Burlesque Burlesque

A whole bunch of girls (plus one guy) went to a pre-screening of Burlesque the other day. We were super excited to watch this movie, mostly because of Cher and Christina Aguilera. How could you possibly go wrong with those two??

The musical was immensely fun and entertaining (and my friend who usually ends up napping during movies stayed awake for the whole thing!) There were some great scenes that naturally led into the singing scenes. However, there were a couple that seemed to have come out of nowhere, like Cher's sad solo song.

I liked seeing the pictures of Dita Von Teese in the Burlesque Lounge when Christina first walked in, as she is the most well-known Burlesque performer in modern times. It made the whole feel of the movie much more authentic. In fact, the art direction was fantastic, from the set to the costumes - it was all magnificent.

How hot does he look here? XD

© Sony Pictures

There was one scene that definitely had every person talking (or squealing or laughing)...the romantic set-up between Jack and Ali (Cam Gigandet and Christina). Although everyone loved it, the weird part was seeing him put his pants back on...but not the ones he was wearing.

Christina showed great talent in this movie and as it was her film debut, I wouldn't be surprised if she received more offers. The only problem I had with her character, Ali, was how she was this super-perfect wholesome, hard-working girl, and at the same time, pushy enough to get what she wants. In short, she was way to good to be true.

© Sony Pictures

Kristen Bell made a fabulous foil to Christina, as her not-as-talented, bitchy rival Nikki. Although she constantly tried to upstage Christina, I liked that she eventually got over her jealousy, proving that she wasn't such a bad person.

The funniest part of the entire movie was watching Christina get a makeup lesson from Cher. After it was finished, my friends and I laughed about how Christina looked like her normal self afterwards (or at least how she looked in all her recent music videos).

This is definitely a movie to watch, but I advise going with people you know will enjoy this type of movie. The one guy who came with us fell asleep, but I knew he wasn't too into the movie :P 

Mega-Destiny...Hero or Villain?

Megamind is a funny, animated movie of good vs. evil. Or is it? This movie shows that destiny isn't something you're born with or born into, it's what you choose to make of yourself. Anyone can be good or evil, but most everyone is a shade of gray.

I liked the use of 3D during this movie. It was used effectively - not sparingly, but not so much so that it was distracting. This was definitely made with 3D in mind. Unsurprisingly, Dreamworks also 3Ded their opening logo sequence, but it was very cool to watch.

The soundtrack was perfection: the rock hits, the love songs, the boom-box - and all of its problems. It was a fantastic complement and it definitely got the entire theater laughing. Minion was such a fun, like-able character that when he and Megamind got in a fight (or a lover's tiff, if you will ^.~), the movie seemed so much sadder and there were a few little aww's going on.

© Dreamworks Animation

The one problem with Megamind is that it seemed to hit off-the-mark with its target audience. While the premise was solid, the ideas and jokes were more adult-oriented as opposed to children. In attempting to grab the adult's attention, Dreamworks may have gone a little too far and made the movie less accessible to the kids.

The kids will want to go because it *seems* like a kid-friendly movie (most animations are), the parents will want to take the kids (not only because it'll shut them up, but because there are certain scenes not to be missed), but I believe that it's the 15-30 audience that will enjoy this movie the most. Not only will these adults still have the joy in watching kid movies, they'll also appreciate the more adult humor and the not-so-subtle references to Marlon Brando and Obama.

Overall, I gave this movie a solid A-, but be sure NOT to watch the trailer. I did so only after having watched the movie, and sadly, I think it gave a lot of the really great scenes away.

Lacking Conviction

Conviction is a movie based on a true story of a man arrested for murder, sentenced to life in prison, and a sister's life-long struggle to prove his innocence. The pacing of this movie was very slow and the performances were lacking.

The character of Betty Anne Waters was supposed to be compelling in her efforts to free her brother. However, it seemed more as though she was a saint, giving up her own idea of a career, her family, heck - her life (she didn't even want to make any friends). She might well have been in reality, but in a movie context she came off as a complete bore.

I was reminded of another movie about an uneducated woman who rose against the system - Erin Brockovich. Unfortunately, this movie fails miserably in comparison. The rude, loud-mouthed, brashness of Julia Roberts worked towards making the 'saint' not so saintly and gave depth to the character.

