Suzy and Sam (newcomers Kara Hayward and Jared Gilman) are two twelve year-olds growing up on a small New England island in the late 1960s who don’t fit in – Suzy with her three younger brothers and two attorney parents Laura and Walt Bishop (Frances McDormand and Bill Murray) and Sam with neither his foster family or Scout troop.  After meeting at a church play the two become pen pals and devise a plan to run away together.  They implement the plan when Sam is at Scout camp and their disappearance sends the island in disarray, including the search efforts by Suzy’s parents, Sam’s overzealous Scout Master Ward (Ed Norton), and the island’s lone police officer (Bruce Willis) as a deadly hurricane approaches.

The two unknown actors who played Sam and Suzy are so suited for their roles it’s surprising that they haven’t been part of Anderson’s common cast previously.  Hayward, in particular, is like a miniature version of Gwenyth Paltrow’s character in Anderson’s The Royal Tenebaums.   In fact, most of Anderson’s usual faces are noticeably absent: this is his first project that doesn’t feature any of the Wilson brothers, and while Bill Murray is here Jason Schwartzman appears in only a small part as Cousin Ben, a Scout leader who seems capable of doing just about anything for the right price.  Yet all of the actors new to Anderson’s movies – including Norton, McDormand, Tilda Swinton, and Bob Balaban – fit Anderson’s acting style perfectly.  The biggest revelation of all is Bruce Willis – every five or so years he decides to take a role that departs from his action persona and he usually delivers.  Willis has fun playing on his macho cop image as Captain Sharp, a one-man police force who lives in a trailer and seems to spend most of his time fishing.  But this movie belongs to Suzy and Sam who seem to be reenacting their favorite movie and television roles based on what they think runaways should be doing.  In this sense the movie is very reminiscent of a young love version of Stand By Me overhauled by the Wes Anderson treatment, of course.

And yet as impressive as the acting is here, the visuals are what often separates Anderson apart.  Anderson and director of photography Robert Yeoman (who has worked with Anderson on all of his live action films) have created a beautifully shot film with colors reminiscent of a Norman Rockwell painting and stellar stedi-cam work.  In addition, how have all of Anderson’s films gone without Oscar nominations for Art Direction?  Perhaps Moonrise Kingdom will break that inexplicable cycle.

So while the acting and visuals are beautiful, the film’s weak point lies with its story.  Unlike his previous films, there are moments in Moonrise Kingdom that are completely illogical and seem to be excessive flourishes on Anderson and co-writer Roman Coppola‘s part (Coppola also co-wrote The Darjeeling Limited with Anderson).  These nonsensical moments primarily occur during transitional scenes, as if the duo didn’t know how to get from one scene to the next.  Since the movie is an adolescent fantasy I guess I could give them a free pass, but they did take me out of the movie and didn’t seem necessary.  Anderson has made better ensemble movies (both The Royal Tenebaums and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou deal with much deeper issues and are thus stronger and more emotional films), but Moonrise Kingdom is enough of a different spin on his typical style that it’s definitely worthy of his past films.  After all, just because it’s a lot more fun doesn’t mean it doesn’t hit as hard.

Rating: Yet another piece of evidence that Wes Anderson is one of the most unique and brilliant voices in film today (8.5/10)

NOTE: The movie is rated PG-13 for “sexual content and smoking” though there is none of the former unless you consider 12 year-olds in their underwear as “sexual content” (which nobody should).  In yet another case of the MPAA ratings board being idiots, this movie would be just as appropriate and enjoyable to younger audiences and would be a wonderful way to introduce them to movies that are better than the usual kiddie junk at the multiplex.

Probably one of the wildest coming-of-age stories you’ll ever see, Mutant Girls Squad follows 16-year old Rin (Yumi Sugimoto), a girl who is constantly bullied, but on her birthday her parents let her know that she is HILKO, a mutant race that allows individuals to sprout weapons from their body.  When her parents are assassinated, Rin goes on a killing spree throughout town even though she doesn’t want to kill people.  Eventually she is eventually recruited by a group of HILKO “soldiers,” led by Kisaragi (Tak Sakaguchi), in order survive and restore the HILKO people back to their former greatness.

