Archive for August, 2008

The Spiderwick Chronicles

Posted on Aug 21, 2008 under Action & Adventure, Family, Fantasy | No Comment

The Spiderwick Chronicles

The Spiderwick Chronicles (Widescreen Edition)

From the beloved, best-selling series of books comes an extraordinary fantasy adventure, revealing the unseen world that exists all around us. From the moment the Grace family moves into a secluded old house peculiar things start to happen. Unable to explain the accidents and strange disappearances, the Grace children, Jared, Simon and Mallory start to investigate and find the unbelievable truth of the Spiderwick Estate and the amazing creatures that inhabit it.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Cars (Widescreen Edition) 2006

Posted on Aug 18, 2008 under Anime & Animation, Children & Family | No Comment

Cars (Widescreen Edition) 2006

 Cars (Widescreen Edition)

There's an extra coat of hot wax on Pixar's vibrant, NASCAR-influenced comedy about a world populated entirely by cars. Lightning McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson) is the slick rookie taking the Piston Cup series by storm when the last race of the season (the film's high-octane opening) ends in a three-way tie. On the way to the tie-breaker race in California, Lightning loses his way off Route 66 in the Southwest desert and is taught to stop and smell the roses by the forgotten citizens of Radiator Springs. It's odd to have such a slim story from the whizzes of Pixar, and the film pales a bit from their other films (though can that be a fair comparison?). Nonetheless, Cars is another gleaming ride with Pixar founder John Lasseter, who's directing for the first time since Toy Story 2. There's the usual spectrum of excellent characters teamed with appropriate voice talent, loads of smooth humor for kids and parents alike, knockout visuals, and a colorful array of sidekicks, including a scene-stealing baby blue forklift named Guido. Lightning's plight is changed with the help of former big-city lawyer Sally Carrera (Pixar veteran Bonnie Hunt), the town's patriarch Doc Hudson (Paul Newman), and kooky tow truck Mater (Larry the Cable Guy). The Incredibles was the first Pixar film to break the 100-minute barrier, but had enough story not to suffer; Cars, at 116 minutes (including some must-see end credit footage), is not as fortunate, plus it never pierces the heart. Trivia fans should have bonanza with the frame-by-frame DVD function; the movie is stuffed with in-jokes, some appearing only for an instant. Ages 5 and up.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Monsters, Inc 2002

Posted on Aug 18, 2008 under Anime & Animation, Children & Family | No Comment

Monsters, Inc 2002

Monsters, Inc. (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)

The folks at Pixar can do no wrong with Monsters, Inc., the studio's fourth feature film, which stretches the computer animation format in terms of both technical complexity and emotional impact. The giant, blue-furred James P. "Sulley" Sullivan (wonderfully voiced by John Goodman) is a scare-monster extraordinaire in the hidden world of Monstropolis, where the scaring of kids is an imperative in order to keep the entire city running. Beyond the competition to be the best at the business, Sullivan and his assistant, the one-eyed Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal), discover what happens when the real world interacts with theirs in the form of a 2-year-old baby girl dubbed "Boo," who accidentally sneaks into the monster world with Sulley one night. Director Pete Doctor and codirectors David Silverman and Lee Unkrich follow the Pixar (Toy Story) blueprint with an imaginative scenario, fun characters, and ace comic timing. By the last heart-tugging shot, kids may never look at monsters the same, nor artists at what computer animation can do in the hands of magicians.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Finding Nemo (DVD) Review

Posted on Aug 18, 2008 under Anime & Animation, Children & Family | No Comment

Finding NemoFinding Nemo (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)

Winner of the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, Finding Nemo continues the Disney tradition of producing high-quality, blockbuster films that entertain audiences of all ages. Featuring the wonders of the Pixar animation technology, the film is a breathtaking window into the future of animated pictures, with borderline 3-D visual effects and the introduction of original animated film techniques certain to influence future masterpieces. Boasting a slew of talented voiceovers such as Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, Alexander Gould, Willem Dafoe, and John Ratzenberger, Finding Nemo is certain to maintain a place in the hearts of children of all ages for generations to come…

The epic story begins somewhere in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Australia. A clown fish named Marlin (Albert Brooks) lives a wonderful life in a peaceful underwater colony of fish and other fascinating sea life with his wife. However, that serene setting is demolished when a vicious predator attacks their home, killing his wife. Distraught, Marlin takes comfort in the egg left behind which grows into his son, Nemo (Alexander Gould).

