Movie Review: Horns

Reed Learned

Horns

I watched the movie Horns over the weekend. I have only seen it on Netflix, but I don't think it's a Netflix original. It starred Daniel Radcliffe, who plays a man who loses his fiance and the love of his life due to a horrible murder which was unsolved. To make matters worse, he is blamed of the murder by his whole town, although he is in no legal trouble. He is universally hated by everyone around him save his best friend and his brother, with his parents not even liking him, just tolerating him. He is a miserable man, who lost everything in his life and is hated because of it. He exists in this horrible fashion until he unexpectedly grows horns one morning. He is obviously freaked out, and soon realizes that when people see the horns, they admit their sins to him. He uses this power to find his killer, a very unexpected character indeed, and kills the murderer before dying himself and being joined with his love after death. A good movie that had some dark points, but was very interesting overall

Overall rating: 7/10

Movie Review: Taken

Taken

By Mohamed Al Fadhel

Taken is a movie that was released in 2009 starring Liam Neeson and Maggie Grace. The movie is about a recently retired CIA agent Bryan Mills who tries to build a closer relationship with his teenage daughter, Kim who lives with her mother and her wealthy stepfather. While Bryan was working as a security guard at a concert with his friends, he saves a pop star Sheerah from a knife attack. Sheerah, grateful offers to assess Kim’s talent as a singer. Before Bryan gets tell Kim about Sheerah’s offer, Kim asks him for his permission to travel to Paris with her friend Amanda. Bryan instantly refuses, but relent after his ex wife pressures him. At the airport, Bryan discovers that Kim and her friend are actually following U2 during their European tour, Which Bryn’s ex wife did not tell him about.

When the girls arrive in Paris Kim and Amanda meets a man named Peter who he offered them to share a cab so that he could know their address. At the apartment discovers that Amanda’s Cousins, who are supposed to go with them are out of the country. While Kim talks to her father Bryn on the phone, she witnesses that intruders from the bathroom window are abducting her friend. Kim complies to her father’s instructions as Bryan records the incident as Kim is being abducted.

However, in the end of the movie Bryan immediately flees to Paris and finds and kills the kidnappers and rescues his daughter from them. They both return to the U.S where Kim is reunited with her mother and stepfather. Afterward, Bryan takes Kim to see pop Sheerah for her first singing audition. 

Film rating: 8/10

Movie Review: The Gambler

The Gambler
Reed Learned

The Gambler is a movie starring Mark Wahlberg and John Goodman. It is about a college professor (Wahlberg) who is a very bright but also very troubled individual. The opening scene starts with Wahlberg taking a huge 'loan' from a dangerous man who doesn't even like him. The man obliges to give Wahlberg the money, more out of curiosity than anything. We learn that he is in debt to another dangerous man who owns an underground casino as well. This is all a very good lead-up, and definite interest is formed early.

However, the movie fizzles out quickly from the lead-up. Wahlberg falls for a girl in his class who, of course, is a waitress at the underground casino he goes to and knows of his secret life. Once he falls for her, the movie shifts from action-packed, potentially thrilling story of money and danger to any other love story. The movie tries to switch from action to love back to action, but frankly I would've rather watched a full-blown love story than a confused action-love packed movie that switches from one to the other.

The movie's end provides no real saving grace, as it just sort of ends. Of course Mark as the protagonist ends up paying the people he owed and getting the girl he wanted, but it happened in no interesting way at all. He just sort of go the money and the girl, and the credits rolled. A very disappointing end to a bad movie.