Sinister

This movie was release on March 11th 2012 and was directed by Scott Derrickson. This movie is a horror mystery.

A true-crime writer finds a cache of 8mm home movies films that suggest the murder he is currently researching is the work of a serial killer whose career dates back to the 1960s.

I have to say that watching this movie at one in the morning is a bad idea, especially when you are alone and your house already makes creaking noises. By that you can guess that this movie has the creep out factor. It also doesn't help that in the movie they say that once you see him he can basically get you. I don't think I will be sleeping any time soon.

The acting was superb in this film by Ethan Hawke. His co-stars did a good job as well. Detective so and so was a little silly to me but I think he was suppose to be. A person meeting a semi-famous author will tend to be a little on the awkward side.

The ending though was a tad bit predictable. From about half way through I could see were it was going to go. A good thing about this movie though is that even though I knew how it was going to end it made me want to sit through the whole thing and experience the whole story.

Now, even though I am regretting it a bit for the whole lack of sleep thing, I will say watching this movie was a good decision. It has been a while sense I got so spooked from a movie that I didn't want to turn the lights off.

If I feel the need to be creeped out I will certainly watch this movie again. There is just something about that one line that makes it all the more scary. Not to mention the very last scene, which I will not give away.

There you have it. Another opinion from an outside perspective.

In Time

Released in October 2011, this movie stars Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried. It was directed by Andrew Niccol and is classified as an action sci-fi thriller.

In a future where people stop aging at 25, but are engineered to live only one more year, having the means to buy your way out of the situation is a shot at immortal youth. Here, Will Salas finds himself accused of murder and on the run with a hostage - a connection that becomes an important part of the way against the system.

I never liked Justin Timberlake (not a fan of his music), but in this movie he did well with his roll. Allot of critics said that he did horrible but I as a non-profession critic state other wise.

He acted his roll. He played the part. 

This movie had a interesting take on time, life, and the economy. The rich lived forever and the poor died (not very different from today). He practically took up the roll of Robin Hood, giving time to the people who didn't have any to spare. 

But not all the rich in this movie are stingy, which is great, of course. Some people listen to their conscience when it says something needs to change.

This movie shows how not all people should be judged by there covers, points how going through hardship can make someone have different, and sometimes better, morals than someone who has had everything handed to them. It shows how people can change. One more thing it points out, which is also true in the real world, is how the world can't function if someone doesn't suffer for it.

Their economy crashed cause people were given time, people who many thought didn't deserve it. The same thing would happen if to many people got their hands on a large sum of money. 

If that happened everyone would eventually be screwed. This is an ugly fact of the world and one that unfortunately we will all have to live with no matter where we go. All we can hope for is something stable, to be happy, and to not waste our time.

Over all I enjoyed the story, the futuristic Robin Hood. It wasn't slow. There was the right amount of emotion between the two main characters and the acting was good. Not to mention I enjoyed the ending.

"I told you there were bigger banks." Priceless.

This one will be added to my to watch again list. Reason: It was just an overall good movie.

The Possession

This movie was released  August 30th 2012 and was directed by Ole Bornedal. This movie is classified as a horror thriller.

This movie is about a young girl who buys an antique box at a yard sale, unaware that inside the collectible lives a malicious ancient spirit. The girl's father teams with his ex-wife to find a way to end the curse upon their child.

Over all if I did stars I would give this movie a three out of five. It wasn't great and it wasn't terrible.

The acting was normal, the story a little boring and slow paced for me.

Overall it was just a typical possession movie that didn't hold up to the expectations given to it.

As you can probably tell from my lack of words on this one, it wasn't impressive. Nothing in it really left an impression.

A definite one time watch movie here.

The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games was released on March 21, 2012 and was directed by Gary Ross. This movie is categorized as a  action drama sci-fi thriller.

