Easily Alfred Hitchcock’s most famous movie, and one of his best. Psycho is a horror marvel that throws you into this creepy, yet mesmerizing world that Norman Bates inhabits. Forget Jason Voorhees, Norman is the ultimate mama’s boy creep. What works best about the movie overall is that for most of it, you never really know where Norman Bates lies. Is he the tragic hero, the terrifying villain, or a little of both? A lot of movies (Scream and The Sixth Sense just to name a couple) owe huge thanks and gratitude to this movie. It’s not necessarily the scariest film ever, but it came out at just the right time to make its impact. Perhaps what makes the character of Norman scariest is the fact that he feels like an average guy. On the surface, he’s calm and collected, but there are hints of darkness to him as well. The shower scene is perhaps one of the most famous scenes in horror history. It has been parodied. It has been duplicated, but never rivaled. If you’re in the mood for an interesting, albeit, creepy as hell, character study into the man known as Norman Bates, don’t pass it up.
10 / 10
Jurassic Park remains one of the greatest science fiction movies ever made. Jeff Goldblum delivers a career-defining performance. Not one actor in the movie feels out of place, or miscast. They all do a fantastic job in their roles, even the child actors in the movie. Child actors can often bring a movie down, but the kids in this movie really work. Admittedly, it is a touch weird whenever I see Samuel L. Jackson in a movie and he doesn’t constantly drop the F-bomb. John Williams’ score is fantastic and has a swelling, bombastic feel to it. The visual effects still hold up, marking some of the best of all time. The direction is expertly done in this movie. Steven Spielberg does incredibly with balancing the whimsy and adventure of the movie. There are several scenes that do an excellent job with building tension, particularly with the scenes involving the velociraptors. Some of the computer technology in the movie has become dated at this point, though that’s only a nitpick. The movie does feel a touch slow in the middle, but I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing, because it still gives the audience room to breathe
10 / 10
I understand the initial hype behind The Blair Witch Project. It’s easily one of the movie divisive horror movies of all time. People either seem to love it or hate it. Personally, I respect the movie for breaking ground in the horror genre, but I don’t love the movie. The pacing is awkwardly slow. The Blair Witch herself is supposed to be a looming presence, but is terribly explained as a character. I can forgive the bad acting, since they were all unknowns who never acted again after this movie. I will give props to the gritty, home movie look because it was something new at the time. The found footage element was used more effectively to add to the movie instead of being used as an easy way to make money. I hate to say this, but I was never able to bring myself to like or care about the characters. It just felt like they spent the majority of the movie complaining and at each other’s throats. The development behind them was far too little. The plot wasn’t effective enough, as I didn’t find myself thinking about the movie much at all. Blair Witch was a big letdown.
5 / 10
I am glad to say that I liked Insurgent. Generally, I thought the acting in the movie was pretty good, particularly from Shailene Woodley. The action sequences in the movie were entertaining, and there were some good moments of tension. I also would like to point some praise at Miles Teller, personally. I felt he brought some genuine charm and charisma to a character who should have been an unlikable douche bag. Unfortunately the movie isn’t free of its flaws. The movie grinds to a slow crawl at times, and teeters on the edge of being boring. This is a line, the movie, thankfully never outright crosses. Some of the romantic dialogue in the movie does feel a little cheesy, and all-around, unnecessary. At points, I honestly found myself confused as to what was happening. Fortunately, these kinds of moments didn’t happen often enough to detract from the movie too much. Octavia Spencer and Ray Stevenson were the two most wasted cast members, never seeming to be all that important to the overall story. Despite some pretty glaring flaws throughout, I thought Insurgent was a good enough popcorn movie. It was nothing deep, but it wasn’t too shallow either.
7 / 10
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water is a movie I cannot make heads or tails of. This movie will definitely be fun for two groups of people, though. Little kids will love it, and so will stoners. The entire movie felt as though the writers were on an epic high. Honestly, that’s what made this movie so much fun to watch. Everything comes completely out of left field. There were still some elements I found I could have completely done without, such as the obnoxious seagulls annoying Antonio Banderas. Some of the scenes with Antonio Banderas himself seemed like they were just used as padding. The moments in the movie that involved Spongebob and his friends and the complete and utter craziness they find themselves involved with were absolutely amazing. I recommend this movie to hardcore Spongebob fans and little kids. I think if you absolutely hate Spongebob, and have from the beginning, then don’t watch this movie at all. If you ever were a fan, you’ll like it. The humor is at just the right balance. It’s just juvenile enough that it doesn’t exclude kids, and just adult enough that parents won’t completely hate themselves for seeing it.
8 / 10
Chappie is a very difficult movie to put into words. It is, by far, the craziest movie I have seen so far this year. The storyline wasn’t the most original, but was interesting enough to keep me going. The effects were fantastic, and the rare action sequences were beautiful for an action movie fan to witness. I think an absolutely fantastic movie was in here somewhere because I did notice sprinkles of originality. I like most of the characters, and actors, too. I saw the ambition Chappie had, but never really felt it reached its full potential. The character of Chappie himself was easily the best character in the movie. I found him to be the most interesting and the most relatable. I liked the idea of showing how easily a child’s mind could be corrupted, and I felt that having two rappers playing the ones who corrupt him, spoke to me. While I did like the story, the movie was terribly paced. It would speed up, and then slow way down. It would do this throughout the movie. Sigourney Weaver was completely wasted, and I never felt as though her character served any sort of purpose to the plot.
7 / 10
Kingsman is easily the first great straight-up action movie of the year. It’s clear the filmmakers, lead by director Matthew Vaughn of Kick-Ass and X-Men: First Class, understand and appreciate old school spy movies. The plot is ridiculous in the best way possible. The entire cast is well-used. Samuel L. Jackson is both terrifying and out-right hilarious as a villain who wants to wipe out a good chunk of the population, but can’t stand the sight of blood. Newcomer Taron Egerton showcases huge potential. Colin Firth, Michael Caine, and Mark Strong all bring the right balance of bad-ass and elegant to the story that is needed. Firth’s mentor character, Harry Hart is easily my absolute favorite character in the movie. The young protagonist character does feel a tad familiar, though Taron Egerton manages to help make the character understandable and likable. Certain plot elements that are brought up in the movie probably could have been smoothed over, or explained better, but the out-and-out fun this movie brings to the table with its memorable characters and balls-to-the-wall action sequences easily overshadow certain short-comings in plot and certain character’s actions.
9 / 10
