Quick Movie Review

House at the End of the Street (2012, USA) | Rating: 2/5
Jennifer Lawrence was at the peak of her career in 2012 and she seemed like the go to girl of Hollywood. So, of course, 2 out of 3 movies was going to succeed while the other seemed like a "eh, why not, seems easy enough" gig. The movie wasn't horrible, but like most recent thrillers it lacked relatability or chemistry from character to audience. You simply don't care what happens to these characters. The movie attempts to provoke sympathy through the antagonist and Lawrence's relationship with her mother, but it simply falls flat and just goes with the motions sloppily for the sake of getting to the cliche climax. Lawrence's acting efforts try to save this bland story and her character does break the mold of helpless female leads, but it cannot save this forgettable horror.



The Wolverine (2013, USA) | Rating: 3.5/5
As much as I'm annoyed that filmmakers seem confused on what direction to take with the X-Men franchise, I was looking forward to this movie. I know a lot of people were disappointed in the previous Wolverine movie and it seems like this one made up for it, whether people completely enjoyed it or not. I think it was an improvement as well. It was exciting, action packed, and actually had some character development. There were some twists in there as well that I couldn't even predict. The villain wasn't extremely strong, but I thought they were kinda cool. Honestly, I think the women stole the show from Wolverine.



Evil Dead (2013, USA) | Rating: 1.5/5
As someone who hasn't seen the original, I was never really interested in seeing this remake nor intrigued to watch the original after watching this one. So, why did I watch this movie and am reviewing it right now? This review simply exists because someone requested my thoughts on the remake. I must admit it looked good and the acting wasn't bad, but the level of unnecessary gore, bland story, and characters you don't care about retracts from those small positive things. There was an excessive amount of blood and that took away from the high production visuals. For a more in depth review, check out Ophelia's review. For the most part, I agree with everything she had to say about the movie.



The Conjuring (2013, USA) | Rating: 4/5
I've been waiting to see this movie since I saw the teaser. It felt like a breath of fresh air. I finally saw it with my mom and I'm happy to say that this was very satisfying. James Wan continues to keep us on edge and guessing which I love and miss from the genre, especially after seeing Evil Dead. The balance between the Perrons and Warrens kept things interesting, the slow pace added to the tension, the distribution of sound and silence was cleverly done, and the camera angles are uniquely Wan. Glancing over the negative reviews, it seems like people expected the jump scare, gore fest that's been plaguing the cinemas for so long. This isn't your Paranormal Activity or your standard possession movie. On the surface it may seem cliche, but when you actually watch it brings so many new vantage points than its predecessors of this generation and if you're looking for more of the same, then skip out on this disappointment. For the most part, I agree with Ophelia's take on the movie. My only negative was the first reveal of the main ghost. I would've liked to wait a little longer to see it. A little mystery to add to the terror.



Trance (2013, UK) | Rating: 3/5
I didn't know about this movie until I saw Film Brain review it. It seemed interesting and I enjoy movies that deal with manipulating the mind. It reminded me a little of Inception, but at a faster pace. Unfortunately, my mind couldn't keep up with that fast pace and I'm sure the copious amount of explanation at the end is for those who are in the same boat. Normally, I could keep track of everything, but for some reason the writing was a bit too loose. It was still enjoyable and interesting enough to find out the conclusion. The visuals were also very intriguing.


If there's something you want me to review (or want a more in depth review of the movies above or previous ones), check out this post on how you can submit requests.

Quick Movie Reviews

Title: 6 souls (2010)
Alternate Title: Shelter
Starring: Julianne Moore, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Jeffrey DeMunn
Synopsis: A female forensic psychiatrist discovers that all of one of her patient's multiple personalities are murder victims. She will have to find out what's happening before her time is finished.
Rating: 2/5

Multiple personalities or possession? Science or faith? These are the things weighed in 6 Souls. You're not going to like this one if you expect a fast pace or any real scares. It's a slow building attempt at a thriller. The only real saving grace to the tedious pace is Jonathan Rhys Meyers as he portrays several different personalities with accents and mannerisms.

