Winter Passing (AKA Happy Endings [UK Release])

Directed By: Adam Rapp
Written By: Adam Rapp
Starring:
Zooey Deschanel
Ed Harris
Will Ferrell
Amelia Warner

“The Woman treated me as a mild curiosity all my life” – Reese

Winter Passing is the first feature film from playwright Adam Rapp.

It follows the story of Reese Holden (Deschanel) a struggling actress living in New York who is approached by a literary agent who offers her a small fortune which she will get if she can obtain letters of correspondence from her famous famous novelist parents Don (Harris) and Mary Holden (Mary has recently passed away) from early in their relationship. Reese agrees to the deal and travel back home to Michigan to be with hear father and try to find the letters. While there Reese meets the people that her father has taken in since her mother’s passing, handy(ish) man Corbit (Ferrell) and former student Shelly (Warner).

This is a really nice film and is well made by Rapp.

Zooey Deschanel is superb, she plays her character of a young woman reduced to rubble by her parents extremely well. For the first twenty minutes or so she carries the movie on her shoulders. Ed Harris gives a stirring portrayal as the reclusive writer Don Holden. Will Ferrell and Amelia Warner are really good as the supporting characters.

There is going to be people who will consider the movie a bit slow, but it is a joy to watch. All the characters are well rounded and interesting to watch interact with each other.

The music that was chosen for the movie fits in nicely where they are placed. The music adds to the tone the movie is setting.

Deschanel’s performance really fully evokes on screen how Reese is feeling, cold and lonely.

I love the first twenty minutes of the film, before we find out much about her parents, we can see the psychological damage that they have inflicted upon her, She now does cocaine and has resorted to slamming her hand in a drawer just to feel something.

His is a wonderful and emotional film with great characters, a solid story and would be worth watching for Zooey Deschanel and Ed Harris’ performances alone.

7/10 – Cody
N/A – Michael

70%

(500) Days of Summer

Directed By: Marc Webb

Written By:  Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber

Starring:

Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Zooey Deschanel

Geoffrey Arend

Chloë Grace Moretz

Matthew Gray Gubler

Clark Gregg

There’s no such thing as love, it’s fantasy… – Summer

(500) Days of Summer is Marc Webb’s stellar feature film directorial debut

This movie follows the story of greeting card writer Tom (Gordon-Levitt) who falls in love with the radiant Summer (Deschanel), who doesn’t believe that true love exists. The movie starts on day 488 and flips back and forth between the days as Tom remembers his relationship with Summer, the highs and the lows.

This film is easily one of the best romantic comedy movies ever made as it is more realistic, original and breaks away from the cinematic norm of what people expect a romantic comedy should be like. One part that is original in this movie that I personally love is the Expectations/Reality moment where we see onscreen in split-screen Tom’s expectations for a particular encounter, the reality and how different the two really are.

The acting is really great, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is wonderful as the lovelorn Tom and Zooey Deschanel is sublime as free spirited Summer. All the supporting Cast are very solid and funny especially Chloë Grace Moretz as Tom’s wise beyond her years sister Rachel and Geoffrey Arend & Matthew Grey Gubler as two of Tom’s Best Friends, McKenzie and Paul whose onscreen presence I really enjoyed.

This movie has a first rate script penned by Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber and is remarkably directed by Marc Webb.

The soundtrack is fantastic, the movie starts with the lovely Regina Spektor song “Us” and uses the Song “You Make My Dreams” by Hall & Oates in one of my favorite sequences in the movie, where Tom has slept with Summer for the first time the night before and is so happy that the song starts playing in his head and he precedes to walk to work, all the while imagining himself dancing in the street with the pedestrians around him. The film also contains songs from the always brilliant The Smiths and The Temper Trap.

This movie remains both funny and touching throughout the whole of its 95 minute run-time.

I really love this movie so very much, it’s smart, it’s sweet, it’s charming, it’s inventive and it’s quite brilliant.

