A Good Day to Die Hard Movie Review

A Good Day to Die Hard
                                                                   

A Good Day to Die Hard is an American action movie released in 2013. This movie is the fifth installment of the famous movie series of Die Hard, which started at 1988. This film is written by Skip Woods and directed by John Moore. The iconic character of John McClane is played here by Bruce Willis, just like the previous movies of this franchise. Other major characters of A Good Day to Die Hard are played by Jai Courtney, Sebastian Koch, Yuliya Snigir and Sergei Kolesnikov.

In A Good Day to Die Hard, detective John McClane learns that his son is in a great danger in Russia. So John heads to Russia to bring his son back. His visit turns into a big mission where he gets a new companion, Jack McClane.

Bruce Willis and Jai Courtney in A Good Day to Die Hard

Plot:

A Good Day to Die Hard starts in Russia where an ex-billionaire named Yuri is held in prison and people are demonstrating for him. He is believed to be a political prisoner and is held captured by a plan made by a corrupted government high official, who is also the candidate for home minister in the next election. The officer goes to prison on the day before the trial and threatens Yuri that if Yuri does not hand him a special file, Yuri’s life will be at risk. Yuri does not get scared by this threat and says he will give the officer nothing.

At that night, a young man shoots and kills someone in a bar stating that he is working for Yuri. When he is captured and then sent to interrogation, he tells the police that he will testify against Yuri, if they hold his trial with Yuri’s.

Meanwhile in USA, detective John McClane finds the whereabouts of his son, Jack, and learns that he is in a prison in Russia. So John heads to Russia and reaches there on the day when his son is going to be on the court. His taxi gets stuck in jam on the way to the court so he leaves the taxi and starts walking. When he gets near the court, in his detective eyes, he finds something strange happening around there.

At the court, Yuri and that young man is present. But before the trial begins, a bomb explodes. The young man takes Yuri out of there safely just before some armed people enter there looking for Yuri. The young man then takes a delivery van to move Yuri from there, but before he starts, John comes there and finds the young man as his son Jack, who is an undercover agent working for C.I.A. John’s presence delays Jack and Yuri’s escape and meanwhile, the armed people starts to chase them in their car. To save Jack, John starts to go after the armed group.

After a lot of chasings and actions, finally John and Jack manage to take Yuri to a secret safe house of USA in Russia. An agent was there. That agent and Jack convinces Yuri to give them the secret file in exchange of Yuri's and his daughter’s safety. Yuri says the key to that file is located at a hotel and he calls his daughter to be there. Then some armed men attack there and kill the agent. John, Jack and Yuri escape from there and go to that hotel.

At that hotel, Yuri finds his daughter. But those armed men again attack there and take Yuri’s daughter, who then turns out to be a team member of those armed men lead by that corrupted official and also against her father. Taking Yuri, his daughter and the secret key, they head for the location where the file is hidden. Some other people of that group try to kill Jack and John but fail. Jack and John manage to kill everyone in that room before being attacked by some more soldiers on a helicopter, but finally escape from there alive.

Yuri is taken to a secret vault in Chernobyl along with his daughter and the soldiers. Reaching there, the true face of Yuri’s daughter gets exposed. We see that the whole plan is different than what we’ve seen till now. John and Jack reaches there and soon they find the actual plan. They start to go after the original villains.     

My reviews about A Good Day to Die Hard:

First of all, to all Die Hard fans: prepare for disappointment with A Good Day to Die Hard.

I’m starting the review by stating that, like thousands of other people, I’m a big fan of the Die Hard series. But a lot of things I like about all the other movies of this franchise are absent here in A Good Day to Die Hard.

The plot is not bad itself. It has some twists, but still it didn't seem strong enough. Although the ending of A Good Day to Die Hard was pretty predictable but that is not a big issue, because it has been the case of all the Die Hard movies. These movies are never about exciting endings. The screenplay here also seemed good.

I don’t need to say anything about the acting of Bruce Willis. All other artistes have also done a good job in A Good Day to Die Hard. The dialogues are good, except the dialogues of Bruce Willis’. His dialogues severely missed the charm from the older movies of Die Hard. The make ups were also okay.

The lighting and the camera works are good in A Good Day to Die Hard.  The special effects are brilliant. Specially, the car chasing sequence at the beginning was beautiful.

Like the previous movies, A Good Day to Die Hard does not contain any nude scene or any other scenes which may make it inappropriate for children.

Now, to talk about the things which I didn’t like about A Good Day to Die Hard, I should start with the plot. In all the previous four movies of this series, detective John McClane is put is such a situation that he has no other way than to fight. But in here its not the same case. A Good Day to Die Hard was completely about the mission of his son Jack, and John just runs with him all the time and fights. This is the first movie of this series where John is out of USA, so A Good Day to Die Hard was supposed to be very interesting about how he is surviving in a foreign land. But a lot of details are ignored and the director has completely failed to use this at his advantage.  Other than the location, almost nothing gave us the feeling that he was out of his comfort zone.

One of the most interesting sides about the Die Hard movies were the bold, dam care, rough and tough and bad-ass attitude of John McClane. But those seemed all gone now, in A Good Day to Die Hard, we see him as a softer person. I really missed his attitude here, where he had the guts to tell the villains that he was coming to get them. The villain in A Good Day to Die Hard is also not as strong as the previous villains and his character didn’t have the strong personality like them.

Remember the scene in Die Hard (part 1) where John’s wife got sure that John was alive by seeing the fury of an enemy and said “Only John can make someone that angry.”? I badly missed that John McClane in A Good Day to Die Hard.

The action sequences of A Good Day to Die Hard also didn’t look realistic like the previous films. How come he (and the villains) made such a mess in Moscow but almost no police was after them? Coming to Russia as a tourist, how can he get away after creating such a havoc? The part where Jack cut the ropes but the people standing behind him didn’t notice that at all didn’t seem logical. Somewhere over internet I read that, John McClane has killed 54 men in total in all the previous movies. But in the car chase sequence at A Good Day to Die Hard, he seems to have harmed (and killed) a lot of normal people, which doesn’t match with his reputation.

Several rumors are already all over internet about the Die Hard series. Some say, Die Hard will end with the sixth movie, which will take place at Japan. Another suggests, the importance of Jack McClane’s character given in this film, international location, political involvements – all these indicates that the time of John McClane has come to an end and his son will continue the series. Let’s see what happens in future days.

So, overall, although its not a bad movie itself, but A Good Day to Die Hard fails to satisfy a Die Hard fan. It doesn’t matter whether I recommend or not, action movie fans will watch this one just for its name and awesomeness of its prequels. But I’ll conclude by saying, I was disappointed by A Good Day to Die Hard.

How did you like it? What are the things you missed in A Good Day to Die Hard? Share with others in the comments.

To know more about it:

IMDB Link: A Good Day to Die Hard IMDB

Wikipedia Link: A Good Day to Die Hard Wiki

No matter what this review or any review says, you must watch this movie if you are a fan of the famous Die Hard series. Click this link to buy or rent this movie from Amazon: A Good Day to Die Hard Movie

Not Suitable For Children Movie Review

Not Suitable For Children

                                                                    

Not Suitable For Children is an Australian romantic comedy drama movie released in 2012. This film is written by Michael Lucas and directed by Peter Templeman. The three main characters of Not Suitable For Children are played by Ryan Kwanten, Sarah Snook and Ryan Corr.

In the movie Not Suitable For Children, we see a man who is going to lose his ability to become a father soon due to his physical condition. Knowing this, he becomes desperate to impregnate a woman in a very small time frame.

Ryan Kwanten and Sarah Snook in the movie Not Suitable For Children

Plot:         

Jonah is a guy who lives with his two best friends, Gus and Stevie. They spend a good time partying with their friends. At one party, Jonah finds a lump in his testicle. Next day he visits a doctor and upon diagnosis, they find that Jonah has got testicular cancer. The good news is, the cancer is in very primary stage and Jonah is supposed to get a 100% recovery after the doctors remove his testicle. He can also continue his regular sex life after the operation. But the bad news is, this operation will make him infertile, so he can’t be a father after the operation.

The doctor suggests Jonah to contact a sperm bank who can save his sperms for future. Jonah does so and finishes all the procedures. Then he returns home and informs Gus and Stevie. They have a party on the next Friday and Jonah keeps the date for that party unchanged.

Soon, Jonah receives a call from the sperm bank. After going there, Jonah learns that he has a rare medical condition, for which, his sperms cannot be preserved. So, the only option left for him to become a father is to impregnate a woman before the operation.

Jonah starts his journey to look for the woman who will bear his baby. At first, he meets his ex-girlfriend, who is even irritated by Jonah meeting him. After her rejection, Jonah asks another of his girlfriends, who also rejects to his proposal. Jonah then goes to the doctor and shifts the date of his operation to three weeks later. He continues his search by asking all the women he has dated in his life, but none of them accepts his proposal. Jonah doesn’t say anything about his cancer to any of them.

He then looks at the possibility to adopt a baby. But he learns that he can’t adopt one because he has cancer. Stevie fixes him a meeting with a lesbian couple from her office, but the meeting doesn’t go in favor of Jonah. Stevie then makes arrangement for Jonah to meet another woman from her office who wants to have a child, but that plan also fails.

Jonah becomes frustrated. At one time, when he was discussing the whole thing with Stevie, he said her that he will let the mother of his child live as she wants, will not make any problem with her choice of career, friends or boyfriends. He also says that he will give the house where he is living currently to that lady. Stevie gets interested after hearing these offers. After thinking for a whole day, she agrees to have Jonah’s baby. But before agreeing finally, she makes Jonah read and sign on her written agreements.  

Then they start to sneak out at night and go to a cheap hotel to have sex. Being good friends, at first it seems weird to both of them, but soon they overcome this. They have only five days before Jonah’s operation and they waste the first night. They use the next four nights to the fullest. These things also create a stronger and more intimate relation between them.

