Director Jay Roach, the man behind great comedy flicks that include Austin Powers, Meet The Parents as well as other Austin Power and Meet The Fockers sequels, is back again this year with The Campaign, this delightful comedy film written by Chris Henchy and Shawn Harwell and starring Will Ferrel and Zach Galifianakis.

Director:

Jay Roach

Writers:

Chris Henchy, Shawn Harwell

Starring:

Will Ferrell, Zach Galifianakis, Jason Sudeikis, Dylan McDermott

Cam Brady (Will Ferrell), a long time congressman running for his 5^th term is caught up in a scandal after a video of him naked gets leaked out which threatens to damage his stance in the upcoming elections. Seeing an opportunity to illegally double their profits, two corrupt businessmen, Glen and Wade Motch (John Lithgow and Dan Aykroyd respectively) decide to take control of the district by pushing in Marty Huggins (Zach Galifianakis) to go head to head with Cam in the elections.

As election day draws near, it gets nastier by the minute as both candidates turn up all that they’ve got underneath their sleeves to win the seat in congress.

Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis’s personalities and quirks in The Campaign are very familiar to what we’ve seen in other previous roles (pretty much exposed). One already knows what to expect from the two stars, nevertheless, both Ferrell and Galifianakis did a great job in both their roles. This film is flat out funny and very interesting as it sheds light on the political arena portraying its rather dirty nature.

Some of the best moments in the film were ironically presented by the supporting cast. Dylan McDermott’s (Tim Wattley) role as campaign manager,  and Karen Maruyama as Mrs. Yao were pretty much the only ones doing anything fun and unexpected. Secondary characters such as Marty’s kids also added some funny moments whereas other prominent supporting characters such as Katherine LaNasa, Cam Brady’s wife and Jason Sudeikis as his campaign manager had little to show off in the film.

The Campaign contains scenes that has earned it the R rating and the trailer only shows scenes that are appropriate for all audiences however, you will be surprised to find a lot of crude sexual content and language.

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Killer Joe is a dark comedy movie directed by William Friedkin and having Matthew McConaughey in the leading role as Joe Cooper. The movie is rated NC–17 for containing disturbing graphics depicting violence and brutality making it pretty offensive.

Directed by:

William Friedkin

Written by:

Tracy Letts

Starring:

Matthew McConaughey, Emile Hirch, Juno temple, Thomas Hayden Church, Gina Gershon

The story revolves around a 22 year old Chris (Emile Hirch) who gets in trouble with a drug lord after his own mother steals the cocaine he was supposed to sell. Chris decides to hire a hitman to kill his mother in order to cover his debts using her $50,000 life insurance. However, Dottie (Juno Temple), Chris’s little sister stands between him and the insurance policy as she is the sole beneficiary.

Chris, together with his father Ansel (Thomas Hayden Church)ask for the services of Joe Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) who happens to be a police detective but simultaneously works as a hired killer. Things go wrong though when Chris and his father fail to pay Cooper for his services and based on their initial agreement, Cooper takes Dottie as his personal property.

McConaughey delivers one of his best performances yet as he fully embodies the Joe Cooper character giving the impression of a mannered southern lawman with a monster underneath. The talented actor is able to fuse these qualities together so well that it makes this character so memorable. It’s been an awesome year altogether for McConaughey as he turned in fantastic performances in Magic Mike, Bernie and finally takes the spotlight in Killer Joe. McConaughey for sure deserves recognition for his role in this film. Gina Gershon (Sharla, Chris and Dottie’s stepmother), Juno temple and Thomas Haden Church convey equally captivating performances portraying the peak of family dysfunction.

Regardless of the fact that Killer Joe isn’t for everyone due to its dark and violent nature, the film with its bleak and ironic comedy is rich with terrific performances and for this alone, it is worth seeing.

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House at the end of the street is yet another horror-thriller movie that fails to impress the fans of this particular genre and could be considered a disappointed too. The story line seems to have been taken directly from movies that we’ve all watched over and over such as The Last House on the Left, A Nightmare on Elm Street and several other films depicting the idea of either a haunted house or a murder committed with bodies never found.

Director:

Mark Tonderai

Writers:

David Loucka, Jonathan Mostow

Starring:

Jennifer Lawrence, Max Thieriot, Gil Bellows, Elizabeth Shue

Sarah (Elizabeth Shue), a recently divorced mother and her daughter Elissa (Jennifer Lawrence)move into a new house in an upscale rural town looking to start a new life but soon discover that next to them lies an abandoned house where murder had taken place. Apparently, four years earlier, a girl called Carrie Ann (Eva Link) had murdered her two parents and disappeared afterwards believed by many to have drowned in a nearby dam but her body was ever found.

