The Town That Dreaded Sundown (2014)

"It's been a long time"

PLOT

65 years after a masked serial killer terrorized the small town of Texarkana, the so called moonlight begin again. is it a copycat or something even more sinister? a lonely high school girl, with dark secrets of her own, may be the key to catching him




MY THOUGHTS

The Town That Dreaded Sundown is a remake(Sort of) to the original film of the same name which was made in 1976 which was based on the true story of the mask killer known only as the phantom that terrorized Texarkana back in 1946.

This film begins with a recap of the real life events that took place in 1946 and then references the 1976 film, then comes to current day where Jami (Addison Timlin) and her boyfriend Corey (Spencer Treat Clark) are at the drive in watching the original film which has become something of a yearly thing for the people of Texarkana who somewhat have embraced the tragic events from years ago.

Jami not being really into horror films wants to leave which Corey has no problem in doing, as they are leaving Reverend Cartwright(Edward Herrmann) is warning everyone about the movie they are watching, he’s something of the prophet of doom.

Jami and Corey ends up at lover’s lane the original phantom’s hunting grounds and while their after 66 years The Phantom appears and forces them out of the car, he tells Corey to get on the ground and for Jami to turn around and not look as he gets down on top of Corey and stabs him repeatedly.

Jami manages to escape and ends up in the hospital and when the rest of the town hears about what happened it causes the town to go into a frenzy and opens up once long forgotten feelings about The Phantom killer.

One thing I enjoyed about this movie was how the filmmakers made homages to the original film a few of the death scenes are play out exactly like a few of the ones in the original, most of note being the trombone scene.

The cast was a little interesting with a few known actors (Anthony Anderson, Gary Cole, Veronica Cartwright, Denis O’Hare,Ed Lauter and Edward Herrmann) showing up threw out, It would’ve been nice to have seen the police play a more important role in this film but they took a backseat this time too the main character.

Anthony Anderson character is based off of the Texas Ranger from the original film played by Ben Johnson and even dressed like him but isn’t given much to do, same with Gary Cole but he does have one of the more memorable scenes in the film.

Denis O’Hare does very well with the limited screen time he gets here as Charles B. Pierce, Jr. the son of the original filmmaker. It would’ve been good to see more of him here since he seemed to be the most committed to his role and what the film was all about.

The lead Addison Timlin as Jami does a decent job as the only survivor of The Phantom attacks and we’re given much of her own backstory but even with all of that there did seem to be something missing, maybe like I mentioned before if the police played more of a role in this film then it would’ve made her seem like a better character some how.

The Town That Dreaded Sundown does a good job of bridging the original with this new film and I was entertained through out, but if there is one big problem that I had with the film would be with the finale, I will not spoil it but the ending felt rushed and weak for the most part and some what slasher film cliched which this film wasn’t for two-thirds of it.

All in all if you are a fan of the original film or even if you are not The Town That Dreaded Sundown is a good watch and more violent then the original, the story is well pace and played out except for the ending but that shouldn’t ruin the overall viewing, it’s one of the better horror films from 2014 and seemed to fly under the radar for a lot of people.

So check it out since it’s streaming currently on netflix as is the original so you could have a double feature and make a night of it.


MY RATING
7/10

CAST
Addison Timlin-Jami
Veronica Cartwright- Lillian
Anthony Anderson-Lone Wolf Morales
Gary Cole- Chief Deputy Tillman
Travis Tope- Nick
Edward Herrmann-Reverend Cartwright
Ed Lauter- Sheriff Underwood
Denis O'Hare- Charles B. Pierce, Jr
Spencer Treat Clark- Corey
Morganna May- Kendra
Joshua Leonard- Deputy Foster 

Old Boy (2013)

"Ask not why you were imprisoned. Ask why you were set free."







MY THOUHGHTS

Let me start of by saying that I'm a fan of the 2003 South Korean film that this movie is "Remake" of. I wasn't to happen that the movie was being remade especially a decade after the original was released, but It's not the first time nor will it be the last time this trend is done.

I was a little shocked that it was being directed by Spike Lee because this isn't his normal type of film to make and to be honest I didn't think he could pull it off( I'll come back to him later). Josh Brolin is the lead which I didn't mind and I am a fan of his. Elizabeth Olsen as the female lead didn't have to much of a problem with her being cast either she's a good actress her sisters might have the money but she has the true talent.


