Indepentent Double Feature CR/NR #7/ #3

This week, I'm gonna try something different. Instead of reviewing Two movies in two reviews, I'll review two movies in one review. Yes I know, I'm very good at innovation. But enough about my genius, Let's talk about our two Independent movies I saw basically back-to-back. Those films are...

PLOT: THE ILLUSIONIST
The time is the early 60's and Rock n' Roll is becoming HUGE while the vaudeville performers are slowly being shoved out. One of these performers is an aging French Illusionist. While he isn't the best Illusionist, he is doing less work then he had before. One day is offered to work at an Irish Pub and he takes the job. The crowed loves him (Probably because they're drunk) Epically a poor teenage girl who believes that his magic is real. This girl gives him new confidence, so he let's her tag along with him as he tries to find new work.

PROS 
95% of the movie is done in 2D animation. The only times that it seems like it was done with a computer was With the vehicles. 

There is no dialogue in the whole movie. While this doesn't affect me, I know that a lot of people hate subtitles, And this a french film. While there is some dialogue, it doesn't affect the story. This lets the animators do more expressive motions and facial animations. They are so good at this, that you can tell what going on at all times 

The film is only 1 hour and 15 minutes long. The reason this is good is because the story doesn't drag on, it ends at the right moment.

The animation is AMAZING. If you ever want to show someone great 2D animation, use this film. Nuff said.

CONS
The ending is very...well...depressing. That is only way to describe it. I would love to go into detail but that would ruin the movie. Let's just say the ending is very real. It ends in way that it doesn't piss you off because it was a bad ending, It pisses you off because you don't want to except it. Watch the movie and you'll know what I'm talking about. I don't want to put this in the Cons section, but I can only put it there due to my review structure.


CONCLUSION
To end this off I'll quote my favorite critic, The Co-host 3000 from Spill.com "If your more artsy than fartsy"
Then see this NOW, but if you are more interested than sold on I say give it a look.

RATING
WALK TO



Now, onto review #2

PLOT: BEGGINERS
Our story takes place WAY back in 2003 where we follow Oliver, A young man who has just lost his father to Cancer, who came out of the closet at the age of 75, mere months before his death. While trying to cope with his recent lose and depression, Oliver meets a girl at a costume party named Anna. Sparks start to fly between the two and they fall madly in love. This new relationship helps Oliver to come to grips with his own problems.

PROS
All of the actors do a great job. The one stand out is Christopher Plummer as Oliver's dad.

The connection between Ewan Mcgregor and Melanie Laurent is very believable.

The comedy in this movie is very funny, I laughed at all the jokes.

CONS
The film is advertised as a romantic-dramedy (romantic comedy- drama) but is a romantic drama, mostly a drama. This not a problem with the film, this is a problem with my expectations. I went in there in the mood for a romantic dramedy, and instead got a mumble sad drama. This can ruin a film like this for me. 


The movie moves at a snails pace. The movie is very tedious and boring. While I don't need explosions every 5 seconds, I just want something to happen to happen every once in a while.

The movie is very quiet. Now I'm pretty sure this is a problem with theater, but I could barley hear anything anyone was saying, and you need to hear them to understand whats going on.


CONCLUSION
I would have probably liked this more if I had seen it at home on a rented DVD and if I had known if this was drama. I could watch it alone with the volume up high and the mood serious. All in all, this is a good rental.

RATING
RENTABLE

   

   

  

  

Captain America: The First Avenger NR Review #6

Well, The Summer blockbuster season is almost over. July is near an end, and Oscar season movies you've never heard of but soon will, are on there way. What better way to end the superhero filled summer with a 2 hour long teaser trailer to a movie coming out in a year. JUST KIDDING! Marvel learned their mistake from Iron Man 2. But this is a good one don't worry. The spirit of America himself...


Let's Begin...

PLOT

Our story takes place 1940's America, you know what that means,WWII and Nazi hate is in full force and every able bodied man is sighing up to be drafted, except one. That non able bodied man is Steve Rogers, who has the body of a short, anorexic old man with the head of Chris Evans (Which only looked wired in one scene). Steve is a All-American good boy. He does what's right, never runs from a fight, and is determined, very determined. Because of this, He gets drafted to be one of the first of an army of men to become a SUPER SOLIDER!!!!! After the success of the procedure, The whole test is sabotaged by a Nazi science divsion named Hydra, Lead by Johann Schmidt. Johann has also gone through this procedure, but in its earliest stage. Now, he is even more evil and wants to TAKE OVER THE WORLD (OF COURSE). But, instead of using Steve as a weapon, they use him as a mascot for USO shows around the country known as CAPTAIN AMERICA. But, after a team of 200 men are captured or killed, leaving only 50 left, Cap goes in and rescues THEM AL-well more like 30% of them. Still they now use him as a new force against the Nazi's and Johann, who is now known as, The Red Skull due the fact that the Super solider serum basically burned off his face.

PROS
NOW, after that long plot section, what do i have to say about good ol' Cap

All of the actors are great, Chris Evans is great as Steve Rogers, Tommy Lee Jones is...well he's Tommy Lee Jones, and Hugo Weaving as the Red Skull was the biggest stand out.

