Reviews

Ben Hur must have been a spectacle for 1959 and the film is not aging well. The look, direction, and acting style all scream 1950's epic. The director's style of long scenes with few cut aways gets boring really quickly if you are more use to modern day style. The acting is overly dramatic with a score that while good plays up the emotion like a soap opera, and the special effects particularly the fleet shot using miniatures does not look good at all (it might look better on a big screen theater than my laptop) but Star Wars did a much better job with models. The chariot scene though is really good and this is most of the action of the film.

Grade B=

One of the better WWII flicks, Twelve O'Clock High is high drama in a bomber group based in England. The movie is more about the psychology of war then actual fighting only in the 3rd act do we really see any true combat action, but what's happening on the ground is enough to keep you in your seat.

The movie starts with the former base adjunct officer Major Stovall(Dean Jagger) buying an old mug in a London shop, then you see him visiting the site of the old base at Archball where nature is reclaiming the land where the base was located during the war. You get the impression that given enough time nature will totally reclaim the site and what happened there will be just fading memories. The movie then shifts back in time during the war a bomber group has just returned from a bombing run where they took heavy casualties, one of the bombers crash lands symbolic of what is wrong with the unit. We are then taken to debriefing and the pilot of the plane is particularly shaken. We see many morale problems with the unit mostly stemming from the lead commander Colonel Davenport(Gary Merrill) who's main fault is that he is to emotionally attached to his men thus not looking after the mission first. The next seen we see Major General Pat Pritchard (Millard Mitchell) placing General Frank Savage(Gregory Peck) in charge to kick butt and be a real hard nose to whip the unit into shape. The question is will Savage also get caught up in the men and lose his objectivity. The real antagonist of the story is your inner self and how do you stay focused on a mission without losing yourself.

The Good: Great acting by the lead and the supporting cast, Great story line by Writers: Sy Bartlett and, Beirne Lay Jr. and good direction by Henry King

The Bad: Needed more combat scenes a rather minor flaw.

Grade B+

The General is one of Buster Keatons greatest films. The cinematography is really great coupled with outdoor shots from Oregon and really good direction and some of the best stunt work I'be seen makes this an action pack fast paced nonstop film. There is little setup the civil war stars Keaton tries to enlist but is refused and his girl won't talk till him until he is in uniform. The union steels his train and off we go for a fast paced ride. This movie moves fast with little let up in the action. The Battle scene is really well done and before you know it the film is over.

Grade A

Hypocrites by Lois Weber is a strong symbolic film. It is much different from other silent features of its day. The use of a nude must have really rattled folks of the day, but there is nothing sexual about it but rather symbolic that truth uncovers all. The film takes shots at religion, society, politics, and other institutions and shows them up against the nakedness of truth. Since most of these themes are timeless which the film shows by showing the hypocrisy of the medieval age the movie is still relevant today nearly a century after being made. The film itself has interesting effects such as double exposure and the camera isn't always stationary but instead moves around on a dolly. Overall one of the better silent films I have seen.

Grade B

A fairly good early talkie gangster flick. I caught this film on TCM late last night and was thoroughly entertained by it. It only had a few faults typical of films of the early talkie period.

The basic story is about a young mob boss Louie Ricarno(Lew Ayres) who through intimidation unites the gangs in the city for which he collects his percentage and piece reins in the city under his stewardship. He then gets married to Doris(Dorothy Mathews) and retires to Florida to write and play golf he leaves the syndicate in the hands of his right hand man Steve Mileaway(James Cagney) but soon the gangs are again warring and Louie for family reasons must return to the city and deal with the situation.

The film is well directed and the acting particularly Cagney's is a forerunner of his future career as a film tough. I think Ayres did a decent job in the lead role remember he was only 22 when he made this film but he is able to make Louie feel like he is the boss of the city. There is also a great gang fight scene at a local brewery this is one part where Archie Mayo gets a little lazy and only shoots the great action from one camera location at long distance. This could have been a great scene if he would have got up close and personal.

