Morse's Movie Blog

My Top 15 Films of 2011

2011-12-26T03:23:00.002-08:00

I'm sorry if some of your favorites didn't make the cut, but this is my list. Enjoy!

HONORABLE MENTIONS (Alphabetical order)

BROTHERHOOD, CARNAGE, CONTAGION, THE DEBT, MARGARET, & MONEYBALL

TOP 15 OF 2011

15. ANOTHER EARTH

Reflective, provocative, and thoughtful - Another Earth is a small, quiet movie that is easily one of the more creative indie films I've seen in a long time. Some may be left wanting a little more given the intriguing possibilities with the film's premise, and I understand that feeling, but with the right expectations and mindset going in, the movie should end up sticking with you.

14. THE SKIN I LIVE IN
The Skin I Live In is a disturbing tale told with beauty and precision. This is also Antonio Banderes at his absolute best. It's a tightly wound, well acted, unforgettable, expertly directed film that, while it's not for everyone, I can easily recommend to any big fan of film.

13. SHAME
This is the first film I've seen from Steve McQueen, and he's an incredible, visionary director. The architecture of each scene is so well pieced together and each shot looks so beautifully crafted and thought out. There is not a dull moment in the film thanks so McQueen and put in the hands of an incapable director, Shame could've been a complete mess so I commend that. Believe it or not, though, Michael Fassbender is the true stand out here, bringing humanity and depth to a character that can be seen as very unlikable. His performance is easily one of the best of the year.

12. THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
As a whole, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo feels disjointed. It's a tad muddled at points even - but its an expertly directed, tense, gritty, downright disturbing and ultimately captivating film. I was on the edge of my seat; my eyes were glued to the screen from beginning to end. And Rooney Mara is absolutely unbelievable giving the best female performance all year.

11. 50/50
50/50 is hysterical, heartfelt, and genuine. My favorite part of the film is its terrific screenplay by Will Reiser, which he loosely based of a personal experience about himself having cancer. And through that, the film's realism, thoughtfulness and respect for the situation at hand really does shine. The film also has a note-perfect cast and a fantastic sense of humor and lightheartedness that blankets the film making it extremely enjoyable to watch and something I can see myself re-watching soon.

10. INSIDIOUS
Insidious is hands down one of the scariest films I've seen. I understand I might get hate for saying that, let alone putting it in my top 15 of the year, but I think this movie stands on its own as being an extremely creepy film that delivers some of the best scares in years without going to great extents to gross out audiences with gore. For me, this movie did its job and it did it perfectly; it actually scared me. A lot. It's well paced, very well directed, and features some strong performances. Easily the best entry in the horror genre in a while and one of the biggest surprises of 2011.

9. MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
Midnight in Paris is a joy to watch. The film has well-realized, charming characters from a star-studded, immensely talented cast. It features beautiful scenic shots of Paris that made me want to travel there. The romantic elements of the film were sweet, the fantasy of the film is perfect, and all in all, Midnight in Paris is a very well-written, extremely enjoyable romantic comedy.

8. TAKE SHELTER
Take Shelter is a provocative, well crafted, surreal drama featuring an incredible performance from Michael Shannon that deserves an Oscar nomination. It's beautifully shot and explores a number of very heavy themes incredibly well. It's a meticulously crafted film that keeps you guessing and makes for a great conversation afterwards.

7. MARGARET
Margaret is a fascinating, emotional, interior epic, and a mirror of life's unfairness. The performances are excellent and there are plenty of powerful scenes, including a moment in the film that literally had my jaw dropped. The characters are fully developed and you truly feel like you're experiencing every moment of despair along with Anna Paquin's character and while it may feel a little messy and long, for me, there's no doubt Margret is a gem.

6. ATTACK THE BLOCK
After breaking it down, Attack the Block truly has it all. It has a smart story, authentic characters, good soundtrack, and great dialogue; and those all work to create one unique and fantastic alien-invasion film. It's a crowd-pleaser if I've ever seen one, and after seeing it for the 8th time, I still can't wait to show it to more people.

5. THE TREE OF LIFE
The Tree of Life is indeed a film you are going to want to experience for yourself. Just know that the film is like life itself, everyone's going to get something different out of it. For me, the emotions and relationships felt really strong. It's also beautifully directed by Terrence Malick, and features some breathtaking photography. There are a lot of memorable moments in the film, a lot of things that made me think and reflect and when a film is capable of that, its incredible as far as I'm concerned.

4. BEGINNERS
Beginners is a deep film but at the same time an incredibly sweet, lighthearted dramedy that had me in stitches on many occasions. The movie is stunningly original in its style and so honest and heartbreaking, it had me in tears. It also has two potential Oscar nominations up its sleeve; one for its outstanding screenplay and hopefully a win for Christopher Plummer. And Ewan McGregor also gives a humble performance that seriously deserves more credit. I didn't see this one in theaters, so I'm really glad I caught it in time to put it on my list.

3. WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN

We Need to Talk About Kevin is one hell of a psychological thriller featuring remarkable direction, fantastic performances across the board, especially Tilda Swinton who gives a remarkable, gripping performance that made it hard to keep my eyes off the screen, and a fantastic screenplay. The film is a tale of nature vs. nurture told in a non-linear way that will keep your full attention and keep you thinking long after you've seen the film.

2. THE ARTIST
So many films today spoon-feed the audience its story through dialogue, so I truly admire this film for being able to tell a great story through its excellent performers and incredible. The film does an amazing job at telling that A Star Is Born type of story in a very refreshing way with plenty of things you wont see coming. My absolute favorite part of the film, though, is Jean Dujardin as George Valentin. He deserves the Oscar for best leading actor. The fact that he can carry this type of film throughout its whole run time is incredible and without overacting, or speaking for that matter, is seriously something. What a talent. And the same goes for Berenice Bejo. The two play off of each other so well. The Artist certainly stands out from the rest of 2011.
It's pure, old-fashioned entertainment at its best and it's easily one of the best period pieces I've seen in a long time.

1. DRIVE
Drive is directed in a very beautiful, stylistic way and while some may see it as a pretentious, artsy film; it's one of the very few art house films that kept me on edge, sunken in my own seat, munching on my popcorn the whole way through. Nicolas Winding Refn mixes together full-throttle action with art house elements all while making a film which, at its very core, is a wonderful character piece centered on the 'Driver'. Refn seriously knows how to keep tension building so well, the film has tons of memorable scenes, a fantastic soundtrack, and a great, strong cast. And as good as some of the performers were, the director is really the star. Drive is one of the few films this year that truly, truly stuck with me long after its release. It's an absolutely enthralling, memorable experience that I won't forget.

It has been a pretty good year for film. I'm absolutely psyched for 2012.
Hope y'all have a happy new year

Top 10 Most Anticipated Movies of 2012

2011-12-23T17:13:00.005-08:00

I would like to point out that this is a list of movies I'm excited for at the moment, not what I think will be the best. I really cannot stress this enough, I doubt many of these will actually end up in my top 10 at the end of next year.

So, once again, these are films I am looking forward to because it either:

Had a great trailer.
Is a sequel to a film I like.
Is a new entry in a series of films I like.
Has people involved with the film that I like.
Has a plot that just sounds downright awesome.

I'm also positive my most anticipated will change throughout the year. For example, I didn't know anything about The Artist until I read about it in August 2011. Same thing goes for Drive, and half of the films in my top 10 of the year. Hell, some of these don't even have trailers, images, or IMDb pages yet!

Anyway, enough rambling. Here's my list(s) of my most anticipated of next year. Yeah, I have a lot of honorable mentions.

Interested (alphabetical):
American Reunion
Brave
Compliance
Gangster Squad
For a Good Time Call
Haywire
The Imposter
Men in Black 3
The Pact
Piranha 3DD
The Raid
Red Lights
Taken 2
This is Forty

Anticipated (alphabetical):
The Avengers
Beasts of the Southern Wild
The Bourne Legacy
Beyond the Black Rainbow
The Cabin in the Woods
Chronicle
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Lincoln
The Master
Nero Fiddled
Robot & Frank
Room 237
Safety Not Guaranteed
The Sound of My Voice
Skyfall
V/H/S

Highly Anticipated:

10. Only God Forgives
Can't wait to see Refn back directing considering Drive was my favorite film of this year. The story sounds really interesting and Ryan Gosling is the lead, so I'm completely down for another Ryan Gosling movie where he drives around and commits crime. Can't wait for a trailer.

9. Moonrise Kingdom
This is Wes Anderson's new film and just recently the trailer was released, and it looks like classic Wes, and that's literally all I wanted. The cast is to die for and the movie looks like it could be his next big hit, honestly. Cannot wait.

8. The Avengers
The film four years in the making is finally here. It's The Avengers. What else can I say?

7. Looper
With Looper, it's one of the cases where the story and cast of the film is enough to get me excited. The story sounds like something very Minority Report-esque and word has it that bits of the film have already been screened and people are LOVING it. There's nothing better than a good sci-fi, time-travel/futuristic movie and this movie is looking to be just that.

6. Prometheus
I love Ridley Scott. I love Alien. I love the idea of an Alien prequel. The trailer was an awesome homage to the original Alien teaser. It looks epic, and I don't say epic unless I mean it, so sign me up. Immediately.

5. Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie
Yes, I am a Tim and Eric fan. I have been since 2008 when my sister showed me some clips. Ever since, I've been watching their show, in fact, to get in the Christmas spirit, I even watched their "Chrimbus Special" last night. A few weeks ago my friends and I were gathered around one of the school computers and watched the red band trailer the minute it was up during our lunch period. Yeah, I'm pumped. I will watch the movie when it goes on VOD with my friends, of course, but I will also be there at midnight with my sister in theaters on March 2nd. #shrim

4. The Dark Knight Rises
Where do I begin with The Dark Knight Rises? Chris Nolan is ending his Batman trilogy with The Dark Knight Rises. And I think it goes without saying that this movie is going to be huge, in every sense of the word. Everything I've seen for this movie looks great, from the set photos, to the trailers, to the prologue shown before Mission: Impossible 4. Some may be shocked not to see it at number one, but, there are three other films coming up in 2012 that I'm looking forward to seeing more. I already have my ticket for the midnight showing in IMAX, though. So you bet your ass I'm sitll psyched for Batman!

3. Django Unchained
A trailer would be nice, but for now, I'm still very much PSYCHED for Django Unchained. The cast is out of this world, the story sounds like it could be a lot of fun, and it's Quentin Tarintino for god's sake, one of my all-time favorite directors and easily one of the best working today. Can't wait until more about this movie is revealed throughout the year.

2. The Master
Paul Thomas Anderson is one of my all time favorite directors and with a story and a cast like The Master, how could you go wrong? It could be absolutely amazing but I won't say much considering there hasn't been a trailer released.

1. The Amazing Spider-Man
Spider-Man is my favorite superhero, and while Batman has the better movies, I think Spider-Man is the most relatable and interesting. And when this reboot was announced, I was completely against it. But since then, The Amazing Spider-Man has impressed me with not only its trailer, but the footage screened at Comic-Con, too. The cast is insane and I know Andrew Garfield is going to be a fantastic Peter Parker. I'm truly digging Marc Webb's vision of the web-slinger so far, and his take on the origin story, and kill me for saying this but I think this has potential to beat out Sam Raimi's vision. JUST SAYING. I'll be there at midnight on July 3rd to find out!

Thanks for reading! Look out for my best of 2011 list, coming soon.

The Debt - Movie Review

2011-09-02T16:14:00.000-07:00

I knew nothing about this movie going into it. The Debt was almost a complete blind watch, I kid you not. I had heard good things about it, I had seen a promising trailer for it once and that alone was enough for me to see it.

For anyone who is unfamiliar with The Debt, the basic story follows three agents who engaged in a top secret mission to abduct German war criminal Dieter Vogel (Jesper Christensen), in order to bring him to Israel for public trial. The plot switches back and forth between the 1967 mission and the 1997 aftermath of the event, where new information regarding the mission comes to light, forcing the agents Rachel (Helen Mirren/Jessica Chastain), Stephan (Tom Wilkinson/Marton Csokas), and David (Ciaran Hinds/Sam Worthington) back into each other’s lives to make sense of their time in Berlin - as well as what this revelation could mean for their futures.

The story is one of the strongest elements of the movie (despite a few lulls) and successfully manages to carry the characters from the interesting drama to the aftermath and reflection. The story that takes place in the 60's is tense, and even without the modern narrative arc, the story of their mission was exciting enough on its own. However, the modern scenes add a really great dynamic, bringing things full circle and whatnot.

That said though, what makes the film work so well and is easily the strongest element of the movie are it's performances. Helen Mirren and Tom Wilkinson, and Ciaran Hinds all live-up to their common acclaim. However, the most captivating moments of the film belong to their younger counterparts, in my opinion (Jessica Chastain, Marton Csokas, and Sam Worthington). I am not, by any means, putting down the older version of these characters at all, but as mentioned, the 1967 time period storyline offers a number of thrilling and complicated character moments that are delivered with powerful performances.

In the end, there are a couple of surprises that most film regulars will probably see coming - though, ultimately, the lack of genuine surprise doesn’t detract from how damn well the story is told and how well realized each character is. That said, aside from the occasional predictable story beats, it’s hard not to like The Debt. It may not be the same movie marketed in the trailers, but in this case, that’s actually a compliment. I really enjoyed The Debt, and if I were to give you any advice; please do see this over any of the other big releases this weekend. Please.

I'd give The Debt an 8.7/10

MAN OF STEEL | Close-Up Look At Superman!

2011-08-30T21:12:00.000-07:00

About a month ago or two ago, we got our first glimpse at Henry Cavill as Superman. Since then, blurry set photos taken from a distance have surfaced but now, we've got a great close up look at the man of steel. If you'd like to see the set photos you can click the link below.

Set pics: http://bit.ly/oYk8eo

As we've seen before, he doesn't appear to have his belt or red undies and I, personally, like that look. I honestly don't even have any big gripes with the suit at all. I'm really looking forward to seeing Cavill in action, and the movie's looking great as far as I'm concerned.

Man of Steel is set to hit theaters on June 14, 2013

...And for anyone wondering, since I haven't posted a review in two weeks, my reviews for The Debt, Apollo 18, Shark Night and the greatly anticipated anticipated Red State, will be coming this weekend. So look out for those!

PIXAR | Upcoming Movies Announced at D23

2011-08-21T15:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday at D23 2011, Pixar announced two upcoming films. One slated for a November 2013 release and one May 2014 release.

Pixar, for the first time, is planning on releasing two movies in the same year, 2013. The first being Monsters University (click the link to see my coverage of that http://bit.ly/opIrNB), and the second being a movie about dinosaurs. They revealed a (joke) working title: “The Untitled Pixar Movie About Dinosaurs"... and here is the official plot synopsis from Disney:

"What if that life-changing asteroid missed Earth? Director Bob Peterson’s hilarious tale depicts a world where dinosaurs never went extinct."

The film is directed by Up co-director, Bob Peterson and it sounds interesting. I'm looking forward to this one, it's said to be a 'hilarious tale', and I'm sure it will be a nice, original entry from Pixar.

The next film, set for a 2014 release, just sounds amazing. The working title for this movie is: “The Untitled Pixar Movie That Takes You Inside The Mind". The official plot synopsis follows:

"Pixar takes audiences on incredible journeys into extraordinary worlds: from the darkest depths of the ocean to the top of the tepui mountains in South America; from the fictional metropolis of Monstropolis to a futuristic fantasy of outer space. From director Pete Docter (“Up,” “Monsters, Inc.”) and producer Jonas Rivera (“Up”), the inventive new film will take you to a place that everyone knows, but no one has ever seen: the world inside the human mind."

Yeah, sounds pretty damn deep for a Pixar movie, but don't get me wrong, I'm intrigued. Pete Docter (Monster's, Inc., Up) is directing and apparently Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine, Toy Story 3) is writing the script. Earlier last year, I think I heard those two were working together for Docter's next Pixar project so, I'm assuming this is what they were talking about. The people behind it are incredible and the concept sounds amazing, so I'm in.

So what do you guys think of these movies and their plots? Which one are you more excited for?

MONSTERS UNIVERSITY | Details & Images Revealed!

2011-08-21T15:38:00.000-07:00

If you're a fan of Pixar, you most likely know that a prequel to Monster's, Inc. has been in the works for some time now and just yesterday, at the 2011 D23 Expo, we got some details about the film.

If you'd like to read the article, you can click the link below:

Article: http://bit.ly/qbwVX8

These details include some info on the movie's development, the setting of the film, and even on how some characters will look (including some leaked pictures of Mike and Sully)

And of course, if you'd like to see those images, you can click the link below.

Pictures: http://bit.ly/q4QUrF

Now I was extremely excited when I first heard about this film because the whole idea of seeing these characters in "Scare School" sounds hysterical. And after reading about it and seeing these images, I'm completely in. This is certainly shaping up to be as good as I had hoped.

So, what do you guys think? Are you excited for this prequel? What do you think of the way college Mike and Sully look?

Monsters University hits theaters June 21, 2013

Fright Night - Movie Review

2011-08-19T16:33:00.000-07:00

With any remake nowadays, you've got to be skeptical the first time you hear about it. I wasn't personally anticipating Fright Night until I actually saw full scenes of it at the Fright Night Panel in San Diego Comic-Con last month. The footage they showed was entertaining, and brief, leaving the audience wanting more (or at least I wanted more).

Fright Night centers around High School senior, Charley Brewster (Anton Yelchin). Charley, after being convinced by his long time friend Ed (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), suspects that his new neighbor Jerry (Colin Ferrel) is a vampire, and after several disappearances in the area (including many students from school), he decides to investigate. After sneaking into Jerry's house, he finds a place to hide and witnesses Jerry attacking and feeding on a young woman. Charley enlists the help of Las Vegas magician and apparent vampire expert Peter Vincent (David Tennant) to try to stop him.

If you can’t tell from the premise, this is the type of film which relies heavily on tone to avoid its own silliness. Good thing director Craig Gillespie knows exactly what this film needs to be: light in the funny parts, tense in the scary parts, with a constant playful, B-movie feel to it throughout. It also helps that Gillespie is actually a very good director. From this film, you can tell he's able to create great set pieces, really engaging action sequences, and has a good eye for lighting and space which really helps with some of the more tense scenes.

But one of the best things about the film are the performances from both the lead and supporting actors. Anton Yelchin and Colin Farrell are the two stars of the film. Anton Yelchin does a good job conveying Charley’s journey from an ex-nerd playing cool, to paranoid creep, to (pretty much) a hero. And I thought Colin Farrell was fantastic as the vampire-neighbor, Jerry. He looks like he’s having a blast as this character. He comes off equally charming as he is menacing in the film and everything from his mannerisms to the way he spoke, just gave me the creeps.

The film's not perfect. It's a tad bit overlong, it's not as scary as I wanted it to be, and a lot of the things that go on in the last 40 minutes of the movie are a little too over-the-top in my opinion. All things considered though, Fright Night manages to give an old idea from an old movie a nice modern spin. It's really effective; it's fun, funny, campy, suspenseful and is easily one of the better horror remakes out there.

I'd give Fright Night an 8/10

Attack the Block - Movie Review

2011-08-15T04:04:00.000-07:00

I attended the panel for Attack the Block this July at San Diego Comic-Con, and saw a very promising 15 minutes of the film. I had heard about the film prior to that, but ever since seeing footage, I've been trying to seek out a showing of the film. And as you can tell, I have finally seen Attack the Block.

The plot of the movie, simply put, is... When aliens start terrorizing the citizens of a South London tower block, it’s up to a gang of hoodlums and a trainee nurse they’ve just mugged to band together and fight back.

Attack the Block isn't at all like your run of the mill alien invasion flick. The film has no big stars (other than Nick Frost popping up here and there), it was shot on a low budget, the main characters are a gang of seemingly unlikable, young, unapologetic hoodlums.

What sets this film high above so many others like it is the style of writer/director Joe Cornish uses. The smart story, lively characters, hilarious dialogue, interesting filming choices, vibrant cinematography and even the great soundtrack, all work to create a cohesive and wildly engaging movie-going experience.

The characters are big reason this film work so well. It’s tough to ask an audience to follow and care about a group of young troublemakers that are shown mugging a woman at the beginning of the film, but the cast of young actors do a great job of making their characters alive and relatable, so you grow to adore them by the end. The supporting cast in the film, including Nick Frost, keep things light and fun from moment to moment as well. And their banter just never gets old.

The aliens in this movie are very weird dog-like creatures whose only clearly visible feature is a mouth filled with neon lit fangs. Having the aliens hidden from the viewer keeps them mysterious and menacing, and saves the filmmakers of having to create CGI creatures like most big-budget alien flicks nowadays. The way the aliens scurry in and out of the shadows works perfectly in the urban city and I'm going to be honest, some of the scares in this movie actually made me jump out of my seat. I'll be honest, it’s not the best effects work but it is very effective when taken into context with the rest of the film.

A good soundtrack is also a crucial ingredient in creating a good film experience, and Attack the Block manages to provide one of the best scores of the year. One of my favorite house music duo's ever, Basement Jaxx, working with musician Steve Price, create a score for this film that has elements of hip-hop, techno, and funk; and it fits the tone and feel of the film perfectly.

After breaking it down, Attack the Block truly has it all. It has a smart story, authentic characters, and great dialogue; and those all work to create one fantastic film. It's one of my favorite films of the year and if you can, try to find a theater showing it near you.

I'd give Attack the Block a 9/10

30 Minutes or Less - Movie Review

2011-08-13T22:44:00.000-07:00

I attended the San Diego Comic-Con panel for 30 Minutes or Less, and from the twenty or so minutes of footage I saw from the film, I thought the movie looked like it could of been a lot of fun and while I had a fun time with it, it just did not completely satisfy me. I'm a little bit torn with this one.

The story focuses on Nick (Jesse Eisenberg), a stoner who delivers pizzas under the pressure of a '30 minutes or less' deadline. Nick’s best friend is Chet (Aziz Ansari), a school teacher. Nick soon finds himself kidnapped by two monkey-masked, moronic criminals named Dwayne and Travis (Danny McBride, Nick Swardson). They strap a bomb-vest to Nick and pretty much force him into robbing a bank in less than 10 hours, in order to get money to pay an assassin (Michael Peña) to kill Dwayne’s father (Fred Ward), thereby leaving Dwayne to inherit his dad's multi-million fortune. So Nick convinces Chet into helping him out with the bank robbery and comedy and whacky situations ensue.

30 Minutes or Less is a comedy that has a very out of this world kind of plot. The script by newcomer Michael Diliberti offer some funny moments, but not the kind that will leave you in tears or any you'll even remember at all. For most of the film's short runtime, the movie will keep you smiling and will even leave you with a few good chuckles. All in all, though, it’s really just a forgettable summer comedy.

The chemistry between the two lead actors works though. Tha pair-up between Jesse Eisenberg and Aziz Ansari is definitely odd, but they end up playing off each other very well and have some good little back and fourths. Aziz Ansari is a stand out in this movie, though. He delivers some really funny quips and one-liners, further proving that charisma and comedic timing are not skills that just any actor can master.

Danny McBride and Nick Swardson are the second half of this double buddy comedy. Nick Swardson actually brings some great laughs and likability as a dumb sidekick, while Danny McBride just... isn't likable at all. I don't really know how to explain it, but I just am not the biggest fan of the guy.

When 30 Minutes or Less is funny, it's really funny. But when it's not focusing on just providing laughs, it just comes off as bland. The performances of the actors are good for the most part, but there just isn't enough here to completely satisfy me. Don't get me wrong, it's fun and this is a movie that would totally be worth a rental, but you just don't need to rush out to see this one in a theater.

I'd give 30 Minutes or Less a 6/10

Final Destination 5 - Movie Review

2011-08-12T21:30:00.000-07:00

Similar to the Saw films, Final Destination has become one of the most recognizable horror properties in the modern cinema. There’s no doubt that audiences still enjoy the formulaic setups in the Final Destination films, which is why they've made four sequels. Of course, none of these films are cinematic masterpieces, with stiff performances, flat dialogue, and its tendency to go for style over substance -- but there’s no doubt, that despite some ups and downs, the franchise has succeeded in entertaining its audiences (I, myself, definitely have a soft spot for the series).

By now the Final Destination premise should be familiar to most moviegoers: Each installment begins with a huge action set-piece (in this case, a bridge collapsing) that kills off character after character in a variety of shocking and violent ways -- until the sequence is revealed to be a vision seen by the main character. Final Destination 5 centers around a guy named Sam (Nicholas D’Agosto) who, after a brief moment of deja vu, remembers his gruesome vision and drags several of his co-workers off the bridge before the chaos ensues, saving them from their deaths. As a result, “Death,” spends the remainder of the film hunting the survivors -- using a string of complicated setups to reclaim their lives.

Previous movies in the franchise always come up with a “solution” to the deaths to give the characters some motivation. But Final Destination 5, to its credit, offers a more interesting solution, which is that the survivors can kill another person to rid their curse -- this drives the plot and characters forward in a twisted way and is easily my favorite part of the film. I think this is great because when you're five movies deep into a series of films, coming up with new ideas is a smart and necessary thing to do. In fact, this new solution should have been here three films ago. Anyway, it’s a subtle (not over-done) addition that adds an interesting dynamic as well as a few surprises toward the end.

As with the other movies in the series, most of the performances are pretty stiff and the characters are either underdeveloped or fit into cliched categories (jock, class clown, hot girl, etc.). That said, both Nicholas D’Agosto and Miles Fisher do a great job and have surprisingly natural onscreen charisma -- especially given the flat dialogue they’re expected to perform. The rest of the cast is passable, and never really distract from the film -- but don’t make much of an impression, either. Most of the characters, as expected, are just there so they can include even more gruesome deaths.

And at this point we better talk about the reason we all go to see these movies; the deaths. Thankfully, the deaths this time around are much less comical than the series' last outing. Instead of a string of complicated scenarios -- Final Destination 5 finds some intriguing ways to keep the tension at an all time high, which is surprising, but it actually works! The deaths are especially effective here because there’s a different approach to each one. Each one keeps the audience invested in the what's going on -- as opposed to just sitting there, waiting for the bloody punchline.

Anyone expecting a fresh and thrilling horror film or anything scary at all will probably be disappointed by Final Destination 5, but at this point, you should know what to expect from the series -- over the top kills. For fans of the series, I think this is arguably the best sequel, so there’s no doubt that despite its shortcomings, Final Destination 5 delivers -- and even has its few surprises, twists and turns.

I'd give Final Destination 5 a 5.9/10

Rise of the Planet of the Apes - Movie Review

2011-08-05T23:35:00.000-07:00

A scientist (James Franco) is working on a cure for Alzheimer's by performing tests on apes and his first subject is a chimp, named Caesar (Andy Serkis). The cure not only repairs brain cells, but it genetically modifies Caesar's way of thinking to create a new breed of ape with human-like intelligence. Caesar learns about things quickly and shows much progress, but human authority orders him to be locked up. He eventually proves to be smart enough to escape from his cage and releases an airborne-strain of the cure among thousands of other apes locked with him, making them highly intelligent as well. Thousands of apes begin to instigate revolution.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes is easily the biggest surprise of the summer, and maybe even the year, so far. I honestly thought this movie was just going to feature mindless blurs of monkeys running about, shallow characters, and ultimately turn out to be a very mediocre summer flick at best. But boy, was I wrong.

I'd like to start off with the monkey's themselves in this review. Rise of the Planet of the Apes would not be possible without the work of Weta Digital, the CGI effects company who produced, through motion capture, the remarkably life-like apes. The strongest part of the film, easily, is Caesar’s arc -- which presents an evolution of the character from a reckless and adorable baby chimp to a pensive yet dangerous adolescent very well. The great effects coupled with the astounding performance from Andy Serkis, work together to create one of the most intriguing connections to a computer-generated character that I've, personally, felt in a while.

The human characters, on the other hand, aren’t quite as well realized as the apes. Caesar’s evolution is compelling, but most of the other actors in the film are reduced to very traditional roles. James Franco does a great job of interacting with the CGI Caesar -- as well as showing some believable emotion when needed. However, even a talented actor like Franco is somewhat held-back and is mostly just reacting to the things happening around him -- and isn’t given much room to grow. Freida Pinto does an alright job for what her character's worth, but her and Franco's chemistry, even after being together for 6 years, really lacks. And the same goes for pretty much everyone else. Except I do want to say that I thought Tom Felton did a fantastic job at making the audience hate him.

The action, which mostly takes part in the finale, is very well done and really engaging. I was honestly on the edge of my seat just enjoying the spectacle of the film. Surprisingly though, Rise of the Planet of the Apes is mostly a plodding character drama. So the movie features a number of tense, mostly small-scale, encounters between apes, humans, or even both. And while everything that’s depicted onscreen is interesting, well done, and successfully works to develop Caesar’s character, the film does get bogged-down at times with the overall pacing.

Despite some uninteresting human drama, and so-so supporting characters, Rise of the Planet of the Apes has a surprisingly sincere story and delivers one of the most life-like and honest digital characters I've seen on screen. Everything being taken into account, this is a fantastic summer blockbuster you won't want to miss.

I'd give Rise of the Planet of the Apes a 9/10

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 | Release Date Announced

2011-08-05T23:03:00.000-07:00

The Amazing Spider-Man just released its first teaser trailer less than a month ago and is due in theaters in 2012, but a sequel is already underway. Sony announced today that The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is set to release on May 2, 2014.

Now that we’ve looked ahead 3 years into the future, let’s all take a step back to the present and let the first film of the Marc Webb directed franchise come out first.

The Amazing Spider-Man hits theaters July 3, 2012

Oh, and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 hits theaters May 2, 2012

DARK KNIGHT RISES | First Look At Anne Hathaway As Catwoman!

2011-08-05T02:28:00.001-07:00

The official website for The Dark Knight Rises has been recently updated with a new picture featuring Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle (a.k.a. Catwoman) and a new teaser logo of some sort.

If you'd like to see the image of Anne Hathaway in extremely high quality, you can click the link below.

Picture: http://bit.ly/o2Iofl

You can't see much of her suit in this picture but what we can clearly see are some high-tech looking goggles. I don't know how I feel about those, but who knows, maybe this is the only scene where she wears them. But on the other hand, a first impression is a first impression and I'm not too impressed at all with what I'm seeing, especially those goggles.

Now, I realize this is the case for most of the pictures being released in the last week (both official and taken on set) but, I would really have to her in action before officially judging the way she looks. That said, I'm not too crazy about the way Catwoman looks in The Dark Knight Rises.

What do you think about Catwoman's look? What do you think about Anne Hathaway playing Catwoman?

As soon as I hear anything else about The Dark Knight Rises, I'll let you guys know.

The Dark Knight Rises hits theaters July 20, 2012

SUPERMAN | First Look At Henry Cavill As Superman!

2011-08-04T09:30:00.000-07:00

Today, the first official image from Man of Steel was released and in the picture we get a clear look at Henry Cavill as Superman in full costume. You can check it out, in full size, by clicking the link below.

Picture: http://bit.ly/rs27QO

I don't have any problems with Henry Cavill playing Superman, he really does look the part. I just don't know how I feel about the overall look of him as Superman. His hair looks a little strange. It's all slicked back and comes off as almost villain-like. The texture of his suit is also a bit different than I was expecting. Overall, the suit doesn't look bad, there are no major problems I have with it, but it's nothing too interesting or extremely different either.

I'm going to wait for more pictures or a trailer before I begin to judge the look any more.

As soon as I hear anything else about Man of Steel, I'll let you guys know.

Man of Steel hits theaters June 14, 2013

Another Earth - Movie Review

2011-08-01T00:07:00.000-07:00

Rhoda Williams (Brit Marling), a student recently accepted to MIT, is driving back from a party when she notices a planet on the horizon. Leaning out her window for a better look, she hits a sedan and kills two members of the family in it. She is imprisoned for four years and upon her release, she seeks out the widower of the family, composer John Burroughs (William Mapother).

The planet she saw is a mirror planet of Earth, seemingly to the extent that it even has the same people on it, and an essay contest is held where the winner can ride a space shuttle to visit it. As the planet moves closer to Earth, Rhoda considers the possibility of visiting it to find out what kind of life her mirror self would have led. Meanwhile, she is developing an increasingly intimate relationship with John without revealing her true identity to him.

Most science fiction films from this year have been about explosions, aliens, robots, and a focus on entertainment, but Another Earth is a movie about thoughts. While the film may not "do it" for everyone, people who are interested in seeing a reflective, thoughtful film will be satisfied.

All of the performances in the film are very raw and honest, especially from the two leads. But, if there is a problem that sticks out with the film, it comes with the love story, which is just kind of empty and uninteresting. Because of the tone and nature of the film's story, when our two main characters begin to have an emotional connection, I felt that the film began to feel a little disjointed. In a film that focuses so much on the relationship of two characters, this would be completely damning, but there is enough good about the film that this can be forgiven.

Another Earth is a small, quiet movie and is easily one of the more creative indie films I've seen in a long time. Or at least the last few years. Some may be left wanting a little more given the intriguing possibilities, and I understand that feeling, but with the right expectations and mindset going in, the movie will end up sticking with you.

I'd give Another Earth an 8/10

Cowboys & Aliens - Movie Review

2011-07-28T22:46:00.000-07:00

I have not read the Cowboys & Aliens graphic novel, although I did just recently buy it and do plan on reading it soon. That said, I knew absolutely nothing about Cowboys & Aliens other than its plot and what's shown in the trailers. I was pretty excited for this movie because of it's wild premise, all-star cast, and director, Jon Favreau. And after months of following the film, I've finally seen Cowboys & Aliens.

In Cowboys & Aliens a loner named Jake Lonergan (Daniel Craig) awakens with no memory of his past and a mysterious, metal brace around his wrist in 1800's Arizona. He enters the town of Absolution where he learns that he is a notorious criminal wanted by many people, including a Colonel (Harrison Ford), who rules the town with an iron fist. Absolution soon faces an even greater threat when alien spaceships attack the town. While his shackle holds the key to defeating the aliens, Lonergan must ally with the Colonel and other former enemies to make a stand against them.

The best thing I can say about Cowboys & Aliens is that it looks beautiful. For a film that attempts to infuse sci-fi elements in a classic western film, director Jon Favreau will surely make people feel comfortable with the iconic look of the film. Beyond that though, Cowboys & Aliens is just a major disappointment. It's a lifeless film that is plot driven and filled with plot holes, surface characters, and underdeveloped, uninteresting relationships that are pretty much nonexistent.

Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford's performances are overly stoic and almost totally devoid of personality. Neither distinguishes themselves as an individual and the film suffers for it. It feels like nothing's ever at stake with these characters because you just don't care for them. I felt like I couldn't root for Craig's character at all because all he does is beat people up (he has hardly any dialogue in the film, too!). Over the course of the film, we’re never even given any good moments between Craig and Ford. Instead, the film is only concerned with getting from point A to B and nothing else.

Of course, there are some attempts at character development. We get elements of each character’s back story and some explanations of things, but the screenplay constantly tells us these things instead of letting us figure them out for ourselves and I hate when movies do that. On top of that, the movie is so filled with cliches that it's not only like watching a bad western, it is a bad western. And as for the sci-fi side of the film, it's really nothing too impressive or new. The aliens are hulking CG blobs and their weaponry and forms of transportation are equally uninteresting.

The action is alright but like I said, it's hard to enjoy action when you feel like nothing is at stake and when you don't have a character to root for.

With such an amazing cast and crew (in addition to Favreau, the film is produced by Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard and Brian Grazer) the fact that Cowboys & Aliens is not really good is one of the biggest disappointments of the year.

I'd give Cowboys & Aliens a 4.5/10

Friends With Benefits - Movie Review

2011-07-28T21:30:00.000-07:00

In No Strings Attached, Ashton Kutche-- Sorry. In Friends With Benefits, a young female headhunter (Mila Kunis) in New York convinces a potential recruit (Justin Timberlake) to accept a job in the Big Apple. Despite an attraction to each other, both realize they're everything they've been running from in a relationship and decide to see what happens if they leave emotion out of it and keep it strictly physical.

Friends With Benefits is just a dumb movie. I was expecting this movie to be a lot better because I actually really like the director Will Gluck, but I'm not sure why I like Will Gluck because the films that he makes aren't films I normally would go out and see. His first movie, Fired Up, I thought was great because it was an incredibly goofy movie that was self-aware and knew it was stupid but just didn't take itself seriously in the slightest. His next film, Easy A, which came out just last year, was good but took itself a bit too seriously and on top of that, I think was extremely overrated. Now of course, we have Friends With Benefits and this one takes itself way too seriously for what it's worth.

Something that confuses me about this film is that it's extremely cliche and predictable, but the problem is that Will Gluck seems to really hate cliches. In Easy A and now Friends With Benefits he seems to mock and poke fun at cliches in romantic comedies. But then I don't know if this is some meta-cliche or I'm missing something but he returns to the same cliches later on in the film and expects the audience to take those parts of the movie seriously. It comes off as just plain stupid and makes for a very uninteresting, boring rom-com.

My two main issues with the film are the acting and the writing. Ouch. Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis have, for the most part, played supporting characters in movies and that's all they've really done. Now they are the lead characters in a movie and that seems to be a problem. The whole movie, they are just acting like the coolest people in the universe and I don't know if I should be putting the blame completely on those two but boy, it bugged the crap out of me and is extremely infuriating and frustrating to watch. They have these constant witty comebacks that come off as so unrealistic and are just mind-boggling! They act so nonchalant about everything and the whole entire film seems fake.

The movie tries too damn hard to be funny and occasionally it does succeed. Woody Harrelson is very enjoyable, Shaun White's cameos are just incredible, and there are a few other scenes in the movie that are funny, but other than that you're probably just going to walk out disappointed. But of course, if you think I'm looking way too into it and you just want to see Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis have sex and act silly for an hour and 47 minutes then you're going to have a blast and you're going to think it's the greatest movie of all time. But I wanted to see a movie that I actually thought was going to be funny from a director who has promise as well as a cast who has promise. And of course, the comparison is inevitable, so I've gotta tell you, No Strings Attached was better (even though they were both pretty lame).

I'd give Friends With Benefits a 3/10

Captain America: The First Avenger - Movie Review

2011-07-22T23:30:00.000-07:00

Captain America: The First Avenger is the final film from Marvel leading into next summer's The Avengers and after waiting in line for two hours for an advance screening at San Diego Comic-Con, I've finally seen Captain America.

Captain America: The First Avenger follows the story of Steve Rogers, a very skinny, short guy who has always wanted to join the army and fight for our country. But due to his numerous physical conditions and scrawny build he's unable to do so. Fortunately enough for him, a man discovers Steve, sees potential in him and gives him the opportunity to undergo an experiment that turns him into a "super-soldier" making him widely known as America's #1 hero, Captain America.

Captain America is a movie that does almost everything right – character, tone, acting, action – and yet, it somehow comes off as being just good, rather than amazing. That’s not an insult by any means; Joe Johnston does a very admirable job creating the period setting and does an excellent job with the action. He mastered the tone of this film, there's plenty of great set pieces and all in all I think Johnston did a good job with Captain America.

Like I said, the acting is very good in this movie. Chris Evans is great as Steve Rogers. He gives just the right amount of seriousness and sentimentality, he's likable, and I still bought that he was the same scrawny dude we got to know at the beginning of the film, but much... taller. Hugo Weaving plays the movie's villain, Red Skull, and while the character himself is really poorly-developed, Weaving just does a terrific job at playing a villain that isn't too menacing but does look and sound great. Tommy Lee Jones and Stanley Tucci also provide strong performances to really well-written characters.

Now, I'm aware this is a superhero movie that takes place in the 1940's but this movie is incredibly cheesy. There's a lot of areas of the film that have really predictable, really poorly written dialogue and it almost made the film feel a bit disjointed. And another problem I had with the film was that it felt incredibly rushed. the beginning is well paced and the characters are well developed but then right as the second act kicks in the film seems to zoom through very important scenes including the "epic" battle between Cap and Red Skull which, as you can probably tell, was very anti-climactic.

Some of the special effects were very bad in this film. There were vehicles that looked straight out of a Pixar film and people flying through the air (obviously) on wires. And the 3D, while not bad at all, was completely unnecessary. You won't be missing out if you catch a 2D showing of this, that's for sure.

Everything being taken into account, Captain America: The First Avenger was an enjoyable set up for a character that we'll be seeing again soon. It's fun in plenty of places but overall, is just alright in my opinion. There's a lot done right here but not all of it is executed as well as I had hoped. But before I forget, stay after the credits for something special.

I'm going to give Captain America: The First Avenger a 6.6/10

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN | Teaser Trailer Leaked!

2011-07-19T01:48:00.000-07:00

This past week has just been filled with trailer leaks for highly anticipated movies, and we have yet another, a bootleg version of The Amazing Spider-Man teaser. If you want to see the teaser trailer you can click the link below.

The Amazing Spider-Man - Official Teaser Trailer: http://bit.ly/qeoSX9

A week ago, a description for this teaser (as well as The Dark Knight Rises teaser) was released and unlike The Dark Knight Rises teaser, this trailer is completely different than its description. The trailer, from what I can see of it, looks very good. I loved all of the first-person stuff at the end and Andrew Garfield looks great as Peter Parker. I think they'll be showing this trailer at Sony's The Amazing Spider-Man panel at San Diego Comic-Con this Friday and it will most likely be released officially by the end of this month.

And just like The Avengers trailer, I'm sure this will either get removed by the user or by Sony very quickly. So, if you miss it, I'm sorry. I'll try to update the link as much as I can.

I'll have to watch the trailer more to give you guys my final opinion, but for now, it's got me excited but at the same time makes me feel strange, because I feel like I'm not 100% ready for a non-Raimi Spidey yet. Especially after seeing footage.

Any way, what do you think about the teaser?

As soon as I hear anything else about The Amazing Spider-Man, I'll let you guys know.

The Amazing Spider-Man hits theaters July 3, 2012

TOY STORY 4 | John Lasseter Admits Toy Story 4 Might Happen

2011-07-18T16:43:00.000-07:00

John Lasseter was being interviewed by BBC pretty recently about Cars 2, and he was asked about Toy Story 4 and... he didn't deny it. And he was quite nervous and awkward while trying to form a response to the question and said, "we haven't announced anything so, we can't really talk about" and then, continued on talking about Cars 2. You can click the link below to see his response.

John Lasseter's response: http://dai.ly/pTtxWX (His response starts at around the 1:19 mark)

A few weeks ago Tom Hanks was asked about a possible fourth Toy Story movie and his response was something along the lines of, "Yeah, yeah, their working on it, yeah." So of course, I, along with most people thought he was referring to the short in front of Cars 2 or he didn't know what he was talking about and just gave a rushed response. But now we can almost confirm he told something he shouldn't have been telling to the public.

Now, I love all three Toy Story movies very much, but I would hate for Pixar to ruin a perfect ending by adding in a fourth one. I'm sure the movie would be good, great even, I'm not worried about that, but it would just feel out of place. They should just leave Toy Story alone! It's just completely unnecessary! And Pixar should just stick with making original films for a while, as apposed to all of these sequels.

As soon as I hear anything else about Toy Story 4, I'll let you guys know.

THE AVENGERS | Official Teaser Trailer Leaked!

2011-07-17T22:52:00.000-07:00

I've got a unbelievable bit of news tonight. The official teaser trailer for next year's The Avengers has been leaked online. I believe this will be the after credits scene for Captain America which is coming out this Friday, so it won't be long before we'll be seeing this again. You can check it out right now by clicking the link below.

The Avengers - Official Teaser Trailer: http://bit.ly/rcUlbe

I think the trailer is pretty great even though it's kind of tough to make out everything because it's obviously a screen being filmed by a video camera. It's really awesome to see all of these superheroes together on screen though and it's got me excited to see more about The Avengers in the future, that's for sure. And it's kind of strange that two HUGE movie trailers were leaked this week. Lucky us :)

Now, I don't know how long the video will be available to watch before it's removed because like I said, it was leaked, not officially released by Marvel. So they will most likely take it down as soon as they can. If you miss it, I'm sorry but I just wanted to let you guys know about this.

I'll be doing updates on the latest movie news now, as well as my regular movie reviews, so look forward to more news about The Avengers and other upcoming films.

The Avengers hits theaters on May 4, 2012

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 - Movie Review

2011-07-15T19:39:00.000-07:00

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 is nearly impossible to review as a standalone film. And that's because it's just is not a standalone film (rather the second half of a story) while also serving as the closing chapter to a movie franchise that has spanned eight films over the course of ten years, and become part of a worldwide phenomenon celebrated by fans across the globe. I think it's more fitting to call it "a cinematic experience” rather than your average summer blockbuster. And now, after seeing the highly anticipated conclusion at midnight, it's finally time to say goodbye to our dear friend, Harry Potter.

So, taking that all into account, it’s easy to see why the majority of moviegoers and mainly Potter fanatics will be headed to the theater to see Deathly Hallows: Part 2 with hardly any to no regard for what critics have had to say about it. But of course, the two questions worthy to address are: does this chapter end the series on a strong, or at least satisfying note? And is Deathly Hallows: Part 2 a good movie in its own right? The answer to both questions is a resounding yes.

In my Deathly Hallows: Part 1 review, I said that one issue with that film was the static nature of the story, which saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione engaged in a lot of very "in tents" situations, meaning there was a whole lot of down time. And while I actually really enjoyed the film, it didn't completely satisfy me and just left me wanting more. It was a necessary sacrifice, because properly setting the stage for the epic final showdown should require such a film. One could then expect that Deathly Hallows: Part 2 would be a non-stop action thrill-ride – and while the movie definitely moves at a very quick pace, and features many action-packed scenes, I was actually pleasantly surprised by how well presented it actually was.

When you have a battle that covers the majority of the movie’s runtime, there’s a big risk that you will wear out your audience and lose their interest. You can only have wizards cast spells at each other for so long, right? Thankfully Part 2 avoids the problem with its much improved pacing. A problem with the last 3 films, all directed by David Yates, was the pacing. But here, the battles are paced so that you really start getting wrapped up in the action, but when needed, a character can get their shining moment or there will even be a quick joke thrown in. And when it’s time to break away from the action entirely for some drama, the transition is never jarring and it all just worked out nicely. That does reminds me though; almost every minor character has their time to shine in this film and it's incredibly satisfying and sometimes hilarious.

And of course, by now, most people will be so deeply invested in these characters that they don't care if the performances are bad but, to no surprise, they're very good in this movie. Watching Radcliffe, Watson and Grint is just moving, given where they began this franchise and how they’ve matured as young people, characters, and actors since the first films. The trio close off their roles pretty well, with Radcliffe in particular showing an extremely brave side of Harry. Sadly, Ron and Hermione are shoved to the side a bit and hardly have anything to do in the film. Seriously, at the moment, I can't remember a single word Ron actually said in the film... Which is a shame.

But my favorite character of the whole series, Snape... This is his film. Alan Rickman does an incredible job with Snape in this movie and honestly, I want to go back and see this movie just to relive some of his scenes for a second time. Ralph Fiennes is also given a bit more to do this time, as Voldemort shows more depth than we’ve ever seen from him. He's evil, sick, and at times even funny. Every time a Horcrux is destroyed, Ralph Fiennes manages to show a wonderfully understated bit of humanity and vulnerability that we haven't quite seen in Voldemort yet.

A lot of the film's faults are ones carried on from previous film. The pacing can be quite jarring at times and a lot of scenes seem incredibly rushed and hard to follow. And being the finale, there's a lot of deaths in the film, and some of them are so rushed that I wasn't as emotionally effected by them as I had wished. And of course, there are a few things I didn't like in the film that I can't discuss because I'd be spoiling the film for you. But I will say that I wasn't a big fan of the scene in the trailer where Harry jumps off of the castle with Voldemort. That was just stupid.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 is the grandest of finales. I’m not sure if Deathly Hallows will work as one giant, five-hour epic, but I expect that it will. The individual pieces are so strong—the direction, the performances, and all the technical aspects—that only the pacing would be an issue. But I’m not reviewing them as one huge movie here. This is my Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 review, a movie that is exhilarating, emotionally powerful, uplifting, magical, and all in all ends up being a solid conclusion to a magical series of films.

I'm going to give Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 an 8.8/10

Horrible Bosses - Movie Review

2011-07-08T21:56:00.000-07:00

Horrible Bosses was one movie I was really looking forward to seeing and weirdly enough, a majority of my friends weren't looking forward to it at all. I had the feeling right after I saw the trailer that this movie was going to surprise people who weren't expecting anything special from it. I say this because I knew what all of these comedic actors are capable of, and I think each of them are funny in their own right. And sure enough, I think I might be right because, I, going in with high expectations, loved Horrible Bosses.

