Movie Review: Boyhood 2014

Well, first of all I need to start this by saying that I had good expectations about the movie, the brilliant idea that someone made a movie over so many years was new and exiting and the perfect answer of a common complain that the use of different actors for the same character is not good to keep the flow of a movie. That's what Harry Potter is all about, but it doesn't count really in this format.

I knew about this movie for about some time, how can I not hear about it when the idea is so good, then came the Oscars and I finally got my hands on a copy, well then this is what happened, it was one hour into the movie and I realized it was going to be long, like Lord of the Rings long, then halfway into the movie I was wondering about what I needed to do the next day (never a good sign), by the time the movie ended I was "oh...that's it?" what I mean by this is that if you make a movie over 12 years you should make a deep intertwine flowing story, the fascination of watching them grow old fades away rather quickly over the fact that they don't do much, is like watching the mediocrity and boring side of a family, I just didn't get it.

Anyways, the movie follows Olivia the mother of Mason and Samantha and how they live for over 12 years, the idea is brilliant, they often say that movies lose their magic when you get distracted and in most cases it happen by the use of different actors playing different stages of life, but in this case the magic in constant and I repeat myself, such a brilliant idea that I don't get why aren't more movies like this out there, my problem is that there should have been a deeper story, in the end you just saw flashes of different moments that don't really connect, where is the psychological damage? if you put in an abusive father, that has got to leave some sort of trauma, right? there is too much conformism to be something with value at the end.

There should have been more stories that intertwine with the past and the future, with and opportunity like this I guess that I'm angry that it wasn't fully exploit to it maximum momentum. 

The real problem for me is the lack of flashbacks, why didn't the use this option? it would have been perfect, but then maybe and like the movie the script was written in over 12 years, with some more planning it would of been truly a fascinating experience.

Also on the topics of drugs, sex and alcohol, to me it seemed too stereotypical nothing much to say or do about it, it was like watching any other troubled teenage movie, it was a bit too general.

Having said that I think my  favorite part was the Latin guy who got his studies in order thanks to the advice of Olivia, it was a beautiful scene and there should have been more of those in the movie, it was almost 3 hours long they totally could've done it. And yes the Oscar to Patricia Arquette was totally well deserved her character was the true connecting line.

I just hope that now that the idea is there someone would rise to the challenge to make a better one.

Movie Review: 2010, Easy A

"Take me away..." be warned you may find that you can't take that song out of your head, warning made, now to the review, I had nothing to do the other day and I thought why not watch a movie, I thought this was going to be a very easy going movie and I was surprised at how funny it was, I liked the main character Olive, played amazingly by Emma Stone, overall the movie is a fun watch, funny witty and sarcastic, who wouldn't love that?.

Movie Review: 2010, Welcome to The Riley's

Welcome to the Riley's

I'd like to star this post by saying that this movie was a total surprise to me, but in a good way, I watched it out of boredom (and partly because I was waiting for the new episode of American Idol). So that being said, lets talk about the story, it's a very simple but increasingly deep kind of story, we have this couple Doug and his wife, they are having a though time, because the death of their daughter keeps hunting them, actually they are having 8 years of bad time, so Doug while at a work convention, meets Mallory, a runaway teen that lives like a Stripper/Prostitute, Doug starts to take care of her and asking no compensation or retribution, that's when the story really develops and this is were the surprise is to me.

In terms of acting, I must say that is was really good, Kirsten's corky demeanor really suited the rol, and what can I say of James and Melissa, they were right on the zone, I really enjoyed Melissa's performance more than anyone else's, because she was the most believable out of all these freakishly weird characters, she did her part effortleslly and with such a dept to it that it is one of the reasons why I enjoyed so much this movie.

In terms of directing I have to say that it could have been better and I'm going to leave it at that, I don't really wan to spoil it, so if you can watch it, and hopefully you'll be surprised to.

As for the perfect audience, maybe families with teenage kids, because it has a lot of trusting issues, and questions about what a family is and caring and respect.

Movie Review: 2010, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part 1

A HP review from a fan's POV.

