DRACULA UNTOLD

(2014) 92 Minutes, Rated PG-13

Bean's Review: Different perception of the creation of Dracula.  Luke Evans portrays Vlad, who then becomes Dracula and performs the part quite well.  Dracula is portrayed as a hero, a loving husband and a caring father, despite his prior acts in the Sultan of Turkey’s wars, in which he became known as Vlad the Impaler.  After his service, Vlad became prince of Transylvania.  He became the “monster” in order to save his people from the Turks, as the Sultan wanted all of the boys from Transylvania for his army.  Vlad’s sacrifice enabled his son and kingdom survive the Turks take over. 

The characterization was well developed in that I could really sympathize with Vlad in the death of his wife, played well by Sarah Gadon.  The portrayal of the “original” vampire, was well played by Charles Dance.

  

With the death of Vlad’s wife and the turning of his people into vampires and then Vlad’s vampires turning on his son was causing me to question the point of Vlad becoming a vampire initially.  However, the storyline had his son beginning saved and becoming the next ruler of Transylvania and then seeing Dracula in modern times, as the audience was thinking he was dead from sun exposure, mollified my question of his sacrifice.

I quite enjoyed this interpretation of Dracula.  The casting was well done, as well as the setting.  An apropos movie for the Halloween season.

Best Scene:  When the Sultan of Turkey, portrayed by Dominic Cooper, another good job, fought Dracula in the reign of silver coins

Bean's Rating: Full price ticket

Mike's Review: I haven't seen any movies just completely about the origins of Dracula or how he came to be, but I have seen a ton of movie with little bits of Dracula background and many different story lines that had parts of a Dracula or similar type of all mighty Vampire.

This movie had a very interesting spin on how Vlad the Impaler became Dracula. Which is why it surprised me on how short this movie actually was, I could have watched this movie as a two hour movie easily.  But with Universal Pictures wanting to "re-vamp" their old classic monster/horror movies for a new generation of movie watchers, you can see why they didn't want to put to much into their first of many new movies coming out. And also why they ended this movie the way they did in the present.  I think their gamble is going to pay off for them, and in the process create a whole new era of "classics".

Best scene: I liked the battle scene where Dracula is controlling all of the bats.  And I also liked the ending.  Let the games begin.

Mike’s rating:  Worth the price of the ticket.

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THE BOXTROLLS

(2014) 96 Minutes, Rated PG

Mike's Review: I am a big fan of stop motion animated movies. I think Tim Burton's - The Nightmare Before Christmas is one of the best ones created and will live on forever...but this movie, The Boxtrolls was kind of strange.  The story is about a boy that ends up living with trolls that wear boxes.  The bad guy I did not care for at all, and I didn't even have a clue he was voiced by Ben Kingsley until after the movie.  The back story line of all the things that happened in the movie were for a hat and cheese was also very strange.

I did like the Boxtrolls and the story of the boy growing up with them and trying to protect his adopted family.  I even liked the way it ended, but the whole bad guy and back story could have been much better.

I think if they had a better back story and a better "bad-guy" and maybe even lightened the gloomie-ness up a bit this movie would have taken off into a huge block buster.

My 5 year old daughter said that she liked the movie and really liked the Boxtrolls and thought they were funny.  But she did not like the scene were all the trolls seem to get squashed in a big press. 

Best Scene:  The buffet scene were Eggs tries to blend in was pretty funny.

Mike's Rating: DVD

ALEXANDER AND THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY

(2014) 81 Minutes, Rated PG

Mike's Review: Not to mush to say on this movie...It was just an entertaining movie that was fun to watch.  It had a cute story and the the actors and actresses fit their roles well.  I even laughed out loud a few times.  This movie kind of reminded me just a little bit of Home Alone mixed with A Diary of a Wimpy Kid. 

Best Scene:  There were some cute scenes, but I liked the job interview dinner and the book reading scenes the best.

Mike's Rating: Worth the price of the Ticket.

Bean's Review: Cute, light-hearted family movie.  Alexander is an 11 year old boy who experiences very bad days, whilst his family members seem to enjoy idyllic days.  However, on his birthday, the tables are turned.  Steve Carell portrays a very caring father who is looking for a job, and his wife portrayed by Jennifer Garner has too much of a job.  The cast did a good job and there were some fairly funny scenes.

  

Overall, a good-feel movie.

Best scene: when the oldest son, played by Dylan Minnette, cast his prom date aside for his family

Bean’s rating:  DVD - I typically do not pay to see many family type movies

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LEFT BEHIND

(2014) 110 Minutes, Rated PG-13

A.C.’s Review:  The End Times are nigh….at least in the new movie LEFT BEHIND. Without warning one day The Rapture from Heaven occurs and all children and adult true believers are swept away to heaven leaving only their clothing behind and a terrified world of the unbelievers and unfaithful that are in for seven years of tribulations and hell on earth as the Antichrist rises.
 

