Ant-Man spoiler free movie review

Behold, in the year of our lord 2015 a hero will emerge that may at first go unnoticed because of his stature.  Word will spread of his deeds and his renown will grow!


Saw Ant-Man this weekend.  Let me tell you, it was great.  I think I enjoyed it more than age of Ultron.  It just hit the right note.  I am not a huge Ant-Man comics fan.  I did read the Scott Lang origin story and an issue where he gets a job working for Tony Stark.  Classic Ant-Man was never really my thing, though.  I worried about Marvel's ability to put up a hero that would be believable in a battle against super-powered opponents.  I saw the movie because I trust Marvel.  They have not abused that trust to this point. 


This movie should have come out on Father's Day weekend as Fatherhood is a huge theme in this movie.  It covers absent fathers, distant fathers, step fathers, father figures, and redemption.  I think it handles the relationships pretty realistically, even in the context of and separated from realism, comic book universe. 


The action was amazing. They really surprised me with how they handled the fight choreography and the use of Ant-Man's powers.  They managed to make the combatants in the fight completely serious and still infuse humor into the fight scenes.  In the climactic fight scene you don't get the Spider-man, I am not really taking this seriously, banter (that is fine for Spidey, it his thing).  The characters are fighting and it feels like a fight,  hate on one side, and a defensive attitude on the other, lightened up by secondary scenes and plays on setting.  This created the perfect tone. 


Go see this movie, heck, take your dad to see this movie, you both will enjoy it immensely.  If you don't have a dad, take someone else's.  My girls took me, and the movie was all the better for it. 

Oblivian-Movie Review (2013)

Wow, quite surprised by this movie. Wasn't really expecting much. I mean, I heard it was better than After Earth, but that doesn't really ring as an endorsement. Two scientologist step into the box office with post apocolyptic stories and Tom Cruise steps out as the box office winner.

This is a long movie, but it doesn't feel long. I looked at the clock towards the end and was stunned that I had already been sitting there for two hours. It isn't a Michael Bay film, so there isn't something exploding and/or giving you a seizure every five minutes. The amazingly beautiful sets and locations are given plenty of screen time for the viewer get lost in.

The plot, although a retread of some other movies felt fresh and approached differently. This movie requires your attention to watch it and get what is going on. My wife was preoccupied and had millions of questions at the end of the movie that I had to explain.

I thought it was great and if you love scifi movies, you will enjoy it. Someone on IMDB stated that millenials shouldn't watch it because they wont appreciate it and it won't keep their attention. Oddly there was no arguement from anyone in that thread. First time ever for an internet thread. I don't know if I agree, My 12.5 year old was enjoying it until she had to go to bed and she will likely finish it up on her own. But maybe my millenial isn't the typical millenial.

***Here there be spoilers*** So the movie stuck in my mind after watching it. I was still thinking about it the next morning. I came to the conclusion that Victoria's memory wasn't as impaired as Jack's. The way she looks at Jack's wife in the sleeping pod and then totally flirts with him as his navigator/co-pilot shows that there is jealousy. She also seems to recognize her when Jack brings her in. My theory is that she remembered more, but knew that she could never be with Jack any other way. Even in their current states the relationship was very onesided with Jack remaining distant. I thought this was communicated very well. Victoria was willing to live a lie and doom humanity as long as she got to be with Jack. What do you think?

X Game (2010)

No it isn't a movie about fliping motorcycles or spinning on skateboards.  X Game is a story of bullying and revenge.  The movie has some okay Gore, it isn't quite over the top like Tokyo Gore Police or Machine Girl.  It wasn't a bad movie and it kept my attention, but it is hardly a memorable movie.  Psychological horror fans should enjoy this. 

House at the End of the Street(2012)-Spoiler Free

I remember seeing the trailers for House at the End of the Street last year and thinking that I needed to see it.  Then it came and went in theaters and I forgot about it.  I don't think it really made a buzz and that is a bit of a shame as the movie wasn't bad. 