Anyway let's talk about the movie. OldBoy begins in 1993 where Joe Doucett (Brolin) has basically been out all day drinking with some old friends, he goes into work still drunk and is given the job of bringing in a new client Daniel Newcombe (Lance Reddick), while Joe, Newcombe and Newcombe's Wife Donna (Hannah Ware) are having their meeting Joe notices a woman sitting at the bar who catches his attention. the deal with Daniel Newcombe goes wrong.


Joe feeling terrible now only because he made a fool of himself and lost the new client, it just so happened to also be his daughter Mia 3rd birthday, he goes on another drunken slumber around town going in his old friend Chucky (Michael Imperioli) bar but is turned away, as Joe leaves he runs into the mysterious woman from earlier.

Joe is now in a hotel room where the woman has taken him, after some time Joe relieves that the woman is gone and that the hotel isn't exactly a hotel but more so a prison where Joe spends the next 20 years eating the same food Dumplings to be exact, and his only contact with the outside world is watching TV where he finds out that his ex wife was brutally killed and his daughter has been put with a foster family.

This enrages Joe into the point that he slits his wrist and tries to kill himself, but whoever is behind this will not let that happen as Joe wakes up with a new hair cut and his wrist stitched up and bandaged. Joe sees this as a second chase and begins reinventing himself first by giving up the drinking as alcohol is the only thing his is giving to drink along with the dumplings. he also begins training himself by excising and learning different fighting techniques, but most importantly he begins writing letters to his daughter as the years go by.

In current day Joe has found a way to escape and is about to leave when the TV show that he first heard about what happened to his ex wife and daughter comes on doing a anniversary update on his story comes up he stops and is watching the tv and the gas that is pumped into his room every so often starts it knocks him out before he can escape.

suddenly Joe awakes in a chest in a open field where he is wearing a new suit, his letters are with him along with some money. surprised by his sudden freedom Joe slowly escapes the chest and leaves. as he is walking around he sees the woman from 20 years ago or atleast he things its her where he follows her and when he confronts her, a group of guys stops him and Joe gets to show off some of his new fighting skills.

After the run in Joe meets a young woman Marie (Elizabeth Olsen) who be friends him and goes along with him on the weird and twisted journey to finding out who is behind imprisoning him  and why did they do it and also finding his daughter Mia.


ACTING

Josh Brolin does a decent job in the lead role especially during the scenes were he is locked away in the hotel room in a few scenes it almost feels like they were trying to do Tom Hanks from Castaway with how Joe puts a face on his pillow similar to what Hanks does with Wilson, but it doesn't work as good since we never know what the pillow name is.

Elizabeth Olsen seems to be trying to really make her own way but similar to her performance in Godzilla she didn't seem to be the right fit for this role specifically but she does get naked so that kinda saves her performance here LOL

Sharlto Copley who is a really good actor seemed to be in a movie all his own with how his character spoke, looked which was far from the original movie character that he is playing here, but when you his character history is shown then you kind of understand why he is the way he is, but he does come across as a Bond villain and not some one who you should feel a bit sorry for also but you really don't especially because of one scene towards the end of the film.

Samuel L. Jackson shows up as the guy who runs the hotel prison that Joe and a bunch of other people are held, Just like Copley, he seems to be in another movie all together but its never wrong hearing his trademark MOTHERFUCKER which he does say more then a few times threw out the movie.
  

DIRECTING

Spike Lee has always been one of those directors that I feel that even though he has a style of his own doesn't truly let it evolve, not saying he should move camera around all the time or do a bunch of other things like that which a lot of directors like to do now but no matter what all of his films seems low budget and I do get tired of seeing his trademark floating character shot it always comes at random times especially in his recent films.

My biggest problem with Spike's directing here is that there isn't any surreal feeling to this movie. there are a few things that are done that are supposed to be surreal or what not but they never feel like they are that.

The famous hallway fight scene from the original film here looks as if it was a 1990s Sega or PlayStation 1 fight/action scene ,watch the original fight scene and then watch this one and you'll know exactly what I mean.
 

FINAL THOUGHTS

Oldboy 2013 is another example of films that don't need to be remade, rebooted, re envisioned or whatever term Hollywood likes to use to justify why they do this watered down version of perfectly good films that have good/cult fanbases.

I can't recommend this movie to anyone, because this movie really doesn't bring anything new to the table except maybe seeing Elizabeth Olsen naked. I know there is supposed to be a longer version of the film but since I haven't seen that cut of the movie I can only go by this cut of the film. The original film is still out there and is still recent enough to where its not going to feel boring to younger viewers who seem to have a problem watching or liking anything that's older then they are .


