ScreenFix Review: The Grey

Let me start off by saying that I am not a fan of the winter formula that has started off by taking Liam Neeson and putting him in a movie (Taken, Unknown) in which he plays a stoic badass.  It’s not that Liam Neeson doesn’t play tough guy well- he totally does- it’s just that I feel like he is such a powerful actor that his talents could be better put to work in more dynamic roles.  That said, I loved “The Grey.”  The plot could not be simpler.   Neeson plays Ottway, the man tasked with protecting the workers at an Alaskan drilling station.  On his trip home, the plane crashes in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness and Neeson must lead his fellow survivors to safety.  This film actually fits into a genre that I haven’t seen done well in a while; namely the monster movies from the 90s.  In these movies the characters are slowly picked off one by one until the dramatic conclusion when the last one or two characters figure out the necessary information to defeat whatever is killing them.

The big difference in this movie is that rather then some shadow in the forests hunting our survivors, we have a pack of poorly CGI-ed wolves (one of my few complaints).  Luckily Neeson’s Ottway is very familiar with the wolves of the area and serves as a pocket encyclopedia to the rest of the survivors, telling them what the wolves are doing and thinking.  This comes off as less “I know wolves” and a lot more “wolf-whisperer,” but it doesn’t detract from the story much and it allows many parallels to be drawn between the pack of wolves hunting the survivors and the survivors themselves.  The wolves are obviously stronger, faster, and better suited for the terrain then seven regular Joes, but the wolves only ever seem to attack the group when they are doing something wrong, such as fighting amongst themselves or letting one of their own fall behind the group.  It’s almost as if the wolves are trying to teach them a lesson about teamwork.

Five Things You Should Watch Because I Say So

January sucks. It’s a fact of life and everyone knows it. If you were born or married in January, I’m sorry but it’s true and you should have known better. The weather sucks, the movies suck, and you have to listen to people you don’t care about talk about art movies you haven’t seen because they look really depressing. So, to ease the pain, here are five things that are great and will help tide you over until you can go outside again without putting on four layers. Also, all but one of these are on Netflix instant view, which will make them all easier to watch if you have it.

A Review of The Muppets, or “If there was a ever time I wanted them to adapt a movie into a television show it would be now.”

I wish I could bring myself to begin this review by writing the opening lines to the original Muppet Show “It’s time to play the music/ It’s time to light the lights” but that seems silly. Yes, the Muppets are back: Kermit, Miss Piggy, Gonzo, Fozzie, The Swedish Chef, Dr. Benson Honeydew et cetera et cetera. If you had a favorite Muppet, they probably show up along with a number of celebrities who have cameos from the glimpse, Mickey Rooney, to plot point, Jack Black. It’s like playing “Gosh, that person looks familiar, aren’t they famous?” Bingo.

The movie follows Walter (Peter Linz), a Muppet, and his human brother Gary (Jason Segel), longtime fans of the Muppet Show on their way to Los Angeles to see the old Muppet Studios. In reality, the trip is to celebrate Gary and his girl friend Mary’s (Amy Adams) ten-year anniversary. When the trio reaches the Muppet Studios, they discover it is in disrepair and will be sold to Tex Richman (Chris Cooper) who wants the property in order to get the oil underneath. That is unless Kermit buys back the theater, although he seems to have forgotten about it.

What ensues is a movie light in plot but big in laughs. Yes, Walter, Gary, and Amy have to find Kermit. Yes, they go off and get the Muppets back together. Yes, they need to raise an absurd amount of money in order to save the theater and studios. Yes, they have to put on a show, including finding a special guest. Finally, yes, Gary ignores Amy leading to your standard romantic comedy split and rejoining of the couple, which I will admit was rather cute.

The movie is entertaining, and the musical numbers are fun if not necessarily worthy of a Flash Mob. The various minor plots that form the movie were interesting enough to keep me from looking at my cell phone in the theater, a rare occurrence I assure you. The Muppet performers were as amazing as ever, and while they sounded older, it added to the film, giving it a quality found only in sipping a fine wine or aged cheese. The human actors were as entertaining as their puppet counterparts; Jason Segel and Amy Adams were adorable together. With Chris Cooper playing up his villain to a ridiculous yet restrained level. I applaud them.

