Brave

The first time I had heard about Brave was directly after Toy Story 3 came out. Disney-Pixar announced the upcoming movies, all of which happened to be sequels to previous Disney-Pixar movies (Ex: Cars 2 and Monsters University, sequel to Monsters Inc.). The one movie that stood out was this movie about a Scottish princess who longed to be an archer instead of getting married, arranged by her parents. The moment I heard of the plot the thought that came into my head was “I can’t wait until summer 2012”

First off, let me say, Brave is a very, very good movie. However, the one thing that I didn’t like about the movie was the whole, well, vibe seemed slightly off. Not in a bad way, mind you, but in a different way. Most Disney-Pixar movies have a certain feeling about them, whether it be humorous feelings (such as Monster Inc. or The Incredibles)  or more of sentimental feelings (such as Up, or Toy Story 3). But Brave didn’t really have very strong of either of these points. I’m not saying the jokes weren’t funny, or the storyline wasn’t touching. It just wasn’t quite the same as previous Disney-Pixar movies.  Another thing about Brave that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing as much as of a different approach was all the butt humor. There seemed to be a lot more actual butts shown in this movie then in previous Disney-Pixar movies, which one can argue whether or not that is appropriate for children. Then again, parents will take there kids to practically anything (I know of a woman who brought her little 8 year old kid to the Hunger Games. Then she got mad that it was too violent. Sadly, I’m not kidding.), so a few butts isn’t the worst thing you could show your kid. Other then little things such as that, the movie was extremely well done. The visuals were spectacular and the fact that it was set in Scotland made it different and refreshing. This is a wonderful movie; I would recommend it to everyone who enjoys Disney-Pixar movies, or to anyone who likes a nice family movie.

My Rating: 87

Rated: PG for slight violence and some crud humor

Over all comments: Well worth seeing. When I went to the movie I went with a group, and everyone was saying how much they liked the movie, so you know it has to be a good movie when more the one person likes it, right? :P But seriously, it is a wonderful movie.

Avengers

So it has taken me a while to get this review out, even though I saw the Avengers opening weekend. I cannot believe how long I waited for the Avengers to finely come! And what do you know, it completely lived up to the hype. I was very impressed of how awesome the movie was. There were only a few things I didn't like, and they were pretty minor. I didn't like how Thor was. He was way, way, way, WAY too boring. He didn't grow as a character at all. Take a look at Captain America. He was thrown out of his generation and into a age where technology is everywhere. Chris Evans did a stupendous job as a '40's army boy brought to life. Whenever good old Steve Rogers would use words like "Ma'am" my heart would skip a beat. Why can't guys be more like that, hum? Captain America had a depth that he didn't have in his first movie.  On the other hand Thor didn't evolve at all. He just stood around, getting mad at people and scowling. I believe that Thor could be a great character, but he just didn't meet the mark. But perhaps Thor will shine in his up coming movie coming to a theater near you in 2014, along with a Captain America movie coming shortly after that.
Iron Man was amazing. I couldn't get over how good Robert Downy Jr. acted as Iron Man. I believe that this was Downy's best acting as Iron Man ever. I cannot wait for his new movie coming out next summer.
The Hulk was awesome! I was disappointed in the two Hulk movies, because, well, they were pretty lame. By far this was the best movie Hulk was involved in. I was very impressed by Hulk's performance.
Over all, this movie was very, very good. I believe that this was one of the best super hero movies of all time and should be seen by all. If you have not seen it, make sure you stay after the credits.
My Rating: 94 very high rating for a super hero movie, good job Marvel :)
 Rated: PG-13 for all the awesome action
Over all comments: Great movie and everyone should see it. Also if you want to see a funny spoof on some of these superhero movies look up "How it should have ended" on youtube. Very funny :)

The Hunger Games....at last!

Last night I went to the very much expected Hunger Games movie. How long have I waited for this? It seems like forEVER, and I have to say that I was pleased with the outcome of the movie. There were a few things that I really didn't like as much as I was hoping I would, but over all the movie was superb. For those of you who don't know the story, though I highly doubt that there are very many of you considering the propaganda surrounding this movie, The Hunger Games takes place in a post apocalyptic world were 2 children, or "tributes", from each of the 12 districts are required to fight to the death annually in a punishment known as "The Hunger Games". A long time ago, there was a rebellion, and the "capitol", the ruling city over the 12 districts, took over and made the hunger games as a punishment for the uprising.  Tributes are forced to choose between killing or being killed, which raises many ethical questions. Katniss Everdeen, the story's heroin, is from district 12, a poor and dyeing place where people die from starvation on a regular basis. Gale, Katniss' best friend (and maybe more then friends?) is a young handsome man who tries to brake free from the capital in any way he can. Peeta, the other tribute from district 12, is a young man who has been in love with unsuspecting Katniss ever since he can remember. If you want to know who Katniss chooses, you should read the books and find out. The book is such an awesome story that everyone knew that the movie would have to do a pretty good job to please the fans. I am pleased to say they did. Although about 97% of the movie was totally awesome, there was the other 3% that was slightly off. An example of this is the scene where the tributes are being paraded through the streets and Katniss and Peeta are "on fire" was very...lame. The fire looked completely fake, and it was supposed to be Cinna, district's 12's stylist, that had the two tributes hold hands, not Peeta. And also the scene in the cave when they are at the hunger games was not as heartfelt as it was in the book (although I blame that one on book to movie translation error and it couldn't be helped). Over all I was pleased with the movie. Now its time to go and see it again! And may the odds be ever in you favor!
Rating: PG-13 for violence. Seriously, don't take your 8 year old brother too see this, people kill each other in this movie like no one's business.
My rating: I have two ratings here, one for if I had not read the book, and one because I have read that book. If I had not read the book I would have given this movie a 96. Because I have read the book I give it a 94, because I feel like certain scenes where not as strong as they were in the book.
Over all comment: This is an awesome movie and I highly recommend it to everyone    

Batman...with no Robin. Thank goodness!

