Day 274: Rampart

Directed By- Oren Moverman

Writer(s)- James Ellroy, Oren Moverman

Starring- Woody Harrelson, Robin Wright, Ben Foster, Sigourney Weaver, Ned Beatty, Ice Cube, Anne Heche, Cynthia Nixon, Brie Larson, Steve Buscemi 

Critics Review- "Woody Harrelson is mesmerizing as the anti-hero of gripping crime drama Rampart, but his pill-popping, booze-swinging, suspect-beating dirty cop,is so irredeemably unsympathetic that you almost wish he weren't so compelling to watch."- Jason Best "Movie Talk" 

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 75% Audience- 37%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 4 stars 

My Review- 

I have seen quite a few films about corrupt cops one of my favorites being L.A. Confidential.  With this one I would have to agree with the trailer above, Harrelson does play one of the most dirtiest cop I have ever seen and what makes it also work is that the movie is centered after the Rampart scandal. There are not explosions in the movie or a car chase or a shooting, well there is but it lasts like 10 seconds. This movie is about how a cop got caught in the act and how he has to face the repercussions unlike other times. I have always like Harrelson as an actor, but in this movie I found myself hating the character he played every time he was on screen and that is a good thing because he did his job as an actor he made me hate his character, but also the thing was I found myself wanting to keep watching to see what he would do next. I was surprised that this movie had a whole bunch of amazing actors that had little screen time but were able to add to the movie just a little bit and to Harrelson's character. I am very surprised that this has a higher rating with critics than the audience I would thing at it would be around the same number with the audience and not as low as 37%. I would recommend this movie, based on the cast itself, and too see Woody Harrelson in the meanest role he probably has ever been played in his career. So I suggest that you check out this movie and enjoy if for what it is, a look at cop who is spiraling out of control. Also this movie has an open ending which I really liked because we are able to decided or come up with happens to Harrelson's character, and when a movie does this I like it a lot more. 

Day 273: The Giant Mechanical Man

Directed By- Lee Kirk

Written By- Lee Kirk

Starring- Jenna Fischer, Chris Messina, Malin Akerman, Topher Grace

Critics Review- "This cute dramedy tackles well-trod ground in the world of indie film but Lee Kirk conveys enough honest affection for his well-crafted characters that the piece works."- Brian Tallerico "HollywoodChicago.com"

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 70% Audience- 71%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 4 1/2 stars 

MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD

My Review- 

This is one of those Indie films that not that many people know about, and it goes unnoticed when it shouldn't. Sometimes I do not like Jenna Fischer as an actress when she's in films its either because she is annoying and trying to be her character from The Office, or its because the roll is not right for her, this is not the case with this movie, I found myself falling of Jenna Fischer in the movie was Chris Messina would do later on in the film. The very beginning of this movie is extremely well shot and I found my self liking each establishing shots and cuts that were used to show the introduction of Chris Messina's character Tim in the film to show us what he did for a living and he was essentially the title of the film. This movie was very well casted by some actors I usually do not find annoying but I felt like punching them because they were so annoying; Topher Grace played an annoying guy in the film that was trying to court Jenna Fischer, at times I wanted to punch Topher Grace in the face because he was so damn annoying and he cannot pull off long hair it does not fit him, I know it may have been a choice from either Grace or Kirk but it was a bad one. With Malin Akerman playing Fischer's annoying sister trying to help when she was just making things worse; her character was made I believe to cause a little bit of friction in the movie and make us dislike her because she keeps doing the opposite of what her sister wants, which is a sucky thing to do. Now the two main characters Fisher and Messina made the movie watchable and they did not bore me or want me to make the movie go by quickly, they were written to be genuinely liked for who they were at this time in there lives and I felt that way about both of them. This was written by Fischer's real life husband Lee Kirk, and from what I read this was his debut film as both a writer and director, and he did a really good job as both, even though at times a writer and director may favor their significant other when but into a film, this was not the case. Well it did not seem like it was, he wrote every character to be either well liked or disliked, even if they were not in the movie for that long. Lee Kirk is a good writer for these times of films and even though his first movie as both writer and director, it seems like this something he would be good at these types of films. I would like to see more from him and see what he can write next. I hope this movie will travel by word of mouth once people watch it. This one movie of indie films I would really like to add to my collection, and I hope if you watch this movie you will like it as well. 

Day 272: Looper

Directed By- Rian Johnson

Written By- Rian Johnson

Starring- Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt, Paul Dano, Noah Segan, Jeff Daniels, Garret Dillahunt

Critics Review- "Looper is a rare example of ingenious science-fiction storytelling where the fundamental concepts are so intriguing that their stylish execution feels like gravy."- Leonard Maltin "Leonard Maltin's Picks"

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 93% [CERTIFIED FRESH] Audience- 92%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 4 stars

MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD!!

