Castle in the Sky (1986)

Rating: 80%
Now I saw this before My Neighbor Totoro, but it was the kind of movie that you have to see twice just like Howl's Moving Castle. Anyway, here's my review for Castle in the Sky.

Plot: Sheeta lives alone in her farm after her parents died until these men lead by Colonel Muska took her away. They send her on an airship until a family of pirates attack the ship in attempt to steal Sheeta's crystal necklace. When Sheeta tries to escape, she accidentally falls off the ship, but then he crystal necklace magically slows her fall until she is rescued by a boy named Pazu. Sheeta and Pazu continue to try to escape the pirates and Muska as they continue to chase her as they end up also looking for the mysterious castle in the sky called Laputa.
  

I thought this was a very interesting movie. The whole mystery about Laputa and Sheeta's necklace and so on did keep me very interested when I first watched this film. The characters are also very fun to watch. What I also really enjoy personally are some of the choices of voice actors. I mean we have Debi Derryberry (known as the voice of Jimmy Neutron) as young Sheeta, and then we have some of my favorite voice actors like Corey Burton who voiced for various characters, Jim Cummings as the General, and most of all, Mark Hamil (yes I do mean Luke Skywalker) as Colonel Muska.

Characters:
Sheeta: Sheeta was a nice character. I mean most of the time she was this kind of innocent caring about people kind of person that you probably expect out of what she secretly turns out to be.
Colonel Muska: I really liked him the best. He was just this cunning, determined, evil man and Mark Hamill did a really good job at displaying that through his voice acting.   

Music: The music was pretty good, though I must say that the ending song sounds really similar to the one at the end of Kiki's Delivery Service.

And that's my review for Castle in the Sky. It's a nice film with some darn good voice actors, an interesting story and some characters that are just ether cool or fun to watch.

My Neighbor Totoro (1988)

Rating: 75%
So my friends Meg and Candra have been suggesting that I take a look at more Miyazaki films. And just the other night, Candra even found and sent a link for me to watch this particular film in no time flat. So here's my review of My Neighbor Totoro.

Plot: Satsuki and Mei are two sisters who move into a house in the countryside of Japan to live closer to where their mother is in the hospital. But while Mei is playing one day while Satsuki is in school, she finds these two magical creatures who she chases through a briar patch and into the hallow of a large camphor tree where she meets a large spirit called Totoro.

Well so far of all that Miyazaki films, this one I think is the one that's for kids the most. I mean it just has that more kiddish feeling with seeing these spirits and with the two main characters not being very old. (Satsuki is 10 and Mei is 4.) Plus, the story is very, very, simple, but that's hardly a bad thing cause the story is very nice. The animation is very well done as is highly expected of a Miyazaki film. Altogether, it may not me the most creative or complex of Miyazaki's films, but we still get a very nice movie that we can enjoy. *WARNING SPOILERS* However, I have to point out - and Candra has my back on this - I think it's really creepy that Satsuki and Mei where having that bath together with their dad. I mean with their mom that's fine but their dad...just...no. *END OF SPOILERS*

Characters:
Satsuki and Mei: It goes without saying that they especially were what makes this movie so much more for kids Miyazaki's films. Because unlike his other films like Howl's Moving Castle, Castle in the Sky, and even Kiki's Delivery service and Spirited Away a little bit, the main characters of this film are stupid young. Now on a whole I find them to be fun characters considering how they are fun and their personalities are very believable considering their ages.
Totoro and Catbus: Now how I easily like both of these characters is simply how they have one thing in common; they were voiced by my favorite voice actor, Frank Welker. Now unfortunately, I do find it a down that Totoro wasn't in the movie as much as I would've liked to have seen him, but considering what he is and how he set up, it does make a little bit of sense. But both of these characters were nice and you do have to like Catbus for just how creative that creature is.

Music: I didn't pay attention to too much of the score, but I did like the actual song "My Neighbor Totoro" I mean I didn't listen to the whole song, but the chorus does tend to get stuck in my head.

And that's my review for My Neighbor Totoro. It's a nice, more for kids film with a couple of minor issues but on a whole a good movie to enjoy.      

Grease (1978)

Rating: 40%
Now shortly after I went to see Rock of Ages with Megan and while we were waiting for her mom to pick her up before I went to work, she found out that I had yet to ever see this movie. So she suggested that I finally see it so I picked it up from the library a couple of days ago and saw it yesterday and here's how it turned out.

Plot: Over the summer, Danny falls in love with this Australian girl named Sandy at the beach. When summer ends, Danny assures Sandy that they will meet again someday even though she will be going back to Australia. But in the beginning of school, it turns out that Sandy ends up staying and going to Danny's school. They meet again with their friends, but Danny tries to stick to his bad boy attitude for his friends during the reuniting and their relationship gets jeopardized.   

Eh, to put it bluntly, this was good really just for the music in terms of finding how where they originate. I don't really care for the story is just that it isn't all that appealing to me. Mostly on how the story was just too darn similar to High School Musical. In fact, according to Meg, I'm not that far, she actually described this movie as the ORIGINAL High School Musical only difference is there's more sex, smoking and stuff like that. Maybe if I never knew anything about HSM, I would care for this movie (well who wouldn't if you've never seen HSM) but I have so...yeah it's not that big of a deal as a movie or as a musical to me.

Actors/Characters:
John Travolta/Danny Zuko: Since I view him as the original Troy Bolton, I really didn't care for him. Because much like Troy, he was being a moron at plenty of points that result in his love interest's feelings getting hurt, and he and his friends have some rivalry against another gang like how Troy and his team kind of have a rivalry against the team where they're trying to win the championship. I will give him points for being a more believable character then Troy, and that he's being remembered longer than him, but that's it.
Olivia Newton-John/Sandy: At first, I really liked her character. She was smart, reasonable and did kind of stand out from the crowd, but I really didn't like what she did at the very end. I won't say what happened, but in a morale sense, she lost most of my respect.

Music: Really good music. I'm glad to know how the songs, "You're the one I want" and "We Go Together" came from.

And that's my review for Grease. It's not horrible, but I guess I delayed watching this movie long enough, plus saw HSM first that kept me from finding it appealing in any way outside of the music.

Rock of Ages (2012)

Rating: 60%
So this afternoon I saw this with my friend Megan before going to work, and this is pretty much how it turned out.

Plot: Sheerie travels to Los Angeles to become a singer, and barback Drew helps her get a job at the The Bourbon Room where the owner Denny and his right-hand man Lonny arrange for Stacee Jaxx to appear at their bar. Meanwhile the mayor's wife who is a religious conservative wife is trying to shut down The Bourbon Room and right L.A. of Rock and Roll.

