Movie Reviews: Nine Random Samplings of the Summer

by Jack Garcia

So, I haven't written a review since June 14th.  Luckily Brian reviewed some of the bigger summer movies like The Amazing Spiderman, The Dark Knight Rises and Brave on July 22nd.  But I've been really lazy.  And there were so many movies that I wanted to see and never got around to seeing.  Like Magic Mike.  What kind of a gay man am I if I missed Magic Mike?  Oh well.  There's always Red Box and the privacy of my own home.

And remember, I'm not Brian.  He uses the star system like a legit movie critic.  I'm just a nobody so I rate on an awful, average, admirable and awesome scale.  I also like alliteration.

Rock of Ages AVERAGE

Julianne Hough stars in the screen adaptation of the hit Broadway musical of the same name.  The story is nothing to shout about.  A small town girl takes a bus to Los Angeles because she wants to be a big star, but winds up instead as a waitress in a cool bar where she finds love.  Remind anyone of Christina Aguilera's Burlesque?  Luckily the movie is funny enough to get you through it and most of the 80s rock covers are pretty entertaining (although I'm not the biggest fan of Hough's thin voice).  Also Tom Cruise shows up as the legendary rocker Stacee Jaxx and ultimately steals the show.  Who knew he could sing?

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World ADMIRABLE

I really liked this movie!  There were just a few parts that I didn't think fit in with the whole, or else I would have rated this one "awesome."  Steve Carell plays Dodge, a man whose wife runs out on him when it's announced that the end of the world is near.  He soon meets Penny (Keira Knightley), a much younger woman, and the two embark on a strange apocalyptic journey to say goodbye to their families.  The film is a lighthearted look at humanity and even on the brink of extinction there are a lot of laughs.  But the film also manages to connect on deeper levels and the ending had me in tears.  Kudos to Lorene Scafaria who both wrote and directed.

Ted ADMIRABLE

From Seth MacFarlane, the creator of Family Guy, comes a movie about a little boy and his magical, talking teddy bear, Ted (Seth MacFarlane himself). Except for now they've both grown up and the novelty has kind of worn off.  John (Mark Wahlberg) is the grown-up man-boy and his girlfriend, Lori (Mila Kunis), wants the relationship to get more serious but Ted just keeps getting in the way.  The jokes are all funny with a comedic style perfectly in league with Family Guy, and while I was completely in stitches over the crude, off-color gags, I also found myself attached to the furry CGI character enough to be genuinely sad at the prospect of his demise.  I kinda wanna wish for a talking teddy bear now... oh, and a visit from Flash Gordon.

Savages AVERAGE

Directed by Oliver Stone, the movie stars Blake Lively as O, a woman in love with two men who are deeply involved in the drug trade of California.  Yes, I said drugs.  Lots of marijuana smoking.  And yes, I said she's in love with two men:  Chon (Taylor Kitsch), the strong ex-soldier and Ben (Aaron Johnson), the sensitive hippie-type.  And let me tell you, the scenes with the three of them are smoking hot!  The rest of the film involves another drug cartel from Mexico--led by the villainous Elena (Salma Hayek)--trying to move in on them.  Things get crazy and violent, but mostly the film is a lot of style and a little substance.  Oh, and there's a horrible fake-out at the end.  Trust me.  You'll be annoyed.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days AWFUL

The popular books are back on the big screen, and the result gets worse each time.  Wimpy Greg Heffley (Zachary Gordon) wants to play video games all summer but his dad (Steve Zahn) wants him to get outdoors and his mom (Rachael Harris) wants him to read classic novels.  So what does he do?  He hangs out with his tubby pal Rowley (Robert Capron) at the country club where of course embarrassing and outrageous scenarios play out.  These things are meant to be funny, but mostly they just gave me a headache.  The story meanders all over the place without any sense of purpose and the dog mentioned in the movie title is hardly significant at all.

Hope Springs ADMIRABLE

Meryl Streep plays Kay, an older woman, who feels like her husband, Arnold (Tommy Lee Jones), is growing distant.  He no longer sleeps in the same bedroom and she's longing for intimacy.  She convinces him to go with her to a week-long couple's retreat in Maine to undergo therapy with Dr. Feld (Steve Carell).  The performances by the three main characters are very controlled and nuanced and the film has a very intimate feel as we watch them struggle in their counseling sessions.  Sometimes it feels almost too personal.  Like we're intruding.  Still, there are moments of humor and something very beautiful about watching them learn to love again.  My only real complaint is that the soundtrack was cluttered with out-of-place girly pop music, as if this were a feminine hygiene commercial.