Title: V/H/S (2012)
Starring: Calvin Reeder, Lane Hughes, Adam Wingard
Synopsis: When a group of misfits is hired by an unknown third party to burglarize a desolate house and acquire a rare VHS tape, they discover more found footage than they bargained for.
Rating: 1/5

I've never been fond of the found footage format, but I gave it a try anyway. 10 directors and 24 producers over six segments couldn't save this attempt at anthology horror. I was more bored than anything throughout. This was one of the few movies where I was watching the clock wondering why there was still half an hour left.  At a little under two hours, this one really should have been much shorter.

Title: Dark Skies (2013)
Starring: Keri Russell, Josh Hamilton, Dakota Goyo
Synopsis: As the Barret family's peaceful suburban life is rocked by an escalating series of disturbing events, they come to learn that a terrifying and deadly force is after them.
Rating: 1.5/5

Dark Skies offers nothing new in the format of horror or science fiction. Slow paced and often tedious, I didn't find myself really caring what happened to the family. There were some moments when I thought there would be some buildup, but the payoff came and went with no resolution. This one suffers from being too mediocre.

Title: The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (2013)
Starring: Steve Carell, Jim Carrey, Olivia Wilde
Synopsis: When a street magician's stunts begins to make their show look stale, superstar magicians Burt Wonderstone and Anton Marvelton look to salvage on their act - and their friendship - by staging their own daring stunt.
Rating: 2.5/5

Overall, The Incredible Burt Wonderstone is a fairly decent parody of popular magicians. Jim Carrey steals the scenes that he's in with his take on shock magicians like Criss Angel.  Alan Arkin and Steve Buscemi also do a good job in supporting roles. Olivia Wilde is as lovely as always. However, the biggest downfall is how annoying Steve Carell's character is.

Title: Snitch (2013)
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Jon Bernthal, Susan Sarandon
Synopsis: A father goes undercover for the DEA in order to free his son who was imprisoned after being set up in drug deal.
Rating: 2.5/5

Stupid kids should be learn from their mistakes. Instead, Dwayne Johnson jumps in to save his son by trying to set up drug dealers for the police. He sets aside his other child and wife to chase these criminals regardless of whether he gets himself killed. This was an average action flick that attempted to be more intelligent than others.

Review: Spring Breakers

Starring: Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson
Directed by: Harmony Korine
Language: English
Rating: R
Running Time: 94 minutes
I wasn't really interested in seeing this movie, until I saw a review on Pretty Much It. Their response to this movie was surprising and it tempted me to check it out for myself.


Faith, Brit, Candy, and Cotty are bored of college life and are ready to go wild for spring break. The only problem is that they lack the funds to take the trip they want to Florida. Brit, Candy, and Cotty devise a plan to rob a restaurant for the money and the girls enjoy their time in Florida together.

If you're expecting to see former Disney starlets being topless, then this movie is not for you. Sorry, semi-pedos, but you will be sorely disappointed in the lack of nudity from Selena and Vanessa. Now that that's out of the way, I didn't know what to expect from this movie completely. I had to re-read the plot of the story a few times for it to stick in my head, before watching it. I must admit the first few minutes didn't look that promising. Beer, boobs, and dubstep: the essentials of spring break in 2013. I honestly thought this would be quite trashy, especially seeing a "thugged out" James Franco on the cover, but I wasn't going to stop the movie just yet. After the off putting introduction, the movie calms down, becomes a little more experimental visually, and takes a slightly more serious approach, despite the characters being bit lewd with non-verbal sex jokes.


The story could be viewed as simple, but somewhat deep. This might seem like a simple spring break movie with a bunch of girls in bikinis party hopping and doing the supposedly stereotypical college shenanigans (i.e. drinking, drugs, and sex), but this movie ends up being something more. The situation isn't overly complicated, but it is a conflict that isn't typical in these types of movies. From what I read and what I see, this could be viewed as a fantasy of taking risks to provide a good time and perhaps good memories with your closest friends.

