Cinema Alliance Movie Reviews

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This tongue-seriously-inserted-in-cheek rendition of the spaghetti western genre via Mexico, Casa De Mi Padre spoofs the genre in a really fun way. Told entirely in Spanish with subtitles (Will Farrell spent a month learning Spanish), the dialog, sets, costumes, etc. sent the authenticity of the idea well.

Much of the funny moments come in the dialog even though you’re reading them through subtitles. Their are plenty of visual gags as well as some of the scenes take place in what are obviously movie sets that are akin to the old westerns, complete with fake white jaguars! There’s also numerous rear-projection scenes inserted at the right times for proper cheesiness.

The acting is a blast to watch as all the serious notes play out while hitting the comedic notes in unexpected ways sometimes. The WIll Ferrell ass shots during the love scene are hysterical.

There’s some great cheap 70’s fun in here too, there’s one sequence that starts with an animal attack, goes into an apology from the director, and then ends up back in a psychedelic talking jaguar sequence. Wait, what? Trippy…

The directing and writing are cleverly crafted and orchestrated making the film a really kind of a big fun goof to behold. Behind the film is Will Ferrell who produced and stars in the film, along with Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation) as well a quick cameo from Molly Shannon.

It’s worth seeing just for the talking psychedelic jaguar sequence, be sure to watch it through the credits.

reviewed by Sean McKnight

Insert generic premise here:
Guy Pearce plays a man who’s wrongly convicted of a crime against the government but has the chance to redeem himself through a rescue mission. Said mission includes a trip to a prison in space that is in the midst of a riot with the president’s daughter as one of the people taken hostage.

We never really find out why Snow (Guy Pearce) is so qualified for this mission and ultimately I guess it doesn’t matter. This is a standard popcorn, sci-fi, action flick with the usual cookie-cutter bad guys along with the anti-hero, too-cool-for-school good guy and the hot maiden in distress who’s sassy, yet vulnerable.

As cliche’ as the film is (and BOY is it cliche’), it’s still ok to watch. Guy Pearce in this role is a hoot (the dude has range!) and makes the film worth a viewing. If it wasn’t for him, I probably wouldn’t have made it through watching the whole thing as it unravels pretty much as you’d expect without any real surprises. The writing is super-average with the expected one-liners inserted at their appropriate spots.

The effects are well done but unsurprising, there really isn’t anything that made me go “ooooo” or “ahhhhh”, it was more of a “meh”. Perhaps I’ve seen too many sci fi films and am getting a bit jaded, hmmmm, food for thought…

This is one of those films I would recommend if there’s absolutely nothing else on, otherwise I wouldn’t go out of my way to see this.

reviewed by Sean McKnight

On a trip to investigate a series of bear-related killings, some students stumble on a mysterious hunter who turns out to be hunting something they didn’t expect. And of course we’re talking about trolls here, it’s in the title after all!

That’s the main premise, the rest plays out in a series of confrontations with different types of trolls that have to be handled in different ways. The mythology here is fun and enjoyable and even interesting as the various rules and methods unfold through the hunter.

Done on a fairly low budget, this film looks great. The troll effects sequences are really well done and look convincingly organic. It’s got a semi-mockumentary vibe at different points but shifts back into cinematic mode at the right times.

The Norwegian cast all turn in strong performances with the main focus shifting eventually to the hunter and the trolls. The directing and writing are well done, it’s well paced and keeps you intrigued about where the whole thing is going and what the next troll will look like and how it will behave. It’s kind of like being on a troll safari, good times.

Check out Troll Hunter! It’s on Netflix!

reviewed by Sean McKnight

Drive revolves around the story of a Hollywood stunt driver who also works as a mechanic and occasionally as a getaway driver during robberies (hey, it’s expensive to live in California!). During the course of his endeavors, he develops a relationship with his neighbor, her son and her ex-con boyfriend who is fresh out of prison.

Conflict ensues when a robbery heist goes bad and the driver (along with his new friends) become the target of some unsavory criminal types…

While this sounds like a story we’ve heard many times before, Driver has a interesting perspective to it that gives it a fresh approach, largely due to the performance of Ryan Gosling as the driver. I had read a lot of rave reviews about his performance here and I can see why, he’s compelling to watch and hits the emotional marks without having to mutter a word.

And while the writing is strong in this film, it was really the performances of the actors that took it to the next level for me. Albert Brooks is especially good as the bad guy kingpin which is surprising since most of his past roles have been more on the light-hearted side. Bryan Cranston is good as the driver’s mentor as is Carey Mulligan as the neighbor/love interest. Christina Hendricks is in here too and shows some of her range outside of her better known role in Mad Men. The film also includes Ron Perlman who turns in another strong performance.

The film is violent but the violence has a reason and while at times surprising, it’s not necessarily glorified in an exploitive way for cheap thrills. The ending is poetic and a fitting conclusion to the ride.

Good story, great cast, definitely worth a viewing.

reviewed by Sean McKnight

Directed by Shane Black this time around, Iron Man 3 has a familiar feel to it but with a more serious overtone. The story is also more character driven by Tony Stark and less so by his metallic counterpart. The script was definitely stronger to me, there were some intense moments as well as lighter notes that gave you a chance to laugh a little too. That’s a tough balance to do well and maintain and they did that with this film.

Stark is threatened by a much more direct, well equipped and brutal foe this time. I won’t get into much detail in this review as I really don’t want to spoil anything for anyone…

My only complaint is how things resolved at the end and the way Pepper Potts was involved, seemed a little out of place and not consistent with character and abilities. That’s my inner geek speaking but it was enough for me to jump out of the film mentally, therefore suspending my suspension of disbelief long enough to distract me from the movie. Other than that, I liked the way things wrapped up and really enjoyed the storyline’s left turns, there were some surprising moments.

