Oldboy Review

Remaking a movie has always been a questionable act in the film industry, especially when it's a remake of a really great movie; so when it was announced that Spike Lee would be remaking one of the best and most beloved movies of the past twenty years, people were rather upset. In 2003 South Korean director Park Chan-wook released a film entitled Oldboy, based off the manga series of the same name. The movie obtained instant success, garnering several awards as well as being a box office smash. And over the years Oldboy became a cult classic, especially in the United States, with many considering it one of the greatest movies ever made. Noted for its action scenes, creativity, sense of humor, and mind blowing twist, the movie has since become a classic. So I'm not sure what possessed Spike Lee to direct the remake, but the deed is done; and unfortunately, it can never be undone. Spike Lee's Oldboy follows the story of Joe Doucett, an alcoholic advertising executive and all around mess. After messing up a meeting with a potential client, Joe goes on a bender and wakes up in a motel room. Almost immediately Joe realizes there is something wrong, he's been kidnapped. While channel surfing the TV in his room, he comes upon a news show explaining how his ex wife has been killed and he is the number one suspect. One day his room is gassed and he passes out, he wakes up inside a chest in the middle of a field. He's been released after twenty years of imprisonment. Joe wants two things, to reconnect with his now grown up daughter and get revenge on his captors. Remaking a great movie is not an easy task, they rarely match the original; and unfortunately Spike Lee's Oldboy is no different. While the movie is filled with impressive actors, Only Josh Brolin as Joe stands out. The original Oldboy has one of the coolest fight scenes you'll ever see in a movie, it's a four minute long single shot from of the protagonist facing off against about thirty opponents with 2x4's in a hallway wielding only a hammer. In the remake it has a similar scene but changes it up enough to be distinct, it's a cool fight scene but feels kind of cartoonish compared to the original. It does that thing where even though the hero is surrounded, the bad guys attack one at a time while the others are in the background swinging their weapons around for some reason. One thing to note is that the remake is much more gruesome than the original. When I went to go see the movie, a couple people actually walked out during a particularly brutal torture scene. One of the problems with remaking a movie is that the remake usually lacks any sort of originality, and Oldboy is no different. Lee's version just feels like a less interesting and poorly made version of the original. He tries to change some parts up, but ultimately they're still to similar to the original. If you ask anyone who's seen the original what they remember most, everyone will say the twist ending; it's a brilliant part of the movie that changes everything. The biggest problem with the remake is also why anyone who's seen the original can go ahead and avoid it; Spike Lee uses the same twist from the original. He tries to change it up and add some elements that weren't in the original, but it's still the same ending. If you haven't seen the original you might find the remake interesting, but if you have you'll just end up leaving the theater mad. Part of me wants to commend Spike Lee for having the confidence to remake this movie; the other part of me wants to slap him for taking an amazing movie and making a subpar remake. I really can't recommend this movie, even if you haven't seen the original; there are a lot better movies in theaters right now. If you haven't seen the original, go watch it on Netflix because it is a really great movie. While it has its moments, the remake is just a dull, uninspired copy; I remember sitting in the theater and thinking to myself, "I wish I had seen "Frozen" again instead."

Pros: Some cool fight scenes, Josh Brolin gives a good performance, will probably be enjoyable for anyone who hasn't seen the original.
Cons: Lacks originality, some scenes are based too closely off the original, uses same twist as the original, brings nothing new to the table.

