Ty gives **1/2 stars
Title: Definitely, Maybe
Directed by Adam Brooks
Starring
Ryan Reynolds
Abigail Breslin
Elizabeth Banks
Isla Fisher
Rachel Weisz
Release date February 14th 2008
I picked this movie up because Rachel Weisz (Rachel in About a Boy, Evelyn Carnahan in The Mummy and Evelyn O'Connell in The Mummy Returns. Fortunately she did not reprise her role in The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, so her character was portrayed by Maria Bello. Good career move for Rachel. Bad career movie for Maria. Fail.) was in it, and I have a big crush on Rachel Weisz so much, that I believe my wife will end up looking like her. So with that out of the way, on with the review. This movie was okay. I like Ryan Reynolds (Wade Wilson, AKA Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Hannibal King in Blade Trinity, or for those of you who are old school, Michael "Berg" Bergen on Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place.) Bergen. That's so cool. Anyways he's a cool guy and I'd be okay with the idea that when I grow older that I could turn out like him, especially in this movie where he plays a good dad. Everyones acting is good. It's good to see a film where Abigail Breslin (Sarah Davis in Raising Helen, Zoe Armstrong in No Reservations, and Little Rock in the upcoming film Zombieland, coming out this Friday, October 9th) isn't an orphan. Yes, all three films that I mentioned involves her parents dying with her and if she's lucky, siblings being the only survivors. Heck, even her small role in Princess Diaries 2: The Royal Engagement she played an orphan. Anyways, all three women in this film who could be her mom are incredibly hot, I mean extremely beautiful and attractive in their own way. ElizaBeth Banks (Beth in The 40-Year Old Virgin, Beth in Role Models. What's up with that? Maybe it makes it less confusing playing a character named after oneself?) plays Sarah Hayes who seems like the perfect small town girl. Isla Fisher (Gloria Clearly in Wedding Crashers, Denise in Hot Rod) is that girl from the big city who likes to try out new and exciting things, and Rachel Wesiz is that uber smart one who likes to sleep with her college professor. So what is this movie about? It was kind of confusing, so I'm going to uncomplicate it for you. This little girl whose parents are like separated asks her dad what her mom is like. Side note. She knows her mom. She lives with her mom sometimes. She just wants to know what her mom was like when her dad met her mom, not that her mom is dead or absent or that she has no idea who her mom is which for some strange reason this film seems to imply. So he tells a story that unravels as the film progresses about his past and the three women that were apart of his life and tells his daughter to guess which girl ended up being her mom. Weird? Yeah. Cute? Sort of, but not really because if a dad did this to his 12 year old daughter, she would probably be confused, then get bored, and then go to sleep. The end. Will you get bored and fall asleep? Not unless it's late and you have no interest in this film because you think that it's a chick flick and you have class the next day like my roommate, but even though all these things are true, he was interested enough to watch the first part of this movie. It will keep you interested enough to finish the film, which I guess is part of the point when it comes to the movie making business, but is it worth your 3 bucks or whatever you pay to rent a movie? Yeah sure. A dollar for each girl right? No, sorry. Bad thought. Anyways the question to ask is, "Will this movie change your life?" Probably not, but if you're just trying to find a movie that will entertain you and your girlfriend or your own boredom than sure why not. You'll watch it. You'll forget it. And...
