MOVIE REVIEW: KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE (2015)

MOVIE REVIEW: KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE (2015)

Posted by Naqhii

FROM IMDB:

MOVIE INFO

Based upon the acclaimed comic book and directed by Matthew Vaughn (Kick Ass, X-Men First Class), Kingsman: The Secret Service tells the story of a super-secret spy organization that recruits an unrefined but promising street kid into the agency's ultra-competitive training program just as a global threat emerges from a twisted tech genius. (c) Fox

Ratings: 8.2/10 from 11,168 users Metascore: 68/100 
Reviews: 69 user | 95 critic | 12 from Metacritic.com

FROM ROTTEN TOMATOES:

TOMATOMETER 81% | Average Rating: 6.8/10
Reviews Counted: 52 | Fresh: 42 | Rotten: 10

Critics Consensus: Stylish, subversive, and above all fun, Kingsman: The Secret Service finds director Matthew Vaughn sending up the spy genre with gleeful abandon.

AUDIENCE SCORE 98% want to see
Average Rating: 4.2/5 | User Ratings: 53,800

OPENS WORLDWIDE ON VALENTINE'S DAY EVE

Harry Hart of Agent Galahad's idea of impressing a possible recruit is to beat up the bullies in their lives. It works. ©20th Century Fox

KINGSMAN, ANOTHER COMIC BOOK PUT ON THE BIG SCREEN...

Yup, you read that right. If you weren't into comic books or not the type to look into the details of a movie like a true movie fan then that probably came as a surprise. I know it did to me. So now we know that it was originally a comic book, so what about it? Well, from what I've read up on it (very little mind you) it's a pretty acclaimed comic book series which isn't at all surprising as it came from the minds of Mark Miller and Dave Gibbons who between them have worked on pretty much every major comic book title ever made including some cult favorite titles like Watchmen and Kick-Ass.

Now apparently as good as the comic book is the movie doesn't follow it exactly, in fact from reading the Wikipedia page of the comic book, loosely based seems a little bit of an understatement. There's so much difference between the two that I think if they were to make a movie that's actually follows the comic book you'd have two very, very different movies. 

I've never seen an agent wielding an umbrella look cooler than Colin Firth makes it look.
©20th Century Fox

So what's it about then? (WARNING SPOILERS COMING UP!!! SERIOUSLY SKIP THIS PART IF YOU PLAN TO WATCH IT AND ENJOY IT!! GO RIGHT TO THE END)

According to what the studio provided up there in the synopsis it's sort of a rags to riches story except that instead of becoming rich the young ruffian ends up becoming an accomplished gentleman spy. If you've seen the trailers you get the same idea and a tease into what you may get from the movie (teaser are meant to do that). I have to admit the trailer did look interesting when I first saw it but it didn't really impress or pique my interest. It seemed to me another action movie targeted at the younger crowd. To please the folks that went to the Hunger Games movies or Divergent or Maze Runner. I was expecting an okay movie at best. Boy was I wrong.

So the movie opens in 1987 in the middle east and you find 4 men dressed from head to toe in black with gas masks on their faces. One of them is questioning an Arab captive when suddenly without any of them realizing their captive manages to pull the ring off a hidden grenade. One of them spots this and warns the rest away while he himself jumps on the captive to absorb the grenades blast. It turns out that the four men are Kingsman agents and the one who sacrificed his life for the others is a new recruit and was pulled into the service by Harry Hart played by Colin Firth. Later, back in England Harry visits the agents widow and tries to console her but to no avail. He gives her a medal for her husbands actions and tells her that on the back of the medal is a number that she can call should she have any needs or comes into any trouble and needs help. He also tells her to say, "Oxfords before Brogues" when the operator asks. In her grief she gives it back to him. Harry takes the medal and gives it to her little boy Eggsy with the advice to take care of his mother. 

So how do you impress an ASBO after you kick ass without breaking a sweat? Give him a pep talk in a changing room then show him the secret elevator. ©20th Century Fox

Meanwhile, somewhere on a mountain we meet with Prof, James Arnold played by Mark Hamill who has been kidnapped by an unknown group and is told that they are waiting for someone to show up who is very interested in meeting with him. But the person that shows up at the door turns out to be a Kingsman named Lancelot, the same Kingsman whom we met back in the middle east earlier and was actually inducted then. He manages to rescue the Professor from the soldiers but is killed when the actual boss shows up with his assistant. The bad guy is of course played by Samuel L. Jackson and his name is Richmond Valentine. Back in England the Harry, his boss Chester Arthur played by Micheal Caine and the other Kingsman gather to honor their fallen comrade and is told to now look for a suitable replacement.

Now it's 17 years later and Eggsy played by Taron Egerton, is now a lot older and as you can see he still has the medal. He's also the stereotypical young English teen rebel. He lives with his mother and little sister as well as an abusive stepfather. Later at a pub he gets into a little face off with his stepfathers hoods (dear old stepdad is a bit of a gangster) and as he leaves the pub he swipes the other blokes car keys and takes it for a joyride which ends up with him in the police station looking at a jail term. Not knowing what to do he calls the number on the back of the medal and after mentioning the phrase that his mother tells him to remember he gets let off by the police. On his way out he meets Harry Hart. 

Hundreds of feet underground is a tube system that if we are to believe has existed for quite a while. It looks too new to me. ©20th Century Fox

Harry offers him a chance to improve his life. They end up back in the pub for a drink when the thugs that Eggsy stole the car from shows up and wants to even the score. Threats are thrown in their direction and the thugs tell Harry to sod off. Harry seems to head for the door but then stops short and instead locks the door. After properly thrashing the thugs and thoroughly impressing Eggsy he leaves Eggsy to think about it. Eggsy ends up at home where his stepdad is furious at finding out that his boys have been beaten up and is threatening to beat up Eggsy if he doesn't tell him who it was that did it. He threatens Eggsy's mother when she tries to stop him. Out of nowhere Harry's voice is heard threatening the police on Eggsy's stepdad if he doesn't back off. Eggsy makes his way out only to bump into the now battered and bruised thugs. He escapes of course and makes his way to the location that Harry told him to go to if he changed his mind.

