Once I had heard that this film was being filmed in my area, and would take place in the city of Syracuse. NY I was intrigued and could not wait to see it. If you have not heard of this movie it stars John Cuzack, and Emma Roberts. Ms. Roberts plays a young suburbanite who has recently graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in Poetry, and aspirations to be a famous Poet. She fails to get anything published and her parents are sick of paying for her expenses. She seeks employment, but cannot seem to get hired anywhere , but at an adult bookstore named "Adult World". Funny thing is there really is an Adult World in Syracuse, but it is nothing like the one in the film. One day she happens to come across one of her favorite poets, and resident of Syracuse, Rat Billings(played by Cuzack).
I found this film to be interesting at first, because it showed great aerial views of the cityscape, the SU campus, and downtown area. But this was not enough to make this supposed comedy worth watching. I found Roberts interpretation of a CNY suburbanite to be extremely annoying. She was loud, obnoxious, and overall very annoying of a character. The plot of the film seemed stupid as it's about how this girl doesn't have a clue that she will not be the next famous writer, and how her mentor is basically using her for a cleaning lady while mocking her the whole time. For some reason a college graduate is so vacuous that she misses this.
I did find it cool that they featured the Gear Factory, which is one of Syracuse's galleries. It also featured the artwork of local CNY artists.
I found the movie to be too unbelievable and even the snow scenes in the film did not do the region justice, and it must have been filmed early or very late in the winter season. Overall this movie was just okay. I would never watch it again, and as resident of CNY can somewhat brag that a film was created here. No one has paid me to review this film , and I rented a copy with my own money.
I came across this film in a listing of 10 horror films that should be seen to be believed or something like that. As I watched this I had seen the ending of this film a very long time ago on IFC, which is who produced this movie. I rented a copy of it from Netflix, and no one is paying me to review this, which I will give my honest opinion on this film.
The movie does not start out at all like a horror film, and I kept asking myself...."why is this considered horror?" You see it starts out with a skanky girl named Erica, and we see how she goes from bar to bar just picking up random guys and sleeping with them. We later learn that she lives in a room for rent establishment and pays for her board by cleaning. The film jumps all over the place, and shows different players in the film. This really confused me, as the story telling is not right in your face and direct. The viewer kind of has to play detective and figure it out as the film progresses.
One of the other characters that is introduced is a man named Nate, who lives on the same floor as Erica. He seems to be a strange loner, who shyly observes Erica, and later helps her get a job where he works. One day he tells her this bizarre story about how he used to torture animals as a child. Creepy. They slowly develop a relationship, but not in the way one would expect.
At one point in the film Erica reveals just why she sleeps around, and "never fucks the same guy twice". She tells someone how when she was 4yrs old her mothers boyfriend raped her. So is she the victim or the villain?
I don't want to spoil this film for those who have yet to see it, but it has been called a revenge film, and if you put together all of the stuff I have mentioned already you may get an idea of just what happens to make this be considered a horror film. I liked this film, and rated it 4 out of 5 stars. I think it was a bit confusing at times, but kind of made sense in the end. There is no real marking the separation of time events, but only through paying attention to the dialogue. We also see near the end just why the film is named what it is, and this was another one of those moments where you had to pay attention to catch it.
I just rented and finished watching this film starring Joaquin Phoenix, which was written/directed by Spike Jonze. My first impression of this film was that it really reminded me of The Lonely Guy a film from the 1980's that starred Steve Martin. If you have not heard the plot of this movie it is basically about a lonely man who months ago ended a relationship, and eventually falls in love with his computer's OS.
Yes, I know it sounds really strange and bizarre. I have always found these types of things interesting though. The Operating System is a new kind that is always learning, and seeking to become a better match to it's owner. This would be great if we had OS's that could be intuitive, and no what we like and could think somewhat.
