Admission

Straight-laced Princeton University admissions officer Portia Nathan is caught off-guard when she makes a recruiting visit to an alternative high school overseen by the free-wheeling John Pressman. Pressman has surmised that a gifted yet very unconventional student, might be the son that Portia secretly gave up for adoption many years ago. Soon, Portia finds herself bending the rules for Jeremiah, putting at risk the life she thought she always wanted--but in the process finding her way to a surprising and exhilarating life and romance she never dreamed of having.

Rating: PG-13 Running Time: 1hr 47min
*There is no stinger after the credits

Estimated Video Release: July 2013

RottenTomatoes: 44% My Rating: 3/5

"Let someone in."

Admission is the kind of movie that you're not quite sure what to think about it when it's over. Was it a happy movie? Mostly. Was it sad? A bit. Was it over the top? Not really. I liken it to Dan in Real Life with Steve Carrell. It feels like real world comedy. The things in this movie could actually happen. Some comedy, some heartache, all truth. The hard part about that is... real life isn't always as fun or funny as we might like it to be. I think I would've chosen a different ending, but I don't think that would've made for a better movie. Admission is generally light-hearted and fun--a chick flick that you can drag your man to without hearing too much whining about it. It's a very solid film. I think most of the expectations of the movie have hindered it with critics and probably many audiences. This isn't Saturday Night Live. It's not Mean Girls. Or 30 Rock. Any preconceived notions you have about Tina Fey should be left at the theater door. Give it a chance and don't judge based on any 'Admission' essay you've read about this film--including this one. 

Now, time for the very first Peer Panel, featuring Chelsea & Adrienne!

Chelsea: "I liked it. I especially enjoyed the soundtrack. This is the first time I've seen Tina Fey in a semi serious role, and it suits her. I also appreciated the layers of genres this movie brings to the table."

Adrienne: "I also liked it. I laughed, I cried. Although I didn't relate to the characters as much as I would've liked, it is still fun. No Oscar winner, but still fun."

There you go! Happy watching, everyone! 

The Call

When veteran 911 operator, Jordan, takes a life-altering call from a teenage girl who has just been abducted, she realizes that she must confront a killer from her past in order to save the girl's life.

Rating: R Running Time: 1hr 35min
*There is no stinger after the credits

Estimated Video Release: July 2013

RottenTomatoes: 40% My Rating: 2/5

"There are 188 million 911 calls a year. This one made it personal."

The Call is a movie that begins very promising. A 911 dispatcher takes a call from a kidnapping victim who is trapped in the trunk of a car. From how the first 45min-1hr goes, they could have kept the girl in the trunk and maintained the suspense and believability.  I was totally drawn in. It feels claustrophobic and intense--remember Phonebooth (2003, RT 71%)? The Call had that kind of potential. Instead, the movie devolves into the stereotypical Hollywood climax reminiscent of the old slasher film stand by of the young pretty girl running up the stairs instead of out the front door--and the audience is left asking "Why the hell did she trap herself upstairs?" If they really felt it necessary to stop the 911 call and have our protagonist go off on a detective hunt, they could have constructed a more grounded happenstance by which our heroine(s) could have the chance to save the day, but noooo... they have to pander to what they think the audience wants to see. Very disappointing. But, its not a bad movie. Like I said, the movie begins very promising and it is suspenseful, scary, and also informative... if one ever gets trapped in a trunk.

Oz the Great and Powerful

When Oscar Diggs, a small-time circus magician with dubious ethics, is hurled away from dusty Kansas to the vibrant land of Oz, he thinks he's hit the jackpot--fame and fortune are his for the taking--that is until he meets three witches, who are not convinced he is the great wizard everyone's been expecting. Reluctantly drawn into the epic problems facing Oz, Oscar must find out who is good and who is evil before it is too late. 

