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Reviews
The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
My least fave out of the trilogy
Maybe my expectations were too high, or I watched the trailer too many times.
I was a little disappointed, with how slow (mentally) they seemed to make Bruce in this movie. He is supposed to be super intelligent, and a detective, but I guess they had him "give up " on life since the last movie.
I found the Catwoman to be alright, more tough than sexy for sure, and I don't think Anne Hathaway was a good choice. She did alright, but she wasn't memorable, and her outfit sucked.
Oldman and Levitt were the saving grace
Brave (2012)
Best animated movie in ages, inspiring and strong!
I haven't felt so inspired after a animated pg film in ages! There were strong female leads, without being clichéd. The Merdia and the queen are very likable and realistic characters (as realistic as an animated can be), strong of mind and body.
The movie starts off strong and beautiful and ends the same. there's some slap stick humor in there, mainly for the kids benefit, but it didn't drag on like it does in some kids movies. It had me as an adult laughing as well.
The scenery was lush, green and vibrant, with some dark forested area. Beautiful. I also liked that they incorporated "fates" instead of fairies which was refreshing and nice to see other cultures in mainstream films.
I found it most akin to Monsters Inc, because it had that same feel good message, and more subdued slapstick (unlike Shrek)
I took my 7 years old daughter and while there were a few frightening scenes, my daughter loved it.
I cried like a baby at a few scenes.
It had heart, plot and great voices!
Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)
Horrible action, horrible romance, nice CGI, acting was meh.
I was super excited to see this movie after having watched a bunch of trailers. The trailers were exciting full of action and great CGI. I especially wanted to see Chris Hemsworth, Charlize and Stewart.
The movie itself... was off to a great start; fantastic pacing, CGI/sets and of course acting. About an hour into the movie I started to loose interest, fast. The pacing slowed immensely, to the point of me yawing constantly. The scripting was lost, and the action sequences were terrible.
The acting was great from Chris Hemsworth, and Charlize and the person who played the Evil Queens brother. Hemsworth has charisma, the ability to make one laugh or say "holy ****!". He was excellent, especially in a scene where he "bares his soul". Charlize I thought stole the show, she looks magnificent (well of course). Her performance kept me interested. Stewart... She was okay. I like her in some movies (like Speak and thats one with Jodie foster). Sometimes she did truly look stoned and oh so bored. I felt like sometimes I couldn't tell what she was feeling at all. Her big pep talk I felt could have been much better and not so uneven. I felt like she had no chemistry at all, although it was interesting to watch her run around in armor.Scripting was okay, but it was clear the good lines were left to the evil queen and huntsman.
The action itself was hugely disappointing. The only decent fight scene was at the beginning of the movie, and than seemed to go down hill. Later on they were confusing, and you get to see a swarm of armor and swords and that's about it. The trailer had me thinking stewart would be trained in combat and fight a lot. Somewhat like Jovovich in Joan of arc the messenger. It wasn't anything near that. You basically get to see Stewart wearing armor, jump up a flight of stairs and dodge getting her heart stabbed. Oh she does do a couple of punches though. But to be honest, I am much happier with this, since I don't think Stewart fighting would be believable in anyway since the movie didn't make you feel she was worth fighting for, and she had no training. Yea she has a "life presence" but minus that I doubt any of the characters throughout the movie would have helped her. Snow Whites character is too bland, boring. Although I suppose after being locked in a cell for your whole life might make you like that. Her speech made my ears hurt, between her screeching, and than loud words. Oh wells, i can see why they cast her. she has a cold cruel look about her face. But seriously, my fave movie of hers is speak, its a must see! not to mention after the apple the movie goes WAY down hill. Its like lord of the rings all over again... their walking, and walking.... slow moving song playing over slow images... YAWN. Shame we didn't feel enough of a connection with snow white to actually care! Personally, I thought the trailer was way more interesting than the movie. wish I saved my movie money for something else.
Saving graces: CharliZe, a horse, chris hemsworth, CGI/ scenery Dislikes: the scripting, the pacing, the bland characters, the crappy action scenes, the fact the didn't go into more detail about how the mirror works... sighs
The Hunger Games (2012)
wonderfully shot, no sappy block buster here, fantastic acting
Movie was excellent. Yes I have read all the books and they were pretty darn tooting close. The acting was superb, all the young actors did an amazing job, and all the adults were spot on. I wish there was more screen time with Lenny Kravitz, but perhaps that's because Cinna from the book was my favorite character. Stanley (Cesear flickerman) was great!
The cinematography was wonderful, shot in fast sequences and gritty. A few slow-mo shots, a few which could have been dropped but was amazing.
Yes there was a little violence, but it was not gratuitous. And most of the sound for the battle scenes were muted. Interesting take on it.
My husband came with me, having not read the books and could follow along, and really liked the movie, even though going in, he didn't want to see it.
