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.

podcast Episode 3

Here is the 3rd episode of my podcast. In this episode I discuss some movie news of the last week then talk about some of my favorite shows like American Idol, Lost, Castle, The Office, Community, and Parks and Recreation.


http://oscargeekmoviecast.podOmatic.com/entry/2010-02-15T15_33_10-08_00

Episode 2- Movie news, The Hangover, Top Ten most anticipated movies of 2010

Here is a link to Episode 2 of my podcast. In this podcast I go over some movie news from a week ago, then do a DVD review of the movie The Hangover, then end it with a top ten list of my most anticipated movies of 2010.

2010-02-13T14_33_36-08_00.mp3

Movie Review- An Education

An Education

When I walked out of this movie I had some mixed feelings. The first half of the movie was very funny and the characters were very interesting and fun to watch. The story flowed very well and I was having one of the best movie experiences of the year. Then about half way through the movie it turned into something different. I didn’t get the choices of the characters, the story seemed bogged down with lots of conflict, I didn’t buy the relationship between the two main characters, and I left the movie a little disappointed. Now that I’ve had a day to think about it I’ve come to the conclusion that the movie was better than my original reaction. I was disappointed because the movie wasn’t what I was expecting it to be. I thought it was suppose to be a romantic drama, but I realize now that it was much more than that.

The movie stars Carey Mulligan as Jenny, a 16-year-old girl living in England in 1961. She goes to an all girls’ school studying hard to make it into Oxford. She is driven by her strict, and very easily flustered father played incredibly by Alfred Molina. Her father wants nothing less than the best education for his daughter. So he makes her study hard, pays for language tutors, and forces her to play the cello in order to get her into one of the best colleges in the country. One could say he probably pushes a little too hard, and lets no room for Jenny to have any fun. Then steps in David played very charmingly by Peter Sarsgaard. He’s an older man, 30 years old, who is wealthy, drives a nice car, has class, and seems to have fun all the time and never works.

Jenny becomes fascinated by David and joins him and his friends to concerts, clubs, auctions, and trips to Oxford and Paris. Her father of course doesn’t approve at first but David is so charming that he can talk him into letting Jenny do whatever she wants. As the movie goes on one gets the feeling that there is something shady about David. He never talks about work yet him and his friends seem very wealthy with lots of pricy possessions, and to top it all he’s dating a 16-year-old girl. Jenny has to decide does she want to study English at Oxford for what she perceives will make for a boring life, or does she want to quit school and marry David and live a life full of fun and adventure.

Like I said before the movie really isn’t about the romantic relationship between her and David. I know the trailers and posters seem to just feature Carey Mulligan and Peter Sarsgaard looking romantically at each other, but really it’s a little misleading. It’s really about a young girl trying to make grown up decisions that she really isn’t ready for or doesn’t fully understand. She sees her life as being very boring. She sees her future as being very boring and her only way out it through David. So she ends up making hasty and foolish decisions, like normal 16 year olds do, and learns from them the hard way.

One can’t blame her for her perspective though. Her parents do seem to live a boring life. Her mom is a housewife and spends all her time cleaning the house and cooking dinner. Her dad works all day to provide for the family and seems to have no fun at all. Her female English teacher seems very plain and spends all her time grading papers. Yes growing up can seem kind of boring to a teenager, being loaded with responsibility can do that to a person. She learns in the end though that as you grow up your perspective on life changes. You might not do all the fun things you did when you were younger, but it doesn’t mean your life is boring. In fact for most, working hard and providing for a family brings more meaning to your life, which is more important than just having fun. If only we could all understand this sooner in our life.

I really liked this movie and I recommend it to anybody who likes a smartly written, sophisticated movie. It was surprisingly very funny and had a lot of witty dialogue. It slows down in the latter half of the movie but not enough to ruin it. Carey Mulligan, Alfred Molina, and Peter Sarsgaard all gave some of the best performances of the year. Mulligan is worthy of all the award praise that she has been getting. She has a great comedic ability and handles all the frustration a teenager would have, in the situations given, very convincingly. The movie made me think about my own life, and the choices I’ve made. My life isn’t always fun, but it is full of meaning. Is yours?

Grade: B

Rated PG-13- Some scenes involving sexual content but nothing explicit, some sexual dialogue.

Podcast Episode 1

I've successfully created the first episode of my new podcast: oscargeekmoviepodcast. If you click on the link below or paste it into your browser it should take you right to my podcast where you can listen to my episode. In my first episode I give an introduction of my self, then give a rundown on all the Oscar nominees. I appreciate it if you listen to it and give me a comment on what you thought.

http://oscargeekmoviecast.podOmatic.com/entry/2010-02-09T14_15_16-08_00

DVD Review- The Hangover

The Hangover is another entry in the long list of "stupid comedies". When I use the term "stupid comedies" I am referring to those comedies that purposely don't deal with logic, realistic characters, realistic situations, or realistic choices. Being a stupid comedy doesn't mean it has to be a bad movie, I quite enjoy these kinds of comedies (Dumb and Dumber, Austin Powers, Waynes World, Anchorman, etc.). It all comes down to two things: did I laugh a lot, and did I have fun while watching it.

If you don't know what The Hangover is about let me give you a quick synopsis. Doug (Justin Bartha) is getting married and goes to Las Vegas for his bachelor party with his 2 friends Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms), and his new brother in law Alan (Zach Galifianakis). After taking a shot of alcohol we cut to a scene where Phil, Stu, and Alan wake up with a hangover. They can't remember what happened the night before, and they can't find Doug. So for the whole movie they are searching for Doug and are trying to figure out what crazy antics they got into the night before.

In one of the first scenes of the movie Zach Galifianakis is shown hugging Justin Bartha. When the camera pans back we see that Zach is naked from behind. At this point I knew exactly what kind of movie I was getting into. I knew when reviewing this movie I wasn't going to waste my time using terms like unrealistic and stupid, because that's what the movie wants to be. I knew I had to just not think too much about what's going on and just sit back, relax, and try to enjoy it.

This movie gave me some chuckles here and there but as a whole I didn't find it that funny. I thought the whole idea was kind of funny, and I was never bored, but it was ruined for me with all the foul and vulgar language, and male nudity. I'm not a fan of comedies filled with so many F-words (and there was quite a lot in this movie), and other vulgar language. If you're going have that then the movie has to be really, really funny for me to like it. If they made this movie PG-13 I probably would give it a positive review. The three leads did fine but none had a real breakout role. The best role went to Ken Jeong as Mr. Chow, a Korean mobster they find naked in the trunk of Doug's car. He stole every scene he was in.

So if you don't mind a movie with lots of swear words, drugs, vulgarity, and male nudity you might like this movie. The movie became the highest grossing comedy of all time, and won the Golden Globe for Best Comedy, so there is evidently a lot of people who find the movie very funny. I must admit I watched the movie alone which is probably not the best way to view it. If you do watch it I would advise you to watch it with a group of friends. For some reason watching a stupid comedy is much funnier when other people are laughing at it too. Then after the movie you can quote some of the funny lines and make the movie sound funnier than it actually was.

Grade: D

Rated R- Lots of foul language, drug use (mostly scenes of getting really drunk), male nudity (Zach Galifianakis from behind, and Ken Jeong full frontal), brief female nudity (Heather Graham is breast feeding a baby), and some scenes of violence (the three main characters get beat up multiple times resulting in bloody mouths and bruises).

Most Anticipated Movies of 2010

Most Anticipated Movies of 2010

1. Toy Story 3

- Toy Story 1 and 2 are my favorite Pixar movies so far and that’s saying a lot. Pixar is on a role with Oscar winners like Ratatouille, WALL-E, and Up. I love Pixar movies and coming out with another sequel to this great series has me very excited.

