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Showing posts from 2010

The Chronicles of Narnia- Voyage of the Dawn Treader

The Chronicles of Narnia- Voyage of the Dawn Treader AMC 21 Movie Theater Chicago Good This was an unimpressive movie in an unimpressive theater. I had high hopes seeing a movie in Downtown Chicago, I was disappointed . I guess I'll never find a better theater than the Grand in Winston Salem! The problem with this movie is that is was missing 2 of the 4 main characters. Apparently the older two are too old to go to Narnia, which I think is crap. I kept on waiting for a surprise appearance, since the older two were far more interesting than the younger two, however except for a dream sequence it wasn't to be. I found this story, not horrible, but definitely not as good as Prince Caspian. It's funny, out of the trilogy I felt the same about the 3rd one as I did the first. The middle one was my favorite! I don't know how close this movie is to the books, but standing alone this movie would have been quickly forgotten. In fact I almost forgot to write a review, that's

Unstoppable

Unstoppable The Grand Theater Excellent I love it when a movie is set in Pennsylvania, Yes it's a depressing looking state, but it's my depressing looking state. Oh yeah...I'm supposed to write about the movie. It was great fun. A good action flick that's well filmed and doesn't go over the top! It's predicatable, but that's no big deal. It's a funny movie and Denzel Washington is always fun to watch.

The Social Network

The Social Network The Grand Theater Excellent What a wonderful evening of story telling. I don't know if any of it is true, I don't really care. This movie was delightfully written with engaging dialogue and appropriate technical babble. I wanted it to keep going and then it just sort of ended. There wasn't really an arc to the movie more like a steady climbing hill with a note at the top that says "The End" I wanted to find out what happened to these characters next. (More than just a paragraph in the subtitles before the credits.) I wanted them to make up where they would be 20 years from now. I would have stuck around to watch more, and I would have had an enjoyable time doing so. Interesting characters which were well performed by all actors. I highly recommend this move.

The Town

The Town The Grand Theater Excellent All right Ben Affleck ! Way to direct a really engaging action flick. It wasn't whiny. I usually associate Ben Affleck with whiny though I can't really say why. Ben just kinda looks like a sissy, not in this movie though. The action was exciting without going overboard, except no one can shoot in this movie to save their life. I have better aim without cheats, falling out of an airplane on Grand Theft Auto. It was an interesting story and even though there were a few moments where you ask yourself "Why in the world did they do that?" you forgave it because you were entertained. Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 95% and even though it's not Superior, it is deserving of recognition.

The Last Exorcist

The Last Exorcist 9-11-2010 The Grand Theater Great Now I wish we found out what happened to the characters at the end of the movie, a disapointing regular feature to "Blair Witch" like movies, it was a cool idea and it was very funny. It was really scary which was good because you don't really want it to be scary and I kind of got annoyed when they did try to scare me. Try this one on video you'll have just as much fun watching it.

Flipped

Flipped 9-11-2010 The Grand Theater Excellent...but darn near Superior Where did this movie come from, and why wasn't it publicized more so that more people can see it? What a beautiful movie that's nostalgic without being annoyingly gut wrenching. I wasn't crazy about the ending which knocked it down from Superior to excellent. In spite of a disapointing ending there should be more movies made like this one and people should go see more movies like this one.

Machete

9-5-10 The Grand Theater Horrible...Great...Not Superior What can I say, it was as healthy as cotton candy. Was it trying to be a serious action flick? Sometimes. Was it a comedy? Maybe? Bad writing, dumb ending. Cool action scenes followed by ridiculous embarassing action scenes. When you add it all up what a horrible movie. You shouldn't go see it because it's so stupid...it's so dumb...it's cheap entertainment with it's decapitated heads, pretty women and ugly men both doing outlandish, illogical and implausable acts. So there, take that, it's a bad movie. By the way I liked it, but I shouldn't have. Do you want to go see it with me again? Machete Trailer

