Fantastic Mr. Fox

Here are some reasons to see Fantastic Mr. Fox right now:
1. It is fun, quirky, and family oriented.
2. It is a Wes Anderson film with all of his usuals.
3. It is a stop motion animation film NOT made by Tim Burton (meaning the clouds are white and there are sunny days)
4. Fun for kids (Tiego loved it. He wanted to watch it again and laughed a lot during it).
5. I would buy this movie right now for $15.
6. It's relatable to everyone. From the father, mother, to the son, to the badger, it all fits with everyone.
7. IT IS CUSSING AWESOME!
9/10
PS>I just bought this movie!

The Lovely Bones

You know how sometimes a kid messes their diaper and you cannot believe that that large amount of poo came out of that small child? Well, I cannot believe that this crap came from Peter Jackson. Maybe the book was better but this movie is an hour too long and tries to keep your interest by looking through the eyes of a pedophile! Scary in many aspects because of how easily this could happen, The Lovely Bones is a movie to just be avoided. 3/10
PS>Tiffany quote right after the movie: I just wasted 2 hours of my life!

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

Weird. Fun. and everything you come to expect from Terry Gilliam. At points, it just felt like a long animation from Monty Python's Flying Circus. At other points it was a Tim Burton movie. I was most curious to see how they covered the death of Heath Ledger and they did it SEAMLESSLY. If you did not know, you would not even guess that he didn't finish the film. Kudos for that. On a thought provoking level, the Imaginarium is pretty high but you have to sift through all of the weirdness to catch it. Not a movie for the light of heart, but a very artful look at the choices we make. Pretty good. 6/10
PS>Tiffany hated it and she watched 30 minutes of the ending.

Rushmore

I am a huge fan of Wes Anderson (see Fantastic Mr. Fox right now!). I equally love Bill Murray. I knew this was one of Wes' first movies and like his film style so I thought I would give it a chance. I did not like it as much as Fantastic Mr. Fox or The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, I thought it went right along with The Royal Tenenbaums (which I liked and was the first Anderson film I saw). Quirky is the word that defines his films and Rushmore has a strange but funny way of coming across. First of all, the movie is smart and works together well with a lot of imagination. Second of all it is childish. Combining these two is where Rushmore really works. Bottle Rocket is next on my queue. Lets see if Wes can go 5 for 5. 7/10

Three Kings

This movie has no genre at all but works its place into every genre there is (other than family and romance). Part comedy, part heist, part thriller, part action, part war movie, Three Kings very surprisingly was a good movie all around. I like Mark Wahlberg for his "so bad its good" acting and this movie didn't disappoint (see the "Mark Wahlberg talks to the animals" SNL skit on hulu). It has been a long time since I have seen a movie with this many aspects that work all together and I liked it so much that I had a hard time sleeping shortly thereafter (I had to google Spike Jonze and Catherine Hardwicke who were a part of this movie...and I guess went on to direct some pretty big movies). Excellent though. Excellent. 8/10

Gentlemen Broncos

Although I am not a huge fan of Napoleon Dynamite or Nacho LIbre (I do own Nacho Libre though), I AM a fan of Jared Hess (the director). Why? Because of his story and how it relates to me. BYU film school. Mormon. Spanish speaking mission. Because I like to see what someone like him can make, I was going to give Gentlemen Broncos a try despite bad reviews. I am writing this shortly thereafter because of how horrible it was. Not only does it take Jared Hess's same humor over the entire body of the movie, but it does not offer anything else. Snake's pooping. Kissing a boy after he vomits. I do not think I cracked a smile during this whole movie. Also, part of the movie is about a local film being made (which is RIGHT up my alley) and it just made the movie longer! Gentlemen Broncos missed on all fires and actually reminds me metaphorically of a video of a man getting hit in the crotch. On funniest home videos it is just HILARIOUS because we know he doesn't even see it coming. That same video just is NOT funny at all if we know that it was done on purpose. Gentlemen Broncos is a man getting hit in the privates on purpose. The awkwardness, the dry humor, and the crappy filmmaking just do not work because they were actually done on purpose. Sorry Jared, you lost my faith in you. Can't say that I am a fan anymore (and feel the need to step up and be a director myself).
3/10

