Mama Review

Mama is probably one of the better horror films to come out in the past few years. It is surprising since the film is rated PG-13 and in the past, movies with this rating are not really that scary. The story is decent and delivers all of the chills and thrills to make it an effective horror movie.

The film starts with a suburban father of two little girls returning home after murdering his two business partners. The crazed man also kills his wife and drives off with his kidnapped daughters on an icy road. Naturally, the car slides off the snowy road into a steep ravine. Still able to walk, the dad carries his youngest girl Lily (Isabelle Nélisse) deep into the woods with his older daughter Victoria (Megan Charpentier) following them, and they seek refuge in a spooky, remote cabin. Once inside we have a sense of what is going to happen next. As the father grabs the pistol to shoot his little girl, a witchlike angel with wall crawling abilities attacks him. She is Mama. She rescues the girls and raises them as her own.

For the next five years the homicidal man’s brother Lucas (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and his girlfriend Annabel (Jessica Chastain) continue to search for the children. Eventually, a couple of hunters find the crashed car and the two girls, who have become animal-like after spending so much time in the wilderness. They are put under the care of psychiatrist Dr. Dreyfuss, but Lucas and Annabel are granted custody of the two children under the agreement that they move into a large suburban house so the doctor can do psychiatric case studies on the children. However, Mama has followed them to the house and intends to take the two girls back.

Mama has some stunning visuals and delivers the promised amount of scares. It balances suspense and sudden jumps quite well. The movie has a creepy atmosphere, and that is essential for a horror movie like this. Once Mama’s form is revealed, it is quite a sight to see. She has dislocated joints, malnourished limbs, and a disproportional face painted with a sickly brown color, which gives this movie monster an added touch of realism, and sends tingles down your spine.

However, I did have a couple of problems with the film. For example, it’s hard to believe that the police could not find the girls for so long. Also, the title character’s origin story is never explained fully, and it would have been nice to explore it more.

Mama is a good horror movie with some great scares with an eerie atmosphere, but it never quite reaches its potential. A stronger script and better character development could have made this a truly great horror movie.

Mama - 4/5

Here Comes the Gangster Squad

Gangster Squad is based on the story of Los Angeles Police Department officers and detectives who form a group called the “Gangster Squad Unit”. The group, led by two sergeants (Josh Brolin and Ryan Gosling), works together in an effort to take down the ruthless mob king Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) in post-World War II Los Angeles.

This gangster movie is style over substance at its finest, but this is not necessarily a bad thing. Some people will want more depth because there are gangster films with more depth, but Gangster Squad is just an all out action movie. Once again, Sean Penn steals the show as real life gangster Mickey Cohen. He is a ruthless and power hungry madman with an ice-cold heart, and Penn plays him excellently. I also love how well the movie portrays 1940’s Los Angeles. There are some movies where the set pieces look out of place. In Gangster Squad the set designers get every last detail right from the classic cars and clothing attire to the glamorous nightclubs and hotels.

However, this movie is incredibly cliché and predictable. You can easily tell what is going to happen next. Like all gangster movies this film is violent, but I noticed that this one is excessively violent and bloody, which might turn off some people. The romantic subplot between Gosling and Mickey Cohen’s redheaded mistress Grace (Emma Stone) goes nowhere. It is a shame because the two had much better chemistry in Crazy Stupid Love.

There are better gangster films like Brian De Palma’s The Untouchables and Curtis Hansen’s L.A. Confidential, but Gangster Squad is a decent movie with a great performance by Sean Penn, and it has some spectacular shootout scenes.

Gangster Squad - 3.5/5

Zero Dark Thirty Review

Zero Dark Thirty is described as a chronicle of the decade long hunt for al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden after the September 2001 attacks, until his death at the hands of the United States Navy S.E.A.L. Team 6 in May 2011. Kathryn Bigelow, who won the Academy Award for Best Director for The Hurt Locker, directs this film. The Hurt Locker is the best film about the Iraq War, so I was curious if she could make another good war film.

Zero Dark Thirty really does not have a plot. The movie feels so episodic as scenes are just chopped together. The movie consists of scenes that involve torture of prisoners, bombings, agents stalking suspects in large Pakistani crowds, people staring at computer screens, and characters yelling at each other because they cannot find Bin Laden. These scenes go on for about two hours. The most boring parts of this movie are the office scenes where there is so much talking with no tension.