So, as most of you probably know, there is a new Batman movie coming out. The Rise of the Dark Knight, or something like that. Anyway, I figured it was best for me to get in the pop cultured groove and go ahead and see Batman Begins. For all those people who have not seen it, I recommend it, however, I did not think it was the best superhero movie. The story plot wasn't bad, in fact I sorta liked it. BUT it was very confusing in the beginning. Like this Que-Gon man is all ninja, then he turns out to be bad, and then there's a fire, and I'm left in the dark thinking....What? who was the guy with the mask? was that Bruce? or was that the other ninja? Anyway, it made me confused. But once the story started moving along it started to get better. The only 3 problems with the movie that I saw was 1) Bruce had no character besides Batman. he was just some rich guy who bought everything. It got sorta unbelievable at some points. Reason number 2) One of the main themes of this movie was everyone must face their fears, but when they took the fear stuff, everyone's fears looked the same. Some glowing red eyes with some dark stuff flying around. Don't get me wrong, that's scary and all, but I would have liked to see some verity in the fears. And reason # 3) This is the biggest problem I had with the movie, I couldn't tell who was who when there was fight scenes. I eventually just stopped watching, it was too much to take in at a time. Oh, and also, the raspy voice got a little corny. But at lest you couldn't tell it was Bruce, unlike some of the earlier Batman movies (which were l-a-m-e LAME). So Batman wasn't a bad movie, it just Batman isn't my favorite hero (I didn't say "super hero" you'll notice, because, as you know, Batman does not have any super powers, he's just a rich guy. He's not even super smart and rich, like Tony Stark, AKA Iron Man. He's just has money, that's it). Spider-man is my favorite hero. Peter Parker is believable (other then, you know, the whole spider thing), and he is interesting. Bruce, not so much. But who knows? I have been told the Dark Knight is a better movie, maybe we'll see Bruce's real colors in the squeal...

Rated: PG-13, because of action, nothing gory or nasty, just some good, old fashion smack down.
My Rating: 83
Over all comments: I'm glad it didn't have Robin in it. Everything cool about Batman is taken away with the addition of Robin. My Mom once said "Robin shouldn't be in the comic book universe. Not only is he not a super hero, he's not even rich. He's just friends with a rich guy" I have to agree with her.

Sherlock Holmes: A game of Shadows

        The best movie theater in my area is a theater called Malco. Malco is nice because it has stadium seating. You maybe are wondering what this has to do with Sherlock Holmes. Well, the first time I saw Sherlock Holmes 2 I didn't get to sit in the stadium seating, but instead in the area in the front. I could literally only see one part of the screen at a time. On top of that the particular showing that my family and I were going to had the close captioning, so instead of watching the movie I was reading the scrip. Add that to the fact that Sherlock Holmes has a very confusing, fast paced story line then you’re in trouble. So I decided to go and see it again, and let me tell you, the second time was infinitely better (Besides the slightly annoying people behind me). We got to sit farther away in the stadium seating, and we didn't have subtitles this time. Plus the second time around the story is very much less confusing. Sherlock Holmes is one of the year’s best movies, with lots of action that rivals the first one. I did enjoy this Sherlock better then the first, although they are about the same. There are a lot of great camera works (running through the woods for one), great actors (Judd Law and Robert Downy Jr. have done it again as the quirky duo they so beautifully created in the first Sherlock movie), and very deep moments in this movie (when their on the train for one, and when Sherlock does a very surprising act at the end of the movie for another). In an interview with Robert Downy Jr., he said that a lot of sequels will not do as well as the first because of the high expectations, and that the best thing that you can do is keep your head low and hope for the best. Let me tell you, this movie rivals the first. I would recommend this movie to anyone who has a love of good action movies and who can keep up with the fast pace of the movie. In fact this movie is so good that you will have to see it twice, especially if you had an experience like mine :) 

My Rating: 95
Rated: PG-13 for lots of action and some drug references   

Happy New Year!

Can you believe it? A whole new year is here! 2012, who would have thunk, right? now I don't know what you all's resolutions are for the new year, but I believe that everyone should try to think a bit more intellectually. You can do that by reading more books and by watching movies that challenge you thinking.On top of that, there are movies that are referenced in a lot of movies and TV shows, and if have not seen any of these movies, you have no idea on what's going on. So here is a list of 30 movies you should watch at lest one time in your lifetime.
1) Chinatown
2) Gone With The Wind
3) Fiddler On The Roof
4) Breakfast At Tiffany's
5) A New Hope
6) The Empire Strikes Back
7) Return of the Jedi
8) The Breakfast Club
9) Pretty In Pink
10) The Fellowship of the Ring
11) The Two Towers
12) The Return of the King
13) 16 Candles
14) It's a Wonderful Life
15) It Happened One Night
16) The Matrix
17) The Castle
18) Planet of the Apes
19) Secondhand Lions
20) The King's Speech
21) True Grit (either the new or the old) 
22) The Man Who Knew too Little
23)The Blue Brothers
24) Dirty Harry
25) Grand Torino
26) Pirates of the Caribbean
27) The Wedding Singer
28) Shrek
29)The Wizard of Oz
30) Napoleon Dynamite
Now most of these movies you have probably seen, or at lest heard of. These are all great movies that I think that everyone should seen these movies at lest once in their lifetime. Until next time, I hope that everyone has a safe and good holiday, and that everyone has a Happy New year with lots of blessings to come this next year.  Cheers!