On the day before Jonah’s operation, Jonah and Stevie have some kind of fight on the morning, where both of them regret their decision of choosing each other. Jonah has a party at his home that night. His ex-girlfriend comes to that party. She somehow learns about Jonah’s situation and this time, she herself offers Jonah to have his child. Jonah feels happy about it and they start to have sex right away, as it is the last night before Jonah’s operation. But Jonah refrains himself at the last moment. Just then, Stevie comes to the party looking for Jonah.

My reviews about Not Suitable For Children:

First of all, Not Suitable For Children seemed as a good romantic drama.

The plot of Not Suitable For Children was good, although it was predictable. Any romantic drama fan can predict the ending. Although it may not go exactly as you can guess (yes, it will not go exactly as everyone’s expectation) but still, the major part of the ending will not surprise you. The good thing about the plot of Not Suitable For Children is, it seems realistic, it’s not filled with too much drama or emotions.

The acting and the makeups of all the major characters in Not Suitable For Children were good. The characters were good looking, specially, Sarah Snook looked stunning. The character of Ryan Kwanten looked a little weird, but I think this is how the director had wanted it to be.

The dialogues and the screenplay of Not Suitable For Children were good. Same can be said about direction. But the comedy elements of this movie may seem inadequate as a proper comedy movie.

  

There were some nude scenes in Not Suitable For Children. For those scenes and also for the plot, you should not watch it with children.

To me, the basic theme of Not Suitable For Children seemed kind of similar the the movie Friends With Kids. The review of that movie can be found here: Friends With Kids Movie Review.

So, finally, Not Suitable For Children seemed like a pretty good movie. Although I’m not a big fan of romantic movies, but I still enjoyed watching it. I’d recommend watching Not Suitable For Children to all movie lovers.  

Have you watched Not Suitable For Children? How did you like it? Share in comments.

To know more about this movie:

IMDB Link: Not Suitable For Children IMDB

Wikipedia Link: Not Suitable For Children Wiki

To buy or rent this movie from Amazon or to watch online, click here :  Not Suitable For Children Movie

The Pact Movie Review

The Pact
                                           

The Pact is an American horror mystery thriller movie released in 2012. This movie is written and directed by Nicholas McCarthy. The Pact has a very small set of characters, which is played by Caity Lotz, Casper van Dien, Kathleen Rose Perkins, Haley Hudson, Sam Ball, Mark Steger, Agnes Bruckner (whom we saw also in Breaking The Girls) and Dakota Bright. 

The movie The Pact is about a lady who tries to investigate when her sister goes missing, but finds that the whole story is much more bigger than it appears.

A scene from the movie The Pact

Plot:
At the beginning of The Pact, we see a lady named Nicole, who is living alone, talks with her sister about coming to their mother’s funeral. Her sister, Annie, refuses to come to her abusive mother’s house and they have a little argument over it. Nicole then talks with her little girl who is living with one of Nicole’s cousin. Although Nicole is alone in the house, over the video chat, her daughter asks her about the man who is standing behind her. She looks back and finds no one there. Then she hears some noise in the closet. To check it, she enters there and disappears. 

Her sister Annie comes to that house when Nicole is not found by anyone. Annie finds Nicole’s laptop and some other scattered things around the house. She also finds Nicole’s cell phone in the closet. On the next day, she attends her mother’s funeral where her cousin brings Nicole’s daughter. After the funeral, three of them comes back to the house and plans to stay the night there. Late at night Annie wakes up by some noise and finds some food lying on the floor of the kitchen. Her cousin seems missing. She tries to escape from the house taking Nicole’s daughter but some invisible force tries to keep her inside the house. She finally manages to escape with the little girl.

She goes to the police but nobody believes her. They indirectly suspect her for the missing case of Nicole and her cousin. But one officer offers her his help with investigating this case. She stays the night at a hotel, where she finds a massage about a place that has come to her phone last night. She checks the map with her phone and finds a woman’s photo there. That night, she has a nightmare about the decapitated body of that lady and some force which is keeping her inside the room.

On the next morning, with the help of the police officer, she discovers a hidden room in her late mother’s house. The room has holes on the walls to see all around the house. The officer can’t find much in there. So she then visits one of her high school friend, who is a strange blind girl with some sort of paranormal power. Annie then takes the girl and her caretaker to the house. The girl finds someone’s presence in the room and at one point starts screaming the name ‘Judas’. Referring Annie’s mother, she also says that she didn’t want anyone to know. Then she becomes sick and her caretaker takes her back from there. They all also see the ghost of a lady.

Annie does some research online and finds out that Judas is a serial killer who is responsible for some killings, including a teacher in the nearby area. She finally finds that, the victim of Judas is the lady who’s ghost she has seen in the house. She has also seen some photos of that lady with her mother. She then finds that her mother had a brother about whom they don’t know. In the meantime, the police officer finds some strange sign in one of the photos taken in that house. He goes there to investigate, but gets killed by someone.

