Film Breakdown

A spoiler free Dark Knight Rises review

yamagooochi — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 16:20:36 -0700

The dark knight rises. Batman….that’s all you have to say to spark my interest. The third batman film from the genius, mind fucking director Christopher Nolan. If you’re looking for a repeat of the dark knight then go elsewhere. The third installment is a complete wrap up story that brings every piece together. It has a beginning, an origin; a middle, chaos; and an end; establishing your legend. The film moves thru flashbacks from the previous movies to highlight certain aspects and bring the story full circle.

The beginning of the film, I will admit, is very slow and the pacing is off. They needed to explain too much in a short amount of time and it felt crammed. This may be the reason a few people didn’t like it. After they drawl thru the intro it picks up and just hooks you in like a giant chocolate cake sitting on your counter. You cant take your eyes off of it. I’m almost positive I didn’t even blink lol. The ending just makes you say “hooooooly shiiiiiiit!” it finishes strong and completes this story that began many years ago.

Every one of Nolans films has very strong male actors and this one isn’t any different…..except for the fact that this one also had strong female performances as well! Anne hathaway is catwoman, her portrayal was unique and made you feel that THIS is how she should be. Marion cotillard also delivers and you’re not rooting for the females to die like you were with Maggie gylenhaal. Christian bale does his best portrayal of Bruce wayne and batman. Michael Caine made you wanna cry, Joseph gordon Levitt stole every scene he was in, and morgan freeman plays the likable charismatic lucius fox like previously seen. The one performance I felt that was lacking was Gary Oldmans. It’s because if you watch the end of the dark knight where two face is about to murder his kid, when you said “harvey I’m sorry!” that alone made was so emotional and can’t be beat so it made everything in the dark knight rises seem mediocre. My favorite character was Bane. I’m a huge Tom Hardy fan, watch him in Bronson and you’ll love him too. His size and stature make it believable that he could fuck batman up! One thing many don’t know is that bane is not some grumbling beast, he’s one of the smartest villains in batmans rogue gallery. He’s also one of the first to figure out he’s Bruce Wayne. His voice and his dialogue show his intelligence and it captivated me every time. People are comparing hardy’s bane to ledgers joker and they shouldn’t be compared. They are two completely different characters and if I wanted to see ledgers joker I’d watch the dark knight. It’d be ridiculous if they were alike. They are completely different and completely amazing in their own way. Tom Hardy plays a perfect bane for the Nolan universe and there was no other way they could have done bane for it to work this well.

I am completely satisfied with this film and it was a perfect conclusion to batman. It left you wanting more but also quenched your thirst. I loved Nolans batman films and I’m sad to see it end but I’m glad it ended this way.

I give the film a 9 out of 10.

Movie Review: The Adventures of Tintin

yamagooochi — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 20:37:50 -0800

*Again this is all in my opinion, so don’t hate, this is just what I think. You might agree, you might not.

**oh and how I was able to see this movie, since it’s not out till December 21st, is under the utmost secrecy. Sorry.

Made in 2011

Directed by: Steven Spielberg(MUNICH, E.T., Jurassic park)

Written by: Edgar Wright (Scott pilgrim vs the world) & Joe Cornish

Starring: Jamie Bell(King Kong), Daniel Craig(Casino Royale), Andy Serkis(Lord of the rings, rise of the planet of the apes) , Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost(both from Shaun of the dead and Paul).

Story: We follow journalist Tintin as he meets up with Captain Haddock in search of treasure all while solving mysteries.

My Thoughts: When I first saw the trailer for this I thought it was some stupid little kid movie, but then I saw it was directed by Steven Spielberg…Steven FREAKING Spielberg!!!! The guy who made sharks terrifying in Jaws, aliens seem nice in E.T., introduced us to Indiana Jones, made dinosaurs come to life in Jurassic Park, showed the persecution of Jews in Schindler’s list, had the most intense intro to any movie ever with Saving Private Ryan, taught us we can make millions of dollars by committing fraud in Catch Me If You Can, and made Jews bad ass in Munich! There’s no reason he should be making anything that looks like Tintin. I couldn’t believe my eyes, I figured he’d gone insane. I later learned he’s had much love for the Tintin comics since they started, so it was a passion project for him. In my opinion I still think he’s gone crazy. He’s amazing at live action films, he should stick to that. This film didn’t do it for me. Yes the CG was cool but it was basically a kids film. You know when they say “fun for all ages” in the trailer i.e. dolphin tale….well it’s basically like dolphin tale lol. It was essentially a children’s mystery/ adventure film, similar to scooby doo and the hardy boys. I’m not into CG films, I prefer live action, but even that wouldn’t have made it any better for me. It would have worked better as a television show, honestly. Since theres guns and one of the main characters is a drunk it really throws off the whole kid concept, but I guess it’s different in Belgium. It makes it seem like it’s more for an older crowd but its not, it is a child’s film, there’s no getting around it. I just wasn’t fond of this film at all. The only thing I found cool was that the movie is based around 3 of the comics that they combined. I thought that was smart and made for a decent running time. The story is still simple and just about 2 guys on an adventure to find the treasure and stop the bad guys. Not much to say here with out giving it all away. You might enjoy simplicity like this but I did not.

