Zombieland (2009)

I was browsing the home entertainment channels for some possibly good content or new/unwatched movies. I came across Zombieland on Pix. I remembered that I had watched that movie about 2 years ago on the same channel. Though the movie felt a bit bland and dis connective when I first watched it, I gave it another chance (mostly because I was bored and didn't want to get back to work). On watching the movie a second time, I found it to fun and entertaining no matter how lame the intended jokes sounded.

The movie is based on a modern zombie-infested world where four non-infected individuals try their best to survive given the apocalyptic conditions. A student, Columbus (note that the characters are given names from the places they lived in and they are not their real names) wants to travel to meet his parents and Tallahassee a redneck like person is in search for his last Twinkie. A girl and her sister also struggle to survive in the zombie infested area. The plot is very similar to other zombie movies, the only difference is that there have been desperate attempts to integrate humor in every part of the movie. I can not help but call this movie an attempt to recreate the plot and atmosphere of Shaun of the Dead, a movie that was largely appraised in terms of it's combination of horror and comedy, which redefined the horcom genre.

Though Zombieland is entertaining for a first time watch, I don't think it's enticing enough to watched another time. The horror nor comedy is that excellent to be noted and the movie suffers from a poorly drawn plot and quotidian story line. I'd probably give it a 5/10.

Bye till my next review.

I, Frankenstein

Good day readers,

All of you may have heard about the tales of Frankenstein, the large reanimated monster. As a kid, I always used to take a liking to such stories about Frankenstein. A few years ago I read the classic book of Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley. I always despised the fact that there had been no decent movie of Frankenstein or Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in the last 30 years. Half of my disappointment was reduced when I, Frankenstein was released. It was an awesome movie and satiated all my curiosity regarding the mysterious monster, his looks and personality. I also liked the fact that the movie does not only focus on Frankenstein. It also focuses on two types of creature races, the Gargoyles (whom we have not observed or even caught glimpse of recently in movies) and the Demons.

The movie starts out with the introduction of Frankenstein, or actually, the creature discovered and reanimated by legendary scientist, Victor Frankenstein. The scientist, gathered parts from several corpses, unified them into a single body and instilled life within the body by using thousands of watts of electricity. Giving the creature his own name, Frankenstein, and promising life-long companionship, the creature was devastated to find out that his master, Victor, did not actually mean what he promised. In a rage, the creature, Frankenstein killed Victor's wife and hunted him. while running away from the Frankenstein, Victor froze to death. Searching for answers and a companion, Frankenstein goes on a quest and meets the Gargoyle queen, learning about the never ending war between the Gargoyles and the Demons. He also meets an established electro-physicist Dr. Wade who seems to understand him, pity him and think of him as not a monster but an equal person. 

The character of Frankenstein, played by Aaron Eckhart, has been nicely viced and presented. We get to know that maybe Frankenstein was not as bad as portrayed in other versions of Frankenstein, other movies or tv shows. I like that the movie portrays a different personality of the antiquated creature, and his appearance. The modern setting of the movie presents a somewhat different view from the classic Frankenstein book, but 'different' provides opportunities for new discoveries, doesn't it? The best thing about the movie was probably the ending dialogues voiced by Frankenstein. I, Monica Panchal, take leave for today, thus returning in the indefinite future to post another movie review.

Unfriended (2014)

Dark Greetings,

I was browsing my horror movie collection for some new entrees, or maybe some unseen ones. I came across Unfriended. I had read a short synopsis of the movie in a magazine or something and I thought it was a movie worth watching. The story of the movie resembled my favorite television series, Pretty Little Liars, thus encouraging me to watch it. 

The movie starts off by introducing the main character Blaire Lily (Is her name an analogy? if it is, it's terrible.) and her boyfriend Mitch. It's really awesome that the whole movie(except the ending) was filmed by using a mac book screen recorder. Anyways Blaire and her friends start receiving Facebook and chat messages, video calls and emails from their dead friend, Laura Barns, who committed suicide exactly a year ago. Initially careless, they gang gets restless when faced by personal confrontations and threats by the anonymous user billie a.k.a Laura. One by one, all of the gang members die in ways which appear as if they committed suicide. The anonymous party also has the remaining high-schoolers play 'Never Have I Ever' bringing out all of their secrets. The end though predictable was a bit shocking.

The character death scenes in the movie are a bit scary like when the Ken crushes his hand in the blender and when the blonde girl(don't remember her name) gets electrocuted by the hair curler in her mouth. Anyways, the movie, though not scary in the same way as other horror movies, depicts the threat of anonymous internet users, whose identity is not known by anyone. I mean, they can after all be dead, ready to avenge injustice directed towards them in the past.

Up (2009)

Hey readers,

I welcome you back with one among st the best of the animated movies, Up. The movie really made an epic spot in the list of the best and most acclaimed animated movies. With an IMDb rating of 8.3, this movie really boasts its place among the most highly rated animated movies, and promises much to offer. It is a movie based on imaginative ideas and proves that some castles can be built in thin air, opposed to the well-known saying.

Anyways, the movie focuses on Carl, an old man who has had to suffer the passing away of his beloved wife Ellie. Carl reminisces his past with Ellie, which holds so many memories from the time they met when they were kids to the time they were separated by Ellie's death. Carl's last dream is to fulfill Ellie's wish of living besides Paradise Falls. They had dreamed of living on Paradise Falls since they were kids an Carl had promised that he would make this wish come true. Carl had been blowing up millions of balloons and attaching his house to them so that one day his house would be able to fly and reach Paradise Falls. After the balloons were ready, Carl took off along with his house and astonishingly enough, his house was flying in thin air. To Carl's dismay, a stowaway appears unexpectedly. His name is Russel, a little boy scout who happened to be selling cookies or something and got trapped on Carl's porch while the house was taking off. Carl and Russel have many adventures on the trip to Paradise Falls. They encounter the Friendly Doug the Dog, who happens to be a talking dog, and Kevin, a female exotic bird who is in the search of her baby birds. The four of them bond through the trip and also encounter an evil adventurer who happened to be Carl's idol.

