Opinion as a Movie-freak

Genre : Comedy
Country : USA

Cast :
Vince Vaughn : Billy McMahon
Owen Wilson : Nick Campbell
Rose Byrne : Dana
Aasif Mandvi : Mr Chetty

Director :
Shawn Lely

Summary
Billy and Nick are two representatives whose career comes to an abrupt end. To prove that they are not obsolete, they defy the odds by talking their way into a coveted internship at Google, along with a battalion of brilliant college students. But, gaining entrance to this utopia is only half the battle. Now they must compete with a group of the nation's most elite, tech-savvy geniuses to prove that necessity really is the mother of re-invention.

Genre : Horror/Crime
Country : Korea

Cast :
Ji Sung-won : Hae-won
Seo Yeong-hee : Kim Bok-nam
Jeong-hak Park : Man-jong

Director :
Chul-soo Jang

Summary
Hae-won is a beautiful single woman in her thirties who works at a bank in the Seoul city. She leads a busy life until she becomes a witness to an attempted murder case, and at the same time, things get complicated at work. When things get out of hand she is forced to take a vacation so she heads for 'Moodo', a small undeveloped island, where she had once visited to see her grandparents. And where she had befriended a girl named Bok-nam who stills writes to Hae-won asking her to visit despite the fact that Hae-won never bothered to reply. Upon arriving at the island, Hae-won is shocked to see everyone treating Bok-nam like a slave. As practically the only young woman on the island, she is a plaything for all the men and a free laborer for the women. Sick of all the inhumane treatment, Bok-nam had tried to escape the island several times in the past but had failed each time. She begs Hae-won to help her escape the place, but Hae-won remains indifferent not wanting to be involved in ...
My opinion

Korean schizo flick
Original title : Kim Bok-nam salinsageonui jeonmal

My conclusion is that I was staring practically 90% of the movie to the bottom of the screen. My lack of knowledge of the Korean language made me look at the subtitles all that time. Something I almost never do while watching a movie.

The film itself wasn't that spectacular anyway. The story itself is filled with emotions. A psychologically and physically abused woman on an island with a retarded probably by inbred stricken family. A city girl who goes on a mandatory vacation and visits the island again. Her grandparents lived there and she met a girl called Bok-nam there in those days. She notices however that Bok-nam is a plaything in the hands of the men and a willing slave for the older women. The cry for help to get her out of that situation, stays unanswered. Hae-won reacts quite indifferent. The situation tilts when Bok-nam's daughter is killed in an outburst of rage of the husband. This is the start of a killing spree where no one is spared. 
Visually it looks alright. The surroundings and atmosphere on the island. The two women act amazingly well. These are strong character roles that touch the viewer emotionally. The rest of the cast are balancing between "not very bad" to "terribly bad". Especially the men sometimes play a truly abominable bad role. The massacre is quite soft and feels a bit outdated. The images reminded me of "The last house on the left" from 1977. Not in terms of content but in terms of the visual aspect.
I wouldn't call it Horror. It's rather a psychological thriller in which the end it is totally over the top and fairly nonsensical. All in all, not a movie that blew me away by or impressed me.

My rating 3 /10
Links : IMDB

Summary
In 1971, Carolyn and Roger Perron move their family into a dilapidated Rhode Island farm house and soon strange things start happening around it with escalating nightmarish terror. In desperation, Carolyn contacts the noted paranormal investigators, Ed and Lorraine Warren, to examine the house. What the Warrens discover is a whole area steeped in a satanic haunting that is now targeting the Perron family wherever they go. To stop this evil, the Warrens will have to call upon all their skills and spiritual strength to defeat this spectral menace at its source that threatens to destroy everyone involved. 

