Mediocre Movie Club Movie Reviews

The Princess Bride

4/29/2016

A-
3.62

While home sick in bed, a young boy's grandfather reads him a story called The Princess Bride.

Directed by Rob Reiner
Starring Cary Elwes, Mandy Patinkin, and Robin Wright
Initial Review by Drew Landry

The Princess Bride cleverly told an old story. It was the classic tale of a damsel in distress but also reminded us of the difficult relationship between the grandfather and grandson. It told two continual, yet competing stories, one with the book by "S Morganstern" and the other played by Fred Savage and Peter Falk. Doing that is a recipe for disaster because it takes a careful hand to guide a story through such precision and Rob Reiner pulled it off masterfully. In the end, viewers learned the power of love but not in a gooey way. The Princess Bride showed loves influence through comedy, sport, adventure, and suspense. Its ability to successfully achieve these aspects made it an instant classic for all generations.

29 Comments

Bone Tomahawk

4/21/2016

15 Comments

C
2.05

In the 1890's frontier, a posse is formed to rescue captives from a band of sub-verbal, cannibalistic Indians.

Directed by S. Craig Zahler
Starring Kurt Russell, Patrick Wilson, and Richard Jenkins
Initial Review by Lane Davis

I wasn’t allowed to watch violent movies as a kid. The first ultra violent movie I remember watching was “Natural Born Killers” in the early ‘90’s and I had to sneak around and watch it when my parents were out. I think it took two weeks to get through the whole thing. I also wasn’t allowed to play “Mortal Kombat” when it came out. I had to sneak over to a friend’s house to play it. My parents weren’t Puritans, necessarily, but they were pacifists, I guess. Guns and knives and generally violent play were discouraged or looked down upon.

15 Comments

Room

4/12/2016

12 Comments

A-
3.67

A kidnapped mother and son escape from a room in which they have endured imprisonment for the entirety of the boy's life.

Directed by Lenny Abrahamson
Starring Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay
Initial Review by Bryan Hartman

Room is a movies based off the book of the same name written by Emma Donoghue. I haven’t read the book to compare, maybe I can talk my better half into chiming in here.

Lenny Abrahamson’s adaptation of the book was fantastic. Room is terribly sad emotionally and physically. At one point tears were pouring out of my eyes. I found myself in knots emotionally over trapping two individuals and even for a brief moment found myself second guessing whether these Ma and Jack were better off inside the room.

12 Comments

The Wave

4/2/2016

8 Comments

B+
3.25

An unorthodox teacher in Germany puts his class through an experiment in autocracy. It works way too well.

Directed by Dennis Gansel
Starring Jurgen Vogel, Frederick Lau, Jennifer Ulrich, and Max Riemelt
Initial Review by Joe Setnor

Die Welle, or The Wave, is a 2008 film that explores the influence that can be felt when a sociopolitical ideology like fascism or nationalism affects the disenfranchised and how quickly one can find him or herself swept up in a movement.. Director Dennis Gansel uses the natural setting of a modern day German high school as the stage for his revolution. Jurgen Vogel plays the classic cinematic cool teacher, Rainer Wenger, who finds his students to be disillusioned with their current state of life. Making statements like “What are we supposed to rebel against?”, “It’s not gonna happen again,” or “We get it, Hitler sucked,” the students doubt when the suggestion of a modern day dictatorship could happen in Germany. Spurred by the student embitterment, or perhaps by his collection of The Ramones and The Clash t-shirts, Wenger puts in motion a classroom experiment that soon builds beyond his control. Built on unity, discipline, and a call to action, the young German students begin contributing to their Greater Good in a movement that becomes known as The Wave.

8 Comments

The Princess Bride

A-
3.62

Bone Tomahawk

C
2.05

Room

A-
3.67

The Wave

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The Princess Bride

A-3.62

Bone Tomahawk

C2.05

Room

A-3.67

The Wave

Authors

Categories

Archives

A-
3.62

C
2.05

A-
3.67