MOVIE REVIEW: PROJECT POWER

A former soldier teams up with a cop to find the source behind a dangerous pill that provides temporary superpowers.

Director: Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman

Cast: Jamie Foxx, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Dominique Fishback, Colson Baker, Rodrigo Santoro, Amy Landecker, Allen Maldonado

Release Date: August 14, 2019

Genre: Action, Crime, Sci-Fi

Rated R for violence, bloody images, drug content and some language

Runtime: 1 h 51 min

Review:

Project Power is the type of film that instantly feels dated even though it’s trying so hard to be edgy and kinetic.  Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman direct this film like they are trying to emulate early 2000 era Michael Bay.  It’s not as garish or stylized as those films but it gets really close.  The weird part is that Bay’s bombastic style typically elicits some sort of reaction whether it be enjoyment or revulsion.  Project Power though doesn’t do that, instead it leaves you generally disinterested.  The conceit is basically a superhero movie mixed with the same general idea from Limitless.  The film’s logic is spotty at best and the actual plot feels generic and tired.  There’s not a single moment during this nearly 2 hour mess that feels fresh or new.  It’s all been done before and typically much better than presented here.  The film’s saving grace is Jamie Foxx and Joseph Gordon-Levitt who dive into the film and roles with noticeable gusto plus a strong supporting turn from Dominique Fishback keeps it from being a total mess.  It’s a shame because Project Power could have been a much more fun movie than what’s on the screen. 


C-

MOVIE REVIEW: PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4

IN THEATERS

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4




It has been five years since Katie (Katie Featherston) murdered her sister and disappeared with her infant nephew, Hunter, in tow. Now, a new family is about to fall prey to nighttime terrors. A mysterious accident next door leads to teenage Alex (Kathryn Newton) and her family becoming the temporary guardians of Robbie (Brady Allen), a very creepy neighbor boy. Cameras installed throughout Alex's home capture the sinister events that unfold after Robbie's arrival.

Director: Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman

Cast: Stephen Dunham, Alexondra Lee, Kathryn Newton, Matt Shively

Release Date: Oct 19, 2012

Rated R for language and some violence/terror

Runtime: 1 hr. 35 min.

Genres: Horror

Review:

For the first 3 films the Paranormal Activity franchise got an incredible amount of run out a plot and mythology that was literally made up as they went. It was fairly impressive considering its humble beginnings. I respected the 3rd film for expanding the mythos but it never connected to me the way the first 2 did and seemed to lack the visceral punch they had. The 4th entry in the franchise feels like a recycled and tired retread of everything we’ve seen before. There’s very little innovation and creativity here outside of new types of cameras (webcams, camera phone & Xbox Kinetic) and new family. Kathryn Kewton and Brady Allen make for a belivable teenage couple. Brady Allen delivers the creepy kid quotient for this entry. The story seems drenched in mythology but lacking in substance at the same time. It makes for a strange viewing experience because all the usual jump scares and shocks seem to get in the way more than anything else. They are expected and telegraphed that they lack any pop. The plot is filled with lazy plot devices like an overly creepy kid, somewhat detached and disinterested parents dealing with relationship issues and a neighborhood where nobody locks there door. The finale ramps up some energy and forward momentum, something missing for the better part of the film, but by then you just want them to get to the big reveal. Paranormal Activity 4 clocks in at barely an hour and a half long but the entire experience feel decidedly longer.

D+

[Trailer] Paranormal Activity 4

It should come as no shock that we are going to be four films into this franchise; the series is incredibly cheap to make bringing in a healthy profit as a result.

The 3rd installment expanded the mythology of the story by going back to the past and now this one comes back to the present.

From the trailer it looks like we’ll follow a new family with a teenage girl who’ll play the entry point for the audience. This might sound funny but this trailer feels terribly cheap without the authentic feel of the previous films. We’ll see what happens when it hits theaters….

MOVIE REVIEW: PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3

IN THEATERS

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3



The Paranormal Activity franchise continues with this third outing from Paramount Pictures. Oren Peli and Jason Blum return to produce the highly secretive feature, with Catfish's directing duo of Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman taking on the helming duties. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi

Director: Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman

Cast: Chloe Csengery, Jessica Tyler Brown, Christopher Nicholas Smith

Release Date: Oct 21, 2011

Rated R for some violence, language, brief sexuality and drug use

Runtime: 1 hr. 25 min.