Horrible Bosses follows three friends (Jason Batemen, Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis) who all hate their bosses (Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Aniston, Colin Ferrel), for good reasons. Each of them feel that having their bosses taken out of their daily lives would make living much more easy. Quitting is not an option, so, with the benefit of a few-too-many drinks and some advice from a hustling ex-con (Jamie Foxx), the three friends devise a convoluted and seemingly foolproof plan to rid themselves of their respective bosses… Killing them.

And before I go any further with my praise, I'd like to say that I can totally understand why some people might not like this film. Before you go out to see it, just know that you're going to have to suspend your disbelief and just go with the movie's outlandish premise. I can see people coming out of this movie saying that they thought it was stupid or unrealistic, but I personally think that the film handled it's crazy storyline very well because the movie doesn't take itself seriously whatsoever and like I said, neither should you.

For an R-rated comedy, the humor doesn’t always have to be about shock value and gross-out gags, and not to say I don't like shock value and gross-out humor, but I prefer a comedy that has some genius to it. And thankfully, Horrible Bosses has creative, funny dialogue, a great script, and fantastic performances. It’s yet another major R-rated summer comedy and it's easily my favorite one so far, knocking Bridesmaids into second place. Horrible Bosses offers a tighter, sharper narrative that focuses on delivering non-stop jokes and keeping the plot in motion, so by the end, you're left wanting more. And that's a really good thing.

But more than its pacing, Horrible Bosses stands out because every actor is working at the top of their game. Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, and Jason Sudeikis each maintain their own style of funny but find a way to make those styles work with each other and form a great chemistry. Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Aniston, and Colin Farrell are fantastic at playing the horrible bosses with Colin Farrell and, especially, Jennifer Aniston getting to show audiences a new side of their acting talents. Kevin Spacey does a great job as well, he certainly does a good job at making the audience hate him.

Another reason I think this movie just works is because every actor knows how to work with each other in the context of the story. In scenes between Jennifer Aniston and Charlie Day, it makes no sense for Charlie Day to play his character wild because Jennifer Aniston has him put under a lot of pressure. Instead, he takes a step back, and lets Aniston run the show and it works very well. That comic balance runs throughout Horrible Bosses and makes for a whole bunch of laughs. And before I forget, Horrible Bosses is really unpredictable and at times even plays more like a thriller with all of the twists and turns and laugh-out-loud surprises.

Horrible Bosses has a terrific script filled with memorable jokes and an all-star cast giving it their all. But the humor truly comes alive and sticks in your mind when delivered by such talented people who give it their all and make every joke work. Although the trio have good chemistry I just didn't completely buy that they were all good friends, maybe because a friendship was never really established until after each of the characters had already been introduced. And there's a few points where the movie lost my interest for a minute or so, but I was never bored because of how fast-paced and how much fun it was.

I'm going to give Horrible Bosses an 8.3/10

Bad Teacher - Movie Review

2011-07-02T15:48:00.001-07:00

Unlike most people, I was not particularly dreading the release of Bad Teacher. It looked to be a good time at the movies, but then again, it could've easily been a train wreck. I had so-so expectations for this movie. That said, I was going to pass on Bad Teacher and see it when it would be available to rent. But the opportunity presented itself this afternoon to get out and see a movie, and I went to see Bad Teacher.

Bad Teacher is about a superficial, self-centered, miserable woman named Elizabeth Halsey (Cameron Diaz) who gets dumped by her fiance after finishing her first year "teaching". Without a fall-back plan and barely any cash to support herself, she returns to her teaching gig and once again actively strives to suck at her job by showing movies to her students while she sleeps. Then one day a substitute teacher (Justin Timberlake) starts at the school, and since he's interested in the teacher who keeps getting in Ms. Halsey's way (Lucy Punch), she decides that the best way to win his affection is to get herself a boob job. And since she can't afford them, she ups her game and takes it upon herself to cheat, lie and skank her way to the top in the hopes of getting the bonus that comes with being the Best Teacher of the Year.

One of Bad Teacher's biggest faults is it's characters. Each of the characters are seriously strange, and the movie has a lot more, "Wait... What?" type of chuckles than genuine laughs. And, being that the characters are so extremely insane, it made it hard for me to like any of the characters at all. In fact, Elizabeth, the bad teacher was the character who made the most sense and felt most human out of all of them. The best example of this overacting is Lucy Punch as the rival teacher, Amy Squirrel; she has an undeniable talent for playing weird, but not in a way that steals the show. Her character, among others, just bugged the crap out of me.

And as for the script, it's fairly predictable, it's not all that quotable, and you can get the whole gist of what's gonna down from the trailer, including who Cameron Diaz will end up with in the end of the film. On top of that, it could have been way more bad, like it's title suggests. Since this thing was already pushing for an R-rating, it's kind of disappointing to see it hold back so much. It's strange how the funniest scene of the movie ended up being shared between Ms. Halsey's roommate played by Eric Stonestreet and the head of state testing played by Thomas Lennon, especially since it lasts about two minutes and has hardly anything to do with the film's actual story.

It's not that Bad Teacher is completely "un-enjoyable" or anything -- it does have a few chuckles and some charm -- there are just way too many punch lines that fall flat on their faces and nothing to balance out everything else that's trying too hard. Bad Teacher had some potential but ended up being entirely forgettable. And that is why this is such a short review because I just straight up did not like this film, and that's that.

I'm going to give Bad Teacher a 4.5/10

July - Summer Movie Preview

2011-06-29T16:14:00.000-07:00

If you're new, this is the third part of a four part series of about 2011's summer movie lineup. This post covers the month July, my birthday month.

To start out July, on the 8th we've got yet another summer comedy, Horrible Bosses. Three friends conspire to murder their awful bosses when they realize they are standing in the way of their happiness. To be honest, I really did think the trailer for this was very funny. Audiences seem to really like it and I'm actually somewhat excited for this movie. And you never know which summer comedy is going to breakout and be a sleeper hit so we'll have to wait and see if it's any good but for now, I've liked what I've seen.

Also coming out on the 8th, similar to that of Mr. Popper's Penguins, we have a family comedy starring a human and a bunch of animals in Zookeeper. The animals at one particular zoo decide to break their code of silence in order to help their zookeeper (Kevin James) gain the attention of a love interest. This just looks completely stupid to me. I'm most likely not even going to see this one and unless you have kids, I wouldn't expect you to see it either.

Hitting theaters on the 15th, we've got Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. This is the big finale to the Harry Potter franchise. Harry, Ron, and Hermione go back to Hogwarts to destroy Voldemort’s last remaining horcruxes, but when Voldemort finds out about their plan, the biggest battle begins. I never, ever use this word but it seems appropriate when describing this film; this movie is going to be the epic. What else is there to say? I'll be there at midnight.

Also coming out on the 15th, we've got Winnie The Pooh. The beloved honey-loving Bear and his friends are back with a new big-screen film in glorious 2D. I don't think I was ever big on Winnie The Pooh as a child but for those of you who were/are, how can seeing Winnie the Pooh back on the big screen NOT fill you with emotion and a sense of nostalgia? This should be a good time for fans both young and old.

On the 22nd, we've got yet another Marvel superhero flick and it's Captain America: The First Avenger. After being deemed unfit for military service, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) volunteers for a top secret research project that turns him into Captain America, a superhero dedicated to defending America’s ideals. With the talents of Samuel L. Jackson, Hugo Weaving, Stanley Tucci, and Tommy Lee Jones featured in the film, how can I not be excited for this? The first official trailer for Captain America was not too impressive for a couple reasons but mainly because they hardly spent any time focusing on Chris Evans as Captain America. Overall, I'm still really pumped for this one. It could be a whole lot of fun.

Friends with Benefits comes out the same weekend and it follows the relationship between two friends (Mila Kunis, Justin Timberlake) as things gets complicated when they decide to get romantic. This is essentially a re-telling of the film No Strings Attached, which came out this January. I'm honestly looking forward to seeing how this movie is going to compare to No Strings Attached (hopefully it will be better). And if you are fan of this kind of rom-com sub-genre, then Friends With Benefits (and its two attractive leads) should be a fun time at the movies for you.

Cowboys and Aliens comes out the 29th and this is one I'm really looking forward to. A spaceship arrives in Arizona, 1873, to take over the Earth, starting with the Wild West region. Now, first off, this movie has an all-star cast with Daniel Craig, Olivia Wilde, Sam Rockwell, and even Harrison Ford. And sadly, I've noticed many of my friends and plenty of people on the internet getting discouraged by the silly title of the film. But I have faith in Jon Favreau because he seems to have done a proper genre mashup that will be both pleasing as a Western and a Sci-Fi flick. The trailers are awesome and have certainly made the film look like it should be some good summer fun.

Out on the same day as Cowboys and Aliens, we've got Crazy Stupid Love. Crazy Stupid Love is about a father’s (Steve Carrell) life that unravels while he deals with a marital crisis and tries to manage his relationship with his children. From the description, this doesn't seem like the funniest of movies but from the trailers, apparently it's going for laughs. An odd-couple like Ryan Gosling and Steve Carell is just crazy enough to work for me and the trailer did squeeze a belly laugh out of me, so that is a plus. With a supporting cast like this one (Emma Stone, Kevin Bacon, Marrissa Tomei, and Juliane Moore), you can bet that this film will deliver some bits of goodness to close out the month of July.

As for box office, there are three standouts for this month. Obviously, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 is going to make millions and possibly break the billion mark considering it's the final Harry Potter film. Not only are fans new and old going to see it but it's also in 3D so that's an extra $3 per admission. So, with out a doubt I think this will be #1 for July but Captain America is going to make a lot of money too because it's a superhero movie and all. And let's not forget that once word of mouth gets around for Cowboys and Aliens, I think it will make a lot of extra cash in its second weekend increasing on what it made in its first weekend which I'm not expecting to be too big.

And yeah, that's pretty much it for this month. Please feel free to comment on this letting me know if you're excited for any of these films I mentioned and be sure to come back for my August preview which will be up some time next month Thanks!

Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Movie Review

2011-06-28T15:08:00.000-07:00

I loved the first Transformers. I despised the sequel, Revenge of the Fallen. I'd like to begin by saying, this movie, Dark of the Moon, is worlds better than Revenge of the Fallen. And here's my review.

For anyone unfamiliar with franchise - Dark of the Moon centers around the '60s space race. According to this film, it was actually a response to a downed Autobot ship, The Ark, which crash-landed on the moon back in '61. As a result, the Apollo 11 mission wasn’t just about getting to the moon before the Soviets – it was primarily a mission to investigate and recover the technology in the Ark. When a piece of recovered Transformers machinery hints at the Ark’s location, The Autobots and their human allies -- Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf), Lt. Colonel Lennox (Josh Duhamel), Agent Simmons (John Turturro), and Carly Spencer (Rosie Huntington-Whiteley) -- are forced to confront a larger Decepticon plot that could potentially lead to the annihilation of both the Autobots and the entire human race.

I think that pretty much all of Dark of the Moon's faults are the same problems the other Transformers movies have had. The pacing in this movie is just a mess considering I was bored out of my mind in the first half of this movie. The first half of this movie is essentially just trying to develop Shia LaBeouf's character through showing him trying to get a job and going to interviews and it's completely unnecessary and just added absolutely nothing to the film. And speaking of character development, that's another huge fault of the film because after three of these movies, I'm still not involved with any characters (human or robot). And of course, the terrible humor is back, and even more painful to stomach than ever.

The performances in Dark of the Moon aren't necessarily bad, considering you've got some big name stars, but it's really the characters that are the problem. Surprisingly, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley is a welcome improvement as Sam's love interest – though her actual character, Carly, has less of an edge than Megan Fox’s character. For the most part, despite her professional success, Carly is relegated to damsel in distress – where Megan Fox's character was presented as more of a companion for Sam. John Malkovich, Ken Jeong, and Alan Tudyk join the franchise to provide comic relief, alongside the returning John Turturro, who is less over-the-top this round but still pretty damn annoying. Oh, and also, Frances McDormand and Patrick Dempsy are in the film and they both do great jobs for what their character's are worth.

While some moviegoers might wish for the film to speed past the failed attempts at storytelling, the wait will undoubtedly be worth it: the final 45 minutes of Dark of the Moon is total chaos, with the coolest visuals this year. The trailers for the movie do give-away some of the more awe-inspiring moments; however, they also held back plenty of footage that provide audiences with a number of great battle sequences. Michael Bay also improves upon a major problem with the prior installments – frantic, dizzy camera work that turned epic set-pieces into swirls of clashing metal blobs. Dark of the Moon features a set of slow-motion action shots which, in any other movie, may seem overused. But here, the slow-motion allows for moviegoers to really hone-in on the visuals (which look really impressive in 3D).

And I think this is the first time you'll hear me say this but, see it in 3D. At times, the 3D is wasted on static shots of humans talking in an office building; however, when the action starts up, it’s easy to see how filmmakers can offer a 3D experience worthy of the added 3 bucks -- if they know how to use the format as well as Michael Bay does.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon is bogged down by plenty of plot-holes, some poor development in some of the new robot additions to the cast (as well as returning humans), and a run time that is just too damn long -- but in a summer that’s been punctuated by huge disappointments, Dark of the Moon delivers the best action all summer. Those looking for a coherent plot and characters you care about, look elsewhere.

I'm going to give Transformers: Dark of the Moon a 5/10

Cars 2 - Movie Review

2011-06-24T21:39:00.000-07:00

It’s been five years since Cars was released and now director, and legend, John Lasseter is back (with help from co-director Brad Lewis) to direct Cars 2. The original Cars film was a huge success with merchandising (merchandise alone brought in billions) and an enormous hit with the very young audiences; however, while Cars may have captured the attention of children... In terms of storytelling and that Pixar magic we all know and love, the film was nearly forgettable – and featured some of the most one-note, least-likable Pixar characters to date. The general public and critic's consensus was (for the most part) mixed – especially for a Pixar film.

Despite the mixed reaction from the older audience, there’s no doubt that Cars is one of the more popular Pixar brands when it comes to children, so I wasn’t too surprised when I heard Cars 2 was in the works back in 2008. The film was scheduled to come out in summer 2012 – and then bumped forward to 2011 for no apparent reason. John Lasseter and Brad Lewis made sure that Cars 2 would be an adventure on a much bigger scale – an adventure that would appeal to a wider audience beyond children. And well, did it?

The story focuses on the continued friendship of Lightning McQueen and Mater, as McQueen enters the World Grand Prix. Following the events of the first, McQueen has become huge star among racecars in the world, which has put stress on his friendship with Mater. When Mater’s hijinks cause McQueen to lose the first race in Tokyo to his rival, the tow truck decides to return home to Radiator Springs. However, before he can board a flight back home, Mater is mistaken for a CIA agent undercover, and is swept-up in an international tale of espionage and mystery that not only threatens the Grand Prix racers and Lightning McQueen – but the fate of all car-kind.

Unfortunately, despite some decent additions to the cast, solid action sequences, and a slightly more interesting central plot, Cars 2 still has it's problems, and a lot of those problems were problems that existed in its first outing back in 2006 -- specifically the series’ leads, Lightning McQueen and Mater (Owen Wilson and Larry the Cable Guy). Sure, the film is for the child demo, but this is Pixar we're talking about here. Everyone's aware that Pixar are pros at what they do and with a growing number of Pixar films that contain mature subject matter (Up) and well-written, sophisticated characters (Toy Story, Wall-E), that work together to tell a story that both adults and kids will love; we're really expecting a lot from this studio. But the excessive slapstick humor, shallow relationships and characters in Cars 2 seem like a big step backwards for Pixar. But given the fact that this is Pixar, a step big backward means that instead of a great animated film, Cars 2 is just a mediocre, slightly below average animated film (at best).

Cars 2 actually switches gears, and hands over lead character duties to the sidekick, Tow Mater – with Lightning McQueen serving in a supporting role and nearly every other returning Cars character sitting in the pits adding hardly anything to the narrative. Shoving all the prior characters aside leaves very little room for McQueen to do anything but just react and complain about Mater and this is a big flaw. Cars 2 is partly about the evolving relationship between the main two characters; unfortunately, the film does very little to make McQueen a particularly likable character (a problem from the first installment) and McQueen seems to tolerate Mater not actually enjoy his company, which doesn't help with the "ups and downs of friendship" part of story.

The film’s other message is: be yourself. This is kind of tough because Mater is an obnoxious and out-of-control character that, while is most of the time likable, just causes trouble and is ultimately a nuisance for everyone around him. It’s just hard to connect this with Mater, who spends most of his time acting out: tipping cows, disrupting other cars, and failing to listen to the instructions and/or needs of others. I expected to say that Mater’s slapstick and hijinks will be a a hit with kids; but neither kids nor adults were laughing in this movie, not even at Mater's goofiness. And especially for a Pixar movie that aims for the young child demographic, I can't help but mark that as a flaw. And speaking of humor, for the adults and teens, there's a handful of "Oh, that's clever" moments but other than that, I wasn't laughing too much.

Aside from a somewhat hard to understand lesson about alternative fuels, John Lasseter brings in a number of improved story ideas that make the film a lot more enjoyable for anyone who can't get into the characters, specifically. John Turturro is really good as McQueen’s rival, Francesco, adding a little fun and heart to the less interesting race aspect of the story, which I wasn't even a fan of in the first one. And while the relationship between Mater and Holley Shiftwell (Emily Mortimer) is extremely forced, Holley has more to offer to the film than McQueen’s love interest did in the first. And Michael Caine lends his voice to one of Pixar’s best characters of recent films: British secret agent, Finn McMissile (an Aston Martin, which is an obvious nod to James Bond). Not only does the character and his storyline mix-up the series' formula, but watching Finn in action almost made the movie for me.

The technical aspects of the film are, to no surprise, extremely well done. Set pieces look great, all the little details are fun to look at, and those solely looking for a well-animated film will definitely walk away with something. Since the film is entirely computer animated, the addition of 3D is competent compared to most 3D movies – however, I didn't see it in 3D, but I'm sure it's fine so if you think it'd be worth the extra money, go for it.

Overall, Cars 2 is weighed down by the same shortcomings of the first film. Sequences that feature McMissile are somewhat compelling – with exciting action and clever references, whereas the more traditional racing storyline seem forced into Cars 2 simply to present some sense familiarity or continuity, especially for the kids who loved the first one. I'm sure most kids will love this installment, too – however, older moviegoers who felt as if Cars may not have been one of Pixar’s best, might be as equally unenthusiastic about this one.

I'm going to give Cars 2 a 6/10

I'd also just like to add that this movie made me think how much better it would've been if The Incredibles 2 happened to be 2011's Pixar film. It's just such a more worthy and deserving sequel that still has yet to be made. At least we have Monsters University coming out in 2013 and hopefully next year's Brave, being an original creation and not a sequel, will be a breath of fresh air.

Green Lantern - Movie Review

2011-06-18T12:01:00.000-07:00

Before seeing Green Lantern, I knew nothing about the character. I'm honestly more of a Marvel guy than a DC guy, and even then I don't know every single one of the Marvel character's either. That said, when I saw the first trailer, I thought the film looked very lame. They showed off too much of the comedy in the film and overall, it was just a poorly put together trailer. And then they released a 4-minute long trailer at Wondercon that blew me away and brought my hopes up and everything since then has been well put together and very convincing. Just a few days before this film was released, a slew of negative reviews were coming in so I started to feel a bit skeptical but at the same time, I held my ground and continued being excited for it. So, after seeing it, I'm glad to say that it's not as bad as people are making it seem. The reviews are much more harsh than I think it deserves.

Green Lantern focuses on a gifted and cocky test pilot named Hal (Ryan Reynolds). Green Lanterns have little respect for humans, who have never harnessed the infinite powers of the ring before. But Hal is clearly the missing piece to the puzzle, and along with his determination and willpower, he has one thing no member of the Corps has ever had: humanity. With the encouragement of fellow pilot and childhood sweetheart Carol Ferris (Blake Lively), if Hal can quickly master his new powers and find the courage to overcome his fears, he may prove to be not only the key to defeating Parallax he will become the greatest Green Lantern of all.

Green Lantern definitely has some major pros and some pretty major cons. One of my favorite parts of the movie is the acting, which is very good. My personal favorite in the film, very easily, is Peter Sarsgaard. I thought that his role as Hector Hammond was perfectly cast and I wish the movie was longer just so his character had more room to develop (this is a big flaw in the movie with every character actually), even though he was pretty well developed for what the movie's worth. Ryan Reynolds plays his usual kind of character, but it actually seemed perfect for this role, so that works out very well. Blake Lively is a big downfall for this movie, and I don't know if it was her, the writing, or a little bit of both, but her performance just wasn't very good. But this reminds me, the writing was very bad. Although there were plenty of plotholes, story-wise, the storytelling wasn't that bad, but the dialogue just stood out and was easily one of the movies biggest flaws.

And plotholes are a huge issue here as well. When you see the movie, pick out all the times where characters go places or do things, without any firmly established motivation or a reason to do so. How does Hal Jordan, doubting himself as a Lantern, know to show up for his first fight with Hector Hammond? Suddenly he just appears in that lab, no explanation of why or how. And the same thing goes with his little trips to space and even some of his interactions with other characters. It would be fine if it was only one plothole but there are a lot in this movie.

The effects are pretty good. There are some enjoyable moments, but they all seem to go by too quickly. Parallax just looked silly to me and only some of the CGI aliens work as believable, less ridiculous characters, while others just didn't do it for me. The Green Lantern costume Reynolds wears works most of the time but every now and then there was a shot where it just looked a little unpolished and at times, even unfinished (especially his mask). And though the ring's power is pretty well showcased, it's often used in over-the-top ways that don't really help the action and just seem a tad bit weird or wasted. And I was happy to have the privilege of seeing the film in 2D and I can now tell you that you're going to want to skip out on the 3D. Pointless.

Everything being taken into account; bad dialogue, underdeveloped characters that are hard to relate to, major plotholes, and an overall rushed experience do take the forefront and stand out as big flaws. I feel like with every pro in the movie, there's a con to go with it and for that reason, I see this as a film that's just going to be forgotten. Overall, I honestly did had fun with it and there's enough solid acting, action, and charm here to actually make this a bearable experience.

I'm going to give Green Lantern a 6/10

Troll Hunter - Movie Review

2011-06-16T19:59:00.000-07:00

There’s no denying that at its beginning, or if you're aware of the Norwegian film, Troll Hunter seems like another Blair Witch Project knock-off with a twist. Not that Blair Witch began the found-footage genre, but it set the standard for horror pictures to come, most recently emulated by Cloverfield and now the Paranormal Activity series. That being said, as I began watching this movie, I was a bit skeptical.

Troll Hunter show us a young camera crew investigating some unexplained bear deaths. They soon learn that there are much more dangerous things going on, so they start to follow a mysterious hunter, learning that he is actually a troll hunter. Yes, like fairy tale trolls; this isn't a joke.

I have to get the negatives out of the way. The special effects for the trolls is the movie's weakest point. They just don't look impressive at all. They’re by no means something you'd expect from the year 2011, but neither do they look like something tossed together in 1999. The overall design of the trolls is very cartoony and while I love that idea, I don't think they really successfully executed it. And I feel like in a monster movie like this, that would be something you'd want to focus on a bit more. And there are some scenes in the movie that feel way too long and prevented the movie from moving at a quicker pace, which would've been great.

Otto Jespersen plays the troll hunter and he got some laughs out of me, that's for sure. He brings the entire monster premise to an entirely different level through his nonchalant attitude which is just hysterical. He’s essentially a tour guide who thinks his job is boring, despite the fact that it’s rather the most badass, insane job ever; killing giant, towering trolls. Jespersen gives the film a much needed personality and likeness that really helped the film in my opinion. I'd also like to point out that I'm also not too big on subtitles but the dialogue was too good at certain points in the film, so my eyes were just glued to the white text at the bottom of the screen. So, yes, the dialogue is very good.

And there are certain little things in this movie that are just brilliant. There's this scene where they have to lure a troll out from under a bridge (already very smart of the filmmakers), so they send up a goat as bait. This doesn't work out for them, so they send out two more, and as soon as the third went out I immediately recognized the reference to the story/fairy tale, "The Three Billy Goats Gruff". Brilliant.

Anyone expecting Troll Hunter to be a scary, hand-held, horror movie will be disappointed, and same goes to anyone who expects the movie to be completely serious. It's goofy, it's silly, it doesn't take itself seriously, and I had a good time with it. Its B-movie attitude is perfect for this self-aware monster movie. In every way, Troll Hunter lives up to its ridiculous name and premise and I'll give it a solid recommendation. I'm proud to have been a part of the audience for this movie before it gets an American remake.

