Spanks - 3
Director - Guy Ritchie
Writer - Michael Robert Johnson and Anthony Peckham and Simon Kinberg
Starring - Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Rachel McAdams, Mark Strong & Eddie Marsan
Release Date - 25 December 2009
MPAA Rating - PG-13
Sherlock Holmes has been adapted into films over 200 times since Sir Arthur Conan Doyle published his first print appearance in 1887. This is Holmes' the first appearance in a major motion picture in the 2000s (that I can recall). The film is not your normal Hollywood origin story. The film begins with Holmes and Watson being introduced by solving a case involving a serial killer. Cut to a few months later and we find out Watson is getting married and Holmes gets his next case, the case the movie follows.
Being a film by Guy Richie, I expected a lot of crazy twist and plot developments you come to expect from a Richie film. But being the film wasn't written by him, you get generic plot development and little suspense. I hope the planned sequel is written with a lot more input from Richie and takes more of what he has done brilliantly in the films he has written and directed previously.
If you go without the expectations I had for it, it is probably a good movie. The people I saw it with enjoyed it a lot. I thought the soundtrack by Hans Zimmer was different sounding and amazing. The design team did a good job recreating London in the 1890s. Robert Downey Jr. brings Holmes to live as well as he did with Tony Stark. Everything was in the right place for Sherlock Holmes to be a great film, but it shows in this film how a wrong story can mess up everything.
03 January 2010
24 December 2009
The Princess and the Frog
Spanks - 4
Director - Ron Clements and John Musker
Writer - Ron Clements & John Musker and Rob Edwards
Voices - Anika Noni Rose, Bruno Campos, Keith David, Michael-Leon Wooley, Jennifer Cody and John Goodman
Release Date - 11 December 2009
MPAA Rating - G
The Princess and the Frog is the 49th animated film by Walt Disney Animation Studios. It is their first hand drawn film since Home on the Range and their first new princess movie since Beauty and the Beast.
The movie is about Tiana, a teenage girl growing up in New Orleans who has a dream to be a chef and open the restaurant her and her father dreamed of opening since she was a young girl. Meanwhile, Prince Naveen comes to town to court Tiana's wealthy friend Charlotte. On his way to the ball in his honor, he meets a voodoo doctor who calls himself The Shadow Man. This meeting changes the lives of Tiana and Prince Naveen forever.
Louis, the trumpet playing alligator was my favorite of the supporting characters. The Shadow Man reminds me a little of Jafar in his evilness. Ray, the firefly, was funny the way he talked about his true love Evangeline.
The film follows the fairytale formula that Disney has been using successfully for over 70 years. After all that time, they can still make fun, original, and inspirational films for children of all ages. I thoroughly enjoyed it immensely and even laughed throughout Tiana's journey.
Director - Ron Clements and John Musker
Writer - Ron Clements & John Musker and Rob Edwards
Voices - Anika Noni Rose, Bruno Campos, Keith David, Michael-Leon Wooley, Jennifer Cody and John Goodman
Release Date - 11 December 2009
MPAA Rating - G
The Princess and the Frog is the 49th animated film by Walt Disney Animation Studios. It is their first hand drawn film since Home on the Range and their first new princess movie since Beauty and the Beast.
The movie is about Tiana, a teenage girl growing up in New Orleans who has a dream to be a chef and open the restaurant her and her father dreamed of opening since she was a young girl. Meanwhile, Prince Naveen comes to town to court Tiana's wealthy friend Charlotte. On his way to the ball in his honor, he meets a voodoo doctor who calls himself The Shadow Man. This meeting changes the lives of Tiana and Prince Naveen forever.
Louis, the trumpet playing alligator was my favorite of the supporting characters. The Shadow Man reminds me a little of Jafar in his evilness. Ray, the firefly, was funny the way he talked about his true love Evangeline.
The film follows the fairytale formula that Disney has been using successfully for over 70 years. After all that time, they can still make fun, original, and inspirational films for children of all ages. I thoroughly enjoyed it immensely and even laughed throughout Tiana's journey.
