This is the End Review

*Promotional Poster for the motion picture This is the End*

This is the End will make you wish it ends very quickly. Safe for me to say that this movie was a major disappointment. Not that I had high expectations for it to begin with, I felt the sensation of a huge let down almost immediately after I watched the trailer, which was saddening at the least given it's extremely talented cast. It's taken me a while to get up the stomach to watch this film, knowing deep down inside that it wasn't going to be a worth while experiences, but I finally got around to it...and oh my.

*Warning: There will be spoilers ahead*

Now it's puzzling to me on just about every level how this film could manage to mock itself so much while being basically everything Hollywood could ever want it to be. The blatant jabs that the film takes towards the movie industry itself are nowhere's near as bad as the sacrifices it makes to keep the Apatow trope current. Case and Point: Emma Watson manages to have the biggest cameo in the film, which is odd, no? Considering her new movie 'The Bling Ring' came out just around the exact same time. Perhaps that's just coincidence, but consider the Backstreet Boys performance at the end; which could not seem to be a more shameless plug for the newly reformed Backstreet Boys who happen to be on a reunion tour this year. It's not the first time the gang has been in a movie with a musical number at the end, however, it's not an Apatow film; Rogen is directing this one, and from what I gathered, for no good reason other than to spoof every contemporary...well, everything, and have a good time with his friends. Unfortunately, the joke is on the film, as perhaps the whole apocalypse thing has been so overdone at this point that it just can't possibly aid this film. Despite the fact that this movie has been praised by critics left and right, I can't manage to see why. If you've ever seen an Apatow film before, or Rogen's previous effort 'Superbad' for that matter, you already know that Rogen and Goldberg, even Apatow himself has done much better. The whole bro-mance genre has been steadily declining in quality for quite sometime now, and the marriage between witty banter and low brow humor has deteriorated into just plan unfunny riffing. Like Vince Vaughn in The Break Up, it gets to a point where it almost seems a bad idea from the start, but the star power makes it's dull and unoriginal premise see a wide theater release in hopes of generating some revenue.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not comparing this film to the break up, but the greater majority of this movie

seems very forced. Basically the whole idea is that Jay Baruchel has decided to head back to L.A to hang out with Seth Rogen, who then invites him to hang out at James Franco's house for a big house warming party. Then the apocalypse happens, of the biblical variety. Michael Cera, who puts on perhaps the worst performance I have ever seen a star of his caliber make, is killed off within the first half hour, followed by Rihanna, who's inclusion in the film is as huge a mystery as to why I even care, and lastly by about half way through the film you'll officially hate everything about Danny McBride, aside from one brief and humorous exchange between him and Franco regarding a magazine. Even with how funny said scene was, it's reliance on trading blows using the same words over and over again gives off the impression that the gang has officially run out of creativity. The film itself seems largely deprived of any genuinely funny banter, and the action moment's actually surpass the dialogue in a film that is for the most part largely action-less. It's really had to regard this movie as anything but a shameless plug that uses the very things it pokes fun at as a way to stay relevant. As a fan of just about every actor/actress in this movie, especially in regards to their onscreen talent, it shouldn't be hard to carve a coherent and funny film out of such a simple premise. It's almost like choosing to cast every role as themselves cost the movie itself to lose all talent and credibility.

By the end of this film you will probably be scratching your head a lot. If you've kept up with how this movie has been performing overall you may ask yourself the same question that I had: Why? This movie was largely unnecessary, and unfunny. I understand that humor is subjective, but given the quality of comedies in the last ten years or so, movies such as 'Superbad', 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall', and 'I Love You, Man', showed that you can have both low and high brow comedy at the same time; these movies were littered with derogatory dialogue and they run circles around a film like this on every level in terms of quality. It's just very hard to laugh at something so uninspired and overdone. A classic case of what I fear, as a movie goer, will happen to all actors and directors I love. Hopefully they've gotten it out of their system now, and I look forward to any future productions that takes us back to the witty antics of this lovable trope.  

Check out the Trailer for This is the End Below!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yma-g4gTwlE

Storyline:            Irrelevant, it's about dudes trying to survive the apocalypse...that's

                            the bulk of it.

Characters:        Chances are you know how they are already, and aside from poking fun

                            at each other sometimes, their onscreen selves don't seem to

                            differ much from the character's they generally play in films. 

