The Interview - Review

The Interview.

The Interview is a comedy starring Seth Rogen, James Franco and Randall Park centered around an American television personality (Franco) and his producer (Rogen) attempting to interview and assassinate Kim Jong-un (Park). If you haven't heard about the controversy surrounding this movie then you've clearly been living under a rock as the movie caused Sony to be hacked and later pulling the film from release which caused massive backlash from politicians and many working in Hollywood; Sony released the film to around 300 theaters along with online sites such as YouTube, GooglePlay and the Xbox marketplace. As a huge fan of Seth Rogen and James Franco separately and even more so when they work together, I was pumped to see this movie as soon as I saw the first trailer. Once Sony pulled it, I made it a personal mission to get my hands on this movie, I had to see it.

All of that being said, I really enjoyed this movie. This by far isn't the best comedy of the year, as 22 Jump Street set the bar pretty high but it's definitely funny. If you know Seth Rogen and James Franco and their brand of comedy, you should know what to expect; and if you like their brand of comedy you'll enjoy this movie. The movie is pretty much absurd, tasteless, stupid and really funny, just like every other Rogen/Franco venture. For me, that's a good thing as I love these two together, for others, they hate it.

There's really not a ton to say about this movie, as I said earlier, if you like Seth Rogen and James Franco, you'll like this movie, if you don't then you won't. The first act of the movie is definitely the funniest as it's normal shenanigans for Rogen/Franco, act two is pretty funny as it consists a lot of Franco and Jong-un becoming friends and getting into their own shenanigans and then act three is relatively when the shit, for lack of a better word, gets real. I really liked the movie, I thought it was funny and I thought they actually were able to bring up the issues of North Korea in a decent manner without being tasteless toward the people that live there.

Rating: 3.5/5

Draft Day - Movie Review

Draft Day.

Draft Day is a 2014 drama based around the 2014 NFL Draft. The football players depicted in the film are fictional although one running back is played by real life Houston Texan Arian Foster. The movie seems like a pretty big NFL commercial and considering the budget was $25 million, it wasn't too expensive especially considering the NFL collected $6 billion in revenue in 2013. Draft Day stars Kevin Costner (Dances With Wolves, Man of Steel) and Jennifer Garner (Juno, Dallas Buyers Club). The film comes to us from director Ivan Reitman who brought us both of the Ghostbusters movies.

Plot: The premise of the film revolves around the general manager of the Cleveland Browns and his decisions on draft day. The Browns have the #7 pick in the draft and decide to trade their current 1st round pick along with the next 2 1st round picks to acquire the first overall pick in this draft from the Seattle Seahawks; this isn't a spoiler as it happens in the first 15 minutes of the movie. The fictional Bo Callahan is the unanimous first overall pick as said by the experts as the next Andrew Luck. The Cleveland GM then goes through the 12 hours up to the draft deciding what to do and whether or not Callahan is as sure of a thing as everyone thinks.

The Good: As a die-hard NFL fan this film naturally had some interest for me. It's well enough acted, no problems there but also no Oscar winners. The story is compelling enough but it's hard to see someone who doesn't like the NFL enjoying this movie. It's a good drama but it relies pretty heavily on intermediate knowledge of the NFL and some of its inner workings; that being said, since I love football I knew everything going on. The third act of the movie was pretty well executed and at parts, pretty intense. Once the draft starts the movie kicks into high gear and has by far the best moments of the movie.

The Bad: Not much really outside of it being really predictable. Once you get introduced to a few characters you can start to guess how everything's going to play out but there is a decent surprise at the end but not big enough to call it a twist. The characters themselves lack any real depth, they're pretty much cardboard cut outs of themselves and over the course of the near 2 hour movie no one really develops further than where they were the first time we meet them.

Overall: The problem with Draft Day isn't the story, the lackluster characters or the relatively boring 2nd act, the real problem with the movie is that it lacks real emotion. Once you finish the movie you're left underwhelmed feeling that this could've been done much better. Draft Day is the epitome of feeling indifference toward what you just watched, it's not so bad that it makes you angry nor it is it so good that it makes you cheer; it really just makes you shrug your shoulders and say "meh".

Rating: 2/5

Saturday the 14th: Op-Ed on The Walking Dead

SPOILER ALERT: I'm going to try to stay away from spoilers but in the nature of critiquing a show with more than 1 season it's hard to not give up some info so I will try to only spoil minor things.