Annie calls her friend again about the mystery. Taking her suggestions, Anny goes to that hidden room again to find the concealed truth about the house, her mother and about Judas.

A scene from the movie The Pact

My review about The Pact:
First of all, I liked this movie The Pact. The whole movie seemed well written and well directed.

The plot of The Pact is actually good and attractive. At first, it started as a ghost story, then moved the momentum to some kind of a detective one and ends in mixing these two types. And the blend of these two seemed really good. But I must say, the director has cleverly avoided making everything clear in The Pact. Some of the mysteries are kept open to the viewers’ imagination. In the whole movie, not much of the characters’ background is shown and the focus is always fixed to the current events. The screenplay of The Pact is also brilliant.

Other than the ghost parts, some other parts are there on The Pact also which didn’t seem much realistic, like, how a man can stay hidden for so many years, what has happened to Nicole and her cousin and so on. But these things will not harm your viewing experience of The Pact at all. 

The acting of all the characters in The Pact were pretty good. The dialogues were okay as well. The special effects, specially when Annie was being pulled in the air was brilliant. The make ups were also good, specially of Judas’s. The leading character, Annie was an eye candy.

The horror elements in The Pact were good enough to scare anyone. As this movie concentrates on the detective story also, so it was not full of horror scenes. But whatever is there, will give you a good thrill. The Pact keeps the tension high from the beginning to the end. Some scenes were scary enough to give you a chill down your spine.

The lighting, camera works and the sound effects were nothing more or less than the perfect. 

There is no nudity in The Pact. So, other than some graphic scenes, the whole movie is okay for children.

So, overall, The Pact is a good horror thriller. We usually don’t get to see such a worthy horror movie everyday. I’d recommend watching The Pact to all movie fans.

What are your comments about The Pact? Share in the comments.

To know more about it:
IMDB link: The Pact movie IMDB
Wikipedia Link: The Pact movie Wiki
Additional resource:  This page has a director’s interview about The Pact. Don’t see this if you haven’t already watched this movie, because it contains spoiler.  But after watching the movie, this interview should help you to find some answers. The link is : http://bloody-disgusting.com/news/3202946/director-nicholas-mccarthy-ties-up-loose-ends-on-the-pact/

Ending Explanation of The Pact :
This part contains spoiler, so I’ve written the below in white font. Don’t read this if you haven’t watched The Pact. To make it visible, select the below paragraph with your mouse:

The same color of Judas and Annie’s eye suggest that, Judas is Annie’s father. We get this hint when her cousin talks about Annie’s eyes color and says that her mother didn’t have them, so they must’ve came from her father.  Judas actually dies at the end, what Annie saw after that was her dream. And the name “The Pact” refers to the pact between Annie’s mother and Judas. 

To buy or rent this movie from Amazon or to watch online, click here: The Pact Movie

Crowsnest Movie Review

Crowsnest
                                            

Crowsnest is a found-footage or caught-on-camera style horror thriller movie released in 2012. This film is written by John Sheppard and directed by Brenton Spencer. The leading characters of the movie Crowsnest are played by Mittita Barber, Aslam Husain, Victor Zinck Jr., Chelsey Reist and Christie Burke.

The movie Crowsnest tells the story of a group of teenagers who are heading to a cabin in the jungle to spend their holidays. But on the way, they start experiencing paranormal events and then fall victim to some psychopaths.

A scene from the movie Crowsnest

Plot: 
Crowsnest starts with a boy named Justin recording the neighborhood from his window with a camera, which he has just got as a gift on his birthday from his girlfriend Brooke. Then his girlfriend’s friend Amanda and Amanda’s boyfriend Kirk come to his apartment to wish him. Justin keeps recording his everyday life with the camera, which irritates Brooke.

On the next day, these two couples and Amanda’s sister together start for a trip to a cabin in the jungle which is owned by Kirk’s parents. All of them are having fun just like normal young people except Amanda’s sister, who is a serious person and doesn’t take part in their jokes. After leaving the town, at one point, Kirk (who is driving the car) gets confused about the direction and finally they lose their way in the hills.

They stop at a nearby place to buy cheap beers. There Brooke sees a strange girl, who disappears in a few seconds. The boys also meet a horrifying old man who warns them to go back, otherwise all of them will die. They ignore the warning and heads further. At one place, they find the skinned dead body of a wild animal (maybe a deer). This scene makes Amanda's sister sick and she wants to throw up. So they stop by the road. Then a RV rushes by them nearly killing Amanda. 

The boys get furious and rush after the RV,. But at one point, the RV manages to chase them and keeps hitting their car from behind. After some time, they outrun the RV and again stop to check the condition of their car. The RV comes there again and this time, hits Amanda's sister. Then the RV runs away and the terrified group starts to look for help. None of them finds any signal in their phone so they go uphill to get network coverage. Their car stops suddenly on the way and they find something is broken. In the meantime, they find that Amanda's sister has died. When they can't move their car, the boys and Brook start to go uphill though the jungle by foot, leaving Amanda in the car with her sister. Soon after they leave, they hear Amanda's scream and rush back to the car, but find that neither the car nor anyone is there.

