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Killing Kennedy (2013) (TV) Directed by Nelson McCormick



Call me crazy but i kind of like these National Geographic original movies. They are like documentaries, told as movies. HOWEVER, having said that; this movie isn't all that great really...

There are of course countless of books, movies, television specials and whatnot about the assassination of John F. Kennedy, on 22 November 1963. There are of course various reasons for this and one of those reasons is because that, even till this date, there are countless of conspiracy theories about the assassination out there, the one more likely than the other and we still don't know with absolute certainty who was behind the actual killing and who were all involved with it. Out of all the crazy stories and theories to pick from, this movie features the absolute simplest one. It's like an anti-conspiracy movie and an extremely simplified explanation of the Kennedy assassination; Oswald shot alone, just because he wanted the attention and wanted to be seen and known as somebody and Ruby in return shot Oswald just because he liked Kennedy, which gets established in the simplest of ways by having Ruby say in one scene; 'Hey, I like Kennedy. I voted for him!'. Or something to that extend. And no, I'm really not exaggerating. That's just the way how things are set up in this movie. It's all far too simple and whether or not this movie is correct and based on actual facts really doesn't matter all that much, since there is no way of really knowing it for sure in the first place but also because it just doesn't make for a very interesting or engaging movie to watch. Besides, it's kind of annoying how this movie lazily glosses over some facts and doesn't ever remotely tries to provide any answers or evoke any discussions, by its very bland interpretation of history. Let me just say that through its simplicity this movie actually becomes far more ridicules and unconvincing than some of the craziest conspiracy theories that are floating around, concerning Kennedy's death.

Maybe it's also really because the movie its incredibly black & white interpretation of things. Oswald is handled like a real movie villain, who's plotting his evil scheme like a James Bond villain. It besides feels weird how this movie spends far more time with the Lee Harvey Oswald character than any other in this movie really, including John and Jacqueline Kennedy.

Thing this movie also is incredibly simplistic and black & white with are all of its drama and emotions. It's far too forced all, like you're watching some sort of poorly written soap-opera. It thinks that by just showing you people having a reaction to something that that's going to be enough to provoke emotions from its viewers. But the movie itself isn't ever building up to anything dramatic or heartfelt. It's just showing you stuff and emotions, without having you feel involved as a viewer, with any of it.

Rob Lowe seems like a weird choice to play John F. Kennedy but he actually does a pretty good job with it. It's clear that it really isn't due to any of the casting or acting that the movie and all of its characters don't ever work out too well. It's really all due to its writing and it's simplistic, almost lazy, approach to things.

Can't say that I absolutely hated watching it as well or ever felt truly annoyed or angered by any of it but it's still very obvious all throughout that nothing that this movie ever does- or attempts to achieve works out very well. Just nothing about it is very good but still, it's far from the worst thing you'll ever see.

5/10

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Trailer: Sexy Evil Genius (2013)

A group of guys are drawn to the same bar in downtown Los Angeles by an ex-girlfriend they all have in common. From: IMDb.com

Directed by: Shawn Piller
Starring: Michelle Trachtenberg, Katee Sackhoff, Seth Green and others
Current release date: April 9, 2013

Black Christmas (2006) Directed by Glen Morgan

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(Review originally written at 12 August 2008)

OK so, this was bad. Really bad! The movie features cheap scares, uninteresting characters, ineffective directing...and a killer with a liver decease. Especially when you compare this movie to the 1974 original, this movie is an extremely bad and disappointing one.


The movie really makes a big mistake by making the movie halve set in 'present' time, while the other story is told in flashback-mode, telling Billy's back-story.

But no, seriously this isn't the movie its biggest issue. Thing just is that this movie has totally no suspense, which is mostly due to the very poor directing and storytelling of the already weak and simplistic story, in which nothing comes as a surprises and everything progresses in a very formulaic and predictable manner. Glen Morgan is obviously a very inexperienced director and lets hope he'll stop directing movies like this. Also his writing is obviously lacking. He wrote the screenplay for this movie, which he loosely based on the Roy Moore 1974 screenplay of the original "Black Christmas" movie, directed by Bob Clark. I say loosely, because basically all he uses from the 1974 screenplay is the concept of having a killer killing off girls in a sorority house on Christmas eve. The story features some really poor and lame written elements, that you just don't learn in film-school.


