First of all, I have to admit, I dig Aubrey Plaza. She is easily one of the best things to come o out of the show “Parks and Rec”. I loved “Safety Not Guaranteed” last summer. Needless to say, I was actually looking forward to “The To Do List”. I’m a little past the whole teen sex comedy genre, but I figured Plaza would be enough to make it fun.
I could not have been more wrong. Continue reading Aubrey Plaza and great cast can’t save dumb ‘To Do List’
Releasing a horror movie in July may seem like the first sing of a terrible movie. In fact, I’m probably in the majority that feel that most scary movies today aren’t even scary. This my friends, is where “The Conjuring” separates itself from the rest of the pack and establishes itself as one of the scariest movies in recent memory.
Based on real life events — yeah, it’s one of those — The Conjuring tells two stories. One is the story of the typical family, the Perron Family, who move into a new house to start a new life, etc. The other story is that of Ed and Lorraine Warren, the real life paranormal investigators who witnessed a demonic possession in the Perron’s house.
It may sound like the typical and generic set-up and it may be…but the results are anything but typical. Continue reading ‘The Conjuring’ is a scary movie that dares to be scary
This happens with sequels. A studio catches lightning in a bottle, makes money, tries to duplicate formula and gets mixed but disappointing results. That seems to be the biggest problem with “RED 2”, starring Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, and Helen Mirren.
Everyone is back, which is good I guess. But they don’t seem to be having as much fun. Maybe it’s the plot, which involves Marvin (Malkovich) trying to convince Frank (Willis) their lives are in danger when they are framed for something to do with an old weapon program during the cold war.
So once they are on the run, they have to drag Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker) along, because all she is doing is complaining she wants a gun and wants something to do. This is precisely what kills this movie. Too many characters and not enough for them to do. Continue reading ‘RED 2’ is more of the same but not in a good way