NATCHA ON FILM — Starting off this week, we have a poor twist on a famous book in “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies,” which is pretty much like the original except with a zombie apocalypse. “The Danish Girl,” for which leading actor Eddie Redmayne was nominated for an Oscar, is a romantic drama featuring a transgender woman struggling with her identity in the 1900s. Also out this week are two Oscar-nominated movies for Best Picture, “Revenant” and “Room,” with a Zac Efron film concluding the list.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
I’m sure there are at least five different other versions of this film but I bet you’ve never seen one this bad. Why do zombies have to be in everything?
As you’d expect, the film is based on Jane Austen’s classic tale of the complicated relationship of lovers from different social classes in 19th century England. What’s the twist? Well, instead of focusing on the relationships and the obstacles to true love, the main characters are instead faced with an army of zombies.
What better way to spice up a classic novel other than introduce zombies to it? Even though it makes absolutely no sense for zombies to belong in the 19th century.
The Danish Girl
Here’s a film with a plot twist you weren’t expecting — a man turns into a woman because of a painting.
“The Danish Girl” takes place in 1926 Copenhagen where an artist, Gerda Wegener, paints a portrait of her husband, Einar Wegener, but as a woman in the painting. The painting quickly gains popularity and influences Einar to start dressing as a woman and change his name to Lili Elbe. With the support of Gerda, Lili takes a risk as she becomes one of the first man to ever to undergo a sex reassignment surgery. Their relationship becomes even more confusing when a childhood friend of Lili shows up and turns it into a love triangle.
Overall the movie plot is pretty confusing, but I like it because it’s something that hasn’t been done before.
The Revenant
Now if Leonardo DiCaprio doesn’t win an Oscar for this film, it’s going to be another sad year for Leo in which he’s ignored for his great movies.
“The Revenant” is based on the true story of a frontiersman, Hugh Glass, who in the 1820s goes on a fur trading expedition. Hugh is severely injured from a bear attack causing his group to retreat to the nearest outpost. A few of the men in the expedition are chosen to be the caretakers for the wounded Hugh and one of them, John Fitzgerald, decides to betray him by making an unforgivable decision (we won’t spoil it!). Relying on his sheer strength and motivation for his family, Hugh survives and sets out on a quest to find Fitzgerald and make him pay.
The film was initially released in December, and it is nominated for this year’s Oscars.
Room
Similar to “The Revenant,” this film is also nominated for Best Picture for this year’s Academy Awards.
“Room” tells the story of a five-year-old boy, Jack, under the care of his loving Ma. She goes to great extent to making her son’s life as normal as possible while they are trapped in a 10 foot by 10 foot windowless space that they call “Room.” She creates a whole universe in the small room for Jack to ensure that he is able to live a fulfilling life. However, as Jack’s curiosity for their current situation grows, they pull off a risky plan to escape, thus bringing them closer to what might be the scariest thing of all: the real world.
The film looks like it can be really good since the plot grabbed my attention from the start and made me wonder how they got into that situation in the first place.
Dirty Grandpa
Like all of Zac Efron’s recent movies, he plays a douchebag character in this film.
“Dirty Grandpa” is a comedy film that features Zac Efron playing the role of an uptight grandson with an oppressive fiancée who gets tricked by his grandpa to go to Daytona Beach in Florida for spring break. The dirty, perverted grandpa, played by Robert De Niro, does not hesitate to get back into the dating game as his dying wife’s wish was for him to find someone to love. Just days before his wedding, the grandson unwillingly accompanies his grandpa in his search.
Good comedy films are rare to come by these days as most of them just aren’t really funny anymore — including this one.
Extraction
I know there’s been a lot of generic action films that have come out lately, but this one looks so boring that even Bruce Willis couldn’t save this film.
“Extraction” is about a former CIA operative Leonard Turner (Bruce Willis) who gets kidnapped by a group of terrorists. Leonard also happens to have a son in the CIA who is always being denied missions because of his worried father holding him back. After finding out that there is no rescue mission planned to go save his father, the son chooses to launch his own rescue operation without the CIA’s consent.
This film has a lot of negative criticism mainly because Bruce Willis fans hate to see their favorite star in such a budget action film.
