Okay so we've all seen one. A horrible sequel that makes us feel like our eyes should be bleeding for a wide variety of reasons. And what foul offal did I have the unfortunate displeasure of watching, you may ask?
Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.
Now I absolutely loved the first Ghost Rider with it's amazing special effects, well-accomplished plot-line, and the rather surprising resurrection of Nicholas Cage's career. I'm sorry to say that this film not only had none of that, but it had nothing to offer whatsoever. Allow me to dissect this:
1. Plotline
So the main idea of this story is that the devil once again plays "Let's Make a Deal" and a random human girl by the name of Nadya gives birth to what is supposed to be his evil spawn (or the devil manifest in human form....this movie is a bit poor at explaining which one). First off, didn't the devil learn the first time that this is....shall we say a stupid idea? Second off, what exactly does this have to do with the plot-line of the first movie? Abso-stinking-loutely nothing.
2. The Introduction of New Characters
You would think that in making a sequel one would do a better job of explaining the who's-who of new demons, and humans, and people oh my, but this movie is chock full of people whom quite frankly are little more than placement holders. A five minute blurb introduces no less than five of the characters that seem to be central to this film, and the entire time it leaves you wondering, "Who the hell are you again?" At least other superhero movies give you a ten-minute back story full of emo-esque angst when introducing a newbie.
3. The atrocious acting skills of......well, everyone
The acting in here is quite similar to watching a group of five year olds playing pretend, but without the cuteness that makes you go awwwwwww. Nicholas Cage being the primary example of this goes from being the superhero who kicks arse yet has a soul of goodness to a deranged horrible imitation of the joker in a leather jacket with a skull for a head. Yes, I'm serious. Everyone else just kind of has cheesy one liners and moves around like a zombie, while Mr. Cage randomly breaks out into manic laughter.
Quite frankly, just about any movie pertaining to superhero's would be better than this, even Elektra. But then again, if you're looking to waste two semi-precious hours of your life or have a desire to laugh so hard your stomach hurts, then please, by all means watch away.
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Teenage Sociopath, Anyone?
So for my first ever review (cue cheers), I recently watched the movie, We Need To Talk About Kevin. The previews were what mainly intrigued me, and unlike most movies the previews did not sum up the movie for me in a five second window.
In the beginning of the movie we are introduced to the female lead, Eva Katchadourian who is continuously plagued by the locals of the town by means of verbal and physical abuse, including an incident where what looks like red paint is splashed all over her tiny run-down house. The movie then jumps around a little bit as if inside the characters memories, and then starts to tell the story of how she ended up where she is now.
How Kevin ties into the movie is he is Eva's son, and as the film progresses we are shown his childhood where he is....shall we say a bit of a problem child. Hardly saying a word at the age of around five or six, not potty trained, and with behavioral responses that are a bit spastic at best. Eva, being a concerned mother, takes him to the doctor assuming that there may be some sort of mental disability such as autism. Allow me to sum this up a bit: the doctor insists there is nothing wrong with him. As he grows up, Kevin does learn how to do all of these things, but his behavior becomes increasingly out of control, doing things seemingly just to aggravate Eva to the point of her thinking Kevin has a personal vendetta against her.
Fast forward to the teenage years. Kevin now has a little sister,Celia, and has matured (or rather, immatured) into your standard teenager with an attitude problem. Soon events start happening at the house that arouse Eva's suspicions about Kevin's enmity even more . Celia's pet guinea pig "mysteriously" goes missing, and it is later insinuated that the animal was shoved down the sink drain into one of those chopper thingies. Later, Celia looses eyesight in one eye due to drinking the drano that Eva used to unclog the sink....and insisted she put back in the child-locked cupboard right after using. Although Eva keeps insisting that maybe Kevin had something to do with this, her husband not only keeps making excuses for him but praises him as the "golden child".
Now mind you, this entire movie I'm wanting to jump through the screen and choke the living daylights out of this kid because just short of demonic possession this kid is a freakin' warped and shows pretty much all the signs of a sociopath. So just how do you raise a sociopath that you think is as good as gold if you are the dad? Why, give him a bow and set of arrows for his birthday of course!
I won't give away the ending, so this is the part where I tell you what I think of the movie. If you like psychological movies where it's such fun to try to analyze the character, it is a bit of a delight and very reminiscent for me of the book Wolf at the Table. As far as accomplishment of the story line however, it does fall a bit flat. It's one of those movies where you get to the end and go, "that's the end? well....okay I suppose that was decent...."
Bottom line here is that this film is very entertaining, but don't expect to glean from it some vital message. This film is best geared toward aspiring psychologists, film festival geeks, and perhaps the stephen king-ish fandom.
Link to trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGjjK5SMbJA
In the beginning of the movie we are introduced to the female lead, Eva Katchadourian who is continuously plagued by the locals of the town by means of verbal and physical abuse, including an incident where what looks like red paint is splashed all over her tiny run-down house. The movie then jumps around a little bit as if inside the characters memories, and then starts to tell the story of how she ended up where she is now.
How Kevin ties into the movie is he is Eva's son, and as the film progresses we are shown his childhood where he is....shall we say a bit of a problem child. Hardly saying a word at the age of around five or six, not potty trained, and with behavioral responses that are a bit spastic at best. Eva, being a concerned mother, takes him to the doctor assuming that there may be some sort of mental disability such as autism. Allow me to sum this up a bit: the doctor insists there is nothing wrong with him. As he grows up, Kevin does learn how to do all of these things, but his behavior becomes increasingly out of control, doing things seemingly just to aggravate Eva to the point of her thinking Kevin has a personal vendetta against her.
Fast forward to the teenage years. Kevin now has a little sister,Celia, and has matured (or rather, immatured) into your standard teenager with an attitude problem. Soon events start happening at the house that arouse Eva's suspicions about Kevin's enmity even more . Celia's pet guinea pig "mysteriously" goes missing, and it is later insinuated that the animal was shoved down the sink drain into one of those chopper thingies. Later, Celia looses eyesight in one eye due to drinking the drano that Eva used to unclog the sink....and insisted she put back in the child-locked cupboard right after using. Although Eva keeps insisting that maybe Kevin had something to do with this, her husband not only keeps making excuses for him but praises him as the "golden child".
Now mind you, this entire movie I'm wanting to jump through the screen and choke the living daylights out of this kid because just short of demonic possession this kid is a freakin' warped and shows pretty much all the signs of a sociopath. So just how do you raise a sociopath that you think is as good as gold if you are the dad? Why, give him a bow and set of arrows for his birthday of course!
I won't give away the ending, so this is the part where I tell you what I think of the movie. If you like psychological movies where it's such fun to try to analyze the character, it is a bit of a delight and very reminiscent for me of the book Wolf at the Table. As far as accomplishment of the story line however, it does fall a bit flat. It's one of those movies where you get to the end and go, "that's the end? well....okay I suppose that was decent...."
Bottom line here is that this film is very entertaining, but don't expect to glean from it some vital message. This film is best geared toward aspiring psychologists, film festival geeks, and perhaps the stephen king-ish fandom.
Link to trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGjjK5SMbJA
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