Tag Archives: movies

01.11.15
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Selma

ratings4

Selma is the story of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s attempts at implementing the Voting Rights Act for the black population in Alabama in 1965. The film focuses on a significant chapter in King’s life, the march of thousands of people from Selma to Montgomery, capital of Alabama.

Selma is one of the better Civil Rights films of recent years. The movie is more talking than intensity, and the first hour is very slow, but the second hour really pulled me in. The movie is very well done. David Oyelowo delivers a great performance, he looked and sounded exactly like the actual Martin Luther King. He delivered every line very accurately and with great emotion. He was very convincing as a true charismatic leader. Carmen Ejogo was great as Coretta Scott King, Dr. King’s wife. All the characters were very well developed, and the actors were well casted. I could feel that director Ava DuVernay made a special effort to remain true to the actual chain of events in order to convey the spirit of King’s struggles and the atmosphere of hatred towards the black population in Alabama. The violent scenes of the beatings and brutality of innocent black people that were peacefully marching were especially horrifying, and I felt like I was watching the actual event, because of the way they reenacted the scene. The film is very convincing about the characters and the period of time in which the film takes place. In the end, the audience and myself were applauding, because the film was successfully able to convey the meaningfulness of King’s efforts and the horrors of that time period. I am glad I live today and not back then, because of the racism and people that made society dangerous.

Overall, Selma is a great film. It’s very slow, but still well made, acted, and directed. David Oyelowo delivers a solid performance as Dr. MLK, and the film does not fail at delivering it’s message to the audience. This film proves to be a true Oscar contender. Highly recommended, but only for ages 14 and up, because of brutal, violent scenes and some racial slurs.

Selma poster.jpg

01.07.15
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The Imitation Game

ratings5

During World War II, mathematician Alan Turing tries to crack the enigma code with help from fellow mathematicians.

2014 has come to an end, and this movie is one of its best films. Every moment of the film kept me interested and pulled in to the story and the characters. The screenplay and dialogue are so great, at times it was funny, moving, and emotional. It was not slow at all, I actually thought it could have been a little longer, because the first hour went by way too quickly. The cast and acting in this movie are incredible, especially Benedict Cumberbatch, the star of the movie. I have seen him in many movies before, but this is his best performance yet. I didn’t feel like I was looking at an actor, I felt like I was looking at a real person. I felt close to the character at times, and cared for him. He definitely deserves a nomination. Keira Knightley was great too, but didn’t steal the show like Cumberbatch. She was very good, but nothing so special. The rest of the cast are also very good.

This movie really blew me away and interested me a lot. I now want to know a lot more about Alan Turing and this story. Overall, I loved this film and would highly recommend it. One of the best films this year, and one of the year’s best performances, from Benedict Cumberbatch. A definite Oscar contender, and a must-see.

The Imitation Game (2014) Poster

12.20.14
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The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

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In the final installment of the Middle-Earth saga, Bilbo and Company are forced to engage in a war against an army of orcs and keep the terrifying Smaug from acquiring a kingdom of treasure and obliterating all of Middle-Earth.

I really enjoyed this movie. It was a bit short of what I expected, but I still thought it was great. It’s definitely not the best of the series, but not the worst, either. The acting in the movie is very good, like the other 2 movies. None of the important characters were underused, they all got a fair amount of screen time. The visual effects are absolutely amazing and very well done, and I would highly recommend the 3D. The action is suspenseful and intriguing, and kept me on the edge of my seat. The action scenes never dragged, and they were very well-directed and entertaining.

Despite being entertaining and well-made, the movie did have a few flaws. First. the first hour of the movie felt like an aftermath of Part 2. It was just wrapping up from where the second movie left off, and then eventually developing a new conflict. Second, the ending was not dramatic or a great farewell to Middle-Earth like I expected it to be. It was not such a great conclusion, and could have been better. The battle did wrap up things well, but the last 5 minutes is what could have been improved.

Overall, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies is a great finale to the series. It’s not as good as the Desolation of Smaug, but still great, I would recommend it especially for ages 11-16.

