Unstoppable

I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. It was much better than I had anticipated. It follows a runaway train across Pennsylvania. Denzel Washington and Chris Pine end up on a collision course with the out of control train, but after narrowly escaping death, they follow after the other train to try and stop it from the back.

The movie is incredibly suspenseful. I was biting my nails almost the whole time. There is a slight subplot involving Will (Pine) and his wife and son, but other than that it was all constant action and suspense.

Speaking of the subplot, it kind of bothered me. First of all, we find out early on that Will's wife has a restraining order against him. Later, he tells Frank (Washington) that she was texting someone and he grabbed the phone from her. That escalated into him confronting one of her friends with a gun, who he claims has always liked his wife, and who also happens to be a police officer. But seriously? All this over TEXTING? Are they 15? The other thing that bothered me was his son. His son showed zero emotion throughout the entire film. I don't know if they hired a terrible kid actor or it was just terrible direction, but it was really distracting to me. The kid sees his dad's face on TV and...nothing. Doesn't even ask why his dad is on TV or even acknowledge that it is his dad. And the kid is shown walking to school earlier on, so we know he is old enough to talk and sort of realize what is going on. It was just really odd.

I loved Rosario Dawson in this. I think she stole the show as Connie, the Rail Control Supervisor. I've always like Rosario Dawson as an actress and she definitely does an amazing job here considering her part is fairly minimal.

Overall, it was a pretty good way to spend a Saturday afternoon. My husband loved it. He loves trains and he's from Pennsylvania, so he was really into it.

Verdict?
4/5 stars.

Paranormal Activity 2

For some reason, my theater had more underage teenagers watching this R rated movie than there were adults. Two girls behind me narrated the entire movie in not-so-silent whispers and a group of teenage girls in the back squealed and offered gems such as "Don't go out there!" and "The baby's on the loose!". Thanks, assholes. This is why I watch movies at home.

Anyways, besides that rant, the movie wasn't bad. It was pretty much exactly the same as the first one though, so if you liked it you'll probably like this one. I did like how they tied it into the first movie by having the main character be Katie's (from the first Paranormal Activity) sister.

This movie takes place a few months before the events from the first Paranormal Activity. This movie follows Katie's sister, Christy, and her husband, their son, and her step-daughter. They add some backstory into this one, so it sort of fleshes out the original a bit too.

I'm not going to spoil it by giving away more of the plot, but for a sequel that came out so quickly after the original, the plot was decently thought out and it really adds to the original without giving TOO much information and taking away from the suspense and mystery.

Verdict?
4/5 stars. It was a little to0 similar to the first, but fortunately for them, the original was good.

WItch Hunt (2008)

Witch Hunt is a documentary about the mass arrests on charges of child molestation that happened in Kern County, CA in the mid-80s. 36 people were convicted of molesting their own children as well as neighbor children in Bakersfield, CA. They were also said to have been using the children in a "satanic sex rituals". They all spend decades in prison before 34 of them had their convictions overturned.

This movie is scary. These people were convicted and sentenced to prison with basically no evidence, except for the testimony of the children involved. The children are now in their 20s and have spoken out and recanted their confessions and said they were coerced into saying things by the officers questioning them and none of it actually happened.

Evidence was withheld as well. Children stated that they saw other children being molested or hurt, but medical reports showed no injuries or sexual assault on any of the children. However, the medical reports were not found until recently and were not shown in the original court proceedings.

I highly recommend this movie for anyone who is into documentaries. It's highly informative and very interesting. They don't go into graphic detail of the abuse, so it's not hard to watch from that aspect. It is, however, hard to watch these men, women, and even the children, whose lives have been ruined by this whole ordeal.

Verdict?
4.5/5 stars.

Drag Me to Hell (2009)

Christine (Alison Lohman) is a loan officer who refuses to give an old gypsy woman an extension on her mortgage payment. The old lady doesn't take this too well and curses Christine.

