My Review: Family Weekend (6/10)

"If a family doesn't stick together, sometimes you have to use a little tape."

Family Weekend is a small indie comedy that didn't receive much attention after its limited release and I can understand why. This isn't a good film and I shouldn't have liked it as much as I did, but to be honest I did laugh during several scenes and it had one of those feel good endings that leave you with a smile on your face. The real reason why I'm giving this film a passing grade is because I really enjoyed the lead performance from Olesya Rulin and the supporting role from the young Joey King who was hilarious. This is the fourth film I've seen her in this year (the others being The Conjuring, Oz: The Great and Powerful, and White House Down) and this was her best role by far. Family Weekend is worth watching even if it's for her performance alone because she was just hysterical. I was going to describe this as a family film, but after seeing that it got an R rating I can understand why because it does take some dark turns. At first I thought this was going to be some sort of remake of House Arrest, and despite borrowing a similar premise, screenwriter Matt Turner kind of gives it its own spin. I do have to say however that some of the characters in this film are extremely unlikable (especially the mother played Kristin Chenoweth) and almost took me out of the film. Director Benjamin Epps could have used a stronger script, but overall his film had its entertaining moments despite being unbalanced and a bit overlong. Family Weekend is a formulaic comedy that does take some unpredictable and dark turns at times, and I actually ended up enjoying this. 

Emily (Olesya Rulin) is an uptight 16 year old girl who is passionate about jump-roping and after winning a competition at regionals she is disappointed that no one from her family shows up. When she gets home we meet them while she confronts each one for not going to cheer her. First there is her younger sister, Lucinda (Joey King), who is obsessed with acting and is currently playing the Jodie Foster role from Taxi Driver. Then there is her artistic father, Duncan (Matthew Modine), who is working on a painting and is so self absorbed by it that he had no idea that she was competing. Her brother, Jackson (Eddie Hassell) is also trying to become an artist like his father trying to find his way. Then there is her younger brother Mickey (Robbie Tucker) who is obsessed with animals and is always citing trivial things about them. Finally we are introduced to Emily's mother, Samantha (Kristin Chenoweth), who is an uptight businesswoman. Everyone seems so disconnected from each other and self absorbed, so Emily decides that an intervention needs to take place. She drugs her parents and ties them up in their home like hostages because she feels it's the only way she can get through to them. This is where the insanity ensues as she tries to fix her dysfunctional family.

Dealing with dysfunctional families has sort of become a trend in Hollywood and it isn't unfamiliar territory. We've seen some of these characters before in other films and the film does fall into generic cliches at times. Family Weekend still remains fresh thanks to the performances from the young cast, and it also happens to have some heart. The scenery in this film is gorgeous and the house where most of the story takes place also looks really good, so this is a pretty nice film to look at. It does feel unbalanced at times and the characters are hard to like, but overall we get through some of these unbalanced moments thanks to some comedic relief coming mostly from Joey King. Some of the familiar roles she plays in this film from highly acclaimed movies were the highlight for me. Rulin was also great in this film and I will be looking forward to what she does next. She truly was a freak queen here. The film does try to explore some deep issues during some dramatic turns although only scratching the surface and then continuing to return to the classic comedic elements. I had a good time although I admit I'm on the minority here and I fully understand why.

My Review: The Conjuring (9/10)

"The devil exists. God exists. And for us, as people, our very destiny hinges on which we decide to follow."

James Wan has always been a hit or a miss for me as a director considering I was a big fan of Saw, but really hated Dead Silence. When The Conjuring began I was fearing the worst seeing that a doll was involved once again, but fortunately it was just part of a prologue and the main story was about a haunted house. So my next thought was: ok we've seen this scenario played out a million times before in horror films and I'm not a huge fan of spirit demon possession movies. So once again, I had my doubts about this film because I was sure I'd seen it all before and it wasn't really my thing. But I was wrong once again, because this film absolutely blew me away once the main characters were introduced and the story began creeping me out. The Conjuring is nearly a perfect film and in my humble opinion this is the best horror film of this millennium. Wan has made one of the creepiest films I've seen and I found myself feeling goosebumps all over my body during several scenes. The mood and 70's setting worked really well here and the characters were surprisingly all likable as well. The silence in this film worked really well and the score also added to the overall effectiveness in this movie. The best thing about The Conjuring is that Wan didn't go for cheap jump scares, he created a genuine and effective eerie atmosphere that had me tense during the entire film. The performances were all great as well (something that is difficult to find in the horror genre) and the camera work was unbelievable (I recall a masterful scene where one of the young kids senses a presence in her room and looks under the bed with the camera following her point of view). But what I loved the most about The Conjuring is that the film didn't have to use gore in order to shock the audience; Wan managed to scare us with the classical horror film techniques of the old days. This was one of the funnest experiences I've had in the movies this year.

