Category Archives: Movie Reviews

Away We Go Review

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Let me begin by saying that I am a big Sam Mendes fan and his name attached is what drew me to this film. Away We Go is with in that same indie-comedy type movie genre that also holds movies like Juno, Eternal Sunshine for the Spotless Mind and more recently (500) Days of Summer, to name a few. Away We Go was a fun movie worthy of my view, but it just didn’t seem like the type of movie Mendes needed to make. It’s obviously just not his genre.

Whereas Mendes was able to succeed with dramatic masterpieces such as American Beauty and Road to Perdition, it just didn’t seem as though he could succeed as gloriously in this genre. Not that masterpieces can’t come out of this genre, quite the contrary because Eternal Sunshine for the Spotless Mind is just that. I’m just implying that Sam Mendes obviously doesn’t prevail as well in this genre. Away We Go was a pretty good movie, don’t get me wrong, it just doesn’t stack up.

Away We Go certainly had its moments and their were many funny parts, but then other parts felt a little forced. The actors were chosen well and they all worked well together, but it just fell flat in its story a couple times. The story is a couple looking for the perfect place to raise their soon to be born child. Yes, a bit hilarity ensues as you would expect it to.

All and all, Away We Go was a decent movie. I’m glad I watched it because it was fun at times, but it was nothing to write home about. I know Sam Mendes has better work under his belt and I’m excited to see what it is.

Grade: B

The Hurt Locker Review

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I just caught The Hurt Locker recently on DVD and I was quite saddened. I was saddened because I wish I would’ve been able to catch this innovative and tense look into war on the big screen. I loved The Hurt Locker, everything just worked, from the directing, the acting, editing, everything just seemed to fit together so perfectly. Usually war movies can be so long and draining even, almost too dramatic, which is a very interesting way to look at war, because wars are long and draining, but The Hurt Locker took a new direction and went with a tense character study of a bomb technician.

The Hurt Locker opens with a fantastic opening sequence that expresses exactly what kind of movie your in for. The kind that’s unpredictable, intense and, at the risk of sounding a bit morbid, fun. Jeremy Renner plays our main protagonist and plays him to perfection. Instead of a hero here though, we get to delve deep into the psyche of a man who gets an almost sick thrill out of the life and death situations he deals with every day.

Using fantastic direction, each scene was exactly as tense as it could’ve been. You never knew what to expect. There were so many memorable sequences in the movie, and every one of them felt completely necessary to tell this tale. I also loved the cameos from great actors like Guy Pearce and especially the cameo from one of my favorite actors of all time, Ralph Fiennes.

Overall The Hurt Locker is a fantastic movie worth many views. It may not be a film for everyone based on its tense and at times even gruesome nature, but it was certainly a film for me and it very possibly could be a film for you. You’ll just have to see for yourself.

Grade: A

(500) Days of Summer Review

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I just got the chance to watch (500) Days of Summer recently and I was very glad I did. I was also a little sad that it took me this long. I whole-heartedly enjoyed this film. I loved (500) Days of Summer because it was a romantic comedy that didn’t follow the annoying cliches that almost all romantic comdies follow. It was able to keep the same fun and light-hearted mood and spirit while being pretty unpredictable.

(500) Days of Summer told the very real story of boy meets girl, but boy is more in love than girl. This obviously leads to strains in the relationship. The story is a classic one, yet told in unconventional ways. I won’t go into detail because it gives away some of the genius behind the film, suffice to say rarely is there a time when you aren’t having fun.

When it comes to the acting, of course there’s nothing amazing here, but everyone certainly fit into their parts. It was nice to see Angels in the Outfield’s Joseph Gordon-Levitt all grown up and I’ve always liked Zooey Deschanel. Sure she’s not a very versatile actress if you’ve seen any of her movies, but I do think she does a good job.

(500) Days of Summer is a movie that you’ll watch and you’ll enjoy very much. Its not a film you’ll have to take in and think of for a long time. That’s not to say this film is mindless. No, Its just well made entertainment. Its nice to see movies like this once in a while. Their not life changing, their just a lot of fun.

Grade: A-

Invictus Review

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From a far, Invictus looked like a movie with a lot of potential. On the one had you have Clint Eastwood in the directors chair and on the other you have Morgan Freeman in a role he was born to play, Nelson Mandella.  Unfortunately, Invictus wasn’t able to follow through as well as I hoped.

