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So I had actually been looking forward to this one as it looked really funny in the trailer and I do really like both Katherine Heigl and Ashton Kutcher. It was a tough decision between seeing this movie when it opened or Get Him to the Greek, which opened the same weekend. So I saw them both! I did see this one first and it was a part of the movie club. Surprisingly, this movie came in third overall, behind Greek and Shrek Forever After.
The plot is very simple. A simple organized girl meets the man of her dreams while on vacation and they soon fall in love. Later once they are married, she finds out suddenly that he is really employed by the 'blah blah blah with a license to blah'.
The plot was interesting enough to keep us guessing and entertained throughout. There was some forced character development and some unrealistic plot points, but this was a romantic comedy after all and not a serious action drama. The characters were funny, likeable, and most importantly believable. This kind of plot has been done before so there wasn't anything special or amazing, it did just give good set-ups and background for many humorous moments. It did also give us some super corny lines, but it didn't ruin anything really, and was needed, more or less, to keep up the believability in the plot.
I actually enjoyed the opening sequence editing, but I'm sure nobody else paid attention to that or even cared. The film quality was very nice and of high resolution. The sets were very pretty as well as the costume design, although I bet Heigl and Kutcher would pretty much look good in anything. The movie was well paced and didn't really have any lags in it.
The movie was definitely performanced based. Without Heigl and Kutcher, I don't think this would have been such a sucess. They really worked well with each other. Say what you will about Katherine Heigl, but she has superb comedic timing. She's really got the triple threat; she can do comedy, she's beautiful, and she can knock out dramatic scenes with ease as well. Asthon was looking as good as ever in this movie and played his part really well. He also provided a lot of the humor. The main comedy was definitely situational and physical comedy along with perfect timing and delivery of lines. Tom Selleck and Catherin O'Hara were also their funniest I've seen them in years. I also loved that Casey Wilson had a funny part in the movie, gotta support my SNL cast members!
Overall, this was actually a really good entertaining and genuinely funny movie. It's nice to see a movie that didn't need the R rating to be funny but at the same time wasn't too unbelievable or corny to make it un-funny. I ended up really liking this movie and there were some downright hilarious parts. I also really think its largely in part due to Heigl and Kutcher, I just don't think it would've worked with anyone else. It's even more surprising since they decided to jump past any test screenings and go right to the final cut. I'd recommend to anyone who likes just a good entertaining humorous movie. "I'm a robot sent down to earth to observe your dating habits" -- Killers.
So this was my second assignment for a movie to watch for the movie exchange I’m currently doing with a friend. I had to watch this movie over the course of two nights because of my extreme exhaustion and it’s a movie that you really need to pay attention to.
This movie is the second in a revenge trilogy from Japanese director Chan-Wook Park. The movie, obviously centered around the theme of revenge, follows Dae-su Oh who is mysteriously kidnapped and imprisoned in a room for 15 years without knowing why and then framed for the murder of his wife. He is then just as mysteriously released and given 5 days to either seek revenge or truth from his captor. He seeks assistance from a waitress in a café and then embarks on a surreal journey to discover the truth of his imprisonment which will lead him to places from which he can never return.
The plot was very dark and twisted but really brought a lot of questions to the audience to ponder on. The plot wasn’t straightforward and slowly revealed itself through the different scenes, flashbacks, and actions of the characters. There was a huge amount of symbolism in this movie and probably even more that was over my head. Although the plot doesn’t really deal with everyday situations, it does make you put yourself in the character’s shoes and you empathize with his feelings and actions. Even though the plot points are dark and heavy, its not sick and demented which is something I feared while watching this movie. Some of the subject matters are taboo but they’re essential to the plot.
This movie had some really great camera angles in it which I really appreciated. It’s nice to see dialogue shot with unique angles instead of just the standard alternation between mid and close up shots as we see in most movies. The movie flowed nicely through time and was only slightly confusing but I was aware this was going to be a movie that required my complete attention and it was necessary with this movie. The editing was done nicely and there is a fight sequence that was filmed in one continuous shot which was just amazing. I love it when movies to a Hitchcock-type shot like this, most notable the beach scene in Atonement. That was probably my favorite scene in the movie. The color correction of the movie was also centered on symbolism and went along with the tone of the movie. It was obvious that the director was very detail oriented when it came to the allusions and symbolism in this movie.
