Open to Suggestions

It pains me to say this, but I've hit somewhat of a road block.  I've covered a lot of movies lately, and it seems that I am not quite sure what to take a look at next.  This is where you come in.  Got some movie that you haven't seen and want to get an opinion on before you rush out and spend 10 bucks to see it?  Or maybe you need a good movie to rent for a date or some other event and you would like an opinion.  Simply leave a comment below and within a couple days, I'll have a review or suggestion up for you.  Or if you simply are interested in what I have to say about a particular film, be it an old or a new one, leave a comment, and I'll give you my thoughts.

Harry Potter: The End of an Era

Well folks, it pains me to say it, but the Harry Potter franchise has finally come to an end.  But what an amazing end it was.  As I sat in the overly crowded theater, full of young minds all dressed as there favorite witch or wizard, I thought back to the beginning, when this whole Harry Potter thing started.  I can remember being iffy on if I wanted to read the books or not.  But the decision to sit down one day and pour through all 309 pages of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was by far one of the best decisions I have ever made.  I was enchanted within the first 100 pages and I knew right there: This was going to be big.  But I had no idea how big it would become.

Many years later, after all the pages had been turned and 6 and a half movies had been watched, the world waited for the final installment in this epic saga.  And at 12:01, (actually it was more like 12:20 by the time we got through all the damn previews, which sucked by the way) Harry and his pals hit the big screen for the last time.  

I suppose you're here for a review and not the dragging on of a fan's heartfelt goodbyes.  Did I just say that?  Well all that aside, this movie certainly gave all previous Harry Potters a run for their money.  It should be said right now that if you have not read the books, there WILL BE SPOILERS in the rest of this review, as they were the parts of the movie I was most pleased with, so before you continue, just know that you have been warned.

For those of you who need a quick refresher, Deathly Hallows is about Harry and friends going out to find the remaining horcruxes (parts of Voldemort's soul that he has placed in meaningful objects in order to live forever).  In order to destroy Voldemort, one must first destroy all the pieces of his soul that he scattered about.  There are 7 horcruxes in total: 1) A ring, owned by Voldemort's grandfather which was destroyed by Dumbledore 2) Slytherin's locket, which was destroyed by Ron Weasley 3) Tom Riddle's diary, destroyed in the chamber of secrets 4) The Cup of Helga Hufflepuff, yet to be found 5) The Lost Diadem of Ravenclaw, yet to be found 6) Nagini, Voldemort's trusty snake 7) Harry Potter himself.  

Yup, Harry is the horcrux Voldemort never meant to create.  It all makes sense though, how he's been able to see into Voldemort's mind along with his ability to talk to snakes.  But sadly, this come as bad news to Mr. Potter, who finally understands what needs to be done.  Harry faces Voldemort in the forest and inevitably comes face to face with his death.  Yes, he dies.  But only for a short time.  It is during his brief death that he learns who the true owned of the Elder Wand is and that in order to save everyone he loves, he must return for one last fight.  

And so, in a triumphant resurrection, Harry returns to save his friends and put an end to evil once and for all.  I could not have asked for a better end to this series.  Even the 19 years later portion at the end left me with a smile on my face and feeling of satisfaction that, this time, Voldemort is truly dead and everyone will live happily ever after.  

"Let's finish this the way we started it, together."

The movie did leave out a major portion of the book, including the twisted history of Dumbledore himself as well as his best friend Grindlewald, who only makes a brief appearance in Part 1.  However, this plays no major role in the outcome of the story and so I am actually rather glad the producers chose to exclude it from the movie.  The truth is, the movies will never do the books justice.  If you want to know the whole story, there are 7 fantastic and magical books that you can pick up, sit down and read.  Because only then will you truly appreciate the magic of this series.

It pains me to say it, and I may even have to wipe away a few tears, but the end has come for Harry Potter.  However, I will proudly give this film an enchanting 10 out 10.  The films may be over, but the story will live on for many years to come.

It All Ends Tonight!!

Harry Potter comes to and end at Midnight tonight in the biggest finale of all time!! You can certainly expect a post about it tomorrow!

Transformers 3: Definitely More than Meets the Eye

Well readers, it has been some time since my last post, as I was recently soaking in the lovely Miami sun.  But I am back and ready to bring you some reviews of the best (and maybe some of the worst) summer movies.  So, without any further ado, lets get, dare I say it, rollin'.

Trasformers 3: Dark of the Moon hit theaters midnight last night, and I have two words to describe my reaction at the end of this movie: Blown Away.  It had me sitting on the edge of my seat throughout the whole thing and, to the embarrassment of the my friend sitting next to me, even teary-eyed at times.  It had everything a good movie should have: Action, betrayal, honor, emotion, and Decepticons with dreadlocks. Yea, dreadlocks. Apparently Cybertron isn't too different from Earth.  There were even Autobots with British accents. I'll stop with the weirdness there, because this really was an excellent movie.

For those of you who don't know anything about the Transformers, then there's really nothing to see here, because the next few paragraphs will be me talking about how awesome they are.  I will also be mentioning the plot and if you haven't seen the past two films, you will most certainly be lost.