2/5 Stars

Frozen Review

Back in the day, Disney was the king of animation. For years they stood unchallenged atop their throne, but over the past twenty years challengers have risen up. Pixar and DreamWorks have made a real name for themselves, especially with the introduction of best animated feature at the Oscars. But since they have risen, Disney has fallen. For the past couple years the quality of Disney's animated films have fallen; we'd get a good one here and there like Tangled and Wreck-It-Ralph, but none that we'll remember fondly years from now. Earlier this year Disney released a teaser trailer for their new movie Frozen and it was pretty funny. So I decided to keep my eye on it. Well it's finally been released, so is this the instant Disney classic we were all hoping for? It very well might be. Frozen takes place in the mythical kingdom of Arendelle and follows the story of two princesses, Elsa and Anna. The older sister Elsa was born with the power to conjure ice and snow. This is something the public can never know about, so her parents keep her concealed within the castle in the hopes of containing her powers. After a terrible accident, the king and queen pass away which means Elsa is next in line. When she comes finally comes of age to take the crown, the castle doors are opened for the first time in years. But while at her coronation, her powers are revealed and she runs away in fear. She heads into the mountains, and accidentally covers the land in an eternal winter. Ana decides to go after her in the hopes she can put everything back to normal, but all on her own she isn't well suited. Along the way she meets Kristoff, an ice salesman whose business is in jeopardy. So the two set off save both the kingdom, and Elsa. I'll go ahead and make a prediction, Frozen will win best animated feature at the Oscars this year; this is easily the best Disney movie in years. I must say this is a beautiful movie, the animation is great throughout. It's especially cool to see Elsa wield her ice powers. The animation style is similar to Tangled, which makes sense cause it's by the same team. Disney has always been known for its great characters, and Frozen is no different. All the characters are likable and well written, and are complemented by fantastic voice acting. Olaf the snowman who is introduced about a quarter of the way through the film is one of the funniest characters you'll see in a movie all year. Almost every line out of his mouth is hilarious, and those that aren't are sincere and heartfelt. But out of everyone, Idina Menzel steals the show as Elsa. Idina is a Tony award winning actress most known for her part in the Broadway play Wicked, and goddamn can that woman sing. She performs the movie's stand out song "Let it Go" and she kills it. I would not be surprised if she won an Oscar for best original song. While she is amazing, she is totally underutilized. She sings two duets and her one solo and that's it. One thing you need to know is that this movie has a whole lot of singing; it's really like classic Disney movies where people will just break out into song. While I do feel that some songs were forced to fit a certain scene, there isn't a bad song in the movie. Composer Christopher Beck did a great job and should get an Oscar nomination for his work. Like the older Disney movie, Frozen is funny when it wants to be and sincere when it needs to be. There are some very touching and sad moments in this movie, you really feel for these characters. But it's not all tears and sadness; there are more than a few scenes where I was laughing my ass off. I will say the movie is aimed more for kids, but is certainly enjoyable for the whole family. Frozen is the best animated film of the year by far, and probably the best in the past couple years. The movie works on every level an animation should. And what it does best is bring back what we loved most about the old school Disney movies. Frozen is easily my favorite movie of the year as well as one of the best. If you loved movies like Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King or essentially any Disney movie with singing from the 80's or 90's, Frozen is not a movie to be missed. 

Pros: Lovable characters, very funny and emotional, great animation, fantastic voice acting, award worthy soundtrack, feels like classic Disney. 

Cons: Some songs feel forced, aimed more at kids, Idina Menzel is underutilized.

