John Wick

GENERAL INFORMATION

Release Info: 24 October 2014

Director: Chad Stahelski
Writer: Derek Kolstad
Running Time: 1 Hour and 41 Minutes

Staring:  Keanu Reeves, Michael Nyquist and Alfie Allen

Rating? R

SPOILERS? YES

REVIEWS

IMDB: 7.3 of 10

RT: Critics: 85% Audience: 80%
MY RATING: 4

STORYLINE

An ex-hitman comes out of retirement to track down the gangsters that took everything from him.

MY REVIEW

I really wanted to like this movie, I did. I have always loved Keanu and he's surprised me in the later years with some solid performances. I do believe 4 is the highest I can offer for this movie. The plot is simple, but realistically, it might be too simple.

What I DID LIKE about this movie:

• Some of the blocking for the fight scenes was pretty awesome. It's really obvious that Keanu did some work to make the fights right. 
• That was abut it. 

What I DID NOT LIKE about this movie:

• So, you're telling me that John Wick is a ruthless assassin with the ability to kill seven guys with a pencil and a spoon. BUT, he is taken aback while Russian gangsters break into his home, beat him senseless, kill his puppy AND steal his car!?!?! 
• This movie was mindless violence with little to no redeeming plot. It's violence for the sake of violence. That's it.

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The Taking of Deborah Logan

GENERAL INFORMATION
Release Info: 21 Oct 2014
Running Time: 90 Minutes
Staring:  Jill Larson and Anne Ramsay
Rating? R
SPOILERS? NO

REVIEWS
IMDB: 6 of 10
MY RATING: 5 of 10

STORYLINE
What is taking Deborah Logan? Some memories are worth forgetting.

MY REVIEW:
I had extremely high hopes.. Rated R, form the director of X-Men... it lived up to some of the hype, just not all.

The set-up had some intriguing possibilities for me. The idea in this film was that a independent filmmakers utilize a documentary style of filmmaking within the horror idea in a medical documentary about Alzheimers disease.

Deborah Logan {Jill Larson} was a single mom who is slowly falling into the horrid and debilitating disease. Her daughter Sarah {Anne Ramsay} is her only family. In an effort to bring Alzheimers to the front of peoples mind and earn some money for medical bills, she agrees to allow Mia Medina {Michelle Ang} and her film crew into her home. With the camera rolling, Deborah begins to exhibit some strange and malevolent actions that simply cannot be attributed to the disease. This was just an interesting idea!

It's slow paced, I assume because of the medical nature of the first half of the movie. The documentary crew seems detached from the story, impersonal, and really hard to connect with as a viewer. The relationship between Ramsay and Larson is really the only redeeming nature of this movie. They were the savior of this movie for me.

It's unnerving and interesting at the same time. The majority is fairly slow, but the end seems rushed and improbable. The end feels like such a far cry from how real people would respond. It was good, but not great.

Fury

GENERAL INFORMATION
Release Info: 17 Oct 2014
Running Time: 134 Minutes
Staring:  Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman...
Rating? R
SPOILERS? NO

REVIEWS
IMDB: 7.6 of 10
Rotten Tomatoes: Critics: 77% Audience: 85%
MY RATING: 7 of 10. Maybe 7.5

MY REVIEW:
For a war movie, this was pretty decent. What I found to be the most appealing is that it didn't "pretty-up" the truth and call it the "fog of war." This was gritty and bloody but it was realistic. It was full of war movie cliches, but it felt right.

I read a lot of horrible reviews and most were talking bout how the movie was way off base or blood porn. I disagree. The acting was good, maybe a little to stereotyped in some ways, but it was good. I think there was real drama to the emotions of the soldiers who were out there living this.

It wasn't Gone with the Wind, but it was good.

The Town that Dreaded Sundown

GENERAL INFORMATION
Release Info: 17 Oct 2014
Running Time: X Minutes
Staring:  Addison Timlin, Veronica Cartwright, Edward Herrmann
Rating? R
SPOILERS? YES

REVIEWS
IMDB: 5.6 of 10
MY RATING: 7 of 10- Decent

STORYLINE
Sixty-five years after a masked serial killer tormented the small town of Texarkana, the so-called 'moonlight murders' begin again. Is it a copycat or something even more sinister? A lonely high school girl, with dark secrets of her own, may be the ket to catching him.

MY REVIEW:
I remember watching the original Town that Dreaded Sundown when I was a kid. I grew up in East Texas about 150 miles from Texarkana.. where this ACTUALLY happened in 1946. Less than two hours drive to the place made it a simple watch for every slumber party that I went to when I was between he ages of 11 and 15.

This movie is less of a sequel and more of a prequel. Maybe a little of both. I did think it was pretty successful despite some issues that I may have had with this film.

What I did like was the tone set in the movie. Consistent scares throughout the movie. I like the feeling of dread that stayed with you. I loved the use of the camera angels and the colors that seemed to be intense and beautiful. The scares don't knock you out of your chair, but they are decent.