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12.13.14
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Exodus: Gods and Kings

ratings1

The defiant leader Moses rises up against the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses, setting 600,000 slaves on a monumental journey of escape from Egypt and its terrifying cycle of deadly plagues.

Exodus: Gods and Kings was a huge disappointment. The marketing made it look awesome, but it turned out to be terrible. Ridley Scott didn’t even try. He used to make amazing movies, and he tricked us into thinking this one would be great too! He didn’t do a good job at all, neither did Christian Bale. If they’re in Egypt, why is everyone speaking with an English accent? Joel Edgerton and the rest of the cast were bad, too, except I thought Aaron Paul did a decent job. He wasn’t bad, but he wasn’t great, either. The plot was very bad. Nothing related to the original source, and they didn’t make a good story with the changes. When there is supposed to be drama, there isn’t. There is absolutely nothing going on for the first 40 minutes, and for the 50 minutes after that, there is some plot, but no interesting plot. The action was not intriguing at all. It feels more like the goofy action from this summer’s Hercules, rather than well-directed action like the one in Gladiator. The movie is 2 and a half hours long, but it did not feel long at all. But during the time I was in the theater, I was just bored out of my mind, and really wanted to walk out, but I was hoping it would get better by the end. Nothing moving or emotional has happened by the end, and it’s just a movie that you watch and move on with. I thought the movie would be more than fun, but it wasn’t. It wasn’t even fun at all. It was just boring, and turned out to be the biggest disappointment of the year. I really thought it would be better, but in the end, there was absolutely nothing that was good about the movie, not even the visuals, which I hoped would be great, but they were really nothing special.

Overall, Exodus: Gods and Kings is a terrible disappointment. The director, producers, and cast should have tried much harder. The trailers made it looks awesome, but instead it was awful. I really wanted more from an adaptation like this. But in the end, this movie was just a waste of time, potential, and money.

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12.12.14
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Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

ratings5

Riggan Thompson, a washed-up actor who once played an iconic superhero, must overcome his ego and family trouble as he mounts a Broadway play in a bid to reclaim his past glory.

Birdman is definitely one of the best movies of the year, or maybe even THE best. The plot is great and very interesting, The cast are all fantastic, especially Michael Keaton and Emma Stone. Zach Galifianakis was really good, too. The cinematography is great, and I love how the entire movie is, like, one take. There is only one camera on the set that moves with the actors from scene to scene. It’s unique, and unlike any other movie. It was a great experience. The directing is fantastic as well, and this is probably Alejandro G. Inarritu’s breakthrough film. I’m glad he got nominated. Keaton and Stone deserved their nominations as well. This movie deserved it’s other nominations, too. I think it has a great change of winning Best Picture, or Director.

Birdman is definitely one of the greatest, most creative films about film making and the media. I loved the way Michael Keaton showed me the distress and suffering he was going through with himself, and Emma Stone did great as his just-out-of-rehab daughter, who doesn’t like him for not being around when she was younger. The directing and cinematography are also fantastic. I would highly recommend this movie, it’s definitely a must-see! I think the age limit would be 14 or 15 because of some inappropriate content.

Birdman poster.jpg

11.20.14
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Whiplash

ratings5

Andrew Neiman (Miles Teller) is a talented drummer — talented enough to make it into Manhattan’s prestigious music conservatory, Schaffer Academy. There’s no bigger badge of approval at Schaffer than to be invited to join its elite jazz band, which is run by the tough and mysterious Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons). Fletcher has groomed some of jazz’s best players, but pleasing him is a minefield. Fletcher’s methods include — among other, more traditional methods like pedagogy and charismatic history-sharing — complete and utter humiliation. Andrew is thrilled to make the initial cut, but surviving Fletcher’s class may break him, and his love for music, for good.

