00s Movie Review - When a Stranger Calls

Director: Simon West
Genre: Horror/ Thriller
Runtime: 87 minutes
Year: 2006
Starring: Camilla Belle, Tommy Flanagan, Katie Cassidy, Tessa Thompson, Brian Geraghty, Clark Gregg, Derek de Lint, David Denman

Description: During a babysitting gig, a high-school student (Camilla Belle) is harassed by an increasingly threatening prank caller.

Review: Jill just broke up with her boyfriend Bobby, because he made out with her best friend. They talked it out over the phone, which caused Jill’s phone bill to go over the limit. Her father want her to earn the money back and take on a babysitting gig. On the night of a huge school party, Jill is stuck babysitting for the Mandrakis family. They live in a remote mansion. When Jill arrives, the kids are already in bed, so it seems to be a peaceful night. Because she doesn’t know the house, it starts scaring her a bit. Especially when Jill starts receiving creepy phone calls from a stranger.
“When a Stranger Calls” is a remake from the original film from 1979. But like most horror movie remakes, it’s not a memorable film. It’s filled with clichés. It takes at least an hour before the mystery caller becomes really threatening, before that it’s just false jump scares. Not even jump scares, just simple scares. And the characters are all very flat. The motives for the stranger are also lost.
“When a Stranger Calls” is a perfect film to watch when nothing else is on TV. And is easy to forget. Not a great horror film.

Rating: 2 / 5

Five to Watch - Prequel Movies

With “Solo: A Star Wars Story” now out in theaters, it’s time to look at all those prequels that came out over the years. I selected five prequels that are worth it to watch, but you might not know about them or they are seriously underrated or overlooked.

Monsters University
“Monsters Inc.” was a story about Mike and Sully, professional monsters who helped produce power for their city by scaring children in our world. It’s still my favorite Pixar movie. And we were surprised with a prequel instead of an expected sequel. In “Monster University” we follow the early days of Mike and Sully’s friendship while they were still in college. HI-LA-RI-OUS!

Casino Royale
“Casino Royale” was Ian Fleming’s first James Bond novel. By 2006 it had already been adapted twice. Director Martin Campbell and then new Bond Daniel Craig gave us an unexpectedly poignant origin story of the most famous secret agent in the world. And for me the best Bond movie.

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
This is a prequel to the highly popular TV series “Twin Peaks”. Where a young FBI field agent’s disappearance might be connected to the future murder of Laura Palmer, a teenager with a bizarre social life.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Four decades and one failed remake later, “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” hits theaters and brings us one of the best and most solid trilogies ever. And it also brought us Andy Serkis’ motion-captured performance of Caesar, who is now one of the most beloved film characters.

Star Trek
When the last episode of “Star Trek: Enterprise” aired in 2005, it seemed like the end of the sci-fi series. When J.J. Abrams name was attached to a new “Star Trek” movie, it caused a lot of excitement. Abrams kept an expanded origin story of the original characters but also introduced a whole new timeline to the universe.

Movies to Look Forward to - June 2018

It's almost summer, so I'm ready for the summer movies. Let's see what June has in store for us.

June 7th – Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
Director: J.A. Bayona
Starring: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jeff Goldblum, Ted Levine, James Cromwell, Toby Jones, BD Wong, Rafe Spall
Description: When the island's dormant volcano begins roaring to life, Owen (Chris Pratt) and Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) mount a campaign to rescue the remaining dinosaurs from this extinction-level event.

June 14th – Hereditary
Director: Ari Aster
Starring: Toni Collette, Gabriel Byrne, Alex Wolff, Milly Shapiro, Ann Dowd
Description: When the matriarch of the Graham family passes away, her daughter's family begins to unravel cryptic and increasingly terrifying secrets about their ancestry.

June 14th – Love, Simon
Director: Greg Berlanti
Starring: Nick Robinson, Jennifer Garner, Josh Duhamel, Logan Miller, Katherine Langford
Description: Simon Spier (Nick Robinson) keeps a huge secret from his family, his friends, and all of his classmates: he's gay. When that secret is threatened, Simon must face everyone and come to terms with his identity.

June 21st – Ocean’s 8
Director: Gary Ross
Starring: Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Rihanna, Mindy Kaling, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, Sarah Paulson, Jamie King, Matt Damon, James Corden, Dakota Fanning, Katie Holmes, Olivia Munn
Description: Debbie Ocean (Sandra Bullock) gathers a crew to attempt an impossible heist at New York City's yearly Met Gala.

June 27th – The Incredibles 2
Director: Brad Bird
Starring: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Samuel L. Jackson, Bob Odenkirk, Sophia Bush, Isabella Rosselini, John Ratzenberg
Description: Bob Parr/ Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson) is left to care for Jack-Jack while Helen/Elastigirl (Holly Hunter) is out saving the world.

June 28th – Tag
Director: Jeff Tomsic
Starring: Jeremy Renner, Annabelle Wallis, Isla Fisher, Ed Helms, Rashida Jones, Jake Johnson, Jon Hamm, Leslie Bibb, Brian Dennehy, Nora Dunn
Description: A small group of former classmates organize an elaborate, annual game of tag that requires some to travel all over the country.

June 28th – Hotel Artemis
Director: Drew Pearce Starring: Jodie Foster, Sterling K. Brown, Dave Bautista, Charlie Day, Sofia Boutella, Jeff Goldblum, Jenny Slate, Zachary Quinto
Description: Set in riot-torn, near-future Los Angeles, 'Hotel Artemis' follows the Nurse, who runs a secret, members-only emergency room for criminals.

