The Boy could have really thrilled

Movie Title:     The Boy

Grade:  C

Rating:   PG-13, 1 hour 37 minutes

In a Nutshell:    Creepy.  Directed by William Brent Bell, this suspense horror could have gone in a much more interesting direction. Oh well.

Uplifting theme: 

•  Ummm.....don't be a nanny for people who pay you to babysit their weird doll?

Things I liked:

• Walking Dead fans will enjoy watching Lauren Cohan. 
• Creepy music and sound effects.
• You’ll never listen to the Brahms Lullaby the same way again. 
• There is a twist at the end, but nothing we haven't actually seen before.  I saw a movie with a similar ending many years ago.  For what it's worth, I haven't forgotten that movie because it disturbed me so much.  This one isn't done as well though.

Things I didn’t like:

• Full of plenty clichéd jump scares.
• Come on!  Turn the lights on!  Much of the movie is in the dark.
• OF COURSE there is a storm.  OF COURSE the telephone doesn’t work when you need it to. 
• SPOILER ALERT: Lots of running around in the dark.  (yawn)
• It leaves an opening for a sequel.  No thank you.
• Like the movie “The Sixth Sense”, the color red is used a lot, although I didn't catch any great symbolism in this film.
• Once you get to the end of the movie, you realize that a lot of things that happened simply didn't make sense.

Funny lines:

• “It’s something out of a story book, isn’t it?” – Greta     Yeah, like a horror story.  Hasn’t she learned to never go inside creepy looking houses?  Actually, I stayed in a home in England that looked a lot like that.  I couldn’t wait to get out of there.
• “You could have warned me you know?” – Greta        “And ruin the surprise?” – Rupert Evans (Malcolm)

Creepy lines:

•  “Be good to him and he’ll be good to you.  Be bad to him…” – Mr. Heelshire (Jim Norton)
• “Music gives him so much joy.  It’s his world.”  - Mrs. Heelshire (Diana Hardcastle)
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• Tips for parents:   
• For a horror movie, there is no blood and gore.  Yay.
• There is some fighting & stabbing, mostly bloodless.
• You could talk about healthy and unhealthy relationships with your kids.

Maggie isn't your typical zombie movie

Movie:   Maggie

PG-13, 1 hour 35 minutes

Grade:  C

In a Nutshell:   Arnold Schwarzenegger kicking zombie butt….what’s not to like?  Well, it’s not as exciting as that sounds.  In fact, there aren’t very many actual zombies in this post-apocalyptic movie. Instead, the film focuses on what it would be like to watch a loved one slowly “turn”…..slowly being the key word here.  In this version of the popular zombie genre, it takes 4-6 weeks to turn after a bite. The movie is so slow-moving that it might feel like 4-6 weeks.

That being said, there are some poignant moments that make you wonder how you might act in similar situations.
  

Uplifting Theme:

·         Blood is thick, but zombie juices are thicker.  Ha ha

·        Life is made up of moments and memories.

Things I liked:

·        Good on first-time director Henry Hobson for snagging some Hollywood names like Schwarzenegger, Abigail Breslin, and Joely Richardson.

·         Is it terrible to admit I kind of enjoyed watching Maggie’s slow decay into a zombiehood?  The special effects were pretty good.

Things I didn’t like:

·         Not nearly enough zombies.  Have I been watching too much The Walking Dead: Season 1 ?
      There are some really stupid, selfish decisions made that put others at risk.  For example, Maggie’s finger starts to fall off and she drips blood all over the family’s food on the kitchen counter.  Nice, Maggie.

·         A lot of the scenes are really dark, so it’s often hard to see what’s going on.

·         I’ve always really liked Joely Richardson, but her fake Southern accent was unnecessary.

·         The pacing is so slow that there is plenty of time to run to the bathroom without missing anything.  Wait, maybe I should put this point under the "Things I Liked" section...

I was hoping for a bigger payoff...a bigger ending.  Then again, it perfectly matched the tone of the movie.

Tips for Parents:

·         Some profanity.  
*    Some deaths, but not much considering there are zombies around.

Here's another zombie movie that is different from the cliched monster thrillers:

World War Z will quicken your pulse

                                                  by Trina Boice

                                          www.TrinaBoice.com

 

Brad Pitt.  Need I say more?  Well ok, if you're a guy, you're going to want more out of this June thrill ride than just staring at the aging, yet still handsome half of Brangelina.

 

World War Z is a fun summer blockbuster about a zombie apocalypse, loosely based on the popular book that my sons devoured back in 2006 entitled "World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War" by Max Brooks. I wonder if Brad Pitt's kids also read the book when it came out and clamored for pop to film it. His production company, Plan B Entertainment, quickly secured the screen rights for it in 2007.

                                    

Rumor has it that the budget for this flick chewed up over $400 million with some post-production re-writes that caused its later release. In fact, the last 40 minutes of the movie were completely remade. Some critics claim the post-production troubles make the movie a bit choppy, but as long as you have popcorn in your mouth, you're going to be entertained. The zombie craze still seems to be alive and well, so ticket sales look promising.

 

Brad Pitt is confident it's going to do well and told US Today, "Listen, I'm pretty proud of this film.  It's just big and fun and this is the most intense thing you're going to see all year." He said it was the most intense thing he's done, and he certainly has skin in the game on this one...so to speak.

 

Brad Pitt plays Gerry Lane, a retired UN employee who gets called in to help find the origins of the undeadly strain that is turning humans into rabid zombies.  Gerry Lane is properly motivated to search the globe for a cure in return for his family's safety and protection on one of the few floating ships turned safe zones in the ocean.

 

Combine Gerry Lane's effective survival skills with Brad Pitt's golden locks and you get some action scenes that even hard-core preppers will admire. It's challenging enough to survive the slow-moving zombies in "The Walking Dead", but these creepy corpses "turn" in only 12 seconds, race after you at very quick speeds, jump onto the high walls surrounding Jerusalem, and even pull down a helicopter. Your heart will pound in suspense and you'll try to quiet your breath when you learn that loud sounds attract the rabid humans.

 

Gerry Lane counsels a family locked up in a New Jersey apartment after the chaotic outbreak that "movement is life." His former experience getting in and out of hot zones helps him come up with resourceful survival ideas, saving himself and others along the way, including a female soldier in the Israeli army.

 

If you loved the popular TV show "Lost", you'll get a kick out of seeing Matthew Fox as one of the parajumpers that fights to protect those seeking a cure.  Audiences will be introduced to Mireille Enos, who plays Brad Pitt's frightened and dutiful wife. 

 

The special effects are amazing and pretty believable.  As my kids say, "It could happen."

 

The movie is being released in 2D, RealID 3D, and IMAX 3D. While I love a good 3D experience, this particular film doesn't work well in 3D because of the camera's shakiness, so see it in 2D and you won't get dizzy.
 

Grade = A-