On a whole, this was completely what I expected. The music is awesome, the choreography was well done and even clever at some really nice points, some of the characters were either interesting or just a lot of fun to watch. And to the movie's credit, the one good that was unexpected was that the comedy was actually really good for the most part. But what really makes the movie falls pretty flat is how the story is just so freaking cheesy. I mean on a whole, the story make the movie basically just Hairspray, Glee and High School Musical put together, but with awesome, classic rock n' roll. 

Actors/Characters:
Julianne Hough and Diego Boneta/Sherrie and Drew: Yeah to summarize them, they were just the Troy & Gabrielle/ Finn and Rachel of the movie. Honestly, their part in the film may be the main reason why this film fell flat in terms of story. I won't say what happens but it just didn't work.
Alec Baldwin and Russell Brand/Denny and Lonny: Now separate they were just themselves. Russell Brand was being Russell Brand, and Alec Baldwin was roughly being like he is as Jack Donaghy. But together they were pretty awesome. I won't say anything else except there is a scene with them that was probably one of the best parts of the movie.    
Tom Cruise/Stacee Jaxx: Now on a whole, I'm not very big on Tom Cruise in general. But when I saw him in the trailers for this movie, he got my attention. For the most part, I wasn't disappointed. He did a really good job with being this rock star that pretty much has it all, and as far has pretty much singing and dancing like one, he was pretty cool.

Music: Pfff. Do I have to say anything? The music is just plain awesome. I mean "Dead or Alive", "Pour Some Sugar on Me", "I Love Rock 'n' Roll", "We Built This City", it's just a whole classic collection of excellent Rock 'n' Roll music. My only issue is "Don't Stop Believing", *WARNING SPOILER* I mean it is a nice song and the first time it was played ended as one of the funniest parts of the film, but it's just that the movie ended with it, which made it way too much like Glee. True, this is based on a Broadway musical that started a couple of years before Glee...but honestly, which one are we going to think of more during the end of the movie, Glee, which most of us know about whether we watch it or not, or the Broadway version of Rock of Ages which most of us probably hardly know about outside of this film. *END OF SPOILER*

Editing: Most of the editing was pretty good except for during the second time Sherrie and Drew are at the Hollywood sign when there was a bad cut where Drew has his mouth partly open and his arms are more spread but then it automatically cuts to his having his mouth closed and his harms down. Just bad cut over the sake of continuity.

And that's my review for Rock of Ages. If you like a movie with Rock 'n' Roll songs, really nice choreography, and maybe even a plot that's way to similar to Hairspray, High School Musical and Glee, chances are you are going to get what you paid for and enjoy it. Otherwise...it's probably just the music and some of the comedy that would make it worth your while in anyway.


and here's the link to my video review for the film:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNpccQcrm5c&feature=g-all-u

The Shining (1980)

Rating: 95%
So the other night, my parents to me and my siblings and my brother's girlfriend and my sister's boyfriend to the night tour of the Stanley Hotel, the hotel where Stephen King came up with the book, The Shining. Now I waited until the next day to watch the movie since it was past midnight by the time we came home. So here's my review for The Shining.

Plot: Jack Torrence is a former school teacher who gets the job as the winter caretaker at the Overlook Hotel. He brings his wife, Wendy and his son Danny with him. At first, they all seem to really enjoy being at the hotel, but then mysterious things begin to happens and Jack is starting to act strangely.

What can I say? It's a very good movie. It's mysterious, it's suspenseful, it has one of the most famous movie quotes known to man, the cinematography is good, the acting is extremely well done, it just doesn't it's just very well as a horror film. I mean the only issue I would definitely say is how it is based on the novel loosely. I mean I haven't read the book, but there are a couple of things that are different that I thought where a little lame, mostly that they changes the number of that mysterious room to 237 instead of 217. But nonetheless, it's still a very well done movie that so many film geeks are very familiar with.

Actors/Characters:
Jack Nicholson/Jack Torrence: I really liked his character. He was crazy and sinister, which may have made me think a little too much of his performance as The Joker in Batman, but was different enough that I could enjoy watching him without imagining him with green hair and a white face.  
Shelley Duvall/Wendy Torrence: She did a very good job with her character too. She really displayed what was happening to this character really well with how she was being scared or just plain worried for her family. I understand that apparently she's something of a different character in the book, I wonder how different I would find her if I ever read it.  
Danny Lloyd/Danny Torrence: I though he also did a really good job as a child actor. With how he portrayed Danny and "Tony", and his expression when he got really scared or found out something bad through his 'shining' powers.

Music: Really suspenseful. Best parts of the score would have to be the music for the beginning and the climax, they just really gave you this suspenseful and dark feeling.

Editing: I liked a lot of the editing, but I thought they gave away a little too much with showing the blood from the elevator so many times before Wendy sees it and how it seemed off that Jack would just about be heading to the ghost party, and then all of the sudden it cuts to Dick calling that friend of his.

And that's my review for The Shining. It's an excellent horror film where the only problems are how it's not too loyal to the book and with some of the disagreements I have with the editing.

The Secret of NIMH (1982)

Rating: 100%
Ah yes. Here we have another Don Bluth film that was easily one of my favorite non-Disney movies to watch growing up. A movie that was rightfully praised by the critics but sadly didn't go too far in the box office. The one and only The Secret of NIMH.

Plot: Mrs. Brisby is a widowed mouse who lives with only her four children after her husband Johnathan was killed. One day, her second youngest child, Timmy gets sick and is revealed to have Pneumonia, so he cannot go outside for at least three weeks. But the farmer that the family lives close to is planning to plow the field thereby destroying their house so they have to move. So the great owl tells Mrs. Brisby to go to the rats to find a way to move without Timmy getting out of him bed and dying.
 
This is a spectacular movie. The story is original, animation is very well done, the characters are very well developed, it's dark, it's edgy and suspenseful, yet fun and exciting. Would it be a little too dark for younger children?...eh...maybe. I mean in my case, my siblings and I have known this movie long before I was in kindergarten (I'm the oldest mind you) and we didn't have a problem with the dark setting to this movie, but then again, not all young children will view it the same as we and maybe plenty of other people who grew up with this at a very young age did. But even then it's still an excellent animated film that I think should be remembered for just as long of a time as all the Disney and Pixar films that will be remembered for years to come. 


Characters:
Mrs. Brisby: This was an excellent character. She wasn't heroic all that much but still had this sense of bravery and willingness to do what she must to save her family. She was just an extremely good character.
Jeremy: Jeremy I easily liked. Unlike Mrs. Brisby he was more the heroic one who was being this wise guy who was always doing things for good. I mean it's not like I liked this guy so much that I had a toy of him or something growing up, but still.

Music: the music is fantastic. The score is touching and the song "Flying Dreams Lullaby" is a moving song. Especially with how it's played during the end credits.

And that's my review for The Secret of NIMH. It's a wonderful animated with an excellent story, characters, music, animation and so on that it should be remembered for a long time and passed down to be loved by generations to come. 

