Netflix A-Z: The Overnight (2015)

Next up on in the Netflix A-Z is The Overnight.  Its a rather spontaneous choice on my part. Adam Scott, Taylor Schilling seems like a good pair-up.  I don’t have much of an issue with either of them although Adam Scott hasn’t really done anything that I’m particularly fond of but I feel like he just hasn’t found the movie that works for him completely.  Maybe this one is, right?

Let’s check it out! 🙂

The Overnight (2015)

Director (and writer): Patrick Brice

Cast: Adam Scott, Taylor Schilling, Jason Schwartzman, Judith Godreche, R. J. Hermes, Kyle Field

Alex, Emily, and their son, RJ, are new to Los Angeles. A chance meeting at the park introduces them to the mysterious Kurt, Charlotte, and Max. A family “playdate” becomes increasingly interesting as the night goes on.-IMDB

 The Overnight is one of those movies that kind of grow on you.  Its rather weird and quirky.  It hints at a swinger sort of night but surprisingly doesn’t quite deliver it exactly.  I didn’t quite enjoy some of the humor and some scenes were a little stupidly uncomfortable to watch (for me).  I can’t say that this is one I’d frequently go back to watch again but I can’t deny that I did have a relatively good time.  Its one of those movies that want to dive into something shallow and you keep waiting for that formulaic moment to start but it never quite does because it goes into a deeper tangent about marriage and relationships. Its pretty refreshing to watch something that surprises quite a bit in turning what was expected into something rather unpredictable.   But, this does still have quite a bit of nudity even if there are fake penises flopping about and then breasts.  Man, I don’t even want to think about the pornographic hits after I wrote that sentence….

Our main couple here is Alex and Emily, played by Adam Scott and Taylor Schilling, respectively.  Just like new couples moved here, they want to make new friends.  Within the first few moments, we already have a good grasp of who these characters are and a little bit about their personality.  I feel like Taylor Schilling never quite goes all out as much as she is in Orange is the New Black but then she always has a character that has a lot of emotions inside rather than out.  But then, she was the “smart” one here that saw a “bad” situation before it happens while her husband, played by Adam Scott, didn’t.  Adam Scott has a knack for playing these sort of roles: a little inner weakness, not so confident.  But then I don’t feel like I’ve seen enough of his movies to know.  There’s Krampus and Bachelorette. Maybe there’s something else.  He’s a little awkward and probably fits in his role well enough. But then, the humor doesn’t exactly dawn from him but the other couple.  I’ll talk about them in a moment but that’s not saying that they didn’t have a few moments that worked also but mostly when in conversations with the other couple’s interactions.

Now, the main weirdo couple here is this mysterious Kurt and Charlotte, played by Jason Schwartzman and Judith Godreche.  Right from the get-go, Kurt comes off as an odd character with a very questionable sense of humor.  They hide what they do quite a bit and they come off strange, like they have a secret agenda going on.  Well, for us viewers, its that we start getting more and more hints that they are trying to seduce Alex and Emily in the most awkward way.  They bring up weird conversations and share their bizarre passions.  Except they do it so naturally that it slowly becomes their character.  As we move along, we realize that this couple that seems to have everything from big penis to sexy body seems to really not be all that happy with where they are.  Something about them is definitely off and just like we peel back on the layers of problem with Alex and Emily, we start seeing theirs exposed step by step also.

That is the charm of The Overnight.  Its characters, their odd and awkward moments and the hidden message that this movie was trying to expose with a much more fun and frisky sort of front.  The Overnight is a lot of things but to me, they truly did succeed at breaking out from the normal cliches.  Its a movie that while I was watching, I didn’t realize I was invested in the characters and how much I enjoyed it until it ended.

