10s Movie Review - The Final Girls

Director: Todd Strauss-Schulson
Genre: Comedy/ Horror/ Thriller
Runtime: 88 minutes
Year: 2015
Starring: Taisa Farmiga, Malin Akerman, Alexander Ludwig, Nina Dobrev, Adam Devine, Alia Shawkat

Description: A young woman (Taisa Farmiga) grieving the loss of her mother (Malin Akerman), a famous scream queen from the 1980s, finds herself pulled into the world of her mom's most famous movie. Reunited, the women must fight off the film's maniacal killer.

Review: “The Final Girls” is a horror comedy that mocks slasher films, but not in the ridiculous way “Scary Movie” did. And it’s not as predictable as most slashers. The story movie within the movie isn’t original, but the story of this film is. And it’s very entertaining.
The term ‘final girl’ stands fort he girl that makes it to the end of a horror movie and manages to kill the person hunting her. Max is a teenage girl still mourning the dead of her mother Amanda, who was a 1980s actress who got her fame due to a bad slasher flick. Max and her friends go to a showing of Amanda’s most known film “Camp Blood”. When a fire breaks out in the theater, they are somehow sucked into the movie, having to live it themselves.
The killer, Billy, is a bad copy of Jason Voorhees. The premise is a bit like “Last Action Hero” and “Groundhog Day”. And it all somehow works, because it’s a super fun watch. With excellent leads Taisa Farmiga (Vera Farmiga’s younger sister) and Malin Akerman, it does even a bit better in the acting department then a lot of slasher films.
I really enjoyed this slasher, it’s really funny and it mocks the genre in a very original way. Without ever becoming over-the-top.

Rating: 3,5/ 5

10s Movie Review - Flatliners

Director: Niels Arden Oplev
Genre: Science Fiction/ Thriller/ Drama
Runtime: 110 minutes
Year: 2017
Starring: Ellen Page, Diego Luna, Nina Dobrev, Kiefer Sutherland

Description: Five medical students, obsessed by what lies beyond the confines of life, embark on a daring experiment: by stopping their hearts for short periods, each triggers a near-death experience - giving them a firsthand account of the afterlife.

Review: Another remake. Only a few really succeed. And “Flatliners”, a remake from the 1990 version, is not one of them. This is proof a totally useless remake.
The original “Flatliners” by director Joel Schumacher, wasn’t the best film in the first place. But it was entertaining and was solid. This remake doesn’t add anything new and is hardly ever surprising. It’s just an incoherent mess.
The story stays the same though. We follow a group of ambitious medical students. Courtney has a theory, which can give you a look inside the brain of someone who just died. Her experiment involves dying, stopping the heart for a minute, and then bring the patient back. During this minute, they monitor the brain activity. Courtney does it herself first and lets her fellow students bring her back. After Courtney’s near dead experience, things start happening to her. She remembers things that happened years ago, can all of a sudden play the piano extremely well and copies a recipe from memory. Soon her friends all want to experience it too. But it’s not all good. They start seeing things, that are not there.
All the characters are stereotypical: The rich boy, know it all, hard worker. And good performers like Ellen Page and Diego Luna can’t help any of that.
In the first half hour, a lot happens. The voluntary patients are confronted with their worst nightmares, which turn out to be things they feel guilty about. Director Niels Arden Oplev doesn’t know how to dose it here. The film is also very repetitive and along the way the movie gets less and less credible.
“Flatliners” is a big miss, very forgettable and wasn’t scary or inventive at all. I almost flatlined.

Rating: 1,5/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2014 - # 99: Let's Be Cops

Director: Luke Greenfield

Genre: Comedy/ Action

Runtime: 104 minutes

Year: 2014

Starring: Damon Wayans Jr., Jake Johnson, Rob Riggle, Nina Dobrev, James D’Arcy, Andy Garcia

Description: Two struggling pals, Justin (Damon Wayans Jr.) and Ryan (Jake Johnson) dress as police officers for a costume party and become neighborhood sensations. But when these newly-minted "heroes" get tangled in a real life web of mobsters and dirty detectives, they must put their fake badges on the line.

Review: This time, not two cops undercover as citizens, but two friends going undercover and pretending to be cops. Cop movies have this timeless formula that can be mixed and matched with countless of genres. Most of the time it’s two totally different characters that have to team up. That’s not any different here, but this time it’s two buddies impersonating cops and they choose to work together.

First we have Ryan, who doesn’t have a job. He could have been a professional football player, but after an injury he never picked up the ball again. His best friend Justin works for a gaming company, where he is trying to sell his game, without any luck. When they are going to a school reunion, where they have to go in costume, the decide to dress up as cops. Soon they realize that those uniforms have big advantages and gives them a big confidence boost.

The strongest point of the movie is the chemistry between the two leading men. Both actors are masters at portraying the clumsy, frustrated losers. Although the buddy cop movie is sometime getting old, it never bothers you here. The comedy finds a balance between funny and obscene. Sometimes the jokes are a bit predictable and obvious, but the easy likeable characters played by Johnson and Wayans Jr. make up for it.

The concept of “Let’s Be Cops” is very pleasant. It’s not a very intelligent comedy, but that’s not something you should expect. For a movie I didn’t have high expectations of in the first place, it was very enjoyable and funny. It had a strong opening and a strong ending. Some minor flaws, but you can forgive those.

Rating: 3,5/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2014 - # 33: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Director: Stephen Chbosky

Genre: Drama/ Romance

Runtime: 103 minutes

Year: 2012

Starring: Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, Ezra Miller, Kate Walsh, Dylan McDermott, Paul Rudd, Joan Cusack, Nina Dobrev, Melanie Lynskey

Description: The 15-year-old Charlie (Logan Lerman) is an endearing and naive outsider, coping with first love, the suicide of his best friend, and his own mental illness while struggling to find a group of people with whom he belongs. The introvert freshman is taken under the wings of two seniors, Sam (Emma Watson) and Patrick (Ezra Miller), who welcome him to the real world.

Review: Charlie had a rough year and doesn’t have any hope for it to get better this year. He even starts counting down the days he has left going to school.

The American Stephen Chbosky wrote the book with the same title, made it into a script and decided to direct the movie himself. Because who else then the author knows the book the best? And it’s visible, “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” is a fantastic film that makes you remember the John Hughes films from the 80’s. He can’t avoid the typical high school clichés, but because the film has an authentic feel to it, that never bothers you. With that the plot is much more original then other movies in the genre.

It’s hard not to see Hermione Granger when you watch Emma Watson, but she managed to make you forget about her Harry Potter past. It’s obvious that Watson is a good actress. Leading actor Logan Lerman is very convincing as the vulnerable and fragile Charlie and Ezra Miller’s performance is very impressive as the flamboyant Patrick. The three also have great chemistry. All the actors touch you and you can sympathize with all of the characters.

“The Perks of Being a Wallflower” is made with a lot of love, which sometimes gave me goose bumps. That scene in the tunnel especially. A perfect mix of drama, humor and romance with a pleasant nostalgic feel to it.

Rating: 4,5/ 5