MOVIE REVIEW: THE PURGE: ANARCHY

A vengeful father comes to the aid of a mother, her teenage daughter, and a defenseless young couple on the one night of the year that all crime, including murder, is legal in this self-contained sequel from producer Jason Blum and original writer/director James DeMonaco.  This unlikely group must stick together in order to survive the night. But little do they realize that their nightmare has only just begun. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Director: James DeMonaco

Cast: Frank Grillo, Kiele Sanchez, Michael K. Williams, Zach Gilford, Carmen Ejogo

Release Date: Jul 18, 2014

Rated: R for Strong Disturbing Violence and Language 

Runtime: 1 hr. 43 min. 

Genres: Horror, Suspense/Thriller 

Review:

The Purge was a solid film with a nice little premise which it never really expanded on, instead just turning it into a standard home invasion thriller.  There was plenty of meat on the idea to explore which was left untouched by the original so I was looking forward to a sequel but worried it’d miss the point of it all.  The Purge: Anarchy is actually a nice surprise even if the message is about as subtle as a sledgehammer.  The story smartly gives us 3 storylines to follow which converge rather quickly.  It’s enough to give us a feel for the world at play and some of the ideas extrapolated out stretching the not so subtle metaphor out and expanding the mythos.  The characters outside of Frank Grillo’s, delivering a grizzled Punisher like performance,  man out for vengeance are rather bland but they’re there to serve a purpose.  We are given a Warriors like trek through the anarchy like streets during Purge night.  At its core, the sequel feels a lot like some of the wonderfully ham fisted exploitation message movies from the 70’s and 80’s which isn’t a bad thing.

B-

Cindy Prascik's Review of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Dearest Blog, today it was off to the cinema for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.
Spoiler level here will be mild, nothing you wouldn't know from the trailers.

A decade after the events of Rise of the Planet of the Apes, a virus has wiped out most of humanity. What's left attempts an uneasy peace with the apes, but...........

Well, dear reader(s), as usual I have to be upfront and admit I hated Rise of the Planet of the Apes so much I was prepared to take a pass on this one. Then they cast Gary Oldman, and chances of my taking a pass on a Gary Oldman movie are about as much as my saying, "No thank you," if someone offered me a winning lotto ticket. I never go into a movie set on hating it, but in this case it might have saved me some disappointment if I had.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is even worse than its predecessor...if such things can be measured. I struggled mightily to stay awake through the first hour, and mostly just prayed for the end through the second. Though the disaster effects are alright, the apes once again look like a bad cartoon.

Andy Serkis is a genius, but he hasn't won me over with his much-lauded portrayal of Cesar, the leader of the apes. Jason Clarke and Keri Russell are about as meh as any movie pairing, ever. Gary is great with what screen time he's got, but it's not nearly enough to salvage anything from this mess. Boring "emotional" scenes alternate with somewhat-less-boring action scenes.

There's a smattering of not-funny humor thrown in for good measure, all leading up to a cheesy, predictable ending. Usually I can at least get a laugh out of poking fun at something this terrible, but right now I just resent that my seven bucks will help this dog turd take the number-one spot at this weekend's box office.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes runs 130 minutes and is rated PG13 for "intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, and brief strong language."

If you're a fellow Gary Oldman addict, you'll understand when I say I'd rather re-watch Tiptoes or Nobody's Baby than sit through this EVER again.

Of a possible nine Weasleys, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes gets one.

Until next time..

MOVIE REVIEW: DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES

This follow-up to Rise of the Planet of the Apes concerns the next step in the genetically advanced primates' takeover of the world as a virus begins to wipe out the human race. Let Me In's Matt Reeves handles directing duties, with Gary Oldman, Jason Clark, and Kodi Smit-McPhee headlining the human cast. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi

Director: Matt Reeves 

Cast: Andy Serkis, Jason Clarke, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Gary Oldman, Keri Russell

Release Date: Jul 11, 2014

Genres: Action/Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi/Fantasy 

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, and brief strong language

Review:

Rise of The Planet of the Apes is one of those rare reboots that actually worked.  Against all odds, and a failed Tim Burton attempt, it set up a prequel franchise properly so the sequel had a lot to live up to.  Dawn of The Planet of the Apes succeeds on various fronts with Andy Serkis, Hollywood’s most underappreciated actor, front and center this go around.  The apes are fully realized creations with definitive personas and motivations.  The script delivers some wonderfully fleshed out characters from the opening sequences with a big chunk of the characterization done without spoken dialogue, its true testament to the work done by the motion capture actors.  In an odd reversal, the human characters get the short end of the stick.  Most of them, even the criminally underused Gary Oldman, are just types there to serve the script.  Jason Clake is appropriately stoic and noble throughout but never given anything meaningful to do.  Oldman is asked to be paranoid and scream Jim Gordon style which he does well but I just wish there was more to the character.  Thankfully the ape characters are interesting enough to keep the film thoroughly engaging even if the actual plot is a run of the mill coup d'état.  Even with it’s faults Dawn of The Planet of the Apes is one of the better summer films of the season with more heart than most other films out.

