Grace - 3/5

There are Horror movies that create a frantic sense of energy and have a high octane pulse and then there are Horror films like "Grace" that breed a slow burning atmospheric and heavy feeling throughout its run time. Not that these films are bad, I can still reference the rather impressive French film "Inside" in this category, but this one was just too awkward for its own good.

"Grace" has our rather fast forward mother/protagonist (she's a vegetarian and uses alternative medicine in the film) struggling to conceive with her husband. When they finally do, tragedy strikes and an accident leaves her husband and unborn child 6 feet deep. She carries the baby to term in a rather odd decision, and - SURPRISE - baby Grace isn't dead after all! Too bad though something is wrong with baby Grace and she requires the nourishment of...not milk...but human blood! Now mother has the cluster fuck situation of a lifetime...how far will she go to keep her child alive?

Call it whatever you want, but that's a pretty badass concept. Its a clever take on the killer baby genre (not that there is a whole lot out there besides "It's Alive" and perhaps "The Brood") and "Grace" gets an A for originality. Unfortunately, some of the film isn't up to par with the concept and it fails on a few levels.

I applaud the film for trying to throw in some modern social moral choices here. A vegetarian that has to feed her child blood? Brutal. There is even some solid lesbian undertones (well, strike that - they are pretty up front and center) with the mother's relationship with her midwife and the alternative (medicine) lifestyle. I don't think that some of the issues went far enough though. The film is pretty minimalist with its dialogue and subtle with its acting, but I just didn't really feel the struggle for the mother when making these decisions for her child. I wanted her to wrestle and be disgusted that she has to do these things for Grace and I never really got that. At times it was just too simple of a decision it seemed. And the homosexual subplot was pretty surface level in the end. There didn't seem to be a whole lot depth to some of the choices made and it was rather frustrating for me as a viewer.

Then there is the entire mother-in-law subplot that was way more awkward for me then I needed. Her obsession with breast feeding and child rearing seemed like an odd addition to her already well established concern with the child's well being. The character and the situation did pay off in the end, but along the way there seemed to be too much weird that didn't quite fit. It was a good try, but just didn't pull it off.

Really, that's what "Grace" falters on. It touches on a lot of great things but never finishes it off. It doesn't quite go the distance. The pacing is solid, the atmosphere think, and the low key energy is burdening but it just can't put it all together into the striking film it should have been. This film could have been amazing but came off as just viable. Great concept though. 

Written By Matt Reifschneider

Blood And Bone - 2.5/5

Modern cinema has a lot going for it. But something that it has truly lacked since the early 90s is a few 'true' Action film stars. Granted in the last few years Jason Statham has picked up the slack and has been putting out some ridiculously awesome bad Action films, but he can't do it all. The man in this film, "Blood And Bone", Mr. Jai White does have the potential though and this film shows it.

Is this a great film? By all means no. It's cliche most of the time, the writing is hit or miss, our villain is far too over the top to actually be menacing, and even some of the choreography is a little shoddy. It's hard to deny though that "Blood And Bone" has a streak of charm to it that made me enjoy my time with the film. That has to count for something right?

Michael Jai White plays an ex con who decides to run up a big tab of ass kicking on the street fights of LA when he gets out of prison. He quickly runs up the ranks to find one of the big boys (our film villain of course!) running the show. Of course, our hero isn't actually some hot shot beating machine...no he is a wandering man of justice that lives up to that of certain Eastern legends, and has made a promise to take down our man in the suit and save a damsel in distress and her lost son.

Once again we have a film about a badass with a heart. Not quite the anti-hero I usually love, but damn, the idea of a walk-a-bout ass kicker whom keeps his word and can (with some slight planning, a little luck, and a brilliant chess game) single handedly topple some organized crime gets my boat floating. Yeah, White is pretty awful as an actor, we are left with WAY too many questions about his character, and he is rather cocky but that's okay. I still root for him and his bumbling dirty mouthed side kick.

So the story itself has been done to death, and lackluster acting, and even some rather hit or miss martial arts choreography might make this a rainy Sunday afternoon rental but I thought it was worth the one watch at least. 

Written By Matt Reifschneider

House Of The Devil, The - 4/5

I think its somewhat humorous that there is now a trend of Horror films to be old school. Whether its a mix of new and old ("Vacancy") or fairly straight up old school in style ("The Strangers") there is now this trend and it seems to be catching. But none of those films, including the two mentioned, can say they are as old school as "The House Of The Devil". This is so old school that it has NO MODERN TENDENCIES. At all. Although that probably means many young Horror fanatics might dislike it, I have to admit...it has its charm.

