Avatar

I was thinking of attempting to write a real review, but I'd rather not until I learn from a teacher. Which probably won't happen. :(

I saw Avatar 3D and it was visually really pretty and awesome and creative and cool beans. But aside from that the story wasn't that new or that clever. Most of the characters were one dimensional, and I'm still trying to figure out why I sympathized with the lead character. He was stupid most of the time, I think it was just cause he's crippled. Some things didn't really make sense to me, like why the People felt they could learn from him... it seemed like a loophole for him to be accepted to the group. Of course it was emotional because of the environment and stuff, which was a little overkill. Also, the dialog was lacking aka it was corny. Everything was almost cliche. The originality only comes from all the animals and plants and space and technology and it looks very great, as I said. The movie did what it was supposed to, which is entertain, excite and what have you and they probably spent the budget on cgi rather than story and whatever.

2 1/2 out of 4.

Fantastic Mr. Fox

I was going to go to the library and borrow this book today to contrast it, but I probably shouldn't since I have to 'study.' BLEHHH

Anyways... I did an embarrassing thing and decided to try to record a video review for the Rotten Tomatoes Show, and I realized that it's a lot harder than it looks and that my speech teacher was ultimately right; I need more enthusiasm. And Jimmy Fallon was right; I need to up my volume (which I tried to do with the iMovie settings). But I uploaded it anyways, in case I get lucky. You never know, but please don't watch it.

Here's basically what I said, or what I meant to say but it came out differently on video:

Fantastic Mr. Fox is another Roald Dahl book to movie adaptation with a few changes.

Director Wes Anderson has churned another successful movie adaptation as well as another successful 'Wes Anderson' movie.

Even with the stop motion being a little strange at times, there is never a dull moment in this movie. Even with the still shots of the characters, you see the little movement of the hairs on their heads.

The attention to detail by Wes Anderson is very satisfying throughout the movie.

Some, if not all, of the voice recordings were done on set to get the real ambient noises of the fields and such.

Although, sometimes the humor is somewhat adult, it is still more age appropriate than Where the Wild Things are.

It is very lighthearted and funny and gratifying till the end.

George Clooney, Jason Schwartzman, and Michael Gambon stand out for me as the voice actors, even though I kept thinking of Dumbledore for the later. The deliveries of the lines are perfect.

Overall, Fantastic Mr. Fox doesn't take itself too seriously and is charming for both adults and children.

Side note: It has one of the best scenes I could imagine. Please watch it.

Wild Things you make my heart sing.

Where the Wild Things Are

This movie... immediately after it started, I already felt this pit in my stomach, an ache in my heart for childhood and it's emotional toll. Max Records was pretty good at displaying all those emotions and it made me irk with uncomfortableness because it's half frustrating to see him that way and half sad cause you can kind of familiarize with him. I was really happy at some parts and really sad at most of the parts, and I think overall it was too much sad and not enough happy. I thought the overall theme was very easy to catch and it didn't take away from the lovable book, but I did think with the movie, it kind of took the easy way out with things especially with the ending. I just didn't feel it was quite right... I still like it. I thought some of the scenes could have managed without the shakiness and dizziness, but most of the scenes were beautifully shot.
2 1/2 out of 4.

Short Post about Lying

The Invention of Lying

Before the movie even starts, you get your pure dose of Ricky Gervais during the credits. This movie pretty much is just a movie for his fans. I love Ricky Gervais, but that doesn't mean that I love this movie. I watched it online, a bad quality rip, without watching the full thing on the little screen it was showing on, doing other things. But I did start out watching the whole thing with no distractions, but then it started to get kind of boring. He tries to save peoples lives with lies, and we just see him going around to background music. I guess that's an awe, but it was stretched out a little long and it got kind of corny. I was trying to figure out what about not knowing how to lie makes people so shallow and stupid... but I guess those people were just that way and don't know how to cover it. It made me think a little about what it would really be like, and I wonder if this was a good depiction or not. It is up to your imagination.

It gets a little cliche by the end, but actually, really cliche and I questioned what the point was. It was pretty silly and I like it for the cameos and all the funny parts were basically in the trailers but it was pretty eh otherwise.

2 out of 4. I love Gervais though. He took an idea, but didn't really make it into a unique story like he could have, just used it for the laffs and there weren't that many.

Brothers Bloom

First impressions:

-Cute
-Brick cameos!
-Cool shots! and locations!
-A little slow
-Rachel Weisz!
-Reminded me a little bit of Wes Anderson
-Beginning to get a little boring
-Don't care much for the characters
-Robbie Coltrane will always be Hagrid

I didn't really pay attention to the movie, because it was confusing me and I think it confused itself sometimes. Brick confused me a little, but in the end it made sense. And this one wasn't that way. But honestly, I had to read the plot summary to understand it better, and I could see where it was trying to get to, and it almost did it right, but not quite. The sadness was lost. I might watch it again, but otherwise I can't say anything more. Except I still like Rian Johnson's style and his music!

