Sinister: CR #29

This is another film I'd been hotly anticipating. The reason why is because it was written by C. Robert Cargill, who's better known as Carlyle from Spill.com. He left the website in order to work on this film, and was even on set while they were making it, which rarely happens. I'd been dying to see it, and I finally did this past week. Was it worth the hype? Let's find out in my review of...

PLOT
Ellison Oswalt is an infamous crime novelist who hit it big with his first novel, but has had little success with his most recent works. He and his family are now moving into a new house where a grisly murder occurred and the youngest child went missing. While storing boxes in the attic, Elli finds a box of old 8mm home films and begins to investigate them, thinking they'll help in his research and in writing his next big hit. What he finds is video footage of multiple gruesome and disturbing murders dating all the way back to the 1960's.



PROS
This film, unlike a lot of other modern horror films, is genuinely scary. The problem with today's horror films is that they rely too much on jump scares and cheap tricks. "Sinister" does have jump scares, but it gets 90% of its horror from disturbing imagery and atmosphere that'll stick with you long after it ends. By the end of this movie, I was literally shaking.

For the first time in maybe forever, the victim has a reason to stay in the house. That's another thing I don't like about horror movies in general, the people could just leave the house at any point but never do for no apparent reason. This film, luckily, gives a good and subtle reason as to why that makes sense.

Ethan Hawke not only does a great job in this film, but he's also a likable character. While he's not perfect, he's only human which makes us sympathize with him even more.

The music is very creepy and makes the silent film footage even more effective.



CONS
There's a few weird pacing issues. Some segments go on way too long and slow the film down. While I understand you need to give the audience a breather, and it's most appreciated. the breather sections just go on a little too long.




CONCLUSION
Now I'm not the biggest horror fan. Most, if not all, of the horror films I've seen have had an aspect to them like comedy or extreme gore that keep them from being full on horror. "Sinister" is full on horror, and in trying to accomplish fear that'll stick with you, this film passes with flying colors. It's scary, creepy, and disturbing while also being a good film in general. I thoroughly enjoyed it and cannot look at darkness the same way again. Yet, it's not a perfect movie, but still a damn good one.


RATING
WALK TO


Want to read more of my reviews? Here's last week's: http://newandclassicreviews.blogspot.com/2013/02/die-hard-with-vengeance-cr-28.html

Die Hard With a Vengeance: CR #28

I missed the last two weeks...again. Why? Because I'm lazy and I didn't feel like going into detail about the movie I saw, which was "Bullet to the Head". I'd give it a RENTABLE, in case anyone wanted to know. Anyway, this week the 5th Die Hard came out. The general consensus is that it's terrible. So I decided this week to watch one of the good Die Hard movies, and also watch it for the first time. This is my review of...

  





PLOT
John McClane at the beginning of the film has been suspended from the NYPD for, basically, being John McClane. But he's called back into action when a mysterious man by the name of Simon starts threatening to blow up bombs set up all around the city unless McClane can complete some tasks for him. Along the way, McClane picks up a companion in the form of Zeus Carver, an electronics store owner in Harlem. Now Mclane and Zeus need to follow this mad man's orders and find out why he's doing this and why he focuses specifically on Mclane.



 

PROS
This film does what made the original "Die Hard" so iconic, it puts the average Joe in an impossible situation. John McClane isn't a super cop, he's not a terminator, he's a middle-aged guy who keeps getting put into these bad situations. By the end of this film, he's literally covered in his own blood struggling just to walk forward.

What makes this film so memorable is the chemistry between Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson. The two play off each other so well and react in believable ways. They both are also extremely likable characters and help make the action scenes even more tense.

Jeremy Irons as the villain Simon is great. He really exudes that evil Russian stereotype very well.

The situations Simon puts the two leads in are very fun and exciting. They all revolve around a riddle and a lot of running. While the film does abandon this formula half way through, it's still fun to see it while it lasts.



CONS
The camera work during some action scenes are not well done. It's very shaky and disorienting, which is not fun for anyone.

The whole "Simon says" angle that was at the beginning of the film is abandoned half way through. While it makes sense why they don't use it, I was still wishing they had stuck to that fun way of getting these characters into situations.




CONCLUSION
While not perfect, and no where near as great as the original "Die Hard", "Die Hard With a Vengeance  is still an awesome enjoyable time that'll have you at the edge or your seat. One of the undeserved underrated actions movies of the 90's, in my opinion.


RATING
WALK TO




Want to read more of my reviews? Well here's the last review I did:http://newandclassicreviews.blogspot.com/2013/01/broken-city-nr-38.html

Want to check out my other stuff? Why not read one of my "You May Not Know" post?
http://newandclassicreviews.blogspot.com/2012/11/azumanga-daioh-you-may-not-know-8.html