ParaNorman AWESOME!

Norman (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is a boy who talks to ghosts.  Or rather, they talk to him whether he likes it or not and the kids in school make fun of him for it.  His parents don't get him either.  But when a witch unleashes a terrible curse--bringing zombies up out of the ground--it's up to Norman to save the day along with his sister (Anna Kendrick), his new friend (Tucker Albrizzi), the school bully (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) and a high school jock (Casey Affleck).  The story deals at its core with issues of bullying and acceptance... and it's not just Norman who's misunderstood.  There is some very gutsy storytelling, fantastic stop-animation, plenty of horror movie references and the end had me in tears.  I loved it!

Lawless ADMIRABLE

The Bondurant Brothers--Jack (Shia LaBeouf), Forrest (Tom Hardy) and Howard (Jason Clarke)--are bootleggers believed to be immortal in their small town in prohibition-era Virginia.  But everything changes when a new deputy (Guy Pearce) moves into town and tries to take control.  Jessica Chastain plays Maggie, a quiet city girl who finds solace in the equally stoic Forrest and Mia Wasikowska plays Bertha, the daughter of a preacher who young Jack falls in love with.  LaBeouf does a fantastic job with his role, imbuing Jack with both an innocence and ambition which causes him to want more than he can handle.  The film is very violent, which I don't necessarily mind, but it becomes almost nonstop and loses some of its ability to be truly affecting.  Still, a good movie with solid performances.

The Possession AVERAGE

Sure, this ain't The Exorcist, but I quite enjoyed watching this movie.  Newly divorced Clyde (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Stephanie (Kyra Sedgwick) are trying to make the transition easy on their two daughters, Hannah (Madison Davenport) and Em (Natasha Calis).  But when Em buys a mysterious box from a yard sale, she unknowingly releases a demon who begins to possess her body.  The look of the film is very sleek, with good camerawork, effects, and interesting abrupt cuts, however, some of the performances aren't quite up to snuff and most of the film follows the horror formula to a tee.  Overall though I thought the tension built to a pretty satisfying climax with fun scares and even some humor along the way.  Come to think of it, I've never seen a Jewish exorcism before...

Movie Reviews: Snow White and Prometheus Get a Hotel Room

by Jack Garcia

Our friend Brett got to be third wheel for Snow White and Best Exotic.  The first one we saw at the Megaplex in Salt Lake City and the second one we saw at the Cinemark in Provo.  For Prometheus, we actually went on a double date with another couple.  We'd probably see more movies, but goodness they are expensive!  I used to get free movies a lot so I didn't really notice... but man, oh man.  Pricey.  These movies were worth the money though.  For the most part.

Snow White and the Huntsman AVERAGE

Kristen Stewart and Chris Hemsworth star as the titular characters, and you might get the impression that they are the main characters.  You know, like important and stuff.  But really, they remain a mystery throughout the entire film.  Who are they?  What makes them tick?  And how come we don't get any real interaction from them?  By the end we are supposed to believe that the huntsman sent to kill Snow White is now in love with her, yet they barely interact at all.  Instead, the movie focuses on the evil queen played by Charlize Theron.  I hate to say it, but her performance was hit or miss for me.  At times she was perfectly sinister, yet sometimes she just started squawking at everyone like a spazz.  Not so pretty.

However, despite the lack of any character development, I was impressed with the visual aspect of the film.  There were beautiful costumes and some very imaginative fantasy elements including a mythical deer and some enchanting fairies.  The storyline was interesting enough and while I was watching it I was decently entertained.  Snow White has been locked in a tower her whole life and when she escapes, the evil queen hires a man to kill her.  He changes tunes however and with the aid of some dwarfs, helps Snow White to regain control of her kingdom.  It's all very epic and whatnot, I just felt that a movie titled Snow White and the Huntsman should have focused more on those two and perhaps given us a touch of romantic spark.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel ADMIRABLE

This is one of those movies that isn't exactly original--in fact, it's quite formulaic and neatly packaged with a ribbon--but it's satisfyingly optimistic with enough going for it to make you forget that it's not new.  It's the basic "let's travel abroad and learn something about our lives" movie that we've seen time and time again, but The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel does it with some very nice performances by some of the best British actors around.  I couldn't help but smile.

