The Loved Ones

The Loved Ones is a movie in the same vein as the Hostel franchise or Wolf Creek. The horror "sub-genre" of torture porn was really popular about 5-6 years ago and a lot of movie studio decided to make a ton of the movies no matter what the stories were. The problem with these movies is that they generally throw away the concept of characterization and focus solely on the violence. The movie has the premise that sounds very standard but the execution of the story and the quality of the characters elevates this into the upper tier of the genre and it seems to have a little more behind it than your standard crappy torture porn horror movie.

The Loved Ones follows Brent, a high school student recovering from a car accident that claimed the life of his father. He is approached by Lola to go to the prom but he is going with his girlfriend already and turns Lola down. Turns out that Lola is a crazed psychopath who has her "daddy" kidnap Brent. Lola and her "daddy" create a fake prom in their secluded house and Lola is the Prom Queen and Brent is the Prom King. They torture him in hopes that he will change his mind and fall in  love with Lola. From that point on it is a mad dash for Brent to try and escape, his mother to find him, and for Lola to fulfill her psychotic fantasies.

The thing thing that really separates The Loved Ones from the shitty movies in the genre is the fact that the characters are interesting and the villain is absolutely batshit insane. The main character, Brent, is a genuinely good guy dealing with the death of his dad that he feels responsible. He turns to cutting and drug use to try and dull the pain, and when he rebukes Lola there is no intention of hurting her. She has other plans though. Generally in a movie like this, the main character would be a jock and act like a jerk then would learn a lesson from his experiences. Brent just got targeted by a psycho and had to suffer the consequences.

The villain, Lola, is fucking brilliant in this movie and is a stand out in the horror genre. She is the embodiment of hatred and pure evil, and she will stop at nothing to get exactly what she wants. She lobotomizes people and has an incestual relationship with her dad, that pretty much sounds like pure evil to me. She seems like such a mousy outsider when you first meet her, then you realize that she is a tornado of crazy and will tear apart anyone in her path. She is damaged in just about every possible way a human could possibly be damaged and that is what makes her so engaging. You don't know much about her past and that is what makes her a compelling villain, you want to know what fucked her up.

This is a great horror movie, and while I am not a huge fan of the "torture porn" genre, I am a huge fan of this movie. The performances are stellar and the violence is brutal which is always a successful combo for a horror movie. This is a much more effective movie than Hostel or even Wolf Creek. This movies is certainly not for everyone and I would only recommend it if you are a fan of horror movies with brutal violence. Give it a watch on Amazon On Demand or on DVD.

Exit Humanity

This is a movie that I have seen previews for several times over the past year. Each time I saw it, in my mind I was saying, "looks cool but seems just like every other zombie movie". I will admit that I was completely wrong because this kicks the shit out of any movie/television show involving zombies over the past five years.  The fact that it takes place during the Civil War and the years immediately following the Civil War only adds to the greatness of the film. Every actor in the movie leaves their mark on it and it introduces a few legends of the horror genre to the new generation of horror viewers.

Exit Humanity tells the tale of Edward Young, a confederate soldier, who during the course of being ambushed by a squad of Union soldiers comes face to face with a zombified soldier. He takes the zombie down and then we find out that six years later there has been a zombie outbreak in Tennessee. His wife and child become zombies and he is forced to take action. He comes face to face with the realization that he has nothing left and latches on to a promise he made to his dead son. The promise he made is the only thing that is keeping him going and continuing to fight for his life. Along the way on his journey he meets several unlikely allies and runs afoul of an ex-Union General, who has become consumed with the idea that there is a cure for the zombie outbreak.

This sounds like a pretty lame story doesn't it. Well get ready to have your fucking mind blown. This is a movie that will be considered one of the best movies in the zombie genre t have ever been created. The zombie action isn't really the main part of the movie, it is essential but it doesn't define the movie itself. The thing The Walking Dead comic book does so well is to bring the humanity out in the cast of characters and you see how each and every decision they make affects them on a personal level. That is one thing that Exit Humanity replicates almost perfectly, and Mark Gibson, who plays the main character, carries the movie alone with his performance. His performance is marvelous and he portrays every type of emotion that you could possibly have in his performance. You see how killing zombies effects him over time because he begins to have the realization that they were once people and need to be respected in a way. It is an odd realization to have but it fits in line with the nature of the character. He is a good man stuck in an unbelievably horrible situation that is trying to regain a semblance of his former being.

