Movie Review - Fright Night (2011)

Fright Night, 2011.

Directed by Craig Gillespie.
Starring Anton Yelchin, Colin Farrell, David Tennant, Toni Collette, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Imogen Poots and Dave Franco.


SYNOPSIS:

A high school student comes to suspect that his next-door neighbor is a vampire.


Fright Night follows Charley Brewster (Anton Yelchin), a down-to-earth high schooler who’s just trying to fit in with the cool crowd. He’s got a pretty girlfriend, Amy (Imogen Poots), and he’s got two douchebag friends - Reid Ewing and James Franco’s younger brother Dave. One day his old best friend Ed (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) comes to him with something he’s very serious about. Ed believes that Charley’s new neighbor Jerry (Colin Farrell) is in fact a vampire. Charley obviously doesn’t believe Ed at first, but as the movie progresses he starts to take notice of some of Jerry’s actions. For instance, vampires aren’t allowed into anyone’s house without an invitation and we get a scene where Charley gets some beer from his fridge for Jerry but he won’t cross the threshold into the house. A scream from Jerry’s house causes Charley to become paranoid that his neighbor really could be a vampire. Once he finds out what Jerry truly is he goes to Vegas, hoping a Criss Angel-like magician named Peter Vincent (David Tennant) will help him stop Jerry from taking over his neighborhood.

Having seen the original after seeing this one, I have to give the remake a few more points for being completely different. Most remakes tend to be exact copies of the original, just updated a little for the new generation. Here they manage to keep the same overall plot, as well as character names, but the film is essentially different in almost every way and that's a good thing. The movie doesn’t take long to get going and once it does it never lets up. It has a kind of Disturbia or Rear Window vibe to it in the same way that we watched the main character in those movies try to figure out if his neighbor was a killer or not. On so many levels this film really works and shows that not every remake can be a complete disaster.

For one the acting in this is surprisingly great. Anton Yelchin and Colin Farrell run the show in this and give some great performances, Farrell especially. David Tennant makes for a pretty amusing vampire hunter, while Christopher Mintz-Plasse does well in his limited screen time. Also giving some good performances are the females in the movie. Both Imogen Poots and Toni Collette play great girlfriend and mom figures in the movie.

The effects here really work as well. Toward the end, some of the CGI gets to be a little much but everything up until then looks great. Story-wise the movie really works too because it sucks you right into it and the filmmakers give it a smooth and brisk pace. It’s hard to believe the guy who directed Mr. Woodcock directed this, and made it quite an entertaining movie. To me I enjoyed this more than the original Fright Night; not to say the original is bad - I just had a lot more fun with this one and liked what they chose to do story-wise more so than the original.

Jake Peffer

Thoughts on... Final Destination 5 (2011)

Final Destination 5, 2011.

Directed by Steven Quale.
Starring Nicholas D'Agosto, Emma Bell, Miles Fisher, Arlen Escarpeta, David Koechner
and Tony Todd.


SYNOPSIS:

A group of co-workers face a race against time to escape Death's sinister agenda after they survive a terrifying suspension bridge collapse.


For the last 11 years we’ve watched people get sliced, decapitated, hung, stabbed, impaled, and blown up, among other things, in the Final Destination series. What else could they possibly do in a 5th movie?

Like the first four movies we get someone who has a vision of a horrible accident about to happen and then rescues his friends, and possibly other, from the situation only to have death hunt them down and try to finish what he started. This time around we have Sam played by Fired Up’s Nicholas D’Agosto. He sees that him and his friends are supposed to die in a horrific bridge collapse, but safely gets a handful of his friends off their bus before it happens. Along for the ride are The Walking Dead’s Emma Bell, Tom Cruise look-a-like Miles Fisher, the Friday the 13th remake’s Arlen Escarpeta, Anchorman’s David Koechner, and a slew of people you’ve probably never seen before. As the movie progresses one by one they start to die in the order they would have in the accident they all avoided. Once they learn that death is out to get them they try to do whatever they can to avoid death once more.