Unfortunately, the version I saw was dubbed and I really don’t see a need for dubbing in most cases. The dubbing was pretty awful in this movie and I would have much preferred subtitles. That being said, the actors did convey a lot of emotion with their facial expressions mainly and also body language. The main character did a fantastic job with his facial expressions and was able to express a lot of emotion in his face that did not come across from the dialogue. The female lead Mi Do was a little too animated and stereotypical but it wasn’t too terrible. I really enjoyed the villain, Lee Woo-jin, in this movie. He was cool and calculating at the same time. He was one of those cool bad ass villains. It was also nice to see his motivations and through his performance you could tell that his character really believed in what he was doing.
Overall, this was a very memorable movie. This is one of those movies that poses a lot of questions and leaves it up to the viewer to form their own opinion. This is not to be confused with one of those frustrating movies that purposely leaves loose ends, this movie just poses different ideas for us to think about. The end was also subtly left up for interpretation for the meaning of a smile/cry. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys Japanese films or anyone would enjoy dark plot heavy foreign films. Be prepared though there is a small amount of graphic violence and a larger amount of sexual material. “Laugh and the world laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone” – Oldboy.
So I saw this movie as the first assignment in a movie exchange I’m currently doing with a friend. I had actually caught the end of this movie ages ago but didn’t really understand why things were playing out the way they were without seeing the beginning. For those interested, the first movie I assigned was Adventureland.
This movie was the latest movie from director Yimou Zhang who also brought us the beautiful House of Flying Daggers and Hero. I own and love Hero so I was expecting a lot from this movie which follows the imperial household ran by Emporer Chow Yun-Fat who is slowly poisoning his wife and The Empress. This sparks family rivalries, coups, and dark secrets all set against the beautiful backdrop of China during the Tang Dynasty.
The screenplay was also co-written by Zhang which just adds to his immense talent. The plot was highly connected and complex. It incorporated each of the characters and was in line with believable actions from each. I’m not sure if any of this was based on fact or not, but it is certainly plausible that this would happen. The plot and subplots in the movie all help to form the tone and message of the movie; power vs. loyalty/family. The message transcends time and culture easily and the plot brings the message to the forefront. The characters are already very well developed, with the exception of the youngest son who plays a pivotal role but has very little screen time or dialogue.
The aspect that made this movie amazing was the set direction and cinematography. I don’t believe anyone would argue that this wasn’t one of the most beautiful movies ever filmed. It’s definitely up to par with Hero for me, but has a different tone and atmosphere to it. This was reportedly the most expensive set ever built in China at the time in 2006, and possibly still is. The sets were just breathtaking. They could’ve just filmed the sets without any plot or dialogue and I would’ve been thoroughly entertained. The Imperial house was amazing and so beautiful. The attention to detail was very noticeable and just commands such high respect. The epic battle scene took 20 days to film and the result is just awesome. The yellow symbolism that is used throughout the movie was brought to the helm in the battle scene and it was just one of a kind. I could write many more paragraphs about the set direction but will keep it to a minimum, or try to. The cinematography was also in keeping with the set direction. Beautiful smooth camera movements were used to mimic the beautiful sets and the choreography was just awesome, as is now common place in Asian films.
Chow Yun-Fat and Li Gong as the Imperial couple really held the story up and gave the best performances of the movie. The rest of the supporting cast also did a great job, except Ye Liu who played the Crown Prince Wan and seemed to be stage acting with exaggerated facial expressions and body movements. The point when he finds out who is lover really is, his reaction is almost laughable. That being said, it didn’t really take anything away from the movie because everything else was done so nicely.
I had seen most of this movie before it was assigned, but I’m glad I was able to watch it again and really take it in. Its just so beautiful that it will transcend to any audience. It is a foreign language film, but it’s not hard to follow. For those who haven’t already seen it, I would recommend to anyone who loves beautifully filmed movies. “What I do not give, you must never take by force” – Curse of the Golden Flower.
