Pain & Gain

This is a painful review of Michael Bay’s movie, “Pain and Gain” starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, and my one of my favorite actors of all time “Mark Wahlberg”.  

The movie is a true story that takes place between the years of 1994 – 1995 in Florida.  Mark Wahlberg plays Daniel Lugo a guy who wants to live the American Dream.  But his American Dream is working at Sun Gym as a trainer.  Sun Gym is run and operated by John Mese played by Rob Corddy.  Then, one day, Victor Kershaw who is played by Tony Shalhoub walks into the gym.  Victor is a self – made businessman with lots of money.  Victor is mean, snobby and he explains to Daniel how he got to be a wealthy man.  Daniel gets sick of living the same dull life and attends a motivational seminar with a speaker named Johnny Wu played by Ken Jeong.   Daniel get inspired listening to the speaker and then thinks of the craziest ideas ever by kidnapping and torturing Victor to him give him all of his money and assets.  And I mean everything!  But Daniel can’t do this alone and he asks his friend Adrian Doorball, played Anthony Mackie, who uses steroids in a special place (we won’t mention where).  Adrian agrees to help and Daniel also turns to Paul Doyle played by Dwayne Johnso.  Paul, bad idea,is a cocaine addict who just got out of prison and looks to religion for help in times in need.  Daniel and his gang kidnap Victor and the just of the movie gets haywire from there, with intense gruesome torture, stripers, drugs, lying, and secrets.  The movie also stars Rebel Wison as Robin Peck, Ed Harris as Ed DuBois, Michael Rispoli as Frank Griga, Kelli Lefkovitz as Krisztina Furton, and yes, Michael Bay directed the movie. 

The movie is based on a magazine articles and book “Pain and Gain” by Peter Collins.  I was so disappointed.  I really was!  I was watching and reading reviews about the movie and there were some negative reviews and this is definitely a negative review.  I was going to give this movie a chance, because it’s directed by Michael Bay, but this movie was horrible.  I was super excited because Mark Wahlberg was in the movie, but still, I was just disappointed.  I’m going to first talk about the stuff that I enjoyed.  I enjoyed the plot, Mark Wahlberg, and the cinematography.  The plot I really enjoyed and I liked the fact that it had some drama but the horror and the gruesome parts were definitely horrible.  I liked the idea of the movie since it’s a true story and the fact that it’s an original idea to make this type of movie.  The one character I liked the most was Mark’s character Daniel Lugo.  Mark Wahlberg means a lot to me.  He is a true inspiration and I love his work.   In this movie, he was pretty good and I liked his character since he was a bad guy, but I was routing for him so that he doesn’t get caught.  But, I think what held Mark back from the movie was the script.  I will get more into the script in a second, but I loved the cinematographer, Ben Seresin.  I loved all the bright colors.  It was the 90’s and everything was neon and each scene was loaded with bright colors which was awesome and it is what made the movie pop!  Now I will talk about the horrible, irritating and annoying things.  So where to start?  I will talk about the script first.  The screenplay was written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFelly who also wrote the movie, Captain America.  I loved Captain Amercia who is my favorite Avergers’s character.  But this script was really bad.  The some parts that were spoken sounded like the conversation wasn’t complete.  Just a terrible!  I hated the fact that the movie was all over the place, scrambled.  Some scenes felt like they weren’t finished and just didn’t feel complete/done.  Now some of the scenes made me feel very uncomfortable.  For example, one scene where Mark, Dwyane, and Anthony torture Tony’s character (Victor) in a warehouse where there’s sex toys.  There were scenes filmed in strip clubs and it gets worse, steroids are being injected into certain places of their bodies!  UGH!  I won’t say where, I’m trying to keep this at a “PG” level.  This made it very awkward when you are watching the movie with your Dad!  I want to talk about the camera work too.  The camera appeared very shaky at times.  I know they like to shake the camera to make a scene a little dramatic, but it was way too much!  Next let’s talk about the cast.  Everyone, expect Mark, was horrible.  Anothny Mackie’s character Adrain made me feel sick to watch and I couldn’t stand watching him.  I got tried of him being up on the screen.  His character made me think squirrels who were much smarter than him!  Dwayne’s character was so messed up it drove me crazy thinking that this movie was right movie for him.  Dwayne’s character was so messed in the head!  His charctaer (Paul) was involved with drugs and then turned to religion for help.  I just shake my head because the character was too complicated.  Ken Jeong wasn’t in the movie too much.  He just told people to be a “doer” and not a “don’ter”.  I don’t think Ken was very funny in this movie.  Now, if I can give an award to any supporting actress so far this year, it would be to Bay Paly.  Honey, stick to modeling.  This acting was terrible — OMG! Her character would not stop talking and that times I had no clue what she was talking about.  She gave me a headache.  Ugh! 

Now a message to Michael Bay,

Hey, Michael

Don’t mess up “Transformers 4”!  OK!  You have Mark in “Transformers 4” and I’m scared to see your next movie because, this movie was horrible.  HORRIBLE!!! How horrible?  I saw a guy walk out in the middle of the movie it was so horrible and my Dad won’t watch your movies anymore because he said this movie was “terrible”!  He told me that I better give this movie an “F”.  But I am not!  Look below for your grade Michael.

I give this movie a “D”

Scary Movie 5

Don’t be too scared!!  Actually, don’t be afraid to laugh!  This review is about “Scary Movie 5”.

