Vibes and Stuff.

Limitless Movie Review.

Limitless is what every commercial big budget film should strive to be- a two hour spectacle that offers a clear break from reality with a decent script, great actors, and all the while keeping the audience entertained.

The notion of a mass market pill that allows one to access all the memory and functions of the brain at first seems to be quite the godsend, as it is portrayed in the early bit of this movie. Eddie Mora (Bradley Cooper) is a sadsack NY writer who is given this particular pill and experiences a vaulted sense of perception and focus that would drive Adrian Monk crazy. He acquires the last major reserve of the medication after his dealer is murdered, and quickly turns himself into a polymath- an expert at math, science, music, basically everything, and finds himself a cushy job raiding stocks. All the while, the unforeseen side effects his unbridled hubris as well as the drug’s own setbacks take a turn for the worse.

What really made this film for me was the presentation. Obviously this type of drug is extremely far-fetched- plausible, maybe, but not for hundreds of years of research and legal wrangling at that. But they took this anomaly and displayed with such a distinct visual tact of separating the normal, de-saturated world that Morra lived in from the hyper realistic playground that he delved in while “high,” and a great script, written by Leslie Dixon, that really focuses more on Morra rather than what he is doing. The script, while complete with good dialogue, also provided a really great narrative by Cooper that went beyond a guide to the film’s proceedings by detailing how amazing it was to know so much at once.

The acting is pretty solid. While amused by The Hangover, Cooper doesn’t really have his day in the sun amongst that ensemble. Horrible segway aside, he shines here. There is the notable Robert De Niro as his corporate mentor who provides one of his better big budget roles, and the slightly forced love interest with Abbie Cornish, but this movie is clearly a vehicle for Cooper, and a great one nontheless.

This will not go down as the best film of all time, mostly due to the overly optimistic ending and a few plot inefficiencies, but it is certainly worth the attention it receives. Limitless is testament to the ambition of the few writers and directors in Hollywood who hustle for fame but take no shortcuts while doing so.

Insidious Movie Review.

Old people are scary!

Insidious is, for lack of a better metaphor, quite in line with its dictionary definition: Proceeding in a gradual, subtle way, but with harmful effects. And this fits due to the fact that the film gives the usual tropes of a horror film to the audience through a hose, first at a trinkle, then minute by minute turning the faucet until they view the previously assumed evil face to face.

The main plot of the film is that a young budding family of five experiences some weird happenings in their new house, one of which places their oldest son Dalton in a “comatose” state. The phenomena continues with an increasing pace, such as his mother hearing a muffled voice on the baby monitor, or the alarm go off twice in the night. They eventually move, which drops the whole “Amityville Horror clone” theory and opens up a new speculation as the phenomena keeps occuring, usually around the still-comatose Dalton. His parents finally consult with some new-age wackadoos, who confirm that something is rotten in their house… and it is their son!!! Hilarity ensues.

As said above, the movie slowly brings in new clues as to what obvious evil is going on. I enjoyed the fact that it seemed to be a haunted house scenario, but was ultimately flipped into an entirely different thing. The atmosphere of the film is very hushed and tense, mostly due to the lack of background music during normal scenes and the dissonant score that accompanies the spooky scenes. The explanation for the phenomena, however, is very weak and requires a persistent suspension of belief to keep afloat. Its effort was worth it though, as the later set pieces feature the sort of creepy vaudevillian design that one would question in the modern era (long black dresses, abnormally wide smiles, bleach-white facial powder, etc.) Unfortunately, the final “twist” of the faucet was not as horrifying or conspicuous as I would have liked, but it still freaked me out in the “oh snap!” sort of way.

The movie was a nice watch. Those looking for an easy horror film with good beats should consider.

Cars 2 Review.

I fell asleep halfway through.

To be quite honest, this is the worst Pixar movie ever made, which is not particularly bad as it is just an overall lazy composition and execution of a blockbuster film. Yet that does not frighten me. I am completely positive that the majority of their future projects will be on par with Toy Story or Up in terms of emotional depth and family entertainment. Why is this, you ask? Simply because of the case concerning the first Cars film. When I saw that movie, I enjoyed it a good amount but didn’t feel it was on par with Toy Story, and I was around 12 at the time. Critically, it was of the same tone. The huge rift that occurred between this and other Pixar films that proves the ulterior motive for the franchise is the marketing. There has been no other film of their that had been merchandized with such aggression as Cars- toys, video games, party accessories, pens, pencils, backpacks, shoes, clothes, TV specials, you name it, they factored it into that line of revenue.

It is easy to see why this film was treated as such when you analyze the film. It is about an arrogant racecar who finds himself stuck in a podunk American town, surrounded by a bevy of stereotypical personalities. He is at first hardened, then warms up as he makes friends. He then goes back into the spotlight and wins a big race. Now compare that to Toy Story, where a cowboy doll struggles with loneliness and anger over the fact that his owner made nice with a more advanced machine than he, tries to commit homicide, gets in a fight with said toy, is left abandoned miles away from home, and fights his way out of a juvenile delinquent’s seedy den of torment. Yeah, Cars is a much more accessible and direct film in the Pixar collection.

