Saturday, December 25, 2010

Toy Story 3 (2010)

My Rotten Tomatoes rating: 100%


This is without a doubt one of the best movies of the year, of all animation and of movies all around. when it seemed likely that things wouldn't turn out well for this movie, Pixar proved to be plenty capable of succeeding where many other franchises failed on making a great third movie. heck, it made almost everyone in my family cry when we saw it in theaters. and that's including my dad who is one of the most skeptical guys i know. so caution: like everyone else, my review is going to be pretty fricking one-noted. so yeah.

plot: flawless. i know that sounds like an exaggeration but pretty much everything that occurred throughout this movie pretty much gave a powerful feeling of fun, laughter, suspense, or just really thinking about the toy you have when you were a kid. because it accomplished what few 3rd movies do when it's the last one: finish the movie with a great big bang! I mean one way how they especially made it so was with how they used many of the references from the first two films. best example: the first...eh, 7 ish, 10 ish minutes of the movie, which fell in line of Andy playing a mix of the times the played with all the toys from the beginning of the first two films and then there's flashback of other times he played with them while they played "you got a friend in me" I mean it got me so good that after seeing the movie a second time at my grandparents' today, i took a moment unwrapping the trash bag with all of my old toys from when i was a kid and said a little hey to them thinking of the time with them...those tigers Hobbess, Zeke, Sharp Kahn, then there was Woodstock, the lizard made out of beads; Crazy Lazy Jason, and then my two favorites that were pretty much the Woody and Buzz of the party: Snoopy and Pikachu...just hold them again, hugging th-... yes well you get the point. the plot was great, they made it a powerful movie tot he point were it makes you think about your old toys from your childhood as well as those dear characters from this timeless classic trilogy.

Characters:what is there to say? there wasn't a single thing that changed with the main characters. and the new ones gave us all the reason in the world to love them just as much...except for the fact that the main characters have dibs on being all over and being, again, timeless classics. what was fun as far as mixing the two together was the whole relationship between Ken and Barbie, and win a way, Lotso was in a sense similar to Woody as a leader and as someone who had an owner that loved him only that obviously Woody never gave up unlike Lotso who just cracked. so yeah.

Music: just well done. flawless. although, and this is not a big deal but i just feel this way a little, i was kinda mixed with having that spanish version of "you got a friend in me" in the end because i felt it was kind of a movie that needed to end that song in a big bang kinda like the second one, but in reality, it makes sense that it is so because it also kind give a story never ends kind of feeling.

so that's my review on Toy Story 3. it's one-noted in a positive way but fact is, it shouldn't get anything less than that.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Tangled (2010)

My Rotten Tomatoes rating: 80%


the thing is, when some of my friends here gave their reviews to this, it made be believe this was going to be another princess and the frog for Disney which i liked. but while it did the same thing with most things from princess and the frog, it did much better with some of the music and especially with the comedy.

plot: It was pretty good. I mean sure it's another princess story, but they added more into it that made it much more interesting.

Music: That "I had a dream" song...Bland. Just Bland. You might like it...but as far as Disney goes, i was disappointed. I really liked "I see the Light" it was a pretty nice song. The villain song was nice too. not dark or anything but just nice.


Characters
Rapunzel: I personally didn't really like Rapunzel all that well at first. she starts off singing about her daily basis stuff...which include things like painting, reading, sewing, cooking etc, and it being done all...well...girly-like. And the music and the all around theme to the song makes her a...Hannah Montana, Hilary Duff...all around modern, teenage inspired, role-model type of girl at first. To me when iwas watching the beginning, that made me feel like Disney was like "oh now that everyone more generally knows we separate the girls from the boys with our Disney princesses, let's admit it more directly and modernly with our next princess since there's no hiding it now" when it came to developing this character. I mean sure, her song is more about trying to get out of the tower so she can finally live her life outside of all of that but still. Thankfully she slowly but surly, turned out to be a fun character. SO she started out terrible but came back much more lovable.