The movie itself is beautifully shot and some of the shots in the movie rival that of one with 10 times the budget. The film has a bleached look to it but it never detracts from the viewer's experience, it only adds to it. There is no over the top gore in this movie and it happens to be one of the strong points of the movie because it relies on telling a top notch story instead of relying on gruesome deaths to draw in viewers. This is a story about how people deal with a horrible situation and how it can change those people, for better or worse. This is the type of movie that comes along once every few years and it really needs to be seen to be appreciated.

Verdict
A Must See

This is one of the best horror movies that I have seen so far this year. I did not expect to like this movie at all but in the end I loved it. Having genuinely well thought out characters coupled with a great story and gorgeous cinematography will hook me 10 out of 10 times. The cast was spectacular and I foresee great things in the future for the lead, Mark Gibson. I really wish the Walking Dead television show could replicate the heart that this movie had because it could then be considered to be a truly great show. Until that day comes, Exit Humanity is the best entry into the zombie/horror genre for the past few years. Watch it on Netflix or on DVD, just see it as soon as possible. This is perfect for those of you who are horror movie fans that love zombie movies.

District 9

Neil Blomkamp's District 9 was one of those movies that came out of nowhere and exceeded everyone's expectations. It was an August release from a first time director and was a science fiction movie. Most people were probably expecting Sci-Fi channel quality acting performances and story. This turned out to be one of the most well received movies of 2009 and is generally considered to be in the upper echelon of science fiction movies ever produced. There is nothing that is weak in this movie and that is the surprising part, you would figure from a first time director something would be lacking but there was no weak portions to the movie.

District 9 tells the story of Wikus van de Merwe, who is a representative for Multinational United (MNU)in South Africa. He is tasked with moving the Alien population living in Johannesburg to a camp 200km outside of the city. The aliens, also known as Prawns, landed over South Africa in 1982 and were forced to live in a slum called District 9 in the city of Johannesburg. As he is in the process of evicting the aliens, he is sprayed by a black liquid and begins to change. From that point it is a struggle for survival for Wikus and he has to battle the corporation he worked for, a group of bloodthirsty Nigerians, and the aliens he was trying to help.

The characters in the movie are all played by mostly unknown actors and this being their first chance at Hollywood success, they all seized the opportunity and did an amazing job. Sharlto Copley has this movie resting firmly on his shoulders and he does not falter for even a second throughout the course of the entire movie. He is so engrossed in the role that you can almost believe that the documentary film being shot in the movie is real. His character is real in the viewer's eyes and he is a man who for all of his faults is still trying to be a good man and do his job. You almost never see his wife and him together on screen together but you get the sense that they love each other and their relationship is what is really driving Wikus to do everything that he does in the movie. The all CG character Christopher Johnson, a prawn, was also phenomenal. The actor who played the role, Jason Cope, did a fantastic job of getting the audience to connect with the character even though we don't understand what he is saying except for what is written in subtitles. He is one of the only prawns that seems to think for himself and is trying to find a way off of the planet in order to rescue the remnants of his race. His journey coinciding with Wikus' is the most intriguing part of the movie because what starts off as a hugely adversarial relationship turns into one of shared survival and hope.

The special effects in this movie cannot be ignored as they are some of the best in a film to date. The success of CG effects are how seamlessly they can integrated into a movie and not distract you. The aliens in the movie are not pristine angel-like characters, they look like over-sized shrimp, thus the nickname, prawns. Each alien has their own distinct look and movement style which show the incredible amount of detail that was used in creating this film. It also doesn't hurt when you director has the backing of Peter Jackson and WETA. The alien weaponry is fucking brutal and the movie in no way shies away from show the gruesome effects the weapons have. You see people get ripped apart by the electricity guy, blown away by the concussion gun, and filled with holes by the alien version of a machine gun. The amazing thing about all of the effects in the movie is that you think that they were being done by practical means which happens to be quite the accomplishment in today's movie industry.

Neil Blomkamp is quite the talent and it surprises me that he is usually left out of the discussion in Hollywood when discussing the best young directors. This is one of the best debut film in history and his next movie Elysium is shaping up to be in the same class. If you have watched his original short Alive in Joburg and his Halo short movie, then you will have probably realized that all he needed was a bigger budget to create something truly special. I am so pumped for Elysium and I haven't seen any footage yet. Going off the fact that Disctrict 9 was incredible, and the amazing cast that he assembled for Elysium, I am sure that it will be a can't miss movie.

This is one of the best science fiction movies ever created and is one of my favorite movies of all time. Neil Blomkamp is going to be one of Hollywood's premiere directors in the next few years, mark my words. The combination of stellar special effects, story and realistic character made this movie a winner on every front. If you haven't seen this movie then you are doing yourself a disservice, go and see this movie right now. Watch it on Netflix, Amazon, Blu Ray, or pirate the damn thing. Just go and see it.