The acting was pretty good. It wasn't something to get too detailed about, but a few characters were a bit laughable in the portrayals. I believe it was supposed to be that way though such as James Franco as Alien, a rapper and drugs and arms dealer. It's exaggerated, but it isn't annoying or out of place for this sort of movie. What I really liked about the movie is the way it is shot and edited. The movie has a nice balance of giving the audience that typical spring break feeling of excess and scandal, but also deals out a hand of danger and consequence. It also has this artistic, experimental feeling with colors to separate both atmospheres and music. One example of this balance is a scene with the girls and Alien at a poolside piano singing Britney Spears' "Everytime".

It's hard to give this movie the praise it deserves without ruining the movie. Aside from what I said previously about what I like about this movie, it was nice to have some sort of consequence for the characters whether they're satisfying or not to the audience, I've seen way too many movies where characters do bad things and they don't receive any type of punishment. This movie does deserve its R rating and some of the dialogue is quite laughable and unnecessary, but those things don't take away too much from my enjoyment of the movie.


Rating: 3.5/5

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Review: The Mentalist (TV Series)

Title: The Mentalist
Starring: Simon Baker, Robin Tunney, Tim Kang, Owain Yeoman, Amanda Righetti
Created by: Bruno Heller
Genre: Crime, Mystery, Drama
Country: United States
Language: English
Episodes: 116
Seasons: 5
Years running: 2008 -
Status: Currently Airing
Synopsis: An infamous 'psychic' abandons his public persona, outing himself as a fake, to focus on his work as a consultant for the California Bureau of Investigation in order to find "Red John," the madman who killed his wife and daughter.

What do you get when you add a fake psychic and a group of stoic agents together in an attempt to chase down a serial killer? The answer would be entertaining television. Patrick Jane is an infamous former psychic who made his living reading people on a television reality show. It was never hard for him to quickly learn things about him that they believed no one could ever know. These little pieces of information would lead him to conclusions about deceased relatives and loved ones. Most would never believe that he'd faked any of his psychic abilities. Yet, Jane was doing just that. When his wife and daughter are murdered after he taunted a serial killer the police were searching for, Jane makes finding the killer his life's mission. This leads him to work with the California Bureau of Investigation in order to catch the killer known only as Red John.

This brings him under the reluctant supervision of senior agent, Teresa Lisbon. She's a no-nonsense cop with a track record of solving cases such as that of a serial child rapist. Lisbon often disapproves of Jane's tricks and mindgames. Once Jane begins proving valuable to solving cases, she continues to scold him while being a little more relaxed around the former psychic. The chemistry between Jane and Lisbon is undeniable. They work well together, often much to the misfortune of the criminal they're pursuing.

The rest of Lisbon's team has a similar outlook on Jane. Kimball Cho, a former narcotics agent, is much like Lisbon, preferring to do things by the book. He's an excellent interrogator with great listening skills. However, Cho often meets Jane's antics with an expressionless look. His partner on most cases is Wayne Rigsby. Rigsby previously worked in the arson investigation unit before he transferred to Lisbon's team. He's usually the quickest to follow Jane's plans. The youngest agent, Grace Van Pelt, believes earnestly that psychics are real despite Jane's assurance that they are not. She's sensitive and easily manipulated despite her intelligence.

Along with the search for Red John, the team closes murder investigations. They often come under questioning because of Jane's unusual antics. It's these antics that help find the resolution, whether it's
questioning the victim's family with a sassy tone or tricking a suspect into revealing their guilt. All doesn't work out well for Jane and the team. They often find themselves being reprimanded by Lisbon's superior officers due to the methods they use to find murderers.

There aren't many crime television series that can hold my attention for five seasons. The Mentalist has
accomplished that feat with wit and charm. This is not only due to the impeccable casting of Simon Baker as Patrick Jane, but that of Robin Tunney (Lisbon), Tim Kang (Cho), Owain Yeoman (Rigsby) and Amanda Righetti (Van Pelt) as the CBI agents tasked with working alongside Jane. It's in their interactions as well as the cases that keep me watching time after time. I'm sure that I'll still be watching when season 6 begins on September 29th of this year. Whether they catch Red John this season or not, I'll continue to watch as the team solve cases in their stylish way.

