Friday, July 29, 2011

Cowboys & Aliens

What do you get when you mix western with sci fi? A pretty awesome summer movie :)

The movie stars Daniel Craig as Jake. He wakes up in the middle of the desert with a bad wound on his side, a strange gadget on his wrist, and no memory of who he is or what's happend. He makes his way into a small town called Absolution (I'm pretty sure that's its name). While there he comes across a mysterious woman named Ella (Olivia Wilde) and a guy who owns a cattle farm and is pretty much the richest man in town (Harrison Ford). Then that night a bunch of aliens attack and all hell breaks loose.

That's the plot of the movie. Ridiculous I know, but I really think you should give it a chance. I give it a lot of credit for being different than most of the movies out now.

The best part of the whole thing, for me anyway, was Daniel Craig. He is just totally bad ass know matter what he does. I've always been a fan of his. Intact, I can't wait to see him in the American version of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Anyway, this is definitely his movie.

Harrison Ford was good too, but this wasn't his best role. Olivia Wilde surprised me. At first I thought all her role would be was to stand there, look pretty, and be Daniel's love interest. And while she is his love interest, she also ends up being an important part of the story later on. The rest of the actors I really wasn't all that impressed with.

But overall I would recommend this. There's something for everyone. Ladies, there's even some shirtless Daniel Craig time... although not nearly enough in my opinion ;) ;)

My Rating: 7.5/10

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Captain America: The First Avenger (3D)

Hell yeah! Another awesome superhero movie :) I really enjoyed this as you can tell.

I'll admit, when I first heard that Chris Evans was going to play Steve Rogers/Captain America, I wasn't crazy about it. Not that I don't think Chris is a good actor (I usually like his movies) I just didn't think he could pull it off. Boy was I wrong. He did a great job.

The movie takes place during World War two. Steve wants to join the army but keeps getting rejected because of his size. To pull this off, the director uses digital effects to make Chris appear smaller than he actually is. It looked a little weird to me at first but I got use to it. Anyway, one night a doctor (played by Stanley Tucci. The role isn't all that big but it's important) overhears Steve talking and decides that he's perfect candidate for a program that's trying to create an army of "super soldiers". To make a long story short, Steve finally gets to be in the army and they turn him into Captain America. He can run faster, beat the crap outta Nazis,etc.

What I liked about this movie was that it wasn't just action & explosions (although there's plenty of that too). The story was really interesting.

The movie is far from perfect however. I won't even talk about the cheesy dialog since that's usually what you find in a lot of superhero movies. My issue was with the chemistry between Chris Evans and the actress who plays his love interest. Unlike in Thor (where Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman had great chemistry, it just wasn't that believe. Also, and this isn't really a big deal, I thought the effects used to make the villain Red Skull looked ridiculous. I just couldn't take the actor seriously and started laughing (if you've seen it you know what I mean).

Be on the look out for another awesome Samuel L Jackson cameo. That guy is just totally bad ass no matter what he's in.

As far as the 3D goes, it was hit or miss with me. Some scenes looked really great while others I had to keep looking over my glasses to see if it was still a 3D movie I was watching.

PLEASE be sure to stay until after the credits. There's a really awesome teaser trailer for The Avengers movie. Made me really excited about it. I can't wait til May 2012! :)

My Rating: 7.5/10

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows part 2 (IMAX 3D)

I've been a huge Harry Potter fan for years and have been looking forward to this movie for months. I wasn't disappointed at all. Deathly Hallows part 2 was amazing.

My friends & I went to the midnight premiere in IMAX 3D. We all dressed up in costumes (I was Tonks). It was great. The theater was sold out of course, but for once I didn't mind. The excitement & energy amongst the crowd... I can't even begin to describe it. Everyone seemed really nice. Unlike the crowds at a certain other movie fanchise who's name I won't mention.

