December 19, 2015

Movie Reviews 101 Midnight Horror – Crying Wolf (2015)

Director: Tony Jopia

Writer: Tony Jopia, Andy Davie, Michael Dale (Screenplay) Tony Jopia, Andy Davie (Story)

Starring: Gary Martin, Caroline Munro, Kristofer Dayne, Gabriela Hersham, Ian Donnelly, Joe Egan, Kimberly Jaraj, Chloe Farnsworth, Rosie Pearson, John R WAlker

Plot: From the Director of ‘DEADTIME’ and ‘Zombie Harvest’ comes Crying Wolf! They’re Hungry, Hairy and ready to hunt you down! The comedy horror Crying Wolf tells the story of strange and weird goings on in a little English village called Deddington. The gruesome death of local girl Charlotte by a rabid monster causes alarm and revulsion – before desperate reporters, crazy detectives and revenge seeking hunters descend on the scene! Crying wolf is a fast paced British comedy horror that will keep you howling for more!

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

Verdict: Quirky Comedy

Story: Crying Wolf starts as Private Detective (Martin) comes to the town of Deddington to investigate what happened to his old friend, which takes him to a local antique shop where the shopkeeper (Munro) reluctantly sales him a book giving away the secrets of the town.

While reading the book he learns about a group of werewolves that travel around as a pack, they are organised unit with age range from young to old. As we follow the pack we see how Andy (Dayne) was the original bitten man who turned all his friends into helping Milly (Hersham) after no one believes him about the werewolf outside. We see how the pack lure victims in the English countryside into become their latest victims and the Private Detective tries to get to the bottom of it.

Crying Wolf really gives us a string of short stories being told by the overall pack all trying to add the scares and laughs along the way. We get a twist on the werewolf genre by having the pack trying to look normal while hunting which is refreshing. The film does have flaw which would be the fact we get quite a lot of sub-stories going on which do add to the twists but sometimes leave you forgetting about other stories going on. If you do want something that is different and mostly fun this is one to enjoy.

Actor Review

Gary Martin: Private Detective is the man trying to figure out what has been happening in the town, he reads the book with the history of what is going on but doesn’t know how to get to the bottom of everything. Gary is solid as the narrator without getting the time other than to tell the story.

Kristofer Dayne: Andy is a local man who gets infected with the werewolf virus who ends up having to turn his friend, he has been involved into bring the pack back together with Milly but has history with other members of the pack. Kristofer is solid as the basic slave to the leader guiding his friends into battle.

Gabriela Hersham: Milly is the leader of the pack who wants to unit them all once and for all by using Andy to make this more likely to happen. She has a firm grip over every decision that Andy makes. Gabriela is good in this role as the villainous leader of the group.

Rosie Pearson: Emma is one of the packs who has to bring her step sister on the trip even though she is all human, she has history with Andy which will leave her step-sister in danger when she clashes with Milly. Rosie is good in this role without really excelling.

Support Cast: Crying Wolf has a good supporting which all really are just as big as the main actors in the final story as everyone is involved with where the film is going.

Director Review: Tony Jopia – Tony gives us a fun horror comedy throughout without pushing the limits on either side of the fence.

Comedy: Crying Wolf has good laughs throughout make the horror effects lightened.

Horror: Crying Wolf has good horror elements without going to deep into them.

Settings: Crying Wolf uses the countryside for the settings showing the character stuck in the middle of nowhere.
Special Effects: Crying Wolf has basic effects with the CGI being clear to see.

Suggestion: Crying Wolf is one for the horror comedy fans to enjoy. (Horror Comedy Fans Watch)

Best Part: Gangster segment.

Worst Part: Little bit too much going on.

Believability: No

Chances of Tears: No

Chances of Sequel: No

Post Credits Scene:

Similar Too: 2001 Maniacs

Oscar Chances: No

Runtime: 1 Hour 31 Minutes

Tagline: When the howling starts, the killing begins

Overall: Fun horror comedy with British comedy throughout.

Rating

Jake Gyllenhaal Weekend Southpaw (2015)

Director: Antoine Fuqua

Writer: Kurt Sutter (Screenplay)

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rachel McAdams, Forest Whitaker, Oona Laurence, 50 Cent, Skylan Brooks, Naomie Harris, Victor Ortiz, Beau Knapp

Plot: Boxer Billy Hope turns to trainer Tick Willis to help him get his life back on track after losing his wife in a tragic accident and his daughter to child protection services.

