Watch Escape From Tomorrow Online Movie Review 2013

Release Date: October 11, 2013 (limited)
Studio: Producers Distribution Agency
Director: Randy Moore
Screenwriter: Randy Moore
Starring: Roy Abramsohn, Annet Mahendru, Elena Schuber, Katelynn Rodriguez, Alison Lees-Taylor, Danielle Safady, Amy Lucas, Trey Loney, Kimberly Ables Jindra, Lee Armstrong
Genre: Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi
MPAA Rating: R (for strong disturbing violence, pervasive drug and alcohol use, sexuality/nudity and language – all involving teens)
Official Website: www.escape-from-tomorrow.com
Review: 5,8/10
DVD Review: Not Available
DVD: Not Available

Plot Summary : The most provocative film of Sundance 2013, “Escape From Tomorrow” should not exist, and yet it does. Like nothing you’ve ever seen, Randy Moore’s directorial debut is a bold and ingenious trip into the happiest place on earth. An epic battle begins when a middle-aged husband and father of two learns that he has lost his job. Keeping the news from his nagging wife and wound-up children, he packs up the family and embarks on a full day of enchanted castles and fairytale princesses. Soon, the manufactured mirth of the fantasy land around him unravels into a surrealist nightmare of paranoid visions, bizarre encounters, and an obsessive pursuit of a pair of sexy teenage girls. Chillingly shot in black & white, “Escape From Tomorrow” dissects the mythology of artificial perfection while subversively attacking our culture’s obsession with mass entertainment.

Movie Review

FINALLY!  A film that depicts Disney World the way that I see it!  “Escape from Tomorrow” was an eerie and disturbing film about a family’s last day of vacation.  Unfortunately, the father (Jim, played by Roy Abramsohn) learned that he would not have a job to come home to after Disney.  He wanted nothing more than to make the last day at Disney the best day ever.  That wasn’t going to be the case.

As Mom (Emily, played by Elena Schuber) and Dad took each child to their respective favorite rides, Dad seemed distracted.  You would think he would have been distracted by the fact that he no longer had a job, but he was actually distracted by two cute, young teenagers roaming the park.  As his curiosity with the teens peaked, he began to accidentally happen upon the same rides!  Parenting frustration along with marital frustration exemplified the typical, but not admitted to, experience at Disney.  As was stated in the movie, “You can’t be happy all the time,” definitely played out in “Escape from Tomorrow.”  In fact, while in the park, we had glimpses of something evil lurking or having happened in the past.  These glimpses became more frequent, but still didn’t give the viewer enough information to figure anything out.

One of my favorite scenes in this film was how Dad toured Disney’s Epcot.  He drank his way around the world!  CHEERS!  That’s exactly how I dealt with it! This black and white film gave a creepy 1950’s feel to it.  You knew at the beginning that this was going to be Disney Gone Bad.  Overall, I would categorize this film as a horror flick…A Disney HORROR FLICK!  How many Disney Horror Flicks are out there!  Here’s the kicker.  Disney had no idea that this film was taking place on its grounds!  Oh, dear!  Oh, me oh my!  I bet there might be some frowns that can’t be turned upside down on the grounds of Disney this week!

This was a film that kept me guessing.  The kids in the film were adorable, however I don’t think they pulled off being bratty.  My guess is, that these kids are pretty sweet kids.  “Escape From Tomorrow”  was a unique film not only because of the black and white aspect, but because of the setting.  The story-line was at times a bit too quirky and far-fetched, but not enough to make me not want to see what happened at the end.

Kudos to Randy Moore, Director Extraordinaire, for pulling of a feat only I could have dreamed of!  Or maybe I have!  Yes, I did go to Disney and it really was a nightmare.movieboxoffices.wordpress.com

Watch The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones Online Movie Review 2013

Release Date: August 21, 2013 (2D theaters and IMAX)
Studio: Screen Gems (Sony)
Director: Harald Zwart
Screenwriter: Jessica Postigo Paquette
Starring: Lily Collins, Jamie Campbell Bower, Robert Sheehan, Kevin Zegers, Lena Headey, Kevin Durand, Aidan Turner, Jemima West, Godfrey Gao, CCH Pounder, Jared Harris, Jonathan Rhys Meyers
Genre: Action, Fantasy
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for intense sequences of fantasy violence and action, and some suggestive content)
Official Website: TheMortalInstrumentsmovie.com | Madame Dorothea’s Tarot Card Reading Site
Review: 7/10 rating
DVD Review: Not Available
DVD: Not Available

Plot Summary: Set in contemporary New York City, a seemingly ordinary teenager, Clary Fray (Lily Collins), discovers she is the descendant of a line of Shadowhunters, a secret cadre of young half-angel warriors locked in an ancient battle to protect our world from demons. After the disappearance of her mother (Lena Headey), Clary must join forces with a group of Shadowhunters, who introduce her to a dangerous alternate New York called Downworld, filled with demons, warlocks, vampires, werewolves and other deadly creatures. Based on the worldwide best-selling book series.