Genre : Horror
Country : USA

Cast :
Vera Farmiga : Lorraine Warren
Patrick Wilson : Ed Warren
Lili Taylor : Carolyn Perron
Ron Livingston : Roger Perron

Director :
James Wan

Summary
A mysterious man who has multiple jobs as a garage mechanic, a Hollywood stuntman and a getaway driver seems to be trying to escape his shady past as he falls for his neighbor - whose husband is in prison and who's looking after her child alone. Meanwhile, his garage mechanic boss is trying to set up a race team using gangland money, which implicates our driver as he is to be used as the race team's main driver. Our hero gets more than he bargained for when he meets the man who is married to the woman he loves.

Genre : Crime
Country : USA

Cast :
Ryan Gosling : Driver
Carey Mulligan : Irene
Bryan Cranston : Shannon
Albert Brooks : Bernie
Oscar Isaac : Standard
Ron Pelman : Nino
Christina Hendricks : Blanche

Director :
Nicolas Winding Refn 

Genre : Horror
Country : USA

Cast :
Will Payne : Charley Brewster
Jaime Murray : Gerri Dandridge
Sean Power : Peter Vincent
Chris Waller : Ed Bates 'Evil'

Director :
Eduardo Rodriguez

Summary
By day Gerri Dandridge is a sexy professor, but by night she transforms into a real-life vampire with an unquenchable thirst for human blood. So when a group of high school students travel abroad to study in Romania, they find themselves ensnared in Gerri's chilling web of lust and terror. Charley and "Evil" Ed must stop Gerri from drinking and bathing in the blood of a "new moon virgin," which just so happens to be Charley's ex-girlfriend, Amy. They enlist help from Peter Vincent, the vampire hunting host of a reality show called "Fright Night," to drive a stake through Gerri's plan and save Amy from a fate far worse than death.
My opinion

Again another vampire movie ....


I really didn't like the remake in 2011 of the original cult film from 1985. And this sequel is also for me just a lame excuse to bring in money, feeding on the cult sounding movie title. There is absolutely nothing innovative or original in this film. It's just another story about vampires with all the familiar cliches. Just like its predecessor, the SE's are standard and nothing spectacular. Besides one thing that I have never seen in such movies : the production of sonar-like waves to locate the two students in the dark tunnels. That was an original contribution.
The functional nudity and eroticism was taken to a higher level than in the movie from 2011. Murray as the biting vampire herself is one to bite and nibble on. Enormously tasteful to watch. But her delicious nudity isn't shown explicitly. What a pity. However, I think that this strategic move is a way to cover up the lack of talent.
This movie isn't a complete disaster and ultimately the whole movie industry is only interested in one thing, and that's money. So I have no problem with the fact that there is a weak decoction made with a huge low budget, in order to hit the market with this product for the fans of such movies. Haven't you seen a Fright Night episode before, good advice, skip this one and watch the original.
My rating 3 /10
Links : IMDB

Genre : Drama/Sport
Country : USA

Cast :
Clint Eastwood : Gus
Amy Adams : Mickey
Justin Timberlake : Johnny
John Goodman : Pete Klein

Director :
Robert Lorenz

Summary
Gus is a baseball scout. The team he works for thinks he should retire. He asks them to let him do one more scouting job to prove himself. His friend, Pete, asks Gus's estranged daughter, Mickey, if she could go with him to make sure he's OK as his eyes are failing. The doctor tells Gus he should get his eyes treated but he insists on doing his scouting assignment, which takes him to North Carolina. Mickey decides to put her work on hold to go with him and she wants him to explain why he pushed her away. Whilst there he runs into Johnny, a scout from another team who was a promising player Gus once scouted. Johnny and Mickey take an interest in each other.
My opinion

What are you all staring at? I'm not a pole dancer.

