Day 159: Play Misty for Me

Directed By- Clint Eastwood

Writer(s)- Jo Heims, Dean Riesner

Starring- Clint Eastwood, Jessica Walter, Donna Mills, John Larch

Critics Review- "There is no purpose to a suspense thriller, I suppose, except to involve us, scare us, to give us moments of vicarious terror. Play Misty for Me does that with an almost cruel efficiency."- Roger Ebert "Chicago Sun-Times"

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 83% Audience- 69%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 5 stars

My Review-

I cannot believe that Jessica Walter is the mom in Arrested Development! in this movie shes bat shit crazy! This is Eastwood's directorial debut, and man is it good. This movie is like one of those cautionary tales about girls that go bat shit crazy over someone they barely know. I have not seen a lot of movies that were directed by Eastwood, but out of the ones that I have seen this one is now my favorite one. Also since the movie is set in the 70s it has really good music, but that is beside the point. This movie built up to the last couple minutes of the movie and its movies like these that I like even more so if its a suspense film like this one. What makes it good if its that way is you want to know whats going to happen next, and at the same time your afraid of whats going to happen if they people are crazy like Walters in this movie. This movie did scare me it had moments where it made me jump, and moments that made me go "oh shit", and in a way Eastwood did this on purpose to build the tension of the movie to lead up to the last 10 minutes of the movie because it seems like this why it was written so that it would have us on the edge our seat. Even though I do not know who were the big actress' back in the 70s but Walters did a good job as a crazy girl, the time you do not want to deal with. I would like to watch it again some other time to see what the scary movie moment was in this movie, because I did not find it and I would like too. If you like movies with Clint Eastwood or directed by him this movie is for you. It is also pretty cool to see the mom from Arrested Development as something other than a mom that is also kind of crazy. Out of most of the thrillers that have me at the edge of my seat this is on the way to the top of the list. This seems to be the original obsessed with someone movie. Also there is a high possibility that this movie can be re-made for today, since it is more common to have stalkers or someone that is obsessed with a famous person.

Day 158: Act of Valor

Directed By- Mike McCoy, Scott Waugh

Written By- Kurt Johnstad

Starring- Roselyn Sanchez, Nestor Serrano, Emilio Rivera. Navy Seals

Critics Review- "When bullets are flying, Act of Valor is undeniably tense and thrilling."- Chris Nashawaty "Entertainment Weekly"

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 25% Audience- 78%

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

My Review-

For me the acting was not all that bad in the movie. It did have real Navy Seals in the movie so I already knew the acting would not be so good, but the action in the movie was non stop awesome. Other than that the best parts of the movie was all the action scenes, when it came to the non action scenes it was really whatever, not that engaging, I think it was mostly the story and not the acting.

Day 157: Chillerama

Directed By- Various Directors

Writer(s)- Adam Green, Tim Sullivan, Adam Rifkin, Joe Lynch

Starring- Various Actors & Actresses

Critics Review- "An almost astonishingly terrible horror anthology."- David Nusair "Reel Film Reviews

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- No Score Audience 47%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 2 stars

My Review-

This movie was just bad all around, out of the four movies that were in it only about two of the segments were kind of funny and that was not even enough to save this movie. Even though it was a "B movie" it was not what I expected it to be, I actually fell asleep for a while and had to back track to see if I missed anything and I did not.

Day 156: Best in Show

Directed By- Christopher Guest

Writer(s)- Christopher Guest, Eugene Levy

Starring- Christopher Guest, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, John Michael Higgins, Michael McKean, Michael Hitchcock, Parker Posey, Jennifer Coolidge, Jane Lynch, Fred Willard

Critics Review- "A wickedly funny mockumentary."- Roger Ebert "Chicago Sun-Times"

Rotten Tomatoes Review- Critics- 94% Audience- 86%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 4 stars

My Review-

This movie was awesome, I loved the humor throughout the movie. The actors made the movie funny and it was not too over the top either it was just the right amount of comedy for this type of movie. all the good comedians were in this movie and that's why it was so good. At first I thought a movie about a dog show would not be that funny, but I was wrong. Some of my favorite's were Levy and O'Hara, Posey and as always Willard. The best part of the movie was when Fred Willard started to commentate on the dog show I hadn't laughed that hard in a movie in a long time, or in a movie that was a making fun of itself. I hope to watch all the other films from this group later on as this I keep doing this throughout the year, and I just hope it gets funnier and funnier. Nothing about this movie does not need to be really changed, just that I should have spent more time on other characters that I liked in the movie, because now this is one of my new favorite comedies.

