Day 143: The House of the Devil

Directed By- Ti West

Written By- Ti West

Starring- Jocelin Donahue, Greta Grewig, Tom Noonan, Mary Woronov, A.J. Bowen, Dee Wallace

Critics Review- "Now this is how you make a scary movie. The House of the Devil is a delicious throwback to the golden era of Hollywood horror-- one that is unapologetically earnest and overwhelmingly committed to the task at hand."- Simon Miraudo "Quickflix"

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 86% Audience- 56%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 5 stars

My Review-

It is rare that I give a horror movie 5 stars or love a horror movie as much as I did this one. I like horror movies, mostly the ones from the 70s and 80s some from the 90s and very few from the 00s, but this one which is seemingly set in the 1970s or 80s it is not really mentioned was possibly the best one I have seen in a long time next to Cabin in the Woods and Drag Me to Hell. Yes it was a slow but it was the time of horror film that built up until the final minutes of the film, kept you wondering what was going to happen next to the main character and the strange house she was in. I had never heard of Ti West or this film until a friend of mine told me about this movie and his other one that recently came out a while ago, which I will watch and review for this blog later. The feeling of this movie seemed like a homage to the horror movies from back in the day, where some of the best horror movies came out before all of the remakes, which I loved since one of my favorite horror movies of all time is John Carpenter's Halloween, which I loved about this movie because at the same time it had that scenario of the babysitter in the empty house and then changed the whole thing entirely. I think its the pace of the pace of the movie that sets most of it a part from the horror movies now a days since it slowly built up to the third act and then did not stop. Another thing that worked for this movie was the acting from the actors, Tom Noonan usually plays the creepy role and he does it well in this film as the creepy home owner, now with the main actor Jocelin Donahue I have never really seen her act until I watched this movie, and she did well in this movie for me she should stick to horror movies it seems like this is a genre that she could own if she keeps doing these types of films. If you like horror movies from the 70s and 80s or that start slowly and build up watch this movie it is so worth it. These are the times of horror movies that should be made, not remakes or reboots, movies that build the suspense and keeps us wonder whats gonna happen next.

Day 141: Major League II-

Directed By- David S. Ward

Writer(s)- Davis S. Ward, R.J. Stewart, Tom S. Parker, Jim Jennewein

Starring- Charlie Sheen, Omar Epps, Tom Berenger, Corbin Bernsen, Dennis Haysbert, David Keith, Bob Uecker

Critics Review- "Copies the first one, but forgets the charm and good humor."- Scott Weinberg "eFilmCritic.com"

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 5% Audience- 45%

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

My Review-

Although this was a good movie, it was not as funny as the original one. It did have its moments here and there but not as much as I hoped it would. One think that sucked is that Wesley Snipes was not back as Willlie Mayes Hayes as he was in the first one, however the rest of the cast was back which was awesome. It does some what repeat the same kind of story line as the previous one with the mean owner who hates them and the team starts to win just to spite her. Although some of the new characters were funny and made some memorable scenes it just not quite get the feeling of the first movie. I sort of did not like Charlie Sheen in this movie not as much as the first one, but towards the end he was pretty cool. I am not gonna watch the third one since none of the original cast is back so it was just the first two movies.

Day 133: Major league

Directed By- David S. Ward

Written By- David S. Ward

Starring- Charlie Sheen, Wesley Snipes, Tom Berenger, Corbin Bernsen

Critics Review- "Crowd-pleasing '80s underdog sports comedy."- Sandie Angulo Chen "Common Sense Media"

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 85% Audience- 78%

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

My Review-

At first I thought I wouldn't like this movie, but I did it's a funny sports movie that I enjoyed watching and seeing some of the actors in funny roles like Snipes and Sheen. The movie had more funny parts than serious arts and I like the fact that you got to enjoy each of the characters presence in the scenes, along with memorable scenes that can be talked about with people who have also seen it. I will watch the sequel at a later date, but not the third one since it doesn't have the original cast in the film. This movie had memorable characters which is a good thing for a comedy like this, so that your able to talk about it with other people. This a really funny sports movie and if you have never seen it you will enjoy it. Now I am looking forward to the sequel, and hopefully you will too.