I saw this movie yesterday at midnight, I was so thrilled waiting in the line for 5 hours with a friend and just talking about the past 10 years we have been fans of Harry Potter, we laugh a lot remembering the first time we waited for Philosopher's Stone back in 2001 and how it was like "look at this, look at that" or "it's just like I imagine it would be like" and stuff, so yeah it has been a ride for sure.

The fact that it is getting over is so sad and yet cool, because it has to end and even though it is not going to be a happy pretty end it would be a rightful end.

To the movie now, after I got over the fact that I was actually watching the film, I have to say it is so detailed compared to the other books that I felt like they should have split every movie, because scenes I was sure they would left out were there plus some new scenes that where really cool like that little Harry/Hermione scene in the tent that I think will make an impact in the amount of fanfics about that pair. I loved all the funny scenes, George creeping up behind Harry and Ginny kissing was hilarious! there was a lot to laugh at, Ron's lines were lots of fun except when he was wearing the horcrux, Oh! and about the horcrux, right after the whole locket display of Harry and Hermione was up I just looked at my friend and I knew we were thinking the same "awkward!!!!" it was so surreal to watch it instead of reading it, but I like when that happens.

One of the big questions around was "where are they splitting the movie?" we all had a sense it was going to be around Dobby's dead and so it was, but I don't mind that they have done that it was like a natural thing to do anyways and it does feel like the second part it's gonna be a lot more frantic because everything that needed to settle is finished in the first part and all there is now it the actual end, which will be awesome I'm sure, I'm already anxious to see the final battle at Hogwarts.


So I have to talk about the death scenes, I like how they did Hedwig's it was more realistic than the book, I mean it's a much better idea that she would die triyng to protecting Harry rather than falling in her cage anyways, right? and Dobby, oh Dobby everybody in the theater knew what was going to happen but to actually seen it right after they gave Dobby a really moving speech about being a free elf, it was just heartbreaking, the room was SO quiet it seemed like nobody was even breathing, but I know that everyone was screaming in their heads "DOOOOBBYYYYY" (when the credits started someone actually screamed that).

I was just in shock after the movie ended, trying to digest what had just happened but all in all it was great, and seeing it at midnight has it's own special flavor too, it is as if everybody is connected, the spontaneous "awws" and laughs and claps were just natural, I've always liked that about premiers, that and the fact that we laugh a LOT when someone get's a little carried away with the costumes, like a Bellatrix we saw around waiting in line.

About the movie making, I like how they did the elfs, Kreacher and Dobby looked great now, it was a very good move to replace that little orange ball for actual actors, I liked the open sets too the cliffs the forests, the photography was well selected, according to the mood of the scenes. Nagini also had an improvement, oh! that reminds me Bathilda Bagshot was SCARY as hell!!!, gave me the creeps every time she was on the screen.

About the acting, for the trio ever since the 5th movie I have been enjoying it more, now I can actually watch the whole movie without making a lot remarks about how awkward that was or how the rhythm was so off. I liked Luna too, Evanna Lynch is the best Luna they could have ever found. There were a lot of new characters as well, I like Bill Weasley until he spoke, he had a voice of a 10 year old. Scrimgeour and Mundungus were cool, but for some unknown reason I imagined Mundungus as a black person. Well I better stop now before I review each character. I will just say that after 10 years I like everybody, specially now that Snape washed his hair, he has a bit of a curly hair now.

To end this review, I just want to say that I like being part of the Harry Potter fandom, every since I read that first book my life changed, before I was all about anime and manga and what I'm going to do not to bore myself to death, and after it was like this whole universe of books and stories was at my reach, so I own a big fat Thank You to Mrs Rowling for that, now I have an actually library in my room, who would have thought that would happen? certainly not me.

PS: Obviously I didn't give any recommendation as to how and who should watch this movie, if you haven't seen at least the 5th and 6th movie you won't get a clue about what is going on.

PS2: No hyperlinks too, every fan knows were to go for info.

PS3: and please follow Lord_Voldemort7 on twitter he is absolutely hilarious.

Movie Review: 2010, Eat Pray Love

Eat Pray Love


I spend a lot of time thinking just how to start this review and came with the same old phrases, but the truth is that this is a good-movie-that-left-you-thinking-about-life kind of movie, which is always good, right?

I know this was a book about self discovering, that was made into what we can call a chick flick, but this is a chick flick for everybody (a very unusual thing) I'm going to explain what this movie did to me because I'm sure that the experience of watching this movie will be different for everyone.

Be aware that I only watched the movie though, I have like 0 patience for nonfiction books, I must have read 3 of them in my whole life and I finished just1 (not gonna tell which one). So the movie as you can imagine divides between the discovery of enjoy eating, praying and finally enjoy love, it's starts with this woman, Liz who finds herself in a situation that a lot of people can relate to, she has a life that doesn't excite her it doesn't make her feel good and happy, so she decides to take a trip to remember what is good in life and to be honest, I absolutely think that if I had the money to do it Rome India and Bali would be marked in my calendar, like tomorrow.

Eat, Liz starts the journey by trying to remember the times when you ate something and be amazed by it, not doing the typical fast lunch, microwave dinner that ends up tasting like nothing, so she goes to Italy, the feeling I got while watching this part was that people sometimes forget how to enjoy the simplest things about food, I must say that I enjoy cooking and baking and it reminds me of how the ingredients must be felt and selected to make something new, I have never gone on a diet in my life and I find that eating is what you need to do to live, not live for eating maybe that's the problem, if you eat just to stuff your mouth with something your not eating you are just surviving and therefor not living really, so next time you eat a snack ask yourself do you really need it? and most important will you really take your time to enjoy it?.

Pray, this part I can't say I relate to, I have never properly prayed, like Liz in the beginning of the movie, but I know the good effects of meditation, I didn't get the whole guru thing but I don't think that was important, what I like about this part is that it reminds you to feel good about yourself, about who you are and if your not do something about it, have balance.

Love, so after the meditation trip to India, Liz ends up in Bali, Indonesia we all know this part really, every chick flick has the falling in love part, but the difference I think is that because of the distribution of the movie, it becomes more enjoyable to watch, by the time she meets her love we are all kind of friends with Liz so I kind of wanted a good ending for her, which obviously she had (it would have been a very anti-climatic movie if it didn't, right?).

So my finals thoughts are that this is a great movie to watch probably alone, because as I said earlier this movie is different for anyone who watches it and you don't really need another person's POV, also I liked the casting a lot, Julia Roberts as the leading role of Liz was probably the most perfect choice, she's very relatable which for this kind of movie was very important the other roles too, very believable of the casting choices, well almost all, the girl in India I didn't like her too much for some unknown reason (and I must say I have a weak spot for James Franco so he's always good) Javier Bardem as a Brazilian was a very good casting call too, as was the soundtrack, I don't know much about bossa nova, but I know that is can be damn seductive.

I just hope you watch this movie, and share your thoughts about it with someone, it should be interesting to know what other people felt and thought about it.

PS: and if you think this movie was too corny for you, maybe you should read Drink, Play, F@#k by Andrew Gottlieb.

Movie Review: 2010, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Scott Pilgrim vs The World


I have to start by saying that I'm a mayor geek, so with that settled, all I can say is that this movie was every shade of AWESOMENESS there is, I love every bit of geeky and cheesy parts of this movie, I know that this is based on a graphic novel and it really shows, the design the cinematography worked really great with the story which shows the director must have been a big fan of graphic novels himself and not some money maker dude who would forget-about-the-graphic-all-the-way, I will be keeping a tab on Edgar Wright now. (that's the director's name, now that I see his IMDB page I notice that he has done some other nice movies... good to know)

Let's move on to the review itself now, beside the cool graphics I really liked the clothes, that Sharpie t-shirt must be a must for every geek in the world, the music was cool too, that bass battle was epic to me.

About the casting, I must say the hit it right with their choices and I only have one method to review casting, it's very simple, if I can imagine someone else on that role then the casting sucks, on this particular movie, I only imagine two other actors and in minor tiny roles so, that's a very good rating according to my standards. Oh! and Micheal Cera playing a 22 year old... it was kind of a shock, maybe I'm used to see him playing 16 year old losers, it's a nice change for him.

Now about the Ex's, they where the good fun, I personally enjoyed the vegan one, Todd and his mind control power, because the whole theme of being vegan is really funny and I really don't get those people and how can they remember what's vegan and what's not, the one I enjoyed less was probably the girl, because the fact that it meant girl-on-girl action it was nothing more than that, it could've been more interesting, don't you think?.