10s Movie Review - Rough Night

Director: Lucia Aniello
Genre: Comedy
Runtime: 101 minutes
Year: 2017
Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Jillian Bell, Zoë Kravitz, Kate McKinnon, Ilana Glazer, Ty Burrell, Demi Moore

Description: Things go terribly wrong for a group of girlfriends who hire a male stripper for a bachelorette party in Miami.

Review: The comedy stars on of the funniest women of today: Kate McKinnon. Then how is it possible this film is genuinely unfunny? The screenplay is the problem and shows u lack of intelligence.
A group of friends get together in Miami for a bacholerette party, to celebrate their friend’s Jess upcoming wedding. Jess is running for senator, very ambitious and she left her party days behind her. Her best friend Alice on the other hand, has other plans and wants to give Jess the best night of her life. Then there is Blair, who is in the middle of a custody battle. And Frankie, who is living on the streets nowadays. The four are accompanied by an Australian friend of Jess, Pippa, who Alice sees as a threat.
After a fun night out partying, the friends decide to hire a stripper for Jess. And that’s when it goes wrong, when they accidentally kill him. Next is endless panic about what to do with the body, cleaning up the blood, bickering. Nothing new. And it’s a chain of illogical and impulsive decisions, followed by cliché moments and unimportant supporting characters.
Like Jess’ husband to be, who is having a pretty dull wine tasting party with his friends. Or the girl’s next door neighbors, hoping for a threesome with one of the girls.
It’s only McKinnon that makes this film a little funny, even with that debatable Australian accent. Scarlett Johansson, who is supposed to be the star of the film, comes off as a little dull and uninspired. She is on auto pilot.
“Rough Night” is a pretty lame comedy, which shouldn’t even get the title comedy. Because it’s hardly ever funny.

Rating: 2/ 5

Movie Reviews - Avengers: Infinity War

Director: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
Genre: Action/ Adventure/ Science Fiction
Runtime: 149 minutes
Year: 2018
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Don Cheadle, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Holland, Chadwick Boseman, Zoe Saldana, Karen Gillan, Chris Pratt, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, Josh Brolin, Tom Hiddleston, Paul Bettany, Elisabeth Olsen, Anthony Mackie, Idris Elba, Sebastian Stan, Danai Gurira, Peter Dinklage, Pom Klementieff, Dave Bautista, Gwyneth Paltrow

Description: The Avengers and their allies must be willing to sacrifice all in an attempt to defeat the powerful Thanos before his blitz of devastation and ruin puts an end to the universe.

Review: “Avengers: Infinity War” is a milestone in movie history. Eighteen Marvel movies come together, they have connections and ready for the big finale. And it’s literally the fate of the universe that’s at stake. But it’s nothing completely new, because it’s a big, colorful blockbuster film filled with amazing characters, sharp dialogues and a huge spectacle. And there is nothing wrong with that formula.
At the end of “The Avengers”, Thanos showed his face for the first tim. And he is finally here to execute his evil plans. In order to balance out the universe, he is looking for six so-called Infinity Stones. They’ve been a part of several Marvel films already. Some of the stones are on earth, so it doesn’t take long for an attack on planet earth and the Avengers have to start fighting. And although the Avengers split up, there are a lot more superheroes that they can rely on. Almost every hero we met in all those movies, is in “Avengers: Infinity War”.
Does it work, so many characters in one movie? You wouldn’t think so, but somehow it does and they found a good balance: the characters are scattered and devided up in four groups, who will meet each other. In some cases, the heroes know each other. But there are also new collaborations. Like Tony Stark and Peter Quill. And their interaction is worth the wait. But Thor and Rocket are an even more entertaining duo. And if all the info from the other Marvel movies isn’t that fresh anymore, they characters just simply explain to each other so that you can catch up.
Thanos as the main villain was all I hoped for. Josh Brolin nailed it!
Directing brother Joe and Anthony Russo take on the role of directors and they have proven before they understand the Marvel Universe well with two of the three Captain America movies.
“Avengers: Infinity War” is an excellent first half of an epic battle. And I’m really excited and curious for the next film.

Rating: 4,5 / 5

10s Movie Review - Retour en Bourgogne

Director: Cédric Klapisch
Genre: Drama/ Comedy
Runtime: 113 minutes
Year: 2017
Starring: Pio Marmaï, Ana Girardot, François Civil

Description: After a 10 year absence, Jean (Pio Marmaï) returns to his hometown when his father falls ill. Reuniting with his sister Juliette (Ana Girardot) and his brother Jérémie (François Civil), they have to re-build their relationship and trust as a family again.

Review: A long stretch in Burgundy, including vineyard; not a bad place to live your life. Young Jean did leave his family home, because he wants to see more of the world. Ten years later he returns, because his father is dying.
His sister Juliette and brother Jérémie stayed and are working with their father at the vineyard. They are very surprised to see Jean back and don’t know if their dad is the only reason he is here. Because, why didn’t he return when their mother died five years ago?
Because their father is too sick, the siblings have to run the vineyard and for the first time they have to work together and make difficult decisions.
“Retour en Bourgogne” is actually a coming-of-age film, but with adults. Director Cédric Klapisch lets his characters search for their own place, without any over-sentimental twists. It’s a movie that is easy on the eyes, with beautiful French landscapes.
Jean has more problems and the other reasons he came back to France are slowly coming to light. Juliette has to take the lead over the immense vineyard, which is very hard on her. And Jérémie is dealing with fatherhood and his dominant in laws. Each character gets enough attention and depth to make you care.
That the three of them all get an equal piece of the family company, means they have to work together and trust each other. That’s not that easy. They want to keep the family tradition alive, but they also have their own ideas and dreams for their lives. “Retour en Bourgogne” is a light drama, with beautiful images of France and good characters.

Rating: 4/ 5