Reviews

Slight spoilers. This movie was great, from reading a few reviews I've gotten the hint that it made a little controversy, I had no idea. I didn't know squat about the movie until my girlfriend showed it to me. I have since shown it to many friends, most that never heard of it and all of them loved it. Let me start by saying that I like when a movie tries to take a more realistic approach.

Yeah there are a lot of good movies out there that are all action and explosions, with a chiseled protagonist that handles everything like a boss and looks good doing it, and some of those movies are pretty good. This movie doesn't follow this common cinematic formula, just for Ex when our protagonist In this film swings from a decorative ceiling fixture that doesn't hold her weight and she crashes on her back, breaking a couch high table. She then proceeds to literally GASP for air very authentically for someone who would likely have very well knocked the wind out of themselves.

Our hero isn't a popular Hollywood A-list beauty, she doesn't act like any hero we've seen so much of in most movies. In fact she's kind of a weirdo, in a way that really connects with you and your friends chuckling on the couch at the humorous moments of the film. We can all be a bit goofy even if only sometimes, which to me makes her one of the most realistic protagonist I've ever seen.

This film is action, good action, the kind you feel isn't being stunted. It's goofy at times but hardly unreasonably so, it has serious undertones (Which, if this film was controversial, this was probably why). These undertones, even if you don't believe in them can easily be made sense of. From beginning to end, this movie was entertaining, and while I'm sure I've missed a lot of gems as of late, this film is one of the best I've seen in many years. Don't pick this film apart, just watch it and enjoy, and you'll have a great time.

After seeing this movie I'm really hoping for a sequel, it's everything The Fast and the Furious franchise could have turned into but after the 5th movie it became clear they were going to veer in the wrong direction. This could be the new car guy/girl movie franchise and I really hope it turns out to be.

This movie lacked a popular soundtrack which turned out to be amazing, letting the cars engines mostly be the soundtrack? The most wonderful idea and it really gave a sense of realism to the races. I felt as though I was watching real races with no effects, at times almost feeling like I was in the car.

The plot of this movie was great and most of the acting was stellar. The stunts were amazing, I mean some may argue that the crazier the better but I think a good action movie doesn't just show you unbelievable things done with CGI that you could never actually do but rather advertises unbelievable things in a fashion that make you feel are believable and doable.

Really, Need For Speed is the best car/racing movie I've seen in a long time, rivaling early Fast and Furious movies. In fact, I'd save my dimes from the new Fast and Furious films and instead spend them on the sequels to this diamond in the rough.

Despite the poor reputation of this film it is quite enjoyable. Personally I enjoyed this movie for all the reasons most other people seem to despise. The direction, story, and risks. The raptors are advertised intelligent in the this film, making it a large point to note they're ability to communicate. And evidence supports in favor that deinonychus, which has to be what the Jurassic Park movies are portraying as velociraptors, were capable of this. Furthermore I believe it's the first time one of the dinosaurs were actually a main character. An argument could be made about that but personally I believe a true main character has to show intelligence and emotion. The iconic T-Rex in the previous films was just an animal, a supporting character at best, which is okay and it was entertaining. Speaking of, dispatching Tyrannosaurus was bold, daring, and took on a lot of criticism but I think it paid off, making room for a real predator.

Acting was decent and the plot was fine, despite taking major fire from a lot of people. All and all a good film, don't let poor ratings shy you away, this film is definitely fun. My theory, just because it wasn't exactly the same thing people wanted to burn its reputation and found reason not to like it that just aren't there. This film is almost just as good as the Lost World and is a nice addition to the Jurassic franchise so if you haven't seen it, its worth a look.

For those whom may be familiar but have not seen any of the Fast and Furious franchise, I strongly recommend you do not start with this film because it will almost definitely turn you off from what are a great few films. I've generously given this film a 5 star rating only for the decently exciting action sequences and the few actors and actresses that continued to portray their characters well. As for the rest, what happened? This film is about the older brother of Owen Shaw, that the FF team took on in the previous film, wanting revenge for the harm done to his brother. This new antagonists name is Deckard Shaw, the last film's ending reveals that the accident that killed Han, A FF team member, in the third FF movie was actually cause by Deckard Shaw. This movie pretty much starts from there and revolves around the battle between Shaw and the FF team.

Now I've seen all the actors and actresses in this film act very well in other films, so I tend to blame the poor acting on the director and script. Dominic is nothing like the character he once was, he's a completely stiff meat head that speaks nothing but cliché sentences. It's like the screen writer typed "Bad*** one liners", into Google and tried to find a way to fit every one of them in the script. I haven't seen Vin Diesel ever play such a paper thin, boring, predictable character other than Riddick, only in Vin's self produced horrible sequel to the first 2 films. (Pitch Black and The Chronicles were actually good flicks.) I could go on and on but to sum it up its a classic Hollywood case of, more boom(Explosions) and less substance. It's a disease that plagues some of the best franchises and struck this one right around its 4th movie, though only a slight case in that film, so it was still enjoyable.

