Interstellar: Movie Review

I wasn’t impressed with the trailers for this movie and was un-swayed by critics’ reviews, so I waited a while before braving this almost 2 hour and 50 minute movie. I worried, as I do with any longer film, that the time would be used appropriately. And hoped that time was not wasted on nonsensical scenes and interactions that were unnecessary to relay the film’s message. I did check my watch during the movie, not out of boredom, but out of worry that they would be able to aptly finish the story line before the movie ended. As the movie neared its end I wanted it to be longer. Which is a wonderful thing to say about a movie that is already quite long. So, yes, my apprehensions were blown away by my enjoyment of the film.

The soundtrack was wonderful and the visuals were stunning. I was almost saddened that I did not see it in 3-D or IMAX. Obviously, the accuracy of some of the things portrayed in the deep space scenes can only be guessed at because they are still part of the unknown, but one hopes that they are as stunningly beautiful and wondrous in real life as they are in these portrayals.

I guess one downfall of the movie would be that at times the soundtrack drowns out the spoken dialog. However, it manages to do so during repetitive or mostly nonessential parts of the dialog. For instance, it may cut in at the end of a countdown sequence and drown out the last bit. You are already aware it’s a countdown and you know how a countdown should progress, so it’s not necessarily a loss not to be able to hear it well over the soundtrack. But still I felt my ears straining during these scenes and wishing I had on the subtitles.

Some of the more enjoyable things about the movie for me were the robots TARS and CASE, as they provided me with many giggles. And a Deep Blue Sea Morgan Freeman moment that provided me also with a weird sense of joy. No, Morgan Freeman is not in this movie, but those that have seen Deep Blue Sea will most likely understand the type of scene I am referring to. And I’m not sure that Deep Blue Sea was the first to express such a scene in a movie, but it was the first to leave an impression on me and therefore, in my mind, is the pioneer of these types of scenes which seem to be a little more wide-spread nowadays. And they usually make me crack a smile after the initial shock wears off, as did the scene in Interstellar.

Into the Storm: Movie Review

I wasn’t too sure how this movie would turn out because I hadn’t even seen a preview for it, just the ridiculous looking poster. So truth be told I was a little biased going in. As the movie started I thought that my preconceived opinions wouldn’t be too far from the mark, but as the movie progressed I can say that my heart was racing from anxiety for most of the scenes. I realized I was even holding my breath on a couple of the tenser ones. There were a couple plot inconsistencies (like where did all the people on the bus go?) and a few things I definitely would have avoided doing in situations some of the people found themselves in (like parking next to a downed, live power line to have a chat with someone), but hey it’s a movie and I understand it’s a good way to help keep that “danger” vibe going (even if it is an avoidable danger). It also had a slightly cheesy, but not unexpected movie ending, however overall not too shabby. There is also what I suppose is a head nod to Into the Storm’s predecessor Twister (1996). See if you can “spot” it, because it “mooves” fast.

 

Annabelle: Movie Review

As a side, note before I begin my review of Annabelle, I have to say most horror flicks don’t scare me too horribly. They might make me jump or scream for a second if they surprise me, but they don’t have a lasting effect on me. However, The Conjuring (the movie that Annabelle was featured in) touched on subjects I felt I had a personal experience with and therefore it really raised the level of anxiety and fear I experienced watching that movie and those feelings lingered afterwards.  Since Annabelle seemed to be dealing with some of those same issues that were presented in The Conjuring I expected nothing less then abject terror. However, the beginning of the movie just seemed slow to gain momentum and I was worried that it would not live up to my expectations after having been scared so horribly by The Conjuring. However, as the movie progressed it got a little better, but still just run-of-the-mill horror tactics, sudden appearances, freak accidents, etc. It wasn’t until probably half way through the movie that I was reduced to that abject fear I had experienced while watching The Conjuring. I can say with certainty that it left me a quivering, unnerved mess. Will it be as scary for others? I am not sure, but because of my past experiences I can safely say that this movie also gave me nightmares, and I still don’t like to think about the few scenes that were the cause of these feelings because they still make me anxious. So I guess I am saying I recommend it if you were a fan of The Conjuring, but I don’t think I will personally be owning this one or watching it again. Eeek!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014): Movie Review

I was anxious about this remake because I grew up with the Turtles from the early ‘90s. I wasn’t sure it would be able to live up to the good memories I associated with the original movies. However, I must say that I enjoyed this remake and for the most part the CG technology was done well enough in my opinion. Right from the beginning the opening credits were interesting to watch. They had a “Sin City”/ Comic Book vibe to them, which is carried over to the beginning of the ending credits as well.