Justin blames all of these to Kirk and over this issue they start to fight. Finally Justin runs away from Brook and Krik and goes with the camera. After some time he finds the RV. Two people from the RV come out and then Justin enters there, finding Amanda injured and chained. He also finds a strange girl who is trying to eat a part of Amanda's sister. He kills the girl and then runs away from the RV, unable to take Amanda with him. But the two men from the RV comes back, find him and then kill him.

Brook and Kirk find the camera. They are then chased by the two men from the RV. Brook and Kirk try to hide from them, find their car and get away from the place to safety.

My review about Crowsnest:
I didn't expect much from the movie Crowsnest , but I was amazed to find it pretty good.

Now a days, a lot of horror movies are made in this accidentally-caught-on-camera style and most of them are not impressive at all. This style is getting overused and boring, but Crowsnest is a rare impressive one of them. Here, the director has shown how to successfully take the advantages of making a movie in this style.

The plot of Crowsnest  is very thin and straightforward. The ending is predictable. If you have watched a few horror movies of this style, you will be able to predict its ending successfully. There is almost no twist.

But other than the plot, everything else about Crowsnest is pretty good. The director has succeed to keep the tension high in this one. Once the thrill starts, it will be good enough to keep you at the tip of your chair till the end of the movie. We must give him credit for this movie, which seems so interesting with such a weak plot. Crownest gives you enough time to get to know the characters before jumping in to the fun parts.

The acting of all the characters in Crowsnest are good. The dialogue are not that high class, but still good. The screenplay is also not weak. The artists are good looking and fit to their characters.

The makeups are also good to but Crowsnest is a little weak on special effects. Some effects with blood didn't look natural. Another thing is, after Amanda's sister got hit by the RV, we did not see much of injury signs on her.

Here in Crowsnest, the director has successfully taken all the advantages of the style of this film. Not every details is shown here but it does not harm the viewing experience. I could not find any overuse of special effects.

For some nudity at the beginning of the film, some graphic scenes and for the language, Crowsnest is not suitable for kids.

So, finally, as I've said, I liked Crowsnest very much. Don't let a poor IMDB rating (3.4, while I am writing this review) stop you from watching Crowsnest. This movie is not popular or not much talked about, but it surely is worth a shot. I'd definitely recommend watching this good horror thriller to all movie lovers.

Have you watched Crowsnest already? How did you feel about it? Share in comments. 

To know more about it:

IMDB link: Crowsnest IMDB

Wikipedia link: no wikipedia entry about Crowsnest is found. 

To buy or rent this movie from Amazon or to watch online, click here: Crowsnest Movie

Backslasher Movie Review

Backslasher

                                                

Backslasher is a horror thriller movie released in 2012. This movie is written and directed by Tim Cowles. The main characters of Backslasher are played by Eleanor James, Emily Eaves, Michael Gamarano, Lucie Howard and Mike Prince.

The movie Backslasher is about a young model, whose friends are getting killed one by one by a serial killer, where the serial killer uses social networking sites to find the victims.

A scene from the movie Backslasher

Plot:

Becca is a young model who lives with her friends. She is passionate about lingerie and adult toys. She is trying to gain fame by vlogging (video blogging) in a social network. She and her other friends never worry about putting their personal information in social networks, open to thousands of accepted friends whom they don’t know at all. One day, she and a friend of hers blog about another friend and soon she receives a mysterious video comment from another girl.

Becca’s boyfriend visits her one day and tells her that he is moving to Germany. He does not change his decision after Becca requests him several times. At the same time, one of her friends was making out with her boyfriend in the car, when they hear a suspicious sound. Soon, a stranger kills both of them.

Becca’s boyfriend comes back to her and they have sex. Then the boyfriend leaves without changing his previous decision. Becca goes to take a shower and then she hears some noise in her room. Coming back, she finds the necklace of her friend who was killed, on her bed. She doesn’t know about the incident till then and can’t find anyone responsible to keep the necklace there.

She wants to change her place and visits some agent, but that man wants to take advantage of her. She barely escapes from there.

She soon gets a lot of spam messages from that friend. Her other friends get a friend request from a mysterious person who named him/herself as ‘/’. Becca calls and then visits her web server manager to know the whereabouts of her friend who is killed, but the manager can’t give her anything.

Then, the girl who posted a video comment on Becca’s blog gets kidnapped by someone. Then Becca receives a video message, where she sees that the girl is kept captive and is beaten by the kidnapper, who later kills the girl.

Soon, the killer goes after each of Becca’s friend one by one and kills them. He/she continues this till he/she reaches Becca.