Rin’s weapon is a wolverine-like metal hand that also shoots out wires to hit people while her rival of sorts, Rei (Yuko Takayama), has her head and arms covered with stone to smash people up.  And while that’s all in good, if you know anything about co-director Noboru Iguchi then you can probably guess what kind of weapons some their teenage teammates have.  There’s one girl with a chainsaw that comes out of her ass which she then waves around to kill people.  There’s a cosplay nurse (Suzuka Morita) who grows tentacles and weird, life sucking face.  Another girl has dual boob-wielding swords that come out of her nipples and there’s even a girl whose face has a red circle on it, making her a patriotic fighter, I think.  The most ridiculous and over the top character has to be Kisaragi.  He is a very loud man playing a woman with white face makeup whose HILKO power is a belly sword that he has to arouse in order for it to get hard and be useful.

The movie is divided into three parts.  Part one-Awakening, part two-Revolution, and part three-Rebellion.  This breakdown makes it easy to figure out where the film is going and how Rin evolves as she tries to figure out her identity.  It is also a way to know who directed which part of the film: One-Sakaguchi, two-Iguchi, and three-Nishimura.

As mentioned earlier, this is a splatter film and oh does it splatter.  Whenever there is a fight, and it is always a long, drawn out fight, blood rains down on the screen.  It doesn’t matter how simple or excessive a kill is, when someone dies everything that comes out of their body is very gratuitous, but this is why we watch these films.  When you watch someone get slashed by a boob sword it becomes really difficult not to sit back, relax and enjoy the insanity that’s unfolding before your eyes.

While still pretty entertaining, watching this film alone just doesn’t have the same effect as it does when watching it with a group of individuals who share the same love of splatter as you do.  Though it isn’t my favorite Sushi Typhoon title, it’s still one to enjoy simply because of how ridiculous the fights are, how zany and hilarious the dialogue is, and how creative the mutants’ weapons are.  If you like Japanese cult cinema then you should probably grab a few beers, a few friends, and watch this film asap.

The Disc:

Like with most Sushi Typhoon titles, the movie looks great in blu-ray since it was shot digitally.  Watching fake Nishimura blood pour all over the screen in HD is just glorious and never disappoints.  More importantly though, and is always the case with a Sushi Typhoon/Well Go USA release, the disc comes with a bunch of fun special features including:

“Opening Day” Featurette-30 minutes worth of opening night footage from premieres all over Japan including film introduction Q&As and post film Q&As.  Features Tak Sakaguchi, Yoshihiro Nishimura, Noboru Iguchi, Yumi Sugimoto, Yuko Takayama and Suzuka Morita.

Interviews with the Filmmakers-30 minutes worth of interviews that have more of the same from the opening night Q&As plus some other interesting tidbits.  The interviews are of the same people mentioned above.

“The Making of Mutant Girls Squad” Featurette-30 minute long documentary that shows just how crazy and fun working on a Sushi Typhoon set can be (even if the shoot was in the middle of winter).  This has a bunch of behind the scenes footage and even more interviews for us to fully understand how one makes a wacky film such as this.

Yoshie Zero Short Film (which is a prequel by Iguhci based on the character Yoshie)- As with Helldriver and other Sushi Typhoon titles, the directors love making shorts that expand the universe and explain different parts of the story.  This one focuses on the cosplay nurse, Yoshie (Morita), and how she met Kisaragi (Sakaguchi), learned to appreciate her powers and became the first HILKO fighter under the man who decided to become a woman.

Overall, Mutant Girls Squad might not be my favorite Sushi Typhoon title out there but it’s still a fun film to watch for any fan of Japanese splatter films.  If you’re going to watch this movie, skip the DVD and grab yourself the blu-ray version.

Movie Rating: Pure madness-When X-Men meets the perverse minds of exploitative Japanese filmmakers (6/10)

Disc Rating: 7.5/10

Mutant Girls Squad is available starting today on Blu-ray/DVD combo pack and DVD from Well Go USA.

