Aylmer to Zazzoo and Beyond

Saturday, April 12, 2014

Draft Day - Review

Draft Day
(2014 - April 11)
Drama | Sport
1 hr. 49 min.
Rated: PG-13 | Brief strong language including a few of the "F" and its variations and sexual references. Common Sense Media says: Nothing too risque. Ok for teens if the language isn't an issue for you. Read more
Grade: B-
Director: Ivan Reitman
Writers: Scott Rothman, Rajiv Joseph
Stars: Kevin Costner, Chadwick Boseman, Jennifer Garner | See full cast and crew

On the day of the NFL Draft, general manager Sonny Weaver (Costner) has the opportunity to rebuild his team when he trades for the number one pick. He must quickly decide what he's willing to sacrifice in pursuit of perfection as the lines between his personal and professional life become blurred on a life-changing day for a few hundred young men with dreams of playing in the NFL.

Ivan Reitman's Draft Day stars Kevin Costner as Sonny Weaver Jr., the GM of the Cleveland Browns. With 13 hours until the beginning of the NFL draft, Sonny is informed by the team's owner (Frank Langella) that if Sonny doesn't make a splash and generate ticket sales, he's going to be fired. That prompts the GM to take a trade offer from another team that gives him the first pick in the draft, in exchange for three future first-round picks.

The move outrages the Browns' head coach, and forces all of the team's scouts to dig up what they can find about the pick everyone, including the owner, expects them to make -- a highly touted QB from Wisconsin. Meanwhile, Weaver is drawn to a talented linebacker who has family issues to deal with and is known for having a hot temper. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

I am not a big football fan so I dreaded sitting through this film. Surprisingly, this is not a bad film. Not a great film but not too bad either. It held my interest throughout (and that was five min. after my screening of Oculus so I could have been experiencing movie fatigue but I found myself intrigued). Perhaps part of that is because this football film does not take place on the field, bur almost entirely inside GM offices...on the phone...yeah, sounds like a boring premise right? Nonetheless, they manage to pull it off.

Kevin Costner delivers a fine performance as does most of the cast. Chadwick Boseman doesn't get anywhere near the screen time he had as Jackie Robinson in '42',

but don't cry for him, he'll get plenty more in the upcoming James Brown bio-pic 'Get On Up' opening August 1. I don't know if its that I wasn't thinking about him but I didn't even recognize Tom Welling (Smallville, Judging Amy, Cheaper By The Dozen 1 and 2).

Football fans will likely enjoy the plethora of cameo appearances from their team favorites who play themselves in the film, or the fantasy football and statistics fever aspects of the NFL Draft.

Behind the scenes on the set.

Cast

Kevin Costner Jennifer Garner

Sonny Weaver Jr. Ali

Chadwick Boseman Josh Pence

Vontae Mack Bo Callahan

Terry Crews Tom Welling

Earl Jennings Brian Drew

Denis Leary Ellen Burstyn Frank Langella

Anthony Molina Barb Weaver Anthony Molina

Oculus - Review

Oculus
(2014 - April 11)
Horror
1 hr. 45 min.
Rated: R | Some Disturbing Images, Brief Language, Terror and Violence.
Common Sense Media says: Outstanding horror flick has gore, children in peril. Read more
Grade: B
Director: Mike Flanagan
Writers: Mike Flanagan (screenplay), Jeff Howard (screenplay), Jeff Seidman (based on a short screenplay by)
Stars: Karen Gillan, Brenton Thwaites, Katee Sackhoff | See full cast and crew
Ten years ago, tragedy struck the Russell family, leaving the lives of teenage siblings Tim and Kaylie forever changed when Tim was convicted of the brutal murder of their parents. Now in his 20s, Tim is newly released from protective custody and only wants to move on with his life; but Kaylie, still haunted by that fateful night, is convinced her parents’ deaths were caused by something else altogether: a malevolent supernatural force unleashed through the Lasser Glass, an antique mirror in their childhood home. Determined to prove Tim’s innocence, Kaylie tracks down the mirror, only to learn similar deaths have befallen previous owners over the past century. With the mysterious entity now back in their hands, Tim and Kaylie soon find their hold on reality shattered by terrifying hallucinations, and realize, too late, that their childhood nightmare is beginning again.

Oculus is a 2013 American horror film directed by Mike Flanagan that had its world premiere on September 8, 2013, at the Toronto International Film Festival but didn't get its theatrical release until April 11, 2014.

The story is about two siblings, Tim (Brenton Thwaites) and Kaylie (Karen Gillan), who are haunted by the events their tragic childhood when both of their parents were brutally butchered. Tim is convicted of the killings and sentenced to protective custody, he serves his time in a mental institution while Kaylie drifts into a deep despair.

Kaylie is convinced that the source of their horror is a mysterious mirror with a dark history. When Tim is finally released after his 21st birthday the siblings are reunited. Tim wants to start over and lay the past to rest. Kaylie is certain that her brother was innocent all along, and that the antique mirror their parents once owned holds the answer to her darkest questions. After years of searching she has located the long-lost looking glass and aided by her fiance have bought it at an auction.

After much argument she convinces Tim to join her in her plan to prove that the mirror is the source of the the evil that has plagued their lives and once she has that proof on video plans for the two of them to destroy it, it is a vow that they made as children, a vow that Tim has tried through his therapy to wipe from his memory.

Kaylie's assertions and fears are confirmed, a malevolent force does inhabit the mirror, and it has brought tragedy and death to every person that has owned it. Kaylie's acquisition of the mirror has now reset the nightmarish cycle of horror in their lives which returns with a vengeance.

They are taken on a wild ride where the lines between the past and present are indistinguishable and where they can not determine what is real and what is not.

Thankfully they don't rely on the hateful 'found footage' technique that is so common in the horror film genre these days. The shifting from past to present and back again keeps the story interesting and the viewer guessing. The R rating is not for profanity, sex or nudity, still it is not something you want to take children to see. The frightening and often violent images could stay with a child for a lifetime, the film would be far too intense for children under 16 or 17 years. As far horror films go, however, this one is pretty good. I liked it.

Behind the scenes on the set.