Eugene: he had his cute parts. but the type of character he was has been done before. I did love that they did not get carried away with the joke about his wanted posters at all.

The chameleon: he as a little cute.

Gothel: she was a nice villain. not really dark but evil enough.

The Horse: Now the horse i liked. he was very entertaining. I often quietly laughed at the things they had for the horse. he was just a fun cartoon character.

animation: again, dreamworks like. and let's not forget that it was in 3D. seriously hollywood...STOP THE FRICKING 3D THING!!!! it's mostly pointless, your ticket is more expensive, you guys are just giving unnecessary grandeur on an idea that's just...a little nice...and that is it.


so it's just a nice movie. altogether, Disney is ganna have to do better than that to get back in their game of making timeless classics. so YEA!!! that Disney has reached making a total of 50 theatrical animated movies.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Raging Bull (1980)

Rating: 60%
I know there will be a lot of people who disagree with me but...i just find this movie only...nice.

the acting was great, well shot, well edited, it was a good movie...the problem is, I wasn't all that crazy for the plot.

the reason why...it seemed like a boxing version of The Natural in a way. If you haven't read The Natural I'd recommend it, it's a good book, but for those who have, this is how.

Part of the message of The Natural is the idea of bringing a good message about the consequences of making bad choices with a kind of usual story you hear. and although it has several other things going on, to me, that's all it was, a story about the consequences over plenty of bad choices. so yeah.

Kick-Ass (2010)

My Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 90%

Brilliant. Just a brilliant movie. one of the best superhero movies ever.

I won't tell you anything about the plot, except that they put it together better than the book. now i'm not saying the book was bad. In fact, it's one of the best graphic novels I ever read. But what made it good here is how it was put together better.

Acting I loved. I most especially loved Nicolas Cage. We have not seen him to an extremely good movie in ages. Now he's doing some bad movies still like sorcerer's apprentice, sure. and for all we know, the lord has it that this is the last time he's going to do a truly great performance for the rest of his career, possibly. But all the same, what he did as Big Daddy was well done and love that he has finally done that for us once again after so long. Everyone else's acting was also good so yeah.

music i enjoyed, especially the main song somewhat that is played during the very end when Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl flew away. the only complaint is when Hit-Girl is about to fight a whole bunch of guys and it kinda starts off with the beginning of the music is this...idk what it is but i just remember is as some song where superman i said halfway through the chorus and then when the fighting starts, it jumps to that "Bad Reputation" song. i mean say what you will, but that kinda ruined the mood for me.

SO there you have it. great movie, well done, and I look forward to what's in store with the second one they are currently making.

Greenberg (2010)

My Rating on Rotten Tomatoes: 10%

when we choose our selection of rented movie to watch on one tuesday night, is was a decision between this movie and Iron Man 2...halfway through the movie we were like, "WHY THE HECK DIDN'T WE CHOOSE IRON MAN 2!?!?!?!?!"

as far as ben stiller's actual character, Greenberg, I would like to have learned more about his previous breakdown that happened a long time before the events of the movie. to try to describe Greenberg, he's a mixture of Michael Scott from the office, a bit of my own autism, and the autism of someone who is good with building things, is nice sometimes or wants to do one things then he wants to do something else the rest of the time, has a terrible temper and all that jazz. you are just not comfortable with the character the entire time. and i mean uncomfortable as in, at least Michael Scoot is sometimes funny and is a lovable character to quite a few of us.

now the plot...IT DOESN'T HAVE AN END WHEN YOU WANT ONE!!! i'm sure that spoiled it for those who haven't seen it and want to. But you know what? I! DON'T! GIVE! A! DARN! IT'S A BAD MOVIE AND I'M DOING YOU A FAVOR BY TELLING YOU THIS AND THAT'S FINAL!!! there's some small laughs and some not all that censored sex for those who are perverts, but that's it!!!

so there you have it, it's a bad movie, not worth your time, and my family and i are really pissed that we didn't choose Iron Man 2 and in some way decided to not watch this movie at all. You are welcome!!!