Crazy Heart

Have you ever seen "Tender Mercies"? Yeah. Same movie. It even has Robert Duvall still in it. Some of the songs can be catchy but this movie was just once again the same story of fame, music, love, and drugs. How long can they keep doing this? 3/10

My Life in Ruins

I knew little about this movie going into it so I didn't expect much, but when I finished it, I really felt happy, like I really liked this movie! With a "I know people like that" feel and something funny pretty often, it pokes enough fun at tourists and relationships to make it an enjoyable rom com. I definitely want to watch it again! 7/10
PS>Okay, it was probably the presence of "Rocketman" Harland Williams that I liked so much.
PSS>Quote of the movie: "I wonder if Jesus played here."

Adaptation

This movie boldly breaks the 4th wall in a way I have never seen before, or could even imagine. It's been a week since I saw it and I still am freaking out about how it was done. It's twists are deeper than a Sixth Sense movie but it's story is more engaging. Adaptation, a filet minion, makes movies like Sixth Sense or Fight Club feel like a hamburger. It is just a smart, deep, BOLD movie that still has me rambling on. I don't think there will ever be another movie like this. 9/10
PS>The twist is subtle, so you can't watch this movie in passing.

Funny People

Everytime I heard about this movie, all I heard was "it's not a funny movie". And it isn't. It's got serious themes like divorce, depression, loneliness, and death throughout but the part that I didn't get is it TRIES to be a funny movie. Amid all of these serious themes there is a sad attempt at humor that revolves around jokes about male genitalia. I wouldn't expect much more from Judd Apatow, but this dirty humor engulfs the movie and becomes the only thing you remember afterward. I was amused by 40-year-old virgin, I liked Knocked Up, but Funny People is Apatow's worst movie to date. Failing to be funny, romantic, dramatic, or bromantic, Funny People ends up just being confused. We get no where. 4/10
PS>Sandler is PERFECT for this part because of his silly history, but he would never NOT have friends.
PSS>The best part of the movie is with Eminem and Ray Romano. Laughed my head off.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

First off, I love Hot Rod so the voice of Bill Hader as Flint Lockwood was awesome to me. Second of all, this is a freaking fun and funny movie (FFFM). Watch it once and you probably won't catch everything the first time. Watch it again with subtitles and you should catch a lot more. It's funny from beginning to end and even captures a special moment for a son on his birthday. A perfect family movie, this one caught me by surprise just like Horton Hears a Who or Happy Feet. I want to watch it again! 8/10
PS>Line of the movie - "We have some Diem to Carpe!"
PSS>Tiego really liked it, too! He laughed the whole time! I love that kid's laugh!

The Hurt Locker

I noticed this movie on a lot of "best movie of 2009" lists so I thought I would give it a try. I reminded me a lot of "Black Hawk Down" where it is constantly intense, but where Black Hawk Down is about one particular incident, The Hurt Locker successfully shows it during the whole course of the last two months of a OED's rotation. This is where the movie really touched me was where day in and day out, these men had do deal with a fear of dying that I personally could not deal with. It is touching, it is interesting, and it is real. It is done in the same shaky camera way as Fame, but where Fame (which I saw the night before) is Friday Night Lights, The Hurt Locker is more like United 93 (which I liked). There is a reason for it so be so real, because you are the fourth person on the team. The Best of 2009 lists were right to have these on their list. This was a powerful film. 7/10
PS>Guy Pearce and Ralph Fiennes make a big impact on this movie. I really liked what they did to the movie!

