I saw Keir Gilchrist for the first time in The Miracle of St Ralph and was quite impressed with his performance in that. In Just Peck he plays the role of a fifteen year old who is a bit of an outcast and a geek with parents who are mostly absent in basically every sense of the word.
When the hottest girl in school starts to show interest in him, he decides to invent something very special for the school's science fair as an act of rebellion against his parents and also to impress the girl. What follows, is sheer havoc.
As far as teen movies go, this one is a cut above the rest. I would even go so far and say this one is actually better than most. However, as far as the coming of age genre is concerned, I have seen better. But despite that I still thought it deserves 3 out of 5 stars.
Trailer Link:
Trailer Link:
CAMERON'S CLOSET (1987)
As a horror movie, this one is pretty good; very little blood and gore but plenty of scary moments. The story tells of a little boy with psychic powers and how people seemingly close to him mysteriously die in what seems to be bizarre circumstances.
I have often wondered what it is about little boys that makes scary movies scary. Think about movies like Pulse, Joshua, Whisper and, of course, the all time classic the original The Omen with Gregory Peck and Lee Remmick. For some reason, little girls do not have quite the same effect. Maybe it is because we desperately want to believe in their innocence and cannot fathom them attracting or even being evil themselves.
Be that as it may, I can recommend this to all horror fans and rate it at 3 out of 5 stars.
Trailer link:
Trailer link:
THE HEART IS DECEITFUL ABOVE ALL THINGS (2003)
I found this to be very disturbing. It deals with child abuse in, as far as I am concerned, the worst possible way: a parent's (in this case the mother) blatant and total disregard of her child's development and well being in every way.
The story is about this junky of a mother who is always on the move from place to place and relationship to relationship with her impressionable growing son in tow. One cannot wonder but how the poor boy will turn out eventually. Most probably as a male prostitute, in jail or worse even, dead!
The acting, however, is outstanding from the entire cast. Especially young Jimmy Bennett is very impressive portraying what must have been a very difficult role. But unfortunately, due to its graphic nature, I could give it only 2 out of 5 stars.
Trailer link:
Trailer link:
MUD (2013)
This is another excellent coming of age movie. The two young actors portraying the two curious teenage boys are particularly impressive. Apparently it is the first time for both of them in front of the camera and, in my opinion they did a stellar job.
In short, the story is about these two boys that discover a strange man, called Mud (Matthew McConaughey) on a deserted island in the Mississippi River who stays/hides in a boat lodged high up in a tree. They are fascinated by his stories and agree to help him in his quest to get back together with his all time sweetheart (Reese Witherspoon).
This is truly a tale of lost love found and lost again. This movie is highly recommended to everyone who once had to deal with unrequited love. I gave it 4 out of 5 stars.
Trailer link:
Trailer link:
Matthew McConaughey with Tye Sheridan and Jacob Lofland
AFTER EARTH (2013)
If I am not mistaken, this is the second movie with the father and son team of Will and Jaden Smith (the first being In the Pursuit of Happiness). And this is pretty much also the gist of this story: the relationship between father and son.
Although it is presented as a science fiction adventure, it could easily have been set against any present day scenario and it would have worked. The special effects are good but at times tend to become a little too gamy.
Still, it is well worth watching. The on screen chemistry between Will and Jaden is actually very cute and in the end I gave the movie 3 out of 5 stars.
Trailer link:
Trailer link:
STAR TREK - INTO THE DARKNESS (2013)
Although I have never seen myself as a 'Trekkie' I have seem almost every episode of all the series and its spinoff's over the years that its been on the telly. I also watched all the subsequent films, this one being the latest of the 'first generation' ones.
This time they're off to find yet another arch-villain bent on the Federation's destruction; this time very capably played by the English actor Benedict Cumberbatch from the BBC's Sherlock Holmes fame.
As always the special effects are spectacular but do not distract from the story which is also, as usual, not just pure action. I think this is exactly the recipe that made this franchise work all these years: lots of action but a story with body and characters with depth.
I gave it 3 out of 5 stars.
Trailer link:
Trailer link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAEkuVgt6Aw
Some of the cast from the movie with Anton Yelchin and Chris Pine on the left
THE IMPOSSIBLE (2012)
This movie, which is based on the harrowing real life experience of a Spanish family during the tsunami that hit Thailand and its surrounding islands on the day after Christmas in 2004, was one of the best releases all of last year. It tells the story of separation through disaster and a family's desperate search to find each other amidst all the devastation and chaos afterwards. I suppose it is proof that blood is literally thicker than water after all...
It is a very moving story without getting overly sentimental. The acting by co-stars Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts is first class but that of young Tom Holland who plays the eldest of their three children, is absolutely remarkable. This too is apparently his first roll on the big screen and I really hope we are going to see more from him in the future.
This film come very highly recommended by most critics, like for instance Leonard Maltin and I fully agree with them. I gave it 4 out of 5 stars.
Trailer link:
Trailer link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bgw394ZKsis
Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor with the boys after they all found each other again
No comments:
Post a Comment