I know I said that I'd do this sometime next week but I decided "Screw It" and decided to be all caught up with these before I move on to other things to blog about. So, without further ado, the rest of the movies I saw earlier this year:
'Warm Bodies' (PG-13) ***
Essentially this is 'Twilight' but with zombies. R (Nicholas Hoult from 'X-Men: First Class' and 'Jack the Giant Slayer') is a zombie who falls in love with a human girl (Teresa Palmer from 'The Sorcerer's Apprentice' and 'Take Me Home Tonight'). However, where 'Twilight' fails and 'Warm Bodies' succeeds is that it has
1) - a much better story.
2) - An intentional sense of humor. It's a romantic horror comedy, and it is genuinely very funny. Rob Corrdry as a zombie is awesome.
3) - An awesome soundtrack.
4) - Doesn't completely mess up with the 'mythology' of zombies. There is a part where I guess the zombies in this universe gain the memories of their victims when they eat their brains, but that's minor since it's still zombies eating brains. It's not too gory (it's PG-13 after all) but still does deliver with the zombie kills.
Overall, it's a funny enough zombie movie that I can recommend. Not as funny as 'Zombieland', but I still liked it. I guess it was originally a book, something I didn't know about until the opening credits were scrolling along. So I guess check that out too. Someone tell me if the book's any good.
"Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters" (R) ***1/4
A continuation of the Brothers Grimm tale in which a now grown up Hansel (Jeremy Renner) and Gretel (Gemma Arterton) go from village to village fighting witches, and stumble upon a case that might have a clue to their childhoods. It's Hawkeye and a former Bond girl fighting witches....what's not to like? Lots of violence and buckets of blood saturate this grown up fairy tale, and it's awesome. At one point they're using a blessed machine gun to mow down hundreds of witches. Yes. A blessed machine gun in the 18th or 19th century, firing off at witches. It. is. Awesome. And quite funny. I had a blast watching it.
'Silver Linings Playbook' (R) ***1/2
Nominated for 8 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Pat (Best Actor nominee Bradley Cooper, from the 'Hangover' movies) just got out of a mental hospital and is living with his parents (Academy Award winner Robert De Niro and Academy Award nominee Jacki Weaver) in Philadelphia trying to put his life back together. Along the way he meets Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence) who also appears to be a little bit crazy herself. Eventually they have to compete in a dance competition, which has more at stake than just a trophy. I guess this movie is also based on a book I had never heard of, but in regards to it's adaptation I liked this movie a lot. It's funny when it needs to be, it's dramatic when it needs to be, just the right balance of both. Performances are all great, with Jennifer Lawrence actually winning the Best Actress Oscar for her role. I guess that kinda sums up my thoughts about this movie. I highly recommend checking this one out.
'Zero Dark Thirty' (R) ***1/2
Nominated for 5 Academy Awards including Best Picture, this 2 hour and a half movie sums up almost ten-year manhunt for Osama Bin Laden, with the first few minutes entirely in black while listening to phone calls made on 9/11 to the last 40 minutes spent on the actual raid of Bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Liberals say it's too conservative with it's scenes of torture, conservatives say it's too liberal since Obama happened to be president at the time, so what did I think of it? I thought it was very suspenseful with a very strong lead performance from Best Actress nominee Jessica Chastain (who's also in 'Lawless', 'Tree of Life' and 'The Help'). It is a little bit of a long sit and sometimes a little difficult to watch, but if you have the time I do highly recommend watching this one.
Well, I'm all caught up. Tomorrow (4/19) I will be posting what to expect the next few weeks from me on this blog. Stay tuned.
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