Movies
Unstoppable Fails to be UniqueHollywood seems to have a false perception that all movies based on a true story are guaranteed gold. While it is true that some of history's best films were based on actual events (Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan, Patch Adams, etc.) it's a unique film that truly shines the way these have. Unstoppable lacks that unique quality. The acting is satisfactory, however I expected more stellar performances from A-list actors such as Denzel Washington. Although I don't really blame the actors, it's more the characters and the way they were written.
When it comes to emotional films based on true stories the way characters are built is extremely important because it's the viewer's ability to connect with the characters and feel for them that makes the film more real. However, the characters in Unstoppable lacked any kind of emotional involvement, their background was quickly constructed in between intense scenes when the main characters would rush to bond over family issues leaving little time for the audience to process. I think taking a little more time to develop the characters in the story might have paid off for the film in the long run, especially to make use of such great acting talent.
Another reason this film fell flat for me was the strategies the corporate boss of the train company came up with for stopping the run-away train which were always absurd and constantly fell through. Often he would voice his suggestions and the audience would verbally respond with "WHAT?" in the theater, which goes to show just how ridiculous they were. This unfortunate part of the film made the whole story unbelievable and took away the slight edge the movie had for being a "true story."
To find out more about Unstoppable or see the trailer you can visit the film's website.
Post By: Estelle Gwinn
Due Date Delivers Laughs but Falls Short
Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis star in one of the most anticipated comedies of the year, Due Date. The film, which is about a soon to be father (Downey Jr.) who must travel across the country to make it to the birth of his first child was marketed to be along the same lines as the comedy hit The Hangover, which in my opinion was a mistake by their public relations rep.
While Due Date did make me laugh out loud it was no where near on the same level as The Hangover. Part of this is because the story was not as clever or unique as The Hangover and the characters were not as creatively or well developed. Also, the interaction and relationship between the main characters in Due Date is completely different from the relationships in The Hangover. For example, in Due Date there are only two main characters, who do not know each other what-so-ever until the beginning of the movie when they are both stranded together in an airport and their relationship builds over time. While The Hangover is based around a close-knit group of friends and their adventures together. What was key to this film to me was the way these characters interacted with each other being life-long friends. You could argue that Due Date is just another type of film and therefore the relationships in it are different, but to me they should not have marketed it so closely with The Hangover if it was going to be so different.
That being said I did thoroughly enjoy the film, and the acting. Robert Downey Jr. does a really great job pulling off a stuck-up, neurotic businessman in the beginning of the film and slowly transforms into a laid back guy who finds a way to befriend Zach Galifianakis's character, a crazy aspiring actor with an affinity for small dogs, masturbating and the show Two and a Half Men. Galifianakis also delivers with hilarious one-liners, and an obvious commitment to the wacky role. I do recommend this comedy to movie-goers looking for a laugh, but I suggest not going in expecting the next Hangover.
To find out more about the film and see the trailer, visit the film's website.
Post By: Estelle Gwinn
Movies Premiering this Weekend at Village Centre Cinemas
Unstoppable - A film based on a true story about a runaway train in Pennsylvania. Starring Denzel Washington as an engineer who courageously decides to risk his own life as well as his conductor's, played by Chris Pine. The two bond through their extreme mission to stop a train running out of control and speeding towards the town of Stanton where it could possibly kill thousands of people.
Morning Glory - Starring Rachel McAdams, Harrison Ford and Diane Keaton, is the story of a morning news show as it hires a new producer, Becky Fuller (McAdams) and her struggles to keep the co-hosts of the show happy. The co-hosts, played by Keaton and Ford, clash as Mike Pomeroy (Ford) is new to the show and refuses to cover the kind of puff-pieces the morning show does. The film follows Becky through her trials as she tries to keep the show on air, her romantic life together and her sanity.
Skyline - Aliens descend on the city of Los Angeles and aim to wipe humankind off the face of the earth...some main characters try to survive...it's an alien movie. Cut and dry.