                           Also, playing themselves sometimes makes everything happening in

                           the movie that much harder to digest, or for that matter, tell who's 

                           in on the joke.

Pacing:              Ridiculous, the set up is okay, but the movie for me fell apart too quickly

                          to really consider this a huge factor in the films success.

Interest Level: Dependent on how serious of a Rogen, Franco, McBride, Robinson, or

                          Hill fan you are, and your thirst for 'too crude' humor. Pass if that 
                          wells run dry for you; cause in terms of eventful, this movie sees the 
                          apocalypse as much less climactic and interesting as one would expect.

Overall:             3.5 out of 10 - I just had an uncomfortable feeling the whole time I 

                           was watching this movie. It just wasn't funny, it wasn't really much of

                           anything other than hard to watch. Recommended if crude humor is 
                           really all that works for you, or you need to see every movie of the

                           Rogen/Goldberg or Apatow pack.

Dark Shadows Review

*Poster for the motion picture "Dark Shadows"*

Dark Shadows is a great example of what not to do in just about every way conceivable for a film, including my approach to watching it. First off, it is probably worth noting that this film stemmed more from Johnny Depp's desire to put a contemporary spin on Dark Shadows more so than it was Tim Burton's desire to work on it; also, the film saw multiple writers before being finished, therefore adding to it's unfortunately haphazard nature. But before I go any further, I just want to note quick that I have decided to write my reviews from my perspective now rather than a neutral, more traditional journalism style perspective; this is after all a blog, and it has only just recently made more sense to me that I in fact 'blog' my point of view rather than write as if I have been doing this for years already, or have any formal education in film (some Art History classes yes, but hardly a qualification for film criticism I'm sure).

*WARNING: This review may contain spoilers*

So I approached this movie as a last resort on a Saturday evening indoors, with the night coming to a close; neither me nor my girlfriend decided we wanted to go to bed yet, and just about nothing else available to watch for free on one of our many movie outlets was of any interest to us that we hadn't already seen. I knew someday I would get around to watching this movie, but had been putting it off for as long as possible given how few good things I had heard about it, and to be fair the film does have it's share of humorous moments. However things take an irreversible turn for the worst about a third of the way through the movie, when it quickly becomes realized that it isn't going to A.) make as much sense as one would hope, and B.) be enjoyable beyond a few brief chuckles. It was hard not to laugh at the movie as it went from an interesting tale of a recently unearthed vampire reconnecting with his kin, to a twisted lifetime style movie about a woman who couldn't get the man she wanted. It is riddled with the most over-abused cliches one could imagine a film of it's ilk be riddled with. It doesn't help that given the creature frenzy going on right now in cinema: i.e. The Twilight Saga, Beautiful Creatures, & every Zombie movie of this millennium so far, that Dark Shadow's has zero originality beyond that of what Tim Burton brings to the table through his directing, and even that originality is compromised through the undying ugliness of the 70's culture fused with blues and purples. Yes, I did say ugliness of the 70's. I'm an 80's person when it comes to retro, and not that I dislike the 70's (I actually credit that decade with birthing some of the greatest music ever written), but the fashion hasn't made a strong and lasting comeback for a reason...it's just doesn't mesh well with anything outside it's own decade.

Where the film's most promising lays deep in just what hurt the rest of the movie too much to bare...the beginning, where we are given a path that clearly hints at a love interest in Bella Heathcote's character Victoria, one of the best cast examples of Burton's signature style with her skeletal figure and dark features like that of a Gothic porcelain doll. She enters into the life of the Collins family as a governess, which after finding out how Depp's character Barnabas Collins has been imprisoned in a casket for 200 years, gives you some fantasy love story to bite on, but as most good vampires will see to it, you won't see this fantasy love story down a good road, as the film sucks all the interest of this love affair out of it's run time in favor of putting Depp front and center and casting aside just about every other actor in favor of the bigger names. Michelle Pfiffer is given way more of a role than necessary, and Grace-Moretz, who can be considered an up and coming star for future Hollywood, has screen time which seems to exist merely for that fact alone. Her character not only feels like a jumbled mutation of young angst and the wasted 70s culture, but also a bad example of both, with *spoilers* a slice of werewolf thrown in. I mean literally sliced in, like, the last fifteen minutes of the film this plot twist is thrown in, assuredly to wake up whoever almost fell asleep in the audience. Forget anyone who already has, they had the right idea when it started. *end spoilers*