The movie starts off with a very cool introduction about Neil Armstrong's landing on the moon.  But it goes into a top secret mission (fictional, of course) that ties in the crashing of an Autobot spacecraft and Armstrong's mission to discover what it was.  Apparently that was the REAL reason they were sent to the moon.  Anyways, a great story starts to slowly unfold from this discovery and for the first time we see Optimus incredibly pissed at the humans.  Scary robot is scary.  To reveal too much more, because as much as I want to, you simply need to go out and see this one, but Megatron is back and his plan is to bring the remains of Cybertron to Earth through a technology know simply as Pillars. Definitely not a good thing for us humans.

You've also got Sam still, with his new love interest Carly, played by the lovely Rosie Huntington-Whiteley.  

Shia sure does well for himself, eh?

Megan Fox is a thing of the past, but they do a very clever job covering up her disappearance.  Alongside the Victoria's Secret model are some other big name actors, like Patrick Dempsey, who from the moment you meet his character, you just hate the guy.  Also, if you all took my advice and saw Hangover 2, Ken Jeong, or Chow, makes an appearance as well.  Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson also have returning roles in this epic finale.  Leonard Nimoy, or as many know him, Spock, picks up a role as well, as a new Autobot named Sentinel Prime, an ancestor of Optimus.  It should be noted that before you meet him, earlier on in the film there is a scene with an episode of star trek playing where Spock is going crazy.  I found that rather entertaining.

Like I said above, I had many moments where, if I hadn't been surrounded by immature little kids, I would have started crying.  But to save my dignity, I chose to wipe away the tears and complain about my eyes hurting from the 3D glasses. Hey, it works.  But after having come through 3 movies now with some of these characters, it's hard to watch them go. However, I will say this right now, I will definitely cry at the end of Harry Potter.  I'm not ashamed of that.  

I am sad to see the Transformers saga end, but it's a good place to stop.  The ending left me feeling very satisfied and happy at the outcome.  The movie did have some "Oh, shit.." and "Did that really just happen?" moments, but it left me emotionally pleased at the end.  Kinda like Lost.  God I miss that show..

My recomendation, SEE THIS MOVIE.  It was by far the best of the three films and didn't leave any unanswered questions.  It's a long one though, at 2 hours and 40 minutes, so bring snacks! 

"You may lose faith in us, but never in yourselves"

Also with this post I am going to start my own personal rating system.  I will rate movies based on Plot, Effects, Acting, Flow, and other things I can't think of right this second.  It will be a simple 1-10 system, 10 being highly recommended.  

So for Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon, I award thee a solid 10 out of 10.

HANNA

Until last night I had never heard of this movie.  A friend and I were bored, so we started looking up movies to watch.  She told me there was this movie that had just come out about this 12 year-old girl that goes around killing people and instantly I knew we had to find this movie.  We typed something along the lines of "young girl assassin" into Google and lo and behold, we found HANNA.  

HANNA is about a young girl who has spent her whole life training under her father, an ex-CIA operative played by Eric Bana. (What movies has this guy even been in lately?)  But all is not well in wonderland, as the villainous Marissa, who's accent seems to change every single time you hear her speak, is looking for Hanna and her father to, well, kill them of course.  

Everything about this movie is so bad-ass, it begs you wanting more at the end.  I mean, it's one thing to watch a grown man take down 6 different, well-trained agents at once, but to watch a 14 or so year-old girl do it is ten times better. 

I would do what this girl say..

I won't revel too much about this one, as there a lot of twists and turns and awesome scenes that simply can't be described.  I highly recommend checking this one out, especially if you're in the mood for a fast-paced, action flick.

It's finally here! Part 2 of the greatest movie franchise ever made.  July 15 is coming, best bring your tissues and come dressed for the occasion!  I know I'll be there at midnight to witness the end of it all.  Here is the trailer, just try and tell me it didn't give you goosebumps. 

Super 8: Out of 10.

I know it has been a while since my last post, as I have been rigorously debating which movie to take a look at next.  But after seeing Super 8 the other night, I felt like I needed to do this movie justice.  I was overly impressed with it in the end.  It wasn't too over-the-top and the acting, especially by a bunch of kids, was actually very well done.

For those of you who have no clue as to what this film was about, I shall now give you a brief synopsis. An alien.  I will now give you a slightly longer synopsis.  As you could tell from the trailer, a group of kids are filming a movie when a massive train wreck occurs right next to them.  Eventually you learn that some freaky ass monster escaped from the wreckage and is killing people, stealing weird appliances, and causing dogs to run away.  Weird, right?  But I won't spoil anything else, because the end is rather surprising.  

