Movie of the Week: Rocky

   

    Movie of the Week (4/11/14-4/17/14): We all love a good underdog story and there is no better one than probably the one that started them all. Boxing has sort of faded away a little in today's age, although there are still plenty of fights, it is not as popular as it used to be twenty years ago. Boxing was popular for a very long time in the United States and people watched many boxers rise from the bottom to the top. I'm sure you know which ones I'm talking about. But, in 1976 we were introduced to one that started from the very bottom and rose to the top by making a 'nobody' become a 'somebody' in, Rocky.
    Rocky Balboa is a collector for a loan shark and he gets paid here and there when he collects money. He is also a small time boxer and has very small fights every now and then. The problem is he doesn't get paid very much and is struggling, he lives in a terrible apartment with bugs and dirt. Then he gets the chance of a life time. Champion Apollo Creed comes to town and Rocky sees this as a chance to become 'somebody.' He and Apollo plan to fight an exhibition that is suppose to be an easy fight that Apollo is suppose to win. Rocky wants to train as hard as he can while falling in love with a girl and prove that he's got what it takes to step in the ring with a Champion.
    As you all know by now, Sylvester Stallone plays Rocky, and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor, his only nomination. That is probably because this is his best acting that he has done, although he has a few other movies were he didn't receive the recognition that he deserved. But, nevertheless he was great in this movie and brought Rocky to life I don't think anybody else could. Talia Shire plays Adrian and she too was great here as a struggling woman who finds a man she least expected. Burgess Meredith and Burt Young play Mickey and Paulie respectively and both got nominated for Best Supporting Actor. Again, they too are great in every scene adding to the emotion filled film. Carl Weathers is also very good here as Apollo Creed, he and Rocky were great when on screen together.
    As I said this is a great story about an underdog rising up from the very bottom and that is what Stallone gave us. He actually wrote the screenplay when he had next to nothing and sold it to become a millionaire over night. He actually went and bought his dog back, which he sold because he needed money so badly. But, he gave us a great story with wonderful character development and characters that we want to cheer for over and over again. Director John G. Avildsen gives us great classic direction with perfectly filmed scenes with a very realistic feel to them. The boxing scenes were filmed very well too with a good mix of close up and wide shots so we are not overwhelmed, they were very well balanced.
    Of course we have great editing from start to finish, some scenes with very little and some with several good cuts to give the film excellent flow. The film also has great sound as it is mixed and edited perfectly in each scene, especially the boxing scenes and the iconic training scenes when Rocky goes from workout to workout all the way up those famous steps. Of course this film would not be complete without its powerful and motivating musical score. Bill Conti gave us a wonderful and moving score that is still being used today, we all get pumped when we hear it. Rocky is a film that never gets old as we cheer on its underdog every time we watch it, including its sequels, and get moved by its story and characters.
4/4 Stars  

Movie of the Week: Minority Report

   

    Movie of the Week (5/4/14-5/10/14): Murder is everywhere in the world and it happens everyday, whether we want it to or not. The murder of innocent people and the murder of guilty people happens yet in a future world we see where humans have come up with a way to stop murders all together. In a perfect world that is what people want, to have no more murders, but of course everything has its pros and cons. The system that is used in this film appeared to have been hiding something, something that might have put the wrong people in jail and, when in the wrong hands, could be used to commit murder again. Now, that being said some people have an image that could have proved they would have been innocent, but some do not, some future murderers have a, Minority Report.  
    John Anderton leads an elite crime fighting force called Precrime, in 2054, which is a new kind of program that can see people who are about to commit a murder. For six years it has been perfect, and in six years there has not been a murder. The system has three gifted humans called Pre-Cogs that work together to see the future murders. Anderton soon discovers that the system predicts him to commit a murder on a victim he doesn't even know. He is then on the run with his former teammates after him, with his past haunting him and used against him, he must find out who and why has set him up for a murder that he is suppose to commit in 36 hours.
    Tom Cruise plays John Anderton and I was very, very impressed with his performance in this movie. This is probably my favorite character of his because he seemed to enjoy playing it and delivers an electrified performance with a great and in depth character. Colin Farrell plays Danny Witwer, a man trying to find flaws in the system and when he seems to have found them begins chasing Anderton. Farrell was also very good in this picture and gave a very good supporting actor performance. Max Von Sydow plays Lamar Burgess, who is the Director of the Precrime force. He was very good in a role that we don't see him in very often and played it well to the point that we are shocked in the films climax, another fine performance from Sydow. We also have a good supporting cast that delivers very well in Neal McDonough, Steve Harris, Patrick Kilpatrick, Jessica Capshaw, Samantha Morton, and Tim Blake Nelson.
    In case you didn't know, this was directed my Steven Spielberg and you can most definitely tell that it has his touch. His intense and hands on direction shows that he wanted this film to be a very good film, I loved his way of directing this movie in making it feel like an action film while giving it the look of a true Sci-fi film. But he couldn't have done it without the work of cinematographer Janusz Kaminski, who has worked with Spielberg a lot. He gave the film an interesting glare look to it to make it look more futuristic, of course he used it more in the dramatic scenes do give them a boost. The lighting was also interesting here too.
    We also have fantastic editing here, to me editing that deserved an Oscar nomination, that made the film absolutely fun to watch especially during the chase scenes and the revelations scenes. John Williams score is also very moving and riveting. But this film would not be what it is with out the visual effects and production design. These two combined make this an effective movie, along with them being Spielberg's trademark in his films. They are both great and put the finishing touches on this great film because it is beautiful to look at with these fantastic visuals and sets. It is also a great story, with Sci-fi, action, and mystery all mixed in one because of a great screenplay, it is very well written. With great performances, stellar direction, eye-popping cinematography, visual effects, editing, and sets, and an intense story, this is a new modern Sci-fi classic.
3.5/4 Stars