This film, which was originally a book series is about a not too distant future where North America has collapsed, weakened by drought, fire, famine, and war to be replaced by Panem, a country divided into the Capitol and twelve districts. Each year two young representatives from each district are selected by lottery to participate in The Hunger Games. Part entertainment, part brutal intimidation of the subjugated districts, the televised games are broadcast throughout Panem. The twenty-four participants are forced to eliminate their competitors, literally  with all citizens required to watch. When 16 year old Katniss' young sister, Prim, is selected as the mining districts female representative, Katniss volunteers to take her place. She and her male counterpart Peeta, will be pitted against bigger, stronger representatives who have trained for this their whole lives.

For a while I was reluctant to watch this movie, mainly because Hollywood has a habit of butchering movies that were once books. But due to a reader's request I decided to give it a go. I wasn't disappointed.

This movie turned out rather good. Sure there were parts left out, but that is going to happen. There is no possible way to fit every detail of a book into one movie. And even if they did manage it the acting would probably suck, or the movie would be too long, or there would be something else that the viewers would complain about.

For not every one is going to be happy about a recreation of their favorite books. Not every one has the same imagination.

I give props to the director Garry Ross for not completely butchering this film. He actually did really well.

The acting was believable, for the situation. And the story was exceptional.

After watching this I actually want to go buy the books so I can see what the original story was.

I will be adding this movie to my will be watched again list.

The Tournament

This film was released on September 18th 2009 and was directed by Scott Mann. This movie is simply classified as an action movie.

Here is the basics of the movie. Every seven years in an unsuspecting town, The Tournament takes place. A battle royale between 30 of the world's deadliest assassins. The last man standing receiving the $10,000,000 cash prize and the title of Worlds No 1, which itself carries the legendary million dollar a bullet price tag. In this tournament a priest gets confused as one of the competitors. The struggle between his faith and his survival begins while one competitor protects him, risking her own life for his.

Even though this movie has my favorite actor in it there is not much to say about this one. I would most likely just point out that it is the average action movie. Explosions, gun fire, blood (lots of it), and a rather disappointing ending. 

Now don't get me wrong, I am not a hater of action films, and I am not saying all action films have bad endings. I am just saying that this one did (in my opinion). Some will like it, some will not. That is the rule with all cinematic productions. 

For me the acting was mediocre. The lines were not very creative. The idea though was interesting I just believe that maybe the script could have had a little more effort put into it.

As for Robert Carlyle, of course, I think he played his part rather well considering what he had to work with. He still gets the whole angst thing down. And even though this wasn't his best film, he still holds Number one rank with me.

Every actor has their bumps.

This movie will most likely remain a one time watch. The action scenes were just that, action scenes. I will admit that the par-cor guy was cool, but nothing else really stood out about this film. 

California Solo

This movie was released in 2012 and was written and directed by Marshall Lewy. 

This exceptional film is about a former Britpop rocker who now works on a farm and gets caught driving drunk and faces deportation after living in Los Angeles for many years. His efforts to stay in the U.S. force him to confront the past and current demons in his life.

First I would like to state the Robert Carlyle did yet another magnificent and brilliant job portraying his character Lachlan MacAldonich. He always seems to express angst and hardship beautifully. I can proudly say that out of all the actors in the industry that this one, Robert Carlyle, is an artist. A master of his trade.

Now yes I know that by hearing this you will think me any ordinary Robert Carlyle fan girl, and I will admit that yes I am. But could you possibly blame me for being one? In fact I believe that if you are reading this you looked up Roberts filmography, found this movie in the list, and some how managed to get to this unknown blog. Meaning you were doing your research on the man. Meaning you too are a fan girl, in a sense. And if you did manage to find you way to this blog I want to give you cu-do's and thank you for opening this page, whether it was a miss click or not. But I'm rambling.

Back to the film.

I would also like to thank the director/writer for creating such a film. He did a wonderful job showing us, the viewers, the life he imagined. He allowed us to see the life of Lachlan MacAldonich, and I would like to say what a wonderful job he did. Thank you mister director/writer for bring this movie into the world.

Now by you reach this paragraph I bet you are wondering where is the con in this movie, cause in early blogs I stated that every movie has one. Well I will admit that I was wrong. I could not find a single thing I did not like about this film. Maybe this has something to do with how I too had to deal with deportation in my life, or maybe this film was just that good. I'm not sure. One thing I can tell you is to watch this movie and find out for yourself, whether you loved it as much as I did or not, you will not regret watching it.