Carrie Ann’s brother, Ryan (Max Thieriot) was the only survivor and now occupies the property alone. He befriends Elissa and the two were getting along just fine until his mentally ill sister, Carrie Ann, escapes from the basement of their home where Ryan had kept her locked up.

With all the horror movies that one has watched in the past couple of years, one can confidently say that HATES as referred to in the trailer, is at the very bottom. Another disappointing thing about this movie is having someone very talented as Jennifer Lawrence being part of this uninteresting, lackluster and rather underwhelming film. We’ve seen Jennifer before in outstanding performances in Winter’s Bone which earned her an Oscar as well as her roles in The X-Men: First Class, Hunger Games and The Silver Linings Playbook.

There is pretty much nothing to talk about regrading the other characters’ roles in the film. None of the roles have got depth to them. Its a messy script altogether.David Louka’s attempt to put several genres within the same script has obviously proved to be a big mistake especially because it borrows almost directly from other movies which has ultimately taken it down.

On the other hand, director Mark Tonderai doesn’t seem to do any good to the script, in fact, it seems as if he focuses more on the filming techniques than on telling a story and this is evident in several sequences in the film.

Bottom line is, if you’re a horror fan to the core, then this is definitely not your place.

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With so many remade films flooding the theaters nowadays and the growing success of superhero movies especially, it was just a matter of time before Dredd would be back on the big screen again.

Director:

Pete Travis

Writer:

Alex Garland

Starring:

Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby, Wood Harris, Lena Headey, Domhnall Gleeson

Judge Dredd was created by John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra as a comic character in 1977 and was brought to the big screen in the Mid 90s by Director Danny Cannon. The film then starred Sylvester Stallone along with Diane Lane, Max von Sydow and Rob Schneider.

Dredd 3D is directed this time by Pete Travis and written by Alex Garland with Karl Urban starring as Dredd, Olivia Thirlby  as Anderson( Dredd’s assistant with extraordinary psychic abilities), Lena Healey as Ma-Ma and Wood Harris as Kay.

Dredd and Anderson set out to investigate a series of murders that have taken place at the Peach tree in Mega-City One but get trapped in the 200-story where a gang of criminals headed by Ma-Ma have taken control of the building and try to kill Dredd and his partner.

Ma-Ma synthesizes a new drug referred to as Slo-Mo which alters the inhaler’s perception of time making it slower than the normal speed. Dredd, acting as judge, jury and executioner will fight alongside Anderson to rid the building of the evil Ma-Ma and her gang and restore order to the city.

The movie’s plot isn’t new in its entirety as many of you would have noticed. In fact, Dredd 3D is pretty much similar to The Raid: Redemption. The idea of ‘fighting my way out’ has been seen numerous times before however, Dredd 3D is still a masterpiece with lots of bombastic violence and impressive special effects.

So far, the movie has earned over $20,000,000 from international markets and North America only. In the United Kingdom on the other hand, Dredd earned £1.05 million from over 400 theaters during its opening weekend placing it at the top of the chart.

This sci-fi action flick is loaded with amazing action enhanced by 3D viewing that will most certainly blow your minds away.

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This sci-fi thriller flick is the fifth installment in the Resident Evil series directly following Resident Evil – Afterlife based on the game series, Resident Evil. It is written and directed though by Paul W.S. Anderson making it his third time to direct movies in the series. It was filmed from October to December 2011 and was released September 2012.

Director :

Paul W.S. Anderson

Writers :

Paul W.S. Anderson,

Starring :

Milla Jovovich, Michelle Rodriguez, Kevin Durand, Sienna Guillory, Shawn Roberts, Arvana Engineer, Johann Urb, Oded Fehr, Li Bingbing

Even though the quality of the Resident Evil films has not been consistent, nevertheless, they remain the most popular video game based films in history.

The film features new characters from the game appearing for the first time in the series. They include Ada Wong (Li Bingbing), Leon S. Kennedy (Johann Urb), and Barry Burton (Kevin Durand).We also get to see familiar faces from the previous series such as Jill Valentine (Sienna Guillory), Carlos Olivera (Oded Fehr), Luther West (Boris Kodjoe), Rain Ocampo (Michelle Rodriguez), James “One” Shade (Colin Salmon), and Albert Wesker (Shawn Roberts).

