Thursday, May 8, 2014

Odd Thomas (2014)



Number Rolled: 98
Movie Name/Year: Odd Thomas (2014)
Genre: Thriller
Length: 96 minutes
Rating: NR
Director: Stephen Sommers
Writer: Stephen Sommers, Dean R. Koontz
Actors: Anton Yelchin, Ashley Sommers, Addison Timlin, Nico Tortorella, Willem Dafoe, Kyle McKeever, Carmen Corley, Maisha Diatta, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Jack Justice, Robin Lanning, Shuler Hensley, Arnold Vosloo, Morse Bicknell, Laurel Harris, Melissa Ordway, Patton Oswalt, Kyle T. Cowan

Odd Thomas lives up to his name. In a small town populated by mostly ordinary people, he has the ability to see beyond life. Ghosts go to him, often for help, and he does his best to get them justice for their death. When strange creatures begin appearing, Odd begins to investigate, hoping he’ll be able to find out what they’re so interested in.

This move was absolutely amazing. I think I held my breath through most of it. However, I’d be less likely to put it in the thriller genre and more likely to call it a horror-comedy. There was some good suspense and a large crime-drama feel to parts of it, but the script was hilarious and the supernatural aspects definitely said something different than “thriller” to me.

The actors in the movie were remarkable and the story was so good it’s convinced me to go forth and read Dean Koontz (the author who wrote the book this movie was based on).

You should know that this movie only had a limited release and was on DVD less than a month later. I assume that’s because critics panned it. Keep in mind: although the critics seemed to hate it, the audience voted very differently on RottenTomatoes.com. We all know why, too. Critics have a deceptively hard time getting the stick out of their asses long enough to give any movie with financial issues half a shot. Odd Thomas simply wasn’t one of the lucky ones that got a chance.

I’d advise anyone with interest in supernatural stories to watch this movie ASAP.

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 34%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 66%

Netflix’s Prediction for Me – 4.9/5
Trust-the-Dice Score5/5

The Random Rating: PG-13 bordering on R. This one is difficult to come up with a rating for. There are more than a couple of violent moments. They’re mostly moderate, but there are two scenes I can think of that up the gore factor significantly. There is no nudity.

Movie Trailer:

Monday, May 5, 2014

Cow Belles (2006)



Number Rolled: 33
Movie Name/Year: Cow Belles (2006)
Genre: Comedy
Length: 85 minutes
Rating: TV-G
Director: Francine McDougall
Writer: Matt Dearborn, Stu Krieger
Actors: Aly Michalka, AJ Michalka, Jack Coleman, Sheila McCarthy, Michael Trevino, Christian Serratos, Ron Gabriel, Chris Gallinger, Michael Rhoades, Von Flores, Sandy Robson, Duane Murray, Ordena Stephens, Dylan Roberts, Stuart Clow, Craig Eldridge, Alex Hood, Sharon McFarlane, Paula Brancati, Amanda Tilson, Jean Yoon

Two sisters are living life off their daddy’s money. One, Taylor, is just working on getting her driver’s license. The other, Courtney, is planning an expensive party with her friends from the country club. When their spending gets out of hand, their father forces them to take a job at his dairy factory.

This movie gave me exactly what I expected: a caste-based stereotype with absolutely nothing new to bring to the table. It was not only a completely mediocre storyline, but the characters were shallow enough that I don’t think the very best actors in the world could have pulled them off. Most of the actors were as mediocre as one would expect for a TV film geared toward teens, but there was one that just took ‘bad’ to a whole new level, Chris Gallinger. Seriously, I wanted to throw cheese at my TV screen every time he opened his mouth.

I wish that was the worst of it.

I do make some allowances for movies like this. Maybe it’s wrong, but I hold them to a lower standard because they really aren’t going to be all that good in general. Most of the time, I’m just happy if they’re watchable. Sure, every once in a while I come across a gem that I really enjoy (like Cadet Kelly), but those tend to be the exception, not the rule.

Due to my low expectations, I’m usually willing to forgive crummy performances and characters with no depth. I found this movie as unforgiveable as I did simply because the main storyline is never actually resolved. You’re left with absolutely no resolution to the main conflict.

Cow Belles isn’t worth the time it takes to watch it.

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – None
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 63%

Netflix’s Prediction for Me – 2.5/5
Trust-the-Dice Score1/5

Movie Trailer: