How To Train Your Dragon

How To Train Your Dragon

DreamWorks has produced many good animation movies in the past like Monsters Vs. Aliens, Kung Fu Panda, Shark Tales, and the Shrek series. I would say Pixar is king in the animation movie department. Especially considering they’ve won the Oscar for best animation movie the last 3 years. Pixar movies usually have the best stories, rich characters, and emotional impact than any other animation. I will say though DreamWorks animation is very good in using visual effects and music in their movies and How to Train Your Dragon is probably the best example of that.

How to Train Your Dragon is about a Viking village that has a major dragon problem. The main character is Hiccup who longs to be a Viking warrior. To prove himself he needs to kill one of the many dragons that attack his village. The problem is he doesn’t have the muscle mass or ferociousness it takes to be a dragon killer. Everything changes when he happens to capture the much-feared Night Fury.

As the movie goes on Hiccup becomes friends with the dragon, Toothless, which causes conflict with him and his father; and with pretty much the rest of the Viking village. His father (voiced wonderfully by Gerard Butler) is the biggest and toughest of the Vikings and is blood thirsty in killing the dragon race. He loves his son but can’t get over being disappointed in the way he turned out. Hiccup needs to prove to everyone that dragons are ok before it’s too late.

The movie deals with issues of the relationship problems between father and son; and also the issues of being at war with an enemy you don’t understand. The father/son relationship has been done many times before but it still brings the satisfied emotions it needs. The Vikings see the dragons as just monsters seeking nothing but blood and destruction. I like the idea that if only they would try to understand the dragons they could have peace.

It’s not one of the funniest or cleverest of animation movies but has one of the best flying and action sequences ever. The last 20 minutes was very awe-inspiring. I don’t know what it would look like on TV in 2D, but watching it in 3D on the big screen was mind blowing. The story, voice work, and special effects make this a worthwhile movie to see.

Directors: Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders

Starring: Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, T.J Miller, and Kristen Wiig.

Rated PG for sequences of intense action and some scary images, and brief mild language

Grade: B

Brief Movie Reviews- 4/7/10

Brief Movie Reviews- 4/7/10

Adams Rib (1949)

- This movie was known as one of the great Tracy/Hepburn comedies. Why, I have no idea. The movie is about a married couple that also happens to be lawyers. They both end up taking the same case but on opposite sides. The case deals with a woman who attempts to kill her husband. Tracy is defending the husband while Hepburn is defending the wife. As the case goes so does the marriage. Which is to say not very well. Now you might be asking yourself, how does one defend a woman for attempted murder when she shot her husband? The answer is simple, women’s rights. Yes according to this movie women should have the right to attempt to murder their husband if they are cheating on them. I don’t have a law degree but that just doesn’t seem legal to me. Besides having one of the worst plots in movie history it wasn’t funny at all, the acting quite frankly wasn’t that good, and the title of the movie makes no sense.

- Director: George Cukor

- Starring: Spencer Tracy, Katherine Hepburn, and Judy Holiday

- Grade: F

Spellbound (2002)

- This documentary follows 8 kids as they make their way to the National Spelling Bee in Washington D.C. The first half of the movie spends time getting to know each individual and their families. The second half of the movie shows highlights from the National Spelling Bee of that year. I learned a lot about what the spelling bee is, what all goes into preparing for the spelling bee, and the different personalities of the contestants. I found it very interesting overall. The movie was nominated for an Oscar for best documentary in 2002.

- Director: Jeffrey Blitz

- Grade: B

Iraq In Fragments (2006)

- This documentary shows the lives of different Iraqis soon after Saddam is taken out of power by America. There isn’t much to say about the movie but that there is a lot of chaos and anti-American sentiment. The movie has no narrative, which makes it really hard to follow. I really found no point to this movie at all. What was it trying to say? You should be able to make an interesting documentary on Iraq, but this is not the one. This movie was nominated for an Oscar for best documentary for 2006.

- Director: James Longley

- Grade: F

Casablanca (1942)

- I consider myself a movie buff even though I have to admit I hadn’t seen this iconic movie until last week. I know sad right? This movie, if you don’t know, takes place in Casablanca, Africa during Nazi occupation in World War II. Humphrey Bogart plays Rick, an American who defected to Casablanca working as a bar owner. Ingrid Bergman plays Ilsa, his long lost love that just happens to show up at Rick’s bar on a political mission. Conflicted by the past Rick is forced to make a tough choice between what’s best for him or what’s best for his ex-lover. The movie is considered a classic, which makes it hard for me to review it. I wouldn’t say it’s quite as good as the hype but it’s not a bad movie either. It’s overly dramatic throughout and drags quite a bit towards the end. The movie is somewhat complicated and I really didn’t understand what was going on most of the time. The performances were quite good, especially Claude Rains as a Nazi Captain who is also a friend of Ricks. I think they did a great job portraying what it’s like to be bitter about someone you loved dearly and who left you (believe me I come from experience). In flash backs Rick and Ilsa are shown doing different activities in Paris being totally in love. Rick looks so happy, cherry, and optimistic in these scenes. Throughout the rest of the movie Rick never smiles, is cynical, and is overall a miserable character. It just goes to show what the power of love can do to a person. Won Oscars for best picture, best director, and best screenplay.

- Director: Michael Curtiz

- Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, and Claude Rains

- Grade: C

The Nun’s Story (1959)

- This movie stars Audrey Hepburn as Gabriella, a young lady who inspires to be a nun. The movie follows her as she first enters the convent all the way to her mission field as a nurse in the Congo. We see the struggles a nun has to go through to be totally submitted to God’s will. Many times the character has to sacrifice her own wants to follow the orders of her superiors. Peter Finch is great as a doctor in the Congo who believes Gabriella is too independent to be a nun and encourages her to leave the convent. Her greatest struggle is within herself, does she have what it takes to be a good nun, or is she cheating herself and her faith by pretending to be something she is not. The movie would have been very good if it just wasn’t so long (running at 2 hours and 45 minutes). A movie solely based on what it’s like being a nun isn’t the most interesting story line but Audrey Hepburn gives a good enough performance to keep me interested. This movie asks oneself who makes a hotter nun: Audrey Hepburn, Julie Andrews, or Whoopie Goldberg? I’m going for Audrey Hepburn on this one. This movie was nominated for an Oscar for best picture in 1959.

- Director: Fred Zinnemann

- Starring: Audrey Hepburn, Peter Finch, Edith Evans, and Peggy Ashcroft

- Grade: C

Movie Review- Clash of the Titans

Movie Review- Clash of the Titans

Clash of the Titans is a remake of the 1981 original and follows the same basic premise with way better special effects. Zeus is upset at the current human population because they no longer want to worship him. So against his better judgment he lets his sleazy brother Hades take charge of teaching human kind a lesson. Hades plan is to release the much-dreaded monster The Kraken in 10 days on a city unless they sacrifice their princess. Perseus just happens to be there while this all happens.

An enraged Hades tragically kills Perseus’s family at the beginning of the movie. So Perseus is more than happy to lead a group of soldiers and mercenaries to go find a way to kill The Kraken. Before he leaves he finds out that Zeus actually knocked up his mom so he’s somewhat God-like. Though I’m not exactly sure what that means except he seems to be pretty good with a sword all of a sudden, more on that later. Most of the movie follows Perseus and his group as they fight huge Scorpions, scary witches, Medusa, his mom’s former husband turned bad guy, and The Kraken.

It takes about 30 long minutes before we get our first action scene and the movie picks up a little. Still the movie never took me anywhere amazing. The special effects, make up, costumes, art direction, and cinematography were all great but have been done just as good in much better films (Lord of the Rings anybody). The creatures looked like they stepped out of a Guillermo del Toro movie, which was cool. The action scenes are ok but very short (it takes about 5 minutes for The Kraken to come out of the water and like one minute to kill it) while the dialogue scenes were long and boring.

