Director: Jonathan Levine
Writers: Jonathan Levine, Isaac Marion (book)
Stars: Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer, John Malkovich

Synopsis: After R (a highly unusual zombie) saves Julie from an attack, the two form a relationship that sets in motion a sequence of events that might transform the entire lifeless world.
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DIRECTION
With 2011’s solid 50/50, Jonathan Levine showed that he could direct drama/comedy – and that doesn’t change with Warm Bodies. He does a good job of intertwining drama, comedy and action. There are also quite a few flashback/dream sequences that are integrated and transitioned into the movie well, particularly at the beginning where R thinks about what life might have been like before everyone turned into corpses.

Grade: B+

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SCRIPT
The best part about Warm Bodies is that it’s a different take on the zombie genre – The Walking Dead, 28 Days Later, Dawn of the Dead this is not. (But don’t worry, there is blood and gore as this is, after all, a movie with zombies!) Levine wrote the script based on Isaac Marion’s 2010 novel of the same name and whether or not it’s a true adaptation I don’t know. What I do know is that it’s fun and it’s entertaining; it’s the feel-good zombie love story movie of the year!

Grade: B

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PERFORMANCES
Most of the screen time in Warm Bodies is dedicated to R and Julie, played by Nicholas Hoult and Teresa Palmer, respectively, and the bond they form throughout the movie. Their scenes together are very heartfelt and their chemistry are very solid. John Malkovich kind of phones it in as Julie’s father, but he doesn’t get much to do or say so it isn’t much of a distraction. And Rob Corddry is good as R’s best friend and gets most of the funny lines.

Grade: B+

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SCORE
The score by Marco Beltrami is quite good and gives you a good sense that you’re not in for typical zombie fare as it plays  over the opening sequences – but that’s really the only time the score is utilized in Warm Bodies. Mostly, this movie uses songs (ranging from Bruce Springsteen to Guns N’ Roses to M83) to enhance specific scenes, which it does very well. Every song is incorporated well and the soundtrack is almost its own character in the movie.

Grade: A

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Overall Grade: B+

Director: Lasse Hallström
Writers: Leslie Bohem, Dana Stevens, Nicholas Sparks
Stars: Julianne Hough, Josh Duhamel, Cobie Smulders

Synopsis: A young woman with a mysterious past lands in Southport, North Carolina where her bond with a widower forces her to confront the dark secret that haunts her.

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DIRECTION
Lasse Hallström does a great job with this movie. Hallström has really done well with some of his latest projects including Salmon Fishing in the Yemen and Dear John, and this one also fits the bill. The opening sequence to this movie really sets the tone when Hough’s character is running frantic and scared and right away you know there’s a secret. The drama he builds is great and very different for a movie based on a Nicholas Sparks novel. Hallström gets great performances out of this actors and I think his musical choices were spot on for this movie. Some of the climatic sequences and the ending sequence could of been executed better which brought this movie down for me a little bit. I don’t think the big climatic drama between Hough and Duhamel hit hard enough and it didn’t provoke that emotion that most Sparks based movies do, at least not with the main love story in the film. There were some underdeveloped archs in the movie too which also brought it down for me. Overall though, Hallström did a great job and makes it worth going to see.

Grade: B

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SCRIPT
Anything that Nicholas Sparks writes is going to be good and its hard to argue that. This movie is a little bit different for Sparks, who also produced this film. It’s darker in tone and has more action drama than most films based off of Sparks’ novels. I think it’s a great script and has some surprises in it that are a nice touch. The biggest problems I have with this script is that I don’t think the main antagonist was written well and the ending twist came off a little weird. The antagonist, played by David Lyons, didn’t draw me in through most of the movie. The script does a great job of drawing in the character towards the end, but the middle of the film could have been executed better. The ending twist, which I thought was great in theory, needed a different set up than what it got. I didn’t read the book, but based off of what I saw, I think this fits perfectly in a book. The idea of this twist makes absolute perfect sense in real life and how people think and treat certain situation. In the movie however, there are elements that are needed since its a film, but it didn’t translate well to the big screen. The love story doesn’t live up other Sparks’ novels either. Nobody can touch Noah and Allie to me and I also prefer Jamie and Landon over Alex and Katie in this film. If you don’t know who I’m talking about, shame on you, and go look them up. Great movies.