The story of a house flying using balloons, dogs that can talk using intelligent devices attached to their collar, a happy-go-lucky little boy-scout and an old man who wished to fulfill his dead wife's dream has been fantastically collaborated into a magical movie. This is one of the best Disney's Pixar films every made and easily deserves a rating of 9/10.

Journey 2 the Mysterious Island (2012)

Welcome back readers,

Lazy, boring afternoons at home and the best way to spend such afternoons is to watch a movie about an exciting, overly imaginative and humorous movie based on Verne's classic 'The Mysterious Island'. One of the reasons I watched it like I think 20 times is cause of the presence of Rock. He just seemed really funny as Sean's stepfather. Anyways, the movie is pretty awesome for those people who have read Julius Verne's books or people who have a taste for fantasy/comedy movies. A few of you may have watched the preceding Journey to the Center of the Earth. Story-wise, cast-wise and overall movie-wise, I think the Mysterious Island is way cooler than the first, which was a bit dull.

The movie starts out with Sean, the protagonist being chased by the police on his dirt bike. Appears he broke into a satellite facility to retrieve some abstruse signals, which were sent by his lost explorer grandfather. Sean apparently hates his stepfather, Hank, the ultra-cool Rock Johnson (I mean, Dwayne Johnson) for trying to replace his dead father. To gain Sean's trust, Hank tries to help Sean decode the signals. Decoding the signals leads the duo to the discovery of the co-ordinates of the mysterious island. Determined to find the island, Sean goes to Palau in pursuit, followed by Hank (much to Sean's dismay). They meet an  ugly, clumsy and funny helicopter pilot named Gabato and his pretty daughter Kalaini. During their helicopter ride to the co-ordinates, Gabato's helicopter gets stuck in a category-5 earthquakes within whose center lies The Mysterious Island. They crash land at the island and Sean meets his grandfather, Michael Caine. During the duration of their survival on the island, the quintet see much of the island's miraculous beauties and also discover shocking truths about the island. But to survive, the must think of a way to get along, sorting out their differences and finding a way to get off the island.

Though the movie can seem a bit immature, it is entertaining to watch the jokes and the bond
development among the characters. The funniest part was probably when Hank was afraid of the Big Lizard and gave it the Thunder Cookie. It was also hilarious to see Johnson in such a light and funny role. Overall, I would give this movie a rating of 7.5/10.

Keep Tuning in!

The Secret of Kells (2009)

Welcome Back Readers,

Today I will be reviewing a quaint animated motion film called The Secret of Kells. This movie is based on the folklore of France and Ireland. The names of the characters in the movie are mostly Irish and are a bit hard to catch because they are based on different languages.  This film largely differs from the animated movies produced by large companies such as Universal, Disney, Pixar and Sony. The animation effects are a bit primitive, but I think that it adds to the aesthetic effect of the movie's uniqueness. The movie appears to be a motion of thousands of beautiful hand drawn images of the characters and environment.

The story is based on a town called The Abbey of Kells. There lies a monastery in Kells where many brothers reside. Among st them lives Brendan, a young, curious and intelligent boy who is constantly put to work by Uncle Abbot, the strict and overprotective Abbot of the Abbey. The Brothers of Kells tell Brendan a story about the book of Iona, illustrated by the most magical Illuminator. This Book largely inspires Brendan and he dreams about it. One day, Brother Aidan of Iona, a prominent illustrator lands in Kells. Brendan hears the talk about Aidan and wishes to learn more about the book and see the book. He reaches the scripting room where the book of Iona lies and proceeds to open it. There Brendan is greeted by Aidan's white cat Pangur Ban who resists when Brendan tries to see the book. After Brendan gains Pangur's and Aidan's trust, he is allowed to see the book of Iona. Seeing that Brendan has the potential to become an illustrator of the book of Iona, he convinces Brendan to learn to become an illustrator and sends him to complete various tasks, much to his Uncle's fury. On one such task, Brendan goes to the forest and meets Aisling, a beautiful little fairy, who owns the jungle. She helps Brendan complete his tasks and become a successful illustrator of The Book. After Kells is attacked by the Viking, Brendan goes on a quest to complete the remaining of the Book. After the Book is completed, a now adult Brendan returns to Kells and returns the book to his long lost Uncle Abbot and calls the book "The Book of Kells". Brendan wishes that the book would inspire the people for generations to come.

This film was inspiring and the deviation of the plot and visual animation from other animated movies makes it enticing and intriguing to watch. The main moral that I caught from the story was "To believe in magic and imagination". Though the end seemed a bit incomplete, the main goal of the film (the completion of the Book and its distribution for the welfare of the people) was accomplished, thus the end. I believe this film contained more substance than any of today's animated movies which are successful only in entertaining viewers.

See you at another review.

The Jungle Book (2016)

2016 is on the verge of leaving us. So today I feel like giving a review of the most sensational Disney movie released this year, The Jungle Book. Everyone had enjoyed the original version or read the book by Rudyard Kipling. The idea itself of a child raised by wolves in the jungle is intriguing. I was really excited about the release of this movie 6 months ago and I watched it on the first day. This movie was one of the most budgeted and highly anticipated releases of Disney. Great expectations were made about the movie's potential with it's amazing cast and cast-voices.

Now about what I felt of the movie. To be honest, I liked the original Disney version of the movie better. Not even this movie could replicate the bond of friendship between Baloo and Mowgli and the original story as sketched by Rudyard Kipling. The movie though had its perks. Sher Khan was amazing. I mean the voice of Sher, Idris Elba's voice, was terribly frightening and really apt. I felt that Sher's voice in this movie was probably the best among st those of all the Disney villains. Voices of Bagheera, Baloo and Kaa the Snake, respectively Ben Kingsley, Bill Murray and and Scarlet Johanneson were also remarkable. Neel Sethi, the little boy who plays Mowgli overshadowed all the other characters. His performance and acting as Mowgli deserves a noble ovation. It was as if he was really interacting with the wild animals. I don't want to go on rambling about the story of the movie because everyone already knows it and the purpose of this post is to give a review.