The only interesting characters to me were Zeus (Liam Neeson) and Hades (Ralph Fiennes). They don’t have many scenes but I enjoyed every scene they had together. The romantic subplot (how little there was) is very weak. Someone tell me why Perseus didn’t have a romantic relationship with the princess Andromeda. That would have made much more sense and would have made me care more about the plot which revolves around saving the princess. Also someone tell me how once given a sword Perseus turns into an action star when he’s spent his whole life as a fisher man. I guess part of being a Demi God means you can do cool flips and fight in slow motion. I would skip this film and watch either the animation movie Hercules or the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Rated PG-13 for fantasy action violence, scary images, and brief sensuality

Director: Louis Leterrier

Starring: Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes

Grade: D

Brief Movie Reviews- 4/1/10

Brief Movie Reviews- 4/2/10

The Box (2009)

- The Box is about a married couple that gets a mysterious box in the mail. A mysterious man drops by and explains that there is a button on the box and if you push it someone you do not know will die and you will receive a million dollars. Well of course the couple push the button or else the movie would only be 20 minutes long. What happens next is a bunch of creepy scenes that turn their choice in an ever-growing nightmare. The story runs like a 2-hour Twilight Zone episode and is a very dark, sci-fi movie. The movie was much better than I anticipated coming from the same director who made Donnie Darko and Southland Tales. The plot was actually very interesting and the end scene was intense and thought provoking. Frank Langella was great as the man with the mysterious past who provides the box. A couple of things keeping this from being a great movie is it was too long, too slow at parts, bad acting by minor characters, and plot reveals that made no sense to me.

- Rated PG-13 for thematic elements, some violence and disturbing images

- Director: Richard Kelley

- Starring: Cameron Diaz, James Marsden, and Frank Langella

- Grade: C

The Awful Truth (1937)

- The awful truth about this movie is it’s quite awful to watch. See what I did there…I made a joke playing on…oh well never mind. The movie is about a guy who suspects his wife of cheating so files for divorce. Does he have evidence, no he doesn’t, but that’s ok because as we all know divorce is always a funny premise. For the rest of the movie they keep bumping into each other messing up their relationships with other people. I guess in the end they realize that they were meant for each other. I say guess because I don’t really get the end of the movie. In fact it’s one of the worst endings I’ve ever seen that just ends the movie very abruptly with no real resolution. This movie was known as one of the great screwball comedies of the 30’s. I didn’t find it funny at all and thought it was quite slow and boring. The movie won an Oscar for best director.

- Director: Leo McCarey

- Starring: Cary Grant and Irene Dunne

- Grade: F

Cimarron (1931)

- This was one of the first big western epics back in the day when talking pictures was still new. The movie takes place in the late 1800’s during the great Oklahoma Land Rush and spans about 40 years. The main character wanting more adventure decides to move his family from Kansas to a new town in Oklahoma. While there he basically becomes the leader of the town becoming the town newspaperman, lawyer, preacher, and sheriff. That’s quite the job resume to say the least. He helps to rid the town of the bad outlaws and restore peace. One of my favorite scenes has to be while he is in the middle of a sermon he pulls out a gun and shoots the bad guy right in church. Now that’s a preacher you don’t want to mess with. Halfway through the movie he ends up leaving the town and his family for more adventure. The second half of the movie focuses on the wife taking care of the kids and becoming a leader in the town. The movie is long and the sound quality isn’t great but not bad for an old 30’s movie. It won the Oscar for best picture.

- Starring: Richard Dix and Irene Dunne

- Grade: C

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf? (1966)

- In this movie a middle-aged couple invite a younger married couple over and they spend the whole movie yelling and arguing with each other. As the movie goes on you find that the younger couple isn’t perfect either. It’s really hard to describe the movie more than that. The plot is hard to follow as all the characters take turns playing mind games and tearing the others down emotionally. It’s almost like a sick game being played between some very drunk and dysfunctional people. It was a controversial movie for it’s time but mild compared to today’s standards. The acting is very intense but not enjoyable at all. It was a very hard movie to sit through for me. It was Oscar nominated for best picture and won Oscars for best actress (Elizabeth Taylor), best supporting actress (Sandy Dennis), and best director.

- Director: Mike Nichols

- Starring: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, George Segal, and Sandy Dennis

- Grade: F

Mrs. Miniver (1942)

- This movie follows the Miniver family in England at the beginning of WW II. The war has a major effect on this family as they either help fight the Germans or help support the cause. This movie has everything from romance, to comedy, to uplifting, to intense and thrilling. It’s interesting that this movie was made during the war as it obviously was made to make the war effort look courageous and the Germans to look very bad. There is some great scenes that made me a little teary eyed so have some Kleenex ready. Great shot at the end of the movie as the community is having a church service in a bombed out church. All performances were great and I dare any man to watch this and not fall in love with Teresa Wright. It won Oscars for best picture, best director, best actress (Greer Garson), best supporting actress (Teresa Wright), and best screenplay.