In more ways than not this is exactly like the first four movies. Same set-up, characters you don’t care about, bad acting, death’s pattern is the same, etc. They do try and bring back what made the first two movies in the franchise entertaining and fun but they don’t end up executing it well enough. A lot of the deaths still feel very cartoonish because of the heavy CGI on most of them and the 3D adds nothing to any of the deaths.

They do try to add some small things that differ from the previous movies. For instance, if you kill someone who wasn’t already supposed to die then that would cancel out your death and you’d be off the hook. Also what they do with the ending I thought was very creative. I won’t spoil anything but they do find a nice way to tie in this movie with the first movie. While I did like the ending I did not like the, literally, last two minutes because they go out of their way to do something that is just even more ridiculous than most of the deaths in the movie.

As far as the acting goes your not going to find anyone here who is giving a good performance. All of the kids are mostly hamming it up every second their on camera and David Koechner is clearly there just for the comic relief. We get a pointless character in an agent, played by Courtney B. Vance, who is interested in finding out what is happening to these people that survived the bridge accident. Tony Todd makes a cameo appearance that isn’t much but he at least tries in his very short amount of screen time.

The deaths I found to be pretty weak. They actually started off great with the first death but then turned into great build-ups and then blowing it on the actual death. Most of the deaths don’t look too good either because they are all CG and it just makes them look too unreal. Had they at least maybe tried to use some practical effects I think the deaths would have had more impact that just looking like a cartoon.

All in all this movie does have some entertaining moments and the ending, except for the final two minutes, is done really well. It’s not as good as the first two movies in the franchise but it definitely beats part three, and is leagues better than part four.

Jake Peffer

Thoughts on... Warrior (2011)

Warrior, 2011.

Directed by Gavin O'Connor.
Starring Tom Hardy, Joel Edgerton, Jennifer Morrison and Nick Nolte.


SYNOPSIS:

Two brothers find themselves on a collision course in the biggest 'winner takes all' Mixed Martial Arts event in history.


It would seem that about every year or so we get an inspirational sports movie. Some usually do the same tired thing we’ve seen a thousand times before while others do things we’ve seen before but in a really spectacular way. Which way does Warrior try and test its luck with?

We start with Tommy Conlon (Tom Hardy); he’s recently returned home and visits his father Paddy, played wonderfully by Nick Nolte, who he hasn’t seen in about fourteen years. He wants his dad to help him train to fight in a mixed martial arts tournament coming up soon. Paddy reluctantly accepts to try and help his boy as well as possibly grow closer with him since he’s been out of his life for so long. On the other side of the movie we have Brendan (Joel Edgerton), a down on his luck school teacher who tries to make some extra cash in mixed martial arts fights so his family and him won’t lose their house. Eventually he gets a trainer to help him get ready for the same tournament his brother Tommy is participating in. Even though Brendan is an underdog he lays it all out every time he fights and this sets him up to eventually have to go toe to toe with his own brother.

What I really enjoyed about this movie was the acting. All three main actors in this movie do one hell of a job and give it their all just as their characters do in their own situations. Tom Hardy is starting to make a great name for himself. After a good job in Inception and now this we can only assume he’ll be great in the next Batman movie. I haven’t been too familiar with Joel Edgerton before this movie but I have to say that he too is quite the actor. Every time both of them are on screen you just get so wrapped up in their stories that you can’t help but stay glued to the screen. As for Nick Nolte, I honestly haven’t seen him do much better than he does here. He gives a really great performance, one that, at times, will tear you up inside.

The way the stories throughout this movie are told is another great part of the movie. At first it’s a little off putting because it just feels like two different stories going on at the same time that have nothing to do with each other. But once then do cross paths it gets even better and continues strong through the rest of the movie. Seeing this was directed by the same guy who directed Miracle, it doesn’t surprise me that he makes the story so enthralling. His ability to combine heavy handed drama with some of the most intense fight sequences in any movie in quite some time is definitely another highlight of the movie.

There isn’t much more I can say about Warrior that I haven’t already said. It’s great in all the right places and while it does feel familiar at times, it turns right around and does something that you more than likely haven’t seen in any movie before.

Jake Peffer

Movie Review - Moneyball (2011)

Moneyball, 2011.

Directed by Bennett Miller.
Starring Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Robin Wright.


