Watched a slew of movies Sunday.

Hugo - A
What's Your Number - B
Red Riding Hood - C
13 - B
Awakenings - A

I really enjoyed Hugo alot more than I thought I would. I'd never seen Awakenings and had passed it over many times but I decided to give it a whirl last night and I liked it as well. It started off slow but once it got going I was hooked. It was part inspirational and tragic at the same time.

The Prestige - A

4/21 - We Bought a Zoo - A-
4/21 - Money Pit - C-
4/22 - Patch Adams - B+

We Bought a Zoo - I liked it for the most part. Though, I found the character of the son annoying. I also didn't agree with the people vs. animals thing at the end.

Money Pit - Way over the top for me. I didn't find it very funny.

Patch Adams - I found a couple of things the character of Patch did offensive (the beginning with the catatonic patient and what he did in the end scene). I don't know if it was historically accurate or not (in relation to those antics). However, I do know that Robin Williams was, historically, way too old for the part. Regardless, he did a great job in the role. The movie was sad, poignant, funny, and uplifting. Much like We Bought a Zoo was.

THE DICTATOR

I made the misguided decision to watch this last night at a screening. I can say it was one of the worst movies I've had the pleasure of sitting through. I was close to leaving twice because it was so unfunny and the jokes so ridiculous but I stuck through it. Thank heavens the film was short. It started at 1930 and ended about 2045. I was happy about that. Overall, there were 2 things that I actually enjoyed about the film. There was a whole bit that took place in a helicopter with 2 american sight seers that was genuinely funny and then near the end of the film a speech from the dictator about being anti-democracy. OTT the movie was a waste of space and time. I would just youtube those two moments and call it good if possible.

Grade - F

The Big Bounce - B-
Wrecked - B-

The Stepfather B
The Collector C-

Rock 'n' Rolla - B-

P2
I don't expect anyone to have seen this movie. It was utter shit. The woman thinks acting is making moaning sounds when you are hiding from a killer. I wanted him to kill the bitch.
D

Horsemen

Dennis Quaid takes on the four horseman of the apocalypse, only thing is that they're just kids. The main killer is his son. Acted well enough, shot well, effects and blood and all that shit was good enough, the story was even good (much like a Se7en style plot) until...the last 15 minutes, when the final twist is so obvious, but not just that, it's also a crap ending. It ruins what was a nice thriller.

C+

The Amazing Spider-Man

Well I've been waiting a long time for a superhero movie that I can enjoy so much. The film wasn't limited like the Raimi trilogy was, and the attitude of Parker was brilliant to what I was used to from the comics. I loved all of the tie-ins, like how they show you that machine when Parker visits Oscorp for the first time - you just know that will be used later, but it didn't matter, it was fun and great escapism. I loved all of the jokey scenes, like when he catches the American football and breaks the metal bars, or when the glass breaks when he slams the door etc. Effects were superb, and it did one thing that the Raimi things couldn't, I actually want Parker and Stacy to get together. She is so much more likeable than Kirsten Dunst; who was just a bitch that wanted to better her career.

The lizard was excellent too. Ok, so he changed his mind pretty quick and decided to save Parker at the end, but that's comicbooks for you. I did dislike one thing, and that was the Parker never caught his uncle's killer. I understand why they didn't do this in the first one, it's so they have a hook/connection when they make a sequel, but I would have loved to see him catch that guy. All around, it was a much better film than all of Raimi's rolled into one, and that's coming from someone that quite liked Spider-Man 2.

A-

The Source Code - C+

Gamer - B

Taken 2| A-

I've just watched a movie online called Trust. This is a film that I didn't even realise was made, but it's really excellent. It stars Clive Owen, Viola Davis, Catherine Keener and a load of nobodies, but it's about a peodophile hat grooms Clive Owen's daughter. It's really well acted by all, and really well crafted by the director, David Schwimmer (Ross from Friends). I'm really glad that he directed it because I've been wanting to like his stuff since leaving Friends, and so far, as with Run Fatboy Run, it's been flat.

The movie really gives an insight into how a teenage girl can so easily be groomed and feel that she is loved and special, and then how deep the impact is when the realisation comes about exactly what did happen. It also shows how her father is preoccupied with hate for his daughter's attacker instead of comforting her and lifting her back up from her trauma.

The only thing I wanted to see was his face get smashed in, but it doesn't and that's why this movie is different from others. It shows off how good of a film-maker Schwimmer is now. The techniques used in the film are, while not unique, they are creatively used. The final shot (actually the whole final "scene") embodies just how scary the situation is, and that these sick people might be our teachers, doctors, next door neighbours, we just wouldn't know.

A-

Big Nothing

David Schwimmer, Simon Pegg and unknowns. Pretty good, but docile. I was sleepy so my eyes were all over the place towards the end, but it was good from what I saw. Enjoyable dark comedy. Not laugh out loud funny, but it never intended to be, just a nice film with good performances and odd circumstances. It needed more violence and more of a bad ass streak to it to make it any way interesting.

