The Stanford Prison Experiment Review

"This experiment...is over." Kyle Patrick Alvarez brings us his third film he has directed with the docudrama The Stanford Prison Experiment. I stumbled across this movie entirely by chance and I am happy to say it was a good find.

This movie tells the story of Dr. Philip Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment. Dr. Zimbardo (Billy Crudup) picked 24 students to partake in his experiment where he created a mock prison in the basement of Stanford, gave them a list of rules and let human nature run it's course. It's a fun ride watching as human nature is broken down and being able to witness what happens when a few people are given power.

I knew nothing about this subject before watching this movie. After watching this movie, I actually went back and read into the study even further but it was so interesting. The story telling throughout the film was spectacular and kept you on the edge of your seat wondering what this group of college students would do next.

The acting throughout the movie is spectacular. Billy Crudup does a amazing job portraying Dr. Philip Zimbardo as the man who becomes so engrossed with his work, he fails to see where a line should be drawn. Ezra Miller and Michael Angarano are outstanding in their portrayals of two of the students especially Michael Angarano. I started to develop an understanding and relate to both the prisoners and guards throughout the film.

I really enjoyed the cinematography throughout the film, as well as the accompanying music to give it an almost eerie tone as you see the experiment unravel. The pacing was terrific and I did not feel that any scene was wasted. The character development throughout the film showed the transformation that each student went through and what problems they had to endure on both sides.

I was very impressed with this movie. I learned quite a lot about a subject that I didn't even really know existed. It made me think about how I would react in similar situations and I related to each character in the film. I was captivated in the experiment that was supposed to last two weeks but was cut short to six days. I know this movie will remain in my mind much longer than that.

Grade: A-

Genre: Documentary/ Drama

Cast: Billy Crudup, Michael Angarano

Rated: R for language including abusive behavior and some sexual references

Director: Kyle Patrick Alvarez

Stage Fright Review

"Break a leg!" Jerome Sable brings a interesting horror movie to the table with his musical/ slasher film "Stage Fright". Going into this film I wasn't quite sure what to expect. What I received was a disorganized mess, bad script and some "interesting" scenes.

IMDB's plot summary is amazing. "A snobby musical theater camp is terrorized by a blood thirsty killer who hates musical theater." That sums up what this movie is. A musical camp owner (Meat Loaf) is putting on the play "Haunting of the Opera" after it was shut down ten years ago because of a brutal murder of the lead actress. Now her daughter Camilla Swanson (Allie MacDonald) is a cook at the music camp and decides she wants to try out for her mothers role. But there is someone at the camp who doesn't want this play to go on and they are willing to kill to stop the play from being put on.

As a slasher on its own, it wasn't a very good movie. But adding in the musical elements to it, although setting it apart from other slasher movies, wasn't enough to make it an entertaining movie. I think in some instances it could have made it worse.

The acting in it is pretty bad. Allie MacDonald isn't very believable but in a movie like this what can one expect? The person who actually did an o.k. job throughout this movie was Meat Loaf. His character was just always fun to watch and I think it's just because of the fact that it's Meat Loaf playing him. The rest of the cast are just there and do not serve any part except for people to be killed. I never really felt bad for any of the people who died.

The movie felt like I was just waiting for the next person to die and after the opening flashback scene you have to wait until about the 40 min mark. It actually felt like a lot longer than that and just felt like it was dragging on and on. The movie wanted you to guess who was the killer but had such a obvious red herring it was ridiculous. I figured out who the killer was maybe about 30 seconds after they were introduced. The movie was riddled with cliches. The cinematography was nothing new and just a very generic film.

Stage Fright is Jerome Sable's first feature film and I was not impressed. Can't say I am looking to anything else he will direct. The movie was one big cliche that didn't bring anything new to the horror genre. Except that fact that it was a musical.

Grade: D-

Genre: Horror

Cast: Allie MacDonald, Meat Loaf

Rated: R for bloody horror violence, language and some sexual references

Director: Jerome Sable

Green Inferno Review

"You know what this is? You know what they're doing to us?" Eli Roth brings us another twisted tale in his new movie The Green Inferno. The buzz about this movie has been going on for about two years now because there was quite a lot of problems finding a distributor for this film and now I have finally seen it. I wish I was more impressed.

The plot is simple. A group of college activists go into the Amazonian rain forest to save a local tribe from deforestation but unfortunately their plane crashes and they are captured by the very tribe they saved. But guess what? They are a tribe of cannibals! Who knows what will happen!?

Now if you couldn't read the sarcasm through my plot summary, this plot is so overused. The cannibal genre has been going on since Cannibal Holocaust came out in 1980. I know that this is Roth's homage to that film but I just wasn't intrigued and impressed with it. It was so cliche and you knew what was going to happen from the beginning.

The acting throughout the film is mediocre. Lorenzo Izzo who plays the lead role does an alright job at pretending to be a scared girl in a terrible situation. The other lead actor Ariel Levy does about as good a job as he could. But his role is for the audience to basically hate him from his first sentence that he utters, which isn't very hard to do. All of Roth's characters have no real depth and are just there to be eaten.