I'm going to give Troll Hunter a 6.8/10

The Tree of Life - Movie Review

2011-06-16T17:27:00.002-07:00

Terrence Malick is one of the most celebrated filmmakers working in the industry and I haven't seen a single one of his films until just last weekend. After forty years in the business, and only five feature films to his name, it comes off as safe to say that Malick is an enigma.

For anyone unfamiliar with the film, The Tree of Life is an abstract, artsy, meditation on the meaning of life -- centering on a middle class family (Brad Pitt, Jessica Chastain) in the 50s. The film also presents a number of literal and surreal set pieces to help illustrate Malick’s ideas: a twenty-minute creation scene (yes, there are dinosaurs) and flashes to the family’s oldest son (Sean Penn) in present day -- among other symbolic imagery. Despite what some might say, The Tree of Life isn’t just a series of random and beautiful sequences -- there is a central, and even somewhat linear, narrative hidden somewhere inside the film’s abstractions (maybe...).

For anyone who’s seen the trailer, it should come as no surprise that The Tree of Life is an ambitious type of film. And quite frankly, this is a very hard film to review, or let alone recommend to people. Setting aside the absolutely unbelievable cinematography and strong performances, does the film showcase a solid story and provide a meaningful experience for moviegoers? Yes and no.

The Tree of Life is certainly a beautiful film, but I just have to get out of the way that while it is a great movie in my opinion, it clocks in at two hours and twenty minutes and because of that, the film can slide off the rails a bit. Certainly some viewers are going to claim that anyone who doesn’t praise The Tree of Life, "just doesn't get it". Similarly, there will also be moviegoers who claim the film is just a jumble of beautiful imagery and nothing else. That said, here's the solution. Plain and simple, the movie just isn't for everyone. I've heard people say they thought it's one of the best movies they've seen in years and I've also heard people saying they thought that sitting through the movie was complete torture.

There are plenty of lengthy scenes that contain very little dialogue, but emotions and relationships are actually really strong here. These emotions are captured through expression and even the cinematography, which is just fascinating to me. I came to care deeply about this family and I'm not going to lie, I even got a little misty-eyed. Of course, there's a bunch of beautiful stuff to look at but the relationships, and the way they were conveyed, stood out to me for some reason.

The Tree of Life has various moments that will leave lasting impressions. Obviously, certain dramatic scenes will relate to our own experiences, but Malick also succeeds with the abstract sequences which are equally engaging, and seriously resonated with me.

I'm going to be honest, though, some moments did not come off as successful as others. Even though he was aiming high, for some moviegoers, even audience members who are genuinely interested in Malick’s work, the film may be too long and too jumbled to truly enjoy. That wasn't a problem with me but I can definitely understand some people having that criticism.

Some moments, as interesting as they might be individually, almost ruin the film’s pace. There’s very little build-up to the final moments, which fail to make for a climax and end with no real emotional peak -- which I was really expecting from the film. Of course, Malick could have intended for the ending scenes to mirror real life but I just didn't feel like it worked out well with the film completely.

Since the movie's so hard to review or even recommend, you can always watch the trailer to sort of get a feel for the tone of this movie. But remember, this is indeed a film you are going to want to experience for yourself and I am going to recommend it solely because of that. See it in theaters, see it on DVD; I don't care. Just see it. Just know that the film is like life itself, everyone's going to get something different out of it.

I'm going to give The Tree of Life an 9/10

Super 8 - Movie Review

2011-06-09T22:39:00.000-07:00

I've been anxious to see Super 8 since the trailer was released sometime earlier last year. I'm a fan of J.J. Abram's work too; he's a talented director. And Steven Spielberg has directed some of the my all-time favorite movies and just the fact that his name is attached to this movie (producer) got me excited to see it. The trailers suggested that Super 8 was going to be an amazing nostalgic mix of thrills and genuine sentimentality that has defined the best of Spielberg's work, and is shaping J.J. Abram's career. I have finally seen Super 8 and here's my review.

In 1979 the United States Air Force shuts down a portion of Area 51 and ships the material stored at the decommissioned site by rail to an undisclosed but secure location in Ohio. In the fictional town of Lillian, Ohio, a group of teenagers are making a movie with a Super 8 mm film camera when they witness a train crash. They suspect it was not an accident. There are disappearances and the unexplained events around town, and the local deputy investigates the cause of the events leading to the discovery of something inhuman.

I think the biggest strength for Super 8 is how engaging and engrossing it is from start to finish. Abrams does a really good job of introducing us to the main characters and the world around them before delving into the main story and adding in some action sequences. But while those effects-driven scenes are well done, for me at least, the scenes involving the kids filming their movie are the most interesting and fun to watch. There is a scene with all of the kids on the train platform filming their own movie and this scene ended up being my favorite part of the film. This scene has it all; it's funny, beautiful and authentic in feel, and it really did a great job with sucking the audience into the moment, even though you know what's soon to come ( if you've seen the trailer). The quality of the performances from the film's cast, which are not only from children, but are also outstanding. And I'm usually cautious about child actors so trust me when I say, there's no need to worry.

It's rare enough to see a film that manages to get a really good performance from a child actor but even more rare is the film that manages to get good performances out of a group of them. Elle Fanning and Joel Courtney in particular doing very well. Courtney's breakthrough role as Joe is pretty strong for someone marking their debut in the movies, but Fanning is absolutely remarkable as his love interest. (She was at my screening!) Elle Fanning has done a number of well-received films but, at least for me, this appears to be her breakthrough performance. Fanning nearly steals every scene she's in, doing a great job of being conflicted in wanting to both hangout with the boys and not wanting to disobey her father. The rest of the cast is great as well with Charles (Riley Griffiths), the chubby, bossy, director and Cary (Ryan Lee), the hyper and gleeful pyromaniac. Which reminds me, this movie is pretty funny. I was laughing at some of the things these kids said and did, especially the supporting cast. Kyle Chandler and Ron Eldard give very good performances as the fathers of the two leads as well. Chandler has gained fans from his work on Friday Night Lights, and while his role is a bit more standard, he does a good job. Eldard is equally as good with his somewhat more complex role.

There are some problems with Super 8 though, I have to admit. While the first hour or so of the film is extremely strong, Abrams seems to lose patience in his own story, and starts to severely slow up the tempo and turn the once quaint adventure/mystery into a flat out spectacle filled with explosion and ridiculous exposition. The scene that involves the boys going back to town, breaking into the school just seemed a little odd and out of place. Yes, it helps shed light on what may be happening in their little town but it's also one of the few lazy aspects of the script and film that, up until that point, was everything but lazy. The script actually for the most part is really good, especially in the dialogue between the boys and girl.

The special effects in the film are pretty good. We smartly don't see much of anything supernatural until close to the end, and it might have been better to be shown even less than what was shown. I hate seeing too much because I think that leaving it up to your imagination is always the best, especially in this type of movie. Before you actually get to see anything in particular, at some point in the middle of the film, I was genuinely creeped out by what this "thing" may be.

And what should be a genuine and heart-wrenching conclusion to this kind of film simply comes off as something not too special, and this is simply because I slipped out of any emotional connection I had with these characters because by the end, there's just excessive, mindless, action, explosions and warfare. My problem with this is that it doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the film and as soon as all of this comes into play, the movie totally ditches what I loved so much about it in the beginning. I have another issue with the movie that would end up spoiling the movie for you so I'm not going to bring it up but maybe you can guess what it is after you see it yourself.

Super 8 is a loving homage to the films of Spielberg and really around that time in general, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T. in particular. And of course having a big cast of kids, who all do a great job, made it feel highly reminiscent of The Goonies. J.J. Abram has yet to direct a bad film and boy, is his direction good in this. I just have to point out that this film looks beautiful, the cinematography is great and my eyes were literally glued to the screen because of that. Flaws aside, Super 8 is the best film I've seen all summer and quite possibly all year.

I'm going to give Super 8 a 9/10

June - Summer Movie Preview

2011-06-07T20:51:00.000-07:00

I apologize for the delay due to finals, but my summer preview for June is now here. And if you're new, this is my second part of a four part series of about 2011's summer movie lineup. Due to this post's delay, I've already seen the first big release of the month (X-Men: First Class). And if you want to know what I thought about that, you can check out my review here: http://tinyurl.com/3up6hch

We're now 7 days into June and hitting theaters on the 10th, we have Super 8 and this is one I'm looking forward to. Steven Spielberg has directed some of my all-time favorite movies and just the fact that his name is attached to this movie is getting me excited to see it. The trailers suggest that Super 8 is going to be an amazing, nostalgic mix of exciting thrills and genuine sentimentality that has defined the best of Steven Spielberg’s work, and is shaping J.J. Abrams’ career in direction. I'm really excited for this one, I have my midnight tickets purchased and I'm excited to tell you guys what I think.

On the 17th, we have Green Lantern and to be honest, I'm really not too excited for this movie. I don't know too much about this superhero either and while I'm always open to see a heroes origin come to life on the big screen, I feel as if I've already seen enough. The trailers have ranged from bad to good to bad again and I don't know how I feel about that. I obviously wont let this affect the way I view the film but as of now, I'm not to interested. It does have potential though and I will be there opening night regardless.

Also opening on the 17th, we have Mr. Popper's Penguins. This is shaping up to be a cute, fun family film – one that allows Jim Carrey to do what he does best; be goofy. From the trailers, it looks like there will be a lot of slapstick and little actual humor and for that reason, I don't have any huge interest in seeing it but for its age demographic, I'm sure it'll be a hit.

Opening on the 24th, we've got Cars 2. In a summer filled with such promise, ironically enough, Pixar is making a sequel to their weakest Pixar film, Cars. Now, I trust Pixar and I'm aware that the Cars franchise appeals almost exclusively to kids, but I just don't find this sequel necessary. To be fair, some clever spy movie satire should make Cars 2 more fun for adults than its predecessor. I definitely will see it but I don't have the biggest expectations for this one.

Also opening on the 24th, we have Bad Teacher. Unlike most people, I'm not particularly dreading the release of this film. It could be a good time but then again, it could easily be a train wreck. I have so-so expectations for this comedy but we'll have to wait and see if Cameron Diaz and the rest of this all-star cast can pull it off and make me laugh as hard as Bridesmaids or The Hangover: Part 2 did.

And after recently being pushed back a few days, we've got Transformers: Dark of the Moon now being released in the month of June (the 29th). Dark of the Moon appears to have some good action, in fact, possibly the best of any Transformers movie to date. As for a coherent script and a better, maybe less cheesy tone? We’ll have to wait and see. We want to be optimistic, but Michael Bay really let me, and almost everyone else, down with Revenge of the Fallen. Consider us cautiously hopeful for now. I can tell this will make for a fun review.

As for box office though... This is going to be tough. June has Cars 2, a 3D Pixar kid's movie, which could easily come out on top but towards the beginning of the month, you've got Super 8, which is with out a doubt going to make a millions. I'm really torn between those two but then again, you've also got Transformers squeezing in at the end of the month. Anyway, this is going to be a busy month for summer movies and I'm excited to see which one will emerge victorious in the month of June.

And that's about it for this month. I'm looking forward to writing about these movies and sharing my opinions about them with you all. Come back towards the end of June for my July movie preview. Thanks!

X-Men: First Class - Movie Review

2011-06-03T22:56:00.000-07:00

I absolutely loved the first two X-Men movies. They, in my opinion, were great personal stories as well as fantastic action movies. The Nightcrawler scene from X2 remains one of my favorite action scenes in a superhero movie. These two great movies were followed by two very sub par predecessors; X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. And after first hearing that a new X-Men movie was in the works, I was skeptical. But after hearing more and more about it and hearing that Matthew Vaughn (Kick-Ass) was set to direct it, I was slowly but surely getting more excited for this prequel. And now, my most anticipated superhero movie of the summer has arrived and here's my review.

X-Men: First Class charts the beginning of the X-Men saga, and reveals a secret history of famous global events. Before mutants had revealed themselves to the world, and before Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Erik Lensherr (Michael Fassbender) took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Not archenemies, they were instead the best of friends, working together with other Mutants (some familiar, some new), to stop Armageddon. In the process, a grave rift between them opened, which began the eternal war between Magneto’s Brotherhood and Professor X’s X-Men.

In this movie, most of the attention is focused on developing the characters of Charles and Erik and this is the glue that holds the film together. James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender are excellent in their roles and have really good chemistry together; the most moving and interesting scenes in the film belong to them and I just couldn't get enough of them. Director Matthew Vaughn moves this story at a brisk, controlled pace. With a runtime of more than two hours there’s a lot that happens, but thankfully the time passes pretty quickly.

The reinterpretation of characters and story not only makes First Class interesting as a movie, but in my opinion, improves upon these characters’ back-stories a lot. Seeing Xavier as a naive man – who has not yet learned the true skills that go along with mind reading – makes for some interesting themes and pretty funny, memorable moments. And Seeing Erik as a sort of a James Bond-esque type of character is really cool, and Fassbender brings an intensity that made him my favorite performance in the film and maybe my favorite part about the movie in general. The two leads don’t try to mimic the performances of Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen from the original trilogy either, which is great because I've seen that done in many re-castings/ reboots before and I hate it – instead they make the roles their own and I really appreciated that.

While the Charles and Erik's storyline is the main focus, the title of this film and its trailers imply a story about a larger team coming together. This aspect of the film is not really developed or interesting, and I can see some fans having an issue with that. I didn't have a huge issue with it but I was expecting a story more focused on that aspect of building a team. We do meet a group of mutants in the film, but with the exception of Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), those mutants are mostly just there to be shown off in the action scenes – or in the case of Emma Frost (January Jones), just act as eye candy and not much else.

For her part, Jennifer Lawrence is great as Mystique, adding a little something different to a character that was mostly eye candy in the original trilogy. As with Charles and Erik, this movie manages to explore Mystique’s character in a way that is more interesting than in the other movies – even though most know where her arc will eventually lead. The other performance worthy of a mention is Kevin Bacon, who makes Sebastian Shaw a charmingly menacing supervillain, without crossing over into campy or exaggerated territory. Personally, this Nazi war criminal doesn't really seem like a Kevin Bacon role to me but hey, he was still good. I mean, he's Kevin Bacon.

Some people will be disappointed that the actual X-Men team members aren't really the stars of the movie, but the battle scenes with the mutants are really impressive, though. As with Kick-Ass, Matthew Vaughn proves that he is a fantastic director when it comes to action sequences, and First Class arguably has the best superhero action I've seen in quite a while. The previous films tended to have this sort of overwhelming tone every time a mutant's power was used, but Vaughn implements the powers into the film in a different way that makes the suspension of disbelief almost a lot easier (P.S. I feel like these movies STILL haven't gotten Beast right).

There are some stylistic tricks Vaughn tries out at different points such as first-person P.O.V. and split-screen montages which don't quite work out. Every now and then the film feels a little unbalanced or unpolished in its editing which is likely due to the rushed production schedule. Most likely, the average movie-goer is not going to notice these kinds of things but it stick out to me every once in a while.

Along with a few other nit-picky things being taken into account, as you might guess, this movie isn't perfect. Like most origin or prequel films, the story inevitably results in an abrupt ending. The climax of First Class has to fit all the players into their predetermined places, and the speed at which these things occurred felt rushed, even though Vaughn does capture some powerful moments in the deteriorating friendship of Charles and Erik. The rest of the characters stand aside and eventually take sides, which just seemed awkward and brought up even more problems I had with their lack of development.

Thankfully, the fantastic Xavier/Magneto dynamic, great action, and one brilliant cameo is enough to keep comic fans, movie fans, and summer movie-goers all sufficiently entertained by the majority of this film. Matthew Vaughn and everyone else behind this great superhero movie have definitely given a much needed return to form for the X-Men franchise.

I'm going to give X-Men: First Class an 8/10

The Hangover: Part 2 - Movie Review

2011-05-28T01:34:00.001-07:00

The Hangover is one of my favorite comedies of all time and it's easily the hardest I've ever laughed in a theater. It's become one of the most quotable comedies of my generation and I've just seen it countless times (5 times in theaters). So obviously, if you can't tell, I'm a fan of The Hangover... I thought immediately after seeing the highly anticipated trailer for The Hangover: Part 2 that it looked like a carbon copy of the first and just as I thought, it was. But hey, if it aint broke, don't fix it... Right?

And after seeing it twice in less than 24 hours, here's my review. The film takes place months after the events of the first film. Doug (Justin Bartha) is happily married and it's now Stu's (Ed Helms) turn to be the groom-to-be. He opts for a traditional wedding in Thailand to appease his in-laws, but a night that starts with just one beer at a bonfire with friends Phil (Bradley Cooper) and Alan (Zack Galifianakis) is a sign that the trip will be anything but smooth. The following morning, they awake to find, among other things, a monkey in their bathroom, a tattoo on Stu's face, a barely-alive Mr. Chow (Ken Jeong) and the absence of Stu's brother-in-law.

So now you know what I mean when I say the film is essentially a retelling of what happened in Part 1. In terms of plot, the parallels between the two films are obvious. It's almost like the writers of the movie played madlibs with Part 1's script. The monkey replaces the baby, a tattoo replaces a missing tooth, Thai gangsters replace Chinese gangsters, and a missing brother-in-law replaces a missing groom-to-be. This movie literally has the same beats and while it's fun to see the wolf pack back on the big screen, there's not much new here. Director Todd Philips makes no attempt to hide this either, going so far as to recycle the majority of Part 1's soundtrack, refer to events of Part 1 in various ways, and even shoot key scenes in almost the exact same way.

Of course, this is not a huge problem, only because anyone who walks into this film expecting something entirely different is either far too demanding, or just plain stupid. Because from the trailer alone, you get this sense that it's the same movie. This movie applies the same style of jokes the whole way through, and it works because quite simply, this is still a very funny movie. And I'm not saying that Philips took no creative license here because some of the things that the movie expands on can be more original or different compared to other events that occur in the film.

These characters are all really great and are pretty well showcased here in the movie's sequel except I felt that almost all of these characters were a lot more mean-spirited. I guessed that matched the much darker tone of the film overall but I just found it odd that a once loving Alan is now a mean-spirited, rude, and annoying Alan. But what's weird is that once they wake up in the middle of Bangkok after a long night, Alan seems to take a turn for the best. So in the end Zach Galfianakis (my favorite part of the first movie and this one) steals the show (once again). Without question. Sadly, Chow is back and even more annoying this time.

But a word of warning for anyone who may have found the first film to be crazy inappropriate in its subject matter. Part 2 takes this hilarity in a more sinister direction, resulting in more than its fair share of uncomfortable moments, punctuated by gross-out humor and taking shots at other cultures that could even be taken as racist and offensive, depending on one's individual tastes in comedy. Pretty much like I already said, it's a lot darker. I didn't have a problem with it at all, but I can see how some people might. And this applies to the fact that it's a sequel, and like any sequel, is trying to be on a bigger scale. And this is a perfect example of why bigger is not always better. Wilder scenarios result in worse consequences for the character's actions and some of it gets out of hand.

The Hangover: Part 2 is not a bad film and I think it's unfair that a lot of critics are tearing it about solely in comparison to the first one. We already knew going in it wasn't going to be nearly as good and honestly, as a stand-alone comedy, it's pretty damn funny. If the original is the most highly regarded and respected of modern comedies, then the sequel falls short of being its Godfather Part 2. However, it's hard to criticize a comedy that makes you laugh as often as this one does. I'm going to repeat myself; it's still a hysterical film. If you liked the first, you're probably going to want to see this one.

I'm going to give The Hangover: Part 2 a 6/10

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides - Movie Review

2011-05-22T12:19:00.000-07:00

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides picks up when Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) attempts to rescue his former first mate Mr. Gibbs from the British and is subsequently arrested. King George II forces Jack to help guide the British soldiers to the fountain of youth and then Jack reunites the loony pirate with his other former first mate-turned-enemy-turned-friend, Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush). The once treacherous pirate gets Jack up to speed, revealing that his beloved Black Pearl was destroyed in a clash with the one and only Blackbeard (Ian McShane) – who also seeks the fountain of youth. News of the Pearl’s demise sends Jack on a fearsome and over-the-top journey of revenge, treachery, and adventure – not to mention new shipmates like pirate Angelica (Penélope Cruz).

Now, I'm a huge fan of the first and surprisingly, even the second Pirates movies. I didn't like the third one at all because it just didn't feel like a pirate movie at all and that being said, I wasn't hugely anticipating the fourth installment of the series. I wouldn't miss it though, because I actually still have faith in the series. Sadly, there are plenty of problems I had with this film and my overdue review is here.

Acting is not a problem this time, in fact it's one of the highest points for this movie. It's too bad that nearly every performance in Pirates 4 is a muted, toned down version of that from previous installments – both new and returning characters. Johnny Depp is still charming and hilarious as Captain Jack but because of the streamlined plot, he isn’t given a lot of room to do what he does best. Captain Jack was always two steps ahead of everyone in the films but this time, he’s just present and has a chuckle worthy line every now and then. Especially since Kiera Knightley and Orlando Bloom aren't in the film anymore, I was expecting to see more of or have Captain Jack's character expanded on a bit. But like I said, he didn't have much to do. And because of all of the above, it seemed hard for Johnny Depp to carry this movie.

I'm sure not many people are going to miss Kiera Knightley now that Penélope Cruz is on board. She's great in the film and is a welcome addition to the cast but I didn't really like how her character was just introduced as somebody from Jack's past. I think that part of the fun of the first film is that everyone is living a normal life until Jack Sparrow shows up and since that dynamic is never brought up again, as a fan of the series, that just felt a bit odd to me. And I just have to point out that Ian McShane is amazing as Blackbeard. Perfect casting.

The most shocking aspect of the film, though, is the lack of action – especially in the final act, which is one of the most unsatisfying, boring climaxes I've seen in a summer blockbuster, period. On Stranger Tides opens with an almost comical chase sequence that captures the spirit and the courage of Curse of the Black Pearl (even though it’s totally over-the-top) and an early sword fight is reminiscent of the entertaining fight between Orlando Bloom and Johnny Depp in the original. However, the sequences are not only smaller in scope, they’re mostly just uninspired adventure movie clichés and not much else.

The only action sequence in the film that feels fresh is the introduction of the mermaids – where new director Rob Marshall (Chicago, Nine) actually takes the time to establish a genuine sense of anticipation before delivering a unique twist on the mermaids. That said, the film ultimately fails to capture on the intriguing premise because the mermaid story just becomes annoying by the end. Mainly because of the whole romance between the missionary and the main mermaid. It just seemed to come out of nowhere and because of that, I couldn't really get into their little fling.

Another problem that I've had with all of the movies is that there's far too much magic used. While it was minimal in the first film, it was still explained and that's enough for me to enjoy it. In the second and third movies, there's a lot more fantasy elements but they're never explained. Same goes for this movie. I was honestly okay when we were just dealing with The Curse of the Black Pearl but now we've got ships in a bottle, voodoo, and much more. I could never get into any of it and I found it to be a little bit silly.

And even though this was the shortest movie of the four films, it’s still a good 2 hours and 20 minutes as apposed to the last one being almost 3 hours long. A few days before the movie came out I was doing my research and when I saw that it was much shorter than the other films, I thought that was great because my main problem with these films is that they drag. Unfortunately, making the movie shorter didn't help with pacing at all and boy, did this movie drag. I found myself distracted, bored and checking the time quite frequently.

And to no surprise, the 3D isn’t bad but it’s completely unnecessary. This is a good example of how wearing 3D glasses makes a movie physically darker and almost unwatchable at certain points. A whole lot of the action takes place with a night backdrop and you can barley tell what’s going on because you’re pretty much wearing sunglasses in a movie theater. I found myself having to peep through the top of my glasses every now and then and that alone should be a good reason to skip out on the 3D. And also, I'm just sick of it.

While there some fun to be had in Pirates 4 and it’s exciting to see Captain Jack Sparrow on the big screen again and the score by Hans Zimmer is great, the entire movie seems to suffer from exhaustion. The actors don’t carry the same enthusiasm for their roles, the once creative fight scenes have faded into ordinary action clichés, and the story focuses entirely on moving the plot along without developing or focusing on any of the characters or the world around them.

I'm going to give Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides a 4.9/10

Bridesmaids - Movie Review

2011-05-13T23:16:00.000-07:00

Picked as her best friend's maid of honor, lovelorn and broke Annie (Kristen Wiig) looks to bluff her way through the expensive and bizarre rituals with an oddball group of bridesmaids.

