Real Steel

I've been slacking so I feel like I should at least give this film a short format review. It's a kids(ish) movie. Don't go in expecting anything more. It was a lot of fun, fairly well executed, borderline overly-cheesy at times, good robot action movie. Not by any means a perfect film, but not a terrible one by a long shot. 7/10.

Moneyball

As a fan of sports films, this movie was a must-see for me, and I can't say I was disappointed. This movie is the 'Social Network' of sports films. Well directed, really well acted, and overall well made, this film was successful because it didn't conform to the usual sports movie formula. There was no montage of building up the team and training. There was no inspiring pep-talk before the last game of the season. It was just, this is what happened and here's how and why it happened this way. In fact, this movie was so intriguing because it didn't focus so much on baseball as it did the strategy of fielding a team. Fantastic film, 8.5/10.

Adventures in Netflix: Heartless + Mad World

Heartless just might be one of my favorite movies now. The feel of this film was equal parts paranoia and personality which worked wonders on my interest. It was dark, cryptic, supernatural, and psychological, but for all it's successes with the prior, it still came to an understandable conclusion as well as made a psychological point that could be comprehended. 4/5.


Mad World was what I'd like to call a screwed up growing up story. It was a pretty good film except for a few problems I had with it. I'm not certain if it was the film's intent, but the narration was in the vain of stories like Stand By Me and it felt like it was attempting to make this a feel-good mistfits band together kinda story when everything else the film did was incredibly dark. Acting wasn't that great (particularly among the adults) and the sound, picture, and visual style were noticeably raw in places. Unfortunately scenarios like this do play out in real life and I feel half bad for half-agreeing with the conclusion of this movie. I struggled with a rating but eventually went with 3/5 over 2.

Things I've Seen Somewhat recently

I really haven't felt like doing much for reviews lately, but I feel guilty for not doing them, so I figure it might be cool if I just listed movies I've seen within the last month or two, rated them, and maybe gave some short reasoning. Here goes.

Are You Afraid of the Dark - 7/10 - Decent film, somewhat weak story, nothing really stood out (bad or good)

Rise of the Planet of the Apes - 8.5/10 - Lots of fun to watch, really intriguing plot that gets you involved, Andy Serkis, et cetera et cetera

30 Minutes or Less - 7/10 - Funny moments, great concept, good performances (Aziz + Jesse = funnier than expected), not much particularly outstanding

Fright Night - 8/10 - Another really fun film, definitely for a teenage crowd, good entertainment, like Disturbia meets Scream meets Superbad

Captain America - 8/10 - Ranks up there among Marvel films, some really spectacular sequences (propoganda stuff), worked really hard at tying the story and characters into the Avengers and succeeded

Adventures in Netflix: Skyline, The Fighter, Winter's Bone

Two of these deserve their own reviews, but I've been way too off of my game to follow through. Besides, I did watch them on Netflix so it's only fitting to give them Netflix reviews.

Something intrigues me about Skyline. It was a horrible movie. There was no development. The characters were uninspired, the plot was close to nonexistent (and even where it showed glimmers it was still just awful), and in general it was just outright mediocre. It was your typical aliens invade earth/syfy channel idea while also trying to be Cloverfield and failing miserably. I only found two things this movie had going for it (and they were far from redeeming). Visually it was impressive. It wasn't anything groundbreaking but it was well done. And, the last 10 minutes of the movie. The idea of more of a pure action movie set in this particular Earth with one alien/hybrid thing fighting off the bulk of the invading aliens appeals to me way more than this movie did. In conclusion, 2/5 Stars.

The Fighter was phenomenal. It was both an exceptional drama as well as a pretty great sports film. I felt this could largely be credited to a spectacular cast. The acting in this film was just fantastic, Christian Bale and Melissa Leo were particularly great. The story was frustrating and inspiring and funny and dramatic and so many things that a good movie should be. I cheered during Micky's fights, I laughed and sighed at Dicky's stupid antics, I growled when the family clashed. Stylistically it was also a great success. All around this was an exceptional film. 5/5.

Another Best Picture nominee that I finally had the chance to see thanks to Netflix was Winter's Bone. It was an interesting concept to make a backwoods Neo-noir kind of film and in that respect it was interesting to watch. However, this movie did feel very slow at times and it definitely relied a lot on the performance of the actors which, while good, could be very frustrating. The lead, Jennifer Lawrence, was great in her role and my connection to her character and her resolve and courage is what really made this movie for me. The movie looked fantastic, so much so that I feel like it was one of it's greatest strengths and I loved the dramatic country/bluegrass portions of the soundtrack. It was hard to get past the pacing of the story, but it was also a well done movie. 3/5 Stars.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Pirates 4 was fun if not much else. Without Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley the film did feel as if it was missing a little something character-wise, however, that just left Johnny Depp more room to let Jack Sparrow loose. That much was entertaining. But the movie felt a bit rushed at times and overall it felt shallower plot and storywise than any of the other films in the franchise. Similarly, the look of this movie wasn't quite as spectacular as any of the previous movies; the result of a smaller budget. This was disappointing as it was reflected in an absence of nautical action. That's not to say the movie didn't have its moments. The White Cap Bay sequence was phenomenal, probably the best scenes in the movie, as it was completely creepy, and the aura surrounding the mermaids was well executed if not well developed. Overall, the movie was fun, but nothing nearly as epic as any of the previous films and not quite as charming either. On Stranger Tides: 7.5/10.