So Eggsy shows up at Kingsman Tailors where Harry is waiting for him. Inside Harry asks him tells him he sees potential in him and then takes him down to a private underground tube system which takes them to a mansion on the outskirts of town. There Eggsy is told he will be put through a grueling training to turn him into a Kingsman but he won't be alone. There he meets with the other recruits who turn out to be the cream of the crop of England's social elites. All of them with the exception of the girls pick on him for his lack of education and status.

Part of Kingsman training is when they try to drown all of you in your own dorm room. ©20th Century Fox

So what comes next is we see them go through the tests that Merlin played by Mark Strong puts them through which includes, trying to drown all of them, having them jump out of a plane and telling them that one of them doesn't have a parachute and need to work together, adopting a puppy which they need to train while they go through their training and finally when it's down to the last three. two boys and one girl; to seduce a girl in a club all the way to the bedroom. At the club though the three of them are drugged and put through another test, each are tied to a subway track and threatened with death unless they expose who the Kingsman are. Only Eggsy and Roxy the girl pass. 

But that actually wasn't the last test. The last test has them called for a private meeting and told that they must shoot their dog. Harry fails and in disappointment leaves the mansion stealing the bosses car along the way. He heads home to find his mother with a black eye and rushes out to look for his stepdad whom he finds sitting outside the pub. He challenges his stepdad from inside the car but now that he's a little wiser he tells him he'll only step out of the car if the other thugs go into the pub first. But before he can even open the door all the windows go up and the doors lock and the car drives itself away. Harry is in control of the car. Now back at Harry's place Eggsy finds out that the gun that he was given to shoot his dog with contained blanks and it was just a test. Harry also shows him the dog he had during training which is now stuffed and sitting in his bathroom.

Part of being a Kingsman is that you get the cool stuff. Interesting fact: in conjunction with this movie you can actually have suits made exactly like the Kingsman at the official tailors for the movie. ©20th Century Fox

In between all this, Valentine is meeting up with heads of state, social elites of every nation and people of his choosing and telling them of his plans. Those that agree with him receive implants those that don't get thrown in his prison.

The Kingsman are also hot on Valentine's trail. Earlier Harry met with Professor Arnold and while questioning him something triggers the implant in the Professor's neck and his head explodes. Harry barely makes it out alive but only ends up in a coma. Sometime later he recovers and is told that the implants were triggered remotely and the signals were traced to Valentines network. Harry proposes to meet him under the guise of a British socialite. But during the meeting Valentine sniffs that something's wrong.

How often are you going to see Samuel L, Jackson in a penguin suit, a NYC cap with a lisp in a movie? ©20th Century Fox

After that encounter the Kingsman finds a clue about where Valentine might be going next, a church in the American Midwest. But prior to his trip the Kingsman finds out that Valentine through his organisation is now offering the world a SIM card for that will allow everyone around the world free calls and free internet. Later at the church just as Harry tires of the evangelical hate speak and is making his way out, Valentine triggers the SIM card in the phones of the church congregation which turns everyone violent. At the end Harry has killed everyone. As he steps out of the church he is met with Valentine who kills him with a shot to the head. This happens in full view of Arthur, Merlin and Eggsy as everything that Harry sees is streamed from his glasses to the Kingsman network.

Back in England, Eggsy is mess of emotions. He heads to Kingsman headquarters where Arthur is waiting for him. While talking to Arthur, Eggsy notices a scar on Arthur's neck. Arthur has been approached by Valentine and is part of the conspiracy. Arthur tries to turn Eggsy threatening him with death if he doesn't join them but Eggsy pulls a switch on the poison drink and Arthur instead is poisoned. Now all that's left of the Kingsman is Merlin, Eggsy and Roxy.

Agent Galahad goes to a church and then kicks ass. This was a pretty cool scene. ©20th Century Fox

Merlin comes up with a plan; first take down one of Valentines satellite which will destroy his network and the signal he plans to send out and second hack into the computer system of Valentine's headquarters. Roxy is tasked with taking down the satellite, they send her up with a rig hanging off two helium balloons which will take her to the edge of space where she can shoot the satellite down. Eggsy now disguised as Arthur is to infiltrate Valentine's headquarters to enable Merlin to get into the computer network.

What happens next is a lot of fighting which of course ends up with the Kingsman victorious and the bad guys dead. At the epilogue, Eggsy visits the pub where he finds his mom, his stepdad and his thugs all hanging out, he tells his mother he has a new job with perks like a paycheck and a big house. He tells her to move in with him. This of course pisses off stepdad and as he walks away seemingly listening to his mother's advice to leave he stops short at the door and does the same thing that Harry did back when he was being recruited.

Eggsy doesn't look as good as Galahad but he still impresses in the kick ass department. ©20th Century Fox

KINGSMAN GOT AN 8.2 ON IMDB WHICH MEANS IT'S ON PAR WITH GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY... IS IT THOUGH?

In one word? YES! It is as good as last years Guardians of the Galaxy. Like Guardians of the Galaxy I've never read the comic it's based off but I don't think it really matters, taken on it's own merits it's a damn good and entertaining action movie. It tries in the same way to use music and references to a different decade and what was popular then or refer to pop culture along it's own themes but it isn't so obvious as compared to Guardians of the Galaxy. It's a lot more subtle, sort of the way British humor tends to be dry and a little subtle. Which leads me to that whole British thing. It works. Colin Firth is brilliant as the consummate British gentleman as always and impressive as an ass kicking secret agent. It's a side of him I've never seen and hoping actually to see more of after this movie. And Taron Egerton, a relatively new face is pretty good too. Then there's Samuel L. Jackson who plays the villain Valentine, yes he has a lisp that makes him sound silly but in no way did his character look silly. He was a proper villain, worthy of being in any serious action/thriller movie or even in a Bond movie. And of course you can't forget the supporting cast like Michael Caine and Mark Strong, just as brilliant even if you say little of Caine and you usually see Mark Strong in a lead role or playing a baddie. 

Samuel L. Jackson's bad guys' look is actually inspired by a real life Hip Hop producer. ©20th Century Fox

Remember how I mentioned that this movie would make references to pop culture and other movies in the same genre? Well, for example Valentine's headquarters is a reference to a Bond villain named Blofeld or when Harry takes Eggsy on a tour of the Kingsman's standard issue weapons he mentions that once upon a time the shoes they wore even had a phone in it which is a reference to the Get Smart TV series. A few other fun facts about this movie is that in the comic book the professor that was kidnapped and held in the mountain cabin was named Mark Hamill but in the movie the Professor's name is James Arnold who is played by Mark Hamill. By the way Mark Hamill was very good as the British professor. And also all the Kingsman are named after the Knights of the Round Table and their leader is named Chester Arthur just like King Arthur. All this little things just add to the novelty of this movie. And one last thing, when Arthur asks Eggsy about his dogs name which is J.B. Arthur's guesses include James Bond and Jason Bourne but Eggsy answers with Jack Bauer. 