Movie of the Week: Man of Steel

    Movie of the Week (4/27/14-5/3/14): Many of you might remember this highly anticipated film from last year, several of my friends liked it a lot... but I didn't. And let me try and tell you all why Man of Steel was the most disappointing film of 2013. Like everybody else, I went into this movie expecting to be swept off of my feet with the best Superman movie ever made. I had such high hopes for this movie that I can't even explain it. I had probably the highest expectations for a movie in years. And  I expected to give this movie very high praise and a 4 Star review, but in the end I was a little let down by Zack Snyder, again. Now, I don't mean that this was a total bust because it wasn't, I still some aspects of the movie, but not near as much as I thought I would, and there were several things that let me down.
    We all pretty much know the story of Superman and his origin, and that is what this film was about, just a re-imagining of it, so I'm not going to go into details on the plot. First, I'm going to tell you what hurt the movie. So, first was the pacing, the movie is told in flashbacks several times, but you're never confused because you can tell which scenes were flashbacks. What hurt the film with the flashbacks was that many of them didn't seem to fit in place during the film when we go back in time, they hurt the pacing. A couple times in the first 45 minutes to an hour I found myself a little bored, hoping it would start to pick up. The flashbacks hurt the film the most and a I think it would have been better if it was told chronologically with maybe a couple flashbacks.
    The next things are how we find out something and how they used Lois Lane, played by Amy Adams. Again, this is an origin story and those can be hard to tell, but some thing's we find out in the first half of the movie didn't seem to make much sense. I found myself asking "how did he get there to find that particular object?" The film was jumpy at times when it came to those aspects. Next, is Lois Lane, I didn't think she was used very well because she just shows up in a helicopter at a location, that I'm not going to tell you, and meets Clark there and then something bad happens. After that she goes on a search to find out more about this man she met, which is just a couple minutes of short cut scenes, not much explanation. Oh, and apparently Lois Lane can walk on the ledge of an icy cliff with no climbing gear or ropes. And Amy Adams overall didn't seem like a very good Lois Lane, and I like Amy Adams, but I never felt she embraced the role as good as she could have.
    However, that being said there were still things that I did enjoy about the film. The first was the acting of Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Russell Crowe, and Michael Shannon. All of these actors really did a fantastic job, they probably saved the film from being terrible. Kevin Costner and Diane Lane both give us heartwarming performances as Jonathan Kent and Martha Kent respectively, one scene in particular that I did like involved Jonathan saving people from an oncoming tornado, which was very good. Russell Crowe gives us another very good performance as Superman's father, Jor-El, we see him several times throughout the film alive and after the fact. Now he's no Marlon Brando, but I really did enjoy his take as Jor-El. Finally we have Michael Shannon as General Zod, who really stole the screen, I thought he was the best in the film and the best actor the play Zod. A great and frightening performance from Michael Shannon.
    The other thing that helped this film out were the Visual Effects and the fight scenes, which all take place in the last 45 minutes or so, except the opening scene. This is a beautiful film when it comes to the Visual Effects, of course that is what Zack Snyder is known for in his other movies, 300 and Watchmen, although the latter was not a good movie. The first scene takes place on Krypton, which is a new take on it and it is Visually brilliant. Once Zod attacks Earth the effects really come into play and take over the movie, but I believe for the good. Obviously the effects help with the fight scenes, which are also fun and exciting at times, maybe a little much in some parts because one keeps going and going, just tearing up building after building with a lot of camera movement. But overall, good effects and fight scenes.
    In the end this was not quite the Superman movie we wanted to see and I believe with better editing it might have been better, the pacing was the big thing that hurt the film and the character development with Amy Adam's Lois Lane, and Superman. I really wanted this film to join the 4 Star ranks of superhero movies such as the 1978 movie Superman: The Movie, Spiderman 2, The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, if you consider Batman a "Superhero", The Avengers, and the latest superhero movie Captain America: The Winter Soldier, but it failed to do that. I know it was a new origin story and those are hard to tell sometimes, but this really could have been a lot better with a better script, and director. With Snyder coming back for Batman vs. Superman and the newly announced Justice League movie, I'm afraid we will have the same problem with those.
    When I first posted a review of this film last year I gave it three stars, but once I watched it again I realized how much I disliked it. With it's bad writing and storytelling over shadowing everything else, like the great acting from much of the cast, good visuals, and fight scenes this film is a complete letdown. Plus, Zack Snyder's style of directing is just not good for this kind of movie, his one good movie, 300, made him a star and unless he blows me away with his next film, he will continue to disappoint. I almost hate to to say this, but Superman Returns is a much better film than this one. And let's face it, I missed the original Superman theme by John Williams, although Hans Zimmer's was good, just not as good and we needed that uplifting score several times in this movie.                 
2/4 Stars.  

