The monthly movies review is severely delayed this month, apologize for that. October has always been my favorite month, mostly because it's my birth month, but it's always been exceptionally nice to me-including movie wise! Almost all of the movies i've watched this month were great!Of course, that's also because October means Halloween and Halloween means loads of scary movies so it's totally up my alley :p.
Let's start ^^.
One of my all-time-favorite horror movie is, hands down, The Conjuring. It just has all the right aspects that i look for in a horror movie. Scary ghosts, effective music, based on true story, great actors-all that. And one of the snippets from the movie that caught my, and million others', attention is of course, the Annabelle doll. So when i learned that Annabelle was going to have a movie on her own, i was really looking forward to it.
A married couple is expecting a child and the husband, John, got his wife Mia what seemingly to be a perfect gift-a beautiful (???? It's NOT) vintage doll in a white gown. One horrific night, their house was invaded by a satanic cult who violently attacked them. Even though they got away in the end, the cult had succeeded in conjuring a malevolent entity that's now seems to be residing within the doll.
Well, i was having too much expectations on it (because a haunted doll would always be terrifying, yeah? I remember watching Child's Play when i was little and became extremely scared of my own doll afterwards *___*) and as usual, too much expectations is never good. While Annabelle is definitely not a bad movie, i didn't find it to be scary... At all. I actually really like demonic movies, IF the demonic story is told in a more subtle way. When the demons actually popped out more than a few times, it became more... comical. I guess i'm just not scared of "monsters" and the way they portrayed the demon was more "moster"ish than really demonic.
I'd give it a watch if you're a die hard horror movie like me, just don't expect too much in the scare department. I was more creeped out when i watched Ouija (review below), by a mile.
Somehow this movie had passed our radars, maybe because 1. It's more targeted to young audiences (and as sad as i am writing this, we're clearly are not in that category already hahaha) and 2. It looks a bit like Hunger Games, and if the original didn't rock my boat then something that looks more like a wannabe sure wouldn't. Don't crucify me for saying this though, coz i ended up loving it! Thanks to my two teenage nieces who insisted that the movie is a great one and we should checked it out!
Thomas wakes up in a strange elevator in sheer terror, especially because he couldn't remember anything-not even his own name at first. He was the deposited to a strange colony of teen boys who have learned to survive in a completely enclosed environment, making the most of what they have-growing their own food (together with the supplies that the elevator sent up every month). A new boy arrives every 30 days and they all have their memories erased as well. The original group has already been there for two years and every day they are trying to find a way to escape through the maze that surrounds them.
It's so much better than i expected! Again don't curcify me, Hunger Games die hards, but i definitely like Maze Runner a lot more than Hunger Games! The movie piqued my interests, made me curious, and i rooted for them throughout the movie. It's also never boring with enough action going on. I like the story, i like the (young) casts. Although i wouldn't gush about them because that makes me feel like a total pedophile (they are just so... young...), i did have my preference! I think my nieces are all crazy about Dylan O'Brien (i never even heard about him before), but my taste is more oriental i guess hahaha but i really like looking at this dude :
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| Ki Hong Lee as Min Ho in The Maze Runner |
If you like errr... dystopian or fantasy movie (although i didn't think i like dystopian, there are certain ones that really interests me so i guess i cannot say that i don't like the genre. I prefer watching than reading the books though) then i'd recommend you to watch this. I cannot wait for the sequel.
3. The Equalizer
I would've to say that Denzel Washington is one of my all-time favorite black actor (the other one would have to be Will Smith ^^), he's just so charismatic and handsome! I find his acting skill to always makes me forgive him even if the movie he's in was horrible *LOL*. Thanfully The Equalizer is not horrible and i actually did enjoy it.
McCall is a mysterious man (who never seems to sleep @__@) who is now living a quiet, simple life with no trace of his past given to us at first. But when he meets Teri, a young Russian prostitute under control of an ultra violent Russian gangster, he could no longer stand idly by when he saw her being in danger. He just has to help. McCall apparently has a very deadly hidden skills and from that moment on, his desire for justice is reawakened. He is now the unlikely hero, an aging vigilante if you may.
I do like superhero movies now, more than i thought i could ever do-but i like unlikely, very human (although with crazy good skills, but i think a crazy fighting skill is still less far fetched than say, super human powers) kind of hero. And Denzel played a very convincing, calm, elderly hero here hehe. I do like The Equalizer, it's cool, engaging, interesting and has enough actions in them to keep you on your edge. Would recommend this for action movie lovers with a smart lead for a change.
4. Let's Be Cops
Hmmm... a slapstick comedy for sure, not exactly my cup of tea, but when you're married to another movie buff and you two have different tastes in movies-you gotta compromise!
