Olympus Has Fallen (2013)

or “Someone call John McClane! He’ll know what to do!”

Director: Antoine Fuqua

Cast: Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Angela Bassett, Robert Forster, Cole Hauser, Finley Jacobsen, Ashley Judd, Melissa Leo, Dylan McDermott, Radha Mitchell, Rick Yune

Screenplay: Creighton Rothenberger, Katrin Benedikt

119 mins. Rated R for strong violence and language throughout.

I’m finally getting around to watching the Fallen trilogy (that’s what I’m calling it, deal with it) now with the third film hitting theaters. When Olympus Has Fallen and White House Down both released in the same year, I felt like the friend of a couple breaking up who had to choose sides, and I chose neither, so now here I am, years later, finally catching this one.

When terrorists capture the White House and take President Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart, The Dark Knight, Bleed for This) hostage along with several high-ranking members of his cabinet, it becomes up to former Secret Service lead Mike Banning (Gerard Butler, The Phantom of the Opera, Den of Thieves) to rescue them before terrorist leader Kang (Rick Yune, Die Another Day, Alita: Battle Angel) dispatches them and gets the codes to a dangerous protocol labeled Cerberus. Banning teams up with Speaker of the House Trumbull (Morgan Freeman, Se7en, Alpha) who is acting President during the attack in order to safely rescue the cabinet members and Asher, but their allies might not all be on the same side.

Olympus Has Fallen is an action film which harkens back to a specific time period in the genre with Gerard Butler as the classic action hero a la Stallone and Schwarzenegger. He’ll never hit that level, but there’s a 80s/90s somewhat cheesy attitude about the film, but director Antoine Fuqua (The Equalizer, American Dream/American Nightmare) mostly sticks the landing in this Die Hard-style thriller.

Butler is not winning any awards with his performance as Banning, nor is anyone else in the film, but there’s the sense that all performers, from Eckhard to Freeman to Angela Bassett (Strange Days, TV’s 9-1-1), who plays Secret Service Director Lynne Jacobs, know exactly what film they are in and playing to the action and cheese instead of shying away from it.

The screenplay, from Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt (The Expendables 3) isn’t very layered, and some of the dialogue is overtly stupid, as if it was only written for a tagline or a trailer moment, but it’s successful enough under the capable direction of Fuqua, who, like his performers, understands what movie he is making.

There’s a lot of action and a considerable amount of CG, and very little of the CG has aged all that well. Some of the special effects are downright cringe-inducing in the film, and maybe that helps play up the B-action quality of the film. It’s just not very good use of special effects throughout, and some more practical effects work would have saved some of the silliness in the final product.

Olympus Has Fallen created an action superstar in Mike Banning. I’m not surprised the film sparked a franchise, and for all its cheese and stupidity, it was a rather enjoyable political siege thriller. Aided by top-notch performers having fun with the material, I was rather enthralled with the twists and turns of the film. It’s a good film. Not amazing, but sometimes good is enough.

3/5

-Kyle A. Goethe

For my review of Antoine Fuqua’s The Equalizer, click here.

August 7, 2019 2

[31 Days of Horror Part V: A New Beginning] Day 18 – Carrie (2013)

Director: Kimberly Peirce

Cast: Chloe Grace Moretz, Julianne Moore, Judy Greer, Portia Doubleday, Alex Russell, Gabriella Wilde

Screenplay: Lawrence D. Cohen, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa

100 mins. Rated R for bloody violence, disturbing images, language and some sexual content.

Many people know the love I have for the novel Carrie. There have been three adaptations of the classic novel (the original film even had a sequel), most recently in 2013, directed by Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don’t Cry, Stop-Loss). That’s the one we are talking about today.

Carrie White (Chloe Grace Moretz, Let Me In, November Criminals) is a troubled girl with a difficult life at home. Her mother Margaret (Julianne Moore, The Hours, Kingsman: The Golden Circle) is a religious fanatic who believes the very birth of her daughter to be one of the most sinful acts in her life. At school, Carrie is not popular. When she experiences her first period, she is tortured and ridiculed by her female classmates, led by Chris Hargensen (Portia Doubleday, Youth in Revolt, TV’s Mr. Robot). Many of the girls later feel terrible about their actions, including Sue Snell (Gabriella Wilde, The Three Musketeers, TV’s Poldark), who devises a plan to make things right with Carrie. Chris, though, devises a plan of her own, that will push Carrie to the breaking point. What the girls don’t know is that Carrie White has an amazing gift, one that she cannot control. This gift has incredible and horrifying potential that will forever alter all their lives.