Okay, so this movie was CAMPY. But it worked. It kept my attention and was actually pretty decent. The director, Sam Raimi is known for his campy horror films (the Evil Dead series), so it kind of fit with his aesthetic, while still appealing to a new audience. The even used the old 1980 Universal logo at the beginning. It really sets the atmosphere for what you're about to see.

I like Alison Lohman. I loved her in Matchstick Men and White Oleander, and thought she did a pretty good job in this movie even though it was a different type of role than I'm used to seeing her in. I thought Justin Long was a little miscast though...he's more of a comedy guy to me. But he didn't do too bad a job, it was just an odd role for him.

I loved the ending. I love it when movies don't use the typical "happily ever after" ending. I'll admit I had no idea where this movie was going for most of it, which I liked. I wasn't sure if she could even FIND a way to get rid of the curse, which kept the suspense up.

Verdict?
4/5 stars. I was thoroughly entertained!

The Haunting in Connecticut

Matt has cancer. So his family rents a house closer to the hospital that he receives his treatments at. Unfortunately, the house used to be a funeral home where some shady stuff went down.

This movie kinda freaked me out because my parents moved into the old farmhouse that my mom grew up in back when I was in college. So when I go home to visit, I have to sleep in this enormous brick house that was built in 1876. And yes, they used to have funerals in the parlor, although it fortunately was not a funeral home. Apparently, they had funerals in your own house back then. And we did find pictures. Consequently, I do not like the parlor.

But, this movie wasn't that great. It was pretty predictable for the most part. Family moves into a possessed/haunted house, they see weird things, they find a weird guy to help them get rid of said weird things, then they live happily ever after...blah blah blah. There were a few twists in there that kept it from being completely terrible. I was thinking that the ending was going to go somewhere else (i.e. not predictable), but alas, I was wrong.

I did like the idea that Matt was on an experimental treatment for his cancer, with a possible side effect of hallucinations. So when he saw something weird, his family (and even himself) didn't know if it was the drugs or if something actually strange was going on in the house. That was more original than the usual "kid sees/hears weird stuff, parents think they're making it up and/or crazy". His hallucinations had a fairly reasonable explanation, so no one was really concerned at first.

But you know, some parts were really stupid. Did no one really smell any dead bodies in that house? Why on earth would Matt sleep in that basement room after he finds the adjacent autopsy room? Why did they stay in that house as long as they did? Etc. Etc. Etc.

Side note: Did anyone else think that the guy who played the reverend was that guy from Law and Order: SVU? I looked it up and it's a totally different guy...but they look identical.

Verdict?
2/5 stars. Probably wouldn't ever watch again.

Back to the Future

Some of the first DVDs I ever owned was the Back to the Future Trilogy. I love these movies. I can't think of anyone who DOESN'T like these movies. It's hard to do the time travel thing successfully, but Back to the Future is one of the best.

Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd MADE this movie. I don't think it would have had near the success without those two in the lead roles. However, I did want to know a little back story as to why this high school kid was friends with this old, eccentric scientist. Marty didn't exactly seem like he'd be the science geek type.

This movie can appeal to just about anyone. I loved it as a kid and I love it as an adult. It's pretty universally appealing. There's also so many amazing lines in this movie. You could seriously just about quote the whole thing.

Verdict?
5/5 stars.

An American Crime

An American Crime is a horrific story. It's made all the more disturbing because it's based on the true story of the Sylvia Likens murder in 1960s Indiana. I first heard of the Likens murder when I read "The Girl Next Door" by Jack Ketchum. It's a fiction book, but he used the real life murder as a basis. The true story is bad enough. An American Crime is very factual and uses actual crime photos and court testimonies.

Sylvia Likens (Ellen Page) and her sister Jenny are sent to live with Gertie (Catherine Keener) and her six children after their parents join a traveling carnival. After a rumor (that actually turns out to be true) in school about Paula, Gertie's daughter, they blame Sylvia. Gertie and the rest of the kids, including kids from around the neighborhood, horrifically abuse and torture Sylvia until her death.