End of Watch

I was pumped for End of Watch from the time that I first saw the trailer. It had the gritty cop movie trailer done perfectly and it also had Michael Pena and Jake Gyllenhaal, who are two of my favorite actors. The movie was written and directed by the same writer as Training Day, Harsh Times, The Fast and The Furious, and Dark Blue. So everything was in place for this movie to be a resounding success in every way possible. It turned out to be better than I had hoped and it was a really special movie.

End of Watch follows two police officers in the Los Angeles Police Department, Brian Taylor(Gyllenhaal) and Mike Zavala(Pena). They are two hot shots who are coming off an incident where they had to kill two suspects that opened fire on them while in pursuit in their squad car. At the same time both officers are dealing with major events in their personal lives. Mike's wife (Natalie Martinez) is pregnant with their first child and Brian is in his first committed relationship with Janet (Anna Kendrick). Over the course of several months they start to have run-ins with members of a Mexican drug cartel that is operating in Los Angeles. After the incidents with the cartel members, the officers are squarely put in the cross-hairs of the cartel and that is where the action takes off.

Lately I have been throwing around words such as "awesome" and "great" when it comes to acting performances and at times I may be slightly over exaggerating. This is one of the first times that I will use the word "special" when it comes to acting performances, because the performances given by Gyllenhaal and Pena are special. It would not surprise me if either or both of them received nominations for the bigger acting awards. Pena has had nominations for awards before but it seems like Gyllenhaal gets passed over because people think he is just another pretty boy actor. He has had a great string of movies over the last few years with Love and Other Drugs, Brothers, and Source Code.

The reason their performances are so great is the chemistry between the actors on-screen. Over the course of the movie, you really start to believe that these guys would take a bullet for each other and would die protecting each other if need be. The fact that they trained for the movie for five months together with the LAPD also helped with making the actions in the movie seem as realistic and plausible as possible. The relationships they have with their significant others in movie also grounds the characters in reality because instead of being stereotypical cops they are actually fully realized people, who are just like you and me.

This was one of the best movies that I have seen this year so far and easily ranks side by side with Training Day as my favorite "cop" movies of all time. The movie is worth going to see for the performances alone but it also has some really great action scenes as well. This is a movie that you need to go see right now instead of going to see the piece of shit that is The House at the End of the Street. I know I'll be seeing this movie again when it comes out on Blu Ray because it will be a release day purchase for me.

Godzilla: Half Century War #2

This is the second issue in this new Godzilla series that follows a Japanese soldier through several decades on his quest to destroy Godzilla. Where as the first issue focused on Japan's first encounter with the giant radioactive lizard, this issue focuses on the hunt for Godzilla during the Vietnam War. Godzilla has been tearing through Vietnam and Saigon is in his path and Ota (main character) is determined to stop it. The issue introduces a new unnamed monster that battle Godzilla and new questions about what drive Godzilla to do what it does comes up in the issue as well. Just like the first issue, the artwork is spectacular and the writing is top notch. This is one of the best new series of the year and is definitely in contention for mini-series of the year.

Godzilla is a fascinating character to base a comic series around because Godzilla is not an interesting character by itself. You really need to craft an interesting cast of characters that are either fighting alongside or against Godzilla. In the Half Century War mini-series the characters introduced are just fantastic and you have to wonder why they were never really able to do the same for any of the movies. This is a series that can be used as the foundation for the reboot of the Godzilla film series that is currently in the works. Make it have a gritty feel and you don't need to set in modern times.

The idea of tracking a single human character that is fighting against Godzilla for decades is just pure genius. You gt to see the over the top destruction that Godzilla brings and you bring in the human element and see how the destruction and the hunt effect the people on the ground. it is unfortunate that Godzilla became a joke in the movies with it fighting threats from outer space and have a child that looks like the retarded version of Baby from the television show Dinosaurs. Hopefully this series goes a long way to redeem this once awesome franchise and brings it back from the ashes.

The Five-Year Engagement

I am a sucker for romantic comedies, and I am not afraid to admit it. There have been many that I have seen over the years and this was definitely one of my favorites alongside Forgetting Sarah Marshall and (500) Days of Summer. Jason Segel is easily my favorite actor and my perfect woman is Emily Blunt, so I was eagerly anticipating watching this movie. Unfortunately, I missed it while it was in theaters due to late nights at work but I finally got to watch it on Blu-Ray today.

The Five-Year Engagement tells the story of Tom (Jason Segel) and Violet (Emily Blunt), who are madly in love with each other and they are about to get married. They live in San Francisco, where Tom is a chef at a high end restaurant and Violet is studying to get her doctorate in psychology. She gets the opportunity to study at the University of Michigan and they decide to put the wedding on hold because they are both moving to Michigan. Tom is miserable there and Violet feels guilty for making him move from his job and this is where the cracks start to begin.