Day 155: Happythankyoumoreplease

Directed By- Josh Randor

Written By- Josh Randor

Starring- Malin Akerman, Tony Hale, Zoe Kazan, Kate Mara, Josh Radnor, Pablo Schreiber, Richard Jenkins

Critics Review- "There is a sweetness to Radnor's character and to his film. What there is not is a sense of urgency, of a desire to find out what happens next."- Bill Goodykoontz "Arizona Republic"

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 40% Audience- 62%

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

My Review-

Ever since hearing/reading that Josh Radnor from one of my favorite shows, was writing a directing his first feature, I jumped at the opportunity to watch it, even though I kind of waited a year to do so. I liked how there were about 3 different story lines that kind of intertwined with each other but at the same time they did not, they were there just help move the story along a little bit more. Each story had you invested on what was going to happen to these characters next, and Radnor did a good job of doing so. I never knew that Radnor could write or direct, but now after watching his first feature film I am looking forward to see what he does next in writing or directing other things.  I was surprised at some of the acting in the film, especially from Tony Hale, who is known for Arrested Development and playing the awkward, less social son of the family but here that was different. It was really cool too see him in a comedy/drama role I was able to see another side of his acting which I really liked and hope to see more of if I can find anything that he is in to show that he has a wider range. Since I do watch HIMYM, I have always known Radnor as Ted and how his character is, since he possibly wrote this character for himself it was really different from what we see on television with his character and that was really cool to see as well since he has not been in that many movies I think he should do more, but have them be drama's as well as a comedy. One person that stood out in the movie was Michael Algieri who played Rasheen in the movie, it was his first movie and he made it seem like it wasn't  The only problem I had is that I wish that it was a little bit long to have more clarity in some of the story-lines that were sort of left unanswered at the the end of the film. This was a good movie that I liked more than I thought I was going too, and if you like any of that actors that are in the film, then give it a watch and I hope you like it.

Day 154: The Ides of March

Directed By- George Clooney

Written By- George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon; Based on "Farragut North" By- Beau Willimon

Starring- Ryan Gosling, George Clooney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Marisa Tomei, Jeffery Wright, Evan Rachel Wood

Critics Review- "A splendid cast carries this absorbing  political thriller."- Thomas Leupp "Hollywood.com"

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 85% Audience-73%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 4 stars

My Review-

For me this movie was all about the acting, all the good actors were in this movie and each of them played their parts well. I am really not into movies like this but once I heard who was going to be in it, I was sold. This movie is the type of movie, that they will do anything to win, and the movie pulls you in right from the get go. This movie takes you behind the scenes of how a presidential campaign would work and the people behind it, and from what I saw it seems like it is done pretty well. While I was invested in the movie, and getting to learn politics a little bit more all the actors made the movie and the campaign they were working for believable, I think if it was not for them it would not have been that good. One of the actors that stood out for me the most, well two actors were Gosling and Hoffman. Both of these actors are able to play the roles they take very well, especially Hoffman I liked to watch almost anything he is in because I know he will do a great job in the role, whether it's a comedy or a drama like this one. One problem I had with this movie was that Paul Giamatti was not in the movie as much as I hoped he was, since I was also looking forward to watching this movie because of him. For me this movie was never boring, but a little slow at times, but the whole movie was carried by the actors. When watching this movie we did not know who was gonna back stab the other person since they all wanted the same thing, and that was to win. I was hoping some actors would have more parts than others and not just in the background. All in all this was a good political movie that showed you the darker side of the campaign for people running. I have not seen that many political movies that turned out to be this good or have you so into the movie that you wanted to know what was going to happen next or who was going to make the next movie. This a movie that is worth the time to watch it, for the story and acting alone.

Day 153: Snow White and the Huntsman

Directed By- Rupert Sanders

Writer(s)- Evan Daugherty, John Lee Hancock, Hossein Amini Based on the story "Snow White" By  Brothers Grimm

Starring- Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth, Charlize Theron, Sam Clafin, Ian McShane, Toby Jones, Nick Frost, Ray Winstone, Eddie Marsan, Bob Hoskins

Critics Review- "Snow White and the Huntsman" reinvents the legendary story in a film astonishing beauty and imagination."- Roger Ebert "Chicago Sun-Times"

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 46% Audience- 74%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 3 stars

My Review-

This movie was not too bad, I mean we can see that Kristen Stewart has more then one facial expression, however this movie is not for kids. I saw some parents bringing their kids to the movie; the movie was dark, violent, and had a few scary parts for kids. At times this movie was pretty boring, then it would get back into full gear. Some of my favorite parts were when the seven dwarves came into the movie. Some of the coolest actors were the dwarves too and I think that was when the movie got even better was when they entered the movie, they were both funny and cool when they were fighting. Also I was actually scared of Charlize Theron in this movie, she was fucking scary and evil. First time I had ever seen here in a role like this, its mostly romance movies or comedies she in, and for me seeing her in this movie was cool because it was so different. Some of the action scenes were pretty cool, and so were the visual effects, at times I forgot Kristen Stewart was in the twilight films since this movie was so vastly different from the Twilight films. I even though Kristen Stewart was actually pretty good looking in this movie. Another thing that was cool about this movie was that Chris Hemsworth was pretty funny in the film at times and he had a cool accent in the movie which I think was Scottish. I thought the movie could have been a little bit better, and it did not really need to be over two hours it could have been maybe a little bit under and it would have still worked as it well as it did. Lastly it was also nice to see a darker take on Snow White and less of the happy go lucky ones that we have seen lately, like with Mirror, Mirror.