Visually this is pretty awesome. It's style is so early 80s that its not even funny. From its long camera shots and its raw feel of film and un-smooth transitions, this feels like a lost classic from that era. Ti West (I've not seen anything else from him so this is my first interaction with the up-and-comer in the Horror genre) grates this film with all kinds of thick atmosphere and subtle suspense to the point that the simplest thing is somewhat creepy (like the weird drain noise that made my eyebrows perk). For the most part, this is where the film succeeds at its most in its intense and yet completely minimal style of 80s Horror feeling.

The story though, almost feels a bit too skimpy. It leaves a lot up to the viewer to interpret, I believe it might be to the effect that we struggle to piece it together as much as our lead young lady, but by the end I felt like it was a bit basic. Not to give too much away, I felt though that the 'why' of this suspenseful house of devil worshipers could have used some more exposition to the where or specific intent of the group. The very end of the film does give us a bit but it would have been nice for a bit more (who the hell was that deformed thing?!).

Overall, I was impressed with my viewing of "The House Of The Devil". It's style and reminiscent 80s Horror style had significant charm that overcame its short comings in plot and character work. The acting did enough to convince me of the story and that's all this really needed. Mostly for Horror fanatics that aren't afraid of a little throwback. 

Written By Matt Reifschneider

Ninja Assassin - 4/5

I'm not sure what some people expected out of this movie. Was it the high expectations from being directed by James McTeigue (whom also directed the very impressive "V For Vendetta")? Because honestly all you have to do is look at the title, "Ninja Assassin" to realize that perhaps this is not going to be an Academy Award winning film. It's not. In fact its hard to say this film is even 'good' in the general sense of the word. No, I would rather use the phrase 'face crushing and blood gushing awesome' to describe this film.

As a fan of 80s film, its not a shock that I wanted this film to be awesome. For all the ridiculous things that Hollywood has put out in the last decade, a solid Ninja film hasn't been part of that. It's a sad statment. I grew up with Ninja films and to this day when I'm feeling blue will stick in "American Ninja" or "Revenge Of The Ninja" and the world is suddenly better. Well, if you are like me and can enjoy a movie that is not made to be taken seriously then this film will make you laugh and cry all in sheer joy.

As I said though, if you are expecting in depth clever dialogue, a keen sense of the human condition, or, hell, even some sort of legitimate character development than look elsewhere. "Ninja Assassin" is exactly what the title would imply. It's about a Ninja whom assassinates other Ninja from his clan that declared him a traitor (as is whispered multiple times in the film) and how an investigation into these Ninja assassins becomes a full on military campaign to bring down the Black Sand Clan. The movie focuses on our outcast Raizo (played by the ripped pretty boy Rain) and through a shit ton of flashbacks, how he came to be the outcast to his clan and vow to take them down. A second story involving two government agents investigating (somewhat randomly) connections of big political assassinations and a Ninja legend of 9 clans comes head to head with our badass Raizo and all hell breaks loose. Hell is pretty close to what happens too.

The acting is pretty surface (who cares really in this kind of movie) and the dialogue is borderline insane (again who cares), but its the visual style that carries this movie. James McTeigue has a slick style that fits this Ninja premise perfectly and even though the choreography could be stronger I couldn't help but cheer the entire movie. We have camera shots that only make the premise even more ridiculous, I love the rising camera shot above the military squad where you see a shit ton on ninja above them, and the action and pacing of the film is excellent.

As I said, I wish the Martial Arts aspect of the film was a little stronger, but its hard to complain about the intense weapon work in the film. Ninja fling blades left and right, they hurl throwing stars like fucking machine guns, and the gore created from these moments is enough to make a paramedic throw up a little in their mouth. I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt on using CGI gore (there was enough to make it up).

All in all, its hard to say that I didn't love the fuck out of this movie. "Ninja Assassin" was almost everything I could have hoped it would be. Not to mention that this film has the great potential to franchise (hey man, there are 8 other ninja clans out there for Raizo to kick ass at) and I'm a franchise whore. I could only hope that this film starts a new trend of Ninja films in Hollywood again. A man can dream can't he? 

Written By Matt Reifschneider

Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The (2003) - 4/5

This is one of the big remakes for Horror that made the trend so...trendy(?) to this day. Granted, this is definitely one of the better ones out there as it keeps the general concept and builds some slightly new nightmares on top of it. It's a new take on a classic that warrants at least a few viewings.