Perhaps it wouldn't be so easy to pick on parts of this film if it wasn't for it's level of disappointment. The sophistication and even the humor which it put forth at times was burned even worse by the lack of understanding that occurred somewhere during it's development. Someone clearly had the idea that the film itself didn't need to pay homage to the TV show, but rather fit in with the rest of the gang. Like The Lone Ranger, most younger people these days I'm sure have never heard of Dark Shadows before this movie's release, and just like the Lone Ranger I'm sure this film has much more in common with it's contemporaries rather than the source material it was inspired by. That's an easy and depressing way to get some serious heat from critics as well as spread the word fast that your film may not be worth the price of admission; simply for the fact that it has been a time tested mistake since the blockbuster boom of the 80's. Radical remakes only work when everything experiences a great level of TLC, and the film's vision is shared on a whole by all involved. But then again who am I? I'm no critic, just a big movie fan. I've never seen an episode of Dark Shadows and I've never published anything in an official magazine, book, or publication of any sort. Yet, it doesn't take any of those things to figure out that continuity and logic will please any movie goer despite their taste in film merely for making the experience easier to ingest on a whole. Dark Shadows, does not do this, and on top of a rather confusing script, the cherry on top is the pacing, which is all over the place (so it's really more like a cherry on the side, or maybe even just shy of the glass). Sometimes when you feel that the movie should take a little more time to let a moment settle in, it decides to say "Nope, you've seen this cliche before...so let's just rush this one, done! Onto the next scene!", Then other segments in which it just makes sense to switch gears in order to allow for some time to pass more realistically, are completely overlooked (like an angry mob being instigated by the film's antagonist, and then quickly jumping to them arriving at the Collin's mansion only a minute later in the film instead of taking an extra two or three minutes to work on some character development before the mob arrives).

Perhaps the films strongest weakness though, was in it's choice of villains. Angelique the witch, played by Eva Green couldn't be a sadder -and harder to sympathize with- villain. Perhaps this wouldn't have been a problem had their been so many times in the film were it's alluded to that their romance just might work out...which was nonsensical given earlier plot points. Barnabas could have killed her character many times, instead opting every time to carry on the film much longer than the plot merited. The film tries to make it seem like their is a constant attraction existing between the two, as Angelique is supposedly eternally in love with Barnabas  and Barnabas in return loathes her; yet they make love in perhaps one of the worst and corniest love scenes a movie like this could offer up, after all Angelique put Depp's character through: being buried for over 200 years because he didn't want to be with her. This alone should be reason enough to say no to any intimate encounter. Why would his character have to wrestle so much with such a simple decision? Also, given he was cursed by her into becoming a vampire... oh yeah, and watching his loved one plummet off a cliff under her command; one would see this as a hugely stacked deck against Angelique in the revenge department. It is highly illogical that one would ever, and I mean ever, consider this woman a love interest even after death, even for purely animalistic reasons. Instead the movie makes a chauvinist out of Depp rather than a cat and mouse game of the film between the two. Starting from scratch instead of reworking a script like this one would've clearly been the better route to take at the end of the day, as everything suffers in some way instead, including the audience. 

Lastly, the husband, or whatever he is, of Michelle Pfiffer's character, and Dr. Julia Hoffman, played by Bonam-Carter, really do not need to be in this movie. Burton's wife has an instance in which her character seems necessary to further the plot, but this is quickly undone by taking the burden off her character's murder when Angelique tries to slam the Collins family for every other murder in the movie. Bonam-Carter seems more cast out of favor than necessity in this movie than just about ever other one Burton has placed her in; and the twist at the end with her character after her murder was so strongly hinted at earlier in the film that it's only by pure luck that I almost forgotten about it... actually it was probably due more to bad placement of the twist than for any actual good reason, such as being well written, maybe it was also it's extreme irrelevance that caused me to forget... I don't know. The husband person though, so useless in the film I forget his name, or maybe I never even knew it, was written off from the moment he was placed on screen. He wasn't clued in to Barnabas being a vampire; he cheated on his wife; and lastly when offered an opportunity to either be a good father to his son David, (who character also isn't worth mentioning much in this film), or taking as much money from the family fortune as he wants before leaving forever, he... of course, because this is a bad movie, chooses to leave with little in the way of emotion or care directed at his family, or even at us as the audience.