The film claims to be based on true events revolving around a Rhode Island family that experienced strong supernatural activity in their new home. Famous paranormal investigators, Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) and Ed Warren (Patrick Wilson), were called to help this family. The Conjuring is a retelling of what the Warren's found in the house. Roger (Ron Livingston) and Carolyn Perron (Lili Taylor) are a very lovely and hard working couple. They have five beautiful daughters: Andrea (Shanley Caswell), Nancy (Hayley McFarland), Christine (Joey King), Cindy (Mackenzie Foy), and April (Kyla Deaver). Due to their financial struggles they believe this cheap big old house could be a new start for them, but they begin to experience some strange events. First, their dog refuses to enter the house and the next morning they find him dead. All the clocks in the house stopped at 3:07. April, the youngest, begins speaking to an imaginary friend, and Christine begins feeling something pulling her leg at night. Several strange things continue to occur in the home which leave  Carolyn no other choice than to look for these famous paranormal investigators and ask them to help them. After just one visit, the Warrens realize there is definitely a dangerous demonic presence in the home. They promise to help, but the secrets hidden in this house and the threat might even be too menacing for the Warrens to undertake.  

The Conjuring is really well crafted despite the familiar genre and premise. The film kind of surprised me in that it never tried to manipulate the audience with the score. Actually the scariest scenes occur mostly in silence, and when the music begins to play and you expect some sort of scare usually something silly happened to lighten the mood (the scene that comes to mind here is when a door moves and everyone expects to see the ghost manifest itself, but it was actually an investigator coming out of a bathroom). I found the film to be very creepy and I must say that when I went to bed later that night I made sure that my feet were well tucked in under the blankets so that nothing pulled my legs. The film succeeds as a horror story and it really delivers several scares that stick with you long after the movie is over. I think The Conjuring is a modern masterpiece and it might be The Exorcist of this generation. Wan is so good building suspense in this film and making the audience care for the characters. I loved his long tracking shots and the moments of silence that just added to the overall tension the movie made me feel.  I will never forget the silence coming from the audience after the movie ended as if they were still trying to loosen up from all the tension built up in this nearly two hour film. Wan tells this story with such a retro vibe and simple techniques that even clapping hands scared the heck out of me. The Conjuring is intense and everything I look for when I want to see a scary movie. If you think you've seen it all and nothing can scare you, you might want to give The Conjuring a view because it could surprise you.

My Review: White House Down (6/10)

"My father is a very special man."

White House Down might suffer from a terrible plot and loud action scenes we've seen a million times before, but the leads have such great chemistry together that this movie was actually entertaining. I'm giving Roland Emmerich a passing grade for the first time since his 2000 film The Patriot. I've disliked pretty much every film he's made since (2012, The Day After Tomorrow, and 10,000 BC), but for the first time Emmerich barely redeems himself thanks to strong performances from Foxx and Tatum. This is the second film coming out this year about the White House being under siege where the president is taken hostage and one man has to save the day. Olympus Has Fallen starred Gerard Butler and Aaron Eckhart. The action sequences in that film might have been a little better than White House Down, but I didn't like that movie because it took itself too seriously despite the ridiculous plot. What Emmerich has going for him here is that he knows the film is silly and that everything is pretty much formulaic, but he has fun with the story. He lets these two lead roles play with cliches and simply entertain the audience with their over the top performances. In a way this film felt a lot like Independence Day and those 90 films I enjoyed so much. It's not a Die Hard film, but it does pretty much live up to films like Air Force One and has a little more fun with the familiar story. We know pretty much everything that's going to happen in this film; it is very predictable, but somehow it manages to have fun with everything and never tries to takes itself seriously. Tatum has such great comedic timing that he really steals the show here. This is a summer popcorn film that is loaded with entertaining and funny scenes, but has very little depth to it. Unfortunately the film is way too long and has a preposterous final act. Despite it all, I still enjoyed White House Down and had a decent time.