The Pebble and the Penguin (1995)

Rating: 60%
Yeah here's a movie I remember not owning but seeing a couple of times when I was a kid. So after seeing it again for the first time in years right after seeing All Dogs Go To Heaven, here's my review for The Pebble and the Penguin.

Plot: Hubie is a shy penguin in Antarctica who is in love with this female penguin named Marina. But this big, strong cruel penguin named Drake wants her too. in order for Hubie to propose to Marina, he has to find a pebble so that he can. He wishes on a star that he would find the perfect pebble, and one falls out of the sky for him to use. But along the way, Drake pushes him into the water where he gets separated from the penguins by a leopard seal. He is then captured by human where he meets another penguin named Rocko who he helps to escape and is tricked by Hubie to take him back to Antarctica to try to stop Drake from forcing Mariana to marry him.

 Like All Dogs Go to Heaven, it wasn't a horrible movie, only at least with this movie we don't get anything really weird. But also like All Dogs Go To Heaven the story isn't very original. I mean there's plenty of movies where the main guy is shy or has trouble talking to girls and they really made the fact that this is a Disney knock-off a little too obviously considering there being this bully who's the main villain who wants the girl for her looks like Gaston in Beauty and the Beast. Other than that, it just has a couple of other issues like most of the songs aren't that good and there's a bunch of stuff that is unrealistic and has a couple of plot holes, yet it's...okay...ish enough to enjoy.

Characters:
Hubie: If there's one thing that I found to be really weird kind of right away, it's that Martin Short was voice as Hubie the whole time I knew this movie existed. I didn't even knew the guys name whenever I saw the movie as a kid, so it wasn't until right as I was watching the intro to this film that I found out. Which I found to be messed up in the sense that it's him being the lead and all that, even if it's the lead in an animated film. But I have to admit, for a guy that's a wimp I did enjoy how Rocko helped him stand up for himself which I kind of liked how it went in the end.
Rocko: He was an okay character. I mean he has his smart and energetic spirit who looks after himself which is likable for a supporting character like him. But then there's the cheesy stuff like what's his goal and everything so all in all, he's just so-so.


Music: I thought "Sometime I Wonder" and "Now and Forever" and kind of "The Good Ship Misery" were alright songs. But I was hardly a fan of "Don't Make Me Laugh" as a villain song and "Looks Like I Got Me A Friend" (even if the jokes in that one where nice)

And that's my review for The Pebble and the Penguin. It doesn't have an original plot and it has it's issues from some of its characters to some of the music. But it can be entertaining regardless for the most part.  

All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989)

Rating: 55%
Now I saw the second movie when I was a kid, and I enjoyed it for the most part. But considering what I knew then, I was curious as to what the first movie had to offer. Now after watching Thumbelina for the first time in years and reviewing it, I started to become interested in becoming a little more familiar with Don Bluth then I really am. So I put on hold a few of them at the library and started watching more of his films starting with this one; All Dogs Go to Heaven.

Plot: This is set in the year 1939 where a dog named Charlie is working with his gangster partner Carface. Carface doesn't want to share the profit, so has Charlie killed. Charlie goes to heaven much to his disliking, so he steals his time watch and winds it so that he goes back to Earth despite the angel saying that he will do to hell when he dies again. So he gets his friend Itchy to steal this orphan girl named Anne-Marie who can speak to animals and Carface has been using to place bets on races so that he will always win. Charlie cons Anne-Marie to believing that with her help, he will use the money he'll make betting with her help to help her find parents for herself, when in fact he'll use it to make a rival business.

Okay now I really look forward to seeing the second movie again because I think that one is SO much better then this movie. I mean it's not horrible, it's just that some of the story is not very original, and that there's stuff in this movie that I thought was just plain weird. *WARNING SPOILERS* my main example with the story is how Charlie is using someone to get his way and how he starts to become good and tries to redeem himself because of the person he's using. That's pretty much Despicable Me and... I know there's more movies where this happens. It's just something that has been done before and I don't like that we have this story here as well. As for just plain weird stuff, my first example would be that Charlie had that sharing song with the little puppies. I find if weird because he's this con guy, and he isn't 100% good right this second, so him all of the sudden teaching puppies to share may be good in the morale sense, but it's also so out of the blue that it's just plain weird. And then there's the most obvious weird moment in this movie: the scene with the big lip alligator. It was just totally random and didn't make any sense and...pretty much just that. *END OF SPOILERS* But again, it wasn't horrible. It still was a little entertaining where while it had these really weird or dumb stuff in it.

Characters:
Charlie: Now I didn't like Charlie all that much because of his mission in the film because, again, it's not that original. Then there's the one scene with him that I found weird that I mention in one of the spoilers. So he has his good points, but on a whole not too creative of a character.
Itchy: Itchy I kind of liked automatically just because he was the fun sidekick voiced by Dom DeLuise.

Music: The score is mostly like ordinary kid music made by Don Bluth as far as I am concerned despite my big lack of knowledge about his movie making in general. But other than that, the songs also fall in line to weird because of the weird stuff that I mentioned in the spoilers with songs like "Let's Make Music Together" and "What's Mine Is Yours".

And that's my review for All Dogs Go to Heaven. It has a lot of flaws with it's lack of originality at some points and other points where things are just plain weird. But it's a least a little entertaining that you may enjoy either has a kid or as someone who grew up with it.       

Source Code (2011)

Rating: 80%
Now I remember the trailers for this film. And I wasn't in a big hurry to see it despite it getting good reviews. But when my mom suggested that we would watch this, we didn't have too much choice so he checked it out.

Plot: Army helicopter pilot Colter Stevens who was last seen in Afghanistan wakes up in a train with a woman named Christine sitting next to him believing he's this friend of her named Sean. Eight minutes after that, the train blows up and Colter wakes up in a cockpit where Captain Goodwin tell him that the people she works for have taken him to the Source Code where he has to use it to appear as Sean to find out who bombed the train for real so that they can prevent more bombings.

I have to admit that the story is clever, and it carries on pretty well in my book. The characters are also very good and the suspense is not bad. *WARNING SPOILER* I will say that my feeling for the ending is a little mixed. I mean part of me likes it but the rest of me didn't think it was that spectacular of an ending. The reason why is that I did like that they had this whole "the Source Code won't change the past" thing which I felt was what made the movie truly interesting. I mean what made me in no hurry to watch this film was how it seemed like this was all suppose to be trying enough times until the past is permanently altered the way they want it, judging by the trailers. But it turned out to not really be the case so that's were I was interested in where it was going. But then Colter works his way in actually altering the past apparently which - while it's still a little fresh with it ending them now finding out that you can alter the past - just all around was not as unique as I was hoping even if I liked the ending still just because it ended happily. *END OF SPOILERS* All around though, it still was a very nice entertaining film that you can enjoy.

