Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016) Lily James – Review

February 7, 2016 ~ Vince Leo

Lily James plays Elizabeth Bennet, the second-oldest sister hoping to find a proper wealthy husband in an isolated version of London that is completely surrounded by zombie masses hoping to feast on the brains of the living within its walls. In order to combat the undead, many of the families have taken to sending their children to Asia to learn martial arts from the masters in either Japan or China. Even with extinction a very real possibility, the Bennets still hope their daughters marry well, and while the more fetching eldest sister Jane is catching the eye of most potential suitors, a mixture of emotions begin to swell between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy, an emotionally aloof zombie hunter of good breeding. Despite Darcy’s ill manners at times, the potential for more is still there between them, if they can survive long enough to make it all happen.

Hail Caesar (2016) Coen Brothers, George Clooney – Movie Review

February 6, 2016 ~ Vince Leo

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Set in Hollywood of the 1950s, Josh Brolin plays Eddie Mannix, an executive of the fictional Capitol Pictures film studio who is tasked with ‘fixing’ a host of extracurricular scandals that their contracted star performers are engaged in before the tabloids get a hold of the stories and ruin their big-budget prestige pictures they’re set to appear in. One such problem involves their most bankable box office draw, Baird Whitlock, who goes missing from the set of his sprawling biblical epic of a Quo Vadis or Ben Hur type, kidnapped (kinda?) by a group of Communists in the industry to impart their philosophies in private meetings, requiring much of Mannix’s attention to keep anyone from knowing about until he figures out what’s going on.

Jane Got a Gun (2015) Natalie Portman – Movie Review

February 1, 2016 ~ Vince Leo

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Set primarily in the New Mexico Territory of 1871, the titular Jane is shocked to find her husband, Bill Hammond, riding home after a long time away with bullets in his back. A deadly gang of former outlaw fur traders called “the Bishop Boys”, run by the vicious John Bishop have been after them for some time for past betrayals, and Bill informs Jane to get prepared, and perhaps get moving. After dropping off their young daughter with a friend, Jane tries to enlist the services of a former lover named Dan Frost for protection, but they’ve been separated and estranged since the Civil War drove Jane to have to fend for herself, not knowing if Dan ever made it back from the conflict alive. However, Dan has his own reasons to distrust Jane, and to want Bill out of the picture, causing a tension in loyalties when Dan accepts for a fee, but only because he’s trying to get his beloved Jane back.