Basically this movie sucked. Like stated earlier, it's made just about every mistake possible a film could make. It just wasn't a good idea in the first place. A long time ago I used to think that judging a movie based on the poster could tell me whether or not I should see it, fact is, these days that's not a good way to judge. However, I knew from the moment I saw the poster for this movie, given the actors, director, and what I was looking at, the poster said everything I needed to know: mismatched on all levels. Also, Alice Cooper in a Tim Burton film about the Gothic 70's? It feels more like trying to mix Heavy Metal, Austin Powers, and The Nightmare Before Christmas into a musical number with little in the way of consistent direction. Pass on this one if you get the chance, or if you enjoy a bad movie... no, still pass on this one, watch Bogey Creek, or Manos, The Hands of Fate... heck even watch House of Wax if you can, just not this movie.

Check out the Trailer for Dark Shadows Below!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpWvkFlyl4M

Review Score Card:
Storyline:            Understandable, but headache inducing, very cliche, and immature.
Characters:         Dense, selfish, and tormented; but not in an easy to sympathize way.
Pacing:               Horrible, a constant struggle for the film more so than the plot.
Interest Level:    If you're looking for something to hate on, it will definitely keep your attention.

Overall:               3.5 out of 10 - I've seen worse, but not by much, Dark Shadows
                           sets the bar very low, and is a prime example of a good film gone
                           wrong. For anyone looking to understand the difference between
                           a good film and a bad one in today's contemporary fantasy scene,
                           this is a good... well, subjectively good place to start.

Warm Bodies Review

*Promotional Poster for the movie Warm Bodies*

WARNING: This review will most likely contain spoilers.

Zombies, who would have thought that reanimated corpses would have so much mileage given their most of their greatest moments involve grunting and eating people. Well Warm Bodies creators appears to have picked up on this worn out sub genre and decided it was time to inject some new life into the overdone undead. 

R, played by Nicholas Hoult, is a zombie who is very aware that he is just that, however, things are not as they seem in this

world's interpretation of 'zombies. R has the ability to feel, although he is not able to show it at first, he longs for a life with

meaning and seems to cling onto whatever little humanity he has left. Sounds like something a zombie just can't do, given a zombie is dead right? Well Warm Bodies doesn't seem to care about this logic, as these zombies are treated as more or less infected people with cannibalistic tendencies rather than the living dead. R has layers and depth perhaps more than any other zombie portrayed in a film before him, which honestly may not sound like a huge accomplishment, but it does stand tall about the rest regardless. When he feeds, he consumes his victims brains as a way to relive there lives through ingested memories, perhaps the only thing that really runs this movie close to an R rating: R's eating habits.

Aside from R, we have a band of survivors lead by Teresa Palmer's character Julie, who leads a group into territory overtaken by zombies in order to find more rations for their establishment. M, who is R's best friend, and who the film thankfully chooses to not make a typical antagonist opposing R's advancement's towards the living, but instead a good

and reliable friend throughout the films length. Julie's best friend, Nora, played by Analeigh Tipton, and at the helm of the

human survivors is Colonel Grigio played by John Malcovich; a hardened man with zero tolerance for the horde. Colonal Grigio is also Julie's father. It's just a minor complaint, but it's a shame that John Malcovich didn't have more screen time in this film. He's character's are always very interesting and unique given his talent, and this is perhaps his best character since his role in 'Burn After Reading'. It's easy to relate to his feelings of self preservation and doing what he needs in order to keep his family and fellow humans alive, but his cause at the core is more humane than his cold exterior leads you to believe. His complexity by the end of the film is perhaps the only element of surprise the film genuinely has, and he is the sole wild card that makes you believe everything as you know it could chance in a dime by his hand. That's what makes a good character, the ability to make you question what you know, and engage you, challenge you, make you want them to be wrong or right when they should be. 

But I digress, and everyone involved in this film does a great job with their characters; Nicholas Hoult especially for playing perhaps the first zombie on screen that has to gradually become less of a zombie and more of a man in the span of 100 minutes or so. As the story progresses, R and Julie go from meeting to becoming lovers. R journey with Julie sees them stumbling along with awkward attempts at communicating turning into a lasting and deeply caring relationship. The plot is predictable, and the story has been done before in many ways; think "Beauty and the Beast" with zombies... almost. But this is okay, Warm Bodies has enough originality in it's concept of bringing the dead back to life, in a much more literal sense, that it's formulaic story telling can be easily forgiven.