2. Iron Man 2

- Iron Man was my favorite movie of 2008. So naturally I’m really excited to see the sequel. Robert Downy Jr. is really on a role the last two years, I think mostly due to the success of the first film. The trailer looks good, especially Mickey Rourke as the Russian bad guy. I just hope they don’t mess this up like other superheroes sequels (Spiderman 2 & 3, X-Men 3, and The Dark Knight).

3. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

- Even though I was very disappointed with Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince I look forward to every Harry Potter movie. Since this is only half a movie I’m kind of afraid it’s going to feel incomplete until the last one comes out. Still the book is great and they have a chance of making one of the best of the series.

4. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

- Looks like a real fun movie. I thought the trailer was a lot of fun to watch; it looks like it should have some good action, some good special effects, and probably some humor in between. It won’t be a best picture contender but I’m sure it will get a lot of viewers.

5. Clash of the Titans

- Just like Prince of Persia it looks like a good action adventure movie. The trailer looked great, with some cool looking monsters to boot.

6. The A-Team

- I’ve never seen an episode of the T.V show but it has my two favorite acting performances of last year: Liam Neeson and Sharlto Copley. I’m such a big fan of Liam Neeson that any movie he is in has my attention.

7. The Last Airbender

- I know M. Night Shyamalon is on a bad streak at the moment but he’s made some really good movies with Signs and The Sixth Sense so I still have hope for him. I thought the trailer looked pretty cool and I have a feeling there will be some good action and special effects scenes in the movie.

8. Shrek Forever After

- Now these movies aren’t as good as the great Pixar movies that come out every year but they are a lot of fun to watch. I’m looking forward to seeing what they come up with this one especially now that Shrek and Fiona have children. Shrek, Donkey, Puss and Boots, Ginger Bread Man, and Pinocchio really put a smile on my face. They can make 10 of these and I’m totally on board.

9. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

- The Chronicles of Narnia books are good stories, I don’t think they make the best movies necessarily, but they are solid. I haven’t read this book yet but I’m a fan of the series so I’m interested in what this will turn out to be.

10. The Other Guys

- This movie stars Will Ferell and Mark Wahlberg as cops steeping onto the big times. Whenever you have a comedy staring Will Ferell I’m always on board. It also is Directed and Written by Adam McKay who wrote and directed

Movie Review- The Hurt Locker

The Hurt Locker

Every year we get a couple of Iraq war movies and they always turn out to be flops. The Hurt Locker doesn’t star big names but is getting the best reviews of the year. This movie doesn’t display the usual anti-American sentiment. It doesn’t treat our soldiers as evil (unlike Avatar), or as stupid, and drunk hoodlums. It shows the psychological effects on soldiers who know any day could be their last. This provides for some good drama as most war movies do. Although I thought it was well directed and well acted, there wasn’t enough there for me to call it a good movie.

The movie stars Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, and Brian Geraghty as officers William, JT, and Owen. They are a bomb squad in Iraq who are called on to disable road bombs. If you have watched any news on the Iraq war you will probably know, there are a lot of road bombs out there. William is the bomb specialist in the group that has to get up and close to these bombs and disable them. JT and Owen watch his back and assist him in these missions. William is also the new guy in the group and immediately sets himself as a risk taker. JT on the other hand is cautious and plays everything by the book. This will bring William and JT at odds with each other throughout the movie. Owen agrees with JT and seems so nervous on missions that he is about to have a mental breakdown at any moment.

The movie is filled with several bomb disabling missions and then JT and William arguing back and forth about the missions. JT thinks Williams’s inability to listen to him and follow his commands is putting all their lives in danger. He likes to follow his own instincts and doesn’t seem to work with the team. I think most people would have to agree with JT it does seem like he is putting himself in danger over and over again instead of doing what is safe. Why does William act this way? William has such a determination to disable the bombs that it seems that he will die before giving up. Does he have nothing to live for? That doesn’t seem to be the case; he has a family waiting for him back home. It seems that he enjoys risking his life day in and day out more than going back to the safety of his home. I don’t understand why this is, and it’s one of the problems that bothered me throughout this movie.

