Captain Phillips

As he did in United 93, Paul Greengrass takes a true story, adds the Hollywood twist, and still manages to terrify the audience with the authenticity and pure terror as you watch the story unfold. It's quite easy to look up each tale and find out how they end out, but nothing can prepare you for the way Greengrass will makes things unfold in front of your eyes. This is easily one of Tom Hanks' best, if not the best performance of his career. He's unstoppable as Captain Phillips, coming across as strong yet vulnerable, sympathetic yet cunning. And matching each percentage of his power is Barkhad Abdi as Muse, the leader of the sea pirates who take Captain Phillips hostage. Every scene he's in keeps the viewer on their toes, as no one is sure what he's capable of ranging in his scenes as warm and sympathetic to cold and menacing.

There isn't one second of Captain Phillips that isn't full of tension. Unlike most Hollywood movies these days, Captain Phillips manages to stop your breathing without needing to drop an ounce of blood or CGI. It's the heart and soul of the movie that drives you until the credits roll. Captain Phillips is one of the best movies of the year.

4/4

Carrie

It's disappointing watching Carrie considering the consistent momentum it achieves throughout to watch everything crash and burn as everything in the movie actually starts crashing and burning. The scenes involving blood and guts ironically enough are the least gritty scenes in Carrie, stopping the movie from greatness.

What's up? Carrie White's (Chloe Grace Moretz) life is shit. At home, her overprotective, over-religious mother Margaret (Julianne Moore) prevents any freedom or independence on Carrie's end. She's the type of parent who would much prefer to put her child in a cage and watch her as opposed to releasing her into the real world where things can't be watched 100% of the time. At school her life is even worse. After a particularly embarassing attack led by Chris (Portia Doubleday), Carrie snaps, unleashing powers she never knew she had. One member of Chris' group; Sue (Gabriella Wilde) strives to make things easier for Carrie after feeling guilt on the bullying. She wants her boyfriend Tommy (Ansel Elgort) to take her to the prom for a night of fun, but Chris and the rest of the group are less then willing to give Carrie her time to shine.

What's good? A majority of the characters are brought to life by the performances. Chloe Grace Moretz is great as Carrie easily one of her best performances to date. As opposed the original where Carrie is just depicted as out there, Moretz gives her a deeper feeling, truly damaged, vulnerable and alone. She's great.

Julliane Moore shines as her mother as well. I would easily say her scenes are the most chilling of the entire movie. She's doing everything she does because of how much she loves her daughter but Moore makes her character terrifying as well. She owns her rendition of one of the more famous monsterous mothers in movie history.

Judy Greer gives some charm and fun with her portrayal of Ms. Desjardin, the only adult standing in Carrie's corner. Her scenes give a nice bit of comic relief and a warmth that the rest of the scenes and characters don't bring.

One of the bigger surprises is how deliciously evil Portia Doubleday is as Chris. She's so nasty and vile without an inch of regret you're waiting for her to grow horns. All of her scenes have a sense of entertainment in how much fun Doubleday has with throwing her venom on the viewers and on Carrie.

As I previously mentioned the scenes in Carrie involving the relationship with her and her mother are great. They're entertaining and very suspenseful, you never know what either of them are thinking or what either of them are capable of doing to the other one.

What the fuck? Unfortunately all the tension that Carrie builds up is dropped like a bucket of blood during the prom scenes. A cool death scene or two (most notably the one involving the wires and fire) can't shake a feeling of a nausea-worthy level of CGI involved. Carrie begins dropping so many special effects I was looking around for a controller to jump into the action. It just becomes silly and very far from scary considering how laughably overdone these scenes are.

As noteworthy as some of the characters are, I get a nagging feeling that some of them could have been written better, or maybe even acted with a bit more power. Wilde's performance comes across as rather tepid. Her character doesn't seem to be given much to do but look regretful and sad and I wish the Sue character was given more to do, or that Wilde should have done more with them. Same goes for Ansel Elgort as her boyfriend & Alex Rusell as Chris' boyfriend Billy, who feel like walking, talking cardboard cutouts of characters.