I still loved the characters and a happy nostalgia came over me when I realized that they remained true to my memories of the Turtles’ personalities and interactions. My favorite was always Mikey (Michelangelo) and he was also still my favorite in this one as well. I was smiling thinking, “Yay! They are still the Turtles I know and love”.

They did update their origins story a little, but I thought it went well with the story they were presenting and tied all the characters in nicely. They also updated the Foot Clan from pajama clad ninjas to people that look like terrorists that can also use martial arts. I think this gave it a more believable feel, I always wondered how the Foot Clan could inspire as much fear as they did in the original movies looking like they are dressed up for Halloween, but the new and improved versions I can see as a potentially scary threat.

Shredder is introduced and immediately you can feel his bad-guy awesomeness, which was a lot of fun. And of course his identifiable “suit” was present with all the latest upgrades. On a downside, some scenes looked a bit like a toy transformer fighting CG characters, but easily overlooked in the grand scheme for me.

One main problem I had was with Splinter. Right from the start of his narration I didn’t like his voice (sorry Mr. Shalhoub) and as soon as the character is visually introduced my irritation continued. The CG effects for Splinter looked completely fake (and I realize how ridiculous that sounds considering it is CG). But in comparison with the, what I considered to be excellent, job on the Turtles themselves, Splinter looked awful. Even scenes with human counterparts were slightly painful to watch because the live actors’ eyes are looking at a point just above or beyond where Splinter “is” in the scene. Reminiscent of the early CG trials and failures of acting a scene with a non-existent counterpart. It was hard for me to believe that they could make the Turtles look good but fail miserably on the rat, but it was not enough to change my overall enjoyment level.

I also enjoyed the “Shell Shocked” song by Juicy J, Wiz Khalifa, and Ty Dolla $ign. I mean it’s not “Go Ninja, Go Ninja” (from Vanilla Ice’s “Ninja Rap”), but let’s be honest the original movie was released in the ‘90s and at that time “Go Ninja” fit right in. “Shell Shocked” is a fun song and I feel like the music style fits the new generation perfectly. I think this movie will re-kindle happy thoughts and memories in adults who grew up loving the Turtles, and I think it will spark a new fan base among the younger generations. All I have to say is sequel anyone? (Cue ominous music)

Deliver Us From Evil: Movie Review

I have personally experienced some creepy happenings in my life, so I was expecting some Post Traumatic Stress from certain scenes (much like The Conjuring caused me). However, the scenes where I was sure this would happen did not strike the same level of fear in me that I thought they would. That being said, the movie wasn’t all bad or all good. I would refer to this one as a “Fast Forward” Movie. Which for me means that I would watch the movie in fast forward only stopping for interesting/important looking scenes. There just seemed to be a lag in the storytelling, even while the story was jumping around skipping years at a time. Perhaps if the movie was a little shorter I wouldn’t have minded or felt that it had an overall “slow” feeling to it.

On a positive note, I must commend the set designers, make-up artists, and special effects team on the wonderful job they did setting the mood for many of the scenes in the movie. There were several instances and scenes where the background setting had my stomach rumbling in distaste, which is impressive for me as a viewer because I felt like I was in the filth with the actors and I felt that I could smell the stench they were probably supposed to be smelling in that scene.

Another commendation goes to those responsible for the soundtrack development. They had a wonderful use of tense music and wonderful use of a lack of music during some scenes. This lack of music is particularly creepy for me because anytime I would watch a horror movie or tense/suspenseful movie and I would get too tense or afraid, I would just mute the sound and it would all be fine (Because good use of music can create the wanted tension level during specific scenes). However, in this movie (and some others such as World War Z), there is a lack of suspenseful, eerie, creepy music, and a lack of sound altogether except for the normal sounds that the actors moving through the scene are making. This use of silence is almost worse for me than creepy music and has the wonderful effect of getting me on the edge of my seat.

