Category: Theaters

Crimson Peak, the new movie from Guillermo del Toro, is a great film provided that you are not looking for a horror movie.  I understand your confusion given that it is being marketed as one.  Like the main character Edith Cushing (Mia Wasikowska) says about the book she is writing during the film, “it isn’t a ghost story, but a story with ghosts in it.”  This is very much the case with Crimson Peak.

The movie follows plucky young author Edith as she is swept off of her feet by a British Baronet (Tom Hiddleston) and taken to a dilapidated mansion known as ‘Crimson Peak’.  Also living in this mansion is the Baronet’s sister played by Jessica Chastain.  There are secrets being kept by these two aristocrats, and Edith’s life may depend on her being able to figure them out.  Oh yeah Edith can see ghosts, so there are a couple of ghouls in this movie.

When asked about the genre of this movie del Toro called it a ‘Gothic Romance’, and I think that is an apt description.  Though maybe ‘Gothic Mystery’ may help the average movie goer know what to expect.  That is not to say there aren’t a few good scares, or that Crimson Peak isn’t creepy.  There are, and it is.  They are just not the main focal point of this film.  So if puffy sleeves and sleuthing sound good to you, than you will probably like what this film has to offer.

Another reason you may like this movie is its incredible set design and special effects.  Crimson Peak is no doubt del Toro’s favorite character.  Every square inch of the manor is covered in detail, and he is never in a hurry to cut away from showing off the bits and pieces of the house.  The ghosts are horrifying looking, and they never look cheap or too CG’y.  Guillermo del Toro is a visual wizard.

The actors all play their roles well.  Considering the dialog is probably the weakest part of this movie, the actors are all able to pick up the slack and seem believable in the archetypal roles they are given.  Jessica Chastain in particular is as hunting as any of the ghosts.

If you have seen any of Guillermo del Toro’s other ‘horror’ movies it won’t surprise you that Crimson Peak has more in common with Cinderella than The Exorcist.  Guillermo treats his horror movies like dark fairy tales, and if that is what you want, I think you will love this film like I did.  If you want jump scares, you will have to look somewhere else.  It is a shame they couldn’t have marketed it that way.

The Martian, the latest Sci-Fi film from Ridley Scott based on the titular novel, once again proves that movies with the lowest stakes pack the biggest punch.  The Martian is a gripping movie from beginning to end, and it will either make you want to be an astronaut again, or vow never to leave Earth.

Mark Watney is lost and thought dead after a major storm on Mars, but to his and everyone else’s surprise he has survived.  Now he must live alone on the surface of a foreign planet until he and NASA can find a way to bring him back home.  This of course will not be easy since Mars will do everything it can to try and kill him.

Like I said in the intro movies like this have incredibly low stakes.  We are talking about the life of one man, and in the grand scheme of things that is not much, but those low stakes allow us to get emotionally involved.  To let us identify with what is happening on screen.  When movies are busy killing off hundreds of people it is hard to care.  They all just get lost in the shuffle, but when you see the struggle of one human, you are right there with him willing him to beat the odds.

Though without a likable Watney this movie would fall apart.  Matt Damon nails Watney.  His has a jerky, but likable charm.  He is a fun character to watch as he tries to escape his new Martian home.  There are a lot of other good actors in this movie, but this film belongs to Matt Damon.  His is in almost every scene, and he makes the most of it.

The special effects are wonderful.  Ridley Scott is a Sci-Fi genius.  The Martian landscape looks real and like a place we can visit.  It makes me hope that we will get there someday to see how close he got.  Mars is a fully realized character second in importance only to Damon.

This movie is a lot like Gravity, but that is a good thing not a bad one.  Even though these movies show the perils of space travel they still excite the imagination and make us want to venture beyond our little planet.  The Martian is a wonderful movie, and thrilling all the way through.  I cannot recommend it enough.

Well this is an odd turn, I get to tell you my thoughts on a movie before its official release.  Sure it is a movie almost no one has ever heard of, but still maybe this review will be of use to someone.  Hah! Who am I kidding no one reads this blog.  Anyway… the movie in question is No Escape by John Erick Dowdle, and being distributed by The Weinstein Company.