The film is about Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim (playing themselves), two filmmakers who are given a billion dollars to make a film but end up squandering all the money and create a terrible short film in its place. The Schlaaang group, who gave the duo the money, is extremely pissed off and threatens their lives if they don’t pay back the money. When the two skip town they happen upon an advertisement claiming that if you run our mall, you could make a billion dollars. Tim and Eric decide to create Dobis P.R. and assume responsibility for the mall, which was run by Damien Weebs (Will Ferrell), in hopes of making enough money back to repay the Schlaaang corporation for their loses.

There isn’t much I can say about this radically insane feature.  It’s a film that’s really half a feature with incredibly stupid sketches thrown randomly into the mix to make it a full-length one.  It’s one of those films that, if you make it all the way through, leaves you feeling like your IQ just dropped a point or two. I can’t say I didn’t expect it to be a ridiculous film and, granted, there were moments that I laughed, but the humor is so far at the bottom of the barrel that even I couldn’t muster up the courage to fish it out and go along with it.  I’m sure in its short 15 minute format it is tolerable and probably very funny, but 93 minutes it just way too long.

The film’s saving grace is its supporting cast, namely Will Forte and his love of swords, some of the other celebrity cameos like Marc Cuban and Zach Galifianakis, and Robert Loggia as Tommy Schlaaang, particularly when he beats on Tim and Eric’s mothers.  Other than that, there isn’t much else left to say, you’re either a fan or you aren’t.  Oh, and brace yourself, if you aren’t aware of what Shrim is, you’re in for a nasty treat.

Overall, if you’re a fan of the TV series you are absolutely going to love this film.  If you’re not, there is a high probability you won’t make it to the end.

The disc:

The movie looks great on blu-ray since the film was shot with a RedOne camera which makes any HD transfer to blu-ray absolutely stunning.  For those who are fans of the film, I think you’ll thoroughly enjoy the large amount of special features that come with the disc, especially the Shrim Dance Screensaver.  There is enough on here to get into the crazy minds of Tim and Eric while also seeing what they deemed necessary to cut from the film.

On the whole, I’d only recommend buying this disc if you’re a fan of the TV series

Special features

• Commentary by Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim
• Deleted and Extended Scenes
• Good Evening S’Wallow Valley
• Interview with Tim & Eric
• HDNet: A Look at Tim & Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie
• Promo Videos
• Shrim Dance Screensaver
• Poster and Photo Galleries
• Trailers

Movie Rating: Watch at your own risk-viewers may experience loss of intelligence (2.5/10)

Blu-ray Rating: (6.5/10)

Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie is now available via Blu–ray/DVD/Digital Copy combo, Blu-ray and DVD from Magnolia Home Entertainment

When Earth sends a message to space in hopes of finding life, instead of getting a message back, a small fleet of ships crashes down into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Hawaii during an international Naval war game.  When the generally irresponsible naval weapons officer Lt. Alex Hopper (Kitsch) ventures out to see what crashed, a giant force field erupts and some powerful alien ships emerge from the wreckage trapping three ships inside, including a Japanese ship, and preventing the rest of the military fleet from helping their comrades.  It’s up to Hopper, Cpt. Yugi Nagata (Asano) and their mates on the ship along with a few civilians on land to work together in order to take down this extraterrestrial and technologically superior foe.

Going in with low expectations is the way to see this movie.  I for one thought it was hilarious that they were marketing it with the line “from the same company that brought you Transformers” because this is a movie that may be on par with Transformers 2, just not offensive.  The action and effects are actually amazing and, in that regard, it will remind you of Transformers in a positive light.  The battles are badass, the aliens are pretty cool and every scene that doesn’t involve talking makes for pure and unabashed cinematic eye candy, especially when the shredders roar onto the screen.  It’s a perfect film to see in a theater especially if you want to hear loud noises and see shit blow up!  There were also some great rock tracks and a typical sci-fi-ish score backing the film up.  I do have to give props to Berg for creating some shots that made you feel like you were actually playing the board game; even it is against an alien race.