Various Brits in their golden years travel to India to stay in what they think is a luxury hotel.  Evelyn (Judi Dench) is a new widow doing something on her own for once, Graham (Tom Wilkinson) is searching for an old flame, Douglas and Jean (Bill Nighy and Penelope Wilton) have just retired and are at a lull in their relationship, Muriel (Maggie Smith) is there for an inexpensive hip replacement and both Madge and Norman (Celia Imrie and Ronald Pickup) are in need of romance.  Once in Jaipur, they all come to find out that the hotel isn't exactly what the brochure led them to believe, but the plucky, young owner Sonny (Dev Patel) has high hopes for his home for the "elderly and beautiful."  As the movie goes on, various relationships are formed and neglected, people find what they are looking for and what they weren't expecting, and everything works out for the better.

The actors all do a terrific job of bringing their characters to life and there are some very powerful scenes--some happy, some sad.  Other aspects of the movie are just plain cheesy and "feel-good," but in the end, who doesn't want to feel good?

Prometheus AWESOME!

Brian's already written a terrific review of this movie, but I'd like to add my own take on it as well.  Prometheus is so far one of the better movies to come out this year.  While not as impressive as Blade Runner or Alien, director Ridley Scott has really made a film to be proud of.  There's a perfect balance between the majesty and cinematic awe that makes a film art and the nail-biting, cringe-worthy action that makes a film entertaining.

Prometheus begins with a thoroughly perplexing but engaging scene of an alien man who poisons himself and collapses in pieces into water.  From there we are introduced to the scientists who have embarked on a journey into space where they are hoping to meet their makers.  It goes against traditional Christian ideas of deity, yet somehow allows for it at the same time.  Regardless of religious dogma, Elizabeth Shaw and Charlie Holloway (Noomi Rapace and Logan Marshall-Green) have earnest questions to ask the "engineers" as they call them.  Why was the human race created?  Is there a purpose to it all?  And as terrifying things begin to happen, the question changes to:  What have we done wrong?

Others on the ship have their own reasons for being there that are less faith-driven and perhaps more selfish and conniving.  There's Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron doing a much better job than she did in Snow White) who is quite mysterious and imposing, and then there's David (Michael Fassbender), the android, who is eerily lifelike and downright malicious when it suits him.  He's probably my favorite character--and Brian's as well--because there are so many sides to his coin. 

Apart from all the great character-work and thought-provoking questions, Prometheus is also a horror movie set in space and there are plenty of moments to make you squirm in your seats.  At one point Elizabeth discovers she is pregnant with an alien baby, and her self-given C-section is probably one of the most disturbing and intense roller coaster rides I've experienced in a movie theater.  This movie really is something awesome.

Movie Reviews: LOL, It's a Five-Year Shadow!

by Jack Garcia

Movies this time of year are really hit or miss, aren't they?  I saw LOL which I thought I would absolutely despise, but it turned out to be slightly better than expected.  Slightly.  I also watched Dark Shadows which I thought would be decently funny and was instead dreadfully disappointed.  The only movie I saw that was worth watching was The Five-Year Engagement.  Oddly enough, I'm heading towards a four-year engagement in my own life...

LOL AVERAGE

I really wanted to give this movie an "awful" rating.  I really did and perhaps I should have.  But I wasn't completely miserable while watching it so I decided to be nice.  The movie tells the story of Lola (Miley Cyrus)--or LOL as everyone calls her--a teenage girl looking for love.  "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree" they say, and her mother, Anne (Demi Moore), is searching for love as well.  Their stories often parallel in interesting ways, and essentially this is a movie about women and sexuality.  The director, Lisa Azuelos, also directed the 2008 French film LOL (Laughing Out Loud) that this movie was based on.  Unfortunately, she also wrote the screenplay and I think she's a better director than she is a writer.  While the the movie is well-shot, the situations try too hard to be edgy and the characters fall flat.  It's like I could sense what this movie wanted to be, it just wasn't quite there yet.

The Five-Year Engagement AWESOME!

While not the comedic gem that Bridesmaids was, The Five-Year Engagement had me laughing and smiling the whole way through.  The movie begins where most romantic comedies end: the proposal. Tom (Jason Segel) proposes to Violet (Emily Blunt) and she happily accepts.  They have the engagement party--with the best drunken toast ever give by Violet's sister Suzie (Community's Alison Brie with an English accent)--and everything looks promising... that is, until Violet gets an awesome career opportunity in Michigan, whisking Tom away from his chef's job in San Francisco.  They keep finding excuses to postpone the marriage and in the meantime, grow further and further apart.  This movie is about falling in love, falling out of love and then falling in love again.  It reminds us that no one is "perfect" for us (in a hilarious conversation between sisters done in Sesame Street voices) and that love takes work.  Oh, and did I mention it's funny?  So very funny!