Acting: The whole movie is motion capture and it’s just their voices, so not much to say here.

Creativity: The film was made in CG and the CG looks amazing! Sometimes I wasn’t sure if it was real or fake cuz it was that good. I’m not a huge fan of that kinda stuff but if you are then you’ll love it. I do give em props though, cuz it was better than what I saw in the trailer.

Reasons to see it: If you’re a fan of Tintin, love CGI, have a little brother or sister you wanna take to the movies, or just wanna see something new then go see it when it hits theaters December 21st. This was a miss for me. It’s not really my style but then again I’m not a huge fan of animated movies, except pixar.

Interesting things:
-Peter Jackson is going to direct the sequel if this one does good.

-First animated film by Steven Spielberg.

-Spielberg has had the rights to this film since ‘83, so he’s been wanting to make this for some time now.

Favorite Part: **minor spoiler**
My fav part is when Tintin is first introduced. They first show a drawing of him, its what he looked like in the comic books. I thought I was a funny little ode to the creator.

Overall rating:

Plot: 2/5
Visual look: 4/5

Final rating: 3/5

The first look at Henry Cavill as Superman. So far he looks...

yamagooochi — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 08:46:46 -0700

The first look at Henry Cavill as Superman. So far he looks pretty cool. But if you notice, what’s up with his wrist?! The material is all clumping up like the suit isn’t all that sleek in design.
But as you should all know, filming has yet to begun on the new superman film, Man Of Steel, so the background isn’t really going to be in the movie. I’m sure it’s just there to look bad ass, and show you that, “hey…..this Superman is actually SUPER!…..unlike that superhero captain America…..who wasn’t all that super in the film”.
This film should be amaziiiiing! I’m looking forward to it!

Review: The Hangover Part 2

yamagooochi — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 20:29:00 -0700

Made in 2011

Directed by: Todd Phillips (The Hangover, Old School)

Written by: Craig Mazin & Scot Armstrong

Starring: Zack Galifianakis (Out Cold), Justin Bartha (National Treasure), Ed Helms (The Office), and Bradley Cooper (Limitless).

Story: The wolfpack is back. They’re all headed to Thailand, this time for Stu’s wedding. But as with the last one, they get messed up and are on a mission to find his fiance’s brother with no recollection of what happened.

My Thoughts: This film had me dying to see it, and when I finally went to the midnight showing of it, i was insanely depressed of how terrible it was. I imagine the script looking like a middle schoolers rough draft. Where little details are scratched out and changed. It’s honestly like they took the script of the first film, scratched out a few words and replaced them using a thesaurus. Instead of a baby it’s a monkey, instead of a missing tooth it’s a face tat, instead of being threatened by mr. Chow they were threatened by a man named Kingsley, and instead of loosing a satchel Alan loses his hair. It honestly got ridiculous of how little it changed from the first one. I know it had it’s funny parts but all of that doesn’t make up for a terrible script. If you’re going to make a sequel you should do it right, not rehash the same EXACT plot from the first one to make a quick buck. All the originality that made the first one amazing was completely lost in this one.

Acting: The acting in this film was too over the top. They tried to go louder and crazier with each scene and in this case, less is more. Alan’s love for Phil is stronger, and his random t-shirts are weirder. Stu’s screams are more shrill and not all necessary. And Phil curses wayyyy too much, it’s honestly not necessary. Yes cussing is funny but when wert other word out of your mouth is “fuck”, it gets old. The one character I really liked was Mr. Chow. He comes in small doses and steals the scene every time. When he first appears you completely forget that you just saw Stu with a Tyson face tat. He was funny and definently needed.

Stuff that would make this movie better: For one it needed a more complex storyline and a lot more originality. Justin Bartha isn’t lost this time and he’s their best friend, he should have met up with them and helped them out, yes he doesn’t know what happened last nite but neither do they, he needed a bigger part. If they’re in Bangkok they shoulda had some crazy drug that’s crazier than a muscle relaxant. Oh and for gods sake can something terrible please happen to Phil, just because he’s the “pretty boy” doesn’t mean his night goes fine, yes he gets shot but that doesn’t compare to getting fucked in the ass. My friend Josh had an idea to make this movie better. For one it could have been Phil that drugs them this time, he had a fun time last time and possibly wanted to relive that. He has a wife and kids so this would be one of the few times he could enjoy himself, that makes more sense and is different. These could make it more interesting and steer clear of retelling the same story.

Reasons to see it: If you own the first Hangover then there’s no reason to see this one. All you have to do is picture them in Bangkok and you’re watching the Hangover Part 2. This film reminds me of those straight to DVD sequels. Where the storyline is so similar to the first, just to make a connection to the original, and the all the jokes are raunchier and dirtier just because they can get away with it since it’s going straight to DVD. The only difference is that the whole original cast came back, usually they have some terrible actors to replace them. This movie was a complete letdown. Yes it has it’s funny parts and entertains you but wait till you can redbox this, don’t waste your money at the theatre.