11 December 2009
Pirate Radio
Spanks - 4
Director - Richard Curtis
Writer - Richard Curtis
Starring - Nick Frost, Bill Nighy, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Kenneth Branagh & Tom Sturridge
Release Date - 13 November 2009
MPAA Rating - R
Pirate Radio (originally known as The Boat that Rocked) is the newest film from the brilliant mind who brought the world Mr. Bean and Blackadder. The film takes place in the United Kingdom in 1966. It follows the staff of pirate radio station Rock Radio who are on a ship in the North Sea and the politicians in London who want to shut them down.
The staff of Rock Radio are all fun and free and enjoy to party and rock. Rock n' Roll is the biggest thing in their lives and their listeners. Things change when they find out the British government wants them off the air. They don't plan to give up without a fight. The film is loosely based on true events involving pirate radio stations at the time, but certain plot elements like Rock n' Roll being banned on the British Isles is completely fiction. Writer/Director Richard Curtis said this film was made for entertainment purposes only and not to tell the real story of events of the late 1960s.
The film is funny, but in a British way of funny. If you don't like the British comic style, this film isn't for you. If you don't mind it, you will enjoy it greatly. All the characters are likeable, and Philip Seymour Hoffman continues to be a fantastic actor.
Director - Richard Curtis
Writer - Richard Curtis
Starring - Nick Frost, Bill Nighy, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Kenneth Branagh & Tom Sturridge
Release Date - 13 November 2009
MPAA Rating - R
Pirate Radio (originally known as The Boat that Rocked) is the newest film from the brilliant mind who brought the world Mr. Bean and Blackadder. The film takes place in the United Kingdom in 1966. It follows the staff of pirate radio station Rock Radio who are on a ship in the North Sea and the politicians in London who want to shut them down.
The staff of Rock Radio are all fun and free and enjoy to party and rock. Rock n' Roll is the biggest thing in their lives and their listeners. Things change when they find out the British government wants them off the air. They don't plan to give up without a fight. The film is loosely based on true events involving pirate radio stations at the time, but certain plot elements like Rock n' Roll being banned on the British Isles is completely fiction. Writer/Director Richard Curtis said this film was made for entertainment purposes only and not to tell the real story of events of the late 1960s.
The film is funny, but in a British way of funny. If you don't like the British comic style, this film isn't for you. If you don't mind it, you will enjoy it greatly. All the characters are likeable, and Philip Seymour Hoffman continues to be a fantastic actor.
16 November 2009
2012
Spanks - 3
Director - Roland Emmerich
Writer - Roland Emmerich & Harald Kloser
Starring - John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Thandie Newton & Oliver Platt
Release Date - 13 November 09
MPAA Rating - PG-13
Roland Emmerich's latest disaster film, 2012, is full of plot holes, bad dialog, impossible situations, and some out of order editing; but damn is it a fun movie! Instead of giant flying saucers, a nuclear mutated lizard, or an ice age the cause or the disaster is solar flares and shifting in the Earth's tectonic plates.
The film has the luckiest character ever created in Hollywood. John Cusack plays a poor divorced writer/limo driver who survives earthquakes, fires, and any "red shirt" doesn't; not once, or twice. I lost count half way through. Each time it gets more comical (I don't think that was the filmmakers intent). I am not going to say how, but some will entertain you and others will just make you want to jump ship. The dialog is equally as comical. With Cusack saying things like "When they tell you not to panic... that's when you run!" or his son says "Woah, big plane." and the Russian billionaire who owns it replys "It's Russian." The entire two and a half hour movie is written in this manner.
The film is all about showing off computer special effects technology. Most of the movie is CGI and the filmmakers have even said that it is more of an animated film because of how much isn't real. The effects do look better (and more real) then they did in the trailers but like the Star Wars prequel trilogy they just showed off and made it way to busy. Because of this, it takes away the realness of the disaster and destruction. All the modern digital special effects in the world will never beat the simple but very awesome destruction created with practical effects in Independence Day.