The fighting was really cool, although it was kind of funny to watch Micheal Cera kick some ass, like I said before the losers part was his thing, but then again I was glad to see that he really can kick asses (please insert happy face here). And an honor mention to the gay roommate, he was funny too.

So to wrap this up and in case you already haven't noticed I loved this movie, it's a good, funny, entertaining and fast by fast I mean not-let-you-look-the-other-way-fast movie, that any geek person in the world would appreciate and probable the not so geeks will too, although I do not see my mom watching this through, she will probably fall sleep between the fights, although she does that with every movie... anyways, good movie to watch with friends or alone, with your favorite snack and nobody to bother you.

PS: Beware of the catchy phrases they could hunt you through the day.

Movie Review: 2010, Vampire Suck

Vampire Suck

First of all I don't know what came over me to watch this movie, as a general rule I can't stand these parody type intentions to make someone laugh, I probably fell for the looks (it wouldn't be the first time either) anyways, you probably guess right about this, because this Movie Sucks it's an awful movie so over the top it's not even entertaining and I end up thanking God for the fast-forward button.

On the bright side, I'm an enthusiastic believer that every movie was a positive thing to add, so I must say that I did find some things funny, and all of them are in the official trailer (Hollywood does that a lot... give everything away in the trailer) like the way Becca's head turns into an hamburger, that was funny because that's what I though when I watched New Moon, then the "It's raining men" dance and of course the whole Team Edward/Jacob thing is always funny, that part must be connected to the funny fact that someone humiliating himself/herself is always a laugh. Oh! and the one thing that caught me off guard was that this "Becca" was actually more convincing as Bella that the real one, so that was interesting, I mean really, she was really a better Bella, good casting call I guess.

Anyhow, if you like this type of movies I wouldn't even recommend this one, maybe go back and watch Scary Movie, remember what was good about it, laugh a little and be happy. (Scary movie 1 was the only movie of this category that I actually enjoyed, although Anna Faris is awesome at comedy, she's the female version of Jim Carey to me).

That's all I can say about this movie, wasn't this short?

Movie Review: 2010, Clash of the Titans

Clash of the Titans


I had this movie for quite a long time, yesterday I decided to give it a go and I still don't know if I liked it or not, because although it is a great action movie, I had a problem with the characters, I'm well instructed in the whole mythological thing so the moment they put Io as a love interest/partner of Perseus it feel totally wrong to me, and though out the movie I just couldn't let this drop completely, I don't know if they did this in the 1981 version of this movie and I don't care much about it because I'm not going to watch some plastic-stop-motion-monsters when I had this 2010 version, with all the tech and 3D wow moments, so that being said, let's move on to the parts I enjoyed like the Kraken, which was very well design and kinda creepy which totally works on a monster, I liked Medusa a lot for two reasons, they gave her a beautiful face and they told the myth kinda right, so A+ for that.

On acting, I liked Sam Worthington as Perseus, I remember he said in an interview that he liked this character to be not God-like, focusing on his human side, which I totally get, so nice acting for him. Another one I liked was Ralph Fiennes as Hades, the men can work with special effects!

I didn't like Liam Nesson as Zeus, not sure why, he is a good actor but maybe and just this time I didn't get his vibe.

I think the movie is very well paced, which is important in a action movie, because if you have to many down moments or to many hypes it just confuses the audience and it's not very good in the profits I guess too.

For what type of audience is this now?, I think that this movie is best to watch it in the most giant TV you could find with a nice audio system too, because it's action at its best, you may think that this is kinda like for a guy gathering but I'm a girl and I liked the men in skirts as well, so it's a win-win in the action category.

PS: now that I remember I got this movie because Kurumada the author of Saint Seiya drew the posters, and I liked them. Here you can see them all.

Movie Review: 2010, Killers

Killers

I got this movie hoping it would be a funny watch and though it has some funny moments, it was kind of a let down actually, the movie is about this couple, Jen and Spence, Jen is a geeky girl and Spence is a retired killer for the US Government, the couple got together in France and they get married but then trouble stars when Spence past comes to hunt him.

