Film: Scream 4

GENRE: Horror
RATING: R for strong bloody violence and language
RUNTIME: 1hour and 51 minutes
STARRING: Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, David Arquette Emma Roberts (Nancy Drew), Hayden Panettiere (Heroes)
DIRECTOR: Wes Craven (A Nightmare on Elm Street)
WRITER: Kevin Williamson (Screams, Vampire Diaries)
PLOT: Sidney Prescott returns home for a book tour. People get killed by Ghostface. Who is the murder(s)? Same stuff, different decade.

FIVE OBSERVATIONS:
1 The opening sequence is familiar, twisty, entertaining and predictable all at the same time. You have to see it to believe it.
2 I didn’t really connect well with the new cast. Rory Culkin (Signs) looks too weird with his long hair. Erik Knudsen (Scott Pilgrim) was trying too hard to be Jamie Kennedy’s Randy from the first film. Nico Tortorella is too obvious as a red herring. The girls were all fine.
3 I didn’t buy Adam Brody (The OC) as a cop; still too young looking. Marley Shelton (Planet Terror) as Deputy Judy was trying too hard to be suspicious. This police force is so incompetent that they would have overhauled the whole department and fired Sheriff Dewey. I would never feel safe in this town.
4 The story was fine. Nothing beats the first two. It had more gore, more meta references and surprisingly more clichés. Like usual, the killer talks too much, no one checks a pulse, everyone leaves their doors open and run upstairs. When will people learn? But what else do you expect from a horror film?
5 There’s this great moment when the movie could have ended and should of. It would have changed the whole series. Too bad.

RECOMMENDATION: Wait for the DVD
UPCOMING REVIEWS: Thor, Pirates 4

Film: Source Code

GENRE: Thriller/Mystery
RATING: PG-13 for some violence and language
RUNTIME: 1hour and 33 minutes
STARRING: Jake Gyllenhaal (Prince of Persia, Jarhead) Michelle Monaghan (Eagle Eye), Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air)
DIRECTOR: Duncan Jones (Moon)
WRITER: Ben Ripley (Species III)
PLOT: A soldier wakes up in the body of an unknown man and must find and bomb and the bomber on a commuter train. He has 8 minutes. He can do it over and over again too.

FIVE OBSERVATIONS:
1 I’m not a big fan of Gyllenhaal but he was pretty good in this film. I like him better on the train rather than the overly emotional intensity of the pod used to keep him coming back to the train.
2 Russell Peters is fun. (It was filmed in Montreal) I don’t know why he didn’t just play himself though, especially since he gets to do a stand-up routine near the end.
3 I like the concept of returning for only eight minutes; that amps up the intensity. I wish he went back more times though and learned more info about everyone on the train. Gyllenhaal was usually too abrupt with other characters making the situations a little weird.
4 While they packed a lot of action and mystery in 90 minutes, I found I didn’t relate much to the characters and didn’t really care what happened to them. Michelle Monaghan’s character was cute and all but she just looked confused most of the time. Maybe eight minutes was a little short. Also, the ending was weird and need more explanation. But maybe that’s just me.
5 I totally knew who the bomber was the first time around. This was no Sixth Sense.

RECOMMENDATION: Wait for the DVD
UPCOMING REVIEWS: Scream 4

Film: Limitless

GENRE: Thriller/Mystery
RATING: PG-13 for violence and drug use
RUNTIME: 1hour and 45 minutes
STARRING: Bradley Cooper (The Hangover, The A-Team)
Abbie Cornish (Suckerpunch), Robert DeNiro (Goodfellas)
DIRECTOR: Neil Burger (The Illusionist)
WRITERS: Leslie Dixon (Thomas Crowne Affair, Pay it Forward)
PLOT: A writer takes a top-secret drug which makes him incredibly intelligent but the side-effects cause problems.

FIVE OBSERVATIONS:
1 I remember watching Bradley Cooper as Sydney Bristow’s best friend on Alias; he sure has come a long way. Cooper does a great job carrying this film. He is dynamic and fun to watch. It’s unfortunate about his hairstyles though.
2 I liked the concept. You can’t help but wonder what you would do with that kind of boost of intelligence.
3 Neil Burger uses some fun visuals in the first half of this film. Some cool things with letters dropping and numbers flipping. I wish there was more of that in the second half.
4 The opening credits use a disorienting zooming effect. It was interesting but made me a little light headed.
5 Some of the scenes are a little disturbing. There is a violent scene and a survival scene that definitely makes the audience wince.

RECOMMENDATION: Wait for the DVD
UPCOMING REVIEWS: Source Code