 As we wrap up our coverage of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, I’m quickening the pace by lumping some of my remaining reviews together. I’ll be doing quick looks at a trio of films that underwhelmed me to some degree. I’ll be talking about ‘Lovelace’, ‘Touchy Feely’, and ‘Emanuel and the Truth about Fishes’ briefly here, but look for full reviews later this year when they hit theaters. ‘Lovelace’ is the one I think most of you are interested in, so that will get a slightly longer write up here, while the rest are just briefly touched upon.
Lovelace (**½)
The co-directors of ‘Howl’ (a personal favorite of mine a few years back) Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman have crafted a pretty standard biopic of porn star Linda Lovelace here. They do some interesting things with the way they present the story, but the real selling point here are the performances of Amanda Seyfried and Peter Sarsgaard. The latter is real good, but the former is the revelation. If the movie was slightly more engrossing I could see her making a play for a Best Actress nomination this year. It still might happen if the film is a hit, but I have my doubts.
Read more on SUNDANCE: ‘Lovelace’, ‘Touchy Feely’, and ‘Emanuel and the Truth about Fishes’…
Categories: Festivals, Film Reviews Tags: Allison Janney, Amanda Seyfried, Bobby Cannavale, Chloe Sevigny, Early Review, Ellen Page, festival round up, Frances O'Connor, James Franco, Jessica Biel, Josh Pais, Juno Temple, Kaya Scodelario, Lovelace, Lynne Shelton, Peter Sarsgaard, review round up, Robert Patrick, Ron Livingston, Rosemarie DeWitt, Scoot McNairy, sharon stone, Sundance Film Festival, Wes Bentley
 As we close the book on our coverage of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, I’m speeding up the pace a bit by grouping together some of my remaining reviews. I’ll be doing short looks at a quartet of movies that I enjoyed when I was in Park City, though none of them blew me away. They each got a three star rating from me. I’ll be talking about ‘The Way, Way Back’, ‘S-VHS’, ‘Sightseers’, and ‘A.C.O.D.’ briefly here, but look for full length reviews later on this year when they hit theaters. ‘The Way, Way Back’ is the highest profile of the lot, so I’ll give that one a few more words that the others. Read more on SUNDANCE: ‘The Way Way Back’, ‘S-VHS’, ‘Sightseers’, and ‘A.C.O.D.’…
Categories: Festivals, Film Reviews Tags: Allison Janney, Amanda Peet, Amy Poehler, Catherine O'Hara, Early Review, festival round up, Gareth Evans, jane lynch, Jessica Alba, Jim Rash, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Maya Rudolph, Nat Faxon, review round up, Richard Jenkins, Rob Corddry, S-VHS, Sam Rockwell, sequel, Sightseers, Steve Carell, Sundance Film Festival, The Way Way Back, Toni Collette
 While not an especially good movie in the traditional sense, Bullet to the Head is the type of throwback action flick that knows exactly what it is and satisfies in a surprisingly strong way. The title certainly has truth in advertising on its side, as during the runtime the film average a literal bullet to the head about every eight minutes or so. What else can you reasonably expect from a low-tech “shoot em’ up” starring Sylvester Stallone? Content to coast by and beat up the bad guys, Stallone gives the crowd what they want here and gets in and out quickly. I’m not sure how I feel about Walter Hill as a director anymore, but he certainly keeps things moving at a breakneck pace. If Hill had gotten a better script to work with and had cut down on some of his odd stylistic choices, I might have actually full on recommended this culture clash revenge tale. As it stands, I’m mostly just saying that it’s not as bad as you likely feared and you could probably find yourself entertained by it.
Read more on Bullet to the Head (**½)…
 Once again armed with a tremendous performance from Felicity Jones, up and coming filmmaker Drake Doremus successfully minds the romantic drama genre with his new movie Breathe In. Darker and more visually interesting than Like Crazy (2011), this film isn’t quite as strong overall, but it does make Doremus someone still to be reckoned with. Jones is the standout, but Doremus has coaxed a great performance out of Guy Pearce and newcomer Mackenzie Davis as well. They all are giving their all and it helps boost this somewhat standard story to bigger and better heights. The film succeeds due to its acting and directing. However, the writing by Doremus and Ben York Jones is certainly less impressive. A movie about longing and the connections we make, Breathe In was a real solid film on display at the Sundance Film Festival. I’m not sure if it’s going to wind up being an awards contender, but the trio of Davis, Jones, and Pearce are definitely good enough to warrant at least some sort of consideration down the line.