If there is one criticism I have of this otherwise entertaining delight of a romp through nostalgia, it is that despite its name, the Muppets at times felt like an afterthought. The time would be better spent on the Show itself, its acts, and reminding the audience, old and young, just how crazy and fun the Muppet Show could be. Instead of the shortest romantic comedy filmed. I also did not care for Walter: the nerve he struck was not quite Jar Jar Binks, but more aggravating than Revenge of the Sith Padmé when she gives up on life because her husband is emo. I ended up wanting Walter to fall into a volcano and have no one try to rescue him.

Overall, I enjoyed this trip down memory lane. Although, as an individual who grew up only on reruns, that trip was rather brief, I suppose in the end it was more like a trip around the memory block to the corner store. If there were ever a time I hoped a company would decide to try and rake in as much money as possible out their franchise, now is that time.

Screenfix Summer Movie Preview: Part 1

The summer movie season is upon us and it is important to budget your time and money so that you can get the most out of your summer movie experience. Screenfix is here to give our advice on what movies are going to be worth the grossly inflated ticket price and which you should avoid. We aregoing to take this one week at a time so you can decide which new release to see each weekend.


Starting with April 8th we have Your Highness, Arthur, and Hanna

Ryan: I think for our first week I am most looking forward to Your Highness, the stoner fantasy comedy featuring James Franco and Natalie Portman. I am almost willing to pay the ticket price based solely on those two actors.

Zoe: And Natalie Portman shows her ass. So, yay.....Something about this movie makes me want to see it but since I can’t actually articulate what that thing is, I’m just going to wait for DVD because I’m poor and Scotty’s making me see Arthur.

Ryan: Apparently I need to watch this trailer again. I think this movie has the chance to appeal to the stoner-fantasy nerd crowd, although I am not sure whether it will be mainstream enough to apply to either the non-stoners or non-nerds. This is one of those movies that I did not feel the trailer gave me a good sense of the film so I am going to tentatively give this one a “see in theaters”, but it might turn out to be terrible.

James: Your Highness, in my opinion, looks like it will be everything that the short lived television show Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire could have been (and wished that it was) but unfortunately was not. It looks like a light hearted take on the classic hero’s tale. Also it stars James Franco, whom although I can’t remember seeing him in any movie, I have the opinion that he is a good actor.

Ryan: Arthur on the other hand looks terrible. Though I have not seen Russel Brand in many movies since Forgetting Sarah Marshall, even in that great film I did not think he was very good. I do not really enjoy his rock star brand of humour and this movie is clearly just a vehicle for him to act like a strange man-child. I am going to give this film a thumbs down and will be ignoring it in favor of movies with more explosions and decent acting.

James: Arthur, I assume, is a live action movie about a British anthropomorphic aardvark. Based off of the PBS cartoon. I could be wrong. Although I hope not.

Zoe: They have Arthur on Netflix, I discovered this recently.

Ryan: Moving on . . . to Hanna. I think this has the potential to be an original story. The trailer has not given away much about the plot but it seems to be in the Kick-Ass vein of thought of letting a young girl brutally kill a lot of bad guys.

James: The thing I have to say about Hanna is that I wish that trailer gave more of an indication of what it was actually about. We’re out of teaser trailer time and into the time period where I’m trying to make a decision about going to see it. I think it looks good, but I just have no idea of what it’ll be about.

Zoe: I want to see Hanna but mostly for the same reasons that I don’t want to see Your Highness. So, I apparently am drawn more to murderous little girls than stoners.

Ryan: So on April 8th, what movie are you standing in line for . . .

James: Hanna.

Zoe: Hanna


Ryan: On April 15th, we have Scream 4, Rio, and The Conspirator.

James: Here is my problem with Scream 4. My first reaction when I saw the Scream 4 trailer was that I assumed it was the trailer for the next Scary Movie. It just looked a little too silly for a serious horror film.

Ryan: I think I am going to have to pass on both Scream 4 and the angry birds movie.

Zoe: I think the fact that I walked into Jane Eyre while the trailer for The Conspirator was playing and gasped audibly says it all.


Ryan: April 22nd we have Water for Elephants and Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family. That basically makes this catch up week. I have no desire to see Robert Pattinson’s latest attempt to act nor will I pay to see a Tyler Perry movie.