Yes, so it's still a remake of the 1974 horror movie with the same title but there are lots of differences. These differences and changes are not for the good however. In this movie we for instance already know who the killer is from the firs moment on and what his motivations are (it gets overly explained in the movie why he is so messed up and how messed up he is, by giving him a back-story) and it's also (unintentional) pretty clear on from the beginning who is the second killer of the movie, while in the remake this was all still a big mystery. The fact that this all gets revealed so early on in the movie already takes away lots of the tension and mystery of the movie. It was a big mistake to show so much of the movie its killers. On top of that the movie gave them a monstrous look, which is of course just plain ridicules.


The movie its scares are very cheap as if they thought that the character's reactions to the situations would make the sequences look scary enough. For instance during the phone calls; the characters are totally panicking and looking scared by it, while it are just odd sounding phone calls that are not scary sounding but instead more like a prank call from the 9-year neighbor boy. They tried to let the movie look more 'horror' like by inserting lots of gore but really no, it doesn't work out.


The movie feels just like an excuses to kill of as many characters as possible in one movie. All of the kills just feel pointless and they follow each other too fast. Basically every 15 minutes another character dies but you just stop caring about it after a while. It really doesn't make the movie exciting to watch and on top of that of course also makes it all quite predictable. You basically know who is going to die when, as the sequences get build up. It also doesn't help much that you simply can not care about any of the characters. Most of the characters are all the same and the actresses and actors are not exactly future Oscar winners either.


The story is almost entirely set at one location and it cuts right to the chase, so to speak. It doesn't spend any time on proper development and the viewer gets bombarded with kills, gore and monstrous looking killers, without just caring much about any of it.


And seriously what was with the musical score? What an incredibly weak and simplistic sounding horror score. A shame that this had to be composer Shirley Walker's last score. She unexpectedly died before this movie its release. Perhaps she also wasn't 100% finished and satisfied yet with the score herself but they had to use it in the movie anyway?


Please, just watch the original 1974 "Black Christmas" movie instead.


2/10


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EuroTrip (2004) Directed by Jeff Schaffer, Alec Berg & David Mandel





(Review originally written at 13 October 2007)

This is of course another typical immature teenage comedy, with all the jokes you could expect from a genre movie such as this one. The movie is however made with such a good non-stop comedy pace that you can't help but to enjoy and laugh. The movie really serves its purpose effectively.

The countries they visit seem to be pretty random. It's as if the writers come up with the cities they would visit first, before writing the actual script. Only after that they would then start writing the script, surrounding on how they would visit all those different cities. It of course make the story seem extra thin, simplistic and just ridicules but because of the pace and stereotypes in the movie it still becomes fun all to watch.

The movie really features all- and the most extreme stereotypes about all of the cities visited in this movie and the people that are living in it. All of the stereotypes are so extreme and thickened that it becomes absolutely hilarious to watch, despite the fact that it all of course is rather predictable. Seriously, how can you feel offended by this as an European? It's too silly to take it the least bit serious and it's a reason why the humor in this movie works out so well. The humor is just so dumb and simple that you can't help laughing!

This movie really doesn't leave you room to breath. Before the one humorous situation is offer, you're already in the next one again. It doesn't ever give you the time to think about what you've just seen and just take things as they come along. It makes your brain switch off almost automatically as soon as the movie has started and that of course is always the best way to watch a comedy such as this one.

Despite the fact that this movie and its situations are all rather predictable, the movie still comes up with a couple of good and original moments. It certainly helps to make this movie better than just the average attempt.

I think it was a good move to mostly cast unknown young actors in the lead role. The kind of actors that will probably never make it big time. It doesn't distract from the movie and its jokes. It also allows big names to show up in cameo appearances in this movie. Matt Damon, Vinnie Jones and Jeffrey Tambor among others all make some equally fun cameo appearances in this movie.

I've you're able to appreciate teenage-comedies (The American Pie sort of movies, "Road Trip", etcetera), you'll have a good time watching this.

7/10

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