Review: Goosebumps (2015)

                         

           
             'Goosebumps' Might Give You Those, But For The Right Reasons

          It's days like this where I love what I do. I can review a film that manages to live up to my expectations and isn't a film that is super serious or too deep. Just a fun time to watch and that is what Goosebumps is.

     Story:
   Goosebumps follows the story of a boy named Zach (Dylan Minnette) who moves into a small town with his mother (Amy Ryan). Living next door is the mysterious author R.L. Stine (Jack Black) and his daughter Hanna (Odeya Rush). After breaking into Stine's house and opening one of his sealed Goosebumps books, the rest of his books come to life, leading to a night of adventure and horror.

     Ups:
   I thought the actors did a fine job. Dylan Minnette, I think is on his way to bigger things because he is so charismatic and likable here as the main protagonist. While Jack Black is marketed as the lead, it is mainly Minnette's movie. Speaking of which, I though Jack Black was pretty good. I'm usually not fond of his brand of humor, but I didn’t mind him here. Amy Ryan isn't given much to do, but she does a solid job with what she is given. But Jillian Bell was a real scene stealer as Zach's aunt Lorraine. She has a handful of scenes, but she was a riot whenever she appeared.

    I also liked the CGI on some of the monsters. My favorite monster in the film was the Werewolf of Fever Swamp. I liked how they had him walk on two legs and gave him people clothes to acknowledge the fact that he is a werewolf. Also, the Werewolf of Fever Swamp is my second favorite episode of the TV series, right behind The Haunted Mask, so that could also be why I loved the creature so much.

    Downs:
    As a fan of the series, I was hoping they'd include the Haunted Mask because it is my favorite episode (Then, now, and forever, might I add). But to be fair, there are so many monsters in the series, it's difficult to focus on all of them. Maybe in the potential sequel, we'll see it. Also, I admit that it does take a short while for things to really pick up and for the main events to really be set in motion.

    Consensus:
   Overall, Goosebumps is a solid treat for the family that is a fun adventurous romp and a nice nod to fans of the source material. It's not anything ground breaking, but it doesn't need to be. It's simply a fun time at the movies.

Grade: B+

Top 10 Scariest Non-Horror Movies

Hello, Bloggers, Happy Halloween to you all! In the spirit of the holiday, I figured I'd share a list of what I consider to be the top 10 scariest horror movies not categorized under the horror genre. Let's take a look:

10. Animal Kingdom: This choice seems more out of the box, but what makes it so unnerving is two of its characters that are the most memorable on-screen psychopaths in recent memory: "Smurf" and "Pope" Cody. "Smurf" with all of her menace buried under that sugary smile, and "Pope" who can kill you with just a look, will leave you shivering by the time the credits roll. Also, you may never look at the song "All Out Of Love" by Air Supply the same way again.

9. Martha Marcy May Marlene: While being hunted down in a deserted summer camp can be bone-shattering, being involved with a sinister cult in the peaceful upstate New York mountains is enough of a reason to make you appreciate the suburbs. Even when John Hawkes' characte sings a harmonious tune to our lead heroine, you can still sense the darkness behind it.

8. Schindler's List: The film didn't have to show us the horrors of the Holocaust to showcase how bad it was. Yet it still shows how cruel humans can be. None more so than the Nazis, especially Amon Goeth, who in this film is evil personified.

7. Blue Velvet: While Martha Marcy May Marlene showed how life in the mountains can make you appreciate the suburbs more, Blue Velvet shows that even life in the suburbs can be unnerving. Director David Lynch sums that up even through the opening sequence where we see the sunny suburbs, then slowly go deep underground.

6. The White Ribbon: As I said in my review, even if this film isn't exactly a horror film, it still has a structure that is similar to much older horror films because of how we piece the puzzle ourselves: We create what happens behind closed doors and try to figure out who the perp is throughout. There is never a boogeyman wearing a mask because anyone in the village can be wearing an invisible one.

5. The Hunt: The Hunt introduces a different kind of villain. Something that isn't a sentient being or a ghoulish spirit: Rumors. One small idea that can spread and infect the minds of simple townsfolk, turning the town into a modern-day witch hunt.

4. We Need To Talk About Kevin: It has been a couple years since I first saw this and I still can't hear the song "Everyday" by Buddy Holly the same way again. I don't ever plan on being a parent, but watching this sealed the deal for me. In fact, any parent that watches this will be clutching their children by the time it's over.