Interesting things: The tattoo artist was originally suppose to be played by Mel Gibson, but the cast didn’t like him and he was replaced with Liam Neeson. They needed to reshoot Neeson’s scenes but he was busy filming Wrath of the Titans, so they swapped him out for Nick Cassavetes. The whole scene got changed 3 times. I hope they put Liam Neeson’s part on the DVD :/

Favorite Part: My favorite part was when they first wake up from their crazy night. It was hilarious because they knew the same thing happened and were like “no fucking way, again?!” and Mr. Chow partied with them and knew everything that happened the night before. TOO funny!

Overall rating:
Plot: 1/5 stars
Acting: 4/5 stars
Final rating: 2.5/5 stars

Movie News: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

yamagooochi — Sun, 29 May 2011 13:08:55 -0700

Movie News: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo:

Ahhhh!!! The teaser trailer for the American version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo directed by David Fincher (The Social Network)!

Can’t wait!!!

Movie Demand: The Caped Crusader

yamagooochi — Wed, 25 May 2011 08:12:00 -0700

Batman has a lot of names, and not all of them are as good as dark knight, but there are a few winners and caped crusader is one of em. After The Dark Knight Rises is released in 2012, director Christopher Nolan is going to leave sadly as the studios are planning to reboot batman, in other words make a whole new version -___-. It’s pretty dumb considering they just did it, but the reason for it is because they plan to make a justice league movie and Nolan’s real version of batman wouldn’t make sense in a world where men fly around in capes and or they could run insanely fast. It’s pretty depressing because Nolan has made not only the best batman films but the best superhero films as well.

Now I’m not sure how The Dark Knight is going to end up, story wise, but if it’s possible for him to continue his journey, then they should do it in a film titled The Caped Crusader.

Basic Plot: There are so many enemies in batmans rogue gallery and very few of them have appeared on screen. This film would utilize that and bring in a new villain. Batman is still fighting crime, protecting Gotham city. One day he encounters a man, well appears to be one. He has a black skull mask on his face. They get into a little tussle because black mask just killed tons of people. Batman wins but Black mask gets away and swears to come after him. He hires deadshot, a villain known for never missing his target. Batman/Bruce Wayne have to figure out who black mask is all the while avoiding getting killed by deadshot. It’d introduce us to 2 new characters and keep the story real like Christopher Nolan intended. It’d involve the mob and it’d basically be a trends story.

Characters:

I’d bring all the original cast back, they’re all terrific and needed for this movie to be a sequel. As for the 2 new characters,

Black Mask: I’d have Sam Rockwell. He’s an amazing actor and could definently be a baddie. He’s around the same age as Christian Bale, and that’s needed since black mask and him were friends when they were children.

Deadshot: Mickey Rourke. Yes he has already been a bad guy in iron man, but that was Marvel, a and batman is DC, 2 totally different companies. Rourke has acting chops and a big build, easily could be an assassin. I think he’d fit perfectly.

Director: I’d offer it to Jonathan Nolan, his brother who’s a great writer and could really fill the shoes of Christopher Nolan’s slot.

Movie Review: Exit Through The Gift Shop

yamagooochi — Wed, 25 May 2011 07:46:00 -0700

Made in: 2011

Directed by: Banksy

Starring: Theirry Guetta, Banksy, Zeus, Invader, Shepard Fairey, Monsieur Andre.

Story: Exit Through The Gift Shop follows the story of a frenchman and film maker, Thierry Guetta, who falls into the world of street art and wants to make a documentary about it and meets famous graffiti artists along the way.

My Thoughts: This movie, though being exceptionally good, was a tad bit confusing. You don’t know whether to think it was real or fake. ….Let me back up a bit and explain.

Theirry Guetta starts to find street art intriguing, he follows his cousin, who’s a steet artists as well, and then keeps meeting more and more artists and filming them and helping them out to eventually make a documentary about this urban art. Along the way he meets Banksy, one of the most popular and secretive street artists ever, and they begin this journey to make street art known. Banksy tells Guetta to take all the tapes he has and make a documentary, he does…..but it ends up being terrible. So Banksy offers to take the tapes and put his own spin on them and sees if he can make the documentary himself. He does, and Exit Through the Gift Shop is our final product. After this Thierry really gets into street art and comes up with his own persona, Mister Brain Wash, tagging everywhere trying to be one of the biggest. He eventually holds an art show which ends up being the biggest urban art show ever. And THIS is the confusing part. He is barely making his way up in the art world, he couldn’t produce this much art in that amount of time. Plus a lot of his “art” looks really similar to other artists work throughout the film. Did he just steal their ideas?….. Or is this entire thing fake? It could be a huge art movement, constructed by all the artists in the film to come together in one huge show. In the film one person even says “idk how Thierry got this much art, it’s way too much for him”, making it seem like he didn’t do all of this. Yes in the film it says he hired people but still, that’s a ton of art to make. Not sure if this was real or a hoax but the film was great nonetheless. Really well made and very interesting.

Reasons to see it: If you’re into graffiti and street art then you’ll enjoy this film.

