The Last Will and Testament of Rosalind Leigh

Director: Rodrigo Gudiño

Starring: Aaron Poole, Vanessa Redgrave
Genre: Horror

Year: 2012

Run Time: 77 Minutes

How: DVD (Redbox)

Usually, horror movies are not my thing, not because they are scary, but mostly because I feel that the vast majority of them are wildly cliche and just plain bad. The Last Will and Testament of Rosalind Leigh reaffirms that belief.

As you may have gathered from the title, Rosalind Leigh is dead. She  has left everything to her estranged son Leon (Poole), who has now returned to her predictably creepy house. Cue the classic Scooby-Doo plot line. The house is full of weird objects, one in particular is a giant black mannequin with stark white eyes, another, the shrine conveniently located in the bathroom. Leon's mother (Redgrave) narrates much of the movie, but really fails to set up the plot. We spent a fair portion of the movie trying to figure out her relationship to Leon and why Leon would stay in the strange house without any real incentive. Leon, of course stays alone in his childhood home, only be scared by the old house and left questioning his sanity.

Leon's parents were part of a strange angel worshiping cult, as seen by the plethora of angel statues found in the house. Leon has rejected his parents faith, which why his mother believes hes no longer "protected by the angels."  Leon's father died as part of a cult suicide, something that is featured several times throughout the film, though it seems more a triviality than belabored plot point.

Poole's character is cold and unengaging, which is unfortunate since he is essentially the only one in the entire film. Oddly enough, he is completely calm as he's being terrorized by a Gollum looking creature.  He also seems too young to be the son of the Rosalind who only appears in pictures, which leads to some confusion. Leon is an underdeveloped character who gives us little reason for us to to care what happens to him. As Aaron gets more and more creeped out by the house, we cant help but wonder, why doesn't he just leave. 

If you are looking for scares, The Last Will and Testament of Rosalind Leigh does not deliver. The film does, however, deliver plenty of run of the mill tension, achieved through long shots which have you searching for something to jump out. Despite the creepy house, there are maybe only two instances that might make you jump. The movie commits too many of the classic horror faux pas and has no real ending, which is just laziness on the part of writer/director Rodrigo Gudiño. The film is slow, not scary, and ultimately accomplishes very little.

Rating: 2.5

The Newsroom

Creator: Aaron Sorkin, 

Starring: Jeff Daniels, Emily Mortimer, Olivia Munn, Sam Waterson, Dev Patel, Allison Pill, John Gallagher Jr., Thomas Sadoski

Genre: TV Drama
Years: 2012 - Present
How: Apple TV (HBO)

Notable Awards

• Golden Globe For Best Drama Series - Nominated
• Golden Globe For Best Actor in a Drama Series- Jeff Daniels

Legendary showrunner Aaron Sorkin has struck gold again, this time on HBO. The West Wing creator's return to television takes us behind the scenes at a cable news network ACN, a hybrid between CNN, NBC, etc. anchored by moderate Will McAvoy. Set in the not too distant past, The Newsroom examines many of the major news events of the last few years through the lens of the producers and analysts who are learning of these in real time. 

McAvoy, played by Jeff Daniels, is likable newsman more concerned with not upsetting viewers than taking a stance on issues, being called the Jay Leno of news. His image begins to change after a disillusioned outburst at a Northwestern debate. Will's team, including his executive producer Don, leaves News Night  for a new show on ACN, leaving him to find a new one.

Meanwhile, Mackenzie "Mac" McHale (Mortimer), Will's former EP, returns from years abroad in Iraq and Afghanistan with her crew. Mac is both mentally and physically exhausted and just wants to get back in the news room, much to the discontent of Will. They make it clear that Mac and Will used to be together and the there is some unresolved tension between the two but, insist on not revealing why. When Will's boss, Charlie (Waterson) hires Mac as the new EP, Will storms off to his agent's to renegotiate his contract to give himself power over her.