Clint Eastwood (Gus) as a baseball scout. A moody old grump who seemingly only has eyes for baseball. He is getting older and his eyes are getting dramatically worse. So his best friend (nice guest star by John Goodman) asks Gus's daughter to assist her father. The new generation in the club where Gus is under contract, tries to relieve Gus. Matthew Lillard, of course, plays the role of the annoying smart ass. I don't know why, but this guy just has the charisma to put down such an annoying brat
Despite the enormous accumulation of cliches and predictable courses, this movie could hold my attention until the end and I found it an enjoyable movie to watch. The poor father-daughter relationship, which is actually the main subject in this film, is ofcourse fixed in the end. The pedantic nerd is obviously put in place and sacked. The lawyer who squeezed himself in a devious way in place of the daughter so he could lead a groundbreaking case, fails and the daughter finds her prince charming in the course of the story. So predictable, but for once not disturbing to me
Perhaps a sign of my good taste (Just kidding), but it was only at the end that I knew the other scout was Justin Timberlake. All in all, he delivered an excellent performance here and briefly the words "maybe a bit of acting talent" came to me. In this movie he was more convincing than in "In Time" and he's anyway more palatable than 50Cent in whatever movie. Amy Adams played the role of teenage daughter, who has more baseball knowledge than it would seem, and is also fun to look at. And Robert Patrick has the honor to interpret the most satisfying action throughout the film : sack the sneaky Philip.
Conclusion : a beautifull entertaining romantic drama.

My rating 7 /10
Links : IMDB

Summary
Sarah Tyler returns to her troubled family home in the isolated countryside, for a much put-off visit. As a storm rages outside, Sarah, her family and friends shore up for the night, cut off from the outside world. But something comes out of the driving rain and darkness. Something that holds a dark secret so devastating that, in one night, it could wipe out the entire family.

Genre : Horror
Country : UK

Cast :
Tom Felton : Gary
Gemma Atkinson : Emily
John Lynch : McRae
Aasif Mandvi : Mr Chetty

Director :
Jonathan Glendening

Also known as : 13 Hrs

Genre : Horror/Fantasy
Country : UK

Cast :
Saoirse Ronan : Eleanor
Gemma Arterton : Clara
Sam Riley : Darvell

Director :
Neil Jordan

Summary
Two mysterious women seek refuge in a run-down coastal resort. Clara meets lonely Noel, who provides shelter in his deserted guesthouse, Byzantium. Schoolgirl Eleanor befriends Frank and tells him their lethal secret. They were born 200 years ago and survive on human blood. As knowledge of their secret spreads, their past catches up on them with deathly consequence.
My opinion

I write of what I cannot speak, the truth. I write all I know of it, then I throw that pages to the wind, maybe the birds can read it.

A non-traditional approach to the vampire genre. A new refreshing look from a different angle. Not the stereotypical image of pale creatures of the night provided with bloodshot eyes and sharp fangs  hiding in dusty basements in a coffin. No melting, burning or imploding is involved when they are exposed to sunlight. No here we have persons who are part of an alliance and inherited a centuries-old tradition.
It's the story of a mother (Gemma Arterton) and her daughter Eleanor (Ronan) who have been hiding for years because women actually aren't allowed in the alliance. And let me tell you, I'll gladly surrender myself to Gemma the female vampire so she can catch me and plant her teeth (in this case the sharp nails) in my flesh. Immediately she made ​​me think of the pulp booklets of Vampirella that used to lay in the newsstand. Same proportions and dimensions of lustful flesh.
Once again Ronan plays a convincing and brilliant part (recently I've seen her in Hanna) as the daughter with scruples and who'll sacrifice anything in order to tell her secret to a mortal instead of scribbling it down on a paper and then throw it away. Not only she looks stunning, she also has that serene look and empathy to interpret this role in a sublime way.
The images used are magnificent. Marvellous images of the coast, interspersed with flashbacks to the 1900s. Slowly the whole story unravels. The denouement of the alliance was not so obvious but the end with Darvell on the island together with Eleanor, becoming also immortal, wasn't exactly a surprise. For me the movie was, how appropriate, drop-dead gorgeous.
My rating 7 /10
Links : IMDB

Genre : Western/Action
Country : USA

Cast :
Johnny Depp : Tonto
Armie Hammer : The Lone Ranger
William Fichtner : Butch Cavendish

