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Hanna (2011)
"Hanna" is a new version of "Snow White and the seven dwarfs"
The new movie from Joe Wright("Attonement") can easily be compared to Fairy tales, and more precisely "Snow White and the seven dwarfs". Hanna(Saorise Ronan) is Snow White, Marissa(Cate Blanchett) is the wicked queen, Erik; Hanna's father(Eric Bana) is the kind woodsman who hides his daughter in the forest, and there is a family that befriends Hanna while she is on the run and they become like the seven dwarfs.
Many viewers may compare Hanna to Hit-Girl from "Kick Ass" because they both have the same idea of a young girl training to be an assassin by their father. Hanna is different because she doesn't enjoy killing, she just does it to survive. Hit-Girl becomes just a bit too happy when she gets to kill people. "Hanna" is more of a character drama than an action movie but it's the drama of this young girl that makes the action scenes more memorable.
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Role Models (2008)
An alright movie for a few good laughs
Paul Rudd and Sean William Scott star as motivational speakers for an energy drink company to get kids to say no to drugs but yes to their product. After Danny (Rudd) is dumped by Beth (Elizabeth Banks) he looses it and crashes the company car at a school assembly with Wheeler (Scott) as his unknown accomplice. The boys have a choice. Either spend 30 days in jail or 30 days at a retreat that helps out troubled young boys. Let the hilarity ensure.
I really enjoyed that the entire cast of Mtv's "The State" (It was a sketch comedy show that was a lot like Monty Python and The Kids In The Hall) makes appearance in this movie. Without those characters the movie wouldn't have been as funny. Paul Rudd and Sean William Scott were good in scenes they didn't act together, but I really didn't see them much as a comedy duo. As for the kids in this one, Christopher Mintz-Plase ("SuperBad") is Auggie,a kid who loves live action role playing games. The one who steals the show is Bobbe J Thompson as the foul mouthed Ronnie Shields. He is funnier than the two leads one of the most memorable. If they were to remove some of the sappy heartwarming stuff towards the end this may have worked as a really funny movie, but it's a good rental.
Iron Man (2008)
Robert Downey Jr most legendary role(more than Chaplin)
Iron Man. 3 *'s out of 4 Cast: Robert Downey Jr. Gwyneth Paltrow.
Director: Jon Favreau.
Tony Stark is a different type of alter ego for a super hero. Of course there are similarities to Peter Parker and Bruce Wayne, but while those characters are always mourning for the loss of their relatives. Mr. Stark enjoys living the life of a playboy bachelor. He has a great house, the best cars , and has sex with hot women, and enjoys being Iron Man. Most characters in comics become a super hero due to either a scientific accident, being born with powers or something tragic happens and you build a costume .However, that is not the case with Iron Man.
Tony became Iron Man due to a basic need to survive. At the beginning he is captured by terrorists after the testing of his company's latest weapon. They want him to build a weapon for them, but instead of their weapon he makes an invincible suit and escapes. He wants to do away with the destruction his weapons have caused and start helping out those who need it.
What I enjoyed about Iron man was not really Iron Man himself, but the character of Tony Stark. Robert Downey Jr is that character through and through and I can't imagine any one else who can portray him. If there is one reason to see this movie, It's because of his performance. Most super hero movies you can't wait to see the hero kick ass. Don't get me wrong the action sequences are very good, and worth the money alone, but the scenes between Tony Stark and his assistant Pepper(Gweneth Paltrow, who looks really hot as a red head) were very captivating even if you knew the outcome before they did. The rest of the cast where very good. Hell they were all academy award winners or nominees. I hope That we will continue to see people who can act take these types of roles.
Another thing that impressed me about "Iron Man" was that it was directed by Jon Favreau. He was the writer of Swingers, but his directing work with "Made" and "Elf" made me question if he could pull off a super hero movie, and the answer is yes. He loves these characters and does a great job of letting you know the heart of them instead of just running around and kick ass. I think what makes a super hero movie works is that you like who is inside the costume a little bit more than you like the hero. Tony Stark himself says he is not a hero, but whatever he does. He rules at it
Hostel (2005)
A Great return to the horror genre but still needs more work
Eli Roth's "Hostel" is the kind of horror movie that film buffs have been waiting for a long time. The horror and gore don't come until later. In fact it felt like I was watching the sequel to "Eurotrip". THe story begins with three friends in Amsterdamn looking for easy sex in the brothels. When they come back they meet up with a guide who tells them about this great hostel in another part of the country that has tons of hot girls living in it. At first when the guys get there. they hook up immediately with some of the women and they have a fun filled night of sex and debauchery. Then the friends begin to disappear one by one and they each end up in this factory where people pay a lot of money to torture and kill another human being. I don't want to give anything more away but what makes this film work is how the audience perceptions about violence change. At the start the violence is very horrifying and disturbing, but by the end I heard crowds cheering. The torture scenes are filled with enough carnage to make you squirm a little but it will never compare to the last fifteen minutes of "Auditon". The thriller by Takeshi Miike who has a cameo appearance in "Hostel" Another thing that made the "Hostel" not as scary as I thought, was the score. The composer was trying to make it sound more like a Hitchcock thriller than a horror movie. I do hope that horror genre will continue in this vain, and try it's best to scare us to our wits end .
Ginger Snaps: Unleashed (2004)
Not as bad as I was expecting. A good sequel
Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed. * * 1/2 Actors: Emily Perkins, Tatiana Maslany, Eric Johnson Writer: Megan Martin Director: Brett Sullivan.