Favorite Part: My favorite part is when Thierry and Banksy go to disneyland and Banksy drops some “art” there. He blows up an inflatable doll that is suppose to look like a terrorist from Guantanamo bay, and he sets it up by a ride so when the camera takes a pic of the people on the ride the “prisoner” will be in the background. Thierry ends up getting caught, and when he’s asked to show what he has on the camera, he deletes everything and says he has nothing and they can’t do anything to him. So he gets let go.

Overall rating:
Story: 4.5/5 stars
Final rating: 4.5/5 stars

Review: Bronson

yamagooochi — Sun, 22 May 2011 14:51:00 -0700

Year made: 2008

Directed by: Nicolas Winding Refn

Written by: Brock Norman Brock and Nicolas Winding Refn

Starring: Tom Hardy (Inception, and the upcoming The Dark Knight Rises)

Story: Bronson is a biopic about britains most violent criminal. It follows life of Michael Peterson, even though he goes by his fighting name Charlie Bronson, played by Tom Hardy. He commited robberies, injured many without any remorse, and even took a few people hostage. This is his life.

My Thoughts: The beginning of this film is scary. You see Bronson in a cage, bloody, beating up gaurds and then it flashes to little scenes of him explaining his life in a theatre and the crowd laughing. It got me hooked because I was a little confused and I had never heard of criminal Charlie Bronson before. As you continue to watch you start to learn his story, which isn’t much of a story at all. Most people think criminals started being the way they were because something traumatic happened to them. That’s not the case with Bronson. He had a good life, a loving mother, but was honestly just a bad egg. There’s some people in this world that just aren’t good people, Charlie Bronson is one of em. Idk if he’s mentally ill or just plain stupid, but there’s obviously something wrong with him. I get how some people like to fight, but to constantly feed off of injuring people is insane. This film is really interesting, as you get to witness the first hand, the criminally insane.

Acting: When I watched Inception I was blown away by the character Eames, and had never seen the actor before but knew he was playing the lead role in this movie Bronson. After I saw this film I honestly don’t see why Tom Hardy isn’t one of the biggest stars in Hollywood. He’s a good actor…..no like really good! After you watch this film you’re gonna be like “damnnn he plays this crazy psychotic criminal wayyyy too well”. When I first started watching it, it seemed a little crazy, his performance was frightening. As the movie goes on his acting skills increase and you’re left with this amazing actor on screen surprising you. Honestly one of my favorite actors after this film ended.

Reasons to see it: Biopics are always great films, it introduces us to a person in history, whether they did good things or bad, you learn about someone. It’s like meeting someone new. In Bronson you get introduced to a monster, and it just shows us that not everyone has a good life, but it is interesting to see his. Plus Tom Hardy’s performance is top notch. Even if you’re not into violent films, take a gander at this film just to see great acting. It may not be your cup of tea, but it still is very, very good.

Interesting things: Jason Statham was suppose to play Charlie Bronson, but scheduling conflicts made it impossible to work out. I am soooo happy it wasn’t him lol

Favorite Part: My favorite part is when he changes his name to Charlie Bronson. After that theres a fighting montage and it play this song, “glass candy” by digital versicolor. Idk why but the song really works and it makes the scene intense.

Overall rating:
Story: 5/5 stars
Acting: 5/5 stars
Final rating: 5/5 stars

Movie news: The Dark Knight Rises First official pic of bane...

yamagooochi — Fri, 20 May 2011 19:44:13 -0700

Movie news: The Dark Knight Rises

First official pic of bane has been released. It’s honestly EPIC!

Review: Fast Five

yamagooochi — Thu, 19 May 2011 08:02:00 -0700

Year made: 2011

Directed by: Justin Lin (The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, and the upcoming Terminator movie)

Written by: Scott Morgan and Gary Scott Thomas (The Fast and the Furious)

Starring: Paul Walker (Running Scared), Vin Diesel (xXx), Jordana Brewster (Annapolis)

Story: After Mia, played by Jordana Brewster. and Brian, played by Paul Walker, break out Dom, player by Vin Diesel, on the prison bus at the end of number 4 they’re wanted criminals and they hide out in Brazil. They have to put together a team for one last job. The team consists of characters from the last few movies, including Vince, Tyrese, and Han, but many more. They plan to steal millions of dollars from the overlord of Brazil, all while agent Hobbs, played by The Rock, is hunting them down.

Acting: The acting is as good as it can get from a film like this. There’s some directors that can mix story with action and have great acting show through, like Christopher Nolan, and some that…just can’t do that, Michael Bay. Well Justin Lin is in that Michael Bay category. It’s decent acting but there isn’t a lot of passion in it. I’ve seen Paul Walker act, Running Scared, and he can do better. This movie just seemed to rely on action, and that really worked for them.

Action: When they say action packed in a film they’re usually just begging for you to see their one action scene, but in Fast Five it’s actually true. It’s nonstop action from beginning to end. Who doesn’t want to see fast crazy car chases, train explosions, and fights all the while stealing millions of dollars?! Thats what this film has but words cannot explain. Justin Lin gets this done right and really amazes you by everything that happens. If they just edited all of the action scenes together I’m sure people would see it. Its terrific.

Reasons to see it: This movie is action packed, has a good story, decent acting and is really entertaining. For me this is the second best one. The first one is the best by far and tokyo drift is close to this one. It honestly took my by surprise. It’s another chapter in the story of the lives of Brian and Dom, and seeing how they get through it. You should really watch it not just to see how the story ends but to witness the journey through it all.