3. Compliance: Much like how The Hunt demonstrates how a simple idea can grow out of proportion, Compliance shows how one prank can slowly get out of hand and ruin people's lives. What seems like a simple day at work for our main characters will become a night of horror and the main villain doesn't even have to be there for it to happen.

2. Fatal Attraction: Anybody who looks to cheat on their spouse should perhaps watch this before doing so since it is Exhibit A on why you shouldn't do so, thanks to the efforts of actress Glenn Close as the psychotic Alex Forrest. But like Forresr herself, this movie shouldn't be ignored.

1. Requiem For A Dream: Don't do drugs, kids.

So that was my list of the top 10 Scariest Non-Horror Movies. I would love to hear your thoughts on my list in the comments section. Feel free to share your own list in the comments section as well. Thanks for reading and have a very happy and safe Halloween!

Review: The Visit (2015)

                     

         
                 Quite An Interesting 'Visit' To This House Of Horror

        Since M. Night Shyamalan is behind this, and he is famous for his twist endings, I would say that while there is a big twist at the end, the biggest one is that Shyamalan......wait for it....is actually trying!

    Story:
   The Visit is about two children (Ex Oxenbould and Olivia DeBarge) who leave their mother (Kathryn Hahn) to go visit their grandparents. But as their stay continues, their grandparents begin to exhibit strange behavior.

    Ups:
   First off, I loved the use of the found footage technique. Normally, I am not too crazy about that recent craze because we are starting to see a little too much of them. I especially wasn't crazy about the abysmal Paranormal Activity. But here, they take the found footage technique and mold it into the film's adventurous thrilling feel with the kids filming their grandparents and their escapades.

   I also thought the acting was very good, especially from the actors playing the children. They weren't too mature for their age or too kiddish because that tends to be a minor gripe with child actors. But these two kids had great chemistry. I also thought Deanna Dunagan who plays the grandmother was absolutely terrifying. Some of the scariest scenes weren't just the ones where she acts all nuts around the house, but ones where the daughter is interviewing her and Dunagan slowly sheds hidden layers with her craziness slowly cracking and revealing itself.

   Another thing I really liked was how even though we know that the grandparents are crazy, as the film progresses, we are trying to figure out what is making them crazy. Are they possessed? Are they really just senile old people? You keep guessing and I loved that.

    Downs:
    I'll admit that, despite the film having a pretty short length, it still felt much longer than it was. So the pacing was a little off. But that's just a minor gripe.

    Consensus:
    Overall, The Visit is an adventurous yet chilling effort that is one of the best surprises of the year. It made the tired "found footage" gimmick work very well and it is M. Night Shyamalan's best work in years.

Grade: A-

Topic Of The Day: Are Academy Voters Feeling A Genre-Packed Year?

Hello, Bloggers, welcome to another episode of Topic Of The Day. For today's topic, since we are in the midst of awards season, I figured I'd delve into something that really struck me. As I've discussed before in my blog, and others have pointed out, there is one genre that the AMPAS has had a rocky relationship with over the years: sci-fi. Even when Gravity emerged as the big winner a few years ago, winning 7 out of 10 Oscar nominations, they still gave Best Picture to 12 Years A Slave to avoid possible think pieces about how the Academy is racist.

But this year, I wonder whether voters will go crazy over the genre films that the studios have in store for them. One is Mad Max: Fury Road. Even if it didn't make all the money in the world, it still has a near perfect rating on Rotten Tomatoes of 97% and it still made $374 million worldwide against a $150m production budget. With its high rating, critics will certainly get behind it and they're just as political as industry voters are. It did win the FIPRESCI Grand Prix Award which is bestowed by the International Federation of Film Critics and which went to films like Amour and Boyhood which went on to be nominated for Best Picture. Also, if you go on Warner Bros'. official awards site, you'll see that they're pushing for it across the board.

While this one is more of a long shot, A24 Films is giving a push to one of their summer releases, Ex Machina, which was a sleeper hit, grossing $36 million worldwide against a budget of $15 million. They may have their hands full with Room, but if they push hard enough, it can at least get some tech nods. Because of how small Ex Machina is, I feel that techs are as far as the film will go, but it could still call itself an Oscar-nominated film.

