Seven Psychopaths

4/5

I had a LOT of fun in this. It was really funny, predictable enough for me to feel satisfied while not being so stupidly predictable that I felt spoken down too. It had a really fun sense of a humor, a quick, smart script, and a surprisingly entertaining spark of adventure. It had a bunch of really great performances, props especially to Sam Rockwell and Woody Harrelson, both of whom I really love. The introduction of the seven while the movie itself is being portrayed essentially as a movie script was clever and less annoying than you'd think it would be. I really liked how each of these people really did seem insane, despite hollywood really watering down the psychopathic person's actions to a point where it doesn't really make me think twice anymore. It's really fun, and if anything a really weird experience of escapism for such an out-of-body idea for me.

Taken 2

1/5

What a waste of a movie. I'll start off admitting I didn't love Taken as much as the rest of America seemed to. But I'll admit that it had a soft suspense to it, awesome action sequences, and a lot of heart. But this..UGH. Forget suspense, I had no moment that I doubted Liam Neeson's success. Hollywood seems to not realize that a bad-ass character is created when they overcome extreme adversary - NOT when we have no doubt in our mind that they'll succeed. Seriously - go watch the best action movies. And what took even more away from the suspense was the god awful music. The first movie had barely any music in it - this was over scored, too loud, and very poorly written. Moments that could have been really nice were forced down our throat as one emotion or another. I hated it. As for the fight sequences. WHAT HAPPENED. Everything failed. Camera's were too close to understand anything going on, the fights were lazy and stupid, and at no point is Neeson's safety threatened. Unlike the first where there were rather gruesome images (the electrocution scene, anyone?), there was NOTHING in this. It was so stupid and boring, and a complete waste of my time. Watch the first Taken and be happy.

Frankenweenie

4.5/5

This was the creepiest side of magical I can remember in recent years. Thank you Tim Burton, for FINALLY giving us something good again. Rather than experience the obvious creepiness of the movie, I felt pulled along by Victor as he went through his depression over the loss of his pet. My desire to see him bring Sparky back was as strong as his own, instead of questioning the complete disregard for nature's cycle. It had a nice style to it, maybe a bit blunt by being black and white for the entire movie, but I liked it fine. Maybe it was a little bit heavy handed in its obvious homages to Frankenstein (by naming our main character Victor Frankenstein...ugh). But it's filled with obvious passion and attention, and with an easily loved main character and his puppy, it kept me motivated. It's sad, it's scary, and it's NOT for kids. And it has my favorite line of the year so far, in a nutshell saying that people like the things that science gives us, but not the questions it asks. It leaves to wonder - what if we could actually raise the dead?

The Master

2.5/5

I read that this is a movie for only intelligent movie goers. I consider myself a pretty intelligent filmgoer.  More so, I recognized and understood the symbolism I caught, the story was simply understood to me, the characters were intriguing...at the end of it, however, I was annoyed. Not with lack of intelligence, not with the acting (which was, to be fair, phenomenal). I was annoyed with how purposeless it all felt. Nothing rang as necessary, nothing felt important and sadly nothing felt real. It had beautiful cinematography, with not much else to back it up. That's what a lot of people have told me about past works - look at the pretty pictures, get over everything else, and you'll have a good movie experience. But that's impossible with this. Everything holds itself on such a pedestal and with such unnecessary importance that I can't forgive it. I'll give some major props to Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour-Hoffman, and Amy Adams. Each of them do deserve an Oscar nom in their respective category.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

4.5/5

I never read the book, but I really loved this. What could have been another over-told story about the unpopular kid turned into a heartfelt exploration of a boy who actually was misunderstood. It's told in such a way that his heartbreaking story was actually a surprise to me when it was revealed. And that lead to a very emotional movie. It didn't waste time either portraying our main character as a whiney spoiled brat or a misunderstood genious. Rather, it actually portrayed him as average, even in his own mind, and simple in his desires.  Instead of blasting us with a cliche story of high school, it gives us a very nostalgic idea of what high school was like, at least for me. And I had friends in high school. I loved Emma Watson, who while not entirely distinguishing herself as an actress in my mind is still far from unlikable and untalented. The music was also very pretty, with a particularly great soundtrack to the whole thing. There's a lot to talk about from this movie, both about high school and humanity in its simplicity and complexity. It worked, really well.

Hotel Transylvania

3/5

Totally gotta admit, I was expecting SO much worse out of this. Especially since we saw Andy Samberg and Adam Sandler in a movie that fell flat on its face earlier this year. It looked mildly funny, mostly annoying, and silly. The only saving grace was that it was from Sony Animation, the studio that gave us Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs...but also gave us The Smurfs. So basically, not much to expect. Maybe that's what saved it. Just like Cloudy, it takes a lot of cliche's from its genre and parodies them in a nice, simple and effective way. That leaves it satisfying to both adults and kids. Where this movie fails is perhaps too many fart and simple jokes, unlike Cloudy where there was a really nice balance. But the voice cast was nice and fun, I liked the fun punches at the horror genre, the story was simple but fun and silly. I really loved the relationship developing between Dracula and Johnny, and the idea of humans loving monsters today, with a particularly funny jab at Twilight. It's a fun movie and would actually be a fun date movie. In fact my girlfriend really seemed to enjoy it. It's definitely worth a watch.