Zombieland.

Another Zombie movie... some more funny Woody Harrelson... some more violence and blood. As much as I didn't want to watch this movie because it looked like a zombie version of freaking Inglourious Basterds, I watched it because it was free and because I grew a liking to Jesse Eisenberg.

The movie knows its approaching known territory, but whatever it chose to do, it stuck to it and that worked effectively. From the beginning you knew it what you were in for, and as the movie progressed it didn't get boring because refreshing new ideas came in with a nice flow to it. I could see this being a book before it was made into a movie, because of the rules the Jesse Eisenberg character has. The little subtleties made comedic moments more comedic, or violence moments more comedic, or anything to that nature. It was a little corny in the dramatic scenes and there are some plot holes and predictability. I could look over those for the main surprise, the best surprise that all should see.

I think some of it is kind of self-aware and a product of our times (Hannah Montana, what?), but I think it could translate to a kind of zombie classic to some bros.

Blah blah blah. IM BORING

I give it a 3(.25) out of 4.

Movie Fest Part 6!

Two Lovers
I actually saw this before Special, but forgot to write about it. I feel like story wasn't anything new, but Joaquin Phoenix's performance and the progression of the story felt very well executed. I feel like the screenplay followed everything I learned in my screenplay class, as far as format. Gwenyth Paltrow's usage in this movie bothered me, but it didn't take away from the film. You are made to hate her character, I think anyways. It was worth watching.

Movie Fest Part 5!

Special
This is going to be cute. At first I thought it was going to be kind of artsy fartsy with the camera, but overall it just seemed like a low budget indie film. Michael Rappaport (sp? lazy to check) was very convincing and good in this role and I really liked it. I think it was kind of silly sometimes in the character and situation exaggerations. But I still think it was quite clever and nicely written and shot. If I had to I would probably give it a 3/4.

Movie Fest Part 4!

A Christmas Tale
Honest to blog, I got tired of reading the subtitles and got side tracked and wanted to trade it in for a new movie before Blockbuster closed, so my opinion is ehhh. My first impressions were that it was intriguing with its intertwining stories all within one family, and it was creative in the shots and subjectivity. The dialogue, like in many French films, is sharp and romantically written. I felt like I was reading a nice book. At some point I thought it kind of went into mediocre territory, but it still turned around and kept its edge. I lost some story points by getting distracted and multitasking, so the ending of the movie was kind of lost on me. From what I gathered, it was a pretty good film, but I wouldn't say great.

Movie Fest Part 3!

Good Dick
I like watching odd [indie] comedies, and usually they are pretty rewarding to watch. I felt like this one did not offer anything valuable to me at all. Yes, I got to see Jason Ritter's cuteness all over, and got a few giggles from awkward situations, but I feel a love story, even if it does not end happy (which this one did, somewhat) should have a take home message or redeeming quality to it. I thought plot points were conveniently included to complete the story, but was not fully evolved. The acting wasn't bad, but Jason Ritter didn't really seem to fit the part for me only because of one character quality the script decided to include. Overall, it's pretty unmemorable and stagnant.

Movie Fest Break, for the theaters!

Wow, I realized this could have been a mistake when the fully black screen would shine at me bright names that would come and go and leave little images on the cone cells of my retina. WHAT.

Anyways, I have this grudge against Tarantino without a good reason. Liking something cool and innovative eventually backfires; for example: Family Guy. But the good stuff avoids this, and Tarantino films for me hasn't been an example of that. I remember liking Reservoir Dogs, and not really understanding the fame behind Pulp Fiction, but I guess the diner scene was pretty cool. My thoughts were probably something along the lines of: classic dance scene, WTF she's dying or something, WTF brains, WTF. Anyways, I remember when Death Proof came out, and I kind of defended it. I thought the dialoge was cool, but I guess in the end it was a really boring movie with too much gross stuff. So, overall, Tarantino is very overrated where people just seem to like him just because its cool. Whenever he is on Conan... he freaks me out, and not because of his face*, but because he is awkward and has a weird sense of humor.

With that said, I really did not want to like Inglourious Basterds and only went to see it because 1) it's the only decent thing out in theaters and 2) I wanted to see for myself and form a true opinion. I tried to watch it online, but the beginning had no visible subtitles and that was not cool.