James: The answer to the question “What will I be seeing this week” is Rio.


Ryan: Which moves us to April 29th bringing us Fast Five and Prom.

James: I have never seen any of the Fast and Furious movies series. The most interaction that I’ve had with the series was when ads for “Tokyo Drift” were placed into Planet Side, an MMO that I was playing my senior year of high school. Although it does star Vin Diesel, who is hands down the best bald action star ever. Suck it Bruce Willis.

Ryan: I have also not seen any of the Furious movies but I think if you have liked any of them it will be more of the same and the trailer does look really good. Likewise, Prom looks like it will be great for the kids otherwise it might require great amounts of medication to get through.

Zoe: I believe this is the week I will be going to see Arthur.


Ryan: May 6th brings us Thor the first of Marvels summer offerings. I have high hopes for this movie. I think Marvel has invested a great deal into its movie franchises leading up to Avengers. Also, it has Natalie Portman again which basically makes it a must see.

Zoe: Our second Natalie Portman movie of the summer. Honestly, Thor could dance around in a tutu and still be better than the random chick flick being released May 6. And Anthony Hopkins is Odin which is casting gold personified.

James: I’ll disagree and say that I don’t think that the Thor movie looks very good. The trailer made it look kind of cheesy and I’m not really sure how much space the plot has to go with a character who is little more than a god with a big hammer. I’m going to guess that this will end up just being Punisher with a bigger budget.


Ryan: May 13th has Bridesmades and Priest opening. I basically see Bridesmades being The Hangover with chicks. I think girls are going to be turned off by the crude humor and guys won’t like that it because it seems like a chick flick from the title. I would not bank on this movie doing well.

Zoe: Because you all are sexist pigs.

Ryan: James what are your thoughts on Priest?

James: Priest, to me, looks like one of those movies that cannot possibly be as good as the plot sounds. The best example of this that I can give was Matrix-killer Equilibrium. It sounded like a great mix between Fahrenheit 451 and the Matrix. But practically it just can’t work. A futuristic society of religious priests that fight vampires sounds awesome, but in a movie that isn’t an anime, comes off as silly.

Ryan: I am expecting this film to be some crazy cool fights scenes wrapped in a horrible story with terrible acting. If the fight scenes are good enough this could become another Wanted and I won’t care, but most likely I am going to leave the theater disappointed. However, if I can find $9.50 in my couch cushions I’ll probably go see this opening night.

Zoe: I forgot Priest existed until I saw the trailer in front of Sucker Punch, so I will probably be checking this out on DVD unless it totally sucks.


Ryan: May 20th finally brings us the 4th installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean series: the search for more mascara.

James: This will be the best Pirates movie since the original. Basically the concept seemed to be take out all of the bad actors and leave only the good ones. Hopefully Writing will follow in the Casting Department’s footsteps. I’ll see it.

Zoe: There is no way that I’m not going to see this movie. Never mind the fact that it’s the only movie coming out this weekend so I basically have no choice but I really just want to find out what happened to Jack the monkey.

Ryan: Between the 3-D and the Pirates brand name this movie is going to make major bank. I also agree with James that this will see the series stripped down to its roots where watching a drunken pirate prance on screen was still hilarious. I am curious as to whether Penelope Cruz will be helpful or harmful to this movie. I have trouble seeing Jack with a serious love interest, but I am intrigued and will gladly fork over the price of admission.


Ryan: May 27th offers the first real conundrum of the summer movie season as we have The Hangover: Part 2 and Kung Fu Panda 2.

James: I don’t know about you, but I have no conundrum here at all. I’m going to see Kung Fu Panda. I can’t get enough racist asian-animal stereotypes.

Ryan: I did see Hangover and didn’t think it was bad, but I definitely did not like it as much as most people so I am going to be seeing Jack Black’s latest meal ticket with James.

Zoe: I saw Kung Fu Panda and thought it said all it needed to and I didn’t see the Hangover so I will either be forking over the money to see Dreamworks’ latest eyebrow raising adventure or watch a netflix movie on my couch.


That’s our preview for the first half of the summer movie season. We will have our second half up featuring the rest of the films premiering this summer shortly. What films are you most excited for? Let us know in the comments.