The closest thing we have to a main character is Maya (Jessica Chastain). She, along with everyone else in the film, has no backstory and no character arcs. All we know about Maya is that the CIA recruited her out of high school, and that she is obsessed with finding Bin Laden. Her character is so robotic and dull that I wonder how Chastain is getting so much praise for the role.

On a technical level the film is great. The actual scene of the Navy SEAL Team 6 raiding Bin Laden’s hiding spot is very well done. This scene is so tense, and it is filmed so professionally that it actually looks like real live footage from that mission. The torture scenes in the beginning can be tough to watch, but they really capture the grittiness of the film. I thought the grittiness was going to be carried throughout the whole film, but it didn’t.

Zero Dark Thirty plays out like a companion piece to The Hurt Locker. Of course, the latter was a much better film with characters we cared about. Zero Dark Thirty is a fine piece of filmmaking, but I think it would have worked better as a miniseries. In my honest opinion, it's basically an extended episode of Homeland.

Zero Dark Thirty - 3.5/5

The Guilt Trip Review

The Guilt Trip stars Seth Rogen as Andy Brewster, a chemist who is driving cross-country to try to sell his eco-friendly cleaning fluid to different stores. He makes a quick stop at his mom’s house. While at home his long widowed mother Joyce, played by Barbara Streisand, reveals that before meeting his father, she fell in love with a man now living in San Francisco. Out of guilt, Andy asks Joyce to accompany him on his trip. However, his secret mission is to reunite Joyce with her first love.

I love Seth Rogen, but I have not seen much of Streisand’s work aside from her roles in 2004’s Meet the Fockers and 2010’s Little Fockers. I have to say that I enjoyed this road trip comedy and is better than the reviews say it is. I think it has around 38% on Rotten Tomatoes. Seth Rogen and Barbara Streisand have excellent chemistry together and they are fun to see together on the big screen. Streisand is perfectly cast as a stereotypical overbearing, yet loveable Jewish mother. Rogen is regulated to a well-mannered straight man and does a good job. The relationship feels real and genuine, which is critical in this type of movie.

The story feels formulaic and it is. The screenplay, written by Dan Fogelman, is underwhelming compared to his previous comedy Crazy Stupid Love. However, the relationship between Rogen and Streisand elevate this material to a decent, road trip comedy. Unlike recent, road trip comedies like Due Date, this film is not mean spirited, overly vulgar, and it has likable characters. It is not the best road trip comedy and the replay value is low, but it is still a sweet movie.

The Guilt Trip - 3.5/5

Red Dawn (2012) Review

America, F@#$ Yeah!

Apparently the studios felt that remaking Red Dawn would be a good idea. The original is about Soviet Communists troops invading the United States, and the only ones who can stop them are a bunch of Colorado teenagers. The inexperienced teenagers start waging guerrilla warfare against the Soviet troops under the banner of ‘Wolverines’. Yes, it is ridiculous, but it has a cult following. Probably because of its pro American jingoistic themes combined with cheesy action and dialogue. It is truly an 80's movie.

The newest Red Dawn is more ludicrous and just as dumb. Except this time instead of Russia Communists the villains are North Koreans. Originally, the Chinese invade the United States, but China is a big market for American movies, so Hollywood decides to change the story a little bit. So now we have North Koreans instead of the Chinese. This makes no sense because how can North Korea find enough people to invade the United States? Even if you ignore that fact, the movie never tells us what the Korean’s agenda is, and the movie never tells us what is happening outside the town. I will admit that the action scenes are staged well and are much better than the 1984 original.

2012’s Red Dawn is slightly better than the original just because the action scenes are better, but there is still bad dialogue, cardboard characters, and ridiculous plot lines. It is a good way to kill two hours, but nothing more.

Red Dawn - 2/5

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Review

Peter Jackson Returns to the Shire in the New Hobbit Trilogy.

