Bring your sleeping bag to this movie if you go because it's a snoozer. Absolutely nothing happens the first hour of this 90 minute movie. Throughout the rest of the movie is equally as terrible as the beginning but, at least, something happens.
Colin Farrell did a great job as a vampire but they didn't give him anything to do but look creepy. He does that anyway so I'm not sure if he was really acting. They really could have made this an excellent movie. The original Fright Night made in the 80's was a pretty good movie. One of my favorite actresses Tony Collett was totally wasted in this movie too.
Avoid at all costs!
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Movie Review: The Help 3.5 stars
The first of the 2011 Oscar Best Picture nominee's is here! The Help is a wonderful movie. Great story, great acting, and breath of fresh air after all the bad movies I've seen this summer. The movie follows a group of poor black women who take care of the homes and families of a group of rich white woman in Jackson Mississippi. It's funny, sad, motivational and disheartening all at the same time. My daughter and I watched in a completely full theater that had faulty AC so it was very uncomfortable to sit there. This movie is two and half hours long and we file like it lasted only 30 minutes and wished it would just keep on going.
You have to feel sorry for Bryce Dallas Howard (yeah, Ron Howard's daughter) had the role of a lifetime and she did an excellent job. Too bad she had to place an unsympathetic fool.
This movie is a treat so don't miss it.
You have to feel sorry for Bryce Dallas Howard (yeah, Ron Howard's daughter) had the role of a lifetime and she did an excellent job. Too bad she had to place an unsympathetic fool.
This movie is a treat so don't miss it.
Movie Review: City of Life or Death 3.5 stars
This is a Chinese movie about the Japanese occupation of Nanjing (capital of China at the time) during WWII. As you can image a very high body count and horrific images of the brutal way that the Japanese treated the Chinese. What made this such a great movie was that they focused on around twelve character both Japanese and Chinese and how they dealt with the situation they found themselves in. Very difficult choices were made on both sides leading to terrible repercussions. Many times the choices were simply that they had to choose between two very bad paths that would lead to their death and the death's of others.
This is a very powerful movie. At the end of the movie they showed pictures of the characters and when they were born and when they died. You didn't find out until that moment that many of the characters died during the movie although you had no idea what happened to them until that point. This should win the best foreign Oscar.
This is a very powerful movie. At the end of the movie they showed pictures of the characters and when they were born and when they died. You didn't find out until that moment that many of the characters died during the movie although you had no idea what happened to them until that point. This should win the best foreign Oscar.
Monday, August 8, 2011
Movie Review: The Change Up 2 stars
Movies like this really make me question the sanity of my fellow humans. No wonder the apes hate us so. In this psychotic movie the humor really scrape the bottom of the barrel in raunchiness. I'm no prude and I gave the first Jackass movie three stars so I don't mind a little raunch when it's well done.
In this case, the raunch is presented just for shock value and had really no point in this movie except to shock you. That being said, the people around me were laughing like hyenas over what was going on in this movie. Is this movie for you. Well, ask yourself these questions: Do you think a baby pooping in the mouth of his father funny? Do you think an adult launching a stream of F-bombs in front of a 7 year old funny? You get the picture. I was embarrassed for the people around me and wanted to stop them and ask exactly what they found so funny.
The sad thing is that this movie had some real potential to be an excellent movie. The premise is that two friends are polar opposites. One (Justin Bateman) is a type A personality who works hard to do everything for his family while never finding any time for them in his life. The other friend (Ryan Renolds) is an irresponsible slacker whose life is devoid of family or accomplishment. Of course, what they find is that by meeting in the middle both their lives would improve. If the writer had lost the raunch or, at least, toned it down and punched up the basic story they could have had a 3 to 3.5 movie on their hands. All the actors did a great job with what bad materiel they had to work with but with the right materiel this movie might have been the best of the year.
In this case, the raunch is presented just for shock value and had really no point in this movie except to shock you. That being said, the people around me were laughing like hyenas over what was going on in this movie. Is this movie for you. Well, ask yourself these questions: Do you think a baby pooping in the mouth of his father funny? Do you think an adult launching a stream of F-bombs in front of a 7 year old funny? You get the picture. I was embarrassed for the people around me and wanted to stop them and ask exactly what they found so funny.
The sad thing is that this movie had some real potential to be an excellent movie. The premise is that two friends are polar opposites. One (Justin Bateman) is a type A personality who works hard to do everything for his family while never finding any time for them in his life. The other friend (Ryan Renolds) is an irresponsible slacker whose life is devoid of family or accomplishment. Of course, what they find is that by meeting in the middle both their lives would improve. If the writer had lost the raunch or, at least, toned it down and punched up the basic story they could have had a 3 to 3.5 movie on their hands. All the actors did a great job with what bad materiel they had to work with but with the right materiel this movie might have been the best of the year.