Movie of the Week: The Passion of the Christ

    Movie of the Week (4/20/14-4/26/14): I usually don't make a movie a Movie of the Week twice, but I think I might start a tradition with this movie on Easter. So, today is Easter and we all know the meaning of this holiday because it has been told to us throughout our lives, have seen it on film, an of course have read it in The Bible. There are many films that have been about or have been centered around this moment in history. But, the one that describes and shows it in the most graphic of detail is The Passion of the Christ from writer and director Mel Gibson. However, this film is not a biography like many other films about Jesus are, it is about the last twelve hours of his life, but it is not told in chronological order.
    From the opening scene we are really hooked into this powerful drama as Jesus is tempted by Satan in a scene titled "Agony in the Garden." In this opening sequence, which spans the first fifteen minutes, Jesus prays, is tempted, betrayed, and then arrested. With this much drama going on in the opening minutes it is really hard not to turn away. From the opening scene on we are taken on a graphic journey of the last hours of Jesus' life including the disturbing, and infamous, Crucifixion scenes.
    The telling of this well known story is done by virtually unknown actors. The only known actors are Jim Caviezel as Jesus and Monica Bellucci who plays Magdalen. The rest of the cast is unknown to most people, but that does not mean that the acting is not good. Caviezel gives a wonderful performance as he was forced to show so much emotion in his role, during the torture scenes, and does it very well. Monica Bellucci also gives us a fine performance as she also expresses an unbelievable amount of sadness. Just because I only mention these two actors does not mean that the rest of the cast did not do a great job because they did. This is a movie full of great performances from many small roles that makes the movie that much more powerful to watch.
    Although this story is well known it did have to be written into a screenplay. Mel Gibson and Benedict Fitzgerald wrote a great screenplay that converses well with all the Gospels. They mix up a few things from each of the Gospels and put it into one movie and it really mixes well together, although some historians criticized it for being inaccurate. Gibson himself also directed this picture and another great job he did.  
    Gibson depicts the crucifixion of Jesus in a very graphic manner, so graphic in fact that many viewers cannot watch the film, although it does have a re-cut version out, but it is still rated R. But he chose to depict it this way to show as much detail as he possibly could, to show the real amount of pain that Jesus went through. Back in that time there were a few different ways of crucifixion and Jesus got the worse kind and it was very common then too. However it does show the nails going through his hands, when they actually went through his wrists. Along with making the film very bloody and graphic, Gibson also chose to shoot the film in Latin and Aramaic dialects with English subtitles, which gives the film more realism I believe. So, you have to read a lot during the movie.
    The score of the film, by John Debney, is also very powerful in many ways and is used very well throughout the film whether it be times when it does need music or times when it does not. It is used wonderfully at the end I might add. Simply put, this film is a great film, although it is number one on the list of the most controversial movies of all time. We see the crucifixion of Jesus in graphic detail with flashbacks of scenes like when Jesus was a young boy, the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaching the Twelve Apostles, and the Last Supper. All of which are mixed in well and fit the timing when we see them. This is a very well done, beautifully shot, scored, written, directed, and emotional film with a very powerful ending that well not be forgotten anytime soon.
3.5/4 Stars