Post By: Estelle Gwinn
Post By: Estelle Gwinn
My Soul to Take...I'm Sorry...WHAT?
Wes Craven, who's responsible for movies such as the Scream series and the Nightmare on Elm Street movies, releases My Soul to Take in 3D today. First of all, there are some movies that warrant the 3D effect: Avatar, Resident Evil, Alice in Wonderland, etc. However, this movie has minimal action in it, and even very little shocking moments with attackers popping out of no where or blood spraying everywhere. It's mostly just teens standing around, being frightened and extremely cliche.
Here's the really shocking thing, I don't hate cliched, tacky scary movies. I loved the Scream movies when I was younger, granted I thought they were more hilarious than frightening, but loved them none-the-less. But My Soul to Take was in no way funny or frightening, and not only that but it was confusing. The story is essentially about seven high school kids who live in a town that was long ago terrorized by a schizophrenic serial killer long ago. The kids are tied together by their common birthday, which is on the day the serial killer died. According to legend the killer had seven souls and each of his souls went into the seven children born the day he died, meaning one of the kids has the "bad soul" which causes him or her to murder people. Obviously. However, there are many scenes throughout the movie that try to convince you different kids are the murder which often mixes up the story and messes with a lot of the continuity.
Finally, and this is probably to be expected, but the writing is just atrocious. I honestly cannot even believe Wes Craven gets paid to write like this anyone can write smut like this. The dialogue is incredibly tacky and the characters are incredibly stereotypical, from the jock to the awkward nerd.
So while I was revolted by how terrible this film was if you would like to learn more about the film or watch the trailer, visit the movie's website. But really...don't.
Post By: Estelle Gwinn
Movies Premiering this Weekend at Village Centre Cinemas
The Secretariat - Housewife and mother Penny Chenery agrees to take over her ailing father's Virginia-based Meadow Stables, despite her lack of horse-racing knowledge. Against all odds, Chenery, with the help of veteran trainer Lucien Laurin, manages to navigate the male-dominated business, ultimately fostering the first Triple Crown winner in twenty-five years.
Life as We Know It - Holly and Eric could not have been a less perfect match. After going on one blind date set up by their married couple friends it is painfully obvious to both of them that they would rather never see each other again, however fate has a different plan. When their friends die in a tragic accident custody of their infant daughter is given to Holly and Eric who learn to overcome the obstacles of being new parents and ultimately how to be a family.
Post By: Estelle Gwinn
Post By: Estelle Gwinn
The Social Network. Brilliant.
David Fincher, the Oscar-nominated director behind Fight Club and Aaron Sorkin, the Emmy-award-winning writer behind the television phenomenon, The West Wing teamed up to bring The Social Network to the silver screen and have done little less than astounded viewers and critics nation-wide.
The Social Network, in case you haven't heard, is based on the book The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich, but more importantly it is loosely based on the creation of the social networking website marvel, Facebook. The film follows a freshly-heartbroken Mark Zuckerberg from his Harvard dorm room in 2003 as he designs a website called Facemash and blogs about his ex-girlfriend's breasts. When the website gets 22 thousand hits and manages to crash Harvard's network his fellow students begin to take notice of him. Specifically the Winklevoss twins and Divya Narendra, who approach him about an idea they have for a social networking website exclusively for Harvard. Zuckerberg proceeds to work on the website and realizes he has something bigger and better in mind, which he takes to his best friend, Eduardo Saverin, resulting in the first lawsuit the film revolves around, between Zuckerberg, the Windlevoss's and Narendra. The second lawsuit comes about when Zuckerberg invites Sean Parker, creator of Napster played by Justin Timberlake, into the business of Facebook and ends up screwing Saverin out of his share of the company and subsequently gets sued.
