Cast: Collin Farrell, Jessica Biel, Kate Beckinsale, Bryan Cranston
MPAA Rating: Rated
PG13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, some sexual content, brief nudity, and language
"Total Recall" while not the remake we deserve, might just be the one we need right now and if that don't sale you, we always have girls with three breast to do it for you.
Cast: Elizabeth Olsen, Adam Trese, Eric Sheffer Stevens
MPAA Rating: Rated
R
In an era where most films released these days are either sequels, prequels, reboots, or remakes it's hard to find a good original film out there, sadly when we get an original film we get "Silent House."
Cast: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway
MPAA Rating: Rated PG13
Batman has finally return!!! Following an 8 year forced exile after the events of "The Dark Knight" which saw Batman taking the blame for Harvey Dent's crimes and become a hated symbol among the city. It's not until the new big bad, Bane (Tom Hardy), comes to Gotham looking to carry out Rah-jah-gul (Liam Neeson) plan from "Batman Begins" and bring Gotham to its knees.
Cast: Michelle Jenner, Carlos Areces, Miguel Nogerra MPAA Rating: Unrated It seems lately with the big budget films of "Battleship", "Marvel's The Avengers", and television shows such as "Falling Skies" that alien invasions are the big thing in hollywood at the moment and while "Extraterrestrial is a fresh take on a genre that is becoming worn out, it feels like their was a missed potential in this film. I also had never even heard of this film until a couple of days ago when it was recommened to me on the internet. The first thing I have to say is that this is a foreign film which means if you don't speak the language of the film that you'll have to read subtitles which isn't always ideal. With that little tidbit out of the way, its time to talk about what the story is about. The main plot of this film is Julio (Julian Villagran) wakes up one morning with a terrible hangover in a
perfect apartment, next to a stunning girl, unable to remember what happened the
night before. Instantly falls in July, she did not. She is Julia (Michelle
Jenner), and all he wants is to go in July, but the alien invasion has just
begun to excuse him to stay. Julia's husband appears and the alien threat is
becoming more terrible, but Julio has one thing clear: just as the aliens have
traveled across the universe to destroy mankind, is here to stay.
Cast: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifan, Sally Field, Martin Sheen, Dennis Leary
Run Time: 2hr. 16 min.
MPAA Rating: Rated PG13 for Sequences of Action and Violence
It seems like only yesterday I was gathering at the cinema as a young 8 year old kid to see what I believed at the time to be one of the most awesome movies ever made in Sam Raimi's "Spiderman". The film is seen as sort of a milestone in the cinema world as it issued in a new world of superhero movies that ranged from the Christopher Nolan Batman films to the X-Men Film Series. Ten years following that film and a pretty stellar Spiderman trilogy (Forget Spider-Man 3), Sony decided to go ahead and reboot Spider-Man 5 years following Spider-Man 3. While most people would argue that it is not enough time to really start a new Spider-Man trilogy, I am in the minority that will take any superhero film I can get and came into this film with high expectations and look forward to the more dark and gritty take on the film franchise following the embarrassing Spider-Man 3.
The story of "Seeking a Friend for the End of the World" is Dodge Peterson (Steve Carell) goes on the search for his one true love alongside Penelope Lockhart (Kiera Knightley) who is trying to get to her family once they learn an asteroid is heading towards Earth that could spell the end of mankind. This story is what drew me to the movie than anything else, as it is a completely original idea for a romantic comedy that I haven't seen and was a good change of pace from the normal Katherine Heigl rom com's we've been subjected to these last couple years.
Cast: Jason Segel, Ed Helms, Judy Greer, Susan Sarandon, Rae Dawn Chong
MPAA Rating: Rated
R
One of the first indie hits to come out in 2012 was "Jeff, Who Lives at Home" as it landed an impressive 77% on rottentomatoes and featured an impressive cast with Jason Segel (How I Met Your Mother, The Muppets), Ed Helms(The Office), Susan Sarandon (Alien), and Judy Greer and was wielded by talented director and screenplay writers Jay and Mark Duplass who have started to make a big splash into the directing scene with past cult favorites "Cyrus", "Baghead", and "The Puffy Chair". So with all these perfect pieces in place, why did I feel so underwhelmed with this film.