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Dead Again (1991)

My Rotten Tomatoes rating: 80%

this is actually a good mystery movie. i recommend it.

it's mostly another mystery movie about murder and love and so on but what they come up with when it comes to telling this particular story about love and murder and such, i think you would like.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008)

My Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 0%

now when i put this movie on hold on my online library account, i KNEW it was going to be a bad movie...but i had no idea that they would practically put WORK into it being bad.

for storytelling, it was only good just to introduce comedy from the battle droids that's suppose to be just for the 7 year old's, and preparing the matter of Anakin having an apprentice during some of the later days of the Clone Wars for the TV show that goes after the movie. otherwise, it's just, one character telling the other this...and there you having it...just all sloppy and robotic.

the action was just weak. just for the kids obviously. i mean the lord knows that if i was a kid when i saw this movie, there would be no end to it. i would just flap and daydream to kingdom come over jedi & clones & battle droids like the movie/video game obsessed, autistic child I was. as it is, i saw it just around a month or so before i turned 20 were not even the lightsaber dueling was cool...AND I STILL LOVE LIGHTSABER FIGHTS...OR LIGHTSABERS TO BEGIN WITH!!! seriously, i mean the action was great in movies 1-3 just because of effects. but still, you can at least enjoy the battles in 1-3 in some degree unlike in this movie...yes, even the one were Jango Fett just kept on shooting at Mace Windu just to lose his blaster and his head upsetting many fans. cause yeah, there's little taste in the action from this movie.

now comedy...i hardly want to bother. most of the comedy they try it with the battle droids. main example from two battle droid halfway through the movie were one is being the smart one and the other is just being an idiot. oh and here's were i'd love to know what the writer were thinking when they came up with this: the battle droids & their base on top of a very tall canyon right? the smart battle droid tells the dumb one to use his electric binoculars or whatever to look down at the very bottom were the clones are. it does so but leans to much that it loses it's balance and falls off the cliff. and just as it begins to hit the ground, totally destroyed it shouts out "Oh my God!!!"... no seriously. a robot from a far away galaxy were the most you can believe in is the force... says OMG...FAIL!!!! and the best the smart battle droid can say while the other one is dead is shout "Get back here Sargent!!!" even as i kid i wouldn't think that was funny. and as i kid i laughed out loud at things like Mushu saying "they just popped out of the snow like daises" in Mulan. or the little bat saying "so long everybody" in the end of Anastasia.

altogether, it's a terrible movie, you'd have to be someone who is some all around star wars fan like me to even see it...and we can give Lucas some credit for just being an executive producer fo the whole thing...so good job George. you get some points back. enjoy it before you lose it and more if you make another Indiana Jones. and that's my review of this horrible movie.

The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933)

My Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 90%

this is definitely a movie to see if you want to see about about the wives Henry VIII has after Catherine and Anne Boleyn.

anything else, i liked how Henry VIII ended the movie saying "Six wives, and the best of them is the worst." i thought that was cute as far a the character and all that.

Into The Wild (2007)

My Rotten Tomatoes rating: 70%

I enjoyed this movie for the general part. i know most of the story from when we read the book in English during my junior year in high school and it was nice.

to be honest, i'm pretty sure most of what i think is just based on how most of the experience of the movie was based on just watching things i to remember or know from the book, things that were from the book but i forgot, and things that were not in the book at all.

the acting was pretty good. Hal Holbrook did a ... nice job playing Ron Franz. i don't know much about the nominee's from the best supporting actor award at the oscar's aside from the guy from No Country for Old Men who won along with Holbrook, and granted i thought there should have been more to show for Holbrook to shine (i mean we wasn't going to win anyway but still.) but he did good.

i liked the editing when it came to how they told the experience McCandless had especially when he reached Alaska and afterwords.