That being said, I couldn’t get over all the other side plots and terrible dialogue that plagued the feature.  I found it hard to believe that this film was written by Jon and Eric Hoeber, the same duo that penned the really witty film Red.  It truly was laughable and there were so many moments or scenes that were set up in awful ways that made me howl with laughter.   Peter Berg, how did you not realize this when you were making the film?  Did it all sound and look good when it was happening in person?  Without AC/DC playing in the background, I can’t imagine it did.

Now I know there are some people out there, including me, who are excited about Liam Neeson being in the film, but I will let you know now that while he’s entertaining when he’s on screen, he only has about three minutes worth of actual screen time.  What I’m saying is don’t expect him to be a big part of the film.  There is another group of people out there who are curious as to how Rihanna fares in her big screen debut.  She’s fine.  She comes off as an average supporting cast member who tries to be tough and funny and occasionally pulls it off, but I think that has more to do with her personal attitude than anything.

Battleship is the perfect example of an action film without any substance.  If you look at the action alone, Peter Berg has made a visual spectacle that’s intense and really fun, but once you factor the story, acting and dialogue into the mix, the entire dynamic of the film changes and everything that’s exciting about it gets tarnished.  I’m still not sure who thought it would be a good idea to base this film off of a board game as the film could have done without the co-branding and nothing would have changed, but it just goes to show that studios are willing to green light anything today if it has even the slightest sense of nostalgia.

Rating:  Intense, visually awesome, and action packed but its dialogue will cripple it like a torpedo (5/10)

Based on one of the best-selling books of all time by Heidi Murkoff, the script by Shauna Cross and Heather Hach fails at it’s title considerably by providing five different perspectives, so the audience is never given a chance to attach themselves to any of the characters. Rather than provide an interesting interweaving of the story, characters just occasionally walk by each other as scenes cross over. That’s not creative storytelling. I kept hoping for some sort of meaningful character development or true emotion, but unfortunately, most of the time the story was driven by reacting to situations rather than creating them.

There are lots of personalities that in small doses are tolerable, but each tended to become overacted as the movie progressed. Each are in different stages of their relationships and I found the couples to be too stereotypical while desperately trying to be different. Award for the most annoying go to Cameron Diaz and Matthew Morrison as the “Dancing with the Stars”-type couple. I never had a solid opinion of Ms Diaz one way or another, but her overacted performance combined with his took me over the edge. Anna Kendrick and Chace Crawford are the young, carefree couple, but she’s too hung up on him being a playboy. Jennifer Lopez and Rodrigo Santoro are the alternative, less-than-rich couple in which he’s still not ready for fatherhood. Dennis Quaid and Brooklyn Decker are the old man/young girl couple. The only saving grace was the couple composed of Elizabeth Banks and Ben Falcone. Even though a lot of their story was outrageous, there were some truly touching moments that cannot be overlooked.

What people will be likely talking about most is The Dudes Group. Comprised of four fathers, these guys get together every Saturday and share stories without judgement. Although there were a lot of funny moments, most of the dialogue seemed forced. Their conversations have the illusion of sincerity, but really, they’re just for shock value. Thomas Lennon is way underutilized and misses the mark. Chris Rock attempts to save the idea as he sums up his experience, but it’s too late.

Flipping through the channels this evening, I came across a movie that I hadn’t seen in a while, that was really funny and had a good chunk of the story devoted to pregnancy and being a mom. That movie? Look Who’s Talking. Yep, Mollie (Kirstie Alley), a single woman, finds herself pregnant and suddenly has to figure it all out. Ok, so Bruce Willis provides the voiceover for the kid, Mikey, it’s quite silly and includes John Travolta as a taxi driver who falls in love with her, but it’s really funny. It shows the conception, the pregnancy (from inside the womb!) and even on to delivery and the first couple years. In fact, Amy Heckerling (Clueless, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Johnny Dangerously) wrote and directed Look Who’s Talking over (oh my) 20 years ago and it’s still hilarious.

