Cold in July (2014) – Ratings: Genre 4/5, Overall 3.5/5

This is the second time I’m seeing a thriller which has control in this year. After Blue Ruin, 2014 throws this movie which comes with a strong theme and elements of surprises written all over it. Cold in July has perfect flow, good performances and power to keep the viewer gazing till the end.

When a common man shoots and kills an intruder in his house the police quickly files for self-defense and close the case. But when the dead criminal’s father seeks revenge things takes a different route all together.  However the shooter and the criminals father discover some shocking truth about the whole trail of events that has taken place and realizes that the plot is deeper than what it seems.

What I like about Cold in July is its rapid evolving story line. The story moves from phase to phase fairly fast and with each step it brings in new bends to the story along with new characters. With each step the plot becomes stronger and makes the viewer guessing more for things to come. The surprising fact is that all these phases has a strength of its own and for the viewer its pretty much looks like its gonna be the ending phase. But the movie surprises the viewer yet again and moves another step towards a darker and unknown territory effectively.

I like Michael C. Halls performance quite much. We don’t see him often in movies to be honest but made some real mark with his striking TV performances as the gay funeral director in Six Feet Under and the serial killer with a code in Dexter. Here he plays a normal family man character who is calm and not heroic eventually turns in to someone who is driven by right emotions to take heavy risks. This is where I see the similarity between Blue Ruin (2014) and Cold in July. Both these movies have normal people characters in them yet come out with powerful story all together.

The weakness I see in Cold in July is its far-fetched action sequences especially in places where the main character appears. The phase where he goes from nobody to a killer seems to be too fast. But this fact does not weaken the movie too much as the other elements holds the plot strong enough.

-Priyantha Bandara

A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014) – Ratings : Genre 3.5/5 Overall 2/5

Hay the American West was bad and we know it. But I never knew it was this hilariously bad. This movie picks up some obvious facts from the 18’s USA and sums it up to be a predictable yet a very funny comedy. With cocky dirty humor without limits and sarcasm written all over it the people who can digest this will certainly like it.

Albert (Seth MacFarlane) who is a cowardly sheep farmer and a man with a big broken heart after his girlfriend dumped him decides that it’s finally time to leave the pathetic small town he was living in the West. But soon he is touched by the mysterious Anna (Charlize Theron) who happens to arrive in the town. But he is yet to realize that Anna is full of surprises and most of them will get him killed.

A Millions Ways to Die in the West is a very straight forward comedy and I take it to be positive. Comedies should be light weighted and should have little surprises. All the fans want is to have a good time watching it and get back to their not so hilarious lives in a jiffy. This movie does its job well though it may not be crowned as the best comedy ever produced. Scene after scene it throws in some really hilarious lines and some of them are so funny that you might lose the next few lines while laughing.

Acting wise there is plenty to laugh about and definitely Theron proves that she is a stunner even in vintage clothing and natural looking makeup. There are quite a few surprising appearances of guest casts who are well known who are capable of raising a brow. All in all this movie packs some real funny goodies and some of them might taste like horse shit. But it’s okay!!

Genre: Comedy

Director: Seth MacFarlane