The effects and production are stunning to see on the big screen but not overly done. The acting is great to watch too with a strong cast across the board including Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Jon Favreau, William Sadler, and the great Ben Kingsley as The Mandarin.

I’d definitely recommend seeing this in the theater if you’re into Iron Man, and be sure to stick around after the credits.

reviewed by Sean McKnight

I have to admit that I was curious why this film did so poorly in the theater since the Conan character and stories are pretty popular. Once I saw the film, I understood why…

So, this is another re-boot (although I’ve actually read that there was talk of Ah-nold actually stepping back in for another movie as well), but yeah, they did another version of the origination story here. Brutal warrior takes out Conan’s family and enslaves Conan as a child, Conan grows up and wants revenge. Ok, plot established.

The story isn’t really the problem (although the dialog is written rather poorly with some super cheesy one-liners and a number of hackneyed moments), it’s a lot of other things. Specifically, Jason Momoa as Conan was not a great choice. His delivery here is more something akin to a drunken fratboy who’s been juicing and has bloodlust issues. He’s unconvincing when he’s trying to be intense and just kind of goofy a lot of the rest of the time. He’s also got this weird smile when he’s dismembering foes that looks more like he just found a free keg of beer rather than trying to defeat the forces of evil.

The whole movie is kind of directed that way with relation to how Conan is portrayed, it’s as if the director had just come from working on a teen fart joke film prior to coming to the set of Conan. Basically, Jason Momoa makes Schwarzenegger look like Charleton Heston given the contrast between the 2 performances.

Then there’s the over-the-topness of the film. Such as when Conan’s born – just after Conan’s mom is stabbed (while pregnant with Conan) Conan’s father (portrayed by the excellent Ron Perlman) cuts his wife open while she’s still alive to pull Conan out into the world. So, it starts on that note to set the tone for the rest of the ridiculously gratuitous violence that follows such as when Conan cuts off a guy’s nose and then grabs him by the empty hole left behind. At least the violence in the first film had a point where here it’s one of those “let’s see what we can do to shock people” kind of thing.

The only redeeming qualities in the film for me were the set design, effects and performances of Stephen Lang as the tyrannical warlord and the luscious Rose McGowan as his crazed evil witch daughter.

The film tanked for numerous reasons so I wouldn’t recommend going out of your way to see it. If you’ve never seen Conan, watch the originals with Ah-nold first before you decide to waste a Friday night on this one.

reviewed by Sean McKnight

Hey everyone,

We haven’t posted reviews lately as we’ve just recently lost a staff member and we also switched web hosts over the last 2 weeks. We apologize for the delay and will be getting back on track with reviews next week.

Thank you for your patience, our next review will be posted by Friday, May 10th.

-Cinema Alliance

This film marks the third time this film has been made by the same people. Evil Dead 2 is Evil Dead with a better budget and this one is the remake of the remake. Confused? Ultimately, it doesn’t really matter as this film stands on it’s own…

The premise goes like this: 5 friends end up in an old family cabin for the weekend to help detox one of their friends who’s getting over a drug addiction. She turns out to be the least of their problems when one of the party discovers a book that leads them down a much darker path. One by one, the friends start to fall to a summoned demon there to claim their souls.

One of the things I really liked about the film is that it doesn’t try to be like the first installments. The earlier iterations were much more campy and at times humorous. This film goes straight for the jugular with a much more serious tone sans the camp. At the same time, there are some nods to the earlier versions as well as familiar camera angles a ‘la Sam Raimi’s style even though there’s a different director at the helm (Raimi was one of the producers as was Bruce Campbell). Speaking of Campbell, don’t leave before the credits finish, there’s something at the end you should stick around for.

The actors aren’t anyone familiar but all do well in their roles. The gore factor in here is pretty extreme and not for the light-hearted. As I mentioned, the tone of this film is serious and works to build up tension and some decent scary moments.

Where the film lacks is that it doesn’t quite have the disturbing creepiness that the other films were able to achieve and there’s some major holes in the storyline that conceptually hurt the film at times. There’s also some WTF moments when the main character makes some strange decisions during the climax and she does break character a little as well.

All-in-all, it’s a blast to see in the theater and a worthy installment to the series.

reviewed by Sean McKnight

I’m a big fan of animated movies like this and usually like them. For some reason, I just found Rango to be a bit flat and uninteresting…

The story unfolds with our reluctant hero Rango, a chameleon who’s thrown into the desert unexpectedly while traveling with his family. During his travels to find water, he stumbles onto the town of Dirt, which just so happens to be in the need of a new sheriff. Rango, being the hustler he is, manages to work his way into this position and win the hearts of the town in the process…

The story is ok, and this is perhaps where it fell a bit short for me. but it’s one we’ve seen a million times and this one in particular is no exception. It’s a very formulaic story without any major surprises. After about the first half hour or so, I found my attention wandering.

The design and animation are beautifully crafted with a great amount of detail. They did a great job capturing the desert / wild west kind of vibe. The characters are also well done making them fun to watch. It was cute to see the character of Beans freeze into her defensive stance whenever she felt threatened.

There’s some great talent in here too; besides Johnny Depp as Rango, the lineup includes: Isla Fisher, Ned Beatty, Alfred Molina, Bill Nighy, Harry Dean Stanton, Ray Winstone and Timothy Olyphant among others.

Even with the amazing cast involved, the film still was boring at times and just kind of un-interesting all around. It’s worth seeing just for the sake of the artwork behind it but I wouldn’t go out of my way to see it again.

reviewed by Sean McKnight