Jennifer Lawrence stars as Elissa, a city girl just moving to a rural environment.  The house next door is infamous due to a double murder that happened there.  Turns out the son of the couple married, Ryan (Max Thieriot) still lives in the house.  Elissa, of course, falls for this quiet damaged boy. 

Jennifer Lawrence puts on a much better performance than she did in the Hunger Games as she does seem to have some chemistry with Thieriot.  Thieriot himself plays his part very well.  The mother's (Elizabeth Shue) dialogue comes across as strange.  She keeps saying things like "I am trying to be your mother" that I suppose indicates a back story of an irresponsible mother.  The mother is, however, a doctor, so, I can see absent but not really irresponsible. 

Overall- It was a pretty good movie that plays well as a horror/thriller.  I think it sets itself up for a sequel but don't know if the returns will ever justify making one.  There is some language and I think the PG-13 rating is pretty much accurate.  I might let my 12 year old watch it if she stated interest. 

Warlock- Movie Review

Warlock(1989) was on one of the pay channels recently and I sat down and watched it with my wife and kids.  I haven't seen it in years and years.  My wife had never seen it.  I remember absolutely loving it as a kid.  It is still good.  Well, if you liked it back in the day, it is still good.  If you hated way back when, then you probably won't like it any better. 

The premise of this overlooked movie is that a witch from the 17th century escapes through time before he can be tried.  A witch hunter, whose wife the witch killed, is able to follow him through the portal into the 20th century.  Upon arrival in the 20th century the witch proceeds to summon Satan and get orders to put together the Grand Grimiore, or, as it may also be known, Satan's spell book.  This would give the witch the name of God that he could then say backwards, uncreating creation. 

The movie is a lot of fun and spawned a couple of sequels.  It is rated R in the 1980s system, but might be more of a heavy PG-13 in current standards, for blood, violence, and profanity.  My wife, who will always raise objections if any are to be had, didn't say a word.  She gets scared easily and screamed several times.  If you don't watch it for any other reason, do so to learn the signs that a witch is in your house. 

Does anyone else remember this one?

Movie Review Double Feature

First up in this double feature will be the marvelous Milla Jovovich in The newest entry in the Resident Evil universe; Retribution.  This series has always been a guilty pleasure for me, both the video games and the movies.  I have to say that this was the best entry into the franchise since the second movie.  The movie itself is beautiful and the plot felt like a video game.  For those that don't know, the Resident Evil games usually have an overall objective with a lot of mini objectives as you go on your way.  Escaping the simulation center is the main objective with mini missions of fight through NYC, find the child (boss battle against jill), find the rescue team, car chase (boss battle with the licker), rescue the child (second boss battle against licker), and the escape (final boss battle against Jill and Michelle Rodriguez). 

The important thing about this movie is that it is fun and this one was a lot of fun. 

Second on the list but not in the standings is Dredd, the newest cinamatic take on the iconic 2000 AD comic.  Staring Karl Urban as Dredd himself this movie more than makes up for the Stallone and Rob Schneider mess that made a mockery of the hero so many years ago.  This movie felt more than a little like Raid: Redemption.  This one comes highly suggested.  Karl Urban projects the quiet confidence and rage that is Dredd.  Lena Headey is also in this movie as the big bad and she rocks it.  Olivia Thirlby plays a rookie and if she ever reads this she needs to know that she is much better looking with the blonde hair she wore in the film.

Overall this movie was a whole lot of fun and didn't get the acclaim that it deserved in theaters.  I hope it was successful enough that it gets some sequels.  This movie has been Judged!

Vanishing on 7th St.(2010)

I saw the previews for this movie while watching I Saw the Devil and immediately liked the concept.  Darkness is making people disappear en mass.  The only light you can trust is your own, yada, yada, yada... I wondered why I hadn't heard of it before.  Then I saw the cast of John Leguizamo, Thandie Newton, and Hayden Christensen.  Not exactly "B" movie names. 