Two BFFs struggling in their real lives, never make it big like their high school dreams-instead one of them got stuck in a seemingly dead-end career while the other one doesn't even have a career (or a job) to call his own. One day they dressed up as police officers for a costume party and they realize how cool it is to pretend to be cops by the way people react to them, they decided to take it to the next level and dress up regularly for fun. They then got tangled in a real web of mobsters and dirty cops and things got out of hands.
It's not as bad as i thought it would be, there were some cringey slapsticks scenes as expected, but it was actually quite hilarious for real! I really like the chemistry between Damon Wayans Jr. and Jake Johnson, they were totally believable as BFF, maybe an episode together in New Girl did them good ^^. Guys who enjoys crude-ish action comedy would really appreciate this movie while their girlfriends/wives can actually enjoy it too, a good option for a mindless laughter.
5. The Giver
I saw the trailer of this movie and despite my numerous claims about not liking sci-fi movies-which i think i need to retract already-it really interests me. The movie itself was actually pretty good, and has endless potential-but... it was not that greatly executed. I hated the ending and i feel there's something very lacking in the whole movie.
This movie is about a seemingly perfect community (more robotic than perfect, i think), nobody's ever angry or sad. Their world is devoid of war, pain, suffering but also of choice and difference (the scenes of the early part of the movie was in black and white). Jonas, and the other 18 year olds (they have no such thing as birthdays, everybody's just grouped in according to their ages) got their rite of passage and given their parts of the community. Jonas was not chosen to be any of the normal "jobs", he is chosen as the Receiver of Memories instead. With his mentor, he started learning about pain, sadness, war but also real happiness, love, and beauty. He quickly realized this his community is fake and not a real way of living.
I really love the idea of this movie (it's based on a book, usually the book is so much better than the movie, i think i need to read the book!!!) and their weird community (i told you before that i really find stuffs like structured/manipulated communities to be very interesting), the nitty gritty of the story is what i find fascinating but i find it not fully explored in the movie. And the abrupt ending didn't help either, we left the movie feeling a bit pissed because of that haha. It's not a bad movie (btw, i really don't like Katie Holmes and i find her to be annoyingly perfect to be one of the "stepford wives" character in this movie that i'd really love to box in the face) but it's nothing special either. Not a must watch, i'd rather watch The Maze Runner twice than to watch this, to be honest with you.
6. The Book of Life
I love animation in general, but actually The Book of Life's style is not really my kind of animation, however i was a bit desperate for a movie to bring Baby Boy to. It's been a while since the last decent kiddie movie and i felt bad because he actually said he wanted to come with us when we watched The Maze Runner (it's the first time he's voicing his desire to join us for a movie, but i know for a fact that it was not the right kind of movie for him. He'd just be very bored!) so when the next kid-friendly movie hit the theater, we decided to watch it.
Manolo, Maria and Joaquin have been best friends since they were little, the two boys always fighting over Maria's attention and that caught the interests of La Muerte and Xibalba, who always love to have a bet-they each chose a boy to win Maria's heart, whoever wins will be lording over the Land of the Remembered and the loser would have to take the Land of the Forgotten. Manolo (the leading character), grew up to be a young man who's torn between fulfilling his family (of matadors)'s expectations and his own heart. This movie follows his journey that spans to three fantastical worlds.
It's actually a pretty good movie with a great heart and great moral to always follow your dreams. I'm not a fan of the art (i'm more into Disney type of animation) and sometimes i find it a bit boring (and i was worried if Baby Boy would be bored too, but he really liked it!), but i did enjoy it! The Land of The Remembered was especially colorful and breath taking, i also really like to get a glimpse of Mexican's culture and folklore, even more so because it's about something that i always find fascinating-i have quite a morbid curiousity so i find the day of the dead to be absolutely fascinating. I also find Channing Tatum to be very funny as Joaquin! I've never been a fan of Channing Tatum, but i really like him when he's being funny.
7. Left Behind
This movie is one of those that makes me regret not trying to read the reviews first before going because... It's quite an utter crap *LOL*. First of all, let me clarify that although not the most devout out there, i'm a Christian and i actually love Christianity movies (Passion of the Christ, first and foremost), but this movie (which we didn't even know to be that sort of movie) i find to be too judgmental, shallow and weird.
A veteran pilot is running away from his family that seems to be falling apart mainly due to his wife's increasing fanatical behavior and her pushing her family to follow suit. His teenage daughter was visiting from out of town to celebrate his birthday but he left for what he claimed to be a last minute job call that he couldn't get out of. Things started to go wrong during his flight where millions of people (especially children) vanished into thin air and sending the world into an utter chaos and destruction.
It only receives 3.3 in IMDb rating and rightfully so! The movie started slow and it was pretty boring, the second half was better when the people started to vanish and more actions flash on the screen. By then i still was unaware that this is a Christian kind of movie (and not in a good way -___-), things started to get weirder and weirder afterwards. Although i didn't find it to be super horrible (it has it's okay moments) and the middle part was quite acceptable, i find the movie as a whole to be extremely judgmental and religionists. Any non-Christians watching this movie would sure be insulted if they watched it, and i seriously do not recommend it this unless you're one of those crazy fanatics then go ahead and have fun.