Interesting things: Stay after the credits….you get to see an interesting scene. You find out why Han is always eating chips lol. The scene where the huge tow truck thing crashed into the train was a mistake. They were going too fast and hit a bump and hit it, it was so powerful that it moved the actual tracks a few inches over. Trains are really expensive and they couldn’t afford to re-do the scene but the studio liked it so they re-wrote the script to add that in…….I wonder what was suppose to happen? (my stepmoms dad works on trains and he did the train sequences for this film, he also worked the trains in Wild Wild West, Water for Elephants, and the upcoming Lone Ranger movie starring Armie Hammer and Johnny Depp) Spoiler Alert Theres a scene with han driving to ____ but a girl says “I thought you wanted to go to Tokyo (like how he was there in Tokyo drift) and he says “we have a lot of time”, as if we might get to witness a spinoff movie with Han as the front man, it’d be interesting.

Favorite Part: My favorite part is most likely different than other peoples. I love it when they’re planning “the job”. You get to see how they imagined it to work out. You get to see them practicing and testing it to make sure it works. Yes in movies something usually happens and it doesn’t work out like they’d hope but it’s soooo cool to see all the work that they did in planning. So when they were testing the track with the cameras and trying to beat it by using their driving skills it was pretty cool I thought.

Overall rating:
Plot: 4/5 stars
Acting: 3.5/5 stars
Action: 5/5 stars
Final rating: 4/5 stars

Movie Review: Love & Other Drugs

yamagooochi — Wed, 18 May 2011 08:23:00 -0700

Year made: 2010

Directed by: Edward Zwick (Blood Diamond, The Last Samurai)

Written by: Edward Zwick (Defiance, Blood Diamond)

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal (Prince of Persia, Donnie Darko) and Anne Hathaway (Princess Diaries, and the upcoming The Dark Knight Rises as Catwoman).

Plot: Maggie, played by Anne Hathaway, is a free spirited girl who doesnt want to have a relationship. But then she meets Jamie, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, who’s a bit of a ladies man who sells the pharmaceutical drug Viagra and seems like the perfect match for her. They start to fall for each other though and try to see if they can put aside their issues and just fall in love.

My Thoughts: When I first saw the trailer for this film it seemed like it was a man selling Viagra and how he’s a womanizer and ends up falling in love for someone. It’s actually far from it. You can tell from the beginning he’s a good salesman, he gets in with a company to sell prescription drugs and it shows how he tries his best at…..it also shows how he’s good with the ladies as well. Then he meets a girl, at first the movie seemed like another film, No Strings Attached, where they’re just going around having sex whenever they want like it was nothing. Then they start to fall for each other and you can see how Anne Hathaway’s character starts to show how her having parkinsons disease is truly a terrible thing to live with. Jamie tries to find ways to get her better, by using all the money he made from selling Viagra, but it just creates problems in their relationship. Its a true love story and how no matter how much money you can have or all the girls you can get, because at the end of the day, you’re always going to want to be with someone you truly care about, no matter what the problem is, you’re still gonna love her. I did not get that vibe from the movie description or from the trailer.

Acting: I’m kind of skeptical when it comes to Jake Gyllenhaal, he is like Colin Farrel, they have their good moments and their bad. Sometimes they do amazing work and actually act but others you end up with the movie Prince of Persia. You get me?? This movie I felt pulled in 2 different ways by his performance. When he’s the ladies man dick drug seller he’s ehh…..okay. But when it comes down to him and Anne Hathaway’s relationship the acting was there, and it was good. If he just picks the right roles he’ll be good, but in this film he does an alright job. Anne Hathaway is really the scene stealer here though. She’s sexy and mysterious when she needs to be and it when it comes down to her being stressed and breaking down, she nails it. You can really feel for her and truly care about what she’s going through. I can’t wait to see her with great writing material in The Dark Knight Rises.

Reasons to see it: For one the director is great and has made many great films. Just sit down and be amazed while you watch Blood Diamond. He really knows his stuff and even though this isn’t usually what he goes for it’s still a good change. The story is good, not great, just good. It’s interesting and good for a romantic comedy. The acting is top notch, Hathaway really brings it and shows you that she’s gone a long way from Princess Diaries. It’s a good film, a nice one to just relax and watch, nothing super special, but entertaining nonetheless. You should watch it.

Interesting things: Gyllenhaal and Hathaway had to improve the sex scenes. It’s kind of cool to know that. The director returned to his roots in this film. The first film he ever made was a romantic comedy, the rest have been filled with war-ish stories and action.

Favorite Part: Ehh there’s 2 lol Spoiler Alert First one is where Maggie tells him she’ll be back from her job in a few days at 11 o’ clock pm, so he leaves work early and waits for her. She ends up not coming till the next morning and he just sleeps in his car and waits for her. Smart move on his part, she can tell after that he really cares. My other favorite part is when Gyllenhaal is packing because he just got promoted and is moving to the big leagues in Chicago and he finds the video recorder and watches it. He realizes that he truly wants to be with her no matter what. It’s a great scene.

