Nightcrawler | Movie Review

Nightcrawler stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Rene Russo. It is directed by first time director Dan Gilroy. In this movie, Jake Gyllenhaal is struggling to find a job before he lands on becoming a 'nightcrawler'. Simply put, he films accidents or crimes and sells it to the news. As the movie goes on, it gets creepier and creepier.

This was my second most anticipated movie of the year post summer movie season. I'm just going get this out of the way and say that Jake Gyllenhaal's performance is absolutely, positively incredible. He is one of the most psychotic characters in movie history. He maintains his character for the whole movie and doesn't do anything that seems too out of character for someone like him. Rene Russo provides an excellent supporting role.

This is one of my favourite movies of 2014. Everything was so perfect. The acting, the directing, the cinematography, the score and most importantly, the tone. This is where the movie could have gone wrong. If the tone was not done perfectly, it could have made the movie seem silly or just awkward. Luckily, it was the perfect blend of a thriller, with a spritz of horror and comedy. When I say comedy, I mean a couple of moments that will make you chuckle, it's not meant to be a comedy as it is not meant to be a horror. Some parts are just terrifying.

Nightcrawler is one of the most perfect movies of 2014

I'm going to give Nightcrawler

A+

I'm Jonathan and this is Movies for the People

Star Wars Rebels - Season 1 Episode 1 | TV Review

Star Wars Rebels is the first movie or show that is now officially canon that has come out since Disney bought, among many things, Star Wars. This show takes place between the events of Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars. This show follows a young boy names Ezra, who ends up working with a group of the rebels, which I assume will later build to be the rebellion we see in the original trilogy. The members of the rebellion apart from Ezra are Kanan, Sabine, Hera, Zeb and their droid, Chopper.

So the episode starts of with Aladdin-- I mean Ezra, living how he lives. Street rat, riff raff, I don't buuuyyyyy that! Okay fine that is from Aladdin but they do call him a street rat in this show. In ways that I won't spoil, he is eventually picked up by the group of rebels and they attempt to rescue a group of wookies from the empire.

Now lets not kid ourselves here, this is a kids animated series. It is not as dark as The Clone Wars (although that had some childish stuff) or the movies, but you definitely get the feel of Star Wars. Now the trailer ruins everything in this episode so some of the Star Wars, epic moments are ruined if you have seen the trailer. The characters in the show are a mixed bag. Ezra is a really annoying and unrelatable character who I am sure will grow over time. Kanan totally reminds me of Qui Gon but a little more badass. Sabine and Hera haven't really been fleshed out yet so I can't say much there. Zeb annoys me, because his character is constantly changing.

The animation, I thought, looked really good... and then we saw the wookies. HOLY CRAP! They looked absolutely awful. They took me out of the episode when they were in it. Other than that, it was really cool seeing the other species in the show.

From now on each episode review will be probably not be as long, full of spoilers and in depth.

I'm going to give Star Wars Rebels S1 E1 Spark of Rebellion

8/10

I'm Jonathan and this is TV for the People

Gone Girl | Movie Review

Gone Girl is directed by David Fincher and stars Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Carrie Coon, Neil Patrick Harris and Tyler Perry. It is based on the novel by Gillian Flynn and is about Ben Affleck, who comes home one day and his wife Rosamund Pike is missing. Through flashbacks and different perspectives the story unfolds and not is all as it seems.

Ben Affleck is great in the film, I never had too many problems with him playing Batman and I was always certain he would be the best Bruce Wayne yet, however I also think that he will be a pretty good Batman. But, he does not steal the show. Rosamund Pike, pulls off one of the greatest performances I personally, have ever seen. David Fincher knew exactly which order to show the events that happen in this movie. I haven't read the book, but the book will have to be really good to be on the same level of David Fincher, obviously most of the story telling came from author, Gillian Flynn, but the way Fincher executed everything was near perfect.


The film also adds a little bit of subtle comedy. It plays on the fact of how we, as a society, percieve the media and judge people, despite not knowing all the facts, most of the time knowing very little of the facts. I think it blends well due to it being subtle and very brief. It is one of the few times I have seen this aspect been pulled off in a film.

Yeah so overall I loved Gone Girl

I'm going to give Gone Girl

A+

I'm Jonathan and this is Movies for the People

Frank | Movie Review

Frank stars Domhnall Gleeson, Michael Fassbender, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Scoot McNairy. In this film, Domhnall Gleeson joins a band and the leader singer, Frank, played by Michael Fassbender, is a person who always wears this huge head and never takes it off. He showers with it, eats liquid food through a straw and even sleeps with the mask on. I don't want to say too much about where this movie goes and how it unfolds.

Domhnall Gleeson plays a character who starts out kind of normal, and becomes a person who holds a certain amount of power in the band. The film shows what he does with that power. Maggie Gyllenhaal plays an absolute psycho whose character slowly develops, maybe not becoming any less crazy, but development nonetheless. Scoot McNairy is great as always and is sort of a transition for Domhnall Gleeson's character. Michael Fassbender pulls off one of the best performances of the year.


I absolutely adored this movie. I thought the writing was on point the whole time. It knew when to unleash it's comedy. It is really funny when it wants to be, and you really care about the characters when they want you to care about the characters. I found myself in particular, really attached to Michael Fassbender and Scoot McNairy. I love how as the film goes on, you start to doubt the quality of the band, however I loved the song at the end, just saying.

I'm going to give Frank

A+

I'm Jonathan and this is Movies for the People

The Boxtrolls | Movie Review

The Boxtrolls is an stop-motion animated that was on my top 10 most anticipated movies of the year since January. The movie stars Issac Hempstead Wright (Bran Stark) as the main character, Eggs. Eggs is a baby who was taken by the Boxtrolls and raised by them. He thinks that he himself is a Boxtroll because that's all he knows. All the Boxtrolls (and Eggs) are named whatever is on the box that they wear (Shoes, Fish, Fragile, Wheels, Bucket, Sweets etc). Ben Kingsley voices Archibald Snatcher, a man-ish who is trying to steal all the Boxtrolls so he can get his white hat. If you are not confused right now, it's because you have already seen the movie.

This movie looks absolutely incredible. This is from the makers of Coraline and Paranorman so I was looking foward to the animation. There are definitely some scenes that you look at and you just have to take a moment and pay respect to whoever put in so much attention to detail that it looks almost flawlessly. The cheese scene will hopefully go on to be iconic in the world of stop motion animation.

My main problem with this movie is that it takes a long time to pick up. The first 45 minutes to an hour was very slow and I found quite weak in the humour department. I don't mind if it's not a comedy but the story was lacking and it seemed as if they were dragging out the story to make it a movie length story. They repeated the same plot points over and over and maybe even repeated the same lines once or twice. However, there was a certain point in the movie, just over half way, where it picks up and becomes a really solid and funny movie that I enjoyed and wanted for the first half.

Overall The Boxtrolls is a mixed bag with stunning stop motion

I'm going to give The Boxtrolls

B-

I'm Jonathan and this is Movies for the People