Fright Night

Starring Colin Farrell and Anton Yelchin. People start disappearing, and then a vampire moves in next door. I have not seen the original. I don't know if that matters.

This movie was both fun and scary. The beginning scene promises a lot more scares than the rest of the movie delivers, but there were legitimately scary moments, and it has a good sense of humour too. I would compare it to Zombieland, but not quite as clever. Yelchin is still a cutie, and Farrell is satisfyingly creepy. A more complex plot might have been nice, but as is, a good movie if you're feeling like a light horror and some laughs, definitely entertaining.

The Help

An aspiring author during the civil rights movement of the 1960's decides to write a book detailing the African-American maid's point of view on the white families for which they work, and the hardships they go through on a daily basis. Starring Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Octavia Spencer.

So, I assumed this would by the type of movie I would really like. And I did like it. It was kind of slow, and I didn't cry at all, but it was a good story, and there were a lot of different characters that you get to know well. It's pretty rare to have a half-dozen or so characters so well developed. Celia Foote is such a ray of sunshine, Abileen is stoic, and Minny is sassy. Hilly is easy to hate, and Skeeter is the glue.

The history person in me was a little disappointed, however. The subject matter was handled very safely and positively. The Help would definitely be a good starting point for opening dialogue with children about black history. The 1960's was a very turbulent time for black people, and this movie doesn't try to convey just how difficult it was. It results in a feel-good movie where we are uplifted about how much the black people achieve, and are reminded that not all white people were racists. I guess what I'm trying to say is that this is a safe movie about black people in the 60's, which is fine, but maybe go and watch "A Time to Kill" afterwards for a bit of a harder edge on the issue.

Cowboys and Aliens

So, it's about what the title suggests: cowboys and aliens. It's 1873, and the wild West is being attacked by aliens. Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, and Olivia Wilde come to the rescue.

Combining the western and science fiction genres was a very interesting move. I can't say if this has been done before, but the sheer novelty of having old school cowboys fight futuristic alien was enough to keep me watching. It is silly in some parts, like when they shoot their pistols at these big scary aliens like it's going to do something, but for the most part, the combination was fascinating. You have all the standard elements of a Western, and then these spaceships appear. There is mention among the cowboys that these aliens could be "demons", and not a whole lot more is discussed. I would have liked some more insight into the cowboys' thoughts on these aliens, and their technology

I like Daniel Craig, I may be blinded by his unnaturally blue eyes, but he seems to be a good actor. For some reason I wasn't too fussy on Harrison, he just doesn't come off as a hard-ass to me. Wilde's character is interesting and mysterious - I would have liked to have known more. Sam Rockwell plays Doc, but Rockwell will always be the hated Wild Bill from The Green Mile to me, and it makes him hard to like. His character was generic enough, though, to forget it was him. A shout-out to Paul Dano, who plays Ford's nut case of a son. I thought Dano was just super in There Will Be Blood, and I would have liked to have seen more of him.

Kind of a preposterous plot, but definitely an interesting combination. Good CGI, good acting, not a bad movie at all.