Alice along with the others get attacked while on the Umbrella Corporation freighter, Arcadia. She later finds herself captured by Umbrella after being knocked unconscious while fighting off the Corporation’s troops. As more and more of the earth populace are turned into deadly zombies as a result of the Umbrella Corporations’s T-Virus, Alice teams up with old friends to fight against the clandestine operations of the Corporation to put an end to its evil activities.

Resident Evil : Retribution is given that straightforward style to it making it seem level-based as you would normally find in video games. Alice and her friends go through a series of fights before going head to head with the boss where a series of final fights take place. It is worth mentioning though that Afterlife compared to Retribution is seriously lacking as the fifth installment contains more exciting set-pieces.

It is hard to say that Resident Evil : Retribution sets the stage for the series finale, however, Anderson is setting the scene for what he promised to be the ultimate finale to the series. Resident Evil : Retribution is for sure a good action flick that a lot of you will definitely enjoy watching.

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The Bourne Legacy is the fourth part of the Bourne series based on Robert Ludlum’s novels and directed by Tony Gilroy. The last part having Jeremy Renner in the leading role instead of Matt Damon which is quite surprising since Damon starred in the first three parts. The film carries the title of a later written Bourne novel by Eric Van Lustbader, however, its storyline is completely different from that of the book.

Director:

Tony Gilroy

Writers:

Tony Gilroy, Dan Gilroy

Starring:

Jeremy Renner, Rachel Weisz, Edward Norton, Stacy Keach

The previous Bourne sequels based solely on Robert Ludkum’s novels undoubtedly added a different flavor to the action genre in general. Nevertheless, The Bourne Legacy fails to meet the expections of the series’ fans.

The plot goes about Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner), a member of Operation Outcome (a Department of Defense black op program) and who has super mental and physical abilities enhanced by pills constantly referred to in the film as ‘chems’. Cross is sent to Alaska to undergo a certain training program to test his abilities.

Meanwhile, the FBI and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence set out to investigate the underground operations of the CIA after they get exposed publicly by the actions of Jason Bourne as seen in the previous sequel. CIA director, Ezra Kramer (Scott Glen) decides to pull the plug on all their operations and cover their tracks by assassinating Cross and the other operatives involved in the program before the FBI gets wind of them.

Cross escapes assassination, recues geneticist , Dr. Marta Shearing (Rachel Weisz) and embarks on a mission to expose the Organisation’s clandestine program and to locate a virus that will enhance his abilities permanently.

Jeremy Renner, Rachel Weisz  and Edward Norton did a great job with regards to their performance in the film. We haven’t seen Weisz doing much in the film though apart from being rescued every now and then by Renner or avoiding gunshots by crawling on the floor. With roles in movies such as Dahmer, SWAT, Impossible 4:Ghost Protocol, The Avengers and others, Renner’s much deserved popularity is steadily gaining momentum . He is a great actor and it would be awesome to see him do something different from action roles.

The Jason Bourne story in the first three films was that of self-discovery and simultaneously uncovering the clandestine operations of the CIA. The Bourne Legacy on the other hand tends to be another big chase movie having the usual Jason Bourne bone-crushing fighting choreography but it only shows an attempt to become superhuman by getting more of a medication manufactured by the CIA.

Bottomline is, the Bourne Legacy lacks that emotional connection we’ve all developed with Jason Bourne in the previous sequels. It is disappointing to a large extent because there’s nothing new to expect, the script is cold and lifeless. In addition to all that, not having Matt Damon in the mix has left us all with a big question mark as to why the series should continue without him after his impeccable performance in the Bourne Identity, the Bourne Supremacy and the Bourne Ultimatum.

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Total Recall 2012, a remake of the 1990 movie adapted by director Paul Verhoeven and based on Philip K. Dick’s story We Can Remember It For You Wholesale seems like a combination of a whole lot of sci-fi movies reflected in the flying cars and robot policemen but it lacks originality. The movie has much of its themes taken from the original material and although it is an exciting movie to watch but it isn’t a movie that will be remembered for a very long time.

Director:

Len Wiseman

Writer:

Kurt Wimmer, Mark Bomback

Starring:

Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel, Bryan Cranston, John Cho, Bill Nighty

After a chemical war some time at the end of the 21th century, the earth gets divided into two territories the UFB which stands for the United Federation of Britain headed by the powerful Vilos Cohaagen (Bryan Cranston), and the Colony (Australia),  whose inhabitants travel to the UFB via ‘gravity elevators’ to work In their factories.