The movie however does choose to hand hold a bit in attempt to make everything more accessible. R's narration throughout the whole film is completely coherent and polarizing compared to his character's actual dialogue, but

these narrations are done with such wit and so humorously, and so good at humanizing, that it makes everything R

does easy to relate to and easier yet to cheer him along for doing. The movie itself explores many themes, like love, discrimination, misunderstanding, and other contemporary issues that, like any good movie, examine the consequences of ones actions given a situation and what is called for in one's best interest vs. doing what you know in your heart is right. These things may not be as simple as we hope, but that's what makes the movie more authentic. Every character is driven by their own needs, but pulled together to achieve a collective goal by the end in uniting man and zombie to destory the real threat: bonies, which are more or less zombies too far gone to be saved. They really only exist the give the movie a true evil threat, deepen the world, and progress the story. As R and Julie grow closer, R begins to regain his humanity, which is shown through his body beginning to start functioning like a living breathing system once again, to the very point where he bleeds to ultimately prove his accomplishment.

Warm Bodies plays it safe with it's storytelling, but again, it's themes are meant to be the showcase. If you can't communicate effectively, then the point of your film is lost, unless your point is to miscommunicate. So doing things more by the book to make sure everything new your trying is easier to taken in and enjoy, may just be the right answer. If Warm Bodies was directed more like a super low budget indie film with numerous art-house elements, it might not have been a bad film, but one would have to question if it would've been a more enjoyable experience or even had the same or as effective of a message. Thankfully it doesn't seem preachy in it's approach to advocating coexistence, but it is something to consider it's achievement as a horror movie within the positive message it sends. It somehow manages to be a love story, a story about war, a story about faith and hope, while also probably unnerving some off it's younger audience all at the same time. It's taken a sub genre that's primary focus is usually always on blood and gore, and manages to make into a story with a heart just as big as the heart of our protagonist by the films end.

Basically, you need to see this movie. It's a fun ride, and while again, very predictable and very safe within all the expected steps taken in stride, what it does attempt to do that is new, and what it does attempt to drive home through great performances and strong themes, makes this a good watch in more ways than one. It's not all that uncommon right now to find that innovation is in high demand and many are trying to do something new or using already existing mediums to put a unique spin on something familiar; Warm Bodies manages to be both new and place a spin on a familiar subject at the same time, providing the film world with a blistering portrayal of existence at it's grimmest that doesn't leave you feeling sour and bitter after watching it. My hats off to all involved in making this movie as it is always a treat these days to see great films being made that don't have large budgets and giant green screens to provide ample enough eye candy; although you probably don't need a big budget to make a good horror movie. But it's also hard to pass up a good zombie movie, no matter how many have come out in the past five years. Take this one to the bank, it's a good watch.

Check out the trailer for Warm Bodies provided below!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07s-cNFffDM

Review Score Card:                                                                                                               

Storyline:          A love story; formulaic, but clearly understood and engaging.

Charatcers:       Well developed and interesting to say the least; feel authentic.

Pacing:             The movie doesn't drag often, but it does have it's filler moments.

Interest Level:    If you like zombie movies, and romance, or both, this is required viewing.

Overall:           8.5 out of 10 - A good zombie movie with much to offer at it's core.

The Cabin in the Woods Review

*Promo Poster for The Cabin in the Woods Film*

The Cabin in the Woods is one of those rare movies that comes along every so often and challenges your perception of what a film should be. In this case, the basic concept of a horror movie and what makes it scary. This film should not be a scary movie to anyone watching it unless they don't have much experience with horror films in general, and to those who are horror movie buffs, it will most likely become required viewing due to it's metafictional nature. At it's core however, The Cabin in the Woods ends up being a movie with a message perhaps more than we as viewers would like to know, and that's where things get interesting.

WARNING: This review may contain some spoilers.

Imagine this: Your going to go on vacation with a group of friends who just happen to fit into every contemporary stereotype you can think of for a horror movie, you're going to a secluded cabin deep in the middle of nowhere, and you find upon entering said cabin that everything there is not only a bit creepy, but very wrong in some way, would you stick around? Sounds like a horror movie set up to me. But The Cabin in the Woods plays off it's own self awareness by making this exactly what the film is about, *big spoiler* duping some youths into becoming sacrifices for the original evil in order to maintain the established balance and preventing the apocalypse for occurring *end big spoiler*. 