I have to admit that I am not a big fan of "Lord of the Rings”. They are good movies, but not the masterpieces that fans claim it to be. They just never resonated with me. Maybe I am bias because I really do not care for the fantasy genre, with the exception of the Harry Potter films. The Lord of the Rings trilogy is epic, but the long running times for each movie is brutal, and there are so many characters that I couldn’t care less about. The films are still well made, and the actors fit the roles perfectly. For example, Andy Serkis’ portrayal of Gollum in The Two Towers has to be one of the biggest Oscar snubs of all time.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is about a Hobbit named Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), who is swept into a quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor from the fearsome dragon Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch). Bilbo is approached out of the blue by the wizard Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellan), who thinks he will be useful on the journey. Bilbo also finds himself joining 13 dwarfs led by the legendary warrior, Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage). Throughout their journey they walk through the forests, walk up the mountains, walk through the tunnels, and walk through other places. Seriously though, they do encounter many deadly creatures like goblins, orcs, giant spiders, shapeshifters, and sorcerers. Eventually, the group gets separated and must escape the goblins' tunnels. While separated from the group, Bilbo meets Gollum (Andy Serkis), a creature that will change his life forever. In the process he also gains possession of Gollum’s “precious” ring that holds unexpected powers.

I have to say that I mildly enjoyed the film. The cinematography is amazing, and the Middle Earth world is just as spectacular as it is in the Lord of the Rings movies. The landscapes are breathtakingly beautiful, and it almost makes the audience want to travel to New Zealand to see these amazing sights. Martin Freeman does a great job as Bilbo Baggins,and Ian McKellan does another wonderful performance as Gandalf the Grey. Nevertheless, Gollum steals the show despite him being in the movie for about 20 minutes. In this movie he is a bit scarier as he has a taste for human flesh in this film.

However, the main problem with the film is the pacing. This film drags for about the first hour, and 13 dwarfs are introduced in this period of time. To be perfectly honest, I could not keep up with all of these characters. Of course it is always a challenge to make the audience care about them. They are not fully developed, and I could not tell one dwarf from the other. The movie picks up in the third act, but it takes forever to get there.

Peter Jackson tries to stretch out the story for as long as possible to make "The Hobbit” last for three hours. This is a mistake as the next two parts are going to drag also, we actually get to see the group encounter Smaug the dragon in the next film. So it should be somewhat more entertaining. Nevertheless, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey has its moments, but it is ultimately a journey I will not be going on again.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - 3/5

This is 40 Review

First of all I have to say that I love Judd Apatow. He produces hilarious comedies and can write some funny material. I like most of the comedies he produces, and the three films he has directed are very good. His last film, “Funny People”, divided audiences and critics alike. Personally, I loved the film and it showed that Apatow could write characters that have depth and engaging story lines. It is actually a dramedy in many ways. In his new film, “This is 40”, Apatow is going into more dramatic territory while still keeping the crude and raunchy humor intact. However, this time he delivers mixed results.

The movie is billed as the sort-of-sequel to 2008’s "Knocked Up". That film is about the repercussions of a drunken one-night stand involving Ben Stone (Seth Rogen), a stoned slacker, and Alison Scott (Katherine Heigl), a serious career-minded woman, which ends up in an unintended pregnancy. Alison also has a sister named Debbie (Leslie Mann) who is married to Pete (Paul Rudd). “This is 40” focuses on the latter couple, as they fight their way through their marriage. The growing financial troubles from Pete’s new record label and Debbie’s mid life crisis only add to the pressure.

Judd Apatow knows how to write good dialogue, as the characters seem real and developed. Many people will not completely identify with this upper middle class family, but Pete and Debbie still have problems that everyone faces once in their life like parental issues, business struggles, aging, and strained relationships. Plus Apatow delivers some funny and perspective scenes in the movie. Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann have excellent chemistry together, and Melissa McCarthy, who is hilarious in “Bridesmaids”, has a great scene in the movie that almost overshadows the rest of the characters in the movie.

However, the movie is just too long. My main rule about comedies is that no comedy should be over two hours long. This film clocks in at about two hours and 13 minutes. It overstays its welcome and you can tell. It does not help that the film can be a complete mess sometimes. Several plot lines and characters show up and are never developed. There are many characters that are wasted like Jason Segel, Megan Fox, and John Lithgow. At times I found the movie to be a little self-indulgent. This is clearly nepotism at its finest since Apatow casts his wife and his two kids in major roles. Normally I do not have a problem with this if they can act. However, he definitely could have found more talented actors.

Unfortunately, “This is 40” is Apatow’s worst film, but at least this is not a haphazard effort. This is real genuine filmmaking and he gets points for effort. I did not hate the film, but it is not a comedy that I will watch again like his other ones. I still look forward to seeing him expand out of his comfort zone and make a truly great dramedy one day.

This is 40 - 3/5