Grade B

A stylish post apocalyptic western The Book of Eli looks good on film even though there are many holes in the films plausibility. A story of a man with a mission from God to make a quest to the west to deliver an important book.

Denzel Washington plays Eli a man of incredible faith and some good skills with weapons and knowledge of how to fight. Is taking an important text with him which he is willing to fight and die for so that it stays protected along the way he meets Carnegie(Gary Oldman) who wants the book at all costs believing it will give him power to control people. Along the way Eli picks up a fellow traveler Solara(Mila Kunis) who becomes his partner. Along the way there are many action sequences that keep the film rolling at decent pace.

The Good: I like the cinematography the western landscape devoid of color this film could have been filmed in black and white. The pictorial contrast is fantastic great photography. Another good point of the film is the acting of Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman they really make the film enjoyable to watch.

The Bad: Many unexplained impossible things happen, where do they get fuel for the vehicles, how do they keep getting new sunglasses. Many others. Mila Kunis is badly cast and looks way to g;am for the setting. Week script writing not enough motivation for the plot.

Overall for the photography I give this film a reluctant should see.

Grade C

transformers an average summer popcorn flick. I must admit I have never seen the show or played with any of the toys so my review is strictly about the film based on its own merits without any comparisons to other Transformer merchandise.

The story is a very basic good guys vs. bad guts with the Autobots as the good guys and the Decepticons as the the bad guys. These guys had a war on their home planet over the control of a mystical cube the Allspark. Well the Allspark made it to Earth and Megatron of the Decepticons found it but he got encased in arctic ice. Well the protagonist Sam Witwicky(Shia LaBeouf) grandfather found the Megatron and on his glasses Megatron engraved the location of the Allspark. Well the Autobots come to earth to get the Allspark and protect Sam while Megatron and Decepticons try to get it.

The good points of the film are the action sequences which come fast and furious, the film editing and the sound effects. The technical aspects of the film are all first rate and it looks like a big budget summer action flick. The bad parts are week dialog between the characters, lack of character development, and I found many of the non principals so cartoonish like they came right out of a kids cartoon.

Grade C+

A stylish visually enthralling film with one very silly story and even sillier characters makes this my guilty pleasure. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World stars Michael Cera as Scott Pilgrim who breaks up with underage high schooler Knives Chau(Ellen Wong) to be with Ramona Flowers(Mary Elizabeth Winstead) who has a tendency to change hair color every other day and who is also emotionally disassociated with anything or anybody. Well Ramona has baggage in the form of 7 evil ex-boyfriends who Scott must battle to the death with.

The movies strong points are good graphics with exceptional use of editing and cutting to intensify the film. The downside is that the films silliness sometimes threatens to smother this film into mediocrity Grade B+

Quentin Tarantino's alternate take on World War 2 is a mix of the old Hollywood western and B movie gore fest. The story has 2 plot lines one is Shosanna Dreyfus / Emmanuelle Mimieux(Mélanie Laurent) who escapes being killed by Col. Hans Landa(Christoph Waltz) she then makes to Paris where she inherits a cinema which is chosen to premiere a propaganda film where all the top Nazis are in attendance and Shosanna plans to burn down the place killing all the Nazis. The other story revolves around the Basterds lead by Lt. Aldo Raine(Brad Pitt) who are tasked to kill Nazis. They get wind of the premiere and plan to kill all the top party officials.

The film has a feel y spaghetti western with parts of old spy movie thrown in. The movie is way over the top in showing violence a Tarantino trade mark. I must say the first scene is the best one where we really get to see Waltz shine as an actor. The movie does drag in a few places with a lot of dialog in French and German. Overall I enjoyed the film but it is not my favorite Tarrantino film.

Grade B

Harry Potter the Deathly Hallows part I is an enjoyable film. The production values are first rate and the 3 main lead actors have really matured.

