I love musicals, always have. So I had a pretty good feeling I’d like this movie from the get-go, just never caught it in theaters. So I finally got it for my mom & I to watch, & while she still hasn’t sat down with me I decided to watch it alone one sleepless night.

With my mom being both a kindergarten teacher & a child at heart, I wasn’t surprised she wanted to see ParaNorman. She had invited me to see The Odd Life of Timothy Green a few days earlier, but being too busy we rainchecked with this. I can honestly say I’m extremely glad that’s what took place, as this movie was surprisingly fantastic.

Man, it’s been a while since I’ve done one of these. I told myself I would do it last week on Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, but I just really didn’t like it that much & didn’t feel like having my first review in a while basically shitting on a movie. So, I waited for something good.

To be honest, I’d never heard of the film. Rarely do I listen to my mom’s film suggestions because we have completely conflicting tastes for most genres, & when my mom needs a movie to watch she either re-watches Gone With The Wind or one of the first two Godfather movies. Great films, but any movie is a bit old after the hundredth time or so. Regardless, I’d just finished A Fish Called Wanda & had nothing else to watch, so I started what became a strangely, surprisingly good erotic love story that I’d never heard of with a pretty good cast.

The film starts with Maggie Gyllenhaal in bondage gear, doing normal office work as if it’s perfectly ordinary. Rewind six months, & Maggie plays Lee, a girl fresh out of the asylum for self-harm issues. After returning home to an alcoholic father, newlywed sister, & dependent mother, Lee looks for something to do with her time. She replies to an ad to be a secretary, & meets the lawyer E. Edward Grey played by James Spader.

This movie is what I can only describe as I already have: An erotic love story. At its fundamental bases, Lee falls for & is devoted to Edward; this devotion is shown through a Dom/Sub relationship. The movie is filmed passionately & tastefully, not criticizing the lifestyle but showing the actual eroticism of it & the passion in it.

If you like films along the grain of Blue Velvet or Sex, Lies & Videotape you will enjoy this film. If you like subtle eroticism &/or happen to be in a Dom/Sub relationship, you will probably enjoy this film. & frankly if you enjoy a well shot film with a pretty good script & quality plot, you will enjoy this film.
- Saer 

Having seen gifs & screencaps from the movie on Tumblr, I got curious as to how it actually was. It may sound stupid but movies where the main character is depressed because of some ailment are tired to me, although they display the emotional acting skills of the actor amazingly.

Luckily, 50/50 is not one of those movies. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a man in his twenties who suddenly finds out he’s got cancer. Seth Rogen plays his best friend who tries his best to help in a situation that nobody has any real power over. Instead of letting him become depressed over it, his best friend tries to keep him looking on the bright side of the situation.

Overall the movie doesn’t have a depressing tone, which is definitely a nice approach with Seth Rogen playing a major part in the film. You can connect to the characters really well, & while there are truly emotional moments the film does make you laugh more than wanna cry. Definitely worth watching if you get the chance.
- Saer 

I’d seen this movie before I re-watched it earlier in the week, but not remembering it very well I decided there was nothing wrong with having a second view. I’m glad I did, since it’s sparked a new craving (which happen frequently but this one is the current one) of Asian films.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Wo hu can long) is the story of “a young woman in ancient China who longs for an adventurous life rather than a dull arranged marriage” according to Netflix. Chow Yun Fat plays Li Mu Bai, Michelle Yeoh plays Yu Shu Lien, & Ziyi Zhang plays Jen Yu. Jen is the young woman in question, daughter of a nobleman but tired of her life of luxury. Li Mu Bai & Yu Shu Lien are warriors, torn between their status & the passion the two of them share.

Plot-wise the movie is brilliant, blending a romantic tale with an adventure & including amazingly choreographed fight sequences. Artistically the movie continues to deliver, with beautiful visuals abound. The only flaw anyone could find in my opinion is a slow pace, but the pace really isn’t that slow with the movie only 2 hours in length.

All-in-all, a quality film that’s almost hard to review due to being so good I can’t talk about its flaws.
- Saer 

Having seen Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas mere days before the release of The Rum Diary, I was more than excited to see how this next film with Johnny Depp in a Hunter S. Thompson-to-film adaptation was going to be. & while still a good film, it lacked the greatness that Fear & Loathing reached through Terry Gilliam’s directing.

Johnny Depp (Sweeny Todd, Pirates of The Caribbean, & numerous others) plays Paul Kemp, a reporter freelancing in Puerto Rico in the 1950s who ends up torn between the island he is growing to love, & the wealth that wants to capitalize on it. Aaron Eckhart (The Dark Knight, Battle Los Angeles ) plays Sanderson, a man with a lot of power due to his riches & a plan to gain more with Kemp’s help. Things get a bit complicated though when Kemp begins to fall for Sanderson’s girlfriend Chenault, played by Amber Heard (Drive Angry, Pineapple Express). Meanwhile Kemp begins to befriend two other members of the newspaper staff, Sala played by Michael Rispoli (Taking of Pelham 1-2-3) & Moburg played by Giovanni Ribisi (Gone in 60 Seconds, Avatar) who are against the changes being brought to the island that they’ve fallen in love with themselves.