Dark Shadows AWFUL

The Tim Burton/Johnny Depp collaboration is growing stale.  It really is.  And if you don't believe me, go and watch Dark Shadows.  Actually, scratch that.  Nobody should have to see Dark Shadows.  It's horrible.  It's a dark comedy that isn't dark enough or funny enough, and the result is a lot of cool set pieces and costumes with no story to bring them to life.  A movie cannot exist based on pop culture references and special effects alone, even if it is based on a 70s soap opera.  Depp plays Barnabas Crouch, a vampire who has been locked up for centuries by his scorned lover Angelique (Eva Green).  He breaks free in the year 1972 and finds the last descendants of his once-prosperous Collins family.  Here a lot of potentially interesting characters are introduced, but none of them are ever explored fully.  The plot meanders dully with a lot of painful dialogue and tedious exposition and halfway through I realized I could have just watched a quick slideshow of image stills and been more satisfied.  Not even a cameo by Alice Cooper managed to save this abysmal movie.

Movie Reviews: The Safe Raven Avenges in the Woods

by Jack Garcia

Within the past week or so I was able to see quite a lot of movies.  Two of them were midnight showings even!  And all of them were with Michelle (Wes joined us for Cabin in the Woods too)... for some reason I can't seem to drag Brian to the movies anymore!  Of course, this isn't exactly "movie season" and with the exception of The Avengers I didn't really care for most of the movies I saw.

The Raven AVERAGE

John Cusack stars as the famed author Edgar Allen Poe, and do you know what?  He isn't half bad.  In fact, he does an admirable job playing the brooding author.  Unfortunately, this isn't a biopic and the historical figure is thrust into a ridiculously contrived storyline involving a serial killer whose murders are inspired by none other than Poe's classic horror stories.  Detective Fields (Luke Evans) asks for Poe's help on the case, and things get more complicated when the killer captures Poe's love, Emily Hamilton (Alice Eve).  While there's some gore and creepy parts, The Raven never manages to scare or even be all that mysterious.  Oh, not to mention the big reveal at the end is a huge letdown...

The Cabin in the Woods AVERAGE

Written by Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard, this horror movie is being praised by movie critics and fanboys alike.  I, however, was not so impressed.  I came into it being told that my mind was going to be blown... but it wasn't.  Five college kids (Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth, Anna Hutchison, Fran Kranz, and Jesse Williams) go to a remote cabin in the woods for a weekend and yada yada yada you can take it from there.  Where the movie gets more creative, is that all of the horror movie cliches are being controlled by a bunch of men in a room somewhere underground.  For me, this part was actually pretty intriguing and I feel that handled differently, I could have liked this movie.  The way Sitterson (Richard Jenkins) and Hadley (Bradley Whitford) dryly joke about the deaths they are initiating--as everyone places their bets on who will die first and how--pose many moral questions.  A more interesting movie for me would have followed that route.  Unfortunately, much of the movie is spent watching uninteresting characters make out with mounted wolf heads or run away from redneck zombies.

Safe AVERAGE

Mei (Catherine Chan) is an 11-year-old genius who has a gift with numbers.  A Chinese gang known as the Triad uses her to memorize a very long and important number, but of course other groups--including some corrupt cops and the Russian mob--are also after what they are after, and soon Mei is caught in the middle of some really dangerous stuff!  In walks our hero, Luke Wright (Jason Statham), an ex-cage fighter who has a beef with the people involved and who finds himself drawn to the little girl.  He does everything he can to help her and to keep her safe, which involves some serious ass-kicking!  The action scenes are all really awesome--so testosterone-filled men should be more than happy--and there's some creative camerawork at times hinting at the type of movie it wants to be, but the dialogue and the acting bring the movie down to sometimes laughable levels.

The Avengers AWESOME!

The superhero movie of all superhero movies has arrived!  Marvel's The Avengers, directed by Joss Whedon, is delightfully fun.  The story centers around the imminent threat of earth's complete and utter destruction by Loki (Tom Hiddleston) who wields the power of the Tesseract.  Scary huh?  So Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D gathers together a team of superheroes that he calls The Avengers.  But as the saying goes, you can't have too many cooks in the kitchen.  Initially Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Captain America (Chris Evans), The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) do not get along.  In fact, Hawkeye is "evil" for most of the movie.  But eventually, the team puts aside their egos and work together.  The final battle is epic beyond epic as we see every member of the team kicking some serious alien butt and destroying all of Manhattan in the process.  Poor Manhattan.  It's been destroyed in so many movies...

