Grade: BThursday, September 13, 2007
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Vacancy
Grade: A-Synopsis: A vacationing couple makes a terrifying discovery about the motel room they have just checked into in this thriller scripted by Mark L. Smith and directed by Nimród Antal (Kontroll). Their car broken down and their prospects for finding a tow-truck driver at such a late hour slim to none, David (Luke Wilson) and Amy Fox (Kate Beckinsale) decide to make the best of their situation by resting out the night at a nearby motel. Left with few choices of entertainment for the evening, the pair soon settles down to enjoy one of the low-budget slasher films sitting atop their motel room VCR. Upon realizing that all of the films seem to have been shot in the very same room they currently occupy, David and Amy suddenly become the stars of a particularly sadistic fright flick. As hidden cameras track their every move, the hapless couple attempt to turn the tables on their would-be killer before they meet the same grim fate as the poor souls being butchered on television. Frank Whaley and Ethan Embry co-star in a thriller that's sure to keep leery travelers sticking to the main highway. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Review: I thought the movie started out really slow, to the point i actually said aloud, OK, lets get this show going... But once they realize what is happening it is very "sitting in the edge of your seat" type... But once it ends, again, another disappointment. They just end it, instead of telling you what happens to the couple when its all over, when throughout the film the man says, "we're gonna 'this' when we get outta here" and its like... Did they do it? Stay together? Huh-HUH? So, see it if you want, but dont expect much from anything but the middle.
Disturbia
Grade: ASynopsis: Salton Sea director D.J. Caruso travels from the shore to the suburbs for this suspenseful tale of a high-school senior who suspects that his neighbor is a notorious serial killer. Kale (Shia LaBeouf) is a high-school senior who has yet to come to terms with the fact that his father is gone, the tragic victim of a fatal accident. As Kale's mother (Carrie-Anne Moss) struggles to pay the bills by picking up extra shifts at work, her son's behavior grows increasingly erratic. When an altercation at school finds Kale placed under court-ordered house arrest, the homebound student teams with newly arrived girl-next-door Ashley (Sarah Roemer) to investigate the suspicious neighbor (David Morse) whom Kale believes to be an elusive and wanted serial killer. Their attentions focused intensely on the man they believe to be a murderous maniac hiding in broad daylight, Kale and Ashley trespass down a dangerous path while attempting to discern whether his suspicions are grounded in fact or just a combination of deep depression and suffocating cabin fever. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Review: Awesome film. There really isnt much that i can say, it was humorous, suspenseful, ended good, acting good... This one is a must see. :)
The Lake House
Grade: A+Synopsis: Two people develop an unusual relationship that bends the boundaries of time and place in this romantic fantasy. Kate Forster (Sandra Bullock) is a doctor who lives in a beautiful home by a lake. Forced to move elsewhere, she requests that any correspondence that arrives at the lake house be passed on to her new address. To her surprise, she soon receives a romantic note from Alex Burnham (Keanu Reeves), an architect who lives in the cottage she once called home. However, a look at the postmark on the letter reveals that he lived at the home two years before she did, and that somehow they've come in contact with one another through a space in time. A remake of Lee Hyun-seung's acclaimed Korean romance Il Mare (aka Siworae), The Lake House was the first American production from Argentinean filmmaker Alejandro Agresti; the supporting cast includes Christopher Plummer, Dylan Walsh, and Lynn Collins. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review: One of the best romance films that i have seen in such a long time. And its not even a chick flick because it shows the emotions of both characters... You really are rooting for them after the first 30 mins. My boyfriend watched it with me and absolutely loved it. We both were sitting on the edge of our seats towards the end... Recommend that everyone and their mother watch this film. Loved it! :)
Blades of Glory
