Since the 4th of July holiday has derailed my Camp Nanowrimo’ing, why not post about movies?

In Theaters

The Heat – Hilarious.  If you are a fan of Melissa McCarthy and/or Sandra Bullock, you will not be disappointed.

 

 

World War Z – Completely unlike the book, but still pretty great.  Just try to think of it as a more typical zombie action/thriller (rather than a complex social commentary, like the book).  I’m always a bit disappointed when the zombies are “fast” instead of the traditional shufflers.  In the book, this was explained by the virus needing to spread.  The movie makes no such explanation.  Still, it’s very watchable.

Monsters University – The plot was a little predictable, but this was just as fun as Monsters Inc.

 

 

Now You See Me – Loved this.  Made me want to go to a magic show in Vegas.  Also made me watch to watch “The Prestige” again.

 

 

The Hangover 3 – Meh.

 

 

 

On DVD

The Call – Decent thriller that certainly kept me on the edge of my seat.  Since I watch a lot of horror movies, I was ready for it to go to a more torture-porn place, but it didn’t.  Although I was not a huge fan of the ending.

 

Identity Thief – I love both Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy, but this was just okay for me.

 

 

Side Effects – An interesting thriller… it’s hard to have an original twist these days.

 

 

The Collection – In the tradition of Saw, this was more about creatively gory ways for people to die than a coherent plot.

 

 

Stitches – If you enjoy horror comedy, I highly recommend this one.  The tagline says it all: “Never accidentally kill a clown at a party.”

 

 

John Dies at the End – The book was really funny, and this movie somehow makes sense of it while keeping the humor.

 

 

Silent Hill: Revelation – Certainly creepy, I love the imagery.  Plus Kit Harrington (Jon Snow from Game of Thrones) costars.

 

 

Chasing Mavericks – Sometimes I check out movies from the library not because I especially want to see them but because I’m bored.  I wasn’t particularly excited about this one, since I felt like the whole movie was in the preview… but I was pleasantly surprised to enjoy it.  Of course Gerard Butler isn’t bad to look at.  I admit, I got a little teary at the end…

 

Silver Linings Playbook – Being a fan of Bradley Cooper, I wanted to see this since before it hit theaters, but somehow I never got to see it, even when it hit theaters again during Oscars season.  It was the best movie I’ve seen in a long time.  Don’t miss it!!

 

Horror Movie Remakes

Mother’s Day (1980) vs. Mother’s Day (2010) – I thought this was going to be a complete remake, but the new movie took the idea of the old – a family of criminals and murderers led by their mother – and created a whole new plot.  The original was pretty hilarious in that campy awesome way of movies from the early 80s.  The new version is not campy.  Mother is played by Rebecca de Mornay and she is quite frightening.  I loved the group dynamics situation of a house full of hostages, as well as the family dynamics angle.  There were perhaps too many layers in this movie.

Texas Chainsaw – This is not a remake.  Close enough.  It is the third in the revamp of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise.  For some reason, this film used footage from the original TCM to set the stage for a sequel involving the heir to the family’s house, which also includes a secret room containing Leatherface.  It was typical horror movie fare, with the group of partying young people getting massacred, with none of the campy humor of the originals.