And Y'all Thought Twilight Was Bad...

Today, I'm reviewing two AWFUL love stories. Both of these will make you appreciate the Bella-Edward-Jacob love triangle. Trust me.

First we have Chungking Express, a move I had to watch for my Film class, and is regarded by many as one of the best films in the world. It even made it into "The Book". However, after watching the movie, I had absolutely no idea what it was about, and I was extremely confused. Then, we had to read a 80 page book about the movie for my class, and even after reading that I still didn't understand the premise of this movie. That's an Art Film for ya... After much contemplation, however, this is what Ive found it to be about. Set in Hong Kong, it's a love story following two cops (Cop 223 and Cop 663) who both fall in love with different people, but it doesn't work out for either of them. However, it's much more complicated than that because you have people with similar or the same names and they all look alike. Sorry, not trying to be stereotypical, but they really do look very similar and I couldn't keep any of the characters straight. One of the girls (I believe her name was May) was a major stalker and kept breaking into Cop 663's house and changing all his possessions and cleaning.. WEIRD. (2 Stars)

The next movie is actually the newest movie based off of one of Stephanie Meyer's novels, The Host. First off, I read the book and actually highly enjoyed it. It was a very interesting story line, and I thought the movie had a lot of potential, but it was literally one of the worst movies ever. Do y'all remember when I watched LOL and told you that some movies are so awful, but you can only enjoy them if you see it with a group of people? Yea well this was one of those movies. I want to apologize to my friends for dragging them to this movie with me, because it wasn't worth the $4.50 we paid to see it. Also, I promised that I would give them a shout out on the blog for coming and enduring those two hours. I'm actually glad they came with me, because we talked and made fun of this horrible movie the whole time. So, Tanner, Gus, Alex, Nick, M.H., Matt, and Ashli, THANK YOU and I cannot apologize enough for making y'all come with me. Also, y'alls comments throughout the movie were better/funnier than the movie itself, especially yours Gus. And whoever told us to "Shut Up" during the movie should be thanking us for our wonderful insight. Yea... We were those people. The group that everyone hates.

The basic premise of The Host is that aliens have invaded Earth and they take on human host bodies. One alien, Wanderer (Wanda for short) is in the body of a girl name Melanie, who was part of the human resistance. Melanie still has some control over her body and soon she has Wanda out looking for the family Melanie has left behind. Soon, Wanda has fallen in love with Jared, who was Melanie's lover, but Ian has fallen in love with Wanda and Jared still loves Melanie. Talk about an intense love triangle... So, like I said, the movie had a lot of potential, but they ruined it with voice-overs to show the communication between Melanie and Wanda in their head, and TERRIBLE acting. I am not a fan of the girl who portrayed Melanie/Wanda. And she had literally the worst "Cajun" accent the entire movie, and cannot act to save her life. I'm talking worse than Kristen Stewart in Twilight... So if you really feel you must go see this movie, wait until it's on Netflix and make sure you watch it with all your closest friends so y'all can make fun of it the whole time. Either way, you are going to hate yourself for watching that movie... (2 Stars)

They're Baaaaaaaaaack

I can not reiterate enough times just how much I love scary movies, y'all! I seriously love them so much. AAAANNNDDDDDDDD I watched a new one just for y'all this weekend.

Now, a while back, I did a review fr a scary movie called The Evil Dead, which is a cult classic that helped start the whole campy-horror genre back in the 70s. For those of you that haven't read that review (or you just need a refresher) I. HATED. IT. I gave it the worst review ever and swore to never watch that movie again. Well.... Guess what. I watched it again.

Sam Raimi (the director) has remade The Evil Dead and it came out this past weekend (But now it is Evil Dead, dropping the "The" from the title) and it made claims that it would be one of the scariest movies you will ever see. So my friends convinced me to go see it with them, despite my warnings of how awful the original was. However, before I went to see it, I decided to rewatch the original so I could adequately compare the two just for y'all. Look at the sacrifices I make for this blog... Take note of my dedication.

