Category Archives: Movie Reviews

Taken Review

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There’s only one reason I saw this movie and that of course was Liam Neeson. He was the perfect pick and did a fantastic acting job, unfortunately I can’t say that about anyone else. I was expecting a lot more out of this movie, but what I got was highly predictable and unimaginative. They could’ve done a lot more with the simple plot, but instead just did what all films about basically the same plot do. Most might find the action in this movie entertaining, but I wasn’t amused by the many action scenes in the movie.

The movie had the simple plot of a daughter going on a vacation and getting kidnapped. Then her, ex-CIA agent, father goes on a quest to save her. Now a simple plot can sometimes be a lot  more powerful then it seems, take No Country for Old Men example. This is not one of those movies. It was just like any one of the 50 Harrison Ford movies about the same thing except with a better actor thrown in. Now one of these stereotypical kidnapping movies haven’t come out in a while so the public was blind- sighted, but I was not very entertained. The only scenes I really fully enjoyed were the dialogue scenes involving Liam Neeson.

The ending was predictable as everything else and the fact that the daughter didn’t show any signs of more affection towards her father a few days after being saved tells me the that this movie and especially the ending was not thought through very well. Well Taken was a decent film to start off the new year. Simple action plots are always good to start the year off, but there could’ve been a lot more to this one, with a great actor like Liam Neeson behind the project.

Grade: C-

The Wrestler Review

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The Wrestler is certainly one of those movies that keeps you thinking long after the movie’s over and a movie you will never forget. You will remember this film because of its emotional story and a masterful performance by one of the greats, a Mr. Mickey Rourke. This is a film that will make you feel every emotion there is, because everything in this film is felt by both the main character and the audience. Every punch, chair, and staple gun Randy gets to the leg, face, or back, every word he’s called, every feeling of happiness is felt by both Randy “The Ram” Robinson and the audience. These feelings are felt because of the spectacular direction and amazing performances by all, except for Rourke’s. His performance can’t just be called amazing, that’s an insult. His performance was nothing short of perfection.

 The Wrestler is the emotional story of your average common man who wants to be somebody. Except the only difference here is that this average joe is that he has been somebody, only that was 20 years ago and his life has gone down the tubes. He’s now just an “old broken down piece of meat” and he’s got a lot of regrets that he wants to make up for. He’s made mistakes like anyone and he wants to make up for them. He wants his daughter’s (Evan Rachel Wood) affection back. He wants to love again and he attempts to find that love in a stripper with her own problems (Marisa Tomei). The only problem is that “The Ram” isn’t so easily changed. He can never forget the blood, sweat and cheers. 

This much more to say, but I don’t want to give away too much. The Wrestler is a film that manages to find and tap into all of our deepest emotions and dreams. Its much more than your average movie, which ironic because it’s about a very average character. This will surely strike a nerve in the hearts of millions because of its sad tale of love, life, dreams, and regret and also because of one of the most believable performances ever filmed. 

Grade: A

Gran Torino Review

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Walking into Gran Torino, I was expecting an average movie that would attempt to show that Clint Eastwood could still be an action hero and kick ass. Well I saw that Clint Eastwood can still act and direct to close to perfection at the age of 78, but this was so much more then the gritty action movie I was expecting to watch. Its an unexpected must-see of racism and people changing for the better. It’s was much better than I was expecting it to be.

Gran Torino is the story of a bitter old man named Walt Kowalski who just lost the only person he ever truly loved. He’s an enraged bigot and a war veteran. He’s the last american living in his neighborhood and doesn’t like it. He uses offensive stereotypical names throughout and doesn’t let up. He ends up befriending a few of his neighbors and learning that there’s more to life than lonliness and hatred. Throw ina 1972 Gran Torino and a gang whose leader is related to one of the chinese neighbors, and what you’ve got is a fantastic movie.

Clint Eastwood was absolutely spectacular in this film. I loved every moment he was on screen, which was 95% of the movie. I pray that this, even though it was a great movie, won’t be his last movie. If its not too much to ask I also pray he would do just one more western, that would be amazing. If there’s one complaint I would make about this film it would be the acting. Aside from Clint Eastwood being amazing as usual, the rest of the cast was a bunch of mediocre no-named actors. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with no named actors, they sometimes can add to the realism of the movie, but the least you could’ve done is picked some good ones.

That was the only con out of a lot of pros. What was so enjoyable about Gran Torino, was while is was a very emotional and dramatic tale race and the good that can shine from the darkest of places, it also had a lot of comic relief. There were many moments that made me laugh out loud. It wasn’t the racist jokes that were funny, it was the arrogance of the character that was funny. It was the way Walt treated everybody especially his friends. All and all Gran Torino was a great watch and I can’t wait to enjoy watching it again.