Overall rating:
Plot: 3.5/5 stars
Acting: 4/5 stars
Final rating: 3.7/5 stars

Review: Thor

yamagooochi — Thu, 12 May 2011 19:06:00 -0700

Year made: 2011

Directed by: Kenneth Branagh

Written by: Ashley Miller & Zack Stentz

Starring: Chris Hemsworth (Star Trek), Anthony Hopkins (Mission impossible 2), Natalie Portman (V for Vendetta), and Tom Hiddleston.

Story: The film follows Thor, played by Chris Hemsworth, who is from another realm called Asgard. He is the son of king Odin, played by Anthony Hopkins, and he is the next in line to become king. Before he is proclaimed king the frost giants, creatures from another realm, break in to steal something from Asgard. Thor is furious, so the warriors 3, a female warrior, his brother and him go over to there land to confront them. Chaos ensues and it appears Thor just started a war with them. His father who’s extremely mad at him banishes him to earth and strips his powers away from him. While on earth he meets Jane foster, played by Natalie Portman, and they look after one another. The film follows Thor as he learns what his father Was trying to tell him and how he falls for an earthling. It’s a great epic story. The story is great and the action scenes are spectcular. It was a really well made movie.

Acting: Chris Hemsworth is known for his role on a television show. Most tv actors are not very good, but chris does an amazing job in Thor. He even has this…idk what kind of accent lol but he does it well and how he acts really makes it seem like he’s from another place. Anthony Hopkins and Natalie postman are easy ones to judge, they’re both amazing actors. Knowing they’re in the film you can just tell it’s going to be good.

Creativity: If you think about it this film was hard to make. You have to combine 2 completely different worlds, Earth and Asgard, and try to make them work with each other. You can’t just stick two movies together because the audience can tell the difference. You have to blend them somehow. Director Kenneth Branagh does it beautifully and make it seem realistic. He makes Asgard this wonderfully created world with vibrant colors and unique architecture. From the weapons and armor to the rainbow roads and what it looks like to travel to another realm. It is a whole new world, but when Thor gets sent to earth they put him in a place we all know and understand. Perfectly well made.

Reasons to see it: I saw this film in IMAX 3D and I suggest you do the same. I’m not big on 3D movies and really tend to stay away from films that have been post converted (where they don’t film in 3D and just add the 3D effects later on the computer), but this movie really makes it work. The depth the 3D creates is great and makes the movie all the more that great. The story is great, it really makes the superhero theme seem like a real possibility. The acting is spot on. If you wanna see a movie that’s filled with action, drama, adventure, great acting and a even better story then watch Thor. You’ll be entertained, trust me. Also if you’re planning on seeing the superhero team up film The Avengers next year then you won’t want to miss this. It’s necessary to watch before you watch the Avengers.

Interesting things: Chris Hemsworth worked out like a beast for this film. You can google it online and it’s crazy, A LOT of protein and A LOT of working out. Also if you stay after the film there’s a little Easter egg for the Avengers….just like The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, and Iron Man 2 had ;)

Overall rating:
Plot: 5/5 stars
Acting: 5/5 stars
Creativity: 5/5 stars
Final rating: 5/5 stars

Oh I want a review if you've seen it haha

yamagooochi — Sun, 08 May 2011 15:23:57 -0700

Sorry hazel! I haven’t been posting anything lol but it’s up now think of it as a bday present from me k haha happy birthday!!

Movie Review: The Tourist

yamagooochi — Sun, 08 May 2011 07:57:00 -0700

Year made: 2010

Directed by: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck

Written by: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects), and Julian Fellowes

Starring: Angelina Jolie (Salt, Gone in 60 Seconds), Johnny Depp (Pirated of the Carribean, Rango), and Paul Bettany(Priest, a Knights Tale).

Story: The Tourist starts with Jolie getting surveillanced by interpol because they know she is in contact with a man named alexander pierce that owes $744 million to the government, She gets a note from that man saying that she needs to find someone that Interpol will think is him. So she meets Johnny Depp and they think it’s pierce. They eventually fall for each other and Interpol is confused on whether or not it’s pierce or not. Jolie and Depp are also getting chased by a group of bad guys because Pierce owes money to them too. (sorry this movie was bad and the plot was stupid so I’m having a hard time explaining this one). They try to make it exciting but it falls flat, and the romance between them seems fake.

Acting: Usually Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp put out great performances but lately….they haven’t. In this film Depp has to play a normal guy and he honestly can’t do it. He’s amazing at playing the weirdo but to be straight as an arrow is too tough for him. He comes off as odd trying to play normal, it just doesn’t work. Jolie barely even acts in this film. Most of the time she’s walking around and giving mysterious looks, that’s about it. It’s like the director just wanted a pretty face to gaze at and Jolie accepted, it’s really bad. Plus just because you put 2 big names in a movie doesn’t mean it’ll be good. These two have no chemistry whatsoever. They don’t even look right together. They cannot play off of each other, it’s bad.

Interesting things: This film was nominated for best comedy and best musical…..in no way, shape, or form does this movie come close to being a comedy or a musical. This is a sign that people seriously need to stop doing drugs, it’s messing you up….obviously.