Next is The Martian which is currently leading the box office charts and has received high critical praise. When I was listening to the podcast show Indiewire: Screen Talk by Eric Kohn and Anne Thompson recently, they brought up how it could be this year's Argo because of how it is a mainstream crowd pleaser that makes audiences feel good about themselves. They also said that it played very well at its AMPAS screening and that is very key. When Gone Girl had its AMPAS screening, voters greeted it with a shrug and that was like a foreshadowing of how it was treated on Nomination Day. So if voters like it, that's a pretty big deal.

Lastly, I'll go into a little movie called Star Wars: The Force Awakens. This may seem crazy, but hear me out. Now, we're all pretty aware that it'll be a box office behemoth as it is already breaking pre-ticket sales records. But if it receives positive word of mouth from critics, then I could see it having a strong showing at the Oscars because it has J.J. Abrams behind it who almost got voters to recognize fanboy fare with Star Trek which scored a Producers Guild nomination as well as a Writers Guild nod for Best Adapted Screenplay. But over the years, the Star Wars franchise has been more embraced. The first one won 7 out of about 10 nominations and the subsequent 2 films still won technical awards. Much like the first Star Wars, Gravity, and even Avatar which, coincidentally came out on the same date, December 18th, Star Wars: The Force Awakens will likely be an event that will bring the masses into the theaters and sometimes, voters do like to embrace that.

But what do you guys think? Do you feel that voters will go crazy and recognize any of these films for major categories? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments section. Thanks for reading!

Reviews: Jupiter Ascending (2015)

                           

           
                   Send This Movie To 'Jupiter' Where It Belongs

      At the very beginning, Mila Kunis' character says "I hate my life" as she wakes up. That line probably sums up the reaction of those that had to suffer through this movie, including myself.

      Story:
     Jupiter Ascending follows the story of a woman named Jupiter Jones (Mila Kunis) who is hunted down by three royal siblings from space looking to claim her ownership of Earth that apparently she is entitled to and ends up being protected by a half-man half-wolf named Caine (Channing Tatum).

      Ups:
    I thought the score by Michael Giacchino was pretty good and quite beautiful. I won't go deep into the effects and production design because these days, the effects and production design on sci-fi films usually do look spectacular.

     Downs:
    First, I'll go into the acting. While I thought Channing Tatum does a good enough job, Mila Kunis looked bored out of her mind. She looked like she kept waiting for her check to clear. Same with Sean Bean. Also, while Gugu Mbatha-Raw does a fine job with the small role she is given, she is still wasted. Lastly, I'll get into Eddie Redmayne. His performance is so laughably bad, that once you see it, you can't unsee it. I'm quite stunned the Academy didn't take his Oscar back as punishment.

     Also, the script is such a mess, with too many ideas and things going on, that I didn’t follow all the different characters and plot points. Nor did I care about what was going on. Plus, what angered me so much about the film was how it was a sci-fi film that still delved into stuff like revenue and land ownership and so on. I don't watch sci-fi for that stuff.  I want to be transported to a different future or universe. Yet I don't want to watch a sci-fi version of MSNBC nor do I want to see too many ideas put together. A few characters at a time and no overbloated visual effects. Speaking of the characters, because there are so many, I just didn't care what happened to them. Especially Jupiter who is such a weak damsel that it is a shame that we are still getting characters like her in the midst of films like The Hunger Games and Frozen which depict stronger female characters.

    Consensus:
  Overall, Jupiter Ascending is an overbloated anger inducing mess that seems destined to rank among the likes of other D-grade sci-fi films like Barbarella and Battlefield Earth. 

Grade: F
    
 

Review: Steve Jobs (2015)

                             

       
               'Steve Jobs' Is Worth Watching Beyond Just On A Mac Computer

          Just know that, whenever I review a Michael Fassbender film and if I say that he is a chameleon, at this point, it begins to feel customary.

        Story:
       Steve Jobs follows the story of the titular Apple co-founder (Michael Fassbender) and showvases three different periods in his life through three product launches: The Macintosh in 1984, NeXT Box in 1988, and the iMac in 1998.

        Ups:
      I'll start off with the screenplay by Aaron Sorkin. Not only does he get showcase his typical Sorkin-esque dialogue like in The Social Network, but what makes this completely different from The Social Network is how he splits the film into three acts in a way that it not only feels like a play, but three different short movies even as the characters remain consistent. Also, when the film began, I was immediately hooked and I think that is a testament to Sorkin's writing.