Upon watching, I realize why I had never heard of it before.  It was because the movie isn't very good.  It suffers from some pacing issues that probably evolved from the director trying to build suspense by having lights flicker but our main cast stay together for most of the movie.  The movie would have been better served with a larger cast (group of survivors) being picked off in various ways to establish "the rules."  What we get is a lot of confusion and the exposition of what the rules are after the fact. 

Hayden Christensen didn't suck, so that was surprising, but Thandie Newton's performance wasn't that good.  Leguizamo and the kids did all right. 

My biggest issue with the movie is that nothing is explained.  We don't find out how Leguizamo lived in the dark for 3 days only to be killed by it upon finding others.  We don't find out anything about the nature of the darkness or how it causes electricity, even combustion, to not work.  Sure it is likely supernatural, but the days get real short and the nights last forever. That is some pretty strong magic.  We also don't find out how widespread it is.  Why is the movie called vanishing on 7th street when an entire city full of people disappeared. 

The DVD has an alternate ending special feature.  I hope you don't waste your time watching it.  Whoever put it together doesn't uderstand what an alternated ending is.  An alternate ending is an ending that has been changed in some fundemental way so that the movie ends differently.  It is not how many different ways you can edit the last two minutes of footage or at what point you start the music to take you into the credits. 

Overall-The movie was a disappointment.  It could have been could and had a great concept but was executed at an incredibly poor level.  The studios realized this and that is why you have never heard of this movie either.  It has cussing, but no graphic violence (I mean people disappear, but that is it) or adult content.  I would say 10 and up should be safe as long as you don't object to them seeing bad movies.   

I Saw the Devil-Movie Review

I Saw the Devil is Korean thriller from 2010.  It stars Byung-Hun Lee (Storm Shadow from G.I. Joe) and Min-Sik Choi (Oldboy, Shiri).  It is probably one of Korea's most violent movies.

I watched this with a group of friends as part of a horror movie double feature.  The first movie we watched was Cabin in the Woods and we all loved that one and were wondering how we were going to follow it up.  XBMC (X Box Media Center, great way to organize your media in a visually pleasing manner) had this in the horror genre and had it rated higher than Cabin in the Woods and The Thing from 1982.  While my collection of horror is not the most complete, it has some pretty good movies in it and having this as highest rated was intriging, so we all decided this would be the second movie.  We were not disappointed.

The story is a simple revenge plot.  Kim (Lee) is after the serial killer that killed his wife (Choi).  The story does take some twists and turns along the way.

The acting was excellent.  Korea is very good for comedies as the actors tend to over emote, but there was none of that here.  The acors brought the weight into the performance that it deserved.  We attempted to watch it with English language dubs, but quickly changed our mind.  Watch this one in Korean with subtitles.  The English language dub is horrible. 

Overall, it was a great movie.  Not sure it was horror unless you consider man as the scariest monster their is.  I do.  It is our twisted minds that created all these monsters in the first place.  The only problem seemed to be the ability of the characters to recover from harm.  20 bashes to the skull with a metal pipe is going to kill anyone on Earth.  Maybe he should have worked the body with most of those strikes.  If you liked Silence of the Lambs and Taken, this one should be great for you.  I have heard it compared to Oldboy, but I still haven't seen Oldboy.  I don't think kids are ready for this one.  It was almost a 19+ in Korea. 

Cabin in the Woods-Spoiler Free Movie Review

Wow, just wow.  I came into Cabin in the Woods with just the most basic information; the cabin was a construct being controlled.  This isn't a spoiler as it is revealed from the very start.  The rest of the movie was a surprise to me though.  A great surprise at that.  There were three other people in the room and this movie had us all laughing and groaning in sympathetic pain.  It had us hook line and sinker. 

The story was good and a pretty unique take on your general horror movie fare.  It doesn't seem that original at first (group of kids going on a road trip to a cabin) but quickly becomes very intriguing. 

