Thursday, April 29, 2010

Lots of movies, Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, Brothers, Amelia, Sherlock Holmes, Secret of the Kells, The Fourth Kind and more!






































So, I have been a complete and utter slacker when it comes to providing movie reviews recently, luckily, I made a list and started to view some of the ones I have seen before I got so hugely busy. You have no idea how long I spend on my website. I never knew it could be so much time. I find myself staying up late researching and make pages. I do love the fact that I am getting all this information and dropping it all in one place to make it easier on survivors. It makes me so very happy. So, without further ado, in the random order I remembered them in here are some movie reviews to catch you up! I know there are at least a few that I cannot remember. They say Chemo brain when you are on chemo but I think I still have it and should be able to continue to use it! Love Love Jettychan

Cirque du freak The Vampire’s Assistant
The Vampire’s Assistant was a delightful little movie. I love John C Reilly, he is just too amazing and in this movie he is very funny and easy to relate to. He plays a vampire who acquires a restless teen (Darren) as his apprentice. The teen’s best friend (Steve) is obsessed with vampires and asks to be made one but the vampire refuses and the friend gets angry, Darren is more into spiders. There are two kinds of vampires, human eating and non human eating (still drink blood but don’t kill them) Vampires and Vampaneze. The movie is based off a popular book series and I hope very much that they will make the rest of them and that they don’t end up all Golden Compass on me and leave me with no ending. Yes, if you don’t know there is no real ending here, there is a general ending to the action but no real ending. The movie has some awesome creation for the freaks with a snake boy, a monkey girl, and bearded woman played by the fantastic Selma Hayek as well as these super cute creatures that live on the circus’ grounds. The movie plays upon the idea that there is a truce between the vampires and the vampanees, but the bad guys are trying to get the good guys to break it so there can be a war. The funniest part of this movie for me is the controversy online about the monkey girl. I read about it a long time ago when I was bored at work, but as I hadn’t read the books or seen the movie I didn’t really understand, well basically people are angry because they turned the monkey girl into a white girl and that made people angry. However, I can see how this is super funny because I could just see the outrage that would have happened (even if it was in the book) if they have picked a beautiful African American girl to play the lead girlfriend and then had her actually as a monkey. It could have caused major issues so I think it was wise to hire an average looking white girl instead. Overall a nice little movie I think everyone would like, but if you read the book, be prepared, I have read people were VERY disappointed in it.

Planet 51
I always enjoy animated movies. It is a sad fact that I cannot usually find anything wrong with an animated movie. I know the time and skill it takes to make it and so I think I take all animated movies with a grain of salt. That being said, I did not have to finagle my opinion on this one, this movie was very fun. I can see it being mainly for kids but as an adult I still enjoyed it and the most interesting part is the 51 in the name represents a year coordinating to our 1951. The general story is of an astronaut who lands on a planet thinking he is claiming it for America when he finds that the planet is already inhabited by a whole civilization. The more important main story though is following a young alien who has been lead his whole life to believe that aliens from other planets are mind eating horrible creatures (much like our old sci fi movies) and he starts to question the teachings of his life such as the size of the universe and the ability to travel into space to find new life. The movie really is a great watch. You should pick it up if you have a chance, makes a great rental.

Secret of the Kells
This movie is not out but thanks to the marvels of the internet I watched it on a website unaware that it was not out. I wanted to see what the other Oscar nominated films were that were competing with my much loved Up. This is an animated movie obviously, but it is not a children’s animation. It is an adult animation about this legendary book and the monks who protect it. There is a lot of violence and some gorgeous landscapes of nature as well. The music is amazing, and the story is very interesting. I do not know the references it makes in religious terms so I could not appreciate it in that way, but as an animated movie it was very beautiful and well done 2D animation. I would not recommend it for someone who is looking for a Pixar movie or an action movie. I would say it is more of an intellectual beauty of a movie but still worth watching when it comes out.


Law Abiding Citizen

As I have said many times before, I love a good vengeance, take the law in your own hands, vigilante film. I love them so much because I relate to them. If you screwed me over or did something to me, every man in my family would be hunting you down and probably a few non family members too. It is human nature to relate to someone who has been wronged and is then wronged again by our crocked legal system to take it on himself to get some good vengeance. In this movie a man has lost his wife and child at the hands of robbers and yet the man who is the ring leader and the one he see commit the crimes before he is knocked out cops a plea and is let free blaming it on the weaker man, and letting him take the fall. So, the husband, played by a delicious Gerard Butler, takes the law in his own hands and makes everyone who has their hands dirty pay, and I mean everyone. It is up to the attorney who made the deal to try and figure out how he is committing these crimes. The movie is wonderfully well done and will keep you guessing on what is going to happen next and until the very end I loved it. Then by far the worst possible ending in the whole history of cinema (perhaps) was created for this movie. The whole movie I was wondering how they were going to end it because they couldn’t possibly let him go after all the people he has killed, so they wrote themselves into a corner, couldn’t figure out how to end it so they literally threw together a craptastic ending. I wont tell you what happens but after you watch the movie remember this review and come on here and share if you thought it felt this way as well!