"TTCM"'s sleek look (thanks Mr. Bay!) does tend to counterbalance some of the ferocity of the film, its also where the it differs the most from its original, but it allows the film to do a lot of very cool shots and new visual tricks. Which is where Marcus Nispel truly excels. His visual style in this film is both very slick and gritty at the same time, all the while giving us some great memorable shots and some pretty stunning looks. The camera pull that goes through the hitchhiker and through the back window the van is one of those you have to rewind and watch a few times over and admire and his use of light in the film is impressive to say the least. Truly, its the work of Nispel and the clever writing that makes this baby tick.

I also enjoyed the acting in this film quite a bit. It's not your usual over-the-top Horror style we get with a 'slasher' and is actually quite the opposite. It's a very subtle style. The character work is very detailed oriented and I enjoyed it a lot. It was a surprise to me with the cast that was included with the film.

I have to say that there were a few moments in this film that prevent it from being a truly great film. Firstly, I grew tired of watching all of shots of Jessica Biel's lady parts. All right, I get it. She's not wearing a bra and she's wearing tight jeans. I saw it the first three times you showed it. Let's move on. Granted, I know that the general audience for this film is going to love that, but I thought it was weak point in a rather solid film. Also, I wanted the film to help fill in some of the gaps in the 'family' side of the film. I liked the additional characters that were added to the family (the two weird women for sure) but it seemed as though they were left to hanging a bit too much. I wanted a few more subtle hints to structure or relation here and there and I never really got it.

"TTCM" is a great remake in the end and still one of the best out there. I wanted a bit more here and there (and I missed the childish quality to Leatherface that was replaced with menace) but I really enjoyed this take on a classic. It's visually a stunner and the substance almost matches that. 

Written By Matt Reifschneider

Watchmen - 5/5

Note: This is a review of "The Ultimate Cut" of "Watchmen".

As with anything great in the realm of fantasy, whether it be just straight up fiction, science fiction, horror, or even a superhero tale there are two sides to the coin. Entertainment and intelligent film depth. It's rare that a movie of the fantasy realm can navigate the two sides let alone do it as brilliantly as "Watchmen" did. This film is both an entertaining romp into another 'time and place' and an intellectually stimulating and morally challenging film that will have you chewing on its contents for a long time.

Zack Snyder has made his true film crowning achievement with "Watchmen". I know that many people probably don't want to see a character study on the human condition when they go to see a 'superhero' film (I know a handful personally), but I find this film to be amazingly swift at making it seem as though we are watching a true life experience instead of watching superheroes try to save the world. The script is tight as hell, the characters insanely deep and intriguing, and Snyder's knack for visual snappiness is in top form. "Watchmen" has my money as the best hero film of all time - even though the concept of hero is claimed loose in the film.

Of course what I enjoy best about this film is its lack of regard to being 'watered down'. The content of the story is emotionally jarring, disturbing, and fairly extreme, as we have discussions of the value of human life, the concept of sacrifice, loyalty, and whether or not the act of doing nothing is as evil as the sin committed by humanity. So its only fitting that this film would continue in this manner. The violence is extremely brutal and nudity is included with the romantic elements. I'm glad they didn't pull back for it as it would have lessened the impact of the conceptional parts of the film along with its moral food for thought for the audience. Hell, most every controversial aspect of human society is touched: rape, killing in the name of God, killing to save another's life, abortion, adultery, the existence of an afterlife, the Vietnam war, and even the cause of cancer and its impact. This film isn't afraid of anything. One more reason I love it.

Granted, the Ultimate Cut of the film is extremely long (I think I read somewhere that it clocks in at around 215 minutes) with the addition of the cartoon adaption of the comic within comic story "Tales Of The Black Freighter" and the already released 'director's cut' of the film. "The Black Freighter" is nice to see - especially if you are a fan of the graphic novel to begin with - and for the most part is nicely edited where it needs to be in the film adding that whole new depth to the film as it parallels the tension and moral ambiguity of the film. Although, I understand why they left it out originally with its pacing influx, it was still nice to see that as a fan.

"Watchmen" is visually stunning, the writing is intense and tight, the acting is borderline brilliant, and the story is something everyone should watch (or read) as an adult. This is one of the best films ever made, let alone one about costumed heroes. 

Written By Matt Reifschneider

Messengers 2: The Scarecrow, The - 1/5

Oh dear lord. If you follow my reviews, then you definitely know by now that I love franchising. Even if it just makes awful movies. If you can somehow make a sequel/prequel/spin-off for some reason I'll watch it just to watch it. That was my mistake with "Messengers 2: The Scarecrow". It's not a prequel despite its synopsis. Hell, most of it doesn't make sense on its own let alone in connection with the Pang Brothers first American film. So from this point on I'll refer to it only as "The Scarecrow" because it was just a name splice to make people watch it. Like me.