MY RATING
4/10



Cast
Josh Brolin-Joe Doucett
Elizabeth Olsen-Marie
Sharlto Copley-Adrian/The Stranger
Samuel L. Jackson-Chaney
Michael Imperioli-Chucky
James Ransone- Dr. Tom
Lance Reddick- Daniel Newcombe

Dredd (2012)

"Judgement Is Coming"




PLOT:
In A Violent, futuristic city where the police have the authority to act as judge, jury and executioner, a cop teams with a rookie to take down a gang that deals the reality altering drug SLO-MO.


MY THOUGHTS

Dredd begins with Judge Dredd giving a backstory of Mega City and how things are in this futuristic city and how crime is at an all time how, which is normally typical in these type of movies, the opening chase scene with Dredd  chasing down some gangsters and killing one of them while the others run into a nearby high rise called Peach Trees before Dredd can purse he is called back to base "The Chief Justice wants to see you".

Dredd returns and has a meeting with The Chief Justice about a trainee Cassandra Anderson (Olivia Thirlby) where she hasn't passed the test to be a judge but because she is a powerful psychic the Chief Justice wants Dredd to take her out and see how she does in the field and give her an field evaluation.

One their way out for Anderson's training day, they get a call about three bodies that were skinned and dropped from higher levels of a high rise building, which leads Dredd back to Peach Trees, as Dredd and Anderson look over the crime scene they are told about the gang and gang leader Madeline Madrigal aka Ma Ma (Lena Headey) she and her gang are very ruthless and are also behind the SLO- Mo drug.

Dredd and Anderson come across a drug deal in an apartment where a few people are killed and one of Ma Ma drug dealers Kay (Wood Harris) is arrested, as they are leaving to take him to jail and interrogate him, Ma Ma has a computer geek junkie hack into the system and put the place on lock down and tells all off the gangs and residents that she wants the two judges dead and that if anybody is seen helping them she will kill them.

Ok I quite enjoy some aspects of this Dredd movie, for one they didn't hold back on the violence since that's what this movie was all about, with ruthless gangs, criminals and junkies, some of the slo mo scenes even though were obviously made for 3D didn't look to bad in regular 2D and actually added to my enjoyment of the movie.

When watching Dredd it feels like an hour and a half video game because of the way its presented which isn't a good thing nor a bad thing either.

I thought Karl Urban did good job playing Judge Dredd I mean his Dredd and Stallone's Dredd are very different, I know some people seemed to like this Dredd more just because he never takes off the helmet just like in the comic book, and I say to anybody If that's your sole reason for liking this movie over the original Judge Dredd movie Is crazy because the stories are completely different hence their was no need for Urban's Dredd to take off his helmet unlike Stallone but I don't want to get to much into that so I'll movie on.


The acting overall was good, my only problem was that Lena Headey wasn't given enough to do here even though she was the main villain she didn't get to really show just how bad she was and maybe have a better final scene between her and Dredd, because I liked her character in the fact that its rare to see a female as the main villain in these type of movies and I think the filmmakers should've went that extra mile and giving us that but all in all like I said she was very good nonetheless.

Olivia Thirlby was actually good too going from the young unsure of themself rookie to the hardened veteran by the end, maybe even a showdown between her and Ma-Ma would've been good because of the fact that her character was born in a similar project like Peach Trees, and could've giving a good different sides of the same coin type of rivalry between the women.

The video game aspect of the movie kinda makes it more of a fun time then if it was done differently but my only real problem with the movie was that it only took place in the Peach Trees building when there is alot of talk about Mega City and how violent it is I felt that they kinda dropped the ball there but maybe if a sequel is made then we'll get to see more of the city itself kinda like in the original Judge Dredd.


I must admit my feelings on this movie is completely different to what it was before I watched into, because I'm not really big on the whole remake thing but at the same time when its done like this where the filmmakers are playing with what made the original film great or good in its on right, I have no problem with that but at the same time if this movie had a different name and main character with the same plot would it be better received and not already have somewhat of a negative reaction from fans of the original movie(yes some folks like the original) instead of a cash in on the Judge Dredd name?

