Closure: July 2014

With a slow month at the theater and Orange is the New Black behind me, I actually had a good bit of time to watch movies, this month. You'll see the exhaustive list below, but two films that I really want to bring to light are The Grand Budapest Hotel and Annie Hall. If you've yet to see either of these films, I want to encourage you to check them out. Of course, Woody Allen's Annie Hall is a classic, and Wes Anderson is well-known, at this point, but, for those of you who aren't film buffs, you might find something nice in each of these uniquely quirky comedies.

For some reason, I'm having a hard time grasping the fact that August is actually upon us, so I apologize for this post being a little late. Fret not! I will be on time, next month!

Movie Watched	Year	Format	Did I Enjoy?	Would I Watch Again?
Transformers: Age of Extinction	2014	Theater > Matinee	Some	Yes
42	2013	Church > Yes, really	Yes	Yes
Annie Hall	1977	TV > Netflix	Yes	Yes
The To Do List	2013	DVD > Redbox	Yes	Yes
Kill Your Darlings	2013	DVD > Redbox	Yes	No
The Social Network	2010	DVD > Own	Yes	Yes
Gravity	2013	Church > Yes, really	Yes	Yes
Begin Again	2014	Theater > Full Price	Yes	Yes
(500) Days of Summer	2011	DVD > Own	Yes	Yes
Adult World	2014	DVD > Redbox	Yes	No
Frozen	2013	Church > Yes, really	No	No
Big	1988	DVD > Own	Yes	Yes
Big Trouble in Little China	1986	Blu-ray > Borrowed	Yes	No
The Purge	2012	TV > HBO	Yes	Yes
The Avengers	2012	Blu-ray > Own	Yes	Yes
The Purge: Anarchy	2014	Theater > Matinee	Yes	Yes
Easy A	2010	DVD > Borrowed	Yes	Yes
Submarine	2010	TV > Netflix	No	No
The Grand Budapest Hotel	2014	DVD > Redbox	Yes	Yes
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty	2013	Church > Yes, really	Yes	Yes
50/50	2011	DVD > Own	Yes	Yes
Out of the Furnace	2013	DVD > Borrowed	Yes	No
The Other Guys	2010	DVD > Own	Yes	Yes

The Purge: Anarchy

Expectations:
The entire premise surrounding The Purge really fascinates me! In fact, I've considered doing some research to see how such a radically new law/anti-law would impact the national and global economy. I know, I know... I'm the only one who would turn a slasher film into an economic issue! But, regardless, I'm drawn to the idea, and (this is NOT a statement of support for the creation of a real-life "purge") conceptually, it makes sense. That said, I actually enjoyed the first film quite a bit (review here), and I couldn't wait for the inevitable sequel, which came just as quick as can be expected from the folks at Blumhouse, who are also behind the ever-abundant Paranormal Activity franchise (of which I have never seen a single film). Heading in to The Purge: Anarchy, I didn't really know what would be the focal point of the film, but I did know we would get a look at a different dynamic of the purge, after the first film was presented from the perspective of a upper class, suburban family. All I knew was that I would continue to be fascinated by the concept and what it could become...

Plot:
The first film was quite dumbed down and simple, and, considering both the small budget and the complexity of the film's concepts, it was done just right, in my opinion. If they had tried to dive too deeply into the politics of the event, the film would have been a rushed disaster. However, after seeing Anarchy, I'm a little worried that the unveiling of the purge's beginnings and motives may be coming along a bit too slowly, considering that there was very little mention of politics in a movie that was completely and totally focused on the rich dominating the poor. Even after bringing in three or four separate storylines, there was never any true mention of government conspiracy. I was kind of hoping that one of the characters would be the child of a "New Founding Father" or something, but oh well. Nevertheless, the story was still quite intriguing, particularly the 15-minute fight scene that was basically an R-rated (and better) version of The Hunger Games. Add to that the predictably fun end-sequence, and you have yourself an entertaining summer slasher!

Characters:
With a broader range of characters, in comparison to the first film, Anarchy gave us a chance to look more at why different people purge and get purged. However, not all of these characters were necessary or useful, at all.

Negatives:
Zach Gilford's Shane and Kiele Sanchez's Liz were quite possibly the most useless part of any film of 2014. In fact, there characters could have been completely left out, and the film would have gone along just as well. For Sanchez, it was another Paulo/Nikki situation that will never make sense to anyone...