Overall, The Overnight is a fun little indie film.  Its characters brings out the story while adding a little humor and entertainment.  It does share something more despite what it looks like it is trying to do.  However, this is a comedy and those are subjective.   I can’t exactly recommend it but if you like quirky and weird indie films, you might enjoy this one. 🙂

Christmas Kicks Off with: Krampus (2015)

Talk about kicking off Christmas over here in style! We’re right on track on December 10th.  I started the same time last year.  It gives us 2 weeks to get all the Christmas out of our system with tons of fun stuff on the way.  Some book reviews won’t be quite as festive or like Star Wars review (I already have tickets) but every day will have some festive fun.  I promise you that! 🙂

Now, why are we doing this in style? We’re starting off with a new movie release! I managed to get my husband to go downtown with me (because it was only showing in English there) to see Krampus. I had a glimpse at the Rotten Tomatoes ratings and they seemed alright so without knowing anything about the movie, not even trailers, we bought out tickets and went to see it.  The most painful part was actually the previews because I wanted to walk out of the theatre during the ENTIRE Zoolander 2 trailer….but I lived through it, luckily.

Let’s check it out! 🙂

Krampus (2015)

Director: Michael Dougherty

Cast: Adam Scott, Toni Collette, David Koechner, Allison Tolman, Conchata Ferrell, Emjay Anthony, Stefania LaVie Owen, Krista Stadler

A boy who has a bad Christmas ends up accidentally summoning a Christmas demon to his family home.-IMDB

Where to even start for Krampus? I love legends and lores and all that stuff.  Those sorts of movies are awesome (unless its Asylum, then I might get a little worried). Let’s focus on the positive here. Krampus is not your normal holiday  movie.  For one, its not happy happy joy joy. Its a horror comedy.  Any of you like those? I sure do, when its executed properly!  For starters, I don’t know anything about the Krampus legend so talk about going into a movie blind. However, Krampus is different.  I needed to give it some thought before writing this up.

Its hard to determine where I stand with Krampus.  I guess I should get the negative out first.  My main issue is with the beginning being slow.  For a short film like this, the build up seemed forever as the family was arriving.  It gave a watered down version of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. Except, once the blizzard hits and they get snowed it.  Now, we are talking about some fun times.  Plus, the danger hits a lot faster than I would’ve expected. I’m convinced that because of that slow, slightly comical first part, it helps when the story just flips around and we enter the dark and gloomy blizzard.  The first time we see the dark form of Krampus on the rooftop.  That was some effective atmosphere building.  He was absolutely creepy. The sound design and effects and just what goes on from jumping roof to roof sent shivers down my spine.  Equally, it has the feels of Gremlins and that Krampus symbol is like visiting a dark version of Polar Express. None of that is a bad point though.  However, I think that the marketing campaign did a bad job where if you don’t know the legend (which I don’t), I didn’t see the trailer and I called the ending in the last third. You’ll know what I mean if you saw the poster.

 With the bad out of the way, Krampus does excel because its a dark movie.  I’m not totally for the beginning bit with the family and their humor.  But when the creepy dark stuff starts, it gets a lot of more dark humor that works.  My favorite is a line from the character Aunt Dorothy, played by Conchata Ferrell about life.  I’m not sure if anyone else laughed because my husband and I laughed pretty hard over that. For a comedy, we didn’t laugh all that much.  But then, the creature designs here are really smart.  I double checked the trailer to make sure there isn’t any spoiler territory but that Jack in a Box thing was creepy as hell.  Not to mention, Krampus’s other helpers like elves and snowmans and the likes. I haven’t even mentioned Krampus other than his creepy shadow. You know, I always have an issue with the creature reveal. But then, is any of these considered creatures? Regardless, there are some pretty creepy features about Krampus.  I do like the fact of how they build up revealing his physical features. However, the reveal of Krampus’s purpose is that he is the opposite of Santa, not only in his darkness but the fact that he takes instead of gives to remind people to believe and have hope. At least that’s what I got, I could be wrong.

Other than a brief mention of Conchata Ferrell’s Aunt Dorothy who offered  a lot of dark humor here, the cast deserves some mention.  They are made out to be the highlight of the lack of Christmas spirit candidates but it all gets pushed over when Max loses his believe and hope in Santa and ends up summoning Krampus. So look, the characters here aren’t exactly likeable and they aren’t meant to be because they  are on the “naughty list”. If it wasn’t for that, Krampus wouldn’t be here, right? The acting is not a problem here.  The cast is completely competent, including the kids. What I do question at times was the normal illogical horror movie decision-making. Just one example, I’m not a parent but would you let your teenage daughter go down the block in a blizzard to see if her boyfriend is okay? I know that my mom wouldn’t but then some would say that she’s overprotective. There are some things that happen that just doesn’t make sense in why the characters would do that.  However, Krampus never does give you a moment to linger on those thoughts before dishing out some other abomination. I’m going to be honest here and say that, I don’t think I cared much for the characters other than Aunt Dorothy and Max and Grandma.

