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tinyrockergrrl
Reviews
The Invitation (2015)
Beautiful & suspenseful thriller that keeps you guessing...
Karyn Kusama's "The Invitation", is one of the most suspenseful horror thriller's (may not be for the faint of heart) I've since 2008's "The Strangers". With suspense built in ways that will make you physically tense in anticipation while feeling impossibly nervous, this movie will have you on the edge of your seat wondering what the %#^& is going on?!
Because trust me. You will think that. What the %#^& is going on?! But you will find yourself genuinely caring about what's actually going down and why.
I don't want to tell too much about the plot of the movie. Its best to go into this one knowing its simply about a dinner party.
That's it. That's all you need to know. At one point, my jaw muscles were so tense, I had to pause the movie and relax a bit. True story.
The cinematography includes dark rich colors, shadows and lots of fun, ingenious camera tricks that makes for beautiful eye candy. My favorites being the slow camera zoom as a story is told by one of the characters in the house and a lovely face-to-face father/son shot. About half-way through the movie, there is a crazily stunning infinity mirror shot of the main character Will, that may actually reflect the way you're feeling at this part of the movie.
And we must talk about the main character Will and how ridiculously good looking he is. For any woman (and man, for that matter) out there who is a fan of Tom Hardy, you are in for a pleasant surprise. This man looks like if all of the times Tom Hardy has EVER been hot met the super scruffy, dirty, man hulk, hairy Tom Hardy and they had a lovechild, Logan Marshall-Green would be their spawn. This man is the epitome of the perfect Tom Hardy, if there was such a thing because let's face it, Tom Hardy himself is ridiculously HOT.
But that's beside the point. Tom Hardy is NOT in "The Invitation" but a lovechild spawn of him is.
There are times in this movie when homeboy Will (or Hottie Hardy) should have left after things were said. I found myself audibly telling him so by yelling at my TV screen. But I reckon if he left, this movie would not exist so therefore he stayed, which made for a most excellent movie. I truly believed everything about everyone but also that nothing was it seemed. The character chemistry was fantastic from Will's suspicion to Eden's sadness to Kira's defeat, with scenes where the tension was so thick that I found myself forgetting to breathe.Theodore Shapiro's music throughout is intensely alluring, gracefully building the suspense and heightening the overall mood to allow the audience to truly get caught up in what the %#^& is going on?!
Several scenes were so powerfully sad that they almost made me forget that this was a horror thriller but then something would quickly remind me of just that and I would become nervous all over again. The acting was SO well done and the backstory was told beautifully between flashbacks that easily intensified the entire theme of the movie: grief and how people deal with it.
"I've been waiting to die ever since the moment it happened". Bravo for this line and the delivery of it.
Grief is an overwhelming feeling that everyone deals with differently. Some days are easy to get through and other days are full of the most exhausting anguish there is. But knowing that we all go through our own share of heartache and sadness helps to make it a little easier to realize we're not going through it alone. Small, teeny tiny underlying message of the movie but absolutely not the main focus.
What I'm trying to say is "The Invitation" is SUCH an amazing emotional roller-coaster that will keep you guessing until the very end. Fantastically paced with a payoff that you'll be thinking about well after the movie has finished, do yourself a favor and watch it as soon as you can.
I've watched it four times since my first viewing. And I'm probably going to go watch it again. Excuse me.
We Are Your Friends (2015)
Take It For What It Is & You Will Enjoy This
EDM Music has become a crazy world of drugs, sex and bass drops. Being an avid fan of this genre well before it become a trendy thing to do, I have definitely been a bit disheartened by how kids treat the scene these days. Instead of the focus being on the music, its on being half naked, rolling on E and hooking up with anything with a pulse (that last part is probably optional). This movie shows all of that (of course) but the focus is on doing something MORE with your life. Its about moving people, being memorable and creating from the heart.
I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this movie. I smiled and laughed pretty much the entire time. It was quite funny, poking a bit at how ridiculous this "culture" has become but remained true to the spirit of the music. Zac Efron did a really good job at portraying a DJ who really IS all about creating music. All of his "friends" were accurately portrayed because we ALL have that douchey friend, that clueless friend and we know that guy that's just kinda there, hanging out. Wes Bentley was superb as the alcoholic has-been DJ (but come on, its Wes Bentley. He's superb at everything he does). The scenery was spot-on and exciting, taking you on multiple roller-coaster rides of cartoon drug trips, wild dance parties and of course, sexy time. And can I just say, as a women, how much I enjoyed gazing upon Emily Ratajkowski and her glorious boobs?! WHEW!
You must take this movie for what it is. You should probably be a fan of EDM music (or at least music in general) to really enjoy this movie. The screening I was at was full of a much older crowd who seemed genuinely confused. "I thought this was a movie about friendship?" Well, it IS. In a crazy world of drugs, sex and bass drops.
The Fault in Our Stars (2014)
Even if you haven't read the book, you'll fall in love...
I can't stop thinking about this movie. Having loved the book, I was skeptical the movie would be super fluffy + cheesy but it far exceeded my expectations. It was filmed so beautifully, really capturing the magic in the moments the actor's exquisitely brought to life, creating characters that everyone in the audience, fans of the book or not, fell in love with. The music is exceptional as well, really adding to each and every scene. I'm listening to the soundtrack as I it here and write this, remembering scenes from the movie and Gus's smile.
I'm going to have to go see this one in the theatre again. It truly was one of the best movie experiences I've had in a long time. Reminded me of why I'm such a fan of movies... they can be truly magical.