REVIEW: Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day
-PG-13-
released February 12, 2010


TRAILER 


On an airplane to Los Angeles, Kate Hazeltine (Julia Roberts), a captain in the U.S. Army on a one-day leave, meets Holden (Bradley Cooper) who has recently become single again. In Los Angeles, florist Reed Bennett (Ashton Kutcher) eagerly proposes to his girlfriend Morley (Jessica Alba) who accepts his offer, much to the surprise of Reed’s colleague Alphonso (George Lopez) and best friend Julia (Jennifer Garner). Julia, a primary school teacher, has recently fallen in love with Dr. Harrison Copeland (Patrick Dempsey) who might just be hiding his true agenda. Meanwhile one of Julia’s students, Edison (Bryce Robinson), is trying to send flowers to his Valentine, while his babysitter, Grace (Emma Roberts), is planning her first sexual encounter with boyfriend Alex (Carter Jenkins). Meanwhile Edison’s grandparents, Edgar (Hector Elizondo) and Estelle (Shirley MacLaine), are facing the troubles of a long marriage while Grace’s friends, Willy (Taylor Lautner) and Felicia (Taylor Swift) are experiencing the freshness of new love. Sean Jackson (Eric Dane), a closeted professional football player, is contemplating the end of his career together with his publicist Kara (Jessica Biel) and his agent Paula (Queen Latifah). Kara, a close friend of Julia’s, is organizing her annual ‘We Hate Valentine’s Day’ Party but is starting to become interested in sports reporter Kelvin Moore (Jamie Foxx) who has been sent out by his producer Susan (Kathy Bates) to cover Valentine’s Day because of a lack of sports news. Paula has recently hired a new receptionist called Liz (Anne Hathaway) who has recently started dating mailroom clerk Jason (Topher Grace). However, Liz is keeping a kinky little secret from Jason.


The above synopsis is all from the Wikipedia site about the movie.  Click on the title and see more details for yourself.  There are so many big names in this movie, and I thought that this breakdown was much better than anything I would come up with.  It's also much shorter than I would have come up with.


Now for my thoughts on my it.
I loved it.  There are so many different stories going on, and they are all connected.  There are so many different couples, and they are each at different stages.  
Couple #1: Long term/ living together/ should be getting married/ breaking up
Couple #2: Two who have been married for 40+ years
Couple #3: Best friends, not dating, but ready to date
Couple #4: Man who cheats on wife and does not tell his mistress he's married.
Couple #5: Young HS love with no base in reality
Couple #6: Young HS love who are trying to decide to take it to the next level. (Having sex.)
Couple #7: 2 weeks new and almost in love.
Couple #8: First crush on a teacher.
Couple #9: Mother and son.


There are also those who are single.  There are many people who are so bitter about Valentine's Day.  I have been one of those who would be the instigator of hating the holiday.  But I have become one of the ones who just treat it like another day, and ignore it.  
But watching this movie with my parents made me rethink some of my thoughts.  My favorite part is Julia Roberts' character is a captain in the military traveling home to the one guy who means the most to her.  She meets Bradley Cooper's character and he finds out she is going home for just a day and gives her his limo to get home to her man.  You later find out that it's her son who she trying to get home to.  It was so beautiful, it brought tears to my eyes.  There are so many great lessons in this movie, but the best is that any relationship, whether it be with a friend, or with a parent, or with a lover, that Valentine's Day isn't always about celebrating the romance of love, but celebrating the loving relationships that we have.  

REVIEW: Time Traveler's Wife

Time Traveler's Wife
-PG-13-
released August 14, 2009
TRAILER




Eric Bana (Nero in the new Star Trek film) plays Henry, the time traveler.  The concept is that he travels through time, although he has no control of when he leaves, or when he comes back.  Another interesting thing is that he cannot take anything with him, except his own body, so all the clothes and jewelry are left in a pile right where he's standing.  
Through out his time traveling he is always drawn to familiar places and people.  Yet he will always come back to his time in his life.  In the traveling he meets Clare, played by Rachel McAdams.  She meets him for the first time when she is six, but he meets her for the first time when he is in his late 20s. It's an interesting story, yet is filmed to help all understand what is happening---just keep an open mind.  It's a great film. Keep a box of tissues handy.  It will pull at your emotions.  Like any family, there is drama, but the bond of love is stronger than ever and it will tug on your heart strings and you will value your family more after watching this film.