Grade: ASynopsis: Will Ferrell, Jon Heder, and Will Arnett headline this high-concept comedy concerning two male figure-skating rivals aching to compete despite having been banned from the sport. Their medals stripped after getting into a highly publicized fight at the World Championships, star figure skaters Chazz Michael Michaels (Ferrell) and Jimmy MacElroy (Heder) are barred from ever competing in the sport again. Upon discovering a loophole that will allow them to perform together in the pairs figure skating category, the two athletes determine to put their differences aside in order to pursue their gold medal aspirations. Amy Poehler, Jenna Fischer, Craig T. Nelson, and Rob Corddry co-star. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Review: I gave it an A not for plot or any movie crap, just becuase it is a typical Will Farrell Film that was the stupid funny kind, but still good. Had me laughing the whole time... And teamed with Jon Heder towards the end... Priceless. Go see! :)
Big Nothing
Grade: BSynopsis: Director Jean-Baptiste Andrea's wicked, jet-black comic thriller Big Nothing stars Friends mainstay David Schwimmer as Charlie Wood, a onetime American professor now married to a policewoman, Penelope (Natascha McElhone) and living in Oregon. As the story opens, Charlie takes a job as a telephone operator at an Information Technology call support center, but is promptly fired for making offensive comments to a customer. One of Charlie's shadier co-workers, Gus Dickinson (Simon Pegg) wheedles him into his plan to blackmail a priest, Rev. Smalls (Mitchell Mullen) by using "inside" information from the company that demonstrates the minister's obsession with internet porn. Thus begins an endless series of Mametian twists and turns involving double-cross, mistaken identity, forced drownings, poisonings, infidelities and cold-blooded mariticide, as the men attempt to collect on the money but run head-first into one outrageous conflict after another. Alice Eve, Mimi Rogers and Jon Polito co-star; Andrea and William Asher co-authored the script. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
Review: Good movie, just ODD. Its not actually funny, just the scenarios are funny in the things that are happening, and every time you think that the characters have a second to stop and process things something else wacky happens. Your jaw will be dropped for 80% of the time... lol. It was good, didnt expect the ending, but a different movie that was worth watching...
Poseidon
Grade: BSynopsis: Set adrift in the vast waters of the North Atlantic for a luxury New Year's Eve party staged in the ship's magnificent ballroom, the massive ocean-liner Poseidon receives an unexpected jolt when a rogue, 100-foot wave rolls it completely upside down, forcing the surviving passengers to fight their way to safety in Das Boot director Wolfgang Petersen's waterlogged blockbuster. Trapped beneath the waterline and implored by the captain to remain in place until a rescue team arrives, the panicked survivors struggle to keep their cool as the water begins to rush in, infernos blaze all around, and a loss of electricity plunges the doomed vessel into total darkness. Seasoned gambler Dylan Johns (Josh Lucas) isn't willing to wage his life on the prompt arrival of help, though, and as he attempts to navigate the treacherous, inverted maze of death, he is flanked by desperate band of like-minded seafarers including eight-year-old Conor (Jimmy Bennett) and his mother, Maggie (Jacinda Barrett), reticent stowaway Elena (Mía Maestro), suicidal Richard (Richard Dreyfus), and concerned father Robert (Kurt Russell), whose missing daughter may still be somewhere onboard along with her frightened fiancé. With a little luck and a little help from onboard waiter Marco (Freddy Rodriguez), the desperate team may just live to see the morning after. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Review: All in all it was good, The inital devestation, the wave that overcame the boat... it was like WOAH... (for lack of official terms... lol) Acting good, thought they picked good people for the parts portrayed, Story was good, just a little hard to believe that in this day in age boats are still too easy to destroy. And the ending is like... Are you serious? then you kind of shake your head of the outcome... Could have ended better i thought... And while watching it, i thought, Some asshole is gonna die early on, someone is gonna get hurt and hold people back, someone is gonna sacrifice themselves for the greater good... So, i kinda felt that i wrote this film, but someone forgot to mail me my check... haha. Its a movie worth seeing.