Rating: 4.5/5

Top 5 Recommended Music Videos

"Mischievous of Alice" by Yousei Teikoku
This is definitely an artist I hardly listen to, but enjoy. I know there are plenty of "Alice in Wonderland" inspired jrock/jpop songs out there in Japan, but this still keeps the concept fresh and a little different from the others. The music and visuals are both elegant and dark, but maintains its beauty and edge. Perhaps this PV will persuade me to go through my library and listen to more of her music.



"Did not say anything" by BNR feat. Ann
I love finding new Korean R&B artists that just blow me away in not only their music, but their visuals. The video is shot very interestingly. I love the freeze framed characters and actions and how smoothly it progresses the scene with these two people. The music is very soulful and smooth. It brings some good feelings inside and I always love Ann's vocal contributions. Every time she's in something, I instantly love it, especially if the male vocals compliment them like Drunken Tiger.



"Polarize" by Tam Tam
I think I ran into this band on either a jrock blog or Tumblr, but it was definitely something different than what I've been listening to lately. It's great to find a new band that's enjoyable and somewhat unique to the genre. The visuals are mixture of eccentric artistic and band centric with a good balance of focus in either of those categories. The music is very easy to listen to, but the vocals can be hit or miss for new listeners like Shiina Ringo. The vocals are soft, but powerful with imperfect perfections. I would definitely like to hear more from this band in the near future.



"SIRIUS" by DIAURA
I'm so proud to have been a fan of these guys from the beginning and even before this band formed. There is so much growth shining in this PV and song that it makes me proud to be a fan of theirs. The visuals are definitely a step up. It's dramatic, sleek, and dark just like the band. The music is simply amazing! It has a strong passionate punch to the chest and the vocals just reek emotion and improvement. I can still pick yo-ka's vocals out of anyone else's. I love the balance of sorrowful, dramatic piano and the hard hitting rock sounds to transition everything. Keep up the good work, guys!



"GET ON THE FLOOR" by 365
A friend of mine has been sharing some Vietnamese pop with me occasionally and this is one group that he posted on my Facebook. I'm sure there are plenty of kpop fans that accuse other Asian pop acts, excluding Japan, of copying kpop, but I think this is the first time I can find no trace of comparison. I don't agree with these fans, btw. Anyway, this reminds me of Europop from the visuals to the music, but the vocal structure and appearance of the members are definitely Asia based. It's a fun little dance track with some stunning visuals I thought only existed in China's pop scene. I'm looking forward to checking out more music from this group.

Review: The Conjuring (2013)

Title: The Conjuring (2013)
Director: James Wan
Cast: Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Lili Taylor, Ron Livingston
Rating: R
Running Time: 112 minutes
Synopsis: In 1971, Carolyn and Roger Perren move their family into a dilapidated Rhode Island farm house and soon strange things start happening around it with escalating nightmarish terror. In desperation, Carolyn contacts the noted paranormal investigators, Ed and Lorraine Warren, to examine the house. What the Warrens discover is a whole area steeped in a satanic haunting that is now targeting the Perren family wherever they go. To stop this evil, the Warrens will have to call upon all their skills and spiritual strength to defeat this spectral menace at its source that threatens to destroy everyone involved.


'Based on a true story' is something that usually makes me fairly nervous for how a film will turn out. That's mostly true with horror movies or those cheesy Lifetime biopics. Most of the time, it tends to mean that you need to take the result with a grain of salt. Human beings are the worst at exaggerating a story as time passes simply due to the fallibility of memories. Once you add screenwriters to the mix, those slightly exaggerated memories become full blown moments of creative license.  In a situation like this, creative license takes on a whole new depth. The realm of the supernatural is already a subjective front. You either believe in it or you don't. Sensationalizing a true story will terrify believers and make skeptics deride it even more.

The Conjuring is a film based off the case files of a very real couple known for investigating the paranormal. Ed and Lorraine Warren have been involved in several hauntings that have been turned into movies such as A Haunting in Connecticut and The Haunted. They also investigated the story more commonly known as the Amityville horror. While skeptics have questioned the validity of their investigations, there are few true believers that doubt the couple. Out of all their cases, the Perron family's story hadn't been turned into a book or movie. However, the Conjuring doesn't only touch on the Perron story. Two of their other cases are shown or mentioned as well. The most prominent of those two cases being that of the Annabelle doll. For the purposes of the movie, the doll itself was changed into something much creepier than the Raggedy Ann doll it is in reality. Also, getting the rights to use the Raggedy Ann image from Hasbro might have been difficult.