The Walking Dead is a horror/drama series that begun airing on AMC in 2010, 4 years later and we now await the 5th season coming in October. Firstly, let me just say that I am a fan of the show and though at times it may seem like I'm trashing the show, I do actually enjoy it, I realize every show can't be Breaking Bad.

The Good: Pretty much everything you've heard, the action, the characters, it's all there. The point of this op-ed is more to discuss what I believe is wrong with the show. That being said, the acting, overall, is pretty good, the directing for each episode is top-notch as well. The writing is decent, some episodes are phenomenal and some episodes fall flat. The kills are pretty sweet for the most part too and you can see the evolution of the kills from season 1 onward as the show became more popular. Lastly, season 1 is the best and most complete season of the series.

Best Characters: Michonne, Glenn, The Governor, Hershel and Daryl

The Bad: Season 2 really started the negatives of the show. Season 2 is pretty boring, they find this ranch/farm thing and stay there for the entire season with not much action in between. Season 3 picks it up and even though they spend the majority of it at one location, it has more interest as it bounces between 2 groups of characters that both hold episodes by themselves. Season 4 now is much more like season 2 than 3, The problem with season 4 especially is that they center everything around the midseason and season finale; so much so that outside of those 2 episodes it doesn't ever feel like the main characters are in real danger, even faced with a horde of zombies surrounding them, at most a relatively insignificant recurring character will die at most. The problem with this is that the other 14 episodes of the show become boring.

Character Development: The character development or lack thereof leaves little to be desired. Firstly, the main character, Rick Grimes is the same person he's been since the tragic event of the 3rd season, the only change he's gone through is he's become less insane. Rick's son Carl went from being a likable kid, to a dumbass kid, to a prick, back to a likable teen and currently he's returning to his prickish ways. The most character development we have is from Michonne who oddly enough is the newest main character in the group. To Daryl, I know, if he dies we riot, everyone loves him, me included. Daryl is a badass, straight up, with his crossbow of death and pretty much Superman level invincibility at this point. That being said, Daryl got some much needed character development which for me at least, saved the character from being a run of the mill badass. The Governor, although hated in the show as expected since he's the main villain for about a season and a half, gets a pretty good amount of development in a short time. He's one of the most interesting characters of the show.

The Kills: Not the zombie kills no, I'm talking about a character dying. (SPOILER ALERT, Obviously some information is gonna leak out of this but I'm going to try to keep it as spoiler free as possible.) I'll give the show some credit for killing off some of it's main characters, it's not to the level of Game of Thrones but still, the show has some balls. For those of you who have watched all 4 seasons, how many times has the show actually shocked you with who they've killed? Off the top of my head I can think of 3 times that I truly was like "holy shit, I can't believe that just happened". Outside of that, whoever died was someone who was a reasonably large character but who wasn't essential. It's like the writers polled the audience to find out who the largest character was who wasn't universally loved and they killed that person off. The show gets credit for killing people off but in my opinion it gets just a little too much credit.

Overall: So far we've had a perfect season (season 1), a pretty good season (season 3), 1 solid season (season 4) and 1 pretty boring season (seasons 2), which puts it at 65%. The show isn't a 6.5/10 though, for me it's about a 7/10 though season 5 is looking like a make or break season for me, especially since an interview with the executive producer had him state that they want to keep the show running through season 12. I for one can't imagine bringing these characters and this story arc through another 7 seasons and still being fully enjoyable, very few shows last that long and keep the same level of quality throughout.

How to Fix TWD: The most radical option yet possibly the most effective is to kill Rick. His development has pretty much run out and he's kinda just there now. After that I would return to the more survival aspect of it with Michonne and Daryl at the helm carrying the show. A less radical option is to pull a Breaking Bad and have the creator/writers/producers say before season 6 that the 6th season will be the final season and let all hell break lose for 16 episodes. Pretty much, The Walking Dead should end, it was the first of its kind when it comes to horror-ish shows. It had plenty of violence and got huge which opened the door for a lot of shows, some good (The Strain) and some terrible looking ones that are coming to Syfy this year. The show needs to end so that another network can get together and try to improve on it. That being said, I believe The Walking Dead is probably the best zombie show we'll get on cable television, if we get a better zombie show, it'll come from either HBO or Netflix where they have the ability for more violence, gore and language. They also will have more of an opportunity to be a show like House of Cards or True Detective that is so story driven because it doesn't have to worry about selling ad space during commercials.