Businessman Jack Dwyer (Owen Wilson) needs to get his family out of a Southeast Asian country after a violent coup.  The militants are killing any foreigners or government loyalists they find on site.  The Dwyers will need to get lucky and have a little help from a foreign operative named Hammond (Pierce Brosnan).  Otherwise there will be No Escape! (See what I did there!  Pretty great if I do say so myself.)

That is pretty much the whole movie.  The Dwyers are chased by militants.  Basic plots can work well for films like this, but No Escape’s problem is that it can’t figure out what kind of film it wants to be: gritty thriller or jaunty action film.  So the tone is all over the place.  One second people are telling jokes, the next they are showing you something truly terrible.  It is kind of jarring.  If you are going to go gritty and dark go for it, make everyone gasp in horror, or if you are going for a light weight thrill ride, commit so the audience can settle in and enjoy themselves.

Since they pretty much cast a whole country as the villain they decided like halfway through the film to have Pierce Brosnan’s character just info dump what the coup was all about.  That way you can empathize with the horrible violence?  I guess?  Speaking of Brosnan, his character was definitely part of a jaunty action movie, and I think I would have liked his movie better: cracking wise and shooting bad guys.  It would have been clichéd as all get out, but fun.  Owen Wilson’s thriller was okay, but it was a little dull.  Based on some of Wilson’s jokes, I think he would have liked to be in Brosnan’s No Escape too.

One last thing I really have to mention, if you can’t handle shaky-cam filmography stay far away from this film.  My friend had a hard time getting though No Escape, and he ended up almost as sweaty as the characters on screen.  The camera shakes around so much it was hard to see what was going on.  Sure the fact that since seating was limited we had to sit right up front did not help, but sitting further back would have just made it a less nauseating blur.

In the end No Escape wasn’t a truly bad film it just couldn’t figure out what it wanted to be, and that kept it from being good.  I don’t regret watching this movie for free, so I guess my recommendation is to wait until it hits the streaming service of your choosing.  Due to the weak advertising campaign, complete lack of buzz, and late August release date you probably won’t have to wait long.

For some movies it doesn’t matter how well or poorly reviewed they are, they are going to be successful anyway.  Jurassic World is like that.  The hype was so deafening, and it had been so long since Jurassic Park III came out that the nostalgia for a those movies was flowing hard.  Jurassic World was going to be hit.  It was just a matter of how big of a hit.  Turns out it was massive.  Luckily it was also a pretty decent film.  Not the classic of the original Jurassic Park, but still pretty good.

InGen is up to its old tricks and has opened a new park Jurassic World on the same island as the original.  This park however has opened and is quite successful, but not as successful as the company wants it to be, so they have created a new dinosaur to stir up attendance.  It of course gets loose and starts to eat everyone and everything.

The premise for this movie is just silly.  Every time InGen has tried to make an attraction with one of these animals it has gone horribly wrong, so there is no way they would be willing to try again.  Let alone try and find someone to insure them.  Not to mention making super dinosaurs that have the same skill set as the Predator alien seems like a bad idea.  Still they do, and people get eaten, and I have to admit it is still fun to watch.  Which means when they make the next movie featuring dinosaurs in space I will probably be back.

As far as the acting goes in this film there is nothing to write home about, but the writers didn’t give the actors anything to work with, just bad clichés.  Bryce Dallas Howard is the cold by the numbers business woman that just needs to lighten up, and Chris Pratt is the cool guy that will show her the way.  Oh yeah! And Nick Robinson and Ty Simpkins get to play the kids that try not to get eaten; they are very important because without them how would Howard’s character learn that she needs a family to be complete?

With the story and acting slightly below bar that leaves it to the dinosaurs to make up the difference, and they deliver.  Jurassic World’s dinos are the best looking yet.  Finally a Jurassic movie that has better special effects than the original.  They are spectacular, and a joy to watch.  You will believe that they have brought dinosaurs back to life.

Jurassic World was dumb, and had a silly story, but it had it were it counted – that being great dinosaurs!  There will be another Jurassic Park movie, and I will see it.  I just hope they can tighten up the story and script.  If I am going to see raptors in space it had at least better make sense.  Until then, Jurassic World is worth your money for its popcorn fun.