Scary Movie 5 is a comedy making fun of horror movies and using pop culture to do it!  Ashley Tisdale plays Jody Sanders who has an idiotic boyfriend Dan, play by Simon Rex.  Dan is assigned custody to one of Charlie Sheen’s kids.  I won’t say why because  I don’t want to spoil it for you.  Jody and Dan take in Charlie Sheen’s 3 kids when Snoop Lion and Mac Miller found them in a cabin in the woods.  The kids are paranormal and attached to their dead mother, who they call “Mama”.  The story gets crazier when Jody and Dan move into a house that is suppose to be haunted.  They hire a wacko maid named Maria, played by Lidia Porto, to help take care of things in the house.  Maria believes in ghosts and spirits and believes the house is haunted.  Dan is busy working on a study about chimpanzees.  His boss Martin, played by Terry Crews, doesn’t have time to bond with the kids.  Jody auditions in a ballet performance of “Swan Lake” and gets the part as Swan Queen, but a jealous friend named Kendra Brooks, played by Erica Ash, wants the part and will do anything to get the part!  She becomes kind of friends with Jody and the friendship is nuttier than a bowl of peanuts and then the movie really gets loco!  The movie also stars Sarah Hyland as Mia, Tyler Posey as Peter, Bow Wow as Eric, Jerry O’ Connell as Christian Grey, Heather Locklear as Barbara Sanders, Usher as Ira (The Janitor) and also Snoop Lion and Mac Millier.  Yes, lots of celebrities and cameos and more celebrities with cameos, but I couldn’t list them all.  This movie was directed by Malcolm D. Lee. 

This movie is very crazy!  Some parts were very inappropriate which really should have made this movie rated “R’’, but let me talk about the movie.  The movie made fun of lots of other movies like “Mama”, “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”, “Evil Dead”, “The Black Swan”, “Inception” and lots of other movies.  But not only movies were made fun of, also the hit book series, “50 Shades of Grey” was also in the movie.  Now, if I see “50 Shades of Grey” being made fun of one more time, my head will start to spin.  I am not into the book series and annoyed its being fun of.  I really don’t think it’s very funny.  But movie review time.  The acting was bad.  My sister is going to hate me, but Ashley Tisdale was annoying.  I like her, but this is the wrong movie for her to be in.  I felt she was really over acting.  They also have Mac Miller and Snoop Lion but what I want to know is why are they in this movie?  Who put them in it?  But they were better than Charlie Sheen and Lindsay Lohan.  They were so terrible I just wanted to scream!  But I would also like to ask if Jerry O’ Connell if he has had any plastic surgery because he looks like he definitely has.  But the one actress that annoyed me the most was Erica Ash who played Kendra Brooks.  She was so lame and she tried to be funny, I laughed but I really didn’t want to.  I hope I never see her in any other films.  I actually liked Simon Rex.  He tried to be funny but I like the connection he had with Maria the nanny played by Lidia Porto.  Also, the pool cleaners were pretty funny, even though they weren’t actors.  They are actually every day pool cleaners.  If you saw the movie, you know what I mean.  The script was awful and was written by Pat Proft and David Zucker.  I don’t know who they were so I looked them up and found out they were two old guys.  Old men wrote this!  Grandpa’s wrote this!  Grandpa’s who wrote a scene in the movie about “50 Shades of Grey”!  Finally, the director, Malcolm D. Lee did a terrible job.  I felt like he rushed making the movie and there was lots of pressure because another movie “A Haunted House” came out this year and that was about a comedy in a haunted house and I heard at first this movie was suppose to be a haunted house movie.  So the movie didn’t want to be a copy-cat.  Also, the movie poster is wrong because if you look at the poster, the loud mouth teddy bear “Ted” is on the poster.  Ted was not in the movie.  I was a little disappointed he wasn’t, but yet he is on the poster!  I really don’t have too much else to say but that Malcolm D. Lee gets two thumbs down!  Let’s hope they don’t start any ideas about making a “Scary Movie 6”.  I recommend you watch this movie only once.  When it comes out on DVD don’t buy it.  When it comes out on Demand rent it, but then don’t watch it ever again.  Unfortunately, it will end up being in my DVD collection because my sister likes Ashley Tisdale. 

I give this movie “D-”

Disconnect

This movie review is going to be different from all the other reviews I’ve done in the past.  I am so lucky to be part of the “NY Film Critic Series”.  This program is awesome, I get to see movies before they come out in theaters and also getting to meet of a lot of new friends, directors and producers of the movies.  Like who you ask?  Well, I got to meet one of my favorite movie critics ever, an awesome critic who has inspired me to write and critique my own reviews, the wonderful Peter Travers from “Rolling Stones” magazine and from his fantastic show “Popcorn” and “At The Movies With Peter Travers”.  Last week, I had the outstanding pleasure of meeting David Edelstein from the ”CBS Morning Show” and he has also written numerous articles for “Vanity Fair” magazine, “The New York Times” and other very well known, trendy magazines.  Now its movie review time!  This review is about the newest thriller “Disconnect”.  Please, read on to learn how the movie tries to “connect”. 

The movie revolves around three different stories all dealing with the struggles that we are all dealing with in the new generation of the world wide web and how it affects our lives.  As the first movie begins, it takes you in a very dark house where you see a very handsome, sexy teen named Kyle, played by Max Thieriot.  He’s walking around with packages giving them to the other teens in the house.  There’s drugs and smoke that fills the air in the house.  Why??  Be ready for this!  The teenagers are not just regular teens, they’re runaway teens that make a living working on an underage chat-room website.  The ringleader of the chat-room is a man named Harvey, played by fashion designer Marc Jacobs.  That’s what their job entails and the get paid money or exorbitant gifts to do this.  When a news reporter, Nina Dunham played by Andrea Riseborough, wants to report on the life of underage chat-rooms, she chooses Kyle has her target to do her reporting.  Kyle agrees to do the news report as long as no one else finds out about it. 