................................................................................................................... what was I writing about? Oh yeah, that movie with Rachel Weisz where she's hot... Wait. That's every movie she's been in so far. So go rent one of those other films. I suggest starting out with The Mummy then The Mummy Returns. Chicks who fight with knives and do the splits. Oh Yeah. That's Hot.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Interview
Ty gives ***1/2 stars
Title: Interview
Directed by Steve Buscemi
Starring
Steve Buscemi
and
Sienna Miller
Release date July 13th 2007 (limited)
Remake of the 2003 Dutch film, Interview
This was a very intriguing film. Basically, Steve Buscemi (Mr. Pink in Reservoir Dogs, Rockhound in Armageddon) plays Pierre Peders, an @ss hole writer who would rather be anywhere then interviewing Katya, the famous blonde soap opera actress in front of him played by Sienna Miller (Tammy in Layer Cake, Anna, AKA The Baroness in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra). In the original film, it was a reporter interviewing an actress named Katja played by Katja Schuurman, a Dutch soap opera star who I'm guessing was playing herself. In this film, I think it would've been cooler if Sienna Miller had played herself opposed to a soap opera star, but that would make the film more complicated. Anyways, the films plot is basically about a reporter who unprofessionally judges the subject that he has been assigned to interview and is unimpressed by the first impression he's made of her in his own mind before he's even met her. Pretty much he fails as a professional reporter and as a person. Once he gets past his own bias and actually looks and takes an interest in his subject, he starts to see her in a different perspective. Though she looks vapid, selfish, vain, and spoiled, she's a lot smarter, faster, more intelligent and a better actress than he ever realized. This is another film that explores what happens when two people who are alone together at night and ask each other the brutally honest questions that nobody asks. I believe this is what intimacy is all about. Exploring each others lives and getting to know someone deeply by sharing and opening yourself up to them, without wanting or expecting anything in return. I'm going to stop writing now because this film has a great ending that I loved and if you're wondering whether or not you should rent this movie, I say sure. Go ahead. Pay your 2 and a half bucks for it. It won't waste your time and maybe you'll learn that when you open up to a complete stranger you have no interest in and they decide to take a risk and open up to you, that relationship might change your life in ways you never expected and you'll learn something about that person that you never could've guessed, and maybe, just maybe, you'll learn from them something about yourself that you never knew and failed to realize is there in your own life. This film is about what happens when you take that risk, and it represents perfectly when life imitates art or how at least it should.
Title: Interview
Directed by Steve Buscemi
Starring
Steve Buscemi
and
Sienna Miller
Release date July 13th 2007 (limited)
Remake of the 2003 Dutch film, Interview
This was a very intriguing film. Basically, Steve Buscemi (Mr. Pink in Reservoir Dogs, Rockhound in Armageddon) plays Pierre Peders, an @ss hole writer who would rather be anywhere then interviewing Katya, the famous blonde soap opera actress in front of him played by Sienna Miller (Tammy in Layer Cake, Anna, AKA The Baroness in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra). In the original film, it was a reporter interviewing an actress named Katja played by Katja Schuurman, a Dutch soap opera star who I'm guessing was playing herself. In this film, I think it would've been cooler if Sienna Miller had played herself opposed to a soap opera star, but that would make the film more complicated. Anyways, the films plot is basically about a reporter who unprofessionally judges the subject that he has been assigned to interview and is unimpressed by the first impression he's made of her in his own mind before he's even met her. Pretty much he fails as a professional reporter and as a person. Once he gets past his own bias and actually looks and takes an interest in his subject, he starts to see her in a different perspective. Though she looks vapid, selfish, vain, and spoiled, she's a lot smarter, faster, more intelligent and a better actress than he ever realized. This is another film that explores what happens when two people who are alone together at night and ask each other the brutally honest questions that nobody asks. I believe this is what intimacy is all about. Exploring each others lives and getting to know someone deeply by sharing and opening yourself up to them, without wanting or expecting anything in return. I'm going to stop writing now because this film has a great ending that I loved and if you're wondering whether or not you should rent this movie, I say sure. Go ahead. Pay your 2 and a half bucks for it. It won't waste your time and maybe you'll learn that when you open up to a complete stranger you have no interest in and they decide to take a risk and open up to you, that relationship might change your life in ways you never expected and you'll learn something about that person that you never could've guessed, and maybe, just maybe, you'll learn from them something about yourself that you never knew and failed to realize is there in your own life. This film is about what happens when you take that risk, and it represents perfectly when life imitates art or how at least it should.
