The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 – review

The third and final book of the Hunger Games trilogy, Mockingjay, is okay at best and disappointing at worst.  On a positive note, the war scenes are developed and chilling. The acting however, has all the charisma of the sleepwalker going through the motions. The film even commits the cardinal sin of telling rather than showing key plot points.

Katniss Everdeen, played by Jennifer Lawrence, is going up against the capitol of Panem. Deciding that she will be the one to kill President Snow, Katniss joins a ragtag band of misfits specialized to look good for the camera. They must face the war torn districts that look like scenery out of Band of Brothers and beware of the new traps that await them in their mission.

This was one of the few times that Josh Hutchinson did a decent acting job. While Hutchinson did a fine job portraying him it is really difficult to like the Peeta character. Even after four movies he is in constant need of rescue. In this movie he kills his own teammate at the first sign of danger, and the chemistry between him and Katniss feels as fake as Jena Malone’s shaved head.

There are some compelling shots that really play into the “war is hell” theme. The movie unfortunately feels forced and like they struggled to make it at all. If you saw the other movies then, by all means see this as a rental. On its own it is fairly subpar for the genre. There is very little action, some of the key plot points happen off-screen, and there really is no climax to speak of.  This is certainly a weak entrée into the franchise that might have been great if they simply edited the two films into a single movie.

Creed – review

After the previous film in the Rocky series I was sure that the story of Rocky Balboa was wrapped up tighter than a snare drum. I was dead wrong. A cleverly written story encapsulating all the heart of the original characters and bringing a new life to the franchise I can see Adonis Creed as a people’s champion for a new generation.  The acting is great and the story is fantastic. Considering this is the first of the Rocky series to not be written by Sylvester Stallone, it feels like his hand is certain involved in the spirit of things.

Adonis “Donnie” Creed, played by Michael B. Jordan is the bastard son of Apollo Creed. After finding out his who his father is, he attempts to make a name for himself in the boxing world. He goes to Tijuana and wins a few fights and finds that he needs a trainer if he will ever move up the ranks in the boxing ring. Adonis enlists the aid of Apollo’s greatest rival Rocky Balboa to train him.

If there were anything bad about this movie it would only be small, nitpicking stuff. For example: No one ever mentions Ivan Drago as the guy who killed Apollo Creed in Rocky IV. No one ever discusses the failed time Rocky trained Tommy Gunn in Rocky V. I could really piss and moan about how Rocky isn’t more famous after his exhibition match in Rocky Balboa with Mason “The Line” Dixon. It is hard to be upset though when this is the same series where a robot with artificial intelligence was given to Paulie for his birthday. Pick your battles.

The movie has all the feel of a Rocky movie. The main character is charming and is believable as Apollo Creed’s son. Rocky is still as strong-hearted and good-natured person. The cast does a great job bringing this underdog story home. Once again creating a believable task and facing a “villain” that is not bad but merely an antagonist in every sense of the word. I would not be shocked if Stallone was nominated for best supporting actor come Oscar season.

I would recommend, first and foremost, if you decide to watch this movie that at least see the previous films. The previous films will give you insight on who everyone is or was. Creed is worth seeing, especially if you are a fan of the Rocky series. Creed is a welcome addition and was clearly written by someone that knows the characters and loves the material. See it if you can.

Top Ten Movie Endings

Endings are not always the end of the movie. Sometimes they can mean a new beginning to a franchise or leave the audience with lingering thoughts that haunt long after the final credits. I have compiled a list of some of the movies with the greatest endings. Warning: spoilers ahead.

10. The Howling- News Anchor Karen White, played by Dee Wallace, is investigating a coven of werewolves in the guise of a resort colony. After being bitten she decides to warn the world of the existence of werewolves. She goes on the air and transforms into a wolfman creature and is killed by a shotgun on camera. It is a bold and dark ending to film with great special effects.

9. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari- A German silent film from 1920, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is influential on many future films. It may have even been one of the first films to feature a “twist” ending. After a man is telling his story of a somnambulist under the control of the sinister Dr. Caligari the audience discovers that the man is actually an inmate at an insane asylum and all the characters in his story are either other inmates or doctors. It is a spooky way to end an expressionist piece of cinematic history.

8. Primal Fear- Altar boy Aaron Stampler, played by Edward Norton, is accused of murdering a priest. During the trial it is revealed that he suffers from multiple personality disorder and he is able to use the insanity plea. As it turns out Aaron was making up the entire disorder; he basically gets away with murder. Aaron leaves his lawyer feeling disillusioned and shocked. It is a twisted ending to a dark movie.

7. Rosemary’s Baby- After discovering that the tenants inside her New York apartment are Satan worshipers that have been manipulating her to give birth to the antichrist, Rosemary finally comes face to face with her baby. At first she is horrified but then she settles down and decides to be a mother to this creature.  This is a great ending to a fantastic psychological thriller.