At times, this movie almost seems over the top. If you didn't know it really happened, it would almost be unbelievable. Why were all these neighborhood kids so quick to join in on the abuse? Why did Jenny (Sylvia's sister) not tell anyone? Why did Sylvia never really fight back? But that's what really happened.

Although the subject matter is brutal, this film wasn't overly graphic with the material. Most of the violence is shown through reaction shots or inter cut with scenes from the trial.

I don't know why this movie isn't more known. I'm assuming it's an independent film and didn't have much funding, but it also stars some fairly big names - Ellen Page and Catherine Keener as well as Scout Taylor-Compton, James Franco, and Jeremy Sumpter. IMDb says that it was a made-for-tv film, but it has a theatrical rating, so who knows?

Verdict?
4.5/5 stars. This is definitely not a movie to watch over and over again though. Twice is enough for me.

Alien

Next in line to watch was actually A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, but I can't find the disc. Eric likes to use my DVDs to test out his various DVD players then forgets to take the disc back out. One of those players is a 400 disc changer...so yeah, good luck ever getting those back. Lucky for me, I remember it being super long and didn't really want to watch it anyways.

So, I got to watch Alien. I have seen Alien a total of once, on television. Then I bought the DVD and haven't watched it yet. This seems to be a pattern with me. Anyways, I loved Alien when I saw it on tv and was pretty excited to watch it again. It did not disappoint. It's really hard to believe that this movie is over 30 years old. It's definitely a classic.

Oh and there are probably some spoilers below, but I'm assuming that most of earth has seen or at least knows what happens in Alien.

I liked:

-Ripley. I loved that the sole survivor was a female, and a smart one at that.

-The final scene with the alien. Even though the movie is pretty old and it's not really a surprise for anyone anymore, it's still pretty intense when you find out the alien followed Ripley onto the shuttle.

-The effects were pretty great. They can hold up pretty well to even more current movies. That alien is creepy.

-Speaking of the alien, I liked how you don't get a ton of shots of it. It leaves it more to the imagination.

I didn't like:

-The facehugger alien thing...yuck. That seriously creeped me out to think of having that thing attached to my face.

-After the chest bursting scene, when the alien runs off the table and out of the room. I thought I was watching a cartoon. It was really ridiculous looking.

Verdict?
5/5 stars. I love this movie.

Inception

So, I finally saw Inception yesterday. I have to admit, it's not something I probably would have watched based on the trailer. But after EVERYONE kept talking about how amazing it was, I had to see it for myself.

I was afraid it was going to be a lot of complex crap that I probably didn't care enough about to figure it out. It WAS complex, but enjoyably so. I actually cared enough about the characters and the plot to not mind that it was insanely hard to follow at times.

It also did not feel overly long, even though it runs for over 2.5 hours. It moved really quickly despite having to explain almost everything that was going on to the audience so our brains wouldn't explode.

I'm still pretty surprised this movie is doing as well as it is at the box office. It just doesn't seem like it would appeal to a mass audience. Maybe people are finally getting tired of all the brain dead romantic comedies that seem to come out every week.

But...Things I Didn't Like:

-What was with the excessive greasy, used car salesman hair styles? Especially Leo. It was bad. He has enough money to get a decent haircut.

-The very last scene. It kind of made me mad...it felt like one of those cheap tricks they use to set up a sequel (which I hope they don't do). But then again, I kinda liked how ambiguous it was.

Verdict?
4.5/5 stars. A highly enjoyable thriller.

Salt

I didn't have a ton if interest in seeing this movie, but I happened to be in the mall last weekend and my friend and I had nothing better to do. And I have a girl crush on Angelina Jolie.

Salt is about a CIA agent, Evelyn Salt (Jolie), who is accused of being a Russian spy. My favorite thing was how you never were quite sure if Salt was good or bad. I couldn't figure out if she was on the American side, or the Russian side, or a side all of her own. Most movies nowadays have trouble successfully keeping the audience guessing like that, but Salt pulled it off pretty well.