Will you laugh? Probably, but it’s not going to be a laugh-out-loud riot, especially with the PG-13 rating. Going against Battleship (read my review here), Hollywood thinks they’ve got both sexes covered, but I’d take Battleship over this any day of the week.

Rating: So-so comedy with a predictable story – wait, five predictable stories (3/10)

The Dictator follows Cohen’s next creation, General Admiral Haffaz Aladeen, a showboating and semi-retarded dictator who loves his power and would do anything to make sure democracy never comes to his state of Wadiya, an oil rich nation located in North Africa.  When the United Nations begins taking a closer look at Wadiyan affairs and sees that it may be building atomic weapons, taking the advice of his Head of Secret Police and Chief of Secruity, Uncle Tamir (Sir Ben Kingsley), the Supreme Leader decides to take a trip to NY to address the UN.  It is in NY where, under the orders of his uncle, he is kidnapped and his body double takes his place in order to open Wadiya to the world.  With the help of an exiled Wadiyan scientist named Nadal (Jason Mantzoukas) and a feminist and owner of the Free Earth Collective, Zoey (Anna Faris), General Aladeen will do what he must in order to prevent democracy from reaching his country.

What separates The Dictator from Borat and Bruno is that this film is totally scripted and everything, for the most part, is planned, where as the first two films were like improvised documentaries.  It’s nearly impossible to tell what Cohen is improvising during the film and what is actually scripted but, believe you me, he covers the complete range of comedic ground.  The jokes range from beyond offensive to simple toilet humor and everything in between, even though the movie itself is a political satire of sorts.  Hell, there will even be moments of silence because some of the jokes just aren’t funny and the picture can actually get slightly boring.

As expected, some of the jokes are extremely offensive, especially for residents of NY, but those were actually my favorite particularly because you could literally feel the audience dividing with some people laughing at how far Cohen was willing to go while others were scoffing in anger.   It was something I’ve never really experienced before and it just shows how, with Cohen, nothing is sacred.  All I ask is that you pay attention to the smaller details, especially the music, because he and director Larry Charles make sure everything has the Wadiyan touch.  For example, you’ll hear their version of Dr. Dre’s The Next Episode, which is hilarious.

It’s no surprise that Cohen steals the show but I was taken aback by how good Anna Faris held her own against his dominating presence.  I think the fact that she looked like a teenage boy trying to battle a dictator made her much more fun to watch.  Sir Ben Kingsley was also good but he just wasn’t that funny, I think his role could have been played by someone else and it would have had the same effect on me.  Jason Mantzoukas was great as the ousted scientist, the one scene he has in the helicopter with Cohen is absolutely priceless despite its subject matter.

Overall, The Dictator is nowhere near as sidesplitting as Cohen’s previous endeavors but it still is pretty funny and will have people in shock from how far he goes.  Not only that, the film is actually pretty smart in the way it boldly attacks politics and how it bashes American ways right in your face.  For old fans of Cohen you’ll enjoy his latest but will want more, for new fans you can expect to be shocked, appalled and will probably die of laughter.

Rating: Not his best, but the Supreme Leader is still pretty damn funny (6.3/10)

With way too much backstory about the main character, Alex Hopper (Taylor Kitsch, you know, from that John Carter movie that no one saw), the movie starts off very slow including a short few scenes of him and his brother, Stone (Alexander Skarsgård, HBO’s True Blood) that could have been cut entirely. Let me quickly point out that the brother’s name is Stone Hopper. Stone. Hopper. Seriously. Anyway, there’s a pretty blonde girl (SHOCKER) that’s the Admiral’s daughter (really?) and guess what? Yah, Alex is in love with her. The pretty blonde girl is Brooklyn Decker (Just Go With It) and Liam Neeson pops his head in now and then as the Admiral.

