NETFLIX Movie Review: Safety Not Guaranteed

Safety Not Guaranteed (IMDb score: 7.1, Rotten Tomatoes 91% Fresh)

Director: Colin Trevorrow (Will be directing the upcoming Jurassic Park IV)

Writer: Derek Connolly

Cast: Aubrey Plaza, Mark Duplass, Jake Johnson, Karan Soni

With March Madness and Easter, I didn’t make it to the cinema this past weekend, but I watched this movie on Netflix and loved it.  I meant to see this in theaters but I never could, and it is available for streaming on Watch Instantly now.  A QUICK PLOT OVERVIEW:  a Seattle magazine writer sees an ad in the classifieds requesting a partner to travel back in time with him.  The writer (Johnson), looking to hook up with an old classmate, takes along two awkward interns for two purposes: to get the story and to get wasted.  The would-be time traveler (Duplass) turns out to be completely serious and is gearing up for his grand voyage, and intern Darius (Aubrey Plaza) becomes entangled in his pursuit. I found that clip hilarious, and if you enjoy it you'll like the movie.  (continues after the jump)

Movie Review: Stoker

Stoker (IMDb score: 7.6, Rotten Tomatoes 67% fresh)

Director: Park Chan-Wook (Oldboy, Lady Vengeance)

Writer: Wentworth Miller (Michael Scofield from Prison Break ha)

Cast: Mia Wasikowska (pronounced Vaas-Kaav-Ska), MatthewGoode, Nicole Kidman

Oldboy is on my list of foreign movies I’d really like to see, and it’s beloved by much of the film community that I read and respect so I was interested to see the director’s English language debut.  I walked into the theater without having seen so much as a preview, so I had no idea what to expect.  As the film progressed I was reminded more and more of how I felt watching Black Swan.  Both are beautifully shot and orchestrated well, but the tone is a sort of creepy melancholy where the audience knows something is disturbed beneath the surface.  Taking center stage is the Stoker family: India (Mia), her mother Evelyn (Kidman), and a previously unheard from Uncle Charlie (Goode).  It’s clear from the outset that India is highly introverted and off-putting in certain ways, and that she has a strange relationship to her mother.   Brilliant acting from Wasikowska and Goode on display here, she is totally convincing and heightens some already ruthless sequences with her cold, ethereal presence.  Meanwhile Goode is all mysterious charm. (continues after the jump)

Movie Review: Spring Breakers

Spring Breakers (IMDb score: 6.6, Rotten Tomatoes 70% Fresh)

Writer and Director: Harmony Korine (numerous short films)

Cast: Vanessa Hudgens, Selena Gomez, Ashley Benson, Rachel Korine, James Franco, GUCCI MANE!!!

Hopefully this movie isn’t taken too seriously by audiences, because it is completely devoid of any semblance of morality or realism.  Instead it combines two of the most idolized elements of American youth: partying and the crime culture often promoted by rap music.  The result of this concoction is a crazy, ridiculous, entertaining ride of a movie.  Three ladies and their younger friend are eagerly looking forward to, you guessed it, Spring Break, yet they have no $$$.  To solve this problem they cruise to a restaurant where Brit (Ashley Benson) and Candy (Vanessa Hudgens) violently rob the patrons.  Up to this point the movie was a haze of weed and booze and boobs, so this drastic change of tone worked to great effect.  The way this scene was shot was amazing, and I won’t spoil it here.  From a rookie director, I was quite impressed. (continues after the jump) 

Movie Review: Dead Man Down

Dead Man Down (IMDb score: 7.0, Rotten Tomatoes 38% Fresh)

Director: Niels Arden Oplev (Swedish Girl with the Dragon Tattoo)

Writer: J.H. Wyman (The Mexican)

Cast: Colin Farrell, Noomi Rapace, Terrence Howard

I’m struggling to understand the IMDb score for this movie, as it deserves a much lower rating.  This is a classic $2, sit-on-your-couch-on-a-Sunday flick.  Focusing on a scarred (literally and emotionally) woman on a quest for revenge and a mobster thug who is more than meets the eye, this is an entertaining but highly predictable affair.  Rapace and Farrell’s chemistry propels the movie as far as it can go on such a weak script, but unfortunately Terrence Howard is underused.  They could have made him much more sinister or ruthless, but instead I almost pitied him!  There are a few bloody and rather impressive action sequences which were enjoyable, but there’s little to no mystery about the whole thing.  In terms of plot this will seem like familiar territory for many viewers. (continues after the jump)

