Nerd in the 'Noke

Oculus (2013), R, 104 minutes - Filmed in 2012 but not released until early 2014, Oculus had previously only been a blip on my radar due to its inclusion of two recent sci-fi favorite actresses: Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Gallactica) and Karen Gillan (Doctor Who).  Since I don't generally go out of my way to check out a horror film unless my wife is interested, it's a film that I hadn't previously had an overwhelming urge to see.  But after reading an indirect recommendation from an old college friend (technically his girlfriend - but she had posted online that it was the creepiest thing they had seen in quite a while) we agreed that it should be part of our Halloween-themed October viewing. Oculus revolves around a haunted mirror that enters the lives of the Russell family when they move into a new house when siblings Tim and Kaylie were kids (Garrett Ryan and Annalise Basso respectively).  The film begins with an adult Tim (Brenton Thwaites) being released from a m...

The Rite (2011), PG-13, 114 minutes - My wife loves Halloween, so each year we tend to skew our movie viewing towards the creepy and scary during the month of October (as I'm sure many others do).  This year the first such film we watched was the Anthony Hopkins starring The Rite. While Hopkins was the big draw to this film, as can be seen by his top billing and sole inclusion on the movie poster, he's really just a supporting (albeit very important) character.  The Rite tells a story - supposedly based upon actual events - that follows an American seminary student named Michael Kovak (Colin O'Donoghue) as he travels to the Vatican to take a class on exorcism.  Kovak begins in an interesting place: he attended seminary school to appease his father (Rutger Hauer) who had given him the choice of either carrying on the family business at the funeral home or joining the ministry.  He questions his faith and plans to resign from the seminary but is blackmailed into...

Sicario (2015), R, 121 minutes - When I made my last post at the beginning of the month, I was hoping that October would be the time I got back to regular updates to the blog after a busy second half of the summer and an odd stretch in which there wasn't much in theaters that I was interested in.  Well, life decided to happen and after weekends absorbed by familial obligations and backed up yard work I find myself sitting here at the end of the month having not gotten 'back on track' in the way I had hoped.  So...here is attempt 2.0 at regaining momentum on updating content! Sicario (Spanish for 'hitman') was actually the last film that I was able to see in a theater.  Oddly enough I watched it the afternoon after my last review was posted (my wife and I have since seen a handful of other films via Redbox/Netflix, reviews of which will hopefully be posted later today).  Anyway, Sicario focuses on up-and-coming FBI agent Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) and her efforts...

Pitch Perfect 2 (2015), PG-13, 115 minutes - I don't remember a stretch quite like the last couple of months in the time that I have written this blog.  Sure there have been times when I haven't posted because I was too busy, but this recent lack of activity has been primarily due to there not being much in theaters that really caught my attention.  Fortunately though, the release schedule for this fall looks like it will more than make up for my recent inactivity.  In fact, I already feel a little behind as there were films released over the last two weeks that I didn't get to see due to previous plans.  Anyway, I figured a quick Rental Review would be a good way to try and get back in the swing of things. My wife and I absolutely loved the first Pitch Perfect  and have been eagerly awaiting the sequel (as evidenced by its inclusion on my Most Anticipated Films of 2015 list).  Unlike me, my wife doesn't enjoy theaters so we've been waiting for the ho...