Piranha

8-28-2010 The Grand Theater Great To be quite honest this was a really stupid movie. What worked about it was the fact that they were really trying to make a stupid movie which made it outragiously entertaining. My only complaint is they spent way too much time developing a story and characters, we really don't care. Give us our dancers and are man eating fish! Piranha

Inception

7-26-2010 The Grand Theater Excellent This movie took a long time to get started and honestly it's pretty painful to get all the background neccesary to understand what's going on. Make sure you pay attention the first 45 minutes or you'll be lost for the rest of the movie. Once it gets going it's well worth the investement. It's a fun journey through different levels of dreaming with a satisfactory completion. Trailer

Toy Story 3

7-3-2010 The Grand Theater Excellent First of all, if you make a good movie you don't need 3D, unless you are trying to be visually astounding. The entire Toy Story series has no need to be such a spectacle. With that in mind, I decided to see the regular version instead of the 3D version. I suspect that there would be little difference in my review either way. Toy Story 3 was exactly what I thought it would be. It was fun and by the end you realize just how attached you are to the characters. You feel sad that Andy's all grown up. But don't worry Toy Story 3 has a great ending. My only criticism is that it took itself a little to seriously. There's a scene where all of our favorite toys are facing certain doom. This is not unlike any other cartoon movie, but I thought that the scene in this one was over the top dramatic. It switched to an adult move at this point that I don't feel was very kid friendly. I'm not a parent to shelter my children but I found this

The Karate Kid

6-28-2010 Countryside Cinema Great It would have been better if it wasn't a remake. However, Karate Kid has such a great fomula you didn't mind many things being the same as the original. In fact, I kind of got upset that it wasn't exactly like the original, only with different characters in a different setting. I though the main characters were too young. It's hard to relate to a love story with a 12 year old. Jaden Smith needs a new hair cut, he looks like a girl, no I mean he really looks like a girl. He needs also to stop acting in the same manner as his Dad. It just reinforces that he's too young to be an actor of his own making. Ok maybe I'm too picky, but it's just a thought. I thought Jackie Chan (who I'm not a big fan of) showed a great deal of emotion and acted very well, even if it was hard to understand him from time to time. Do not expect this to be as good as the original because it's not, however I think they got it right. Just like th

Gladiator...I mean Robin Hood

5/16/2010 The Grand Theater Good I wonder what would happen if you were to watch Gladiator and Robin Hood at the same time. Now I don't know for sure but here's my guess. At exactly the same time you would have.... Big opening battle (Wow this is cool!) Blah-blah-blah-blah-plot-plot-plot-plot-plot Smaller but still cool battle. Blah-blah-blah-blah-develope the story, oh isn't that funny and clever... Another Cool battle scene Blah-blah-blah-blah- love-love-love-love Yeah kill that guy, I wish I could shoot an arrow like that. Blah-blah-blah-blah-oh that's why he's the way he is... Yes Big battle. The end. Let's get rid of the blah-blah-blah-blah and just give us 100 minutes of what we really want. Big Epice unrealistic battles! That's all I have to say about that... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSqL9ygBCck

Iron Man II

5/7/2010 The Grand Theater Excellent Well its about time! I suppose nearly 2 months between movies for a normal person is not unusual, but for me it's an eternity. Honestly there wasn't much in the last few weeks I wanted to see (Not that I had the time). Thankfully Iron Man II came along and did not disappoint . I was skeptical before watching the first Iron Man but was pleasantly surprised. This time I knew what to expect and got exactly what I expected, funny characters and good fun action. You're not going to be surprised by this movie, but you won't be disappointed either. Now do not worry, there are plenty of movies coming out in the next few months that I will definitely see. I haven't fallen completely off the wagon! Iron Man Trailer

Shutter Island

3/13/2010 Wynsong Cinemas Clemmons Excellent Excellent but darn near superior. The only thing keeping it off the superior list is that fact that it just wasn't quite as good as the ones on the Superior list. I was worried that the movie was going to be more like a haunted house movie, but it wasn't. In fact all of the "supernatural" things happen only during dream sequences. The last 20 minutes of the movie are the best, and they really make the movie great. Even though I figured out what was probably going to happen, I was still surprised by the way it was all wrapped up. All in all some gret film-making. I fully recommend this one! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYVrHkYoY80