The cast are amazing.  The people in the "lab" are great.  Thor does a pretty good job.  The red head (Kristen Connelly) was scortching hot.  The stoner guy was the perfect comic relief.  There is even a cameo at the end that was excellent.  Slasher films aren't known for their acting but this one is very good. 

Overall, it was a great movie that everyone in the room enjoyed a great deal.  We were doing a double feature and were really worried that the movie that followed it would be a massive let down in comparison.  I say the movie is probably okay for 13+, but only for horror fans as the film can be satirical to the genre and some jokes can be missed.  If you like horror movies, you should get a pretty good kick out of this one.  I give it 5 out of 5 slashes. 

Have you seen it?  What did you think?

John Carter-Spoiler Free Movie Review

John Carter of Mars was disappointing.  It was...too Disney.  I understand that some changes would be needed in order to make the movie work, but the end result of the movie is almost unrecognizable from the book it was based on.  Some of the changes I liked and some of them I didn't quite care for.  I thought the Red Martians should be more read or at least more different than humans on Earth.  The Tarks and Woolah were entirely too cute to be considered threatening. 

Ashli, who has not yet read Princess of Mars, thought the movie was great.  Maybe I will get her to do an unbiased review.  As I feel that reading the book less than a year before watching the movie, may have ruined things for me. 

If you can't tell from the above picture I am in love with Lynn Collins.  This may be compounded by the fact that I was already in love with Deja Thoris. 

Real Steel(2011)- Movie Review

Not unlike most parents, I enjoy seeing my kids get excited.  The excitement wasn’t really there when I fired up XBMC and told them we were going to watch Real Steel.  What I got was, “XBMC random recommends Barbie and the Three Musketeers, lets watch that instead.”  Not to be dissuaded, I scrolled past all the Barbie movies and selected Real Steal. 

I am not sure at what point the movie captured the attention of my girls, but it happened fairly early on.  I think it might have been when Charlie refuses to let the girls take a picture of his robot.  From there the girls were watching, and laughing at the appropriate times, but once Atom enters the movie, they were completely sold. 

I don’t know if you have ever been watching a movie with kids so into it that they are jumping around and screaming while watching it.  Actually cheering for the movie.  If you haven’t, it is a pretty amazing thing.  How can you tell them to settle down when they are obviously having so much fun.  One of them looked at me and said, “I bet you are glad that you didn’t take us to the theater for this movie.” 

I think this will be my entire review.  I could compare it to Rocky or tell you about the acting, but I think the simple enthusiasm that it brought out in my kids is review enough.  Sure it is a movie about robot boxing, but it is a movie about robot boxing that two girls aged 7 and 11 fell in love with.  I liked it too.  I think growing up I would have liked it and reacted in much the same way that they did.  For a minute, while watching this movie I felt like a 10 year old again, and for that alone, this movie gets 4 stars.  Highly recommended.

 

Hunger Games- Movie Review

Having read all the books, I can say that Hunger Games might be one of the best movie to book adaptations I have seen.  There were only a few things that were different and none of them were game changers. 

Jennifer Lawrence had a powerful performance as Katniss and showed us all that pretty faces can have acting chops.  The reaping scene was especially potent and you could feel the pain she was experiencing.  The three finger salute to district 11 was powerful as well and had all three of the girls that I went with in tears.  Everyone else did good jobs, but Lawrence knocked this out of the park. 

If I had to give the movie a flaw, I would have to say that it was in pacing.  It seemed to slow almost to a crawl in certain places, but maybe that was just from the perspective of the rest of the film.  I think any flaws the movie had were from the director as the screen play and the acting where right on target.  An example would be at the reaping.  It takes Katniss a good 15-20 seconds to get moving.  I think the time would have been better served having her fight through the crowd, knock some peace keepers down, be detained, look into Prim’s eyes, and then volunteer.  Lawrence worked with what she was given though and still made it one of the most powerful moments from the film.

