“Holy Motors” 2012

Cristina Lule

“Holy Motors” is a wonderfully bizarre French film that challenges our understanding of film and acting, while entertaining us as well.

The film follows a day in the life of M. Oscar, who is chauffeured to eight different appointments in which he leads eight separate parallel lives. On the way to each appointment, we see him transform into different characters with makeup, wigs, prosthetics and costumes. He becomes a woman, a murderer, a dying millionaire and a leprechaun-like man who kidnaps Eva Mendes.

“Motors” also plays with genre and offers a different one in each segment; it’s a gangster film, a science-fiction film and even a musical featuring a performance from Kylie Minogue.

“Motors” is a highly recommended must-see for cinephiles that also offers something entertaining for everyone.

 

 

“Shades of Grey” 2011

Robert Linggi

The science fiction novel “Shades of Grey” by Jasper Fforde (not to be confused with the erotic novel “50 Shades of Grey”) takes place in future dystopian Great Britain, known as Chromatacia, where one’s social status is determined by how much color they can see, from the mighty ultraviolets to the lowly greys.

A tyrannical spoon-hating government spawned the color-based society after the old world, known as “The Previous” came to a sudden end during the “Something that Happened”.

The book follows young Eddie Russett, a Red with an exceptional perception of the color, on his journey with his father, a color doctor, to the fringe town of East Carmine to conduct a chair census as punishment for playing a prank on the headmaster’s son.

There he meets Jane, a plain grey with a short temper and a bad habit of feeding Eddie to a giant carnivorous plant, and falls totally in love with her.

Together they must unravel the secrets of the murderous, if sometimes ridiculous, Chromatacian government as it tries to stifle their complementary color romance.

 

“Evil Dead” 1981

Kaitlin Bruce

The 1981 Sam Raimi version of “Evil Dead” is a perfect combination of classic teen slasher and greatly exaggerated blood and gore terror.

The film epitomized the B-movie with it use of claymation, questionable acting and low budget filming techniques.

“Evil Dead” was filmed with a $350,000 budget, or 1000 times less money than Raimi’s $350 million “Spider Man 3” budget.

You must see the original in order to fully understand the remake.

After seeing both, there are small comedic, cheesy situations in the remake that would confuse someone that has never seen the original.

Plus, the amazing claymation in the 1981 version is just too much fun. 

Both films are great, and it’s always interesting to see a new take on a classic. At least when its done right.