all around, it was well done to at least make a nice movie about a moving, true story.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2009)

My Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 50%

surprisingly, if some things about the twilight films weren't still there in this movie, i'd almost, honestly give it a 60%. i mean when i say same things, i mean paterson and stewart and so on having no big expressions and not really putting in what twilight really is and things like that. but truly, they did manage to making it at least a little bit nice. it was better than the first two combined.

okay the beginning. it actually starts good considering the usual. if you don't want me to spoil the beginning, i'm going to tell you right now to wait until after you've seen the movie to continue reading my review. but it starts with one guy getting attacked so that he becomes a vampire, before he gets the final bite, he gets attacked left and right while the actor is actually having a scared face, like he is terrified, and with the camera and the cuts and maybe even the music too (can't remember), they are actually bringing some suspense to what is going on. i mean one thing that is wrong which the whole franchise outside of that scene is they just put what happens as it is making it truly just for the ones who read it. they don't really try to make things suspenseful or exciting or making you wonder what is going to happen for those who haven't read the books so they can find it interesting. i mean, plenty of movies based off of books have actually tried that for their movies like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and Narnia. the Twilight franchise however made it just for the amazement for the people who read the books. nothing to be amazed at or discover with the characters outside of what the readers already knew: a teenager moves to this small town feeling all 'whatever' about life with her father that she rarely sees until now, and the people she begins to know. then she falls in love with a guy that turns out to be a vampire known as Edward Cullen, then another guy the begins to befriend turns out to be a werewolf. stuff happens from there but it's all the same, bella and edward are in love and continue to be together through it all no matter what they faced. they all around continue to do a poor job at telling the story in a way that not only keeps it from being interesting for those who don't read the books, but even keeps readers that are not teenage girls or forty-year-old women being disappointed with what they get. the beginning of this movie is a small exception, but one that is there all the same, because it has some sort of story telling that cause the suspense they actually needed for the scene in a way that could make it interesting.

now acting (outside of the beginning and some points for patterson and stweart.) SUCKS!!! i have some other exceptions...in a sense when i get to the comedy section, but it still was always the same. Stewart acts with a more or less like Sofia Coppola, Patterson still acts like he's mixed with 15% trying to be Edward Cullen using method acting in a sense, and 85% actually being half asleep, and Lautner...really just has a stone face and tries communicating emotionally just by the tone of his voice. i mean if i wasn't so tired and was more interested, i'd think of a description with all the other cullens and high school friends, and werewolves. but as far as acting, it's just the same dang thing.

now here's the thing for action: THERE WAS ACTUAL ACTION!!!! YOU EVEN WATCH VAMPIRES GET KILLED MOSTLY BY GETTING THEIR HEAD SMASHED!!!! seriously. first movie, just see james and edward smashing each other into walls and even the floor like they are flying terminators, then you see some short shots afterwords of the cullens taking james apart and then that's it. second movie, you have Laurent facing werewolves for not even ten seconds and then he flees, next time we see him he's attacked by the wolves and there's a slow motion thing that just says 'you get the point, he's gone.' then you have edward fighting that volturi guy which was more like the effects from the movie Jumper. but now you have an actual battle with vampires and werewolves and you can actually see what is going on the whole time and you actually like this compared to before. all around, there is action to begin with unlike the first two and i for one am happy with that.

now for the comedy. there actually was some rather cute comedy through the movie. most of it had Charlie. unlike the first two movies, they actually got charlie to shine a little with the comedy they had for him. there wasn't much acting or even facial expressions in them but they made it all around cute with what expressions and likeness he had. the acting even without just charlie was just the same as before, but they still manage to make things cute with things like bella punching jacob and breaking her hand or even with the little sexual-ish jokes that were around during the scene were bella, jacob and edward were in that tent. even if that got the girls crazy. i mean jacob was shirtless as usual and with the sexual-ish jokes in that scene, that just made them outrageous. i mean if i don't get kinda deaf in life because i use to listen to my music pretty loud on my mp3, i'm sure girls all hot for edward or jacob that go that crazy will make be permanently deaf before i'm 26.

