The Good Neighbor

Old man Jenkins from across the street is at it again, and this time the Mystery Machine is no where to be found!  We all have that grumpy old neighbor who yells, "Get off my lawn!"  Well, next time you better think twice about giving him the stink eye because he may have more than just moth balls hiding in his closet.  This was an awesome hidden Netflix gem that I passed over a number of times before giving it a shot.  Outstanding surprise here, with a movie that should have been more than predictable but is written with some mature professionalism.  Two high school kids with a serious lack of parental monitoring decide to experiment on the old man across the street.  So with a high level of intelligence for kids, they pirate buy a bunch of mini surveillance equipment and stash it at the old mans house in an attempt to make him think his house is haunted for their "experiment".  There are many skeletons in this old dudes house and they find that they get a lot more than they bargained for.  Good movie with a cool idea to back it up.  Give it a shot, and stay the hell off my property!

FYI:  James Caan limited himself to very little sleep during this to seem older and tired.

****1/2

The Autopsy of Jane Doe

Who says the dead tell no tales?  Well, probably nobody but I thought it was a great tag line for the beginning of this review.  By the title, I am sure you already know the premise of this insane horror flick.  Spoiler alert, its about an autopsy!  Local Father/Son Morticians seem to be the only game in town when entering their creepy mortuary comes unknown dead hottie, Jane.  She seems to be "Mostly Dead" but no apparent evidence of how.  Let the autopsy begin.  They find a number of creepy clues and evidence as to why and how but cant seem to put the pieces together.  That is when the shit hits the fan!  This movie will keep you on the edge of your seat and throw some serious horror at you.  I ahve read a few reviews of it being boring but I am pretty sure that they are 15 years old and have the attention span of a flea.  If you like suspense, horror, thriller and great acting watch this movie.  It may be one of the best of the year.  Hirsch and Cox have some great chemistry and the acting duo was very real.  Now grab some popcorn, your going to want to watch this while eating!

FYI:  Martin Sheen was originally cast at the father but scheduling conflicts cast Brian Cox.

*****

No Escape

Pack up the family truckster, we are moving to Southeast Asia!  All the rice you can eat and karaoke as far as the ears can handle!  Unfortunately, this poor family just touched down in the middle of a rebel uprising against any foreigners and having blond hair and blue eyes is a bit of a give away.  The tale of the tape is a down on his luck out of work engineer is hired to help with purified water treatments in Southeast Asia.  Once there with his wife and two small girls, he immediately finds that something isn't quite right.  His company hasn't contacted him and the place is on edge and extremely tense.  It turns out that the war has begun and the rebels are quickly moving through the city killing any foreign man, woman and child.  The family has to escape a number of near impossible situations and the actions keeps you on the edge of your seat the entire movie.  Great acting and awesome tense situations.  Yes, some unbelievable and some probably more impossible than not but wow, hidden gem by far.  This is one of the better "under the radar" movies I have found, even if it does have Pierce Brosnan in it ;)  Watch it soon, or just before going traveling through Asia.

FYI:  This movie actually raised some uproar with Cambodia after the trailer was released showing lettering upside down.  This is an insult and the movie was immediately banned.

*****

The Disappointments Room

If you were ever told to go to your room as a child and thought to yourself you hate your parents, count your blessings that it was just your bedroom and not the Disappointments Room!!!  Stupid title and rather stupid premise for this movie.  Here is the scoop; way back in the day these old Victorian type houses had "Disappointment Rooms" where prestigious families who had a mentally challenged or deformed child could hide them away from the world.  The child would usually spend its entire life there with no contact to the outside world.  Well it just so happens that this city family movies into a house like this, finds the room and low and behold, its haunted by the ghosts of the past, or is it?!  The movie itself was pretty predictable with some good parts such as, "drunk host at a dinner party", and "I almost killed my kid".  The very best part of this movie is Kate Beckinsale, who seems to never age and stay super hot!  The real disappointment of this movie was the lack of her showing some skin!  Give it a shot if you like the thriller genre, and if you have nothing else to do, its entertaining at the least.

FYI:  The first movie by Relativity Studios since declaring bankruptcy in 2015.  Oops!

**1/2

PET

Not a dog person?  Well try this on for size.  Step one, become obsessed with an old classmate from High School.  Step two, creep her out and stalk her.  Step three, build cage in a dingy old basement no one goes in anymore.  Step four, trap said girl in the cage until she falls in love with you.  That about sums it up, with these simple four steps its all that easy!  Although with this film, there is much more than what the viewer thinks behind every corner.  The manipulation in this movie between a couple of psychopaths is incredible.  Dominic Monaghan plays your typical lonely, anti social creepo who thinks he is justified in most of his crazy actions.  Ksenia Solo plays the super hot, troubled, girl with a dark past and some secrets that reveal themselves throughout the film.  Once captured this physiological thriller unravels into a really good film.  At first it has a bit of a made for TV feel to it but becomes so much more.  If you like the thriller, horror genre, definitely watch this movie!

FYI:  This film debuted in one theater grossing $70!

****

The Accountant

To quote the great movie of "Tropic Thunder", if you want to make a successful hit you cant go full-on retard.  Well this proves to be oh, so true.  What you have is a character with Autism (I think, they dont like labels) who starts life with an overbearing, no nonsense military father.  Good ole Dad thinks that him and his "normal" brother need to be trained Ranger style.  Affleck becomes an accountant which is basically a front but the kicker is he is a crazy math savant who reminds me of a cross between Rain Man, A Beautiful Mind, and Jason Bourne.  Now here is the crap; Anna Kendrick.  Grrrrr!  This chick drives me nutz!  I think her acting sucks and she is almost as annoying as Kristen Stewart.  Bad casting choice if you ask me, other wise the movie kicks ass!  Jon Bernthal is awesome yet again!  He continues to prove that his acting chops are top notch and almost up stages Affleck who also rocks in this.  Last but not least, J.K. Simmons has another memorable role here as the director of a CIA division, and kills it!  Great movie and would watch it again with no hesitation.

FYI:  Kendrick based her role after her Mother who is a real life accountant and explained the movie to her.

****

Concussion

Here we go again!  Another cry-baby movie about how the evil NFL has covered up yet another bullshit excuse to soften the game of football.  Suck it up Neanderthals, you know what you signed up for!  So you have a headache, huh?  Take an aspirin and get back out there like a gladiator!  Then, here comes this uppity foreigner who barely knows about the game of soccer let along real football and screws everything up for Americans coast to coast!  Okay, that might have been a little harsh, actually this movie is pretty damn good.  Will Smith does an excellent job, so much that once again its hard to think he came from The Fresh Prince!  The movie gets pretty deep and it really delves into the theory of how trauma can affect more than just your thoughts and brain activity.  The story is very strong and made for an extremely enjoyable movie.  I wanted a little more of the national exposure and to see other effects rather than 5 guys going crazy and wanting to kill them selves in a car.  I didn't like the rushed ending and thought it kind of left you wanting more.  Overall its a good flick and worth the watch.

FYI:  Mike Webster was actually living in his car and repeatedly hurting himself.

***1/2