This is a film that brings to life a classic argument among film criticism. The crew, including director Peirce, claim that this incarnation of Carrie is a re-imaging of the classic Stephen King novel. Unfortunately, this film is very little more than a scene-by-scene remake of the original film. It even uses the original screenplay by Lawrence D. Cohen with added updates and a few tweaks by Riverdale creator Robert Aguirre-Sacasa. It just feels hollowly made. It’s difficult to blame the studio for interfering (the film was notoriously heavily re-edited after poor test screenings, cutting somewhere around 45 minutes from the finished product) because of just how much the movie feels like a retread of the original.

Moretz and Moore are terrifically cast as daughter and mother White. Peirce fills the rest of her cast with the hottest young stars of 2013, including Ansel Elgort in his first film roll as Tommy Ross, Sue Snell’s boyfriend. Elgort does a pretty nice job as Ross as well.

The film is well shot and features some truly impressive camerawork. What muddles the final product is the atrocious CGI (it didn’t look very good in 2013 either). Some of it is truly cheap-looking. The movie didn’t need some of the more stylish CGI, so I don’t understand the need to use it, especially in the last third of the film.

Carrie is fine, but it beckons to be compared to Brian De Palma’s superior film from decades back. It features some fine performance work but there are some technical issues with marr the film’s watchability. It’s too bad, because there are shades of incredible here, but it just feels too similar, and in that way, unnecessary.

2.5/5

-Kyle A. Goethe

October 18, 2018 0

[31 Days of Horror Part V: A New Beginning] Day 6 – Birdemic 2: The Resurrection (2013)

Director: James Nguyen

Cast: Alan Bagh, Whitney Moore, Thomas Favaloro, Patsy van Ettinger, Chelsea Turnbo, Brittany N. Pierce, Thuan Luu, Aaron Pressburg, Sam Hyde

Screenplay: James Nguyen

90 mins. Not Rated.

So, took me some time to see Birdemic 2: The Resurrection. It’s not what I didn’t want to see it. I watch the first film just about every single year during October. It’s just a tough film to find when you don’t really want to spend money on it. Well, spend enough time searching on streaming apps and you will find true happiness…and also Birdemic 2.

Birdemic 2 picks up some time after the original with Rod (Alan Bagh, Highway to Havasu, The Mad Whale) and Nathalie (Whitney Moore, House of Demons, Another Yeti a Love Story: Life on the Streets) living their best lives together. Actually, they really don’t catch up that much as we are somehow focused on a worse version of them with Bill (Thomas Favaloro) and Gloria (Chelsea Turnbo, The Other Woman, Del Playa). Bill is Rod’s new friend (and maybe clone). Well, we focus on these four until the birds start attacking for no reason. It’s not the same birds this time around (yes it is). This time, they are prehistoric eagle things. And there are zombies. Because of course there are.

Several movie groups have voted Birdemic 2 as the #1 most unwatchable movie of all time, and I can’t disagree with them on that. This is horseshit. Seriously, I cannot stand watching this movie. This is one I cannot even suggest to others for a bad horror movie night. This comes from a guy that regularly pushes the original Birdemic on other people. I unabashedly hate this movie.

Everything is worse here, from the people to the plot. The most heinous crime is somehow believing that director James Nguyen (Julie and Jack, Replica) can both learn from his mistakes and become self-aware enough to grow out of them. Everything plays out the exact same way but a storyteller with more tact would be able to use this to make a more enjoyable so-bad-it’s-good experience. Birdemic 2 is more along the lines of so-bad-it’s-somehow-even-worse-and-it-keeps-getting-worse-as-it-goes-on-and-oh-great-here’s-the-treehugger-from-the-first-movie-what-purpose-does-he-even-serve-here. Yeah, that bad.

I guess I did it to myself, thinking that I could enjoy this movie. I deserve this. But if there’s a silver lining, and I guess there is, it’s that I may have saved you from this horrible fate. It’s the thought that you wouldn’t subject yourself to…

What are you doing?

