Category Archives: Movie Reviews

Prometheus Review

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The genre of science fiction can make for some pretty interesting movies and stories and it’s a very intriguing genre in general. A genre so intriguing, in fact, that maybe it’s one I’m too critical of. Like a fantasy story, a science fiction story has to be crafted completely from scratch. The story at hand is being told in a world that does not exist and when told with just the right amount of grace and purpose than a science-fiction story has the ability to touch on many unique ideas and themes that your average movie wouldn’t dare delve into.

Prometheus is an extraordinary movie on all accounts. While telling a fascinating story about the stars we look at every night, Prometheus enthralls, it scares and it takes our characters on perfectly epic journey that forces them to places  and into making decisions they couldn’t possibly understand. Alien is a fantastic horror film in its simplicity and the grotesque ways it attempts to push the envelope. Prometheus has some horror elements and plays with them when it can, but Prometheus is dealing with so much more.

In one of the most visually stunning movies ever created, Prometheus manages to do more than astound with just its visuals. It tells an engrossing story about searching for the answers of life’s biggest questions and at the heart of this ambitious tale is a poetic character study of two pieces of existence defined by their times (in this case, a time that does not exist), a human and a robot.

Playing the human and the heart of the film is Noomi Rapace incredibly convincing as the caring, innocent and lovable Elizabeth Shaw. The other main character is played by the brilliant Michael Fassbender giving easily the greatest performance of the film as the robot, David. Like no other movie before it, Prometheus takes the time to actually examine the idea of being a robot and through a beautiful script and a flawless performance, the character of David is brought to life as the greatest character in film who doesn’t need to breathe.

Who could have done it other than the original Alien director himself, Ridley Scott? He has defined the sci-fi genre in the past and once again shows exactly what a sci-fi movie can be. I can’t think of one miraculous moment I didn’t care for in Prometheus and while telling a very broad and prominent story, Prometheus still manages to pay homage to the iconic horror film that started it all. It was spectacular in every way, shape and form.

Grade: A

Dark Shadows Review

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I wouldn’t go as far as to say that Tim Burton is a hit-and-miss director for me because most of the time I am a big fan of his work. I love Big Fish, Ed Wood and Edward Scissorhands, while I consider Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street nothing short of a master piece. I however am not a fan of some of his other works such as his reditions of Batman and his recent remakes of Alice and Wonderland and what I consider to be his worst movie, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

When it comes to Dark Shadows I can say without a doubt that it is a definite miss for me. This actually comes as a surprise for me because this seemed like just the project to get Burton back on track. Unfortunately the film falls flat and while entertaining at times, it fails to be anything more the a campy joke. This fact is a bit sad, because as I said before this film certainly had some potential.

The acting wasn’t the problem however because as per usual, the star of the film is Johnny Depp and like always he does a fantastic job. The real stand out performance here was Casino Royale’s Eva Green playing a sultry witch attempting to gain the love of the film’s protagonist. Rounding out a great supporting cast are none other than Michelle Pfeiffer and Helena Bonham Carter.

Dark Shadows started off on some fun notes easily playing off of its 1970s and vampire gimmicks. The relationships and the odd family at hand were very entertaining and the film flourished whenever Eva Green came into play. However by the end of it all the decent movie I was watching subtly went down hill and turned into what reminded me of The Haunted Mansion starring Eddie Murphy except with all of Dark Shadows’ plot holes and useless subplots I would’ve been much more entertained by The Haunted Mansion.

Dark Shadows was just not a good movie. It was fun for a little while, but before long I felt embarassed to call myself a fan of Tim Burton. It just amazed me how dreadfully dull the end result truly was. MY biggest problem with the film may lie in the fact that the climax was incredibly forced and ended up being easily the worst and longest scene in the film. All of this to say, I will not be watching this film again.

Grade: D+

The Avengers Review

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When I’m fond of a movie I think about it and the more I think about it, the more I find myself finding more and more reasons to appreciate it. While watching The Avengers, it was very difficult not to smile because of how much fun the movie had to offer. However, in the case of The Avengers, the more I thought about the movie the more I found myself disliking it.

The Avengers is just about the most fun I can have with a movie when it has no substance whatsoever. Sure you can get enjoyment from the film, but where do you draw the line when the film offers nothing apart from a few witty one-liners and a whole lot of action. It was kind of fun to see these stars from other movies working and having conversations with each other, but that’s all the film was, a little fun.

The villain to the super team, The Avengers, is none other than the whiney and non-intimidating, Loki, from Thor and his tremendous army that didn’t end up being much of a threat at all when all you have to do is throw a nuke at it. How imaginative. And I’m not trying to establish some sort of hate for The Avengers because I didn’t hate it. I definitely enjoyed myself, but when you realize you can tell someone the entire plot of a movie in a few short sentences, it’s hard to appreciate the film and its lack of any depth.

I will say that I wasn’t sure what to expect with Robert Downey Jr. when he had to share the spotlight with so many other people. I was very pleased with his take on Tony Stark once again. Mark Ruffalo was another standout as well creating with out a doubt the best Hulk ever to be featured in a film. The Avengers was very polished and it worked for what it was trying to do, but it often felt like the film was taking the easy way out and no there’s nothing here that I would consider great.

