Displaying Category: Movie

A heartwarming tale about finding what's really important in life, unconditional (familial) love. Awww... There was also the wanton abuse of little yellow "minions" which everyone should now be familiar with since they were the center of all the marketing campaigns. There isn't a whole lot to say about this since there wasn't much wrong with the movie and it basically met expectations with respect to what it was trying to accomplish. Bottom line, I enjoyed it and it was even moving, but it didn't set any new bars.

3/5

While watching this movie I kept trying to come up with words other than "awesome" to describe it. It's actually kind of tough, though, because this movie really is awesome. It's kind of a live action Dragonball movie that's about a million times better than the actual Dragonball movie (when talking about the actual fighting, which is everything that Dragonball is). Also mix in some great jokes and references to 8-bit video games and comic books and punk music and a story that pretty much everyone can relate to and you end up with pretty much a perfect movie.

Of particular note is how this movie is put together. There's a sort of beat (in musical terms) throughout the film, but instead of the thump thump of a drum you've got a joke or funny line. Every x seconds. You're basically moving from one laugh to the next the entire movie. I may have gotten that same experience with Hot Fuzz (the writer, Edgar Wright also wrote Hot Fuzz... and Shaun of the Dead... and others...), but this was better because the humor was closer to my heart (than the action movie/cop humor of Hot Fuzz).

And while looking up Edgar Wright, I found this news nugget that makes me really sad:

Proving once again that films aimed at older audiences have theoretically stronger legs than those aimed at teens, The Expendables and Eat Pray Love both had strong weekend multipliers and both performed at or above realistic expectations. With all the hub-bub regarding 'the guy movie vs. the chick flick', both films posted exceptional opening weekends and both respective marketing teams should be commended. As for Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, its frontloaded and underwhelming debut proves that geek cultures is not mainstream culture, and that hardcore geek interest should not be mistaken for mainstream interest. With films like that, the only real victory should be the fact that it got made and released... -Scott Mendelton, Huffington Post on IMDB

So yes, I think geeks will love this movie. I also think everyone should love this movie because the experience is universal, but barring that, I'm okay if it's only popular with the geeks.

5/5

Misfit dancers team up to compete in a dance battle in an effort to save their home. I'm pretty sure that's the summary you'll see in the TV Guide when this movie eventually gets to broadcast television. A single sentence that sums up the plot and completely fails to capture the awesomeness of this film. Straight up, I have never seen a movie that features this much dance. And not simple stuff, either, this is some serious hardcore spectacle type stuff. Yes, there is a story here, in fact, there are at least three main plot threads, but obviously that isn't the focus of this movie. It's all about the dancing and the dancers and I would have been just as happy if not happier had they just made it a documentary about the run-up to the competition and the show itself. I actually watched the first Step Up movie last night on TV and this franchise has come a long way. The first movie featured one main choreographed sequence at the end and some training montages and some smaller bits here and there... While Step Up 3D featured, well, enough distinct dance segments that there was no point trying to count them. There were several training montages, some seemingly random traveling dance segments through the city (street-level and roof-level) and some of the most amazing scenes in the various dance competitions. Oh yes, and there was the 3D. They definitely pulled out all of the gimmicky shots you've come to expect from over-the-top 3D, but I would still highly recommend seeing the movie in this format. The addition of depth to the dance really adds something to the experience. The biggest negative, I think, is the seeming loss of framerate you get with the 3D. This is most obvious in the dance competition scenes where the lighting is often diminished. You get the depth, but the movement doesn't seem as smooth. I am alright with the trade-off, but I would still rather have both smooth visuals and the added depth. My only other criticism would be over the peculiar lack of humor. I only really laughed once, which is slightly disappointing, I really think this sort of film can support plenty of humorous opportunities, though I expect the writers didn't want to detract from the heart of the story or turn it into something that felt like a parody of dance movies.

I would encourage folks to see this movie, it's great fun and I think performers with this much skill truly deserve the recognition a film like this can bring about.

4/5

Salt is a completely unrealistic spy thriller about a woman who may or may not be an evil Russian spy programmed to bring about the next world war. The unbelievable nature of this aside, it was still a very entertaining and action-filled movie that I would recommend to others. Go, get caught up in the action, enjoy, but don't be too surprised if the ending ends up where you pretty much expected it to from the beginning. At least the trip was a blast.