Day 140: Winnie the Pooh (2011)

Directed By- Stephen J. Anderson, Don Hall

Writer(s)- Stephen J. Anderson, Clio Chiang, Don Dougherty, Don Hall, Brian Kesinger, Nicole Mitchell, Jeremy Spears, Kendelle Hoyer

Starring- John Cleese, Jim Cummings, Travis Oates, Tom Kenny, Bud Luckey, Craig Ferguson, Jack Boutler, Kristen-Anderson Lopez, Wyatt Hall

Critics Review- "It doesn't matter that the film is just for kids. When it does it job right, everyone watching it is a kid."- Eric D. Snider "Salon.com"

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 91% Audience- 78%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 3 stars

My Review-

When watching this movie, I felt like a little kid again. I had seen and still own the original one and when I first saw the preview for this movie I was sold, because it is Winnie the Pooh and the rest of his friends from the Hundred Acre wood. Even though it was not multiple stories like the original one I still liked it. It had a few songs here and there and that were cool and went well with the movie. It did kind of suck that it was not the original voices, granted most of them are dead it was just kind of weird to hear some of the characters sound way differently then before. Aside from that for it was like Winnie the Pooh never left, and was there were some scenes for me that stood out more then others and characters that I realized why they were my favorite to begin with. I cannot see why some people did not like Winnie the Pooh, its Winnie the Pooh! we grew up watching it, well I did, and this movie brought back memories of when I was little, and I did feel like a kid again watching it. It was a short movie, a little over an hour but it worked perfectly for it. I liked how the theme song was by Zooey Deschanel it was different and John Cleese was pretty awesome as the narrator for the movie, I loved how they kept it as if he was reading a book, where the lettering would fall off into the story, or they would interact with the narrator during certain scenes, for me that is was made Winnie the Pooh awesome and I am glad they kept that element of the movie in it. Even though it is for little kids, it can be for anybody that grew up reading the books, watching the cartoons, or have seen the original movie. This was a good way to bring it back for this new generation. I hoping that another one does come out and I will go see that one as well.

Day 139: The Shadow

Directed By- Russell Mulcahy

Written By- David Koepp

Starring- Alec Baldwin, John Lone, Penelope Ann Miller, Peter Boyle, Ian McKellen, Tim Curry, Jonathan Winters

Critics Review- "It looks nice, but rarely works."- Ken Hanke "Mountain Xpress"

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 34% Audience- 39

Out of a possible 5 stars- 2 stars

My Review-

This movie had me confused at times, the beginning I found myself wondering what the hell was going on, and for some of the movie I was still like that. Some of the acting was okay, I like Peter Boyle in the film even though he was not in it that much. The other think I liked about this movie was the time setting that it was in since I am into that time period where they got where suits all the time. It had something to do with Ghanis Kahn or something like that or his nephew I'm not too sure. I am not too sure why Ian McKellen was in the movie he did not have a very big part, and half the time it was one or two words that sounded like he was bored or something. When Baldwin became his alter ego, "The Shadow", I thought he over acted in all the scenes and should have toned it down a bit. Even the climax of the movie was too over acted, and I was just waiting for the scene to be over with. At times there was some comedic relief that made the movie a little bit better but other than that it was confusing, over acted and it just looked nice because of the time period it was set in.

Day 138: The Addams Family

Directed By- Barry Sonnenfeld

Writer(s)- Caroline Thompson, Larry Wilson

Starring- Raul Julia, Christopher Lloyd, Christina Ricci, Anjelica Houston, Dan Hedaya, Jimmy Workman, Elizabeth Wilson,

Critics Review- "Deliciously sick and delightfully cast.- Angie Errigo "Empire Magazine"

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 60% Audience- 65%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 3 stars

My Review-

I am not too familiar with the original television show or cartoon about this family, but I found the movie to be quite funny and liked the cast in the movie as well. At times the movie was a little cliche and slow down a wee bit but I think it is because of the way that the family was and how they expressed themselves. This is the second movie that I have seen with Raul Julia, the other being Street Fighter, and between those two movies I liked this movie more with him, maybe because it was sort of a comedy role, and he was not trying to destroy the world. One of my favorite actors in the movie was Christopher Lloyd, who I have always liked since Back to the Future. Seeing a young Christina Ricci was also pretty cool even though her part was a wee bit small. There is a sequel to this movie that I will watch and review as well, but not the third one since it has none of the original cast in it, and was direct-to-DVD, which is kind of lame. So all in all I quite enjoyed this movie and will most likely watch it again another day for fun.

Day 137: Hard Rain

Directed By- Mikal Salomon

Written By- Graham Yost

Starring- Christian Slater, Morgan Freeman, Randy Quaid, Minnie Driver

Critics Review- "A surprisingly enjoyable thriller."- Forrest Hartman "Reno Gazette-Journal"

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 25% Audience- 36%

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

My Review-

Okay so I am doing this really last minute because of a paper I am doing for class. So here it goes, this was a enjoyable film for a few reasons; it had Morgan Freeman, and it had a pretty good story like stealing 3 million dollars during a flood not a lot of people would do that. Although it did have some cheesy lines because it was the 90s it still kind of worked, the acting was not to bad it was all the actors did a pretty good job except for Minnie Driver, I do not think she did as well as she could have, and a year before she was nominated for an Oscar, so something happened. Other than that it was a pretty cool movie it had me drawn to it, it just could have gone into some characters a little more, and had a few more actions scenes.