Shutter Island Review

Film-o-Rama Review by August Meyer

Martin Scorcese's newest film, Shutter Island, is dark, brooding, and filled with so much tension that anyone watching feels as though everything around them could snap at any moment.

To start out with, the film features a cast that would make any director's mouth water. Scorcese regular Leonardo DiCaprio headlines the film, and as always delivers a powerful performance, filled with brutal, restrained emotion, and a constant longing for love lost. This drives the plot as Dicaprio's character, U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels, seeks to uncover the mystery of an inmate's escape out of the psychiatric ward on the ominous Shutter Island, and while he's at it, avenge the death of his wife Dolores, played by the exceptional Michelle Williams. Along for the ride with DiCaprio is Mark Ruffalo, Teddy's newly appointed partner, Chuck Aule. Ruffalo is like a puppy behind DiCaprio throughout the film, but a damn good puppy at that.As Teddy is slowly isolated from everyone on the island, Chuck is right there beside him. His performance adds a constant increase of suspense throughout the movie as he helps Teddy realize what seems to be going on all around them.

If the good guys don't sound fantastic enough, the bad guys give the word "creepy" a whole new meaning. A team of doctors and psychiatrists manage the demented inmates of Shutter Isand, and are headed up by the deliciously brooding Ben Kinglsey. His character, Dr. Crawley, is constantly trying to hinder the efforts of DiCaprio and Ruffalo, and subliminally develops a looming concern for the mental health of our protagonist. In Crawley's mind, he is in control of every little facet of the island, and fosters a devilishly smug attitude throughout the film.

As Scorcese's ode to Alfred Hitchcock, the film kicks off with an incredibly smooth mix of the two prolific directors' styles. The first frame of the movie is a Scorecese signature heart stopping wide shot of what will soon become the two federal marshals' prison, Shutter Island, as their ferry is pulling into harbor. As the audience is mesmerized by the magnitude of what lay before them, music so Hitchcock-esque that all of the movie geeks in the theater nearly wet themselves sets in, and while its at it, sets the mood for the beautifully harrowing adventure ahead.

As if having such an audacious cast, ambitious plot, and unforgettable characters wasn't enough, Scorcese tops it off with a gut wrenching ending that will literally slap you in the face, slug you in the gut, wait for you to regain conciousness, and do it all over again.

This wonderful, and mind boggling film leaves the audience with one question...Would you rather live as a monster, or die as a hero? The film is definitely worth watching...over, and over again.

Kick Ass Review

Film-o-Rama Review by August Meyer

Kick Ass.
At first, I was extremely skeptical of this movie. Based on the commercials promoting the film, I honestly did not expect much. What with Nicholas Cage co-starring, the only redeeming point I could think of watching the trailers was that his always ridiculous hair was covered by a mask for what seemed like the majority of the movie.

I reluctantly went to see the film the weekend it came out, and let me say...it exceeded my expectations, well, kind of. The first half of the movie was a sleeper. And by that, I mean it had me dozing into dreams that at the time seemed much more entertaining than what I had just spent ten dollars on. But I was damn glad I fought my oncoming sleep. The second half was strangely different than its earlier counter part, meaning it was actually "Kick Ass". Chloe Mortez, who plays "Hit-Girl" in the film was what saved it for me. A teeny-bopping little girl carrying weapons of kick ass destruction does that for you. What with her jumping, kicking, stabbing, shooting, and an especially action packed scene lit only by the strobe light attached to her nine millimeter pistol packed the punch the movie desperately needed to stay afloat.

As I have said, a lot of the violence was extremely well done, but in the first half of the movie, it seems as if it were added just to appeal to the "Saw 1-6" crowd. It was over the top, and not in a good way.

The rest of the cast was mediocre, with some who shined more than others, one being Christopher Mintz-Plasse, or as I fondly remember him as...McLovin'. The problem I had with all of the supporting cast was the lack of development. Basically every single one of Kick Ass' friends seemed to be cast soley for comic relief. The bad guy, crime boss Mark Strong was one color acting throughout the film as a stubborn father and underworld kingpin, and most of what happened regarding him in the plot was extremely flimsy and even hard to follow.

All in all, Kick Ass is a fun movie good to see with friends, but don't expect much. This is especially dissapointing when a movie called Kick Ass fails to live up to its title for the better part of it's story.