Cast: Robert Downey Jr,, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Samuel L. Jackson, Jeremy Renner, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johannson, Tom Hiddleston
The summer movie season has officially begun and no better way to begin than with the highly anticipated "Marvel's The Avengers" from Director Joss Whedon. This film series began in 2008 with "Iron Man" when Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) visited Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) at his home to recruit him for The Avengers Initiative and the following four films; "Incredible Hulk", "Iron Man 2", "Thor", and "Captain America: The First Avenger" have laid the ground work for the inevitable "Marvel's The Avengers" film. The main premise of this film is that Loki (Tom Hiddleston) from "Thor" comes through a portal created by the tesseract cube that was fished out of the ocean in "Captain America: The First Avenger" and plans to use the cube and all of its power to unleash war on Earth and Nick Fury is led with no choice but to bring in the The Avengers to save the day.
Cast: Sam Worthington, Edgar Ramirez, Rosamund Pike, Bill Nighy, Liam Nesson, Danny Huston
MPAA Rating: Rated PG13
Back in 2010, I witnessed a film that was one of the
worst films that I had seen at the theater in a long time and two years later
someone got the bright idea that that film needed a sequel and that is what we
are given in “Wrath of the Titans.” I originally planned not to see this movie
but with the lackluster release schedule alongside The Hunger Games, I was
pretty much left with no choice but to see this film.
Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Stanley Tucci, Lenny Kravitz, Donald Sutherland
MPAA Rating: Rated PG13
It's finally here! One of most anticipated films in a long time has finally arrived in "The Hunger Games" based off the best selling novel by Suzzanne Collins. No matter how excited I was for this film, I kept my expectations fairly realistic because every book to movie transition I have ever seen has never been as the source material. With that being said, the film is very good. I enjoyed the film and even though they strayed a little differently from the book, I can honestly say the film stands on its own as a very good watch.
For those unfamiliar with "The Hunger Games", you have basically been living under a rock the last four months or so. The premise is that after an unsuccessful uprising by the 13 districts of Panem, the nation of Panem is formed as a socialism type government with one place (The Capitol) in control of all 13 districts. Once a year The Capitol holds a reaping of sorts where they randomly choose one boy and one girl from each district between the ages of 12-18 to fight to the death in The Hunger Games. The Capitol uses these games as a reminder to the districts of their power and to make sure that no one ever tries to rebell again. Katiniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) is forced to volunteer as tribute for District 12 after her sister Primrose was selected to be tribute on her first year of elgibility.
The first thing that has to be talked about is the acting of Jennifer Lawrence who took on the role of Katniss Everdeen. I was skeptical when I first heard that she hand landed the role last year as she was older than the intended character and didn't have the acting credit to action type movies, but I honestly believe that what she didn't gain working in action films and instead in mostly drama and indie films helped her portray the intensity and vulnerability that Collins portrayed so well in her novel. This film I believe is a career defining role for Lawrence and could lead her to bigger and better films in the future.
This was also the first type of film like this for director Gary Ross whose filmography before this resulted in Sea Biscuit and Pleasantville. I give him a lot of credit for his more dark and realistic portrayal of the districts of Panem and The Capitol. With the film straying away from Katniss's narrations as in the book, Gary Ross was able to bring in more story lines and character development to characters who didn't receive a lot of attention in the book such as President Snow (Donald Sutherland) or in Seneca Crane (Wes Bentley), the game director . He also did a great job dealing with the more emotional stories in the book such as the flashbacks are the first part of the film showing Panem. One complaint I give the direction of this film is the treatment of the love triangle as it was treated differently in the book. I don't have a problem with the Katniss and Peeta relationship, I understand that they were trying to reach out to twi-hards who basically watch the film for the love triangle but I felt that the story was unnecessary to the movie and I also have always felt that the character of Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth) has never really served a real purpose to the story, but that is just my opinion.
One thing that I felt was really good in the story was the action. One of the best scenes of the entire film is the first scene of The Hunger Games when all the tributes rush off of their platforms and go after the supplies. The scene was really intense and was one of the moments that had me on the edge of my seat in the film. Gary Ross's silent scenes were some of the best directed scenes I had scene in a long time and I could understand now more why he was chosen to be director. The Hunger Games was the best part of the entire film as their were many tense scenes and action sequences that could appeal to the male part of the audience.
The one thing I would really complain about that most people wouldn't see as a big deal is the structure of the film. The film lasted basically 2 and a half hours and you spend the first hour and ten minutes just being introduced to the main characters and I felt a little of that could have been cut down. The last thing I like to talk about is the supporting acting as actors Woody Harrelson (Haymitch), Lenny Kravitz (Cina), Amanda Stenberg (Rue), and Alexander Ludwig (Cato) all did incredible jobs bring their character from the book to the main screen and I believe that it was something worth mentioning.