No. Don’t watch it.

No!

NO!

NOOOOO!

0/5

-Kyle A. Goethe

For my review of James Nguyen’s Birdemic: Shock and Terror, click here.

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October 6, 2018 1

[31 Days of Horror: The Final Chapter] Day 9 – Toy Story of Terror (2013)

Director: Angus MacLane

Cast: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Carl Weathers, Stephen Tobolowsky, Don Rickles, Wallace Shawn, Timothy Dalton, Kristen Schaal

Screenplay: Angus MacLane

22 mins. Rated TV-G.

I wanted to take time tonight to talk about the Halloween Special. It’s a classic element to any franchise, big screen or small. So in 2013, Disney and Pixar released Toy Story of Terror, and today, we’re going to talk about it.

The toys are on a road trip with Bonnie and her mother when they stop to spend a night at an eerie motel just off the road. When Mr. Potato Head (Don Rickles, Zookeeper, The Wool Cap) suddenly goes missing, its up to Woody (Tom Hanks, The DaVinci Code, The Circle), Buzz (Tim Allen, Crazy on the Outside, TV’s Home Improvement), Jessie (Joan Cusack, Working Girl, Snatched) and their new friend Combat Carl (Carl Weathers, Predator, American Warships) to find Potato Head and escape while they still can!

Toy Story of Terror tends to follow a very similar story to all the other Toy Story films. Someone is missing or kidnapped, and the other toys go get them. There isn’t a lot to this and you have to wonder how this keeps happening, but Toy Story of Terror introduces a few fun new characters to keep things lively enough. I really like seeing some of the newer toys from the third installment who didn’t get much time to shine get further developed here, and I really enjoyed Combat Carl.

The flaws? As I said before, it isn’t anything you haven’t seen before. The hotel manager Ron (Stephen Tobolowsky, Memento, TV’s Californication) comes off perhaps a little too creepy as well, especially with how he plays into the story. A little too predictable as well.

Overall, this is only 22 minutes, so if you get roped into it by your little one, Toy Story of Terror isn’t a half-bad way to waste a half-hour. It was fun and nicely paced.

3/5

-Kyle A. Goethe

October 9, 2017 0

[31 Days of Horror 3] Day 1 – This is the End (2013)

Director: Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg

Cast: James Franco, Jonah Hill, Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson, Michael Cera, Emma Watson

Screenplay: Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg

107 mins. Rated R for crude and sexual content throughout, brief graphic nudity, pervasive language, drug use and some violence.

Here we are yet again. Another year has gone by and we arrive at my favorite month: October. I love celebrating my favorite genre with you all and I’m so excited to continue the tradition. This year, I thought we’d start off a with a lighter fare and take a look at the horror-comedy This is the End.

In this film from directors Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg (The Interview), each actor portrays a fictionalized version of himself, so know that going in.

Seth Rogen is very excited to see his best friend, Jay Baruchel (TV’s Man Seeking Woman, Million Dollar Baby), who has just flown in for the weekend. As the two trade stories, get high, and play video games, Seth suggests a party over at James Franco’s (TV’s 11.22.63, 127 Hours) house. There they meet up with Seth’s other acting partners Jonah Hill (21 Jump Street, How to Train Your Dragon 2), Danny McBride (Your Highness, Aloha), Craig Robinson (Pineapple Express, Hot Tub Time Machine 2), and Michael Cera (TV’s Childrens Hospital, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World). As they party away inside, outside a cataclysmic event begins as the world ends all around them and they are forced to survive in the house as demons and death surround them, attempting to kill them all.

What a strange setup for a film, and surprisingly enough, it works better than most comedies that dip their toes into the supernatural. The film playfully uses elements and staples of a film like this such as possession, cannibalism, sin, forgiveness, insanity, paranoia, and death so carelessly (in a good way) that I can see why this offensively hilarious look at the end of days doesn’t garner as much love as other films from this cast.

I love that the cast here is able to poke fun at themselves, either playing against type (Jonah Hill and Michael Cera) or playing exaggerations of themselves (Danny McBride and James Franco). The most important part is that they respect the conceit and the material and embrace it for the comedy.