- Director: William Wyler

- Starring: Greer Garson, Walter Pigeon, Teresa Wright, Richard Ney, Henry Travers, and Dame May Whitty

Grade: A

Brief Movie Reviews- 3/30/10

Brief Movie Reviews- 3/30/10

Here are some movies that I’ve seen recently and instead of doing a big movie review of each I decided to write a brief movie review of each and give it a grade.

Precious

- To say that this was a hard movie to sit through would be an understatement. The movie deals with physical and emotional abuse, and incest of the main character. I will guarantee after watching this movie you will feel better about your own life. If you can make it through all the hard scenes though you will be rewarded by a very emotional story with a ray of hope at the end. I really enjoyed this movie although I don’t think I could watch it again. The movie was full of great performances and great scenes that I will not forget any time soon. Precious was nominated for best picture of 2009. Won Oscars for best supporting actress (Mo’Nique), and adapted screenplay.

- Grade: B

A Serious Man

- This Coen brothers movie deals with a Jewish man going through a bit of a mid life crisis. His wife wants a divorce so that she can marry his colleague, his brother is a lonely person who sleeps on his couch and has trouble with the law, his son smokes pot, his daughter steals from him, and he’s not sure if he will get his tenure at the college he teachers for. Through out the movie he is meeting with different Rabbis to try to figure out why this is all happening to him. The answer seems to be there is no answer and you should just do good to others in any and every situation. Though this is accurate to life it doesn’t make for an interesting movie. This movie was nominated for best picture in 2009.

- Grade: D

Coraline

- This is a stop action motion movie that follows a girl named Coraline who finds a portal, in her new house, to an alternative world. In this alternative world everyone seems more interesting, especially her parents, than the people in the real world. She finds herself wanting to spend more time in this new world then in her own. Only this new world soon turns into a nightmare and she must defeat the evil presence there to save everyone she loves. The animation can be quite beautiful and haunting at times but also is very bizarre and creepy. I wasn’t crazy about the story line and it was a bit too bizarre for my taste. It was nominated for best animation movie in 2009.

- Grade: C

The Fantastic Mr. Fox

- Another stop motion animation that stars a fox aptly named Mr. Fox who longs for the good old years when he made a living catching chickens. He’s settled down with a wife and son and itches for more excitement. So he steals some chickens from some farmers and brings their wrath upon him and the animal community he lives in. To redeem himself he has to come up with a plan to save everyone. If you like Wes Anderson movies then I think you will like this one. It has the usual actors and the usual quirky humor of other Wes Anderson movies. I thought it was funny with an interesting story and characters. It was nominated for best animation movie in 2009.

- Grade: B

The Princess and the Frog

- Disney animation goes old school with a 2D musical animation movie in this one. It stars a woman in New Orleans who works hard as a waitress saving up to own her own restaurant. An evil voodoo man turns her into a frog, along with a prince. They meet some funny characters on the way to finding a witch on the bayou to turn them back to human. The two frogs, or I mean characters, of course fall in love and they both learn a valuable lesson in life. It was an ok story with some funny characters but not enough for me to really recommend. Also none of the songs really worked for me like past Disney movies. It was also nominated for best animation movie of 2009.

- Grade: C

The Informant

- This movie is based on a true story of a man who gets involved with the FBI against the company he works for. He wears a wire to meetings and basically spies on his co-workers to bring down the corruption of the company. The movie gets more and more complicated as the FBI and you the viewer start wondering if this guy is trust worthy at all. A somewhat comical performance by Matt Damon in the lead. Matt Damon fills it with the most random narration in a movie that I’ve ever seen. The narration doesn’t really push the plot along but gives you insight on how nerdy and random the main character is. It’s an interesting gimmick at first that gets annoying the farther into the movie you get.

Grade: C

Moive Review- Green Zone

Green Zone

The Green Zone is the third collaboration of actor Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass. The Bourne Supremacy and the Bourne Ultimatum proved to be a winning combination for the two and are two of my favorite movies. If you have seen any advertisement for this movie you will know they are promoting it almost as another Bourne movie. It was a good idea because it got me to go see it, but don’t kid yourself this is nowhere near as good as those movies. I was very disappointed in how unexciting the movie was and the obvious liberal political message.

