More Movie Reviews

Because sometimes I’m out of ideas for things to talk about.

Okay, most times.

All the time.

Cake

This movie stars Jennifer Aniston as a miserable chronic pain sufferer who’s having trouble not being a total asshole to everyone around her. Granted, she has reasons for being so unhappy, but she’s still pretty terrible to people. It’s both amusing and awful, and always entertaining. What I like is that the character is unlikable but not to the point where you absolutely hate her, and everything she does makes sense. You know exactly why she does what she does and is who she is, and at the end, you can understand why she’s taking some steps towards being happy. There’s no miracle cure for her, but she is at a point where she can really live.

Strangerland

This Australian movie stars Nicole Kidman and Joseph Fiennes as the parents of two children (not young children; they’re like twelve and fifteen) who have disappeared into the outback one day just before a dust storm. There isn’t much plot to it; instead, it focuses on the toll the disappearance has on the parents as they struggle to figure out what happened. There are no easy answers. In some cases, no answers at all. It’s a good movie, and definitely heart wrenching, but don’t expect to come out knowing what happened.

Whitewash

And now we’re going to Canada. It’s a bit of an international theme. The most I can say about this movie is that it’s confusing (mostly due to the anachronistic way it’s told) but I still liked it. It’s about a snowplow driver in Quebec who hits a man and tries to cover it up. Things of course get out of control and flashbacks reveal exactly what led up to the accident. Honestly, I’m not sure why exactly I liked it, just that I found it interesting. I’m always a sucker for character driven stories I guess.

Bluebird

The fourth and last movie in today’s set of drama films is Bluebird, about a bus driver whose distraction at a critical moment causes a boy to be left on her bus overnight during freezing temperatures. Again, it’s not story heavy. It’s mostly about how one small mistake can have devastating consequences for everyone, even those who aren’t involved. The boy is hospitalized in a coma he might not recover from, the driver, Lesley, basically fired, and their families have to decide what happens next. And that really isn’t easy.

Overall, really good movies if you want character studies. I would recommend all of them. I think they’re all still on Netflix, so if you have that, be sure to check them out.

Later!

More Movie Reviews

What can I say? I like to watch movies. Mostly scary this time, because of course last month was October.

The Babadook

TL;DR: Woman finds a weird story book and reads it to her young son. Weird things start happening, adding to the stress of raising her hyperactive son. And then it gets worse.

I’m definitely ambivalent on this one. The horror is pretty good and I thought the characterization of Amelia, the overwhelmed single mom, was great, but yeah, it definitely has problems. I actually liked the ending, but I can see why other people don’t; in some ways, it’s a non-ending and you’re left with the feeling of not being sure what the hell happened, and not in a good way. Give it a watch if you’re in the mood for a very creepy first half, but you might end up being disappointed in the rest. Unless you’re really into symbolism.

The Mirror

TL;DR: Three roommates obtain a supposedly haunted mirror in order to prove that the supernatural exists. Things…don’t go well.

This movie was okay, though personally, I think Oculus did the whole haunted mirror thing better. I didn’t mind it, but it really didn’t leave much of an impression on me, like to the point that I don’t really have much to say about it. Still, it’s perfectly watchable and you might even like it.

Torment

TL;DR: Family goes out for a vacation at their country and when they wake up in the middle of the night to find their son is gone, they realize that someone is out there hunting them.

I would give this a solid seventy percent. It didn’t take any chances or do anything new, but it still managed to have a fairly interesting story. Probably the worst fault is that the end feels a little obvious. I also felt like there wasn’t enough explanation as to the motivations of the villains.

Creep

TL;DR: Videographer Aaron takes a job filming a dying man named Josef, who seems a little off. Then he seems really off.

I definitely liked this one, but I found myself constantly asking why Aaron was going along with what Josef wanted, especially as time went on and it became obvious that Josef wasn’t who he claimed to be. This is also a found footage movie, which is totally overdone but actually works here to enhance the creepiness. So if you can ignore Aaron’s questionable choices, then yes, watch it.

Time Lapse

TL;DR: Three roommates, Finn, Callie, and Jasper, discover that their dead neighbor has a camera that takes a picture of their apartment…one day in the future.

I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. At first, I was so annoyed with the tropes that were appearing, especially involving Callie, only for those tropes to be turned completely on their heads. This was a brilliant picture and I definitely recommend checking out this twist on a time travel story. The ending was one of the best I’ve seen in a long time.

Going Postal II, Part 1

Today’s my blogiversary! I think. I’m like ninety percent sure. Anyway, I’m going to celebrate like I did last year: by reposting! Because there’s no better way to celebrate your blog’s longevity than by not blogging. And first up is the post that I think was my best one from the past year, even if it doesn’t have a terrible amount of views or comments. It’s actually from last September, after I did the repost thing for the first time.

The Z is for Zombie (Originally posted 9/24/2013 [http://jeoneil.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-z-is-for-zombie.html])

Well, I finally got around to watching World War Z last weekend, so spoilers ahoy if you haven’t seen it yet but still want to. It has already been reviewed by more articulate people than I (who also saw the movie when it actually came out, thus making the reviews actually useful), so I’m not going to go into much depth about it. Suffice to say it was a very standard action film with characters that weren’t realized enough to be compelling and despite being a zombie movie, wasn’t really scary. Honestly, reading the news about its troubled production was way more entertaining than the resulting film.

