Tyler Perry's Temptation

I should have known better than to go see a Tyler Perry movie. Well, one that doesn’t have Madea in it I should say. But I saw the trailer for this awhile back and it looked kind of interesting, minus the fact that Kim Kardashian is in it (thankfully her role is very small). But it’s far from interesting. It’s pretty bad. But to me Temptation falls under the category of “It’s so bad it’s good.” Myself and the other people in the theater had a good time laughing at how bad it was and making little comments out loud every so often. So at least I got some entertainment out of it.

Anyway, the movie is about a woman named Judith (Jurnee Smollett-Bell). She’s in her mid-twenties and working at a millionaire matchmaking service, although her dream is to be a marriage counselor with her own business. She’s married to Brice (Lance Gross, whose been in several Tyler Perry productions), whom she has known almost her whole life. He works at a pharmacy. Their life seems to be going pretty good, although the two of them have been together for so long they’ve gotten too comfortable. And Brice is oblivious and sometimes takes her for granted. Then one day, in walks Harley (Robbie Jones) a charming billionaire who’s basically the African American Mark Zuckerberg. He’s interested in investing in the matchmaking company that Judith works for. At first she wants to keep things strictly professional, but being neglected by her husband and wanting some attention, she finds herself drawn to him. Will she or won’t she cheat on her husband? Come on, we all know what’s going to happen.

And that’s one of the main problems of the movie. It’s so predictable.  With the exception of one thing at the end, which just comes out of nowhere and makes you go “Really?”

I have nothing against Tyler Perry. He seems like a pretty nice guy (but with a huge ego). But for the love of god, he needs to hire a screenwriter. His writing is so bad. I found myself cringing in my seat as the characters spat out terrible dialog. The editing was choppy, the movie was overly preachy. But I knew going into this that that was pretty standard in a Tyler Perry movie.

Not to say that I haven’t liked any of his movies in the past. I thought Meet the Browns and Why Did I Get Married were okay. And I think Madea is pretty hysterical overall. Maybe he should just stick to comedies.

Getting back to Temptation, there was one thing that kept it from being terrible in my opinion. I thought that Lance Gross was good in his role as Brice. I felt kind of bad from him. Yes, he’s oblivious and even goes as far as forgetting Judith’s birthday two years in a row. But deep down he’s a good guy and clearly loves his wife.

Bottom line, unless you’re a huge Tyler Perry fan, I can’t really recommend this. If you’re curious, save your money and rent it from the Redbox or wait til it comes to TV.

My Rating: 5.5/10

Olympus Has Fallen

Sorry this took so long to post. Better late than never I guess.

Wow. Could it be? A Gerard Butler movie that doesn't suck? Why yes :) I wasn't really planning on seeing this movie mainly because of him. I have nothing against Gerard Butler but lately all he seems to do is these god awful romantic comedies. But I decided to give this movie a chance when I found out Morgan Freeman and Aaron Eckhart are in it. I'm glad I did. Olympus Has Fallen ended up being much better than I thought it would be.

All you really need to about the plot is Gerard Butler plays a Secret Service agent named Mike Banning. He has a pretty close relationship with President Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart) and his family, especially the President's son Connor. Everything is going great until one night something tragic happens and it forces Banning to take a desk job at the Treasurer's office, which he obviously isn't happy about. But then one day the White House is overtaken by a Korean terrorist who also kidnaps the President (there is a reason behind why he does this but I can't really remember what it is). As you might have guessed, Banning ends up being the only one who can rescue the President and save America from a big disaster.

Gerard Butler was the biggest surprise of this movie. Not that he was great, but  he made the character very likable  Aaron Eckhart did a good job too. I've been a big fan of his ever since he played Harvey Dent/Two Face in The Dark Knight. Morgan Freeman plays the Speaker of the House and he's amazing as always. Although he really doesn't have as big a role as the trailers/posters lead you to believe.

The fight scenes were pretty bad ass, although the editing kind of sucked. At times scenes were cut so quick that I couldn't tell what was going on. And some scenes were way too dark.

This movie is quite violent  just to warn you. Almost too much at times. Don't get me wrong, I like a good violent, bloody movie as much as the next person, but there's people literally getting their heads blown up in what seems like every other scene and after awhile it's like "Enough already!"