In Conclusion: The Walking Dead is as true of an example of a groundbreaking TV show as you can get. I've gone over the seasons one-by-one already and how to possibly fix the show. My hope is that the show doesn't go 12 seasons because the show is getting kind of run into the ground already at season 4, season 12 would be hysterically bad. The best thing for the show would be to end after either season 6 or 7 under its own terms a la Breaking Bad, Boardwalk Empire and The Newsroom to name a few. It's a good show, you should watch it if you're a fan of the zombie genre and even if you're not there's probably something for you.

Divergent - Review

Divergent is a 2014 sci-fi/romance/action type film directed by Neil Burger who directed Limitless and The Illusionist as well as a few others. The best way I can describe this film is a cross between Harry Potter and The Hunger Games. It's like Harry Potter in the sense that everyone gets sorted into groups("factions" in this case) based on their personalities coming with their own colors and all. It's like The Hunger Games in the sense of government control and trying to control any rebels. All this being said, Divergent holds its own and separates itself from the films I just mentioned. It's a pretty unique story, that is compelling from the get go. The story is what keeps this movie going, seeing how the main character Tris, played by Shailene Woodley, transitions from her born faction, finding out she's a divergent(someone who doesn'e belong to any faction) and into the dauntless faction which are considered the protectors and police force.

Negative: The only real issue I had with this film is the acting. It's not bad by any means but I think it could've been better. Woodley plays her character pretty well but something about her doesn't sell me on her being a badass. The first third of the movie when she's reserved and not fitting in, she's perfect in it, the rest of the movie she does well except for when she's kicking ass, something about her I can't see actually kicking ass. In this respect, I think she was mildly miscast, that being said, she still did a great job. If I were the casting director I would've switched roles for Miles Teller and Theo James, James definitely looked the part of the mentor/love interest to Tris but his acting chops were just under par when it came to the real heavy moments. Teller is, in my mind, a bit of a better actor, plus him and Woodley have acted alongside before in The Spectacular Now so they already have chemistry. Outside of those few things, the acting is pretty good and no other real complaints.

Positive: As previously stated, the story; it's highly interesting and the movie actually makes you want to read the books to see what the movie may have missed in terms of background story. The characters are pretty interesting too, they're nothing you haven't seen before but they are good characters and with the backdrop of the story, the characters excel. Oddly enough I have less to say about the positives of the movie, it's hard to explain, it's an enjoyable movie.

Overall: It's an enjoyable movie with a story that'll keep you thinking for a while. It also gets you pretty hyped for the sequel and subsequent finale that is of course being split into two films, as if you needed any more references to Harry Potter. If you have the chance, check this movie out, it's way better than I had expected. I expected a lovey dovey Twilight-esque film with a weak Hunger Games rip-off backdrop and I couldn't have been more wrong. I regret not seeing this in theaters or giving it a chance earlier.

Rating: 4/5

Saturday the 14th: Freddy vs. Jason Review

Tagline: "Winner Kills All"

In the first ever Saturday the 14th post I thought I'd review a crossover film featuring two of the most prolific slashers in the genre.

Freddy vs. Jason is 2003 film that doubles as the eighth installment in the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise and the eleventh in the Friday the 13th franchise; coincidentally it's also the last film in both series before they got the reboot treatment. At this point both Freddy and Jason are so well established within film and popular culture itself that giving a backstory isn't reall needed. All you really need to know is that the film does incorporate the movies that came before from both series. As most slasher films go, the acting is both non-existant and not needed, as long as you have a scream queen and some dumb teens to kill, that's really what counts. Robert Englund is by far the best thing about this movie acting-wise.

In the somewhat of a plot Freddy manipulates the currenty dead Jason to go Elm Street and start killing again to make peope fear Freddy so that he can gain power and again kill for himself. Once Freddy becomes strong enough to start killing again the two clash in a killfest that is incredibly enjoyable to watch.

