Halloween Marathon: A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)

After a little break with Lake Placid, we’re jumping right back into A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 called Dream Warriors.  The husband says that this one is step up at least from the second one.  I need that a lot.  Honestly, this serious is missing a little.  The first one set up a good premise and Freddy is a capable slasher villain but he honestly hasn’t been used very well.  Crossing my fingers that he’ll be used better in this one!

Let’s check it out!

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)

Director: Chuck Russell

Cast: Heather Langenkamp, Patricia Arquette, Craig Wasson, Robert Englund, Ken Sagoes, Rodney Eastman, Jennifer Rubin, Bradley Gregg, Laurence Fishburne

Survivors of undead serial killer Freddy Krueger – who stalks his victims in their dreams – learn to take control of their own dreams in order to fight back.-IMDB

A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 3 is called Dream Warriors.  Much different from Part 2, this was not a snoozefest and had a lot of fun to offer.  Finally, we dive further into Freddy Krueger’s back story.  We get an idea of how he can possibly be defeated.  At the same time, we’re following the concept of how he wants to revenge the children of those who murdered him in such a brutal way.  He haunts these kids nightmares when they are all sent to a psychiatric hospital.  At the same time, we get back the first movie’s main character to keep the continuity in the storyline which helps to boost the story quite a bit.

Talking about the cast, after the first one offers up an extremely young Johnny Depp, Part 3 offers up two cast members that resonate to today.  The first being our main leading young lady Kristen, played by Patricia Arquette and second is playing the hospital attendant, Max by Laurence Fishburne.  How about that, eh? Both a very good actors and it was very much a surprise especially for Patricia Arquette that she started her career in a scream queen role.  Maybe it doesn’t qualify her since I don’t know her filmography extensively but she did do a whole lot of screaming in this one and very much expectedly so. Joining along their crew are some unfamiliar faces but familiar names that I didn’t go into too much detail researching.  However, Heather Langenkamp does come back to assume her role as Nancy Thompson after six years from the events in the first movie.  Together, they collect their dreaming abilities and Kristen’s special ability to try to defeat Freddy Krueger.  In this whole situation, the kills were unique and despite the still campy effects, they were able to keep it still pretty fun.  At certain points, I even felt a little tense about the situation.

What does deserve a special mention is that Freddy Krueger’s character has a very menacing role here.  While it does give us a possiblity that he can be defeated, he manages to get some kills in and still manipulate the situation to his favor despite some of them being able to channel powers of their own in their dream sequences.  It makes for a very intriguing take and a little fun while this time, adding back more gore and blood.  He now can understand everyone’s fears and passions and really build on something more geared towards the character.  Sure, it still has a bit of funkiness at times but there are some downright spine-tingling deaths that occur. Finally, it feels like his character is put to good use.

Overall, Part 3 Dream Warriors truly seems to define where I’d like A Nightmare on Elm Street to head to.  I did enjoy the first but this one adds on some fun with a little more back story.  It helps create a stimulating plot with a very menacing and sly Freddy Krueger and even manages to tie in some former characters to add in some continuity. All these aspects adds together into a sequel that I like.

Now for Part 4 tomorrow….

Did you see Dream Warriors? What did you think?

Double Feature: 21 (2008) & Hancock (2008)

At the end of March, there was a whole bunch of movies expiring on Netflix.  It was ridiculous.  So, in an effort to minimize backlog, here’s a double feature.  Plus, I’ve been slacking off on reviews.  I’m a little late on today’s post as well since as my vlog earlier this week explained, moving weekend. I have only a little moving but there’s a whole lot of spring prep and organizing plus, finally some nice weather today.  13 degrees Celsius felt like summer after two months of -30 Celsius weather. That’s probably why EVERYONE was out! Anyways, no complaints!

Moving along…

The first two I saw my list to expire was 21 and Hancock.  I remember 21 only because one of my friends was madly in love with Jim Sturgess at the time this came out in theatres back in 2008 and she was so excited to go see this.  I didn’t go with her but somehow this movie stuck in my head, although there was a time I confused this with 21 Grams, which is a completely different story.  It had nothing to do with each other.

Either way, lets check out these two 2008 movies!