Movie of the Week: Phone Booth

   

    Movie of the Week (4/13/14-4/19/14): I missed last week in doing a movie of the week, but I had a few things going on at the beginning of the week and then I just forgot. But, we are back this week with a movie that, I'm willing to bet, most of you have not heard of. I say that because this film is not talked about a lot when Colin Farrell's career is brought up. I don't know why that is because to me it is one of his best acting credentials. Although there is not a ton of plot to the film and it all takes place in pretty much one spot, it will keep you entertained for the short one hour and twenty minute run-time. This is, Phone Booth.
    As I said there is not a lot of plot to this movie but it is fun. We focus on a New York publicist, who likes to talk and lie, a lot, when one day he goes on his regular routine to a phone booth to call his mistress. Once he hangs up the phone rings, he answers it, then his life changes. He is told that if he hangs up he will be shot, he doesn't believe him, then he hears the sound of a bolt-action rifle. He is then put to the test of telling the truth, but he has some obstacles to face, like desperate people needing to use the phone. Attention of the situation soon escalates when the police arrive, as does his wife and mistress.Will he tell the truth about his life or will he avoid it and die saving his own skin?
    What I liked about this movie was the acting from Colin Farrell, who plays Stu Shepard, as I said this is one of his best acting performances considering all he is doing is talking on a phone. But, I was truly convinced that he was scared for his life many times and I really enjoyed his performance. Also, even though you only see him once, Kiefer Sutherland's voice acting was very good, he's the guy on the phone, the relaxation in his voice tells us that he enjoyed the role as a villain that you don't ever see. But, his voice is the villain in this movie and it sometimes gives you chills by how he says things. Forest Whitaker was also very good as a Captain who really has no idea what is going on, like everybody else, and is trying to figure out why this is happening.
    Another thing I enjoyed about this movie is that the villain always has the upper hand, throughout the whole movie he is holding the strings and can decide which ones he wants to cut. Larry Cohen wrote a very good script with some great dialogue that always has a twist on it that gives the villain the upper hand and keeps you guessing on how they will get out of this situation. There is also some fancy editing several times and good cinematography that gives it a very realistic feel to it. Joel Schumacher impressed me too with his good direction that also gives the film an upper hand that it might not have had, but then again I guess anything is a step up from Batman and Robin. Again, there is not much plot here, but we have great dialogue going on from a good script, Colin Farrell at his finest, a haunting voice performance from Kiefer Sutherland, and surprisingly good direction from Joel Schumacher. This is a thriller that will keep you glued to the TV.
3/4 Stars.            

Movie of the Week: The Social Network

   