To get on with some things about this film I noticed that the women of this future are just extra complicated even more so than present day people. I say this because Theo goes on a date with this woman, and she seems to be really connecting with him, and as the viewer you are kind of hoping that something develops, but then this would be the end to a strange film. His date gets really weird, and then says to him, which floored me and I thought was really strange....she says "You're really creepy" kind of guy. This was said after she was talking about them being different types of animals, and an almost hot/intense make out scene. Also this future is one in which people do not write their own correspondence, as it's written by people like Theodore who works for a Letter Writing company. The main character to me seems like a very normal sort of man, and everyone else seems so out of touch and strange. But this movie is about so much more than just the main character being alone, but with undertones that make me think of today's society how people look down at their cell phones, and do not really interact. You see this through out the film, as he commutes to his work the viewer sees that every one else is busy talking to their computers.
As these OS's become more self aware they then surpass their humans in thought, and intelligence. I won't say anymore about this and would not want to spoil this film for those who have not seen it. I rated this 4 stars out of 5 on Netflix.
As a final thought I feel the need to mention that no one has offered me money nor am I being paid to write this review. I have used some amazon links for which I get a very small commission if someone chooses to purchase something.
This film debuted on HBO on May 25th of 2014, and I guess it was based on a book of the same name., which was also a Broadway play.
I watched half of this on the premiere night, and DVRed the rest to watch the following day. This movie had an all star cast, such as Mark Ruffalo, Julia Roberts, and Jim Parsons. It is somewhat based on the authors life, and people he knew. The main theme of this film is the development of AIDS epidemic in the early '80's, and the fight by certain individuals to get the public to notice. It was also to get the healthcare community to react, and look for a cure. This was a very touching movie, and now it is hard to imagine, just how frightening this must have been at the time. I do remember growing up and how wide spread the fear of getting this virus affected everyone, and how at first they thought only gay men could get it. I think the actors did a great job of convincing the viewer of just how traumatic this time period was. Even if this film didn't have an all star cast I still think this would have been a good film, but I think having these actors will help to get more people to watch this film.
Just like the virus does not discriminate based on sexual orientation I do not think that you have to be gay to enjoy and get something from this movie. This movie is very sad at times, and there is a lot of deaths, but that was the main point in getting the public to respond to this epidemic. There is strong sexual content, so if certain things bother you perhaps you can fast forward through those parts. I have rated this film 4 out of 5 stars, and recommend everyone to watch it.
I just recently saw this film, and I recalled seeing the trailer a long time ago, and thinking that it looked like an interesting film.
Here is one of the trailers for this film.
The story of this movie is that a guy named Bart is in the service, and he gets killed while serving in the middle east. He awakens to find himself in bad shape, as his mouth is sewn shut, and he is filthy. He tries to rationalize that perhaps he was buried alive, and has no idea how long it has been. He tracks down his best friend, and approaches him to get some help figuring out just what is different about him. His friend is kinda freaked to see him suddenly alive, and almost thinks it's someone playing a cruel joke on him. He let's him in and together they realize that Bart is decomposing, but seemingly alive at the same time. Through various experiments, and research online they come to the conclusion that he is a Revenant, which is an undead being that lives on the blood of the living. Bart has to drink blood to stop decomposing, and when it is daytime he returns to a dead like state. He seems like a vampire, but looks like a zombie. Together these friends decide that they best way to provide blood for his friends survival is to become vigilantes, and at the same time help save people from criminals. While they are pursuing this scheme Bart has unknowingly started something that is not revealed to almost the end of the film. I will not spoil this, and tell you just what happens, but it is a nice unexpected twist that further makes this a great movie. I really enjoyed this movie, and think that if you have an interest in dark comedies or zombie/undead films that this is the movie for you. I rated this 4 out of 5 stars on Netflix.
I recently just finished reading 20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill. If you have been following my channel you know how much I like Joe Hill's other works, and could not wait to read this collection of short stories. This book is actually his first published work. I did a review of his first published novel, which came out after this publication, and I was very impressed by how deep that book was. That was my first impression of this author, and that review can be seen here down below -
Besides that review I had also reviewed his newest book NOS4RA2, and made a tribute page on Squidoo. So I have been a fan of this author for quite a while now. Below is my progress, and a brief synopsis of each story contained within this book.