Grade: A-

FROST/NIXON Review

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FROST/NIXON was by far the most surprising movie of this year if not ever. I was expecting a lot out this movie based on the story, the direction and especially the acting. What I got was a surprise, because what I just recently saw was both astounding and flawless, what I got was so much better than what I originally expected and the best way to describe it is entertainment at its full blown best. This is a must-see for this year and it isn’t getting the praise it deserves, but it will surely get it in this review.

FROST/NIXON is the story of the famed interview between David Frost, a british talk show host, and our former president Richard Nixon. The interviews took place shortly after Nixon’s resignation in the late 70s. Most thought Frost would go too “easy” or “soft” on Nixon, but what amounted from the interviews became a battle of wits and a rivalry to be remembered. Not only does the film show the important interviews, but also the behind-the-scenes, and the the lead up and the reason Frost wanted to perform the interview in the first place. 

The acting was spectacular by all players. Oliver Platt and Sam Rockwell were great as usual. Michael Sheen was a spectacular Frost. He could be cocky and nervous, while being smart and a bit scared, but the real actor who deserves praise is Frank Langella. Langella fully embodies the character of Nixon, from posture to facial expressions. He was spectacular. Unfortunately for Sean Penn, Langella was better and does deserve the oscar this year. Pen was great, but Langella just showed so much more charisma and ability in this part.

FROST/NIXON was such an astounding movie for the fact that at no point were you ever bored and at no point did you ever want this 2 hour and 10 minute film to end. It was a story the could’ve been told in a boring way, but instead it was told to perfection by a well known director, Ron Howard. This is undoubtedly, in my opinion, the greatest picture he’s ever created and probably ever will. Every single person owes it to themselves to view this movie.FROST/NIXON was spectacle of everything that makes movies worth watching.

Grade: A+

Milk Review

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Milk was an inspirational story that certainly needed to be told and it was told pretty well, but it could’ve been told just a bit better. Milk was directed very well and made a story that could’ve been very long and slow into 2 hours and pretty decently paced. The pacing was working really well for about an hour or so and then it began to lose its flow that it had going, but by the 3rd  and most important act, it picked up again with a very moving final 15 minutes. 

Milk is the story, if you don’t already know, about the life and times of Harvey Milk. Milk was the first openly gay man elected into major office. He was elected as a supervisor in San Fransisco in 1978. Its the story of the many times he ran, the speeches he made, and his eventual win with his time in office and the cruelaty he had to face because of the kind of person he was. The movie is much better, the less you know about it, so that’s all I’m giving you.

You’re not going to find much better acting than this by a full cast of characters. James Franco was a very good supporting actor as Milk’s original boyfriend, while Jame Brolin just keeps getting better. Brolin plays another city supervisor opposite Harvey by the name Dan White. The movie, though of course, belongs to Sean Penn who was absolutely spectacular and a very convincing Harvey Milk. Penn will most certainly be nominated, but I don’t believe he will win due to other running mates. Unfortunately I must say that I believe that if he does win, it’ll only be because of the inspirational character he’s playing. 

Milk is a must-see. It’s a tale that must be told and a tale that must be known. It wasn’t as good as it could’ve been, sure, but it was also a lot better than it could’ve been. Milk isn’t the greatest movie of the year, no, not even close, but it was one of the most important. The reason this is true is because its a movie that takes place in the 70s, but it’s on a topic that still hits home for a lot people today. 

Grade: B+

In Bruges Review

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Unfortunately I was not able to catch this movie when it came out in February. I wanted to, but never got around to it. When I saw the trailer, apart from it starring Colin Farrell I was pretty excited because from the looks of the trailer, it felt a lot like a Guy Ritchie movie and also had a great actor, Ralph Fiennes, as a villain. The movie looked like it had a fair amount of action with good dialogue and characters. Well, the movie wasn’t great, but it was pretty darn good.  

First off, it wasn’t nearly as fast paced as I was hoping it to be, but in the end I couldn’t complain that much because a movie can be extremely slowly paced and still be good and I can’t punish this movie because of my expectations. The acting was great, especially from Ralph Fiennes and Brendan Gleeson. Farrell actually surprised me too, but the best was by far Fiennes in role that you could just tell he had a blast playing. The movie was actually funnier than I expected. Unlike a Guy Ritchie movie, In Bruges wasn’t as fast-paced and it surprisingly enough had dumber characters, which is strange because Guy Ritchie movies are usually filled to the brim with stupidity.

The stupidity angle was forced at times and hilarious at others. One of the really funny parts involves Fiennes and Farrell near the end during a sort of final shoot out in a hotel. I don’t want to give it a way, but you’ll see exactly what I mean if you view the movie. Overall, this was no Ritchie movie, but it was a lot better than some of the movies that try to be Ritchie movies nowadays, which is actually saying something because there’s a lot of them out there. Smokin Aces for one.

Grade: A-