Read more on SUNDANCE: Breathe In (***)…
 Go figure, Shane Carruth managed to make a movie that, when compared to his previous film Primer, makes that one seem downright simple. Right before I walked in to see this film at the Sundance Film Festival, I tweeted that I expected Carruth to turn my brain into some form of fondue. Well, my skull isn’t filled with cheese, but I definitely am not fully sure what I saw. The only thing we had to go on as audience members was the following description:
“A man and woman are drawn together, entangled in the life cycle of an ageless organism. Identity becomes an illusion as they struggle to assemble the loose fragments of wrecked lives”.
I suppose that explains part of the story, but I’m not entirely certain either. Parts of it are mesmerizing, while others tried my patience. It’s still very much a mystery to me, and much of that might be intentional. The only things I’m actually sure of is that I really appreciated Carruth’s ambition, and he got a really great lead performance out of Amy Seimetz. Everything else is obscure beyond total comprehension, but it never led to boredom on my part.
Read more on SUNDANCE: Upstream Color (**½)…
 With style to spare but substance at a premium, The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman is the type of film that works as a calling card for a filmmaker, but not as too much else. Director Fredrik Bond has taken a somewhat half-baked screenplay by Matt Drake and spiced it up with whatever visual flairs he could come up with. Bond and Drake just seem like an ill fit for the material (even with the latter supposedly basing the story off of an actual experience he had while abroad in Romania), and while stars Shia LaBeouf and Evan Rachel Wood aren’t bad at all, they just aren’t especially well-directed or suited for the film. While Mads Mikkelsen and Til Schweiger are more fitting for their villainous roles, it’s still just an imperfect mix all around from the get go. No one here is memorable and everything about it just feels unnecessary. The first couple of scenes and the final one are better than the rest of it, but a huge section in the middle is repetitive, and quite frankly just boring. Visual stimulant can only do so much.
Read more on SUNDANCE: The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman (**½)…
Categories: Festivals, Film Reviews Tags: Early Review, Evan Rachel Wood, James Buckley, John Hurt, Mads Mikkelsen, melissa leo, rupert grint, Shia LaBeouf, Sundance Film Festival, The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman, Til Schweiger
 Joseph Gordon-Levitt makes an incredibly strong directorial debut with Don Jon’s Addiction, an outstanding take on romantic comedies. Writing and directing as well as taking the lead role, Gordon-Levitt nails each part of the equation, making for easily my favorite film of the Sundance Film Festival so far. JGL is great as the title character, but Scarlett Johansson is really terrific too, while Tony Danza steals every single scene that he’s in and Julianne Moore is her reliable self. This tale of a modern-day Don Juan dealing with porn addiction and female objectification is peddling not just sex, but a message as well. There’s plenty of nudity and barely covered up shots of porn too, but this never becomes exploitation and actually has more in common with ‘Shame’ than you’d initially expect. Funny and warmhearted, the flick should be a hit when it gets its inevitable 2013 release, though it might need to undergo some trims to avoid an NC-17 rating. Regardless, this is a great movie and not only my favorite of Sundance so far, but my favorite of the year now.
