Category: Movies

I was told I needed to watch The Raid: Redemption, a 2011 movie released by Sony Pictures Classics, because it was so similar to Dredd, and since The Raid technically came out first in 2011, Dredd ripped it off.  The big difference is that The Raid is actually an Indonesian martial arts movie, and Dredd is more of a standard action move.  The Raid is good, but Dredd did not rip it off.

The story follows a SWAT team as they invade a building of criminals in a Jakarta slum to pull out an drug lord named Tama Riyadi.  The SWAT team seems to have the upper hand at first, but soon things spiral out of control, and they are trapped in a building full of criminals that want to kill them.

You would think that with such a straight forward plot that this movie would make sense, but the characters are always doing things that defy logic.  “Hey I could pick up that assault rifle since I am out of ammo, but no I am fine just punching people.”  “Or hey I have a gun and that guy has a machete, but he looks mean so I am going to hide.”  Then there are some plot twists that are not really completely explained.  You get the gist, but it feels like they left something out.

That being typed, the story doesn’t matter.  This is a martial arts movie, so you are watching this movie for the crazy fight scenes, and the cool choreography.  The Raid has them in spades.  The fights were visceral and tense, and the stunt men knew their craft.  This may not have been the most well acted movie ever, but these men were selected because they knew how to throw some fancy punches.

While this movie is a little incoherent, it is a blast to watch.  The action never stops.  The Raid is a perfect fit if you are in the mood for a straight up dumb action movie, or if you want to appear classy because you watch foreign films.

I don’t watch many horror movies.  I can probably count the number of them I watch every year on one hand, but The Conjuring was supposed to be one of the best horror movies from last year, so when my friend asked me to watch it with him I agreed.  I am happy that I did because for the first two thirds of this film it really delivers the chills.

The story is based on the case files of the real-life self-proclaimed Demonologists Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) Warren.  Who are trying to help the Perron family deal with the haunted house they are living in.  The Warren’s must race to deal with this spirit before it kills the Perrons.

There have been about eight billion haunted house movies made, and I am pretty sure that I am not exaggerating, but as a credit to the writers, the 1970’s non-funny Ghostbusters feel of this movie keeps it fresh.  The fact that these were all real people does make it that much more scary as well.

Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga play the Warrens just right.  They are skeptical of people when they need to be, and they are sympathetic true believers the rest of the time.  They made the Warrens feel like real people.  Ron Livingston and Lili Taylor play the very frightened Mr. and Mrs. Perron to a tee.  They are scared and confused just like anyone would be in this situation.

The eerie imagery this movie delivers was always putting me ill at ease, and I was constantly trying to convince the people on screen that they were doing the wrong thing, but they just didn’t want to listen.  To be fair, stupid movie people never listen to me.  This movie might be worth it just to see the horrifying objects that the prop crew found and came up with.

The only problem with this movie is towards the end when we get a good look at the being that has been scaring us the whole time.  It is a let down because it is not half as terrifying as what has been in our heads, but still the first part of this movie is so good that it is easy to forgive a small slip up at the end.

If you are looking for something to give you chills, The Conjuring delivers.  It has creepy imagery and a fresh take on a very well trod premise.  I probably don’t need to see another haunted house movie for awhile, but I can only hope that when I do that they find a way to top The Conjuring.

The Wolverine was one of a multitude of superhero movies that came out in the summer of 2013, and for me it kind of got lost in the shuffle.  But recently a friend let me borrow the extended edition Blu-Ray of the film, and considering how bad X-Men Origins Wolverine was, I am glad that he did because this film was much better.

When a man from Logan’s (Hugh Jackman) past contacts him,  The Wolverine will finally be fighting for his life.  He will have to come to terms with his own immortality, and see if there is still something inside him worth living for.

The story is simple.  Someone wants to take the Wolverine’s extended life for their own, and he has to decide that after all these years if he truly wants to continue living or not.  However, the simple setup allows the story to really dig in to who Logan is, and why he has been fighting for so long.

Fox struck gold when they cast Hugh Jackman as Wolverine.  He is perfect for the part, and now that he has played the role five (sort of six) times, I cannot see anyone else take his place.  If he ever decides to walk away from the character I don’t know what they will do.  The rest of the cast is good in this movie as well, but this is really all about The Wolverine, so without Jackman’s perfect Logan, this movie would have not been a success.

The action scenes are also top notch, and they for once let Wolverine loose to slice and dice his way through his enemies.  I guess in the standard cut some of these scenes were cut down so the film could achieve its PG-13 rating, and that is a real shame because the blood really adds to the visceral nature of Logan’s fighting style.  It is a credit to director James Mangold that he was able frame all the action shots so wonderfully.

If I wasn’t excited for X-Men: Days of Future Past before, this surprisingly good movie has amped up my excitement even more.  I can’t wait to see how the Wolverine’s character evolves even more when he is sent back in time to save the future.  This movie shows why Wolverine has always been the core of the X-Men.

So you may remember MANOS: The Hands of Fate from a review I did earlier, which is one of the worst films of all time, well some crazy people made a puppet play out of it called MANOS: The Hands of Felt.  They are going to sell DVDs of the play, but since I backed it on Kickstarter, I got to download a copy earlier.  I mean how could I not, puppets and bad cinema mixed together and put on stage?  SHUTUP AND TAKE MY MONEY!

So the plot of the play is mostly the some as the movie, with the exception that the story follows the people making the movie who get lost and confused, so they are just kind of making up the movie as they go along while crazy stuff is happening.  Oh yeah, they are also all puppets, so that is a little different.  I am pretty sure that you should at least familiarize yourself with MANOS: The Hands of Fate before you watch this performance.

Granted this movie/play is for a select group of people that enjoy bad films and adore puppets, so pretty much me and all the people that backed the play on Kickstarter.  That would mean there at least 768 of us.  I am glad that their funding campaign was successful because even when it wasn’t making me laugh, it was making me smile.  You can tell they love crappy movies as much as I do, and it was a lot of fun to watch.

If you love puppets and bad movies you should look out for the DVD when it is released, so you can smile along with me.  I hope that the people of the puppet troupe Vox Fabuli continue to make funny puppet stuff, just so I know that there are people like me out in the world.