To be clear this movie is not only for Facebook users. It's a story about not only a genius kid who achieves his dreams at any cost, but it's also about our generation. Mark Zuckerberg, while being portrayed as a complete asshole, epitomizes what many in our generation dream to do. There's a scene in the movie where the Winklevoss's are talking to the president of Harvard and the president explains to them that no one their age simply applies to jobs anymore, they just create their own. Basically, it's an incredible story, despite however you may feel about social networking or Facebook.
I was worried going into the film that it would be slow or boring due to the fact that it's pretty much a movie about two lawsuits, but I could not have been proved more wrong. The first astounding part of the movie that keeps you on the edge of your seat through scenes of even pure dialogue is the writing. The give and take between Zuckerberg and really any other character is constantly entertaining. It's witty, quick paced and hilarious at times. However, as great as the writing is it is even more improved by the incredible acting. Jesse Eisenberg, who we've seen in movies such as Zombieland, has been labeled as the new Michael Cera completely breaks out of the awkward self-conscious Cera-like character to play the arrogant, social autistic Zuckerberg. Eisenberg does an extraordinary job of portraying Zuckerberg as a character you love, hate, and love to hate. Finally, the score, created by Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor was amazing. I am admittedly a NIN fan, and while the music is not for everyone to casually listen to Reznor does an incredible job writing a score that fits the film beautifully and keeps the pace of the movie going in a way that no other score could. I sincerely hope he continues to produce scores for other films.
The film received some flak due to the accuracy of the film compared to what actually happened with the creation of Facebook. To that I say, who cares. It's a good movie. Period. Does it really matter if the movie is not 100% accurate? Is it not still a good movie if they didn't get the facts completely right? When it comes down to it I thoroughly enjoyed the film, to the point that it didn't matter if it was completely fiction, it's still good.
So to say the least, I loved this movie. Something else that's great about this movie is the duality of the story. Older viewers who may not know what Facebook is will come out thinking they saw a film about a cruel, harsh young man who couldn't appreciate the people in his life and lost all as a result. While viewers of Zuckerberg's generation view the protagonist as a rock star who achieved more than any other entrepreneur of his age and time.
Visit the movie's website to see more clips, previews, cast info and read what other critics are saying.
Post By: Estelle Gwinn
Movies Premiering this Weekend at Village Centre Cinemas
The following movies will be premiering at Pullman Village Centre Cinemas this Friday, October 1!
The Social Network - Jesse Eisenberg, best known for his roles in movies that end in "land" (Adventureland, Zombieland), takes on a more serious role in this film based on the creation of the largest social-networking website, Facebook. As well as the subsequent legal and personal battles for Mark Zuckerberg surrounding the invention that made him the youngest billionaire in history.
Let Me In - The story of an alienated 12-year-old boy named Owen living in New Mexico, who is relentlessly teased by classmates and spends his time plotting revenge on his antagonizers. In his loneliness Owen befriends his neighbor Abby, a bizarre, frail girl who only leaves her house at night. Owen becomes suspicious of his friend however, when her father mysteriously disappears and she refuses any help Owen offers. The film is based on the best-selling Swedish novel Lat den Ratte Komma (Let the Right One In) by John Ajvide Lindqvist.
Virginity Hit Makes the "First Time" More Awkward than Expected
From young teenage love to an unfortunate scene with a blow-up doll to a tryst with a porn star, The Virginity Hit starts off as an innocent enough movie and quickly progresses into something awkward and embarrassing for viewers.
While I suppose I should have expected a movie about four friends chronicling the loss of their virginity's to be crude and unusual this was more than I expected. Essentially the movie begins when Matt, one of the group, discovers his girlfriend of almost two years has cheated on him instead of waiting to lose their virginity's to each other. As a result, Matt goes on a spiteful rampage in an attempt to get laid, while his best friend/surrogate brother Zack, makes a documentary of their adventures. And so begins Matt's awkward-fest, starting with a random, female YouTube viewer who takes pity on Matt and offers herself to him, then a drunken night with Matt's surrogate sister, then the hiring of Matt's favorite porn-star for one crazy night, which all ends up leading Matt back to a frat house, where his ex, Nicole, had allegedly slept with a frat guy named Harry.
