My Review: Lakeview Terrace (6/10)

"It's his word against yours. And he has, let's say, the color issue on his side. And that color happens to be blue."

Lakeview Terrace is a thriller that some consider to be underrated. This film has always been on my radar after reading Roger Ebert's four star review, but most critics didn't really dig this film. I wasn't blown away by it like Ebert, but I still enjoyed this suspenseful thriller thanks mostly to Samuel L. Jackson's crazy eyed performance. If someone you know is complaining about their neighbors, then recommend them this film and  I guarantee you they will never complain again. Compared to director, Neil LaBute's, previous film, The Wicker Man, this is a masterpiece. The film does manage to maintain a certain level of suspense and the characters are well developed, but the final act is a bit of a letdown. The film lacks some subtlety at times, but it did keep me at the edge of my seat throughout most of its running time. LaBute wasn't afraid to hold back on the racial comments and Jackson's character was very outspoken about it; he definitely succeeds at making the audience feel uncomfortable with several remarks. 

Chris Mattson (Patrick Wilson) and his wife Lisa (Kerry Washington), arrive to their new home in sunny California despite the news reports of several wildfires across the area. They are a recently married couple and are excited about having purchased their first home together. Lisa's father (Ron Glass) is ready to head back home after having finished helping with all the moving, meanwhile Chris and Lisa meet their new neighbor, Abel (Samuel L. Jackson), who happens to be an LA police officer and so they feel even more secure about their purchase. What they never see coming however is that Abel is a very strict man who doesn't approve of their interracial marriage. Not feeling comfortable with their presence, Abel who lives with his son Marcus (Jaishon Fisher) and daughter Celia (Regine Nehy), begins to bully and threaten them in order to force them to move out of their new home. Abel also happens to be experiencing some struggles of his own back at work for his abusive behavior, so this cop doesn't seem to be the one you want to live close to.

Samuel L. Jackson is known mostly for playing a good guy in his movies, so getting to see him in this very different role felt like a breath of fresh air. He gives a terrifying performance here and his presence always made me feel uncomfortable. Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington also gave strong performances for a thriller like this considering they weren't the perfect couple. They each had flaws and their characters were developed really well. Unfortunately the movie doesn't end on a strong note and that is what ultimately brought it down for me. I still think this film is worth seeing for Samuel L. Jackson's performance, he carries the movie throughout its weak moments. The story may sound familiar considering it is a conventional thriller, but there are moments thanks mostly to the strong performances and well developed characters, that make this film stand above other films in its genre.

My Review: Insidious (5/10)

"You may be a superhero, buddy, but you're not invincible."

Insidious began with a lot of promise and several scares, but midway through the film it began to lose its appeal and it went downhill from there. James Wan's The Conjuring was one of the best horror films I've seen this decade and I can see how certain elements from this movie (especially the first half involving the haunted house elements) were perfected and used with greater effect there. Wan knows how to scare audiences creating an eerie atmosphere and uses the camera effectively. Despite the interesting premise, I did have some issues with the characters which wasn't a problem for me in The Conjuring. Patrick Wilson was great in that film, but here I felt he had very little chemistry with Rose Byrne. There is one scene where the alarm goes off and he finds the door from the main entrance wide open. He closes the door and sets the alarm on again only to hear it go off a few seconds later and find the door open again. Despite everything that is going on in the house he still doesn't believe his wife and thinks she's overreacting. Even if he didn't believe the ghost story then at least he should've called the police because someone is forcing the door open and sounding off the alarm. I just found it hard to believe he would go back to sleep after that. The characters weren't developed very well, but the scares still worked during the first half of the film. Unfortunately the second half doesn't live up to the standards set during the first half. The final act instead of being scary ends up being laughable, and it is a problem I find with most horror movies nowadays which don't know how to connect the gran finale with the suspense and the tension they've been building.