The second story opens with a guy, 15-year old Ben Boyd, played by Jonah Boo skateboarding around the mall.  Ben likes to write and play music.  At this point, you then find out there are two guys planning to bully and harass him.  Jason Dixon, played by Colin Ford, and Frye, played by Aviad Bernstein, two teens that like to mess around and pull pranks on kids and people.  Jason and Avaid get together and decide to choose their next target to mess with, Ben.  In the beginning they think it’s going to be a harmless, little prank.  The prank?  The teens decide to open a fake Facebook account under the name Jessica Rhony and talk to Ben to reveal any information and secrets that they can tease him with.  Basically, it is considered “catfishing” or “cyberbullying”.  Ben has a great family that cares about him a lot.  Now, suddenly they are forced to face this tragic event together.  Hope Davis plays his mother, Lydia Boyd and Haley Ramm plays Ben’s older sister, Abby Boyd, along with Jason Bateman who plays Ben’s father who is a lawyer named Rich Boyd.  Rich has grown attached to his phone and you never see him without it being busy with business and every day life, as we all are. 

The third story is opens with a married, down in the dumps couple.  Cindy Hull, the wife, played by Paula Patton and Derek Hull the husband, is played by Alexandar Skarsgård.  Cindy is home working and talking on the computer with an online support group.  She about how to deal with situations and compares their difficult lives to hers.  She talks about serious deaths and how her husband and her are not connecting any more even though they both know they deeply love each other.  Derek goes away on a business trip and during his spare time he enjoys playing/gambling card games on the computer.  Derek looses a game but wants to keep playing and decides to charge his credit card, fills out the personal information and finds out it the card is declined and that’s where their trouble begins.  Cindy and Derek go to the police for help, but unfortunately they were not much help except to find out that their personal identity has been stolen.  Not knowing where to turn, they hire Mike Dixon, played by Frank Grillo, who is a widowed, former police investigator and now a computer crime investigator and the father of one of the bullies from the first movie, Jason Dixon.  The movie suddenly turns into a chaotic thriller.   It blows you away to see if the movie has a connection or disconnect!!  Riveting, breathtaking — you be the judge!  The director of the movie is Henry Alex Rubin who did a fantastic job!

This movie will definitely change the way you will search, work and input information onto the internet.  Right now, “Disconnect” has moved up the list to be one of my all-time favorites and one of the most powerful movies I have seen for 2013.  I totally enjoyed this movie! Now, lets talk about the director, Henry Alex Rubin.  I have been so fortunate to meet Mr. Rubin recently and was the first actual director I ever met.  He was such a nice and really great guy to talk to.  Did you know he directed “Burger King”, “Coke Cola”, and “Dominos” TV commercials too!  WOW!  Now he was so lucky to direct Jason Bateman and Paula Patton in this terrific movie.  For his first feature length film, he proved to be extremely talented and I think has a huge future ahead him.  I can’t wait to see his other up and coming films like his documentary “Murderball”.  Now, lets look at the acting.  Everyone’s acting was perfect and you could feel that pain and suffering each character was dealing with.  It makes it hard for me to choose my favorite actor or actress in this movie.  Jason Bateman was awesome, great to see him in this movie.   We know him as the “funny guy” and now it was a different role for him, and he was great!!  Now I can really embrace him as a serious, outstanding actor and so talented.  The young boy, played by Jonah Boo, is also very talented playing the victim of cyber-bullying.  Max Thieriot is also amazing and I’m not just talking about his looks.  Max is really awesome and I also loved him in the movie “House at the End of Street”.  But I have to admit he really shines in this movie, “Disconnect”.  I am shocked “Disconnect” hasn’t been mentioned around Oscar season.  I am praying for next year’s Oscar’s because it’s a really good/great movie and has the potential of winning an Oscar.  If it doesn’t win any Oscars or any other awards, it wins an Oscar in my heart!  The scriptwriter of the movie was Andre Stern.  What a magnificent writer!  The dialogue was perfect.  Every line said by the characters took my breath away.  What really caught my attention, the climax of the movie, was when everything comes together and happens all at once.  The scene is just stunning and beautiful at the same time.  That’s when my eyes were stapled to the screen.  The cinematographer, Ken Seng, did a great job of capturing it all.  It was truly an amazing scene.  The movie had a great message teaching you to be careful what you post and how powerful and fascinating the internet could be.  I think this movie should be shown in to high schools across the country, not only for the cyber-bullying but how to be cautious and make you aware of the chat rooms, personal information and identity theft that you are susceptible to.  Some of the scenes are very graphic and inappropriate but overall the movie really gets the important parts across to the viewer.  Exploring, using and working on the internet is a whole new world and it has changed the way I look at it now.  I’m going to “disconnect” from this review now and you should definitely connect yourself to see this fantastic movie, you will not regret it!! 

I give this movie an “A+”!!

“The Incredible Burt Wonderstone”