As for me this film will go on my "to watch again" list and most definitely onto my "must buy" list. Thank you for reading yet another one of my opinions.

The Beaver

This movie was released on March 16th 2011 and was directed by Jodi Foster. This movie is a drama staring Jodi Foster and Mel Gibson.

As far as the story goes it is about a troubled husband and executive who adopts a beaver hand puppet as his sole means of communication.

I am going to be honest. This movie is unique and turned out far better than I believed it would. Also parts of it reminded me of someone I know so of coarse it struck a cord. The acting was good and in some parts great.

It is kind of down heartening though that his family would just give up on him like that while he was facing something that drastic. It took a drastic measure to make them see that the shouldn't have abandoned him.

Mental illness is not something that you can just push aside. There are some cases out there where the person suffering will get worse if they are left on their own. Like this movie shows, something bad can happen. They can hurt themselves and even others.

If you enjoy films about struggling, dealing with something that seems far bigger than you, then I think you should watch this movie.

Not only does this movie go over depression but also split personality disorder. It shows how such diseases can cause strife and tension between families, but it also shows that things can get better. Which I believe is a good message for anyone to learn.

Journey 2: The mysterious island

This movie is the sequel to Journey to the Center of the World. It was released on January 19th 2012 and was directed by Brad Peyton. This film has been classified as an action, adventure, comedy, family, and Sci-fy film.

The story follows Sean Anderson as he partners with his mom's boyfriend (played by The Rock) as they go on a mission to find his grandfather, who is thought to b missing on a mythical island.

Over all I rather enjoyed this film, even though it is a sequel and more than one sequel have fallen short of the first. Every one who is a book warm has dreamed up fantasies of their own, dreamed that maybe the magical places described between their books treasured pages were real. The movies in this series supports that dream.

Imagine going to a place only your imagination has seen. Imagine fiction becoming reality. It's a poetic thought.

I liked this movie and couldn't neccisarily find anything wrong with it. The acting was good, the story entertaining, and the part with the berries made me laugh maybe  a little too hard. (you'll see when you watch it).

This movie added a bit of sensitivity for all of those who have dealt with father issues, which many people have (sad to admit). It shows that you can find family anywhere, open to it or not.

So I would watch this movie again, I just don't think it should go on any list. This one will remain uncatalogued.

Oz the Great and Powerful

Oz the Great and Powerful was said to be THE thing for 2013. The best film of the year. I am going to watch this movie with this expectation and pray that it holds up to the standards the world has given it.

As you all should know this movie was released on March 8th 2013. It was directed by Sam Raimi and is classified as an action adventure fantasy.

The story is about Oscar Digs, a small time circus magician with dubious ethics. He is hurled far away from dusty Kansas to the vibrant Land of Oz. At first he thinks he hit the jackpot-fame and fortune are his for the taking. That all changes, however, when he meets three witches, Theodora, Evanora, and Glinda, who are not convinced he is the great wizard everyone has been expecting. Reluctantly drawn into the epic problems facing the Land of Oz and it's inhabitants, Oscar must find out who is good and who is evil before it is too late. Putting his magical arts to use through illusion, ingenuity, and even a bit of wizardry. Oscar transforms himself not only into the great and powerful Wizard of Oz but into a better man as well.

This movie shows many things. First, it shows how The Land of Oz should have looked all those years a go when Dorthy landed there and shared her experience through film. Vibrant colors and sights truly spectacular befitting the title of wonderful. And of course the Emerald city was as splendid as all our imaginations perceived when we flipped through the pages of Lyman Frank Baum's books.

Alas though every movie has it's faults, and every person will find their own in every film. For me some of the actors didn't fit there parts. Every time Evenora would come on the screen in my mind I would hear her screaming, "Rick!"

As for Theadora, there was a similar situation where I would picture her making out with Ashton Kutcher. I couldn't really take her seriously as the Wicked Witch.