Of course, it does also take place on a farm in North Dakota. That's about it for connections. It's not even the same kind of farm. The first film had sun flowers. This one is corn. The first film was about a ghost family haunting the house. This one is about a cursed fucking scarecrow haunting a field. Yeah, a haunted field. You heard me. And the family living there, not acted at all by a very bland cast including the confusing performance of Mr. "Boondock Saints" hisself Norman Reedus, is turned into attacking each other (sort of) in some weird sort of 'black magic spell' that the scarecrow casts on them. Goddammit, I wish this film made a lick of sense.

Essentially that's what you get with "The Scarecrow". You take away the lackluster directing, the nonexistent acting, and the shit special effects and all you have left is a story that really doesn't make sense (its okay though, its sort of explained at the end to mostly be hallucinations on the dad! *cough cop out cough*) as decisions made by characters seem completely random, the deaths completely out of the blue, the pacing plodding, and characters that appear without any indication or purpose. The neighbors are just a confusing side story element, not to mention the neighbor wife whom only serves as a nudity point twice once as she...bathes in the sprinklers?...and the actual scarecrow's powers seem to shift and confuse the rest of the story. By the end he just kind of walks around and tries to kill people.

I'll give it to the film that by the end, when the scarecrow manages to finally haul his ass off the stake and start actually doing something, I was at the point of not caring so much I just laughed at it. The jump scares were all off and the random bits of 'terror' that I was supposed to feel came off 'hey, lets see that shitty looking scarecrow again!' instead of frightening. But by the last half hour, which didn't make any sense, I ended up actually having a fun time watching it. So it gets one star for its unintentional entertainment factor.

"The Scarecrow" is absurd, silly, and horribly put together and as a Horror film neither strikes a thought provoking chord nor horror in the slightest degree. Except in the fact that they marketed it as a prequel to "The Messengers". Which angers me again, now that I remember that. If you are going to franchise it, at least TRY to make it connect to the first one. 

Written By Matt Reifschneider

District 9 - 4.5/5

Sometimes I'm tired of movies that try to beat you over the head with morality tales of woe and dismay. I love to have that depth to a film but sometimes you need to make sure you aren't treating your audience like a group of middle school children. That was my one worry about "District 9". That the social commentary underneath the 'aliens stranded on Earth' storyline would devour the main plot. Luckily, it is not that way and "District 9" scores highly on the modern classic Sci-Fi scale.

When aliens, called 'prawn' in a somewhat derogatory manner in this film due to their insect-like look, become stranded on Earth for reasons unknown, the government steps in to help the species out by giving them a place to stay in the form of 'District 9' perhaps one of the shittiest slums ever built. Our 'hero' of the film, Mr. Wikus, becomes involved when he is sent to 'evict' the aliens in an attempt to move them onto a new set of land outside of city limits to prevent too much human/prawn contact. Of course, what he finds is a dark seedy underbelly of both prawn and human creation that sets into motion an all out war and perhaps ignites hope for both species.

Neil Blomkamp gets his worldwide chance to impress with "District 9" (of course with a little help from having the name Peter Jackson attached in the form of his mentor and/or producer) and impress he does. With a rich story full of heart, tragedy, action, and general awesomeness Neil Blomkamp only has to get it across to the audience with a little finesse. The story could have easily come across as cheesy or far too over the top (the reason for Mr. Wikus' sudden connection with the prawn is played off very seriously and dark when it could have come across almost comedic) but never reaches that point and instead focuses on the human side of emotions which grounds the film and gives it a nice universal touch. Relationships between spouses, father/sons, and unlikely friends make it endearing and frightfully realistic to watch as things begin to spiral out of control in the story. Even the more outrageous elements, like the Nigerian gun smugglers in the camp whom believe eating the aliens give them more power, come across as realistic and a very believable element in the fictional world. Blomkamp balances his visual style and writing beautifully.

I was also taken back by how good the special effects came across. The prawns are both disgusting and very believable in their design and even our main hero prawn, Christopher, in full CGI displays very real and endearing qualities as we struggle with him to fight and escape from his hellish world.

"District 9" is as good as the hype for the film lead me to believe. The acting is superb (even from CGI aliens whom never speak English), the special effects rip roaring, the script deep and tight, the action is addicting, and Blomkamps visual take on the entire thing (borderline documentary-ish) fits altogether in a nice package that will remind you why Science Fiction can be the best form of film out there. 

Written By Matt Reifschneider

Plague Town - 1/5

Decided to watch this little independent film on a whim due to its pretty creepy cover and interesting story line. Unfortunately, past those two things, "Plague Town" did almost nothing for me. In fact, it did the opposite of what it intended and made me bored and rather uninterested with most of the film.