Directors Rogen and Goldberg take some big risks in the film and it pays off gloriously. It isn’t a slight on the these kinds of movies but an homage to them and a critique of fame in today’s society. And it’s really freaking funny. The cameos alone make this film a worthy comedic gem, but the way the movie is structured give it something wholly unique: a style like no other. See this movie before the apocalypse actually happens.

4.5/5

-Kyle A. Goethe

For my review of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s The Interview, click here.

October 1, 2016 3

31 Days of Horror Part II: Day 20 – Monsters University (2013)

Director: Dan Scanlon

Cast: Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Helen Mirren

Screenplay: Daniel Gerson, Robert L. Baird, Dan Scanlon

104 mins. Rated G.

Pixar sequels scare me. I wasn’t a big fan of Toy Story 2. I hated Cars 2. Toy Story 3 was great, but it felt like the exception that proved the rule. When Pixar announced that my favorite property Monsters, Inc. was getting a prequel, I was both shocked and intrigued by the concept. When I discovered that we would be seeing the story of Mike and Sully meeting in college, I was still very confused. Then, I saw it…

In Monsters University, we get another look into the unique universe that Pixar created where monsters exist and get energy from the screams of children, where a young monster named Mike Wazowski (TV’s The Comedians, When Harry Met Sally…) experiences disapproval by his peers in his attempts to become a professional scarer. But he finds a new rival in fellow student Sully (John Goodman, TV’s Roseanne, The Gambler). When both students are kicked out of the scaring program, they decide to join Oozma Kappa, a failing fraternity, in an effort to win the Annual Scare Games and earn their way back into the scaring program, proving to their judgmental Dean Hardscrabble (Helen Mirren, The Queen, Woman in Gold) that they have what it takes.

Pixar has great timing. Releasing Monsters University at a time when fans of the original film are entering the college portion of their lives is perfection, much in the same way they did with Toy Story 3 a few years previously. Great working of their audience.

The voicework here is phenomenal, getting great work from the veterans as well as new additions Helen Mirren and Nathan Fillion. Charlie Day absolutely steals his scenes.

Monsters University is a perfect prequel, rarely feeling the need to fall back on referencing the original. For the most part, it blazes a new trail and knows it doesn’t have to embrace a cliché finale.

4.5/5

-Kyle A. Goethe

For more 31 Days of Horror, click here.

For my review of Pete Docter’s Monsters, Inc., click here.

October 20, 2015 1

31 Days of Horror Part II: Day 16 – Big Ass Spider! (2013)

Director: Mike Mendez

Cast: Greg Grunberg, Lin Shaye, Patrick Bauchau, Ray Wise, Clare Kramer, Lombardo Boyar, Ruben Pla

Screenplay: Gregory Gieras

80 mins. Rated PG-13 for sci-fi violence and gore.

Apparently Mike Mendez (The Gravedancers, Tales of Halloween) fought like hell to keep the title Big Ass Spider! He was right, though unfortunately there is little else to draw one in.

Alex Mathis (Greg Grunberg, TV’s Heroes, Super 8) is an expert exterminator (ignore the part at the beginning where he is bit by an apparently lethal spider). His expertise comes to great importance as the hospital that he’s in has an extremely dangerous spider that quadruples in size at an alarming rate. Now, Alex and his de facto partner Jose (Lombardo Boyar, Happy Feet, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) attempt to stop the mammoth bug while a team of government agents led by Major Braxton C. Tanner (Ray Wise, RoboCop, The Lazarus Effect) attempt to blow it out of the sky, putting millions at risk.

This title brought me in. The film put me out. I actually really like Greg Grunberg but I don’t feel like he is ready to lead a movie, even one like Big Ass Spider! He is joined by Boyar who plays off as a cliché token Hispanic. The only man who plays to this film’s strengths is Wise, who delivers a goofy satire of the by-the-numbers Major. I also enjoyed the “cameo” by Lin Shaye (There’s Something About Mary, Insidious: Chapter 3).

Big Ass Spider! has some actually engaging effects, but the screenplay didn’t move along in any way that actually interested me, choosing to embrace its B-Movie possibilities rather poorly.

All in all, get a laugh out of the fact that somebody actually made a movie called Big Ass Spider! No, you don’t actually have to watch the movie.

2/5

-Kyle A. Goethe

For more 31 Days of Horror, click here.

