The Book of Life– The further this movie went, the more I liked it. Visually striking and unique, The Book of Life is the tale of Manolo, a young man who is stuck between fulfilling his family’s expectations and following his own path in life. When a bet between La Muerte  and Xibalba unknowingly involves Manolo and his friends Maria and Joaquin, he goes far beyond his craziest dreams. His journey starts in the mortal world and extends into the otherworldly plains of vibrant Land of The Remembered and the grey and dusty Land of the Forgotten. A terrific story through the beautiful Hispanic Day of the Dead celebration, this movie took me by surprise. It’s really well written, teaches a great life lesson and thanks to the art of animation, explores an amazing tradition with great characters and respect. I think this one came and went in theatres pretty quick and is worth checking out.

[REC] 3: Genesis– If you haven’t seen [REC] before, you really should. Came out in 2007 and took the horror “found footage” angle to great heights, It was remade as Quarantine in the US a year later, but it’s a direct copy so stick with the original. Genesis takes place at the same time as the first, showing what happened to the other person who came in contact with the first infected. He goes to his nephew’s wedding without knowing he’s sick and you can pretty much guess what happens. They stick with the found footage for the beginning of the movie, but abandon it once the mayhem starts. It took me by surprise, but considering the logistics of filming the whole movie like, I think it’s a smart move. While Genesis tries its best to live up to its predecessors, it isn’t scary in the least. It’s well made and thought out, but a bit too sterile, generic and open. Since the outbreak starts at a large wedding reception, the claustrophobia angle is completely missing which was onen of the biggest and most effective points of 1 and 2. The cast does good work and they ratchet up the gore effects (I haven’t seen such liberal chainsaw use in awhile) as the live body count dwindles. A lot of practical gore, which is greatly appreciated. While not a terrific horror movie, I’m impressed with what they manged to do.

[REC] 4: Apocalypse– After watching 3, I went right for the finale (so far). Considerably better than 3, Apocalypse is a direct sequel to the events of 2 (and thus, 1). Angela returns, having survived the initial outbreak. She’s brought to an oil tanker for quarantine where the government, with the hired guns of some military personnel and scientists are trying to figure out how stop the demonic virus.  Some smart choices for the 4th movie of this series. It completely ditches the found footage presentation, brings the action to a new isolated and cramped location, has a nice little tie in to Genesis and a good misdirection (which is always a good trait for a horror movie). It was fun to see Angela again, the gore gags are good (this series always has quality infected make-up work) and it tries a couple times to be scary, but it’s more of an action movie all things considered (the tension of the first movie is never met in any of the sequels). The movie ends with a tease, but I think they’ll be wise enough to call it quits here.  Maybe.

Lucy– Luc Besson. 60 writing credits, 119 producer credits and 22 movies directed since 1981. The guy basically gets every idea he comes up with into production. Lucy is his latest average movie held together by an idea better set as a short story. With the draw of Scarlett Johansson in the lead role, this action flick goes through the motions for about an hour and twenty minutes. Lucy gets caught up in a shady deal, forced to mule drugs across international waters. When the bag of the new synthetic drug stitched into her gut starts leaking, she gets access to higher brain capacity (the movie makes sure you know that humans only “use” about 10% of their mind). So that means she gets superhuman powers, which get crazier and dumber as the movie skips to the goofy ending. Apparently higher intellect means you get stronger and immediately know how to fight. Then you can hack into electronics with your mind and see cell phone signals in the air, which you can then grab and manipulate. As far as action goes, there’s nothing new or interesting, Scarlett does her job well enough to cash a pay check, nothing worth going out of your way to check out. By all means skip this one, you won’t be missing anything. You’re better off using your time to watch John Wick or Taken (one of Besson’s much better efforts).