The Crazies (2010)

Genre

Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Director

Breck Eisner

Country

USA

Cast

Timothy Olyphant, Radha Mitchell, Joe Anderson, Danielle Panabaker, Christie Lynn Smith, Brett Rickaby, Preston Bailey, John Aylward, Joe Reegan, Glenn Morshower, Larry Cedar, Gregory Sporleder, Mike Hickman, Lis K. Wyatt, Justin Welborn, Chet Grissom, Tahmus Rounds, Brett Wagner, Alex Van, ANthony Winters, Frank Hoyt Taylor, Justin Miles, Marian Green, E. Roger Mitchell, Bruce Aune

Storyline

As a toxin begins to turn the residents of Ogden Marsh, Iowa into violent psychopaths, sheriff David Dutton (Timothy Olyphant) tries to make sense of the situation while he, his wife (Radha Mitchell), his deputy (Joe Anderson), and a girl (Danielle Panabaker) band together in a fight for survival.

Opinion

Remake of George A. Romero's 1973 film of the same name, The Crazies is an entertaining and creepy disaster film cleverly masqueraded as a horror, filled with fright and action, that beats the original. 

While the original film follows two stories - one about the civilians trying to stay alive; the other involving the political and military leaders trying to contain the epidemic -, Eisner's focuses only on the survival aspect, putting the clashes with the infected aside. But to be honest I would have liked to see more crazies. 

The story lacks in originality, as it is plenty out there of films dealing with infections, zombies, army, and stuff like that - e.g. Resident Evil, 28 Days Later -, still the film is enjoyable. 

Two things really bothered me about the film. The first one is that everybody is at the right place at the right time. Whenever some people get caught in a dangerous situation, someone else would bail them out of trouble. I really would have loved seeing some fights The Walking Dead style. The second one is how the infected are presented. One minute they don't understand anything, they just want to kill people. The next they are red-eyed, angry monsters like the ones in 28 Days Later. The next they are zombies with guns.

The soundtrack is quite effective. All the cast well play their parts well, and there is a strong chemistry between Timothy Olyphant, the sheriff, and Radha Mitchell, his wife.

Quotes

David Dutton: Don't ask me why I can't leave without my wife and I won't ask you why you can.

Ghost Rider (2007)

Genre

Action | Fantasy

Director

Mark Steven Johnson

Country

USA

Cast

Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes, Wes Bentley, Sam Elliott, Donal Logue, Peter Fonda, Brett Cullen, Matt Norman, David Roberts, Rebel Wilson, Matt Long, Raquel Alessi

Storyline

In order to save his dying father (Brett Cullen), young stunt cyclist Johnny Blaze (Matt Long) sells his soul to Mephisto (Peter Fonda) and sadly parts from the pure-hearted Roxanne Simpson (Raquel Alessi), the love of his life. Years later, Johnny's (Nicolas Cage) path crosses again with Roxanne (Eva Mendes), now a reporter, and also with Mephisto, who offers to release Johnny's soul if Johnny becomes the fabled, fiery Ghost Rider, a supernatural agent of vengeance and justice. 

Opinion

Here is it, another missed shot. After the Devil, director Mark Steven Johnson was in the mood to ruin another Marvel superhero, Ghost Rider.

Ghost Rider is a joke to the comic book universe, so dull that getting to the end will be harder than running a marathon.

I saw it is classified as thriller on IMDb, but they definitely have no idea what they are talking about, because this is probably the slowest superhero film ever made, with no thrills, and does everything but keep you on the edge of your seat.

Written by director Johnson the screenplay is awful, the dialogue is so poor and cheesy it hurts, and the plot is so horrible and obvious that after watching the beginning, you can already guess what will happen in the end. Both the superhero and the villain are uninteresting. And there are numerous plot holes as well.

Remember that scene in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man in which Peter learns how to use his powers? Nothing like that happens here, one minute Ghost Rider has no idea how to turn off the fire, a minute later he has learned how to do it.

Nicolas Cage is the only one having fun here. He is probably so excited because he finally got to play a superhero. Unfortunately, he doesn't manage to convey his enthusiasm, instead he delivers probably his worst performance. Eva Mendes isn't much more than eye-candy. However, the award for worst performance of the film goes to Peter Fonda, whose acting is horrible and absolutely emotionless. 

Crash (2004)

Genre

Drama

Director

Paul Haggis

Country

Germany | USA

Cast

Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Jennifer Esposito, Michael Peña, Brendan Fraser, Terrence Howard, Ludacris, Thandie Newton, Ryan Phillippe, Larenz Tate, William Fichtner, Beverly Todd, Keith David, Shaun Toub, Bahar Soomekh, Ashlyn Sanchez, Karina Arroyave, Daniel Dae Kim, Bruce Kirby, Loretta Devine, Tony Danza, Kathleen York, Sylva Kelegian, Marina Sirtis, Nona Gaye

Storyline

Over a thirty-six hour period in Los Angeles, a handful of disparate people's lives intertwine as they deal with the tense race relations that belie life in the city.