I was very impressed by this movie. The cast, the directing, the script, and the style of the movie are all great. Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons both did an amazing job, and I think they both have a chance of getting an Oscar nomination. I thought the story and dialogue were great, too. The directing is excellent, and I think this is a huge breakthrough for Damien Chazelle, the director of the movie. This is a type of movie that really made me think. The ending of the movie really made me go, “Wow!”. The movie delivers the message that you have to try as hard as you can in order to succeed. The style was great, and I liked how it felt like a very musical film. The cinematography was also great. This isn’t my favorite movie of the year, but possibly on my top 5 or top 10. It’s a great film and I would definitely recommend it, but only for ages 14 and up, because there is some very strong language.

Whiplash poster.jpg

11.09.14
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Interstellar

ratings5

A group of explorers make use of a newly discovered wormhole to surpass the limitations on human space travel and conquer the vast distances involved in an interstellar voyage.

So I finally saw Interstellar yesterday after all this anticipation. Did it disappoint? Absolutely not! This is an excellent film! There is so much suspense, the acting is fantastic, the visuals are gorgeous, and so is the soundtrack. This is Hans Zimmer’s best score ever. The whole cast was excellent, and they all deliver such stellar performances. But Matthew McConaughey blew me away with his emotion and I really felt for him. There were parts that made me really emotional too. Jessica Chastain and Michael Caine were also great. But the real star is director Christopher Nolan. He amazed us with movies like Inception, The Dark Knight Trilogy, and The Prestige. And now this, I just couldn’t believe what I was seeing. He directed it so well, and the film is just so great. Chris Nolan always has great and unique ideas, and that is why he is my favorite director, and he blew my away with this. This movie is 2 hours and 49 minutes, but it felt like much less. It was pretty fast, but not rushed. I was not bored for a second. To be honest, I think it could have even been longer, but it didn’t have to be. The scenes in space are the most amazing things I’ve ever seen, and yes, it’s much better than Gravity.

I will say the ending did disappoint, though. I thought it would be one of Nolan’s genius endings like Inception, but it wasn’t. It didn’t make sense at first, but when you think about it, it kind of does, but I just wish it was less confusing and a bit more realistic.

Nonetheless, this movie is terrific. From the visuals to the acting to the soundtrack to the story, it’s a flawless space drama movie, except I didn’t love the ending. But I will say it is the best movie of the year and one of Christopher Nolan’s best films. I would definitely recommend this movie for anyone.

A ringed spacecraft revolves around a reflective sphere.

06.30.14
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Transformers: Age of Extinction

My rating: ratings2

In Michael Bay’s new Transformers film, Mark Wahlberg plays Cade Yeager, a struggling mechanic and single father who, along with his best friend Lucas (T.J. Miller), finds a truck which they later find out isn’t a truck at all: It’s Optimus Prime. Cade, his daughter Tessa (Nicola Peltz), and her boyfriend Shane (Jack Reynor) find themselves caught in a war between the remaining Autobots and a new army of Decepticons, led by Galvatron, who Optimus soon discovers has a dark secret. The Autobots soon find out that the Decepticons aren’t the only threat to their kind: An organization called the Cemetry Wind, led by a paranoid CIA agent (Kelsey Grammer), are hunting down the Autobots with the help of Joshua Joyce (Stanley Tucci), a scientist who is building his own Decepticons to destroy the Autobots.

At first I decided not to see this movie because I did not like the first three movies, as they were all huge disappointments, but later I decided to give it a try, anyway. But now I realize that the next Transformers movies will not improve on their predecessors at all, becuase that is what has been happening for the last three sequels (except the third movie was better than the second one, because the second one is the worst). Age of Extinction is just like all the others: Dumb characters you can’t ever give a crap about, a needless huge length (this one is almost three hours long), and jokes that only make you laugh because they’re so stupid. The acting in this movie is terrible, especially T.J. Miller, who was really annoying becuase he kept cracking dumb jokes. Mark Wahlberg, who is my favorite actor of all time, was the only person who did a good job acting  in the movie (Stanley Tucci was fine too, but not as good as Wahlberg was). All the other main actors did pretty bad (Kelsey Grammer was the worst actor in this movie other than T.J. Miller). I expected the Dinobots to be a big part of the movie, but they’re only in the last 20 minutes! The action scenes in this movie are great, but they’re really the only thing that makes this movie good! Do not expect this movie to be any better than the other Transfomers movies (but don’t expect it to be as bad as Revenge of the Fallen, of course). I think this movie is appropriate for kids 12 and up, because there as a lot of explosions and some language.