Invictus told the uplifting tale of a rugby team bent on winning the world cup in South Africa in order to bring the country together. It’s a very inspirational tale, but it just feels as though its all been done before and much better for that matter. Clint Eastwood is one of my favorite directors, but with this movie it really just felt like he was trying to make a good-feeling best picture contender. He’s just done so much better with masterpieces like Mystic River and Unforgiven under his belt. It was a little disappointing.

To shed some light on this movie, I must say I absolutely loved Morgan Freeman. He was fantastic, a performance certainly worthy of the nomination it will get. As I said before, he was born to play this role and I’m actually surprised he hadn’t played Mandella sooner. He was phenomenal. Matt Damon on the other, I wasn’t a huge fan of in this film. I’ve never been a huge Damon fan, but he has surprised me in the past. This film was one of those cases.

Overall, with Eastwood’s directing and Freeman’s performance, Invictus made for a decent movie, while it could’ve been great. After watching Invictus, I came to realize I would’ve much rather seen a movie centered around Nelson Mandella’s life and election. I believe that would’ve made for a much better movie.

Grade: C+

The Lovely Bones Review

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I went into The Lovely Bones with high expectations, very high expectations. I hadn’t read the book, but I was quite interested by the plot. I was also very excited to see Stanley Tucci in the role of the twisted serial killer, but most of all I was excited to see another masterpiece by the fantastic director Peter Jackson. His name assured me that I would love this movie. He is the man behind The Lord of the Rings and King Kong, he is at a point in his career where he can make anything he chooses. There is no possible way this movie can’t be great. Well, I was wrong. It is possible, very possible unfortunately.

The Lovely Bones was huge disappointment. I did not enjoy this movie nearly as much as I hoped I would. I was disappointed pretty much by every aspect this film had to offer except one, Stanley Tucci’s performance. He did a fantastic job, he fully embodied the life of this menacing and lonely serial killer. It was legitimately disturbing at times to watch. He was nothing short of perfect. He chewed up every moment he was on screen, which wasn’t nearly enough. Other than Tucci’s performance and the scenes he his character were involved in, I can’t name a single thing I enjoyed about the movie.

The acting in this film was pretty awful and that’s putting it lightly. It’s not even that everyone else was just being overshadowed by an amazing performance they were truly doing bad. It just didn’t make sense to me. It really seemed as though every scene with Stanley Tucci was directed by the great director Peter Jackson and the rest was directed by some amateur they picked off the street. It really saddens me to say that too, it doesn’t make a bit of sense to me that this movie was created by the same mind behind The Lord of the Rings.

The effects felt extremely corny and flashy, he was able to do a much better job with the CGI in King Kong and that was made four years earlier. The effects truly felt like they were from the 90s and I usually don’t care about effects… at all in fact, but this seemed like a movie that was attempting to pride itself on its effects. I don’t doubt for a second that Peter Jackson will redeem himself soon, but unfortunately at this point in time, this is his most recent movie and I did not enjoy it.

Grade: C

Up in the Air Review

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Its actually rather difficult to put down into words exactly how much I enjoyed Up in the Air. I think the biggest reason I fell in love with this movie was because I went in there not expecting much. It just didn’t look very interesting. And George Clooney is on and off for me. I love him in movies like O Brother, Where Art Thou?, From Dusk Till Dawn and Michael Clayton, but than I’m not a big fan of him in movies like the Ocean’s trilogy and the Perfect Storm.

Then when it came to the director Jason Reitman, I loved Thank You for Smoking and I really liked JUno, but didn’t find it to be the masterpiece most did. So I went in not expecting much. I wasn’t thinking it would be a bad movie, I was thinking it would be an ok a movie. I was wrong, my expectations were exceeded with flying colors, I loved Up in the Air.

Up in the Air tells the story of a loner who flies daily to different companies in order to fire people whose bosses are too scared to. Ryan Bingham prides himself on independence and the many miles he’s acquired in the air. Than an unexpected thing happens, scratch that. Many expect things happen, but you’ll just have to find out what they are for yourself.

This is one of the movies I did enjoy Clooney in. He really hasn’t been disappointing as of late. He gave a great performance here, not oscar worthy, but great. Farmiga and Kendrick as the supporting women also were scene stealers. Everyone was on top of their game, especially behind the camera. I shall never doubt Reitman’s work again, I can’t wait to see what he has up his sleeve next.

Up in the Air tells a story that feels real and heartfelt. A movie that deserves to be experienced multiple times. Like life, Up in the Air doesn’t follow a certain formula, you don’t know what to expect. The events that follow are simply… up in the air.

Grade: A+