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“Awakening” seems to exist for the sole purpose of setting the ground work for a lot of exposition the movie may lack down the line. Which is not to say “Awakening” is a bad graphic novel, it just feels like every other movie tie in that’s ever existed. It’s there to provide a major back story. While it lacks the feel of a stand alone story, it’s still a damn good graphic novel that sets the foundation for the 2014 movie very well.
What director Bobcat Goldthwait sets out to do with “Willow Creek” is deliver a found footage movie that gives the viewers every answer nagging at them. Except, he provides the answers through foreshadowing, subtlety, and a lot of ambiguity paired with clarification in the final moments of his film. Truthfully, “Willow Creek” is the anti-“Blair Witch,” in that it leaves so much to the imagination, but garners a very slick tongue in cheek toward its subject matter. There’s no prologue about sheriff’s finding this footage, there’s no epilogue about what happened when the camera shut off. Goldthwait doesn’t want us to believe that this might have happened. It merely begins on a mysterious shot, and Goldthwait takes us on his own version of a found footage horror film.
While “Veronica Mars” didn’t exactly set the world on fire, it’s definitely a return to form for the cast and crew behind the cult series, revived by the loyal fanbase and Kickstarter. Creator Rob Thomas sets the series right in the place he left off, providing a much wanted return to the universe where Veronica Mars is still a pariah and still always five steps ahead of everyone in her life. The best fans could have hoped for was that “Veronica Mars” felt like one big finale, and lo and behold, it succeeds two fold. I won’t pretend “Veronica Mars” is a spectacular thriller, but it’s a simple and entertaining closer to a series that deserved a decent send off.
It’s a long road to go before “Proxy” ever really gets to the point of the entire narrative, and though director Zack Parker is very good at handling multiple sub-plots, “Proxy” is almost too crowded with them. “Proxy” is a seemingly simple thriller that over complicates itself with twists and turns that don’t really amount to much. It’s not many horror movies that revolve around the very disturbing psychological condition Parker highlights as a means of moving the narrative ahead, but “Proxy” often feels like it’s just jumping from shocking moment to shocking moment without much cogency or complexity. None of the characters are likable or empathetic, thus much of the movie feels cold and listless.
We’ve had horror musicals before, and rock operas aplenty, but it’s not often we get slasher musicals. “Stage Fright” is a very niche horror film, and one that runs the risk of alienating its audience, but for experimental audiences and for folks that appreciate horror comedies with an eighties twist, “Stage Fright” is an excellent and occasionally brilliant bastard child of many sub-genres, that works well as a truly memorable cocktail of madness and gore. Director Jerome Sable really creates a unique and genuinely raucous horror musical that takes “Phantom of the Opera” and builds a very refreshing revenge story from its roots.
The dilemma that the writers for the “Paranormal Activity” series now find themselves in is that “Paranormal Activity 3” was a prequel that told us everything we needed to know about this mythos. We began with Katie, continued with her sister, and then found out why they were so special. The third film ended the saga. Now, the continuing sequels are really just running on fumes and scrambling to find ways to continue a story that doesn’t really need continuing. “The Marked Ones” is a great effort, but a sub-par horror film.
“They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”
Ed Brubaker’s acclaimed source material is the basis for “The Winter Soldier,” a remarkable and incredible follow-up to 2011’s “Captain America.” I’m very secure in declaring that “The Winter Soldier” is the “Empire Strikes Back” of the Captain America trilogy thus far, as the sequel manages to not only give Captain America the much needed conflict with his American ideals, and age old views on the concept of freedom and liberty, but turns him in to a hero who is no longer fighting for America, but for the idea of America. “The Winter Soldier” picks up right after “The Avengers” where Captain America has essentially taken to SHIELD headquarters as a home base, and doesn’t really keep in touch with his old teammates.