Author Archives: filmtoppings

06.27.13
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White House Down

My rating: ratings3

John Cale (Channing Tatum), a Capitol police officer, is a rejected appliant to the Secret Service. While going on a tour of the White House with his daughter (Joey King), the White House is attacked by terrorists, led by Emil Stenz (Jason Clarke). John manages to rescue the president (Jamie Foxx), but they are still stuck in the White House. With the help of the president, John must now rescue his daughter (who is one of the hostages in the White House) from the mercenaries. This movie also stars Maggie Gyllenhaal, Richard Jenkins, James Woods, and Rachelle Lefevre.

I think this movie was great. It had a great cast, great action and great humor. But I would recommend this movie for older kids, probably 13 and over. Roland Emmerich is a great director, but he doesn’t deliver anything too special in this movie. One of the film’s flaws is the casting, which is pretty crappy, especially Joey King, who plays Cale’s daughter. But this movie does make you in suspense and wanting to watch until the end.

Also, here is the film’s site and trailer.

White House Down Theatrical Poster.jpg

06.24.13
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Monsters University

My rating: ratings2

Did you ever wonder how James P.  Sullivan (voiced by John Goodman) and Mike Wazowski (voiced by Billy Crystal) became such great scarers? The answer is that they learned all their scaring techniques from Monsters University, their college school. Mike and Sulley were both scaring majors who were kicked out of the Scaring Program. They then join the Oozma Kappa fraernity and compete against other fraternities, including Roar Omega Roar, Jaws Theta Chi and Python Nu Kappa, to win the Scare Games so they could get back in the Scaring Program.

This film has great animation, great cast, humor and is full of heart. Even though this movie is rated G, I think it is too mature for kids younger than age 10, because there are many things that they wouldn’t understand. So I highly recommend that you only take your child to this movie if they are 10 years old or over.

This movie wasn’t the best animated movie ever, and probably not the best animated movie of the year, either, and I think Monsters Inc. was better because it was funnier and didn’t have a disapointing ending like MU did.

The movie was accompanied by an animated short film called The Blue Umbrella, which I thought was really dumb, with every thing in the town having a face, including umbrellas, buildings, mailboxes, and water spouts. It’s like and umbrella version of Paperman, another Pixar short film that accompanied Wreck-It Ralph.

Also, here is Monsters University’s site and trailer.

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06.17.13
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Man of Steel

My rating: ratings4

Clark Kent (biologically known as Kal-El, son of Jor-El (Russell Crowe) and played by Henry Cavill) is a Kryptonian who was sent to Earth by his parents before Krypton was destroyed and his parents were killed. He was adopted by Jonathan and Martha Kent (Kevin Costner and Diane Lane)  many years later, Clark is now an adult and is hiding his powers while working at different jobs. But when Krypton’s military General, General Zod (Michael Shannon), send a threatening message to all humans, demanding that Kal-El surrender to him, or humanity will suffer the consequences, Kal-El now must become the hero Superman and save Earth from General Zod. The film’s cast also includes Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Lawrence Fishburne as Perry White, and Antje Traue as Faora, Zod’s second-in-command.

This film has good cinematography, visual effects, cast and action.  This movie may be a little long (it’s almost 2 and a half hours long), but it’s still worth watching until the end of the movie.  It is badly written, though, and it drags on for too long, but it’s still very entertaining.

Here is the film’s site and trailer.

The photo below features my friends (who saw the movie with me) and I in front of the Man of Steel poster.

Man of Steel pic 2

06.12.13
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The Internship

My rating: ratings3

Have you ever wondered how it would be like to have an internship where you can ride your bikes on campus and get delicious daily lunch for free? In The Internship, Billy (Vince Vaughn) and Nick (Owen Wilson) land an internship at Google, where you can do all of that and more. Earlier in the movie, they both lose their jobs when their watch-making company goes out of business  (in modern days, people check their phones to find out the time). At Google, they must complete a series of challenges in order to receive a full-time job.

I saw this hilarious film over the weekend and I laughed a lot. But I think this movie would be funnier and more suitable for older people than me (ages 13 and over) because I think it was too mature for my age. Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson are hilarious, though. I would recommend this movie for teenagers and adults who have a sense of humor.

Also, here is the film’s site and trailer.

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06.09.13
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Star Trek Into Darkness

My rating: ratings4

After the crew of the Enterprise find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization, Captain James T. Kirk (played by Chris Pine) leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon, John Harrison /Khan (played by Benedict Cumberbatch) of mass destruction.The film’s cast also includes Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Alice Eve, Bruce Greenwood and Peter Weller. This movie is rated PG-13.

This film has great visual effects and cast. This film also has a lot of humor. I really enjoyed this movie and gave it 4 pizza slices. In some ways, it is better than the first Star Trek movie and in some ways, it is as good as the first one. For example, I liked the visual effects in the second movie better than in the first movie. The 3-D visuals of this movie are also great. I would recommend this movie for kids my age and over, but it may be too intense for kids younger than that. I think that adults will also enjoy this amazing movie. Also, if you are a big fan of Star Trek, you might want to watch this movie, too.

Also, here is the film’s site and trailer.