Sort of hard to believe that snobs like these guys would be willing to be part of something that they can't take advantage of socially. ©20th Century Fox

All that I've mentioned above works hand in hand with the story and the way it's told. The pacing is beautiful, the editing is perfect. The action scenes, the fighting scenes were shot and choreographed beautifully. In fact I think they did it in a way that was quite new and refreshing. The story of course is by far not perfect but what movie especially an action movie ever is? But then again in what movie have you seen all the heads of state, politicians, social elites and snobs of the world have their heads explode in a myriad of colors? I've never seen that happen before and frankly speaking it was quite a cathartic and satisfying thing to see.

This was a pretty cool scene. ©20th Century Fox

Honestly, this movie is as good as Guardians of the Galaxy was last year. It is an almost perfect package (nothing in my opinion can ever be perfect). I know it's still early in the year but this has got to be one of the best movies of its genre this year. All the other upcoming comic book adaptations and action movies have got quite a yardstick to measure up against. If they aren't as good or as entertaining as Kingsman is, then I'll be very, very disappointed. 

So Luke Skywalker has his ears grabbed and then seconds later his head explodes. ©20th Century Fox

To sum it up, I give Kingsman a solid 4 out of 5 just like I did for Guardians of the Galaxy. It's really worth your time and money to check this movie out. And it is worth your support, don't go download it off torrent, go pay for it first and then go torrent it until it comes out on DVD. I read somewhere that if this movie does really well they plan to do a sequel, if it's got the same people behind it and in front of it I'll look forward to it. The only sad part is that Colin Firth won't be in it. Maybe they'll do a prequel instead? That I'll really be looking forward to.

Here's the trailer for you to check out. Honestly it doesn't do this movie justice.

Movie Review: INTERSTELLAR (2014)

Movie Review: INTERSTELLAR (2014)

Posted by Naqhii

From IMDB

Storyline

In the near future Earth has been devastated by drought and famine, causing a scarcity in food and extreme changes in climate. When humanity is facing extinction, a mysterious rip in the space-time continuum is discovered, giving mankind the opportunity to widen their lifespan. A group of explorers must travel beyond our solar system in search of a planet that can sustain life. The crew of the Endurance are required to think bigger and go further than any human in history as they embark on an interstellar voyage, into the unknown. However, through the wormhole, one hour is the equivalent of seven years back on Earth, so the mission won't work if the people on Earth are dead by the time they pull it off. And Coop, the pilot of the Endurance, must decide between seeing his children again and the future of the human race.

Ratings: 9.4/10 from 7,045 users   Metascore: 75/100

Reviews: 9 user | 11 critic | 20 from Metacritic.com 

From Rotten Tomatoes

Movie Info

With our time on Earth coming to an end, a team of explorers undertakes the most important mission in human history; traveling beyond this galaxy to discover whether mankind has a future among the stars.

TOMATOMETER 75% | Average Rating: 7.4/10 | Reviews Counted: 65

Fresh: 49 | Rotten: 16 

Critics Consensus: Interstellar represents more of the thrilling, thought-provoking, and visually resplendent filmmaking moviegoers have come to expect from writer-director Christopher Nolan, even if its intellectual reach somewhat exceeds its grasp. 

AUDIENCE SCORE 99% want to see | Average Rating: 4.4/5 | User Ratings: 67,338 

In the future dust is everywhere which means folks with OCD will go nuts. ©Warner Brothers Pictures

The Movie (SPOILERS AHEAD!! DUH...)

By now most of you who have heard about the movie have seen the trailers and for those of you who are fans of Christopher Nolan you've probably read and or seen everything you can find on the internet about the movie. Good for you but you probably know that Nolan doesn't like to reveal much about his movie so you're still going to go to the cinemas wondering what Nolan has in store for you. And if you're still looking up stuff about this movie you'll also have read all the other critics reviews of Interstellar and you're getting the feeling that this is going to be a really, really good movie.

Well I'm not like all those critics, I'm basically your Average Joe that likes to watch movies and I don't really know how to write, review or critic like them. If you've been reading my reviews you'll notice that. Maybe.

A huge dust storm shows up and sirens go off but some people still don't care. ©Warner Brothers Pictures

Anyway, like I mentioned above if you're a fan and you've seen and read everything you're probably under the impression that it's a space action adventure/drama but one with a Christopher Nolan trademark storyline/twist, and you're right. But there's so much more.

The movie is about Coop played by Matthew McConnaughey who was once a test pilot for NASA but now is a farmer in some distant future. The earth of this future is bleak. Agricultural crops are dying because of something called the 'Blight' and the earth is turning into a dust bowl. Dust storms sweep the country so often everything inside and out is covered in dust.  People no longer trust in science to save the planet, school children are taught that the Apollo moon missions were just hoaxes perpetrated to destroy the Russian economy.

This is the coolest looking cockpit I've seen in a while. It moves! ©Warner Brothers Pictures

Coop does his best to manage his farm and his family. But there's something odd happening in his house and it involves his daughter. She's telling him that her room is haunted. During one particularly bad dust storm and a window in her room left open coincidentally the 'ghost' leaves it's mark in the form of bands of sand on the floor. Coop  throws the ghost explanation out the door and blames the event on a strange gravitational phenomena. The bands created by the 'gravitational anomaly' somehow turns out to be a binary code which translates to coordinates. So based on nothing but this very, very odd coincidence father and daughter get in their truck and head towards the coordinates. 

At the coordinates they find a relatively dust free fence with warning signs and one with NORAD printed on it. Coop gets out with some bolt cutters and just as he gets to the gate (where he can read the sign with NORAD on it) a light blinds him and the gates open. Before he gets a chance to do anything he gets tasered.