Reasons to see it: To be honest….there’s not a reason to see it. There’s nothing new or intereting about it. They try to add mystery but it just doesn’t work. I’d pass on seeing this if I were you. Not worth the time.

Overall rating:
Plot: 2/5 stars
Acting: 1/5 stars
Final rating: 1.5/5 stars

Movie Review: Pan's Labyrinth

yamagooochi — Sun, 08 May 2011 07:46:00 -0700

Sorry I’ve been busy for a while :/ But here’s your review, per Hazel’s request.

Year Made: 2006

Directed by: Guillermo Del Toro( Hellboy, and the upcoming Pacific Rim)

Written by: Guillermo Del Toro (Hellboy 2: The Golden Army and the upcoming Hobbit part 1 and 2)

Starring: Ivana Baquero, Doug Jones, Sergi López, Maribel Verdú, Ariadna Gil, Álex Angulo

Story: Pan’s Labyrinth follows a young girl named Ofelia, played by Ivana Baquero, who lives with her mother and they’re going to stay with her stepfather, a corrupt fascist leader. The story takes place in 2 locations. The first is the real world, where it’s a few years after the Spanish civil war and the spanish maquis are fighting against the fascist reign. All this is going on while Ofelia’s pregnant mother is terribly sick. To get away from all of this Ofelia creates an imaginary world using the labyrinth behind the house as her basis. She enters the labyrinth and is asked by a faun to complete a few tasks to get her and her mother safe. It’s a brilliant original story that’s a must see. I’ll restrain from telling anymore about the story because I don’t want to ruin this epic masterpiece. So just watch it and be entertained, the reason why films are made.

Acting: for the lead role del toro went with a fresh face and brought in a Hispanic girl that was a little older than why he imagined, he said once she read for them he knew he wanted he in the movie. Ivana Baquero, who plays Ofelia, does a fantastic job. At times she looks like she’s happy and having the time of her life in the fantasy world, but when it comes down to the hard, serious acting parts she brings it with so much emotion that you really feel for her. The part of the faun is played by del toro’s go-to-guy. Every director fancies a few actors and continually casts them in their films, and Doug Jones is his. They’ve worked together on Mimic and Hellboy. The only thing that sucks about it is that they only use his body. You never hear him speak, it’s always dubbed over by another actor. His body movements are unique and make all of his characters different. Most people dont realize it’s him because he moved different in every role he plays, very versatile, I like it.

Creativity: In this film Guillermo Del Toro uses 3 different ways to make his creatures come to life. He uses CGI for the flying pixies, animatronics for the fawn, and make-up for the crazy eyed “thing”.

The combination of all 3 make for unique-ness in every creature and make it seem very real in this fantasy world. It honestly like a fairytale brought to life.

Reasons to see it: The story, acting, and creativity alone are reasons to see this film. Each part is done almost perfectly. The blend of real life with the girls fantasy world create originality, something that many movies lack nowadays. If you appreciate films and care about a story and not how many things blow up, this movie is for you. Also this film is in Spanish. There are plenty of foreign films that grasp the concept of a “story” in a movie and don’t mind if there’s no action at all. Foreign films are some of the best films out there. Del Toro, who’s a foreigner, brings that with him and creates this beautiful film.

Interesting things: Director Guillermo Del Toro stated that the faun in the film is not named Pan, even though the movie is called Pan’s Labyrinth and he’s the focal point in the labyrinth. So if he’s not Pan then who is? What happened to him? Could there be a whole prequel movie based on prior events and how everything happened….I hope they make it, it’d be interesting

Overall rating:

Plot: 5/5 stars
Acting: 5/5 stars
Creativity: 5/5 stars
Final rating: 5/5 stars

Pan's Labyrinth?

Thu, 14 Apr 2011 19:04:51 -0700

What about it?? Lol I’m confused

Movie Demand: Turok

yamagooochi — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 07:17:18 -0700

Movie demand is where I’ll take a book, television show, old movie, or video game, or even a sequel or spin-off movie idea, and suggest how they could present it on the big screen and deliver us a great movie. I’ll give you a basic plot and even give my recommendations on who could play the characters and who I’d choose to direct it. For my first one I’m going to suggest a movie adaptation for the video game Turok.

Plot: The plot for this first Turok film I think should follow the first video game. Some would argue that it should follow the comic series the game came from but I disagree.

I’d want this film to be an Indiana Jones adventure film but have the basis be native American influenced. I feel that there’s not many native American inspired films and this could open up giant opportunities for new storylines. It wouldn’t be realistic of course, but the idea of where it came from would be a real life Indian tale and I’d develop it and change it to add in some sci-fi features to keep the idea updated, entertaining and adventurous.

Basic plot would have the main character, Tal’set, getting pushed under pressure to become the new Turok for his tribe and havin to accept the responsibilities that it comes with. He’d travel to the lost land where he’d have to stop the evil conquerer from taking over and breaking through to earth and disrupting the balance.

Some changed would have to be made in order to keep it interesting. For one he’d have to have the cliche girl in it that he falls for and have to protect because for adventure movies you need more characters because following just one throughout the film would get tiresome. And the main villain would have to have henchmen, but since he has to go to a place that has all sorts of weird creatures like in the game, I’d have the main villain be in control of the dinosaurs, aliens, and crazy insects that he dispatches to keep Turok away and fulfill his plan of domination.

Actors: This one is tough. I’d have to go with an unknown actor. Most people would go with Johnny Depp since he has an Indian background, but he won’t be right for this. I want a legit native American in the role and he’d have to act well, so an unknown is my choice. For the villain, I’d go with either Javier Bardem or Anthony Hopkins. Bardem could play a menacing villain well, like in No country for old men, and He has the acting chops to keep it new and interesting. Hopkins also plays a villain excellently and can bring a new approach to it. For the female lead, I’d go with Frieda Pinto for my first choice, Penelope Cruz for my second, and Zoee Saldana for my third. I love actress that can actually act. And these won’t play the damsel in distress, they can all play a tough but sensitive women, it could be great.

Directors: at the moment I’d go with Joseph Kosinski. He’s only directed one movie, Tron: Legacy, be it showed that he could use special effects to the max but still have the strong story brought out and seen. He could be the next Robert Zemeckis or Steven Spielberg. There’s real hope for him.

Well that’s a “brief” idea of how I’d turn a terrific video game into a even better feature film. Hope ya liked it.

Movie Doctor: Avatar

yamagooochi — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 19:54:00 -0700

In this I will take a movie and tell you could be fixed to make it good or even better.

Everyone loves James Cameron’s Avatar but there’s one HUGE flaw. The acting is pretty good, and the filming style is one of a kind (because James Cameron invented the technology used to film it) but what could it be? The big flaw in Avatar is the plot. Yes I’m sure I’m just going to sound like a hater but once I explain a bit I’m sure most of you will agree with me. The plot bares a striking similarity to a huge event in history and even other movies based on it.

In the film a group of European men travel to America and meet the “red man”, who are really Indians, and take control of their land by using force so they can gain whatever resources they need to benefit them. But one man befriends an Indian girl and tries to stop the Europeans from harming their precious land. Wait never mind wrong story.

The REAL plot to the movie is about humans traveling to another planet and meet the “blue people”, who are really the na’vi, and take control of their land by using force so they can gain whatever resources they need to benefit them. But one man befriends a na’vi girl and tries to stop the earthlings from harming their precious land.

…..is it just me or is it the same exact story just using different people in different places? And that’s what I’m getting at. Yes they’re are different aspects added to make it cool and different but it’s essentially the same story just told in a different way and presented to you in 3D. I really liked the movie and the new filming process that was presented was innovative and different but the part keeping me from loving this movie was the overly used plot. If you’re going to create a whole new land, language, and lifeforms you should put your all into it and come up with a different storyline. I just hope Avatar 2 comes up with something new and we don’t see the civil war but with blue people.

Movie News: Superman Villain Revealed

yamagooochi — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 14:47:00 -0700

The villain for the new Superman: Man of Steel movie has just been announced. Michael Shannon, best known as the guy in that small role in revolutionary road and pearl harbor) will play Zod, one of superman’s main villains. I love the idea of him playing Zod but…..Zod. They’ve already had Zod featured in a superman movie, and it was in my favorite superman movie, Superman 2. If you’re going to reboot a franchise don’t start right out the gate with a villain that’s been done before. Start fresh, new. Everyone is going to now compare his performance to the the one Terrence Stamp did in Superman 2 and it’ll be criticized like crazy. But who knows, maybe his performance as Zod will be that of Heath Ledger’s Joker. Every despised the fact that Ledger was playing Joker and that it wouldn’t live up to that of Jack Nicholson’s, but after they saw it, people everywhere praised Heath’s Joker and now that’s the only one that people associate Joker as. This could be the same situation. Only time will tell.

Movie News: Deadpool Movie

yamagooochi — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 08:00:00 -0700

The new Deadpool movie just got closer to being made. Ryan Reynolds wants to do this movie for sure, but so far it hasn’t seen any progress. Deadpool is the character Ryan Reynolds portrayed in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Even though they ruined the character at the end, Reynolds did an amazing job in the beginning and he was made for this role.

It was just announced that Tim Miller has signed on to direct the new film. This will be Tim Miller’s first directorial debut but he’s worked on movies before. He did all of the Visual effects work on X-Men and X2: X-Men United. He also was the creative director for Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World. Everyone is questioning why they chose him though. They could have gone with a big time director. Most people are assuming they chose a first timer so the company making it (Fox) can have creative control and push around the newbie. I hope that’s not the case.

The film is being written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick who wrote Zombie land. I have really high hopes for this movie. I was actually able to read the first draft of the Deadpool script and all I have to say….amaziiiing! Hopefully they stick to that one and also I hope they make it R rated, because thats how Deadpool needs to be made. I believe this could be a turning point for fox. They’ve screwed up the rest of the X-men films but this is a fresh start, let’s see of they can do it right. Although I must say my expectations for X-men: First Class are exceedingly high. The footage so far seems like director Matthew Vaughn has done it correct, nice job. Now since the movie has a director they can get the ball moving in this because everyone wants more Deadpool!