21 (2008)

Director: Robert Luketic

Cast: Jim Sturgess, Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth, Laurence Fishburne, Aaron Yoo, Liza Lapira, Josh Gad

“21” is the fact-based story about six MIT students who were trained to become experts in card counting and subsequently took Vegas casinos for millions in winnings. – IMDB

I’m just going to write this.  I’ve written and rewritten how to begin this review for the fourth time now. Why? Its because after 2 weeks of seeing this, I’m still really in between on what I feel about this.  I disliked the length.  It just dragged on and on, trying to pile on drama and relationships and whatever else.  Seriously, it didn’t need that.  My guess it was to better understand each of the character’s and the role they play, especially with the main character, Ben, played by Jim Sturgess.  I hate it when I watch movies that are like that because I think they could condense it by like 30 minutes and build the intensity properly to get it moving along to where it all matters. But it didn’t do that and its a shame.

21 has a great cast.  Jim Sturgess is really good at Ben, math genius, aspiring doctor, financially struggling student, and then adding on the natural counting cards ability.  He grabs the role really well.  Then we have Laurence Fishburne in the supporting “villain” role because he’s just the guy who is trying to keep his job going because of his abilities to catch people trying to con the casino with whatever tricks.  Then behind this whole counting cards crew is their leader, professor and passé counting cards “master”, Prof Mickey Rosa, played by Kevin Spacey.  Let me tell you, Kevin Spacey is a kick-ass actor.  I’m sure I don’t need to tell many of you but I think of everything that he’s done (that I’ve seen), I don’t think there’s been one disappointing role.  On the flip side, I’m oddly a fan of Aaron Yoo.  He’s not in a lot of movies but somehow, he’s pretty whacky in what he does.  I like his vibe, I guess.  Nothing significant but just thought I’d mention it.

So, while the story was poorly executed, the length was ridiculous, the cast was great and the concept of this story (which is inspired by true events) is pretty fun.  This makes it sadly average.  I wish it was better. All it had to do was cut the drama.  That’s really strange coming from me, because usually I kind of like drama and romance but it just felt so pointless.

 Hancock (2008)

Director: Peter Berg

Cast: Will Smith, Charlize Theron, Jason Bateman, Eddie Marsan

Hancock is a superhero whose ill considered behavior regularly causes damage in the millions. He changes when one person he saves helps him improve his public image. – IMDB

I’ve gained a really incredible love for superheroes.  Not that I didn’t before but I only knew about Superman, Batman and Spiderman.  Its not what I grew up watching but now that’s all changed, which is a great thing.  Plus, I used to be pretty impressed with Will Smith. I’ve skipped pretty much everything since I am Legend.  Hancock was released around that time more or less, maybe a year difference.  I only remember this one because I remember my best friend seeing it and telling me it was decent.  Still, I wasn’t convinced for some weird reason.

Seeing it for myself the other night, the beginning sequence was a little iffy.  I’m going to be honest.  I almost wanted to shut it off after the first 10 minutes.  Hancock seemed REALLY over the top.  Like, they were trying too hard to make him an anti-hero because he’s just incredibly destructive and yet he doesn’t seem to think anything is wrong with it. That’s a little weird also.

But, it does turn around.  The turning point has to be Jason Bateman entering the scene as Ray, a guy that he saved and wanted to help him be seen as a hero while hopefully changing his image.  Of course, this is where there’s a tad bit of sarcasm and some destruction, a little difference in opinions and some action plus a little bit of laughs from all that mixed together. It changes the dynamics a little and that helps.  I found Jason Bateman’s character really enjoyable to watch.

The story is a little all over the place though.  It starts at this weird vibe for Hancock as a character that really doesn’t seem like a hero and then gives him some dude that convinces and tries to create a new image and then they add in a twist that really was out of nowhere.  Which worked well as a surprise thing.  It felt out of place but it did give his character of Hancock some substance and origin story and that works.

While it could have been better, I did get a few laughs from it.  I’m not so sure about Hancock as a superhero but I totally think Jason Bateman was great and there’s also supporting role by Charlize Theron and we all know there’s nothing to criticize about her. And that second half (or maybe third) was pretty good. 🙂

OVERALL…these 2008 films were rather average.  Both are watchable but both were flawed in their own way. It makes me think, what else was released in 2008? I’ll have to research that a little 😉

Have you seen 21 or Hancock? Did you like either one of these? 