Rating: PG Running Time: 2hr 7min
*There is no stinger after the credits

Estimated Video Release: August 2013

RottenTomatoes: 61% My Rating: 2.5/5

• The land you know. The story you don't. 
• Oz will amaze. 
• In Oz, nothing is what it seems.
• Find yourself in Oz.

Yep. This movie had 4 taglines. I suppose with all the buildup, they thought they really needed to deliver... and apparently you do that by thinking of 4 lame taglines. Not just lame, but boring, untrue, boring again and oddly sexual--the wizard's name is Oscar, Oz for short...Find yourself in Oz...maybe it's just my mind, but that's not really appropriate. I should let it go. Moving on. I will say that my review of this movie is a bit slanted. I went into it not expecting much. Being a fan of Wicked (the stage production and the novel) and Alice in Wonderland (2010), I didn't see much need for a film like this. I think it is inevitable to compare this film to Tim Burton's Wonderland, and maybe its been done to death... but doesn't that make it all the more obvious that the production design should have gone in a different direction? Oz is suppose to be a world in turmoil, people ripped from their homes and the land torn apart by the wicked witch. 

And yet, it's so pretty. Too pretty. It's bright and cheery. All the time. Even when they have the big battle at the end... it still so damned pretty. With Wonderland, the look of the movie tells you how razed their world has become. It's still pretty, but it's also broken. Of the two, Burton did it better. Sorry, Raimi. 


In bringing up Wicked, I only mean to use it as an example of a truly original origin story. Now, I am not familiar with the original canon of Oz as told by L. Frank Baum. How the Wicked Witch of the West comes to be could be exactly as it is told in this film. I just prefer Gregory Maguire's version of events. 

For the characters, the witches were wonderful. An origin story for each of them would be very interesting with these actors. James Franco as the wizard, however, leaves much to be desired. It's very hard to root for someone who is such a sleazeball--and doesn't have much of a character arc to boot. All in all, I would skip this one and read Wicked and watch Alice in Wonderland instead.

A Good Day to Die Hard

John McClane travels to Russia to help out his seemingly wayward son, Jack, only to discover that Jack is a CIA operative working to prevent a nuclear-weapons heist, causing the father and son to team up against underworld forces.

Rating: R Running Time: 1hr 50min
*There is no stinger after the credits

Estimated Video Release: June 2013

RottenTomatoes: 15% My Rating: 2/5

"Like father. Like son. Like hell."

*Sigh* No matter how bad a Die Hard movie is, I will always go see it. The original is my favorite, and if sequels continue to be like this one, I doubt that will change. What? Sequels? Yep. There are plans for a number 6--don't have a heart attack. A 2 on my scale is generous, I admit, but this movie is harmless fun. It has John McClane doing what he does best, like he's still a 30-something city cop crawling through air shafts. That reminds me--there aren't any small, cramped spaces for McClane to traverse in this movie. As a fan, this did stand out to me, but there are most pressing issues with this movie that the lack of air shafts. One thing that I really do believe was an oversight was that during the first car chase, many civilians are in harm's way--and if we are to assume that there is some semblance of reality to the mortality of these people, they probably all died. Now, it's not that I'm defending the rights of extras not to get mowed down by bad guys... but McClane should not be participating in such activities. He's supposed to be the good guy, right?

I was very excited to see an actor that I know from a certain Starz show (Spartacus) by the name of Jai Courtney. Varro, the wholesome, self-sacrificing gladiator is now a bona fide action star. If you saw Jack Reacher (good movie, terrible title), he played the main sniper. I hope to see more of him in the future, even if that means another bad Die Hard installment.

Warm Bodies

After a zombie epidemic, R (a highly unusual zombie) encounters Julie (a human survivor), and rescues her from a zombie attack. In their struggle for survival, R becomes increasingly more human--setting off an exciting, romantic, and often comical chain of events that begins to transform the other zombies and maybe even the whole lifeless world.

Rating: PG-13 Running Time: 1hr 37min
*There is no stinger after the credits

Estimated Video Release: June 2013

RottenTomatoes: 78% My Rating: 4.5/5