6. Night of the Living Dead- After surviving an onslaught of ghouls inside of a farmhouse overnight, Ben is completely worn-out. As a militia marches toward the house shooting zombies he emerges to look out the window. As he looks, some of the militia mistake him for one of the undead and shoot Ben dead. It is a shocking and sad ending that hits like an exclamation point at the end of a sentence.

5. Oldboy- After being locked up for 15 years in a solitary room, Oh Dae-su is hunting down the persons responsible for his imprisonment. He discovers that the girl that has become Oh Dae-su’s greatest ally and lover during this ordeal is actually his daughter and it was a vast revenge plot to get them together. Not only is this movie a brilliant piece of writing but it is one of the best action movies put to film.

4. Brazil- Brazil ends with the protagonist, Sam Lowry, captured by the oppressive government about to be tortured. As he is strapped to the chair he is suddenly rescued and saved by a resistance and ends up with the woman he loves. Turns out that he is still strapped to the chair in the torture room and he is imagining everything. He just slips into his own insanity to escape the torture.  It is a brilliant ending to a brilliant movie and it has been copied several times for other movies.

3. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)- So many people have been turned into pod people by the end of the film. As a new day dawns, the protagonist gets up and watches people go about their day-to-day tasks. He spots Nancy, a friend of his, who calls his name revealing that she is not a pod person. He turns and points to her and screeches revealing that he too is a pod person and Nancy is totally alone. This ending is depressing but really makes the movie unique from the predecessor.

2. The Sixth Sense- Child psychologists Dr. Malcolm Crowe, has been helping Cole Sear. Cole is revealed to have the ability to see ghosts. After embracing this gift Malcolm goes home to his wife. When she does not respond to him he realizes that the bullet wound he suffered at the beginning of the film killed him and he is a ghost. This movie is still chilling even knowing the ending and holds up to this day.

1. Planet of the Apes- Astronaut Taylor has landed on a planet where the dominant species are apes. Human are used as pets and cattle. Taylor is able to convince apes of his intelligence and is allowed to go to the forbidden zone. There he discovers the remains of the Statue of Liberty. It turns out Taylor was on Earth all along. This is possibly one of the most mind-blowing moments in cinema. It makes sense since the writer was Rod Serling of Twilight Zone fame.

Honorable Mentions

The Thing (1982)- An alien shapeshifting monster has forced the Antarctic crew to blow up the research facility. With only two crew members left and the burning building dying down in the arctic cold the two men embrace their deaths with a drink in the freezing weather.  It is a nihilistic finale, which makes the epic effects laden movie all the more great.

Raiders of the Lost Ark- A source of great power has been taken from the Nazis and is being held by the Americans. When we see what became of the lost ark we see it being boxed up and put in a warehouse with thousands of other similar boxes. This ending is humorous and a smart way to wrap up the film.

Easy Rider- Two men on choppers drive across America. They see some of the good and the bad of being part of the counter culture of 1960s. As they come across some men in a truck they are gunned down in a failed prank. It is a shocking and unexpected way to end the movie.

Sunset Boulevard- A man found dead in a pool tells his story. As we go flash back we get to see the event that lead to his death. This has been repeated in other movies since Sunset Boulevard. It is not often that you see a movie where you know what will become of the protagonist, you are just watching the events unfold to see how it all came to be.

Angel Heart- A gumshoe is hired by a man named Louis Cypher to find a man.  As it turns out Louis Cypher is the uncreative nickname of the devil that has come to collect a few souls. The movie is truly a dark and seductive piece of film noir.

So many movies have endings that are fantastic. These are only a few that have haunted me over time. If you have a chance you should rent them sometime soon and enjoy. Bask in the fantastic beginnings, middles, and ends and treat yourself to a movie today.

Last Shift – review

When it comes to movies, something under the radar can often be an unexpected surprise. Such is the case with Last Shift. The movie shows a great eye for the disturbing and uses its lonesome setting at a closing police station as a creepy backdrop for a dark “bottle” movie.  

Rookie police officer Jessica Loren, played by Juliana Harkavy, has the last shift at a closing police station. Left alone, she begins seeing and hearing eerie things that suggest the supernatural. As events get more and more disturbing she finds that it has something to do with the Charles Manson-style cult, which was brought in a year prior.

The movie has a great eye for the disturbing. The imagery of the ghosts, and the way they show the hauntings is something that will linger with you long after the movie has ended. Last Shift builds on its characters and creates a disturbing sense of tension that builds until the twisted end. The acting is solid and the character of Jessica is likable, adding to the tragedy of the events that befall her.

I recommend this movie for anyone who is looking for horror tale that is truly haunting and disturbing.  It will linger in your thoughts and keep you wondering what was real and what was illusionary. The jump-scares are effective and put to good use which is rare for the genre. Last Shift shows a quality seldom seen in horror films.

Spectre - review

Skyfall left the bar fairly high for the last James Bond movie.  Spectre is the first of the Daniel Craig series of Bond movies, which feels like a return to the ridiculous plot holes and unrealistic situations that the James Bond films were famous for. It comes off more like a colossal step back instead of an advance in character.

