Movie Reviews By Movie Reviews Pro

Daybreakers

Rating:

Movie: Daybreakers(2010)

Studio : Lionsgate

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 98 min

Website : daybreakersmovie.com

Trailer :
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9ot1f

Review:

When the Spierig brothers plotted out this film, you can tell from the start that they have a passion for vampires and the culture around them.

The world of Daybreakers is a reflection of our own, cast in a shadow where the dead work at night through a Metropolis-inspired cityscape as they drink their coffee mingled with AB positive. From sun-blocking tinted panels to LCD mirrors, the design of this alternate reality is perhaps the most breathtaking thing about this film.

We step into this world long after humanity was given an ultimatum to live as vampires or die as their cattle. Unfortunately, living this way has led to a decline in the once mighty human population, and humans are becoming rarer as vampires begin to starve. What’s worse, those that starve do not simply “die,” but instead lose their sentience and mutate into mindless bat-human hybrids (think Nosferatu). The fear of starving and the greater fear of mutating is creating havoc within the populace, and the only salvation to be found is in a blood substitute that will keep vampire society alive.

Ethan Hawke plays Edward—did they really have to name him that?—a researcher for a “Big Brother” pharmacy agency that is trying to find a blood substitute while trying to maintain their dwindling supply of humans to feed the country. He is also one of the only humanitarians of this world and brother to a soldier who enjoys life as a vampire. Along the way, Edward encounters a small colony of humans and a potential new way to save vampirekind.

The movie starts off as interesting, but the storyline can not seem to hold up. It wants to be a horror film, but really comes off as more of a thriller with action elements. I don’t mind this, but a lot of cheap scare tactics get thrown in to prove its origin and it gets annoying. Worse still, the luxurious pace of the film fails as it goes from a scenic stroll of this new world into a clumsy gallop past the interesting grotesqueness of this rotting society. It’s a shame considering there’s so much detail that is easy to miss by the later half of the film.

I think this film would have been better as a mini-series. With what the Spierig brothers made, it would have given more time to love being in their vampire-dominated society and made it that much more horrifying to watch it slowly crumble away. As it stands now, it’s only a good idea with a half-baked execution. Don’t get me wrong, it has a lot of cult potential, and at a 20 million dollar budget this is an impressive film, but I don’t see it winning the recognition it has the chance to gain.

-Donald Lee

Action, Horror, In Theaters, Thriller ethan hawke, michael spierig, movies better off as mini-series, peter spierig, spierig brothers, vampire city, willem defoe

Zombieland

Rating:

Movie: Zombieland (2009)

Studio : Pariah Films

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 80 min

Website : Zombieland

Trailer :http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xbr8u3

Review:

It probably doesn’t help that I came into the theater already expecting it to be good because I’m a big Woody Harrelson fan, but to be frank I enjoyed Zombieland. To a point, at least.

Reese and Wernick’s zombiesploitation film features a classic scenario popularized from decades of undead films, comics, and internet memes: a virus gone bad, flesh-eating humanity, and a list of rules about what to do if you’re one of the living few. The result is a grindhousey romp through the U.S., and it is mostly successful, but there are two major faults that I must point out.

Jesse Eisenberg, who after this year’s Adventureland seems like another candidate for an Apatow film, isn’t strong enough to hold up this film as its leading role. While his pathetic demeanor provides premature laughs, he cannot seem to keep it up through the film beyond a funny run. Luckily, having Woody Harrelson seems to keep the film going along, as his buddy role as a zombie serial killer and Twinkie connoisseur is hilarious, right down to his facial expressions that not only tell you how pissed off he is, but how much he loves those yellow pastries.

The other fault lies in a midsection of the film involving Bill Murray’s mansion. I’m a big Murray fan, but at the same time I felt like the theme of surviving the apocalypse suddenly stopped at that point. In fact, every scene at that point has almost nothing to do with the apocalypse and more to do with teens doing whatever they want, at least until the climax. There’s so much potential you can cook up with a zombie-filled Hollywood, but it never gets considered and is instead replaced with Murray fandom and non-zombie things, and for such a short film it hurts the pace.