This is a particularly hard review to write without giving away anything that will spoil the film too much. If you're going into this movie hoping to see gore, foul language and sex, you won't get any of those things. This movie fits in quite well with classic, old school haunted house/possession films such as Exorcist or Amityville Horror as well as horror thrillers like The Birds. You're going to see some familiar sights. It's hard to avoid comparisons when your subject matter is basically the same as nearly every other haunted house story. A family moves into a seemingly innocent home with the house's origins unbeknownst to them. Everything seems fine until strange things begin to happen. There's no difference in this story. The family is your everyday family. The house seems to be a normal home.

The strength in The Conjuring lies in the shift of focus. Where normal haunted house tale focus almost entirely on the family, there is a very balanced shift between the Perrons and the Warrens. The movie has a strong cast to back this up. Lily Taylor and  Ron Livingston are great as the Perron parents. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson had great chemistry as the Warrens. Even the child actresses who played the five Perron daughters were quite good at what they were doing. The one who stood out the most to me was Joey King as Christine. Her terror was written all over her face in several scenes.


In addition to the strength of the actors, it's the choice in the music that really sets things apart. Wan brings back Joseph Bishara who provided the score for Insidious. Much like their previous collaboration, there were times when the music gave me chills. In most modern horror films, this would lead to a jump scare with one of two outcomes. It would either be a genuine scare or more often a simple misdirect. That's one thing I like about James Wan. When he intends to scare you, the suspense isn't built in order to throw a random cat at you. Wan didn't skimp on the authentic 1970s details either. From the clothing to the equipment, the filmmakers did a great job at a convincing period piece.

I enjoyed The Conjuring. My prediction is that it'll end up with a cult following much like other horrors of it's nature. This isn't your typical jump fest. It's not going to terrify you. It will leave you unsettled and looking twice in dark corners. It's hard to scare me, but even I found myself tucking my feet tightly under my blankets when I went to bed! I hope that this movie symbolizes a shift into cleaner, more intelligent horror films.

Rating: 3.5/5

Review: Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor

Starring: Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Lance Gross, Vanessa Williams
Directed by: Tyler Perry
Language: English
Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 111 minutes
Oh, Mr. Perry, this movie has caused me a lot of grief these past few days. I've been going back and forth on whether to do a long review or a short, quick one. Well, I actually did a short review, but then went back to square one to a longer one thanks to an inspiring Tumblr post.


Judith works as a therapist at a matchmaking agency and is married to her childhood sweetheart and pharmacist Brice. They have a loving relationship and share strong Christian values, but over the years Judith feels under appreciated and sometimes neglected by her husband. Harley, a wealthy internet entrepreneur, is interested in investing in the matchmaking agency and Judith is put in charge to handle the details. As the two work together, Harley expresses his interest in Judith and tries to convince her that he could provide everything that Brice is not giving her lately.

Before I digging into this movie, there's two things I want to state. First, I actually wanted to see this when it came to theaters, but it never worked out. Second, my relationship with Tyler Perry's creations, whether it be his TV shows or his movies (I don't have many problems with his stage plays), I've been a little frustrated. Based on the trailer, it actually seemed like a step up from his previous movies and a break out of the usual mold for him. It actually appeared promising for Mr. Perry and I felt optimistic going into it. After watching it at home, my mother told me she enjoyed it, but a lot of reviewers of imdb seemed to tear it apart as a garbage movie. I must admit that this movie isn't terrible, but...on the other hand, it wasn't as great as my mother claimed it to be either.