Keep this in mind, I'm a fan of this franchise and of what its about. If anything my opinion should be biased in favor of this movie, but its really just that bad.

Lastly I'd personally like to say I'd like to see more of Sean Boswell in the up coming films. The first Fast and the Furious and Tokyo Drift are my favorite in the franchise. And after Sean's mentor(Han) was killed, his character only seeing 2 minutes of screen time in this film was a complete joke. Furthermore, so was the scene that explained Dom beat Sean in a drift race. Sean was DRIFT KING, Dom was in an old heavy muscle car and we have seen no experience with him in any actual drift races. This scene is synonymous for the entire film. Defy absolutely every piece of logic and realism to make Dominic Toretto look like the most bad*** man whom ever lived. Had they worked less hard on that maybe they would have made a decent film.

R.I.P. Walker

Found footage is a hit or miss for me, though I definitely prefer my found footage to be more exciting like the movie Cloverfield rather than a horror story like The Blair Witch Project which I found to be more boring.

However this movie hits it pretty good. Its different, like no other movie I have ever come across and that's what immediately grabbed my attention. While it isn't really scary I don't think that makes it any less good. I mean what movies are scary anymore? The Conjuring? Insidious? Saw? I don't think so, to me they're all just recycled movies that might creep me out to a minor extent at best but V/H/S/ at least brings you something new to the table. This movie isn't perfect, as you can see I rate it 7 out of 10. A rating I also gave Insidious but I definitely prefer this movie over insidious. I also rather liked that it was a collaboration of shorts, which is weird because I never liked things like Tales Of The Dark side in the past. Unlike that, these shorts were great, Creative, executed well. Other than the arguably sub par acting in the Glitchman short the rest of the acting was brilliant and for exactly the type of movie it was. The only short I wasn't all there for was The Second Honeymoon but that's only personal preference, I've always been unmoved and bored by killer movies and preferred supernatural horror being that its so mysterious and uncontrollable. You may feel differently and like Second Honeymoon.

All and all, definitely creative and worth a watch for most. Don't be discouraged over its lower rating. Apparently there was a lot of buzz about this film prior to its take off in popularity which I think caused too many people to set too high of expectations. Many criticize that it doesn't have a plot. This isn't true, it has a plot. A very small plot, like a set up plot really, leaving so much mystery in its wake and I think that's a strongpoint. It leads a little more into it with V/H/S/ 2 but still keeps that mystery strong leaving more to your imagination which is refreshing because isn't it our own imaginations that terrify us the most.

In a genre that hasn't given us anything memorable in the past 5 years or so I think V/H/S/ while not perfect, is the best we have gotten in awhile and I also would definitely recommend V/H/S/ 2, which I believe to be even better. Skip out on V/H/S/ Viral though, the 3rd installment, that movie is what happens when a low budget title gains popularity and begins trying too hard. Ironically it has more of a plot than the first two, less is more.

I chose this film off of blue ridge on demand knowing nothing about it. It caught my eye because I saw John C. Reilly in the description as one of the leading actors, being I'm not even a big fan of Reilly, I have no idea why it compelled me to view it but I'm glad I did.

To put it shortly, the film is about two couples having a meet due to their children getting into a physical fight with each other.

All the characters were believable, even the ridiculous character played by Jodie Foster, because I happen to know someone just like that personally. The movie was pretty predictable but it did not take away from the brilliance. The wives turning on the husbands and vise versa, everyone one person is against every other character at some point or another and all their points of view are able to be related to. Everyone of them has so much character and emotion which is ripped away and put out for every one to see at an alarming rate, especially with the help of a few drinks. I won't go into a lot of detail but kudos to the entire cast for playing difficult characters. What I mean by difficult is, well I had a hunch and come to find out that it was true that the entire movie was shot in real time without any breaks or pauses, and that must be something difficult to do. Any person can go through several emotions in a few hours from every day life experiences but these people bear everything from generally hospitable and laughter down to point of marriage breaking arguments and saying they don't even care about the situation involving their children period. The cast pulls it off amazingly, it comes across realistic, exciting, and authentic. To think, the movie begins with the two couples already together with one of the pairs heading out the door right from the start and an entire cleverly put together film takes place before they make their way out. Actually I do believe the flick ends even before the couple leaves which would probably be its only real downfall to the general public, the completely abrupt ending, even though I personally thought that it fit the moment justly.