This movie gives everything you need to have a great movie experience. Adventure, thrill, comedy and the bond of friendship are the key component of The Jungle Book. I took a survey and found out that most of the people liked this movie more than its original Disney counterpart. People tend to like live representations more than animated representations nowadays. The visual effects and animals shown are amazing. My favorite wild animal in the movie is Bagheera the black panther. I loved his glossy black coat and his shiny green eyes. ( I don't know why I added that.) To sum it up, The Jungle Book provides a perfect watch for anyone and everyone regardless of age, ethnicity, language or movie preferences. Thus, a true movie. 

Cinderella (2015)

Hey welcome back,

I thinks my blog readers may have gotten tired of my recent chain of horror movie recommendations. So today I will be giving my views on the most fairest princess story of them all, Cinderella. Though I was not really a fairy tale of kid, I did watch all the Disney versions of the fairy tales. I was interested in watching the newest remake of Cinderella and comparing it with the original Disney one. Actually there was not much to compare as the stories are the same. The only difference was that The newest version is a live remake and not the animated one. Usually I like the original animated versions of the Disney movies better, like the Jungle Book and others. But in this case, I loved the newer one. The effects were amazing and Cinderella's dress was probably my center of attraction.

Anyways, to sum it up, Cinderella is a story about a young, kind woman, Ella, who has to bear her evil stepmother and irritatingly rude stepsisters. Her mother had died while she was still a little girl and her father remarried after about a decade to her evil stepmother. Her stepmother makes her live in the attic and do all the household chores, thus leading to her new name, Cinderella. Anyways, she meets a young handsome man in the forest near her house and they both like each other. The man turns out to be a prince, and wishing to meet the mysterious country girl again, he keeps a lavish ball. Though ordered by her stepmother to stay at home, Cinderella, with the help of her hairy dogfather, I mean fairy godmother, reaches the ball in the most beautiful avatar ever. The prince instantly notices her and they dance together having the time of their lives. When the clock starts to chime. Cinderella starts running away before the spell would wear off, revealing her usual self. While running, Cinderella loses one of her glass slipper. The prince uses the glass slipper to find the mysterious girl whom he loved. All the maidens of the land try to fit their foot in the slipper, but to no avail. Finally, Cinderella is found by the prince, despite her being hidden by her stepmother. Cinderella and the prince then live happily ever after. Oh, and the stepmother and her daughters are banished form the land of course.

My favorite part of the movie is probably the fairy godmother part. It is very entertaining with Helena Bonham Carter as the godmother. It is fun to watch as she transforms everything plain into something majestic as she gets Cinderella ready for the ball. Though I am more of a dark fairy tale type of person, this movie is fun and entertaining to watch and everyone who loves Disney movies should watch it if they haven't already.

Bye

The Cabin In The Woods (2011)

Hello readers,

You may have noticed I was inactive for quite a bit of time there. Just had a lot going on so I couldn't watch any new, old or eccentric movies. Anyways, I am back to recommend some of the wildest movies ever made. The crazy-ass movie I will be discussing today is The Cabin In The Woods. My reaction after watching the movie was: "Dude, what a movie! Don't know what to say...cause it was one of the weirdest movies I have ever watched in my life." Cinema is never out of eerie movies, but I gotta say, this was one of the most craziest awesome movies I have come across in a long time. I had heard about this movie a ton of times, but as the title did not sound promising, I refrained from watching it. I mean, from the title, the movie sounded like it would be all about friends trapped in a little cabin surrounded by flesh eating zombies, I mean a repetition of The Evil Dead. This movie totally proved that one can not judge a movie by the title of it.

Anyways, being a horror movie, it did not provide many scares. As for the shocks, it gave intermittent ones of 100W each. After watching the movie, I went through the reviews of IMDb user reviews. I found that ratings were bitter extremes. Some of the people gave it a mere 1 or 2/10 and the rest gave a 10/10. So saying, people either loathed the movie or acclaimed it. As for me I enjoyed the merciless, blood sucking movie a ton. I mean, being a horror movie fan, you can only pray that movies with new concepts are being developed, and this one presented a view of horror that was never seen before. The Cabin In The Woods appears to be a parody of horror movies though. I feel that it mocks the common horror movie monsters. The movie reminded me a lot of The Evil Dead, Goosebumps and The Hunger Games. The twists and turns at the end of the movie are too much to ask for. I praise the director for developing and carrying out such a crazy plot seemingly effortless. The cinematic and movie effects are also awesome.

I am not going to give a summary of this movie because I am afraid it will end out being ten pages long. To sum it up, you are either going to love the movie or hate it. So I wont bother giving a rating because it depends on one's perception and interests. The keen eyed movie goers will probably love this movie as I did, but no burden, not everyone can watch these types of movies. The movie does contain objectionable content such as gore scenes. There are a few scenes where I could not stop laughing like the speakerphone scene. This is a perfect mood to add a bit of excitement and weirdness to an otherwise dull day. That, and hats off to Drew Goddard for presenting horror fans with a masterpiece.

Night, Night
Monica

The Amityville Horror (2005)

Hey readers,

Today I present the remake of the original Amityville movie of the 70's, The Amityville Horror (2005). It is very hard to come across a good horror film that actually has the capacity to scare the living crap outta people. This movie did a fairly good job. I remember the first time I watched this movie. I didn't sleep that night. Anyways, this film is a loose representation of Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, based on the man of the house going totally cuckoo and wanting to kill his family. The makers of the movie have made the movie much more violent than The Shining. The starting of the movie and the ending scenes are pretty violent and are recommended for people above 15 years.

The starting of the movie shows the Defeo family getting killed by the possessed guy. He kills his three younger siblings and his parents by shooting them in the head while they are asleep and shooting his youngest sister Jodie while he was hiding in the closet. The brutal murder of the children is too scary to watch and the director probably succeeded in scaring the audience outta the cinema hall in the first 5 minutes of the movie! Anyways, one year later, a happy family moves into the same home unaware of the terrifying experience that would follow. Initially happy, the kind and funny stepfather, the mother and the three kids are excited about their mansion-like new home. A few days pass and the step-father starts acting weird. He gets angry with the kids and gives then torturous punishments. The little girl starts seeing the ghost of Jodie, the girl murdered. Once the mother realizes their deadly mistake of moving into the possessed home, she tries to convince her husband to move out. But it was too late as her possessed husband had already started to plot the murder of his family.