I haven't watched the stage play this movie is inspired or based on yet. I have a lot of stage plays to catch up on still. Infidelity stories have a formula to them, so a lot of elements seem cliche. With Tyler Perry, there's also a formula to his creations. There's eye candy, abusive relationships, going against racial stereotypes while simultaneously playing to them, drugs, and some sort of moral, usually Christian, message at the end. I will give him points for trying to do something more serious and I was happy that there was an actual consequence for Judith's actions, although the resolution is very questionable in more ways than one. It was nice to see a more serious side of Tyler Perry through his film.

Unfortunately, his efforts lacked in places and were sloppy in other spots. These flaws dull down all the positives of this movie. In fact, it mostly outweighs it. The story is quite simple, but the subplot was unnecessary, which is whatever Melinda was going through or the small emphasis on Judith needing a makeover. I was happy there was no makeover montage with Judith and Ava. Also, I completely forgot that the movie's story was being told by someone else until the end which seemed silly and it could've been completely omitted. The biggest problem was the script, for me. The characters either fell in the category of idiotic or pointless and the pointless characters helped bridge the gap of the idiocy. Let me delve a little deeper in the character issues I have and I'll try to leave the spoilers out, if that's even possible to do as most of the actions are predictable.


I'll begin with the supporting cast. I know Kim Kardashian doesn't have much support, especially as an "actress", but she really didn't contribute or retract anything from the movie. So, Ava falls into the pointless batch and she doesn't bridge much together either. Janice has little purpose as well and only exists to add extra consequence to Judith. Melinda's backstory was very vague and doesn't offer much for the audience to sympathize or care about. She's also the smartest person in the whole movie, even though she seems quite pointless as well when you think about it. Sarah, Judith's mother, also doesn't add much to the story other than shoving in a Christian message and slightly bridging a gap a bit awkwardly of the idiocy with the main cast. Now for the male leads, Brice and Harley. Brice is a character that at first we're suppose to not like much, but like more than Harley. Unfortunately, he's part of the idiot box and has to be guided along to figure out that Judith is interested in Harley in a more intimate way. His neglectful actions are realistic, but as the movie progresses, it becomes less realistic and you understand why Judith chose Harley over him. Harley is obviously the antagonist of this movie, but his abusive ways seem over the top or unnatural in places. Apparently, he does drugs as well, but it is vaguely mentioned verbally and through his actions. Either Perry just wanted to stick with his usual formula or he doesn't understand drug physics. Lastly, there's Judith. Judith is a very fickle character...a very frustrating, fickle character. She'll chase after Harley, then gets pissed off at him. Her acting isn't that bad, but her emotional range just seems very sudden in certain situations.

Other little things I would like to add about this movie is that I wish Tyler Perry took more of a risk with the subject matter. Appearance wise, it is a lot darker and I expected something R rated, but it wasn't. If he pushed himself for an R, I think things could've been expanded more. There's also a small continuity error at the end of the movie as well. Lastly, that Tumblr post. I was so happy that someone else noticed that scene. Just everything about that scene and Judith's reaction afterward seemed very off. The whole situation from that scene could've been executed better.

In the end, Tyler Perry tried his best, but fell short in too many areas to make this a good movie. I am a bit disappointed, but I think Perry needs to take a break from the big screen and gather his writing and directing skills together. The acting was decent and the story had promise of something a little different from Perry, but the various flaws brought the movie down some points. This isn't the best movie out of Perry's collection that doesn't involve Madea, but I will defend it to an extent that it isn't the worse movie I've seen either.


Rating: 2/5

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temptation

Review: Last Kind Words (2012)

Title: Last Kind Words (2012)

Director: Kevin Barker
Cast: Brad Dourif, Spencer Daniels, Alexia Fast, Sarah Steele
Rating: Unrated
Running Time: 1 hour, 27 minutes
Synopsis: 17-year-old Eli has just moved with his family deep into the backwoods of Kentucky to work on the isolated farm of a local recluse. Inexplicably drawn into the strange forest that lies beyond the farm, Eli encounters the beautiful, sweet and mysterious Amanda, seemingly the perfect girl. But with the discovery of decaying bodies hanging from the trees, he realizes that the forest - and Amanda - are harboring some very dark secrets. Suddenly, Eli is living in a waking nightmare where the lines between life and death are scrawled in blood, and there is no escaping the terror from beyond the grave.