8. Fury
I forgot how good war movies can be (in a heavy, mind provoking, tears spilling kind of way) and i even told hunny i was worried Fury would make me sleepy. I should have not spent a second worrying.
I'm not good in summarizing war stories (my writing is definitely more pop than historical) so imma copy paste the summary in their IMDb page instead :
April, 1945. As the Allies make their final push in the European
Theatre, a battle-hardened army sergeant named Wardaddy commands a
Sherman tank and his five-man crew on a deadly mission behind enemy
lines. Out-numbered, out-gunned, and with a rookie soldier thrust into
their platoon, Wardaddy and his men face overwhelming odds in their
heroic attempts to strike at the heart of Nazi Germany.
In short : it's brilliant! Brad Pitt is showing his Oscar worthy performance, i think Logan Lerman was really really good as well, even though i find Shia Lebouf's mustache to be extremely annoying and his character to be a bit annoying as well haha. It's super intense, gripping, fascinating, and i did not have even a second to be bored. It's brutal, but also very realistically made. It reminds you about how ugly war is, and i was left in tears, hoping that such ugliness would never be repeated again (hey, i can hope!). Highly recommend this to everyone!
9. Chef
My hunny is a chef wannabe at heart (he always mention about how he really wants to join a cooking course and one of his real life hero is Gordon Ramsay) so when the movie Chef came out, he obviously insisted on watching it.
Carl Casper is an acclaimed chef with his freedom curbed by the over bearing restaurant owner where he's working at, he was promised a total freedom in creating foods and the kitchen is his domain-but the owner crossed his own promises. Carl finds himself starting to get really down, both in his work life and his crumbling family life. One day he was planning an all out menu revamp when he heard a famous food blogger would be making a visit, but his ambition was crushed by the owner which ended up with him being virtually humiliated by the blogger. His frustration boiled over when he exploded to the blogger in public (after walking out and quitting his job) and it went viral. His career ruined, he has no choice but to follow his ex-wife's suggestion in getting a food truck and sell his own quality food on his own term. He then took a working trip (which he got in Miami) with his loyal colleague and his tech savvy young son, found his happiness and freedom again.
I found the movie to be a bit slow at first, but it started to get better after the first 20 minutes. I love the subtle, smart comedies and ended up in tears as the story progress to a quest of personal happiness as well as bettering the relationship between son (who always adores and look up to his dad, but mostly being ignored. Breaks my heart every time) and father. The movie is a food porn kind of movie, but also very family oriented and heart warming. I LOVE it and would recommend it to every food lovers out there as well as anyone who likes heart warming, family movie.
10. Ouija
I was pretty desperate for anything slightly Halloween-ish so i was quite delighted when Ouija played on the cinemas on Halloween! I didn't have any expectations of the movie but ended up enjoying it very much!
A girl suddenly killed herself without any reasons or signs, which shocks her family and friends. Her BFF and boyfriend couldn't accept that she really killed herself and began investigating. The BFF found an ouija board like the one they used to play as little kids and asked her group of friends (including her rebelious little sister) to play the ouija board witht her to try to contact the dead girl's spirit to find closure. But soon they realized that the spirit they managed to contact is not who they thought she was.
This is not an epic horror movie or anything (nothing even close to The Conjuring, which has been the ultimate movie to compare any horror movie against to measure the scary level) but i found it more than quite entertaining! Clearly not everybody shares my excitement, the movie only got 4.5 in IMDb, which i think is quite harsh (i'd give it 6.5 or 7 myself). Yes, it's just another teen horror movie, yes the storyline can be quite cliche and predictable but i find it to be utterly entertaining, quite effective (loads of jump-out-of-my-seat moments) and simply-quite good!
If you share my interests in (mostly cheesy) horror movies with scary ghosts (instead of ridiculous looking demons) shocking music+scenes, it's a must watch. If you find ugly female ghosts that appears in enough amount of time without being too narcissistic (calling Mama's ghost...) annoying (and the way they can kill to be ridiculous. Well, i also find it a bit ridiculous but i am willing to overlook this for their better qualities), then by all means, skip it.
OH WOW, i watched 11 movies in October! LOL. Of course, you cannot forget the movie that makes me found my latest imaginary boyfriend in the form of Mr. Luke Evans, Dracula Untold that i've reviewed here. Only one stupid movie out of 11 definitely means it's a great month, movie wise (and in general, actually)!
Did you watch any of the movies i've listed here? Did you like them?
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| Today's selca, turning myself into an Elf-according to Hunny -___- |
- 12:21:00 AM
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