Movie Review: Rise of the Planet of the Apes 3 stars
Yes, those damn dirty apes are back! I enjoyed this prequel to the prequel to the original movie with Charlton Heston. That means we have one more movie to go before we can get back to the original. I think that this movie which explains how the apes got so smart and why they hate humans so much was well worth the cost of a ticket.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Movie Review: Cowboys and Aliens 2 stars
Perhaps I just don't get this movie but I thought it was terrible. It felt like the writer wrote a great script for a comedy and then the director said, "remove all the jokes, we are going to make an action movie".
The story, at least what we are told, is as ridiculous as it's name. I don't want to give too much away but why the aliens are on earth is silly, why they are snatching humans is also absurd, this dialog makes you groan and Harris Ford's pathetic performance tells you it's time for him to retire and do geritol commercials.
The biggest plot hole is shared with the movie Super 8. The aliens must be from and highly advanced society. They have found a way to perform inter-stellar transport and yet, they are as dumb as a box of rocks. It's not that they seem dumb because they are on a strange planet engaging strange creatures. They appear so dumb that they would starve to death just because they forgot to eat. If it was a comedy then the absurdity of such and advanced civilization being could be funny.
The story, at least what we are told, is as ridiculous as it's name. I don't want to give too much away but why the aliens are on earth is silly, why they are snatching humans is also absurd, this dialog makes you groan and Harris Ford's pathetic performance tells you it's time for him to retire and do geritol commercials.
The biggest plot hole is shared with the movie Super 8. The aliens must be from and highly advanced society. They have found a way to perform inter-stellar transport and yet, they are as dumb as a box of rocks. It's not that they seem dumb because they are on a strange planet engaging strange creatures. They appear so dumb that they would starve to death just because they forgot to eat. If it was a comedy then the absurdity of such and advanced civilization being could be funny.
Movie Review: Crazy, Stupid, Love 2.5 stars
Just like the movies Bad Teacher and horrible bosses this movie is just so/so. Ryan Gosling as the bar land shark is fantastic. He plays this part perfectly and you want to see more of him. His training Steve Carrell in how to present the perfect image is very funny and the best part of the movie. Emma Stone as the girl Ryan can't get is also excellent and very funny. She is an excellent actress who elevates every movie she is in. Newcomer Aneliegh Tipton just about steals this movie playing Steve Carrell's conflicted babysitter. Another excellent young actor Jonah Bobo plays Steve Carrell's son and he definitely does steal the show in a heart rendering performance.
In fact, all the pieces are here for an 4 star movie but where it goes off the rails is when Steve Carrell is interacting with Juliet Moore. It's depressing and drags down the movie. I'm not sure why they went that way but their screen time was the worst part of this movie. In fact, Steve Carrell's sad sack routine that we have seen over and over again gets old very quickly.
This movie may not be worth the price of a movie ticket but I highly recommend it for rental or premium channel watching. Tipton and Bobo alone makes it worth watching.
In fact, all the pieces are here for an 4 star movie but where it goes off the rails is when Steve Carrell is interacting with Juliet Moore. It's depressing and drags down the movie. I'm not sure why they went that way but their screen time was the worst part of this movie. In fact, Steve Carrell's sad sack routine that we have seen over and over again gets old very quickly.
This movie may not be worth the price of a movie ticket but I highly recommend it for rental or premium channel watching. Tipton and Bobo alone makes it worth watching.
Movie Review: Captain American: The first Avenger 3 stars
Another movie in the Marvel superhero franchise. Chris Evans does a great job as Captain America. The story of how he becomes a superhero is the best part of the movie. In fact, I think this could have been a 3 1/2 star movie if they had made most of the movie about him becoming a superhero. Where this really slowed down was during the action sequence where he was trying to destroy the evil villain. I look forward to Captain America 2 and hope they focus on the man who becomes a superhero and how that effects him and the people around him rather than just making it a beat up the villain movie. The best of the series was definitely Iron man 1.
Because of the excellent production value I recommend seeing this in the theater.
Because of the excellent production value I recommend seeing this in the theater.
Movie Review: Harry Potter, Deathly Hallows, part 2, 3 stars
This was the last and one of the best of the Harry Potter franchises. I'm not a big fan of the Magic genre but they did a good job with an interesting story that is well done. If you are a fan you probably would give it a full 4 stars and I could support that.
Movie Review: Horrible Bosses 2.5 stars
This movie is disappointing because you could see how this movie could be much much funnier. The movie was very funny when the employees (Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, and Jason Sudekis) are interacting with their bosses (Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Aniston, and Colin Farrel). The bosses were very funny and whenever they were on screen the audience was laughing. When ever the three employees were on screen you could hear crickets chirp. That's where this movie went wrong, it should have been all about the bosses and had them on screen most of the times rather than just cameos. Jamie Foxx was also great as the murder consultant and he also wasn't on screen enough. So, while this movie is not work $8 at the movies it should go on your rental list so you can fast forward past the slow parts.
Movie Review: Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon 3 stars
This was the the third of the transformer series and this one is as good as the first one. Number 2 was a disaster and I'm glad they found their way in this latest movie. They realized that it's not the robots that make these movies good, it's the humans and their story. I thought it was well done and definitely worth your movie dollar. In fact, this movie wouldn't be as good on the small screen so go out and see it in the theater.
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