Josh (Patrick Wilson) and Renai Lambert (Rose Byrne) have recently moved in to their new home along with their two boys Dalton (Ty Simpkins) and Foster (Andrew Astor), and their baby daughter. Strange things begin to occur in the house, and one afternoon Dalton suffers an accident in the attic. He seems to be fine, but when Josh goes to wake him up the next morning he doesn't awake. The doctors can't explain why, but somehow he seems to be in a coma. They decide to bring Dalton back home as he remains in coma and strange things continue to happen. Renai begins hearing voices through the baby monitor and finding blood stains in Dalton's sheets. She begins seeing strange presences and her son Foster claims to be hearing Dalton walking through the hallway at night. Convinced the house is haunted, Renai asks Josh to move again and so they do. At their new home strange things continue to happen, so Josh's mom, Lorraine (Barbara Hershey) decides to intervene. She had a similar experience with her son Josh when he was younger and gets a group of paranormal investigators led by Elise Rainer (Lin Shaye) to come intervene. That is when things begin to get a little freakier. 

One of the major problems with this film is that screenwriter Leigh Whannell (who worked previously with Wan in Saw and Dead Silence) by trying to stay away from the cliches of the genre takes us to unexpected places during the second half of the film. For instance, he thought it would be great if the family left the haunted house instead of staying there like in other horror films.This should've been a good thing, but Wan was creating such an eerie atmosphere with the classic haunted house formula that somehow it backfired here. The creepy moments that were beginning to scare me completely abandoned me when we got to the new home and the paranormal investigative team began their astral projection talk. This really took me out of the movie and truly disappointed me. The scares were gone and everything became sort of laughable. I think the reason why I really loved The Conjuring is because Wan went back to the classic formula and stuck to the haunted house elements which were working so well for him during the first half of Insidious. I don't think this is a terrible film, but the ending was so disappointing I don't really feel like watching the second film. 

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: Young Adult (5/10)

¨Sometimes in order to heal... a few people have to get hurt.¨

That is exactly the kind of philosophy the star of Young Adult has in this new Jason Reitman film. She is exactly what the title suggests, an adult trapped in the mind of a young teenager. She continues living her life as if she were still the college queen and never matures beyond her age. Charlize Theron plays this highly unlikeable character and she does it really well. Her performance is brilliant, although in a way a little too much so, because she is so unlikeable that she makes the movie feel a bit unlikeable as well. I was really disappointed with Young Adult because I had enjoyed Reitman and Diablo Cody`s previous work together in Juno. Juno was my favorite film in 2007, and I had high hopes for this film considering Reitman had proven himself with Up in the Air as well. Cody is a sharp script writer, but she hasn`t toped her work in Juno or even come close to it. Young Adult has some great moments of sappy dialogue, but the characters are just so unlikeable that I really cared less for what happened to them. Reitman has done what I thought would be impossible: make a film that I wouldn’t like. Juno and Up in the Air where such great films, with great characters, and incredibly funny moments that I just wished Young Adult would have left me with at least a similar sensation. The pacing of the film is also pretty bad and they managed to make a 90 minute movie feel very long. On the other hand the soundtrack was pretty entertaining, and Reitman is proving to be some sort of Cameron Crowe when it comes to mixing music in movies.

Mavis Gary (Charlize Theron) is a 37 year old fiction writer living in Minneapolis. She specializes in teen romantic stories, and she actually lives like one since she continues to dwell on the past and remember her days as the queen of her college. She seems to have it all, a good job, living in a big city, but she is a depressed alcoholic and has recently come out of a divorce. She fantasizes with conquering her old boyfriend from college, Buddy (Patrick Wilson), the jock who in her opinion must be sad because he continues to live in the small town they grew up in and is a father. She decides to return to the town and ¨save¨ him from the depressing life he must have with his wife and newborn baby. She is convinced that the two belong with each other and will rescue him from that small ugly town. When she arrives, the first thing she does is hit a bar where she is recognized by Matt (Patton Oswalt), who was the typical fat kid everyone bullied. At first she had no idea who he was, until he tells her the story of how the kids broke his leg and left him for dead once. She then remembers him as ¨the hate crime¨ kid and recalls they beat him up for being gay, which ended up not being true. Mavis tells Matt about her plan of conquering her old fling Buddy, and he warns her not to do it because he is happily married with Beth (Elizabeth Reaser) and they seem to be doing well, but Mavis is sure he must be suffering with his role as husband and father.