The movie however basically covers the early hours of The Rapture as chaos descends on the ground and in the air where Nick Cage is playing an airplane pilot who must suddenly deal with the disappearance of many passengers and a struggle to bring his plane back to JFK after it is clipped by another jet (the pilots of the other jet were raptured away and it was out of control-tough luck if you are a passenger on that plane). Meanwhile on the ground his daughter must deal with a world gone mad by the disappearances which include her devout mother (Lea Thompson from BACK TO THE FUTURE!  Man, it was good to see her again) and her younger brother.

On board the plane Cage is aided by a globetrotting reporter who is his daughter’s love interest as well as a stewardess he is having a torrid affair with (she doesn’t know he’s married). With JFK in shambles with no clear runways due to crashed planes death seems certain for the passengers unless Cage can somehow find a way to land the plane…with his daughters help.

This movie was a win win for me because it combined two of my favorite genre’s. The airplane movie and the disaster movie. There was no escaping this was a movie marketed to the religious crowd but I went along with the flow just for the elements that I liked. Some of it was good…and some silly….like the hot young stewardess having an affair with aging Nick Cage but all in all I liked it.

Due to its limited appeal it got “Left Behind” at the box office on opening weekend so see it soon if you want to as it will be raptured out  of the theatre’s fairly quickly.

Best Scene: The near mid-air collision between the jets.

A.C.'s Rating: Matinee

ANNABELLE

(2014) 98 Minutes, Rated R

A.C.’s Review:  Last year a movie came out called THE CONJURING. It dealt with a real life husband and wife team of paranormal investigators called the Warrens. This movie featured the Warrens dealing with a family living in a haunted house. Based on a true story I suspect 99% of it was embellished by Hollywood but that is neither here nor there. I bring this up because in the movie the Warrens have a collection of items they have amassed on their cases…sort of like the trophy room you use to see in Batman comic books.

Instead of a giant penny like Batman has they have instead in a glass case with a warning never to open a doll named Annabelle that is said to be cursed. The doll proved so terrifying in its brief appearance an entire prequel has been constructed around it and that is this movie.

In the film a pair of expectant parents living in the seaside community of Santa Monica in the year 1970 soon have their world thrown upside down. When a pair of cult members go all Helter Skelter and murder their next door neighbors in a satanic ritual a demon is unleashed and takes up residence inside of the woman’s doll named Annabelle. The rest of the movie is the terrorizing of the couple as the demon attempts to claim a soul even that of the newborn baby is possible.

While not particularly scary to me I found the movie a passable way to spend the afternoon. I was more interested in it for its early 1970’s setting because I like to see the cloths and automobiles again from childhood. The actors are serviceable and the biggest name in the movie is Alfre Woodard who is obviously there to pick up an easy paycheck but she had the best role in the movie for what it was.

Best Scene: The attack by the cult members early in the movie.

A.C.'s Rating: DVD

THE EQUALIZER

(2014) 131 Minutes, Rated R

Mike's Review: Now this is my kind of movie.  This is in the league of the first Taken with Liam Neeson or Hitman with Timothy Olyphant.  If you enjoyed those movies then you will enjoy Denzel Washington  doing what he does. The fight scenes are very believable with a kind of Matrix style to them.  The story was well done and the character development was pretty well done.  The ending even left it open for a squeal, which I would see in a heartbeat.

Best Scene:  I liked the fight scenes, but I like the ending as well when he says he can help.

Mike's Rating: Worth the price of the Ticket.

Bean's Review: Fairly violent and riveting movie.  Denzel Washington plays an ex-CIA agent/spy, Robert McCall, trying to distance himself from his past career by working at a big box home improvement store and generally living a solitary, simple life.  However, his casual acquaintance with a very young Russian prostitute, Teri a/k/a Alina, played well by Chloë Grace Moretz, leads him back to his past activities and training, as Alina is hospitalized after a severe beating by her pimp, Slavi, played by David Meunier. 

The movie also displayed an underworld, the Russian mafia, that was quite disturbing.  Denzel Washington is quite convincing in his role, which is similar to his role in Man on Fire.  However, the storyline and acting in Man on Fire was better, especially the acting of Dakota Fanning.

 

McCall’s interaction with his co-workers at the store was developed nicely, but his interaction with the ex-director, played by Melissa Leo, or whatever her position was within McCall’s past career, was not, as it was unclear to me of her position in the movie.  Bill Pullman’s role seemed to be a token bit, which is unfortunate.

I enjoyed McCall’s trait of counting down the seconds in disarming/killing the “bad guys”.  Overall, a good, entertaining movie, but not as well acted or developed as Man on Fire or Training Day.

Best scene: quite a few-one that stands out is McCall’s initial encounter with Alina’s pimp and McCall’s obsessive/compulsive behavior with the skulls on the desk.  I also enjoyed his encounter with the “cops on the take”.

Bean’s rating:  borderline Matinee/Full Price-would definitely watch again

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NO GOOD DEED

(2014) 84 Minutes, Rated PG-13

A.C.’s Review:  This fall 2014 movie is the latest in the "Home Invasion" genre starring Idris Elba and Taraj Henson  In the movie Elba is a charismatic convict who violently escapes from his prison transport and takes refuge in the home of stay at home mom Henson a mother to a young daughter and an infant.
 