Fame

I have never seen the original Fame and I only watched this movie because some friends brought it over. I always like a good dance movie but this movie was about one thing. DRAMA. Young, growing, DRAMA. It actually reminded me a lot of "Friday Night Lights" where the whole point is to make a documnetary-like movie about growing up that just misses with its characters and interestingness. In Fame, the camera is shaky the whole time (for no reason), kids sing like a musical but it's still shaky camera style, and halfway through the movie I only knew one character's name. Very unengageing story about a few kids growing up at performing arts high school and defying their parents wishes for them to be a classical _______ (insert artistic career here). Waste of 2 hours. 4/10

Food, Inc

In the same "open your eyes" type documentary style as "Walmart: The High Cost of Low Prices", "The Corporation", and "An Inconvenient Truth", Food, Inc hits a little closer to home. It seems as revealing as if you were adopted because food is such a personal part of everyday life. This movie scared me, but I still ate during it. The only problem I had with the movie is it paints a dark picture of the food industry but does not really offer ways to avoid it, other than read labels and buy organic. Other than that, Food, Inc works on many levels. Better treatment for the animals. Better treatment for the farmers. Less subsidies to build big business, and the one that was biggest to me, healthier food for our kids. Food, Inc is a movie everyone should see although it doesn't "entertain" in the traditional sense. 7/10

District 9

Ever since I saw this trailer, I have wanted to watch this film. Done by first time director Neill Blomkamp, it is an alien movie set in South Africa and unlike anything I have ever seen. After Avatar, movies have tasted a little bland, but District 9 revived my belief in movies, and it was only made with $30 million! Now compare this movie with $27 million to make Twilight and you'll realize that Twilight was just wasting its money.

District 9 is gritty and real. The lead character is hilarious and dramatic. The story is interesting and action packed. This isn't a Hollywood movie at all. It combines the cultures of a movie like City of God/Slumdog Millionaire with science fiction. Deep down, District 9 could be considered too much of a video game movie, but it is just too real. It touches on real issues and is felt more than a video game ever could. 8/10.
PS>8 of 10 for too many exploding heads and F-bombs.

Avatar

Beautiful. Absolutely stunning. There are so many things I could say about Avatar that I want to keep it short and hopefully by the end of this review, if you haven't seen the movie, you will run out and see it in 3D.

This movie changes cinema in a few ways. The first is it brings back to life the EVENT of movies. Where movies on opening weekends can become events (Star Wars, The Dark Knight, etc), Avatar is an event on a weekday at any given time. It doesn't matter who you are with, but this movie takes you places you have never been. After about 45 minutes into the movie, I began forget about the 3D and felt completely immersed into a planet and culture that I did not know. It changes cinema the way surround sound changed it. I remember watching a movie at home for the first time in surround sound and being able to hear the bullets whiz by my head (Saving Private Ryan). I was so amazed that I didn't want to watch movies without surround sound. Avatar does that visually. You get to watch bullets whiz by your head and frankly, I want to watch EVERY movie in 3D like this.

There is so much to say about the film. I literally felt transported in this film. Unlike any movie I have ever seen, I felt it was my mission to tell everyone to see it. And I haven't met anyone that has been disappointed yet. Go see it now in 3D!
10/10

Monty Python Almost the Truth

It is a 5 hour documentary about Monty Python. I repeat, it's a 5 hour documentary about Monty Python! It's a long special feature about Flying Circus, Holy Grail, Life of Brian, and Meaning of Life. I am a HUGE Monty Python fan (even though Tiffany hates me for it) and this was right up my alley. It's fun to hear the stories of the members of how they made it. It's fun to relive the movies and shows again (even though they make it a point to show all of the offensive stuff). Monty Python are the Beatles of comedy and this is the equivalent of Beatles Rock Band. Okay, Spamalot would be like Beatles Rock Band, this would be more like the special features to Beatles cds. Holy cow, I HAVE GOT TO SEE SPAMALOT! 7/10
PS>My favorite flying circus sketch is Strangers in the Night. Here it is:

Monty Python's Strangers in the Night | Viral/Other | SPIKE.com

PSS>It's probably because I love Michael Palin. Right-O!

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Going into this movie, I loved the book but had been told this movie is slow. I had a lower expectation for this Harry Potter so I didn't see it in theaters but decided to buy it the first day it came out on blu ray. This was my second blind buy, and my first blind mistake.
For those few who haven't read the book, the movie is quite slow and missteps over important areas of the book. Ok, let's just talk about the movie.

