Hurry_up_N_buy Reviews

Friend Request (2016)

For a horror called "Friend Request," this actually wasn't all that bad.

[7/10 · 7 September 2016]

My title is such because I'm absolutely no fan of "horror" movies that play too heavily on pop culture and the latest trends (which are many) and/or an abundance of jump scares (which this film has many),due to the feeling of them being the easy way out, in horror.

However, to put it simply, this little number surprisingly kept me pretty engaged. It has a good amount of slow semi-intense moments, some all out freaky moments, and although the basic plot is completely unoriginal (media brings death), I think the content; the visuals, soundtrack, and especially the illustrations helped to keep it moving along.

Admittedly, the fact that this movie had my girl nearly punching me in the face every time she jumped at every one of the dozens of jump scares, added to keeping my level of enjoyment up.

Still, for a little teeny-bopper horror, (do people still say teeny bopper?) this was AIGHT.

6.5/10

Cop Car (2015)

Great cinematography, paper thin plot, and funny?

[6/10 · 15 August 2015]

In this movie the director did a great job in creating a vast and seemingly empty world in which a scenario presents itself to these two little players (the child stars). The prettier shots are wide and perfectly panned out but remain focused on the characters. Most of the early scenes are met with ambiguity and foreboding which is great because that IS basically a day in the life of 10 year old children, there is always the wonder of if their going to push it too far and hurt themselves or someone else. It's also great because I love movies with atmospheric tension, a kind of quietness that makes the setting ominous and this film did that well.

The problem is, it seemed to me like all the moving parts did not work cohesively with the atmosphere. Often times this movie comes off as humorous through dialogue or character action. It worked a couple times and ruined the tone in scenes that it didn't. The story is also completely overly basic. I am a big fan of 'less is more' in some instances but I mean, c'mon, the trailer is the movie, little more, nothing less.

At any rate, it's always a pleasure to see Kevin Bacon in anything semi-decent, as Mystic River is one of my favorite movies and performances from him, and he did what Kevin Bacon does in a movie like this, which is give you Kevin Bacon as a frantic, dirty cop, so there's that.

6.5/10

Blood Ties (I) (2013)

Could have been a classic

[6/10 · 29 April 2014]

All the ingredients were there and the whole time watching it, I was rooting for this to be an intense, potentially "epic" '70s crime movie, and at first, it FELT like it could easily be just that, and then comes some contrived plot devices that bring you back into present day.

I won't spoil anything though, read the summary for a summary. The movie easily captures the '70s with its set pieces and locations and even gives you the feel of a movie made in that era. There are moments of brilliance that come in the form of suspenseful buildups, great direction, and editing and score work that turns some scene transitions into awesomeness. With a 2 hour running time, I had no issues with it feeling long or boring. The acting is impressive on all accounts (some chemistry could be a bit weird though) and for about the first hour I was engaged and feeling, 'wow, if they could just keep this up,' and then of course, unfortunately, they don't.

At some point some things just start to feel like their just being tossed in. I think one of its main problems is that the only real character development is placed on the two leads, so you can empathize when it calls for it and understand why the leads feel and act as they do, but only towards each other, and not always in the context of their interactions with supporting characters. The story calls for enough twists and turns that there is no room to do much developing with the supporting characters and this causes certain situations to happen rather abruptly or seem forced in order to get to the next stage. This could all be easily overlooked if it didn't happen so often (and at critical moments) and continually cause me to lose my suspension of disbelief while viewing an, otherwise, very well made movie.

Problems with plot are highly subjective so I still recommend this and am sure people will find what they were looking for, I ALMOST did. 6.5/10

Newlyweeds (2013)

Authenticity, Acting, and Style make this is a great watch

[8/10 · 25 March 2014]

A very refreshing piece of work (and hidden gem) which just so happens to be set in an urban world, which is always a plus for me, when done correctly, because this is what I relate to and what I grew up around. The characters were extremely authentic and well played from the two Jamaican characters -who spoke more of a realistic Jamaican Patois as opposed to the stereotypical Jamaican-American "Ayeeee MON" BS- to the drug dealers who spoke -or didn't speak due to paranoia- and acted how your typical drug dealers making hand to hand sales in the streets tend to speak and act. I got a Spike Lee "Crooklyn" vibe from this for some reason, with the obvious differences being "Crooklyn" was more family oriented, different era, and a coming of age dramedy. All in all, this movie kept me watching and was definitely worth it, only criticism being an all too abrupt, yet unique, ending.

8.5/10