None of this is of course the films, actresses, or director's fault. It is simply my own fault for not being able to turn off the comparisons.All together though the film was quiet enjoyable, as far as any movie goes. I will be adding it to my "watch again list" but I will admit that it is mainly for the effects.

My opinion, and forgive me for this, I believe that maybe just maybe it is a little too early in the year to be saying this movie is the greatest thing for 2013. To me it wasn't overly great, breath taking yes as the scenery and effects go, but not as far as the acting. The acting was normal, nothing astonishing.

This is my opinion, and remember it is from an outside source.

Men in Black 3

Men In Black III is the third movie in the Men in Black series. This one was released on May 14th 2012 and was directed by Barry Sonnenfeld. This film is classified as an action comedy syfi.

In this one an alien criminal kills the young Agent K in 1969, altering the timeline, changing the agency and placing the earth in danger. Veteran Agent J must travel back in time to 1969 to before the murder and work with the young Agent K to save him, the Agency, the earth and humanity itself.

I loved the first two in this series and I love Will Smith. I hope this film can hold up to my expectations.

So as far as the movie goes. It was decent, not something I would rewatch and certianly not as good as the first (but when are thirds as good as the first).

There is a part in this film though that connects all the dots.

Agent K will have a new found respect in your hearts and you will see the relationship between Agent J and Agent K far diferently than you did before you watched this film.

I would like to state that I wasn't to fond of the acting and the story didn't catch my interest till the end, which I believe might be pretty bad. There were only like two moments that I actually laughed.

So my opinion, nothing can ever beat the first Men in Black. This film was only a one time watch for me, and it would have been better if there was just a small hint more of humor.

Silenced

Silenced is a drama filmed in South Korea and was released on September 22nd 2011. It was directed by Dong Hyeuk Hwang.

This movie is about a man trying to earn money for his daughters surgery. He is appointed to a school for hearing-impaired children in Gwangju but what he discovers there is an ugly truth. The children are being physically and sexually abused by their teachers. When he decides to fight for the children's rights and expose the crimes being committed at the school, he teams up with human rights activist Seo Yu-jin. But he and Yu-jin soon realize that the school's principal and teachers, and even the police prosecutors and churches in the community are actually trying to cover up the truth.

The sound of this description already has me infuriated. Children should not be treated with such cruelty, and what is worse is that the churches are trying to cover it up! Come one people, you can't do that. I'm not saying that churches are good and all but if you claim you are religious try to stick to the morals your religion teaches, and I garentee covering up child abuse is not one of them.

This true story shows how evil the world can be and how easily money can cover up that evil. The rich choose to use their power for selfish reasons while the poor have to suffer the consequences. As long as those people had money the children's case would never truly be won.

This movie is important for the world to see because things like this could be happening in other places around the world. This movie can open peoples eye, and hopefully their hearts.

How people could even do things like what took place in this movie?

My opinion, not wanting to go through all the acting mumbo jumbo I would like to say that if you ever watch one foreign film I would make it this one. These sort of things may be horrible but they do happen and our eyes need to be opened to them. The world is far from the pretty place we all wish it to be. It is cruel and twisted, Dark and demented. But I believe that because the world is this way we can see the good that we are able to see. Bad things happen.  Facts of life.

The man from nowhere

The Man from Nowhere was released in 2010 and was wrote and directed by Jeong-beom Lee. This Korean film is an action crime thriller.

The story is about a quiet pawnshop keeper with a violent past. He takes on a drug and organ trafficking ring in hope of saving the child who is his only friend.

This movie was probably one of the best I have seen in a long long time. I have yet to find an American film that can connect with the heart of their audience.

The acting was amazing. Bin Won's character will forever be a hero to those who watch this film and 92% of the female audience will probably fall in love with him due to his traumatic and damaged persona, along with his determination to save a child he hardly knew.

The bad guys made you want to shoot them, the cops, annoying and always one step behind CHA Tae-shik, and CHA himself the hero who still is punished for killing all those dirty crooks.