The movie has no qualms with using generic subject matter, and nothing in this film should be considered original beyond it's meta-fiction; it escapes much ridicule due to how often it pokes fun at itself. Not to mention when your producer is Joss Whedon, and anyone familiar with his work knows what they are getting into, it makes it easier to ingest. With that being said, in all honestly, aside from the ending of the film, this one isn't very bloody, and surprisingly not as campy as most other movies of it's trope. One big complaint while watching the movie itself was not having an awareness of how dark it was, literally, the TV screen's brightness needed to be adjusted or many parts would've been missed, mainly whenever anyone was outside. This may not be something that everyone needs to worry about, but just a word of caution. 

The film spends a lot of time on set ups. After setting up a brief explanation of the characters and who they are, we are then brought to the woods, where the set up for the creepy atmosphere is... well, set up. Then the group travels into the basement where they need to choose (unknown to them) the evil that will be unleashed on the cabin by choosing a tainted item to interact the correct way with. Then...finally, a few scenes later you have what makes the movie a scary movie, but the real fun doesn't even start till about three quarters of the way through, or more aptly the last twenty minutes of the film *more spoilers* when the surviving characters, thankfully the more interesting ones, find there way into the secret

underground facility where all the individuals working to sacrifice them shelter practically every horror movie creature for future rituals. This is however when things reach their most ridiculous, I mean, when a unicorn impales a staff member to death against a wall and a lovely angelic choir briefly triumphs audibly in the background, the movie clearly knows it's audience and it's own absurdity *end spoilers*. It's cheesy, it's inspired, and it's loads of fun. It makes the movie worth watching alone. This love affair will die soon however, because the ending is depressing, and unnecessary. As most horror movies go, you look towards the sequel to completely break you of any desire to continue watching, but in this films case the ending places the nail so firmly in the coffin that it's almost like it slaps all it's own inspirations in the face and says "A sequel!? Screw that! We don't need a sequel to this horror movie, it's too good for that!". Maybe it's meant to pay homage to how the classics never use to end on a good note, but this isn't necessarily a good thing. If you're not a fan of these types of endings, where everything either makes more sense choosing the sad or scary ending, or just plain don't like the vibe it leaves with you, then this movie will not leave a good taste in your mouth.

Not much can be mentioned about the actors and the acting itself since the story and character development in the film are practically non-existent besides what has been said already. Horror movies aren't known for their deep plots and character progression, so just write that necessity off and watch it for other reasons. Aside from the ending, The Cabin in the Woods is an amazing feet for a horror movie. It remains accessible, as well as being both a gateway film for non-horror fans and a perfect all encompassing experience for hardened vets of the frightful delights. Getting past the films deliberate slow build into monstrous mayhem may prove too much for some, but if you can stomach it, this is a short but sweet journey to a familiar place that has some cool surprises to offer and doesn't overstay its welcome.

Check out The Cabin in the Woods trailer provided below!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsIilFNNmkY

Review Score Card:                                                                                                                     

Storyline:            Simple, humorous, clever, but thin.

Charatcers:         It's a horror movie, don't expect much depth.

Pacing:               Tolerable, but most of the fun starts very late in the film.

Interest Level:      Hard to not be pleased by everything it does right, even at it's most ridiculous.

Overall:              8.5 out of 10 - A horror movie for horror fans, yet also accessible to those                               looking for an in.

Byzantium Review

*Promotional Widescreen Poster for the movie*

Ah yes, Byzantium, the ancient Greek city...no, the hotel serving as a brothel for two immortal vampire women in modern day England. I mean we are talking about vampires here right? So this movie seeks to be yet another original approach to the much fatigued vampire genre of the now. Fortunately for us, it does manage to give enough reason to watch it's thin, but interesting premise unfold.

WARNING: This review may contain some spoilers as they may be essential to giving a good opinion on the film.

Elenor, played by Saoirse Ronan and Clara, played by Gemma Arterton lead the film as a duo of wondering cursed trying to stick below the radar long enough to find a place to call home. They eventually settle in with a sympathetic and lonely individual known as Noel, who let's them stay with him at his recently inherited Byzantium hotel which Clara uses to rescue women working the streets. The film has a very melancholy atmosphere, and despite an early decapitation, doesn't offer up much gore. Rather, the film settles into a tranquil yet unique way of telling it's vampire mythos. 

