There are always films that get announced or you see some details and it gets you excited for it, but you end up waiting for it for a while. That was the case with today’s film Cooties which I had heard about back in 2014, but we finally have it here for you. Cooties follows aspiring writer and now substitute teacher Clint (Elijah Wood) as he returns home to Fort Chicken to teach at the elementary school. The only problem for Clint is that when he gets to school, a virus begins to spread that turns the children there into flesh eating zombies. Now Clint has to lead a group of ragtag teachers to safety before they are torn to shreds by the infected students. The film also stars Rainn Wilson (House Of 1000 Corpses) as Wade, Alison Pill (Scott Pilgrim Vs The World) as Lucy, Jack McBrayer (The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret) as Tracy, Leigh Whannell (Insidious: Chapter 2) as Doug, Nasim Pedrad (Saturday Night Live) as Rebekkah, Ian Brennan (Scream Queens) as Vice Principal Simms, Jorge Garcia (The Ridiculous 6) as Rick, Cooper Roth (The Road Within) as Patriot, Morgan Lily (X-Men: First Class) as Tamra, and the film was directed by Jonathan Milott and Cary Murnion.
At first before I watched the film I questioned why this never made it into theaters before it went straight to DVD. Then after watching the film, I can definitely figure out why it never made it and I am not saying that as a bad thing. This is definitely one of those films that is so bad that it’s awesome. I just figured that having Rainn Wilson, Elijah Wood, and Jack McBrayer would be enough to get into theaters, but it’s really funny regardless. One of the elements I loved about this film was the little quips that are thrown like a reference to The Lord Of The Rings series that Elijah Wood starred in at one time. It also helps that Rainn Wilson is absolutely hilarious and Leigh Whannell’s character was weird, but a very funny addition to the ensemble. I really believe that without all those factors I listed, this film would’t be as good or enjoyable to watch. One thing it will do is make you not want to eat chicken nuggets ever again as you see how they are made and what goes into them. One of the things I also liked about the film was how creative they were when you see one kid using intestines as jump rope or a human head on the end of a rope that is used for tetherball. It was those little things that made the film enoyable to watch, but it’s still a little cheesy at times. With that being said, I am going to give the film an B- for a final grade.
For today’s film, I was interested in see The Last Witch Hunter, but enough at the time to see it in theaters. This was one of my I’ll wait till it’s out on Redbox before I see it type of movies. The film stars Vin Diesel (Furious 7) as Kaulder, a man cursed by the witch queen to live forever as he has hunted down witches for centuries. One day, Kaulder’s 36TH Dolan (Michael Caine) is put under a curse by an elusive witch who practices a form of witch craft that hasn’t been seen since Kaulder killed the witch queen 800 years before. With the help of his 37TH Dolan (Elijah Wood) and a dream walker witch named Chloe (Rose Leslie), Kaulder will go on the hunt to save his friend and the world from the plagues before it is too late. The film also stars Ólafur Darri Ólafsson (The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty) as Belial, Rena Owen (Star Wars: Episode III- Revenge Of The Sith) as Glaeser, Julie Engelbrecht (The Red Baron) as The Witch Queen, Joseph Gilgun (This Is England) as Ellic, Isaach De Bankole (Casino Royale) as Max Schlesinger, Dawn Olivieri (American Hustle) as Danique, and the film was directed by Breck Eisner (The Crazies).
The film was essentially a box office flop for the studio as the budget was over 80 million and they only grossed 27 million at the box office. I don’t think people really gave this film it’s fair shake because it was actually entertaining in my opinion. The film had some pretty cool concepts that went with it and the visual imagery and effects is what is actually stunning. There are some sequences in the film that are actually very cool to see and that is what captured me about the film. As I said the special effects are good, there is plenty of action to go around in the film, and the story was actually pretty well written as well. Listen I always tell people that you shouldn’t expect the greatest story every unfolded on the silver screen with Vin Diesel (unless it’s Guardians Of The Galaxy), You should expect a film that is action pact and bad ass. That is what Vin Diesel movies are all about since day one. The acting in the film was great and you shouldn’t be surprised with a cast that features the great Michael Caine. This could have been an Ass Whoopin Wednesday film for sure, but that’s OK because there’s plenty more films out there. This was definitely a film that was cool to watch and I truly enjoyed it. However, for a final grade I am going to give the movie a B for a final grade because it’s not the best Vin Diesel film.
365moviesin365dayschallenge 