The only thing I had a problem with was how Angelina Jolie kept beating up two and three security guards on her own. That lady must weight 100 pounds. There is no way she could do that without breaking one of her skinny limbs.

Verdict?
4/5 stars. I really liked it! It was a fun action-packed summer movie.

Abandon

So, I've come to the conclusion that in high school and college I would buy ANY movie if it was cheap enough. I remember watching this movie in high school and thinking it was terrible and for some reason I bought it a few years later? I have no clue.

Abandon is a "thriller" (and I use that word loosely because it's not really that "thrilling") starring Katie Holmes before she went to the dark side. Oh, and Benjamin Bratt. Katie plays a girl named Katie who is kind of weird and in college (or maybe grad school...who knows). Her douchbag boyfriend disappeared a couple years ago and for some reason they are just now trying to figure out what happened to him. Benjamin Bratt is the cop assigned to the case. Oh and he's an alcoholic (although that has nothing to do with the story?).

Abandon was trying to be all creepy and mysterious with a twist ending, but it failed miserably. First of all, all the actors sounded like they were reading for a screen test. Everything was so scripted sounding and nothing felt natural. Also, there are a ton of scenes that don't really have anything to do with ANYTHING. Like when they went to that party and got drunk. There was NO point to that. Also the cop is an alcoholic thing. Why randomly show him at an AA meeting then barely bring it up again? We also learn in the AA meeting that the cop apparently woke up an found blood and hair under his car from the night before. This also never comes up again and has nothing to do with anything.

Also, what college has these creepy cubicles that they rent out in their basement? Katie had all kinds of personal stuff in this study cubicle, including pictures and Post-it notes...so she owns a cubicle in the library basement? It was weird. Not to mention the library was always abandoned (and apparently open 24 hours a day) and really creepy.

What was the deal with the seizure inducing party scene anyways?? It was like 10 straight minutes of bright, quick flashes of light from hell. It was really weird and I'm still trying to figure out if they were drunk or high or both. Actually, scratch that, I don't really care. It was another pointless scene.

I hated Emery (the missing ex-boyfriend). He was such a jerk. I have no idea why she liked him. She had sex with him after he made of fun of her and threw her planner and textbook out the window. This is a horrible relationship, so I don't really care what happened to him.

Verdict?
2/5 stars. The twist ending wasn't that original, but it kept it from being a total bore. I still don't know why I own this.

1408

I remember seeing this movie in the theater and I've read the short story it is based on, but I have no clue what happened in it. That should have told me something.

I know it's about a haunted hotel room, but that's about it. I have no clue why I bought this movie. It wasn't particularly memorable. It must have been really cheap.

It's about a "haunted places" writer, Mike Enslin (John Cusack), who stays in a supposedly haunted hotel room so he can write about it in his next book. Room 1408 has killed over 50 people, but Mike doesn't believe in ghosts.

1408 has a stellar supporting cast including Samuel L. Jackson as the hotel manager and Tony Shalhoub as Mike's editor. However, 90% of the movie is just Mike and Room 1408, which might be why it got a little boring. You can only watch so much of a room physically and mentally abusing a guy.

Some of the movie was just stupid. The hotel manager tells Mike that electronics don't work in the room - which is why there is not a magnetic key. But Mike's laptop works fine and so does the digital clock by the bed. Also, he can't get cell phone service, but he can get wireless internet to his computer?

Verdict?
2/5 stars. I'm just kind of in the middle with this movie. It wasn't particularly bad, but it just wasn't memorable. The short story by Stephen King was much better.

New Challenge

I just moved over the weekend and had to box and unbox all of my dvds again. Most of them I haven't even watched (bought them after I'd seen the movie in theaters or on tv, but haven't actually watched my own copy) or have only seen once.

So over the next few months (or probably longer), I'm going to try and go through every one of my dvds and watch them in alphabetical order...because that's how I store them.

And I have roughly 170-ish dvds I think? So this should be interesting...