You can tell this was made for fans of the two slashers as the movie doesn't stray from the formulas that came before it; that being said the movie is better off for it. By far the best parts of the movie are the 3 throwdowns between Freddy and Jason, outside of that there's the normal slaughter of teens in various fun ways. The 3 fights between the titular characters are loads of fun and I found myself smiling though the whole scene. As far as scare-factor goes, the movie isn't very scary but these old-school style slasher movies haven't been scary since the 80's. Jason is his usual speechless, emotionless killing machine while Freddy is his usual sadistic, comedic self and we get to watch them torment each other and some teenagers and it really comes off as an ode to the original films. There's really not a ton more to say about this movie, it's slasher-y, fun, gorey enough and an all around solid horror movie. For fans of the slasher subgenre it's a welcome and enjoyable installment into both series.

Movie Idea: A movie called Face Off where Ghostface(Scream) and Leatherface (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) fight each other.

Overall: A perfect slasher film for fans of the two horror titans that did the source material justice. If you don't like slasher movies or these two characters then this movie will definitely not change your mind. For a fun movie to watch and crack open a few beers during, this one will definitely get the job done.

Final Verdict: 4/5, definitely a must-see if you love these 2 guys, and well worth a watch if you're new to the genre.

Saturday the 14th: An Introduction

Welcome to Saturday the 14th, a series that will dive into the world of horror films. From the most recent to the classics, this is where you will find reviews and maybe even some editorials here and there. Horror is arguably my favorite genre of film so it seems fitting to me to create a sub-blog of sorts to review and discuss horror. Starting hopefully tomorrow I'll be putting up reviews as often as possible, if there's no horror movies in theatres I'll dive into my personal collection and/or Netflix to pick one to rewatch and review. 

A bit on my taste. I'm a big fan of the Saw series, I own all 7 and I think they're all good. I'm working on my Jason collection as well. In more modern terms I enjoy a lot of James Wan's films (The Conjuring, Insidious). I also like some of the weirder ones like Cannibal Holocaust, A Serbian Film, both Human Centipedes. One of my favorite subgenres of horror is the "so bad it's good" genre; movies like Sharknado, Dead Snow, and Poultrygeist. For the most part I'll watch any horror movie, although I do seriously hate the Paranormal Activity franchise so if they release more of those, you shouldn't expect a review of it. 

Well that's it for now, I hope to see you next Saturday the 14th.

Godzilla

Godzilla. The year is 2014 and Japan still laughs at us for the abomination that was Godzilla from 1998. For proof just look to 2004's Godzilla: Final Wars a film in which the giant monster fights his most famous enemies all in one movie, included in this is America's version of the beast that they call Zilla; in the film (MILD SPOILER FOR GODZILLA FINAL WARS) Godzilla literally takes Zilla out in a matter of seconds which shows that Zilla wasn't even close to being Godzilla's equal.

In America's chance at redemption they hired a small time-ish director who's directed a few movies, nothing of serious note. They hired Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kick Ass), Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), and Elizabeth Olsen (Silent House) to round out the major cast members. Cranston as usual kills it, Johnson did a lot better than I had expected so kudos to him and Olsen did well too, wasn't spectacular acting but it was from poor. 

Now to the real star of this movie and franchise, Godzilla. They did an excellent job at making him look huge, it sounds easy but it's not, when you first see his enemy, an eight legged winged beast called Muto, he doesn't look as big as you'd thing. When you finally see Godzilla in all his glory he towers over the Muto making it look like a housefly (exaggeration). His roar is on point, his stature is unmatched and he is the definition of monster. 

The main complaint people have with this is that the movie teases you with a Godzilla-Muto throwdown for a good hour, maybe more, cutting away from the action just as it's about to go down. It makes your mouth water, you see these glimpses and you just want to see more. You finally do, some say that the final battle isn't enough of a payoff for all the painstaking teasing but for me it was about enough. For me, it was enough to be bad ass yet still realistic (as realistic as you can get with a giant monster movie) and I was reasonably satisfied. One of the kills is just the most bad ass thing I've seen in a while, probably my kill of the year so far and without spoiling it, that kill is damn near worth the price of admission. 

Overall: I enjoyed Godzilla, I didn't love it, I thought Bryan Cranston deserved more screen time but that's forgiven. I'm really hoping that they do some sequels to this and we can get some more action packed entires to this series as this is paid homage to the 1954 Gojira in that you don't see the beast until toward the end. This has the tools to be a great start up movie if the sequels pan out well, even as a stand alone film it's good. 

Rating: 3.5/5, not sure why but I couldn't bring myself to give it a 4, it's good to see a worthwhile American Godzilla and it's a good film, I just didn't love it.