Author: crunchonthis

Starring Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Courtney Cox and Emma Roberts
Directed by Wes Craven
Rated R for strong bloody violence, language and some teen drinking
Appropriate for ages 17+

    Ten years have passed since Sidney Prescott (Campbell) was haunted by the Ghostface Killer and now she has written a book about how she has pulled her life back together again in light of everyone of her friends getting killed around her.  Unfortunately, on this particular anniversary, a new Ghostface killer is back and again taking the lives of everyone she cares about.

    It’s kind of ironic that this 90‘s franchise based on nostalgia of older horror films is now trying to recreate that same nostalgia on itself.   While it mentions some of the newer horror films that have come recently, the cast is mostly concerned with the original Scream murders, entitled Stab for the movies based on them.  I’ll fully admit that the opening of the film is a very clever vehicle for making fun of the scream films while at the same time helping you remember what they were all about.  

    But then Wes Craven and crew continue to try to be witty in order to make us laugh while we are watching everyone die.  While this worked for the original film, it only creates a parody of it rather than trying to actually scare you.  The whole thing was kind of silly, almost like Wes Craven creating a Scary Movie sequel rather than something new and original.  

    One trick that does work is that Craven really tries to fool you into thinking that you can try to guess who the real killer is.  He uses every trick in the book.  But just like the first films, your guess would have to be random rather than educated in order to find out who is holding the knife.  The only real clue is that if they are dead – they can’t be the killer.  

Starring Saoirse Ronan, Eric Bana and Cate Blanchett
Directed by Joe Wright (Atonement)
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, some sexual material and language
Appropriate for ages 16+

    Sixteen-year-old Hanna (Ronan) has spent her entire life isolated in Northern Finland, all the while being trained by her father (Bana) to be the perfect killing machine.  When the government learns of her existence, Hanna must find and kill the agent responsible for her exile (Blanchett) or be killed in return.

    Even in the parts of the movie I didn’t like, I was completely fascinated with every minute of this film.  The story itself isn’t completely original since it is essentially the same basic plot as all three of the Bourne movies.  But the telling of the story is completely original and rather breathtaking.  You take a young girl who has never been exposed to the outside world, but who is very educated on it, and basically throw her to the wolves.  Except that she is more dangerous than the wolves.  The story, and moreover the mystery, is well told and extremely exciting to watch unfold.

    Part of this movie is very much an art film.  When Hanna is not kicking butt, she is discovering the things that all of us take for granted such as music, electricity, cars, and the list goes on.  So in one sense it is a movie about self-exploration for a girl who is only intellectually acquainted with the modern world.  

    It helps to have such a talented actress like Ronan in the lead role.  At age sixteen she has already been nominated for an Oscar (Atonement) and has placed herself as one of the premiere young actresses in Hollywood.  To say she was perfectly cast for this part is an understatement.  

Insidious

Starring Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne and Barbara Hershey
Directed by James Wan (Saw)
Rated PG-13 for thematic material, violence, terror and frightening images, and brief strong language
Appropriate for ages 16+

When their child slips into a coma, his family starts to see strange apparitions around their home.  When they discover that those apparitions, composed of demons and ghosts, want into his body, they set out on a journey to keep their son from being possessed and having his soul permanently trapped in another dimension.  

For the first hour of insidious, the film is extremely scary.  Scary to the point where every hair on your body will be standing up as if they are warding off the spirits themselves.  For this alone, the film is worth watching.  It steals a little bit from Poltergeist, but it is largely original.  Rather than having the body stuck in the TV, its the soul that is trapped in what the medium calls “the further.”  Okay – bad name.  I like the name “the in-between” from The Lovely Bones better, but we can’t change that now.  I digress.  The demon and ghosts are horribly frightening until you find out what they actually are.  

And that’s when the movie loses its edge. Once the technology of ghost whispering comes into play, the movie relies on comedy relief and weird contraptions to help the family – and loses what momentum it had going.  The technology should have enhanced the film and instead it got in the way.

Starring Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender, and Judi Dench
Directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga (Sin Nombre)
Rated PG-13 for some thematic elements including a nude image and brief violent content
Appropriate for ages 10+

    Charlotte Bronte’s haunting Victorian tale of love and loss is seeing its umpteenth version with this new vision of the classic book.  This time out, Alice in Wonderland’s Mia Wasikowska is the the brooding Jane, an abused girl that makes it out of her hellish upbringing only to have her heart broken by the virtues of her day, and Inglourious Basterds’ Michael Fassbender as her employer hiding a terrible secret that will deeply hurt them both.  