This is the first time that a wormhole is depicted differently, you should go watch this movie because of that. ©Warner Brothers Pictures

When he wakes he's in a storage area and being questioned by Anne Hathaway's character Amelia Brand. It's here that Coop finds out that NASA is still around and planning a way to save humanity. The plan is to send a crew out into space and head towards Saturn where somehow a wormhole has popped up. They believe that someone or something put it there just in time to save humanity. NASA has known about the worm-hole for almost 50 years ever since earths problems were starting. Since then they've sent probes out to check it out and after their data showed that there were earth-like planets on the other side of that worm-hole they've sent manned-solo missions to check out those earth-like planets to see which one really could sustain human life. So now they're planning on sending another crew out there to check up on those earlier missions to identify which planet is the best and prepare it for future missions. But they won't just be bringing equipment and provisions with them they'll also be bringing human eggs and sperm as Plan B which is the plan in the event that Plan A which is the mass exodus of humans to the planet they're heading for doesn't happen. 

So off they go towards Saturn and the wormhole and adventures unknown. I'll stop here and let find out what happens next for yourself. And trust me a lot happens. 

 See that little ball there? That's one of the earth-like planets they plan to visit. See that next to it? That's a 'gentle' black hole. ©Warner Brothers Pictures

What this spacehead thought about it...

Personally, I liked it. I really did. Of course I also liked the movie Contact (1997) which Interstellar producer Lynda Obst also worked on and there are bits of Contact in this movie. I also know from reading a number of critic's reviews that they too in general liked it. But critics are a different animal when compared to the general public and I can't help but think that Interstellar is not a movie for everyone.

If you read my ramblings up there you'd think that Interstellar is a movie about a crew who heads out into the unknown on a noble mission to save humanity and well that's true. You'd probably guess that they'll go through all sorts of hell to achieve their mission, also true. You'd expect there to be amazing visuals of space travel and alien planets and there are. But this movie really isn't about that. In that sense it's a lot like the movie Contact for me. Contact was generally liked by critics but everyone else had mixed thoughts about it. I think that's what will happen with Interstellar.

That pile of sticks there is a robot. Coolest and most unusual looking robot I've seen in a while. ©Warner Brothers Pictures

You can't go into this movie expecting an action adventure romp through space. You can't go into this movie without some knowledge or at least an awareness of interstellar space travels and all the theories that go with it. Quantum physics, Einsteins Theory of Relativity, The Einstein-Rosen Bridge, Astrophysics, Theoretical Physics, little bits from all these theories and ideas are used throughout the movie. Whether mentioned in expositions or dialogue or used visually, they are there and if you're don't know them then you're going to think this movie is just silly and ridiculous. But here's the thing if you can ignore all of that and look beyond all that what you'll get is a movie about the human condition, about our very human need to exist and continue by any means. The sci-fi bits are good and amazing to look at but let it distract you and you'll miss the point of the whole movie. 

Lets talk about the cast. Matthew McConnaughey is brilliant in this movie. I really liked his performance here. There's no other way to say it. In fact go read up what other critics say about him in this movie because I'm not good enough put it down. And he basically carried the movie for me, everyone else was good too but they were nowhere near as good.

This is another planet they visit and it's a cold one, cold enough to freeze clouds. ©Warner Brothers Pictures

The visuals are amazing. I would have loved to have caught it on IMAX but I didn't and I wasn't disappointed. Every scene in space looks amazing and the earth-like planets look amazing.

But like I said the visuals and the science aren't the main point of this movie, you have to look past that and you have to have the patience to look for it. I sat there in that cinema full of people who came into that movie expecting more of what they saw in the trailer and quite a few of them I would say had different expectations. I looked around a few times and spotted several people asleep or nodding off, those that didn't looked bored or confused. This movie will test your patience and expectations, it will also test your intellect. If you don't have any of those or aren't interested in the science involved then you will be disappointed. If you are you will be rewarded with an interesting and thoughtful movie that will make your head think about all sorts of things. 

Meanwhile back on earth things are going up in flames. ©Warner Brothers Pictures

Well that's my rambling review and opinion of this movie. Like I said I liked it but I don't think this is a movie everyone will enjoy or understand not even for hardcore Nolan fans. I give this movie a good 3.9 out of 5. Seriously Google Interstellar and read what the critics say because I share their opinions, mostly. 

 

 

Movie Review: Annabelle (2014)

Movie Review: Annabelle (2014)

Posted by Naqhii

Storyline

John Form has found the perfect gift for his expectant wife, Mia - a beautiful, rare vintage doll in a pure white wedding dress. But Mia's delight with Annabelle doesn't last long. On one horrific night, their home is invaded by members of a satanic cult, who violently attack the couple. Spilled blood and terror are not all they leave behind. The cultists have conjured an entity so malevolent that nothing they did will compare to the sinister conduit to the damned that is now... Annabelle.

First things first...

This movie Annabelle is a sort of prequel and spin off to last years The Conjuring. Now, I saw that movie but have since forgotten much about it so I've been reading up on it to sort of refresh my memory and to my vague recollection it was a pretty good movie. And to my recollection that movie made a sort of passing mention about Annabelle in order to establish the Warrens as professionals in the world of supernatural studies.  Now in that movie, The Conjuring, you meet the nurses who own Annabelle and learn about why they called the Warrens in to help them. But of course you don't get the whole story. So let's get to that first.

Below is my attempt at covering the actual story of Annabelle from reading a bunch of websites. 

So Annnabelle is actually real. It does exist and right now its current home is in the Warren's Occult Museum in Monroe Connecticut. You can't just walk in to see her anymore, you have to find out when a Warrenology event is scheduled, book yourself a spot and try to get there when it happens. And Annabelle does not look anything like what you think it looks like. It doesn't look at all demonic or evil. If someone passed her to you and said it was Annabelle you'd probably think they were joking with you. Real life is never the way movies portray it.

See that real Annabelle. cute and totally innocent looking doll in there? That's the real Annabelle.

Anyway, back to Annabelle. The movie The Conjuring did get that part of the story right, there really was a couple of nurses and one of them was given Annabelle by her mother. There was also a guy that hung around and he did experience things that freaked him out. It was after his experience that the Warrens were called in to consult but prior to that the nurses, Donna and Angie had called in a medium who told them that the doll was 'inhabited' by the spirit of a seven year old girl named Annabelle Higgins. The medium also told them that Annabelle's body was found in the field that their apartment was built on a long time ago. The reason why the called in the medium? When Donna noticed what looked like blood on her chest and the back of her hand. Apparently having the doll move on its own and leaving note on parchment paper which they never had in the apartment is not enough. 