Notably terrifying scenes:

• The scene where the little boy Micheal goes to the bathroom and while washing his hands a grotesque figure is shown behind him, with blood coming out of its mouth.
• The scene where the little girl is standing on the topmost part of the roof, waiting to  jump.
• The part where the past activity occurring in the torture room of the basement is shown. I do not wish to enlist those gruesome details.
• The ending where the stepfather runs after his family to kill them.
• This ain't a scene, but the phrase "Kill 'em, Katch 'em" is terrifying.

The movie is to be considered a treat to those horror movie fans and it will prove to be a good watch to those people who have the guts to watch a terrifying movie.

Signing off for today.

Monica

Shrek 3 (2007)

Greetings Humans!

Watching animated movies is probably my favorite pastime. I turned on the television today to see what movie was airing in the 7 oclock time slot on my three favorite movie channels. I was really surprised to find out that all three channels had an animated movie airing at 7pm as per the schedule. There was Home, Hotel Transylvania 2, and Shrek 3. I had not watched Home yet. I had seen Hotel Transylvania one time about 3 months ago and found it quite entertaining, probably better than the first. Shrek 3, was watched by me about 20 times in the past. It must be quaint to hear that deciding which movie to watch in the 7pm slot was a pretty hard decision to make. First, I thought that I have already watched Shrek 3 like a gazillion times and it is sure to keep airing on that channel so I better watch Home. But, being my usual Shrek series loving person, I decided to watch Shrek 3 for like the 21st time. It was like a sing along, except I spoke the dialogues along with the movie.

I love all of the four Shrek movie. The first two parts may be better than the last two, but they don't reduce the importance of the trailing parts at all. The third part basically revolves around finding Arthur, the lost heir to 'Far, Far Away' (the kingdom ruled by Fiona's father who dies a frog!). The secondary story components include Shrek's anxiety regarding becoming a parent and Prince Charming's evil plans of becoming king of Far, Far Away including taking revenge upon Shrek. The movie is about 90 minutes of entertainment and is sure to lighten up some grouchy people. Notable parts of the movie:

1. The death of the Frog King (Fiona's father)
2. Shrek's dream of the frightening babies.
3. The Worchestire high school.
4. The entry of Arthur.
5. The Attack of Prince Charming
6. The butt scratching in the starting of the movie

Anyways, this movie preserves the charm of the first two Shreks and proves to be an excellent example of one of the best animated movies. The annoying but lovable Donkey and the adorable Puss in Boots stole this movie recommender's heart!

Signing off,
Monica

The Mask (1994)

Hey guys,

Welcome back! The holidays have ended and the dread of the same monotonous schedule awaits us. I took some time off my schedule today to relax and watch one of my favorite comedy movies so that I could forget the pile of work that awaits me, for which there is no escape of course. Anyways, I am recommending this movie to all those people who have piles of work waiting for them and need a few hours to relax and lighten their mood up. Jim Carrey is one of my favorite actors. I just love all of his unique expressions, tones and behavior in all his movies from Ace Ventura to Bruce Almighty. The Mask was a great initial success and one of Carrey's most successful movies. The outrageous green faced man really knows how to make people laugh.



The movie starts out with the introduction of a loser named Stanley Ipkiss who works at a bank. He lives a really eccentric life watching cartoons and living with his dog. His life suddenly changes and becomes far from boring when he comes across a green colored mask. He unsuspectingly wears the mask and turns into The Mask, a green faced, super elastic, crazy and terribly funny super man who happens to win over Tina with his smooth dance moves. Things get crazy when the Mask robs a bank and hides the money in his room (Ipkiss's room). Ipkiss wakes up the next day wondering if the crazy events were a nightmare or reality. Intelligently, Ipkiss uses the Mask's power to destroy a villain and save Tina.

The best parts of the movie has to be the scenes in which The Mask is present. His comedy, dialogues, dressing style, dance and irritating behavior marks Jim Carrey's outstanding performance within the movie. I just love his crazy weapons and the part where he acts like he is dying. There could not be a single person in the world who did not find this movie to be funny and entertaining. The Mask will surely give you people an entertaining two hours movie experience and will leave you with a fresh mood after you watch it.

All Girls Weekend (2016)

Hello readers,

So as you guys know, Halloween is on the way and all of you must be in the mood to watch movies that can creep you out and send a chill down your spine. I was browsing Netflix and IMDb lists for new horror movie suggestions. I was dismayed to find out that I had already watched the best ones. I came across a few good ones that I had not yet watched. I decided to save those movies for later, cause those were the last few good movies I had left to watch before any fresh entries. So I went through the list of unexpected, less watched and poorly rated movies. In the list, I found All Girls Weekend. The movie had an IMDb rating of 1/5. The Rotten Tomatoes review was also damn poor. The budget and box office of the movie was low and the actors were fresh stock. As my recommendations tread the acclaimed as well as the unexpected movies in the lot, I decided to give this movie a try. My conclusion regarding the movie is pretty surprising indeed.

I turned the movie on not knowing what I would get from it. The introduction was captivating: A woman lost in a ghost forest, being forced by the forest voices to kill the girl with her. I was interested by the novice concept of a ghost forest with voices that make the people lost in the forest kill the people accompanying them. I found it similar to Amityville Horror, where the house was evil and the voices of the house made a person kill their family. Anyways, the intro of the main characters follows. The movie is mainly based on the reunion of 4 high school friends who are now in college. The girls decide to have a weekend out in the woods and the countryside trekking, zip lining and doing other nature-based activities. The go for trekking in the woods and get lost. Come on, anyone could see that coming! Anyways, the girls face a never-ending nightmare while they are lost in the woods and one by one, all the girls start to face death. The climax is the last 20 minutes of the movie. I liked the fact that the twist/suspense is not easily predictable.