To be honest I have never read the books(I'm a little to old to be reading Harry Potter) and I've only seen the first film in the franchise. This film moved along at a good pace I did not find it boring it did slow down in the middle a bit, but it allowed me to understand the characters a little better, and it set up for the 2nd part quite well.

Grade B

One of the most hum drum movies ever produced No Strings Attached is a lackluster comedy that plods along to its very predictable ending.

The story revolves around the friendship with benefits between Adam(Ashton Kutcher) and Emma(Natalie Portman). They try to keep up this purely physical relationship but it is not long before the emotional attachment kicks in. The rest is predictable.

For a romantic comedy there are very few laughs in this film and Ashton Kutcher is one of the most one dimensional non actors to ever become a star, every film he plays the same slacker trying to find love. There is little chemistry between the 2 principals in the film which makes for a dull film. Only worth seeing on Saturday night at home.

Grade D+

If only this movie had a better story to tell. Avatar by James Cameron is a visually stunning film with some really great CGI, and the world of Pandora is engrossing but the story is so pedestrian that it makes it difficult to watch the movie 2 plus hours.

The basic story is one of a disabled veteran Jake Sully(Sam Worthington) who takes over his brothers role of a Nivi (the indigenous inhabitants of Pandora). Colonel Miles Quaritch(Stephen Lang) uses Jake as a spy to gather information about the Nivi. Well Jake is found by Neytiri(Zoe Saldana) and she will become his teacher in the way of the Nivi and they also fall in love, Jake goes native and it becomes the colonel's task to destroy the Nivi to help some greedy earth corporation.

The problem is that besides Jake and Neytiri all the other characters are sock one dimensional cartoon types particularly the evil corporate manager and the colonel. The story is rehash of several others and the environmental message is played way to much with a heavy hand. Am I the only one but the floating mountains seem to be a rip off of Roger Deans album covers from the 70's I thought I was looking at my old vinyl copy of Yes Songs. I was expecting to hear Close to the Edge at any moment.

Grade C+

A great piece of film making for 1916. Joan the Woman was Cecil B DeMille's first epic film and I think one of his better ones. In 1916 epic was really in style with Intolerance and Birth of a Nation just being released. In this film Geraldine Farrar gets the leading role of Joan of Arc who acted superbly in this film, even though I thought physically does not look anything like her.

The battle scenes are really spectacular for this time. And de'mille really shows he knows how to handle a big scene with lots of people. The only down side to the movie is the lead is a little to old and heavy to be playing Joan though she makes up with great theatrical performance, and the heavy preaching which unfortunately mars De'Milles other epics. He just can't help it I guess. Overall a very good silent.

Grade B+

Romance of the Redwoods is an early western feature film produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille if stars Mary Pickford as Jenny Lawrence. And Elliott Dexter as 'Black' Brown. The story line goes as Jenny is sent west to live with her uncle after the death of her father. In the meantime her uncle has been killed by Indians and Black Brown as assumed his identity They both make it to Strawberry Flats a gold rush town. Jenny makes it to Blacks cabin and knows he is not her uncle well they fall in love and the law catches up to Black the rest is to be watched.

It is good to see Pickford play a real woman in a film and she really makes this movie worth watching. Also Dexter does a good job of acting as does the rest of the ensemble. The real downfall of the film is the implausibility of the story line along with an unbelievable ending. It is nice to see Big Basin State Park used for the exterior shots this is one of the loveliest places in all of California, Grade C

Tbe king finds his voice (The Kings Speech)is a feel good movie about a man who finds his voice and along the way finds the strength to be king. The movies plot is King George VI(Colin Firth)has a speech impediment and his wife(Helena Bonham Carter) seeks help from Lionel Logue(Geoffrey Rush)who takes on the case. The story tells how he becomes king and finally finds his voice to lead the realm into war.