I’ll admit, the aliens and the special effects are really impressive, but I was equally disappointed at the lack of any sort of explanation. I think back to another alien flick last year, Battle L.A. where the dialogue was amazingly worse than this, but just as lacking in information. Do the writers think that people are stupid and don’t care about WHY the aliens came here?

I had a hard time buying Alex Hopper as a tactical genius. This guy has a quick temper and makes really bad decisions. I know, let’s make him the chief weapons officer! Really? Over and over again it’s pointed out that this guy can’t make good decisions, yet he’s promoted? C’mon. I’m getting myself worked up. I just hate when I feel like a movie is assuming I’m dumb and that they can tell me anything and I’ll believe it.

The aliens aside, the true stars are the “shredders” that you see in the previews. They tear through anything and everything like butter. All the carnage they leave behind is astounding and the scenes are just long enough to realize you’ve been holding your breathe. Rather than destroy cities, the demolition is mostly at sea and of destroyers and battleships. It’s a great idea and a refreshing take.

If you can sit through all the boring “story” parts, this movie is really best enjoyed in the theater on a gigantic screen, the bigger the better. Also, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, it would have been cool in 3D.

Rating: Fantastic action and aliens, but nothing else. 5/10

The Woman Knight of Mirror Lake chronicles the life of the distinguished poet, feminist, and revolutionary Chinese leader, Qui Jin (Huang Yi), during the late 19^th century.  Giving up her life as a mother, Qui Jin wanted to restore China to its former glory by ridding her land of foreign powers, eliminating the Qing dynasty and fighting for women’s rights so that men and women could live as equals in a land where men traditionally dominate.  Determined and fearless, she never let anyone get in the way of her values and did what she had to in order to see her vision realized.  The film chronicles her life by starting at the end, with her set for execution, and then going back and forth in time to bring us up to speed as to why she is kneeling on the ground.

Even if I wasn’t a huge fan of Huang Yi’s acting, she manages to hold her own, rather well actually, during some pretty impressive fight scenes, especially when she goes up against Xiong Xin Xin, the main villain so to speak. Alongside these two performers are some of the most well known character actors in Hong Kong, Suet Lam whose mission is to convict and execute Qui Jin while Anthony Wong delivers a small but well delivered performance as a local official who sympathizes with Jin’s cause but must obey his government.

At times I found myself getting a little frustrated because of how hardcore she portrayed her feminist ways, particularly when she decides it is necessary to abandon her family for the sake of her cause, which I understand to an extent (safety reasons).  Also, because of Yi’s acting, I just never felt emotionally invested in the character which is why, by the end, it didn’t matter to me if she lived or died.  This may have been a result of the way the film was presented but I just stopped caring.

The movie comes in at 115 minutes, which is a little too long, but for the most part it isn’t boring.  Yau seems to have stepped his game up even further with the production value because there are a few fight sequences, particularly one that takes place in a dirt courtyard between Xiong Xin Xin and Yau alum Yu-Hang To, that will impress the hell out of you.  The action is the real draw of the film and the main reason any fans of Yau should consider seeing it.  He doesn’t skimp on it and it is, for the most part, very good.

Despite my minor pet peeves, I actually enjoyed this film more than The Legend is Born.  For a guy that’s been making films since the late 80s and has found a way to continue to improve his craft then I’ll be happy to eagerly await his next picture.  The Woman Knight of Mirror Lake isn’t the best film out there but it is a solid action movie that’s based in reality and kicks some serious ass.

Disc:

As for the Blu-ray combo pack, the film looks great particularly because of the variety of bright colors that Yau uses throughout giving us some beautiful and vivid imagery.   There are 23 minutes worth of special features which is half behind the scenes footage and about 10 minutes worth of interviews from a majority of the cast, which I found surprising.  FUNimation has put together a pretty good disc, it’s not the best but there is enough BTS footage in there for you to enjoy.

Movie Rating: A solid, female empowered action flick (6.2/10)

Disc Rating: 6/10

As the film opened, the audience is treated to Nights in White Satin, the 1967 single by The Moody Blues. Although I love the song, it does not set up the film well at all, and as most of the music in the film, just an attempt to remind the audience of the time period, which is not essential  for the story. However, Donovan’s Season of the Witch is a very nice touch and is the one song that best exemplifies the story.

