Ride Along Review

On the 17th, the buddy-(kind of) cop comedy Ride Along, was released to theaters nationwide. Can the chemistry between Ice Cube and Kevin Hart win over audiences' hearts? Find out after the jump.

The film starts out strong, with an action sequence, slowly unraveling the plot. After the first scene ends, we immediately jump into the incredibly executed comedy, setting the bar high right from the beginning, all supplied by Kevin Hart. Kevin Hart uses this film to once again display his incredible versatility, proving himself in stand up, TV, and the big screen. Ice Cube outdoes himself once again (as he does with every role), with his decades of film experience behind him allowing him to act as an a great straight man to Hart, which he somehow executes without cracking up. It takes a lot of power to do that, and his veteran acting skills make him one of the few able to manage it..

The movie manages to consistently deliver with the same level of comedy it delivered in the beginning, with only a few patches of the film being laugh free. However, those spots become smaller and fewer as we progress through the movie, leaving us with almost no laugh free moments as we start to near the half way mark.

The film also features a... well an ok plot. While the plot is solid and believable, it's nothing we haven't seen before, and is honestly, pretty bland. However, the movie obviously isn't focused on its plot, and really only uses it as a platform for it's comedic incidents.

Overall, I really enjoyed this movie, and would recommend it to fans of both of these actors, or fans of comedies overall! I look forward to catching the sequel that's already been announced by the studio.as well. A bit early perhaps?

Have any of you already seen the film? What's your review? Tell me in the comments below, and I'll see you next time!

Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones Review: No Spoilers

No Spoilers

On the third of 2014, the newest installment in the Paranormal Activity series, The Marked Ones, was released to theaters worldwide. After the critical panning of 2012's PA4, how does the newest movie stack up? Find out below.

PA: The Marked Ones is not Paranormal Activity 5, however, for reasons we'll get into later, it easily could've been. The movie takes place in Oxford, California, centered in a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood. As the earlier installments do, The Marked Ones started out very light, with the entire audience laughing for a good portion of the first 20 minutes, all while the movie was slowly setting up our plot-lines for later into the movie. Right after those 20 minutes of fun, everything goes downhill incredibly quickly.

From there, the scares come quickly and condensed, keeping you on guard, wondering when the next scare is coming. While there were a few moments through out where you could easily tell what was about to happen, those moments were very few, and for the most part, I was always always on guard, not being too sure if there were more frightening moments to come. 

While this movie was not PA5, it sure did seem like it at some points. The movie featured appearances from series regular Katie, Ali from PA2, and a few other familiar faces I can't mention without giving away details. While this movie wasn't exactly a necessity to the plot-lines of PA1-4, it definitely thickens the plot in a lot of places, bringing a lot of revelations I didn't expect.

Overall, as a long time fan of the series, I enjoyed The Marked Ones. While PA4 was a lot more story-oriented and held back on the scares, Paranormal Activity: Marked Ones was able to deliver a solid story and plenty of scares, making it way better than 4, and just a little under 3's quality, I'd recommend this to anyone who's a fan of horror movies.