So I saw this movie as the third assignment I was given in the movie exchange I’m participating in with a friend. This movie I was warned was a low budget indie movie but was promised to deliver a nice payout. The movie is from writer/director Jamin Winans which is pretty much his latest indie venture from four previous films. He produced, composed, and edited among other things to get this film made. It was premiered at a film festival with good reviews however no studios ended up picking up the film. It then gained attention as a popular download.
The film is a fantasy story that revolves around a daughter, Quinn Hunchar, and her father, Chris Kelly. During the night, two opposing forces work to influence the dreams of the sleeping world, unbeknowest to them. The storytellers comprise the good force and influence happy dreams while the incubi are on the evil side and bring on the nightmares. A lost soul, Ink, captures the young girl during the night in order to bring her to the incubi as a requirement for his transformation to become one of them thus leaving her physical body in a coma. The storytellers are then set on a quest to bring the girl back to her physical body and must help the father overcome his own issues along the way.
The plot is obviously very heavily involved in the fantasy world created by Winans. The plot was easy enough to follow and when you got down to it, basically it was good versus evil trying to save the innocent child from the evil captor. The movie walked right on the edge of being demented and scary but didn’t cross over. Instead, it was a dark fantasy that was created somewhere inbetween The Labrinyth and Donnie Darko. I liked how the story wasn’t about creating a new fantasy world (i.e. Lord of the Rings) but was rather about the story of fate vs. free will and the fantasy elements were used as tools. The characters were mostly one dimensional but this was to be expected. The reasoning behind a lot of the elements were unclear but again I felt the film was more about the story at hand rather than the world that was created.
Okay, it’s extremely important to note that this was a low budget film. That being said, there were some really nice elements in the movie and some things that should have been left out. The cinematography would not have been acceptable for a larger budget film, but given what they had to work with it is understandable. First, the villains or incubi, were done really well. They were extremely memorable and creepy without being psychotic and demented. The visual effects were done nicely with these characters as well. The fight sequences were also done nicely and used motion effects and a great score to mask the fact that the sequences were really cheap. Without the motion effects or music, the fight sequences would have been laughable. The way the storytellers popped on scene from light flashes was decent although could have been left out in my opinion. The makeup on Ink did not need to be seen close up like it was. I understand that his appearance was a direct result from his pride, shame, and guilt, but they could’ve left his face under the cloak and only hinted at his appearance. There was some really great editing in this movie and there was some really bad editing. Most of the action sequences were done really well and had some great jump cuts, especially when the pathfinder is chanting and the cuts go with the beat of the scene. However, when there were straight dialogue scenes, the editing was bad and distracting. It was as if they were just cutting back and forth every two seconds and not editing with the scene. It came across to me as if they were trying to hard at some parts with the editing. Jamin Winans also composed the score to the movie and at some parts, the score was really amazing and worked well with the movie. Overall, it was artistic and apparent what was trying to be done. Some areas could have been re-focused but given the low budget, it was nicely done.
The girl and father were the only good actors in this movie. Both were very likeable and there was something about the father’s voice which just came across so smoothly on camera that I was drawn to him. The rest of the actors in this movie belonged in a Xena Warrior Princess tv show. They seemed to believe their roles, but they came across as bad tv actors. I think they could’ve decided to cut back on the number of characters in the movie and invest in some additional quality actors.
Overall, this was an enjoyable film. It was almost like the student version of a Donnie Darko type movie. It really did seem to fit in the gap between Darko and The Labrinyth as I mentioned before. The film was not smooth because some areas were done nicely and others were sub-par. The premis and dedication in the movie is to be respected and I think this could be made into a really great feature film if given a bigger budget and with certain areas re-directed. I would probably recommend this to people who enjoy cult fantasy movies or low budget indies. “I choose to see you as the person you were intended to be instead of the person you have become” – Ink.
So we decided to see this movie and make it a family fun night for the kiddos. I had enjoyed the first two Shreks, and forgotten there was a third apparently, so I was interested in this movie. I wasn’t really expecting much from it and it is an animated movie, but I’m glad we saw it and more importantly, I’m glad we saw it in 2D. Not to mention that it was still on top after it’s second week and has already grossed $147 million.