Collin Farrell plays the role of a factory worker, Quaid, a resident of the Colony who travels through the earth daily to work at the UFB in search of an adventurous life. He decides one day to visit Rekall, a facility that implants synthetic memories but his life turns up-side-down as he becomes a target for the UFO. He runs home to his wife Lori (Kate Beckinsale) but discovers that she really isn’t his wife but a spy for the UFO keeping an eye on him. Quaid joins forces with Melina (Jessica Biel) in search of the mysterious resistance leader Mathias (Bill Nighy) to fight back Chancellor Vilo Cohaagen’s forces.

Wiseman’s Total Recall can be considered as a big chase movie with awesome fight choreographies but it lacks Verhoeven’s satire and Rob Bottin’s special effects and of course, the remake excludes the trip to Mars transforming it rather into the usual Sci-fi movies that we’re all pretty much familiar with.

You might find this movie interesting if you haven’t watched the original one, however, for those that have, they would definitely miss the intrigue and paranoia surrounding the first version.

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Produced by Coraline creators Laika, ParaNorman is a stop-motion animated spookshow pretty much similar to  Monster Squad and Beetlejuice, with a pinch of Gil Kenan’s Monster House.

Director :

Sam Fell and Chris Butler

Writer :

Chris Butler

Starring : 

Kodi Smit-McPhee, Anna Kendrick, Casey Affleck, John Goodman, Jeff Garlin, Christopher Mintz-Plasse

ParaNorman is a kid-friendly animation movie about a boy Norman Babcock who can speak to the dead and who is destined to save his home town from a curse cast by a centuries old witch.

This film takes place in the small town of Blithe Hollow where a young girl was condemned to death by the villagers for practicing witchcraft. Now she’s back holding one hell of a grudge and a desire for vengeance.

Aided by his best friend, Neil, his sister Courtney and Neil’s big brother Mitch, Norman embarks on a breathtaking adventure in search of the witch’s grave in order to free the town from her curse.

Kodi Smit-McPhee, Anna Kendrick, Casey Affleck and Tucker Albrizzi play the roles of Norman, Courtney, Mitch and Neil respectively.

If you’re looking for a fun movie to watch and a great movie for kids especially, then this is one movie you shouldn’t miss.

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The much anticipated sequel to The Expendables is here but is directed this time by Simon West and written by Richard Menk and Sylvester Stallone. It also features a line-up of some of Hollywood’s best action stars that have entertained us for many years.

Director:

Simon West

Writers:

Richard Menk, Stallone

Starring:

Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Terry Crews, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Chuck Norris, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis

Stallone is back with all the boys including action star figures from the 80s and 90s adding an action-comic flavor to the movie. Big names such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Bruce Willis and Terry Chucks have joined the cast for the sequel creating one of the largest collaborations in the movie industry.

Stallone (Barney Ross), as usual, is the leader of the team, Jason Statham (Lee Christmas),a  blade specialist, Jet Li (Yin Yang), martial artist, Terry Crews (Hale Caesar), weapons specialist, Randy Coutour (Toll Road), demolitions expert as well as Dolph Lundgren (Gunner Jensen) a sniper.

The expendables were on a seemingly simple mission to retrieve an item from an airplane in Albania. However, after they successfully retrieve the item, they get attacked by Jean-Claude Van Damme (Jean Vilain) and his gang threatening to kill Billy (one of Barney’s men) if the retrieved item isn’t handed over. Jean Vilain gets the item, kills Billy and flees.

This is where it all gets personal for the expendables who embark on a mission to retrieve the item which poses a great threat to the world and also revenge for the death of their friend.

It is expected that big Hollywood stars may be joining the cast for the third sequel. Amongst the list of stars likely to appear in the upcoming sequel are Nicholas Cage, Wesley Snipes, and John Travolta.

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I’ve seen numerous promotional material for THE WATCH but it wasn’t a film that was initially on my radar. Sure, it had the potential to be funny with the likes of Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn and Jonah Hill filling out the cast and Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg providing the screenplay for the film. Aliens attacking earth leading to the local neighborhood watch being our only hope for survival. I didn’t buy it – at first but decided to give it a chance anyway. A 50/50 chance is all we have when deciding to see a movie or not with the outcome either being good or bad. THE WATCH was at the low end of my expectations and after seeing it, the film barely exceeded those expectations — surprisingly so but not by much as it was basically the same song and dance we’ve seen time and time again from the above mentioned actors and the inexperienced director who was behind the camera for this one didn’t help either.