Genres: Horror

Review:

The fact that Paranormal Activity is a franchise is an achievement in of itself. From the humblest of beginnings it’s brought us some of the best scares of the last decade. The sequel was pretty impressive in that it expanded the mythos of the original story and upped the scares. This third entry follows the same general pattern as the previous films. We hear things, see things fly around and watch as terrified people try to figure what’s going on. This third entry goes back to Katie and Kristy’s childhood to show the start of the whole thing. Directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman are right at home, they directed the possibly real / fake Catfish, in this setting. They set up some interesting scares and while the film keeps with the previous film’s mantra of being subtle, they show more of what goes bump in the night. It’s all done well, even if it makes you wonder if along with demonic possession a need to document everything on film is a family trait. Sadly, something is missing here. There are a few jump scares but it lacks the pop of the first two. As a result it all feels very like you are going down a road well traveled and the scares all come at fairly obvious moments. The bigger sin is that the mythos isn’t expanded all that much, most of the plot has been mentioned in the previous films so there is no massive reveal to make the whole thing worthwhile.

C

[Full Trailer] Paranormal Activity 3

Full trailer for Paranormal Activity 3 is out and it appears that this entry will be a lot more aggressive and left subtle than the first 2.

By the third entry in this franchise, which I’ve enjoyed, it’s almost required that you go all out since the audience already knows rules of the game.

We’ll see if it works in October……

[Trailer] Paranormal Activity 3

While some hate this franchise and the genre in general, I don’t. I’ve always been a fan of the “found footage” films.

Paranormal Activity and its sequel were impressive outings and I’ve felt they’ve been quite clever in their approach to the story. 2nd one was a prequel meshed with action from the original.

This one looks like an overall prequel to the story as a whole, going back to the sister’s childhood, something referenced in the 2nd one.

Directed by Catfish Henry Joost & Ariel Schulman, who know a bit about blurring the line between the real world, it should be an interesting entry into the horror franchise….

MOVIE REVIEWS: CATFISH

ON DVD

CATFISH



Love and identity become twisted across the lines of the Internet in this documentary from filmmakers Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman. Nev Schulman is a photographer who one day received a surprising e-mail message -- Abby, an eight-year-old girl in Michigan, had seen his picture in a newspaper and wanted permission to paint a portrait from it. Nev gave his OK, and when he was given a copy of the painting, he was struck by how good it was, assuming that the girl was either a genius or a fraud. Nev tried to contact Abby's family, and somehow ended up in contact with Megan, Abby's sexy 19-year-old sister. As Nev fell into an increasingly complicated on-line relationship with Megan, he decided it was time to meet her in person, but when he traveled to Michigan and tracked her down, Nev learned that Abby and Megan's family were not at all what he expected them to be. Ariel Schulman, Nev's brother, began filming his brother's adventures from his first contact with Abby, and in Catfish he and Henry Joost tell this strange story from beginning to end. Catfish received its world premiere at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Director: Ariel Schulman , Henry Joost

Cast: Nev Schulman, Angela Wesselman-Pierce, Ariel Schulman

Release Date: Sep 17, 2010

Rated PG-13 for some sexual references

Runtime: 1 hr. 34 min.

Genres: Documentary

Review:

Anyone whose spent any amount of time on the internet knows were Catfish is going within 15 minutes of the film’s runtime. The marketing campaign try to sell it as a thriller with a massive “shocking” reveal but the truth is far more mundane yet true to life. The authenticity of this documentary is an interesting topic because there are plenty points were you can feel the filmmakers are pushing towards a resolution they already knows exist. So is it a documentary if its creator’s force or encourage the situation at hand? That is up to each viewer to decide for themselves, along with whether this is a mean spirited ruse to capture something real via artificial means. What Catfish (the other Facebook movie as it’s been commonly called) is, is an on the ground sample of the times we live in, the networks we use that try to make our world so much smaller but also includes a vast chasm of unknown which can’t be breached without person to person contact. Once breached, our artificial avatar based lives tend to vary greatly in the light of actual sunlight. Catfish is fascinating in concept and intriguing throughout but there does seem to be a bit of an exploitative undertone, especially in the last act, where our main character appears to lack any empathy for what’s he’s discovered. Perhaps that in of itself is another, if unintended, statement about the times this film encapsulates.

B-