When they were told the tragic story of Annabelle they figured she was a harmless spirit looking for some company. They were very wrong. Things started to get weirder but strangely enough it happened when Angie's boyfriend was around, the story goes that one day while checking out some maps for an upcoming trip they heard a rustling noise in the other room. They checked the room out but found nothing, except that when Lou was in there he felt uneasy and not much later he found himself in pain, he checked himself and he found that he had been scratched several times. 

The real Ed and Lorraine Warren with the real Annabelle. Still not very scary looking.

When the Warrens showed up Donna and her roommates had had enough and asked the Warrens to take Annabelle with them. And that's how the Warrens got hold of Annabelle. If you really want to know the story in better detail check out these sites, The Story of Annabelle at Warrens.net  this link goes to the official site apparently, and this one  History vs. Hollywood: The Annabelle Story this link takes you to an article that breaks down the difference between the movie and what really happened. 

Crazy people that want to kill you always hide in your closet where you just got your robe from... 

©Warner Bros

On to ANNABELLE (WARNING!!! SPOILERS AHEAD!!!! SERIOUSLY. DUH.... SKIP TO THE END IF YOU PLAN ON WATCHING THIS MOVIE WITHOUT ME SPOILING IT FOR YOU)

Okay, so this movie has yet to hit the cinemas so there's no ratings yet on any of the major movie sites. And if you've read my previous entry on another horror movie you'll know that I'm not a major fan of the genre, I'm more a fan of a good story done and told well than any particular genre. That said I'll be looking at this movie much like I look at any other movie, based on its own merits. As mentioned before Annabelle is sort of a prequel and spin-off to last years The Conjuring, but truthfully even if you've never seen The Conjuring you won't miss a thing and in fact after watching Annabelle watching The Conjuring won't really add anything or take anything from or to it. It can pretty much stand on its own. 

The Conjuring did really well and in fact became the highest grossing movie of its genre, it was made for a mere $20 million but made over $318 million worldwide which is really impressive, what makes it even more impressive is that it was directed by a man who shares the same nationality as myself, the Sarawak-born James Wan which means he's Malaysian. He's one of the few Malaysians that's really made a name for himself out there in Hollywood. Or at least that I know of other that Michelle Yeoh but she made it in front of the camera whereas he is behind it so kudos to him.

But that was The Conjuring this is Annabelle, James Wan is not at the director's chair this time but is instead in the producers, so we'll see if his magic touch is still present here. 

If this movie is to be believed just bleeding on something while really wanting to do something means you can possess that thing. Helps if you're a satanist of course. ©Warner Bros

The movie starts off with us meeting the Forms, a newly-married and expecting couple. She's a homemaker and he's a medical student on the verge of getting his residency with a hospital. The live in a nice little house in a nice neighborhood next to a lovely couple who's daughter just recently up and disappeared one day. The Forms, Jon and Mia are a little stressed lately with his upcoming residency and her pregnancy nearing the end so Jon being the sweet husband that he is locates for his loving wife a doll to complete her collection. She's been searching for this doll for ages apparently. You know who this doll is of course. Frankly speaking, with the way Annabelle looks only a collector will find it appealing or even attractive. Any sane person will think there's something wrong with that doll or think that it's got something evil about it the moment they laid eyes on it. It's ugly and evil looking. The person who made that doll must be insane and/or evil. Of course this is just for the movie, the real Annabelle is about as evil looking as Hello Kitty is of looking gross. 

Anyway, at this point Annabelle is not at all evil, malicious or inhabited by a demonic spirit. It's just a doll. An ugly, evil looking doll.

Here's where the doll gets to be evil. One fine evening while everyone is asleep their neighbors daughter returns home with her boyfriend. She's been hanging out with a unique group of individuals who believe in an alternative religion and her return back home has very much to do with that new group of friends and their beliefs. If you've seen the trailer it's that scene where the Mia wakes up when she hears someone scream in the house next door, that's when their neighbors are being stabbed to death by their own daughter. 

Husbands that give creepy looking dolls to their wives either need to have their heads checked or need to talk to their wives about their creepy collection. ©Warner Bros

Anyway, Jon goes to check in on the neighbor while Mia hangs around the porch waiting for him. He eventually shows up covered in blood screaming at Mia to call the police. She goes back in the house to call of course but in the panic she leaves the front door open. This of course is an open invitation for the crazy couple to sneak in. What happens next is in the trailer, they jump her and try to kill her. Jon gets back in time and manages to beat them back just as the police themselves show up and shoots the boyfriend dead. Crazy neighbor daughter manages to escape into the baby's room holding on to Annabelle. The cops smash open the door only to find crazy neighbor daughter has slit her own throat. Guess what the name of crazy neighbor daughter is? Annabelle Higgins. So there you go, the fictitious version of how Annabelle the doll received her name. 

Anyway mother and baby survive and a few days later they return home. All is put back to normal and they try to move on with their lives. But strange things start to happen. Strange unexplainable things. They think nothing of it of course at first until one evening while Jon is a way at a seminar and Mia is home alone. She's watching TV while doing a little sewing nothing's amiss until she hears a noise in the kitchen. She goes to check it out only to discover the entire kitchen is up in flames, she panics and turns to run but is tripped when a chair suddenly pulls out just slightly to catch her foot. She falls and begins to crawl toward the front door but as she's trying to do that something suddenly grabs her by the leg and pulls her back towards the kitchen. Whatever it was that did it didn't get to pull her all the way back in because just then the neighbors break down her front door. 

Jon rushes back home and meets Mia at the hospital where he also discovers his brand new baby girl. He also has news of his own, he's received his residency and soon they'll be moving away from their current home. 

Seriously look at that doll. Compared to the others, it looks utterly evil. ©Warner Bros

So now they're in their new home and they're unpacking and they're unpacking in the babies room. Mia is taking out her dolls and putting them up on the shelf when she opens another box and finds the doll in there. Jon threw the doll away before they moved so they have no idea how it got in there but this doesn't bother Mia for some reason and she decides to put it up on the shelf with the other dolls. Bad idea. 

Things start happening again and it only happens to Mia when she's alone. She tells Jon but he's skeptical at first but offers a solution which is to talk to their priest. Meanwhile Mia befriends Evelyn, a woman in the building who works at a bookstore nearby. Things of course gets worse and worse as is expected from movies like this before it gets better. 