My Review-

This is possibly one of the best sci-fi movies I have seen in a long time, and it has some of the best actors right now in the movie. This movie deals with one of the most well known influences of sci-fi movies and concept as well but in way takes it to a whole different level, and its time-travel. In Looper, certain people are given the task of killing people sent from the future to the past since and also what made the movie even cooler is that time travel is illegal, you do not see that in a lot of films really. This time JGL's character fails to kill his future self as it is explained in the trailer above, and this is where the movie kicks off, along the way we get different reasons why people are sent back to the past from the future, but I will not say anymore. This movie had some slow parts here and there, but also had a lot of action and scenes that would make your jaw drop. The trailer does kind of mislead to what the movie is really about, but I enjoyed it even more that way, Johnson kept us in the dark to what the true intentions of future Joe(Bruce Willis) were. Yes at times it was a bit confusing and other times it was really well executed. I really liked how from time to time Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character Joe would come in every know and then to explain certain parts of the movie or clarify some things that may have seemed a little fuzzy. I believe that both Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis were perfect for this movie and if it was any other actors in my opinion it would have been totally different. Emily Blunt's character was also kept a mystery in the trailer and when I finally saw how her character contributed to the movie, it was a good thing her character was kept hush so it would not spoil anything from the trailer. Also what I really liked about this movie is that they showed different timelines of both characters at times to sort of throw us off and at the same time to show us what would have happened if everything went according to plan. Another thing it was good to see Jeff Daniels play the bad guy again, he does drama really well along with comedy, but its when he plays the villain he truly shines. This a movie that should not be missed because well it has good actors, and a great story-line. Yeah there are flaws here and there but it is still a great movie. If you want to hear more about what I thought about the movie listen to the podcast Cinemaddicts I will let you know when it goes up and you will hear more of what I thought about Looper

Day 271: House of the Dead

Directed By- Uwe Boll

Writer(s)- Mark A. Altman, Dan Bates

Starring- Jonathan Cherry, Tyron Leitso, Ona Grauer, Jurgen Prochnow, Ellie Cornell, Clint Howard, Enuka Okuma, Will Sanderson, Kira Clavell, Michael Eklund

Critics Review- "Idiotically written, badly acted and directed, with Boll underlining the film's gory video game plot by intercutting video game effects into the slaughter, it's a staggering failure on pretty much every level."- Roger Moore "Orlando Sentinel" 

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 4% Audience- 19%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 1/2 star

My Review-

Why is Uwe Boll even a movie director? This movie was all kinds of horrible, the acting, the fight scenes even the useless music that was trying to make the movie dramatic. I have nothing more to say about this movie, it was really shitty and should have never been made. WATCH AT YOUR OWN RISK!

Day 270: Taken

Directed By- Pierre Morel

Writer(s)- Luc Besson, Robert Mark Kamen

Starring- Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Jenssen, Leland Orser, Jon Gries

Critics Review- "This is not a movie about moral dilemmas-it's about a father who will rip out your eyeballs if you don't give him his daughter back."- Brian Holcomb "Kinetofilm"

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 58% Audience- 83%

Out of a possible 5 Stars- 3 1/2 stars 

My Review- 

I think from now on, if Liam Neeson is going to be in a movie they should already know that they should not cross him or piss him off in anyway. When this movie was first going to come out I was on the fence about it, and did not want to watch it for a long time, however since the new one is going to be released soon, I decided might as well watch the first one so I can watch the sequel. This movie was not as bad as some people may think it is, its actually a pretty decent movie and with Liam Neeson showing that he can also kick some ass it makes it a good movie. This movie had some pretty cool fighting scenes, if you can even call them that it was mostly just Neeson saying something like "I warned you" and then he unleashed his fury. I would recommend this movie since it is a good watch and the new one is coming out very soon, even though the title does sound weird like this one, and it is pretty much almost the same exact premise as this one there is just something about it that made me want to watch even way before I watched this one. I kind of wished his friends that were shown in the beginning were used a little bit more, as if they were helping him out along the way as one of them did in the very beginning. This movie was really fast paced once it picked up, it was kind of slow in the beginning and I will admit the acting was a wee bit bad, then it got better once everything fell into place later on. I would like to see if anything is explained in leading up to the events of the sequel because it seems like Jenssen and Neeson's characters are back together in the Taken 2 even though they seemed like they were divorced in this one which is a little bit confusing. Well I guess I will just have to wait and see how everything unfolds. 

Day 269: Groundhog Day

Directed By- Harold Ramis

Writer(s)- Harold Ramis, Danny Rubin

Starring- Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, Chris Elliot, Stephen Tobolowsky

Critics Review- "The film endures largely because of the appeal of both its story-line and the cast."- Kent Turner "Film-Forward.com"

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 96% Audience- 79%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 4 stars

My Review-

This is going to be a rather quick review since I watched my movie late again. This one Bill Murray film that I have always heard was good and it is, I think its one of this top films of his that I have seen. I loved how he had to repeat the same thing day after day, until he realized what he had to do in order to make things go back to normal and I think it was a brilliant idea they way it was done, and the right actor was in the movie, I do not think anyone could have done it other than Bill Murray and with Harold Ramis, writing and directing it was the perfect match. I enjoyed all the different scenarios of the same day that he went through and how he tried to change into something different each time to make it a little different So I'm writing this as fast as I can and I wish I could write more so I learned my lesson by watching my movies late so let me end with this. Go and watch this movie if you have never seen it and and I hope you like it liked I did and since its Bill Murray its an awesome movie either way.