Adapted from the best selling Novel The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger, published in 2003, this film is explosive in it's original depiction of the time space continuum. I love everything Sci-Fi, but this film has none of that feel.  It is unique in it's filming and the story feels real, like it has really happened.  I love that Audrey Niffenegger's vision has come off the page in a beautiful array of ingenuity.

REVIEW: Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes
-PG-13-
release December 25, 2009


Films now a days have a realer feel to them because of all the hard work that goes into the design and research of what the time was really like.


This film only enhanced the realism of the time Sherlock Holmes lived.


Of course, Sherlock Holmes is a fictional character, inspired by the creator, Arthur Conan Doyle's friend Joseph Bell.
Each story created gives more detail of the life of Sherlock Holmes.  Written from Watson, Holmes devoted sidekick's perspective we learn more and more about what it is like to be Sherlock Holmes.  


Only in this new vision of Sherlock Holmes do we see the life that Watson saw.  Holmes is a visionary, but some times when great men like this are inspired they take food and other necessities of life for granted until they achieve what they desire.  Read up on the original ideas from Doyle at this site.  What I love most about this film is that Holmes is not depicted as this 'put-together' guy, who I grew up with.  He has those flaws were he neglects his hygiene and refuse to go out of the house, scaring the housekeeper/landlady while working on a hand pistol (silencer).  Yet he is a man and as most men's weakness comes down to loving a woman who uses him.  Rachel Adams plays Irene Adler, Holmes love interest.  The one person who will destroy him by weakening his mind.


The antagonist, Lord Blackwood, played by Mark Strong (Stardust), who deceives to show that he is magically powerful, transforms himself into an evil man.  Fear is one of the worst possible ways to rule over someone.  Strong is amazing in his ability to secure the evilness of playing a role that will strike fear into your soul.


Holmes has a sidekick, a doctor who lives with him.  But in this film Watson is on the verge of getting married, forcing a wedge between Watson and Holmes.  Although this wedge becomes a new link to make the chain of relationships stronger for Watson and Holmes.  One new aspect I love about this depiction of the timeless story, is that Watson is portrayed as a strong sidekick who can fight.  With his background in the military, Watson is opposite of Holmes.  He is clean-cut and the strong link in the relationship, always taking care of Holmes' needs.  What's great is that this film proves that opposites attract.  Only that they work well together as a team. They depend upon each other.  They are  yin and yang.

Holmes, played by Robert Downey Jr., has proved that he can conquer any role he is given with outstanding ability.  He immerses himself into this role with a fervor that I admire.  Wow!


Watson, played by Jude Law, is also amazing.  He plays a sidekick, yet stands on his own when on screen.  It's like there are two protagonists instead of only one.


The strength of these two men only add to the timeless relationship that was created by Watson and Holmes in the written word.  What a masterful piece of film making.  As seen below, Downey and Law carry each other and yet their juxtaposition only adds to the beauty of the film.

This film will keep you on the edge of your seat with all the action, or it will have you pushing against the back of the seat with some of the action's intensity.  You will enjoy this film for ages and I hope there will be another to follow... At least that's how the movie was left open to at the end of the movie!

REVIEW: Invictus

Invictus
-PG-13-
released December 11, 2009


Inspired by the true story of Nelson Mandella's election as president of South Africa in 1994.  After being released from prison in 1990, Mandella, played by Morgan Freeman,  works to bring down the apartheid.  Being a black president after the apartheid has many problems.  It is Mandella's leadership and inspiration which brings the country from chaos and segregation to a unified nation.  He does it through the Rugby team.  Like Mandella the team is predicted to never make it, not even to the World Cup.  Mandella works with the captain of the Rugby team, Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon's character).