SYNOPSIS:

Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) atempts to put together a successful baseball team by employing computer generated analysis to draft his players.


Can you really make a movie about all the stuff that goes on behind the scenes in baseball and it actually be better than a normal baseball movie with all the action? Moneyball says yes.

Brad Pitt stars as Billy Beane, the general manager of the Oakland A's. He was a big time prospect when he was younger but didn't last long in the majors when he didn't live up to his potential. His team just lost in the first round of the playoffs in the previous season and they are about to lose the three best players on their team. Billy would like to try something different this season but all the scouts and members of the A's organization just don't understand what else they could possibly do. After meeting with the Cleveland Indians to try and make some trades he meets Peter Brand, played by Jonah Hill. Peter has a unique take on the game of baseball and this intrigues Billy enough to buy him from Cleveland. They plan on changing the game of baseball by choosing players based on statistics rather than seeing how they actually play the game. Nobody else likes this idea and thinks they will have one of the worst seasons in their history, but Billy and Peter have faith in their system and plan on doing something that has never been seen before.

You take one look at this movie and you would expect it to be boring because it's a baseball movie but without all the baseball action you would normal get. We get to see things like trades being made, talks about money problems and statistical analysis of players. That's not to say that we don't get to see some of the games every now and again but that's not what the story focuses on. One would never think that could be so engaging and very entertaining. The writing and acting definitely play big parts in why this movie is so entertaining. Steve Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network) wrote the screenplay for this and they did a great job combining almost every single aspect of baseball into a good script.

The acting here is top notch and it really is only three actors doing it well for almost the entire movie. Brad Pitt is great as always and here he really brings a lot to this real life character and certainly deserves to be nominated for anything he gets nominated for. Phillip Seymour Hoffman does a great job as well playing the head coach Art Howe. He plays it just like most head coaches in baseball really are and that definitely gave the movie some points for being realistic. Jonah Hill is someone you wouldn't think would give a really good performance, mainly because he mostly does a lot of comedies. But here he actually gives a great performance and shows that he does have some range and we could very well see him doing more than just the types of comedies we've come to know from him.

All in all, the movie is not perfect but what it does put on screen is an effective sports movie that's not just about all the glitz and glamour of being in the spotlight. It shows what really goes on when it comes to trying to put together a successful team and win ball games.

Jake Peffer

Movie Review - Carnage (2011)

Carnage, 2011.

Directed by Roman Polanski.
Starring Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz and John C. Reilly.

SYNOPSIS:


Two sets of parents meet after their children are involved in a fight but their increasingly childish behaviour leads to chaos.


Take four solid actors, (Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Cristoph Waltz and John C. Reily) a respected director with a controversial past, (Roman Polanski) a story based on a French play ("God of Carnage") mix them all together and you get Carnage.

After their son is hit with a stick and badly injured by another boy, the Longstreets (Foster and Reily) invite the Cowans (Winslet and Waltz) over to their apartment to discuss the situation and try to find out why the Cowans son harmed theirs. At first everyone is willing to work things out and try to get along for the sake of their two sons, but after a while things start to get out of head and escalate into everyone showing their true colors.

At first glance this movie might not look like much. Essentially, you have only four characters who spend the entire 79 minute running time in one location bickering and yelling at one another over an altercation with their children. Doesn't sound like too much but what you get on screen is actually quite entertaining. The cast plays a big part in making this movie enjoyable. All four actors are clearly having a good time in their roles and each get their own little moments of hilarity throughout the movie.

In the beginning the movie is a tad bit slow, which isn't a good thing for a movie this short. For about the first ten to fifteen minutes you're kind of watching just wondering where exactly this could possibly go but once the characters start to let loose that's when the movie picks up and starts to get more interesting and definitely a lot more funny. The only major flaw here would be that once you get to see all the characters for who they truly are, they all become somewhat unlikeable. That could definitely turn off some people but I was enjoying all the arguing and bickering so them being unlikeable didn't concern me too much just as long as they were making me laugh.

Overall, the movie isn't a laugh a minute comedy but it is funny enough and the actors are all good enough to make this a solid movie.

Jake Peffer