The time period of the 1970s had no relevance to the story and seemed to only serve as an excuse for psychedelic colors and a few jokes here and there. The “tiny songstress” from the trailer comes to mind. Too much attention was paid to it and it took away from the overall effectiveness of the film.

Not being familiar with the original series, I had fresh eyes watching the story unfold. It includes all the typical Tim Burton aspects of exaggerated color and elaborate makeup, but the story was not nearly compelling enough. Although all the acting was quite fun, especially Chloë Grace Moretz, I was disappointed by the lack of a clear storyline. Each character was very interesting and had so much backstory, but there was never enough attention paid to them to develop it.

The best character by far was Angelique, played devilishly by Eva Green. Although I found her obsession of Barnabas to be quite compelling, it made me wonder what’s she’s been doing without him for the past 200 years. She’s a true villain that clearly needs someone to battle with to complete her. It doesn’t make sense that she’d want him locked up again, it’s too much fun having him around.

Having so much potential, the overall story was weaving around so much that it was difficult to follow where it was going. At one point it’s a love story, which, honestly, was a little creepy just for the fact that Johnny Depp is now in his 40s and even though his character is supposed to be very young, it’s unsettling to see him make-out with a girl of her early 20s.

Rating: Visually fun, but that’s about all (5/10)

Gone revolves around Jill (Amanda Seyfried) as she searches for her sister, Molly (Emily Wickersham) after she was abducted. Jill had been abducted by someone she claimed to be a serial killer in her sleep years ago, but managed to escape. She was admitted against her will to a mental institution for a short period of time because of the incident. The police searched for the hole in the woods Jill described but when they were unable to find it, felt she had fabricated the whole story. It’s for this reason when her sister is abducted in the same was she was, the police don’t believe her and she has to take matters into her own hands since she believes that the killer will murder her sister shortly after sunset.

There are a few twists and turns along that way that definitely keep you interested. The movie is billed as a Drama/ Thriller but it’s definitely more of an action adventure in my opinion. The best comparison I can think of is a movie like The Fugitive. Granted I don’t think this movie is as good but it definitely has that same action/adventure feel to it.

As you can see Gone definitely had the potential to be a great movie but it disappointed in the acting department for the police and, as mentioned before, the serial killer. Specifically Katherine Moenning as Erica Lonsdale, Wes Bentley as Peter Hood, Michael Paré as Lt. Ray Bozeman, and Sam Upton as Officer McKay. They were all part of the police department and I felt their performances were more fitted for a soap opera than a movie. I’m not sure that Wes Bentley’s facial expression changed once. I’m not saying acting is easy, but by the end of the movie when the police were on screen I’d cringe on the inside hoping they wouldn’t be there too long.

The second aspect that definitely disappointed me the most was the serial killer himself. I say that the same way a parent says it to a child when they’ve let them down for something. This is a definite difference than me being angry at the overall stupidity of the serial killer character that existed in ATM. Yes, I still haven’t gotten over it yet. Anyway, in Gone the serial killer was disappointing in his lack of execution, no pun intended. I’m not going to give away any spoilers, so all I’ll say is that for a serial killer that’s been killing for as long and as many girls as he has it implies that he knows what he’s doing. Therefore, it didn’t make sense to me that it seemed like he was popping his killing cherry and was extremely under prepared…and a bitch (believe me watch it, remember this I guarantee you’ll know when to silently nod your head in agreement). Thus, you have my disappointment.

If you’ve enjoyed other serial killer movies then you would definitely like this one. The overall acting besides the police was solid and so was the story line. Compared to other movies that are out right now I definitely think that this is a better alternative than many of them. Take my word for it, because IMDB doesn’t know what the fuck it’s talking about.

No IMDB stop fucking lying to people no one has ever also liked ATM.

Rating: A fictional serial killer movie that delivers despite a disappointing killer  (5.5/10)