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Detention (Movie Review)

The best word to describe ‘Detention’ is- WEIRD! This movie is so wacky in every sense: the storyline, the characters, even the images. This is a mash-up of various genres: horror, comedy, teen-movies, and romance. It is hard enough for just one movie to accomplish something good in just one genre, therefore one that tries to encompass various is bound for disaster. The movie does make you laugh more than once, mainly because of the witty dialogue, but also because of the ridiculousness of it. This might only be worth a watch if it’s on TV on a day where you have nothing else to do and there’s absolutely nothing to else to watch.

The movie explores high school life for seniors in Grizzly Lake. There are the popular kids among them Clapton Davis (Josh Hutcherson) and Ione (Spencer Locke) and the outcasts like Riley Jones (Shanley Caswell) and Sander Sanderson (Aaron David Johnson). Not only are they all trying to survive high school, but they are also trying to survive a killer named Cinderhella who’s slashing one student at a time.

The movie tries to be fun and cool and it accomplishes it at some points, by having the characters talk to the audience, making small movie montages about each character’s life and even taking us through a journey in music and fashion. The movie is like ‘Mean Girls’, ‘The Breakfast Club’, and ‘Scream’ all in one. But the storyline goes on a tangent and as it develops it becomes less and less interesting, because it gets more ridiculous by the minute.

The movie might ride off on Hutcherson’s success in ‘The Hunger Games’ and that’s a smart move on their part, but he should also be happy that this film didn’t do wide-release a year ago when it began to be promoted. Movies are expensive to make so it is hard to understand why a studio or director would decide to spend money on such a fruitless project, especially because it is said that director Joseph Kahn used his savings to make it. All in all there are better movies coming out this weekend than wasting your money on this one.   

Lockout (Movie Review)

‘Lockout’ is a fun action film despite its predictability. The concept of it is interesting and although you may know how it will end, it is all about the ride. Although I enjoyed the action my favorite part of the film was Guy Pearce, his character is just a smart mouth agent who’s looking out mainly just for himself; his sarcastic humorous comments make most scenes entertaining. This isn’t the best action film out there, but if you want to have fun at the movies and have a couple of laughs, this is definitely a good choice, despite of its’ flaws.

Agent Snow (Guy Pearce) is convicted of a crime against the U.S. government, that he denies having committed. Despite that he is offered to take on a mission upon MS One, an experimental prison in space where the 500 most dangerous criminals on planet Earth are kept in artificial sleep. He must rescue Emilie (Maggie Grace), the president’s daughter who has gone out to the station in a humanitarian mission and has fallen hostage to inmates who’ve broken free.   

Directors James Mather and Stephen St. Leger are two Irish boys from Dublin who sought out to make a futuristic action thriller that was entertaining. They reached their goal, however with a little more effort it could have been an even more entertaining film. They inserted a bit of themselves, which we perhaps can see in many of the inmates. Snow, Pearce’s smart mouth character is charming in his own jerk-like way although at points he does get dangerously close to being too macho therefore a bit irritating; but obviously he’s the one that carries the film on his shoulders. Honestly, I mainly hated Grace’s character, she was such a helpless girl throughout most of the movie that she was just annoying to watch, although she does redeem herself at the end.

My biggest problem with the movie is that the storyline didn’t convince me, starting by the fact that I could figure out the outcome since the beginning and there are some holes and various weak points. At times the storyline tries to get complicated and layered which takes away from the simplicity that would have enhanced it. The special effects are not that great, one scene in particular is just a videogame shot shaming the movie.

This is just a good time at the movies; it takes you on a wacky futuristic story in outer space, where a man and a woman alone face the world’s worst criminals. The arena they are in is unusual, defying authority is their motto and getting out alive is their goal. So if you can put the technicalities aside, get ready to go on a crazy journey with an insane guide that somehow has a good head on his shoulders and enjoy the video game like scenario where the bad guys outnumber the good ones. 

‘The Hunger Games’ reaches $302 million at the box office!

‘The Hunger Games’ not only continues to hold the number one spot in the box office with $33.5 million dollars, but it has reached the outstanding amount of $302 million total (in the U.S., it is almost at $460 mil world-wide) in just three weeks. Despite of the tough contenders it had, it keeps holding on strongly.

The fourth installment of the American Pie franchise ‘American Reunion,’ took the second spot in the box office with $21.5 million dollars. It seems like many of its’ loyal followers decided to check out what this last slice of pie had to offer.

Another blast from the past ‘Titanic 3D’ shows up in third place with $17.4 million dollars. James Cameron continues to show that his work is hard to top; he was capable of re-making a film from 1997 flawlessly into 3D and it almost already made up for the $18 million dollars it took to convert it.

The Top 10 in the Box Office are:

1.The Hunger Games – $33.5 mil

2. American Reunion – $21.5 mil

3. Titanic 3D – $17.4 mil

4. Wrath of the Titans – $15 mil

5. Mirror, Mirror – $11 mil

6. Jump Street – $10.2 mil

7. Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax – $5 mil

8. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen – $ 975 Thousand

9. John Carter – $ 820 Thousand

10. Safe House – $581 Thousand

‘The Hunger Games’ Keeps Being #1

‘The Hunger Games’ continues to hold on to the number one spot in the box office, it seems like it will be very hard for someone to take its’ place. This was one of the most anticipated movies of the year and it begins the month of April holding on to its’ place with $61.1 million dollars.

A sequel follows it, ‘Wrath of the Titans’ which has received compliments because it is better than its’ predecessor. This movie of action and mythology took second place with $34.2 million dollars.

The children’s movie ‘Mirror, Mirror’ starring Julia Roberts shyly took third place with $19 million dollars. It could be because according to critics this new version doesn’t enhance the story of Snow White.

The Top 10 Movies in the Box Office are:

1. The Hunger Games – $61.1 mil

2. Wrath of the Titans – $34.2 mil

3. Mirror, Mirror – $19 mil

4. 21 Jump Street – $15 mil

5. Dr. Seuss’ ‘The Lorax’ – $8 mil

6. John Carter – $2 mil

7. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen – $1.3 mil

8. Act of Valor – $1 mil

9. A Thousand Words – $0.915 thousand

10. Journey 2: The Mysterious Island – $0.825 thousand