Grade: B

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PERFORMANCES
I loved Josh Duhamel in this movie. He is an incredible actor, in my opinion, and pulls off a strong performance. My only downgrade to Duhamel in this film was that the climatic scene in the 3rd act with Julianne Hough’s charachter didn’t provoke anything in me, but that’s also on Hough as well. I thought Hough was pretty good considering she hasn’t done much before. Her performance lacked in the emotional scenes and you could tell she had a hard time pulling that out. My favorite part is easily the awesome surprise performances by Noah Lomax and Mimi Kirkland as Duhamel’s kids in this movie. They were fantastic and brought a strong performance to the film and added lots of value. Kirkland is adorable and I loved her in the movie. Grade A from her!

Grade: A-

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SCORE
The score wasn’t a huge element to the movie, but from what was there, it was great. The score and musical elements really drew me in and made a great impact on the movie. It’s a soundtrack I look forward to listening to later.

Grade: A-

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Overall Grade: B+

P.S. My girlfriend, Brandi, thought this was an A+. Most girls will probably like it.
 

Director: John Moore
Writers: Skip Woods
Stars: Bruce Willis, Jai Courtney, Sebastian Koch

Synopsis: John McClane travels to Russia to help out his seemingly wayward son, Jack, only to discover that Jack is a CIA operative working to prevent a nuclear-weapons heist, causing the father and son to team up against underworld forces.

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DIRECTION
John Moore has done some really great work, such as Behind Enemy Lines, but he’s also done some terrible work, such as Max Payne. We’re going to put A Good Day to Die Hard in the awful category for Moore. This movie is really bad and probably the worst of the series. I won’t blame it all on Moore as I think the script screwed this project from the beginning, but he didn’t help a lot. The action in this movie is boring and senseless. There are scenes in this movie that are way over the top and don’t make any sense at all. In the first ten minutes of the movie, you basically hear Moore shouting from the set, “Let’s throw any sense of realism and credibility out the window.” I realize that the Die Hard series doesn’t set itself on realism, but this is bad even for that. I did like how Moore set up some of the relational pieces between McClane and his son. That part of it was good, but this is easily one of Moores’ worsts films. The movie takes itself way too seriously when the one-liners and premise are awful. Moore even stole sequences from the first film which was a little offensive as a fan and put this in the worst of category. That being said, the relational pieces of this bumped up the grade slightly.

Grade: C-

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SCRIPT
Every thing that Skip Woods writes turns to garbage and this is no exception. I tried to stay hopeful, but knowing that Woods was on this project let me wondering and boy did he not disappoint. The basic premise of the script was good, but Woods took it and jacked it all up in ways that you’ll see when you go see it. This script has the worst one-liners and dialogue of any action movie, let alone the Die Hard franchise. The third act of this movie and where it takes place is awful on a level I can’t begin to describe. Like I said in the direction, Woods threw out all plausible realism or credibility early and then in the third act just went crazy with it. There were people in my theater laughing and actually mocking it out loud during the movie. I think Woods tried to make it a little funny, but he failed miserably and added one liners that didn’t make any sense or were terribly cheesy. Little spoiler here, but Woods even ruined the Yippee ki-yay line! The characters, outside of McClane, were also poorly written. There, of course, is little character development, and the main antagonists of the film were poorly designed. The script’s tone and direction was degrading toward the franchise and makes me feel bad for Willis, who did his best to try to save this movie. Easily the worst script of the franchise.

