Only Lovers Left Alive

                I think vampires are misunderstood. Every movie that comes out portrays them as cool blood thirty beasts that only want to suck our blood. Then it went the other way where they sparkled in the sunlight, but let’s not go there again. What I have always wanted to see is a movie where it showed that vampires were like us, except for the whole blood thing. If you feel like me, then wonder no more, because writer/director Jim Jarmusch (Broken Flowers) has cured our curiosity.

                  Adam (Tom Hiddleston) is a recluse, who doesn’t get out often. The reason for his solitude is because he is a vampire. Adam also happens to be a musical genius, who has a love for rare instruments and making music that no one really gets to hear. Adam uses a kid named Ian (Anton Yelchin) to get the things he needs, everything except blood, which because so many people are contaminated Adam has to get his from a doctor. It seems this vampire is a little out of touch though, and pretty much despises the current time. Adam’s life is pretty uneventful, a lot of sleeping and making music, that is until Eve (Tilda Swinton) pays him a visit. Eve and Adam have been lovers for centuries and they bring out the best in each other. Everything is going great until Eve’s sister Eva (Mia Wasikowska) shows up and changes turns it all upside down.

                  I think it’s good that we got a vampire love story between two vampires, and one that doesn’t paint the same picture of vampire life. Too often we are made to believe that being a vampire would be cool. That’s the other aspect that makes this film an interesting watch, it shows how their life can be a bit boring, especially if you have been alive for over a thousand years. I mean what else can you do when you’ve already done everything? The story moves at a leisurely pace, but then again it is a Jarmusch film, which makes perfect sense if you’ve seen any of his work. Even if you are not a fan of a slower moving movie, you will still enjoy this, just by the performances alone. Plus you get to see a lot of good looking people and that is never a bad thing. Although not exciting, “Only Lovers left Alive” moves you in other ways, and gives you a rare view of the down side of eternal life.

 

 Brian Taylor

Neighbors

Let’s face it, making a stand-out comedy in this day and age is a very hard thing to do. And one thing that I’ve noticed reviewing movies for many years is that it’s hard to make me laugh. Being a critic does indeed make you very critical of what you find funny in films. Sure there are laugh out loud moments in plenty of movies, but trying to sustain laughs for ninety plus minutes for people who’ve seen it all from the classics of the 70’s and 80’s to the gross out comedies of the 90’s is almost impossible. Only in the last few years have movies made me laugh out loud, films like “21 Jump Street”, “Bridesmaids”, and last year’s “This is the End”. Amidst the sea of comedy classic hopefuls the first true contender is here in Nicholas Stoller’s “Neighbors”.

Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne are new parents who are just making it out of the ‘no-responsibility’ zone, he works in an office with the occasional ‘pot-break’, and she is a housewife teetering on boredom. When they get new neighbors in the form of a fraternity house they start to realize how old and possibly how immature they really are. Zac Efron the president of the frat house and his V.P. Dave Franco when challenged by the nice-at-first couple, decide to bring their loud parties and college antics right to their neighbor’s front door.

What starts as simple set up to back and forth pranks turns into a greatest hits medley or an extended trailer of gag after gag. Some quite funny and clever, but the rapid fire nature steals away time when you could be even slightly caring about what happens to the characters. Not that you have to, but the filmmakers did decide to give some paper thin substance to their casts wacky nature and it ends up falling short, at times even bringing the film to a stop. This occurs mostly at the end of the film when it’s huffing and puffing its way across the finish line.

The entire cast is given their moments to display their comedy chops, Rogen is as Rogen as he always is (and I mean that in a good way). Rose Byrne was really great in almost every scene she was in. Efron and Franco both have great comedic timing and played well off each other, and even some of the supporting cast is given time to get a few laughs in, the best of which are from TV comedian Ike Barinholtz as Rogen’s goofy buddy.

Over all “Neighbors” is a decent comedy with some great gags and a really good cast, but loses its steam or in this case its bong water before the party is over.

--Robert L. Castillo