New Daughter (2009)

Blu-ray/Netflicks

A-Mazing sleeper!! Whoda Thunk!?!

              Man-O-man!! I'm not even going to try to hide my love of this movie! It was awesome! Maybe it was because I was in a really bad place in my life. I mean, there hadn't been any GOOD scary movies in a long time. Scary movies are an important component to a long and healthy live, I'm pretty sure Confucius or Socrates said that!?! Anyway, rather I'm right or not about who's quote that was is beside the point. Time for the technicalities. This movie stars Frikkin Kevin "Leave WaterWorld Outta the Equation" Coastner as John James, Ivana Baquero as Louisa and Gattlin Griffith as Sam. This movie had a very limited theatrical release on December 19th, 2009. Blu-ray/DVD/Redbox/Netflicks followed on and soon after May 18th, 2010.

              Okay, with all the formalities out of the way let's get right to it. From the beginning of this film I was pulled into the story.  Filmed in South Carolina, the setting was on point and well picked. Each of the characters is given enough screen time to give you a solid idea of who they and what their focus is. John James is a recently divorced novelist who is trying to start up a new life with his two children. Shortly after moving into the country side home he bought strange occurrences start to happen. 

                Now, on the topic and the "strange occurrences. As previously stated in other posts. I have a very touchy pet peeve about people not "reacting" to ridiculous situations appropriately. I mean come on! It's not hard to know that, "Man this is not natural, it's almost SUPER-natural" etc,etc. I however did not feel like the main protagonist under-reacted to the start of what would spiral into, "I'm out"!! Just saying.

              So for the baddies/villains of this film. I was really impressed by not only the concept but the design and history of the character(s). Brilliant. They are creepy, somewhat scary but not so over-powering that a grown man with a good gun wouldn't say, "I can most certainly whoop these assholes!" Even I, one prone to not ask questions and leave, would have initially thought, "I got this." Point being though, I could see why he didn't just tuck tail and dip. Which for me is extremely important to establish in a horror/scary movie. 

              Overall I give this movie 4 stars. That's a really high rating for a movie that never even appeared in any of my local movie theaters. Regardless though, It did its job. It established a good story, with solid characters and for extra toppings, a awesome villain. Thumbs up Anchor Bay Ent. This is available to watch on Netflicks, so if you got it, use it, watch it. Nuff said.

The Evil Dead - Blu ray - 4 Stars

                          The Evil Dead (2013) - Great movie, just don't try comparing it to the original.

 

                       http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/evildead/discanddigital/index-c.html

          

           "The Evil Dead, hell yeah I wanna see that!!!" Quoted from one Big Real, said to his wife upon seeing this commercial for the first time.  His wife responds, "Uhh,...No." I in turn say, "HWHAT!?!" (channeling my best Lil Jon impersonation.) "Well, It looks disgusting." - End Conversation. Guess what,.... she was right. It was. Disgusting. Disgusting and AWESOME!!!!

            First off, the technicalities. The Evil Dead was released theatrically April 5th, 2013, followed by the DVD and blu-ray released on July 16th, 2013. Staring Jane Levy(Mia Allen), Shiloh Fernandez(David Allen), Lou Taylor Pucci(Eric) and Rupert Degas(Demons Voice) to name a few.

            A remake of Sam Raimi's monumental cult classic, originally released in 1981 and staring the "One who shall be named" Bruce fraggle-rockin Campbell! Let's be clear on something here. I am thankful for a handful of things, my wife, my dog, my PS3 and Bruce fraggle-rockin Campbell! He's awesome. Try to argue that point,... please,..just try. You won't though. Why? Because he's AWESOME! When he was born the doctor hugged Bruce Campbell's mother, thanked her, gave her $50.00 and never charged her a cent. To be clear Mr. Campbell also had a hand in this incarnation of The Evil Dead. He, along with Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert produced this movie, while Fede Alvarez was personally selected by Mr. Raimi to direct it. They even went as far as to use audio from the original. 

            I do find it interesting that in general, the film review communities were extremely harsh on this movie. I've heard numerous times that, "This movie SUCKS compared to the original!" and various other similar complaints since its release. One thing to know about me is that I am a horror film fanatic. Not the, dress up like Freddy Kruger/Jason Vorhees, fanatic. I just take horror movies serious and appreciate them for what they are or are trying to be. That said, I am also really hard on horror movies. It's rare for me to be amazed or for matter horrified by a horror movie. So after hearing all the bad, negative and down right scathing reviews of The Evil Dead I got a little nervous. However once I watched the film, I couldn't quite wrap my head around why so many people hated it. I do agree that its not "as good" as the original. It isn't. However, let's keep it real in saying that these two films should not be compared to each other. It's not fair to either film. The original had a $90,000.00 budget and was at best a C level, campy, cheesy gorefest that created a perfect storm of awesome. I hate to say it was luck but it was. Luck and BRUCE CAMPBELL. It reminds me of the popularity of Troll 2. The original Evil Dead by all standards should have been awful but it wasn't, it was great. This recent version had a budget of $17,000,000,000.00. That to say the least is a huge difference and is noticeable,....as if it couldn't be.