My final thoughts of the film is that while not as good as the original book, the film is able to stand out on its own with some tense action sequences, good directing, and standout acting performances. I recommend that if you haven't seen this film yet to get to your nearest theater and check out this film as soon as possible as it is the best film to come out in 2012 so far.
Cast: Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Christopher Plummer, Stellan Skarsgard, Robin Wright
MPAA: Rated R
With so many films being remade these days, it came to no surprise that a remake for the swedish film "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" would be in line for a remake but what caught my eye was that it only took two years for Hollywood to remake the film. The problem for the remake is that they try changing up what made the original film so special and add their own spin to it which mostly fails. While this film was still plenty entertaining, I never got the same feeling that I had when watching the original Swedish version.
The premise for the film follows the main character Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) who is a disgraced news journalist who is hired by a Swedish Magnate to pretend to write his memoirs while really trying to find out what happened to a girl who went missing forty years eariler. Once the Swedish Magnate becomes ill, his family learn of the investigation and one of his brothers force him to get a partner and he chooses the girl, Lisbeth Slander (Rooney Mara), who is the one responsible for the investigation at the beginning towards him. They both work together and begin digging deeper into these family secrets that come to a startling conclusion that with it being two years since the orignal were still able to catch me off guard. One of the things that I definitely enjoyed about this film was the acting by Rooney Mara who in her first performance might have just given the performance that will define her career. With having to live up to the first performance by Naoomi Rapace by giving a different type of vulnerability to an other wise brutal character. Daniel Craig I feel was a little miscast as Mikael because I believe Daniel Craig is only good when he does action films like the James Bond films and isn't as talented when working on serious drama films but he was still tolerable in the film. The film, just like the original, has some real brutal films that are not for the faint of heart. Especially one scene who people have seen the film will know what I am talking about. I would honestly say people under 16 should not see this film, but the scenes aren't just for shock factor like you see in films like Saw and Hostel but they are necessary to showcase the main characters state of mind.
The one negative of this film was the handling of the relationship between Mikael and Lisbeth as it crosses over into a creepy situation and it's honestly not something that is really needed in the film as it feels like a backtrack in character development to me. The film also crosses over 2 and a half hours which I felt was a little too long for a film like this as at least twenty minutes of the film could have been cut out but if you enjoy the film then an extra 20 minutes will feel good to you while watching the film.
The final thing I would like the mention about this film is the score which is masterfully done by Trent Reznor. The background music portrays the fear and suspense that the entire film compensates and makes the film that so much better. My final recommendation is why not as good as the original, this film is definitely a must watch for people who love murder mysteries and thrillers. My only warning is that be prepared to see some brutal and shocking stuff and if that stuff isn't for you then I would stay away from the film.
With many films these days being left on shelf for no one to ever see, Video on Demand has allowed for many of these films to find a home. One of the latest films I have seen on Video on Demand is the thriller "ATM". This film is about three co-workers (Alice Eve, Josh Peck, and Brian Geraghaty) who stop at an ATM to grab some cash to go out to eat and a killer traps them inside the ATM as they fight to survive. The film takes the overused premise and confining characters to a small setting for an entire film and pretty much doesn't add anything new to the film as it is all things that have been seen before. What this film does make up for it in those is great chilling moments that literally have you on the edge of your seat the entire film. Every thing that the killer does is frightening and certain moments that don't make any since like the first person that killer takes out, why would he be out doing that at two in the morning, but the tensity of the scene makes up for the moment. The characters in this film are pretty cliched with the main character being the nice sensitive guy, his best friend being a jerk, and the girl who is basically just a damsel in distress. With these character cliches it makes the film seem less realistic and more fake, but it wasn't a big deal as it was still easy to root for these characters. The actors were fine in their performances but none of them stood out and can really attribute that to the writers fought because these were all fine actors in the roles. The actions of the characters can also be seen as pretty dumb as no one in their right mind would act the way they did with a killer only about 50 feet away from them. Near the end of the film when they were in a time crunch they did make one move that I thought was pretty clever but that was about it. With everything that had happened prior to the third act, I would still say the film was a very enjoyable horror film but that final act just ruined and turn everything that the film had done prior on it's head. After I had watched the film I had to ask someone of what had just happened because none of it really made to much sense. The ultimate disappointed of the film though was the killer's motivation for doing all of this as I was hoping for some bigger revelation at the end. In the end, this movie proved that enclosing your characters in a small spot for an entire film rarely works with only exceptions such as 2010 film "Buried". The film proved great thrills and left you on the edge of your seat the entire film to watch. If the film would have had some better writing and pacing, especially during the film's third act I would have believed this film had the makings of a cult classic. I recommend that this films pretty good if you are bored one night looking for a nice little horror movie to watch but other than that I don't see a true reason to go see this movie.