The movie is about Shrek, obviously. In this movie, he is going through a mid-life crisis, typical man, when he finds himself in a rut in his married life. He then makes a deal with the oh so sneaky Rumpelstiltskin to become a scary Ogre again for a day. Of course there was some fine print that he didn’t see and this caused the whole kingdom to belong to Rumpelsitskin and caused the space time continuum to alter making it so that Shrek never rescued Fiona, met Donkey, and also caused Puss in Boots to become extremely fat. Shrek must then work to reverse the spell before the day is over to set things back the way they belong.
The plot was actually interesting enough and created a lot of nice gags. There were nice funny parts spaced evenly throughout the movie, although there were some definite lags to it. I’m glad they decided to change it up instead of going with another boring sequel, such as Shrek the Third. I also liked how there were jokes that were really funny to the adult audience while going over the heads of the younger audience. This is really what the Shrek movies are famous for and kind of paved the way for this adult/child humor to co-exist in one movie.
The graphics were actually really amazing and very detailed. It was actually quite beautiful and I’m glad we saw it in 2D so we could really appreciate the details. The soundtrack, as expected, was rockin’ and flowed nicely with the movie.
Really, the funny parts were mainly centered on Donkey, Eddie Murphy, and Puss in Boots, Antonio Banderas. Shrek, Mike Meyers, added some comedy as well. But all the rest of the characters were pretty much filler. I’m glad that they’ve greenlit a spinoff movie for Puss in Boots, because he really contributed to a lot of the laughs.
Overall, this was an animated movie and it was a decent Shrek movie. I believe that the second Shrek is still my favorite, but this was a nice ending. I don’t think they should do any more however, just let it rest in peace. It was entertaining for the family and had some genuinely funny parts for the adults. Classic line, “and one thing led to another, and that’s when my donkey fell down your waffle hole” -- Shrek Forever After.
So I had actually really wanted to see this movie because I’m a huge Jorma Taccone, Kristen Wiig, and SNL fan. I loved the Macgruber skits on SNL and I really believe that Jorma and Kristen are true comedic geniuses. I’ll admit that I was afraid though because it could have been either a total bomb or super hilarious. I soon realized that I was pretty much alone in my wanting to see this movie and unfortunately the movie didn’t do that well on it’s opening weekend coming in #6 and brining in only $4 million. I believe this may be due to the R rating and the fact that it’s summer and the younger audiences won’t count for this one.
The movie is a spin-off of the uber hilarious skit from SNL which stars Will Forte and Kristen Wiig as a Macgyver type rag-tag team who attempt to disarm bombs with home-made devices, such as a paper clip and piece of gum. In this movie, Macgruber comes out of retirement to face his arch nemesis, Val Kilmer, who has recently acquired a nuclear warhead. Macgruber uses the help of Kristen Wiig and Ryan Philippe to attempt to bring down his rival and ultimately save the world.
Well I’ll start by saying this movie most definitely earned it’s ‘R’ rating and I would venture to say it’s the dirtiest SNL movie ever. While there were some just over the top moments, it wasn’t a gross-out competition or expletive fair. It seemed as though they saved up all the stuff they came up with while writing SNL that couldn’t be aired and used it in this movie. A lot of the humor was situational comedy and it was as if the best bits were used and the movie just went from bit to bit. The plot was semi interesting and actually had some really funny twists in it. I’ll come out and say this movie was hilarious and the whole theater roared with laughter at the funny parts so hopefully I’m not alone in thinking this. Most of the humor was obviously from Will Forte and Kristen Wiig, who are used to doing this on a weekly basis, and they really carried the movie. This script was excellently written and I really love Jorma Taccone, who is just so underrated. He directed and co-wrote this movie and is responsible for much of the SNL pieces and especially the musical pieces with Andy Samberg. He is one third of The Lonely Island, which if you haven’t heard of, you need to look them up now. A lot of the bits and jokes were actually very smartly written and I think this is just a great addition to his ever growing impressive resume. Okay, enough Jorma promotion.
The movie was actually filmed nicely. The quality of the film was pleasing and the plot flowed easily throughout the film. There was something wrong with the sound in our theater so I’m not quite sure how it was actually supposed to be in the movie, but I did love the 80’s music used in a lot of the sequences.