now i will honestly say, that in the scene where they have their graduation, i thought whoever the character that was valedictorian, actually had a good speech. not too cheesy or hollywood-like, just as sort of speech i think some of us, especially in this type of world today, need to learn from for the most part.

i will also put out how ridiculous it is how Bryce Dallas Howard was Victoria, mainly on how she has been in half minor, half major roles since after Lady in the Water and The Village. I mean she was Gwen Stacy in Spider-Man 3, which for the most part was a character that was just there and really should not have been there in the first place. then she's Kate in Terminator Salvation were while it makes sense that while Kate is pregnant, does not have much to do outside of being a surgeon, the fact remains that it's still a half minor, half major role for Howard. and we have Eclipse were there's nuthun much but start an army, acting like she's in love with her second command, and in the end, fight Edward and end up dead. all i'm saying here is that I'm no Howard fan, and i don't know much about her career and such, but i think she should try to up her game with having not much done recently.

so there you have it. comedy was nice, story telling was as bland and for just readers of the books as ever, acting was terrible, action was actual action, and through ti all, this ended up the best out of the films so far. i kinda love it as far as how they have told the story better for the most part.

and that's my review for The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Terminator 3 - Rise of the Machines (2003)

My Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 30%


okay so maybe making more movie makes a little bit of sense despite the end of T2. but how they carried it out was wrong.

they say that john was attacked the first time when the was 13 when he was actually 10. and they even add that he actually kissed a girl at one point before the events of T2. which just makes the timeline to the movie all the more messed up.

now it makes sense to make the T-X a little more unique and more powerful than the T-1000 and even being a girl works a little. but i don't get to much of it because...well i can't really explain it but they make it look like the T-X is the only T-X made like ever which is kinda lame. i mean a little helpful for the resistance in the future but still lame. Plus it's not really all that invincible if you think about it. I mean she's somewhat a mixture of the T-800 and the T-1000. and what's bad is the T-800 half which technically makes her vulnerable in how she's more of a solid object rather than totally liquid which is what makes the T-1000 so hard to kill. I mean that's the advantage they used to damage her plasma gun and then later makes the T-850 able to hold her down so he can destroy her with it's fuel cell.

the sound effects were actually really bad. i mean i heard a gun shot in the sound of the time traveling TWICE. and i could've sworn i heard a jaguar or tiger or something when the T-X's truck crashed.


the plot was a little okay in term of how they set things up for the future to happen anyway and have the new character Kate while at it. but they still had things totally mixed up all around.

And that's my review for Terminator 3 - Rise of the Machines

Monday, January 11, 2010

Sherlock Holmes (2009)

My Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 70%


now a bit after i saw the movie, i did some research to see how much of Robert Downey Jr's performance is actually Sherlock Holmes and how much is just Downey as we've known him since Iron Man.

and surprisingly, almost all of is like Sherlock Holmes.
Sherlock Holmes does carry a pistol often, he does very ridiculous experiments, he has very odd methods, he actually is a skilled martial arts guy, boxer, and sword fighter. he doesn't care much about women, he's unpredictable altogether, etc.

altogether, all my life i thought Sherlock Holmes is just how most comics and movies and tv show him as: some know-it-all British guy (which is he also is) that wears some ridiculous costume holding a pipe and doing that whole "Elementary my dear Watson" crap. i mean some of it is a tad unique as far as i know by Downey's performance and how there's a fair amount of action and such in the movie that takes the story more to our level when it comes to action. but as far goes as the character, Sherlock Holmes, the movie shows a lot more of the actual character than i thought.


other than that, i thought it was a rather nice enjoyable movie. interesting plot & villains and such. that's kinda ll i have in mind to say about it.