Monday, September 7, 2009
The Ugly Truth
Ty gives ***1/2 Stars
Title: The Ugly Truth
Directed by Robert Luketic
Starring
Katherine Heigl
Gerard Butler
Eric Winter
John Michael Higgins
Cheryl Hines
Release date July 24th 2009
So after seeing this movie, my friends who I saw it with asked me the question, "Is this considered a chick flick or a romantic comedy?" Well both and neither at the same time. I would like to classify this film as a sex flick. A movie about sex that's supposed to be funny because lets face it, sex is funny. In this movie you have Katherine Heigl (Dr. Izzie Stevens on Grey's Anatomy, Jane in 27 Dresses, Alison Scott in Knocked Up) who plays Abby Richter. An award winning producer on a morning talk show whose ratings are falling. The network decides to hire someone on that will make the show more interesting. Enter Gerard Butler, (One Two in Rock'n'rolla, King Leonidas in 300, The Phantom in Phantom of the Opera) as Mike Chadway, a crash, chauvinistic, tactless, says it like it is, TV personality, that gets all the male viewers of this movie rooting and or laughing their heads off as women look on in disgust. So since this movie is borderline a romantic comedy, you know how this works. Whether it be a Meg Ryan flick like When Harry met Sally or You've Got Mail, to a Julia Roberts blockbuster like Notting Hill or Runaway Bride or even Kathrine Heigl's own 27 Dresses, it's almost always the same thing. Guy meets girl or girl meets guy. They don't like each other. By the middle of the film they hate each other. The next scene, they're in love and trying to swallow each others tongues. Closing credits. Happily ever after. The end. Blah, blah, blah... boredom. But is this movie a romantic comedy or even a "chick flick"? Not really. Why? Well a chick flick is usually a movie that a woman can either A, relate to, or B, a fantasy that a woman wants. I'm pretty sure most women are not incredibly beautiful women on top of their industry, who have a ruggedly charming, handsome yet repulsive, male co-worker that they have to baby-sit during office hours who happens to be in love with them, and I'm pretty sure that even though most women would love to go to work everyday and see Gerard Butler, they'd stop wanting him when he tells them that they're a bitter, fat, wound up hag, and advises them to try and not trip over their cat or pussy while they're eating ice cream while walking on their StairMaster. That's actually close to a line from the movie, and either way it's a lose lose situation for women. I'm sorry ladies but chick-flick = fail. Anyways, so is this movie good enough to pay full price for? There has only been one romantic film that I've seen that I've suggested people go to the movie theater and see as soon and as quickly as possible and that was The Lake House. With a few rare exceptions, no romantic comedy or chick flick should be paid full price for in the theaters. These movies are meant to be watched at home on the couch, that way you can discuss or argue over them with your significant other after the movie is over. So no. Rarely should you pay full price for a movie like this in theaters and no you should not pay full price to see this one. Also, I would like to point out that this movie is rated-R, which was a surprise to the four of us watching, especially when you're sitting there expecting a PG-13 film and they say f*ck a dozen times through out the movie or when Katherine Heigl says c*ck like 7 times in a row, just so she can say c*ck. So yes. This movie is rated R and I thought I'd throw this out as a warning. So bottom line. This movie made me laugh. Why is it that brutal honesty makes everybody laugh or blush or both? Is it considered a breath of fresh air when people tell the truth? I get the same response when I start talking around people I don't know. What is it that makes the ugly truth so attractive? Maybe, which is true when it comes to looks, it doesn't matter what appears on the outside. It's the deeper meaning and knowing the truth that lies on the inside that is really the most alluring and beautiful thing we can experience, and the truth, though it might be surround by ugliness, is what really shines through.
