Unfriended (2014)

Directed by Leo Gabriadze
Written by Nelson Greaves
Starring Shelley Hennig, Moses Jacob Storm, Renee Olstead and Will Peltz

A group of online chat room friends find themselves haunted by a mysterious, supernatural force using the account of their dead friend.

This movie represents everything I hate about teenagers. Every single character is more deplorable than the next. They do things in the name of "popularity" and then act innocent and have no remorse until their lives are in danger.

I said it before in my review of "Tusk" and this is an even greater example of my point. Horror films today do not have likable characters. The thing that makes horror movies scary is caring about what happens to the characters. And to care about the characters you have to be able to connect with them. And to be able to connect with them, presuming everyone reading this is a decent human being, the characters have to be decent human beings. 

The characters in "Unfriended" have no redeemable qualities whatsoever. They are liars, bullies, cheaters, narcissists, backstabbers and degenerates. Every single thing that they do has no logical sense to it.

Your tears aren't fooling anyone, ya dumb ass!

It baffles me that this has such a high rating on Rotten Tomatoes. At 62%, it is well above what it should be. The only thing noteworthy about this movie is how it is all from the perspective of one computer screen. But that's been done before, and better. If anything, this movie gets points for being funny, because the death scenes were just SO bad!

My Rating: 3/10

Open Windows (2014)

Written and Directed by Nacho Vigalondo

Starring Elijah Wood, Sasha Grey, Neil Maskell and Adam Quintero

A jilted fan finds himself pulled into a deadly game of cat-and-mouse after he accepts the opportunity to spy on his favorite actress via his laptop. A skilled hacker works his way into every aspect of the fan's life in order to control him throughout the night.

This movie is definitely interesting. It takes the fear of hackers and their obsessions with actresses and displays their computer onto the big screen. Filmed and edited entirely to only show the open windows (OH, I GET IT!) of programs on a computer desktop, the action never cuts away from what the protagonist is looking at on his screen. 

Instead, the director chose to only move from window to window, looking into various programs, phone calls and videos. The style of this movie is undeniably unique. And one that I feel will be copied in future movies. But that is where the positives end for this movie.

Sorry, Elijah

The entire plot seemed like it was attempting to be convoluted in order to impress, but rather than achieve that, it just felt simple and convenient. Many of the things that the computer hackers were doing  seemed overly fictitious and made up for the sole purpose of making the style this was made in less boring.

Topped off with terrible acting (Elijah Wood excluded), this movie had little going for it other than the unique filming style. If you want to watch a decent thriller film with a unique filming style, that happens to be starring Elijah Wood, might I suggest 2012's "Maniac". It's not amazing, but if you're looking for those criteria, that is a much better choice.

My Rating: 3/10

Chappie (2015)

Directed by Neill Blomkamp
Written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Thatchell
Starring Sharlto Copley, Dev Patel, Ninja and Yo-Landi Visser

In the future, crime is patrolled by an oppressive mechanized police force. When one police droid, Chappie, is stolen and given new programming, he becomes the first robot with pure artificial intelligence; the ability to think for himself.

The only problem with Neill Blomkamp as a director is that he struck gold with his first film. "District 9" was a masterpiece with a heart that no science fiction film will ever duplicate. At least not for a long time. What all critics need to realize is that Blomkamp is a science fiction film director. He will never NOT make a Sci-fi movie. It's his genre. It's his trademark.

Because so many critics have the cynicism of a film student who thinks that just because AFI says "Citizen Kane" is the best film ever made, he has to agree with it, they are especially critical when it comes to Science Fiction. Apparently, it's a law or something. And with the political tones of "District 9", many of them decided to overlook the foundation of it's genre.

Unfortunately for Blomkamp, for the rest of his career, critics will be expecting him to surpass, or at the very least, meet the brilliance of his first film. The chances of that are slim to none, and everyone needs to realize this and watch every single on of his films as if it's a new director. They need to disassociate it with the 2009 Best Picture nominee all together. Then perhaps, a decent film like "Chappie" will get the chance it deserves to be given a fair review.

But I digress…

As I said, this is a decent movie. While it's outer shell reveals a plot about a robot who can think for himself, at it's core it is so much more. It is a movie about the importance of life and how we must use the time we are given to be ourselves, never let anyone tell us how to be and overall, be good to each other.

One of the biggest stories behind this film is the inclusion of South Africa's hip-hop duo Die Antwoord. They were much of the inspiration for the story, as they played themselves as the two parents who raise Chappie. And while there are mumblings of turmoil on set caused by Ninja, it was not noticeable on screen and the two gave surprisingly good performances, regardless of their lack of experience. 

They weren't ground breaking or even amazing for that matter. But they were decent. Over the top, yes, but I believed them in their surroundings and expected MUCH worse from them and I've seen much worse from people who actually call themselves actors. I'd give them a C+ Overall.

But that hair, though…

I guess in all of these potentially incoherent ramblings I'm trying to say is that it's not as bad as everyone  is saying. It is a fun movie with good action sequences and great comedic relief. It may not be "District 9", but what did you really expect from a movie released in March ("Grand Budapest Hotel" excluded)?

My Rating: 6/10