The second part of the "Ginger Snaps" trilogy picks up after the first one. Bridgitte has infected herself with Ginger's blood who has turned into a werewolf. In order to keep herself from becoming like her sister, she must inject herself daily with monkshood. After barely escaping a werewolf that has found her, she awakes in a clinic that treats all things including drug addiction. With her drugs taken away, Bridgitte can't escape what she is becoming.
I loved the 1st movie and I found the second one to be a worthwhile sequel. While the first one simmered with satire on female hormones and puberty, "Unleashed" is a straight horror film. It's too bad we don't see much of Ginger in this one, but she does turn up as a ghost who warns Bridgitte that another one waits for her. Bridgitte is a lot more confident and a lot hotter than the first one. But although this is her story, the one character that steals the show is a young girl at the hospital named Ghost. Bridgitte befriends this girl because she can help get her monkshood and I'm sure she feels a little bad that all the other patients make fun of her. There is a twist at the end of this movie that I was not expecting, but on my second viewing of it. I don't know how I could have missed it. All the warning signs were shown in the first thirty minutes.
If you haven't seen the first one you could just watch this one alone. It has a good enough story to keep you interested. It's not as fulfilling as the original, but it's a nice desert
Before Sunset (2004)
Oscar nominations for Best Actress and Screenplay.
BEFORE SUNSET. * * * 1/2.
Actors: Ethan Hawke & Julie Delpy. Screenwriters. Richard Linklater, Ethan Hawke, and Julie Delpy.
Director: Richard Linklater.
To start things off I usually hate romantic movies. I find them very predictable, the characters make me sick, and I usually feel depressed after i view them. I was lucky enough to see "Before Sunrise" when it came out to video and I was amazed to see that the guy who made "Dazed and Confused" was brave enough not to do another commercial film. Since then I have always been a huge fan of Linklater's work. I loved his Animated "Waking Life", and I enjoyed his family flick "School of Rock" Richard is the only director I know who can make both big mainstream movies and small independent films and not look like a sellout.
"Before Sunset" continues nine years after "Before Sunrise". Jesse wrote a book about his one night in Vienna with Celine and is in France at the end of his book tour. Celine shows up and the two of them decide to spend the afternoon together before his plane leaves.
What takes next is a series of conversations, and this is where the real gem of the screenplay comes into focus. Because this one does not use pop culture references to get you into the story. It's just normal people having a conversation, but I assure you that it's not boring. I was interested in everything these characters had to say. On their afternoon together they begin to let down their guard and tell each other just what that night really meant to them. Jesse and Celine are both currently in another relationship, but it's clear that these two should be together. It made a true love believer out of me when most films assure me that it's dead.
"Before Sunset" is a perfect companion piece to "Before Sunrise", but you don't need to see the first one to enjoy this. It stands on it's own as a very good contemporary love story. I hope Oscar voters are wise and nominate Julie Delpy for best actress nods and one for best screenplay to Richard Linklater, Ethan Hawke, & Julie Delpy. More actors should take cues from them and write their own sequel.
Ginger Snaps (2000)
* * * * Most creative werewolf movie ever.
GINGER SNAPS. * * * *
Not only is "Ginger Snaps" one of the only great teen horror flicks ever made. It's also a great satire on the whole puberty process. This little gem from Canada was released four years ago, but it never caught on here in the states.
"Ginger Snaps" follows Brigitte and Ginger Fitzgerald as two teenagers living in suburbia. They are bored, they don't fit in and while other girls are busy planning on getting the cute guy to ask them out. The Fitzgerald sisters are performing fake suicides for an art project. They are goth chicks, but their obsession with death is not used to become popular like it is today. They just don't want to grow up and conform like everyone else.
One night while on their way to play a prank on a girl who attacked Brigitte. Ginger has her first period, which they both have named the curse.
GINGER: Well, it's not contagious.
At that moment a wild animal attacks Ginger and almost tears her apart. Brigitte gets her sister back home but discovers her scars are healing. That's not the only thing odd with Ginger. She has been ignoring her sister and has taken an interest in some of the boys, something that she would never do before the attack, and she is growing hair in places that shouldn't have hair. Brigitte's parents tell her that it's all a process of growing up and it's perfectly normal. But Ginger is anything but normal. Soon she is tearing apart animals from around the neighborhood and her so called normal sex drive is actually a desire to kill
GINGER: I get this ache and I thought it was for sex, but it's to tear everything into f*#king pieces.
Ginger does have sex with only one guy but he ends up pissing blood and getting weird rashes on his face
Brigitte: You gave it to Jason. You had unprotected sex and you infected him.
GINGER: Opps.
Brigitte befriends Sam the local pot dealer and the two of them find out a way to use Wolfsbane plant to cure Ginger. I don't want to give away the ending but I will tell you that there are two more sequels.
If this movie was a straight horror plot then it would be boring, but by adding the whole hormone subtext. It takes the transformation story that we see a million times into another level. I believe that both guys and girls can find compassion for both Ginger and Brigitte. We've all been like Ginger and wanted to break away from your siblings in order to meet new friends and we have all been like Brigitte and felt betrayed. Most horror films show stereotypical characters who are there to just get slaughtered, and even though some of those types are in this movie. They are not the main characters like they would be in other flicks. "Ginger Snaps" has to be the best werewolf horror film since "American Werewolf In London" and the effects are nicely done. It was wise of the film makers to not fully show you the wolf, but just little glances. Horror films like this one is rare. Only a select handful get the genre right and what works the most is good characters. I recently saw "Open Water" and the number one complaint is that I had no understanding of the two main characters so I didn't care if they lived or died. Ginger and Brigitte are two very unforgettable creations.