James Bond, played by Daniel Craig, receives a message from the late M, played by Dame Judi Dench. She tells James to find and kill a man who leads to a conspiracy that all the villains of his past had been tied to a secret organization led by one evil man. The organization is Spectre and the evil man is Ernst Stavro Blofeld, played by Christoph Waltz.

Spectre is not lacking in atmosphere. There are some beautiful shots of Mexico City during a day of the dead celebration complete with amazing skull costumes. The acting is okay and folks seem like they are having fun with their roles. However, the rest of the film cruises into the depths of disappointment.

The casting of Monica Belluci and Dave Bautista is a mystery since their parts are miniscule and both are more talented then the parts they were given. There are huge plot holes, which took me out of the movie. Even for a James Bond movie, I should not be puzzled by events on screen.  For example, how is an evil organization secret if they give jewelry to the members that displays their membership?

Lea Seydoux does a fine job as the love interest and seems capable in the character. Christoph Waltz however, is wasted. When you consider his acting ability and the silliness of adding the familiar character of Blofeld, it doesn’t come off as menacing but more like a stupid joke.

Spectre is the weakest of the Daniel Craig Bond movies. Instead of adding something new or innovative to the series it wastes time taking steps backwards for fan service. If you are a big fan of the series I imagine you are going to watch it regardless, but it is disappointing. It is predictable and neuters the James Bond character.

The Human Centipede 3 (Final Sequence) – review

The Human Centipede 3 is the final movie of director, Tom Six’s Human Centipede trilogy. The film takes a major tone shift from the previous movies and goes for a gross-out over-the-top style movie that makes the previous two movies seem like art films. Taking the lead actors from the previous film and giving them new parts in this film does little to add to the charm of this awful movie.

The film begins with a psychotic warden of a prison played by Dieter Laser, getting advice from his accountant played by Laurence R. Harvey. The warden spends a great deal of time torturing inmates and chewing scenery. His accountant suggests to him that the way to cut the costs will be to make a massive 500 person human centipede out of all the prisoners. After consulting with the director of the films, Tom Six, they find a way to make it so that prisoners can easily be removed and replaced in the centipede.

The clever thing about this movie is that it starts with the characters watching the previous films. It is familiar since the second movie begins in a similar fashion. Then the characters are introduced and anything clever about it goes right out the window. At first the warden, Bill Boss, is sort of amusing with how over-the-top Dieter Laser portrays him but it gets old incredibly fast. Laurence R. Harvey, is dressed up like a fat Hitler most of the film, which makes him look ridiculous.

The effects are not anything great. It is certainly a self-aware movie that wants to be funny but fails when it goes out of the way to attempt to gross the audience out. Scenes like boiling water boarding a prisoner, castrating a prisoner, or a dream sequence that involves prisoners cutting into the warden to make a new orifice to rape are purely there for shock value. After two previous movies of unpleasant exploitation this is not new or even shocking.

When it comes to a trilogy like this the mindset should be it to burn out instead of fade away. The casting of Bree Olson and Eric Roberts as minor characters is bizarre and yet forgettable. There is not a real reason to watch this movie unless you are super fan of this series or are an exploitation film fan. In which case, there are a lot better things that you can be watching instead of this.

The Martian – review

Based on the Andy Weir novel of the same name, The Martian is a remarkably good film. Top-notch acting and a phenomenal cast make this visually appealing story fascinating to watch. The themes of hope and overcoming adversity are a minority in the science fiction genre. It is hard to not leave the theater with a sense of optimism toward humanity.

The Martian starts off in high gear with a team of astronauts are exploring the alien terrain of Mars. While there, a storm kicks up suddenly and astronaut Mark Watney, played by Matt Damon, is hit by debris and presumed dead. The rest of the crew leaves Mars and soon Mark discovers he is alone on a strange planet. He decides that he will not let himself die on Mars so he begins working to save himself.

Matt Damon is fantastic. He pulls off the charm and wit we have come to expect from him in past roles along with enough pathos to make his dire situation seem very real and the threat of death seem imminent.  The rest of the cast is amazing as well and I could spend all day explaining how well they did but instead I will say that at no point did I feel like anybody was phoning it in.

The shots of the Mars landscape are beautiful and the space scenes look very convincing. The theme of hope as the entire globe unites to bring astronaut Watney home is lovely and optimistic. There are moments of humor and the soundtrack favors the disco era but the movie never gets confused with its overall mood. There is a tense overtone of immanent death that is always on the planet Mars since he can never leave without a suit for protection.

If you are a fan of Moon, Silent Running, or Castaway, you will enjoy this movie. It is a lot more hopeful than those movies and shows a more optimistic look at humanity in the face of tragedy. The movie does not dumb itself down but rather seems to bring audiences along with it for the science aspects of the ride. The Martian is well paced and is worth seeing if you get the chance.