Trance Review: Danny Boyle wants to hypnotize you

Dir. Danny Boyle
101 Minutes
Rated R

Danny Boyle first came onto my radar with his brilliant take on the zombie genre (or rather, "infected" genre) with 28 Days Later.  Ever since I've been sure to catch every movie he makes, and seeing his evolution has been remarkable (I'd say having the honor of directing the opening ceremony for the London Olympic Games is a true testament to how reliable he is).  So Trance is the latest film to follow Boyle's latest string of hits, including 127 Hours and the Academy Award-sweeping Slumdog Millionaire.  It follows an art auctioneer, Simon (James McAvoy), who teams up with some gangsters - led by a tough guy named Franck (Vincent Cassel) - to steal a painting.  The only problem is that after a blow to the head during the heist, Simon forgets where he hid the thing, and problems arise... After torturing Simon leads nowhere, Franck enlists the help of a hypnotherapist, Elizabeth Lamb (Rosario Dawson), to extract the memory from Simon's head and what follows is a web of intrigue, double-crossing, and a lot of confusion.

Evil Dead Review: A brainless, bloody gorefest that will test your limits

Dir. Fede Alvarez
92 Minutes
Rated R

(I saw this movie Friday on opening day, but I had a lot of crap to do for school that got in the way of writing my review.  Sorry to all none of you who are upset.)

In high school, horror movies were my life.  Horror posters covered the walls of my room, I looked forward to opening the grisly pages of Fangoria magazine every month, and I was addicted to buying whatever obscure, limited/special/ultimate/uncut/unrated edition DVD on Amazon I could afford.  I remember fondly buying the 'Book of the Dead' edition of Evil Dead 2, and paying a stupid amount for the out-of-print 'Boomstick' edition of Army of Darkness.  Being a sick and twisted teenager I couldn't get enough over-the-top gore and the Evil Dead movies satiated my appetite for bloodshed.  They were campy, gory, weird, but good-natured and fun.  Bruce Campbell brought a great slapstick sensibility to his character Ash, and Sam Raimi elevated the standard "cabin in the woods" storyline into an inventive, crazy, and in its own way "groundbreaking" trilogy of films.  But given the huge cult following Evil Dead has amassed over the years, a remake was inevitable.  There are so few horror series even left to remake, but with Raimi and Campbell behind it as producers, I remained cautiously optimistic.

RIP Roger Ebert

Just some quick parting words...

At this point, I've been reviewing movies for almost six years.  In that time I've gained a lot of knowledge, and plan to continue shoving useless movie trivia into my head for the years to come.  I've also tried to get better at writing about movies and learning about movie criticism as a platform of expression all its own.  Roger Ebert, probably one of the most famous movie critics of all time, was always a go-to source on this movie-watching "journey" of mine.  Even if I didn't agree with his opinion, he always had something interesting to say, while balancing the line between scholarly analysis and fun speculation (especially if he hated a movie).

I know this blog is barely a speck in the Internet stratosphere, but I'm proud of it, and it was people like Roger Ebert that helped inspire me along the way.  Whether it was catching his show at some obscure hour of the day or going through his volumes of written reviews, I always felt his passion and knowledge shine through.  You will be missed sir.

Spring Breakers Review: The beach, bikinis, and organized crime

Dir. Harmony Korine
92 Minutes
Rated R

Known for such controversial films as Kids and Gummo, Harmony Korine is no stranger to examining the dark side of American youth.  Spring Breakers stars 'Disney Channel' princesses Vanessa Hudgens and Selena Gomez, along with Ashley Benson and Korine's real-life wife Rachel, as a group of college girls who want nothing more than to escape their lives and party for spring break.  In order to get the travel money, the girls rob a diner with spray painted squirt guns and speed off for some real fun.  During their escapades they run into a gold-toothed rapper/hustler named "Alien" (James Franco), and the rest is a slippery downward slope to see how far these girls will sink to "have fun."

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone Review: The only thing magical about this comedy is when it ends

Dir. Don Scardino
100 Minutes
Rated PG-13

Steve Carell.  Steve Buscemi.  Jim Carrey.  These are three of the coolest motherfuckers in the world.  And what film brings them together for the first time?  This forgettable, unfunny, generic, untimely comedy about Las Vegas magicians.  The cast does what they can to elevate an iffy script, but ultimately the jokes are too "safe" to yield anything more than a cheap chuckle.

Oz the Great and Powerful Review: Raimi "goes Disney," shows glimpses of magic but doesn't quite live up to the 'Oz' name

Dir. Sam Raimi
130 Minutes
Rated PG

The Wizard of Oz is possibly the single most famous movie of all time.  It's a generational film that parents pass down to their children, and truly defines what a 'timeless classic' should be.  But with that hugely recognizable brand name comes movie studios foaming at the mouth for their next blockbuster.  In 1954, about twenty years after MGM's adaptation of the Frank L. Baum book was released, Disney finally got their dirty hands all over the property and acquired the rights to the remaining Oz books.  Shortly after (and by shortly I mean thirty years later in 1985), the big D released the financial and critical flop Return to Oz (but screw everybody, I kind of liked that movie).  Although that didn't pan out, sooner or later another attempt at an Oz film was going to happen.  In 2010, Sam Raimi came on board to direct this "unofficial" prequel to the 1939 film, starring James Franco as the titular wizard.

The Last Exorcism Part II Review: Yet another unnecessary horror sequel

Dir. Ed Gass-Donnelly
88 Minutes
Rated PG-13

This is the definition of an unneeded sequel.  The LAST Exorcism.  I guess the exorcizing in the first film was a lie.  Because there is clearly a second, totally separate exorcism going on in this one.  Anyway, I was a huge fan of the original movie directed by Daniel Stamm - it was a genuinely creepy, unique take on both the found footage and possession genres.  Part II takes place immediately after the first left off, only this time it's just a normal movie - no documentary crew this time.  Minor spoilers: Nell Sweetzer (Ashley Bell), having escaped from the farmhouse, has forgotten everything about her past and ends up in a group home for girls.  She starts to slowly integrate into normal life, making friends, getting a job, etc. but in the back of her mind, she knows the DEMON wants to fucking GET her.  Throw in some terrible dialogue and questionable CGI, and you've got The Last Exorcism Part II.