Anywho... Rewatched the original and it was just as corny and stupid (and definitely not scary) as I remember it being. Then, I get to the movie, and after the first 10-15 minutes I start to think, "man, this is actually going to be very legit". And it was for the most part. I still didn't think it was scary, but keep in mind that scary movies don't freak me out at all. For someone who gets scared during Horror Films, you will probably cry a bit. Also, I have a very HIGH gore tolerance and there were scenes that honestly made me want to puke. this movie was EXTREMELY GORY.

Now that all of that has been said, this movie was still extremely corny like the original one, but I'm loving some of the zombie pick up likes such as "Come and kiss me your dirty B****" or "I can see your dirty f***ing soul". Oh, did I mention this movie likes its expletives???

Now, in comparison to the original, the basically kept the concept of the movie the same. The girl still gets raped by a tree and turns into a zombie killing all of her friends and what not. However, they did change the ending and the sole survivor may not be who you expect! Also, the premise behind the story has changed a bit too. The characters are at the cabin not for a vacation, but to help their friend quit using drugs.

Overall, I was much more impressed with this movie than the original - but I didn't exactly have high expectations. It could've used a lot less gore though... (3 Stars)

Marketing and Advertisement!!

Hey y'all! I know I haven't posted in a while, but I've been crazy busy with school!

However, I am going to start posting regularly again, and I really want to try and get the word out to everyone so they all know about my awesome blog!!!

So here's what I ask of you! Tell all of your friends to follow this blog on Twitter @1001MovieQuest and to join the facebook group http://www.facebook.com/groups/thequestfor1001movies/! Let's get the word out there people!

Thanks y'all are the best! I'll have more movie reviews for you later!

OOOHHHHH and also LES MISERABLES IS OUT ON DVD/BluRay SO GO AND BUY IT RIGHT THIS SECOND.

That's all.

<3 <3

Cold Bodies. Warm Heart.

"Cold Bodies. Warm Heart."

Quite possibly one of the cheesiest taglines for a movie EVER. The trailer? No better. After first seeing the preview for Warm Bodies, a zombie romance film, I had absolutely no intention of ever seeing that movie. However, the movie was getting rave reviews from everyone I knew, so, I just had to go check it out. And I can honestly say, I'm glad I did.

Warm Bodies is the story about a zombie named R who is different from other zombies. He thinks differently than they do. One day, he meets a human named Julie, and that's when things start to change. And by things, I mean the zombies. They literally start to change and cure themselves. It all stems from R and Julie, who start to fall in love.

It's a very Twilightesque type movie, but it also had it's Romeo and Juliet star-crossed lovers thing going on. It even had a balcony scene, like R&J. Who would've thought that even zombies could fall in love. All I know is, by the end of the movie every girl in the theater wished they had a zombie boyfriend. I know I wish I did. And it doesn't help that Valentine's is right around the corner... OK - I'm going to go eat a whole box of chocolates now....

But seriously, such a cute movie. A little weird at times, but if you can sit through the whole movie, I guarantee you, R will win you over, just like he did me. (3 Stars)

Don't Do Drugs

Had a little spare time this week and decided to watch a movie, or course. Today's review is about yes another "Must See" Drugstore Cowboy, the story of four junkies who steal drugs from pharmacies for an extra thrill.

Overall, a great movie, and I understand why it earned a spot on "The Book". I love movies that were made in the late-80s, early-90s (such as When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle) and this movie (1989) was no-exception. These movies have a certain quality to them that makes them so relatable and just so raw. In Drugstore Cowboy even if you aren't a junkie, or have never done drugs (which I fit into both categories) you can really understand what is going through the minds of these four characters.

The movie starts with just the thoughts of the main character, Bob (Matt Dillon), who is reflecting on his life as he is dying in the back of an ambulance. Right from the beginning, the movie really pulls you in. Soon, we find out the Bob is the leader of this crew that steals drugs. His wife, Dianne, is played by the superb Kelly Lynch (for any 90210 fans like myself, she plays Ivy's mom), and the other two members of the crew Rick (James LeGros) and Nadine (Heather Graham) also do a wonderful job portraying the drug addicts in their struggles. The plot continues on the simple road of stealing drugs and staying away from the cops. Then tragedy strikes which makes Bob rethink his lifestyle and he decides to get on an addict program and get clean. All of this leads up to the moment that Bob is fighting for his life in the back of the ambulance as a very poetic ending.

