One For the Money (2012)

Number Rolled: 44

Movie Name/Year: One For the Money (2012)

Genre: Comedy

Length: 91 minutes

Rating: PG-13

Director: Julie Anne Robinson

Writer: Stacy Sherman, Karen Ray, Liz Brixius, Janet Evanovich

Actors: Katherine Heigl, Jason O’Mara, Daniel Sunjata, John Leguizamo, Sherri Shephard, Debbie Reynolds, Debra Monk, Nate Mooney, Adam Paul, Fisher Stevens, Ana Reeder, Patrick Fischler, Ryan Michelle Bathe, Leonard Nam, Annie Parisse, Danny Mastrogiorgio, Gavin-Keith Umeh, Louis Mustillo, Harry O’Toole, Rex the Hamster, John Joseph Williams, Marla Sucharetza

Stephanie is in a rut. She can’t pay her bills, she’s just gotten divorced and to make matters worse, her car was just repossessed. Over a family dinner her mother suggests she sees about a filing job for her Cousin Vinny. When Stephanie gets there to apply, she finds the job is already done, but there’s an opening for a bounty hunter. Her interest in the job only grows when she finds that there’s a warrant out for a guy who hurt her in high school.

First of all, I’m just going to say it. Not everyone in New Jersey has a cousin named Vinny. Seriously, we got the reference twenty years ago, but it’s time to just move the hell on. There are plenty of other Italian names to use. How about we see some Nunzio’s, Antonio’s, Giovanni’s and Salvatore’s? It’s enough. Knock it off.

With that said, I really don’t know how to explain what I just watched. To be honest, when I found out this was based on a book, I decided I really would like to read it. The plot was relatively sound and interesting. On top of that, for a Katherine Heigl movie, it was relatively low on the romance scale. The romance in it was actually all secondary to the big storyline. The mystery and action involved made me think that this could be a relatively good book.

So, why is it rated so low; a 2 here and a 2% on rottentomatoes.com? Because it’s damn near unwatchable.

The actors put on Jersey accents as well as my dog could sing opera. The acting was so absolutely painful that I literally cringed, several times. The one bright spot was Debbie Reynolds, who was hilarious but almost completely unnecessary.

If you’re really interested in the plot, read the book. The movie isn’t worth it.

Overall Opinion – 2/5

P.S. This movie is based on a book of the same name by “Janet Evanovich.”

Cyberbully (2011)

Number Rolled: 95

Movie Name/Year: Cyberbully (2011)

Genre: Drama

Length: 87 minutes

Rating: TV-14

Director: Charles Biname

Writer: Teena Booth

Actors: Emily Osment, Kay Panabaker, Meaghan Rath, Kelly Rowan, Jon McLaren, Robert Naylor, Nastassia Markiewicz, Jade Hassoune, Caroline Redekopp, Ivan Smith, Ronda Louis-Jeune, John Maclaren, Marcel Jeannin, Bruce Dinsmore, Danny Blanco Hall, Tyrone Benskin

Taylor, thrilled about receiving a laptop for her birthday, signs up for the site “Cliquesters” (which is a facebook-like social networking site). After her account is hacked, she begins to experience horrible bullying from just about everyone in her school. She tries to cope with the bullying, but finds herself sinking into an inescapable depression.

I, once again, find that I like the message more than I like the movie.

As a girl who was bullied pretty much all through school, I saw a lot of familiar scenes. In fact, my heart actually hurt through most of the movie. It was like reliving some of my darkest moments. No one will be able to say that “Cyberbully” fails to capture the extent of what bullying can feel like. That extreme helplessness and internal agony was captured to such a level that, even now, it’s hard to not let my mind slip back to some of my worst memories of childhood.

The most important aspect of this film to me was that it showed another level of bullying. When people are online, they’re typing on an inanimate object. It’s easy to forget that there are human faces and emotions on the other side of the millions of screens also hooked into the internet. When people forget that they are interacting with another human, it’s easy for them to be cruel or to “kick the cat” as my mom used to say. A lot of the movie was really eye opening as a reminder that verbal venom always has a bad effect on someone.

I wasn’t all that fond of the actors, except Kelly Rowan who played the bullied teenager’s mother. Also, Some of the script and the insults were a little far-fetched, but when I actually experienced bullying some very strange stuff was said to me.

Personally, I think that this should be a movie kids entering Junior High School are required to see. Even though it might not have been the best film in the world, it was absolutely incredible in teaching the audience how to handle bullies. That is something that deserves recognition.

Overall Opinion – 3/5

P.S. Below you will find a list of sites that can help a parent who suspects their child is being bullied. Among them are also sites that will help you find out how to get help if you are the one being bullied. Remember, there is no shame in getting help – the only shame is on the bullies.

U.S.

http://www.stopbullying.gov/get-help-now/index.html

http://www.niot.org/nios/resources?gclid=CKDNl5_E8rgCFUyi4Aod30QACQ#hotlines

http://www.kidpower.org/library/article/prevent-bullying/?gclid=CMiLp_DE8rgCFVCf4Aod7R0AbQ

http://www.teenhealthandwellness.com/static/hotlines

U.K.

http://nationalbullyinghelpline.co.uk/

The Kitchen (2012)

Number Rolled: 14

Movie Name/Year: The Kitchen (2012)

Genre: Comedy

Length: 79 minutes

Rating: R

Director: Ishai Setton

Writer: Jim Beggarly

Actors: Laura Prepon, Bryan Greenberg, Dreama Walker, Matt Bush, Tate Ellington, Amber Stevens, Pepper Binkley, Catherine Reitman, Baron Vaughn, Jillian Clare, Adam Chambers, Alex Anfanger, Jace Mclean, Adam Michael Rose, Jesse Steccato, Brittany Renee Finamore, Vito Cottone, Barak Hardley, Christopher Tillman, Blair Gimma, Katherine Adams, Anne Symmes, Christina Thomas, Katie Wallack

“The Kitchen” is a relatively short movie based around a girl’s 30^th birthday party. The movie takes part completely in the kitchen of her house. Jennifer, the guest of honor, had just quit her job and her cheating boyfriend, so a party was the last thing on her mind.

If you’ve kept up with my articles, you know that I don’t type out the full plot in my first paragraph. There’s a reason for that. I find that when I read through full descriptions in a lot of reviews, I wind up getting spoiled on things. For the most part, I try to avoid adding spoilers to the site, but when it’s necessary, I will always add warnings. With that in mind, I normally post a general introduction to the beginning of the movie. There’s a problem with that for “The Kitchen.” This movie has nothing else to it; no plot, no climax, no resolution. It exists almost completely as a home video of a 30^th birthday party. Granted, it would be a really screwed up party, but that doesn’t mean there’s a plot. That means you’re watching a home video of a really bad day.

I don’t have anything to say about the actors, because their characters were so shallow on development that it’s hard to figure out whether the actors were good or bad.

Other than that, I’ll admit that there were some decent moments, but they led to nothing. The individual interesting moments simply did not come together to make anything even resembling a film; it could have passed as a stage play. Kind of.

This movie is not recommended.

Overall Opinion – 1.5/5

P.S. There are some scenes all through the credits.