Critics seem to love this movie for its thrills and intensity. I on the other hand didn’t feel tensed or thrilled. Disabling a bomb over and over again isn’t really that interesting. It takes about 10 minutes to put on the big suit and walk over to the bomb, and then another 10 minutes to disable it. It’s actually quite boring to watch and there are about 5 scenes just like that, that take over most of the movie. I was never scared for the characters because I figured hey they can’t die they are the main actors and I still have an hour left of this movie. When not disabling bombs JT is constantly getting after William which gets annoying and in one awkward scene they are fighting for no reason. Other scenes just drag on and seem to have no point to them. What is the goal for these soldiers in this movie? It seems to me that it is just to survive their round in combat until they get to go back home. It just doesn’t seem like a good enough reason for me to care about this movie.

Grade- D

Rated R- Lots of cussing and violent images.

10 Films From the Future

Here is a scenario that I made up recently just for the fun of it. What if you had the chance to go back in time 60 years into the past and you can only bring 10 movies to show people how the movie industry has changed in the future. At least one movie has to be from the 60’s, one from the 70’s, one from the 80’s, one from the 90’s, and one from the 2000’s. What movies would you bring and why? Here is a list of the movies I would bring and why. I am also going to list them in the order that I would show them.

1. Planet of the Apes:

- I believe that the makeup and costuming in this movie was revolutionary for it’s time and would show people how it can be used to effect a movie.

2. Star Wars: A New Hope:

- This movie was groundbreaking for its special effects for it’s time. Not to mention great sound effects, makeup, costuming, musical score, and set designs. Plus this movie is very creative and would seem pretty wacky for people 60 years ago.

3. Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark:

- This shows what a great fantasy/adventure/action flick looks like in the 80’s. Great action shots of near escapes, it’s tense, and a little scary. Plus what’s better than seeing someone’s face melt off?

4. Jurassic Park:

- This movie took special effects to a whole new level in the 90’s with realistic looking dinosaurs.

5. Matrix Reloaded:

- This movie takes action to a whole new level with gravity defying stunts and great use of slow motion action shots. Fight scenes like Neo taking on 100’s of Agent Smiths, and the motorcycle chase scene would blow people’s minds.

6. Toy Story:

- This movie shows the future of animation and the advances of technology using computers to animate objects that now look 3D.

7. The Phantom of the Opera:

- This shows what a great musical will look like in the future. Use actors that can sing very well. Also great costumes, set designs, and imagery.

8. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind:

- This movie is great in telling a very creative story in a non-linear fashion. The non-chronological order of telling the story I think actually enhances an already unique story line. Great use of science fiction and fantasy images, and in the end a great love story.

9. Avatar

- Another leap in advanced movie making technology. CGI blue aliens that are motioned captured by real people opens up a huge door of what we can do in the future.

10. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King:

- I would show this movie last because I think it caps what is best in movie making today. No other movie combines special effects; make up, costumes, sound effects, and cinematography, set design, use of miniatures, CGI, and musical score as good as this movie. It’s also one of the greatest epic/fantasy/adventure movies ever made.

Oscar Picks

Next Tuesday the Academy will reveal their nominations for picture, director, actor, actress, supporting actor, supporting actress, original screenplay, and adapted screenplay. These are my predictions of what will be nominated.

Best Picture

The Hurt Locker

Avatar

Inglorious Basterds

Up In the Air

Precious

An Education

Invictus

Up

Nine

Crazy Heart

I believe the top 5 will be The Hurt Locker, Avatar, Inglorious Basterds, Up In the Air, and Precious. If we only had five nominations these would be the five that would get nominated. So the bottom 5 is a little bit harder to predict, so I’m not a 100% confident. I’m sure there will be some surprises like there is every year.