My reviews about Backslasher:

First of all, I didn’t like the movie Backslasher at all, and I guess nobody else will. There is nothing at all in this movie to like. I felt like I’ve wasted the whole time watching it. Surely, Backslasher can secure its place in your worst-movies-of-all times list.

The plot is very weak and the screenplay is worse. Actually, at the ending I couldn’t find the point of this movie at all. I felt no sense of suspense in the whole movie Backslasher.

The acting were horrible and the dialogues were poor in Backslasher. The make ups were also poor as well. The bloods and the effects of killing were awful. The lighting and the camera works are one of the worsts I’ve ever seen.

The only not-so-bad thing about Backslasher is its music and some sound effects.

There are a few nude scenes in this movie which makes it not suitable for kids.

So, overall, watching Backslasher was a total waste of time. In a rude way, this movie is not worth watching for even 10 minutes. Will I recommend watching Backslasher to anyone? That will be a big NO.

Have you watched Backslasher? Share your views with others in the comments.

If you are still interested:

IMDB link : Backslasher Movie IMDB

Wikipedia Link: No Wikipedia entry was found for Backslasher.  

If you are still interested to watch this movie, then you can buy or rent it over Amazon by clicking here : Backslasher Movie

The Ruins Movie Reviews

The Ruins

                                                   

The Ruins is a horror thriller movie released in 2008. This movie is written by (screenplay) Scott B. Smith and directed by Carter Smith. The plot of this film is adopted from the novel of the same name by Scott B. Smith. The leading characters of The Ruins are played by Jordan Patrick Smith, Jonathan Tucker, Shawn Ashmore, Jena Malone, Laura Ramsey and Joe Anderson.

In The Ruins, we see a group of friends visiting a Mayan ruin, where they fall victim to the strange nature there and start getting killed one by one.

A scene from the movie The Ruins

Plot:

The Ruins starts with two couples, enjoying their vacation in a resort in Mexico. They meet a German tourist in their resort, who offeres them to take part on a trip he was going, which will take them to an archaeological dig at a remote Mayan ruin. He said, his brother has gone there but has not returned yet, so he is going to look for him. He already has another companion for his trip, a Greek tourist from the same resort. The couples accept his offer.

They start at the fixed day and reach to place from where they take a ride in a truck to a dense jungle. None of their phones can’t find any signal except the German’s. Then they find a hidden path, which takes them to that ruin. A girl from the couples feels suspicious about why the path is hidden, but finally goes there for peer pressure. 

The archaeological site looks something like a pyramid where most of it is covered with some vines. As soon as they reach there, some local people come and threat them with guns and arrows. They start screaming at them, but none of the groups understand the other’s language. When the German gives his phone to the leader of the local group to show his brother’s photo and enquire about him, a misunderstanding gets created and the local people kill the Greek. Being scared, the couples and the German run to the top of the ruin. Surprisingly, the local people don’t follow them there, instead they keep waiting for them by keeping a distance from the ruin. They also set a camp there and bring more people.

At the top of the ruin, the tourist group decide to stay there till help comes. They assume, when neither them nor the Greek goes back to the hotel on the next day, the Greek’s friends will come to look for them following the map they left at the hotel. They are also hopeful that, from the hotel, there absence will be informed to the police and they will come to look for them. At the top, they find two tents and other camping instruments abandoned by any previous team. The German then finds the dead body of his brother. They also hear a ringtone coming from the bottom of the pyramid. Using a shaft set up by any previous team, the German starts to go inside the pyramid to get that phone and call for help. But he falls. Then one of the girls goes down and finds him paralyzed by breaking his bones. She also cuts her knees while climbing down. She then, with the help of the other girl who comes down and the boys who run the crane, brings the German out on the top.

They find that the German’s physical condition is not good, so they make a comfortable place for him. Meanwhile, a couple goes down to the ground to reason with the locals, but fail. Becoming frustrated, she throws some vine to a little boy and later on, the villagers kill that boy. The couples understand that there is something wrong with it and the villagers are scared of the vines.    

The next morning, after waking up, they find that the vines have grown on the wound of the German and one of the girls. They remove some part of those. The cell phone from the bottom of the shaft keeps ringing, so the two girls again go down the shaft. At the bottom of the mine, they find a dead body and a broken phone, and also find the fact that, the flowers of the vine are making the sound of the ringtone. The vines attack the girls and they finally manage to escape and come on top. The group then realizes that the vines are killing the people here and that’s why the local people don’t want them to come down from the ruin. The flowers also have the ability to mimic any sound they hear. They also realize that they have no other option than to wait for help to arrive.

The German’s condition gets worse and finally, one from the group decides to cut off his legs so save his life. After some arguing, all of them agree to it and then they do it together. The legs are then taken by the veins. Staying in a situation like this, they start to lose control over themselves. One girl, who was infected by the vines, hears something and starts fighting with her boyfriend. Later, when she finds out that she has several plants inside her body, starts to cut herself to get rid of it. She then stabs her boyfriend who tries to save her. Finally, there is only a couple left alive and one of them gets ready to make a sacrifice to save the other.