Druggie or not, I highly recommend you seeing this film at least once. It's a diamond in the rough, if you take the time to watch it fully and try to sympathize with the characters. (3 Stars)

Movie of the Future From the Past

This Tuesday's movie was Metropolis, a famous German movie from the 1920s.

At first, I was really excited to watch this because it's one of those classics that almost everyone has heard about. Plus, it was in "The Book" (this makes 76 by the way). However, it had a VERY slow start. I'm talking, check your phone every two minutes, thinking it's been an hour slow start. Fortunately, after the first hour the movie really started to pick up and get suspenseful. however, last thirty minutes were, again, very slow.

So, a little bit about this movie:
It's based on a futuristic society in Germany. In this society, a man named Joh Fredersen has built the city Metropolis from the ground up with the help of the people of the city. The people do all the hard labor,and he pretty much sits back and watches. Joh's son, Freder, has grown up in a spoiled, high-class world because of this. But, one day, a beautiful woman named Maria crosses over into the high-society world and catches Freder's attention. He then goes underground (where the working class lives/works) and what he sees there changes his life. The rest of the movie is about Freder trying to save the city of Metropolis, with the help of Maria, Josaphat (a recently fired worker of Joh) and Georgy (a laborer). An inventor named Rotwang has cloned Maria onto a robot and the robot is creating turmoil within the city. The workers are now setting out to destroy the city of Metropolis because of the robot. Luckily, Freder and company are able to save all of the children of the city before it is completely destroyed, and eventually the workers see the mistake they have made.

Overall, it was an interesting movie, although slow at some parts. The suspenseful, fast-paced scenes were definitely more enjoyable than others. One of my favorite parts about my Film class so far is being able to see the transgression between movies as time progresses. This movie is much higher in quality than the one's we watched the first week, and without this class, I wouldn't be able to appreciate the quality and beauty of Metropolis. (3 Stars)

The Big Seven-Five

It's Tuesday night, so I have two killer movies for y'all to watch. And I highly recommend both of these. And as an added bonus, one was in "The Book" which makes a whopping 75 movies that I have seen from "The Book". I think this is quite a milestone! *Insert celebratory dance*

First movie of the night is Buster Keaton's The Scarecrow. This movie was absolutely magnificent and had everyone laughing the entire 19 minutes. Keaton's style is similar to that of Charlie Chaplin. Personally,I  love them both! In The Scarecrow, Keaton and his roommate have fallen in love with the neighbor farm girl and are both vying for her attention and hand in marriage. However, her dad (played by Keaton's actual father) doesn't like either one. So the movie turns into this giant comedic chase to prevent either from getting her hand in marriage, but in the end, Keaton succeeds. (4 Stars)

The second, and final movie, is Sergei M. Eisenstein's Bronenosets Potyomkin [Battleship Potemkin]. Battleship is a visionary Soviet film that was meant to be a commemoration of the uprising of 1905, which led to the Bolshevik Revolution in Soviet Russia. Normally, I'm not a fan of these particular types of movies, but I really enjoyed this one. My film class has really changed (and improved) my outlook on these foreign classics, because I get to really understand more of a back story to these films, and what makes them so important to their time. For example, Battleship is considered a Political Montage which was very popular in both the USSR and France during the 1920s. This film is about the uprising f soldiers on the Battleship Potemkin and the reaction of the civilians in the nearby town. It has a very poetic, artistic style to it. For instance, the first soldier to call out for rebellion was the first of many to die, and his death was the symbol that started the uprising in the civilian people. I honestly would love to see a modern remake of this film, I think it would be really cool! This is definitely a classic that everyone should see. (3 Stars)