Director :
Gore Verbinski

Summary
In the 1930s, an elderly Tonto tells a young boy the tale of John Reid, the Lone Ranger. An idealistic lawyer, he rides with his brother and fellow Texas Rangers in pursuit of the notorious Butch Cavendish. Ambushed by the outlaw and left for dead, John Reid is rescued by the renegade Comanche, Tonto, at the insistence of a mysterious white horse and offers to help him to bring Cavendish to justice. Becoming a reluctant masked rider with a seemingly incomprehensible partner, Reid pursues the criminal against all obstacles. However, John and Tonto learn that Cavendish is only part of a far greater injustice and the pair must fight it in an adventure that would make them a legend.
My opinion
 
Never take off the mask

It seems like ages since I've seen a western. I'm immediately teleported back in time when I was still a little kid. There was almost on a weekly base somewhere an old western on the TV. Usually on Friday afternoons you could see one on a German channel with Roy Rogers, after a cartoon of "Schweinchen Dick" or some slapstick movie starring Buster Keaton. And in the weekends it was always somewhere late at night on ARD, ZDF or WDR. My dad thought there was only one kind of genre movie worth to watch ... indeed Westerns. Everybody was stubbornly silent about the fact that those guys walked around in that time with real crappy guns and probably couldn't hit an elephant at 2 meters. I promised myself that I'd never see a western again... or someone should force me into doing that. I'm filing this immediately under the term "traumatic experience".
And yet, I watched "The Lone Ranger". Also a bit out of nostalgia. My mother sometimes bought me a comic of "The Lone Ranger". And of course the portrayal of Tonto by Johnny Depp was also a reason to give this movie a chance.
It was clear from the beginning that this was a Disney Movie. Improbable situations, surviving a crashing speedy train and reappear unscratched, and Silver performing feats as if it was Rintintin. It's known that Depp always chooses eccentric characters. And ultimately  he always plays them all in the same manner. He always seems to be under influance of some drug. Probably it'll be "fire-water" in this movie. He really resembled an Indian Jack Sparrow sometimes. That's a guarantee for some dry humorous one-liners, as expected. And there will be quite a few that'll surely make you chuckle.
Biggest downside for me was that it's a long movie although there's very little to say. Some actions were also exaggerated and over-the-top. But I must admit, I wasn't bored. Some action scenes were very well made up and meticulously put together. Ultimately, it's not just a straight-on harmless Disney movie, given the numerous cases of victims and some imaginative explicit scenes such as the supposedly eating of Dan's heart by the really scary and evil looking Butch Cavendish. The slaughter of Comanches by means of Gatling Guns wasn't exactly suitable for young viewers.
Conclusion: a relaxing action/adventure comic hero-story with lots of action, but little substance. And I still don't understand what was going on with those rabbits ... serious form of myxomatosis, I suppose. My rating 6/10
Links : IMDB

Summary
After Nick is murdered by his own partner, he joins the Rest in Peace Department to protect the world from the undeads. While working with his new partner, many undeads are seen gathering in Boston. Soon he realizes that someone close to him is behind all a plot to bring on the apocalypse.

Genre : Action/Comedy
Country : USA

Cast :
Jeff Bridges : Roy
Ryan Reynolds : Nick
Kevin Bacon : Hayes
Mary-Louise Parker : Proctor

Director :
Robert Schwentke

Genre : Adventure/SF
Country : UK

Cast :
Richard Dillane : Jonathan Marchant
Matt Kane : Luke Marchant
Peter Brooke : Charlie Rutherford
Aasif Mandvi : Mr Chetty

Director :
Sid Bennett

Summary
A British expedition formed by the lead researcher Jonathan Marchant, his assistant, a doctor and a TV crew, travels to Congo to seek evidence of a dinosaur. A local guide and the helicopter pilot join the team and the group heads to the jungle. During their trip, they find a stowaway in the helicopter, the son of Jonathan. Soon the helicopter is attacked by flying creatures and crashes in the jungle in the beginning of the last journey of Jonathan Marchant and his team.
My opinion

Dino's Candid Camera

Found footage movies ... I'll never be a big fan of that. Those back and forth wobbling images all the time. The blurry image that goes into focus just to create the illusion someone is fiddling with the camera. And always that beeping sound of the camera. The latter was heard frequently in this movie.