There are a few horrid scenes in the movie which I don't think any of you would like to be hearing. The scenes though utterly horrid have been fitted aptly within the movie making it more unpredictable and spontaneous. Overall, I thought that the movie was a good watch and good material for horror movie fans. This shows that one cannot blindly follow IMDb or rotten tomato reviews. You gotta take some chances in the movies you pick to watch. Though disgraced or ignored completely by movie review sites and people, I have decided to give this movie a thumbs up, proving once again that my blog is for the recommendation and recognition of both the unexpected and the acclaimed.

***Disclaimer: I do not discourage or dissuade the use of IMDb or Rotten Tomatoes in any way. The sites are pretty awesome in their own ways as long as you don't blindly rely on them.***

Goosebumps (2015)

Good evening readers,

Being a great fan of the Goosebumps books and episodes, it is my pleasure to present the Goosebumps movie today. When I was a kid I spent most of my time in my room reading R.L. Stine's masterpiece Goosebumps books. I loved the books so much, I would run to my favorite section in the library wishing that a new Goosebump book was out that I already had not read. I liked every single book of his...excluding two of them I think. Anyways, I was excited to watch this movie being a Goosebumps girl. 

The movie starts out with the introduction of the protagonist, actually I don't remember his name so I'll refer to him as 'Kid'. Like half of Stine's books, Kid moves into a small and creepy new town. He befriends the girl next door finding her attractive. Then follows the unpleasant encounter with the girl's father. The father tells him to buzz off and never come close to his home or daughter again. Kid befriends the girl not availing to the weird neighbor's threats. A few days later, he hears a girl screaming from the house next door. Kid suspects that the weirdo is hurting his daughter. So trying to be Sir Lancelot, he goes to rescue her. During the rescue, he finds out that the girl is fine. While trying to run away before the weirdo came home, they accidentally drop a book from a bookcase. As the book opens on the ground, an extremely large monster generates as if it came alive from the pages of the book. The monster is none other than The Abominable Snowman, from Stine's book. Weirdo arrives home and Kid finds out that the weirdo is none other than R.L.Stine. Stine explains that his books have the ability of coming to life. The story is quite long so I'll just halt here.

Notable characters from the Goosebumps books in the movie are the lawn gnomes, ghost dogs, mummies, werewolves, the walking dead, scarecrows, the blob and many more. The most anticipated character is Slappy the Dummy. Damn, that dummy is so evil and twisted, he won't stop at nothin. It is really entertaining to watch Slappy and all the Goosebump villains work together to destroy the town. The movie is really funny. There are at least 10 hilarious scenes within it. An awesome performance has been given by Jack Black and the three teens. The noteworthy guest appearance of R.L. Stine at the end is also pretty cool.  Anyways, Goosebumps 2015 gives a package of entertainment fully loaded with action, comedy, fantasy, horror and a bit of love. The horror is not even close to the original creepiness produced by R.L. Stine in the his books, but the movie is definitely worth watching. 

The Ring 2 (2005)

Hey guys,

Welcome back to my blog. Today I welcome you with the sequel of one of my favorite movies I recommended about half a month ago. I thought that it would be great to give a review of the Ring franchise within this month because of the close release of the third installment, Rings. Rings is scheduled to release next month. I watched the trailer and it excited me cause I loved the first two parts a lot. Anyways, despite the absence of Naomi Watts and David Dorfman, this movie does seem like a fresh entree on the plate of the horror cuisine fan, though maintaining the environment, feel and scares of the original Ring movies.

Now, as I have started to wander off the main topic here, I will give you a short summary of The Ring 2. Before that, there is another thing worth mentioning. You will enjoy The Ring 2 only if you have watched the first part. Anyways, Rachel and her son Aidan move to San Francisco looking forward to a new start after the tragic death of Aidan's father and Rachel's boyfriend. They wish to forget the terrible memories of Samara, but does Samara wish to forget them? I sure don't think so! Samara makes a comeback, stronger than ever killing more people who watch the tape and targeting Rachel and Aidan. Rachel is devastated when she learns that Samara is back to haunt her and her son and starts a re investigation on how to make Samara leave for ever. Meanwhile, Aidan is possessed by the evil Samara and starts behaving odd and hurting people. The rest of the story I leave for you to watch.

This movie is as good as the first. Some scenes like the deer attack one fail to seem scary and may give some of you the laughs. This movie has included more bold scenes than the first. The scene of Samara climbing up the well in the end is unforgettably scary. The thing I love about The Ring movies is that it does not rely upon blood or gore to make it scary. Rather, it places an importance on creepy visuals and unusually scary scenes to give people the frights. Anyways, this movie is surely a unicorn treat to those 0.000001% of the people who loved The Ring and haven't watched the second part.

See you later alligators!

The Glass House (2001)

Hey readers,

I am back after quite some time. I can't stay calm for long without posting a movie recommendation. Anyways, today I present a Thriller/Mystery movie...The Glass House. You probably must be thinking this movie is about a creepy, haunted house made up of glass. Well if you think so, you are only partially correct. The name of the movie actually comes from the Glasses, a strange middle aged couple who live in a glass mansion in the posh area of Malibu. The reviews of this movie are not pleasing, but my views differ from the critics. I enjoyed this movie and felt it had the characteristics of a true thriller. There are though, some loopholes which have not been closed, making the story a bit loose.

I am feeling compelled to summarize the plot. It starts with a killing scene of a Jason movie Ruby, the main protagonist and her friends are watching. Ruby is introduced as a fun-loving girl who loves to bunk her study sessions for a day out with her gal friends. She returns home one day to find a bunch of police cars greeting her. She enters her house thinking that her parents had called the police looking for her. The truth is more gruesome...her parents had died in an accident, and the police were home investigating. After minutes of mourning, Ruby and her kid brother, Rhett are sent over to their new guardian's house, The Glasses. Their wonder and awe from seeing the house they are going to live in is a bit short-lived after the kids find out that they have to share a room together. Strange occurrences follow and Ruby suspects her creepy foster parents of many things. What follows is a thrilling ride of the survival and escape of Ruby and Rhett from the Glass House.