This movie is a tragic, beautiful, and darkly poetic masterpiece. Jeong-beom should be proud of this magnificent piece. An artists perfect creation.

Warm Bodies

So today I will be posting a blog about Warm Bodies.

As most of you may know this movie came out on January 16th 2013 and is a comedy horror romance, or a ZomRomCom (zombie romantic comedy). It was directed by Jonathan Levine.

Warm Bodies is about R, a young, oddly introspective, zombie. On a feeding encounter with a human gathering party, R meets Julie and feels an urge to protect her. What happens with that is the beginnings of a strangely warm relationship that causes R to start to regain his humanity. As this change spreads throughout the undead population, Julie and R eventually find they are facing a larger issue even as their friendship is challenged. Caught between the paranoid human forces and the ferocious Bonie Zombies who are a mutual threat, R and Julie must find a way to bridge the sides for a fight for a better world no one thought possible.

Now allot of the comments on this movie were negative  people saying that zombies can't have emotions and all that nonsense because their brain is dead.

But let's look at the brain for a moment. It is nothing but electrical signals telling the body what to feel, how to move, when to move, etc  etc  etc  And if the zombies are moving that means that there are still some electrical signals in the brain. meaning the brain isn't dead. Meaning the current idea of a zombie is a complete oxy-moron. So why can't one oxy-moron have another? Why can't zombies have emotions.

I would also like to mention something on how the love between the two characters slowly makes the zombie one return to his human self. Well there have been studies on how emotions and intent can effect water. So why would it be so hard for love to heal a dying man. Energy is a magnificent thing, and the energy of love is one of the strongest out there. You know the stories, true loves kiss and all that sappy stuff.

Now that I got those out of the way it is time to move on to the rest of the review from an outside opinion.

I personally really liked the movie. Sure it was basically about necrophilia, but nothing truly happened between the two lead characters until R was human.

The story was great. Acting great. And R's inner monologue was hilarious  Makes you wonder what zombies are thinking, because what I said before, if the body moves the brain is still alive and thus there could possibly be thoughts.

Hopefully though these pondering's will remain just pondering's. One thing is for sure, if I were to become a Zombie I know I would love to think that there is a possibility that one day I could be human again.

So with that said I would certainly watch this one again and I have all the intent in the world to add this to my DVD collection when it is released on DVD.

And if you are following my blog and find that you are agreeing with what films I like then I would highly recommend this one for you.

A love story showing that "till death do we part" may not always be the case.

Toys

Toys came out in 1992 and stars Robin Williams. This film was directed by Barry Levinson.

The summary of this movie is that a fun-loving inventor must stop his evil uncle, a war mongering general who builds weapons disguised as toys.

For me the movie was just okay. The story line wasn't all that great and the acting seemed a little dull. But the one thing that was great were the sets. They were unique and some were beautiful giving this movie a feel that will forever be it's own.

Robin Williams played his part well, even though his part was strange, but we all know Robin Willams as strange. He is an excellent actor in my opinion and will always be one of my favorites, right up there with Jim Carry and Jacky Chan.

This film is certainly a great show of making the most of your technology of your time.

So my opinion of this movie is, The sets were unique but the film over all seemed a little dull. But my opinion on my opinion is, I'm probably too use to the modern films.

Darkness Falls

Time for another outside opinion.

Darkness falls is a Thriller Horror released on January 24th 2003. It's director was Johnathan Liebesman. 

I had seen this movie several years ago and fell in love with it. Today I am re-watching it to see if it has the same appeal to a more traveled me.The basic story of this movie is that a vengeful spirit takes the form of the tooth fairy to extract vengeance on the town that lynched her 150 years ago. Her only opposition is the only child, now full grown, who has survived her attacks before. So from there I think you can see where the story goes.

One thing is for sure this movie still has the scare factor. When ever the Tooth Fairy would appear my heart would start pounding in my chest like I was still twelve years old. I kept feeling like I wasn't alone in the room and that is what a good horror movie is suppose to do, heighten your paranoia and fear levels. 