So, I really didn't feel any good chemestry between the two characters, I don't know if this was on purpose or not, but the relationship was very forced, like no good reason for them to hit it of so fast, I didn't feel any sparkle of love at first sight, no nothing, so no good there.

Then when everybody they know are trying to kill them it get just awkward and not so interesting, on the plus side, I really like the character of Jen's mother, she's an alcoholic but in the funny not-pathetic kind of way (the funny moments came from her).

I don't really have much to say about this one, I hate to say that this wasn't very good, but I don't blame the actors, it was actually a very good cast, I guess I had problems with the script and direction mostly, I mean that they could have done a lot better in the editing, it was very slow overall and off point with so many killers at one point too.

I guess that this could be a Sunday movie, it was so not a "chic flick" I don't even think it was a "guy flick" either, but if you really are bored and have nothing better to do you may well like this, but if you have something else to watch go for another one, it's not like if you missing something here, not even a good soundtrack (which would've helped a lot).

Movie Review: 2010, Kick-Ass

Kick-Ass

Sometimes I would have a movie saved in my computer and then I do other things, when I return to the movie and if the movie is great I always ask myself, why the hell I didn't whatch this sooner? well, it happened to me today, Kick-Ass is so cool, my favorite character was Hit Girl, actually, the actress Chloe Moretz was really good, although she had some of the best lines of the movie ("Show's over motherfuckers") she is a very good actress, ever since I first saw her in The Amityville Horror 5 years ago, I kept a tab on her like I do with every interesting actor/actress, so I'm very exited that she is playing the adapted version of another great movie "Let the Right One In".

So, back to the review, I noticed that early on while I was watching the movie, I saw so many "wtf!? moments", specially when Hit Girl was involved (getting shot by your own father?!, how more fucked up can you get?). Maybe that's why I like this movie so much, it was surprisingly unpredictable which is always good in this kind of movie, I actually took notes while I watch movies and under WTF?! is "Nicholas Cage :O" I just can't remember why I wrote that now, but I though you should now, maybe someone can make sense of it.

I think that the whole superhero theme of this movie, along with the "nerd" theme, is always a good theme while treated right, I mean I remember watching the Revenge of the Nerds when I was a kid and though there were a lot of grown up jokes I still enjoyed it, besides lets be honest, nerds in movies are really kinda cute (the lead character was really cute, but that's just a girl's comment, good job of the casting director).

The Othere thing that really made this movie so cool was the cinematography, the camera angles and the little but awesome effects that made was so much fun to watch, kudos to the director for his original view, oh! and also kudos to the music director, the soundtrack and score was really nice, it completed the scenes, more so because there was not the typical music background in there, the style changed in every scene, and I appreciated the variety in there.

To finish this review I would like to say that this is a well named movie, it really kicked ass, and for a good time with friends this one is an absolute winner, because there's no way you can watch this one without making side comments, so you may want a friend to share the laugh.

I just looked at IMBD and found out that there's part 2 coming up in 2012, so, yay!!

Movie Review: 2009, Adam

Adam

This is the story of a young man, who has Asperger's Syndrome, which is a kind of autism, and basically makes it difficult to them to socialize with other people, like for example they don't understand sarcasm, they take it literally so imagine how hard it must be to not tell the difference between a joke and a real statement.

Anyway, this movie in particular tell the story of Adam and Beth who moves to the same building, she face the awkwardness of a relationship with someone with Asperger's Syndrome, some of you may be interested in Adam as a character, but me (having some problems with social activities myself) found very interesting they way she took the situation, so I wander, what would a viewer with Asperger's thinks about this movie?, I think they would be very emphatic about Adam, Hugh Dancy really does a good job, but I think it would be a perfect job if he didn't take Adam to such an extreme... sometimes I found his face expressions to be like too much, but maybe they were going for that kind of thing, I don't know this is the first movie I've seen from this particular writer/director.

So, to wrap this up, thumbs up to Rose Byrne she was awesome as Beth, it's a good movie for a cold winter weekend, to make you think about the problems the people of Asperger's Syndrome have everyday and that a normal person take for granted. (Sorry about grammar, didn't checked it)