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The Magic Door (2007)
Came for the Witch...Stayed so I could B***h :-)
Unsure WHAT the first reviewer was talking about- the biggest name I have seen so far are Anthony Head(Buffy) and Aaron Taylor-Johnson(Kick-Ass)(granted it was in 2007 for the latter actor). The effects are okay(for low budget B-movie) but nothing close to 'great'.
This film feels like a movie where the set-up is completely missing.
Review as I go: 30 MINS INTO FILM: NONE of the characters are really introduced well. What happened to the kids real mother? Why is this troll in exile? Why does the story pick-up with this particular family and why are they living at said location? (It has an air of 'we moved here'). Why are these kids and their dad(His he?) at such odds? THEY SHOULD HAVE: Explained all the above and set these kids up to be precocious prankster types with some charm. (Think a UK style Dennis the Menace).
I agree it does feel like all the actors in this had nothing better to do on a weekend. Its like they said "who wants to forget everything you know about acting and play this like you're back in high school". They just didn't connect at ALL. Plus, every kid in the UK must have been sick or in the Harry Potter franchise at the time OR these kids were related to someone in the movie. Their acting sucked! The girl is better than the boy, but still some poor acting.
The make-up is also POORLY done. It looks like the budget was the left overs from Halloween aisle at the local drug store. It's very flat on the characters. No shading. No definition. No character. The wigs looks like a bargain bin find as well.
BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: The "Witch" is more like a fairy than a witch. She has a broom but lacks any 'witchy' aspects. :-(.
The movie DOES finish better after you get numb to all the aforementioned. However, this is NOT a movie you should watch thinking you're going to receive the same pleasure and 'warm fuzzy' that other such movies provide.
The movie NEVER seems to answer any of the questions that I had from the beginning.
Plus, the character of the two children are odd and NEVER developed. The girl has some magic? Where did it come from? Why is she not the main lead if she has magic? The boy is the lead but is a lackluster leader/hero type. The movie ALWAYS gives the lead over to the boy! He does have ONE scene toward the end of the movie in this scene that has some slightly creep factor going on, but otherwise he just cannot hold it.
Maleficent (2014)
I wish I had a better term than "chick flick"
Bad summary title aside... THE MOVIE WAS AWESOME!!!! This is a total retelling of the story. Not only do you get the back story of Maleficent but you also get a pro-female movie to the nines. (which is why I need a better term than "chick flick"). I love the rise of the girl empowering movie genre that children are getting nowadays. No more is Aurora the passive subject of a "King's daughter" then some "Prince's Conquest" we see a story told with Maleficent having a multitude of dimensions. We see her entire development from the kind fairy to the Evil Fairy Queen. The creatures adapted in the Fae Realms(forgot what the movie officially called them) are MAGNIFICENT. They are all so beautiful, charming, and just delightful. We even get to see dimension to Maleficent's crow companion. Plus, the effects with Angelina Jolie's eyes are SO AMAZING!!!! SPOILERS ARE REALLY PAST THIS POINT(!!!!!!!!) I went with a girlfriend of mine and I LOVE all the symbolism in the movie-we couldn't stop discussing. The fact that it was a man who betrayed Maleficent and took her wings(her identity, courage, self-worth). A man set limitations ON HER (literally) because she could no longer fly.
PLUS, when Maleficent becomes the Evil Fairy Queen NOTICE how the chair she creates looks much like a rib cage and she is the black heart inside.
I'm also curious if I'm the only one who thought that Phillip(the King) took Maleficent's wings thinking he was protecting her.(me and my friend disagreed about this one). I mean he basically took her means of independence and "trapped" her to her Fae Realm. I mean YES she could travel but she was much slower and hobbled basically. That speaks volumes of MAN's desire to "protect" women but really are just crippling their real since of power/self-worth/ability out of some twisted "love". I mean this movie is SUCH a great female empowerment movie. The King may have been the catalyst but that is it. A HUGE chunk of the movie is about women taking care of each other.