The movie takes place in the early aftermath of the Iraq invasion. Matt Damon stars as officer Miller whose job is to lead a team of soldiers into targeted buildings that is believed to have WMD’s. He is disappointed time and time again that they can’t find any and is starting to question the Intel that is given to them. Greg Kinnear plays Clark Poundstone, who works for the Pentagon and seems to be in charge of operations in Iraq. Brendan Gleeson plays CIA agent Martin Brown who is the expert on Iraq relations. Mr. Poundstone and agent Brown butt heads over and over in the movie on choosing the leader of the new regime in Iraq. Poundstone believes in putting their own choice in as President to act as a puppet of the United States. Brown believes that the people should vote in their own president. This decision can have drastic effects on the future of Iraq and our relations with that country.

Miller soon is on the hunt of a major former General of Sadam Hussein. He believes by catching this General he can find out the truth about whether or not there really is WMD’s in Iraq. With the help of agent Brown and a reporter played by Amy Ryan he uncovers where to find the General. To catch the General he will have to disobey orders from Poundstone and go rogue. So he is on a race to find the General before Poundstone does or he will never find the out the truth.

Like I said before this movie was nowhere near as thrilling as watching Damon and Greengrass’s other films. The first half isn’t too bad as we are being introduced to all the characters and are setting up the premise. I found the second half to be very boring as it’s mostly spent on Miller running around all over Baghdad talking to different characters. Most of the action is at the beginning and ending of the movie but none of it was that exciting to watch. Mostly due to the jerky camera work, quick editing, and dark cinematography that makes it hard for the viewer to understand what’s going on. Whatever worked in the Bourne movies did not work here. The movie has a great cast but it seems like they are all phoning it in and don’t have a lot to work with. It’s just the same performances that we have seen in other movies, especially for Damon, which just came out blah on the screen.

Lastly I have to mention the blatant liberal politics on the movie. It’s obvious that the writer of the movie didn’t believe that there were any WMD’s in Iraq and that the Pentagon/U.S/Bush lied about it in order to invade. This is a fictional movie that seeks to give an explanation on the writer’s bias belief on the war in Iraq. When finding a solution most people seek to find evidence first to prove their point. This movie instead decides on what the solution is and makes up evidence to prove what they want to be true. Skip this movie and rent the Bourne Trilogy or any season of 24.

Grade: D

Rated R: Some uses of strong language like the F-word, and non-graphic violence.

Podcast Episode 11- Green Zone

In this episode I review the movie Green Zone and list my top 10 Best Picture winners of the 2000's.

http://oscargeekmoviecast.podOmatic.com/entry/2010-03-15T19_35_33-07_00

Podcast Episode 10 continued

Continuing from episode 10 I talk about some TV shows like American Idol, The Office, Lost, Undercover Boss, and Amazing Race. I reveal 4 more movies on my top 25 movies of the last decade.

http://oscargeekmoviecast.podOmatic.com/entry/2010-03-15T17_35_12-07_00

Podcast Episode 10

In this episode I discuss what I thought about this years Oscars.

http://oscargeekmoviecast.podOmatic.com/entry/2010-03-09T15_03_46-08_00

Podcast Episode 9 continued

In this episode my friend Jon Zuercher and I continue talking about Inglorious Basterds. We then discuss the movies Up and Up in the Air to round out the 10 nominated films. We especially do an indept review of the movie Up in the Air because we both saw that movie. We then discuss the movies Alice in Wonderland, Zombieland, The Hangover, and Julie and Julia before we say goodbye. Subscribe to my podcast at itunes at oscargeekmoviecast.

http://oscargeekmoviecast.podOmatic.com/entry/2010-03-06T23_26_21-08_00

Podcast Episode 9

In this episode I am joined by a good friend Jon Zuercher. We discuss 6 of the 10 Oscar nominees for best picture which include Avatar, Hurt Locker, The Blindside, District 9, An Education, and Inglorious Basterds. We especially do a real indept review of the movie Inglorious Basterds since both of us have seen that movie. I couldn't get everything into this podcast that I wanted so I had to make another episode which is titled episode 9 continued. Subscribe to my podcast on itunes at oscargeekmoviecast.