Title: The Ugly Truth
Directed by Robert Luketic
Starring
Katherine Heigl
Gerard Butler
Eric Winter
John Michael Higgins
Cheryl Hines
Release date July 24th 2009
So after seeing this movie, my friends who I saw it with asked me the question, "Is this considered a chick flick or a romantic comedy?" Well both and neither at the same time. I would like to classify this film as a sex flick. A movie about sex that's supposed to be funny because lets face it, sex is funny. In this movie you have Katherine Heigl (Dr. Izzie Stevens on Grey's Anatomy, Jane in 27 Dresses, Alison Scott in Knocked Up) who plays Abby Richter. An award winning producer on a morning talk show whose ratings are falling. The network decides to hire someone on that will make the show more interesting. Enter Gerard Butler, (One Two in Rock'n'rolla, King Leonidas in 300, The Phantom in Phantom of the Opera) as Mike Chadway, a crash, chauvinistic, tactless, says it like it is, TV personality, that gets all the male viewers of this movie rooting and or laughing their heads off as women look on in disgust. So since this movie is borderline a romantic comedy, you know how this works. Whether it be a Meg Ryan flick like When Harry met Sally or You've Got Mail, to a Julia Roberts blockbuster like Notting Hill or Runaway Bride or even Kathrine Heigl's own 27 Dresses, it's almost always the same thing. Guy meets girl or girl meets guy. They don't like each other. By the middle of the film they hate each other. The next scene, they're in love and trying to swallow each others tongues. Closing credits. Happily ever after. The end. Blah, blah, blah... boredom. But is this movie a romantic comedy or even a "chick flick"? Not really. Why? Well a chick flick is usually a movie that a woman can either A, relate to, or B, a fantasy that a woman wants. I'm pretty sure most women are not incredibly beautiful women on top of their industry, who have a ruggedly charming, handsome yet repulsive, male co-worker that they have to baby-sit during office hours who happens to be in love with them, and I'm pretty sure that even though most women would love to go to work everyday and see Gerard Butler, they'd stop wanting him when he tells them that they're a bitter, fat, wound up hag, and advises them to try and not trip over their cat or pussy while they're eating ice cream while walking on their StairMaster. That's actually close to a line from the movie, and either way it's a lose lose situation for women. I'm sorry ladies but chick-flick = fail. Anyways, so is this movie good enough to pay full price for? There has only been one romantic film that I've seen that I've suggested people go to the movie theater and see as soon and as quickly as possible and that was The Lake House. With a few rare exceptions, no romantic comedy or chick flick should be paid full price for in the theaters. These movies are meant to be watched at home on the couch, that way you can discuss or argue over them with your significant other after the movie is over. So no. Rarely should you pay full price for a movie like this in theaters and no you should not pay full price to see this one. Also, I would like to point out that this movie is rated-R, which was a surprise to the four of us watching, especially when you're sitting there expecting a PG-13 film and they say f*ck a dozen times through out the movie or when Katherine Heigl says c*ck like 7 times in a row, just so she can say c*ck. So yes. This movie is rated R and I thought I'd throw this out as a warning. So bottom line. This movie made me laugh. Why is it that brutal honesty makes everybody laugh or blush or both? Is it considered a breath of fresh air when people tell the truth? I get the same response when I start talking around people I don't know. What is it that makes the ugly truth so attractive? Maybe, which is true when it comes to looks, it doesn't matter what appears on the outside. It's the deeper meaning and knowing the truth that lies on the inside that is really the most alluring and beautiful thing we can experience, and the truth, though it might be surround by ugliness, is what really shines through.
District 9
Ty gives **1/2 stars
Title: District 9
Directed by Neill Blomkamp
Starring
Nobody I know
Release date August 14th 2009
I just have to say this is another film produced by a famous director opposed to being directed by said famous director himself. (Review previous blog entry.) Peter Jackson (Director of The Lord of the Rings trilogy) to be exact. So this film is about Aliens, but not the kind of aliens in films like Independence Day, Men in black or well... Alien. Though these aliens look scary, they are not. A friend of mine who was watching the movie with me said they were pacifists. I say they were just lazy. Aliens who don't fight back to me doesn't make sense. Even humans fight back.
So lets talk about the plot. The aliens come to earth. The aliens ship stops for some unknown reason and floats in mid-air. We, the humans go up to the ship and find literally over a million sick aliens. We bring them down to Earth and nurse them back to health and then we keep them in an area that resembles the slums called District 9 and don't let them leave. We take away their weapons, we take away their rights, and we let gangsters come in and take advantage of them for twenty years so they can adapt and become just as horrible as most human beings on the planet. Also, there's this plot about people not liking the aliens and people who think the aliens should be moved. People who love the aliens and people who hate them. So lets move them to a concentration camp away from everybody in the middle of Africa. Great.