Read more on SUNDANCE: Don Jon’s Addiction (***½)…
 It’s only the beginning of January, but I feel confident in saying that writer/director Don Coscarelli’s new film ‘John Dies at the End’ will wind up one of the most unique movies of the year. Now, that doesn’t mean it’s an especially good flick, but it’s got some major balls, and I do give partial credit for that. Parts of the film are genuinely inspired and recall the near brilliance of Coscarelli’s prior work, the cult classic ‘Bubba Ho-Tep’. On the other hand, however, there’s far too many moments where things feel half baked or hamstrung by either the bizarre source material or the small scale budget. I have no doubt that Coscarelli stretched those few dollars in creative ways, but the sometimes dodgy CGI does him no favors. Aside from a fun supporting turn by Paul Giamatti, the acting isn’t anything to write home about either. Read more on John Dies at the End (**½)…
 After what feels like just about an eternity, I finally saw ‘On the Road’ back in early October at one of the first screenings post Toronto. This is a film that’s been on the verge of release so long it’s almost become an annual joke between Clayton and myself about including it in predictions at the start of each season. Well, this is the year that we can finally talk about the adaptation of Jack Kerouac’s legendary book and where it stands in the Oscar race. The verdict on the awards front is that it’s a long shot at best in most categories. Aside from that though, this is a pretty good, if difficult, road trip drama with some notably strong acting from Garret Hedlund and Kristen Stewart especially. Sam Riley is very solid too, but those first two really shine. Walter Salles has shot an absolutely beautiful movie and along with scribe Jose Rivera has captured the words of Kerouac about as well as one could have hoped for (by using the original scroll, actually), even dating back to the days of Francis Ford Coppola seeking to adapt the seminal novel. It’s not especially Academy friendly, and hardly perfect, but it’s not something to completely cross off of your lists either. Time will tell in that regard, but this is a flick worth seeing regardless of its potential for Oscar nominations. The movie opens next week and yes, it was worth the wait, even if it took me almost two months to fully formulate a review of it…
Read more on On the Road (***)…
Categories: Film Reviews Tags: Alice Braga, Amy Adams, Early Review, Elisabeth Moss, Garrett Hedlund, Jose Rivera, Kirsten Dunst, kristen stewart, On the Road, Oscar hopeful, Sam Riley, Steve Buscemi, Terrence Howard, Tom Sturridge, viggo mortensen, Walter Salles
 In many ways a found footage flick, ‘King Kelly’ is notable not just for the first person approach, but for the fact that it was shot exclusively on iPhones. If that sounds like it could be torture, it actually isn’t, and in fact looks far better than you’d expect. Featuring a memorable turn by emerging actress Louisa Krause in the title role, this black comedy is a satirical look at the self possessed teenagers of the current generation. Co-writer/director Andrew Neel has made a bold decision in never trying to make Kelly likable, something recent films like ‘Project X’ have tried, and failed, to do with their protagonists. Neel and Krause never try and get you to root for her, but you can’t take your eyes off of her. If the story itself isn’t always amazingly fulfilling, the concept is and Krause gives a performance that I think will be looked back on in a couple of years with admiration when she’s a bigger star. I liked more of this flick than I didn’t, but it’s definitely not for everyone. If this sort of dark satire is your cup of tea, then add a half star to my review and consider it a recommendation. It opens this Friday and hopefully kickstarts the career of a talented actress.
Read more on King Kelly (**½)…
 There’s a lot of different ways that one could approach a biopic of legendary filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock, but director Sacha Gervasi has certainly found a unique one here. ‘Hitchcock’ is a surprisingly whimsical and amusing tale of the director struggling to make ‘Psycho’ as he goes through a rough patch with his wife. That’s going to come as a surprise for a lot of viewers, and while it possibly hurts the flick in terms of its Oscar chances, it doesn’t keep the film from being enjoyable. I definitely wish that the focus had been different for ‘Hitchcock’, but a combination of good acting and solid direction keep this completely watchable. Much like ‘Hyde Park on Hudson’, this is another would be Oscar player that’s likely not going to be much of a contender and compares to ‘My Week with Marilyn’, but it’s another one that I liked a bit more than the average critic. I laughed much more than I expected, and while I’m aware of its flaws, this is still a pleasing work that will have an appeal to older viewers especially. Anthony Hopkins is amusing as Hitchcock and Helen Mirren is very good as his wife, but both, along with the entire supporting cast (which are all solid), could have been better.