This movie is perfect for people who love thrilling movies about mysterious people with malicious motives. Besides a few loopholes, the movie is a entertaining watch. Overall I would give this movie a 7/10.

The Ring 2002

Hello readers,

Welcome me back with the arch enemy of the movie I discussed in my last blog. Today I will present The Ring. There has been a lot of excitement about the upcoming Japanese movie The Ring vs. The Grudge. Both movies were originally made in Japan and then were adopted by Hollywood counterparts. Being a true horror movie fan, I love both The Grudge and The Ring equally and could never think of choosing one over the other. I am unable to speculate which one out of Samara or Kayako is more evil and deadly. Guess I will just have to watch the The Grudge vs. The Ring to find out. I will probably be sitting in the first show of that movie.

Putting aside the rivalry, I will give you the basic gist of the movie. The starting of the movie is awesome. Two girls having a sleepover start talking about a video one of them watched. The girl said that she then got a phone call where a voice told her that she had 7 days to live. The careless girls then get the shock of their life when the girl who watched the video dies after looking at a ring on the TV screen. The introduction of the two main protagonists, Rachel, a single mother and her strangely quite son Aidan follows. The girl who died happened to be the cousin of Aidan. Rachel, a journalist, starts investigating the case of the killer videotape after which she unravels a series of mysteries and the life of dead girl called Samara. She discovers the shocking truth of what happen to the girl Samara, whose curse lived within the videotape killing everyone who watched it after 7 days. In the end, just when Rachel thinks that she had done the right thing about Samara, she finds put that she has made a large mistake, large enough to put the life of her son and boyfriend into risk.

Horror movies fans must have already watched this movie. I am sure that mystery and thriller fans will also enjoy this watch. Though I have probably watched this movie a hundred times, it fails to bore me a single minute. This movie may not provide any hard core horror scene, but the overall story, the horrid video, the well, the girl Samara and her past will surely give you the creeps for 7 days.

See you at a next review.

The Grudge (2004)

Beware readers,

In Japanese Culture, it is said that a when a person dies in the grip of a great rage, a curse gathers in that place of death. Anyone encountering the curse will be consumed by the fury of the curse. It is called the grudge of the tormented. Anyways, today's movie is based on a curse, far too strong to get rid of and too deadly to leave anyone alone. The Grudge is one of my favorite horror movies. There are plenty of scenes that can scare you out of your goodnight's sleep. Kayako is the woman who kills all the people encountering the curse. The croaking noise of Kayako indicates her arrival, her arrival to pull your life out and drag your soul into the world of death. Her croaking noise, black straight hair everywhere and her dislocated drag on the floor towards the victim are  probably the most signature parts of the Grudge franchise.

Here goes a tiny summary. Okay, so there is this American exchange student, Karin, studying in a Japanese International College in Tokyo. To finish her volunteer services, she works in a care center. Her boss assigns her the task of taking care of an elderly woman Emma. So Karin goes to Emma's home. She assists the strangely silent Emma. Suddenly, she sees a ghost woman with dark black hair everywhere and white eyes. Karin lapses in a trauma. After returning to reality after a day or two, she goes on a quest to figure out the mystery behind the house. And trust me, she finds out all of the bitter and grotesque events that happened in that very house. The awful events that happened in the home resulted in a curse that gathered there. This resulted in the deaths of anyone and everyone who entered that home. The arrival of the creepy Japanese wounded kid Toshio with his black cat and the Japanese croaking woman Kayako in multiple scenes were probably the best parts of the movie.

This movie is quite entertaining and provides too many scares. The three scariest scenes of the movie and the best scenes to look forward to are:
1. The scene where a hand comes out of the back of Karin's head when she is washing her hair.
2. Yoko's face with the broken lower jaw. This scene will probably be a bit traumatizing for some.
3. The flashback towards the end of the movie where the past of Kayako, her husband and her son           Toshio in the cursed home is seen by Karin.


I will be back unexpectedly with another recommendation.
Monica

P.S. I am pretty excited about the upcoming Japanese movie Sadako vs. Kayako or in English, The Grudge vs. The Ring. Both are equally dear to me, and I can't wait to find out whether Samara or Kayako will win in the movie.

Psycho (1960)

Good Day Readers,

Today I will present to you one of the best psycho-thrillers ever made, Psycho.  The fact that this movie is over 50 years old makes the idea of watching it more appealing and intriguing. While it is fully adapted from Robert Bloch's book by the same name, the screenplay is absolutely thrilling. One might find it hard to believe that such an old black and white movie is capable of giving the creeps to anyone who watches it. Alfred Hitchcock has done a mighty job in directing the movie and the music director should be acclaimed the most of all. The music is so well chosen and suits the ambiance of the creepy story. But I must admit, the movie is not even close to the scares and mental unrest the book gave me. Psycho, by Robert Bloch was written in 1959. I highly recommend this book to all horror and thriller freaks. After reading the thrilling book, I did not find the movie as thrilling, to my disappointment.

The movie starts out with the introduction of the protagonist Marion Crane and her lover Sam. Marion works in an insurance firm and her boss gives her the sudden and immediate task of depositing $40,000 in his bank locker. Due to her boyfriend's money issues, she decides to take the dollars and run away to his home in Fairvale. She faces many obstacles such as a suspecting policeman and driving in rainy nights, so much so she decides to sleep the night at the Bates Motel, a motel on the verge of closure due to full vacancies day after day. Thereafter, the thrilling introduction of Norman Bates, the most anticipated character in the film. I had developed a rather different image of Norman Bates after reading Psycho. In the book's introduction, Norman appeared to be a fat, lethargic, overly mother-obsessed young man who took an interest in rather strange activities. Within the movie's introduction though, Norman appears a healthy and innocent looking hotel manager. As the movie unravels, his psychotic behavior becomes largely noticeable. I will not unravel the contents of the story after Marion enters the motel, as it is part of the climax.