Day 268: Soundtrack for a Revolution

Directed By- Bill Guttentag, Dan Sturman

Writer(s)- Bill Guttenberg, Dan Sturman 

Starring- The Roots, John Legend, Joss Stone, Wyclef Jean, Richie Havens, Anthony Hamilton, The Blind Boys of America, Angie Stone, Mary Mary, TV on the Radio

Critics Review- "The contemporary music sequences are a distraction from the heart of the movie: truly astounding archival footage of speeches, marches, and demonstrations."- Mark Feeney "Boston Globe 

Rotten Tomatoes Review- Critics- 87% Audience- 79%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 4 1/2 stars

My Review- 

I had known about the Civil Rights movement from what I learned in school and films I have seen in the past, but something about hearing it from the people who were there and archive footage helped me learn more about it and I felt worse about the topic than I ever did before, I knew people could be cruel, but that was just horrible. This movie was mostly told through music played by various musicians who sang songs that the interviewees talked about throughout the film. I really enjoyed this film because it was like a history lesson all over again but this time. This should be a movie everyone should see because it is a side of the civil rights movement that we have never seen before. I believe in my opinion the musicians did the songs that they sang justice and it was also interesting to see footage of Martin Luther King Jr, that I had never seen before and realized why I found that part of history interesting to learn at the time that I had learned it. I would write more but I decided to watch my movie really late today, and this should be seen to see how the documentary is and maybe see how I felt about it. So go and watch this documentary if you like learning about the past and a fan of documentaries.

Day 267: Moonrise Kingdom

Directed By- Wes Anderson

Writer(s)- Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola

Starring- Jared Gilman, Kara Hayward, Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Jason Schwartzman, Bob Balaban, Harvey Keitel

Critics Review- "Last time out, in Fantastic Mr. Fox, Wes Anderson adapted a children's book by Roald Dahl. Now in Moonrise Kingdom, he's made one of his own."-Rick Groen "Globe and Mail" 

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 94% [CERTIFIED FRESH] Audience- 90%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 5 stars

My Review-

This possibly one of my favorite films from Wes Anderson, next to The Royal Tenenbaums, and Fantastic Mr. Fox. This movie, like most of the films from Wes Anderson, well from the ones I have seen had the same type film making that he became known for. Right from the beginning I knew I would like this movie, actually from the trailer itself I just did not know I was going to like it as much as I did. The acting was really good from everyone, I especially like Edward Norton in this film as the scout master of Troop 55, I was really surprised at the acting of the two main characters played by Jared Gilman, and Kara Hayward since this was both their first time acting in a movie for the big screen they did an amazing job and I am looking forward to see more of their acting in the future. This was a movie that I hope almost everybody will want to watch, and it is worth seeing for various reasons; amazing actors, scenes that you would not think were going to be funny but they were, its not a fast paced movie or a very slow one it done just right. The movie is a movie for everyone of all ages, I think its the love story element that makes it like that, and how everyone contributes to the movie equally even the children in Troop 55 have really good scenes when they are on screen. I could tell that I really liked this movie because with almost every scene and each time a character did something to make the movie stand out a little more I had a smile on my face, and once I saw that Harvey Keitel was actually in the movie I almost clapped and cheered since his character was established earlier in the film, and it was awesome to see him in the movie. this one movie that should not be missed, well if you're a Wes Anderson fan. I believe that if you have never seen a Wes Anderson film this is a good one to start with. I agree with the rating that this movie got even though I do actually think that the rating should be a little higher than a 94, maybe like a 96 but that's just my opinion. Lastly even though he is just the narrator of the film I was hoping to see more of Bob Balaban in the film the few times that we did see him I enjoyed his presence in those scenes, because most of the films I have seen him he was either playing the villain or someone that was not likable so it was cool to see him doing something like this. Lastly I really like how most of the movie seemed like it could come out of a book or should be in a book. I feel like I should watch the rest of Wes Anderson's films, since I have hopped around and have only seeing 3 since I have really liked the 3 I have seen, I may really like the rest of them.

Day 266: Oceans

Directed By- Jacques Perrin, Jacques Cluzaud

Narrated By- Pierce Brosnan

Critics Review- "There are life-and-death dramas, moments of playfulness and tenderness, which create an ever-increasing sense of wonder."- Liam Lacey "Globe and Mail"

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics-81% (CERTIFIED FRESH) Audience- 70%

Out of  a possible 5 stars- 4 1/2 stars

My Review-

This documentary was more entertaining than March of the Penguins which I watched a few days earlier, I think it is because the ocean can be more interesting since there is so much going at once. I learned a lot about the ocean in this documentary, more than I did in school I think, everything about this movie was so interesting and none of it was really boring. For instance I never knew that there are fish that clean other fish, and some fish or sea creatures that will protect others. I thought it was amazing how they shot March of the Penguins but this is way better, also they had quite a few scenes with some epic music depicting the ocean and what was going on either under it or below it. There were a few scenes that I thought were bad, it was mainly when it show the fishes, or turtles or I think it was sharks getting caught in a net and showed them being slaughtered, but that was about it. It was really neat to see all the different types of sea creatures and being shown how they lived, hunted, or stayed in a sort of defense mode from predators. It may make some people realize even though this movie is old that is sucks that we are polluting the ocean, because in some parts the ocean is so clean and downright amazing, than in other parts its really filthy and disgusting. It also showed how other animals are depended on the ocean that live outside of it, such as the polar bear, and penguins, and the walrus (one of my favorite mammals). I recommend that this be watched if you would like to know more about the ocean, or just like the ocean in general it was very interesting and with Pierce Brosnan narrating it brings something different to the documentary kind of makes it more mysterious and more amazing. We see more than we normally would and see things we never thought we would see in the documentary and it was worth the watch. I just wish it was a little longer than it was.

