Tag: movie

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Kick-Ass

Kick-Ass is a fun and action packed movie. Surprisingly it is a very dark film. Dave Lizewski is a high school geek  that decides to take matters into his own hands after getting tired of being bullied and seeing others suffering the same fate. With a colorful wetsuit and some batons, he sets out to fight crime as a Super Hero named Kick-Ass, but his little idea becomes more than he bargained for.

Kick-Ass is Superbad and Spiderman put together. It’s rarely that you find a good comedic action movie that you can really enjoy and Kick-Ass is one of those movies. The title of the movie refers to the main character of the film. Ironically it’s Hit Girl that really made the movie.

Rating: ★★★★★★★★½☆

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Cop Out

Cop Out is an entertaining cops and robbers comedy starring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan as New York’s finest on a mission to recover their stolen rare and valuable baseball card. Morgan’s likable and goofy character is the basis of all the movie’s comedy. This movie is a mix of Rush Hour and Lethal Weapon that has potential to be milked as a franchise series.

Many of the reviews I’ve been reading from other sites bash this decent film by comparing it to other Kevin Smith’s cult classic such as Chasing Amy, that’s just ridiculous. If you’re looking for a good laugh Cop Out fits the bill.

Rating: ★★★★★★★★☆☆

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The Crazies (2010)

This movie is a remake of the 1973 classic film of the same name.  By the previews one may think it’s a zombie movie of some sort, but actually, the infected people are crazy because of a military bio-weapon that was accidentally release onto a small rural town. The town sheriff, his wife, and his deputy are desperately trying to flee the town from the military, whose bound to wipe out those infected, as well as the Crazies themselves.

Co-written by the Godfather of zombie and zombie-esque writer/director, George Romero, this movie includes many subtlies of social commentary. Even though this is not a true zombie flick, it is one of the best horror/action movie since 2004’s Dawn of the Dead.

Rating: ★★★★★★★★★☆

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Avatar

avatar

Avatar is James Cameron’s first movie since Titanic. There has been a ton of buzz surrounding this movie. Most notably the movie could be the most expensive movie ever made with production costing over $500 million. Given Cameron’s track record many if not all his movies have been big blockbuster hits, and with Avatar it will recoup it’s money and go on to make huge profits.

I went to see this movie through word of mouth from friends and online reviews. I wasn’t really sold on the movie trailer which I saw during the summer. It look more like a cartoon than a real life action movie. I saw the XD 3D version at Cinemark theaters. The leather plush seats and and large digital screen wasn’t too shabby. To my amazement the movie was better than I had expected given the already positive reviews I had heard from my friends. I didn’t care too much for the 3D aspect of it. It didn’t add much value to the movie at all. I could have watched the non 3D version and I would have been fine with it.

The plot isn’t so original, but the story is good and moves along at a good pace. The movie is almost 3 hours long, but it feels much shorter. The special effects and CGI animation are amazing. Cameron somehow manage to seamlessly pull you in to the movie and make you forget about the computer generated environments. If you’re one of those people who wants to wait for the DVD release I suggest you check it out in the theaters to get the full cinema effect.

Rating: ★★★★★★★★☆☆

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Paranormal Activity

paranormalactivities

Movie critics and word of mouth buzz got me interested in this movie. The trailer made it look interesting and the solid reviews from yahoo and rotten tomatoes made it an easy decision to go catch this movie. But sometimes, reviews aren’t always spot on. Taking queues from the Blair Witch movie this shaky-cam movie tries to scare you with minimal special effects but lacks substance to keep me interested. Paranormal Activities has its moments but fails on delivering that ultimate scare found in other horror-suspense movie; The Ring, Sixth Sense, etc. Don’t expect to be scared out of your seats. The suspense will keep you slightly on edge until the ending. Even still, it isn’t satisfying after sitting through this slow-paced movie.

Rating: ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆

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Couples Retreat

couplesretreat

This comedic romantic movie takes four couples to an exotic island were they work on saving their relationships. If you’re a fan of “Swingers” you’re be glad to hear that Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau have teamed up for some memorable dialogue. Couples Retreat is fun to watch but not the side stitching comedy you’d expect from a cast of notables.

Rating: ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆

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Zombieland

zombieland

It’s been quite a while since I did a movie review, but after this weekend and watching Zombieland I was compelled to write one. Once in a long while you come across a great zombie movie that tickles your fancy and Zombieland does just that.  Zombieland stars Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg. They play the last few people who is alive in a devastated and destructed post apocalyptic  zombie world they once called Earth. The movie teeters on the line of seriousness and comedic fun. This is a zombie movie like no other that will you will enjoy from beginning to end.

Rating: ★★★★★★★★★½

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Cloverfield

cloverfield

With its viral marketing in full force and several teaser trailers hitting the theaters since Summer Cloverfield is a must-see movie of the new year. The movie starts off with a message stating the following video as top-secret. The video follows a group of individuals during an attack on Manhattan by a mysterious giant monster. The film is shot in the style of a home-made camcorder, similar to the Blair-witch Project. If you’re easily susceptible to motion sickness then you might want to avoid this movie. The constant moving and shaking of the camera caused my eyes to get tired at times.

Cloverfield is moreso the name of the classified military project or incident of the attack on Manhattan than the name of anything particular. The movie builds up steadily, but gets nowhere with no actual climax. The story ends abruptly leaving you unsatisfied. I’m sure there is going to be a sequel or prequel seeing how this movie ended. Overall, Cloverfield is an interesting ‘monster’ movie. Actually, its more of a movie about humanity with a giant creature running around the city.

Rating: ★★★★★★½☆☆☆

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I Am Legend

iamlegend

After a genetic cure for cancer ends up destroying the humans it tried to cure Robert Neville, played by Will Smith, becomes the last survivor living in New York City. Neville’s only companion is a German Shepard name Sam. He spends each day gathering food and trying to find a cure. And at noon he waits out on the docks hoping if there are other survivors out there that have heard his distress radio call.

This movie is a one-man show with Smith, and he’s not only trying to survive in the post-apocolyptic world but trying to keep his insanity. Being alone is the least of his problems. The virus once engineered to cure cancer kills the majority of its victims, but turns the remaing victims to zombie/vampire like creatures that attacks at night. The atmosphere of the movie is unsettling and Smith playing the only character in the movie is on par with another great actor who played a similar role in Castaway, Tom Hanks.

Rating: ★★★★★★½☆☆☆

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Annapolis

annapolis

January is not a popular month for movies as all the big releases are usually set around the Holiday season. Annapolis isn’t much of a military movie, but a military school movie. James Franco plays a young man who gets accepted to Annapolis, a Naval Academy. No one believes in him and expects him to fail. The story is definately not original and everyone will know the outcome. Annapolis involves Franco joining a boxing tournement in the Academy. At times it seems more like a Rocky movie. Franco has a love interest in the movie, but it never materializes. I wouldn’t say this is a romantic movie, an inspirational movie, or even a sports movie. It falls somewhere between, ‘I only saw this because there was nothing else’ movie.

Rating: ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