SPOILER ALERT! (go see the movie before reading this review)

This is my second favorite book next to the Goblet of Fire but the movie seemed to be confused on what it was telling. It took 2 hours to flash 2 flashbacks of Voldemort's life, get Draco in place to do his job, and tell a whole lot of snogging story that just doesn't go anywhere. In a lot of ways, it reminds me of Twilight where they are telling a whole lot of love but miss the connections between the characters. You tell me that Harry and Ginny is told so that she can share one kiss in the Room of Requirement? Hermione and Ron aren't even together at the end of the movie and they spend TOO much time on them. And my biggest problem with it is it never feels like magic. It feels like a an average teenage whiney drama. I am okay with the teen love, but the story is not ABOUT that, it is a subplot in the book, but made mainstream plot in the movie. It makes it slow and directionless.

The story is about Draco and Voldemort. Of course we follow Harry around as he discovers the truth about both of them, but revealing only 2 memories of Tom Riddle leads us to believe that Harry really knows NOTHING about where the Horcruxes are, only that they exist. Where Harry was taking a whole semester of the history of Voldemort with Dumbledore, we get to see 2 glimpses. I pity Draco in the book. I'm glad they kept it that way in the movie, but missed his character struggle. So big problems were too much Lavender and not enough Voldemort.

I can get past that. I think I feel that way only because I read the book, but my biggest problem with the film is the battle at Hogwarts (or lack of) at the end. There is a perfect opportunity to make a great piece of cinema if you just follow what was written. There is no excuse for it, especially since they made us wait an extra 9 months for the movie. The cave and inferi were well done, but when they get back to Hogwarts and everything seems nice and calm. Dumbledore doesn't freeze Harry under the invisibility cloak?!? Snape greets Harry before heading upstairs to kill him?!? Snape and company escape Hogwarts swiftly and calmly?!? NO FREAKING WAY! This actually made me so angry that I couldn't get to sleep very well afterward. How could they completely skip the epic battle inside Hogwarts? The lucky potion that keeps Hermione, Ron, and Ginny safe? There was no reason to omit it. It still makes me angry.

In this movie, Harry Potter has lost his magic. After 2 hours of character development (which isn't really needed because we've known these characters for 5 movies now) and snogging , we finally get a quick run of the wizarding world but it is just not epic. I want to read the book again to compensate, but does anyone want to buy a Harry Potter 6 blu ray/dvd combo? I can't watch a movie that makes me angry. 4/10
PS>I know this movie will have the Breaking Dawn effect where it just gets worse the more I think about it.
PSS>My biggest problem with reading the book before is I have a good idea of how it should be directed. I was probably too harsh because of this.
PSSS>I just read that David Yates is directing both parts of the 7th movie. I am no longer excited. How did he get this gig?
PSSSS>I wouldn't be surprised if he took out the escape from Grimgotts (because I love it so much)
PSSSSS>This is my second least favorite Harry Potter movie (with the 3rd being the worst)

Four Christmases

To get the Christmas mood, Jamie brought over this blu ray and I was pleasantly surprised. It makes itself out to be Meet the Parents times 4 but with funny and quotable lines, it surprised me how much I enjoyed it...even though it is not a very good movie. First of all, the families aren't even that weird (okay, well, I guess maybe it's because I'm a Newton). Second of all, the arc of the characters is predictable from the beginning. Third of all, even though family is the main point of the movie, marriage isn't and that erked me. Even though it is a very shallow film, it still had things to think about afterward (how scared people don't want to have kids. How love is know vulnerabilities, etc). Like I said, not the best movie of the year but served as an enjoyable night. Thanks Jamie! 6/10
PS>Few quotes from the movie:
"You can't spell families without the word lies."
"Woman, you get over here and swaddle this baby!"
PSS>Kids in Mind Meter:
Sex/Nudity: 6/10
Violence: 4/10
Profanity: 4/10

Astroboy

I took Tiego to see this movie with DJ Grubb, Alex, and Colvin. I didn't think much about it other than it is a kids movie, but it turned out NOT surprising me, because that's what it was...a kids movie. Astroboy has a lot going for it, but the story is cliche and the action is mediocre. Tiego loved it though and asked me many times after if he could be Astroboy. Worth a rent for the kids but not if you are watching it alone. 5/10
PS>Kids in Mind Meter
Sex/Nudity: 1/10
Violence: 4/10
Profanity: 1/10