(film review) - Friend Request

There are plenty of horror movies out there and to me, they are all basically crap.  I've never really cared for these small movies as they are a run-of-the-mill and are never really anything great, but a few sneaky ones do slip through.  Do you remember Saw? It came out in 2004 and made for $1.2m and made a Box Office of $103.9m.  Do you remember The Grudge? Also 2004 and made for $10m and made a Box Office of $187.2m.  Do you remember The Ring? A little further back, 2002 and made for $48m and made a Box Office of $249.3m.  In case you do not see it, the point I am making is that, these type of films are made for a little bit of money and can make soo much money back, hence the reason why we get soo many of these films.

Laura (Alycia Debnam-Carey) is a very popular girl at college she has 800 friends on Facebook and she enjoys life with her friends and family.  However, one day, a girl named Marina (Liesl Ahlers) sends her a friend request on Facebook in hopes to becoming best friends.  Not knowing anything about Marina, Laura accepts the request and becomes friendly with her, but when Laura does not invite Marina to her Birthday dinner, Marina becomes upset when she sees pictures posted on Facebook and angrily confronts Laura in college, publicly the following day.  In the confrontation, Marina states she will seek revenge on Laura and when Laura unfriends Marina, Marina commits suicide via webcam video and sends it to her.  After that Laura finds herself being stalked and harassed by Marina's demonic spirit.

This film was interesting.  I enjoyed it although it was predictable.  There were a few jump scares involved and a few things that creeped me out a little, but nothing to really write home about.  The film was most likely made for the price of a boneless bargain bucket from KFC and is likely to make soo much more money back as these films do well in the cinema, but with that said, we will see what it does and if it becomes the new SAW series and spawns countless more other films.  Watch if it is your thing or want to know how not to treat others.

(film review) - 10 Cloverfield Lane

The word Cloverfield packs quite a punch.  I mean, a film produced by J.J. Abrams in which, for the most part, not a single person knew what the film was about and I remember when I first saw it in the cinema, I was still confused at the end.  I hadn't a clue as to what was going on, how it happened and why.  That was 8 years ago.  Now, we have another film with the word 'Cloverfield' in it and AGAIN, once I left the cinema, I hadn't a clue as to what was going on, how it happened and why.  Is tis great directing or sloppiness?

10 Cloverfield Lane revolves around a woman, Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winestead) who gets into an accident and wakes up in an underground bunker.  She is joined by Emmett (John Gallagher, Jr.) and the owner of the bunker, Howard (John Goodman).  The world outside the bunker is believed to be unsafe, told through stories told by Howard and Emmett and although Howard is holding these two people in his bunker to help keep them safe from the outside world, Michelle becomes reluctant to stay as she believes there is more at play and maybe the world isn't what she has been told to believe.  With that said, she is faced with endangering herself or her co-habitors in order to seek the truth.

This film is creepy.  It has tension and you never really know what the characters motives are.  Emmett, what is his deal? Howard, is he just crazy and insane or is he telling the truth and the world outside really is a mess.  Until the very end of the film, you never really get an understanding of what is going on and as soon as you do, you are thrown through a loop as things become even more unclear.

This film was good.  I'm guessing a lot more could have been done with a slightly bigger bunker and bigger cast, at least that way, there would be more people to trust, not trust and would have raised that suspense and tension a little more.  The acting from these characters were great and there are some comedic elements to it, but deep down, this film is a thriller.  A scary film where something sinister is lurking and monsters can come in different forms.  The only thing I would say is that, the ending of the film could have been a little better, but it is not certain that when the film is over, if this film is connected to the previous Cloverfield or not. Bizarre but worth the watch.  Nice popcorn flick.

(film review) - Triple 9

So, I saw the trailer to this and was like, "Oh right, this looks like it could be good!".  We have a dude from one of my favourite shows I am currently watching, The Walking Dead; another dude from an excellent show I applauded once I finished watching it, albeit, 2 years after everybody else, Breaking Bad; Batfleck's (Ben Affleck) kid brother; a white man who couldn't jump (a favourite actor of mine); Captain America's buddy, The Falcon and a dude who was 12 years a slave, not to mention Wonder Woman or the woman who lost DiCaprio at sea in Titanic.  This film was stacked!!! But did you enjoy it though? I hear you ask.  I did.

A bunch of guys perform a bank robbery to obtain an item for a Russian mob boss, however, when said boss holds out on payment, the gang of crooked cops and criminals led by Michael (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and his two buddies, Russell (Norman Reedus) & Gabe (Aaron Paul), are required to pull off another robbery before they can finally get paid.  Under pressure by the mob boss' wife, Irina (Kate Winslet) and some skeptical members, whilst plotting how to pull off their next robbery, they devise a plan to pull a 'Triple 9' which will mean every cop will race and attend the scene of the crime buying them time to pull it off.  However, things go awry when gang members are wary of one another, cannot trust one another and each member have their own drive and motivation.  Throw in a new cop partner (Casey Affleck) in there and a Sgt. Detective (Woody Harrelson) trying to solve the bank robbery looking for every bit of clue he can find, we have ourselves a sticky situation.

This film is gritty and hard.  It reminds me of training day, but with more characters and a lot more action.  The pacing of the film is a little off as I found it somewhat difficult to follow and I couldn't figure out who were the cops and who were the criminals (probably playing to the aim of the director) and what the end game was.  I felt like I was in the movie trying to watch my own back, it was somewhat gripping but slow in places.  Not so much the twists and the turns, the film does become somewhat predictable.  I do feel that maybe this film would have been better if Nolan directed it or the Russo Brothers.  I can't explain it, but I felt like it was missing something.

Go and see this film though.  I mean, with such a cast, with not a single person phoning it in, this is a well acted and enjoyable film.  Affleck, Ejifor, Mackie, Winslet...all brilliant.  Even Reedus and Paul were great.  I would like to see more films for them so they can up their game. So for the most part, it's a good movie, have a gander.