Overall: The final scene of the original Carrie is easily one of the most talked about scenes with the exception of the prom scene. And this version just seems to throw it all away at the end, resorting to cheap effects and a lack of an interesting conclusion. Carrie shot for Prom Queen and instead ended up as a solid RU.

3/4

The Bling Ring

Never in my wildest cinematic dreams would I like a pointless movie for being so pointless. There's really not so much to The Bling Ring but as you start to think about what the leads are aspiring to, you see that's the point; nothing is being achieved and yet people are trying so hard to achieve it.

What's up? Israel Broussard plays Marc, a new kid at his school who doesn't have any friends. He soon gets his first with Rebecca (Katie Chang) a girl whose head is in the clouds about the lives of celebrities and all of the things they do. Both have a shared love of breaking in and stealing things, which leads them to burglarizing several celebrities' houses such as Paris Hilton and Audrina Patridge. Along for the ride are Nicki (Emma Watson), Chloe (Claire Julien), and Sam (Taissa Fermiga from American Horror Story).

What's good? The Bling Ring oddly brings a lot of humor to a situation which isn't typically deemed as funny. The leads' desperation to get into a life of nothingness most notably Nicki is quite ironic and humorous. Emma Watson is the star as far as I'm concerned. She milks her character's vapid & over the top nature perfectly. Only she can deliver lines such as, "I could lead a country for all I know" in such a serious, deadpan tone.

All of the acting is actually quite strong. Though the leads aren't terribly well known they're all fair game here for a good time. Katie Chang is also noteworthy as the leader of the pack, easily deemed the most desperate and fame hungry of the group.

Props also go out to the way this movie was shot. The editing and cinematography is pitch perfect, though you're seeing places in California that are far from uncommon, never have they looked so perfect as The Bling Ring is almost like a postcard/dedication to the lifestyles lived in California.

What the fuck? My biggest complaint about The Bling Ring is that when it comes to the resolution I feel like the viewer was a bit shut out in the cold. I would have enjoyed seeing more scenes involving the courtroom drama/verdict of the leads' crime and maybe a few less scenes of them partying like rockstars.

Overall The Bling Ring is a fascinating, sad, yet comedic look into how celebrities and their lifestyles are glamourized to a point of obsession. Never has watching someone shoot for so much to earn so little feel so entertaining to view.

3/4

Prisoners

The scenes that I remember the most about a movie are the final scenes, the last moment. This is why I can't help but feel terribly disappointed with Prisoners, a movie that keeps the momentum going so steadily for two hours before dropping the ball to an immense degree in the last thirty minutes.

What's up? Hugh Jackman stars as Keller, a father whose daughter disappears on Thanksgiving. His wife Grace (Maria Bello) is devastated and unable to continue to function through life. Keller is frustrated that the enforcements, most notably Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal) aren't moving fast enough and their lack of action is resulting in the death of his daughter. When the detectives' biggest suspect, Alex Jones (Paul Dano) is released for lack of substantial evidence, Keller takes the law into his own hands, going far beyond anyone's idea of cruel and unusual punishment to get the answers. Does Alex know where his daughter is located? How much involvement does he have in the disappearance? Is Keller going to far?

What's good? You don't boast a cast full of Oscar nominees/winners without showing the goods. Prisoners' cast thrives in this setting. Hugh Jackman is stellar as Keller, his scenes are full of heartbreak, terror, pure confusion, rage, and vulnerability all at once. He dominates every scene he fills up. Jake Gyllenhaal also gives one of his best performances, his character is the total opposite of Keller. Where as Keller acts with his emotions, Loki acts with his mind, Gyllenhaal gives a great contrast to the dominance through Keller.

Minus the last 30 minutes which I will mention more of in the last paragraph, Prisoners is filled with so much tension you feel like it's going to burst. The scenes with Keller and Alex are pure torture both figuratively and literally, you never know what's going to happen next and when it does Prisoners will stun you with how far it goes and how far Keller will go to get answers. The beautiful and haunting, yet grimy and dark looking visuals add to this tension, making you feel like you're really watching someone's nightmare come to life.