Eclipse

Okay, seriously? This movie was terrible. I knew it was going to be terrible, since I've now seen all three Twilight movies. However, they are VERY entertaining if you watch them for the pure unintentional comedic gold.

The basic plot is Bella (a human) is stuck between choosing Edward (a vampire) and Jacob (a werewolf). It's really stupid because honestly, who ever ends up with the guy they dated in high school? It's a bunch of stupid teenage angst. I really thought my eyeballs were going to fall out since they spent most of the movie rolling towards the ceiling.

First of all, I know I am above the target age for these movies when the person I am most attracted to in the movie is Bella's dad. Maybe it is because he is the only person with any damn sense around this town. He's also the only likable character.

I don't get the attraction to Bella at all. I don't see how she has any FRIENDS, much less two guys fighting over her. She's not even that nice and she's kind of boring. The guys fighting over her is pretty hilarious though. Favorite scene? When they are in a tent on a snowy mountain and Edward can't keep Bella warm (you know, icy vampires), so he has to watch Jacob cuddle with her.

I also can't figure out these characters. Bella is boring, so there's not much to figure out there. But in the 2nd movie, Edward was a complete ass and Jacob was likable. In Eclipse, Jacob is an ass and Edward is actually kind of likable. Is there even a good choice here? So now I just kind of hate both of them and I kind of hate myself for even caring.

Eclipse pretty much says everything that is wrong with teenagers today. They're too angsty and too serious about stupid crap that doesn't matter. High school isn't the end of the world.

Verdict? 1/5 stars for actual artistic value...but it gets 5/5 stars for making me laugh pretty much through the entire thing.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

Good Things:

- Jake Gyllenhaal

- Jake Gyllenhaal's muscles.

- I thought it was kinda cool that they payed homage to the fact that this was originally a video game. A lot of the action was very game-like with all the hopping and climbing. And I swear I've played this game before.

-There was TONS of action. It kept me entertained.

Bad Things:

-The accents. I'm not a stickler for accents. They usually don't bother me, but when the main character's accent noticeably shifts to random unidentifiable accents during the coarse of the movie, it's a little off-putting.

-The whole ostrich race thing was pretty stupid.

-Why do the two main characters stare deep into each others eyes and kiss during the WORST POSSIBLE MOMENTS?

-Apparently, sometime while they were running away from people trying to kill them, Tamina somehow found the time to wash her eye makeup off and reapply it differently. It was pretty noticeable too since she was originally made up pretty dramatically for her wedding, then she ends up with just plain black eyeliner.

-The ending was really stupid.

Verdict?
3.5/5 stars. It was really fun, but not a great movie by any means. It gets a bonus star for Jake Gyllenhaal being in it.

Month of Movies

So I finished up my Month of Movies! It was so much fun, so thanks Dan for the great idea! And to Tammy for her great reviews!

Here are my "awards":

*Best Movie - Heavenly Creatures. Everyone needs to see this movie.

*Worst Movie - Nothing on earth will EVER come close to the disaster that is The Room. However, it was highly entertaining.

*Most Boring Movie - Tron was so freaking boring. I almost turned it off a couple times.

*Most Surprised That I Liked It: Gran Torino. I really thought it would be super boring.

*Most Surprised That I Didn't Like It: Robin Hood

*Saddest Movie: I watched a lot of sad ones, but Schindler's List definitely wins.

*Funniest Movie: Althought it was unintentional, The Room.

*Weirdest Movie: Better Off Dead - dancing hamburgers? Really?

*Most Confusing Movie: Primer

2010 - Robin Hood

I LOVE Robin Hood. I had my first crush on the Disney Robin Hood when I was three. Then someone told me he was a fox and I cried. I loved Kevin Coster's Robin Hood. So I really wanted to like this movie...but I didn't so much.

It was't BAD, just not what I really expected. Russell Crowe was surprisingly good. I've never really seen any of his movies, but I expected to hate him because of all his on-set antics. You always hear about him throwing fits and throwing stuff at people on set. However, you'd never know because he is a great actor.