Positives:
On the other hand, I really loved the dynamic mother-daughter storyline between Carmen Ejogo's Eva Sanchez and Zoe Soul's Cali. Additionally, the grandfather character, played by John Beasley helped to make this family storyline the best of the many that were placed throughout the film. They were really the only characters that I gave a crap about, so... success!

Conclusion:
Although I did enjoy The Purge: Anarchy, I've come to the realization that the entire Purge franchise should actually be a TV show. Think about it... We could get many different perspectives, all at once. We could watch the politics unfold, throughout. We could still have a lot of killing (think The Walking Dead). I mean, it makes sense to me, but, regardless, that won't be happening, so we must fight on! And, even though the second film was not quite as spot-on as the first, I'll still be checking out The Purge: Double Anarchy in a couple of years! I give The Purge: Anarchy 2.56 out of 5 stars.

Great Expectations: July 2014

 

Unfortunately, I have yet to watch Transformers: Age of Extinction, due to my being out of town this past week, but I did find this picture, which I knew I had to share with you guys. With the release of the summer's biggest film behind us, things at the theater will start to slow down in the month of July. Sadly, the Fourth of July week/weekend features very little worth mentioning, and I don't care for anything Planet of the Apes related, so I probably won't get to watch a July release until The Purge hits theaters mid-month. However, I am hopeful that a few smaller, limited-release films will make their way to Hattiesburg, this month. Who knows?... July may be better than expected...

 Boyhood

(July 11)

 

 

 

The Purge: Anarchy

(July 18)

 

 

 

Wish I Was Here

(July 18)

 

The Purge

Expectations:
Coming from the folks that produced Paranormal Activity 1-78, I didn't know whether The Purge was going to focus on the dramatic side of things or the scary, jumpy side of things. If you keep up with this blog, at all, you probably have realized that I don't watch many scary movies, so I was hoping for dramatic. The entire concept surrounding the film was so, so cool, and I think cool is the perfect word (not that it would be cool in reality). Going in, I knew that I was going to hope that the film was made by more serious, dramatic filmmakers, because it really could have been great. But, making the buck is more important than making a good movie, and that's what small-budget films like The Purge are for. Here is the formula for this film:

Mediocre Box Office Success - Small Budget = Huge Success for Universal

 

Plot:
Let me start by telling you the two practical lessons that I learned from The Purge... #1-Never buy a house that could possibly contain a family member who cannot hear a loud yell inside said house, due to the distance between you and them... #2-Don't have stupid kids!... Basically, these two learning opportunities moved the plot along the entire time. It's really not that hard to stay together in one place, people! There was very little depth to plot, but I was intrigued the whole time, which is what matters the most. As is the case with most horror-like films, people did stupid stuff that made you just laugh at them the entire time. However, the film felt more dramatic than horrific. Was it an Oscar-worthy storyline? Heck no. At least it was dramatic though!

Characters:
In any film produced by the Paranormal Activity folks, you expect really bad acting and shallow characters. So, I was pleasantly surprised when I actually liked a few of the characters in The Purge. Sure, there weren't any great characters, but I'm just glad I liked at least one.

Negatives:
Lena Headey's turn as mom, Mary Sandin, was pretty much ridiculous. She did the most screaming of anyone in the film, and she was beyond annoying. Also, she lacked the ability to pull the trigger, which doesn't bode well for folks in movies where a lot of people are being killed. Daughter, Zoey Sandin, played by Adelaide Kane, was also annoying, because she was stupid. STUPID STUPID STUPID!!!

Positives:
Quality father-figure, James Sandin, played by Ethan Hawke, actually made some logical decisions, and he was a pretty good dad, which is not expected from a film like The Purge. He really didn't have a weakness, so kudos to him. My favorite character, by far, was Rhys Wakefield's "Polite Stranger," who freaked me out a bit. He wasn't scary, but he did make me uncomfortable, so I can't imagine how the Sandins felt! I hope he shows up in future films in the same type of roles.

Conclusion:
Surprisingly enough, I liked it. Although the progression of the story ended up going well over the top, the concept was simply cool enough to be believable and intriguing. Maybe they should have set it a bit further into the future, but I understand their technological budget limitations. Kudos to the folks at Blumhouse for keeping me entertained and succeeding, yet again, with a low budget film. We are sure to get a sequel to The Purge, so be sure you check this one out at some point. I only wish that the idea behind this film would have been incorporated into a deeper, darker drama. It would be really cool to see the politics behind the creation of The Purge (the event, not the film). Nevertheless, it worked out. I give The Purge 2.65 out of 5 stars.