http://oscargeekmoviecast.podOmatic.com/entry/2010-03-06T23_10_04-08_00

Podcast Episode 8

In this episode I review the movie Whip It!, talk about some of my favorite TV shows, and continue on my list of best movies of the last decade. Subscribe to my podcast on itunes at oscargeekmoviecast. Be sure to rate it and write a review.

http://oscargeekmoviecast.podOmatic.com/entry/2010-03-06T22_51_05-08_00

DVD Review- Zombieland

DVD Review- Zombieland

Zombieland is a fun, stupid movie with loads of blood and loads of laughs. I rented Zombieland recently and watched it twice. I watched it once with no audio commentary and once with audio commentary. In the commentary and other special features on the DVD you find out that the movie was originally meant to be a TV show. In the second time viewing the movie I could see why. There really is no point to the movie. The movie results as a bunch of random scenes thrown together that probably could have passed for several TV episodes. Is the movie fun enough to overlook the many flaws? I will say yes, yes it is.

The movie stars Jessie Eisenberg as Columbus (everyone is named after the city they are from) trying to make his way to Columbus, Ohio to find his family. He narrates the movie trying to let us in on what the world is like now when it’s run by flesh eating zombies. He explains what little back-story there is. Along the way he runs into Tallahassee played by Woody Harrelson. Most of the laughs and great moments of the movie involve these two characters. The two actors have great chemistry together and are great at riffing funny lines off each other. Eisenberg is great as a nerdy college kid that is scared at everything and has basically survived the zombie outbreak using his smarts. Harrelson is the opposite playing a tough guy who kills zombies for sport. Harrelson has never been funnier than in this role. They are the stereotypical odd couple and it works very well.

They then run into the other two main characters of the movie, a couple of sisters played by the beautifully funny Emma Stone (Wichita), and the Oscar nominated Abigail Breslin (Little Rock). We learn that these two have survived using there ability to con other people. Wichita and Little Rock hitch a ride to California where they hear that there is an amusement park where there are no zombies. Most of the movie is watching them traveling to different places and getting into funny situations. Yes I know it’s a zombie movie and all I’ve been talking about is how funny it is. It’s more like a comedy that just happens to have cannibalistic zombies running around. At times I even forget that there are zombies at all.

Zombies appear out of nowhere throughout the movie and are usually easily disposed of. They look very gross and always have black gunk coming out of their mouths. People do get eaten but most of that is during the first 15 minutes of the movie. When people do get attacked it is quite disgusting and bloody, very bloody. I’m talking the kind of bloody scenes where blood is splattered everywhere. I should also point out that there are a lot of people on zombie violence as well. Tallahassee likes to bash a lot of zombie’s brains in with a bat or banjo in which like before a lot of blood is splattered.

Overall I enjoyed this movie a lot. I would recommend it to anyone that can stomach the gory violence. The movie had great comedic performances by the four leading actors, and one special cameo. The DVD has some good special features including a making of Zombieland, scene design, make up, and an audio commentary featuring stars of the movie Eisenberg, Harrelson and the director, and writer of the movie. I wish it had a stronger plot driving the characters, and had more back-story, but it doesn’t detour from the fun you will probably have watching this.

Grade: B

Rated R: Extreme bloody violence through out including people getting eaten by zombies, zombies getting shot several times, and getting there heads crushed in. Make up of zombies is very grotesque and can be scary to younger viewers. Lots of use of several strong cuss words.

Episode 6- Classic Movie Reviews and TV Talk

The sixth episode of my podcast is now available. In this episode I review some classic movies like Mildred Pierce, Darling, True Lies, and Signs. I then talk about some of my favorite TV shows of the last week like American Idol, Amazing Race, Lost, Undercover Boss, and Dr. Drew Celebrity Rehab. Remember to check my podcast out on itunes.

http://oscargeekmoviecast.podOmatic.com/entry/2010-02-28T19_03_49-08_00

15 questions for the movie Zombieland

15 Questions I have for Zombieland.

1. Do zombies eat because they are hungry, or do they just eat people for fun? They seem to be constantly eating all the time.

2. If they eat because they are hungry do they ever get full? They seem to always be hungry for people when the four main characters are around. They never say you know what I'm full and I don't feel like eating at the moment.

3. Why does it seem that they only eat people, why don't they eat other zombies? They have flesh and meat as far as I can tell.

