Genre: Horror

Year: 2013

Country: USA

Rating:

Starring: Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Lili Taylor, Ron Livingston, Shanley Caswell

Director: James Wan

My Review: The Conjuring - 2013 (Horror, mystery) A horror story that swirls about a mysterious past event in a haunted New England property. Supposedly based upon ‘true events’ (I’m a sucker for the ‘based upon true events’ genre), this movie is a well directed (by James Wan - Who also directed Saw and Insidious) haunted house story. The direction, suspense and music helped to frame the mystery and create an excellent sense of dread as the movie progressed. The cast was well chosen, starring Vera Farmiga (as Lorrain Warren), Patrick Wilson (as Ed Warren), Lili Taylor (as Carolyn Perron), Ron Livingston (as Roger Perron), and many others. In this movie the Perron family moves into an old Rhode Island farm house, and soon afterwards some strange things begin to happen. Scared out of their wits, they call in the experts; Ed and Lorrain Warren. Paranormal experts the couple does their best to investigate the odd occurrences, but they are soon plunged into an unimaginable cauldron of fear along with the rest of the Perron family. As far as horror stories go, there isn’t anything new here. It’s your standard haunted house fare. What is new is the expert way the story is handled, the way the film is directed, the way the suspense builds and the way the horror is revealed. If you enjoy the slasher or gore franchise look elsewhere for your thrills. This one is a classic thriller, filled with loads of suspense and a good dose of mood to counter the culturally devoid blood and guts movies filled with body parts and gratuitous sex. I give this movie a 4 out of 5.

Summary: In 1971, Carolyn and Roger Perron move their family into a dilapidated Rhode Island farm house and soon strange things start happening around it with escalating nightmarish terror. In desperation, Carolyn contacts the noted paranormal investigators, Ed and Lorraine Warren, to examine the house. What the Warrens discover is a whole area steeped in a satanic haunting that is now targeting the Perron family wherever they go. To stop this evil, the Warrens will have to call upon all their skills and spiritual strength to defeat this spectral menace at its source that threatens to destroy everyone involved.

Genre: Family

Year: 1940

Country: USA

Rating:

Starring: Leopold Stokowski, Deems Taylor, Hugh Douglas, Julietta Novis

Director: James Algar, Samuel Armstrong

My Review: Fantasia - 1940 (Animation, Family, Fantasy, Musical) Disney’s best movie ever. This animated classic won two special Honorary Oscars in 1942, and its won numerous other awards. The film features eight animated segments set to classical music (Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Leopold Stokowski). Each segment is introduced by Deems Taylor (Music critic and composer). Filmed in ‘Technicolor’, the film was visually stunning and audibly amazing. The soundtrack used a new multi-track technique to mix multiple channels of audio - The first commercial production of Stereo sound. ‘Fantasound’ led to the development of ‘Surround Sound’. The film also features the voice of Walt Disney himself as Mickey Mouse in ‘The Sorcerer’s Apprentice’ segment. Watching this movie as a child inspires creativity and imbues one with a sense of awe and imagination. Watching it many years later as an adult, its effect is the same. The dancing characters, the wondrous music, the brilliant technical achievements, they all shine as brightly as the day the film was first released back in 1940. If you think you’re too old for cartoons, its been too long since you’ve seen Fantasia. The only thing lacking in this movie is a plot. I give it a 4 out of 5.

Summary: A collection of animated interpretations of great works of classical music.

Genre: Documentary, TV Movie

Year: 2012

Country: USA

Rating:

Starring: Ricky Jay, Winston Simon, Dick Cavett, David Mamet, Persi Diaconis

Director: Molly Bernstein

My Review: Deceptive Practice: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay - 2012 (Documentary) Ricky Jay is one of the best magicians practicing the art today - So this documentary proclaims. It’s a bit over-hyped in that regard, but it was pretty good. Featuring Ricky Jay and many of his co-workers, the documentary features many feats of prestidigitation (sleight of hand). While the movie lulls you into a sense of wonder, one must remember that any movie depicting magic ‘tricks’ has a static ‘point of view’ and the angles from which you view these tricks makes or breaks them. Given a static point of view, the tricks always look astonishing. Ricky Jay is obviously a master craftsman and this movie is clearly an advertisement for him and his trade. As a documentary this movie does a fair job of revealing Ricky Jay the person, but it becomes obvious after watching for 30 minutes or so that this entire project was calculated to bring him more ‘fame’ and ‘business’. Presenting the ‘art’ as an apprentice craft, we’re led to ‘believe’ in the magic of ‘Magic’. There is no ‘explaining’ or ‘deconstructing’ here, this is not a tutorial or instructional video. It’s an advertisement for the craft for the art for the big show - Magic is stagecraft, it is theater, and Ricky Jay is one of the best ‘actors’ in the business. Watching the archive footage was one of the best parts of this movie. The part I was hoping to see was more about Ricky Jay the person. This movie intentionally omits the personal touch, and for that it suffers. The only Ricky Jay we ever see (in this movie) is the Ricky Jay that Ricky Jay wants you to see - The persona, the performer, the magician. I give this movie a 3 out of 5.