Yeah staring at it won't make it go away. Burn it, burn it to HELL!! ©Warner Bros

Mia is trapped in the storage area of her apartment where she sees what appears to be a demon. She's trapped inside the baby's room when she goes in to check on a noise and while she's in there her baby is outside with the doll, when she manages to get out she sees the doll levitate and just as the doll gets to her eye level Mia spots something holding the doll up. The priest shows up and offers to take the doll back with him to the church but just as he gets to the door of the church Annabelle Higgins appears and he's tossed like a rag-doll backwards. It all culminates back at the apartment after Mia and Evelyn return home from a day out and this time the demon really means business. He wants someone soul and he won't leave without it. 

You see the whole reason for the supernatural, the demonic activity is because Annabelle Higgins and her boyfriend were part of a cult. A cult trying to call up demons and the devil himself, and to do that they needed to provide a sacrifice, a soul. And since Annabelle didn't succeed in getting Mia's soul before she killed herself, her spirit stayed on in the doll in order to accomplish that goal. 

In the end Mia is still alive and the Form's move on with their lives. Annabelle the doll disappears only to reappear in a junk store to be bought by the mother of one of the nurses that you see in the beginning of this movie and in that one scene in The Conjuring. All is not well.

Oh look it's that Japanese ghost that keeps showing up in every movie, or not. ©Warner Bros

What this casual fan of all things supernatural, weird and odd thinks... 

This movie for the most part for me was unremarkable. In fact it was completely predictable. I'll give you an example, just before the evening that crazy daughter returns to kill her parents, Mia is sitting in front of the TV listening to a news report on murders committed by cults, guess what the crazy neighbor daughter and her boyfriend are wearing when they commit their evil deeds? All white and her boyfriend is wearing a belt with a huge devil head as a belt buckle. The scary bits are also sort of predictable if you've seen enough horror movies. You can guess at what's about to happen just by paying attention to how the scene is set-up and how the camera is angled. So unless you've been hiding under a blanket every time something scary pops up then nothing here will surprise you.

With regards to the story of Annabelle it's a little strange in my opinion. We are made to believe that Annabelle follows Mia from place to place in order to get her or her daughters soul but at the end of the movie the Forms are fine and Annabelle ends up in a junk shop. So what's the point then of following Mia around and harassing her if any other soul can be used to replace hers? Shouldn't any pliable and weak soul do? She killed her mother and father and for some reason a random neighbor and her unborn baby is her target? Up until that evening when they decided to check out the neighbor they had no idea who the Forms were which means that if they were a cult and their ceremony required a sacrifice they weren't very specific about their requirements. If they were why bother killing a bunch of old people if what you wanted was a young pregnant woman? 

But I'm letting common sense and logic get in the way now when the main problem I have with this movie is that it's just too predictable. Pay enough attention and you can tell what's going to happen next. Even in the beginning third of the movie when it's actually pretty slow paced and almost bordering on dull it's predictable. 

Who needs a Nanny-Cam when you can have Annabelle-Cam. Scare your babysitter straight! ©Warner Bros

The actors for the most part I've not really seen before and with the exception of  Mia and Evelyn are pretty bland. Jon seems a little cold and distant when acting as the concerned husband. Mia played by Annabelle Wallis does a decent job but nothing impressive. Alfre Woodard who plays Evelyn probably has the best performance in this movie but her scenes are few and far between and she really doesn't get much to work with when she does, the one scene that stands out for me is when she talks about her daughter. 

To sum it up, for me this movie was nothing special. It certainly doesn't live up to The Conjuring and it most certainly doesn't add to it. It was just too predictable and at the beginning a little too slow. The scary parts are only scary because they jump out at you if you're not paying attention or haven't seen all the horror movies of the past few years. It's all the same tricks that's been done before. Nothing new here. I don't know what I was expecting from this movie but even without any expectations I found it a little disappointing. 

For this prequel to a pretty good movie that came out last year I give it a somewhat disappointing 2 out of 5. Would I recommend you watch this movie? If you're a horror movie fan, why not? Just don't expect anything new. If you want to know about Annabelle? Then forget it.

MOVIE REVIEW: THE BOOK OF LIFE (2014)

MOVIE REVIEW: THE BOOK OF LIFE (2014)

Posted by Naqhii

From IMDB:

Storyline

From producer Guillermo del Toro and director Jorge Gutierrez comes an animated comedy with a unique visual style. THE BOOK OF LIFE is the journey of Manolo, a young man who is torn between fulfilling the expectations of his family and following his heart. Before choosing which path to follow, he embarks on an incredible adventure that spans three fantastical worlds where he must face his greatest fears. Rich with a fresh take on pop music favorites, THE BOOK OF LIFE encourages us to celebrate the past while looking forward to the future.

Ratings: 7.2/10 from 200 users | Reviews: 1 user | 1 critic

From Rotten Tomatoes:

Movie Info

THE BOOK OF LIFE, a vibrant fantasy-adventure, tells the legend of Manolo, a conflicted hero and dreamer who sets off on an epic quest through magical, mythical and wondrous worlds in order to rescue his one true love and defend his village.

No Ratings

Official U.S. release date 17th October 2014
Official Malaysia release date 16th October2014

That's lady with the tiny hat will be your guide for this movie. Those kids will sort of be you. ©20th Century Fox

First Thoughts...

Well here's another movie where prior to watching it I made no efforts to look into it. Well not much and not way before anyway. I think other than catching the trailers showing prior to whatever it was I was actually watching, I only really looked up The Book of Life the day before writing this review. So here's what I know.

Produced by Guillermo Del Toro who directed Pan's Labyrinth, Hellboy, Blade and Pacific Rim among many others. I enjoyed most of them, so you can pretty much trust him when it comes to entertaining films and I'm probably not the only one who thinks this way about the man. Directed by Jorge Gutierrez who has worked on animation titles likeChalkZone (Nickelodeon), ¡Mucha Lucha! (WB), The Buzz on Maggie (Disney), as well as his own passion project El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera for Nickelodeon which won him a couple of awards. I've caught ChalkZone, ¡Mucha Lucha! and El Tigre on occasion and although I remember very little of ChalkZone other than the chalk gimmick that they use but I do remember ¡Mucha Lucha! and El Tigre being very different in terms of style and humour. They were a lot of fun to watch.