10/10 – Cody

N/A – Michael

100%

 

Army Of Darkness (Evil Dead III)

Directed By: Sam Raimi

Written By: Sam Raimi & Ivan Raimi

Starring:

Bruce Campbell

Embeth Davidtz

Ian Abercrombie

Hail to the king, baby – Ash

 

 

Alright you Primitive Screwheads, listen up! You see this? This… is my boomstick! – Ash

 

I’ve got news for you pal, you ain’t leadin’ but two things, right now: Jack and shit… and Jack left town – Ash

Bruce Campbell returns to kick undead ass and spurt one-liners as Ash in this madcap third outing in the Evil Dead franchise

After Ash is accidentally transported back to the 13th century, he must retrieve the Necronomicon and battle an army of the dead which he unwittingly unleashed in order to return home

Army of Darkness is clearly the most extravagant of the Evil Dead films. Here Sam Raimi tones down the horror and ups the ante on the humour which undoubtedly make for a more entertaining movie to watch than the first Evil Dead. I am not entirely sure if it was the best of ideas as I really do love the horror aspect of the previous two films.

While Evil Dead 2 was far better for having introduced comedy, to mainly do away with the horror was a bold move but they didn’t go too far wrong, as they did add a combination witty one-liners and more deadite killing action into the franchise which makes for an entertaining viewing

Writing and directing is good in this film and Bruce Campbell is just as great as ever playing an action hero Ash. The special effects are good but by today’s standards are noticeably dated

Army of Darkness may not be great but it is great fun and is definitely worth a watch

  7/10 – Cody

10/10 – Matthew

  6/10 – Jason

  N/A – Michael

  N/A – John

77%

 

Evil Dead II: Dead By Dawn

Directed By: Sam Raimi

Written By:Sam Raimi & Scott Spiegal

Starring:
Bruce Campbell
Sarah Berry
Dan Hicks
Kassie Wesley DePaiva

 

Let’s head on down into that cellar and carve ourselves a witch – Ash

Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn is the half remake/sequel to The Evil Dead, loaded with more gore, more action and much more fun

Evil Dead 2 is about a man Ash (Campbell), who takes his girlfriend Linda, to a cabin in the woods, where they discover a tape of a man reading passages from the “Necrinomicon” (Book of the Dead), which unearths an evil force lurking in the woods

This movie is quite simply a perfect storm of gore, horror and slapstick. I love the “shakey-cam” technique used in this film to represent the evil spirits, while this was incorporated into the first film I think it is used to greater effect here

Evil Dead 2 is extremely well directed by Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell gives a manically brilliant performance as Ash. The special effects were really good especially the moments where objects are possessed. It is shot brilliantly with a real earthy feel being evoked by the woods and the set of the cabin

There is a couple of genuine scares throughout the movie, but while the first movie was a fully blown horror movie this is a fusion of horror and the three stooges slapstick humour

Sam Raimi shows the world what a horror/comedy movie should look like. All of the work put into this movie resulted one of the funniest, most inventive and feverishly brilliant horror movies ever created which also happens to be my favourite horror movie and one of my very favourite movies ever

Thank you Sam Raimi for giving us this wonderfully twisted horror masterpiece

10/10 – Cody

  7/10 – Jason

  N/A – Matthew

  N/A – Michael

  N/A – John

80%

See also: my Army of Darkness (Evil Dead III) Review

Silver Linings Playbook

Directed By: David O. Russell

 

Screenplay By: David O. Russell (Based On The Book By: Matthew Quick)

 

Starring:

Bradley Cooper

Jennifer Lawrence

Robert De Niro

Jacki Weaver

Chris Tucker

This is what I learned at the hospital. You have to do everything you can, you have to work your hardest, and if you do, you have a shot at a silver lining – Pat Solitano

Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be – Abraham Lincoln

This film was released on DVD awhile ago and I have watched it again so I have decided to review it

This is writer/director David O. Russell’s follow up his 2010 film The Fighter

Pat Solitano (Cooper) after spending time in a mental institution is now out and living with his parents and is looking to get his life back on track and get back together with his wife. Pat meets Tiffany (Lawrence) a girl with her own problems, who offers to help Pat reconcile with his wife but first he has to do something important for her.

This film is amazingly Written and Directed, it’s stunningly acted, its perfectly paced and has a brilliant soundtrack

I love the way the film plays out and everything in this movie works extremely well

In this film you really have to sit back and enjoy the ride. It’s technically a romantic comedy but unlike some others I was not bored for a second from beginning to end

After this film ends I felt happy and its a great quality in a film if it makes you happy when you watch it

Silver Linings Playbook is definitely my absolute favourite movie of 2012. Well done David O. Russell for making such a great film

10/10 – Cody

10/10 – Michael

 100%