Summary: Ricky Jay is a world-renowned magician, author, historian and actor (often a mischievous presence in the films of David Mamet and Paul Thomas Anderson) -- and a performer who regularly provokes astonishment from even the most jaded audiences. Deceptive Practice traces Jay's achievements and influences, from his apprenticeship at age 4 with his grandfather, to such now-forgotten legends as Al Flosso, Slydini, Cardini and his primary mentors, Dai Vernon and Charlie Miller. Featuring rare footage from his 1970s TV appearances (doing 3-card Monte with Steve Martin on The Dinah Shore Show) and told in Jay's inimitable voice, this is a remarkable journey inside the secretive world of magic and the small circle of eccentrics who are its perpetual devotees.

Genre: Drama, History, Mystery, Thriller, TV Movie

Year: 2013

Country: USA

Rating:

Starring: Marcia Gay Harden, Matt Barr, Zac Efron, Mallory Moye, Paul Giamatti

Director: Peter Landesman

My Review: Parkland - 2013 (Drama, history, mystery) Not since Oliver Stone’s JFK (in 1991) has there been a movie that examined the assassination of our 35th President in such detail. Unlike JFK, this movie attempts to examine the facts, rather than exploring the conspiracies. Based upon a book by Vincent Bugliosi (titled ‘Four Days in November’) the movie is a dramatic reconstruction of the four days surrounding that fateful day in November of 1963. The movie is shot in a character focused multi-point drama. The events are narrated as the director guides us through the many twisted points of view that constitute the pieces of a giant dramatic puzzle. Told from the perspective of several witnesses, this movie examines the personal reactions the visceral grip of those chilling moments in Dallas, Texas during the autumn of 1963. This film displays the raw emotion of the event’s immediate aftermath. This movie leaves you reeling, struck dumb by the power of the tragedy and the brutal conclusions of its facts. I liked the movie, but it’s brutal honesty was a bit too much for me to absorb during the showing. As your left trembling from the tragedy and the personal misery of this film, you fail to see the details in it execution. In the moment of the film, in the immediate aftermath, the shock causes me to rate it 3 out of 5. Only in recollection can I give it a 4 out of 5 for its honest attempt at a uncompromising look at the evident facts - leaving skeptics and theorists to ponder the conspiracies of tragedy.

Summary: Recounting the chaotic events that occurred in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963, Parkland weaves together the perspectives of a handful of ordinary individuals suddenly thrust into extraordinary circumstances: the young doctors and nurses at Parkland Hospital; Dallas' chief of the Secret Service; an unwitting cameraman who captured what became the most watched and examined film in history; the FBI agents who nearly had the gunman within their grasp; the brother of Lee Harvey Oswald, left to deal with his shattered family; and JFK's security team, witnesses to both the president's death and Vice President Lyndon Johnson's rise to power over a nation whose innocence was forever altered.

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Year: 2013

Country: USA

Rating:

Starring: Paul Giamatti, Paul Rudd, Sally Hawkins, Amy Landecker, Tatyana Richaud

Director: Phil Morrison

My Review: All Is Bright - 2013 (Comedy, Drama, Holiday) A dark comedy. A serious character driven drama that takes place around Christmas. Paul Rudd and Paul Giamatti play two desperate characters who leave home (in Canada) in order to sell Christmas trees in New York City. Giamatti’s character (Dennis) is an ex-con who’s ‘dead’ to this wife and kids. She’s sleeping with Rudd’s character (Rene), a former partner in crime, and his wife even told his daughter that he’s dead. Now he’s trying to earn some money in order to buy the piano that his daughter has always wanted - to buy his way back into a family. Whatever it takes to be normal again. Can money solve all his problems? If it can he’ll give it his best shot. Rudd’s character isn’t quite as desperate to earn some cash during this holiday outing in New York city. He’s likable, affable, a friend to everyone, and can’t be down on account of Dennis. The combo of characters is a sure fire recipe for failure - They just don’t get along. They’re both losers, they’re both flawed, they’re both awkward, anxious and obnoxious. One’s intense, intent and laser beam focused on a goal - despite the fact that he doesn’t really know how to get there. The other could care less, sees this job as a bit of an adventure and a way to make a little extra change. The character drama is quite intense when Giamatti’s ex-con tries to out-do the easy going character played by Rudd. I enjoyed it for the dreadful situations that won’t keep Giamatti’s character down - No matter what, he’s gone make right by his daughter. This is not a bright and cheery Christmas Comedy. It takes place around Christmas, but it’s a dark and dramatic character based drama. I give it a 4 out of 5.

