Movie roundup. 

Gangster Squad - 2 out of 5.

Searching For Sugar Man - 5 out of 5.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation - 1 out of 5.

The Evil Dead - 2 out of 5.

Oblivion - 3.9 out of 5.

The Place Beyond The Pines - 3.9 out of 5.

Spring Breakers - 2 out of 5. 

[Side note: Sigh. First off, I’m not a Harmony Korine fan. I have only seen Kids and Gummo, but I didn’t enjoy either of them. With that being said, I can safely say this is visually, his best film. The editing, the music, and the visuals help you forget about the real lack of story or depth. The acting is poor. James Franco and Selena Gomez carry the film, and by carry I mean they keep the attention away from the awful acting everyone else is doing. [Sorry Vanessa.] Franco’s Alien character is the only truly enjoyable part of the movie. In the movie he says he has a heart of gold, and by the end of the movie you end up believing it. [And his “look at my shit” speech is fantastic.] The constant dread the film makes you feel throughout, [like who is going to get raped/killed first?!] is a lie because when the credits start rolling you then realize there were no real consequences for the girls. And at that point you also realize that nothing too important happened. The characters didn’t learn anything and neither did the audience. It was pretty pointless. Basically it was just a long neon filled music video about how ‘fucked up’ young people are or can be if they lived in a world with no real consequences. I guess. I think. I don’t know. It was probably better with the sound off. 

[Side note #2: The best part of the movie came as I was leaving the theater and I overheard this girl say: “I though it was gonna be more like Hangover.” Oh, people. You are a delight.]

Sound City - 5 out of 5.

[Side note: A must watch for all lovers of music. The Grohl/Homme/Reznor recording session gave me such a boner.]

Stoker - 3.5 out of 5.

[Side note: Chan-wook Park is an amazing director. The cinematography in this movie is fantastic. So is the editing. Every shot feels like he spent weeks thinking about it. With that being said, this is your “usual” fucked-up-storyline-kinda-movie [Park’s favorite kind] that features some murder and some almost incest. It has a Halloween IV kind of vibe going if that makes any sense to you. I enjoyed it.]

Oz: The Great And Powerful - 3 out of 5.

[Side note: Mila Kunis is pretty for the first half, ugly for the second. Throw in a couple Raimi-style-witch-screaming-at-a-dutch-angle-shots and there you have it. Oh and sooo much CG. Felt like a Burton movie at times. At any moment I though Helena Bonham Carter was gonna pop up. The end. Hey, at least there wasn’t any singing.]

Mama - 3 out of 5.

The ABC’s Of Death - 1 out of 5.

[Side note: I really hated this movie. If you walked into a third grade classroom, gave all of the boys some money to make some short films, this would be the result. Stay away from this. Trust me.]

2012 Catch Up [Speed Reviews.]

Silver Linings Playbook - 5 out of 5.

Life of Pi - 3.5 out of 5.

Excision - 2.5 out of 5.

Celeste And Jesse Forever - 3 out of 5.

Paranormal Activity 4 - 2 out of 5.

Hitchcock - 4 out of 5.

2012 Catch Up [Speed Reviews.]

Taken 2 - 2 out of 5.

Killing Them Softly - 3 out of 5.

Zero Dark Thirty - 5 out of 5.

The Hobbit - 4.5 out of 5. [Don’t care what anyone says, I loved it.