Actors/Characters:
Jake Gyllenhaal/Colter Stevens: He did a very good job with his character. He did show what Colter was going through and with how it changes him. But I didn't like how it seemed like he'll really ignored the people who are making him use the Source Code a little too much. I mean I was all for him being pissed with how they just wouldn't give them answers even though that would help him know what was going on so much easily. But sometimes he just acts like he didn't hear them on some of the key stuff about the Source Code which, sure things worked out, but regardless I was like "really?"


Music: The music was nice, i think it worked in making it all suspenseful.

And that's my review for Source Code. While I have a couple of issues with it, it's still a very creative and entertaining movie that for the most part, I would recommend.

Thumbelina (1994)

Rating: 60%
This movie use to be one of my favorite films as a little kid. I probably haven't seen this movies since...like 2000...maybe 2001...so yeah a long time. So let's see how it turned out for me all grown up and having a more skeptical view about movies.

Plot: Once upon a time, this woman who wants to have her own child visits a good witch who give her a seed. She plants and waters the seed in a pot and it grows into a flower where inside is a little girl "no bigger then his thumb" whom she named Thumbelina. One night, a fairy prince named Cornelius flies to her house and takes her out to ride his bumblebee where they fall in love. But later that night, she is kidnapped by a toad who tries to get her to marry her son. So she tries to find her way home while Cornelius tries to find her.

This is definitely a movie that it a lot more for kids then for adults. Plus it's probably no secret it's an attempted Disney knock-off. But still, it is a little fun. I mean some of the characters are good and at least some of the music isn't all that bad. The story is not too bad while not being too entirely loyal to the fairy tale...at least I believe so. But it also has a couple of really ridiculous stuff like *WARNING SPOILERS* how both autumn and winter each last around 2-3 days or something like that. and also how there's several points where some of the problems in this movie could've been solved just by having Jacquimo fly Thumbelina to her house or to the Vally of the Fairies. Sure Jacquimo finding those places alone where better at point like when he got that thorn in his wing, but still. *END OF SPOILERS*

Characters:
Thumbelina: Now most of the time I really like her character. I mean she's not Disney princess material, but she was still cute and has a more innocent personality...with her being alive for a couple of days throughout the events of the film. I think the one somewhat annoying thing about her character is how easily she finds things impossible. Sure, sometimes that makes perfect sense sometimes given the situation at hand, but it doesn't entirely cut it at how often she gives up in a way.
Jacquimo: Yeah he wasn't the best character. He was a little annoying and again, a little stupid in not considering the thing that I mentioned in one of the spoilers. Sure his message was roughly alright and he had the right idea on a couple of things, but after that he was not the best character, and frankly, I thought he looked really weird.

Music: Now this movie won Worst Original Score at the Razzies for the song "Marry the Mole". I don't know why it won that entirely. I did hear some opinions about it just not being the best and that Carol Channing was singing which supposedly was what killed it in a sense...well...okay sure I'm immune to the badness of this film because I grew up with it, but aside from this movie and like, one episode of Family Guy, I hardly know a gosh darn thing about this actress to save my life. So all I can say is that yes, it's not exactly "Hellfire" as a villain song, but I think it's just so-so. Other songs like "Beautiful Baby" and "Follow your heart" were alright. But the best song in the movie was definitely "Let Me Be Your Wings". It was just a very well done song that was very enjoyable. The reprise at the very end I think was the best because it was so moving in the way that made the ending really happy. It was just well done.

And that's my review for Thumbelina. It's really just for kids and even then, it's not too swell as a movie in general, but for people who grew up with it like me, it's still a lot of fun. So at the end of the day, this movie for me is just what Terminator Salvation, The Nutcracker Prince, Twilight saga: Eclipse, and Scream 3 are for me; a guilty pleasure.
  

Fight Club (1999)

Rating: 90%
Okay so I saw a little more than the first half of this movie a couple of years ago and I stopped because apparently it was suppose to be a movie to see together with my dad and my brothers. But then I found out that at some point my brothers already saw the movie, so eventually I had to see it for myself with the seeing together with dad thing ended up not happening. So I just did that about 16 minutes ago or so. So here's my 275th review: Fight Club.

Plot: The Narrator of this film is a traveling automobile company employee who suffers from insomnia and goes to a lot of support groups. On the flight home, he meets this guy named Tyler and later finds out that his condo was destroyed. So he asks Tyler for a place to stay which Tyler agrees, but shortly afterwords, he asks The Narrator to hit him. The Narrator does so, which leads them to fight for fun. People notice which leads The Narrator and Tyler to start a fight club.

This was a cool movie that was really interesting but very messed up. The characters are unique, the story gets crazier in a really cool way as it goes on, there's action and blood, the whole this is messed up and yet it has a lot of stuff to make it more interesting and all around more entertaining. What I really liked about this movie is that it's not what you expect. Because after a while there comes a lot more to what I thought it was even from what i remembered from seeing a little more than half of the movie. It's just entertaining all around.

Acting/Characters:
Edward Norton/The Narrator: Okay so this was interesting since this is kind of the first movie I've seen with Edward Norton after seeing Incredible Hulk again in order to prepare for The Avengers. And I liked him the best because he was more the kind of more reasonable person (well reasonable in a supposed normal sense)out of everyone which helped me care a little more about what happened to him.
Brad Pitt/Tyler: Tyler was pretty cool. My favorite scene with him was definitely that speech that he made before Lou and his bodyguard came that was pretty awesome. Also, while I don't agree with his philosophy, there's a certain way that he looks at some of the things that made sense.

Music: Music was alright. I thought the music for the end credits were a little out of the blue after how it ended. Which is fine on one hand, but I'm just saying.

Editing: The editing was pretty good. I think it's interesting how earlier in the film, Tyler appeared a couple of times for just one frame.  

And that's my review for Fight Club. It's messed up but it's interesting to the point that it pays off with it's crazy yet cool story and unique characters.

Me & Orson Welles (2009)

Rating: 75%
So this is the second movie I heard of about Zac Effron where he's said to be much better than he is in the High School Musical trilogy, and quite frankly the one I looked forward to the most.

Plot: Richard Samuels is a high schooler who meets theater director Orson Welles who gives him the role of Lucius in his upcoming adaption of Julius Caesar at the Mercury theater. From there Richard experiences the difficulties of Welles' ways of making a theatrical production via his leader ship and becomes interested in the production assistant, Sonja.

Now I was interested in this movie just by the title alone. I mean it's a movie about Orson Welles before he ever even tried making Citizen Kane. So the whole time that Orson Welles was in the movie I was interested to know what was going to happen. Now I didn't like how things were structured with Richard particularly, because on his part, the movie is sort of structured similar to The Devil Wears Prada and Water for Elephants. But the movie is very interesting anyway because the story is still interesting, the characters are good, and also how it is based on the actual production Orson Welles did back then that did turn out to be a pretty big hit. So you get an idea of how it probably really was back then when Orson Welles did stuff like theater and also radio too before he did Citizen Kane. It's just and interesting world that may not have been structured terribly original, but considering what it's basically about, it's very amusing anyway.