One final thing it would've been cool if they actually played La Roux song In For The Kill in the actual movie and not just in the trailer, I really hate when they do that, because that song works perfectly with this movie which is shown by it being used in the trailer


CAST

Karl Urban- Dredd



Olivia Thirlby-Anderson


Lena Headey- Ma Ma


Wood Harris- Kay


Warrick Grier- Caleb


Rakie Ayola-Chief Judge


Dromhall Gleeson- Clan Techie






My Rating 7/10

Red Dawn (2012)

"This is just some place to them, but this is our home"


PLOT

A group of teenagers look to save their town from an invasion of North Korea soldiers



MY THOUGHTS

I was not to happy when I heard that there was going to be a remake of a childhood favorite of mine, but I've come to get used to seeing most of my childhood favorite movies being remade in recent years and a few more are still to come, but the latest of the remakes is Red Dawn.

I'm going to try and be as fair as I can to this movie as possible but I'm sure I'll go off on a tirade about remakes at some point during this review. so I apologize now if i do.

The New Red Dawn begins like most new remake do with giving more story and backstory to characters that are vaguely mentioned in the originals and aren't needed at all but we still get it anyway, but showing the final minutes of a high school football game that introduces us to Jed Eckert (Chris Hermsworth), Matt Eckert (Josh Peck), Tom Eckert (Brent Cullen), Matt's girlfriend Erica (Isabel Lucas).

We are shown that there is somewhat of a family rift between Jed and Matt, Matt who is the hot shot Quarterback of The Wolverines that doesn't like to use his teammates the right way to win the game and ultimately cost them a chance at going to the championship, this sets up for how Matt will be later.

Jed is a soldier who is on leave from fighting in the war and has come back home and meets up with a former high school friend Toni (Adrianne Palicki) we also see the beginnings of what the bases for what their relationship will be as well later on.

Its the typical start to these new remakes that seem to follow the same formula as the countless bad remakes that come before.

In the mist of all of this little clues of the North Korean invasion is coming is given thanks to new, radio broadcast, that no one seems to be paying attention too. until the next morning when World War III has broken out and the Eckert brothers along with a few others get out of town and into the woods where they go to the Eckert's family cabin.

Here we meet Robert (Josh Hutcherson), Danny (Edwin Hodge), Julie(Alyssa Diaz), Greg(Julian Alcaraz) as they all try to figure out what is happening, a few of them want to go back into town to find their families, Jed gives them a speech about staying there and fighting against the Invading Soldiers and gets everyone to say and fight with him.


The Leader of North Korea Invasion Captain Cho (Will Yun Lee) and some of his soldiers have captured Tom and Darryl's dad and Mayor (Michael Beach) who they have to try and plead with the teens to surrender and no harm will come to them, after a few minutes of this Tom tells his sons to do what he would do and fight back, Captain Cho kills him and leaves. Jed trains the others to fight back against the soldiers.


I have a lot of problems with this remake, but I'm going to try and keep it short but my biggest problem with Red Dawn is that this remake takes everything that made the original good and takes it and flips it on its head and waters it down.

Namely making Jed an soldier, the characters in this shouldn't have been as ready to fight back as they were, but by making Jed a soldier there was really no need to have  Tanner (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) come into play who in the original came in and helped them better prepare themselves and fill them in on a few things as to what the army was doing, his character was somewhat of a waste here.


Matt was the one character out of everyone that I really didn't care for in this movie, because he seemed to just want to go off and do his own thing which we already got to see from the opening football game, but after the invasion when he does that, he puts a lot of people in danger and gets others killed just to save Erica who had been captured during the invasion, I really disliked his character.

Another big problem I had with this movie was that even though its a WWIII what if type of story there was never really in real danger the young teens where in like in the original, some of the homages to the original are done poorly, using Toni as bait and Darryl's final scene to name a few are done poorly.

CAST

Chris Hemsworth- Jed


Josh Peck- Matt


Josh Hutcherson- Robert


Adrianne Palicki- Toni


Isabel Lucas- Erica


Conner Crusie- Darryl


Edwin Hodge- Danny




Jeffrey Dean Morgan- Tanner

In closing If Red Dawn was probably named something else It would've been  just another movie that came and went without any questions, but by making it Red Dawn my expectations were set a little bit higher because of the name.

I know the movie was filmed a few years back and just was released in 2012, and it didn't hurt that Josh Hutcherson became and bigger name thanks to The Hunger Games and Chris Hemsworth got huge thanks to Thor/The Avengers, I am a Chris Hemsworth fan but I will say I don't know where his career would be right now if he didn't get the role of Thor because Cabin In The Woods and Red Dawn are not the best to have on his resume of films hopefully as his career continues he does better roles that will erase these films from what he is known for outside of The almighty Thor role.

I say if your a fan of the original Red Dawn say away from this movie, and enjoy what that movie was which had a better overall cast and better action scenes, If your younger and don't like any movie that's older then you are this might be the movie for you, but I highly recommend watching the original as well to see how this story should be told.