I ended up seeing this on a whim over Netflix. The synopsis leads you to believe that it will be some sort of horror movie. Even the posters lead you toward that conclusion. What you really get is a sprawling movie that can't decide what it really is. Is it a coming of age love story? Is it a backwoods yawn about a twisted family? Or is it the horror that the filmmakers promoted it as? The answer to all of these ends up being no. This isn't quite a love story nor is it a story about a twisted family. Overall, there is nothing in this film that I would use to define as part of the horror genre.

Last Kind Words suffers from too many plots and no commitment to any of them. Eli's family moves to a farm after his alcoholic, religious father loses his job at a factory. It's made clear that they have no where else to go. The father is abusive and his mother is a skittish woman who runs from conflict. Yet, there really isn't much time devoted to exploring the family at all. Aside from a few fleeting encounters with them, most of Eli's time is spent in the woods.

He's drawn to the mysterious Amanda who he meets on the farm. We're not really given much backstory on her until much later in the film. While we wait to find out what her story is, we have his parents and, Waylon,

the reclusive friend who owns the farm. It's clear that the two elder men have a history. They seem uneasy around each other, but are obviously still friendly enough that Waylon would give the father a job on the farm. In the midst of this, there's Katie, Eli's friend, who shows up wanting to run away from her own family. We aren't really given a chance to connect with any of these characters. The majority of them could easily be discarded.

A slow pace doesn't help this lack of commitment to any of the possibilities for the plot. Despite warnings to stay out of the woods and away from Amanda, Eli continues to venture into the very places he was told to stay away from. Who is this girl? Why is she lurking alone in the woods? By the time the reasons were revealed, I found myself more confused than I'd been from the start. There were simply too many things

going on and little resolution. Alexia Faust did well as Amanda. The role wasn't very difficult for most of the film. The tasks of walking around in the woods while looking pretty and sad aren't too difficult for most girls her age. Some of you might remember her from Supernatural (season 7, episode 13) where she played Dean's daughter, Emma.

The resolution of the film left me feeling even more confused. Certain decisions were made that seemed a bit iffy. All in all, there were too many questions that didn't get answered fully. The slave's story was never really given in any depth. It was merely used to tie up a possible loose end. The boy and his father in the opening sequence were pushed aside in a similar fashion. I can't set aside the issues in this one. I could see where the filmmakers wanted to go...and they simply didn't make it there. Watch it for the scenery. Don't expect too much from the plot.

Rating: 1.5/5

Top 5 Recommended Music Videos

"Coffee Shop" by B.A.P
Every time B.A.P promotes a slow song, I never really like it. The combination of concept and just the song never works out for me and feels odd for something like that coming from these boys, but this song is just right. It's calming, mature, and properly fits the group. It's not cutesy nor overly romantic visually. It's just right and doesn't clash with group's overall concept.



"Baaam" by Dynamic Duo feat. Muzie (UV)
Sometimes I wonder why I've ignored this legendary duo all this time. This video definitely brought them back to my attention and I love it. I just really love this R&B sound mixed with rap. It's slick, mature, fun, and entertaining. It matches this whole classic slick sound that Justin Timberlake and Pharrell resurrected back into pop in the U.S. I love the sleek, dark, and sensual visuals that match both the sound of the music and the vocal delivery. Lastly, the autotune for once does not take away from the flow.



"Torture" by Picture Me Broken
I know this isn't that new, but I just recently got into this band and it's always great finding good female rock vocals. I like the concept of this video. It's simple, but interesting enough to follow along with the story. The song is really powerful. I love the bass and piano in this song and great emotion filled vocals to bring the music to life.



"Call Me" by Untouchable feat. Andrew Choi
They're back! They're back! They're baaack! I'm so happy~ Can't you tell? I love these two men and it's great to see something new from them. You would think I wouldn't enjoy such a slow song, but it works for them and reminds me of a couple other slower songs I enjoy by these two. I like the simplistic, sweet concept with the rotating camera, text visuals, and scene transitions to progress the story along. Really hoping this means a new mini-album or full length album to come. *crosses fingers*



"We Are Bulletproof Pt. 2" by BTS
I know this is just a simple choreography centric video, but they're on point and these rookies have some serious talent. Not only is their dancing in sync, but they're very impressive in the lyric delivery, both singing and rapping. The visuals are a little questionable like the blinged out props and gun imagery, but it goes with the appearance of the boys. Cliche as it is, it's not really shoved in your face too much that causes appropriation irritation. I'm looking forward to more by this group and I hope they don't lose their hard sound or go stale with repetitive maneuvers like their predecessors.