Because of this early trauma, Marlin is extremely overprotective when it comes to Nemo. He follows a step behind everywhere his son goes, makes Nemo stay in the house whenever possible, and remains quite apprehensive about his son going to school. Marlin’s fears are realized when Nemo is captured on his first day of school and taken away to live in a fish tank on land. Intent on freeing his son, Marlin sets out on a bold and daring quest to retrace the path of the abductor’s boat.

Wandering through the ocean depths, he meets up with Dory (Ellen DeGeneres) – an absent-minded, yet friendly – fish who remains determined to help her new friend recover his lost son. Together, they encounter a pack of sharks and a countless array of diverse and fascinating underwater creatures.

Meanwhile, Nemo is plunged into a dentist office fish tank overlooking Sidney Harbor where he meets a number of new and exciting friends. The other aquatic life, long confined to the tank themselves, initiate Nemo into their fraternity, revealing the history of their attempts to escape. Enlisting Nemo as their point man (or fish), they concoct a number of schemes such as clogging the tank’s filter so they can make a break for it when they’re taken out for the tank cleaning. With the threat of the dentist presenting Nemo as a present to his nerdy niece, the stakes are raised for our young hero and time is of the essence…

Sporting one of the best written animated screenplays of all-time and a breathtaking original score by Thomas Newman, Finding Nemo is a pleasurable affair for both parents and children. The writers pull off an admirable job of combining adult and kid humor throughout the script in such a way that it doesn’t detract from the experience for either age group. With a number of likeable characters, the audience will find itself rooting for Marlin, Nemo, and all their friends to accomplish the task before them. Overall, this is a must-see film for all age groups, not only because of the great story and artful performances, but if anything, simply because the animation is a wonder in-and-of itself…

About the Author

Britt Gillette is author of The DVD Report, a movie review site where you can find more reviews like this one of the Finding Nemo (DVD) Review.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins – Martin Lawrence, Mike Epps, James Earl Jones

Posted on Aug 18, 2008 under Comedy | No Comment

Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins - Martin Lawrence, Mike Epps, James Earl Jones

Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins (Widescreen)

While its story might sound terribly interesting, Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins is largely a vehicle for gross-out sight gags and grotesque performances by performers who, in many cases, don't need to do such things. Martin Lawrence stars as R.J. Stevens, a successful, Jerry Springer-like, television talk show host who sets aside his perfect life with a sweet son (Damani Roberts) and celebrity girlfriend (Joy Bryant) to attend his parents' golden wedding anniversary back home in Georgia. From the moment he arrives, all the reasons R.J. left to reinvent himself on the West Coast become clear. His siblings and cousins (Mike Epps, Mo'Nique, Michael Clarke Duncan, Cedric the Entertainer) quickly put him in his place, reminding him that his name is actually Roscoe Jenkins. His sweet mother (Margaret Avery) watches impassively while R.J.'s dad (James Earl Jones) strikes one disapproving note after another. R.J. would be content to wait out the anniversary events and go home, but the arrival of a woman (Nicole Ari Parker) he loved but couldn't keep during his adolescence changes everything, bringing out the competitive survivor within. Written and directed by Malcolm D. Lee (Undercover Brother), Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins promises rich comedy and dramatic flavorings, as well as a bunch of delightful actors doing what only they can do best. But Lee subverts the project for cheap and easy laughs, using his best material to do little else than bridge scenes of bad slapstick, bestial perversity, clownish sex and irritating, motormouth rants from the likes of Mo'Nique and Epps. This a hard movie to sit through at 114 minutes, one of those what-were-they-thinking-when-they-made-this films.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Definitely, Maybe Elizabeth Banks, Isla Fisher

Posted on Aug 18, 2008 under Comedy, Romance | No Comment

Definitely, Maybe Elizabeth Banks, Isla Fisher

Definitely, Maybe (Widescreen)