The dialog was cheesy at times, but other times it was pretty epic. Especially a lot of Gerard Butler's lines.

This is also one of those movies where it's best not to think too much about what's going on. Yes, the plot is kinda absurd and in this post 9/11 world there's no way in hell terrorist would get that close to the White House.

But still, the movie is pretty enjoyable if you don't take things too seriously. It's Die Hard meets 24 meets Independence Day (minus the aliens of course).

I hope Gerard Butler keeps doing more of these types of movies. He's really good in them. Maybe it's not too late for him after all and he can redeem himself :)

My Rating: 7.5/10

Oz the Great & Powerful (3D)

Wow. Could it be? A Disney movie that doesn't suck? (I'm of course talking present day Disney. Old school Disney movies are far superior in my opinion.) Why yes :) Oz the Great & Powerful was really good.

The movie begins much like the classic 1939 movie. It's in black and white, then once you get to Oz it's in color. It tells the story of a Kansas magician/conman named Oscar "Oz" Diggs (James Franco) who one day, gets transported (via hot air balloon) to the magical land of Oz. Because of a prophecy, pretty much everyone believes him to be the great wizard that will defeat the wicked witch and bring peace to the land. He sets out to achieve this, at first for less than noble reasons but eventually he becomes the character we all know today.

This is directed by Sam Raimi, whose previous works include the original Spiderman trilogy. He does an amazing job bringing this whole world to life. Everything looked gorgeous. I highly suggest you watch this in 3D (which for once is really good). You really feel like you're in Oz.

The whole cast did a good job overall. I'll admit, I'm not crazy about James Franco (although I liked him in Rise of the Planet of the Apes) and wasn't sure if he was the right choice to play Oz. At first I wasn't too impressed with his performance (not that it was terrible or anything)  but he eventually won me over. He's quite charming in this. I especially loved his scenes with the little China Doll girl (voiced by Joey King) , which I'll admit had me a little teary eyed. Michelle Williams was the perfect choice for Glinda. I enjoyed watching her scenes. Zach Braff does the voice for Finely, an adorable flying monkey (not a scary flying monkey we're use to, although there's plenty of them in this) who acts as Oz's faith servant and aides him on his journey.

I guess I should talking about how it compares to the 1939 movie. Is it as good? Well, it's hard for me to say either way. But it's definitely a worthy prequel/reinterpretation. There's even a few nods to the original which I thought was nice. What's great is this movie fits into that universe too. But just to warn you, this is not a musical. Infact, not counting the wonderful musical score by Danny Elfman, there's only one song (which is very brief and sung by the munchkins).

There were a few flaws, but nothing too major. The only one that really stood out was the Wicked Witch of the West's origin story. I wasn't crazy about the reason they gave for what made her who she was.

Overall this is a very sweet movie that can be enjoyed by all. I'd say it's one of the best family films I've seen in awhile. There a few scary moments which some young kids might not like, although the ones at the showing I went to seemed okay with it. Anyway, Oz the Great & Powerful is well worth seeing :)

My Rating: 8/10

The Last Exorcisim part 2

WARNING: Some major spoilers if you haven't seen the first movie.

Wow. And I don't mean wow in a good way. This movie was terrible. The only reason I wanted to see this was I liked the first one (minus the ending) and I was curious to see how it would turn out. Big mistake. I know this kind of thing has been said a million times but this was nearly an hour and a half of my life that I'll never get back.

I don't even know where to begin. I guess I'll start with the plot, although I use that term loosely. This starts off right where the last one left off. Although instead of filming it like found footage, this time it's shot as a regular film. Anyway, Nell (Ashley Bell) is the only survivor of the horrific events that occurred in the woods at the end of part one. She's sent to live at a girls home in New Orleans where she starts a new life and tries to forget what has happened to her. Easier said than done of course. For awhile things are going great. But soon the demon that was after Nell in the first one returns, determined to claim her once again.

This is the first time in a long time that a "horror" movie made me want to fall asleep in the theater. Not a damn thing happens in this movie aside from the occasional jump scare and a few disturbing images. But even those were very predictable and not scary at all. There's zero character development. I was hoping maybe they would explore the mythology behind the demon after Nell. That would've made an interesting movie in my opinion. But nope. The effects were awful. I know the movie had a low budget (about 5 million I believe) but that's no excuse. The director didn't even try! It felt like some straight to DVD crap. Seriously, there's no reason this movie needed to be made. The should've stopped after the first and left it up to the audiences imagination what happened next. But of course the studio wanted to make more money since the first movie was a pretty sizeable hit.