What the fuck? The final thirty minutes of Prisoners is so incredibly disappointing and thrown together you would swear you were watching some movie of the week Syfy creation. The motive behind the kidnapper feels terribly thrown together, said motive and kidnapper being involved also leave several questions unanswered making certain scenes now feel pointless. And what's worse is you never get any resolution here, as Prisoners' final moments bizzarely insinuate a sequel could be involved. There's no pay off here at all.

Overall: Prisoners had all the goods but just didn't know how to tie them up at the finale. It had the potential to be one of the year's best movies but instead of ending strong on all of the promise that you were viewing for the first two hours, Prisoners squanders this opportunity, locking the cell and throwing away the key.

3/4

The Kings of Summer

Like the lead characters, The Kings of Summer has such an indestructable spirit that you can't help but like the movie even when at times you feel like you're going in as many circles as the leads do. Part of The Kings of Summer's aforementioned spirit can be attributed to the 3 lead males; Nick Robinson (Joe), Gabriel Basso (Patrick), and Moises Arias (Biaggio). All three have an undeniable chemistry and relatability you don't feel like you're watching acting. Megan Mullally & Marc Evan Jackson also shine as as Mr. & Mrs. Keenan, Patrick's overprotective parents that mean well despite not doing anything well.

The Kings of Summer can actually be quite hillarious. Though Patrick & Joe's overbearing relatives provide humor, the three boys' relationship and interactions with each other are quite charming as well, most notably how they deal with Biaggio, a boy they invited just because "they were afraid to tell him no".

The Kings of Summer draws the audience in with an ever so common desire to live on one's own, without rules, society, curfews, or pre-cooked food (for the most part). It keeps your interest by never overdoing the material, the situation or how the boys react to the conflicts they run into. This believability helps keep your attention when at times you feel like The Kings of Summer starts to sink into the mud. At times The Kings of Summer does feel a bit repetitive especially with Biaggio's bizzare tics and sayings, they're entertaining at first but begin to wear thin after a while. And there does feel like a bit of dragging from one major event to another towards the end when you can feel the time ticking down.

Still despite its' flaws, The Kings of Summer manages to produce the goods thanks to the charm and wit of living on your own when you're not even sure how to live with others.

3/4

Insidious 2

Add Insidious 2 to the list of sequels that should have never been made, expanding on things for no reason and occupying over 90 minutes to accomplish nothing.

Insidious 2 picks up where the previous film left off, with a dead psychic (Lin Shaye), a husband who is looking more then a bit guilty for her death (Patrick Wilson) and a wife who feels her spouse has changed ever since he went into the other world to locate their son (Rose Byrne). The Lamberts are still being haunted by the spirits from the first movie and everyone is feeling like Josh (Wilson) may have brought some of them back with him.

My biggest problem with Insidious 2 is that everything just feels so thrown together and half-assed. The story feels really sloppy and patched together. Twists are thrown in here and there just to keep things moving and too many subplots are opened (do we really care that the lead demonic spirit has a fucked up son who can't keep a shirt on?). The scares feel lazy here, as opposed to The Conjuring where the scares were planned out with skilled technique and precision, Insidious just rests on the coattails of the previous entry and all of the talent involved.

As opposed to going for scares, Insidious feels oddly fixated on going for the laughs, it almost feels like a spoof of the first at times. Too many scenes are intended for comic relief and even a few which were aiming for thrills just are too silly and overdone to be taken seriously.

Even the actors don't seem up to par this round. Patrick Wilson has a large percentage of the material resting on his shoulders with his transformation to the dark side and he just doesn't seem up to game, instead of coming off as sinister/menacing he just feels grumpy and maybe needing a nap. Rose Byrne is a talented actress but here her role feels as if it were reduced to a look of fear in every scene she's in. To say it gets old is an understatement.

Even the visuals feels cheapened at times I feel like I was watching a poorly put together carnival ride based on Insidious.

To make matters worse, Insidious 2 couldn't possibly end any worse. It's bad enough that things end as expected as possible with the Lambert family but the final scenes expanding on a last second twist involving the ghost hunters just feels terribly cheapened. There's some true evil at work if a part three to this series is ever made.

1/4