A romantic comedy that begins with a discussion about sex education and ends with a bit of an unexpected twist, Definitely, Maybe focuses on an engaging father and his 10-year-old daughter. She is curious about the women her dad loved prior to marrying (and separating from) her mother. Instead of telling her, "None of your business," he decides to tell her about them... Sort of. Will is played by Ryan Reynolds and his precocious daughter Maya is adroitly portrayed by Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine). Will figures out a way to tell Maya about his most meaningful relationships in a PG manner that also is interactive for her (Or as she describes it, "a love story mystery!"). Changing a few of their characteristics and disguising their names, Will tells her about three exceptional women and Maya tries to deduce which one became her mom. Was it Emily (Elizabeth Banks), the wholesome Midwestern girl afraid of the big city; Summer (Rachel Weisz), the exotic journalist; or April (Isla Fisher), the rebel with a cause? Hearing about all these women, Maya asks, "What's the boy word for slut?" Spanning 15 years, back to when Will was an idealistic young man with the hopes of one day becoming president of the United States, the film has a nice light touch and deals with father-daughter bonding issues in a unique, if not completely realistic manner. Reynolds is a genial but bland leading man, but the women--including young Breslin--more than hold their own in this fun film.

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Popularity: 7% [?]

The Bank Job – Jason Statham, Saffron Burrows, Stephen Campbell Moore

Posted on Aug 18, 2008 under Action & Adventure, Crime, Mystory, Suspence | No Comment

The Bank Job - Jason Statham, Saffron Burrows, Stephen Campbell Moore

The Bank Job

A cheerful, energetic, and completely entertaining movie, The Bank Job follows some small-time hoods who think they've lucked into a big-time opportunity when they learn a bank's security system will be temporarily suspended--little suspecting that they're being manipulated by government agents for their own ends. The result is that the movie doubles its pleasures: While the robbery itself has the usual suspense of a heist film, when the robbery is over the hoods find themselves being hunted by the police, the government, and brutal criminal kingpins who were storing dangerous information in a safety deposit box. The Bank Job won't win any awards, but it's enormously fun. Director Roger Donaldson (No Way Out, Species) propels the action along with vigor, editing zippily with perfect clarity among multiple storylines and various colorful characters. Jason Statham (Snatch, The Transporter), as the leader of the bank robbers, successfully steps away from his usual bone-crunching roles to a more human presence. The rest of the cast--including Saffron Burrows (Deep Blue Sea), Keeley Hawes (Tipping the Velvet), David Suchet (Poirot), and many faces familiar from British film and television--give their characters the right degree of personality and flavor without getting fussy or detracting from the headlong rush of the story. A little sex, a lot of action, a sly sense of humor, and a twisty plot; if more movies had these basic pleasures, the world would be a happier place. --Bret Fetzer

Popularity: 9% [?]

Step Brothers 2008 Will Ferrel John C. Reilly

Posted on Aug 15, 2008 under Comedy | No Comment

Step BrothersAwesome that is the one word that I can say about this movie, just awesome. The movie rocked. Step Brothers is about two grown men that just never grew up and ended up living with their parents played by Mary Steenburgen as Nancy Huff and Richard Jenkins as Dr. Robert Doback. Nancy and Dr. Doback meet at a conference and hit it off from the very start and decide to get married soon after making Dale Doback and Brennan Huff stepbrothers.

In the beginning both Dale and Brennan can't stand each other and work to destroy each other´s world. This is where all the fun and humor comes in. All the drama comes to a deep end when both find a common cause in Brennan Huff's brother Derek Huff. The over the top brother that disrespects everyone that he meets including Dale Doback who he thinks is the lowest of lowest.

Brennan and Dale find that they have more in common than previously thought; they both like the same women, movies, books and clubs. They both have the same ideas in businesses. In comes Alice Huff, the crazy wife of Derek Huff who hates her life with Derek. She becomes the crazy stalker after Dale punches Derrek in the eye. Dale instantly becomes her hero and she does anything and everything to be with him.