World Trade Center
Grade: B+Director Oliver Stone once again offers a powerful and provocative story based on real-life events in this drama. Sargeant John McLoughlin (Nicolas Cage) and William J. Jimeno (Michael Pena) were two officers assigned to New York City's Port Authority who were working their beats on a quiet day in early fall when they received an emergency call. The day was September 11, 2001, and McLoughlin and Jimeno were among the policemen who attempted to evacuate the World Trade Center towers after they were struck by airliners piloted by terrorists. Both McLoughlin and Jimeno were inside the fifth building of the World Trade Center when the towers fell, and were two of the last people found alive amidst the wreckage. As McLoughlin and Jimeno struggled to hold on to their lives as rescuers sifted through the rubble, their spouses -- Donna McLoughlin (Maria Bello) and Allison Jimeno (Maggie Gyllenhaal) -- clung to the desperate hope that their husbands would survive and be found. As the McLoughlin and Jimeno families waited for word on the fate of the two men, they watched as a city and a nation came together with strength and compassion in the face of a tragedy. World Trade Center was based on the true story of John McLoughlin and William J. Jimeno, both of whom cooperated with producers in the making of this film. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review: The only reason it was good was because, well, no one had to write it... It happened and it was horrible and if you didnt feel any emotion about it then you are just not human. Anyway, i mean i thought that the film could have gone without the big hollywood names, and quite frankly, i thougt that Nicholas Cage's acting was a little queer, realllllly bad at times. But, i mean we all saw the emotion and the impact, so we know already and again, thats the only reason that the movie was any good. But if you wanna remember the events of 9/11, watch United 93. That movie is so true and compelling, and the director really spent time getting the facts, i cried like a baby. Anyway, see it if you want to remember, just not one of the better things that i have seen lately. :)
The Good Girl
Grade: BSynopsis: Jennifer Aniston stars as Justine, a woman who is feeling constrained by her life. Her husband, Phil (John C. Reilly), is a house painter who spends the majority of his time smoking marijuana with his friend Bubba (Tim Blake Nelson). Longing for something more in her life, Justine becomes involved with a younger co-worker named Tom (Jake Gyllenhall), but because of his fascination with The Catcher in the Rye, he likes to be called Holden. Her new sense of freedom and release are threatened when a co-worker dies, and when Bubba learns of her infidelity. This film was screened at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
Review: This movie is categorized as a comedy, which i thought was unfitting. It was funny in a few parts, mainly Jennifer's co-star in the film Zooey Deschanel. The rest of the time you are laughing is an OMG, i cant believe that is happening-type giggle. Then comes the affair and everything that goes along with the affair... Then all the things that happen at the end with her 'boyfriend' is just sad. So, over all it was good, i cant really find the words to describe it but its more 'normal' than other films with affair in it... Its a film to see when you have some extra cash layin around (but who really does?) :)
Family Stone
Grade: B+Synopsis: A woman meets her future in-laws and discovers they don't much care for her in this comedy from writer and director Thomas Bezucha. Everett Stone (Dermot Mulroney) is a successful young businessman who is dating Meredith Morton (Sarah Jessica Parker), and has asked her to spend Christmas with his family, with plans to ask his mother Sybil (Diane Keaton) for the titular family wedding band and propose to Meredith on Christmas. Meredith is more than a bit nervous about meeting Everett's folks, and things only get worse when they arrive -- Meredith is by her nature straight-laced and a bit uptight around strangers, while Sybil and family patriarch Kelly (Craig T. Nelson) are free-thinkers who, except for Everett, have raised a family of cheerfully rebellious children, most notably younger daughter Amy (Rachel McAdams), older brother Ben (Luke Wilson), and adopted sibling Thad (Tyrone Giordano, who is both deaf and gay.