Besides those annoyements the movie wasn't that baffling poor (Not like "Dino Shark" I've recently seen). At times I found the dinosaurs convincingly and brilliantly portrayed. Especially when the three small Ceratosaurussen were splashing in the water and started spewing water around as a joke. Personally I thought this was the best moment in this movie.
The performances on the other hand were sometimes laughable and terribly amateurish. Some things were incredible and ludicrous. Feeding a Cerataurus Smarties ... yeah right. And then it becomes almost a cute puppy sitting on your lap, that also has the brains to use his stinking spit as a protection against the scary big mommy and daddy, so they won't hurt you .... hehehehe. Of course, the drifting boat was accidentally sucked into that cave. And repairing a satellite phone with a little tweezer while walking in the middle of the jungle ... give that boy a Nobel Prize.
A movie for in between ... but no way it can be compared with "Jurasic Park" when it's about the dinosaurs. And when you talk about found-footage-movie, then surely don't compare it with "The Blair Witch Project". Unfortunately Natasha Loring disappeared real soon out of the picture, because she looked very appetizing in her tropical suit. I bet that's what the dinosaur suddenly thought : "njammie fresh meat ...."
My rating 3/10
Links : IMDB

Genre : Romance/Drama/Comedy
Country : USA

Cast :
Steve Carell : Dodge
Keira Knightley : Penny
Rose Byrne : Dana
Aasif Mandvi : Mr Chetty

Director :
Lorene Scafaria

Summary
An asteroid named "Matilda" is on a collision course towards Earth and in three weeks the world will come to an absolute end. What would you do if your life and the world were doomed? One man decides to spend his time searching for his long lost love from high school during the coming catastrophe.
My opinion

Put on some Radiohead... I want to do heroin to Radiohead.

The first 30 minutes I had to persevere and restrain myself not to hit the off-button. Everything indicated that it would be a romantic comedy, where the comic part felt pretty fake. I really can't remember me smiling in that first half hour. Maybe when Dodge's wife runs of because of his irritating dry remark about missing a turn after the news was announced that within a few days the earth would be as flat as a fig and those walking on it too of course. Afterwards I realized it was indeed funny. That woman suddenly decided it was better to spend her last days doing some calisthenics with her (I suppose) lover, then being accompanied by that dry, neurotic and unpleasant dullard.
But then it turned into a more subtle whole, with deeper meanings, symbolism and questions about life. The humor got more refined and subtle. Many chuckle moments for me, when dry yet thoughtful humor creeps into such a melodramatic story. For instance the part where Dodge tells Penny about his wife and Olivia, ending with the quote  "The rest is almost history" .... The word "almost" made me laugh again . And there are more things like that in this movie. Eventually I was empathizing (Geezz, didn't think I would ever do that ... with a movie), and I truly enjoyed this satirical depressing story. The trucker who's shot down by a "hitman", the dog that was tied to Dodge when he lost consciousness after an overdose of cough syrup in the park, Penny's friend in his titanium bunker, the sheriff who's uncompromising until the end and takes them into custody, the cleaning-lady who thinks she's fired. And then it gets mawkish and you see those two people growing to eachother and fall in love ... duh. I would do that too in those last days if I was alone. Secretly I was hoping in the end that it all would be a mistake and that the comet would miss earth at the last minute. But it ends in a flash ... And then I thought, "Damn, what a wonderful movie"
The only negative thing I could come up with was the over-expressive facial expressions of Keira Knightley at times. Sometimes it seemed as if she laughed, cried and smelled a rancid omelet made ​​of rotten eggs, simultaneously in one expression. Awful to see and annoying. I can't remember her using those expressions in "Pirates of the Caribbean". Obviously she had to use it in "A dangerous method", but that came with the character she played and it suited well in that movie. Probably she was enrolled because of that.

