Day 38: 1408

Director- Mikael Hafstrom

Written By- Max Greenberg, Scott Alexander, Larry Karaszewski

Starring- John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson, Mary McCormack

Critics Review- "Based on a Stephen King story, 1408 takes the simplest plot and turns into a enjoyable surreal, unnerving creepfest."- Steve Murray "Atlanta Journal-Constitution"

Rating on Rotten Tomatoes- 78%

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

My Review-

I have watched a few Stephen King adaptations on screen, whether it was a movie or a made for TV movie, and this is my favorite one next to Misery.  This was recommend to me by a friend, and I also have always wanted to watch but never got the chance to do so until now. The movie is about how a writer of the most haunted places is always skeptical about these types of things, but that all changes once he spends an hour in that room. For the first half of the movie it was kind of boring, until he got to the Hotel where the majority of the movie would take place and enter Samuel L. Jackson. Now if he were to warn me about something I would listen to him but the movie would have been over about almost 30 mins and that would not be good. The best parts of the movie naturally was when he was in the room which actually creeped me out and some points in the movie, this was natural horror movie; no blood or cuts, murder, people saying we need to split up just a good ol' fashion horror movie that also seemed to cause claustrophobia since it was in one place for the almost entirety of the movie, there were some scenes that were in the preview that i had hoped would be in the movie, but sadly they were not. However it was still a good movie that for the first time in a long time had me actually go "oh shit" at moments in the movie, I do not think anyone else could have done a better job then Cusack, and even though Samuel L. Jackson had a small part he was still one of the best things in the movie, aside from the ending, which made you question "what the hell just happened?"

Day 37: Midnight in Paris

Directed By- Woody Allen

Written By- Woody Allen

Starring- Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Marion Cotillard, Kathy Bates, Adrian Brody, Tom Hiddleston, Corey Stoll, Michael Sheen

Critics Review- "Allen wants you to love Paris as much as Gil does and wants to show you the magic, the romance and the spark the city holds for him."- Matt Neal "The Standard"

Rating on Rotten Tomatoes- 93%

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

My Review-

Where do I begin with this film? Woody Allen starts off the movie with four minutes of just Paris, that's it the scenery of Paris and he wants you to know how beautiful Paris is at all times of the day and it works perfectly. Even though I have not seen a lot of Allen's films so far this one stands out the most to me, next to Match Point. The way he wrote these characters especially Hemingway, Fitzgerald, he wrote them as if he was the main character Gil and wanting to talk to them as if he was in 1920s Paris. When watching this movie Allen made it seem like you would want to go live in the 1920s and talk to all the poets, writers and painters that are today known as the greats. This movie made me want to hopefully soon start reading the works of; Fitzgerald and Hemingway, Allen has a way with writing his characters for this movie even though they in Paris in 1920s. He shows that Paris is one of the most beautiful cities in the world, past or present, the music was also amazing in the movie when the movie was over I must have listened to "Si Tu Vois Ma Mere" more than 5 times in a row. The only thing I found rather annoying and I knew it was done well because Woody Allen intended for the characters to be like this, were Gil's fiance, and soon to be in-laws who did not seem to have the same love of Paris and Gil did, which I can understand since it seems they were always bring him down about being in love with Paris. Allen does a wonderful job at making Paris look so amazingly beautiful that it makes you want to go visit it at that very moment. It also seems the for Allen that 1920s Paris was the place that he had always wanted to visit as well, and it comes through in Owen Wilson's character and how much enthusiasm he was when talking about what happened the night before or when he is talking to his idols and how he is around them. This is one movie I will watch again, and possibly buy so I can watch it more than once. I enjoyed every minute of this movie and this is possibly Owen Wilson's best movie; and he deserved that Golden Globe Nomination. This movie shows Paris for what is, one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

Day 36: Chronicle

Director- Josh Trank

Writer(s)- Max Landis

Starring- Dan DeHaan, Michael B. Jordan, Alex Russell

Critics Review- "Stands above the rest in the "found footage" genre. I want more."- Victoria Alexander "Films inReview"

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

My Review-

It seems like there are a lot of movies that are coming out that are "found footage" movies, Chronicle might be just the best one to come out of that category. The movie asks the question, what would you do if you had superhero powers? It sort of shows the actual reaction to a teenager finding out all of a sudden he has these super-human powers; such as the ability to fly and different abilities. This also shows what can happen if someone uses them for other purposes and personal gain. A lot of things worked for this film, the writing, acting and especially for this type of genre, the camera wasn't all shaky like with Paranormal Activity and Cloverfield. This movie had me wanting more, even though it had  a lot of action, which was really good for this type of movie even though the effects at times were kind of cheesy, I still enjoyed the actions scenes. This also one movie just by looking at the preview you knew that it would be could and not disappoint which it did, from start to finish to did not disappoint. Now I cannot say to much because I do not want to give any anything way, and that it should be one of the movies that you see in Theaters and not wait for it to come out on DVD or Blu-Ray.