Grade: C+

The Hunger Games Review

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The Hunger Games was actually a movie I was very excited when I actually didn’t  know what to expect at all. I never read the books and I saw the trailers and I was a huge fan of the concept and I absolutely love Jennifer Lawrence as an actress. This seemed like a great character for her to play and she was fantastic, but when it comes to the movie as a whole I will say that I was disappointed.

I was very mistaken when I thought I’d go into The Hunger Games and watch a movie as dark as its concept. It wasn’t. I think the best way I could describe would be Harry Potter or Twilight, but a with a plot about teenagers killing teenagers. It was hard not to tell who the films demographic was and in that way I found myself losing interesting in some parts.

Some of the films key points just felt a bit corny or even forced, particularly a scene where the two main characters enter and their clothes are on fire. I’m assuming this was part of the book, but it was scenes like these that just took me out of the action. While other times it felt as though the scenes were being taken very seriously and it was hard not to care for the heroine on display.

Even the heroine though wasn’t used to her full potential. During the first half of the movie it was just very emphasized that she was good with a bow and arrow and she would make for a terrific warrior, but when the time came it seemed like she was always just getting saved right in that climactic moment of the fight. Whereas Battle Royale was extremely bizarre, The Hunger Games was watered down and offered almost the bare minimum.

I didn’t hate the movie however. I thoroughly enjoyed some portions of it, but my expectations were not met and sometimes it happens. I’m not terribly excited for any sort of sequel, but I might see because there’s no reason not to. The Hunger Games was entertaining, but it wasn’t a movie for me when it easily could have been.

Grade: C+

The Woman in Black Review

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I am actually quite the fan of the horror genre because most of the time it’s hard not to find some enjoyment out of a horror movie. You get the masterpieces like The Shining and The Thing and then you can watch really awful horror movies that can be entertaining in just how bad they truly are. Neither was the case when it came to The Woman in Black because it was hard to find much enjoyment at all.

The Woman in Black had everything going for it when it came to the mood and the atmosphere, but on a story front it became dull and incredibly predictable. The film failed to offer any tension or suspense because the plot just became dull and redundant. When something sad happened to the characters I couldn’t care less because it seemed like we really weren’t supposed to. The story just thrust them into uselessly frightening events and we were just supposed to tag along.

Daniel Radcliffe proves once again that he doesn’t know how to portray emotion even when he tries to portray angst and sadness at all times. The rest of the cast even given anytime to do anything cause its mostly just a movie about Harry Potter in a house by himself and for some reason he continues to feel the need to go up to the creepy bedroom where strange noises are coming from.

I found myself leaving the theater joyless. At best the film looked pretty for a horror film, but it was so hard to care about the story at hand when it seemed no care was given by the people who created it. The Woman in Black is not a movie I plan to watch ever again unless I really feel the need to fall asleep fast.

Grade: D+

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Review

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Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, for me, was one of those classic examples of a film not reaching the ridiculous expectations you had set for it. From the brilliant casting to the interesting story set in the back drop of what looked to be a very well established period, I was just looking forward to this movie being a masterpiece. What I got instead was a great film. Unfortunately, what I realized but the end was that I wanted to like this film more than I actually did.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy follows the story of retired British Intelligence spy, George Smiley (Gary Oldman). Smiley has just been recruited to find a mole that is “right at the top of the circus”. The russians had placed the mole years ago and George Smiley is in a very special position as he can look for the traitor outside the boundaries of being a known British Intelligence spy. After the slightly overlong exposition of the film, Tinker Tailor becomes a tense game of chess between Smiley and the unknown mole that results in an intriquing story that examines ideas of loyalty, duty and betrayal.

The overall tale of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was completely fascinating as I truthfully wanted to know where this tale of spies would go. Unfortunately, the film was, particularly in the beginning, incredibly slow at times and that wasn’t a huge problem because a majority of these moments were extremely fitting, yet there were times were I simply wasn’t gripped and my attention wasn’t kept. Then, there were other times that could be looked at as slow, but kept me on the edge of my seat and if the film had been more constant about grabbing my attention it unquestionably would’ve been the masterpiece I wanted it to be.

This was certainly a film that didn’t spoon feed you information so that you can follow the story and I loved that about this film. Though, I won’t sit here, lie, and say that I caught every single minute detail of this film because I didn’t. With all the names and the British Intelligence lingo, it was easy to get slightly lost. I will say that the film never failed to bring you back on track, but it’s because of all the information being tossed around that I couldn’t always decipher and enjoy every moment.

That being said, by the end of it all, I actually loved this movie. Sure, I had to spend some time catching up on what was happening and at times I found myself not being fully attentive. By the end though, practically everything made sense. In this slower tale of cat-and-mouse whereas yes I was not always captivated, most of the time I was and that was mainly because of amazing performances and top-notch direction.

The cast in general was just phenomenal There were three performances that stuck out for me though. Mark Strong has done a great job in everything I’ve seen him in and the same goes for his performance here. Tom Hardy played a supporting character here, but when he was on screen his performance was subdued and yet I was completely invested in everything he was doing. The real praise belongs to Gary Oldman as the protagonist whose brilliant subtleties make for nothing short of one of the best performances he’s ever given.

Tomas Alfredson has done something really special here. The film is simply beautiful in the tone and period it sets up. This is a taut and at times tension-filled tale of realistic espionage. This isn’t James Bond shooting a missile from the license plate of his expensive car or Ethan Hunt climbing a skyscraper, these are spies spying and for the most part Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is every bit as enjoyable.

Grade: A-