4th Ninja reviews

Honing my craft, not sending a message.

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The Cabin in the Woods

I first saw this movie with my friends around and year ago, and was pleasantly surprised to see it wasn't some typical corny slasher movie. But a vast, intricate and spectacularly awesome film. I had never had more fun in a movie theater than watching this movie. I found it funny when it needed to be, and even scary at times. When I began film school I went on to learn that this film also is the perfect representation and analysis of the classic horror film, from formula events, to characters, to even the necessary and well done nudity that is always connected to the genre. The film also specializes in the very idea of why horror movie events even happen. This movie has it all, for both film buffs, and standard audiences alike. Very underrated. 

Overall rating; 5/5 Stars.

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Scream 4

I have always been a fan of the Scream movies, I always thought they provided and insightful and more comical side to the horror genre with out going way over the top like the Scary Movie series. I found this latest installment to be a cut above, providing pleasant homages, and remarkable plot twists that set a new precedent for the movies in which they are analyzing. I did notice that online I could only find bad reviews for this film however. Particular from famed critic Roger Ebert, who panned it for "following the classic slasher movie formula". And seeing that the entire movie was devoted to avoiding these cliches and pointing out these faults, this proves was again that Roger Ebert is a senile old man who does not know what hes talking about anymore.

Overall Rating: 4 out 5 stars.  

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Elephant

           I found this movie thinking it would be an insight into the Columbine Shootings, similar to Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine. What I found was a horrendous boring piece of shit. This movie was so goddamn awful I honestly called my mother sobbing afterwards trying to make sense of the world. The director Gus Van Sant was clearly going for some type of artsy appeal but ended up making a 90 minutes bore-fest filled with unrealistic character reacting and completely pointless long takes that seem to never end. If you watch this move some question will arise such as: How come no one seems to care or notice that the people around them are being shot? Seriously every character seemed to be completely retarded when it came to reacting to shootings, some characters walked around like morons completely missing school exits and walking straight into the shooter like lambs to the slaughter. And to top off this ridiculousness, the shooters themselves showed no depth or character. They just appeared as two assholes with guns, and they happened to randomly and unnecessarily be gay. This was by far one of the least enjoyable movies I've ever seen. I wouldn't recommend watching it to my worst enemy. Seriously in one part of the middle there was a ten minutes shot of the night sky, it wasn't symbolic, it wasn't meaningful it was just really awful. 

Overall: 0/5 stars.

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Les Miserables

This is a fantastic film, and an emotional roller coaster. I became a fan of the Musical a little while before this movies release and was delighted to see it lived up to the expectation. The music is of course mindbogglingly catchy and fantastic. All the performances are wonderful, with the exception of Russel Crowe. The performance he gives, is a through effort of a veteran actor attempting to sing with the rest of the ensemble. Its almost as if he really wanted to be in the movie regardless of his singing ability and you just can't say no to Russel Crowe. Apart from that Anne Hathaway's performance as Fantine, was one of the greatest and heart wrenching performance of one of the saddest characters of all time. Her Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress is well deserved.

Overall Rating: 5/5 Stars