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I Am Number Four (2011)
Drab, Mundane and Utterly Predictable
Maybe this movie was not targeted at me. I am a teenager, but I've seen enough good films to be tired of many genre conventions.
This is not a movie that gives you anything to think about afterwords. Possibly just some confusion. The entirety of the second act involves almost no buildup or action, and aside from one semi decent scene involving a carnival ride, which ends all too quickly and dissolves into lame teen melodrama.
The characters are mostly cardboard cutouts. You have the bully jock, the nerdy girl, the socially awkward hero and the mentor who get's killed off without actually showing any skill or giving up a fight, instead offering some clichéd words of advice along the lines of "you have to believe in yourself".
Thing finally begin to live up to the trailers in the third act, but by then it's too late to save this movie. The one twist shoved in for mildly good measure (I won't spoil it for the easily amused), was one that I guessed upon the characters first appearance. There are a few interesting action scenes, but these only highlight how lame all the other scenes leading up to it were.
The acting is sub-par to decent, but the unnatural CGI stands out in my mind as one of the more glaring issues. The effects look cool, sometimes. But more often then not it looks like the movie was made in the nineties.
With its long, inconsistent, and downright boring second act. It's hard to recommend this one. 4/10
How to Start Your Own Country (2010)
A Short, Rather Funny Documentary
I saw this at TIFF, I think it might have been the world premiere (the film makers were there). As a Canadian I can't hep but feel a bit of pride towards this movie, it's now one of my favourite documentaries.
I won't really bother with a synopsis, the movies basically about people who started their own micro-nations (tiny countries). Most of the countries are unrecognized internationally and their founders are quite eccentric.
The film makers go around to around to 5-6 different micro-nations, some more interesting than others. The camera work is standard documentary, but there are some interesting camera angles. The interviews are all entertaining, every "leader" has a different view of the world. My personal favourite is the New Free State of Caroline, which was both hilarious and interesting.
All in all it was a interesting documentary, it deserves more attention than it seems it's going to get. I would go as far as to say it's one of my personal favourite documentaries. The interviews are eccentric and the stories are interesting. You should definitely check it out.