This film is supposed to be about racism towards not another human being, but a new intelligent species. To be honest, I don't care. When it comes to my thoughts on racism, this is it so listen up. Don't treat people like they're special. Don't treat people any better or worse than you would treat anybody. If you could imagine wanting help in a situation and you come across someone where somebody might need your help, then by all means help them. But people shouldn't be obliged or feel obligated to go out of there way to help someone, just because they think that they should. If they had kept this philosophy in this movie, this is what would happen. Find aliens. Feed and water aliens. Release aliens back into space. The end.
So was the movie well made? How were the special effects? Well this movie was made to resemble a documentary. Think Cloverfield, except less shaky on the camera work and less exciting. The special effects were pretty dog gone cool. The weapons were out of this world. No pun intended. Some people loved this movie. Awesome. Some people saw great depth and insight into this movie. Okay. Whatever speaks to you. Should you pay whole price to see it? It depends on why you're seeing it. If you're looking for the baddest, biggest, action movie of the summer, this is not it. If you want to see something different that might provoke you to think, you could give this movie a try. If you really don't care about aliens who landed here on accident and weren't allowed to leave, then you're in the same boat as me.
But here is my question. What's the point? What is Neill Blomkamp trying to say? That humans are more interested in helping an alien race than human beings or that as humans we treat whoever we think is beneath us like cockroaches but pretend we care about them as long as we don't have to look or think about them? Is he trying to show us that this is wrong? Guess what? It is wrong. We knew that from the beginning. We don't need a film about cruelty to show us how bad the world is, and throwing in a plot twist about walking in another mans or aliens shoes isn't going to provoke the world to be a stronger, better, race of people. Next time you try directing a film, try teaching us something we don't know. Fail.
Title: District 9
Directed by Neill Blomkamp
Starring
Nobody I know
Release date August 14th 2009
I just have to say this is another film produced by a famous director opposed to being directed by said famous director himself. (Review previous blog entry.) Peter Jackson (Director of The Lord of the Rings trilogy) to be exact. So this film is about Aliens, but not the kind of aliens in films like Independence Day, Men in black or well... Alien. Though these aliens look scary, they are not. A friend of mine who was watching the movie with me said they were pacifists. I say they were just lazy. Aliens who don't fight back to me doesn't make sense. Even humans fight back.
So lets talk about the plot. The aliens come to earth. The aliens ship stops for some unknown reason and floats in mid-air. We, the humans go up to the ship and find literally over a million sick aliens. We bring them down to Earth and nurse them back to health and then we keep them in an area that resembles the slums called District 9 and don't let them leave. We take away their weapons, we take away their rights, and we let gangsters come in and take advantage of them for twenty years so they can adapt and become just as horrible as most human beings on the planet. Also, there's this plot about people not liking the aliens and people who think the aliens should be moved. People who love the aliens and people who hate them. So lets move them to a concentration camp away from everybody in the middle of Africa. Great.
This film is supposed to be about racism towards not another human being, but a new intelligent species. To be honest, I don't care. When it comes to my thoughts on racism, this is it so listen up. Don't treat people like they're special. Don't treat people any better or worse than you would treat anybody. If you could imagine wanting help in a situation and you come across someone where somebody might need your help, then by all means help them. But people shouldn't be obliged or feel obligated to go out of there way to help someone, just because they think that they should. If they had kept this philosophy in this movie, this is what would happen. Find aliens. Feed and water aliens. Release aliens back into space. The end.
