Carrie

I saw Carrie back in October. I have not seen the original, and am not a horror fan or a Stephen King fan (though his time travel book 11/22/63 was very good). I primarily went to see the movie because it stars Chloe Grace Moretz, who has been fantastic in every movie in which I have seen her (Kick Ass, Let Me In, Hugo, Kick Ass 2).

After I got home, I posted the following on Facebook: Carrie: well, it passes the Bechdel test...

Then I sat on the review. The problem is that I didn't like the movie very much, and my problems are with the plot. Unless the remake has substantial plot changes from the original, that means I don't like that either... and yet the original Carrie is one of those films that everyone is supposed to know and like. I haven't seen a surprising number of those films, and I decided that I would hold off on a review of the new Carrie until I had seen the original, so that I could judge it fairly.

A month and a half later, it seems unlikely that I will actually do so. So, my review for the Carrie remake in the absence of any substantial knowledge of the original:

Chloe Grace Moretz once again turns in a find acting performance. Unfortunately, the role she is given has some pretty serious logical problems (not to be confused with the character's psychological problems). I was willing to overlook the movie's many shortcomings until the ending, which was atrociously bad.

So, I can't recommend the movie on its own merit, and though I can't usefully compare it to the original, I can't imagine that the new one improves on the old. It ranks as high as it does only because of Moretz's performance.

1. Gravity
2. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
3. Much Ado About Nothing
4. Frozen
5. Now You See Me
6. The World's End
7. Ender's Game
8. Despicable Me 2
9. Star Trek: Into Darkness
10. Thor: The Dark World
11. Oblivion
12. Pacific Rim
13. Rush
14. Iron Man 3
15. Kick Ass 2
16. Man of Steel
17. Jack the Giant Slayer
18. Beautiful Creatures
19. The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones
20. The Family
21. RIPD
22. Oz the Great and Powerful
23. Epic
24. G.I. Joe: Retaliation
25. The Wolverine
26. Elysium
27. Monsters University
28. Hansel and Gretel, Witch Hunters
29. The Grandmaster
30. Machete Kills
31. Carrie
32. The Great Gatsby
33. The Lone Ranger
34. This is the End