Hope everyone has enjoyed Good Friday! 🙂

P.S. Movie reviews slacking ends now! This long weekend, other than moving, Fast and Furious marathon and first Disney theme: everything Snow White! 😉

Contagion (2011)

I’m starting to feel like I’ve been living under a rock because in the past while, I haven’t really known much about any of the movies I watch. Usually, I just do that for B-horror and this isn’t one of those.  Honestly, I never had a doubt about Contagion because Steven Soderbergh (who I love) directed it and the entire cast is pretty strong so there were high expectations for this one.

Now, just to see if they actually lived up to my expectations 🙂

Director: Steven Soderbergh

Cast: Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Laurence Fishburne, Jennifer Ehle, Marion Cotillard, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Bryan Cranston, Chin Han, John Hawkes

When Beth (Gwyneth Paltrow) comes home from a business trip feeling ill, the following day she has a seizure and ends up dying.  Shortly afterwards, her son is also infected and her husband Mitch (Matt Damon) is quarantined.  At the same time, multiple people around the world also start falling ill and dying with similar symptoms.  Dr. Ellis Cheever (Laurence Fishburne) is brought in to take care of what seems to be an epidemic and with the help of Dr. Ally Hextall (Jennifer Ehle) to find out what this virus is exactly; Dr. Erin Mears (Kate Winslet) to go out into the field to contain and help set up facilities for the widespread virus and treatment and Dr. Leonora Orantes (Marion Cotillard) to Hong Kong to investigate where and how it all began.  They are racing against time to figure out the vaccine that will save the lives against the constantly changing lethal virus.  While at the same time, they are up against the turmoil in the public along with people doubting their motives such as Alan Krumweide (Jude Law).

Contagion is a drama thriller as you would probably expect with the topic on hand: epidemic and racing with time.  I love thrillers and I believe since Outbreak I haven’t quite found one about spreading virus that has quite as much impact.  Funny enough, I have never reviewed Outbreak.  These movies tend to be heavy and I spread out the viewings.  But, I will do it soon.  With that said, Contagion 1-ups Outbreak.  I’m going to tell you a little story of what happened while I was watching this.  I turned this on Saturday night after dinner and I was sitting in my room and then Gwyneth Paltrow enters and shortly leaves because she dies fairly early in the flick (is that considered a spoiler?) It becomes obvious that coughing is a symptom and then as they were going through this intense part of infected people around the world sweating, coughing, hazy vision and then they go back to Laurence Fishburne and the other doctors talking about it and then right then when its more silent and tense, my mom starts coughing.  I kid you not, I jumped out of my chair and I tensed up really quickly.

Contagion was a kick-ass thriller.  I have nothing but good things to say about it.  The opening sequence, Gwyneth Paltrow, the buildup of the virus, the balance of chaos and tension, the whole tone of the movie: everything worked well together. The only thing was that they involved so many characters that at times, I needed to recall who those people were and a lot of times, it didn’t give the space to relate to them much.  The one person would be Marion Cotillard’s character who pretty much is dismissed at the second half for a good part until she resurfaces for just a small part.  Some characters, like Matt Damon, Jude Law, Laurence Fishburne and Jennifer Ehle had more impact on the movie as they were the main leads of the whole operation on different sides of the situation. Matt Damon was the biggest loser in this though.  He lost his wife and his stepson and even when he’s being the overprotective parent, I still felt that I supported his idea in this one.  He really didn’t have much else to lose so even if it seemed unfair, extreme measures, right?  I had to write some on Matt Damon because I don’t watch a lot of him and he is usually in the “meh” territory but this one, I did like his character.

Still, the other characters did a great job.  I particularly like Kate Winslet’s character.  If you’ve been reading my reviews, you already know I’m a HUGE fan of hers.  She is just a classy awesome actress who can do no wrong.  And if there is wrong, its the movie, the story, the writers and whatever else, but nope, never her.  In this one, she just totally steals it.  As for Laurence Fishburne, the only thing that bothered me was his moustache.  It just doesn’t suit him well but other than that, his character was great.  He tried to keep the pieces together and his character was human because it wasn’t a perfect savior.  He just tried to balance his own personal worries during the tough time and make as objective as possible decisions based on what he had.  Along with Jennifer Ehle, who I have never seen before this, was pretty awesome.  She was really just in and out of scenes for short amount of times but she was in a lot of the critical scenes and handled them very well.

