Category: Home Video

I had high hopes for the 2013 film Admission when I first saw the trailer.  I mean it has Tina Fey and Paul Rudd in it, and it was directed by Paul Weitz who did About a Boy.  Sadly the only thing this film is really good at is wasting talent.

The story follows an admissions officer for Princeton named Portia Nathan (Tina Fey) as she tries to find the best and brightest for her school.  As part of her job she goes out to high schools to advertise for Princeton, and one of her new schools is an alternative school lead by John Pressman (Paul Rudd).  He is as you guessed it the opposite of Portia.  Will opposites attract? You know they will.

Ugg this plot has been done sooo many times before, so what they try and do is shoehorn in all these random side stories:  Like Portia’s relationship with her mother, or the fact that one of the kids that is applying to Princeton might be her son that she gave up for adoption.  But they don’t develop any of it enough to care, so it is all just a waste of time.

Tina Fey and Paul Rudd do the best they can, but them being charming doesn’t fix this mess of movie.  Luckily they are both talented and in demand enough that they can just shrug off this movie and move on to better things.  Had this movie starred anyone else it would have been a complete disaster, and it might have killed their careers.

What I am telling you is that if you have ever seen a romantic comedy before then you have seen this film.  Plus it was probably better when you saw it before.  The leads are likable, but that is about it.  Save yourself some time and watch just about anything else before seeing this movie.

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters is a 2013 film written and directed by Tommy Wirkola.  It is described as an Action Horror movie, but it is not very scary, and more so funny.  Really what it is, is low brow entertainment at its finest.

The story follows Hansel (Jeremy Renner) and Gretel (Gemma Arterton) from their early run in with the witch in the candy house.  To them becoming the titular bounty earning “Witch Hunters”.  They are called in to find missing children, and are soon dealing with some pretty dangerous witches.  The leader of whom is a grand witch name Muriel (Famke Janssen).

The plot is thin, but really it is just an excuse for a bunch of fun action scenes, and for Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton to quip one liners.  I also love that even though this is a period movie, they make no attempt to have the dialog or the weaponry match the times.  The makers of this film just decided to have a good time, so why bother trying to make a fantasy film historically accurate.

The fun the filmmakers are having really shines through.  You can tell that they were enjoying themselves coming up with new ways to kill witches in the most bloody ways possible, and for the most part they were very successful.  They make sure that you are well accustomed to the color red by the end of this film.

The actors also look like they are having fun in this film, especially the leads.  Renner and Arterton seem to relish kicking in skulls and playing with cool toys.  Famke Janssen is excellent at being bad.  She has that perfect evil glint in her eye, and she has a huge smile on her face when she gets to beat the stuffing out of the heroes.

If you come in to this film expecting something intellectual, you will be disappointed.  This is a dumb film that knows what it is, and it enjoys itself immensely.  If you are a fan of films like Army of Darkness, you should have fun watching this flick.  If not, this is probably not for you.

About Time, the 2013 film from Universal Pictures, was hyped as a new romantic comedy from the writer of Love Actually and Notting Hill, but it ends up being more about a man’s relationship with his father, and that is a good thing.  It manages not to get caught in the normal rom-com trappings, and actually be much more engaging and heartwarming.

The story starts off with our hero Tim Lake (Domhnall Gleeson) remembering a bad night, only to be interrupted from his sorrow by his sister (Lydia Wilson) who says his dad (Bill Nighy) is looking for him.  His dad informs him that he can travel back in time in his own life.  He decides to try out his new found power on the aforementioned bad night, fixing all his errors.  Instead of using this power to get rich, he decides that he is going to use it to get a girlfriend.

At first I was apprehensive about this movie because it sounded like the guy in this movie was just going to manipulate women in to going out with him, but the writer Richard Curtis is too smart for that to be the case, so for the most part Tim uses his power for good, and to not be a total looser.  The most gripping use of the time travel is in his interactions with his father.

It should come as no surprise that veteran actor Bill Nighy is great in this film as the father.  He is charming and loving, and he plays a very compassionate father without getting too cheesy.  Domhnall Gleeson and Rachel McAdams play the central couple well.  They make their love affair seem real, and it is great to see them go through life’s struggles together.

This movie really surprised me.  I am used to romantic comedies just using the same old tropes, and tugging at the same heart strings over and over, but a clever plot, and good actors make this a movie worth watching.  If they made more romantic comedies like About Time, the genre wouldn’t be circling the trash bin like it is now.

 

I was told I needed to watch The Raid: Redemption, a 2011 movie released by Sony Pictures Classics, because it was so similar to Dredd, and since The Raid technically came out first in 2011, Dredd ripped it off.  The big difference is that The Raid is actually an Indonesian martial arts movie, and Dredd is more of a standard action move.  The Raid is good, but Dredd did not rip it off.

The story follows a SWAT team as they invade a building of criminals in a Jakarta slum to pull out an drug lord named Tama Riyadi.  The SWAT team seems to have the upper hand at first, but soon things spiral out of control, and they are trapped in a building full of criminals that want to kill them.

You would think that with such a straight forward plot that this movie would make sense, but the characters are always doing things that defy logic.  “Hey I could pick up that assault rifle since I am out of ammo, but no I am fine just punching people.”  “Or hey I have a gun and that guy has a machete, but he looks mean so I am going to hide.”  Then there are some plot twists that are not really completely explained.  You get the gist, but it feels like they left something out.

That being typed, the story doesn’t matter.  This is a martial arts movie, so you are watching this movie for the crazy fight scenes, and the cool choreography.  The Raid has them in spades.  The fights were visceral and tense, and the stunt men knew their craft.  This may not have been the most well acted movie ever, but these men were selected because they knew how to throw some fancy punches.

While this movie is a little incoherent, it is a blast to watch.  The action never stops.  The Raid is a perfect fit if you are in the mood for a straight up dumb action movie, or if you want to appear classy because you watch foreign films.

I don’t watch many horror movies.  I can probably count the number of them I watch every year on one hand, but The Conjuring was supposed to be one of the best horror movies from last year, so when my friend asked me to watch it with him I agreed.  I am happy that I did because for the first two thirds of this film it really delivers the chills.

The story is based on the case files of the real-life self-proclaimed Demonologists Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) Warren.  Who are trying to help the Perron family deal with the haunted house they are living in.  The Warren’s must race to deal with this spirit before it kills the Perrons.

There have been about eight billion haunted house movies made, and I am pretty sure that I am not exaggerating, but as a credit to the writers, the 1970’s non-funny Ghostbusters feel of this movie keeps it fresh.  The fact that these were all real people does make it that much more scary as well.

Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga play the Warrens just right.  They are skeptical of people when they need to be, and they are sympathetic true believers the rest of the time.  They made the Warrens feel like real people.  Ron Livingston and Lili Taylor play the very frightened Mr. and Mrs. Perron to a tee.  They are scared and confused just like anyone would be in this situation.

The eerie imagery this movie delivers was always putting me ill at ease, and I was constantly trying to convince the people on screen that they were doing the wrong thing, but they just didn’t want to listen.  To be fair, stupid movie people never listen to me.  This movie might be worth it just to see the horrifying objects that the prop crew found and came up with.

The only problem with this movie is towards the end when we get a good look at the being that has been scaring us the whole time.  It is a let down because it is not half as terrifying as what has been in our heads, but still the first part of this movie is so good that it is easy to forgive a small slip up at the end.

If you are looking for something to give you chills, The Conjuring delivers.  It has creepy imagery and a fresh take on a very well trod premise.  I probably don’t need to see another haunted house movie for awhile, but I can only hope that when I do that they find a way to top The Conjuring.