MOVIE REVIEW: Spring Breakers

Photos from the Spring Breakers trailer

Spring Breakers

Director: Harmony Korine

If you say the name "Harmony Korine" to me, I'm probably going to go off on a tangent about how he rules, is a great director, is a total genius, etc. On that note, I have been waiting for Spring Breakers for over a year, ecstatic to see what Korine has come up with next. I will start off by saying this: No matter what teeny-bopper magazine you read that claims this is "Selena Gomez's movie," this is not Selena Gomez's movie. This is also not the female Project X, nor is it the female Superbad. This is Korine's newest revolting masterpiece, disguised with the facade of faded Disney stars and neon bikinis. You must not come into Spring Breakers with expectations, because this film will be nothing that you expect of it. It is dark, it is disgusting, and it is entrancing. It is a dive into the human psyche, exploring how far we will go to get what we want. But what do we want? Is it to find ourselves? Is it money? Is it "to be bad," as James Franco's character Alien so bluntly states? Perhaps the meaning one gets out of Spring Breakers is solely up to the viewer; perhaps there isn't any meaning at all. That's the beauty of a Korine film, and that's exactly what Spring Breakers delivers. As hypnotic as it is shocking, the repetition of certain scenes and lines gives the film a fantastic rhythm. At one point in the film, I was so hypnotized by the colors and the pulsing rhythm of the film that I jumped a foot out of my seat when a noise broke the pattern. I described this film on Twitter as "beautiful, hypnotic vomit," and that's exactly what it is. Standout performances include James Franco as Alien and Rachel Korine as Cotty, a character who seems to be not as moral as Selena Gomez's character Faith, but not as off the rails as her other two counterparts. Although I highly recommend this movie to anyone who is a true film lover, I must say this: I don't know how this movie managed to get an R rating. How they got away with not having this slapped with NC-17 is beyond me. You need to mentally prepare yourself for what you are going to see before venturing off into the poison cotton-candy world of Spring Breakers. 

MOVIE REVIEW: Evil Dead

Evil Dead

Director: Fede Alvarez 

After an hour of extreme internet-scavenging, I managed to score four passes to an advance screening of Evil Dead. Being a remake of the 1981 film, The Evil Dead (1981; director: Sam Raimi), I knew that I was in for some extreme gore, and hopefully, some comedic moments as well. While the comedic aspect that graced the original The Evil Dead is virtually nonexistent in this remake, the gore has been amped up to the extreme. What is so impressive about this gore? It's smart. Instead of just gratuitous violence and blood, the gore in Evil Dead taps into the fear of the viewers unlike ever before. Focusing on things that the filmmaker's knew would make the audience cringe, it surpasses the level of normal gore and teases the audience's phobias. Another bonus factor to Evil Dead is that if you are a fan of the remake, there are certainly plenty of nods to the film that started it all in this new, revamped version. Even with certain things being changed just to keep things fresh, the filmmakers made sure to keep the elements that made the first film so great. The downside to this film is definitely the dialogue, simply because in the beginning it seems very forced and awkward. Although I'm sure if you're going to see Evil Dead it isn't for the sentimental moments and witty banter, I feel like if they were going to attempt to fit sentimental dialogue in this film then it shouldn't have been as awkward and forced as it turned out to be. The film is relatively short, and the addition of a backstory and the dialogue that comes along with it in the beginning seemed somewhat out of place and too rushed. I like the backstory idea, but it felt too... "jerky" or forced. Standout performances include Jane Levy as Mia, who I'm sure you have seen in the trailer creepily stating "we're gonna get you" from the cellar door. All in all, Evil Dead is a wild ride that I would happily experience again. Side note: Stay for the entire duration of the credits! You don't want to miss them.