4.5/5 Stars

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Review

Every few years we get a new series that takes the film industry by storm. Harry Potter became a worldwide sensation and the highest grossing movie franchise in history. Twilight, as bad as it is, made billions and broke box office records. And now the Hunger Games is in the spotlight and people are going crazy for it, because nothing says fun like a bunch of teenagers killing each other. Based off the acclaimed book series by the same name, the story of Katness Everdeen is certainly one I can get behind. An underdog willing to sacrifice herself for her family and fight for her people, and unlike Twilight Katness is a likable and empowered lead character that doesn't whine all the time and want to date a sparkly vampire. Catching Fire is the second installment in the series and takes place what seems to be a few months after the last movie. Katness is back home before having to go on a winners tour due to her new found fame, but all she wants to do is stay with her family and put all this behind. Before leaving she is visited by the president who wasn't too happy that both her and Peeta survived the games, she has even become a beacon of hope for the rebellion against the government. So by threatening her family he plans to keep her on a short leash hoping she won't say anything that will start a revolution. So her and Peeta set off on the tour and put on their best happy face, but in reality there's still a bit of tension between the two from the previous games; but the world thinks they're in love so they have to go with the public image for their family’s sake. After an incident at one of their stops, sh*t hits the fan. The rebellion is right on the verge of happening and Katness is the face of it. So the president starts to scheme, and with some advice from the new head game maker he formulates the perfect plot to get rid of Katness. For the 75th Hunger Games, the tributes will be picked from previous winners; and being the only woman from district 12 to win, she's entered by default. Put up against trained killers, Katness is in for the fight of her life; you don't win the Hunger Games, you just survive. I was not a big fan of the last Hunger Games movie, I thought it was pretty good but not a movie that I was compelled to watch again soon after. Catching Fire is a vast improvement over the last movie and I really liked it. The writing in this movie was quite a bit better than the last one, I was told Catching Fire was the best book in the series and you can certainly see the improvements from the first movie. Catching Fire is a bit more CGI heavy than the last movie but fortunately pulls it off, nothing looks cheap and lack luster like the dogs from the first movie. The actual tournament is also a lot more entertaining than the first one. In the last movie I actually thought some of the action scenes were boring but in Catching Fire they are pretty badass. Jennifer Lawrence does a great job as Katness, and while everyone in the film does a good job she stands head and shoulders over them. Another improved aspect would be the love triangle between Katness, Peeta, and Gale. It's a lot less annoying in this movie, but still suffers from some sappy moments. A surprising part that I liked was the political aspect; we get a real good look into the capital and the presidents thoughts. In the last movie we were just told that the capital was evil, but in this one we actually see it. But what I loved most about this movie is actually something they decided to take out since the first one, no more shaky cam. The cinematography in the first movie wasn't great, and the shaky cam was out of control. In this one the overall cinematography was much better and they took out the shaky cam all together, which made me happy. While a big improvement the movie still manages to have its flaws. While less annoying the love story has more than a few sappy moments. The movie also suffers from the occasional cheesy line that sounds forced and out of place. Catching Fire also feels a little too long, it's not a super long movie but by hour two you're ready for the director to wrap it up. It also takes a too long to get to the games; while it was interesting to see more parts of this world it takes over an hour for them to make it into the arena. Perfect it is not but Catching Fire is a huge improvement over the last movie and one of my favorite films of the year. Its themes on hope and survival are very compelling, and are complemented by some very intense action sequences. It's very easy to see why this series is so loved and has become a worldwide sensation. And as for myself I'm certainly looking forward to the next installment in the series, Mockingjay Part 1. 

Pros: The games are much more entertaining than the last movie, good writing, interesting political aspects; Jennifer Lawrence is great as Katness, no more shaky cam.

Cons: A little too long, some cheesy lines, while less annoying the love story certainly gets sappy, takes too long to get to the games.

4/5 Stars

The Starving Games Review

Have you ever seen a movie and then afterwards you're actually angry? Unfortunately for me that happens a lot, especially with spoof movies. Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer are two directors and screen writers you may not have heard of, but you probably know some of their movies. They are the guys behind Date Movie, Epic Movie; Meet the Spartans, Disaster Movie, and Vampires Suck. If you don't know any of these movies let me sum them up for you, they're f*cking awful. I'm fairly sure these guys actually hold the record for most Razzie nominations. The last movies these guys put out was Vampires Suck which came out in 2010. Since then we haven't heard anything from them which is fine by me. But out of nowhere they release a new movie, and like their other movies it's still awful. The Starving Game is a spoof movie parodying The Hunger Games, the Avengers, the Expendables, Avatar, Sherlock Holmes, The Great and Powerful Oz, Harry Potter, Angry Birds, and Taylor Swift. Now I'm not going to go into the plot, it is just a stupid version of the Hunger Games. All you need to know is a girl named Kantmiss Evershot (I'm serious, that's the best they could do) who volunteers to represent her district in the starving games, a tournament where teens and children fight to the death. The only decent aspect of this movie is that you might get an occasional chick every once in a while (mostly at its own stupidity), every other aspect of this movie is as bad as you'd think. The writing, directing, acting, and production value are some of the worst you'll see this year. The movie is also short, there's only about 65 minutes of actual content. The last ten minutes are just a blooper role, it's obvious that the directors have no self respect but who actually ends their movie with a blooper real? To be honest there isn't a single reason to see this movie, there are a lot better ways you can spend your time. I just watched to give it a really bad review, mission accomplished. 