The truly great thing about the movie is that it really makes the relationship between Tom and Violet seem like a real life relationship. You get the chance to see how the characters evolve over the course of five years and how the prolonged engagement starts to wear on Tom, Violet, and their families. It starts out as a comedy and then starts to develop the dramatic elements when they move away and then blends the comedic/dramatic aspects in the third act to really make the film special. It also didn't hurt that the movie is hilarious and it even got me to shed the occasional tear during the more dramatic sequences. If a romantic comedy can get me to shed a few tears and laugh out loud, all during an hour-and-a-half span then it is a runaway success in my mind.

The chemistry between Blunt and Segel is fucking phenomenal and it really has to be because it is the driving factor of the entire movie. They just seem so natural together in every scene and they really sell the fact that they are madly in love with each other. Segel handles the switches between comedy and drama like a true expert and I like him more and more with each new movie he comes out with. He was great in The Muppets and he was even better in this.  Blunt is the picture of perfection in the movie switching between being sexy, funny, smart, and dramatic. She has the standout performance in the movie proving that she can handle comedy to compliment her already sharp drama skills.

Chris Pratt and Alison Brie are the main supporting character's playing Tom's best friend and Violet's sister. Pratt essentially plays a more crass version of Andy Dwyer from Parks and Recreation and Brie plays the needy younger sister of Violet's to perfection. it is wonderful to see these two getting some big screen comedic exposure because their shows are criminally under watched on the train wreck that is known as NBC. I can't wait to see what these two do in the future and I have the feeling they both have huge careers ahead of them in both TV and movies.

This is a great romantic comedy and is easily the best romantic comedy of the year to this point. Segel and Blunt were matched perfectly for this movie and they crushed it in every scene that they were in together. The last five minutes of the movie definitely made me shed a tear because I became so attached to the relationships that formed in the movie. This is definitely worth your time and is certainly worth a purchase as well.

Snow White and the Huntsman

The trailer for this movie really got me excited for it and that is the first step in hooking me. The talented cast is the thing that gets me hook, line, and sinker every time though. This movie has a seriously impressive cast comprised of Charlize Theron, Chris Hemsworth, Kristen Stewart, Ian McShane, Bob Hoskins, NIck Frost, Ray Winstone, Toby Jones, and Eddie Marsan. That is one hell of a talented cast if you ask me and I was really looking forward to what they could do with the retelling of the Snow White story. 

Snow White and the Huntsman is a retelling of the classic children's story but is more in the vein of the Grimm's fairy tale version. Kristen Stewart stars as the titular character and she oddly does not disappoint in the role. Her character in this movie is basically the opposite of Bella from Twilight and it is a giant fucking relief to not have to see her pout on screen every five seconds. She transitions from prisoner to a powerful young woman over the course and Stewart does an excellent job in actually conveying emotion in this movie and she is solid in the action scenes as well. Hopefully she starts to transition into more of these roles in the future and shy away from shitty emotionless roles like the one she has in the Twilight series.

Hemsworth and Theron more than hold their own in the movie and actually for the most part carry the movie on their backs. Hemsworth is going to be a bankable star and this was his first shot at proving that and succeeded in every way. His character, the Huntsman, is not just a stock hero stereotype instead he is a layered hero that evolves over the course of the movie. The transformation from anti-hero to full blown hero is an interesting one for the character given his back-story that is described in the movie. Also to follow up on a previous point, I know Hemsworth headlined Thor but this is the first non-comic mainstream release where he is playing a primary character. He has about a dozen movies in development and he is playing a major role in each, so I wish him the best of luck.

Got a little off track in the last paragraph, but now we are on to Charlize Theron. She plays the Queen in this movie and absolutely CRUSHES it. Theron is perfect for this role because you need someone who is literally one of the most beautiful people in the world and you also need an actress with the acting ability to play this deeply disturbed character. The scenes with the Queen and the mirror are creepy due to the fact that she needs constant validation that she is the "fairest of them all", even when she has complete power over the surrounding kingdoms. She steals every scene she is in because she commands your attention with the way she carries herself on screen. Theron has has a hell of a year with Young Adult, Prometheus, and Snow White and the Huntsman.

The movie itself is extremely solid and as you can tell from the rest of the review I really liked the acting in the movie. The effects were well done and the story, while a classic, did not feel stale at any point and moved at a brisk pace. I wish more movies that came out this summer would have been this quality. This is a movie that is well worth your time and you should pick it up on DVD/Blu Ray as soon as possible.