Day 265: The Toxic Avenger

Directed By- Lloyd Kaufman, Michael Hurtz

Writer(s)- Lloyd Kaufman, Michael Hurtz, Stuart Strutin

Starring- Mitch Coen, Mark Torgl, Andree Maranda, Pat Ryan Jr.

Critics Review- "The Toxic Avenger is an incredibly bizarre flick, combining silly jokes with outrageous gore, but it works."- David Nusair "Reel Film Reviews"

Rotten Tomatoes Review- Critics- 63% Audience- 59%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 3 stars

My Review-

Like the critic said this movie is bizarre, and it is I'm surprised they got away with some the scenes in the movie, seeing is how now a days some people MAY get offended well others will not. I mean I liked the movie, its the first movie its so bad its good that I have seen in awhile and I really enjoyed the bad acting and crazy characters in the movie. Since this movie was about someone ridding the world of horrible people, there were some pretty cool deaths in the film that were kind of cool to see or how they came up with that back when it was released. The character Melvin was well written, because even I hated him when I first saw him and after he became the Toxic Avenger I actually liked it him and enjoyed when his character would come on screen and be the hero ridding the town he lived in of all the bad people. One of my favorite characters was the girl who would eventually become his girlfriend who was in fact blind and did not know what he looked like which was good for him, because he looked hideous. If you like over the top movies, or movies so bad that they are good and have a cop who may be German for no apparent reason than this is the movie for you.

264: March of the Penguins

Directed By- Luc Jacquet

Writer(s)- Luc Jacquet, Michel Fessler

Starring- Morgan Freeman

Critics Review- "Morgan Freeman should be movieland's all-time narrator."- Phil Villarreal "Arizona Daily Star

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 94% Audience- 76%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 3 stars 

My Review- 

I do not think this movie would have been good as it was if it was not for Morgan Freeman. Yes Penguins are interesting group of birds and Freeman just made them more interesting to than way before. I cannot really write a lot on this movie since it was mostly about the penguins and their mating season but after watching this documentary I find them more interesting than before, and they way that this was filmed in the freezing cold and in the harshest of elements I have to tip my hat off to them. Since this is a fairly old movie and took a while for me to watch it I could see why people were going crazy of it when it was first released. At times I found it a little boring, but maybe because I was just tired from school and other times I found it really sad because everything that they went through and seeing how it only happens over and over again it kind of sucks. I would recommend this movie but I THINK that most of you have seen it and I have just been out of the loop for a long time. SO I would say watch it again, because Morgan Freeman makes Penguin mating season magical. 

Day 263: A Night at the Roxbury

Directed By- John Fortenberry

Writer(s)-  Will Ferrell, Christ Kattan, Steven Koren

Starring- Will Ferrell, Chris Kattan, Molly Shannon, Loni Anderson Dan Hedaya, Jennifer Coolidge, Lochlyn Munro, Collin Quinn, Chazz Palminteri, Michael Clarke Duncan

Critics Review- "They're still side-splitting funny more often than not."- Kevin N. Laforest "Montreal Film Journal"

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 11% Audience- 67%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 2 1/2 stars

My Review-

This may not be the funniest movie ever from Will Ferrell, but it still had me laughing in certain scenes. I have seen quite a few movies that used to SNL skits, and I liked how the skit had Jim Carrey in it and I wish he would have been in the movie. I still like how this is classic Will Ferrell before he became really big and famous. I did like how at times Kattan and Ferrell's characters acted over the top when they were with each other or in the nightclubs tying to pick up women. the music was used really well in this movie from REM to Haddaway as the main theme for the movie. As always Molly Shannon was one of the best parts of the movie since she is one comedian I always look forward to watching a movie when she is in the cast, even though she was a bit crazy in this movie. I thought of scenes could have been a lot funnier and well some scenes were executed really well with the comedy. One of my favorite scenes were with Michael Clarke Duncan even though he was not in the movie for that long he was still very funny as the bouncer at a club with his deadpan delivery by not letting the guys into the club. If you are a fan of SNL this is the movie for you, for numerous reasons; Will Ferrell is possibly one of the best parts of this movie along with a few actors I already mentioned. One person I wanted to see more in this movie was Chazz Palminteri since he is a pretty cool actor and can make any movie better and he did that with this movie. This movie could have been better but from what I watched its whats to be expected from a skit that was not even that long to begin with. One thing I will give this movie by the end of the movie I was dancing to Haddaway's "What is Love?"