Opinion

Crash is a beautiful, emotional, moving, insightful, provocative, raw, and powerful film about racism, and xenophobia in the lives of interconnected Angelenos.

The brilliant story written by Paul Haggis is an interweaving of various stories that collide - physically and not - one against the other. Some end up good, other badly. Some storylines are better than other, but overall they all are fantastic and powerful. Each story makes the film exciting, and guide the viewer on a path of death, despair, redemption, and joy.

The character development is great. Each character is developed enough so we can develop an opinion about them, but then suddenly things change, and so does our opinion of them. Despite initial appearances, none of the characters falls into the stereotype. Each character has to face everyday problems caused by racism, and ignorance. Everyone, whether white, black, hispanic, or Persian, has their own frailties, and is ruled by their own prejudice. Each character tries to defend their individuality at the detriment of the others, from the angry policeman who unleashes on the weakest, to the proud Persian shopkeeper who is trying the be accepted by society.

"I heard it might snow" says Don Cheadle's fellow detective at some point. And boy, they snow will fall. And that snow will give that sought physical contact, and will transform the lives of the characters. The wonderful, and moving final is supported by an equally wonderful music - the all musical score is actually sublime.

In this stellar cast, Matt Dillon is certainly the one that stands out. Never pandering to the camera for a moment, he delivers a more than believable performance, and his portrayal of the angry policeman is superb. Don Cheadle also gives a wonderful performance - and he is lucky, because he gets to be in the most beautiful scenes and he has some of the finest lines. Sandra Bullock is terrific, yet odious because of her character. Terrence Howard is exceptional. Chris Bridges aka Ludacris is very charismatic. Thandie Newton, Ryan Phillippe and co. all do a good job.

Quotes

Graham: In L.A., nobody touches you. We're always behind this metal and glass. I think we miss that touch so much, that we crash into each other, just so we can feel something.

Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011)

Genre

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Director

Glenn Ficarra | John Requa

Country

USA

Cast

Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Julianne Moore, Emma Stone, Analeigh Tipton, Jonah Bobo, Joey King, Marisa Tomei, John Carroll Lynch, Beth Littleford, Kevin Bacon, Liza Lapira, Josh Groban, Crystal Reed, Karolina Wydra, Julianna Guill

Storyline

Cal (Steve Carell) and Emily Weaver (Julianne Moore) have the perfect life together... until Emily asks for a divorce. Now Cal seeks to rediscover his manhood with the help of a newfound friend, Jacob (Ryan Gosling), learning to pick up girls at bars.

Opinion

If you've been reading me for a while, you know usually I am not into romantic comedies, as nowadays they all look the same. After watching it for the first time, my reaction was that this film is one of the best romantic comedies of the past decade. Multiple views later, and lots romantic comedies later, I still think that way.

Though there is nothing Oscar worthy in it, Crazy, Stupid, Love. is a spectacularly funny, very entertaining, touching romantic dramedy.

The great writing by Dan Fogelman combines a team of interesting characters - each of them dealing with love - and an interesting journey at the discovery of the word love. In fact, the film not only speaks of love as a feeling, but it also tells every shade of it - I know it may seem like an already-seen thing, but I promise it is not - focusing on divorce, as the end of a feeling and the beginning of another - for example Moore's character asking for divorce, yet being jealous of her ex-husband as she finds out about his new playboy life.

The whole thing is enhanced by the spectacular cast. Steve Carell, which I usually find extremely annoying, finally portrays a human being, and he can act goddamnit - as he has also shown recently in "Foxcatcher". Ryan Gosling is not one of my favorite actors, and definitely not the reason I watched the film in the first place, but I cannot deny the fact that he is an astonishing actor, and he perfectly nails his character this time as well. The comedic chemistry between Carell and Gosling is quite impressive. Julianne Moore is wonderful as always, even though her character is much enjoyable. Emma Stone, one of my favorite actresses, is great as talkative Hannah, and her sarcasm fits the film perfectly. And the chemistry between her and Gosling is great. Analeight Tipton and Jonah Bobo well-play their teenagers infatuated characters. Marisa Tomei doesn't have much of screen time, but she does great as the alcoholic schoolteacher. Kevin Bacon, who plays Emily's co-worker and lover, is great too.

Quotes

Robbie: You wanna talk about The Scarlet Letter, Ms. Tafferty? All right. Well, the A they're both wearing - I think it stands for "asshole." Wanna know why? Because they fell in love and love is for stupid assholes. And this book is just about a bunch of assholes who fell in love, like assholes, then had to die, like assholes. I'm sorry about all the "assholes."