B

Cindy Prascik's Review of Transformers: Age of Extinction

Dearest Blog, after dodging the bullet last weekend, yesterday I decided to suck it up and see Transformers: Age of Extinction. It would be less than forthright not to admit that I went mostly because I'd heard Luke Evans' Dracula trailer was running before it, and because I wanted to see Jersey Boys again and don't like begging a ride for less than a double-feature.

Spoiler level here will be mild, nothing you wouldn't know from the trailers.

A down-on-his-luck mechanic lands in hot water when he buys a beat up old truck that's not quite what it seems.

I love Transformers and was genuinely excited for this sequel...until I heard it was over two and a half hours long. Despite almost universally negative reviews, I think Age of Extinction would have been quite a lot of fun at 90 minutes or even an hour and 45, but it does nothing to earn its Middle Earthy runtime.

A cast of familiar faces is unremarkable to either the good or the bad, though Mark Wahlberg is a definite improvement over the unlikable Shia LaBeouf, and I, personally, am always delighted to see Titus Welliver in a movie that does good business. The storyline doesn't hold any real surprises, and the dialogue is almost impressively stupid at times. Let's face it, though, dear reader(s), a Transformers movie is never gonna be about the people or the script, am I right?

It's about giant alien robots and big loud effects and maximum destruction. Age of Extinction does pretty well on all those counts, and, even at my most drowsy, I was utterly caught up in the big machines, if not so much in the daddy/daughter drama.

I elected to see this in 2D, not wanting to waste any more money on it than I had to, but it left me no doubt the 3D would be worth it.

Transformers: Age of Extinction clocks in at a very bloated 165 minutes and is rated PG13 for "intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, language, and brief innuendo."

It has all the components for a great summer blockbuster, but instead it proves that the only thing that's really extinct in Hollywood is the art of editing.

Of a possible nine Weasleys, Transformers: Age of Extinction gets four and a half.

Until next time...

PS: No Dracula trailer. Curse you, cinema gods, for depriving me of big-screen Luke!

PPS: If you haven't seen Jersey Boys yet, go see it. If you have seen it, see it again!

MOVIE REVIEW: DELIVER US FROM EVIL

A cop and a priest team up on a case of demonic possession in this Screen Gems horror film. Scott Derrickson directs from a script he wrote with Paul Harris Boardman. Eric Bana, Édgar Ramírez, and Olivia Munn star. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi

Director: Scott Derrickson 

Cast: Eric Bana, Edgar Ramirez, Olivia Munn, Sean Harris, Joel McHale

Release Date: Jul 02, 2014

Runtime: 1 hr. 58 min. 

Genres: Horror 

Review:

Deliver Us from Evil has an interesting conceit of mixing police procedural with an exorcism tale.  Scott Derrickson’s film establishes a nice bit of atmosphere at the start but the tension and scares are rather lacking.  The main issue at play is that everything is terribly routine for even the greenest of genre fans.  It’s a difficult thing to take something you’ve seen millions of times before and make it interesting, something that made last years The Conjuring so impressive.  Derrickson’s film is watchable if a tad overlong.  Sadly it’s not terribly memorable either except for Bana and Munn’s mega NU YARK accents and Jole McHale’s random inclusion.  The best thing about the film is obviously Edgar Ramirez who’s just effortless as the coolest Jesuit priest this side of The Exorcist.  Deliver Us from Evil is the kind of film that show up on cable at some point in the future and you watch portions of it, never actually watching the whole thing in the long run, cinematic purgatory.

C

MOVIE REVIEW: TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION

The Transformers film series continues with this fourth entry from director Michael Bay and executive producer Steven Spielberg. Mark Wahlberg and Jack Reynor star. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi

Director: Michael Bay 

Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Nicola Peltz, Stanley Tucci, Ken Watanabe, Peter Cullen

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, language

Release Date: Jun 27, 2014

Run Time. 2 hrs. 37 min

Genres: Action/Adventure 

Review:

Transformers: Age of Extinction is going to have a lot of batred shot it’s way most of well deserved.  It’s an over bloated mess that’s got way too many storylines at play to make any of it cohesive.  Had it stuck with the most interesting angle, secret government agency taking out all Transformers, it probably would have been one Bay’s better films.  As is, it’s a absurdly log slog through action set piece in between bits of story with more story followed by action set pieces and more story etc… So is it even worth your time?  Sort of.  As a superfan of the cartoon, I’ve found plenty to like in the previous efforts even the Revenge of the Fallen.  The frustrating part about Extinction is that it fixes a lot of issues from the previous films.  The human side of the story is actually bearable thanks to the addition of Wahlberg, Tucci and Grammer.  Mark Wahlberg is solid as the lead even if it stretches the imagination that he’s some sort of genius inventor.  Kelsey Grammer is fairly solid as the human villain, he poses a creditable threat throughout.  Stanley Tucci proves why he’s a great actor; taking a silly role and making it work.  Another aspect that’s much improved is that the transformers villain, Lockdown, is actually interesting this go around, something they failed to do over 3 films with Megatron.  Additionally, the Autobots at Prime’s side have some characterization that makes them likable and makes this feel the closest to the animated series and any child of the 80s will get chills when the dinobots makes their appearance.  It’s the Bay oddity that this is probably his best Transformers film even though it’s filled with the worse he has to offer.  Sadly, the animated Transformers The Movie is still the best cinematic entry.

C