Crazy Stupid Love (2011) Review

I like Steve Carell, I think he's one of the funniest actors we currently have. I like Julianne Moore who is a terrific actress and just doesn't get the roles she deserves. I like Ryan Gosling, especially after seeing his badass performance in "Drive", this guy has a bright Hollywood future. But did I like "Crazy Stupid Love", the romantic comedy that unites all of them? Well, sort of.

The movie sees Carell being left by his wife, played by Moore, for her colleague at work, played by Kevin Bacon. Then Carell meets playboy Gosling and the latter also makes him a fellow womanizer. What a great setup, I thought when I first heard about the movie. Knowing that directors John Requa and Glenn Ficarra had written the refreshingly insane "Bad Santa" and "I love you, Phillip Morris" I was hoping for another remarkably bold movie.

Unfortunately the story plays it safe and has Gosling falling in love with Emma Stone while Carell and Moore realize that they still have a thing for each other. It would have been nice to see a film that's braver than your average Hollywood flick in its depiction of relationships but "Crazy Stupid Love" has more problems to fight with.

There are just too many unanswered questions that kept popping up in my head. Why does Gosling pick Carell as his scholar and not anybody else? What exactly drives Moore back to Carell, is it just his new way of dressing sharply? Why does Carell's son adore his dad so much for his love to his wife if he gets divorced? Why are Kevin Bacon and Marisa Tomei, two outstanding actors, wasted in filler roles? Why does Emma Stone's role feel so tacked on? And did we really need the part about the underage babysitter being in love with Carell?

If you didn't get my point, there's a whole lot of "too much" going on and none of the separate parts feels fully completed, it seems too many crucial scenes either ended up on the editor's floor or were just totally over-written. In the case of "Crazy Stupid Love" less would definitely have been more.

Don't get me wrong, the film makes for an entertaining watch, the actors give it their best shot and there are sequences that definitely work but in its entirety the movie just feels like three really good movies blended together, it never adds up to the sum of its parts.

The Strangers (2008) Review

I like writing about films, it's fun to me. That's actually the main reason I started this whole blog, because I'm  enjoying writing about movies. But as much as I enjoy it, sometimes it can be a pain in the ass and that's mostly the case when I am dealing with a film so generic and uninspiring that it is mental torture to come up with anything at all. So here we go, welcome to "The Strangers"!

The story, if you actually care, is barely existent, we have a couple, played by Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman, being terrorized by some strangers in a house in the woods. So far, so generic. The setup is nice and creepy, the intruders wear some freaky masks and the movie is (for today's standards) surprisingly low on gore.

The end result is a mostly chilling but never scary horror film that suffers from the same weaknesses others did before. Too often we question the stupid actions of our supposedly heroes Tyler and Speedman who behave according to the rules that Wes Craven so perfectly parodied in 1996's "Scream". The big problem is that there is no post modern subtext or self awareness of the characters to generate any kind of originality.

"The Strangers" is outspokenly old-schoolish but that doesn't help the fact that we've seen all of its scenes in other (and mostly better) movies. On top of that we get some unnecessary religious symbolism at the end in the form of two Mormon boys.

If you've never seen any horror or slasher movie in your life then "The Strangers" might offer you some scares but everyone else will have forgotten the movie by the time the credits roll.

Martyrs (2008) Review

I think I've seen a couple of really weird movies in my life but I feel there has never been a movie like "Martyrs" that just made me want to stop watching. Not because it is a terrible movie but because of how gruesome, disturbing and unpleasant it is. Seriously, this was a real test of endurance but let's break it down.

"Martyrs" is a French horror movie from 2008 that has since its release repeatedly been named one of the most shocking movies of all time. I was not sure whether this should be taken as a compliment or as a warning but now that I've made it trough I know viewer discretion definitely is more than advised.

Part of the whole experience is not knowing what's about to come so I won't spoil you the story besides the fact that after a rather generic first half about a tortured girl taking revenge the movie takes an unexpectedly hellish turn. From this point on "Martyrs" will split audiences, there will be a) the ones who just get sickened by what's presented on screen or b) the ones who see beyond what's being shown and get the critical message writer and director Pascal Laugier tries to bring across.

The film's really well done, the bleached colors and the shaky cam are used perfectly to create a feeling of terror in the audience and the minimalist approach with basically just one location and a handful of actors and actresses helps heighten the tension. As an example of the modern gore film craze this movie will remain as one of the most terrifying but it will leave audiences alone who will be put off by the questionably sadistic and misogynistic execution.

I don't believe there are people who actually enjoy "Martyrs" for what it is but if you feel like you've seen everything and want to really test your limits then check out this more than controversial film.