The Devil's Pass

GENERAL INFORMATION
Release Info: 28 Feb 2013
Running Time: 100 Minutes
Staring:  Holly Goss, Matt Stokoe, Luke Albright
Rating? R
SPOILERS? NO

REVIEWS
IMDB: 5.7 of 10
Rotten Tomatoes: Critics: 53% Audience: 29%
MY RATING: 5

STORYLINE
Devils Pass follows a group of  American Students on a trek to investigate the true life mystery of nine Russian skiers who befell unexpected deaths int eh Russian Mountain Pass, Dyatlov, in 1959. TO this day, their deaths have been one of the most bizarre unsolved mysteries of the 20th Century.

MY REVIEW:
I am a history buff and had read about eh Dyatlov Pass several years ago so this movie sounded like something that I would be interested in seeing. I did give it a 5 of 10 just for the simple fact that there were some sections that just could not be looked over.

It's not a "found footage" film, but the camera work is really interesting. I liked the angle that they were going for. It was different and interesting and a little odd. Like I said, i know some about the incident from 1959, and decided that the best way to deal with facts in this case is to put them all aside and just watch. That was the best choice.

There are some good aspects. The filming is beautiful. I would love to see that location in real life. Decent acting and the writing was pretty well done even through the weird story plot twists and turns.

The story does do some back-and-forth and leaves a lot of loose ends. Maybe a little too much Russian Fear than I would prefer.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie enough to watch it again. Watch it for what it is and do your own research about Dyatlov.

Dark Skies

GENERAL INFORMATION

Release Info: 22 Feb 2013
Running Time: 97 Minutes
Staring:  Keri Russell, Jake Brennan, Josh Hamilton
Rating? PG-13
SPOILERS? YES

REVIEWS
IMDB: 6.3 of 10
Rotten Tomatoes: Critics: 40% Audience: 49%
MY RATING: 4. Mediocre

STORYLINE
As the Barrett family's peaceful suburban life is rocked by an escalating series of disturbing events, they come to learn that a terrifying and deadly force is after them.

MY REVIEW:
I do love science fiction and thrillers, so this seemed like a good idea to me so I gave it a shot.

So, the movie starts with introducing the Barrett family, who loves in the suburbs, the dad is out of work and they are struggling. The families two sons are very different, one is a teenager discovering girls and one is a eight-nine year old who seems a little different. The family starts seeing odd things happen in the house and think it might be intruders or even the younger child. The things keep getting stranger and stranger.

Its slow paced, but has enough scares to propel the to the end. There are some classic horror influences.. a little Poltergeist and maybe a little Close Encounters...

It was a pretty run of the mill thriller/horror movie with a few decent scares tossed in. Solid 4 for that and a little creep factor. This movie is not nearly as well done as those two, but it was working with the right ideas. It works as a thriller, but not a great scary movie.

Safe Haven

GENERAL INFORMATION
Release Info: 14 Feb 2013
Running Time: 115 Minutes
Staring:  Julianne Hough, Josh Duhamel, Cobie Smulders
Rating? PG-13
SPOILERS? NO

REVIEWS
IMDB: 6.7 of 10
Rotten Tomatoes: Critics: 12% Audience: 67%
MY RATING: 5

MY REVIEW:
Yep, I did see this one. I was a little surprised myself. Kyra made me!

It was not horrible, but definitely not in my wheelhouse. A little too much on the attempts to pull a the heartstrings.

Typical for a romance. Good Boy meets Mysterious girl. Girl has a past brought with a dangerous bad guy. Bad Guy comes looking for girl. Girl falls for the good boy. Bad guy arrives and stirs up a butt load of stuff. Girl and Boy live happily ever after. YUCK!

Side Effects

GENERAL INFORMATION
Release Info: 8 Feb 2013
Running Time: 106 Minutes
Staring:  Rooney Mara, Channing Tatum, Jude Law, Catherine Zeta-Jones
Rating? R
SPOILERS? YES, but not much

REVIEWS
IMDB: 7.1 of 10
Rotten Tomatoes: Critics: 83% Audience: 70%
MY RATING: 7 of 10

STORYLINE
A young woman world unravels when a drug prescribed by her psychiatrist has unexpected effects.

MY REVIEW:
This movie jumps genres on a regular basis. Psychological joyride, thriller and mystery. The lead character is Emily Taylor {Rooney Mara} whom we see suffering from depression and driving into a concrete wall in an apparent suicide attempt. Her husband, Martin {Channing Tatum} has just been released from prison after serving four years for insider trading. We then see her visiting her psychiatrist Jonathan Banks {Jude Law}.

This movie is the journey that she, Emily makes to regain her stability. She is prescribed a new drug called Ablixa which has some pretty devastating side effects for her and her family.

I think that the director took a few cues from the wonderful Mr. Alfred Hitchcock. From the beginning, there seems to be a wonderful suspenseful feel that created the "What's gonna happen next?" feeling that is much sought after in this type of film.

The script is a little lacking for me, but solid acting and directing bring it up from that a little. Having said that, it dies feel like this movie is a bit heavy handed on the blame game with the drug industry in the US today.

In the end, I did enjoy Side Effects, but it could have been better.