Inspiring a nation takes many hearts to be turned to work together.  Struggle in the face of failure can lead to an amazing victory or the worst failure.  Faith is the key in this story.  Faith that those hearts will turn.  Faith that a nation will come together.  Faith in a nation needing the change.


The title of the movie is the title of a poem that Nelson Mandella used as his personal inspiration while in prison.


INVICTUS
by William Ernest Henley

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

The last two lines are the main lines used in the film.  Really inspiring and wonderful!

Please watch this film!  It will inspire you to keep going and never give up on what is right!

REVIEW: Leap Year

Leap Year
-PG-
released January 8, 2010


On February 29 there is a tradition in Ireland that women can propose to men.  So Anna, Amy Adams' character decides to follow her 4 year boyfriend to his medical conference in Dublin, Ireland to propose to him on Leap Day...
Unfortunately her plans to get to Dublin are accompanied by many set backs.  In the process of getting to Ireland she meets Declan, Matthew Goode's character, who promises to help her get to Dublin.  


This film reminded me a another film Matthew Goode was in called Chasing Liberty.  In both films he treks across countries in Europe helping lost women to find themselves. It also reminds me of the film French Kiss.


Leap Year is clean and funny.  Amy Adams is so cute in the movie.  She plays a desperate woman who wants to take that next step in her relationship and risks everything to get to her boyfriend, only finding that what she really wants is someone totally different.  Matthew Goode plays the type of man who we all wish would come to our rescue and save us from ourselves.  The chemistry between the two actors is amazing & believable.  It's heartwarming and will keep you entertained till the very end.

REVIEW: Avatar

Avatar
-PG-13-
released December 18, 2009


This is the year for 3D movies.  So many movies have been 3D.  I hate wearing the glasses cause they squish my head, so I went to see this movie non-3D.  It was amazing.  I loved it so much that I went back a couple of days later to see it in 3D.  It was just as good.  The story and the vision was beautiful!!!!  WOW!!!  After the first 5 minutes of the movie I knew I would own it right when it came out.


I love to know how movies are made, so I went to the official website for Avatar and learned how this incredible vision came to life.  James Cameron created a camera that is meant to film in 3D.
How many people make their opinions of movies before they know all the details of it.  I have heard some say that they weren't all that impressed with the animation/CG elements in it.  Visit the site and see how involved the actors had to be to film this film.  


James Cameron, the director and the writer, dreamed of this vision before he made the motion picture, Titanic, but the technology at the time was not where he needed it to even try to make this film.  

The colors in this film were wonderful.  These are just a few pictures that show a glimpse of how extraordinary it truly is.   This movie is the reason why I love movies.  I am so glad that there are creative people in this world.  Thanks to James Cameron for sharing his vision with the world... 

REVIEW: Everybody's Fine

Everybody's Fine
-Pg-13-
released December 4, 2009


A movie about a family who have lost their keystone (their mother) only months before.  She was the confidant to all.  So This movie starts out with Frank Goode, Robert De Niro's character, cleaning up his home, bringing out the grill & buying wine for his kids (which was one of the funniest scenes, where he talks to one of the grocery store employees about buying wine for his kids... watch this trailer to see it!)
The trailer makes it seem more of a comedy than what it really is.  Be prepared to cry.  It is an emotional movie.  


I liked it a lot.  It was hard to see Frank go through so much to travel to see all of his kids.  I won't give away anything, but please keep an open mind to the variety of different lives in this movie.  


Families are important.  When you loose a family members, it should bring you closer together.  Don't let it put a wedge in your family.  


On a side note- it was weird to see Drew Barrymore and Sam Rockwell as brother and sister when they hooked up in Charlie's Angels.

REVIEW: Planet 51

Planet 51
-PG-
released November 20, 2009


An interesting story with humans being the aliens to those who live on, what we call "Planet 51".


