TWO YEARS!

After two years by the by movie reviews is still going strong.  Back when this blog was started I read someplace that most upstart blogs never made it past six months.  Well I guess that goes to show you that we are doing something right, and if you are reading this right now thank you for your support! 

In two years time we have reviewed 141 movies which works out to be one movie reviewed just about every 5 days! We have also had about 3,800 views from people reading the blog from all over the world!

So once again Thank You to all!

Thank you to all the readers, reviewers and supporters of by the by movie reviews! 

And keep checking back for the next movie review!

INSURGENT

(2015) 119 Minutes, Rated PG-13

Bean's Review: Although a bit tired of the teenage/early 20 type movie storylines, this movie was watchable.  The beginning was slow and when Tris, played by Shailene Woodley and Four, played by Theo James are in the bed in the earlier scenes, I was thinking that I would like to be in my bed!

However, once they left Amity, the story became more interesting.  

The overall premises of story is unique with the faction system and that is what keeps me interested. However, life beyond the walls is reminiscent of The Village, wherein perhaps, the life going on outside the walls, is “normal”.

As for actors,  Naomi Watts, playing Four’s mother, was a waste of talent.  I do like Ashley Judd and would have liked to have seen more of her.

The comic relief of Peter, played by Miles Teller, was good.  I also enjoyed the scene with Candor’s leader, Jack, played by Daniel Dae Kim, and really liked his suit.  But, my interest was most piqued by Theo James.  Besides being good-looking, I really like his voice.

Best Scene:  last scene where Four’s mother shoots Jeanine

Bean’s rating:  matinee/DVD

Mike's Review: Well my review for this movie is pretty much the same as the review I had for the first one in this series Divergent.

"This movie was okay, but a tad long and dragged out.  I will say this, it was a lot better than some of those other "tween" movies out there based on a book series and if a sequel came around I would more than likely see it.  The cast wasn't anything special and any actor could have played any of the characters" - From my review of Divergent

But I will add this -  I'm tired of movies stealing from other movies, like the many scenes of people smashing through glass and other walls face first in slow motion, its been done. (The Matrix and Wanted just to name a few from the top of my head)  And also in this movie the music reminded me of the music from Tron: Legacy.

And yes. I will more than likely see the next one, just to see what happens next.
  

Best Scene: It was all pretty much the same.

Mike’s Rating:  Matinee, worth seeing on the big screen, just not at full price.

IT FOLLOWS

(2015) 100 Minutes, Rated R

A.C.’s Review:  Currently surprising Hollywood is the success of an “indy” small budget horror film called IT FOLLOWS. It has done so well that it has expanded to more theaters since its opening week.

The premise of the movie follows Jay. A young woman who after an evening of consensual sex finds herself chloroformed and tied up by her boyfriend in an abandoned factory. He has done this to keep her still so he can explain the “rules” of what is about to happen. Through sex he has passed along the for lack of a better word …a curse. He tells her she will be soon stalked by a supernatural entity that can assume shapes of people familiar and unfamiliar to her. It will keep coming for her until it kills her but because it can only walk she will be able to out run it but it will always follow. Sure enough the entity appears and the two quickly escape and the boyfriend runs off to leave Jay to deal with the curse. One of the rules is that she can be rid of it if she passes it along to the next person she sleeps with.

The rest of the movie deals with Jay’s stalking by the malevolent creature as a small band of friends try and protect her as they search for the boy who “infected” her and seek a way to defeat the terrifying creature as “It Follows” her.

Anyone going in expecting a slasher type, high body count will be disappointed. This is old school horror much like the original John Carpenter’s Halloween that relies on suspense over graphic gore.

Enough good things cannot be said about the cinematography and the atmosphere that the director brings to this movie. Set in a midwestern suburb there is such a sense of dread and creepiness in every scene that the tension is inescapable. The opening scene is especially effective taking place out on a nearly deserted street at dust sets the feel for the rest of the atmosphere to come. Even events that take place in bright sunlit scenes are inescapable from the forebodingness. Also the story seems to take place during what I would guess to be an October “Indian Summer’ with trees a blaze in autumnal colors while characters are still making use of the swimming pools and beaches. It gives such a totally unique feel to it.

Also there is a bizarre “out of time” element to the whole proceedings. It takes place in present day but there are a lot of old vehicles to be seen, people watch televisions from twenty years ago (no flat panels to be seen).  Early in the  movie Jay and the boyfriend go to an old school type theater that isn’t a slick multiplex. All in all visually this an extremely well-crafted movie.

Not everything is roses and sunshine though. There isn’t much character development in any of the supporting characters that make up her group of friends but that is a small quibble compared to the biggest flaw of the movie and that it the music.

There are times when the music is used incredibly to help enhance that feeling of dread I was talking about above…but more often than not the director goes overboard with it either being too loud or as an attempt to be “stylish” as he plays it over scenes of the characters doing thing so as not to have dialogue. At times it’s so overbearing that it calls attention to itself and can take you out of the movie.

Best Scene: Jay and her friends seek refuge at a Lake Michigan beach house and are terrorized as the entity follows them in its relentless pursuit of Jay.

A.C.’s Rating:  Matinee