Saturday, November 19, 2011

Breaking Dawn: Part 1

I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm a huge Twilight fan. Of course, I've read all the books. Now I know they're not great literature (far from it) but still... I enjoy a good cheesy romance novel every now and then. And I've always been fascinated by vampires.

It's been a tradition for me & my grandparents to go see the movies on openin night. I must like to torture myself lol. What I mean is I can't stand most of the crowd that Twilight draws- the loud annoying teenage girls. They get on my nerves and give Twilight fans a bad name. We're not all like that I promise.

That being said, Breaking Dawn: Part 1 was awesome. I definitely think it's the best one so far. It's nice to see that the acting has gradually gotten better and they finally got the look of the vampires right. I shudder to think back to the first film with the ugly blue tint and the horrible make up job.

This time around they got Academy Award winning director Bill Condon. I've only seen bits and pieces of two of his other movies (Chicago & Dreamgirls) but I was impressed. I wasn't sure how the book would translate to film (anyone who's read Breaking Dawn knows it's a crazy mess) but Bill pulled it off. He did the best he could with the material he had to work with.

WARNING: Some might call these spoilers but I really don't think they are. Everyhing I'm about to talk about appears in the various trailers out there.

In this movie, Bella & Edward finally get married in a beautiful ceremony that was just how I always pictured it. Jacob shows up as a "gift" to Bella. Eventually there's some tension (of course) but after that things settle down and Bella & Edward go on their honeymoon. This part was filmed in South America and looks absolutely gorgeous.

Then there's the much anticipated sex scene. All I'll say about that is it does include some headboard breaking and feathers flying all over the place. Woo hoo!

Of course, things don't exactly go perfectly. Bella soon finds out that she's pregnant. I never realized vampires could father children. Edward must have some super sperm or something. It's best not to think too much about this.

Bella wants to keep the baby (despite the huge risk) But Edward's convinced it's a monster and wants her to have an abortion. The newlyweds return home to try and figure out what's going on. The pregnancy is greatly accelerated and is sucking the life out of Bella. It's amazing what technology can do these days. Kristen Stewart looks so sick in these scenes it's scary. You really feel like Bella is at death's door.

There's also some issues with the werewolves. They feel that the baby is a threat to them and are hellbent on destroying it, even if it means killing Bella in the process. Jacob wants nothing to do with this and breaks away from the pack (along with Seth & Leah) to warn The Cullens and protect Bella.

And then there's the birth scene- oh my god!!! It's very intense. Hard to beleive, but it was toned down when you compare it to the book. Still, it was creepy. I'm honestly surprised they got away with a PG-13 rating.

I won't tell you where part 1 ends, but I think you can figure it out. I was, in my head, shouting "Noooo! It can't end now." I could've sat in that theater for another two hours. It really sucks that we have to wait until next November for part 2. It was hard enough waiting the 8 months in between both parts of Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows.

Overall, I really enjoyed the movie. It's far from perfect (there's a certain scene involving Jacob that prevents me from giving Breaking Dawn a higher rating) but so what. You can't take these movies too seriously. Honestly, and I'm not trying to be mean, if you go into a Twilight movie expecting an Oscar worthy experience then you're a moron. Just enjoy it for what it is.

Oh, and be sure to stay during the credits. There's a small but great scene that sets up part 2.

My Rating: 8.5/10

I gave it the extra .5 because before the movie they showed a trailer for Man On A Ledge- a new movie coming out soon starring my Sam Worthington ;) :D

Friday, November 11, 2011

Immortals (3D)

I must say, seeing Henry Cavill run around half naked in 3D is a pretty awesome way to spend a Friday night ;) Immortals kicked ass!! I knew it would be good but I didn't know it would be this good.

I absolutely love these kinds of movies. Always have. Yes, Immortals has everything you've seen before (an evil king, a poor man who ends up being the hero, and even the slow motion action), but it's still a lot of fun. The best way I can describe it is that it's pretty much Clash of the Titans meets 300.

I'm not going to go too much into the plot since you've seen it all before. But basically there's an evil king named Hyperion (played brilliantly by Mickey Rourke) who's got a lot of issues to say the least. He's hellbent on finding some magical bow (that I beleive had belonged to the Gods or the Titans. Can't remember which) and releasing the Titans. He doesn't care who or what he has to destroy in the process. Meanwhile, in a small village a man named Theseus (Henry Cavill) lives with his mother. They're very poor and pretty much considered outcasts. But Zeus sees something in Theseus and ultimately chooses him to lead an army and stop King Hyperion.

The visuals in this movie were really good. Some of the best I've seen this year infact. You really felt like you were there. Just to warn you, Immortals is VERY gory. There's blood and body parts flying all over the place. If you have a weak stomach this may not be the best movie for you.

Henry Cavill I thought did an excellent job (and no I'm not saying that because he's extremely good looking. Although it certainly didn't hurt hehe). He's probably best known for his role as Charles Brandon in The Tudors. It's a really good tv series that was on Showtime. I highly recommend it. Anyway, I think he's a really good actor and I look forward to seeing more of his movies in the future.

Frida Pinto (she was in Slumdog Millionare) plays a priestess. Can't really say more about her role without spoiling some of the plot. But you can pretty much guess what happens.

If I had anything "negative" to say, it would be that I wish they had tried to make the story a little more original. Not really a big issue for me though since I enjoyed the movie and it entertained me.

The 3D was actually good, but not great. Still, it's worth the extra money to see it that way if you can.

Go see Immortals if you're really into this genre. And if you're not, still go see it. There's a lot of great eye candy ;) ;)

My Rating: 8/10

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Tower Heist

I was in the mood for a comedy this weekend. I'd seen the trailer a few weeks ago and this movie looked funny so I thought I would check it out. While I'm glad I did, it certainly wasn't the best comedy I've ever seen. Still, I liked it.

Tower Heist takes place in New York City. Ben Stiller stars as Josh Kovacs, the manager of an apartment building called The Tower. These are no ordinary apartments. They're the kind that only the very wealthy can afford. One of the residents is a Wall Street buisnessman named Arthur Shaw. Josh and several other people who work at The Tower are shocked when they find out that Shaw is involved in a large scheme, which has cost all of them their pensions. Josh decides to make things right by robbing Shaw's apartment, in which he has hidden over 20 million dollars. He enlists the help of some of his coworkers as well as Slide (Eddie Murphy), his neighbor who is a "criminal" and has experience in this department.

As I said before, this was not the best comedy. But I did find it funny and laughed at several points. I must say, Ben Stiller was really good in this. So was Eddie Murphy, which I was happy about. Over the last several years, most of his movies have been complete shit with the exception of Shrek. The other actors characters were likable, but these were far from their best roles.

If you need a good laugh, go and see this. But Tower Heist is a movie you'll likely forget about in a few months. It was fun though.

My Rating: 6/10