This movie is definitely not filmed for teens, and isn't even filmed like the generic block buster (which it is). I was extremely impressed.
Not suitable for kids under 12 I would say.
Wanderlust (2012)
Not to shabby, but not Kevin smith funny
I went into this movie without expectations and I always find that helps you enjoy a movie more.
This movie over all was funny with laugh out load moments. People in the theatre were snorting and chuckling at some parts.
There were moments when I thought the jokes went on a little too long, or weren't that funny but it was very rare.
Paul Rudd was great, and Jennifer Anniston really was too. I haven't seen Justin Theroux in anything else, and while he was alright I wouldn't say he stole the show. In fact i thought there were a couple of moments I would have appreciated if he hadn't been in them at all.
Alan Alda was hilarious, and so was Malin Akerman and a few others.
My favourite scene is probably the one from the trailer when they get chased by a naked guy, a scene with narcotics in it.
I very much liked this movie although I wouldn't rank it up there with mallrats or anything.
If you like Saturday night live, you will probably like this too
The Lorax (2012)
A really good environmental movie for kids
I went to see this movie with my 6 year old daughter and her friend (also 6 yrs old).
To be honest none of us really knew what it was about except it was based on a dr. Zues book non of us had read.
Turns out everyone in the movie lives in a land of plastic ( they have fake trees that go disco, fake grass, fake flowers), lives in a smog infested place, and pays for clean air refills from the Mr. O'Hare.
We learn the young hero of the day Ted (voiced by Zac Efron) wants to date a girl, who is into trees(the real kind) and decides to set outside of the city limit into the unknown to find her one. He meets up with the Once-ler who tells him the sad story about what happened to the real trees and perhaps an way to change things.
I thought the movie was great, we don't often get many environmentally friendly movies (All i can dredge up is fern gulley). Yes there were a couple singing numbers, but they weren't so bad,and were done in typical Dr. Zeus style (which is why we went to see it, is it not?). Some exciting CGI, and the voices were great. It was predictable, but what kids movies aren't? I personally left thinking about how it compares to our own world, where both the girls were sad it was over and that it wasn't available to rent yet!
The Expendables (2010)
Expendable was... Well, Expendable...
First off, let me say, when I saw this trailer in theatres my first thought was "Oh... My... God... this is going to be AWESOME!" Now i didn't look this movie up on IMDb or anything, before i went to see it, and perhaps i should have.
The actors i was looking forward to seeing most in this movie were : Arnold, Bruce, Jet, Jason, Mickey and Randy.
I am a huge fan of action, it doesn't even need a fantastic, I'm okay with plot holes, some bad acting, etc etc... I am easy to please.
This movie was an epic failure, mainly due to my disappointment with Arnold only having 2 minutes of screen time and Bruce only 5, Mickey was in it a little more, yet didn't take any part of the action.
Jet Li got his ass kicked several times, which may be expected since he was playing with big boys, but it often seemed he needed help to get out of it. Something i thought detracted from my expectations of him kicking ass! Randy was... well randy....
The movie didn't give you a lot to go on, an average basic and uninteresting plot : Stallone leads a team of mercenaries to go after a girl who is held in a supposedly impenetrable fortress held by a general gone bad taking bribes from an American and his body guard.
There was nothing to make you understand the connection between the mercenaries, nothing to make you really even care or like about them, except for maybe Jason S. who is give s tiny bit of character depth.
Mickey R. had a cool little monologue, that was filmed with lots of mood lighting and tight close ups. that was the highlight of his character.
Everything else was just stuff happened to guys you didn't really care about. You wouldn't have cared about who you cheered on.
I even noticed that Steve A. punches a girl full force in the face. She is still conscious with a bit of blood coming out of her nose, which i found historical! with the force of his punch he should have dislocated her jaw, or shattered her cheek bone, yet later we see her and she looks perfectly fine for having been tortured and all that. And doesn't Steve know you don't hit the head first in an interrogation? The action was indeed very very cool. Some sick action sequences, knife throwing which looked cool and some gory focus on ripping and twisting the blade.
The beginning of the movie starts off with a bang, which was probably the coolest part of the whole movie.
How every i found the direction style horrible, he cut too soon from the actual action to focus on explosions, he didn't allow time for you to get the gist of some of the cooler moves, choosing to use them in quick clips in order to keep you on your toes, when in reality it detracted from the action.
scripting was meh, except for maybe mickey R and Jason S. it was short and had a super synthetic feel for it.
and of course at the end Stallone leaves the girl he fought so hard over, which is his typical hardened lone wolf thing... like yeesh, get a new ending for your movies! I would have given this a lower rating had it not been for the cool weapons, and some of the cool knife throwing.
the acting was average, yet there was nothing to make you care about these men at all.
plot was unoriginal with no twists or anything unique.
My suggestion is go see that RED movie which has some older actors playing CIA agents on the loose. it looks like it will be much better.