Cast: Asa Butterfield, Ben Kingsley, Chloe Grace Moretz, Sacha Baron Cohen, Ray Winstone, Jude Law, Emily Mortimer
MPAA: Rated PG for Mild Thematic Material, Some Action/Peril, and Smoking
With this year's Oscars now behind us, I begin my long journey to watch all the best picture nominees and begin my journey with the family adventure film "Hugo". Hugo stars Asa Butterfield as the title character Hugo Cabaret, who is a young boy who lives in a train station following his father's death. Hugo spends all his time stealing parts to work on his father's final project before his death. This leads
Hugo to meet an older gentlemen played by Ben Kinglsey and his God Daughter who is played by Chloe Grace Moretz. The story basically focuses on Hugo and the affects he had on all the people he met on his journey.
After seeing this film I can honestly agree with this film being nominated for best picture. This is one of Martin Scorsese's best film and I was able to enjoy the film all the way through. What I enjoyed most about this film was how Scorsese put in many highlights of the history of cinema. Growing up with all types of film, this was an incredible part of the story to see. The visuals in the film were also really amazing even though I never saw it in 3D, I believe this film's visual stood out clearly on its own. The story of this film was also really good and I was surprised how well it was as this was promoted as a film for kids.
Ben Kingsley (Shutter Island) gives probably my favorite performance of the film playing the lonely toy store owner who Hugo tries to help get back the life he used to have. Kingsley portrayed the character just with the right amount of darkness and anger that didn't take the film into dark of an area and keep it audience friendly. Chloe Grace Moretz (Kick-Ass) also keeps proving that she is one of the most versatile actors as she proves that if she is playing a superhero vigilante or an adventure seeking girl, she just makes you believe that character and I believe she helped make the Hugo character a little better. The film runs at a time of about 2 hours and it never seems like the film really lacks even when they go into flashbacks about the past which is where I feel a lot of films fail but Scorsese proves that even at his advanced age that he is still one of the best film directors out their.
This film doesn't have a lot of negative moments, the only problems I really had is that I didn't like the actor who played Hugo as I felt that he played the character of Hugo, a little to weakly and just went off and cried all the time which I didn't see as real believable and I don't really know if you blame the actor or the writers for that one. Also I wasn't a big fan of how everything fit together real nicely. The characters didn't have to really work for anything and any time they would go after a new part of the puzzle, they were given the answers to all their questions without any trouble. I can see that they may of wanted the film to focus more on the characters than the mysteries it provided, so that is a flaw I can definitely overlook in the film. When most people look at the films nominated for best picture, they usually complain that these are films that nobody would ever watch and that they are basically just critic favorites but I can honestly agree with the choice to nominate this film for best picture as it was a beautiful film that with its great visuals and amazing storytelling kept me engaged for the entire film. I recommend that you rent this movie as soon as possible as the films message about family and hope are something people of all ages can enjoy.
It serves right that one of the biggest releases music wise of 2012 would be my first music review in the review of Indie Pop band Fun.'s second studio album "Some Nights".
The band took the country by storm with the lead single "We are Young" that has found tremendous popularity from radio play and being covered by Glee on an episode this past season. Usually I am critical of anything that Glee does but I appreciate that they helped this song reach a wider audience as it is a really good song that fans of different types of music can agree is a good listen.
The difference between this album and previous works of Fun. is that they sort of abandon their original sound to go for a more mainstream sound which I understand as it is a lot harder to make it in music with struggling CD's sales and the rise of digital downloading.
The highlights of this album result in the songs such as "Some Nights" that mixes different types of instruments to give it an authentic sound. The song is also precluded by the "Some Nights Intro" which is also an incredible track and is good enough that it could have stood out on its own without the intro tag. My favorite song off of the album would have to be "All Alright" which is a tragic but uplifting the song that showcases the band at its best on this CD. One thing I have to make sure I praise about this CD is the lead singer Nate Reuss who has one of the best voices I have heard from a lead singer in a long time. He is able to make even the most bland songs on this album sound bearable.
The only complaint I would have with this CD as a whole is that near the second half of the CD, the songs on the album all start to sound the same and most listeners will get bored. I was expecting more songs like "Some Nights" that tried something different from most bands, but they decided to play it safe and kept the same sound for the rest of the album.
This is an album I recommend to listen as it is a lot different from the generic bands out there today, but I wish the album would have been more experimental that it seemed to promise at the beginning. In the end I recommend this album to fans of bands such as Panic! at the Disco, Fall out Boy, or anyone who enjoys Pop Rock.