But that aside, it’s still relative fun to watch. I’m probably being partial because of Woody, but it’s definitely worth a group watch on DVD just because you can skip over that mansion scene.

-Donald Lee-

Action, Comedy, Horror, In Theaters Zombieland

Orphan - Jaume Collet-Serra

Rating:

Movie: Orphan (2009)

Studio : Warner Bros.

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 123min

Website : orphan-movie.warnerbros.com

Trailer : http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8qjbh

Review:

Movies about creepy kids have long been a reliable box office draw. Usually consisting of some seemingly angelic little boy or girl who starts out all wide-eyed and innocent but in the end is revealed to be a granny-mangling demon from the bowels of pre-pubescent hell, this sub-genre has given us such nightmarish cinematic icons as Regan from The Exorcist and Damian from The Omen.

The Orphan probably sits somewhere between the above classic examples of how to do creepy kid movies and Children of the Corn (as an example of how not to). Essentially it’s a domestic horror tale centering on the troubled Coleman clan and the swirling black-hole of loss and guilt that resides at the core of the family. We soon come to learn that the black-hole is the result of the tragic loss of Kate and John’s unborn baby. Kate is in therapy for her drinking problem while John deals with things by wandering around the house in a near perfect state of semi-consciousness. And so, to fill in the hole they decide to adopt another (older) child. Enter Esther.

Believed to be born in Russia and possessing prodigious musical and artistic abilities, the delightfully polite Esther immediately impresses Kate and John with her quiet and sad demeanor and they quickly decide to take her home from the orphanage. What was interesting at this point was that Esther was not simply being depicted as a one-dimensional mini -monolith of evil, but rather seemed genuinely vulnerable and moved by her introduction to the Colemans’ (relatively) stable family life.

It wasn’t long however before the creepy kid clichés began to pile up. But still, I reassured myself, that’s okay – heck, you could argue that all genre movies are just a series of orchestrated clichés! It was in the final act though that I finally gave up on The Orphan. Back-pedaling furiously from the complex position of having created an almost sympathetic killer kid, the film-maker instead took the easy way out by inserting one of the most ridiculous “twists” to come down the pipeline since Bobby Ewing came back from the dead in Dallas. Yes, the “twist” did answer a few (unimportant) questions – but it also provoked a new one: why did I spend $10 dollars on this crap?

In the end, despite the strong first half, the only person I would recommend this orphan to is Madonna.

-Paul Meade

Drama, Horror, In Theaters, Mystery, Thriller Drama, Horror, Mystery, orphan, Thriller

Drag Me to Hell - Alison Lohman

Rating:

Movie: Drag Me to Hell (2009)

Studio : Ghost House Pictures; Universal

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 99min

Website : dragmetohell.net

Trailer :
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8nkai

Review:
Drag Me to Hell marks Sam Raimi’s reinsertion to the horror genre, a director infamous for his cult series The Evil Dead. His latest endeavor follows Christine Brown (Alison Lohman), a loan officer from Los Angeles determined for a promotion to assistant manager. In an attempt to impress her boss, Christine forces herself to deny an old woman’s loan extension. The woman, named Mrs. Ganush (Loran Raver), gets on her knees and begs Christine to grant her an extension, but she does not falter. At the end of the day, Christine is assaulted by Mrs. Ganush, and after a brief tussle, she places a curse on her. Christine is to be tormented by demons for three days, in a sort of “Hell on Earth scenario”, before ultimately being dragged to Hell to burn for eternity. Knowing this, she must find a way to destroy the haunting demon before time expires.

Overall, the film is spot-on. Raimi provides a script full of suspense, sheer terror, and even some morbid humor. One would think that after 22 years of directorial projects outside of the genre, it would be tough to dive back in. However this is not the case, as Drag Me to Hell knows how to push all the right buttons to create optimal enjoyment for the audience. Unfortunately there are some pitfalls in the movie, albeit rather minor. The computer-generated effects are quite underwhelming at times, and even if the plot is enticing, it feels rather thin. Despite these complaints, Drag Me to Hell is an entertaining watch with loads of hair-raising moments guaranteed to keep you situated at the edge of your seat.

-Daniel S.

Horror, In Theaters, Thriller Drag Me to Hell