The movie really thrives on the perfect blend of comedy and action, which is what you'd expect from a movie based on comic books.  And while Loki may not be the most menacing of villains--in fact, he's kind of puny--he has a wicked grin that makes him very entertaining.  But while we know that The Avengers will come out victorious no matter what, the real battle--the one between themselves--is where the movie really shines.  Watching Tony Stark put down Captain America or egg on Dr. Banner is highly entertaining!  The actors all do a fine job of demonstrating the strengths and weaknesses of their various superheroes and it's a real treat to see them interact with one another.  So go out and watch The Avengers! 

P.S.  Stay for the credits.  At the very, very end was probably my favorite scene in the whole movie.  So funny!  Of course, it might have been funny to me because it was three in the morning...

Movie Reviews: Americans Get Lucky in Casablanca

by Jack Garcia

Today's collection of movie reviews includes a comedy sequel, a chick flick and a classic piece of cinema history: Casablanca.  I saw Casablanca once before and thought it was boring.  To be honest though, I wasn't really paying much attention.  So when Brian and Michelle found out that Turner Classic Movies was bringing Casablanca to the big screen as a limited engagement, they pretty much forced me to give the film a second chance.  I'm glad I did, because it was pure gold!

American Reunion AVERAGE

Jason Biggs returns as the lovably clueless and ever-horny Jim Levenstein.  He and his wife Michelle (Alyson Hannigan), unfortunately, have fallen into a rut that plagues many married couples:  they aren't having sex.  And when it's time for their high school reunion, they think that perhaps a fun weekend will reignite that spark.  Of course comedic mishaps ensue.  Well, would-be comedic mishaps.  Some gags are legitimately funny, but others fall flat.  For fans of the original, it's fun to see all the characters reunite and cash in their paychecks.  Chris Klein, Thomas Ian Nicholas, Tara Reid, Mena Suvari, Eddie Kaye Thomas and Sean William Scott are all back, but some of the greatest moments for me came from Jim's dad (Eugene Levy) meeting Stifler's mom (Jennifer Coolidge) and getting high in her bedroom.  Seriously, those two are funny enough to have their own movie.

The Lucky One ADMIRABLE

Legitimate movie critics hate this movie, but I have to admit that I turned into a teenage girl when I saw The Lucky One.  I swooned every time Zac Efron came on the screen, but what surprised me the most was that I actually enjoyed all of the non-Zac-Efron parts as well.  Based on a Nicholas Sparks novel, the movie is obviously cheesy.  Logan (Efron) returns from war and begins a search for the girl whose picture he found while in combat.  The girl, Beth (Taylor Schilling), is surprisingly easy to find and the two fall in love, despite her douchebag of an ex-husband, Keith (Jay R. Ferguson), threatening her all the while.  Lots of melodrama ensues, but it's fun melodrama and you just can't help but fall in love with Logan... even if he is too perfect.  I mean, he's hot, sweet and can play the piano.  Blythe Danner offers nice support to the film as Beth's comical grandmother.

Casablanca AWESOME!

Humphrey Bogart stars as Rick, an American expatriate living in unoccupied Casablanca during World War II.  He runs a night club and tries to stay neutral on political issues, but when an old flame, Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) walks into his "gin joint," things get more complicated.  Besides all the once-buried emotions flooding quickly to the surface upon their chance meeting, Ilsa now needs Rick's help to get her and her husband, the leader of the anti-Nazi movement Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid), out of Casablanca and safely to America.  The movie has been restored to show off the beautiful camerawork--the shadows alone give me goosebumps--and the performances onscreen are top-notch.  Bogart and Bergman were truly masters of their craft, and the supporting cast, including Peter Lorre as the squirrely Ugarte and Claude Rains as the corrupt official Captain Louis Renault, are equally memorable. 

Movie Reviews: The Hungry Mirror Sank the Titanic!

by Jack Garcia

I am on a roll!  Three more movie reviews are up just one day after my last post.  I bet you are excited.  Brian’s already written a full-length review of The Hunger Games from his perspective, but here’s mine.  I also saw Mirror Mirror and the re-release of Titanic in 3D.

The Hunger Games AWESOME!

