The D Train (2015)

Written and Directed by Jarrad Paul and Andrew Mogel
Starring Jack Black, James Marsden, Kathryn Hahn and Jeffrey Tambor

The head of a high school reunion committee, Dan Landsman travels to Los Angeles to track down the most popular guy from his graduating class and convince him to go to the reunion. While there, the two develop an unexpected bond that Dan would just like to forget.

I'm sure many will find this movie homophobic, I don't feel that is the case. The foundation of the movie is a man who feels under appreciated and will do anything he can to be noticed and loved by his peers. That is a sentiment we can all relate to at some point in our lives.

Equally awkward and outrageous, this movie fails to land on many of it's jokes and gags. While their are a few giggles, they are separated by minutes upon minutes of shielding your eyes from the uncomfortable nature of the story. I am positive that that is what the filmmakers wanted to accomplish, but it made for an experience that caused me to check my phone constantly.

The scenes, references and jokes that are funny in this movie are really, genuinely funny. But they are too few and far between to make it consistently enjoyable. As a fan of Jack Black, it was good seeing him back on the big screen, regardless of what I was watching. And this is undoubtedly his most outrageous role to date. If that's any consolation.

My Rating: 5/10

It Follows (2014)

Written and Directed by David Robert Mitchell

Starring Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Jake Weary and Daniel Zovatto

A young woman is followed by an unknown supernatural force after getting involved an innocent sexual encounter.

When I first heard about this movie, I had no interest in seeing it whatsoever. But when it came out, I heard only good things. Everyone told me I should go see this movie. And what I watched on that screen was exactly what I thought it would be. It was just OK.

This movie was nothing spectacular, like I had been told. It was your average horror movie with young adults having sex and being stupid in creepy (not even scary) situations. The entity that followed the main character around was less intimidating than a spider. They stated several times "it only walks, no matter how fast you travel". I've had more intense chase sequences in Mario Kart.

"Why's it taking so long to get here?"

This film is not without it's positives. While at it's core, it is just your average horror movie, the plot is actually quite unique and at times it is quite suspenseful. It's just nothing to write home about. Granted, while I do see a lot of horror movies, I am rarely impressed with them. It's just not a genre that I love. I love them when they're great, but that's rare for me. So perhaps I'm not the best judge for horror movies.

My Rating: 6/10