The movie isn’t overly violent.  I mean, especially for a film about gladiatorial combat where 24 enter and 1 leaves.  Most death strikes are not shown, but there is a fair amount of blood shown.  I could tell that they were trying to ride that PG-13 line, but they did it in the best possible way.  I wasn’t as thrilled with the second and third books and will be interested to see if the screen writers make any changes to improve that. 

Never Let Me Go- book/movie review

The novel and movie Never Let Me Go are about those volatile times in England that we like to call the 1980s.  Yes, as we learn, the 80s had an organ harvesting program that harvested organs from clones.  I am actually not sure why the Author, Kazuo Ishiguro placed the events of the story in the past.  I have seen the novel called dystopian, but I don’t really agree with that definition.  Most people, not in the organ donor program, live happy, non inhibited lives. 

The novel was very well written and takes place from the perspective of Kathy.  We follow Kathy through her childhood as she befriends Ruth and Tommy.  Ruth is super manipulative and Kathy is weak enough that she allows herself to be manipulated by her for most of the story.  It is pretty obvious that Kathy loves Tommy right from the very start. 

The characters grow, but not as much as you would expect from a novel that covers the span of twenty-something years.  This might be due to the sheltered way in which they grew up.  They do grow, but they never seem to lose the innocence of children.

Two major ideas are presented in Never Let Me Go.  The first is “what makes a human human.  As the children are all clones, do they matter.  Are they real people.  The characters struggle with the idea of having originals and it seems that individually they come to a consensus that their originals were probably not normal members of society.  The second idea explored was that of sacrifice.  Most donors where able to donate about three times before completing.  That is three lives exchanged for the one and I am sure when a donor did complete, they would harvest the additional organs.  So the death of one person can save many lives, and this person (at least someone from Hailsham) lives a pretty comfortable/leisurely life up until they start donating.  Hailsham does close and it is hinted that the other schools are nowhere near this nice.  So the novel asks the questions What is a person’s life worth, especially if the person isn’t really a person. 

Overall, it was a very interesting book/movie that takes place in an alternate past.  I don’t see it as being very realistic though.  I can’t see a humanity that is willing to raise kids as spare parts, clones or not.  I would say the movie and book are 13+ minimum.  Worth a read and a watch.

Super 8-movie review

So this movie had huge hype over the summer.  I was afraid to watch it because of that.  But I dutifully tuned in so that I may inform the Scifi Media viewing community. 

Plot-  Think district 9 but with only one really cool alien.  It is also set in the 80’s and the feel of the movie is totally Goonies.  This is good, great in fact.  Goonies might be one of the greatest movies with a predominantly adolescent cast.  The fact that this movie hit that note is excellent.  Not only did it remind me of Goonies, but it also reminded me of growing up and the way kids were. 

Characters-  Abrams made these kids shine.  In between lens flares you see these kids being kids.  It doesn’t seem like acting.  Elle Fanning showed her chops early by doing the play within a play at the beginning and totally selling it.  While the plot has been somewhat done before the acting in this movie teamed with scripting and directing makes you connect to these kids.  It made me think of growing up and my friends from that time. 

SFX-  Awesome, no draw back here.  They are well integrated and do not stick out like a sore thumb, well except for the constant lens flares. 

Family fun-  It is violent and a little scary at times, but I watched it with my oldest and she enjoyed it quite a bit.  There was a lot of language in it, but there is some language in Goonies as well, though not nearly as much.

Overall-It was a great movie, maybe the best of the summer.  I would say that 12 and up are good ages for this movie or around the ages of the kids in the movie.  Highly recommended. 

Cowboys and Aliens- Movie Review

I don’t know, I just didn’t feel cowboys and aliens.  It was cool until they started going after the aliens and then it just seems like it fell apart and lost me.  It was like they said, let’s do this original concept and then make it 100% cliché. 

Acting-  The acting was fine,  the characters did well enough in portraying their characters and giving off emotion or not depending on who they were. 