Meredith and the Stone family do not get along well at first, especially Sybil, who is appalled at the prospect of Everett giving Meredith the family's heirloom wedding ring; in dire need of moral support, Meredith asks her younger sister, Julie (Claire Danes), to join her for Christmas with the Stones. However, the plan runs into a snag when Everett's head is turned by pretty Julie, and Meredith finds herself on the receiving end of attention from slobby Ben. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review: This movie was cute. I would probably place this in the chick flick category, but a man could handle it. I thought this would be the kind of movie with a lot of pranks on the new girl, meaning super funny, but it was not. Now, the movie was not bad, i really liked it, just not as funny as i had imagined... There are alot of things happening which keeps you interested and its a bit interesting how things ended. The one thing that they did not dwell on in the film which i kinda thought should have been known sooner will stun you as well in a very interesting scene... i was like... uhhhhhhh... thats really the only word for it... But. Overall, good movie, you learn to love the characters, even the snobby one... Great cast. Good movie for a rainy day or sunday afternoon. :)
Fracture
Grade: ASynopsis: A structural engineer (Anthony Hopkins) and an ambitious young district attorney (Ryan Gosling) become locked in a deadly battle of wits when the former is found innocent in the attempted murder of his wife in director Gregory Hoblit's tense tale of courtroom mind games. Ted Crawford (Hopkins) is an engineer who lives with his wife Jennifer (Embeth Davidtz) in the couple's lavish Southern California home. One day, after carefully planning out the details to ensure that there is no way he can be convicted of murder, Ted shoots his wife in a blatant attempt to murder the woman. When head hostage negotiator Rob Nunnaly (Billy Burke) arrives on the scene to speak with Ted, he is shocked to find that the victim of the shooting is in fact his longtime lover. Though Jennifer survives the trauma of being shot in the head at close range, she hovers comatose between life and death as star prosecutor Willy Beachum (Gosling) reluctantly accepts the case while preparing to leave the Los Angeles criminal court system behind for a more promising career at a posh private law firm. Though the D.A. (David Strathairn) vehemently resents Beachum's lofty plan for departure, the hotshot young lawyer remains convinced that he can expedite the apparently open-and-shut case and be on his way to greener pastures in one week's time at the very most. Beachum's swelling ego betrays him, however, as his future boss Nikki Gardner (Rosamund Pike) begins to turn up the heat and fracture mechanics specialist Ted chooses to represent himself at the trial knowing well that a career spent spotting structural flaws in aeronautical systems has instilled him with just the kind of argumentative skills needed to riddle the swaggering young lawyer's "foolproof" case with doubt. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Review: Good film. The previews always intrigued me and i finally rented it and was very pleased... I was seriously sitting there during the film trying to think of ways to help the lawyer solve this case, it was so mind boggling at times, and you get frustrated right along with Ryan... I loved it... I didnt like the lady boss, her acting was odd to me, but other than that, Ryan Gosling and Anthony Hopkins were great... I was shocked at how things turned out. Overall, i enjoyed the film, this one is a must see. :)
The Last Kiss
Grade= C-Synopsis: A successful 30-year-old (Zach Braff) with a the perfect girlfriend (Jacinda Barrett) and a lucrative outlook on life struggles with the increasing pressures of adulthood as he weighs the merits of settling down with the woman who loves him against risking it all to be with a comely co-ed (Rachel Bilson) in director Tony Goldwyn's remake of Gabriele Muccino's 2001 comedy drama. Crash and Million Dollar Baby screenwriter Paul Haggis adapts a script originally penned by Italian filmmaker Muccino, and Casey Affleck, Blythe Danner, Eric Christian Olsen, and Tom Wilkinson co-star. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Review: Ok... I am a huge Zach Braff fan, so renting this one was a no-brainer... so i thought... I started watching it and actually lost interest in the film, and fell asleep. Which is not like me at all... So, i thought i would give it another go the next day, and that didn't change anything either... The movie was slow, all the people in the film pretty much were clinically insane in the things that they did... It was just hard to believe this as a normal setting... i guess... I was waiting for some ending, but it never really came... there was like one funny part at the end where the neighbor fills his glass with the water hose after he had slept on his front porch all night waiting for his wife to open up... That was about it... So, pretty much, save your cash for a rainy day, and skip this one... Sorry Zach...
Premonition
Grade= BSynopsis: Devastated upon receiving the news that her husband has been killed in a tragic car accident, a woman wakes up to find him still very much alive as she begins to slip into a confusing world where the past and the future become increasingly difficult to distinguish. Linda Hanson (Sandra Bullock) was an average housewife with a loving family, but when a policeman comes knocking on her door with news that her husband, Jim (Julian McMahon), was involved in a fatal car accident, Linda's world slowly begins to unravel. While her grief is at first overwhelming, Linda assumes that the whole thing was nothing more than a vivid dream when she wakes to find her family still very much intact. With each passing day, however, Linda's reality shifts and her circumstances grow increasingly surreal; one day Jim is dead and the next he is right there by her side. As her investigation leaves her convinced that her husband's death wasn't a dream and that her picture-perfect life may not have been quite as flawless as she thought, Linda embarks on a mind-bending journey to prevent her grim premonition from becoming a reality. Now, in order to save the man she loves, Linda will have to piece together a perplexing mystery that seems to span two separate planes of reality. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Review: Acting was good, there are a few parts of the film that i was caught saying "Hold on, what just happened that this is now happening?" So you have to pay attention and think... Also, i had high expectations of the film and i wasn't as pleased as i had thought that i was gonna be. Dont get me wrong, it was good, but i didn't get the ending that i was looking for... (seems to be the problem with a lot of films lately... poor endings). It was good, and i recommend seeing it, just dont think that you know how it ends and dont go in with high hopes either.