The film looks good and much detail is made to make it feel like the 1930's the acting is top notch especially Geoffrey Rush's part. the downside is that the subject material is just not all that exciting, to me the movie comes across something I would see on Masterpiece theatric/

Grade C-

A ballerinas journey into madness. Black Swan is a riveting tail of a dancer Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) who gets the lead role in Swan Lake/ leading up to her debut of the show she becomes more paranoid eventually loosing her grasp on reality. Expertly directed by Darren Aronofsky he really makes the journey into madness all to real, The story starts out with Nina living at home with a controlling mother(Barbara Hershey) who lives life through her daughter. Thomas Leroy(Vincent Cassel) is producing a new version of the classic Swan Lake. Nina wins the lead but while able to do the white swan is having problems with the black swan do to her inability to be passionate. In the meantime a young dancer from San Francisco Lilly(Mila Kunis) is made her alternate and she starts becoming paranoid that she is trying to steal her part.

The movie moves along at a good clip and you see the dark side of being a ballerina.

Grade A-

The Expendables is a very typical Hollywood action flick, nothing more and nothing less. I wont bother going into the story because it really is inconsequential to the movie, just to say it is cliché and basic having been done 100 times before. The movie is fast paced and really moves along so it is not to boring and before you know it it's over. You will probably have a hard time remembering anything about the movie after viewing it. It's really that much fluff. The best part of the film are the shoot outs and explosions which are really load and really big.

Grade C-.

Robert Downey Jr. is again brilliant as Tony Stark in Iron Man 2. While not as fresh or interesting as the first Iron Man this movie has much to recommend. The pacing is good and the characters are brought to life with some very good acting.

Gwyneth Paltrow reprises her role has Pepper Potts and has a love/loathing relationship with Tony. Again there is a list of bad guys Ivan Vanko(Mickey Rourke)who plays the main antagonist. His main beef with Tony is that his father was cheated by Tonies father. The other bad guy is Tonies industrial rival Justin Hammer(Sam Rockwell) who wants to get his hands on either Ivan(who has the knowledge to build an Iron Man suit) or one of Tonies Iron man suits to sell to the military. There is also a secret organization the Avengers headed by Colonel Nick Fury(Samuel L. Jackson)who sends Natalie Rushman(Scarlett Johansson)to protect him. This is the basic set up of the film.

What works well in this movie are good special effects and solid acting on all parts. The fact that Iron Man is vulnerable and actually getting sick from the poisons of being Iron man makes Tony act with abandonment which helps move the film along. Some of the disappointing parts of the film is that transitions seem unnatural and some of the charm that endeared us to Tony in the first film.

Overall grade B.

I liked movie which is amazing for someone who never watches martial arts films. I was amazed at the level of production value plus very good direction of the action sequences. I really don't know anything about martial arts so I cannot comment on the various types used in this movie. I admit the story is a common one a young boy is out to avenge his parents death a mentor saves him and the boy matures into a master warrior who is driven to avenge his the wrongs brought upon his family.

The movie has great set designs and I love the look of feudal Thailand with rustic villages in deep forest. All art direction is a step above and rivals many Hollywood films. I also liked the historical setting and I could tell much research was done in costuming and bringing that period to life. The only drawback was there could have been a little more character development. I would like some more background on Tiens spiritual growth and beliefs.

Grade B

The Snow Walker is a wonderful tale of survival in an unforgiving setting. This film masterfully directed by Charles Martin Smith is about a bush pilot Charlie Halliday(Barry Pepper) is haunted by memories of the war and takes on a immature party attitude. He is assigned to take some drums to a spot on the Arctic coast where a party of Inuit give him some ivory to take a sick girl, Kanaalaq(Annabella Piugattuk). Well on the way to Yellowknife the plane crash lands in the middle of the arctic wilderness. At first Charlie is cavalier thinking he knows what to do and is not endeared to Kanaalaq. The story is how there love grows (not romantically but on a spiritual level)and Charlie grows as a man and becomes a different man.