Transformers Age of Extinction Poster.jpeg

06.17.14
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How to Train Your Dragon 2

My rating: ratings4

How to Train Your Dragon 2 takes place five years after the events of How to Train Your Dragon: The citizens of the island of Berk now domesticate dragons instead of hunting them; Hiccup and his friends are now adults rather than teens (he’s 20); and he and Astrid are engaged. One day, while exploring new territories, Hiccup and his dragon bestie, Toothless, and Astrid and her dragon, Stormfly, discover both a fort covered in ice and, later, a dragon hunter named Eret, who accuses them of being the “dragon rider” who’s letting his dragon captives go. Hiccup and Astrid get away but soon discover that Eret’s maniacal boss, Drago, plans to declare war on Berk and steal all of the island’s dragons. Meanwhile, Hiccup makes an even bigger discovery: The “dragon rider” is actually none other than his presumed-dead mother, Valka, now a recluse who lives with dragons who are all commanded by a protective alpha. Against all odds, Hiccup and his crew must stand against Drago’s army and hope their dragons can resist the pull of the bloodthirsty alpha dragon under the warmonger’s control.

Sometimes it’s hard to enjoy sequels more than the original, especially if it’s an animated movies, since most animated sequels were pointless and dumb. But How to Train Your Dragon 2 is very enjoyable and makes us think more about the rest of the trilogy (most animated sequels have been crappy enough that the filmmakers decide not to continue the series). Unlike other animated movies, this one doesn’t have any humor, but that’s not what you need to look for in in this movie. The movie is filled with heart, has a great soundtrack and visuals. Dragons 2 feels like the Dark Knight of animated trilogies. It seems likely that Dragons will soon become an unforgettable movie trilogy, just like may others (X-Men, Hobbit, etc.).

Unlike animated rip-offs that have been only targeted for little kids (such as Rio 2 or Epic), Dragons 2 also includes themes that adults can relate to, like a mother-and-son relationship subplot. The fact that adults can enjoy this movie and not just kids makes this movie so much better to watch. From this movie, I can conclude one thing: DreamWorks will never stop making great movies.

How to Train Your Dragon 2 poster.jpg

06.16.14
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Blended

My rating: ratings3

After a disastrous blind date, single parents Jim (Adam Sandler) and Lauren (Drew Barrymore) agree on only one thing: they never want to see each other again. But when they each sign up separately for a fabulous family vacation with their kids, they are all stuck sharing a suite at a luxurious African safari resort for a week, where their attraction grows as their respective kids benefit from the burgeoning relationship.

You might agree with my that most of Adam Sandler’s recent comedies are just plain dumb. Most of them had terrible jokes and failed to make me laugh while also having some heart. Blended is more like last year’s comedy The Internship (which did not involve Adam Sandler at all, for your information), which had a lot of heart and comedy at the same time, and felt like a fun feel-good comedy, than Adam Sandler’s last project, Grown Ups 2. Grown Ups 2 had too much slapstick comedy and eventually started to get dumb. Blended is funny, has a good plot, and isn’t much like any of those dumb recent Sandler movies. Some parts of the movie did remind me of a comedy I saw a very long time ago called Parental Guidance. Here’s why: First of all, one character named Espn (Jim named her after his favorite channel) has an imaginary friend, who is her deceased mother. That reminded me of a character from Parental Guidance named Barker, who had an imaginary kangaroo friend named Carl. Blended also had some weird family traditions like Parental Guidance. 

In conclusion, Blended is a feel-good comedy that is fun to watch and it cracked me up. I would recommend this movie for any comedy fans.

Blended (2014) Poster.jpg