If someone were to ask me just what were my favorite stories from this book I would have to say 20th Century Ghost, and The Black Phone were the best in my opinion. The main title story was really sad, because it was a bout a girl who was a movie fan, and just happened to die from an aneurysm while watching the Wizard of Oz. She never got to see the end of the movie, and her ghost had a special relationship with the theatre owner. So the ending of that story was very touching. The Black Phone was good because it was the fantasy of the pedofile getting what he deserved in the end.
While I love Hill's other works I just found this book to be an average book, and he has written much better works since this. If you are a fan of his other novels or perhaps a fan of his father than I do think you should give this book a fair chance.
"Last Breath - Creepy Doctor keeps last breaths in a museum...saw that ending coming. Dead Wood - Can trees be ghosts? The Widow's Breakfast- Sad story about hobos, and a widow. Bobby Conroy Comes Back From the Dead - Love story well sort of man reminisces about an ex girlfriend."
I know that in the last year the rise in popularity of The Book Thief has more people wanting to read this novel, and it was recently made into a film. I'll admit that I own a copy of this book, but like so many others that I own I have yet to read it. So when I heard that they was a film version out I just couldn't wait to see it.
I have to say that I was very impressed with the film, and cannot wait to read the book. This movie did not have any recognizable movie stars in it, but it was still very good. I appreciated the fact that this story involves the civillian population during WW2 versus combat films or films that only focus on the Holocaust portion of that history.
If you have not heard of the book or the film the story starts out with the introduction of the main character named Liesel, who is a young girl who is being adopted, as her mother (who is later said to be a communist) is giving up to an older German couple who do not have children of their own. In the movie it starts out being narrated by a man's voice that the viewer is unsure of who it is, and you do not guess the identity of the voice until the middle of the film. Liesel travels with her brother who was also promised to the older couple, but he dies along the way. At his burial is where she finds a book that has been dropped by one of the grave diggers, and she quickly picks it up in her grief maybe as a reminder of her dead brother. She has a rough start upon meeting her new parents, and she wants to sleep clutching the book that she found, but cannot read. She does not know how to read. When she gets sent to school and asked to write her name on the board all she writes are x's, and the other children laugh at her. Her adoptive father finds the book as she is clutching it to her as she goes to sleep. He asks her about it, and see's that it does not seem to be an appropriate book for a young girl. He then learns that she does not know how to read, and then offers to teach her. While learning to read another dilemma reveals itself in the form of a mysterious young man who soon visits the old couple after the events of kristallnacht,
which was a big event in Holocaust events of this war. The young man named Max is the son of a man that "Papa" knew from the war, as his life was saved by his father, and he owes it to the young man to help him in anyway he can. They choose to give the young man refuge in their home. The family attends a book burning where such books as H.G. Wells The Invisible Man is one of the books suspect by the Nazi regime as corrupting the German people. This film goes over so many different things that were occurring at the time period of the Third Reich. Such as the air raids, and the villagers having to hide in the air raid shelter until the sirens signal the okay to come out. The searches conducted by the Nazi's of random basements to root out people in hiding, such as Jews, communists or any of the many people they were opposed to. The film also touches upon the feelings about the other races, such as when Rudy a neighboring boy says he wants to be like Jesse Owens "the fastest man in the world", and his father is told to teach his son if he wants to remain in the party. We also get to see just how desperate the Reich had gotten, by recruiting (conscription) very young boys, and men too old for duty. I will not reveal too much more about the film, as I do not want to spoil it. But I did find this film to be very touching, and very sad at times. As I stated before I very much enjoyed it, and rated it 4 out of 5 stars. While I do not think it is 100% based on real events it is a very good tool to teach people about the Second World War.