My friend put it best when walking out of the movie he said “It was good with great parts, but not enough to make the movie itself great”. There are scenes that will make you laugh, but they don’t come often enough to make the movie funny; there were dramatic scenes, but not enough to make the movie itself dramatic; the movie just was, not anything in particular. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great, it just was. As for the characters, almost all of the major characters & even the minor characters have depth to them, something you can grasp that you want to learn from them. All except Chenault, which is a major factor in the movie coming off a bit bland. She, being the major love interest in the film, should be deep & making you want her as badly as the characters want her, feeling her as if she was sitting across the table from you; instead, she is just a good looking woman that appears from time to time & looks good when she does. No depth of character, nothing to feel about her, except that she is attractive & two men are after her.

If you’re looking for a movie to hate, this isn’t it: The writing is well done & the casting is 98% good. If you’re looking for a movie to love though, this isn’t it either. In terms of food this movie is a good fast food cheeseburger: Great to be enjoyed in the moment, but not meant to be a lasting memory of a great experience.
- Saer 

When I first heard about this movie being in production, one thing came to my mind: Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots the movie. & to be honest I was just gonna wait for the DVD to come out so I wouldn’t have to pay for it in theaters & could just get it through Netflix. But last week my friends & I had a few hours to kill, & we went to the movies. I can definitely say I am so glad we needed to kill time.

The plot isn’t incredibly creative to be honest, it’s reminiscent of Rocky meets Karate Kid meets any father/son bonding movie. Hugh Jackman plays Charlie Kenton, a former boxer in a future where people, craving more violence in their sports, turned to robotics so that real people wouldn’t beat each other to death. Deep in debt from making bad bets in his robot boxing matches, Charlie finds out that his former girlfriend passed away & must now go to a custody hearing for his son against her wealthy sister who wants the boy. Charlie makes a deal to take his son, Max, for the summer in exchange for $100,000 to sign the custody papers.

All of this, to be honest, doesn’t sound like the most interesting movie to draw in male crowds. What the crowd draw is is the boxing itself, & this movie definitely got the boxing right. What I expected was something cheesy, lame & frankly laughable; what was given was actual, enjoyable boxing matches. The excited feeling is best comparable to when I watched the actual Pacquiao on Mosley fight: My friend & I were excitedly cheering for robots in boxing matches, yelling “Oh!” when a hard hook was thrown & throwing our hands in the air when a good match ended.

All in all, the family draw for the movie is okay. The real draw for this movie is boxing fans, because the boxing is actual quality boxing; Jackman was even trained by Sugar Ray Leonard for the movie. If you like watching pay-per-view fights on tv, you will enjoy this movie; & if you like a good bonding movie, you will also like this movie. 

I watched Rubber with a couple of friends the other night, & immediately the movie stood out for more than just the plot. While seemingly B-movie in style & writing, it’s actually a quality film that pokes fun at the movie industry itself. Strange? Of course, it’s about a tire. But still great.

For those of you who don’t know, Rubber is about a sentient tire named Robert. Why Robert? No reason. Why a tire? No reason. Why is he sentient? No reason. & that in itself is a major point of the movie: That successful blockbusters have done plenty of things for really no reason at all, simply because it’s the choice they made. The film opens with a monologue to the viewing audience about the usage of ‘No reason’ in films, stating that Rubber is an omage to the art of ‘No reason’.

The audience is actually portrayed within the movie as a part of the cast in a way, & some of the characters break the 4th wall (reference to the fact that they are within a fictional world) which adds to the satirical aspect. But from a purely cinematic aspect, the movie does have good effect work & great camera work. The whole movie is done with the feel of a bad B-Movie that’s using A-Movie quality, almost saying “I can make a cheesy movie that makes no sense & you will still love it.”

Rubber is strange, funny, & worth seeing with friends. The sheer nonsense will make you laugh, the humor will make you laugh, & if you have seen a lot of movies you will appreciate the jokes made towards the audience & by the audience throughout.
- Saer 

(Source: wethinktherefore)

As some of you know, I want to go into film making. & it’s rare that I see films that make me realize how much I want to become a filmmaker myself. Drive is one of those movies, & I can say that it is my favorite movie hands down. It’s not just another action movie, but an artistic film with action sequences. The cinematography is brilliant, the soundtrack both simple but necessary, the casting perfect, & above all the dialogue scarce, allowing the subtle expressions of the actors to tell everything instead.

I cannot express how happy I was to see a movie like this when I was expecting something along the lines of The Transporter starring Ryan Gosling. The director expertly used things like lighting & sound to portray the scene as opposed to speech, such as in the opening sequence: At one point Driver, while being a getaway vehicle, follows a patrol car down a street incognito. Immediately the camera cuts to the crooks in the back, looking at each other in complete confusion as to why he’s not trying to avoid the cops at all. He then turns off the street in the opposite direction from the patrol car, allowing the camera to show the crooks relax a bit as they know Driver knows what he’s doing. But the way it’s shown, without a word spoken, is perfect. Driver (he doesn’t have a name, just to state) doesn’t even have a line for the first ten to fifteen minutes of the movie, & his first line is “Where can I put these?” about two bags of groceries. But that’s what makes him a strong character, he embodies the strong silent type of man, with grease on his clothes & confidence pouring out of him.

If you have two free hours, go see Drive. See it alone or with friends that won’t talk much, & absorb the pure artistry of a movie that somehow used 80s synth pop in a powerful way; that used the lack of dialogue to create tension, happiness, & romance; that casted every actor so perfectly this movie is an Oscar mine waiting to happen (assuming politics won’t screw that up).
- Saer