Best Actor

Jeff Bridges

Morgan Freeman

George Clooney

Jeremy Renner

Colin Firth

Best Actress

Meryl Streep

Sandra Bullock

Gabourey Sidibe

Carey Mulligan

Helen Mirren

Best Director

Kathryn Bigalow

James Cameron

Quentin Tarantino

Jason Reitman

Lee Daniels

Best Supporting Actor

Cristoph Waltz

Stanely Tucci

Matt Damon

Christopher Plummer

Woody Harrelson

Best Supporting Actress

Mo’Nique

Vera Farmiga

Anna Kendrick

Marion Cotillard

Maggie Gyllenhaal

Movie Review- Up In the Air

Up In the Air Movie Review

I finally got around to seeing the soon to be Oscar nominated movie, Up In the Air today. A lot of critics are putting it on their lists for top movie of the year and I will have to agree with them. This is a very good movie. It’s funny and witty and has some good dramatic moments at the end that really hit you in the stomach. It’s one of those rare movies that is fun to watch and makes you think at the end.

The movie stars George Clooney as Ryan, his job is to travel around the country and fire people personally and hopefully tries to help them move on with their lives. It’s an art form that Ryan has perfected over the years and he is really good at it. I will have to warn you not to watch this movie if you have just been fired, because the movie is littered with scenes of people getting fired. Most of the people react in an angry fashion and it’s almost comical in way they show these montages. Then there are people that react with a sadness and desperation that really makes you feel their pain. Ryan explains that he spends some 300 plus days traveling and a miserable 43 days at home. Through his travels he gives speeches at different hotels about putting your life in a backpack and feeling that weight. Your different attachments in life weigh you down. So he believes in having no attachments. His life is freer without being attached to other people so naturally he feels more at home up in the air and in hotel rooms. In fact the only thing he is attached to is his elite status as a frequent flyer which he flaunts as much as possible. His life is complete only when he reaches a certain number of flyer miles.

Anna Kendrick and Vera Farmiga play Natalie and Alex in the movie and their characters provide a challenge to Ryan’s way of life. Natalie is a young college graduate with big ideas that will change the way Ryan will do his job. Ryan is not happy about this and thus there is conflict between the two. Ryan’s boss, played by Jason Bateman, pairs Natalie with Ryan so that Ryan can show her the ropes. Their totally different personalities and philosophies on life clash and these provides for most of the funny and witty dialogue of the movie. Ryan is an older man who is calm and full of confidence in his job and in his life. Natalie on the other hand is young, naïve, and looks unsure of what to do most of the time. Alex is another business room that Ryan meets on the road and has a fling with. During the course of the movie they keep in contact and hook up as much as possible. Natalie seems to be just like Ryan in life only in female form. Ryan enjoys being with her so much is seems that he is reconsidering his whole theory on not being attached to other people. Is it possible that Natalie and Alex can change his whole outlook on life? That’s obviously where this movie is headed.

So what is this movie all about? It’s about life. Pretty simple but yet very complicated. There are two philosophies on life presented in this movie. There is Ryan who believes that relationships are the heaviest objects you can put in your backpack. Relationships weigh you down in life. There’s too much negotiations and compromise that you have to do. You can’t be truly happy with all these attachments with other people. As he likes to say, if you are not moving you are dieing. In a way we can see he is right. Relationships can be hard; you have to work hard at it. It’s a drag sometimes. The people you are the closest too end up hurting you the most. We’ve all felt this at sometime in our life. We see in Ryan’s life that he has no close relationships. He has no girlfriends, he has no plans to ever marry or have children, he has no close friends, he hardly has a relationship with his two sisters, he fires dozens of people daily and feels nothing for them, and he seems just fine with that. Natalie on the other hand can’t help but being attached to other people. She has fond dreams of being married someday and having children. In fact she believes her life is not complete without this. You also see this when she has to fire people. She can’t help but feel very bad for these people and can’t detach herself from the situation of seeing these peoples lives destroyed right in front of her.

So at the end of the movie you have to ask yourself, are attachments and relationships worth the effort. The answer I came to be is yes, they are. At the end of the day what keeps you going in life. Is it your possessions or is it the love of your family? For me nothing can compare to the love I get from my family and friends. It’s unmeasureable.. As they say you can replace your possessions but you can’t replace your loved ones. This philosophy is even more evident in this movie when you think about the people who are fired in this movie. They are devastated by this turn of events but they also realize that they couldn’t get through it if it wasn’t for their family. You can lose everything but as long as you have a family to go home to you can be happy, you can have hope for the future. Without these relationships you are alone and have no one to help you through the bad times. So I would think about your own life and be grateful for all the people in it.