While the film does a good job of creating a realistic bond between the boys and creating a genuine documentary feeling it fails at many other things. For one, the girls who sleep with the main characters are glaringly more attractive than the boys themselves, to an extent that is almost comical. Two, while the bond between Zack and Matt is very well established and played out on screen, the other two boys in the group seem superfluous, I can't even remember their names. One had almost no lines and neither really had a defining personality or back-story whatsoever.
Finally, the awkwardness of the film overall made me so uncomfortable while watching that it really ruined the whole experience. However, I did find myself laughing out loud at a few points and just because I did not enjoy the crude, uncomfortable humor does not mean that it was an awful film. I would argue, however, that it is not meant for everyone.
To see the trailer and learn more about the film, visit the movie's website.
Post By: Estelle Gwinn
Movies Premiering this Weekend at Village Centre Cinemas
Looking for something to do this Friday night? The following movies will be premiering at the Village Centre Cinemas on September 24.
Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole is an animated film based on the first three books of the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series by Kathryn Lasky. The film is about a young barn owl, named Soren, who is captured and recruited to an orphanage where owls are trained to become soldiers and fight against the noble owls of Ga'Hoole. However, Soren and his friends manage to escape and flee to the island of Ga'Hoole to fight against their evil captors.
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps is a sequel to the 1987 film Wall Street, the film takes place 23 years after the first movie and is centered around the 2008 financial crisis. Michael Douglas's character, Gekko is attempting to help prevent the stock market crash with the help of his daughter's fiance, Jacob, played by Shia LeBeouf. This is Oliver Stone's first sequel ever made.
You Again is about a young woman who discovers her brother is engaged to the girl who bullied her in high school and goes on a mission to expose his fiancee for what she truly is.
The Virginity Hit is about four guy friends living in New Orleans who chronicle their adventures as they start to lose their virginities, and attempt to help the last of them, Matt, to get laid. The film was produced by Adam McKay and Will Ferrell.
Post By: Estelle Gwinn
Post By: Estelle Gwinn
The Town Shines Amidst Dark Crime-Dramas
Ben Affleck's most recently directed film, The Town, manages to stand out among the many summer hit movies this year. The film manages to be heartfelt, intense, complicated and simple all at once, creating a balance that comes along rarely in the form of crime thriller films.
The film is based on the novel, The Prince of Thieves by Chuck Hogan and is essentially about a group of four close friends who live in the infamous Charlestown, Massachusetts. The movie's plot begins to take form after the group takes a woman hostage at a bank robbery and discovers, after letting her go, that she may be too much of a liability for them to tolerate. As a result Affleck's character, Doug, volunteers to survey the woman, Claire, played by Rebecca Hall. However things begin to change when Doug introduces himself to Claire and begins to fall in love with her, creating problems within the group and with the FBI agent Claire is cooperating with.
One thing this movie does very well is character building. Many films make the mistake of rushing this element, creating a sense that you don't really know the characters at all and their personalities seem forced. However, The Town took a relatively complicated network of relationships and placed a sense of emotion on the audience, helping them understand the bond between each character.
The Town finds itself in a subgenre of crime films, among other movies such as The Departed and Mystic River, and while these films do have very similar undertones The Town has a softer feel to it, due to it's character's relationships and it's hopeful, optimistic conclusion. If I were to compare The Town to other films I would say it lies somewhere between The Departed, because of it's setting and complicated crime-drama plot, and The Boondock Saints, because of the main characters' brother-like bond and a sense of revenge and vigilantism. However, The Town also masters the difficult task of throwing a genuine love story into this crime-drama plot, something that in my opinion has not really been done in such a way before and makes this movie especially successful.