Mac wants to rebrand Will's show as a moderate forum where facts judged on their merits are presented in the context of humanity, rather than a soapbox from which guests get to spew the agenda. Will's love of truth and his unfettered, sometimes aggressive style of interviewing, gains him enemies among a number right wing talking heads. 

The team of analysts, researchers, and producers behind Will is both talented and entertaining. Featuring Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire) as Neal a blogger and all around citizen of the internet. Allison Pill plays up and coming Maggie Jordan, an Associate Producer on the show, who is in a relationship with Don. Sloan Sabbath (Olivia Munn), is the show's resident economist, and devoid of most social skills. 

The show is fast paced and pulls stories from the headlines, much like you would expect from a Sorkin penned show. The covers major stories of the last couple year such as: The BP Oil Spill, The Tea Party, The Fukushima Nuclear Disaster and many more.

Quick Review: Bourne Legacy

Director: Tony Gilroy

Starring: Jeremy Renner, Rachel Weisz, Edward Norton
Genre: Spy Thirller
Year: 2012
Run Time: 135 Minutes
How: Laptop (HBO)

The Bourne Legacy had big shoes to fill. The previous three films had set the standard for action over the last 10 years and that's one of the main issues that plagues this installment. The Bourne name carries expectations, expectations that the fourth installment was not ready to fulfill.

This film feels like its trying to hard to be the previous three, despite the new story lines. Written and directed by Tony Gilroy, who also wrote the first three, the film doesn't have the same hyperkinetic style that previous director, Paul Greengrass brought to the series. The action is still there but, some scenes, like a rooftop/alley/motorcycle chase through Manila feels very similar to the one Jason Bourne does in Morraco.

In this iteration, Jeremy Renner plays Aaron Cross, an enhanced CIA assassin much like Bourne. The film takes place during the same time frame as Ultimatum, though any hope of seeing Matt Damon is limited to a few pictures. Cross is a part of Outcome, another behavior modification program much like Treadstone or Blackbriar, only in this version Cross's abilities derived from a pair mysterious viruses, which he maintains through a regimen of pills.

Aaron quickly loses his supply of pills in the mountains of Alaska and spends most of the film searching for more. After nearly getting blown up and eaten, Cross's quest for "chems" takes him all the way from Maryland where he meets up with Marta Shearing (Wiesz). Shearing is a biochemist who is engineering the chems and preforming tests on the Outcome agents.  After a grizzly and somewhat disturbing workplace shooting scene, which feels like it goes on too long, Shearing is nearly killed once again by agents trying to cover up Outcome but, she is inevitably saved by Cross. Wiesz's is reminiscent of Julia Stiles' character in the first three movies, slightly aware of what the CIA is up to and gets roped into helping Cross weather she wants too or not.

Cross and Shearing end up flying to Manila, and as one might expect, shoot and punch their way to the drugs. The action is entertaining but sometimes absurd; like when Cross manages to dispatch a number of gunmen, then climbing up three stories on the outside of a house in a cool 10 seconds.

Top: David Straithairn as Noah Vosen
Bottom: Norton

The acting is not stellar but it is adequate enough to carry the sometimes convoluted story. Edward Norton plays Eric Byers, a character that just seems like it was written for David Straithairn's character from the third film, but then given to the younger Norton. Rachel Wiesz's performance is strong, though not aided by the movie's sometimes clunky script. Renner, on the other hand, while he's not pummeling anonymous baddies, is trying to find his next fix of chems. This reliance on the drugs for his performance seems like something out a mild science fiction movie rather than the gritty action series the Bourne series has built on.  Unfortunately for all involved, the film doesn't really have and conclusion, it kind of just meanders towards the finish line and does little to actually wrap up the plot.

The film is not a bad one, but its not a masterpiece by any means. The story adds to the Bourne universe, but you cant help but wonder: What if Damon had reprised his role as the movie's namesake amnesiac assassin? That's ultimately whats what sinks Legacy. It simply feels like its trying to hard too be something that its not.

Rating: 5.5/10