I have to give some credit to J.J. Abrams and Spielberg here.  They took a lame, monster movie idea and turned it into something interesting and thought-provoking. Seriously.  This monster actually has feelings!  Unlike this guy:

This is the Cloverfield monster, who likes to tear shit up and eat people just because he can.  It should also be noted that J.J. Abrams also worked on this movie too, which leads to a rather striking resemblance between this monster, and the one from Super 8.  But as there are no pictures ANYWHERE for him, I can only provide you with a lovely artist rendering:

On a closing note, I highly recommend seeing this movie.  It's got a little of everything, which keeps you interested in not only what the alien is doing, but what the characters are doing as well.  It's very suspenseful at times, leaving you on the edge of your seat, but there is a deep personal back story for the characters, that adds a nice little emotional appeal.  So go see it, you will enjoy it. Unless you don't like monster movies, in which case go see Hangover 2. :)

I Hate Snakes, Jacques!

I found another awesome video this morning.  I was just meandering about on the Tube and I came across the top 100 movie lines in 200 seconds.  I thought, hey this could be cool.  And indeed it was.  So I now present you with a short video of some of the best and most memorable movie lines in history. Enjoy.

I Guess I Just Don't Get It?

I'm gonna take a break for a second to post a link to a quick video.  While it isn't a movie that can be reviewed, it is a hilarious mash-up of a bunch of different movies to make the point that Hollywood is full of clichés and they are incredibly overused.  I have come across many different movie mash-ups, and in the future, I will be sure to post them here, as they are delightfully entertaining.  (Unfortunately I am unable to just embed the video here, as it is not a YouTube video and this lovely blog site only allows for those types of videos.)

Super Awesome Video Link

Hangover 2: It Happened Again!

Well folks, I can honestly say this one got me.  I was laughing around every corner and some of the things that happened... holy shit.  I'm still laughing at some of this stuff and frankly, my cheeks hurt. 

It happened again! The Wolfpack is back in a second night of forgotten memories, wrong people, and butt sex. No, I didn't stutter.  But I'll let you wonder if you haven't seen it.  This time, Stu is getting married and the big event is to take place in Thailand, or Thighland if you're Alan.  But this time, the gang is joined by Stu's lovely fiancée Laura's brother Teddy, who takes Doug's place as the missing person.  Oh, and did I mention there's a monkey that handles drugs for the dealers so nobody is caught? Awesome.

The thing that made this movie great was the combination of story elements from the first film, with a new twist and new scenarios.  Stu thankfully retains all of his teeth, but instead finds a badass tattoo on his face, which, needless to say, he tried washing off with water.. Alan's head is shaved and Phil, well, looks like hell.  

Also joining the Wolfpack in this installment is Chow, Leslie Chow, the super gay Asian guy from the first movie.  He is exactly as we all remember and also provides for, let's just say, some "small" laughs throughout the movie. I had to stop for a moment to laugh at that, but I'm better now.

I have read a lot of bad reviews for this movie, saying the jokes are stale and everything pretty much happens the way you would expect it to.  These people obviously have no sense of  humor.  Hangover 2 is loaded from beginning to end with funny shit, and it'll have you laughing the whole time.  This one is definitely a must-see, so get out there and see it!

I've included the trailer simply because it's funny, enjoy!

Thor: God of Thunder or Total Blunder?

I’m going to start things off with a movie that recently made its way to the big screen: Thor.  Thor, for those of you who don’t know, is one of the Avengers.  The Avengers are some random group of comic book super heroes that go out and save the world. What else do heroes do? 

I guess the plan is to introduce each member of The Avengers in his own separate movie and then bring them all together in 2012 when The Avengerscomes to the big screen. Confused yet? Yea I don’t blame you.

Anyways back to this joke of a movie.  Thor is the story of the Norse God Thor. Redundant statement is redundant, no? Thor and his brother Lokey, are sons to Odin, who is basically God or Zeus.  The story starts off in Valhalla, or Heaven, where we find Thor about to be named Odin’s successor, but alas, nothing ever goes as planned.  Enter the Frost Giants. (Seriously? Frost Giants? Couldn’t they be any more creative than that?) The Frost Giants are the sworn enemies of Odin, blah blah blah, we get it, we’ve seen this scenario a hundred times.  

To not give away much more, Thor ends up disobeying his father and gets banished to earth, stripped of all his godlike powers. How sad. But wait! Who should find him but Natalie Portman! I don’t even remember what her name was in the movie, because, let’s be honest here, does it really matter?  But what totally distracts from her attractiveness is the scientific mumbo jumbo she constantly utters throughout the whole thing.  Not to mention her somewhat disturbing liplock with the thunder god. Yea, it happens.  Oh yea, and her god awful acting. Seriously, this girl hasn’t had a good performance. Aside from her lustful role in Black Swan, which I will admit, I thoroughly enjoyed. But yea, I provided an equation below for those visual learners out there:

(Natalie Portman) - (Bad Acting x Science) = Not Hot.

How ‘bout a picture?

So for those people who had the thought, “Yea, this movie is going to suck, but I’ll go see it cus Natalie Portman is in it,” rethink your decision. Thor is an overly boring movie with very few action scenes.  I oftentimes found myself drifting off or wondering when the damn thing would end. 

But, if you’re the type of person that’s into the whole comic book to movie trend, then by all means, pay $10 to go see this thing. But if you’re just looking for a fun and exciting movie to see, go see Hangover 2. Or Bridesmaids. Or Hangover 2.