“The Incredible Burt Wonderstone” is one of the latest movies out now starring Steve Carrell. Steve Carrel is the famous Burt Wonderstone and his partner in crime is Steve Buscemi who plays Anton Marvelton, both magicians since childhood. Burt and Aton headline a show in Las Vegas at Bally’s that is owned by Doug Munny played by James Gandlfini. Burt and Anton want to be the best magicians they can be with amazing cool tricks that blow your mind. But soon there is competition when Steve Gray played by Jim Carey enters into the spotlight. Steve is doing far more amazing magic acts that make Burt and Anton very jealous. However, the magic tricks that Steve Gray are doing are very insane. One gross trick is Steve pulling a card out of his cheek where he slices open his skin. Another crazy trick is holding his urine for more than 7 days. ABSOLUTELY GROSS! But the tension rises when Burt and Anton create a new magic trick called “The Hot Box”. Burt and Anton plan to stay in “The Hot Box” at least a week. Unfortunately, Burt can only stay in the box for 20 minutes. FAIL! Anton gets very angry with Burt that leads Anton to make the decision to quit their magic show. Things get worse for Burt when he is fired from his job at Bally’s due to horrible ticket sales. Oliva Wilde plays Jane who also is inspired to be a magician and decides she wants to help Burt during this tough time. Burt refuses because Jane is a girl. After being turned down from numerous job interviews, Burt has nowhere to turn but a nursing home looking for a magician, someone to entertain the seniors. Burt ends up meeting his childhood hero and famous magician Rance Holloway. Burt finds out Doug Munny (owner of Bally’s) is opening a new hotel and he needs a new act. Burt wants the job desperately but Doug really doesn’t want to give it to Burt, but to Steve because he is afraid of ticket sales. Doug comes up with a competition to have both magicians go head-to-head. What will happen? The movie also stars Jay Mohr as Rick the Implausible, Brad Garrett as Dom, a lawyer, and with a special appearance from the famous, David Cooperfield. Also, the movie was directed by Don Scardino. I went somewhat excited to see this movie, but was a little disappointed. Why? This was kind of a movie you would rather rent on DVD or order on demand. I like to be surprised when I watch movies. This movie did surprise me very much. Now, let’s talk about the cast. I really liked watching Steve Buscemi. Steve played Anton Marvelton. He was very funny and was the one character who made laugh the most because he acted like a awkward, strange, odd ball. Alan Arkin was very funny as well and is a great actor who is excellent in comedies and dramas. Alan played Rance Holloway, the very talented former magician. I feel it was great that Alan was part of the movie because the movie was the steak, but Alan bought the sizzle!! Alan Arkin and Steve Carrell have been a in a couple of movies together like “Get Smart” and “Little Miss Sunshine”. It was awesome to see Alan and Steve team up again. Jim Carey was my least favorite character in the movie, he plays Steve Gray. This now happens to be my least favorite Jim Carey movie. Jim Carey is super strange and very weird. I am talking about the character not Jim Carey himself. I felt like Jim was trying way to hard portraying his character. Some of the lines Jim said in the movie didn’t sound right when he was saying them. I hate to be mean, but I think Ben Stiller shouldn’t have considered Carey as the character Steve Gray. If you really want to see very good Jim Carey movie, I suggest you rent “Yes Man” or “Bruce Almighty”. I was disappointed about the director, Don Scardino. Don is very used to directing TV episodes and shows like “2 Broke Girls”, “Law and Order”, “Royals Pains” and many other things on TV. I was wondering why New Line Cinema, through Warner Brothers chose Don to direct the film. I hate to be rude, but I think Don was probably thinking he was directing a big TV movie with a $30 million budget. Well, this wasn’t a TV movie and yes there was a $30 million budget, but he did mange to direct one good scene. It’s a birthday party scene and I won’t go into full detail because I don’t want to give away any spoilers. I think the beginning of the movie had a weird opening that was a little slow and directed kind of strange and the ending was rushed which I hated. So, I have nothing else to say, so this magical review is over.

I give this movie a “C+”

Here is a funny movie link to one of my favorite movie reviewers “Vash and Justin” Follow them on YouTube and check them out they are hilarious!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2wE9wCgjsE

The Oz The Great and Powerful

This week’s review is Disney’s lastest new flick “Oz”.  Check out why you should follow the yellow brick road to see the movie.

“The Great and Powerful Oz” (Oscar Diggs) played by James Franco, isn’t so powerful in the movie.  Actually, Oscar is part of a traveling circus and he isn’t very nice to people.  At times he can be really mean to his friends and he’s also a womanizer!  Oscar is a magician and during one of his so-called clever magic tricks he ran into a problem that went to far.  To get away from the situation Oscar jumps into a hot air balloon.  The balloon takes him on the ride of his life especially when he gets caught in a tornado.  When the balloon finally lands, he finds himself in the land of Oz where he meets Theodora, a witch, played by Mila Kunis.  Theodora thinks Oscar is “The Great and Powerful Oz” and when he tells her he has no clue who “The Great and Powerful Oz” is or why he is needed there, she doesn’t believe him.  Now, just a reminder, Oscar only knows how to do magic tricks from performing in a circus, but Theodora thinks he can do real magic.  Theodora tells Oscar that Glinda, another witch, played by Michelle Williams, killed her father and was forced to leave the kingdom.  Evora, another witch, has had very suspicious feelings that Oscar really isn’t the wizard that Theodora thinks he is, but Theodora still has faith in him.  Now, Oscar finally admits to being the wizard, but feels guilty that he lied, but not so guilty when he finds out he is going to receive tons of gold and the throne to the land of Oz.  Here is the catch…he must destroy Glinda’s magic wand in order to receive this!  So, Oscar sets out on a mission with the help of a monkey named Finley, played by Zach Braff, and a little China Girl, yeah I know, that’s really her name…seriously, played by Joey King.  The story continues it gets crazy and wicked.  The movie also stars Bill Cobbs as Master Tinkerer and Tony Cox as Knuck the Fanfare Player.  The movie was brilliantly directed by Sam Raimi. 