Another point of view, focus on the characters. The directors took the guff and made sure that an obvious behavior and vocal talent was affixed to each car relative to the country of origin or cultural significance. What does this mean? The Volkswagen is a mellow “tree hugger.” The jeep is a raspy commander. The Fiat mumbles on in Italian when emotionally inclined, despite the fact that no one speaks it. Mater is a honky-tonk, rootin’-tootin feller jus’ lookin’ fer a gud tahm, and the lowrider is voiced by Cheech Marin. Obviously the bulk of the general public will find cultural stereotypes amusing, as diversity is supposed to be a good thing, even if it’s at the expense of truth.

The racing aspect is also important, if not the most integral aspect of the franchise. NASCAR racing, being associated with the hard-working citizens or simply conservative America, is the sport that evokes patriotism the most. Not to get political, but their fanbase is certainly considered to be a wealth of Republicans, all of whom favor tradition and values. The American values, of course, are triggered by the wave of a flag or the sound of well tuned engine going 200 miles per hour around an oval for 4 hours (I kid, but you get the point). The setting of Cars, a small town littered with mom & pop stores close to defaulting due to the big government infrastructure redirecting customers, will surely ring true for this demographic, at least subliminally, and I am sure that Larry the Cable Guy’s proximity to family entertainment is more than enough to get them on board for this film.

So when I say that it does not frighten me about the noticeable lack of dynamic characters, smooth plotting, and unique storyline, understand that I am suggesting that this was a conscious move by Pixar to fill their coffers for later projects. After all, there’s no way their creative team overlooked the easily manageable Incredibles sequel, which would have been better than this film in spades based on premise alone. Watch it if you’d like, or save your money for something better, like… Transformers 2… ugh.

Easy A Review.

This teen comedy is certainly a weird fit as a loose translation of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter” which was a serious tale of adultery, lies, and revenge, and it does tend to lean quite heavy on stereotypes, but it is an altogether fun movie. And Emma Stone is HAW-

The plot basically revolves Olive Penderghast, a mildly snarky yet easygoing chick who has decided to invest in a little white lie where she loses her virginity by portraying a sideline ho, and the self-righteous hatred/vulgar sentiments that are directed towards her. In a nutshell, the plot of the film plays it fast and loose concerning the plot and themes in the novel (the protagonist is largely directing the story, she doesn’t actually have sex in the film, there are multiple boys who partake in the web) yet this is fine because Stone’s persona carry the film tremendously.

Her parents, the vaguely New Age pair Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson, are the best actors in the film, and for what it’s worth, Amanda Bynes as the forerunner of the Westboro Baptist Church was annoying and peachy keen as she should’ve been. Thomas Hayden Church, who plays a stern and absurdly buff English teacher, is set up to be an integral part of the story, yet only gives minimal input. Phoebe from Friends is in this movie, and results in a seriously shocking plot twist that had me agape at the mouth. Also, WTF Aly Michalka, WHY YOU ACT LIKE RAGING BITCH? You’re better than that.

The movie deals with teen sex and the social outcry in multiple ways, yet they either come off as stereotypical or largely unfounded. First of all, there is the Christian moral front that basically tries to use their faith to “bring her to repent” or “get the filthy whore out of the school.” Granted, this bigoted viewpoint is not falsified, but they work it in such a way that the Christians seem to be rising up against a trivial indecency. Secondly, there is the teenage politics from the school; the usual “word about her sluttiness spreads like wildfire and of course everyone knows who she is, so when she walks into school, all the girls cast snaring glances and all the guys with girlfriends whimper softly while hiding their boners and guys without girlfriends suddenly feel OK talking to her.” Seriously, Hollywood should get the fact that high school is not the Internet. And lastly, I can understand if her parents are genuinely open to their child being sexually active, but GEEZ! There was so much seedy and nasty stuff being said of their daughter’s behavior and they just shrugged it off like they heard about the weather.

Overall, this movie is fine. Not particularly worthy of being bought on Blu-ray in my opinion, but watching it with a couple of friends would a fun exercise in discovering other’s opinions. Emma Stone is hot.

Windex solves everything.

I know it’s true; I saw it in a movie.

I hope you guys know that the last HP movie is one of the worst fan-based movie campaigns of all time.

Don’t you dare think for one second that its split into two parts for the sake of the story or any artistic angle like that; its for the moolah. You’re practically paying for the same movie twice and allowing Warner Bros. to have an exhorbitant merchandise spree betwixt the films due to the obvious suspense of the first part. Be honest with yourselves, it’s great that we’re finally going to see the last book in a visuall thrilling fashion, but being financially exploited ain’t cool in any situation.

Accio common sense.

It’s very disconcerting when people consider Hit-Girl as “sexy”.

I understand that she’s the female lead in the movie, but guys who are my age and up putting a 13 year old in such a perverted light hinders the experience for me.