Day 35: For the Bible Tells Me So

Directed By- Daniel G. Karslake

Written By- Daniel G Karslake

Critics Review-"A gut-wrenching depiction of what truly defines family values."- KJ Doughton "Film Threat"

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

My Review-

"Homosexuality" is a sin. That's what the bible says at least, BUT that is no what I believe. In this documentary it's a look at the different beliefs; with family members whose children are gay, and different priests and former ministers who talk about the bible and how it can be miss interpreted. At times during this documentary unkind myself getting more and more angry at that fact that people can be so ignore about someone who is gay, it spend make them any different. I believe I should stop reviewing this film about now, because it will soon turn into a rant and I really do not want to do that if you know me well enough, you already know where I stand on this issue, if you don't just ask me and I will tell you.

Day 34: Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

Directed By- Stanley Kubrick

Written By- Stanley Kubrick, Peter George, Terry Southern

Starring- Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Keenan Wynn, Slim Pickens

Critics Review- "It's easily one of the directors best films of his somewhat controversial career."- Jason Zingale "Bullz-eye.com"

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

My Review-

This one movie that I have been wanting to watch for long time, now that I finally did I can say that I rather enjoyed it. Even though I have never seen Peter Sellers act before, but know that he is widely known as one of the funniest people during his acting career, and that he was the best part of the movie, also so was George C. Scott, who is mostly known for more dramatic roles rather than comedy. This movie was really funny when it need to be, and more serious with a hint of comedy between the side characters and the main characters. Set during the Cold War with Russia it asks what would happen if the wrong person started a nuclear war, and what goes on in the all private War Room at the Pentagon. It seems like Kubrick should have done more comedy during his career, but his more serious movies are the best. Peter Sellers is the one that made this movie funny, along with George C. Scott, both character's they played were over the top, and done perfectly. We even got to see a young James Earl Jones who had a small part in the film, who would later rise to fame as Darth Vader. This is one other Stanley Kubrick movie I have grown to like along with my all time favorite one, Full Metal Jacket.

Day 33: Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse

Directed By- Fax Bahr, Eleanor Coppola(documented footage), George Hickenlooper

Writer(s)- Fax Bahr, George Hickenlooper

Critics Review- "As the portrait of an artist in crisis, Hearts of Darkness is unparalleled."- Hal Hinson "Washington Post"

Out of a possible of 5 stars- 5 stars

WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS!

My Review-

Apocalypse Now, is known as possibly one of the best war movies ever made and for me it is, however little is known how much went to into making this film, and the documentary Hearts of Darkness shows this. In the documentary made by Coppola's wife, Eleanor shows just how much time went into making this film, from delays due to rain, Sheen having a heart attack and numerous things just to make this movie that no one wanted to make at first due to it being centered around the Vietnam War. This in depth documentary has interviews with the cast and crew as they share their experience that they had while filming; from the production going on for longer than it was initially was supposed to, how during mid-shooting Coppola chose to recast his main character from Harvey Ketiel to Martin Sheen. This documentary shows how much goes into making movie and that agony and toll it can take on the actors, directors and productions crews, it even shows at times that Coppola had to ask for money then he had to continue making what he wanted to be his "Masterpiece." Hearts of Darkness, shows us the viewer how this movie was made and what it took to make a movie of this magnitude that turned out to be a masterpiece and still to this considered one. I found myself having appreciation for this film than I did before since I finally saw what it took to make this film what it was, if you love this movie or have ever seen Apocalypse Now, I suggest you watch this documentary it will give you a more appreciation for the film. So you can enjoy if for what is is, one of the best war movies ever made.

Day 32: The Puffy Chair

Director- Jay Duplass

Writer(s)- Jay and Mark Duplass

Starring- Mark Duplass, Rhett Wilkins, Katie Aselton

Critics Review- "Built on beats of deadpan timing and splendidly understated reaction shots."- Bill Stamets "Chicago Sun Times"

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

My review-

I mostly know Mark Duplass and Katie Aselton from FX's hit show The League, I just never knew that Mark Duplass was a writer and a director. In his first feature film, also co-written and directed by his brother Jay Duplass; The Puffy chair is about a man, his girlfriend and his brother on a road trip to get a chair that looks like the one his father had when he was younger. At first this seems like a typical road trip where everything goes wrong, but not in the way one would think. It seems like everything that would go wrong would make the characters take a look and evaluate their lives at this point in their life, the slow pace of the movie makes it work if it was fast paced it would not be as good as it was. Being apart of the "mumblecore" movement also sets the tone for this movie, which used improvisation for most of the film, but seemed genuine and were not able to tell which would be script or which would be dialogue. The only thing I found useless for this movie was the use of the word "dude" every other sentence. seeing Duplass and Aselton out of their element of comedy for the first time, and in a drama I admit I was a little taken back, but in my opinion they did an amazing job in a drama, and being a real life couple at the time made the fights more believable. With the sudden ending I found myself wanting to see what happened next for the characters. I also liked how it was shot almost sort of like a documentary even though it wasn't one. This movie was recommended to by a friend, and like it was recommend to me, I recommend it as well