Former military, John Cale (Channing Tatum), works as a Capitol policeman but thanks to a contact he gets a job interview with the Secret Service for the President James Sawyer (Jamie Foxx). He doesn't get the job, but he takes advantage of his interview to take his young daughter Emily (Joey King) on a tour through the White House. She is a huge admirer of the President and is having her dream day, but all of a sudden the place is attacked by a group of heavily armed paramilitary men who take everyone hostage. The head of the president's security, Walker (James Wood), is behind the attack. John prevents Walker from taking him hostage and hides out with the President inside while finding a way to escape and at the same time rescue his daughter from the dangerous paramilitary group led by Stenz (Jason Clarke). Cale gets through with the Pentagon from the inside and is permanently in communication with Finnerty (Maggie Gyllenhaal) who tries to guide him and the President to safety. Cale and the President will have to team up in order to disrupt Walker's destructive plan. Among the talented cast we have supporting works from Richard Jenkins, Nicolas Wright, and Peter Jacobson.

I don't blame those who didn't like White House Down because I can see why they hated it. The premise is really silly and the movie is way too long with a very ridiculous final act. I enjoyed the film mostly because the actors seemed to be taking their roles very lightly and having fun with the material given. Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx worked extremely well together and shared some very funny scenes. Their chemistry is what made this film worthwhile for me. The film isn't as good as Die Hard, but I thought it took a similar approach and that is what worked for Emmerich this time. Tatum is a bankable actor and has been on a role lately (21 Jump Street and Magic Mike). The film is worth watching for this alone, just don't go into this film expecting an intelligent action film.

My Review: Oz the Great and Powerful (6/10)

¨I don’t want to be a good man. I want to be a great one.¨

It´s no easy task to make a prequel of the successful and timeless 1939 family classic, The Wizard of Oz, but Sam Raimi (director of the Spider Man trilogy and The Evil Dead) was up to the task. Raimi does pay a wonderful homage to some of the iconic images of the classical movie thanks to some great and colorful visual effects, but the story doesn’t work as well. It is kind of the same problem I had with Tim Burton´s Alice in Wonderland where the story doesn’t match to the wondrous visuals. I still had a fun time with this film as the nostalgia ended up playing a key role here. The screenplay was co-written by Mitchell Kapner (The Whole 9 Yards) and David Lindsay-Abaire (Rabbit Hole), adapted from L. Frank Baum´s novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Despite not having a great story, it does become suspenseful towards the end and hooked my attention. The opening sequences however were slow and lacked a decent pacing. The visuals end up being a distraction over the impoverished story, but kids will enjoy this film nonetheless. Parents will also be entertained and filled with nostalgia like I was; but it will be inevitable to compare this movie to the classical one, and it does fall short story wise. You still have to take your hat off to Sam Raimi who took the risk and came up with a decent film, but somehow in a cinematic world where we are used to seeing visual spectacles like Hogwarts, Middle Earth, and Narnia you can´t carry a film on the visuals alone. You need compelling characters, and unfortunately here the most memorable characters are unlikely ones (a porcelain doll and a winged monkey).

The film focuses its attention on Oz, short for Oscar Diggs (James Franco), a circus magician from Kansas who ends up being blown away by a tornado to the wonderful land of Oz. Once he arrives at Oz, he meets a beautiful witch named Theodora (Mila Kunis) who explains how they have been waiting for him because a prophecy claims that a wizard would arrive at Oz and defeat the evil witch who poisoned her own father, the king of Emerald City. The long awaited wizard could become King if he is able to defeat the witch and protect the land. Oz, who isn’t a very moral fellow, is interested in becoming great so he accepts as long as he can keep all the gold. He ignores telling her that he isn’t actually a real wizard. What Theodora and Oz don’t know is that her sister, Evanora (Rachel Weisz), has lied to everyone in Emerald City about the evil witch Glinda (Michelle Williams). Evanora is actually the evil witch who is trying to get rid of Glinda and take over Oz. During his mission Oz runs into some unlikely allies like Finley (Zach Braff) a winged monkey and a porcelain doll named China Girl (Joey King) before discovering the truth about Glinda and Evanora. This is the story of Oz and how he came to this land and made a name for himself.

  

There isn’t much greatness about Oz, but the story still works as pure entertainment for the family. There seems to be an underlying silly tone to the whole movie and James Franco knows it and plays along with his role. He doesn’t seem to be taking himself too seriously and neither should we. This isn’t a classical film, but it does remind us of the magical 1939 film and that alone makes this worth the while. Disney has us used to these clichés about believing in ourselves and achieving our dreams, and Oz is full of them. The film continually reminds us that it could have been much better, but the magic still seems to be present. The best characters are the ones voiced by Zach Braff and Joey King. They have the funniest scenes and make the movie much more enjoyable. Michelle Williams is also a pleasure to watch as the sweet and innocent Glinda. There isn’t really much more I can say about this film, if you are a fan of the original film then you might want to see this for pure nostalgic reasons but don’t expect it to be as good as that classic movie. It has its moments and overall it is an enjoyable and entertaining movie.

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