Thursday, June 26, 2014

Sexy Evil Genius (2013)



Number Rolled: 11
Movie Name/Year: Sexy Evil Genius (2013)
Genre: Thriller
Length: 90 minutes
Rating: R
Affiliated Companies: Launchpad Productions, Piller/Segan/Shepherd, Sobini Films, Lionsgate
Executive Producer: Nellie Nugiel, G. Scott Paterson, Schott Shepherd, Cami Winikoff
Director: Shawn Piller
Writer: Scott Lew
Actors: Katee Sackoff, Michelle Trachtenberg, Anthony Michael Hall, Seth Green, Harold Perrineau, William Baldwin, Nora Kirkpatrick

Brought together by their ex-lover, Nikki, three people wait for their past girlfriend to show up. Sharing drinks and tales about their torrid relationships, they find that none of them have a clue as to why they were summoned. When Nikki finally arrives with her current lawyer beau, they think they’ve finally figured it out, until the dramatic woman opens her mouth.

This movie should have gotten a lot more attention when it came out. It was incredible. I thought the storyline was intense; not over thought, but not too simple. For most of the movie it felt like getting to be a fly on the wall for an interesting conversation.

The fact that the majority of the movie took place in one room with only five characters it was necessary to know the names of, didn’t throw me. After all, my favorite movie is Clerks.

There were no big explosions. There was no chase scene. There wasn’t really much of a “who-done-it” theme, either. Still, I don’t disagree with the genre. That, in itself, is very impressive. The writer and director of this movie took a script based on dialog and created a success thriller. The last movie I’ve seen that accomplished in was Pulp Fiction and there was a lot of actual violence in that movie.

Seth Green is amazing. His timing and his epic geek-ness is god-like. It was no shock that he held up his part, but the other actors did just as much. I feel like Katie Sackoff overacted a bit, but I also feel like it was called for in order to represent her character as well as she did.

I get why Sexy Evil Genius didn’t get more recognition. It doesn’t cater to the lowest common denominator. It was smart and it had faith that the audience could put two and two together without being led there step-by-step. I won’t deny that I like some of my lowest-common-denominator recipe films, but it’s a shame that there’s no room for something like this among them.

This is why we can’t have new things.

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – None
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 46%

Netflix’s Prediction for Me – 4.6/5
Trust-the-Dice Score4.5/5

Movie Trailer: 

Monday, June 23, 2014

Beauty & the Briefcase (2010)



Number Rolled: 48
Movie Name/Year: Beauty & the Briefcase (2010)
Genre: Romance
Length: 86 Minutes
Rating: PG 13
Affiliated Companies: ABC Family, Von Zerneck Sertner Films
Executive Producer: Ira Pincus, Jessica Rhoades, Robert M. Sertner, Frank von Zerneck
Director: Gil Junger
Writer: Michael Horowitz, Daniella Brodsky
Actors: Hilary Duff, Chris Carmack, Michael McMillian, Amanda Walsh, Kevin Kirkpatrick, Jennifer Coolidge, Matt Dallas, James McDaniel, Jaime Pressly, Courtney J. Clark, Tarik Naim Alherimi, Lacey Minchew

Lane is an aspiring writer, but her little articles in small magazines are not enough. Throughout her life, all she’s ever wanted was to write for Cosmo. She even has a shrine to the publication. When she gets the chance to write an article for them as she attempts to find her “magic man,” she can’t jump at the chance fast enough.

It’s easy to see what ABC was trying to do with Beauty & the Briefcase. They were trying to make a watered-down version of Sex and the City for young adults. They captured the superficiality of the cast and the self-centered nature of the main character, but missed any part that might have actually made the movie interesting.

With films like this one, it’s always clear from the very beginning which two characters will wind up together. This was no exception, but the script never really offered any foreshadowing for the finale. It made the already superficial story line feel even more plastic, and the ending was outright ridiculous.

I enjoy Hilary Duff as an actress, but I shouldn’t. She plays every character exactly like the one before. Still, I find her amusing, if not entertaining. Michael McMillian was fun to see. I haven’t seen him in anything since What I Like About You, and I actually like him a lot.

Unfortunately, one great actor and one semi-amusing actress wasn’t enough to save this cringe-based, uncreative, superficial, bad vision of a movie.

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – None
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 45%

Netflix’s Prediction for Me – 1.9/5
Trust-the-Dice Score1.5/5

Movie Trailer: