The week in movies 6/13/13

What a week for movies! I’ve been going everyday so I haven’t been able to write a full review for each. This is what I saw:

Monday – This is the End – Awesome, fun, funny, scary, different, check it out! 4 REELS

Tuesday – Superman – Ok but seemed like a commercial for Ihop and Sears plus fight scenes looked like a video game. Not the story I’m used to.  2 REELS

Wednesday – The Heat – Ok, funny, better than I expected. 3 REELS

Thursday – White House Down – Ok, slow to start, some action. Reminded me of Die Hard in a way, you know the usual formula. 2 REELS

What will you watch this weekend…

 

 

THE GREAT GATSBY

 This week we are reviewing The Great Gatsby which is brought to the big screen by Baz Luhrmann who also directed Romeo + Juliet as well as Moulin Rouge. It is based on the book written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The movie will open this Friday, May 10^th starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan, and Joel Edgerton. I saw it yesterday in 3D and I had not read the book so I didn’t know what to expect. It is set in the era of the roaring twenties in New York City and Long Island and it is visually entertaining. Luhrmann found a way of combining sounds of the twenties with those of today.

It explores the lifestyles of the twenties prior to the stock market crash and the great depression where excess seemed to be trend. Behind all that, there is a love story and some funny moments. The costumes were colorful and stylish. The actors’ performances were great and it was very interesting. It got a bit slow in some parts (the film lasts 143 minutes) and I think it could’ve been accomplished with about 120 minutes at least.

Overall, the film was interesting, entertaining, a few laughs, a love story, but a bit sad. My daughter found it a little depressing. There is good character development and great performances. There is nothing after the credits so it is safe to leave when it is over. My other daughter did read the book recently and has informed me that the film stayed true to the novel so I have to give it points for that. I give it 3 reels because it was visually and storywise captivating. I recommend it for its entertaining qualities.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Evil Dead 2013 Review

Hello and thank you for stopping by! We here at Reel Movie Buffs want to give the reviews from a moviegoer fan point of view and not artsy-fartsy critic. Some might be Oscar worthy but some might just be silly fun. So to us, we go by whether a movie will move us, inspire us, make us crack up, or scare the heck out of us. Basically, we will report if we feel it is worth our money and more importantly our time. The rating will be on a 5-reel scale.

We always stay after the credits so we will let you know if it is worth waiting around until after everyone else has left just to make sure you don’t miss anything.

 For our first review we will be going over the newly remade “Evil Dead” directed by Fede Alvarez and starring Jane Levy and Shiloh Fernandez. Sam Raimi who wrote the original also produced it. The movie is set to be released this Friday April 5^th.

Having seen the original over 30 years ago and being quite shaken at the time, I have to say this one was pretty entertaining. It is still about five young adults who go to the deep woods to stay at a cabin and end up waking something up that refuse to let them leave alive. It is full of heart pounding moments but also moments that you go “Really?”

Performances were great and there were no slow parts. It was pretty good. My mom said there was so much screaming from beginning to end. She’s 84 but she likes thrillers.

Overall, I liked it although I wished my best friend were with me since we both watched the original back in the 80’s and were totally freaked out at the time. You definitely want to stick around until after the credits on this one.

So, if you like horror movies, see it. It is good and non-stop scary fun. It wasn’t extremely long so they did a great job at not adding fillers just to make it longer. As one friend put it, “it was terrifyingly terrific”!

So for Evil Dead 2013 we will have to give it 4 out of 5 reels for not being boring, being entertaining, and making our pulse race a little.

          

 Until the next review, Stay Reel…!

 P.S. please comment on YOUR opinion about the movie and any thoughts especially if you saw the original.