Read more on Hitchcock (***)…
Categories: Film Reviews Tags: Anthony Hopkins, book adaptation, Danny Huston, Early Review, Helen Mirren, hitchcock, James D'Arcy, Jessica Biel, John J. McLaughlin, Kurtwood Smith, Michael Stuhlbarg, Oscar hopeful, Ralph Macchio, Sacha Gervasi, Scarlett Johansson, Toni Collette
 Writer/director Michael Walker’s film ‘Price Check’ is an office dramedy that will ring true in broad strokes to just about everyone who’s ever called a cubicle home at some point in their lives. The chatter, the meetings, even the little minutia, it all rings true to the office culture that the movie is trying to cultivate. When ‘Price Check’ is focusing on those elements, it has an authenticity that not every film set in the workplace can boast. When it’s focusing on the personal relationships of its characters however, things get a bit more rocky. That element is saved by a supremely enjoyable acting job from Parker Posey and an empathetic turn from Eric Mabius, but it still isn’t quite as satisfying as the other element of the flick. It’s not enough to keep me from recommending the movie, but it does keep it from being the type of clever indie that can break out of the pack at this time of the year. It’s mostly unique, but the main twist of the plot is something that you’ve seen many times before. On the heels of the workplace elements and Posey’s performance I think it’s worth seeing when it comes out this weekend, but it’s not without its flaws, that’s for sure.
Read more on Price Check (***)…
Categories: Film Reviews Tags: Amy Schumer, Cheyenne Jackson, Early Review, Edward Hermann, Edward Herrmann, Eric Mabius, Josh Pais, Matt Servitto, Michael Walker, Parker Posey, Price Check
 It’s been a pretty good year for documentaries in my opinion, and few have been better than Alex Gibney’s latest film ‘Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God‘. An all too familiar and original story, in the sense that Gibney is focusing on the sexual abuse of children by the Catholic Church, but this time around he’s looking at disabled kids being molested, mainly deaf boys. It’s an emotional story, no doubt, but in lesser hands this easily could have seemed like a cheap production latching on to other stories of this ilk, but this is obviously not that. By taking this one particular case and using it as a jumping off point to discuss the church’s dysfunction and corruption, Gibney differentiates himself in a very powerful way. I fully expect this to be a major contender for Best Documentary Feature at the Oscars, not just for a nomination, but for a win as well. For my money, it’s among the very best things that Gibney’s ever done.
Read more on Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God (***½)…
 After what most of us would agree was too long a period spent experimenting with motion capture technology in a series of animated projects, filmmaker Robert Zemeckis has made his return to live action filmmaking with ‘Flight’, a very entertaining star vehicle for Denzel Washington that could wind up getting an Oscar nomination or two. The lead performance by Washington is the easiest aspect of film to reward, but there could be others as well. Zemeckis has made a darker character study than you’d expect, even if this is a redemption tale in the end. He’s got terrific acting on display from his cast besides Washington, with John Goodman especially stealing his scenes. The screenplay by John Gatins isn’t perfect, but it’s got more going for it than against it. When I first saw it as the Closing Night Film at the New York Film Festival, I liked but didn’t love it. Now, with the impending release on Friday, I’ve thought more about it and my thumb is a bit higher up than before. It’s not quite among the very best films of the year, but it’s in the upper echelon and very entertaining. The movie is not without its flaws or bumps in the road/sky, but overall there’s a lot to like. We can easily welcome Zemeckis back to the land of the living, as it were. He hasn’t missed a step!
Read more on Flight (***)…
Categories: Film Reviews Tags: Brian Geraghty, Bruce Greenwood, Denzel Washington, Don Cheadle, Early Review, Flight, James Badge Dale, John Gatins, John Goodman, Kelly Reilly, melissa leo, Nadine Velazquez, Oscar hopeful, Robert Zemeckis
 When you think of Director Barry Levinson and the many different movies that he’s made in his career, I’m sure you don’t think of scary movies, unless of course you take particular issue with one of his past works. Regardless, Levinson is among the last people you’d expect to make a found footage horror film, but lo and behold he’s managed to turn in one of the better ones that the genre’s had to offer in some time, depending on how you qualify ‘Sinister’, of course. ‘The Bay’ is an environmental disaster movie depicted in a way that’s more ‘Contagion’ than ‘Paranormal Activity’ (or thankfully ‘Apollo 18′) in nature. He doesn’t exactly reinvent the genre or use the footage in a distinctly different way like Scott Derrickson’s recent film did, but he’s helped breathed a bit of life into it, along with his career as well. A far cry from the uninspired ‘Paranormal Activity 4′, this movie is creepy and at times shocking. Levinson and scribe Michael Wallach don’t shy away from some very violent events, and manage to throw in some political commentary as well. I’d say they’re most successful when making this a straight horror film, somewhat mixed when commenting on the environment, and less successful when taking on politics, but overall this is a satisfying creep show. The film opens Friday and hopefully will find itself a brave audience. I certainly enjoyed seeing it back at the New York Film Festival and expect many of you to like it as well.