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05.30.13
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Epic

My rating: ratings3

Mary Katherine (voiced by Amanda Seyfried), also known as M.K., is a 17-year-old girl who lives with her father, Professor Bomba (voiced by Jason Sudekis), and her 3-legged dog Ozzy in a cabin in the woods. Her father believes in a species of tiny people living in the forest. He does not know it but he is right. The Leafmen are tiny brave warriors who fight to protect their forest from Boggans, who want to destroy it. One day there is a ceremony in which the queen (voiced by Beyonce) choses a pod to become the next heir. But when she choses, the Boggans attack and kill the queen. Before she dies, she gives the pod to M.K, who is in the forest looking for her father. M.K is then shrunk and now must make sure the pod blooms in the light of the full moon and not in the darkness.

This film, which is rated PG and is directed by Chris Wedge, has great visual effects, humor, cast and animation. This is my favorite animated movie of all time so far. I saw this movie with my whole family (my parents and 2 younger brothers) and we all really enjoyed it. That is why I would recommend this great movie for the entire family! The cast of this movie includes Amanda Seyfried, Josh Hutcherson, Colin Farrell, Christoph Waltz, Steven Tyler, Jason Sudeikis, Blake Anderson, Pitbull and Beyonce.

Also, here is the film’s site.

EPIC-Poster

05.25.13
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Iron Man 3

My rating: ratings3

Set after the events of The Avengers, Tony Stark(played by Robert Downey, Jr.)’s home is destroyed by Aldrich Killian (played by Guy Pearce), a scientist who in 1999 asked Stark to join his company but Stark rejected the offer and humiliated Killian. Killian is also the creator of a virus called Extremis, which can cure disabilities such as his own. Now Tony must rely on himself and his gadgets to defeat Killian. This film is rated PG-13 and also stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Rebecca Hall, and Ben Kingsley.

I liked this movie, but not as much as The Avengers. Once again, Robert Downey, Jr. is hilarious! But it and extremely major flaw that everybody is complaining about: the fact that I didn’t like about the movie was that in these TV commercials Killian hires a British actor (played by Ben Kingsley) to play the Mandarin (who is actually him). That is not how it goes in the Marvel Iron Man comics. But overall, the movie is awesome! But I don’t think it was as good as the other Iron Man movies I would recommend this movie for anyone who loves Marvel movies and has watched most of the other six Avengers movies (Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, and the Avengers).

Also, here is the link to the film’s site:

http://marvel.com/ironman3

05.02.13
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42

 My rating: ratings4

This movie, which is rated PG-13, tells the story of Jackie Robinson, the first African American to play in the MLB (Major League Baseball). Earlier he had played in the minor leagues. He soon inspired many other African Americans, not just in sports. A writer named Wendell Smith soon became the first African American sports writer, following Jackie Robinson’s footsteps.

I really admired Jackie Robinson’s strong will and determination, despite people’s acts against him. He never gave up. But I did not like the fact that even though thousands of African Americans fought in World War II, they were still treated unfairly after the war. I really liked Chadwick Boseman as Jackie Robinson and Harrison Ford as Branch Rickey, an MLB executive who gave Jackie Robinson the chance to play in the MLB. Robinson played for the Montreal Royals in 1946 and in 1947 he played for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Jackie Robinson’s wife, Rachel Robinson, is still alive today and started the Jackie Robinson Foundation after his death. Here is its website.

Also, here is the movie’s website.

The only thing I didn’t like about this movie is that it is really slow, and it can start to get boring after 45 minutes or an hour. I would recommend this movie for kids 12 and up, because there is a lot of language and stuff kids younger than 12 wouldn’t understand.

42 film poster.jpg

04.17.13
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G.I. Joe: Retaliation

My rating: ratings2

After the G.I. Joes, which inlclude Roadblock (Dwayne Johnson), Duke (Channing Tatum), Lady Jaye (Adrianne Palicki) and Flint (D.J. Cotrona), steal a nuclear weapon, the entire team, including Duke, is wiped out in an attack sent by the President of the United States, who is actually a cobra agent named Zartan (Arnold Vosloo) who has captured the real president (Jonathan Pryce). The only 3 survivors of the attack are Roadblock, Jaye and Flint. The remaining Joes then team up with General Joseph Colton (Bruce Willis), Snake Eyes (Ray Park) Jinx (Elodie Yung), and former Cobra agent Storm Shadow (Byung-hun Lee) to stop Project Zeus, which are 7 satellite-like nuclear weapons programmed by Zartan to destroy countries with missile rods.

A saw this movie last week with my friend and his parents. We all liked this movie, especially the cast and the action. But it was also very disappointing. First of all, Duke, who is the main character in G.I Joe: The Rise of Cobra, dies. Second of all, hardly any of the characters are also in The Rise of Cobra, and the movie itself was kind of dumb. The Rise of Cobra was way better. I would recommend this movie for kids 10 years old and older. This movie is now playing (it is also in 3D).

Also, here is the movie’s website.

04.11.13
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Paper Clips

My rating: ratings5

This award-winning 2004 G-rated documentary, which I saw on Netflix this week, tells about middle school students in a school in Whitwell, Tennessee, wanting to understand the enormity of the Jews who died in the Holocaust, create a monument for the Holocaust victims by deciding to collect 6 million paper clips. Paper clips were collected by the students and donated to the school as well by Holocaust survivor descendants and Holocaust survivors themselves. At the last count there were over 30 million paper clips received. The school soon put all the paper clips in a railcar.

I think the Paper Clips Project was a very big accomplishment, and I am very proud of the school, the students, and everyone who supported the project. This movie also taught me more about the Holocaust.  I think people of all ages will enjoy this wonderful movie.