Gentlemen Bronocs

Gentlemen Broncos has one half of the awesomeness that is Flight of the Conchords, so I knew I would find it funny. The story is simply, a boy goes to a writing camp and enters a contest where his favorite author is the judge, his entry gets “lost” and next thing you know his favorite author releases a book that is the exact same except the main character is a transvestite and has a different name. The humor is off to put it mildly. You have to have a messed up sense of it in order to full appreciate this movie. The movie bounces back and forth between the real world, a movie set version of the original (the boy sold the story to some friends who make a crappy version), the boys ideal version of the story, and then the authors altered version. The movie has some very messed up parts and a few gross out scenes but overall it is a quirky, messed up humor movie. So, if that fits your bill, check it out. If not, stay far, far, far, far away. To put it mildly this movie has a DUMB sense of humor to it. If you are childish you should definitely see it.

Surrogates
In a world where no one actually lives but instead spends most of their time inside a robot which is a nicer, more ideal version of themselves, it is no surprise that something awful is going to happen. The issues start to arise when the non surrogate using people start killing the people while they are in their surrogates, which is not supposed to be able to happen. Stars Bruce Willis as the main police officer and he does a great job, full of action. Lots and lots of action, not too much story. There is some back story for his character explored but mainly the movie centers on the above storyline. Had an interesting ending, not really what I would have expected, but the overall movie is kind of a let down from the previews. Worth a rent but not really a buy.

The Fourth Kind
-This movie is based on true events and is portrayed as the actors playing the real life people. The basic story is that of the fourth kind of encounter with aliens, i.e. abduction. In Nome, Alaska they have had several unexplained disappearances and it has resulted in numerous FBI investigations there. The story takes place around a psychologist, Dr. Abigail Tyler and her study of her patients sleep issues. Her husband has recently died and she is suffering from the effects of not knowing what happened. Three of her patients are experiencing the same types of event and when she put them under hypnosis strange and crazy things start happening. The most interesting parts of this movie are the splicing of the real police footage and video shot during sessions, and the reenactments o f the events. The acting is amazing in this movie, the story is intriguing and the overall fear and suspense that is given off has very little to do with the standard notions of aliens and a lot more centered on an older, scarier creature (for lack of a better word). Mad props go to this movie for not showing the aliens or using an abundance of special effects to drown out a good sci-fi suspense movie. Over all I would recommend watching this movie and really getting into it. It is a nice little heart pumper! 
*************************SPOILER ALERT******************************************* **********************************************************************************
Personally, I didn’t know anything about this movie, nothing at all. I wanted to rent Everything is Fine, but Fish wanted this one. So, when I started the movie, I thought it was a movie about real life footage on hypnosis, which is highly debated as to its validity in documenting real events the patient has forgotten. So, as I watched the beginning of this movie, I kept thinking that if the real people were faking the hypnosis, then they were doing a better job than the people who were representing them in the movie. Then, 20 minutes in, the first patient to undergo hypnosis shoots his whole family and himself and it is shown on the police cam. It bothered me so very much, I mentioned it to Fish and he told me none of it was real, and I got upset, very upset and looked it up and of course it is “based on real events” but only the disappearances and FBI investigations, the rest are all actors. No real footage, no real audio. So, I didn’t feel like I was conned or even that I was gullible, but I was very upset that Fish had not told me that this was not a movie about hypnosis and whether their stories were real or not. When I saw that actor shoot himself, I didn’t feel like he was an actor since my brain thought it was all real. I suppose this is the point of the movie, but I did not like that part at all. Not one bit, I am very much against watching people die. Watching real people die is not entertaining and telling me that this is real makes me not want to watch it. However, once I knew it was not about hypnosis and that the videos were not real, I very much enjoyed the movie. The movie in itself showcased some forces to be reckoned with in the acting world. The reason why this movie makes you feel like it is real is simply because the “real life” counterparts are so amazingly wonderful and superb even, especially the woman who plays Abigail, who through some research I found out is Charlotte Milchards. It is so sad, she did an AMAZING job but since they don’t want to let on that the movie is indeed NOT real footage she is going to get no credit for it, she’s not credited on IMDB, and doesn’t even mention it on her own site!! http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2598903/ Overall, I would recommend seeing this movie to everyone. Even if you read this spoiler alert first! Naughty, Naughty! Shame on you! :-P

Brothers
I think this falls into another one of those movies where the previews give WAY too much away. The movie explores the hardships and aftermath of war on a soldier and his family. When Sam’s helicopter is shot down in Afghanistan, he is assumed dead, so his brother Tommy steps in to help his wife and daughters have a stable life. Then when Sam is found alive and severely traumatized he comes back to a world where he is confused and unstable, convinced his wife is sleeping with his brother he feels completely alienated and it causes a storyline that is heartbreaking in its realism. For me the movie was amazing. I loved it but I did not think there was anything ambiguous about Tommy and Grace’s (the wife) relationship. However for Fish, the daughter has one line during her sisters Birthday party that killed the movie for him. Personally, I didn’t think it was too absurd, but he felt like it seemed out of place and he didn’t understand how the daughter knew the effect it would have. The ending makes sense for our time, but I must admit I felt very torn with this movie. It was really touching and I enjoyed it very much. Really makes you think about what kind of services are available for helping with readjustment into their lives. It you are not a big cryer then you will be fine, but if you are like me and have your heart just right out there, you might want to grab some tissues. I also must warn you since this pertains to quite a few of my friends on here, if you are in the military I have read both opinions of this movie, but be warned some people in the service do not like this move, so if you watch it remember it is just a movie. Plus, it has Jake Gyllenhaal in it, mmmmmmm Jake Gyllenhaal.