3/5

I came across two robot love stories yesterday, both of which were adorable. The first is a short film by director Spike Jonze, who recently directed Where the Wild Things Are. The film is called I'm Here and tracks a familiar love story between two humanoid robots in Los Angeles, but with a twist that kind of reminds me of The Giving Tree. It's about 30-35 minutes long and I highly recommend it. There's also a trailer if you'd like to get a feel for it before diving in.

I also have a little music video by one of my favorite YouTube vloggers, Meekakitty called Don't Unplug Me by the All Caps. And yes, I realize this song is entirely done in autotune and I have already declared my distaste for it, but... uh... They're robots! It makes sense! Or something...

Check'em out and coo at all the cuteness.

This review is going to be short for a couple reasons, first, I don't want to give anything away. Second, it doesn't take many words to say how great a movie this is.

It's clear a lot of thought went into perfecting and polishing this film. The pacing is great, the action is great, the concept is great. Also, great acting and plenty to keep you thinking long after you walk out of the theater. I loved the cast, including Ellen Page, though she did feel a little out of place... but I still dig her. If I had to write down a complaint, it's that I didn't feel the need to write pages about this movie as I did Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, though it did feel similar in many ways. That's not something I would hold against Inception, it's just that I really wanted to spend more time working over the meaning of the movie when there really isn't any meaning. It's just, a good puzzler.

4/5

I think everyone felt the idea of basing a series of movies on a theme park ride was a really bad idea. Yet the Pirates of the Caribbean movies turned out pretty good. Then, forgetting that, we all thought basing a series of movies on a short clip from a largely in-cohesive dialog-free musical movie was a bad idea... Well, here's The Sorcerer's Apprentice to prove us wrong again.

To put The Sorcerer's Apprentice into context, I would say it's similar to something like Harry Potter in that you've got a dorky nerd-child who is introduced to a world he can barely understand and is, coincidentally, the savior of the world. We're introduced to magic and get some explanation on how it works and the basic "rules" of magic. This is something I really appreciated. Compared to the very limited and almost non-existent explanations we get from the HP movies, we at least get a workable framework in The Sorcerer's Apprentice that I am reasonably comfortable with. There's some solid humor in the movie and a few somewhat touching scenes.

If I had to complain about anything it's that there was clearly a lot of contributing content cut from the final film. In fact, there are at least two scenes in the trailers that don't appear in the final cut. I understand the final cut is, I think, 1 hour and 51 minutes, so I can see they probably had a lot more content that was dropped to keep the movie under two hours. That's okay, but I feel like there may have been some useful scenes left out. For example, one of the scenes you see in the trailer involves Dave blowing up a baseball in lecture he's teaching. Some of the machinery you see in that scene (that is not in the final cut) is used in the climactic final battle... but in the final cut, we don't see that equipment before the final battle. It only made sense seeing the trailer again after having seen the movie. So, it's kind of a shame that we lost some potentially good scenes to the cutting room floor... Or not. I guess we won't know till the DVD release.

In the end, I really enjoyed the movie and look forward to the sequels.

3/5

So let's see, a science fiction movie that includes such things as: heavily armed soldiers, laser cannons, stealth aliens, giant dog things covered in spikes, and no Arnold. Alright, I'm in. Basic premise, all sorts of people are kidnapped and dropped (literally) on to some alien planet that's basically a huge game preserve, and then they get hunted by the predators. It's simple and it works. All in all, I would say it's better than the original Predator because it feels a little more sophisticated and it's not really trying for anything quite as complex as the original.

3/5

I have two minor issues with this movie. First, I didn't buy Tom Cruise as a secret agent. He didn't seem serious enough, which worked given this was a comedy, but it also got in the way of believability. Second, I can't stand Cameron Diaz. Her face weirds me out, so it's difficult for me to look at her. Those two minor issues aside, this movie was very entertaining and lots of fun to watch. It's basically an adult action/comedy thing, and it works. It's funny, it's suspenseful, it's exciting. It just works. So, I'd recommend seeing it if you're looking for something fun, but it is not a must-see.

3/5

I don't really have a lot to say about Toy Story 3. It's pretty much exactly what you would expect it to be. Living toys struggle to hold on to the past, and then failing that, struggle to cope with dramatic change in their lives. Failing that, they attempt to reacquire the status quo through the implementation of some wacky plan that utilizes each toy's individual skills and abilities. So, pretty much just like the previous two movies. What it does though, it does very well. It's funny, it's entertaining, it's well presented. My only problem with it is that it simply uses the exact same formula from the previous two movies, which is fine, I just don't think we needed a third movie.

4/5