I really can't recommend this movie to anyone. I guess if you saw the first movie and are interested in where they take it. Even then, wait til it comes to the Redbox and rent it. Don't wast any more money than you need to. Luckily I saw an early matinee of this today so I didn't pay full price. And even better idea for you guys is go watch Sinister. It's a real horror movie that's one of the best I've seen in awhile. It's much more worth your time.

There's two reasons I'm not giving this a lower rating than I am. First because of Ashley Bell. While far from a great actress, she seemed to be the only one actually trying in this whole damn movie. Second, it's extremely short. I timed it- including the four trailers before it and the movie itself, I was only in the theater a little more than an hour and a half.

Okay, that's the end of my little rant. Now I'm going to relax, watch some real movies, and try to regain what little sanity I have left. I'm going to pretend The Last Exorcism part 2 doesn't exist.

My Rating: 4/10

Safe Haven

Well here we are with yet another Nicholas Sparks movie. I read Safe Haven awhile back and was surprised at how much I enjoyed it since I've been so disappointed with his books as of late. Same goes for the movies. Honestly, they haven’t made a good movie of one of his books since The Notebook in my opinion. So how was Safe Haven? Well, it’s not as good as The Notebook but much better than the more recent ones.

First of all, when the movie begins, it doesn't feel like a Nicholas Sparks movie at all. It starts out more like a thriller. You see a young woman named Katie (Julianne Hough) fleeing her home with no shoes on and covered in blood. Obviously something bad has just happened. She goes to her kind, elderly neighbor’s house for help. The movie then shifts to Katie with her hair dyed and cut shorter quickly catching a bus with police detective Kevin Tierney (David Lyons) following her. As the movie goes on (unless you read the book and already know) you learn Kevin’s connection to Katie and why he’s so determined to capture her. Anyway, Katie winds up in a small town in North Carolina where she finds a job as a waitress and tries to keep a low profile. Of course, things get complicated when she meets Alex (Josh Duhamel), a widowed store owner with two young children. I don’t think I really need to say much more since if you've seen one Nicholas Sparks movie, you've pretty much seen them all. Set in a small town in North Carolina or some southern equivalent? Check. Beautiful shots of the ocean and the beach? Check. Attractive couple falling in love? Check. Something tragic happens? Big check.

The director of Safe Haven is Lasse Hallstrom. He’s previous films include Chocolat, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, and another Nicholas Sparks adaptation- Dear John. Overall I think he did a pretty good job telling what boils down to your basic sappy romance movie. The cinematography was gorgeous. He did make a lot of changes from the book, but the general story is pretty much the same. Some people may not like the changes, but I was okay with it. Any time you turn a book into a movie there’s going to be changes.  What I didn't like was his use of shaky cam at the beginning. It wasn't vomit inducing or anything; I’m just not a big fan of it. The editing could have been a little tighter. And I wish he had spent a little more time with the thriller aspects of it, but of course the main focus is the love story.

The acting was pretty average. I mean, Josh Duhamel was good he just didn't have a lot to work with. Julianne Hough did surprisingly well. I mean, I still think she should stick to dancing, but she was much better than I thought she would be. The little girl who played Alex’s daughter Lexie (Mimi Kirkland) was absolutely adorable. She was quite the scene stealer. David Lyons did okay (I liked him better when he was on ER) but he was your stereotypical villain.

As with these kinds of movies, probably the only people who will like Safe Haven are women and/or you’re a Nicholas Sparks fan. It’s a sweet (sometimes too much so) little romance movie that’s fun to watch this time of year.

My Rating: 7/10

Zero Dark Thirty

My first review of 2013 and what a movie to start out with. I've been looking forward to seeing Zero Dark Thirty ever since they first announced it. It’s been getting a lot of praise lately and after seeing it last night, I can understand why. It’s an excellent movie.