4. What happened to the zombie plague that turned people into zombies?

5. Why don't the four main characters have the zombie plague?

6. How is the zombie plague passed to people?

7. What did the four main characters do to avoid the plague? I mean they must have done something right, like maybe they were real stiflers for washing their hands a lot.

8. How come the four main characters are so good at shooting guns? I mean they are all sharp shooters and they seem like normal people. Well maybe except for Tallahassee (character played by Woody Harrelson) . I don't think I would be near as good as them at shooting zombies.

9. Do they have unlimited gun-shells? It seems like they never run out of bullets.

10. Why do they shoot their guns in the air for no reason? I mean if it was me I would want to conserve my ammo.

11. Instead of traveling around the country, wouldn't you want to stock up on food and water and just lock yourself in a building?

12. Do gas stations still work in a post apocalyptic world? They are always driving around and I never see them stop for gas.

13. Why do the four main characters want to be loners so bad? When the different characters first meet they act like they don't want to be around other people. If it was me and I was living in a zombie world with few survivors I would stick around every human being I came across.

14. What is Tallahassee's background? He is so good at killing zombies it makes me wonder if he is like a former army ranger or something. There's got to be some explanation at why he is so good as shooting different weapons and never seems to be scared.

15. How long does the average zombie live? Like I said if you lock yourself in a building maybe the human population could outlive the zombies. I mean the zombies don't reproduce as far as I can tell, and humans can.

Top 5 most underrated and disappointing movies of 2009

Top 5 underrated and disappointing movies of 2009

Here is a list of movies I didn’t think got enough love in 2009, and movies I was really disappointed in.

Underrated

1. 500 Days of Summer

- This is getting good reviews from critics; it got Golden Globe nominations for screenplay and actor for Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and might get an Oscar nomination for Original Screenplay, but it still isn’t getting enough attention. It should be talked about more for it’s ingenious screenplay and direction, and should be higher on people’s lists.

2. Taken

-This didn’t get bad reviews but it was kind of passed over as just your normal action flick. I think it’s more than that. They don’t give Liam Neeson enough credit for that role. He really makes you feel the anger and sadness he is going through in finding his daughter. So much that you don’t fault him in killing and torturing everyone that gets in his way.

3. Away We Go

-I haven’t heard many people talk about this movie and I thought it was the funniest comedy of the year. I don’t think I laughed any louder than when John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph visit the home of Maggie Gyllenhall and her husband, with their ultra hippie style. Also I though it had the best soundtrack of the year.

4. Monsters Vs. Aliens

-I feel like this movie has gotten lost in the Animation Movie shuffle. It’s not near as good as UP but still it’s a funny and fun movie to watch. I especially like all the scenes with Bob the Blob voiced by Seth Rogen.

5. Push

- I don’t think this movie got good reviews but I thought it was an interesting take on movies with people that have superhuman powers. It was kind of like a dark version of X-Men. I like the terminology they use for each other like pushers, bleeders, sniffs, watchers, and movers. I thought it had a very creative ending to it.

Disappointing

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

- Considering that this is one of my favorite books of the series I couldn’t believe how much they messed up this adaptation. They took out scenes that I loved in the book and they added scenes that made no sense. There were too many shots of that stupid cupboard, and they did the whole Harry and Ginny love story wrong.

Wolverine: X-Men Origins

- Wolverine is easily the best character out of the X-Men movies and is the reason those movies did so well. The story was not interesting and the action was not very good. They could, and should have done so much more with such a great character.

Knowing

- This looked like a cool sci-fi thriller with great action effects but slow pacing and a terrible ending ruined it. I don’t want to spoil the end for you but it doesn’t end well for planet Earth.

Watchmen

- It’s a nice idea for a story but goes on way too long. The violence is too disturbing and every time the big blue guy is on the screen I want to fall asleep.

Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen

-Being a much-anticipated sequel to the very fun movie Transformers, it did not deliver. Is it possible to have too many action scenes and explosions? This movie answers with a definite yes. It went on way too long and didn’t have enough

Oscar Predictions

Best Picture- The Hurt Locker

Best Actor- Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart

Best Actress- Sandra Bullock for The Blindside

Best Supporting Actor- Christoph Waltz for Inglorious Basterds

Best Supporting Actress- Mo'Nique for Precious

Best Directing- Kathryn Bigalow for The Hurt Locker

Best Original Screenplay- Inglorious Basterds

Best Adapted Screenplay- Up in the Air

Best Cinematography- The Hurt Locker

Best Editing- The Hurt Locker

Best Art Direction- Avatar

Best Costume Design- The Young Victoria

Best Makeup- Star Trek

Best Original Score- Up

Best Original Song- The Weary Kind from Crazy Heart

Best Sound Mixing- Avatar

Best Sound Editing- Avatar

Best Visual Effects- Avatar

Best Animated Film- Up

Best Foreign Film- The White Ribbon

Best Documentary- The Cove

Episode 5- Classic Review, American Idol, DVD Review of Julie and Julia

Here is a link to the 4th episode of my podcast. In this episode I give a review of some classic movies: The Song of the Thin Man and The Great Ziegfried. I then talk about American Idol and the top 24. Then I end the podcast with a DVD review of the movie Julie and Julia.

http://oscargeekmoviecast.podOmatic.com/entry/2010-02-18T16_12_46-08_00

Top 10 Movies with a Romantic Plot

Top Ten Movies with a Romantic Plot

1. Life is Beautiful

- The first half of this movie has the most romantic plot of any movie that I’ve ever seen. Our main character tries so hard to sweep the girl off her feet that she can’t help but fall in love with him. The characters are so likeable and charming, and the way he gets her is so creative. I can’t explain it here but you must check this movie out and make sure you have a hankie handy.

2. Rocky

- This is an inspirational boxing movie but I also feel that the love story is done so well. They are both lonely and are looked down upon by the opposite sex. He’s a bum fighter and she’s a nerdy pet shop worker. They bring the best out of each other in the end. The first date and the scene where she goes to his apartment are great scenes that make you fall in love with these characters.

3. Braveheart

- Yes I know you are probably wondering why I have this on the list. It’s known more for being a bloody war movie, but it starts out as a great love story. The love between the two is so real and makes it all the more shocking when she is killed. He avenges her death and starts a revolution afterwards, which seals the deal for how strong their love was. I love it that at his death scene his wife comes to take him to the after life.

4. Princess Bride

- This is a fun fairy tale story revolved around the love of Wesley and Princess Buttercup. Wesley is a servant turned pirate turned rescuing hero. He is elegant and poetic and stops at nothing to rescue his love. In fact he comes back from the dead in order to rescue her from the evil prince. There’s nothing you can do to top that.

5. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

- This movie starts out as a bad breakup in which Kate Winslet’s character erases the memory of her ex boyfriend played by Jim Carey. Carey decides to erase her from his memory but finds out through the process that he wants to hold on to the great times he had with her. It proves that you don’t know how much you love someone until they are taken away.

6. WALL E

- Who would have known that a movie about robots would be so romantic? WALL E is lonely and so falls head over wheels for EVE at first sight. Over the course of the movie she sees how much he’s done for her and in return falls in love. The dancing in space scene is so cute it makes you go ahhh.

7. Groundhogs Day

- I liked this movie so much because it’s about a guy living the same day everyday and at first uses this power for his own selfish gain. He tries to manipulate the girl he likes but gets turned down. Only when he decides to use this opportunity to make him a better person does he win the heart of the girl he loves.

8. The Goodbye Girl

- This is a classic tale of two people forced to live in the same apartment who don’t get along. Then as the movie goes along they fall in love with each other. The girl has a history of falling in love and then being left behind. Finally at the end she has found someone who will not say goodbye to her.

9. About a Boy

- Hugh Grant plays a self-absorbed guy who doesn’t want a serious relationship. He spends the first part of the movie lying and manipulating women to sleep with him. Then he meets Rachel Weiss and falls in love. Then for the first time he starts caring about other people. I’ve always felt that true love makes you want to be a better person.

10. Love Story

- Yes this is a sappy, sad love story but it really works. It’s another case of two conflicting personalities that come together and fall in love. I love the two main characters and their chemistry together. It’s funny, it’s sad, and it will live forever in your heart once you see it.

I'm now on itunes

You can now listen to my podcast on itunes. In itunes type in Oscar Geek Movie Cast and it should take you right to my podcast. You can click the subscribe button and every new episode of my podcast will be downloaded to your itunes. Also I would really appreciate it if you give me a rating and a review in itunes. Hopefully it will be good, haha.