Anyways, when it started it was interesting. I thought it was funny how Landa said that he wanted to switch to English. I thought it was another way for Hollywood to switch to the preferred language, but it turned out to be part of the plot as well. Good job Tarantino. Even though I knew that scalping would happen, it still grossed me out. I know that Tarantino is kind of known for his violence and whatnot, but it still is gross and I don't see how it is crucial to the story or the already nicely shot scenes. I guess its that's part of the guy factor though. Brad Pitt's accent is horrible and annoying, but still funny unfortunately. Oh yeah, I have a grudge against Pitt as well. The deafening music to cause drama didn't work out for me, as well as the slow close-ups that were way too close. It was way dramaticized, like a lot of the movie was. Everything is overdid in this movie, overall. The movie was long, the scenes were too long, etc. The only part that was shorter than I thought was the part with BJ Novak and Pitt together. I was a little sad about that. It seemed like they had more screen time. But a great thing about this movie was the guy who played Landa of course. He is awesome. The end.

As for the story, I thought it was a cool story and it's always good when everything comes together in the end. I could have had more of the girl story, but I see that it was pretty unnecessary to the already long movie. I can't recall every minute of it, but I think a few scenes could have been compressed, especially the bar scene. I can't really take any time away from the Landa scenes, but maybe some Pitt scenes** and the close up of violent acts**.

I was going to give it a 3... but my scoring system is flawed, because when I watch cable movies I always look at the rating and 2 1/2 was never good enough for me to watch and I feel like it's a failing score and is too harsh... but... actually it's still good according to rotten tomatoes. I GIVE IT A 2 1/2. K BYE


*Partially because of his face and voice and overall package.
**Due to grudge

Movie Fest Part 2!

The Reader
The movie was about two hours and although it felt like it, the story unfolded itself like a book. That's cool since the movie was based on a book. There weren't much of dull moments, and often very beautiful and heart-wrenching moments. In the beginning, I realized my immaturity because I kept giggling and feeling embarrassed for watching it. I felt that the characters themselves could have been developed more, unless I missed something (probably everything in the book). But of course, Kate Winslet is good in it, although I don't see the academy award winner quality... but who am I to say. Plus I don't know all the nominees and haven't watched them all. It's just a thought. Like everything else. Beautifully shot. The end.

Movie Fest!

So, I have a little more than a week off. I decided to take part of this Blockbuster deal which is $10 for a week and you can exchange one movie as many times as you want. I am also reading Harry Potter and hopefully will start The Neverending Story and The Corrections. So... instead of writing my stupid little entries, I'll just write a few thoughts on each movie I watch.

Synecdoche, New York
During the beginning, I just kept thinking, when will the good stuff start? Only to realize that this was all there was going to be, thus I started to doze off a little. I had to start the last 20 minutes over after I woke up. The last 30 minutes is where its at (out of two hours), and that is not really a cool factor in my book. But overall, the story is really complex and I think it calls for a second watching since it is Kaufman material. It plays out a really dramatic and long character arc, which could be very meaningful... But, I only have a week to watch as many movies as I can and milk that Blockbuster teet. I laughed out loud during a few good moments, but not quite memorable were they as say... Eternal Sunshine or Adaptation.

Next up... The Reader

Boy in the Striped Pajamas

I am not sure what to think of this movie, because every year a WWII movie comes out that is always sad and sometimes resolving. I rented it knowing it would be sad, especially because children are involved. What did I expect exactly?

I think I expected more of the children's spirit taking over the movie, and in this case it was showcased but was not the main thread in the movie. I very much loved the characters the two boys played and found it a little frustrating that they would include such a silly character as the daughter and mother. It tried to include the spectrum of situations that the Germans of this era had to suffer. I thought it was interesting, because not all movies have done that, and necessary for the same reason (for it to branch off).

I was a little irked by the long delays when a character would be staring off-screen and then you can sort of guess what they're looking at, but they eventually cut to it. Suspense, mystery, useless? I liked the camerawork otherwise, and it seemed visually pleasing. In the end, it was pretty dramatic and emotional, thus pretty well executed. It was good, but I am partially on the fence because you can't just say it's bad for some reason. More than trying to tell the stories of the children, I think it was just to give some awareness of consequences and stuff. I'll get back to ya on that.

3 out of 4.

I don't have any smart pun for this one.

I did read a review before watching this movie, just to find out if it was worth watching or not. Also, I didn't really fully watch the movie, mainly listened and watched some while studying. I know there must be some kind of sin against that, but here's what I thought anyway of World's Greatest Dad.

It's been awhile since I've seen Robin Williams in any recent movie, but I did see him on Conan doing his usual crazy jokes and controlling the whole interview type thing. It's hard for me to remember that he is a good actor, and a varied one, because he is a comedian first. Right? Anyways, I read Brett Elrich's review of this movie and just remember him saying it is a really dark comedy. When I think of dark comedy, I think of In Bruges...which I really liked. I didn't have any expectations otherwise, because Brett's review was pretty simple: It was good because the indie director had his own flair in his indie movie, unlike most indies that try to be different but all seem the same.