Day 262: War Horse

Directed By- Steven Spielberg

Writer(s)- Richard Curtis, Lee Hall; Based on the Book By- Michael Morpurgo 

Starring- Jeremy Irvine, Peter Mullan, David Thewlis, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hiddleston, Eddie Marsan, Toby Kebbell, Niels Arestrup, David Kross

Critics Review- "War Horse-- novel and play -- is now a Spielberg symphony. War Horse is part reality and part fantasy, and Spielberg has to do a risky balancing act. It is a gallant film."- Tony Macklin "tonymacklin.net"

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 77% Audience- 74%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 5 stars 

My Review- 

I do not even know where to begin with this movie. First off its Spielberg so I already knew it was going to be amazing, and it was. Steven Spielberg can do war movies really well and he knows how to pull the heart strings with the characters and how they all in a way intertwine and such is the case with War Horse,  I have never seen the play or read the big and just by seeing the movie I can tell that both the play and the book must be amazing. This movie had a great cast from Cumberbatch to Hiddleston, and even though they had small parts their characters still stood out in the movie. Now you would think a movie about a horse would be boring and not that great and I thought the same thing when I reviewed Seabiscuit  for my list and with both these movies that was not the case. Set during World War I the movie is half about the horse aand the people he comes into contact with along the way. The way the movie is shot and told both visually and with the score makes it stand out from Spielberg and I believe that is back to top form with this movie after a few that did not do so great in my opinion. Right from the start of the movie I could tell that this movie was going to be visually amazing, and I was right, I was into the movie right from the start, I think it is because I like period pieces like this one and probably because of Spielberg was in the director's chair.The war scenes were shot really well and because of that they were visually amazing and I could tell that he took some of those ideas probably from when he did Saving Private Ryan. One actor who stood out for me even though he was part was really small was Tom Hiddleston, this is the second movie I have seen with him where he is not trying to destroy the world, and he is a really great actor outside of that element, and I want to watch more movies with him. I can see why at some points some critics and viewers may have found this movie a little off, but to me I really liked this movie every minute of it. Well okay not every minute there were some parts here and there that I did not like and some actors as well but other scenes made up for it and other actors as well. This movie was also how just one horse that had seen and been through everything could make a country stop fighting for most likely 10 minutes and make a person change or bring hope to somebody because of the way it raised and probably because it knew it was different. War Horse should go down as Stephen Spielberg classic, because he has a certain way of doing things with his movies that make them astonishing and memorable, and for me this was one of those films I would love to own from him. Watch this movie if you are a fan of Spielberg or any of the actors in the film and see what you think about it, and hope you will not be disappointed. 

Day 261: The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension

Directed By- W. D. Richter

Written By- Earl Mac Rauch 

Starring- Peter Weller, Ellen Barkin, John Lithgow, Christopher Lloyd, Jeff Goldblum

Critics Review-  "Buckaroo Banzai seems stranded in an alternate dimension where films don't need to have a solid perspective to exist."- Jeremy Heilman "MovieMartyr.com" 

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 71% Audience- 67% 

Out of a possible 5 stars- 1/2 star 

My Review- 

I had no idea what was going on for most of this movie. The best part of this movie was Jeff Goldblum, and Clancy Brown. Other than that this movie was just down right bad and did not make any sense. It just kept jumping around from scene to scene and at times made little or no sense. This has got to be one of the worst movies I have ever seen on this list and that is saying something, because I have seen a lot of bad movies. Also I cannot see why this movie has a cult following, I'm still confused by that part, I would not recommend any one watch this movie, unless you want to watch a bad movie, Then go right ahead and watch it. Other than that stay away from it. Also one of John Lithgow and Christopher Lloyd's worst films ever. 

Day 260: The Loved Ones

Directed By- Sean Byrne

Written By- Sean Byrne

Starring- Xavier Samuel, Robin McLeavy, John Brumpton, Richard Wilson, Victoria Thaine, Jessica McNamee

Critics Review- "There is clearly a lot of ambition to The Loved Ones and the near-brilliant leading performances help make the film a unique and terrifying experience." - David Baldwin "We Got This Covered" 

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 97% Audience- 74%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 4 1/2 stars

My Review-

This movie is something else, when I first saw the trailer I knew I wanted to watch it because it looked really good and a horror movie in the most crazy way, and I was right. This a movie that has you cringing in almost all the scenes, well it had me cringing and its the fact that the two of the characters; Lola played really well by Robin McLeavy and her dad played by John Brumpton are freakin psychopaths and will do anything to have things there way if it doesn't happen. The movie takes a while to kick in to where everything goes down, and it builds the characters and how everything will get set up, and in some parts of the movie you think one thing will happen then it changes in entirely into something different. I was in shock most of the time at what was happening to the main character as you can tell from the trailer above he is being tortured for not taking Lola to the dance and the scenes where he is being tortured are shocking and at times really brutal, this one family if they were real should not be messed with. McLeavy and Brumpton make a new duo that is both sadistic and memorable for this movie and their characters should go down as so. If you like horror movies or want to see a horror movie that is actually a good one that will stick with you after the credits roll than this the movie for you to watch, I do not want to spoil anymore or IF I have I am sorry. This one other horror movie I have enjoyed watching and that I was able to put on this list, and seeing that it is from Australia, they know what they are doing when it comes to making a horror film that will stand out, and make every scene stick with you it is that shocking and memorable. This movie had some comedy to it as well with two side characters but even their side story was kind of upsetting and not all that great. What made this movie stand out for me was the fact that from what I saw in the trailer is these people do not what regret what they are doing but in a way want to stand out or something like that. Anyways this movie should be watched its totally worth and one of the more better horror films to come out in the last couple of years.