The acting is done well nothing over the top but very believable, the cinematography is breathtaking and the story is endearing.

Grade B+

Rio is a pleasant kids matinée film. There is nothing here particularly new or surprising, but the kids will love it. The high point for me for this movie was the nice animation of the colorful birds flying to Latin music.

Blue is a blue macabre(who does not know how to fly) the last male of his type who is captured to be sent to some place in the USA. He falls off the truck and is found by Linda who adopts Blue as a pet. 15 years latter Doctor Borbosa comes from Brazil who has found a female blue macabre and wants to breed the pair to help keep the species alive. So off to Rio during Carnival to get the pair of birds to hook up. The problem at first Jewel the female bird is very fightsy and wants nothing to do with Blue. Well that night a smuggler of exotic birds steals the pair and binds their feet together. Later that night the pair escapes. The rest of the movie is about the 2 birds trying to get unbound, Linda trying to get Blue back and the smuggler trying to get the birds back. The rest is rather predictable.

The movie is a nice kids flick but nothing more. The story is neither interesting or new, the characters we have all seen before. The kids will love it but the adults will probably be looking at there watches waiting for it to end.

Grade C+

The Social Network works on so many levels making it one of the best if not the best movie of 2010. This movie is about so many things but mostly about Face book and the man who started it. This is David Fincher best film to date and he is probably on of the finest directors working in Hollywood today.

The movie is not laid out in linear fashion but told through a series of flashbacks. The movie starts with Mark Zuckerberg(Jesse Eisenberg) trying to impress a young woman but comes across as a complete jerk. He has a web page Face Match but soon gets in trouble with Harvard's IT department for breaking into their systems. At this point some rich students with their idea of a social network for Harvard students gets in touch with him and he agrees to help them develop their web page. He takes some of their idea and develops his own web page that will become Face Book. This will cause friction and a law suit which drives the story. In the meantime Mark needs cash to develop the software so he goes to his friend Eduardo Saverin(Andrew Garfield) for some cash and makes him CFO of the business. Well the site takes off and eventually he meets up with Sean Parker(Justin Timberlake) who in a way help mentor Mark and help himself along the way. He causes friction between Mark and Eduardo and the rest is history.

This movie is about Face Book but also about relationships, loyalty, hero worship, the viral nature of the internet, and the business of internet. All actors give really great performances which makes this a most enjoyable movies Grade A

Good action with some nice art direction is what you get with Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. The acting is adequate for this type of popcorn movie and the story is old and been done many times before so don't expect any surprises.

The stories main hero Dastan (Jake Gyllenhaal) is an orphan who is adopted by the King of Persia, he along with his brothers are fooled into attacking the holy city of Alamut (a real place in Iran) by his uncle Nizam(Ben Kingsley) who desires a magical dagger that can turn back time. The dagger is suppose to protected by a guardian of the artifact Tamina(Gemma Arterton) who also becomes the love interest of Dastan. Nizam murders the king and frames Dastan for it who escapes with Tamina. Dastan has to clear his name and learns about the dagger its history and his uncles treachery. OK so I know this sounds like a million other action adventure flicks and with just adequate acting this movie comes off a little light a popcorn movie that is forgettable. Nothing about this movie is memorable it's not irritating just nothing special.

Grade C-

Tim Burtons Alice in Wonderland is very appealing visually but this just can't make up for such a worn out bland story to go with it. Inst looks like he is trying hard at fantasy epoch with a cast of strange characters and the whole hodge-podge dosn't add up to a decent movie. I would have preferred to see a smaller but quirkier movie with this odd assortment of characters. Instead we get a Disneyesque story with rather flat characters. This could have been so much more. I thought the ending to be so hokey I laughed at it. I do like the idea of the major power players in wonderland are all women though.

grade: C-