Final Grade: B+
Standout Songs: "Some Nights", "We are Young", and "All Alright"
This is a highlight of how great this singer can sing live.
If you just want to hear the radio version hear it is.
Thought Denznel was to old to act, he still proves that he is one of the best action stars around in the newest action film "Safe House" starring Denznel Washington and Ryan Reynolds. The film centers around Ryan Reynold being tasked to bring Denznel Washington's character to a safe house location after their safe house is breached. For the most part this film is a good ride but the film never goes the extra mile this premise could of went to be as good as the Bourne films.
The first thing that was good with this film was the acting from the two main leads as they made you buy any scene they shared together in the film. Even when the scenes in the movie began to feel a little out there, they both were able to bring you in and make you feel for the characters. Ryan Reynolds continues to prove (With the exception of Green Lantern) that he has the acting skills to make it far in this industry. Denznel also able to make you question the ethics of his character as you go back and forth not knowing if the character is good are not. Another thing I liked about this movie was how realistic the film felt to me. This entire premise makes me feel like this could happen in real life and once you see the film the ending will give you a sort of paranoid feel about what really happens in the government.
The things that I didn't enjoy that much about the movie begin with the choppy editing of the film. The fight scenes and car chases looked unreal and like the director didn't know the proper way to film those sequences and they ended up coming up lackluster and didn't provide the punch they needed to. Some of the characters also didn't really provide a purpose such as Ryan Reynolds girlfriend who was their basically playing the you wanna keep secrets from me girlfriend that you see in almost every film and television show featuring the CIA. One thing that I noticed and the people I saw the film also noticed was the character motivations because by the end of the film you basically get the idea... SPOILER ALERT that every character in this film could basically be the antagonist and it makes it hard to root for anyone in the film. The last thing that really got me about the film was how long it felt. I counted about three times this film could have ended properly and left me satisfied and they continue dragging out the story and left me bored at some points because the dialouge scenes didn't provide the punch of other CIA films like the Bourne series that had great scenes of dialouge.
Overall this film provides good escapism fun for people who don't want to spend their weekend watching Valentine Day chick flicks with some great acting and realistic situations but the film is beat down by unnecessary elements such as weak script and character motivations that will still not make since long after the movie ends, I recommend this film more as a wait until dvd film. The final grade I give for this film is.....
Grade: C+
Director: Marc Webb
The premise for the film follows the main character Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) who is a disgraced news journalist who is hired by a Swedish Magnate to pretend to write his memoirs while really trying to find out what happened to a girl who went missing forty years eariler. Once the Swedish Magnate becomes ill, his family learn of the investigation and one of his brothers force him to get a partner and he chooses the girl, Lisbeth Slander (Rooney Mara), who is the one responsible for the investigation at the beginning towards him. They both work together and begin digging deeper into these family secrets that come to a startling conclusion that with it being two years since the orignal were still able to catch me off guard.
One of the things that I definitely enjoyed about this film was the acting by Rooney Mara who in her first performance might have just given the performance that will define her career. With having to live up to the first performance by Naoomi Rapace by giving a different type of vulnerability to an other wise brutal character. Daniel Craig I feel was a little miscast as Mikael because I believe Daniel Craig is only good when he does action films like the James Bond films and isn't as talented when working on serious drama films but he was still tolerable in the film. 
Ben Kingsley (Shutter Island) gives probably my favorite performance of the film playing the lonely toy store owner who Hugo tries to help get back the life he used to have. Kingsley portrayed the character just with the right amount of darkness and anger that didn't take the film into dark of an area and keep it audience friendly. Chloe Grace Moretz (Kick-Ass) also keeps proving that she is one of the most versatile actors as she proves that if she is playing a superhero vigilante or an adventure seeking girl, she just makes you believe that character and I believe she helped make the Hugo character a little better. The film runs at a time of about 2 hours and it never seems like the film really lacks even when they go into flashbacks about the past which is where I feel a lot of films fail but Scorsese proves that even at his advanced age that he is still one of the best film directors out their.
This film doesn't have a lot of negative moments, the only problems I really had is that I didn't like the actor who played Hugo as I felt that he played the character of Hugo, a little to weakly and just went off and cried all the time which I didn't see as real believable and I don't really know if you blame the actor or the writers for that one. Also I wasn't a big fan of how everything fit together real nicely. The characters didn't have to really work for anything and any time they would go after a new part of the puzzle, they were given the answers to all their questions without any trouble. I can see that they may of wanted the film to focus more on the characters than the mysteries it provided, so that is a flaw I can definitely overlook in the film.