My reviews about The Ruins:

First of all, The Ruins is a rare horror movie which I liked.

The plot of The Ruins is good and interesting. The ending is not like something which we are used to see regularly in horror films. It was not easy to predict the ending and the ending leaves the probation for the continuation of this movie. But not only the ending, the director has succeed to keep the suspense up throughout the movie. For more than half of the time in The Ruins  it will keep you wondering about what is actually happening here. What the local people want, who is responsible for the dead bodies, the mystery about the ringtone are something which will keep you wondering until the answers are shown.

The acting of most of the characters in The Ruins are good. I only felt Jonathan Tucker’s acting lacked some facial expressions. Everyone else has done a good job. The dialogues and the make ups also seemed completely fine. Screenplay is also good without any doubt.

The special effects of The Ruins are praiseworthy. The director has successfully kept the use of special effects to a minimum level which matched perfectly with the movie. None of the movements of the vines, or nothing else looked funny or overdo of special effects. This has specially increased the quality of this film.

The only thing I didn’t like in The Ruins is the scene where they cut the legs off the German. The scene was unnecessary graphic, which didn’t match with the whole movie. This level of graphic scene was not needed at all in this movie to make a sense. To me, this single thing has taken the grade of The Ruins a few steps down.

For a small nude scene at the beginning of The Ruins and for some graphic scenes, this one is not suitable for kids.

If you have read the novel, then can’t predict the ending of this movie from that. Although the main plot and name of the characters are same in The Ruins as the novel, but the characters’ actions are different. The ending is also completely different from that of the novel. And about ending, according to Wikipedia, The Ruins is released with three different endings and I’ve watched the one which ends with the car.

So overall, I didn’t expect The Ruins to be any good but it surprised me. With a plot this peculiar, it is hard to make a horror thriller movie, but the director has succeeded in that tough job. I’ll recommend The Ruins to all horror movie fans.

How did you like The Ruins? Share in comments.

To know more:

IMDB link: The Ruins IMDB

Wikipedia Link: The Ruins IMDB

To buy or rent this movie from Amazon, or to watch online, click here : The Ruins Movie

The Thompsons Movie Review

The Thompsons

                                                           

The Thompsons is an independent horror thriller movie about vampires,  released in 2012. This film is the sequel of the horror movie The Hamiltons. This sequel is written by Mitchell Altieri and Cory Knauf and directed by the Butcher Brothers (Mitchell Altieri and Phil Flores). The roles of the siblings in The Thompsons are mostly played by the stars of The Hamiltons, who are Mackenzie Firgens, Cory Knauf, Ryan Hartwig, Samuel Child and Joseph McKelheer. The other characters of The Thompsons are played by Elizabeth Henstridge, Sean Browne, Tom Holloway and Daniel O'Meara. 

The Thompsons tells the story of five vampire siblings, who are looking for a shelter after committing a massacre. But soon after they find a shelter, they also find that they have fallen in a dangerous trap. 

A scene from the movie The Thompsons

Plot:

At the beginning of The Thompsons we see a boy (named Francis) is trapped inside a box and he starts saying how he has got here. He starts from a hotel and travels countryside looking for more people “like them”. His car breaks down on the way and he reaches a nearby village. He keeps telling us that they are fugitives. He enters a bar and looks for someone by name over the counter but the owners say that they don’t know anyone by that name. Then a local police comes to the bar, who thinks he knows Francis from somewhere, so being threatened, Francis kills him and takes everyone from the bar as hostages. In the meantime, we see a couple, who are trying to make love in a jungle, get chased and then caught by some very strange men.

From the bar, Francis calls his twin brother and sister, who are seducing (and later, kill) a lady in Paris. The brother gives Francis some information. Then two boys come to the bar who seem to be the cousin of the daughter of that bar’s owner. Francis holds them at gunpoint and asks the daughter of the bar’s owner to tie them, but they get free and attack Francis, who then becomes unconscious.

Then we see the whole story of the vampire siblings and Francis introduces them to us. The eldest brother is the one who looks after the family. The next two are twins, who do everything together. Then come Francis and his younger brother. They were travelling somewhere and on the way, they stopped at fuel pump. At the same time, a group of robber attacked there and accidentally, the youngest brother of vampire siblings got shot. The others became furious and killed everyone, including other innocent people. Their faces were caught on camera and thus they have become fugitives. They are now hiding at different places and Francis has set out to look for some other vampires who can help them.

When Francis regains his consciousness, he finds that the owner of the bar and his whole family are also vampires like him, excluding the daughter of the owner. Francis grows a special friendly relation with her, although he never gets along with her brothers. The bar owner then offers Francis his help and calls his other siblings to come and stay with them. Taking his offer willingly, the other siblings come there. But when they reach there, they find out that it is not what it seemed like. They realize, they have fallen in the trap of the bar owner. The hunter siblings are the ones who are being haunted now. They need to find a way to survive.

My review about The Thompsons:

First of all, I didn’t like the movie The Thompsons at all.

