Wildling was wildly mediocre

Movie Title:     Wildling

Grade:  C

Rating: R, 
       92 minutes

In a Nutshell:  A monster coming-of-age story, this creature feature movie feels like a 1980’s horror flick.  

It’s actually a new indie film by director Fritz Bohm, who also had a hand in writing the script. 

I picture a group of teenagers watching this at one of their friend’s house on a Saturday night as they laugh at it and eat pizza.

                                   

Tips for parents: 

• A man shoots himself and you see blood splatters.
• Profanity, including a few F-bombs
• There is blood and talk of a teenage girl’s menstruation.
• You see a teenage girl in her underwear.
• Teenager sex scene with skin and sounds.
• Some violent, gory deaths.
• You see a naked female “wilder.”
• Teenage drinking

                                            

Uplifting theme: 

• Embrace who you are...?
• Don't kill people...?
• Don't eat people...?                                

Things I liked:

• It was good to see Liv Tyler in something again, although I’m kind of surprised she picked this script.
• Anna sees a picture of Aurora Borealis in a book.  Seeing that in real life is on my Bucket List!  I’ve been researching a trip to either Iceland or Finland to see it.  Which do you think is a better country to see the amazing Northern Lights?
• I liked the psychological aspect of the story.  Otherwise, we have already seen this story before.
• Actress Bel Powley was 26 years old at the premiere!  I thought that was so surprising, because she really does look young in this movie as Anna.  What's even more impressive is that she eats a ton of hamburger and sausages in the movie, despite being a vegetarian in real life.

Things I didn’t like:

• The creepy father (played by Brad Dourif) tells this tiny, young, adorable, little girl (played by Arlo Mertz) about the “Wildling”, not holding back any scary details, and introducing you to the horrific childhood Anna experienced.  I was confused by what happened to him later.
• It has a lot of dark, evening scenes, so this will be hard to watch on a TV or computer.
• It’s pretty slow-moving.
• Some of the special effects are pretty cheesy and amateur looking.  According to IMDB, there were 350 visual effect shots.
• There really aren’t any surprises.  The movie poster pretty much reveals what you already suspect is going to happen.
• Some of the make-up on the Wildling looked super fake and ridiculous. 

Interesting lines:

“You’re not sick.  You’re a woman.” – Sheriff Ellen Cooper  (Liv Tyler)

If you love werewolf movies, check out some of these classics:

                                

And my personal favorite:
                                         

                                            @trinaboice

Underworld: Blood Wars is more of the same

Movie Title:  Underworld: Blood Wars

Grade:  D+

Rating:  PG-13, 91 minutes

In a Nutshell:  Fans of this franchise will be glad to see more of the story.  Fans of the beautiful Kate Beckinsale will get to watch her kick butt wearing black leather some more. Fans of vampires and Lycans will enjoy it.  Anyone else may want to pass on this one.

Uplifting theme: 

• You’ll ask yourself, “Why can’t we all just get along?”
• Family, loyalty.
• Blood is life.

Things I liked:

• The first 90 seconds give you a very quick overview of what happened in prior movies.     
• Cool special effects.  Most of them look great, although a few moments look awkward.
• I think it’s cool how one drop of blood can show so many memories of a character’s life.  There is a LOT of blood and talk of blood in this movie, lending great meaning to this film’s title.

Things I didn’t like:

• Kate gets beat up a lot.  Pretty flimsy plot to keep bringing her back…
• Lots of growling.  Ha ha
• SPOILER: It ends rather abruptly.  I wanted more of a satisfying conclusion, rather than a dangling finish that obviously leads into yet more sequels.
•  A LOT of CGI-enhanced stunts.
• It feels and looks more like a video game.
• Because the movie features vampires, there is very little light in this movie.  Each scene is very dark.  This movie will look terrible on a little computer screen.
• It's mostly vampires.  You don't get to see the lycans very much.

Interesting lines:

• “I’m finished with this war.” – Selene (Kate Beckinsale)

“Well, it’s not finished with you.” – David (Theo James)

• “Are you a slave?”  Then don’t act like one.”  - 
• “It’s strange to lose someone you feel like you’ve never known.” – David
• “I no longer fear death, for I have known it once already.” - Selene

Funny lines:

• “Don’t think.  You’ll hurt yourself.” – Semira (Lara Pulver) 

Tips for parents: 

• There is a LOT of violent fighting and splattering blood of various creatures.  Characters die in a lot of terrible ways.
• Semira wears a lot of skimpy clothes and kisses another woman.

@trinaboice