Friday, August 26, 2011

Columbiana

As far as revenge movies go, this was pretty typical. However, I must say... Zoe Saldana kicked some serious ass!

I know I'm being biased since Zoe was one of the stars in my all time favorite movie, Avatar. But so what? :p

The movie is about a woman named Cataleya, who at the age of nine witnessed the brutal murders of her parents. She ends up living with her Uncle & Grandmother. Fifteen years later, Cataleya is now a cold blooded assassin (trained by her Uncle) who is hell bent on getting revenge on the druglord who is responsible.

The actions scenes, while predictable & absurd at points, were good. Kept me on the edge of my seat.

Aside from Zoe (who is always amazing), the acting was just average.

There were only two real issues I had, neither of them were what I'd call major though. First, they gave Cataleya a love interest which really wasn't necessary other than to give director an excuse to show Zoe practically naked & appeal to the men in the audience.

The other thing was the music. Don't get me wrong, I liked the songs, I just thought they weren't placed well at times.

Not sure how well this will do at the box office, but I liked it. I think you guys will too if you're into these kind of movies.

My Rating: 7.5/10

Friday, August 19, 2011

Fright Night (3D)

It's been awhile since I've seen a decent horror movie. Fright Night was actually pretty good :)

That being said, it's far from being perfect. The dialog was bad at times and the movie was very predictable. But it was fun. Infact it's a mix of both horror and comedy. Wether the funny moments were suppose to be intentional or unintentional I'm not sure.

Anyway, the plot is pretty simple. Charlie (Anton Yelchin) is a guy in his late teens living with his mother in a small neighborhood around Las Vegas. One day a new guy named Jerry (Colin Ferrel) moves in next door. People start disappearing and other strange things happen. Charlie quickly discovers that Jerry is (this really isn't a spoiler) a vampire. You can pretty much guess what happens after that.

Most of the acting is bad, except for Anton & Colin. Anton is a good actor. He's in two other movies I really enjoy- Terminator Salvation & Star Trek 2009. And I must say, Colin Ferrel is awesome as a vampire! As much as I like the Twilight movies (hey don't judge me :p ), it was nice to see vampires that don't sparkle and are more "traditional".

Do yourself a favor and see this in 2D. The 3D isn't that great and not worth the extra money.

My Rating: 7/10

Sunday, August 14, 2011

The Help

I wasn't sure what to expect when I decided to go see this. It looked interesting from the trailers. But trailers can be deceiving. Not in this case however. I must say I really enjoyed The Help.

The movie takes place in Mississippi in the 60's. During this time many African American women worked as maids for wealthy white socialites/housewives & their families. From one of these families is a young woman named Skeeter, played by Emma Stone (who seems to be becoming a great actress with each movie she appears in). She's an aspiring writer who ends up taking a job for a newspaper, answering cleaning questions in an advice column. She enlists the help of one of the maids (Viola Davis) who works for the family of one of her "friends". Over time Skeeter gets to know her & sees how she's being treated. She decides she wants to write a book from the point of view of the maids.

The movie is far from perfect. The first half starts out really slow, but gets more interesting in the second half when you really get to know the characters.

I think this movie will most be remembered for it's acting. Not just Emma Stone, but Viola Davis gives an Oscar worthy performance. Intact, I wouldn't be surprised if several of the actresses receive nominations. The performance that really stood out for me was Jessica Chastain. She's an amazing actress who actually has another movie coming out in a few weeks called The Debt (a really good movie that I had a chance to see at a film festival last year). Anyway, in this she plays a socialite/housewife who has been shunned by almost everyone for reasons you find out later on. At first I thought she was going to be just another ditzy socialite, but once you get to know her character and what she's been through, you find out that's not the case. Yes she's ditzy, but she's also very sweet and not like the other housewives. I won't spoil anything, but her stitching had me tearing up a bit. Bryce Dallas Howard is also in this, playing the leader of these housewives. The character is a complete bitch but Bryce plays the part well.

I thought the movie realty with the issue of racism well. They didn't sugarbush anything which I'm glad. I can't stand when movies sugarbush things.

This movie overall was really good. It's a drama, but there's plenty of comedy added in when it's appropriate. Not sure how many guys will like it but I think everyone should give it a chance.

My Rating: 7/10