Day 259: Mean Girls 2

Directed By- Melanie Mayron

Writer(s)- Cliff Ruby, Allison Schroeder, Elana Lesser

Starring- Meaghan Jette Martin, Jennifer Stone, Nicole Anderson, Claire Holt, Maiara Walsh, Diego Boneta, and Tim Meadows  

Critics Review- "Whatever problems I had with the 2004 feature aren't even an issue here, as the new film offers a decidedly more pedestrian take on the clique warfare concept, trading Fey's sly ambition for cruel DTV routine."- Brian Orndorf "BrianOrndorf.com"

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- NO SCORE YET Audience- 26%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 1/2 star 

My Review-

A movie so bad only two critics reviewed it. The best part of this movie was Tim Meadows. This is a sequel/spinoff to the 2004 Mean Girls which was way better than this one and a lot funnier, may because that one had better writers like Tina Fey and this one did not. Stay far way from this movie it is really bad with only some funny parts here and there and all because they have Tim Meadows in those scenes. They try to recreate the original characters from the original movie and failed miserably. I have to disagree and agree with the critic mention above, where I liked the first one because it had really funny characters and memorable lines this one just sucked big time, because it was not as smart and witty as the one before. Do not watch this movie, stay away from it watch a better movie than this one. You know what watch the 2004 one and enjoy it for what it is. 

Day 258: Team America: World Police

Directed By- Trey Parker

Writer(s)- Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Pam Brady

Starring- Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Kristen Miller, Masasa Moyo, Daran Norris

Critics Review-  "The Puppets are extremely impressive and the fact that the strings are constantly visible is used to brilliant comedic effect, particularly during one of the film's crudest scenes."- Matthew Turner "ViewLondon"

Rotten Tomatoes Review- Critics- 76% Audience- 78%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 3 1/2 stars

My Review- 

Well its not as funny as the South Park movie from these two, it is still a pretty funny movie, mostly because Kim Jong-il sounded like Cartman which was pretty damn funny. One scene that had me laugh out loud laughing was when the "panthers" were actually two house cats. This movie is pretty damn clever when they are just using puppets with the strings clearly visible throughout the whole entire movie. While some parts were funnier than others, the story-line was really funny and I liked how they poked fun at how the actors are always trying to help out in everything cause and how at times it can kind of be annoying and this movie is from way back in 2004 so it kind of showed what was to come in the coming years. I do not need to tell anyone to go and see this movie since I'am the one that is being everyone else and with it coming out almost 8 years ago and all so I suggest you just watch it again. Since this movie was not as funny was I hoped it would have been I would still watch it again for the hell of it and mostly the parts that stood out for me so I can see certain quotes or scenes that made me laugh out loud. One thing I would like to know is what Matt Damon did to them creators of South Park and this movie to make them have him say the same thing over and over again which was only "Matt Damon" which was pretty damn funny since it was almost like Timmy. 

Day 257: Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure

Directed By- Stephen Herek

Writer(s)- Ed Solomon, Chris Matheson

Starring- Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, George Carlin

Critics Review- "Reeves, with his beguilingly blank face and loose-limbed, happy-go-luck phyiscal vocabulary, and Winter, with his golden curls, gleefully good vibes and 'bodacious' vocabulary, propel this adventure as long as they can."- Variety Staff

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 82%  Audience- 70%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 3 1/2 stars

My Review-

Possibly the funniest movie I have seen with Keanu Reeves, and I think this is probably the movie that launched his career, after Speed. This movie was recommend to me by a friend, and she loves this movie and I can see why, it has two really likable characters that end up time traveling to pass a history report, something that I wish I could have done in high school. That was probably the best part of the movie when they were traveling through time to get everyone that would help with their report and then they would try to figure out what was happening. Some of my favorite people they got to visit were Socrates and Billy the Kid who were the first people they met, in away they were all actually funny but for some reason they stood out for me. It was pretty awesome seeing George Carlin in the movie since he was always a funny actor he made the movie even better even though he was not in it for that long, he made his character Rufus really awesome and kind of made me want him to come and tell me to go through history if it could actually happen. I really liked how they communicated to each other it was really funny with all the "whoa's" and the "dude's" and them almost but not entirely starting to mess with the history of the world. One thing that was kind of cool, if I had never watched or heard of Doctor Who it would have been cooler is that their time machine was a phone booth, but the Doctor's is much better than this one. That's besides the point, I really enjoyed this movie it had me laughing at the right moments and I sort of learned more about history from this movie than I actually did in when I took history. However I kind of wished they showed them saying goodbye to everyone they brought for their report it would have been cool to see that. So if you have never seen this movie check it out, because Keanu Reeves was awesome in this movie and so was everyone else.

