Red Riding Hood

Back in 2009, I do remember when the film Twilight directed by Catherine Hardwicke came out and thought it was pretty decent when I saw it at the theater. With Hardwicke's new film, Red Red Hood I was hoping it would be turn out the same but when it reached it's end, the film really turned out to be the exact opposite of the high hopes I had for it. Not only is it not very good but it feels like too much like Twilight and in the end it is a film that just doesn't work at all.

Red Riding Hood is centered around a character named Valerie (Amanda Seyfried) and is set in the distant past in a village where people are dying due to a killer wolf. Valerie becomes involved in this conflict and at the same time must choose between two men, one which she is in love with and the other whom she is being forced to marry by her parents.

I have liked Amanda Seyfrield in just about everything I have seen her in but here I found her performance weak. She seems to project a vibe that she really did not want to be there and with her being in the lead role, this does takes down the film quite a bit.

I think, the whole Red Riding tale is very interesting and also daring but this version really fails in some key aspects. The wolf idea is interesting but the wolf looks uneven and not at all realistic. The "two lovers" motif is a sour idea that make the film feels more romantic then it should be. The characters and actors (Max Irons and Shiloh Fernandez) are really uninteresting and these characters do not feel very real especially with the movie being set in a different time frame and both feel like Jacob and Edward from Twilight. These flaws take down the movie to the point where at times you just don't care at all about this film and that was last thing I was expecting from this work.

Along with the plot idea, I think one highlight to the film is the sets which are pretty cool to look at and they fit into the time period pretty well. That said, the sets should not be the main highlight of a film.

I liked Red Riding Hood more than some others I know and it not one the worst films of 2011, but it is a very disappointing film that should have been much better than it is.

2/5

Chloe

Even through I am a big movie fan, erotic films are something I have never really been into. There is nothing specific that I don't like about the genre and nothing I can't sit through; but it is just not appealing to me and usually nothing I can relate to. That said, while it is still not my type of film, I found the movie, Chloe to be enjoyable in a dark and lovable way, and it did made me look at the genre slightly differently.

Chloe is a remake of a French film called Nathalie. It is the story of a relationship between a husband and wife which is close to being finished due to some cheating. An outcast named Chloe (Amanda Seyfried) steps into the picture to help and to try and save the couple's marriage. As time goes by however, Chloe really does the exact opposite of what the couple wants and we learn that she might not be who we think she is.

This is kind of a well worn plot that we have seen before but this film throws in quite a few new elements that includes the supporting character named Micheal (Max Thieriot) and the lead character Chloe who provides a lot more than you would think. There is also a lesbian angle to the plot that is strong and daring. Amanda Seyfried and Julianne Moore do well playing difficult characters with Liam Neeson adding to the the mix. The film does well with the development of the plot and putting a lot of things into the proper perceptive.

This movie does have some surreal settings including the main house. It also has scenes where parenting of the Julianne Moore character seems a little off but that is just a minor complaint. All in all, Chloe is a sexy film that does a good job for what it is trying to accomplish. I found it to be a memorable film because of the subject matter and due to the film's many highlights.

4/5