I won't go too much into the plot since I don't want the spoiler police after me. Anyway, part 2 starts right where part 1 left off. Voldermort (played brilliantly by Ralph Fiennes) has stolen the Elder Wand from Dumbledore's grave. Harry, Ron, & Hermione are looking for & destroying Voldermort's remaining Horcruxes.

This movie is pretty much action, action, and more action. The Battle of Hogwarts in particular was spectacular.

My favorite thing about the movie though was the acting. Daniel, Rupert, & Emma were all great of course, but Alan Rickman really shines as Snape. He gives, in my opinion, his best performance to date. I really think he deserves and Oscar nomination for this. The Snape scenes were my favorite parts of this movie (as well as the book). David Yates, the director, did a great job bringing them to life.

Visually, the movie is gorgeous and should definitely be seen in IMAX if you have an IMAX theater in your area.

The music was really good too. Alexandre Desplat returns after already doing the score for part 1. I'll admit, I wasn't sure how he would do scoring a mostly action movie (which I don't think he's done before) but he did a beautiful job. There's several new songs as well as songs from the previous movies.

Overall, they stay very close to the book. Obviously some changes were made but they didn't really bother me. But pretty much every scene that fans loved in the book was included. Walking out of the theater, I didn't hear anyone complaining.

As far as the 3D, while it wasn't necessary, I thought was pretty good. Especially the scene at Grinotts.

I definitely recommend this movie to all my fellow Harry Potter fans. It was amazing. But I can't help but feel sad. This was it. It feels like a part of my childhood has just died. But it was a fitting end to the series. I know these books & movies will be enjoyed for generations to come.

My Rating: 10/10

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Horrible Bosses

I was debating wether or not to go see this movie. I saw the trailer a few weeks ago and it looked funny. I was afraid it would be one of those movies where the trailer showed all the funny parts. But I've seen pretty much every movie out there now that I would want to see so I thought I'd give this movie a chance. I'm so glad I did.

The story is about three friends (played by Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, and Jason Sudeikis) who's bosses basically make their life a living hell. One night, while having a few drinks at the bar they all agree that their lives would be much easier if their bosses were dead. They end up meeting a guy named "Mother Fucker" Jones whom they hire as their "murder consultant". Jamie Foxx plays this character brilliantly. The role is kinda small but definitely memorable. So then the guys set off to kill their bosses. Of course things don't go as planned.

I thought the movie was hilarious! While my favorite comedies this year are still Hangover Part 2 & Paul, this runs a close third. The thing I liked best was the performances (most of them anyway). There was Jamie Foxx as I mentioned, but I loved the three main characters. They had great chemistry. Kevin Spacey & Colin Farrell (who's almost unrecognizable in this) were good too. If I had anything negative to say it would be Jennifer Anniston who plays the third boss. Her character annoyed me to no end and over the years so has she.

Anyway I would really recommend this. Will it go down in history as the best comedy ever? Probably not. But it was fun and if you need a good laugh, this is the movie for you :)

My Rating: 7.5/10

Monday, July 4, 2011

My writing part 2

Happy 4th of July everyone! :) Since I'm in a fairly decent mood, I thought I would post another scene of the story I'm working on. This particular scene doesn't follow the one I posted before. I haven't been writing the story in order yet. I've just been writing down whatever idea pops into my head at the time. Anyway, just like last time, this is a VERY rough draft of the scene. But I hope you like it regardless-

Patrick walked into the room, hopingto speak to Natalie. Instead he found her fast asleep on the bed. This didn't surprise him at all. Natalie seemed to be sleeping more and more lately. The pregnancy was really beginning to wear her out.

Patrick sighed, then slowly crawled into bed with Natalie. As he wrapped his arm around her waist, he could feel her ever growing stomach. Despite how he felt about everyhing, a small smile crept on his face as he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep. The smile quickly faded however.

Patrick found himself in the middle of a crowded hallway at the hospital. Suddenly, he heard a blood curling scream. It was Natalie.