Read more on The Bay (***)…
 I don’t know of a single person who was asking for a sequel to ‘Silent Hill’, but here we are anyway. True, that film was one of the better video game adaptations to reach the screen, but that’s damning with faint praise if there ever was such a thing. With ‘Silent Hill: Revelation’, the formula has changed to increase gore, decrease intelligence, and add 3D. Does that sound like a winning formula to you? If it somehow does, then you’re in luck. If however you have a bit more sense, then this is likely to be about as bad a time for you as it was for me. Obviously this isn’t designed to be great art, as evidenced by me being under Embargo until the day of release, but even for a quick Halloween money grab this is lacking. Writer/director Michael J. Bassett finally got his long delayed film ‘Solomon Kane’ into theaters recently, but if this is what he’s been up to of late, perhaps all of his future films should get shelved. There’s very little to like here. Now that ‘Silent Hill: Revelation’ is in theaters, you should skip it for your fright flick needs. Hell, even ‘Paranormal Activity 4′ is better, though ‘Sinister’ or ‘V/H/S’ are the options you should really be taking advantage of.
Read more on Silent Hill: Revelation 3D (*½)…
Categories: Film Reviews Tags: Carie-Ann Moss, Deborah Kara Unger, Early Review, franchise, Kit Harington, Malcolm McDowell, Martin Donovan, Michael J. Bassett, Radha Mitchell, Sean Bean, sequel, Silent Hill: Revelation
 There are few things more pleasurable than to see a filmmaker just get better and better behind the camera, literally evolving before your very eyes. With Ben Affleck and ‘Argo’, you have the added benefit of seeing the actor/writer/director doing the best work of his career in a movie that may just be my favorite of the year. From his great directorial debut ‘Gone Baby Gone’ to his amazing sophomore feature ‘The Town’, and now to his damn near perfect new film ‘Argo’, Affleck can now be talked about as one of the great directors working today, that’s for sure. No 2012 so far can claim to be as suspenseful or adrenaline rushing while still offering Oscar worthy writing and direction, along with terrific acting to boot. Affleck has outdone himself behind the camera here, and along with his own excellent lead performance and the tremendous script by Chris Terrio, all of the elements are in place for this to be a huge awards contender. Factor in some great supporting turns from Alan Arkin, Bryan Cranston, and John Goodman, not to mention the rest of the ensemble, and the end result is something much more than just a political thriller…it’s also the current frontrunner for Best Picture. Now, it’s assured of nothing right now, and having seen ‘Lincoln’ already I know there’s some stuff competition ahead, but at this moment the Oscar would go to it if the race ended today. The flick opens on Friday and anyone who doesn’t rush out immediately to see it is doing themselves a real disservice.
Read more on Argo (****)…
Categories: Film Reviews Tags: alexandre desplat, Argo, Ben Affleck, Bob Gunton, bryan cranston, Chris Messina, Chris Terrio, Christopher Denham, Clea Duvall, Early Review, John Goodman, Kerry Bishe, Kyle Chandler, Michael Parks, Oscar hopeful, Philip Baker Hall, Richard Kind, Rodrigo Prieto, Rory Cochran, Scoot McNairy, Tate Donovan, Titus Welliver, Victor Garber, William Goldenberg
 Jennifer Garner is pretty terrific in ‘Butter’, a messy yet endearing comedy that also functions as a political satire of the 2008 Democratic Primaries. Jim Field Smith’s film has a number of small issues, but they’re surrounded by such a fun and likable atmosphere that it doesn’t keep you from enjoying the flick. Garner is tremendous, but everyone in the cast is game and turns in solid work, from Olivia Wilde, who’s better than she’s ever been, even if that’s not saying too much, to Hugh Jackman, with a top notch turn from young Yara Shahidi anchoring the entire thing. The political satire is sometimes a bit hit and miss, but the concept of using the competitive sport of butter carving and the politics surrounding that event is a novel idea and saves the movie from just picking on midwesterners for its political yucks. Smith’s direction is more mature than usual, and if the script from Jason A. Micallef is once in a while at odds with itself, the end result is still easy to enjoy. The film opens this weekend and I have no qualms with recommending it. I saw it and enjoyed it last month, and now that the embargo has lifted I can tell you exactly why. The movie may not be the Oscar player we thought last year, but it’s still a fun bit of satire and we’ll worth seeing.