In this world, Vampires are a brotherhood, with few existing, and both Elenor and Clara are the only female vampires they've ever known in the hundreds of years they'd been around. They can be out in the sun, and they don't need  to bite on the neck to feed. Elenor always drains her victims using her thumb nail which grows long enough to piece a vein before the kill. Her victims are always elderly, and they always seem to have known her. The most interesting parts of the film are her slow reveals of their tormented past as vampires and victims themselves. Clara who eventually reveals to us that she is Elenor's mother, has a more aggressive angle throughout the film, and desperately clings onto whatever little humanity she still has while consistently robbing herself of it ever step of the way. The main threat throughout the whole movie is the brotherhood gaining ground and closing in on their whereabouts, which, although it should be the films primary focus, never reaches the level of interest that the rest of what the film indulges does.

My biggest gripe with this film stems from some of the decisions it makes throughout it's reasonable length. Caleb Laundry Jones character, Frank, plays Ronan's love interest, and he couldn't be a worse match. If the goal was to keep the love about the purity of it's notion, then one not need worry about the attraction between the two, but their interests in each other end up feeling more like a pushed romance than a natural growing of feelings. Elenor confides in Frank after she finds out about his terminal illness. His body cannot produce coagulants, and his leukemia will eventually kill him. Opposites attract, yet desperation equals out.

Elenor tells Frank she is a vampire out of assumed love, and Frank, desires an immortal life like hers. Gemma's character had a very victimized past where she was subjected to the cruelty of man, only to find in her immortality that her feelings towards everything have not lessened and providing a better life for her daughter never seems to come since she fails to hold herself to any higher standards.

It all makes sense why she is where she is, but the movie decides not to pay too much attention or offer many consequences for all the wrong she does, instead justifying all her actions through her love for her daughter, and her deserving freedom due to her past. The films ending would've made more sense if she paid the price for stealing her immortality in the first place, but rather offers up a saving grace through her oldest love interest at the last second, who predictably saves her from death. This feels all too familiar, and although leading to a happier ending, can't help but make you feel that life will continue for everyone involved in the film with little positive growth.

The way that human's become vampires in this film is unique to the idea, in which they go to a sacred temple high upon some mountains and are killed by an unnamed entity which grants them eternal life after they have surrendered their current one. This is perhaps the coolest thing about the film. It's never answered as to where it all comes from, and the movie is better off because of that. Byzantium enjoys trying to give you hints of where everything is going throughout the films length, but is mostly predictable without any assistance. This is where the temple is a welcome change up. The whole mythology of vampires being birthed from a singular controlled source gives the movie an edge over most other current vampire lore, and with Neil Jordan's

track record of undead films, this one is a decent addition. I grew up on Interview with the Vampire, which is perhaps the best vampire movie I've seen, but also the most difficult to watch with a high amount of blood, gore, and sad occurrences. So, Byzantium was an interesting change of pace when compared, seeing as it plays it much more safe.

In some regards, the movie feels very unfinished, like it could go much further than it does. Yet, that could just be the current state of the movie industry, and it's overly long summer films and Oscar nominated motion pictures clouding perception of these smaller, more niche crowd offerings. Byzantium isn't the best movie out there to watch right now, but it's not a film you'll regret watching. It's recommended viewing for any vampire nut, and perhaps a good gateway film into the darker world of vampire movies if your still just a Twilight kind of fan. I don't really agree with the casting of Gemma or Caleb, and I don't understand why Gemma has been in so many movies lately, but Saoirse is a force in this film, and the whole concept behind the vampire mythology in their world is a pleasantly different undead outing in today's very undead saturated market.

Check out the Byzantium trailer provided in the link below!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zu2cW7AhO8

Review Score Card:                                                                                                                      

Storyline:            Barley there, mostly about the atmosphere and mythology.

Charatcers:         Not many that are likable, a bit miscast, but decent for a vampire film.

Pacing:               Doesn't drag much, feel like a good length and good flow to the film.

Interest Level:      It's hard not to be engaged by the characters, but caring for them is another story.

Overall:             7 out of 10 - A decent watch for the mythology; movie falls well short of                                  greatness.