Actors/Characters:
Zac Effron/Richard Samuels: Now Richard is not the most original character considering how he's almost exactly similar to Jacob in Water for Elephants. But Effron still did a nice good with his acting. I think the thing is at the end of the day is that he is a good, decent actor, it's just that High School Musical wasn't the best way for him to start being recognized.
Christian McKay/Orson Welles: One thing I easily liked was how his appearance looked so much similar to how Orson Welles looked back at that time. But what makes his acting really cool yet really curious is how accurate it is with what kind of guy Orson Welles was. Cause most of the time he sounded a little too much like Charles Kane in Citizen Kane. Maybe that's part of how he came up with that movie, maybe not.

Music: I liked how the music was basically the music back at that time to give you that feeling that this was the late 30s.

Editing: Editing was good, but I don't know if I would agree with there being a fade to black in the middle of the scene where they're having their opening night, and I think the last shot of the movie lasted a little too long before it faded to black as well.

And that's my review for Me & Orson Welles, it's not structured very original, but the whole idea is just so fascinating, the acting was good and the whole movie all around is just a very nice and interesting to watch.     

Zombieland (2009)

Rating: 95%
Now I saw this movie in theaters back in 2009, but it wasn't until recently that I found out that the leading actress in the movie was Emma Stone all along. Cause Emma Stone didn't really have my attention of really acknowledging her as an actress until I found out she is going to be Gwen in Amazing Spider-Man which lead to all the Emma Stone movie watching that I've done for the past year that has easily made her on of my favorite actresses. So when I finally found out that it was her that's in this movie, I knew I wanted to see it again and review it before Amazing Spider-Man comes out. So here's my review for Zombieland.

Plot: A mutated strain of mad cow disease has eventually caused a zombie apocalypse. A loner college student who goes by the named Columbus is unaffected and is on his way trying to get to Columbus, Ohio to see if any of his family are still alive. Along the way, he meets this other survivor that goes by the name Tallahassee who is also a survivor, (who also has a strong desire for Twinkies) and these two sisters named Wichita and Little Rock who are trying to go to California to the Pacific Playland amusement park which is suppose to be zombie-free.

Man this movie is an awful lot of fun. It has a lot of the stuff that you would expect from a movie about zombies like a lot of blood and gore and some action and stuff. But it also has some pretty awesome characters and some comedy that you just simply have to love. I mean you have the set of rules that are always appearing, one scene where the characters are destroying things that was a whole lot of fun to watch, and most of all, the dialogue has some funny lines that you may not want to forget. It's just an awesome film full of comedy, action and of coarse, zombies that is easily a very lovable film to watch. 

Actors/Characters:
Jesse Eisenberg/Columbus: I really liked his character. He was something of a wimp by he was very smart with laying out these set of rules to survive and he was at least a decent zombie slayer for what it's worth.
Woody Harrelson/Tallahassee: Holy cow this guy was so awesome. he was a bad-a, with some mini-shotgun or something that was pretty cool, and yet it's hilarious how he get distracted with thinks like finding a Twinkie. You just have to love his character to death.
Emma Stone/Witchita: Well now I know that it's Stone playing this character, and yes, she was awesome. She was a bad-a, she was smart in trusting no one that wasn't Little Rock, but had this slight friendly side to her that allowed her and Little Rock to be somewhat friend with Columbus and Tallahassee. She just did an excellent job and now I think I'm officially ready for her in Amazing Spider-Man.
Bill Murray/himself: You have to love is cameo. I mean sure it's Bill Murray, so of coarse it was going to be awesome, but that doesn't make it any less cool. Especially with Tallahassee's reaction to it all. 

Music: I liked the music. i think my favorite part was the music that they played when they destroyed the Indian store cause that just really helped into making that moment fun.

And that's my review for Zombieland. It's an awesome film filled with blood, action, gore, lovable character and especially comedy that makes is easy to have a good time watching it.

Fiddler on the Roof (1971)

Rating: 90%
Ah yes. This is one of my favorite musicals. I was actually a villager when we did this in high school which was a lot of fun. But enough about that, let's finally finish the whole VHS movie that were from that bag with Fiddler on the Roof.

Plot: Tevye is a poor milkman living in the Jewish town of Anatevka. He lives with his wife Golde and his five daughters. In Anatevka, there is a matchmaker named Yente to decide who should marry who. And she recently decided that Tevye's oldest daughter Tzeitel should marry Anatevka's very rich yet old butcher, Lazar wolf. Tevye agrees, but Tzeitel wants to marry the very young but poor tailor Motel. After begging to Tevye, he agrees to let Motel and Tzeitel marry. From there Tevye faces many other changes in his life from the things that happen to some of his other daughters to what happens to Anatevka.

I like the movie and I love the musical. The characters are lovable, the story is good and the music and dancing are a lot of fun. I do admit that it may be a little longer than it may need to be. There are some very minor scenes that while are a little helpful to the story at some points, removing them from the film wouldn't be a terrible loss to me. But either way sort of work regardless. And even then it's an excellent film filled with music, dancing and all around a lot of fun to watch. A very well done adaption of the Broadway musical.

Actor/Character:
Topol/Tevye: Tevye was a very fun character in particular. He was a caring father and liked to talk to The Lord an awful lot about the things that happened to him, and he was a good character all around to used for showing the world that the people of Anatevka lived in and to show what happened with all of the change that would happen to either to him or his entire town. He may not have deserved an oscar for his performance, but Topol still did an excellent job worthy of at least being nominated for his performance.

Music: Yeah, like I already said, the music is a lot of fun. I mean hopefully a lot of you are familiar with some of the music already, at least with the song "If I were a Rich Man" but there's also "Tradition", "Miracle of Miracles", "To Life", and "Tevye's Dream". The music is just so awesome and memorable.

Editing: I really enjoyed the editing. Especially during Tradition with the rhythm if you will in some of the cuts that they did during that scene. But during Tevye's dream, there were two points where they show a goat in the dream for really no reason. So I didn't see any point in that.

And that's my review for Fiddler on the Roof, it may be a little long and a slight bit of the editing didn't make sense, but it's still an excellent film with a nice story, lovable characters, and spectacular music that is worth remembering.       

Prometheus (2012)

Rating: 65%
In 1979, Ridley Scott created Alien which pretty much created the Aliens series. And now he's made a movie that is half claimed to be a prequel, and half claimed to be just similar. Which leads us to this movie: Prometheus.