Movie Review

Since the success of films like Harry Potter and Twilight, film studios have been looking for the next young adult book series to adapt. With five books already out and a sixth on the way, The Mortal Instruments is latest series to diving into a cinematic adaptation, being more fantasy, than supernatural romance.

Clary Fray (Lily Collins) is a seemingly normal New York teenager, who lives with her artistic single mother, Jocelyn (Lena Headey). Her best friend, Simon (Richard Sheehan), has a crush for the young woman, but she sees him more as a brother. Clary leads a normal life, but starts to draw a strange symbol, that leads to changes in her life. She begins to see it everywhere, leading her and Simon to a nightclub where she sees people, no one else can. Soon, Clary’s mother is kidnapped and her only ally is Jace (Jamie Campbell Bower), a Shadowhunter, a half-angel, half- human creature, who hunts demons. Clary is thrust into a strange world of demons, vampires, witches, warlocks and werewolves and has to open up her own suppressed memories as an evil Shadowhunter. Valentine (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) is looking for the lost Mortal Cup that can create more Shadowhunters.

To get the Twilight comparisons out of the way, yes there is a love triangle and a teenage girl has a romance with a supernatural creature. But, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones borrows much more from the Harry Potter, having a world within world, many mystical creatures, having a term to describe humans and focuses on a young character who could be more powerful then she realises and discovers her real past. The character of Alec (Kevin Zegers) is the Rosalie of the film, having animosity to our major character.

Continuing with Twilight comparisons, Clary is dependence on the other characters, but that is more due to the fact she is in a strange world and the Shadowhunters are much more experience. But, Clary is still resourceful, asks the right questions and is a go-getter who wants to get stuck in with the adventure.

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones is a standard fantasy adventure that, as already mentioned, borrows highly from Harry Potter. This is a film that has many predictable plot points, that we’ve seen many times before. This is a film that does follow The Hero With A Thousand Faces formula, but also makes you dive head first into its world and mythology, where other series would be much more gradual when bringing you into their worlds.

Harald Zwart of Agent Cody Banks and The Karate Kid (2010) fame took on the directing duties and he makes a darker film to his previous efforts. Zwart brings in Gothic visuals throughout the film, from the use of a catacomb that is run by creatures with sewed up mouths and the Shadowhunter’s being like a church: but Institute’s interior looks very much like Hogwarts. There are some gruesome moments (even for the PG-13 rating) involving the demon dog and the extra limbs demons can grow. But despite all this, death is kept to a minimum.

While The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones does have Judo-Christian iconography with its use of angel statutes and paintings, this is a film that actually side-steps being be a Christian, saying all religions are valid and avoids any mention of God or the afterlife.

The acting for the most part is decent enough, though the dialogue is predictable and a little clichéd at times. We do get to see Clary transform from a regular teenager to a Shadowhunter wearing a short dresses, a leather jacket and thigh high boots. While Campbell Bower brings a sardonic wit to Jace and there is strange aspect that all the Shadowhunters speak with English accents whilst the werewolves are Irish. Actors like Headey and Jared Harris do offer a little gravitas to proceedings but there are really extended cameos with the young actors being front and centre.

Zwart did show his action credentials when he directed The Karate Kid; but he seem to regress for his follow up film. The action sequences are for the most part fairly bland, typical fare. But Jemima West’s Isabelle has some moments with a whip and looking really bad-ass when she has a flamethrower. Hell, give her a film.

The special effects are nothing to write home about. There are not bad, but due to the limited budget the digital looked obvious at times, particularly the werewolves. Yet, the demons near the end of the film does have a cool, glowing effort and have a similar look to Kronos’ minions in Wrath of the Titans.

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones has been have a torrid time with mainstream critics, but in all honesty, it is a perfectly serviceable fantasy adventure that is better to the Twilight series it has been compared to and will please fans of the novels. movieboxoffices.wordpress.com