These colorful characters are gods of the nether realm. She's from the fun side if you haven't guessed. ©20th Century Fox

So those are the guys responsible for making things happen behind the scenes. For me I think we're in pretty good hands based on that. Based on the trailer alone I thought it looked interesting of course but I really wasn't sold on it completely but when I found out Guillermo Del Toro was producing I thought maybe this thing could be good but this being Jorge Gutierrez's first major film, I was not completely optimistic. Then I read up about the company making The Book of Life, Reel FX whose movies I haven't really seen so there's that to consider.

Then there's the cast for the movie and there's a lot of familiar names if you've been to the movies recently and more if you're a movie fan. Here's some of the voices you'll hear, Diego Luna, Zoe Saldana, Channing Tatum, Christina Applegate, Ice Cube, Ron Perlman, Kate del Castillo, Cheech Marin, Héctor Elizondo, Plácido Domingo, Gabriel Iglesias and Danny Trejo. Although when I saw Channing Tatum and Ice Cube in that list of names for a movie that is very much about Mexican culture and tradition I thought they would stick out like a sore thumb, or at least their voice would.

Meet Manolo your hero all grown up and going to fight a bull. ©20th Century Fox

So basically I had no idea what to expect of this movie. You had a mix bag of pros and cons and a trailer that looked beautiful but was sort of hard to figure out whether it was targeted at a younger crowd or an older one? Was it going to be silly and funny or was it going to be a pretty funny movie with a good driving plot? Was it for someone who enjoys Bugs Bunny or was it for someone who enjoys Mickey Mouse? That was the sort of questions I had when I saw the trailer. So I had no idea what to expect other than the movie looking pretty cool.

And this is Joaquin. He's not the hero but you won't hate him either. ©20th Century Fox

About The Book Of Life (SPOILERS!! DUUUUHHHH... SKIP THIS PART IF YOU DON'T WANT TO RUIN YOUR MOVIE EXPERIENCE. GO STRAIGHT TO THE NEXT TIME YOU SEE A BIG BOLD TITLE.)

So what is this story about? Well, if you've read the synopsis I've clearly taken from IMDB up there you'll know it's about Manolo (Diego Luna) who has to step up and find out who he really is in order to overcome some difficulties. If you've seen the trailer you'll sort of know that he's doing it in order to look for his one true love and that he dies and goes in search for her in the after life.

So let me recap for you what I remember about the movie.

Every lovelorn hero needs to climb a streetlight to woo his lady love. ©20th Century Fox

The movie begins at a museum where a bus load of misfits arrive for a visit. They are greeted by an old man who is supposed to be their guide but just as the bus begins to offload the gang of miscreants a very attractive female guide shows up and takes them of the old guide's hands. She'll be your guide as well throughout this movie as she narrates the tale of Manolo.

She takes them into the museum but not through the front door, but through a fake opening that seems to appear out of thin air. She says to the kids that they don't look like the sort of kids that usually walk in the front door like everyone else to get them to follow her. This trick would actually work in real life I think. She guides them into a dark corridor and then into a brightly lit room. The room is filled with displays for Dia de los Muertos, the Mexican Day of the Dead celebration. The kids look in awe as she explains a few of the exhibits. Then one little girl spots a display where a book is placed quite prominently on a pedestal. This is The Book of Life. The Book of Life is a book that contains the stories of everyone that has ever lived. In this case our guide begins to tell the kids and us about the story of Manolo, Joaquin and Maria.

I have no idea what's happening or what happened before this but you can tell Joaquin is not happy. ©20th Century Fox

Who are Manolo, Joaquin and Maria? They are the subject of a bet between La Muerte and Xibalba. La Muerte is Lady Death and the ruler of the Land of the Remembered, the place where all souls reside after death and when you are remembered by those you left behind. Xibalba is the ruler of the Land of the Forgotten, the place where souls go to when there is no one to remember them. Both these characters do exist is South American mythology. What is the bet? Who will win the heart of Maria. La Muerte picks Manolo to win while Xibalba chooses Joaquin. The prize? If Maria chooses La Muerte's choice Manolo, Xibalba can no longer play tricks on the living. If Maria chooses Joaquin, then Xibalba will rule the Land of the Remembered and La Muerte will take his place in the Land of the Forgotten.

When La Muerte and Xibalba make the bet Manolo, Joaquin and Maria are just little kids playing at the cemetery during a Dia de los Muertos celebration. The kids of course have no idea that their lives are being wagered or that it'll change forever. La Muerte approaches Manolo in the guise of an old woman asking for a piece of bread and when Manolo gives one out of the kindness of his heart she blesses him for it. Xibalba also appears to Joaquin but in the guise of an old war veteran but unlike Manolo he thinks giving it to an old man will go to waste so Xibalba trades him the bread for an old medal that will ensure that no harm will come to him and that he will never run out of courage.

If climbing the streetlight doesn't work then getting on one knee at sunrise should do something. ©20th Century Fox

The next morning we see the three again running around the village playing when Maria spots a cute little baby pig at a pen outside a butcher shop and decides that the need to set them free. Set them free they do and the pigs run amok straight towards the village square where chaos ensues but it doesn't get worse until a really big and mean boar shows up. In the ruckus Joaquin pushes the mayor and Maria's father from harms way but it's Manolo that shows off his bullfighter heritage to save the townspeople from the angry boar. The mayor of course doesn't see any of it so Joaquin gets the praise. Maria being the cause of the chaos to begin with gets sent to Europe in order to learn to be a proper lady. When the three last meet it's at the train station where Manolo gives Maria the baby pig she spotted that led to her being sent away and Maria gives Manolo a guitar to replace the one that was broken when the pigs ran amok. On the side of the guitar Maria has etched a message for Manolo to play with his heart. Joaquin on the other hand doesn't get anything nor did he bring anything for Maria which of course makes him feel like he won last place.

So while Maria is away we are treated to scenes of Manolo and Joaquin growing up. Manolo learning his family trade from his father at being a Matador, a bullfighter all the while trying to satisfy his own passion of playing the guitar and singing which his father disapproves of. Joaquin on the other hand is taken under the wings of the Mayor, Maria's father and is being trained to be the perfect soldier.