Zero Dark Thirty is about the decade long hunt to track down Osama Bin Laden and the. I really don’t think I have to go into details about the plot since we all know how it turns out. Anyway, in this movie we follow a CIA operative named Maya (played by the amazingly talented Jessica Chastain) who spends several years tracking down leads and doing whatever it takes to find Bin Laden. For those of you going into this expecting some big military action type movie, you might be a little disappointed. To be honest, *POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT* the movie is a little over two and a half hours long. And for the first two hours or so it’s a lot of behind the scenes stuff. It’s not until the last thirty minutes do you actually see the big scene where they infiltrate the compound and kill Bin Laden. *END OF SPOILER*

The director is Academy Award winner Kathryn Bigelow. You might know her from a little film she did called The Hurt Locker, which won the Best Picture award two years ago. She does an amazing job taking you on this amazing journey where you know the outcome, but it has you on the edge of your seat anyway. I honestly think this was better than The Hurt Locker. Which was a good movie don’t me wrong, I just don’t think it was great. Maybe I’m still a little bitter that it beat out Avatar. Moving on.

One of the best parts to me was the performances. As I said before, Jessica Chastain is very talented. I knew when I saw her in The Debt two years ago that she’d be one to watch. I think it’s going to be a tight race between her and Jennifer Lawrence for Best Actress this year. Jason Clarke (Lawless) was my other favorite in this, playing an interrogator named Dan. There are so many other great actors in this as well, their roles are fairly small but memorable- Joel Edgerton, Jennifer Ehle, Edgar Ramirez, James Gandolfini, and many more.

The best scene is of course when they finally infiltrate the compound where Bin Laden is hiding and kill him. Wow!! It’s one of the most intense, well-made scenes I've seen in a movie in a long time. I would love to see Kathryn Bigelow make a movie just about those Navy Seals.

As much as I love this movie, it certainly isn't flawless. There’s very little character development. You leave the theater knowing about as much about the characters as you did at the start of the movie. Of course, I understand why they did this since these are based on real people and a lot of things about all this are still confidential. Also, the movie does drag a bit at times. But it more than makes up for it in the last thirty minutes.

Zero Dark Thirty is a movie I highly recommend to everyone. I have a feeling it’s going to do very well this award season. As I said in my Oscar post, I think it’s going to win Best Picture. Hope you guys enjoy it as much as I did.

My Rating: 9/10

2013 Oscars: Who Will Win?

Overall I was happy with who was nominated this year. There were a few surprises though. For example, Ben Affleck not getting nominated for Best Director. He did a fantastic job with Argo. At least the movie is nominated for Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor. Another surprise was no Best Actor nomination for John Hawkes. I thought he gave a very touching performance in The Sessions.

I could talk for hours about this so let’s move on. Below I’ve listed the main categories. Just to let you know, it’ll be who I think WILL win, not necessarily who I WANT to win.

Best Picture:

·        Zero Dark Thirty

·        Silver Linings Playbook

·        Les Miserables

·        Lincoln

·        Life of Pi

·        Beasts of the Southern Wild

·        Django Unchained

·        Argo

·        Amour

Best Actress:

·        Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty

·        Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook

·        Quvenzhane Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild

·        Emmanuele Rina, Amour

·        Naomi Watts, The Impossible

Best Actor:

·        Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln

·        Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook

·        Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables

·        Joaquin Phoenix, The Master

·        Denzel Washington, Flight

Best Supporting Actress:

·        Amy Adams, The Master

·        Sally Field, Lincoln

·        Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables

·        Helen Hunt, The Sessions

·        Jacki Weaver, Silver Linings Playbook

Best Supporting Actor:

·        Alan Arkin, Argo

·        Robert De Niro, Silver Linings Playbook

·        Phillip Seymour Hoffman, The Master

·        Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln

·        Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained

Best Director:

·        Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild

·        David O’Russell, Silver Linings Playbook

·        Stephen Spielberg, Lincoln

·        Ang Lee, Life of Pi

·        Michael Haneke, Amour

Best Original Screenplay:

·        Amour

·        Django Unchained

·        Flight

·        Moonrise Kingdom

·        Zero Dark Thirty

Best Adapted Screenplay:

·        Argo

·        Beasts of the Southern Wild

·        Silver Linings Playbook

·        Life of Pi

·        Lincoln

Best Animated Feature:

·        Brave

·        Frankenweenie

·        ParaNorman

·        The Pirates! Band of Misfits

·        Wreck-It Ralph