MY RATING

4/10

Total Recall (2012)

Total Recall


"What is real?"

THE PLOT

Factory worker Douglas Quaid finds himself looking for a little more out of life after having the same dream about a beautiful woman(Jessica Biel) he decides to go to Rekall a place that allows people to live out their fantasies. Quaid's friend and co worker Harry(Bokeem Woodbine) does his best to talk him out of going, but he goes to Rekall anyway and the lines between what's real and what's not begin to blur when Quaid finds himself involved in something bigger then he could've ever imagined.


MY THOUGHTS:

When I first heard rumors of talks of one of my favorite movies Total Recall was being remade back in 2009, I was very disappointed to say the less, because I couldn't understand why Hollywood was wanted too remake this movie, because too me and fans of Paul Verhoevon 1990 sci fi action flick starring Arnold Schwarzengger thought there was nothing that they could do that would make it better, because like countless other remakes of original movies, the original movie already got it right.

After countless and worthless debates I've had about why I liked the original Total Recall movie and my opinion on that would never change just because Len Wiseman (Underworld Movies) directed and stars Colin Farrell, Jessica Biel and Kate Beckinsale wasn't going to change my mind either.

I finally got tired of having this debate about which was better and sat down and watched the new Total Recall and I tired my hardest to give this movie a chance but right from the opening I knew this movie was not going to prove me wrong like others felt it would.

My biggest problem with this version of Total Recall is that it doesn't create a world of its own that feels just as much like a character in the original did, I mean we're given some backstory about the future that this is supposed to be but there really is no depth too it nor to the story or the characters themselves


CAST

Colin Farrell-Douglas Quaid/Carl Hauser


Most people felt like what was going to make this movie better then the original is the fact that there was going to be a real actor and not a bodybuilder in the role, I'm sorry but Arnold was more believable 20 years ago in this role then Farrell who felt like he was just going threw the motions and never felt he was in any real danger because I knew he was going to get out of his situation no matter how tough they tried to make it seem for him.


Jessica Biel- Melina


When I see Jessica Biel, the first thing I think of is she's exotic....what? that's Jessica Biel there's nothing about her that's exotic, btw dying her hair dark doesn't count either. the character is supposed to be exotic and complete opposite to Quaid's wife, instead she could've easily been his wife because there really wasn't anything special about Biel's Melina. could've been the fact that there really didn't seem to have been any chemistry between Biel and Farrell that caused this I don't know but she was very bland in this movie and I'm a Jessica Biel fan so it hurts to have to look at her in a negative light. Maybe someone who has more of that exotic sultry type could've played this part some one like I don't know....





Kate Beckinsale-Lori


I have mixed feelings with Kate Beckinsale's role one the one hand she to me gives the best performance in the movie as the wife/ killer agent trying to kill Quaid/Hauser by any means. she seems to be the only one who actually knows what her role is and she kicks major ass and looks damn good at doing it, on the other hand I didn't like the fact that they decided to make her character a composite of Sharon Stone and Michael Ironside characters from the original, because that whole situation was better played then this time around.


Bokeem Woodbine- Harry


I didn't have to much of a problem with him other then they could've made his Harry into the Michael Ironside character that is hunting Quaid and Melina threw out the movie and had something of a relationship with Lori but maybe that would've been to much I suppose.

Bryan Cranston- Cohaagen


Its always good to see Bryan "Walter White" Cranston in anything lately because of how good he is on Breaking Bad, but with that said to me it felt like Cranston kinda mailed this role in because he was either still filming some of Breaking Bad or working on Argo I don't know but in this he really didn't seem like an evil dictator and things go his way or else and we know he can do that check him out on Breaking Bad when he goes Heisenberg on somebody.

All in all this movie shouldn't have been made because the original movie got some much of the themes and social commentary right but i guess now days its not good to make movies that hit to close to home otherwise its considered controversial somehow.

Even though this movie has some of the same plot elements of the original movie they could've called this movie something else but instead they wanted to cash in on the success of the original and thought that by having some I Robot storm trooper type foot soldiers and more "Modern Technology" was gonna make it better In my opinion you we're wrong.

If your someone who don't like nor have seen the older movies this is for you but when I think of Total Recall, I'll think "Get your ass to mars" Arnold, Sharon Stone, Michael Ironside, the three breasted woman and countless other classic elements from that movie while the 2012 update will be like a bad dream that I can't wait to forget.

MY Rating 6/10