Summary: Two French Canadian ne'er-do-wells travel to New York City with a scheme to get rich quick selling Christmas trees. Easygoing charmer Rene (Paul Rudd) clashes with misanthropic ex-con Dennis (Paul Giamatti), whose wife Rene just stole. Still, this odd couple must make an honest go of it in this buddy comedy.

Genre: Mystery

Year: 1999

Country: USA

Rating:

Starring: Denzel Washington, Angelina Jolie, Queen Latifah, Michael Rooker, Mike McGlone

Director: Phillip Noyce

My Review: The Bone Collector - 1999 (Crime, drama, mystery, thriller) A pretty good movie. A murder mystery detective thriller starring Denzel Washington, Angelina Jolie, Queen Latifah, Michael Rooker, Luis Guzman and Ed O'Neill. The best acting actually came from Ed O'Neill and Angelina Jolie. Denzel Washington indulged his most arrogant personality in this movie, and I didn't like it one bit. The story was o.k. but there really weren't that many surprises. The use of a rookie cop to take on a murder case of this importance made no sense at all, and the other cops in the movie seemed helpless compared to rookie Jolie and the Brilliant Denzel. I think the egos got a little too big for this movie. The music and directing were excellent, they really established a creepy feel for this suspense thriller murder mystery. I give it a 3 out of 5.

Summary: Denzel Washington plays a quadriplegic homicide detective. He and his female partner track down a serial killer.

Genre: Drama, Mystery

Year: 2001

Country: Thailand, Netherlands

Rating:

Starring: Djuangjai Hirunsri, Kongkiat Khomsiri, Saisiri Xoomsai

Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul

My Review: Mysterious Object at Noon - 2000 (Drama, mystery) A foreign art film. Every now and then I stretch my viewing experience with some oddball stuff. In this case, it’s a Thai movie with an artistic bent. It’s several disconnected scenes or paragraphs in the life of two fictional characters. The characters - a handicapped boy and his teacher. The story is directed/told by several different people. The style switches from scene to scene, but a documentary flavor seems to tint the entire film. The film recruits random participants as it wanders across the Thai countryside; with different people contributing to each ‘segment’ of this ‘storytelling’ or ‘Exquisite Corpse’ style of film. It works as a documentary of the Thai people and their folk or storytelling narrative traditions. The story develops one line at a time as each contributor adds upon the story. The storytelling aspect of the film is oblique and second hand, but the improvisational nature creates an interesting and completely unscripted narrative as it goes. Unfortunately for the film, a feature was more than necessary and it starts to suffer once the premise is clear and the participants begin to subvert or manipulate the storytelling intent. Shooting the film in black & white film was a complete waste as it wasn’t used to enhance any apparent aspect of the film. I give this movie a 3 out of 5 for it’s creative documentary aspects. The unique narrative nature could be better adapted.

Summary: This film is an experimental mix of documentary and fiction. The film crew travels from the Thai countryside to Bangkok, asking the people they encounter along the way to continue a story about a handicapped boy and his teacher.

Genre: Action

Year: 1999

Country: USA

Rating:

Starring: Antonio Banderas, Vladimir Kulich, Dennis Storhøi, Daniel Southern, Neil Maffin

Director: John McTiernan

My Review: The 13th Warrior - 1999 (Action, Adventure, History, Fantasy) I own this movie, but I had no idea that it was a screen adaptation of a Michael Crichton novel. Based on the book "Eaters of the Dead". There are plenty of references to cannibalism in the movie, but I'll bet that the book focuses much more on cannibalism. After all, a movie about cannibalism would be quite shocking! Overall it was a very good movie. I enjoyed it immensely, the only drawbacks were the stereotypical depictions of an Arab by Antonio Banderas. His drinking 'Mead' - It's not made with grapes or wheat... He’s sleeping with a Viking woman? I liked the performance of the actor playing the lead viking (Vladimir Kulich). Stoic, strong, no-nonsense, willing to take a stand - to defend his people despite any personal danger. The plot, despite being based on Crichton's "Eaters of the Dead", was very much a "Beowulf" movie. The beast like enemy, the “Wendel” are a fairly direct translation of the mysterious beast like “Grendel” that plagued the Scandinavian inhabitants of “Beowulf”. The lead Norseman is named “Buliwyf”, umm, sounds sort of like “Beowulf” to me.. It would have been better if the story was more original. Another problem was the use of language in the film. Switching from Arabic to Norse to English was definitely a challenge, but I don't think they pulled it off very well. In the beginning, the Norseman speaking 'Greek' was actually speaking 'Latin', and it was unrealistic to expect that the Arab prince learned the Norse language by listening to it for a few minutes. I liked the Norse burial ceremony, and it's use in the climactic conflict. The costumes, sets and locations made this movie feel like a Conan classic - and that's a good thing! That's why I own a copy, that's why I rate it 4 out of 5.