Without any hesitation, Patrick ran in the direction her screams were coming from. It lead him to a room at the end of the hallway that several nurses were running in and out of. But before Patrick could step inside, Natalie's screams stopped and were replaced with the sound of a baby crying.

A nurse came out holding a small baby wrapped in a pink blanket. She handed the baby to Patrick.

"It's a girl." the nurse said.

Patrick glanced at the baby briefly before he asked the nurse how Natalie was.

The nurse hesitated, looking very sad.

"What is it?" Patrick asked.

"She didn't make it." I'm so sorry."

"What do you mean she didn't make it?!!"

"We just couldn't get the bleeding to stop. We tried everything."

Patrick refused to believe it. "I want to see her."

"Maybe it would be best if we cleaned her up first." the nurse said. "She..."

"No! NOW!" Patrick shouted.

The nurse simply nodded and lead Patrick into the room. She offered to take the baby from him, but he refused to let go of his daughter. He slowly walked in.

As soon as Patrick saw Natalie, he froze in total shock. His heart began tightening in his chest. He couldn't breathe.

Natalie's pale, lifeless body lay in the bed surrounded by a pool of blood.

Patrick was so stunned that he couldn't even cry. He didn't even notice as a doctor tried to explain to him what had happend.

It wasn't until his daughter began to cry that Patrick turned his attention away. He pulled the small blanket back from her face and gasped as he really looked at his daughter for the first time. He could see the scars forming on the right side of her face and neck, and down part of her arm.

No! This can't be happening.

But it was. Patrick's biggest fears had come true- Natalie was dead and his child was just like him. The emotion became too much for Patrick as he cried out in sheer agony.


Patrick awoke from the nightmare and sat straight up. He gasped for breath and his body was covered in sweat.

Almost immediately, Patrick could feel someone gently rubbing their hand against his arm.

"Patrick what is it? What happend?"

Patrick looked to his right and saw Natalie sitting up next to him. Her green eyes were filled with concern.

"Natalie..." Patrick said quietly, sounding almost shocked. "You're alright."

"Of course I am." Natalie replied as she hugged him.

Patrick held her close, almost afraid to let go.

After a minute or two, Natalie spoke again. "Patrick you're scaring me. Please tell me what happend. Was it a nightmare? It wasn't real. I promise..."

"It felt real."

Natalie kissed Patrick softly and asked him what the nightmare was about. He could tell how worried she was.

But despite this, Patrick couldn't bring himself to tell her.

Natalie didn't push him any further. She suggested they both go back to sleep. Patrick nodded as he wrapped his arms protectively around Natalie.

"I love you." Natalie said quietly, snuggling into him.

"I love you too."

Natalie was asleep a few minutes later, but Patrick was wide awake. He knew he wouldn't be sleeping anymore tonight. Instead he stared at Natalie intently, hoping that his nightmare wouldn't come true.

Friday, July 1, 2011

Transformers: Dark of the Moon (3D)

Wow, and I thought Green Lantern was bad. I walked out of Transformers: Dark of the Moon (who the he'll came up with that title?) exhausted and feeling ten times stupider than I did when I first came in. I can't really be angry since I knew what I was getting myself into. I couldn't even sit through all of the first two movies. The only reasons I went to this were because I've already seen every movie out there now that I'd want to see and I heard that this is the best of the three.

And it is. But that's not saying much. I'm not a big Michael Bay fan. Not that he's the worst director out there (that title belongs to Jason Friedberg & Aaron Seltzer). I actually liked Armageddon & Pearl Harbor.

Wanna know about the plot? Haha! There isn't one. Did you honestly think there would be? Here's what happens- giant robots blow shit up for nearly three hours. That's it. Just when I thought Michael Bay couldn't possibly blow anything else up, he found more to blow up.

I did manage to come up with some things that were good about the movie. Ummm... the action sequences during the last 40 minutes or so were pretty awesome. The 3d was good (but not Avatar good as some have been claiming). And Megan Fox wasn't in it. Not that the actress that replaced her was much better.

My Rating: 4/10