To say that this movie was funny is an understatement. I nearly rolled out of my seat for every single scene. Will Ferrel and John Reilly are one of the best comedy duo's I have ever seen. They play off each other so flawlessly that you forget that this is just a movie. What can I say about the mother? Mary Steenburgen played an exceptional part as the mother of this family. You could tell that she was uncomfortable saying a few of her lines but she rolled on with the punches. Richard Jenkins as the father was marvelous. I've seen him in other movies but non like this character that he plays and he played it flawlessly. Rolling over to Lurie Poston he played the hell out of the brother that anyone would HATE. I wanted to punch him in the face myself he was pissing me off so much. Last but not least, Kathryn Hahn. She played this part. She was crazy but had some lines that had me rolling in my seat. She had one scene where she used a male urinal standing up. Flawless delivery....

Overall, this was a great movie. I am even laughing while I write this review. I can't add much more than just go see this movie...

Popularity: 5% [?]

Jet Li’s Fearless Movie Review

Posted on Aug 13, 2008 under Action & Adventure | 1 Comment

Watching "Fearless" is an enjoyable ride; it has some fantastic fight sequences, some well composed, grand visuals, and strong human themes based in historical reality. It's a shame that the film's characters are handled so melodramatically and the execution of the story is so two-dimensional. Jet Li does an amicable job in the lead role as Huo Yuanjia, the most famous Chinese kung fu master of the early twentieth century who restored national pride in China following several years of infighting and infiltration by the West. Although the film is loosely based on his life, the story that has been dramatised in this film had the potential to be a sweeping epic with strong character and dramatic overtones but is let down by some cheesy acting and shallow story execution. That is not to say this film is not worth watching, but the way it has been done make it completely forgettable, which is a shame because it could have been so much more.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41XBYf4FayL._SL160_.jpgThe strongest aspect of this film pertains to Yuanjia's personal journey through life. From a very young age, Yuanjia wants to fight but his father never allows it because of Yuanjia's asthmatic condition. Yuanjia begins practising in secret with his best friend Nong Jinsun (Yong Dong) doing his homework while he practises his fighting style. Yuanjia becomes a selfish brat, misunderstanding the basic principles behind kung fu; it is not about fighting, it is about discipline and helping others. Yuanjia's brat attitude is exacerbated when he witnesses his father voluntarily lose a challenge match in a town square; after boasting of his father's abilities to all the other kids, he gets beaten by the son of his father's opponent and from that day forward, Yuanjia vows never to be defeated again. Over time, he becomes an undefeated fighter but his ego has grown out of control. All of his pursuits are selfish and immature, which ultimately leads to a tragic showdown where in retaliation for Yuanjia killing an opponent during a fight, his mother and daughter are brutally murdered in his estate. As a shattered man, Yuanjia rebuilds his life away from everything he has come to know, eventually finding the path towards enlightenment and becoming one of the most famous, and humble fighting heroes in Chinese history.

There is so much rich material in Yuanjia's journey to engage with, least of all being that Yuanjia's self-absorbed, ego-driven lifestyle ultimately led to some very tragic consequences. Yuanjia may not have directly caused his family's death, but it was his self-absorbed actions that brought it about. This is a powerful message and the strongest one within the film; anger, revenge and selfishness will ultimately bring about tragedy and misery. For a character like this it seems the greater the ego, the greater tragedy is required to put him on the right path. Only when Yuanjia starts fighting for greater ideals such as national pride and honour that he regains the respect of his old community, including his best friend Jinsun who accepts Yuanjia as his friend once again after cutting him off during his ego-driven hey day.

The visuals in this film are outstanding. Right from the outset, much care has gone in to recreating early twentieth century China with some sweeping images that are only augmented by computer graphics for a few shots here and there. The colours are rich and vibrant, giving a visual texture to the film that puts it in another class from other Asian kung-fu films. The big shots of cities are the most impressive, with even the CG shots not standing out as a clever effect but as picturesque landscapes. The images of the rural country-side where Yuanjia rediscovers himself are likewise grand in scale.