He had a good point. I was actually going to watch Inglorious Bastards (online, so it was horrible quality and there weren't visible subtitles in the beginning), but it just wasn't worth it. So I guess Greatest Dad was easy to get into. It didn't take itself so seriously that it almost seemed like a joke. I could see the good and bad qualities of that. During this really emotional scene, the sound was muted with just a song. The director really focused on using songs for their lyrics and parallelism, but the song felt badly used. It was chipper. This could be part of his style, but it made me feel awkward. There are a few parts like that. I feel like they introduced some things that were abandoned by the end of the movie, and overall they were unnecessary plot points. I guess I'll rip off Brett and say that it was really interesting to watch because of this kind of fresh attempt of a style. There is this montage of a scene that was funny yet pretty dark. It worked in the scene, and in the end I was pretty shook up. The movie could have been shorter still, because much of the scenes (in screenwriting terms) after the second false epiphany I guess... were dragged on. I really liked the ending and thought it was worth watching.

3 out of 4.

District 9 is the new Area 51

What a lame title... oh how I carry the shame.

I came into this movie without reading any reviews and only seeing all those teaser trailers and viral marketing signs, or what have you. My roommate mentioned that it might be shaky like a fake documentary (Cloverfield???), but I wasn't worried about it being as bad (visually) as Cloverfield because of all the good reviews I saw based on the Rotten Tomatoes percentage. I should have known though, with the footage of that girl that always spoke in the beginning of the trailer... I always thought it was a real thing until it got to the aliens.

I tend to fear what the person I'm seeing it with thinks of the movie, especially when I dragged them to see it. So in the beginning, based on my roommate's vibes, I thought maybe it was too slow and felt like it was dragging on, but I still very much enjoyed the interviews and information the people were giving us, as compared to Paper Heart. It just sort of felt longer than a slightly less than 2 hour movie. At the point where they started to introduce the main character, Wikus, I got a little confused because I must have missed that they were talking about him in the past tense and the footage is in present tense for the narrative. The transition from documentary and narrative were pretty well executed. The shots didn't need to be so muddled at times, but I've noticed that it happens with all action scenes in movies.

Without really thinking about what the movie was going to explore, I was so amazed at how much social commentary they shoved into the movie. It made me so sad about mankind, and reminded me of my emotional feelings towards animals. The acting was really good and visual effects were amazing. Some of the plot points of course weren't explained or felt like plot holes. But I don't want to spoil anything. Towards the end, I just couldn't get enough and I would not mind if there will be a sequel, but it is still amazing on its own.

Three and a half out of Four.

Perhaps my heart too, is made out of paper.

I tried to refrain myself from reading too much about Paper Heart before seeing it. Initially, I gained interest in watching the film because the fan girl side of me wanted to see the parallel between the narrative and Charlyne Yi and Michael Cera's real relationship. Then I saw a review of it in Spin Magazine and couldn't help myself. One star?! How could this happen. I don't even remember what the review said, but I already had a distaste for the movie. I started to look up more about Charlyne Yi, and I thought her comedy was cute. She was on Conan, and made me laugh. I almost felt like the slate was cleared. While searching for things, I read that the Charlyne and Michael's relationship was a fabrication according to Charlyne in an interview. Wait what...? Why?

Then I went to see the movie and immediately I felt like something was forced. Oh right, it was the beginning where she walks around trying to interview people. I just saw this exact clip online of her just walking up to people and putting the microphone in front of people's faces without asking anything. She does it again, but this time asking about love to get the same punchline- her weird face and her open mouth and people walking away. As the movie progressed, her incessant laughter became a factor of fake-ness and annoyed me. I think the use of having real interviews as a way of her learning about love was a little awkward, once again, because she is in character and asks questions referring to her pretend boyfriend in the film. Of course, I kept in the back of my mind the whole idea that their relationship was fake. I enjoyed the whole paper reenactments of the stories the subjects gave, and thought they were the cutest, but maybe more suitable as a short film with just the interview parts. The relationship between Charlyne and Michael was supposed to be cute, but ultimately made me sick of how cute they tried to be. I actually didn't feel their chemistry, it was just awkward love I suppose... So forced and fake! In the end, I liked the twist because it was not the cliche approach everyone probably expected, but I didn't think it was that funny like it tried to be. Ultimately, it tried hard to seem like it was documenting a real relationship and what it is like, but the forced situations made it difficult to really care about the character's relationship and made it seemed unreal.

I might've read this and so it's fresh in my mind to say, but it was too cute for it's own good. From now on, I won't read or watch reviews before watching movies so I feel better about my reviews... but I am still very self-conscious about them. Thus, not many people will read this. :)

I would still give it 2 1/2 out of 4.