I had heard about the books probably a year ago or so, but never got around to reading them until I started seeing trailers for the movie version of Suzanne Collins’ trilogy.  Just weeks before its opening, I read all three books and I enjoyed them.  I was now ready to walk into that midnight showing like a true fan!  And as far as page-to-screen adaptations go, I really think the filmmakers hit the nail right on the head.  The movie is great!

Jennifer Lawrence (go rent Winter’s Bone now!) embodies our heroine, Katniss, with quiet strength and emotion.  She is absolutely perfect for the role.  As the plot goes, Katniss is a young girl living in a post-apocalyptic America called Panem where folks in the Capitol laugh and cheer as teenagers from each of the 12 outlying districts battle to the death in a televised “Gladiator-esque” competition called The Hunger Games.  It’s reality TV gone bad.  Taking her younger sister’s place, she and a boy named Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) are chosen to represent their district and try to survive while refusing to be pawns in the Capitol’s sick game.

Other delightful characters include Haymitch (Woody Harrelson) their drunk advisor, Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks) their hilariously vain and clueless handler, Cinna (Lenny Kravitz) who designs the costumes, Caesar Flickerman (Stanley Tucci) the television host and Gale (Liam Hemsworth) the boy who

Katniss leaves behind.  Directed by Garry Ross, the story is told through stark and gritty cinematography that gives the film immediacy and while the special effects are lack-luster, the human emotions—especially those of Katniss—make the film compelling.

Mirror Mirror AVERAGE

Director Tarsem Singh made a fantastic movie in 2006 called The Fall that I absolutely adore.  Unfortunately, he has gone on to make last year’s Immortals which I did not like and now this one, Mirror Mirror, a comedy as glossy yet unfilling as the witch’s apple itself.  Vaguely reminiscent of the story of fairy tale it’s based on, here the wicked Queen is a vain, silly thing played by none other than Julia Roberts (with an English accent at times).  She hates Snow White (Lily Collins) because she’s afraid she might usurp her power.  Or is it because she’s jealous that she’s stealing her man?  I don’t know. And since the queen’s henchman (Nathan Lane) fails to kill the girl, Snow White bands together with a group of dwarves and the dim-witted yet handsome prince (Armie Hammer) to restore order to the kingdom… but not before a montage where she learns how to fight!  At moments the movie is delightfully funny and whimsical—and I must add that the costumes are amazing—but in the end it’s pretty much devoid of any soul.

Titanic 3D ADMIRABLE

James Cameron’s 1997 hit Titanic is back in theaters, folks!  This time it’s in 3D, of course, because Hollywood insists that everybody likes 3D.  We don’t, just so you know.  But the 3D is barely noticeable and it was just a joy to watch Titanic on the big screen again!  Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio star as the two lovers—a  well-bred snob and a starving artist respectively—who meet on the doomed ship.  The story is basic enough, but the performances by the actors are top-notch and you can’t help but fall in love too.  And while the first half is all romance and soap-opera plotting, the last half is an exciting adventure as the ship begins to sink and we ask ourselves the question:  “Would I be a coward?  Or would I be brave?” 

Movie Reviews: Jump the Lorax War

by Jack Garcia

I apologize for taking so long to post movie reviews… but not as much as the creators of The Lorax should apologize to Dr. Seuss for raping his dead body.   That was unforgivable.  Luckily This Means War was cute enough, but my favorite would have to be 21 Jump Street!

This Means War AVERAGE

Boy meets girl.  Other boy meets same girl.  Boys are best friends.  Boys happen to be spies and they are willing to do anything—and I mean anything—to get the girl.  Reese Witherspoon plays Lauren, a woman who can’t seem to decide which of her two suitors she should fall in love with.  There’s  the strong, silent type named Tuck (Tom Hardy) and the smooth-talking ladies’ man FDR (Chris Pine).  Luckily she has her friend Trish (Chelsea Handler) to crudely guide her along the way while providing much comic relief to the overreaching plot.  The spy vs. spy tomfoolery is lighthearted and for the most part fun, but if you’re looking for anything besides two attractive men chasing after the same girl then you’ll be disappointed.  I mean, they do try to put in an actual villain (Til Schweiger), but he’s pretty much pointless.  However, if fluffy popcorn flicks are what you’re craving, then by all means let the battle begin!

Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax AWFUL

Dr. Seuss once wrote a charming little book called The Lorax.  That little book has been stretched out into a feature-length movie with random side plots, annoying new characters, exhausting action sequences and…  wait for it… wait for it… it’s been turned into a musical!  Oh, I love a good musical number, don’t get me wrong, but the emphasis should be placed on the word “good.” Here the lyrics are horrible, shouting out things like “I’m biggering my corporate size.”  Where the book was whimsical with a subtle yet artfully told message of conservation, this new movie is loud, tedious, in-your-face and despite its best efforts, never funny.   Why do we need a hallucinatory scene of bears flying into the air while eating marshmallows?  Why is the Lorax (Danny DeVito) so aggravating?  Who decided they should cast Zac Efron and Taylor Swift and make them the only non-singing characters?  I challenge you to find answers to these questions and any sort of enjoyment from this heavy-handed political farce.

21 Jump Street AWESOME!

Loosely based on the 80s television series of the same name, 21 Jump Street is hilarious!  Jonah Hill might have struck out with The Sitter, but he sure hit a home run with this one.  He plays Schmidt, a newly trained police officer stuck on bike duty with his friend Jenko (Channing Tatum).  It sucks and they crave an assignment more exciting.  Eventually they are asked to go undercover as high school students to catch a drug dealer, giving them an opportunity to relive their own high school experiences.  It’s essentially a buddy comedy, and these two have some great chemistry and surprisingly, Tatum has some comedic chops!  The jokes are crude, but smart… and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it!  Smaller parts are pulled off nicely by Dave Franco, Rob Riggle, Ellie Kemper and Ice Cube. 

Movie Reviews: The Vow to Keep Safe the Extremely Beautiful and Dangerous Artist in Black

by Jack Garcia

It has been a while since I have written a movie review!  School and work, coupled with moving into a new place have really distracted me from it I guess.  I’ve still gone and seen some movies, I just haven’t gotten around to writing about them.  So in order to catch up, I’ve written seven mini-mini reviews.  Super short and sweet.

And speaking of sweet… do you know what the greatest movie theater snack in the world is?  Reese’s Pieces and popcorn TOGETHER!  I’m telling you, it’s life-changing!  Eat it!  My friend Michelle turned me on to it and it’s so good I snacked on some while writing this post…

Beauty and the Beast 3D AWESOME!

Starring the voice talents of Paige O’Hara, Robby Benson and Angela Lansbury, Disney’s timeless animated classic was re-released into theaters in 3D.  While, I still don’t care one way or the other about 3D, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing my favorite Disney movie up on the big screen.  The love story is enchanting, the songs are memorable, and the animation is beautiful.  No wonder it was the first animated movie to ever be nominated for an Academy Award.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close ADMIRABLE

Young actor Thomas Horn has a breakout performance as Oskar, a boy troubled with the loss of his father in the tragedy of 9/11.  I really thought he did a fantastic job as the odd protagonist.  His late father (Tom Hanks) has left him with a mysterious key which motivates him to search all over New York City for the lock it fits, dealing with his own issues along the way—including the patchy relationship with his mother (Sandra Bullock).  The story may be completely unbelievable, but his suffering is real and I enjoyed the film.

The Artist ADMIRABLE

I loved that this Oscar-nominated movie was in black-and-white, I loved that it was a silent film, and I loved that it was highly reminiscent of the movies made back in the Golden Age of cinema.  Silent film star George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) struggles to stay in the business when “talkies” emerge, and his fall makes way for Peppy Miller’s (Berenice Bejo) rise to fame.  The film is funny and charming with some impressive camerawork and storytelling and the two have some great chemistry together.  However, my excitement and anticipation for the movie had my expectations far too high, and I somehow felt unsatisfied.  I can’t pinpoint any real reasons, other than that it felt like Singin’ in the Rain without the singing.

A Dangerous Method AVERAGE

In this drama about early psychoanalysis, Michael Fassbender plays Dr. Carl Jung—a colleague of Sigmund Freud’s (Viggo Mortensen)—who is developing his methods while working with a crazed patient named Sabina (Keira Knightley).  Jung eventually takes Sabina on as his mistress… and not a lot happens besides that.  For me, Knightley did the most outstanding acting in the movie, while Fassbender and Mortensen were just good.   The drama had interesting moments, but overall was fairly dull.

The Woman in Black ADMIRABLE

One of my professors referred to this as  “the new Harry Potter movie” and for many I’m sure it’s hard to separate Daniel Radcliffe from his lifelong role as the boy wizard.  However, I didn’t have as much trouble believing him to be a married, young father in this Gothic horror movie.  Although he spends most of his time quietly creeping around a dark, scary house, I thought he did well in it.  The movie is simple and understated, and manages to create a chilling atmosphere and scare quite often.