The downsides to this film lie in its shallow story execution and melodramatic acting. For a story with such potential depth, it's a shame that no attempt was made at giving the narrative a sense of balance and dimension. It's not until over half way through the film that Yuanjia's family is brutally murdered, starting him on his spiritual journey. His most important achievements as a fighter of restoring Chinese national pride are skimmed over in the last thirty minutes or so; the lack of care and time spent developing this part of the story makes the film unengaging. You enjoy the kung fu but dramatically the film has lost you. It becomes only a clinical exercise in execution which is unfortunate because the story themes were strong enough to make for a far better film. The melodramatic acting does not help either. The issues lie in the first half of the film where Jet Li has the unenviable task of playing a spoilt brat. It's a mixed affair; some times it works, some times it doesn't. The actors around him do not fare as well, particularly Yuanjia's disciples who are over-acted to the extreme. Only Collin Chou who plays Yuanjia's father displays any sense of character depth. The second half of the film is better, particularly in the sequences between Yuanjia and Japanese fighter Anno Tanaka (Nakamura Shido) who fight to the end but have a mutual respect for one another. One cannot help but wonder what kind of epic this film would have been had more time been spent developing the script and characters; it would have elevated this film in to a new category.

"Fearless" is a solid kung-fu film that's useful for whiling away a few spare hours but is ultimately forgettable thanks to its lack of story development and execution.

For the original DVD review, click this link: http://www.allaboutmovies.net/dvdreviewfearless.htm

Alex DeMattia is the lead DVD reviewer at the film/DVD review web site All About Movies.net - He is also an administrator of the web site http://www.approachingsexywomen.com

Popularity: 5% [?]

Vantage Point – Dennis Quaid Forest Whitaker

Posted on Aug 13, 2008 under Articles | No Comment

Vantage Point - Dennis Quaid Forest Whitaker

Vantage Point (Single-Disc Edition)

A cunningly twisted thriller, comes equipped with plenty of hurtling action, hand held camera work, what-was-that? editing, and a plot that has multiple, contradictory agendas writhing like a nest of snakes. It's all set a-boil within a few blocks of a town square in Spain where a U.S. President is targeted for assassination. Although the movie lasts 90 minutes, the events it depicts are mostly over with in a quarter-hour or so--but seen, rewound, and reseen from half a dozen different (you guessed it) vantage points. The first line in the credits reads "Original Film," apparently the name of the production company. "Gimmick Movie" would be more accurate; the opening reel, effectively jolting, affords an initial overview of the events through the eyes, lenses, monitors, and dueling sensibilities of a TV news producer (Sigourney Weaver), her activist-minded reporter (Zoe Saldana) and crew. Everybody’s in Salamanca (actually, Mexico City) for the start of an international conference to reaffirm Arab-Western commitment to the fight against terrorism. Terrorism, of course, sees this as an ideal moment to break out. As gunshots and explosions reduce everything to chaos, the clock is reset to zero and we proceed to revisit the scene as experienced by several Secret Service agents (namely Dennis Quaid and Matthew Fox), an American tourist with camcorder (Forest Whitaker), sundry locals--including three who may be caught up in a love triangle or a conspiracy or both--and even the President himself (William Hurt).

For a while, this is mildly diverting: that guy, or that gesture, so sinister when glimpsed across the plaza in one run-through, now appears harmless in close-up--or vice versa. But there's no real ambiguity (so stop with the careless comparisons to Kurosawa's Rashomon)--this is a shell game in which the peas aren't worth tracking. Despite decent actors, the characters might as well be holograms (although poor Forest Whitaker is saddled with "motivation" of surpassing sappiness), and the casting telegraphs several twists: one redoubtable good guy practically gives a wink-wink, nudge-nudge that he's really bad, etc. The movie declines to specify which nut job philosophy the terrorists espouse, and their numbers are multi-ethnic. There's also a laborious suggestion that they have bloodthirsty, reactionary counterparts among the President's inner circle, which perhaps qualifies as redeeming socio-political comment and prompts a meaningless declaration of deep meaning from the Prez. The whole megilleh finally comes down to an extended car chase through impassably claustrophobic streets that would mark a lurch into unintentional self-parody--if only that point hadn't been passed a couple of rewinds earlier.

Popularity: 5% [?]

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