Movie Review: Oz the Great and Powerful

Oz the Great and Powerful (IMDb score: 7.0, Rotten Tomatoes 61% Fresh)
Director: Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead, Spiderman Trilogy, Drag Me to Hell)
Writer:  Mitchell Kapner (The Whole Nine Yards, Romeo Must Die)
Cast: James Franco, Michelle Williams, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz

Attempting to create a prequel to one of the most essential and beloved Hollywood classics of all time seemed to me like a very dangerous undertaking.  Simple to screw up, hard to do well.  Despite this fact, the potential ROI of a film like this is astronomical and that’s what earned it the green light from the studio.  Imagine you’re Disney and you see Alice in Wonderland make over $1 Billion in 2010.  This is solid gold. EDIT: Well, after opening weekend it’s only made $155M worldwide against a budget of $215M so there goes that theory!  It should still make it to $500M. 

Thankfully, I was mostly happy with how Oz played out.  The story is shallow and somewhat underwhelming (like the original Oz when you think about it), but the world Raimi and the production and design teams created is brilliant.  I saw this one in IMAX 3D and it visually blew me away: amazing colors, breathtaking wide shots, and beautiful special effects.  The tornado sequence was intense and stressful, as it should be.  The original score complements the film well, helping to inspire a sense of wide-eyed awe. Overcoming the weaknesses of the plot and characters, if you get something out of incredible visuals, this one is worth seeing. (continues after the jump)

Movie Review: Warm Bodies

Warm Bodies (IMDb score: 7.4, Rotten Tomatoes 78% Fresh)
Writer and Director: Jonathan Levine (50/50)
Cast: Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer


Based on the novel written by Isaac Marion, this romantic comedy features an unusual protagonist: a zombie.  The film opens by following the zombie, soon to be called R, around as he shuffles aimlessly in an abandoned airport.  He makes amusing observations about the zombie life, and is frustrated about his lack of connection with his fellow brain eaters.  Soon he encounters a human woman, and instead of eating her brings her back to the airport.  Then changes start happening which could affect the entire world. (continues after the jump) 

Movie Review: Side Effects

Side Effects (IMDb score: 7.6, Rotten Tomatoes 86% fresh)
Director: Steven Soderbergh (Magic Mike, Contagion, Traffic, Ocean's Eleven Series)
Writer: Scott Z. Burns (The Bourne Ultimatum, Contagion)
Cast: Rooney Mara, Jude Law, Channing Tatum, Catherine Zeta-Jones



Soderbergh has claimed this will be the last film he will direct, and if that's true (please no!!) this is a fine way to go out.  Filled with suspense and intrigue, this is a film that has a LOT going on beneath the surface.  I went into it knowing very little about it, and I would advise you to do the same if you plan on seeing it.  This is another movie that intrigues me as a psychology major, as there is a heavy focus on depression, the drugs that millions take to cope with this disease, and the impact they have on their lives.  The tone is eerie and captivating, and as the tension mounted my attention never wandered, which is rare during January, a month usually bereft of high quality cinema.  (continues after the jump)

Movie Review: Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters

Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters (IMDb score: 6.4, Rotten Tomatoes: 15% fresh)
Director and Writer: Tommy Wirkola (Dead Snow);
Cast: Jeremy Renner, Gemma Arterton, Famke Janssen


The first movie I saw with a 2013 release date, Hansel and Gretel is in many ways a mess.  The dialogue is cringe worthy, there's minimal character development, and the gore/blood effects are comical.  However, my earliest fear in life?  WITCHES.  So seeing these BAMFs get shot, stabbed, beat up, burned alive, etc. was cathartic for me.  I loved it, because these old hags don't go down without a fight.  There is plenty of action, in the form of hand to hand combat as well as numerous chase scenes.   The movie opens with the actual Hansel and Gretel tale, with a few alterations, and the rest of the story takes place 15 years after. (continues after the jump)