Sherlock Holmes
Who doesn’t know Sherlock Holmes? I loved the book I had when I was a child. It was one of those thick classic books with the full page illustrations you could buy at the grocery store; I had all the ones you could ever want: Frankenstein, A Christmas Carol, Oliver Twist, all of them. This Holmes story stars Robert Downey Jr, who is always amazing and Jude Law, whom you know I love ^_-,

Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Long before he became everyone’s favorite actor, Heath Ledger was indeed Fish’s favorite young actor. He looked at him like he does Tom Hanks or Robert Downey Jr. I’ve seen A Knights Tale more times than the Labyrinth and that is saying something! He watched that movie at bed I swear for a year almost! :-P So, it was a big blow to our house when Heath died (yes for a few of you who don’t know [I kid you not I have had to tell someone on here that he was dead after she was paired up with him on a quiz about the love of your life], Heath Ledger is dead, in case you live under a rock or are under a certain age!). However the idea of this movie seemed so interesting and we were very happy to hear they were completing it with an all star cast of actors (Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrel). It is a fantastical story about one man’s quest to prove to the devil that people will choose the right choice if given the opportunity (much like Lost!! IF you don’t watch Lost shame on you!! :-P). When the traveling show finds a man hanging under a bridge that appears dead but upon hitting his chest revives him, their world is turned upside down. Dr. Parnassus is an immortal monk who has a mirror that leads to your own imagination. Testing people through their own powers of thought, he battles for each person’s soul with the devil. The cast is fantastic. The graphics are superb and Heath did an amazing final job. This movie should place right up there with other beautiful imaginative classics of old. However, I do wonder how much attention would have been given to it if Heath had not died while making it. In all honesty, I would place it with Mirrormask, which is a beautiful, creative, imaginative masterpiece that is severely underrated (if you haven’t seen it before go check it out as well). Plus, the creative way they intertwined the three other actors into the role Heath played was superb. I wondered how they would do it and still didn’t think it could be done smoothly when I heard how they were going to do it, but Terry Gilliam did an amazing job of intertwining and it made the movie so much stronger. I think this movie may well have a special place with Labyrinth, Mirror Mask and The Dark Crystal and it doesn’t even have puppets in it!! Go watch it and see what your imagination dreams up!

Amelia
The first movie in my I need to make money to move so I am watching and selling the movies I know I wont watch again. When I was a child I had the deepest love for Amelia Earhart. I wanted to be just like her, and I suppose that is her charm, everyone wanted to be just like her; to do great things like her. I still hope that I can accomplish something remarkable like her. So, I wanted to watch this movie for a long time, but getting Fish to rent movies like this is very, very hard. So, when we got this movie from his parents, he could no longer say “no, next time”. This is the exploration of her life, primarily love life and makes the pilot and flying aspects take second stage, which a lot of people hated, but I didn’t mind. I took this movie as a sort of documentary and the two most important things in her life would be her love and the second one even with that one would be flying. So, I think it right to have it be about both, plus it makes for a good movie. AND when you cast Ewan McGregor as the second male lead, vavavoom, I am definitely going to likey that romance addition! The movie starts with her on her final flight and is told through flashbacks which I have an ubber soft spot in my heart for. It explores all the aspects of her as a person, most of which I never knew as I only read the books about her accomplishments in flying and women’s rights; the ones of her as a role model for young girls. Plus the references in all my favorite cartoons included a great one in Tailspin! I didn’t know about her commercialism selling lots of products and how the country was starting to doubt her authenticity as a pilot, when all she wanted to do was make money to fly more. Anyone who knows her story knows there can’t be a true ending, however it has a bit of information on what happened to the people in her life afterward. Plus, it sparked a new interest in me for her, so I went online and read tons of papers on her. I found out that this year they are sending a research team to an island where they think she may have crash landed with her astrological navigator (Fred Noonan). They have found quite a bit of evidence and based on the lore of the island people who used to live there, and the broken audio signals from that area it could have been here. Wouldn’t that be something?? Fascinating! Anyway, the movie is good, not amazingly awesome Brave heart epic, but a very good movie. Worth a watch, plus Hilary Swank is such a crazy good actor at getting in a role and keeping true to what I always thought Amelia would be like.
Will be adding Alice in Wonderland and How to Train your Dragon Reviews at some point, both movies come with super high recommendations, but Dragon is by far the best movie I have seen in a long time and I believe the 3D does indeed out do Avatar, so go see it in 3D as soon as you can!

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