The Vow AWFUL

This movie suffered from an identity crisis: it wasn’t sure if it was a chick flick or an indie drama, and frankly it wasn’t either.  Rachel McAdams plays a woman who gets in a car wreck and wakes up with amnesia.  She doesn’t remember her husband (Channing Tatum) at all, and he has to do his best to make her fall in love with him all over again.  The majority of the movie is Tatum earnestly trying to woo her and McAdams looking at him with complete indifference.  Not exactly the chick flick we were wanting.

Safe House AVERAGE

This movie was pretty decent, and I found myself having a lot of fun watching it.  Ryan Reynolds plays Matt Weston, a CIA agent looking after a safe house.  His job seems dull until a dangerous criminal Tobin Frost (Denzel Washington) is brought in.  The safe house is attacked, and the two men must escape together.  As an action flick, I thought it had all of the necessary requirements:  a cool car chase, some awesome fighting, and even some male bonding.  Definitely worth seeing.

Movie Reviews: My Week with the Horse Descendants

by Jack Garcia

Brian and I had a mutual day off and we figured we better take advantage of it.  So on a whim, we drove up to Salt Lake City and watched some movies that aren't playing where we live.  We saw My Week with Marilyn and The Descendants.  My favorite was the first one while Brian favored the second.  Also last week we were able to catch War Horse on a night out with our new friend (and Brian's cousin) Brett.

My Week with Marilyn AWESOME!

The film, based on a true story, is of a young man named Colin (Eddie Redmayne) who is third assistant to Sir Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh) working on the film The Prince and the Showgirl starring the world-famous Marilyn Monroe (Michelle Williams).  While struggling with pill addictions, depression and the stresses of becoming a "serious actress," Marilyn finds solace in the younger man and the two begin a romantic sort of friendship.  She feels that he is the only one who understands her, and he becomes absolutely smitten with her... and who wouldn't?  It's Marilyn Monroe after all.

Michelle Williams does a phenomenal job playing Marilyn Monroe.  So good, in fact, that I had to continually remind myself that I wasn't actually watching behind-the-scenes footage of the real Monroe's life.  Williams undeniably embodied the character in every way imaginable.  She sang and performed like Marilyn, talked like Marilyn, moved like Marilyn and played her with a lonely and sad innocence that brought out all the beautiful complexities of the starlet.  Other aspects of the movie may have been a tad sub-par (like an unnecessary side plot with actress Emma Watson), but really it's Michelle Williams' superb performance that makes this movie a must-see.

The Descendants AWESOME!

Written and directed by Alexander Payne, the film tells the story of a man named Matt King (George Clooney) who's wife is dying after a boating accident.  As he's trying to cope with this, he discovers that his wife was having an affair with a local real estate agent (Matthew Lillard), making the grieving process all the harder.  His daughter Alex (Shailene Woodley) helps him on his journey to find the man who slept with his wife, all while breaking the bad news of his wife's condition to various family members and deciding whether or not to sell a huge chunk of Hawaiian land once owned by his forefathers and entrusted to him and his cousins.

The movie, set in Hawaii, is both beautiful and ugly at times.  There is a good balance between drama and comedy and the performances all have an understated gravity.  Clooney does a terrific job in the role and will definitely be getting an Oscar nomination if not a win.  For me, however, the breakout performance was by the young Woodley who played his trouble-making daughter with heart and believability.  Judy Greer also has a small role and she did it amazingly well.  I always love when I see her on screen.

War Horse ADMIRABLE

Steven Spielberg directs this World War I movie about a young man named Albert (Jeremy Irvine) who falls in love with a horse only to have it be sold to the cavalry.  The horse, named Joey, is a remarkable one and we follow him into both sides of the war, meeting a range of characters, until he is reunited with Albert once more.  The film shows the horrors of a war where one side was still on horseback while the other side was utilizing the newly-created machine gun, but does it in the sweeping style of yesterday's great epics such as Gone With the Wind.  The ultimate message is one of hope and courage.

I must admit that I didn't expect to like War Horse, mostly because I'm not that much of a horse fan and I had trouble getting on board with a plot revolving around a boy's love for his steed.  That being said, I was proven wrong about twenty minutes in when I started to really enjoy the movie.  Spielberg knows his craft and there are some fantastic shots and story devices at work here.  The story may be too romanticized for some, but I honestly felt uplifted while watching it. There is a really great scene where an old French man (Niels Arestrup) talks to his granddaughter (Celine Buckens) about the different kinds of courage.  You must always look forward and never down.