I looooooved this movie!  It was great!  But, before I get into detail why I loved the movie so much, here’s a quick note.  The movie is a prequel to the MGM movie, “The Wizard of Oz”.  Now, I saw this movie with all of my friends and I told them I waited 3 years for the movie to finally come out.  I know what you thinking. – you are insane!  Yeah, thanks!  But, I don’t really care I loved the movie!  Now why did I like the movie so much?  Actually, I didn’t like it I loved it because the movie made me feel like a little kid again.  It’s a sweet and charming movie with tons of shocking and fun surprises.  Oh my!  So far a few critics didn’t like the movie.  That really disappoints me, but if you don’t know Grace from the YouTube show, “Beyond The Trailer” she really liked it.  I will post a video link so you can see her review.  I also agree with a few things that she said about the movie.  For me, I enjoyed the cast, the special effects, director and costumes – everything!!  James Franco played a great Oz.  I really enjoyed watching him in a family flick, I always catch him in crazy films.  I love him as an actor, but now I love him even more.  In the movie Franco was a sleazy jerk, but in the end of the movie he changed into a new man that proved to be a kind, brave person.  Did you know that when the cast was being picked, Robert Downey, Jr. was considered for the part of Oz.  Also, Sam Mendes and Adam Shankman were going to direct the flick.  Robert Downey turned down the roll, and Sam and Adam never ended up directing the movie.  Johnny Deep was asked, but at the time he was working on another Disney movie which will be out later this year called, ‘The Lone Ranger”.  The part went to James Franco and I think the movie is one of the greatest roles of all time.  Mila Kunis, Michelle Williams and Rachel Weisz played three beautiful witches, nothing like the 1939 movie when Billie Burke and Margaret Hamilton played the evil and good witches in original “The Wizard Of Oz”.  Mila Kunis plays Theodora and had the edge where she was so cool and believable.  I think she too played her part very well.  Plus, her hair was stunning!  Michelle Williams was gorgeous, she plays Glinda, a warmhearted witch.  Michelle brightens the screen with positive energy and she is definitely full of life.  Rachel Weisz plays Evora, a sassy and despicable witch.  Rachel, you can tell from the poster, is plays the wicked witch.  Zach Braff really shows his funny side as a monkey named Finley.  I remember Zach playing Chicken Little in the 2005 movie “Chicken Little”.  That was a family movie and this movie is the new family film to add to his resume.  Zach was funny and just charming to watch.  Plus he was sooo cute!  Sam Raimi directed the film and he is known for directing the “Spiderman” triglogy.  So, I think it was awesome to see James and Sam team up again.  Sam had a terrific mind to make the movie black and white to start, with moving objects for the opening credits.  If you have seen it, you know what I am talking about.  I think it was cool for Sam to become the director because he really does a great job making decisions for the movie.  I was very impressed.  Great Job Sam and The Whole Cast!  Let’s talk special effects  —  I saw the movie in 3D, it was so mind-blowing!!  The pictures/graphics were so cool with all the objects in 3D.  It looked like they were right in your face! Now, a whole cool group of people worked on the special effects and bunch a people that worked very hard on the film to make it have that magical SPARK.  Then, the visual effects people also did a wonderful job.  I will put a full link, if you want, to see how great everyone did on the movie.  So, lets move on — I applaud you, visual and special effects people.  Costume designer for the film was Gary Jones who did a great job!  I loved how he designed Theodora’s outfit for the movie.  The big red hat, the red satin jacket and the black pants.  I don’t know why I really liked it, but it was very pretty.  I also loved how he designed Glinda’s outfit.  The big white dress is absolutely stunning, it really took my breath away, especially when Glinda appeared on screen, the dress was magical.  So let’s end this review of the movie and all I can say is that I can’t wait for part 2. 

So go travel to your local theater to see the Land of Oz.  I suggest you see it in 3D.

I give this movie “A+”!!!! 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1623205/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qbD5mQ2NBg

Identity Thief

When I read the reviews for this movie, I was a little disappointed because they were very mixed.  I saw the movie and happened to really enjoy it! 

Jason Bateman plays “Sandy Patterson” and Melissa McCarthy also plays “Sandy Patterson”!!!  Funny how they both have the same name!!  Melissa McCarthy plays Diana who ends up stealing the real “Sandy Patterson’s” identity.   In a phony telephone conversation, the real Sandy gives Diana personal information, and that is where everything changes.  Diana uses Sandy’s name to get fake credit cards to buy glamorous clothes, games, cars anything she can get her hands on including massages, manicures, etc.  Sandy does not know that, until he gets in trouble for missing a court date because his credit card was charged and the store pressed charges and the cops come to his new job to arrest him.  Actually, what I should say is that Diana missed the court date.  But as the movie goes on, things get worse for the real Sandy when the cops think he is selling drugs.  The cops in Florida, because that is where Diana/Sandy is from, get a mug shot of Diana using Sandy’s name.  After the real Sandy sees the mug shot of the fake Sandy, his new boss gives him one week to clean things up or he will lose his new job. There is one problem Sandy lives in Colorado and Diana/Sandy lives in Florida.  Sandy ‘s wife Trish, played by Amanda Peet, agrees that he should go to Florida and try to straighten this out.  What will happen?  Check out the movie, it is so funny!  The movie also stars Maggie Grace Smith as Jesse Patterson, Eric Stonestreet as Big Chuck, Rapper T.I. who plays Julian, Genesis Rodriguez who plays Mariso, and finally Robert Patrick plays Skiptracer.  The movie was directed by Seth Gordon and I think he did an awesome job!!  

Seth Gordon is a great and funny director.  If you didn’t know Seth, he has directed films like “Horrible Bosses” which also stars Jason Bateman.  It was really epic to see Jason and Seth team up again.  Seth also directed “Four Christmas” which I always love to watch at Christmas.  But anyway, let’s move on!  The movie is great comedy and especially terrific to watch with your friends.  I love comidys because they are  always great to get a good laugh.  I especially liked the chemistry between Melissa and Jason had.  They had a very sweet/sour bond.  Diana is full energy while poor Sandy is trying to stay calm, cool and focused.  The real Sandy and Diana have to drive from Florida to Colorado - I wouldn’t mind driving in a car with a guy that had eyes like that!!!  Diana is a sweet character but is really the bad guy in the movie, but I can tell you she is one of the most funniest and nicest criminals ever!  There is also a lot of car chases which are so very funny.  It’s a great date movie because it’s both action and comedy.  The script is very well written.  Great Job to Craig Mazin who wrote the screenplay and also to Jerry Eeten who wrote the story, which I have to say, is a very funny story/movie.  Some of the scenes were a little awkward, but the funniest and most awkward was the hotel scene, sooo funny!!!  I won’t say anymore, but I think you should just check it out.  One more quick note, when it comes to awards you could probably see this movie being nominated for a few MTV Movie Awards and maybe at next year’s People’s Choice Awards too!  One more thing, I can’t wait to see, “The Heat” it’s another Melissa McCarthy movie where she partners up with Sandra Bullock.  That comes out this summer!