Overall, I’m lukewarm on Krampus.  I think that as a horror, it builds atmosphere very good.  Was I scared? Not really. But it did have moments when looking at the creature reveals from Krampus to his various helpers that sent chills down my spine.  There was some funny moments in their fights and retaliation moments.  The characters never had a chance for us to bond with or maybe they just didn’t get enough time for their roles to mean much more.  Some good and some bad here but overall, I think its worth checking out if you can appreciate a non-traditional holiday movie.  Krampus is a good legend to base on and Krampus itself has a good creature design.  The beginning could’ve been paced better but for 75% of the movie, it is worth it. I enjoyed myself a good bit.

Have you seen Krampus? What did you think?

Bachelorette (2012)

I don’t know what possessed me to buy Bachelorette.  Maybe its because I was going to be part of my friend’s wedding in March or that I really wanted some inspiration for the bachelorette party.  Even though, I didn’t really end up watching it until afterwards.  Either way, I needed a comedy and this became available.  It has been a week or two since I’ve seen this so I’m not exactly sure how to approach this anymore.

Director: Leslye Headland

Cast: Kirsten Dunst, Isla Fisher, Lizzy Caplan, Rebel Wilson, James Marsden, Kyle Bornheimer, Hayes MacArthur, Adam Scott

Three high school friends, Regan (Kirsten Dunst), Gena (Lizza Caplan) and Katie (Isla Fisher) are asked by Becky (Rebel Wilson), a girl that they used to hang out with as the ugly duckling of the group, to be her bridesmaids.  Regan is a control freak with a long distance relationship that doesn’t seem to work anymore but she holds onto it.  Gena lives a life of sleeping with a lot of different guys but with nothing really stable in life while having a hard time getting over her ex-boyfriend and Katie is a sales rep who doesn’t really grows up but spends her days smoking and using her beauty to get by.  As reluctant as they are to be the bridesmaids of Becky’s wedding, they all show up and end up causing more trouble than they should when they accidentally break Becky’s dress and scramble to find a way to fix it before the next morning, the wedding day, while facing up to some of their own problems.

After letting this movie sit too long in my system before I write it, I know that you can’t think too much about this one.  Bachlelorette came very close and soon after Bridesmaids mega success.  If you are thinking of getting the same level of enjoyment (assuming you liked Bridesmaids), this one doesn’t come close at all.  I’m not really a fan of Kirsten Dunst but I don’t hate her either.  I like Isla Fisher for the most part and if anything, I’ve been a long time fan of Lizzy Caplan.  But, Bachelorette doesn’t focus much on our bachelorette, Becky played by Rebel Wilson but rather her bridesmaids.  I guess you can’t call the movie that name since it was already used, right? Either way, point is, this movie is full of obnoxious characters.  All of the girls don’t have any truly likeable traits from the get go.  Even Becky isn’t quite that nice as well.  On a side note, it kind of reminds me why I don’t have all that many girl friends in my life and that I’m frankly very thankful for that.

 

Still, these girls pull of some decent funny moments.  It doesn’t come in elegance or anything because movies these days don’t do that anymore but as over the top of some of these characters get, they still get in their moments where they are stuck in pretty ridiculous situations where you either will roll your eyes or laugh a little.  I’m more of the latter so I guess thats a good sign.  The only thing that does hinder it is that these girls end up turning for the better a lot more than imaginable.  I’m not exactly sure a bachelorette night turned wrong and wedding dress fiasco is the place to grow since I’ve never experienced it but I guess the key here is that friendship does get you through some things and then its about eventually growing up and facing your problems and reality. Because as one of the characters pointed out, its not cute to be acting like when you were in high school.

However, the best one in all of this has to be the parts with Lizzy Caplan.  I’m not sure when I started liking her.  It could be in Mean Girls.  In this one, I feel like she does shine because her story is cute and funny especially with her ex played by Adam Scott, that shows up shortly after.  It makes her character believable that she was drowning her pains and regrets from her high school days and finally growing up.