Alice in Wonderland

Wynsong Cinemas Clemmons 3-13-2010 Good Honestly a very good good, but not a good great. Could it be a good with benefits? First of all don't waste your money on the 3-D, it's not worth it. Whereas Avatar and Christmas Carol were greatly enhanced by the 3-D features, in Alice it was just an excuse to charge you an extra $3.00. Johnny Depp, as always, was excellent, but Alice looked to young to be a 20 year old considering marriage, and too old to be the Alice of our childhood. Also not too good for kids, much too scary and violent. If I took Charlotte she would have spent 90% of the movie covering her eyes. I guess that's the big problem with the movie. Was it a kid's movie, or an adult movie. I think that by trying to be both it was neither. Try again Disney... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjMkNrX60mA

The Crazies

The Grand Theater 3-2-2010 Great It's been real busy lately so I haven't made it out to a movie for a while. This zombie-like movie ended up being a survival film, which really worked. I particulary appreciated some of the very interesting camera angles. They were different without being annoying or cliche. That was the best aspect of the film. Not really scary, not overly gory, not extremely shocking, but it was an enjoyable movie that provides for a well spent evening. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEMZwQulT1Q

Daybreakers

2-6-2010 The Grand Theater Good This movie was creepy. It was scary, but not in a good way. It was scary in a "I'm going to jump out from a dark corner" sort of way. I find those kind of movies more annoying then truly scary. I don't like it when you use tricks, actually have the brainpower to write a convincingly scary story, and then get good enough actors who can truly be scary, not creepy. The concept of the show was good enough, but it was too gorry. Not that I don't like gorry. Look at Zombieland, I loved the Gorry in that movie. However the Gorry in Daybreakers wasn't as effective. Sorry to be such a bummer, but Daybreakers just didn't deliver for me. No wonder I was the only one in the theater. Private screening are kind of cool though. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9roxtugaUo

Edge of Darkness

1-29-2010 The Grand Theater Great I was worried at first about this movie. Any movie with the premise of a daughter being murdered might not be a good movie for me to see. However it wasn't overly dramatic and it was a good drama. Nothing spectacular from acting to writing to story, but it was a fun movie nonetheless. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuLI80y0v_s

The Book of Eli

1-26-2010 The Grand Theater Excellent This was a bad-A## bible movie! Although it was a little slow at the begining I loved the idea of the bible being the most sought after and powerful book in the world. I loved the idea that Eli's mission was to protect it at all cost and deliver it to a place where it would rebuild the world. I loved how no weapon formed against Eli was able to prosper, and I loved then end when you found out.... Yeah right like I'd ruin it for you! Go see it yourself! Sure the details are a bit peculiar but I have a rule for any movie that has anything to do with the end of the world. That rule is: Don't focus too much on the details, if you do you're focusing on the wrong part of the story. So go get some religion, some hard core religion, and fill up your violence quota all in one night! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKfZrbS79To

The Blind Side

1-19-2010 The Grand Theater Great This was the best movie Sandra Bullock has ever done. It's funny and sweet. It's the good version of "Precious" I really enjoyed the dialouge and Sandra Bullock delivered her lines perfectly. I highly reccomend! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khtBvQdxta4

The Lovely Bones

1-15-10 The Grand Theater Great After thinking about it I really did like this movie, it just wasn't as good as it could have been. The problem is it's "In Between." The dead girl didn't connect in any way with her family trying to solve her murder. This made it feel hap-hazard. The dead girl really had no active role in the plot of the movie. Without her the ending would have been the same. I wanted the ghost girl to have a part in the living people finding her killer, or her body. Even just given a clue, but she didn't. The after-life wasn't real enough, or visually spectacular enough, to be believable and I found myself asking what's the point. It had good ideas, especially being told from the perspective of the murdered girl, but the ideas weren't developed enough. It could have been more. The murderer should have known somehow that the dead girl was watching. The dead girls sister should have seen the dead girl or felt her presence. That would