The action, for lack of a better word, AWESOME! The hand to hand fights are done really well and the director decided that it would be good if you could actually tell what the hell was going on, unlike some movies



The movie takes place in 1940's. Now, this may not seem like a big deal, but trust me, they could have easily put this in modern times, instead they spanned it all over the WWII era.

The Steve Rogers origin story scenes (the first half of the movie) are great. You really sympathies with the character and get to see who he is

Like I said before, they don't try to cram The Avengers into this whole movie, notice how I say whole. More on that later.

This is more of a personal one, but during the USO scene, His costume looks a lot like the ridiculous, "No way anyone would take you seriously" costume from the HORRIBLE 1990 Captain America movie, which is kinda of a funny throw back.

The CG for Steve Rogers before the Super Solider, is VERY good. I'm not what they did, if they put his head a smaller body or they shrunk his head, but it darn good.


CONS
The Red Skull was under used. He would be in scene for about 3 minutes then we wouldn't see him for almost 20 minutes.

After Steve becomes Captain America, he also becomes a bland character. He just isn't special anymore and is more just like a special grunt.

The Red Skull can be hard for audiences to take serious. While I thought he was intimidating sometimes, other times his teeth were brighter then his bright red face. I toke him seriously, but I think most people won't.


CONCLUSION

In conclusion, this was a good movie. Good action, good acting, but nothing that really stands out. Well except for the bonus at the end of the credits (STAY TILL AFTER THE CREDITS, YOU WON'T BE DISAPPOINTED). I still say go see it


RATING

WALK TO

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 NR #5

Well I finally did it. I went to my FIRST midnight screening. It wasn't as crazy as I thought it would be, but still fun.

But you didn't come here to hear about my midnight screening story. No, you came here for the review of the biggest movie event of the decade, maybe even the MILLENNIUM!!!! Which is of course is...


Yes Winnie the Pooh. The return of the long running series is...wait, you didn't mean this movie. Oh, you came here for this movie didn't you...


Let's Begin....



PLOT
(Sorry if I get this wrong, I'm not to great at my "Potterolgy")

Our story begins right after the events of Part 1, Voldemort has found the Elder Wand, Potter and pals have destroyed the first horcrox, Dobby is dead (R.I.P Dobby), and potter and pals are hiding out in the Wesley's summer home. Harry has decided that ENOUGH IS ENOUGH, I HAVE HAD IT WITH THESE MOTHERF$%KIN DARK WIZARDS ON THIS MOTHERF$%KIN EARTH. So he starts a quest, again, to find the last 2 horcroxes, again, and defeat Voldemort, again.



PROS
The acting is great, epically Danial Radcliffe as Harry, who in one scene, has to show an emotional level that few could pull off and still be taken serious, and he did it.

The action scenes are GREAT. Each one is very exciting, very intense, and very fun to watch.

Nevil gets to be a BADASS in this movie. I won't say which, but Nevil destroys one of the Horcroxes in the most satisfying way you could possibly do.

The movie feels like it's apart of Part 1. What I mean is that the way it begins, it seems like this whole 2 hour film was just cut from Part 1, like a continuing film series should do.

The movie is not BORING. The one problem a lot of people and critics had with Part 1 was that it was too slow and to boring. This one saved all the good action scenes. I though I was about to fall asleep but the movie kept waking me back up!

The movie is actually funny. The only reason this movie's lighthearted comedy scenes are funny is because the film has this very tense feel to it, so when they crack a joke, it's the funniest thing on earth.


CONS

The so called "FINAL BATTLE!!!!" is very underwhelming. the reason is that they try to focus on to many things at once, and not just the fight between Harry and Voldemort.

The beginning of the third act gets WAY to slow, this is only a Minor problem, but it still was a problem.

The ending to this movie scares me a little, the reason is that it could possibly lead to more Potter books. I don't want another one of these, this series is just FINE, LEAVE IT ALONE!!!!


CONCLUSION

To end this review I'll say this, My review won't matter. If you love Harry Potter, then you've already seen this or will before the end of July, If your not, then go see Winnie the Pooh and support 2D animated films. Either way, I loved this movie.


RATING

RUN TO

P.S. The first trailer for the next Batman movie is one of the trailers before the movie. That should give you another reason to see this movie. CAN'T WAIT FOR SUMMER 2012!!!!! 

Catfish: CR Review #2

No, no, no, no, no, no, NO! I WILL NOT SIT THROUGH A (supposedly) PIECE OF CRAP KEVIN JAMES MOVIE!!!

*sigh* Sorry, I just had to get that out of my system. I will not be reviewing the Zookeeper, or Horrible Bosses due to three facts 1. horrible bosses is rated R, 2. I hate Kevin James, 3. my family and me are on vacation as of this post. But I promise I will have a Harry Potter review up on Friday.

I was actually not thinking of putting up a review, until I remembered a small movie I saw on T.V a few weeks ago.
That movie is...

Let's Begin...