The only reason to watch this film is because you like disaster movies. That is the best part of the movie. The only way to watch it is in a theater or on a big HDTV with a kick ass home theater system. Any other way would be pointless.
Director - Roland Emmerich
Writer - Roland Emmerich & Harald Kloser
Starring - John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Thandie Newton & Oliver Platt
Release Date - 13 November 09
MPAA Rating - PG-13
Roland Emmerich's latest disaster film, 2012, is full of plot holes, bad dialog, impossible situations, and some out of order editing; but damn is it a fun movie! Instead of giant flying saucers, a nuclear mutated lizard, or an ice age the cause or the disaster is solar flares and shifting in the Earth's tectonic plates.
The film has the luckiest character ever created in Hollywood. John Cusack plays a poor divorced writer/limo driver who survives earthquakes, fires, and any "red shirt" doesn't; not once, or twice. I lost count half way through. Each time it gets more comical (I don't think that was the filmmakers intent). I am not going to say how, but some will entertain you and others will just make you want to jump ship. The dialog is equally as comical. With Cusack saying things like "When they tell you not to panic... that's when you run!" or his son says "Woah, big plane." and the Russian billionaire who owns it replys "It's Russian." The entire two and a half hour movie is written in this manner.
The film is all about showing off computer special effects technology. Most of the movie is CGI and the filmmakers have even said that it is more of an animated film because of how much isn't real. The effects do look better (and more real) then they did in the trailers but like the Star Wars prequel trilogy they just showed off and made it way to busy. Because of this, it takes away the realness of the disaster and destruction. All the modern digital special effects in the world will never beat the simple but very awesome destruction created with practical effects in Independence Day.
The only reason to watch this film is because you like disaster movies. That is the best part of the movie. The only way to watch it is in a theater or on a big HDTV with a kick ass home theater system. Any other way would be pointless.
12 November 2009
The Men Who Stare at Goats
Spanks - 4
Director - Grant Heslov
Writer - Peter Straughan and Jon Ronson
Starring - George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey & Stephen Lang
Release Date - 6 November 09
MPAA Rating - R
The Men Who Stare at Goats is inspired by the top secret true story of the United States military and its attempts to use psychic powers in a group of soldiers as told in the book by Jon Ronson.
The film follows reporter Bob Wilton, who meets Lyn Cassady in Kuwait. Bob knows about Lyn's involvement as a psychic spy from one of his previous articles After the two men meet, Lyn invites him to write a story about his new mission, that brought him out of retirement, in Iraq. The film also tells about the creation of the New Earth Army that Lyn was an original member of.
The humor in the movie is very dark and weird. It is definitely not your typical comedy. It is funny, but only if you are interested in off beat comedy. Jeff Bridge's Bill Django character is his funniest since The Dude. George Clooney can play a wacko and should continue to stick with these kind of roles and refrain from playing the action hero.
Director - Grant Heslov
Writer - Peter Straughan and Jon Ronson
Starring - George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey & Stephen Lang
Release Date - 6 November 09
MPAA Rating - R
The Men Who Stare at Goats is inspired by the top secret true story of the United States military and its attempts to use psychic powers in a group of soldiers as told in the book by Jon Ronson.
The film follows reporter Bob Wilton, who meets Lyn Cassady in Kuwait. Bob knows about Lyn's involvement as a psychic spy from one of his previous articles After the two men meet, Lyn invites him to write a story about his new mission, that brought him out of retirement, in Iraq. The film also tells about the creation of the New Earth Army that Lyn was an original member of.
The humor in the movie is very dark and weird. It is definitely not your typical comedy. It is funny, but only if you are interested in off beat comedy. Jeff Bridge's Bill Django character is his funniest since The Dude. George Clooney can play a wacko and should continue to stick with these kind of roles and refrain from playing the action hero.
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