Upon first viewing of the trailer for Bridesmaids, I was quite skeptical as to whether I’d like it or not. Prior to release, it’s been hailed as “The Hangover with females” and while I can see why this could be compared the to The Hangover, you just never know what you’re going to get with comedies nowadays seeing as they’re all either hits or misses. That being said, I went in with a very open mind and hoped for the best.

Now after seeing the movie, I can re-visit the whole “The Hangover with females” thing. And I’m just noticing while writing this that I’m going to be bringing up The Hangover a lot in this review. It’s hard to avoid the comparison so I hope that comes across and you understand why I’m bringing it up so much. Anyway, I would definitely say that this movie is a much safer movie than The Hangover. I’d say that, since it’s a lot less raunchy than The Hangover; it’s almost like a really good, really funny rom-com. And yes, the movie is much safer, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not funny; it’s actually one of the funniest movies I’ve seen in a very long time.

The performances in Bridesmaids were all great, and as far as comedies go, this is the best ensemble cast in a comedy since, well, The Hangover. Kristen Wiig is just brilliant in this film. She never goes over-the-top in this movie; she maintains this sense of realism that really made her character a likeable lead. Which reminds me, I’m so happy that Kristen Wiig finally has the role of the lead female. Maya Rudolph, another SNL veteran, also stars in the film and she’s just delightful and plays a great supporting character as well. Rose Byrne, who I’m not the biggest fan of, also stars in the film and she was good too. My absolute favorite of the supporting cast has to be Melissa McCarthy though. She had the funniest scenes in the movie and if this movie becomes anywhere near as popular as The Hangover, her fame will rise just like Zach Galifianakis’ after his breakout performance.

My problem with almost every single comedy nowadays is that in the last third of these movies there’s always a slump. That slump is where they realize they actually have a story to tell and they tend to back away from the humor for a while. My main problem with this is that after the slump, they try to bring the humor back and everything just feels rushed and I leave the theater a bit unsatisfied. Thankfully, while Bridesmaids does go down that horrible slump, it picked up again and I left the theater satisfied. My main problem with this movie is that it is way too long. It's a good 15 minutes too long and could easily be trimmed down.

Everything being taken into account, Bridesmaids was just a side-splittingly hilarious time at the movies. Not even kidding, the bar has been set high for The Hangover Part II and I’m really not sure which will “win me over” in the end. It’ll appeal to the male and female demographic so bring your girlfriend or boyfriend, sister or brother and share a laugh this weekend.

I’m going to give Bridesmaids an 8.5/10

Thor - Movie Review

2011-05-06T22:04:00.000-07:00

Thor is a very famous comic book character that has been around for quite some time. He has a big fan following just like any other superhero you could imagine and to be honest, I don’t know very much about him. I know he’s from the realm of Asgard, he has a hammer, and he’s one of the superheroes from the Avengers team. I wouldn’t miss a film by Marvel Studios for the world and with the release of The Avengers drawing closer and closer, what makes you think I’d miss out on Thor?

The movie follows Thor (Chris Hemsworth) a powerful but arrogant warrior whose reckless actions reignite an ancient war. Thor is cast down to Earth by his father (Anthony Hopkins) and forced to live among humans as punishment. Once here, Thor befriends humans (Natalie Portman & Kat Dennings) and learns what it takes to be a true hero when the most dangerous villain of his world (Tom Hiddleston) sends the darkest forces of Asgard to invade Earth.

Thor is directed by Kenneth Branaugh and he, like Jon Faverau, director of Iron Man, is new to these big-budget blockbuster movies. I thought he did a pretty good job with the direction considering he’s never done a movie like this before. I actually found some similarities between Iron Man and Thor in terms of storytelling and character development too. In both movies, you’re following this arrogant protagonist who, through his struggles, learns what’s wrong with himself, finds power, and ultimately does good for himself and others. In both of these movies the lead is really well developed and by the end, you’re rooting for them.

Thor, as you read, has an all-star cast and I thought everyone did a good job with their performances. I was actually surprised by how much I enjoyed some of the characters. Chris Hemsworth was an absolute perfect choice for Thor. He’s charismatic, he does a great job in the action sequences, and he makes Thor a really likeable hero. The rest of the main cast, including Anthony Hopkins, Natalie Portman and Tom Hiddleston, all did a solid job with their characters and they made for a really well rounded cast. My personal favorite in the film is Tom Hiddleston as Loki who is easily the most interesting and most developed character in the cast. Kat Dennings on the other hand... Ouch. It could've been her writing but I just really wasn't a fan of her in this movie because it literally felt like her only purpose was to squeeze in little one-liners.

What I find a little bit odd is that I see both Thor and Iron Man as more character-driven movies as apposed to just strictly action flicks. And in this movie, the action really falls flat. I honestly can’t recall one specific action scene that really stood out for me and while that is a bit disappointing, it’s as expected from a director who isn’t necessarily used to this kind of material. I can tell Kenneth Branaugh has a certain eye for action and does a good job with most of the directing but none of the action sequences were very creative or engaging. I also think that the special effects needed a little polishing because, especially when Thor is flying, there isn’t a lot of grace or fluidity to it. And of course, the realm of Asgard looked great with all of its shiny surfaces and whatnot but some of the effects back on Earth looked a tad bit sloppy.

My main gripe with this movie is that a lot of what happens on Earth is really silly and honestly, I would've really like to have seen more of Asgard. While a lot of the scenes on Asgard get repetitive, there's more drama going on up there and the acting is very well showcased too. On Earth, there's just unfunny attempts at humor. The dialogue on Earth is so filled with pop-culture references and cheap, obvious one-liners that become hard to watch sometimes. I guess I don’t mind pop-culture references that much, it’s just that in Thor, they aren’t funny at all. The movie also has terrible pacing. The film dragged every now and then making my movie-going experience a bit boring. Simply put, there are plenty of things I'd tweak about this movie in general. If I listed them, I'd be spoiling the movie and I don't what to do that so I'm just going to leave it at that; the movie has its problems.

All in all, I wasn't the biggest fan of Thor. I, personally, had a lot of problems with it but my friend and the audience at my theater tonight really dug it, so there's that. It's nowhere near the breath of fresh air Iron Man was but it’s a passable superhero flick that got me excited for The Avengers. I think a lot of people are going to have fun with it this summer though, and I’m sure fans of the comics will enjoy it too.

I’m going to give Thor a 5.5/10

I also really love the way Marvel’s tying in all of their movies with one another, forming a universe in preparation for The Avengers. And after seeing Thor, I’m even more excited for The Avengers. There's a cameo in there and there’s a good post-credits scene that you won’t want to miss, especially if you’re into the Marvel Universe.

Fast Five - Movie Review

2011-04-29T22:10:00.000-07:00

Former cop Brian (Paul Walker) partners with ex-convict Dom (Vin Diesel) on the opposite side of the law. Since Brian broke Dom out of custody, they've blown across many borders to elude the authorities. Now backed into a corner in Rio de Janeiro, they must pull one last job in order to gain their freedom. As they assemble their elite team of top racers, the unlikely allies know their only shot of getting out for good means confronting the corrupt businessman who wants them dead. But he's not the only one on their tail. Hard-nosed federal agent Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) never misses his target and when he is assigned to track down Dom and Brian, he and his strike team launch an all-out assault to capture them.

Fast Five is directed by Justin Lin who has directed the third, fourth and now the fifth of the Fast & Furious movies. I've seen all but the third movie of the franchise and I'm honestly not a big fan of these movies. I thought the first film was acceptable for what it was but it didn't interest me at all. I thought the second was more of the same and not much else. And inevitably, I thought the fourth was more of the same but in addition to that, it was incredibly boring to me. After seeing Fast Five, I have one thing to say... I loved this movie.

This movie, how I see it, has one sole purpose and that is to entertain you with car chases, fight scenes, great locations and good production values and it does it perfectly. As far as action goes, this is as good as it gets and though it may not be the smartest movie, my jaw was dropped and I had goosebumps on multiple occasions. What I admire so much about this film is that it knows exactly what it is and doesn't ever give up on itself like the last film did. The last film had unnecessary drama and a lot of slow spots and that's why I didn't like it as much. I know that every one of these movies has car chases and action but this time, I actually had a blast with it.

As an ensemble cast, everyone does a fine job. I'm specifically saying the ensemble cast is fine because unfortunately, with some of the smaller roles and even a few of the leading men, the acting isn't very good. The lead actors in this movie are all fine for their role and their banter won over the crowd every now and then. Vin Diesel is not that bad of an actor, actually, and in a movie that relies on storytelling more so than the other four Fast & Furious films, he does a fine job. Paul Walker is good in the film for who he is. He's not an excellent actor but he fits in with the rest of the cast and his character is pretty good too. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is the newcomer to the series and he fits in perfectly with the rest of the cast. He's just a really likable guy who does a great job at kicking ass.

On a technical level, this whole movie delivers. Justin Lin does an excellent job with the film's direction. His camerawork is fast and at the same time, really clean and steady which is perfect for a film like this. He hardly ever relies on zooming in and he never results to that shaky camerawork where you can't tell what is going on. That alone shows he's a confident action director that isn't worried about showcasing the choreography of certain scenes and might I add, the stunts and choreography in this film are amazing. Every single action scene in this movie is memorable, from the opening train robbery, to the vault heist.

I can find plenty of problems with this movie and I knew going in that this movie that it wouldn't be perfect. Some of the acting isn't up to par with what I'd hope and while that's expected, I can't help but notice it and the drug-dealing baddie in this movie is incredibly clichéd too; he wasn't a very interesting character. Almost none of the action scenes are realistic. If I were to go back and watch this movie again from a realistic point of view, I might be able to point out five times where certain characters would end up dead but I didn't watch it like that; I watched it like a 14-year-old boy who loves action. As much as I like action, I like a good script too and if you're looking for that here; what the hell are you thinking? In all seriousness though, the script is mediocre at best. You have to understand what a film is going for, though. All it's trying to be is the movie that kicks off the summer season of films by solely entertaining you and that's what it does.

Fast Five is the Fast & Furious movie I've been waiting for since I originally saw the first one. The movie has outstanding and well-directed action that is easily the best I've seen in a while. I'm probably going to say something similar about most of the movies I see this summer but as I learned from last year, if a movie has all of the great visuals but isn't fun; it's not doing its job. Thankfully, Fast Five did its job and is a perfect segue for the slew of summer blockbusters to come.

I'm going to give Fast Five an 8/10

May - Summer Movie Preview

2011-04-25T21:12:00.000-07:00

Hello, everyone! This is going to be the first of a four part series of about summer movies. I love summer and while some of the movies that come out from May to August aren't the greatest, I always have a fun time at the theaters with them and with school out, my mind is free of worry. I'm just getting that feeling that Summer's right around the corner so how about I start with May.

As you may know already, I love superhero movies and regardless on wether or not they're a masterpiece, I have a blast with them. That being said, May kicks off with Thor hitting theaters on May 6th and I'm quite excited for this one, actually. While I know hardly anything about the actual character Thor, everything I've seen so far looks really interesting. This movie could easily turn out pretty stupid because from the trailers, there looks like a lot of cheap jokes are being thrown in there and every single one falls flat. Really, the last thing we need in Thor is to have Kat Dennings spout out these obvious pop-culture jokes and references. The trailers are also showing the world of the gods or whatever you want to call it, a lot, and the more I see it, the more I'm starting to think the movie has potential to be really goofy. For all I know, I could be dead wrong so overall, I'm for sure looking forward to Thor.

Opening on May 13th we have Priest and Bridesmaids and I'm not exceptionally excited for either of these. My first impression of Priest was really negative but after the second trailer, I thought it looked a tad bit more interesting. Other than that, I'm not particularly excited for that one. Bridesmaids has been called, "The Hangover with females" and while the trailer got two solid laughs out of me upon first viewing, I'm just not feeling this one. From what I've heard from people who have seen advanced screenings, they say that they thought it was hilarious, so I guess we'll see if my initial impression is any accurate.

On May 20th we have a giant release and it's the fourth installment of the Pirates franchise, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Now, I'm really looking forward to this one. It has new additions to the cast, it looks like it's going to be so much better than At World's End, and yet it still has Captain Jack himself, Johnny Depp. The trailer for this movie is great, the 3D looks awesome, and it has the same old Pirates score we know and love in the background. Watching the trailer in theaters was like a trip back to my 10th birthday when I saw Dead Man's Chest with friends and family.

And the in last weekend of May we have The Hangover Part II coming out on the 26th, plus Kung Fu Panda 2 and The Tree of Life coming out on the 27th. Coincidentally, I'm excited for all three of these films but the one I think is going to do better at the box office and the one that I think I'm going to enjoy the most this weekend is The Hangover Part II. I'm still pumped for all three though and hopefully, The Tree of Life, wont be forgotten by the time the Oscars come around because I just know that movie has potential to be outstanding and a possible Oscar contender. I'm just throwing that out there before all of the expected hype.

As far as how May's going to do at the box office, I think Thor will stick with its number one spot and continue with its streak until May 20th when Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is released. Pirates will most likely last as number one into June but a close second will most definitely be The Hangover Part II which is being released just six days after Pirates.

UPDATE (May 4): With the positive reviews and word being spread by fans, Fast Five might continue with being number one in its second week but who knows? Thor could easily be an upset considering it's a highly anticipated superhero movie that already has a huge fan following.

Thank you for reading my summer preview of May and come back towards the end of May to read part two, my thoughts and box office predictions for June!

Portal 2 - Game Review

2011-04-23T19:40:00.000-07:00

Portal 2 continues the story of Chell as she’s dragged back into Aperture after the events of the first game. Aperture Science Laboratories has deteriorated over the years and Chell’s previous villain, GLaDOS (Ellen McLain), is reawakened. This time around, you meet a personality core named Wheatly (Steven Merchant) that wishes to restore the Lab to its proper state and serves as a guide for Chell as she figures out her way through puzzling test chambers using the portal gun and a few other tools to help her out.

I honestly do not know where to begin with Portal 2, so I’ll start with 2007’s Portal. The first Portal game had that element of surprise and its style of first-person physics-based puzzle gameplay was incredibly unique and made it one of my favorite games of all time. The puzzles where challenging but not unreasonable and I had I fun time with my multiple play throughs. GLaDOS, the murderous robotic villain, was new and bright yet evil in the most charming and funny ways. The one bad thing about Portal was that it was too short; it was almost like a prototype for this year’s Portal 2. As sequels go, creating one without making it too similar to the original is an ambitious and challenging task. For the game developers at Valve, it's apparently a piece of cake because Portal 2 is outstanding.

Ever since Portal 2 was announced, I was just hoping that they'd expand on what was already amazing about the first one and boy, did they expand on it. From breaking free and strolling through the rusting Aperture Science facility to right when the credits roll, Portal 2’s brilliance never lets up. In Chell's second outing, the world is bigger, the story goes deeper, and the voice cast is slightly larger. The history of the Aperture Science facility is filled in, character origins discussed, and though it drags in the second act, there’s actually so much that goes on in Portal 2’s story that it’s more than enough to make you forget about its slow spots. If I'd have to pick out one more "flaw" I had with the game, it would be the load times which tend to be quite frequent and long.

The voice acting in Portal 2 is hysterically funny and almost always witty. Steven Merchant's enthusiasm for the role of Wheatly benefits and literally no word Wheatley speaks goes without witty inflection. The consistently clever writing perfectly complements the animations and none of it ever gets old. It's easy to be just as concerned about missing lines of dialogue as about progressing through the puzzles, especially during Wheatley and GLaDOS' snappy back and fourths. That leads me to GLaDOS who is even more villainous in her second appearance but also even more charming and fun to listen to. I think this might be the only game to make me laugh out loud from its dialogue, Unfortunately, everything that was frustrating in the second act of the game was even more frustrating because quite frankly, not much of the witty dialogue I liked took place at that point in the game.

Though there's a much bigger emphasis on story and character development in Portal 2 as I've mentioned, you'll spend a lot of time tangling with spatial reasoning puzzles in test chambers. Portal 2 brings back the same portal gun while greatly expanding the number of gameplay toys. The gun shoots two linked portals through which you and objects can pass through one and out the other. To get from one test chamber to the next and through the guts of Aperture's vastness, you'll use your portals to redirect energy beams, coat surfaces with gel that makes you bounce or run at high speeds, pass over gaping pits with bridges of light, manipulate cylindrical tractor beams, and ultimately, find an exit. Arriving at a solution will require quick reactions just as often as hard thinking, as portals sometimes need to be repositioned while soaring through the air or before timers run out or before you plunge to your death. This isn't your traditional first person-shooter, obviously, but at times it can feel like one when you zoom in with your portal gun as if you’re lining up for a headshot with distant targets. Frantically adjusting your aim and firing with precision can be tough but it pays off and flows very nicely thanks to the perfect frame rate.

The graphics, as far as I’m concerned, are pretty good. I’ve been hearing a lot of people saying they think the graphics are just okay or even subpar. While they aren’t the best graphics, I’ll have to disagree; they’re a lot better than I’ve been hearing. What amazes me more than the graphics is the attention to detail throughout, which is just stunning. The facility is in a state of disrepair at the beginning but once GLaDOS comes back to life, so does the facility, becoming an extension of her body and personality. When you enter a room mechanized crane arms and wall plates spin and shift with an urgency as if GLaDOS is doing some last minute organizing before guests arrive. As Portal 2 progresses, the environments expand from small test chambers to immense underground chasms. The appeal of something like Portal will never specifically be the visuals, but I have to give it to Valve because it’s impressive how much they’re getting out of the same Source technology first used for Half-Life 2 back in 2004. Can you believe that?

The core appeal of this game for me is the puzzles and they are bigger, better and smarter than ever. No matter how complicated the puzzles get, the solutions are always sensible. Sometimes you'll understand what to do right away and adjust lasers with lens blocks to activate platforms to reach switches. Other times you'll have no idea what to do, attempting all possible options until, eventually, a solution so damn obvious sparks in your brain and you curse yourself for over-thinking it. Valve does an excellent job of presenting you with all the necessary clues without slapping a set of onscreen instructions to explain the way to the next room. Even when multiple mechanics are mixed into puzzles like jump pads, tractor beams, light bridges and gels, I never felt getting stuck was due to poor design, only my ability to translate it. And that being said, I did not shut off the game due to frustration, uttering, "This is bullshit" under my breath, so that's a huge plus.

The original Portal benefitted from its uniqueness. It had a concise story paired with smart first-person puzzle mechanics that challenged you to be creative with the controller. Portal 2 makes the original look like the prototype it was. It's filled with a larger cast of characters vividly brought to life through the best writing and voice acting in a video game I think I’ve ever experienced. Its puzzles are challenging without being unreasonable, and from what I’ve played, the co-operative game mode is also pretty darn good too. Valve finds ways to make you care about everything in its games. From the major characters to the cubes used to solve puzzles, you just admire every creation both good, evil, human and robotic. From start to finish, Portal 2 is a near perfect unforgettable experience as far as games go.

I’m going to give Portal 2 a 9.8/10

I'm aware that this blog has been primarily for movie reviews but after playing Portal 2, I felt the need to review it and talk about it. I'll most likely be reviewing video games on this blog but only the ones that I beat which won't be as frequent as my movie reviews. That only totals to about 5 or 6 games a year though and the next game I'll most likely be reviewing is L.A. Noire which has a set release date for May 17, 2011. Look out for that and thanks for reading!

Rio - Movie Review

2011-04-17T23:27:00.000-07:00

Rio is about a bird named Blu (Jessie Eisenberg) that can’t fly. He’s been domesticated at a very young age and we soon learn that he is of a very rare species of bird; in fact, he’s the last male of his kind. The only other remaining bird of that species is a female named Jewel (Anne Hataway). Scientists that want them to mate, take them to Brazil and after a series of events take place both Blu and Jewel end up lost in Rio de Janerio, Brazil and all Blu wants is to return home to his owner (Leslie Mann). Of course, before he can do that he must embark on an adventure of a lifetime, where both Blu and Jewel learn about friendship, love, courage, and being open to life's many wonders.

As we all know, almost every animated film that has come out in the last year or so has done nothing but impress critics and audiences alike. From Toy Story 3, to How To Train Your Dragon, to Rango, everyone has been shocked by how great these movies have turned out, both visually and story-wise. That being said, I had pretty high expectations for Rio. And with no surprise, I had a blast with this movie.

The visuals in Rio, while not the most realistic, are easily the most fun and vibrant visuals I’ve seen since Toy Story 3. The colors are explosive and extremely beautiful to look at and the 3D, for once, actually amplifies that. The scenery in Rio is best described as awesome because during a scene in the movie where hang gliding is the focus, my jaw was dropped. And this scene especially was truly amplified by the 3D, which is great. Usually, I’m against shelling out money for an unnecessary gimmick like 3D, but if you ask me, Rio is 100% worth the extra $3.00.

The voice cast in this film is seemingly endless and they all do a great job with this material. Jessie Eisenberg is great at doing what he does; being his awkward self. And Anne Hathaway is equally as good as what she does; being Anne Hathaway. My personal favorite in the film is the antagonist bird voiced by Jemaine Clement because he’s just perfect for this villainous role. I’m pretty sure I got a chuckle out of almost everyone of these characters, so that’s a plus for likeability. Rio even has some voice talent from stars I don’t necessarily like but the dialogue for their character alone and some of the things their character does made it nearly impossible for me not to like them.

The humor in this movie isn’t that bad either. As expected, there’s plenty of slapstick humor for the kids that even occasionally got to me but there’s also enough to satisfy the teen/adult demographic as well. Also, there’s a whole lot of music and dance numbers which I’m usually not the biggest fan of but I’ve got to admit, I caught myself tapping my foot to the tune of the opening number. So, if I enjoyed the singing and dancing in Rio, the kids will too. But seriously, the music fits in well and none of it feels awkward or out of place and ultimately, it’s quite entertaining.

The movie has the problems you’d expect it to have. You can tell immediately that this movie, from the trailer even, is predictable. You know what’s going to happen, how it’s going to happen, and what dangers will come out of certain events. And though I do think this movie is very funny, there are some points where jokes just fall flat and neither the kids nor adults in my theater were laughing. Thankfully, that didn’t happen too often but a few of those moments stuck with me and left a sour taste in my mouth.

Other than the few obvious flaws, Rio is a fun time at the movies. It’s not the best movie of the year but it’s funny, cute, sweet, it gave me that feeling that summer’s right around the corner and I left the theater with the biggest smile on my face. There’s enough here to satisfy every age group and that alone should be a solid recommendation for Rio.

I’m going to give Rio a 7/10.

Scream 4 - Movie Review

2011-04-16T22:57:00.000-07:00

Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), now the author of a self-help book, returns home to Woodsboro on the last stop of her book tour. There she reconnects with Sheriff Dewey (David Arquette) and Gale (Courteney Cox), who are now married, as well as her cousin Jill (Emma Roberts) and her Aunt Kate (Mary McDonnell). Unfortunately, Sidney's appearance also brings about the return of Ghostface, putting Sidney, Gale, and Dewey, along with Jill, all of Jill's friends, and the whole town of Woodsboro in danger.

Going into Scream 4, I was expecting just a dreadful film. I do like the Scream series but only the first Scream was truly a game changer and redefined the genre. The sequels, Scream 2 and 3 were no where near as good and both were a parody of itself, well, a parody of itself parodying and poking fun at horror movies, if that makes any sense. Bottom line, I was expecting what anyone would expect from the fourth installment in a horror franchise and what I got was something that is actually a lot better than what I expected and in some ways very refreshing.

I’d like to first point out that Scream 4 truly acts as a sequel to the first film. You do not have to see Scream 2 or 3 to get caught up before going out to see the fourth, it’s unnecessary. This movie pretty much rebooting the franchise, but of course, in Scream 4, all they talk about is franchises getting remade, sequels, and other horror gimmicks and poke fun at that. I find it funny that the movie is so knowing and aware of itself and even makes fun of itself at times and that alone makes for a little chuckle every now and then. All of the slicing, dicing, meta humor and references are done with excellence but every other attempt at humor this movie has, isn't very funny. Whenever the film tries to crack a real joke or has a teen try and deliver a one-liner, it is painful to stomach. Thankfully, any little flaw this movie has is overshadowed because of how much fun you're going to have with it.