Summary: In AD 922, Arab courtier Ahmad Ibn Fadlan accompanies a party of Vikings to the barbaric North. Ibn Fadlan is appalled by the Vikings customs-- their wanton sexuality, their disregard for cleanliness, their cold-blooded human sacrifices. And then he learns the horrifying truth: he has been enlisted to combat a terror that slaughters the Vikings and devours their flesh.

Genre: Action, Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Year: 2013

Country: USA

Rating:

Starring: Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, Sharlto Copley, Alice Braga, Diego Luna

Director: Neill Blomkamp

My Review: Elysium - 2013 (Action, Drama, Sci-Fi) A blatantly political message, 99% propaganda, Socialism, Wealth distribution - All these themes are strongly evident in the movie. Written and directed by Neill Blomkamp, this movie was almost ruined by the evidently socialist propaganda of the left. Thankfully the strong sci-fi themes kept my attention until I started reflecting on the movie. Starring Jodie Foster and Matt Damon, the bad guys in this movie are rich people. Those who happen to belong to an elite ruling class… The themes here are very cliche. In a dystopian future, Max is destined to die an early life as a ‘slave’ to his ‘employers’ and the ‘health care’ system. In the year 2154, the Earth is over-populated, caste-stratified, and corrupt to the core. That’s why the ruling elite have left the Earth. They live a life of privilege in an orbiting space station. Elysium is the home of the ultra-wealthy. These rich people hold all the power, including the power of life-or-death medical care. They wield their privilege like a royal scepter and the security apparatus insulates them from all strife - Until the uprising! Matt Damon plays the common man - a blue-colar worker, who needs a medical procedure as the result of an industrial accident. He can’t afford the expensive procedure and is destined to die because of his station. Instead of going quietly, he decides to take up the cause of social justice and become a ‘living bomb’ / Champion for the revolutionary group that’s trying to overthrow the social order and the ultra-wealthy elites who rule this society. What follows is a slam-bam action flick. The heavy handed social message really ruined the story in my opinion. The villains weren’t all that bad, but the writer’s morals and social mores were heavily applied on all the characters and situations depicted in the movie - Here was commentary on wars, immigration, military might, health care, etc. Despite the strong sci-fi themes (which I usually enjoy) and great visual effects, the ridiculous leftist slant left me wishing I hadn’t bothered. I give this movie a 2 out of 5.

Summary: In the year 2154, two classes of people exist: the very wealthy, who live on a pristine man-made space station called Elysium, and the rest, who live on an overpopulated, ruined Earth. Secretary Delacourt, a government official, will stop at nothing to enforce anti-immigration laws and preserve the luxurious lifestyle of the citizens of Elysium. That doesn't stop the people of Earth from trying to get in by any means they can. When unlucky Max is backed into a corner, he agrees to take on a daunting mission that, if successful, will not only save his life but could bring equality to these polarized worlds.

Genre: Comedy

Year: 1999

Country: USA

Rating:

Starring: Martin Lawrence, Luke Wilson, Peter Greene, David Chappelle, Nicole Ari Parker

Director: Les Mayfield

My Review: Blue Streak - 1999 (Action, Comedy, Crime) Starring Martin Lawrence (as Miles Logan), Luke Wilson (as Carlson), Dave Chappelle (as Tulley), and others (of course). More than your typical cop buddy movie. Luke Wilson and Martin Lawrence team up to solve a crime, but Martin Lawrence is actually a Jewel Thief - Just released from prison. In a case of mistaken identity, Miles Logan (Martin Lawrence) manages to infiltrate the LAPD in a scheme to recover a lost diamond. The gem in this film is clearly Martin Lawrence. With Luke Wilson playing the straight-man foil to every ridiculous scenario that Martin Lawrence throws his way. The film feels a lot like improv, and Martin delivers his clever and comedic lines like a pro. Throw in some physical action and these two manage to entertain in a way that makes this film more memorable than your typical cop buddy movie. The plot is a bit flaky and ridiculous, but it keeps its momentum as the lure of a $17 million gem keeps Miles Logan on his top game - propelling Martin Lawrence and Luke Wilson to create a memorable comedy that we can watch again and again. I give this one a 4 out of 5.

Summary: A thief turned ex-con poses as a cop to retrieve a diamond he stole years ago.