PLOT
This movie is a Documentary about two young film makers, Henry Roost and Ariel Schulman, who start to film Ariel's brother, Nev (why so many girl names?!) who has started having a relashionship with a family through Facebook. It starts with Nev getting amazing paintings from an 8 year old girl from Michigan named Abby and he soon starts to get involved romantically with the oldest sister, Megan. But, everytime he trys to arange a meeting, she, strangley, has other plans. Nev and crew start to find things that don't add up about this family. Now Nev, with his brother and friend along for the ride, go to michigan to try and figure this out, but, what they find is not what they were expecting.

Now, I'm going to this review diffrently, I'm going to discuss the film rather than give the pros and cons, because it's very hard for me to get my point across without making it seem like I don't like the movie.

Now, with that out of the way. When this movie first came out about two years ago, it was supposed to have one of those SHOCKING ENDINGS that no one would spoil. The film was barley discussed becaused of this. But one thing that always came up was weather or not the film was real or not. There are somethings that don't add about the filmakers actually. Like how they were able to start filming at the EXACT moment when the relashionship started to get intrusting, or how perfect Nev's face is, almost like he has make-up on! Basically the film legatimacy has been in question ever since it was released. It also dosen't help that Ariel and Henry are two of the three directors of the next Paranormal Actvitiy coming out this year.

Also, The payoff to all of the build up, is a bit of a let down. The last 40 minutes is basically them exposeing what they found and not being kind about it. That probably dosen't make sense but I don't want to spoil it. If you have seen the movie then you know what i'm talking about.


CONCLUSION
To end this off I have to say that it was VERY hard to write this review and still keep the plot's twist a secret. But the best part of the movie for me was more  the journey and not the destination. If this has sparked your intrest then go see the movie, it's avalible on DVD right now, and it comes on the cable channel Cineamax and will probably be on HBO soon.

RATING
RENTABLE

P.S. If you want to see a good version of "The Zookeeper" watch the new FX comedy show "Wilferd". It's about a man (played by Elijah Wood) who starts taking care of a dog named Wilfred. But, Elijah Wood see's Wilfred as an Australian guy in a bad dog suit while everyone else see's him as a regular dog. Now, your probably wondering how the heack is that like the Zookeeper? Well Wilfred teaches Elijah Wood's character life leasons and how to stand up for himself, just like the animals in zookeeper, except the advice actually helps and the person getting the advice is not a moron! Wilfred comes on Thrusday's at 10:00pm on FX

Midnight in Paris: NR review #4

Now, your probably waiting for my Transformers: Dark of the Moon review. Well I didn't see that. I could have seen Transformers, but I would have to spend money for a movie I didn't want to see. Instead I went to see a limited released film. Woody Allen's new film to be exact that goes by the name of...


Let's Begin...



PLOT

Our plot begins with Owen Wilson's character, Gil, who is a self proclaimed "Hollywood Hack Writer" who is trying to write an honest novel. He is also invited to Paris by his fiance's (played by Rachel Mcadams) parents. While there, Gil and his Fiancee hit a snag in there relationship and Gil goes out for a walk in Paris. Around midnight, an old car drives by and the passengers invite him to go to a party. At first he thinks it's a costume party, but soon realizes that he has somehow traveled back to the 1920's, his favorite era! Now...well, I have no Idea how to write the rest of this plot without spoiling things. Let's just move on.


PROS

Owen Wilson is great as Gil, I actually believed he loved 1920's Paris.

Everyone who played as a historical figure was great and while I didn't how these people acted back in the day, I felt that they did a great job as these characters.

The comedy is hilarious, I laughed at every joke and so did the audience.

Woody Allen really does a good job showing off Paris. I took a French class this year, and the books and movies I was shown didn't even come close to capturing Paris like Allen.

The time travelling wasn't explained in detail. While that may sound like a Con, It actually would have brought down the film if they went into detail about he travels back in time. It's barley touched on and that's for the best.

The ending is great and while some people will think its bad because it's not the typical "happy ending" I still though it was good.

In the scenes that take place in the 20's, Allen really went all out with the setting. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING is from the 20's from the cars to even the atmosphere's of the parties.

It's obvious that Woody Allen really loves this era of Paris culture. He shows it through the character of Gil and through the way he shoots the scenes. A great example is at the very start of the movie, before the title even comes up, he takes about 5 minutes to show the beauty of Paris at anytime of the day.


CONS

Rachel Mcadams character was a complete B%TCH and so was her family. It got a point where it was just annoying. This also adds to another con where it's hard for me to see what Gil saw in her to even start dating in the first place. Well...She is hot.

The movie expects you to know who these people from the 20's are. I had a couple of times where they would make a reference to a trait about that character and there would be like 3 people in the row behind me laughing their heads off while I just sat there wondering why it was funny.



CONCLUSION

As you can see, I love this movie. While I have never seen a Woody Allen, I'm definitely going to start. But this movie is not for everyone. If you don't much about the people from the 20's then most great things about this movie will fly iver your head. But, to quote the awesome Co-Host 3000 of Spill.com "If your more artsey then fartsey" then I HIGHLY recomend seeing this movie, If your fartsey, I'd say give it a try.


RATING

RUN TO