B-

Vulgar

What a sick film, and with a depressing ending too. None of those horrible bastards get their comeuppance (well, not in the way they should have). If it was done more tastefully, it could have been good because the dialogue and acting was great.

D-

The Lady in the Water

What's the point of this movie? Why is it so important that she gets back to her world? and why do about 20 people drop their immediate lives and come to her aid? It's just a complete mess. The kid reading the....cereal boxes. I mean, really???? Come on, M. Night, there's only so much shit I can take. I totally understand about the story-within-a-story framework and how this film is lending its knowledge on how to create and breakdown film conventions, but I just think this movie was not the best way to go about that. It didn't work for me, therefore it just ended up being a load of mumbo-jumbo about some fake bedtime story.

Much of M. Night's shots and plots are similar to Hitchcock. We have the off-screen people corresponding with on-screen people, we have a "neighbourhood" of people (ala Rear Window) that the audience gets to know well, and we have the director appearing in the movie. Thing is, none of those things worked well in this movie like they do in Hitchcock movies. I did like some of the references to which people are which based on film codes, but the rest was pure garbage. I do not understand how a beast can take the water lady, whose name is Story (LOL), into the bushes with a huge head-start over Paul Giamatti, and she is saved with only scratches on her legs. She should have been killed. Then there's a huge eagle and three monkey people....Wtf?!!? It's ludicrous.

Christ, some studios will greenlight just about anything so long as it has a successful director or commercial name attached to it. M.Night was really allowed to let his mind run wild with this one. I feel asleep half way through - had to watch the rest after I woke up. If I'm missing something, then please someone tell me why this is so great, because otherwise my grade is...

F

Beyond a Reasonable Doubt - B-

The Son of No One - D+

Exam B+

King of California B

Lies & Illusions


Terrible acting, terrible story, terrible film-making, terrible shots, terrible amatuerish fighting. It's intentions are good, but everything in this is terrible. Worse than the average DTV movie.

D-

From Beijing With Love (国产凌凌漆)

Brilliant movie. A tongue-in-cheek version of James Bond, but this is better than most James Bond movies. It has the title sequence which ends with a funny encounter. There are jokes all the way through it but it's still quite violent. It has the Martini line, the villain is a guy with a "golden gun", there's a type of Q character, or at least the workshop where Q displays his inventions. It's got all the nods.

It's got the pace of a true Hong Kong movie, and it leaves feeling more satisfied than after watching Quantum of Solace or Die Another Day. I love these types of movie, like Black Mask (although not as brilliant), the style of movie and music used are quite similar, but this is still a true one-of-a-kind. His weapon of choice? knives. He's amazing with them. Great movie.

B+

The King of Fighters

One of the worst movies I have ever seen.

F

Cold War

Good movie. I felt the seriousnesss of the film wasn't all that well translated and believeable. At times I felt that the seriousness of Aaron Kwok's face (in every scene of the film) was just too much. Even when he was at home with his wife and daughter, why the need for the deep stare? It was odd. Although I really like Kwok as a star, he's not much of an actor. Although he did cry which was fine. In the hospital when that woman came in screaming "Vincent, Vincent" and crying, I assume it was his wife, but that was really bad acting.

Other than that the movie was good, and it kept the edge-of-your-seat suspense just about, but the film was a lot of talking and did need more action to warrant a better grade than a "B". I feel that they were trying to make a mature movie for adults about police corrruption, and they did that, but it just wasn't as high-end of a film as is being made in the US.

Also, the subtitles were up way to short and then gone. Not the film's problem, though.

B

The Expatriate

This film, while not terrible or even bad like it's box office might suggest, does suffer from living in the shadow of The Bourne Identity. While Aaron Eckhart does a satisfactory job at being an aged Jason Bourne, the story is just not very interesting. The whole plot regarding security systems and Halgate company needed to be streamlined and more emphasis put into capturing Eckhart. As it was the movie gets complicated when it really doesn't need to. It also rides on the wave of convenience more than once, which makes it sloppy compared to the precise detail of the Bourne series.

Olga Kurylenko plays a small role as some C.I.A. operative and, whilst beautiful, doesn't really offer much. But it is nice to see her having more of a career than most Bond girls. The best performance comes from Trust's Liana Liberato, who, for a fairly inexperienced actress, shines. If you haven't seen Trust, I suggest you do - great, powerful film by Friends' Ross; David Schwimmer.

Good explosion at the end, and a neat little hand-to-hand combat scene in the subway station with Eckhart and two guards, but other than that, the action is thin. It has all of the intense music and intense glares from Eckhart (who I still am not convinced is a good actor), but no plot for an audience to care about, so it just falls flat. That said, it not surprisingly offers more than many big budget Hollywood pictures this year; The Hunger Games, for example.

C+