The Heat

 A great actor's charm can elevate average material. Such is the case with The Heat, a film that is carried by Bullock and McCarthy's raw talent. I feel that without the two leads, the movie would have felt like a gun to the head.

The Heat stars Sandra Bullock as Sarah Ashburn, a one woman working machine of a detective who just can't seem to play nice with others. But, in order to receive a promotion from her boss, she just might have to suck it up and be a team player to solve a new case with a deadly drug dealer and all of his connections. She doesn't realize how difficult this will be until she meets her partner; Shannon Mullins, played by Melissa McCarthy, who is pretty much the human equivalence of a a bulldock with her neverending love of profanity and violence to get the job done.

And if this sounds anything like Miss Congeniality 2 or any other recent cop comedy, it's probably because it is like many other recent cop comedies. You know how this will begin, with these two ready to kill each other. You know how this will be in the middle, with these two enduring through wacky situations that require them to bond. You know where the climax will go, with something job related threatening to tear the two apart and you know the ending will resolve in a big pile of goo. There's nothing you won't see coming here, which isn't unforgivable if it is done effectively, but I feel The Heat's screenplay lets it down.

The Heat's biggest issue is the lackluster and obvious script. I feel the dialogue comes off as terribly contrived and forced. There's too many scenes of just tedious profanity (and this is coming from someone that's enamored with profanity) and too many scenes of bland threats that shoot for humor but just come across as overachieving. I felt like at times this movie resembled an average sitcom that would probably start and stop within a two week period. There's just nothing terribly special here going on in terms of wit or humor.

Luckily though, The Heat's leads have a natural flair for humor. Sandra Bullock has played this role many times but luckily she has it down perfectly. Her character is reminiscent of many of Bullock's other roles but she plays the role with charm and humor. And when the script isn't overworking her character, McCarthy shines as the tough as nails but oddly loveable match to Bullock's tight demeanor. When the two leads are able to play themselves, they shine. But when The Heat's script turns these women's performances into caricatures, The Heat's flame burns out.

2/4



V/H/S

          All of the great scenes in the world can't equal a great movie if there's nothing connecting them. V/H/S begins with several amateur criminals breaking into an abandoned house to search for an incredibly rare video tape. They find the owner dead as a doornail and as the criminals seperate, they each begin to search through tapes, with each of them featuring an unspeakable crime. They soon realize that everything is not as it seems and they might not be alone in this aforementioned abandoned house. Some of the tapes that are featured (all of which were done by different directors) are actually quite chilling. Most noteworthy being the films involving the vampire and abandoned party. But the issue with V/H/S is that there's nothing connecting anything going on here. It's literally 8 movies all squished together but nothing ties anything together. V/H/S is like a steadily entertaining jigsaw puzzle with every piece failing to link with any of the others.

2/4



Texas Chainsaw 3D

Movies like this existing make me wanna pick up the camera and take a wack at it tbh.

0/4

Hotel Transylvania

When your main characters are undead, your material should be full of life. Sadly, that is not the case here. Hotel Transylvania falls rather flat and the material never rises above average.

Hotel Transylvania stars Adam Sandler as Dracula, someone who is determined to create an environment where monsters can roam free and not have to worry about angry humans wanting their head on a platter. He creates a hotel for all of his kind to come party it up. This hotel also serves a double purposes as a barrier for his daughter to not be able to escape to the outside world, avoiding contact with humans at all costs. But when one mistakenly shows up at the hotel, she begins to fall in love, and Daddy's control starts to loosen up.

One of the biggest positives about Hotel Transylvania are the actors giving the voices to these characters. Supporting characters such as David Spade, CeeLo Green, Kevin James, and Molly Shannon are a blast, providing all the personality and fun really needed to make an animated character come to life. The animation is effective as well, I was impressed by how many details were given to the scenery and each individual monster. It's visual cotton candy.

Unfortunately, Hotel Transylvania's material could have been stronger. So many details come across as derivative in movies where the ideas were accomplished in a much stronger way. The humor at times comes across as a bit juvenile as well, there's only so many bodily function jokes you can do before shit gets tired. Hotel Transylvania is decent family filler that I feel would have worked a bit better as a 30 min television show. Stretching it out to 90 minutes is a bit of a pain in the neck.

2/4

Warm Bodies

Love can be a bitch. Especially when you're crushing on someone who has only become single recently due to you eating the brains of their boyfriend. Warm Bodies takes a highly unusual approach to a new romance and makes it fun and humorous for the audience.

Nicholas Hoult stars as "R" a lonely zombie whose only interaction with another human being (dead or living) is a series of grunts with another member of the undead. He's sick of being alone, and after laying his eyes on Julie (Teresa Palmer), he may have his chance to feel more like a living, breathing person. There's only a few issues; he's dead, she's obviously not. He's responsible for the death of her boyfriend. The dead want Julie dead. The living want R dead (for good). And there's a bunch of other creatures called bonies that will eat anything regardless of it's alive or not.

What's suprising about Warm Bodies is how it doesn't shoot to be scary. The previews indicate that it would be another Shaun of the Dead type of horror movie with laughs in between the scares, but I feel like Warm Bodies doesn't aim to be scary. Granted, the hungry undead isn't the lightest subject and there are several scenes of them getting fed, the movie doesn't feel frightening at all. I was impressed by how funny Warm Bodies was. Hoult is stellar as R. The narration scenes alone hit the comedic nail on the head. Also Julie's best friend played by Analeigh Tipton (from ANTM & Crazy Stupid Love) & Rob Corddry as M (who is R's best friend) bring the funnies into their supporting roles.

Warm Bodies actually proves that the undead can have a heart as well. Even when the movie starts veering towards the gooey direction, it's done well enough that it actually manages to be quite sweet without going into overkill. Scenes that could have felt lame or groan-worthy are done in ways which avoid those directions. Even though you know where it's going, it's still a ton of fun to watch. The director; Jonathan Levine (who also directed the stellar 50/50 and effective All the Boys Love Mandy Lane) shines with giving his movies a heart and a brain, even when the main subject is as dead as a doorknob.

3/4