The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is essentially a movie about an abandoned town inhabited by a small, inbred family whose son kills anyone passing through. The movie's masked killer is rumored to be based off of a real serial killer, Ed Gein, who killed two women in Wisconsin in the '50s. The comparison, however, is too loose, and doesn't hold well enough to justify the story's use of "real life" narration. Taken as a whole, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is grotesque, its heroes are vapid and spineless (with the exception of Jessica Biel), and its killer's family members are so inhumane they can no longer justly be considered human. In fact, between the villains' emotional indifference and the presence of farm animals and an abandoned slaughterhouse, I picked up on some animal rights undertones; if the screenplay was meant to be ironic, it partially succeeds, and offers its only redeeming quality, if it counts. I didn't think it did. 1.5 out of 5 stars. ~Brandon

Yuck. I thought this movie was awful. It was scary, true, but it was typical lame scary. Plus really gross. I mean the guy wears people's skin on his FACE. Like a MASK! Eww. Plus, the curly haired dude is just stupid. I mean really, why are you standing around?! Move for goodness sakes. My favorite part was the end where Jessica Biel runs over the bad guy. This movie fails, 1 out of 5 stars. ~Shar

Tangled (2010)

I heard in passing that the original idea for Tangled developed as Pixar's animation department experimented with short-version films fixated on solving one of the most difficult graphic design problems--the rendering of human hair. Whether or not this is true, Tangled succeeds in being visually stunning, while its heroine employs her hair in enough ways to render any other Disney princess thoroughly jealous. Tangled is told as a reinterpretation of the classic Repunzel story, but its modern chops again demonstrate how in-tune Disney remains with its audience, meeting or exceeding expectations at every turn. 4.5 out of 5 stars. ~Brandon

I loved this movie! First off, the animation was amazing. Hair is one of the hardest things to animate (ever seen the Shrek animation mess ups?). It's a cheesy story, no doubt, but it is lighthearted and cute. Perfect for those afternoons where you just want to see a movie that makes you feel good. Definitely a 5 out of 5. ~Shar