      I also would like to acknowledge Danny Boyle who is able to take the different acts of the film and give them distinguished characteristics. For example, during the "NeXT" act, the characters are all wearing red and are surrounded by red, signaling how it is the darkest period in the film, and there is an orchestral score unlike the beginning and the end which are composed of a more techno-based score. So if you love to analyze film, you can pick any detail from each act and find something to appreciate whether it is the way they are shot, the music, or how the whole movie is paced. This kind of structure allows the film to separate it from more conventional biopics like The Iron Lady and Lincoln that mainly focus on the events of the lives of the people that are portrayed. This film may do that as well, but in a way that the product launches depicted are like parallels to Jobs' life which aides in its separation from convention.

     Next, I'll get into the acting. Michael Fassbender is an absolute chameleon. Despite the fact that he looks nothing like Steve Jobs, he still becomes Steve Jobs in body and spirit. The way he portrays him is like the machines he is selling: Full of energy and communicates in rapid fire yet trying to evolve and look ahead. His work transcends beyond cheap mimicry. He also has an outstanding cast surrounding him. Kate Winslet plays Apple's marketing executive Joanna Hoffman and Jobs' confidante and she is in top form here as a woman packed with no-nonsense yet sensitive candor. As the film began and she appears on screen, I kept forgetting that it was Kate Winslet. Seth Rogen has a smaller part as Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and he really impressed me as he sheds his lovable stoner routine. I have been impressed by his semi-serious work in films like 50/50 and Observe and Report, but I loved him in this. I would say this is his perhaps his best work. The rest of the cast, including Jeff Daniels, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Katherine Waterston, are great as well.

     Downs:
     NIL.

     Consensus:
     Overall, Steve Jobs is a captivating biopic that works as both a technical and emotional marvel. It is engaging throughout thanks to its rapid fire writing by Aaron Sorkin, tremendous acting from the cast, and precise direction from Danny Boyle.

Grade: A+

 

Oscars 2016: Gotham Awards Nominations: My Thoughts

Hello, Bloggers! So they just announced the nominations at the Gotham Independent Film Awards which usually are indicators of dark horse indie contenders much like the Independent Spirit Awards. But while the Spirit Awards haven't announced their nominations, the Gotham Awards lineup looks interestingly a little less Oscar friendly.

First off, about four of the five Best Film nominees are female centered. We have not just Carol, but Diary Of A Teenage Girl, which led with four nominations (Best Film, Best Actress for Bel Powley, Bingham Rey Breakthrough Director Award for Marielle Heller, and Best Screenplay) and also Tangerine, which is a dramedy filmed on an iPhone and stars two transgendered actresses. its distributor Magnolia Pictures is looking to mount some kind of awards campaign for this film, and its actresses, so I'd keep an eye on it. Its biggest hurdle is not only that its a smaller-scale film, but it also has The Danish Girl to contend with. But if Tangerine can push hard enough, we'll see where it goes. 

But one of the biggest surprises is that Room only scored one nomination for Best Actress for Brie Larson. However, Whiplash only scored one Gotham nod last year and still managed to nab a 3-2 Oscar record. I still think Room will be this year's "little movie that could" a la Whiplash and Boyhood. One thing I've also noticed is that Brie Larson will once again be up against Cate Blanchett for Best Actress like when she won for Short Term 12 against Blanchett for Blue Jasmine. Could Cate win Round 2?

We also have 6 Best Actress nominees compared to 5 in Best Actor which is neat. Best Actress not only has Cate Blanchett, Brie Larson, and Bel Powley, but Blythe Danner for I'll See You In My Dreams, Lily Tomlin for Grandma, and perhaps the announcement that made my morning, Kristen Wiig for Welcome To Me. I worry that this'll be the farthest she'll go. But I hope she can get recognition for the banner year she's having. 

Expectedly, Spotlight found plenty of love as well as Carol. So their nods gave them a boost to their already solid campaigns. It was also neat that While We're Young found some love in Best Screenplay and that none of the Best Actor contenders are Oscar frontrunners which makes that category quite interesting.

So those are my thoughts on the Gotham Awards nominations. I would love to hear what you guys think. Please feel free to write your thoughts in the comments section. Thanks for reading!

Full nominees here:

http://variety.com/2015/film/news/gotham-awards-nominations-2015-1201624034/