But then again maybe the reason I am having these reactions is because somewhere I can still remember how much this movie freaked me out the first time I saw it. I wasn't able to sleep for months, not to mention have the lights off. Even now, now that I am thinking about it, I sleep with the TV on (muted) so the room isn't completely dark at night. Curious thought of how this movie may have altered me, and is still effecting me to this day.

Any ways, the story is still what it was the first time I watched it. Yes it did freak me out a bit but after all the years of watching horror movies I do not believe it to be as scary as it use to be. Yet these days it is hard to find a decent horror flick.

The pace of the story was fine and the acting was good, the only thing I found wrong was that whenever they said, "Stay in the light," I laughed because for some reason it was humorous to me.

My opinion is this, still a good movie even though it's not as scary as it use to be. Still creeps me out and will definitely be watched again.

Fairytale

Today's blog is about the movie Fairytale. I had passed this movie over numerous times due to it's unattractive cover. It appeared low budget. But alas my curiosity won me over in the end.

This movie is a horror thriller released on the 24th of August last year(2012), It was Directed by Christian
Bisceglia. It was filmed in Italy so you will be able to see some of Italy while watching this film, and for those who don't like subtitles, don't worry. It's in English.

The summary of this movie like most horror movies, a single mother moves into a new house, and the child becomes the center of the haunting. The haunting only start though when the child loses her first baby tooth. She then begins to have nocturnal visits from the tooth fairy and the story progresses from there.

To me this wasn't an overly impressive film But it sure was an interesting take on the tooth fairy.I would also like to point out that even though the acting was moderately good the story progression was slow. As for the effects there wasn't much wow factor and for a horror movie there was no shock factor, no jump out of your skin effect. I will admit it did have enough creepiness to give you the heeby jeebies and make you second guess buying or claiming antique closets or wardrobes.

The ending was definitely not what I was expecting but going into to much detail about that would ruin the whole film. No spoilers in this blog.

So over all my opinion on this film is this, For a slow progressing movie it was an interesting take on an old story but alas I will chalk this one up to the one time watch list.

Brass Tea Pot

After watching The Brass Teapot I figured I would share my opinion.

 First off this movie is a comedy, fantasy, thriller directed by Ramaa Mosley. The basics without giving away too many details is that this movie is about two people who find a magic brass teapot that practically spits out money, of course though there is a price. So if that doesn't give away the whole story...

For all of you readers out there who have worked, seen their budget go into the red on more than one occasion  and had to deal with their more successful friends I think you will know and understand how the main characters in this movie feel. I know I thought to myself on more than one occasion during this film, "I've been there buddy." And come on we have all dreamed about money magically appearing out of no where.

Generally the story was good. You could easily see the attachment of the main characters to the tea pot grow through out the movie. Then their conscience begins to catch up with them and by the time the credits roll they have done the right thing.

There is a strong lesson within the depths of this film. Greed can turn the most honest people bad, can make them do things that they normally shouldn't.

Some one once told me that if he could pick two out of three things, Money, happiness, and health, he would pick happiness and health. I think this movie shows why. With the money they were getting they were ruining their health, and sure for some time they were happy but there is one thing with the wealthy. They always want more. They are never happy for long.

So happiness and health.

With the message in this film combined with all the other aspects this movie is a must watch again.

My opinion is this, Money may make the world go round but also it is the reason for all the issues we are facing.

Mirror Mirror

I just watched the movie Mirror Mirror and I figured I should post my outside opinion.

 Over all for me this movie was a one time watch. Like all films it had it's flaws and it's good points. I would have to say that one of it's best points was some of the effects, it had the appeal that attracts to me. For example another movie with similar effects is Mirror Mask. The costumes were also bright and drew ones eyes to the characters, lead or other wise.

Bad points, the acting wasn't the best, you could tell that the forest had a painted back drop, and the generic dance scene at the end had very little effort put into it.

Julia Roberts did a decent job as the queen, but snow was a bit out of place, not to mention the oddity of the prince.

Best part in my opinion though were the dwarves. Wolf was absolutely adorable.

This is my opinion of the movie Mirror Mirror. Thank you for reading!