This film does have some issues with pacing. The movie drags towards the middle and that’s a shame because the beginning and ending are great. The opening scene took me back to when I originally saw the first Scream and the dialogue, while new, is very familiar and left a goofy smilie on my face and had the whole audience cracking up. That scene made me very happy but immediately after, the movie morphs into a barrage of subpar dialogue and a couple of lengthy scenes of talking and not much else. Thankfully, the movie picks up near the end and becomes pretty suspenseful. Also, I think it’s funny that the Scream movies originally poked fun at those cash-grab flicks and now, 10 years later, they release Scream 4, which is a cash grab itself. Not to say I didn't like it, I just think it's a bit ironic. You can’t help but at least be entertained by this self-mocking slasher and that’s strictly what I wanted from this movie. This leads me to the acting which isn't nearly as bad as I was anticipating. Everyone in this movie, both veterans of the series and the newbies, play their role very well.

Scream 4 does everything you’d want a Scream movie to do and even a little more. It throws in all of the meta self-reflective horror clichés that you like to see and at times it’s actually quite suspenseful, which was unexpected in my opinion. They updated the series in an interesting, not too drastic way by adding in a slew of 20-somethings portraying high schoolers and even throwing in some technology that has become essential since Ghostface's last outing in 2000. Obviously it’s more of the same but overall I thought it did its job and it was a huge improvement from the previous sequel and is in fact better than 2 and 3 in my opinion. I had a blast and that was what I was praying for; to have a fun time at theaters with Scream 4.

I’m going to give Scream 4 a 7.5/10

Hanna - Movie Review

2011-04-10T18:20:00.000-07:00

Hanna is centered on a 16-year-old named Hanna (Saoirse Ronan) that is raised by her father (Eric Bana) to be the perfect assassin by having him teach her skills like hunting, fighting and ultimately, surviving. You learn in the beginning of the film that they live in the forest and are on the run from a ruthless intelligence agent (Cate Blanchett) as well as her operatives, so Hanna’s father dispatches her on a mission across Europe.

Going into Hanna, I was expecting to be bored to death. From the numerous times I’ve seen the trailers and the countless times I’ve seen the TV Spots and YouTube advertisements, I was just expecting a very dull chase movie. I can’t tell you why because I honestly do not know why I went in with that impression. After leaving the theater, it actually is quite dull and boring, and I really didn't like it either.

First off, the film felt very pretentious. It was almost like the film was so desperate to impress the audience because in fact, some parts of the movie felt like they were straight out of The Bourne Identity and others felt straight out of an artsy kind of film that you’d normally see premiere at Sundance Film Festival or SXSW. Both of these are fine on their own but when mashed together in one 2 hour movie, it doesn't hold a cohesive or consistent story and is very, very odd.

The film is directed by Joe Wright and the direction is very good. In fact, it's the best directing I've seen this year so far. The direction wasn’t all shaky, in your face, and close-up; it was all very well shot. My favorite scene from this film is because of the direction, actually. It’s this one long tracking shot of Eric Bana walking into the subway station and eventually fighting of a couple guys that are on his tail. It was just brilliant and so much fun to watch. Which reminds me, this film has great action and well choreographed hand-to-hand combat fight scenes that all looked incredibly badass. And the movie’s pulsating techno score by The Chemical Brothers is very interesting and I actually really liked it. It feels a little bit more like it belonged in a club as apposed to being a movie score but I understood what they were going for completely and I appreciate it. To be honest, by the end of the film it does get pretty repetitive though but thinking back and really overall, it’s great.

My main problem with the movie is that after the really cool stuff happens and the chase begins in the first third, the second third of the movie kicks in and the film slows down and starts to focus on Hanna hanging out with this very odd family. I’m all for character development, trust me. But in Hanna, whenever it’s supposed to take place in the film, it doesn’t ever feel like real characterization and it is horribly boring, weird and useless. Hanna meets all of these really weird people and the movie slowly morphs into a freak show which was hard to watch. Hanna reacts to some things she sees and witnesses (electricity, first kiss, etc.) in a very inconsistent way. I get at times it's trying to be funny or realistic but If you see the movie, you'll know what I'm talking about when I say it's inconsistent.

I left the theater slightly satisfied with the small amount of the badassery and excellent direction I saw but overall, the movie was just a bore. The actings all great and I totally see why some people really like this movie but it wasn't my cup of tea. With an ending this anticlimactic and all of the weird people and situations Hanna runs across, I just don’t know how to put my opinion of the film into words. Lets just say, I wasn’t a huge fan of Hanna.

I give Hanna a 4/10

Your Highness - Movie Review

2011-04-08T21:46:00.000-07:00

After Prince Fabious (James Franco) realizes his bride to be (Zooey Deschanel) is kidnapped, he embarks on a medieval quest to rescue her with help from his lazy useless brother Thadeous (Danny McBride). During their quest, they cross paths with many creatures, wizards, and a warrior named Isabel (Natalie Portman).

Your Highness is David Gordon Green’s second time directing a feature length comedy. His previous film, of course, being Pineapple Express, I loved and that being said, I, for some reason, had somewhat low expectations for this film. (There are a lot of commas in that last sentence. Wow) I just thought while the concept sounded really interesting, it did not seem like something I’d enjoy and I ultimately just thought would turn out extremely stupid. The cast is really what made me want to see the film in the first place because I really like all of the big stars here and hopefully just having them star in a comedy together would make the movie good.

I’d like to start off by saying that I knew this was a comedy, but I had no idea it was going to be so damn raunchy. In fact, I was definitely not prepared for a lot of what went on in this film. I’m going to try my best to not give away anything but whether it’s the almost non-stop crude humor, consistent language, nudity, or drug use; there’s just a whole lot of gross-out humor in this film. And now, you’re probably thinking, “All of this? In a medieval quest epic?” Yes, this film is filled with modern day slang, foul language, and tons of weed. For the most part, it's kind of funny. Especially the first 5 or so times Danny McBride uses an unexpected slang word. Of course, it becomes overused very quickly but it did get a few laughs out of me in the beginning.

There’s a lot of Monty Python-like inspiration to this movie except this film just doesn’t have the wit or cleverness those films had. The big problem with this movie is that it feels like they had a few funny ideas, made a movie, and just reused them throughout the entire movie over and over again in hopes of winning over the audience. The other problem, my #1 fear with comedies these days, is that all of the funniest parts are shown in the trailer. There are honestly two parts in this movie where I laughed out loud just because they weren’t shown in the trailer and they were rather, unexpected. I did chuckle throughout but that just doesn’t cut it for comedies these days.

Danny McBride, James Franco, and Natalie Portman are all really good in this movie. Danny McBride and James Franco further prove their comedic talent and also have great brother-like chemistry in the film. Natalie Portman is actually funny in this movie as apposed to her failed attempt at being funny earlier this year in No Strings Attached. Unfortunately, Zooey Deschanel is very emotionless and bland in this film and all she really did was just sit around and say these really stupid or very vague things. Her character just didn’t seem to fit in the movie at all and James Franco and Zooey Deschanel’s chemistry felt very, very forced.

I need to point out that the action scenes were actually great in Your Highness; I was pretty surprised. The sets looked great and there’s a lot of good stunt work to accompany those action scenes and all of it worked very well. I truly praise the filmmakers for using, for the most part, practical effects and puppetry to create these creatures because they all looked amazing and even the fight with the giant CGI snake looked pretty good too. This all leads me to say that I really like that it didn't parody these quest movies like Meet The Spartans and other movies of the same nature, it is truly a quest film with great production values that happens to have a lot of humor.

Everything being taken into account, Your Highness really isn’t the bad film I was expecting it to be. It goes overboard with the gross out humor and isn’t nearly as clever as it could’ve been but the film isn’t boring either. The film has good production value, it really did get a few chuckles out of me, and a lot of the performances are great too. It’s missing the cleverness it should’ve had and there's no need to rush out to see it but it does get a mild, mild, mild recommendation from me.

I give Your Highness a 6/10

Insidious - Movie Review

2011-04-03T15:17:00.000-07:00

Insidious is a film about a family that moves into a new home and soon discovers it is haunted after their son inexplicably falls into a coma. After moving to another new house, they very quickly come to realize that it was not their last house that was haunted.

I am a big fan of both James Wan and Leigh Whannell’s writing and directing, so after finding out that they were attached to Insidious, I was sold. I didn’t want to expose myself to any spoilers by watching the trailer a lot, so I only saw it once, I believe. Now I’m not bias in the sense that even if the film sucked, I’d still say it was good or try to defend it only because I like the people behind it. After the film, I heard a few people saying they liked it. I, personally, loved Insidious.

Movies honestly do not scare me very often. The only horror film I remember leaving an impact on me is The Shining, other than that, nothing really. When done right, horror is my favorite genre and sadly, horror works only like, 20% of the time nowadays and while I appreciate a lot of horror movies, they hardly ever actually SCARE me. I’m not going to lie; Insidious scared me, a lot. With the film’s PG-13 rating, James Wan and Leigh Whannell can’t rely on blood and gore as their primary scare factor and that being said, I loved what they did while still keeping it PG-13. This film is much better and arguably scarier than the duo’s last film, Dead Silence, which had an R rating and was pretty damn scary too. If the fact that I screamed loudly and did an audible gasp multiple times during the movie tells you anything, see Insidious.

This movie is almost like two movies in one. The first half is scary as hell, using the classic jump scares and whatnot but also using some subtle, eerie visual tricks that really got to me and the rest of the audience. The second half of the film is almost like a very scary version of The Haunted Mansion ride at Disney Land and Disney World. It’s not exactly like The Haunted Mansion but it’s almost like the movie changed gears and became a much more whimsical sort of fantasy horror movie around the halfway point. The second half is just visually stunning and so god damn creepy. I loved both halves of the movie so I guess that means I loved the movie as a whole too. I also have to add that the score of this film is brilliant. It's an homage to those classic horror movie scores and it accompanies the rest of the film perfectly.

The acting in Insidious is great. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much at all from the performances in the movie but I do like Patrick Wilson; he’s a likable guy. The performances fit the characters and all of the characters in the movie are good, so I have no problems with the cast and acting. The kids were good too, so that's great. Overall, the acting gets a thumbs up from me.

The film does have its flaws though. There are little things that I'd tweak about it but there's no point in bringing them up because a lot of them would spoil the movie. I will say that once the paranormal experts get involved, the movie takes a turn for the worse. Their performances were all good but that whole chunk of the movie went on for a little too long and took what could be time for more little eerie scares and replaced it with something less scary and even a little boring. But once things start to pick up again, it gets a lot better and scares you when you least expect it.

Obviously, being the horror fan I am, I was also really on the look for clichés. And sure, you can take the movie apart and say, there’s a part from Poltergeist, The Shining, The Exorcist, but I think this movie stands on its own as being a very creepy thriller that delivers the best scares have to offer these days without going to great extents to gross out audiences. Sure it's not perfect but it did its job and it did it well; it actually scared me. I think Insidious is easily one of the biggest surprises in the horror genre I’ve seen in recent years and if you’re a scary movie fan like myself, don’t miss it.

I give Insidious a 9/10

Super - Movie Review

2011-04-02T14:54:00.000-07:00

An everyday guy (Rainn Wilson) transforms himself into a superhero and joins forces with a sidekick (Ellen Page) after his wife (Liv Tyler) falls under the influence of a drug dealer (Kevin Bacon).

If you're anything like me, the first thing you thought about after seeing the trailer for this was, "This looks like a cheap rip-off of Kick-Ass." Well, it turns out that this was written before Kick-Ass and neither copied off the other because they were both unaware of each other at the time. Also, it's really not a ground-breaking concept either. Obviously the comparison between the two is going to be made, it has been made, and it's hard to avoid. I will talk about the comparisons but first, I'd like to talk about it as a standalone film. Lets just say, Super didn't reach my expectations at all.

With a great cast like this one, I was really hoping it would be better than it actually turned out to be. The acting was great; Rainn Wilson is good, Ellen Page is great, Liv Tyler is pretty much the same person she is in every movie, and Kevin Bacon is just awesome. I didn't have a problem with the acting but unfortunately, I didn't like any single one of these characters in the slightest. This film goes to great extents to show that the people in this film are complete unlikable idiots.

The film just follows the same formula throughout that shows these idiots trying desperately to prove their stupidity while they try to accomplish these ridiculous goals. There's a scene where the superhero bashes a man's head in with a wrench for cutting in line at the movies. Does that sound like someone you'd want to watch for 90 minutes? As the film comes to a close, it gets all sentimental and it all of a sudden is centered around family... Where did that come from? If there's anything good about Super, it's Ellen Page, because she's not the know-it-all teen in this movie. She's actually a lot of fun and hopefully she sticks with these kind of roles.

The humor in this film is a huge let down. There's only so many times you can say 'fag' in a film to the point of being completely off-putting. When swearing or any type of language in a film is clever, smart, or works with a joke; the more the merrier. When it feels forced like just about everything else in Super; shame. Other than their attempt at making you laugh through swearing, they try to gross you out with some gore and even try out some humor in the dialogue and I didn't laugh once. Even worse, I understood why it's funny but none of it worked for me. Usually I'm welcoming to humor that I'm not used to except, it isn't even humor I'm not used to; it's humor that I normally think is amusing but it isn't pulled off in way I found entertaining at all.

A lot of the film felt either forced or desperate to be outrageous, whereas in Kick-Ass it felt like everything outrageous or crazy came naturally in the film. The film tries, on many occasions, to be really outrageous and it just never felt genuine to me and for that reason, it definitely suffered. The film being desperate accounts for the violence, the dialogue, and a lot of the humor in the film and none worked for me at all. It's condescending, it was not funny at all, and there's a whole lot to not like about the film in general.

You can say that this film is like Shaun of the Dead because Shaun of the Dead begins as this funny and loving homage to zombie movies and slowly becomes this serious and frightening zombie movie in its own right. Super begins as this homage to do-it-yourself vigilante type movies, so I'll give it that, expect it's not funny, loving, or serious and was a complete waste of my time.

I give Super a 3/10

Source Code - Movie Review

2011-04-01T19:00:00.000-07:00

Source Code is an action thriller centered on a soldier (Jake Gyllenhaal) who wakes up in the body of an unknown man and soon discovers he's part of a mission to find the bomber of a Chicago commuter train. He goes about this using an experimental computer program that allows him to cross over into another man’s identity in the last 8 minutes of his life.

The film is directed by Duncan Jones, who directed the 2009 film, Moon. I’ve been a fan of his since, so I had pretty high expectations for his new film, Source Code. The trailer definitely got me excited and it had me immediately thinking it would be a little something like Groundhog Day meets Inception. After viewing the trailer a couple more times since it premiered, I started to feel a little bit apprehensive about the film. It looked like it could’ve been predictable; I was worried I knew what was going to happen. Luckily, what I thought was going to happen didn’t and I ended up really liking Source Code.

While I was very happy I didn’t predict the outcome of the film, Source Code felt very safe, at least compared to Moon. It was almost like they didn’t want to go too ambitious with this project and they tried to keep it like a popcorn flick, accessible for the general movie-going public. That being said, I thought Source Code was great. It wasn’t as good as I was expecting just because Moon was so committed to being “out there” and what not and like I said, this was definitely a very safe follow-up.

The acting was all great and this is key because Jake Gyllenhaal and Michelle Monaghan are basically performing the same 8 minutes over and over, mainly Michelle Monaghan because Jake’s character is always up to something pretty different each time. But yeah, I thought they both did a great job with it. I was really worried that the scenes and movie in general would get really repetitive but it didn’t at all in my opinion. Every single time the 8 minutes repeats, it was a little different whether it be the camera work, the dialogue, and the overall outcome of each 8 minutes.

Visually this movie is really good too. The color palette of the film is surprisingly bright for the sort of frantic storyline the movie follows. I would’ve expected maybe something a little darker or gloomy but it didn’t really effect the way I thought of the movie at all so that’s not a complaint. The visuals weren’t perfect but for a movie where visual effects don’t exactly take the forefront, they were good. The train blowing up over and over and over again looked pretty good. Again, nothing special, just pretty standard 2011 explosions and I’m not trying to put the movie down for saying the effects were standard, I’m just pointing out that there were hardly any, “whoa!” moments in terms of visuals. There are a few scenes that I don’t want to spoil that really did stick with me though because of a camera trick they did or a way they used a certain effect that just looked really cool.

Every movie I've called emotional since Toy Story 3 has been put to shame. This movie surprisingly almost made me tear up on two separate occasions within the last 15 minutes of the movie. It gets really heavy without getting too corny or preachy so that's a huge plus. What was too bad was just as this emotional ending is about to seemingly close the movie, the film hits you with this last minute explanation of things that takes a good amount of thought and left me somewhat confused. I love when movies make me think but I hate when the ending confuses me to the point of making me forget about the rest of the film and how much I absolutely loved it.

Plot-wise and really the overall, Source Code was very safe for what I was expecting from Duncan Jones. Understandably, I guess, so I’m not knocking it for that by any means. I honestly just thought it could’ve taken more risks but that’s just my preference. Sure, you can point out a lot of parts in the film that contradict other parts of the film or even parts of the film that straight up do not make sense, but the movie is too engaging to not like and all of those plot holes can easily be forgotten. All in all, I really enjoyed Source Code. I had fun with it, there’s a really interesting story here and the film even took me by surprise every now and then.

I give Source Code an 8/10

2011 Superhero Preview

2011-03-29T00:01:00.000-07:00

Regardless of wether or not a superhero movie is actually a good movie, I think they are some of the most fun experiences I have in theaters nowadays. You can just feel all of the positive energy and excitement in the theater, wether it be the audience erupting when the movie starts and ends or right as the superhero heroically stands over the defeated bad guys. 2011 is shaping up to be a great year for the heroes and now that an official trailer has been released for every superhero flick this summer, listed in order from least to most anticipated, here are my opinions on them as of now.

4. Green Lantern - June 17
Green Lantern looks very goofy to me, or at least a lot more goofy than I expected it to be. Then again, I don't know much about the Green Lantern character to begin with. As of now, I'm not super excited for Green Lantern, from what I've seen so far it all looks pretty uninteresting. These impressions come from the trailer I saw for it back in November so hopefully the movie is a lot cooler or proves me wrong at least. I really like Ryan Reynolds, he's one of my favorite actors so hopefully just his appearance in the film alone will make it better.

UPDATE: The footage just recently released at WonderCon has completely changed my thoughts from the previous trailer and now I am very, very pumped to see Green Lantern!

3. Thor - May 6
Most of the recent footage for Thor has gotten me very excited to see it and while I know nothing about the actual character Thor, everything so far looks really interesting. This movie could easily turn out pretty stupid because from the trailers, there looks like a lot of cheap jokes are being thrown in there and they just fall flat. The trailers are also showing the world of the gods or whatever you want to call it, a lot, and the more I see it, the more I'm starting to think the movie has potential to be really goofy. Overall, I'm looking forward to Thor.

2. Captain America: The First Avenger - July 22
The first official trailer for Captain America was not a very good trailer for a couple reasons but mainly because they hardly spent any time focusing on Chris Evans as Captain America. They primarily just showed him as the scrawny guy he was before he undergoes the transformation into Captain America and that is something you don't want to do to get an audience pumped to see a movie like this. The cast is great for this movie and Red Skull, visually, looks amazing. I love the character of Captain America so that alone has me interested in seeing the film and from the action in this trailer and the Super Bowl TV Spot, it all looks very cool and I'm really looking forward to seeing it.

1. X-Men: First Class - June 3
X-Men: First Class, from what I've seen so far, looks awesome. I'm not a huge X-Men fan but I did really like X-Men 1 & 2. That being said, I'm really hoping that this prequel is not just being made for the money and they actually rely on a great story because this movie has potential to tell a fantastic and interesting story. With Kick-Ass director, Matthew Vaughn behind this, I'm really expecting something great to come. But like I said, I feel that this movie could so easily flop and disappoint but as of now, I'm very excited.

I'm obviously a big superhero fan and I'm really excited to see all of these movies even though some of them, from what I've seen, haven't completely impressed me yet. I'm just really hoping that none of these movies disappoint and they all, at least, turn out to be a fun times at the movies this summer.

Sucker Punch - Movie Review

2011-03-25T21:57:00.002-07:00

A young girl, played by Emily Browning, is institutionalized by her wicked stepfather for accidentally murdering her own sister. The mental institution in the movie suddenly turns into her "fantasy", a whore house and whenever Emily Browning's character, Babydoll, dances for customers, she closes her eyes and she's in a different location trying to find a certain object related to the customer or whoever she may be dancing for. Once all 5 of these objects are found, she, along with some other girls, can escape from the facility.

Sucker Punch is directed by Zack Snyder, the visionary director who has brought us 300, Watchmen, and even the Owl movie from last year. I'm a fan of his directing and I always look forward to his films. On a technical level, Sucker Punch is visually stunning, as expected. This movie has by far the best action sequences I've seen this year, really well choreographed action, and good special effects. And while all of these action scenes are great, I don't know what they mean because of the multiple universes this movie has. All of these scenes are so random and get really tedious to the point where I'm just mad with the film. Let me remind you, one level of fantasy in this movie is the brothel and the second level of fantasy are these 4 random action sequences. The problem with this is that it makes you not give a crap at all about any of the fight scenes because nothing is at stake.

The action scenes take place in 4 different scenarios and they all are metaphors for what's happening back at Babydoll's imaginary whorehouse. Sounds cool, but these "metaphors" just flat-out do not make sense. The first 20 minutes of the movie and the first scenario are very cool and set what I thought was the tone for the rest of the action scenarios. Unfortunately, it doesn't because scenarios #2 and #3 are very similar and equally chaotic and it just left me a bit bewildered to be honest. The first scenario is Babydoll vs. 3 giant samurai and it is well shot and perfectly paced. Scenario #2 takes place in a warzone occupied by Robot-Zombie-Nazis as the girls try and get a map. The camera work is just shaky and it's really just too random in this and scenario #3, except #3 takes place in a medieval setting with dragons as the ladies try to attain fire. Scenario #4 takes place in a futuristic train with a whole lot of robots on board as the girls try to get a knife. The final object is a key and I'll let you find out how they go about that yourself. These all sound very interesting and work on paper, sure. Maybe that's why this would've worked better in a comic book instead of the big screen.

The acting in this movie isn't all that bad. Everyone in the movie does a solid job but the one thing that irritated me was how excruciatingly boring everyone is. It's a shame because the movie stars a bunch of really attractive girls that can act but they decided to have zero comic relief in the film and make them the most dull characters in a movie I've seen in a while. I'd also would like to point out that this should've been marked with an R rating because I feel like for the kind of stuff they had going for the film, got dumbed down a bit to the point where a line that has a swear word gets cut off mid-sentence or is muffled by gunfire. People getting killed off-screen and the lack of blood in this film really made it feel way too safe and contained. I think the best thing they could've done with this outlandish, action-packed premise to make it more enjoyable would be to go with an R rating.

This movie is really hard to review because that's all I really have to say about it. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone unless they found it necessary to go out and see some inconsequential but at the same time, great action sequences. The story is so weird and random and in the end of the film, where it supposedly all comes together, it still doesn't make much sense. The acting is fine but the characters are so bland and eventually get annoying and whiney. My score is going to seem a little high only because I see in Zack Snyder that he has an eye for texture and a feel for pacing and storytelling, but everything good about it is unfortunately used for crap. What really made the movie worth it for me were the pretty ladies and seeing it in IMAX with a full house.

I give Sucker Punch a 4/10

Limitless - Movie Review

2011-03-19T16:09:00.000-07:00

Limitless is about an unpublished writer played by Bradley Cooper, whose life is transformed by a top secret drug that allows him to use 100% of his brain, ultimately making him a perfect version of himself. He’s able to see patterns in the stock market, he’s able to finish the book he’s been trying to write, he’s able to work his way out of tough situations because he’s using the brain to its potential. His enhanced abilities attract dangerous forces that threaten his new life.

Going in to Limitless, I was expecting mediocrity. Bradley Cooper is starring as the leading man on his own and it has Robert De Niro in what I was expecting to be a flat-out disappointing role. I wasn’t only worried with the actors in this movie but looking at the director, Neil Burger, who is best known for The Illusionist, which is a very mediocre film in my opinion. I think of The Illusionist as, “that other film about magic that came out the same year as Chris Nolan’s far superior film about magic, The Prestige”.

