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Ever since Night of the Living Dead zombies have been a popular subject. Soon, they became horror comedies in films like Shaun of the Dead. Obviously, some that are better than others. Iit's best not to judge them all from one of the bad ones.The story is about 4 people who are still alive after a zombie outbreak. One is looking for his family, another is on the search for one of the last twinkies and the other two are sisters trying to get to a theme park to where they were at a lot as children. The world is in flames and they just want to survive. Zombieland has a story that focuses on survival, as most zombie movies do, but dwells on other topics throughout such as character pasts and what made them who they are. This concept has certainly been used before, but not in this context.
There is not a lot to say about the acting other than it is great. Each actor is able to give their character life. In most of these comedies with zombies, actors come off cheesy and annoying. In Zombieland, each actor seems realistic and relatable. This is an important element for a movie to have. The audience has to like the characters and they do a splendid job doing so.
The visuals in this movie can't be better. The way it was filmed, how it was set up, and the props themselves are all fantastic. It is a very creative film in every way and I was surprised to see how much thought was put into the filmmakers showing what it is like when world goes into chaos. The visuals category is excellent.
Zombieland is one of the most fun movies I have seen lately. It is hilarious and will make anybody laugh. Think of a mixture of Superbad and Dawn of the Dead, for that is what this movie is like. The characters are written extremely well and have a great deal of depth. This is something very surprising to see in just a fun zombie killing film. Zombieland is highly recommended and is a mind-blowingly fun film.
Next movie: Paranormal Activity
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There is so much to say about Paranormal Activity that it could take hours just to explain how fantastic this movie is. It is in limited release and was shown to film festivals a few years ago and was kept under wraps by Paramount. They wanted to do a remake and then release the original on DVD afterwards, but they changed their minds. Paramount ended up putting it in a few theaters and then doing a "Demand It" where fans can demand it to be in their area. The cities that received the most got it put in a local theater. I am lucky enough to have it within 20 minutes of where I live.The story is about a couple in a house which they believe is haunted. As each night continues, the more frightening and worse it gets. The couple does not know if it is a ghost, demon, or their minds tricking them. The pacing is flawless and is able to capture the greatest amounts of fear from the audience. The film is not only scarey, in between the frights there is funny, clever dialogue and situations that lighten the mood for the audience to relax a bit. It never went too fast for the audience to not keep up, but did not go so slow that the viewers get bored. The story is managed perfectly.
The actors are unknown. They have to be friends of the director but their acting skills are surprisingly good. Both of them were realistic and gave good performances. Paranormal Activity is made from merely $15,000. This is a tiny budget for a film and this movie used it wisely. The film quality is great and the props are good. The scares and gags are fantastic. The atmosphere of the film is what really gets the audience. Whenever the lights were off, my spine tingled and I got the chills. This has seldom happened in a film before, but Paranormal Activity captured true fear, very rare to find in modern cinema.
Paranormal Activity is one of the best horror films ever released. Everything about this movie is near perfection. The scares are fantastic and if you do not jump, you will get the chills. Even if you never get scared during horror flicks, this movie is sure to stay with you long after the credits are done rolling. If you are going to see one movie, Paranormal Activity is the one. It is extremely important to try to see this in a theater to get the full atmosphere and feeling. The audience's reactions around you add to the atmosphere of fear. It is one of the greatest horror flicks of the 21st century.
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As the years roll by and the money is spent to see films, concepts and conclusions begin to get old. This is why boredom starts to kick in and it is never a good thing. Almost every thriller movie I have seen in the recent past has been done before. The Uninvited tries to frighten audiences psychologically, not physically.The story is about a girl, named Anna, who is in a mental hospital for attempting suicide after her mother's death. She comes back home to her father, sister, and her dad's new girlfriend. Everything seems fine and wonderful since she is finally home, but her father's new girlfriend is suspicious and is suspected of killing the mother. Anna must find out her secret before she is the next on the new girlfriend's list. This is a remake of a movie called A Tale of Two Sisters and has a similar story but with many different plot points and major events. The story does not venture into unknown territory for me, but is still able to capture the plot onto film well.
Many people who have seen this movie has been surprised by the acting. The two strongest performances are Emily Browning as Anna and Elizabeth Banks as Rachel Summers, the new creepy girlfriend. The two ladies interact a lot throughout the film and they do it wonderfully. Neither of them over acts or over dramatizes the lines, which makes the movie have a sense of realism. The acting is descent and is a nice surprise.
The visuals should be obviously good since the film had a big budget. It was not the props or anything on set that gives the film the visuals it captured. The real focus in this film are the magnificent camera angles. The atmosphere is captured extremely well . Each shot used in this movie is a piece of art in itself. The visuals are fantastic.
The Uninvited is a surprisingly strong movie. It may be PG-13, but it is able to effectively send shivers down the audience's spines. The scares are not too effective, but that is not the point of this movie. It is trying to set up for what is to come. The ending is unsuspected and is one of the most surprising endings I have seen in a while. This is a movie that can be seen many times and still have the same effect. The Uninvited is recommended to those who want to enjoy a decent thriller with a brilliant ending.
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There was a trailer released for Monster House and I instantly wanted to skip it. Unfortunately, I was dragged to see it with one of my friends. I went in expecting the absolute worst. I sat down for the movie, the lights dimmed, and the movie began.If I were to compare Monster House to any other movie, it would be Rear Window. Think of that, or of its remake Disturbia and make it for children. That's exactly what this is. For those who do not know the story, I will explain. Three friends live across the street from a strange, creepy house. They are convinced something is wrong about it. The kids investigate to find out that the house itself is a huge monster. People might not see how it's similar to Rear Window and Disturbia, but the process of finding out about the house is the same except with kid concepts.
Since this movie is in animation there is no official acting, just voice acting. I don't habe much of a problem with any of the voice acting. They aren't out of synch with their voices to the cartoon mouths. No problems, but nothing special about the voice acting.
I did not get the chance to see this movie in 3D, I only got to see it in 2D. The cartoon graphics are great and how the monster house looked is creative. Everything on screen moves well and does not lag and did not see any stalls in the animation itself.
Monster House is not as bad as I expected, but not that good either. This movie has mixed reviews from what I have heard, but kids are sure to like this one. It may scare some of the really small children, but kids around 10 years old will like this one a lot. Parents shouldn't have too much of a problem watching this, but I don't recommend running to get it.
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Countless movies attempt to get many sequels and make tons of money while having only a small budget. Most movies fail in this process, since success is a rare thing in this endeavor. Fortunately, SAW is one of the movies that made it.If you do not know what the story is about, you must be living under a rock. Just in case you have not been paying much attention to movies lately, SAW is about a serial killer. He puts his victims in situations that lets them decide to live or die. They must release themselves from the trap they were put in. The killer is known as Jigsaw. The story is mainly about two men who wake up in a nasty bathroom. They are chained to poles and must follow the instructions given, if they do not, then they die. As soon as I heard about this, I was interested. This sounded like a movie with an interesting story.
The first person in SAW that I recognized was Danny Glover. The best performing actors in this film are Leigh Whannell and Shawnee Smith. Whannell has not been in a lot of movies and is from Australia. Leigh has a strong Australian accent and hides it perfectly, nobody would ever guess he had an accent. Leigh makes his character believable. Shawnee Smith makes the audience feel bad for her. The audience cares what happens to her, and this is always good. Shawnee gave an emotional performance and did it extremely well. The movie is low budget and can't afford Oscar winning actors. SAW is far from having great acting, but it could have been much worse. The performances given are decent and work just fine for this movie.
As I stated, it is a low budget movie. The entire film, except for maybe two or three short scenes, was shot inside. They were all shot in one building with each room being disguised as a different building. The sets are very good and would never guess it was all one building. There is even a car chase scene, but it is obviously all shot in a studio, just like it used to be shot with a fan, in a studio, with a car that isn't even driving. Visuals are definitely not the most important thing for this movie.
SAW is one of the best horror/thriller movies of the decade. It has great pacing, a magnificent story and fine ending. Even the smartest movie guessers I know could not guess the fantastic ending. It is the least bloody of the series and focuses on story and characters rather than violence. There are still a few scenes during which people may cringe, but nothing as bad as a lot of other horror films that are being released. If you are looking for a movie to get you hooked and leave you with a big "wow" at the end, see SAW.