Click on the title to a link with a detailed explanation of the film.


I liked it, but it made the human astronaut look incompetent and that our future with first contact of an alien species will be met with someone who got the job because of his looks and nothing else.  It was very disheartening.  


I did enjoy the flow of the film and the personalities of the main characters.  
It was interesting how the planet is based in a time that is similar to our 1950s.  The fact that they have the technology to have floating cars makes me wonder, but every species evolves in different ways.  


I loved their circular designs for everything on their planet.  I would love a house like that.  The burgers on the grill are floating.  Another thing is that it rains rocks instead of rain.  Interesting.  


Watch it at least once with the kids and they will get a kick out of it.  It would be a great teaching tool for anyone to not be so prejudice of anyone we don't understand.  They may become a better friend to you than anyone of your own race/species.

REVIEW: The Blind Side

The Blind Side
-PG-13-
released November 20, 2009


I loved, loved, loved this film.  AMAZING!  


Sandra Bullock has played many roles, even one who made me cry in The Proposal, but this has to be my all time favorite.


The saying, "A picture says a thousand words" this movie poster makes a STATEMENT.  Not only is this film based on a true story, it will touch your heart in ways no other movie has.


If you only watch one movie this year, this is the one I would choose for you!  


That is all I'm going to say on this!  Please honor yourself by watching it!

REVIEW: This Is It

This Is It
-PG-
released October 28, 2009


Okay......... Michael Jackson was an amazing artist with tons of talent and imagination.  


Now that I've said that, I hated this film.


I worked behind big stage productions and my least favorite part was sitting through rehearsals and all this movie was was chunks of that rehearsal.  I was expecting something much, much more from the pictures and hipe from what this actually became.


I loved all the songs that were picked and the ideas for the performance were great!  I would have loved to be part of the stage production and see it all take place.  Kudos to all of the minds who thought it all up!!!

REVIEW: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs
-PG-
released 18 September 2009


I have always loved animated movies.  Since the dawn of 3D animation there have been great stories and great visual effects.  This only added to the genre of 3D animation, with quirky characters (in their design to their personalities) to the story climaxes that gave it one of those must-see-again feelings.


I saw this with my 5 year-old niece.  Like most children, just going to the movies is an experience in itself, but this little one kept quoting the movie after we left.  She loved that the food was so big and her favorite part was the Jello House!  


Like most of the animated films there are always a good moral.  I'll let you watch it to see what the moral is.

The genius inventor Flint Lockwood is voiced by Bill Hader (Saturday Night Live) and the reporter Sam Sparks is voiced by Anna Faris (House Bunny).


These two make an incredible duo who find in each other the strength to follow their dreams.


If you haven't seen this movie, please see it.  Sony Animation Studios accomplished a great work of art that everyone will enjoy for years to come!

REVIEW: Whip It

Whip It
-PG-13-
released October 2, 2009


Directed by Drew Barrymore, this classic tale of small town girl taking a chance on life is vivacious and creative.  
Bliss Cavendar, Ellen Page's (Juno) character is from Bodeen, TX.  Bliss's life is filled with working at the Oink Joint and puffing up her mother's dreams of winning beauty pagents. But she is always dreaming of something more.  Then on a fateful outing to a thrift store, Bliss meets some roller derby girls and a spark is lit.
At 17, not very many of us know where we want to be in 20 years.  All we really worry about is what school we're going to and what we're going to do on the weekend.   So as many teenagers do, Bliss and her friend Pash go the the roller derby tournament, without telling mom and dad.  There Bliss finds her bliss.  Roller derby is just what she needs in her dull life.  Unfortunately telling her parents is out of the question so lies ensue and the repercussions are not fun.  