The plot is not that bad and neither is the screenplay. But The Thompsons is specially weak at the sides of acting and dialogues. The acting was very poor although most of the characters were good looking. The twist of the plot near the end of The Thompsons felt good. But overall, the plot seemed impractical even for a fantasy horror or a vampire movie.

I have a mixed feeling about the make ups in The Thompsons. Most of the characters looked good with their fangs, bloods and vampire faces, but the wounded peoples' makeups were nowhere near realistic.

This film clearly lacked some special effects. A very small amount of special effects were used in this movie. The Thompsons could be more enjoyable with some more and good quality special effects. Lighting and camera works looked pretty good at some places and also pretty poor at some others.

Mackenzie Firgens looked stunning in The Thompsons, even in very small screen time. I just wish she was given more screen time throughout the movie.

Due to some nude scenes every now and then and for the violent nature of it, The Thompsons is not suitable for kids.

So, finally, I didn’t like The Thompsons at all. At different reviews, I’ve read that this one is better than its prequel, The Hamiltons, but I can’t comment about that because I haven’t watched the prequel yet. This movie seemed to me like just a below average vampire movie. I will not recommend watching The Thompsons to anyone.

What do you think about this one? Share with others.

If you want to learn more about it:

IMDB link: The Thompsons IMDB

Wikipedia link: The Thompsons wiki

To buy or rent this movie from Amazon or to watch online, click here:  The Thompsons Movie

Generation Um... Movie Review

Generation Um…

                                                   

Generation Um… is a drama movie released in 2012. This movie is written and directed by Mark Mann and starred by Keanu Reeves, Adelaide Clemens, Bojana Novakovic and Sarita Choudhury.

Generation Um… shows a full day of a frustrated driver, who works mainly at nights and spends his days by doing nothing important.

A scene from the movie Generation Um...

Plot:

Generation Um… shows the events of a full day of a man named John and his two female friends.

At the beginning of Generation Um…, we see John is dropping his two friends off at their house in the morning with his car. John's these two friends are not gentle, where one of them is crazier than the other. After dropping them, John reaches his apartment where we see another boy living in that same apartment, who seems to be a big fan of John. John does some work with some electronics and then goes to bed. At the same time, his female friends who live in the same house, also go to sleep.

John wakes up at the afternoon and again talks with that boy in his apartment. Then he goes to a nearby restaurant and gets something to eat, while another person comes to meet him there. John delivers something to that man and gets paid. They also talk about some issues of life in the meantime. Meanwhile, one of John's friends wakes up and starts to take drugs in the house.

After the meal, John walks nearby and comes to a place where a group is performing a small show. John enjoys their performance and after the show ends, he steals the video camera of one of them. Although he gets chased by the camera’s owner and some other people but he still manages to run away with it. He spends the rest of the afternoon recording random things with that camera. Today is John's birthday, so he receives a gift of a $75 cheque from his mother. His patents call him all the day but he avoids receiving those calls.

At the evening, he goes to his friends’ house with the camera. One of his friends is already up and busy with drugs while the other is sleeping. The one with the drugs gets excited to see the camera and poses for it and John records them. She also dances for the camera. The other one then wakes up and at first, doesn’t agree to record herself. But later, after John’s and the other friend’s persuasion, she agrees. She talks about her early life, how her mother was abused by her father and other personal stuffs which get recorded by John. John also records the two girls talking about their first love and other things.

Then the night comes and John confirms someone over phone about an appointment. Then he takes the girl to a hotel, where we get to know about their professions, John’s profession and his relation with the girls.

My reviews about Generation Um…:

First of all, I didn’t like the movie Generation Um… at all, and I don’t think, anyone else will.

The plot of Generation Um… is too slow, boring and plain. A good amount of screen time was used only to show Keanu Reeves doing almost nothing. Then, most of the other times were used to show people talking.  Actually there is nothing interesting in this movie. The whole time, Generation Um… didn’t seem to go anywhere. It didn’t give any message and will not give make a good feeling to the viewers.

The acting of all the characters were good. There is no question about the capabilities of Keanu Reeves, but Adelaide Clemens, Bojana Novakovic both has also done a great job and played their characters perfectly. Actually these three are like the full set of characters of Generation Um…, all others had very small parts. 

The dialogues also seemed good, considering the plot. The make ups and costume designs were okay.

There is a little nude scene in Generation Um… and considering the nature of this movie, you should not watch it with kids.

So, overall, I didn’t like Generation Um…  I don’t understand why Keanu Reeves had to do this movie when he had such a good reputation and fame. Anyway, after watching this movie, I felt I’ve wasted my time in a very bad way. No way I’ll recommend watching Generation Um… to anyone. 

How did you feel about it? Share in comments.

For those who are interested:

IMDB link: Generation Um... IMDB

Wikipedia Link: Generation Um... Wiki

To buy or rent this movie from Amazon, or to watch online, you will find the best deal on it here: Generation Um…Movie