"Grave Encounters 2" (2012) Horror

Yep, starting with the second movie of a pair. Why? Simply because I haven't seen the first one. Grave Encounters 2 finds us watching the "videos" of a film student who has become obsessed with another film crew's expedition into an abandoned asylum (perfect, right?). He wants to take some of his friends into the same asylum and film their own version of the movie. In the movie there is controversy that the original Grave Encounters film may have been real so naturally his friends are a bit reluctant to venture to their own demise. (Oh yeah, everyone that filmed the first one is either dead or missing) But in typical horror movie fashion, the teenagers go into the scary place, and bad things happen in the scary place. They even find an insane guy in the building made for insane people, he turns out to be the lead guy from the original film crew. When they arrive at the building they set out camera equipment, and commence filming the movie. Strangely enough the "demons" in the asylum commenced with the scaring and atrocious noise making at the same time. You find throughout the movie that the asylum messes with your head, and changes its layout, making you think for example that you are going in circles, or that you've reached a way out only to find that it's boarded up. The scares in the movie were primarily jump-scares accompanied by a loud noise to make you freak out, but it was done successfully. The best part of Grave Encounters 2 would have to have been the "demons". There seemed to be a sort of obsession with them having large mouths (as you can see on the cover) but they were intriguing, and did a pretty great job of being grotesque. The film ends with the lead "investigator" killing his remaining friend to complete the film (he went insane at the end and decided that was the only way it could be completed). And it being released to the public with emphasis on the fact that it's fake, even though as a viewer you know that, in a movie sense, it wasn't. Overall? 3 out of 5 stars.

"Shooter" (2007) Conspiracy Thriller

Shooter depicts a retired Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant (Bob Lee Swagger, played by Mark Wahlberg) being drawn out of his peaceful mountain home in the Wind River Range of Wyoming by a rogue government agency that wants him to "set up" an assassination plan of the president so they know how to stop an unknown assassin from actually doing it. As it turns out there is no other assassin, the agency uses Swagger's plans to complete their own killing by a rifle placed on a remote activated tripod contraption, which are apparently real and found at: http://www.precisionremotes.com/ground-mount/  for military purposes. Right after the shot is taken a previously hired city cop shoots Swagger in the shoulder and hip. Swagger falls out a window onto some spectacularly placed wood pallets and escapes. Bob Lee is chased throughout the movie by this agency who try to find him, his "female companion" (who was Swagger's dead spotter's girlfriend) and new found FBI agent friend. The "female companion" and FBI agent occasionally serve the purpose of bait for what we and Swagger know to be the "bigger picture". But ultimately justice is served via various different caliber rounds and explosions. The conspiracy is unraveled, swagger is let free and Senator Meechum (the man who set it all up) is killed.
The movie was and still is fantastic. The acting, although forced at times, is adequate. Wahlberg keeps up with his usual fast talking, knowledgeable act and seems to actually know about the background of what he is trying to portray, which is a nice change of pace from some of the acting seen in recent movies. I'd give it a 4.5 out of 5.

"Jarhead" (2005) War Drama

Jarhead, directed by Sam Mendes, hit theaters in 2005. It was based off of former Marine Scout Sniper Anthony Swofford's memoir of the Gulf War by the same title. The movie follows Swofford (Swoff, as his friends call him) and his platoon through boot camp, Scout Sniper school, and finally through the war itself, displaying all of the tragedies and loneliness that occurred. This movie (and book I suppose) was not meant to be your typical war film with huge action scenes, big 'ol explosions, and tons of people getting killed. It was made to show the boredom and psychological effect that war has on the young men and women who are part of it. There are very few actual action scenes, but the couple that there are do a fantastic job of emphasizing how terrible it can be. The movie tended to be very vulgar, but I'm not sure what else to expect from a bunch of bored marines. Personally, this is one of my favorite movies of all time. I loved the topic, the idea, and the execution of the idea. Five out of five.

"The Strangers" (2008) Horror

The Strangers, written and directed by Brian Bertino, came out in 2008 after two postponements. The film, based on true events, starred Liv Tyler (daughter of famous singer Steven Tyler) and Scott Speedman as a young couple at Speedman's family's summer home after a friend's wedding. The couple are terrorized by three masked assailants and are forced to remain in the home, attempting escape.

I found this movie to be what I can only describe as "less than stellar". It wasn't awful, but was by no means
exceptional either. It seemed to me me to be this particular directors take on the classic "teens trapped in an isolated cabin, oh no" style film, but he changed out the teens for a young couple to suit a more mature audience. The movie wasn't as scary as it COULD have been, mostly because Bertino used the same scare tactics that have been used over and over again. A grand example of this is when Liv Tyler's character is hiding in a closet with a slotted door (the slots are angled so that she can see out, but it would be difficult for you to see in) from the male antagonist. She makes a noise and you know that he heard it, he walks around a bit, then disappears off camera. Liv becomes relieved, until one of the other masked intruders pops up on the other side right in front of her. This scare is used constantly in movies; nobody's there, BAM someone's there. As well as having cliché scare tactics the protagonists of the movie are ridiculously foolish. I found it hard to suspend my disbelief. They really couldn't find ANY way out of the house? To top it off the movie's ending was awful. You watched this couple struggle to survive, only to be killed in the end and no form of justice be brought upon the murderers.  Apart from the movie's setbacks, it was filmed well, the acting was acceptable (the script is what seemed to ruin it for me) and the intruders had some pretty cool masks. If I were to rate this movie out of 5, I would give it a solid 2.

Welcome

The idea for this blog is that of a 17 year old high school student doing movie reviews. Anything from horror to comedy, and even the occasional foreign film, content providing. I will provide a brief summary and breakdown of the plot and characters, while attempting to throw my own spin and humor on it.