The character I hated the most (and I believe we are supposed to hate) was Jude Law’s Alan. The man was batshit crazy and obnoxious and just ridiculous.  You know the guy that pours oil on fire.  Thats him.  As the story intensifies, his face just irritated me.  Plus, Jude Law actually did pull off those facial expressions so well.  All in all, he did everything his character needed.  Great job, Jude Law.  You never let me down.

Because of all the characters involved in this, switching from different levels of investigation and management and research for this epidemic, the plot stays focused on the big problem on hand. It stay tense and compelling throughout its slight short of 2 hour run time but I never felt it was even that long.  Plus, in the Hong Kong scenes, they actually used some of the Hong Kong entertainment industry’s familiar faces so it hit even closer to home for me.

Overall, Contagion has an amazing cast, a gripping plot and it may possibly be the best epidemic disaster movie I have seen ever! So yes, I’d totally recommend this.  Its smart and it brings out the scary level of this especially since we’ve already experienced some similar scares (not quite to their extent, thank goodness) in the past decade.

Have you seen Contagion? What do you think of its plot and the cast? Did it get under your skin? 

Predators (2010)

I can’t remember when I had this comments discussion with Java Girl but somehow in that conversation in one of the posts, I ended promising that I’d watch Predators.  Her blog is Java Girl’s Life and she runs a lovely little blog, with her most recent addition of weekly comics on her life and movie reviews, etc.  Its really fun and you should check it out if you haven’t already.

I’m one of those late bloomers.  My boyfriend introduced me to a lot of these movies like the Alien movies and then shortly after the Predator movies in the last few years.  Its kind of a running joke between me and my boyfriend that I refer to the Predator movie as Arnold versus the moving leaf.  Obviously that had to do with the lack of effects back then and the whole not so effective camouflage along with the not so high quality TV that I have.  Either way, point being, I did like the movie Predator (not so much the sequels) so I was hesitant for this one.  But I said I’d do it so better late than never, right? Let’s check it out!

Director: Nimrod Antal

Cast: Adrien Brody, Alice Braga, Topher Grace, Walton Goggins, Oleg Taktarov, Laurence Fishburne, Danny Trejo, Louis Ozawa Changchien

A group of fighters/misfits: doctor, military, mercenary, criminal, yakuza, drug lord, etc, all wake up in free fall and manage to open their parachute in time to land safely in the middle of an unknown jungle.  They soon realize that they are on another planet and that they are being hunted by an unknown group of species.  They must find a way to survive and escape together before the creatures, and especially the alien predators, catch and kill them.

Its kind of weird but I feel slightly the same towards this sequel as I did for the 300: Rise of the Empire one that I reviewed a few days ago HERE! After so many, Predator 2 and AVP, Predators was probably not really  a necessity and actually its not even really a sequel as it does a lot that pays tribute to the first one.  However, it is a sequel as it makes a point to show that its set later on and talks about the original’s end results. This time around, its not just ONE predator but its multiple.  Maybe they were taking a lesson from the success of Aliens, who knows, right?

Still, thinking back to the meh-ness of Predator 2 and the disastrous AVP, I really had a decently at times intense and thrilling time with Predators.  I’m not exactly sure of the casting choices here.  There is no doubt that Adrien Brody is a fantastic actor but somehow I have this issue with tough guys have low, raspy voices.  I don’t even know how to describe it anymore.  Of course, that voices probably is more macho than using his original voice.  It also comes with the face that I can’t actually view him as a mercenary.  Still, he proves that he’s put in a lot of physical work to get a muscular body and tough guy act down.  Plus, the group itself is an odd mix but somehow works well enough off of each other.  Although, no one can quite replace Arnold’s one liners, this one does have some silly dialogue. The character’s also build a rather tense environment but crack a few sarcastic comments (that made me laugh at least).

Overall, Predators takes a few ideas from the first one and wraps it into a sequel where they are trapped and become prey to predators when this group has predator instincts as well from their own training.  There’s some silly dialogue and a really oddball group but somehow sometime works alright for me.  There’s some decent tension built despite the obvious overload of people in the group calling for a lack of character development and connection.  Still, it works and thats what counts! 🙂  Maybe it was just because it took me by surprise that they finally got a sequel right.  Sometimes, its good to go into a movie blind, right?

Have you seen Predators? What do you think of this sequel? Is it worthy or necessary? Are you a fan of the Predator series?