NATO chief declares 2015 “year of women”

Posted on April 21, 2015 by reelentropy

Photo courtesy Walt Disney Motion Picture Studios

Following the success of Fifty Shades of Grey, Cinderella and Insurgent, the National Association of Theater Owners chief John Fithian has said 2015 will be the biggest year ever at the international box office and women are the reason why.

Via The Hollywood Reporter–

“Research by the Center for the Study of Women in Television and the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media has shown that only 12 percent of leading roles in 2014 went to women even though women bought half of all movie tickets. In 2015 women get a little more of the limelight,” Fithian continued. “Three successful movies so far this year had women in leading roles and sold 60% or more tickets to women. And we have so much more to come, with big female roles in horror, comedy, science-fiction, animation, family, western, thriller and action. Personally, I am so pleased that my daughter can see more women in leading roles than ever before.”

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What is the “It” in It Follows?

Posted on April 20, 2015 by reelentropy

After having ostensibly consensual sex with her, Hugh chloroforms Height and chains her to a wheelchair to force her to experience the horror she is now infected with. Afterward, he dumps her unceremoniously on her front lawn in only her underwear, further adding to the rape imagery and implications of this sequence. Photos courtesy RADiUS-TWC.

It Follows does exactly what it says on the tin — it feels like an urban legend you’ve known your entire life.

Early in the film, Jay Height (Maika Monroe) has sex with her new boyfriend, Hugh (Jake Weary), who gives her a unique STI. A creature will follow her, wherever she goes. If it reaches her, it will kill her, and then continue on its way back to Hugh and then onto the woman who gave it to him. The only way to get rid of the creature is for Height to pass it along to the next victim.

It Follows is an excellent movie. It’s rarely scary or unpleasant to watch, while at the same time being uncomfortable all the way through and leaves its audience with a lasting sense of paranoia. This is exactly the feeling a horror film should create.

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Paul Blart sequel just as terrible as first film

Posted on April 17, 2015 by reelentropy

In one scene, Blart passes out from his hypoglycemia and must use a nearby child’s melting ice cream to revive himself. He crawls forward, moaning about his need for sugar, and then lies underneath the dripping cream, followed by an extended shot of the cream getting all over his face as he desperately tries to swallow it. In this scene, James graphically turns himself into the cockroach and the whore that he was to make this movie. Photos courtesy Columbia Pictures.

This is what you do. This is what you mother fuckers do. You easily entertained, intellectually infantile, giggle-while-you-watch-shadows-dance-on-the-cave-wall idiots. You people who think 3D is actually worth something, you people who shell out for that shot of Taylor Lautner’s abs that the trailer already gave away, you people who take your children to the post-Pixar holocaust of cartoon movies, this is what you do. You turn Paul Blart: Mall Cop into a franchise.

In the opening scenes of Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2, in what is very much the best part of the film, Blart’s (Kevin James, who also writes) wife leaves him after six days and his mother gets hit by a milk truck. But he just as quickly receives a ray of light when he is invited to the national mall security conference in Las Vegas. There, the hits keep coming as Blart fights with his daughter and pretty much everyone he comes into contact with. Soon, this conflict becomes justified as Vincent (Neal McDonaugh) attempts to pull several priceless pieces of art from the hotel.

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Reely understanding The Fast and the Furious

Posted on April 17, 2015 by reelentropy

Going into what should be Furious 7’s third straight week at no. 1, I wanted to jot something down about the first Fast and the Furious movie. A big part of how this series has stayed fresh is through stunts that are constantly escalating. From destroying Rio with a bank vault to engaging a tank to jumping one of the most expensive cars in the world through the Etihad Towers, the series’ stunts are constantly ramping up and they’re all real and they’re all thrilling and they all miss the point. The final scene of the first Fast and the Furious movie is simply one of the best action climaxes of all time, and it’s got nothing to do with the stunt itself.

The scene is simple — an emotionally charged drag race between Brian O’Connor (Paul Walker) and Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel). But in context, there is so much more going on than that. Watching the movie again, we see a constant conflict between O’Connor and Toretto, and not because O’Connor is an undercover cop and doing his sister. The pair are in a constant struggle about who is more masculine, all of which is buildup to the climax.

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Unfriended chills with good old-fashioned character drama

Posted on April 16, 2015 by reelentropy

The suddenly ghostly looking blank profile picture is also haunting in its own way. Photo courtesy Universal Pictures.

Unfriended is a bold, refreshing horror movie, not because of its found-footage ish central conceit, but because of what it’s about.

The film is almost entirely in one long screen take of Blaire Lily’s (Shelley Hennig) computer. She Skypes with her friends on the anniversary of Laura Barnes’ (Heather Sossaman) suicide, but their chat is invaded by a mystery person using Barnes’ account. The mystery user systematically tortures them, forcing them to either reveal secrets about themselves or kill themselves. The characters are forced to confront each other and themselves about the ways they’ve wronged each other, as well as what they did to Barnes.

Unfriended is a sterling horror movie, not because of the jump scares or shock value, but because of what’s going on between the characters. The Skype ringtone is never going to be scary, but that’s not what you’re supposed to be afraid of here. Really, it’s less of a horror movie and more of a Greek tragedy joined midway through act two.

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