I was a bit disappointed with the priest character played by Edgar Ramirez. Not that Mr. Ramirez did a bad job, but I could not understand half of what he was saying through his thick accent. I felt I needed subtitles for much of the movie, and at one point the sounds of one scene were so loud and distracting that I completely missed an exchange between his character and Eric Bana’s character. However, I did like that they “explain” why Eric Bana’s character is “seeing” and “hearing” the things he is throughout the movie. I also like the subtle way they achieve this explanation.

The movie claims to be inspired by true events, but some of the scenes seemed a little wonky to me, and no I don’t mean the “paranormal”-type events. I mean more of the “normal” things such as, the way the police force is depicted. For instance, was it really only two people looking for a potentially dangerous suspect in a completely darkened zoo? And does everyone dress in “street” clothing at the precinct? Would a lone police officer visit a suspect’s family alone? **Slight spoiler alert on my next sentence so skip the question if you need to** Would that same police officer sit down to watch videos after being attacked, without ever checking on the family that actually lives in the house where he was attacked?***

Or are these merely Hollywood-ized versions? I mean I can understand some things being theatrically or dramatically delivered, because after all it is a movie, but sometimes it is too much for me to suspend belief, and I begin to lose interest because I feel like I am being lied to in a way. Or I feel that it just doesn’t make logical sense. I also felt that there were some questions left unanswered for me, but then again maybe I missed something because I didn’t have subtitles?

Over all, the movie is good for a few jump scares and creepy scenes, and I would never want to experience any of the things that the real police sergeant did, but once again I feel that it is a “Fast Forward” type of movie and would be better for renting than on the big screen.

 

Oculus: Movie Review

First off I have to say don’t blink or you may miss something. Then again it might be in your best interest to blink lots of times. The story-line is jumpy, and as the movie progressed I expected several different endings, none of which really happened, but all of which would have been better than the actual ending. It seemed that every time the main characters were in trouble, either in the “flashback” or “present” scenes, they simply ran and hid in a different room, closet, nook, cranny, etc. available in the house before thinking, “Oh, you know it might be a good idea to get out of this situation and go get help”. As I watched the movie I imagined the mirror laughing at all the people running around like idiots.

Normally horror/thriller movies with mirrors or mirror scenes freak me out, but this one was not really that scary. There were a couple “BOO!” scenes that made me jump, but that was before I realized how ridiculous (or should I say ridoculus?) the movie was going to be. The end of the movie left me with such a “blah” feeling I lacked the will and energy to move out of my seat when it was over. It seemed as if there was going to be some sort of further explanation for everything even though I knew that wasn’t the case. Still now I am reeling with questions about the plot and wish the script had spent more time exploring those ideas then filming people running and hiding all over the house. From the preview it seemed a promising story-line, but in the actual movie there seemed to be no follow-through. I imagine even though it’s rating is R, it will be a popular hot spot for the younger teenager crowd and will likely help irritate older movie goers even more.

Philomena: Movie Review

This one is a British Comedy/Drama about a young woman who is forced to give up her child to adoption and 50 years later is searching for him. I like British humor and it was a bit funny in the beginning, but then I began to see signs of the “Drama” portion as the movie progressed and became a little sad. The movie is based on true events, which makes it even sadder to think that I’m sure a lot of people in a lot of places at one time or another have been forced to give up their children, never to see them again. Judi Dench played her “little old lady” act very well, and I absolutely loved her “book review”, as it reminded me of every time I try to review something for my husband. And of course during that scene Steve Coogan’s demeanor was funny as well because that is how my husband looks too when I try to give him my reviews.

The movie surprised me a bit by revealing the big mystery of “where” in a very short amount of time, and the rest of the movie was focused on getting to know him now as compared to how she remembered him at 3. One thing that I liked is that as the movie progresses they show you progressing home video footage of the missing son growing up wherever he is, but as soon as they find out where and who he is now the footage they begin showing is footage of him as an adult. It’s a bit different from other “reuniting” stories, but I liked the movie and did drop a few tears.

Bad Words: Movie Review

This movie was good for quite a few laughs if your into Jason Bateman’s ability to deliver humor. While the plot wasn’t the best I didn’t even care because it seems it just set the stage for the continuous run-on jokes. I feel that I could watch the movie again and still laugh because I hear a new joke I missed the first time I watched because I was laughing at another. The movie does carry that rating for a reason, and one of those reasons would be the language, but if that doesn’t bother you and you just need a movie to relax and laugh to, then this one is good. It’s one of those movies that you worry all the funny parts were featured in the preview, but then when you watch it you still even laugh at those parts and are pleasantly surprised that the laughs keep coming before and after the short snippets of scenes they show you in these previews.