Director : 

Akiva Schaffer

Writer : 

Seth Rogen

Starring : 

Ben Stiller, Vince Vaugn, Jonah Hill, Billy Crudup, Richard Ayoade

A group of friends (Stiller, Vaughn, Hill, and Richard Ayoade) form a neighborhood watch group for their suburb to allow them time to bond and escape from their families. However, when the group discovers a plot that threatens the entire world, they are forced to confront it head on.

While THE WATCH was full of hilarious moments that had me laughing out loud more than I thought it would, the film as a whole was pretty underwhelming to say the least as it failed to bring anything new to the table. Movies involving some sort of alien invasion have been done before. INDEPENDENCE DAY built its storyline around the presence of Will Smith and some pretty sweet action sequences while the more recent SUPER 8 pulled at the heartstrings with its terrific acting performances, keeping the alien creature a mystery throughout the entire film. THE WATCH basically threw Stiller, Vaughn and Hill in front of the camera, gave them some crude dialogue to spit out while making the “alien invasion” play second fiddle to all of the nonsense the trio could come up with. LONELY ISLAND member and SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE writer Akiva D. Schaffer was at the helm for this one and with only one other directorial credit to his name (2007′s HOT ROD), I’m not sure why 20th Century Fox put the movie in the hands of such an amateur.

Not that the storyline allowed for any kind of excitement or the element of surprise but there was no way Schaffer would be able to give us a film that was more than just Stiller, Vaughn and Hill doing and saying whatever the hell they wanted while pretending to even give a shit that an alien invasion was on the horizon. Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg penned the script but you could tell the dialogue was mostly improvisation by the trio as there was no kind of order when it came to making THE WATCH a complete film. Shame too because the actual aliens in the movie were pretty frightening. They were very violent too (when given the chance to be) while ripping out hearts and tearing away human skin as they saw fit. However, the filmmakers decided that the actual premise involving the neighborhood watch capturing said aliens wasn’t going to be the main focus of this movie and that right there was the first mistake.

Ben Stiller’s a funny guy, a bit awkward but funny. I’m a fan his previous work in films like DODGEBALL and MEET THE PARENTS but others find him a lot funnier than I do. That said, he came off a bit whinny while trying to be this overbearing leader but that got annoying quick. I’m a huge fan of Vince Vaughn’s previous work. WEDDING CRASHERS and OLD SCHOOL would probably be my top two films of his but I did not like his character in this movie at all. He was too over-the-top for me and it seemed like he was trying to rehash the material that made some of his previous character’s funny as hell — and it did not work. It goes without saying that Jonah Hill’s star is rising. 21 JUMP STREET did gangbusters at the box office earlier this year and he’s coming off an Oscar nod for his performance in last year’s MONEYBALL. SUPERBAD to this day is the funniest movie I’ve ever seen so to say I expected another solid performance from him would be an understatement. While he was very funny and provided the majority of the laugh-out-loud moments the movie had to offer, I feel like he was a bit underutilized alongside Stiller and Hill — mistake number two by the filmmakers. Richard Ayoade who I’m not too familiar with rounded out the neighborhood watch but he might as well had been invisible as he failed to make an impression at all. Maybe one or two funny moments from him but that was it. The crazy part is that he ended up being a intricate part of the plot once the climax of the film rolled around but other than that, he wasn’t memorable at all. There wasn’t any chemistry between the actors themselves at all and I didn’t see any attempt to make that happen either.

THE WATCH failed to meet the bench mark set by previous R-rated comedies 2012 has seen hit screens this year and that letdown falls squarely on the shoulders of 20th Century Fox. The premise of an alien invasion hitting a small town coupled with the local neighborhood watch being the ones responsible for humanities safety had the potential to be great, given the comedic star power the filmmakers had at their disposal but the sloppy writing and the inexperience in the director’s chair left a lot to be imagined and made for one underwhelming film to say the least. There were some hilarious moments don’t get me wrong but they were few and far between and left me with a sour taste in my mouth. I will still venture out to the theater to see Jonah Hill’s next film and will more than likely get excited when Vince Vaughn’s next movie hits the big screen but I would not give THE WATCH another go anytime soon as it was pretty much Stiller and Vaughn trying to hog the spotlight while Hill stood and watched in the background. Not a complete film at all.

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Reference :

www.thereel-scoop.com