Prisoners Review

Prisoners (2013): The Oscar season has begun. Kicking off the season this year is Prisoners from director Denis Villeneuve and starring Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal along with a great supporting cast. The premise is very simple. Two girls go missing after Thanksgiving dinner. The movie follows the efforts of Jackman's and Terrence Howard's families and the efforts of Gyllenhaal as Detective Loki to try and find the girls and bring them home. The movie follows Gyllenhaal as he uses his police work to follow leads, while at the same time follow Jackman as we watch how far he is willing to go to bring his daughter home.

As I said, the plot is very straight forward and easy to follow. Where this movie deserves its praise is in the directing and editing. The movie could have gone the easy route and used quick cuts to build tension, but instead scenes linger and allow the actors to work. It builds natural tension with the long scenes. It also makes it feel very real. Background music is absent is much of the movie and that helps a lot as well. The movie is not telling the audience how they should be feeling at the moment and instead rely on the actors to convey what is going on in each scene.

So since the acting carried the movie, was it good? Yes it was. Jake Gyllenhaal was probably my favorite actor in the movie. He was very toned down and held back from going over the top when he could have. Hugh Jackman played his role very well too. He was very much the protective father who would go to all lengths to find his daughter. His scenes with Paul Dano were filled with tension and very good. The supporting cast was awesome throughout. The only actor/actress I did not like would have been Jackman's wife in the movie, Maria Bello. Her performance was the only one I did not enjoy and probably could have been handled slightly better or slightly different.

At 2 hours and 33 minutes of run time, it is a lengthy movie. But it does not feel like it. You are interested for pretty much the entire time. And be careful because if you leave to go to the bathroom during it you may just miss something. This movie was a fantastic way to kick off Oscar season and I can't wait for the rest. I am giving Prisoners a Blu-Ray.

Leave some feedback down in the comments. Also be sure to checkout my movies podcast, Yeah, A Lot of People Like That. Find us on iTunes or Stitcher by simply searching "YALP" on either.

The Spectacular Now and Beautiful Creatures Reviews

It has been quite awhile since I've done a review. For a time there I fell off the wagon and now it is time to get back up and on that wagon once more. I will be catching up with reviews of movies I have seen since I took a short hiatus.

I will also be debuting a new rating system! I am going to begin using a more subjective scale instead of the objective Out of 10 scale I had been using. I will be using a scale that will change with the season of the movies. It is a scale of 4 being I really loved the film and down to 1 being a film I hate. For Oscar season movies, I will obviously use Oscars. For Summer movies I will use bags of Popcorn. For Spring movies I will use boxes of Candy.

For this review I bring to you a double feature of sorts. Two movies which are sorta of similar. Two teenage love story movies. So let's have a go at this again shall we?

The Spectacular Now (2013) 91% on Rotten Tomatoes: The Spectacular Now was released on August 2nd of this year and got a limited release in theaters. It is a coming of age, comedy-drama film. It follows the lives of two high school seniors, Sutter (Miles Teller) and Aimee (Shailene Woodley), as they start a by-chance relationship that neither of them saw coming. Sutter is a goof off who as he says "lives in the now" and does not like to plan too far into the future. Aimee is a good girl who does not garner a lot of attention. The two meet after Sutter breaks up with his girlfriend (Brie Larsen) and after a night of drinking is woken up on a strange lawn by Aimee. The rest of movie follows the growth of the relationship and how the two characters learn more about themselves from the other.

The movie is fantastic. It is a great coming of age story. The two leads have amazing chemistry with each other and they really sell the film. The acting from these two young actors is great. I believe we will be seeing a lot of both in the future. The only downside I would give it is that Shailene Woodley may have been "a little too good looking" for the role. It is a little bit of a stretch to believe that she would have been ignored as much as is told in the film, but her acting is what sells it and makes you believe.

The story is very realistic and that is what makes it such a compelling watch. Everyone can find a character in here in which to relate. The writing and dialogue is very good. The acting is tremendous. This movie is getting my first ever 4 Oscars.

Beautiful Creatures (2013) 46% on Rotten Tomatoes: Beautiful Creatures came out at the very beginning of this year (back in February). It is a fantasy romance movie that takes place in South Carolina. It follows the relationship of small town boy Ethan Wate (Alden Ehrenreich) and the new girl in town Lena Duchannes (Alice Englert). Only problem is that Lena comes from a family of Casters (basically witches) and on her 16th birthday her powers will be claimed for either Light or Dark.

This movies had the unfortunate opportunity to be the next young adult fantasy romance adaptation since the end of Twilight. So this movie inevitably got the full brunt of the Twilight backlash. But in my opinion this is much better done than Twilight. Where Twilight was filled with a story that didn't really make sense, this one did. Beautiful Creatures sets up its love story in a very believable fashion. While watching you actually care about the two leads and want them to get together. Twilight's fantasy element seemed forced and out of place. The fantasy element in Beautiful Creatures is very subdued. The fantasy is in the background, while the love story takes center stage. The "villain" of this movie isn't even in it for much of the movie, which allows for a lot of character development with our leads.

The other problem that Twilight has is the acting. Everyone has heard of the wooden acting that movie has. The acting from the leads is actually surprisingly good for the type of movie you expect this to be. Englert does a good job and should pop back up in the future. Ehrenreich has a future as well. But the best acting in this movie came from Jeremy Irons who plays Lena's uncle Macon. He really sells the movie and makes you want to watch him more. The only problem I really had (which isn't a big problem) is the accents. They had very thick southern accents in this film and took me awhile to get over it. When Irons came on screen is probably when I dropped my feelings towards them.

This movie received a large backlash because of Twilight. But it is a much better made movie and much better all around. This didn't deserve the criticism it got from the critics. This was fun to watch and you actually did care about and want to root for the leads. I give it 3 Boxes of Candy.

Feels good to be back! So give me some feedback down in the comments.
Also checkout my movies podcast, Yeah, A Lot of People Like That. Find us on iTunes or Stitcher by simply searching "YALP" on either.

Coyote Skin

So I have been hit by a inspiration to begin writing a new story (new for those familiar to my other blog and new for those who don't know what I am talking about). I have written the first chapter and decided to post it here until I can make a new blog specific for it.

So the basic premise of the story follows Robby Brown, a young teenage Native American boy from a small town in California. He lives a normal, boring small town life. That is until one day his world changed forever. While he was out at a party, he learns that a fire has started on the reservation. He rushes home to make sure his family is safe. He discovers someone has broken in and trashed the place. He finds his mother dead and his grandfather lying on the ground dying. With his dying breaths his grandfather reveals a that there is a family secret that he must learn. That secret will change Robby's world forever. Robby is a skinwalker, someone with the ability to change forms into an animal. Robby must now learn more about his family's history while also seeking down the people who killed his family. Along the way Robby learns that there is much more to the world that he could have ever imagined. Join Robby on his journey in Coyote Skin.

Take a read and let me know what you think. Is this something that sounds interesting? An interesting concept? Do you want to read more? Please let me know. Thank you and Enjoy!

Chapter 1

            Sand flew in the air as the wind blew through the desert night. The air was warm. It was always warm in the summer even if was September. Lone Pine sat in the high desert of California. It was uniquely situated between the tallest mountain in the contiguous United States, Mt. Whitney, and the lowest point in North America, Death Valley. From where he stood Robert Brown had a wonderful view of the eastern face of Sierra Nevada mountain range. Robby, as he liked to be called, always enjoyed the way the mountains looked at night. He loved the dark greys and dark purples his eyes created when he looked upon the granite.

            The wind continued to blow around Robby as he stood in the middle of the sandy field covered with sagebrush and tumbleweeds. There were a couple of trees around the area. Robby noticed that they seemed to stand a little taller than they used to. He began to walk towards them to get a better view. As he walked up to the tree, a howl came from behind him. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on their ends. He turned slowly. Through the darkness he could make out three shapes coming moving towards him. As the shapes moved closer his eyes began to focus on them. Robby then realized that he was staring right at three coyotes.

            The moonlight glistened off of the coyotes' fur and shone off their yellow eyes making them especially terrifying. Robby’s heart began beating fast. Thump-thump. Thump-thump. Pounding and pounding. Robby was frozen by fear. Coyotes normally shy away from humans, but Robby remembers being told by his grandfather that coyotes are not to be taken lightly. They are adapt at running in their desert environment and fierce when the pack is threatened. Robby assumed that he was looking at a guard unit of the greater pack.

            He began to slowly step away; very careful not to move too fast and startle the animals. But the coyotes only continued to watch him. Robby took another step and the coyotes did not move. One more step and this time the lead coyote let out another howl. He couldn’t take it anymore. He turned away from animals and started to run; hoping to make it back home or at the very least find a spot where he could hide until he thought it was safe. Robby sprinted away. As he did the three coyotes gave chase. Robby ran through the sage and thickets. His legs were being scratched and scraped but he couldn’t worry about that now. The only thing he could think of was RUN.

            Robby ran and ran all the while the coyotes remained behind him. They would split up and then come back together while chasing. It almost as if they were playing with him. Robby just kept on running. He would look back at his pursuers every so often and whenever he did the lead coyote would let out another howl. Robby ran faster than he had ever run before. He thought to himself that he was running unusually fast. He couldn’t recall ever running like this. So smooth were his steps. More often than not Robby was a clumsy runner, never quite the fastest but it was always good enough to him. But he had no time to linger too much on this fact. He could think more when he was safe. For now he was just grateful that this speed was there.

            Robby kept looking around for a place that he could use to hide away from the coyotes, but nothing was jumping out at him. There was nothing more than bushes and a few isolated trees. Nothing that would keep him safe for long as the coyotes would surely circle him if he tried to climb a tree. While looking around Robby forgot to look at what was actually ahead of him and had to come to an abrupt stop. He tried so hard to slow himself, but it did no good. He slid through the dirt and his feet tripped over the edge a deep ditch that was in front of him. Robby rolled down the side of the ditch; rolling in the dirt, rocks, and thistle.

After rolling all the way to the bottom, he came to a stop lying down along a stream that ran through the ditch. Feeling battered Robby looked up to the lip and saw the coyotes looking down at him. The leader let out his howl for one last time and turned and walked away. His two guards followed alongside. Relieved and exhausted, Robby laid flat against the warm desert dirt. He could hear the water rushing by his head. He dragged himself up to the stream to clean off some of the dirt from his face.

The moonlight light up the blue water on this summer night. The water shone like a mirror. Robby could see the reflection of the moon and that of lone tree standing somewhere behind him at the top of the ditch. But there was another reflection; something very much closer than the moon or ever the tree. In the spot in the water where his face should have been all he saw staring back was a coyote.

Robby startled himself and startled himself out of his sleep. He jumped up to a sitting position in his bed. His alarm clock blared on the night stand next to him. He reached his hand out and slammed it on the top of the clock to shut it off. He grabbed for his glasses on the nightstand and put them on. Looking at the clock he saw that it was 7:00 am; time to get ready for another school day.