What did;t work for me was that it just wasn't as scary as it could have been. The love story attempt is odd and the final plot twist is just absurd.

Overall, it's a good slasher movie with some great camera work.

The Houses October Built

GENERAL INFORMATION

Release Info: 10 October 2014 

Genre: Horror, Thriller
Director: Bobby Roe
Writer:Zack Andrews and Bobby Roe
Running Time:  91 Minutes

Staring: Brandy Schaefer, Zack Andrews and Bobby Roe

Rating? NOT RATED

SPOILERS? YES

REVIEWS

IMDB: 5 of 10

MY RATING: 3 of 10

STORYLINE

Beneath the fake blood and cheap masks of countless haunted house attractions across the country, there are whispers of trust terrifying alternatives. Looking to find an authentic, blood-curdling good fright for Halloween, five friends set off on a road trip in an RV to track down these underground haunts. Just when their search seems to reach a dead end, strange and disturbing things start happening and it becomes clear that the Haunt has come to them...

MY REVIEW

I should know better to watch an UNRATED horror movie expecting anything other than a pre-teen scare for slumber parties! Not a complete and utter failure, but it was damn close!!

Everything about this movie is just a hair away from being too cliche and too predictable. The plot had a great idea and failed to bring it to life. Seeing as how I have an irrational fear of clowns, this was disturbing solely on that factor, but if you're not like me, then this will likely fall very flat. Maybe with a a bigger budget, a re-write, and a few known actors, AND A COMPETENT ending... this may have worked.

What I DID LIKE about this movie:

• DIRECTION- While certain aspects of the Director's work are good,  it's not PERFECT and it's not terrible. Could have spent a little more time coaching the actors to get a good or better performance. I needed to bring at least one good thing to the review!
• COSTUME DESIGN- THIS! This was pretty good. Like I say above, I am not a big fan of clowns and therefore just really don't want to look. The makeup department responsible for the make-up, masks and special effects was beyond amazing. Afton Adams, Christian Lau and  David Monzingo. You guys deserve come major credit for creating the most disturbing character design in this porcelain doll make-up shown here. Wow, just wow. David Monzingo has a laundry list of special effects gold under his belt and they were lucky to have him.
• SET DESIGN- Creepy, but generic. Acceptable.

What I DID NOT LIKE about this movie:

• EDITING- I spent the first hour waiting semi-patiently for something to happen. It's a simple rule of three acts and by the end of the second, you have to see some sort of high point to come down from by the mid-point of act three. That was missing for me here. I waited for a tediously and DULL ending! 
• CINEMATOGRAPHY- I DESPISE SHAKY CAM!! Seriously, should have just dumped that idea and hired a real gaffer and camera man and made a better/ stronger movie with a great ending!
• WRITING- Well, much like my points above, it was a great idea that fell short. Could have been so much better. Again, this is my opinion! It felt like they should have just made a documentary about haunted houses, but wait, the writer and director did that already did that. Nice try Bobby Roe, how about you stick to baseball.
• SCORE/SOUNDTRACK- forgettable.

Annabelle

GENERAL INFORMATION
Release Info: 3 October 2014
Running Time: 99 Minutes
Staring:  Ward Horton, Annabelle Wallis, Alfre Woodard
Rating? R
SPOILERS? YES. It's a terrible movie, so you shouldn't see it anyway!

REVIEWS
IMDB: 5.4 of 10
Rotten Tomatoes: Critics: 29% Audience: 38%
MY RATING: 3 of 10.  Might be better if you're a little tipsy.

MY REVIEW:
I am a HUGE HORROR FAN. That being said, this was not a good movie.

There were really only two good SCARY bits in the whole hour and a half. I was thinking I was going to see some sort of doll-centric Chucky type movie. WRONG.

We are taken back to the cult-phobic sixties to meet a California couple who begin to experience weird paranormal occurrences with a weirdly bland husband and a pregnant wife with a quirky doll obsession.  There is no real tension, no suspense, nothing redeeming.

When I left work today, I had high hopes for this movie.
<-----
At least I remembered how important it was to take a selfie before heading home.

Gone Girl

GENERAL INFORMATION
Release Info: 3 Oct 2014
Running Time: 149 Minutes
Staring:  Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike
Rating? R
SPOILERS? NO

REVIEWS
IMDB: 8.2 of 10 Link
Rotten Tomatoes: Critics: 88% Audience: 87% Link
MY RATING: 9 of 10

MY REVIEW:
WOW! This was dark and twisted in the best most awesome way! This movie messes with your mind and heart at the same time. There is no up or down, there is only a roller coaster of guessing what's going to happen next and what you guessed wrong. I know my heart rate was spiking in a few of those scenes!

Amazing plot, mystery that you can really put your head into, beginning to end, this was such a well-formatted movie.