The film basically follows the star of the film, Theron, and how she treats everybody. She is really a very hateful character, but she plays it extremely well. You kind of feel sorry for her, but you never get to sympathize with her. I think that is the biggest failure the movie had, because in Juno and in Up in the Air you have really great characters you can sympathize with. This isn’t a feel good movie, but it does have some funny moments and I can see how some may find this film enjoyable. Patton Oswalt gives a great performance as well and his relationship with Theron was probably the best thing about the film. The scenes between Theron and Wilson weren’t really that good, and felt awkward at times; it succeeds much more when it focuses on Patton and Theron as they drink and talk to each other. The film is pretty original in that it never tries to redeem its main character, she is simply the way she is and period. Nobody is going to change her. From the very beginning we know where this movie is heading and at the end you kind of feel like the film were missing something (perhaps an interesting and likeable character for a change). Oswalt is good, but his character isn`t really likeable, although he does make us feel sorry for him. He is perhaps the best thing about Young Adult. This is a very odd and different kind of comedy. It didn’t really work for me.

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My Review: The Switch (7/10)

¨It`s complicated, it`s messy, it`s about horrible timing, and fumbled opportunities, and not being able to say what you need to say when you need to say it. At least, that`s the way it was for me.¨

The last film that Josh Gordon and Will Speck had directed together was the sport comedy Blades of Glory staring Will Ferrell and Jon Heder. The Switch is a very different type of comedy, it`s a romantic one which perhaps was marketed in the wrong way. Like any other romantic comedy it is very predictable, but I found it very entertaining and fresh at the same time. I think the main problem is that they marketed The Switch with Jennifer Aniston as the leading character, and although she is one of the leads she is perhaps the least entertaining one of the movie. Jason Bateman is the true star of the movie and this is the role he is perfect for as the kind of pessimistic likeable character. The kid, Thomas Robinson, is also great in this movie and I think his relationship with Bateman`s character is the central part of this movie and what makes this romantic comedy work. I was more interested in the relationship between Bateman and Robinson than the actual romantic love story. The dialogue in the movie was also pretty good. Allan Loeb did a much better job with this script than he did with either of his two 2011 films (Just Go With It and The Dilemma). Loeb did have a lot of help considering he adapted the screenplay from Jeffrey Eugenides`s short story ¨Baster.¨ I expected The Switch to be just another chick flick, but I ended up enjoying it  a lot more thanks to the performances from Bateman and Robinson.

Wally Mars (Jason Bateman) and Kassie Larson (Jennifer Aniston) have been best friends for a long time. They used to date in the past, but that was a long time ago and Kassie decided Wally was more of a friend type of guy. They`ve had a great relationship over the years, but Kassie realizes that time has gone by rather quickly and that the moment to have a baby is now. She is not willing to wait any longer for the right person to come along; it is time to be a mother, and the only way to do so at the moment is through artificial insemination. Kassie`s friend, Debbie (Juliette Lewis) decides to throw her an artificial insemination party once she has chosen Roland (Patrick Wilson) as the sperm donor. At the party Wally gets drunk and when he goes to use the bathroom he finds the sperm and accidently dumps it while playing around with the sample. Wally replaces the lost sperm with his own, although he is way too wasted to remember what went on. His manager and friend, Leonard (Jeff Goldblum) reminds him about everything he had done once he got home, but Wally has no recollection of what went on. Kassie becomes pregnant and decides that New York isn’t the place to raise a child so she tells Wally she is moving back home. Wally never tells Kassie his feelings for her, because he himself isn’t sure about them. Seven years go by and Wally receives a call from Kassie that she is returning to New York with her young son Sebastian (Thomas Robinson). Sebastian is very similar to Wally and thus the comedy begins and the plot thickens.

The relationship between Sebastian and Wally is the true highlight of the film. Robinson proved in his film debut that he can act better than pretty much any other child actor. He was really captivating and believable in his role. Bateman also was great in his role as he began to realize that he had a sort of special connection with this kid. The chemistry between them was for more believable than the one he had with Aniston. Aniston played her usual self; she did a decent job although her role wasn’t very memorable at all. The two supporting characters in this movie were great: Jeff Goldblum and Juliette Lewis both played really funny characters and delivered some of the funniest lines in the film. I really loved the performances and actually enjoyed this movie more than I had anticipated. The Switch worked thanks to these special performances and moments that the movie had; it allowed me to see beyond the typical and predictable love story that so many romantic comedies have grown us accustomed too. So considering all I`ve said I`m going to recommend The Switch although I admit it is very predictable at times and there is no doubt whatsoever as to what direction the movie is going to take. If you don’t have any problem with that then you might enjoy The Switch as much as I did.

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