    Movie of the Week (3/30/14-4/5/14): Many of you clicked on a link from Facebook to see this review, well without the story in our movie of the week this week, we would not have a Facebook. You already know the movie of the week, but without Mark Zuckerberg and his story Facebook would never exist. So, that is what we have here, a story of a young man who appeared to have made enemies out of his friends because he wanted something all to himself in, The Social Network.  
    Social Networking, it's what most people do everyday now, we have Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and the grand daddy of them all, Facebook. Now, Facebook might not have been the first social networking site, but it took it and made it bigger and better. That is what we see in this movie. It all starts in a Harvard dorm room when Zuckerberg gets angry at his ex-girlfriend. He blogs for hours over how he feels about her, gossip, which is what he see a lot today on Facebook. With some inspiration of twins, he takes this and begins building a site for people to get to know each each other on campus. It soon makes its way all the way to California where a man named Sean Parker wants to take it to a whole new level.
    The cast in this movie is very young with barely any veteran actors, but that didn't stop them from doing the best jobs of their lives so far. First, we have Jesse Eisenberg, who plays Mark Zuxkerberg, and he knocks it out of the park with this role. It is really hard to ever see him doing a role as good as this one again, plus he was perfect for it. As great as he was, I think my favorite performance in this film was that of Justin Timberlake, who played Sean Parker. He delivers his several monologue scenes with perfection and so much energy that I couldn't believe it was him in this role. I wish he would do more roles like this one because he was extraordinary. Armie Hammer was great too as he played the Winklevoss twins, along with Andrew Garfield, who had great character development as Eduardo Saverin.
    As great as the young cast was, they probably couldn't have done it without a veteran director in the drama genre, David Fincher. Fincher directed this film with ease and gave it his trademarked dark and eerie feeling in a place where you wouldn't thought had been in a world where Facebook was created. Where he shines is directing this young cast to performances of their lifetimes and makes it feel like a dark place where all this started. But, we couldn't have had that without the wonderful screenplay by another drama veteran, Aaron Sorkin, who put together such a great flowing film with the perfectly timed flashback or forward scenes to make this film complete. Whenever a flashback or forward occurs, it doesn't disrupted the flow of the film, in fact it adds to it. This might be the best screenplay, so far, for Aaron Sorkin.
    Since this is a drama film with a lot of dialogue, it really isn't in much need of a score throughout the majority of the picture. However, when they do use the musical score, it is used perfectly and with the score being a somber type score or a light intense score at times, it gives the film that perfect feel. We can think Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for that short, but wonderful and breathtaking piano score. One last thing that makes this movie one of the best in 2010 was the cinematography. There are no big beautiful outdoor scenes that make this film look great, but instead it is how they used smaller sets to make it look great and give it that very realistic feel. This is a dark film in a world where you wouldn't think it would be thanks to the extraordinary direction, spot on cast, groundbreaking screenplay, simple but effective score, and beautifully done cinematography. All of those things make it the third best movie of 2010, but still stars across the board.
4/4 Stars

Movie of the Week: Pure Country

   

    Movie of the Week (3/23/14-3/29/14): I'm not sure if many of you all knew this, but back in 1992 the King of Country released himself a movie about country music. That's right George Strait filmed a movie, now as great as a musician that he is, we definitely knew that the movie would have a great soundtrack. As for King George himself, well we'll get to that in a few. This movie that he made was what you would call a "feel good" movie because it was about his character trying to find his true country roots again. And we get to watch him go to some very nice classic country places to do it in, Pure Country.
    Dusty Chandler is a huge country star with shows that will blow you away...and that's the problem. Somewhere along the line of his career Dusty lost sight of his country roots and the classic country concert. He ends up feeling lost in himself and then one day decides to up and leave to find it. He walks down the highway to his old stomping grounds, where everything started for him. He goes back to his grandmothers house where his first guitar is still hanging on her wall, to an old dance hall, and to a ranch where he ends up finding love and his true country roots.
    Pretty much the only person most people will know is George Strait, who plays Dusty Chandler, although a young Kyle Chandler, who plays Buddy Jackson, best known for his role in the T.V. show Friday Night Lights is also in this film. And that being said he is probably the best actor in this film. Yes, even better than George Strait, and don't get me wrong, George is one of my favorite country singers and he is probably the best all time, but the man just isn't a very good actor. His monotone voice is what hurts him the most and his lack of emotion in many scenes hurts the film. His best emotion, shockingly, comes when he is singing his songs. There is also Isabel Glasser, who plays the love interest, and she is very good in some of the scenes, particularly the end scene.
    Now, this film doesn't have a lot going for it, although it does have some well shot concert scenes and some well put together emotional scenes when Dusty is going down memory lane. The director, Christopher Cain, just didn't have what it took to make this a better looking movie than it is or how it was shot at times. I understand that he was probably trying to keep a classic feel to the film, and it worked, but at times I felt that he could have done more with some scenes to give them an extra push. The only scenes that seemed to have that extra push were the concert scenes, although even the climax scene could have had a little more emotion with the way it was shot.
    Now, I'm not saying this is a bad movie because it certainly is not, there are plenty other worse movies out there. This is a good movie because it is a good story and is a "feel good" movie that will make you smile in the end. Also, this movie has one of the best soundtracks ever for a film, with songs like "Heartland," "When Did You Stop Loving Me," "Baby Your Baby," "Overnight Male," Last in Love," and of course "I Cross My Heart," this is a movie that could be told straight from the songs that were written just for the movie. So, with a good moving story, mediocre direction, a mediocre performance from George Strait, and an awesome soundtrack to help move the film along, this will leave you tapping your feet throughout and smiling at the end, but being happy that George Strait just sticks to singing those classics.
2.5/4 Stars