This is the Land of the Remembered. Festive isn't it? ©20th Century Fox

A few years has passed and Maria is returning and it just so happens that to celebrate her return a big bullfight is being held and Manolo is to be the star. But Manolo has a problem, for him to be a true Matador he has to kill the bull at the end and this is something that Manolo can't do. Joaquin is also there and he is a famous officer renowned all over for being brave and courageous. The bull is released and Manolo puts on a show but at the end he puts down the sword and is boo-ed by the crowd, his father is disappointed. But Maria is impressed. Maria's father is not.

Later that evening at a dinner Joaquin tries to impress Maria with his old ways but since Maria's been in Europe she doesn't exactly share Joaquin's idea of what the woman's role is in the home. So in a huff she makes her exit. Manolo appears a little later to serenade her under her window. Some things happen and Joaquin decides to propose and Manolo interrupts this by barging in and they get into a scuffle as to whose the better man. Manolo gets kicked out but comes back a little later to make Maria promise to meet him under a tree outside of town. Xibalba overhears them and makes his own plans.

This is what Manolo looks like in death. Still looks good. ©20th Century Fox

They meet of course and Maria is bitten by a snake except that it isn't some ordinary snake, it's Xibalba's. She dies. As he carries her back to town he's met by Joaquin and the Mayor, they blame him for her death. Distraught he goes back to the tree where Xibalba appears to offer him a chance to find Maria and reunite with her in the land of the dead, he takes it. Xibalba's snake appears again and this time bites Manolo twice. Manolo dies and re-awakens in the Land of the Remembered. It's a beautiful place and since it's the festival of Dias de los Muertos it's just one huge party. He meets with his dead relatives and his mother and he asks them for their help in order to find Maria. They tell him to meet La Muerte but Xibalba now rules the place and when he meets Xibalba he realizes he's been had.

So he journeys across the Land of the Remembered in order to get to the Cave of the Forgotten (I think) in order to enter the Land of the Forgotten to meet with La Muerte to tell her that Xibalba cheated to win their bet. But to get there he must first get past the Candlemaker. The Candlemaker is sort of father fate, for every life he makes a candle and when that life ends the candle dies out and he's the one that manages it. He is also the owner of the Book of Life where everyone's life is written. Manolo gets past the Candlemaker and gets there of course and of course La Muerte is incredibly pissed at what Xibalba's done but she can't do much. There are rules to abide by even by them. So Manolo proposes makes a bet with Xibalba, he'll take on any challenge that Xibalba sets up and if he wins he gets to live again and La Muerte returns to rule the Land of the Remembered, if he loses than Xibalba rules both the Land of the Remembered and the Land of the Forgotten and Manolo stays.

And here's the entire Sanchez clan comforting our Manolo when he's told that there's little he can do. ©20th Century Fox

Of course Manolo wins and does so in his own unique style. He gets sent back up to look for Maria. But just as he's being sent up the town is being attacked by a vicious bandit named Chakal who is looking for his lost medal. The medal that Xibalba gave Joaquin. Joaquin of course encourage by the medal faces Chakal but loses it while fighting Chakal which makes him lose all his courage. Maria meanwhile has roused the townspeople to stand and fight against Chakal and his banditos.

Just as things start to get serious Manolo shows up along with his dead relatives to help the townspeople fight Chakal and his bandits. They win of course and they live happily ever after.

That's the important bits that I remember. I may be wrong.

And this is what dead Manolo looks like from a high angle. ©20th Century Fox

What this mariachi fan thinks of the movie...

The Book of Life is a very different and unique movie. It's beautifully done. The amount of detail and effort put into every character, scene and background is amazing. The subject matter and the setting are like nothing I've ever seen before. The plot of course is familiar, sacrificing oneself for the one you love is pretty much standard movie plot and risking your own soul to travel through the afterlife has also been done numerous times but never like this and never through the traditions and culture of a South American nation. To give us a story that is inspired and steeped in the Mexican festival of Dias de los Muertos is very, very refreshing. I've never seen a movie that looked like this. The only thing I started to think about when I was watching this movie is a game I played a very long time ago that was made by LucasArts called Grim Fandango, a dark comedy neo-noir adventure game that takes place in the Land of the Dead which was heavily inspired by Mexico's Dias de los Muertos. I thoroughly enjoyed that game just as I did with The Book of Life.

But it wasn't just visually beautiful the music was a great partner to what you see. The music fit so perfectly you hardly notice it. It's not like some movies where you sort of can guess that someone's going to start to sing or break into chorus in this one it just blends in. You expect it yes but it's not like in a Disney movie, I don't know how else to say it. And the music is different, it's all interpreted either in the Mariachi style or I guess you could call it a very Mexican flavour. You'll definitely recognise some of the songs they sing but it won't be immediate and you won't think they've ruined it either.

So when you're about to beat up some banditos you need to do this. It's a rule. ©20th Century Fox

The voice acting is also pretty good. Remember when I said that I thought Channing Tatum and Ice Cube where going to stick out? Well they don't. They do pretty good as their characters, especially Ice Cube who plays The Candlemaker.

 

Overall if there's anything I can think of that could be a flaw with this movie is that there's just too much. Visually there's just too much. I wanted to see everything in every scene so much that I felt distracted from the characters sometimes by what I saw in the scenes and even in the characters. And then there's the different realms that you travel through. You spent much too little time and see too little it seems. They've taken so much care in the design of each that it left me wanting to see more of each. But that's not to mean that the pacing of the film is weak. The pacing is fine, you're never left feeling bored or that things are taking too long. It's just that it looks so good I sort of wanted to see more of it.

The movie has everything without going overboard or even resorting to type. Yes there are stereotypes in the movie but it's okay, they're poking fun at themselves. It's funny without becoming silly. The love story isn't too smarmy and all gushy to turn it into a Disney movie. For me it was all good. 

At the end even these two have a happily ever after. Isn't that nice. No real baddies in this one. ©20th Century Fox

So there you go. I thought it was a pretty good movie. It gave me an interesting look into a culture that I am not at all familiar with, Mexico's Dias de los Muertos, and it did it in the most visually beautiful way possible and maybe the most accessible one too. And it introduce me to the music styling of Mexico as well. I'm sure that some folks will go out after watching this movie to look up a little more on this colorful festival and its country of origin. Jorge Gutierrez has done a brilliant job with his first major film and I think I'll be looking forward to more of his works in the future.

I give this movie a solid 3.9 out of 5. Go out and catch this one when it comes out! You won't be disappointed.