Robocop (2014): Movie Review

As far as remakes go, I feel that this one was pretty successful. I like that they included elements and themes from the original while putting their own updated “spin” on it. For instance the title music is the original Robocop theme slightly altered but still recognizable. It had the effect of bringing back memories of the original Robocop while making me excited to see how the “new” version would compare. Fans of the original Robocop will also recognize several taglines such as, “I’d buy that for a dollar” and “Dead or alive you are coming with me,” and it will probably make you smirk, as I did, when you do. The ED 209’s have always been my favorite, even in the original. I think they are cute (yes, weird to say about robots), and they remind me of pets in a way. While I was sad they didn’t include one falling down the stairs, I still enjoyed the combat scene between Robocop and the ED 209s.

I feel that they made some good changes to the family interactions, because as I remember my opinions on the family interactions in the original is that they were slightly boring. This version also seemed to be less “dark” than its original counterpart. They also updated how the ED 209 was marketed and concentrated more on foreign issues/crime levels advertising military applications as well as civilian applications. They also created “futuristic” technology such as cell-phones and handheld computer screens that are see-through. Truthfully, the first time I saw one of the phones I thought it was an oversight on the editing team’s part because it looked like he was talking on the phone with the number keys facing away from his face. However, I soon realized that this phone was supposed to be an indication of the movie taking place in the “future”. ‘

A couple of scenes that I really liked were the first “awaking” scene and the first time Murphy is “shut down”. I also liked the scene when they show Murphy what he is really made of. It was quite creepy to say the least. ***POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT, please skip to next section if you don’t want to know***. I also liked that they decided to utilize two different types of suits for Murphy. At first I was a little disappointed that they were straying from the original Robocop’s color, but by the end, and the reinstatement of his original coloring, I understood why this was a necessity to capture the symbolism.

I did have a few plot concerns about the movie, but it is possible I might have missed something in my excitement of seeing Robocop in action. At one point Murphy is able to access his electronic database without his visor, I couldn’t remember if the doctor had said that would be possible or if it was in fact the visor that was supposed to give him the database information. At one point there is a fight scene where the “bad guy” informs his men that they need to use 50 Caliber bullets to take Murphy down, but then it appears that none of them took that advice? Did I maybe just miss something or was it a matter of not enough 50 Caliber weapons to go around? There were certain scenes where the CG was a bit dodgy, like during his first escape attempt, but I felt that these were easily overlooked for me. They also had a “news” thing going that seemed a bit awkward at times, but was in keeping with the how the original had “news” and fake commercials going on during it. And one last complaint I had was that they only showed Robocop’s leg holster once. I was disappointed that I didn’t get to see it in action more since that was always one of the parts I thought was cool about his character.

Out of the Furnace: Movie Review

The movie was well-acted. Although sometimes so much so that I felt I needed subtitles to understand the “hillbilly” speak of Woody Harrelson’s character. It could be classified as a bit of mumbleese. I felt the movie was slow in some parts, but at the same time I also felt that this was in keeping with the feel of the movie. More like the movie was a documentary, or a look into these particular people’s lives.

It seemed to me like a “real-reaction” type of movie instead of a fanciful, special effect laden, over-the-top, drama. I could imagine a person reacting the way each of the characters did in the movie. Casey Afleck’s character was convincing with his “before” and “after” character changes and it saddened me that his character felt the way he did and had to go through the things he did. The same goes for Christian Bale’s character, you get to feel and understand what emotions his character is feeling as he fights internally with himself over what to do about his brother. You also see his character’s wounds and his struggle with his past mistakes.

There were some interesting “double” scene themes going on where it would switch between what older brother and younger brother were doing at the same time that had me furrowing my brow at the message I must have been missing. Unless it was as simple as here is what one is doing while the other is doing this, but I felt that there must have been another intended message for the viewer, that was lost on me unfortunately, but still left me thinking. I’m also not really sure I understand how the movie ends, as I was expecting a totally different ending, but once again I assume that I am missing some “message” from the very end scene. I felt it was long, but not boring, well-acted, but hard to understand, and sad but also confusing. Enough so that I leave not with tears in my eyes but with a furrowed brow, a contemplative brain, and an appreciation for the cast’s acting abilities.