Conclusion: I highly recommend this movie if you're in a sentimental and serious mood. Are you in a dip, then avoid this like the plague because it doesn't really make you happy again.
My rating 6.5/10 
Links : IMDB

Genre : Adventure/Fantasy
Country : USA

Cast :
Lilly Collins : Clary
Jamie Campbell Bower : Jace
Kevin Zegers : Alec
Robert Sheehan : Simon

Director :
Harald Zwart

Summary
Clary seems to be an ordinary teenager living in New York, until her mother disappears and she discovers that she is the descendant from an ancient generation of warriors called Shadowhunters, who protect our world against demons. Clary joins forces with a group of Shadowhunters and plunges into a dangerous adventure in the area of NY, referred to as Down World.
My opinion


"Harry Potter - Twilight - X-men - Titanic " in a belch causing cocktail

I was expecting a fun fantasy film but was catapulted into a mix of different films after a good half hour. It's apparently a movie based (again) on a successful series of children's books. I haven't read any of these since I never heard of them. I have absolutely no problem with that, but I expect that in spite I haven't read any of those books, it would be nice to understand what it's all about anyway. I must admit that after an hour I still didn't have a clue what it was about !
The beginning was promising and extremely good. I hoped it would go on with this zest.
The mythological runes, murder in the Gothic club, realizing that she can only see the Shadowhunters and later the invasion of her mother's apartment. Until there I found it very entertaining and the start of a relaxing evening. Side note: I really wonder why the Goth scene is always involved when it comes to such themes.
At the time that the dangerous looking dog begins to mutate into a monstrosity,Clary blows up the kitchen with the kitchen oven in a incomprehensible way and Jace briefly enters the room and simply kills the demon (Yep it's a demon) and sends it back to the ... uh ... afterlife or Valhalla or I-don't-know-where, it just goes downhill.
It leads to a chaotic crisscross of mythological legends and fantasy elements that were thrown together in a tangle of incomprehensible plots. Before you know it you're stuck with a collection of werewolves, vampires, warlocks, witches and demons. The atmosphere of the film turns into a Twilight (Yeak) inspired movie, with an ancient legend as head of an institute, who apparently has been cursed so he can't leave the building anymore. There are suddenly ancient runes discovered. Clary gets in some way the inspiration to tattoo those runes on her hand after which she freezes a gang of demons with it. Harry Potter would be jeaulous about this fancy trick. As similar as in "Beautiful Creatures" and "The Last Keepers", Clary discovers her powers and abilities gradually. And finally there is also the budding teenage love (sigh...) and a triangular relationship. Clary must choose between a nerdy childhood friend who just transformed into a vampire and the new arrived person who looks like a kind of angel. It's a similar situation as in "The Host". This results in a "Titanic"-like soap moment with a romantic wet kiss in the "like a fairytale looking" greenhouse, after which the sprinkler spontaneous starts spraying. Faint-time for teenage girls. For me it was the moment to start rolling my eyes and heave a deep sigh. Not out of sympathy but out of gagging frustrations. As a climax we get a "Star Wars" ripoff which shows that the evil Valentine seems to be the father of those two persons Clary and Jace. Gargle gargle gargle Jace ... I am your father .... Another sigh moment for me.

Generally the movie is extremely dark and pretty grim filmed. The combat scenes were so disorderly and chaotic that you, along with the dark setting, had no idea who did what and what the outcome would be.

Final conclusion: it's clear that the marketing departments scheduled this teenage commercial monstrosity that resembled other more successful and sublime examples. But the worse thing is that it's a blueprint of the "Twilight" crap.

Maybe it would be better to read the reviews and opinions in advance the next time. Then I could spare myself of the suffering to watch this failed project.

My rating 1/10
Links : IMDB