Day 256: Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)

Directed By- Jack Arnold

Writer(s)- Harry Essex, Arthur A. Ross

Starring- Richard Carlson, Julia Adams, Richard Denning, Antonio Moreno

Critics Review- "Creepy underwater horror flick. Ahead of its time."- Alex Sandell "Juicy Cerebellum"

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 82% Audience- 65%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 4 1/2 stars

My Review-

Out of the few Universal horror films that I have watched, this is one of the best ones, it works a lot on suspense and the music that goes wonderfully behind it when the creature shows up. There were a lot of scenes for me that stood out more than others that I liked watching, and the charactes were likeable as well. I would like to know who played the "Creature" because they did an awesome job at the movement of the creature and they way that it acted. Like all movies which at times I find annoying there is always some one who wants to capture the monster, alien, or what ever it is that cannot be explained for their own personal gain, and so is the same with this movie, which at tiems screws it up for the characters at times. After watching this movie I can see where some movies got similarites or ideas for other films, playing homage to this movie which is a damn good movie from Universal Studios horror flicks that they became known for. It sucks that most of the horror movies of this time were really short, this one being only 1hr and 19mins, I had wanted to be a little longer so we could see more of the creature, but I can understnad that keeping it a mystery at times built up the suspense of when it would be revealed and the music that went with it is really cool and at times eerie. As for underwated horror films or ones dealing with water next to "Jaws" this is one of the best ones that I have seen. If you like horror movies and want tos ee some old ones than check out this one it is well worth watching and in my opinion for the time atht thsi came out it really good.

Day 255: Anvil! The Story of Anvil

Directed By- Sacha Gervasi

Starring- Anvil

Critics Review- "If you can forget Spinal Tap (hard), it's rather touching the way these 50-year-olds still have the forged-in-fire fortitude."- David Edelstein "New York Magazine. 

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 98% Audience- 89%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 4 1/2 stars

My Review-

I have never really listen to bands like these, only once in awhile but I have heard of some of the big name ones but never this one, and this documentary should me who they were and after over 30 years they were still doing what they loved. These two guys are the only members left of the original band from the 80s and have been friends since they were 14, so to see them still together like this and still playing music they love is pretty damn amazing, even if some people have forgotten who they were. To see them going through their ups and downs for the past 30 years and them trying to get another record deal shows dedication, because at the end of the film Slash from Guns N Roses says "how many bands can you name that are still together after 30 years?" and for Slash its not really that many. Now if I had listen to this music right now or sometime in the last few years I would know, but now I would like to start listening or trying out this type of music since I am trying to widen my music library to different types of music or musicians. If you have never heard of this band then watch this documentary so you can learn who they are and the passion they show in their music playing even though at times they may be at each others necks all they want to do is play music.

Day 254: Beverly Hills Cop

Directed By- David Brest

Written By- Daniel Petrie 

Starring- Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold, John Ashton, Steven Berfoff, Lisa Elibacher

Critics Review- "Mr. Murphy knows exactly what he is doing, and he wins at every turn."- Janet Maslin "New York Times"

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 83% Audience- 73%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 3 1/2 stars

My Review-

This one of the Eddie Murphy movies I have always wanted to watch, but never really got around to it until now, and I must say I liked it. It seems like most of Eddie Murphy's best movies were from when he was in the 80s and up until a couple movies the last couple of years. He was the best when he was the smartass fouled mouth characters such as he was with Axel Foley, and would try to talk his way out of trouble, we do not see much of that nowadays from him. I like this movie better than I did 48 HRS. it seems like he was able to do more with this movie since he was the main character and he was able to carry the movie almost all on his own. This movie also had a little more action and a better villain than some of the movies that Murphy did with movies like this one. He made his character extremely likeable and found that you liked from the first time he started talking at the start of the movie, now I have not seen the other two movies and I would liked to but by seeing their ratings on RottenTomatoes I am a little worried. I suggest if you are a Eddie Murphy fan or want to see any of his old work, start off with this movie because he was at this best when this was released. There were some parts I thought could have been funnier or some characters that could have been used a little more, but that's just me, you should see this movie to see how you like it for yourself.

Day 253: Clue

Directed By- Johnathan Lynn

Writer(s)- Johnathan Lynn, John Landis; Based on the board game "CLUE"

Starring- Tim Curry, Eileen Brennan, Madeline Kahn, Christopher Lloyd, Michael McKean, Martin Mull, Colleen Camp, Lee Ving, 

Critics Review- "Curry steals the show in this fun and frantic comedy."- Bill Clark "FromTheBalcony"

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 71% Audience- 85%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 3 1/2 stars 

My Review-

I have never really played the board game which this movie is based on, and I still enjoyed it. This movie was really funny, because it had a lot of funny actors in the movie; from Tim Curry, to Christopher Lloyd and Martin Mull. These actors were at their funniest when this movie was released and it made this movie even more watchable. I really liked how they had recurring jokes throughout the film and kept coming back to them and made the movie laugh out loud funny in some parts, or how they would accuse each other at random moments or would watch each other, not trusting the other person. The Highlight of this movie were the 3 different endings that were all told by Tim Curry trying to retell the events of that night and how it all happened or how he thought it happened. I had wished it was a little longer and there was one scene between Mull and McKean that I saw in the trailer that was not in the movie and I was bummed out that it was not in it because it was really funny. This movie worth watching if you liked the board game or just like these actors so in away it is a win win situation for everyone. So watch this movie if you have never seen it and see what you think about it. 

