Recent movies I'm too lazy to give a full review to...

21 Jumpstreet: Hilarious. I almost want Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill to try dating... literally some of the best chemistry I've ever seen.

Another Earth: Interesting moral questions are raised though not far from predictability. Wonderful acting and lovely production work make this a solid watch.

The Artist: A sentimental love-note to the movies. Wonderful, but a tad overrated and contrived.
 

Carnage: The acting is what makes it.

The Descendants: A generic Oscar nom that runs about a half hour too long.

Drive: An artsy, high-quality Fast and the Furious. Well done indeed.

Friends with Kids: Funny at times, but it gets dry and I didn't like the ending at all. I saw lost potential.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: Great direction and acting, but I would have understood a lot more had I read the book.

Hugo: Incredibly imaginative.

Hunger Games: You know, sometimes it's OK to stray from the book. You know, to avoid simply recapping all the events of the story without adding anything but Jennifer Lawrence's face. Very dull, in my opinion, but it's still exciting to see the story that was so intoxicating. Regardless, I suggest reading the books.

Immortals: Too much stupid, not enough action. Just re-watch 300.
Blind.

Just Add Water: Just add boring. It's an average flick, at times entertaining with witty bits.

Melancholia: If you aren't deeply terrified at this movie, you're a sociopath. A little on the slow side, but for good reason.

Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol: International and gripping.

The Muppet Movie: Meta-cinematic, soaked in wit, and fully entertaining for all. 

Scream 4: What a tribute to the original!

Shark Night 3D: Weren't there supposed to be a lot of sharks attacking people in this movie? Cause I remember one... maybe two.
Blind.

Perfect Sense: Very disturbing and still subtle.

The Sitter: A morally confusing but sentimental adventure.

Twilight: Breaking Dawn Pt. II: My first adventure into the realm of Twilight, and it consumed me like... well, you know. Retarded, but thoroughly entertaining and way better with the Riff trax.

Wanderlust: Surprisingly quippy and very fun.

Review of "The Devil Inside"

The Devil Inside
Starring: doesn't matter
Directed by William Brent Bell
My Recommendation: All depends on your attitude,
but I say go for it.

Horror is always my go-to drama, but I felt an instinct pulling me towards The Devil Inside. Though I'll admit I was pretty psyched to see this, as ticklish as the previews were, I wasn't walking along deluding myself into thinking that I was about to experience a genuinely riveting and mentally stimulating cinematic art piece. Instead, I was pleasantly anticipating something that would hopefully have a few scary moments and a few funny ones. I think that's the right mindset to have going into it; it prepares you for a softer let down and if it actually turns out amazing, like Drag Me To Hell, it's an even bigger reward! Now, that wasn't the case with The Devil Inside, but I was pretty decently entertained regardless. But that's not how critics nor audiences felt about it. RottenTomatoes.com yielded a 7% approval rate and IMDB.com was slightly more generous with 3.8/10. I feel the need to plea the defense. You see, The Devil Inside is as stupid as it is scary, but what separates it from lesser quality films is simple: the thrills are still there. A dark room may be necessary accompaniment, but this film delivers what it promised. It's a titillating ride with frequent moments of eye-rolling dialogue, but that's how a crappy horror film does it and in my opinion, The Devil Inside does it right.

That being said, I have to make fun of it a little. The film copies The Blair With Project, setting itself up as a documentary with the camera man as a main character. Unlike the former, this film often loses sight of the attempted genre. Regardless, it is a workable backdrop for the story of Isabella Rossi and her mother, who resides in a psychiatric facility near the vatican after her attempted exorcism killed three church members. Isabella wants to find out what happened to her mother, so she leaves with a camera and the documentary's director to visit her mother for the first time in twenty years. The fun ensues from there. My favorite blunders are when the shots cut to angles taken from a camera that doesn't exist. Seriously. I mean, in one shot the camera is angled over Isabella Rossi's shoulder. In the next shot, the camera is facing the front right side of her face, angled near where the other camera should be. But it isn't there. I should say that actually cinematography is not atrocious throughout the film, but it's just fun to point out the boners.

So, in conclusion, I had a good time watching this movie and you can to if you just turn it on with the right mindset and a little bit of weed.

Review of "The Five Year Engagement"

I saw this a week ago, so unfortunately this review will be unjustly short, but here it goes. I need to start out by admitting that I love Jason Segel. Those puppy-dog looks and ironic but raunchy sense of humor are irresistible.  How does he manage to combine that playful ideal-boyfriend type with grotesque humor and wit into a perfectly blended java juice smoothie of a talent? He appeals to all areas of the gender spectrum. He's a genius and The Five Year Engagement only proves this further.

Now, normally I only watch romantic comedies under two conditions:

1) If someone recommends it to me and I have to watch it in order to shut them the fuck up.
2) If I'm 15 or younger and I need somewhere to make out.

The Five Year Engagement
Starring: Jason Segel, Emily Blunt, Chris Pratt
Directed by Nicholas Stoller
My Recommendation: Do it and do it NOW. 

Obviously, I don't get around to it too much anymore. Usually, these movies aren't really funny enough to be comedies but they're too lame, predictable and poorly acted to be dramas. They tend towards formulaic cheap entertainment that just doesn't do it for me. If I'm going to watch a stupid movie, it's going to be a horror film (see my review of The Devil Inside next). Anyway, this is where The Five Year Engagement prevails: it's absolutely hilarious from beginning to end and the troubles breaching Violet (Emily Blunt) and Tom's (Jason Segel) relationship seem real. Of course you know how it's going to end going into the movie, but while you're watching it the outcome isn't so clear. There are enough loose strings flailing about at the end of the film that have left me, even a week after seeing it, still finding myself fretting over how they're going to make their love prevail in spite of the problems.

The question in Engagement is one that strikes most modern relationships: career or love? Both Violet and Tom are working professionals in differing fields: she is pursuing her dreams in psychology (or psychiatry, same difference) while he is a sous-chef at a hot restaurant in San Francisco.  She gets a great opportunity in a small town in Michigan - a culinary desert - after their engagement. This postpones the wedding plans and they have to move. The resulting evolution of Tom's character is hence the most interesting element of the movie. The man becomes so far from what he was, but in the most humorous way possible. Honestly I couldn't help but think of pants-less Marshall Erikson on the couch sulking over Lily - pathetic but still adorable and hilarious.

So, what my shortened review is trying to convey is simple: I don't like rom-coms but this one was different, so I liked it. However, it is still part of the genre. You'll find yourself cooing over their relationship - and I mean that literally. The script is solid and the ensemble cast leave barely any room for silence between laughs and gasps. My favorite scene was between Violet and her sister (played by Alison Brie) discussing Violet's problematic love-life via the personas of Cookie Monster and Elmo. My only qualm is the lack of chemistry between Blunt and Segel. Though their relationship troubles were very real, the love lacked convincing.

The Five Year Engagement won't be in theaters much longer, but I highly recommend seeing it now. It's a treasure!