 

Now that we’ve gotten Adam Scott in mix.  Its probably time to look at the guys.  Although, the guys don’t really have huge significant part in this.  They are paired with each of the girls.  Its somewhat of a high school reunion and it never feels like it isn’t.  One of them is a geek who is smart and successful and tries to get the beauty in his gentlemanly ways, another is the groom (who doesn’t have much place in this), and then we have James Marsden who plays Trevor who isn’t such an admirable guy either but just wants to get hot girls like Kirsten Dunst’s Regan in this case.  He’s all about the challenge.  Then we have Adam Scott and his character Clyde who actually gets a whole lot of screen time because of his high school relationship issues with Gena that was never settled before.  As awkward as his ending speech was, it was actually pretty funny.

Are you getting mixed signals about this one from me? Bachelorette is probably not a movie I hate but its not one I’ll look forward to revisit anytime soon because I’d prefer to sit through Bridesmaids any day if I had the choice.  However, its not all bad.  As unlikeable as the characters are, they still bring in some laughs here and there is one couple, Clyde and Gena’s relationship that shines through over everything and makes it a little more fun. Still, its not very memorable and just a few weeks after, as I’m writing this up, I had to strive really hard to try and remember it a little.

 Have you seen Bachelorette? What do you think of it?

Leap Year (2010)

Who likes Amy Adams? I think she’s a super pretty and elegant actress! I first saw her in Enchanted and thought she was adorable! Then, after this one a year or two ago, I learned about Matthew Goode who is a pretty decent actor himself! Plus, he proved he could make awesome movies in any sort of character like in The Lookout and I’m about to watch Stoker (which I recently bought).

Director: Anand Tucker

Cast: Amy Adams, Matthew Goode, Adam Scott, John Lithgow, Tony Rohr

Anna (Amy Adams) and Jeremy (Adam Scott) are getting ready to get one of the most pretigious apartments Davenport in Boston.  Anna is a stager for realtors to transform the apartments to make them presentable and impressive to encourage buyers while Jeremy is a doctor.  When Jeremy has to head over to Dublin for a work conference, she decides to fly over on leap year to propose to him because the tradition is that he will have to accept her proposal.  However, due to a big storm and her flight is rerouted, she ends up in Dingle where she requests the help of a rude innkeeper Declan (Matthew Goode) to lead the way. This Irish man challenges and surprises her and breaks her out of her plans and being fully in control of everything and makes her question if her decision to get married were right.

This is a pretty average romantic comedy.  However, romantic comedies are essentially to dish out all the corny plots and silly lines and build up this simple story of romance that can happen when you least expect it.  Thats all I ever expect out of this.  One of the reasons I love to watch this movie is for the setting.  Ireland is beautiful.  Is it actually filmed in Ireland? I have no idea, maybe someone can help me, but man, so gorgeous to look at.

Second reason I love to watch this is for Amy Adams.  She has this on screen charm that makes all the movies she’s in shine a little more.  In this one, she’s fantastic at the controlling and slightly arrogant Anna who shields herself from any surprises in her life because she doesn’t really have much faith.  However, she is casted opposite Matthew Goode.  This is actually the first flick I ever saw him in.  Recently, he’s been on my radar as a really bad bad guy, if you get what I mean, in The Lookout! It made me want to go back to relive this movie where he plays this sarcastic and bitter unromantic guy who was hurt by love before.  Very different character in the two movies.  Amy Adams and Matthew Goode really had awesome chemistry and some of their lines seriously made me laugh.

Honestly, I rewatched this movie to help myself write this review.  Its a romantic comedy that you don’t really have to expect too much from.  If you want to just sit back and relax and watch an alright flick, this is it.  You can see Amy Adams and Matthew Goode charm the screen with their chemistry as their characters. You can enjoy breathtaking Ireland scenery (to replace going on vacation).  The story is predictable but still, its an decent concept.  Average is how I would describe it.  I’ve seen a lot better and I’ve seen much much much worse 😉

Amy Adams is who I want to talk about! She’s been about the recent movies these days? Whats a role you really enjoyed her in? Do you like her as an actress or maybe you think she’s pretty? Did you like her in this role (if you’ve seen this before)?