    The story itself is too well known for the production to be original, but I think that possibly the filmmakers wanted to create a rendition of the story for those not familiar with the original book or movies and who have a clean slate to work upon.  In this case, the movie is extremely successful.  The screenplay is well enough constructed as to allow the viewer a different spin on the same subject.  

    Much like the recent Pride and Prejudice, magnificently directed by Joe Wright, the movie attempts to use a mix of story, sight and sound to create a breathtaking two hours of entertainment.  The ingredients were all there to create another Victorian masterpiece, but unfortunately the pieces of the puzzle didn’t fit together well.  Each part works by itself.  The acting is superb by the extremely talented cast and the scene direction works well for the picture.  Also of note is the lovely cinematography by Adriano Goldman (City of Men) whose use of shadow and fog combined with the beauty of the English countryside deserve recognition.  

Starring Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Jason Bateman
Directed by Greg Mottola (Superbad)
Rated R for language including sexual references, and some drug use
Appropriate for ages 17+

    Two British nerds (Shaun of the Dead’s Pegg and Frost) on an alien sight-seeing tour through America discover and pick up a real alien along the way.  The alien, simply named Paul (voice of Seth Rogen), requests their help to get back to his ship before U.S. government agents kill him.  So together the three pot-smoking misfits travel to the ship site in their motorhome, hot on the run from folks that want them dead. 

    The best quality of this comedy is that it is truly clever and original.  Combining the road trip comedy with sci-fi proves to be entertaining, witty, and at times very funny.  It helps that the actors are so likable.  While Pegg is a fairly talented comedic actor, it is important for Frost to be likable since he has never shown much in the likes of acting chops in his various films.  But in spite of this, his films have been a lot of fun to watch and his goofiness as an actor has become somewhat endearing. 

    As for adult comedies, this is certainly the best to come out so far this year and you will no doubt laugh yourself silly at times.  Then again – the year is young. 

    What many will not like about the film is the direct attack on Christianity.  I’m not sure if they intended the film to be an atheistic sermon, but having an alien declare there is no God and try to make you feel stupid for believing – well that won’t sit right for many audiences.  And it doesn’t help that they convey Christians as complete wackos either.  Personally, I tried to attach it to the overall story, but the movie does go out of its way to convey what many will be consider to be very, very offensive. 

Battle: Los Angeles

Starring Aaron Eckhart, Bridget Moynahan, and Michelle Rodriguez
Directed by Jonathan Liebesman
Rated PG-13 for sustained and intense sequences of war violence and destruction, and for language
Appropriate for ages 13+

    Staff Sergeant Michael Nantz (Eckhart) is on the brink of retirement from a long life spent in the Marines when he is called back on duty due to an alien attack on the Earth’s major cities, including his own: Los Angeles.  With a green platoon and weapons that pale in comparison to their enemy, Nantz and his fellow Marines must find a way to not only stay alive, but take out the hostiles as well.

    Many of the major critics out there are not just panning the film, but are making it sound like the first major 2011 contender for the Razzies as well.  Going into the movie, I tried to keep an open mind.  Many films like this have a great trailer, but that’s all you get.  Personally I enjoyed the trailer and was looking forward to seeing if the other critics had any validity to their statements.  Let me tell you – I think the majority of press are dead wrong about the movie and are only rejecting it because it has become cool to do so.

    First off, this is a genre film built for a specific audience.  That particular audience expects to see Independence Day meets Black Hawk Down and in this situation, their expectation is largely met.  The film gives you a little chance to meet and get to know some of the characters in the first act, but once the Marines find out they are under attack, the film goes into full-on adrenaline mode where the intense action never stops.  Unlike a film such as Independence Day, you don’t get a dozen different stories and tons of comedy relief.  While that worked for that particular film, the filmmakers here simply chose to follow one group of soldiers for two hours without switching back and forth and without a whiff of a sense of humor. 

    I will admit that the plot is fairly simple: alien soldiers vs. human soldiers.  Also, the movie does have its cheesy moments, but there are some nice emotional scenes as well that the US military would be proud to have in the film.  It helps to have an actor of Eckhart’s ability who can bring an authenticity that is hard to find in genre pics like this. 

    What many folks were afraid of is that there were just enough special effects to make the trailer look good and the film would essentially be just another Skyline.  Fortunately that is not the case here.  While many of the set pieces are briefly shown in the trailer, there is much still to see on screen that will excite the target audience.