Hilary Swank, on the other hand, comes off very flat. The performance during this movie felt as though she overacted the whole time. Her voice was grating, the accent very pronounced and fake. Every time there was a close-up of her face, her lips would be trembling and always tension-filled. It filled me with a sense of constant agitation, although perhaps that was what the director wanted.

© Fox Searchlight Pictures

The director did a fantastic job of portraying the character of Kenny Waters. Sam Rockwell absolutely dominated the screen whenever he appeared, from the fun-loving, violent drunk to the suicidal prisoner. Through his words and his outbursts of temper, there were times where I was wondering whether he was actually innocent or guilty. However, it was very obvious what the outcome would be.

Overall, I give this film a D, because I would never ever watch it again. There's nothing special about this underdog, I was more compelled reading the old news articles about this case and the revelations of it.

Connecting to the Hereafter

The public must really enjoy watching about mediums. In the past several years, there have been many shows about mediums, about both legitimate (Ghost Whisperer, Medium) and pretend (Psych, The Mentalist). Movies about the paranormal also abound, and I went to see one such one the other night.

Hereafter tells the parallel stories of three people affected by death: a French journalist who almost drowns, a young British kid who lost his twin, and an American medium who just wants to live a normal life.

Marie's (Cecile de France) near-death starts her on a journey to understand her experience. A successful journalist before the tragedy, the shock of the experience causes her to lose her concentration at work and she is persuaded to take a forced vacation to recuperate.

A heartbreakingly, vivid picture is painted of the twins, Marcus and Lucas (George and Frankie McLaren), helping their mother cover-up her drug habits to Social Services, an accurate portrayal of a reality that unfortunately happens all too often. However, after Jason's death, Marcus struggles to cope and contacts a number of phony mediums before chancing upon George.

Meanwhile, George (Matt Damon) sees his abilities as a curse and tries live a mundane lifestyle - blue collar work and a cooking class. At the class, he meets a young woman, but his abilities ruin any chance of a relationship between them. Fed up with his brother's constant urging to restart his business as a medium and with the remnants of another could-have-been relationship, he decides to take a vacation.

©Warner Brothers

Of course, with a set-up like this, there had to be some way for the characters to connect, and it was done masterfully. Sprinkled throughout the plot were little hints, but it remained a mystery until just a couple minutes before it occurred.

While the brushes with death were very powerful, there were some glaring errors that completely threw me out of the movie, like the initial tsunami scene. It seemed a bit strange that people would just stand around for a couple minutes before attempting to run away from the water. Then since I was not invested in the scene any longer, I noticed an error with the special effects where I saw people dropping (and rolling) to the ground before the water hit them. Also, in the reunion between Marie and her lover, he was completely unhurt, squeaky clean, as though he had been safe from the disaster despite their hotel room overlooking the ocean.

©Warner Brothers

Another scene that was uncomfortable was the budding 'relationship' between George and Melanie. Despite her recent break-up, Melanie seemed as though she really wanted to kiss George, even though he ignored her outstretched hand when they first met. Also, George invited her to his place to make an intimate dinner and start a relationship, but I didn't get any portrayal of desire on his part, only hers - and she seemed really pushy. It was a romantic development that was too-fast, too-soon, not helped at all by George spilling his secret to her. If he really wanted to live a normal life, why would he have told her so soon?

The one thing I didn't understand was the 'connection' George had with the afterlife. The first few times it seemed as though he got an image of the person as he could describe the person down to the color of their hair. However, when he does the reading of Marcus, he couldn't immediately tell that it was a young boy who looked very similar to the boy in front of him. The idea was incongruous and I was left confused as to whether he was just getting impressions or actual visions.

Out of the three stories, I really connected to the twins. It was a fully-fleshed out story without the problems the other two had. Unfortunately, the boys can't read lines with any emotion. The best scenes were those without any speaking. One such was the scene where Marcus followed George around. I also loved the hat scene with Marcus in the subway. However, when it was later explained in the movie as a selfish 'it's mine, not yours' idea sprinkled liberally with doses of 'you've got to stand up for yourself', I felt really let-down.

©Warner Brothers

There were some great ideas in the movie. The foreshadowing by the posters was fantastic, because I immediately knew what it signified. The trick shot of the mirrors in the stairs without seeing the camera blew my mind. The tiny bit of humor in poking fun at the common perceptions of mediums was marvelously done, although there was an editing error I caught when Marcus was on the you-tube page. After clicking the 'related videos' link, the new video had the exact same description and 'related videos' as the first video.

Overall, I felt as though the movie had some really fantastic moments, but I couldn't really get invested in the entire story. There were just too many errors. I'd give this movie a C-, and that's bumped up because I really enjoyed most of the scenes of the twins.

P.S. This should have been posted yesterday, but I had a really difficult time breaking down the parts I liked and didn't liked into coherent ideas.

Jackass - for real

So I was correct in my earlier post about Jackass 3D being one of the few movies to actually employ 3D to good effect. It really brought the audience into the movie, but in some cases it wasn't such a good thing.

Jackass and Myspace really pulled out all the stops to promote this movie. Not only was there free popcorn and soda, posters, T-shirts, backpacks, and wallets (although those last two are of cheap quality), but also a dj and a flip-book that was made on the spot. Luckily I had arrived early enough to snag decent places in line, so we managed to grab the last two shirts w00t.

The movie itself, couldn't really be called a movie at all, but I knew that going in. It and its two prequels have no plots, they're just a conglomeration of stunts both awesome and sickening. For the most part the audience was laughing and/or screaming, but there were a couple stunts that caused a good fifth of the audience to want to gag - along with those on-screen.

At one point I actually looked at the crowd in front of me and saw a couple people really dry-heave. That was when I knew I needed to close my eyes for a bit until it was over and the threat of vomiting was no longer imminent.

One thing is for certain. If I ever do any kind of stunt, I will record it using a super fast shutter speed because everything looks better in slow-motion. Though it was tons of fun, I'll pass on re-watching the movie (unless those really gross stunts are cut-out).

Seeing R.E.D.

With the amount of 'superhero' movies that came out recently, I expected R.E.D. (Retired. Extremely Dangerous) to be extremely good or extremely bad - even though it isn't about superheros, but retired spies for the C.I.A. The plot was very simple, someone in the government issued a hit list, including some retired agents, and they attempt to discover why and whom. Of course, this being an action movie, there are lots of shootings, explosives, massive machinery, and yet the hero calmly walks away.

My first thought when I saw John Malkovich appear was 'Wait...wasn't he a big part of that other movie Secretariat?!?' In any case, he pulled off his role as a kooky, paranoid ex-spy perfectly. The decoy and real houses, the tree and bush covers all fit perfectly with people's characterizations of paranoids. The use of the pig to portray dejection is amazingly kiddish, which makes it even more hilarious when we discover its true use.

Helen Mirren was the obligatory female ex-spy. Everything she did/said was about missing killing for killing's sake, and also letting drop that she took some contracts (on the side). She was cool, collected, and looked awesome in a white sheath gown. (Heroes in movies tend to wear white...so the blood stands out.) Her scene with Mary-Louise Parker was entertaining, especially because the phrase 'I'll kill you' is so frequently used, and not meant.

pic from empiremovies.com

There were, of course, some not so great shots in R.E.D. One that truly bothered me was the 360 shot showing Frank's house and neighborhood. For some reason, I felt as though the entire shot was blurry and out of focus; it kind of gave me a headache to watch it, but I am unsure whether it was just me. Another was when Frank kicked the wall next to the vault and somehow unlocked it, but when the next shot showed the inside - nothing seemed to be damaged (plus, wouldn't the records-keeper have heard the wall breaking?)

One shot that truly bothered me was the line-trace. In the scene set-up, they show Cooper outside the interrogation room with the guy tracing the line around the corner. Then for some reason, when signalling the 'keep-going' to Cooper, the director had the tracer KNOCK ON THE WINDOW to get his attention. Um...excuse me? You're both outside the freaking room!! And then, surprise surprise, when they get the actual address from the line tap, he walks it over to Cooper...a walk of about 10 steps! >.< I think the director just wanted the window knock to be honest.

pic from brucewillismovies.net

Despite those plot holes, R.E.D. had some great shots and transitions. I love that they reiterated some shots in order to emphasize them, like the clock and the vault. The transitions were done perfectly between the eye and bullet; the panning of the wall and cubicle when on the phone. I also really enjoyed the C.I.A. shots showing Sara's boredom while waiting for Frank, while Frank was frantically trying to beat Cooper in a fight. Another really good scene was the slow-motion scene of Frank stepping out of the car as it spun and just missing his leg, yet he was still and didn't move out of its way at all.

The humorous shots of Cooper sliding off the back of the limo, 'hidden' Marvin looking through the window at Victoria, and the epilogue were just icing on the cake in this movie. Overall, it was fun, well-made and I would definitely re-watch it. B+/A-

Making Families

I went to another free screening with some friends; this time for Life as We Know It. We were pretty psyched to watch it because we had seen the previews while watching The Switch, and it was one that we turned to each other and said...'Let's go watch that'. 

Life as We Know It is a movie about two god-parents who have been willed custody of a baby to raise and the challenges it creates in their relationship. Well okay...they don't start off having a good relationship. In fact, the movie began with their first (blind) date where the guy, Eric Messer (what a fabulous name the writers gave someone who always has a different girl,) makes plans to be with another girl in front of his date, Holly.

Holly manages to meet her dream guy Sam, but before she can date him, a horrible event occurs - her friends die in a car accident leaving Sophie (their baby) orphaned. Surprisingly she discovers that she, along with Messer, are named as guardians.

Considering that they barely could get on in the best of times, it seemed like an impossible task to both take care of Sophie, especially while in the throes of grief. But they manage to do so, to great comedic effect. While both are seeing people on the side, living in a house and raising a child together evokes some fondness and eventually love within them.

The grief in the movie was well-portrayed, and almost the entire theater was crying at some points. Luckily there were some great comedic points to balance it, so it wasn't one constant stream of tears.

A character that always provoked laughter was the Social Services woman. While she was supposed to do surprise check-ups on the two, she always managed to pick the exact worst time - there was drunkenness, drugs, and drama. I found it hilarious that she was supposed to be proper and professional, but she swore and cried and definitely was NOT professional.

The movie deals well with issues that develop from child-raising, not just the sleeplessness, but the difficulty in getting the baby to eat and sleep, the difficulty of finding a babysitter when needed, as well as the cost problems. 

I absolutely love the way they chose to end the movie; it was very reminiscent of how they began the movie allowing the story to have come full-circle. They had truly become a family.

pic from flixster.com

The beginning and premise of this movie was very original, allowing the grief to become a part of the writing. Unfortunately midway through the movie, once they started doing drugs, it devolved back into the genre of classic rom-com and became very predictable.

Luckily the acting and writing were portrayed well-enough that the entire theater would laugh or cry along with the characters. I would give this movie a B/B+ because it almost broke the stereotype, but didn't quite get there. Besides, it had me crying for a good portion of the movie, so it definitely evoked some emotion in me.

Let Me In...(side a Vampire's Mind)

Having come from a schmooze fest with the Jackass 3D stars...and booze, I was pretty thrilled to head to another free screening back in Berkeley (so I could walk straight home afterwards without taking too much time.) The screening started late - almost at midnight - which was perfect because I could then walk home in the dark, freaking myself out the whole time after a scary movie.

Talking to some people in line (I tend to do that a lot), I found two people who regularly get into a ton of fre screenings and they taught me some of their little tricks. They recommended several movies that I should see, including Easy A. We ended up discussing what we hoped this movie would give us, and we all agreed on one thing - we wanted to be scared, to jump from our seats (and hopefully, not be the only ones in the theater screaming).

The screaming part seemed like a hard task to fill because the screening came out so late that only about 10 people showed up, and we were the only two girls there. >.< It seemed as though we were doomed to fail.

Once I entered the cinema and sat down, I realized that it must have been a playhouse at some point because there was a stage, a balcony, and seats that leaned back. Also, the entire room had an Egyptian theme, which led to my next conversation with the man sitting next to me. A tremendous history buff, he spouted dates and told me of their significance. We also played the time-travel game - when and where, as long as it wasn't within the last 500 years. Soon we were cut off from talking as the movie started.

Let Me In is a movie about the relationship between a 12-year old boy and a 12-year-looking girl vampire. What is the current obsession with vampires? I've been constantly inundated with movies and tv shows after Twilight became popular i.e. True Blood, Vampire Diaries, Vampires Suck. There are probably more, but that's all I can remember immediately.

It has all the makings of an awesome scary movie: creepy music, random deaths, voyeuristic peeping...but it just never lives up to its potential. Honestly the music was the scariest part of the movie. Several times it would be in the background slowly haunting its way into the forefront where, expectedly, someone/thing would jump out and kill. Unfortunately, that only happened twice...both in plain view of the audience. There was never any hand reaching out and grabbing the shoulder, or the sudden twist of the camera to show that it had been jumped upon.

pic courtesy of fearnet.com

Instead of creepiness and gore, I got hugging >.>

If, however, you disregard it's classification as a scary movie and its creepy buildup of haunting music, it's a not a bad movie with a decent plot line. There are some poignant parts to this movie, especially where Owen realized that his bully was bullying him the same way he was being bullied by his older brother. Unfortunately, Owen was unable to step out of the bullying cycle because once he stood up to his bully, the bully's older brother stepped in and took over the bullying.

Three-fourths of the way through the movie, I knew exactly what was going to happen to all the characters, which isn't good for a scary movie. Plus the entire time I wasn't scared! This movie was a huge disappointment, so I think I would have to give this movie a rating of D+/C- because the message of bullying and friendship was heartwarming but definitely NOT what I would have paid for to see this movie (luckily I didn't).

Jackass 3D's Reality

When I initially heard that Jackass was coming out with another sequel, I groaned. It's good for laughs, but it's really more of a reality show, not movie material. And then I learned it was coming out in 3D.

3D is a fad that's resurged over the years, first in the 50s, then the 80s, and again now. Understandably, it's a concept that can allow the audience to immerse themselves into the movie, but previously movies with and without 3D haven't had much of a difference.

A while ago, I had the chance to watch Step Up 3D, which was a decent movie. However, there was very little of the 3D idea taken advantage of. Other than title screens displaying the name of the new dance battle they were participating in, and a couple extra large in-your-face shots, the only 3D thing that really came through were trees. Yes, you could 'see' the trees moving closer to you. The trees. *sigh*

So when I heard about Jackass 3D, I thought they could actually do something with the 3D and play around with it. In my opinion, it would either be the bomb...or bomb it.

I managed to score free screening tickets, unfortunately when I went, I discovered (along with everyone else waiting in line) that the screening was only 7 minutes long. 7 minutes?!? That's barely double the length of the trailer. No one was happy with that, and in fact were actually complaining. That is - until they announced that there would be an afterparty with one free drink per person (over 21), then there were fewer complaints. To me, the waste of several hours to travel to and from, and wait in line was worth more than one beer, but I had already waited in line and it was almost the screening time, so I stayed.

Just before the screening started, Johnny Knoxville jumped on the stage and relayed (to a super excited crowd) that he would be at the afterparty. That little fact pumped everyone up again and people were less unhappy with the 7 minute screening.

Me with Johnny Knoxville - super exciting

I was definitely correct about 3D making Jackass a better movie. Many of their stunts allowed for the audience to get more involved, which is what 3D was made for. For me, Jackass is a movie that I would want to watch in 3D, however since 3D is also more expensive, I don't think I would pay to watch it. So unless I can score free screening tickets to the REAL movie in 3D...I think I'll pass.

Switching it Up

I'm backk :P I actually saw 2 movies yesterday, Secretariat and The Switch. But I decided not to write about both in one post ^.^

Anyway, The Switch is about a 40-year old woman named Kassie (Jennifer Aniston) who decides to have a baby by sperm donor. Her best friend, Wally (Jason Bateman) accidentally 'hijacks' the pregnancy while drunk, but doesn't remember. Cue baby - well, really a kid by now.

Funniest part of the movie: both Wally and the kid have foodgasms...and say 'Om Nom Nom' SERIOUSLY. And whoever did hair and makeup for this movie, I love. Their hair kinda stuck out everywhere...soo cuuute.

The kid actor was cute sometimes, but really overdid his part. Yes, he's supposed to be a genius, and picked on, and neurotic-ish...but stop sighing with every little thing you say!! Ergg...by the end of the movie I really didn't want the kid to say anything - at all.

But...he also had the best line of the movie: In response to flipping the channels insanely fast (which almost every kid does, and probably drives their parents nuts)...'I'm watching them all at once.'

Bateman makes a good Wally. He can pull off the neuroses, while still making them sort of cute and funny, in a I want to pat your head and make it all better kind of way, rather than OMG RUN RUNNNNN!! And his pout? Adorable. But his chemistry with Aniston - zilch. Don't get me wrong, she makes a good typical rom-com female lead...just not for this movie.

                              pic from Ramascreen.com

Love, love, LOVE Jeff Goldblum as Leonard in this movie. A perfect foil to Wally's frenzied pacing, and dramatic waving, he brought a bit of droll, dry humor, which goes a long way in a semi-serious scene.

The director/cinematographer/editor - fine...the filmmakers were smart, and the end results were beautiful. For example, in the actual switching scene, they cleverly used the frosted glass (of the shower) to hide and fade away from 'the deed.' Also, when Wally visits Leonard (his co-worker friend...and perhaps other best friend?) I love the shot of being able to see him coming down the stairs...from outside. Of course, this may be compounded with having fond memories of doing the same thing with my friend (waving to them from outside I mean >.>)

The only footage that really bothered me was the rain scene (again, LOL) where Wally is walking through the rain and getting soaked. The skies were so nicely blue, the rain so high-def, Bateman's skin sooo detailed. It just didn't fit the mood. 

Overall, I quite liked it, but I think that's more because I was in the mood for a laid-back rom-com where I wasn't required to think. Plus I actually cried a little (but I do at a lot of movies), which means it was acted well enough for me to feel some sort of connection. Worth going to the movie theater and paying for...probably not. So I'd give it a B-/C+

Secretariat: a movie on a secretary?? ^.~

A friend and I went to see a free screening of Secretariat yesterday. Free! Surprisingly, not that many people were there - well okay, it's not that surprising because it wasn't that well promoted...not like the Step Up 3d screening I went to. Also, we managed to bump into a couple friends, which was cool. I didn't end up inviting them like I did everyone else (who bailed) because I thought it was too far of a drive for them on a weekday...I guess not? Meh. I'll invite them next time XD.

Honestly, coming to the screening I had no idea what it was about. Okay, that's a lie, I knew it was about a horse (I saw the poster after all), but other than that - not a clue. My thought process was: free movie, going to go, take time to look it up? Nah, I'll pass.

Secretariat is the life story of a racing horse and its owner...and it's a Disney movie. That basically sums it up in one sentence XD.

I liked that I got the 60's vibe almost from the start from the coloring, clothing, cars...they did that old school filmy sorta look. Apparently I'm really out of it (or wasn't paying too much attention at the beginning) because they started off the film with the time and place, so when I turned to my friend and whispered 'Do you think this is set in the 60's?' her reply was 'Yeah, it said on the bottom like 2 minutes ago' >.> Whoops.

The cinematography was really well done, for the most part. The shots of the horse's hoof hitting the track and the super high definition of the dirt clumps flying were magnificent. Then there were the not so good shots, like that flashback scenes, and one HUGE glaring error; the funeral rain scene DIDN'T HAVE ANY RAIN! I'm sorry, they're all holding umbrellas and looking 'concerned' that people will get wet, the sound effects have LOTS of raindrops hitting (not even just sprinkling) and they couldn't be bothered to get the ground or even the tops of the umbrellas wet and dripping a bit? epic FAIL.

Side Note: Why does every funeral scene have to be set on a rainy day? Yes yes, it's setting the mood, depressing and in place of people crying, the sky is crying. But really...they should have just made it foggy and sprinkly-like *sigh*

Anyway, Diane Lane was overall pretty decent as the lead actress. There were a couple times when her facial expression seemed to take on a life on its own...I mean, it's good to show range, but there's something called overdoing it.

During the entire movie, I was wondering whether the jockey was a real jockey, or just an actor. I said real (he's super short, and he didn't have all that many talking/acting scenes), my friends thought actor and stunt double. I win...I can't believe I remembered to look it up too ^.^

It's about a B for the movie and how I came out feeling, but a D for cliched and oh-so-predictable, but that's Disney. Overall, I liked it...it was a feel-good happy movie, and even while being predictable, the race scenes were still very tense and exciting. Recommended for people who like movies of the underdog, true stories, and/or just want to be happy afterwords.