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It's like Outbreak, only without the fun theatrical cheese element. It seems as serious as a documentary but told in a way completely void of a bias. Soderbergh does such a good a job with these characters and events that you often cannot tell who is right or wrong; good or bad. I was on the edge of my seat for the entire movie, but I'll probably never watch it again. Makes me feel ill to my stomach to watch this kind of thing.
3 Stars (out of 5)
Weta Digital and Andy Serkis steal the show here. The plot is simple but effective. There is a slow build through the first and second acts that leads to a satisfying third act of non-stop action with some pleasant surprises thrown in. The motion capture performances breathe real emotion into the computer generated models. You know it's CGI the whole time, but it has a human element so it's fun to watch, unlike the stiff boring CGI usually done by hand. Nothing compares to the nuances of a real human face emoting.
3.5 Stars (out of 5)
When the film started I was really excited. As it went on I found myself losing more and more interest. Felt a lot like when I saw Super 8. I think they tried too hard to explain to the audience what was happening. The charm of the first act is that the main characters have no idea what is happening. When Olivia Wilde starts explaining what aliens are everything goes to hell. I liked it alright though.
3 Stars (out of 5)
I saw this film about a month ago, and haven't felt like writing a review. I guess you could say I was let down by this Spielberg+Abrams extravaganza. The first half of this film is glorious, and I give it 5 stars. Unfortunately, as the film continues on it gets worse and worse. I give the second half of the film 2 stars, if that. It feels like watching the director's show 'Lost' from start to finish. It starts strong, and then it loses you.
X-Men: First Class is a pretty good film that sets the right tone for an X-Men movie, bringing it back to a story about teamwork, rather than just letting Wolverine hog all the spotlight. Despite a lackluster choice of physical locations, uninspired sets, and some cheesy special effects for the film, the actors do a great job and the story is compelling. If you like comic books and especially X-Men, you will be quite pleased. It's still a good movie for the average moviegoer too, as long as you can get used to Kevin Bacon as the bad guy.
Bridesmaids is really funny, and sweet too. As nice as it is to see a film written by women and from a female point of view, the story is missing some pieces here and there. This is the first major motion picture written by Kristen Wiig (SNL) and Annie Mumolo (The Groundlings comedy troupe). For a first script it's fantastic, but for a big Hollywood release it feels a bit unpolished at places. In keeping with Judd Apatow's track record, this film is also about 20 minutes too long.
Hanna is an exciting movie that's fun while it's happening but leaves you wishing it had more meat to it. The plot was painfully simple. I think the story needed more conflict or different characters or raining frogs at the end; some tasty side dish to accompany the main course of cool action sequences and delicious visuals we are being fed. There's some great things in Hanna, but story details are not one of them. See this film for the imaginative visuals, heart-pounding psychedelic music from The Chemical Brothers, and fascinating performances by the actors, but not to be stimulated intellectually.
This was a well-made and funny film perfectly suited for fans of science fiction and/or comedy (as long as you're old enough to see an R rated movie.) In a way it's sort of the anti-E.T. movie. Where ET befriends one child and doesn't say much, this film has an alien befriend two grown men, and then never shut up. Luckily he's voiced by Seth Rogen (who I love to death,) and the two guys are not only hilarious but are also the extremely clever writers of this film. Without the writing of Nick Frost and Simon Pegg this film would have been a waste of time and money. Their understanding of sci-fi themes, comedic set-ups, and the nuances of good storytelling make this movie well worth seeing.
I liked this film exactly as much as I expected I would, but keep in mind I had high hopes. It's nice to see a movie that can be fun and still make you think. It's well acted, clever, and creatively done. Everyone in the theater was into it and along for the ride. Not something I see often. Although no applause at the end, as the film manages to loose momentum in the last 5 minutes, unfortunately.
3 1/2 Stars (out of 5)
Based on a great concept, but felt like a short film being stretched into a feature. The space in between good parts is filled with extraneous shots of Matt Damon running that I swear are from one of the Bourne movies or Greenzone. This should be re-cut down to 20 minutes.
3 Stars (out of 5)