As for the bad, this was a prequel. He doesn't even become Robin Hood until the end. The plot was confusing. Characters have similar names and then they throw in this back story that doesn't fully make sense. It was basically a lot of battles with not much story.

Verdict?
3/5. It wasn't as good as I had hoped. I wish it had a stronger plot.

2009 - Up

I really an not big on cartoons, so I never saw this even though everyone seemed to love it. So I figured I'd check it out since the point of this was to try stuff we wouldn't normally watch.

I really loved the beginning of this movie. I cried. The back story of the guy and his wife was so cute and touching. I loved the little boy scout kid. He was seriously adorable. As usual, Pixar did an amazing job with the graphics.

However, the talking dogs absolutely killed the movie for me. I know that sounds kind of weird, but I have this thing about talking dogs. They just really annoy me for some reason.

Random Thoughts:
-Why are cartoon kids to ridiculously cute??
-I can’t cry this early in a movie!
-This is my 2nd cranky old man movie in a row.
-Ugh. One of my pet peeves is talking cartoon dogs. AHH! There’s more than one! This movie just got ruined.

Verdict?
3/5 stars. It would have been MUCH higher if they took out the stupid talking dogs. Ugh....I HATE talking dogs!

2008 - Gran Torino

I actually really liked this movie (sorry, Dan). Of course I love Clint Eastwood. I can definitely see why this movie won awards, but I can also see why some people might not like it. I think because I grew up in a small town with a lot of ignorant rednecks, those types of characters don't bother me so much. I mean they bother me because I think racism is absolutely stupid and pointless, but I'm not shocked that they exist.

I also think that as an old person, I'll probably be a lot like Clint Eastwood's character, Walt, minus the racism. I can totally see myself carrying a gun, being cranky to the neighbors. and glaring at inappropriately dressed teenagers. I wouldn't like my grandkids if I were him either. They were brats.

I LOVED the character Sue, Walt's next door neighbor. She didn't take offense to her cranky old neighbor like the rest of her house, but tried to befriend him instead. She also was feisty. I liked that their friendship felt so genuine.

I cried. Any movie that can make me cry is probably good. I believe I cried several times. The ending was so unexpected, but stunning. I love movies that I don't see the end coming.


Random Thoughts:
-I make that same face when I see 12-year-olds dressed like skanks. Ugh, why would you let your kid wear that to her grandma’s funeral?
-How old is that Catholic priest at the funeral? Like 18? (apparently he’s 27…they say so later)
-I’m totally going to carry a rifle around with me when I’m old.
-I'm so glad he didn't leave that car to his granddaughter.


Verdict?
5/5 stars.I thought this movie would be boring, so I almost didn't watch it. I'm SO glad I did because I really loved it.

2007 - The Education of Charlie Banks

I'm going to go ahead and admit I watched this movie because Fred Durst directed it. I had a major crush on him in 9th grade and I was interested to see if he could direct a film. Also, it actually had some pretty good reviews.

Charlie Banks (Eisenberg) witnesses a guy beat the crap out of another kid at a party in high school. He snitches and the guy is sent away, but no one knows it was him who told. Fast forward a few years and Charlie is in college. Guess who makes a surprise visit? The bully.

It's actually not a bad movie. It started out a little slow, but as I've said before, most indie dramas are slow paced. Jesse Eisenberg does a great job as usual. I really liked him in Adventureland and The Squid and the Whale. Jason Ritter plays the bully. He's very intimidating, especially to the awkward and meek Charlie.

It takes place in the 80's and it really looks like it. They definitely put a lot of effort in to make it look like the 80's without making it over the top like a lot of newer movies do to make SURE you know what decade they're in. The houses, the costuming, all look effortless.

I didn't take any notes during this film. It had an interesting storyline and interesting characters Aside from a few slow parts, it was really good.

Verdict?
4/5 stars. I really liked it!