Thursday, January 29, 2015

Dead Silence (2007)



Number Rolled: 27
Movie Name/Year: Dead Silence (2007)
Genre: Horror
Length: 89 minutes
Rating: UR
Production Companies: Universal Pictures, Twisted Pictures, Evolution Entertainment
Executive Producer: Peter Oillataguerre
Director: James Wan
Writer: Leigh Whannell, James Wan
Actors: Ryan Kwanten, Amber Valletta, Donnie Wahlberg, Michael Fairman, Joan Heney, Bob Gunton, Laura Regan, Dmitry Chepovetsky, Judith Roberts, Keir Gilchrist, Steven Taylor, Austin Majors

Jamie Ashen is a happily married man. Spending the night with his wife, he’s surprised to receive a package with no obvious sender. Inside the box he finds a perfectly normal looking, but creepy, ventriloquist dummy.

I know. There’s nothing worse than a recipe ventriloquist dummy movie. It’s been done to death and it’s always the same thing. Usually, that’s what I’d be saying, but this time I actually enjoyed it.

Ryan Kwanten (True Blood, Knights of Badassdom, Not Suitable For Children) is good actor and I’ve loved Donnie Wahlberg (Blue Bloods, Runaway, Band of Brothers) since I saw him as Duddits in Dreamcatcher (a guilty-pleasure alien movie). They worked well together, despite the fact that Wahlberg’s character had about as much depth as a kiddy pool. Aside from that, Judith Roberts (Eraserhead, Orange is the New Black, The Heart She Holler) was a great choice for Mary Shaw.

I’ll admit that about halfway into the film I was certain that Dead Silence was going to be like all the rest. It had all the mild shocks and creepy moving dummy eyes that you’d expect. What elevated the movie to something better was the second half.

I can’t pinpoint when the film started to get better, but I can say that once it hit that point I found it very difficult to look away from the screen. The ending was the best I’ve seen in a while.

I would definitely watch this movie again; possibly even recommend it to friends that enjoy horror.

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 21%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 52%

Netflix’s Prediction for Me – 3.7/5
Trust-the-Dice Score3.5/5

The Random Rating: PG-13

P.S. Written and directed by the creators of Saw.

Movie Trailer: 

Monday, January 26, 2015

The Interview (2014)



Number Rolled: N/A
Movie Name/Year: The Interview (2014)
Genre: Comedy
Length: 112 minutes
Rating: R
Production Companies: Columbia Pictures, LStar Capital, Point Grey Pictures, Sony Pictures (Distributing)
Executive Producer: James Franco, Kyle Hunter, Ariel Shaffir, Dan Sterling, Ben Waisbren, Shawn Williamson
Director: Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogen
Writer: Dan Sterling, Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg
Actors: James Franco, Seth Rogen, Lizzy Caplan, Randall Park, Diana Bang, Timothy Simons, Reese Alexander, James Yi, Paul Bae, Geoff Gustafson, Dominique Lalonde, Anesha Bailey, Anders Holm, Charles Rahi Chun, Guy Fieri, Ben Schwartz, Bill Maher, Eminem, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Rob Lowe

Dave Skylark is the face of a popular tabloid show. When his producer, Aaron Rapaport, begins to show interest in covering more hard-hitting and political stories, Skylark agrees. When the chance comes in the form of an interview request with Kim Jong-Un, they find themselves making a deal with the CIA to assassinate him.

I probably don’t need to explain why I decided to skip the random part of my blog and go straight for this film do I? It was on my “Top Ten Movies to Look out for in December” article, which automatically would have had it added to my list. Add to that the political mess surrounding it I couldn’t wait to wind up picking it eventually. I was way too curious.

I understand now.

I understand that The Interview was the cinematic equivalent of mooning North Korea and the fact that they got so god damn pissed about it proves that their entire government consists of spoiled 3-year-olds.

The movie had some hilarious parts. With James Franco (True Story, Good People, As I Lay Dying) and Seth Rogen (Neighbors, The Guilt Trip, Take This Waltz) as the leading men, there was no lacking for chemistry either. That being said, it wasn’t exactly the kind of upscale political commentary you might see from Jon Stewart (The Daily Show, Rosewater, The Colbert Report): truth with class. This was more: truth with ass. 

The fact is I’m happy I watched The Interview. It was no This is the End, in fact, it wasn’t even a good enough stupid movie to be on par with Ace Ventura, but it was still amusing.

As for the political shit-storm that the film started, I simply have to shake my head at it.

I’m glad that Sony put on their big-boy pants and released The Interview, even with all the hacking and threats. It may seem like something small, standing up for the release of a mostly-dumbass film, but it’s about freedom of speech in the end.

I salute the writers, directors, producers, Sony, Franco and Rogen for mooning the hell out of Kim Jong-Un with this piece.

Why? Because fuck that guy, that’s why.

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 52%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 55%

Netflix’s Prediction for Me – 4/5
Trust-the-Dice Score4/5

P.S. Small piece after the credits. Not a scene really, just a little something.

Movie Trailer: