QUICKIES! 6 movies, 1 post!

Hi everyone!

As you may have noticed, I’ve been AWOL lately…  Life has been busy, and other distractions have gotten in the way of my reviews.  But that hasn’t stopped me from going on some cinematic adventures!  And with the holiday season right around the corner (which means plenty of awesome movies around the bend), and life not getting any less busy, I want to quickly recap some movies I’ve seen since my last post.  I hope to continue to write my regular-sized posts in the future, but if I don’t write these mini-reviews now, I feel like I never will and will just fall behind, so please excuse the irregular format this time around!

1) Bad Grandpa – 5/10

In another case of the trailer spoiling the best parts of the movie, all the funniest scenes in the film were given away in the trailer.  The rest was just Johnny Knoxville being Johnny Knoxville: outrageous, gross, and rude, which is what you come to see when you go to any of his movies.  This is certainly not as funny as any of the Jackass films, which I feel are bolstered by Knoxville’s crazy friends.  The child actor in this film is hilarious, and Knoxville does have a handful of humorous moments that aren’t in the trailer, but overall you won’t be missing anything if you skip this film.

2) Ender’s Game – 6/10

As with just about every single one of my other reviews, I have not read the book that this film is based on, but even I feel like it’s probably way better than the film.  In what is essentially a space version of Harry Potter (a chosen, gifted boy is asked to save the world using his skills) or a live-action version of StarCraft (strategically place your units in the right places to defeat the aliens), the film can be a bit boring and slightly confusing at times.  The twist at the end of the film is interesting, but not enough to save the rest of the film.  The acting either falls flat is overly bombastic many times, which is a shame considering the star-filled cast (Asa Butterfield, Harrison Ford, Ben Kingsley, Viola Davis, and Abigail Breslin).  The special effects are decent, but certainly not the best that we’ve seen in recent films.  Once again, you’re not missing out if you decide to skip this film entirely.

3) Dallas Buyers Club – 9/10 

2013 seemed to be the year of McConaughey, as he starred in yet another incredible film.  Unlike his role in Mud, this time around McConaughey plays a man you love to hate and hate to love.  While he is an ignorant homophobe who makes his feelings and opinions very well known throughout the film, it’s this same stubbornness and brashness that makes him so appealing.  Jared Leto does a phenomenal job in his role as the transgender woman Rayon, who is so compelling and charming.  Both actors went through drastic physical transformations to embody their roles.  Jennifer Garner does a satisfactory job in her role.  The story is hilarious and heartwarming, difficult yet delightful.  Not too many movies have really dealt with the issue of AIDS (especially in the early days of it), and this movie definitely does a great job of showing the struggle that people with AIDS faced, particularly the ignorance people had about the disease and its contagiousness.  This one is sure to garner some Oscar buzz, and is certainly worth seeing!

4) 12 Years a Slave – 10/10

An immensely powerful film, it is no surprise that it has already received so many award nominations.  This is absolutely Chiwetel Ejiofor’s breakout role, and he does a fantastic job in a very difficult role.  Showing the extremes that this man would go through just to survive is heart-wrenching, as well as how “normal” this whole insane world was for everyone involved.  For example, in one scene, Ejiofor’s character is practically hung on a tree, with his only means of survival being desperately trying to stand on his tip-toes.  Throughout his entire struggle, other slaves walk around him, children play in the fields behind him, and the white people simply check in on him every now and then as if he is a nuisance.  Other powerful roles are offered by Paul Giamatti, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Michael Fassbender, and of course Brad Pitt.  Believe the hype, this is definitely a great movie that, as hard as it can be to watch sometimes, needs to be seen, and displays one of the most difficultly realistic views of slavery in media of any form.

5) Frozen – 10/10

One of the BEST Disney films (and animated films in general) of recent history, and a true display of the talent that Disney Animation has without the aid of Pixar, this is a movie that both kids and adults will love.  Like every great Disney film, it has a great balance of humor (Josh Gad as a magical snowman?  Yes please!) and sweetness (the relationship between the sisters, Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel is uplifting).  Also, as a musical enthusiast, this movie has one of the best soundtracks of any Disney film out there, with a nice variety of sounds and styles that fit wonderfully into the film; I guarantee you’ll be humming at least one of the songs you hear in the movie for weeks to come.  In another awesome twist, the true love displayed in the movie doesn’t rely on romantic love, but rather the love between family.  The 3D looked great as well and was truly immersive.  The Frozen will rekindle your faith in the power of animated films and remind you about what you loved about them as kids, and I absolutely recommend it!

