shanebeacham

I didn't (and still haven't) read F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, which many consider to be the epitome of the great American novel. However, I have seen some of director Baz Luhrmann's work, being Romeo + Juliet, which I thought was absolutely atrocious and a failure at what it was trying to accomplish. Luckily, walking out of the theater I was not displeased or annoyed, but I felt like I had just watched what could have been one of the best movies of the year...had a few things been changed.

First off, I got to mention Leonardo DiCaprio as Gatsby. I know it is a cliché to say that DiCaprio nailed it in a movie, but I felt like he really took over the role of Gatsby and breathed life into it. Every time he's on screen, he completely holds your attention. I'm not sure how his performance matches with the character from the book, but as far as I'm concerned, he killed it as Gatsby. I also have to give credit to Joel Edgerton as the antagonist Tom Buchanan. You absolutely hate his character and root for Gatsby to win in the end.

There's also a really great script here. The dialog is fast-paced and well written, and the way the story goes and comes together is definitely well done. And it had characters that I was invested in. I was interested in seeing where Gatsby came from and how the main character (played by Tobey Maguire) dealt with being around all this madness. It also ends really sad too, and it definitely felt effective in many ways.

Sounds like a pretty fantastic movie, right? Well, a lot of these things I enjoyed about the movie are often masked by the focus on the visual aspects. This movie has great visuals, sure. The costumes are excellent, the cinematography is gorgeous, and the visuals, when needed, look great. But they completely take over and feel so bombarded in your face that it took me out of the movie at multiple times. This felt very loud, in sound and style, and the modern rap songs played when the film is set in the 20's felt completely out of place. It feels like Luhrmann was trying too hard to make this modern and a spectacle, and in the process forgot to focus on the already fantastic script and actors in order to drive the movie.

However, I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy The Great Gatsby. It was fun, well-acted, and had a great story and dialog. Even though I complained about the visuals being loud and distracting, they're still fun to look at and look spectacular. So while it may not be a perfect film, The Great Gatsby is one that I would recommend checking out, even if you're not a fan of Luhrmann's previous work.

Maniac was definitely a movie that I was interested in checking out. From the trailers I saw, I really liked the direction that they were going for: the first person perspective inside the mind of a serial killer. Of course the original is famous for its violence and even had the equivalent to an NC-17 rating when it first came out. And if anything this film does fulfill the prophecy of this being a rather violent flick, but don't look at that as a positive.

First of all, there is a lot to love about Maniac, the biggest being the way it was shot and edited. You feel like you're right inside Frank's head, feeling his torment, witnessing the violence for yourself. They even have it down to the head movements. There's a scene where Frank turns his head from side to side while looking in the mirror, and the camera moves along with it. The technique really works for this film, and really enhances the horror.

Speaking of horror, this movie is undeniably chilling. There are some really messed up moments in the film, and each kill scene in the movie is very sickening and hard to watch, particularly one which takes place in a hotel. The first person perspective also helps with this, as I mentioned above, and the film overall captures a very chilling atmosphere.

There's also some really good acting here, particularly from Elijah Wood as the demented main character. Originally when I saw the first still of him holding the bloody blade, I wasn't quite sure how he would fair in this film. The only "demented" character I had seen him play before was Kevin from Sin City, and other than that not much else. However, he kills it here, and it's nice to see them give him a lot more depth than you would see from a typical slasher film.

In fact one of the hails of his movie is the fact that it doesn't resort to your typical slasher flick stereotypes. Obviously this takes the more art-film approach (but don't let that turn you off), but it's nice to see, as I mentioned above, more depth found in here than you normally get from a lot of modern-day horror films. There's definitely a lot of psychological undertones here, which definitely makes the film very captivating at times to watch.

However, if anything could detract the film from these great qualities, it would have to be the violence. Now obviously going into a slasher film you're going to have a lot of violent content and of course violent content is very much needed. However, there were times where they took it way to for almost to the point where it was distracting. It was so in your face that it really distracted you from the overall story, which is a great one. I think if they had toned down on the violence a little bit, this movie would probably have gotten a higher score from me, and while I did like this movie, the gore factor really leaves me hesitant when it comes to viewing this movie a second time.

Overall, Maniac is not a bad film at all. In fact, it's actually one of the most interesting films I've seen all year. It's got a great cast, great story, beautiful cinematography, a great style, and ultimately it does serve the purpose of horror films by creeping you out. It really stinks that the violence got to me so much that my rating and re-playablity for this movie has gone down a notch. Trust me, I wish it didn't, because there is a lot to love about this movie and I think if they had toned it down maybe a little bit, the film would have possibly made my films of the year list. That said, I will say to check this one out, but be wary and know what you're in for when it comes to this film.

I wasn't really sure what to expect from The Hunger Games. I had heard of the books, but I never read them nor did I know anything about how much of a fan base it has until recently. As for the trailers, they didn't seem to really excite me; they didn't look bad, but it didn't really get me hyped up to see the movie. I'm glad I gave the film a chance, because honestly, this is probably my favorite film of 2012 so far.

Now this film is directed by Gary Ross, director of Pleasantville and Seabiscuit, and while he hasn't directed many movies (he has written quite a few though), when he does direct he's actually really good. And same goes for The Hunger Games; he really did a good job of bringing this story to the screen. And he's also one of the writers of the story, along with Suzanne Collins (the book's author), and they both turn in a great script here, with great dialog, great story, and great characters. And this movie really gets you involved with what's going on, even for the minor characters. When a person dies in this movie, even if they've had less than five minutes of screen time, it was kind of shocking.

Speaking of the characters, let's get to the actors. Jennifer Lawrence is absolutely amazing in this film, and not just in beauty (my future wife, ladies and gentlemen), she really can act. Now I've only seen her in X-Men: First Class and in this film (haven't seen her in Winter's Bone), but this is probably the best I've seen of her. She is outstanding. And while I'm not the biggest fan of Josh Hutcherson in the few films that I've seen him in (mostly kids movies so maybe that's why, he was never really given a chance to act ever), but here he does a really good job, and he's sort of like the underdog of the story. There are also some great secondary performances by Woody Harrelson, Wes Bently, Donald Sutherland, Lenny Kravitz, and Stanley Tucci. All of them do a great job, in fact there is probably not a single weak role in this film.

And the action sequences are just fantastic in this film. There's been a few complaints about the use of shaky cam in the movie, but I think it actually made the scenes better because it really showed the intensity of the situation and the chaos of it all. And this movie is violent for PG-13, in fact there are a lot of bloody moments. This isn't something you should take your kids to see, young ones anyway. The pacing was also really good, and for a movie clocking in at almost two and a half hours, it felt neither too long or too short; it felt just right.

The funny thing was that I thought this movie would get boring after the first half had passed through, because I was so wrapped up in just getting to know the characters and wasn't really interested in seeing the actually Hunger Games section of the story. But it caught me off guard; not only did the second half keep me interested, it got even more and more better as the film went along. It has been a while since I've seen a movie that did that to me. In fact this is so good, that I can't really say anything wrong about it. It just succeeds in every way that it should have. Check this movie out if you haven't already. Don't worry if you haven't read the books at all, you will enjoy this movie as well. I never read them, but I may now after watching this. And yes, this is my favorite movie of the year so far.

I give The Hunger Games a 9/10.