Day 252: God Bless America

Directed By- Bobcat Goldthwait

Written By- Bobcat Goldthwait

Starring- Joel Murray, Tara Lynn Barr, Mackenzie Smith, Melinda Page Hamilton

Critics Review- "Goldthwait's ranting dialogue is stingily funny and Murray and Barr are so agreeable you find yourself rooting for "the bad guys."- Colin Covert "Minneapolis Star Tribune"

Rotten Tomatoes- Critics- 67% Audience- 71%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 3 1/2 stars

My Review-

This movie from comedian Bobcat Goldthwait, is really about what everyone probably actually thinks but will never do. I will not spoil anything about this movie because I will eventually be talking about it on a podcast I am going to be on called Cinemaddicts. I agreed with a lot of the things that were in this movie, particularly one part that where the main character Frank explain how America has changed since reality TV came into the world or how other people get around by being mean and other things that make people like them for the wrong reasons. This movie does show by changing the names of reality shows or hit shows such as American Idol and how we treat people differently because of those shows and how the main character Frank was just fed up with it and decided to take matters into his own hands. So I do not want to ruin anymore of the movie, so you are able to watch or just listen to the podcast after its done being recorded so you can hear what I fully thought about the movie. So in other words check out this movie and the podcast.

Day 251: Battle Royale

Directed By- Kinji Fukasaku

Written By- Kenta Fukasaku Based on the Book "BATTLE ROYALE" By Koushun Takami

Starring- Tatsuya Fujiwara, Aki Maeda, Taro Yamamoto, Takeshi Kitano, Masanobu Ando, Kou Shibasaki, Takashi Tsukamoto, Sousuke Takaoka, Chiaki Kuriyama

Critic's Review- "Some will be uncomfortable or appalled, and the mix of humour and horror is uneasy, but this isn't a film you'll forget easily. And seriously, what would you do?"- Kim Newman "Empire Magazine 

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 86% Audience- 89%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 4 1/2 stars

WARNING CONTAINS MILD SPOILERS

My Review-

It's all in the tagline for this movie "42 students. Only one way to survive." This is the movie that is to have inspired "The Hunger Games" and I agree, but one thing that is different with this movie, It is WAY better. This movie is way more violent, you get to know the characters even more throughout the movie, and you have a even more sickening reason to why they have to fight against each other. Also this movie linger's with you until even after the credits roll it is that effective on you, it does not have a love triangle, no this movie it a no holds bar fight to the finish and its people that know each other who have been friends for years turning on each other that makes it worse while watching it. I have wanted to watch this movie since I heard about it in film class last semester, and now that I have finally watched this is possibly my new favorite Foreign film. It was hard to watch at times that is only because of how the characters changed during the course of the film, from being best friends for years to wanting/needing to kill each other to survive and all for a stupid reason thought up by the government has punishment towards the kids. What also made this movie worse is that people treated it like it was nothing, and like it was something to be happy about and to have fun with it when it was not something to laugh about. What also makes this movie kind of heartbreaking that they need to do this, this movie should not need to be compared to "The Hunger Games" not that much anyways, there are major differences with the two, sort of the same premise but major differences. One of them being is that this one had more emotion and that you had them isolated by themselves on an island with out many people knowing what was going on. I can sort of see why this movie was banned over here in the states for awhile or something like that, but then again I have seen movies that were more violent than this one. I Highly recommend watching this movie if you have ever wanted to watch it or just want to watch a no holds bar violent movie this is for you. I do not want to say anymore about this movie, because I would like for everyone to see this movie for themselves, since I thought it was better than "The Hunger Games." To me this movie made "The Hunger Games" look like a Disney movie.

Day 250: Monty Python's The Meaning of Life

Directed By- Terry Jones

Written By- Monty Python

Starring- Eric Idle, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Graham Chapman, Michael Palin

Critics Review- "Perfect Python!"- Kevin Carr "7M Pictures"

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 89% Audience- 83% 

Out of a possible 5 stars- 4 stars

My Review- 

This is probably the 3rd movie I have seen from this group since I have only seen half of the Holy Grail, but nonetheless this movie was really really funny. There were some parts that were to gross for me and other parts where I could not stop laughing. I really do like sketch comedians like these people and especially when I have grown up seeing their other work as well. This movie was told in various parts that at times made no sense and they all did not connect with each other and would break into random song. I loved how they made no sense and waited until the very end to answer the question which is in the title of the movie. I thinks this what makes them comedic geniuses is because they don't take their topics seriously and do not care what people think and will tend to piss them off, they even say something almost like that at the end of the movie. One of my favorite ones was when they started singing about the universe for no apparent reason and some how it had to deal with our liver or something like that. It was the meaning of life according to Monty Python which was different variations that some how all came together and worked to tell a really screwed up meaning of life but kind of made it believable. If you like Monty Python, then I suggest you watch this movie, I loved it and I hope you do as well.