I find Psycho an absolutely creditable movie, probably the best ones made at that time. The fact that a movie made 60 years ago is so believable, flabbergasts me. No wonder it is in the top 50 of the highest rated films on IMDb. Anyways, the movies is a must watch. Though, I would recommend you read the book before you watch the movie, cause the book is much scarier and thrilling. 

See you next time!

The Babadook (2014)

Hey readers,

Welcome back. I was bored yesterday night so I decided to carry out one of my favorite pastimes, watching a scary movie. Like the usual times, I didn't pick up one of my favorite horror movies, which I have probably watched a hundred times already. I decided to watch a movie different from the rest of the horror movies. I came across The Babadook, a totally unexpected movie to watch, cause the name of the movie itself is eerie. I had read the critics reviews of The Babadook a few months ago. Most of the critics reviews were great, though the movie wasn't exactly a box office success.

The movie mainly focuses on the relationship between a widow and her abnormally protective son, Sam. The widows husband died on the day Sam was born in a car crash, while he was taking her to the hospital to have Sam. The woman has lived in grief from the day her husband died (the day Sam was born). Due to the grief she held within her she was unable to give Sam the amount of love he needed since he was a baby. Probably due to the unintentional negligence since he was a child, Sam had developed the mentality that an imaginary monster was coming to hurt him and his mother. Being overprotective of his mother, he vowed that he would let nothing happen to her. Then one day, the boy came across a damn creepy bedtime story book called Mister Babadook. The book contained scary lines about how the Babadook would be watching and enter the room through the cupboard after three knocks..dook...dook..dook. After reading the book, Sam goes practically crazy, thinking that the Babadook is everywhere.

Strange occurrences follow. The skeptical mother also feels that there is some supernatural entity in their home. The Babadook attempts to possess the mother. Okay, now I won't be telling you the rest of the story. You got to watch the movie for that. Anyways, I wanted to present my views on The Babadook. I feel that the makers of the movie had developed an imaginary character, Babadook, as an analoy to the grief residing within the widow. The grief emerged from within her as the dark entity called the Babadook, possessing her completely so that she was unable to love her child, Sam. Two dialogues within the movie which support this hypothesis are: "The Babadook won't let you love me, Mummy" and the line from the book," The movie you deny he exists, the easier it will be for him to get under your skin". This line from the book refers to the woman denying the fact that she is a widow and rebuking all who remind her of that fact.

Anyways, I recommend this movie to everyone who takes an interest in horror or psychology films.

Thanks for your time.

Fantastic Four (2005)

Fantastic Four (2005)

Hello again...

To break the chain of my usual horror genre film recommendations, today I will briefly discuss the well-known action film, The Fantastic Four. Despite being a superhero movie, it largely differs from the hardcore action Marvel movies. It is based on four protagonists whose DNA changes after exposure to a radioactive cloud in space, making them four unlikely superheroes.

One turns into elasto-man whose body can take any shape desired. The guy's girlfriend turns into Miss Invisible and her arrogant, obnoxious and playboy brother gains the ability to turn into a fire-breathing wreaking ball who can fly in the air at the temperature of 3000 Kelvin. Last and of course not the least, their friend Ben has the worst transformation which is viewed by most as a monster transformation instead of transformation into a superhero. I could not help but think that this movie reminds me a lot of The Incredibles. I don't remember which one released first though.

Anyways, the four superheroes collaborate and become the Fantastics and save the world from an inevitable villain called Victor, who turns into a Metal Man type of mutants due to the space radiations.This movie was a pretty entertaining watch for me. It has combined the elements of action and humor nicely. There are plenty of laughs within the movie and the bond between the four heroes watch also fun to watch. Overall, this movie is a great first time watch and I would give it a 6.5/10.

See you guys at the next review!  

Scream 1996

Scream

Hello people,

As we know that Wes Craven, the legendary horror film maker died more than a year ago, today I will be discussing one of his best masterpieces, Scream. Derived from John Carpenter's legendary horror flick Halloween, he created a new remixed version of Halloween, probably even better than it, and he named it Scream. I just love how the movie is named "Scream". Such a conventional name for horror movie, yet fully connected to the essence of the movie.

The best part of Scream is probably the beginning. The famous 'let's play a game' is played in this part of the movie. The phone rings and an unsuspecting and naive blonde teen picks up the phone, only to be greeted by a unknown creepy voice on the other side of the line. The girl converses a bit with the unknown voice. The voice scares the girl after saying that he is looking at her at the moment and is at her doorstep. The girl then forcefully has to play a horror movie quiz in order to save her wounded boyfriend tied up on her patio. One wrong answer by the girl renders him dead. Then the voice cum killer wearing a white ghost mask chases the girl outside and kills her too. Ghostface then hangs her from a tree. Anyone can guess that the most bad-ass part of this film was obviously the beginning.

The next part introduces the main characters of the movie. Sidney, the protagonist, is a traumatized girl who had to face the murder of her mother a year ago. The rest of her friends and her boyfriend Billy are brainless horror movie freaks. After the murder of the girl and her boyfriend, the small town becomes a frenzy with Ghostface running around town killing related characters, with his main target being Sidney.

The revelation of Ghostface in the end was pretty original and unsuspecting. People who like murder mysteries, suspense films, and horror comedies will enjoy this movie a lot. This movie makes it easily to my top ten of the best horror movies ever made.

People who have watched Scream many time should open the link I am putting below. You will get to know more about Scream you probably didn't know before.
http://mentalfloss.com/article/58039/15-things-you-may-not-have-known-about-scream

Final Destination 5 (2011)

Welcome back readers,

Today I will be presenting my views on the awesome Final Destination 5. The Final Destination franchise is my favorites and I con not find notable flaws within any of the five movies of the franchise. My favorites of the five movies are the first and last one. The thing I felt the most fascinating about the last movie was the climactic interconnection with the first movie at the end. I found that the second and third movies didn't live up to the potential of the first movie, but Final Destination 4 surely made up for that. Anyways, talking about the fifth and last part, the makers of this movie surely knew how to wind up the series of movies in the best way possible.