Grade- B

Rated R- Lots of use of the F-word and other cuss words through out the movie, 2 seconds of nudity of Vera Farmiga, lots of sexual innuendo and vulgar talk between George Clooney and Vera Farmiga.

Top 10 movies and television of the last decade

Best Movie

1. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (2003)

2. Once (2006)

3. Signs (2002)

4. Radio (2003)

5. The Last Samurai (2003)

6. Frequency (2000)

7. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)

8. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

9. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)

10. Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone (2001)

Best Comedy

1. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)

2. Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006)

3. School of Rock (2003)

4. A Mighty Wind (2003)

5. About a Boy (2002)

6. Anchor Man (2004)

7. Shanghai Knights (2003)

8. Best in Show (2000)

9. Fever Pitch (2005)

10. Blades of Glory (2007)

Dodgeball (2004)

Best Comedy Performance

1. Jim Carrey-How the Grinch Stole Christmas

2. Jack Black- School of Rock

3. Will Ferrell- Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

4. Johnny Depp- Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

5. Ben Stiller- Dodgeball

6. Will Ferrell- Anchor Man

7. Ellen Page- Juno

8. Robert Downey Jr.- Tropic Thunder

9. Kevin James- Hitch

10. Jon Heder- Napolean Dynamite

Favorite Male Acting Performances

1. Russell Crowe- A Beautiful Mind

2. Heath Ledger- The Dark Knight

3. Adrien Brody- The Pianist

4. Tim Robbins- Mystic River

5. Jim Carrey- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

6. Tom Cruise- The Last Samurai

7. Don Cheadle- Hotel Rwanda

8. Joaquin Phoenix- Gladiator

9. Paul Giamatti- Sideways

10. Will Smith- The Pusuit of Happyness

Favorite Female Acting Performances

1. Ellen Page- Juno

2. Hillary Swank- Million Dollar Baby

3. Julia Roberts- Erin Brokivich

4. Amy Adams- Junebug

5. Helen Mirren- The Queen

6. Charlize Theron- North Country

7. Sandra Bullock-Crash

8. Jennifer Connelly- A Beautiful Mind

9. Renee Zellweger- Cold Mountain

10. Jennifer Hudson- Dreamgirls

Worst Movies

1. Meet the Spartans

2. Nacho Libre

3. The Hulk

4. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

5. King Kong

6. American Dreamz

7. The Brothers Grimm

8. Street fighter: The Legend of Chun Li

9. Spider Man 2

10. Paul Blart: Mall Cop

Best Animation Movies

1. Toy Story 2

2. Monsters Inc.

3. Cars

4. WALL E

5. Over the Hedge

6. Kung Fu Panda

7. Ice Age

8. Shrek

9. Up

10. The Simpsons

Best Documentary

1. Murderball

2. Born into Brothels

3. King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters

4. March of the Penguins

5. Grizzly Man

6. Anvil: The Story of Anvil

7. Super Size Me

8. Deliver us from Evil

9. Man on Wire

10. Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed

Best T.V Show

1. The Office

2. Lost

3. Castle

4. Boston Legal

5. The Gilmore Girls

6. Arrested Development

7. 30 Rock

8. Friends

9. Parks and Recreation

10. Monk

Best Reality Show

1. American Idol

2. Amazing Race

3. So You Think You Can Dance

4. American Chopper

5. Project Runway

Best T.V Performance

1. Nathan Fillion- Castle

2. Steve Carell- The Office

3. William Shatner- Boston Legal

4. Jason Bateman- Arrested Development

5. Lauren Graham- The Gilmore Girls

6. James Spader- Boston Legal

7. Tony Shalloub- Monk

8. Jon Krazinski- The Office

9. Josh Halloway- Lost

10. Tina Fey- 30 Rock