on a human less planet, Riddick has to fight off an army of violent predators, more powerful and and dangerous than anything has ever come across before. And those are just the beginning of his problems. Now, a distress beacon brings down violent bounty hunters with one intention, to bring back Riddick's head in a box. Unbeknownst to them, this planet is not all desolate as it seems as they now have to put aside their differences and team up with Riddick if they want to get past swarms of monsters, and get off the planet alive. After the overly-bloated and monotonous Chronicles of Riddick 9 years ago, the expectations for the new installment were fairly low in my mind. Since Chronicles, Vin Diesel has been in not one, not two, but three new successful Fast and Furious movies, making his action-hero image quite expansive.
Finally, he is back and ready to fight for his freedom. The plot is fairly simple and resembles the plot of Pitch Black. The biggest downside to this movie is the pacing. The first 30 minutes of Riddick are actually a little boring. He is wounded and spends the first half hour getting back into better condition. While trying to improve his mental and physical strength, he comes across these Alien-looking predators and befriends a mutated dog. The movie really starts to pick up once the bounty hunters come down to the planet. Finally, Riddick reverts to his old persona of the hunter instead of the hunted. The violence and action in this movie are what you can come to expect from sci-fi action thriller nowadays. I'm not saying that's bad, but it's defiantly not ground-breaking. Once Riddick and the bounty hunters ban together to fight the army of monsters, we enter the best parts of the movie. It's peculiar that Chronicles cast over 100 million dollars to make, yet Riddick cost only a little bit more than 30 million to make. Proving that more money doesn't always mean better quality. Overall, it is a lot better than Chronicles and even though it is not a game changing thriller, it is likely to satisfy all Riddick fans and even satisfy most sci-fi action fans. Final Rating- B-

Kick Ass 2 Movie Review

Kick-Ass 2 has a different Director. Kick-Ass 2 has a VERY different director and believe me, it shows. IT SHOWS!

Does anyone remember that 2010 superhero flick directed by the guy who gave us the wonderfully magical Stardust? You know the one, the one that kept pushing the envelope but in a really great way? The one that was filled with nerdy wit and a glowing appreciation for the superhero genre? Yeah that one, well they made a sequel and it sucks.

 From the visionary director that brought us delightful treats such as Never Back Down (sarcasm), and that great horror film that redefined the horror genre Cry Wolf (angry sarcasm), comes this sequel to the beloved superhero movie Kick-Ass (not sarcasm). I'm done with sarcasm now this movie is pretty terrible. I was very skeptical of this movie from the start. Not just because they changed the director from Matthew Vaughn (X-Men: First Class, Stardust) to Jeff Wadlow, but because this seemed like a completely unnecessary sequel. I was very pleased with how the original ended and felt it could have benefited from remaining a stand-alone movie. But everything nowadays gets a sequel, so I went along with it. I would like to start off with talking about all of the things I liked about this movie, but I'm just drawing a blank. If I dig deep down, I think I can muster up some appreciation for Jim Carrey's role in the movie. Colonel Stars and Strips was a relatively interesting character. He was definitely not utilized as much as he should have been, but the small amount of screen time he had was fun. Okay, that is the only positive. Now with the negatives. I feel like this movie had some real identity issues. Throughout the movie, it felt like the writers were going for a sort of Scream 2 vibe. By that I mean some characters made comments referring to how this movie is a sequel, and then those comments just sort of stop. They don't go all the way that, either make this movie a satire on sequels the way the first was a satire on Superhero movies or don't, just make up your mind.

The biggest crowd pleaser in the original was obviously foul-mouthed little killer Hit-Girl. I will give props to this movie for showing a human side of her and going deeper into her character. But just because they went deeper into her character, however, doesn't necessarily mean her character was developed at all. Showing the audience a more sensitive side of a character is a great way to incorporate some character development, which is not what they do for some reason. Let me give some background. For the first time in her life, Hit-Girl has to go to High School, marking her first encounter with school bullies and all of the fun things that go along with being a teenager. Some of the kids are mean to her and for the first time she is up against an enemy she can't just slice and dice, even though she really wants to. This could have been a great opportunity for a tremendous character arc. She could have just taken the high rode and learned that there are some battles that you have to walk away from to become a better person. They don't do that, leading to one of the most immature and unfunny sequences I've seen in the series. Overall, the movie doesn't have the same comic wit that made the first a cult favorite, the writing was uninspired, great opportunities were missed and the director change was a huge mistake. Overall Rating- C-

The World's End Movie Review

From the guys who brought us comedy gems like Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, comes this epic ending to the Cornetto trilogy that is amazingly...just kinda good.

The World's End centers around Gary King, played by Simon Pegg. 20 years ago, he and his four best friends attempted a pub crawl. The 5 friends weren't able to complete the challenge, and they all went on living their lives. Except for Gary. Now he must reunite all his friends and go back to the town to finish the crawl or die trying. Unbeknownst to Gary and his old childhood friends, however, the town has changed since they've been there last, which is where the story begins. Sounds like a fun plot, right? Yeah. Personally, I love Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. They are two of the funniest movies I've seen from past 20 years or so. I thoroughly enjoyed Spaced which was brought to us by the same people. That being said, I was extremely disappointed with The World's End. The main killer in this film were not the robots (aliens?), for me what killed this movie the most were my outrageously high expectations. I'm one of those rare people who actually enjoyed Shaun of the Dead and Hot fuzz equally. They were both witty and entertaining, and a lot fun. So, naturally, I was under the assumption that I would love this one as well. I didn't. Before I go off on the negatives, I want to start talking about what I liked about this movie which is a longer list. First off, the cast in this movie is phenomenal.

 As a fan of the predecessors, it was nice to see all of these familiar faces popping up here and there. Including some new faces such as Eddie Marsan and James Bond himself, Pierce Brosnon. Nick Frost, Paddy Considine, and Martin Freeman return after appearing in Shaun and Fuzz, but for me, it was Simon Pegg who really stole the show. In the first two installments, Simon played relatively kind characters. The character of David King is the total opposite of that. He is crude, and rude, and completely immature. Which not surprisingly makes him an incredibly entertaining character to watch. The first half of this movie I really liked. The first 40 minutes felt a lot like Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead with all of the fast cuts, not so subtle foreshadowing, and quick-witted humor. Once they got to the town, the movie felt like it was dragging a bit and didn't really feel like it's predecessors. It didn't have that daunting, somber, and even macabre tone that the first two films had in spades. It just felt like your run-of-the-mill sci-fi comedy, while still being much better than Neighborhood Watch. Once they got around to the action the fun returned, didn't feel like Shaun fun, but fun none the less. Which then led to the last 30 minutes of the movie which, I swear, felt like some of the messiest writing I've seen, in a couple weeks- but that's only because there have been some real sloppy movies this year. The movie started off pretty strong but it got to a place that was, and it pains me to say this, kinda boring. At that point, I had my head in my palms and a lump in my throat. Leading to an ending that made me utterly and completely disappointed. In the end, it was a big let down for a fan of the first two installments. It defiantly had it's moments and was still better than a lot of the other piles of garbage that came into theaters this year, but I still left the theater with the nagging thought bouncing around in my head "It Could Have Been Better, It Could Have Been Better." It could have been so much better. Final Rating- B