The plot-  other than taking place in the wild west, clichéd alien invasion story.  This movie was sold to me as James Bond and Han Solo fight ET in True Grit directed by the guy behind iron man.  It wasn’t really that.  That would have been way cooler. 

I am not going to recommend this movie.  If you think that you might want to see this movie, go check out Enemy Mine.  It will be a more constructive use of your time, in my opinion.  It was an okay movie to have on in the background, but other than the tropes, there was something missing about it that just kept it from drawing me in. 

Thor- Movie Review NCCW

Thor was pretty good.  I say pretty good and not great for a reason.  It just didn't leave much of an impression.  I watched it a few weeks ago and almost immediately forgot it.  While watching it I enjoyed it though.  I am not a huge Thor historian, so I am not sure how close it is to the comic.  I am pretty sure that Thor is a God and not  just mistaken for a God, but actually a super advanced alien race.

Natalie Portman was in this movie along with Kat Dennings.  That was nice.  The guy that plays Thor does a pretty good job and confirmed my opinion that Norse gods would have British accents.

Overall it was a pretty good movie that just didn't have much impact.  Consider it a prequel for the Avengers movie.  While pretty safe for all ages, my girls, 10 &7 lost interest.     

The Human Centipede(2009)-Movie Review

Have you ever heard so many people say that a movie is disgusting and a waste of film that you had to check it out for yourself.  That is pretty much what happened with the Human Centipede and me.

Even some horror bloggers didn't care for this one.  It falls into the torture porn genre, I guess.  I personally see it as a mad scientist type movie as the good Dr's purpose was not to torture but to experiment.

If you haven't heard about this movie, the plot is basically that a mad scientist want to join three people mouth to anus to form a human centipede.  That is pretty much the entire movie.  I guess the torture porn label is kind of apt as the soundtrack is overwhelmed by whimpering, screaming, and sobbing for the most part.

The acting was okay.  It was a low budget film, but all most of the actors had to do was scream and cry.  Not a lot of depth needed.  Dieter was sufficiently creepy.  The girls may get some more scream time in other movies as they are attractive and proved that they are capable.

Overall, it wasn't a great movie, but it wasn't as bad as what everyone led me to believe.  I wouldn't say I enjoyed the movie, but I didn't not enjoy it either.  It was suspenseful and creepy which is what I wanted it to be.  I don't know if saw fans will like it as their is no elaborate contraptions or schemes.  Not sure about Hostel fans either as it isn't really a torture flick.  I would say the best match would be those that like weird Japanese movies.

The second movie is out and I am pretty sure that they upped the weird as it has been banned in the UK.   

Fictional Science Movie Saturday: Contagion

This past weekend, the Beloved and I went to see the new natural disaster film Contagion. Natural disaster film, you say? Absolutely. Much more so than any of the crap that Roland Emmerich’s been churning out (2012, The Day After Tomorrow), Steven Soderbergh’s thriller has a decidedly realistic feeling – so much sometimes so that you can get the feeling that you’re watching a docudrama. You know, if your normal docudrama was populated with Oscar-caliber actors.

In Contagion, Gwyneth Paltrow plays Patient Zero in the outbreak of a particularly nasty and easily communicable viral infection – a very natural disaster. Soderbergh does an almost Pixar-esque bit of storytelling in the opening sequences – the camera moving from a following a slightly sallow Paltrow and lingering on objects she’s touched – a cocktail glass, a cell phone, a doorknob etc. I won’t go into the details but as you can imagine, things get ugly and they get ugly pretty quickly. The CDC and WHO are called into action. Politicians get worried. The populace alternately ignores it and panics.

Much like Soderbergh’s Babel, the story jumps back and forth to several parties as they try to deal with the spreading plague. What’s good is that most of the characters are “normal” people, who make mistakes, miss things, and take chances -- no one seems like a stereotype. The film’s antagonist (besides the virus, I suppose) is a blogger (hah!), played by Jude Law, who professes the “Truth” about the pandemic – that it’s being controlled by a conspiracy of governments and pharmaceutical companies. He promotes a natural product remedy and sows discord between the authorities and a populace that is facing a worldwide death toll in the hundreds of millions.