The performances in this movie are very solid from everyone. Bradley Cooper is really good in this. I’ve seen him in a few things and he’s an enjoyable actor but in all of those movies, he’s acting off of someone or he’s with a group of a few other good actors. This is the first film I’ve seen him have to carry completely on his own and he’s quite impressive actually. Robert De Niro is also in this film and he plays a businessman that Bradley Cooper gets involved with. Before seeing Limitless, I thought they casted Robert De Niro to be in this movie just for the sake of having Robert De Niro. Unfortunately, that’s true but he’s not given much material to work with either. We all know he can act very well, and he does do a great job in this movie but most of De Niro’s scenes are just kind of passive. There’s not a lot of intense stuff for him to do in Limitless, which is pretty disappointing. Abbie Cornish has the role as Bradley Cooper’s girlfriend and she did fine. I had never heard of her before but from this movie, I could tell she’s a fine actress from this.

Limitless has a very unique visual style. The directing had some very unique different slants to it and there were some very interesting sequences. It has a lot of very interesting visual tweaks they do with the camera, but it never gets distracting which is great. One of the cool things they did that really stood out for me was that whenever he was on the pill, the colors of the movie got a lot more vibrant. Whenever he’s off the pill, the color palette is very gray and dull, but suddenly it gets very explosive as soon as his brain starts working. Also, the opening credit sequence was a real eye-opener and really established the style for the rest of the movie, so look forward to that.

The problem I had with the film is that it seemed very disjointed. Something about the film made it feel like certain scenes weren’t connecting. There were a lot of very interesting scenes throughout the film but they didn’t really form with cohesiveness, if that makes any sense. A lot of the scenes in this film felt very out of place and I don’t want to spoil anything but certain ways that the story tries to finalize itself seem very, very rushed. For the most part, this is an enjoyable movie but many parts of this movie feel out of place and it seems like a lot of little segments of the film are almost like their own little subplot and in the long run, they just don’t form a whole. I can see that I’m rambling but that’s how I viewed it and I’m sure a lot of people are going to love this movie regardless.

All in all, I really liked Limitless. It’s good but not great but it has a few disappointing things about it. The film has some unused potential with Robert De Niro and it feels a bit disjointed at certain points but honestly, I had a good time with it and I highly recommend it.

I give Limitless a 7.9/10

Paul - Movie Review

2011-03-15T22:35:00.001-07:00

Two British comic-book geeks, played by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, traveling across the U.S. after attending Comic Con encounter an alien named Paul outside Area 51, voiced by Seth Rogen.

I went into Paul with so-so expectations, because I’m honestly not the biggest Pegg/Frost fan. I did enjoy both Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz but not nearly as much as my friends or fellow YouTube critics. That being said, I wasn’t particularly excited to see Paul. However, with Seth Rogen and director Greg Mottola on board to make a comedic sci-fi adventure, my expectations were heightened a bit. It had me thinking it could be a very interesting film, which it is.

The casting for this movie is perfect. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost prove once again show that they have great chemistry and are instantly likeable the second they’re shown on screen. There’s also surprisingly great voice acting from Seth Rogen as the CG alien, Paul. When I first saw the trailer for Paul, I didn’t think Seth Rogen’s rough voice would be a great match for this beautifully designed alien but after just a few minutes of screen time, he immediately proved me wrong. I get that having him voice a little alien is supposed to be part of the humor but regardless, his voice just didn’t seem fitting from the trailers, luckily, on the movie it worked and it made Paul that much more likable. Some of the supporting characters, including Kristen Wiig and Jason Bateman, are all great additions to the story and have some really funny scenes as well. I thought that a lot of these characters, even Pegg and Frost themselves, were overshadowed by Paul. As much as I ended up liking Paul, he's a very distracting alien. The whole time I was just picturing Seth Rogen doing a voice over and I never got into the actual Paul character because he had hardly any depth or substance. Regardless of how well he was animated, I never felt that he was an alien, only Seth Rogen in an alien costume.

The film’s actually written by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost and the whole script feels like a huge inside joke or as they said in an interview, their love letter to Spielberg. There are tons of classic sci-fi references and 80’s gags that probably will go over some audience’s heads but I understood most of them and I got a kick out of it. There's a song from one of the bars in a Star Wars movie being played in a bar in this movie with a country western twist that took me a while to pick up on, but once I did, I couldn't help but chuckle. But the dialogue in this film is just juvenile. There are so many curse words thrown around in an unfunny manner to the point where it annoyed me. I love it when swearing is done right, when it's creative but when it's unfocused and used like a 12 year old who just found out that swearing is "cool" and "edgy", it angers me a bit. The overwhelming amount of obscenities in Paul is just not humorous, it's just there. The only time this movie shows signs of decent dialogue is with all of Kristen Wiig and Paul discussions regarding religion and science, and even then it's not smart enough to hold up.

Unfortunately, there are a few other things I didn’t think were so great about the movie that actually made me like it a lot less. First off, while Greg Mottola orchestrates a lot of hilarious scenes, the action in this movie really lacks. I know it’s supposed to be a funny movie but there are a few occasions where action takes the forefront and it’s really sloppily directed and none of it is very memorable. My other big flaw with this movie is the pacing; it’s all over the place. The movie starts to get noticeably uneven about 30 minutes in when Kristen Wiig’s character is introduced. Also, there are a lot of dead spots in the movie that make it very inconsistent, it goes from being really funny to really boring and unfunny. The “bromance” in the film, at times, gets lost to the point where it just becomes awkward between the three main characters.

Overall, I’d say Paul is a pretty enjoyable, geeky, buddy comedy that is even sweet at times. The script is pretty bad but it's filled with a lot of subtle yet hilarious references to classic sci-fi films. It’s not anything great but I’d say it’s worth seeing if you want a few laughs, especially if you’re a fan of Pegg and Frost’s previous work.
I give Paul a 6.5/10

Cedar Rapids - Movie Review

2011-03-13T15:01:00.000-07:00

In Cedar Rapids, Ed Helms plays Tim Lippe, an insurance agent who is sent to Cedar Rapids, Iowa to represent his company at an annual insurance convention. He soon finds himself under the "guidance" of three convention veterans.

Since the only movie I was interested in seeing this weekend was the utterly disappointing Battle: Los Angeles, I thought, why not check show times for my local theater where that I never go to anymore? I saw what was playing, so I grabbed my father and we saw Cedar Rapids. I was looking forward to Cedar Rapids because it stars Ed Helms, who is hilarious, but more importantly, John C. Reilly, who is one of my favorite comedic actors. Unfortunately, the trailer really made me less excited for the film and I think that might be the main reason I put it off for this long. Cedar Rapids is that little comedy that proves itself to be a lot better than most big mainstream comedies and boy, did I like it.

The performances in this movie are very good and everyone, including supporting characters, is hilarious. Ed Helms plays a very likeable fish out of water type of character. He builds a romance with Anne Heche, which is surprisingly very sweet and genuine. Nobody was able to top John C. Reilly though; he had me cracking up on many occasions and actually has a great back-story. What I appreciate about this movie is that no matter how stupid or douchey characters can be, they’re all very funny and very likeable people. There’s a little bit of charm each character has that kept me from getting annoyed with them.

Recent TV Spots for this movie have been claiming it, “The fresh comedy from Sundance Film Festival” and while I really liked it, it’s not very fresh in my opinion. Don’t get me wrong, I thought it was funny and all but it follows a very familiar formula that we’ve all seen making it a tad bit stale. Thankfully, there are great performances and enough laughs and cute moments to distract from a very common formula comedies tend to follow. The formula isn't necessarily a bad thing, it's just not as "fresh" as everyone's saying it is in my opinion. My one flaw with the movie is that it does drag at certain spots and some parts of the movie feel a lot longer than they should, but all in all, it's just a great film.

This is a very short review because I honestly don’t have anything else to say. It’s a very funny movie that follows a simple formula. Its all-star cast and great script overshadow its few flaws making this one of the better comedies I’ve seen in a while.
I give Cedar Rapids an 8/10

Battle: Los Angeles - Movie Review

2011-03-11T22:01:00.000-08:00

In Battle: Los Angeles, a Marine platoon faces off against an alien invasion in none other than, Los Angeles, California.

Battle: Los Angeles is the highly anticipated sci-fi that would most likely be kicking off the summer lineup of movies for 2011. It’s the big blockbuster movie that’d make you feel like summer is just around the corner. As cliché as alien invasion movies have become, there have still been ways to help the genre survive and surprise the audience with something new. 2009’s District 9 showed what could be achieved with a small budget, a breath of fresh air for moviegoers like myself. From the trailer for Battle: LA, I could immediately feel I was in for what could possibly be a refreshing treat.

The performances in Battle: LA are all fine. While not every character is likeable, they are all acted pretty well and they are also handled perfectly. While every now and then they let the characters stretch out and have a quick "comedic" blurb, ultimately, they move and act like marines and I think that helped keep a consistent feel for the movie. Aaron Eckhart plays the retiring Sergeant very well and he’s what kept me watching, everyone else does a fine job, even R&B singer Ne-Yo.

Too many of these alien movies follow a typical, stale formula. You introduce a group of characters, things start falling from the sky, they turn out to be aliens, aliens are kicking our asses, we find aliens’ weakness, we fight back, we put aside a few minutes here and there for character development or some boring subplot, then either we win or the aliens win and we roll credits. Battle: LA definitely follows this formula, but it’s kept down to a minimum. If you’re the type of person who can’t stand 15 or 20 consecutive minutes of running around, explosions, taking cover from enemy attacks, and bullets flying everywhere; you already know this movie isn’t for you.

The film has the same relentless action-packed feel as a Michael Bay film except, Michael Bay actually knows how to direct action. Unfortunately, the director, Jonathan Liebesman, has no style of his own. It’s the same old shaky camera, quick cuts, and fast zooms, as you’d expect and it left me feeling a bit off-put by all of the action. Let me remind you, this is an alien invasion movie and I was bored by the action; something’s wrong here. Also, scenes of dialogue or scenes where action is at a minimum they continue with the frantic camera work and editing to the point where people in my theater were laughing. To accompany the lackluster directing is the god-awful script, which left me and the rest of my theater covering our faces in embarrassment. It’s the kind of script that really angers me, the script where all of the dialogue is explaining what’s going on in the movie. It makes the audience feel dumb and it really takes you out of the movie regardless of if it’s good or bad. One scene in particular where they're about to perform an autopsy on an alien, a civilian steps up and says, "I think I can help. I'm a veterinarian".

If a movie's bad, that's one thing. But if a movie's bad and isn't any fun at all... I don't even think I need to say it. This film is like any first-person shooter video game, except your friend is hogging the controller and you just have to sit there and watch. The special effects were pretty standard in my opinion, nothing too great. That being said, it’s hard to find something worthy of praise for this movie because it really isn’t a good at all. It was actually bad.

Battle: LA isn’t groundbreaking by any means. The movie doesn’t explore the aliens themselves that much so it isn't interesting and none of the characters, as individuals at least, are memorable in the slightest. Shaky camera work, mindless action, and noise take the forefront, leaving me really unimpressed with what I was hoping to be a great summer sci-fi... In March.

I give Battle: Los Angeles a 2.5/10

The Adjustment Bureau - Movie Review

2011-03-06T14:47:00.000-08:00

The Adjustment Bureau follows the relationship between a politician named David, played by Matt Damon, and a ballerina named Elise, played by Emily Blunt, as a mysterious force called The Adjustment Bureau tries to keep the lovers apart. The Adjustment Bureau basically monitors the world and makes sure people are doing what they are supposed to do. David and Elise were only supposed to meet once and The Adjustment Bureau is trying to keep them separated, but David is willing to fight against these forces to be with her.

The first time I saw the trailer for The Adjustment Bureau I thought it looked really goofy. The premise seemed very interesting yet pretty bizarre to the point where it I thought it would just bother me. Also, the movie was pushed back from last fall to now so that worried me even more. I am honestly shocked to say that I loved The Adjustment Bureau.

I have to start off this review by pointing out the utterly astounding chemistry between Matt Damon and Emily Blunt. They were both so good and really believable, which saved the movie. I say that because in a movie like this, if you don’t care about the two main characters the whole movie falls flat on its face and loses all of its charm and ultimately loses your interest completely. Thankfully, you care about both of them from the moment they are each introduced.

One thing I was worried about going into this movie were The Adjustment Bureau themselves. I went in thinking that they would always be one step ahead of Damon and there would be no way around them but that's not the case. You can outsmart the Adjustment Bureau, Matt Damon outruns them every now and then and it’s so suspenseful and very satisfying. This leads me to how perfectly simple this movie is. Nothing is over-explained and the movie doesn’t try to be too smart. It was never over the top so there was nothing contradicting itself and I completely bought the concept. It’s also very easy to follow and it overall makes for a great experience at the movies.

The special effects, while subtle, were very cool and effective. In the movie, The Adjustment Bureau can go through one door and it can lead to any other door in the city (“Monsters, Inc.,” anyone?) and they pulled it off flawlessly. The directing was great; all of the chase scenes were really engaging and well shot. The writing wasn't anything special but it wasn't bad at all. I don’t know how much of the romantic scenes was improvisation but all of the scenes between Damon and Blunt were sweet and really realistic as well. Like I said, it’s all very believable thanks to the some of the writing and definitely the acting.

Honestly, the movie isn't anything special and there are some crucial gripes I have with this movie. It's not necessarily a flaw as it is a preference but I thought the film was a little safe. I felt hardly any sense of danger throughout this movie, all of the chases felt very playful because nobody was the action hero. It’s just a congressman and a dancer running around being chased by unintimidating men in hats. I would’ve liked to see the movie be more edgy. I personally would’ve tried to make the movie a bit more suspenseful than it actually thinks it is. Now, I get that you shouldn't get worried about their safety because it’s really only their love that’s in jeopardy, but like I said, It’s just my preference. Also, a lot of the time movies or concepts like this can get very preachy and I have to admit, it was pretty preachy. I wasn’t exactly put off by the tone or moral advice this movie gives, but it gets really tedious, especially in the ending of the movie.

Overall, I really enjoyed The Adjustment Bureau. It far exceeded my expectations, which were very, very low to begin with. It wasn’t at all what I was expecting and it was just a fun time. Now, it's only March and there's going to be tons of movies that are going to be better but as of now, this is my favorite film of 2011. It has set its score and I'm anxious to see which films will beat it.
I give The Adjustment Bureau an 7.8/10

Rango - Movie Review

2011-03-04T15:00:00.000-08:00

A chameleon, voiced by Johnny Depp, that aspires to be a swashbuckling hero finds himself in a Western town plagued by bandits and is forced to literally play the role in order to protect it.

I have been anticipating Rango since I saw the first teaser trailer released sometime last year. Even though that trailer gave away nothing about the plot or characters, the beautiful animation was showcased. Since then, more and more footage has been released and the originality of the animation has continued to impress me. After finding out what the plot was and who was voicing certain characters, I was sold.

Animated movies have dominated over the past year. I can easily name at least one animated movie from each major studio that was actually good last year. Two of them earned a spot in my top ten favorites of 2010, one of them actually placing in first and they have continued to win me over since. That being said, I obviously had very high expectations for Rango.

First off, this movie is pretty funny. I was surprisingly cracking up a lot more than I was expecting during this animated western. What I personally think makes this movie so funny is the voice acting. I know more so in this animated movie than others, they really had the voice actors act and not just stand behind a microphone, and it really shows. Johnny Depp is so good in this movie and it’s easily the best voice acting I’ve seen from an animated movie in quite some time. Every single character in this movie is visually, at the least, memorable. Every character is expertly animated and really detailed, whether it’s their scales, fur, or feathers, it's remarkable.

I am very happy to say that this movie is a lot different than what you’d expect from a Nickelodeon children’s movie. This isn’t completely a children’s film to begin with. There’s a lot of adult humor in this film, there’s swearing, and a lot of creepy and scary scenes in this movie too. Of course, a lot of the humor is dumbed down to fart jokes and tedious slapstick for the kids, but eventually it gives adults reasons to like the movie so you'll forget about the immature parts. Thankfully, there is some very clever humor and a few references/ cameos that had my jaw dropped. Now, I’m not saying don’t take your kids to see this movie because if I saw this movie when I was five or six, I’d probably love the hell out of it anyway.

The main problem I had with this film was that it isn't that much fun. Now, I did laugh a lot during the first quarter of the movie because it establishes the tone of the movie very quickly and very well. The most fun I had in this, other than the first quarter of the movie, was during the canyon chase scene, mainly because the director of this movie, Gore Verbinski can direct action very well. I appreciated the movie and I thought the character Rango was a very likable lizard but all of the other characters in this movie fall short because they are either, for lack of a better word, stupid or just plain pointless. I thought Rango's love interest, Bean, was very annoying and that made it hard for me to care about any of their chemistry at all.

The film is also very slow. Usually, kid's movies try to be fast-paced because of the kids attention spans and I feel like it took way too long to develop certain scenes, primarily towards the middle. Normally that's fine, but for Rango, there are a lot of scenes that could've been a tad bit faster. The movie just drags towards the end to the point where I checked the time on my phone a few times. I love to be immersed in a movie and I hate when I have to check my phone's time to see how long until it's over and I can get out of there. Also, while the movie is very original in a lot of ways, the main plot is very predicable. You know what the conflict is, you know what the climax is, and it takes forever to get there because the movie is way too long. I could go through a list of little things I'd tweak about the movie to make it more fun and enjoyable but I'd come off as very nit-picky.

All I've been hearing is praise for this movie and I just did not like it as much as everybody else. In the LA Times review they called it an instant classic and I don't know what's wrong with me but I completely disagree. What I appreciate about this movie so much is how original it is and that's about it; it's originality. It really pushes the boundaries in terms of kid’s movies and I completely respect that. The animation is beautiful, the score by Hans Zimmer is great, and the humor can be hilarious. But of course, there are plenty problems here and there that I couldn't help but notice. All in all, it's a solid film but as far as I'm concerned, no where near as special as everyone's saying it is.
I give Rango a 6.7/10

1,000 Blog Views/ New Changes To My Blog?

2011-02-27T13:05:00.000-08:00

In early February, I passed 1,000 blog views and I’d quickly like to thank you all. Thank you, whoever may be reading my reviews out there! I love writing movie reviews and I’m glad people out there are reading them, hopefully taking them into consideration, and leaving positive feedback.

Also, I'm not going to be doing these monthly upcoming reviews posts anymore. To the right of my blog you'll see "About Me" and right below it, there's "Reviews To Expect This Month" and that is where I will post my schedule for the upcoming month from now on. I think I will still check on you guys monthly though. Like I did in this post and most of the posts since the beginning of the year, I'll do a post near the end of the month where I maybe share a story or my thoughts on something related to film or entertainment. Wether it be movie news, changes to my blog, something that happened to me during the month, I feel I'll have a bit more of a closer bond with my audience other than hearing me talk about a new movie release every week.

Hall Pass - Movie Review

2011-02-26T17:36:00.000-08:00

A married man, played by Owen Wilson, is granted the opportunity to have a week off from marriage by his wife, played by Jenna Fischer. His best friend, played by Jason Sudeikis, who has also been granted a “Hall Pass”, joins him in the fun. Things get a little out of control when both of their wives start engaging in extramarital activities as well.

Hall Pass is directed by the Farrelly brothers, who have had some hits and some misses in their career. That being said, I had so-so expectations going in to this movie but I have been rooting for them and hoping they would make a comeback film. I was hoping that Hall Pass would be that movie, but it definitely isn’t.

The movie has a very talented cast. Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis play two really likable guys, which is great. Jenna Fischer and Christina Applegate, who play their wives, give off really good performances but their storyline is random, a lot less interesting, and is also really bizarre at points. Everyone, including the side characters, do a great job with the really bad script they’re given.

One of the things that really hurt the movie was the attempt at including drama. There’s a lot of unnecessary and ineffective drama in this movie that left me with zero sympathy for any of these characters. I just didn’t care for any of them, even though they’re solidly acted and give off a chuckle-worthy line once every 10 minutes. It’s not only pointless drama either, it’s clichéd and really drawn out to the point where you lose interest in the movie completely.

There are plenty of pacing issues in this movie and there are a lot of slow parts where the movie just drags and doesn’t know where it wants to go or what it wants to be. It becomes really awkward to watch, which reminds me, this movie is painfully awkward in general. I love awkward humor and when it’s pulled off correctly, like in I Love You Man for example, I really get a kick out of it. The actual humor in this movie is just blatantly awkward and it made me feel embarrassed and even more angry with Farrelly brothers for writing such a horrible screenplay.

Now, Hall Pass did have it’s moments and actually made me laugh out loud three or four times which is actually very rare, at least in comparison to most of these comedies I’ve seen recently. And looking back at the movie as a whole, you see the really funny moments but they’re completely overshadowed by all of the missed opportunities this movie had. I mean, you have such a talented cast, utilize them! Most of the movie’s humor is lame, awkward, tired, and really useless.

Hall Pass had a lot of potential in my opinion but it’s ultimately just stale and pointless. You’re probably going to want to pass on this movie.
I give Hall Pass a 3/10

I Am Number Four - Movie Review

2011-02-20T18:30:00.000-08:00

I Am Number Four is about a group of 9 aliens living on Earth who are at war with another race of aliens. The movie follows John, played by Alex Pettyfer. He's masking his true identity and trying to pass as a high school student but at the same time is discovering his alien powers. Three like him have already been killed off and John is Number Four.

I was surprised with this movie. I originally didn't even plan on seeing it mainly because I didn't have any expectations at all from the trailer. I Am Number Four is directed by D.J. Caruso, director of Disturbia and Eagle Eye. Eagle Eye was all right but Disturbia is one of my comfort-movies, it's a movie that I can watch over and over again and never get sick of. Caruso directs action very well so after quickly looking up some of the movie's credits, I got more excited to see it. The movie has been getting hardly any praise in the reviews I've read so that was something that discouraged me from seeing it. But I went in and I sat through the movie waiting for that one thing or something that would make me not like the movie or at least as much as I did, but it wasn't there.

The movie is produced by Michael Bay and I really prefer him more as a producer than a director because usually his films have really great production value and are beautiful to look at. This movie has a great director and producer behind it so that is a plus. The action was great in this movie and I am so happy that it was because recently, in most of these action movies I see, the action is bad. It's filmed horribly and you can barely tell what's going on in the scene because of how shaky and zoomed-in it is. But in this, there are great special effects, wide shots of outstanding action sequences, and a lot of intense stuff that go on in this movie and they are beautifully showcased.

I was also very surprised by how much I was involved in this story. The beginning and end are action-packed and basically has everything you'd except from an alien movie targeted to teens. There's this big chunk of the movie in the middle though that focuses more on his high school life and all of the dramas that revolve around it and that honestly did take away from my enjoyment a bit, but it wasn't unbearable. I definitely think it was good for the story and all, but it did bore me a little bit. I do think that if you're not involved or you don't like that kind of high school storyline at all; you'll like the movie a lot less. I actually liked the romance in this movie, it was believable.

This movie is a lot like Twilight and I know what you're thinking, "Are you seriously comparing a movie that you liked to that shit movie, Twilight?” Don't worry, just because there are a lot of things reminiscent of Twilight in I Am Number Four, doesn't mean it actually IS Twilight. It is a story of a boy with an alter ego of some sort who meets a girl that attends the same high school as him, they fall in love, and then he basically ends up dragging her into this messed up world of alien/creature wars. Maybe it's not the most original story, but it does have potential if it's done correctly. Thankfully, I Am Number Four actually does it correctly and does it very well.

I wasn't expecting much from the acting in this, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I was thinking. Alex Pettyfer plays the main character and I thought he did a good job. Timothy Olyphant had a great character as always and does a pretty good job with the acting as well. The girl who plays Sara, John's love interest, is fine too. I liked her character a lot more than the way she played her character if that makes any sense. I liked everyones character so overall, the performances didn't bother me.

As for stuff I didn't really like about it, I thought the villains were pretty stupid. There was really no depth to the bad guys at all, there's hardly any explanation of what they are and it was more of a red vs. blue or bad guys vs. good guys type of thing. But honestly it's that and some of the high school elements of the story that made it a bit more corny or "teenish" but overall, it's a good time at the movies. It has a goofy charm to it and it's hard to not like.

I Am Number Four is nothing special but it's a lot of fun. I feel like I'm going to be one of the few people that actually like this movie but if I can give you any advise before you decide to see this movie or not, just give it a try. And if you do see it, like it for what it is, just go with it, try to have fun with it and try to get involved with the story and I'm sure you'll enjoy it too.
I give I Am Number Four a 6.5/10

Unknown - Movie Review

2011-02-20T17:20:00.000-08:00

Unknown is about a man, played by Liam Neeson, who awakes from a coma, only to discover that someone has taken on his identity and that no one, not even his wife, believes him. With the help of a young woman, he sets out to prove who he is and find out what’s going on.