Pros: An occasional chuckle.

Cons: Terrible writing, directing, acting, and production value. It actually ends with a blooper real.

1/5 Stars

Dallas Buyer's Club Review

There are two certainties in life, death and taxes; but you can avoid paying taxes, you can't exactly avoid death. During the 1980's, HIV and AIDS were running rampant and they were death sentences. At the time we knew very little about the disease, and we had pretty much no idea how to treat it. During the late 80's we started to make some breakthroughs on how to "stall" the disease. We didn't have the cure but we found ways to prolong a patient’s life. But for some reason the Food and Drug Administration was not approving these drugs for one reason or another, even though they had been proven to help. But they just kept pushing their own medicine that would actually do more harm than good. Fortunately, there were a few brave souls out there that were doing what the FDA wouldn't. Dallas Buyers Club takes place in Dallas, Texas and starts off in 1985; Ron Woodrof is a homophobic, drug addicted party boy working for an oil company. After an incident on the job he is rushed to the hospital where the Doctor discover he has full blown AIDS and an estimated 30 something days to live. At first Ron doesn't believe it, thinking that only gay people can get the disease. But after learning how HIV and AIDS actually works he recalls having sex with a hooker who had track marks running down her arm, implying that she had the disease from extended drug use. Ron goes to his doctor pleading for AZT, the only licensed dug believed to treat the disease. After taking the drug for a couple weeks, he isn't feeling any better and is referred to a doctor down in Mexico. He explains to Ron AZT doesn't help and starts giving him drugs that aren't legally available in the US. Over the next few months he feels much better and gets the idea to start selling these drugs to, targeting members of the LGTB community. He decides to partner up with Rayon, a transgender woman with more ties to the community. Together they set up the Dallas Buyers Club, an organization selling memberships to anyone who needs drugs that have been proven to fight AIDS but aren't legal in the US. But with the FDA breathing down there necks, Ron and the club members are always on their toes; fortunately Ron refuses to go down without a fight and save hundreds of lives in the process. This is an all around good movie, but if there's one thing that people are going to remember it's the acting. The writing and humor were good for the most part and there are some pretty emotional scenes, but if you're going to watch this movie you're going to watch it for its acting. Matthew McConaughey as Ron and Jared Leto as Rayon give the best performances of the year. Both transform into the characters and really show their dedication. Both lost so much weight for these role it's kind of scary. McConaughey lost like 40 pounds to get into character, he's almost unrecognizable; the same thing with Leto. It's pretty safe to assume that both are going to be nominated for Oscars, and in my opinion they should win. Jennifer Garner also co-stars in the movie and she does great, one of the best performances of her career. I wouldn't be surprised if she was nominated for best supporting actress. Unfortunately like most the movie has its problems; the movie feels a little too long by the end of it, but at the same time the ending feels somewhat rushed. One thing that bothered me throughout is that there are some strange editing choices. There are several cuts that happen suddenly and seem out of place, as well as too many "fade to black" transitions that just seem lazy. Probably the biggest complaint you'll hear from most is that at time the screenplay doesn't live up to the rest of the movie. While there are some emotional moments, the movie lacks that certain touch that really makes you feel. Dallas Buyer's club is a great movie, and we will be seeing it at the Oscar's. It tells the story of a man who fought the system and saved an untold number of lives. If we had more people like that this world would be a better place. As of writing this review it's only in limited release but if it is playing near you it's certainly worth the watch. 

Pros: Oscar worthy performances from Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto, often quite funny, some very emotional moments.

Cons: Strange editing, a little long, feels rushed at the end, screenplay doesn't always match the rest of the film.

4/5 Stars