I give this movie an “A”!!!

Silver Linings Playbook

Silver Linings Playbook is about Patrizio “Pat Jr.” Solitano who is played by Bradley Cooper.  Pat suffers from a bipolar disorder.  Pat’s mom Dolores Solitano played by Jacki Weaver and Patrizio “Pat Sr.” Solitano played by Robert De Niro make a difficult decision and decided to release Pat Jr. from the mental health facility he was in so they could take care of him.  Pat’s father lost his job and now wants to open a restaurant.  The reason behind Pat Jr. being in the mental health facility was because he found his wife Nikki, played by Brea Bee, naked and in the shower with another man who Pat Jr. beats to death.  Now back to the story!  All the time Pat Jr. spent in the facility he believed and hoped he would get his wife back, that she would understand why he did what he did.  After getting out Pat Jr. finds out Nikki has sold their house and moved away and also that he lost his job.  Nikki also filed a restraining order against Pat Jr. which had him really upset.  According to his release papers from the mental facility, Pat Jr. has to meet weekly with a therapist, Dr. Patel, played by Anupam Kehr.  Pat Jr. was also instructed to continue his medications, which he feels he does not need anymore.  During their marriage, Nikki always wanted Pat to lose weight, but he never did.  While in the hospital, Pat Jr. finds that he is very relaxed by jogging/running and working out.  After he gets home, Pat Jr. keeps working out and during one of his workouts runs into Ronnie, an old friend of his played by John Ortiz, who is really happy to see Pat Jr. and invites him over for dinner.  Pat Jr. shows up and meets Ronnie’s sister-in-law, Tiffany, played by Jennifer Lawrence, who also suffers from mental health issues.  Tiffany is widowed and even after a few small arguments they have they manage to become friends.  The movie also stars Chris Tucker as Danny McDaniels, Julia Stiles as Veronica Maxwell, and Dash Mihok as Officer Keogh.  “Silver Linings Playbook” was directed by the one of the most talented directors ever, David O. Russell.  

“Silver Linings Playbook” is based on the book written by Matthew Quick, which I didn’t read.  I alwaystry to read the book first before the movie comes out.  I really liked this movie and love the fact that David O. Russell made this movie for his son to show him that he is not alone suffering from bipolar disorder.  The movie is very different from all of the romantic/drama comedies that I have seen in the past. David did a terrific job directing the film and the cast is just truly amazing!  Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence & Robert De Niro were GREAT/TERRIFIC!.  With the Oscars a day away, I think it’s a very hard decision, Bradley Cooper, Hugh Jackman & Daniel Day Lewis are all being nominated for best actor, but I absolutely love all three actors and the movies they are in.  Bradley Cooper was terrific and I never saw this side of him.  Usually we see Bradley in movies like Wedding Crashers and The Hangover that are all great and funny movies, but this movie is different.  In one part of the movie, Pat Jr. (Bradley Cooper) wakes up in the middle of the night screaming, yelling, looking for his wedding video.  Seeing him on the screen I could feel the pain and frustration Pat Jr. was feeling when he could not find the wedding video.  Believe me, Bradley did a wonderful job and from what I understand he actually studied bipolar disorder so he would really be able to understand and play/act the part and I must say he was awesome!  Now, I believe Jennifer Lawrence will be getting an Oscar for her role as Tiffany.  I first thought Jessica Chastain was going to get the Oscar, but I believe in Jennifer Lawrence all the way!!!  Jennifer’s character, Tiffany, is a strong and powerful woman.  Tiffany is a widowed, young woman who lost her job after having sex with her other co-workers.  In the movie she tells Bradley she wants to compete in a dance competition and black-mails Pat Jr. to be her partner and after some discretion he agrees.  I won’t say why he agrees, because the movie is so good you have got to go and see it.  The character Jennifer portraits is so good.  Jennifer worked very hard and I am very happy she won for best actress at the SAG and best actress again at the Golden Globes.  I have a very strong feeling Jennifer will win for best actress in this role.  The whole cast is just truly amazing and I hope it wins lots of awards.  The choreographer, Mandy Moore, for the hit TV show, “So You Think You Can Dance”, is the choreographer for the movie.  She did a terrific job teaching and creating the dances for Jennifer and Bradley.  

This movie isn’t Silver the movie is true GOLD!!!

This movie gets an “A+” Great Job!!!

Oscars Oscars Oscars

Oscar nominations came out this past Thursday.  This year I am kind of happy with the nominations, but also a little disappointed, so I am starting a new section in my blog where I will post some of the Oscar nominations and give my opinion of who I see and not see getting a nomination.  Now, let’s get started!

Best Motion Picture of the Year

* “Amour”

* “Argo”

* “Beast of the Southern Wild”

* “Django Unchained”

* “Les Miserables”

* “Life of Pi”

* “Lincoln”

* “Silver Linings Playbook”

* “Zero Dark Thirty”

My prediction for the Best Motion Picture of the Year Award goes to

“Django Unchained” or “Les Miserables” 

Why?  Django is fantastic, fun and wild all wrapped up in one!  It’s an awesome western movie with tons of drama and action-packed scenes, but also has some laughs. The movie also is deals with the horrors of slavery during that time in history.  “Les Miserables” is all singing and just singing.  I cried throughout the whole movie.  The movie is intense and makes you feel the pain and suffering all the characters deal with.  Both cast are amazing and I believe it either or movie deserves a “Best Picture” award.  Quentin Tarantino did a great job directing the movie and so did Tom Hopper.  The both movies are captivating/sensational!!  

