A Haunted House

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"A Haunted House" (2013) directed by Michael Tiddes and staring Marlon Wayans, Essence Atkins and Marlene Forte, is a film about Malcom (Marlon Wayans) and his girlfriend, Kisha (Essence Atkins) moving in together for the first time. But Kisha has a secret; she made a deal with the Devil for some shoes and now he has followed her into Malcom's home. When Kisha is possessed by a demon, Malcom tries to help her by bringing in a priest, a psychic, and a team of ghost hunters to exercise the demon from Kisha's body. This film is a spoof of recent paranormal and exorcism movies, like 2007's "Paranormal Activity."
Perhaps this film is considered the "# 1 Comedy in America this year" because the year has just begun. This film relies heavily on sexual jokes; at times, it becomes soft core porn. This is not, in the reviewers opinion, to be considered real comedy. The film makes the audience giggle in certain scenes, but overall, it makes one want to get up and leave the theater, despite the $8 spent on the ticket. This is not just because of the overdone sex jokes in the film, but because the acting is also lacking.
The writer understands that this is a spoof, but was never drawn in. Marlon and Essence had little chemistry. At times, Atkins would resort to an annoying baby voice that made the viewer want to start plucking the hair from their head. Wayans held his own in some of the movie, but it eventually turns into acting that heavily relies on cheesy facial expressions.
The movie was filmed in the same video camera style as "Paranormal Activity," but with better resolution. Because of this, "A Haunted House" was not able to achieve the feel of the movie it makes fun of.
Overall, one can tell that they had fun and worked hard to make this movie mainstream, but the reviewer can not bring herself to give this film more than 2 and a half stars.

Some Like It Hot

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In "Some Like it Hot" (released 1959 by Billy Wilder, director of "Sunset Boulevard" and "The Apartment"), two musicians, Joe (Tony Curtis) and Jerry (Jack Lemmon) find themselves out of a job after the speakeasy they played at was raided by the police. After witnessing the "Valentine's Day Massacre," they disguise themselves as women and join a female musical group, where they meet Sugar Kane Kowalczyk (Marilyn Monroe). In order to keep hidden from Al Capone, the two musicians, Joe the sax player and Jerry the bass fiddler, travel to a Florida resort with the group. "Josephine" (Joe), in love with Sugar, decides to stay and make her fall in love with him by often ditching his drag and pretending to have a fortune. Meanwhile, a real millionaire by the name of Osgood Fielding III (Joe E. Brown) goes after Daphne (Jerry) and tries to get "her" to marry him.
This screwball comedy contained three of the best actors at the time, which becomes evident by the hilarious and smart dialogue between Monroe and her co-stars dressed in drag. Because the film pushed the limits of what was acceptable at the time, by dressing Monroe in skimpier than usual dresses and its risque' comedy, it became in instant hit.
Filmed in black and white for a sense of realism, the movie is given a timeless feel. Because people can still relate to the film today, it is given classic status. Director Billy Wilder is said to have been at his best during the making of this film.
Since this film, many other movies with the same premise of a man as a woman have been done. Some of them have been hits, but this one still remains one of the best I have seen. It started a bit slow and took a while for the film to actually take off, but I rarely grew bored of watching and managed to find something new to make me laugh every time I saw it. The hilarious ending sealed the deal for me. I give this film four and a half stars.

Resident Evil: Retribution

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Resident Evil: Retribution (2012), directed by Paul W.S. Anderson and starring Milla Jovovich, Sienna Guillory, and Michelle Rodriguez, is the most recent sequel to the Resident Evil franchise. The film details a post apocalyptic zombie world run by an evil corporation. Alice (Milla Jovovich) fights alongside a resistance movement as she battles against the Umbrella Corporation and the undead once again.

Though the cinematography was astounding, starting with the first scene of Alice floating in the water, the film lacked actual story. Decisions to stick so close to the much loved game by the producers and the director, failed to hold my attention, causing me to drift in and out during it. If I wanted the video game, I would have spent my day doing that, instead of spending over 10 bucks to watch the film. The filmmakers failed to understand or care that so many of the viewers who love and follow these movies do not play the game. I became increasingly annoyed at the constant introduction and integration of new characters into the story with little to no background. These characters developed in the video game and never had a part in any of the films before, making it difficult to connect with any of the new people. 

I understand the reasoning behind the decisions to stay so close to the video game, though. So many people have played or currently play the game. Mostly, I was disappointed because, for the previous movies, the filmmakers did a good job at appeasing the gamers and allowing the non-gamers to fall for Resident Evil as well. 

On another note, reversing and slowing down the action at the beginning of the film was genius. This act allowed the viewer to pay close attention to as many details as possible in that opening action scene. Having watched this film in Imax 3D, I am left wondering if watching it in it's regular form would disappoint me even more. Over all, the movie, though beautiful and horrifying, lacked in substance. Three and a half stars is the most I would give this movie, which unfortunately, is less than I would give the previous films.