Why do we all lie about things that make us happy?  Bliss eventually had her happy ending and her family supports her, but if she had not lied, would she have had the outcome she did?  If she would have told her parents upfront, then they wouldn't have let her go.  So in lying about it she hurt her family, but got what she wanted.  It's a hard lesson.  I wish all kids could find something they love and have the full support of parents, but most kids find things that their parents would never support.  Then again, if we don't make our own choices and feel the hard life lessons from them, we would never learn from them.  


This film does have a great moral that many might not see right away.  When you find something you love to do, don't let anything stop you from getting it!!!!  Even with all the pain and heartache, it's still what you love and that makes everything worth it!


I love Ellen Page and I believe she's going to be a great upcoming actress... It would be nice to see her outside of these "charater" roles, to prove that she can stand on her own when it comes to acting.   


Once again check out Wikipedia for more info on this flick.

REVIEW: District 9

District 9 

– R –

Released August 14, 2009

If you do not know what this movie is about, please refer to Wikipedia.  The detail in this description is better then anything I could come up with in a short period of time.

Yes, this movie is rated R, and it is justly so because of the language and gore.  Because of those two facts, many people would truly hate watching this movie.

I loved it!  It was compelling from the start as it was filmed as a documentary.

Set in Johannesburg, South Africa, the film looks back on when the alien ship first arrived on earth in 1982.  Hovering above the city for 3 months without any contact, humans decide to investigate and go up to the ship, but they find an alien race (somewhat looking like what I imagine the Buggers [Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card to look like), who have an insect quality.  Although throughout the entirety of the movie they look less "alien" and more human as we follow the interaction with Wikus (the main antagonist of the aliens, played by Sharlto Copley) who reveals that they are more human then most of the humans they connect with.  

District 9 is the section of land sanctioned for the aliens to live on.  Each of them live in shacks and are forced to live in squalor.  The racism in the film is thick, much like the way the movie was advertised with posters like this.  

As stated before, the film takes on a documentary feel at the beginning where Wikus, Sharlto Copley's character, is in charge of moving all the "non-humans" to a new area called Distict 10, over 20+ years after the arrival of the alien ship.  His job is to retrieve the signatures of the aliens, stating that there will be no resistance.  As the documentary goes on, Wikus is given away as a traitor.

Meanwhile, one of the aliens has been collecting a liquid from their technology for over 20 years.  The collected liquid is contained in a canister the size of two Red Bulls cans long.  So as Wikus searches through all of the homes of the aliens, he finds this canister, disrupts it somehow and becomes infected.  It takes a few hours for him to get the effects, but he begins to change into one of the aliens.  

Now, I have left out a key component of the story.  The aliens weapons are only operational biologically.  Though very powerful, humans cannot use the technology.  So when the government finds out what is happening to Wikus, he is tested and enlisted to be the main experiment.........meaning they are going to dissect him to find out how it works.  Luckily Wikus escapes, only to become a fugitive and find refuge in the part of town he was trying to clean out for his country.  

Wikus ends up helping one of the aliens return to his ship, because Wikus is promised to receive the antidote for his sickness.  But he learns that the alien must first return to his home planet to retrieve the technology and bring reinforcements to transport is kind home.  

So Wikus must wait....... for years to become human again.  

Not only do I love the SciFi element, but the story is very compelling, and yet predictive in parts.  There is a ton of action, yet equal drama to keep you on the edge of your seat.  Beware of the vulgarity and crudeness of language, especially the term "prawn" that is used for the insect aliens.  

The CG element is beautiful.  I love watching movies that look real!  It looked like part of our world history.  I only wish I could meet an alien and see into their soulful eyes.  This element alone shows that the CG element was tastefully done and there should be an award for those who did the animation.  

The moral is obvious, but worthy of bringing up.  Prejudice and racism happens in every country, between many races.  Unless you walk a mile in another's shoes, no matter who they are (alien or not, or even someone of your own family) you have no right to judge them.  
This is one of the main reasons I watch movies.  All of the effects make it entertaining, but the lesson I take from it will live longer than anything else.

I really hope a sequel is made.  There are so many things left unsaid, but sometimes that is the best way to end things.