The film is shot on digital so it has very vibrant colors which I actually did enjoy because the jungle looks beautiful in this film. Also the special effects and gore in the film is pretty extreme. But the problem with this film is that it didn't really bring anything new to the table. It was just another gore fest brought by Eli Roth. There was nothing original and I couldn't tell if it was supposed to be funny or scary or what the direction of the film was.

The Green Inferno is just another film in a long list of films that bring blood, guts and gore to the big screen. The problem with this film is that it had nothing inside. It was just a hollow shell. If what you are looking for is a gore fest then this is a good film for you. Otherwise I wouldn't waste your time on it.

Grade: D-

Genre: Horror

Cast: Lorenzo Izzo, Ariel Levy

Rated: R for aberrant violence and torture, grisly disturbing images, brief graphic nudity, sexual content, language and some drug use.

Director: Eli Roth

Goodnight, Mommy Review

"Your'e not our mother." Severin Fiala's and Veronika Franz's new collaboration film Goodbye, Mommy or "Ich seh, Ich seh" is a nice breath of fresh air compared to some of the horror or suspense movies that have been released lately. Although this film does bring some cliche elements to the table, it still provides an enjoyable movie experience that will keep you guessing until the credits start.

The film is about a pair of twins ( Lukas and Elias Schwarz)who move into a new house with their mother (Susanne Wuest) after she has had facial surgery. The children though begin to suspect that the woman under the bandages is not who she says that she is.

The difficult part about this film is that this summary sounds very short and simplistic. But somehow this film maintains a stable amount of suspense to keep you intrigued until the finale of the movie. I personally loved the plot. The way that the movie progressed truly had me guessing "Was this really their mother?"

The acting in this film is superb. The two children, Lukas and Elias Schwarz (who are twins actually), did an amazing job. They definitely stole the show  Especially considering the fact that this is their acting debut. Wuest does a terrific job as well. Throughout the film you can almost identify with her as well as hate her at the same time. She is able to create a complex character even though I still believe she could have been fleshed out a lot more. The lack of music in this film is also very apparent. Much of the film is silent and this adds to the feel of isolation throughout the movie.

As for the cinematography each shot is beautiful. The look of the film is amazing and every scene is just a treat for the eyes. The movie is only 99 minutes which is short compared to most movies today but it moved along at a fairly good pace and didn't feel too short or too long. The whole film just feels very eerie which is the perfect tone for this film. The use of not showing what happens also is a very powerful technique that is illustrated in this film.

All in all, I really enjoyed this film. It was amazing to watch. The violence wasn't too over empowering to take away from the eerie feel of the movie. The shots were all masterful. The acting was on point. Despite the minor cliches throughout, I thought it was a good film.

Grade: B+

Genre: Suspense/ Horror

Cast:Susanne Wuest, Lukas Schwarz, Elias Schwarz

Rated: R for disturbing violent content and some nudity

Director: Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz

Oldboy Review

"Laugh and the World laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone." Chan-wook Park brings his second film in his Vengeance trilogy to life with his film "Oldboy". Made in 2003 it still stands up on its own feet despite being twelve years old. It creates a memorable experience that the viewer will not forget to many years to come. I know that I will not.

The film is about a businessman named Oh-dae Su (Min-sik Choi) who is kidnapped for fifteen years and left alone in a room. For an unknown reason he is let out to try and find out who captured him. When he eventually does, the antagonist (Ji-tae Yu) gives him five days to find out why he was imprisoned or Oh-dae Sus' new love interest (Hye-jeong Kang) will be killed. This sends Oh-dae Su on a wild chase to find out why he was imprisoned by someone he doesn't even know.

Now I know the film sounds quite simplistic but this couldn't be farther from the truth. The story, based on a manga of the same name, is amazing. Chan-wook Park helped develop the screenplay from the manga into his interpretation of the film. The longer you watch this film the more twists and turns the viewers is brought on until the fantastic finale that you have to watch to believe.

The acting throughout the film is extraordinary and the soundtrack is amazing. This is actually one of the soundtracks that I actually own. Every song just evokes the exact emotion that each character is feeling and in turn makes you sympathize and connect with each character throughout the film. The look of the film is spectacular and each scene brings something new to the movie. At two hours long, it can seem a bit long at some times but the editing within the film is excellent. I felt that every scene within this movie brings something new to the story. No scene is wasted and every scene tells the story.

Park's cinematography throughout the film is mind blowing. Some of the techniques that he uses create the perfect atmosphere with his use of close ups, or long extended shots, for example the hallway scene. (You will know what I am talking about when you watch it.) His use of voiceover to explain the narrative and the intentions of the characters throughout the film gives them depth and actually makes you care for them by the end of the film. The dark tint on the overall film gives it a very noir feel to it and it fits perfectly. The feel of the movie is almost a experience instead of just a film.

Overall, I was very impressed with this movie. The hard gritty-ness of this revenge thriller is definitely a thrill ride. The violence goes hand in hand with a terrific story. I have seen it multiple times and it still brings something new to the table every time. I would suggest anyone to see it.

Grade: A

Genre: Thriller/Drama

Cast: Min-sik Choi, Ji-tae Yu

Rated: R for strong violence including scenes of torture, sexuality and pervasive language

Director: Chan-wook Park