96 Minutes:::Movie Review

96 Minutes

Can I just say how much I love Netflix??  I really love it.  Although I have watched my share of truly awful movies (*cough...A Haunting in Salem...*cough) available on their Watch Instantly service, I've also been fortunate enough to watch some really great ones.

This movie was nothing like I expected it to be.  A bunch of people I'd never heard of (other than Brittany Snow) in a concept that could end up tired and overdone.

This was really good.  Snow - who I'd only seen in fluff roles or comedies such as in The Pacifier, was really strong in this.  Evan Ross (who plays Andre) was amazing.  I'd never heard of him and, looking at his IMBD account, it doesn't look like he's been in a lot of high-profile stuff.  His performance was fantastic.  Directors and producers should be clamoring to work with him.  

Retracing the steps that led four young people down a fateful path of decision-making, this indie thriller tells the story of a violent carjacking from the perspective of both the perpetrators and their unsuspecting victims.

Inhale:::Movie Review

Inhale

I'd never heard of this movie and was utterly amazed by it.  Dermot Mulroney was unbelievable.  The cinematography was beautiful.  I was able to totally immerse myself in their lives for 1 hour and 23 minutes - which is exactly what I believe a great movie should do.

Trying to save his dying daughter, Paul (Mulroney), a New Mexico district attorney, travels to Mexico in search for an illegal lung transplant while his wife (Diane Kruger) and daughter wait anxiously at home.  But, upon arrival, he learns the ugly truth about this "business" of illegal organ donations.

***and just as a totally mindless addition...while Dermot Mulroney was cute in My Best Friend's Wedding - I found him totally HOT in this movie!  The graying hair and beefed up physique totally works on him!

Devil's Pass & The Numbers Station:::Movie Reviews

Devil's Pass

First of all, don't let the bare back on the woman in on the cover fool you.  There is no nudity in this movie - which is actually a nice relief.  Too many times Hollywood thinks that horror - or thriller - automatically means that I want to see nudity.  No thanks.  You can scare me with your clothes on.  It is in the style of a "found footage" film - which has kind of played itself out over the past few years, but I still enjoyed it.

When I first thought about reviewing this movie, I was planning on giving it 3 stars.  Then, this morning, while I was driving my daughter to school, I was telling her about the movie when I had a *AHA* moment about it.  I hadn't even realized something about the movie until I was telling her (which I didn't end up telling her in case she ever wanted to watch it - I don't like to give out surprises).  That alone bumped it up another star.  

The premise is fairly simple.  5 college kids travel to the Ural Mountains in Russia to re-create and hopefully solve what happened to the hikers of the Dyatlov Pass incident - an actual event.    Strange noises and even stranger footprints begin to haunt the hikers until the sound of explosions changes everything - for everyone.

The Numbers Station

I hadn't heard of this one but thought I'd give it a try.  I was pleasantly surprised by this one.  I am a huge John Cusack fan.  When he's on - he's fantastic.  Definitely one of the most under-rated actors alive.

Cusack plays a black ops agent assigned to a remote CIA broadcast station to protect a code operator (Akerman).  When the station is compromised - they must fight for their life and determine who is a friend and who is a foe.

This one is good.  I haven't seen Malin Akerman in anything other than Couple's Retreat so I didn't have any preconceived notions about her.  Check it out.  

A Haunting in Connecticut 2:::Review

I actually liked this movie.  It is labeled a "thriller" and not a horror although it probably could have gone either way.  It's scarier than horror's I've seen (not that it is all that scary to begin with - just relatively speaking).  I've been into watching thrillers lately basically because horrors are so disappointing most times.

My issue with this movie is that it is considered a sequel.  In my book, a sequel:

~ has characters from the first movie

~ has a theme from the original movie

~ is at least in the same state as the first movie

~ has anything remotely similar to the first movie

This had none of those things.  That was slightly irritating to me.  It's a different family, in a different house, with different "hauntings", in a completely different state.  I think they should have just called this A Haunting in Georgia and left it at that.

Other than that, I did enjoy this movie.  The ending was not quite what I expected - which is always a nice surprise.  Too often the endings are very predictable.  The characters were good.  The sister was annoying at first - but she grew on me as the movie went on.  Emily Alyn Lind, who played Heidi, did a great job.

The Bell Witch Haunting ~ Movie Review

I gave this movie 3 stars but for the movie only...It was a decent movie.  It is listed as a horror, but I didn't find it very scary but that might just be my jaded mind that has seen a lot of horror movies.  The story was okay in and of itself but - as someone who lives in Tennessee - I can tell you a few things:

~ While it is sometimes warm in January - it is nowhere near swimming weather in an outdoor pool.  

~ There are no palm trees in Tennessee either.  

~ There only seems to be one policeman in the town of Adams - and he is the most unlucky policeman ever to have to respond to all of these strange calls night after night.

If you want me to believe this movie was based in TN - please make sure to edit out the palm trees and have your party at a bowling alley or a skating rink instead of a pool party in January.  

Reviews:::A Wrinkle In Time, The Soloist & Switchback

A Wrinkle In Time


Let me just start by saying I looooooove this book. This book is in my Top 5 favorite books. I read this book for the first time in 5th grade and have loved it ever since.


The movie, however, was not good. I would have just given it 1 star - but Jordan seemed to enjoy it - so I gave it 2. This movie just didn't seem to draw me in as the book did. The 3 women (Who, Which, and Whatsit) did not seem believable - especially Mrs. Who, played by Alfre Woodard. I know she is a good actress - but this was not her best work. I guess my main problem with this movie was that I had played and re-played this book over in my mind while reading it over the years - and the movie did not live up to my expectations at all.


With the help of a neighbor boy, Meg Murray and her brother, Charles Wallace go in search of their missing astrophysicist father. Along the way, they are helped by three celestial beings: Mrs. Who, Mrs. Which and Mrs. Whatsit. Meg is an insecure yet smart girl who has to save her family when the trio ends up on the strange planet of Camazotz and Charles Wallace falls under the spell of a strange, hypnotic power.





The Soloist


This movie was amazing. This is worth watching for the beautiful music alone - but Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx do an unbelievable job in this true life drama. I was watching this while at work - and I feel that if I had been at home, giving it 100% of my attention - I would have been in tears. Downey and Foxx's performances were so believable and touching.


Los Angeles newspaper writer Steve Lopez (Downey Jr.) meets Nathaniel Ayers (Foxx) living on the streets of L.A. and discovers an unbelievable musician hiding behind this broken, mentally ill man. The unique friendship that builds between the two transforms them both.

Switchback

This movie wasn't that bad...I just had this feeling the whole time that I had seen it before (which, since it was made in 1997 - is very possible). Dennis Quaid gives a decent performance as an FBI agent in search of the serial killer that kidnapped his son. As a Quaid fan, I enjoyed it - it just didn't have me biting my nails wondering what was going to happen next.

FBI agent Frank LaCrosse (Quaid) tracks a serial killer that has kidnapped his son to Texas - where he believes he has committed more murders. While he searches for his son, the murders become an issue in the local sheriff's election. Danny Glover and Jared Leto also star.