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

* Bradley Cooper for “Silver Linings Playbook”

* Daniel Day-Lewis for “Lincoln”

* Hugh Jackman for “Les Miserables”

* Joaquin Phoenix for “The Master”

* Denzel Washington for “Flight”

My prediction for the Best Performance by an Actor should go to: 

Hugh Jackman for “Les Miserables” or Daniel Day Lewis for “Lincoln” 

Why?  Daniel Day Lewis and Hugh Jackman made my jaw drop in both movie.  He played an awesome Abraham Lincoln, so realistic!  My feeling is that many of the critics will expect him to receive an award and I can’t agree more!  I also could stop crying everything that Hugh did in the movie made me cry.  I loved it so much. 

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

* Jessica Chastain for “Zero Dark Thirty”

* Jennifer Lawrence for “Silver Linings Playbook”

* Emmanuelle Riva for “Amour”

* Quvenzhane Wallis for “Beasts of Southern Wild”

* Naomi Watts for “The Impossible”

Now I think the award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role should go to:

Jessica Chastain for “Zero Dark Thirty” 

Why:  She is a very talented actress, she sparkles and has so much spunk!  I loved her performance in “The Help” and I think it’s time she deserves an award.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

* Alan Arkin for “Argo”

* Robert De Niro for “Silver Linings Playbook”

* Phillip Seymour Hoffman for “The Master”

* Tommy Lee Jones for “Lincoln”

* Christoph Waltz for “Django Unchained” 

Now, I think the award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role should go to one of the following (they were all great!):

Alan Arkin for “Argo”

Tommy Lee Jones for “Lincoln”

 or

 Christoph Waltz for “Django Unchained” 

Why:  I can’t seem to choose one of these nominations because I love them all so much!  I will be so happy if one of my 3 choices wins.  Actually, I do hope the winner will be Christoph Waltz.  I also think Leonardo DiCaprio should get an award for “Django Unchained”.  Even though both actors, Christoph and Leonardo are in the same movie, I think Leonardo deserves an award too.  Let’s hope he gets an award at the Golden Globes that would be great! 

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

* Amy Adams for “The Master”

* Sally Field for “Lincoln”

* Anne Hathaway for “Les Miserables”

* Helen Hunt for “The Sessions”

* Jacki Weaver for “Silver Linings Playbook”

Now, I think the award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role should go to:

Anne Hathaway for “Les Miserables”

Why: Anne Hathaway will most likely be the actress to receive this award.  Anne put so much of herself into this movie, cut her hair, lost a lot of weight for the part she played, it’s insane.  Even when she had to sing live for the movie you see her portrait her part so well it’s…OMG!  What can I say she was awesome! 

Now Finally I am very upset in this Best Director Category

* Michael Haneke for “Amour”

* Benh Zeitlin for “Beasts of the Southern Wild”

* Ang Lee for “Life of Pi”

* Steven Spielberg for “Lincoln”

* David O. Rusell for “Silver Linings Playbook” 

Now, I totally think best Director should go to:

Steven Spielberg for “Lincoln” 

Why: I loved the movie “Lincoln” and I love Steve Spielberg, he’s a fantastic director.  I believe he really should take the award.  Now, I am very upset Quentin Taratino Ben Affleck and Tom Hopper were not nominated, but I am very happy Steven Speilberg was nominated, he did a great job directing “Lincoln”. 

Now to end this, I looked at the positives.  Some other fantastic movies that were nominated too like Skyfall, The Hobbit, and even Ted, lets see where they end up and what types of awards they may take home!  So, I look forward to the Oscars, but let’s hope they make me smile.  One reason is because Seth MacFarlane is hosting the show!  I will also post a video link to one of my favorite movie guys, Peter Travers. 

Congrats to all the Nominees!  One last thing “Damn You Oscars”!!!!!