Plot: Elizabeth Shaw and Charlie Holloway are two scientists who discover a star map with a collection of ancient drawings and paintings that they believe lead to the forerunners of humanity which they call "engineers." So the CEO of Wayland Enterprises funds an expedition for them and the crew of the ship Prometheus to investigate the distant moon LV-223. But when they investigate a stone cylinder once they were in the planet, they discover things that prove to be a threat to everyone.

Now in some fairly nice ways, this movie is creative. I mean the reason why they went on the expedition alone I thought was pretty nice. And some of the things that leave you wondering about how it connects to the Aliens series is very interesting. And very much like Snow White and the Huntsman the design and the effects are awesome, only that in some point they were much more beautiful. Now if there was once issue about the characters, it would be that not all of them were really well developed. Which in one way is fine considering that's normally the case with pretty much characters in general when it comes to an Alien/Alien related movie. But I think they failed to do a little more with the minor characters unlike most of the Alien film where we would usually have a fair amount of time to get to know everyone on a first name basis and remember probably all of them whether they're screwed or not. I mean halfway through the movie there where a couple of characters that kind of came just out of the blue. But regardless, the characters that were well developed where pretty good. But there still some issues that shouldn't be ignored. For instance, some of the stuff that happened was rather predictable. I mean some of them you can expect either because it's related to Aliens or just because it's sort of a horror, but sometimes there were points like this one thing that was meant as a twist before the climax that was obviously predictable, it was ridiculous. Then there's trouble with the continuity with the technology in Prometheus comparing to Alien. There were things that were similar to Alien. In fact, some of the stuff was adjusted to show that some of the technology still needed some adjustments which I liked. But then there's stuff like having holograms and these scanning balls, whatever they were called where you have to ask why none of that stuff is in the Alien series. Maybe science vessels get better features and stuff then cargo or military vessels or something? As for the story and what the all around supposed purpose to this film is generally mixed. It's very interesting on a few levels, but it also practically gives a whole new world of questions rather than answers. I mean this is where you know they're going to try to continue this with a sequel. So really if you see this film you will be left in the dark with some things. I know I normally do a spoiler alert with this, but this kind of has to be said regardless. But getting a sequel is something that most people most likely want after seeing this movie, because some of the stuff you just have to figure it out for yourself or otherwise just guess what is going on. I mean heck, I got like, 2-3 theories myself and two of them I think could be connected. So it's a nice movie all around, but there's plenty of mystery that part makes the movie interesting but also part not that swell of the movie with all that lack of depth.

Actors/Characters:
Noomi Rapace/Elizabeth Shaw: I thought she did a very good job with her character. She was very believable with how she reacted to everything that happened to her character throughout the movie.
Michael Fassbender/David: Now on one hand he was nothing special considering most of what he did was not all that surprising. I mean the guy's an android, what else is new? But even with that being the case, David was an amusing character and Fassbender did his performance really well. However after seeing Doug Walker's Bum review of the movie, I gave it a little more thought and realized that his motivation is questioned a lot throughout the movie. Maybe he does what he does just to...experiment or something...which in one hand makes his character cooler... but a little more development that helps us know for sure wouldn't hurt if it's not too much to ask.

Music: I liked a lot of the music. I did find the choice of music to be interesting at some points like the very beginning, because some of it was just different than I guess I would expect the music to go for a movie that has to do with the Alien universe, especially since this is being directed by the guy who directed the first movie. But I did see something where apparently for some of the music they just played segments of the score in reverse before reversing it digitally...I don't think I understand it correctly, but the whole deal still sounds interesting.

And that's my review for Prometheus. It is set up a lot like Alien, it beat the living crap out of Alien 3 and Resurrection, some of the characters are nice, the story is really good at some points and some of the mystery is amusing. But you get more questions then answers, not all of the characters are developed the way you'd expect them to be, and for possibly most people, the lack of depth is probably too much.


and if you'd like, here's the video review for this movie

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1U01lZ0RZc&list=PL29674ED22E57C355&index=7&feature=plpp_video

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1U01lZ0RZc&list=PL29674ED22E57C355&index=7&feature=plpp_video

Oliver Twist (1997)

Rating: 40%
This is a TV movie that was among the VHS movies from the bag. So here's a movie you most likely never heard of which is this none musical version of Oliver Twist.

Plot: Oliver Twist was born shortly before his mother died holding a locket meant for him. He grows up in a workhouse where he is made to work for the first 6 years of his life. One day the other boys make his ask for more gruel which causes him to be kicked out of the workhouse. So he leaves to steal in London, but not before he sneaks back at the workhouse to get his mother's locket. Once he's in London he comes across a young man named Dodger who takes him to Fagin who trains him to become a pickpocket.

This is really just an "eh" kind of movie. It's not a grand big musical like the actual musical or the best picture winner Oliver!, but it at least done it's job for what it's worth in giving us the story. But it doesn't do it's job too well. The acting wasn't too big and there could've been maybe a little more work done with some of the character development like Mr. Brownlow. Honestly, the only thing that was in anyway interesting for me was that they had Elijah Wood as Dodger. I don't know if he's what Dodger is suppose to be from the book (cause I only know Dodger from the musical), but he did a nice job. I guess one thing to really like about his performance is how he's not being a hero like in Lord of the Rings or Happy Feet or something like that. But other than that, that's kind of it.

So that's my review for Oliver Twist. I know this is a shorter review than usual, but...yeah I just feel like there is nothing much left to really say about it.

The Sound of Music (1965)

Rating: 100%
This another one of the VHS's that was in that bag, but then while I started watching, I remembered that we have the movie on DVD so I kind of went "screw this, I'm getting my DVD with subtitles on." And now here's what I think of it after seeing it for the first time in a while.

Plot: Maria is a postulate in Nonnberg Abbey who normally gets into mischief much to the nun's despair. So the Reverend Mother takes her to become the governess for the widowed Captain Von Trapp's seven children. The Captain has raised his children strict with sailor suits and issuing orders. So against The Captain's orders, Maria tries to make things fun for the children by making fun clothes for the children and teaching them how to sing.

So what can I say that most of us probably already know about this movie? It's fun, the characters are lovable, the music is excellent, you just have to enjoy this movie. Now I know that there are differences between the movie/musical then what happened in real life, but what comes out of it is still a very nice story with romance, drama and all around family fun. Definitely one of the classical musical movies.

Actors/Characters:
Julie Andrews/Maria: She's especially a very lovable character. she's loving, caring with a very happy spirit but had a way of being clever at quite a few points. She deserved to have at least been nominated for best actress in a leading role during that year.
Christopher Plummer/Captain Von Trapp: I liked his character mostly after he started accepting what Maria was doing to the children. I mean yes he was cool anyway with being very anti-nazi, (I mean who wouldn't be?) but just how he is so caring about his country and his family later on is what makes him a good character. I especially loved the scene where the children lied about picking berries how he was being really clever there. It's interesting yet messed up to know that it's Christopher Plummer being this character all this time since I mostly only know him as...well...as he is now with movies like Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and Up.