Grade: D-

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PERFORMANCES
Thank God for Willis in this movie. He does a great job and brings back an awesome McClane. Willis took normal lines that in essence were not funny or entertaining, but made them fun to watch. While the script and direction took this movie 50 steps backwards in the franchise, Willis and Courtney were great. I thought they had some fun interaction with each other. The more intimate moments between Willis and Courtney were not handled great though. I enjoyed the performances from them, so it makes me wonder if it was directed to be that way. Since Courtney hasn’t been in much before, it was fun to see him come out in this movie. I thought he did a great job and I think this will definitely get him more roles in the future. The “bad guys” in this move were not great though, but I think they were poorly written to begin with.

Grade: B-

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SCORE
Marco Beltrami’s score wasn’t great but it was good. The beginning track and the ending track’s were fun to listen to. Here’s the kicker; the score didn’t fit this movie at all. While the music itself was good, it was way too serious for this movie and brought on a tone that didn’t fit in any way. The decision for that is not on Beltrami, but on Moore, once again another reason why this movie is the worst of the franchise.

Grade: C+

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Overall Grade: C-

Director: Seth Gordon
Writers: Craig Mazin and Jerry Eeten
Stars: Jason Bateman, Melissa McCarthy, John Cho

Synopsis: Mild-mannered businessman Sandy Patterson travels from Denver to Miami to confront the deceptively harmless-looking woman who has been living it up after stealing Sandy’s identity.

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DIRECTION
I am not a big fan of Seth Gordon’s movies, except for Horrible Bosses, but this one is no exception. Identity Thief is very simple; what you see is what you get. The trailer mostly gives away all of the funny parts giving this movie a marketing fail. Outside of Bateman, McCarthy, and Cho, Gordon doesn’t get great performances out of his actors. There are some shots in this movie that are absolutely not necessary in a film like this. It’s beyond cheesy and there is no chemistry in this movie at all. It takes some weird and crazy turns that is distracting, but in some cases is unpredictable. It gets a little wild at times, but the ending does save this movie a little bit. The ending takes a great sentimental turn that brings a strong finish to an otherwise mediocre movie.

Grade: C-

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SCRIPT
The script of this movie is terrible. The idea and the concept behind it is good, but it was poorly executed. The dialogue is the worst part of it all and leaves you feeling uncomfortable and embarrassed for the writers and actors. McCarthy and Bateman’s chemistry together brings a little light to the script with their performances, but it’s the only saving grace. There are plot points in this film that are ridiculous, even for a comedy where exaggeration is a key element. The are story arcs that are never finished that make you wonder why they were even in the movie at all. There are characters introduced in this film that have no reason to be in it and it steals the spotlight away from Bateman and McCarthy a little bit when it’s not necessary. It’s unfortunate for Bateman and McCarthy as I do enjoy them as performers. The comedic elements to this movie were great in theory, but it dragged on and became dull. The ending to the script was great though and I’ll bump it up half a grade based on that alone.

Grade: D+

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PERFORMANCES
Bateman and McCarthy are great in this film. They have a wonderful chemistry and pull out great performances. Bateman has this dry humor as he is being revengeful and angry throughout the film that is hysterical. McCarthy, while its no Bridesmaids, is always funny. It’s a shame that the marketing for this film ruins most of her funny moments. John Cho is also great in this movie, but he’s hardly in the film, essentially making his role very minimal. I also loved Amanda Peet, who plays Bateman’s wife in the movie. She’s always been a favorite of mine since her role in Saving Silverman, which is one of my favorite comedies of all time. Outside of that, the performances are not that great. T.I. is terrible in this movie as well as most of the other small acting roles. I do love T.I. as a musician, just not as an actor in this film. This movie would of been 10x better off if it were just Bateman and McCarthy alone for 50 minutes of the movie just going at each other and letting their natural comedic self take over.

Grade: B

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SCORE
Christopher Lennertz score isn’t bad, but it doesn’t add tons of value to this movie. Most of the great musical elements to this movie are songs outside of the score. The score itself is okay, but because of its value it gets a low grade.

Grade: C-

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Overall Grade: C