watch to see what I mean

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vA5JsjA4AZc

“Les Miserables” I dreamed the dream and saw the movie!  Lol if you get the joke J. This week’s review is, “Les Miserables”.  Picture the movie, it’s 1815 Hugh Jackman plays Jean Valijean who had been just released from prison on parole.  Russell Crowe plays Javert, a prison guard and is the guard who released Jean from prison.  Jean wants to change his way of life so he changes his identity, but Javert wants to put Jean back in prison.  But time goes on, Fantine, who is played by Anne Hathaway, works as a factory worker sewing clothes and working to send money to her secret daughter Cosette.  Young Cosette, Fantine’s daughter, played by Isabella Allen is terrific.  Cosette lives in a crazy, loony house where Mr. and Mrs. Thenarider live.  Sacha Baron Cohen, Mr. Thenarider, Helena Bonham Carter, Mrs. Thenarider and their daughter Eponine played by Natalya Angel Wallace take care of Cosette but treat her horribly.  This story continues when Fantine loses her job, the other women made fun of her when they found out she had a secret daughter.  Losing her job she becomes a prostitute because it is the only way she can make money to send for the care of her daughter.  At this point Jean has changed his identity and is the owner of the factory where Fantine worked and he is also the mayor of Montreuil-sur-Mer.  But trouble strikes when Fantine gets attacked by a man and gets arrested by Javert.  Fantine contracts a disease from the man that attacked her and is dying.  Jean sees Fantine and wants to help her, brings her to a hospital where she dies.  As the story continues Fantine’s daughter Cosette, now played by Amanda Seyfried, grows up.  Eponine grows up as well and is played by Samantha Barks.  There is also a very handsome young man in the movie, Marius Pontmercy, played by Eddie Redmayne.  The movie was directed by Tom Hooper who I think did a great job.  It is extremely hard to write this review because this movie just takes my breath away.  I cried sooooooo much it’s not even a joke.  I started to cry when Jean Valjean goes off to rescue young Cosette (Isabella Allen) and promises Cosette he will treat her like a father.  From then on, I continued to cry like a baby, sobbing at some parts of the movie!  Now let’s get to the movie.  I don’t know where to start first.  Okay, the actors.  The cast is talented, gifted, outstanding and have perfect and amazing singing voices.  The men in this movie…handsome!  But except for Sacha Baron Cohen, sorry he isn’t the most good looking one and I know I’m being harsh. When the actors were acting, I could feel the pain and sorrow they were feeling.  The death scenes were the worst, you could see the characters in the movie you grow to love and watch them die, it is sop depressing.  All the actors in the movie had to make tons of changes to their bodies.  Anne Hathaway lost an amazing 25 pounds and if you know already had to cut her hair for the part of Fantine.  Hugh Jackman had lost 30 pounds for his part as Jean Valijean.  I also could not get over the fact that everyone had to sing live.  It was incredible and beautiful at the same time.  Award season it has been tough.  I have talked about Lincoln, Argo, Django Unchained being wonderful films.  This movie raises the bar.  It’s very hard to pick a winner, but “Les Miserables” has won tons of awards so far.  The movie won 3 Golden Globes, 3 awards at the Hollywood Film Festival and now is nominated for 4 SAG awards.  It’s now nominated for 8 Oscars too!  The filming was incredible and each shot and frame was perfect.  There is an awesome scene where Hugh Jackman is on top of a hill with the most amazing sunset behind him over a mountain.  Tom Hooper did the most perfect job with this movie!  When Hopper did the movie, “The King’s Speech” I thought it was just okay.  Some parts were boring and the movie seemed to drag on, but “Les Miserables” was flowed nice and smooth and was done so perfectly like a masterpiece painting.  If you haven’t guessed yet, I grade this movie “A+” 

Django Unchained

I’m very excited to write this review on Quentin Tarantino’s newest movie, “Django Unchained”.  Take a minute and read on why I waited for 2½ years to see this incredible movie!

Jamie Foxx stars as Django, a slave separated from his wife Broomhilda, played by Kerry Washington.  At the time both were sold to different buyers at a slave auction.  Dr. King Schultz, played by Christoph Waltz, is a German dentist turned bounty hunter and frees Django.  Schultz needs Django’s help, but not just any help, he needs help finding the “Brittle” brothers.  The Brittle brothers are three brothers working on a plantation who’s owner sold Django’s wife Broomhilda.  They sold her to Leonardo DiCaprio who plays the evil Calvin Candie.  Schultz agrees to help Django and they head to Candyland to try to find and free Broomhilda.  When Schultz and Django get to Candyland they meet up with Calvin and Stephen.  Samuel L. Jackson plays Stephen who is one of Candie’s slaves and believes there is something strange with Schultz and Django.  He also thinks Django and Broomhilda somehow know each other from the past.  The movie also stars Laura Cayouette as Lara Lee Candie-Fitzwilly, Walton Goggins as Billy Crash, and James Remar as Butch Pooch.  The movie was brilliantly directed by Quentin Tarantino. 

OMG! OMG! I loved this movie!!  This movie is great with a perfect story, cast, director, everything!  And did I mention how perfect it is?  Anyway, back to the exceptional movie!  I have to say there is blood and violence, pretty graphic blood and violence, but I have to say forget the bloody/violent scenes, the plot/story is outstanding!  I have to admit, I haven’t seen a western movie in a long time, actually if I think about, I really never saw a western movie!  I do have to say, I really loved this story of how the main character (Django) will do anything to get the girl of his dreams back with him.  Dr. King Schultz shares a German legend with Django of how a young girl got stuck in a tall tower with no way out and a dragon circulating around the tower.  Schultz tells Django the young girl finally is saved by a young man who kills the dragon and wins her heart.  How Romantic is that!!  But the on-screen story that Django goes though is almost exactly what Dr. Schultz told Django, Django being the young man and saves the Broomhilda, the young girl.  Also in the film you see certain characters and how everyone gets treated, especially the people who play slaves in the movie.  I know I learned a lot about slavery in history class and saw movies about slavery, but the movie portraits how harsh slavery actually was back then.  In one scene Kerry Washington, Broomhilda, was forced to show how injured and scared her back was from being whipped.  It was sad to see the pain and torture people had to go though.  Now, time to talk about the most talented group of cast members I have ever seen.  Jamie, Leo, Kerry, Samuel, and Christoph all a perfect cast to this amazing movie who make the movie come to life.  Seeing them on screen makes you want to be in the film.  I don’t have a favorite character in the film, I LOVED them all, but I do have a favorite villain, Leonardo DiCaprio!  DiCaprio plays Calvin J. Candie who is sensational/thrilling and has to be one of my favorite actors of all time.  Jamie, who you know of course plays Django, is also terrific, the entire cast is.  The cast makes the movie fun and exciting you can’t take your eyes off of the screen.  I see tons of awards and now they are nominated for 5 golden globes and 5 Oscars.  Congrats to everyone!   Now, I can finally talk about the brilliant man who created this masterpiece, Quentin Tarantino!  Amazingly, it took Tarantino 13 years to create this film, and I have waited so long to see it, about 2 ½ years but felt like forever.  Crazy right?  But waiting this long was well worth it.  Tarantino did a fantastic job.

“A+++” I officially put this movie in my top 10 favorite films of all time!!