Music: It was awesome. Duh! We have a huge collection of very memorable songs from this movie from the musical such as "Sound of Music", "Do re mi", "Maria" and "Edelweiss"

Editing: It was very nicely done. Well cut, nice cinematography, probably deserved winning best editing ( I don't know for sure since I haven't seen any of the other movies nominated for that year)

And that's my review for The Sound of Music. It was a very well done and memorable movie that had excellent music and a lovable characters and story all around. 

Out of Africa (1985)

Rating: 30%
Well last night I saw Out Of Africa. That one that dared defeat The Color Purple for Best Picture. How was it? Let's find out.

Plot: In Denmark back in 1913, a wealthy woman Karen asks her friend Baron Bror into a marriage of convenience with her. He agrees and they plan to move to Africa to work on a dairy farm together. But shortly after they get there and are married, Bror tells them that he bought a coffee plantation instead and plans to become a game hunter where he'll be gone most of the time. But then Karen is saved from a lioness by a big-game hunter named Denys with whom she develops a close friendship with.

Now please understand that did try at least a tiny bit to be reasonable about Out Of Africa beating The Color Purple, but the truth is, I couldn't do it. This movie is freaking boring. It's dull, the romance is not interesting, all 161 minutes couldn't have gone by soon enough. Sure the cinematography is nice with the landscapes and all around views of Africa, and hey, nothing wrong with Michael Gough (the lord rest him in peace) in a movie that's not a Tim Burton or a Joel Schumacher movie for once, and hey, there's rarely anything wrong with Meryl Streep or Robert Redford on a normal basis. Actually I won't even bother with a Actors/Characters section because that's basically it. It's good acting wise just because of those two characters, nothing else to say acting wise.  And really, that's as good as it gets. The story isn't too interesting, the characters are nothing that incredibly special, maybe some people dig this kind of romantic drama, but for all I know, I may not entirely care for this movie even if I saw it without a clue as to what it did at the Oscars. I am very well aware I'm being very biased, but I would like to think that, that would not really matter. Because the romance - especially with how it started - is not original, a lot of the things happen slowly, and really just all around, even calling it entertaining is not exactly ideal.

Music: It was nice. But like the movie itself, it was nothing terrible original. I know it won Best Original score, but that doesn't mean that I found it unique an awful lot.

Editing. It is slow paced. Which isn't always a bad thing, I mean it's fine with movies like Lord of the Rings or Titanic. But considering this movie, seeing the land-scape is as good as slow pacing got editing wise.

And that's my review for Out Of Africa. It's dull, it's boring, it's unoriginal, and it's just the big actors in the movie that would possibly make it worth while. I may be being biased when I am saying this, but that doesn't change that fact that it really shouldn't even be considered a good movie. I started this believing the whole matter between this movie and The Color Purple to be an outrage. And if I didn't believe it before, then bob-frick it, I would be putting it more than politely when I saw I believe it so much more than before. 

The Color Purple (1985)

Rating: 100%
Well I decided that today would be the day that I would settle this matter both in terms of watching and reviewing when it came to this matter of epic stupidity. By epic stupidity I of coarse mean, Out Of Africa beating The Color Purple for Best Picture of 1985. I've seen this movie before and right there I knew that this movie losing Best Picture was a complete outrage. So before I watch Out Of Africa for the first time and try to see what possible logic there was for it to win, let's look the one that should've one: The Color Purple.

Plot: Celie and Nettie are sisters who live in the Southern United States with their father who has abused Celie to the point of having two children with him and taking them both away from her at childbirth. Later her father forces Celie to marry a local widower named Albert Johnson who treats her like a slave and abuses her. Nettie comes to live with them but when she avoids Albert's attempts to rape her he kicks her out of the house. Over the years Celie continues to be abused while she, and some of the people she knows face terrible things with racism, sexism and poverty.

Oh my goodness this is simply a wonderful film. It's beautifully acted, the world that they lived in was shown in a very sad and depressing yet moving, the story is touching and entirely emotional as the film goes on. I won't say anything about the second half of the movie, but that's when you are most likely to cry your heart out or at the very least get a little teary like I did from watching it just now. Now I have hear some people think this movie is overrated because some people think it's just a film for Steven Spielberg to just play with our emotions. Now I have a couple of things to say about that 1) Bite me. 2) Isn't getting emotional part of what makes a beautiful and powerful done movie just the way we like/love them? I mean that's why we love movies that act so powerfully like Toy Story 3 or The Lord of the Rings trilogy or things like that. And The Color Purple is one of those movies that do one of the best jobs at doing just that.

Actors/Characters:
Whoopi Goldberg/Celie: Now I didn't know until while I was watching this film that it was Goldberg who was playing as Celie. Cause I didn't really know the actress that much when I saw it the first time. Now normally I wouldn't be too much entertained with her acting...but that's mostly because she's usually in romantic comedies or just plain comedies that are nothing special. But this movie and Goldberg falls nothing in line to that. And what a job she does with giving us this character. Goldberg's performance was brilliant with showing this character and with EVERYTHING that she is going through with the events of the film. I have no idea who beat her in in Best Actress in a Leading Role, I'm sure she was nothing compared to Goldberg.
Oprah Winfrey/Sofia: Yes. I mean the same Oprah with that TV show everybody knows about for those of you who don't know. And I only know a couple of things about Oprah Winfrey as we know her now, but let me tell you, whatever you know of her now, she is completely different in this movie. Sofia is this strong-spirited woman which naturally is fun to watch, but then she has a bunch of stuff happen to her which is moving and how Oprah shows that is just extremely well done.

Music: It's excellent. I really works with everything that happens throughout the film.

Editing: It was very nice, well put together.

And that's my review for The Color Purple. It was a spectacular movie that was moving, well put together movie that by rights should've won Best Picture. Soon I'm going to review Out of Africa. In fact I was watching it while I was writing around the second half of this review. So far I'm 1 hour and 11 minutes in and already I hate it more than more. Will it give me some logic in it winning at all? Keep a sharp eye out for my review to find out.   

Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)

Rating: 50%
Okay so I just got back from seeing this film. So here's how it turned out.

Plot: After the death of her mother, Queen Eleanor, Snow White's father, King Magnus finds a woman named Ravenna who he rescued while defeating the Dark Army, and falls in love with her. They get married, but on their wedding night, she kills him and from there, rules the kingdom with Snow White locked in the dungeon. For the next several years, Ravenna captures beautiful women and drains the youth out of them. But when Snow White comes of age, Revenna's magic mirror informs her that because of Snow White, her power is draining and that she must now take Snow White's heart so she can live forever and no longer have to drain youth in order to stay alive. Snow White however escapes, so Ravenna sends a Huntsman to go after her and catch her.