The death scenes are probably the most defined and scary in this part. There is a big difference in watching this movie on television and watching the DVD version of it. The DVD version has all the original scene including every single gory detail of death. I remember at least five highly disturbing scenes within the movie, not to be watched by the faint-hearted. Anyways, the uniqueness of each character's death within the movie is app-laudable. Who would think that you could get your eyes burned out by a laser during LASIK and then trip and fall from the fourth floor. Makes people want to reconsider the option of getting a LASIK done. The gymnastics scene is grotesque, but at the same time, it makes people take the movie more seriously.

The plot of the movie is the same as the rest of the Final Destinations. A group of youngsters survive a disaster and then die on by on under mysterious circumstances. The last two or three people left devise a plan and strategy to cheat death again so that they could be spared their life, only to be given an unpleasant surprise at the end costing them their lives. The best part of the Final Destination series is that the plot actually focuses on the name of the franchise 24/7. The characters are reminded continuously that death is coming for them and when the last one or two of the characters thinks that they have defeated death's list, death comes for them too reminding them that no one can cheat death. The endings are perfect for the series and the most noted endings are probably those of the 3, 4 and 5th parts.

After watching this movie, we cannot help but be concerned that death is all around us and that our live may not be fully under our own control. Anyways, this movie is a great watch and I recommend highly.

Thanks..

The Exorcist (1976)

Welcome back readers,

It is great that you are present for this movie review, because the movie I am discussing today is the most scariest movie ever made. The Exorcist one of the most highly rated horror films of all time. It is amazing how a film 50 years old can be so scary. The Exorcist is no movie to laugh at or to take lightly. When the movie first released in the United States, many people who watched the movie became sick, fainted due to the horribly scary scenes, or developed heart conditions or mental fantasies that the devil exists, or that they are possessed. The movie brought about a lot of bad luck too. The actress that played the possessed girl, Regan's, mother broke her back during the shooting of a scene and became paralyzed. It is also said that the sets of the movie mysteriously caught fire a few times.

The first time I saw this movie was when I was eight years old. I slid the DVD in the player, not knowing that it would cause me 3 nights of nightmares and no sleep. At first I thought the movie was crap, cause of the archaeology scenes in Iraq. But after 30 minutes, my interest started to build as the devil had possessed the girl, and it's effects had started to show. While watching the movie I didn't really bite my nails, but after the movie was finished at 10 pm and while I tucked myself in to sleep, I was a scared wreck. I couldn't get the possessed girl's face out of my head. The thoughts of the devil tied to the bed with the horrid face just wasn't getting out of my head. I tried to pray god and think of the things that I liked like sports, but none availed. I finally went to sleep after hours of turmoil. I credit this movie for bringing about my interest in horror movies and turning me into a horror movie freak.

I am sorry for filling half of this review with my first time experience of watching the movie, but I thought that it was worth to mention. I am not going to give you a summary of the movie cuz that will take 4 more paragraphs and I don't want to saturate you with the summary of a movie you will certainly watch. I just want to give you people some advice. The first 10 minutes will seem really boring due to the archaeology scenes but the introduction of the main exorcist of the movie is done then. Also there are a few scenes which may seem obscure. You may want to repeat those scene because they are significant to the understanding of the story. Thus, you should not judge the movie or become unenthusiastic just because of a few boring or unintelligible scenes.

The last and the best part of this blog....Scenes you should look forward to in The Exorcist:

1. The scene where the possessed girl runs down the stairs like a crab.
2. The scene where the devil rotates his head 360 degrees.
3. The recurring 1 second scenes which shows the devil's face who has gained possession of the girl. ( The face in the movie poster within my post).

These three scenes have made a lot of people cry. I can place a bet any day, that there is no movie or there will be no movie ever made which is scarier than The Exorcist. The creepy story and environment will probably never be reproduced in any other movie.

See you later.

Marvel's:The Avengers (2012)

Marvel's: The Avengers (2012)

Welcome back...

It has been a few days since I have watched a new movie or a previously watched movie. It is crazy because I usually can not go on days without watching a single movie. Anyways, I watched The Avengers today, probably the fourth time, and I feel like giving a feedback. I used to mock my brother for liking this movie a lot. But actually, this movie really is entertaining. The concept of all our favorite Marvel superheroes in a single movie is exciting.

The Avengers really meant a lot to those comic book fans, who loved the Marvel Comic books. This movie has everything to offer, from amusing dialogues, inter-team conflicts, hard packed actions to a bad-ass villain. Though the movie was interesting, I could not help but wonder: All this action, all these dialogues and conversations with each other and Loki just to gain possession of a cube. It means no more than a cube to me, but in the Marvel world, it is the Tesseract, the source of ultimate power.

Anyways, I highly recommend this movie to all the action movie and Marvel fans out there...that is if they haven't already watched it (everyone has). I would give this movie a 6.5/10. Many like my brother will not agree with me regarding the rating, but I am confident that action movie fans would easily rate this movie above an 8/10.

See y'all next time.

The Matrix (1999)

The Matrix (1999)



Today, I watched The Matrix and I felt like sharing my movie experience on the blog. Before I begin my recommendation, let me inform you that I will not be summarizing the plot of this movie cuz damn, the plot is really confusing. The movie is based on, as the name suggests, The Matrix, which is a sort of machine Utopia that has thousands of people living inside of it. The Matrix is a sort of virtual world made up by computer signals which adapted so that it could trap and accommodate people. The people living in the Matrix feel that everything is perfect and that they are no problems.

The protagonist, Neo (Keanu Reaves), enters the Matrix by wish to find out more about the secret. Morpheus, the head of an undercover organization within the matrix has great hopes that Neo is the Chosen One, the one he has been waiting for a long time. The Agents are humans railing against the Matrix and wish to destroy the Matrix, and Morpheus's team. I think I have explained enough about what the movie is about.



For people related to computer or technological fields, this movie is a must watch. I liked how the movie makes implicit connections to Lewis Caroll's Alice in Wonderland and The Truman Show. The movie also has many philosophical concepts understood by only those who wish to understand them. Anyways, I liked this movie, and thereby I recommend it.

See you people at the next movie discussion.