This movie works due to watching Elba in action. At first at his parole hearing before his escape you aren't sure whether he is guilty of the disappearance of five women who were never seen again. However once he escapes and in the process  shooting a sympathetic guard we have little doubt how ruthless he is. The beauty is in watching how he manipulates Henson into letting him into her home and how he plays her completely until he ultimately reveals himself.
 
This was a good thriller and the leads were excellent. Also a favorite actress of mine turns up in the supporting role of Henson's best friend...Leslie Bibb from the 1990's show POPUALR. Even though she practically has future murder victim stamped on her forehead its always good to see her on screen..
 
The movie also ends with an unexpected twist I did not see coming so that's a bonus.
 
Best Scene: In a very tense scene the pair is stopped by a police officer and Henson has a chance to escape but unknown to the cop Elba is threating to harm her children in the car if she gives him away.
 
A.C.'s Rating: Full Price

A WALK AMONG THE TOMBSTONES

(2014) 114 Minutes, Rated R

Bean's Review: Although a bit slow moving, an interesting story as it is based on the Lawrence Block series of books featuring the pseudo private investigator, Matthew Scudder, a recovering alcoholic and ex-policeman.  I have read most of Lawrence Block’s books and enjoyed them, so was pleasantly surprised at the theater that the movie was based on one of Block’s books.

Liam Neeson was a good choice for the role of Scudder, however this role was not much of a reach for Neeson, as he tends to play this type of character in most of his movies.

  

The introduction of the young boy, TJ, played by Brian Bradley, helped bring some levity to a very creepy storyline in which the kidnappers/serial killers were particularly gruesome – along the lines of the serial killer in Silence of the Lambs (not Hannibal).  

The characters were well developed, as would be expected, if you were reading the book.  I liked the development of Boyd Holbrook’s character in the story, as well.

This movie was not “action packed” as so many recent movies, but the acting and story kept your interest, as a majority of the action packed movies tend to have a thin plot and poor acting.

Best scene:  when the one serial killer was eating cereal in the kitchen just after he killed his killer colleague

Bean’s rating:  Matinee-would watch again

Mike's Review:   This movie was not what I expected.  I thought it would be more along the lines of a hit man for hire type of movie.  Overall I wasn't to impressed the story was boring and the movie crawled.  There was just enough action to keep me entertained but it could have had a few more twists to the plot or some scenes cut to shorten the movie. 

Best Scene: The last fight scene in the basement.  

Mike's Rating: Matinee

A.C.'s Review: In the past year Liam Neeson has played a heroic if flawed Air Marshall (NON-STOP), an evil gunslinger (A MILLIONS WAYS TO DIE IN THE WEST) and now a gritty “unlicensed” detective working in the shadowy and a bit sinister corners of 1990’s New York City.

Called upon by a local drug trafficker ex-cop Scudder must find the men who kidnapped and brutally killed the dealer’s wife and race against time to stop the serial killers who are basically using the kidnappings/ransoms as window dressing to perpetrate their violence against women. These men are so deadly that a man who doesn’t even know their full identities kills himself rather than possibly face them for giving information to Scudder.

Crime thrillers are not my usual viewing choices but this one works for several reasons. True we’ve seen the anti-hero washed up ex-cop in many movies before this but Neeson seems at home in this role. Also a nice subplot is Scudder befriending and ultimately making a difference in the life of a homeless teen who after meeting Scudder wants to become a private eye and by the end of the movie is somewhat of a sidekick with Scudder as his mentor/father figure.

Dan Stevens fresh from walking away from hit TV show DOWNTOWN ABBEY as the drug trafficker takes on a role vastly different from his role as early 20^th century  heir to an English manor. Stevens is also headlining THE GUEST which I haven’t seen. It will be interesting to see if these movie roles will continue or if he will suffer the same fate as David Caruso who left a hit show for a promised movie career only to have to eventually return to TV in CSI Miami. I wish him well. The other roles in the movie such as the teen sidekick and various suspects all are played well.

Also working in the favor of the movie is it’s very atmospheric…a sense of impending dread and doom seems to saturate the movie. The time frame adds to the movie set in the shadow of the millennium and the prophesied Y2K that never materialized plays nicely with some in-jokes. As someone who use to use microfilm to look up stuff I appreciated Scudder’s reluctance to embrace the still new concept of the internet.

Another good thing liked that the movie did not try and shoehorn in a love story for Scudder. Not every movie needs to have one and this one did just fine without it.

The only misfire is what appears to be some sort of truncated subplot where a whole band of DEA agents appear for one scene and one scene only and are never heard from again. Their inclusion made no real sense or effect on the plot.

One final note…since the movie was set in NYC in 1999 I kept waiting for an appearance of the Twin Towers. I was rewarded in the final shot of the film when they appeared on screen just before the fade to black.

Best Scene: There is a sequence on the roof (whose outcome was spoiled in the trailers) where Scudder confronts a suspect that was very suspenseful and well done.

A.C.'s Rating:  Full Price