Generally, this was what I expected. The story of Snow White having a darker set to it that is a little cheesy but at least it was entertaining. The good things about this movie are that the design and the effects are pretty good, some of the characters are decent, the action wasn't all that bad and the story was a least a little amusing. But there's still the fact that we have Kristen Stewart, there were a couple of things that were predictable, and there was a fair amount of plot holes and things that they could've gone more into. For example *WARNING SPOILERS* for plot holes, 1) why didn't the mirror inform the queen that Snow White could one day surpass her right as she had just killed the king and locked Snow White into the dungeon? Cause at least that way, she could've killed her and then she'll live forever and all that. 2) How did The Huntsman revive Snow White by kissing her? I mean yes, we are all aware of  the whole "sleeping death can be undone by love's first kiss" but they could at least let us know if that's actually the case in this movie. They shouldn't just leave it hanging like that expecting the entire audience to know the story already. I mean sure maybe all of us have, but still. 3) Ravenna is suppose to live forever by just taking Snow White's heart. So is Ravenna suppose to just hold her heart and live forever? Isn't she suppose to eat it or something because just taking it just doesn't really make sense. And there's the things they should've elaborated or just had more of such as 1) the little village with all those women who made those scars on their faces to avoid being captured by the Queen which was a pretty nice idea. Sure there probably shouldn't me much more to show than that when it comes to that concept, but I think their part in the movie was way to brief. 2) I would've liked to have seen more of the Dark Army guys *END OF SPOILERS*

Actors/Characters:
Kristen Stewart/Snow White: Acting wise, it was just Kristen Stewart being Kristen Stewart. Although I will admit that when it came to body movement for if she was scared or on the verge of death or anything like that, she wasn't terribly bad. She still was bad, but at least with that, she put out a little more effort than what I would expect. As for the character itself, she was was interesting. If she was a little more carefully developed and had a better actress to play her, she could've turned out a pretty good character than what we got.
Chris Hemsworth/Eric the Huntsman: Now I didn't like how he started off as being a guy who was this drunk guy that's a nobody or whatever, but his character was a little more interesting with him being a widower. As for acting...he wasn't bad but he wasn't spectacular. The thing is that he was being more like Thor than an actual other character, which for the action scenes and Thor/The Avengers fans who love the guy, is fine, but when it comes to being a different character, there's room for improvement. And my I just say that I don't like how Snow White and the Huntsman's relationship sort of went at all. I mean I know it's the title but dude, it's Thor and Bella Swan.
Charlize Theron/Queen Ravenna: She was alright, but it seemed a little silly when she was just shouting at some unnecessary points earlier in the film.
The Dwarves: I wished we saw more of them. I mean they weren't going to be as memorable as the Seven Dwarves from the Disney movie, but they were still fun characters and I liked that they had some familiar actors like Ian McShane and Nick Frost. But why did they start with eight even though it's suppose to be seven?

Music: I thought it was good. But I thought the music played for when that village full of women didn't fit. I don't remember how it went and maybe I'm wrong, but I sort of remember it seeming off considering what was happening.

Editing: The editing was mostly very good, but there was a part in the scene where Snow White's in the Dark Forest that was just silly. Cause it is mostly cuts of her being scared, but then they make this one cut to a shot where she's just standing there with no emotion at all...well less then usual I mean. Then there was that scene where Ravenna comes back injured after attempting to stop Snow White, I felt that didn't necessarily need to be there. I mean yes the whole blood thing was interesting now that I thought more about it, but I thought it was pointless since it was mostly just Ravenna crawling towards the magic mirror and nothing happens after that.  

And that's my review for Snow White and the Huntsman. If you want and "eh" movie with at least an okay story, nice effects and design, Thor and some decent battle scenes, I'd say go for it. Otherwise, it's just and "eh" movie all around.

If you want to see my video review for the movie, here's the links to it.

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kkxY3iNgX4&feature=g-all-u

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kkxY3iNgX4&feature=relmfu

Enchanted (2007)

Rating:70%Okay so when I was shooting for my Snow White and the Huntsman review, a friend of mine told me how Enchanted had a couple of interesting Disney references that convinced me to see it again last night.

Plot: Giselle lives in a fairy tale world called Andalasia, where she is waiting for her prince to come so that they will have their happy ending. Just then Prince Edward saves her from a troll where they plan to do just that. But Edward’s stepmother Queen Narissa doesn’t want her stepson to marry and take the throne. So on the wedding day, she disguises herself as an old hag and takes Giselle to a magic well and pushes her into New York City – or as Narissa calls it; “the place where there are no happy endings .” Giselle has a few misadventures in New York but luckily comes across a divorce lawyer named Robert and his 6 years old daughter Morgan. Meanwhile, one of Giselle’s animal friends, a chipmunk named Pip tells Edward what happened and they both come into the well to rescue her.

Now it goes hopefully without saying that this does not have a very original story line in the slightest. It’s predictable, it’s cheesy, and it’s not exactly a move to enjoy unless you like Disney or like the whole fairy tale story. But I admit I do sort of like how fairy tale and reality sort of combine. Especially with the stuff between Robert and Giselle. I mean what Robert has to learn is obvious and cheesy as heck, but it is nice for Giselle to learn how to think more realistically about love and relationships. But was is usually very fun about this movie are the really nice hidden Disney references such as a lot of the actresses who voiced as some of the Disney Princesses such as Page O’Hara, Jodi Benson, Mary Costa and Ilene Woods. Then there’s Julie Andrews being the narrator and also (even though this isn’t Disney related) Idina Menzel was in this film as well. (If you don’t know her, she’s the original Elphaba in Wicked.) And while the film is made very much for kids/families, it still had a couple of funny moments and some decent characters development (at least during the second half of the movie) and things like that, that make the movie at the very least, a little fun to watch.

 

Actors/Characters:

 Amy Adams/Giselle: It’s really messed up to watch this movie again when it comes to Amy Adams. Because this is the first movie I saw with her in it, and since she’s had bigger and better characters and performances in movies like The Fighter, kind of sort of Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Boddy, and The Muppets. Which I’ve found to be a good thing because in this movie she’s mostly this ditsy maid long before she ends up in New York.  Now, again, she was better as the movie moved on, but still, she wasn’t  exactly an incredibly interesting character.

 Patrick Dempsey/Robert: Now I generally don’t like this character at all because of the whole deal about not really being much of a father and not believing in fairy tales and stuff like that. But at least some of his lines where cute like asking Giselle if it’s regular to keep on falling, which is very true.

Music: Most of it is not that grand with the very fairy tale like music. But I do admit that “How does she know” song is a little catchy while not too original.

Editing: It was just alright. Nothing special but nothing bad.

And that’s my review for Enchanted. It was not a spectacular, film but it had some decent moments and some references to Disney that people who do like Disney can enjoy. All around, it’s just a nice film.