Review: Evil Dead (2013)

Title: Evil Dead (2013)
Director: Fede Alvarez
Cast: Jane Levy, Shiloh Fernandez, Lou Taylor Pucci, Jessica Lucas, Elizabeth Blackmore
Rating: R
Running Time: 91 minutes
Synopsis: Five friends head to a remote cabin, where the discovery of a Book of the Dead leads them to unwittingly summon up demons living in the nearby woods. The evil presence possesses them until only one is left to fight for survival.

Going into this movie, I knew that reviews were mixed. There were people who loved it and others who saw it as a complete bastardization of the source material. Whether you care to admit it or not, the original Evil Dead was the highlight of Sam Raimi's horror career. Even with Raimi and the original's star, Bruce Campbell, backing the new film, there was still a huge amount of fans asking why a remake or 'reboot' was even necessary. I have to admit that I was one of those people. I decided to ultimately set the original aside and watch this new version as if I'd never seen it's predecessor.

I'm going to try my best to keep this review spoiler free. I'd rather not ruin it for anyone who may wish to give it a chance. Almost instantly, I was questioning where the film was trying to go. The quick opening
scenes are meant to set the viewer up with a bit of backstory. All it really does is explain why the cabin has an odd smell. Even then, you're left with quite a few questions about the reasonings for why certain things were left where they were. It's not unusual for horror movies to leave massive plot holes that never really get resolved. I completely understand that part. After all, there are very few intelligent horror films with entirely well scripted plots.

I think that's one of the biggest downfalls of this film. The script was written by Fede Alvarez (the director) and Rodo Sayagues with Diablo Cody giving it a rewrite. In that process, the script glosses over a lot of things that should be important. Who are these characters? Why are we supposed to care about them? Why should we invest our time in rooting for these characters to fight and survive? Some readers might disagree with me on this. I, personally, want to connect with at least one of these people. I want to be able to really care about one of them and scream at the screen for them to run faster or fight harder. That's one of the biggest draws of the horror genre aside from being frightened by the things that I'm seeing on the screen.

The Evil Dead remake/reboot failed to deliver on any scares. There were scenes were I found myself looking away, but that was due to the sheer level of gore this movie contains. Gore does not equal scares. Where the Saw series opened up a new level of gore, at least with those movies you had the underlying drama of what Jigsaw believed in and how he converted people to his belief system. In Evil Dead, there's nothing to justify
the amount of gore. The director even commented on the sheer volume of fake blood that was used in making the film. If I remember correctly, it was something like 70,000 gallons of the stuff. There was also a claim that there was no CGI in the movie. I won't get into that debate, but some of the film did appear to have CGI laced moments.

I can't find any real redeeming qualities about the movie. The character development is so lacking that even the brief mentions of backstory aren't enough to add anything. This can't be blamed entirely on the actors. They simply work with what they're given. Even amazing acting can't make up for a lacking script. Jane Levy
(Mia) is a fairly decent actress for her age. Horror isn't her typical forte. Instead, she does comedy and teenage angst fairly well on Suburgatory. On the other hand, the male lead, Shiloh Fernandez (David) seemed very wooden to me. It shouldn't be surprising considering he was Peter in Red Riding Hood and auditioned to be Twilight's Edward Cullen.

Overall, I'd recommend waiting for this to hit your cable channels. Don't waste your money on rentals. If you're like me, you'll find yourself disappointed. It certainly wasn't 'The Most Terrifying Film You Will Ever Experience' like they wanted you to believe. Those with weak stomachs should avoid it for the amount of gore. If you enjoy dismemberment, foul language and plot holes, make some popcorn and have fun!

Rating: 1/5