6) The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – 9/10

Finally, in the blockbuster sequel to the blockbuster original, this film has all the action and excitement that you would expect, and a revolutionary story that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the end.  Again, I’ve never read the source material, but people that I know who have read the books say its a pretty faithful interpretation.  Jennifer Lawrence is as incredible as ever, and the rest of the supporting cast return in excellent form, with a few notable new faces as well (Philip Seymour Hoffman in particular).  While it is over 2 hours long (146 minutes to be precise), it flies by quickly, and ends rather abruptly (which, like any great cliffhanger, simply leaves you excited for the conclusion).  The effects are great and the cinematography is excellent, and its a great follow-up to what I feel will be the biggest trilogy of recent times.  If you liked the first one (or just like action films in general), you definitely should see this one!

That’s it for now, more reviews and other posts coming soon!  Thank you all for continuing to read these posts!  In case I don’t get to chat with you all again in the next few days, I hope you all have a Happy Holidays and New Year! 🙂

-Dr. A

World War Z

World War Z is a non-stop thrill ride of a movie that presents a whole new type of “zombie” that is absolutely terrifying.

NOTE: I’ve never read this book (or Max Brooks’ other famous zombie book  The Zombie Survival Guide), though they’ve both been highly recommended to me by numerous people.  With that in mind, I can’t accurately say whether or not this movie sticks to the format of the book (though from what I’ve heard, the book is more of a collection of vignettes from various survivors of the incident, whereas this movie focuses mainly on one man and his family).

Anyway, World War Z wastes no time in getting to the craziness; within the first 10 minutes of the movie you’ll see people running and screaming in terror!  I will say it’s a bit unclear as to what causes the undead to react in this way (I think it may have been an amped up version of rabies that started in Korea?), and they never really call them “zombies” (they even laugh about/scoff at the mere thought of that in the film), though they certainly exhibit zombie-like characteristics.  Whatever has happened has spread incredibly quickly and is already wiping out nearly all of humanity.  And let me tell you, these aren’t your grandpa’s zombies!  These zombies are fast, strong, and able to jump really high and climb on top of each other, creating crazy towers of zombies!  While most of the time, because there are just so many of them, the zombies just look like a massive blur of people, it still is terrifying and almost dizzying to witness.  I was on the edge of my seat for almost all of the movie, and got scared quite a few times when zombies just popped out of nowhere!  Just when you think you’re safe, there they are!

Brad Pitt, as always, does a fine job in his role; you really do get attached to his family and believe he is a good father/husband, and you worry at times that he won’t make it back to save them.  The rest of the actors are not as well known, and overall do a satisfactory job (I will say that some of the zombies did act very odd, almost like rodents, which made it hard not to giggle sometimes and making them a little less scary for a moment).  It’s interesting to see all people uniting to help each other, even in the midst of looting, in the face of chaos.  The cinematography is great, showing you vast wastelands of what used to be cities being destroyed in hopes of getting rid of the zombies.  The music (some of which was provided by one of my favorite bands, MUSE, which Brad Pitt hand-picked for the movie!) does a great job in amplifying the horror and tension of the zombie outbreak.  I saw it in 3D and that definitely helped in adding to the scares, with zombies literally popping out at you!

The one complaint I do have is with the ending.  It was very unsatisfying and felt rushed (also in my particular case, the movie cut out while we were watching it, leaving us with a white screen for awhile until they fixed it about 5 minutes later, so that also broke the flow for me).  It definitely left me wanting more, but not so much that I would like to see a sequel (really it would just be the exact same movie, maybe from another character’s perspective).  After experiencing such a rush the rest of the movie, I was hoping for a more thrilling ending.

FINAL DIAGNOSIS: 8/10

While the zombies can be blurry and definitely don’t act the way you’ve come to expect zombies to behave, this movie is very exciting and nerve-racking and will keep you entertained up until the end!  Definitely an awesome theater experience!