So this movie was carried by Will Forte and Kristen Wiig and without them, I don’t think it would’ve been that funny. If you like either one of them, then this movie is for you. Ryan Philippe was actually decent in this movie and helped to set the other guys up for a lot of laughs. Val Kilmer was unnecessary in this movie. He wasn’t funny and he looked really strange. I think they could’ve saved the money and gotten someone, anyone, funnier. Maya Rudolph and some famous wrestlers, apparently, made some cameos in the movie which were entertaining.
So this movie had a lot of potential to fail big time. It could have been a completely unrealistic stupid farce of a movie or even a gross-out movie, but fortunately it was neither of these. It was a lot of situational comedy and bits that were smartly written and turned out very funny. It was extremely graphic and for mature audiences only. Had this movie been knocked down to PG13, I think it would have lost all the humor and totally failed. This is a double edged sword however, because I believe it’s the R rating which made the profit suffer. It’s definitely different than other SNL movies but I really enjoyed it and had a lot of really good laughs from this movie. So despite the bad reviews/profits, I think this movie was a success. I would recommend to SNL fans and anyone who enjoys adult situational comedy. “Relax, this is just like Nicaragua .” “ Macgruber, I got shot in Nicaragua ” “ Relax, this is nothing like Nicaragua ” – Macgruber.
So I thought this movie looked like it was going to be okay at best but I do love me some Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett. Alright, some Matthew Macfadyen and Mark Strong while I’m at it. It was also from the director of the hugely popular Gladiator and they were using the blue filter effect on the movie which I always enjoy. It was also basically the only movie worth watching that was being released this week so we decided to watch it as a part of the movie club. The movie actually came in a not so close second to Iron Man 2 and only brought in $36 million.
The movie stars the ultra dreamy Russell Crowe as the legendary Robin Hood and Cate Blanchett plays the character we know as Maid Marion. Also in the movie are William Hurt as William Marshall, Mark Strong as Sir Godfrey, and Matthew Macfadyen as Sheriff of Nottingham. The movie mixes fact and fiction to give us a fictionalized tale of Robin Hood’s life before he became the legendary character we know today.
I’m a history major so I like movies to either stay true to historical fact as much as possible or be very obvious that fictionalization is going on. I think this movie promoted itself as a historical period piece but it’s important to know that Robin Hood has never been verified as actually being a real person and most scholars believe he’s just a product of folklore. That being said, I wasn’t very upset with the plot of the movie. It used a lot of historical events in the plot and interweaved the legend in an interestingly believable way that hasn’t been done with Robin Hood in the past. Although there were some parts which were completely changed, i.e. King John’s battlefield death. However there was a brief look into the beginnings of the Magna Carta which was a nice touch. So history aside, the plot was semi-interesting towards the end and was unique for the normal Robin Hood tale. There was a huge amount of cheesy dialogue in this movie however and the plot points felt like a Hollywood formula for a screenplay. Tyrannical king, check. Love story, check. Mistaken identity, check. Secret plot, check. Final epic battle, check. The movie felt like it had about three endings and did really drag on in the beginning.
I did enjoy the cinematography though. Just about any movie with high resolution action filming and a blue filter will get my praise. The action sequences were filmed nicely and the camerawork was great. It was nice to see battle sequences with actual actors instead of 100% CGI. The editing was smooth and effortless. I believe the drag in the movie was due to the plot and not the editing. There were some really nice HD close up shots of the arrows being shot in slow motion which I really enjoyed.
The performances were okay but nothing Oscar worthy. I’m saddened that they made Matthew Macfadyen (Mr. Darcy) look so awful in this movie. I think it would have been just as acceptable to have a handsome Sheriff. The cheesy dialogue was not the actors’ fault and they were believable in their characters. The chemistry between Crowe and Blanchett was not there however and felt really forced. They are two really great actors but sometimes that chemistry just can’t be faked.
So overall, I’m on the fence on this one. It seemed to just sit right on the line between decent and bad. The cinematography was nice to look at but that was about it. I think the story and dialogue just wasn’t interesting enough to make this a good movie. The actors did a good enough job, but the movie was just too long and slow in the beginning. I would recommend this to anyone who has a lot of time on their hands with nothing else to do. It was just too slow and uninteresting to warrant two and half hours of someone’s life for me to recommend. “I need help with my chainmail” – Robin Hood.
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