Two down sides (being a Disney Kid).
1. The Sleep Spell wasn't included. I LOVED the idea of everyone being in an ageless slumber.
2. There aren't really a great many FAE invited to Aurora's birth. I mean the initial REASON why the Evil Fairy was so mad was that she got snubbed. I think she was suppose to be the 8th or 13th fairy in attendance and that number plays some part in the original story. However, this one follows the Disney version...changing the trio's names(in the original Flora(plants), Fauna(animals), and Maryweather (unsure) ) and not even mentioning what the last fairy gave Aurora as a gift. (in the original telling that was the gift that swayed the death curse to a 'sleep like death' curse. One of my favourite parts of the original telling were the trio of fairies and their arguments.
Last Kind Words (2012)
Think Romeo and Juliet if Shakespeare was a redneck Crypt Keeper
Well, I just finished this movie. It's interesting but my Summary pretty much says it all. I put off watching it because I thought it had Stephen Dorff (the hot one) and not Brad Dourif (voice of Chuckie). I think you have to be from the south and/or understand a southern mentality to kind of appreciate the disturbing mental drain that is played out in the movie. There is a great deal about the plot that is very messy and oddly placed. I mean honestly it reminds me of the old series Tales from the Crypt. It isn't really SCARY as I thought it would be. It's more drawn out and disturbing more so than anything else. It was shocking to think that the soft male lead is that long-haired pot smoker in the TV series Mom. Wow he went from twink to stud! You probably should skip this movie unless you are looking for a take on a ghost story meets Romeo and Juliet meets some strange bits of supernatural incest. It would have been better if they had cut out most of the actors/scenes and spent more time building Amanda's back story.
God's Not Dead (2014)
Gods Not Dead...Plot needs C.P.R.
C.P.R.=Christian Propaganda Reduction
Positive Notes: 1. I agree with the message of freedom to choose to believe or not believe. 2. Music was enjoyable 3. Dean Cain's mother has a GREAT scene that explains somethings in a 'interesting' light.
Negative Notes: 1. All the acting fell flat 2. Characters have no dimension/development
This movie makes academia look horrid and narcissistic. I took Intro to Philosophy(the class Zorbo teaches) and it was NOTHING like that. His character and Dean Cain should have just been known as "Bad Guy 1" and "Bad Guy 2" with the reporter named "Evil Liberal Media". The "struggling Christian student" has no other dimension to his life really- We don't see his family, his academic struggles, him interacting really with any dimension of life nor do we even hear a decent debate from any character. The movie comes from a "Christian victim" perspective and that is how it is set-up. The girlfriend of the main lead is a walking contradiction- she goes to her third college choice for him (submission) and wants him to not ruffle feathers(domination)- AGAIN- poorly developed character. There is also a character we can assume is Muslim who finds Jesus and gets kicked out of her house. She wears the head covering(she covers her face) yet has exposed arms? Contradiction. Then the oddly placed exchange student who finds Jesus(unnecessary characters).There is this odd REV/Pastor who seems to not like his job and parrots religion. That character lacks any connection to anyone he "helps". I mean he relays scripture without any realistic worldly advice.(He reminds me of Mike Brady in the 2nd Brady Bunch movie) Lastly, none of the characters connected realistically. They should have dropped the Caucasian pastor and kept the missionary as the spiritual guide, dropped all other characters except "victim Christian", "Evil Professor", a decent needed love interest, and minor characters to interact with the main two. Keep the message. Bring the intellect. Lose the propaganda.
Side note: My college experience was NOTHING like that. Professors get reported if they bully people and there is ALWAYS someone who would disagree in a class. The students are all dumb sheep by this movie's standards. Evil liberal colleges turning kids into atheists-cliché. Plus most the definitions given in the movie are inaccurate and the debate isn't fully at a college level. Its more like a sermon and a tirade by the professor. Flat and flavorless as a communion wafer.