A group of family members (and one random new Brit boyfriend) decide to take a trip to the grass lands that their ancestry called home and in the process accidentally miss their bus home and then decide to visit a little town of fucked up people. Of course, whenever you meet a town of inbred yokels things are bound to get a little violent and perverse.

I had a lot of issues with "Plague Town". A lot is a little bit of an understatement. When I say 'a lot', I really mean A LOT. Essentially, sans a few good tense moments (The mom character in the car with the kid in the window for one) there wasn't a whole lot going in the right direction here. I could really go into detail here but I don't want to waste too much of your time nor mine on this. Let's make a list of why "Plague Town" should be avoided like the...oh that's too easy.

01. The Acting: Oh boy. Man, I'm pretty sure that I could have found my own small town of locals that could probably do a better job than this. Granted, I can't take too much out on our family members here as they have about nilch to work with in terms of dialogue and failed character development. It gets the job done, but far from anything worth it.

02. The Story: Is it me or has inbred killer children and backwood families been done before? Oh yeah, just a MILLION times. And "Plague Town" adds nothing new to the mix - perhaps some new make up ideas but that's my next point.

03. The Special Effects: Most of the members of these monster children look like "Evil Dead" rejects for demon possession. I understand that this is low budget, but then cut the number of them down please. The blood looked pretty good considering, but the make up work needed a lot more attention.

04. The Deaths: So if you have a cliche story, then you might want to include some sort of clever deaths. Oh, nevermind, they tried. A woman gets beat to death with a hub cap by a child. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? A for effort, but man, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't take that lying down. I would have to throw down first. Incidently, all of the deaths do try to be unique but end up inducing a "what the fuck" instead of legitimate horror.

05. The Score: Starts off nicely with its ambient and atmospheric tone but eventually ends up nowhere as it just kind of repeats itself the entire film. NEXT!

And finally, 06. The Editing: I don't know where to start with this. I'm no editing expert, but damn was this thing unintentionally choppy as hell and poorly constructed. Half the time I didn't know what characters were doing (partially cause of the script and poor acting) and moments seemed to randomly jump and focus on odd things. This was definitely the most frustrating aspect of this film.

So "Plague Town" ended up just plaguing the genre of Horror with tons of rehashed ideas, unoriginal concepts, and poor execution on most fronts. Half the time I wanted to laugh at it (seriously, you don't fight back against a kid killing you with a hub cap?!) but it was just too sad and depressing to really do that either. Going to go with a skip to you Horror fans out there. Don't bother. 

Written By Matt Reifschneider

Sunshine - 5/5

I finally had the chance to borrow a copy of "Sunshine" from a good friend of mine. Being a "28 Days Later" fan and a fan of science fiction in general, I was a bit shamed to say I hadn't seen this movie. After seeing it, I feel even more shamed it took me this long to get to it. "Sunshine" is a brilliant modern film, a stunningly epic science fiction film, and an instant classic.

"Sunshine" follows a crew of eight as they travel from a winter scarred Earth to the Sun on a large space craft carrying the universe's biggest 'i'm going to fuck you up' bomb in tow. Their mission: throw this bomb into the dying sun and reignite that motherfucker so the human race to continue to live on the now frozen Earth. Of course, as with any great film, things don't go according to plan and the space shit hits the space fan.

I must first mention the visual side of "Sunshine". This bad boy was epic, well crafted, and downright bombastic when it came to visual work. The ship design, the sets, the gold suits, the cramped and often nightmarish corridors all build on this modern telling of the space traveler story and do it beautifully. This film looks both scary and damn awe inspiring all at the same time, and Danny Boyle's clean cut mix of old and new tactics to camera work and directing just bring out the best. This is perhaps the most upfront and impressive part of "Sunshine".

What I loved about this film the most though, was its combination of epic and subtle and how it meshed together. The use of negative space (that being silence and nothing) makes the intensity and scale of the film all the more impressive. With stellar acting work from the entire cast (no MVPs here as they work as a team and individually like their all masters of the craft) and a story that is simple on the surface but insanely detailed in its subtlety and layers, there is not a single thing to dislike about "Sunshine" in my opinion. From its opening credits to its final and somewhat calming final moments, I was riveted to the screen barely able to peel my attention away, and that says something spectacular.

I cannot recommend this film enough. I would even go as far as to compare it to this generation's "2001" in both classic status and flare. Great symbolism and thought provoking concepts will have you watching this again and again to gather it all in. 

Written By Matt Reifschneider