Read more on Butter (***)…
Categories: Film Reviews Tags: Alicia Silverstone, Ashley Greene, Butter, Early Review, Hugh Jackman, Jennifer Garner, Olivia Wilde, Oscar hopeful, Rob Corddry, Ty Burrell, Yara Shahidi
 NYFF: When discussing this film after seeing it at the New York Film Festival, my friend and colleague from The Playlist Drew Taylor said something that pretty much sums up our thoughts on Lee Daniels’ latest work. Drew said that there’s “good trash” and there’s “bad trash”. Well ladies and gentlemen, ‘The Paperboy’ is definitely bad trash. It aspires to be pulpy and scummy in a way that suggests that it’s so bad that it’s good, but it never gets there and repeatedly shows off just how bad of a filmmaker I find Daniels to be. All of the bad habits that he annoyed me with in ‘Precious’ are on display here in triplicate. His saving grace again is his ability to get a terrific supporting female performance out of his cast, and many of the actors here do fine work, especially Nicole Kidman and John Cusack, but almost everything else here downright sucks. From a screenplay that you could be charitable in calling mediocre to amateurish camera work and editing all the way to any number of bizarre filmmaking decisions, this is definitely trash, just not that kind that the cast and crew intended it to be. For every interesting decision that ‘The Paperboy’ makes, there are at least two that make you scratch your head. The film opens on Friday so you’ll hypothetically be able to see for yourself what a mess this is if you’re inclined, but I wouldn’t want you to waste your time on this nonsense.
Read more on The Paperboy (*½)…
Categories: Film Reviews Tags: David Oyelowo, Early Review, John Cusack, Lee Daniels, Macy Gray, Matthew McConaughey, nicole kidman, Oscar hopeful, Scott Glenn, The Paperboy, Zac Efron
 One of the best movies to deal with time travel that I’ve seen in a long time, and perhaps ever, ‘Looper‘ is a real achievement of the highest level. A hybrid science fiction/action/film noir, filmmaker Rian Johnson has crafted his finest films to date. The writer/director has a clear vision for the time travel genre and he sees it through in a way that you just want to stand up and applaud. Every element of this flick works, even the plot points that initially seem to be a little less unique and at odds with the rest of the work until they come together beautifully in the end. Joseph Gordon-Levitt proves that he can be a badass in the lead role and Bruce Willis plays an action hero with more drive and believability than he has in a while, so Johnson has a pair of strong performances right at the start. Smart and original, ‘Looper’ opens on Friday and I urge you all to see it, regardless of if you’re a sci-fi fan or not. This is the rare movie that you wish was longer, since you just don’t want it to ever end. Art like ‘Looper’ deserves nothing less, and I’d be remiss not to wax poetic on one of my 10 favorite films of the year to date.
Read more on Looper (***½)…
Categories: Film Reviews Tags: Bruce Willis, Cinema of the United States, Early Review, Emily Blunt, Entertainment/Culture, Garret Dillahunt, Jeff Daniels, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Looper, Oscar hopeful, Paul Dano, Piper Perabo, Rian Johnson, Shane Carruth
 Much like Elizabeth Olsen was able to elevate but not ultimately save ‘Silent House’, Jennifer Lawrence lends her talent to a similar project in ‘House at the End of the Street’. She’s good as a horror movie heroine, but the movie itself is way over directed by Mark Tonderai and far too reliant on silly/clichéd horror tropes. That’s of course as much attributed to the script by David Loucka (who in turn got a start on the story from filmmaker Jonathan Mostow) as anything Tonderai does, but he doesn’t help the cause and ultimately has crafted a movie that’s as likely to inspire giggles as screams. The screening I was at had both in almost equal measure. When the flick is trying to scare or unsettle you, it’s mostly successful, except of course for those unintentionally silly moments. Attempts at fleshing out the story are rather unsuccessful though, so while this does most of the things a fright flick should do, it still manages to leaves you slightly dissatisfied. Genre fans will probably find some things to like about the movie, but fans of Lawrence may be slightly let down.