So was the movie well made? How were the special effects? Well this movie was made to resemble a documentary. Think Cloverfield, except less shaky on the camera work and less exciting. The special effects were pretty dog gone cool. The weapons were out of this world. No pun intended. Some people loved this movie. Awesome. Some people saw great depth and insight into this movie. Okay. Whatever speaks to you. Should you pay whole price to see it? It depends on why you're seeing it. If you're looking for the baddest, biggest, action movie of the summer, this is not it. If you want to see something different that might provoke you to think, you could give this movie a try. If you really don't care about aliens who landed here on accident and weren't allowed to leave, then you're in the same boat as me.
But here is my question. What's the point? What is Neill Blomkamp trying to say? That humans are more interested in helping an alien race than human beings or that as humans we treat whoever we think is beneath us like cockroaches but pretend we care about them as long as we don't have to look or think about them? Is he trying to show us that this is wrong? Guess what? It is wrong. We knew that from the beginning. We don't need a film about cruelty to show us how bad the world is, and throwing in a plot twist about walking in another mans or aliens shoes isn't going to provoke the world to be a stronger, better, race of people. Next time you try directing a film, try teaching us something we don't know. Fail.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
The Orphanage (El Orphanato)
Stars Ty Gives 1/2 *
Title: The Orphanage (El Orphanato)
Directed by Juan Antonio Bayona
Starring...
You probably don't know any of these people.
I didn't since this is a Spanish film so I'm not
going to list them.
Released December 28th 2007
This movie totally vacuumed, meaning it sucked. I didn't mind being freaked out by The Village, which had me on the edge of my seat and then having the ending knock me back on my butt, but this movie is not the Village. Even mentioning M. Night. Shyamalan's The Village is kind of an insult here. (M. Night Shyamalan, director of The Sixth Sense. Unbreakable, Signs, The Village, Lady in the water, and The Happening.) The only reason why my fellow movie reviewer Tiffany and I rented this movie was because we thought Guillermo del Toro directed it. (Guillermo del Toro, director of Blade 2, Hellboy, and Pan's Labrynth.) He produced it. I guess we failed because we fell into the trap of when good directors produce films and the public mistakes the movie as being directed by them because, I don't know, their name is on it. Tarantino is notorious for this. (Quentin Tarantino, director of Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Kill Bill, Deathproof, and Inglorious Basterds.) J.J. Abrams also produced Clovefield instead of directing it. (J.J. Abrams, the creator of Alias, Lost, and Fringe, and directed M:I 3 and Star Trek.) So since most of this review I've wasted on talking about other peoples work, is there anything good about this movie? This movie is genuinely creepy, but makes no sense whatsoever and has an ending that'll make you rethink some parents and how stupid they can be. Ironic for a movie called The Orphanage.
Title: The Orphanage (El Orphanato)
Directed by Juan Antonio Bayona
Starring...
You probably don't know any of these people.
I didn't since this is a Spanish film so I'm not
going to list them.
Released December 28th 2007
This movie totally vacuumed, meaning it sucked. I didn't mind being freaked out by The Village, which had me on the edge of my seat and then having the ending knock me back on my butt, but this movie is not the Village. Even mentioning M. Night. Shyamalan's The Village is kind of an insult here. (M. Night Shyamalan, director of The Sixth Sense. Unbreakable, Signs, The Village, Lady in the water, and The Happening.) The only reason why my fellow movie reviewer Tiffany and I rented this movie was because we thought Guillermo del Toro directed it. (Guillermo del Toro, director of Blade 2, Hellboy, and Pan's Labrynth.) He produced it. I guess we failed because we fell into the trap of when good directors produce films and the public mistakes the movie as being directed by them because, I don't know, their name is on it. Tarantino is notorious for this. (Quentin Tarantino, director of Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Kill Bill, Deathproof, and Inglorious Basterds.) J.J. Abrams also produced Clovefield instead of directing it. (J.J. Abrams, the creator of Alias, Lost, and Fringe, and directed M:I 3 and Star Trek.) So since most of this review I've wasted on talking about other peoples work, is there anything good about this movie? This movie is genuinely creepy, but makes no sense whatsoever and has an ending that'll make you rethink some parents and how stupid they can be. Ironic for a movie called The Orphanage.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
