Movies: A Cabin in the Woods

You want to visit this cabin.

Cabin in the Woods is a very difficult movie to review, so I am gonna say right off the bat:  If you like the horror genre even a little bit, go and see it, you will like it.  I would also recommend this movie to people who are tired of the horror genre, as this movie flips the genre on it's head and is a very fresh take on the generic horror formula.  Written by Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard deftly take the cliches of horror movies and make them fresh.

*Spoilers Start Here*

On the surface, this movie is about a group of college students, led by Chris Hemsworth, that go to the titular cabin in the woods and get attacked by a group of hillbilly zombies. However, two main characters that come as a complete surprise are two white collar office types played by Bradley Whitford and Richard Jenkins.  They are monitoring the actions of the college kids doing everything they can in order to make them die.  Why they are doing this is explained throughout the course of the movie.

This movie is quite a bit funnier than I was expecting.  It's not much of a stretch to say that the movie is much more funny than it is scary.  A lot of the laughs come from the office workers as they react to the situations that are happening to the kids in the cabin.

The office has a bunch of tricks up their sleeves to make the kids fail, such as mind altering gasses.  The character that wants everyone to stick together gets blasted with the gas and changes his mind.  "We should split up, we can cover more ground that way."  Scenes like this not only are really funny but shine a bright light on the tropes of horror movies that have been plaguing that genre for decades.

All in all, I loved this movie.  It was entertaining and just plain fun to watch.  If you like horror movies, do yourself a favor and see this movie.  If you don't, you should probably watch it as well.

Movies: The Three Stooges

Hayes,  Diamantopoulos and Sasso do an uncanny job imitating the Stooges.

"We will do whatever it takes to save the orphanage!  We'll climb mountains!  We'll forge rivers! We'll forge checks!"  If that made you chuckle, then you will enjoy The Three Stooges, starring Sean Hayes, Chris Diamantopoulos and Will Sasso as the Titular Stooges.  Based on the classic comedy shorts from the 30's, 40's and 50's, The Three Stooges is a throwback to the classic comedies of the past,  written and directed by the Farrelly brothers.

I am gonna come out and say it right off the bat, this movie surprised me.  After seeing the trailers and promotional material, I was expecting this movie to be terrible.  However, at times it feels like the actors are channeling the stooges because there are times when I felt like I was watching an original stooges short. The movie follows the boys as they try to raise $830,000 to save the orphanage they grew up in.  I don't think it's much of a spoiler to say that they succeed in the end, because the fun of this movie is in the journey, not in the success. 


There are several funny cameos in the film, but the best would definitely be Larry David as the overbearing nun that raised the boys.  He plays it so over the top and hammy that I couldn't help but laugh. Also, the other nuns are played by Jennifer Hudson, Kate Upton, and Jane Lynch, but there weren't too many laughs from any of them.


However, there are some bad things about this movie.  The stooges split up about an hour into the movie, and this section is just bad.  I'm talking bad on the level of Moe joining the cast of The Jersey Shore.  If you don't like the stooge's humor, Moe running a cheese grater across the foot of The Situation isn't gonna change your mind.


Overall, this movie was surprising.  I liked it quite a bit and found myself laughing out loud in several spots.  However, it's not for everyone to be sure.  If you enjoyed the original three stooges, and could watch three or four of their shorts in a row, then you will like, maybe even love, this movie.  If you are someone that gets tired of their shtick quickly, then you won't like this movie and don't bother seeing it.

Movies: Lockout

Judge this book by it's cover.

I don't even know why I am bothering to review this movie.  Watch the trailer, Lockout is exactly what you expect it will be, no surprises.

The basic premise of Lockout is that a bunch of convicts break out of their cells, cause havoc, and kidnap the President's daughter.  It is up to the disgraced former secret service agent to rescue her and also to redeem himself. The problem?  This jail is in orbit.  If this plot sounds familiar, that's because it is Escape From New York, but in space.

Whenever I see Guy Pearce in a movie, I imagine the movie will be a thinker (Memento, L.A. Confidential). This is definitely not the case with Lockout.  However, I was surprised to see that Pearce deftly plays the action hero in a role that he obviously had a good time filming.

Somewhere between the cheesy one liners and the wonky physics, I really enjoyed myself watching this movie.  It is cliched, over the top, ridiculous... and a great time. 

If you are looking for a mindless action movie that hearkens back to the 80's heyday, give it a watch, if not don't bother.