Read more on House at the End of the Street (**½)…
 If you like horror films, then you pretty much owe it to yourself to see ‘V/H/S’, an interesting experiment in merging together a bunch of different sub-genres that transcends the idea of simply being an anthology flick. Here we have a group of filmmakers taking the same jumping off point (and progressing in an order from the wraparound footage that works as the basic plot) and pretty much being able to do as they see fit, which leads to some wild creativity. This isn’t for anyone who doesn’t like their horror soaked in blood, but if that’s you, then Halloween has come early for you, as this is tailor made for your enjoyment. Almost all of the segments have either a twist or a quirk to them that sets them apart from most full length horror features of late, though each obviously has a point of reference it wants you to start out from. About half of the segments were ones that I’d have liked to have seen be made into full length, but they’re optimal at their current duration and even the ones I didn’t think quite as highly of I still very much liked. That’s rare for a film of this ilk. The movie is hitting theaters in October, but I wanted to get fans of fright flicks excited early about this one. It’s easily the best horror movie of the year so far in my eyes.
Read more on V/H/S (***)…
 I’m not fully sure whether or not ‘The Possession’ benefits or suffers due to the recent critical thrashing (rightly so, I might add, but you all knew that already) that ‘The Apparition’ received last week, by yours truly as well as by basically every other human being on the planet. This flick is far better than that dreck, but is it really anything special on its own, or just the beneficiary of not being on the inept level of that other work? My star rating was initially 2 stars, but I’ve gone up a half star, possibly just because it looks so good upon comparison. All in all, it’s perhaps more effective than I was expecting, but it’s also frustrating at other points. Essentially, the film never hits any real highs or lows, leaving you mostly indifferent to it. Director Ole Bornedal does a decent enough job with the scares, though he likes jump moments a bit more than he should. He’s also shamelessly cribbing ‘The Exorcist’, but at least he’s stealing from the best. What surprised me here was how deliberate the pace is in the flick. There’s an opening scare, but then things slow down for a bit, and a little more attention is paid to the characters than is the norm for a demonic possession film of this ilk. Scribes Juliet Snowden and Stiles White aren’t masters of the craft, but they didn’t do a bad job at all, especially in terms of flipping the switch on the religion behind the possession of the film’s title. The movie opens on Friday and should certainly do better than last week’s horror offering. I can’t fully recommend it, but I’ve definitely seen worse things this year.
Read more on The Possession (**½)…
 Most of the time when you’re dealing with the third film in a franchise, the easiest way to enjoy it is to have been a fan of the previous installments. In the unique case of ‘[REC]³ Génesis’ however, fans of the prior movies may not have nearly as good a time as others. The reason for this? Well, co-writer/director Paco Plaza has decided to go in a far different direction for his latest sequel, giving the flick a tone closer to horror comedies than I think anyone expects. He also makes a very unique decision in terms of the found footage aspect of the film, a hallmark of the franchise. Plaza has the format only utilized for roughly the first 15 or 20 minutes of the film (essentially just an extended prologue/setup for the action), then switching to a traditional filmmaking method, though it’s done in a way that winks and nods to the prior format. It’s something I don’t know that I’ve ever seen before, and it’s a choice I really admire, since it would have probably been easier to just keep plugging away like he did with ‘[REC]‘ and ‘[Rec] ²’ (which he co-directed with Jaume Balagueró). That all being said, it could potentially alienate fans of the series and overall this still isn’t a phenomenally effective movie, but it does enough interesting and meta things to keep it from being completely forgettable. It’s a step up from the last part of the trilogy, but it’s still not as scary as the original. Overall, it’s simply decent, which can sometimes be a compliment for the horror genre. In my eyes, it gets a recommendation, but with some strong caveats, so take those into account when deciding if the film is worth your time. It opens in September, so make a note of that.
Read more on [REC]³ Génesis (**½)…
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