Adventures in Netflix: Wristcutters + Spiral

These two films are great reasons for my love of Indie movies.

Wristcutters: A Love Story was a quirky and somewhat depressing look at love. The concept was original and the premises and characters left room for both humor and insight. However, the desolate and bland style and locations of the movie paired with the purposefully dull acting left me kind of down and by the end I wasn't sure whether to cry or smile. As far as acting goes, the cast was great, in particular, Shea Whigham as Eugene. Also, the Gogol Bordello music provided both surprising contrast and parallel to the movie. 4/5 Stars

Spiral was an incredibly interesting film to watch because of how well the story sucked me in. From the jump the movie presents you with some disturbing psychological imagery that really intrigues you. What is up with that bathroom? But halfway through the movie, the story has transformed into this heartwarming romance. I'm not usually one for romances, but I really enjoyed watching this relationship. But then the suspense and psychological twisting comes roaring back and by the end you're left pretty shocked. The acting was great. Visually the movie was pretty simple, nothing particularly impressive. It was definitely the story that made this movie work. 4/5 Stars

Sucker Punch

This probably deserves a longer review but I'm only gonna give it a short one for now. Sucker Punch was quite the visual journey. Zack Snyder's uniquely original style was clearly evident in this original endeavour. To say that the visual effects and cinematography weren't spectacular would be an outright lie. The acting in the film was decent, I was particularly impressed with Oscar Isaac as Blue. The music was a powerful, eclectic, and loud accompaniment that tailored to both the emotion and the action of the film. What slightly disappointed me about the film was that I expected a little more from Zack Snyder. Of course everyone and all the advertisers made it well known that Zack made 300 and Watchmen. As much as I try not to buy into hype, I was disappointed to find that this movie didn't provoke as much of an emotional response as 300 surprisingly did nor did it harbor as much intellectual profundity as I found in Watchmen. However, If taken along with the backstories behind the animated shorts, Sucker Punch becomes a bit more interesting and thought provoking. All in all, the more I thought on it, the more I really liked the movie. I give Sucker Punch an 8/10.

Red Riding Hood

Right off the grip I'd just like to ask the world at large, "Why?! What is going on with this new genre (I'm gonna call it the twimance genre for the time being)?" It appears to have spawned from the incredible success of the twilight saga and has developed into something of a cinematic style and even scarier, a formula. Red Riding Hood is the latest (along with Beastly which I am not going to see) addition to the genre and the first that I have actually sat through. Red Riding Hood is a somewhat distorted version of Little Red Riding Hood that was adapted to the twimance formula. As it was, I found Red Riding Hood hard to believe. Who could believe that a tiny rural village would be such a hotbed of lies, lust, and infidelity? The movie never really put a specific location on the village and woods, but they spoke with American accents and given the amount of inbreeding the movie hinted at I'm going to assume it took place somewhere in Appalachia. It did bother me though, besides the twilight style 'who do I choose?' romance thing the movie was hinting at, that despite imminent danger this village was so sexually charged, even among the adults. The acting in this movie was all right given what the actors worked with. The writing was at times unbearably cheesy. The music fit the mood if not the assumed time period. I don't think that many people can discredit the visual style of the twimance genre as a whole. It is somewhat impressive. Red Riding Hood wasn't an exception. It did look pretty good and even the wolf effects were above average. I've been sitting on this review for too long so without further ado my verdict: Red Riding Hood 5.5/10.

Adventures in Netflix: Monsters

Given that the words indie and sci-fi often don't work well together Monsters breaks the mold as a surprisingly good indie sci-fi film. The two main actors were above average and the movie looked and sounded great. Also, while there weren't many, the effects were, again, surprisingly good. What surprised me most was probably how moving this film was. The story was really simple but with that simplicity came a chance to explore the beauty of the movie's landscape as well as the simple beauty of the two character's stories. In particular I thought Andrew's relationship with his son was touching and, the last sequence (which I won't give away) was pretty spectacular. 4/5 Stars

The Rite

The Rite: A Catholic action movie. Anthony Hopkins made this film, his acting was great. I was particularly impressed with makeup and sets. The toads were great too! The film really didn't have much going on for it besides the former points. Colin O'Donoghue wasn't spectacular, the music wasn't particularly outstanding, and while I did really appreciate the message of the film, I found the picture rather boring and a bit drawn-out. The Rite gets a 6.5/10

Neglect

I have been neglecting this blog and I find that unacceptable! My excuse: School. While it is a valid excuse I still don't appreciate it. In all honesty I just haven't been to the movies in 2 months. I did catch a sneak of The Rite, but I never got around to reviewing it. Disappointing. Anyhow, because of all of this I'm playing with the idea of introducing a short review format. I'll probably try it out with The Rite and if I like it I might post some of my adventures in netflix using it. We'll see.