The real point I want to get into is how it was a very poor adaptation of the book, like adaptation in name only. The book is about societal collapse and eventually, its reconstruction. It’s accepted that the zombie plague can’t be cured, can’t be prevented, and is always fatal. Conventional methods of warfare are ineffective. Ruthless, amoral methods end up being the only way to survive, from cannibalism to using humans as zombie bait.

The movie shows none of that, except maybe the plague being incurable. Zombies are unstoppable excepting headshots, like in the book, but there is never any modification of tactics beyond that “infect yourself with a curable disease and then the zombies won’t want you” thing. Even though I would think that the rotting undead wouldn’t be that picky. Seeing as they’re dead.

But that’s beside the point. The movie is weak. The societal upheaval is replaced with a man searching for clues about the disease so he can reunite with his family. Granted, the original framing of WORLD WAR Z had no main character (except maybe the guy conducting the interviews), but still. They could have come up with something better than the weaksauce every-action-movie-ever plot they had. They didn’t try to make a WORLD WAR Z movie (or they tried and failed…miserably). They made a zombie movie with World War Z as its title.

Finally, I would like to point out that just because this movie of a book was bad doesn’t mean all book-movies are bad, even the ones that are bad adaptations. The original version of Blade Runner is hardly the adaptation of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? but most consider it a good movie in its own right. So if you’re not going to make a good adaptation, at least try to make a good movie.

Why is this my best? I’m not sure. I just think I nailed it on the head here. Not that World War Z was particularly difficult to find fault in. My only regret is that I could have gone into more detail about what made it fail as a movie, which I think is the greater sin than it simply being a poor adaptation. So what do you think about bad movies and bad adaptations of books?

The Z is for Zombie

Well, I finally got around to watching World War Z last weekend, so spoilers ahoy if you haven’t seen it yet but still want to. It has already been reviewed by more articulate people than I (who also saw the movie when it actually came out, thus making the reviews actually useful), so I’m not going to go into much depth about it. Suffice to say it was a very standard action film with characters that weren’t realized enough to be compelling and despite being a zombie movie, wasn’t really scary. Honestly, reading the news about its troubled production was way more entertaining than the resulting film.

The real point I want to get into is how it was a very poor adaptation of the book, like adaptation in name only. The book is about societal collapse and eventually, its reconstruction. It’s accepted that the zombie plague can’t be cured, can’t be prevented, and is always fatal. Conventional methods of warfare are ineffective. Ruthless, amoral methods end up being the only way to survive, from cannibalism to using humans as zombie bait.

The movie shows none of that, except maybe the plague being incurable. Zombies are unstoppable excepting headshots, like in the book, but there is never any modification of tactics beyond that “infect yourself with a curable disease and then the zombies won’t want you” thing. Even though I would think that the rotting undead wouldn’t be that picky. Seeing as they’re dead.

But that’s beside the point. The movie is weak. The societal upheaval is replaced with a man searching for clues about the disease so he can reunite with his family. Granted, the original framing of WORLD WAR Z had no main character (except maybe the guy conducting the interviews), but still. They could have come up with something better than the weaksauce every-action-movie-ever plot they had. They didn’t try to make a WORLD WAR Z movie (or they tried and failed…miserably). They made a zombie movie with World War Z as its title.

Finally, I would like to point out that just because this movie of a book was bad doesn’t mean all book-movies are bad, even the ones that are bad adaptations. The original version of Blade Runner is hardly the adaptation of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? but most consider it a good movie in its own right. So if you’re not going to make a good adaptation, at least try to make a good movie.

Quick Reviews

Here’s some more quick reviews. I included movies this time because I’ve been watching a lot of them lately, and why not? A good movie is just as valuable as a good book. And just as hard to come by ; ).

The Maze Runner

Story: 8 Characterization: 6 Writing: 7

Very good book. The premise is interesting. A bunch of 12-18 year olds trapped in the center of a maze full of monsters, no memory of how they got there, desperate to find a way out. I have to admit, though, I didn’t feel much connection to the main character. I actually thought others were better defined and they weren’t even POV characters. Thomas was a bit too good at everything for my taste. No, he wasn’t always right but he was always close enough that it was a little annoying.

Kill Alex Cross

Story: 2 Characterization: 1 Writing: 1

You know what? Don’t tease people like this, James Patterson. I started reading this book in hopes that my greatest fantasy was at long last coming true, but for some reason Alex Cross is still in the damn book. SPOILER ALERT: he’s not even dead. Frigging waste of time.

A Good Day to Die Hard

Story/Writing: 2 Characterization: 2

Is there a word for something that’s both terrible and awesome at the same time? Because this is it (seriously, we should start calling it a Die Hard). The dialogue and story were atrocious, like the writer hammered it out in two hours after a weekend of binge drinking. But the action scenes were frigging amazing. There was a car chase that lasted twenty minutes—no hyperbole there. Twenty minutes of smashing cars, explosions, and a freaking missile being fired. I hope they release a version where all the talky bits are edited out and we can just watch a solid hour of explosions.

Mama

Story/Writing: 10 Characterization: 10

Very good. It’s not often you see a scary movie that, when things aren’t being scary, they’re dealing with real problems. Unlike the above mentioned Die Hard, Mama is well-crafted, with actual characters, yet it manages to be its core genre at the same time. If you like scary movies or well-written movies (and don’t mind jump scenes), try it out.