Video Game Movie Adaptations

Arguably, the biggest, most cursed movies of this day and age are video game adaptations. From the ridiculous Laura Croft: Tomb Raider, to the hilariously cheesy Bloodrayne,and to Doom, which may be the prime example of the lot, there is one thing lacking in all of these films which has caused them to tank in reception critically and financially; quality. Speedy production time, a lack of believable acting and a trend of unfaithfulness to the original material drag down all of these box office bombs in the same way.

Sure, Angelina Jolie's scantily clad Laura Croft in both Tomb Raider movies may have seemed ideal to lure in the drooling masses of fanboys fervently awaiting the films' release, but in it's execution both movies come off as exceptionally corny in almost every aspect, whether it be the questionable special effects or the poorly written and laughable scripts. No self respecting lover of the classic video game series could honestly respect the film makers who brought them the adaptation. They simply do not do justice to the source material.

The Doom franchise, which is revered as one of the greatest achievements in video game history would have seemed to be the perfect candidate for a flashy, action packed movie spin off. But the finished product comes off as a desperate attempt to attract as many unsuspecting fans of the games as possible, before they realize what a pile of junk it really is. Some merit is due to the producers of the movie for coming up with the idea of shooting the latter half of the film in first person, paying homage to the game with which it shares its name. But in doing so, they only managed to add to the effect of total disparity.

In early 2007, news broke of what seemed at the time like a knight in shining armor for this dying breed of movies. The holy grail of video games, Halo, was going to receive a high budget movie of its own, with supervision by one of the highest regarded fantasy film directors of all time, Peter Jackson. The Lord of the Rings director was going to oversee the production which would be directed by newcomer Neil Blomkamp, whom some of you may know as the critically acclaimed director of District Nine...but I'm getting to that. With such an amazing production team, fans of the video games couldn't be happier. The blogosphere began to teem with updates of the movie, a sensation whose pinnacle was a short teaser released on Xbox Live in October of 2007 titled "Halo:Landfall". Critics all around the video game universe were abuzz with praise for the project. That is, until later that same year.

Everything from the production team to film crews were all procured and ready to begin filming, when the finances of the film abruptly fell threw. Not wanting to lose all of the work, time, and effort already invested in the collaborative project, Jackson and Blomkamp decided to pursue an alternative project. This is what most of you will recognize as District Nine. The film was shot entirely in South Africa, Blomkamps birthplace, with a low budget and limited production time. By the time the then independent movie had been finished, it had been picked up by Sony Entertainment for distribution. District Nine went on to receive an academy award nomination for Best Picture, and is currently a front runner for the award alongside Avatar and The Hurt Locker.

Now I'm not saying that if the financing for the Halo movie didn't fall through, it could have been Halo sitting atop that pedestal with James Cameron's Avatar, but what I can say for sure is that many a fanboy and video game fanatic are hanging their heads in reverence at the death of video game adaptations.

Transformers Movie Review

As my first online review, I'm going to start with the one movie that will always have a special place in my heart. Transformers. Now, this is not because it's a movie for the ages or anything like that. The reason why this film will always stay with me is because it is the definition of a Hollywood sellout. In a way, this is a good thing, because without something so chalk full of stupidity, mind numbingly bad acting, and paycheck minded direction, we may not have had such a good example of how bad a movie can be.

Filled to the brim with flashy special effects, mindless displays of female...features, and explosions of that to rival the equally as horrifyingly bad 2012, Transformers is a prime example of what today's movie world really has no use for anymore. For director Michael Bay, a cash in, popcorn movie teeny bopping kids can crowd to is enough, but for people with half a brain, and any regard whatsoever as to what they're hard earned money goes to, Transformers is something to stay away from. Besides the dim witted idiocy of the movie, the most depressing thing about it is the way it hogged the spotlight from movies that really deserved it.

Films such as the brilliant Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez collaborative satire of 1970's B Movies, Grindhouse, and Paul Thomas Anderson's criminally low grossing There Will Be Blood were among the movies overshadowed by Transformers' undeserving reign over box offices across the world.

One thing that I can only hope film makers around the world will learn from this, is to never, ever make the same mistake again. Unfortunately for myself and every other avid movie-goer, my far fetched dream of a world without Transformers will continue to be as such. God help us all.