This movie has a great premise and I have been excited to see this ever since I first heard about it. I love just about anything Liam Neeson is in because he’s in his late 50’s, he’s likable, and he’s still kicking ass. He’s played an amazing helper of the Jews in Schindler’s List, a Jedi in Star Wars: Episode I, Batman’s trainer in Batman Begins, The Lion, Aslan, from Narnia, Hannibal of The A-Team, Zeus, and the greatest dad ever, Bryan Mills, in Taken.

Unknown is very similar to a lot of other action/thrillers but it really has that same feel as The Bourne Identity. It doesn’t compare to any of the Bourne films, but it has that same feel from start to finish. It’s all very in the moment and it doesn’t feel like much time has passed from the beginning of the film to the end. It all moves at a very quick and graceful pace too. The action is pretty good and well directed.

Liam Neeson does a great job with the material he’s given. He’s great in the action sequences but I forgot how great of an actor he really is. He was really good in this movie. Some of the more dramatic scenes with him left me with goose bumps. January Jones, who plays his wife, gave a very underwhelming, emotionless performance that was at points really hard to watch and Diane Kruger did a pretty good job as the girl who assists him in trying to regain his identity. She was good but her character had hardly any depth and I didn’t really care that much for her as the sidekick. Obviously, the standout of the film and one of the main reasons I went to see this film in the first place is Liam Neeson.

Other than the previous things I mentioned, it’s not really that great of a movie. It has plenty of slow parts, the twist is nothing new or interesting and I thought Unknown was ultimately a huge bore. Unknown tries so hard to be like Taken or any other type of action/thriller from the way it’s directed, to the setting, and even the way Liam Neeson’s character acts but it’s really inconsistent and doesn’t know what it wants to be. It shifts between genres throughout the movie way too much. The script isn’t very clever either and there’s just a whole bunch of confusion in the dialogue that it just gets extremely tedious and really sloppy.

Jaume Collet-Serra directs the film and I've got to admit, he knows how to turn a bad script into something a lot better than it actually is. He directed Orphan, which is a very underrated film in my opinion. He made that movie, a movie about a 33 year-old killer with a dwarfism who gets adopted by an oblivious family, very good. He did the same with Unknown.

There’s nothing fresh about Unknown. It had a great performance by Liam Neeson and a few good action sequences but it took itself a bit too seriously and I’ll most likely forget about it pretty quickly, like it was never even released. It’s not a bad movie necessarily; I just didn’t like it that much.
I give Unknown a 4.8/10

The Vanishing on 7th Street - Movie Review

2011-02-11T21:33:00.000-08:00

When a massive power outage plunges the city of Detroit into total darkness, a desperate group of individuals, including Hayden Christensen, Thandie Newton and John Leguizamo, find themselves alone.

When I saw the trailer for The Vanishing on 7th Street, I wasn't that impressed. It looked like it could possibly be a fun movie and that's all. I didn't hate the film, but there's really not that much worthy of praise here. The movie starts off like an X-Files episode and it shows all three main characters living their separate lives when all of a sudden, everyone vanishes. Eventually we figure out that shadows are the enemy and they can apparently kill people. I know that sounds really goofy, but they pull it off in the movie, trust me. I thought that the first 15 or 20 minutes of this movie were nearly flawless. The first 15 minutes or so of this movie is just showing the characters discovering this world where everyone has disappeared and was very reminiscent of I Am Legend, a movie that I love. The film is very suspenseful, well paced and well directed in these first minutes of the film, so I thought I was in for a treat.

My main gripe with the movie is the change in story it makes right after its flawless opening. The movie immediately skips ahead 72 hours later and all of a sudden they know what they're doing and they've figured out that light protects them and the story continues on from there. Losing that 3 day period sort of took away some of the potential this movie had. What I liked so much about the beginning was them just starting to figure out what was going on in their world and I thought if they would've stuck with that and then eventually caught up to the "72 hours later" part of the movie, it would've been more enjoyable. That would mean they would have to cut out some scenes that occur later on in the movie, but that would be fine because quite frankly, there were a lot of unnecessary scenes in the last two thirds of the film. I did enjoy this movie, it was pretty good, but I thought if they hadn't have gotten to this part of the story so abruptly, it could've been so much better.

The performances weren't that impressive, but they were okay. Hayden Christiansen surprisingly wasn't that bad or as bad as he's been in previous movies and I thought he was alright in this. Thandie Newton wasn't too great and John Leguizamo hasn't really ever impressed me with his acting, but I guess he was alright in this. What I noticed and kind of liked about this movie was that after a certain point, there isn't that much dialogue going on. I don't know if that was intentional but I think that really added to the dark, lonely and hopeless tone this movie has.

The special effects were pretty good. The shadows are the main villain in this movie and they make for some suspenseful and tense scenes. I loved the subtleness of the shadow's movements whenever they were in the background, it was very strange and eerie. It's also very well directed but the script was awful, so like I said, if they would've bridged that 3 day gap, it could've made a way more interesting story. It borrows heavily from X-Files and plenty of classic survival/horror videogames and movies, but only for the best. I had fun with The Vanishing on 7th Street, I'd say find it On Demand or rent it on iTunes while you can before its limited theater release.
I give The Vanishing on 7th Street a 7/10.

Oscars Special 2011

2011-02-10T16:54:00.000-08:00

With all of the hype of 83rd Annual Academy Awards, I've decided to post my thoughts, predictions, and even movies or people that got snubbed of a nomination and I would've like to have seen in a category. I will be sticking to the major categories in this post so don't expect me to talk about sound, makeup, or documentaries.

Alright, I'm going to be starting off with the big one, Best Picture. And the nominees are: Black Swan, The Fighter, Inception, The Kids Are All Right, The King's Speech, 127 Hours, The Social Network, Toy Story 3, True Grit, and Winter's Bone. I have no problems with the nominees in this category, I think that all of these movies are really great. Even though all of these are really great movies, it's a tossup between two of them. I think that the Oscar will either go to The King's Speech or The Social Network, both of which are excellent movies. Even though I love The Social Network, I've seen it multiple times, and I think it's one of the most brilliantly written movies I've seen in a very long time, I'm leaning towards The King's Speech this time. I'm not sure why, but I imagine myself at home watching and hearing, "And the winner is... The King's Speech". I want The Social Network to win but I think that The King's Speech will win. I still love The King's Speech, I just think The Social Network is more deserving.

Moving on to Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role, the nominees are: Javier Bardem, Jeff Bridges, Jesse Eisenberg, Colin Firth, and James Franco. Now, before I saw The King's Speech, I would say that James Franco would be taking home the oscar in this category and rightfully so. After having seen The King's Speech, I know that Colin Firth is going to win. It's his year and he just overshadowed everyone else in that movie. Even though James Franco acted off a rock in 127 Hours, it's just not his year. And here is the first snub of the night, ladies and gentlemen. Where's Ryan Gosling? Michelle Williams didn't act off of nothing in Blue Valentine. I think Ryan Gosling should be included in here and Javier Bardem should be taken out. I know that sounds a bit unfair because I haven't seen Biutiful, but from what I've heard, critics haven't been praising Bardem's performance that much but then again, who am I to judge, I haven't seen it.

And on to Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role, the nominees are: Annette Bening, Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Lawrence, Natalie Portman, and Michelle Williams. I thought that Annette Bening was good in The Kids Are All Right, Jennifer Lawrence was great in Winter's Bone, and I never saw Rabbit Hole but I'm sure that Nicole Kidman was great in that too. For me, The two obvious standouts in this category are Michelle Williams and Natalie Portman. Now, as much as I want both of them to win because they both delivered fantastic performances, I'm positive Natalie Portman is going to be taking home the oscar. I'm perfectly fine with that.

And on to Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, the nominees are: Christian Bale, John Hawkes, Jeremy Renner, Mark Ruffalo, and Geoffrey Rush. The award is 100% going to Christian Bale. I know Geoffrey Rush gave a brilliant performance and I know that Jeremy Renner really stood-out far from the rest of the cast in The Town but Christian Bale just owned the role of coked-out boxer, Dickie Eklund. This leads me to my second snub though, I think you could take Mark Ruffalo out of this list and easily put in Andrew Garfield for The Social Network. I know it's not the best performance of the year, but it's far better than Mark Ruffalo's in my opinion. Ruffalo gave a fine performance, but putting it up against Andrew Garfield, there's just no comparison.

And last in the acting categories, Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role, the nominees are: Amy Adams, Helena Bonham Carter, Melissa Leo, Hailee Steinfeld, and Jaki Weaver. Helena Bonham Carter gave a very fresh performance in The King's Speech; she played mellow very well as apposed to going over the top like she usually tends to do, but I think the award is going to Melissa Leo for The Fighter. I personally would love to see Hailee Steinfeld win because she blew me away with her performance in True Grit, but Melissa Leo did play the Boston mother perfectly and will most likely win the Oscar for it.

The nominations for Animated Feature are: Toy Story 3, How To Train Your Dragon, and The Illusionist. I'm pretty sure by now, we all know that Pixar puts out not only the best animated movies, but some of the better movies in general. Toy Story 3 without question will win the oscar but why are there only three nominations in this category? I personally thought that 2010 was an excellent year for animation. I can easily name at least one animated movie from every major studio that was at the least, good. I would've loved to have seen Despicable Me and Tangled nominated for this. What a shame.

The nominations for Original Score are: How To Train Your Dragon, Inception, The King's Speech, 127 Hours, and The Social Network. Out of these nominees, I'd give it to The Social Network because I think that score fits the movie very well and is really unique and fun to listen to even outside of the movie. I have one question though, where's Tron: Legacy? I thought Daft Punk put out a masterpiece with the soundtrack for Tron. That soundtrack is not only great to listen to outside of the movie, but it's a character in the movie that really utilizes all of the visuals and amplifies what's already a feast for the eyes to a feast for the ears as well. Speaking of Tron: Legacy, where is its nomination for Visual Effects? Hereafter gets nominated for visual effects for its one tsunami scene that was pretty good, but no Tron: Legacy nomination? Like the soundtrack, that computer-world was a character in the movie. It's beyond me why Tron isn't nominated for visual effects because it's, visually at least, the Avatar of 2010. It was a thought up world that was made by the animators and really made an otherwise pretty bad movie, really enjoyable and beautiful to look at.

And finally, the nominations for Best Directing are: Black Swan, The Fighter, The King's Speech, The Social Network, and True Grit. Out of the films nominated, I'm going to give it to David Fincher for The Social Network. After watching it many times, I can never take my eyes off of it. There are scenes in this movie that are so memorable because of the tone and the way they're shot. That being said, there are some snubs here. I can name two movies that could be taken out of this category and name two others that could easily replace them. Take out The Fighter and True Grit and put in 127 Hours and Inception. 127 Hours and Inception did not direct themselves, those movies are directed pieces whereas True Grit and The Fighter are acted pieces. Danny Boyle made a movie about a guy and a rock far more interesting and engaging than we expected and Chris Nolan should be nominated because he put out probably one of the most astounding pieces of film creation and direction this year.

And those are my predictions and general thoughts on some of the major categories this year. Thanks for reading!

The Roommate - Movie Review

2011-02-06T23:02:00.000-08:00

The Roommate follows college student Sara, played by Minka Kelly, who finds her safety jeopardized after she's assigned to a dorm with a new roommate, played by Leighton Meester.

I was not excited to see The Roommate. I went to see it merely based on hearing bad things about it and, like I expected, it was bad. I've seen this formula done many times before in movies and it almost always ends up just being horribly predictable and just about unbearable. When I very first saw this movie advertised, I knew it wasn't going to be anything amazing but it actually looked like it had some redeeming qualities, mainly the fact that it actually looked a little creepy. And when girls can pull off creepy well in a role, it's usually effective and creeps me out so I was kind of excited to see this movie. But of course, during it's opening weekend, I've been watching endless waves of negative reviews come in so I just put my previous thoughts aside and said, "Whatever, I'll see it for the sake of reviewing it. Why not?"

Like I said earlier, I was ready to see a thriller and I was hoping it would be creepy...It was just laughable. Usually laughable, cheesy thrillers are fun but not when you have the mindset ready to see a creepy thriller. I've got to admit, it was kind of a let down. First off, it isn't scary at all and if they were going for that, they completely failed at making me jump or cover my eyes. My friend told me she thought it was horrifying and she was curled up in a ball in the theater but It's simply put, not a movie you get scared by. There's nothing scary about it. The production values are good, so the movie looks great but the way it's actually shot and edited is so noticeably bad that it completely takes away from any of the scariness, which hardly exists.

I'd like to remind whoever is reading this review that those "pop out scares" don't make a movie scary. This movie had plenty of "pop out scares". The film makers startled you by making the volume loud, causing you to "jump" and that's not truly scary. The could've had a picture of Elmo pop up and had a loud sound play and everyone in the audience would jump because it was unexpected. That doesn't mean it scared the audience though. I feel if they can keep scares very subtle and keep you thinking about a movie for days after, then they're doing "scary" right.

As I continue to ramble on about what I hate about this movie, you might get the impression that the acting is terrible. Well, the acting isn't terrible. The acting isn't very good, but it isn't terrible. Leighton Meester, who plays the obsessive roommate was actually alright. I believed she was the obsessed female and she does give off one creepy death-stare. Minka Kelly was okay as the normal girl, there isn't anything interesting about her character so it's not as impressive as Meester's performance as the creep. And while I'm still talking about performances, I'd like to point out that Alyson Michalka, who plays Sara's friend, was atrocious.

This movie establishes the fact that the girl is crazy way too quickly. I know from that sentence alone, I might sound a little nit-picky but this girl does something during the second or third time the two of them hangout that to a person with any sense would think to themselves, "Do I really want to room with this girl?", but no, she sticks around for whole movie and ends up being the most naive characters in a movie I've seen in a while. Frustrating.

The Roommate is so filled with flaws, both technical and story-wise that it made what could have possibly been an intense thriller, completely unenjoyable and forgettable. I would skip this one.
I give The Roommate a 3/10

UPCOMING REVIEWS: February/ Oscar Special (Thoughts, Predictions, Snubs, and More)

2011-01-31T19:35:00.000-08:00

In February I plan on seeing and reviewing The Roommate, Vanishing on 7th Street, Drive Angry, Hall Pass and possibly Just Go With It, Gnomeo and Juliet, Justin Bieber: Never Say Never and I Am Number Four

There are a lot more February releases I'm interested in seeing than I thought... Busy month.

OSCARS SPECIAL: I will be posting my thoughts on the major categories. I'll write about who I think shouldn't be included in certain categories, people I think got snubbed of a nomination, and of course, who I think should and will win the award for all of the major categories. And of course I'll go over any other categories or nominees I feel need recognition or I feel need to be discussed or in some cases, ranted about.

The Mechanic - Movie Review

2011-01-28T21:01:00.000-08:00

The Mechanic follows an elite hit man played by Jason Statham, as he teaches his trade to an apprentice played by Ben Foster who has a connection to one of his previous victims.

I got this vibe from The Mechanic right away that it was another unofficial Transporter sequel, and that's pretty much what it is. I love Jason Statham, I think he's one of the best action stars in the business right now and he's a fine actor. And as for Ben Foster, this is the first I've heard of him and he was alright, I liked him. I do think that there were a lot of unnecessary characters that get introduced throughout the movie that lead to situations or sex scenes that don't need to be there. I noticed that there were a lot of adult themes put in the movie to maybe make it seem more adult, but it didn't really work and it was just pointless. Turns out useless sex scenes, drinking, and drug use don't help mature the story or help the horrible script. The characters in this movie do the dumbest things, things that don't make sense and that got under my skin and pissed me off.

It took me a while to get into the movie because it does get off to a really slow start. I honestly felt embarrassed at how oddly paced the first 30 or 40 minutes of the movie was, it was kind of bizarre. Once I got in to the movie though, I really got into it and I was into it for the next 40 minutes and then it gets cliched and predictable again.

As for the action, a lot of it was very good. One scene really stood out for me and that was when I was beginning to enjoy the movie a lot more. Then every action scene after that is zoomed in and shaky, which I hate. Are the filmmakers afraid to show an action scene in one take and at a reasonable distance? Director, Simon West, tends to use close-ups a lot and it seems like he would use a different shot for every sentence a character would say. I know it seems boring, but just show two characters in one frame conversing and not jump close-up to close-up back and forth.

The director of this movie is Simon West, who directed Con Air, a movie that I really like. I liked Con Air because it had three great performances. The Mechanic doesn't have that kind of strength to make up for it's flaws, there's nothing that's special or stands out about this movie. It's a mediocre action movie with a lot of things that got under my skin and nothing else. Another gripe I have about the film is that I didn't have fun with it! These characters are so boring and solemn that it's hard to have any fun with the movie. The more I think and talk about it, the less I like the movie. After writing what I didn't like I sort of got lost and forgot that there is some good here. I like Jason Statham and Ben Foster, some of the action was good, it's pretty entertaining, and it's strictly just a watchable action movie that isn't terrible by any means, it's just not a good movie.

The movie got off to a rocky start, but I got into it eventually. I was digging some of the suspense and there were some fight scenes where you felt every single hit and they were really well done. There's a lot of little things that pissed me off about this movie though, wether it be the directing or some of the pacing. While it does have a really bad script and a painfully cliche ending, it's just a barley passable action movie. I'm not saying don't see it, I'd just wait and rent it if you're a interested in watching Jason Statham kill people for just under 2 hours.
I give The Mechanic a 4.8/10

No Strings Attached - Movie Review

2011-01-23T22:38:00.000-08:00

No Strings Attached, simply put, is about two friends who decide to use each other for sex and the two of them eventually want to take their "friends with benefits" relationship and turn it into an actual relationship

I heard about this movie not too long ago and after seeing the trailer, it looked very disappointing. I never liked Ashton Kutcher that much and even though I do in fact like Natalie Portman, that doesn't take away from the fact that this is a romantic comedy produced by and starring Ashton Kutcher, and his last romantic comedy, Killers, was one of the worst of 2010. I was slightly relieved after finding out the movie is R-Rated because as I learned from Going The Distance and other 2010 romantic comedies, seeing a raunchy romantic comedy is as apposed to a dumbed down PG-13 romantic comedy is a breath of fresh air.

I'm happy to say that this movie was a lot better than I expected, nothing great, but better than I expected. Ashton Kutcher was a lot more likable in this movie than in some of his most recent work and was also pretty funny. Natalie Portman was actually really good in the more dramatic scenes, but it was kind of painful watching her try to be funny. The two of them also had pretty good chemistry, so that's great. The supporting cast was alright, I mean, they weren't that funny but they were all welcome additions to the cast and it didn't take away from my enjoyment of the movie. Mindy Kaling and Ludacris were my favorites out of the supporting cast.

There are plenty of uncomfortable scenes where vulgarity overshadows the actual humor. When swearing is done right, I love it, it can be very funny sometimes. But when you use it too much in one scene or conversation it becomes really off-putting. Like, what's with the dad saying he has pictures of his penis on his phone? Like, come on. There are a lot of unnecessary little things like that that made me cringe from the painfully unfunny awkwardness. The movie is also very predictable, as expected. After the first 25 or 30 minutes of the movie you know exactly where the movie is headed and what certain characters will end up doing.

A big reason why I went to go see this movie is because in July a movie titled Friends With Benefits is coming out.. It stars Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake and has the same exact plot. Before I saw No Strings Attached I was more excited for Friends With Benefits. Sadly, the general movie-going public is going to think that Friends With Benefits stole No Strings Attached's plot because they are idiots and think that movies are created as soon as they're released and don't go through months or even years of production. And two other interesting things about these movies is that the trailers for both were revealed in the same week and the movies star Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis, who both star in Black Swan, which is a rivalry story and I feel like these movies are sort of going head to head. Crazy, right? I'm interested in which one is going to win over the crowd.

While the movie is very imperfect and predictable, it did it's job. It made me laugh a few times, it balances out comedy and drama very well, and I was just pleasantly surprised with Ivan Reitman's No Strings Attached. Even though my score may seem kind of steep, I would like to remind you that I thought this was going to be horrible but it ended up being just a fine romantic comedy and nothing more.
I give No Strings Attached a 5.8/10

The Green Hornet - Movie Review

2011-01-14T22:47:00.000-08:00

Britt Reid, heir to his recently deceased father's large company, teams up with his dad's assistant Kato to become a masked crime fighting team.

After skimming through recent reviews, I went into The Green Hornet expecting to come out a little disappointed. While the movie isn't anything special or completely memorable, it's still a whole lot of fun. I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to be seeing tonight; a comedy, an action movie, or both. All the stuff I knew about The Green Hornet was from the trailer, which doesn't really set the movie up very well. That being said, I knew hardly anything about The Green Hornet and the fact I didn't know much about the character or the movie was getting me excited to see it.

I thought it was a very fun movie, but I don't know how fans of the original series will like it because I don't know if it's accurate or anything. So, coming from a new fan of The Green Hornet, I thought it was a pretty good movie. It was a lot funnier than I thought it was going to be and the action was actually great. Whenever The Green Hornet's parter, Kato, would be in the middle of a fight he had this whole thing where time would slow down, enemies' weapons would be highlighted in red, and the environment around them would stretch which didn't really make sense, but it looked cool. While there were cool action scenes there was also plenty of comedy. I was shocked how much this movie made me laugh. I thought Seth Rogen and Jay Chou had great comedic-chemistry that just played so well on screen and was really fun to watch.

The acting, for the most part, was what I was expecting. Seth Rogen as Britt Reid was great, he was the same Seth Rogen he's always been even though he slimmed down for the role this time around. Jay Chou as Kato was also really good, his character played a bigger role than I expected but he stole the spotlight every now and then. Christoph Waltz plays the villain in this movie and as much as I love him, this role was not that great. I feel like his character had to dumbed down a lot and the whole time it felt like he was almost "too good" for this movie. Cameron Diaz plays Britt's secretary and she's the same character she always plays pretty much. There's also a cameo in the beginning that's really awesome that I am not going to ruin it, but I'm sure everyone is going to enjoy it.

After seeing it in 2D, I am recommending against 3D. I don't see any purpose in having it be in 3D because nothing is worthy of having the whole movie be in 3D. Go see it in 2D! It's not worth the extra money.

It has an alright plot that does get ridiculous towards the end, well, the whole movie gets ridiculous as it starts to come to a close. Everything being taken into account, it's a great way to start 2011. It's action-packed and it's really funny.
I give The Green Hornet a 6.5/10

The King's Speech - Movie Review

2011-01-08T21:02:00.000-08:00

The King's Speech is the story of King George VI of Britain, played by Colin Firth, as he works to overcome his stammer with the help of his speech therapist, played by Geoffrey Rush.

I've been watching the hype for The King's Speech grow and grow and ever since then, I've been very interested in seeing it. I'm happy to say that I thought the movie was fantastic. I was a bit cautious about seeing this movie though because most movies about historic events end up being great movies that have great performances, but tend to be painfully slow or for any 14-year-old boy, like myself, boring. Luckily, this movie was about two people and it had me engrossed and really interested throughout the entire movie. There were a couple parts where it did get a little slow, but for the most part I thought it was really well-paced.

Of course, what I thought was so outstanding about this movie were the performances. I thought Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush had great chemistry. I think Colin Firth is definitely the stand-out in this movie, nobody upstages him at all and to be honest, before I saw this movie, I thought Geoffrey Rush was going to be the supporting actor who overshadows everyone else. But Colin Firth definitely deserves the nomination and I'm now positive he'll be taking home the Oscar, not James Franco, it's just Firth's year. Helena Bonham Carter finally plays a normal woman and she was pretty good, I thought she played mellow very well, which is somewhat surprising because she tends to be over the top in a lot of her roles.

It's an inspiring story in a grand scale, in the sense that King George VI needs to publicly speak in order to make people gain confidence in him so he can get through this upcoming crisis and just function as a speaker in general, but they keep the movie focused on one person's struggle with their own stammer... That is great filmmaking.
I give The King's Speech a 9.5/10

UPCOMING REVIEWS: January/ Happy New Year

2010-12-30T22:53:00.000-08:00

During the first month of 2011, I plan on reviewing The Green Hornet, No Strings Attached, and The Mechanic

I know that isn't a lot, but to be honest, January, let alone the first quarter of the year, isn't looking like the biggest or best in terms of movie releases.

And I'd like to thank anyone who's been reading my movie reviews throughout 2010. I feel like I'm off to a good start and I don't plan on quitting anytime soon.

Happy New Year!