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

Verdict: Left Hook to the Heart

Story: Southpaw starts with Billy Hope (Gyllenhaal) defending his Light Heavyweight Title at Madison Square Gardens. When a wannabe challenger Miguel ‘Magic’ Escobar (Gomez) starts pushing Billy into a fight Billy wants to shut him up by demanding his manager Jordan Mains (50 Cent) to make the match happen.

When his wife Maureen (McAdams) is noticing him getting punch drunk from his matches she wants him to step back to spend time with his daughter Leila (Laurence) but Jordan is pushing three more fights.

When Escobar pushing Billy too far at a charity event an all out brawl ensues leading to a gun shot killing Maureen. This is just the beginning to the downward spiral Billy takes as he loses his money, his team and most tragic to him custody of his daughter.

We now watch how Billy must rebuild his life, career and reputation by turning to trainer Tick Wills (Whitaker), cleaning up his substance abuse to get his daughter back.

Southpaw gives us the traditional sports story of redemption but also offers up a fresh look at how our hero Billy reaches his redemption. We get a much more personal battle for Billy to go through which leads us to see how sports stars can lose everything. I will have to question how the story gives us thin sub-plots where we look at certain characters have things happen and everything just get done off camera, be it how the judge just seemed to go have your kid back, Hoopy story gets completely looked over and the promoter who could have been corrupt just getting ignored. On the sports side everything is almost perfect so I can’t complain but in the end certain things end up just getting left to us to go yeah that is ok.

Actor Review

Jake Gyllenhaal: Billy Hope is the light heavyweight champion of the world on top of the world but everything comes crashing down when his wife is killed. He loses his belt, his home and his daughter leaving him no choice but to clean up his act and regain the life he once had through hard work. Jake gives us yet another brilliant performance where he could easily get an Oscar nomination.

Rachel McAdams: Maureen Hope is the wife and whole world to Billy, she supports him in every fight while arranging his life. She wants Billy to retire or at least take a break because his style is going to leave him punch drunk. When she is killed the life of her family starts to fall apart. Rachel gives a good performance even if it is only a supporting role.

Forest Whitaker: Tick Wills is a boxing trainer who reluctantly gives Billy a job, a chance to train to prove he is committed before letting him in the ring to learn a new style of fighting that plays to the defensive side Billy isn’t used to using. He has his own past which has lead him to be like Billy giving him the chance to redeem his own defeats in his past. Forest gives us a great performance as the man with a troubled past who gets a chance of redemption.

Oona Laurence: Leila Hope is the daughter of Billy and Maureen who ends up going into custody of family services when Billy can’t handle his life without his wife. She is the motive behind everything Billy does as she is the only thing he really wants in life. Oona gives a brilliant performance from such a young starlet.

50 Cent: Jordan Mains is the promoter and manager of Billy who keeps trying to make his fighter continue fighting, he has a questionable motives and once Billy loses everything he teams up with the enemy Escobar. 50 Cent gives us a good supporting role as the promoter we are not sure about through the film.

Support Cast: Southpaw has a supporting cast that offer sub-plots that don’t completely get dealt with but each one does find a way to motive our leading characters.

Director Review: Antoine Fuqua – Antoine gives us a brilliant sporting drama that shows how hard redemption can be to achieve.

Action: Southpaw keeps most of the action in the boxing ring giving us the real time fight scenes that all come off real throughout.

Drama: Southpaw brings us into a personal lives of the Hope family as we see them go through tragic events before having to grow and power through them.

Sports: Southpaw makes all the boxing look realistic from the moment they enter the ring.

Thriller: Southpaw keeps you wondering what will happen from the start to finish.

Settings: Southpaw creates all the settings that all work perfectly for the moments in the film from the fall from the top to the rise back.

Suggestion: Southpaw is one of the best films this year and should be watched by all. (Watch)

Best Part: Boxing all looks realistic.

Worst Part: Sub-plots do get forgotten.

Believability: No

Chances of Tears: You could get a few

Chances of Sequel: No

Post Credits Scene: No

Oscar Chances: Jake could get an Oscar nod.

Box Office: $35 Million

Budget: $30 Million

Runtime: 2 Hour 4 Minutes

Tagline: Believe In Hope.

Trivia: Antoine Fuqua had no money to pay James Horner to compose the film due to the films short budget. However, James didn’t care as he loved the idea of the film and decided to do it for free.

Overall: Brilliant sporting drama that is all about redemption

Rating