Now being a scientist, I’ve always watched movies and TV shows that feature research with some trepidation. Usually, there are way too many unrealistic three-dimensional displays, fluorescently colored solutions and “scientific sounding” gibberish. Soderbergh though correctly figured that an all-too-imaginable reality is a lot scarier than ridiculous schlock. To try and maintain scientific cred, he hired the Director of Columbia’s Center for Infectious Diseases as a consultant.

To their credit, the research labs look like research labs. Not too many flashing lights, a lot of plastic pipettes, and data in spreadsheets. The virology, while unlikely, is plausible – it’s contagious, but not super-contagious. It’s lethal, but not 100% lethal, and its made clear that the idea of trying to find a vaccine for a virus like this might cost you a lot of research monkeys and take more than 24 hours to create (I’m looking at you, Outbreak). There were a couple of things that we snickered at, but will likely go unnoticed except by structural biologists.

In the end, I think Contagion was a good-not-great flick that has a few genuinely scary moments -- usually when a character (and you by extension) is contemplating the scope of death and upheaval something like this could cause.

Now I’m going to go wash my hands.

Again.

Priest (2011)- Spoiler Free Review

Whew, sorry about the hiatus.  Had a family situation to attend to, was trapped in the gulf coast due to a hurricane... in New England, and I had promised the girls some things before they went back to school (six flags and camping).  So it has been a busy two weeks.  On to the review!

Priest-  I wanted to see this in the theater.  It just looked really cool and looked like the type of movie that would really pop on the big screen.  I have not read the graphic novel but my give it a look now.

Plot-  Vampires are the monsters that haunt the night and the Catholic Church and their Priests are our only hope.  The movie starts with humans as victorious, but trouble is stirring.  Our hero asks to investigate and is denied the right, but defies his orders and goes out of the fortress city in search of the truth.

Characters-  The priests are supposed to be emotional voids.  Being a cold blooded killing machine can do that to you, but we do get to see some emotion and the audience is able to identify emotionally with the priest without him losing that tough/hard edge.  The Maggie Q character is instrumental in this and the movie would not have worked without her.  She had great chemistry with the priest.

Special effects-  The monsters were really cool, but there was something off on the motorcycle through the desert scenes.  The animation sequence at the beginning was really cool and I can see an animated sequel being done in that style.

Overall-  It was a pretty good movie.  I enjoyed it and watched it with the girls and they seemed to like it too.  It had them jumping in some spots.  I would recommend it to almost anyone.  Parental discretion due to bloody violence.  This one was fun.  

Red Riding Hood (2011)

Amanda Seyfried stars as the titular character in this modern interpretation of Red Riding Hood.  This is modern, apparently, because it involves werewolves and has a romance in it.

Plot-  I mean, as stories go it should have been good.  It had werewolves and a pretty girl.  I think it was trying to cash in on the twilight market, but from what my wife told me the vampire guy wins in that story so it this one is a movie about the losing side.  Because it was a twilight inspired film, it was missing the nice hard edge that generally makes a good horror movie.  For a movie about people that can turn into monster wolves, it was guilty of a most grievous crime for a horror movie,  It was boring.

Characters-  You just don't really care about the characters at all.  The movie doesn't do a good job of making them relatable.  I actually found myself hoping that Red would be turned to a werewolf in the end.  You will have to watch it to find out if she does.  Nor even Gary Oldman could make me care.

Overall-  I am pretty sure that the Red Riding Hood you grew up with was pretty gruesome.  It involved women being eaten by wolves and woodcutters cutting said wolf open.  This current edgy version is much less edgy than the original.  It has werewolves and is less edgy.  It really has very little resemblance to the original story.  The original was a thinly veiled warning for child molestation and stranger danger.  I think you could give this one a pass.  Might want to keep the younger ones away due to some sexuality.  That is some as in not enough to be interesting.