Shooter
Grade: A+Synopsis: A top Marine sniper who previously abandoned the military after a routine mission gave way to tragedy is double-crossed by the government after reluctantly being pressured back into service in Training Day director Antoine Fuqua's adaptation of Stephen Hunter's novel Point of Impact. There was a time when Bob Lee Swagger (Mark Wahlberg) was the best trigger-man in the military, but after growing disillusioned with the system, he disappeared without a trace. After being located at his remote mountain retreat by high-profile government officials following an extensive search, Swagger is coerced back into service in order to stop a determined assassin from taking out the President of the United States. In the process of carrying out his mission, however, Swagger suddenly realizes that he has been betrayed when he becomes the subject of a nationwide manhunt. Now wounded and desperate to reveal the culprits behind the conspiracy before it's too late, Swagger sets into motion a revenge plan that will send shockwaves rippling to some of the most powerful and corrupt leaders in the free world. Danny Glover, Rhona Mitra, and Ned Beatty co-star in this conspiracy-driven action thriller that asks what it truly means to serve one's country. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Review: Just plain awesome. Mark has been one of my favorite actors for a while now, and if you enjoyed how bad-ass he was in Four Brothers, then you will be happy with him in this film as well! Tons of action, mind blows, just a plain good movie. I recommend it for anyone... There really isn't anything bad that i can even say about this film... Just make sure you are into watching it so you can pay attention (government talk always loses me... lol). I loved it! :)
Black Snake Moan
Grade: B/B+ Synopsis: When a weathered, God-fearing ex-blues musician finds the town nymphomaniac severely beaten and left for dead on the side of the road, he vows to cure her of her wicked ways in Hustle & Flow director Craig Brewer's raw and unflinching follow-up. Lazarus (Samuel L. Jackson) is a hard-living ex-blues guitarist for whom the troubled days are beginning to outnumber the good. Rae (Christina Ricci) is a 22-year-old sex addict whose wild ways are finally about to catch up with her. When Lazarus discovers Rae covered in dust and clinging to life on the side of the road, he takes her in and nurses her back to health; but Lazarus isn't your typical caregiver, he's more concerned for Rae's immortal soul than he is for her physical well-being. Now, after chaining Rae down and employing the power of the Good Book to curb the salacious seductress' hedonistic ways, Lazarus will be forced to confront his own darkest demons in order to save the soul of a woman whose one-way ticket to hell has already been paid in full. Now, as Lazarus wages a righteous struggle to redeem the soul of the fallen Rae while simultaneously ensuring that his own life hasn't been lived in vain, the situation threatens to explode as Rae's possessive boyfriend, Ronnie (Justin Timberlake) -- a roughneck Guardsman currently preparing for a tour of duty in Iraq -- comes searching for his missing lover. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Review: I thought that overall the movie was OK... Christina's part was a little racy from what i am used to seeing her in... which made it shocking every time that i saw her do something that i wouldnt think of her doing. She is nude 15% of the film, half naked 75% of the film, and clothed 10% of the time. Justin actually did pretty well in this film acting wise, he didnt have a HUGE part or anything but he did pretty well, i guess i didnt expect that much out of him though. Samuel was awesome as usual. Brought the comic relief to parts that were just odd... Also, what Christina's character 'deals' with throughout the film is a little weird and takes a very understanding person to actually view this as a disease and not just her being a slut. But i guess if you are bored, like the actors in the film, and enjoy blues... i would say go ahead and see it. :)
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