The Town has critics raving over Affleck's directing career, which has been mostly dormant since 2008. The Town is Affleck's second major film directing, following Gone Baby Gone, and third for writing, having participated in writing both Gone Baby Gone and Good Will Hunting.
The film is based on the novel, The Prince of Thieves by Chuck Hogan and is essentially about a group of four close friends who live in the infamous Charlestown, Massachusetts. The movie's plot begins to take form after the group takes a woman hostage at a bank robbery and discovers, after letting her go, that she may be too much of a liability for them to tolerate. As a result Affleck's character, Doug, volunteers to survey the woman, Claire, played by Rebecca Hall. However things begin to change when Doug introduces himself to Claire and begins to fall in love with her, creating problems within the group and with the FBI agent Claire is cooperating with.
One thing this movie does very well is character building. Many films make the mistake of rushing this element, creating a sense that you don't really know the characters at all and their personalities seem forced. However, The Town took a relatively complicated network of relationships and placed a sense of emotion on the audience, helping them understand the bond between each character.
The Town finds itself in a subgenre of crime films, among other movies such as The Departed and Mystic River, and while these films do have very similar undertones The Town has a softer feel to it, due to it's character's relationships and it's hopeful, optimistic conclusion. If I were to compare The Town to other films I would say it lies somewhere between The Departed, because of it's setting and complicated crime-drama plot, and The Boondock Saints, because of the main characters' brother-like bond and a sense of revenge and vigilantism. However, The Town also masters the difficult task of throwing a genuine love story into this crime-drama plot, something that in my opinion has not really been done in such a way before and makes this movie especially successful.
The Town has critics raving over Affleck's directing career, which has been mostly dormant since 2008. The Town is Affleck's second major film directing, following Gone Baby Gone, and third for writing, having participated in writing both Gone Baby Gone and Good Will Hunting.
Post By: Estelle Gwinn
Scott Pilgrim Offers More than Most
Comic books made into movies can be traced back as early as the 1940s with the Adventures of Captain Marvel. While this 12 chapter serial film may not have been all the rage, the comic-turned-movie industry has transformed into one of the most lucrative film genres of today.
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is the newest of such films, based on the comic by Bryan Lee O'Malley. However, this film is notably different from many other popular comic movies as of late. One reason for this is the unique balance the film achieves between video game, movie and comic book.
The main character in the movie, Scott Pilgrim, played by Michael Cera, is a 23-year-old living in Toronto who enjoys playing bass in a band, hanging out with his gay roommate, Wallace, and pining over his ex-girlfriend, Envy.
Pilgrim's life begins to change when he meets a girl named Ramona Flowers, an American delivery girl, and instantly falls for her. Just as Pilgrim is getting to know Flowers he discovers he must fight her seven evil exes to the death before he can date her.
The battles between Pilgrim and the evil exes is really where the video game aspect of the film comes into play. From "KO!" text flashing across the screen to final defeat resulting in the exes bursting into coins the movie is creative with implementing a video game look and feel into the battles. This unique aspect was successful in breathing creativity into a genre that can easily lack creativity, something we see in movies such as Spiderman and Ironman where pure action becomes more important than the story itself.
The other refreshing feature of Scott Pilgrim is the unique, fast paced humor, which had the entire theater roaring with laughter. Much of the clever humor comes from Wallace, Prilgrim's roommate, played by Kieran Culkin, who easily outshines Michael Cera during his brief moments on screen as he offers both pearls of wisdom and comic relief. Something the film achieves better than most quirky comedies is the ability to laugh at itself, when situations would become over the top ridiculous characters would often call it out as being ludicrous, making it seem less absurd and more hilarious.
Scott Pilgrim had me constantly laughing, feeling sorrow for the characters, and in plain awe of its unprecedented approach to comic book cinema. In a time when you can walk into a bookstore and pick up the print version of any movie in theaters Scott Pilgrim manages to shine through the dull repetition of comics-turned-film.
To read a synopsis, view the trailers and more visit the movie's website.
Post By: Estelle Gwinn
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