October 16, 2015 1

31 Days of Horror Part II: Day 13 – The Conjuring (2013)

Director: James Wan

Cast: Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga, Ron Livingston, Lili Taylor

Screenplay: Chad Hayes, Carey W. Hayes

112 mins. Rated R for sequences of disturbing violence and terror.

James Wan (Saw, Furious 7) is THE horror director of today. The man is known for creating tone and utilizing it perfectly to create a terrifying atmospheric experience. He also shows that he can learn from mistakes, and nowhere is that more apparent than what is likely his best work, The Conjuring.

Carolyn (Lili Taylor, Say Anything, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials) and Roger Perron (Ron Livingston, Office Space, Vacation) are loving their new home. But there is a presence in the home, and it is taking its toll on Carolyn. In steps Ed (Patrick Wilson, TV’s Fargo, Insidious) and Lorraine Warren (TV’s Bates Motel, The Departed), two paranormal investigators (demonologists, technically) who are looking to solve the family’s dilemma. But this demonic force isn’t willing to go lightly, and wants to take the Perrons, and perhaps the Warrens, with it.

The screenplay by Chad and Carey W. Hayes (House of Wax, Whiteout) is where it starts. This screenplay combines that perfect mixture of horror with lightheartedness and humor that James Wan thrives on.

What also helps Wan thrive is the perfect blend of great actors and professional genre performers that blend into such a realistic and thrilling experience.

James Wan’s previous film Insidious was great but had issues, namely the overuse of music and the overappearance of the big villain. In The Conjuring, he learns from these mistakes and excels here with pure vision. The Conjuring is a pure modern masterpiece in just about every way.

5/5

-Kyle A. Goethe

For more 31 Days of Horror, click here.

For my review of James Wan’s Insidious, click here.

For my review of James Wan’s Furious 7, click here.

October 14, 2015 14

31 Days of Horror Part II: Day 8 – Lights Out (2013)

Director: David F. Sandberg

Cast: Lotta Losten

Screenplay: David F. Sandberg

3 mins. Not Rated.

Hey folks, time ran a little late tonight so I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to look at a horror short, and what better way to do that than by randomly clicking links on YouTube. The following film is one such example.

Lights Out is the tale of a woman who sees something lurking in the darkness of her hallway. As the entity grows closer and closer, the woman has to defend herself from her deepest fears and whatever appears when the lights go out.

This short is pretty effective, even if I will fight that the final few moments lose me. It displays that you do not need jump scares to effectively frighten. This entire picture exists as mostly mood and it works really well.

Films like Lights Out exist all over the internet, and they are a great way to experience artists that don’t end up at the local marquee. Take a moment and views Lights Out. I really enjoyed it.

4/5

-Kyle A. Goethe

For more 31 Days of Horror, click here.

October 8, 2015 2

The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (2013)

Director: Isao Takahata

Cast: Chloe Grace Moretz, Darren Criss, James Caan, Mary Steenburgen

Screenplay: Isao Takahata, Riko Sakaguchi

137 mins. Rated PG for thematic elements, some violent action and partial nudity.

Academy Award Nominee: Best Animated Feature Film of the Year

In the latest release from Studio Ghibli, an elderly Bamboo Cutter (James Caan, The Godfather, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2) finds a small girl inside a bamboo shoot. He and his wife (Mary Steenburgen, Back to the Future Part III, Last Vegas) name the girl Princess (Chloe Grace Moretz, Kick-Ass, The Equalizer) and care for her as their own. As Princess Kaguya entices everyone around her, she comes closer and closer to paying for an indiscretion she doesn’t remember making.

Based on The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, this Studio Ghibli film continues the tradition of excellent looking animation that pushes the boundaries of hand-drawn, even today. But for all the visual delight of the film, it still lacks a punch in its bulky slow new addition. This film drags on much longer than it needs to. Pushing the two-and-a-half-hour mark, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya showcases some great voice work, but just can’t get over its pace. Other than that, the film is stunningly beautiful.

The Tale of the Princess Kaguya isn’t the worst of the Studio Ghibli films, but it is far away from being the best. It’s English voice cast it great and it boasts some of the most interesting and challenging animation being used today, but it just doesn’t end, and sadly, that is its downfall.

2/5

-Kyle A. Goethe

March 24, 2015 1