         It's not hard to tell that I am a fan of this movie. It was great. The acting was solid, the audio was good, setting and location were on point. I mean it was all done right. My only complaint, is a consistent complaint that I have with all horror films. Why does everyone in horror movies seem to have never watched a scary movie? For me, it just comes off as pure laziness on a film writers part. Having characters do things that no sane person would even begin to consider doing. For example. Big Real is with 5 friends on a vacation. Sounds fun Right? Over the course of 24 hours, 3 of them are horribly killed in unexplainable "accidents". Scary? Could be. Would Big Real stay? Hell, I don't know because I, Big Real, would have left 5 minutes after the first death! I'm not rich and cherish any vacation I can manage to get but screw that mess,..I'm out! There is no convincing me to stay. You'd be wasting your breath and might get throat punched for the sheer stupidity of not only asking me to stay but being in between my car and myself. Anyway, to continue, I will admit that there is a lot of blood and gore. Really though there was no way around that and there shouldn't be. That's why movies have ratings and commercials, to help steer people who don't like that kind of stuff away from it. Plain and simple I rated this movie 4 stars. It's not perfect and it's lacking that over the top, unexplainable quality that movies I rate 5 stars have. So rent it, buy it , whatever it but do take the time to see it. 

                    

42 - Blu Ray - 4 Stars

                                                                        42

 

http://42movie.warnerbros.com/

        Theatrically released April 12th, 2013 and followed by the DVD and blu-ray on July 16th, 2013. The movie stars Chadwick Boseman (Jackie Robinson), Harrison Ford (Branch Rickey) and Christopher Meloni (Leo DuRocher ) to name a few.

        There's not alot of negatives to this film, so doing a long review is kind of pointless. I mean for once, at least I don't have to worry about spoilers,...it's kinda written in history. Jackie Robinson is to say the least, a tad bit of a mythological figure in the world of baseball. It was however, very interesting to get to learn a little more, however much glamorized for Hollywood his character may have been, about Branch Rickey and with Harrison Frikkin Indiana-Han Solo-Jones at the helm, learn I did.

        So lets put all the cards on the table here, shall we. Warner Bros. didn't roll the 20-sided risk dice on this film,...they just didn't. It honestly had about as much of a chance of initially failing as Sheldon Cooper. Am I right!?! Am I,....never mind. Seriously though. Race is always going to be a hot topic, there's no way around it. So for all intents and purposes, this was one of the biggest boiling point moments in American civil rights history. A black man being allowed into the exclusively white MLB. Add to that some of the best writing money can buy and SHAZAM! Plus it's not like they had to spend alot of money and time on special effects. 

       Anyway, overall this is a really good movie. The acting was great, as was the writing and wardrobe. I mean everything was really spot on. It's easy to really like Jackie Robinson pretty early on in this film. So I'ma just cut to the chase on this one,...... He Makes It Into The Major League. GASP!!! Yup and believe it or not some of the other players don't take to kindly to that. GASP!!! Yup. You know what happens. So I give this one 4 stars. I just can't give it 5 because I don't feel like there was any risk factor involved with this one. So rent it, buy it, whatever but I'm pretty sure you'll probably like it, I did.

Spring Breakers - Blu Ray - 2.5 Stars

                                     Wow, lemme tell you how caught off guard I was by this movie!

                                                     http://www.springbreakersmovie.com/

Theatrically released March 22nd, 2013. The DVD & Blu-Ray followed on July 9th, 2013. Starring Selena Gomez(Faith), Vanessa Hudgens(Candy) and James Franco(Alien) to name a few.

        Now to review this somewhat awkward movie. This film follows a group of 4 "besties" who want nothing more than to go spring break in St.Petersburg, FL., at any cost. It amazed me how everything spiraled into chaos so quickly. It almost felt as if big chunks of the movie were deleted or cut due to just how fast everything seemed to escalate. Once the drug dealing, "gangsta" rapping Alien, James Franco, is added into the equation, things get real strange, real quick.
 SPRING BREAK!!!!!!!!! 
        I'm all for gratuitous violence and nudity, which there are PLENTY of. But I must say that even in the "spring break" setting, some of it seemed a little over stated. Not to mention that James Franco's portrayal of Alien, is obviously a funny carbon copy of G's and Gents fame Riff-Raff. There's just no hiding it and to be honest, I don't even think they tried to hide that fact.
        Rating this movie is interesting because the characters, minus Selena Gomez aka Faith and James Franco aka Alien, are a little out there to say the least. I excluded Faith and Alien because they just were about as believable as Brittany Spears actual singing ability. I might also add, that the latter is heavily included in the movie score. Selena Gomez on the other hand, has just not developed into a believable actress, yet. I'm not saying she won't, she might(not). I'm not one to ruin or give away any of the movie, so if your looking to find out what happens so you don't have to watch it,....Sorry. That aside, I would give this movie 2.5 stars. Mainly due to the fact that even though its all a little over the top, the actors did do their jobs, again minus Selena Gomez who did not. Even though Alien is an obvious copy of Riff-Raff, James Franco really became the part. Otherwise DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT watch this movie with your parents! It will be awkward to say the least. But If your just gonna pay a buck at Redbox, hell why not. Seeing James Franco as a gangsta rappin, drug dealer with 2 little gangsta white girls (and they are rather gangsta) jumpin all over the place is worth that much! Not to mention all the fun(#BOOBS) ;)